Welcome, Readers. This is the second instalment of the Ohitsujiza series. If you haven't read the first one I would advise it due to the story and character development in the first story will come up in this story.


'Shino had made a mental note a long time ago that Alex was her happiest with a freshly brewed cup of tea in front of her.'

"Here are the first set of registration forms you wanted. Mr Aburame"

"Don't call me that, why? because we are comrades."

"You really are a stick in the mud, you know? but then again I've spent enough time with you to let that go" The raven haired girl laughed at Shino as she rocked back and forth gently on the balls of her feet. However all of her teasing attitude just produced a low 'Hm' from him before he reached over and took the sheets of stacked paper from her and scanning through them.

This particular girl looked up at him with admiring eyes, which soon sparked with confidence and mischievousness that he knew all too well.

"You should be gathering the rest of the forms. Why? because that is your job, Alex" With this she rolled her eyes gently and made a sound that resembled a dying cat, which caused a disproving look to shine from Shino. Although she couldn't see his eyes, Alex has known this blunt boy for many years and was one of few who could understand his little ticks and how he expressed his feelings even when the majority of Shinobi have to clue.

"I should get the other forms from the Hokage, I can't keep the new generation waiting!"

As she began to leave Shino turned most of his attention towards the forms that showed his new students, he quietly spoke again in his monotone voice as she reached the door of the small class room.

"Remember why you work at the academy"

Alex gave him a quick nod before leaving and making her way down the long hallway of the academy. She indeed remembered why and how she ended up being placed within the academy to work. It was due to the Fourth Shinobi World War and the effects that it caused on the hidden leaf village. Alex, like her comrades fought tirelessly to keep the ones they loved safe. While Alex spent the majority of the war within the medical core treating and comforting the wounded Shinobi, she also spent time of the front lines. The rumour was that this work put too much stress on Alex's body and caused strain to her chakra network and muscles. However as much as Alex would of loved this to be true only a few of her comrades knew the truth. It wasn't that she was keeping in secret but no one asked her about it and so she never got the chance to tell anyone but Sakura, Hinata and Kiba. The damage to her body was worse than either Alex or Sakura thought and therefore she was put off missions and regular shinobi duties for six months. Although the healing period kept being stretched out to the point where she had reached the age of eighteen.

It wasn't that she didn't enjoy helping around the academy, if anything she loved to walk around helping the children with their techniques or collecting any paper work for the teachers. Thought her favourite part about her position as an assistant was the chance to help Shino and play tricks on him. The feelings that had developed when they were sixteen were still present and kept growing with every passing day. This was obvious to all of her friends and although not all of them could quite understand Shino's emotions they were convinced that he acted differently around Alex than he did two year prior.

So much had changed within the two years that had passed. Along with Alex not being able to go on missions, which annoyed her as she was quite an active person, Shino had taken an interest in the academy and became a rookie teacher, Hinata and Naruto had finally reached the point were they could openly express their feelings for one another and many of their friends had started to grow up. Alex had also matured since the war. Along with her body taking on a more lady like appearance, she had been named a jounin for her work in both the medical core and front lines of the war. Instead of the light grey coat of her clan she sported a green jounin jacket, although she always had it open to show the black shirt with her clans crest on the pen pocket that replaced the bandages over her chest. At this point in her life she hadn't grown out of the black shorts that she always wore and still wore the knee high socks that complimented them. Alex also hadn't grown out of the long black hair of her clan and instead of letting in drape down her back as it did when she was a chunin, it was always seen in a side plait.

Once Alex had finished her duties at the academy and had turned in her reports to the sixth Hokage, she walked down the dusty street with her bandaged arms behind her back. A smirk appeared on her lips as she noticed a certain cloaked figure in front of her. As she was sure it was her bug friend, she sped up her walking and stood beside him. They both walked in silence, to others the silence between the rookie teacher and the jounin medical ninja was a strange thing but to them it was something else. It was their own way of communication and as Alex glanced at the tea shop, he nodded in agreement to her before following her into the small tea shop she adored.

Shino had made a mental note a long time ago that Alex was her happiest with a freshly brewed cup of tea in front of her. Although her obnoxious behaviour had vanished over the years, her love of tea and cheeky personality had remained throughout the war. It never showed on his face but that was the part of Alex that he secretly admired.

When they entered the quaint shop Alex's face lit up like a five year old on Christmas before she ordered two jasmine teas and spoke in her gently voice.

