Chapter 20
"Vampires? You're joking. They're sure it's not a curse mark?" Torune asked incredulously. He and Gen were sitting on the veranda outside Torune's quarters. Gen had come to speak with him about a matter that had the village abuzz. Mandatory physicals. Everyone needed to report to the hospital. He and Gen had already been screened, and had been cleared to leave, but apparently, Gen had been told more than he had.
"Call it what you will, but the bite does seem to function similarly to a curse mark. In this case, a certain control over the victim, but blood is ingested in the process. They do feed."
"Why leave the victim alive?"
"Lady Hokage is under the impression that this 'vampire' is inexperienced, and I have to say, I agree."
"But that's why everyone's being checked? Probably why she told you so much, right? Within our clan, it's pretty easy to hide a wound."
"Indeed. Most don't know all the details, even I don't know everything, but people talk. Word is spreading fast, along with rumors."
"Any idea how many?
"I believe just the one victim."
"So probably only one vampire, unless they're sharing a meal."
"Hmm."
"… You're worried about Shino?"
"I would feel better knowing he had been cleared."
Torune knew Gen had been concerned as of late about his son, and Torune felt the same. It was difficult to pinpoint why, it sounded somewhat laughable really, to say Shino was quiet. He had always been quiet, but there was something different about it now. Normally, Shino was thinking, contemplating in his silences. An oasis amidst the desert. His current ones, Torune could only describe as empty, shallow. No deductions, no theorizing. Only stillness, only sand.
He'd at first wondered if he was being over-protective, was reacting to nothing, he did worry for Shino, more than he needed to, more than he would like to, until Kiba and Hinata had approached him expressing similar concerns.
"I don't know, man. He just seems… weird. I don't get what it is, but it's freaking me out." Kiba said by way of explanation.
"Miss Hinata?" Torune questioned.
"I… I know something's wrong. I don't know what it is, but I know something's wrong. He seems exhausted. It's not that he's sloppy when we train, or that he doesn't express himself well when we need to go over something. His strategies are all sound, it's… it's so frustrating."
"You know what he'll do if we say something, right? He'll ask why, and we don't have an answer. It's just a feeling." Kiba said, with Akamaru pitching in with a short bark seemingly in agreement.
Then, speak of the devil, the members of Team Eight currently in the village arrived.
"Yo! Torune! We got marching orders for ya." Kiba called out, moving so fast he, Akamaru and Hinata seemed to materialize in front of where he and Gen sat.
"Sorry to intrude, Sir." Hinata said, bowing in Gen's direction. "But it's very important!"
Gen nodded to her, while Torune replied, "Really? I thought this was my time off." There was amusement in his voice, but internally, something about this set him off. Kiba and Hinata both had travel gear with them, they even were slightly out of breath.
"Well, think of it this way, if we're wrong, which I hope we are, this will be like a vacation. If we're not, well, you wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Guess it's worth an ask though. Did you and Shino spar before our last mission?"
"No, why?"
"Dammit." Kiba ground out, his upper lip beginning to curl in frustration. "On that last mission we took, we all got in this pond to cool off – it was hot as hell, anyway – his neck was bruised. We know he didn't get it on the mission, we were just tracking. When Hinata asked him what happened, he said he'd been sparring with you."
"Kiba and I didn't think much of it at the time, but with everyone being checked, and Shino not being here to ask, we got worried."
"We asked Lady Hokage about it. She said if you didn't have a good explanation, to set off after him."
"Did she tell you what she was worried about?" Torune asked.
"Yeah. Could barely believe it. Sounded so ridiculous at first."
"Vampire." Hinata breathed out.
"If this is true, I'm gonna feel like such a damn fool!" Kiba gritted out. "My gut feeling was there was something weird, why Lady Natsuki kept calling him back, but dammit, I overrode it. We even went there. Didn't notice anything."
"She seemed perfectly lovely."
"Lady Hokage said survey the place. Try to figure it out from a distance."
"We know the basic layout of the estate. Lady Natsuki gave us a tour." Hinata added.
"Lady Hokage said don't assume it's Natsuki. Could be anybody. Hell, she could be under someone's control."
"She also said not to approach Shino. That he too may be under someone's control."
Torune looked to Gen. "Looks like I need to be going."
"Rightly so."
"We'll do our best, Sir." Hinata said, bowing once again.
"Yeah, we'll get him back. I'm still hoping this is some misunderstanding, but we ain't taking any chances." Kiba finished.
