Gentle Query

Universe: Naruto Universe; post time-jump.

Pairing: Ibiki Morino x Tayuya

Summary: Sometimes, being gentle and kind is a much easier way to get someone to speak.

Request for AyanaPL

Just before you start reading, the ages of Tayuya and Ibiki in this are 18 and 31 respectively. This is a scenario in response to the question "what if Tayuya hadn't died?"

Ha. I actually wondered what would have happened if Tayuya hadn't. Enjoy.

--

He hadn't seen someone look so terrified in their entire lives. She had been captured near the border of Fire Country. The ANBU squad had remembered that she was from Sound and had been presumed dead after Temari of the Sand's lethal wind attack. How strange that the girl had survived.

He observed her as she was dragged – kicking and screaming profanities at the top of her voice – into the village. After a brief conference between the Hokage and the ANBU captain, she was taken down into the interrogation tunnels. Moments later Tsunade was making her way towards him.

"Morino Ibiki."

"Hai."

"Interrogate her. Find out anything about Sound and Sasuke. Get out of her Orochimaru's whereabouts if you can."

Inwardly, Ibiki sighed.

"Hai."

He walked off to the tunnels without waiting for a dismissal. He was old enough to know that he should get right down to business and be finished with the foul-mouthed red-head.

She was easy enough to find – he could hear her swearing as soon as he entered the tunnel. The medic trying to deal with her was relieved to see him making his way toward her.

"The interrogators coming. You'll be talking soon enough."

Oddly, silence followed the statement. Ibiki nodded at the medic who skipped off down the corridor to see to her next patient. Ibiki stepped into the doorway of the room and smirked.

'Hiding in the corner. Typical. Not so typical is the fact that she has her knees up to her chest and arms wrapped around said knees. She is in a defensive position. Interesting.'

He took a step toward her and she flinched. This made him raise an eyebrow, 'bad experiences with an interrogator before?'

He nearly cursed at himself for his own stupidity. The majority of interrogators were bad. Men and women who lived to get the job done and be finished with their subject.

Ibiki was more interested in his subject than he should have been. He crouched in front of her and wrapped a large hand around one of her arms. He watched her slim fingers coiled more tightly around the dark gray fabric of her shirt, hoping that maybe doing so would subdue him. She should have known better.

He easily pulled her arms apart to expose her face. She had a bandanna wrapped around her head with long strands of red hair poking out from under the middle. The rest of her brilliant red hair fell down her back, reaching to her waist. He'd never seen hair that color before, nor had he known that hair had the possibility of being that color.

She tried to back away from him but the wall stood firmly in her way. He quirked an eyebrow when she settled for glaring at him.

"What d'ya want?" she snapped. Ibiki could see the hope in her eyes; the hope that her snappy attitude would make him leave her alone.

"All I want is information from you. Whether or not you're going to willingly give it to me is up to you."

She blinked at him and asked, "what do you mean?"

He pulled his hand away and stood so he towered over her, "let's put it this way. Either you speak and give me no trouble or you be stubborn and force me to use any techniques I have to on you to make you talk. The choice is entirely yours."

The girl stared thoughtfully at the wall adjacent to her, her brows furrowed. Then she stared up at him innocently, "can I have a damn minute to think about it?"

"Only if you literally mean a minute," at her shocked expression he walked out of the cell, "sixty seconds."

"What?! You've got to be kidding me that's -"

"Fifty-eight. Don't waste your time. Fifty-seven..."

She cursed quietly and sniffed. He glanced at her to see that she was staring at the wall in thought again. Fifty-five seconds later Ibiki re-entered the cell.

"Well?"

She shifted uncomfortably on the floor and drew her legs up to her chest again. Ibiki sighed, 'I really don't need this right now...'

When he touched her he felt nothing but fear radiating off her suddenly shaking frame. This made him draw back a bit. It had never occurred to him that she was scared – or worse, terrified. He crouched in front of her and pulled one of her arms away.

"What's your name?"

"T-Tayuya."

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

Ibiki closed his eyes as he released her arm, "have you ever been interrogated before?"

"... yes."

"It wasn't the most pleasant experience was it?"

"... n-no..."

He opened his eyes to find her staring at him. He sighed again and reached up to take his hitai-ate off. He didn't know why he felt the urge to show her his scars but he did. He hoped it would either frighten her into speaking or show her that she could live through it.

"I've been interrogated a lot," she gasped when she saw all the marks on his head: the holes, the nasty scars, "and I lived through it. 'Course, it depends on who you get as an interrogator. I've been doing this for several years. If you're willing to talk, I see no reason to do anything like this," he waved his hand around his head, "to you."

She gazed at the scars a moment longer before looking away, brows furrowed again. Ibiki tied his hitai-ate back in place. He sat down and decided to come at this with a different approach. He began to question her about her past. This took her by surprise but she answered his questions anyway.

The questioning took hours, but Ibiki was intrigued by Tayuya's past. She had been given to Orochimaru as a gift in order for her parents to stay alive. Her family ended up getting killed anyway. He smirked when he heard her say that she hadn't ever found anything about Sasuke attractive and that she much preferred Kimimaro to him.

It was dark outside by the time Tayuya was done with her past and she lapsed into silence. The two just stared at each other and finally Ibiki decided it was time to ask about Orochimaru.

"Now, tell me what you know about Sound, down to the last gruesome detail."

She stared at him with wide, bright eyes but dropped into telling him everything after a moment. Somewhere in the middle of telling him all this she started crying and couldn't continue. He let her lean against him for support and was startled to find that she had fallen asleep.

He decided that she could tell him the rest when she woke up, so instead of waking her up his ran a hand gently through her hair.

The quickest way to get information you needed from someone, was to quickly gain their trust. Ibiki smiled; he would not betray that trust.