Trey or A Tale Of Three Clans

Chapter 8

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Aburame Shibi watched the sky. By the position of the sun it was about four p.m. He glanced down. The view from the Hokage tower was always breathtaking. The northern portion of Konoha, which included the main village gate, was visible from this window. Although it was late afternoon there was a good bit of activity going on. Shinobi and civilian villagers alike were moving to and fro in pursuit of usefully living their lives.

He adjusted his sunglasses before crossing his arms over his chest to wait patiently. His basket of kikaichu barely shifted against his back. He inhaled the fresh, clean air. Filling up both lungs with it, he did a slow exhale from the diaphragm. It was good to be alive .There was no need for frustration. He cast his eyes up to the heavens and for the fifth time reminded himself that he was an Aburame, the Aburame clan leader to be exact. That definitely meant something. Right now his only plan was to hang outside of the Hokage’s office door until it opened. She had ordered him to wait outside while she spoke to Hyuuga Hiashi privately. He had risen from his seat, bowed to Tsunade and complied.

Sitting straight, large hands on his knees, Hiashi had kept his eyes on Tsunade. His Hyuuga handsome face smooth as a mirror, his remarkable Hyuuga eyes framed by extraordinarily long eyelashes were as unruffled as a lake on a windless morning while Tsunade had looked and acted like she was a lunatic about to explode. She had already cracked her desk in half with her fist. She was positively rabid when it came to the well-being of her medical-nin, of which Hinata was one. But the richest and the most powerful clan leader in the hidden leaf village was absolutely fearless and although he was cold, implacable and overly aristocratic, he was to be admired.

Shibi didn’t bother to look again at Hiashi’s admirers, all hanging out in the hallway hoping to get a glimpse of him. He didn’t like feeling envious. It still amazed him that at forty-five Hiashi could still draw women to him: young women, middle-aged women, old women, civilian and kunoichi, married and single. From the corner of his eye he had noticed that every few minutes shinobi, known ukes, young and middle aged seemed to swagger down the hall on their way somewhere. He nodded at a few as they greeted him. The acting was superb. Everyone, male and female, looked like they were where they were supposed to be. However he knew better.

It was generally accepted that Hiashi, and his deceased identical twin brother Hizashi, were Konoha’s original shinobi sex symbols. They oozed a paradoxical, ethereal, masculine sexuality out of their pores. Both had been unreasonably beautiful, unreasonably deadly, unreasonably intelligent, unreasonably aristocratic and unreasonably untouchable. If they wanted, they could have been Sanin. But they didn’t choose that. They chose their clan. Hyuuga always chose Hyuuga and that was the source of so much anger and frustration that surrounded them. Other people wanted to be seen by them, to be noticed by them and to be touched by them. The two Hyuuga princes simply refused to comply with their wishes.

Even before he became a jounin, he had often been paired with both of them for important missions. He, his brothers, and his cousins also had worked with them when the village fought the Kyuubi. He had respected both of them and felt they had respected him and his clan; although there was no doubt that they still felt superior as high nobles. Hizashi had always been the easiest going between the two. That was understandable. He wasn’t the heir. But Hiashi had grown cold and extremely distant once he became clan leader. That had happened earlier than expected. And, after Hizashi’s death he started taking solo missions only. At this point he took few missions although no one doubted that he was formidable as ever. But his full time job was running his huge and prosperous clan.

Shibi’s thoughts sympathetically turned to Lady Hinata. Hiashi’s eldest daughter was Hyuuga through and through despite her sweet disposition and shyness. She was strong. It was strange to him that Hiashi couldn’t see this, that the rest of his clan couldn’t see it. But there were so many of them, and nearly all were masterful shinobi, including those of their branch house. Then, there was the universally acknowledged prodigy Neji, Hizashi’s son, who operated at a higher level altogether. There didn’t seem to be much room in their large clan for differences. He shook his head. Well now the Hyuuga way could impinge negatively on his son’s life. He couldn’t have that. He wouldn’t stand for it. He was in the same position as Tsume, trying to force Hiashi to his will. It was not a good spot to be in but he intended to succeed. One thing he knew. Clan war was not the answer.

