A/N: I dunno, Ibiki seems out of character... But then, he's a minor character... but it still counts. -shrug-

OMG it's Gaara!

Chapter Nine: Interrogation

The other three girls were shaking.

"Gretchen," Amy asked, "What's going on?" A scowl set itself on the addressed girl's face.

"Genjutsu. I knew this was going to happen." She raised her eyes, and yelled out. "Kakashi-san! What do you want?"

"This isn't Kakashi..." said a gruff, demanding voice. Damn. Just what Gretchen had been afraid of.

"Alright then, Ibiki-san! What do YOU want?" The question was pointless; Gretchen already knew.

"I want to know why you know more than you really should. You four dropped in yesterday, and you act like you know everyone personally." Gretchen bit her lip. "Especially you, girl. You and your friend in the hospital there act like you know everything about us. Tell me how." Gretchen slumped where she was, and sat down, sighing. She looked over to the others; they had all followed her example.

"Do you want me to tell him?" she whispered.

"Is he gonna hurt us?" asked Cathryn.

"Only mentally, and only if we don't tell him."

"Then tell him!"

"And they're gonna believe us? What reason have we given them for them to trust us?"

"... It's worth a shot..." Gretchen sighed.

"Make up your mind quick, girl. I'm not in a good mood today," Ibiki hissed.

"Alright, Ibiki-san," she called up. "I'll tell you. And this is the only explanation. If you choose not to believe me, fine. I'm not changing my story. My friends and I... " She closed her eyes and exhaled. "Come from a completely different world, dimension, whatever." A snort from somewhere voiced Ibiki's displeasure at this explanation. "We come from America, and in our dimension... You, all your villages, your entire dimension, are nothing but entertainment for us. It is a TV show. You have surveillance cameras, right? It's kind of like that, but for entertainment rather than security. No other purpose. At all. You, and Kakashi, and many others in this world, have fangirls and boys, or just fans in general. There are fan sites on you, magazines, books, even little action figures and plushies."

We have the Internet; I can't explain it right now, but you can find information on anything and everything on it. You can go online and find out just about everything about you. For example, I know you're twenty-seven, you were the proctor for the first part of the Chunin exam, and your blood type... is A. We were brought here somehow; we have no idea how. A flash of light, that's all we saw before landing in the forest outside your village. Gaara was with us at the time; that's how we got in. And that's the only explanation there is."

The girls heard whispering.

"I don't believe them."

"Ibiki-san, they knew your blood type, for goodness's sake."

"Something in her story doesn't sit right with me."

"It doesn't with me, either. But her tone of voice... and how could anyone tell such a tale while keeping a straight face?"

"..."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, hurt them first." Gretchen groaned, and sat down. There was a collective gasp from the others.

"Gah!" Gretchen, Sam, Amy, and Cathryn had all received a kunai in the arm. Gretchen winced, and as she pulled it out, the darkness disappeared, but Kakashi and Ibiki were no longer there. "Stupid Ibiki..." Let's see if this works... Gretchen focused on the arm bone in her punctured limb, and envisioned it sliding over the wound to stop the bleeding. As it began to move, slowly, Gretchen discovered maintaining the movement was intensely difficult.

She looked at her makeshift cast. Not too bad. She smiled, stood up, and went around to see if the other girls were okay. They'd all taken the kunai out already, and were holding their arms to stop the blood flow. "Come on. We're going back to Gaara's apartment; he's probably got some bandages there." Cathryn stood up first.

"Gretchen, who was that?"

"That was Ibiki. Come on." The others stood up, and followed Gretchen.

"Who's Ibiki?"

"He's the head of the ANBU torture and interrogation unit." Cathryn shuddered.

"So then, we're lucky we got off like this?"

"Yeah." The rest of the walk was silent. When they arrived, Cathryn approached Gretchen as she was rummaging through Gaara's stuff.

"What happened to Riia?"

"... She was attacked by enemy ninja. From the village hidden in the Sound."

"Oh. How badly?"

"It looks worse than it is. She should be out of there in a few days."

"Good."

"Aha!" Gretchen held up the bandages, and began to wrap them around Cathryn's arm. Then she moved on to Sam, then Amy. They all sat there for a while, until Gretchen noticed the sky. It was getting darker, and she sighed. "You all should go back to your own apartments. Get some sleep." She got up, and exited Gaara's apartment, heading for her own. The other girls murmured assent, and left for their apartments.

Gretchen couldn't sleep for a long while. She'd pulled the covers tight over her, but the image of Riia in a hospital bed wouldn't let her close her eyes. She thought she heard Gaara enter his apartment, just before she closed her eyes in much-needed sleep.

Gaara sat on his bed, brooding. He still didn't know what to think of Riia. She claimed to love him... She's probably just saying that... His expression didn't change. This girl was a mystery. Just looking in their direction was usually enough to frighten most girls. Forget girls, it could scare anyone. Riia was a puzzle. She seemed to enjoy him looking at her, acknowledging her, perhaps. He sighed, and turned his eyes to the full moon, expressionless.