There are some things that we can't forget, no matter how hard we try, they are ingrained into us like burns on a charred piece of wood. Like pieces of glass burrowed into our skin, these memories twist and stab into us, causing pain and end up festering like an infected wound; oozing guilt and sorrow like puss from that wound.
Needless to say that these wounds have a profound effect on us, and though some might think that these wounds show weakness, they just show how adaptable the human mind is.
He sat in the back of the cell, staring blankly at the door that had been closed for so long. His straight jacket at first had been too tight but he had gotten used to it, as well as the mask over his face. They wouldn't take it off no matter how much he told them that he wasn't a threat.
No one believes you when you're crazy…
He thought bitterly, his eyes focusing as movement through the window caught his attention and a voice rang through as the button was pushed to allow it.
"Good morning Sanji", the old crone said lightly, saying something else but as he had lifted his finger from the button the blond couldn't hear it. No doubt he was telling the small group of students that he always took on his morning troupes about his 'star patient' More than once Sanji had bitten, stabbed, kicked or otherwise attacked the old man; the doc didn't like it, but it gave him something to talk about around the water cooler no doubt.
The blond was starting to tune out when suddenly another pair of eyes appeared in the small window, a new pair that he'd never seen before; they were black as the midnight sky. The person said something to the doctor before the man rejected and the owner of the new eyes did it anyway. Obviously the button on the wall was pushed again because a lightly deep new voice rang through to the patient.
"So you're name is Sanji right?", they asked, "You don't look all that dangerous…", Sanji smirked from behind his mask, leering dangerously at the eyes through the small window.
"Why don't you come in here, and I'll show you", the new person opened his mouth to say something but was immediately pushed aside by the doctor who then proceeded to urge the group away.
Damn, coulda' been fun…
Zoro stood back and watched this so-called professional in front of him. To be honest, he didn't seem the right person for the job. He was too patronizing of the patients. Zoro had been studying psychology for as long as he could remember and he should have known by now what went on - on a general note - in the human brain, how thoughts were considered.
Yes, it was true, all people were different. But, really, in the end, people reacted the same ways to any difficult situation. They freak out and their mind tells them to do one thing when they want to do something different.
The person in the cell before him had apparently done something to make these people think he was crazy. The doctor believed that these people were some sort of children that he could play around with. But Zoro believed that they needed help and that he could truly give it to them.
He had come to the asylum to study what went on. To see how these people acted. Now, though, he was intrigued by the way the patients acted, especially this Sanji character. He wanted to find out more. He didn't really believe in people going ''insane''. It didn't seem right to him.
Zoro listened to the doctor drone on about how well the patients were treated in the asylum. He wanted to speak to this Sanji himself, to see what was really going on in his head.
"As I was saying", the old doctor's voice broke the novice out of his thoughts, he was the kind of man that made himself overly important, "you will all be allowed to choose a patient to oversee the care of, you will serve as medicator and therapist to said patient as I oversee your progress; my overseeing such is mainly for your safety." A hushed whisper of excitement ran through the crowd of interns around Zoro.
"Roronoa Zoro?", the doctor said lightly, addressing his obviously favourite pupil, "Could I direct your attention to a rather interesting case?", he asked, directing the young man towards room 108, the room just before Sanji's 109. "Her name is Robin, she is a paranoid schizophrenic who apparently believes her arms are edible." Inside the room was a dark haired woman in a straight jacket, she wore no mask like Sanji did, though one might have thought she would due to the visible bite marks on her body that led up under the jacket as well as the ones that were on the jacket itself. She leered at him, calling at him with a welcoming coo and a smile.
"She has her good days, as well as her bad days; this is because her medications are in a state of constant fluctuation until we find the right remedy for her various mental illnesses. On her good days she can be as sweet as a kitten and on her bad days she can be vicious, though nothing as bad as patient 109."
Zoro followed the doctor absentmindedly. He had taken up quite an interest in patient 109 - Sanji, as this doctor called him.
Sanji, to him at least, seemed like someone who shouldn't really be there. To Zoro, really, he was just a guy that liked to play pranks. He had known many people like that. But there was almost something intriguing there. Something more to look at. There was obviously something going on in this patients mind or actions that made someone think that he needed serious help. Maybe a prank gone too wild?
Zoro tried to pay more attention to the doctor instead of having those straying thoughts entering his mind. When he heard his voice he looked up, surprised. He didn't like the question that followed.
Zoro had never been one to be afraid to raise his hand in class, to ask a random question that came to his head. Hence him not being afraid now to suggest something. "Don't mean to butt in or anything. But I'd really like to work with patient 109. He seems kind of interesting to me."
That sounded bad when he thought about it properly. Hopefully the doctor had taken it the right way.
A sour look suddenly came over the old doctor, as though he had eaten something particularly foul and was now noticing the taste in his mouth. He stared at the intern for a long moment, then he gave a nervous laugh and pulled on his collar before rubbing his hands together.
"Young man, patient 109 is a severe case of violent schizophrenia with social detachment and sadistic tendencies, he likes to be violent and play mind games with those around him for his own amusement. Surely you cant handle someone of his level just yet, why not take patient 108?" He motioned towards the door he was standing in front of in hopes that the novice would accept the offer.
Zoro looked at the doctor with disdain. He hated when people under-minded him, made him feel like he couldn't, or didn't have the potential to, do something. He straightened his shoulders, to show the doctor that he wasn't afraid.
To be honest, patient 108 looked more scary to him than patient 109. He didn't want to say this out loud, but he sure did think of it that way. Zoro stepped forward, defying the doctor who thought he knew everything. "I know he's a bit dysfunctional and, you know, violent but I've prepared for these kind of people my whole college life. And, really, if I hadn't asked, who would have looked after this dude?"
He chuckled to himself as he heard how his reply came out. Dude. What a perfect word to use when talking to your soon-to-be boss.
The doctor looked Zoro up and down, tapping his chin lightly for a moment before a sly smile crossed his lips.
