Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Crazy for you ❯ Fire ( Chapter 6 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
A/N: Hiya everyone! Chapter five of Crazy for you!
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Over the course of the week, Ryou couldn’t stop thinking about Ishtar Ishizu. He was worried about her because of what happened with her brother and he also wondered if Mariku was completely lost to them, if he could be cured. There was only one person he could ask about his condition but he wasn’t the easiest person for Ryou to approach. Mr. Akishima held the reputation of bit of a mean person and Ryou had some first hand experience why. He had this ‘cut the bullshit’ and ‘strait to the chase’ attitude that got the respect of other’s but also made him stay distant to most people. Of course Ryou had no idea of the nature of his personal life so he tried not to make any rash assumptions.
As Ryou was walking towards his teacher’s office, he rethought his decision of going to see him. He felt uneasy and wasn’t quite sure that he didn’t catch a cold when he ran in the rain, several times actually. It had been raining all week and he had somehow managed to loose his umbrella. He had no idea where it was and had yet to buy a new one. Ryou did got a new cell phone though; he had defied the nasty weather and went to buy a new one. Being the child of the modern cell phone era, he just couldn’t get by without one; it was his only contact to the outside world.
He paused for a bit before knocking on the door, secretly hoping that the teacher wasn’t there, then he could just go home and forget this for a while. But no such luck, Akishima called him in.
“Hello, Mr. Akishima. Do you have a minute?” Ryou asked, peaking in.
“Yes, but make it quick.”
“It’s about Ishtar Mariku…”
“Again? Listen, Ryou. I really don’t want to talk about him and if you want to change him or-.”
“No, no, it’s not that!” Ryou interrupted rather rudely, or that’s what Akishima thought if something could be concluded from his facial expression. “Actually, you see I just met his sister, Ishtar Ishizu and I’m kind of worried about her because her brother’s condition must have been quite shocking to her.”
“So you want to know if he can be… cured, correct?” Now his teacher was a mind reader too? Wonderful…
“Well, yes actually.”
Akishima rubbed his temples and for the first time Ryou took notice that his hair wasn’t as neat as it normally was and that he looked paler than normally.
“His condition is… difficult. We tried different types of therapy and medication but nothing we tried worked. He has deemed to be a lost cause more than once and no one has tried treating him after us. I don’t think he’s ever going to get back to the way he once was.”
“Oh… I see. So there’s nothing that can be done?”
“I appreciate your concern and I’m sure Ms. Ishtar does too but I don’t think you should bother yourself with other people’s problems. If you still want to, which you do without a doubt, here’s Ms. Ishtar’s phone number; she contacted me earlier about her brother. Call her if you want but don’t get too sucked in.” He handed Ryou a slip of paper with the number on it and Ryou just couldn’t believe his luck. What were the odds?
“…Thank you.” He said and started to leave but stopped before going out. Ryou turned back to his teacher. “Mr. Akishima? Are you alright?”
“Now what did I just tell you about worrying about other people’s problems?”
“Sorry, I just… You don’t look too good. Are you sick? Maybe you should rest…”
“Domestic issues. Don’t worry about it, I’m sure you have enough problems of your own and if you happen to run out, you can always borrow other’s.” Akishima said with the corner of his mouth curled up. Ryou wasn’t quite sure if he was making fun of him but smiled back anyway before leaving the office.
…………………R 30;…………..
Back at home Ryou had a small “domestic issue” of his own. With so much rain and no umbrella, he was running out of space to dry his clothes in. He had clothes on the back of chairs and other places were clothes weren’t meant to be kept and his apartment was looking like a total mess.
“Oh great, what am I supposed to do?”
After living alone so much, Ryou had taken the habit of talking to him self. It was raining again and his sweater was all wet. He started to dig a place for it to dry in from the amount of clothes that were already lying around, hoping to find some that were dry. He did eventually find some dry ones but they were dirty and needed to be washed.
“And were am I supposed to dry my laundry in?” He seriously considered renting an apartment, or a room, just for his wet clothes. “That would cost too much…” He mumbled while throwing his dirty clothes in to the laundry basket.
After solving a part of his problem he dug out the phone number Mr. Akishima had given him and dialed the number on the small piece of paper. It beebed a couple of times before a female voice answered.
/“Ishtar.”/
“Hello, it’s Bakura Ryou. You are Ishtar Ishizu, right?”
/”Oh, Ryou. Yes, I’m the only female Ishtar by the way.”/
“Ok, how are you?”
