It wasn't hard to ignore me.
I was always so quiet and so hard to reach. I rarely ever paid attention to anything. I was an eavesdropper. I was a spy. I hung out with and collected bugs, and they were even part of my jutsu. It was no wonder I thought nobody would ever really notice me enough to love or even like me. Somehow they considered me a sulker and never wondered why I sulked. They should have been able to see.
A lot of people in my village didn't like me. My dad had slightly disliked me, mainly because I was an only child and would never be able to carry on the clan by choice. My teammate, Kiba Inuzuka didn't like me much. He called it a burden how I never said anything and never stood up for myself. A boy called Naruto Uzumaki thought of me as nothing more than someone who sulked. Sakura Haruno, a girl I'd known for ages, hadn't changed her opinion of me in all those years. She and her friend group hated me, thought I was creepy.
The only one who really liked me much was Hinata Hyuuga. So I went to her for help.
"Hinata-san," I said, clearing my throat as I walked up to Hinata while she was alone in the Hyuuga manor. "I need help and advice."
"Shino-kun?" she questioned as I sat next to her. "...You need help?"
"Why does everyone dislike me? Is it because I hide my emotions?" I asked, sighing. "I don't understand it. I try to show my emotions, and people call it a burden, I try to hide them and people think I'm a jerk, or creepy."
"Shino-kun... I..." She seemed so uncomfortable. I felt so guilty. "But, this..."
My eyes widened under my glasses at the next thing she said.
"This is too close to home..."
"What do you mean?" I questioned, an eyebrow raised.
"M-My cousin, Neji. He... he has almost the same problems, you see," she told me. "But maybe, you would like each other. You would get along, I think. You're very similar and both very closed off. Quiet people tend to be more open with other quiet people."
Her cousin had the same problems. That complicated things. But maybe, her plan would work. Maybe we would turn out good friends. "Well... we'll try it," I said, hoping for the best.