The Hokage’s office door opened, and the tall, white clad, traditionally robed Hyuuga clan leader elegantly stepped over the threshold. His large white on white eyes swept up and down the hall for a moment taking note of everyone there and in an instant dismissing them all. Regally, he strode down the hall only slowing as he passed Shibi. Shibi accepted his silent invitation and fell in step with his fellow jounin. They walked comfortably in silence.

Only after stepping into the elevator did Hiashi speak. Shibi inclined his head.

“The Wakahisa were once giants among Shinobi.”

“They were.”

“Not many know that their blood flows through the Aburame.”

“True.”

“In the end, who can escape the very blood that flows through our veins?

“No one.”

Shibi glanced sideways at Hiashi. It was rare to catch the Hyuuga clan leader entertaining a philosophical train of thought.

Hiashi shook his head almost mumbling.

“Children… They tax us so.” There was an underlying sorrow in his voice that Shibi found to be surprising. Hiashi was many things but sentimental was not one of them.

Shibi cleared his throat. “Hiashi…”

The Hyuuga clan leader held up one hand to stop him from speaking.

“Shibi we have known each other for many years. I have always found you to be steady and your words honest. If you can state that when you stepped forward to procure my daughter’s hand in marriage for your heir and eldest son, that you were unaware of his sexual relationship with an Inuzuka and of this aberration among the Wakahisa, I will believe you.”

Shibi sighed. It was an aberration, one that flowed directly from his veins and not his former wife’s. But he had to save his child. Shino’s needs were Shino’s needs.

“I so state.”

Hiashi turned to look him over. Obviously he had not been able to keep the grief out of his voice. Smiling back ruefully, Shibi whispered. “Children… they tax us so.”

A flicker of understanding, of kinship flared in Hiashi’s white eyes before he turned back to face the elevator doors, hands behind his back. They held their silence until they exited the Hokage tower. Once they were away from the building, standing in a secluded corner of the Hokage courtyard bordered by thick trees, Hiashi stopped. Shibi waited as Hiashi casually glanced around to see who was observing them. While he did so Shibi released kikaichu to patrol where they stood, and to warn of anyone’s approach. As he did, he noticed that the gentle afternoon wind was slowly picking up. Finally, both men faced each other.

“I must be blunt. I gave my first born daughter to your son because you were not put off by her possible taint by this same Inuzuka, and yours is a respected, noble clan. Yet, it was the Aburame who reaped a windfall. But for her appalling lack of judgment, she was worthy to have been married to the Kazekage of Suna and to be honest, even to the Daimyo’s youngest son. Though I bear you no ill-will I am disappointed by this Shibi. If she were not with child I would seek to dissolve the marriage and bring her back home.”

“Then let me say that I would fight any such action on your part tooth and nail. The marriage contracts have been fulfilled. Nothing has changed. We are still a respected noble clan. Trey is legal for Aburame and has the approval of our own Hokage. Your daughter is my son’s wife and belongs to no one else other than my son. It is his decision on this matter that is final, not yours. That is unequivocal. Standards of behavior that are mandatory to the Hyuuga can not be brought to bear on the Aburame. Understand, Aburame have no quarrel or ill-will with Hyuuga but the same also applies to the Inuzuka.”

Hiashi nodded. This was in fact how he expected Shibi to answer. He crossed his arms over his chest and coolly rejoined.

“In exchange for a peaceful co-existence between our two clans I wish to amend the marriage contracts.”

Ah, so now they were entering very dangerous waters indeed. Hiashi had the superior bargaining position notwithstanding that the Hokage was on his side. Shibi shrugged, keeping his voice even.

“What amendment do you propose?”

“I propose a strict Aburame accounting of the sires of Hinata’s children. Any child sired by the Inuzuka must have their byakugen sealed by age two and they will never be eligible to marry back into the Hyuuga clan or claim kinship with us. Children sired by the Inuzuka who do not have the byakugen can not claim kinship with us. That is all I ask. Children sired by your son will continue to have all the rights and privileges that you previously negotiated for them including marriage within our main house should they prove to have the byakugen.”

“Hiashi, by law and tradition all children borne in the trey will be equally Aburame. They will all formally belong to Shino.”

“Perhaps that is true for your clan but it certainly is not true for mine.”

“And Lady Hinata?”

“What of her?”

