Ojos Asi [[private -- nyrax]]

Shino nodded in silent agreement as she basically told him to get on with the story, apparently she was very curious. “Sani tried to fight Kiba, but somehow, and I have no idea how, Kiba was able to drive him away as if he was actually afraid to die”, he explained. “From what I had seen, it looked like Kiba was about to kill him”, he said seriously. He watched her reaction as she went to go and get water. “Yeah I know, hard to believe”, he said with the hopes of getting a small laugh. What Aaliyah said next made his eyes widen in shock though. “Wait are you serious?”, he asked even though he already knew the answer. Shino just waited by as Aaliyah began talking to Kiba after dragging him out.

“GAH!”, Kiba said as he suddenly had his hair pulled on. “God I didn’t even do anything”, he muttered as he was thrown into the wall. He let out a low grumble and turned his attention to Aaliyah, he was wondering where she had run off to. Every word that she said caused him to lose more and more of that usual flair that he had. He said nothing once she was done, only rubbed his eyes. “So………I’m a dead man huh?”, he questioned quietly. “The whole plan is ruined, and Youki will come and kill me……….is that what you woke me up for?”, he asked as if he was annoyed. In truth though Kiba was legitimately scared. Sure he had fought one of the siblings off, but he hadn’t even succeeded in killing him. If Youki wanted Kiba dead, how long would it take?

Aaliyah sighed. "Well... I don't know why, but Youki wasn't all that angry from what my sensei told me. She said that she wanted me to come check on Akiko without anyone finding out, then come back and report to her and to Youki. I can't stay, but from what I've seen, they want her to stay here to deal with Sani." She bit her lip. "I don't think they know about us..." She looked at Shino, touching his face softly. "I'll tell you more when I know more, but it might be a bit before I come back. And when I do.." She trailed off. "It will most likely to bring Akiko home."

Looking over at the door, she sighed. "Kiba..." she looked at him. "She most likely won't be here for too much longer, but please... Don't do anything that will cause her pain. I know you love her, but it's important that she not come home after having sex again. My sensei is trying to make something with Lillian. I dunno what it is, but I have a guess..." Moving, she walked into the room and her eyes widened, causing her to stop dead in her tracks.

A cloaked man was covered from head to toe, none of his body visible was on the window's ledge, the window open, wind blowing. Seeing them, he darted out of sight, vanishing in the darkness of the village. Akiko's bed was much the same, but she was laying on her back, the chart that had her condition was on the bedside table. The blanket that had been around her was now down around her ankles, barely on her body at all. Her nightgown was up, revealing all of her legs and a bit of her thigh.

Shino couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at Aaliyah’s claim. Youki wasn’t horribly upset? That didn’t make any sense. Shino often felt like just having Akiko here was a giant risk to them all. And now that Sani had found the one that she cares so much about they were just going to let it go? That didn’t make any sort of sense at all. Shino kinda agreed with the sadistic way that Kiba was acting, he was certain that some sort of bounty of death mark would be placed on Kiba. And yet nothing would happen? “Why would Youki not be angry at this?”, he asked curiously. Shino held his head down as Aaliyah said that she would have to leave, and the next time she returned would be to leave again. She was going out of his life again; he really should have been used to it by now.

Kiba was more amazed than even Shino by this newest bit of information. “What? Seriously? How would he not be mad? I thought he would be hella pissed once he learned who I was”, he said seriously. Something else caught his attention about Aaliyah’s words. “What do you mean by have her stay here to deal with Sani?”, he asked curiously. “IS Youki pissed at him for failing?”, he couldn’t help but wonder. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything and especially when she’s in this condition”, he admitted before following Aaliyah and seeing what she saw.

“Get away from her!”, Kiba shouted as he ran into the room but only soon enough to see that the man disappeared into the darkness of the night. Kiba ran to the window and tried to stop him. “Damn it, he got away”, he remarked before running over to Akiko. “Akiko? You okay?”, he asked as he touched her face. He turned to Aaliyah. “What and who the hell was that?”

Aaliyah bit her lip. "I... can't say." She said looking at Shino. "I can't imagine why Youki isn't angry. Maybe Ai was lying or is just so out of tune that she didn't notice. But... from what she said and how she acted, she was sincere... She meant that he wasn't upset. Which is strange. He's planning something." Looking towards Kiba, she smirked however. "Sani's actions almost lead to Akiko's death. If for any reason that makes her scared of her siblings, that causes great risk to them. Youki isn't mad at Sani for failing, he's enraged that he risked Akiko's life for his own." This made her feel more confident. Youki was mad enough to almost kill Sani. "And... well..." She trailed off. "Akiko is unable to be sedated or to be given pain killers."

