"I've heard people say that God is the gift of desperation, and there's a lot to be said for having really reached a bottom where you've run out of any more good ideas or plans for everybody else's behavior; or how to save and fix and rescue; or just get out of a huge mess, possibly of your own creation." ~ Anne Lamott

Chapter 24: A 'Second Orochimaru'

Kakashi wandered through the interrogations building, eventually finding his way to Ibiki's cleverly creep-ified office. He always enjoyed coming in to see what Ibiki had done to change the scenery. Sometimes he moved around cobwebs, other times he put new cracks in the wall or filled in others. The vase of dead flowers was the only constant, though the type of dead flowers varied by season. After gathering up the paperwork on Ibiki's desk, Kakashi headed back outside. He was about to head back to Konoha hospital when Shikamaru and HInata came marching up the stairs.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Hinata called, "Welcome back! Where's Kabuto-kun?"

Shikamaru sighed. "He just got back, how's he supposed to know?"

"Actually, I just left him. He's at Konoha hospital," Kakashi informed them. "He probably doesn't want any visitors…" Kakashi sighed. The two of them were already specks in the distance. He'd better get this paperwork to Ibiki and hope that the interrogations officer didn't hold the visitors' presence against him.

By the time Kakashi retuned to Kabuto's room, HInata and Shikamaru were standing outside the room arguing with Tsunade. "If you just let me go see him," Hinata argued. "I'm sure he just wants to see some friends."

"He's a traitor. He doesn't have friends," Tsunade told her, giving the Hyuuga a dangerous look.

"Friendly faces, then," HInata argued.

Tsunade whirled on Kakashi. "Did you send them here?"

"I went to get Ibiki's paperwork. How about if Hinata takes the paperwork to Ibiki?" Kakashi suggested genially.

"I don't want to go see Ibiki, I want to go see Kabuto!" Hinata insisted.

"Ibiki's in the room with Kabuto," Tsunade explained.

Hinata blinked. "WHAT?!" she shrieked. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM?!"

"I know, Ibiki's bored out of his wits," Kakashi quipped.

Hinata pushed past the two of them and marched into the room, Shikamaru followed her, taking advantage of the confusion. Kabuto was lying in the bed, covers tugged up to his chin, while Ibiki sat in an uncomfortable-looking chair next to the bad, sipping at tea and appearing fatally bored. Hinata hurried towards Kabuto, but the young man drew back quickly, curling in on himself and edging closer to Ibiki. The interrogations officer stood swiftly, raising a hand. "Don't come any closer," he said. "You're scaring him."

"I'M SCARING HIM?!" Hinata shrieked incredulously.

Ibiki scowled. "Turn down the volume on your voice, please."

Hinata glared back at him. "What did you do this time?"

"Besides pulling him out of an excessively violent interrogation session?" Ibiki stared back at her dispassionately.

"Oh, please, more violent than your water-boarding?" Hinata snapped.

"More disturbing," Ibiki responded. "See for yourself. He won't let anyone near him."

"Except you," Hinata said in disbelief.

Ibiki nodded, appearing rather baffled by this turn of events as well. He also appeared slightly miffed. If he'd known it would just take some stepping in on behalf of the traitor to gain his trust, he would have set this sort of thing up ages ago.

HInata watched kabuto with compassion. "Well… take care of him," she said sadly, "I'll go… get him some flowers… or sushi." Shikamaru brightened up at the suggestion of food.

"You do that," Ibiki said, scowling. "Now, where's my paperwork?"

Kakashi poked his head in the door. "here," he said brightly, moving in and passing the papers to Ibiki, who shuffled around in his chair before giving up on finding a position that wasn't going to make his backside go numb. He glanced up at Hinata and Shikamaru, who were still standing awkwardly in the room. "If you don't leave, he's not going to sleep," Ibiki toldthem. "If you want him to recover, go find some flowers or whatever you were planning and leave him be for a while."

Hinata and Shikamaru exchanged somewhat surprised glances. They weren't used to the idea of Ibiki actually caring about… well, anything or anyone. Then again, Ibiki had almost lost this prisoner twice, and still had no valuable information from him. It was probably making him very frustrated, and he probably wanted Kabuto back in interrogations as soon as possible. With a few backwards glances, the two of them headed back out of Konoha hospital, already plotting what to get Kabuto and how to help him not be afraid of them anymore.

Meanwhile, back in the hospital room, Kabuto's eyes fluttered shut gently, and he slipped into a much-needed sleep.

