Falling For Bug Boy? (Shino Love Story)

Bugs are really creepy. To me, that was a fact of life as a child. It did not pop into my mind that other kids enjoyed bugs. Shino Aubrame had certainly given me a surprise, he had them all over him. I could have used that knowledge when I first met him as a small child with a big fear of bugs.

"Hello-eeeek!" I began to say, but cut off into a scream. Within seconds, my legs began to pump and I was off.

The first time I had ever encountered him, my young ginger self ran away and screamed as soon as I saw the bugs crawl around his clothing. Bugs had always given me the creeps, and it made a bit uneasy to think of somebody who easily let the bugs crawl all over them. It had just seemed a bit off to me.

Nevertheless, I had felt bad for screaming and running away from the boy. I wrote an apology and stuck it at his desk as soon as I saw my chance. His bugs had intimidated me to a level of not wanting to be around Shino in the slightest. I truly felt ashamed of myself.

Over the years, I had been able to grow to be able to stand bugs. From a scared Academy student, to a worried Chunin. I felt accomplished about how much progress I made when it came to seeing bugs. It was a completely different story if one landed on me though.

"H-Hey Shino!" I called out to him with a smile on my face as I walked over to him. He was walking down the village street and looking at the foods. It had been weeks since I had saw him due to missions that both of us seemed to be constantly sent on. My stomach churned a bit when I saw the bugs. I might have wrinkled my face when I saw the bug also, I wasn't quite sure.

"Just because he has bugs does not mean he is not a good person. Even if they are really creepy." I thought to myself mentally as a reminder.

"Hello Chika." he shortly said to me when I had reached him. "I see that you still dislike my bugs."

My eyes widened, and my face began to blush from embarrassment. I sweat dropped a bit and waved my arms around as I began to talk. "N-No! It's not that I dislike your bugs. They just happen to creep me out a bit to be honest. Come on, you know that bugs freak me out a bit! Why do you have to make me feel bad about it?" I threw my arms in the air and sighed.

"Yet you continue to talk to me." he said to me and I grinned happily.

"One thing about you that I dislike, does not define who you are." I said in a jovial tone and grinned even more. "Besides, I bet there are things about me that you dislike but yet you still talk to me." I added and things were quiet for a few moments. I decided to break the ice with a simple question on something we shared common ground with. "So do you know when Naruto is going to come back? It's almost been two years."

"No, nobody has any idea. Not even Lady Tsunade." Shino responded to me and I sweat dropped upon hearing that knowledge.

"Some village we live in. Even our Hokage doesn't know when a knuckle head is going to come back." I thought to myself.

"She must really trust that old sleaze to allow him to watch over Naruto for a few years. Maybe she was drunk on sake when she said yes?" I asked him, but quickly nodded my head from side to side and sighed. "Naruto better come back with really epic moves. He better remember all of us too."

"Do you think he will remember me?" Shino asked me, and I grinned at his response. It was nice to see that Shino cared about what his comrades thought of him. Playfully, I poked his barely shown nose.

"Who knows. Nobody can see much of you when you wear that." I said and chuckled a bit.

"Are you implying that I take it off?" he responded in such a serious tone that I choked on air as a perverted thought crossed through my mind.