I see him everyday.

I see him walking down the hall, walking hand in hand with his girlfriend. They look so happy. I've even seen him smile occasionally. She's bubbly, blonde, pretty, and everything a guy could ever want.

People used to see him as a freak, or a weirdo. But not me. And apparently, she didn't either, which now makes him cool, because she's the most popular girl in our whole high school. Even more so than Sakura.

And she's going out with him.

Yumi is going out with Shino.

And it's breaking my heart.

Our eyes locked. I could see through his dark, round glasses circling his eyes, and he saw through my thick-rimmed ones. It was as if for a moment, time seemed to stop, and it was just him and I.

But time started again much too soon.

He passed me by, and I looked at the ground. I stopped right in the middle of the hallway, forcing everyone to walk around me, serving as a road block.

Just one look and I felt as if he could see right through me. Like even if I smiled and said everything was okay, he would know that there was something wrong. Like he could understand anything and everything if someone were to tell him. Like he knew I was hiding something.

I looked back up from the ground, and started walking down the cold, dark hallway.

"Hello, class!" our teacher, Mr. Maito, said. "Today, I am assigning you each a project."

Everyone groaned. Except for me. I happened to like art class. I was actually kind of good at it, too.

"Since this semester is almost over, I'm having you each paint a portrait of someone. Someone significant to you. It doesn't matter who, as long as this person means something to you. The portrait is due in two weeks. I'll pass out the rubrics."

As Mr. Maito ordered Kiba to pass out the rubrics, I thought about who I would sketch. Mom? No, she loves me, but she's definitely not the most important…Dad? No, he died when I was five—I don't even remember what he looks like.

I decided to just paint, and not know who I was painting until I was finished. Now I now that you're thinking: how is that even possible? How can you paint, and not stop to look at who it is? Well, my answer to you is simple: When I paint, it's like... I'm free. Like I can do whatever I want and not have to be caged in a cell, being forced to do as I was told. Even the rubrics aren't that constricting. But most importantly, when I paint, I can paint for hours, not knowing what I'm doing until I'm finished.

It's kind of cool, in a way, though a bit hard to explain. I suppose it's just one of the things that make me an outcast in our school—I've always been one of the "weirdoes", so to speak, and this small aspect of myself made me fall merely deeper in to the pits of the dark abyss I liked to call "geeks".

I glanced up at Kiba, who was passing out the rubrics and said a quiet "thank you". He smirked down at me with a look that practically screamed, "You loser," and handed me the paper. Though his look did cause me to feel a bit downcast, I tried not to let it get to me. I seized the paper, and looked it over with a wry smile on my face. It was almost too easy to follow.

Briiiiiiiiing!

The bell rang, and everyone made their way out the door. I was the last one, but stopped right before leaving the classroom.

"Kohana," I heard Mr. Maito call from his desk. I turned back around to see him looking at me.

"Yes?" I answered.

"I'm looking forward to your piece. Don't disappoint me."

I laughed silently, knowing he was joking. He always did this when we had a piece to turn in. He actually liked my work, and I always got A's.

"I won't," I replied. With that, I walked out the door of the class, and out into the hectic hallway.

It would happen everyday. We looked at each other everyday. Whether it was in the hallway, during lunch, or in the middle of class, we made eye contact. Shino and I. It always made me happy, knowing that he acknowledged my presence, letting me know that he knew I was there. Of course, we did this from a distance, but I didn't mind.

But that day was different.

I got in line for lunch. I sighed and looked at my watch; it had been three minutes, and the line hadn't moved yet. I glanced around the room, at nothing in particular. Until I looked behind me.

I bet you'll never guess who was behind me. You might have a hunch, and you're probably right. So I guess I lied. You can guess all you want. And you'll be correct. But I'm not going to give you the time to do that because I'm going to tell you right now.

Behind me was Aburame Shino.

He stared at me silently, and I stared back in just as quiet of a manner as he.

"Hi," I said, feeling a bit ill at ease beginning the conversation.

"Hi," he said back.

