A:N/ Ok, if anyone's inquiring about the sudden shift in moods throughout the chapters, it's because I've decided to change the whole storyline of this as it went. You see…it started to be as an angst/horror fic, then I decided to make it a humour/romance fic but I couldn't be bothered to rewrite the whole thing. A drastic change indeed…
And by the way, yes, this is meant to be humour…but I daresay quite a few Ryou fangirls won't find it so! Insane and amused laugh Anyway…yes, I've also decided to now make this my first official Yaoi fic!! beams Though the yaoi-ness isn't going to sink in until later chapters…
Ok, this introduction's kinda boring and doesn't contribute much to the storyline, so you can skip it and still understand stuff.
It's just basically how the OC comes in and stuff…
This fic is dedicated to Krystal, Hiruni and Shaz! Heheh…
The darkness hugged her tightly and teased her eyes. A tiny speck of light from the streetlight was the only thing stopping her from being in complete darkness. Footsteps echoed from behind her. She quickly whipped around, but the direction of the sound stopped, and started again from her back. She was about to turn around and face the sound again, but suddenly the footsteps came from all around her, confusing her. In front of her, a silhouetted figure formed. It reached out a hand, blazing with a warm red aura. The figure somehow made her feel safe, even though she had no idea who or what it was. All while this was happening, the mysterious footsteps continued to ring out louder than ever from every possible direction.
Suddenly it happened. Her mind just collapsed, gave way. The darkness swirled round and round, the light wasn't light anymore, and she wasn't sure if the sound of the footsteps she was hearing was sound. She felt dizzy and tired, yet awake, and stood motionless as her world around her mutated wildly. Suddenly the craziness dug its way into her core. A wave of unseen pain attacked her, and she found herself screaming, screaming with insanity. Her head felt like it was going to erupt. She clutched it to suppress the pressure, but her touch didn't feel like touch. She didn't know what anything was anymore. As traumatizing as it was, she knew all to well that this was how it was like to be eaten up by insanity.
Trying hard to fight against it, she focused her eyes ahead into the nothingness. What she saw didn't make sense to her; it was dark, pitch black, yet it was bright; completely blinding. It was plain, yet speckled and dusted with the most peculiar colours she had never seen before. They weren't blue, red, green, or any of the other colours she had seen, in fact, she weren't even sure if they were colours. But if they weren't colours, what were they?
So, this is what insanity looked like. She stopped screaming, but somehow she was still screaming all the same. Another surge of emptiness hit her straight in the stomach, and she was rendered breathless, gasping for air, screams ringing in her ears.
Suddenly these unbearable images vaporised in a flash, and Lei found herself jerked upright in her bed, drenched in sticky sweat, her eyes wide and mouth open, gasping for air. She sat stunned for a few seconds, her mind blank with fear as she tried to regain her consciousness. It was just a dream, she thought, as the visions and feelings of the dream replayed in her mind.
"…Just a dream," she hissed softly, trying to reassure herself, however she could hardly hear herself over the sound of her heart pounding loudly in her ears. She turned her head and looked at her clock to distract herself. Bright red numbers displayed 6: 57am against a black backdrop. Lei sighed as she rested her head in her hands and rubbed her face awake. It was a bit early to wake up from her planned 7:30, but after that dream, Lei doubted she'd be able to get to sleep again, and if she did, she'd probably oversleep anyway.
She sighed as she turned and lifted her legs off the bed and over the side. She looked at her room. It looked different somehow, the colours seemed more exaggerated, or maybe it just seemed bigger. Lei ignored this; she was use to things like this happening to her. She had a strange mind, and a vulnerable mental health.
All of a sudden, a sharp, high-pitched ring screamed from behind her, making Lei jump. For a few seconds, she thrashed about frantically trying to figure what it was that had startled the clam silence, but after she calmed down, she realised it was her alarm clock warning her that it was now 7:00. Lei threw a hand on top of it to shut it up, before staring ahead and wondering why she had set it so early.
A groan escaped her lips as she remembered why she had ordered her alarm clock to ring prior to its usual time: it was to be her first day at Domino High.
