Hey everyone, here's the next installment!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Dinner was only slightly tense, to Shikamaru's surprise.
Chouji had done a great job of simmering a stew that actually didn't taste like camp stew, using fresh rabbit meat, ration packs, and some berries and plants that the others had helped forage. Chouji had dressed it up with spices from the personal stash he carried on overnight missions to the point that that it could almost pass as something you'd find in one of those fancy 'so-expensive-you-only-get-three-bites-because-it's-gourmet' restaurants - at least by what Shikamaru could tell from the elaborate name Chouji had proudly announced for it.
"Tender Roasted Hare infused with Wild something something something something!" he'd said proudly. Shikamaru hadn't bothered remembering the name, but it tasted really good.
"Chouji, this is amazing!" Ino had exclaimed, sipping it, and everyone had agreed - even the scientist who had been so prickly earlier had hesitantly nodded when she thought nobody was looking, and Kakashi made a point to catch Shikamaru's eye to see if he'd noticed as well. That's a good sign - it means my plan to humanize us all in her eyes is working.
"You ever thought of opening a restaurant?" Genma had asked, earning a grin from the self-appointed camp chef.
Shikamaru had hid his own smirk at Ino's rapid-fire expression changes as she had struggled to decide whether to continue that train of conversation. She had been intentionally - though not rudely - ignoring Genma ever since Shikamaru got back to camp, and he could only assume it was due to whatever conversation they'd had earlier. Genma didn't seem to mind being ignored; he was working on whittling something from a stick with a kunai.
Now that dinner was over and most of the dishes cleaned and packed away, Sakura, Ino, and Chouji were sitting around chatting while Kakashi and Shikamaru just observed everything from opposite sides of the camp. Shikamaru was sitting just barely outside the light of the campfire, in the shadows where he was most comfortable. He'd found a soft patch of moss to sit on, and he had his hands steepled in his thinking position though his eyes remained open, collecting his thoughts while subtly monitoring the three prisoners.
It was definitely a good sign that the scientist - Tomori, as they'd learned - was beginning to see them all as human. As for the Chuunin, Toju, he was still asleep from the drug Shikamaru had given him, but he'd probably come around eventually without violence, if nothing urgent forced Shikamaru's hand.
He wasn't so sure about the receptionist, though. She still seemed pretty shaken up, and she had already refused the bowl of stew Sakura offered her earlier. It was no good if she couldn't or wouldn't eat. Personal experience told him that really traumatizing things could chase away one's appetite, but they didn't need her getting weak in their care - especially if the other two saw that she was still terrified of the Konoha shinobi. She could, whether intentionally or unintentionally, influence them to keep being suspicious of Shikamaru and Kakashi. And then it'll be even more troublesome to get them to cooperate willingly.
As for getting her to cooperate willingly...hmm. It's probably no use if I try directly tonight.
Shikamaru waited for his chance to catch Ino's eye. She was busy chatting with Sakura and Chouji about a singer rumored to be coming to Konoha soon, and he wasn't in the most visible of positions, so it took him a few minutes. Eventually, though, she glanced over at him.
He flicked his glance once at the pot of remaining stew beside the fire, then to the quiet receptionist, then back to Ino with a subtle raise of his eyebrow.
Ino gave the slightest nod that she understood, and after one more comment about the upcoming concert, she got up and went to retrieve a mug, then filled it from the pot and casually turned to approach the captive - Sano Namiyo, as Shikamaru had told them.
Namiyo looked up at Ino as she approached, but then immediately returned to staring at nothing.
Ino smiled gently. "Sano-san...you should really try to eat something."
"I'm not hungry."
"I know. I understand you've had a really difficult day." Ino sat down beside her, making sure to leave her a bit of personal space. "But you'll feel better if you can at least sip some broth." She looked down into the cup, filled with only the broth of the stew, then showed it to Namiyo. "It's really good - Chouji's an expert at making bland things yummy." She lowered her voice to a gossipy whisper. "He's a total foodie," she said as if she were sharing some juicy secret, smiling softly at the dejected young woman.
