Asylum
Asylum(n.) - 1. A place of safety; refuge 2. An institution for te care of mentally ill, aged, or poor people: a term now rarely used (Definition taken from Webster's New Compact Desk Dictionary and Style Guide)
Total Oddity
"She's fearful of this room," Hiei muttered to himself as the door closed. He had felt her unease begin to grow when she had realized that she would have to find him a different room and it had continued to fester the closer they had gotten to this one. The next sign was how she wouldn't come into the room, only standing in the doorway and shifting uncomfortably.
Why was he here anyway? Hiei's thoughts turned to the reason the others had become worried about his mental health in the past month or so.
So he had been claiming that the world was out to get him - big deal. They didn't seem to see how the world truly was out to get him. Everywhere he turned, someone was plotting or doing something to try and harm him. For awhile, he had learned to ignore that feeling that everyone was against him, but lately, things had become extremely rocky.
Taking hold of his katana, Hiei decided to put away his thoughts for now, and train for awhile. The room was moderately sized, and the walls were bare, even sporting a few holes and gashes in the drywall already; a few more shouldn't make a difference.
He gripped his hilt and unsheathed quickly, immediately going into forms and going around the room with them. The more energy he put into his thrusts and swings, the faster and more concise they were. Soon, he was sparring with the wall, leaving nasty wounds in the chalk surface. The vigourous attacks invigorated Hiei as he grunted and struck again and again. That is to say, until he was interrupted by a knock at his door.
Sweat was rolling off of the demon as he walked over to the door and opened it. He'd been expecting the strange female Ayana, but instead he was looking down upon a pale little girl who was looking up at him with a blank expression.
"And what do you want?" Hiei asked forcefully.
The girl blinked, but didn't answer, just continued to stare up at him blankly. Hiei growled at the silence she was creating and asked one more time, "What the hell do you want?"
Again, she was silent. Hiei was thoroughly irritated with her, and though he would never admit it aloud, the hollowed black eyes were beginning to spook him a bit too much; her staring was too deep for comfort. Slamming the door in the child's face, Hiei turned away, but stopped and cursed when knocking came again. He stood and began to humour the thought of opening the door and running his katana through whoever was standing there, but he never got the chance. The door suddenly opened of it's own accord and the small girl stepped in.
Hiei glared at the girl, but she only stared at him, undeterred by the expression. The stare lasted a few tense moments before she glanced around the room, and upon noticing the view from the window, strode over and calmly stood and looked out.
"Get out of here, this isn't your room," Hiei snapped.
No response. Hiei walked over to the girl and reached to grab her arm.
"Hiei Jaganshi." The small child turned on her heals, rounding to stare at Hiei, her dress flowing around her. The voice was that of a little girl, but still held an underlying tone of maturity and power.
"How the hell do you know my name?"
"It says so outside your room," the girl remarked.
... but her mouth never moved.
Hiei stared at the small child, his ruby red eyes widening slightly. The girl took notice and said, "Yes, I know my mouth isn't moving, and I would very much like it if you didn't stare."
"You're one to talk," Hiei muttered, turning away from her.
"What do you mean by that?" the girl asked.
"Hn."
"Isabella! Isabella! God dammit, where is that woman?" Ayana's voice carried into Hiei's room through the open door as she walked by, never once stopping to peeking in. "Isabella!"
"What do you want!" the small girl shouted back, walking over to the doorway.
"Oh, there you are!" Ayana scrambled back, but stood a good few feet away from the door. "Arune wants you and I sure as hell am not dressing him again."
"Make him do it himself, I'm having a conversation with Mr. Hiei," the girl seemed to say, but still, her lips never parted.
"But, all you'd have to do is–"
"Yes, I know very well what it is I would have to do, but I am in the middle of something at the moment and Arune needs to learn to do things on his own," the small girl said, placing a hand on her hip.
"Whatever," Ayana muttered, beginning back down the hall. "Just don't freak Hiei out too much. He is a new patient after all."