Lei had recently moved to Domino with her family, leaving her past life and friends behind. Lei didn't mind leaving them, in fact, she was quite glad she had left. As good as they were to her, she knew they thought she was weird. She personally couldn't blame them. To put it in a nutshell, it was safe to say that Lei was insane. Her mind worked strangely: one day, everything would be fine, the next she would be subjected to hallucinations, paranoia, fainting spells, heavy feelings of anxiety over nothing, and various other unexplainable acts. Sometimes it would be that she saw everything differently, slightly magnified or warped, or sometimes she would just break out in a confounding fit of screaming. It wasn't fun, or funny, as some kid once had said. It was painful. And the insecurity Lei felt each time she fell into insanity's grips just helped it grow more and more, poisoning her already battered mind.
It all started when Lei was about twelve, when she was walking along a newly constructed brick wall that was not yet completed. Lei didn't know that though, and she slipped on a loose brick and fell off, hitting a part of her head hard. The hit rendered her unconscious, but it did a lot more than that.
Lei sometimes found it hard to cope with her insanity, but tried her best to hide it from the others. She usually did a good job off it, trying to overcome and ignore her fits of dizziness and pretending that she was stable, but sometimes it was just too strong, and it would just all lash out. Her friends understood this, or at least, acted like they understood, but Lei knew deep inside they were afraid of her, afraid that her insanity was contagious, and indeed, it was.
Many people had left her because they felt that they would become like her: purely insane. In fact, everyone who got extremely close to her at one time had slipped into light insanity. All except for her parents, who weren't that exposed to it, as Lei somehow felt a lot more secure when she was at home.
Now, by going to this new school, Lei could start a new. Not that she'd expect her insanity to be cured; it was just she hoped that someone would understand for once, instead of being afraid. She didn't have high hopes, yet she didn't have no hope either.
With a final tried yawn, Lei bounced off her bed, pulled up the blinds, and searched for her new school uniform. Her head swirled and zoomed in and out as she searched, but she ignored it. Finally, she found it tucked under some of her other clothes. Lei wasn't a neat person, as neatness was the least of her worries.
She frowned in disapproval as she stared at the pink shirt that went with the blue skirt; a girly colour combination she would never have worn on her own will. Nevertheless, she had no choice, she reminded herself as she lazily slipped it on.
Lei fastened the button of her skirt and stepped back, looking at herself in her full-length mirror. Her sleepy blue-grey eyes stared back at her as they saw herself dressed in the new school uniform. Her black, layered hair messily rested over her back and shoulders, looking frayed and wild from a whole night of tossing and turning. She reached for a brush and ran it through the strands, trying her best to tame it. Soon it became much neater, and Lei scooped it up into a short ponytail before securing it with a plain black band.
Her school uniform hugged around her reasonably thin frame, making her look like a typical schoolgirl. It looked half ok after all, she guessed as she slipped over to the bathroom. Her mind throbbed gently as she walked into the room adorned with new pearl-white tiles. Her mother was an architect and was quite fascinated by designing the house, and recently had the bathroom re-decorated. Lei grabbed her toothbrush and hastily brushed her teeth and washed her face, dismissing the idea of a shower.
Suddenly her mother's voice echoed up the hall
"Yenalei!" She yelled, "Are you awake yet?"
"Yes!" Lei yelled back with a sigh. Her parents and relatives were the only ones who called her by that name, Yenalei. All her friends and others called her either Yen Lei or Lei. It was a name she had thought of in year six and adopted the following year when she left for high school, when her insanity started. It was suppose to be Chinese for 'tear', something that Lei thought she could strongly relate with even though she wasn't Chinese. She may have had a bit of Japanese blood in her, but most of her was American.
Soon Lei had consumed her breakfast and ran back to her room to retrieve her schoolbag that she had packed the previous night. Lifting one strap over her shoulder, she slowly bounced down the stairs into the living room, the common feeling of anxiety accumulating in her stomach.
Sooner than she had hoped, she felt the car pull up at the front of Domino High, and Lei slipped out of quickly. She slung her bag on her shoulder as she slammed the door shut firmly and traced the path to the school. She stared down at her watch. It was 8:15, something that told her that the bell should be going soon, as Domino High started a lot earlier than her previous school. Sure enough, seconds later a shrill ring let itself loose through the school and there was a rush of students to get to the assembly area.