“By disowning some of your grandchildren, you personally and officially disown her as well. This added to what is your clan’s polite shunning of her might be too much. It will break her heart and maybe her spirit. I understand your disappointment. I understand it well. But don’t you love your daughter at all?”

Hyuuga Hiashi pursed his lips for a moment as he stared at Aburame Shibi’s sunglasses. He actually knew what Shibi’s eyes looked like without his sunglasses. He also knew of the pride the Aburame clan-leader carried as well as the air of mystery and hidden knowledge that he cultivated. The man was an elite Shinobi, a …friend. And his admittedly formidable clan was small.

“Ahhh, you love Shino very much don’t you?”

Shibi held his neutral stance. He couldn’t tell if what he saw in Hiashi’s eyes was compassion or pity or a mixture of both. In any case they were two emotions that most believed that Hyuuga Hiashi did not possess. He answered his voice deliberately hard.

“I do. He is my heir and eldest son. He is Aburame. Tell me who it is that you love?”

Hiashi dropped his façade of indifference and let a steely pride emerge on his face. Conviction glowed in his unnerving eyes, arrogance rang in his voice. But the words themselves were exceedingly soft. He raised his big hands to gesture gracefully as he spoke.

“I love clan Hyuuga first. We Hyuuga believe we are only as strong, only as pure, and only as successful as our weakest link. My firstborn daughter succumbed to her weaknesses. Not only did she not develop the strength necessary to lead a clan such as ours but she has sought physical solace with one who is unworthy to kiss her sandals much less her lips. I am her only living parent and obviously I must have taught her poorly. My heart bleeds every day over how I have failed her. But it doesn’t change the fact that she is a weak link. Her willing acceptance of your trey is the final nail in the coffin. Fatherhood cannot blind me to my heavier responsibilities. Her choices must not contaminate my clan. We have no formal strictures against nanshoku. Maybe because so few desire to indulge in it. If necessary, we will deal with the blood of the Wakahisa should it prove to one day flow through our veins but we will never accept that of the Inuzuka. Think me heartless if you choose, but I love my clan far too much to let that happen.”

If he weren’t such an experienced shinobi, Shibi would have gawked at Hiashi. No. Not in a thousand lifetimes could he choose to emulate Hyuuga Hiashi. If that made Aburame inferior to Hyuuga, so be it. Both men felt a startling familiar chakra signature hurtling through the trees towards them at the same time. Neither man reacted, but coolly maintained his eye contact with the other. Shibi allowed his kikaichu to let the intruder pass through their defensive circle. Once the person dropped down to stand at his shoulder he spoke without hesitation.

“Tsume. This is a private meeting.”

The Inuzuka clan leader reached out and clutched his arm. Shibi could feel her long nails biting into his skin through his coat. He broke eye contact with Hiashi to look down at the kunoichi. She was as wild and feral as ever, like a prowling tigress intent on big prey. Her short, black hair stuck up in sharp spikes. Her pretty gold eyes, pupils dilated like a cat’s, were narrowed in concentration. Her lovely round face was as smooth and scar less as a baby’s behind. But her red clan tattoos on either cheek made her appearance fierce. However, her full, pouty lips were as soft and inviting as ever. Tsume was all of forty but her toned, tight body was that of a twenty five year old. Her high, cheeky little tits with their big nipples beckoned to him and Shibi felt his groin grow appreciably fuller. He ignored it as he normally did. That was ancient history.

Tsume’s voice was demanding and harsh as she gazed up at Shibi. She focused on her reflection in his dark sunglasses. She had no intention of being thwarted. She growled.

“I will not let my only son’s happiness be destroyed.”

Shibi turned his gaze back to Hiashi. Hiashi was not even acknowledging Tsume’s presence. Instead, he bowed to Shibi.

“Perhaps we should finish our discussion at a more convenient time where we can speak undisturbed.”

“Coward!” The word was flung out at Hiashi as if it were a kunai. Shibi looked at Tsume in shock.

Hiashi stiffened and straightened up from his bow, his peculiar eyes focused on the tokubetsu jonin. The coldness in them almost made Shibi tremble.

“You dare speak of cowardice Inuzuka-san?”

The words were very soft, the tone polite but the danger in them was unmistakable.

