PHEW! Finally finished this chapp!
...Yes. I was really seriously working on this on and off this WHOLE TIME.
But, y'know, I happen to live in Memphis. Speaking of which, FEMA came to my house today. Good thing I cleaned up my room recently... ^^;
ANYWAY, this chapp's kinda short because I was struggling, I didn't know how to end the chapp, so I was just finally like "SCREW IT!" and ended it like this. I know what I want to happen next, and that's all that matters.
Right?
RIGHT.
So read, review, and enjoy! :D
Luna walked down the hallway, stopping in front of Room 302. She took a deep breath before opening the door.
A man behind a polygraph machine was on the other side of it, his elbows leaning against a – surprise, surprise – stainless-steel table.
Five armed Agents were leaning against each wall, and there was a woman sitting beside the polygraph administer with a file and a cup of coffee.
"Good morning, Agent Sasaki. Have a seat."
It was still kind of weird for them to call her Agent Sasaki – it just made it more obvious they knew the whole time who she was.
She breathed in deeply as she sat, trying to control her emotions. That was key to passing a polygraph test. Be cooperative, remain calm, control your heart rate. Sometimes one of the best methods was to prick yourself with a sharp object on your person during the right questions to make your heart rate go up, but The Agency was well aware of that tactic.
Another reason they had the metal detectors set up – that way, they could see whatever you had on your person. If you so much as had a bobby pin on you, they'd confiscate it. And they wouldn't be kind about it, either.
"I trust you remember how this works from the last time you underwent a polygraph – according to your file, it was about a year ago. Either way, let me remind you for paperwork's sake," the woman said pleasantly as the test administrator put some sensor pads on her skin, wiping the spots with rubbing alcohol first.
"We'll start by asking you to purposely lie to a question. Then we start with common knowledge questions, or maybe even questions everyone would love to lie to. After that, the real interrogation may begin. Understand?"
"Acknowledged."
"Good. First, the lie. Agent Sasaki, do you own any pets?"
"Yes. An iguana."
The people in the room (minus Luna) looked to the polygraph, and the man running it nodded. The woman nodded as well. "Now that that's taken care of, is your name Luna Sasaki?"
"It is to my knowledge, yes." Truth. The polygraph man confirmed this, marking it on his pad.
"Do you have any living immediate family?"
"No. I have a foster brother, though."
"It says here that he's your blood relative," the woman protested, flipping through the papers in the file.
"Well, that is entirely inaccurate. We are not related by blood." Truth. Confirmed by polygraph.
"...Very well. How long have you worked with us?"
"As far as I know, nearly eight years." Truth. Confirmed by polygraph.
"Did your latest mission take you to Konohagakure?"
"Yes." Truth. Confirmed by polygraph.
"Did it also involve Naruto Uzumaki?"
"Yes. He was my mission." Truth. Confirmed by polygraph.
"Care to elaborate on that?"
"I was to protect him by any means. A cover was also established. I was to stay in his residence under the false pretense of being his girlfriend. He was also ordered to ensure my protection due to a common enemy." All truth. All confirmed by polygraph.
"That common enemy was Orochimaru. Is that correct?"
"Yes." Half-truth. Confirmed as full-truth by polygraph.
"Was this cover believed and accepted by Konoha?"
"Yes. With the exception of some foolish girl that was in love with him. She didn't wish to accept it all that readily. But she believed it nonetheless." She was throwing in the extra information in hopes that they would believe her to be honest. It appeared to be working; that had been confirmed as a bunch of truths by the polygraph.
More writing on the guy's notepad.
The woman smirked. "And you have never been held sway by the charms of love, now, have you Agent Sasaki?"
The way she said it made her want to shiver, but Luna simply shook her head. "I cannot say I have. Although I did come close with The Rogue Incident. If you recall, I solved that problem on my own."
"...Ah, very true. Did you at any point reveal The Agency's whereabouts and operations to any citizens of Konoha, its Hokage included?"
"No." Lie. Confirmed as truth by the polygraph, thanks to her steady heart rate.
"Did you at any point tell Naruto Uzumaki of The Rogue Incident?"
"...Yes," she admitted. She had to make herself look at least a little guilty, they already considered her guilty anyways. That was confirmed as a truth by the polygraph.
