Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto
A/N: Takes place immediately after the wrong words and is centered around Shibi's thoughts.
They were late. No scratch that. They were missing. Aburame Shibi knew his teammates had gotten in a fight yesterday, a big one. He didn't know what it was about, nor did that matter. Anytime they would fight and one or both would decide not to show up for training, they always let him know. Neither had this time though, and he was concerned.
He had gone over to check on Tsume yesterday so as to make sure she was okay. Her parents had told him she was resting, and disturbingly were throwing out her sheets that were covered in blood. He knew they were hers because they had a specific pattern on them, one that she got because Hiashi hated it. So of course they being shinobi led him to the thought process that she had been training and recklessly hurt herself. Now however he was worried that maybe she had killed Hiashi.
He had to know what was going on. Thus he began moving, eventually finding a certain Uchiha couple. Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto. Both were close friends of the trio so maybe, just maybe they had seen the missing pair. "Mikoto, Fugaku. Good afternoon," he greeted them calmly and politely, as per usual.
"Shibi," Fugaku nodded in that stoic way of his.
"Good afternoon. Not training today?" Mikoto asked him.
"Actually I was wondering if you two knew where Hiashi or Tsume are by any chance."
"We haven't seen Tsume for a few days, though we saw Hiashi yesterday. He seemed to be training, Fugaku answered him.
Mikoto however didn't seem to agree. "It didn't look like training to me. He seemed more like he was running from something or someone."
Hyuga Hiashi running? That was not normal. Maybe his female teammate did kill him. Her family would certainly cover it up. Which also meant going to either compound would be pointless. Anyone else who would notice the strangeness would not be at either place, or would not admit to it. That meant he was on his own throughout the village. "Thank you," he quickly said before leaving the couple in a flash.
He leaped from rooftop to rooftop looking for any signs of the two. He even sent out some bugs to search for them. Due to all the years together, his bugs knew their chakras and faces quite well, and thus they were some of the few people that the bugs could find without them having bugs on them. However he nor bugs were yielding the results he wanted. Of course the pair also knew how to avoid his bugs, and there was also the factor that they could be just missing each other. Plus if Hiashi was dead then the body would be burned or six feet under.
He stopped for a moment, thinking of how else he could find one of them. "Shibi!" a very familiar voice yelled. He gulped as he turned towards its owner to see red coming at him fast. That red soon grabbed him by the front of his jacket, and its face was pissed. "What the hell did you or Hiashi do to Tsume!?"
Shibi glanced over at a familiar head of yellow that was watching the scene in exasperation and shooting him an apologetic look. "We saw her pass by crying yesterday. She wouldn't talk to us and just pushed us away telling us to leave her alone."
Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. They were the couple everyone was waiting to happen. Well after Hiashi and Tsume, but the latter was doubtful due to a lot of factors. Kushina and Minato on the other hand were close friends and it was known they had feelings for each other. They all had bets on who would confess first of the two. Most were on Kushina confessing, and with good reason. She was more forward than Minato. Of course she also had a temper that had earned her the nickname 'The Red Hot-Blooded Habanero'. And that anger was on him. Oh joy.
"I'm wondering myself as well. I didn't see Tsume yesterday. All I know is that she and Hiashi got in another fight. She was crying?" he responded calmly and carefully. If it was his life or Hiashi's in the hands of Kushina, then he had no problems throwing his teammate under the bus. Why Minato loved the woman was beyond his comprehension.
However it worked as the red head finally let go. "So where is Hiashi?"
"If you find him dead or alive then please let me know. I'm looking for both of them as well."
"And you'll do the same?" she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Of course."
"Okay then. I'll let you know. Though if I find him first, he won't be alive when I tell you."
Shibi didn't bring up how he was thinking maybe the male was already dead. Instead he gave a small nod, and a look telling Minato 'good luck in dealing with her temper' before heading off again. He had escaped with his life just barely.
And somehow he ended up finding more friends of theirs. Apparently no one had missions today, though he wasn't that surprised. Not much was going on currently that involved any of them. Luckily these companions were males. The calmest ones out of all them. "Inoichi, Shikaku, Chouza. Have you seen Tsume or Hiashi?" Hopefully the latter alive, he thought to himself.
