Jaazi: This is just…an idea that struck last night due to my blasted insomnia.
DJ: (smirks) I for one, like it. It's the first fic she's written that isn't about romance!
KK: (pouts) I like romance! Hmm, I might convince Jaazi to sneak some in to this fic.
DJ: (glares) No. Absolutely not!
KK: (giggles) We'll see about that!
Summary: Ryou Bakura has been accused of insanity. But is he really insane? Or are people just to afraid to handle the truth? This is his 'insane' story; the truth that the doctors refuse to see...
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh…
Psychosis is in the Eye of the Beholder
A boy, about seventeen years of age, was sitting on his cot in the middle of the gloomy room, with a dazed expression on his pretty face. The room had no adornments. The walls were bare except for a barred window and a glass panel. The glass panel was similar to a car's windshield, in that it would not shatter when hit. It also allowed people to see the boy without him being able to see them in return.
The boy had emerald eyes and snow-white hair. He was rather pale, but not unhealthily so. He wore an unbound straitjacket, the sleeves reaching past his knees. His name was Ryou Bakura, patient number 2899. The Domino Institution for the Mentally Unstable has just recently received him. His father hadn't known what else to do about his son.
To say that the boy was hurt would be the understatement of the year. Ryou felt hurt, betrayed, and filled with a great sadness. He had told his dad everything, the whole truth, hoping beyond hope that he would believe him. Ryou's father had been incredulous, it also didn't help that Ryou tried to stab him to death shortly afterwards. But it wasn't his fault! He had told his father why these things happened and he didn't believe him, his own son! Now, he was confined in this…supposed asylum. He was trapped here for something he had no control over, or should we say someone he had no control over.
Doctor Kay walked down the hall that led to her patient's room. Dr. Kay was fascinated by this case. The boy was an obvious schizophrenic, but his story seems rather similar to the stories of two other boys. She let herself into the room where her patient was being kept. She eyed the boy warily. All the other doctors who have tried to speak to the boy has come out doubting there own sanity. Apparently, this boy had a way with words, or at least 'one' of him did.
The boy had been sitting on his cot, staring at the wall with glazed eyes. He had the slightest frown tugging on his lips. He shook his head as if to rid something from his mind or to say no to something. The boy's green eyes came into focus and landed his gaze on the newcomer. He smiled gently at her.
"Hello. You must be my new psychiatrist. You look rather young, you must be new to this whole thing, huh?" the boy said softly, slight amusement laced into his voice, "I'm Ryou Bakura. You are?"
"I'm Dr. Kay. So, Ryou, you seem rather…" she trailed off, uncertain of what word to use.
"Not blood thirsty and homicidal?" Ryou giggled. Dr. Kay blinked.
"Talkative, you seem rather talkative today." Dr. Kay corrected. Ryou giggled childishly and shrugged his shoulders.
"I figured out that psychiatrists like it when their patients talk to them willingly. So what do you want me to tell you?" Ryou said amiably.
Dr. Kay was surprised. This boy didn't seem mentally unstable at all. In fact, he had to be one of the sincerest, kindest, gentlest souls she'd ever met. Dr. Kay filed this bit of information away in her mind for future reference.
"Tell me why you think you were brought here, if you want that is. We can talk about something else if you're uncomfortable with the subject," Dr. Kay said kindly. Ryou beamed at her.
"I think I have an idea of what you want to know. But before I can tell you that, I have to tell you what led up to this," Ryou gestured to the room and his straitjacket, "I'll tell you my story. From beginning to end."
Dr. Kay nodded cautiously; her patient was being very cooperative. Maybe a little too cooperative.
"Very well, start when you're comfortable."
"Before I start, I want to know one thing. Why do I have to where this straitjacket if it's not even going to be tied up?" Ryou asked curiously. Dr. Kay was taken aback by the question.
"I…I think you know the answer to that question," she replied. Ryou nodded in understanding.
"You're right," he said wistfully. He fiddled with the sleeves, trying unsuccessfully to bring the long sleeves up so that he could see his hands. After a couple of minutes of trying, he gave up and just wrung his hands together, in spite of the bothersome sleeves.
"Just to let you know, I'm not really insane. All I say is true, even if you don't believe me. I've resigned myself to you people; nothing a 'crazy' person says can be true, right? It's odd, before everything I said had to be true, because little innocent me would never lie. But now that you've classified me as insane, nothing that I say can be trusted. All because I decided to say the truth. It's rather ironic really, when I used to lie, people believed me, but now that I say the truth people don't believe a single word of it." he chuckled.
