Chapter 19- Suspicion and Torture

A punch collided with the girl's right cheek, her face swiveling to the side. The bruise took form one that was turning black. Ibiki watched the girl push her head back before giving a tired look at him.

"Answer my question. Did Shibuki send you here as a spy?", his voice was heavy and raspy as he intimidate the black-haired suspect.

As the girl did not reply he grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling it harshly from behind her. He inched his menacing face towards her, boring holes onto her eyes until she let out a small snicker. Ibiki once again sent a punch on her gut she threw up.

"You'll be free of pain once you answer my question."

Alexa almost wanted to laugh at what he said. If she answers his question, they would just search through her memories to determine if she was truly a spy or not, even though Ibiki could tell if she was lying. Once they find out she was a Ryuugaime, her head would be detached from her body without her realizing it.

Knowing it was doomed for her, the moment the ANBU knocked her out, she strived to survive and clung to her pitiful life. Already had enough of getting punched and getting pricked by needles she gave an exasperated answer.

"...no...", it was barely a whisper but Ibiki heard it.

The purple-eyed girl smirked, if she was going to go die a moment later anyway, why doesn't she make fun of the people here? She'll probably go rampant before they even kill her. She's not gonna go down without dragging anyone with her.

Ibiki narrowed his eyes at her calm palpitating chakra. She wasn't lying, but she was hiding something. Letting go of her hair, he watched her expressions as she cough up blood. He crossed his arms and stared intently at her.

"Who sent you here?"

The girl rolled her eyes first at his question, something Ibiki took note of.

"No one...did..."

He was confused but he did not show it on his face. It will only irk the girl to annoy him further.

'She's not lying, did we possibly make a mistake? Is she truly not a spy sent by Takigakure to eye on Konoha? I have to make sure.'

"You came from Takigakure, am I right?"

Alexa opened one eye and nodded. Ibiki creased his eyebrows before interrogating her once again. "Then why are you here?"

The girl opened her eyes, staring at the dark ceiling, the question from Ibiki made her rethink everything that happened in her new life so far.

'That's right, why am I here? What am I doing here? Shouldn't I be writing my story at my house? Oh and also hanging out with Kath. And I forgot to attend the appointment with a person from the entertainment company. Why? Because I died. It wasn't just my life that was taken away, it includes my dreams and the souls of my parents. Holy shit! What about that woman?! She's not crying on my grave, is she? Dang. I never saw Kath cry before. I hope they're doing okay...'

She jolt up awake when Ibiki removed another one of her fingernails. She wanted to scream but she held it in with all the strength she could muster. Now this man is included on her top ten to kill the first list. How many nails does she still got left, probably around 4 more? She wonders if he's gonna pull out even the nails on her toes.

'This man is surely terrifying.'

Ibiki held the pliers in his hand, playing with them. "So? Care to explain your life story? We have a lot of time."

He noticed the girl chuckling, probably already gone crazy. She's not new, out of all the people he tortured before to gain information, some turned lunatic. Well, he enjoyed himself getting pleasure from the pain of others. He's a real sadist.

"Well...it's pretty hilarious...", she held a deep breath before reflecting on her fucked up life story. "You see...I witnessed my whole family getting killed by someone I trusted the most...", Ibiki remained silent, this wasn't new, there were a lot of people out there who had someone betray them and kill their loved ones before their eyes.

She sighed, "That person tried...no...more like killed me...yes...that's right...he killed me...he left our bodies to rot...", Ibiki tapped his fingers on his crossed arms, listening trying to find out if she slips on her tongue. "Then... these people found me...they took me to their village and treated me like their own..."

The man before him pinched the bridge of his nose after slowly having a picture of the situation. All the words that came out of her mouth were true and did not hold any lies. She's not a spy, they just labeled her she was.

"And the reason why you here is? Wait. Let me take a rough guess. You want to grow stronger and find that person am I right?", Lhexi shook her head up and down while smiling.

"More like to kill him."

He finally connected the dots and hell damn they created such a mess. It would be a huge disgrace not only to the Torture and Interrogation Unit, probably even Konoha itself.

"I have confirmed you are telling the truth...", Lhexi wanted to heave a sigh of relief until the next words uttered stressed her even more. "But, we must look into your memories for assurance."

She only yawned at Ibiki who left the room slamming the door, leaving her alone in the darkroom. She felt eyes watching her from a distance.

