Thank you soooo much to everyone who reviewed chapters 6 and 7! Your feed back means a lot, and I really love checking my inbox and seeing 'review alert'! Muchas Gracias!
And so...without further ado...the End of Shikamaru's Interrogation! Not the end of this story, by any means, but it's time to move on to different stuff. :)
Disclaimer reminder: See Chapter One
The interrogator's underling brought in a bound and gagged Kurenai, and Shikamaru felt his stomach twist hard. He'd tried giving the wrong information a couple of hours earlier, and the interrogator had sent someone to check. When that person didn't come back within a half hour, the man had killed Hinata.
Now, there was only Kurenai and her baby left to be used against him. The man had figured out that Shikamaru's weakness wouldn't be in direct personal harm, but rather in those whom the genius cared about. And now he was making the most of that knowledge as he stood towering over Shikamaru with a self-assured expression on his scarred face.
"Tell me where the scroll is, boy, or she'll get the same treatment as that other freaky-eyed bitch."
Shit. Motherfuckin…! Shikamaru's mind raced to find something –anything- to get Kurenai out of the room. His body was completely drained of all his strength by this time, and it hurt like hell to even think. His mouth was dry except for the blood he could taste from his own injuries, and he'd tried everything from attempting to use a jutsu to passing out to lying to suicide, but the interrogator was way too experienced and would have none of it. He had even realized that Shikamaru was low enough on chakra that the ropes might completely deplete his chakra, and so he'd put a chakra-freezing jutsu on him to prevent that kind of suicide.
Shikamaru stared desperately at Kurenai with empty eyes. He was completely out of options.
Unless he gave up the information. Where was the scroll again? Right. In the hokage's desk. But giving up that information would undoubtedly cost…a whole hell of a lot of lives, possibly hundreds. Maybe even thousands. But Kurenai…he'd made a promise to Asuma. He'd be breaking a vow either way.
Fuck! Do I give up Kurenai and her baby –Asuma's baby, the last living part of him- to save kami-knows-how-many people I've never even seen? Or can I save the two people at the top of my list, and hope the scroll turns out to be useless? What did Kakashi say –sometimes you have to give them up? I CAN'T, dammit! But I can't give up the scroll, either… Something wet rolled down Shikamaru's bruised cheek. He couldn't tell if it was warm or cool, but considering he had to be severely dehydrated by now, he figured it was more likely to be blood than a tear.
The interrogator strode over to take Kurenai from the guard. Shikamaru saw the guard leave the room, and the interrogator held Asuma's chakra blade to Kurenai's throat. She blinked and raised her pretty red eyes to the wall above Shikamaru's head to avoid meeting his gaze.
When the interrogator interrupted his thoughts, it was in a low, steady, chilling voice.
"Boy, you may be willing to die for your country." Shikamaru's eyes shifted slowly from Kurenai's face to meet the Interrogator's deadly gaze. "But…is she?"
Kurenai closed her eyes, keeping her face expressionless as stone. Shikamaru's eyes widened.
She won't ask me for anything. She knows what's at stake, and she can't decide between countless strangers and her baby any more than I can. Fuuuck.
Shikamaru tried to swallow. "She…she's a kunoichi."
The interrogator moved the tip of the blade slowly and meaningfully down to Kurenai's swollen abdomen. Kurenai tried not to gasp, but Shikamaru saw. Her eyes stayed closed.
"And what about this baby? Is he willing to die because you wouldn't give up a little piece of paper?"
This was it. If I'm going to break, it's going to be now. Can I sacrifice…for…?
No answer surfaced in his mind, and the silence in the room stretched. Nothing moved, Shikamaru stared blankly at the blade, and Kurenai didn't dare to breathe. Shikamaru could feel the man's eyes almost boring a hole through his skull. Was the scroll worth the life of Asuma's child, and probably Kurenai's life as well?
The silence stretched into what seemed like hours, until the tension in the room was palpable and deafening. Finally, the man raised the blade above his head and brought it hurtling back toward the unborn baby.