"Anyway. My story. When I was younger, I was a very quiet child. Kind, polite, and studious. My younger sister, Amane, was exactly the opposite. She was loud, cheerfully so, and rude when offended or defending someone, mainly me. She had long dark hair, like Father's, and dark brown eyes. I loved my sister. Then there was Mother, she was like me, or rather, I am like she was. Quiet, kind, and compassionate. Very gentle, she had white hair like me, and her eyes were more blue than green. My father and Amane were very similar. He had this loud booming laugh that just made you want to laugh along with him. When I was ten, Mother, Father, and Amane went out shopping. They invited me along, but I was never one to go out much, so I decided to stay home.
"A little while later, I received a phone call. It was my father. He was calling from the hospital. Apparently, they had been in an accident. A car ran the red light and crashed into the side of their car. The side that had been hit held both Amane and Mother. They were rushed to the hospital. But they died from severe blood loss and damage to the head. I cried for weeks afterward. I didn't deserve to live, Amane and Mother did. They were good people that lit up the lives of those around them. Me? I'm invisible, nobody cared if I was there or not.
"Father was never the same afterwards. He stayed away from home, going to every possible dig site he could, he was an archaeologist, it was his job. But he jumped at the chance to leave home, to leave me. I reminded him too much of mother, he didn't like to be reminded of either Mother or Amane, so he left me alone and buried himself in his work. I never had any friends other than Amane, so I was dreadfully alone for two whole years.
"On my twelfth birthday, Father actually remembered to send me a present! I was so happy he remembered me. He was at a dig site in Egypt at the time, and he had found this Egyptian item that he thought I would like. It was a golden ring, no, not a ring that goes around your fingers. No, it was a golden ring about seven inches in diameter. Inscribed in its center had a triangular shaped pane of gold with the eye of Horus at its center. Dangling from the ring itself, were five gold pointers. Ack! Why should I describe it to you? I can just show you, can't I?" Ryou giggled.
He closed his eyes and with his thumbs and forefingers, he made a circular shape in front of him. All of a sudden, a pale golden glow formed in the exact shape as Ryou had described. The glow became stronger and stronger until, finally, it became a solid golden ring. The ring that Ryou had just finished describing. Dr. Kay gasped. That wasn't possible! It couldn't have appeared out of nowhere! It went against all logic and several natural laws! She was seeing things…yes that was it, no, wait! She wasn't delusional! She was very sane, thank you very much! Ryou chuckled at her shocked expression.
"Don't look so alarmed! This little bit of Shadow magic won't hurt anyone! Actually, that's not entirely true; but I'm getting ahead of myself. Would you like me to continue my story?" Ryou asked sweetly.
"If you wish, Ryou. I-I don't want you to feel forced or anything," She replied shakily. Ryou laughed softly again.
"No, of course not. Don't fret, you've reacted the same as every other doctor has. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. I had just gotten this Egyptian item. It's called the Millennium Ring. One of the seven Millennium Items. Among others, there was the Puzzle, the Rod, the Eye, the Key, the Necklace, and the Scales. Each can do something special. My Millennium Ring can bring Duel Monsters to life and start Shadow Games. Also, it can be hidden from view from enemies or just people in general. It only reveals itself when the owner wants it to, like now.
"The strange thing about it though, is that only one person can wear it. If anyone other than it's rightful owner puts it on, it'll kill that person. Trust me, I've seen it happen. Well, my father sent it to me, saying that he thought it was meant for me. He had no idea how right he was. The minute I put it on, I could've sworn I felt another presence in my mind. I shrugged it off at first, but then the five pointers suddenly infused themselves into my flesh, and I felt an immense pain. I tried to take it off, but it wouldn't let me. Finally, after what seemed for eternity, it detached itself from my skin and went limp again."
"You do know that's not possible Ryou. It must have been all in your head." Dr. Kay tried to reason. Ryou just shook his head in an amused fashion.
