A/N: Inspired by a drabble I did, illustrating what would happen if my sociopath!Kida/Alibaba did "fall" for Kougyoku and marry her. This pretty much contains bashing of Alikou (because no matter what, I'm sorry, a psychopath/sociopath and an empath cannot be in love without it being emotionally draining on the empath) and also, a lot of the things he says to her in canon sound like prime manipulation things. Especially the way he praises her 24/7, it's almost creepy. Frankly, I'm more creeped out by people who smile 24/7, there's something wrong there.

Rated for domestic abuse, sociopathy, manipulation, etc. Some dark themes, but nothing too graphic or gory. Mostly just mental and emotional abuse. If you've never read the book the Perfect Husband, I highly recommend it. It's sort of an inspiration for this idea.'

Chapter 3: The "Perfect" Marriage, Like Destiny Smiled Upon Us (A lie encased within many lies)

Kougyoku let out a loud sigh as she happily arranged her hair in the mirror, looking herself over, to make sure every last inch of her was perfect. After all, she wanted to look nice for their wedding. Her wedding, to the perfect man.

It all seemed like a dream.

The red-haired girl sighed, looking up at the ceiling, only to jump slightly, as the door opened and her husband-to-be entered it, a smile on his face, a beautiful smile of the kind he always gave her when he saw her. The way he only had eyes for her made her heart go aflutter.

He had been the best thing to have happen to her in her short life.

"Kougyoku, there you are. I bet you're scared, huh? This is a big day for me, and you, of course. We're both nervous. But just make sure to smile widely and everything should be fine." He said cheerfully, grinning like he always did. He liked playing jokes.

Alibaba was a kind, cheerful and good-hearted person.

He came over to her and ran his fingers through her hair, hugging her from behind. "You look beautiful..." He whispered, "I'm so glad this day is coming. I never dreamed I'd find someone who is so much like me. Kougyoku, you make me the happiest man in the world."

She let out a content sigh and came closer to him, enclosing his lips in hers. He pushed her lips away and made contact first. "It's my turn to make you happy." He whispered to her, as he ran his fingers along her dress, touching the fabric.

"Oh, Alibaba-"

The door opened and Aladdin appeared, startling both of them.

"Aladdin, don't bother us!" Alibaba snapped.

Aladdin jumped. "Sorry, I just..."

Upon seeing the little pervert get that desire again, Kougyoku slammed the door in his face.

"Why must he be like that?"

He laughed slightly. "He's just that way. He likes you in his own strange way."

"Not like how you like me, right?" She said, touching his arm.

He smiled back at her and laughed, and they laughed together.

Ah, to be with a man this loving, kind, and warm...she truly was lucky.

She recalled how she'd been sad and alone after Sinbad had rejected her...only for her to find a kind and understanding soul who understood her, understood the pain she went through.

His smile and his kindness had taken her by storm.

Then he'd offered to be her friend-no one had ever done that before.

No one ever did that.

Conventional wisdom would hold that most girls not form instant relationships with people they just met, but Kougyoku was young, desperate. She grabbed the first hand who looked helpful enough.

Little did she know exactly who she was marrying.

She loved his smile, his laugh, his jokes, the way he was so good at protecting her, his charm.

Everything about him was so...perfect. She hadn't met a better man in years, and she doubted that she ever would.

When she came outside, Aladdin was standing there, staring at her. "Kougyoku-oneesan, you must know...Alibaba-kun's not perfect. Please don't be afraid of him."

Kougyoku blinked. Why would she ever be afraid of him?

"Of course I'm not. He's the one I love."

"Are you sure you won't come to regret it?" Aladdin asked.

"Regret...how dare you say such a thing to me on the day of my wedding!" She fumed, reaching for her hairpin, but her fiance arrived, gently brushing her hand aside.

"What's going on? Who started the fight?" He asked.

"Aladdin just said...he just said that I should regret marrying you!"

"Aladdin's just jealous, aren't you? Don't be ridiculous, I wouldn't marry her if I didn't love her, now, would I?" He said, flashing Aladdin his warmest smile and ruffling his hair.

Aladdin frowned slightly before backing away a little. "If you're sure, Alibaba-kun."

"Of course I am, just trust in me!" He said, as he walked away, leading her with him.

"That's the one thing I can't do...because, Alibaba-kun, I know you. What you told me..."

The reception was perfect. Everyone was there, Hakuryuu, Morgiana-chan, they all came and delivered her good wishes. Her brothers were there as well.

