A/N: I'm back after quite the long hiatus with Chapter 3! I've had this story on my mind all throughout this time period so I knew I had to go back to it. Hope you all like it and are still tuned in to see where this goes. A HUGE thank you to every one who reviewed previously! :) I am immensely grateful to all of you.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
He hated sleeping. That was the irony of his situation. Sleeping was a necessity of life, nature's way of reviving the body and mind, and yet it was the reason he woke up drained every single damned day. When he slept he always dreamt, and what he dreamt were not his dreams. Every memory he had sought in those strangers, every mind he had probed in the past, left an imprint that would never fully go away, and therefore became a part of him. He too was the prisoner, the innocent, the guilty, the wrongly accused, the honest man, the liar. He loved the women and men they loved; he killed the women and men they hated; he endured the pain he had inflicted upon them. But only while asleep.
Sometimes he wondered why he didn't just find a way to off himself. Not particularly because of the burden of heavy sadness, or suffering, but because the negatives of life simply outweighed the positives. It was emptiness. It was always a fleeting thought but it was a recurring one, nonetheless. It was too much effort, after all. With all the enemies he'd garnered throughout the years, he was surprised one of them hadn't completed the job for him by now. Perhaps it wasn't death he really wanted, but another life.
The sun was beginning to rise, creating a pink sky that peeked through the forest canopy, kind of like the color of the peaches he used to pick from the tree in the backyard as a boy, when he grew tired from working on his wooden projects. Ibiki smiled grimly. Back then he would build all day long, his goal to make an entire miniature town, a quiet boy lost in his world until his mother called him inside. What had happened to that little town? It had been lost, thrown away somewhere along the years. He didn't think he could even remember how to make those small wooden replicas anymore. How things change, eh?
"—When you're tracking, every detail matters. Take a look at this tree here: to most people it's just a tree. But really, it's not just a tree—you have to ask yourself what kind of tree it is, the kind of bark it has, the spread and depth of its roots, how tall it is, the animals around it, how it smells, the type of moss and flora that's growing on it—you know, all that stuff."
Kiba was talking, and either he didn't notice nobody was listening or else he didn't care.
"That's why us trackers are so important. The tracing unit of the Konoha Military Police thinks it does the same thing as us, but they're wrong. They talk big but they don't even come close. My old teammate Shino uses bugs, 'member I mentioned him a few times before? They aren't half as efficient as our hounds but they get the job done. His ass ain't big enough for the iron pole he sticks up it every morning, but I'll give him credit for knowing what he's doing. My other teammate Hinata's better. She's a Hyuuga, so I don't need to explain about those rich butts. I hafta protect her from the creeps, though, 'cause she's got an incredible rack. I mean they're huge! I'm one of the good guys though. I've never imagined her naked or nothing…nope, never…you know, it's funny how she of all people has such great boobs, I think she'll faint once she finds out what sex is—"
Sex. That's something Ibiki hadn't had in awhile. It was perhaps better not to ruminate on that subject, lest he wanted to make himself feel even worse. He looked up at the trees that surrounded them on all sides. He was used to seeing them through the windows contrasting to the gray walls of his office, where they only scratched up irritatingly against the panes. Now, with branches rustling gently as they moved with the breeze, the little buggers didn't seem so bad.
"By the way, Ibiki, aren't you hot in that jacket?" the teenager asked, suddenly breaking away from his own ramble.
"…Extremely."
"Then why don't you take it off?"
"I don't do things halfway. Either my clothes all stay on or they all come off."
Now that ought to make him leave him alone. Not that the kid was bad, Ibiki actually quite liked him; he had low tolerance, however, for those who wouldn't shut the hell up. Confused, and seemingly perturbed with the response, Kiba turned his attention to his sister, who had chosen to follow them from a few paces back.
"You sure are quiet back there," Kiba said, walking backwards with his hands behind his head.
"I'm concentrating," Hana replied, slightly annoyed at the interruption.
"On what?"
"On me," Ibiki said without turning around. "She's been watching me all day, the lovesick woman."
"That's not true!" she snapped, blushing. "In case you haven't noticed, we've driven off course from the river. I sent Inbi out to find the nearest town from here so that we can hopefully reach it before dark and stay the night there. Concentrating on my chakra bond with him lets me know where he is and that he's all right."
"Oh, so is that it?"
"Idiot. Don't jump to conclusions."
Ibiki sighed deeply. "I suppose then my back really is so wide she cannot help but look at it."
"Don't be discouraged. Hana's not interested in skinny guys. She likes a little meat on 'em."
"I hoped she was that type of woman."
"You assholes should just shut up."
Ibiki smiled. Sure, the siblings were a bit coarse, but he sure was having fun. In fact, he didn't think Hana had been watching him, but the opportunity to get her riled up was too easy, and he had to take it.
After a round of laughing, Kiba had resumed talking about who-knows-what, and Hana resumed her silence. She had quickened her pace a bit, so that she was now walking more alongside the other two men as opposed to lagging a few paces behind. Her face was stern as if she was thinking deeply about something. Was she only thinking about her chakra bond? Or were there other things on her mind?
He had to admit, he was feeling a little guilt-ridden about what he had said to her the night before. She seemed to be steadfastly working on the mission despite that, showing her admirable qualities of diligence and focus. If she truly disliked him as he was apt to think was the case (he hadn't helped that situation much), she sure didn't put her personal feelings ahead of her job. Even though she hadn't spoken a word to him since last night—except now to, well, call him an idiot.