"I will make you a wager if you want this patient so badly", he said lightly, "a tad unprofessional of me but I assume we're not being professional at the moment anyway" The old doctor took a step towards the man, it was obvious that he didn't like this bold new pupil, "I will let you have this patient, you may oversee him completely for the entire internship, periodically-as all the rest of the students will-you will have to present your patient to me and show that he is making mental progress. At the end of the internship, that is six months from now, you will have to prove to me that patient 109 has made considerable mental progress and that he is well on his way to be released into society. If you succeed, you will have a considerable achievement under your belt as well as full funding by my entire department to fund whatever research or future plans you have in this field. But if you fail, you will not be accepted for the second internship which is-as I am sure you know-a requirement to apply at this hospital and you will have to intern elsewhere."
The old man gave a crooked grin and offered up his bony hand, he was sure that Zoro wouldn't accept, if he failed then he would have a hard time finding work as this hospital had a influential death grip on the medical community.
Zoro stood there listening to the doctor speak of this so-called wager. It seemed fair to him. He didn't have to think much about it before saying: "I accept." He smiled back at the old man, trying to mentally prepare himself for this patient.
Yes, he seemed interesting, like there was something more than a person saw on the outside but that didn't mean he was maybe going into deep with this. Maybe he was getting himself into something too challenging for him.
Zoro smiled happily, glad that he had just made a big accomplishment. He had finally gotten where he wanted to after his many years of studying. Yeah, well, he was just an intern. But that was only for now. He believed that. He had always been one for self-confidence, believing in himself when no-one else did.
He was ready, though. He followed the doctor, just eagerly waiting for his instructions for his new patient.
The old man ran through the instructions quickly, it was pretty standard stuff; keep logs of interactions between each intern and their chosen patient; submit annual reports; adjust medication and report injuries, medicinal shifts, attacks and other upsets. Once he was done talking, he dismissed them, allowing the interns to choose their patients from case file copies that he had handed out. As he handed out the files, he skipped over Zoro.
"As you have already chosen your patient", the doctor said lightly as he reached the green haired man, "you may interact with him if you so choose."
Once the group had been lead away from his room, Sanji laid on his back and grinned, the owner of those new eyes, he'd certainly been interesting. He wished that he'd been able to get closer to him, but that was unlikely to happen. Sanji was the head doctor's favorite patient, he was dangerous and mean. That certainly gave him something to talk about, as well as to awe those under his instruction. There was little hope that he would give up such a patient to a novice.
Rolling onto his back he shifted so his head was off the bed then flipped his body so that he landed on his knees. There had been many times that he'd tried to do that and simply had landed on his neck, once he'd nearly broken it, that was why he'd been put in the straight jacket; those idiots didn't know that you didn't need arms to hurt yourself.
Shifting onto his rear, he pushed himself between his bed and the wall, wedging his rather lean body into the small space, using the toilet as leverage to get him back there and moved the bed a little forward until his back hit the wall and he could lean back against it. There was a nail on the wall that he had worked hard with his buckles to get out of the wall far enough to do the job he wanted it to do. Very deliberately he hooked it under the top buckle and shifted so that the strap would be tugged free of the little rod that stopped it from moving and the strap could be tugged free as he moved his shoulders.
Once that buckle was done, he moved on to another, then another; it was a slow process, but it wasn't as though he had anything better to do. After an hour and a half, the jacket slipped from his shoulders and he tossed it onto the bed, straightening his shirt that was under it lightly. Then he pushed the bed back to it's original place and sat in his usual place in the small space between the bed and the toilet.
Zoro took in what the doctor was saying carefully and listened intently. He wanted to know exactly what to do and not make any mistakes. He didn't want to hurt his patient's progress in any way. That would hurt his position and actually hurt him. This was what he had been trained for.
He watched the doctor walk away, leaving him to do what he wanted with his patient. Zoro walked back through the halls of the building, looking around him to see things that he remembered on the tour. Reaching the room of patient 109, he stood there, preparing himself for the man's reaction. Was he going to be surprised, or happy or whatever?
He opened the door slowly, surprised at what he saw as he entered. The patient had successfully taken off the straight jacket that he surely had on when he had seen him before. This made Zoro even more keen on working with Sanji, more intrigued by what went on in the man's mind.
"I'm going to be working with you for the next six months. I'm telling you now, dude, I think this is gonna be pretty fun," he said to the patient in front of him. He could already see it.
Sanji didn't jump like most patients would when a voice broke his almost silent world around him; slowly raising his head, he smirked from behind his mask, looking at the handsome young man standing before him.
"Well you're a sight, I was almost expecting that old codger to come yell at me for talking to you", he said lightly, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. "So he really let you have me, huh? I'm sure you've heard his stories, what makes you think I wont attack you just like I attack him?" He dropped his head, eyes opening to scan the green haired man before him, "Because you have a pretty face?", he laughed and stood, he was about the same height as the intern if not ever so slightly taller. Pacing across the room, he came to circle the man, his mouth dipping to bite his earlobe gently through the mask, his voice but a sadistic whisper in his ear, "that just makes me want to break you~... Like a pretty porcelain doll dropped to the floor..."
Sanji grinned, he liked the dominant aura coming from this man, it was obvious that he wasn't the kind of man to back down and that was probably what was drawing him to this intern like a moth to the flame. But he had to be careful, just like pretty moth wings were burnt by the very flames that haunted and attracted them so, this man could become a problem if he wasn't precise in his actions. But even with this warning skittering to the back of his mind, part of him dared that danger, he wanted to see if this man could overcome him.
Zoro stood up strong as the patient muttered threats in his ear. This would normally scare anyone else but he was trained to withstand and craziness as they called it back at school. In his mind he was freaking out, but his physical stature had to always be calm when with a psych patient so that they wouldn't feel uncomfortable or dominating towards him. It seemed to be working for now. Even though he was going mental in his brain himself at that moment, he was keeping it cool on the outside.
It was going to be a long six months. He gulped and straightened his shoulders a little. "So, tell me about yourself," he said, putting on a professional smile.
Sanji snaked away from the intern, grinning at him as he pressed his back against the wall and slid down; sitting back between the bed and the toilet.
