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)

Damn Potatoes

Hiei silently followed Ayana down the hallway, around a corner and down a larger hallway until they walked through a pair of doors and into a large bright room. Evidently, this was the Tokyo Health Institute's cafeteria. A multitude of patients were already present and receiving food at their tables, although some refused their food and just sat there in different states of consciousness. Ayana turned to Hiei as he took it all in and said, "Like I said, you don't have to eat and you choose where you want to sit. I'll be over there," she thumbed to a large circular table set at the centre of the room, "so don't hesitate to come ask me anything."

Hiei said nothing and Ayana shrugged. The two of them separated and Hiei conveniently found a wall to stand against, given that there was an absence of windows. The other patients seemed to take no notice of him as they ate their own food or did nothing. Hiei only surveyed the room for a few uneventful seconds before he closed his eyes, favouring the inside of his eyelids to the disgusting lowly demons and meager humans; the stench was torture enough.

Now that the material world couldn't distract him with it's blandness, his thoughts were free-floating and his previous reflections began to resurface. Why he was here in the first place was, again, brought into question. He knew that it had been Koenma's final ruling that he be brought to this place after he almost decapitated them all for interrogating him. Kurama had been the one most worried about him, Yusuke's questions not far behind. Kuwabara was more concerned about staying within a safe distance of the fiery demon than Hiei's actual well-being, although he did make discreet inquires of his mental stability from time to time. Hiei still thought that nothing was wrong with him; it was the world and all it's inhabitants that were wrong. Time and time again he was betrayed or falsely comforted by someone. They would show that they had good intentions, when their thoughts were, in actuality, far from it. His life was full of it and not even now did things change, did people change. Not one soul--demon or otherwise--truly care for him. The reality was that everyone was out to get him.

There was no point though, this institute; they wouldn't be able to solve his problem unless they annihilated themselves and the rest of the human and demon population. They could damn well try but Hiei knew their attempts to understand him would be futile; they could tell him that they were there to help him but he knew that they had ulterior motives and they never really cared.

Hiei's thoughts wound and wove themselves around for some time before they gave way to memories; ones he wasn't too fond of. In that moment, he couldn't stop the onslaught of emotions though, so he let it come, if only to drown out that obnoxious noise coming from his right.

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He was a child again, living with the family of bandits in the forests of Makai. He had gone off to have some fun, slaughtering a total of five low-level demons during his heartless, enjoyable escapade.

'They deserve to die' he thought to himself with glee as his blade finally traveled through the body of his fifth victim, effectively severing him in half and bringing his pathetic life to an end 'If I don't kill them, they'll just come back to hurt me. I have to hurt them first.'

He stopped running to dispel the blood from his blade and as he did, he glanced up at the sun to realize that if he didn't get back to the grounds, he wouldn't get dinner. With food in mind, Hiei zipped off toward the clearing by the shore where they currently lived.

As he came closer, he sniffed the air for any hint of the trout or boar they might be having tonight. He didn't catch a whiff, but thought they just hadn't started cooking yet. He broke the tree line soon after and had to come to an immediately stop before he lost control; they were ... packed and ... walking away ... from him. Miyuku noticed Hiei standing there, staring after the men he had once called family, and called out, "We don't want to stay around you anymore; you're too strong for us!"

Hiei made no reply. Words couldn't change things, couldn't bring them back, couldn't keep the dark and bitter emotions that roiled in his gut away as the bandits began to become smaller and smaller and smaller, going farther and farther and father away from him. He knew they wouldn't come back and it caused him so much pain to think that his only family had deserted him, just as his mother had.

That night, he stayed in Miyuku's emptied hut and cried. He let the hot tears spill down his dirty cheeks as his soul hardened a bit further. The tears soon trickled away and his sniffs lessened. He wouldn't let this get to him any longer, he wouldn't let himself cry, to feel such horrible emotion. With his mind finally made up, Hiei gave up on staying awake and fell asleep.

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"MISTER!"

Hiei was pulled from his thoughts almost painfully. A small screeching voice rang through his ears, drawing him back to the present. Hiei's ruby eyes slowly opened and he furtively glanced at a small girl who was now leaning severely out of her seat, trying to get his attention. She didn't seem to realize that he was now looking her way though, because she snatched up the mashed potatoes from the tray of the young boy sitting next to her and chucked in Hiei's direction.

