The first chapter to the side fic to Psychosis. I hope it turned out okay, I'm a little iffy. Anywho, enjoy, and remember, all canon Naruto characters are Masashi Kishimoto's!

P.S Most of these are going to have a moral, courtesy of moi! Enjoy.

Psychosis by Proxy

Proximity 1: Cutting Class

"How are you?" asked Kakashi, pleasantly. He leaned back a bit in his chair, the notebook he held concealing the lower half of his face. A scarf poofed up in a small hill, just peeking out behind the spiraled book.

Enma uncrossed, then recrossed his arms. "Don't know." it came out curt. He didn't mean for it to be so curt. He furrowed his brow, frowned, and decided he liked his arms better the other way.

"Anything new?" he asked, eyes flicking almost imperceptibly to the boys abused arms. Enma shrugged and bit his lip, as if fighting back a smile.

"I cut class today." he said it with a wry little smirk. Kakashi's eyebrow lifted slightly. "I mean... I cut class to cut myself." The boy feigned a rim shot with two pencils he'd had tucked behind his ear. Enma was acting a bit strange today. He wasn't usually this chatty. Or happy.

One thing at a time, he told himself.

"Do you want to show me?" Enma shook his head, the amusement disappearing from his eyes. "Why not?"

"Why should I show you anything?" he leaned forward, pressing his elbows against his knees and peering up at the counselor from under his dark hair. When he was angry, a very hard and jaded look would appear in his dark eyes.

"You don't have to." Kakashi countered, his voice reasonable and calm. "I'd rather you did."

"Why?" Enma's tongue flicked harshly against one of his piercings. The black loop lifted and pulled against his lip then settled back into place.

"So I can understand." Kakashi set down his papers and leaned forward, the lower half of his face cradled in his hands. "Aside from the fact that you're doing it, I have no idea why you've decided to continue this... compulsion." He spoke with an irritatingly fatherly concern. Enma looked out the window pointedly, his face flushing slightly.

"I mean, I can't help you if I can't pinpoint the cause." Enma snorted, tossing his head contemptuously.

"I never asked for your help."

"No, but your mother did." Enma fell silent, his mouth set in a line. He always reacted that way at the mention of his mother. That issue really needed addressing, but with Enma, every session was a regression into a thick calloused shell. Every issue would then, rather than be addressed, remain stressed and quickly repossess complete control of the brooding young man.

Enma refused to meet his gaze. "Just answer one question for me." Enma's eyebrow quirked, but he refused to look at him.

"Why do you do it?" Kakashi shifted slightly, one hand dropping to his desk to tap the polished surface. "Is it because you need to? Is it for attention? Is it-"

"It's not!' the boy erupted, his words coming out harshly. That brassy hardness had resurfaced and his fingers had quite suddenly dug into his knees. They were turning white, the strain causing a deep X shaped scar across his knuckles to stand out quite vividly. "It's not... for attention."

Kakashi leaned back again, examining Enma through his light gray eyes. One of them was a bit misty and unfocused, as though it didn't work quite right. "Are you sure?" Enma gave a little growl and slammed his bag on the floor. He dug around until he found his large sketchpad.

The rough, stiff pages gave a strange warbling sound as he ripped them from the sack and tossed them much too hard onto Kakashi's desk.

"Take a good look at those, and tell me if I fucking do this shit for attention." Kakashi opened the cover and examined the drawings. Each one was very nicely crafted, some realistic, and some comic strips. The comics had rather dark punch lines.

"These are very nice, but I don't understand what they prove."

Enma sat still, thinking. "I draw." he said simply, as if that was all he could say. "People know me for my artwork. Everyone at school knows. That I draw."

"Does everyone know that you cut?"

"No... well. Yes. They do." Enma shrugged. "It isn't possible to hide them all. I wouldn't be here if it was." Kakashi nodded, noticing a drawing of another charge of his. Lotus Koorine, the bulimic, before the drastic weight loss.

"But... just because they know that, it isn't the first thing they associate me with." Enma had sat straighter and his voice had become much more animated. "I make sure of it. I've won at least 10 art competitions at a regional and state level."

"Oh?" Enma nodded, emphatic.

"Yes. My certificates are hung in the highschool trophy case, next to the paintings that won them. That's the attention I want."

"So why the cutting?"

"I..." Enma leaned back, wondering why he'd finally cracked and spilled his guts to this damned councelor. This whole conversation would make it back to his mother and he'd be forced through another lecture, another empty threat, another failed attempt at "I love you". Why was it so hard to just say that?

"I love you, Enma." he had imagined hearing those words for so long. But they never came. "Ungrateful, smart ass, unattractive" now he was used to those words. He'd cut those words somewhere into the lattice of scars.

"I don't know." but he did. He just didn't know how to say it.

Maybe he'd try to stop cutting English.

So... lame jokes, for the win. This wasn't supposed to be the first chapter to this "Side fiction" but I felt more inspired to write this scenario than the other one. Maybe I'll post both. I don't know.

This is my view on the issue of cutting. Some people do it for attention, true, but not everyone does. There are a great many people who cut without intention of letting their disease be their identity.

I hope you can see a bit more clearly into Enma's psyche. It's true that he's a smart ass and a real dick. However, he is that way for a reason, and he never planned to turn out that way. That being said, his punishment in Psychosis will be quite severe. He has no excuse for his actions.

Just know that he's human too. TwT