Child of the Leaf
Chapter Two
by operadeglace
"You are a child of the Leaf."
After his cryptic statement, Ryoukan had passed away, the life slowly fading from his eyes. Shinachiku could only sit and stare in disbelief.
The silence was deafening to him as he was left with unsolved mysteries and a gaping hole in his heart…
—
There was a rather large memorial service held in the village for Shinachiku's adoptive father of which even the Kazekage and his venerated siblings were in attendance.
The sombre crowd paid their respects, none of them familiar to Shinachiku, as they were far older than he was. Colleagues of his deceased caretaker, no doubt.
His team mates, Ayaka and Magire were there to show their faces, then were gone as soon as there was a shift in the herd of people.
"I'm sorry for your loss, Shinachiku." His chest started to burn as he listened to a voice he didn't think he'd hear, laden with comfort and concern.
"Thank you, Ayaka-chan."
He says softly as he looked up at the one third of his team that he thought had abandoned him. She was a pretty girl with long red hair swept into a high ponytail and deep blue eyes that reminded Shina of a rare, stormy sky over Suna. The blonde boy thought she looked lovely, even when she was wearing her mournful, black clothes.
"I know you're alone now… I envy you." She states blankly.
Shinachiku grits his teeth, biting back a few angry retorts. He knew it was her way of trying to comfort him.
"I mean, you should try living with ten older brothers…"
I would love to have ANY brothers…
Then, Ayaka puts a warm hand on his shoulder and his face grows red at the contact.
"I… I want to… you should know… that I…" Ayaka stammers, Shinachiku's face reddens even more has he watches a blush creep onto her flustered face. He really thought her to be the cutest girl he had ever met.
"Ayaka. Shinachiku."
The two Chuunin turn to see the Kazekage and his elder brother and sister addressing them. They both bow respectfully, Kankuro being the next to speak.
"Beat it, brat! We need to speak to your Shinachiku privately." The painted man teases.
"He is not my anything!" Ayaka growls angrily, slapping his hand away and storms off, leaving Kankuro to chuckle in her absence. Temari steps forward and hands Shina a black, lacquered box with the Sunagakure symbol on the front. Her expression is tender and kind, very unlike the expression she usually wore.
"This was your father's. He left it to you." The red-haired Kazekage speaks, his gaze ever intimidating to Shinachiku. "You will also have no worries about food, money, or housing, as the village will now be providing you with all your needs and wants according to your father's last wishes."
Shinachiku holds the box close to his chest as if stealing a last hug from his beloved "father".
"Your father has been invaluable to our village with his numerous years of dedicated service and friendship. If you have need of anything, please do not hesitate to ask it of me." Gaara bows in respect and turns to leave with his brother and sister at his side.
—-
"Man… I'm sooooo hungry."
An entire week had passed since Ryoukan's funeral and Shinachiku had eaten through all of the items in the pantry.
"I suppose you are old enough to know the truth. Please, do not be angered… I was instructed never to tell you."
Who instructed him? Who didn't want him to know the truth? His mother? His biological father?
So many questions swirling within his mind.
"You are a child of the Leaf."
What exactly did he mean? Child of the leaf? Was he born in a tree..?
Shinachiku spreads his body haphazardly on the floor, his head falling to the side to look at his father's box of ashes and portrait. His eyes narrowed angrily at the portraiture's caring smile, which in that moment, seemed to be mocking him. The man who knew the answers he was searching for lay in a thousand particles of ash within that little box next to his picture.
Box…
Box..!
The box his father left him!
He beat his fists on his head and scrambled to his feet, rushing into his room to retrieve the black lacquered box that the Kazekage had given him.
"How could I have forgotten that thing!?" Shina says in pure frustration with himself. He remembered dropping it to the floor and kicking it angrily under his bed before throwing himself onto his bed and weeping for the loss of his only relation in the village.
After a few minutes of shuffling around the messy contents that lay beneath his bed, his fingertips felt and grasped at the smooth faces of the box his father had bequeathed to him. With a slowly, measured breath, he pulled it out and sat it on his lap. His heart was beating as if he had just finished a long foot race as his shaking hands started to take the lid off of the item that could very well be the answer to the questions that plagued him.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
He tried to ignore that rapping at his door as he struggled to pull at the lid that was very hard to pull off.
"Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock!"
The knocking grew more urgent.
Shinachiku groans and tucks the box under his arm, walking angrily towards his front door, suspecting that the person on the other side was not going to go away until he attended to them.
"…"
His hand paused at the door handle as the knocking stopped, puzzled as to why the visitor suddenly halted their hounding.
"SHYAAAAAAAA!"
His eyes widen in sudden recognition as a yell is heard from the other side.
"Ayaka-cha-"
His front door is broken down with the blonde boy beneath it, smashed flat to the floor as his team mate jumps onto it aggressively.
"Shinachiku! Where are you?!" She cries out in a desperate voice, sprinting out of the room. "Speak to me!"
From beneath the heavy door, Shinachiku groans. He could hear Ayaka crashing through his house, searching for him. He pushes the wooden slab off of him and sits, rubbing his throbbing head.
"I'm here… Ayaka-chan." He calls out softly to the intruder who immediately responds by running into the front of his home.
"You idiot!" She yells at him angrily, her fists balled at her sides. "I… I thought you were dead! You've been gone for a whole week!"
Shinachiku stands in front of her and rubs the back of his head, smiling brilliantly, to which Ayaka blushes.
"I'm sorry I worried you." He responds, touched by her worrying over his well being. With a strange look in her eyes, she steps forward slowly until she is merely inches away from him.
I-is Ayaka-chan going to hug me..?
Shinachiku blushes as well, leaning towards her with much anticipation. Ayaka follows suit, leaning closer and closer until… she can get close enough to take a whiff of him and stumbles quickly backwards, holding her nose.
"You haven't showered in a week as well!?" She says incredulously.
"I was a little… distraught." He says, embarrassed.
Ayaka looked like she was about to lecture him about his poor hygiene, but she looked calmly at him and nodded.
"So, why did it take you so long to answer me?" She asked, flipping her long hair over her shoulder.
Shinachiku stoops down to pick up his father's box. The forced entry of Ayaka had conveniently dislodged the cover, and it lay open in his hands.
"I was opening the box the Kazekage had given me from my father." He states distractedly as he removes the cloth covering the box's contents.
"That was a week ago, too. What is inside it?" Ayaka asks impatiently, peering over his fingers.
Shina's hands feel a bit of fabric and pulls it up.
It was a long black strip of material, onto which a glint of metal shone.
"It's a hitai-ate? Why would he leave you that?" The red-haired kunoichi asks, nonplussed while Shinachiku was thoroughly overjoyed at his discovery.
"Look at this…" He points to the symbol of a leaf on the center of the seemingly ordinary forehead protector.
"A child of the Leaf…" The boy says happily, tears springing to his eyes. Ayaka continues to give him a puzzled look.
"I'm from Konohagakure."
-End of Chapter Two
—Story by ODG
