Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. And if anyone has any sense, I never will.

Shino was sure that someone, somewhere, in the cosmic scheme of things did not like him.

Shino had to deal with his friend's issues back when he was a kid.

Now, he was dealing with the next generation's issues.

Last week it was Sarada and Bolt.

This week it was Shikadai and Chou Chou.

Shino had learned that the 'incident' between Bolt and Sarada, had been inspired by the earlier antics of the Nara and Akimichi children. Shino was hoping that none of his other students had been similarly inspired.

There was a small hope in Shino's mind the Chou Chou and Shikadai's parents would be more calm and level-headed than Sakura and Naruto.

Shino was wrong. Very, very, wrong.

"Your girl probably tricked my son into doing this." Temari was normally a reasonable person. That attitude when out the window when her son was concerned.

"Temari, please, let's not start placing blame." The eldest Nara seemed to be taking this far less seriously than his wife. Shino was unsure of whether this was a good or bad thing.

"Shikamaru's right."

Karui's support of Shikamaru surprised Shino. He was expecting an all-out screaming match between the two families. The idea of a rational discussion was a pleasant surprise to the Abruame Ninja.

"We shouldn't be pointing fingers. Especially when this is obviously Temari's fault."

Shino knew the idea of non-headache inducing parent-teacher meeting was too good to be true.

"It is not! You're the one who's constantly watching those romance movies. Your daughter probably got the idea from looking at them."

Karui was held back from replying by her husband's hand on her shoulder. Choji was always a calming influence on his wife.

"Does anyone care what we think?"

The room collectively stop talking, looking towards the source of the sound.

Their eyes met with a very irritated looking duo of Chou Chou and Shikadai.

"Of course we do." This came from Choji. Shino had remembered how this man could go from being possibly the kindest person in Konoha, to flying into a blind rage over a remark about his weight. Shino was glad he was dealing with the kinder side of Choji.

"It's not a big deal. It was only lasted a second." Cho Cho's had the mindset that, the more effort that had to be put into something, the more important it was. Shino had noticed this pattern in her test results. She would barely try on the quick-fire questions, but she probably did better than Sarada in essays. It made sense that she wouldn't put much weight into the kiss.

"It's not that you're in trouble, honey. It's just that we'd like to know why you would do it." When she needed to be, Karui was capable of being very gentle.

"Because we felt like it." While he seemed to have inherited his father's mind, Shikadai was not near as polite. Although, Shino did have to admit he was glad to have finally gotten a straight.

"You felt like it?" It was rare to see Shikamaru surprised. It was about as likely to see Shino dancing.

"Yeah, all you grown-ups are always doing it, and it you look so happy when you do it. Me and Cho Cho just wanted to see how fun it was."

Shino was surprised that they had such an…innocent response. Next to Sarada, Cho Cho and Shikadai were by far the most mature in his class.

The two mothers standing across from Shino shared an awkward smile. It looked like they were both ashamed of blaming each other for what happened.

"Honey, it doesn't really work like that. You have to really know and care about the person for it to work." The eldest Sand Sibling was acting as the mentor for this lesson. Shino realized that someone who was the oldest of three siblings must have a very good maternal instinct.

"Oh." The Nara prodigy seemed to say this as if he had just been told some brand new truth he had never heard before. Well, he had been.

A chuckle nearly emerged from Shino. Shikadai could score a hundred percent on a test, yet the things that were involved in a kiss amazed the boy.

Karui and Choji seemed to have just finished explaining something similar to their daughter, if the look of realization on her face meant anything.

"Well, I don't know. It was kinda fun. Wasn't it, Shikadai?"

"Yeah, it was."

As opposed to how they reacted earlier, Temari and Karui just laughed slightly at this exchange. Realizing that their children were innocently exploring something seemed to take all the anger that was between them.

The explanation seemed to signal the end of the meeting. Both parents exchanged pleasantries as they left.

Shino had to admit, this meeting was not nearly as bad as he expected. No cursing. No genuine fighting. No teacher thrown across the classroom in the crossfire. It was a fairly easy day.

And then Chou Chou spoke.

"I still don't see why Inojin makes such a big deal out of kissing. Is it because he's done it more than us?"

Once this had registered in Shino's mind, he wrote a memo in his notebook to remind himself to call the Yamanakas tomorrow.

After doing so, the experienced shinobi proceeded to smack his head straight onto his desk.

So, what did you think? It didn't really feel as good as the last one, but I hope you like. Thanks for reading.

Please review.