Pain
By Sapadu
I hereby challenge other fanficcers to do something similar.
Go on- I dare you!
YGO
Rishid looked up as he heard something like a small footstep behind him. Knowing fully who it was, he turned.
The young master had just entered and was staring at the small shrine to his mother- Rishid had just finished paying his respects, as today was the day of her death.
It struck him, then, that this was, by default, the date of Master Malik's birth.
Malik didn't seem to be aware that Rishid was in the room- as a matter of fact, he wasn't even looking at anything, except for staring, blankly ahead at the memento of the mother he'd never known. She'd died giving birth to him, they'd said. It had been her life in exchange for his, they'd said. But what did it all MEAN?
Malik had almost never felt any kind of emotion towards this supposed woman who had given her life to bring him into this world. He didn't know how- he didn't even have any indicator to tell him what she'd looked like...
There was a knife on the shrine. It was barely sharp- more for a ceremonial or symbolic purpose, but still sharp enough to cut... a little.
Malik lifted the blade from the altar, turning it over in his hands, contemplating it.
The other day, he'd snarled out loud, in a heated argument with his sister that he wished he'd never been born. Isis had become uncharacteristically furious when he'd said that, striking him across the face and shouting that their mother had suffered so much to bring him to life- how dare he treat that blessing with any less than the most solemn respect.
Suffering? Did he really know the meaning of the word? He'd only experienced little physical pains- falling and scraping his knee, stubbing his toes, burning the very tips of his fingers only briefly as he got too close to the fire...
But "Suffering"... it seemed to imply some kind of pain that he couldn't even imagine. Did he really know what it was to feel pain... compared to this "Suffering"?
...Maybe he did...
Because, for some reason, he did feel it. He didn't know why- there wasn't anything wrong with him, technically- but Malik still felt something, deep inside his chest that stabbed and tore and seared inside him. Was that what Suffering felt like? Or was Suffering something else?
It was for that reason he was playing with the knife, toying with the idea of cutting himself- maybe to test if Suffering felt anything like what he did, or maybe to actually put himself through this Suffering so he didn't have to remain isolated from the pain everyone else seemed to feel.
But he couldn't- Malik was too scared.
"Malik-sama..." Rishid finally said. Malik's hands paused, and he didn't get a chance to actually cut himself. Malik's head turned and his wide, lilac eyes met those of his adoptive older brother, both of them expressionless.
Rishid silently took the knife from Malik's hands, giving him a long, but blank look. There were circles under his eyes- Malik hadn't been sleeping, then...
"...I wanted to know... if it would hurt to cut myself..." Malik explained, as though that should have been obvious. Rishid didn't react, so Malik continued, "...Because... I don't really know what it's like to feel Suffering... I was just thinking if it felt like cutting yourself..."
Rishid patiently replaced the knife on the shrine, only half listening.
"...Rishid..." Malik finally said, drawing his full attention.
"What is it, Malik-sama?" Rishid replied.
Malik blinked, then asked, smiling sadly,
"Rishid... is it possible... is it possible for a person to be cut open on the inside... even if they don't bleed?" He asked. Rishid blinked for a moment, then replied in the most clinical manner he could.
"Sometimes- if their organs don't work right... it's called 'Internal Bleeding'."
Malik stared a little longer, then looked away.
"...Is it serious?" He asked. Rishid nodded.
Almost out of instinct, one hand went up and clutched at the front of his robe, fingers clenching over his chest. Rishid's eyes widened, and Malik turned his gaze down.
"...Can anything be done?" Was Malik's next question.
Rishid stared at Malik for a long time, before he reached up and picked up the knife that lay on the shrine.
It was barely sharp- more for a ceremonial or symbolic purpose, but still sharp enough to cut... a little.
Rishid made an incision deep into his littlest finger and Malik gasped in shock as he saw blood begin to drip from the little cut.
"Yes, Malik-sama... something can be done... for you, at least..." Rishid said, quietly. Malik looked at his brother's face.
"...Rishid?" He asked, hesitantly.
Rishid looked up from the cut on his finger and met Malik's eyes.
"Malik-sama... I will find a cure for the pain you are feeling... even at the cost of my own blood." Rishid said, solemnly. Malik was staring in utter shock at those words, but as a moment passed, it faded.
Without another word, Malik's tiny hands gripped Rishid's wrist, pulling his hand close, promptly pulling the little finger into his mouth, cleaning the blood off and waiting for it to heal.
A/N: I had this truly messed up dream of Chibi-Malik cosplaying as Chibi-Gaara from Naruto. And, to be frank, how can you NOT see the resemblance? So, I wanna see more people going with this! Please?