Chapter 2: New Faces
(Alternatively, In Which A Strange Man Tries to Hug My Mother While I'm Trying to Nap On Her Shoulder – Anyone Else See This Ending Badly?)
Hyo is out of the hospital two days after he wakes up(he's never been happier to leave a place than he is now as his mother steps out into the afternoon sunshine. And, suddenly, his breath is stolen by the sheer beauty of something he never thought he'd see again in his lifetime. There are people! So many people. And children(the children, elderly, and infirm had often been the first to go in unprotected encampments – not that protection ever prevented their deaths). Hyo has never been fond of people but he has never hated them either, has never wanted them to suffer and die the way they had when his world was ending) and his toddler body seems to have a mind of its own because he is smiling and bouncing on his mother's hip(seriously? What the actual hell is wrong with him?). His mother laughs loud and boisterously, "Someone's excited! Happy to be outside, Shika-chan?"
Hyo(he can't quite bring himself to think of himself as Shikamaru just yet. The name is still too new and he is still too raw and bleeding inside) can't help the child's giggle that bubbles up and out of his throat. There is a warmth building in his chest as he takes in buildings and stalls and so many different scents from cooking food reach his nose as his little head is turning this way and that way to try and capture everything in his line of sight(because he can remember the desolation of before and he wants to carve this thriving civilization into his memory more than anything and it is a balm to his wounded and aching heart). His mother shakes her head with another laugh and says, "Look up, sweetie!"
Hyo does and sees(… oh… Oh… Sweet, Merciful Minerva) the biggest and fluffiest white clouds he can ever remember seeing in the bluest sky he's ever seen in his whole life(and they are beautiful in a way he can't even begin to describe because he remembers a sky that is gray and choked with ash and poison and who knows what else. A sky that would dump acid rain without a moments notice and any unenhanced person unlucky to be caught in that deluge would always, inevitably, become sick). He's gaping, he knows he is(he can't help himself and he can't tear his eyes away from the sky) and his mother's laugh is both fond and resigned, "You're your otou-san's son alright. I don't know why I ever thought otherwise."
Hyo finally manages to tear himself away from the sight to wrap his arms around her neck and nuzzles his cheek against hers(because she is his mother and he still can't quite get over the fact that she exists. That she is real and solid beneath his touch). He sighs contently as her free hand glides up and down his tiny back soothingly and he is glad that the instincts of this child's body of his makes it so easy to relax(because Hyo had only ever known pain from the touch of other people before Zack rescued him and he's never been able to trust people he doesn't know the way other people do(so he tries to never let anyone outside of AVALANCHE touch him. The few people(outside of his adopted family) that do lay hands on him without permission find themselves broken and on the floor before they can figure out what happen because Zack and the others know him and they know he cannot tolerate people the way they do. So they break the idiots that mess with him before Hyo can retaliate because Hyo would not leave broken people behind when he snapped(he'd leave broken bodies instead because mercy was not something he instinctively knew, it was something he had had to learn and it had not come naturally to him for the longest time. Eventually, it does but he can't help but wonder, years later, if he was wrong to learn mercy, especially considering how wrong everything went)).
His mother hums softly(thoughtfully, he thinks), "Still so affectionate, my Shika-chan. You're going to be worse than that Kakashi boy when it comes to hospitals. I can already tell. I'll have to warn your otou-san about that when he gets home so he knows to keep an eye on you if you ever need to go back and I'm not able to watch over you. Better safe than sorry."
Hyo isn't quite certain what to think about her words(he does hopes he never has to enter that seventh circle of hell ever again(but he's pretty certain that he'll wind up there one way or another because he's never been that lucky and he'd once heard that luck was a lady – which is worse because Hyo and women, outside of the women in his adopted family, have never gotten along)). She's mentioned his father once before and again now. Her words imply that the man is an important part of their lives and he hopes his father is someone he can be just as comfortable with as he already is with his mother(because at one point all he had ever wanted was to know who he was. He'd wanted to know where he came from, who his parents were and if they had loved him and looked for him the way he had futilely searched for the answers he'd never found. The Forbidden Continent was the only place he had never searched because of how hostile the natives were to any outsiders and he'd eventually given up on searching years later. After all, there was no point in continuing to search for answers when all he got were more questions(it hasn't stopped him from wondering about those questions in the very back of his mind)). "Two more weeks, Shika-chan, and then your otou-san will be home," his mother throws him a mischievous smile. The corners of her eyes crease in some secret amusement as she says, "we should surprise him, yes?"
