Many Masks

Written By - Treina

II

Mask of Shino Aburame

"He's so weird." The whispering seems to catch my ears like how the pollen sticks to the legs of a bumblebee. I am weird, that I have accepted since I was a child. But these children? They will never know what really lies behind my 'weird' features. That I suppose, can be attributed to my father, the mysterious Aburame who never says a word and hides himself in his room. I never talked much to my father, it wasn't that I didn't respect him, I looked up to him with all my heart, but he was never one who said much.

I remember when he would come home from month long missions and I could conjure up the courage to welcome him home and hug him. He would look at me, place a hand on my head and leave to his bedroom where he would stay for many hours on end. My curiosity would always peak during these times and I would press my ear against the wooden door that stood between my father and me. But nothing was heard, nothing.

Sometimes I wonder if the reason why I "grew up" (as they say in the clan) so fast was because I really had no one but myself. It was needed that I become independent at a young age in order to survive. Although in times of great discomfort or pain, my father would come running to see what was wrong. These were the only times when I could ever see any expression in his face, and it was of pure terror.

There was one time when my father talked to me all night; I was nine years old and bed ridden with a high fever. On this night he told me that everyone would call me weird, and this was something that I should accept as an Aburame. This was a vital tool within the village. "If you are the weird quiet guy in the village, no one will notice you as anything but that. I know this is hard to understand, but the more they know about you, the more they information they have if any of them ever turn into the enemy. We are Aburame son, we are one of the top five elite clans within Konoha. Everything within our clan is secret and you must understand this, that is why being the "weird" guy is an important tool to make things easier for you.

My entire life I kept to myself, taking my fathers advise to the extreme and when we graduated the Academy, Iruka-sensei informed all of us that we would be put into a team of three. This team would have to work together and complete missions together. Most people seemed exited about this prospect, but I knew that this would be a problem. This would make things harder, eventually; these other two people would learn who I was and everything about me. I was happy to hear that Hinata would be a part of the team, considering that she was another one of the quietest people in the school. But Kiba, he would be a problem, and after the first few days, he already figured me out, I could tell.

Now the question was, could I trust him? I was only twelve years old and I can only shudder at what the future will bring. They say im weird? Yes, I am weird and I accept that. But only one man in the village will truly ever know the real me, and that's my father, the greatest Aburame who ever lived. But now that I have learned that lesson, it doesn't stop there. Soon I will turn into a man, and then greater responsibility will rest upon my shoulders.

"Hey Shino! What are ya doin? Your always zoning out like that!" Kiba bellows in my ear as if I were across the village, not sitting across the table from me.
"The waitress is here, tell her what ya want!" Kiba smiled and stuck his nose back into the menu, I assume to make some last minute decisions.
"Anou, do you like it here? Have you ever been here before? We can go somewhere else if you want..." Hinata was beginning to feel that the restaurant she picked was not appealing to everyone's tastes. I furrowed my eyebrows knowing that I had just been mis-understood.
"This is fine," I assure Hinata and point to the menu while looking at the waitress, she gives me a weird look and writes down my order before turning to Kiba to see if he was ready. Kiba decided that he would order half the menu and later blamed it on Akamaru.

As we left the restaurant, Hinata burned to me with a bight red blush painted on her pale cheeks, "anou...Shino-kun...I was wondering"
"Jeez Hinata, you haven't even asked him yet?" Kiba laughed and Akamaru barked.
"What is it?" I ask, wondering what all the talk was about.
"Well, you see...this weekend is my birthday and Ino and everyone is throwing a party for me..everyone thinks its such a big deal because im the first one in our class to turn thirteen...and I was hoping my team would be there..." You could tell Hinata wasn't too thrilled with the idea of having a party, or with the fact that she had to ask me. I said nothing and kept walking like I didn't hear her.
"Hey! That's not nice Shino!" Kiba bellowed, "were you even listening"
"Yes," I answer, "I heard"
"So will you come?" Hinata asked, lifting her head up.
"I will have to see..." Was the only answer I could give her, but it seemed good enough for her because she put on a lovely smile and began to run home.

The part I don't understand is, what does this have anything to do with training? Why must I expose myself even further? That night I thought about this subject very long and very hard. My father approached me that night and asked what the problem was. Surprised at how my father was able to tell that something was wrong, I began to explain my dilemma to him. My father looked at me very seriously, "you have done well, but you must also understand that teamwork is an important thing. It can mean the difference between life and death. Just like being weird is a very important tool, teamwork is an even more important one. If you are to become a ninja and make me proud, you must learn how to work as a team. They must know you, but at the same time, you must know them. So instead of guarding yourself so much, use that as an advantage to pick up what they don't guard. If you understand this, you will rise to the top within the clan." He smiled at me and left to see the Hokage and I decided that maybe I would attend that party that Hinata is throwing.

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