Relative Insanity

A/N: I don’t own YuGiOh.

Relative Insanity

Chapter 8


Ryou sat under a tree in the yard, leaning against the trunk and holding his book opened in his lap. He closed his eyes and raised his face to the sun, feeling his soul soaking up the warmth. Focusing on anything for any length of time was becoming an issue, and even reading was becoming difficult. He’d been driving Bakura crazy inside; he was fidgety, and having trouble sitting still. Anxiety was becoming oppressive, his skin feeling two sizes too small, and he hated it. He took a deep breath, willing away the knot in his stomach that had taken up residence for no rational reason at all. Ryou was discouraged that it was only the third day since liberation and he was already feeling impulsive. No matter what happened, he needed to regain control before it slipped away completely. Bakura would never understand how he was feeling and Ryou’s inability to feel normal embarrassed him.

Ryou closed the book with a sigh, giving up on it altogether. If he couldn’t even focus enough to read he was in trouble. He stood up, stretching his arms over his head and enjoying the gentle breeze that ruffled his hair; he fully appreciated the freedom he was experiencing despite his careening emotions. Although he knew how he was feeling was irrational, it didn’t make it any easier. He needed to try harder to control himself; for the first time in his life he felt genuinely loved and he didn’t want to ruin it.

Ryou headed towards the house in search of a drink, pondering his predicament as he went. As he walked closer he could hear raised voices inside. Part of him wanted to stay where he was, but curiosity got the better of him. Ryou stepped inside; the living room was dark in contrast to the bright sunshine outside leaving him temporarily blinded. He allowed his eyes to adjust and listened to the voice of his lover, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

“What the fuck were you thinking, Yami? Did you think you could unleash a psycho and this wouldn’t happen?” Bakura’s rage was barely contained, his voice tight in his throat as he glared at his friend.

“How the fuck was I supposed to know he’d kill him? I just told him to roughen him up, give him a warning, just like we talked about. I’m not his fucking keeper!” Yami hissed, taking a menacing step towards Bakura.

“Ryou can never find out about this. Goddamn it Yami, we just killed a guy because of Ryou –” Bakura looked up, unable to hide his shock at seeing his lover standing in the doorway, eyes wide. Yami turned to face him, suddenly eerily calm.

“What can I never find out about? Who did you kill because of me?” Ryou’s voice was deceptively quiet, his stance rigid.

“It’s nothing, Ryou, you misunderstood. We’re just having a disagreement-“

“Cut the shit, Bakura, I heard you! What the fuck are you two talking about?” Ryou’s eyes narrowed, his hands balling into fists. “Who did you kill?”

Bakura took a step forward, reaching out, only to have Ryou instinctively step back, maintaining his distance, muscles tense. “It’s nothing, really-“

Ryou’s emotions were in turmoil as everything clicked into place. His eyes were blazing as he looked at Bakura knowingly. “Do you think I’m fucking stupid? You do, don’t you? Both of you think I’m a fucking retard!” Ryou glared at them both, feeling his control slipping. “I should never have told you! I trusted you! How long did you wait before running to Yami and telling him all my secrets?”

“Ryou, calm down.” Bakura held up his hands defensively, shooting a confused look at Yami. He’d never imagined that Ryou was capable of being this angry.

By now Ryou was screaming, eyes wild. “No! You fucking calm down! You killed him, didn’t you? You couldn’t stand that he’d fucked me and you killed him?”

“It’s not like that!” Bakura took a step towards him shaking his head, his own anger rekindled.

“Shut up! Shut up! Just shut the fuck up! You had no fucking right to do that!” Bakura was caught off guard as Ryou launched himself, knocking Bakura to the floor and immediately raising a fist and punching him in the face. Before Ryou could strike again, Yami pulled him off, grabbing him from behind and bear hugging him.

“Ryou! Knock it off!” It took all Yami’s strength to hold onto the out of control man. “Bakura, get off your ass and grab his legs!”