Hyo blinks and something flutters in his chest as he stares at his mother and a smile starts to stretch across his face before he even realizes that it's happening and then he's laughing, bright and happy and bell-like, with his head thrown back(he can't ever remember actually laughing), because his mother seems to be such a bright and happy light to him and he can't help but follow her example(and it is amazing and brilliant and suddenly he never wants her to stop smiling at him like that. With that warmth in her eyes and like her heart is on her sleeve for the world to see because she has no reason to hide it from anyone(and Hyo wants to protect that smile just like he'd wanted to protect Denzel's and Marlene's smiles – for those smiles had been so very, very precious to him and he'd wanted nothing more than for them to always be able to smile)).
Two weeks seem to pass by in a blur of sleeping, eating, crawling, and playing with his mother(and teaching himself how to walk when his mother isn't looking because she looked so disappointed one day when they are at the market and she saw a child about his age clinging to her sister's hand and toddling along(and Hyo wants nothing more than to make her proud)). Regardless of her one moment of disappointment, she seems utterly happy to have him awake and aware and focused on her. She is still a bright and happy light in his life(and Hyo still can't believe how lucky he is to have her) and she is prone to suddenly scooping him up in her arms and dancing him across the room, while singing silly songs that make him laugh and giggle(he still can't control this body's strange urges and instincts any more than he can control the rising and setting of the sun(and if he's honest with himself?… he's stopped trying)), without any warning at all. Sometimes, however, he gets so tired that he simply crashes out wherever he happens to be at the time(and that is disturbing and worrying because exhaustion shouldn't simply hit him like a freight train at high speed). His mother seems to think it's normal though and simply picks him up to lay him down in his playpen(it is an embarrassing, humiliating cage(just like the crib) to him and he hates it with the passion of a thousand burning suns(his mild pyromania may be acting up just a little bit) but he puts up with it to make her happy because parents need time to themselves too. And to be honest, he needs to have a bit of space to himself as well) or lets him nap on her shoulder if she is knitting or sewing since he doesn't move much and he doesn't hinder her range of motion.
Hyo enjoys these moments when he can simply relax against her and he is warm and his stomach is full and there is no reason for him to worry(because he can remember a time when he wasn't warm and didn't he have enough food(he gave it away to those who needed it more because he could never stand to see a child go hungry if he could prevent it) and he was constantly worried and alert and always, always trying to bring back enough supplies to make sure that everyone could have the basic necessities). These moments are helped by that fact that she likes to sing lullabies to him as he rests(he remembers Tifa singing to Marlene and Denzel and later, after Deepground is nothing more than a bad memory, to little baby Dyne who is soft and warm and Hyo falls in love with him just as much as the rest of the family does(because little Dyne being born is a miracle after all the fighting and death they've seen and Hyo is just as protective of Dyne as he is of his adopted niece and nephew and he will never let anyone harm these children because they are his and he loves them more than he ever thought he'd ever be able to)).
Of course, just as he's slipping out of a doze and drifting to sleep there is a flurry of activity and he is suddenly squished between his mother and a strange man with blond hair and a booming voice, "Yoshino! It's good to see you! Choza and I have missed you at the gatherings!"
A lazy drawl drifts on the air, "Just because you missed her doesn't mean you have to bombard her like that, Inoichi. Let my wife breath, you overly emotional Yamanaka."
Hyo doesn't really give the blond a chance to respond to that or let go and he doesn't really think about what he's doing either before the action is already complete. He twists his head – viper fast – and sinks his teeth into the side of the man's neck like a particularly ornery cat that has had enough of being touched(he really doesn't like it when people he doesn't know touch him). And, despite the sudden tidbit of knowledge that informs him that children who bite need to be punished, he can't bring himself to feel any remorse(he feels rather vindicated, after all, he had just been squished by this blond menace(and at nap time no less and that just makes the whole thing worse)) towards the now yelping man who has torn himself away and is staring at Hyo in shock and as if he is some dangerous and alien creature and Hyo is glaring back at him(he has to lie to himself about this because Hyo Strife/Shikamaru does not pout and anyone who says otherwise is a vicious lying, liar who lies).
"He bit me… Your son just bit me, Shikaku!"
The blond isn't the only one staring at him and Hyo decides that things need to be shaken up a bit more since he's already rocked the boat so to speak. So he does the only thing he can do in this moment(and later he will have a hysterical laughing fit over it because it is only appropriate after their reactions to his little ploy). Hyo bands his right arm around the back of his mother's neck to steady himself, turns so that his side is facing the three men, draws his little shoulders up, drops his head so that his own neck is protected, bares his baby teeth and then hisses at them with all the menace an eighteen-month-old child can gather(which is actually quite a lot since he's holding a grudge at the moment).
Author's Note: So what do you think of it so far?