From Where the Silence Echoes

-4- A Chorale for the Fretful

  Kakyoin jolted awake in a cold sweat in a house that was not his own. His blurred vision lent no clues as to where he was, and his memory was all too foggy for comfort.The last thing he clearly remembered was exhaustedly dragging himself onto shore, and the vague shape of what he believed to be Death looming over him menacingly; but his surroundings felt nothing like what he was told the afterlife was. Instead, they were comfortably warm with a faint earthy aroma that filled him with oddly fond memories. From what little he could perceive, he was cradled in a mountain of pillows on a bed that was too soft to be real.Kakyoin made an attempt to lean up to get a better grasp on his surroundings, but his muscles ached in protest. No matter how much he struggled, his body refused to move without causing him an obscene amount of pain. The painter let out a small sigh of frustration, letting his full weight sink into the mattress underneath him. He felt utterly worthless. 

 All of a sudden a realization struck him, sending a bolt of longing across his chest. 

 "Jotaro..." he mumbled softly, his speech slurred beyond recognition.He kept repeating the siren's name over and over as if it were some sort of charm; one that would summon him to the painter's side magically. Surprisingly, someone was drawn to his clarion call, albeit not the person he expected. Kakyoin assumed that the figure approaching his bedside must have been the person who saved his life.

 "Ah, you're finally awake." his savior said in a slightly amused voice. 

 "Who..." is all the painter could manage to say in response. 

 "Who am I, eh?" the person chuckled almost inaudibly. "One could say I'm a sort of... fortune teller. As for my name, it's Muhammad Avdol. Just 'Avdol' is fine, however." 

 He placed a gentle hand on Kakyoin's forehead, a slightly worried crease appearing in his brow.

 "You've a high fever there, lad," Avdol mumbled more to himself than Kakyoin. "How are you feeling?" 

 "Like shit," Kakyoin mumbled, a slight pout on his face. His entire body still felt solid as a rock, and he was beginning to get a massive headache to boot. "Can't move. Head hurts." 

 "As expected. After all, it's only been a day since I've found you. Although... you're in better condition than what I had initially thought, uh... I don't believe I caught your name, actually." 

 "'S Noriaki. N-Noriaki Kakyoin. Call me Kakyoin, please." 

 "As you wish. Do you have any family or friends around, Kakyoin? I'm sure they must be worried sick about you." 

 "A boyfriend. Lives in the- Near, the ocean. Curly black hair, piercing blue eyes, likes to sing." 

Kakyoin's head was starting to fog up again, limiting his thoughts to simple phrases and ideas. He was trying his hardest to keep Jotaro's true identity a secret, his words were slipping away from him faster than he could control their flow. 

 "Lives near the ocean, you say? How near? Perhaps I could go out and-" 

 "No! N-no... That's... not a good idea... He doesn't trust easily." 

 Avdol shrugged his shoulders and gave Kakyoin a slightly sad smile. Something about that smile put him at ease, and before he knew it, he was speaking without a filter. 

 "Yeah... the people that live in my village... they try to attack him, sometimes." 

 "Why is that, lad?" 

 "He's a siren. They... they think he's gonna hurt them, so I've gotta protect him, 'n stuff..." 

 "I see. Kakyoin, I'll be right back." 

 Avdol swept out of the room in a rush, leaving Kakyoin alone with his thoughts. He felt like an idiot. He had ruined the one secret that Jotaro had entrusted him with within a matter of seconds, and there was no way that his caretaker didn't think he was absolutely insane. Kakyoin sighed and laid his head back further into the mountain of pillows that surrounded him, hoping that he'd suffocate and ease the suffering of those around him.The soft cocoon he had laid himself in didn't completely block out noise, and from what he assumed to be the next room he heard a pair of hushed voices. His name came up quite a few times, and Kakyoin began to think that his presence was a burden. Avdol shortly returned with a bowl of steaming water with a rag submerged in it. The crease in his brow was still ever present, and Kakyoin could swear that it had deepened somewhat. He wrung out the rag with a sigh and laid it on his forehead. 

"Hopefully this will alleviate your fever a bit. If you need me, just give a shout. I'll be in the next room over." 

 Avdol pulled a blanket from the bottom of Kakyoin's bed up to his neck, tucked him in as if he were a child, and then left the room once more. Surprisingly, the heat of both the rag and the cover were making him drowsy. He felt as if he hadn't slept in a number of years, and the fact that his body was unusually heavy simply amplified the feeling. While his body felt sleepy, however, his mind was completely awake, consumed with thoughts of Jotaro. Kakyoin knew better than anybody how much the siren worried, and he feared that he would do something rash in his absence. He felt trapped. There was nothing he could do to ease the siren's qualms, especially with the fact that he probably wouldn't be returning to the pier for quite a spell looming over his head.

'I should have been more careful...' he thought, cursing himself internally. 'Jotaro's probably worried sick about me, and if I hadn't just ran off without telling him anything, then maybe things wouldn't be the way they are right now...'

 Kakyoin's drowsiness overtook him mid-thought, banishing away what little mental coherence he had. With a sigh, he finally closed his eyes, hoping that sleep would bring a better day.