Searchers
Shikaku looked up from the stack of papers he'd been studying and cast his gaze over to the second stack he had yet to tackle. "This is everything you have on her?" he asked Tsunade.
The golden-haired Hokage of Konoha nodded, "Everything since she came to us. Mission records and reports, assignments, performance reviews and even medical. Of course we don't have any information about her prior to her joining the Leaf except that…"
"Except that she was with Orochimaru for an extended period of time," Shikaku finished for her. It pained her to even mention her former teammate's name so he spared her the effort. But mention of the snake-sannin caused him to return his attention to the medical forms he had just finished perusing.
"And he sterilized her?" he asked bluntly.
Tsunade pursed her lips and thought long and hard before answering. "I don't think that's what he set out to do, but the net effect of the multiple procedures that were performed on her," she paused and cleared her throat before continuing. "Yes. It's my medical opinion she'll never carry a child to term."
"Hyper-ovulation?" he queried, unfamiliar with the term that was before him in the report.
Tsunade found it hard to answer. She had initially felt sorry for the girl whom she and Shizune had been trying to help at the medical clinic. She sighed and began to explain, her voice slipping into a neutral, clinical tone, which helped her maintain her emotional detachment from the situation at hand.
"It's possible, with the right hormonal treatments, to cause a female to produce more than one receptive ovum at a time and then… extract them. We have no records of the exact type or number of treatments Orochimaru performed but her complete endocrine system was wrecked. She was seeking treatment from us for amenorrhea, complete cessation of her menstrual cycle. Not pregnancy, not early on-set menopause, but an abrupt cessation of the normal cycle. I've seen a few cases before. One of the first things you have to do is to rule out pregnancy before you can begin any course of treatment because if she is then any hormones you administer to attempt to restart the cycle could…would trigger a spontaneous abortion."
Shikaku looked at the thick manila files in front of him containing Karin's medical history in Konoha. "She'd been coming to you for quite a while, then?"
"Yes. She started not long after she first came to Konoha."
"And every time you want to try a new treatment or adjust an existing one…?"
"You have to reconfirm she's not pregnant. Month after month. Even though I told her the prospects were not good she refused to give up. That must be hard on a young kunoichi to have that reconfirmed, thrown up in your face over and over again. I suppose it could drive someone to do something desperate. But what does Karin's medical history have to do with Hinata and Shikamaru's disappearance?"
"She was the one who led our recovery teams to Orochimaru's bases wasn't she?" Shikaku queried.
"Yes. There were some of the bases that Ame and Suna got to before we did. But she did lead our teams to over twenty locations of varying size. Most had medical specimens stored there, some more than others." Tsunade replied then added.
"Look, Shikaku, I understand what you're getting at, but how would she have known about Hinata's involvement in all this? Those meetings were strictly on a need to know basis and I'd trust with my life the integrity of each person there. Prick though he is, I'd even trust Hiashi Hyuuga not to breathe a word of it to anyone, much less anyone non-Hyuuga. So how did she find out?"
Shikaku smiled at her dig against the head of the Hyuuga clan. One thing he had always admired about Tsunade was that she called them as she saw them. He had to agree with her assessment of Hiashi, too. He was a prick and a conceited one, at that. The last thing he would want to do is spread the word about his daughter's involvement in this little plan.
Shikaku mused thoughtfully. "Maybe she didn't find out."
"What?" Tsunade looked confused. Shikaku Nara wasn't prone to stating things that did not make sense.
"Maybe she didn't find out. May she planned it all along."
"Are you saying she orchestrated this?"
"Perhaps orchestrated isn't exactly the right word, maybe it was more like 'manipulated.' Who initially broached the subject with you?"
"Koharu, why?"
"Just a minute," the bearded jonin commander flipped through a couple of the mission reports. "Here it is," he said pulling a report from a folder. "About a year ago she was staffed to Koharu's office for filing and organizational work."
"That's right, she was helping to organize some historical files from the time of Sarutobi's term as Hokage." Tsunade snapped her fingers as she recalled making the assignment herself.
"So, a lonely old woman carrying a large burden of guilt shares that history with Karin. And Karin, realizing their may be a way to solve her own problem manipulates her into thinking there's a way to atone for her past sins. Karin wouldn't need to 'find out' anything - she could just wait for Koharu to act after planting the suggestion." Shikaku concluded.
Tsunade nodded. "That's as good a theory as any for the questions of who and how and why. But it doesn't get us much closer to the where-are-they-now answer."
"Maybe, maybe not," Shikaku muttered now turning to the map beside him that highlighted the locations the recovery teams had investigated. "I'm going to take this with me," he announced, rolling the map up and inserting it into a cardboard tube for transportation. "And go over it with Inoichi and some of the trackers and see if we can come up with some leads."
As he left the Hokage's office a couple of stray items nagged at Shikaku. The first was - how had Karin managed to abduct not one but two well trained shinobi from the Leaf. Either she had had help or else she had dumped one body and only abducted a single ninja. Running that thought out to its conclusion seemed to cause the bottom to drop out of his stomach, since the only shinobi she needed was Hinata and he quickly shoved that thought aside.
The second item that he made a mental note to do was to order Inoichi and Ibiki to immediately perform updated psychological profiles on all the Leaf shinobi.
Hinata sat still in the chair where Sasuke had left her, his words still ringing in her ears. The fresh air that had earlier seemed so cool and invigorating now turned cold and threatening. His words had cut her deeply, not only the fear triggered by his threat but also the truth in his accusation.
When had she ever considered him at all? Didn't he deserve at least that, simple consideration and a voice in the matter?
But still, his…demand couldn't be the solution.
And what trouble had she already caused her friend, Shikamaru? He lay wounded who knew how badly in a cell close to hers and it was ultimately because of her actions.
