Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ An Interlude of Bears and Insects ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Authoress Pre-ramble: I have returned! And as reward for your waiting here is the 2nd chapter. To answer the question of where's the plot? The Answer is written in the title. As an interlude, it is going to be a bridge between two stories…so admittedly not much plot, but lots of character development. This interlude is where I try to mash two different universes together to make them work…and that's all I'm saying on that for now.

 

A big “Thank you!” to all of my readers and reviewers! And an even bigger “Thank you!” to CasaHouse for the quickie betaing of the chapter.

 

Title: An Interlude of Bears and Insects

By: GrizzlyTeddyBear

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and this makes me sad. It also means I make no money from this venture. Naruto belongs to Misashi Kishimoto. I do own Paige Stone, my OC! All information regarding animal totems was collected from Dancing The Wheel by Sun Bear and Animal Speak by Ted Andrews.

Main Pairings: ShinoxOC

Rating: M for mentioned adult themes

Warning: AU, Post-series start time. Rookie 9 is 23-24 years old. Fic mentions pagan religions, if you can't handle it, don't read! Also is OC-centric. Hold your pants, all will be revealed as the story progresses.

 

***Chapter 2***

 

Chuckling to herself, Paige came back from her trip down memory lane. She had gotten two nicely sized shoulder bags and a few smaller pouches out of that deer, not to mention a bit of venison to share around the clan.

 

Paige sighed as she looked back and forth between her new bags hanging on the closet door handle and the clock the stubbornly refused to show the advancement in time. For a moment, she contemplated going out to her clearing to meditate and maybe achieve sleep that way. It had worked in the past. It had also freaked out the rest of the clan slightly when they didn't know where she had gone.

 

One minute she had been enjoying the ability to clear her mind from the thoughts of Shino being away on mission and snuggled up to Matohota for warmth in the chill night air, and the next thing she was aware of was being bodily carried back to her home.

 

***

 

Awake was not something she wanted to be, but something had changed. She was moving…someone was carrying her…and they were making her arm fall asleep. Beetle. At least it was a clan member carrying her. Paige shifted the limb which was tingling with lack of circulation and gave a sigh after finding a better spot for it.

 

"You shouldn't be out alone at night in your condition," reprimanded the person carrying her.

 

Recognition. "…'m pregnant…," she yawned, "…not dying…Tousan." The feeling of sleep was receding, and that made for a cranky Paige Stone. "You act like I'm not capable of defending myself," she glared.

 

"No," was the reply to her accusation. "But you do have a habit of putting yourself into situations from which you need rescuing."

 

She pouted in response as her home came into view. "I was trying to sleep. It's something I haven't really been able to do since Shino left."

 

Shibi deposited her on her own two feet before opening the door for her.

 

Paige flopped down on the couch in the living room. “I think I actually got an hour of sleep too…” She watched as Shibi made his way to the kitchen and then heard him rummaging around in her cabinets for something.

 

“Tea will be done in a few minutes,” he announced when he returned and sat opposite her in one of the chairs in the room.

 

The two looked at each other for a few moments before she broke away first. “I know he's safe,” she mumbled. Truth be told she had been asking Kagi Taka to keep an unobtrusive eye on anything suggesting he was on his way to the next world. “But I still miss him.” She looked into her lap and started playing with the ends of Shino's jacket that she had put on to go outside. “I'm not quite sure when I went from self-sufficient to needing someone to be near me so much that it hurts when they're gone.”

 

A cup of tea materialized in front of her face. “You are not alone.”

 

Blinking a few times and then realizing she should take hold of the cup of hot tea being offered, Paige offered a sheepish smile. “I know, but no one else is Shino.” After taking a small sip of the still hot liquid she said, “I needed something to take my mind off of things for a little while…” She trailed off into silence, her mind still on how much she missed Shino.

 

“Have you discussed names?” her adoptive father suddenly asked.

 

Giving a small start from having her train of thought derailed, she took a moment to process what had just been asked. “Baby names?” Biting her lip, she considered her answer, “Not yet, but I have noticed everyone born into the plan starts their names with `Shi'. And the name Shizu was one I wanted to bring up to Shino as a possibility.”