Isabella snorted and turned back to Hiei, openly staring with out expression again. Her look was somewhat unnerving, yet again, but Hiei's face was a mask of indifference. The girl walked over and sat on Hiei's bed, eyes never leaving Hiei as she said, "My name, as you have heard, is Isabella. And, as it says outside your room, you are Hiei. Now we have passed the formalities, so tell me why it is you have come to Tokyo Health Institute."
"Why do you care?" Hiei tossed back.
"I own this foundation so I might as well know what sort of 'issues' my patients have."
"And how old are you?" Hiei was truly skeptical. Isabella didn't look anything over the age of five, yet she spoke with authority in her childish voice.
"Ha, you must not believe me either then," Isabella spoke in the strange way she did. Her mouth now moved to curl into a smirk, but the voice never escape from her throat. "To be precise, I am three hundred twenty-four and I will be three hundred twenty-five in two weeks prior to this date."
Now that was something. Her age far surpassed Hiei's but he didn't let his amazement reach his expression; taking great care to make sure not a single muscle twitched out of the confines of neutral. "Then what are you?"
"A witch with vampiric blood running through my veins," she replied nonchalantly, sliding off the bed and walking over to the gashes marring the wall. A small hand ran over them and she asked again, "So let me try this again; what has brought you here?"
Hiei didn't supply the girl with an answer and she nodded as if she understood. "Evidently you aren't one to talk and I'm not so overbearing as to pry it out of you, but know that I will learn everything about you in some fashion before you are released from this institute."
Her tone suggested that this was the end of their conversation, and Hiei was somewhat relieved, but instead, Isabella turned back to Hiei and penetrated him with her empty black eyes yet again. She held him there for a few silent moments before she turned her attention to the katana resting at his hip. "You seem skilled in the blade, if that weapon at your side and the marks on this wall aren't evidence enough. Let me see it."
"Not on your life," Hiei growled.
"Oh, I've lived much longer than you so you don't have anything to say on that." Isabella laughed shortly, then narrowed her eyes at Hiei's katana. Hiei didn't like the look on her face, but he couldn't decipher it.
Suddenly, without warning, Hiei's blade slid from it's sheath and traveled through the air to land in Isabella's hands. The girl gave a wry smirk as she answered, "Telekinesis is one talent I enjoy using the most." She headed for the door with the katana still in hand as she said, "Now, I'm sure you would never belittle yourself to the point of self-mutilation, but as head of this establishment, I am ill-advised when it come to demonic patients in possession of weapons."
Isabella paused in the doorway and glanced back to Hiei. "You could ask the person who last occupied this room on that subject. They had the most horrid time coping without a weapon, and they actually jumped out that window when it got too bad for them."
Hiei was baffled and fuming that Isabella had taken his sword. He stormed after the small child, but when he appeared in the hallway, there was no sign of her. She had vanished. He went back into his room and whipped off his bandana as his Jagan glowed brightly. He searched the premises for the witch child, but she didn't seem to possess a ki he could lock into.
"Dammit!" Hiei punched the wall he had just been slicing into and then sat down on his bed. There wasn't much he could do if he couldn't find the girl with his Jagan. For now, he would have to endure the weightless feeling at his side and wait until he could wring that girl's neck.
Hiei's eyes were glaring daggers into the linoleum floor for what seemed like forever until a soft 'plop' sounded and he was suddenly glaring at bed sheets and a fluffy pillow.
"There you are," Ayana said from the doorway. "The things to go on your bed." Before Hiei could say anything, the girl was striding back down the hall and out of view.
Weird woman. Hiei was sick of sitting in the room. Something about the room held a certain haunting. The walls still clung to the scent of anger, fear, and desperation with a sickly passion. Whoever last occupied this room had a horrible time with it.
