Chapter 13 : Repercussions

Ibiki looked in the opposite direction when Fujie ran past him. His rage made his blood boil in his veins, his temples throb painfully, and he held his teeth tightly gritted. He remained still as snow started to fall, minutes passing, standing there as if waiting for the cold bite to calm down his nerves.

His dark eyes were staring at the wall before him without truly looking at it. He still could not believe the revelations about Fujie's identity and purpose, so he was fighting the urge to tear the building apart with his bare hands. Instead, he launched one punch that created a large crater around his fist. The vibrations spread into the whole wall, as if to announce his coming to the Hokage in the upper levels.

When Ibiki barged in Tsunade's office, she was busy talking with Shizune. Tsunade quickly sent her off, Ibiki's aura of rage quite obvious. He marched straight to her desk and leaned on it to level his eyes with hers.

"You need a spy to ascertain whether or not I am suitable for my functions? Why the change in attitude, don't you trust the third Hokage's decision?"

Tsunade send her hand slamming on her desk, it creaked weakly under her strength. "It was a different situation back then! I cannot risk my sidelines corrupted or plagued by their past if war breaks out. You thought you would earn some kind of special treatment?"

"So you judge me unstable?"

"I was not wrong sending Doctor Oda to see you, look at your reaction right now! What would have happened if it had been another matter that put you off, and this time you were unable to complete the tasks at hand?"

"Well, at least now with one less minion running around, bothering me, I have... let say a wider range of movement. Next time, don't send shrinks to me, especially those with blood red hair. Unless you want them to end up like this one," Ibiki turned his back to Tsunade and went for the door.

His words made the Hokage freeze on the spot; she feared the worst.

"Where is she? What did you do to her?"

A bitter smile appeared on Ibiki's face, though it was not visible to Tsunade. He did not answer her.

"What has become of my evaluator," her tone switching from stern to threatening. If he had hurt her, the punishment would be great.

He kept his back to her. "I simply asked her to leave the village, otherwise there would be more than red marks on her neck." His smile had disappeared as he shielded an aching heart under a layer of ice.

Ibiki did not know why he was experiencing pain. He had not known that woman well, and realized now that anything he thought he knew about her might have been wrong.

He finally ended up attributing the pain to betrayal, a sentiment that he carefully tried dodging on a daily basis. When you do not fully trust people and do not grow attached to them, it is easier to avoid betrayal.

"Clearly you're not fit for additional work right now," Tsunade's voice settled down, assuring her authority. "When Doctor Oda is back in Konoha, you will be attending regular sessions with her until she evaluates you apt for work in stressful conditions."

The sound of the word 'doctor' preceding Fujie's last name felt like thorns pushing against his vertebrae every time it was used.

Ibiki emitted a growl of disapproval, but did not dare to retort back anything. Even if Tsunade had been named Hokage during difficult times, there had been good reasons for her to be chosen, and the Konoha shinobi, whoever they may be and however angry they were, still respected her as their leader.

Sado and Haruki barged in the office, successfully slamming one of the doors against Ibiki's cheekbone before he could react. This maddening episode had definitely put him off his usual self and he got also angry at himself for getting as affected as he was now.

"Tsunade-sama, we're here to report Doctor Oda Fujie missing. She left the village-"

Haruki stopped abruptly, startled by Ibiki's presence and realizing that his words had divulged Fujie's identity. His lover and colleague anxiously also looked over to him, before waiting for Tsunade's usual tsunami of anger and annoyance to take over. She did have quite a temper when things did not go according to her plans.

"I know that already! You think I ordered you to live next door to her to build a love nest? What were you two doing today that prevented you from protecting her? You're lucky this one didn't completely go berserk and pull her head off!"

Tsunade tried to maintain her temper down, but her voice only increased in level. "When this is over, you'll be re-assigned to guarding the Great Gates of Konoha, and don't expected to be transferred out of it anytime soon!"

"And you," she directed to Ibiki, "you are not to leave the village, you are not to leave your apartment until further notice. For the time being, all commanding tasks will be forwarded to Kotetsu -after that nice speech of yours for the IA, I'm sure he is fit for the job-. And you two find that doctor before she even thinks of leaving the country."

Tsunade clearly knew just how frightening the Head of Torture and Interrogation could become. "We don't know where she is heading at the moment. Ask her friends and relatives, constitute a search party and head out. Now."

She rearranged papers on her desk and picked up her ink brush, signing a couple of documents to signal the end of the discussion.

However, Haruki timidly stepped forward and pointed out that the current snowstorm, that was actually crashing snow against the office's windows, would render vain all their efforts for searching at the moment. Sado, a bit more assured, said that it would be wiser to wait for the weather to settle and then organize the search party with a few members of the Inuzuka clan.

Ibiki stood motionless next to them, staring at the snowflakes whirling behind the glass windows and listening to the wailing of the wind. He recalled Fujie's tear-stained cheeks as he threatened her, but he did not feel a pang of remorse.

Tsunade flopped against the back of her armchair, feeling suddenly very tired. She exhaled slowly, taking her time to evaluate the best decision to make.

