~ For centuries, humans and demons lived amongst one another. Not necessarily peacefully, but in a unique balance. Nine demon kingdoms existed within the human realm, each having its own type and form of demons. The demon rulers, the most powerful of those in the nine kingdoms, would cause chaos within the human world, destroying villages and killing hundreds of people. These attacks on humanity were unpredictable, both in timing and scale. The demon ruler of the ninth kingdom, Kurama, was the last to launch an attack on a human society; the Leaf Village. During Kurama's rein of terror, the leader of the Leaf Village came up with a way to defeat him. Lord Minato Uzumaki sacrificed his own child, his son, in order to banish the demon. Kurama was sealed away inside of the boy, leading to the other eight demon rulers to be sealed within other human vessels. Eighteen years later, some people have attempted to resurrect the demon kingdoms, in order to use them to gain power and destroy those who do not follow in their footsteps. Those with the demons sealed inside of them have fled to several different places, however, some were not as lucky to hide themselves away. Two of these vessels, known as Jinchuriki, have been put away in a dual laboratory and hospital for the mentally ill. But the question remains, are they safe here? ~
Chapter One
The halls of Konoha Institute were nothing but plain, white walls and white tile floors. No decorations adorned the walls; the only cut into the white were heavy black doors leading to different rooms. Footsteps echoed down the corridor, otherwise, there was silence. A black-haired boy followed behind a woman who was dressed as the walls –in plain white—and a man who appeared to be an elder version of said boy. The woman cleared her throat, peering down at a clipboard that rested in her arms.
"Uchiha Sasuke, this is Konoha Institute. The treatment plan that has been devised for you will be for approximately 4 months, although that timespan is relative to your successes and failures. In other words, the more cooperative you are and the more you try, the sooner you will be out." The woman said, looking at the younger boy over her shoulder. Sasuke was eighteen and recently diagnosed with bipolar II disorder, after having stabbed his father in the leg with a kitchen knife during an argument. The older boy turned to look at Sasuke, their identical onyx eyes meeting.
"Itachi, can you just take me home?" Sasuke grumbled, clearly uninterested in this development in his life.
"No, little brother. When you are able to control yourself, you may return home. Do as Miss Shizune tells you and you will be finished here in record time." The older boy replied. A scowl found its way onto Sasuke's face as they stopped at a set of black double doors. The doors had windows so that outsiders could see in, and lettering on the door read "Common Room". Itachi gave his brother a small smile, placing a hand on his shoulder lightly.
"It is time for me to go, Sasuke. Try to behave yourself." The man spoke gently, squeezing his brother's shoulder before bidding him and Shizune goodbye, and retreating back down the hall. Sasuke balled his hands up in fists at his sides, frustration and anger bubbling up inside of him.
"Alright, Sasuke. This is the Common Room, where all of the patients can come and relax. In this room, you will find games, books, television, and an assortment of other recreational activities. There are certain activities that are off limits unless you have the permission of your therapist, such as art and music. I believe right now the majority of the patients are relaxing in this room, so we are going to head in and introduce you. Okay?" Shizune said calmly, a smile on her face. Sasuke did not reply, simply staring ahead into the room through the windows.
He could see at least five other boys, and three girls gathered on couches in front of the television. They all appeared to be watching a show, chatting to one another periodically. Shizune opened one of the doors, allowing Sasuke to walk in first, with her right behind him. Once inside, he noticed three other people; a white-haired man, another man with a horizontal scar over the bridge of his nose, and a person with long black hair that he could not currently identify as male or female.
"Oh, Shizune! Hello," the white-haired man greeted, though a mask covered his mouth. This seemed to get the attention of those who were watching television, as they had paused their movie and turned to see Shizune come in.
"Hello Kakashi, everyone. We have a new friend joining our group today. This is Sasuke," Shizune motioned her hand toward the boy beside her. A collective "hello" emerged from the group on the couches before they all stood up and headed over to the newcomer.
"Hey," one of the boys said, "my name is Kiba, and I'm here because I have anger issues and PTSD." He finished. Sasuke studied the boy who spoke, noting the red upside-down triangles on his cheeks. His eyes shifted to the next person as they spoke.
"My name is Rock Lee, but you may call me Lee! I have severe ADHD!" he said loudly, almost as if he were proud. This boy Sasuke stared at, unsure of what to think of him. He had a traditional bowl cut and big eyes and was practically bouncing up and down. His attention was drawn away by the next person that spoke.
"Hey man, I'm Shikamaru. I have mild narcolepsy." The next boy spoke slowly, yawning after he finished his sentence. His hair was pulled up into a lazy ponytail and his eyes were half-lidded as if he was about to fall asleep at any second.
"My name is Shino, and I am a disorganized schizophrenic." Sasuke found this boy peculiar. He was relatively quiet, but otherwise seemed completely normal. His hands were in the pockets of the white hoodie he had on, and his eyes were hidden by a pair of sunglasses.