"We haven't seen either," Shikaku answered.
"Though we did see Tsume's parents yesterday. They seemed to be looking for something, or someone," Chouza told him.
"They looked pissed too," Inoichi tacked on.
Well in good news it was highly possible Tsume didn't kill him. In bad news, it was even more likely that he was dead. He was starting to wish that he had actually asked Hiashi for details for once, instead of letting him go. He assumed he was going to apologize, but now he was really worried about what happened.
"Ask Yoshino. If Hiashi did something to Tsume then maybe she told Yoshino," Shikaku suggested.
"I just saw Kushina and she apparently rejected talking to her."
"Maybe it was something she felt too embarrassed about to share with Kushina."
"True. Thank you."
"I saw her near the flower shop not long ago," Inoichi told him.
With a nod of thanks he headed towards said flower shop, luckily finding her still there. "Yoshino. Have you seen either of my teammates?" he asked her, even though her back was to him.
She turned around shaking her head. "Not since yesterday. I saw both head towards the Inuzuka compound at different times, and later saw Hiashi come from the direction of the compound. Though they were too far away to see if anything was wrong. Why?"
"I haven't seen either of them all day. I can't find them."
"They get in a fight again?"
He nodded his head, crestfallen. Neither had been seen today by those closest to them. He was really worried now. And as far as he could tell, something happened yesterday. Something big.
"Is that why Hiashi was bleeding yesterday?" a voice asked. He almost mistook the person for Hiashi, however the voice was different even if the looks were the same. Hyuga Hizashi was probably the first person he should have asked about Hiashi being his twin. However the though had not occurred to him for some strange reason.
"Bleeding?" he heard Yoshino ask before he could.
"Yeah. A bite mark. He said it was from training, but it looked really bad to be from training."
"You know now that I think about it, I did see some red on him when he was leaving the Inuzuka compound," Yoshino tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"Hizashi what time did you see him yesterday," he grabbed the Hyuuga by the shoulders desperately.
"Wh-when he got home. Why?"
So he made it home alive. "And you saw him this morning?"
"No I haven't seen him since he came home yesterday. Why?"
"Around what time was this?"
"Four. Why?"
Shibi finally let go. He had gone over to Tsume's around five. It was possible they dragged him from his compound and back to theirs in that time. So he was once again lost as to where they were. No it was worse now. Now he knew something had happened, and that something was not good.
"Shibi are you okay? You look pale," came another familiar female voice. Mikoto. Along with her were the rest of his friends, and all were looking concerned.
"Exactly why are you so desperately looking for Hiashi and Tsume?" Kushina asked this time.
"I'm worried that Tsume or her parents killed him," he finally admitted.
"What did my brother do to her to lead to that thought pattern!?" Hizashi exclaimed.
"I don't know, but I saw her parents throwing out her sheets covered in blood yesterday. That was around five."
At this point they all exchanged information and understood his thought pattern.
Hiashi had made her cry. He went to her house to apologize. He left running with a bite wound on his arm, a bad one at that. Her parents were furiously looking for someone, and they had thrown out Tsume's bloody sheets. And no one had seen either today. They even confirmed that neither was at either compound.
"Where do you think they hid Hiashi's body?" Shikaku was the first to ask.
"Why is anyone hiding my body!?" They all turned to the familiarly annoyed tone of Hiashi. Alive, and well, save for the bandage peeking out of his right sleeve. Next to him holding his left hand in her right was Tsume.
He was alive, and they finally understood what happened. "Pay up boys,"Yoshino said with a grin, along with Mikoto and Kushina.
"Double if it was Hiashi," Kushina tacked on.
"Triple actually considering the pace," Mikoto added on.
Shibi ignored them for the moment, walking up to Hiashi and placing his hand on his shoulder. "I am very glad to see you alive."
"Why was I dead? And what kind of bets were all of you making about us?" the Hyuuga asked in confusion.
"It doesn't matter. Though I must say I'm quite surprised that you two are so brave. So who iniated it?"
"Why are all of you jumping to conclusions?" Tsume basically growled. "Sure we're holding hands but that could for any number of reasons. Give me one good reason as to why you all are so right?"
Shibi pushed up his sunglasses and smirked. "The Bloody Sheets."