Chapter Three:
Sakura had returned late that night, she was so excited for the next day, she couldn't wait to see all her friends in the exams. She could barely sleep. The next morning couldn't come fast enough for her. She was the first of her friends at the arena. She waited outside, waiting patiently for everyone show up. She decided she mine as well get a head start on her reading. There was a book which she was dying to dive into since she got back. Although to others it may have seemed very stupid to want to read a medical book but to her it was fascinating.
She took a seat and began reading. Only a few minutes had passed when she noticed a small beetle on the ground beside her leg. She smiled and closed her book and placed her hand down on the ground, picking up the tiny insect.
"What are you doing here buggie-san?"
She giggled as the bug ran in circles on the palm of her hand. Little did she know that a certain but a certain bug dweller was watching her intensely from a top a tree branch. He smiled down at the girl who held his bug in her hands. She was so preoccupied with the bug that she didn't notice the bug dweller had jumped down and stood in front of her. He cleared his throat,
"Welcome back Sakura."
She looked up at him a bit startled by his sudden appearance. She simply smiled up at him,
"I should have figured this lil guy was your friend."
She said as the little one on her hand stopped walking and just sat on her finger tip. She smiled as she lifted her hand up, letting the bug go back to his master, but the little bug just stared between both Sakura and Shino, he just stayed on her finger. Shino chuckled slightly while adding,
"I think he likes you…"
He stated with a smile, he walked over beside Sakura,
"May I?"
He questioned as he motioned for him to sit. She smiled and nodded,
"Of course."
He smiled and sat beside her.
"How was your mission Sakura?"
She didn't smile like she had before, she looked down at the bug in her hand with a frown on her face,
"It didn't really go as planned, a lot of stuff happened that we hadn't planned on…"
Shino just stared at her, he could feel how much that mission had drained her, emotionally. She looked so sad, he felt bad for bringing it up. He placed his hand on her shoulder, she was stunned, she turned to look at him and could feel how sad he was,
"Don't worry about it Sakura, everyone has a bad mission every now and then."
She smiled up at him, her cheeks turning a slight shade of pink. He smiled at her, lightly taking her hand in his,
"I am positive that you did everything you could to help out your team…"
She smiled up at him, the bug had perched itself on top of their entwined hands.
"Thank you Shino…"
She stated with a smile, face still pink. She took his hand in both her hands, raising them to her face, Shino sat beside her, it was now his turn to get red. She turned his hand over in hers, running her fingers over his palm. He just stared at her, she trailed her finger along a small opening on her palm, when she did that a few of his insects were attracted to the sudden change in chakra and appeared. She smiled down as the bug which was on her hand rushed to rejoin its friends. She giggled as she said good bye to the little one. With that she smiled at him and was about to say something else when she heard someone approach. She smiled and stood up as she saw Kiba, Hinata, Naruto, and Kakashi. Sakura smiled as Naruto rushed towards her.
She laughed as he picked her up in a huge hug. He was always the hugging type. She had to admit she missed him. Shino stood up as his teammates walked over to him, Kiba couldn't help but laugh,
"So you trying to put the moves on? It's been a month."
Shino simply shrugged, he and Hinata exchanged their hellos. He embraced Hinata slightly, he had missed her, she was like a sister to him, she was one of the few people he had really connected with. He never had any romantic feelings for her, not that she would care much for him since her sights have always been on Naruto.
He smiled as they were all ushered inside. Everyone was excited to get this going. Shino was beyond nervous, he wanted to show Sakura that he was strong, that he had the potential of being a great prospect in the world of the ninja. He knew that Kiba wasn't about to let up on him. He just kept avoiding, he stood at the top of the balcony as everyone sat down in the bleachers. He couldn't wait to prove that he was worthy of her.