Namiyo looked in the cup, and the faintest trace of a smile caused one of her lips to twitch when she glanced at Chouji across the fire. Ino offered the cup, and the young woman hesitantly raised her still-bound hands to accepted it. She looked in it for a moment longer, then slowly raised it to her lips. She looked to Ino, very briefly, then looked away before nodding her agreement and taking another sip. Ino smiled wider, and the two sat quietly for several moments while the receptionist sipped. Then Ino dropped her voice a bit more.
"If you want to talk about anything, I'm here too. I'm Ino."
The tiny beginnings of the smile from a moment ago disappeared from Namiyo's lips, and she just nodded. After a few seconds, she took another sip from the mug, and Ino stood up with a small but warm smile.
"Just let me know if you want more, or if you need anything else, okay?"
Another nod, this time accompanied by a brief glance at Ino's face. Then she looked back down at the cup in her hands and seemed to resume her unfocused staring, but with a slightly less depressing expression on her face.
Ino nodded back, then headed back toward her spot with Chouji and Sakura. She gave a brief look to Shikamaru, whose expression confirmed that it was exactly what he had wanted her to do. Then she was back in the conversation, now debating the best style of music to wake up to.
That went better than expected, Shikamaru thought as he watched Ino return to her stump. I guess it's a start.
Shikamaru finally stood up, making his way around the dark edges of the campsite. After a moment, he approached where Kakashi was sitting, supposedly reading whichever Icha Icha was in his hand.
"Got a minute?" the younger genius asked, shoving his hands in his pockets as he approached from behind.
Kakashi lowered the book and turned his eye toward Shikamaru. "Sure." He turned and waved at Genma, who acknowledged it almost immediately with a curious raise of his eyebrows and senbon. Are his eyebrows connected to that thing? Shikmaru wondered idly.
Kakashi gestured to Shikamaru standing slightly behind him, then made the hand signal for 'two-man team, withdraw. Cover.' The senbon dipped in agreement, along with Genma's eyebrows. Hmm, maybe they are.
Then Kakashi and Shikamaru were quietly walking through the trees, deeper into the shadows of the forest.
"So, let's hear your thoughts." Kakashi prompted after a moment. He stopped, leaning back against a tree.
Shikamaru also stopped, taking up a similar lean against another tree. "I think...that all went better than I expected. Learned a little, and I think tomorrow we're set up with at least the researcher, maybe also the shinobi, to learn a bit more."
"I hope you're right. It'd be nice if this didn't have to get ugly."
Each waited for the other to continue for a moment, and when Shikamaru realized that Kakashi was waiting for him to continue, he broke the silence. "What do you think?"
Kakashi's white hair made it easy to see his slow, shallow nod, even in the darkness. "I think that's a fair analysis." He paused, hair position showing that his head was tilted slightly to the side. Even in the dark, Shikamaru could feel one eye steadily evaluating him. He waited, until finally Kakashi seemed to decide what he wanted to say.
"At the beginning, with the two of them, you were right about questioning them together. It worked out. The drug could have backfired, I suppose. But it didn't."
"You mean...if the scientist had realized it wasn't actually the same thing she'd had in her pocket?"
"Hn. Or if she was willing to sacrifice him."
"So that's something we learned, then. She's not willing to do that. As for if she'd realized it was the wrong one, I guess she could have shut down, thinking I was either incompetent or cruel."
"But, it didn't go either of those ways. You pulled it off." Pause. "Think you'll get anything useful from the receptionist?"
Shikamaru shook his head. "I'm not sure she actually knows anything. I don't know what to do with her right now, to be honest."
"We need to be sure about whether she knows anything or not."
Shikamaru sighed, bumping his head back against the tree and resting there. "I know. But I'm not sure I personally have a way to figure that out without getting unnecessarily cruel."
"If you can't be certain, then are you sure it's unnecessary?"
Whatever lets us be sure she's telling the truth is what's necessary. But...she seems genuine enough, and if she is actually just a civilian office worker, then getting brutal would be...the genius took a deep breath as the image of a large-framed imaginary interrogator, laughing in delight at the agony he was causing to Shikamaru, flashed through his mind. ...I'd be a monster.
He let out the breath in the form of a long, slow sigh. "I have to explore every other possibility first," he finally said to Kakashi. "And it's possible we may find out something from one of the other two that could confirm or refute her story."
