Ill at Ease (Disease)
By Alecto Perdita
Rating: PG
Based on the flavors provided by the 52 flavours community on LiveJournal
Posted: January 12, 2009
Email: alecto . perdita (at) gmail . com
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh is the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi, and is being used in this fanfiction for fan purposes only. All situations, opinions and characters not belonging to Kazuki Takahashi are the intellectual property of Alecto Perdita.
- Lord of a Fell People -
16.
Do not raise your voice against me, I am not afraid of your
anthem although the lyrics are still bleeding from the
bark of my sapless heart.
During lunch, Ryou found himself following Honda and Jounouchi from a distance. He would wait several yards away from the door of their classroom and well, stalked them down the stairs and out the main doors before his better sense usually got a hold of him.
He would stand stupidly in the doorway and flush with embarrassment as people behind him would complain.
"Geeze, what's with this guy? He does this every freaking day!" Someone griped as they shoved him aside.
Sometimes he found himself in similar situations after school had ended, where everyone on the street would stare at him as he rushed to weave and duck behind lampposts to avoid detection.
Ryou had honestly never felt so stupid before in his life.
But at times, he couldn't help himself.
He learned a lot those first few weeks- mainly the finer points of stealth. Honda and his friends were different than the other delinquents at school. They didn't do it for the power, fear, or money. They were different from his brother Ryo, who got into trouble for getting into trouble's sake. They were as Ryou first suspected: real men of real principles.
The idea shook Ryou's world to its core and he became unable to ignore them.
He suspected it was because they were everything he was not…
When he stumbled into the apartment late one evening, his brother looked away from his video game and said, "Wow, you're later than me."
Ryou suppressed the urge to correct the older boy. Instead, a familiar anger resurfaced as he remembered a talk with one of Ryo's teacher. "So much for trying harder." He mumbled loudly.
"Huh?"
"I saw your homeroom teacher today. She says you missed the last week of classes." He snapped.
"Oh that, I just didn't feel like it. You know how it is, I'm not going to learn anything anyway. I'll go back in a few days." Ryo shrugged.
He felt his ire raise at the sight his brother's nonchalant attitude. "I'm so sick of this. I'm sick of moving around. I'm sick of seeing no one but you every day."
His insides froze at the thought of never seeing Honda again, but the fire of his rage continued to burn.
"I'm sick of you ruining everything, and I'm tired of you holding me back! I wish you were dead."
And Ryou would be finally free of the vestigial stump of a family that should have fallen apart years ago.
When his brother looked up at him, he immediately turned away. He could still feel Ryo's glare burn into the back of his head.
"So you finally grew the balls to say it," Ryo said. "Congratulations, little brother. By the way, I'm sick of dealing with your self-pitying bullshit too."
He listened as the other boy got up and moved out of the room, followed by the sound of a door closing.
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