Chapter 2. The First Meeting.

Buzzing was a constant for Shino, since his hive had first inhabited him he heard it. It was so familiar to the usually stoic teen that any change was noticed quickly and examined from every angle to determine whether or not it was good or bad. The many times this happened in the beginning it usually involved decisions about his personal life, or during the academy it would tell him who he should trust. One of these times was on the first day of the academy when he first started. He had woken up that day and heard the buzzing loud in his ears, his kikaichu picking up on his nervousness and anxiety and reacting accordingly, he quickly went through his morning routine, dressing swiftly in a large brown coat with a hood over a long sleeved white shirt, long dark blue pants with standard shinobi sandals, the last object he put on was his glasses, the dark circular eye pieces instantly coating his vision in a dark tint. Though Shino told most that he wore them for the hive he secretly wore them to become like his father Shibi, if any were to look at the two side by side they would swear Shino was simply Shibi in chibi form.

He quickly descended the stairs and came into the kitchen, though something was off. His parents were not up and he noticed that none of his clans people were milling about, it was at this time he decided to look at the clock. In stunned embarrassment he saw that the clock only read 4:30 A.M. which was roughly half an hour before his father would awaken and an hour and a half before he needed to leave for school, as a self-imposed punishment for his mistake he sat at the table waiting for his parents to come and find him. He was not disappointed.

Roughly five minutes before five his father walked into the kitchen, stopping for just a moment as he noticed his son at the table, he sat opposite him at the table, setting some papers down he looked toward his son waiting for him to meet his eyes. Shibi could wait out most, only ever losing to the Third Hokage, and that was after nearly 12 hours of silent Shogi before Shibi had to bid him goodbye, Hiruzen taking it as a win couldn't help but lord it over him. Coming out of his memories he saw his son slowly raise his head and their shade covered eyes met.

"…" Shibi slowly rested his hand on the papers and slid them away from him.

"…" Shino rested his hands in his lap and looked out the window.

It had been somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes of silence though Shibi was reading his small son like an open book. The looking away and hands in the lap showed him the unsureness of his son, the tapping of his fingers showed anxiousness and the slight straightening of his glasses showed self-consciousness. It didn't take a genius to figure out his son was worried about his first day, Shibi would give him another 20 minutes before he spoke as he did need to get work done.

10 minutes later Shino let out a small sigh, though his father did admire the half hour of silence he was able to withstand with him staring at his son, and rested his hand on the table.

"I am worried about the academy father." Shino said softly.

"Hmmm, I figured as much." Shibi slowly let out a beetle which flew to Shino and landed in front of him, Shino letting out one in turn they watched as the bugs examined each other and soon were crawling all across the table in a reminiscent scene of two dogs playing.

"You have nothing to worry about Shino." Shibi spoke comfortingly as he slowly started to read and sign the papers on the table.

"I am worried about how I will be perceived by my peers." Shino said slowly as he relaxed at his father's words, mentally scolding himself about being nervous.

"I had the same worries when I first started at the academy." Shibi briefly remembered the large room filled with teachers and students, shaking his head he released another kikaichu which crawled along Shino's hand, offering some form of comfort.

"How did you handle them?" Shino asked curiously and hopefully.

"My father came with me to the class and said something that encouraged me." Shibi said informatively.

"What did he say?" Shino looked up at his father.

"A colony that doesn't journey outward for food, will never survive." His father said pointedly.

Shino slowly nodded his head as his mother came in, kissing each of them on the cheek as she started cooking up a breakfast. Soon after the meal was done Shino said goodbye to his parents and set off for the academy, trying to remember the message within the saying.

'If I do not seek out social interaction and acceptance than I can never succeed.' The small child thought this over and over before he found himself in front of the school, slowly walking forward he saw some kids running before class, older children were practicing or running laps and some parents arriving with more children. Quickly finding a spot underneath a tree he spotted a small wasps nest in the trees branches, sending out a small insect from his colony he 'conversed' with the insects. Soon his quiet was interrupted by a shouting match from the entrance. Shino was facing away from the yelling and thought it best to not look over.

"GO AWAY NEE-CHAN!" He heard a high pitched voice yell.

"DON'T YOU TALK TO ME THAT WAY RUNT!" A feminine voice yelled back louder before he heard the sounds of struggling and thuds of punches and slaps before the yelling started again.

