Rating: R

Warning: The rating should be enough of a warning.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Beyblade.

Summary: Saint Ann's Hospital is a place for mentally ill young adults, and when a new patient is transferred to their facility the world there is turned upside down for a handful of the other patients. Can they overcome their problems and be deemed cured, or will they become yet another slanted mind?

Slanted Mind

Chapter III - Shadows

"You left him alone, by himself on his first day here? Tyson, what the hell is wrong with you? I doubt he knows where everything is, much less how things work around here. Did you even bother to show him where the schedules are for the week and explain to him about the stars?" Rei was pacing back and forth as he spoke to Tyson, the navy-haired teen sprawled out on the carpeted floor of one of the smaller lounge rooms reading a comic book.

"Look, he's the one that ended up walking off. I'm not here to watch him like some kind of watchdog like Kai watches you. He'll come around and find us when he wants to, Rei. I don't see what you're worrying about." With a yawn Tyson turned the page of the comic he was reading.

"You know very well Tyson that kids that are new here don't trust people just with a snap of the fingers. He might not even try to find us, and as he is your roommate you need to keep an eye on him to make sure he's getting along okay." It was Kai who spoke up this time, crimson eyes watching his lover pace back and forth in front of him before getting agitated enough to reach out and grab the Chinese boy by the waist and pull him to sit on his lap.

"I didn't ask for your two cents, Kai…. Anyways, I can't keep an eye on him twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. I need time to myself just like everyone else. Have a little faith in Damian; he seems like a good kid despite what the doctors might say about him in his file. If he can hold his own against Boris, then he can hold his own against anyone else." With a shrug of his shoulders Tyson dismissed the subject, letting his mind concentrate on the comic he was reading.

"He was provoked to react like that, though. I might not have seen the whole quarrel, but anyone acting like that when they have been docile around the four of us for so long can only be provoked to be so verbal and vicious. Do you think that Tyson's right in thinking he just needs time to himself?" Leaning back against Kai and making himself comfortable snuggled up against the other teen Rei leaned against his love.

"Don't stress yourself out over it, kitten. There haven't been any incidents in several weeks, so I think the new kid will be just fine by himself for now. If he doesn't show up an hour before dinner we'll just go looking for him. He could be sleeping in his bed for all we know and worrying over nothing at all. Just relax." Bringing his hand to gently massage the tense muscles at Rei's next Kai soon shifted himself to put the Chinese boy on the chair while he stood.

"Stay here and keep Tyson company while I go find Tala. I want to speak with him about something for a moment. I'll be back in ten, and if I'm not back go ahead and come and find me." Flashing a half smile to Rei the Russian teen exited the smaller room, closing the door behind him so that the two inside wouldn't have to worry about being bothered by anybody.

It wasn't hard to Kai to find the red head he was looking for, as he was in his usual spot in the extensive library that the hospital had. Settled in a plush dark blue colored loveseat in the back left corner of the library was Tala, a newer book in his hands which by the look of the small amount of pages at the beginning showed that it had just been started.

As if sensing Kai entering the smaller reading area he was in Tala lifted his azure colored eyes lifting from the pages of the book and gazed slowly at his friend. It wasn't often that people sought him out when he secluded himself to read, but when Kai was the one to come to find him it was usually important.

"Starting a new book?" questioned Kai as he moved to sit in a chair just sitting directly in front of Tala. A slow and quizzical while seemingly flat look crossed the red head's features just before turning his eyes back to the book to continue reading. It wasn't hard to split his attention enough to pay attention what was being said to him while reading as well.

Tilting his head to read the name of the book on the bridge Kai gave a slow nod, leaning back slowly in his hair as he did so. "The Catcher In The Rye. You've read that book more than ten times now, yet I still don't see why they keep it in this library. It's banned from a lot of schools."

With a sigh Kai got down to what he had come to find Tala for, knowing that the other teen didn't like beating around the bush very much. "Look, I was hoping that you could possibly keep an eye on the new kid since you two seem to get along well enough. Tyson is slacking off in his room duties again and he let the kid walk away. His whereabouts now are currently unknown other than the fact that we know that he's alone. Granger won't go look for him, and I don't want to go looking for him myself and frighten him off."

The matter seemed to grab Tala's interest just barely as his eyes shifted back to look at Kai coldly over the top of the book in his hands. Taking this as a sign to go on Kai did so, crossing his arms at his chest. "I think we'd all appreciate it if you went and found him before something could happen to him. I don't know what kind of vibes you got off of him, but I don't think he's stable enough to be wandering around alone just yet."

