Nirvana, a naruto fanfic

Nirvana.

An ultimate experience of some pleasurable emotion such as harmony or joy .

It was also a word that had little meaning to some ninja. But to others, it was an awesome experience.

To the Konoha twelve, nirvana has different meanings.

For Naruto, it was eating the best ramen, and eating twelve bowls of it at a time.

For Sakura, it was whenever Sasuke acknowledged her achievements.

For Sasuke, whenever he improved his strength to use against his brother.

Shikamaru's feeling of nirvana is simple, hanging out with Chouji and watching clouds.

Chouji; he felt it when hanging with Shika and eating his chips, especially the last potato chip.

Ino liked to be successful in both the flower shop and out in the field.

Ten-Ten enjoyed nothing more than target practice, hitting each target with a perfect bull's-eye.

Neji, well, Neji enjoyed time away from his eccentric sensei, training with his uncle.

It didn't take much to make Lee happy. He trained all day long, striving to prove himself.

For Hinata, simple things made her happy. Cooking for her teammates makes her feel important.

Kiba is extremely easy to please. Throw him a bone and scratch him behind the ears, and he's in doggy ecstasy.

And then…There's Shino. Not much makes Shino happy. Of course, Shino doesn't get angry or sad like an average person, either, he's just there.

His teammates needed to change that.

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Shino sat with his back against the tree. He was meeting with his teammates for training. Rather, his teammates were meeting him, since he was always the first to arrive. Kiba came running up first.

"Hey buddy! What's up?"

Shino blinked. That was not Kiba's usual greeting. Kiba never called him "buddy." He filed this information away and nodded in recognition; glasses glinting in the morning sun. He could see the sun rising, and, because of the darkness of his glasses, could easily see Hinata running out of the sunrise. Shino chuckled internally at his little pun, Hinata was coming from a sunny place, the very meaning of her name. In his musing, he did not notice her appear at his side.

"Hello, Shino-kun!" Hinata said brightly, a light pink staining her cheeks.

Shino blinked again, nodding in recognition once again.

"Arf!!!" Akamaru exuberantly woofed at him, and he took the time to stare at the small dog on Kiba's head. The dog NEVER "said" anything to him, ever. Shino mulled these facts around in his head, and filed them away.

"Ready for training today?" he asked, not really waiting for an answer as he started for the middle of the grounds.

"Um…Shino?"

A small tug on his jacket from behind, plus the small voice made him stop.

He sighed. "Yes, Hinata?"

He turned to see her twiddling with her fingers. The habit deeply annoyed him. He grabbed her fingers in one hand. She looked up at him, startled, and Kiba suppressed a snort. Kiba also found the habit slightly annoying, but it had always bothered Shino more.

"It's an annoying habit. What did you want?"

He released her fingers and she hid her hands behind her back. Her and Kiba had already gotten together and discussed the plan, so he knew what she was going to ask, but decided to play along to make Shino think it was all Hinata.

"Hinata-chan, we have to get to training, tell him what you wanted so we can go. Akamaru and I have a new move we've been practicing."

The dog looked at him funny. He had totally made that up. He just smiled one of his signature goofy grins.

"Well…..I was just…wondering if you….wanted to hang out today? You know…instead of training?"

Shino seemed to think about it. True, they had been training nonstop for days, it wouldn't hurt for a day off.

"Sounds like a good idea to me! What do you say, buddy?" Kiba said exuberantly.

Shino internally cringed at the nickname. "Fine. Did you have anything in mind, Hinata?"

Hinata and Kiba shared a knowing look. They were tired of their teammate "sending off negative vibes," as one client had said about him during a mission. They were going to do thing they were sure Shino liked or would like. Unfortunately, Kiba thought it was a good idea to write Shino a song.

"How about the forest? It's pretty this time of day." And absolutely crawling with insects at this time, too.

"Alright. Let's go." Shino set off for the forest, Hinata behind him, then Kiba with Akamaru at his heels. Kiba felt it was time to break the silence.

"So how's about a song? I know a fun one. Ready, Akamaru?"

"Kiba-kun…I'm not sure that's such a…"

"There was a boy who had some bugs and Shino was his name-o!

S H I N O

And Shino was his name-o!"

Shino and Hinata both visibly cringed. Kiba took no notice, and Akamaru joined in the song where clapping should be.

"There was a boy who had some bugs and Shino was his name-o!

-arf- H I N O

And Shino was his name-o!"

Shino stopped walking, and Hinata worriedly kept in-between the two boys to prevent an attack. Kiba, however, must have closed his eyes because he did not see the looks he was getting.

"There was a boy who had some bugs and Shino was his name-o!

-arf arf- I N O

And Shi-----gah!!"

Shino had reached right over Hinata's head and grabbed Kiba by the throat, lifting him off the ground. Hinata, who wasn't an idiot, quickly got out of the ninja sandwich before the main condiment was blood. She blinked, then shook her head. I've been hanging with Chouji too much…

"Boys, come on. Kiba….please be quiet. Shino-kun…please don't hurt him. He wasn't trying to be…"

"Obnoxious?" Shino offered.

"Yeah."

"Shino…can't breathe…"

Shino looked back to Kiba and released him, continuing on his way to the forest. Kiba rubbed his throat where Shino had gripped him.

"I was just trying to get him to lighten up, Geez."

"We better go, Kiba, He's leaving us."

"Right."

The two ran to catch up to Shino. Kiba stayed silent for the rest of their journey.

Alright, this story was a good idea when I thought of it, but I'm not really into it. Originally, it was going to be a oneshot, but now that I step back and look at it, I see that it is impossible. So, I will have a couple of chapters on it. It may not be obvious now, but this is a ShinoxHinata story. Naruto is still obsessed over Sakura, and Sasuke is still in the picture. I will be putting most of my stories on hold for Christmas, not because I am taking a break, but because I have to or three multi-chapter Christmas/winter stories that I have thought of that I want to get out before Christmas. I'll stick a poll up for which story I should update over break. I'll do the top 3. But nothing else will come out until then. Oh, and today is my last day of school, tomorrow Christmas break starts. Woo!

Peace, Love, and Bugs,

Cougar