SPOILERS: Through Naruto chapter 69 and/or Naruto episode 40.

NOTES: Throughout the series, there have been multiple little Shino moments, where he gets overlooked by a friend or enemy and is upset by it. So I can't help thinking he appreciates when people acknowledge him. After reading a couple of KibaHina stories that covered the first time they met, this idea came to mind and insisted on being written.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto.

ACCEPTANCE

His father had told him others might not be comfortable with what he was, what made him special. The kids at the Academy usually kept their distance from him. Perhaps a few of them knew from their parents what it meant to be an Aburame, but he'd never overheard anyone say anything. Neither did they give him the strange looks some of the other, more unique students received. So he couldn't help believing it was some collective sixth sense at work—that they knew intuitively he was different and unconsciously avoided him. Then again, some had other senses to rely on...

During the very first recess, a boy with a dog approached him and, without any sense of propriety or personal boundaries, sniffed him, up close, pointy nose inches from his chest, the dog's inches from his leg. During roll call he had decided it would be easy to remember the boy's name—with fang tattoos on his face and a dog on his head, Kiba Inuzuka was almost more of a description than a name.

"Hey, tall kid."

He hadn't realized he was tall for his age until he'd started going to the Academy. "Shino," he corrected.

Coming from a clan in which everyone wore dark or reflective glasses that covered their eyes, Shino had just started learning to interpret other people's comparatively exaggerated facial expressions, and the boy's unusual, sharp features made them even harder to read. But it seemed there was no malice in the boy or his dog, just curiosity. "Hey, Shino. Why do you smell like bugs?"

Torn between concern that his secret had been revealed and relief that the boy didn't seem uncomfortable about the issue, he answered honestly and simply. "Why? Because I am an Aburame."

That seemed to confuse the boy. Then the dog barked and the boy shrugged. "Anyway, do you want to play tag?" He pointed to a group of others nearby. "We could use another person."

As the only child of his clan, Shino was used to solitary pursuits, and he had just sensed a rare moth about to emerge from its cocoon in a nearby tree. "No, thank you." Given that bugs lived beneath his skin, the prospect of a game involving touch had never appealed to him.

"Okay, maybe later then..."

After a few more attempts over the course of that first month, the boy and his dog had quit trying to get him involved in group activities, but Kiba Inuzuka had always offered a friendly, "Hey, Shino," when they passed in the halls or on the way to or from the Academy. He found it pleasant to be acknowledged without requiring the more involved interaction he had witnessed among his classmates.

Although he was always aware of his fellow students, he largely ignored them and they him. He would observe their day-to-day behavior with the same scientific detachment as he did the activities of various insects, interested in understanding why others acted as they did without being invested in the outcome. It was usually fairly academic, figuring out motivations and emotional chains of events of other students. Then he literally ran into Hinata Hyūga.

During recess, he was following the progression of a stag beetle around the trunk of a tree and bumped into her. It startled him because he was usually more aware of his surroundings, but she had been sitting so still, reading a book among the irises at the foot of the tree, that he hadn't noticed her.

"Pardon me."

"I-it's okay." Her expression seemed embarrassed, but that was a regular state for her. Like him, she was different, with eyes such a pale lavender they were almost white. Her clan was also martially and politically powerful, which made her the focus of strange looks and biting comments from the pettier members of their class. Unlike Sasuke Uchiha, another classmate from a high-ranked clan who responded to others with confident arrogance, this girl apparently felt the sting of every social barb. Shino had yet to figure her out, though he had deduced her quiet nature was primarily due to her speech impediment. "I-it was an a-accident."

"Indeed." He, of all people, respected the space of others, so even though he wanted to continue watching the beetle, he decided to pursue other insects elsewhere. "I'll leave you be." He turned to go.

"Sh-shino?"

Although he knew the name of everyone in his class, whenever they had to form groups for projects, it was rare the others knew his. He had seen her observe the rest much as he did, so he was not surprised she knew his name. It was merely an interesting detail.