And then there was an uncomfortable silence. I had absolutely no clue what to say and I don't think he did either. But, I suppose I was wrong (as I nearly always was), because then he spoke.

"Why do you always stare at me?"

And it was at that moment that my face just magically turned into a tomato. A very red tomato. The reddest tomato you've ever seen. Note the sarcasm. What I'm saying is that my face was red. There. Now you get it.

"I-I don't know..." I trailed off, mentally slapping myself in the face for stuttering like that in front of him.

"Do you think I'm that weird?" he asked in that deep voice of his.

"N-No, I d-" He cut me off.

"Never mind," he interjected, "I don't care." He looked into a different direction.

I turned back around in the line, and simply waited for the line to move.

"Do you want to come to the party?" Yumi asked.

I stood in shock. Yumi was inviting me to her birthday party? I had never been invited before. It was the biggest party of the year! Even bigger than Prom. Or Homecoming.

But I hated her. I hated her guts. With a passion. She was the reason that Shino wasn't single. And I hated it.

Still, Shino would be at the party.

I sighed, taking the invitation. "Yeah, sure. Thanks."

Completely lying through my teeth.

"Okay, the party's tomorrow." She grinned, and walked away with her god-complex personality and an extra hop in her step. I imitated her as she walked away; smiling and extremely perky. I got weird looks from everyone, but it's not like I cared. Looks like the ones I received were caught daily from someone like me, so I was used to it. I just smiled and walked away.

Of course, I would have walked away. But I just had to bump into someone on the way, didn't I?

I backed up and looked into the eyes of the person I had bumped into. Once again, you'll never in a million years guess who it was.

Aburame Shino.

Just how cliché is that? Yeah, I know.

"Sorry," I said in a hushed tone, and walked away quickly. I could feel his eyes burning holes in my skull as I walked down the cold hallway, but I tried ignoring it. However, this was a fairly difficult task to manage, so I settled for merely placing the thought in the back of my mind and waiting to think of how completely embarrassing it was at a later time.

As I stepped through the door, I could smell the scent of hot bodies and smoke throughout the whole house. I was at the party, and I immediately wished I had stayed home. I didn't belong here. Not at all.

People stared at me, giving me bizarre looks as I stepped into the house. I walked down the hallway, keeping my gaze to the floor, trying to become as invisible as was humanly possible.

Unfortunately that didn't work, seeing as how ten seconds after I walked through the door, I heard my name being called from behind me.

"Kohana."

I turned around to see...

Yes, I know this is going to sound like the most stupid thing you've ever heard, but it's the truth.

I turned around to see none other than Aburame Shino.

"Shino?"

"I didn't know Yumi invited you."

I blushed a slight shade of pink. "Yeah, I was kind of surprised, too-"

He cut me off. "I'm not surprised. I just didn't know."

I looked at the ground. "Oh."

"Have you seen Yumi?" he asked, changing the subject.

"No," I replied. "I'll keep an eye out for her, though."

"Alright. I'll see you later," he said, and walked off. He seemed to be in a kind of... pxssed off mood. I didn't know why. But I decided to go look for Yumi.

I trudged up the stairs. I knocked on the doors of the rooms on the second floor, but didn't see her. I only saw couples making out. There was only one more door for me to check, and I had a gut feeling that she was in there.

I walked up to the door, knocked on it, but no one answered. I only heard fumbling around on the inside. Raising an eyebrow, I opened the door to find two figures extremely close together.

"Yumi?" I asked shakily, silently praying that it wasn't her.

"Y-Yeah?" she answered, her voice seeming a bit out of breath. I took a quavering hand and raised it up the wall. With my index finger, I flipped on the light switch. And what I saw made my vision go blurry. I could feel tears clouding my eyes and forcing my entire body to go numb.

I saw Yumi in Sasuke's arms.

I gaped at the two of them in sheer horror. Yumi looked up at me with eyes filled with trepidation and secrecy.

"Don't tell him," she immediately said, her big blue eyes crystalline and frightful of her secret and its possible exposure.