Upon seeing the page of the book being folded down smoothly and the book soon closed Kai rose from his seat. "If you bring him back to the smaller room that we are always in then I'll keep and eye on him with Rei so you can get back to reading here in the library. With Boris being as angry as he is for getting hit by Damian we need to watch that kid's steps until it's safe enough for him."

Following Kai out of the library Tala soon split off to another direction, heading off down towards the cafeteria end of the hospital to start his search. Kai returned to the smaller lounge room where he found Tyson asleep on the floor and Rei waiting for him to come back while flipping channels on the TV in the room.

-----

It had been about a half an hour since Damian had wandered off from being around Tyson, whom was talking to Dr. Tate about getting another comic book the next week. The navy-haired teen didn't seem to notice, as he soon wandered off to one of the other rooms as if on autopilot from normal routine. Now he was wandering down the boy's hallway, merely trying to find out what places were where.

As he reached towards the end of the hall he started to double back, noting the entrance to the showers at the very end of the hall and taking heed of the warning Tyson had given him. If it was that dangerous to go there alone then he wouldn't go there unless someone was with him, even if that meant asking one of Tyson's friends to come.

"Hey, new kid." Calling from behind Damian was another male standing just by the door to the showers, yet the aquamarine eyed teen didn't seem to take notice of being called, feet still carrying him down the hall as he clutched the black panther plushy to his chest with his unbandaged hand.

"Hey kid, I'm talking to you." There were the sound of footsteps behind Damian, but he just kept on walking as if in his own world, head down as he whispered softly to himself random quotes from numerous sources spreading from poetry to speeches and stories.

'O Death the Healer, scorn thou not, I pray,
To come to me: of cureless ills thou art
The one physician. Pain lays not its touch
Upon a corpse.'

'Of joys departed,

Not to return, how painful the remembrance.'

'Here 's a sigh to those who love me,
And a smile to those who hate;
And whatever sky 's above me,
Here 's a heart for every fate.'

The whispered words were abruptly stopped when a strong hand grabbed Damian's shoulder and whirled him around to face the older teen who had been speaking to him. He was tall and fairly built, yet the dark circles under his pale blue eyes showed he suffered from some sort of sleeping disorder. He didn't let go of the shoulder he hand grabbed, and the fierce grip made Damian wince.

"I said I was talking to you, maybe next time you will have learned enough manners to stop and speak with me. You're in my end of the hallway, and you're going to learn to respect me and what I want." The teen tightened his grip for emphasis only to start dragging Damian forcefully with him towards the room to the showers in which he had been avoiding.

With a light whimper the pale powder blue haired teen attempted to escape from the grip that the other had on him onto to the roughly shoved through the shower room doors and to end up pushed smack into a tile covered stall wall. Aquamarine eyes searched around franticly, hoping that at least one person would be around to possibly help him.

"Like I said you're going to have to learn manners and how to respect me. If you scream I'm only going to make it hurt worse, so you just better keep it quite kid." Snatching Midnight away from Damian the older teen tossed it aside and onto the tile floor only to grab Damian as he went to run after the plushy. "You don't need that for what I'm going to do to you, kid."

Damian's smaller frame was pushed up against the wall, pinned against it by the taller and more brute form of the older teen as his hands were held above his head tightly. "Stop squirming punk and you might just enjoy this." The warm breath on Damian's neck made him freeze, aquamarine eyes wide as a small whimper of protest left his throat. There was a chuckle before the older teen latched his lips onto Damian's own, thrusting his tongue into his mouth as Damian parted his lips in surprise as the older teen rocked his hips against his.

As Damian made a move to nip bitterly and defiantly at the tongue the muscle was removed from his mouth, yet he was rewarded by a sharp slap to the face that left a stinging mark of red. "You had better behave, kid. I can make this so much painful for you." And to prove his point the older teen turned Damian around so that he was pressed stomach first against the tile wall, hands still pinned above his head while the wandering hand snaked down to slip dangerously low into his pants. Constant and almost desperate rocking of the older teen's hips against Damian's ass seem to only drive on the hand, soon slipping under boxers and starting to pump Damian's own member in time with the rocking.

A muffled cry of sobs was given as the older teen gave one last harsh rock on his hips, his grunt hidden as teeth sunk into tender exposed flesh at the shoulder bringing forth the taste of metallic blood. The teen had reached his release, and seemed quite pleased when he felt to smaller teen do the same into his hand. "I look forward to having this pleasure in the future. Welcome to Saint Ann's."