/”Fine, fine… After what happened with… my brother, I just realized how horrible older sister I am.”/
“Your not horrible, what happened wasn’t your fault and Mariku, well, he wasn’t in his right state of mind.”
/”He will never be in his right state of mind again…”/
“Don’t say that. I’m sure-.” Ryou started but was interrupted by Ishizu.
/”That he’ll get better? Hah! According to his patient record he will never be… sane, again. According to his psychiatrist he will never be the same again. The staff of the asylum say that he doesn’t have a sane brain cell in his head! How could he possibly get better, you tell me!”/ Ishizu’s voice was raising as she
spoke and she was yelling at the end of her ramble. Ryou truly felt bad for her.
“Please calm down, Ms. Ishtar.”
/”I told you to call me Ishizu!”/
“I’m sorry. I keep forgetting.”
Ryou heard her to take a deep breath before she spoke again. /“No, it’s me who should be sorry… I’m sorry you had to hear that. You’re only trying to help and I’m just…”/ Her voice broke down and she sounded teary. /“I just can’t… I’m sorry. Can we talk some other time? I don’t feel up to it now…”/
“Of course, Ishizu. Call me when you feel like talking, ok?” Ryou gave her his number and she promised to
give him a call once her feelings were more sorted out. They said bye and hung up.
Ryou felt like he hadn’t helped at all and only made things worse, first by making her go see her brother, then by bringing out all the negative emotions. He remembered how he used to play his flute when he felt bad and wondered if he still could play. Now where was his flute again?
Ryou started going through all his stuff to find his precious flute. It had been a gift from his late mother and meant the world to him. Finally after much digging around he found the box the flute was in. He carefully opened the box to find his silvery instrument wrapped in a newspaper. He took it out to admire it for a while before trying it out.
Even though his head no longer remembered how to play it, his hands did and his mother’s song floated softly in the apartment. It was the first song he learned to play as a small boy and he had always loved playing it. The song made him closer to his dear mother, soothing his nerves and making him feel better.
After the song ended he gently put down his flute, indeed feeling better now. Ryou hadn’t realized how much he had missed playing and his face was all smile when he finally got to do what he loved so much. The soothing effect of the flute gave him an idea that he would try next Sunday. He felt confident about his idea; it would work. His mother had been excellent at making other people’s worries go away and calming them down, even without her music. Suddenly Ryou missed her very much and felt his eyes becoming teary. He wiped his eyes quickly on his sleeve, not wanting to cry. He had cried for all he was worth when she had died and didn’t want to do that again.
“Ok, it’s homework time, yay…” Ryou said with a sigh and placed his flute back in the box, he would make it shine like it used to later and tend to it otherwise as well but school was his top priority right now.
…………………… …………..
Ah, sweet Sunday! Terribly rainy, sweet Sunday… Ryou sighed when he looked out of the window on the Sunday morning. It rained like every other day that week and the sky was gray, much like his mood. He still didn’t have a new umbrella even though he had supposed to get one the whole week. He would get so wet the second he left the building and he doubted that the patients would be going out today.
On his way down he run into a familiar face. It was his newest friend Toshiro who apparently owned an umbrella.
“Hi Ryou! Where’re you heading?” He asked cheerfully, being dry and all…
“To the mental hospital.”
“You do know it’s raining outside, right?”
“Yes…” How could he not notice?
“Well, you’re going to need one of these.” Toshiro lifted up his umbrella and Ryou looked at it with longing. Oh how much trouble drying his clothes could he save if he only had on of those!
“Well, mine got lost so…”
“You mean you’re gonna go out there without an umbrella? Nah-ha! Not on my watch. You can borrow mine, here.” He showed the bright red umbrella to Ryou who had no choice but to except his offer.
“Thank you, I’ll bring it back.” Ryou smiled gratefully.
“You’d better! See ya!” With that Toshiro was gone, trotting up the stairs and whistling as he went. Ryou shook his head a bit, wondering how his friend could always be so cheerful and loud. He was happy to know him anyway and decided to introduce him to the rest of his friends soon.
He made his way to the hospital, safely under the umbrella, carrying his flute box with him. He was right about the patients not going out as the fenced area was empty. Ryou entered the building and closed his umbrella, hoping to see the familiar nurse but he was nowhere in sight. The woman behind the counter pointed some random guy to take him to Mariku’s. Ryou would have felt much safer if it would have been the nurse he already knew, though not by name, he made a mental note to find out his name so that he no longer had to be called ‘the nurse’ or ‘the familiar nurse’.
