Title: Shinophobia and Bug Love. The early bug catches the bird
Summary: Warning: Contains more fluff then a teddy-bear factory.
Shino is instructed by Tsunade to guard a young noblewoman who's just. . . Slightly freaked out by bugs. . . How can that possibly work out? Can Shino cure her? One shot. Shino x OC
Tsunade had curiously called for Shino to come alone to her office one morning at dawn. He was now a newly-appointed Chunin and it was his first time being called alone to the Lady Tsunade's office.
Upon arrival, he was let in by one of the servants and was led to her office,
"Lady Tsunade?" he asked upon entering. The blonde woman muttered a "hnn" from her desk and motioned for him to come nearer,
"I suppose you're wondering why I just asked you to come and not your entire team." Shino grunted in response,
"Well, I'm in need of your special. . . Talents. We have been asked to take care of a fairly unusual yet important task. We have a client that needs to be escorted to the Village Hidden in the Mist. Our client has some very important plans and ideas that need to be delivered intact. The plans are vital to rebuild the torn village. The client is of noble character." Tsunade turned to one of her servants,
"Bring in client 7942." The servant bowed and muttered "Hai" and hurried out of the room to fetch the client. Tsunade turned her attention back to Shino,
"Oh. . . And one more thing. . . The client is. . . Just fairly afraid of bugs. . . So. . . Since there are so many creppy-crawlies--" Shino's eyebrow twitched visibly at the remark "--No offense to your or your little friends of course, but our client's council has asked us to cure her of her--"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Came a high pitched, ear shattering shriek accompanied by a few crashes and some glass breaking.
"No, no-- Mori-sama! Please put that down!! It's okay!! It's only a housefly! No-- wait-- Please put that down!" came the muffled voice of the servant girl followed by another crash.
". . . Fears. . ." Tsunade finished with a sweatdrop.
The screen slid open and the frazzled servant girl practically dragged a young bawling girl into the room. Tsunade sighed exasperatedly,
"Shino, meet Noblewoman Mori Hanna." Tsunade turned to the shaking girl,
"Mori-chan, meet your guardian for the next twenty-four hours or so." The girl sniffed and bowed,
"T-Thank you, Hokage Tsunade-sama. . ." She said quietly. Tsunade nodded,
"Aburame Shino, Mori-chan, you are dismissed." Both adolescents bowed and then were escorted out by another servant girl who in the process of shoving them out in the cold morning air, gave Shino a backpack full of supplies and instructed them to leave before the sun had fully risen so if the traveled the entire day, they could reach the Mist village by nightfall.
The pair walked along to the outer gate of Konoha and the Noblewoman threw her head back to look up at the sky. The sun was only just rising then and pink and purple streaked across the sky and the colors were scattered by fluffy white clouds,
"Beautiful," the girl breathed. Shino grunted and she turned to him,
"You don't talk much, do you?"
"I apologize, Mori-sama--"
"NO!" The petite girl shouted suddenly. Shino had struck an anime pose.
"What?" he almost hissed. The girl pouted,
"My name is Hanna. Not Mori-sama!" Shino cleared his throat,
"Yes, Hanna-sama." he said, inwardly laughing (No way! He laughs!?!?!) at the girl's face.
After an awkward moment of silence, Shino motioned to a tree,
"Shall we?"
6 hours later
"Aburame-chan! Aburame-chan! Shino-san! Shino! Blast it, Shino, stop!" Shino halted, mid leap on a branch and turned to the worn out girl.
"Could we. . ." She paused, laid her hand on her chest and panted for a few seconds, "Could we maybe stop for lunch. . . Just for a little while?" Shino grunted and sat down with his back against the tree trunk and his legs out in front of him on the thick branch. He watched the girl as she set her backpack down on the branch and started to rummage through it. He studied her closely for the first time. She had shoulder length red hair that curled up at the end and bangs that framed her face. The Noblewoman had vivid green eyes and barely freckled pale skin. Her lips reminded him of cherry pie for some reason and he twitched as he could hear his stomach growl.