"What is there to tell~?", he asked, "Have you not ready my file? That old crone no doubt has told you how he fought me off at the last moment as though he were a hero", the patient's voice was condescendingly pleasant, it was obvious that he disliked the head doctor but he was speaking as though he were being nice. "Why not believe him? Take his word for it and stick a needle in my arm?", an almost evil grin came on the blond's face, "Or are you the one person in this institution that is naive enough to ask the clinically insane what's wrong with them?"
Laying his head against the cool surface of the toilet, the blond watched this new face silently for a long moment; it occurred to him that though he'd told them many times that he wasn't a threat, they'd made him one because they hadn't listened to him. Was this man to be the only one to listen? If he was, Sanji had to commend him for his stupidity.
"Do you have a smoke?", he asked curiously.
Zoro blinked. His feelings of being afraid had completely vanished from his mind. Yes, there was no way out of the situation at the moment but that was alright now. He honestly didn't think that this patient thought he was a threat. In fact, he believed that. "Yeah, don't think so. Was just wondering if you wanted to tell me anything special. Apparently not. Okay. Well, the name's Zoro. Just got out of Med School about six months ago. Happy to meet you too."
Laughing at the man in front of him, Zoro slipped his hand in his pocket, reaching for the pack of cigarettes he always kept in his pocket, offering Sanji one innocently, not even thinking in any instance that he was doing something wrong. He believed that this patient wasn't really that bad. It was all about the talk for him. Been there done that, Zoro thought to himself.
He waited for this man to take the offer, waiting for him to finally see that he was really there to be his friend, to understand him.
Taking the cigarette from the package, Sanji looked at it briefly.
"Got a light?", he asked, slipping the cigarette into his mouth and sucking on it lightly; it was delicious, utterly and completely delicious, the old crone hadn't let him have one in six months and though he no longer needed to smoke thanks to that, he still liked to have one once in a while.
When the man offered him a lighter, he took it and lit the cigarette, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly as he laid his head back against the cool stone, looking down at the green haired man.
"The name's Sanji", he said lightly, "though I am sure you already knew that; now I ask you, why the hell would you want to work with nut jobs like me all the time?", he truly didn't understand why someone would want to, "the way I see it, you gotta be a little mentally insane to want to work with the mentally insane; you just have had the luck not to be caught yet" He took another deep breath of smoke, closing his eyes as the tip of the cancer stick smoldered a vibrant red which dimmed when he stopped breathing in. "Kinda like all the little kids that steal things and the men that steal and go to jail. The kids just have the luck not to get caught.", he mumbled as he let the smoke out and watched it curl to the ceiling, taking the cigarette between two fingers and flicking the ashes into the bowl of the toilet.
Zoro watched the man with the cigarette, as if it was a piece of heaven that he had just been handed. "Yeah, Sanji," he said, as if contemplating the name again. "Honestly, to tell the truth, I just wanted something to do. And out of all these crackers around here, you had the most interesting story. Thought I may as well jump on it when I had the chance to have some fun around here. Otherwise I'd be sitting around depressed all day."
He laughed at his own analization. Admitting it was a good thing, made him feel better about it. Really, though, he was trying not to make Sanji feel like he was just a charity case. What he really was though was an extreme experiment for him. To see if he could work with anyone in the future, as freaky and intimidating as him.
He slouched against the wall, getting out a cigarette for himself and lighting it up, sucking in the delicious addictiveness. He wanted to quit, but at times like this he always seemed to just give in. Why not join in with this guy while he had the chance.
In his mind, Zoro hoped that no-one outside would notice that they were smoking in there. He was pretty sure it wasn't tolerated there. But oh well, what'cha gonna do.
An almost sour laugh escaped Sanji with the smoke from his next drag after he'd listened to what the man said; taking one more drag he tossed the butt into the bowl of the small metal toilet where he'd been putting his ashes.
"I have no back story", he said lightly, "I am the only patient with no family, no friends, they found me on the street, the government keeps me in here because they can't put me in jail and it's safer to have me in here than to let me roam the streets" Getting up the blond paced to the door, kicked it shut and then headed to the bed. He stood there for a moment then picked up the straight jacket, looked at it for a moment and threw it to the far corner of the cell before laying down on the creaky old bed.
"Thanks for the smoke, he said lightly and before the intern could say anything, the doctor's voice interrupted them, calling for the intern to leave the cell.
Zoro looked at Sanji. He knew there was nothing wrong with him. He was probably just some guy with twisted thoughts. It seemed obvious enough with the no-family thing. That was license enough to make you want to do bad things.
He flipped his cigarette into the toilet as Sanji had done with his, not before taking one last, long drag. His time was obviously up. He couldn't wait to get to know this guy better. Already what he had told him, even if it was only a tiny bit of information, made him more interested in him and made him want to work with him more.
He could hardly contain his excitement as he thought about coming back tomorrow. Regaining his calmness he looked at Sanji. "No prob, man. See you tomorrow."
He tried to take his coolness out with him as he met up with the doctor outside.
Sanji rolled over when the other man had left the room and been ushered away by the head doctor; he watched the door for a long moment before finally turning his eyes to the ceiling, accepting the fact that no one would come to him anymore tonight.
"Those eyes", he mumbled softly to himself; those eyes would haunt him, they were handsome eyes, ones that he knew would be burned into his memory until the very day he died. They were eyes that he wanted to watch him as he did terrible things, sick things; just to have them on him made him want to shiver and shake. Closing his eyes he let out a soft moan as they appeared in his mind; he would have to forget them, though that might prove difficult if he had to see that man every day for the next six months.
He tried to shake them away, but they stayed, blurred for a moment then came back; he shook his head again, still they stayed. Getting up he paced around the room, the eyes following him all the while.
"Go away", he mumbled, pacing faster; when they didn't obey he spoke louder, "Go away!" Shaking his head again he backed against the door, the eyes were still there. "GO AWAY!", he screamed, holding his head and shaking it, hitting it against the door when they didn't obey. "GO AWAY! GO AWAY!"
Again and again he cracked his head against the hard surface of the door, the eyes blurred each time but still came back. Suddenly the door opened and he felt a needle in his arm for a split second before he succumbed to the sedation, the eyes slowly blurring and vanishing, leaving him to darkness.
