Ch.1 An Accident

A five year old Ino yawned as the sun slowly began to rise from its slumber. Her short blonde hair fell in disarray around her face as she grinned, her small body trembling in excitement. It wasn't the first time she had snuck out of the house at the crack of dawn, but it still gave her that adventurous thrill every time.

Running as quietly as her little legs allowed, she grinned happily as she snuck through Konoha's civilian district. A few venders lined the streets here and there, but most of Konoha was still sound asleep, much to the child's relief. Ino could never understand why so many people hated getting up in the morning; she loved the wide empty space, free of the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

To her, the adventures always started at the crack of dawn, and ended as soon as her father got out of bed. The wide vast meadows full of life and excitement had a mysterious aura that the little girl couldn't resist. The soft sway of the flowers, the sweet rhythmic hum of the butterflies, all of which seemed to disappear the moment the rest of Konoha awoke from its slumber. So here she was, sneaking through the quiet streets at 1 o'clock in the morning.

Most children would have gotten lost weaving through the vast maze of buildings, but after relentless hours of exploration she knew the village paths like the back of her hand. Her small feet tapped lightly along the path as she ran, her small form trembled with giddy anticipation as she approached the giant forest that surrounded her hidden village. It was this wall of trees that separated her normal everyday life and the adventures that called her.

Ino look out at the broad woods of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The tall ancient trees gave off an air of wisdom that she yearned to understand, and the soft quiet wind told stories of old that called to her in ways that she could not resist.

The little girl happily pranced about the forest as she made her way through the trees. In this magical forest, she doesn't have to worry about her aunt's disappointed looks, or getting mud on her clothes and messing up her hair. In this magical place, full of mystery and wonder, she only has to worry about the height of the sun.

Or so she thought.

If the young girl was more observant, she would have noticed that her beautiful forest, full of light and life, felt different from usual. The flowers that would always dance and smile at her presence were oddly still and void of emotion. The bugs and butterflies that usually filled the air with their lovely colors had disappeared, leaving an uncomfortable and empty feeling in the air. The wind and its gentle songs were oddly silent, even the trees seem to have turned to stone.

The once peaceful and happy place now carried an ominous aura. But Ino easily overlooked these changes and turned her focus to more important matters, such as finding some flowers to bring back home. The valley was full of her father's favorite flowers: bright purple tulips!

As Ino continued her flower hunting, a small dark purple insect flew across her path wavering to and fro in a seemingly random direction.

How odd, she had never seen that bug before. Ino had long since thought she knew all the insects in this wood, how had this one managed to escape her notice? Is it lost she wondered, it looked like it knew where it was going. Curious, the little girl put down her flowers and followed the little thing. Making sure to keep her distance, Ino went after the little thing, and it wasn't long before they reached its destination.

At first she wasn't sure what she was looking at, but whatever it was, it smelled awful. After a few moments of childish hesitation, Ino slowly approached the smelly thing.

To say she was surprised was an understatement.

A man, no more than her father's age, was lying face down on the forest floor. A large jacket hid most of the man's features, and what parts of him she could see were deathly pale. Only the Hitia-ate on the sleeve of his jacket gave any indication of what he was.

But why on earth was he sleeping in a place like this? The little girl stared at the man, as if her eyes alone could will him into waking up. Unfortunately, Ino was no Uchiha, so after a few more moments of contemplation (and staring); Ino decided that the best thing to do would be to wake the man up. It was only polite after all, even if he did look a bit scary (and smelled really bad).

But a couple of nudges and gentle taps later the man was still nowhere near consciousness, and Ino was beginning to worry that he wasn't just taking a nap. Why wouldn't he wake up?

"Hello?" She asked in a small, lightly pitched voice.

"Are you alright mister?" She tried again, but silence was her only answer and that awful stench was beginning to make her sick.

It was then that she noticed it: a gentle red that seemed to outline the man's form. It was sticky, it smelled weird. It was blood.

This was not good. This man needed help.

Now.

With a determined expression too cute to actually be taken seriously, Ino began to shake his shoulders once more. She had to wake him up, he needed help and there was no way she could carry him back to the village and definitely now way she would be able to find her way back. He still wasn't moving and she desperately began to shake the man harder and harder.

It was an accident. She didn't mean to do it, didn't even realize she did it, but in her panicked desperation to help the man, she unconsciously shoved a small amount of her own chakra into him.

She didn't notice, but something else did.

One by one, tiny black insects came out of the man's coat, and it was only when one of them landed on her arm that she noticed. It was the same one that she had seen earlier; the one that had led her to the man. She had completely forgotten about it. The little thing stared at her for a good while before it seemed to come to a decision. It waved its little antenna's at her in greeting, and proceeded to sick its fangs into her.

Ino stared at the bleeding whole in her arm, her mind unable to understand what had just occurred, but the sudden excruciating pain quickly replaced her shock. Her arm burned as if it was on fire, the tingling feeling under her skin slowly began to spread making the burning feeling even worse. The sudden pain in her legs made her look away from her arm, only to see that more of the tiny insects had landed on her. And slowly they to only left behind burning red dots.

She stared at the bloody dots on her legs with terror and did what any normal child would have done long ago. She screamed. Running away as fast as her small, pain filled legs could take her.

Another dot on her arm, another on her face, more on her legs, her back, her stomach, all followed by the same excruciating, mind numbing pain, and the world started to fade away.