“Here we are.” He turned to Ryou. “What’s in the box?”
“Just my flute, I thought I could play it to him.”
The nurse shrugged and let him in, telling that he would be just outside in case he needed help or wanted out. Ryou thanked him and stepped in, the door was closed after him.
Mariku was lying back on his bed facing the sealing, head on his arms, but when he heard Ryou enter he turned to look at him from the corner of his eye.
“Why hello there sweets.” He smirked and turned his head fully to look at Ryou who had a pink tint on his cheeks. He had yet to get used to that nickname. “Too bad we couldn’t get outside today, isn’t it?”
“Y-yeah… It’s been raining whole week.”
“It’s been so lonely and boring without you here, I missed you. Why won’t you visit more often?” Mariku sat up on his bed, eyes never leaving Ryou. The words were spoken smoothly and Ryou wanted to believe they were true but knew better not to. He was just playing with him, like a cat with a mouse.
“I’m so busy with school that I really don’t have the time.” Told Ryou.
“Too bad. What’s in the box?” Mariku asked eyeing the box with interest and Ryou remembered what was he supposed to do.
“Oh, it’s my flute. I thought I could play it for you if you’d like.”
“Go ahead, sweets. I only have fond memories from music therapy.” Said Mariku whose face showed that he indeed had fond memories from music therapy. Ryou wondered what had happened but decided that he really didn’t want to know. He just dug out his flute and placed the box on the floor.
“Is there a song you’d like to hear?” Asked Ryou.
“Not really.” He shrugged. “Just play something.”
Ryou started playing a tune that first popped on his mind. He held his eyes open until Mariku closed his, then he too closed his eyes to concentrate on the song. Ryou had practiced along the week for fun and decided to start taking lessons again. To his luck there was a music club in the college and he had participated in it’s activities. He played and let him self be absorbed in the music. It was a happy and carefree place to be for Ryou who was enjoying himself.
As he played the last tunes of the song, he opened his eyes and found that Mariku still held his closed. Ryou smiled a bit; he looked so peaceful.
“So how was it?” Ryou asked carefully, he didn’t want to bright the other out of the peaceful state he
seemed to be in.
“Hmm… You play well.” Mariku didn’t open his eyes but leaned his head back on the wall. “More.” That was more of an order than a request but Ryou didn’t really mind since he liked to play. He started another song and drowned in the sound again. The sound floated in the small room and made the air feel peaceful and soothing.
After the song, Ryou opened his eyes and was surprised when he couldn’t find Mariku. He got scared and looked around him. When he finally realized to look down, he found Mariku sitting on the floor Indian style,
eyes closed. Ryou sighed in relief but then he noticed how close they were and backed away a few steps.
“Relax, sweets. I’m not going to hurt you.” Mariku said and Ryou hoped he could believe that.
“Could… Could you back away anyway?” Ryou asked, he really didn’t want to be this close; it made him feel nervous. Mariku opened his eyes to look at Ryou. He got up slowly and stood tall over Ryou but instead of backing away he moved towards Ryou.
“Back off!”
“Why?” Mariku asked with a smirk.
“You’re making me feel nervous.” Ryou told truthfully and the other chuckled.
“I have that effect on people.”
“I can understand why… Now could you go um… to the opposite direction?” No such luck though so Ryou decided to slip away from him by getting around him and backing off to the opposite side of the room. He only had his flute as a weapon; maybe he should whack Mariku with it to get him to leave him alone, but that might harm his flute.
“Aw don’t be like that, I already promised not to harm you.”
“Well, I don’t trust you.”
“And why is that?”
“You’re not exactly the most trustworthy person.”
Mariku laughed and that made cold shivers run down Ryou’s spine. He didn’t like this situation, not one bit.
“Then why don’t you call for help, hmm?”
Ryou didn’t even have time to blink at his own stupidity before Mariku was on him, quite literally. Ryou had backed off near Mariku’s bed and then he had been tackled on to it. He had hit his head on the wall and now stars were bouncing in front of his eyes and he felt dizzy.
“I had a feeling I would have you in my bed sooner or later.” Mariku chuckled at his own joke while Ryou’s mind screamed ‘Rape!’. Ryou tried dizzily to push him off but to no avail. “What’s the matter sweets? Scared?”
“Y-you are invading my personal space and I’d appreciate it if you could get off of me.” He informed with politeness but had no idea where it came from. It was probably so deep in his backbone that when his mind didn’t work like it should, it could still produce politeness.