She was left a long time with her thoughts. Hinata could feel the air cool even more as the sun set and hear the chirp of birds give way to the crickets of the early evening. As a trained shinobi she realized she could have most likely found her way back to her cell, keeping close to the wall to guide her. There had been only a few turns along the way and she was certain she could navigate the stairs by herself after all it had only been two flights. Left alone, however, the young woman realized that she really hadn't anywhere to go at the moment, even if she made her way "back" it would only be back to the cell.
Eventually Seito returned and announced himself. "Miss?" he addressed her neutrally still puzzled by the arrangement here. "Miss, I am to take you back to your…room."
"Yes," Hinata replied dully. "Of course."
He assisted her up and guided her back then returned with cool bandages for her eyes dipped in the same soothing mixture Sasuke provided earlier. The scent of spearmint once again permeated the air.
After he left, Hinata lay back on her cot fighting back the tears which occasionally slipped beneath the cloth to trickle down her cheeks. She finally she lost that battle and turned her face into the pillow and sobbed quietly in earnest as the weight of the full situation came crashing down on her. She finally fell into a troubled sleep.
Shikamaru had been sleeping fitfully himself. Even though it was only early evening he had nothing else to do during his confinement and no strength to do it with anyway. Though his sleep was light he was still jarred awake by a voice.
"Nara. Get up. I need your assistance with something," Sasuke announced firmly in the manner of one who was used to being instantly obeyed.
Blearily Shikamaru cracked one eye open. "What is it?"
"This," Sasuke announced unfurling a map over the small table in Shikamaru's cell. I need your analysis about Karin's most likely locations."
"And just why should I help you?" Shikamaru asked still lying on his back not wasting any energy trying to get up in what he suspected would be a vain attempt.
Sasuke crossed the room over to him and jerked him up into a sitting position on the bed. Shikamaru inhaled sharply as the pain overwhelmed him, fighting back waves of nausea.
"I would suggest you do as I say," Sasuke muttered.
"Or what?" Shikamaru responded weakly gripping the edges of the bed to keep from pitching forward off of it.
Sasuke glared at him, unable to respond then turned and walked back to the table, studying the map with his back to the Nara shinobi. "I should kill you for your insolence," Sasuke muttered.
Shikamaru sat there as the pain subsided slightly and considered Sasuke's demeanor toward him. He'd had some time to think about the situation here. "But you won't," he stated flatly.
Shikamaru saw Sasuke's shoulders stiffen as he replied, "Don't test me, Nara," he threatened.
"You won't kill me because you would have done it already," Shikamaru stated as much to annoy Sasuke as to reassure himself. Sasuke might be a lot of things, but Shikamaru was fairly certain he wasn't a cold-blooded murder. It was Karin who had been responsible for his injury and Hinata's disability. All Sasuke had done so far had been to take them with him when he left Konoha. Hardly the act of someone bent on killing them when he would have had ample opportunity to do so and dispose of the bodies on the way out of the Leaf village.
At that moment the tension between the two of them was tangible. With his eyes narrowed to slits against the pain, Shikamaru still managed to study Sasuke. It was obvious he had struck a nerve with his former friend with his simple statement of fact.
For his part, Sasuke found Shikamaru more than irritating. Actually he found having two prisoners who were so…troublesome doubly irritating. There had never been so much insubordination around Orochimaru. Then again, he reasoned, Orochimaru rarely took prisoners, but rather surrounded himself with subjects and sycophants. Silently he chided himself for comparing any aspect of himself with Orochimaru. The man had merely been a step on his path, a tool he had used to gain the power he needed, nothing more.
"Let us just say then, that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I think you and I can both agree that Karin is our mutual enemy."
Shikamara sighed heavily, "Agreed."
"Then assist me with this."
"No."
"You still say no?" Sasuke questioned his voice low but his tone lethal as he turned to face him.
"Not unless I see Hinata, see for myself she's unhurt from Karin's attack."
"You know, Nara, there are other things I can do besides death that would make your remaining time here miserable."
Shikamaru grimaced and motioned at his leg. "At this point doing nothing is torture itself."
Sasuke looked at his former friend's wound and was startled to see the angry red color surrounding the gash itself. After applying a hasty pressure bandage at the site to staunch the worst of the bleeding before fleeing Konoha he had assigned Seito to treat it when they first arrived here. The boy was a marginally better medical ninja than he himself was although neither of them were very talented in that area, not like a Kabuto or a Tsunade. Seito would have done his best, Sasuke was sure of that but the looks of this worried him as it might exceed both their skills.
Trying to reel himself back from such weak thoughts he countered, "You're not the only one who can be made to suffer."
Pressing his advantage, Shikamaru replied, "Hinata? You won't hurt her either. We both know she's pregnant and we both know it's a Uchiha child."
"If you think I'm swayed by dewy-eyed nonsense about motherhood then spare us both the sentimentalities," Sasuke huffed in disgust.
"That's actually not my point at all," Shikamaru said. "If you do anything to harm her or her child then do you know who will go down in the history books as killing the last Uchiha?" He waited for the impact of his question to sink in then delivered his verbal jab with precision accuracy. "It will be Sasuke Uchiha. And how would that make you any different than the village itself that you claim to despise?"
Thin-lipped and angry, Sasuke stared at him before abruptly turning to leave, the map left forgotten on the table.
As he watched his old friend walk away, Shikamaru realized that though Sasuke may have fashioned himself as somewhat of Orochimaru's student in his quest for power the reality was he was very little like the man. Inside, the Sasuke Uchiha that he remembered, the one Tsunade had sent him to retrieve on that first disastrous mission didn't have the same heart of darkness that Orochimaru had possessed.
