Psychobabble

Ibiki stared at the man before him. The redheaded puppeteer had always been a person to fear, even before he became a renegade shinobi. His techniques had evolved far past mere puppetry. His hands were currently shackled, and Ibiki had deactivated the flamethrowers in his palms, the containers filled with poisoned senbon, and had a close encounter with his swords in his back.

The man was literally a one-man army.

Having taken off his Akatsuki cloak, and his shirt he was faced with the metal coils of his abdomen. A poisonous tail had taken the place of his intestines. His heart was in a fragile glass container with the scorpion symbol emblazoned on it. He had no lungs; the swords had taken the place of them, no liver, pancreas…nothing.

He was hollowed out shell of a man with weapons fitting this way and that. His heart pumped, alive but he had no blood veins in his body. Ibiki couldn't comprehend how his body was still warm like a regular person's when there was no blood, maybe it was the small gas pouches for the flamethrowers, or his chakra was that well wired.

Ibiki opened his arms and chest cavity to get a closer look at his chakra veins. His chakra veins however, speaking of which, were completely different to what Ibiki suspected. They weren't excessively large as though they were on steroids for the purpose of storing more chakra. Ibiki studied the veins in fascination, they looked normal, but a second coil of veins were wrapped around the chakra veins.

What was he?

Ibiki's facial expression must have changed drastically because Akasuna no Sasori snickered in a low tone at him. "What do you think?" In all actuality, Sasori wanted to kill this man for opening him up, but he couldn't very well do that since his systems had been deactivated and he was doped up with three different sedatives. He was in no position to do anything.

Ibiki looked at him sharply; the scars on his formidable face caused his frown to look even deeper. "What are you?" he opted for the blunt way.

Sasori's grin was slow and psychotic even, showing his white teeth. "I am the epitome of what I have always believed in."

Ibiki stared at the renegade's angelic (if now insanely driven) face, knowing he was much older than he seemed. He frowned and then looked down momentarily, not to break eye contact from the red eyes, but inspiration stuck him suddenly.

"Do you still have your reproductive organs?" an idea to torture him may've come easy. Ibiki knew Sasori knew that even he said no, he could check anyway.

Sasori's grin never faltered and his eyes got wider, the whites showing past norm. He thrust his pelvis out, as far as the chains on his hands, arms and legs would allow, "See for yourself."

Ibiki stepped back; the prick knew there wasn't any way out of letting him check, so the bastard probably thought he might as well poke some fun at Ibiki before anything happened. He narrowed his eyes. "Don't mind me asking, but how is it you came to the decision to do something as bug-fuck crazy as this?"

Sasori's grin dropped and his wide eyes became half-lidded. "It's easy to envy something you aren't."

Ibiki raised a brow, "Don't rush ahead in your story now," he said dryly.

Sasori gave a lazy half-smile. "What makes you think you'll get a story anyway?"

The scarred man scowled at the reply given. "Every part of your body, except for your head and your heart is a weapon. Why didn't you remove Lieutenant Stiffy?"

Sasori sneered, "Would you remove something that painful?"

Ibiki gave him a flat stare. "You removed nearly everything else, so why not the whole nine yards?"

Sasori rolled his eyes slightly, "Not even I'm crazy enough to go that far, though Hidan may be." Ibiki frowned for a moment.

"The immortal priest?" Ibiki knew who he was; nearly everyone did because he'd murdered Asuma – though no one could find his body or his head, or his partner for that matter.

Sasori gave no response.

Ibiki looked over at him again, "I read your profile, courtesy of the people of Suna who want to see you dead. All those dead people and only some of them were turned into puppets. You into necrophilia? Is that why there's a lot of kunoichi you turned?"

Sasori lifted a thin red brow at Ibiki. "Why so curious of my sexuality? Disappointed or intrigued?"

Ibiki suppressed a shudder when the monster-man looked at him. "There are just a lot of women, pretty women – none of whom looked very strong."

"Kunoichi are those pretty little baubles you find and can't stop staring at, you can get caught up staring at them – some of them are eye catching." Sasori gave Ibiki a look out of the corner of his eye, "Those are some of the women who caught my eye." Ibiki stared at him, and felt a cold shiver run over his heart. He hadn't felt this way in years. This man, thing, beast – monster was too much even for someone like him.

"What about the men?" Ibiki questioned.

"What else?" Sasori gave an open response.

Ibiki would piece it together later he decided when he heard the creak of the door opening. "Ibiki," the woman's feminine voice rang through strongly. Sasori also turned, his eyes widening when he caught sight of blonde hair. "We need to talk, the Kazekage is here." The scarred man nodded but a hiss from Sasori made him pause for a moment.

