Chapter Six: Defense or Offense

*When Hiiro awoke the next morning, the events from the night before flashed in his memory. Great. He had a crazy girl angry with him. But she was scrawny, the way her nickname said. What could she possibly do to him? Nothing. He was a pilot. And even if he was a failure as a soldier for too much emotion, he still had strength. He was strong, and it would be no problem, he was sure, to hold off a little girl such as she was.

Getting up, he quickly showered and dressed, and then walked down to the cafeteria, where he picked up an apple. He hated breakfast; it always made him feel dirty and too full in the mornings. But he didn’t want them to think he had an eating disorder either.

“Mr. Yui.” He looked up as Nurse Bertha approached him.

“Yes?”

“May I ask you a few questions?”

“Last night I was sitting and watching the movie. I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and saw Jake stuffing her hair into his pocket. When I said something to him, he denied he was doing anything, gave me the hair, and must have tugged on Serena’s head when he did it. The lights went on and I looked guilty.”

“Very thorough Mr. Yui. Any other details you think could be considered useful?”

“No.”

“Well. You seem to be a man of few words, so I’ll leave you be. Thank you for your help and have a nice breakfast.”

“Hnn.” Hiiro grunted and the nurse turned and went off. He shrugged slightly and decided to go through the day’s events in his mind. First was a visit with that shrink from yesterday. Then was the self-defense course he wanted to watch but not participate in, and then lunch. After that, he didn’t know- he hadn’t been told that much of the schedule that far in advance. Finishing his apple, he threw the core away and walked back to his room.

Sitting on the bed, he waited quietly until he heard a knock on his door. “Yes?”

“Mr. Yui? You’re appointment with Doctor Carl is now.” The nurse chirped. He stood and opened the door. Nodding to her, he allowed her to lead him to the shrink’s office.

“Mr. Yui! Welcome back! Sit down, sit down.” The doctor implored him. Hiiro sat in one of the grandiose armchairs in front of the doctor’s desk. The room sill seemed poorly lit, despite the fact that a new lamp had been added since the day before. “Well Hiiro. Tell me how things are going.”

“Fine.”

“Just fine? I hear tell that you’ve had a few encounters with Serena?”

“A few.” He conceded.

“And you aren’t riled by her?”

“No.”

“Congratulations. Not many can say that.” The doctor smiled. “Well. It seems like you’re adjusting just fine otherwise. Let’s get right to the heart of the matter. You’re here for anger management.”

“Yes.”

“Well, let me tell you how this works. I’m going to pick through your brain, ask you a bunch of personal, if not embarrassing questions, and try to figure out why you have a hard time with your temper. After that, we can discuss ways to diffuse it.”

“Fine.”

“Well, let’s get started. Hiiro, you mentioned a little bit about yourself yesterday. You said you don’t have a family. Who raised you? J?”

“Doctor J.”

“And this doctor, did he treat you well?” Hiiro didn’t answer right away. What was he supposed to say; that J beat him so he would become man enough to save the Earth? What a joke. No, he had to be more general…

“He treated me well enough.”

“Did you always have enough to eat? A place to sleep? Schooling?”

“Yes.”

“Did he treat you well? No hitting?”

“Only when I was bad.”

“He beat you?”

“Punished me.”

“You know spanking can be considered child abuse Hiiro.”

“He didn’t spank.”

“You said…”

“He punished.” The doctor looked at the boy before him deeply. Hiiro’s head was lowered, his shoulders slumped, his eyes vacant.

“I see.” He made a note. “When did you leave the care of the doctor Hiiro?”

“I left when I was fifteen. I joined the war and fought as a soldier.” Hiiro grunted. Was that too much information? He hoped not. But he needed this cured too, didn’t he? He couldn’t let Duo or another friend suffer again because of his failure as a soldier. He needed to tell this doctor so he could get fixed. He hoped the doctor wasn’t a liability.

“Which side did you fight with in the war? You said you were from L1, but the only soldiers from L1 I remember were the White Fang.”

“I was not with the White Fang or OZ. Both were wrong.”

“Then who…?”

“I am not liable to give that information out.” Hiiro stated darkly. Whatever the doctor had been thinking, he gulped. Hiiro Yui was not someone to mess with.

“Al, Alright. And how long were you a pilot?”

“Three years. I’m currently on the Preventer’s payroll, but I’m not a solid member.”

“Is that your chosen profession?”

“No. I work part time for a computer company. I hack systems and tell them where they need to improve security.”

“Then you’re good with computers?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have enough money to live on right now? Do you have a home?”

“Yes and yes.”

“Very well. What about your social life? Do have a girlfriend? Friends?”

“A girl once stalked me. She’s given up.”

“Well that can’t have been fun.”

“Hnn.” The doctor had to grin. Hiiro was quite a character, whether he knew it or not.

“And your friends Hiiro? What about them? You say one of them asked you to come here? They must care about you a lot to ask you to get help.”
“I have comrades from the war.”

“But they have a great deal of influence on you. Otherwise why would you be here?”

“I hit my friend. I couldn’t control my emotions. I need to control them.” Hiiro looked at his hands in blank disgust. The same hands that had nearly beaten Duo to death… he was so undeserving. He was crazy.