Tsume ran a hand through her hair and visibly swallowed. Her temper was getting the better of her. She let go of Shibi’s arm and took a step forward to confront the gorgeous man in front of her, hands on her hips. It had been a while since she had last seen him. A hint of pure silver graced his temples but his thick luxurious brown hair fell to just above his shoulders as was normal for him. His distinctive masculine scent was still dizzying, arousing, and she inhaled deeply. His expensive white clothes hung on his powerful, big muscled frame as gracefully as ever. His searing, pupil-less eyes penetrated her soul although there were new lines around them. Gods! He was handsome. It was maddening how Hyuuga Hiashi never seemed to change. Never!

“You win Hiashi. I was wrong.” The words were quiet and humble. Tsume dropped her head in supplication trying not to let tears of regret form in her eyes. It was enough that she was going to say the words that she had defiantly refused to speak for twenty-four years.

“I am sorry.”

When Hiashi said nothing, she raised her head up to look at him. His beautiful face was expressionless. He raised an eyebrow.

“Too little too late Inuzuka-san.”

“You cold heartless bastard it was a youthful mistake.”

Hiashi didn’t blink. Tsume rushed on trying to discipline her tongue yet failing as she looked up into the identical face of one of the two, cruel, shinobi lords that she had loved whole heartedly all of her life. Why could her heart never be free of him? How long had it been since he had spoken directly to her? Fifteen years?

“Everything is always Hyuuga for you. It’s always about Hyuuga pride. Hizashi died without … How can we be nothing to you?”

Hiashi answered quietly. “Do you really wish Shibi to hear this?”

“He is family now. There is no need for secrets. Independent of either of us, our children have found each other. They love. That should mean something.”

“It means nothing to me.”

Tsume gasped and took a step back. She turned her eyes from Hiashi but he continued speaking, voice cold as tundra ice.

“It was a planned rape, nothing more and nothing less. You are a thief. You stole Hyuuga seed.”

Tsume tilted her chin up and shot back. “Yet you enjoyed it, so did Hizashi. He would have forgiven me. But you wouldn’t let him.”

Hiashi crossed his arms over his chest. His voice took on a bored tone.

“So you say Inuzuka, but I believe I have always known my mind and my brother’s far better than you. Humping around in the grass with you, like three dogs in heat is not love. Acceptance cannot be forced. Neither can the raising of children and the sharing of grandchildren. What I wonder is why it is a lesson that you cannot learn?”

Stunned Shibi could only look back and forth between Tsume and Hiashi. He had always wondered who it was that held Tsume’s heart. Hiashi? It was so ridiculous that he wanted nothing more than to burst out laughing. The difference between Tsume and the tall, classic, patrician, Hyuuga beauties that both Hiashi and Hizashi had preferred was striking. Hiashi’s late wife had been his sixth cousin and she had been an incomparable beauty with a genteel demeanor. She was a kunoichi to the extent that she had graduated with high marks from the academy, but she had withdrawn from shinobi service after making genin. Instead, she had become a noted botanist, one that was still sorely missed. Hizashi’s wife, Himeka, a non-kunoichi, was a Hyuuga once removed. Her mother, another noted beauty in her day, had been a branch Hyuuga that had married into a non-shinobi noble clan, the Taeki. She had sent her byakugen-eyed, daughter back to marry within her birth clan. The lovely Himeka was an unusually talented musician, very much still in demand, and the mother of Hyuuga Neji. Tsume however, although cute and quite hot, was an athletic, battle-hardened; take no prisoners, lusty, tough tokubetsu jonin who led a large, animalistic, matriarchal clan. Hiashi or Hizashi interested in her? Was that possible? He looked up. Clouds seemed to be gathering in what had moments ago been a thoroughly clear, blue sky.

Stumped, he turned his attention to the edges of the cobblestoned courtyard. What he saw brought him up short. In one corner stood Tsume’s wolf-dog companion Kuromaru, his one ear perked up. Beside Kuromaru stood Tsume’s twenty-four year old daughter and heir Hana. She was now a tall, surprisingly lovely, grown woman with a strikingly ethereal quality about her despite her cheek tattoos and Inuzuka vitality. He had heard that she was quite a talented kunoichi and an excellent veterinarian. Idly, he wondered had she chosen to marry yet. Three nin-dogs stood on the other side of her. Together they were all watching the conversation.