Standing, Hiei left the room and traveled down the hallway. He wanted to get downstairs, but those ominous elevators were not going to be his means of travel. The stairs were more suitable. Hiei went down the four flights of stairs to the ground floor and began down the hall toward the waiting room at the front. There was nothing entertaining here, but at least it was better than being cooped up in that bedroom.
"Hey, creepy black demon!" Hiei paused and turned an annoyed ruby eye toward the person who seemed to be calling in his direction. It was that strange man that had come to the desk with Ayana earlier. The mechanic came up to Hiei and rubbed his hands on an oily rag as he asked, "Which room are you in?"
Hiei didn't grace him with an answer, raising an eyebrow instead. The man took notice and stuck a hand in his hair as he said, "Heh, you must be the silence type. I'm Pueblo by the way."
"Hn." Hiei began to walk away, but Pueblo was daring and grabbed hold of his arm and blurted out, "You are in the room on the fourth floor at the end of the hallway on the left side with a perfect view of the garden below, am I right?"
Hiei glared at the man who was disturbing his personal space and snapped, "What the hell is it to you, human?"
"Ayana," Pueblo replied shortly, "So am I right?"
"Hn." Hiei slowly nodded then shook the man's hand off. Pueblo nodded as if he knew and muttered, "Then that explains it."
"How has my room have to do with Ayana?" Hiei begrudgingly asked. He had noticed her odd demeanour when she was near the room and the fact that she wouldn't enter was something to give pause to.
"She's twitching again," Pueblo answered distractedly. When Hiei gave him a questioning look Pueblo just looked at Hiei as if he was suddenly noticing him for the first time, then walked away.
Hiei was perturbed by the strange encounter, but tossed it aside when a small girl exiting the room nearest to him. She caught sight of him as well and a small smirk folded itself into her lips. Hiei growled and stalked toward the child, who stood there without a flinch at his furious expression.
"What the hell did you do with my sword?" Hiei snarled as he stood over her, looking quite intimidating. She looked up at him with a cool expression and replied, "Follow me."
As Isabella walked away, her black dress swirling around her ankles, Hiei stared after her. His eyes narrowed at her back before he finally followed after her. She lead him down a few hallways and toward a pair of double doors at the end of one hall. Isabella paused just outside the doors and turned to the fire demon behind her, saying, "The weapons do not leave these doors for the safety of the other patients. Ayana is sparing, so do not disturb when we enter."
Hiei didn't reply but Isabella had already turned back and opened the doors, letting a gush of air release itself into the hallway and sweep past Hiei's nose. The smell of sweat and blood were deciphered in the gush of air and it peeked Hiei's interest. The two entered and Hiei immediately took in his surroundings. It was a large training arena with a large circular padded mat at its centre. Two combatants currently occupied the sparring mat, one of which was indeed Ayana. No weapons were involved but both of them had a few scratches about their person. Hiei watched as it progressed, noting that Ayana seemed to have the upper hand in the match. Her endurance was higher than her opponent's and he was beginning to falter; his kicks, blocks, punches, and dodges slowing and becoming weaker.
The winning hit was Ayana's. She made a quick jab to his solar plexus, then lunged back and executed a perfect butterfly kick to his jaw. The man when down hard and Ayana pumped a fist in her victory before promptly helping the man to his feet.
"Good fight, Ms. Ayana," the man said as they shook hands.
"You too, Ganu, now go take your medication before it gets any later." The man nodded and walked past Isabella, giving her a small bow of the head.
Ayana looked over to see the two new arrivals and smiled. "It seems Hiei found you, Isabella!"
"Indeed he did," Isabella replied curtly. She turned to Hiei and said, "Your katana is being held in the weaponry. If you care to spar with someone, you come here, but you leave your katana when you leave, as I said before. Now tell me that you understood."
Hiei folded his arms, seriously finding her commanding tone an irritation. When he made no response, she seemed to strengthen the depth of her gaze and Hiei found himself almost imperceptibly nodding; her eyes were going to be the death of him.
