Chapter 26
Shino noted his teammates were oddly quiet. There were many things that seemed odd to him actually. It was odd the Lady Natsuki had suddenly died on his way here; he had only just received the mission request to go to her estate. She appeared to be fairly young and in excellent health. Whatever had taken her life must have been swift and strong.
It was odd that his teammates along with Torune had arrived late in the night, the very night he had arrived. They had rushed, to arrive that soon after him. They told him they had been sent to give him a physical examination, that Hinata conducted. They told him everyone in the Village was being tested, and that they had been ordered to follow him.
Hinata cleared him, but when he asked what she was looking for, she was vague, saying a curse mark, but no more, that she herself knew no more than that. If everyone in the Village was being tested, and it was important enough to send his teammates after him, it must be a threat, a significant danger. But to send Torune, one of the Village's most powerful ninja as well? When Torune himself had told him, right before he left, that he'd been grounded?
But the thing that was most odd to him, that was downright disturbing, was when Noshiko had come to tell him his teammates had arrived. He had been sleeping, and for no explicable reason, when he woke he was without his hive. They were nesting in a suit of armor in the entry of his suite. He took them back quickly. They were pleased to return to him, but he got nothing more from them.
He wondered if it was some version of sleepwalking, that he had commanded them out without remembering it. He could think of no other reason why they would have left, his physical condition was fine.
He had bid farewell to Noshiko the next morning, and headed out together with his teammates.
"Well, guess that's the end of your trips to Lady Natsuki's, huh, Shino?" Kiba mused.
Yes, he supposed it was. Still, as they made their way back to the Village, he couldn't help feel there was something missing. Something he was forgetting. Something he had left behind.
He looked to his companions, to see if there was any indication from them, but all he noticed was that odd quiet, most noticeable with Kiba, but even from Hinata, there was a hardness to her features he had rarely seen, and Torune was walking ahead of them all, leading the way, so only his back was visible, his tanto blade's white handle bright against his black robes.
Things continued to be strange when they made it back to the Village. He was asked to report to Lady Hokage for additional screening. She examined him herself, and even went so far as to bring a member of the Yamanaka Clan to scan through his memories. He was beginning to become afraid, afraid to ask any questions, suspecting this was all a ruse, that he was actually under suspicion for something, and if he asked any questions, he would only increase that suspicion. He elected to stay quiet, only asking when they appeared to be finished, if he was free to go.
"Yes, but Shino, I would like to see you again tomorrow, and as of now, you are grounded from taking on any missions."
"Understood."
Despite not being given a diagnosis, his felt like his family members, particularly his dad were keeping a close eye on him, which only confirmed his suspicions, that there was something bigger afoot, something he was not being told.
He also had the sense his teammates knew something they were not telling him either. When he arrived that afternoon, slightly late, unusual for him, for a training session, he found Torune already there, the three of them talking, and he couldn't help it, he had that old familiar feeling, that something had changed within the group, once he got there, something that failed to settle out once they greeted him. That something in fact about his appearance seemed to agitate everyone there. Even Tsume and Hana seemed slightly uncomfortable.
He reported the next day for another examination, again conducted by Lady Hokage herself. She did not clear him for missions, and she still did not give him a diagnosis. He was surprised actually, that she let him leave. When he walked through the Village, and saw the gates, he stood and looked at them for a long time. He knew he could not run, but that didn't stop him from wanting to.
He went out walking in the woods on his family's land as a respite. He sat down amongst the mighty oaks, observed the goings on about him, watched a ladybug crawl amongst the giant roots, and suddenly had an uncanny feeling, a sense of deja vu, of a memory, another oak tree, another wood. A grove of trees that held special meaning for him. Holding a carved ladybug in his hands. Then, other memories, unbidden and confusing, being in someone's bedroom, perfume, silk sheets…Lady Natsuki's.
Everyone's assumptions and teasing… and now this memory of a ladybug, had he given it to her? That was an old custom. He only knew of it from the few things he had of his mother's. Books, letters, photos, of another life, lived in another village, one without ninjutsu and shuriken. Looking at them, he'd wondered if his mother ever regretted her choice, if her relationship with his dad had really been enough, for her to give up her career, leave behind her family and her home, to adapt not only to a village of shinobi, but to a clan that even within that village, whose ways were unusual, alien.
Why had that token, that ladybug his dad had given her, meant that much to her? Enough for her to bring it with her, keep it, enough for his dad to pass it to him after she died.
And why, if he had given Lady Natsuki a similar token, for he knew it wasn't the same one, why could he not remember having done so? In fact, why could he not remember if they had been together at all, and why was he only now remembering something?
Was this why he was grounded, why he was being examined?
He stood up, remembering something else, Hinata and Kiba in still water.
"You know, you could tell us… If something was wrong…"
Started running, when he could also, faint as could be now, heard Hinata asking:
"Shino, what happened to your neck?"
He, for once didn't care that Hinata was out with others, with Neji and his teammates, that he was interrupting, he just landed right onto their training ground, and without having to say anything, Hinata ran to him. Didn't care about the personal nature of his inquiry. Then witnessed a true fury in her eyes, something he had never seen, had never even imagined, when he asked if Lady Natsuki had been his lover.
Hinata told him no, as far as she knew, that was not true, then explained yes, there were some things he'd forgotten, and that was indeed why he'd been grounded.
"I'm sorry, Shino. Lady Hokage asked us to wait and see if you'd remember on your own."
He would have asked her more, but he was startled by her reaction, and startled to have what he'd feared confirmed. He… something had happened to him, and he really didn't know what or why.
He continued walking. The wind through the leaves, rustling his clothes, reminded him of something else: a long dress, and the feel of the breeze on his neck was agitating; reminiscent of long, fine hairs moving softly against his skin; witnessed the setting sun and saw instead a dimmed room and blood red lips. More garbled memories, but enough to get a second opinion, because along with the echo of Hinata in still water, there was Kiba and Akamaru.
"We've been kind of worried about you lately."
"Yeah man, there's some stuff you've forgotten. That's why you've been grounded. We aren't supposed to tell ya. I didn't feel great lying to you about it, but orders are orders. But you remembered something?" Kiba reiterated, slowly, hesitantly, which to Shino was just as shocking as Hinata's anger, just as disorienting, but he didn't know who else to ask.
Hinata had been upset enough as it was by his question, he wasn't sure what she would say to his next garbled memory. Out of everyone he knew, he thought Kiba would be the least fazed by it. He'd even talked with Shino about it, asked him this himself.
"I… asked Hinata if Lady Natsuki and I were involved with each other."
"Yeah, she told me." Kiba answered evasively, paused for awhile, not at all his normal manner of speaking. This triggered another memory, another time he'd been told his teammates were talking about him, that pool again. Kiba continued:
"There something you remembering that got you confused?"
"…I remember being in her bedroom."
Kiba paused, took a deep breath.
"'Kay… got anything else?"
"Her in a dressing gown. Brushing her hair. The smell of her make-up."
The toothy grin Shino expected to be on Kiba's face wasn't there. Instead, there was an expression, just like with Hinata, that Shino had never seen on him: deep sadness combined with deep sickness.
"Shino, do you actually remember doing anything with her?"
"I remember her hair on my neck. It seems like enough to conclude that she and I were… but why can't I remember?"
Kiba looked down at the ground, rested his chin on his hand, shook his head before answering, "I don't know, man. I don't know if you and her were together, and I don't know why you don't remember, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't tell you anything, and… I'm just really sorry."
