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Chapter 15
Feeding frenzy
Sachi walked with determination to the Aburame gates the next morning. She dressed herself to be presentable and she was confident that today would go well. She had to have things go well because Kai-chan's life was on the line which also meant a great amount of her independence.
Sachi was also fighting for the right to continue dating Shino without persecution to either of them. If the council approved of her then there would be no talk of Shino betraying his clan. Too much was on the line for her to screw this up. Shibi was confident that they could convince the council to rule in her favor.
Shibi met her at the gate, where she was permitted entry without a word.
"Are you prepared?" he asked as he led her to their meeting.
"I think so."
"Good. Remain confident and calm. Stick to the points we have discussed and remain respectful to the elders despite what they may say about you."
They made their way to the meeting in a large conference hall with a single long table already surrounded by Aburame clan members. It seemed they were the last to arrive, despite being several minutes early to the meeting time. She followed Shibi to the center of the table where she was permitted to sit beside her boyfriend's father.
An unfamiliar voice spoke up with a scathing tone. "Did you have trouble getting here Hara-san? We hadn't expected you to be so late."
That was why they were the last to arrive. They had planned for it as a preemptive insult. Sachi knew a blind insult when she heard it. No doubt this was the first of many attempts to embarrass and discredit her.
"Perhaps you should not have arrived before the appointed time If you did not wish to wait for the meeting to start, Aburame-sama," she bit out her words with a hard edge, cleverly hiding most of her irritation to sound almost tactful. It came out slightly more teasing than she intended.
"We are here to call into question the giving, receiving, accepting and possessing of the female kikai currently hosted by one Sachi Hara." This was said from a neutral, almost bored tone of a second Aburame somewhere to her left. "Hara-san, would you state the nature of your relationship to the Aburame clan heir, Shino?" the bored Aburame requested.
"We have been dating for four days," she stated loudly and clearly.
"You are not engaged?" Bored asked for clarification.
"No," she said.
"Please tell us how you came into possession of a female kikai," Bored intoned.
"It was a gift from Shino-kun to replace the male kikai before it."
"And how exactly did you come into possession of a male kikai?" This was said by the first Aburame to speak, the scathing one.
"It chose me as it's host," Sachi said confidently.
Several whispers erupted around the table, overlapping to the point Sachi couldn't pick out individual words. But from what Shibi had said she guessed they were either surprised at the rarity of the event or disbelieving of its truth.
"And yet," Scathing Aburame continued, "the insect remained in the hands of an outsider. A grievous action if there ever was one."
"It did not remain out of neglect on anyone's part," Shibi added. "I, myself, was the first to make the attempt at ordering the male kikai to return upon Hara-san's request. She speaks the truth. It chose her and it refused to leave its new host. The only alternative would have been to kill it and we could hardly call ourselves insect masters if we would so easily kill one of our own for listening to its instincts."
"The insect would not have acted so if it were well controlled." Scathing's tone turned haughty and arrogant. "It appears our clan heir needs to keep a tighter grip on his hive."
"I'm afraid I must disagree with you," Shibi responded. "It is no fault of my son's that an insect was lead astray. Hara-san has a peculiar quality that makes her attractive to all insects especially parasitic ones such as the kikai. She is simply irresistible to them."
"You make these claims but my insects have not stirred since she ambled in. If this is truly the case then everyone here would know it." It was not a surprise that Scathing Aburame argued this point.
"You may thank my son for that," Shibi answered. "After the incident with the male kikai. He taught her to repress her chakra to be less noticeable to the kikai."
"I can provide proof if you need it, Aburame-sama," Sachi said more to Scathing than any other. "If you would like I could stop repressing my chakra to show you the effect I had on Shino-kun before he helped me to hide it."
A third council member spoke up. "Hara-san, I believe we should accept that offer to truly understand and confirm your effect on the kikai. You may proceed when you are ready."
Shibi was the only one of the group that had prior knowledge of how to handle the kikai around Sachi. Before the meeting, he had fed his kikai and kept them contained with the force of his will.
She sighed and relinquished her hold on her chakra, letting it roll out uncontrolled as it used to. The effect was slow but held no shortage of unintended response.
The combined sound of every kikai in the room buzzing its desire for chakra engulfed all other ambient sounds. Every one of the elders was within the range of the woman in the middle of the table and therefore each insect had an overpowering urge to feed upon the new and exotic chakra. The typically gentle buzzing of the Aburame hives suddenly roared to life as their hosts desperately tried to call the insects back as they exited their host without a care for orders. It was like a stampede of destitute, starving men to a delicious five star all you can eat buffet.
