Psychobabble

Psychobabble (the use of language heaped with psychological references)

Introduction

The dark dungeons of Konohagakure were not without their own ghostly haunts. Deathly still fear lurked in the corners and hid in the shadows. The sound of heels coming down the stone steps long covered with moss echoed eerily. Hisses from the other cages, swears and other general forms of different profanity, including cowering didn't faze the newcomer.

Walking down the rather long corridor, where only the nastiest, horrid and inhuman of humans were beheld. Like a circus of freaks, there were some who didn't look natural, one containing three eyes, another with four too many arms and another with horns of a ram.

Only demons rustled here, lived in this dank hole; their own little slice of hell.

Tsunade came to a stop in front of a cage – thick bars and a rank smell of decaying blood and old death. A figure clothed in a black cloak with red clouds sat in the corner of the darkness, sprawled almost cattishly in the laziness of his posture.

The woman folded her arms under her breasts and straightened her spine, narrowed her eyes. "Akasuna no Sasori, former Suna nin with high credibility as a scientist and one of their greatest shinobi; you have been arrested for the following – Unlawful experimenting, murders of hundreds of Suna civilians and shinobi alike, suspicion of murdering the Third Kazekage and affiliating with the terrorist group aka the Akatsuki. What do you plead?"

He said nothing.

Tsunade went on, "And this is off the record, by the way. Anything said down here without a proper trial will be kept between only those down here."

"Aren't you supposed to hand me over to my own country so that they may deal with me? Isn't that a law amongst all of you? Hand over illegal aliens or foreigners to their respected countries?" eyes the color of baked red clay watched from the dark.

Tsunade replied without missing a beat, "Yes Sasori, we are in fact required to hand you over to Suna, however due to your more recent criminal offences against Konoha, you will be staying with us for a while, by permission of Suna's current Kazekage."

"Who took that brat's place anyway? I'd love to know."

"'That brat' is still in office; Chiyo-sama sacrificed her life to bring him back to life."

"Sacrificed her life for his…even to the end she's a self righteous old woman, a firm believer in redemption." Red eyes cast an evil spell when they turned to Tsunade's hazel eyes, "Do you believe in redemption, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade lifted her chin, "In most cases."

"Do you believe in it enough to allow your ex-teammate Orochimaru to walk the line even if he did kill Dan?"

Tsunade took it that Orochimaru shared his exploits with Sasori while he'd still been affiliated with the Akatsuki. She looked him in the eye and kept a leash on whatever emotion may leak through accidentally, "Never. I'd kill him with my own fists."

Sasori clucked his tongue and sat back, maneuvering so he'd be a little more comfortable against the craggy rocks with a foot a concrete and another half foot of steel enforced behind the rock wall.

"How does Dan look now? Wrinkled, withered and worms crawling in and out of him like he was a love hotel?"

Tsunade's eyes went cold and hard. "You will be brought in for questioning for information about the Akatsuki tomorrow afternoon."

Sasori regarded her with a lazy look that embodied the expression of "the cat that ate the canary".

Tsunade walked back up the corridor, past the hisses and whispers and vulgarity. She walked past all of it, up the steps and ignored how her throat was beginning to close.

Akasuna no Sasori would be taken into the interrogation room and no matter how long it took – they would find the Akatsuki and bring them down. The Akatsuki were an abomination upon all of the countries, they were what all the daimyos and Kages feared – they were the representing symbol of total upheaval of the orderly world they had worked so hard to gain. They were the living breathing definition of anarchy.

It was because of this that no matter how great the jumps between the countries were, they all watched for them. However, due to their own hesitancy upon touching the sensitive subject of these terrorists, to many of their shinobi and civilians they remained nonexistent. Were they to tell them, what would happen?

Exactly what the Akatsuki would want to have happen. This was why they didn't keep themselves so secret; why they were amongst the public.

They wished not only to achieve their goal, but in order to attain it faster they wanted the leaders of these countries to make them public, to spread the disease of fear and panic through everyone. To let them know just how dangerous they are, to let them know what they believe the goals of the Akatsuki are – to let them know what they were.

If fear and panic spread, distrust would leak from the subjects to their substantial government. They would put the pieces together – the odd attacks, sudden kidnapping and killing of selective people at such a small number. The public would no longer place their trust in their government because the daimyos and Kages alike kept silent, wishing to not cause riots and chaos in the streets but had none the less lied to their loyal people.

The Akatsuki were madmen and this was a part of their goal that Tsunade refused to aid in any possible way.