"STOP!" Shikamaru felt himself shout before it even went through his mind, and when the blade stopped mere centimeters from Kurenai's stomach, he felt his body slump.
"Where is the scroll?"
Shikamaru tried to swallow, but his mouth was too dry despite all the blood. He stared at the floor, but then closed his eyes when the floor seemed to sneer at him.
"It…it's in…the scroll is inside the wood…of the hokage's desk."
The interrogator laughed, and Kurenai started to weep. Shikamaru forced himself to look up at her face, and the pain he saw there at betraying Konoha drove through his heart like an icicle.
"You've been most helpful, Shika." The man laughed, then sliced Kurenai's throat.
"KURENAI!" Shikamaru skinned his hands ripping them free from the chakra-rope that bound him, pure adrenaline rushing through his much-abused and tortured body in defeated rage. The rope that tied his ankles to the chair legs forced the wooden chair to break as he lunged to catch Kurenai's falling body.
He barely registered the shocked expression on the interrogator's face, but he was all too aware of Kurenai's blood spurting from her throat and coating her red and white dress.
. . .
Genma glanced up from the cards in his hand at the genius sitting against the wall and the copy nin screwing with said genius's head. There was pain written on Shikamaru's face, and desperation. He hadn't made any sounds in the past several minutes, but Genma knew it was likely that Kakashi was just keeping it all inside Shikamaru's mind.
He suppressed a shudder and looked back at his cards. He selected one and placed it face up on the ground. I know he knows what he's doing, but I still wouldn't want him inside my head again, training or not.
Sakura chose a card from her hand to put on the ground, and then Kakashi raised his arm and snapped to get their attention. Something was about to happen.
Genma watched as Shikamaru's expression changed rapidly from desperation, to panic, to defeat and then rage.
That's a little disconcerting. I never pegged him for the 'rage' type…
"KURENAI!"
Kakashi leapt backwards just as Shikamaru lunged forward, and instantly Genma was between them with his hands bunched up in Shikamaru's collar. He slammed the younger man against the wall, hard.
"Shikamaru!" He didn't respond except to struggle harder at whatever image he was still seeing, so Genma spit his senbon out in the dirt and slammed him into the wall again, this time throwing his shoulder into Shikamaru's chest to overpower him without hurting him. Shikamaru punched him in the ribs, but he was too weak by now to make it hurt. Much.
"Shikamaru, snap out of it!"
Kakashi would have ended the genjutsu by now, though Genma had no intention of turning to find out for sure, so anything Shikamaru was still seeing was the result of deep immersion and dulled senses. He seemed to be realizing that something had changed, though, because the chunin slowed down in his struggles. Genma didn't let up any pressure, just to be safe.
"Shikamaru?" Sakura spoke up from somewhere to his right, and Shikamaru finally stilled. He was panting hard and his eyes were still glazed, but he was safely out of Kakashi's illusion, so Genma released some of the pressure he'd been using. His fists stayed where they were.
. . .
"KURENAI!" Shikamaru felt his body being slammed against a cold, hard wall. There were fists grabbing his collar, and someone was leaning against him with all their weight to keep him there.
"Shikamaru!"
He struggled even harder, and whoever was holding him back slammed him against the wall again and doubled their pressure. Shikamaru punched whoever it was in the side, but it didn't accomplish anything.
"Snap out of it! Shikamaru!"
He screwed his eyes shut and opened them again, and he blinked several times. He was panting hard, and his ribs and his head and his hands and his whole body still hurt, but…he wasn't in the interrogation room.
Kakashi was standing several feet back, also breathing a little harder than normal. Shikamaru looked to see who was restraining him, and he saw a blue bandanna with shoulder-length brown hair. His face was turned the other direction, and his shoulder was crushing Shikamaru against the wall.
"Shikamaru?"
His eyes snapped over to see Sakura standing a couple of feet to the left of Genma. The weight on his chest lifted, and Shikamaru saw Genma looking at him calculatingly. He glanced around the room again and took a couple of deep breaths, somewhat surprised to find that it didn't hurt quite as badly to breathe anymore.
