title: the opposite of beautiful
summary: But never in his life has he ever seen an interrogation clean itself up as swiftly and as mercilessly as Ino Yamanaka's does.
pairing: sai x ino
chapter: 1. curiosity
disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
There is a small, nondescript building located in the corner of Konoha, easily accessible by returning shinobi but hardly recognizable or noticeable. If you enter this room, you'll be greeted by a smiling receptionist, and perhaps, if you're carrying the right things, she'll lead you down long, winding corridors and down staircases and into darkened hallways, far underground, dark and looming. This is the part of Konoha that no one likes, the receptionist will tell you, placid smile on her face. Welcome to the Torture and Interrogation Division.
.
Sai smiles back at her, all pleasant and placid and perfect and fake. "Delivery," he says.
The door in front of them slides open. Bright, bubbling laughter spills from the darkened room within.
"Sai, is that you?" A flickering of the lights being turned on. Long, blonde hair, spilling down her shoulders like a curtain, and bright bright blue eyes.
"Ugly," he greets Ino, smiling. A tick appears on her head, and for a moment, Sai expects her to go off on him, but to his surprise she simply lets out an irritated noise and folds her arms together underneath her ample breasts. The fierce quirk of her eyebrow makes him resign. He hefts the unconscious man in his arms.
"Kumo-nin, by the border." There had been an ambush, albeit a poorly planned one. Sai had bitten one of them with a snake and sent two ink wolves against the ones who ran before he remembered that it was usually better to keep one alive. It had been a little more frustrating, but he'd been successful.
Ino beams at him, slender white fingers reaching out to take the unconscious, drugged man from his arms. Sai makes no noise but the faintest shift in his expression reveals his interest in her cheerful disposition, at the way she handles the heavy unconscious foreign nin without even a hint of strain.
"Thanks, Sai," Ino says, and for the first time, Sai takes a good look at their situation.
The receptionist has fled, leaving the two of them alone. Sai finds himself wondering how this pretty blonde kunoichi has found herself in the dark, desolate cells of the Interrogation division.
It has been merely five months after the war.
"I apologize," the words come out of his mouth before he has time to decide whether or not speaking is a good idea. Sakura and Naruto are always complaining about his lack of social skills. "I had thought Ibiki-san would be here."
Ino hums in reply, inviting him into the room as she unceremoniously drops the unconscious kumo-nin into a chair. The room is barren, with only a table with two chairs on either end. There are no windows, and curious stains along the walls. Blood, Sai thinks, and then reevaluates this pretty blonde kunoichi who stands in the center of the room.
"He's on a mission," she replies, in that lilting, sliding voice of hers, sweet and charming. Sai merely blinks. Her bright blue eyes blink back, and then frown at him. "Sai, you look exhausted. Go home and take a shower and a nap."
Sai is well aware that he makes somewhat of an imposing presence. Dressed in ANBU gear, tanto glinting dangerously strapped against his back, mud streaked against his clothing and blood in his hair, he must have frightened the receptionist greatly. And yet…
Hmm. Sai wants to know more about this blonde, long-haired kunoichi, and why she is radiating sunlight in the underground torture chambers of Konoha. Sai is not stupid. He knows that Ino is here for a reason, that this is not some coincidence and that despite all of his previous brief unassuming interactions with her, the grace and ease with which she places herself in this interrogation room suggests something far more sinister than a simple visit.
He simply smiles at her. "I am fine as I am now. Should I help you dispose of the body when you're done?"
A pause. A moment of surprise in her eyes at his words, and Sai congratulates himself on doing something right.
Ino hums again, but this time it's a little less bright, a little more thoughtful. She is reevaluating him, just like he has reevaluated her. Then she shrugs. "If you don't mind. Please close the door, though, I'd hate for everyone upstairs to hear the screams."
Sai does as he's asked, and then leans against the wall in the back of the room. He watches as Ino takes a seat across the Kumo-nin.
"Chakra suppressor?" she asks him, and he simply nods in response.
