An: Well, here's another story by me, Maya-chan. I was hoping to write this after I was done with The Sound of Ninja, but that's going to take a while, and I can't wait to do this one, so here it is.
Summary: The Naruto people are in the Insane Asylum, where they have to try and fix themselves before they can go back to society, or end up one of the Level Three's, and never be able to leave again. But something's not right at the Asylum, and Kakashi, the other sensei's, and the cast for Naruto are going to find out what it is, before it's too late…
Rating: Rated T for mentions of suicide, cursing, and mentions of murder and abuse.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Never have, never will.
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Kakashi stared up at the five-storied building feeling a mixture of resignation, irritation, and a slight hint of anxiety.
"Gai, when you told me you found me a job, why did it have to be here?" Kakashi said to himself.
He was standing in front of the Children's to Mid-adult's Asylum, where his old college 'friend', Gai, worked. One of the former staff members quit, and Gai recommended Kakashi for the job.
Kakashi sighed to himself, and walked into the building. Inside was a reception area, with an arched, wooden receptionist's desk to the left side of the room. The walls were yellow, with a white ceiling. The floor was a soft cream color. There were also several 'calm' pictures hanging on the walls, and a few potted plants here and there.
On the far right side of the room, a woman with long, slightly curly brown hair was facing a closet. Upon closer inspection on Kakashi's part, he noticed that she was quite pretty, had red eyes, and was rather youngish looking; probably in her mid-to-late twenties.
Kakashi also noticed that she was talking to the closet.
Hmm, looks like she's one of the patients, Kakashi thought.
"Come on, please come out?" The woman was saying to the closet.
Kakashi was about to go over and say something to her, such as whether she should go back to her room, or take her medication, when the closet answered.
"N-no! I-it's m-my fault!" The voice from the closet said despairingly. "If it hadn't b-been f-for m-my shoe in t-the way, t-then you wouldn't have b-broken y-your finger!"
When he heard this, Kakashi glanced at the woman's hands, which were one the door, though not trying to open it, and were noticeably un-bandaged, though one of her nails were chipped.
"But I didn't break my finger, Hinata!" The woman tried to explain to the girls in the closet, apparently named Hinata. "I just broke my nail! And it wasn't even real!" The woman pleaded.
…Guess she's not one of the patients. Maybe she's one of the staff that knows what I should do? Kakashi thought as he walked calmly over to the woman and the girl in the closet, Hinata, the woman had said.
"B-but it still must have h-hurt! S-so i-it is my fault! I-I'm just a burden to everyone!" Hinata wailed from in the closet.
"Hm, so you're a burden to everyone?" Kakashi said when he stopped in front of the closet. The woman, who's now visible nametag said Kurenai, turned quickly toward Kakashi and was about to say something, probably to tell him off, when Kakashi held up his hand.
"Well, I'm a part of 'everyone', and I don't feel you're a burden. In fact, I don't even know you, so I can't fairly judge if you are a burden or not, but from what I can see, you are not a burden."
A few minutes of silence followed Kakashi's speech, and then the door creaked open enough for Kakashi and Kurenai to see one of Hinata's pale, pupil-less and slightly red around the edges, eyes.
"R-really? Y-y-you don't think I-I'm a b-burden?"
"Of course not. If it hadn't been for this commotion, then I probably would've wandered around this place for hours, not knowing where I was supposed to be, or what I was supposed to do. So thank you!" Kakashi said while smiling with his one visible eye closed.
The door opened slightly more, so that Hinata's nose was visible.
"So-I…helped you?" Hinata asked.
"Yes, you did. Very much!"
The door opened a bit more, so that half of her other eye was visible.
At that moment, two other kids, looking to be slightly older, by probably a year, came into the room. One had longish brown hair that was tied in a long ponytail, and the other had brown hair that was up in two buns on her head.
"Hinata, why are you in the closet?" The boy with the long brown hair asked.
"N-Neji-nii-san! W-well, I-I left my shoe i-in the hallway, a-and Kurenai-sensei t-tripped over it, a-and broke her finger!" Hinata wailed, while closing the door a bit.
"I did not break my finger! Hinata, what I broke was my nail! My finger-NAIL!" Kurenai protested.
"Look, Hinata, Kurenai-sensei was fated to break her nail! It wasn't anyone's fault; it was just her destiny to break her nail. Now, come out of the closet, Hinata." Neji argued at the door.
The door opened even more, so that you could see all of Hinata's face.