"Where's Kurenai?"
"She's fine," Kakashi answered. He was tugging his forehead protector back into its normal position.
"Where?"
This time Sakura answered with confusion written on her face. "At home, I'd guess. It was a genjustu, Shikamaru. Kurenai's fine."
Shikamaru nodded slowly, then looked at Genma to let him know he wasn't going to do anything rash. Genma slowly released the pressure, and Shikamaru slid back down the wall as he did. Once he was sitting on the bedroll again, Genma let go of his vest and stepped back. Sakura quickly stepped forward and started checking his vitals while the senbon user went to the water cooler in the corner and filled a cup for Shikamaru. Kakashi stayed where he was.
"Hinata?"
Sakura shook her head. "No, it's me, Sakura." She touched his forehead lightly, concerned. Kakashi chuckled humorlessly.
"Hinata's fine too."
Shikamaru nodded numbly and tipped his head back against the wall with a soft thunk, and Sakura's eyes widened in realization. She said nothing as she unzipped his vest and placed her hand over his heart, checking blood pressure and chakra levels.
Genma came back over with a cup half-filled with water and held it down to Shikamaru, who lifted his hand to accept it. He paused when his hand was halfway to the cup and looked at his hand. It was trembling from the sudden adrenaline rush seconds ago.
"I could've sworn…" he muttered, turning his hand over as he looked at it. He shakily opened and closed his fist a couple of times, then accepted the cup with a nod of thanks. He took a couple of sips, then put it down.
"Shino?"
"Still out training with his father, last I heard," Sakura told him gently. "Your heart's racing. How do you feel?"
Shikamaru closed his eyes. "Fuck, I hurt," he breathed. "All over."
"Sakura, check him for broken ribs. Anything else will just be minor pulls and cramps."
Sakura glanced at her sensei in surprise, but her hands went to explore Shikamaru's ribs just the same. "Is that…common?"
Kakashi shook his head. "Not common, but not rare either. Illusions feel so real that the body strains itself, and that causes injuries. Ribs are the only bones I've seen broken that way."
Sakura nodded, and for a few moments, nobody said anything. Shikamaru sat staring at the ceiling as Sakura finished checking him for injuries.
"One cracked rib, but it's not too serious. Let's get your vest off."
He obeyed her like a meek child, not really paying attention as she helped him lean forward to pull it off his shoulders. He wasn't really thinking about anything; he was still coming to terms with the fact that it had all been an illusion.
"It was all an illusion?"
Kakashi nodded, but Shikamaru wasn't looking. Genma answered out loud. "Yeah. You remember why?"
Shikamaru blanked for a moment. He recognized the room, and he could feel something tugging at his memory. He backtracked everything that had happened.
The illusion must have started before he was in the room with the interrogator. Before that, he'd been captured, and before that he'd talked with Shino, Hinata, and Kurenai. Before that he'd come out of the jonin headquarters, after waking up…
In this room.
Okay, so…the night before…what had he done the night before?
Training. Interrogation training.
Of course. So that was the training.
He nodded slowly. "Training. The Sharingan."
He glanced down to see that Sakura's hand was glowing green over his ribs, and he realized she was healing the crack she'd mentioned a couple of moments ago.
"So…how'd you do?" Genma asked quietly.
Shikamaru looked back up at the ceiling.
"I broke," he whispered. He closed his eyes, and a silent tear slid down his cheek.
Kakashi spoke up from where he was sitting on the floor in the center of the room. "That was the point. And you were damn hard to break."
"Doesn't matter. I still betrayed…" he didn't finish the statement; he just took a deep breath and let it back out slowly.
Genma looked down at him with sympathy in his brown eyes. He knew Shikamaru was feeling pretty rotten about himself right now, not to mention still in a lot of pain. Sleep tonight would be difficult for the genius.