"Hello, I am Neji. I have severe depression." Sasuke observed Neji as well, noticing that his hair was long enough to fall to his waist, and was not tied up in any sort of ponytail or bun. As he stood there, Neji adjusted his hair several times, making Sasuke assume that it usually was more tame. After all the boys introduced themselves, they stepped back a bit to allow the girls their turn.
"Hi, I'm Sakura and I have an eating disorder." A pink haired girl spoke first, a faint blush on her cheeks as she looked away slightly from the newcomer.
"My name is Ino and I have OCD." A blonde spoke next. Sasuke noticed that she repeatedly tapped her fingers against her thighs as she spoke and stopped when she was quiet.
"H-Hello, m-my name is H-Hinata and I have severe a-anxiety and m-mild OCD." The final girl spoke. She had long hair, similar to the other two, but was very fair in her complexion. It was also incredibly difficult to hear her. The white-haired man stepped up to the group, the way his eyes crinkled made Sasuke think he may be smiling behind his mask.
"Now, Sasuke, it is your turn. You see, it is customary here to introduce yourself and tell everyone the reason for you being here. We feel it helps all of you find a friend and feel more at ease with one another." He said, looking straight ahead in to Sasuke's eyes. The Uchiha boy noticed that this man had dichromatic eyes; one was black and the other a somewhat crimson color. After a moment, Sasuke glanced around at each person.
"Sasuke, and I have bipolar II." He grumbled, crossing his arms loosely over his chest.
"Excellent! Now, here is about two hours left of free time before therapy today. Sasuke, you may stay here and get to know the others. I will show you your room after therapy." Shizune spoke up. Before she turned to leave, she pulled several packets out of the pocket of her uniform. Each person that had introduced themselves held out a hand, receiving a packet with their name on it. Shizune handed one to Sasuke as well, smiling.
"What's this?" he questioned, watching the other patients open their packets and take whatever medication was inside.
"It's your meds, dude. Just take 'em." The boy with triangles on his face, Kiba, replied. Sasuke looked down at the packet in his palm, distrust written across his face. He peered up at the others around him, who were all taking their medications in their unique ways; for instance, he noticed Ino tapping each individual pill to her lips three times before taking them, and Hinata seemed to have organized hers by size and color. Sasuke looked back down at his packet, sighing and ripping it open. To his surprise, he only received one pill, whereas the others varied between three and seven. Popping the small pill in his mouth, the black-haired boy jumped when a water bottle was stuck in front of him by the white-haired man, Kakashi. He accepted it and took a sip to swallow his pill.
"Oh my gosh, Kakashi!" Kiba suddenly shouted, bouncing on his heels.
"Yes, Kiba?" Kakashi replied, turning to face the triangle-cheeked boy.
"Today is Friday, right?" he asked, excitement written all over his face. Some of the boys seemed to understand his enthusiasm and also began smiling. Kakashi joking placed a finger on his chin, as if he were thinking incredibly hard.
"Hmm, why, yes I believe it is. And it's about that time isn't it, two hours left?" Kakashi spoke, Sasuke able to tell that he was smiling behind his mask. That is when Sasuke noticed that the man with this horizontal scar was gone, probably having left along with Shizune. A door across the room opened suddenly, footsteps echoing into the room.
"Naruto!" Kiba and Lee shouted excitedly, rushing across the room to greet the three people that had entered. The scarred man was leading two boys, probably about the same age as everyone else, one with golden blond hair and the other with blood red hair.
Watching closely, Sasuke's eyes widened in fascination as he realized why they were walking in a straight line, and very close together. Both of the boys had their hands locked inside of what appeared to be heavy metal boxes. They each had a monitor on one of their ankles, a thick black band.
"Who're they?" Sasuke found himself asking to no one in particular. Kakashi's features softened as he watched the boys have their hand-traps removed by the other man.
"That is Naruto and Gaara. They are what you could call "special cases." But, they shouldn't be a danger to you." Kakashi replied carefully, seeming to have to think of the right words.
"Shouldn't?" Sasuke attempted to clarify, but only received a smile. All of the others that had previously been around Sasuke had slowly migrated over to where Naruto and Gaara were standing, chatting happily amongst themselves.
'Well I guess I should introduce myself before someone forces me to anyway.' Sasuke thought coldly, taking a step forward before freezing. A wave of fire seemed to run through his body, causing him to stop midstep and look up at the group that was standing across the room. Two pairs of eyes were fixated on him; one cerulean and one ice, locking him in place. Heaviness unloaded in Sasuke's body, making movement feel impossible.
Sasuke blinked to clear his head, expecting his body to immediately start moving again, but upon opening his eyes he was taken even more aback. The cerulean eyes that stared at him from across the room were suddenly inches from his. The blond tilted his head, watching as Sasuke regained his composure with a step backward.
"I'm Naruto!" the other boy practically shouted. Sasuke winced at how loud he was, frowning immediately.
"I'm Sasuke." He replied. Naruto stared at him for a long moment, inspecting every inch of Sasuke's face. Sasuke watched as the boy tilted his head again, but to the other side, as if trying to get a complete picture of Sasuke. A huge smile broke out across Naruto's face then, and he stuck out his hand.
"Nice to meet ya!"