He turned back to her. "Yes?"

She stood and dusted off her pants with her free hand. "You were watching the s-stag beetle, weren't you?"

"Yes."

His father had taught him about the other clans, but it had never occurred to him how the Hyūga's Bloodline Limit might impact him personally. With her back to the tree, there was no way she could have know what he had been doing unless she had used Byakugan, her family's special vision. While he largely didn't care what others thought of him, knowing he had a secret gave him extra confidence. The prospect that she knew, that she had seen what lay beneath his skin, sent a shiver of dread down his spine.

Looking down at her book clutched between nervously fidgeting fingers, she frowned just the tiniest bit. "Then I sh-should be the one to go. I can read anywhere."

Unsure how to respond, he relied on social conventions. "Thank you."

With a slight bow, she began to move away then stopped. "May I ask you s-something?"

"Yes?" The unusual sensation of trepidation blew through him, accelerating his heart rate and agitating the insects within, but it would be rude to deny her request without knowing what it was.

Raising her hands to her chest, she used one to make an uninterpretable gesture at him. "Does..." When she lifted her eyes to him, he was surprised to see concern on her face. "Does it hurt?"

Of all the responses he'd had to his family's unique condition—questions from older kids who knew and the occasional, over-curious adult—no one had ever asked him that. It was intensely personal, yet the intrinsic thoughtfulness of it banished any sense of intrusiveness. "No." The kikaichū he shared a symbiotic relationship with had been introduced to his body by his father on the day he was born. The small bugs had always been with him, and he and they looked after each other's comfort and well being. "No, it doesn't hurt."

Her expression softened with noticeable relief. "I'm glad." Lowering the book with one hand, she waved with the other. "Bye-bye, Shino."

The beetle all but forgotten, he watched her leave and contemplated how what had just happened mattered, because he felt for certain it did. Despite her Hyūga lineage, he had always considered her ineffectual as a ninja, with average performance in practical applications of ninjutsu that belied the power his kikaichū insisted resided within her. Despite her mediocrity and unquestionable timidity, she had not been afraid or repulsed by knowing—more importantly, seeing—what he was.

Unlike Kiba Inuzuka, who knew what Shino was but treated him like everyone else because it didn't impact the tattooed boy's ego, Hinata Hyūga knew what Shino was and could project herself into his life with enough empathy that she worried for him, a relative stranger. Unable to decide if this was a strength or a weakness, he concluded it was both. Her perception might cause her more stress, but it would make her a good teammate, capable of anticipating the actions of her fellow shinobi. As with martial conflict, he decided he should not underestimate even the smallest insect when it came to social interactions, either.

It wasn't until the bell rang to return to class that he realized he'd been standing there, thinking, since she'd left. At last he figured out what else had made the encounter matter. She had seen what he was and accepted him. From what he'd heard from other members of his clan, acceptance beyond a professional level was rare for Aburames. Sometimes it took years of working with someone to gain complete acceptance, if it was ever achieved. Yet the mousy, average Hyūga girl had effortlessly, naturally offered it to him during their very first encounter.

Shino ended up beside Kiba Inuzuka as the students made their way through the halls to class.

The dog grumbled, and the boy turned, curiosity etched on his open face. "Hey, Shino, what's with the grin?"

"I had a good recess." Although a part of him felt like hiding his subtle smile, he let it linger. "You?"

Feigning interest, he listened to the mid-morning adventures of Kiba Inuzuka and his canine cohort. While neither this boy nor the Hyūga girl made for ideal companions, Shino couldn't help the sense of satisfaction he felt. It was only his first year in the Academy, and he'd managed to accomplish what some Aburames never achieved—he'd found not one but two people who knew what he was and were okay with it.

Shino grinned the rest of the day. By the time he got home, his cheeks were sore, but that was okay with him.