"So?", Ibiki slammed his hands on the table seething with anger at the man who was responsible for the problem.

"We made a mistake.", he said his voice trembling in rage. He sat on the chair facing the man who just raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, it is. Now tell me, why did you even raise suspicion on that child? Did you even do a background check?"

The man just chuckled and placed his feet on top of the table. "Of course I did."

Ibiki gave a mocking glare. "I guess the Department of Investigation is slacking these days."

"Of course not, how could you say that?", he gave a sly response.

"I'm sure you know that girl, right?"

"Right."

He sighed, "I'll report this to Hokage-sama, you should probably write a letter of apology."

"Yes yes.", Ibiki sighed once again before standing up giving one last look to the girl on the other side of the glass. "So, should I call Inoichi-san?"

Ibiki thought of it for a few more moments before answering.

"Yeah. We need to check twice."

The man sitting arrogantly smirked. "And don't give me that smug look. Remember, you owe me a lot."

"Hai...! I remember.", Ibiki left the room and the man loudly rocked his chair.

He brought his hands behind his head and stared suspiciously at the girl who was wide awake. His eyes narrowed when he saw the girl smiling directly at him.

'Was I really mistaken?', that was the thought in his mind as he stare back at the girl.

..........

The third Hokage watched in silence as the princess of the Land of Fire who recently just want to visit, suddenly threw a fit. He wishes to cut off the tongue of the person who told her about the Takeda.

"--could you?! Why would you lock her up?!"

Aiko and some others tried to calm her down but they did not dare touch her. The Sandaime just received the glares from the girl.

"It was needed, Shimizu-hime. She could be a spy.", the girl stomped her foot angrily on the wooden floor.

"How can that be?! How could you label her as a spy?!", she was fuming with wrath, but it looked like a rabbit with puffed red cheeks. "I can't accept this!"

"Hime-sama, please do remember that this is the village's matter and should be solved by the village.", the girl gritted her teeth and locked eyes with Sarutobi who was nevertheless amused.

"You think someone like Lhexi-san could even do that?"

"Yes."

"How--?! If she was indeed a spy, she would have just let Iwagakure shinobis kill me! Then, Konoha would be currently in war with Iwa!"

The third Hokage closed his eyes thinking before opening them again, "We are aware of that."

"Then why?!"

"She is from an enemy village.", Shimizu curled her fists.

"So you judged her because of her origin?!"

Sarutobi like the princess in front of her didn't also like what was happening. In fact, he hated it. He wanted to stop the T and I Unit from torturing the girl further. They won't be able to get any information if she's truly not a spy. But, for the sake of the village, he had to do this. She saved Konoha and yet here they were, slowly killing her.

"In situations such as this, we must take drastic action.", he rested his chin on his clasped hands.

"You!", Shimizu pointed her forefinger at the third Hokage who's eyes slightly widened, the others gasping. "...if you were there...you would know how much she cared for this pathetic village!"

The sandaime, frowned at the word pathetic.

Shimizu took a deep breath before she finally exploded. "She was the kindest person I've met!"

"Even so--"

"She desperately tried to save her friends! She overcame the limits of her abilities just so we could make it out alive! She even saved thousands of lives by stopping war from starting! Tell me how would a person like her even think about betraying this village?!"

"But--", Hiruzen was once again cut off.

"But you still doubted her! What kind of people are you?! Huh?!"

His grip tightened on his hands, the guilt in his heart multiplying. The words, the girl was saying repeated in his mind.

'What kind of person am I?'

The door suddenly opened and he frowned at the lack of respect. A particular shinobi stood there catching his breath before speaking.

"Lord Hokage! Urgent news!"

"What could be so urgent you never bothered to knock?"

"That is..."

..........

Inoichi stood in front of the unconscious girl tied with chakra suppressors. He eyed the wounds she received from the man beside him.

"Must you really go overboard?"

Ibiki lowly sighed. "You know me, Inoichi-san."

The blonde nodded and turned his attention to the task at hand. He just received news that the girl might not be a spy. Either way, the answers would be sought once he look through her memories. Placing his head on top of her head he closed his eyes and focused on invading her mind.

The moment his consciousness entered her memories, he couldn't see anything but darkness.

'What is this place?', he asked himself as he try to move around.

A small light peeked out of the dark from nowhere. He stretched his hand out and reached for the source of the light. As he touch it, his surroundings changed and he found himself in a completely foreign land.

