Author's Comment: This was supposed to have been up yesterday, but this site thought it'd be hilarious to erase my progress with some server issue... But I continued on despite my frustrations and here it is! I've been very busy lately and it seems to be simmering down a bit. I'd like to thank the following for the motivation: ASiriusWriter, Lectro Underground, tainothewarden, thewinkingfuck (lol, see what you did with your name there), and Kirbyhammer100!

Chapter 5: Family Reunion

"Brother!"

Sokudo closes his eyes, not making any move to respond to his sibling's desperate calls. Hidden in the foliage of a bordering tree, he hopes for once, just once, his Shedinja won't be able to find him. He is in no mood to talk or listen to anyone or anything. He just wants to hide, hide until darkness falls and then run home, where he can forget all this ever happened. But such hopes are useless as the leaves rustle beside him and Kowai emerges into view, whimpering as it wastes little time in floating over to cuddle up against him. And those whimpers only gets louder when its brother pulls away with an angry hiss.

"Brother?" the husk squeaks in distressed confusion, slowly inching closer. "Brother, what's wrong...? Why did you run away?" Sokudo doesn't answer it, turning away without a single word. Continuing to whimper and whine, Kowai flies in front of him insistently, not wanting to be ignored when it's so confused. Why is it that everything that seems so right to it, have such a negative effect on its brother? "Brother, please..."

Silence comes between them, and Kowai gently nuzzles against his neck, its Ninjask immediately leans away before grumbling. "What's with you?"

"Wha...?"

"First the beach and then that stupid shell. And now this," He sniffs a bit, glaring at his shed from the corner of his eyes. "Are you trying to make my life miserable all over again?"

"No!" Kowai exclaims in a panic. "No, brother! I... I..." It trails off a bit, unsure for a moment of what to say, what to do. It doesn't want its brother mad at it, it- "I just wanted to make you happy. I thought you'd be glad to see Mama-"

"Well, you thought wrong!" Sokudo snaps at it. "What makes you think for even a SECOND that I'd want any of this?! Did I ever ONCE tell you about Mom?! Don't you think there's a FUCKIN' reason for that, you stupid piece of shit?!"

"Brother, stop!" Kowai cries, shuddering a bit at the relentless aggression towards it. Sokudo growls a bit, but doesn't continue the verbal assault. Instead he takes a breath and again turns away from it.

"Just fuck off," he grunts, his good wing twitching. Although Kowai cries softly, it doesn't leave its brother and it inches closer again, only to be rudely pushed away as if in emphasis. Continuing to cry, Kowai lingers a short distance for a while before trying again to advance. This time, Sokudo only growls at it and Kowai takes the opportunity to figure this whole thing out.

"Brother," it starts softly. "I don't understand what's happening between you and Mama, but-"

"Stop," Sokudo interrupts sharply. "Stop calling her 'Mama'. She's my mom, not yours."

Kowai's whimpers hitches a bit before it falls silent, feeling a stab of pain within its spirit. Sokudo might as well have just said that it's not really his brother... It understands that Sokudo's pissed and stressed and hurting both physically and psychologically. But he didn't have to go that far! It almost wants to growl, but it just can't get mad this time, not when Sokudo's obviously not feeling himself. And it's learned many times by now that yelling back only makes things much worse. Instead, it goes to talk again, when another voice pipes up.

"Sokudo, don't say stuff like that," comes the familiar gentle tone and Sokudo tenses noticeably when their mother flies down from a higher portion of the tree to settle beside him. Seeing her son so uncomfortable in her presence breaks her heart and she feels tears beginning to well up as she gently places a claw on his shoulder.

Almost immediately, Sokudo pulls away and hurries to the end of the branch, pausing for only a second to measure the distance before jumping onto another branch. His own eyes are beginning to well with tears, and he ignores his family's call for him to come back. The tears makes it a bit harder to jump to another branch to get away and he almost misses completely, hanging onto the branch and trying to claw his way up. And he only manages it when his mother lands on the branch and, with help from Kowai's black mist, pulls him up.

