Beautiful Insanity - Chapter Seventeen
Title: Beautiful Insanity
Ratings: T/16+
Characters based upon: Inoo Kei, Arioka Daiki, Okamoto Keito, Yamada Ryosuke
Inspired by : The Video Game "Alice Madness Returns" and a school test (weird?? it's a long story)
Setting : A small English Village (fictional), London, Umbria Home(fictional)
Time Line : The year is 2014
Genre: AU! Horror, mystery, angst, brotherhood
Disclaimer: Most things such as some themes, ideas, locations and music used does not belong to me but to the respective copyright holders...the new characters, OC's and the plot does.
Summary: Kurosaki Kei is a student of human psychology in an English University. During an attachment with his senior, he gets himself and two of his closest friends involved in the case of a young psychiatric patient with an angelic face and a dark past that involves his tendency to kill those who are closest to him.
Note: Longest chapter of the fic but here's all I wanted to explain about Daisuke's past. The italic is all the happenings from the past that Daisuke is recalling and retelling, different time periods are separated by the divider. And the track is not for Alice Madness Returns OST either because of the slight difference in the nature of the chapter and yeah it's Lacie from Pandora Hearts. Most of you might already know it and I've used it before too but it was in my folder and toooooo pretteh to ignore XD
Chapter 17 - Our Choices
Wandering eyes roam across the sea of black and little fingers tighten around the coarse stem of a rose. The air smells of moist earth and it’s strong enough to be tasted on one’s tongue. He blinks curiously at the many stoic faces and exaggerated sobs and then at the people that approach where he sits cross-legged against his father and bow. He looks to the side and smiles at the laughing picture of his mama, wondering if they were, like him, all here to say goodbye to her.
“They had known, she would go sooner or later…I heard she had been ill for a while,”
“And…still…Kato-san had married her?”
“Their son looks very young…poor thing,”
The little boy wrinkles his nose at their words. They didn’t make much sense to him, but he didn’t like the way the ladies looked at him; shaking their heads and wiping away tear after tear.
“Papa…can I go out and play? My feet feel funny,”
The boy pouts as his father smiles sadly at him before placing a gentle hand upon his head.
“It’s raining Daisuke, you’ll catch a cold if you go out now,”
The boy sighs in disappointment. He looks up as a young woman walks up to them and bows respectfully but frowns as she lingers, giving the family a comforting smile. Daisuke glares at her, not liking her one bit. It was weird; he hadn’t been able to like anything at all that day.
~*~
“Are you serious? What about Daisuke?”
“I’m thinking about Daisuke, look mother…work keeps me away from home for months on end, won’t it be better if there is a mother figure around the house for Daisuke?”
“Like I’ve said, I’ll take care of him…I’m his grandmother!”
“Please be rational mother, not with your travelling obsession…he was 4 when Maya passed away, I don’t even know how much of her he still remembers…I don’t want him to grow up without having parents around,”
“Maybe if you stay at home more…it might be enough for him,”
“Not now mother, I still have so much I can accomplish…and then one day Daisuke can have all that I’ve achieved,”
“I can’t argue with you, it’s your life…but this woman you plan to marry, Shinobe-san…will she care for Daisuke?”
“She’s very enthusiastic about it…she promises to love Daisuke like he’s her own,”
“Hmph…easier said than done…she better not hurt my boy.”
6 year old Daisuke climbs the carpeted stairs he had been sitting on for so long, leaving the unaware adults to their idle chatter. The passing servants watch him with apprehension as he pads across the halls in his blue pajamas. Once in his room he climbs onto the bed and snuggles against his pillow. He then reaches under it and pulls out a picture. Briefly bringing it to his lips, he holds it flat against his chest.
“Oyasumi…ka-chan.”
~*~
“Um, Sayuri-san…can you please help me with my shoelaces?”
Daisuke cowers under the irritated gaze of the woman.
“What am I your servant? A twelve year old should know how to do it by himself,”
Daisuke bites back a 'I’m eight' and proceeds to work on the laces. He looks up at the clock and smiles. His father would be coming home tonight and then they would go out for dinner. It had been a while since he dined with his dad and he was so looking forward to it. He jumps though as out of the blue Sayuri hurls her wooden jewellery box at him. He gulps and breathes out in relief as it hits the lamp next to him instead.