It took all of my strength to keep from breaking down right there. Not because of me. Not because of my feelings. No. It was because I knew that even if I didn't tell him, he would find out sooner or later. He would be heart-broken.

And that would break my heart.

I gave her the dirtiest, most hateful look I could, and ran out of the room. I ran down the steps of the second floor, and towards the front door.

But I ran into someone. Again.

I looked up to see Shino. Wow, doesn't he just pop up everywhere?

He looked astonished. Probably because of the steady flow of tears running down my flushed cheeks. A worried expression flew across his face, but was gone in an instant.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice deep and nervous.

I just pushed past him, and continued running. Suddenly, I felt a hand grab my wrist. I was jerked backwards, and looked back to see Shino. Again.

"What?" I choked out.

"What is wrong with you?!" he shouted.

It was then that I just stopped moving, and fell—my knees gave way from beneath me, and I felt the numbness from before washing over me like a wave. I expected to feel the cold ground, but it never came. I felt someone holding me. Someone caught me.

Shino caught me.

He brought me close, and held me to his chest. I just cried silently. He wrapped his arms around my waist, not exactly knowing what to do. He didn't even know me that well, and yet he was comforting me in a loving, almost compassionate way. And as I cried, I couldn't help but feel the biggest rush of infatuation in my entire life.

'He has no idea... No idea...' I thought to myself.

As soon as the tears had come to a halt, he pulled me away from his soaked jacket and looked into my bloodshot eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

I sighed sadly, and slowly pointed up the stairs.

"It's Yumi."

He'd gone silent.

He never spoke anymore. He used to speak rarely, but at least he spoke. Not anymore. Now, all he did was sulk, and keep himself away from everyone.

It was tearing my heart apart. Slowly, painfully.

Until one day I couldn't take it anymore.

It was at the end of the day. I had walked down the hallway to my locker, and saw him, walking with his head down. I could tell he was in a depressed state.

I decided to take a detour from going to my locker, and walked up to Shino. He stopped dead in his tracks. He looked down at me, and asked, "What?"

"Shino, I have to tell you some-"

He cut me off. He liked doing that, I found out.

"I don't want to hear it," he said in a monotone.

This angered me. "Shino, I know that you are still mad, but—"

He cut me off again. "I don't care."

I was now at my boiling point. "Shino! I can't stand seeing you like this! I want you to go back to how you were before! That's the side I fell in love with!" I shouted.

There was a very awkward silence. And then it sunk in what I had just said shouted. My face had to be redder than it had ever been in my entire life. I could not believe I had spilled the secret I'd been keeping my whole life.

"I have to go," I whispered. But as I turned around to leave, Shino grabbed my wrist. Just like that night a week ago.

I turned around slowly. "I'm sorr-"

I was cut off one last time by Aburame Shino. But not by his words: it was by his lips.

Aburame Shino was kissing me.

As we broke apart, I looked up into his eyes with a flabbergasted expression. He just smiled, which surprised me even more.

Click!

I snapped a picture of his face at that moment in to my brain. It was the happiest I'd ever seen him. I could feel my heart being pieced back together.

I smiled, and hugged him. He hugged back. People were staring at us with surprised expressions, but we didn't care. We just stayed in that position for a few minutes, until I heard the words I'd been wanting to hear my whole life.

"I love you, too."

"Kohana," I heard a voice from behind me call.

I turned around to see Mr. Maito, smiling at me with a knowing look on his face.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I like your portrait."

I smiled. "Thanks. I like it, too."

"All right, you can go now. I won't keep him waiting," he said after a moment. I could tell that he was talking about Shino.

"Thank you, Mr. Maito," I replied.

"You're welcome."

With that, I ran off down the hallway, running to catch up with my new boyfriend, Aburame Shino.

Now, one last time before I finish this, I'm going to ask you a question: Who do you think I painted? For the portrait project? You probably know already, but just in case you don't, I suppose I'll tell you.

For my project, I painted the most important person in my life.

And that person is Aburame Shino.