Despite this helpfulness, he turns away, whimpering when Ninika holds him close to her, purring soothingly to him. Sokudo makes a few more half-hearted attempts to pull away, covering his face as he feels the tears escaping from his eyes. He doesn't want to cry, he doesn't want anyone to witness him cry. He doesn't want to confront his past...

"Sokudo, sweetie, shhhhh," Ninika gently soothes her distressed son, petting his good wing gently. "Please, don't do this... Please stop running... I... I just..." She can't finish as sobs begin choking from her throat and the two Ninjask stay huddled together for a while, Kowai floating nearby and allowing its mother to calm its brother.

After another moment's passed, Ninika manages to get her voice working again. "Stop running... Please... I-I don't know... what I did to anger you so m-much, but... please... no more running..."

"M-Mom..." Sokudo whispers softly, his face still buried in his claws. Shaking a bit as he cries, he tries to get his voice to stop shaking without success. "M-Mom... I'm not... not mad at y-you... I... I'm just..." He chokes a bit, shifting to bury his face into his mother's chest, still shaking. "D-don't be m-mad at me, Mom... I... I'm sorry..."

Tilting her head a bit, Ninika holds him tighter as she nuzzles into his neck. "Sweetie, I'm not mad... Why would I be mad...?"

"B-because..." Sokudo doesn't continue for a few minutes, hiccuping a bit as he clings to his mother. "B-because I... I ran away... I dishonored our family... 'cause I ran away..." He sniffs a bit. "Don't be mad... Please... Please don't d...don't disown me... I'm sorry..."

Ninika doesn't know what to think for a moment, astounded at Sokudo's belief of the situation. Shaking her head a bit, she places a claw on his cheek and gets him to look at her. "Sokudo, baby, why would...? I would never do that." She nuzzles his face a bit. "I'm confused, but not angry, baby..." Continuing to nuzzle and soothe her child, she waits for Sokudo's shudders and cries to calm before carrying on. "I love you, Sokudo, and I would never, never disown you. You've done nothing deserving such a thing and you never dishonored our family. Okay, baby?"

Sokudo doesn't respond for a moment, just staring back into his mother's eyes before sniffing. "O-okay... I... I was just scared..." He glances away a bit in embarrassment at having to admit that. "I... That's why I didn't want to come back... But..." He trails off a bit, hugging tightly to his mother and burying his face into her neck. "I missed you, Mom... I wish I didn't run away but..."

"But what, sweetie?" Ninika gently urges, wanting to know what she did wrong that caused her baby to run away. She'll do anything to fix it, to make it right. But her answer isn't what she expected when Sokudo starts crying again. Shushing him gently, she pets his back and wing and succeeds in getting him to share.

"It's stupid, Mom," he tells her. "It's stupid..." Hiccuping for another moment, he speaks in a soft, shameful voice. "I... I got bored..."

"What...?" his mother chokes a bit, not understanding.

"I got sick of it... I..." Wiping at his running tears a bit, his voice gets even softer as he continues. "I got t-tired of just digging around... I g-got tired that I couldn't see you or D-Dad that much because I... I had to stay in the dirt all day... And then, when I can come out, it was always nighttime and..." He shakes his head. "And you guys weren't around at night... I got sick of my life... I w-wanted more and... and I ran away..."

For a long while, Ninika can't say anything, just staring at him in disbelief. "S... Sokudo..."

"Please don't get mad at me." the young Ninjask whimpers.

"No, no," Ninika reassures, falling quiet to think and organize her thoughts before continuing softly. "Sokudo, baby, I know we didn't spend a lot of time with you... but the time we did spend, doesn't it count for something? Weren't those happy times?"

"Yes..." Sokudo whispers softly and the two bugs fall silent for a long moment before the parent continues.

"Remember back when...? When you, your father, and I would sometimes go out to the beach and look for sea shells together?"

The younger ninja sniffles for a moment, shuddering a bit before nodding. "I... I remember how you'd always collect the ones with... with the mother-of-pearl stuff... And... and we would make all kinds of art with 'em..." He snuggles closer. "I would always love that..."

