ok...chapter two is here! Also, I thought I'd bring it to you guys' attention that this story's pretty short, only 6 chapters, and it was mostly made of boredom. I love it though. It was so fun to write!

Aki found a sheltered place under the canopy of a few trees that would help to hide them from the view of their enemies. Gently, she laid Shino down and began to softly wipe the blood off of his headwound.

"Aki..." He murmured softly in a whisper that made her heart race.

She looked down at him in surprise. "Shino, hey!"

"Aki, what's going on? Where's---ah!" He went to sit up, but he cut himself off with a cry of pain. He reached up to clap his hand to his head, but Aki grabbed his wrist before he could.

"Don't, Shino, you're hurt!" She exclaimed. Then, as she realized that she was almost holding his hand, she blushed and laid his hand down gently.

He tried to sit up further, but the pain made him pause halfway up. Aki's hand, instantly on his back, supported him there and helped him to sit up further when he was ready.

He looked up at her and appeared slightly startled. She immediately realized what was going on and took his glasses out of her ninja bag. "Here. They fell off when you fell down."

"Thanks." He took them back quietly and put them back on. "Now...what's going on, Aki? Where's Neji? And where are those rogues?"

"He went home to get us help. We're sort of at a disadvantage here...they've got any number of fighters ready to attack us as soon as Neji slips away from them. Right now, Neji's probably a quarter of the way home, and the rogues should be following him, if everything's going according to plan."

He sighed unfathomably, then looked up sharply. "Why didn't you and I go with Neji?"

"He's a lot faster than me, and you're in no condition to travel."

Shino bristled a little at that. "I'm perfectly capable of traveling." To prove his point, he started to stand up.

"Shino, no, wait! I didn't mean it like--Don't! I believe you, just don't try to stand up! You'll hurt yourself!"

He struggled to his knees. This was a matter of pride now, and Aburame Shino never backed down when it came to defending his honor.

"Shino!" Aki was getting a little frantic now. "Please, don't!"

He lifted a foot slowly and placed it on the ground, bending his knee.

"Shino, please!" Aki felt ready to cry, and her heart was in her throat. She was sure that something terrible would happen if he tried to stand. "Shino! Please!"

He paused, but then, slowly, began to lift the other leg. He leaned heavily on his right leg as he struggled to get his left up.

"Why are you doing this, Shino? I know you can do it! You don't have to prove anything to me, if that's what you're trying to do!"

He paused longer this time and opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, but he shut his mouth and began to stand. Although his knees wobbled, he managed to stay up for a second or two, although, when he did, he swayed unsteadily as he stood there. Then, his knees buckled and he fell backwards.

Aki's eyes widened. 'If he hits his head again, especially right now---!'

She cut off her own thoughts by diving forward and catching Shino in her arms. She was sitting on the ground with her left knee supporting his back. His neck was resting against one arm, and the other was around his abdomen. She blushed at how she was holding him and hoped that he wouldn't notice. She didn't quite get her wish, though.

He looked up at her face to speak to her. "Thanks, Aki, for catching---"

Shino broke off there and passed out again. Aki sat still for a minute with him in her arms, staring at the dark-haired shinobi that was silent unless he was spoken to or unless he made an observation. She wondered what went on behind those dark glasses and what expressions were revealed to the person lucky enough to see into the deep eyes behind them. Then, she wondered what she was going to do.

'He's obviously injured...and it looks like it might be a head trauma from the way it was hurting him. God...I hope not...if that's the case, we're totally fucked. Poor Shino...if he dies...no. I won't let that happen.'

She went back to cleaning his wound off. Once the blood was gone, she saw that it wasn't as bad as she had thought. She sighed in relief, bandaged it crudely, and pulled out a kunai to prepare herself if they should choose to attack. She rested a little at first though, knowing that she had about a day before they would be on their way back.

