Her Mask (Shikamaru x Oc)

Chapter Sixty-Six

"Get the fuck out of my way you little bitch!"

"Please don't! I'll be good! I'll do better! I'll-"

"Shut Your fucking trap!"

 He ripped Shingami off the ground by the back of her neck, she could smell liquor on his breath as he started slamming her face into the wall three times before letting her small body drop to the floor giving her one last kick to the stomach before stumbling out the door leaving it wide open.

Five year old Shingami silently cried in pain as she slowly lifted herself off the ground feeling blood dripping down her back from a broken glass bottle smashed against the floor.

 She pulled herself to her feet and ran into her shared room with her brother. He wasn't there but it was a safe space. She pulled her knees to her chest and sat in a corner with her back facing the wall.

The door of the room swung open and she let out an involuntary scream and backed into the corner further ignoring the pain of the glass going deeper into her back.

 "No! No! No! Please stop!" She pleaded as her grabbed her by the hair and started dragging her out of the house "I'll give you something to cry about bitch!"

__________

Shingami's eyes snapped open and she sat up with a start pulling the blanket she was sharing with Ino off the Yamanaka making her roll over and pull another blanket over her shoulder falling back to sleep. 

Shingami watched the other girls to see if they were all still sleeping before she got up and walked over to the bathroom and splashed water on her face, gripping either side of the sink tightly while refusing to look in the mirror before hearing a light knock on the door. She opened the door to reveal Inoichi.

"I was just leaving."

"I actually wanted to talk to you last night but didn't want to ruin your girls night,wanna talk in my office?"

"Sure."

She followed the man a little ways down the hall and they both sat on either ends of the couch after he closed the door behind them. "I just wanted you to know that you've grown so much Shingami. I'm proud of how far you've come."

"Thank you, Inoichi."

"But... there's still one thing you need to do. Genma expressed his concerns."

"Of Course he did." She looked down.

"I know my daughter, Shingami, I don't want her hurt, and the best way to avoid this is if you tell her yourself instead of her finding it out for herself. Same goes for Shikamaru and Choji. They are your friends aren't they?"

"I...I want to think they are. I want them to be." She fiddled with her fingertips tapping them together. "I'm...I'm just afraid of how they will see me after. That's the truth, Inoichi. And... I don't think I'm ready for it."

"Your fifteen now Shingami, not eleven. You aren't just meeting these people for the first time, you've known them for almost four years now, they care about you. You don't need to be afraid of their rejection. Your secret changes nothing."

"When you put it that way...I think Ino might've seen a transplant chart in the hospital for blood and a heart I donated, she was the one doing the operation with lady Shizune. She thought it was a mistake."

"And you let her continue to think it was a mistake."

"Yes... I didn't correct her." Shingami covered her face with her hands. "But I didn't lie, I've never lied about it."

"I see. You do what you think is best...There's another reason I wanted to talk to you."

"Which is?"

"Danzo." She dropped her hands and looked the Yamanaka in the eye. "What about 'im?"

"He's been making moves in the shadows. Intelligence thinks he might be planning something but there's no clear evidence as to what." 

He leaned in closer and said quieter. "There's rumors, he's been putting out a hefty bounty in the black market for your head, and other rumors say he wants to seal your way to rot so you can do his bidding. But either way he isn't a man you take lightly."

"I'll be careful."

"Not paranoid, I hope."

"No, not paranoid. I'll just keep my eyes open."

"Good now why don't we-" the door busted open and Ino stood there with a blanket cape and her hair sticking up in every which direction. "There you are, I thought you bailed on us, Shin!"

"Wouldn't dream of it. Thanks for the chat Inoichi, I'll take it to heart." She stood up after Inoichi patted her shoulder and told the girls to have fun and be safe.

"What were you talking to my dad about?"

"Not much, he had something work related to tell me about."

"So like you to be working when your supposed to be having fun."

"Can't be helped I guess. What's the plan for the day?"

"Mmm... we all agreed when we couldn't find you to go get breakfast and go shopping for a little while."

"Course you did."

The two girls walked back over to where the other girls were previously sleeping. They all had blankets over their heads trying to keep warm. The only thing visible was their faces.

"What is this some kind of blanket cult I started?" Ino jested.

"I've been in a couple of cults, this would be the best I've seen."

All four girls looked at Shingami. "Cults? Like real ones?" Tenten said after yawning.

"Yeah. Not by choice but you know, live and learn."

"What did you do in the cult?"

"Bad things. Moments I can never take back.  And the immense pain... you never forget a pain like that ...the touch of death the cultist called it. It feels worse than death..." she trailed off before deciding to sit on the floor

"This "touch of death" what exactly is it?" Sakura asked curiously.

"It's kind of like an initiation... if you survive you climb in rank, each "touch of death" is worse than the last."

"How many different ranks were there?" Hinata said quietly.

"Ten. Very few get past five or six at most."

"And You? How many did you do?"

"I...got to eight. I was the youngest to do so." She looked at the ground. "I was not proud of what I did. I still don't feel pain in the same way. I can feel it but... I can't at the same time..." she shook her head after a few moments of silence from the girls. "Eh, it's history. What happened, happened. I'm more curious about what's for breakfast."