Maybe he had gone a little hard on her. What did he say to her? She held a grudge on her brother? That she found her mother lacking? He said a lot of things, social politeness barred. No wonder she must be pissed. He was so used to saying whatever he wanted with Tsume, who was always so brash with her brutal honesty and could handle it being reciprocated, that he had assumed her daughter would be the same way. Maybe he was the one who needed the lesson on when to keep his mouth shut, not Kiba. He never really was good at small talk.
After all, the Inuzukas truly were a naturally talented bunch who knew what they were doing when it came tracking down their targets, and Hana was certainly among the top ranks. With a bit more training and a refresher in combat skills, and if she wanted to do so, he could see her also getting promoted to Tokujou like Kiba. They were traveling on this mission at a faster pace than he anticipated, and he knew it had to be because of the siblings' adeptness.
He'd find a moment later to apologize to her.
Plus, it couldn't hurt to be on her good side, if he ever needed another tracking mission done.
He knew he was getting ahead of himself, but a thought had been brewing ever since the start of the mission. Actually, ever since Tsunade allowed him to go through with this. If things went well this mission, and the Inuzuka siblings really proved themselves to be who he thought they were, then maybe this didn't have to be a one-time mission.
Being ANBU was prestigious, but really it was just an excuse for the wealthy, meddling Daimyo to play humans as pawns and suck the last bit of enjoyment out of being a shinobi, which granted, was not much left anyhow. He was bound to their whims. Perhaps, if he could find out more reasons to set out on these personal missions (which he knew he could, he had a whole mental list of them), he could finally get something worthwhile done. Could he possibly convince Tsunade of it?
He smirked. If I play my cards right, who knows?
They reached the small town that Hana had located and sought refuge for the night. After a hot meal at the inn they found, they had retreated to the room for some much-needed sleep after the long two-day trek through the forest.
Hana awoke in the night shivering from the coldness in the room, and when she had gathered full consciousness of her surroundings, she noticed she had kicked her bed covers off the mattress. I always do that, she grumbled mentally, forcing herself to sit up to pull the blankets back over her. She was about to flop back onto the bed and resume her slumber, before she noticed she, her snoring brother, and their snoozing hounds were the only ones in the room.
And Ibiki? she wondered excitedly. Where did he go off to without telling us? What could be the reason for sneaking out at this hour of the night so secretly? Cautiously she crawled out of the bed so as not to wake her brother up, and tip-toed around a bit to make sure Ibiki wasn't hiding in the darker corners of the room. Nope, he's definitely not in here.
Eichi opened an eye as she walked over a squeaky floorboard, stopping as she watched him lift his head up in curiosity when he saw his human partner wandering off. She signaled to the light-sleeping dog to keep quiet and go back to sleep. He reluctantly put his head back down, but kept an eye open, just in case. Hana resumed walking.
Maybe she was just being overly suspicious and on guard, like her mother accused her of being. But it did seem a little strange that the head of interrogation and torture would want to enlist the help of a 17-year-old freshman Tokubetsu Jounin like her brother, and a Chuunin veterinary medic-nin like herself, after Tsume rejected his mission proposal. Why was everything so secretive? Was all of this a ruse for a bigger plan Ibiki had, a cover so that Tsunade wouldn't get on his case? He was still being incredibly vague about the exact objective of the mission. She was still fuming about what he had said the night before to her, so that hadn't helped improve her impression of him, either.
Sure, they knew they were looking for a "bad guy" named Onbin Kairai, and Ibiki had given them a swatch of torn fabric—supposedly belonging to the target—so their canines could track his scent from it, but that was the extent on it. Maybe they were crazy too for going along with the mission under such unknown terms, but Tsunade wouldn't have agreed to it if there hadn't been a good reason, right? It had to be legitimate, right? And Kiba was so excited to be on this mission, his first apart from Tsume since getting promoted, probably to prove himself outside of his famous mother's shadow. Hana walked towards the door, intent now on finding out his whereabouts. Maybe now she'd be able to discover whatever shady business he was up to and—
To her disappointment, her adventure ended right after she opened the door, because Ibiki was sitting on a bench right in the hallway.
He looked up at her, but did not seem to be surprised by her appearance. He had stopped playing with something in his hand for the moment, but when he turned away from her Hana was able to see it was a small pocketknife.
"Now you know I don't sleep," he said to her.
She scrunched her mouth in disapproval. "I'm a bit disappointed, you know. That this ends up being what you're doing in the middle of the night. Thought it'd be something more intriguing."
"You have little faith in me," he replied. "Don't give up just yet on my intrigue. Anyways, you should go to sleep."
"Same to you."
He didn't reply, and turned away from her as he kept snapping the pocketknife open and then sliding it back into its sheath, the swooping slice and click of the motion the only sound. Open and close. Swoosh and click.
"You could cut yourself doing that so quickly," she said uneasily into the silence. He didn't say anything in reply.
"You know, if you're trying to defend us, that thing would be pretty useless. I mean, who would you try to ward off, the old lady at the front desk?" She didn't actually think that he intended the small knife as his mode of defense, but his silence was making her uneasy, and she had to lessen the tenseness somehow. "You really should get some rest. We've got four tank-sized hounds for protection. You don't need to be so on guard all the time."
