Chapter 25: A Clan by Blood

After a few hours we heard a knock at our door watching him get up first opening the door to see Guy and Lee smiling towards us.

"Looks like they didn't kill each other, a good start." Guy said making me give him an unamused face hearing Lee say, "We've been invited to dinner."

"By whom?" Shino asked skeptically seeing Guy smile big replying, "Yuna's mother and father."

I gave him a pleading look for us not to, but it seemed I didn't have a say in the matter as we all began walking towards my clan's compound. The closer we got to my parent's home the more anxious and nervous I got seeing people from my clan watching us wearily.

They looked towards me to knock as I took a deep breath knocking on the door hearing footsteps on the other side before the door opened. I stared up at my mom's cold stern yellow eyes while her red hair was kept up in a pristine bun showing the scars on her neck.

"My have you grown my little Yuna." she said in an even tone as I nodded towards her saying, "You look well mother."

She moved out of the way as we took our sandals off walking into my childhood home seeing it looked the same as before. Walking into the dining room my father was sitting at the head of the table, his dark brownish red hair had flecks of gray, but his eyes were as hard as ever seeing him look towards us.

"Greetings Leaf Shinobi welcome to our home and Yuna…" he began hearing his gruff rough voice say feeling my body straighten as he said, "It's good to see you too."

I nodded my head down slightly, "Hello father… these are my comrades, Might Guy, Rock Lee and Shino Aburame."

"I've never heard of any of you I admit but none the less comrades of my daughter are always welcome." he said motioning them to sit feeling Shino sit beside me while Guy and Lee sat on the opposite side.

My mother sat across from my father as I looked around saying, "Where is Yuri?"

"He's working with the Kage in preparation for the festival, I've been told you all will be helping set it up." my mother said as Guy replied, "That's right and it's an honor to help Yuna's family prepare for such an event, you should be proud of your daughter she's a great shinobi."

"Is she?" my father said hearing Lee reply, "Yea she even beat Shino in a fight with her amazing blood technique."

I could feel Shino look towards Lee as my mother said in a slightly condescending tone, "Oh and what is it you can do?"

"The Aburame clan fights with insects." he said simply not wanting to elaborate as my mother replied, "It's good to see you got over your ridiculous fear of bugs… she would scream until she lost her voice when we'd lock her in the obedience hut."

"Obedience hut?" Lee questioned worried as my father replied, "When a clan member disobeys orders they get locked in until they learn obedience."

I tightened my fist under the table as the servants brought out the food Shino looked in my direction briefly before Guy said, "Well regardless of anything our village has been blessed with the youth and spirit of Yuna."

"She could have had so much potential here… we'd even welcome her back." my mother said absentmindedly while I replied coldly, "The Leaf Village is and always will be my only home."

I could see Guy smile towards me not hearing another word from my parents as we all ate in an uncomfortable silence.

Once the meal was over, they walked us to the door as my father said, "Well we hope you'll enjoy your stay in the Grass Village and when the Blood Moon festival begins in a few days I do hope you'll participate Yuna."

"Can anyone compete?" Lee asked curiously as my father said, "Sorry clan members only… think about it Yuna."

I made a face as he closed the door beginning to walk away feeling them all behind me as Lee said, "Your family is very cold..."

"They aren't my family anymore." I said simply continuing to walk while Guy replied, "Nevertheless we will stay for the festival… though I'm a bit suspicious about your brother."

"As you should be… he's very good at manipulation and seeks to become the head of our clan someday by any means necessary." I said while Shino questioned, "Wouldn't that be his title anyway since he's the eldest son of the clan leader?"

Looking towards him I replied, "The title is chosen through numerous challenges being met… they call this the blood moon festival for a reason, if someone doesn't die it's not much of a festival to them."

"That's terrible..." Lee said sadly while I nodded replying, "My brother has been winning since he began participating and so long as he doesn't die, he will take the role once my father dies… until then he must keep fighting or die a failure."

"Do the opponents have to be killed?" Guy asked making me shake my head saying, "No they can yield but will be shunned from the clan… most chose to die instead."

"To lose so many clan members…. It must be very large to take that risk." Lee said making me shrug replying, "Some fights can take hours, so not as many fights as you may think but most die from blood loss anyway. It's a tier system fighting in your caliber to make your way to the top, some become disqualified if my parents deem them not good enough to continue to fight."

"Why on earth would your father want you to compete then?" Shino asked as I smiled sadly replying, "To kill me of course, either that or win but I don't plan on doing either."

"Now I can see why you left." Shino said quietly making me shrug replying, "It doesn't matter once this is all over, I can go home and put this place behind me for good."

"Again." my mother's hollow voice said echoing in the dungeon as I felt a sharp pain in my back falling to the ground.

"I'm tired mommy… please I don't want to do it." I pleaded hearing footsteps approach feeling another intense sharp pain hit my back hearing her say, "Either you do this, or I'll put you back in the hut."

I winched hearing that word looking up at the shaking form in front of me chained to the wall feeling tears well up in my eyes, "I'm sorry… -"

My eyes snapped open sitting up quickly in the bed feeling my clothes cling to me from all the sweat hearing movement to my side.

"You were having a nightmare… it woke me up." Shino said quietly not seeing him in the darkness as I brushed my wet hair out of my face.

"Sorry… I'm going to go for a walk and cool off." I said softly hearing the bed beside me move as he said, "I'll go with you."

Turning towards him I said, "Why would you want to go too?"

He was quiet for a moment before he said, "I'm curious on the species of insects in the area, and it's close enough to sunrise there will be some out."

Nodding I walked into the bathroom to change before meeting Shino at the door as we both walked out deciding to take the scroll with us to be safe. It was quiet out hearing the crickets chirping still and birds barely awake yet enjoying the cool air. During our walk I stopped in front of a broken-down hut staring at it feeling Shino walk up beside me.

"Is that one of the obedience huts?" he asked while I nodded glaring towards it but stopped seeing him walk up to the door opening it.

I stood in the doorway seeing Shino's silhouette from the moonlight frowning not passing the threshold looking in the corner of the room.

I huddled in the corner as my blood coated around my body to protect me from the bugs hiccupping as my body had no more tears to produce.

"Please… someone… anyone… save me..."

"Let's go back to the hotel… we have work to do today." Shino said walking past me.

Staring at the spot I wanted to cry, no one ever did come to save me… I had to learn to save myself.