"Enough!" Scathing shouted.
Sachi quickly reigned in her chakra and repressed it to the fullest extent that she was capable. She had wanted to make a point, not draw any more insects to her.
"Quite interesting," intoned the third council member, the one that had requested her display. "I believe that is quite enough proof. There can be no doubt that the male's actions were a result of Hara-san's... qualities and not from a lack of effort from its former host."
"But how would this girl have done so and why?" Once again Scathing chose to argue against her case.
"It has been established that it was an unconscious call," the third council member weighed in again. "Civilians are not known to possess knowledge of repressing their chakra. It is only thanks to her newly learned talents from our young heir that she is not hounded by hordes of kikai." Sachi was really beginning to take a liking to the calm and polite voice of the third Aburame.
"But why would an outsider keep it if not for nefarious purposes?" Sachi bit back a scoff as Scathing continued his questioning.
"A fair question," the polite and reasonable voice responded. "Hara-san," he began, "why did you keep the male and why would you accept a female kikai?"
"I kept the first because the only alternative was to kill it. But I didn't want that to happen. I got attached to it and accepted the female kikai when the other died." She paused and when no one spoke she continued. "I like them. They are helpful."
"How do they help you?" Bored inquired, injecting himself into the conversation for the first time in several minutes.
"Well, I'm blind so-" Sachi began only to be interrupted.
"Blind!" It came to no surprise that Scathing interrupted in indignancy. "And yet some would have us accept this blind child into the Aburame clan as the clan heir's fiancee. Some would argue in favor of diluting our strong blood with the common ilk and risk blind heirs being born to this strong clan."
Sachi literally bit her tongue for the duration of his comments. The one thing she hated beyond all others was being told she wasn't good enough especially because she was blind.
In spite of her inner turmoil, she was proud of the calm tone of her voice as she continued to address the council with the respect that only a few of them deserved.
"My blindness is not genetic. No children of mine will be blind. And as you have brought it up again I have to remind you that we have not been together long enough to use the word 'engaged'."
With a few hums, they seemed to recognize that argument as pointless and pushed it from their minds. She respected the way they were so practical. She was sure they wouldn't talk that matter to death now that it had been agreed upon.
"The fact still remains that you are in possession of a kikai." This came from her left side again, from the reasonable man Sachi was considering more on the side of law and fairness rather than her own side or unreasonable, Scathing Aburame council member number one. "Outsiders are not permitted to remain as hosts. The male can be overlooked due to it's short time with you and the nature of which it came into your possession; being accidental and of its own free will. But this second insect is a new argument altogether. Are you aware of the custom of an Aburame member gifting an outsider a female kikai as a marriage proposal?"
"Yes, Shibi-san explained it."
"Then you can see our predicament. As this kikai was not a part of a marriage proposal we would normally stick to our laws and remove the kikai from you." Sachi gulped nervously. "However," Reasonable continued, "it cannot be denied that the quality of your chakra is one that is sorely coveted. While your relationship with the clan heir, Shino, is a new one I believe it would be foolish to discourage either of you. You have given us no reason to deter your relationship and you have provided more than adequate reasons why we should encourage such a powerful union between a clan heir and his chosen."
Sachi found that phrasing strange. 'Chosen' probably meant the one the kikai chose. But in her mind, it sounded almost like 'destined' the way he said it.
"Would you answer my previous question? How do the kikai help you?" Reasonable asked again.
"I am blind." She paused expecting another interruption. She heard a decidedly uncomfortable rustling from Scathing's direction. She continued, "the kikai have helped me to get around. They see things for me. I walk around town like everyone else. I no longer need a cane because they can tell me if something is in my way."
"How exactly do they tell you?" The once bored tone of the second Aburame was suddenly interested.
"They understand when I talk to them and they communicate with me by a short code of noises."
This seemed to interest them slightly. Some hummed lightly in different tones she couldn't identify with all of them there. She would have to ask Shibi later.
Shibi spoke up. "I remind the council of our declining numbers. It has been long since the infusion of the kikai has been easy. It has been longer still since new blood has willingly entered the clan without an arranged marriage. There can be no denying that Hara-san would mix well within our clan. I see no reason to deny her or refuse the opportunity of a union if my son and Hara-san decide to marry."