Mariku cocked his head to one side. “Why so polite all of a sudden? You truly puzzle me…”
“I-ah… That’s just um… Well…” Where were all the sensible sentences when he truly needed them?
“Hush now.” Ordered Mariku placing a finger on Ryou’s lips. He didn’t need to be told twice seeing that he really didn’t have anything to say. Then Mariku traced his finger down his cheek to his yaw and the down his throat to play with the collar of his shirt. Ryou’s breath was caught in his throat and when he swallowed, Mariku’s finger followed his Adam’s apple up and down. He felt like he was a specimen under a microscope and didn’t like the feeling one bit.
“Stop…” He chocked out. Mariku did stop but didn’t remove his hand.
“Why?” He asked, leaning close as if to hear his answer and drawing his eyes to slits.
“Th-this is inappropriate.” Maybe he did need to lean close to hear the answer when it came out as a quiet whisper. Ryou’s face felt so hot and he otherwise he felt uncomfortable.
“Inappropriate? In what way exactly? I haven’t touched you in any way according to what I believe is normally considered as inappropriate.”
“I-I mean you are… too close and…”
“Tch, so I’m making you feel uncomfortable? Please, Ryou, I’m not even really doing anything and I haven’t hurt you just like I promised.”
“Well, normally this kind of position is considered to be too intimate…” Ryou even managed not to shutter, maybe he was getting better at this…
Mariku smirked. “Never been close and intimate?” He asked teasingly, making Ryou plush.
“That has nothing to do with anything…”
“Thought so.”
Ryou frowned. He had no right to make assumptions on his virginity. He felt the flute in his hand; the cool surface was helping him to get back to reality. Suddenly Mariku rose up on him and the door was opened. In a second he was off of him and sitting next to him like nothing had happened.
The nurse came through the door. “The visiting hours are almost over, I thought you should know.”
“Ok, thank you for informing me.” Ryou sat up quickly, gathered up his box from the floor and went out the room without even saying bye to Mariku.
“What happened?” The nurse asked. “You look flushed.”
“Oh, nothing at all, I’m just dandy.” He said with a big fake smile and hurried out of the building.
Surprisingly the sun was shining and there was no rain clouds in sight. Ryou walked his way to the bus stop his face still feeling a bit warm.
…………………… ;…………..
Damn you Mariku! Ryou kicked a rock on his way to school next day. It wasn’t meant to be like this at all! He was supposed to study him, and not the other way around. Since yesterday, Ryou had felt like some sort of specimen and was so angry with him self for letting things get this way. It didn’t rain on Monday but the sunny weather didn’t reflect his emotions at all, he was feeling uncharacteristically mad and frustrated.
There must be some point where he screwed up with Mariku… It was probably when he was late from class that day and was assigned with him, the left over.
He had the borrowed umbrella with him and he was going to return it as soon as he saw the owner. The bright red didn’t really fit to him at all…
“Hey, Ryou! Oh you have my umbrella!” Toshiro’s voice jumped Ryou out of his thoughts. “Scared you?” He grinned. “Sorry.”
“T-that’s ok… I was just so in my thoughts, I didn’t see you there.” Ryou smiled faintly while handing the umbrella to his friend.
“Seriously Ryou; you space out too much. How was your visit at the mental hospital?” The other asked chattily as they walked in to the school building.
“Oh, it was… Fine.”
They continued to chat like that until they had to go to separated classes, Toshiro mainly telling how the person he was assigned with was so boring and Ryou saying that it was just a good thing. They promised to see at lunch again and went their ways.
At lunch brake they sat on a table with some other people and Ryou decided to read the newspaper he had brought from home when he didn’t have the time to read it there. He skimmed through the first few pages to
find something interesting to read when he came across something that caught his interest immediately.
Fire at the local mental hospital
Was the headline and as Ryou read on, he discovered that a wing of the hospital had almost completely burnt down. There were a list of names and a row of pictures with a large headline that some of the patients had escaped during the chaos the fire had caused. Ryou’s heart almost came to a sudden stop when he saw an all too familiar picture, it was the same one as on his patient file, and a name under it.
“Ryou, hey, what’s the matter?” Asked Toshiro when he noticed his friend staring at the paper in shock. He waved his hand in front of his face to get his attention but Ryou didn’t look at him, instead he continued to stare at the newspaper.
“He… He escaped…” Ryou whispered, making his friend frown.
“Who?” He too looked at the newspaper now. “Who escaped?”
