I'm not very talkative, so I'll go right into it.
Thanks to:
SoledadXiao: Now you get to read more.
Disclaimer: See previous chapter.
"Whatever you are, be a good one."
--- Abraham Lincoln
Locked Past, Open Future
Chapter Two
Second to One
The alarm clocked screamed into his ear, but somehow he managed to ignore it and continue to sleep. However, Mami begrudgingly awoke and reached over him to turn off the nuisance that Ibiki insisted she buy.
It wasn't like her boyfriend had a terribly difficult job or mission at this point either. All he did these days was play baby-sitter to some genin brats and read that annoying book of his. She was going to burn it, the book, and celebrate the day he would have to go without it.
So while he enjoyed himself, she continued to work hard in Torture and Interrogation while forever remaining under the thumb of Ibiki. And right now wasn't a walk in the park. ANBU was rounding up missing-nin left and right. And those shinobi were interrogated immediately upon their arrival.
"Stupid Orichimaru and his stupid evil plans," she whispered as she made her way to her bathroom to quickly shower.
"Pup, how is it possible for you to be so bitter so early in the morning? You've barely rolled out of bed."
"I'll be as bitter as I want to be."
The other she rolled her gold eyes. "Genma is in for trouble today."
"Any man who decides to piss me off is in trouble."
Within her mind she could see her other self shake her head. The long white hair gently swayed before coming back to rest on her shoulders.
The shower was a quick one. After the shower, she pulled on her undergarments, a pair of baggy green pants that had been cut so that the ends barely passed her knees, and a front lace up, strapless top in Konoha blue. Her jounin vest was somewhere in her closet. She put on the normal weapons pack on her thigh, and there was a second one on her left upper arm. Her forehead protector went around her left knee and the crest of Konoha faced outward.
Finally, Mami opened one of her dresser draws and pulled out her locket. She opened it, smiled, and then closed it again. Then she slipped the long chain over her head and tucked the locket into her shirt. Strangly the metal wasn't as cold as one would expect it to be. Rather, it was warm, close to what a living heart would feel like.
She left her house with her hair still wet, her three housemates still asleep, and without having coffee. Her hair reached the small of her back so would be wet for hours on end. The neon yellow tips were still there and her bangs on the left side of her face had the annoying habit of falling over her left eye. She shared her home with three men, and despite her complaining, she let them sleep for now. Right now all three were teaching genin, one had a newly made chuunin, and were given the privilege of extra sleep. She knew as soon as they stopped being senseis, they would return to the minimal amount of sleep lifestyle. Coffee, in her very loud opinion, was a vile substance that no shinobi needed, but she also did not drink alcohol, so most shinobi labeled her as too clean cut.
"Hello Mami," a male voice called out.
Mami turned around to look at the chuunin school teacher and smiled as he walked up to her. "Good morning Iruka. End of the school year is almost here, right?"
"It's a wild group this year," Iruka said with a nod. "I can't say I'm not glad to not have them be considered my responsibility anymore, but they were lots of fun."
"Any you might throw my way for Torture and Interrogation?" Mami questioned. Iruka shook his head and Mami frowned. "That's okay; we don't determine who's going to join us until they take the chuunin exam at least once."
"I'm sorry, but I could never send a student to Torture and Interrogation. I've heard too many sad stories of people slowly losing their sanity while being a part of that unit," Iruka said with a shiver.
Shrugging, Mami hopped up on to the railing of a bridge while they crossed it. "Taiki was the same way. He did not send us to be examined by T & I until we actually became chuunin. Finally the Hokage order us to spend some time with T & I. I think he only did that because he knew about…"
"Careful what you say next Pup," her other self interrupted.
"…about my natural skill in torturing my teammates."
Iruka shrugged off Mami's pause and was wondering what she was going to originally say. But that was Mami. She acted like she was holding this deep dark secret and taunted the rest of the shinobi population with it. Iruka learned to just let her keep her secret and not try to pry it out of her.