 

“He will like it,” Shibi responded almost immediately.

 

“You seem sure about that,” Paige raised an eyebrow.

 

He nodded once. “It was his grandmother's name.”

 

Paige smiled. “Knew I liked it for a reason. But with my luck, a child named `quiet' will end up being a holy terror.” She could almost guess the next line of questioning. Shibi still had a duty to look out for his clan.

 

“And the kikaichu?”

 

She gave a deflating sigh, “That was a tougher decision. I know it's risky at any age, but done at younger ages it's less risky. And in order for her to be in the line of succession she has to receive them, and both parents have to be agreeable to it. But you know my penchant for personal decisions.”

 

“And?”

 

“And I ended up dragging Shino out to our clearing and `walking the wheel' about it,” the totem reader smiled. “We drew up the agreement before he left on his mission. It's on the desk in the office to be reviewed by the elders when he returns.”

 

Shibi got up and headed towards the home office.

 

Paige guessed he went to review the document himself. When he returned to the room she noticed she was starting to feel drowsy. “What did you put...,” she yawned, “in the tea?”

 

“Valerian. Although you can't take it too regularly because of…”

 

“…my pregnancy,” she interrupted. “Figures,” she stifled another yawn. “You might want to show yourself out. I'm going to enjoy a few hours of sleep.” She walked back to the bedroom and promptly passed out.

 

***

 

That was the one night she had gotten some sleep. Paige had tried to talk Shibi into allowing her to use the Valerian more often, but he refused, replying the health of his future granddaughter was too important to risk.

 

She rested her hands on her stomach. There was no outward sign of her pregnancy, but she knew that was only for so long. Shino and the clan had agreed to her idea of hiding the pregnancy from those who didn't need to know about it. Oh sure, Tsunade knew of it. She was the Hokage after all. But the rest of the council, Paige had a healthy distrust of them after what they tried to pull on her to just be allowed to stay in the village. If they knew she and Shino actually accomplished conceiving the child they wanted to use for political power… Shaking her head to derail her current train of thoughts she attempted to calm herself. There was still no guarantee Shizu would inherit her abilities. Paige Stone would cross that bridge when she came to it…if she came to it. And she was secure in the knowledge that Shino, the clan, and her friends would stand beside her in the defense of her child.

 

Her sleepless musings turned to her immediate problem: how she was getting the Konoha Psychiatric ward to run a bit more smoothly. She hadn't made too many friends on her first day…although she did win over the important people.

 

***

 

Following Sakura's form through the myriad of hallways that was the Konoha Hospital, Paige attempted to memorize the route. In theory she should be able to find her own way to and from her work area.

 

“It's not too much farther,” Sakura smiled over her shoulder. “We have the ward in a different section of the Hospital to cut down on the disruption when the ward is especially…busy.”

 

“Uh huh,” remarked Page. “Who was running this place before me?”

 

“Technically it was jointly run by Ibiki and me, but Nurse Dai runs the day to day functions of the place.” The head of Konoha surgery lead them around another corner.

 

She thought it made a little sense. Ibiki had to know of the human psyche in order to best get information out of it. The further she was lead down the hall, the more she could hear shouting, but couldn't quite make out what was being said.

 

The pink-haired medic sighed. “That would be Dai. She has a love for the work. Unfortunately we're hard pressed to find others who are equally dedicated.”

 

Bear. Paige gave a small smile. A fellow bear…this could be interesting, she thought.

 

The yelling finally could be understood. “I don't know how you got hired at this hospital, but I'll make sure you'll never work under this roof again! Get out of my sight!”

 

An orderly brushed past Sakura and Paige as they approached.

 

Smiling as she approached Nurse Dai, she gave her a visual assessment. She was older than Paige and definitely carried an air of authority about her despite being a little shorter than the Aburame heiress. “Dai-san,” she smiled with a polite bow. “It's a pleasure to meet you. From what I hear you've been running things.”

