Nine

Author: princessgolux
Title: Nine
Fandom: Naruto
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I gain no profit from this story.
Chapter Pairings: None (Ibiki/Kakashi discussed)
Chapter Rating: R
Chapter Warnings: AU/AR; mind-fuckery; naughty language; disturbing innuendo


Chapter Three: Monster

Morino Ibiki had been called quite a few things in his life. Intense, intimidating, even downright scary – he’d heard them all. From his days at the academy through his four years as a Genin, and especially after his successful showing at the Chunin exams the previous year, just before the most shocking summer in Konoha’s history. He had always been larger than his peers and at sixteen he was taller and broader than most of his superiors as well. Yet he knew he moved well, well enough that a appointment to ANBU wasn’t out of the question, and if he wasn’t mistaken, fairly soon.

The one thing he had never, ever been called was clumsy.

And yet, watching Hatake Kakashi slink down the street as though his joints were oiled, Ibiki could never entirely suppress the spasm of envy that gripped him. Just for a moment, just when that liquid gait would roll past his awareness, but it was never duller for being brief. Ibiki took a breath and allowed the shiver to pass.

“He’s not your type.”

Ibiki tightened his stomach muscles, reflexively controlling his shock, and turned slowly. There was a small, dark man behind him. He hadn’t felt a flicker of chakra when the man arrived, or any sense of saki - killing intent - at all to alert him to the other’s presence. And Ibiki prided himself on his awareness of the nuances of psycho-emotional presence.

Ibiki was two inches over six feet tall and still growing. The man staring past him, dark eyes fixed on Kakashi was five-nine and missing an arm and an eye. He didn’t even wear prosthetics, just bandages wrapping his wounds.

Still, Ibiki felt the hair on the back of his arms shiver and had to suppress an urge to back away.

“Who are you?” Ibiki asked, suspiciously.

“That guy wouldn’t make you happy.” the man said, his voice low and deep, almost melodic. “He wouldn’t suit your taste.”

“Who are you?” Ibiki asked again. “Why are you saying thing like this?”

The man turned and looked at him, his gaze serene and direct.

“Because if you want to break him...” the strange man said calmly, and Ibiki suddenly felt cold all over.

“What the hellare you talking about, Old Man?” he interrupted, lowering his voice menacingly.

This conversation was beyond dangerous. Konoha’s White Dog had keen hearing and an even keener tanto. Not to mention a gun or two hidden away god knew where and whole fuckload of chakra.

“Kakashi-san is an important comrade and a powerful weapon for Konoha.” Ibiki demanded, keeping his voice low and readying himself for battle. “Why would you think I would want to hurt him?”

“Because your tongue yearns for blood instead of sweat.” The man turned back to contemplate Kakashi again, supremely unconcerned with the saki pouring off of Ibiki. “You don’t understand it, so you deny it. But I can see it.”

“Your words make no sense, Old Man.” Ibiki growled and took a step forward, pulling out a kunai. “But if you are threatening Kakashi-san then I will have to take you to ANBU. Understand?”

The other man gave a derisive snort.

“Your ANBU is weak.” he said dismissively. “Sarutobi has removed their fangs and left them toothless.” Ibiki growled again, tensing in preparation.

“Relax.” The man waved a careless hand in Ibiki’s direction. “I have no ill feelings toward the Yondaime’s mutt. He’ll self-destruct all on his own, go feral like all masterless dogs inevitably do. I’m not concerned with him right now.”

“Then you’re concerned with me.” Ibiki said, not letting down his knife nor releasing his battle-readiness. “Why? I would never hurt Kakashi-san.”

Again the man snorted.

“You couldn’t touch him.” His voice held a trace of grudging admiration. “Minato’s pet is exceptional, I will grant him that.” He looked at Ibiki again and his dark eyes held something like a challenge.

“But you, now... You could be exceptional as well.” He said, and Ibiki’s heart stuttered in his chest. “I can see it. Right now you are wrestling with a darkness that you cannot comprehend. You fear it, fear what it means about you.”

He took a step forward and Ibiki lurched backward, retreating. He had never felt such incredible fear in his life, save once. Only a chance childhood encounter with the Snake Ninja had affected him this way, shivering in the presence of such inhuman desire and bloodlust. His hands shook and he knew he was going to die.

But he couldn’t look away.

“I know you, Morino Ibiki.” the dark voice washed over him, eating into his skin and sinking into his blood. “I know the look you had in your eyes just now. You see self-confidence and wonder what it would feel like to take it away. You see beauty and instinctively want to mark it. You see strength and desire to break it, to take someone under your hands and strip them, remake them, possess their spirit until their flesh no longer obeys their mind, but yours instead.”

He glanced at the street where Kakashi no longer stood. Even without looking, however, he held Ibiki by the power of his spirit and his voice. There was no escape.

“That’s why I say he is not to your taste. That kind cannot be broken by purely physical or mental means. Only someone who has won his heart completely can break him, and that has already happened. The White Dog’s master abandoned him, and nothing you could do to him would ever hurt worse than that.”

Ibiki stared at the man, breathless in the face of such uncompromising cruelty.

“I...I...am not...not...like you.” He said finally. He winced at how weak his voice sounded, a kitten snarling at a lion.

“Denying your desire will not make it go away, Ibiki-kun. “ The man’s words were matter-of-fact.

“I am not a monster.” Ibiki ground out. Sweat stung his eyes but he didn’t dare blink.

“No, Ibiki-kun. You are not.” The man held Ibiki’s furious eyes without flinching. “You are a shinobi. A tool. Your body, your soul, your heart, your mind, your desires, your life belongs to Konoha. Do not forget that. Ever.”

Ibiki could feel himself beginning to hyperventilate.

“Who are you?” He whispered. “What do you want from me?”

“I want to teach you to embrace your desires, Ibiki-kun.” He said, and smiled. Ibiki felt a wave of fear wash over him at the emptiness of that smile. “There are many things that must be done to safeguard Konoha that few have the stomach for. A man with your potential could be invaluable with the correct training.”

He tossed an electronic keycard to Ibiki, who caught it, automatically using his left hand and keeping the kunai in a guarding position in his right.

“In Old City there is an inn called The Broken Jutsu. Tell the bouncer you’re expected in Level Thirteen. He’ll direct you from there.”

Ibiki closed his fist around the keycard, frozen. His belly cramped with horror.

Horror at the dark fire that was kindling in him, the unforgivable desire he couldn't bear to face.

“Hey, Old Man.” He said, all emotion leached from his voice. “Exactly who the fuck are you?”

The man made a series of seals with his one hand and smiled his empty smile again.

“My name is Danzou. I look forward to training you, Morino Ibiki. Yoroshiku.”

And he vanished.

Ibiki sat down on the concrete rooftop and stared at the card in his hands, intensely aware of two things. One, the stinging the corners of his eyes was more tears than sweat, his fear and terror trailing wetly down his cheeks.

Two, he was hard as a diamond.

I am not a monster. he thought defiantly, fighting despair.

But somewhere in the back of his mind Danzou whispered to him, whispered to his fear and his desire in a dark, melodious voice.

You are not a monster, Morino Ibiki...

Yet.