Bakura stood up, dazed both by the blow and the insanity of the situation. Ryou kicked him in the chest once before he managed to grab both his legs and help Yami wrestle him to the floor. Yami’s voice was firm but devoid of anger as he tried to pull Ryou out of his fugue. “Ryou, stop. Come on man, you’re hurting us.”

Yami was relieved when Ryou eventually stopped struggling, his breath coming in hitching gasps. Yami smoothed his hair out of his face and looked up into Bakura’s wide eyes. Ryou immediately curled himself into a ball on the kitchen floor, his body wracked with sobs. “I’m sorry – I’m sorry – oh my god I’m sorry –“

Yami continued to run his hand over the downed man’s hair, speaking soothingly into his ear. Bakura stood up, adrenaline still rampant, and left, punching the wall as he passed. He was shaking with rage as he stormed outside, pulling out his cigarettes and lighting one. His hands were shaking and his heart was pounding - What the fuck had just happened?

Bakura had chain smoked half the pack before Yami came outside to find him. “You okay?” Yami sat on the stoop next to him, grabbing the lit cigarette from Bakura’s hand and taking a drag.

“What was that?” Bakura’s voice was low; he looked at Yami completely confused.

“Are you ready to listen?” Yami waited a moment for Bakura to nod his head before he continued. “I tried to warn you, Bakura, he’s not like you. That kid was on meds for a reason and he stopped taking them cold turkey. He’s got to be completely fucking imbalanced.” Yami gave him a hard look before taking hold of his hand and squeezing it gently. “He was really afraid that he’d hurt you. Fuck, that kid is more of a freak than you.” Yami smirked, hoping to reel Bakura in.

“How is he now? Is he okay?”

“I think so. He’s asleep now, and will probably be for a while – he was pretty exhausted.” Yami grinned, unable to resist. “Bet you didn’t think you’d ever be on the restraining end, did you?”

Bakura laughed, shaking his head. “I almost feel bad for some of the poor bastards I’ve assaulted…almost.” His face grew serious, his concern blatant. “So, what now?”

“I guess we just wait and see. We can hope that once he levels out he’ll be fine, if not…”

“Yeah, I know.” Bakura couldn’t help but sound defeated. God what a mess.

Bakura stood and headed inside. He felt so responsible for all of this. It never even dawned on him that Ryou actually needed his meds; he’d just assumed that it was par for the course in places like that. He also felt guilty for having told Yami about Marik, Ryou was right on that one. Yami was his friend and he just always told him everything, he just didn’t think it would get so out of control. He’d been so enraged after Ryou told him that he’d agreed with Yami about having Jou ‘talk’ to him and now he realized his mistake. Jou was truly a psycho.

He didn’t bother to turn a light on, relying on the dim light filtering through the small cellar window. He could see the outline of Ryou huddled under the covers and hear his easy breathing. Bakura slipped out of his shoes and stretched out next to him, being careful not to disturb him. Things needed to be okay – he’d promised Ryou he’d take care of him. Bakura was left exhausted now that his adrenaline had been spent and allowed himself to drift, constantly aware of his sleeping lover next to him.


Yami sat back down in the living room, reaching for his book. He’d just checked in on the two downstairs, not surprised to find them both dead to the world. One of these days Bakura would actually listen to him, he just wished that day would come soon. He was dragged from his thoughts by a faint knock at the door, and reached under the cushion of the chair grabbing the gun he kept stashed there; you could never be too careful when people came unannounced.

“Yeah? Who is it?”

“Yami? It’s Jou, open up.”

Yami tucked the gun into the back of his pants and opened the door to find Jou smiling widely, holding a bottle of wine. “I thought we could celebrate my success.”

Yami couldn’t help but chuckle, looking at the earnest expression on the man’s face. “You’re a sick fuck, you know that?” Jou stepped closer, pressing his lanky body suggestively close and closing the door behind him.