"Saluja, I hope you'll take good care of my sister." Kouen said.

For some reason, Alibaba-chan's face changed, from happiness to a sudden wariness. His grip on her hand stiffened slightly before his face relaxed.

"I will! Don't worry about it! Come on, Kougyoku, let's go try the cake!"

She frowned, glancing back at her brother, who looked stony-faced.

"I hope he makes you happy." Kouen said.

"Of course he will!" She said. "You're just mad because he doesn't have a goatee like you."

Before her brother could retort, she walked off to the reception.

The reception was beautiful and fun, everyone sang, danced and did a lot of fun things.

Alibaba-chan was the center of attention as he swung her around in his arms.

That night, when they came back home, he collapsed onto her bed and lay there.

"Alibaba-chan, are you asleep?"

"...No." He muttered, "Go away."

"Are you tired?"

"From earlier? Yeah. It was fun, but I think I'm gonna be sick." He muttered.

She laughed. "Can we have some...some other fun?" She whispered.

His smile turned sly. "I thought you'd never ask, princess."

For the next couple of months, things were normal.

He was happy and cheerful with her, jocular even.

But as time went on, he started acting differently.

It all started with a ring.

She put the ring Alibaba had given her on, he'd given it to her when he'd told her how incredible and cool she was. Her eyes sparkled at the memory.

"What are you doing?" Alibaba asked, though it sounded more like a command than a question.

She stiffened. "Just...thinking about the day you gave me this ring. Where did you get it?"

He replied fast, "Oh, well, I just found it, dropped on the ground."

"Oh." She said, "You called it cool and such because you thought I was cool."

"Huh? What are you talking about? I don't remember that happening. You must've made it up in your sleep or something." He frowned at her. "You sure you're not still sleep-talking?"

"But you, y-you did give this to me! I remember it, clear as day."

"Okay, I did. But, it's kinda ugly, now that I look back at it. Why not just let me get you something better? Something pink, to match your hair."

Her face flushed scarlet. "Well, it's yellow like your hair..."

She didn't expect his face to turn ashen, but it did. He stiffened slightly.

"What?" He said. "It's gold. Not yellow."

"Well, gold and yellow are the same shade-" She said.

"It's a gold ring, Kougyoku. Please don't say that again." He said icily.

She froze, taken aback by his sudden anger over a color. Was he nuts?

His face softened. "Don't worry, Kougyoku. I'm not angry with you. I'll just get you something better. How about a ruby?" He kissed her hand.

In that instant, all questions in her mind dropped.

She must've been misremembering it.

When she returned to her room, she found the ring missing.

It was gone.

Her eyes widened. She knew it had been there.

"You took it!" She cried, coming at Alibaba, as he was sitting on the throne, examining his nails in boredom.

"Took what? What are you saying so early in the morning?" He muttered.

"You took the ring! Remember? The gold one! It's gone, I put it back in my room!"

"Calm down and retrace your steps." He said suavely, "Close your eyes."

"But-what?"

"Close your eyes." He ordered.

She did so and when she opened her eyes, a gorgeous ruby ring was on her finger instead. Her eyes widened.

"Y-You did buy it, like you said you would!" She exclaimed.

"Yes, I did." He said, "Anything for my Empress."

"So where'd the other one go?"

He sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't continue on about this. I found it like this." He held up the mangled remains of the ring. "Torn up, like someone ripped it up."

"Who could do that? That's cruel!" She cried.

"Don't worry, it's just a ring." He said, waving his hand dismissively.

Next, she found that he'd become awfully cold toward her emotionally.

"Hey, Alibaba-chan, do you want these flowers?" She asked, holding some out and trying to place a flower crown on his head.

He winced slightly. "No thanks. Give them to Aladdin. I'm busy with some paperwork." He did indeed seem to be busy with some sort of paperwork.

"But I just wanted to give these to you-"

His eyes narrowed, and he quietly dropped his pen before standing up, staring at her with a look she'd never seen before. "Please, Kougyoku, just...just leave. Right now."

"But why?" She asked, coming toward him.

She didn't expect her hand to be slapped away by him, but he stared at her, backing away slightly, panting. "Go out...stay away, Kougyoku. Stay away."

"But...Alibaba-chan?" She asked, "Are you feeling sick?"

He suddenly slammed his fists on the table. "LEAVE, KOUGYOKU! I TOLD YOU TWICE NOW TO FUCKING GET OUT!"

She jumped, both at his sudden vulgarity and at his sudden anger. Where had this come from?

