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My name is Ryou Bakura and he killed my best friends.
Agent Booth was confused. It was not an emotion he enjoyed, nor one he was quick to admit that he was experiencing. An FBI-agent should know what he was faced with and be able to make a decision based on that. Right now it was not working out for him.
This had started out as a murder case like any other. It had been a horrible scene, the four brutally murdered teenagers, but it had still been just a murder case. The four had quickly been identified as Yugi Muto, Hiroto Honda, Anzu Mazaki and Katsuya Jonouchi, Japanese teenagers who had been in the U.S for their summer vacation.
A surprisingly good cooperation with the Japanese government had ensued. Considering the murders had occurred on U.S soil the Japanese had not had any objections when the FBI asked permission to solve the crimes there. Especially since it was highly likely that the murderer was in America. That the Jeffersonian institution helped on the case didn't make the cooperation any harder, the reputation of the lab had helped greatly.
Booth had gotten in contact with Tsukino, an agent of the Japanese police force that operated in the area where the four teens had lived. He would do all the interrogations required there and was to meddle all information to Booth, while Booth was required to give him all the information he obtained.
Even though Tsukino and Booth had completely different ways of working, their cooperation was remarkably stable and even friendly. There was no hostility that usually ensued when two countries had to solve the same crime together. They wanted the crime solved, that was all.
My name is Ryou Bakura and he killed my best friends
Somehow Booth had enjoyed it, the no nonsense relation between the two agencies of the two countries. But it didn't take away the fact that it was a murder case, a horrible one at that. The fame of two of the murdered teenagers did not make it any easier.
When called to the scene Zack had recognized one of the four at once. Booth had gotten the identities of the four from the person they were staying with. Professor Hawkins, a respected archeologist and his granddaughter, Rebecca Hawkins, a child prodigy already in college. Zack had not needed it. "That's Yugi Muto", he had said, upon arriving at the scene.
Booth had naturally been surprised, he had not yet gotten the chance to speak to either Professor Hawkins or his granddaughter at that point. "How do you know?"
"He is the so called King of Games, the champion of Duel Monsters, a highly strategical card game played mainly in Japan, but also here in the U.S and everywhere else. It was created by Pegasus J. Crawford, the CEO of Industrial Illusions."
"The gaming company?" Booth asked, even though not needing confirmation.
Zack nodded. "Yes. He arranged a tournament and Yugi won, everyone who knows the game knows Yugi Muto."
"Did he have any enemies?" Booth asked, pleased with the information he was receiving on such a short notice.
"Plenty", Zack said, "it's a competitive game and he has defeated many duelists. First the tournament Industrial Illusions arranged, and later the one that Kaiba Corporation arranged. He won both. He also collected the three God Cards, the rarest and most powerful cards in Duel Monsters. I don't know about personal enemies, but there were enough people out for his title."
"Any in particular?" Booth asked, not even surprised that the nerdy Zack would know about all that.
"I don't know, my knowledge does not surpass what I have read about it. Sorry", Zack said and turned to Dr. Brennan who was examining the bodies.
Booth had gone to talk to the Hawkins, and later with Sugoroku Muto who flew to America in order to help Booth with the investigation. Booth questioned a lot of people, so did Tsukino. The unpleasant job of informing the remaining relatives of the four deaths fell upon the Japanese agent.
The one person who puzzled him most was Seto Kaiba, the CEO of KaibaCorp. Kaiba was pissed to learn that Yugi was dead but according to Sweets, who watched all interrogations, he couldn't have done it.
The murders had been brutal, not of the kind that said anger, but of the kind that said psychopathy. Bones had concluded that all injuries had been afflicted while they were still alive. The four teenagers had been tortured to death with horrid care. Whoever had done it was a psychopath. The four had been immobilized by their injuries with almost surgical precision and whoever had killed them had had free reigns with them from there. The four had been stabbed and cut on random, all precision gone, meant to hurt them.
All injuries had been afflicted by a common knife, the sort of knife one would find in every store across the world. Almost every household had one, most more than one. That left them with little to go on when it came to the murder weapon. It was almost easier when the murder weapon was something exceptional, because that tended to narrow down the suspects, but not in this case.
Because of the nature of the murders, the coldblooded torture, Sweets had been asked to help. Sweets one conclusion from the way the murders had been committed was that whomever had done it really despised the four of them and had lost all patience with them and thus killed them.
