Sarathra: Okay, so it's been YEARS since i've even seen this story and I want to perfect and finally FINISH it. Hopefully, I'll get the other stories done too. xD

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I own my character(s). Also, I'd love it if people could tell me things they liked, didn't like, etc… It'd help me a bit more. :)

(Better) Summary: This is the first chapter of my Different Stages of Fatherhood series (see profile for more detail). Shino's life changed after his girlfriend left him one night. She accused him of things that were unheard of and just left in a weird way. Years later, his whole life spins around and he has to make some changes that will affect him for the rest of his life. Then after Kiba and Sasuke feel the same as Shino and all of a sudden, all hell breaks lose...

"…" – talking

"…" – thinking or flashback

Chapter One: Nights to Remember

7 years earlier...

The door slammed shut, and this time it wasn't his fault. He was catching up on a book Kakashi recommended, which probably wasn't a good idea to begin with if Kakashi recommended it. After the slam, he stood from his chair and decided to see what the fuss was about. So, out of the room and down the stairs he went and saw a female was stumbling around in front of his door. He could tell who it was, but was wondering why she was here. He raised an eyebrow to her as he walked over.

"Kaoru, what are you doing here?" he asked calmly.

"You bastard!" she yelled in a slightly drunken tone, "How could you?"

Shino just stayed where he was and was wondering what he was being accused of. He knew that he hadn't done anything besides read his book. There wasn't' too much excitement in this boy's life, but apparently, there was something happening in his life now. The female staggered to him and slammed her fists into his chest yelling that he'd cheated on her with another woman and all this nonsense. Shino wasn't quite sure what she was saying because most of it was gibberish or just false statements. He finally had enough of her accusations and started asking his own questions.

"Kaoru, where have you been?" he said as she smelled of sex and booze.

"I- wha? Nowhere!" she said. "Where've you been?"

"Reading," he stated.

"Sure, what are you reading mister 'I'm so impec- pec- i'm so smart'?" she slurred rolling her eyes and her head with it.

"A story that Kakashi recommended," he said still keeping his brow raised.

Kaoru laughed at him, but still laid tears within her eyes as she punched him soon afterwards. Shino tried to grab her arms and place them at her sides, but as he grabbed them and forced them down, he hit her belly. She jerked her arms back, soon stepping back, hissing and baring her teeth at him. Shino never saw her act like this and was quite suspicious of her.

"What is this about?" he demanded, "And why are you being so protective over your belly?"

All she did was hiss and bare her teeth at him and say that he was in trouble because karma would soon hit him. Shino walked over to her and tried to reason with her over her delusion, but she moved away from him and ran out before he could speak. Shino was confused on what had happened. Karma? What had he done? He heard footsteps from the stairs. If things could only get worse...

"What the hell was that?" asked a male voice.

"It's a long story, Kiba" Shino said staring at the open door.

"I got time, Hoshi is trying to catch her breath," he said walking to the couch, which wasn't too far from where Shino was standing.

Shino had twitched a little at the thought of his friend and whatever girl had been in his room at the moment. He even thought if there'd been more then one- EW, no… he didn't want to think of any situation like that. He shook those thoughts out of his head and closed the door. Shino walked to the couch, placed his elbows on his knees, folded his hands together, and placed his chin on his hands.

"So, what'd that crazy bitch whine about this time?" he asked.

"She was saying that I'd cheated on her," he said remembering her words.

Kiba soon began to laugh at what Shino was telling him. Shino and cheating didn't seem to mix in his mind. If there'd been a survey to see which guy was most likely to cheat, Shino would be one of the bottom 3 choices. Shino looked over at his half-naked friend and didn't know what was so funny about his situation. He shook it head and stared blankly at the ground. Things just didn't add up in his head... but he couldn't think for long because Kiba's voice was piercing.

"Wow, she thought that you were cheating… You, Shino Aburame…"

"Yeah," he said, "but, she was the one who smelled of booze and sex… plus, she was acting weird, er crazy even."

"I think she finally lost that screw in her head, she's gone CRAZY!" he said laughing again.

"Well, I meant crazy as in… she was protective of her stomach and was spilling something about karma and hissing at me and baring her teeth.,"

"Crazy… Bitch… and not the good crazy either."

Shino twitched at the thought and heard a girl call Kiba. Kiba nodded to him and ran back up the stairs to his room. Shino got up from his chair and thought he'd go back to his study room after he closed the door. Things were weird and he wasn't too sure how to handle a situation like that. He began to think about other things as he walked up the many stairs of their house. On the second floor and two doors on the right, Shino lead himself to his studies. There was no way he was getting back to his book. Next to Kakashi's suggested book was a black book that was kept open by a black pen. He decided to sit down in his favorite chair and pick up the pen. He wrote:

May 27th

Kaoru seemed happy this morning when we were together. She'd told me that she would be visiting her family tonight and that she'd call later. She never called, but she did come back. She did look beautiful, like she always does, but she smelled of booze and sex. Yelling at me saying that I'd been cheating on her. Kiba made a good point… I'm no one to cheat. She acted weird… she has been for a while now, more like a couple years. I guess I'm free now from her since she "hates me" and all. Well, maybe she just had a bad day… I can't make assumptions

Shino closed his book and turned out the light. He lifted himself up and passed the room where Kiba was having fun with the girl. He regretted having a room that was close to his and quickly went inside and closed the door. If there was anything worse for him to hear his commotion… actually, he didn't want to jinx himself. He slipped into his bed and pushed a button that made the sound of the ocean. That'd put a different picture into his mind instead of moaning and banging of walls. He closed his eyes and inside, he hoped that tomorrow would be different…

Present time...

