Asylum
Asylum(n.) - 1. A place of safety; refuge 2. An institution for the care of mentally ill, aged, or poor people: a term now rarely used (Definition taken from Websters New Compact Desk Dictionary and Style Guide)
Institutionalized
It was a beautiful day in Tokyo. Not much was amiss and many smiling faces populated the outdoors. An odd group was among the many, but smiles were not part of their features. The first of the group, who didn't seem to be burdened by anything, was a gangly young man with gelled-back black hair and chocolate brown eyes. He was frowning, but smirked when the unpleasant middle man gave a pathetic shout to his captors.
"I swear if you don't let me go I will burn you all to a crisp!"
"Make me medium-rare, Hiei, and we'll be in business," the smirking man replied, raising a victory sign to the black clad man behind him.
The man called Hiei wasn't pleased, and he narrowed his deep red eyes at the man's back. "Watch your words, Yusuke Urameshi, because you just might regret them."
"You'd better be careful, Urameshi. I think he's serious!" These words came from an ungainly tall youth with vibrant orange hair fashioned into what could be considered a terrible replication of Elvis Presley's do of the 60s. The man;s beady black eyes shifted nervously between the short fiery man he was carrying and his friend leading them.
"Whatever. Kurama would make sure Hiei doesn't do anything stupid."
The one referred to as Kurama shook his head, creating a ripple effect with his beautiful red mane. "You underestimate Hiei, Yusuke."
"Yeah, what the fox said!" Hiei snapped. "Now let go of me. I am not incapable of walking on my own!"
"Sorry Hiei, but we can't do that," Kurama replied. "You are in a horrible condition as it is. Letting you walk won't do anything to help."
"And taking me to some ningen infirmary isn't going to do a damn thing either!" Hiei growled.
"Ningen? This place is far from ningen, Hiei."
"And speaking of the place, we're here now." Yusuke stopped walking and turned toward a stark white building several stories tall. The place smelled strangely; not of antiseptic or flowers of any sort, but of some other pleasant aroma that seemed to put you in a peacefully state of mind as you passed.
Hiei disdainfully took in the building and scoffed. "I could easily burn this place down."
"You'd be careful about that, because this place is fairly protected and they would discharge you on instinct if they thought you were planning on completely destroying the place," Kurama warned the short man.
"Now come on, Hiei," Yusuke said, "this place will take care of you for a while."
Hiei didn't like those words, but he didn't let his dislike show. Instead, he glared at the joking youth and attempted another escape, but by now it was just because he wanted to prove that he didn't like the situation. The four of them entered and walked up to the front desk taking up a large portion of the waiting room. A well groomed young man sat behind the desk, calmly waiting for them and when they all stopped before him, he gave an equally groomed smile, exposing perfectly straight white teeth. "Good morning to you! Which of you is the insane one?"
"What: Hiei was startled by the man's blunt proclamation and suddenly began to struggle with renewed vigor. "I am in no way insane!"
"Sorry about that." A head suddenly popped out from under the desk, which immediately turned to the man. "Andy One, why don't you go see Pueblo about your glitch."
"Yes ma'am." The man walked away casually, disappearing behind a set of swinging doors behind the desk. The female head turned back to the group standing before her and soon materialized into a full person. "Well, I apologize for Andy being so ... blunt. Let me rephrase. Good morning. Which one of you will we be caring for?"
"Sorry miss, but I don't think your words really change anything," Yusuke pointed out, thumbing over his shoulder to the usually reserved demon now thrashing against the two men restraining him.
"Well I guess that makes it obvious who it is that will be staying with us here," the girl said, raising an eyebrow at the short man who was swearing death oaths in his native tongue. He turned to glare directly at her as he snapped, "I am not staying in this place with anyone, woman."
"That's too bad, because we have plenty of room and you would get to meet some amazing people here." The girl rolled her eyes, then turned back to the other three. "I'm Ayana and I do most of the work around here."
"Yeah right." A dark skinned man came out from the swinging doors and dropped his oiled rag on the polished desktop. "Andy One has gone on hiatus and Andy Four has been put out of commission."
"Oh lovely, more screwed up parts and a load of trash," Ayana said with a sigh. "This is Pueblo, our mechanic."
"Okay, well since we know who will be watching Hiei, I guess it's time we handed him over to you," Yusuke said loudly. "I warn you though, he's a tough cookie with a bad temper and an anti-social, dont-mess-with-me attitude."
"Sounds like fun to me!" Ayana grinned, then turned to Hiei, who was now glaring at everything in sight. "Come with me."
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Hiei snapped, targeting a tenfold glare at her.
Kurama shook his head and turned to Kuwabara. "Kuwabara, let go."
