Blindfolded 13

Chapter 13
His Last Chance


It was just a normal evening when he got his hands free for eating…
But instead of touching his food, he suddenly ripped off his blindfold and started a fight.

Those guys were so surprised that it was quite easy to kick their butts.
But when he was running out of the room, a sudden sharp pain in his chest stopped him.

The pain was so bad that when other guards came there and attacked him, there wasn’t much he could do to fight and so they beat him down.

Afterwards that felt like a really miserable attempt to escape. But at least he wasn’t punished for that in any way. Maybe they thought he was in a too sick shape to endure any punishments.

Not that he felt like he needed anything more to make him feel worse.
The feeling of failure was a punishment enough.
He had never failed in his life…

…Unless being caught as a prisoner counted as a failure too.

But still, he had been sure he was already strong enough to try to escape.
He had planned it carefully and waited for the right chance patiently…
And after all that, he had still failed.

He had never felt such a crushing despair. If he had failed now, was there any chance to do any better if he tried again?
All the time he had been a prisoner, he had been enduring it all by thinking that he would be able to escape soon enough…
But now that sustaining hope was slowly starting to fade away.

Also it was quite annoying that because of his sick condition, these people didn’t even seem to take his sudden escape attempt very seriously.
As if he had weakened so much that he wasn’t any threat anymore.

And so, instead of a punishment, he just had Tsunade coming to heal him again.
And of course, he didn’t have anything against that.


But still, when Ibiki Morino came to see him for the next time, he couldn’t think about anything else then expecting the worst.

“How are you doing today mister Uchiha?” Ibiki’s voice asked him after he had entered the room.
“As usually…” he replied quietly, sitting down on his bed. “Did you come to ask me more questions again?”
“Well, not now”, Ibiki said in an almost friendly voice. “Actually I just came to ask would you like to play shougi with me again? This time I’ll be nice and let you see the game too.”

He didn’t have to think long about that.
If mister Morino wanted a game of shougi, he would get a game of shougi.
So he agreed to play, and Ibiki took off his blindfold.

And now when he could see, it became a lot more interesting game.
It was a lot easier to concentrate on his strategy when he didn’t need to memorize the game board all the time.  

And so, this time he won the game.

After his last move, Ibiki Morino was just staring at the board for a while.
Then he got up so fast that his chair fell over.

“You’re going to be sorry for beating me in this game”, he said to his prisoner with anger in his eyes. “I’m going to make you pay for this humiliation…”

They were just staring each other in the eyes for a while.
That man’s eyes were scary when they were angry, but still, he didn’t even blink.

Then suddenly Ibiki smiled and his whole expression changed into a lot more softer one.

“You don’t get scared very easily, do you mister Uchiha?” he said to him.
“No”, he answered. “Besides I could notice you were just acting.”
“And how did you notice that?” Ibiki asked him.
“I can see your chakra”, he explained. “And your chakra was too calm for you to be really angry.”

Ibiki was quiet for a second.
“No, that can’t be just it”, he said then. “I think you were able to know the difference even when you can’t see… unless your sharingan can see chakra through the blindfold too?”
“No, it can’t”, he told him. “And I guess it’s just been lucky guesses…”
“So modest aren’t you?” Ibiki said while picking up his chair and sitting down on it again. “But I must say I don’t like guys who show off their talents too much.”

Then Ibiki Morino picked up the pieces of the game and put them in their box.
After that he was just sitting there for a while, just watching at his prisoner with an almost friendly look in his eyes.
Then he seemed to hesitate, as if he had something to say.

“I almost hated you at first mister Uchiha”, he then started talking. “But not anymore. The more I get to know you, the less I can believe that you could be a really evil guy inside.”
Then he stopped, as if he was trying to choose the right words.
“A one ninja of our village was killed”, he then said. “By the Akatsuki. By that guy who you told to be immortal.”
Again a pause, but this time Ibiki seemed to want to see his reaction.

“Who was killed?” he asked calmly, but there was a slight hint of  sympathy in his voice.
“Asuma Sarutobi”, Ibiki replied. “There were other ninjas there to help him, but still, he died.”

I’m sorry about that… he thought quietly in his mind.
And he was sorry for Kurenai too. Those two had seemed close.

“And as you can understand…” Ibiki went on. “People aren’t feeling very happy about those Akatsuki guys right now... so I’m going to have to ask you more questions again.”
“What kind of questions?” he asked, having a cold feeling growing inside him again.
“Mostly about your partner, Kisame Hoshigaki”, Ibiki told him. “He is the only Akatsuki member you haven’t told anything about so far.”