"Hn." Kakashi's visible eye disappeared momentarily in a slow blink, then he asked, "How long do you think you can afford to spend her?"
Shikamaru leaned his head back against the bark of his tree. "Hard to say. The scale of their set-up warrants more investigation, but the fact they requested a whole team...they'd have to know they wouldn't have all that many days before Konoha sent backup. Even if they had been successful."
"So, not long then."
"Another day or two. Three, max."
"That's not long with the approach you're trying to take."
"No, it's not." Shikamaru closed his eyes. "So, no pressure then I guess?" he muttered.
"No more than usual." He could hear the smirk in his coach's voice, and another pause stretched between them. This one was more comfortable, though, he was happy to note.
"So, let's talk actual information," Kakashi finally prompted. "What do we know now that we didn't know yesterday?"
Shikamaru ticked his fingers. "We know they wanted to capture a full team of Leaf Shinobi. We know they had a research lab set up. We can surmise that we were to be the research subjects, and that they intended to run tests on us related to enhancing shinobi abilities - whatever that might mean. We know there was a large force there, which means they expected us to put up a big fight. But we still won, which probably means they don't know the extent of our abilities anyway." He took a longer breath, then continued. "We also know that the staff was not all informed of whatever they were planning, which points to it being top secret, and..." as he continued to rattle off the extent of what he could surmise, Kakashi nodded thoughtfully.
"One glaring gap in our information, though, is where they're from," Shikamaru finally finished. "I would guess, based on how Toju talked today about his home's weather and landscape, and current political relations with countries that have places like he described, maybe they're from Stone country."
A rustling under the brush several meters away drew both their attention, and Shikamaru tensed. A moment later, a rabbit ran out, and then there was a kunai through its eye before Shikamaru had time to blink. He looked over to Kakashi.
"Breakfast," was all the Copy Nin said lightly as he moved to retrieve the small animal.
"...right."
Kakashi wiped the kunai as he considered, then returned it to his pocket. "Anyway, I agree. Stone is a strong possibility. But again, we don't have much to go on."
Shikamaru scratched his head. "No. We don't."
"What's your plan from here, then?" Kakashi asked as he settled back against his same tree, now holding the limp rabbit by its ears.
"I guess...I guess I'll see if the scientist feels like doing any more talking tonight - maybe even bring one of the girls in, to help get her to open up and to ask the right science questions. Let Toju sleep, and eat whenever he wakes up."
"Hn. Be careful about using their names too much." Shikamaru looked around, but Kakashi shook his head. His voice took on a hard undertone that wasn't there a moment ago. "You'll get caught in your own strategy - using their names makes them human to you. You don't get that luxury."
Shikamaru's brow wrinkled. Shit, he realized. I am catching myself up in the ... in my own strategy. He closed his eyes. That's a rookie mistake in Shogi. I've got to remember, this is not a head-on battle.
He nodded.
"The receptionist..." he said after a moment. "...I think I need to do a little more thinking about what to do with her. Any suggestions?"
He heard Kakashi shrug against the tree bark. "If you really think her memory is the problem, try memory techniques. It doesn't have to be antagonistic, but make it clear that you're not giving her a choice. If you think it's something else, then do what needs doing."
Shikamaru nodded slowly. "I'll think on it. I think I'm ready to head back to camp now."
"Shit!" A half hour later, Genma tried to twist as he fell forward to the ground to spit his senbon at something useful, but his body was locked from the surprise and the pain that had just nailed him in the back.
His senbon skipped a couple of times across the water before he hit the ground hard enough to knock the breath out of him.
Almost as soon as he hit the ground, he heard another body fall to the ground, and he saw a flash of purple from the corner of his eye down the riverbank. Ino was on the ground several yards away. Damn, her too? was all he had time to think before a wave of pain tore through his body.
Upon returning to camp, Shikamaru had found Ino chatting a bit with the receptionist, to his surprise. The young captive woman also had a mug in her hands again, and was actually looking a bit more interested in sipping it. After she finished the mug, she had mustered her courage and told Ino she wanted to remember what happened, and asked if there was a way. Ino had deferred to Shikamaru, who had decided to take her back to the river instead of trying the scientist again.
