Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Leave Sanity at the Door ❯ Recovery is a Bitch ( Chapter 7 )

AN: *Gasp* OMG I updated!! I'm sooo sorry that it took so long to update but in all seriousness I should have told you guys August is my busy month. I have my birthday on the 10th, my BF's birthday, a friends birthday, getting ready for fall classes. It's seriously a bad time for me to find free time. Anyway I do NOT give up on fics, if I have to I revise them if they go somewhere I don't want but I don't give up on them so even if my updates are slow (sorry to say that when school starts there's s very high chance it'll take a while) I will do it. Also I am still translating Bakura/Anzu doujin so if you wanna see it poke scarlet_moonlight and tell her to update her page cause I finished like four and I think she only has one or two up. Anyway hope you enjoy and sorry if it's a little short I like to leave off on certain moods in this story for some reason. Hope you like!

Chapter 7: "Recovery is a Bitch"

The two weeks flew by as if a matter of seconds. Unfortunately for Mai in these quick weeks she noticed how quickly Anzu's demeanor seemed to darken in the absence of her newest patient. She hadn't seen said patient since that day weeks ago when she had 'scolded' him. She wanted to kick herself for that day. It felt so right to just out and tell him like that but at the same time she knew it was very unprofessional on a impressionable suicidal young boy. But she hadn't heard Doctor Hopkins say anything ill of him or that he had tried to hurt himself again so she took it as some kind of good sign. Hopefully she hadn't mentally scarred him too much. She sighed as she looked down at her watch that read a quarter to two. The whole reason she was reviewing such events in her mind over and over was because just this morning Ryou was released back to his room and it also being a Tuesday he was to report to her in just fifteen minutes for his session.

Then there was Anzu, she had Anzu on Monday and Wednesday sessions and yesterday's was especially bad. From what she understood she might be able to get somewhere in fully asleep hypnotherapy instead of the light version she and Anzu had been using but the girl was just too afraid to try something like that. A few weeks ago after that breakthrough she thought Anzu might be willing to try it but now with Ryou gone…

'Damn we only got through two sessions and he already attempted hurting himself again.' As it was she had to beg the hospital committee not to tell his brother. It wasn't that she thought he'd blame her. She just seriously did not want any contact between the two until his brother finally wanted some kind of help. That was the way it was with all patients, unless they wanted help they couldn't recover. But at the same time almost every patient she came across swore they didn't have a problem or in Ryou's case which she found sadistic in a way, he knew he had a problem but liked it. It was like being told you have poison ivy but you enjoy it. She shook her head as she picked up his chart and awaited his arrival.

It had been a very long two weeks. Two weeks of nothing but being watched while you eat and left with your thoughts. And with what Doctor Kujaku had told him he had a lot to stew over. He had come to a very concrete decision but before he decided to seriously throw himself into it he had to see one thing. Which was why he was now sneaking out of his room just a few minutes away from his session time.

He crept along the hallway wall back towards the doctors office from which he came from just a few hours ago. He stopped near the entrance and peeked his head around the corner not seeing anyone in the room. He pushed himself back against the wall and held his breath listening for any signs of the doctor. He heard them in the other room, the supply room. He looked into the room once again and at his goal, the door leading to the girl's entrance to the doctor's office. He took another deep breath before slowly slipping around the corner of the doorframe and smashing himself against the wall. He silently thanked his brother for all those times they shoplifted from the corner store and how he taught him to walk quietly.

He shifted on the balls of his feet as he silently slipped across the floor. He made it to the first door on that side of the wall and looked across the hall at the door to the supply room. He slowly let out his breath even though his lungs were begging for oxygen and slowly took another gulp of air before shuffling to stand in front of the second door on that side of the wall and was now staring directly across from the supply room. He heard continuous shuffling in the room and took a sidelong glance at his goal. So close he could sprint to it, but all that noise and he'd be caught for sure. He once again got his lungs the oxygen they needed before shuffling over, inching closer and closer to his goal. His hand reached out and grabbed the doorknob, as the door was closed, and was just about to turn it when the supply room door opened.

He froze. The doctor was holding some steaming ramen noodles and slurped on them as he exited the room. The doctor looked directly at him, staring right at him, there was no way he couldn't not see him.

