Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Asylum ❯ ARC1: Day5 ( Chapter 4 )

Arc 1: Day 5

 

 

Note: Cognitive therapy: therapy to change the bad thoughts of a patient into good thoughts.

Example: someone with an eating disorder might think `I am too fat and no-one thinks I'm beautiful'. With Cognitive therapy, these bad thoughts are changed into `I am not too fat, and I am not ugly'.

 

Answer for anonymous `midnight13': Though your review absolutely made my day, I will really have to burst your bubble: because I try to be original, I will have NO Dr. Iruka, thank you very much. I believe people expect him to be a doctor, so yeah.. I kind of gave him another role. He'll show up soon, and I totally gave him an awesome role, I believe XD

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Characters.

Thanks: To my wonderful beta-er, Susan.

 

 

My fifth day in the loony bin was a black day in my history.

 

I woke up with terrible stomachaches. I had these aches more and more these days, but they were never fun to experience. I think they were one of the side effects of the medicines I was taking, so I just had to live with them because I couldn't stop taking my meds.

 

Feeling another wave of nausea hit me, I made a beeline for the bathroom, and spend a full 15 minutes inside.

 

When I exited, there was no stupid uncle waiting patiently for me with a warm cup of tea. Instead, my retarded roommate was staring at me again, appearing as though he wanted to say something.

 

When I tried to scare him away by glaring very angry, he wasn't fazed in the least. Instead, he opened his mouth and told me that orange things were usually orange inside as well.

 

I stared at him for a long time.

 

Then he showed me that oranges were orange inside. And carrots were orange inside as well.

 

And the goldfish he got from his Doctor was orange inside as well.

 

.. I got away from my roommate as quickly as possible, not minding a bit that I hadn't made my bed seven times yet.

 

Then breakfast came around, but that was also easily ruined because some pink-haired girl sat next to me. She seemed okay, until she opened her mouth, and proceeded to scare me away within twenty seconds.

 

Seriously, it's a crime to know so many dirty words.

 

And then I had my first therapy session. And because I still wasn't familiar with all the hallways and different sections of the building, I was late. Again.

 

“Hello Neji, welcome to your first therapy session. Please sit down.” I stared passively at the older man behind the desk, but I did sit down. Nothing was said about the fact that I was 10 minutes late.

 

It was a little room I ended up in, which was filled with silence, but also with a lot of smoke. It made me wonder if cigarettes weren't forbidden here. When the Doctor lit another one, I concluded they probably weren't.

 

“My name is Doctor Sarutobi Asuma and I will be your personal coach.” I nodded, but did nothing more. Usually, I was more helpful, but those moments were never preceded by seeing the insides of a goldfish.

 

It was my first therapy session though (cognitive therapy! Couldn't the doctors here come up with some less ...common... therapy?!), and this was the moment I had to prove myself. Here I not only had to act like I had OCD, but now I had to express my fake OCD-thoughts as well.

 

“Everything that will be told in this room, stays in this room. The conversations we will have are confidential, and they won't be used against you. We are here to help you.” The smoking Doctor wasn't aware of my inner turmoil, and I was glad that he just kept talking.

 

“Our session will take 50 minutes. First I'd like you to tell a little bit about yourself; who you are and things like that. Then I'd like to discuss your behavior some more, specifically these so-called `rituals' you perform. Is this okay with you?”

 

“Yes.” I nodded.

 

“Great. Then we will start with an introduction. I have a file here, and it says your name is Hyuuga Neji.”

 

“That's right. I'm from the Hyuuga-family.”

 

“And you are 15 years old, and born on July 3rd?”

 

“Yes, July,” I stopped talking for a moment, and allowed the Doctor to see a glimpse of a smile, “That's a great month, don't you think?”

 

“July..? Hmm-mm, I like that month too. I usually have a vacation in July.” The doctor replied in a very amiable way. You know, I might actually like the guy.

 

“Neji, could you tell me something about yourself?”

 

“Ehh.. like?”

 

“Eh, how about your hobbies. Do you have any hobbies?”

 

I pondered on that thought for a moment.

 

“I practice martial arts sometimes.”

 

“And do you like that?”

 

“Yes.. Though I don't practice often.”

 

“How come you don't practice often?”

 

“I don't have much spare time.” I said, my voice signaling the doctor that he was already threading on thin ice. But even if he was aware of it, dr. Asuma kept questioning me.

 

“How come you don't have a lot of spare time? Is it because you go to school?”

 

“I ehh.. You know.. Daily things. It takes a lot of time to do them, and I don't really have spare time left.”

 

“Hmm-mm.” Doctor nodded, but he did scribble something down on some note block that was positioned in front of him.

 

“Do you have other hobbies, besides martial arts?”

 

“Ehh.. I like reading.”

 

“Ah, reading. Who doesn't like to spend their spare time with their noses buried in books?” Doctor scribbled something down again, “Did you know we also have quite some books here in this building?”

 

“Yes, I noticed that.” I muttered darkly while remembering the events of yesterday with the crazy boy. I wondered if every attempt to read a book would end up like that in this shitty place.

 

“I can recommend quite a few books, Neji. Would you like that?”

 

“Eh? Yeah, sure. Why not?”

 

“Great. I'll make you a list of books that you might like. Next session I'll bring it with me.”

 

“Okay.. How many sessions will I have?”

 

“Hmm? That depends on your development. I can usually make a rough estimation of how much sessions someone will need after the first 2 or 3 sessions. I'll tell you as soon as I make a plan.”