Hearing this, the lingering Kowai feels a rush of realization wash over it and everything that happened before made sense. Its thoughts wander back to when it brought that shell home, the shell with the mother-of-pearl lining. It remembers when it tried to bring the shell to its brother and the rejection that followed. Now it understands why its brother reacted the way he did... why he started crying...

"Sokudo," Ninika continues. "I don't want to make you do what you don't want to do. If you still want to run away..." Her eyes tears up and she takes a shaky breath. "... You can... I won't stop you..." More silence comes between them, Sokudo looking up at his mother's eyes. He can see the hurt in her eyes, but of the acceptance to let him go. Whimpers choking a bit, he lowers his gaze to the bark below as the thoughts went through his head.

"Mom... I... I love you... but..." He looks back to his mother's eyes. "I'm an adult now... I can take care of myself... I have a job and a house of my own..." He purrs in comfort when his mother starts to sob, nuzzling her face. "But that doesn't mean I can't visit... like right now..."

Ninika blinks in surprise, before a small smile grows in her eyes. Hugging each other tightly, Sokudo buries his face into his mother's neck and he can feel his mother return the gesture and he savors it. For once, in a very long time, he feels complete and utter content, no worries, no problems, no anger. Just the comforting warmth of his mother's hug.

But that feeling ends when a purring Kowai floats over to the duo, snuggling against both its brother and its mother. Ninika accepts the Shedinja readily, and shares the hug with it. But Sokudo doesn't seem pleased, glaring at the husk with a spark of jealousy. Reaching out a claw, he bops it over the head to get it away and his mother giggles a little at this show of sibling rivalry.

"Sokudo, stop it," she tells him. "He's part of our family, so don't push him away." Sokudo only grunts and their mother soothes him with a groom, pulling her mask down to gently lick his face. Despite his general dislike of being groomed, he genuinely enjoys this attention from his mother and relaxes. After a few minutes, Kowai decides that it wants some attention too and presses its muzzle against its Mama. Purring, Ninika grooms the Shedinja too, the husk cooing happily.

Snuggling to its brother whilst being groom by its mother, Kowai's never known such bliss and it absent-mindedly begins grooming Sokudo. Stiffening considerably, he takes a reluctant breath, knowing that he should take it so as not to ruin the moment. His good wing twitching, he feels his mom pet his back soothingly and he takes his mind off his brother's actions...

...by grooming his mother for the first time in a long while...

"Mom... I don't think this is a good idea..." Sokudo mutters nervously as he follows after his mother, who's also walking to stay with her son. Kowai flies close to them, 'protecting' them from the other bug Pokemon fluttering around. The younger Ninjask seems anxious as they head towards a house, a house Sokudo recognizes all too well. Just seeing it brings a whole wave of nostalgia, but it does nothing to help his fear.

"It'll be fine," Ninika reassures, pausing beside him to nuzzle. "He'll be delighted to see you again."

"What if..." Sokudo trails off, clawing a bit at the ground. "What if he... gets mad... and disowns me..."

"Sokudo," Ninika gently begins. "I know you're scared of that, but I promise, I assure you, that it's not going to happen. I won't ever let that happen. Okay, baby?"

Sokudo doesn't respond for a moment, continuing to claw at the dirt before nodding softly and the trio continues their trek to the house. Opening the door, Ninika flashes a beaming smile to her sons before calling out inside. "Kiru, honey, I'm back! And you won't believe who's with me!"

"If it's my sister, tell her I suffered a terrible gardening accident!" comes a humorous voice as a noise echoes from the upstairs. Ninika giggles a bit before turning to Sokudo with a reassuring smile.

"Go on, call to him..." she prompts gently, placing a claw on his shoulder. The other Ninjask clears his throat nervously and closes his eyes, trying to take comfort in his mother's presence and her promise. He won't get punished or disowned... Taking a breath, he holds it for a moment before calling out.

"Hey, Dad..."

The sound of movement above freezes and he fights the instinct to run as the footsteps above moves for the staircase. Kowai beside him presses close to him, confused at what it's sensing. It knows it's about to see its father, but...

A Scyther jumps over the railing, turning to them with disbelief in his face...