Chapter 2
It was dark by the time Shino made it home. The first person he saw was his dad, who was waiting for him outside.
"Welcome home. Did you hear?" His dad was always succinct with his words.
"Yes," Shino started, nervous, not quite able to say it, despite himself:
"Is it..? Is…?"
His dad smiled. Shino could tell, despite the sunglasses and the collar, saw his features soften.
"He is. Come with me."
Shino, in a daze, followed, nodded at family members he passed in the hall who were on their way out, who must be here to see him, until they stopped in front of a small room. A room that was sometimes used for entertaining guests. He wasn't a guest, he was… Shino didn't have words. He looked at his dad once more, who only nodded before walking away, he too deciding to give him, give them space.
Shino reached forward, opened the door and there was someone there, but Shino didn't recognize him, not entirely. There were certain things, the black robe with the red belt, similar but not the same as what he'd worn the last time Shino has seen him. He still wore the gloves, of course he would, still wore goggles with no collar – he had always been somewhat rebellious – the same mask that went under his chin, yet an unfamiliar blade hung from his belt, though the most shocking thing was in fact the most obvious: where Shino remembered a child, standing before him was a full grown man, broad shoulders, powerful, Shino could tell just looking at him, by the way the way he moved as he stood to greet him, and he didn't recognize the voice either, deepened with age.
"Hello, Shino."
Shino managed to close the door, take a few steps forward.
"Welcome home, Torune." he managed to say, though he couldn't control his voice, couldn't keep the shock, the disbelief, the emotion out of it.
"You got pretty tall." Torune observed, easily, as though he'd only been gone a short while, a blink of an eye, not the days that had turned into weeks, months, years, culminating in a decade that then continued on even further.
"You always were tall for your age." Torune carried on. "Looks like I've still got a little on you, though…" Torune paused, shook his head, the beginnings of a smile on his face, before he questioned, "What's with this outfit? I guess it's the same thing I last saw you in, but the colors are so dark. Honestly, I think you're the only one in the clan who went for a hood and the collar. You did always take things seriously… You just got home right? Want to sit?"
Shino nodded, tongue tied, was hard to speak, hard to think even, as they both kneeled down. All this was so familiar and so not. The house seemed so quiet.
"So, I've been here for a few days." Torune filled the silence. "Asked your dad about you. Heard a little about your teammates, caught up on some of the family gossip."
"The venomous beetles." Shino interrupted, startling Torune, startling himself, "Did you learn to control them?"
He knew Torune's tortured relationship with them, he enjoyed the power, but hated the distance it put between him and others. Even within the clan, Torune and his family were somewhat feared. They were undoubtedly the most powerful, though that power came at a cost, and that power could not be mitigated. It was always lethal.
Shino realized, more so as he got older, that it caused a stir when his father agreed to take Torune. For many reasons. It was not openly challenged, only an undercurrent of doubt, doubting the wisdom of it. He was already a widower, a single father with one son, then to add another. He knew his father was under pressure to remarry, to have more children, but he had refused.
Then to mix branches. Just as in the Hyuuga, any outsider would say they were all family, why make such distinctions. Hinata and Neji, so separated by rules and tradition, not by blood, they were first cousins, their fathers even twins.
Just as his dad and Torune's were first cousins, Gen and Shikuro had always been close, despite the unspoken pressure of the family. In fact, when Torune had been taken, there was a certain peace that settled in the clan, in sharp contrast to his and his dad's despair. Shino didn't understand until it was too late that when Torune and his dad left that morning, only his dad would return.
"Basically." Torune answered vaguely, and somewhat guardedly. "I can hold them off. I can also take them back, after they've entered someone's body."
A shudder ran through Shino. He did not want to know how Torune had acquired that skill, it brought back all the memories, nights when he'd lain awake, wondering where Torune was, what was happening to him. All the stories, of brainwashing, of molding people into perfect soldiers with no identities.
"Shino," Torune soothed, seeming to sense his distress, "I'm alright. It's a good thing, really. I even made a friend. Serves me right, after all the lecturing I gave you. I'll introduce you to him."
Torune did seem like himself, to Shino's confusion, but also relief. He'd always been stubborn. And he was taken a little older in life than most who joined Anbu Root. Maybe that had saved him? But still, what had happened to him? Thirteen years… where to even begin...
"I…"
"Tell you what," Torune interrupted, seeming to read his thoughts. "We'll talk about that later, okay? For now, tell me about this last mission of yours. Let's start there."
