"Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are." ~Oscar Wilde
Chapter 11: Interrogations?
"Um…Shishou, I noticed that you sent for Ibiki…?" Shizune glanced at the paper she was holding with slight confusion.
Tsunade glanced up from a stack of papers nearly two feet high that she was supposed to get through before the night was over. "Yes, what of it?"
"Well, who were you planning on interrogating? I didn't see any records of new prisoners prepared for-"
Tsunade signed her name, and turned around to face Shizune. "I want to get started on Yakushi Kabuto."
Shizune appeared surprised. "But the last record showed that he could barely walk a quarter of a mile…"
"Actually, it was an eigth," Tsunade corrected her. "And I wasn't planning on Ibiki utilizing his, shall we say, diverse tactics for gaining information. I just want him to shake the kid up a bit."
"Shake him up? Won't that be a detriment to the healing process?"
"Not physically," Tsunade clarified. "I want Ibiki to throw a few questions here and there, see if we can get Yakushi to open up at all while he's still on the meds- if we can get him to talk now, it'll be easier to get him to cooperate later."
Shizune frowned slightly. "Won't that cause psychological complications?"
"He's on meds, Shizune. He'll be fine," Tsunade reassured her. "He'd have a hard time finding a reason to hate us in his current state of mind. That makes interrogations much simpler."
Shizune nodded slowly. "I see. Thank you for explaining, shishou."
Tsunade sighed. "No problem at all. Now get me some sake, I've got a full night of paperwork ahead of me and I need something to make my time worthwhile…"
A knock sounded on the front door of Shikamaru's house, and Kabuto moved slowly across the room, opening the door to the unwelcome sight of five Konoha ANBU.
He blinked. "Can I help you?"
"We're taking you in for questioning," one ANBU said.
"Already?" Kabuto asked, surprised. Are they really so desperate for information? I'll probably die after less than a day of interrogations at my current level of recovery…
"What's going on?" Shikamaru asked, approaching the door.
"We're taking Yakushi Kabuto to Ibiki," the head ANBU told Shikamaru.
Shikamaru frowned. "Already?"
"That's what I said," Kabuto commented. He glanced at the ANBU. "Can I get my wheelchair first? It might take all day if I have to walk there."
Shikamaru's frown deepened. "Hang on a minute, Kabuto, I want to talk to the Hokage about this."
"We are under direct orders from the Hokage herself," the ANBU told Shikamaru.
"Yeah, well, I'm under direct orders from the Hokage to make sure he doesn't die before he's ready for questioning, and I think he's going to die if he goes in for questioning!" Shikamaru retorted.
"Take it up with the Hokage, then," the lead ANBU said dismissively. "In the meantime, Yakushi Kabuto- come with us."
Shikamaru glared at the ANBU, and turned around and headed into the house, retrieving Kabuto's wheelchair. "Don't try and wheel him down the stairs," he warned the ANBU, shoving the wheelchair at them before slamming the door. He leaned against it wearily for a moment, then stormed through the house to his back door, headed for the Hokage's office. What's the big idea? he wondered irritably. Does the Hokage not trust me to keep an eye on Kabuto? Does she think he's a bad influence on me or something? Why would she be taking him in for interrogations so soon? He'll die before she gets any worthwhile information…It doesn't make sense…
Meanwhile, Kabuto tottered down the steps without incident, grateful that he hadn't made a complete fool of himself in front of five ANBU. He could feel his insides quailing at the thought of Ibiki's interrogations, but he knew he would never allow someone from Konoha to break him. Yes, well, that's a nice thought, coming from someone confined to a wheelchair, Kabuto thought grimly.
Before long, the five ANBU and the wheelchair-confined Kabuto arrived at their destination; a small yet foreboding building near the edge of the village. The Hokage was there, as was Morino Ibiki.
"Yakushi Kabuto," Ibiki drawled, eyeing a clipboard with several dozen pages of paper attached. "Quite a rap sheet you've got here."
Kabuto waited, wondering what the interrogations specialist would do next.