The woman smirked again. "Why does that not surprise me?"
"If I answer that, will my answer be a mixed result, truth, or lie?" she asked right back, making a couple of the Agents in the room smirk to themselves.
She was so calm at the moment, it surprised even herself. And she hadn't had to take any drugs to do it this time.
It appeared her smartass comment didn't settle too well with the woman, judging by her tone as she asked the next question. It was rather sharp and precise, with a coldness and intolerance in it that made even one of the Agents wince.
"Did you at any time declare love to, kiss while not maintaining your cover, or have sex with Naruto Uzumaki?"
"Absolutely not," she replied in a tone just as harsh. She gritted her teeth as the polygraph determined that to be the truth. Luna was lucky she had kept her heart from racing at the mention of kissing him; damn him for starting that little habit of making her heart beat too fast.
"Were you aware that you were required back at The Agency for testing?" the woman asked after a few moments of them staring each other down from across the table.
"Not in the slightest." Half-truth. Confirmed as full truth by polygraph.
"Agent Sasaki, I will ask one more time: Did you cross a line in your relationship with Naruto Uzumaki, going so far as to kiss him when there was no need cover-wise to do so?"
"No."
"That's quite interesting, seeing as one of the Agents on the scene informed us that was exactly what he saw upon his arrival."
"Perhaps he mistook us for Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. They were also in the area, and have recently started dating as far as I know."
"I'm not so sure," she said with a smug smirk as she slid a photo across the table to her. In it was a bad-quality photo of who she could only guess was supposed to be Naruto and herself. Luna couldn't help but stare in disbelief.
Not only at the fact that this photo existed, but by just how...for lack of a better word, passionate it looked.
She could make out her hands around the back of his neck, mainly because she specifically remembered doing that. After some squinting, she recognized his left hand on her hip, the other running up her back over her shirt.
Needless to say, that combined with the way they were leaning into each other, and...it kind of dumbfounded her. She couldn't remember a time she had kissed someone like that.
But she simply furrowed her eyebrows. "...I can barely make this out as a couple, much less be able to distinguish their physical features."
"That's why we were the ones to see it first, not you, Agent Sasaki. We have experience with things of this nature."
"You have experience with taking photos of underage kids in situations like this? You know, given certain circumstances, I am sure some of those photos could be considered child pornography if the situation were to progress. That seems rather reckless of The Agency, wouldn't you agree?"
The Agents were smirking slightly again, and the woman blinked angrily. "I did not ask for your personal opinions on the quality and legality of any photos, Agent Sasaki. I asked for the truth."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not recall the polygraph informing you as of yet that I was doing anything other than just that: telling the truth. And now that I think about it, wasn't I under arrest for failure to return to The Agency? Why does it seem I am mostly under arrest for association with Naruto Uzumaki? If you recall, he was the center of my mission!"
"I am merely questioning you on possible reasons as to why you failed to return, Agent Sasaki, and if I know anything about teenage girls, it almost always has to do with a boy!" she snapped, smacking the table with her palm for emphasis.
There was silence as they stared at each other, except for the polygraph's whirring. "...Look here, Miss. In case you haven't noticed, I am not your average foolish, young, naïve teenage girl. I am not willing to throw my life away for one happy day. And if I were, it would not be for a boy. And if it were to be for a boy, it would most certainly not be for Naruto Uzumaki. To be quite frank, he had to be the single most perverted, annoying, infuriating, knuckle-headed, idiotic boy I have ever met. My brother included. I couldn't care less if I were to see him in the future, much less spend any fraction of my future with him. What we have here is a simple failure to communicate. I was never informed of any testing scheduled to be done. Although, if I had known of any testing, I would not have come happily, I assure you. But I would have arrived on time. As I have for everything since The Rogue Incident. Agent Sharpe's shortcomings and betrayals convinced me that I would have to work very hard to prove I was loyal to The Agency and was never aware of what he was planning. It would be incredibly foolish of me to jeapordize all that I've strived to accomplish over Naruto Uzumaki – or for anyone else, for that matter. I hope you can understand that, and that we can wrap up this polygraph test. As your fellow superiors love to point out, we cannot keep the Allies waiting," she concluded with a smirk, quoting Tara's superior.