The noise prompted a knock on the door.
“Is everything alright madam?”
Sayuri clicks her tongue.
“Yes, Daisuke-chan broke a lamp but he’s fine so please come clean up the mess when we leave the room,”
Daisuke glares at her. Not only was she a horrible pitcher, she was a magnificent liar too…as always.
“Don’t look at me like that you little thief! Where’s the pink crystal necklace I wore at the party last week? I know you took it!”
The mention of the necklace gives Daisuke a surge of courage and he bucks up, maintaining eye contact with the fuming woman.
“It’s my mama’s so you can’t have it!” he shouts back. He feels his resolve crumble as Sayuri marches towards him and prepares for a blow. It wasn’t the first time. He had been with her for two years and all the bruises that he had attained from his ‘misbehaviour’ had been conveniently blamed on his hyperactive nature. Some of the servants knew, but they were too afraid of the lady of the house and did their part by tending to his injuries after every fight.
He struggles against her hold as Sayuri harshly pulls him off the bed and grabs his chin.
“You better learn to behave with me…I have nothing to do with you yet I keep you in MY husband’s house!”
“I’m going to tell papa!”
“Of course you will, cause you’re just a whining brat right? When has he ever believed you anyway, everybody thinks you’re denying my existence because you’re still upset about your scheming mother! Now, give me back that necklace or you go to sleep without any dinner.”
Daisuke pushes her away with all his might and dashes out of the room. He makes no detours as he heads straight for the main door. Ignoring all the calls from the servants he lets his feet carry him all the way to his favourite playground.
Forget dinner, he didn’t want to be with anyone right now.
~*~
Daisuke stares, vision blurred by tears as his father lifts the unconscious body of his stepmother. His body shudders uncontrollably as he stands at the top of the grand staircase, watching as chaos ensues in the main hall. She had fallen before his very eyes. Petrified, he had watched her roll down the stairs and onto the floor with a painful thud.
“Papa…,”
Daisuke is taken aback at the bewildered look in his father’s eyes as they lock with his.
“What…what have you done Daisuke?”
“She was going to hit me again…but I didn’t mean to push her papa…believe me!”
“Hit…you? Sayuri would never do that…,”
“Papa…papa I’m sorry…,”
“You’re…,” began the older Kato, looking almost uncertain of himself.
“You really are one of them.”
~*~
“Daisuke?”
The young man sighs, eyes fixed upon the fluffs of white in the indigo sky as if they reminded him of something he had lost long ago.
“My grandmother had just returned from a trip abroad then, she heard about the incident and took me to her place. I’ve been living with her since. My dad and I never talk about what happened, I don’t interfere with his life and don’t trouble him unnecessarily. It’s the best for both of us I think. He tries to get in touch with me as much as possible, calls on my birthday every year or to congratulate me on my achievements. He says he’s proud of my talents and happily tells his colleagues about his accomplished son. So I guess we have a pretty good relationship despite the fact that we haven’t actually met for years. I’m glad, but I’m also angry…of what I’m not sure but I shamelessly spend the money he gives me and I take all the gifts he sends. I’ve been freelancing as a programmer since high school, doing random jobs and coming up with simple games for internet based franchises but I’ve been saving all that and I’ve saved quite enough. That’s why I said I have the money and the ability to earn and care for someone. I’m almost done with university so I’m going to be working at his company. I want to pay him back for all that he did for me. I don’t intend to inherit his enterprise, he still doesn’t know that, but I’m going to work long and hard and when I have enough experience, I’m going to launch my own video game company,”
The airplane lurches a couple of times and the seatbelt icon lights up. Kei looks to his side where Inoue sits wearily, eyes on the compartment hidden behind drapes. He knows that the subject of the medical student’s concern was the sleeping patient within the compartment. He’s glad that for this particular flight, the first class had very few passengers.
“Daisuke?”
The boy hums in reply, eyes falling shut as he leans further into his seat.
“Why don’t you just meet up with your dad…you know you want to. Is it because of…Sayuri-san? But she’s fine now right? Then why not?”