About twenty minutes later, Ibiki pulled himself up out of the chair, verified that Kabuto was actually asleep, and edged out of the room. Tsunade was still standing in the hall, waiting for him. "Okay, you've had a chance to go over your notes. I want explanations. Now."

Ibiki nodded. "Let's go to your office."

Tsunade made a quick gesture. "Lead the way."

Once inside her office, Tsunade reached for her flask of alcohol, paused, changed her mind, and shoved it in a nearby drawer. "I should probably be sober for this," she said.

Ibiki nodded. "A wise decision."

"So, thoughts?" Tsunade stared at Ibiki, her gaze penetrating.

"Well, it seems to me that Kabuto views me as a second Orochimaru."

Tsunade blinked. "Pardon?"

Ibiki realized he'd probably be wise to explain more fully. And quickly, if the pulsing vein on Tsunade's forehead was any indication. "See, Kabuto views Orochimaru as a sort of protector or savior of sorts. Don't give me that look, I know that Orochimaru was a monster, but he didn't seem that way to Kabuto." Tsunade continued to level a dangerous stare in Ibiki's direction. He continued after a moment, not feeling entirely safe under that glare. "Kabuto, it seems, viewed Orochimaru as the man who saved him from his life with the Akatsuki."

Tsunade frowned. "What does that have to do with what happened today?"

"Takeshi had several members of Hidan's cult come and perform some sort of extremely disturbing cannibalistic ritual involving the lifeblood of our valuable prisoner. According to Takeshi's notes, they usually perform these rites with much younger children, and they indicated that Kabuto had undergone a similar ceremony on numerous occasions."

Tsunade blinked. "And so, when you came in and took him out of that, it was similar to the feeling of being taken away from that by Orochimaru?" she prompted, beginning to see what Ibiki had meant by being a second Orochimaru.

"Precisely. It seems that, while Orochimaru had his own reasons for taking Kabuto, Kabuto viewed it as a rescue, and much preferred Orochimaru's company to the horrors of living with the Akatsuki. As this is the case, I will need to interrogate him further to better understand why he would view Orochimaru as a better alternative, though I'm not exactly relishing the answers if they are anything like what I saw today."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Harsh words coming from our Interrogations expert. I thought you had a heart of stone and an iron stomach."

"Not when I think that Hidan was probably drinking the blood of an innocent eight-year-old," Ibiki responded. "Prisoners deserve their treatment. Children don't ever deserve that sort of violence and cruelty."

Tsunade frowned. "And if a child turned traitor?"

"I have other methods. I don't drink blood," Ibiki responded. "Besides, children are rarely the instigators of such actions at a young age. There's usually a driving force behind them in the shape of a mentor or parental figure. For example, Uchiha Sasuke turned traitor, but it had more to do with motivations that were from a familial source, rather than something he decided to do all on his own. As for Itachi? Well, I'm still pondering that."

Tsunade nodded slowly. "So, how do you think this will affect his willingness to divulge information?"

"Honestly? I don't know. Thus far, he hasn't said a word since he left that interrogation chamber. But I suspect it will be some time before he's willing to open up again." Ibiki swore. "This kid is getting on my last nerve."

Tsunade couldn't stop the smirk from tugging at her features. "Not used to such belligerence?"

"I'm not used to having to break them without using force or allowing my men to dig into his mind,"

"You know we have reasons for not letting you do that," Tsunade responded.

Ibiki growled under his breath. "You're making my job more difficult than it already is."

Tsunade smirked. "That's why we chose you. You're the best at what you do."

"And the reason for choosing Takeshi was…?"

Tsunade scowled. "That was the council's call. I opposed that decision."

Ibiki shrugged. "I'd better be getting back to my prisoner. Wouldn't want him to wake up without me being there and suffer some sort of cardiac incident."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Would you like some more tea before you go? I have a little something I can spike it with."

"I think I'll pass," Ibiki said with a slilght smirk. "I do appreciate the offer."

"Great. Well, more for me I guess," Tsunade said, pulling the drawer open. "Well, see you around, Second Orochimaru."

"Don't call me that," Ibiki said. "I am neither snake-obsessed nor flamboyant and feminine."

Tsunade shrugged. "If you say so."

Ibiki rolled his eyes and left the Hokage to her drink.

A/N: It's been a year, so I updated. Shoutout to Tamuril2, who begged me to update and so I went and dug up the remaining pre-written stuff for this story. I'm ot sure how much more I'll be able to write, as this was mostly a co-written story and my writing partner and I currently live on opposide sides of the world. I will not give up though, so please keep reading. No promises on a regular update schedule, but I do intend to finish this story someday. Thanks for your continued support!