Forbidden

Author's Note: This is a story written god knows how long ago for the 30 Forbidden Fruits challenge on Y! The word for this challenge was "forbidden," so here is Shino explaining something forbidden for all shinobi. =]

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[As is customary of all jounin, Shino prepares a letter as a report of his experiences to better train the future shinobi of Konohagakure.]


When one is made to make a quick decision, he will normally panic. Not a shinobi, though, for he has been trained all his natural-born life, and even in his spiritual life, to follow all situations with quick, instinctive decisions that could change history, at any moment, at any second, at any time of day. If one ever had the chance to truly see for themselves the metaphorical pressure that weighs upon his shoulder, one would assume very easily that these shinobi are inhuman, for no man could function under such detrimental force (One could then assume that the shinobi must be female, as women are known to deal with many more crises in much more manageable ways, however, even the strongest female of herculean strength would seem to struggle under the metaphorical amount of pressure, so great that the writer cannot properly decide on a simile for such).

Alas, however, an area of the world, of the mind exists that even the shinobi of the most elite could not handle, and in fact the higher one ranks, the poorer his grade in this specific area. I assume that this occurs due to the truth that standard academy does not teach this area of specialty (from here on, all singular pronouns shall be male; this was first used for the fact that in standard language, the male pronoun is used; however, from this point forward, my focus is specifically on the male, as female shinobi seem to handle this issue with just as much ease as any other task in their lives).

This area is relationships; more importantly: sex.

Allow it to be known that the writer understands that men are capable of the simple action of thrusting their manhoods into holes and pleasing themselves, or taking care of their lustful needs by themselves. This is not what I speak of, for even females are capable of forms of such. What I refer to is the emotionality of the act of sex, the conflict that rules the male's mind until he is unable to even perform his national duty as the shinobi he has trained to be. This conflict eats at his resolve, sets fire to his heart, destroys his way of thinking, kills him. I once had the honor of following through with a mission to interrogate a prisoner of war, high in one of the village's mountainous militia camps. There, my assigned squad leader entered the holding cell of the convict, who for reasons unknown to me was smiling with a haunting grin, and began the standard recitation to clarify that this particular convict had no rights. The convict in question didn't seem moved at all by any statements, simply grinning back at my assigned squad leader with ferocity in his one eye (his other had a patch over it). And, even bound in multiple strait-jackets for our protection, he stood from his stone bed and glided like a stalking panther to his prey, my squad leader, who by no means was making it hard for him. He had fallen victim not to the seductive tempter of long, blond locks, but to what the tempter offered: sex. As I had been previously informed by my assigned squad leader to leave the room if the situation became... heavy, I left the room immediately, for my own good (allow it to be known that I take no part in the extraction of information that occurred that day, and never will, for I have no desire to break any set shinobi order).

I say this to clarify why this act, this thought, this whole order of commonality in any others' life, for shinobi is forbidden. Understand, my assigned squad leader successfully extracted the information that we had embarked on receiving, but his method was inexplicably unprofessional. Following through any task with the thought of sex in mind leaves all not involved in the similar mind of thinking at a loss of available outcomes. Certainly, my reason for traveling to the militia camp that morning was to gain information for my village, but instead, due to the selfish, sexual desires of my assigned squad leader (who is actually well-known for such behavior, a truth I did not know beforehand), I was left uncomfortable and unable to serve my village until he was finished 'interrogating' the prisoner. Sex, in every since, is...

"Shino, what are you doing?"

"Attempting to finish an assignment. Is there a problem?" Having become accustomed to such interruptions, there was only a sight irritation in his voice.

"Oh, no... Just wondering if you could help me shower... I think I may have fleas..."

"What...?" He knew very well that he shouldn't have turned around, as he half-expected a newborn, charcoal-colored puppy with plastic antennae placed on its head to be so close to his face that he couldn't imagine why he wouldn't have been able to feel it salivating. Instead, his eyes quickly fell to the "flea" between his assigned partner's leg, a nine-inch long centipede, two heavy bulges of baby sacs hanging underneath it (this centipede was obviously female). It jutted out from his partner as if ready to attack, a translucent white venom spilling from its mouth. Kiba eyed his partner; Shino eyed the flea.

"That's... Quite a flea..."

"I think it's a new species... Care to exam?"

"Uhh..."

The flea jumped at the attentive stare of its inspector.


Sex, indeed, was and is a forbidden act, never to be carried out by shinobi, for it kept them from properly performing tasks for their village, for Shino, who only needed one more sentence to finish his report, didn't complete the assignment for two weeks after he began. Case in point.