"Listen, Ibiki is going to chew me out if I don't get to the office now," Mami said calmly as she jumped down from the railing. "I need to go, but I'm sure I'll see you soon."
"Wait, before you go, I have a question about your friend Cho…" Iruka yelled as the kunoichi used chakara to transport herself to her office in a display of smoke.
When Mami arrived at the office a strawberry blonde hair woman was the only one to look up from her work. "Did Kakashi decide not to let go of you again?"
"No," Mami said casually as she began looking over a written copy of a recent interrogation. "I actually met up with Iruka along the way. He was going to ask about you, Cho."
The strawberry blonde hair woman had bright brown eyes and wore the normal chuunin uniform and vest, but nobody treated her like a chuunin, but more like a jounin.
"Where did this guy come from?" Mami asked as she continued to scrutinize the documents.
"Village hidden in the rain," Cho said calmly. "What did he want to know about me?"
"Who?...oh, Iruka. Don't know, I left before he could ask," Mami responded. "That's funny."
"What?"
Mami ignored that the voice sounded male and defiantly did not belong to Cho. "It says here that he admitted to working under Zabuza, but Zabuza only worked with people who paid him lots of money or other missing-nin from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Also Zabuza has been dead for over a year by now. This guy says he's been working with Zabuza only for a few months. Next person who interviews him should ask him the basic questions, and then point out the inconsistencies."
Ibiki forcefully ripped the documented out of Mami's hand. "Thank you for pointing out what I already know."
Mami scowled at his back. Cho sighed.
"My brother got up on the wrong side of the bed," Tomoko said as she walked into the room. She was the poison mistress of Konoha and supplied all the Shinobi with all of the poisons and antidotes they would need on missions. Because she spent so much time around the plants that made the poisons and the actual poison themselves, Tomoko looked drugged most of the time. Right then was no exception.
"So did you Pup," Mami's other self whispered to the kunoichi.
"Mami," Ibiki called out, "you need to go and get the information about the genin we need to test."
"I'll talk to Izumo and Kotetsu and get the info tomorrow."
"Ibiki, we need to talk now," Anko said as she floated into Torture and Interrogation.
"I'm sure it can wait Anko. We're discussing something very important right now," Mami said calmly.
The violet haired woman shot Mami a cold look that clearly said, "I wasn't talking to you."
"What information will you need for deciding who we'll be testing?" Mami asked.
Tomoko's head sluggishly looked up from the documents that requested many doses of a common poison and twice the number of antidotes. The request also asked for a couple of drugs that would knock an enemy out cold. "You're only testing a few genin?"
"We tested only a few to see if they should become a part of T&I, and the rest we test to make sure they can hold out against interrogation," Mami explained.
"Ibiki!" Anko exclaimed. The brash woman was becoming frustrated with those around her.
Ibiki turned to Anko. He nodded his understandings of what she wanted to discuss before turning back to Mami.
"You'll be testing the genin within a few days to see if any of them are worthy to join us. You should go see Izumo and Kotetsu now."
He left with Anko at his heals who was still complaining about her something of great importance that seemed to be of unimportance.
"Don't let him get to you," Tomoko whispered. "It's his inner sadist."
"Yeah and it's saying I'm second to one," Mami grumbled as she went to go find Izumo and Kotetsu for some information about the genin she would be testing. They were probably dealing with Tsunade.
Mami sighed as she walked down the long corridor that took her out of T&I, past ANBU, and finally to the more well known part of Hokage tower. "Inner sadist, that's his excuse for everything these days. It seems more like he's getting crabbier. Maybe it's because he's getting too old and then he'll have to retire…"
Mami continued to let her mind wander on how great T&I could become under her command. Her other self sat happily in a corner of Mami's soul laughing at her dreams.
Then there was a yell that shook the rafters of the Hokage tower and everyone, including Mami, stopped what they were doing.
Izumo and Kotetsu were slowly backing out of the room they were in and hid behind Mami as a bottle of sake was thrown their way.
LocketLocketLocketLocketLocketLocketLocketLocketLocketLocketLocketLocket
"What have you found out about her?" Ibiki asked calmly.