 

Returning the bow, Dai straightened and attempted to fix her slightly mussed hair. “I apologize if you overheard any of that Aburame-sama. Some people wouldn't know compassion if it bit them in the ass.”

 

“Please just call me Paige,” she dismissed the formality. “And it's good that I overheard you actually.” Turning to Sakura she asked, “Just how much latitude are you prepared to give me here?”

 

“You are more of the expert here,” the med-nin shrugged. “It's sad to say this place has been run as more of a place of containment than treatment.”

 

“Then ensure whoever Nurse Dai was talking to does not work under this roof again. If they can't be compassionate to the most vulnerable of patients, then they need to think of a new career path. I'll also need personnel files on those currently working the ward and any applicants.” She turned back to a smiling Dai, “I'll need your help sorting through this mess. I want a functioning place of rehabilitation and we're going to have to restructure from top to bottom to do it.”

 

“I'm going to like this one,” Dai said to Sakura. “I'll take over the tour from here.”

 

“I'll have those files ready for you by tomorrow,” announced Sakura before she left Paige to Dai.

 

The nurse led Paige through a brief tour of the ward. It was roughly split into two sections: shinobi and non-shinobi. Shinobi were required to surrender all weapons and have a sealing jutsu performed to restrict their chakra. “For safety reasons,” Dai clarified the reasoning behind the segregation and the stripping of shinobi abilities.

 

Paige nodded in understanding.

 

“Medic-nins oversee the functioning of the shinobi unit and civilian nurses oversee the civilians,” the nurse continued.

 

The totem reader's eyes took in everything they could on the tour. Some of the employees enjoyed their work and tried their best to help. But others were not so dedicated. Paige made the effort to learn faces and names for the upcoming review of staff files as Dai introduced her to the current shift.

 

After being led out of the ward, Nurse Dai showed Paige to her office. After taking a seat, she asked, “How bad is it?”

 

Letting out a big puff of air, she leaned back in her chair. “It's not as bad as I feared, but we definitely have our work cut out for us. I could see a third of the staff will need to be replaced on this shift alone and almost everyone needs retraining. Almost all of them are complacent. That means someone is going to get hurt in the near future.” Paige turned to look out the window.

 

“The ward has unfortunately been used as punishment for staff. If they don't perform well in other areas of the hospital, they end up here. I do what I can with them, and some of them do find they enjoy it, but others…” Dai trailed off.

 

“Remind me to talk to Sakura about that as well. That's nothing but a disservice to the patients.” She turned back once more to a smiling Dai.

 

“This place won't know what hit it, Paige-san,” stated the nurse with a bit of a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “I've been waiting years for this. Sakura and Ibiki just didn't have the time to give the ward the shaking down its needed.”

 

An answering smile tugged at the corners of her own mouth. “I think I'll like working with you as well Dai. Just promise me you'll keep that brutal honesty of yours around me as well. I have a feeling I'll be needing your insights.”

 

The next days were filled with hirings and firings as Paige and Dai shifted through the mountains of files that mysteriously appeared in her office the next day. For as many files she read through and made a decision on, it seemed like there were even more she was creating on how to train the new and existing personnel. Paperwork…was evil incarnate.

 

***

 

A loud authoritative knock jarred Paige back to the reality of her sleepless night. Another look at the clock as she got up and pulled on a yukata over her pajamas to help keep out the night air.

 

The knock sounded again, but louder this time.

 

Lizard. Dog. Paige couldn't distinguish exactly how was on the other side of the door. “Coming!” she yelled at the door as she rushed through the living room. When she arrived, she opened the door to be faced with two ANBU operatives—their emotions as impassive as their masks. For a moment, she felt her heart constrict in fear. Had something happened to Shino?

 

“Paige Stone Aburame, your presence is requested by Morino Ibiki to assist in an investigation.”

 

***

 

Authoress Post-ramble: I'm so evil! I like making my readers suffer with cliff-hangers! Please leave a comment, question, or criticism in a review or email at ekuepper@gmail.com! Until next chapter!