She felt afraid, all of a sudden.

"But I'm concerned about you-"

He looked at her, and in his eyes, she saw a sudden look of desperation. "Please...just leave, for now, Kougyoku. That's all I ask, give me a little time, and then come back later...probably in like...half an hour. Go for a walk or something."

He pushed her out the door despite her protests and shut it in her face.

She stood out there and pounded on it, but he did not answer.

She fumed as she stormed outside. "What was with him?"

"Did Alibaba-kun get mad?" Aladdin asked, suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

"I don't know...he suddenly got all upset and hurt, so I tried to make sure he was okay, and he pushed me out of the room."

Aladdin's eyes narrowed. "Oh, that. You just need to avoid Alibaba-kun when he gets like that. You can't help him, he has to help himself."

"But I want to help him!" She cried.

"You can't help him with this battle, Kougyoku. Trust me, it's something he fights, alone. He cares about you. That's why you're out here now."

"But what's going on with him?" She asked, "Has he fallen? Is he cursed? Is he sick?"

"Kougyoku-oneesan, if you're happy with things as they are, stop worrying." He said.

She frowned. She was going to find out the truth on her own.

As she stormed out into the woods, she relaxed slightly. That is, until she noticed something. Something shiny sticking out from the ground.

She picked it up, it was another half of her ring.

She looked around and then she spotted something in a clearing. She wandered closer to it.

She resisted the urge to vomit when she saw what was before her.

There were...bits and pieces of insects, glued to the trees, their wings torn apart, their legs sewn onto each other, their bodies smashed into pieces...insects of all kinds, were just mutilated all over the trees. On this tree, and on this one, and on this one, too.

Her heart jumped in her throat. Who would do something like this?

She looked up, and paused.

There was a dead animal hanging from a tree. She didn't know what it was, but it was clearly dead and decaying. There were no wounds on it at all.

Then, her mind flashed back to something she remembered Alibaba-chan doing the day she first met him.

"What are you doing?" She asked. He was jumping down on things and moving around.

"Messing with bugs. They're fun to kill."

Her hand went to her mouth in alarm.

Perhaps this was her brother's place?

Alibaba-chan would never do those things...

"So, I see you found this place, Kougyoku."

It was Alibaba-chan's voice, and it was cold and icy.

She was in trouble. She turned around to see him, "Um, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

"I see you found this place..." He muttered, eying the remains of the insects. "It's interesting, isn't it?"

"Interesting?" She asked.

"See, I arranged them in these different patterns, here. They're fun to squish and to kill. Oh, that? That's just one that was already dead."

"Are you..." She began, backing away from him. "Are you insane?"

"I'm not insane." He said with a straight face. "Kougyoku, this is how I control myself. Insects aren't worth anything, why should I care if they die? I have this part of me I absolutely loathe and dislike...but it's a part of me, so I have to give in sometimes."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Listen and don't interrupt me." He said softly, sitting down on a stump. "I'm a sociopath."

"What?"

"I cannot feel guilt or empathy or remorse or anything close to that. My whole life, I've been struggling to understand those things, but my brain...my brain is programmed differently from yours. So...so, sometimes I get the urge to do terrible things. Simply terrible." His voice was flat the entire time he talked.

"What do you-"

"I married you...to attempt to run from those demons. To attempt...to be normal. To hide. But tonight, it seems those demons have come out. I can't hide." He muttered.

"What are you saying? You're lying!" She cried.

"That's my true face. A liar." He said cheerfully, "I've been lying to you since I met you. I've been watching over you, watching every movement you make, every emotion you make...trying to figure out how to replicate it. In a way, marrying you was a test. To see, if I could let go of those things and try to be like you, or if I would fail. It looks like I failed."

He looked very lonely, she noticed, very lonely and empty. His whole figure looked empty.

"You mean...you love me, right?"

He laughed, flatly. "Oh, I do love you."

She smiled.

"I love you in the same way a child loves his toy."

Her smile fell.

"What-"

"I love you, cherish you, feed you, help you, and such. In return, you love and care for me. To me...to me..." He paused, trailing off, "To me, people are...well, people appear like those little toy puppets. Pull one string, they do one thing, pull another, they react another way. But at the same time, I'm totally unlike them, I'm not a puppet, my strings are snapped and I'm the one trying to pull them around so I can get to the top, so I can get free."

"I'm your puppet? You don't see me as a human being!" She cried.