The fire demon realized what she had done quick enough and smoothly dodged the pasty projectile. The food sailed through the air and instead of hitting Hiei, connected in the face of an aged man who had just removed his dentures from his mouth.

"Wha' in b'ue b'ases!" the man shouted. He threw his arms up as he began to freak himself out and in the process, tossed his dentures in the air. The dentures when down right in someone's bowl of rice, the little cooked pieces assaulting the poor consumer. He became enraged and picked up the bowl of rice, dentures still cratered inside, and slammed it in the face of the person laughing next to him.

Over with the small girl who had started the entire fiasco, the boy, who had rudely had another person's hands assault his mashed potatoes, narrowed his eyes and scooped up the rest of his rice, turning to the girl. Her eyes widened as she laid eyes on the mound of rice in the boys hands and hopped right over the table as the rice went flying at her. She aimed herself at Hiei, who had been watching this all unfold with slight amusement, and the kajihenge noticed. He waited, counting out the seconds as she sailed closer, then quickly sidestepped, letting her meet the wall head on.

The flying rice that had been sent into the air sprinkled itself out over the rest of the patients, a few pieces even coming to rest in Hiei's head of hair. Many of the other patients saw the turn of events and cheered, scooping up their own meals and chucking them at their neighbours.

Food fight.

Hiei quickly realized that the cafeteria was not a place he wanted to be caught in the middle of and he made a quick dash for the doors on the other side of the room. On the way, he felt something weigh down his hair and something plop against his shoulder, but that didn't stop him. He continued to zip between the hysterical men and women, determined to escape along with his dignity and the least amount of casualties.

In a matter of seconds, Hiei slammed the pair of swinging doors open and dove out into the hallway where things were safe. As the doors swung shut, he could hear Ayana and Isabella, among others, shouting orders and trying to bring the chaos under control.

Good luck, Hiei thought to himself with an estranged grin.

Now that he was away from the supervision of those people and out of the corrugated assembly of insanity known as the cafeteria, he could do as he pleased. Standing up, Hiei looked down at his shoulder to see a soggy rice ball splattered against his cloak. He easily brushed the pieces of gooey rice off of him and then reached up to find out what had gotten caught in his hair. With a tug, Hiei brought the article of food up to his face to learn that someone had perfectly stabbed an egg roll through his strands of hair. He tossed the egg roll away, not caring as it skidded across the marble floor, shaking his head to dispel the loose pieces of rice that had fallen in his hair as well.

When he was sure he wouldn't attract any hungry patients to himself, Hiei walked back toward the main lobby and from there, down the hall to the doors leading out into the garden. With a quick sweep to make sure no one was attempting to follow him, Hiei pushed open the large doors and stepped outside into the cool night air. Overhead a crescent moon glowed, bringing ample light to the massive garden. The flowers were shut for the night and many of the welcomed creatures had already scampered back into their little homes for the time being, but Hiei didn't care for any of that; his sights were set on the large oak tree.

In a few short seconds Hiei had alighted upon a large comfortable branch that hung six feet off the ground. There was no one around, not a single other soul was present to disturb him. The sounds of crickets and frogs were the only sounds to be heard of. Not a voice was distinguished, not one unpleasant noise was audible. Hiei felt at peace, almost blissfully at ease. He knew that his time alone wouldn't last forever but what time he could get a hold on would be used. The demon leant against the trunk of the tree, his legs crossed and out in front of him. With a mental sigh, the crimson eyes fell shut and Hiei slipped into a light, thoughtless doze.

It was the first time in a long while that he was truly by himself without any evil person there to spoil it, so he would cherish every moment.

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I just couldn't resist updating. But please, call me out on any spelling or grammatical errors you come across because I'm not too sure I checked this chapter.

I know this chapter was short, but I just had to get this out. The food fight and realizing how much of a paranoid sociopath Hiei really is. Of course, his paranoid sociopathic ways are still to be seen in later chapters, but I'm trying to get across some things here. Chapter four will come sooner than usual, since this is a short chapter and you probably want to read more.

Also, I don't know who the bandit leader's name was, so I just created one. If that information is known, pleased let me know. He won't be appearing in any future chapters though, so I don't think it matters so much.

Tata, luvs.
.Bloodrunner.