In front of Tsunade, in the sun that was too bright for her feelings, stood the Hokage tower. Upon entering the building, she was attacked by her assistant Shizune. "Tsunade-sama, the Kazekage has contacted our office and wishes for authorization that he may come to talk to you personally about the prisoner's accommodations here."

Tsunade turned to walk up a flight of stairs, Shizune dogging at her heels while balancing Tonton and a stack of official papers. "Alright, tell him that he may and that he should leave immediately because incidentally, Ibiki has volunteered to interrogate Sasori."

Shizune saw the dark look over Tsunade's face and nodded. Her Hokage was serious. However, what else was there to do but interrogate and ultimately torture the Akatsuki member? Shizune frowned at the thought. Was it even possible to torture someone with a wooden body and no other internal organs save for his heart?

"Shizune, cancel the meeting with the council tomorrow, I'm going to drop in with Sasori and Ibiki and see if he has any sort of weakness we can exploit. I have no idea how we're going to force it out of him without threatening to kill him, since he's not a normal human. We don't even know if he has any pain receptors. I don't completely know how he is even fully functioning, or what his chakra circulatory system is like." Tsunade retained a grim face set.

Shizune nodded. "Should I go consult with Sakura about taking Sasori's guard duty?"

Tsunade paused in her steps. "I think Team Seven has enough to worry about already. I don't want to overstress the girl and cause a meltdown when their team is at its weakness."

"…Perhaps then, Neji?" Shizune offered.

Tsunade cocked her head and decided. "Between the two Hyuugas, Neji and Hinata – they will be the ones performing guard duty."

"Both Hyuugas? But won't Hiashi-sama protest to that, they being from such a prestigious clan?" Shizune tried but Tsunade shook her head.

"No, he won't be able to resist it once I make my decision – this is coming from the Hokage of the village, not just a councilmen member. He won't have any say in the matter."

Shizune nodded, consenting to that before she spoke again. "I can understand your decision with Neji; he's a strong and capable shinobi who can withstand a lot for his age and generation, but Hinata is…the complete opposite. For a grading system based on intelligence, she marks as high as Sasuke and Sakura, and she's able to adapt harder techniques and make her own out of them so she doesn't overexert herself. However, other than that…she is quite easily frightened and maybe even easily manipulated. I am opposed to the idea of Hinata being in distance with Sasori at all."

Tsunade looked over at Shizune, facing her fully. "I can understand your opposition and sentiments regarding her, but like Neji, she has the Byakugan. Byakugan users are well adept at sensing lies or tricks as they are the "all seeing eye". However, while Neji could simply do it on his own, Sasori is rather sexist. He will overlook Hinata much more than Neji and will completely underestimate her. It's just as you said Shizune, she is just as intelligent as Sakura or Sasuke. It's not that she's an idiot, she'd simply too shy to say anything which makes her an underhanded weapon against him should anything slip."

Shizune blinked at the explanation. "Why switch the Hyuugas off though? Why not keep only one of them as a guard so that Hiashi is not as bothered by the idea? Why the inconvenience?"

"Why? Because, to put it simply, if Hinata were to see him every day; I'm afraid that she may feel empathy for him or maybe as you said, manipulated by him. If Neji was to solely guard him, Sasori would do nothing – he's an arrogant shinobi, but he's not stupid. He'll see right through Neji and to his potential. Unfortunately for him, he still has the general pigheadedness regarding kunoichi, and he'll retain that attitude especially around Hinata because she's so timid."

Shizune looked over at Tsunade, "You're basically just going to use his own arrogance against him."

Tsunade gave a quick nod. "It's the only thing we've got on him right now."

Shizune bowed then, "I'll go write a reply to the Kazekage and make preparations for tomorrow." As she turned to leave, Tsunade called her back.

"Just write the letter to the Kazekage, cancel my appointments and remind Ibiki to be ready by noon tomorrow. I'll deal with Hiashi personally." Tsunade stated before she shooed Shizune off with her errands. Opening the door to her office, Tsunade found her chair and slumped in it.

Opening her desk drawer, she found the familiar neck of a liquor gourd and popped the cork off. Before drowning herself in her self-indulgent bad habit, she found herself thinking "what would tomorrow bring"?

Ending Notes

Well that was exciting wasn't it? (note the sarcasm) Please take in mind that said prisoner is locked up and a psychotic, terroristic madman. There won't be a clandestine lover affair of any sort, so please bear that in mind. Also, FYI, I know that Sasori is loaded with badass things like a flamethrower, his "tail"/intestines and numerous other things, but that will be covered next chapter. Hinata and Neji also make their appearance next chapter, obviously and so do Ibiki and Gaara.

Anyway, how was it so far? R&R please?