"I think if you interviewed your Hokage you'd understand me a little more."

Ibiki snapped his head over at Sasori who gave a vicious grin that didn't fit his innocent face at all.

Deciding to dig in on that later, Ibiki continued to the door and exited, leaving the mass murderer from Suna, the renegade and Akatsuki terrorist alone in the darkness of the cell, with the exception of the guards posted outside.

"Are there any other weaknesses on him?" Tsunade asked, pressing for the fourth time.

The red haired Kazekage and his two siblings looked at Ibiki with such precision that it left no doubt that they were related. Ibiki shook his head, "Just his heart and his reproductive organs. We could go for psychological damage, or taking him apart," the man shrugged and scratched at a scar.

Kankurou, the one in a full body suit and traditional war-paint on his face stepped forward and let his puppet drop to the floor. He frowned momentarily before looking over at his blonde sister, as if for permission. She gave a short nod.

Ibiki raised a brow, what was she – their freaking general?

"Akasuna no Sasori was the – is the best puppeteer from Suna. He did things and invented things that nobody thought was even possible in any shape or form." Kankurou looked to the side before looking directly at Ibiki. "My belief in why he was so great is that he went insane, or drove himself to insanity."

Ibiki stared at him, "Drove himself insane?" he parroted.

The blonde haired kunoichi spoke now, "Sasori had been an orphan, and he'd been taken care of by his grandmother. She made puppets to resemble his parents, but in doing so…it led him to the belief that the only way to leave a lasting impression, like his parents hadn't been able to do, was to become a form of art."

"Art? Is that what he calls his puppets?"

Kankurou gave a short nod, "Lasting forever, so he ended up coming to the thought of making himself a lasting art."

Ibiki stared at the three siblings who gave him similar blank, grave looks. "How exactly did he make it out alive then?"

Temari gave a humorless chuckle, "Sheer force of will, amazing chakra control with just a dash of madness."

Ibiki nodded slowly. Something still stumped him though, everything else was fine, but this one was bugging him. "Why didn't he remove his other organs?" Ibiki was still curious if there was an ulterior motive behind it.

Kankurou's face almost became disgusted or pained, or both. "Would you remove something that painful?"

"Kankurou," a deep voice interrupted and Ibiki unconsciously found himself tensing at the voice. It was commanding, powerful and subtly confident – just like any leader's voice should be. The red haired Kazekage was addressing his brother. "Be more respectful," he said, glancing first at his brother in rebuke, then to his sister. She gave a small smile, as if congratulating him.

"Well, something like that is too crazy for even Sasori to do. It'd hurt like hell and I don't think any guy would wanna part with it." Kankurou began to mumble the last part but Ibiki could've laughed at it.

Temari elbowed her younger brother, "We came here to talk about an S-class renegade, not how much you love your ding-dong," she hissed before pinching him and motioning for Gaara to talk.

Ibiki snorted, and Tsunade coughed but Gaara seemed oblivious to this – probably too used to it by now. He looked directly at Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama, how long do you plan on keeping Sasori in Konoha's custody?"

Tsunade shrugged, "It depends on you, Gaara, we'll hand him over to Suna immediately if you like, or we could set a deadline. We were going to interrogate him for information."

Gaara stared at her for a long moment. "Suna could just as well interrogate him, and we would alert you to any information so what is it you're concerned over to ask Suna for his custody?"

The blonde woman smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile. The brat was too smart and curious for this to go over easily. "We just wanted to lighten to load over Suna; he did kill you after all and was nearly the death of your brother."

The Kazekage's black rimmed eyes narrowed. "Do you acknowledge that Konoha and Suna are allies?" he asked, suddenly and Ibiki tensed with Temari and Kankurou at the rising tension.

The Kazekage's older sister was at his back and looking between Ibiki and Tsunade, almost distrustfully and after the attack on her brother, Ibiki couldn't blame her for holding suspicions.

Tsunade's hazel eyes took Gaara in like she would an opponent. "Of course I know we're allies, Gaara."

"Then what is it you're hiding from us?" Gaara's voice was dangerous, edgy and distrustful.

"As my ally, Gaara, you're going to have to trust us."

A stare-off happened between the Hokage and Kazekage. "I will, but in return you will have to trust me."

Tsunade nodded slowly before letting out a sigh. "Alright, Ibiki, could you escort the Kazekage's siblings to the cafeteria, I'm sure they're hungry."

Ibiki took the hint and opened the door, "Follow me."

