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)

Depth in Tension

Hours lapsed into the past as Hiei dozed, still aware of his surroundings but relaxing in the same instance. Nothing disturbed him for a long while, which suited the demon just fine, but he knew that it would soon come to an end.

"Comfortable?"

The question seemed to echo through and out of both his ears. It almost startled him but he kept his composure and slowly opened one red eye, peering down beneath his branch. Little Isabella stood there, small hands resting on her hips, her deep black eyes focused on Hiei's form above her. She stood silently for a few moments but when she didn't receive an answer to her question she asked, "You do know you've been out here for perhaps five solid hours?"

"Hn."

Isabella shook her head. "Night hours, Hiei, are the signal that you are to return to your room, no matter where you were before then. Sleep isn't mandatory seeing as many of our patients have issues with that very thing, but the garden is off limits during this time."

Hiei made no response as his one eye slid shut. He was making sure Isabella knew that he wasn't about change himself and go by their rules willingly. The witch seemed to take note of that and began to walk away as she said, "There are consequences to your actions, Hiei."

She continued to walk back down the path, not once looking back when Hiei gave a strangled shouted; she didn't need to see him to know that she had successfully taken hold on his body. The kajihenge was now floating six feet from the brick path, bobbing in Isabella's wake.

"Dammit!" Hiei shouted. "Put me down, witch!"

"There are consequences to your actions, Hiei," the child repeated in a monotonous tone. "Remember that."

She continued to use her telekinesis to carry Hiei along, blatantly ignoring his shouted to be let down. When Hiei finally stopped shouting, she smirked, but only for a moment. Without warning Isabella felt a force shove her own telekinetic energy away from Hiei's body. She had only ever experienced the strange feeling of having her malleable energy hovering limply in the air with nothing to latch onto, so this sudden intervention was something to take an interest in. Isabella drew her energy back to her as she turned to face the demon moodily standing behind her, her curiosity too much to resist now. The girl's eyes immediately fell upon the sight of a third violet eye positioned in the dead-centre of Hiei's forehead. Clutched in the demon's hand was a white bandana and the abnormal sight finally clicked into place in her mind.

"So your last name has more to do with the paranormal than it does with surnames," Isabella surmised.

"Don't ever do that again," Hiei replied with a guttural snarl.

Isabella seemed unaffected by Hiei's apparent anger as she smirked. "So flying doesn't sit well with you? I'm sure many other people would kill for the chance to feel such a sensation."

Hiei growled, his eyes practically glittering with fury under the glow of the gibbous moon hanging overhead. The two opposed each other, Hiei tense and bubbling with anger, Isabella cool and expressionless. The air was thick with Hiei's raging aura; he had a boatload of pent fury and frustration riding on the unseen manifestation of his aura and if you could see it, you'd piss your pants.

Isabella could see it, yet her trousers remained dry and unsoiled as she stared straight at Hiei.

Another round of seconds descended and passed in tense silence. Neither of them moved. It was a deadlock; Hiei so eagerly wanted to rip out Isabella's seemingly silent voice box and Isabella was more than prepared to defend herself if the need arose, but their eyes were set on one another. Hiei had an unknown sense of wariness drift through him, bringing a pause to his murderous thoughts and intentions; Isabella's eyes were too haunting and serene, too deep and shallow. Somewhere in the back of the demon's mind, he swore that she knew how her gaze affected him and she was intentionally creating such a disturbing look in her black pools.

Don't look at her, dammit! Hiei now directed his anger on himself, using it as fuel to manipulate his body again and break the stare Isabella seemed to hold him in.

"Hiei, is something wrong?" Her lips never shifted, even for an instant, but her resonating words finally gave Hiei the leeway to look over Isabella's head and walk past her.

The girl didn't make comment as Hiei walked toward the institute doors. She chose to leave immediately instead, knowing that she had something more pressing she needed to be getting to. All it took was a quick manipulation of her atoms and molecular structure and the small witch brought herself to stand just within the open doorway to one of the large rooms that was currently being racked with the shouts of doctors, the cries of a pained and delirious patient, and the highly strung emotions of nurses and medical assistants.