Allowing Damian to drop to the cold tile floor and curl up the other male moved to wash his hand of the evidence, grinning at the kid on the floor before leaving to change his pants in his room and leaving the shower room. The quiet sobs soon died down into a silent trickle of tears, aquamarine eyes staring blankly at the far wall of the show room as he lay there on the floor curled up and shivering.

----

Having searched through all the activity rooms, the main lobby, and now going through the rooms of the boy's hall Tala was starting to grow slightly concerned. He had already passed Tyson's room, and Damian hadn't been in it. There was very little doubt the teen had steered clear of the girl's rooms, so that just left the guys' rooms and the showers.

Azure eyes shifted from glancing in all the open rooms, watching as a smirking older teen stepped out of the showers and slipped into his own room only to shut the door behind him. Furrowing his brows Tala turned his attention towards the door of the showers, well knowing that the bulky teen that had just walked from the showers had a bad habit of pinning up other boys there for his own pleasure and amusement.

Second guessing himself Tala knew very well that the showers were the only place he hadn't checked yet, and as much as he didn't wish to go and find out what was behind those doors he knew he had to find Damian before someone else did and took advantage of the situation. Passing the closed door just by the showers Tala glared coldly at the wooden surface as if he could freeze it with his mind only to slowly push open the door of the shower room and peek his head in to briefly glance around.

Flinching back at the sight before him Tala had to brace himself to keep from bolting, azure eyes settling upon the curled up form of Damian on the floor. Hardening his gaze the red head stepped into the room fully, allowing the door to shut behind him noiselessly. There was no sign that Damian even noticed that was in the tiled room with him, but the blank yet hurting look in his aquamarine eyes was enough.

Stepping closer Tala stooped down to pick up Midnight, kneeling a good foot away from Damian while he held out the plushy. "Damian, Midnight is missing you." It took a moment but the pale blue haired teen finally snatched the plushy from Tala's hands, seeming as eager to hold it, as he was fearful that Tala might actually hurt him.

Knowing better than to flat out ask about what happened Tala went about looking for any injuries that he could see visibly from where he knelt only to rise to his feet slowly and move over to the sink. "That red mark is going to leave a nasty bruise on your cheek. It's already starting to turn away from its red hue…"

Taking a wad of paper towel from the dispenser Tala soaked it in icy cold water, wringing it out enough so that it only damp before kneeling back down next to Damian who had yet to even shift from his curled up spot on the floor. "Look, I'm going to put this wet paper towel on your cheek before it starts to swell even more. I'd be lying if I said it won't hurt."

Reaching out the red head slowly extended his arm only to press the cold paper towel onto the swollen and abused patch of skin on Damian's left cheek. There was barely even a flinch away from the pain from the teen as Tala moved the paper towel to rest to more cover the full bruising area of the cheek. It wasn't until then that he noticed the bite wound bleeding through his shirt. "That bastard…" Narrowing his azure eyes a darker and more predator-like look came to their orbs, and as Tala rose to leave the shower room to go after the guy who had done this to Damian he found himself being held back by a hand grabbing his wrist.

"Don't go….Please.." There was a soft sob before Damian spoke up again. "Don't leave me alone…" Aquamarine eyes stared up at Tala; their globes swarming with unshed tears as well as hurt and fear. He was still shivering, though more from what happened than the cold of the tiles that made up the floor.

As azure met aquamarine Tala gave a sigh, the dark look disappearing and being replaced with a slightly concerned one instead. He had walked in on things like this happening before, and then he didn't care about what had happened to those other kids, yet now he didn't understand why he even bothered to stop to help the new kid. It wasn't like him, nor was it like him to get angry over someone else's pain.

With a slow nod the Russian slid down to sit on the tiles next to the curled up Damian, his hands moving to rip some of the towel so he could dab it gently along the bite mark on the shoulder area covered by the pale blue shirt that the younger teen wore. Moving his free hand he began to rub slow circular patterns upon Damian's back, trying to help him calm down so that he could take him to the others and explain what happened. It was clear that Damian wasn't going to be able to explain himself without withdrawing completely.

"We're going to have to go back to Kai and the others so they can know about what happened…" As he felt the muscles under his hand tense Tala gave a partial smile of understanding. "I won't make you talk to them, I'll stay there with you. Just trust me, I'm not going to hurt you." With that Tala stood up, though not before kneeling down and picking up Damian in his arms and holding him close.

Walking out of the shower room and down the hallway Tala was given several odd looks as he carried Damian with him down towards the room where he was supposed to meet Kai and the others at. It was something new for everyone to actually see him carrying someone willingly and looking deadly protective of the person in the meanwhile. It was a day full of many shadowed surprised.