A/N: Okay, this is a collaborative collection of oneshots, co-authored by myself and Kikarisan. A bit different than my usual fare.
The Closet of Memories
By The Bellmaker and Kikarisan
Lee and Shino
The classroom was devoid of life other than the ladybird resting on the windowsill, basking in the warm afternoon sun. The seats and desks were empty, with the occasional piece of paper strewn across the floor. Sounds of joyous laughter and shouting filtered in through the windows, bringing some of the essence of being back into the barren room. Without warning, the beckoning call of the bell brought the sounds of the children closer and closer, until they entered the school to finish the day.
One boy hung a little bit behind the rest, taking his time while walking, and looking at the forest through his round, dark sunglasses. The oversized collar of his pale green jacket covered the bottom half of his face, and his hands were resting in the pockets of his long, dark brown shorts. Some of the other children avoided the quiet boy, thinking him mysterious, odd, and sometimes just a touch creepy. The six-year-old's short and spiky dark brown hair ruffled in the breeze as he walked through the doorway, slowly making his way towards his seat. He looked over his shoulder to get a final glance at the now quiet outdoors, but in his inattentive state he crashed into a large, warm wall.
When he looked up from the floor it was not just a wall that he walked into, but a wall of bright green fabric. He raised his gaze further up and found a pair of large black eyes framed by impossibly larger black eyebrows. The wall broke open into a large smile and a hand shot towards the young boy's face.
"My most sincere apologies, fellow classmate! Here, let me help you!" shouted the green monstrosity.
The boy stared at the offered hand for a few moments before eventually accepting it, pulling himself up with the aid of this bizarre creature.
The green one raised his hand in salutation and exclaimed, "My name is Rock Lee! It is my great pleasure to meet you ... " he faltered at the end of his sentence, taking a moment to think before saying, " I don't believe you've shared your name with me yet, friend."
The quiet boy stood in silence for a few moments before answering.
" ... Shino. My name is Shino Aburame," he replied in a quiet, even voice.
Rock Wall Lee shined a smile again and shouted, "Shino Aburame! I won't forget it! I need to go to my seat now, but I hope we can talk again soon! Good-bye for now!" He turned and bounced back to his seat, his shiny black bowl-cut hair staying miraculously in place.
A slightly confused and moderately disturbed Shino shook his head a little bit and resumed his quest to get back to his seat. Arriving uninterrupted, he sat down and quietly waited for the teacher to resume class.
Presently the teacher, Iruka-sensei, returned and looked around the classroom with a smile. "All right, so now that you're all back and settled down, it's time to resume our lesson."
*****
Shino stared impulsively at the clock as the hour hand slowly migrated towards the short black line that meant the end of the day. It seemed to stand still, remaining in the same place with every blink of his eyes. His indifferent attitude to the lesson was not because he was a bad student, in fact it was quite the opposite. He had already learned all of this material once and passed the exam with flying colors. Unfortunately, the large majority of the class was not as lucky, forcing Iruka-sensei to repeat the lesson as a review.
As he let his thoughts wander, Shino gazed halfheartedly around the room. A few students were vigorously paying attention, but more than just a few were simply gawking at the apparent nonsense their teacher was spouting at them. Shino let his gaze wander further, and he found the green monster he encountered earlier. Rock Lee, was it not? He sounded the name over a few times in his head, and decided that it sounded eerily like broccoli, which was a good description of the color of his jumpsuit. Shino pondered this for a moment. How could one possibly expect to have any stealth in an outfit of that color? It made about as much sense as that Naruto's bright orange attire. It was not that Shino had any particular disdain for the Naruto boy, well, except for his inability to comprehend anything. Shino suspected it was largely his fault that the classroom pace was so slow.
Suddenly Shino realized that Rock Lee was staring back at him. He twisted his head in the opposite direction quickly to avoid his questioning eyes. Shino hadn't been staring at him as much as spacing out in his general direction, but it still made him feel uncomfortable to hold eye contact with that creature for such a length of time. There was something unsettling about Rock Lee's gaze.
The bell quickly roused Shino from his musings. He sat still a moment longer as the loud shuffling about of his classmates began, and then he too began to gather his things and close his book. Hearing someone say his name, he turned and saw his teacher pointing to a pile of papers.
"Shino, would you and Lee please return these scrolls to the closet?"
Shino glanced at his fellow green helper and nodded at Iruka. He walked down to the desk and began to gather up some of the scrolls off the huge mountain, and soon Lee joined him to do the same.
"So it seems that we talk again even sooner than I had thought!" smiled Lee, talking rather louder than the average person.
