Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Hybrid Theory ❯ Paranoid ( Chapter 1 )

Priestess: I finally found my Hybrid Theory CD. In celebration, I'm making a Yu-Gi-Oh songfic for every damn song in it! So instead of making eleven one-shots, I'm making a story with eleven chapters. Chapter One: Papercut.
(Why is it called Papercut, anyway? I'm calling the chapter Paranoid. The song doesn't even have the word Papercut in it!)
The chapters will mostly center around the Bakuras, because I love them (especially the yami.) If the fanfiction is popular enough, I might decide to make one of the most popular songfics a multi-chapter.

PS: Yadonushi is what Bakura calls Ryou.

Why does it feel like night today?
Something in here's not right today.
Why am I so uptight today?
Paranoia's all I got left

Ryou Bakura glanced behind him, pale hair waving around in the wind. He was feeling unexplainably nervous, more so than usual.

//Wimp\\ a familiar voice sneered in his head. //You're pathetic, you know that? Is there anything you aren't afraid of?\\

Ryou trembled. He hated and feared that voice, but he no longer dared contradict it. What was the point?

I don't know what stressed me first
Or how the pressure was fed
But I know just what it feels like
To have a voice in the back of my head

Once he would never have given up to the being known either as the Spirit of the Millennium Ring or, more simply, Bakura. He would have done anything to protect his newfound friends, even to the point of self-sacrifice-a sacrifice that had ended up useless.

He didn't have that will anymore.

Like a face that I hold inside
A face that awakes when I close my eyes
A face that watches every time I lie
A face that laughs every time I fall
*And watches everything…*

Ryou could hear Bakura snickering in the back of his mind, but he simply sighed and shifted his backpack. He didn't have time to worry himself over a little laughter.

//I don't see why not. It isn't as if you have anything better to do\\

So I know that when it's time to sink or swim
That the face inside is hearing me
Right beneath my skin

Well, it was true that he didn't have that much to do anyway, but there wasn't really that much of a point to worrying.

But then, what was there a point to?

It's like I'm paranoid lookin' over my back
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within
It's like the face inside is right beneath my skin

Ryou jumped a foot and whirled around, certain he had heard something.

Though his eyes darted about nervously, he didn't see anything. But he did hear something-the sound of Bakura laughing wildly in his head.

He sighed and returned to walking.

I know I've got a face in me
Points out all my mistakes to me
You've got a face on the inside too and
Your paranoia's probably worse

For a while it was silent, and Ryou began to breathe more easily. But he still had the strangest feeling he was being followed.

//So paranoid\\ Bakura taunted in the back of his head. //Worrying about a mere stalker that doesn't even exist when the biggest threat is living inside you?\\

I don't know what set me off first
But I know what I can't stand
Everybody acts like the fact of the matter is
I can't add up to what you can

Ryou trembled harder. "You won't succeed," he whispered, surprising himself. "Y-Yugi won't let you get the Puzzle…I know he won't."

Immediately he regretted his words.

//What did you say, Yadonushi?\\ Bakura's voice was suddenly dark, soft but thunderous. //I think you're forgetting your place\\

But everybody has a face that they hold inside
A face that awakes when I close my eyes
A face that watches every time they lie
A face that laughs every time they fall
*And watches everything…*

Ryou gasped, stiffening. "No!" he cried, then glanced around to make sure no one had heard him. {I'm sorry!} he cried mentally. {I-I'll never contradict you again!}

//Would you like me to forbid you from being friends with Yugi and his sniveling cheerleaders?\\ His words were no idle threat, Ryou knew. //I will gain the Millennium Puzzle, my Landlord, so I suggest you never mention it again!\\

So you know that when it's time to sink or swim
That the face inside is watching you too
Right inside your skin

//Understand?!\\ Bakura roared, causing Ryou to wince.