The Bug Queen

A Hell Of A Night / Ino's Teammates - Shino

October 10.

No matter how much Shino doted on his girlfriend, he still feared that the date was coming up. The day her parents died. The day her Aunties and Uncles died. And the day that Torune had died.

He wasn't sure what shape he'd be in that day, either. He knew his father would be a broken mess. He knew that grief would hang heavy in the air.

Five years.

Had it really been five years since he'd seen his older brother? Talked to him? Heard him humbly brag about his rare kikaichu?

He could already see the cracks forming in Ino, as much as he was hoping that it was in his imagination. He had been encouraging her to go out with Suki and keep busy while he was at the Academy, but she was already eating less, and she had started getting that look of malaise in her eyes a couple of weeks ago.

But when he came home from the Academy that day to his father sitting uneasily on the couch and Ino screaming in their bedroom, he knew that she had cracked wide open.

"What in the hell is going on?"

He father looked up at him, mumbling.

"She said that she wanted to be left alone..."

Normally, Shibi would've been able to handle this situation; he and Ino had a special bond. But Shino could understand why this was too much. He got to his knees on the living room floor and pulled his father into a tight bear hug.

"We'll get through today. We've gotten through the past four."

Shibi looked haunted.

"She just keeps screaming 'they're dead'... and Torune is gone..."

Shibi began to cry as well. It was about to be a hell of a night.

"I'll get her calmed down. Sorry, Dad."

But his father just kept staring into the space over Shino's shoulder.

"It's okay..."

Shino put his forehead against Shibi's, just like he did when he was a child. He could feel Shibi's grief. Shino had to hold it together.

"I'll be back. Why don't you go and see Tsume tonight?"

His dad shook his head no.

"Not on the night that Hideo died..."

His father was sobbing. Ino was screaming. And Shino wanted to break.

"I'm sorry, Dad."

He got up, heading to the bedroom. Opening the door, the putrid smell of vomit lingered in the air. Ino had quieted for a moment, collapsed on the floor.

"Ino?"

She sucked in air violently before dry heaving. And then, she let out another little scream. He calmly sat on the floor beside her.

"I'm here. Get it all out."

She looked gaunt and pale tonight. Sweaty. She shook terribly. She let out an inhuman sound. He whispered to her.

"Let it out, Ino. Break things. Scream. Cry. But don't hold it in. It needs to come out. Don't let the grief take you."

She stared at him with those piercing blue eyes before she slowly and unsteadily got to her feet. She shuffled to the bed and fell into it. 

 Crawling up to the head of the bed, she took a pillow and picked it up, throwing it against the mattress. Shino watched something light up in her eyes. A spark became a raging fire as she began to beat the shit out of the pillow. She punched it, she threw it, and finally, with a frustrated cry, she ripped it open, sending feathers everywhere. As they wafted back down to the ground, she fell forward, finally quiet. And she let out the saddest little cry.