Cocoon
Chapter 10
~o~
As the weeks went by, Hinata found herself becoming weaker and sicker. Everything about her was swelling and painful, and the nausea never seem to let up. Eventually the Wolfmother gave up on her work-hard regimen, and allowed Hinata to rest for most of the day. Hinata's condition baffled the old woman.
"I have not seen this happen in all my years. You have been given the same workload and diet that every Inuzaka mother has ever experienced, and they all remained strong and gave birth to healthy children. I have never seen a mother so ill here."
Hinata groaned and rolled over in her cot, sweat bubbling on her neck and forehead. The Wolfmother touched her own chin in thought.
"The only difference is that normally one of the bitches will get pregnant right when an Inuzaka mother reaches her second trimester. The mothers give birth at around the same time, and one of those pups becomes the child's designated hound. But no wolf in the den is with child...I suppose it is because you are carrying a beetle child."
Hinata was panting. "Wolfmother...it...it hurts so bad..."
The old woman rested her hand on Hinata's sweat-soaked forehead.
"I know, my child. Motherhood is a painful path. I'll see if I can make you a salve to help ease the pain."
Just then, Kiba burst through the front door. He hadn't shown up in quite some time, so Hinata took all her strength to lift herself up for him.
"Hinata! He's back! The Ichihokage has returned!" Kiba declared will stumbling over to her beside.
"N...N-naruto-kun? Is..he...does he ...know?" She huffed.
"I told him the same thing as everyone else, that you're being hidden for your safety due to the importance of your child. He says he wants to see you, but he understands the need for your well-being."
"Oh..." She collapsed back into her cot.
"Hinata, what's wrong? I've never seen you in such bad shape."
"This baby...unghh...something's...not right...I feel...w-wet."
"Well, you are sweatin' up a storm, honey..."
"No...it...it hurts...down...t-there..."
Kiba swallowed hard. "You better not slap me for this..."
He then lifted the thick comforter off of her, revealing an enormous stain of deep red blood surrounding her nether regions. Kiba's heart dropped to his feet, and the Wolfmother shrieked at the sight.
"Kiba! The beetle boy...the father, you must fetch him. Quick-like! Tell him his child is bleeding. He will know what to do!"
Kiba stared at the woman, half in shock of the situation, and half bewildered for betraying the very reason they had brought Hinata here in the first place. The Wolfmother struck him across the face.
"Go, boy! Now! There is no time to lose!"
With that, Kiba turned and sprinted out the door with not another word. Hinata wept through agony.
"What...what's g-going on?" she whimpered.
"It is what I feared. The Aburame are no fools, Hinata...whatever they were trying to do to you back then, I suspect it was to prevent this very thing from happening."
~o~
Shino looked up from his studies when an unusually loud pounding was heard from his apartment door. When he opened it, he found Kiba and Akamaru, bent over and panting from exhaustion.
"Hinata...what has happened to Hinata?!" he cried.
Kiba caught his breath for a moment before continuing. His gasps for air were deep.
"She's bleeding. Lots. Ba-chan...thinks something to do with your family."
"Mine? But she swore the child was Naruto's...what does my family have to do with this?"
"Found 'em...doing some weird shit to Hinata, 'bout a month after she found out...wasn't assassins. Aburame. That's the reason...huff...that I hid her."
Shino was livid. He seized Kiba by the shoulders, and shot him a poisonous glare with his remaining eye.
"You mean to tell me...Hinata is pregnant with my child, my family took her and was about to do what was most likely the extremely important medical procedure that they have warned me about, and you stole her, put her on your dog farm, lied to me, and now her baby is in danger?!"
Kiba couldn't bare to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry Shino, she was scared...I was just trying to help her..."
Shino's beetles began leaking from his pores and sleeves. It was clear his control of them was slipping under his rage.
"IT'S BEEN FIVE MONTHS, KIBA! HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME ABOUT THIS?!"
If Kiba had a tail, it would surely be between his legs. Akamaru's certainly was. They weren't used to this level of anger from Shino. Despite this, Kiba mustered up the courage to look Shino in the eye.
"Look I know I fucked up bad, but that's not important...Hinata is seriously sick, and she needs your help. Only your family knows what to do, so please figure it out, and I can take you to her."