Ayana spoke up quickly. "Just for future reference, I don't spar with weapons." She walked over to where she had a bottle of water and a towel set and picked them up. "I have to get back to work anyway, so I'll see you all later."
She went to leave, but Isabella touched her arm, making the girl pause. "Ayana, I need you to go out and get fresh sage and marijuana leaves for me as soon as you can; preferably before dinner."
Ayana nodded and then left through the doors. As she left, Hiei arched an eyebrow at the short little toddler. "Aren't you a little too young for illegal drugs?"
Isabella gave a dry, humourless laugh and shook her head as she answered, "I am, for one, older than you, but I don't do drugs. They will serve a different purpose for me."
"Right." Hiei turned away and walked over to the next door he came to, which he could sense held the weapons. Opening the door, he walked in and quickly located his katana, which was set upon a rack amongst a vast assortment of other blades. Lifting it from it's perch, Hiei examined it to be sure it hadn't been tampered with.
"I Did nothing to it but place it where it must stay for the time being." Hiei turned to see Isabella standing in the doorway.
Hiei placed the katana back and turned to her, saying, "Spar against me."
"With weapons?"
"With abilities only."
"I would like to ...," Pueblo suddenly appeared next to the girl and said, "Ms. Isabella, Toru has started bleeding again."
"... but I must attend to other things at the moment. We'll spar when time permits it." Isabella followed Pueblo out of the training room and Hiei could hear her begin to bark orders in her childish voice.
Hiei was clearly not going to get his sparring match, but he needed to preoccupy his mind. The only thing he could think of was to train. Hiei turned back to the rack and lifted his katana back up, carrying it out onto the sparring mat. Placing the sheath at his side with his belt, Hiei expertly unsheathed his blade and began forms and strikes, slicing through the hours. He lost track of the time within a few short minutes and was completely absorbed in his movements.
----X----break----X----
It was the ringing that stopped him first. Hiei paused in the middle of a downward strike at the sound and then caught the shouts of someone.
"Dinnertime! Dinner's ready!"
Hiei didn't feel like eating, especially if it involved a meal amongst other patients, so he began his forms again, only to be interrupted a moment later when the doors burst open and Ayana stood there with her hands on her hips. "Hiei, it's time for dinner!"
Hiei stopped and turned to her with narrowed eyes. "I'm not hungry."
"It doesn't matter. A mutual rule for dinner time is that all patients be present even if they don't eat. Now come on, put your sword back and get your ass in the cafeteria." She stood there and waited. Hiei didn't move, only glared back at her.
"Don't think I won't get someone in here to drug you up," she threatened. "All you have to do is stand in there. You don't have to talk to anyone and you can even hide in some pitiful corner away from everyone else; as long as you're in there, it doesn't matter. We serve food for those who don't like eating with others at a later time, so that isn't something you have to worry about. Now hurry it up, I'm hungry!"
Hiei finally moved and went back into the weaponry to put away his katana. Before exiting, however, he place a protective barrier around it, strengthening it with his youkai as a warning to anyone who might be tempted to touch it. He came back out and found that Ayana hadn't left the doorway yet. When she saw him coming toward her she turned and began back down the hallway and Hiei silently followed, if not begrudgingly. What hell he was in for he wasn't sure, but he would make sure that whoever disturbed him received adequate pain in return.
----X----break----X----
If you haven't noticed already, I've had to create my own page breaks because the button they give you to make one is being fussy with me. I must give credit to tuathafaerie for the "youkai strengthening" thing because that wasn't mine. It belongs to her and not me, so don't get on my ass about it. I love Isabella; she's my favourite character and I love writing her. Ayana's fun too but for her own reasons.
Trivia: If Ayana isn't human but isn't a demon, then what is she?
(whomever gets the answer or the closest thing to it will receive some special internet prize and their name and a special little section of their own where I talk about them on my profile)
Tata, luvs.
.Bloodrunner.