Drowning In Freedom

Chapter 5: Silence in Screams

Warning: Description of Torture

A/N: Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know that the next two weeks I may not be updating this story. I have a wedding to go to this upcoming weekend, that I am in, and then I am traveling across state lines to go find an apartment at my new place of work. However, I will try to get back to this story ASAP but if you don't hear anything from me during these upcoming two weeks, you know why. After that, I will most definitely return to my normal update schedule.

Flamecaster15: You know you love these cliffhangers :P JK... but I have to say that I do, as per usual, leave you with another one this time around. I mean... It does keep you coming back to say the least!

moonlight46: I'm glad that you liked the content so much from the last chapter! Based on a lot of the feedback, a lot of people liked how it flowed... more like a movie playing out is what I heard. And I guess that you will just have to read and wait to find out in regards to that question :P

Guest: Thank you and I am excited to present you with this update!

DaddysLiitleGirl: I know! But dude... everything always gets worse before it gets better :P

Guest: Thank you so much! Like seriously, I am happy that you like this story and the details, I try :P And I am pleased to give you your much awaited dialogue in this chapter then :) Anyway, I hope you like this update and I look forward to hearing what you think about it!

The two stared each other down, Kakashi's hand gripped the shaft of the kunai. It was harsh enough that his knuckles were white, and the metal began to shake against Amaya's neck. She tried to pull her neck away, to make sure that the man didn't accidently slip, and cut her. Kakashi took this as Amaya trying to make a ploy to escape, so, he moved his knee, pressing into Amaya's sternum. She coughed once, and it took everything in her to not move her arms and push his knee away. It made it hard to draw in a breath and his weight caused the muscles of her chest to spasm in an uncomfortable way.

"Sakura… get Naruto out of here… make sure no one comes this way… but send Gai to me."

"Yes… Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, a question on the tip of her tongue.

She draped Naruto's arm over her shoulder as she was the first one to recover from the blast. The pink-haired kunoichi had left the elder with Tenten and rushed over to Naruto and Kakashi. They looked the most banged up and wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything to so. She looked down at Kakashi, seeing rage fill his usually stoic features. She couldn't see Amaya's features, but she wondered if it was filled with the same look of hatred as Kakashi was displaying.

"Now Sakura!" Kakashi yelled at his student.

Sakura nodded her head and followed directions. She ran back to where she left the elder and Tenten and found that the rest of the Konoha search party was there. Licking her lips and pushing her question that she had for Kakashi out of her mind, she relayed the information to Gai. Gai didn't miss a beat and took off running in the direction that Sakura had come from. Neji wanted to rush to Gai's side, but Lee held him back with a shake of his head and an outstretched hand. That's when Sakura turned to Naruto and started to heal him for minor cuts and bruises.

"Did you send her away, so she wouldn't be able to testify if you killed me in cold blood?" Amaya voiced, watching the pink-haired girl run into the distance.

Kakashi moved his grip on his kunai, threatening to put more pressure on the metal. However, the kunoichi saw his arm stiffen, knowing that he wasn't going to do so. Amaya knew that he wanted to, based on the animosity on his features.

"Shut up."

"Please, tell me. This is the perfect opportunity to get it done. What would you have to lose? Take out one of the members of the Akatsuki and a traitor of Konoha. All in one, simple, stroke of your hand—"

"I said to shut the fuck up!" Kakashi yelled, bending his face towards Amaya.

Flinching away from his tone, Kakashi cursed himself and shook his head trying to calm himself down. He could deal with everything later, but right now, he wouldn't give Amaya the benefit of seeing him like this. He wouldn't allow her to hold something over him again. He had let her in once, and that turned into the moments where he was fractions away from dying.

"I'm just surprised you haven't killed me yet. You've gotten soft."

"What the hell do you know? Maybe I'll bring you back to Tsunade-sama… to make you talk…."

"We don't really—"

"What do you mean… We?"

"I—"

"You don't get to talk about we… you're just a traitorous scum who is listed in the bingo book—"

"And yet you can't bring yourself to kill me Kakashi, why is that?" Amaya said, letting her emotions flow through her so she sounded like she could care less about what happened to her.

