A/N: Okay, I don't feel like doing the funnies at the moment, so I'll just skip to the raw material. One: I don't own Naruto. Two: Why the heck won't anybody do the challenge on my profile? Three: This story was partially inspired by Gomjibar22's "Foxfish" and Chasingyesterday's "The Beauty of Red." Four: I'm insane. Five: No matter how it may seem at first, this is NOT a yaoi fanfic. Just read the ENTIRE chapter and all will be explained. Now then… LET THE INSAN… I mean story, yeah, that's it, story… COMMENCE!
((Bug-speak))
Chapter I: Underneath what's Underneath the Underneath
Naruto Uzumaki looked around the abandoned street nervously. If anybody saw him stalking his crush, he'd be in big trouble. He suddenly tripped and fell, crashing to the ground. How did this happen when he was standing still, you ask?
Shino did it.
Speaking of which, the aforementioned person was looking at him irritatedly.
Shino was stumped trying to figure out the blonde's recent behavior. A few weeks ago, Naruto had disappeared entirely. No signs of a struggle, no clues, no anything. Then, just a week ago, the boy had reappeared, but he'd changed. He had come in, and instead of running in shouting loudly, he'd walked in silently, glancing nervously from side to side. Instead of grabbing the seat next to Sakura and trying to get a date, the boy had walked over to Shino's place silently, then sitting next to the young Aburame. He never spoke a word anymore. Not only that, but recently Naruto had taken to stalking Shino. STALKING! The young Aburame was baffled by the blonde's behavior. So he decided upon the most logical course of action…
Confront Naruto and interrogate him until he spills the beans…
Which was what Shino was doing right now.
"Naruto-san, why are you stalking me?" Naruto just blushed in response.
Shino sighed. "Are you gay or something?" The only response was a calm shake of the head.
Shino raised an eyebrow. "Your actions are obviously signs of a crush. Therefore, the only logical conclusion is that you have an emotional attachment to me. Am I wrong?" Surprisingly, Naruto blushed and shook his head again.
"So you're gay?" Naruto shook his head yet again.
Shino sighed. "I see no other logical conclusion."
Surprisingly, Naruto's only response was to send the Aburame a sly look. A knowing look. Almost as if… Shino's eyes widened.
The young Aburame shouted (yes, SHOUTED) "YOU KNOW ABOUT IT?!?"
Naruto nodded shyly.
Shino stood there, unsure how to react, when suddenly a thought came into the Aburame's head. It was seized upon and expanded on until it became a fully-fledged idea.
Shino asked, with actual EAGERNESS, "Can you take it off?"
Naruto's only response was to stand up and make a release seal. Suddenly the air around Shino's body shimmered, and when it cleared, a beautiful girl (and I'm not just talking about the face) that was about Naruto's age with shoulder-length brown hair and turquoise eyes in midnight blue pants and a black T-shirt had replaced the image of the male Aburame. She then smiled at Naruto, who then did a very good impression of a turtle. The girl walked over to the blonde, saying, "Now, now, I can't thank you if you try to hide in there, so I need you to come on out now, okay?"
Naruto hesitantly brought his head out into the open.
"Now close your eyes." Naruto obediently did so…
Only for them to shoot right back open when he felt her kissing him. The girl formerly known as Shino then broke off from the kiss and smiled sadly.
"My real name is Shina Aburame, and I've loved you for a while now, Naruto-kun. In fact, the reason my father put the genjutsu on me was because he was afraid that if you returned my feelings, the villagers would target me as well as you. However, the chances are my father will forbid us from ever interacting again after they find out about this, so I wanted to be able to do that one time before it happened. Goodbye." (Sappy, I know, but this is the first truly romantic scene I've ever written, so work with me here.) She then turned and began to walk away.
((Wait!)) blurted a voice from behind her. She whirled in shock, thinking only one thing. 'How does Naruto-kun know the insect language?!?'
Naruto looked rather nervous as he said shyly, ((P-please don't go… I… I l-l-l-like you t-too.))
Shina blinked, startled, then smiled. "All right, but you have to tell me how you know the insect language. Deal?"
Naruto hesitated a second, then sighed. ((Fine, but you might want to sit down for this,)) he replied, sitting down himself. Shina complied, snuggling close to him. ((I'll start from the beginning.)) He then proceeded to explain about the Kyuubi. When he finished, he closed his eyes, not wanting to see what she thought of him.
Suddenly he felt Shina hugging him, and he peeked cautiously to see a look of understanding on her face. She said sadly, "I know your pain. I have a bijuu sealed inside me too. You see, every ten generations, the demon responsible for the Aburame bloodline appears. When it does appear, it always gets sealed away in a newborn child." Naruto's eyes widened in understanding. "I'm the Jinchuuriki of the Shichibi no Kabutomushi." Shina finished with a sad smile.
The two hugged each other for a few more minutes before Naruto broke the hug and spoke again. ((As nice as it is to know there's another Jinchuuriki in Konoha, there's more.)) Shina tilted her head in curiosity. ((You see, a few weeks ago, I was drugged and captured by a man with slitted yellow eyes. Jiji told me later on that his name is Orochimaru. After that, it gets a bit fuzzy, but I remember him experimenting on me… he even wounded me so much that Kyuubi fell unconscious for a while… then, the next thing I know, I'm in the hospital, and…)) At this point, Naruto hesitated. ((Maybe it'd just be better if I showed you.)) He then made the release seal for the second time that day.
The air shimmered around him as the genjutsu on him was released. When it cleared, the blonde-haired boy in the jumpsuit was gone, although the whisker marks and basic build were still there. Instead, Naruto had gray skin and dark green hair, and wore a midnight blue tank top and a baggy pair of black pants. That wasn't the bit that caused Shina's jaw to make contact with the ground.
No, it was the red compound eyes and twin antennae on his head that caused that.
Naruto smiled sadly as he spoke. ((Orochimaru fused my DNA with that of several insects. This is what I am now.)) He looked down on the ground. 'She probably think's I'm a freak now. If she liked me before—' "KAWAII!" '—she probably—WAIT, WHAT?!?' His head snapped up just in time for him to receive a flying glomp, courtesy of Shina. 'WHAT THE HELL?!?' He thought, trying to make sense out of what just happened as the young Aburame girl started to make out with him. Seeing the blonde's look of shock, she pulled out of the kiss long enough to say, "I'm an Aburame—what did you expect?"—which, oddly enough, explained a lot—before diving back in.
Meanwhile, back at the Aburame compound, Shibi Aburame smiled under his collar as he watched from a nearby window. 'Excellent. Phase one of Operation Insect is complete, even if it wasn't anywhere close to the way I expected,' thought Minato Namikaze's former teammate.
A/N: Well… That was unexpected… anyways, R&R, and this time I'd REALLY appreciate it if some of you took the challenge in my profile. If you have any questions about either the challenge or one of my fics, feel free to PM me with them.