**
The head doctor walked along ahead of his students when one of the nurses on duty yelled for him; turning around, he headed back towards room 109, inside the room, Sanji seemed upset, he was shaking his head and yelling, though he couldn't hear him, it was clear what he was saying, 'go away'. The fit continued for a moment before the patient screamed and the loud thunk of him hitting his head to the hard pane of the door sounded.
"Open it and get me a sedative!", he ordered to the nurse who dug in her pocket and handed off a syringe before clicking the button to unlock the door.
Sanji's voice was a chilling scream as the doctor entered the room, motioning for all of the interns to stay back, including Zoro.
"GO AWAY!", Sanji howled before the doctor stuck him and he fell into unconsciousness; when he was fully sedated, the doctor got up, leaving him on the floor and exited the room.
"Still think you can handle him?", he asked Zoro as the nurse closed the door; there was a second of silence, then the head doctor started to lead the gaggle of interns away.
Zoro ran along with the doctor as they went to check on his patient. Hearing the terrified shoutings coming from Sanji, he became frightened. Not because he was afraid he himself would get hurt but because he was afraid that Sanji might actually hurt himself. He was already banging his head on the door. It would only take a little more pain and he would pass out.
He felt himself sigh a breath of relief as they put a sedative into his arm. At least then he would be relaxed and not worrying anymore, whatever it was about. He looked at the doctor. "Still think you can handle him?" he said to him.
Zoro stuck out his chest, showing the old doctor that he believed in himself and was willing and determined about this patient. He was now even more interested. There was obviously something there, in his mind that made him go off. Or was it him that had tripped it off? No, that couldn't be. He had hardly even said anything to the poor guy. Zoro was bouncing off ideas in his brain, wondering what could be the solution to this word problem right here.
The sound of the buzzer that signaled the cell door opening woke Sanji the next morning, he felt groggy and sick as was usual after having to be put down with sedatives. Pushing himself up he backed into the wall, knowing what was coming; it was morning medication time. He watched as the door to the cell opened and two male nurses came in, one holding a small cup of pills and the other a zapping rod.
"We don't want any trouble Sanji", the one with the rod said lightly; the patient tucked his thumbs into the waistband of his pants.
"I'm not taking any pills", he said lightly; before he could say any more he felt his back be slammed against the cool stone; the guard with the rod had his arm pressed to Sanji's chest.
"You're going to take them without a fight", he said lightly; the blond arched an eyebrow at him curiously.
"Is that so?", the guard grinned at the question.
"Yeah that's so", he replied with a laugh; the patient joined in laughing for a second before he reared back and cracked his head against the other man's. The man retreated back before rushing at him, rod extended out to make contact. Sanji was too quick to be caught so easily though and ducked under the rod, wheeling around and pressing his foot to the man's throat, holding him tight to the wall before grabbing the rod out of the nurse's hand and aiming it at the one holding the pills.
"Get out", he snapped lowly, the nurse ran like a coward, pushing his way past Zoro on his way out; nearly running him over.
Zoro woke up to the sound of his cell phone buzzing. 'Come down quick. I told you he was trouble'. It was the doctor, of course. He sighed, not really thinking clearly having just woken up. He put on some pants, splashed his face with some cold water, grabbed a shirt and went to his car. Part of him, the part that was now awake,told him to rush, that the situation was probably serious.
Getting into the building he jogged lightly to Sanji's room, attempting not to knock anyone over in the process. Standing outside his door, he heard pounding and slamming sounds. He was about to knock on the door when it opened and he came out, practically pushing him over.
He stood there, stunned, for a second, then went after him. He didn't want Sanji to do anything stupid, which was most likely to happen if he went off by himself. "Sanji!" No answer. Zoro was getting closer and closer to him, trying to be careful as to leave at least ten or so feet between them. Yes, he was scared that Sanji would attack him too. But this was what he was hired for, wasn't it?
"Sanji!"
The patient craned his head back to look at the source of the voice, keeping himself on balance so that the nurse was pinned to the wall by his throat and very unable to move. When his eyes landed on the upside down figure of Zoro standing there he just grinned at him in a semi malicious way. He wanted him to watch, to see.
Standing fully straight again and pulled his foot back as though he were going to let the man go before spinning and kicking him across the face. The nurse fell, unconscious, hitting the toilet on his way down and bouncing before coming to rest limply on the floor.
"Told you I wasn't going to take any pills", he said with a grin before dropping the zapping rod that he hadn't used as anything more than a threat to the floor beside the unconscious man and leaning against the wall.
"Hello", he said with a pretty smile to the intern watching him.
Zoro tried to hide his shock but if someone had seen him they probably would have seen wide eyes and a mouth dropped open. To be honest, Zoro had to give Sanji props. Those were some awesome hits. He quickly remembered that he was supposed to not condone his actions, though.
He looked around him, searching for an answer, something he could say that would be actually doing his job. He fixed his expression fast and turned back to Sanji. "Dude. What the hell were you thinking? You better hope no-one finds out about this. Would you rather end up in jail and get butt-raped, huh? Cause that's seriously the way you're headed."
Zoro turned around and stormed off. He had succeeded in making a dramatic exit, gotta love it. He smiled to himself. Honestly, he didn't know if he had gotten through to him, but it made him feel good. At least.
Sanji watched the intern leave before he broke into horrendous giggle fits, he tried to stop but he found it impossible and collapsed onto his bed laughing like the maniac that he was. He laughed so long and hard and loud that he was sure that he could be heard down the hall through the sound proof glass; it certainly was echoing in here.
That was just rich, absolutely hilarious to the patient, the very idea was absurd and had the intern had more practice with men like him, he might have noticed that. Mental patients weren't sent to jail, they were a danger to the other inmates and to themselves, it would cost the jail too much money to house them, money that they didn't have. No, people like him were sedated, forced to live inside the world that they created themselves because it was easier to drug them than to deal with them.
Rolling onto his stomach, he looked at the guard, surely he was going to get more than yelled at for attacking two nurses and rendering one unconscious, but Zoro was also going to get into trouble if he didn't come back to fetch the nurse. Sanji was a danger, to leave a helpless nurse there with him was just irresponsible. The patient cackled again and rested his chin on his arms which were crossed halfway along the frame of the bed.