Lei, however, ignored the crowd and found her way to the office. She walked up to the counter and rested her arms on it, sticking her head in the open glass window. A woman caught her eye and dropped the pen she was scribbling with. Lei smelt heavy perfume radiating off her as she approached, making her feel slightly faint.
Not now… she told herself in fear of another dizzy attack. Still, she stared up at the woman who beamed a toothy smile at her
"May I help you?" she asked. Lei returned her smile
"Yes, I'm a new student enrolling this year," Lei said. The woman turned her eyes to the computer screen that sat next to her
"Your year?" she asked
"Ten," Lei replied
"Name?" the woman asked as she typed in the detail Lei had just supplied her with
"Um…Yenalei Shouru," Lei said as the woman continued to type
"Very well," she said as she left the computer and filed through a few papers on her desk before drawing out a solitary piece of paper
"Here's your timetable," she said with a smile. Lei took it with reluctant fingers and studied it
"Your first class is in room 7, which is just around the corner there," the lady said pointing as she saw Lei's perplexed expression
"Oh, thanks!" Lei said as she walked out casually.
Soon Lei found herself amongst a crowded sea of students brimming with first day of school spirit.
Look behind you she heard a voice say. Lei whipped around, but none of the students met her eye. Damn, the voices, they're back. Lei thought as she continued to flow down the river of students, all laughing at each other as they made their way to their classes. Laughing at her. No, not me Lei thought as she reassured her sanity.Soon Lei found herself at the foot of the classroom the woman had directed to her and stepped through the door into a classroom full of fellow year 10 students, all chatting away. The teacher, a tall, thin male with close cut brown hair almost immediately saw her as she entered
"Ah, you must be the new student, Yenalei, right?" He asked her
"Yes," Lei replied. The teacher smiled
"I'm Mr. Kelito," he said with a smile, without moving from his spot in front of the blackboard, "Just take a seat somewhere and I'll start the class shortly," he added. Lei smiled, even though she still felt foreign. She turned and scanned the class for a free seat. She found one next to a brunette girl with hair just above her shoulders cut quite squarely and clean.
Lei drew a seat and plonked herself onto it, throwing her bag onto the desk carelessly. She begun to unpack, hearing the voice of the girl as she conversed with three other guys seated in front of them
"Hi there!" a voice sung out to her that almost made her jump. Lei whipped around and saw the brunette had torn away from her conversation and was now smiling at her
"You're new aren't you?" she asked. Lei nodded
"That's great!" she said happily. Lei personally didn't know what she was so excited about
"Welcome to Domino high! You'll like it here, my name's Tea Gardner," she said bouncily. Lei returned her smile
"Well, my name's Lei," she said, feeling sightly odd about this stereotypical introduction.
Tea looked as if she was about to say something when the teacher paced in front of the blackboard importantly
"Ok, that will do for now," he said as he held up a hand before dropping it slowly
"I'll now call out the roll. Answer clearly when I call you name." He said before holding out a clipboard an arms length away
"Kitty Acely," he announced in a clear voice
"Here!" pipped a girl's voice from the other end of the classroom. Mr Kelito continued to call out the names in the same manner, motioning his hand in a tick or a cross as each person sung out their voice of existence
"Tea Gardener,"
"Here!" Tea said happily
"Yenalei Shouru," My Kelito said, marking Lei's queue to speak
"Here, but please call me Lei," Lei said quickly. The teacher hesitated
"Alright," he said, before writing something down on the roll. Lei assumed it was just a reminder or something. Mr Kelito took the pen off the paper and continued to read out names
"Yugi Moto,"
"Here," a quite voice that came from in front of Lei called. Lei's eyes traced the direction of the sound to find a small, spiky haired boy sitting next to a blonde and another boy with dark brown hair, spiked up in a high cone; the most amusing way Lei had ever seen.. Mr Kelito said another few names before he replied
"Tristen Taylor,"
"Here," the cone-headed boy said. Another few names were called and answered back like an echo
"Joey Wheeler,"
"'ere," The Blonde one said lazily with what sounded like a new yorkish accent. Soon Mr Kelito had finished scanning the class for the ones present and the ones that were not, and folded the roll over before throwing on his desk
"Welcome to your first English class," he said importantly, "Before we get started, most of you should know my standards by now, and that I'm not going to take ANY bludging in my class!" He seemed a lot stricter than Lei had first expected.