"Please, Kougyoku. Look, I know you're a human being. I know you bleed. I know you weep. I know humans aren't puppets from what's in here-" He pointed at his head, "rather than what's down here-" He pointed at his heart.

"I don't have empathy, Kougyoku. I don't have it. So I can theorize that you're in pain, but I cannot physically feel it or understand it. I love you in the sense that you mean a lot to me, you've done things for me, you've paid me attention, you've made me feel like I belong, you've given me something to look forward to...but to be honest, I don't completely love you the way you do me. If you hadn't noticed, my thinking is all selfish. My mind is only focused on myself, my ego. People only exist to serve me, to be there for me. It's how I think." He sighed.

"You're like Sinbad!" She cried, "You lied to me!"

"Emotions. I can't comprehend them. Yes, I lied. Everyone lies, Kougyoku. Your brother lied to you, he forced you into a marriage with a person you barely knew. Koumei lied to you, he used the people of Balbadd, Kouha lied to you, he's a murderer. Hakuryuu lied to you."

"Quit minimizing!" She cried, "You hurt me!"

"How did I hurt you? I let you be happy for a long, long time while I wasn't. I let you believe I loved you instead of pushing you away. I tried to make myself believe I loved you, I tried to pretend. All I can do...all I can do with this warped mind of mine, is pretend." He said.

"Pretend?" She asked.

"That's right. In order for me to get by, I had to watch others, to understand what it was I was missing, what I was lacking in life. So I fit in, I mirrored others, I imitated them and in a sense, it became real to me. I can feel some emotions, but most are more detected than felt. The happiness you gave me...was temporary for me but more permanent for you, for instance."

He smiled wanly. "I'm not sorry for not telling you about Zepar, even though I know I should be. I can't process guilt. So I can say it, if you like. Just know it's insincere and I'm a dick. I've always been a selfish dick." He said.

"You...you!" She cried, starting to cry.

He paused. "Stop crying..."

"No! You hurt my feelings and now you're just making excuses!" She cried.

"I truly can't feel what you feel, Kougyoku. I wanted to, I really wanted to. On the one hand, I love you. But on the other hand, I'm annoyed by your naivete, by your quick temper, by your kindness, by your good. I love you and hate you. That's the sociopath's love. It's not a pure, undiluted love. It's a twisted love that is selfish to the extreme." His voice cracked and he looked at the ground.

"I feel disgusted with myself. I'm just...not like you. The story I told you about my parents being dead was a lie. They are dead, just not in that way, though. See, my mother abused me...she abused me until I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't, anymore. I couldn't connect with others anymore. I was suddenly all alone in the world. Do you have any idea...how terrifying my mind is? It's just me, all alone...with no one else around. I perceive only my own existence. Others come and go, but I'm forever alone."

Her eyes widened. "That's horrible-"

"My mind became the way it is thanks to my mother's neglect and abuse. She hated me and filled me with hatred for others. My heart is shattered and taped back together, Kougyoku. It's a hollow heart that barely beats at all. I tried to reach out to others, but each time, I was rejected. I grew up in a different world from you...another universe. Then the worst happened."

His eyes grew icy again.

"What? What happened?" She asked.

"I was...beaten to near death by some thugs. Betrayed by everyone I care for, I lost everything. Then I was all alone here in this world, away from everything. At that time, I lost the capacity to care about anyone other than myself. But eventually, I was just willing to let myself die. I was only thirteen."

She tried hard to picture a lonely thirteen-year-old, screaming for help, and shuddered.

"I stole, I lied and I fought others. But then I found Kassim and he guided me. For many years, I've been living a lie, trying to make it real, but I can't. I hate myself deeply, you see. I'm just pathetic and a liar. So I think that's why you should stay away from me. We shouldn't be married any longer. I'll just hurt you."

"You're not a monster! You're not!" She sobbed, flinging her arms around him. "You just...you just didn't know what was right! Don't blame yourself! I was naive and I should've known you were in pain and helped you!"

He pushed her off him. "We're better as friends, Kougyoku. So, can we please...split up? Just for sanity's sake? I shouldn't have bored you with my sob story." He said.

"No, I liked listening..." She said, "You're a good person, even if you are different."

"I almost became my mother. That is the last thing I ever want to be. And, as for yellow...I used to be part of a group that wore yellow. That's why I hate it."

She frowned. "I'm glad I understand you better now." She said, hugging him.

He hugged her back. "I'm sorry I used you."

"I'm sorry I didn't understand you. I guess we really aren't the same, then." She said.