She laughed quietly and awkwardly into the silent hallway. While Ibiki didn't join in laughing, he did slightly sigh before finally speaking.
"But I do."
He looked away from her then, and Hana watched as he seemed to become engulfed in his own thoughts once again, resuming the swish and click of his knife.
He was behaving strangely. An eccentric man, her mother had called him. There was an expression on his face that made her feel sad for him, though she couldn't exactly place why. His mind was on something else entirely, something he wasn't about to let her in on, his face worn and serious. I'll let him be, she thought, beginning to feel the pull of exhaustion on her eyelids. With one last look at him, she entered the hotel room and closed the door quietly behind her.
The next morning, they sat outside at a small eatery for breakfast. It was nice to be able to eat a savory, hearty meal, as it was likely they would not have another chance for this once they got deeper into the mission.
"So today we'll make it into the town Onbin Kairai is reputed to have been seen," Ibiki announced, after they had finished eating. "I should probably let you know the real reason we need to track this guy down."
Both Hana and Kiba stared at him, mouths open.
"The real reason?" said Kiba. "What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing I've said so far has been untrue," Ibiki began, holding up a hand at the protest. "There's just…iieee…a bit more to the story. Onbin is nothing more than an opportunist, who does all the dirty work for whoever pays the most. On top of that, he's a master at disguising himself. "Kairai" isn't his real first name; no one really knows what it is. I imagine he gets kicks out of making fun of himself, calling himself a puppet, while he makes all his money at their expense. He's a dealer, smuggler, extortionist, counterfeiter—pretty much anything that's criminal but doesn't have a life in prison sentence here in Fire country."
"So are we targeting him based on those crimes?" asked Hana.
"Not exactly," replied Ibiki. "But it's the involvement in those crimes that makes him so valuable. He knows the black market and underground scene—and who's involved in it—like the back of his hand. Prime qualities for an informant, a spy too for that matter. And he knows how to cover his tracks. It's not impossible to find him, but he sure doesn't make it easy. That's where you two come in."
He continued. "For whatever reason, the small team we had on his trail stopped tracking him. His file went from 'High Threat' down to 'Person of Interest,' though I still hear his name pop up regularly in my interrogations."
"Why would they do that?" said Kiba as he offered Akamaru the rest of the food on his plate, which the ninken took happily.
"Could be many reasons. He's never committed a 'serious crime,' by Konoha's standards. They think the manpower used to track him could be better utilized somewhere else," he replied. "Could be an inside job. "
"What do you mean? Like corruption?" Hana implored. "Do you think there's somebody within the system helping him out?"
He looked straight at Hana. "Yes. There could be."
"Shit," breathed Kiba.
"So you see why it's important we find him," Ibiki continued. "If there doesn't seem to be corruption going on in our ranks, which I'm hoping is the case, it doesn't hurt having such a potentially dangerous person roaming free and without surveillance."
Hana spoke next. "But why are you the only person worried about this? The whole thing just isn't right. Practically screams suspicion."
Ibiki shrugged. "I ask myself that kind of question every day. No one seems to think it's something to be concerned about. I think he's laying low for something big. He's quiet, but not that quiet. I took a verbal beating from Tsunade before she agreed to it, but by the time I convinced her I could see she was getting a little wary too. Which is why this mission was my only hope in figuring this out. No one else is going to do it."
The three sat for moment, pensive as they digested the information.
"And who knows? It could turn out he's just a simple criminal and there's nothing more to it. But if not? We've got a serious problem." Ibiki finished it off with a question. "We're on the same page, now?"
The other two nodded.
"All right, let's form a plan."
They arrived in the small town just before sunset. The run-down, faded entrance sign read, "Welcome to River Village," but the state of the sign plus the lack of people outside showed just how much the town truly meant the message it broadcasted.
Hana surveyed their surroundings as she walked. For a place located next to a river it seemed pretty lifeless, even though it wasn't so late in the day; no crowds bustling in the streets after work, no fishing boats, no evening peddlers showcasing their stock. The few who were outside—a group of middle-aged men playing cards—briefly glanced at them and then returned to their game, disinterested.
"Not so happy to see us, huh?" murmured Kiba.
Hana nodded. "Pretty calm town, I guess."
"Or pretty boring," her brother retorted.
Ibiki stepped up next to them. "It's a town hit hard after the Third Shinobi World War, unfortunately—still struggling to rebuild themselves. A perfect place for a hideout. Small town, but people keep to themselves. Seems like lots of travelers come through here too, so it isn't odd to see someone unknown. Makes me wonder how a rumor got started, there doesn't seem to be much interest in what other people are doing."
"Well one thing's for sure," said Hana. "His scent's all over this town. Now we just need to find exactly where."
They scanned the immediate area for a possible place to begin.
"Why don't we ask that guy over there?" Hana suggested, indicating in the direction of the group of men with cards. One of them in particular sat off to the side, watching the game being played. "Seems like he might talk since he's not playing. Maybe he'll know something."
"We could try," answered Ibiki. "But I don't know how much they're going to know."
Hana walked up to him, Kiba and Ibiki following behind her. "Excuse me," she said politely, and he seemed annoyed when he looked at her.