My name is Ryou Bakura and he killed my best friends
Booth's first conclusion was that if anyone had been able to do it, it would have been Seto Kaiba. The CEO had been in the U.S in order to build a theme park and had therefore been called in by the American legal system instead of waiting for him to return to Japan. Booth had interrogated him for a long time and the FBI agent had decided he did not like the young CEO. Sweets had also said that even though Seto Kaiba certainly wasn't beyond killing, he would never have taken to such measures. The CEO was too sophisticated, he'd have found another way. It did however not take away the fact that he had motive, but he also had an alibi.
Many people had alibis. Professor Hawkins and his granddaughter had been at the mall at the time the four were killed, security tapes confirmed it. Most people with motives had been in Japan and could never have gotten to the U.S and back in such a short notice of time. Both Kaiba brothers had been with the construction team. Pegasus J Crawford had been interrogated but he had been on his island all the time.
It seemed they had reached a dead end. Neither Bones nor Tsukino could provide him with any information leading the case on. The murder weapon had been identified, so had the victims. The only question remaining was who had done it and why?
The murderer had been remarkably thorough, not leaving a single shred of evidence against him. It almost made Booth wonder it this person had done it before.
There were a few people they had not yet questioned and since they lived on two completely different continents it had seemed impossible that any of them could be responsible, their names weren't found on any flight record and were therefore ruled out.
When Tsukino called and informed him that one of these people had been close to the four murdered teenagers Booth decided to act upon it anyway. Ryou Bakura, an exchange student from Britain, had grown rather close to Yugi, Anzu, Honda and Jonouchi. He had been devastated when hearing his friends were dead, something he was informed of by the news. A horrible way to find out. No one had bothered to tell him about it.
It was the same moment that he decided to take contact with his higher ups in order to establish some sort of cooperation with the British police that Angela walked into his office. "I might have found the killer", she said and handed him a file. "Neither the Ishtars nor Ryou Bakura was registered in any of the commercial flight records, but instead I ran their names through other ways of traveling. It's not exactly common, but you can still travel by boat from Britain to the U.S and the other way around", she explained.
"You mean that …?" Booth opened the file.
"Yes. Ryou Bakura left the U.S on such a ship the same night of the day these four were murdered", Angela confirmed and looked at the ground.
"Angela! That's great! That makes him our prime suspect!"
It had taken a while, the British had not been quite as cooperative as the Japanese had been, but both Bones and Booth had a decently established esteem with the British police force, having solved murders with them before.
Ryou Bakura had been taken in for questioning by the British. They also searched his apartment, for anything that could prove he was the murderer. They found it, an ominous little thing. Booth and Bones flew to England and now here they were.
My name is Ryou Bakura and he killed my best friends
One of the agents of the British police force had handed him the little slip of paper. The boy, a tall and slender albino was sitting in the interrogation room, he was crying and had his hands folded in his lap, he was looking down at the table. There was something defying over his posture, as if he could deny any of this had ever happened.
Booth and Brennan had been accompanied by Gordon Wyatt, the psychiatrist specialized in forensic psychology. The three of them had gathered in the small space where the monitor showed what the camera filmed. The British agent who had been in charge was also there.
"So this is him?" Brennan asked with a frown. Oddly enough she did not think that this boy could have done it. Even though the evidence pointed towards him her intuition, something she did never rely on, told her otherwise.
"Ryou Bakura, yes. The evidence suggest it was him", the British agent said.
Booth just read the note.
My name is Ryou Bakura and he killed my best friends.
My name is Ryou Bakura and he killed my best friends.
My name is Ryou Bakura and he killed my best friends.
My name is Ryou Bakura and he killed my best friends.
My name is Ryou Bakura and I killed my best friends.
After having read it a couple of times he handed it to Brennan, who read it once before giving it to Dr. Wyatt. The psychiatrist read it carefully many times.
"Have you questioned him yet?" Booth asked.
"No", the British agent said. "When we heard you were coming we refrained from it. He's been here for two hours, hasn't moved since he got here. Neither has he spoken a word. He was holding that note when we took him in and he did not say a word when we told him to come with us. He just silently followed us.
"He hasn't been denying?" Booth asked confused. Nearly everyone suspected for murder tended to deny with a passionate conviction. "You told him why he is here, right?"
"Of course. He even has pictures from the scene, he hasn't looked at them though", the British agent said. He shook his head. "This is an odd case. It seems unlikely he'd do something like that. He has good grades, no bad behavior on any of his school records, commonly known to be shy. He lived alone and moved around a lot, but … I don't see it in him."
"Anyone can kill", Brennan said, discarding her intuition.