He'd asked Ino to help him bring her, and Genma had also suggested refilling the canteens, so he'd come as well, and Kakashi was undoubtedly following invisibly in the trees.
"I'm going to help you with some memory techniques, to try to help you recover your own sense of what happened, alright?" Shikamaru had asked her. "I still need to make sure you're not going to run away, because you might find some of these memories to be...uncomfortable. Can you accept that?" So he'd gotten her to agree to the restraints on the log as before, though he only left her hands bound this time.
Ino had helped with the tying, and she'd been already in the process of walking back toward camp when Genma had stood up with the canteens. That's when something had nailed him hard in the back.
Kakashi was beside Genma - or more accurately, over him - immediately. Kakashi was crouched defensively over Genma with one knee on the ground and a handful of weapons pulled back and ready to fling in the direction the invisible projectile had come from.
"I'm here," they heard the woman announce, and suddenly it made sense why Ino's body had hit the ground. Kakashi's throwing arm relaxed a bit and he glanced down at his friend, then formed a seal to explode the tiny "signal ball" he'd left in camp to call Sakura and Chouji.
Sakura and Chouji arrived at the riverbank to find Kakashi poised for action and staring at the captive with both eyes, a kunai in each hand, and standing with one foot on either side of Genma's prone form, and Genma trying to stay still on the ground in spite of what looked like a lot of pain.
Shikamaru was staring at the captive so hard it looked like his head might explode, but his eyes had that faraway look that showed his mind was racing to figure out what was really going on.
Ino's body was lying on a patch of grass several meters from the activity, her arms fallen in front of her where they'd just finished a hand seal, and the captive was sitting silently with her eyes closed and a pinched look on her face.
"Sakura," Kakashi said, and gestured with his chin toward Genma. He didn't take his eyes off the receptionist as he spoke, though he did move a couple of steps toward the prisoner to allow her better access to Genma. Sakura ran the last few steps past Ino, glancing between her and Kakashi and quickly realizing why Ino must be on the ground, to land on her knees beside the fallen jonin. "Hit in the back with something," Kakashi said. "I couldn't see what."
Sakura nodded.
"Genma?" she asked, surveying all she could see of his back. She frowned.
"Yeah," Genma answered through clenched teeth. There were a couple of small holes in his vest where she could see blood beginning to seep, but nothing so small should have had the force to knock him to the ground.
"Where does it hurt?"
"…everywhere…" he breathed, "right—unh!—Deep. Shallow. All over."
Sakura moved her hand to touch his wrist closest to her. "Can you feel this?" she asked.
He made a sound that was almost a "yeah," but sounded much more strained.
She moved her hand to his opposite arm as far away from herself as she could reach. "This?"
He made the sound again, and she moved her hand to the back of his thigh, then to his calf, then to his other thigh, then his other calf, then touched each of his feet. He made the sound each time to confirm that he could feel each one.
"Can you take him back to camp?" Kakashi asked.
Sakura nodded, and by this time Chouji had checked on Ino's body and was now standing behind the pink-haired medic. "I think we can. Sensei, do you have any guesses what she might have hit him with?"
Kakashi's jaw clenched under his mask and he gave a tiny shake of his head.
"I understand. I'll let you know as soon as I know anything. Chouji, can you use your partial expansion jutsu to carry him back without moving him too much?" Sakura asked.
Chouji gave a sharp nod and his hand grew until he could hold an adult in his palm, then lowered his enormous hand so that it was beside Genma like a gurney. Sakura took hold of the back of his collar and the hem of his vest to bear the weight of his body, and she instructed Kakashi to get his legs. Together they moved him into Chouji's waiting hand with minimal protesting from him, and then Chouji and Sakura were walking swiftly back in the direction they'd come from.
Inside the receptionist's head, Ino glared at the original occupant of the body she was currently in control of. The woman returned her glare with a cocky grin. "Awwww," she said. "You reacted awful fast, sweetie. I thought you and him weren't on speaking terms. Lover's quarrel?"
