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 Webster's New Compact Desk Dictionary and Style Guide)

To Think Or Not To Think

Hiei sat in the oak tree for a length of time, thinking, thunking, rerunning, and piecing everything together. Finally, he came up with a synopsis of what Ayana had just confessed.

Ayana was an elf who was bound by a code not to kill. She disobeyed that by becoming an assassin for humans and took other people's lives without reason. The code, however, was still in place and it "attacked" her mind each time she killed, basically bringing her elfish IQ down a few notches every time a person passed away. It soon became too much of a strain on Ayana and she sunk into a sort of insanity. Isabella found her, took her into the institute and locked her in the room he now occupied. Ayana fermented in her madness for some time, trying to either escape or kill herself. Finally she came to her senses and decided that to repent from the past she must help care for the mentally ill and deranged. In doing so, she shoved her past away; wanting to forget it and make it disappear rather than accept it and let it be apart of her. To do it, Ayana stopped wielding all weapons and refused to go into her old room.

That was basically what Hiei had gathered and understood. What he still didn't quite understand, though, was what any of this had to do with him.

Isabella had said she saw a likeness in him and Ayana; Hiei scoffed at that. Ayana and him had nothing in common ... right?

Frustrated, Hiei grunted and jumped from his branch. He was sick of thinking so much in one day. This sort of thinking couldn't possibly be healthy for him. Instead of pondering on things any longer, Hiei headed back inside and upstairs, completely disregarding the fact that he had missed dinner. As he walked down the hall, he wondered if he was seriously going to be let out soon. It didn't seem as if they had figured anything about him or anything of the sort, so why?

Don't question, Hiei hissed at himself, just accept it. You want to get out as soon as possible, right?

Once he reached his room, Hiei slowly walked in and noticed that there was a monumental change in the feeling that pervaded in the room. There was a sense of closure, peace of mind, and purity in it, which soothed and unnerved Hiei in one fell swoop. Hiei treaded over to his bed and sat down, trying to just forget about everything that had happened, everything Ayana had said, and everything that was going to soon happen; he'd rather leave all his troubles and confusion for some other day in the far and distant future, thank you.

Before he realized it, Hiei had slid onto his side and was lightly sleeping away the night.

"WAKE UP MEANY MR. HIEI!"

Hiei's eyes snapped open and immediately narrowed angrily at the sight of big brown eyes and a nose stuck in his face. The face giggled obnoxiously when it saw that its quarry has finally awoken and it pulled away. Hiei sat up and growled lowly, watching silently as Tasha skipped merrily around his room with seemingly no intentions.

"What. Are. You Doing. In. My room?" Hiei hissed out.

"Waking you up, Mr. Meany!" Tasha replied with a laugh.

Another growl rumbled in the demon's chest. "And what gave you the right to come in my room and wake me up?"

"I gave her permission." Hiei's head swivelled around to see Ayana leaning against the doorjamb with a lazy smirk on her face. "You slept fairly well last night, I see."

"Hn." Hiei turned away.

Ayana walked in and came to sit down beside him, which momentarily surprised the man. Ayana caught the traces of his surprise on his face, even if it was brief, and it made her laugh. "Now that I've confronted what I needed to, I can come in here without feeling any affects."

Hiei didn't respond. She didn't seem to mind as she plowed on. "I'm sure you'll be a little curious to know why we're releasing you earlier than was expected. The reason is because Isabella sees that your paranoia is something that can only be fixed with friendship and over time. An institute setting isn't going to do your paranoia much good, so you can become an out patient and come by from time to time just for an update, but really, you can only solve this problem on your own. I am offering to be your friend, but you can only accept me, I can't force friendship on you."

She stopped and watched Hiei for any changes, but she was disappointed. Hiei closely guarded his features, not wanting to give anything away. Although his face never expressed it, he was turning everything over a mile a minute, his brain almost flying off the handle with how much he was processing. What she said was ultimately true, but he wasn't so sure he wanted to entirely admit it to himself because that would be playing in her hands. Once he admitted that, she may just put some hidden devious plan into action and he didn't need any more hurt.

Ayana sighed, knowing she was only going to be able to do so much on her end. Standing, she stretched and then turned to Tasha who was giggling and muttering to herself in the far corner of the room. "Come on Tasha, you need to go to the doctor for a check up. Lets leave Mr. Hiei by himself for awhile."

Tasha jumped up and skipped over to Ayana, taking her hand in her own as she began to walk away. When the two reached the doorway, Ayana turned around and said in Hiei's direction, "Think on what I just said for awhile and then you're free to leave. Your friends are downstairs in the lobby waiting for you." With that, the woman left, her departure marked by Tasha's discordant singing.

Hiei's eyes bore into the floor beneath his feet as his mind seemed to torment him. He could take Ayana's words to heart and believe them, which would solve so much if only he could believe it to be true beyond the shadow of a doubt. His thoughts contradicted themselves, though.

It was almost half an hour later that Hiei finally stood up and headed out into the hallway. He had finally decided to not make a decision at all for the time being. It was too much to process in such a time. Now he put it aside and headed toward the lobby where he'd see Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara again.

Hiei would only make a change when he was sure of himself.

And the breaks work! FINALLY! I have finished a story for the first time in my damn life! -does a happy dance- Now, on to the next story in my little saga. Just to warn you, the stories that follow all connect to this one through the characters. -winks-

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.Bloodrunner.