His eyes slid to the opposite side of the courtyard. In its right hand corner stood Hiashi’s youngest uncle, Hyuuga Hiroki, and the twenty one year old prodigy Hyuuga Neji. Their eyes were trained on the three of them although their byakugens, thankfully, were not activated.

But what tore at him was the realization that Hyuuga Neji and Inuzuka Hana looked almost exactly alike: their arms across the chest stances, their grace, the thickness and length of their hair, their skin coloring. Hana didn’t have the Hyuuga eyes and had cheek tattoos; Neji was obviously very male and far more elegant but …

Shibi shifted his eyes at a subtle movement further down the courtyard. His favorite cousin and his younger brother emerged from behind a clump of trees. Eyes masked by dark sunglasses they stood slouching carelessly, hands in their coat pockets and baskets of kikaichu on their backs. He nodded once before turning back to the clan leaders in front of him. He clasped Tsume’s shoulder in a tight grip.

“Enough! Hiashi please have the papers drawn up to your liking. You may have your amendment. Tsume, I need a word with you.”

Ignoring him, Tsume barred her wicked oversized eye-teeth, as if she were ready to tear out Hiashi’s throat. She raised her hands in clenched fists. Tears were in her voice though not in her eyes.

“Have you never been consumed by the fires of unquenchable love, unable to breathe, unable to think, unable to sleep, tortured until you seized it for yourself? That is why I did what I did. To show you both what it could be like for us together. It is how Kiba loves your, oh so precious, Hyuuga daughter; it is how he loves Shibi’s son. He loves with every bone in his body. Don’t punish the three of them because you despise me, because you cannot get past what I did while insane with love for both of you all those years ago. Just once without the filter of Hyuuga rules, remember how it was between Hizashi, you and I. Then, as a fellow leaf shinobi, as a father, as a man, show mercy.”

Shibi sighed, his hand tightly grasping Tsume’s shoulder. Her words were heart-rending. No wonder she seemed to not have found peace in all these years. She was hopelessly in love with both Hizashi and Hiashi, the two men in the world who were the most wrong for her. Whatever she had done to earn their enmity could not be undone. Hizashi was dead. And as clan leader, it was Hiashi that had let his own beloved twin brother go to his death. A man who could do that would not grant Tsume mercy anymore than he would grant his own daughter any. Tsume had to know that, and it was an indication of her desperation and deep love for her son as well as for Hiashi that she was even begging him for it. His heart broke for Tsume. Fierce she might be but she had a great capacity to love. Bearing the raw bitterness of her rejection by the Hyuuga clan leader was hard and if it was hard for him she had to be crushed by it.

Hiashi stood watching the Inuzuka clan leader his arms still crossed over his chest.

“Inuzuka-san… I remember clearly what transpired between the three of us. To this day I wish that I did not. Violent lust is not love. Rest assured that you will never be allowed to defile the Hyuuga again. Content yourself with the victories you stole twenty-four years ago. There will be no others no matter how much you pray and scheme for it.

As for your Inuzuka spawn, the male has cost me dearly. Despite the fact that she is the wife of a respected nobleman, he has managed to insinuate himself into their relationship and lay claim to my firstborn daughter. I curse the day I allowed the Third to talk me into letting her remain on team eight. He didn’t want to see the rift between Hyuuga and Inuzuka become generational. I trusted his daughter in law to be the kind of sensei to lift Hinata up as a shinobi, not let her wallow in the gutter of undisciplined, immoral carnality with an easy commoner. But given Inuzuka delight in group sex, and unhealthy obsession with all things Hyuuga, I should have seen this coming. Short of killing your boy, even Neji could not have stopped this from happening. I am so disgusted by what Hinata has become that I daren’t lay my eyes on her ever again.

Your girl …. was the source …of much anguish …between my brother and myself, anguish that was not resolved before his death, anguish that still haunts me as much as he does. Have you cost me two daughters or did Hizashi go to his grave without ever telling his firstborn child that he was her father? I live with the scars both figuratively and literally of your so called love, a love I neither wanted nor requested. You plead for mercy? I plead for peace. Leave me and mine alone, trouble us no more. Twenty-four years is long enough of this shit.”