“…Mariku…”
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A/N: An evil, almost cliffhanger! So how did you like it?
Please review!
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Over the course of the week, Ryou couldn’t stop thinking about Ishtar Ishizu. He was worried about her because of what happened with her brother and he also wondered if Mariku was completely lost to them, if he could be cured. There was only one person he could ask about his condition but he wasn’t the easiest person for Ryou to approach. Mr. Akishima held the reputation of bit of a mean person and Ryou had some first hand experience why. He had this ‘cut the bullshit’ and ‘strait to the chase’ attitude that got the respect of other’s but also made him stay distant to most people. Of course Ryou had no idea of the nature of his personal life so he tried not to make any rash assumptions.
As Ryou was walking towards his teacher’s office, he rethought his decision of going to see him. He felt uneasy and wasn’t quite sure that he didn’t catch a cold when he ran in the rain, several times actually. It had been raining all week and he had somehow managed to loose his umbrella. He had no idea where it was and had yet to buy a new one. Ryou did got a new cell phone though; he had defied the nasty weather and went to buy a new one. Being the child of the modern cell phone era, he just couldn’t get by without one; it was his only contact to the outside world.
He paused for a bit before knocking on the door, secretly hoping that the teacher wasn’t there, then he could just go home and forget this for a while. But no such luck, Akishima called him in.
“Hello, Mr. Akishima. Do you have a minute?” Ryou asked, peaking in.
“Yes, but make it quick.”
“It’s about Ishtar Mariku…”
“Again? Listen, Ryou. I really don’t want to talk about him and if you want to change him or-.”
“No, no, it’s not that!” Ryou interrupted rather rudely, or that’s what Akishima thought if something could be concluded from his facial expression. “Actually, you see I just met his sister, Ishtar Ishizu and I’m kind of worried about her because her brother’s condition must have been quite shocking to her.”
“So you want to know if he can be… cured, correct?” Now his teacher was a mind reader too? Wonderful…
“Well, yes actually.”
Akishima rubbed his temples and for the first time Ryou took notice that his hair wasn’t as neat as it normally was and that he looked paler than normally.
“His condition is… difficult. We tried different types of therapy and medication but nothing we tried worked. He has deemed to be a lost cause more than once and no one has tried treating him after us. I don’t think he’s ever going to get back to the way he once was.”
“Oh… I see. So there’s nothing that can be done?”
“I appreciate your concern and I’m sure Ms. Ishtar does too but I don’t think you should bother yourself with other people’s problems. If you still want to, which you do without a doubt, here’s Ms. Ishtar’s phone number; she contacted me earlier about her brother. Call her if you want but don’t get too sucked in.” He handed Ryou a slip of paper with the number on it and Ryou just couldn’t believe his luck. What were the odds?
“…Thank you.” He said and started to leave but stopped before going out. Ryou turned back to his teacher. “Mr. Akishima? Are you alright?”
“Now what did I just tell you about worrying about other people’s problems?”
“Sorry, I just… You don’t look too good. Are you sick? Maybe you should rest…”
“Domestic issues. Don’t worry about it, I’m sure you have enough problems of your own and if you happen to run out, you can always borrow other’s.” Akishima said with the corner of his mouth curled up. Ryou wasn’t quite sure if he was making fun of him but smiled back anyway before leaving the office.
…………………R 30;…………..
Back at home Ryou had a small “domestic issue” of his own. With so much rain and no umbrella, he was running out of space to dry his clothes in. He had clothes on the back of chairs and other places were clothes weren’t meant to be kept and his apartment was looking like a total mess.
“Oh great, what am I supposed to do?”
After living alone so much, Ryou had taken the habit of talking to him self. It was raining again and his sweater was all wet. He started to dig a place for it to dry in from the amount of clothes that were already lying around, hoping to find some that were dry. He did eventually find some dry ones but they were dirty and needed to be washed.
“And were am I supposed to dry my laundry in?” He seriously considered renting an apartment, or a room, just for his wet clothes. “That would cost too much…” He mumbled while throwing his dirty clothes in to the laundry basket.
After solving a part of his problem he dug out the phone number Mr. Akishima had given him and dialed the number on the small piece of paper. It beebed a couple of times before a female voice answered.
/“Ishtar.”/
“Hello, it’s Bakura Ryou. You are Ishtar Ishizu, right?”
/”Oh, Ryou. Yes, I’m the only female Ishtar by the way.”/
“Ok, how are you?”