"Uh, okay, but what about shorty?" The orange haired youth let go, but looked at Kurama questioningly.
"I'll take care of it." Kurama turned to Ayana and nodded. "Lead the way."
"Great!" Ayana ran a hand through her dark brown hair and began walking down the hall. Kurama followed her, Hiei in tow. The angry demon protested against being dragged around, but Kurama ignored him.
"So Ayana, what sort of people do you house here?"
Ayana looked over her shoulder as she answered, "Well, many humans come here just for doctor visits with the human medical doctors we have here, and on the higher floors we have many ... mentally unsound demonic patients who are under our care."
Kurama nodded and asked another question. "Do most of the mental patients eventually leave with a marginal bill of health and stability?"
"Yeah, we have a great many of them that finally come to terms with whatever is causing them so much difficulty and they are free to leave. We also have some out patients, who live nearby and just come in everyday for therapy, then leave later that day." Ayana stopped at the end of the massive hallway where a pair of elegant marble doors stood and waved her hands with elaborate grandeur, saying, "Beyond these doors are ... okay," she had seen the irritated look on Hiei's face, "I'll cut the crap and just tell you that this is where the Institute garden can be found. All of our patients find their way out here at least once during their stay."
Shoving the doors aside, the three of them walked down a short flight of stairs and were suddenly outside, looking upon an extremely colourful elaborate garden. Kurama looked upon the large variety of flowers and plants with appreciation while Hiei had caught sight of the largest thing in the garden; a massive oak tree standing near the far side of the garden.
Ayana looked to the beautiful nature with satisfaction and a great deal of appreciation before turning to the two demons with a large smile. "This place is my favourite to be, but lets go find Hiei a room suitable for him."
Something flashed in Ayana's deep blue eyes that Hiei briefly caught once he'd torn his eyes from the tree. The demon's own crimson eyes narrowed on her face, but she only smiled at him again. Hiei turned away from her and thought; she is strange.
Ayana brought them back inside, then closed the large doors behind her. Walking off, Kurama and Hiei followed her to where she stood waiting for an elevator. The girl turned back to them while she waited and cried out happily, "Next stop; the fourth floor!"
Hiei rolled his eyes imperceptibly but didn't saying anything, only biding his time until he could leave. The ding alerted Ayana to the arrival of the elevator and waited patiently until the doors slid open and a few demons came out.
"Hoya!" The three demons who had just come out turned around to see Ayana standing there and waved before molding into less frightful human forms, then headed out to the garden.
Ayana shook her head, then entered the elevator compartment to wait for the other two to get on as well. When they were situated, Ayana pressed the fourth floor button and they were off. Hiei was not pleased with the strange movements, and stood stiffly next to Kurama. The fox demon noticed the tenseness in Hiei's arm, which he still had a hold of, and fought to keep an amused smirk off his face. Ayana, on the other hand, also noticed the suddenly stiff demon and burst out laughing.
"What are you laughing at!" Hiei snapped out tersely.
She pointed at him and tried to control her laughter. She managed just barely and said, "You! You have never been on an elevator before!"
Hiei was tired of this woman and only gave her his infamous reply. "Hn."
The elevator came to a stop and the three got off as Ayana said, "H-n. Funny word."
"You'll get used to it," Kurama said. "Hiei tends to use it often."
"You say that as if I'll be staying here, fox," Hiei snapped.
Kurama leveled Hiei with his emerald gaze. "Because you are, Hiei."
"Hn." Hiei gave nothing more than that.
"Alrighty then," Ayana said, "If you two are finished with your short discussion, argument, what ever the hell you want to call it, I would like to ask a few questions about Hiei." Ayana reached over and snatched up a pen and a clipboard from a holder attached to the wall beside her.
"Sure, Hiei and I will answer them to the best of our ability." Kurama replied, glancing at the short demon beside him.
"Where does Hiei prefer to sleep?"
"Trees."
Ayana arched an eyebrow as she jotted that down. "Does he prefer closed or open spaces?"
Kurama gave that question some thought before answering, "Open."
"I guess we already know the answer to that one," Ayana muttered as she circle something, then asked, "Does he need space to hold his clothing?"
"No." That one was a no-brainer, seeing as Hiei only wore the same thing for pretty much everything. The secret to how Hiei seemed to keep himself looking moderately groomed and presentable despite sleeping in trees and never learning how to use a washer and dryer was still a mystery.
Again, Ayana's eyebrow rose as she glanced at Hiei's black apparel. "Does Hiei need companionship of any kind?"
Kurama opened his mouth to give another answer, but Hiei was quicker. "No."
Ayana nodded and scribbled all of this down, then finally looked up from her board and said, "Okay, last and final question; what sort of ... symptoms does he have?"