Kakashi looked as if Amaya had just slapped him right across the face. To the kunoichi, it was all about fooling one's opponent, and she wasn't going to let this man see her sweat, even if she still did love him. For whatever reason, Kakashi couldn't do it. He couldn't slide his blade across her neck and spill her blood.

"I think it is because you think that if I am surrendering to you, after all this time away, I may have something of importance to Konoha. Is that why—"

"You don't know a thing about me anymore, and don't presume you do" Kakashi's voice came out gruff, a warning to Amaya not to challenge him.

At this, Amaya had nothing to say, and she had never been more thankful to see the man in the green jumpsuit as much as she was now. Even if they were on opposite sides.

"Kakashi… Is this—"

"Exactly who you think it is."

"Shit…" Gai whispered underneath his breath as he looked at Amaya.

She peered up at him through her mask, but he looked away, almost as if he could feel her watching him.

"Are you sure—"

"I'm sure—"

"But the mask…"

"If you don't believe me, then take it off."

Gai hesitated, and Amaya saw him shift the weight on his feet. If one wasn't looking for it, they would have missed the motion. She knew that it was his bad habit, however, she knew that Gai was having a war in his head right now. He trusted Kakashi and didn't want to go against his friend, his rival, but on the other hand, he wanted to make sure that it was a positive ID before they made any executive decisions. However, Gai's nin training got the better of him. He nodded to Kakashi who tore his eyes briefly from Amaya to look at his friend, as he nodded in approval with the other man's decision. Kakashi knew that if he was in the same situation as Gai, he wouldn't hesitate to try and take the mask off their opponent to see what they were really dealing with.

Being careful, almost as if Amaya was a rabid, trapped animal that could lash out and bite them at any second, Gai bent down and placed his hand over Amaya's mask. His hand blocked her field of view for a moment, but it didn't last long. She felt the mask start to give way and expose her face to the sun. As soon as the mask was off, Amaya squinted her eyes, trying to adjust them to the extra sunlight filtering down. Blinking a few times to clear her vision, she looked at Kakashi and Gai who seemed as if they had seen a ghost. Both of their faces were white. It was easier to battle the kunoichi and think she was another person when her mask was on. It dehumanized her, and now, with the mask removed, the two jonin had a decision to make.

They either had to kill Amaya here, and leave her body to rot away on the forest floor, or they would have to take her back to Konoha to try and get information out of her that she had been gathering for the past two and a half years. It was a gamble either way. To kill her, they risked losing information that could aid them in the war to come. However, if she didn't talk and they used up valuable resources, it could hurt them more than if they just killed her in the first place. But, both Gai and Kakashi knew that there was another part of this story. It wasn't just this black and white choice. The grey area was that, if they decided to kill Amaya, she wouldn't be putting up a fight against them.

It was almost too easy to kill her like this. Not once, did she attack Kakashi straight on, and used most of her time deflecting attacks from the pair. Even with Deidara, she didn't help him, but she didn't hinder him either, unless it was with his past creation. That could be chalked up with reacting, trying to save her own life. She even helped with Naruto, when most opponents would laugh and watched comrades tear each other apart, seeing the guilt of the one who inflicted the pain end their own life. Nevertheless, this was different, Amaya had not once tried to get out of the situation with Kakashi, even though with a slip of his wrist she would die. Not only that, but, Kakashi knew that his knee on Amaya's chest wasn't comfortable either.

"What is the call here, Kakashi?" Gai said, breaking the silence between them.

Both jonin were trying to go through the same questions, debating what the right choice was in how to handle this situation. Gai broke the silence, asking the question because he truly did not know what to do, leaving the choice to Kakashi. The bowl-cut styled man knew that it would always have to be Kakashi's decision. He was the one betrayed by the woman that was sprawled out on the ground. Gai just hoped that whatever choice Kakashi made, he wouldn't end up regretting it.

Kakashi held his stance and didn't say anything to Gai. All he did was take in Amaya's features. He knew that the kunoichi under him was older, but it was almost like she aged 10 years instead of 2. Physically, she didn't have wrinkles and things like that, but instead, it was almost like a mental maturity. Like she had gone through a lot in her years away from Konoha. Letting it get to him, Kakashi figured that she had to deal with things that he couldn't even fathom. Why he was doing this to himself, he didn't know. Looking at her face, and being here right now, on opposite sides, it was almost too much. Almost. Licking his lips, Kakashi tore his eyes away from Amaya. He took a moment to compose himself, his eyes glazing over with tears. Clearing his throat a few times, with his head turned, he addressed Gai.

