No such thing as Good and Evil

Chapter 5: Dysfunction

Yuki looked out the window and saw the busy streets below him. People were going about their business and daily routines without a care in the world. Cars drove up the streets and pedestrians rode their bikes on the sidewalks. The sun shed its rays down on the life in the area, preventing them from freezing to death. People made their way to work and mothers dropped their children off at school. Everything was normal in the lively world outside the four walls of his confinement. Yet his mind was troubled by the awful truth that he alone knew to be real—or at least he hoped it wasn’t. That’s why he was here though, to prove himself mentally unstable to contain an ounce of sanity in his entire being. If only for him to have a reason for seeing dead things did he put up with the prying that doctors did to patients. He wanted to know that it was nothing more than a dream that would go away the moment he woke up. He wanted to deny the fact that a demon was living in his house—that he had slept with, no less—and believe that he had finally cracked under all the pressure. It would make his day if they came in and told him that he was just nuts and hallucinating because of it.

“Yuki? Yuki!”

No, not again. The voice that is always there, always haunting and prying and gazing in to his soul to rip the truth from his scared and wounded heart. The voice that was also the key to his salvation.

“Yuki? Oh, there you are,” Renami stuck her head out from the solid wall and gazed at the room in obvious disgust. “What are you doing? There is work to be done.”

Yuki sat on a chair that was nearest to him and lowered his head and placed his hands over his ears.

Renami emerged from the wall and walked to the novelist’s side. What was with him? she thought. She gazed at the room one more time and sighed in sheer annoyance. What the hell was he doing in a nuthouse? Did he actually believe her to be a figment of someone’s stupid imagination? Or was he trying to prove to her that she wasn’t supposed to be here? Not satisfied with any of the possibilities, she moved to the windowsill and took a seat, careful not to break the glass with her wings or tail. “Do you honestly believe that these people can give you a sensible answer as to why I am here? Do you really think that I am the creation of some madman?”

Yuki picked his head up and lowered his hands placing them on his knees. He stared at the tile floor for a moment in complete thought. Was she the foundations of some madman’s world? Could happen. How would you explain the fact that he had made love to her? Though cold her skin had felt real. Though lacking of any taste her lips, mouth, and tears had all been alive and right in front of him. He let out a grunt before speaking in a hushed voice. “Go away, Renami.”

Renami looked at him with great interest. “Did I put you in here? Sorry, but I’m not going to go away just because you want me to. So snap out of it, Yuki. I am not some dumb make believe monster like the Boogey Man or a Gremlin that you can just make disappear if you count to ten.” She held her hand up and studied it. “You know there are harder things than admitting that you are sane. Insanity comes with a price but is given to people who don’t have words to explain the situation that they are in. No one can really go mad because if you are aware of the things around you, whether you know it or not, you’re still perfectly sane.” She slowly lowered her hand and closed her eyes and leaned her head back.

Yuki couldn’t help but smile at such a stupid statement. “Why are you always saying things like that?”

“I’m something of a philosophical creature. Aside from my passion of fighting, I attained another interest of studying the world around me and learning its faults and cherishing its close to perfections. Maybe it would be something that you would be interested in one of these days.” Renami opened her eyes; they beautifully reflected the rays of the sun within their blood red oceans.

“Get away from me. I have no interest in listening to your constant ramble about different ways of seeing things,” said Yuki standing and walking to the other side of the room. He turned to face the goddess that had condemned him to insanity. “Why are you still here? You have a physical body. Why don’t you just go and get your sister and leave us alone?”

The Goddess of Darkness gazed out the window at all the little insignificant worms that went about their day, completely unaware of any other civilization in the world. It sickened her that Yuki would ever turn to people like that for help. Even the doctors—said to be experts on the worlds that their patients ran away to—hadn’t the slightest idea of what really existed beyond the barriers of human intelligence. “Before I answer you that, you have to tell me something.”

“What?”

“Why did you sleep with me? Do you even know or have a reason?”

Yuki closed his eyes and thought for a moment. He had asked Shuichi why he had slept with this woman but that question had never been directed at him. Why had he done it? Sure, she was probably the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen—and that’s saying a lot seeing as she is a little…demonic. Yet it seemed more instinctive than anything else. He didn’t even remember how it started or ever considering sleeping with her. “I don’t know…”

“The saying is true ‘like father like son’.” Renami held in a chuckle and looked at the beautiful blond.

“You slept with my father?” Yuki almost gagged while saying that.

“Don’t even say such a thing! I was talking about your ancestor, you ass. His perverted genes seem to have been passed down through the generations.” She paused for a moment to consider how to phrase her next words, seeing as they might come out sounding a little…odd. “You and Shuichi shouldn’t even worry about it, Yuki. I didn’t mention this to you yesterday because you were still pretty mad but it can’t be considered cheating on either of your behalves.”

“What?” Yuki’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he waited for her to continue.

Renami stood from where she had been sitting and walked over to stand in front of the novelist. “Don’t you understand yet? This is going back to your question. Shuichi’s blood is what allows me to keep this body. I’m not saying that I take his blood and drink it, that’s not it. I’m saying that I can’t be too far away from him or I’ll lose this manifestation. This form was created out of Shuichi’s own body—it is his body. An extension to be more precise, but never the less still Shuichi.”