Anko nodded and closed the door so no one would enter. If Mami knew her own colleagues were trying to dig up any and all information on her, well there would be more trouble to deal with than she normally caused.
"Now there wasn't much information to find, because there is not much to begin with."
Ibiki nodded. "I know that."
"Okay, the simple facts that everyone knows first. She is believed to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight, but no one can be positive. She lives with Asuma, Gai, and Kakashi in a small house. Mami was made genin at twelve, chuunin at fourteen and jounin at eighteen.
"Now at the Academy her behavior was unpredictable. Some days she would randomly attack people and other days she would freak out at the slightest of touches. As a genin, her first Sensei was the Half Demon Ninja, Saniiro. She ended up in the hospital from the lack of chakara after the first month, and the Fourth Hokage removed Saniiro as her Sensei and put Taiki in his place."
"Who was in her genin cell?" Ibiki asked.
"Gai and Asuma, believe it or not."
Ibiki sat back in his chair in surprise. Asuma and Gai did not seem to be the type to hold on to something like their genin cell. However the three were living together. It wasn't uncommon, Izumo and Kotetsu were the perfect examples, but for three very different people to continue to count on one another?
"So how did Kakashi become apart of their group? If I remember correctly, he and Gai don't get along all the time."
"Well that did seem strange at first," Anko agreed, "but it made sense later on. It turns out that Mami and Kakashi have been seeing each other for awhile by now."
"Which you would know if you went out with us once in awhile," Tomoko snapped as she entered the room.
"And you knew this before you heard Anko say it?" Ibiki shot back at his younger sister.
Tomoko smiled wickedly, the most expressive she had been in a month and nodded. "After Mami and her original teammates became jounin, Asuma, Gai, and Mami, along with Kakashi, moved into a small house together. Did I miss anything?"
"Yes," Anko snorted. "Under Taiki's teachings, Mami's personality began to change for the better. However, after going to that mission in the Land of Waves, her personality changed again."
"I don't think Mami changed, I think she learned about something she's wanted to learn for a long time," Tomoko countered.
Ibiki couldn't add in his feelings. The mission the two women were talking about was before he had met Mami.
"Is there anything else?" Ibiki asked Anko, putting on his interrogation face. Anko looked like she wanted to say more but bit her lip and shook her head. Then the man turned to his sister. Tomoko, used to Ibiki and his stares of death, turned her nose up to the air in one of her few snobbish gestures. "We need to learn more about that woman. There's something off about her."
"Ibiki, please don't be concerned about Mami, she means no harm at all," Tomoko pointed out.
"Ibiki, you're acting paranoid, again," Anko teased.
Ibiki turned towards the two women who had just told him so much, but somehow nothing at all.
"She wasn't born with in the village," Ibiki said quietly. "So how did she get here?"
"Mami doesn't even know herself," Anko pointed out.
Tomoko nodded. "It's not a subject she's very knowledgeable on. So why should it be any of your concern?"
He didn't want to say it was because there was something exotic and mysterious about the woman that did not sit well in his guts. While some ignored the signs and others used them as entertainment, Ibiki was truly worried.
Mami didn't look like anyone from the area. She had black hair, but it was bleach blonde at the ends, and that was natural for her. About five years ago, Genma had cut the blonde tips off while Mami took a nap on her desk. To save himself from having every imaginable weapon chucked at him, Genma had locked the furious Kunoichi into a closet. When Cho had finally found her, the blonde tips were back. Also her eyes, they were a deep gold color, but there was no special jutsu to go with them.
When she realized her brother was brooding, Tomoko spoke again. "Please don't read too much into it Ibiki. It's not your job to find out anything about Mami."
"You forgot Tomoko. It is my job to find out," Ibiki snarled. "Where did that woman come from?"
- - End Chappie - -
Next Chappie - -
Taiki stared at the spot where the woman had once stood before turning back to the baby. It had gone back to it's I hate you stare.
Locked Past, Open Future
Chapter 3
By Any Other Name