Title: Drowning
Pairing: ShinoHana
Summary:Written for 100 themes 'Drowning' and 55 themes 'Green'
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or it's characters and I don't make any money off of writing fanfiction for it.
Dedicated to: Jyukai-Koudan because I know she loves this pairing and I wrote it to enter in the ShinoHana contest fo her.

It wasn't hard to imagine being swallowed up by him; it was harder to imagine that it wouldn't happen. Shino was unassuming, calm, and cool. All Aburames were; which made them the opposites of Inuzukas. That's just the way it was. She had never really understood why her little brother was best friends with one and had always assumed it was because nobody wanted to put up with him except Shino. When they had been kids, she hadn't given him much thought.Thatwas probably her biggest mistake.

Shino tightened his hold on her and leapt back, the wall of bugs between them and the enemy. Kneeling, he set her down near a tree, shrugged out of his coat, and wrapped it around her. Sweat soaked through his shirt underneath, and the stiff collar of his shirt sagged. His spiky brown hair drooped and stuck to his face where it had come free of his forehead protector. The sunglasses he normally wore were gone, most likely lost somewhere in the fray. He turned his eyes on her, they were nearly black, but when the fading light filtering through the trees hit them, they took on an almost iridescent green color. Shino looked her over for a moment and then stood back up. He turned his back on her and moved his hands, directing the bugs.

Hana was caught by those eyes even after he looked away from her. The cold slipped around her though, even with his coat on, and she slumped against the tree. She held her hand over the gash on her stomach and winced at both the pain and the paleness of it. Her strength was slipping away, and her thoughts drifted from her savior, his unimaginably brilliant eyes, his strength, his everythingshe'd missed when she'd dismissed him as her little brother's friend to her dogs. Her boys. She could still smell them out there even through the rank stench of blood and people, of battle.

Fog slipped around her mind, and she sucked in another painful, deep breath, feeling like it was either gone from her or her chest was too heavy. Her eyes slid closed, and she forced them open again. The only thing she could see was Shino and his kikai. Brief glimpses of the battle beyond their little corner slipped through, and some part of her brain said there were more people around her that she couldn't see. It occurred to her that it was because she could smell them. Hana focused on that, trying to block the pain out by distracting herself. They smelled like him, but not, and she wondered who they were. It was there, somewhere in the back of her mind where she could no longer reach.

She was drowning in this darkness, this fog, and the only thing that held her to it was the pain. It would be easy to let that go, she thought. Her hand slipped off of her stomach, and her eyes slid closed.

"Hana-san."

The pain ripped through her again, and she choked on the cry that slipped from her throat. Something pressed hard against her stomach, and she growled, forcing her eyes open to see who her attacker was and found those same captivating green eyes narrowed in concern.

He tightened the bandage again and scooped her up. "Do not close your eyes again."

"Are you-" She coughed. "-trying to tell an Inuzuka what to do?" Hana laughed and it broke down into a coughing fit, her blood splattering over his coat and shirt.

His lips stretched into a thin smile. "Yes." Tightening his hold on her, Shino leapt from the tree they were in to another.

She winced and bit her lip, trying not to cry out from the pain. Despite knowing she was likely going to bleed out, Hana wanted to laugh. She would have if he hadn't jumped again and sent another searing pain through her midsection. All her strength was draining out of her, and she couldn't even lift her arms to hold on properly so she gripped her hands in his shirt, doing her best to keep her breathing under control and her eyes open.

It seemed to take forever, and Hana didn't know when her eyes closed again. It was when he set her down again that Hana realized she must have closed them because the pain hit her and they flew open with scream she hadn't realized she even had in her.

People talked around her, but the words were garbled and dark fog slipped over her again, dragging her down into oblivion.

"Hana-san."

The name sounded familiar, distant and faded, but familiar. She was warm, though, and tired, and it was dark.

"Hana..."

The voice called again, and she thought she remembered something more, a color... green.

"Your dogs are okay, I thought you should know."

Dogs. She had dogs? It sounded right, and she mentally scraped at the darkness around her, trying to scrabble free of it. Her dogs. Her boys. They were okay. Relief filled her at the knowledge. There was a pause after the words that seemed longer, and Hana fought again to wake up, but failed. Knowing she was asleep didn't make it easier, and the darkness slipped around her again, covering her with it's silence.

"I need to go back. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

Hana felt like screaming. She didn't want to sleep anymore. She wanted to see the green again. His eyes, she remembered, though not who he was. It frustrated her, and she growled, irritated at the fogginess. Taking a breath, she forced her eyes open, wincing when the light hit them. Not wanting to close them and risk falling asleep again, she blinked and ignored the desire to shut them. "Shino..." His name slipped out before she even knew that she remembered it.

Shino stared down at her. His sunglasses were still missing, but he had his coat back on. It was no longer soaked in her blood, but the stains were there.

She grabbed his hand. "Thank you."

He looked down at her hand on his then back to her eyes, a very light blush coloring his cheeks. "You're welcome, Hana-san."

"Hana," she corrected, wondering why she had never, in all the years they'd known each other, done so before.

The pink of his cheeks darkened, and he nodded very slightly but said nothing.

"Stay safe."

Smiling, Shino nodded and squeezed her hand. Letting her hand go, he turned and headed out of the tent.

When it was all over, she wanted to find out more about him and his beautiful green eyes, and all the other things she'd overlooked.