Shibi thrust himself forward protectively and wrapped his free arm around Tsume’s waist. Her spine was as stiff as a statute’s yet she trembled as if she were caught in an icy winter gale. He bent his head and placed his lips at her ear as he held her close. He would not allow her to break. He loved her to much for that.

He understood that Hiashi was hurting too. His burdens were great. Never had he heard such bitterness in the man’s voice. Never had he heard Hiashi raise his voice as he did on that last sentence. Hiashi longed for peace too. But Shibi realized that fair or not, he couldn’t empathize with Hiashi. Hiashi didn’t know what it was like to be rejected because of the kind of shinobi that you were. How could he? All of his life he had been the beautiful, strong, adored Hyuuga prince; he was the powerful, brilliant leader of a powerful, brilliant, high-noble clan. For that Shibi could respect, admire and even like him. But he could not empathize with him. No, all his empathy was for Tsume and it would ever be so. Shino and Hinata were damn lucky to have the Inuzuka’s alpha. If Kiba loved with even a modicum of the passion that Tsume did then their trey could only be good. Shibi raised his head.

“Hiashi this meeting is over. Do what you will. No one will contest it.”

Impassively Hiashi watched as Shibi whispered to Tsume tenderly and enfolded her within his arms. So, when it came to his new son-in-law it would seem the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Well when one lay down with dogs one could only get up with fleas. Really, nobility notwithstanding, what else could one expect of vermin carriers? He had seriously misjudged Aburame Shibi. It would never happen again. Without a word he turned his back on them and was gone.

Shibi glanced up and around as he soothed Tsume. He saw Hiashi suddenly standing at the edge of the courtyard with his young nephew and uncle. Before he could blink they transported out and were gone. The moment they disappeared, his brother and cousin faded into the trees as well. However, the Inuzukas, both the two footed and four footed variety appeared to be staying put. He stared at Hana for a long moment before turning his attention back to Tsume. Placing one hand in her dark hair he pulled her head back as he turned her around to face him. Her eyes were closed, her lips trembling.

“Who is your daughter’s father? Answer me!”

Eyes closed, Tsume responded softly. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? But… Isn’t she Hyuuga?”

“Yes. But I don’t know which one.” Tsume opened her eyes and sparkling tears fell down her tattooed cheeks. In all the years that Shibi had known Tsume, he had known her only to cry in the bedroom after particularly satisfying sex. Tears like these were unprecedented. It alarmed him.

“Why don’t you know?” His tone was harsher than he intended.

Because… they have the same dna, the same scent. I had Hiashi and Hizashi both at the same time. We were a 3P, a ménage a trois. For one bright day and two blessed nights, they took me in every possible way that two men could take a woman. The way I am sure that your son and mine are taking Hiashi’s daughter. I loved it just like I know she must. They took turns fucking me, riding me, pleasuring me. I took turns servicing them. I even rode both their cocks at the same time. Hizashi took my ass virginity as Hiashi banged me without mercy. They were like an identical pair of wild, majestic stallions. Heaven help me. Shibi, I couldn’t get enough. I gave myself willingly. I denied them nothing. It was the first time in my life that I was… fulfilled.”

Shibi let his mouth drop open. Tsume had never been shy about talking about sex or what she did in the bedroom and with whom, but wasn’t this ridiculous? It was as if she had never spoken of these experiences before and now that she could it all bubbled out of her. He tamped down the desire that was flaming awake in him at the image of both proud Hyuugas, cocks at the ready, doing the smoking hot woman in his arms. He nearly moaned. He closed his mouth, swallowed then asked, “How? How did this come to happen?”

Tsume held his eyes without flinching. Her own narrowed. She whispered. “I drugged both of them.”

Seeing the terrible expression on his face, Tsume straightened up and wrapped her arms tightly about his neck. She rested her face against his shoulder. She wouldn’t look at him as she spoke.

“Please understand Shibi. Don’t judge. I was sixteen and already a tokubetsu jounin. They were twenty-one and were full fledged jounins. I was in love, desperately in love with both of them. You remember how they were, like gods come to walk among the mere mortals on earth. They smelled even better than that, like heaven itself. I knew we were compatible. I knew it! But they would never look at me like I was a woman. They saw me only as a fellow shinobi.

