Beetle In The Shadow (A Shino Aburame love story)

A New Team, A New Friendship!

I walked with Kiba as we began looking for our new teammates. From what I knew -which wasn't much- Hinata was a shy, quiet girl who blushed a lot, especially around a certain blonde. When we found her, Hinata was by a tree surrounded by healthy, green grass. I looked around for Shino, curious as to where he was. "I'll be back!" I told Kiba as I ran off, leaving him with the flustered Hyuuga. I walked around, my eyes searching everywhere for our last teammate. I sighed, unable to find him, and turned around, beginning to walk back only to have a deep voice stop me.

"I presume you are either looking for the rest of our team or me. Why? Because you're walking around alone, obviously searching." Shino looked down at me, although he wasn't all that much taller than me. I smiled warmly at him however, motioning for him to follow me as I began walking back to Kiba and Hinata.

As I noticed he was walking at a much slower pace than me, I took his hand and dragged him over to the tree that our teammates were sitting under. Plopping myself next to Kiba and almost forcing Shino to sit next to Hinata, I smiled at everyone, "Hi! Since we're teammates now, we should get to know each other! I'm Shikai Nara." I said, looking at everyone with slight curiosity. I saw Hinata nod slightly and I smiled at her comfortingly.

"H-hello. I'm Hi-Hinata Hyuuga..." Hinata looked down, playing with her fingers. We each had lunches with us that we ate quietly as everyone introduced themselves. I munched on a rice ball quietly as I silently listened to the introductions.

"I'm Kiba Inuzuka! This is Akamaru!" Kiba stated loudly as he gestured to the dog resting on his head. He smiled with his eyes closed as he practically radiated energy. Akamaru let out a small sound, almost as if he knew we were talking about him -which he probably did.

Next Shino, who sat it the grass, a bug on his finger introduced himself. "I am Shino Aburame. It would take too long to introduce all my bugs. Why? Because they reproduce at a rapid rate." I couldn't help but glance at him curiously.

"Where do you keep them?" I asked, unable to hide my curiosity. I couldn't silence the little voice in my was telling me that Shikamaru would know. I tried to cover the sad thought with a smile, though I'm sure my eyes reflected my sadness. If Shino had a reaction about my question, I couldn't tell. He seemed uninterested, but he answered anyway.

"I give them shelter inside of me." He said plainly, causing Kiba to freak out.

"What?! B-but... Inside of you? As in in your body?!" Kiba's eyes were wide with shock, as if he couldn't imagine a world were something like that was possible. Hinata's eyes widened slightly, though she quickly recovered, blushing like it was something to be ashamed of.

"That's so cool!" I exclaimed, my eyes shining brightly as I gushed, "It's a little nasty, but the coolness definitely over powers that! Oh, you're an Aburame right? So that means you can use them for attacks like Kiba does with Akamaru!" As I calmed down, I noticed Kiba looking at me weirdly, making me blush in embarrassment. I scratched the back of my neck sheepishly, my ears turning a light shade of red. "A-anyway, we should probably go, we're going to meet our sensei tomorrow after all!" I looked at the sky, frowning as I realized it had begun to turn a light orange with a slight pink tint. "Bye!" I waved as I walked, Kiba quickly running up to catch up to me.

"What was that all about?" He asked, still looking at me oddly. I simply shrugged, not quite sure myself why I reacted so enthusiastically about his ability. Sure, I thought his ability was cool, but perhaps it was my curiosity about the silent, mysterious boy that caused my reaction.

As my house came into view, I shouted, "Bye Kiba! Bye Akamaru!" I heard him yell back and giggled as I walked inside. The smile faded from my face as the cold, unaccepting eyes of my father came into view.

"Where were you, Shikai!" My mother exclaimed worriedly as I smiled sheepishly, explaining the situation.

"Sorry, I was hanging out with my new teammates, I smiled brightly one again, before it faded as a feeling in my gut told me something bad was going to happen.

"Shikamaru came back in time. He spent time with his teammates too, so that excuse is unacceptable. Why can't you be more like your brother?" My father said, not trying to hide the disappointment in his voice. It was always the same thing with my father. 'Be more like Shikamaru', 'Shikamaru did it right, why didn't you?', and the same disappointed look in his eyes. I saw my mother give him a pointed look as tears welled up in my eyes. His words felt like a knife, slashing through me with every word. I felt the tears stream down my face, though I tried pathetically to hide it by wiping them away furiously.

                 "I'm sorry dad..." I trailed off as my voice cracked slightly and I walked to my room, shutting the door and throwing myself on my bed as feelings of worthlessness washed over me. My tears flowed slowly as I lay, sprawled out on my bed as I stared at the ceiling, tears slowly leaking out of my eyes. I heard a soft knock as my mother entered, her dark eyes sympathetic.

     As she rubbed soothing circles on my back she comforted me, "He loves you just as much as Shikamaru. He just uses Shikamaru as a comparison because he's so proud of him. He's proud of you too, you know. He just... has a hard time showing it." I nodded and closed my eyes, pretending to fall asleep as my tears dried. When I heard the door click shut, a signal my mother had left, I opened my eyes and continued to stare at the ceiling.

     "I'm so weak." I whispered to myself, my voice cracking. Maybe I would never be as good as Shikamaru.

Written by @Gaara-Panda