Reasonable Aburame hummed in agreement. "I agree with Shibi-san. The infusion is harder on our children with every passing year. Any child of Shino-sama and Hara-san would easily be able to accept the kikai."
Positive murmurs sounded around the table.
"If we are in agreement?" Reasonable questioned. An unhappy huff came from the direction of the scathing Aburame elder while the rest either nodded or made a sound of agreement. "Then their relationship stands and the female insect may remain with Hara-san."
"On one condition." Sachi's heart had just begun to soar only for it to sink like a burst balloon as Scathing Aburame interrupted yet again. "She will not be given another insect without an official engagement or marriage into our clan."
Sachi wanted to smack her head on the table and refrained only through sheer willpower. When were people going to stop mentioning marrying her boyfriend of only 4 days?
"That is fair," Reasonable said. "Hara-san and Shino-sama have until the female insect dies to make an official announcement of their union or else this will be the last insect Hara-san may keep."
Sachi bit her tongue again knowing this was, unfortunately, as good as it could get. They had achieved all their goals, keep treasonous accusations away from Shino, allow her to keep Kai-chan and keep the council from whining about Shino's relationship to a blind civilian girl.
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Everyone was dismissed at the end of the meeting and Shibi politely offered to walk her to the gate of the compound.
"The less I hear about this marriage stuff the better. It's creepy to talk about marrying someone I've only been dating for less than a week."
"What we must take away from this is that Shino is not suspected of treason. Your acceptance overruled that argument entirely."
"Well that's great for Shino-kun," she bit out contemptuously, something she felt bad for after it was said. It was a great thing that Shino would not be considered a traitor and saying it with such contempt made it seem sarcastic and insincere. "But he's been gone for this whole thing. Once he hears that the council is all for us making babies he'll probably run in the other direction and never see me again." She groaned.
Shibi let out a breath that might have been confused with a huff of amusement. She didn't know the clan head well enough to decipher his subtle sounds.
"He isn't one to run away. The events will come as a shock and I expect he will think on them before returning to you with a solid conclusion."
Sachi's nerves showed in her voice. "A solid conclusion like what? A marriage proposal?" she questioned in a higher pitch than normal.
"Not quite. He's not one to rush things. My guess is he will want to see where things go in a years time."
"You think so?"
"I would say I know my son well."
"I wanted to ask you a few things about the meeting." He only hummed at her pause, waiting for said questions to respond fully. "That word they used-chosen- that means the people the kikai choose like Kai-san chose me right?"
"Yes."
"Does that imply any... obligation from the original host of the kikai? Or from the chosen?"
"No. You and Shino are under no obligations to each other in any way. It only indicates that the original and new hosts are compatible genetically speaking."
"Alright. I guess that makes sense. Why were they interested in how I communicate with the insects?"
"We Aburame can communicate with the kikai and most other insects nearly as well as we do with fellow humans. If you had proven to be able to communicate with them as well as us then that would be even more proof that you belong within our clan. It is a natural ability that comes with an affinity for insects, such as all insect users, that is honed through time and connection with the insects we house."
"Do you think that's possible for me to learn? It would be easier to communicate with Kai-chan if I could understand her."
Shibi thought for several long moments. "If it is possible for you, one not born of a clan of insect users, it may take years with a close connection to the kikai you possess before they may be able to communicate with clear words to you. That is if you do possess an affinity with the insects such as we do. "
They had reached the gate upon Shibi's explanation.
"Thank you for all your help, Shibi-san," she said with a short bow.
"It was my duty to my son as much as my future daughter-in-law."
"Shibi-san, stop!" she whined.
He let out a short breath of amusement as she groaned loudly in frustration. This girl was a breath of fresh air to such a clan as his. While both parties were generally to the point, the quality of her positive attitude and surprisingly fiery irritation was something new and exciting.
"Please do me a favor, Shibi-san. When you see Shino-kun fill him in on all that he missed and tell him we need to talk."
"I will inform him of all that has occurred in his absence."
She stalked away after their goodbyes.
Even the menacing way she indicated the trouble that Shino was in could not deter Shibi's current amusement. Not for the first time, Shibi could see a glimmer of what Shino must see in the young woman. Even in her irritation, she seemed like a cat with its fur on end, failing at looking menacing and more accurately looking adorable as she flounced off.
Shibi definitely approved of his son's choice.
Shino will be back next chapter. How do you think he is going to react to all this news? How do you think Sachi will react when she sees Shino return from his mission?