Truth Well Hidden

Shino, the One Who Isn't Remembered

A petite woman with luscious waves of dirty blonde hair exclaimed excitably to a small brunet, "Torune-chan! You're going to be a big brother!"

The boy, having been adopted by his uncle and aunt when his father died, blinked twice before awe settled over his features.

"What's his name?" Torune asked quietly, trying not to show too much of his excitement.

"I'm thinking of calling him Shino. Let's go tell your tou-san! I'm sure that Shibi will be pleased to hear that he has a son on the way!" Torune's adoptive mother, a woman by the name of Sayaka who had been adopted into the Aburame clan at a young age and raised as one of their own, continued exuberantly.

"Shino, huh? I'll be the best nii-san I can be to him," Torune stated as though it was matter-of-fact, his voice monotonous to hide how happy he was.

"I'll expect you to be!" Sayaka smiled down at the child, grasping his hand in hers and pulling him along towards Shibi's study.

"Honey! We have a little boy!" Sayaka exclaimed whilst bursting through the doors of the study, Torune in tow.

"Really? That's great! Why? Because we'll finally have a child of our own," Shibi replied, sounding enthusiastic but maintaining his composure.

All Sayaka could do was bob her head up and down in response, too elated to attempt to form words to describe her joy.

"What will we name him?" Shibi mused.

"Shino," Torune cut in, "Kaa-san wanted to call him Shino!"

"A fantastic name indeed," Shibi nodded with a smile playing on his lips, "Why? Because it sounds like the little one will be just like me."

"I do hope that his friends remember him," Sayaka joked, "Your classmates never seemed to remember you being there!"

Shibi chuckled lightly at his wife's words, but Torune did not find it funny. The three-year-old bit his lip cautiously and creased his eyebrows. Something about her words felt off. It gave him a strange sense of foreboding... Torune shook off the thought.

'They seem to care about Shino so much already. I doubt that they'll forget him, though they might end up favouring him over me,' Torune told himself.

Torune would only find out later.

That he was right all along.

>•<

"Sayaka-sama! Trust me!" a midwife coaxed the trembling woman who lay on the bed.

"But... It's too hard!" Sayaka yelped, feeling another contraction.

"You have to push!" a nurse cried out, holding a concerned Shibi back from getting in the way.

"Kaa-san..." Torune whispered.

Unexpectedly, hearing Torune's worried tone did the trick. Sayaka mustered all her strength and pushed as hard as she could, causing the child to pop out. Unfortunately for her, it was not over yet. There was still the placenta and fetal membranes, also known collectively as afterbirth, to be expelled from her body.

"Just a bit more! You just need to get the afterbirth out now!" the midwife said encouragingly, poking the infant to make him take his first breath.

The midwife was slightly worried when he noticed that the newborn baby was not crying, but the fact that the infant's chest was rising and falling in sync with his breathing was enough indication that he was still alive. Sayaka struggled to pull together the last dredges of energy left in her body into another painful push. The afterbirth was forced out with a "plop" sound as it fell onto the plastic sheet that had been placed over the bed.