Chapter 1

"I don't know what's wrong with her... she doesn't talk..." The woman's voice says. Kiyomi slowly drags her hand across the window seal as she looks out the window. 

"Have you two tried interacting with her more...? Like playing with her or reading to her?" The doctor says flipping through her notes.

"Well... we try to. I'm not home most of the time. She's usually with her mother." The father says. The mother looks at the father when he says that. She makes an awkward smile and then awkwardly chuckles. 

"Well yeah... I talk to her all the time and I sometimes play with her." The mother say's in a shaky voice. Kiyomi slowly looks at both her parents who are talking to a woman doctor. Why is she there? Well, that's because they think their child is broken. 

Kiyomi wasn't broken though. She is just very curious about the world. So curious that she has very little words to say. While her parents are lying to the doctor's face about their parenting, Kiyomi is watching ants walk on the outside of the window, carrying leaves on their backs. 

The leaves are so much bigger than the ants that it intrigues her on how they are able to carry the leaf on their back like that. 

"Kiyomi... let's go..." The mother says pulling Kiyomi's arm and pulling her off the seat next to the window. As the mother pulls her away, Kiyomi stays fixated on the window until she can no longer see the ants.

On the drive home, the mother and father argue with each other. Kiyomi stares out the car window and watches the people on the street. She also watches the other cars drive by. Nothing really is going through her mind. Watching the cars gives her a lot of excitement. 

A red car... A blue car... A yellow van... A green motorcycle... She thought. So many different colors with so many different designs.

At home, Kiyomi loves to watch her mother cook dinner. The way she cuts things and mixes things always intrigued Kiyomi. The way the food smells and tastes gives her little jitters too.

The green veggies taste bitter but salty... The potatoes taste so warm and yummy... the meat feels chewy, and the rice is sticky... She would think to herself.

"Close your eyes so the soap doesn't get in your eyes." The mother tells Kiyomi. Kiyomi listens and closes her eyes. She would feel the water pour down her face from her hair making it hard to breathe. But Kiyomi taught herself to hold her breath while this happens. After her mother finished washing her hair, she would move the hair out of Kiyomi's face, allowing Kiyomi to see. 

The little beads of water is visible on Kiyomi's eyelashes from her sight when she opens her eyes. She slowly looks up at her mother to see her mother smiling down at her. She would stare into her mother's eyes when she smiles. Usually, people's eyes would sparkle when they are genuinely happy... but her mother's eyes weren't sparkling when she smiles at Kiyomi.

Is mommy sad? Kiyomi would think.

"I have to go back in for work..." The father would say to the mother.

The mother would reply "I thought you called off today..."

"I did but it's an emergency." He states. Kiyomi would watch him walk out the bathroom. He was already dressed for work. Kiyomi hears the front door open and close. After the sound of the door closing the mother sighs and turns to face Kiyomi with sadness in her face. 

"Come on Kiyomi- It's time for bed." The mother says standing up and grabbing a towel. Kiyomi climbs out the tub and gets wrapped up in the towel.

After being dried off and putting on something to sleep in her mother would tuck her into bed. 

"Goodnight Kiyomi-" The mother would say kissing Kiyomi on the forehead. Then she would walk out the bedroom and turn off the lights, closing the door behind her. Kiyomi would stare up at the ceiling and listen to the noise outside her window. The wind blowing and the trees shaking. Sometimes she can hear the small animals outside moving around. She likes when it rains. It gives her room a cool looking effect and the sound makes it a lot easier to sleep. She doesn't like when it's too quiet though... When it's too quiet she starts to think more than normal which freaks her out. Lucky for her... It rarely gets quiet.

A simple and calming life she has you would think. From the eyes of a child, Kiyomi would find everything to be quiet and peaceful. Nothing too much is going on. A really calm and soothing environment it was for this small and delicate child.

That was until one day... that environment wasn't calm and quiet anymore.

"YOU'RE ALWAYS LEAVING... GONE FOR HOURS... DO YOU EVEN LOVE US ANYMORE!?" The mother screams from outside Kiyomi's bedroom walls.