He gaped at the marvelous city in astonishment. Tall buildings reached the sky and he could only wonder how they even created it. It was a different world. He saw something up in the air, scrutinizing his eyes he saw something shaped like a bird that was not a bird at the same time. He was shocked when it descended towards him and he panicked slightly after realizing how large it was as it went past up above him.

People went past him carrying a black box-like material in their hands. They were even talking to it or holding it a small distance from their face as they make different expressions. One thing he noticed was that there were no shinobis around.

The city was noisy but it was peaceful. The girl's memories were more mysterious than suspicious.

"Lhexi!", the vision turned behind and he saw someone with blonde wavy hair running towards him, more like the girl.

The woman spoke something and Inoichi found himself not understanding what they were talking about because they were using a different language than the one he knew.

He was suddenly pushed out of her mindscape, not knowing why. He opened his eyes and saw he was back to reality. He wished he could see some more of her memories.

"Inoichi-san!"

"What?!", he was visibly annoyed. It was the first time he was fascinated by someone's memories and yet someone dared push him out.

"The feudal lord wants to meet Takeda Alexa!"

His eyes widened. What business would the feudal lord even have with the girl? Sighing in disappointment he let the others cut off the chakra suppressors and replaced them with seal tags. They have to be extremely careful dealing with a spy. For they don't know what she could do.

He moved his hand up to his chin and thought deeply. The foreign land. The different language. The advanced technology. The lack of shinobis. It was as if he just traveled to a completely different world.

'This girl...Just who the hell is she? If she came from that place, does this mean a world like that exists?'

He has to check again sooner or later. He walked out of the room after he saw them splashing water on her, waking her up in the process.

"So, what did you find out?", he stopped in his tracks and look up to see the Jonin commander, Shikaku Nara leaning against the wall.

Inoichi combed through his hair as his brows furrowed. Shikaku's sharp eyes darted from the disturbed Yamanaka to the window eyeing the clouds.

Inoichi opened his mouth. "We have to talk about this...with lord Hokage...in private"

The raven-haired man only sighed before nodding and following Inoichi as they walk the empty halls of the building. Arriving in an empty room, they sat on different couches and patiently waited for the third to arrive.

The door opened and they both stood in respect to the elder.

"What have you found, Inoichi?", the said blonde looked slightly troubled before speaking as they watch the third walk to his seat.

"Her memories...are rather unique and disturbing.", the two sat and faced the third.

The third started lighting his smoke as Shikaku raise a question. "What do you mean?"

"She originally did not come from Takigakure but somewhere disclosed to the rest of the world."

"So I've heard from Ibiki...but this place you're talking about...", Shikaku trailed off.

Hiruzen was frozen in his seat. His hand unconsciously trailed to the scroll through the fabric of his clothes.

"It's completely unfamiliar.", the jonin commander was about to speak when Hiruzen spoke lowly.

"So, is she a threat?", Inoichi shook his head at the third's question and Shikaku sighed in relief.

Inoichi looked towards the Sandaime who blew a puff of smoke. "Hokage-sama, about the place she came from..."

"She's innocent. Let's pry no more, Inoichi.", the Yamanaka felt fear at the sudden orders of the usual kind leader.

"I understand."

"Have her wounds get treated immediately. I would have to talk to her in person and apologize on behalf of the village.", Shikaku and Inoichi frowned in guilt but they did not question him. "Then we'll end the meeting here."

The third left the room leaving the two alone thinking deeply about the unusual behavior of their Hokage.

Shikaku placed his arms behind his head before resting his body on the couch. "Should we go out and drink some sake?"

"Your wife will scold you."

"Like you're any better."

The two sighed remembering how they would get into fights with their lovers but the heavy tension from before was now gone.

"So about my son's request.", Shikaku started.

Inoichi drank a cup of tea. "I know. I'll ask Alexa to take therapy sessions with me."

"Do you think she would agree?"

"She has to. She's mentally unstable after encountering a series of trauma and pain. She must be treated immediately. Moreover...we have to watch her actions..."

Shikaku closed his eyes. "This is too troublesome. Anyways any news yet?"

"They're coming back.", Shikaku snapped his eyes open and stared at the ceiling.

"When?"

"In a few days probably."

Shikaku smiled. "Maybe my work will finally loosen a bit."

"In your dreams."

"Hey!"

A/N

For your information, Shibuki is the leader of Takigakure(Hidden Village by the Waterfalls)