"I-it wasn't my fault? It was just Kurenai-sensei's destiny to trip over my shoe?" Hinata asked cautiously.
"Of course, Hinata. Why would Neji lie to you?" The girl with the buns asked.
"Really, Tenten-chan?" Hinata asked while opening the door all the way.
"Yeah, totally. Now let's all go to lunch, they're serving jello today!"
At this point, Hinata fully came out of the closet, and shut it gently behind her. She had her head bowed low, and was looking at the ground ashamed.
"I-I'm sorry. You h-had t-to c-come and g-get me out of the c-closet a-again. A-and I-I probably m-made you l-late for lunch!" Hinata cried, looking quickly at the closet again, like she wanted to go back in. Her cousin stopped her, though, and both he and Tenten led Hinata down the hallway that was next to the office, talking about how it was destiny to be late for lunch that day.
Soon, only Kakashi and Kurenai were left in the office. Kurenai turned around to face Kakashi.
"Thanks for your help. At first I thought you were going to start insulting Hinata, and bring her already shot confidence down, but you didn't, so thank you. I'm Kurenai, by the way." Kurenai said while holding out her hand. Kakashi shook it in return.
"My name's Hatake Kakashi. You wouldn't happen to be Yuhi Kurenai, would you?" Kakashi asked.
"Hm? Yes, I am. How can I help you?" Kurenai asked, using her professional voice.
"Well, Gai got me a job here, and said that I needed to meet you when I got here. That's another thing that I should thank Hinata for."
"Oh! You're the new hire. I was supposed to test you when you got here, which was supposed to be about an hour ago, but I don't think that's necessary after how you handled Hinata, and she's a Level Two! You'll be fine with the others, as well. And you don't have to worry about the Level three's; someone will be with you when you handle them." Kurenai said while shuffling through papers on her desk.
"Um…I'm new here, so what is a Level Two, and a Level Three?" Kakashi asked while putting one of his arms behind his head.
"Oh, that's right. Well, we don't have time to go into that just yet, as we have lunch duty, or at least you do. I'll just go through the basics of the classifying system as I lead you to the lunch room." Kurenai told him while leading Kakashi down the hall that the three kids from earlier headed down.
"Well, first off are the Level One's. They are here for close observational care; such as if someone has an eating disorder, or is contemplating suicide. They're stay is normally from one to ten weeks."
"Wait, the one's who want to commit suicide are the Level One's? Then what are the Level Two's?" Kakashi asked, feeling confused and overwhelmed at all of this new knowledge.
"Yes, well, we have a strict classifying system here. If it were up to me, I suppose I would make the one's wanting to commit suicide Level Two's, but then again, the Level Two's are worse." Kurenai explained while taking a right.
Kakashi was led down a hallway, with the right wall replaced with a giant window. Kakashi looked out, and saw that there was a courtyard outside, with a few of the patients walking around, socializing, and resting out in the fresh air. Kurenai saw him looking, and answered Kakashi's question before he could ask it.
"They're the Level Three's. They can have certain privileges that the Level Two's and One's can't have, but I'll get to that later. First, the Level Two's are the ones that need intensive care here, such as Hinata and Neji. They're here for inferiority and superiority complexes, and while this is normally not a bad thing necessarily, they take it to extremes; plus, they had some-problems with they're family, so they are here for that as well. There are other Level Two's, who I know you will meet later, so you can make your own judgments from that. The Level Two's are normally here from between four to twenty-four months."
"Now, the Level Three's are entirely different. They will be here for the rest of their lives, so that is why they are allowed special privileges, such as a game room, heavily supervised, free access anywhere at this facility, except for administrative offices, of course, and as you saw earlier, free access to the courtyard whenever they wish. In exchange for that, the Level Three's spend the rest of their lives here, while our doctors try to find a way to help them. I'm sure you can see, we don't send anyone to Level Three unless absolutely necessary." Kurenai explained to Kakashi. She then turned to him at the door to the cafeteria, and told him that he should do what a woman named Anko told him to do in the cafeteria, and left.
Kakashi put his hand on the door knob before entering, and again asked himself, "Why did I let Gai persuade me to take this job?"
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An: So, how did you like it? Tell me in a review, or in a PM, doesn't matter to me, but seriously tell me what you think, and if I should continue or not. Personally, I want to, I even have the second part of the story figured out, along with the third, if I don't combine it with the second. So if you think I should continue, please review and you can receive free cookies and brownies with each review. Yes, this is a bribe, is it working? Heh heh heh. So don't forget to review! Okay, I'll shut up now.