"I HAVE TO WORK KAREN! WHERE THE HELL ELSE WOULD WE GET MONEY FROM? YOU DON'T WORK- SO WHERE ELSE KAREN!" The father yells back.

"WORK?! REALLY?! SURE IT'S WORK... YOU'RE PROBABLY OFF SOMEWHERE SLEEPING WITH THAT CAKE FACED BITCH!" The mother responds.

Bitch... that's a new word... what does that word mean? Kiyomi would think.

A loud slam would echo through the house. Kiyomi can hear the sound of footsteps walking away from the house outside the window. 

The thing her parents didn't know was that Kiyomi knew everything. But because she didn't speak, they would use that as an advantage. Every time Kiyomi saw something she was not supposed to see they would brush it off as if it didn't matter. Little did they know that her being able to speak would be their weakness.

"Kiyomi... come on... we need to clean these vegetables..." The mother said standing up from the garden holding a basket of freshly picked veggies. Kiyomi is kneeling on the ground, staring intensively at a pretty blue butterfly on one of the vegetables stems.

"Kiyomi-" The mother huffs trying to get Kiyomi's attention.

"The butterfly... is... pretty..." Kiyomi sooths as she reaches for the butterfly. The mother drops the basket when she hears Kiyomi speak for the first time. Kiyomi slowly stands up and turns her body, holding the small blue butterfly on her finger. She softly smiles at her mother who's staring at her with shock on her face. "Mommy... Do you think the butterfly is pretty?... What do you find pretty... What do you desire most?" She asks her mother with white empty eyes. Her mothers face relaxes, and a soft smile grows on her face.

"I... find... my hair before I had a child to be... pretty- It was so long... and shiny..." She unintentionally says as she runs her fingers through her short choppy hair. "I desire a life where I can be... free from... responsibility... a life without... a child... without... marriage..." She says in a happy and soft tone. Kiyomi slowly looks back at the butterfly that's still resting on her finger. Her eyes go back to normal, and the mother's eyes widen when she realized what came out her mouth. The butterfly flies from Kiyomi's finger and up into the sky.

"Bye bye pretty butterfly" Kiyomi sooths. Kiyomi slowly turns her head to look at the mother who is staring at her with fear in her eyes. "There are... many pretty things in this world... mommy~" She bubbles.

Kiyomi didn't know what ability she had... She didn't know what she was capable of... She didn't know how... dangerous she was.

"Yes... I'm here for the 4 o'clock appointment with Dr. Snizek." The mother said to the woman behind the front desk. Kiyomi quietly plays with the plant on the table in the waiting room. 

"Yes ma'am." The woman replies. A man walks into the waiting room where Kiyomi was. He has his hair down and a light mustache and small beard on his chin. He groans as he sits down on the chair furthest from Kiyomi. Another woman walks into the waiting room and sits beside the man. The man sighs, leaning away from the woman and closing his eyes a bit.

Kiyomi notices the shiny looking necklace in the woman's hand. She likes shiny and pretty things. She slowly walks up to the woman and smiles.

"Hi~" Kiyomi coos.

"Hi?" The woman says in a confused tone.

"I am Kiyomi... what's your name?" Kiyomi asks the woman whose eyebrows are furrowed at the small child.

"My name is... Yassame..." The woman hesitatingly replies.

"Yassame..." The girl repeats holding her left hand out to shake the woman's hand. Yassame takes Kiyomi's hand and shakes it. Kiyomi smiles and shifts her attention to the necklace in her hand. "Yassame... that's a pretty necklace..." Kiyomi says pointing at the necklace.

"Oh... yes... thank you." Yassame softly nods. The man opens one eye to look at Kiyomi and the woman.

"It's very shiny... I like... shiny things... Do you like shiny things, Yassame? What do shiny things mean to you... and what do you desire from it?" Kiyomi asks the woman with white empty eyes. The woman's eyes and body relaxes when Kiyomi asks that question. A soft and gentle smile grows across her face. 