 

“Okay.” I said once more, getting kind of bored. Was he just going to ask me about my hobbies?

 

“Well then, Neji, now that I know a little bit more about you, we can talk about why you are here,” Doctor suddenly grabbed some papers from the table in front of him, and leafed through them for a moment, “Neji, I understand you perform so-called `rituals'. Is that correct?” I nodded in understanding.

 

“Yes. It's very important for me to be very precise in my actions.”

 

“Can you tell me why it's important to perform these rituals?”

 

“Because.. Because something might go wrong if I don't. It's really important to be exact in everything I do. I mean, I don't want to think of what could happen if I didn't do my rituals.”

 

Doc nodded in understanding, and scribbled something down on his note block again.

 

“What kind of rituals do you perform?”

 

“Doesn't my file already say that?” I retorted. Though this guy was okay, I still wasn't the most social person around.

 

“I'd like to hear it from you. I'd like to know how you perceive your life and actions, and I don't want to know what other people tell about you in a file.”

 

I smiled, feigning a reassured expression.

 

“My rituals are very strict, but if I try really hard, I can perform them all the time.”

 

“What kind of rituals are you talking about?”

 

“I re-check.. Very often. And I re-do things! Because they might be done wrong. And it would be very bad if something would go wrong!”

 

“And how often do you re-check? Any specific number?”

 

“Eh, seven times.. Always seven times! For if I don't check something seven times, something really bad might happen.”

 

“Seven times?”

 

“Yes! When I repeat something seven times, it feels safe. Because then I know I have done something the Right way, and then I know I haven't forgotten something I was supposed to do.”

 

Doctor nodded in a probably sympathetic and interested way, and scribbled something down again. I wondered if all sessions would be like this.

 

Then Doctor asked me more about my rituals. How long I had them, if they started out of the blue or not, and what I felt when I had the urge to repeat something.

 

I tried to answer everything as correct as possible, and I made sure I didn't make any slipups.

 

When the private session was done, Doctor asked me if I actually wanted help to stop repeating acts. I said I felt really bad and scared when I didn't repeat, and I really didn't like feeling that way, but it would probably be okay if I tried to change myself a little bit.

 

And then Doctor said he was sure he could help me. He said we would work on my thoughts during the Private Sessions, and he would confront me with scaring situations as well.

 

And then I left.

 

Doctor kept his eyes on me as I left. It made me feel uncomfortable, and it made me feel like he already found out I was faking.

 

I really hoped my anxiety was just the result of this very Black Day.

 

 

That afternoon, when I was eating lunch, the very creepy boy from yesterday was suddenly `there' again. It was something I should have expected, on this very Bad and Black Day.

 

“Hello, my dear friend! You must have missed me a lot! We will have lunch together, okay?” And the boy proceeded to sit down next to me, right in my personal space. And if that wasn't enough, he sloughed his arm over my shoulder in what was probably supposed to be a sign-of-friendship, while the other arm went to the plate with my lunch on it. And yes, he did grab my desert.

 

“Don't take that.” I growled at the boy, and grabbed back my desert with force, and put it back on my plate.

 

“Oh Neji, I am sorry! I forgot that you need to have seven things on your plate! Please: forgive my forgetfulness!” I suddenly found it strangely interesting that this boy (wasn't his name Lee?) knew the motives behind my actions, but that didn't keep me from being annoyed by his overly friendly way of behaving.

 

“Get lost.” I darkly muttered, but it was no use. Just like yesterday afternoon, the boy stayed unfazed by my anti-social behavior.

 

“You are so funny, Neji. I really like you! Me and you are going to be best Friends forever!” And just like yesterday afternoon, he had the illusion that we were friends.

 

“Get lost.” I repeated myself, but I already knew it was a lost cause. This boy, this parasite of a stupid boy, wasn't something to get rid of by merely growling darkly. While my nieces could be turned into sniveling piles of goo with a stare, this boy only laughed harder. And while my uncle stopped discussions with me when I got really angry, this boy smiled more, and hugged my shoulder in a faint attempt to show off our `friendship'.

 

He was either very brave, or very stupid.

 

And I had the unwelcome feeling he was the latter.

 

“Neji, my dearest, dearest friend! I have to tell you this! Just this morning, my personal coach -oh, she is really the sweetest thing!- told me I might be leaving soon. Because I am better, you see.”

 

No, I didn't see.

 

According to his doctor, he was almost better? God, if the way he was acting now indicated he was better, then I never wanted to see him behave in the way he must have when he first arrived here.

 

“That is great news, is it not?” And he got closer, which made me feel nervous.

 

“Get off.” I growled as darkly as I could, and squirmed my way out of his arms.

 

“Get off, get off, get off: but Neeee~ji! I like hugging you. You have a special place in my heart!” And suddenly, he was crying, and even though I wanted nothing more than to ignore him, I couldn't help but stare at him in amazement.

 

“My dearest, dearest Neji,” He exclaimed, and suddenly he got up, climbed on his chair and the on the table, before he continued to speak in a very loud voice, “EVERYONE! Listen up! I would like to toast, to the fact that I and Neji are Best Friends forever from now on! Cheers!” And then he grabbed my glass of water, to hold it up in the air to toast.

 

At least five people applauded.

 

And at least ten people laughed at Lee and I.

 

And Lee? He couldn't be happier. Even though he was crying a moment ago, he was all happy-go-lucky now.

 

(And I? I wished the ground would swallow me, but meanwhile I kept my eyes on Lee the entire time.)