Title: Crisis Reverted: Another Side, Another Story.
Series: Naruto
Rating: T
Genres: Drama, sorta-angst, adventure, romance.
Warnings: Crack, swearing, shounen-ai, shojou-ai, het, time bending.
Verse: Canon Redeux.
DHC: These are all the little random blurbs and chapters that don't fit in Crisis Reverted, but tell the story and development of the rest of the Konoha teams! I hope you all enjoy it.
"Have a good day!" Ino chorused to the woman leaving the shop. She sighed heavily once the door closed and leaned against her elbow on the counter, placing her cheek on her palm in boredom. It was a slow day at the shop, and she'd already done her training with her team, she was just passing time until it came time for group training with the others.
She blew her bang out of her face for a moment before perking up just a little as the door to the shop rang and she put on her best customer-winning smile. "Hello! Welcome to Yamanaka flower shop, can I help-oh!" She stopped herself when she fully looked over to see that the person was Shino.
"Hi, Shino. You here to pick up your family's order?" She asked as she stepped away from the counter and walked around it to fully greet the other.
The Aburame adjusted his sunglasses and shifted in his coat a little, giving a mild nod towards the young woman. "Yes, I also came to drop this off," He produced a jar with some kind of jelly inside of it and handed it to the Yamanaka girl.
"Oh! Yes, yes this is exactly what we've been needing! Thank you, Shino. Let me go give this to dad and I'll get your order!" She exclaimed. Shino nodded and the blond hurried off towards the back room. The male waited patiently and several minutes later she returned, carrying a small pot with some type of plant in it.
"It still surprises me how harmoniously our plants are with the Aburame clan's insects." Ino commented as she handed the plant over to the other. Shino made a quiet sound of thoughtfulness before replying.
"Plants need insects to pollenate them, and insects need the nectar produced by the plant; they coexist because of a common cycle."
Ino nodded. "Yes, I know. But it just seems...so uncanny how well they germinate and grow when in the care of your clan's insects."
"We take care not to let them over-feed, lest they kill the plant, and take care not to let the plant be over-exposed to the elements. Nature must be balanced in order for the highest quality of plant to be produced." Shino replied.
Ino's expression twisted with puzzlement before she gave a nod a long moment later. "Makes sense. I mean you can't just plant a daffodil in any kind of dirt and expect it to grow."
Shino's lips twisted the slightest. "Exactly."
The Aburame turned and began to head for the door. "Thank you, Ino."
"Mhm, no problem." She replied with a slight wave. "Take care."
"You, too." He replied as he left the shop, leaving Ino to once again lean against the counter in boredom.
Three days later found Shino returning to the shop.
"Here to place another order?" Ino asked him.
He shook his head. "No."
"Well, then, what is it?"
He seemed to hesitate, shifting subtly, but Ino caught it. She knew body language; he was nervous. "Hey, it's okay," She assured him with an encouraging smile.
He gave a minute nod and seemed to relax again. "I...require your assistance." He finally murmured.
"Huh? You need my help?" Ino asked, blinking.
The Aburame nodded again, elaborating further. "I've been attempting to expand my abilities and have been attempting to develop a new genjutsu technique."
The Yamanaka's brow raised. "Couldn't you go to Kurenai-sensei?" She asked.
He shook his head. "I asked her already, she said to come to you. The jutsu focuses more on the senses rather than the manipulation of the mind. Your family are experts at manipulating the senses of the body with your jutsu's."
Ino blinked, cocking her head to the side for a long moment, bringing a hand up to think. "Hmm... Okay! I'll help. Let me go tell dad and we can head to the training field." She replied.
Shino nodded. "Thank you."
"Don't sweat it," She chirped before she went to go tell her father she was leaving.
They made their way to the field and Ino stretched out, getting a few pops. "What's the jutsu like?" She asked.
Shino adjusted his sunglasses. "I've developed it to affect the sight, smell, and hearing to disorient the recepient. I can execute the smell and hearing, but not the sight."
Ino thought again. "Well, show me the seals you're using first, then we'll test it."
Nodding, the male brought his hands up and showed the girl the seals without putting chakra into it.
"Interesting..." She muttered. "Okay, I want you to try it on me. The combination looks like it should work, but I need to be in it to actually find out what's wrong."
Shino's brow rose. "You're sure? You may collapse if it actually succeeds..."
She gave him her best smile. "It'll be okay. Besides, I have you to watch over me, right?"
His fingers twitched subtly and he shifted again, which she noticed was nervous again, but he steadied himself again and gave her a nod.
Ino closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, opening them when she exhaled. "Okay, shoot!"
Shino brought his hands together and repeated the seals, this time adding chakra into it.
His insects seemed to swarm from him and created a tornado around her. At first, she was alarmed, thinking he was attacking her, but instead of raising her arms to block, she let the genjutsu take affect. Soon, she could hear loud buzzing noises coming from everywhere it felt like, when she sniffed, all she could smell was pollen. She started vehemently sneezing and she could feel her brain going on overload from the constant buzz. When she looked around, everything was normal. Nothing changed.
She felt herself starting to sway back and forth and quickly brought her hands up into the Kai seal. "Dispel!" She cried.
The genjutsu broke and she staggered for a second, holding her head.
"...Are you alright?" Shino asked, the barest hinting of concern in his voice.
"That's a pretty nasty genjutsu," She breathed. "Just wait'll you complete it. I think I found what you're doing wrong, though."