"Do you think he likes me~?", he asked with a masochistic smile, "I hope so because he's absolutely fascinating to me", rolling away from the guard he laid back and closed his eyes; the eyes were still there. They made him feel dirty, sick and twisted, just the way he usually liked it, but the feeling wasn't quite the same; mixed in with those was a tense feeling of being judged.
Always watching...always judging...but never giving their opinion...
"I wonder if that's how he feels, too...", Sanji found himself saying softly.
Zoro walked down the hallway a good distance, but stopped after a while, chewing on his lower lip. He'd forgotten something, he knew it, but … sighing, he turned around and stalked back to Sanji's room, shivering as the patient's giggles reached his ears.
Entering the room, he knelt to pick up the unconscious nurse, eyeing the rod more warily than he did Sanji. "I'll be back in a little bit, that is, if the head doctor doesn't mow me over about all this." He stated, grunting as he stood with the other on his shoulders. After a moment's worth of thought, he stooped again the grab the rod. "Until then, try not to get into more trouble."
Sanji watched him go, watching his form vanish behind the door and he knew better than to close his eyes; he didn't want to anyway. Rolling off the bed onto the floor he let his body lay crumpled as he watched the dark precipice of the space under the bed. There was no doubt in his mind that more nurses would come, greater in number and rank, those that were used to dealing with him and were none too gentle.
They would hold him down and make him take his pills the way they usually did when he chose not to take them; but it wasn't them that he wanted to ask. He wanted this new doctor of his, the new face in his little world, the owner of the eyes that haunted him; he wanted him to be the one to ask and he wanted to be the one to break this doctor.
He could just see it, laying him down to the floor, bloody and bruised, tied up in Sanji's straight jacket as the patient whispered sweet lies in his ear. Sanji desperately wanted him to watch, wanted him to see all the evil things that he could do and when it was all over and there was nothing more to do, he wanted him to stay there with him; wrapped up tight in that cell.
"So, are you still certain that you are up to handling patient 109, Zoro?" the head doctor asked when the green haired intern arrived after taking care of the unconscious nurse. When Zoro just stood there and gazed at him in an impassive way, the old man shook his head. "Certainly you see how dangerous 109 is, why risk that sort of injury upon yourself?"
Zoro didn't respond right away, trying hard not to snap at the old man. "Because nobody else besides you seems to want to pay attention to him, and he seems to enjoy attention." He commented, shrugging. "What better way to placate him than to show him that sort of attention?"
The head doctor sighed, shaking his head at the intern. "Very well, I suppose you do still have the six months left; you've only been here a day, asking you to make progress after one visit seems folly." Zoro grinned at the old man, pulling the small pill container out of his pocket and flipping it up into the air, only to catch it as it came back down.
"Alright, I suppose I should go and attempt to give these to him then." He commented, pocketing the container before the doctor could stop him. "I'm willing to bet that your other nurses would rather be tending to other patients that tangle with Sanji." When the old man didn't retaliate, Zoro turned and walked out of the room, heading for Sanji's chamber once again. Sanji didn't move to look when the door to his cell opened and someone stepped inside; he didn't care who it was.
"I'm not taking any pills", he said sourly, "and you can't force me!" He didn't want them, didn't need them, the eyes would watch him anyway.
"You know, if you'd just take them willingly, then I wouldn't have to force you." Zoro commented idly, tossing the container up in the air and catching it. When his patient rolled over to stare at him, his face went serious. "Dude, I'm not going to ask again, so listen this time. Do you trust me?" The blond jarred then, forcing himself up quickly and hitting his head on the bed frame only to fall back down, holding it with both hands.
Trust had nothing to do with it, nothing whatsoever, if this intern had more practice, he might have noticed that. Sanji didn't care for trust, he never really had. Everthing was an interaction, everything just depended on how you were perceived, how much a person trusted you had nothing to do with any of it.
Rolling onto his back, he released his head and watched the man above him. Zoro, concerned by the way Sanji had jerked, walked over to the blond and knelt so that he could make certain that Sanji was okay, and yet at the same time stay just far enough out of arms reach to avoid bruises.
"You okay there?" He asked, relieved to not see any blood; metal bed frames certainly hurt a lot when you banged against them. When Sanji just stared up at him, he sighed and held up the capsule. "Okay, either you let me give these to you, or the nurse mafia will give them to you. Which would you prefer?"
Arching an eyebrow at the intern's choice of words, Sanji seemed to concede, sitting up and taking the small bottle and emptying the three or four pills into his mouth. He was good at dry swallowing and pretended to do so before grabbing the intern by his jacket and forcing his mouth over Zoros. When he started to fight, the blond wrapped his hand around the back of the man's skull, holding him in place.
It was a strangely heated kiss but it didn't take long for Sanji to force the pills down the green haired man's throat and pull back marginally to smirk.
"Better enduce vomitting", he said evilly, giving him another short kiss before getting up and laying on the bed to watch. Caught completely off guard, Zoro coughed and nearly choked on the pills, pounding his chest with a fist to dislodge the foreign objects. Once he had ejected them from his body, he sat there panting, eyeing Sanji with a very wary expression, offset by the furious blush that crossed his face.
He had to give the blond props; that was a … creative way of refusing pills. But was it really needed to … to kiss him? Lifting a hand to his mouth, the intern rubbed his still tingling mouth; that had felt … Shaking his head, Zoro scowled at Sanji. "You're stubborn as hell, you know that right?" He asked, fighting the blush that was still spread across his face. Sanji dipped his head over the edge of the bed, having rolled onto his back to watch the intern vomit into the metal basin of the toilet.
"It's part of my charm", he said with a grin. Zoro arched an eyebrow, wondering how best to respond to that statement while he was still blushing and quite obviously embarrassed. As it was, his mouth opened and closed a few times before he managed to form words.
"I take it your enjoying yourself at my expense, if that grin is anything to go by." He huffed, thankful that the blush was mostly gone. Why had he reacted like that, he wondered, but didn't think long on it; what did it matter, anyway?