"Help me get her up."

Gai came around to Amaya's shoulders and bent down, placing his hands under her arms. Kakashi nodded at him and in one swift movement, the two worked together. At the same time that Kakashi got off of Amaya, Gai hoisted her up and twisted her arms around her back so she couldn't do anything.

"Kakashi…"

"Please don't…" Kakashi turned his head away from Gai who didn't know if this was the right decision to make.

He had watched his friend deteriorate under his eyes thanks to the woman that he held against himself. As much as he liked Amaya, Kakashi was his true friend. He didn't want to watch his best friend have to go through another heartbreak. He just wanted to know if Kakashi was making the right decision.

"Is this really what you want?"

Without hesitation, Kakashi replied.

"No. I don't. But I need some answers… before I slit her throat."

Gai nodded his head as Kakashi turned his back to the two of them, trusting that Gai could get the job done alone. Flipping the kunai in his hand, Kakashi watched as a bead of Amaya's blood ran down the metal and stained his fingerless gloves. His jaw tightened, and Amaya could see how much she changed the man in front of her. His back was tense, and she knew that there would be no going back to how things once was. The damage that she did to the man was permeant. The last thing Amaya saw before Gai slammed his hand down on the back of her head, just where her hair line started to fade into her neck, making her blackout, was her blood dripping down Kakashi's kunai and into his hand.

Amaya woke up with a splitting headache. Her neck felt stiff, almost as if someone had injected her with something to keep her asleep. If she wasn't the state that she was in, the kunoichi would have praised the abilities of her former female student. Sakura had grown under her tutelage of Tsunade, and for that Amaya was happy. However, not happy that Sakura was forced to use her medical knowledge on knocking out her former teacher, so they wouldn't have to worry about her killing them as they transported her back to the hidden leaf.

Amaya felt groggy and wanted to know how long she had been out but knew better to voice that she was awake. She tried to take a few deep breaths to get the pulsing pain in her head and the soreness of her body to calm down. That's when she noticed that there was something over her eyes, almost as if the person who was her capture didn't want to know where she was. Taking in a deep breath, she could smell the dank moldiness, blood littering the air, topped off with a rich stench of rotting and burnt flesh.

Blowing air out of her nose, in almost a snort, she knew where she was. Deep underground in Konoha's subchannels. She had been there a few times before, depositing enemies for interrogation. She would never forget the smell, she vowed in her Anbu days, because she never wanted to be in the same position as the village's wanted criminals. But here she was. The very animal that she sore she would never be. The smell was so pungent at times, that sweat started to break out on the back of her neck. Anxiety started to make its way to the surface of her mind, but she couldn't stop it. Especially when the screaming from another inmate started.

Shifting in the chair she was in, she found that her arms were tied in the back. Trying to pull them away, it was almost as if an invisible wire pulled at her throat, strangling her. Instantly, Amaya linked her hands together again, knowing that there was a thread that was preventing her from leaving the chair. Next, she tried to kick her legs out, but at her ankles, the same sharp material cut into her ankles, threatening to cut into her flesh. The thread almost felt like fishing wire of some sort, but then, if it was, it could easily break. No, this was something different. Never being in the interrogation unit, she never had the need to know what they used to get information out of people. Now, Amaya was going to learn firsthand about the tools at their disposal.

Taking a deep breath, the kunoichi tried to send chakra throughout her body, as if she was going to test the strength of the wire trapping her to the chair. However, as soon as she did that, her chakra felt almost as if it was dissipating from her body. As quickly as that happened, the pulsing pain of a migraine hit her full force. Taking a gasp of air in, trying to get the pain under control, Amaya knew that whatever they had that was blinding her to the outside world was also being used to displace her chakra so she couldn't use it. It was almost like the contraption took it away and displaced it in the air around her. Therefore, the kunoichi, after running down her checklist before working herself up in a panic came to the realization that there was no way out of this one.