She soon learnt that he was as good as his word. Throughout the whole lesson, Lei never had once second of a chance to strike up a conversation with anyone, even Tea who sat right next to her. Mr Kelito constantly kept the class busy with comprehensions and tasks, hawking them carefully while they worked and snapping at anyone who dared to make a sound.
Soon the bell rang and Lei found her head straining to keep up with the swarm of words attacking her mind. With a gasp she gasped and jammed her sheets into her book carelessly before slamming it shut. Rasing from her seat, she grabbed her bad and threw it on the desk before ripping the zipper open and stuffing her book and pencil case in
"Come with us during recess," Tea offered
"Yeah, come join us!" the little boy, Yugi, said. Lei wasn't quite sure
"…But…" Lei hesitated. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to make friends so quickly, but then she thought that it would be best for them not to know about her insanity until it was too late.
"So, tell us a bit about yourself!" Tea said. She seemed quite talkative. Lei hesitated
"Um…" she began, but stopped
"Like, um, what kind of sports do you play?" Tristen asked, seeing Lei struggling to get off the mark. This didn't help her much
"Well…I, use to be a swimmer," Lei said nervously
"Use to?" Yugi asked
"What happened?" Joey followed. Lei sighed; she knew that if they were to end up as her friends, they'd have to find out eventually anyway. She took a seat on a fallen tree trunk next to Joey
"It's hard to explain," Lei said
"Spill," Joey mumbled as he dipped his hands into his bag. Lei sighed before scrunching up her eyes and turning away. Before she could stop herself, she went on about her story of insanity, how it all started, what happened, and what it all was. The story took no longer than five minutes, but all the time Lei could feel her newfound friends eye her in disbelief
"…So that's why I quit swimming. Once it got so bad I seriously almost drowned myself. It was horrible; I couldn't even tell which way was up or down, or what to breath: air or water" she said as a supporting statement to conclude her explanation.
There was a silence that Lei wished would go away. Soon she couldn't take it. Lei glimpsed at everyone. They looked speechless
"That's quite interesting!" Yugi finally said optimistically. Lei tried to smile, but failed
"It's such a burden. I don't know what I can do when I go insane, I can't control myself at all," she said, picking at some grass bellow her. Yugi frowned
"I wish I could do something to help," he said sympathetically as Lei's recount of her insanity ran through his mind
"Don't worry, I guess I'm use to it," Lei said casually, not wanting to seem like an attention-seeker
"Well, thanks for tellin' us Lei," Joey said as he wolfed down the last of his recess
"Yeah, so we'll know what to look out for," said Tea, now sounding like the protective leader of the group. Suddenly before anyone could get another word out, the bell rang to signalise the end of recess
"We have History next," Tea said, more to herself than anyone as all five of them packed. Yugi pulled out his timetable, which the others knew would be exactly the same as theirs, and motioned them towards room 21.
Lei found the rest of the day easier to cope with, now that she had people to call friends. The rest of the day sailed past without Lei being forced to execute any acts of insanity, which she was quite relieved about. Things turned out much better than Lei had expected, for the first day anyway. Her friends didn't seem one bit scared about her disability, yet they didn't really seem to understand it either.
Oh well. Lei thought. It was just the beginning.
The loud bell ran itself through the school for the last time that day, and the rumble of excited students eager to get back home was compressed inside the corridors. Lei smiled as she packed her bag for the last time
"So Lei, how are you going to get home?" Tea asked. Lei opened her mouth to say that her mother was picking her up, but her subconsciousness told her something wasn't right. Lei lightly grimaced as she remembered that her mother gave her the instruction to walk home that day, as she had some kind of business to deal with
"I'm walking home today," Lei finally replied, subconsciously retracing her route that was told to her the other day
"Oh, damn," Tea said, "I was wondering if you could've come to the shops with us"
"Yeah, it'll be great if you could come Lei!" said Joey
"Just us five!" added Tristen. Lei bit her lip lightly with guilt, before a small voice interrupted
"Wait guys, I can't come either," Yugi suddenly said, looking up from his bag
"Huh?" Tea exclaimed, looking a bit disappointed
"My Grandpa asked me to take some packages from the post office for him, you know, the new cards he ordered. I'm so sorry…but, I just remembered it then" said Yugi, his large eyes wide with guilt
"What?!" Joey cried, looking shocked, "But Yugg, ya have to come!"