“A couple of years after that incident I found out that Shinobe Sayuri and my dad had been a very serious couple since high school, but he broke it off with her to marry mom. I guess she never got over him. She was very happy when he agreed to marry her and he was pretty okay with it too. I guess he still remembered Sayuri as she had been in school; ordinary, cheery, happy-go-lucky. So he wouldn’t believe me when I told her that she had been hitting me. I bet she hated my mom for coming between them and all. She acted like I was her most precious in front of everyone, even my grandma and dad…I don’t know why I kept quiet most of the time. I didn’t want to cause any trouble I guess. That struggle between us on the top of the stairs…I didn’t mean it to end that way. She was badly hurt, was in the hospital for a while…and you know what made it all worse for me…dad actually took a vacation to look after her. He used to do that whenever mom got too sick and so I figured…Sayuri must have become as important to him as mom was. It’s…,”
Kei frowns as Daisuke’s voice breaks. The boy gulps audibly, face contorted in pain.
“That’s when I decided, I had hurt someone very precious to him and it was a crime. But you know, it wasn’t fair…it’s like I was never needed and it didn’t matter that I wasn’t there with him now that he had Sayuri. Then I decided…I would learn to live without him…be so…perfect that he would have nothing to worry about, nothing to remind him of his past and he could start fresh with her. ‘You’re really one of them’ he had said that day, and now I understand what he meant.”
Kei feels a sense of despair as he watches Daisuke stare at his trembling hands, eyes glassy.
“I almost killed her,”
“You didn’t, and it was an accident,”
“But I have sinister blood,” Daisuke retorts.
“Sinister enough to risk your life for a total stranger Kato Daisuke?” Kei snaps back, almost glaring at the other.
Daisuke looks up at him in surprise.
“It’s foolish to blame your genetics for everything, a man chooses to sin or do a good deed based on his conscious, not because he’s got the blood of sinners or of saints,”
Daisuke looks away, lacing his fingers together a little too tight. Kei’s eyes soften at his attempts to control himself and he gives the shuddering shoulder a gentle squeeze.
“Stop with this foolish belief of yours Kato Daisuke because it’s always our choices in the end, always our choices and you…you always chose to love.”
A/N: One last thing, for those of you dears waiting for Akatsuki, i have not abandoned the fic yet just don't want to be writing with almost no muse. I'm gonna upload a couple more chaps of Beautiful Insanity (might end it) and then regularly do Akatsuki very soon! Thank you for your patients and I hope you are enjoying the story!
Ratings: T/16+
Characters based upon: Inoo Kei, Arioka Daiki, Okamoto Keito, Yamada Ryosuke
Inspired by : The Video Game "Alice Madness Returns" and a school test (weird?? it's a long story)
Setting : A small English Village (fictional), London, Umbria Home(fictional)
Time Line : The year is 2014
Genre: AU! Horror, mystery, angst, brotherhood
Disclaimer: Most things such as some themes, ideas, locations and music used does not belong to me but to the respective copyright holders...the new characters, OC's and the plot does.
Summary: Kurosaki Kei is a student of human psychology in an English University. During an attachment with his senior, he gets himself and two of his closest friends involved in the case of a young psychiatric patient with an angelic face and a dark past that involves his tendency to kill those who are closest to him.
Note: Longest chapter of the fic but here's all I wanted to explain about Daisuke's past. The italic is all the happenings from the past that Daisuke is recalling and retelling, different time periods are separated by the divider. And the track is not for Alice Madness Returns OST either because of the slight difference in the nature of the chapter and yeah it's Lacie from Pandora Hearts. Most of you might already know it and I've used it before too but it was in my folder and toooooo pretteh to ignore XD
Chapter 17 - Our Choices
Wandering eyes roam across the sea of black and little fingers tighten around the coarse stem of a rose. The air smells of moist earth and it’s strong enough to be tasted on one’s tongue. He blinks curiously at the many stoic faces and exaggerated sobs and then at the people that approach where he sits cross-legged against his father and bow. He looks to the side and smiles at the laughing picture of his mama, wondering if they were, like him, all here to say goodbye to her.
“They had known, she would go sooner or later…I heard she had been ill for a while,”
“And…still…Kato-san had married her?”
“Their son looks very young…poor thing,”
The little boy wrinkles his nose at their words. They didn’t make much sense to him, but he didn’t like the way the ladies looked at him; shaking their heads and wiping away tear after tear.
“Papa…can I go out and play? My feet feel funny,”
The boy pouts as his father smiles sadly at him before placing a gentle hand upon his head.