"What?" was the short answer. He looked like he wanted to do anything but speak to her, but probably did so out of the last surviving shreds of decorum that may have been engrained in him years ago.
"Sorry to bother you, but we're looking for someone called Onbin Kairai. Have you heard of him?"
"Oh yeah, don't we know him," the man grumbled. "Spends his day in that bar there, being loud and obnoxious with his buddies." He scowled at them. "That's why we don't like outsiders here."
They left him to his grumpiness.
"Now I really feel welcomed," said Kiba, as Hana approached them again. "Yeah, he was a jerk, but he seemed to know full well who Onbin was."
"All day at a bar?" Ibiki posited to the siblings. "That can't be the real guy. He usually only shows his face in public when there's a job to be done, doesn't spend too much time in one place. Trust me, we'll know who he is when we encounter him."
Hana shrugged. "Well, if it's not him, let's see who we do have on our hands."
After two hours they left the bar prepared for the next step. Ibiki had been correct; the man in the bar was not the real Onbin, and proved to be quite dim-witted instead. He pretty much handed them a silver platter of what his plans—where he would go, where he was staying that night—would be after he got finished fill of drinking, as he talked loudly in the bar with his friends. The Onbin double was clearly was not trained in fighting skills, and was not a physical threat, and they knew they would not need to employ much combat.
They booked a room at the same inn the imposter mentioned—under the pretense of being regular travelers—but no one at the front desk seemed to care either way. They would use the room for their interrogation, and search their would-be captive's afterwards for anything else they could use. After this the three shinobi split up to be able to keep watch for the imposter to leave the bar and wander into their trap. Hana took her post on top of a hill where she had a clear overhead view. Kiba and Ibiki took their posts somewhere in the vicinity so that they could have the imposter surrounded in case he tried to escape.
The air at night was cool and fresh, perfect for sitting outside to unwind, if Hana weren't on a mission. Still, even if she was on watch for the Onbin imposter, she could take a few moments to relax. Two of the Haimaru Brothers, Inbi and Eichi, sat around her, while Yami, the youngest and always most antsy of the triplets, walked around sniffing and exploring the surrounding area. She combed through Inbi's fur as he was the closest to her, trying to remove the woodsy debris he had collected throughout it from their trek through the forest. She'd do the same for the other two later.
There was a crunch behind her from someone walking over and breaking a stick in the grass. She had heard the footsteps before, and sensed who the owner of them was, but didn't look behind her until the sound of the snapping twig indicated that the person had arrived. She turned to Ibiki, an eyebrow slightly raised in question.
"Brought you this."
He handed her a small, shiny golden object. It looked like a slim rectangular box with a tiny hook on it, something you could wear on a necklace. "What is it?"
"It's a smoke screen device. Smash it and poof, you'll buy a little time to get away. Just make sure to hold your breath and close your eyes, or else it'll burn like hell for a good couple of hours," Ibiki said. "There's no telling what we might run into next, you may need it."
That was actually quite a clever contraption, and could be incredibly handy if she needed a quick escape. She gave him a small but civil smile. "Thanks," she said, placing it a hidden pocket under the hem of her shirt, as she didn't have a necklace to attach it to.
He didn't immediately walk away, and Hana presumed that his real purpose for seeking her out wasn't to give her a defense gadget.
He cleared his throat. "I want to apologize for what I said last night," he said. "You didn't deserve all that was said."
He gestured to the ground, a silent question as to whether he could take a seat. "Do you mind?"
"Go ahead."
He sat down, and stared out to the scenery below. Yami came over to sniff him, and even let Ibiki pat his head before returning to his pacing once he deemed everything okay. Hana looked over at the shinobi captain through the corner of her eye. She hadn't been expecting this out of the elusive man. Apologizing to her? Had he been contemplating this since that night? All this time she thought he had been gloating in his self-glory and sadistic pleasure in seeing others squirm, but he didn't seem so much like that now.
"Strange man," she repeated in her head, a maxim that seemed to pop up in her head every time he was concerned. Strange, but was he as dreadful as she originally thought him to be?
Perhaps she had been softening towards him since seeing him last night, looking so tired and inconsolable. She didn't know who he was and what he had gone through in life, but she did know a thing or too about being misunderstood. And sometimes people deserve a second chance.
"You know, it was bothering me, what you said last night," replied Hana. "But I must admit, on some things, I could see how you got the impression. It got me thinking all night. Is that how I feel? Do I find my mother lacking? And I don't think that's it; she's incredible, and has gone through so much to raise my brother and me. She's the best person I've ever known, but I don't think I've really shown her that. My behavior probably makes it seem as though I'm ungrateful, and I didn't mean that at all."
She picked absent-mindedly at Inbi's fur, a habit she picked up whenever she was starting to feel anxious. She hadn't meant to start saying so much to him, but maybe it was the apology, or how she'd been ruminating since that night about what she should've said to defend herself, but hadn't. Maybe it was because he dealt with minds all day long. He had that effect on people. No wonder he's the lead of the Interrogation department, she joked to herself ruefully.
"But we don't agree on everything, on major things, and so we fight. She puts all this pressure on me to fulfill everything she's wanted but feels she couldn't do, and she doesn't even recognize she does it," she continued. "And I do not have a grudge on my brother. You got that wrong. It's true our father preferred being around Kiba, but that's because Kiba was younger and looked up to our father, so they got along better. Kouro didn't have to deal with angry looks and snide remarks with Kiba, like he did with me. He was just happy to see his dad when he decided to show up. I don't hold that against Kiba at all.