And that was the second subject he had been afraid to be interrogated about.
Kisame… his Akatsuki partner… his friend.
His only friend.

“And what if I… don’t feel like talking anything about my partner Kisame Hoshigaki?” he asked after a short silence.
“Then I will have to take you downstairs and interrogate you the hard way again”, Ibiki answered with professional calmness.

He was silent for a while again.
“My body is not in a very good shape”, he then said.
“I know”, Ibiki replied. “I don’t like this either, but there’s a really big chance that you will die this time.”

More silence.
Ibiki Morino was a person who could look a man in the eyes and say things like that as calmly as if he was talking about the weather.

“What happened to “don’t die mister Uchiha”?, he asked him then.
“I’m sorry”, Ibiki said sounding honest. “Things got more tough now. People have been complaining about us being too easy with you, and especially now when the Akatsuki has become more active.”
“I can talk about other things”, he told him. “But I can’t talk about my friend Kisame, no matter what.”
“As a man I can respect that”, Ibiki said. “But as a professional, I’ll have to try to make you talk, no matter what.”

He didn’t know what to say. He had been afraid this might happen…
But now when it was really happening, it suddenly felt unreal.

“I have already betrayed my family…” he started turning off his sharingan and looking Ibiki Morino straight in the eyes. “I have betrayed my clan and betrayed my village… also I have now betrayed the Akatsuki as well… so please, don’t try to make me betray my only friend too.”
“Now you’re doing the pitiful show again. That won’t work on me mister Uchiha”, Ibiki replied to him. “Again, as a man I can understand your feelings, but as a professional, I can’t start feeling too sorry for you. Also, I’d say you’re not very good with that puppy eye look, you should practice more if you want to be believable.”

He didn’t try a better puppy eye look. But he didn’t turn his sharingan back on either.

“When?” he asked then. “Now?”
“No”, Ibiki said. “Tomorrow. That way you’ll have time to think about it.”

Well, he was thinking about it already…
But he was sure thinking about it wouldn’t make things any better.

“What if I won’t talk?” he asked then. “And you will just end up killing me for nothing?”
“That’s a risk we’ll have to take”, Ibiki admitted calmly. “But please think about it, is your Akatsuki friend really worth dying for?”

Was Kisame worth it? As a person… maybe not.
But that was not the right question here. He was his friend. And that was enough.

“I can’t betray my friend”, he just replied. “I couldn’t live with myself if I did.”
“So you would rather die?” Ibiki said. “That won’t be an easy death you know.”

He didn’t say anything to that. He already knew that arguing with Ibiki about this wouldn’t make any difference.

“You knew this all the time…” he finally said. “So why were you being so nice to me at first?”
“Because that was my last chance to be nice to you”, Ibiki replied. “And also I was hoping you would start talking to me more openly if I was friendly with you.”

They were both being silent for a while again, just looking each other in the eyes.
There wasn’t any cruelty in Ibiki’s eyes, just respect… and sadness.
He wondered did his own eyes look the same.

“Do you have anything more to say mister Uchiha?” Ibiki asked then.
“No…” he replied calmly as ever. “As you can remember, I’ve always been a quiet guy.”
“Then I’ll be going now…” Ibiki said, getting up and coming to stand near his prisoner.
Then he put the blindfold back on almost gently… or as gently as he could with those rough hands.

“Good night mister Uchiha”, he then said holding his hand on his shoulder. “We will start by trying to read your mind again tomorrow, and if you want to make things more easy to yourself, don’t resists. And I will treat you like shit again tomorrow, but you know I’m just acting right?”
“I understand…” he said quietly, and Ibiki took his hand away and walked out of the room.

When left alone he wasn’t sure about his own feelings.
The crushing feeling of despair was stronger than ever… but still he felt too calm inside.

As if part of him was relieved by the thought that this would all be over tomorrow…
At least he hoped it would be over tomorrow.

Then he was thinking about his friend Kisame…
Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad way to die, to die when protecting your friend.
In a similar conditions, he was sure Kisame would do the same to him.

But he didn’t want to die. He had wanted to see his little brother again…
And to fight with him for the last time.

He was sure little brother would be very disappointed about losing his chance to kill him.
But maybe he would be happy to hear his evil big brother had died a miserable death.


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And I’m not going to tell you what happens in the next chapter…

Ibiki: I don’t want to hurt Itachi again… *Goes to the bathroom to cry*
Rana: Somebody’s being a little out of character.
Kisame: Itachi, I knew you loved me! *Glomp-hugs Itachi*
Itachi: …..