"Isabella!"

"What?" the child asked, calmly walking over to an extremely hassled Ayana. The woman's entire upper half was already completely soaked in blood and she looked as if she were just about ready to dash out the door.

"His condition is becoming worse," she answered once she finally got her breathing under control. "We can't close up the wounds until he's settled, but the only way to get him to stop jerking around is to sedate him, but that nearly impossible to do properly when we can't get him to sit still long enough to stick the needle in him."

"N-NO! NO NEEDLES!" The bloodied man on the Gurney began to thrash more violently against the dozen nurses and doctors already trying to suppress him. "AAAHH! MAKE IT STOP!"

Ayana's face contorted horribly as the man continued to scream and plea with God to make the pain stop. She was on the verge of tears, among other things, and looking at the distressed man only made it worse.

"Stop looking, Ayana," Isabella snapped with a sudden vehemence.

The young woman jerk her gaze away from the patient and looked back at Isabella. "None of the demonic doctors on staff with the ability to enter his mind and calm him down that way ..." she stopped to let another scream pierce the room, her own face looking pained, "but the pain and stress on the man is making his mind impenetrable."

Isabella nodded but didn't say anything. Ayana bit her lip and began to twitch, her body seeming to involuntarily curl in on itself every time the man let out another scream. Her bright blue eyes pleaded with Isabella to do something decisive about the situation but the child continued to stand there, silently watching the man as more blood seeped out of the five meticulously placed lacerations decorating his body.

Ayana finally couldn't take it. When another scream finally died out, she opened her mouth and started, "Isa–"

She was stopped when the child raised a small pale hand. As the name died in her mouth, Ayana's brain registered a change in the room; a change she was familiar with and absolutely despised. She slowly turned toward the gurney, the blood, the body and her eyes welled up with unwanted tears; the man had ceased all movement, all sound, all life.

The large medical staff that had just been pressing their weight against him immediately backed off, a few making the cross over their chest in respect. No one said a word and no one but Isabella moved. The small girl slowly turned her head toward the open doorway. There was no one there but she knew otherwise. A slow grin molded across her face as she thought to herself, You cease to amuse me.

"He's dead. It happens. Now would you people care to remove him? Rotting corpses don't do well for business."

Isabella's curt words brought reality back into play and the assistants stepped forward to take away the body.

"Did you have to say it like that?" Ayana hissed at Isabella as she tugged off her shirt, followed by the white undershirt. Despite the sudden exposure of the woman's bra, none of the other occupants took notice; they had long since gotten use to Ayana's strange behaviour.

Isabella closed her eyes briefly. "I apologize." There was no emotion behind it but Ayana seemed to accept it with a quick nod as she snatched up her stained garments and scampered from the room. Isabella let her go past but as the woman reached the door, she snapped, "Ayana."

"Yes?" Ayana turned to look at her employer, containing the urge to snap at her.

"There is only so long I will let this continue before you either straighten yourself out or I force it on you."

Ayana's breath caught in her chest and she momentarily lost focus, everything becoming blurred.

Isabella's eyes narrowed on the young woman. "Am I understood?"

With a deep breath, Ayana nodded and promptly darted out of the room. Isabella shook her head but let it slide; she was being lenient ... for now.

----X----break----X----

And the tension rises. I'm curious to know what you readers think the cause for Ayana's peculiar antics is. I don't think it will be easy to figure out but then again, I don't know how your mind works.

Also, keep tabs on my profile because it's bound to change from time to time.

Trivia: If Ayana isn't a demon and isn't a human, what species is she?

Another short chapter. I doubt any of the chapters will be all that lengthy, since I do not intend for this to be a long story. So; read and review.

(Special thanks to Dream x Spirit and Killani, my only reviwers at the moment. I appreciate your comments and praise.)

Tata, luvs.
.Bloodrunner.