"Now, now, Doctor, don't interrupt. The feeling of another presence in my mind increased. I thought I heard a voice in my head too, but I ignored it. When all of this first started, I thought the same way you did. It couldn't be possible, I thought. I went into denial. I eventually forgot about the other presence. That is, until strange things started happening. I would black out at times and when I came to, I would have several pretty trinkets of gold or silver. Sometimes I would even wakeup with daggers and other assorted sharp objects. I went deeper into denial and hid all of those objects away. Of course, I heard whisperings in my head, but it wasn't clear enough to make out what it was saying, so I blamed it on lack of sleep. I had been feeling tired lately even though I went to bed early and got enough sleep.
"The thing that finally made me realize that it was real was when I invited some friends over to play Monster world, I was about fifteen at the time. I blacked out in the middle of the game, when I came to, I found out that my friends were in the hospital in a coma and their figurines looked oddly conscious. That's when he first appeared. He looked like me, only different. His hair spiked messily everywhere and his eyes were slanted and a deep bloody red color. His canines were far sharper than mine too. He called me yadonushi. Landlord. It was his pet name for me.
"His first words were ''Hello, Yadonushi. Did you like my gift? I granted your wish, now your friends will never leave you'' He smiled at me, holding up a figurine of one of my friends ''It's about time we met, wasn't it yadonushi? I have been giving gifts for a long time now and never once you noticed me. You never noticed that your tormentors were driven insane or killed or avoided you. Never once asked why. Never once said thank you for all of the pretty shiny things I got you, my yadonushi''."
"Ryou, this is what's commonly known as a Multiple Personality Disorder or MPD. You developed an attachment towards your Ring, because it was the one time that your father doted on you and you created this…person, as an attempt to get rid of the loneliness inside of you. If you ever want to leave this place, you have got to let go of this…imaginary friend of yours," Dr. Kay once again tried to reason. Ryou looked at her as if she were a disobedient toddler and shook his head, innocently, at her.
"Silly, doctor! You'd better stop interrupting and saying those mean things about him! You're getting him rather upset, and it's in everyone's best interest to keep him happy, you should know that by now. Moving on.
"As it turns out, my Millennium Ring housed the spirit of the evil tomb robber from Ancient Egypt. He was known as the King of Thieves. He was trapped into the Ring, unwillingly. I was his chosen one, his vessel, reincarnation…his hikari. Light. I was born to bear this Item. He was insane, he killed for fun and tormented me for the sheer pleasure of seeing me cry. He said he wanted to keep me happy." Ryou stopped suddenly. His eyes glazed over and a rather eerie smile adorned his face.
"He wants to speak with you now. He said he's not happy with the way your treating him, us. He wants you to hear his side of the story and his opinion of you too!" Ryou giggled insanely.
Dr. Kay shifted nervously in her seat. She had seen other patients before, but none had given her the chills such as this one. She watched as the boy closed his eyes once again. His hair rose and spiked itself in odd, chaotic angles and a smirk was twisted on his mouth. When he finally opened his eyes again, no longer was there the wide, gentle, innocent, green eyes. They had been replaced by narrowed, slanted, blood-red eyes; eyes that shone sadism, malice and cold harshness.
Dr. Kay heard a sharp intake of breath and realized that it had been her who made that sound. This was not possible. She had seen patients similar to this before. People suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder aka MPD could change personalities to 'become' completely different people. But they could not change their eye shape and color. They also couldn't unexpectedly spike their tame hair into wild angles.
She had to be seeing things. Yes, that made sense, more sense than anything else did anyway. But then that would imply she was hallucinating which would imply that she was insane. But she is completely sane, right? She was normal and sane, wasn't she? She wasn't so sure anymore…
"Hello, mortal," the not-Ryou said in a cold, hard tone, "You are our new doctor? We've told the others before you that we are not insane. Well, Yadonushi isn't, I can't guarantee the same for me," his smirk widened.
"Those who know me call me Bakura, I, of course went by a different name back in my time. But that is not what is important at the moment. What's important is that yet another person doubts my dear yadonushi's sanity. I am getting very tired of this. I tried to protect my yadonushi. But, I got sidetracked.
"You see, a few weeks after the incident my yadonushi mentioned before, we moved here; Domino, Japan. I was alright with it, I never liked England in the first place. It was much too cold and dreary for my tastes. In never rained that much in Egypt. When we went to school, we met a few…interesting people, for me that is. To Ryou, they were just new people. Yugi Motou and Seto Kaiba, they both reminded me strongly of Pharaoh Atemu and High Priest Set from my time. But what amazed me the most, is that the shrimp, Yugi, had the Millennium Puzzle hanging around his neck. The same Puzzle that the damned Pharaoh used to wear.