"Why don't we head inside?" Ibiki suggested easily, as if he were suggesting they go out for ramen or some other trivial matter.
"Do I have a choice?" Kabuto retorted with a smirk.
"Not really," Ibiki acknowledged.
Kabuto stood carefully. "Shall we?"
"Not too eager, are we?" Tsunade scoffed.
Kabuto shrugged. "Am I? I just don't want to stand here until my knees buckle."
Ibiki shrugged and offered Kabuto an arm. "I hear you have trouble with stairs."
Kabuto ignored the gesture and marched up the stairs with ease. (He'd been practicing.) Ibiki glanced at the Hokage, shrugged, and followed Kabuto up the four steps to the door, which he opened for Kabuto. "After you," he said, gesturing politely.
"No, after you," Kabuto replied.
"HOKAGE!" A voice bellowed from nearly a hundred yards distant.
Tsunade turned around and caught sight of Shikamaru, waving his arms frantically and dashing towards the trio.
"Hokage, good, I thought you might already be inside," Shikamaru panted as he reached them. "I went to your office, but then Shizune said you were here, which is all the way across town… We need to talk!"
Tsunade nodded at Ibiki. "Okay," she said, turning to face Shikamaru.
"With Kabuto," Shikamaru added, leaping forward and grabbing Kabuto's bicep, yanking the former Konoha ninja towards where the Hokage was standing.
Of course, there was the matter of the stairs between Kabuto and the Hokage… Unfortunately, Kabuto still hadn't mastered the art of descending stairs. (He needed more practice.)
Shikamaru yanked Kabuto off balance, and the former missing-nin stumbled sideways. His left foot slipped over the edge of the top step and he tumbled down the stairs, landing in a heap at the foot of the steps. "Ow," he commented dryly.
"He might be easier to break than I thought," Ibiki remarked, smirking.
"Yeah. Don't bother water-boarding or hanging me by my thumbs. Just throw me down a few flights of stairs and I'll talk your ears off," Kabuto shot back.
Shikamaru scowled. "Um, I'm trying to have a conversation, here."
"So you threw me on the ground as a sort of ice breaker, then?" Kabuto grumbled, disentangling his arms from his legs and vice versa.
"Shut up. Look, Hokage, he's not recovered yet-"
"Especially after he threw me down the stairs," Kabuto interjected.
"Shut up! Anyway, Hokage, I'm not trying to challenge your judgement- well, maybe a little- It's just that I've been watching him these past few days and I just don't see how torturing him now is going to be of any use to Konoha."
"Yeah, and just imagine how long it will take to clean the stairs once you're done," Kabuto smirked.
Tsunade scowled. "Ibiki, get going. Shikamaru, a word- without Kabuto, please. Otherwise we may never finish our conversation."
Shikamaru nodded, and Ibiki extended a hand to Kabuto, who eyed it warily. "If I take your hand, you'll probably just drop me," Kabuto predicted. "But I do need help getting up, and I would really hate to be carried inside, so I guess falling on the ground isn't any worse than being thrown down stairs."
Ibiki rolled his eyes. "You done?"
"Sure," Kabuto said, grasping Ibiki's hand and allowing the interrogation officer to help him up.
Shikamaru watched the two enter the building. (Kabuto managed to successfully traverse the stairs a second time.)
"Now, Shikamaru, what makes you think that I'm having Kabuto tortured?" Tsunade asked.
"One: we're at the torture and interrogation facility. Two: he's in there with Ibiki. Need I say more? I have a few more points if you need to hear them."
"That's sufficient," Tsunade assured him. "The truth is, we're asking him a few questions and sending him back with you to continue recovering. But we're trying to ease him into answering our questions."
Shikamaru stared at her flatly. "And you think he'll answer your questions?"
Tsunade smirked. "Come now, Shikamaru, this is Ibiki we're talking about…"
A/N: Mwahahahaha! More reviews! yay! I remembered to update! Oooh, Ibiki... *insert creepy music* Stay tuned! ^_^