“You wouldn’t want me any other way.” Jou purred, placing a kiss on the side of Yami’s neck.

“Let’s go upstairs. If Bakura sees you right now I’m hard pressed to decide who would live. You caused some trouble here, killing that guy.”

Jou laughed good naturedly, wrapping his free arm around Yami’s waist and pulling their lower bodies together. “What does that say about me – could you possibly think Bakura capable of besting me?”

“You upset his little boyfriend and you know how protective he is. Besides, you know to what extremes people can go to please their love – “ Yami was having trouble following his train of thought with Jou placing wet kisses down his neck.

“Mmm… let’s go upstairs and I’ll show you.”


Bakura stood in the kitchen, hands clenched into fists. He heard Jou’s voice in the living room and it took all of his restraint to not go in there. Blame was a frightening thing, and he realized that none of this was really Jou’s fault, or Yami’s either for that matter. The blame resided with him, and he knew it. He started this unfortunate cascade of events that ended with one crazy man taking the life of another. He shrugged his shoulders and snagged a beer out of the fridge. He had more pressing matters on his mind and too many questions left unanswered; the most glaring of all is what would happen with Ryou.

He carried his beer into the living room and threw himself onto the couch. Ryou was sleeping downstairs and by the sound of it Yami and Jou were fucking like rabbits upstairs. He looked around at the book-lined walls and cringed. Why the hell didn’t Yami have a television? He finished his beer, opening his throat to quickly drain the remainder of the bottle and grabbed his leather off the chair. Maybe a walk would clear his head.

Bakura put his key in the lock and was surprised to hear laughing inside. It was well past 2 am, and he figured everyone would be asleep. He’d gone for a long walk, which ended at a bar where he knew the bartender. So hours later and many beers under his belt he had staggered home figuring he had all the answers. He opened the door and a familiar smell greeted him. He smiled, ready to comment, when he noticed who it was exactly sitting in the living room. Yami and Jou were sitting around the coffee table on the floor, leaning against the couch and Ryou was stretched out on the couch behind them. His eyes grew wide when Ryou saw him, started giggling and exhaled a plumb of sweet smelling smoke.

“You’re getting him high?” Bakura closed the door and shot a look at Yami.

“For strictly medicinal purposes.” Yami smiled lazily, reaching behind him to grab the joint from Ryou and lift it to his lips. He spoke around the hit he was holding in, “The kid needed to relax and I couldn’t think of anything that would work better.” Yami turned and placed his lips to Jou’s, exhaling the smoke into Jou’s lungs.

Ryou giggled again, smiling at Bakura. He scooted to a sitting position and patted the couch next to him. “It’s not like I’ve never smoked before. And it is helping, purely medicinal purposes…” He trailed off in a fit of giggles, tears streaming down his face as he tried to focus on Bakura.

Bakura shook his head; he had drunk way too much to deal with this. He stepped over Yami and picked Ryou up off the couch. “I think you guys have corrupted him enough for tonight.”

Jou snorted. “Not as much as you’re going to once you get him downstairs.”

Bakura shot a glare over his shoulder as he carried an extremely silly Ryou towards the cellar door. He could hear the laughter behind him and couldn’t believe the turn in events since he’d left the house only a few hours before. Not only was Ryou up, but he was up and sitting there with both Yami and Jou and acting as if nothing had happened. He’d have to wait until morning to talk to Ryou; he was a bit beyond talking right now. Ryou kissed his cheek, running a hand sexily across his chest. He was a bit beyond talking, but talking wasn’t quite what he had in mind anyway.


To be continued…

A/N: Please tell me what you think, it really means so much to me!! I’m sorry if anyone is disappointed with my lack of lemony goodness, but this is kind of a transition chapter to move along the plot, and I’m using all my lemon energy writing Sleepwalk Dance *pimp, pimp*. I hope you enjoyed it anyway. ^^