"Yeah, you know, it wouldn't be the same," Tristen said as he threw his bag over his broad shoulders. Yugi shook his head
"Sorry, but Grandpa said it was really important and I understand," he said as he lightly propped his bag on his back
"Damn, oh well. Thanks for tellin' us by the way," Joey joked as the five of the strode out of the now empty classroom
"Sorry," Yugi said again. The five of the walked slowly out to the entrance of the school, conversing casually as they went
"Well, guess we'll see you tomorrow then," Tea said to Yugi and Lei
"Yeah, bye," Yugi replied as everyone waved goodbye to him
"Bye Lei!" the group sung out to their new friend. Lei smiled and waved goodbye, when suddenly a dark aura struck her.
Her head felt like it was expanding, and her vision was growing darker. With a small gasp she quickly turned around and power walked away, eager to get away from her friends before the insanity attacked her again.
It was after her, the darkness, it wanted her: dead.
Run! Run! Run NOW! A voice screamed at her inside her head. Lei hesitated, but picked up her pace, trying to get as far away from everyone as possible. She heard a ring start up in her ears, soft at first, so soft she could hardly hear, but soon it was nothing less than a scream.
Lei cupped a hand to her forehead, trying to ignore it. She felt herself getting dizzy and her vision becoming garbled: the darkness was taking over her.
RUN LEI! RUN! Run before it's too late! The voice commanded her. Lei, taking no chances, clasped her hands around her ears and started to run blindly as fast as her body would allow her.
I can't! I can't run! She told the voice I don't know where to go! I can't escape!
There was no reply. Lei felt tears coming to her eyes as she felt her feet pounding on the concrete path, causing an occasional jolt in the screaming. Lei looked ahead to see where she was going, and was relieved to find she had somehow kept to her homeward route. The screaming continued in her mind. Lei shut her eyes and saw darkness engulfing darkness. She quickly opened then again in a flash
I can't escape! Where do I go? There's nowhere to hide! She thought frantically as she scanned the area with her eyes to find somewhere to take refuge
The darkness The voice replied as Lei saw herself heading into a dark alleyway that was still part of her route
Hide in the darkness. It said.
Lei did not see the logic in hiding from darkness in darkness, but obeyed the voice. She sped into the dark alleyway, turning to avoid a lost shopping trolley as she entered. As soon as she ran in, her legs stopped running. A scream escaped her lips as she felt herself go numb and collapse onto the cold asphalt, struggling for breath. Her heart beat fiercely against her chest as she lay there, waiting for the insanity to forsake her.
Slowly, the screaming diminished and her stability returned. Lei sighed a heavy sigh as she could feel herself coming back.
Lei rolled over and sat herself up. She could feel the sweat dripping over her and her hands, flat on the ground, cold and numb. The darkness was somehow calming to her, yet unnerving. It was good to know that Lei would be home soon, home, away from insanity.
She knew it was no good just sitting there; she had to get going. Lei got to her feet and dusted herself off, thanking the voice for directing her. She put her bag on her back again and began to make her way out of the alleyway, her head feeling much lighter.
Suddenly, just as Lei was beginning to feel calm again, something grabbed her by the shoulders. Lei, still slightly tense, let out her loudest scream before thinking of what she was doing. The thing that grabbed her did not hesitate; it twisted her around and with amazing force threw her away. Before Lei could even finish screaming, she felt a gigantic thud against her back and found herself wincing in pain against a wall. Something trailed down her lip: blood. She must have bitten herself or something on the impact, which was subdued by her bag, but nevertheless, it still hurt.
Lei immediately panicked. This was not insanity; even Lei knew this was real. Though she was almost immobilised by the pain in her back, she forced her head up to see her attacker. The sight made Lei scream again.
A:N/ Ok, well I've decided to completely change the story, as I said before. Hehe…I shall now have a bit of fun toying with things… …hehe. Anyway, please review! Flame! Say hi! Tell me that you exist! I don't care! Just do something!!!!!