This man took off too fast to catch, but Aaliyah ran over to Akiko, touching her neck. She still had a pulse, and as strange as it was, she seemed fine... She wasn't hurt, there were no huge injuries that were unwrapped.

Akiko's eyes scrunched up. "Mmm..." She muttered, looking up at Kiba. "Hey..." She whispered. "When are you leaving?" her voice was heavy and tired, her eyes drooping closed again.

Neither Kiba nor Shino had any idea what was going to happen now. Everything that they had planned was all thrown into chaos. This wasn’t the way that things were supposed to be. Shino turned and looked at Aaliyah. “So that’s it? The whole plan is off?”, he asked as if he couldn’t believe it. “You’re just going to go back to the pretend world after everything that we’ve accomplished?”, he asked sadly. “I guess I should have known that things were going too well……..shouldn’t have been so foolish as to think that”, he muttered to himself. He was losing her again, and it hurt like hell every time.

Kiba glanced down at Akiko as she asked him when he was leaving. He raised an eyebrow. “Leave? Akiko I’m not going anywhere, I’m staying here in order to help you get through your recovery………are you okay?”

Aaliyah bit her lip. "Shino... don't think about it that way. I have orders from them. I have to do as they say for now, and if I can still get information, which we really need right now, we'll see what it leads to." She told him, softly kissing his lips. Walking over to Akiko, she moved some of her hair from his face. She looked so tired, almost like she'd been drugged; but she just seemed to be so tired.

Akiko rubbed her eyes as she opened her eyes tiredly. "I'm tired..." She rolled over, closing her eyes again, unable to keep them open. It wouldn't work, waking her up wouldn't do any good. "Kibi needs to sleep..." She whispered softly, curling up against one of her pillows.

“I guess it’s still just not easy for me, thinking about you going back to that madman at all times”, Shino admitted. “Plus he pretends to be happy but perhaps he just wants to take his anger out on you”, he remarked before shaking his head. “I’m sorry……..saying goodbye to you is never easy”, he admitted before kissing Aaliyah back. God he was going to miss her.

Kiba didn’t take the strange take on his name in a bad way. She was tired, so she was probably just muttering in her sleep. “She’s tired Aaliyah, perhaps we should let her rest and just keep watch?”, he suggested. “I don’t know what that guy was trying to do, but it doesn’t look like it worked, or at least he didn’t get to it yet”

Aaliyah shook her head. "No... Kibi is her nickname. It's a combination of kiko and chibi. The only person that calls her that is Xerion. That must have been who came to see her. To see her injuries..." She pointed out, sure what's why she was unhurt. Picking up the clipboard, she flipped through it. "He wanted to know what happened himself." She turned to face him. "And him being found is dangerous for all of us..." Biting her lip, she sighed. Taking one of the carbon copies of the files, she folded it up and put it into her pocket.

"I'll be back later." She kissed Shino again, this time much longer. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she held onto him tightly, not wanting to be away from him and not wanting to have to leave his side. Finally when she reluctantly broke the kiss, she gazed into his eyes. "Please..." She whispered. "Stay with her..." she whispered.

Kiba raised an eyebrow. “Xerion? Then why the hell did he take off like that?”, he asked curiously. “We wouldn’t have ratted him out, and we’ve seen him before. It’s not like there isn’t anyone here that doesn’t know who he is”, he pointed out. “You better be absolutely sure that was Xerion, because if not I don’t care who it is, someone knows more than they are letting on”, he pointed out as he sniffed the air again. Kiba let out a small curse, still nothing. He had left too quickly.

“I know that you will”, Shino said softly before his arms wrapped around Aaliyah and began to kiss her affectionately, knowing that the moment he let go would be the moment that she went back to that madman. He gave a weak sigh as they parted but nodded. “Me and Kiba won’t let anyone near her, I promise Aaliyah”

Aaliyah smirked. "Trust me, Kiba. She's not scared. He must have woken her up to ask her something. And, she's wearing underwear, so it's not like they took them. Any other pervert would have." She said, running her hands through her hair. "I love you Shino." She whispered, kissing his cheek again. "Thank you." She nodded her head to Kiba and took off out the window without much hesitation. Just a last minute glance back at Shino.

Akiko woke up a little after 10 the next day. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and looked around. "Kiba-kun?" She asked, touching his face. "Good morning."