"Hello? Is anyone in here?" Ryou nearly fell over. It was then he looked more closely at the old man and noticed the steam from the ramen was steaming up his glasses. Though Ryou was confused why he was wearing his reading glasses he prayed a silent thank you to any god that was listening and quietly turned the knob and opened the door just a few inches to slip out and quietly close the door behind him.

Doctor Hopkins took off his glasses and blinked a couple of times looking around the empty room. 'I could have sworn I heard someone shuffling around out here…oh well back to snacking on ramen and reading my new Shonen jump.' (AN: I couldn't help it, I wanna get the new shonen jump!)

He quickly peered down and hall and let out a breath as he saw the hall was indeed deserted. He quickly looked around remembering exactly where Anzu's room was. He darted down to the next hall that branched out from this one and looked down it. He saw two girls talking in the hall and pushed himself back against the wall. He waited as they continued to talk in soft tones before he heard some shuffling. He peeked his head around the corner and saw they were walking back to what seemed to be their respective rooms. It was then a sound caught his attention down the hall and he saw a door opening from one of the bathrooms. 'Oh shit! I'm so caught!' He looked between the open door and the two girls waving as they slowly went into their own rooms. As soon as both girls' backs were turned he darted down the hallway before the figure coming out of the bathroom could see him.

The figure that just stepped out of the bathroom blinked a few times. 'I could have sworn I just saw a flash of white dart around the corner of the hallway.' She shook her head and blinked a few more times. 'No it couldn't have been.'

Ryou snuck over to Anzu's room and took a deep breath before peering into the room and found…nothing?! He quickly stepped in front of the doorway and looked around the room. Sure enough, she wasn't there. 'What the hell!? I sneak all the way over here and she's not even here.' He was pissed but besides being pissed he was hurt. Even though he hadn't wanted to admit it, in the two weeks of almost solitude she popped into his mind more often then not and he wondered if what Mai said was really true. But his contemplation was cut short when he heard a gasp and turned to see two startled blue eyes staring at him as her hands covered her mouth.

"A-anzu," he said just above a whisper in his shocked state. She stared at him, he stared at her. The silence in the room was deafening to the point where their own breathing seemed loud enough to call attention to the two. It was then her eyes broke away from his to slowly trail down to his hand, the one that still had a couple of band-aids on it. Her eyes began to water and a single tear escaped. Her eyes seemed so pained. 'She looked as bad as your brother when I talked to him in the hospital!' The words Mai said weeks ago now came back to haunt him as he looked into her eyes and saw his own brother with that pained look on his face. That same look that he had when their mother died… He shook his head and quickly pushed passed her out the door and down the hallway. He went through the front but didn't care if the desk clerk saw him or not.

Mai was getting impatient, he was ten minutes late and if he was another five minutes late she'd have to go looking for him. Just as she was thinking that a familiar figure stumbled through her door out of breath and looking ragged.

"Nice to see you again Ryou," she asked more then greeted. "Would you like to sit down?" He plopped down on the couch and sprawled out still trying to catch his breath. "Would you like a glass of water?" He nodded his head and she got up filling a glass with some ice cold water from a nearby pitcher. He all but gulped the glass and let out gasp of air as he finished.

"Thanks I needed that," he said straightening up sitting upright on the couch. She cocked an eyebrow. She wasn't sure this was the same little smart-ass she had saw just a few weeks ago that wouldn't even open up to his own brother.

"Ryou are you ok," she asked seriously concerned.

"Yes, I think I'm better then I have been in a long time." She nearly gasped at him as his face actually mirrored his words with a small smile on his lips. It disappeared as quickly as it came but he hadn't tried to hide or cover it up.

"So what kept you up?"

"I had to visit someone." She frowned slightly knowing the only person he'd probably visit besides him and Doctor Hopkins was probably Anzu. Before she could even start in on him he cut her off. "I didn't do anything. I just needed…to see her." Mai was completely baffled on how much more honest and expressive he was being then a few weeks ago. 'Still a little reclusive but definitely not as much as a few weeks ago.' "Mai can you please do me a favor?"