She heard the screams of the man in the, presumed, cell next to her, start gasping, his screams started to dissipate. Amaya knew that couldn't be good, especially when she heard a cell door close and footsteps falling on wet concrete. The sound became louder, and Amaya knew that with her own strangulation and induced migraine, she had made too much noise and alerted whoever was down there with her. She could hear her heart rate quicken as blood flowed past her ear. The footfall stopped and that was when Amaya braced herself for what was about to come next. Her cell door creaked as it opened, and the person came into her compartment. Apparently, the person felt that she wasn't a threat because Amaya never heard the door close behind them.

The person in front of her didn't move, but Amaya could feel their eyes on her. She tried to remain calm, but in the situation, she was in it was hard to do so. She knew that the person in front of her was the one who dealt out discipline to the inmates. She could tell this by how much the person in front of her reeked. It smelled as if he had a mix of blood, vomit, and human waste on him all at once. Some prisoners, especially with what happens to them, probably can't help the fluids that come out of their bodies, resulting in the punisher getting hit. When this happened, there wasn't a doubt in Amaya's mind that the punishment for the inmate increased tenfold.

Whatever was going to happen to her from here on out, Amaya knew that for whatever reason, she was going to have to break the binding on Danzo's curse mark. She was sure that he was one of the reasons why she was down here in the first place. There was no way he wouldn't know if she was back in the village. Since she had disobeyed his direct orders, in his mind, and probably his only way left, this was the way to get information out of her. She gripped her hands together and decided that she would have to start storing little amounts of chakra within herself, and then break the seal all at one time. If she did that, then it would force Danzo to get Tsunade involved. If she removed the mark that was placed over his, it wouldn't just be Danzo's issue it would be the villages. That meant she would officially fall under Tsunade's jurisdiction—not Danzo's.

"You're not gonna get out of here, I hope you know that."

Amaya stilled, being brought out of her thoughts. She knew that voice… and it was one that always made her hair stand up on the back of her neck. It wasn't the same fear that Danzo instilled in her, but it put her on edge, especially in the predicament she was in. Again, she never thought she would be on the receiving end, but now that she was here, she wanted to run—but she couldn't.

"I typically don't take on projects like these, but Danzo-san told me that you were a special case," Ibiki simply stated, bending down to place his mouth next to Amaya's ear.

The two of them, Ibiki and Amaya, had worked together on a few missions, and they never had any issues with each other. But Ibiki had no tolerance for traitors, especially since the person who made him into the man he was now, was that very same thing to his own village. Plus, when Amaya had first come back, being carried by Neji, Danzo was there to meet him at the entrance of Konoha's gates. Almost as if the elder was expecting Amaya to come back this way. Danzo quickly directed Neji to follow him, and being in no position to say otherwise, headed off before the rest of the group passed through the main gate. Danzo was lucky, because he timed it, with enough luck, that Gai and Kakashi weren't there yet to see him take Amaya away.

Ibiki thought that it was weird that Danzo had asked him to get information out of Amaya using any means necessary. Especially since the curse mark Amaya had indicated that she was a foundation member—and those matters were typically dealt within house, not exported. However, with the elder's rank, there was no way for Ibiki to resist or put up a fight against the man, especially when Danzo told him that the Hokage wanted to keep the blue-haired kunoichi off the records. Again, that raised another red flag for Ibiki, but he didn't want to challenge it. He figured that the next time the hokage came over this way, he would ask what everything was about.

"I figured that you would be pretty quiet at first… but I have no doubt in my mind that I'll make you talk. Danzo-san said that I should take my time and have a little fun with you… how does that sound, Amaya?"

Instead of responding, Amaya turned her head, bumping Ibiki's out of the way. She waited for a beat, knowing that his face would still be close to hers, and she sucked back her saliva, only to force her spit outwards. Ibiki cursed and wiped Amaya's spit from his face—smiling.

"You're going to be fun now, aren't you? Well then… let's get started… shall we?"

Amaya counted the minutes away. Disregarding the amount of time, she was here before she woke up, Amaya had been there for 147 hours and 18 minutes. Just a few hours shy of a week. Nevertheless, she counted. Second turned into minute. Minute turned into hour. It was the only thing she could do to stay sane—was count. As she did that, it helped her focus on her task of breaking the seal she had on her curse marks. Shivering, cold and wet on the ground, the kunoichi felt like her body would freeze in the ball form that she assumed to keep herself warm.

