Uncovered

Many mysteries surrounded Aburame Shino. Not even his teammates for over a decade felt like they knew him. For one thing, they never got to see his eyes. Shino never let them and Kiba's attempts to find out, while the bugman was asleep, all failed. Although by undoing him from his shades, they could see his eyelids were a little bulged, so at least they knew he didn't have empty eye-sockets. But the moment the Inuzuka tried to open his eyes the bugs would crawl up to him to fend of the unwanted. Yet Kiba was eager to succeed, someway or the other.

When Shino started dating his older sister Hana, he saw his chance. He tried to draw information out of her, but it was all fruitless;

"If Shino doesn't want you to know, who am I to tell you?"

"But why doesn't he show me, or at least tell me?! I'm his best friend and future brother-in-law!"

"It's just his way to tease you"

Kiba became more eager to find out the truth about Shino's eyes, than he already was.

Almost a year after the marriage of the two lovers, Aburame Shikon was born. Inuzuka Kiba, proud uncle and godfather, was a frequent visitor of the baby. The little one looked a lot like his father, but was still bugfree. He also lacked the shades. And that's when a broad smile appeared on the face of the feral man.

"Shino! I uncovered your secret!"

"…" The bugman stared at him, trying to figure out what his friend was talking about. "What secret?"

"Of what you've been hiding under your shades!" Kiba said pointing at his nephew, "He got blue eyes, but Hana has dark-brown ones, so he must have yours! Your eyes are blue, right?"

For a moment there was a silence, apart from the baby noises that came from Shikon.

"Kiba, most infants of Caucasian decent are born with blue eyes, no matter the eye-colour of the parents." Shino replied.

Kiba watched the young father with a raised eyebrow and then moved his eyes till he met his sisters.

Hana nodded. "He speaks the truth."

This answer didn't satisfy the younger Inuzuka and he kept staring at the elder.

She sighed before answering. "A baby's eyes lack melanin in the stroma—much like blue-eyed people. Special stroma cells, called melanocytes, make melanin as the baby ages. The amount and the distribution of melanin stored in these cells account for iris color. In other words, newborns have blue eyes, but the eye-colour can change when the child gets older."

Kiba listened with open mouth to the flood of words of which he only understood the half. But his sister was a veterinarian, an excellent and respected medic, so she would know, right?

"Aw and I thought I finally uncovered Shino."

Later that evening

"Shikon's asleep. The Haimaru triplets are with him and I left some of my bugs, so he will be fine" Shino said as he undressed himself and stepped into the bed his wife already occupied. "How are you feeling now?"

"I'm all right," Hana smiled. "But poor Kiba, he thought he finally caught you"

"It was a narrow escape, but I didn't lie, I never do. It's true that babies.."

"Shino," Hana said holding her finger to his lips, "I know."

She moved her finger up to his shades and pushed it of. She moved her head closer and took one last look into his bright blue eyes before she kissed him.

A/N: Woohoo! I finally got inspiration! I'm quite sure in Narutoverse Kiba already knows what Shino's hiding under his shades. But I don't care. I think the theory of Shino's empty eye sockets is very plausible, but I didn't use it in this story.

The thing about infants and blue eyes is true and Hana's quote is taken from wonderquest. Though I doubt if babies in the world of manga and anime have the looks according to reallife-genetics. :p And I do know about recessive and dominant genes, but I tried to keep it simple :)

One of the meanings of Shikon is root of a tooth/fang. So his name is a continuation of the Aburame (Shi…), as well as the Inuzuka (body parts), naming tradition. :-)