"Jasmine is a delicate flower that had a subtle flavour. I'm sure you'll love it"

"..." Shino never answered her but a small laugh escaped her lips as if she knew what he would say,

"Just try it Shino"

With that she picked out the correct change for the two drinks, however as she went to place it on the counter Shino had graphed her wrist. This motion had surprised her as it was the first contact they had shared since the dance on their guard missions when they were sixteen. The pounding in her chest began to make a comeback and unlike her younger self she came to realize that this feeling was love or at least a form of it. Alex didn't like to admit to herself that she was in love but she knew that she had feelings towards this shinobi. Before she could sort out the thoughts running through her mind, he placed this own money down on the counter and took the two drinks over to their usual table beside the window. It took Alex a few seconds before she snapped back to reality and sat opposite him. As she blew down on her streaming tea, she felt a hard gaze fixated on her. This caused her cheeks to heat up gently and she slowly looked up at the boy opposite her. For a few moments she met his gaze and let herself stare into his sunglasses. Even if she couldn't see his eyes, the memory of one time she did was still vivid in her mind. One day she was determined to see the eyes that caused her to have butterflies in her stomach and to feel as if she was walking on the clouds.

"It's rude to stare, Shino" Her words were full of her typical confidence even if she was feeling as if her heart was going to jump out of her chest under his gaze. As she smiled sweetly at him he adjusted his gaze and stared out of the window that over looked the busy streets of the village.

"Honestly, sometimes I wonder about you, Aburame"

Nothing was said after her statement and they both drunk their tea in peace and quite. Well, that was until they stood up to leave and Alex lost her footing due to her clumsiness. She fell face first towards the floor. Lucky for her Shino's reactions were as quick as ever and he caught her by the wrists and instead of face planting the floor she fell into his chest.

His actions were enough to bring the heat to her cheeks and cause her heart to pound a mile a minute. All of the feelings that he caused her were flooding through her body due to how close they were. Alex was sure that Shino would be able to feel the rapid beating of her heart, while usually she would want to remove herself as quickly as possible from this situation, it was near impossible to move away while he had a hard grip on her wrists. She slowly looked up to him and saw a slight tint of pink on his cheeks, however Alex convinced herself that it was her imagination.

"Well, if it isn't the love birds!"

Alex recognized that voice, it's rusty undertone could only belong to her red fanged friend; Kiba. Before Alex could explain for the hundredth time that the pair were not an item, Shino had started to speak.

" Do not assume things,Why? Because it causes problems. Alex is a friend and nothing more."

Shino glanced at her before setting her down on her feet gently and patting her head. He began to walk away but not before reminding Alex of her duties.

"The chakra control lesson is tomorrow."

Alex nodded sadly at him as he left. She never expected much from Shino, however that didn't stop his words from hurting her feelings. She was quickly brought back to reality by Kiba's words.

"He digs you"

"Kiba, how would you know?"

"He acts differently now, he's more open"

"That is because of the war"

"You might be right, Alex"

"Aren't I always?"

"No..you weren't right about that chakra blade"

His words made her cringe and brought back the memories of the war and the pain that had been caused.

"That was different"

Before he could answer her she had taken two finger and pressed them into his chest with a smirk. The look on his face reminded her of the days when they would play fight without a care in the world. Alex knew that he was about to retaliate toward her and so she sped off down the road towards her apartment. Just before she was out of ear shot she heard Kiba get the last word.

"Remember Shino is like tea!"

Kiba's statement about Shino resembling tea sept it's way into Alex's mind and made it impossible for her to come up with a speech for the children at the academy about chakra control. As she stared at the blank paper in front of her she sighed and scribbled the statement down instead of working, though all this did was make her feel worse. It wasn't until she had began to boil the tea for her before bed lavender tea that she realized what Kiba was trying to tell her.

"I get it!" She yelled to herself.

"Shino is like tea because it's subtle and only a few really can appreciate it"

She grinned to herself and punched the air at her success. As she had finally figured out what her friend was getting at, she felt much better about the situation that caused her unneeded emotional pain.

The tea relaxed her mind and freed her from the burdens of her damaged body, which let her slip into a peaceful sleep. It wasn't long before her mind had started to pull out the tragic memories of the war into her dreaming conciousness. The memories of the smell of iron and death, along with the painful moments where she couldn't treat someone woke her up as she screamed loudly. It took Alex a while for her mind and eyes to adjust to her surroundings. Once she was back to reality and was safe from any harm, she reached over to her curtains and pulled them open. The sun was making it's way through the sky, which meant it was time for Alex to drag her body out of bed and face the day. The first appointment she had of the day was the visit to Sakura for her check up and then off to the academy to give the speech she had not yet written.

Winging it was her best option.