“You want to control your emotions? Do you feel the need to control Hiiro?”

“If you are not in control, you fail. Failure is unacceptable.” Hiiro stated darkly. The doctor’s breath caught in his throat. Such a mindset could devastate Hiiro if he ever failed… and he had failed, otherwise he wouldn’t be here… so he had to be emotionally unstable right now. This was good. Not good, but at least the doctor knew where he needed to work. Hiiro Yui was making progress.

“Well Hiiro. I think that’s enough for today. Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.” Hiiro stood and walked silently out of the door.

“Oh, Hiiro, are you going to the self defense class?”

“To watch.”

“Good. Have fun, and try not to worry about controlling anything. Just… let loose.”

“Let loose.” Hiiro repeated. “Hnn.” And he closed the door behind him. Let loose? If he let loose… Did that doctor know what he was saying? If he let loose, he wouldn’t be in control of his emotions. He would become more violent than he already was. He might have more fun… but his violent tendencies would be accentuated, wouldn’t they? He thought they would.

Hiiro made his way to the courtyard he had seen yesterday, knowing that was where the self-defense lessons were going to be held. He could already see Jake and Tom- Wayne was sitting inside watching, trying to keep clean. There were four more boys he didn’t know and three girls- Serena being one of them. But she stood off in the corner, unsocial with the rest of the group.

“Alright!” Hiiro noted what must have been the instructor, and settled to watch. “Let’s get into four lines! First well being stretching! Only stretch as far as you can right now, don’t push it too hard, or you’ll hurt yourselves!” The man who was leading them was obviously enjoying this a little too much, Hiiro noted.

As they began to learn left cross, right cross, left jab, right jab, left hook, right hook, and a few of the kicks that went with the punches, Hiiro had to smile slightly. They were a sight. Half of them weren’t following directions at all. They were simply kicking and punching when and how they wanted to. It didn’t matter how many times they were corrected, they went back to doing it wrong soon afterwards.

Then there was the mediocre group- the three girls, and a few of the boys. They were able to keep up, but occasionally slipped or had to stop to catch their breaths. Hiiro noticed Serena had to stop fairly often, and usually held her hand over her chest when she did, as if she had slight chest pains. But she always bounced back with vigor soon afterwards.

Then there were three or four boys who could keep up and land perfect kicks and punches every time. Tom was one. It was fun to watch them getting so deeply involved in their movement that they hardly noticed what was going on around them. He wondered how they would fair if he fought them, but shook his head. That wouldn’t be a fair fight- he was too good.

“Alright everyone! That’s it! This class is over! A few of the people cheered, but most of them groaned. Hiiro nodded and stood from his spot.

“Look, it’s Hiiro Yui.” He turned around to face Serena. She was sweating profusely and holding her chest lightly with her hand. “Too good to join us Mr. Yui? Already know everything here is to know about kickboxing, do you?”

“Yes.” Hiiro answered truthfully.

“I doubt that. Why not spar one of us then. Then we’ll see how good you are.”

“Now come on guys! There will be no ‘sparing’ between you.” The instructor stepped into the middle to mediate.

“Because Hiiro can’t.” Serena pushed.

“I can.” He stated proudly.

“Then let’s see it!”

“Serena, enough!” The instructor clipped.

“No. I’ll show her. But I won’t fight her.”

“Coward.”

“You aren’t to my skill level.”

“If you two are so dead set against this, Mr. Yui, you may fight me.” The instructor offered, trying to diffuse the situation.

“Fine.” Hiiro and Serena chorused. They glared at each other, but Serena backed away to give Hiiro and the instructor room. Hiiro and the instructor bowed, and not three punches and two kicks later, Hiiro claimed victory over the instructor with a subtle ease and grace he had practiced all those years training to be a Gundam Pilot.

“Very good Mr. Yui!” The instructor claimed as he sat up. “You have wonderful skill and form. How long have you been studying the arts?”

“Fourteen years.” The instructor whistled.

“That’s a long time in a life.”

“Hnn.”

“Well, I still say he’s a coward for not fighting me.” He heard Serena’s voice in the background. He tried to stay in control. He did. But the doctor’s words rang in his ears. ‘Be loose’ he had said. So Hiiro wound up and took a swing for Serena. She saw his arm coming and instinctively sidestepped it. Then she grabbed his fist and used his momentum to pull him forward and flip him over onto his back. Hiiro lay very still for a moment, not sure how she had done it.

“It, it worked?” She gasped. “I didn’t think it would work! I saw it on TV!” Then she began laughing. “Hey, he isn’t a coward! He’s a wimp!” Hiiro growled.

“Freeze! Mr. Yui and Miss Tsukino! What were you two thinking!” They both turned to face Nurse Bertha.

“You two are going to come with me- right now!” Her tight lips and angry eyes told both Hiiro and Serena not to fool with her- she looked too mad to be playing jokes on.*

~~~Check in: Well? Anyone have any comments? Too dark? Too light? Too eccentric? Lol. I hope you like it! Much love, Vixen ~~~