I wasn’t a virgin, but still I hadn’t been with many men. And I was on fire inside and out for them. I wanted their touch. I was dying inside for the lack of it. I didn’t want to die wanting them like that. I couldn’t! Recall that the ninja wars were still going on, even if sporadically. The atmosphere back then was grim. Every time that we shinobi opened our eyes in the morning; we didn’t expect to live out the entire day. The Third had given the three of us an S classed mission at the ends of the Wind Country. We completed the mission successfully and were returning home. The recipe for the drug is an old one, hidden in the Inuzuka apothecary but forbidden to be used. I couldn’t bring myself to acquire the ingredients in Konoha but once in Wind Country I didn’t hesitate to purchase them. On the way home I volunteered to do the cooking. I slipped it in Hiashi and Hizashi’s food and drink. The drug could not make them do anything they truly did not want to do, but it stripped them of all their inner restraints and inhibitions so as to let their true sexual natures emerge. It stoked the physical fires that existed in both of them. Their minds weren’t clouded. They remembered clearly everything that was done, everything that was said, and why. They were just truly… free. And in the face of that freedom I offered myself. They accepted my invitation and it was… wonderful.”

Shibi sighed. Why had he not known this? He had chosen sides and just lost an important friendship and possibly was on the verge of a nasty clan war. Now he knew how Hiashi had been wronged. Tsume pressed herself up against him tightly and hissed into his shoulder.

“I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that my behavior was wrong, obsessive. Shibi-sama, tell me! If you had the power to keep your first love, your first wife, by your side would you not have used it? If this drug had guaranteed that she would never leave you, wouldn’t you have used it? Didn’t you love her, want her that much?”

Shibi relented. “Yes. I did. But Tsume she was my wife.”

“Shibi they were my mates.”

“It was a mating not of their own free will.”

“Shibi if you could only know the gusto, the fervency with which they took me. It was real. What they were feeling was not made up. It was beautiful.”

“Tsume!”

“Don’t Shibi. Don’t! I can’t take it today. I… Hizashi is dead. And after twenty-four years Hiashi’s heart is still hard. He will share nothing with me. Not even speak the words, a pleasant good –morning, much less share grand-children. My beloved daughter and heir will ever remain unacknowledged by her sires. My son, of whom I have been so proud, for love’s sake has chosen a path away from his clan. What is worse is that it is my entire fault, because I; I couldn’t master my clan’s mating instincts and my own desires. Please…I can’t lose you too. Not today! ”

Touched, Shibi could only answer, “You haven’t lost me Tsume.”

“You are angry.”

“Of course I am. Without the Hyuugas at least tolerating this trey, Shino, Hinata and Kiba’s lives will be more than difficult. Hyuuga influence is pervasive.”

“So is yours, Shibi-sama you are just as noble.”

“Thank you, but perhaps you think too highly of me Tsume.”

“No. I can never think too highly of you. When you left me eleven years ago I thought highly of you. When you yelled at me five months ago and told me that I could not defeat Hiashi if it came to a battle for his daughter’s hand, I thought highly of you. Would I let you have my clan’s male alpha if I thought otherwise?”

Shibi shook his head again. But a picture of his younger brother’s oldest son flashed through his mind. Morio was a very gifted shinobi and fourth in line to be his heir. He was smitten with a very pretty and very smart branch Hyuuga, a kunoichi whom he had met at the End of Summer Festival just past. The girl seemed to enjoy his company immensely and there were high hopes among all in his clan, including himself, for another Aburame-Hyuuga love match. That door seemed to have been just slammed shut. He sighed heavily whilst feeling his nephew’s great heart break. What a mess. He kept his voice stern.

“Who else knows the truth of this situation between you and Hiashi?”

Tsume let out a strange sound that was close to a sob. Shibi patted her back thinking that he’d much rather be bandaging her battle wounds than drying her broken-hearted tears. This soft side of Tsume was a revelation,

“Forgive me” Tsume apologized. “There are four who are living who know and two who are dead. The living are Hiashi, Kuromaru, you and I. The dead are Hizashi and Kano.

Of course her talking nin-dog would know. He would have witnessed the mating, but Kano?

“Kiba’s sire knew?”