The Noblewoman snickered with her back still turned to him. She was wearing a bright, knee emerald dress with a high collar and split on either side of her hips and ran down to her knees. Underneath she wore darker green shorts. In her hair, behind her bangs, she wore a green Mist headband.
". . .ame-chan? Aburame- chan?" His brought his gaze to her face,
"Hmmn?" the Noblewoman smiled,
"Would you like some lunch, Aburame-chan?"
For a moment, Shino actually wanted to say yes. There was something, other than the thought of having food that made him want to accept it. The way she smiled, the way she said his name, even the way she held the food made the meal much more inviting then the nutrition did. He swallowed hard and silenced his stomach,
"You don't need to give me any food. I can go without eating for much more than 24 hours. It's unnecessary-- really." he said in his wispy voice. Hanna sat down beside him and held out the food again,
"But I want you to have some! I can't have my ninja protector dying of hunger on me! Besides, I packed enough food for the both of us." She waved the bag back and forth in front of the spiky-haired brunette's sunglasses and smiled another bright smile,
"Please take it. No--No, wait! As your superior, I order you to. . . to take it!!" Shino gave her a 'you're crazy' look from behind his shades,
"Yes, Noblewoman Mori-sama." he said as he reached out for the food. Hanna snapped her wrist back so Shino's hand was left gripping thin air,
"I said, my name is Hanna!" she said, pouting.
"Hai, Hanna-sama. May I just have the food, please?" he asked, irritated. Hannah grinned,
"Sure" she said as she placed the bag in his hand. Then, Hanna went about eating her own food.
They sat there in silence for a few moments. Shino usually felt quite comfortable in the silence, heck, this was the guy who hardly ever spoke three words unless needed. What did this girl do in the few moments they had spoken to make him trust her so-- was it some sort of Genjutsu or something--
"S--Shino-san-- Shi-Sh-!" Shino's eyes wandered up to Hanna. Her face was petrified with fear and tears threatened to fall from her long, dark lashes. Her whole body was shaking. Shino raised an eyebrow as he scanned the scenery. There was nothing threatening in sight, there was no pointy object sticking out from the Noblewoman's body and everything was calm.
"What?" He asked as he took a bite of the ramen that Hanna had brought. He followed her eyes as she glanced down at her whitened hands. He stared for a moment and then caught the long legs and the black body of a black widow spider.
"Stay still," he instructed. Hanna closed her eyes for a moment and the tears that were held there dripped freely down her face,
"I think I'm going to faint. . ." she whispered.
"Look at me." he said sharply. She raised her eyes to his face and froze as a small hole opened up in his skin and small black beetles began to crawl out. Her eyes grew wide as the bugs skittered down Shino's face and clothing until they were on the expanse of the branch between them.
"Don't move" he said again as the little bugs began crawling up her clothing to her hand. He could hear her whimper as she closed her eyes once again.
"Look." Shino instructed. Hanna reluctantly lifted her eyelids as the tiny beetles attacked the large spider and obliterated it within seconds. Tears freely flowed down her face.
"Meet my friends." Shino said as he raised his hand. The little bugs skitter-scattered to his forefinger. Hanna stared at his hand,
"H-h-he-hello. . ." she said slowly. The bugs made a kind of screeching noise and then burrowed back into Shino's skin. Shino leaned back up against the tree,
"Scared, Hanna-sama?" he asked dully. Hannah was awestruck for a moment,
"They. . . They live inside you?" Shino grunted.
"All the time?" she asked, her brilliant eyes growing larger.
"Yes." Shino said, trying to avoid her gaze.
"And they're. . . Nice?" she asked sheepishly. Shino raised an eyebrow. That was a first-- a person inquiring if his bugs were-- were nice.
"To whom I wish." Shino said simply as he took another bit of ramen.
There was a bit of a silence as Shino continued eating his lunch and Hanna stared at him,
"Is there anything else I should know, Bugs?" Shino thought for a moment,
"My name is Shino Aburame. I'm a Chunin from Konoha. And. . . That's about it." the redhead smiled,
"I doubt that." she said as she bit into her food.