Shino stood silently in front of the whitewashed door, his lenses glinting in the faint light cast by the setting sun. Behind him, his sensitive ears picked up the hustle and bustle of one of Konoha's many streets, echoing down the side alley that led to his friend's cozy little apartment.
Shino quietly reach up and tapped the door three times with knuckles scarred from life as a shinobi.
"Come in." came the muffled reply, and the deadbolt click open.
Shino, undaunted by the lack of formal courtesy, stepped into the little apartment. Toeing off his shoes at the door, he padded across the wooden floors, making down the long narrow hallway to the kitchen.
"Hello Shino." She said; her back to him as she bustled around the small kitchen and dining room. "Food's almost ready."
"Thank you." Shino said his voice low and relaxed, as he moved to sit at his usual spot. His eyes, skilled in observation, closely followed her movements as she bustled around the stove. He quickly picked out the slight wince that covered her face whenever she moved her shoulder or craned her neck.
"It's bothering you again." He said. It was not a question.
"It's fine." She said quickly, shutting the gas burners off with a little too much enthusiasm. "Really."
"I thought we said we wouldn't lie to one another." Shino said flatly, his eyebrow raised under his headband.
"We also said we couldn't hide from one another." She shot back triumphantly, jerking her head (and wincing) toward Shino's baggy jacket and hoody.
"Fine." Shino got up abruptly and walked out of the kitchen.
"Shino-" she started, only for Shino to stride back into the kitchen, his face uncovered save for his sunglasses, which Tenten knew kept his sensitive eyes from light and pain. Wordlessly, she let her eyes sweep over his sharp chin and dark eyes, drinking in her fill of the man she had come to trust above all others.
"It is still bothering you." Shino said his voice gruff. "You have not been taking Tsunade-sama's medicine."
"It's just a little pain." She muttered, setting the steaming plate of kare raisu onto the table before setting a bowl of rice next to each.
"A little pain could kill you." Shino said seriously, picking up his chopsticks before murmuring a quiet itadakimasu. "And by default, your teammates as well."
"Dammit Shino!" she cried, slamming her chopsticks down on the table. "Don't you think I don't know that? But-"
"To apply the medicine requires another person." Shino finished quietly. "And you don't wish for your teammates to know the extent of your suffering."
For a second she looked like she wanted to punch him. But then her chin began to tremble, and salty tears tumbled down her face. "They think it's their fault," she whispered, sorrow etched into her face. "I see the guilt, every day, and I can't… I can't let them see…"
"Tenten..." Shino, for once, was without words. Logic had no place here, where the heartbroken confessions of trust by a damaged kunoichi brought warmth to his heart, and that scared him.
"Come." Shino said abruptly, rising from the table. "We will apply the medicine now."
"Now?" Tenten asked, surprised, getting a grip on herself enough to question him.
"The longer you spend in pain, the longer it takes for complete healing." Shino's voice was absolute. "Get up."
Tenten wordlessly stood; wincing again as her skin pulled on her wounds, and followed him out of the kitchen, and into the adjacent bathroom.
"Take off your bandages." Shino was curt, even as he scanned her medicine cabinets.
Tenten frowned, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Her entire face was swathed in white medical cloth, leaving only slits in the material for her eyes, nose and her mouth. The white, sterile strips continued under her loose shirt, traveling down her neck to her shoulder. Tenten could feel the dampness of her tears absorbed by the bandages, the white having turned a light grey where they had been wet.
"Take them off." The command was more forceful this time, and Tenten knew he meant no nonsense.
Carefully, Tenten loosened the bandages until, layer by layer, they revealed her mutilated face. Three long scars, ragged and ropy, scored down her face, travelling from her hairline, down her face and neck, ending at her shoulder. Poison turned the scarred tissue a discolored purple, veins throbbing as it pumped its way through her body.
"It's gotten worse." Shino muttered as he lightly touched one of the inflamed gashes, only for Tenten to hiss and duck away.
"Sakura-san and Tsunade-sama are pulling out the poison slowly." Tenten mumbled, avoiding the mirror like it was the plague. "They say if they tried to extract it all at once I'd die from the stress."
Shino touched one of the gashes again, but this time his fingers were cooled by the soothing ointment meant to clean the wound and dull the pain in between hospital visits.
"Feels better." Tenten muttered as her eyes fluttered shut in relief. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Shino said as he continued to cover her face in the cream.
The two of them lapsed into comfortable silence, Tenten almost dozing in pleasure, and Shino methodically packing her wound full of antibiotic ointment.
"Have you captured the culprit?" Shino's voice was abrupt, and brought Tenten out of her slight nap.
"No…" Tenten murmured. "But I think Neji and Lee want to rip him apart."
"Not if I get there first." Shino's voice was too soft for Tenten to hear, but she smiled anyway, understanding the sentiment.
After all, he was her closest friend, bonded by mutual respect and fear of their own reflections. His because of the kikai that constantly bored through his skin and Tenten because of a face too destroyed to show.
They had to stick together.