"It's an odd note", Booth said. The little piece of paper had left him feeling rather uncomfortable.
"It's an odd note indeed", Dr. Wyatt said and handed it back to Booth who took it rather unwillingly. "I think this will be most interesting, there is probably more to that boy than meets the eye. I've seen something like this before."
"Seen what, exactly?" the British agent asked.
"I think you should question him before I say anything, it might confirm my theory. If I'm wrong it is better if my theory isn't spoken at all", Dr. Wyatt said.
Booth nodded. "Fine. I'll go in."
He opened the door towards the interrogation room and walked in. The boy did not visibly react on him entering. It wasn't until Booth sat down opposite him that he looked up. His large brown eyes were shy and they only met Booth's gaze for a minute before fluttering back down again.
"Ryou Bakura?" Booth asked, "will you talk to me?" He had the odd feeling as if he was talking to a small child, or perhaps someone who had gone through something highly traumatic. Ryou at least acted like something horrible had happened.
The albino nodded. "Yes. I'll talk." His voice was raw from crying.
"Have you seen the pictures?" Booth asked and pushed the file with the pictures from the crime scene closer to Ryou.
"I don't have to. I know what it looked like", he said, his voice hardly louder than a whisper.
"You mean you were there?" Booth asked. He wondered if the kid was aware that he was more or less confessing to brutal manslaughter.
The albino shook his head. "No. I saw it later."
Booth frowned. "There are no other pictures than these", he said, "How could you have seen it later?"
"He … he showed me. He wanted me to see it. He knew …" Ryou's lower lip started to tremble again. "He knew it would hurt me to see it. They were my best friends, my only friends … and now … He wanted to hurt me. I made him mad."
This was a new twist. "Is he the one who killed them?" Booth asked, just to set it straight.
"I think so … yes. It must have been. Yes. Yes, he killed them", Ryou said, doing his best not to cry. He carefully pushed away the pictures. "I don't want to see it again. Please."
"You don't have to", Booth said, confused. He took the file from the table and put it under his chair instead so the albino would no longer feel threatened by it's presence. "Who is he, Ryou? How could he show you?"
"He … he's evil", Ryou sobbed, failing not to cry. "He lives here." Ryou put a hand over his chest, on the spot where his celiac plexus was. "He hurts me, all the time. Yugi knew, they all knew, but they didn't care. They weren't scared, but I was."
Booth was utterly lost. He had dealt with insane people before, but he never felt comfortable and in this situation it was very hard. At least it explained the note. "What do you mean, he hurts you?"
Ryou's hands were chained together, but for the little movements he needed to make he could move enough. To Booth's great surprise he started to unbutton his shirt, the agent wondered if he should stop the child, but he didn't. What he saw utterly shocked him, him and the three who were watching the interrogation. Ryou was wearing a golden ring with an Egyptian symbol in the middle, from the ring hung five spikes. These spikes had literally found their way under Ryou's skin.
"I can't remove it. I've tried, I try often, but it doesn't work", Ryou said. "He gets mad whenever I try." He showed Booth one of his hands, that showed an ugly scar. "He hurts me when I oppose him."
Booth would not admit it, but this was making him feel sick. The scar on the hand was one he was vaguely familiar with, soldiers who's hands had been pierced with knives had similar scars. The albino gripped the ring but Booth stopped him from pulling. "Don't! Not right now. We'll remove it later, when we can take proper care of you."
Ryou let go. "It's no use, anyway. It'll just return. I've thrown it away so often, but it keeps coming back."
"Does he live in your ring, Ryou?" Booth asked, trying to understand. This might turn into a very interesting trial, he almost felt sorry for the boy. Had it not been for the ring Booth would have thought that the boy was acting, but no person in their right mind could do something like that to themselves with such accuracy.
"Yes, and no. He lives in my soul, but through the ring. I don't remember the things he does, I have gaps in my memory. Sometimes he talks to me, he calls me Yadonushi."
"What does that mean, Ryou?" Booth asked, who knew no Japanese at all.
"Landlord", Ryou said. "He says I only have one reason for existence, to serve him, that I only live for one specific day, but he refuses to tell me what it is. I'm scared."
"You said that Yugi knew. Did they all know?" Booth asked. He wondered how anyone would choose to be friends with a person as crazy as this, because that was what he had to be. Booth didn't doubt that he heard voices, the teenager couldn't have faked all this, but he was definitely insane.