"I hate that damned Pharaoh for reasons I don't care to explain at the moment. It took all my self control to not take over yadonushi's fragile body and throttle the shrimp right there and then. I attempted several times to kill that Pharaoh and get his Puzzle. Each time, I hurt my yadonushi more than the last. I was blinded by my hate towards the Pharaoh and forgot all about my yadonushi. Dear, dear, yadonushi. The Pharaoh hated me also, for hurting yadonushi. My yadonushi lost what little faith he had in me, trapping me in my endless darkness.
"Over time, I tried to get the Puzzle. On the way, I had trapped yadonushi into his favorite card, the Change of Heart. He really looked rather pretty as the Change of Heart…pretty wings, that described him perfectly, half demon and half angel. Just like us. I was temporarily separated from him because of that idiot Tristan Taylor. But thankfully, my Ring has the ability to locate its owner, so I was soon reunited with my precious yadonushi.
"Then there was the time I met up with Malik. I agreed to help him with his plan of becoming ruler of the world as long as I was able to keep the seven Millennium Items. I had to stab myself in the arm for Malik to gain the trust of the Yugi-tachi, or Yugi and his band of idiots. Needless to say, it worked.
"Then in the duel with Yami, the shrimp's spirit of the Puzzle, also known as the Pharaoh, during the Battle City Finals, I put my yadonushi in danger. I did this to prevent from losing my soul to the Shadows once again. Before Yami could attack Ryou, I came to my senses. My yadonushi, his soul, my body, was about to be hurt. Yadonushi's soul would not survive the Shadows, so I took his place and got sent to the Shadows, for the time being. I survived, as you can see. If cherished yadonushi's soul had been sent to the Shadows, he would've been shattered and driven insane. But I'm a good yami, a good Darkness, I protected my adored yadonushi." Bakura voice lost a little of his rough edge.
"You seem to be very attached to…Ryou. You keep using words like dear, precious, and adored. Do you, er, have feelings for…him?" Dr. Kay decided to play along and pretend that there were two people instead of one. Bakura looked at her strangely.
"I am a thief, tomb robber, and king. I am very possessive and I treasure all that I own. Yadonushi is mine. I do not share what is mine. I grew up having few things, so with the things I do have, I do not let them go. Besides, I need his body in order to at least have a half-life. It's better than being trapped in the Ring's darkness for eternity. My Light, mine. I prefer to be with my Light than spend another 3,000 years trapped in darkness. He saved me from darkness, he deserves to be exalted; he had the power to chase away the darkness, when even I couldn't." his empty eyes shone with a crazed undiluted idolization.
"So you think of him as a…savior? A god?" Dr. Kay questioned. Although Ryou seemed sane enough, Bakura, on the other hand, was the epitome insanity. Bakura had a wild grin on his face at Dr. Kay's comment.
"No…not a god…a savior, my angel…I am very sinful, I desecrated tombs and temples just to defy the gods of my time, I got punished with eternal darkness and emptiness. He banished the dark, in return I banish his loneliness. I am a good Dark, a good yami, aren't I yadonushi?" Bakura turned to face someone on his side.
Dr. Kay gave a startled squeak. She had been so focused on Bakura, she never noticed someone else had joined them. But…the other person wasn't even solid! He was barely visible. The most evident feature was his bright green eyes. It was Ryou!
"Yes Bakura! You are the best yami ever! You're my best friend, and you never left me. Not willingly. And you always came back to me when others took you away!" Ryou giggled childishly, sounding more like a preschooler than a teen.
"But…he was…and then…" Dr. Kay babbled nervously, frenzied eyes darting from the intangible Ryou to the solid Bakura, "It's not possible! You two…you're supposed to be the same person! A-and ghosts, spirits...not real…ridiculous…not…"
"Oh, dear!" Ryou exclaimed, mildly amused, mildly worried, "Doctor! Are you alright? Maybe you should lay down on our cot. It's not made for luxury but it'll do the job. Bakura, I do believe we've frightened our doctor!" Ryou giggled manically.
"It would seem so, yadonushi. I told you not to tell them anything, mortals these days cannot handle the truth. It frightens them," Bakura stated, eyeing the stunned doctor as if she were some sort of scientific specimen to be studied.