Doing a walkover off of the bed, he paced to the intern and pulled him up by his hand, no sooner getting him to his feet before he pressed him hard against the wall with the weight of his body. They fit together in all the right places.
"And why shouldn't I?", he asked darkly before bowing his head and kissing him again, this time deeper and darker than it had been before. He wanted this man to try, to attempt to break him; to over ride his infernal nature and rape him in just the way he was raping him. To remove everything and abuse him. It was all he wanted, all he needed. Zoro's eyes went wide and he tried to shove Sanji away from him, mouth opening in a smothered shout.
That was a stupid idea, as Sanji's tongue tried to force its way into his mouth. Not wanting the blond to get away with that, Zoro bit down hard on the invading muscle, one of his knees pressing against Sanji's stomach to get more space between the two of them. Blushing, he tried to get the blond away from him, flinching when the faintest taste of blood hit his senses.
Sanji didn't stop, he ignored any pain that he was feeling and pressed harder against the other male, his hand coming down to fondle the most sensitive area of Zoro's body. Finally when he'd had his fun, though he hadn't truly done more than touch him, the patient pulled back and sat down by the toilet.
"You're going to have to do better than that if you expect to break me", he said with a grin, "you taste far too good for me to leave you alone, better learn quick." Sanji was right of course, and he knew that Zoro knew that as he watched him leave, looking thoroughly shooken up.
Once he was gone, the blond laid back down on the floor and watched the shadows under the bed again. He was hot, his body and mind were overheating and he was sure he was going to die, he'd had his fun, he didn't care if the nurses came in to give him his medication. He might have even done it willingly if it meant that Zoro would come back.
Outside the room, Zoro leaned against the cool wall, grateful that nobody else was down the hallway as he struggled to get his body under control. He'd moaned back in there, he knew it, but Sanji had been fondling him in places deemed best not thought of for a while. It had felt good, no matter what Zoro told himself to deny it. He had been told, hadn't he? He knew that Sanji was a game player.
'Yeah, too bad nobody mentioned that his 'games' involved sexual molestation.' Zoro thought to himself, trying to chase away how good that had felt.
"I suggest you bring nurses with you next time", Zoro jumped nearly half a mile when a voice sounded from beside him and he turned to see the head doctor standing there looking smug; and perhaps a little jealous.
Once Zoro had left to get another dose of the blond's pills as well as a couple nurses to help him, the doctor paced to the door and opened it, stepping inside.
Sanji rolled slightly from his place on the floor and looked up at the invader, an evil smirk on his face.
"Why doctor, come down from your pedistal to visit your favorite loon? How sentimental~" The doctor all but glared at him though that didn't seem to phase Sanji and instead drew him to push himself up so that he could get to his feet, "Oh come on, doc, you're not actually upset with me are you? You're the one that assigned him~" He smirked and circled around the man, pressing up against him and taking his pen without his noticing.
"What game are you playing?", the doctor asked as Sanji backed him into a wall, looming over him and grinning evily.
"One you can't win...", he said softly before driving the pen into the man's thigh and backing away so that he could watch as the old crone sunk to the floor cursing. Sanji sunk with him, having crossed the room and sat beside the toilet to watch with a cynical smile on his face. "Oops, must've slipped", he said darkly. The doctor propped himself up, using the bed for support as he tried to pull the pen out of his leg. Glaring at Sanji, the old man stumbled towards the door.
"I'm not having you win any games, Sanji, no matter what games they might be." He cursed before leaving the room, limping past Zoro and the two nurses that came with him. Giving the limping director a worried look, Zoro continued towards his patient's room, the nurses following him at a safe distance.
It took only one look at Sanji's smirk for Zoro to know what had just happened. Sighing, he held up the pills in front of the insane blond. "Alright, do you want to try this again?" Tipping his head up, Sanji watched the intern through a veil of blond hair, his smirk not wavering.
"Give me a kiss and I'll take them willingly~", he teased, his voice no more than a sultry purr; the nurses gave Zoro nervous glances and stepped back. Zoro looked at them in an accusing manner, and then turned back to Sanji to glower at him.
"Now is not the time to play around, you hear me?" He asked, stepping towards the bed, the pills tight in his hand. Sanji watched the man move from his place by the toilet before he smirked and tipped his head at the other man.
"Mmmmm I wasn't playing~", he said with a smirk. Continuing to lock eyes with the patient, Zoro knelt in front of him and sighed.
"There's other people in here, you …" He stopped himself, laughing darkly. "Of course, knowing you, you probably don't mind, do you?" Sanji smirked.
"Should've stuck to your guns", he said before taking the pills from the man's hand, dumping them into his mouth and dry swallowing them. This one was a people pleaser, something that didn't sit well with the blond; true he wasn't like to head doctor who looked down his long nose at all the patients, somehow thinking that he was better than all of them, but he tried too hard. Zoro sighed in relief once he was certain that Sanji actually swallowed the medicine this time, and that he wasn't trying to kiss him again.
Sanji watched as the nurses filed out of his cell, obviously deciding that they weren't needed as Sanji had taken his medication without much more than playful banter. It was a first for him and some of them were blatantly surprised; Zoro didn't realize what a mile marker that was.
**
The head doctor was waiting in the head office when Zoro came in to file his medication records, he was nursing the rather nasty stab wound that Sanji had dealt him when he looked up at the intern.
"It's a game to him, you know that right? He's going to break you, you just wait." Zoro couldn't help it; he rolled his eyes. He had figured that out on his own, hadn't he? But at the same time, part of him wondered why he was still letting Sanji play with him.
"I know that; if it's ever possible, I'm going to try and show him that I'm not a game he's going to win.' 'Easily' a sarcastic voice in the back of his head muttered, making him wince.
**
Zoro settled himself into the chair that had been provided for him. He was once again sitting in Sanji's cell, preparing to have a therapy session with his patient. The door opened and Sanji was forced in, kicking and fighting the entire way, he pushed back against the nurses holding him, shrieking and howling that he wasn't going to go. They sat him down in the chair provided for him and strapped him in; he smirked at Zoro as they did this.