/”Fine, fine… After what happened with… my brother, I just realized how horrible older sister I am.”/
“Your not horrible, what happened wasn’t your fault and Mariku, well, he wasn’t in his right state of mind.”
/”He will never be in his right state of mind again…”/
“Don’t say that. I’m sure-.” Ryou started but was interrupted by Ishizu.
/”That he’ll get better? Hah! According to his patient record he will never be… sane, again. According to his psychiatrist he will never be the same again. The staff of the asylum say that he doesn’t have a sane brain cell in his head! How could he possibly get better, you tell me!”/ Ishizu’s voice was raising as she
spoke and she was yelling at the end of her ramble. Ryou truly felt bad for her.
“Please calm down, Ms. Ishtar.”
/”I told you to call me Ishizu!”/
“I’m sorry. I keep forgetting.”
Ryou heard her to take a deep breath before she spoke again. /“No, it’s me who should be sorry… I’m sorry you had to hear that. You’re only trying to help and I’m just…”/ Her voice broke down and she sounded teary. /“I just can’t… I’m sorry. Can we talk some other time? I don’t feel up to it now…”/
“Of course, Ishizu. Call me when you feel like talking, ok?” Ryou gave her his number and she promised to
give him a call once her feelings were more sorted out. They said bye and hung up.
Ryou felt like he hadn’t helped at all and only made things worse, first by making her go see her brother, then by bringing out all the negative emotions. He remembered how he used to play his flute when he felt bad and wondered if he still could play. Now where was his flute again?
Ryou started going through all his stuff to find his precious flute. It had been a gift from his late mother and meant the world to him. Finally after much digging around he found the box the flute was in. He carefully opened the box to find his silvery instrument wrapped in a newspaper. He took it out to admire it for a while before trying it out.
Even though his head no longer remembered how to play it, his hands did and his mother’s song floated softly in the apartment. It was the first song he learned to play as a small boy and he had always loved playing it. The song made him closer to his dear mother, soothing his nerves and making him feel better.
After the song ended he gently put down his flute, indeed feeling better now. Ryou hadn’t realized how much he had missed playing and his face was all smile when he finally got to do what he loved so much. The soothing effect of the flute gave him an idea that he would try next Sunday. He felt confident about his idea; it would work. His mother had been excellent at making other people’s worries go away and calming them down, even without her music. Suddenly Ryou missed her very much and felt his eyes becoming teary. He wiped his eyes quickly on his sleeve, not wanting to cry. He had cried for all he was worth when she had died and didn’t want to do that again.
“Ok, it’s homework time, yay…” Ryou said with a sigh and placed his flute back in the box, he would make it shine like it used to later and tend to it otherwise as well but school was his top priority right now.
…………………… …………..
Ah, sweet Sunday! Terribly rainy, sweet Sunday… Ryou sighed when he looked out of the window on the Sunday morning. It rained like every other day that week and the sky was gray, much like his mood. He still didn’t have a new umbrella even though he had supposed to get one the whole week. He would get so wet the second he left the building and he doubted that the patients would be going out today.
On his way down he run into a familiar face. It was his newest friend Toshiro who apparently owned an umbrella.
“Hi Ryou! Where’re you heading?” He asked cheerfully, being dry and all…
“To the mental hospital.”
“You do know it’s raining outside, right?”
“Yes…” How could he not notice?
“Well, you’re going to need one of these.” Toshiro lifted up his umbrella and Ryou looked at it with longing. Oh how much trouble drying his clothes could he save if he only had on of those!
“Well, mine got lost so…”
“You mean you’re gonna go out there without an umbrella? Nah-ha! Not on my watch. You can borrow mine, here.” He showed the bright red umbrella to Ryou who had no choice but to except his offer.
“Thank you, I’ll bring it back.” Ryou smiled gratefully.
“You’d better! See ya!” With that Toshiro was gone, trotting up the stairs and whistling as he went. Ryou shook his head a bit, wondering how his friend could always be so cheerful and loud. He was happy to know him anyway and decided to introduce him to the rest of his friends soon.
He made his way to the hospital, safely under the umbrella, carrying his flute box with him. He was right about the patients not going out as the fenced area was empty. Ryou entered the building and closed his umbrella, hoping to see the familiar nurse but he was nowhere in sight. The woman behind the counter pointed some random guy to take him to Mariku’s. Ryou would have felt much safer if it would have been the nurse he already knew, though not by name, he made a mental note to find out his name so that he no longer had to be called ‘the nurse’ or ‘the familiar nurse’.
“Here we are.” He turned to Ryou. “What’s in the box?”
