The Serpent Inside (A Karmagisa Fanfiction)

24: Therapy

Iyuka sat awkwardly on the plush couch outside the office. A small "no phones" sign was on the wall across from her and the only noise came from a little white noise machine in the corner. When she had asked, Nagisa told her it was to make sure nobody would hear what the people inside in therapy room were saying. The point of everything was privacy, to get things out in a safe environment.

Iyuka sat curled up to Nagisa's side, his arm looped around her. Karma sat on her other side, his hand softly rubbing circles onto her back. She was nervous, but she had heard Madalena-sensei was a nice woman. Apparently she was from America, and had worked with younger people there. Nagisa had assured the little girl that she knew what she was doing, and if Madalena-sensei made her the slightest bit uncomfortable, they'd leave immediately.

Finally, a few minutes after 19:00, a woman who appeared to be in her late fifties or early sixties came out of the room with a teenager, who quickly said thank you and left. Iyuka thought that must have been her previous client.

"Hello, you must be the Akabane's." She smiled.

"Yes, my name is Akabane Karma, this is my husband, Nagisa, and our daughter Iyuka. She's the one you'll be working with." Karma explained. Madalena-sensei smiled.

"Hello Iyuka-chan dear. Do you want to chat with me alone or would you rather your daddies be with us?" She asked.

"I, I, um, I'd rather Papa and Daddy come with me." Iyuka bashfully stammered out.

"That's perfectly fine with me honey. I'll show you all back to the room."

Nagisa nodded his thanks before they all went into the room. The room was small, but had an air of friendliness to it. Iyuka liked it. There was a window on one side and a couch in the back. There was also a plush chair facing the couch, which Madalena-sensei sat down in as Karma lead Iyuka to sit on the couch in between him and Nagisa.

"So, from what I've heard from when Nagisa-san asked me to speak with you, you went through some heavy trauma. Do you want to tell me what happened, or would you rather one of your parents do that?"

Iyuka swallowed and played with her fingers.

"W-Well I don't remember much... Maybe Papa can explain it and I can talk about me after..." She murmured.

Madalena-sensei smiled and nodded. "Alright then."

Nagisa put his hands on Iyuka's to try and calm her.

"I think the best thing to mention first is that Karma is in the political world and the current CEO of his father's company, Akabane Incorporated. One of the people who had it out for him came and kidnapped both him and Iyuka from our home. I was out at the time so they didn't get me. Karma and Iyuka were both kidnapped along with our dog, Seizon. Karma was there, so he's probably better to tell the rest." Nagisa fabricated a new story.

Karma nodded. "I got the worst of it. The man had both of us chained up and he tortured me more than Iyuka. Nagisa was able to find us in time before any life long physical damage was done. Iyuka ended up with just some cuts and scrapes but... she had to watch all of it."

Iyuka began to shake a little bit in Nagisa's hold.

Nagisa went to action, pulling the little girl into his chest and humming a soft tune as he placed his finger on her neck to help stabilize her wavelength.

"Shh shh don't worry honey, I'm here. I've got you." Nagisa murmured into Iyuka's ears as she slowly calmed down.

Madalena-sensei hummed quietly as she took down a note of the girl's reaction to remembering the events.

"I see it was hard on all of you. Iyuka-chan dear if you don't want to talk about the event itself we don't have to right now. Would you rather talk about something else?" Madalena-sensei asked. It appeared to her that getting to know Iyuka and giving the girl some time to heal first would be helpful. Once Iyuka knew Madalena-sensei better and felt more comfortable with her it likely would be easier to talk about it.

Iyuka nodded. "I would... maybe I could talk about my friend Mana-nii?"

"I would love to hear about your friend." Madalena-sensei smiled.

"He's been really helping me. Mana-nii is like what I've heard a mommy should be like. I like to hang out with him at the park with Papa watching us. He has two daddies too so we like to talk about how nice our daddies are. Sometimes I wish I had a mommy, but I have Mana-nii so it's okay. When I hang out with Mana-nii I'm not as scared and sometimes I even forget what happened." Iyuka smiled.

"That's wonderful darling. Mana-nii seems like a sweet boy."

The conversation continued, flowing naturally. Sometimes they returned to the event at hand, but Madalena-sensei kept the conversation more on the aftermath and how Iyuka was feeling. Before they knew it, it was already 20:00 and their hour was over.

Nagisa and Iyuka walked to the car while Karma finished the paperwork and scheduled them for the next week to come back in before joining the rest of his family in the car and driving them home.

"How was it Iyu?" Nagisa asked.

"It was nice. I like Madalena-sensei."

Nagisa smiled. Hopefully things would go well.