“It’s raining Daisuke, you’ll catch a cold if you go out now,”
The boy sighs in disappointment. He looks up as a young woman walks up to them and bows respectfully but frowns as she lingers, giving the family a comforting smile. Daisuke glares at her, not liking her one bit. It was weird; he hadn’t been able to like anything at all that day.
~*~
“Are you serious? What about Daisuke?”
“I’m thinking about Daisuke, look mother…work keeps me away from home for months on end, won’t it be better if there is a mother figure around the house for Daisuke?”
“Like I’ve said, I’ll take care of him…I’m his grandmother!”
“Please be rational mother, not with your travelling obsession…he was 4 when Maya passed away, I don’t even know how much of her he still remembers…I don’t want him to grow up without having parents around,”
“Maybe if you stay at home more…it might be enough for him,”
“Not now mother, I still have so much I can accomplish…and then one day Daisuke can have all that I’ve achieved,”
“I can’t argue with you, it’s your life…but this woman you plan to marry, Shinobe-san…will she care for Daisuke?”
“She’s very enthusiastic about it…she promises to love Daisuke like he’s her own,”
“Hmph…easier said than done…she better not hurt my boy.”
6 year old Daisuke climbs the carpeted stairs he had been sitting on for so long, leaving the unaware adults to their idle chatter. The passing servants watch him with apprehension as he pads across the halls in his blue pajamas. Once in his room he climbs onto the bed and snuggles against his pillow. He then reaches under it and pulls out a picture. Briefly bringing it to his lips, he holds it flat against his chest.
“Oyasumi…ka-chan.”
~*~
“Um, Sayuri-san…can you please help me with my shoelaces?”
Daisuke cowers under the irritated gaze of the woman.
“What am I your servant? A twelve year old should know how to do it by himself,”
Daisuke bites back a 'I’m eight' and proceeds to work on the laces. He looks up at the clock and smiles. His father would be coming home tonight and then they would go out for dinner. It had been a while since he dined with his dad and he was so looking forward to it. He jumps though as out of the blue Sayuri hurls her wooden jewellery box at him. He gulps and breathes out in relief as it hits the lamp next to him instead.
The noise prompted a knock on the door.
“Is everything alright madam?”
Sayuri clicks her tongue.
“Yes, Daisuke-chan broke a lamp but he’s fine so please come clean up the mess when we leave the room,”
Daisuke glares at her. Not only was she a horrible pitcher, she was a magnificent liar too…as always.
“Don’t look at me like that you little thief! Where’s the pink crystal necklace I wore at the party last week? I know you took it!”
The mention of the necklace gives Daisuke a surge of courage and he bucks up, maintaining eye contact with the fuming woman.
“It’s my mama’s so you can’t have it!” he shouts back. He feels his resolve crumble as Sayuri marches towards him and prepares for a blow. It wasn’t the first time. He had been with her for two years and all the bruises that he had attained from his ‘misbehaviour’ had been conveniently blamed on his hyperactive nature. Some of the servants knew, but they were too afraid of the lady of the house and did their part by tending to his injuries after every fight.
He struggles against her hold as Sayuri harshly pulls him off the bed and grabs his chin.
“You better learn to behave with me…I have nothing to do with you yet I keep you in MY husband’s house!”
“I’m going to tell papa!”
“Of course you will, cause you’re just a whining brat right? When has he ever believed you anyway, everybody thinks you’re denying my existence because you’re still upset about your scheming mother! Now, give me back that necklace or you go to sleep without any dinner.”
Daisuke pushes her away with all his might and dashes out of the room. He makes no detours as he heads straight for the main door. Ignoring all the calls from the servants he lets his feet carry him all the way to his favourite playground.
Forget dinner, he didn’t want to be with anyone right now.
~*~
Daisuke stares, vision blurred by tears as his father lifts the unconscious body of his stepmother. His body shudders uncontrollably as he stands at the top of the grand staircase, watching as chaos ensues in the main hall. She had fallen before his very eyes. Petrified, he had watched her roll down the stairs and onto the floor with a painful thud.
“Papa…,”
Daisuke is taken aback at the bewildered look in his father’s eyes as they lock with his.
“What…what have you done Daisuke?”
“She was going to hit me again…but I didn’t mean to push her papa…believe me!”
“Hit…you? Sayuri would never do that…,”
“Papa…papa I’m sorry…,”
“You’re…,” began the older Kato, looking almost uncertain of himself.