The air in the room was getting a little heavy. Terrifying and disturbing images were still running through Shikamaru's mind every time he closed his eyes, and even if they were to ever stop, it was unlikely that his body would let him rest comfortably.
"What time is it?"
Genma glanced at his watch. "Ten thirty."
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, and Kakashi chuckled.
"Did it seem longer than five and a half hours or shorter?"
"Both."
"Hn."
"They're really all fine?"
"Yeah."
"…and there was no attack."
"Right."
Silence stretched for several more minutes, then Genma spoke again.
"Sakura, how's he doing?"
She kept her hand glowing over his cracked rib as she answered.
"He's finally calming down a little. His heart rate's slowing down, and he's relaxing a little. He may have fallen asleep from exhaustion…"
"I'm not asleep."
Sakura smiled sadly to herself. "Oh. Well, I'm almost done healing your rib. You probably feel like you're almost completely out of chakra, but you're actually at about 90%. The genjutsu suppressed your chakra system, and it'll probably take you till morning to recover from that."
Shikamaru made a small sound of acknowledgement, and then the room lapsed back into silence for several seconds.
"There, good as new." She glanced at his hands, then took hold of one of his wrists and lifted it, pushing his sleeve up in the process to reveal the reddish line trailing up the top of his arm. She touched the mark lightly, then passed a glowing hand over his arm and it disappeared. Sakura frowned.
"I don't know what kind of pain your body was reacting to or how many of these marks you have, but it's just that. A reaction to pain. These marks will be gone in a few hours."
"So what now?" Shikamaru's question was clearly directed at Kakashi, even though his eyes were closed.
"Now…we both rest. Tomorrow or the next day we'll go over any questions you have, but right now I'm about as drained as you are."
"Serves you right."
A smirk played at the corner of Genma's mouth at Shikamaru's smartass answer. Kakashi chuckled softly, relieved.
"One question. Why?"
"…why what?"
"Why…at the end…after I broke?" Why did Kurenai still die?
Kakashi took a deep breath. "Because that's how it works. When there's no further use for a hostage…they usually die."
Shikamaru frowned. "But there would have been a use. I could've-"
Kakashi cut him off. "No. You couldn't have lied again, and some interrogators really are that cruel. Once they know you're broken, they'll keep twisting you just for the hell of it. Remember that."
Shikamaru opened his eyes and fixed them on Kakashi. Nobody said anything for a few seconds, then Shikamaru looked away and reached for his hip pouch.
He first checked for Asuma's chakra blades, and he felt a little easier when his fingertips brushed against the cool metal. He left them where they were and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, glancing at each person in the room to see if they objected. No one did, so he shook one out of the pack and lit it.
He took a long, deep drag and held it, then let it out.
"Shikamaru?"
He glanced up at Sakura, who had left off checking him out. Genma had gone back to sit down, and Kakashi had moved to lean against the opposite wall.
"Hm?" He took another long drag.
"Why did you agree to this training?" she asked softly.
He sighed. Of course she didn't understand. "How much did you hear?"
"That Kakashi-sensei was…when he said he would…break you."
Shikamaru nodded.
Genma's gaze darted over to Sakura for a moment as he shuffled the cards, wondering what the genius would tell the medic. He didn't say anything, because if it was up to him, she would have to go through some form of the same training –although he wouldn't inflict the intensity of the Sharingan on anyone who didn't specifically volunteer.
"Because I needed to."
Sakura nodded. The confusion in her green eyes was unresolved, but she seemed to be willing to let that question drop. Shikamaru took another puff on his cigarette, and then he stubbed it out.
"Are you okay?"
He sighed again and closed his eyes.
Physically? His body seemed to have settled into an intense but uniform ache, and he couldn't feel the chakra Sakura said was still there.
Mentally…he'd just been fucked six ways from Sunday.
"Ask me in the morning."
Next time: A couple days later. And don't think I've forgotten about Ino's training...or about the ambush and attack plans that got our favorite genius chuunin into this mess to begin with...hehe. :D
Pretty please leave me a review? Pleeeaaaaase? It'll help speed the creative processes!