She had heard him muttering that when talking with Alex outside her door the other night, before she passed out.
One of the Agents looked to be on the brink of chuckling, but the woman's look quickly snuffed it. "...Very well. Luna Sasaki, hold out your wrist, please. You are officially X Subject number 13567792. Welcome to The Gemini Project. If you survive your first round of testing, you will be brought back to your room to sleep afterward unless you are deemed too ill to leave. Best of luck to you," she said simply as the polygraph guy took the sensors off her skin and the woman attached the hospital bracelet to her wrist.
"X Subject: Gemini Project" was stamped on the side, along with her number, in bright blue letters.
Two of the Agents (the two youngest, if Luna had to guess) led the way to the elevator, and they opened a switch box on the side with the building's floors listed. Inside the switch box were three buttons.
"T" for the Termination Room, "Cr" for the Crematoria, and "T2" for the testing wards.
The younger male Agent on her right pressed the T2 button with a shaky finger, and the female Agent's bright blue eyes widened a fraction, her grip on her gun's holster tightening.
Luna sighed heavily. "I'll say it once, and I'll say it again. Naruto, I'm in deep shit. ...You guys won't tell that bitch I talk to him in my head, will you?"
They shook their heads, and she smiled slightly. "Thanks. Consider it my last wish? I might even put you guys in my Will, tell me your names just in case."
"Agent Lynch," the boy said without hesitation (judging by his voice, he hadn't even reached puberty yet). The girl rolled her eyes at his stupidity (though she was no older than 25) before reluctantly giving her a name. "Agent Mason."
"Alrighty. Lynch, Mason, consider yourselves in my Will. I might even be nice enough to let you have some of the Flavor-Blasted Goldfish, if Naruto hasn't thrown them all away. ...You better enjoy them," she threatened.
Her tone made them nod so quickly she was worried their heads would nod right off their shoulders, and Luna chuckled to herself. There was no better way to relieve stress than to either beat someone to a pulp or scare the hell out of them with how calm you appeared to be.
Even if you were crying like a child inside.
MEANWHILE...
Naruto woke up with a start, the weird sounds of the air plane coming back into his ears with a WHOOSH.
He looked around, rubbing his eyes groggily. This whole flying-hunk-of-metal thing was still more than a little mind-blowing. He chuckled to himself. "Loon would flip out..." Naruto let himself trail off, frowning at the thought. Now that her name had been said, it made him wonder about a million things a second.
Was she alright?
What was she doing?
Was she scared?
Had she killed that douchebag before he could? If so, he'd be so pissed.
His thoughts were interrupted by Will sliding into the empty seat next to him. "Hey, man." Naruto nodded in acknowledgement, yawning. "I'm so ready to get off this plane," he commented tiredly.
Will shook his head. "I wouldn't be so sure. The Agency's gonna be one tough place to search. Even I don't know how to get to the labs. ...The lab Luna's gonna be in, anyways."
He shrugged. "So what? It's better than sitting here not able to do anything. I think I might literally be worrying myself sick," he admitted in a grumble.
Will chuckled and shook his head. "I knew it. I totally knew it."
"Knew what?"
"You really are in trouble, dude."
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. Huge trouble."
"...Why?" Naruto asked, tired beyond comprehension. He was now officially beyond confused. Will grinned. "Because. She's got you."
"Got me," he repeated exasperatedly, not understanding what Will was getting at. He sure was confusing, and possibly the reason behind Naruto's sudden headache. I'm beginning to think him and Loon might actually be related...
"Yeah, got you. Hook, line, and sinker. You poor schmuck. At this rate, she'll be the death of ya, I can practically see it."
Naruto smiled a little at that one. "She's already told me that."
"She always was such an optimist." They both laughed at that one, but then Naruto suddenly said, "Is."
"Huh?"
"She IS such an optimist. Not was."
That made Will grin to himself, nodding slowly as he ate his weird package of peanuts one of the flight attendants had given him. "...Right. Hey."
"Huh?" Naruto asked absentmindedly, not looking away from the window.
"I kinda like you, Naruto."
He looked at him, grinning. "You're not so bad yourself."