I admit I am still bitter about a father who didn't put in the effort he should have done to raise his kids, and then left us when he could have used our support after being prisoner for so long in Amegakure. He could face war and S-rank shinobi without hesitation or fear, but when it came to having a meaningful conversation with his daughter, or repairing his relationship with his family, he couldn't do it."
She looked directly at Ibiki. "You barely know me, or my family. You talk to our mother maybe once a month, if even that. You don't know our lives, so don't act as if you do."
Ibiki spoke after a few moments of silence. "I agree, I deserve the vitriol. I don't think I was fair to you," he replied, looking back at her, not shying away from the gaze. Always such an intense look, and she could never really tell what he was thinking. "For that, I am sorry. I've become too cynical. My interpretation is often right among criminals, who usually have ill intentions, but when it comes to decent people I admit I've become a bit rough."
There was still the residual anger from everything that had been said, but Hana could feel a wave of relief after letting herself talk. There was so much she could still say, but this wasn't a flipping therapy session, and he probably didn't want to hear it. Plus, she was sure she had shared too much even at this point. But he sounded sincere and she was impressed he apologized to her, which was highly respected in her clan. Now it was her turn.
"I guess I haven't been so fair to you, either," she said honestly. "I should apologize too for being so judgmental towards you. I've been rude to you since the beginning, and I'm sorry as well. Maybe we won't tear each other's heads off, after all."
He seemed to find that comment amusing. "If you don't tear my head off by the end of this mission, then you can try your own hand at interpreting my character, like I did to you. You'll have fun. I assure you, I'm not lacking in my own problems." He stuck his hand out to seal the deal.
"I don't doubt it, and sounds fair." She shook his hand back. "I won't go easy on you."
He was about to respond before their conversation was cut off when Fake Onbin was then visible below, walking towards the building at the bottom of the hill along with two other people alongside him, loudly singing off-key. Or stumbling, rather, since it was clear they'd all been drinking well past their tolerance levels.
Ibiki turned back to her. "Get Kiba," he grinned, excitement burning in his eyes, a predator encountering his prey. "We're on."
The Onbin imposter proved to be a cinch to capture. He clearly was simply a regular civilian with no special training, probably some poor schmuck who was paid off to do the deed by the real Onbin. And he was drunk off his ass. He awoke after a good twenty minutes after being stunned, looking absolutely confused as he opened his eyes to find himself among three strangers in a hotel room, his so-called bodyguards bound, gagged, and unconscious in the corner.
"Aggh!" he screamed, sobering up quickly when the realization hit. "I'm sorry! Who are you? I don't know anything!" He writhed around to no avail. There was no way he'd be able to escape the tight ropes around his wrists, legs, and ankles.
Ibiki could hear the Inuzukas failing to hold in a laugh. He knew what they were thinking. This is the guy Onbin used as a decoy?
Ibiki shook his head. "What's your name?"
"Kuba Shirou!" said the man instantly.
Well questioning him's not going to be difficult, Ibiki thought.
"What is your affiliation with Onbin Kairai?"
"I don't know! I don't even know who that is," Shirou replied. "Some guy just came up to me a week ago, saying he'd pay me a bunch of money to pretend I was someone else for a week. Called himself Ichi or something. That I needed to make myself known to start rumors that Onbin Kairai was here. Hell, with what he paid me I'd do it for a month."
Ibiki nodded casually to the men tied up across the room. "And who are they?"
"My buds from grade school," he answered. "This guy wanted me to look like I had bodyguards. Start calling myself Onbin Kairai. That's who you're looking for, right?"
Ibiki sighed. "I know exactly what this means," he mumbled to himself, turning back up to the scared man in front of him. Damn it. I fell for for Onbin's trick…it seemed too easy that he'd be in this town, though it seemed like the perfect place for someone to hide out. But he had been here before. He knew "Ichi" had to be him.
"What else can you tell me about your meeting with this Ichi guy?"
Shirou looked like he was thinking hard about something. "He was really strange, had a mask on that looked like a wolf…and a hooded cloak. Scared the bejeezus out of me at first, until he showed me the money."
Not good enough information. This guy had no idea who he had spoken to. He just took the money and ran, most likely what Onbin expected him to do. It made sense now, why he chose Shirou. Someone like him doesn't need answers to take money, he's gullible enough to think there's no strings attached.
"Anything else?"
"He was completed covered…I couldn't even see his skin. He was my height?"
He turned to the siblings and spoke quietly to them, shaking his head. "There's nothing he can give us. Is there anything you both can use?" Ibiki hoped there'd be something—anything—they'd be able to collect from this situation.
Hana stepped up. "Are those your clothes?" she asked Shirou, indicating the garb he had on.
"Not all, this coat is what he gave me. Said it would make me more believable."
Hana and Kiba then signaled to their hounds to gather information from the coat, and Shirou looked slightly nervous at the four large dogs sniffing his clothes and around him.
"What most people don't know is washing clothes doesn't remove all the scents we can use," she murmured to Ibiki, so Shirou couldn't hear. "We've got ninken—not your typical canines. They can smell even the most trace amounts, as well as which ones are more embedded in the fabric than others. If that coat does belong to Onbin, we'll be able to detect his scent in the deeper layers."