"Restraints, cute...", in truth he hadn't had a therapy session since his first with the head doctor; and while that probably had something to do with the fact that he'd almost killed the man with the chair that he was sitting in, he really hadn't missed it. Zoro shivered involuntarily at Sanji's entrance, and he thanked that the restraints were still in place on the chair; he hadn't forgotten the molestation that he'd nearly routinely gone through at the blond's hands.
Rubbing his temple, Zoro waited for the nurses to leave before speaking directly to Sanji. "So, let's see how well this goes." He muttered, more to himself, and leaned forward to grin at Sanji. "Now I know the chances of this are low, but are the voices in your head behaving, or should I be hiding the pens?" He asked, knowing very well the chances of Sanji stabbing him with said writing utensil. Sanji smirked at him from his place in his chair, it really was quite comical that this novice would try all the things that the good doctor had learned didn't work on him.
"That depends, are yours?", he looked at the window nonchalantly; it wasn't voices that frightened him, it wasn't voices that haunted him, it were those eyes, those beautiful, terrible, judging eyes that stayed with him whether he was awake or asleep. No, it wasn't the voices, he could drown out voices, he couldn't get rid of those eyes, no matter how hard he hit his head, no matter how long he got the man before him to stay with him, once he was gone those eyes returned and stayed.
Laughing in order to hide his nerves, Zoro stood and began pacing, not really enjoying sitting in one spot for very long. Stopping after a moment, he stopped in front of Sanji again, and after a moment's worth of thought, pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Pausing for a moment, he proffered the box, as if asking his patient if he would want one. "This place reeks bad enough for them not to notice the smell, and we have a couple of hours together." He stated with a shrug when Sanji only looked at him.
Sanji looked at them surprised for a moment before smirking lightly and motioning as if to say that he couldn't because of the restraints, then he leaned back in the chair and watched the intern lightly.
"So why did you take this job? You don't seem like a self-serving elitist like the good doctor...", he said lightly, wondering if Zoro was going to tell him that he was the one asking questions, not the patient. He would have loved it if he did. Giving Sanji a wolfish grin, Zoro returned the package to his pocket and took a drag on his own cigarette before speaking.
"And here I thought I was supposed to be the doctor." He commented idly, plopping back down into his chair. Propping his elbows on his knees, he shrugged. "What about you? How'd you get yourself kicked into the loony bin?" The smile that came onto Zoro's face sent a chill down Sanji's spine and he gave the intern an eager look; that was a look that even the good doctor had never given him, no one had given him and he loved it.
"You can't tell? I'm a danger to those around me", he said with a grin before leaning back, "at least that's what they tell me..."
"So are serial killers, and they more than often get thrown in the can if they're caught alive." Zoro pointed out, still grinning. At last, progress. "You must have done something pretty damn impressive to get tossed into this place." Sanji didn't answer but instead stared at the window quietly.
"How do you know that this place isn't a prison?", he asked, "Isn't this place a mental ward for the CRIMINALLY insane?", he glanced at the green haired man, "or did you not know that when you applied here?"
"I'm perfectly aware of what this place is." Zoro bit onto his cigarette. "If I wasn't, I wouldn't be working here and talking to you, damn it." Sanji said nothing but smirked and watched the man lightly, he was delicious when he was fighting an inner battle. Leaning back in the chair he seemed to relax as he breathed in the second hand smoke of the man's cigarette. Zoro gave the blond an accusing glare, but didn't speak for fear of losing his temper. If he snapped, it would more than likely set Sanji off, and it wouldn't be good for that to happen; that chair could be painful to get hit with.
Sanji let his mind drift to the first interview that the good doctor had interviewed him, he'd been asked why, why had he done what he'd done. What had the man that he'd killed done to him. But it had never been about what the man had done to him, it was what he was so sure that he was going to do to him. Sanji had been so sure that the man was plotting to hurt him, planning and watching him with those eyes. It was the eyes that had bothered him, the eyes were always what bothered him, they watched, they judged and they were what hurt you the most.
It wasn't until he'd gotten to court that they'd told him that he was violently schitzophrenic; he really didn't think that he was but he supposed it wasn't the job of the mentally insane to judge their own mental health. The good doctor had asked him so many questions that he couldn't remember many of them, they'd done the inkblots and they'd done the interview. What was it that had gotten him thrown in here, that was what Zoro wanted to know?
"I murderes the six prisoners that were in the jail cell with me...", he said softly, opening remorseless eyes to look at Zoro lightly, lords above he wanted a cigarette. Reaching, he took the one out of the intern's mouth and took a drag on it, leaning back once more as he let the smoke free from his lungs. "Their eyes...I just wanted their eyes, they wouldn't be able to watch me...but they wouldn't let me have them..." It made sense to him, but it had gotten him thrown in here.
Zoro's eyebrows shot up. Sanji had a thing with other people's eyes? That was certainly something he'd never heard of before … "Well, it stands to reason that they won't give up their eyes; people don't tend to give them up without a fight." He went to suck on his cigarette, only to remember that Sanji had snatched it from him. "I thought you said you didn't want one." Sanji took another drag on the cancer stick before letting it out, leaning forward and snuffing the butt in the ash tray that sat on the metal table between them.
"I don't", he said lightly before casting a liquid smirk at the intern, "I just wanted yours..." He wanted to disturb this man, to unnerve him and to make sure that he had his undivided attention after their six months together were up, then perhaps he would come back and Sanji could have another go at him.
"And I wouldn't have asked for their eyes if they'd quit their judging...even now they judge. You're judging me; it's your eyes that haunt me at night, your eyes that watch me and your eyes that I see when I close my eyes." He stood and paced, taking the chair with him, "I can't get them out, no matter how hard I hit my head, no matter how long I get you to stay with me, I can't get them to stop." It was Zoro's attention that he wanted; he wanted to make him watch as he did things that would make the intern's insides curl, as he made him feel things that he was sure neither of them truly wanted to feel. Zoro felt his stomach drop out, watching Sanji in worry as the blond paced the room. His nerves were rattling, and he no longer knew how to handle this man's statement's anymore from a professional standpoint, so he resorted to going with his gut instincts.