Shino finally released his grip, then folded his arms in thought. The beetles began to retract, but a few of them still buzzed around in agitation.
"Come with me, I need to see my aunt."
~o~
Hinata had passed out from the pain shortly after Kiba left, and for the next couple of hours she was diving in and out of fever dreams. Her thoughts seem to slip from various traumatic moments in her life, to joyous ones that were dotted with a sense of dread. When she finally gained enough conciousness to be considered awake, a familiar scene played before her.
She was lying on her cot, swaddled in fresh, dry sheets. It seemed like she was still in the Wolfmother's den, but it was dimly lit. After a moment she realized she was in the same thin examination robe that she had arrived in, which was also clean and dry. Well, as clean as things could get in this forest, that is.
Then Hinata heard the creak of the front door sliding open, and in came two mysterious silhouettes. One was just a shape, the other looked like it might be Naruto. She tried to say his name, but her throat was cracked with sleep. When the ordinary shape came into view, her eyes widened. The creature looked like it had wandered in from an apocolyptic wasteland. It was buried in robes and wore a terrifying gas mask. In his hand was a metallic briefcase, which the creature set aside next to her to open. The Naruto-like shape stayed in the back, and appeared to be watching. What was going on?
Then she saw it, the great needle that she had fled from almost half a year ago. Tears immediately began to stream from her face, and she wormed away from the figure desperately.
"No..no...don't...d-don't hurt my b-baby..." she whimpered through a sandpaper throat.
The creature paused for a moment, then outstretched a gloved hand to her face. It was oddly warm as it cupped her cheek, and smeared the tears away with its thumb. Then Hinata gasped as the creature pulled the mask from it's face, revealing Shino's comforting one-eyed smile.
"Don't be afraid, Hinata. I'm here to help."
His smile didn't last long. As soon as he breathed in the air, he flinched and shoved his face back into the mask.
"This place is putrid..." she heard him mumble through the glass.
Hinata was so relieved, she let out an exhausted giggle. Finally, the Naruto shape came forward and revealed himself to be Kiba. Hinata was too happy to be disappointed.
"It's not that bad!" Kiba exclaimed, a look of bitterness on his face. "Now c'mon, do the thing!"
"What thing?" Hinata asked, tensing up again. Shino began to explain things while he prepared her for the procedure.
"My family has been working with insects for many generations. But our relationship to our hive goes beyond a simple symbiosis. We have evolved to the point where we literally cannot live without the other."
Hinata remained silent, and watched as Shino lifted the blankets off her to reveal her swollen belly.
"Without the proper chemicals our hive gives off, our bodies wither and decay. Even in the safety of a mother's womb, an Aburame child will still deteriorate without a hive."
He opened a packet of sanitary wipes, and carefully cleaned off a spot on Hinata's stomach.
"We have to inject a hive in the early stages of pregnancy, the bugs can't enter normally or the immune system of a non-Aburame will kill them off before they can reach the womb. That's why we use the gel in here...it gives the beetles a protective layer while they nest."
He gave a concerning look to Hinata.
"Obviously this procedure isn't something that normal women want to go through...there's usually a long discussion before someone decides to mother a new member of our family. Of course, that discussion never happened...so my family decided to force the procedure on you, hoping they could save the child before you reacted."
Next, Shino slathered on a layer of numbing ointment.
"They didn't tell me anything about it. I supposed they assumed that kidnapping a dear friend of mine, then losing them to an Inuzaka would have upset me. They know me well."
"I'm...I'm sorry...Shino-kun..."
"For what?" It was rhetorical.
"For lying to you."
He sighed. "Being the mother of my child is no walk in the park. I understand your fear. But from now on, please be more open with me. Your well-being is my only concern."
Then he prepared the needle. The beetles within squirmed through the geletin in a sickening movement.
"Is that going to hurt?" Hinata asked, flinching.
"It's not going to feel good, but if it makes you feel any better, these beetles are straight from my own hive."
Strangely enough, that did give Hinata an odd sense of peace. It was like one of those romanticized blood transfusions she'd watch in soap operas. Shino would protect her, inside and out.