Yuki couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He wanted to choke this crazy bitch until she turned blue. “Why didn’t you tell me that while we were fighting?” Yuki yelled. His voice rang through the halls and out the front door to the street.

“Would you have listened if I had tried to tell you?” She walked to the door and once more stuck her head through the solid object and gazed into the hall to see if any one was coming. Stepping back into the room, she paused before continuing, “Shuichi knew and you didn’t listen to him. That’s why he hadn’t spoken to you about it.”

“I would have listened if he had told me before you did.”

Renami walked back to the windowsill and took a seat. “He kept his reasons from you just the same way that you kept yours from him.”

“I already told you that I had no reason.” Yuki’s gaze softened as he once again considered if he had a reason.

“Well I had one. Yesterday when you went to the doctors what did they say about your condition?”

“What?” Yuki’s eyes widened. “How did you know about that?”

“What did they say?” she asked sternly.

“They said that I was cured. It was almost as if I had never been sick. How did you know though?”

“I know that they don’t teach you this in monk school, but Darkness is not only a killer but a savior. My tears, Yuki, do you remember what they were made out of?”

“Blood…” Yuki looked at her completely puzzled. What was she getting at with this? Is she trying to say that tears could cure lung cancer and ulcers? That would be the absolutely dumbest sh—

“That is the key to all life, Yuki!” she gleamed at her own thoughts and smiled sheepishly. “But my blood is special. It can either save or destroy. It helped you and Shuichi both. You hadn’t told him that you had cancer and he didn’t admit to having a brain tumor. Hides it well doesn’t he?”

“What?” Yuki stumbled back as he tried to make sense of what had just been told to him. Shuichi had what? Shindou? His Shuichi had a brain tumor? But how could he not have noticed? There are usually symptoms to things like that. His baka had acted no different now than from the day that he met him in the park that night two years ago. “You’re lying!”

She stared at him, almost disappointed by his childish reaction. This was a man who was an asshole by nature and was not easily surprised. Yet here he was, looking as though he would start bawling his eyes out like an infant who had just dropped his ice-cream. “How can you accuse me of such a thing when I have no reason to deceive? What would I gain, Yuki? Do you think that I want you all to myself so Shuichi needs to be taken out of the picture? Don’t flatter yourself, Eiri.”

Yuki looked at her, knowing that she wasn’t lying. Not once had she ever lied to him or his lover so why would she start now? Eiri backed away until he hit the wall. He slowly slid down it and sat on the floor with his hands laced through his hair. He was confused. How did this woman, who had only been here for three months, know more about Shuichi than he did? Why hadn’t the baka confided in him? “How…bad is it?” he finally brought himself to ask.

Renami smiled at him. She knew that eventually he would ask. “You should have asked how bad it was. Just like your little miracle, he is now cured and as stupid as ever.”

Yuki looked up at her and saw how she was smiling. For once he was grateful to see that smile—it meant that all was well. He smiled at the thought of his little baka cured of something so dreadful. So this is what he felt like when he was told that Yuki had an ulcer? Now looking back on it he had told the brat that everything would be alright and that he wasn’t going to die. And when he failed to stop asking how he was he would revert to yelling at the kid for being a pain in the ass. He understood all too well now how he felt. Yuki would have done the same thing as Shuichi even if he was told not to worry.

Knock. Knock.

Both Yuki and Renami turned to the door.

Knock. Knock.

“Well, Yuki,” the lithe woman jumped off the windowsill and smiled widely, baring her fangs. “I’ll leave you to your crazy doctors and we’ll see if you really are mad. Oh, by the way Shuichi wants you to bring home some tofu. He’s planning on cooking something special for your return home. I advise you to eat before you get home because that poor boy can’t cook worth crap. Bye-bye.” With a wave of her hand she disappeared into the floor.

“Eiri, are you in there?” came the soft voice from outside the door.

“Yeah, come in, Seguchi,” Yuki watched the door open and gazed at the sight of his brother-in-law.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Tohma walked in, closed the door behind him, and took a seat on one of the chairs in the room. “I know that what you do is your business but I couldn’t help but pry when I heard that you had come to a mental institution. So tell me, why are you here? Does it have anything to do with Kitazawa-sama?” Tohma smiled lightly and placed his hands neatly on his lap.

“You don’t have to worry. I put him behind me already,” Yuki said in a low voice, one that almost sounded afraid to say that he had forgotten his old teacher. He quickly stood from where he was sitting and returned to the window to gaze upon the world that somehow seemed renewed with the news of Shuichi’s improved health.

“Then?” Seguchi looked as though he would fall from his chair in anticipation.

“Like you said,” Yuki smiled and waved his hand once, “my reasons are my business.”

Yuki’s brother-in-law took the hint and stood up. He walked to the door casually and turned to face Eiri before leaving. He doesn’t look like he’s sad or even thinking about something that could hurt him, thought Tohma. That’s alright if he doesn’t want to talk now. He’ll tell me eventually. He gave one last smile before turning and leaving the author to his isolation.