“Just my flute, I thought I could play it to him.”
The nurse shrugged and let him in, telling that he would be just outside in case he needed help or wanted out. Ryou thanked him and stepped in, the door was closed after him.
Mariku was lying back on his bed facing the sealing, head on his arms, but when he heard Ryou enter he turned to look at him from the corner of his eye.
“Why hello there sweets.” He smirked and turned his head fully to look at Ryou who had a pink tint on his cheeks. He had yet to get used to that nickname. “Too bad we couldn’t get outside today, isn’t it?”
“Y-yeah… It’s been raining whole week.”
“It’s been so lonely and boring without you here, I missed you. Why won’t you visit more often?” Mariku sat up on his bed, eyes never leaving Ryou. The words were spoken smoothly and Ryou wanted to believe they were true but knew better not to. He was just playing with him, like a cat with a mouse.
“I’m so busy with school that I really don’t have the time.” Told Ryou.
“Too bad. What’s in the box?” Mariku asked eyeing the box with interest and Ryou remembered what was he supposed to do.
“Oh, it’s my flute. I thought I could play it for you if you’d like.”
“Go ahead, sweets. I only have fond memories from music therapy.” Said Mariku whose face showed that he indeed had fond memories from music therapy. Ryou wondered what had happened but decided that he really didn’t want to know. He just dug out his flute and placed the box on the floor.
“Is there a song you’d like to hear?” Asked Ryou.
“Not really.” He shrugged. “Just play something.”
Ryou started playing a tune that first popped on his mind. He held his eyes open until Mariku closed his, then he too closed his eyes to concentrate on the song. Ryou had practiced along the week for fun and decided to start taking lessons again. To his luck there was a music club in the college and he had participated in it’s activities. He played and let him self be absorbed in the music. It was a happy and carefree place to be for Ryou who was enjoying himself.
As he played the last tunes of the song, he opened his eyes and found that Mariku still held his closed. Ryou smiled a bit; he looked so peaceful.
“So how was it?” Ryou asked carefully, he didn’t want to bright the other out of the peaceful state he
seemed to be in.
“Hmm… You play well.” Mariku didn’t open his eyes but leaned his head back on the wall. “More.” That was more of an order than a request but Ryou didn’t really mind since he liked to play. He started another song and drowned in the sound again. The sound floated in the small room and made the air feel peaceful and soothing.
After the song, Ryou opened his eyes and was surprised when he couldn’t find Mariku. He got scared and looked around him. When he finally realized to look down, he found Mariku sitting on the floor Indian style,
eyes closed. Ryou sighed in relief but then he noticed how close they were and backed away a few steps.
“Relax, sweets. I’m not going to hurt you.” Mariku said and Ryou hoped he could believe that.
“Could… Could you back away anyway?” Ryou asked, he really didn’t want to be this close; it made him feel nervous. Mariku opened his eyes to look at Ryou. He got up slowly and stood tall over Ryou but instead of backing away he moved towards Ryou.
“Back off!”
“Why?” Mariku asked with a smirk.
“You’re making me feel nervous.” Ryou told truthfully and the other chuckled.
“I have that effect on people.”
“I can understand why… Now could you go um… to the opposite direction?” No such luck though so Ryou decided to slip away from him by getting around him and backing off to the opposite side of the room. He only had his flute as a weapon; maybe he should whack Mariku with it to get him to leave him alone, but that might harm his flute.
“Aw don’t be like that, I already promised not to harm you.”
“Well, I don’t trust you.”
“And why is that?”
“You’re not exactly the most trustworthy person.”
Mariku laughed and that made cold shivers run down Ryou’s spine. He didn’t like this situation, not one bit.
“Then why don’t you call for help, hmm?”
Ryou didn’t even have time to blink at his own stupidity before Mariku was on him, quite literally. Ryou had backed off near Mariku’s bed and then he had been tackled on to it. He had hit his head on the wall and now stars were bouncing in front of his eyes and he felt dizzy.
“I had a feeling I would have you in my bed sooner or later.” Mariku chuckled at his own joke while Ryou’s mind screamed ‘Rape!’. Ryou tried dizzily to push him off but to no avail. “What’s the matter sweets? Scared?”
“Y-you are invading my personal space and I’d appreciate it if you could get off of me.” He informed with politeness but had no idea where it came from. It was probably so deep in his backbone that when his mind didn’t work like it should, it could still produce politeness.