XxX

Five minutes. All it took was five minutes of slacking off for something to go wrong. Why did it always have to be her? Why couldn't anyone give her a break? Shoko Nara dozed off for five minutes and there's already a commotion. Damn her karma.

The shadow ninja sped through the trees towards the scream she had heard less than a moment ago. Combined with that major chakra spike that just so happened to come from the same direction, she knew something was going on. The lazy Nara just hoped she wasn't too late.

And that her backup arrived soon.

When she finally reached the clearing, the ninja quickly wished she hadn't. Insect corpses were spewed about everywhere, and from what she could tell, it looked like they were attacking each other.

At least, that what she told herself it looked like, because the alternative was not something she wanted to think about.

'Well, this is disturbing…" she muttered to herself as she took in the carnage.

Her eyes slowly wondered over the rest of the area, her eyes quickly scanning the field for any signs of struggle. But to her further confusion, aside from the insects, the only thing she could see was a corpse and small signs of blood scattered across the seemingly innocent field.

Within seconds Shoko dropped down beside the corpse. An Aburame from the looks of him, but what on earth was he doing here? She had seen him before, Shiki Aburame if she remembered correctly. He was supposed to be on a mission. So why was he here? He was covered in sweat and open wounds, with small holes littered about his prone form, creating a small halo of blood.

From what she could see, all the signs pointed to poison. There was no way those cuts could have killed him. But why the insect massacre? Did he order them to attack each other? No, she may not have known him well, by Shoko knew he loved his bugs too much to do something like this to them…

Another form silently landed next to the Nara kunoichi, a mix of worry and confusion on his face.

"Did you find anything else?" She asked the newcomer quietly, hoping that her partner had somehow managed to find something that made sense.

"Yeah... A kid, covered in insect bites, the Yamanaka heiress if I'm not mistaken. Inoki is taking her to the hospital as we speak, and Izumi and Kotetsu are on their way." He said in a grave but equally quiet voice.

Shoko lifted an eyebrow at that. What's the clan head's child doing out in the forest? She slowly let out a long soft sigh. Why did this have to happen on her watch?

"Alright, you stay here and wait for them, check and see if there's anything else you can dig up. I need to make a visit." She final said, resigned to her fate.

She liked the Aburame's. She really did. But sometimes, it was really hard to deal with them. In fact, Shiki was probably one of the easiest guys to talk to, and know she had to go and deliver the news. Yep, not looking forward to it.

Then there was the girl, too be honest Shoko didn't really want to trade places with Inoki either. Having your clan leader demanding why their child is dying on your watch isn't something anyone would volunteer for.

Aburame clan it is then.

"Good luck" was her partner's cheeky response.

His expression already telling her he knew what was going through her head. He knew exactly what she was about to go through, and was all too happy to stay behind and let her deal with it all. Traitor. Giving the Akamichi a wry grin, Shoko shrugged her shoulders and leapt into the trees, and began to make her way to back to the village.

The trees eventually gave way, and Shoko easily jumped over the great walls of Konoha, slowly making her way to the Western side. The sun was still young, and Konoha was just beginning to come to life. Venders were setting up their shops, mothers out shopping for groceries before the lunch crowd, all of them smiling and ready for another day.

Such a beautiful day, and it was already coated with death. Shoko slowed her pace as she grew closer to the Aburame clan grounds.

Bamboo walls lined the entire perimeter. Their dark undecorated wood was only broken up by the bamboo door that seemed to always be shut no matter the time of day. Now, the bamboo walls looked more intimidating as ever, almost as if they knew why she was here.

Which was entirely possible.

Shoko must have stood there for a good 10 minutes before the large bamboo gate finally acknowledged her presence and the eyes of Shibi Aburame stared down at her through tinted glasses, along with a few other members of his clan.

"Good morning Nara-san, is there something you need?" the clan head spoke, his passive voice held the slightest hint of agitation. She was probably interrupting something. Wonderful.

"Well… you see Aburame-sama…"

XxX

Word count: 2,415

Updated: 1/24/17

Hey guys!

So in case any of you are wondering, yes, this is going to be a ShinoxIno fanfiction. I'm assuming that's why you're reading this to begin with.

I'm going to try to go slow with this story, I want it to be a slow burn, but at certain points I might just go ahead and skip a year or so, just because I have no idea how to fill the gap. There may be other perspectives here and there (like with Shoko), but this story is mostly going to be Ino centric as far as I can tell.

I always hated the way Ino was treated throughout the anime, for no reason what so ever. She's a clan heiress for crying out loud, and a (secondary) apprentice to Tsunade! Yet she is always portrayed as being the weakest link. She lost he concentration while sealing the Sanbi (which is ridiculous because her clan technique's soul requirement is mental focus and fortitude), she seems to have no chakra reserves at all, and she is always the first one to stumble or be incapacitated in a fight, not to mention for some reason her medical skills always seem to be mediocre at best.

I'm just saying that's a little harsh (and unrealistic), so these insects are gonna play a huge role when it comes to her own abilities, and make those faults just a little more realistic.

WARNING: my motivation for writing is very sporadic, if you want this story updated, then review it. Otherwise you might be waiting a very long time.

The concept for this was inspired by Krizzlybear's fic "Perspective" which I highly recommend!