"'An Ironic Death at the Aburame Compound!'" Raicho read, holding the paper as Hinata scuttled her feet. Raicho continued down the page. "'Aburame Shibi returned home at 11:00 PM only to find the house swarmed with quick-consuming botflies and army ants. He called for help both from neighbors and medical, but the flesh-eating insects ate Aburame's son Shino alive in just mere minutes."
"Kurenai Sensei came to my home last night and told me," Hinata added. "I think Shibi-san called for her help and...yeah."
"As bad of a time it is right now, Shino's death is ironic. Death by bugs?" Raicho frowned. She continued reading the paper. "Shino's death was not entirely from botflies and army ants. After a thorough and detailed scan, an analysis shows that Shino's body contained a stun poison. Since his body inhabited insects, any poison that enters his bugs were quick to come to his defense. Unfortunately, since the poison was designed to kill his bugs, Shino was unable to defend himself from poison and became defenseless under the cruel mercy of botflies and army ants."
"I guess Team Eight will just be me," Hinata sighed. "Kiba is under probation, Akamaru is gone, and now Shino--!"
"It's too bad, huh?" Tenten said, walking to the other girls. "Shino's death was really weird. did you read about the part that one family of five from the Aburame were all arrested because they were found guilty of setting the entire colony of bugs in Shino's home?"
"No!" Hinata gasped, while Tenten snagged the paper, flipping to the second page.
"Here it is. They've also got your and Shino's romantic date interview early morning."
"Why did they need my interview?" Raicho wondered.
"Two reasons," Tenten answered, holding two fingers in her best friend's face. "Reason one. You were the last person Shino talked with and even had an extended amount of time with him. There's a good possibility you could have taken advantage of the situation. Reason two, you raise tarantulas. Don't forget that your tarantulas have poisonous fangs."
"Do you think I'm the killer?" Raicho frowned.
"No, I don't believe that," Tenten said, smiling kindly. "I don't think you're that kind of person at all. You don't have a reason to kill Shino and plus, you had a really good chance of getting a boyfriend. But the public might."
"What should I do?" Raicho asked worriedly.
"If someone interviews you, just tell them the truth. If possible, see if you can have an alibi for the time you were on your date."
"We'll help!" Hinata added. "I don't think you're a bad person either."
"Thanks," Raicho smiled faintly. "I'll see what I can do."
Thankfully, throughout the week, more daily papers informed the community that the Iguro family was innocent of Shino's death.
Iguro Sumi, head of the family, was in the Intelligence center working all week and had not gone into his personal lab back at home. His wife Muro has been out of the village for several days, nowhere near the time of the death. Their daughter Raicho who owns several poisonous tarantulas did not have the stun poison in Shino. The pattern and formula did not match. In addition, Raicho had never gone to the Aburame Compound, as reported by the Inuzuka Team.
"So who do they suspect now?" Sakura asked, looking at Sasuke and Naruto.
"I don't think it's Raicho," Naruto piped up. Sakura glared.
"Well, yeah! It's already proven! Get with the game! Sasuke-kun, what do you think?"
"There's evidence that that family from the Aburame Clan did it."
"You're so right, Sasuke-kun! They must have held a grudge or something, so they tried to kill Shino-san," Sakura swooned.
"No, the Aburame Clan aren't like that," Shikamaru interrupted, coming to the trio. "The Aburame aren't the type to hold...grudges. Unlike others." Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "So someone else must have set them up."
"Like they almost set up Rai-chan," Sakura huffed.
"Right..."
"But are they still investigating it?" Choji wondered, sticking his hand in a bag of cookies.
"Unfortunately, no. Since the Aburame family was found guilty and have no alibi, the family was arrest and accounted for the murderer."
"I'm just glad Raicho was able to escape the crossfire."
"Yeah."
Shino's funeral was not a big event. Close friends and family were invited only, and Raicho was not one of them. Instead, once the procession had left, she, Tenten, and Hinata dragged Kiba from home and blessed Shino at the cemetery. They each left a lily at his gravestone marker and left soon afterward.
YOU ARE READING
Forked Shadows
Fanfiction"I'm leaving." Her eyes were slightly glazed, the once strong resolve shattered to pieces, and her shoulders hunched over in defeat. Her head tucked in, away from the accusing looks and mocking threats, and her entire appearance was that of a war s...