"Yep, he's got two human scents on him," said Kiba, rejoining them and speaking in a hushed tone. "One is his own; the other is unknown, likely our guy."
Ibiki nodded. "One would presume. I just don't know if it's another tactic to lead us astray again." They'd be running around in circles at this point. He had top-notch trackers on his team, but what good would they be if they just were being led on a fruitless chase that would end in them being tricked again?
"Maybe that's it. But considering we recently called off trailing him, he may not think anyone's following anymore, and is being more careless with his disguise," said Hana. She nodded towards Shirou, who was looking around the room nervously. "Case in point."
"I might have an idea of where we can start," said Kiba tentatively. "He also smells like glaze—you know, what potters use to paint ceramics? It's unmistakeable. This is a particular kind though—Kasai glaze—that only comes from Nendo City. You can't get it anywhere else, except when it's already painted and fired on your pottery, and you have a couple thousand dollars at your disposal. It's exclusive, high-grade stuff."
After he finished speaking, he realized Ibiki and Hana's surprised but pleased looks on their faces.
"Stuff you learn at the Hyuuga's?" he said, shrugging, answering the question he knew was on their minds of how he could know such a thing about ceramics and the quality grade of its glaze. "Hinata's always been into artsy things."
"That's great!" said Hana excitedly. "We can search Shirou's room too for anything that could have belonged to Onbin, and build a profile based on all the scents our dogs detect. Start our search in Nendo City and go from there. Chances are that whoever holds the combination of all these particular scents at once is our guy."
Ibiki grinned. "Nice job, Kiba," he said simply, walking away. But the satisfied expression on his face indicated to the young man that he had done something very good, and Kiba couldn't help feeling a swoop of accomplishment.
He could hear Hana as he walked away, proudly patting him on the back and congratulating him happily as Kiba sheepishly accepted the praise.
He smiled to himself. Point one for the Inuzukas.
Nendo City wasn't far, as it was the next biggest city after the small River Village. It was a completely different story than the struggling, rundown village they had just left, instead being a beautiful, wealthy city with tall, intricate architecture. It was interesting to Hana how such opulence could be so close to poverty, and made her feel sad towards the lonely, forgotten town they had been to previously.
Still, there was no denying the allure of this large city. She had always heard all about it back in Konoha but had never before visited. Festivals were often set here, the central hub of art and fashion in Fire Country, where life hustled and bustled for trendy, up-and-coming civilians. It wasn't the largest city in the country, but still held its own esteem despite.
There seemed to be a festival going on at the moment, though the purpose for it was not clear. The city seemed to always have some sort of celebration going on, so the reasons behind it were probably left purposely flexible. What mattered was that there was plenty of food, drinks, music, and people enjoying themselves in the revelry.
It also meant it would make finding Onbin that much more difficult, with all the overstimulation. Hana and Kiba were confident if they couldn't find their target, they could at least find a trail of his scent that could lead them in the right direction. They just had to keep their eyes open and senses alert.
They had taken post on top of the buildings that lined the main street where the festival was taking place. It was where the most people were concentrated, so it exposed the ninken to as many people and as many scents as possible to increase their chances of finding something worthwhile. For a long time they didn't seem to have any luck, and Hana was beginning to worry they might have a dead end after all. No one seemed to be all that suspicious, just regular people having fun in the festivities.
Still they kept watch. Hours later, when boredom was starting to consume not only her but Kiba and Ibiki as well, she saw the Haimaru Triplets and Akamaru all seem to heighten their pace of sniffing and join their noses together in the same direction. She instantly felt a jolt of excitement, and her gaze followed their indication.
An elderly fruit vendor was walking away from the crowd, hauling his too-heavy cart filled with a wide variety of sweet watermelons, nectarines, grapes, bananas, and more.
A fruit vendor…moving away from the festival and throngs of would-be customers?
Hana nodded her head towards the old man to Ibiki and Kiba, and the three swiftly and silently followed him into the back alleys he had turned his cart into. The vendor was almost to the border of the town before the three shinobi revealed themselves from their hiding places to block each path he could possibly have to escape.
The old man stopped. "I knew someone was watching me," he said ominously.
With a swift motion of his hand he threw something to the ground and there was a sound of glass crashing at the impact. Suddenly, Hana was overcome with a feeling of dizziness, as if she were being shaken up in a bottle. The world swished and turned this way and that, making her feel sick to her stomach as she grasped for anything to keep her balance. A sharp smell like alcohol mixed with soil was stinging her nose. At first her hands reached nothing but air even though she thought there had been a wall next to her, but eventually with enough stumbling around she touched the hard stable surface of a building. Peering out in front of her, she could barely make sense of the situation everything was spinning so fast, but she could recognize by their clumsy staggering that Kiba and Ibiki were afflicted by this as well.
"It's demon's root fumes!" she heard Ibiki call out. "Find a wall a follow it to fresher air! It should wear off as long as we get far enough away from it."
Hana kept following her wall, unable to keep her vision straight. She banged her knee a number of times into the wall in her confusion, and could feel the blood trickling down her leg. Shit, she thought, wincing. She ignored the pain until finally she didn't smell that sharp stench of the invisible fumes any longer, and sat down in the fresh air in exhaustion.