"GOD DAMMIT!" was what broke the silence in the beautiful morning.

Shino nearly had a heart-attack as he woke up in shock. He took a few breaths before going downstairs to see what the hell was happening. He saw that Kiba was in the kitchen and that things were spilled upon the floor that was once clean. What a typical day in Shino's house, why couldn't it be normal? Shino put his right three fingers on his forehead and his left arm under the right and shook his head.

"What were you doing?" Shino asked.

"Trying to make me some food, then I burned my arm on the pan and yeah… this is where we ended up," he explained.

Shino smirked and walked back to the stairs before hearing Kiba's voice from the kitchen, calling him. 'He better not be asking me to clean it up…' Shino walked back to the kitchen and watched as Akamaru and Kiba were cleaning his mess. The joys of living with dogs...

"Where are you going?"

"To my studies... why?"

"Nothing."

Shino nodded and walked back up the stairs, successfully this time, and reached his studies. He went to his chair and took his black book from his drawer. He opened it to the page where May 27th had been written and started re-reading the others. They were mostly about how he saw Kaoru less and less and how she acted weirder over the years until she just vanished. He also talked about how she looked differently and how he missed her inside.

He opened back to where yesterday's date had been and started writing:

September 4th

I awake to find Kiba being stupid again… that's nothing new. He burned his arm on the pan while trying to make him food. It's funny now that I think of it. It's still been a while since I've seen Kaoru and I still miss her. Well… things are only gonna get different now and I can't change her, but there's so much of her that I want…Ugh, I feel like Kiba now. I think i've been hanging out with him too much... I need vacation real soon...

Soon a knock at the door came about; Shino just let Kiba deal with that. He didn't want to deal with some random person that just strolled upon to his door step and decided to ruin a perfectly good moment. That was his logic and he was sticking to it. Shino sat back in his chair and thought of other things that were on his mind his morning that wouldn't repeat what he's said about in the past months.

It was hard not to write about Kaoru or how Kiba was being his usual stupid self. Of course, the day was young and he had enough time to write down different thoughts.

"HOLY SHIT!" Kiba yelled, "SHINO GET DOWN HERE!"

Shino got up slowly since it was probably something stupid, he knew Kiba was excited over anything. He shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked down the stairs and looked up at Kiba, but soon saw his expression. Kiba was trying to hide a laugh and had something behind his back. Shino walked a little closer and Kiba soon moved… Kiba fell to the floor with laughter, Shino gulped and couldn't move… barely breathing. Shino adjusted his glasses.

Kiba's POV

"GOD DAMMIT!"

That bastard! Jeeze, I'm trying to make a simple egg and then BAM... I'm friggen burned! What'd I ever do to deserve this? Ugh… This is a horrible start to my morning… could anything else happen to make it worse? Wait, why are there footsteps coming from the stairs… uh oh, I think I woke up Shino. I waited a few minutes and saw his normal covered face peer into the kitchen. Oh no, he's doing that thing where he puts his fingers on his forehead... I hate when he does that.

"What were you doing?" he asked me.

"Trying to make me some food, then I burned my arm on the pan and yeah… this is where we ended up," I explained to him.

I knew Shino thought I was a dumb ass, that was nothing new. He was about to walk to the stairs, but I needed to know that he wasn't going to sleep. I didn't want to wake him up again because… bleh… I swear, if I get those creepy crawlies on me, I'll punch him… somehow... poor hand.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

I don't think there's anything wrong with me asking him where he's going. Of course we were gay lovers! Haha, kidding! I just got a good lay last night… anyways, I decided to clean up my mess, good thing I have Akamaru with me.

"To my studies…why?" he asked.

"Nothing." I said.

He left after that and I didn't bother wanting to bother him at the moment. Ever since that crazy bitch came and left that one night… things have been creepy around here. More then usual, I mean. As I was saying before, what could mess up my morning even more? It happened. I'm trying to go over and watch TV and eat what's left of my eggs and BOOM that damn bell rings. Since I know Shino wasn't going to answer it, I had to. I was so close to eating and this happens… it better be someone important or I swear! I walked over to the door and opened it to find someone that I wouldn't even expect. He explained to me what he was doing here and I began laughing. I don't think he liked it very much or understood why I was, but hell, I didn't care!

"Stand behind me," I said and she did. "HOLY SHIT! SHINO GET DOWN HERE!"

I was trying so hard to not laugh, it hurt. He lazily came down the stairs and saw that I wasn't trying to laugh. Once he came closer I moved out of the way and saw his expression; I was on the floor dying of laughter. I'm such a bad person deep down, but hey… it was hilarious! I didn't even expect this to happen and well, neither did he.