Ryou walked up to the doctor and wiped her brow with ghostly fingers. The frightened doctor edged away. Ryou drew back as if hurt. He frowned and his eyes welled up tears. Bakura growled, a shadowy purple-black smoky substance beginning to enshroud them. The Ring glowing all the while.
"She…doesn't l-like me," Ryou whimpered and huddled close to his yami. Bakura advanced on the incriminating doctor who had dared hurt Ryou. He wrapped his hand around the doctor's neck, drawing her close.
"You will be nice to Ryou. You will let him comfort you. And you will listen to him. Understood?" Bakura snarled.
"Y-yes," stuttered poor traumatized Dr. Kay.
Bakura gave her a feral grin, "That's a good doctor," he said pleasantly, releasing the grip on her neck. He stepped back and both Ryou and Bakura closed their eyes. Instead of a spiritual Ryou, a spiritual form of Bakura replaced him. In Dr. Kay's opinion, he didn't look any less threatening transparent than he did while solid. Ryou was once again inhabiting his body. Wide green eyes shone with gratefulness.
"Thank you, yami!" he giggled happily. His personality really was that of a child when it came to his yami. Bakura smiled at him and nodded as if to say 'don't mention it'. Ryou walked up to his doctor again and lay a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Bakura did tell me to keep quiet. But I didn't listen and even when I disobeyed his better judgment he wasn't angered with me. He even tried to keep me from being locked up here, by attempted to kill the only person who could send me here. He tried to kill my father for me. To keep me safe. Wasn't that sweet of him?" Ryou asked cheerfully. Bakura beamed at the praise he received from his savior.
"Now, doctor, I want to ask your opinion of something. I've learned some things during my stay here, before I tell you the moral of my story, I need you to answer something for me. Are insane people really insane? Or are they just the people who see things as they are? It's seems to me that mad people see the truth, but they make the mistake of telling others it. They wanted to warn others and get some compassion. But the sane people were so scared of facing the truth, they lock up the only ones who could possibly save them, branding them as unstable, outcasts. So, am I insane? Or are you the insane one?" Ryou asked, in a child-like tone.
Dr. Kay stammered. Who was the insane one? Were they insane or was she the crazy one? Dr. Kay clutched her head. No, she was sane! Because these things went against all logic, they're the ones who believed it, not her. She was perfectly sane. She wanted to be sane! She shook her head.
"If you were listening to our story closely, you'd have learned something very important," Ryou said as if he were teaching some important life lesson to a child, "What was the moral of our story?"
Dr. Kay didn't answer. Mostly, because she didn't know the answer. She was in shock of what was happening. Ryou pouted. Why was she ignoring him? He sniffled pitifully, causing Bakura to rush to him protectively.
"There, there, yadonushi. This mortal is just dense," Bakura comforted, as Dr. Kay numbly rose up and walked stiffly towards the exit.
She willed herself to go faster, but it was as if her body refused to cooperate with her brain. As she walked out, she heard their whispered conversation. One particular comment was heard above all of the others.
"The moral is: Psychosis is in the eye of the beholder."
The man known asDr. Atadero stood on the other side of the glass pane. He watched the entire session between Dr. Kay and Ryou Bakura. He did not understand why Dr. Kay was now gibbering nonsense. She was acting like an average mental patient. He glanced back at patient #2899.
The patient's green eyes were concentrated on the spot next to him. He was talking to himself, just as always. There was no red-eyed, wild-haired spirit or Ring as Dr. Kay had babbled about. She claimed to have seen the two of them switch bodies, sitting side by side, one in spirit form and another in corporeal form. Dr. Atadero shook his head sadly. He had seen none of the things she had claimed to have seen. The entire session he had just seen Dr. Kay, and quiet green eyed Ryou. He heaved a disappointed sigh. Another good doctor lost to patient #2899.
END
Jaazi: O.o I have no idea where this came from. The idea had struck me in the middle of the night, which might explain a few things…
DJ: I kinda like the idea of a mildly insane Ryou, bwahaha. It's funny.
KK: Well, if you squint your eyes and tilt your head to the side a bit, you can see some mild tender shipping.
Jaazi: Review and tell me what you think! (thinking) Hmm, maybe I should make one of Malik and one of Yugi…nah, I don't think I could…
DJ: You should try. If they (points to potential reviewers) ask for it, you'd try, right?
Jaazi: Of course!
KK: REVIEW PLEEZ!