Shino nodded and allowed her the time to recover. Once she was feeling normal again, she nodded. "You're focusing too much chakra into these seals," She brought her hands up and showed him which ones. "And need to focus a little more on these. It's hard to add just the right amount to each seal sometimes, but it's crucial to achieving the right effect. Shall I demonstrate one of my genjutsu's for an example?"
Shino took her words in for a long moment, before nodding his consent. "Yes," He answered. "It would be beneficial for me to experience a similar affect. I will tell my Kikaichuu to not agitate my chakra so it won't disrupt your jutsu."
Ino nodded. "Alright. I'll only do a minor one; your smell and vision will be affected, you will still be able to hear me."
Nodding, Shino stood there and waited, silently communicating with his kikaichuu before he gave her another nod.
She made a few simple seals and cast the jutsu.
Shino found the world to be spinning for a long moment and when his vision cleared from the blur, he was standing in the middle of a flower-field. "What do you see?" Ino asked.
"Flowers. Quite a few." He replied dryly.
He heard her laugh and felt his own lips twitching in response.
"Now, smell."
He inhaled and a musky, heavily sweet smell assaulted his senses, making him feel dizzy and faint. "What is the smell, Ino-chan?" He asked.
"You're smelling pure, undiluted vanilla. Now, if I wanted, I could fool the senses into believing you inhaled something toxic, perhaps even make you see so and your body would react as if it really happened." Ino explained.
"The placebo effect," Shino deduced.
"Exactly." She agreed.
Shino brought his hands up and broke the genjutsu. "So the key is to focus my chakra evenly to all the seals?"
Ino nodded. "More or less, yeah. You also have to have the vision etched into your head with what you want them to experience."
The Aburame nodded. "I see. Thank you for your assistance, Ino-chan... It has helped me greatly."
Smiling widely, the Yamanaka shook her head. "It's no problem, genjutsu is pretty hard. It really is a wonder how Kurenai-sensei is so good at it."
Shino nodded. "She has very good chakra control."
"That would probably explain it, then." Ino replied, before looking thoughtful for a long moment before snapping back to attention and looked over at the other. "Hey, Shino? I've got a question about your kikaichuu."
Shino's brow arched at her as way of his asking for her to continue.
"...Well, uh," She fumbled for a second. "What does it...feel like? To feel them move inside of your body?"
Shino was silent for a long moment, making a thoughtful sound before shrugging a moment later. "That is hard to describe... When I was smaller, it was fairly ticklish when I was first infused with them and my body was adapting to them. Now, I don't so much feel them as sense where they are."
Ino nodded. "I see." She fell silent for a long while. When she looked up, she noticed a few his kikaichuu landed on her shoulder and were slowly crawling down her arm. "It does kind of tickle on the outside...is that how it felt on the inside?" She asked.
"Kind of. Like an itch you can't quite scratch." He replied.
She brought her finger over and let the kikaichuu craw onto it and lifted it up face-level and stared at it. "It's a beautiful insect, I had always thought bugs and the like were icky and gross, but... Spending time training with you when we were in the forest. I got used to them. I guess I found a new appreciation for them more than just being natural means of making plants grow better."
Shino snorted, the sound coming out amused before he shrugged.
She bit on her lip for a long moment. "Can I...can I feel what it's like? For you?"
"You're not afraid of the pain?" He asked.
She gave him a wry smile. "I'm a big girl. I'm curious and just hearing an answer doesn't satisfy me."
Shino nodded. "Very well."
The kikaichuu on her finger flew back to her arm where the other was. In another moment, the Kikaichuu buried themselves into her skin. She jumped, yelping out in shock.
"Shall I have them stop?" Shino asked.
"N-no. I just wasn't expecting that." She replied with a shake of her head.
She stared as the Kikaichuu finally disappeared into her skin and all that was left was a small, bleeding hole where they'd entered her skin.
"Focus now, they're moving." Shino said.
Ino closed her eyes and after several long moments, she felt the subtlest sensation of tickling, which made her want to scratch, but she refrained. She pushed a little chakra towards the two insects, and felt as they scurried towards that tenketsu. She felt herself smiling when she opened her eyes. "That feels...really weird, but, neat at the same time."
Shino gave her the smallest smiles in response. "Consider them a gift, then."
Her eyes widened and her head snapped over at him. "Huh?"
"You can learn to communicate with them; they will be of value to you when you do. Consider them a gift for helping me." He elaborated with a gesture.
"Oh..." Ino looked at a loss for words for a long moment before she smiled again at him. "Thank you. I will do my best to learn to talk with them."
"We should head to team seven's training field, now. It's about time for group training. Perhaps I will attempt to use that genjutsu on them." Shino suggested.
"Okay, let's go!" Ino agreed. Together, they began to walk towards the next field over.
After training, Shino escorted Ino back to the Yamanaka shop.
"Thanks for walking me back, you didn't have to." She said with a smile.
He shook his head. "It's nothing."
"Still, thanks again!" She replied, reaching over to take the male's hand and gave it a light squeeze in her gesture of thanks before letting go and she bounded inside, boisterously announcing to her father that she was back.
Shino stared for a moment, before he turned, slowly placing his hands into his pockets as he began his walk back to the Aburame compound, the lightest of smiles on his expression.
TBC
DHC: Hope you all enjoyed this. I find this pairing quite interesting, because I think they fit very well together. Well, here's hoping for some positive feedback on my take of the others' stories!