Bugs are really creepy. To me, that was a fact of life as a child. It did not pop into my mind that other kids enjoyed bugs. Shino Aubrame had certainly given me a surprise, he had them all over him. I could have used that knowledge when I first met him as a small child with a big fear of bugs.
"Hello-eeeek!" I began to say, but cut off into a scream. Within seconds, my legs began to pump and I was off.
The first time I had ever encountered him, my young ginger self ran away and screamed as soon as I saw the bugs crawl around his clothing. Bugs had always given me the creeps, and it made a bit uneasy to think of somebody who easily let the bugs crawl all over them. It had just seemed a bit off to me.
Nevertheless, I had felt bad for screaming and running away from the boy. I wrote an apology and stuck it at his desk as soon as I saw my chance. His bugs had intimidated me to a level of not wanting to be around Shino in the slightest. I truly felt ashamed of myself.
Over the years, I had been able to grow to be able to stand bugs. From a scared Academy student, to a worried Chunin. I felt accomplished about how much progress I made when it came to seeing bugs. It was a completely different story if one landed on me though.
"H-Hey Shino!" I called out to him with a smile on my face as I walked over to him. He was walking down the village street and looking at the foods. It had been weeks since I had saw him due to missions that both of us seemed to be constantly sent on. My stomach churned a bit when I saw the bugs. I might have wrinkled my face when I saw the bug also, I wasn't quite sure.
"Just because he has bugs does not mean he is not a good person. Even if they are really creepy." I thought to myself mentally as a reminder.
"Hello Chika." he shortly said to me when I had reached him. "I see that you still dislike my bugs."
My eyes widened, and my face began to blush from embarrassment. I sweat dropped a bit and waved my arms around as I began to talk. "N-No! It's not that I dislike your bugs. They just happen to creep me out a bit to be honest. Come on, you know that bugs freak me out a bit! Why do you have to make me feel bad about it?" I threw my arms in the air and sighed.
"Yet you continue to talk to me." he said to me and I grinned happily.
"One thing about you that I dislike, does not define who you are." I said in a jovial tone and grinned even more. "Besides, I bet there are things about me that you dislike but yet you still talk to me." I added and things were quiet for a few moments. I decided to break the ice with a simple question on something we shared common ground with. "So do you know when Naruto is going to come back? It's almost been two years."
"No, nobody has any idea. Not even Lady Tsunade." Shino responded to me and I sweat dropped upon hearing that knowledge.
"Some village we live in. Even our Hokage doesn't know when a knuckle head is going to come back." I thought to myself.
"She must really trust that old sleaze to allow him to watch over Naruto for a few years. Maybe she was drunk on sake when she said yes?" I asked him, but quickly nodded my head from side to side and sighed. "Naruto better come back with really epic moves. He better remember all of us too."
"Do you think he will remember me?" Shino asked me, and I grinned at his response. It was nice to see that Shino cared about what his comrades thought of him. Playfully, I poked his barely shown nose.
"Who knows. Nobody can see much of you when you wear that." I said and chuckled a bit.
"Are you implying that I take it off?" he responded in such a serious tone that I choked on air as a perverted thought crossed through my mind.
"Yes, no wait no, wait- I don't know!" I squawked out in a panicked tone of voice. "It would be nothing sexual if it did though!"
"I see." stoically, he replied and I was a bit worried for a few seconds.
"Did I hurt his feelings?" I mentally asked myself and felt my stomach drop. "I need to stop hanging out with my mom too much. Her perverted habits are rubbing off on me now."
Even if we were ninjas and supposed to be as tougher than stone, I had always worried about others feelings. I knew that someday it might get the best of me, but I was willing to risk that than rather hurt somebody else. Becoming a ninja was what truly made me realize how strong people's emotions were. I saw the thankfulness that people had when something was done for them. I saw the anger others had shown when their plan had been toiled. I saw others become depressed when they heard somebody precious to them was hurt.
It had then become my goal to do good as a ninja and help as many others as I could. No matter how difficult the task. Which was why I saw befriending Shino to be something truly important since he was not quite the social type. Everybody needed friends to fall back on when they were down.
"What exactly do you see?" uncomfortably, I asked him and twiddled with my thumbs a bit.
"That-" he began to say, but got cut off.
"Chika!" a voice yelled from the distance, with a bark following afterwards. Within seconds, Kiba and Akamaru appeared beside us. Akamaru gave a jovial bark and I could see his doggy smile. "It's been a while since I've seen you. Oh hey Shino."
"Hello Kiba." Shino said in his regular emotionless voice.
"Have you guys been off on a lot of missions? Tsunade is a slave driver with how many missions she's been sending me out on." Kiba complained and rolled his eyes. "I swear that I'm only back in the village for just a few hours before I'm sent off on a mission again.
"Maybe she just wants you away from the village for a while." I said mischievously and stuck my tongue out at him. "I bet she's worried about a flea outbreak."
"Hey! Akamaru is one of the cleanest dogs in Konoha!" Kiba protested and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Oh I wasn't talking about Akamaru. I know my handsome pooch is clean. Who knows where you have been though." I said and chuckled a bit. "You look as though you could use nice a wash."
"HEY!" in an offended tone, Kiba yelled and pointed at me. "You better watch what you say. Otherwise-"
"You'll kill me with your fleas. Okay, okay. I'm sorry." I said and waved my hands in the air in defeat. Kiba had a vein on his forehead for a few seconds. After that, he began to laugh and I joined in.
Suddenly remembering that Shino was there, I turned to him. "Have you been sent off on a lot of missions?"
"Yes." Shino responded, and I sweat dropped at how short his response was. "You do remember the meeting Tsunade has called for all the available Chunin tomorrow night?"
"What, there's a meeting?" Kiba asked with wide eyes in shock.
"Correct. She wants to discuss how she wants to rotate missions between the Chunin due to complaints about too many missions. All the Chunin that are available in the village are supposed to be there." Shino said and Kiba fist pumped in victory.
"It's time that old hag gave us time to breathe!" he yelled and grinned. "I have to go and train because I've barely had time to do any of it. I'll see you guys around."
"I have to go and help prepare for dinner tonight." I said and smiled lightly. "I'll see you guys at the meeting tomorrow night then!" After that, all of us said our good byes and went our separate ways.
When I got home, I was in for a scare when I saw what was on my shoulder. I had made quite a noise party trying to get the miscreant bug off of me. I was not happy when my mom came in and suggest that I had a friend over since I made so much noise.
My mother was going to be the end of me, not my compassion towards other's feelings.