“Yes Kiba’s father. He knew everything, including to whom I was truly mated.”

Shibi’s curiosity got the better of him. Maiya Kano was universally regarded as Tsume’s perfect mate, her husband. Talk about an alpha and a real hard-core warrior. He had been the last of a foreign dog-nin clan. At twenty-two he had shown up one day in Konoha, with a pack of ten devilish looking nin-dogs and the sacred artifacts of his clan. He had asked the Fourth for asylum. It seemed his country, one that few had heard of, after suffering a terrible ninja war had decided to purge themselves of their few remaining ninjas. Within a year he and a nineteen year old Tsume, were an item and soon thereafter they married. Shibi had really enjoyed working with him. Kano had a real sense of humor and he was considered a man’s man. All of Kano’s nin dogs later perished while desperately fighting the Kyuubi, and he was severely injured himself. Yet he was one tough shinobi, a shinobi to be respected. He had wanted to live on in order to give Tsume more children. He had not wanted his clan name to die. But he finally succumbed to his extensive injuries when Kiba was two. It was interesting. Kano was so larger than life that he was always assumed to be Hana’s father although she had been born before Tsume had ever met Kano.

“Did Kano… fulfill you?”

“He more than fulfilled me. He healed me too, at least for a little while.”

Shibi said nothing. There were tight knots of grief in Tsume’s voice. Rumors had abounded that she had nearly lost her mind when Kano died. No one knew for sure because Tsume had taken no missions nor been seen for a full six months after Kano’s death. And, her large clan had closed ranks around her to protect their clan leader. When she had returned to active duty, she had seemed completely herself although maybe a bit more feral than he remembered.

“Hana doesn’t know that Kano isn’t her father?”

Tsume nodded her head no, unable to speak.

Shibi tightened his arms around the weeping kunoichi in his arms. It was as his obaa-chan had often said. Tragedy was a certainty in shinobi lives. It was the price paid for the honor of their profession. It was the by product of their strength. He had so wanted to spare his beloved firstborn son as much heartbreak as he could. Now it was up to Shino, Hinata, and Kiba to find their way going forward. He hoped and prayed that they were strong enough for the future careless fate was mapping out for them. As for him, he had to take a line from a page in Hiashi’s book - clan first. He had heavier responsibilities and other tragedies he had to avert. With a humbling flash of pain, he thought of Morio’s brilliant, dimpled smile whenever he returned from visiting with that pretty Hyuuga kunoichi. He would have to find an acceptable replacement, a good wife for his nephew. Love matches were too hard to come by for Aburame. He also needed to immediately focus on making sure that their clan finances, clan political influence and clan fighting skills stayed at optimum levels. That would off set any disadvantage they faced as the smaller clan when it came to actual numbers if a clan war of any type was to ensue. At least he knew they had an unshakeable ally. Inuzukas and Aburames together were terrifying foes. And, both clans joined together would slightly outnumber the Hyuuga. He hoped that would be enough.

A weapons callused hand touched his cheek. He looked down at Tsume. She was staring up at him with a face full of compassion and sorrow. He was not alone. She fully understood and shared his burdens. And there had been a time when she had greatly eased them too. To be a good clan leader was soul crushing. It made him realize he dare not hate Hiashi and if he dared not, neither would Tsume. He placed a kiss in the center of her small, tough palm. He had loved her once and still did. That was tragedy too.

He felt a hard drop of water hit his cheek. He watched Tsume as she sniffed the air. But his kikaichu told him the answer before he could read it in her eyes. A storm was brewing. As if she were weightless, Shibi hoisted Tsume up into his arms and carried her across the courtyard to her family. He would take her to her home and if she needed him further, stay by her side. He watched Inuzuka Hana’s extraordinarily lovely but calm Hyuuga face as he approached. Afterwards, he would go to his clan’s Shinto shrine. He would light candles and pray that there never would be another trey inside his clan during his lifetime and that the hardness of Hiashi’s position would not harm any of their future grandchildren. Tragedy, it was all tragedy. But that was the way of shinobi life and it was a life they all had proudly chosen. Whatever the three were doing right now, he hoped that Shino, Hinata and Kiba were at least happy and content. Because the way the future looked, happiness in the now might be all that their trey could ever have.