"Sado, go to the Observation Tower and find out the weather forecast. Haruki, you go ask Oda's friends and family where she is heading. Meet afterwards at the Inuzuka compound to elaborate a plan to look for her, and set about the search when the snowstorm has passed our region. You all are dismissed."

Ibiki left the office last, closing the doors behind him after glaring at Tsunade. He would obey the orders, but that did not mean he could not show discontent to his leader.

The storm made it difficult for him to reach his building, and he was glad to be safely inside when he did get to it. The cold had left him in a secondary state, not really paying attention to his actions, though that is until he reached the floor just below his own. A chill traveled up his spine, and before he knew it, he was standing in front of Fujie's door with his hand around the knob.

Sado and Haruki would not be back for hours at the least, and the mixture of anger and curiosity surfacing convinced him to open the door.

It had been left unlocked, obviously because of Fujie's hasty departure. Clothes had been thrown on the living room table and couch, mostly summer garments from what Ibiki spotted. One of the cabinets doors was opened in the kitchen, with only the teapot and cups left, along with some medicinal tea.

Ibiki scoffed at the sight of it, but he after regaining a certain level of calm, he was able to prepare himself a cup, though he did not have enough cool to enjoy the medicinal tea: as soon as he tasted it, memories of the night Fujie tended to his wounds came back.

He felt again her fingertips against his bare back, her light touch contrasting with the pain of glass shards being removed from his flesh. The teacup shattered in his gloved hand, but he did not even bother to clean it up.

He threw off his gloves to closely examine his hands.

The scars had worn off, the ointment had finally worked. His nails almost appeared of a normal color now, which reassured him just a bit. Having them slowly torn off had been one of the most painful torture he suffered, and his sense of touch had been altered by such damaged hands. On some days he could not even feel what he was holding, and he had feared it would become permanent. Fortunately though, the nerve damage had not been that great for it to stay that way.

Ibiki went to the bathroom to check his bruised cheekbone in the mirror. He was sporting a bright purple swelling that pushed up his bottom eyelid and bothered him when blinking. He scoffed at his reflection when he thought that it could be the repercussion for hurting his former subordinate.

Back in the bedroom, detached from his surroundings, he carelessly looked over at the mess that was spread on Fujie's bed. The office and workers' files were discarded amongst other notebooks, but he did not want to look through them at that moment.

His anger had finally been tuned out, turning to emptiness, and he let himself fall backwards on the bed, crumpling papers and clothes under his heavy body.

The sweet scent of Fujie's perfume reached him when his head came to rest on her pillow, and he breathed it in, finding it oddly soothing. The memory of her touching his wrist rushed in his mind, and remembered clearly her surprised expression in detail, with her flowing mane framing her face, her pink lips slightly parted, and her wide blue eyes staring back at him.

Ibiki reached her phonograph on the side of the bed, winding it up and letting the tune of a traditional flute fill the room. He closed his eyes. The images of Fujie crying resurfaced only to quickly fade away, and he slipped into a deep slumber.

The phonograph stopping abruptly woke Ibiki up. Lying on his stomach with his face buried into the pillow, he did not move a muscle, relishing the peace he felt. He opened his swollen eye to check on the clock on the bedside table.

Six o'clock.

Night had already fallen, and apart from the dim light of a street lamp shining through the living room window, Fujie's apartment was plunged in darkness. The wind was still beating snowflakes against the glass, so Ibiki guessed correctly that the search team had not left the village. That and the fact that he doubted Tsunade would send someone to guard his door made him want to stay where he was.

He shifted his position to lie on his back, and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness surrounding him. Once he could see, he looked over to the left, where he had been crouching while rummaging through Fujie's possessions and had to perform genjutsu in emergency before she could realize that he had gotten into her apartment. Now that he thought of it, her frightened look from that night had been the same as the one when he held her by the throat.

He kicked a book off the bed to ventilate the anger building up inside him, crashing his head into the bed pillow again. He lit a cigarette but did not inhale the smoke. He just let it consume itself and then threw it in a coffee cup set by the mattress. He opened the window for a few minutes in order to air out the bedroom; he had decided with some difficulty that he preferred the smell of Fujie's perfume to that of cold cigarette.

And he asked himself, apart from the moments where he truly intended to scare her, how he appeared to her. Did she shudder at the very thought of him? Did she have nightmares about him?

She had turned so pale after seeing the drill marks in his skull, he wondered if she threw up when she got to her place. She was probably disgusted by the sight of him, as any woman would, he thought bitterly.

All he understood about her was that she did not understand his self-destructive actions at all. Or had that been an act, too?

Ibiki was too confused at the moment. He had been so distracted by her presence that, recalling what had happened between them, he could not part the lies from her genuine reactions.

Although she spoke kind words to him, and helped him after one of his destructive behaviors, he could not decide whether it had been genuine kindness or an act to gain his trust. He still could not believe how careless he had been, he was angry at himself for getting tricked so easily more than he was angry at her. Had he gone weak? Had his capacity to detect deception faded away?

Ibiki rubbed his face with his hands, vainly trying to push those thoughts away. If she did not die in the snowstorm, he might even have a chance to find out some of the answers to these questions. He shook his head at the thought. He definitely did not want to see her again, let alone talk to her.