Tsume sat down around the dinner table and yelled "Eat up!".
The smirk on her face was so unique in its own way that it almost made Shino believe she had poisoned the food she just smacked down in front of him.
Sure, this was no concern of his since he was virtually immune to poison, but it still made him feel quite uneasy, as it did every time he had a meal at the Inuzuka residence.
He always thought to himself that they were mirror images, Kiba and his mother, which he found to be rather peculiar. Most young boys look and behave like their fathers, Shino had learned.
Shino did fit into that category himself, and he was well aware of that. It might have had something to do with Shino spending much more time as a child with his father, and the fact that he could relate to him in at entierly different way than to his mother, due to the fact that them both were hosts to the famous Aburame Kikaichuu.
This made Shino think as to why Kiba's behavior was so much like Tsume's that it was on the verge of being ridiculous, when Hana, Kiba's older sister, wasn't at all like the rest of her family, not even looking quite the same as them.
Hana were a bit older than Kiba, which now that Shino came to think of it, could be just the reason why she was different.
It wasn't something that Shino thought of often, but it had been luring in the back of his mind for quite some time.
Didn't Kiba have a father?
This question triggered many possible answers.
Maybe his father died when Kiba was still to young to remember it.
Maybe Hana was the spitting image of her father?
That could explain why she didn't behave like the rest of the Inuzukas Shino knew.
Could it be that she was just as much of her father's child as Kiba were Tsume's? Actually, were was any of the Inuzuka males except Kiba?
He didn't realize it at first, but he had been quietly staring at his plate for quite some time.
"Don't you worry. I didn't poison your food this time either.", a harsh but joyful voice said, snapping Shino out from his own mind.
Kiba laughed loudly at both his mother and his friend, nearly spitting out his food across the table.
"Hey, I never said anything about not poisoning your food.", his mother replied to his laughing, making Kiba coming even closer to spraying his food all over the person across the table, being Shino in this case.
Now the Inuzuka and her son were laughing in unison, shaking the entire table and everything on it. Hana just enjoyed her meal, seemingly in an entirely different world, but Shino couldn't miss the subtle smile she had on her lips.
It didn't matter if Kiba had a father or not, but Shino did detect a hint of curiosity inside himself as he though of what Kiba's father would be like.
He could always tuck that curiosity aside like the Aburame he was raised to be, but he hoped more that he'd someday learn the story behind the man that put his best friend on this earth.