"Slick," Kiba said knowingly, just low enough that Hinata couldn't hear, and if she did, he would have played it off as gesturing to the frosted ground below them that nearly crunched with every step they took to their training grounds. When she didn't turn around from that comment, he knew he could continue with relative secrecy.
"So it went well?" Kiba whispered conspiratorially to his comrade. "She wore your jacket, that has got to be a plus," Kiba tried to extract the information that the Aburame was very unwilling to share. He nearly had to beat it out of him that he was interested in her to begin with, and that was only after he had painstakingly got him drunk the one and only time Shino consumed alcohol.
Shino only gave him a frown to show his dissent towards his interrogation methods.
"She gave it back," he concluded the inevitable defeat that it was a mission fail.
"So?" Kiba butted-in undeterred by his eternally pessimistic friend, "but you offered and she accepted, she could have denied it to begin with, but she didn't. She took it, which means something."
"I didn't offer it to her, I put it on her without permission," Shino corrected him, and Kiba almost deflated at the conclusion. "She took it off right away?" Kiba was stroking his chin in thought as to a new strategy for his friend.
"She did not; she wore it for a while, and then took it off when I announced your arrival."
"She didn't take it off right away?" Kiba brightened at the news considerably, and continued on with great enthusiasm, "That's good! What is your plan for tomorrow?"
"I am not consulting you with my personal affairs Kiba," Shino explained with great annoyance in his voice.
"You don't have a plan." Kiba interpreted the ridge-standing shinobi's words.
"Not a clue." Shino supplied in a weary tone, making his way over to Hinata to give her one of her kunai that he had somehow gotten mixed up with his. This made it also seem like he wasn't ignoring her on purpose to talk to the Inuzuka.
Casually making his way back over to Kiba by way of feigning interest of Akamaru, he asked with almost instantaneous regret, "any suggestions?"
Kiba rummaged through his backpack for the day searching for his water bottle and med pack. "Ok, what about having one of your bugs tickle her foot or something? She might freak out and swat at it, but it might be worth the conversation that it stirs."
"Did that on accident already today," Shino pretended to search his inner pockets again to seem preoccupied as he inhaled her pleasant scent once more before taking out a salve and handing it to the dog-nin.
Kiba was totally on board with looking unprepared for sparring to buy a few moments of conversation before they continued for hours without a word on the subject.
"How did that go?" He kept his voice concerned for his friend and not curious, although Shino was sure that it had to be a mixture of both.
"Not sure," Shino considered weather or not that was a disaster. He hadn't meant to glance so lecherously at the more-than-he-imagined-well-endowed and sexy konoichi, and she hadn't killed his bug, so he would affirm that it went relatively well considering it had not been planned. "Not terrible," he provided after Kiba gave him a disconcerting look.
"She kill your bug and/or revile you?" Kiba asked as he raised an eyebrow and handed a shiriken to the bug-user.
"No."
"Then it you count that as a win," Kiba stood up from his squat on the ground and smiled a toothy grin to his friend. They crossed their way to the training grounds where Kuranai was chatting affably with Hinata, ready to begin the days training.
o.o.o.o.o.o.0.0…o.o.o.o.0
Tenten was in a mental debate with herself over weather or not to wear a jacket. She rummaged through her closet and fingered the one pink one that had fit her a year ago, but no longer. She really didn't have anything suitable enough to be presentable when she was actually trying to impress a boy. She also didn't want to look stupid not wearing one, as she was clearly told yesterday to do just that. Today was marginally less frigid than the day before, so she could chance going without, hoping to go out later and purchase something suitable before the first snow storm. Finding a moment to do so might be tricky, but she would just have to eat up some of her sword polishing time in order to accomplish the task. She refused to give up her meditation slot, as it was the only thing at this point keeping her lucid and not throttling all of the male shinobi that made up her team. Running out the door for fear that she might not be early enough to catch Shino alone at the Hyuga complex, she realized that a jacket could be reasonably optional and might not look as foolish as she had initially thought.
He was riffling through his breast pockets when she approached, obviously searching for something with great concern.
"Good morning," he offered and ceased his search in lieu of focusing his attention on her. She felt quite pleased at this, but also felt that she had interrupted something she shouldn't have.
"Good morning," she tried her best not to blush from the sudden attention, "did you loose something?" She hoped her tone was more curious and not accusatory of him being irresponsible as a shinobi or feckless in any way.
"I seem to have misplaced my whet stone," Shino provided with an even tone.