"I'm out!" she called out, hoping either one of the two men would hear her and use her voice as a point of reference.
A few moments later she could hear coughing and Kiba joined her on the ground as he tried to compose himself.
"What the hell was that?" he choked out. "I feel like I'm going to throw up my liver."
"That asshole," Hana replied. "He unleashed some sort of poison or drug on us. I couldn't quite make out what Ibiki said it was called."
"Demon's root," the deep voice replied, and the siblings looked up to see Ibiki leaning against the wall looking sick. "It's a mainstay plant up here in the north, harmless in its natural form. Extract the potent oil in its roots, and you've got one nasty substance. It's been growing more popular among fringe groups as a recreational drug, must be why Onbin's got his hands on it."
"You mean people get high on that stuff?" Kiba asked incredulously.
"Well, we just got a little taste of it," said Ibiki, trying to breathe in as much clean air as possible. "At a high enough dose, it'll just make the user lose sight of reality completely and hallucinate. Sure you feel sick as hell, but we're not talking about casual users here."
"Well, you were right when you said we'd know our guy when we met him," replied Hana. They were beginning to feel better, and the ground was only slowly rocking instead of spinning now.
In their disorientation, Onbin had fled into the forest. While the three humans had continued stumbling around trying to regain composure from the drug's effects, their canine companions had continued their pursuit. It was the one thing the escaping criminal wasn't expecting; while the canines' sense of vision was warped, their noses couldn't be tricked. Following their target, the four dogs quickly caught up with him, knocking him to the ground and taking hold of each of his limbs by sinking their teeth into the fabric of his clothes.
Onbin had only used enough of the drug to work for short time so he could getaway, so it was only a matter of a few minutes before the three shinobi had recovered and followed the chakra bond of their ninken to join their captive, looking pitiful as the powerful dogs held him in place on the ground, his limbs splayed out.
"Ohooo!" he said when he caught sight of them. "Nice puppies you've got here! I must say this wasn't something I had in mind would happen." The Haimaru Brothers and Akamaru were still holding him down and they growled when he moved as if to remind him to not pull any other tricks. Now that his disguise was gone, the man who had appeared elderly before now looked surprisingly young, at least compared to how Hana imagined him to be. He was by no means a good-looking man, with dull skin, a narrow nose, and eyes too close together, but judging by the lack of wrinkles on his face, he couldn't have been more than thirty. His hair was shaggy and unruly, like he had never took pains to run a comb through it.
"Onbin Kairai!" Ibiki announced. "We finally meet."
"Who is that, with such a stupid name?" he cackled. "I have no idea who you're talking about, but he must be pretty famous to have complete strangers following him wanting to meet him."
"Cut the act, Onbin. You're way out of your league."
Onbin smiled. "What is it that you want with me? If you wanted my autograph you could've just asked."
"We want you to be a good citizen and confess to all the illegal business you're guilty of doing. You seem to be quite popular among the prisoners where I'm from," said Ibiki.
"You're implicated in a long list of crimes, my friend. And we're going to prove it, so you may as well just admit them now."
"There's nothing I've done. Don't you think it's unwise to trust the word of prisoners looking for a scapegoat?"
"Not in the way I've gotten their word, if you catch my drift. My question is, how have you been able to get away with it all for so long? Seems a little too convenient."
"I may be be weak, but I prove you don't need physical strength to have power. Just brains, bucks, and blackmail, and you've got the world at your hands. Heh heh!"
"A lot of alibis and friends you can buy with all that money you've saved up, right?"
"That's right. You shinobi don't care, the police don't care, until us 'civilians' actually are a threat. Then you worry," he grinned. "Then you worry, and want us on your side."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Whoops! Did I say too much?"
"I know you're up to something, Onbin," Ibiki replied, after what seemed like a moment of evaluation. "And we're going to find out what." He crouched down and placed a hand jovially on the scrawny man's shoulders, like he was an old friend. "You just won yourself a personally escorted trip back to Konoha. Aren't you lucky?"
He then did a series of hand motions and suddenly Onbin's body faltered, his head falling to the side like he had just been smacked across the head and knocked out without anyone touching him. The dogs released him when they saw he was no longer moving.
"That'll teach him," Ibiki muttered, his demeanor much lighter now. "That's that then! Time to head home now, yes?"
Hana picked up the limp limb of Onbin Kairai and let it drop down again. "What do we do with him now?"
"He'll be ok," Ibiki answered flippantly. "I didn't go too hard on him."
"He's unconscious."
"Yeah, come around in an hour or so," replied Ibiki, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. "The annoying part's carrying the buffoon back home."
He turned to the siblings, smirking. "That's where you Inuzukas come in, eh?"
Hauling an unconscious Onbin was not fun, to say the least. He wasn't too large of a man, thankfully, but that didn't mean he wasn't a pain in the ass to carry. They needed the dogs to navigate their way back through the dense forest and keep guard, and also carry the large stash of items they confiscated from the captured criminal (an assortment of illegal demon root extract, hordes of cash and stolen jewelry, and as Kiba had surmised, bottles of Kasai glaze that would have surely sold for a hefty sum, indicating this wasn't the first time Onbin had done this).