Ino blinked in mock surprise. "Awww, you turned awful bitchy, cutie pie." She put on an exaggerated pitiful pout. "I thought you didn't want us to kill you. Change of heart?"
The woman just smirked. "You mean like I just killed your boyfriend?"
Ino crossed her arms and cocked her hips. "As if," she said. "He's too hard to kill for one bimbo to take out, especially with just one hit like that."
"Ha! My scorpions are famous. He may still be breathing now, but he's as good as dead. He's got 24 hours, max. Even if he only makes it for half that, Hell's gonna be such a relief when he finally bites it," she bragged. "He's already starting to feel it now!"
Ino yawned dramatically. "I don't believe you. Who are you, anyway?"
The woman sneered. "I don't care if you don't believe me. He's your boyfriend, not mine."
"You seem so sure about that," Ino smirked back at her. "Jealous much?"
She rolled her eyes. "You're a pathetic excuse for a kunoichi!"
Ino frowned. "Provoking me won't get you out of here, you know."
"You're going to let me go," the woman informed her.
Ino drew her head backward in obvious disbelief. "And why would we do that?"
"Because I'm the only one who can extract my babies from your boyfriend to save his life," she said in a high-pitched, goading voice. She locked her eyes on Ino, feeling victorious, but her grin flickered away when Ino gave a light snort.
She formed a hand seal, and a look of panic began to replace the confidence that had been plastered on the woman's face. "And he is most definitely not my boyfriend," Ino muttered, then she tightened her grip on the woman's mind and silenced her.
"Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru, it's scorpions," Ino announced through the woman's mouth. "Their purpose is pain, then death, and she hit him with more than one. They can be extracted, apparently, but she says she's the only one who can do it."
Shikamaru dropped his own hands to his sides. "Good work. We need to search her again, since apparently we missed something last time."
The woman nodded, and her face scrunched up. "I think I can give some direction to that. Just give me a second." Shikamaru watched intently as the woman/Ino closed her eyes and seemed to freeze in place. To outward appearance, she just looked like she was thinking intently.
After a moment, her eyes snapped open. "In her hair. That's all I can get without losing my hold right now."
Shikamaru looked to Kakashi. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
Kakashi nodded, finally glancing at Shikamaru. "I am."
"Okay. Ino, can you lean her back?"
Ino/the receptionist leaned back to about a 45 degree angle, so that her long braid was hanging away from her body. Kakashi stepped a bit closer.
"She's probably going to kick me out any minute, guys." There was a strain to the woman's voice, so Shikamaru's shadows snaked to reinforce Ino's hold over her physical body. We're extremely lucky it's a clear night with a nearly full moon!
"Come on out, I've got her now."
The next moment, Ino began to stir in her own body and panic exploded across the receptionist's expression.
"Katon!" Kakashi formed a couple of hand seals and blew out a small fireball jutsu centered on the very tip of her dangling braid. The result was that the edge of the fireball just grazed her actual head, and in a matter of seconds, the smell of burning hair wafted in the breeze.
Three small chunks of ash fell to the ground, about the size of peanuts or small beans, and once the fire died down after a second, Shikamaru approached and dumped half a canteen's worth of water on the woman's head. Then he continued to hold her in place with his shadows while Kakashi adjusted the ropes to truly restrain her movement.
The woman's face immediately changed from panic to fury, and her eyes searched for Ino. "You bitch!" she breathed venomously. "It doesn't–" Her words were cut off by the sound of Kakashi's fist connecting solidly with her cheekbone.
"Nice job," Kakashi said to Ino, flexing his hand. "Shikamaru and I will take it from here. Go help Sakura."
Ino shuddered at the low, flat tone of his voice. She glanced back at her lazy teammate standing with his arms crossed, looking anything but lazy as he continued to stare through the seething and freshly singed woman tied to the fallen tree.
Shikamaru, what did you get yourself into?
She sprinted for camp, simultaneously trying not to think about the scene she was leaving or the situation she might be about to find in camp.
Cheers!
Okay, so, I know it's some whiplash; that's kind of the point. X-D
I'm not totally satisfied with some of my transitions here, but this has been in the plans for…well, long before now. I'm so excited to finally get to this reveal.
Leave me a review!