Kankurou exited and Temari looked at her shorter younger brother until he gave her nod, though she hesitantly left.

The door shut and Hokage and Kazekage were left alone.

Tsunade turned to Gaara with a jug of alcohol in her possession. "What do you want to know?" she offered him a cup that he declined.

Gaara's eyes met hers. "Whatever it is you're trying to hide from us."

Hiashi was mulling over the documents in front of him with utmost care. He kept rereading it to make sure that he missed nothing. Their Hokage was not someone who Hiashi could fully respect. Sarutobi had been an odd one, but wise and experienced and trustworthy.

This woman seemed untrue in her intentions and the thought of her made Hiashi's well kept control teeter almost dangerously.

What she wanted him to sign, agree and allow willingly was absolute ludicrous. She wished him to sign over Neji, the clan's prodigy and Hinata, his daughter and heiress to the clan's title, to guard an S-class renegade who made puppets out of people.

His hand was poised with an ink brush recently dipped. Hiashi hadn't noticed that his hand was trembling from the outrage over the lack of respect Tsunade showed to the Hyuuga clan.

Hiashi felt a cold smear on his hand and he looked down to spot ink marks on the side of his palm and on his haori sleeve. He felt a tic in his eye. There was a knock on the wooden frame of the shoji door; Hiashi could see the two outlines of who it was. "Enter."

With their heads bowed low, his daughter and his nephew entered respectfully before taking their seats on cushions, Neji seated behind to the left of Hinata. Hiashi pinched the bridge between his eyes and let out a sigh. "Hinata, Neji both of you have been assigned a C-class mission. The Hokage is asking me permission to allow you to undertake this. You've been assigned to become alternate guards for Akasuna no Sasori. Do either of you know who he is?"

Neji looked up, "Akasuna no Sasori?"

Hiashi gave a curt nod.

"He's a renegade from Suna, a supposed master puppeteer." Neji responded, drawing from what he could remember about him from the Bingo books.

Hiashi gave a small nod before looking at his daughter. She bit her lip, "He used those he defeated as puppets and eventually made himself a puppet." Neji looked over slightly at Hinata and Hiashi's brows raised a decibel.

"How did you know that?" he questioned, wondering how his daughter was privy to this sort of information.

"Sakura and Akasuna no Sasori's grandmother were the ones to hold Sasori back and they captured him…Sakura fought against him."

"And she told you this?"

"She described him as the worst sort of monster." Hinata said quickly, amending her mistake because Sakura, in her moment of weakness had confessed to Ino and Hinata how much that insane shinobi had frightened her.

"Whether he is or isn't a monster isn't the question. If it were actually my choice as a guardian, I would flat out refuse this. However, the Hokage has the entire council backing her so it really isn't in my hands anymore. They're giving the both of you the choice to take it or leave it."

Neji responded immediately, "I will take it, Uncle."

Hiashi suspected that much from Neji, "Hinata?"

Hinata chewed her lip, remembering from the Bingo books, and from Sakura's descriptions of what Sasori was like. He was undoubtedly evil, cunning and positively mad.

Hinata knew she had improved over the years, but so had everyone else and she wouldn't risk becoming a thorn in Konoha's side should something go wrong because of her. Physically and mentally she was stronger, but Sakura said that Sasori could wedge hurt deep into you without touching you.

Psychologically, Hinata knew Akasuna no Sasori would be able to break her and threaten Konoha.

She bowed her head, "I-I will have to decline the mission, I'm very sorry."

Hiashi nodded, he'd been hoping his heir would decline it. Neji was a Branch House member and much more advanced than his younger cousin – but besides that, Hinata was female. The man she would have to help guard was a ruthless renegade from Suna, where kunoichi weren't held in high regard in the first place, but a male.

A female guarding a male who was much more experienced and cruel and vicious in the most malevolent ways was just begging for trouble.

"I will inform the Hokage tomorrow. You are both dismissed." He nodded to Hinata and then to Neji, both of whom bowed politely. Hinata was the first to stand and leave, followed closely by her cousin.

The cousins left Hiashi alone with his thoughts before he signed the document, leaving the second one blank of his signature and thumbprint.

Hokage or not, Hiashi refused to let his daughter guard the puppeteer from the red sands.

Second chapter out! I know I know, no Hyuuga to Sasori interaction yet but that will come in the next chapter. It'll be a slow build up until I'll attempt to scare the crap out of my audience. :3

kawaiiihina123 brought up an excellent point: How did they capture him?

It'll be brought into light a little later so please wait!

Read and review, please and thanks!