Tenten nearly smiled. This was definitely her department. She took a step back, giving the frown on the Aburame's face little attention as she withdrew a scroll from her pouch, bit her thumb and slammed it into the surface summoning her provisions.
Thumbing through a few, she found one that she thought was best suited for him and handed it over to him with a smile of triumph. Entrapping the rest of her supplies, she stood up victorious as the goggled shinobi looked over the stone with approval.
"Thank you," he replied sincerely, placing the stone within the confines of his jacket and if Tenten wasn't hallucinating, she could almost see a small upturn of the corner of his mouth as he looked on her with gratitude.
"No problem," she waved off the gesture with a shrug of the shoulders, "anytime." At her last statement she involuntarily shivered as an icy gust of wind swept through the compound, and she was wishing perhaps that she had gone with the undersized pink jacket instead of nothing to cover herself up with.
"Here," she heard the Aburame speak softly as he shuffled out of his jacket and place it gingerly on her shoulders.
"Thanks," she lifted her head to smile at the more exposed boy, trying not to make it obvious that she was enjoying the smell of the jacket too much.
"Anytime."
Another long brush of wind had Tenten closing her eyes and thinking warm thoughts, and she swore under her breath that she would have to find the time today to find a proper coat. Though the thought of constantly borrowing his did appeal to her, she new this was probably the last time before she got reprimanded again.
"I just haven't gotten around to buying a new jacket," she confessed sheepishly trying to hide the tinge on her cheeks with his large lapels. He stood what she considered contemplative; perhaps dumbfounded that she had no proper attire for such harsh elements.
"That is an easy remedy," he spoke kindly to her as he advanced forward. "You can keep mine until you purchase one." He walked with great intention to her, and he was too far in her personal space to be considered polite. Slowly he moved to open the jacket and Tenten's eyes were locked onto his goggles, as if waiting for him do something even more bold than the incredibly daring move he just made. He slipped his hands inside and Tenten was almost expecting him to move her closer to him, and she could no longer take the suspense and quickly closed her eyes and held her breath, waiting for the contact that never came.
"I just have to remove my belongings from the pockets," he explained and she could feel the tug on the material as he pilfered his things from the hidden compartments. Her eyes shot open, and she was sure her embarrassment could be seen on her face as he slowly removed the contents of the pockets and placed them in his hip pouch. She was all too aware of his warmth and chakra as he was merely less than an inch away from touching her, the thrum of his hive a more prominent noise, and it nearly paralyzed her with a rush of heat that was quickly becoming addictive. He really needed to overstep his boundaries with her more often. All too soon he was finished and moving his intense heat away from her, and she had wished that they could linger just a bit longer as close as they were, if not closer. Shino turned his direction to the corner of the main house, where Kiba was rounding it with Akamaru nipping at his heels.
After the exchange of good mornings, Kiba nonchalantly reminded Tenten that it was lucky that Shino has so many jackets to spare, and that Hana would be more than willing to shop with her for a new jacket. Tenten was grateful to his response that seemed to come out of the blue, but she remembered that she had run into her only yesterday to discuss possibly making a run to the marketing district to purchase much needed winter clothes. She had always been close to that particular Inuzuka; they seemed to click together where Sakura and Ino seemed all too girly for the Weapon's Mistress to form any kind of bond.
When the others had arrived, Tenten realized that he repeated the information again, so as to not cause awkwardness to her as to why she was wearing the Aburame's jacket in a self-conscious display of unwanted attention. Neji raised a disapproving eyebrow at her, and Lee only shrugged his shoulders, having no idea why it might be a big deal in the first place if Shino had so many to spare to begin with. It only left the bug-nin slightly put out for the day anyways.
The teams parted ways again, and Tenten was silently thanking her lucky starts that things had gone so smoothly.
.0o.o.o.o.o….o.o...0
Kiba fought turning around to view his handiwork and amazement at how the plan to get Tenten to wear his coat had actually worked.
"Damn, you are good," Kiba praised his friend, even though the credit for such machinations belonged to himself. Hana mentioned to their mother yesterday evening about steeling the beloved konoichi and taking her shopping for winter attire. He formulated the lack of whet stone as his first alternative, knowing very well she would have one on her, letting the jacket be a bonus and huge win if he could manage to pull it off. Apparently, it was well worth the risk.
"I owe you many thanks, that went better than expected," Shino replied to his friend showing him a smug grin that complimented the feral one his comrade was giving in toast to their devious schemes. Akamaru joined in the celebration by barking with enthusiasm as they trekked their way to the training field.
