A strange new life 7.5

7.5

I exchanged glances with my clone. Hug-chan scowled.

I signed a ssage. She scowled even more.

We were still in training field three. At this point, I don’t think Hug-chan needed to be here. She could go out and do sothing else, like visiting the grocer to buy ingredients for a baking session.

Hug-chan shook her head. Her fingers flashed a very uncouth ssage.

I blinked, surprised. Was she… jealous? It wouldn’t be, would it?

I don’t know what I had expected when I ca to look for Ino. Maybe we’d have a happy reunion, she’d tell all the gossip I missed. Maybe she’d punch for getting captured. That one felt like a real possibility. According to Naruto, Ino was hella pissed with .

You know what I hadn’t expected?

For Ino to cry until she fell asleep. What had she been doing?

So here we were. My clone and I were sitting side by side, holding a sleeping Ino.

I wanted my clone to bug off— I an, go buy ingredients. Hug-chan didn’t want to leave, and I couldn’t just disperse her. Ino was leaning on her too. If I did, Ino would wake up.

Difficult scenario.

I glared at Hug-chan, jerking my head toward the exit. Go away already.

Hug-chan flipped the finger.

Our silent argunt didn’t last for long. I felt it before I saw it. Chakra presences that made no sense at all. It was like a huge bonfire, filled with countless small ones. I was still trying to puzzle the situation when the newcors entered the training field.

Two shinobi from Konoha. One, I knew; the other, I could guess who it was.

The first one wore dark round sunglasses and a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar, dark, bushy, brown hair. My friend, Shino, even though it had been a while since I last talked with him. We drifted apart after I was assigned to team seven, instead of team eight.

The other one was like an older version of Shino. The man had dark glasses with a single tassel hanging down from one side, even spikier black hair and a mustache, and he wore a collared outfit and carried a gourd on his back. Part of the chakra I felt from him also was inside that gourd. Was that Shino’s dad?

The chakra I was sensing now made sense. Back in the academy, Shino’s chakra felt like anyone else. After expanding my range, was I also getting better definition? It made super icky, knowing that swarming chakra inside him was just that, a swarm of insects. I held in a shudder.

Both looked at the scene: , my clone, and the sleeping Ino. They didn’t approach but didn’t leave either.

Hug-chan looked my way, leered.

I ground my teeth. Fine. Have it your way.

Carefully, I disentangled from Ino and got up. I wasn’t about to let these two wake Best Girl Ino up.

With a temporary comms board and writing supplies in hand, I cast one last longing look at Ino, glared at Hug-chan, then went to et the duo. We didn’t speak. I waved both to follow and guided them until we were far from the training field. If things sohow turned sour, I didn’t want any of them near Ino.

Once we were far enough, I wrote words.

“Hello, Shino; how have you been?”

“Hello, Hinata-san,” Shino said, looked at the other shinobi. “This is Abura Shibi, my father and head of the Abura clan.”

I waved at the jonin.

He gave a curt nod.

I had no idea what was going on. Wrote more words. “Is there sothing I can help you with?”

It might have co more brusque than I liked, but these two were intruding on my Ino ti. It just wasn’t fair.

“You stink,” Shino said.

I scowled, sniffed beneath my arms, sniffed again when I felt no sll.

Shibi coughed, looked at Shino, and then at . “Hello, Hinata-san. Please don’t mind my son. What he ant to say is that you’ve been marked by pheromones.”

“And it’s stinking up the whole village,” Shino added.

It was the damned bees, wasn’t it? I fucking knew it would be trouble. Why, oh, why. Those damned badgers. Was this a new blood feud now? Danzo, council, Hyuga, and now the Abura clan?

“Which one was it?” Shino asked.

I tilted my head. Wrote words. “Which one what?”

“Which insect marked you?”

“Fucking killer bees that would put grown-up Akamaru to sha,” I said out loud instead of writing.

Shibi’s hand reached into his jacket, pulled out a small spray bottle, tossed it my way.

“This will help eliminate the scent.”

Shino looked like he wanted to say sothing, but a faint buzz from his father, one I felt inside my bones, held him back. The clan head turned to .

“I'd like to invite you to the Abura compound. There are things we'd like to discuss with you.”

I looked at the spray bottle and the two insect shinobi. Under both gazes, I sprayed myself with the thing. It didn’t sll like anything at all, but I caught Shino's small twitch and the agitated movents from the small swarm of chakra inside his body.

“I just returned to the village,” I wrote to both of them. “I don’t know how things are, but maybe next week?”

Shibi nodded, gave a small smile.

“I’ll send Shino to guide you to our compound. Would dinner be alright?”

A bit speechless at the turn this took, I nodded at the duo.

“Use the spray again in two hours,” Shino said, before bowing and leaving. His dad gave a curt bow and left as well.

That was weird as heck. What did they want? Maybe they wanted to et the bees? I’m guessing that eting a hive of killer bees is like Xmas arriving early for an insect-based clan?

I looked for a while longer in the duo’s direction, then shrugged. I would deal with this later. It was just another thing to pile on. The council hearing in two weeks, the Hyuga problem looming in the horizon, and now dinner at the Abura in a week.

It was good that they left. I pushed it all out of my mind. It was ti to get back to my Ino ti, and no one would get in my way again. I turned and moved back to the training field.

With each step closer, my mood sank.

I dashed forward, not caring about making noise anymore. I arrived at the training field like a clap of thunder. It was empty. Where once was a sleeping beauty and a traitorous clone, now there was only a scribbled ssage in the dirt.

Grocer. BGIWS, BTYFS.

I scowled. Torn between wanting to strangle Hug-chan or maybe hug her. I could decide that later. Now I had to go and bake sweets. Ino wanted them, after all.