Utterly Unexpected: The Creature?
It had been a nightmare. That's really what it came down to in Itachi's opinion as he opened his eyes and saw Ibiki-sensei's beautiful, glorious face looking back at him instead of the evil wicked countenance of that blond creature who had been attempting to drive him mad. Still, his relief was strong enough that he almost threw himself at his sensei for a hug. Almost. He only just checked the impulse, reminding himself that no matter what torture he'd just been put through, there were some lines he wasn't supposed to cross.
If he wanted to hug someone, he probably had to wait until he got to see Iruka. By then, the urge should be gone, and it was likely that he would be able to put the blond out of his mind before any visit would be allowed to happen in any case. That, or his sensei would decide to punish him by way of making him spend more time with the she-creature. Said she-creature made him flinch slightly as she stirred, sitting up and flashing him an amused smile when she saw his reaction to her.
"Well Ibiki, amazingly, Itachi-chan," she paused, clearly relishing the way she could make the man twitch with some of the things she'd dug up, "is pretty much stable. He's not perfectly sane, but if sanity were a yardstick around here, he'd fall somewhere between Genma and Naruto, which means he's far from surpassing Gai. Still, he has the cutest way of thinking about things that leaves you absolutely charmed. You'll tell me if he ever needs someone again right? I'd love to take another look around in there!"
Her enthusiasm even made Ibiki pause, the man staring at her for a long, silent stretch before looking to his former student. "...I'm sorry Itachi, it seems I might have been a little extreme."
"Hey!"
Itachi nodded once, not looking at the blond for fear of making eye contact. "Just don't leave me alone with her again sensei, please? It was horrible."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
There was a solemn nod, though the tiniest hint of a smirk touched the man's face. "Well, if you're a really good boy, I'll think about it. I wouldn't want to cut off a perfectly good punishment without reason."
"Punishment?! Now wait just a second!"
Itachi twitched and edged closer to the bigger man as the blond got louder. "Can't you just... use thumbscrews or something sensei? Please? I'll be good!"
"Both of you stop ignoring me right now!"
There was a beat of silence after the holler, and then there was a snicker from near the doorway. The snicker turned to a laugh not long after that, and when the three looked over, there was another blond standing in the door, clearly trying to contain herself.
The Hokage.
"Well, it seems like you're settling right back in now, doesn't it Itachi?"
A tiny, here and gone again smirk flit over Itachi's face, completely undermining his earlier, perhaps not so feigned, terror of the Yamanaka. "So it does Hokage-sama."
Tsunade eyed him for a long beat, then waved for Ino to follow her as she turned to leave the room. "Well, we'll just leave you boys alone for the moment then, shall we? So, Ino, what was it you saw in there?"
The answer went unheard as the door closed behind the two women, and Ibiki looked at his student critically. "You really don't want to ever be left alone with her again, do you?"
Itachi turned genuinely horrified eyes to him, voice low and fervent. "She made a point of looking for every single 'cute' memory she could find! Never again!"
Itachi really, truly, wanted to pout when Ibiki started laughing a moment later.