"Yes. He's tried to harm them before, but I managed to protect them. They had faith in me and I saved them from harm. He got mad, that's why he did this." He stroke with a single finger over the scar on his hand. "He doesn't feel pain like I do, that's why he can do this. They weren't scared of me, instead they were kind. They really were good people."
"Did others know? Has he tried to hurt other people before?" Booth asked. He wasn't really sure what he was asking anymore, these kind of interrogations were more Sweets or Wyatt's department.
"I think so. I didn't know about him yet, but … Before I moved to Japan I played a game with a few friends. I'm not sure what happened, but they ended up in a coma. I transferred schools, it was after Yugi and his friends helped me to defeat him that they woke up."
That was something substantial, they could look that up. He was certain that someone already was on it. "Do you recall their names?" Booth asked and without hesitation Ryou named them.
"Why did you write that you did it?" Booth asked. "I saw your note."
"I feel guilty. I know it wasn't really me, but I can't help feeling as if I should have been able to prevent it, to do something about it." Ryou looked down at the table with a frown. "I didn't even know he had done it until I saw it on the news. I only knew a few days were missing from my memory."
Booth inquired for the dates of those days and it didn't surprise him that the eight days missing from Ryou's memory were the four days before, the day during and the three days after the murder took place.
He asked the boy more questions and the more answers he received, the more confused he got. Whatever the case was, in his unprofessional opinion Ryou was insane … and he was feeling immensely sorry for him.
"Ryou", he said during the end, "we can now prove you did this. I can't let you go home now, you realize that, don't you?"
"If I go home now, agent Booth, he'll kill me", Ryou said and smiled the saddest smile Booth had ever seen. Two men in police uniforms took the boy away, he took every step carefully and Booth realized why, the boy did not want to hurt himself further.
He quickly returned to the room where Bones, Wyatt and the British agent were waiting. As soon as he closed the door behind him the British agent asked Dr. Wyatt: "Was he faking it?"
"No", Bones said before the psychiatrist could give his opinion. "A person is not able to do something like that to their body, not without passing out."
"I agree that every word this boy said was the truth. At the very least, his truth", Dr. Wyatt added.
"So he's insane. We'll go to court, he'll plead insanity and ends up somewhere in an institution where he spends the rest of his days", Booth said, not at all pleased with the solution.
"In my professional opinion that boy is not insane", Dr. Wyatt said calmly, to everyone's surprise. "He's scared, but definitely aware of what is going on. I believe that the voice in his head is really there."
"Are you thinking about Dissociative Identity Disorder?" Bones asked and both agents lost thread of the conversation at once.
"Yes, maybe. But a very special one, in that case, normally people with DID can't communicate and are normally fairly normal people, all of them. This is far more interactive and violent. Psychologists and psychiatrist around the world would give a limb to examine this boy. It's important that no matter what happens from now he's kept under close watch, primarily to enforce his rights and protect him both from the voice in his head and others."
"What's the best possible scenario?" Booth asked.
"There are no good scenario's, agent Booth. We'll have to talk to the voice in his head, somehow. If it's like I think we'll just have to be patient for that possibility to arise, but that can take years. This boy can't roam free as long as he is this dangerous but he'd never last in prison, while at the same time every psychologist and psychiatrist can tell this boy is not crazy."
"So he'll go to prison?" Booth said.
"Not necessarily. There is no judge in this world that would give him capital punishment. It is a prison for the criminally insane he'll end up in, even though Ryou Bakura really is completely innocent in that case. Those aren't nice places", Dr. Wyatt said and shook his head.
"How did it get there?" Booth asked, "the voice in his head, I mean. Did he create him himself?"
"Perhaps, although it seems unlikely. The mind would create a personality that makes the world around us easier to deal with, the other personality in Ryou Bakura's case only makes it harder for him, enjoys inflicting pain on the person he even calls his host. This comes actually closer to demonic possession than any mental disease I've ever come across. This case is unique", Dr. Wyatt explained and sighed as he looked at the monitor that now showed an empty room.
"Perhaps it's the devil", Booth sighed, because after all, the boy had talked about it as if he was possessed. Had he not claimed the being resided within his ring?
"That's ridiculous", Bones said quickly, "there is no such thing as the devil."
"You still believe that, after seeing all of this?" Booth asked. Bones opened her mouth to reply, but Booth raised a hand to make her go silent. He had just seen the devil's work and he did not want anyone, especially Bones, to tell him that what he had just seen was impossible.
Having wasted all my inspiration on the story all I can say is: Review!
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Dammit, I haven't found a title yet!