At first, for a while, Aki sat cross-legged beside his right shoulder, her back against the tree, watching him. 'Shino...what goes on behind that emotionless exterior? I'd love to know...I really would. You're not creepy, like Naruto likes to say. You're definitely not a jerk, like Kiba says, and you're totally not as much of a wimp as Neji insinuates. But...you're so quiet...I can never know for sure what you're thinking. It's so hard to tell if...if you like me or not.' Here, she began to blush, but it faded, replaced by a saddened and confused look. 'It's really hard for me to tell if I annoy you, or you find me amusing, or if you care at all either way. I really, really wish I knew, Aburame Shino.'

She sighed. Then, she noticed that he was looking pale.

"Oh, shit!" She didn't know what was wrong, but she knew by the greenish tint to his skin that it was bad. She prodded him with her chakra carefully, exploring his body to find the problem. As she did, she realized that the bugs were eating his chakra to the point of tapping into his life force. Then, she realized what that meant for her. "Oh, shit...I'm going to have to...damn it!"

Slowly, Aki took hold of his hand. She spread her chakra into him, drawing the bugs out of him and into her. She wasn't prepared for the pain she felt as the bugs crawled into her skin after her chakra, and she gasped aloud. "Agh!" She cried as they crawled through her veins. "Shino, how can you stand it?!"

He didn't answer, but she hadn't expected him to. "Jesus! This is horrible! Agh! No wonder he's physically weak...it hurts just to move!"

Finally, as the bugs settled down inside of her to feed on her chakra pores, the pain lessened and Aki was able to stand. As she felt the bugs eating away at her chakra, she began to wonder just how Shino did it. She had stored a small amount of chakra away from the bugs, just in case the rogues would show up early, and she was glad now for the precaution. At the rate the bugs were going, her chakra would be gone by the next day.

She looked down at Shino, grimacing painfully as she got used to the bugs. "Shino...wake up soon, ok? I need you."

Then, she pulled out a kunai and set herself into attack mode.

About 6 hours later, it had grown dark. Aki sighed to herself, knowing that they wouldn't attack until morning. She sighed in relief, realizing that she would have one night less to worry. She also realized that it would be getting cold and, too late, remembered that Neji had the tent.

"Damn it!" She growled.

An hour or two later, she was huddled against the tree, shivering. She looked over at Shino and saw him shivering as well. While she was watching, though, he woke and started to sit up.

"Shino, wait!" She called. She knelt down next to him and helped him to sit up. "There...you got the idea...just take it slow, nice and easy."

He managed to sit up mostly on his own. He began to shiver. "Aki, what's going on?"

"Neji's got the tent. He should be close to Konoha now." She didn't mention that they had about a day before Neji would be on his way back.

He nodded, then shivered again. "It's so cold..."

She had never heard Shino's voice with emotion in it at all. She couldn't figure out if it was because he trusted her or because of his headwound, but either way, she didn't mind. Instead, she sighed. "Come on, I'll help you get over to the tree. It's warmer over there."

She ducked under his arm and helped him to his feet. Once he was up, however, she barely let him do any work at all. She helped him to sit down against the tree, and she sat down next to him.

When she thought about it later, she could never really remember exactly why she did what she did next. She later assumed that her brain was half-frozen. But, whatever the reason, five minutes later, Aki grabbed Shino's wrist, lifted his arm, placed it over her shoulders, and snuggled in against him, sliding in so close that their hips were touching.

He looked down at her in what could've been surprise, shock, embarrassment, or happiness. "What the hell?"

She looked up at him, ignoring a profound sense of embarrassment that arose within her as she tried to justify her actions. "I'm cold. You're warm."

He nodded as if this were perfectly normal, then tightened his grip on her shoulders. She immediately blushed. 'If that's not a sign...well...it might not be. I mean...I'm the one that put his arm there...it could be that he's just cold.'

Just then, he rested his head against her shoulder. "Do you mind, Aki?"

She blushed and swallowed, hardly able to believe what was happening. "N-no."

He sighed. "Good."

Then, he fell asleep.

She sat awake, her heart pounding inside her chest, knowing that she couldn't sleep even if she wanted to. Number one, a small attack force of rogue ninjas was coming after them. Number two...she had just gotten a BIG hint as to how Shino felt about her.

Well guys, that's the second chapter! I know it's kind of shallow, but after all, they're just teenagers. I figured I could play that up a little. :D

Read and review!!!!

BlackDragon333, out.