"What makes you think I'm here to judge you? God, I'm just trying to figure out what the hell is going on in your head so I can try and figure out what to do with you." He stated, rubbing his forehead. Sanji turned on him then, skating around the table and getting one arm free of the restraints, it wasn't much but it was enough. He grabbed the man by the arm and threw him against the wall, following after him and pinning him, pressing close to the intern and smirking down at him.
"What's going on my head?", he asked tauntingly, "What to do with me?", bending his head, he kissed him darkly, letting his free arm wander as the other stayed restrained. He circled his free arm down to the small of the intern's back and pulled back, holding him tight to him and panting into his ear. He was ignoring the sound of guards trying to get into the room. "Break me, abuse me, show me you're the one in charge~", he purred before the door slammed open and two guards ran to pull the mental patient away.
Sanji fought against their dragging but in the end he was pulled out of the room and away to his cell as a nurse came in to see if the intern was alright. Still slumped against the wall, Zoro shook the nurse off, telling her that he was fine, even though he was emotionally very rattled. That had been the third time Sanji had kissed him like that since Zoro had begun to work with him, and every single time, Zoro had been incapable of fighting back, for some reason unknown to him.
Sanji's words right before he'd been pulled out of the cell came back to Zoro, and he shivered and walked out of the room, heading for home; he was done for the day, so all he needed to do was to talk with the old codger who ran the place before he could go him. 'So, he wants me to show him who's in charge physically, eh?' He pondered, but then shook his head. 'No way in hell I could do that; I'd get my ass into some serious shit if I got found out.' The head doctor watched the tape again and again as he listened to the faint sound of them talking, what Sanji said at the end he couldn't hear very well and there was no need, just the actions told him something.
Sanji was much more physical with this new intern than he had been with any other doctor save perhaps him and it was definitely a different kind of attention. When he was in the same room as Sanji, the blond took every opportunity to cause harm to him; stabbing him, biting him, forcing him to medicate him and in the end give up on whatever endeavor that the old man was on.
But with Zoro, Sanji was flirtatious, vindictive and cruel, but still flirtatious; he hadn't truly hurt the young man yet. He'd forced his pills down his throat, fought with him, pinned him to the wall, touched him and even kissed him but he hadn't made any move to do what he'd done to the old doctor the first day he'd been in his care.
He could still remember it very well, the patient had taken the pen out of his pocket before he'd gone to get his pills, dissected it as the doctor was gone and used it to slice into the doctor's hand when he'd come back with the pills.
When the doctor had curled slightly in pain, Sanji had pushed him head first into the wall and had run around him and down the hall. He'd nearly made it past the southern half of the building, when he'd been caught by three nurses and a guard by the pool.
"You're lucky, boy", the old codger said lightly as the door opened and Zoro entered, "he could have killed you..." Zoro let out a dry laugh, lounging against the far wall with his hands tucked into his pockets.
"I think he enjoys screwing with my mind too much to want to kill me." He stated blithely, although the thought of Sanji possibly killing him sent a cold shock through his spine. "If he wanted me dead, he probably would have put a lot more effort into it than he has already." Scowling at the look the head doctor was giving him, he shook his head. "Don't try and tell me otherwise; I don't need to be a mental doctor to know that." The old crone shook his head lightly.
"I wont dispute you", he said, "though I will remind you that his facination with you could hinder any chance at making progress with him. After all, as humans we'll do anything for the attention of the person from whom we want it most." Sighing lightly he turned the camera feed to the one of the guards putting Sanji back into his cell, they'd already finished by now so he rewound the tape and played it, watching the figure of the man on all five television screens fight against the men manhandling him. "And it's your attention that he wants the most...so how do you know he's even making progress when it seems that he is?"
**
In his room, Sanji was laying on the bed silently, staring at the ceiling when a voice broke into his silent world.
"Sanji", tipping his head off of the bed he glanced at the face beyond the small window of sound proof glass. Those eyes, Zoros eyes were there, perhaps this was a figment of his imagination?
"What do you want?", he asked curiously, returning his gaze to the perfectly smoothe surface above his head; deciding that he was going to get some deliciously smart remark if those eyes certainly were a figment of his imagination. Either that or they wouldn't answer at all.
"You...", the blond jumped, eyes opening wide as he turned to look at the eyes peering at him through the little window.
"What?", the door opened at his question and the intern walked in, closing the door behind him.
"Get up", Sanji jumped as the intern advanced on him, grabbing him by the wrist and wrenching him to his feet. The blond's arm gave a painful rebuttal to the action but it wasn't enough to make the patient disobey. He was barely given the time to catch his breath before he was pushed into the corner and his wrists were twisted up behind his back.
He whimpered at the feeling of his shoulder cracking and panted harder when Zoro forced him against the wall, smashing his arms uncomfortably between his back and the cold brick of the wall.
"What, Sanji? You asked to be broken~", the intern taunted as a hand came down to grope between his thighs roughly. It went into his pants and the intern gave a vicious sneer at the hardness he found there, "and it seems you are loving the attention~"
Sanji could hardly speak, not that he really could anyway because when he opened his mouth to try two fingers forced their way down his throat, having abandoned his steeled flesh in favor of choking him while the intern's knee took over the job of jostling his sensitive flesh.
All of a sudden it all stopped, the entire room vanished and all that was left was nothing; nothing but black and those eyes, looking down on him, watching him, and now laughing at him as he was left there battered and abused and utterly excited by it.
Sanji's eyes snapped open to the view of a pitch black room, the only light coming from the windows at the far end of the hall. Forcing himself up against the wall he panted, feeling the cool brick at his back; so it had been a dream?
Bringing his knees up, he panted, feeling cold sweat run down his entire body as a heat pulsed between his legs. He was over heating again, his mind and body both rebelling against him, angry at the stimulation and obvious lack of attention. He ignored them, soon falling into a dreamless sleep sitting the way he was, to be found the next morning by the first wave of nurses to give him his medication.
If he was lucky it would be Zoro who found him instead of someone else. If it was Zoro that found him, he might've even been willing to take his medication without too much of a fight.