"A favor? Does it involve breaking rules? You know they're in place for a reason."
"No, not that kind of a favor." She looked a bit confused but nodded for him to continue. "Can you help me?" Now this really caught her by surprise, she definitely hadn't read anything like this in her horoscope today. "I don't want to hurt anyone anymore, I thought you were lying and I wanted to believe no one else was hurting. But today, I saw Anzu…and she made me think of my brother." (AN: Ok that kind of sounded wrong…) "I just can't imagine my brother looking like that. The last time he was even kind of like that was when mom died."

"When your mom died?"

"Yeah, that's when it started…"

Anzu sat on her bed staring at the open doorway, the same scene from this afternoon repeating over and over in her head. She didn't totally understand what had happened. She thought she saw him when she came out of the bathroom and went back to her room just to make sure. But sure enough there he was. He looked like a deer caught in headlights, she was just ask shocked. Then he just up and bolted. Anzu wasn't sure if she still wasn't allowed to see him. She thought she was going to die when Mai said she couldn't visit him at the doctor's office but she made it through hoping she could see him when he got out and they could hang out.

'Hang out. That's what normal kids do, not you. You can't even talk!' She felt the same rage from before burning inside of her but couldn't do anything about it. Months ago when she first lost her voice everyone wanted her so desperately to talk. She wanted to, she could form the words, the names, the phrases in her mind and in her mouth but when she tried to speak, it just wouldn't come out. She was just so frustrated. She wanted to badly to talk, to ask what happened. To ask why she was in the hospital, to ask what happened to her, the police continued asking her what happened. 'But how can I tell them if I can't even remember?'

The only real breakthrough she had was a few weeks ago when she remembered that little bit of information. Well, then there were the dreams…she remembered, in her dreams. She'd wake up crying or flailing around; she felt so hurt, so sad, so dead when she woke up. Right before she totally gave herself to the dream she would always remember the hallway, the door, and those eyes. But once she woke up nothing could come back to her. She couldn't remember a thing. 'I'm no better off then I was a few months ago. I just want to be normal again. I just want to go to school, hang out with friends, to date like normal high schooler's.' She sighed and lay back on her bed. Mai had suggested the fully asleep hypnotherapy but she didn't think she could make it through something like that. As much as she wanted to be normal, she didn't know if she could really face the truth of what happened.

'Please I just want to remember so I can get over it. I just want to be done with it so I can be normal again. I just want to get out of here. Someone please help me…Ryou…' Without even trying she let herself drift off to sleep, slipping into the same dream wishing and hoping she could remember.

Ryou was feeling, well better after that session. It felt weird and so cliché when he was sitting there talking to her. Then again it wasn't as tiring as all those games he used to play with her, and he didn't feel so mentally exhausted trying to hide things. But at the same time he just couldn't get used to just being himself. 'If that's not irony I don't know what is.' One thing he thought stood out though was what Mai told him right before he left the session.

"Oh by the way Ryou you're birthday is coming up in just another month or so right?" He nodded wondering what she was getting at. "I was just making sure; it's coming up pretty fast. In fact so is Anzu's, I believe it's just in two more weeks, August 18th? I don't think she's mentioned it to anyone, wonder how she's going to celebrate? Hmm, anyway have a good day now! Ta-ta!"

'I wonder if that's her way of trying to be subtle?' He sweat-dropped as he made his way back to his room. 'But what am I going to do for her birthday? I mean I don't know all that much about her. She likes duel monsters; maybe I could get her some cards? Or she liked that dancing game; maybe I could try and get another? But for that I'd need help from outside the institute, how the hell am I going to get that?' He plopped down on his bed and grabbed his head with his hands frustrated. 'Man I've never had to shop for a girl before, this is impossible!' He sighed. 'Anyway after that weird situation this morning she's probably afraid of me, I need to try and be friends with her again before I can try and figure out what she wants for her birthday.' He nodded his head as if in a silent agreement.

He laid back on his bed his eyes drooping slightly. 'I wonder what it would be like if we were both just normal high school kids hanging out and stuff? What would I do for her birthday if we weren't in here? If we were out there again…?' His thoughts continued to wander as his eyes slowly shut leading him to a dream world not too far from reality.

AN: So any good? Probably not as good as it should be for not updating in so long but I hope it'll do. And yes I'll update my other fic but it'll take a while because I'm trying to make chapters longer in that one and it takes me a while. Anyway hope you enjoyed!