Mariku cocked his head to one side. “Why so polite all of a sudden? You truly puzzle me…”
“I-ah… That’s just um… Well…” Where were all the sensible sentences when he truly needed them?
“Hush now.” Ordered Mariku placing a finger on Ryou’s lips. He didn’t need to be told twice seeing that he really didn’t have anything to say. Then Mariku traced his finger down his cheek to his yaw and the down his throat to play with the collar of his shirt. Ryou’s breath was caught in his throat and when he swallowed, Mariku’s finger followed his Adam’s apple up and down. He felt like he was a specimen under a microscope and didn’t like the feeling one bit.
“Stop…” He chocked out. Mariku did stop but didn’t remove his hand.
“Why?” He asked, leaning close as if to hear his answer and drawing his eyes to slits.
“Th-this is inappropriate.” Maybe he did need to lean close to hear the answer when it came out as a quiet whisper. Ryou’s face felt so hot and he otherwise he felt uncomfortable.
“Inappropriate? In what way exactly? I haven’t touched you in any way according to what I believe is normally considered as inappropriate.”
“I-I mean you are… too close and…”
“Tch, so I’m making you feel uncomfortable? Please, Ryou, I’m not even really doing anything and I haven’t hurt you just like I promised.”
“Well, normally this kind of position is considered to be too intimate…” Ryou even managed not to shutter, maybe he was getting better at this…
Mariku smirked. “Never been close and intimate?” He asked teasingly, making Ryou plush.
“That has nothing to do with anything…”
“Thought so.”
Ryou frowned. He had no right to make assumptions on his virginity. He felt the flute in his hand; the cool surface was helping him to get back to reality. Suddenly Mariku rose up on him and the door was opened. In a second he was off of him and sitting next to him like nothing had happened.
The nurse came through the door. “The visiting hours are almost over, I thought you should know.”
“Ok, thank you for informing me.” Ryou sat up quickly, gathered up his box from the floor and went out the room without even saying bye to Mariku.
“What happened?” The nurse asked. “You look flushed.”
“Oh, nothing at all, I’m just dandy.” He said with a big fake smile and hurried out of the building.
Surprisingly the sun was shining and there was no rain clouds in sight. Ryou walked his way to the bus stop his face still feeling a bit warm.
…………………… ;…………..
Damn you Mariku! Ryou kicked a rock on his way to school next day. It wasn’t meant to be like this at all! He was supposed to study him, and not the other way around. Since yesterday, Ryou had felt like some sort of specimen and was so angry with him self for letting things get this way. It didn’t rain on Monday but the sunny weather didn’t reflect his emotions at all, he was feeling uncharacteristically mad and frustrated.
There must be some point where he screwed up with Mariku… It was probably when he was late from class that day and was assigned with him, the left over.
He had the borrowed umbrella with him and he was going to return it as soon as he saw the owner. The bright red didn’t really fit to him at all…
“Hey, Ryou! Oh you have my umbrella!” Toshiro’s voice jumped Ryou out of his thoughts. “Scared you?” He grinned. “Sorry.”
“T-that’s ok… I was just so in my thoughts, I didn’t see you there.” Ryou smiled faintly while handing the umbrella to his friend.
“Seriously Ryou; you space out too much. How was your visit at the mental hospital?” The other asked chattily as they walked in to the school building.
“Oh, it was… Fine.”
They continued to chat like that until they had to go to separated classes, Toshiro mainly telling how the person he was assigned with was so boring and Ryou saying that it was just a good thing. They promised to see at lunch again and went their ways.
At lunch brake they sat on a table with some other people and Ryou decided to read the newspaper he had brought from home when he didn’t have the time to read it there. He skimmed through the first few pages to
find something interesting to read when he came across something that caught his interest immediately.
Fire at the local mental hospital
Was the headline and as Ryou read on, he discovered that a wing of the hospital had almost completely burnt down. There were a list of names and a row of pictures with a large headline that some of the patients had escaped during the chaos the fire had caused. Ryou’s heart almost came to a sudden stop when he saw an all too familiar picture, it was the same one as on his patient file, and a name under it.
“Ryou, hey, what’s the matter?” Asked Toshiro when he noticed his friend staring at the paper in shock. He waved his hand in front of his face to get his attention but Ryou didn’t look at him, instead he continued to stare at the newspaper.
“He… He escaped…” Ryou whispered, making his friend frown.
“Who?” He too looked at the newspaper now. “Who escaped?”
“…Mariku…”
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A/N: An evil, almost cliffhanger! So how did you like it?
Please review!