Shino didn’t blame Kiba for being worried, after all he had the same worried that something bad was happening to Akiko. Xerion made no mention or even a hint as to who he was. Perhaps that was why she had said Kibi, since that was her nickname from Xerion. “And I love you Aaliyah, come back to me”, he whispered before giving a small wave as she glanced back once. Shino set himself up against a wall and sat, waiting. He wasn’t going to sleep tonight.

Kiba went back to sleep where he had been earlier, his head leaning on Akiko’s mattress. As she touched him his eyes shot awake in surprise. Since they fell on Akiko though he quickly lost his panic and just smiled. “Hey Akiko, good morning”, he said with a warm smile to her. “How ya feelin?”

Akiko smiled and sat up. She winced slightly, holding her stomach. "I feel better." She said honestly, shifting on the bed and looking around. "I'm thirsty though..." She whispered, looking at him uncertainly. "You look uncomfortable." she said, rubbing his neck. "You should have slept with me..." Leaning closer to him, she slid over the bed to sit with her legs hanging off the bed in front of him. "How do you feel?"

Kiba slowly got up as his well, his back cracking numerous times due to the strange position that he slept in. He shook his head. “Oh one second”, he said before heading out to the same vending machine that Aaliyah had used earlier. Within a minute he was back with some water. “Here ya go Akiko………..and I just wanted you to have space. It’ll take more time for you to recover than me”, he said honestly. “I’m better now that I see you’re okay”, he said honestly. “Don’t worry, I’m okay”, he said with a warm smile.

“Glad to see you’re doing better Akiko”, Shino said as he walked over. He hadn’t slept all night, not that you could tell from his voice.

Akiko took the bottle of water from him, and looked into his eyes. "Yeah... but that didn't mean you couldn't sleep beside me. Now you're neck is sore." It seemed as if she felt guilty, but didn't indulge too much into that fact. "You feel ok, right?" She asked again, touching his chest. Almost all his injuries, minor and more serious ones were gone. A smile crossed her lips. "You heal really fast, huh?" She questioned, her hand sliding over his face, loving the feeling of his warm skin.

Her heart started to pound and she almost jumped out of her skin when Shino spoke. She hadn't noticed him before he'd spoken. Letting out a shuttering sigh to calm her nerves, she smiled, and nodded. "Me too. Where's Aaliyah?" She asked. "And... did Xerion come last night? I remember hearing his voice. Was I dreaming?"

Kiba just gave a shrug. “Please, I just fought one of your siblings and had some wire slash through me. I’m a shinobi Akiko, a sore neck will never bother me”, he said with a smile. Funny, it was almost like she was babying him or something. At the comment of healing fast he lifted up an arm and jokingly flexed his muscles. “Well they do call Tsunade the best for a reason. They weren’t that bad of injuries”, he said with an added grin.

Shino couldn’t help but give a weak laugh and shake his head as he appeared to startle Akiko. Like he hadn’t gotten that reaction before. “Aaliyah had to go and check on a few things, she’ll come back soon though”, he said with a smile. Just because he was worried didn’t mean that Akiko needed to as well. “We believe Xerion came last night, yes”, he said not really knowing what else to say about it. “Akiko, your wounds are healing for the most part, can you heal them with your own chakra though”

Akiko shook her head. "No, having a sore neck is pretty annoying." She said, putting her hands on either side of his neck and rubbing it. Looking into his eyes for a while, she drew his focus. When he started to seem unfazed and relaxed, she jerked his head to the side. It almost instantly started to feel better which made her smile. "Better?" she asked with a sweet smile.

Turning to look at Shino, she nodded. She didn't want Aaliyah to leave, but... she had. "Does that mean I'm staying with Kiba, or with you?" She asked, laying back down, looking towards Shino. Holding her waist, she winced again. "And... I'm not very good at healing my stomach because there's a lot of stuff there." A hand rested over it and a light blue chakra appeared. "but i can try." With that said, she began to heal the injury.

“Like I have said, I’ve had worse”, Kiba said with a warm smile as she reached out to rub his neck. She was so sweet, always worrying about him even though she was the one that was heavily hospitalized and nearly died. He was surprised to feel her forcefully turn his head, widening his eyes in surprise. “Well now, that really does feel better actually”, he said with a warm smile.

