“I’m aware they’re people,” Ibiki said. “There’s no need to raise your voice.” He took a casual step back from Asuma. This, evidently, was what Shida-sensei had meant when he’d said the Hokage’s son was a hothead. It was surprising that the Professor’s son had such a diametrically opposed temperament to his father. One might chalk a certain amount of Asuma’s shoot-from-the-hip attitude and lack of restraint to a young man’s attempt to differentiate himself from his father, but Ibiki didn’t think that accounted for all of it.

“I was hoping you had greater insight into what we might expect to find when we reach them, since despite the fact that they are highly trained, highly skilled, and highly intelligent, they are making rash, erratic decisions. Sakamoto disobeyed a direct order to stand down and remain in the village. Hatake abandoned a mission.” He considered the facts for a moment. “Do you believe Sakamoto was also in love with Tousaki?”

That seemed to bring Asuma up short. He stared at Ibiki for a long moment, lost in whatever internal thought cycle that question had spawned, then shook his head as if he were trying to dispel an unwanted mental image. “What, like a threesome?” His voice came out half an octave higher than it had on his rant.

“Yes,” Ibiki said patiently. “As I understand it, it’s common practice among homosexual men to seek multiple partners at least some of the time. And you said at the beginning of this conversation that it was a messy love triangle. A triangle implies there are three sides.”

“Well, yeah, but— God, you're like a robot trying to learn human speech.” Asuma turned away to busy himself with a fresh cigarette, shielding it from the wind as he lit it. When he straightened, he blew a stream of smoke towards Ibiki like a dismissal. "No, I don't think Ginta's in love with Tousaki. Or at least, he never said so to me. I reckon they were friends that went off the rails, and Hatake, I don't know, threw his catnip in the middle, or something. Dognip, whatever."

Ibiki shrugged an acknowledgement.

"You're supposed to be in Intelligence, man,” Asuma said, thrusting his cigarette accusingly at Ibiki’s chest. “Don't they teach you not to pander to stereotypes?”

“Stereotypes exist for a reason. If you don’t know much about a person or group, they’re a smart place to start. They wouldn’t exist if there weren’t some grain of truth in them.” Ibiki took a deep breath, smelling smoke and salt air and the cold dampness of snow wafting down from the approaching pass. He could feel Asuma twitching next to him.

In an interrogation, Ibiki thought, he’d have the upper hand now. Asuma should really learn to control his emotions.