If she could see, she could confirm it, but with the cellar that she was in, or whatever jutsu or magic was happening, it almost felt as if she had actual ice freezing on her skin. Most of her hours ticked by like this, shivering and feeling freezing air being blown on her. However, whenever Ibiki or one of his subordinated got bored, they would come in, pick her up from the ground and force her back into the chair. Only to tip her backwards, strapping her in place, covering her mouth with an old rag, and dumping gallons upon gallons of water onto her face. Or, at least it felt like that.

She thought she knew how it felt like to drown, but this was nothing close to what she had experienced. She had been tortured before, but Ibiki was no novice to this game. They would yell at her, telling her that they promised to stop if she just told them what they wanted to hear, but she knew that if she would to do that, she would just end up dead anyway. The pain, the shivering, the coldness, the wet… it meant she was still alive. With that, she could work with. She could work with the feeling. If she had that, she could preserver. So, instead of answering, she stayed quiet. Holed up in her mind. Counting. Amaya could tell that it was starting to unnerve Ibiki, knowing that he was pulling out some of his worst things for her. And yet, she wasn't broken.

A few times, she was punched, slapped, kicked on the ground, but that pain instantly faded, especially when the frigid, freezing temperatures of the cell came back. As Amaya shivered, curled up on the ground, she felt herself finally get to a point where she could concur her first goal. Finally, after all this time, she had enough chakra stored up. Taking a deep breath, knowing she only had one shot at this, Amaya forced her chakra through all of her points in her body simultaneously. She focused the chakra to flush out of her system all at once. This caused the contraption over her eyes to take a moment to figure out what happened, and by the time that her chakra was dissipating, being pulled from her body forcefully, the binding on her curse mark started to fade away. Leaving only Danzo's in its place.

Panting, for the first time in almost a week, Grace felt her insides heat up from the force it took from exerting that much chakra pressure out of her body. She felt weak and groggy, almost as if she had just gone through a bender the night before. She couldn't tell if it was sweat, or water just left over from her last water boarding, but the liquid lined her temples and started to drip down her face. She could feel the strain on her eyes, knowing that if she could see anything, it wouldn't matter because she knew she would have tunnel vision. Her heart couldn't keep up with the demand of oxygen the kunoichi's body screamed for, and in result, her head was light. If she wasn't already laying down, Amaya was sure that she would have fainted.

She wanted to let the darkness take over, to stop counting, to just let go and be free. But there was something holding her back, almost as if Amaya was holding out for something to happen. And that something came at 147 hours and 26 minutes. A simple fragrance mixed of flowery perfume and light booze, along with the smell of sweet ginger and that of the forest wafted from the other end of the interrogating wing. However, there was something off about the second scent that made Amaya pause as to who it really was. The two didn't break their speed and moved at a constant pace, that was, until a third joined them.

"I'll deal with you later. I can't believe this shit was happening under my nose…"

"Tsunade-sama—" Ibiki started but was harshly cut off by the hokage.

"I told you I will deal with you later and I will not repeat myself. I let that elder get away with too much… but damn he hid her in plain sight… and I didn't even notice."

"Don't worry yourself any more about this, lady Tsunade… if she is dead then—"

"You made your decision Kakashi… and you don't know what you just sentenced her to… I found out the plans Danzo had for her long after she left… when it was too late to do anything but continue to hunt for her. You may want to see her die, but she is my friend… and I can't let that happen. Not yet."

Amaya, hearing Tsunade's commanding voice, wanted to smirk but she thought she didn't have enough strength to do so. It took everything she had to move her hands from her body to press herself up. Sitting up, still shaking, Amaya leaned against the cold wet wall. The cement on the wall making her body feel even more cold than she thought was possible. She heard the walking come to her cell and the three of them paused, looking at the state she was in. The kunoichi knew that she must have been looking horrible, but the effects of the torture with no food and water, along with daily beatings, horrible was probably an understatement. But, at 147 hours and 29 minutes, Amaya stopped counting. It was then that someone moved into her cell and took her eye mask off, chakra flowing freely back through the kunoichi's system.

"It took you long enough," Amaya stared at the blonde-haired female in front of her, with no humor laced in her voice.

"Let's just hope you have something good enough for me to use to get you out of here, Amaya."

"Yes… lets."