Shino scratched the back of his head for a moment as he considered Akiko’s question. “You both can stay at my place, since this is about village security”, he said seriously. Shino moved over and watched her try to heal herself. “If it causes you pain than save your energy and chakra, we have professionals here after all. You just need to rest Akiko”

Akiko couldn't help but smile. Leaning upwards she kissed his cheek softly and leaned backwards against her pillows in a sitting position. She healed herself a bit, but stopped when Shino told her to. Biting her lip, she looked over at him. "Where's Aaliyah? She doesn't usually leave me here alone... and if she's gone that means Youki is giving her orders to do something and I won't know what to tell him unless she tells me what to say." She was lost, and all she could do was reach out, her small hand sliding over Kiba's softly. "What should we do? She's coming back right?"

Kiba just smiled as he felt Akiko’s soft lips gracing up against his skin. She was always so soft, always felt comforting to be touched by her. Kiba just leaned down and rubbed his nose softly against hers, a more cute display than affectionate. He winked at her as she pulled back before listening to Shino speak.

“Aaliyah just had to go and run some errands…..yes to Youki”, Shino added as Akiko filled in the blank on her own. “She’ll be back though, she promised me that she would and I know that she would never lie to me, and she wouldn’t ever leave you”, he promised her with a smile. Shino watched as Kiba took Akiko’s hand and held it comfortingly. “Don’t worry……….she’ll come back”

Akiko smiled, feeling much more comfortable when they were together. When his nose touched hers, she leaned forward, letting hers nudge against his. It made her feel so much safer when they did this. There was no legitimate reason why, it was just something cute that she noticed no one else did besides the two of them. "I love you." She whispered. Turning to look at Shino, she smiled. "She really does love you, doesn't she?" She questioned, a sweet look on her face. Moving over the bed, she crawled to the foot so she was closer to Shino.

God how he loved her, no one could ever make Kiba feel as great as he did other than when Akiko was around. Even Tsunade’s praise on his strength wasn’t as warming as just a smile from the little girl, a hug was one of the best though. He just smiled at her before turning over towards his teammate. Shino’s face was unreadable, no shock there. When Aaliyah left it was like the joy was pulled right out of him. Shino just wasn’t the same man anymore.

Shino gave a slow nod at the question. “Yeah……I just wish that she could stay and be with me”, he whispered as he turned to look out the window, as if hoping he’d see Aaliyah leaving. She was long gone by now though. God he missed her so much. “Till next time though……next time”

Akiko sat down on the edge of teh bed, feeling Kiba not far behind her. Watching Shino look out the window, she blinked a few times, studying the look on his face. "She'll come back to you, Shino. I know that she loves you. When we were home, she seemed so lost and distracted. All she did was think about you and zone out. She acted like nothing existed. It was weird, but I know it's because she loves you." A smile spread across her lips. "Her and I just show our affection and different ways. I walked to see Kiba, so I was visibly impatient, but she just seemed to think about it a lot. Ai-nee-san was starting to think that she was sick or something of the sort. She'll come back to you, don't worry, ok? Next time will be soon because I'm still here."

Shino said nothing, just hung his head down as Akiko spoke. He knew that she was telling the truth, Akiko would never lie about something like that and it was how he expected Aaliyah to act. How he hoped she would act without him. He just hoped that she didn’t get too distracted because of him though, give away anything. “I know…I know Akiko” ,he said softly. Knowing didn’t make the pain any less real though, it didn’t let him pretend like nothing hurt. Even the emotionless machine that was Shino had a heart, and it felt pain everytime she left. How much longer? How much longer would he have to endure this? “Sometimes I wish she was more like you Akiko…….breaking the rules and running away to see me”, he said with a soft smile. “Don’t worry…….I’m patient”, he said despite the ache of his heart.

Akiko blinked. "But... you don't know where I live?" She pointed out. "I know where you live." Sliding off the bed, she landed on her feet and ran over to him. Standing in front of him, she took his hand. "Are you okay?" She asked, keeping his hand in her own. "It's clear you miss her, but you have to know that she misses you too. This isn't constructive and I know that she'll be back soon. You mean too much to her to just abandon. Trust me." Her arms wrapped around his waist and she hugged him tightly. "If you love her half as much as I know she loves you than no one will ever be able to hurt her."

Shino said nothing as he heard Akiko getting out of the bed and heading over to him. She felt her take his hand, and he could barely look down at her, afraid that talking might reveal more and more of his emotions. He just gave a small nod when asked if he was okay, even though he wasn’t really. “I know that she missed me Akiko, I just wish that things were different”, he said softly. “I know that she’s doing what she has to do, and she misses me with all her heart”, he said in nothing more than a whisper. He slowly wrapped his arms around Akiko as she held him. “I do…….I really do love her Akiko. And the day when we can be together will be better than anything”