Shino inclined his head slightly, continuing to gather the last few scrolls he could hold before beginning his balancing act towards the closet. Lee was only a few paces behind him, carrying a ridiculous amount of scrolls in his arms. Shino propped the door open with his foot and moved to let Lee go ahead of him, but Lee had so many scrolls that he couldn't see Shino and walked right into him, scattering the scrolls all over the room and sending both of them tumbling to the ground for the second time that day, only this time they were in a much more compromising position.
Shino opened his eyes to find darkness, and slowly his eyes adjusted to find Lee lying on top of him, both of them trapped under a huge pile of scrolls in the closet.
Lee opened his eyes as well and a deep red blush graced his round face, apparent even in the blackness. "I'm so sorry! It seems that I have repaid your favor from this morning tenfold!" He wiggled around a bit and sighed. "I cannot move. I think the entire bookcase fell on us."
Shino's face began to burn a little as he felt Lee's attempts to struggle free. Looking around to distract himself, the color from his face quickly drained as he looked at the doorknob. "Lee, I'm afraid it gets worse."
Lee looked down at him curiously. "And how could that be?"
"There's a reason the closet had a sign not to close the door all the way. The lock's broken; we're stuck in here until someone finds us."
Lee struggled in vain to turn around, but gave up after a little while and simply took Shino's word for it. "Who manages to break the lock on a door to a closet?" he thought aloud.
Shino gave what little of a shrug he could, but he figured Lee could probably feel it anyway. They were so pressed against each other that he could feel every move Lee made, and Lee was not one to sit still. Ever. Shino tried to shift his thoughts and decided to direct his attention to talking.
"Maybe someone tried to break in," he suggested.
Lee huffed at the idea. "To do what? Steal a scroll on the history of the shuriken?"
Shino smiled a little under his jacket. He didn't really have anything else to talk about, and so they waited in silence for a while. The only thing they could hear was the faint sound of the other ninja's breathing. It was unsettling, and Shino was very uncomfortable. He tried to rearrange his position, but only succeeded in continually brushing up against Lee in all sorts of ways. Shino hadn't ever felt this awkward and embarrassed, especially with his usual antisocial lifestyle. He had never been this physically close to anyone before, never mind this green ball of energy that he barely knew. By the end of today, he would probably know him better than he had ever planned on. He stopped his squirming and gave a sigh of defeat, laying his head back down on the cold, hard floor.
Apparently Lee's neck had become tired, as he also gave a sigh and laid his head down on Shino's chest. He muttered, "We're probably going to be in here a while. I don't hear Iruka anywhere."
"... Yeah," Shino grunted in response.
Lee gave a shrug and said, "Well, I guess there's no point in sitting in here doing nothing. Might as well get to know each other. What's your favorite color?"
The sudden question stunned Shino for a moment. He thought for a few seconds and replied, "Well, green I guess."
Lee raised his head excitedly and was about to speak, but the sudden movement caused some of the scrolls to dislodge and come down on the back of his head, smashing his face onto Shino's, full lip-to-lip contact. Shino's eyes shot open and Lee jolted back. They stared at each other in disbelief for a moment before they heard Iruka calling their names. The room filled with light as the door was pulled off its hinges.
The boys scrambled up awkwardly and turned to face their savior. He was certainly not Iruka, his face mostly covered with a mask and his forehead protector covering the rest other than one eye, and his gray-white hair sticking up at an angle, making him look like a scarecrow. He wore the green vest of a Jounin with a long-sleeved, dark blue shirt underneath, and similarly colored long pants.
The man looked at them and said, "I assume one of you is Lee, and one of you is Shino, yes?" The boys nodded.
Iruka ran up behind the scarecrow. "Kakashi, you found them!"
The one named Kakashi pointed around and said obviously, "Where else could they be? Look at this mess. There are scrolls everywhere."
Shino looked at Iruka and suddenly remembered a question. "Sensei?"
Iruka turned to face Shino. "Yes?"
"How did the lock to that door break?"
Iruka's face turned an interesting shade of red as he glanced at Kakashi for half a second, then darting his eyes in the other direction. "I don't know, it's just kind of always been ... weird ... I guess." He straightened up as he regained his composure. "Well, never mind the door, you two can just go home, you've been stuck here long enough. We'll clean up this mess."
Kakashi looked at him with incredulity. "We?"
Shino decided then was the time to make his exit before he had to look at Lee face-to-face again. As he walked more than briskly home, he tried to ignore the fact that he would have to see Lee again tomorrow. If he was lucky, maybe the hit to the back of the head would make Lee forget everything. Not that Shino ever would, or could. He never figured his first kiss would be with a guy, especially not one who wore a jumpsuit the color of broccoli.