But then the pain struck. It was more intense than anything she had felt previously...she felt as if the needle was so long it would go straight through her. She shrieked in agony, and Kiba clasped onto her hand and held it tightly. She squeezed back so hard he thought his fingers would snap.
"Just a little longer, hang on..." Shino said softly.
Kiba was almost whimpering, but he held his tongue. He knew the pain of his hand in Hinata's grip could not compare to whatever hell she was going through. Though after a few seconds, he realized she'd snapped the chakra in his palm right in half.
As Shino squeezed the contents of the needle into Hinata's flesh, she could feel an intense sting within her. The nausea was unbearable. She felt as though she would faint at any moment, but before she even realized it, the procedure was done...and the pain was over.
"You're all done...sweetheart...you can let go of my hand now..." Kiba murmured while wincing.
Hinata let go, and suddenly felt almost sixty percent better. She even had the strength to sit up.
"Oh...oh my goodness, I can...I feel so much better," she sighed wistfully. She then turned to Kiba and saw him clutching his hand.
"Oh no! Kiba, I'm so sorry!"
"Heh...it's okay...I deserve it," he replied with a grin.
"Kiba, may I have some time alone with Hinata?" Shino's voice buzzed through his gas mask.
"Oh, yeah...sure. I'll be outside. Come get me when you're ready to leave."
Shino watched at Kiba left the little shack, then turned to Hinata. It then occurred to her how much trouble she was probably in, and her metaphorical cat ears went flat against her head.
"I...I really am..s-sorry, Sh-Shino-kun..."
Without a word, Shino pulled off the mask in one brisk movement, let it drop to the ground, then held Hinata's face in both hands. He kissed her, firmly and deliberately, like someone who hadn't seen his loved one in almost half a year (which was what in fact, he was). Hinata could help but happily accept the affection. She had missed him, truly she did...and even with the surrounding circumstances, having him here felt like everything was going to be okay. When he finally pulled away, he stared at her lovingly, his remaining eye getting a bit teary.
"God, you smell terrible," he said with the kind of smile that is given to a person just after they wake up from a coma.
"I know, I'm sorry..." she replied with a giggle, eyes full of the same tears of happiness. They embraced each other fully, and held each other in silence.
"So what happens now?" Hinata asked, arms still around Shino. He began to pull away to face her, but she held him tight.
"No, don't stop holding me, ever."
So he didn't.
"Come home with me. Stay with the Aburame, where you belong. Let us take care of you, and make sure our child is born healthy."
Our child. It sounded so weird coming from Shino...she was having a child with Shino. The guy with the bugs. Her bugs. The bugs in her womb. What insanity! She started to laugh, a giggle at first, but then louder...almost to the point of hysteria.
"Hinata...? What's so funny?" Shino asked, pulling away and looking at her with concern. He wasn't one for humor.
"It's just so ridiculous! I can't come home with you...all of Konoha thinks this is Naruto's child! What's gonna happen when I show up in Konoha? When I do an ultrasound and my womb is filled with your insects? How am I gonna explain that?!"
She fell back into her cot, her laughter overwhelming her. Shino stared at her like a confused animal. After a few minutes, her laughter dissolved into tears of complete and total despair.
"How am I gonna explain that...?" She whimpered, covering her tear-soaked face with her shaking hands.
She felt a hand lay softly on her swollen belly. She looked up at Shino, who was smiling gently where he placed his hand.
"I was never planning on having children. I practically have about fifty-six million of them I have to constantly watch over every second of the day already..."
Hinata sniffed, but otherwise remained silent as she listened intently. Shino didn't say much, but when he did, it was almost always important.
"I was also never expecting that you of all people would be the mother of my child. Perhaps I fantasized about it once or twice...but..." he stammered. Shino almost never hesitated in his speech. Was he losing his cool for once? His gaze fixated on hers.
"What I'm trying to say is...this is real. You and I, we're going to have a child together. This is not what either of us wanted or expected, but we can make it work. I'll find a way to make it work, no matter what. I'll do everything I can to ensure our child is healthy, happy, and taken care of. I'll do everything to make certain that you're taken care of..."
He smiled.
"Because I love you, and your happiness is all that matters to me."
~o~
End of Chapter 10
Author's Note: Thanks for reading my story! I love reviews, so please tell me what you think of everything so far.