"Of course, I love shiny things... shiny things can get you money and riches... do you know what else is shiny... a knife..." The woman laughs. "The same knife that I killed my husband with... heheh... I desired a world without him... and so... I took him out of it..." She hysterically laughs. The man leans forward and places his hand on the woman's shoulder.

"Hey- you shouldn't be saying those things to a child..." The man huffs.

"HUH?" The woman jumps, snapping out of the hypnotism. "What... what just happened?" The woman says in a confused and panicked tone. The man furrows his eyebrows and looks at the child who is playing with the woman's necklace across the waiting room.

"Hey kid..." The man speaks making Kiyomi look up at him. "What did you-"

"Kiyomi... let's go..." The mother interrupts the man, pulling Kiyomi off the seat and leading her out the room. The man watches Kiyomi leave, confused on what he just witnessed.

"What happened to my necklace..." The woman says in a panicked tone as she stands up checking her seat.

"You didn't see the kid take the necklace from you?" The man asks. Yassame shakes her head.

"What kid? The girl?" She asks. The man sighs and stands up, walking out the waiting room and down the hall Kiyomi and her mother walked down. He stops at a room where he hears a woman speaking. The same woman who took Kiyomi. He leans his head closer to the door to hear their conversation.

"She made me... say something... I didn't mean to say." The mother sniffles.

"What do you mean?" The doctor asks.

"I mean... I said some... horrible things... If she tells her father... he would..." She bursts out into tears. "She knows a lot... I'm afraid... she's going to... tell him things." She sobs. The man looks forward and continues to walk down the hall where he stops by a playroom. In the playroom he sees the girl, Kiyomi playing with the necklace she took from the woman. He tries to open the room door, but its locked. He pulls a pin from out his pocket and sticks it into the keyhole, jiggling the pin a little until he hears a click noise.

He pushes open the door and approaches the little girl. Kiyomi looks up at the man and tilts her head. The man crouches down beside her and gently grabs her hand with the necklace in it.

"What's your name..." She sooths. He slowly turns to look at her. Her eyes look empty... as if there was nothing living behind them.

"huh? Nobunaga..." He replies. Kiyomi smiles and tilts her head a bit. "What's your name?" He asks.

"Ki-yomi..." She hums.

"Kiyomi? Kiyomi... can I have this necklace back?" He asks her, slightly tugging at the necklace.

"No..." She says gripping his hand with her left hand.

"No? But you stole this necklace... didn't your mother teach you not to stea-"

"Go Away." Kiyomi says to the man with white empty eyes. The mans eyes relax and he lets go of the necklace. He turns around and walks out the room, down the hall, and back into the waiting room.

"Sir?" The woman at the front desk says. The man snaps out of it and turns to look at the woman feeling confused.

"The hell..." He says to himself. He quickly walks down the hall towards the room Kiyomi is sitting in. When he gets there, he sees her peacefully playing with blocks and the necklace. "Her eyes..." he whispers.

"Sir... Is there something you need?" The front desk lady asked. The man shakes his head and walks back towards the waiting room and out the building.

"That was quick..." A woman with pink hair says to the man.

"Yeah... well I don't do therapy..." He responds walking past her.

"You were the one who went out your way for this dumbass appointment... what changed your mind?" She asks walking beside him.

"I came across a kid..."

"Huh?" 

"This kid... can control people just by speaking to them... The fact a kid like that has an ability to do something like that is... terrifying." He states.

"Can control people... do you think it was a nen ability?" She asks.

"No... she wasn't even using nen... that's why it confuses me..." He sighs.

"That does sound... interesting..." The girl calmly says.

"An ability like that can come to good use... We should talk to the boss... make her one of us..." The man sooths.

"Pft... I doubt the boss would even consider it..." The girl replies.

"Machi... the kid can control minds with just using words... we need that-" The guy sighs, moving his hands as he speaks.

"Whatever... if you want to bother the boss with that... then go ahead... but I'm not getting involved..." She sighs walking across the street. The man chuckles and runs his hands through his hair.