Everything had been strategically hidden in hollowed out melons and various fruit, which had further been hidden underneath untampered, real fruit. They would have to return the glaze to Nendo City later, but first they needed the evidence for booking; the higher the value of stolen goods, the higher the crime he could charge Onbin to keep him under Konoha's guard until he could investigate further into the more serious crimes.
That left Hana and Kiba as the lucky ones tasked with swinging a limp arm around each of their shoulders and dragging the dead weight. At least when their captive woke up, they could make him walk and finally rest their tired limbs, but there was no telling when that would be. They had already been traveling like this since they had left the border of Nendo City a while ago.
"Come on, Inuzukas!" Ibiki barked with gusto. "You can move faster than that!"
"You know," quipped Kiba to Ibiki, his voice strained under the weight. "I'm starting to like you a lot less right now." He dragged out the "lot" to make the word crystal clear.
"Don't encourage him," Hana retorted to her brother, her voice strained as well. "The more we hate it the more he loves it!"
"That's right. I'm a sick bastard, kids!"
They groaned at his booming laughter. It was like this for another half hour—but felt like an hour or longer to Hana and Kiba—with Ibiki's harassment and the exchange of mutterings between the sibings, when they at last felt a stirring on their shoulders.
They let Onbin down to sit next to a tree as he came to, quickly tying his arms together before he could fully awaken. His eyes were now opening and beginning to focus on his surroundings. He tried to rub his fingers through his hair and discovered his arms were bound behind his back.
"So you've got me," he said. "I suppose there's not any way I could talk myself out of this?"
"Not a chance," said Ibiki, smirking as he pat down a bag swung around Akamaru's back. "Some nice surprises we found inside those fruits you were hauling."
"Why are you always the one talking?" Onbin interjected. "Why not this strapping young man? Or the pretty lady over there?" He flitted a smile towards Hana. She cringed.
"Because I'm going to be your good friend for the next couple weeks," Ibiki replied, grinning a strange grin. "Shouldn't we get used to each other?"
Onbin looked slightly uncomfortable at Ibiki's insinuation, but then seemed to want to keep up the charade.
"Well then, how did I get chosen for such an honor? What harm could a low-level civilian like me do to a bunch of strong shinobi like you?"
"That's what we'll find out, won't we? Now, you could try to live up to your name and stay quiet. Or are you like that pitiful double you employed? His constant talking led the hawks right to the rabbit hole."
"You fell for that one? Ha ha!" he said. "If you ask me, I call that a success. He may be pitiful but he still got paid, and served his purpose. You should get used to my voice now; when we reach your town and you do whatever it is you're going to do me, then you'll see how quiet I can be."He started a fit of obnoxious laughter.
There was a abrasive noise that suddenly cut through the air, like something being stripped off, and everyone stopped what they were doing to look over in Hana's direction. She held a newly ripped piece of duct tape, the perfect size to cover a mouth.
"You're not putting that on me," Onbin protested, squirming.
"Oh we are," she replied, placing it squarely over his mouth. "See those hounds over there? Those are mine. They've got quite the tempers, and incisors that can slice through your femoral bone like cake. Make another bit of noise and I just might just let them." Her Haimaru Brothers then growled at him, baring their teeth. He gulped, and nodded swiftly.
Ibiki nodded, smiling. Point two.
They blindfolded him tightly so he wouldn't be able to see or remember the location of Konoha, and continued on.
They arrived back in Konoha in the middle of the afternoon, ready to take Onbin to his new home in a 5-foot by 7-foot cell, in a small prison attached to the Interrogation headquarters. As Ibiki left to fill in his guards about what they were in for with their new prisoner, and Kiba tended to the hounds, Hana was tasked with holding Onbin to make sure he didn't pull any tricks to escape. She was attempting to ignore him as best she could while still staying alert on his movements, but he kept stealing jittery glances at her. She was uncomfortable to say the least.
He started saying something, but with the tape over his mouth, it was nothing but mumbling. She refused to turn. He persisted.
"Mmph! Mmmphmmphmmph!"
She ripped the tape off, and not delicately. "What?" she snapped. "Say it quick or shut up."
"You're not going to stop me," he said to Hana. Then he leaned in close to whisper to her. "I'll let you in on a secret. That ANBU man won't find out anything. He'll try, oh he'll try, but he won't be able to do it. Not the important stuff, anyway." He could hardly contain his giggles in between. "Now you know the secret!"
Onbin truly was a creepy guy, seriously off. What did he mean there was a secret? Every prisoner probably thought he could ward off the interrogators. Crazy creep…
Hana stuck the tape back over his mouth. "That's enough talking for now. Don't you think, Puppet?"
She then let the guard shinobi, who had just walked up with Ibiki, take him to his cell. Ibiki smiled at her when she turned back around. "Having fun?"
"I—" she paused in thought of an answer, and decided to answer truthfully instead of in her usual aloofness. "All this action, traveling around, planning schemes, interrogating people…it reminds me of when I was training as a combat shinobi. I almost forget why I left it all."
"I must say this all is making me wonder the same thing. I think we make a pretty good team," Ibiki mused. "Perhaps this doesn't have to be a one-time mission. You didn't tear my head of after all, do you actually find me to be quite charming now?"
"Heh, don't count on it. I doubt we'll see each other much once this mission's over. Don't go bothering me at my office."
Ibiki smirked. "If that's what you'd like, Hana."
A/N: Hope you liked it! See you next chapter~