Ino gently reaches out, chakra flaring to her fingertips, and presses against the kumo-nin's temple. Her touch is feather light. Slowly, the foreign shinobi stirs, a low moan coming from his battered body. His eyes blink open, and –
Ino smiles at him, and for the first time Sai is struck by the innocence in Ino's expression, of soothing comfort and relaxed ease. The kumo-nin relaxes an inch – an inch –
Ino meets his eyes, blue against drugged bloodshot brown, and the screaming starts.
.
.
.
Sai is…well, disturbed.
He is no stranger to interrogation. He's done it quite a few times himself, including the torture aspect of it. It was all part of ROOT's training, simply another step in removing emotion from the body, another step in creating the perfect ninja.
But never in his life has he ever seen an interrogation clean itself up as swiftly and as mercilessly as Ino Yamanaka's does.
Ten minutes later and the screams have become ragged bloody labored breaths. Fifteen minutes later, they stop completely. Around the eighteenth minute, Ino Yamanaka opens her wide, bright blue eyes. There is a faint sheen of sweat on her forehead as she rises from the chair, a little stiff, and stretches.
She turns to him with a smile, but Sai is not fooled. He has practiced his smile for years; long enough to recognize one that is similarly practiced, easy. But there is a warmth to Ino's fake smile that makes him blink; it feels so real. Anyone else would have been convinced.
Frightening, Sai thinks to himself, and at the same time he also thinks, beautiful.
They seal the kumo-nin's body into a body scroll after stripping him of everything in his possession. It is only after they leave the room that Ino turns to him, a faint hint of displeasure in her expression.
"You haven't debriefed yet, have you, Sai?" she asks, and Sai nods in affirmation. "Good. We can go together. I think Tsunade-sama should hear about this."
.
.
.
She hasn't told anyone about her newfound position in the Interrogation and Torture Division except Sakura. Tsunade-sama obviously knows, as well as everyone else in the Division, and she is pretty sure that Shikamaru has already figured it out, but every other one of her friends has been kept in the dark.
It isn't really much of a choice. Ino is Ino. She doesn't want other people to find out what went on in her own brain when she entered that nondescript building, doesn't want her friends to find out what she is capable of doing behind closed doors in a dark and empty cell, with only one other mind to keep her company.
But Sai is ANBU, and she deals with the pickings from ANBU the most, so it had been inevitable that they'd meet, someday. Someday she knows she will encounter Shino, and Tenten as well, if the whispers about the weapons mistress's promotion are true.
The war will change everyone, Shikamaru told her once. And it had.
Ino thinks about the feeling of entering another person's mind, like entering a bubble, and then sending everything to hell from within. She thinks about how easy it is now for her to pop that bubble without regard to whose bubble it belongs to. How fragile in reality shinobi minds are. How terrifying and exhilarating it is to hold that kind of power over others.
The thought burns her. She doesn't want anyone else to know.
But for some reason, Ino doesn't worry about Sai. He might have his unbearably awkward moments, but he understands the importance of a secret.
They debrief together, detached, professional. The kumo-nin was a defector during the war, along with the other ones they were with. Ino had searched, but that seemed like the extent of a threat. Simply an unlucky ambush.
There is a silence after they leave the Hokage Tower. Ino doesn't know what to say, and Sai is as clueless as ever. Finally, Ino gives up deliberating.
"Don't tell anyone," she blurts out, and then blushes.
Sai pauses mid-stride, and then blinks at her. "Why not?"
"Why not?" she is thrown off guard by this question, "because…because they won't like it."
Because interrogation is terrifying. It can be unethical and cruel, and no one wants to know what she's capable of doing.
"That doesn't make sense. You are making full use of your capabilities and skills, and are being rewarded for your efforts. It's admirable."
Ino's retort catches in her throat at the unexpected compliment. To her mortification, a hint of a blush creeps up from her neck. So she just shoves at him and grumbles. "Just don't tell anyone, ok?"
"I won't," he says, and throws her a smile, as if to make his sincerity clear.
Liar.
She narrows her beautiful blue eyes at him until his smile fades back into a normal expression. Blank. Better. Now they are being truthful with each other.
"Okay," she says.
.
.
.
notes:
- hi. don't be fooled. this is fluff. or will be fluff. at some point.
- no, i don't really know what i'm doing, ever.