"FINE! JUST BE HOME FOR DINNER!" The female voice yelled before he heard the noises of the child making faces at her, thinking it over Shino went back to the wasps. Not paying attention he didn't notice the boy come over and drop himself on the other side of the tree mumbling about stupid girls and punching too hard. Shino slowly turned his head around the tree and saw a boy with small triangular marks on his cheeks in a parka and shorts. Shino observed a little before he heard the buzzing again, for what reason he didn't know and soon began investigating, maybe something had happened to the wasps? He looked up and found them fine so that wasn't it. He looked around to see if there were any threats and found none before he realized the boy around the tree was causing it and the buzzing was not negative but positive and curious. Remembering his fathers words he decided to act on this and spoke to the brunette.

"Hello." He said in his soft monotone.

"Gah!" The boy fell over and rolled away before looking at him confused.

"Ah…sorry about that. I didn't hear you come over here." The boy scratched his head and smiled embarrassed.

"That makes sense since you came here after me." The bespectacled boy said matter-of-factly.

The dog-like boy blushed at again being corrected before stretching out his hand.

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba! Nice to meet you." His smile was so big his eyes closed as he waited for the handshake.

Shino slowly took the hand and shook softly. "I'm Aburame Shino. It is nice to meet you Inuzuka-san." An Inuzuka would explain why he looked feral and the brawling, knowing what he did of other clans, the Inuzuka were known for bluntness and brashness, along with physical strength and tracking.

"Inuzuka-san? Don't be so formal Shino-kun, just call me Kiba." Did he just add the suffix kun? They have only known each other at most 5 minutes and already honorifics.

"If its okay with you Kiba…kun." He didn't know why but the title made his face feel hot, luckily his hood hiding his blush for the moment.

"There ya go, so you're part of the bug clan right?" Kiba asked innocently curious about his new friend.

"Not bugs, kikaichu." Shino corrected. "But yes I am the heir to the clan."

"What? No way! I'm the heir to the Inuzuka!" Kiba lightly punched Shino's shoulder realizing the similarity.

Before they could continue they heard their teacher Iruka call them to the doors, Kiba grabbed Shino's hand and dragged him along quickly not wanting to be late. Shino let him, realizing he didn't mind if the other boy touched him.

The first day was nerve wracking for Shino but he realized that he enjoyed the academy, he had made some contact with some other kids but the biggest success was with Kiba. The boy seemed to always be happy and full of energy. 'Almost as much as Uzumaki-san.' Shino thought absentmindedly. The boy dragged him everywhere and challenged whenever he could to outlandish competitions. During lunch an eating contest was suggested but Shino opted out as Kiba, Naruto and Choji ate out the cafeteria. Kiba came in last with Choji winning, though none were able to move afterwards.

Shino decided he liked the boy and wanted to be friends with him near the end of lunch. They were outside waiting for time to be over and just relaxing in the sun when Kiba jumped up and ran in a direction, Shino didn't mind, he probably had some energy to burn. What he didn't expect was for Kiba to come back with a small monarch butterfly on his finger, holding it to Shino.

"I caught this…for…you…" Kiba panted as the flying bug was apparently very good at evading him.

Shino stuck out his finger, the monarch hearing the buzzing of his hive crawled on and was met by a few drone beetles, examining the new specimen.

"Thank you Kiba-kun." This blush refused to stay quiet as he let the butterfly go where it wanted, which happened to be the top of his hood. Kiba snickering softly at the scene, Shino found that this was his first non-related friend. The buzzing grew louder and it seemed as if butterflies were in his stomach.

The day ended too soon for Shino and Kiba and they were soon separated by their respectful parents. Shibi took notice of his sons small smile and positive hive activity and deemed this a success as his son's first day, not hearing Kiba talk his sisters ear off about his 'new friend from the bug house!'.

Late that night after dinner, both of the small boys were in their rooms, each with a smile on their face as Kiba was trying to juggle wooden kunai and Shino was reading a book on the Inuzuka he had checked out from the library. Each thinking what they learned tonight would make their new friend happy tomorrow. Eventually both grew tired after the taxing day and laid down to sleep. Though they didn't know it they were both thinking about their friend and how they could still feel the others hand.

What pleased Kiba and confused Shino was that they each wanted to hold the others hand again and for even longer.

"Goodnight Shino-kun." Kiba muttered as he fell asleep hoping to make his quiet friend smile with his juggling.

"Goodnight Kiba-kun." Shino sighed as he went over the interesting facts about the Inuzuka, hoping to make his energetic and bright friend even happier with the things he had learned.

So this was the second chapter of Fault Them For Flourishing. I didn't know if I wanted to do another chapter after the first but I think I might continue this for a few more chapters, maybe doing one from the people's around them P.O.V. but that's off in the future.

Hope you guys like it and don't forget to read and review. I cannot grow without criticism.

Thanks for reading,

AkumaXHwaorang