“You really are one of them.”
~*~
“Daisuke?”
The young man sighs, eyes fixed upon the fluffs of white in the indigo sky as if they reminded him of something he had lost long ago.
“My grandmother had just returned from a trip abroad then, she heard about the incident and took me to her place. I’ve been living with her since. My dad and I never talk about what happened, I don’t interfere with his life and don’t trouble him unnecessarily. It’s the best for both of us I think. He tries to get in touch with me as much as possible, calls on my birthday every year or to congratulate me on my achievements. He says he’s proud of my talents and happily tells his colleagues about his accomplished son. So I guess we have a pretty good relationship despite the fact that we haven’t actually met for years. I’m glad, but I’m also angry…of what I’m not sure but I shamelessly spend the money he gives me and I take all the gifts he sends. I’ve been freelancing as a programmer since high school, doing random jobs and coming up with simple games for internet based franchises but I’ve been saving all that and I’ve saved quite enough. That’s why I said I have the money and the ability to earn and care for someone. I’m almost done with university so I’m going to be working at his company. I want to pay him back for all that he did for me. I don’t intend to inherit his enterprise, he still doesn’t know that, but I’m going to work long and hard and when I have enough experience, I’m going to launch my own video game company,”
The airplane lurches a couple of times and the seatbelt icon lights up. Kei looks to his side where Inoue sits wearily, eyes on the compartment hidden behind drapes. He knows that the subject of the medical student’s concern was the sleeping patient within the compartment. He’s glad that for this particular flight, the first class had very few passengers.
“Daisuke?”
The boy hums in reply, eyes falling shut as he leans further into his seat.
“Why don’t you just meet up with your dad…you know you want to. Is it because of…Sayuri-san? But she’s fine now right? Then why not?”
“A couple of years after that incident I found out that Shinobe Sayuri and my dad had been a very serious couple since high school, but he broke it off with her to marry mom. I guess she never got over him. She was very happy when he agreed to marry her and he was pretty okay with it too. I guess he still remembered Sayuri as she had been in school; ordinary, cheery, happy-go-lucky. So he wouldn’t believe me when I told her that she had been hitting me. I bet she hated my mom for coming between them and all. She acted like I was her most precious in front of everyone, even my grandma and dad…I don’t know why I kept quiet most of the time. I didn’t want to cause any trouble I guess. That struggle between us on the top of the stairs…I didn’t mean it to end that way. She was badly hurt, was in the hospital for a while…and you know what made it all worse for me…dad actually took a vacation to look after her. He used to do that whenever mom got too sick and so I figured…Sayuri must have become as important to him as mom was. It’s…,”
Kei frowns as Daisuke’s voice breaks. The boy gulps audibly, face contorted in pain.
“That’s when I decided, I had hurt someone very precious to him and it was a crime. But you know, it wasn’t fair…it’s like I was never needed and it didn’t matter that I wasn’t there with him now that he had Sayuri. Then I decided…I would learn to live without him…be so…perfect that he would have nothing to worry about, nothing to remind him of his past and he could start fresh with her. ‘You’re really one of them’ he had said that day, and now I understand what he meant.”
Kei feels a sense of despair as he watches Daisuke stare at his trembling hands, eyes glassy.
“I almost killed her,”
“You didn’t, and it was an accident,”
“But I have sinister blood,” Daisuke retorts.
“Sinister enough to risk your life for a total stranger Kato Daisuke?” Kei snaps back, almost glaring at the other.
Daisuke looks up at him in surprise.
“It’s foolish to blame your genetics for everything, a man chooses to sin or do a good deed based on his conscious, not because he’s got the blood of sinners or of saints,”
Daisuke looks away, lacing his fingers together a little too tight. Kei’s eyes soften at his attempts to control himself and he gives the shuddering shoulder a gentle squeeze.
“Stop with this foolish belief of yours Kato Daisuke because it’s always our choices in the end, always our choices and you…you always chose to love.”
A/N: One last thing, for those of you dears waiting for Akatsuki, i have not abandoned the fic yet just don't want to be writing with almost no muse. I'm gonna upload a couple more chaps of Beautiful Insanity (might end it) and then regularly do Akatsuki very soon! Thank you for your patients and I hope you are enjoying the story!