Kurama glanced furtively at Hiei, who only gave an indifferent 'hn' and turned away. The fox spirit sighed and gave her an answer. "Hiei's usually an anti-social person, only speaking up when he finds it appropriate, but lately, he's become extremely reserved and not even making any comebacks to anything we say to him. Those times when he would become suddenly unresponsive were random and usually occurred at the most inopportune times. Last week was the oddest because he became strangely childish and twitchy; not wanting anyone to touch him and wanting to sit in a corner by himself. When we tried to help, he attacked us with no intentions of stopping until we were all dead. That's when we decided something needed to be done."
"The world is out to get me, dammit!" Hiei snarled, unsheathing his katana and turning it on Kurama.
"That's the same thing you said to Koenma a few days ago when he tried to get you to help on a mission," Kurama stated.
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Ayana shouted, breaking into the fight that was bound to break out. "Did you say you worked for Koenma? If so, that brings an entirely new light to Hiei's predicament."
"What are you getting at onna?" Hiei snapped, turning the blade upon Ayana. The girl stared down the length of the blade and took a half step back before answering, "Well, if you work for Koenma, I'll have to treat Hiei better."
"Treat me better?" Hiei snarled.
"Well, I wouldn't want a pissy child bearing down on me because one of his workers cant work to satisfactory level because of me."
"Ah, well I think that shouldn't be a problem. Koenma knows of Hiei's stay here, and he understand that under the circumstances, Hiei shouldn't be working at the moment, so lets just say that Hiei is getting a paid vacation," Kurama replied.
"I don't get paid in the first place, fox," Hiei said.
"That's true, but in any case, I should be going now, but I'll be back in a few days to check in on you, Hiei."
"I have already told you that I am not staying in this place!"
Hiei was now thoroughly distracted, paying more attention to Kurama than he was to the female he was poising his katana at. Ayana took notice of his brief distraction and used it to her advantage, taking hold of Hiei's katana-wielding arm and pinning it behind his back. She whipped out a needle with a sleeping agent in it and poised it at Hiei's throat.
"We can go about this the difficult way, or the less unfortunate way," Ayana said cheerfully, gripping Hiei's wrist tightly.
"Do you not see this Kurama!" Hiei shouted to the redhead who was now parting with them, headed for the elevators. "I swear to you that this whole damn world is out to get me!"
"Like I said, I'll be back to see how you're fairing in a few days time," Kurama turned back to pin Hiei with an even stare. "Please don't cause too much havoc while you're here." With such reassuring words, Kurama entered the elevator and gave a pleasant wave before it closed.
When he was out of sight, Ayana let the demon go and let him pick of his katana, re-sheathing it. "I apologize for that. Just know I wouldn't have stuck you with this if it was really called for." Ayana gently placed the needle back into her pocket and gestured for Hiei to follow her down the hall as she said, "It really isn't all that bad here, and we won't force you into anything as long as cooperate with us on a basic level."
"Hn." Hiei wasn't pleased with any of this, but against his better judgment, he followed her, knowing that Kurama was standing outside the building incase he tried to escape.
"Now, based on the answers, I think I know what sort of room to put you in, but sadly, it won't have a tree in it." Ayana pulled out a set of keys and walked over to stand before one of the doors, then cursed when she saw that there was a sign stuck to it. Remodeling.
"Great, now I'll have to find you another room," Ayana muttered, "but I don't want him in that one."
"What are you muttering on about?" Hiei questioned with narrowed eyes.
"Oh nothing. I guess we'll just have to place you in another room." Ayana continued down the hall and stopped again a few doors down.
"So here's your room." Unlocking the handle, the door swung upon to reveal a sparse room with a large window set to the north that overlooked the garden below. The bed was set on the opposite side of the window, against the wall, and their was a small chest at the end.
Hiei walked in but Ayana stayed in the doorway, watching him as she just stood there, hands folded tightly behind her back. Finally, the demon walked over to the window and stood before it, arms crossed as he stared out.
"Well, if you seem situated, I'll be leaving you for now," Ayana said quickly, taking a step back from the door, "but I'll be back later on to see how you're doing. I'll bring you some sheets as well."
Hiei didn't give her a reply, but she didn't really care for one. Quickly shutting the door, Ayana turned away and strode down the hall as fast as she could; she had more important things to attend to than standing in a room with an anti-social basket case.
But I do wonder what made him into a basket case.
----X----break----X----
Yes, this is pretty strange so bear with me. This story developed itself out of nowhere through an odd conversation between Ziren and me. The product is this strange and ... odd story. It does get better. I think this is a mix between humour and angst ... if that is even possible. Tell me if you find anything humourous because I'm not too sure I wrote the funniness well enough. It isn't my strong suit.
Tata, luvs.
.Bloodrunner.