Disclaimer – the Naruto franchise is property of Masashi Kishimoto, and all fan made works related to the franchise are not meant to be distributed for profit.
Author's Note – here's the next update. Good to see that some of my readership from my first InoShino multi-chapter fic, Symbiosis (shameless plug alert!), have caught on to this one. I'll try my best to make this one different, but just as enjoyable.
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The Hokage's building was in sight once we had reached the main roads of the village. We walked together, Shino keeping a subtle distance behind me. He was only a few inches taller than me, but his stride was noticeably longer. I could see him from the corner of my eye, off of the reflection of the inside part of my glasses. He remained silent for most of the trip, as if he were pondering something, probably related to our situation.
If he was, I was thinking the same thing. Maybe Tsunade-sama would know what we can do about it. At first, it was simply – is 'simply' really the right word for it? – a problem of me mysteriously housing Shino's destruction bugs, but now it had escalated to his kikai literally choosing me as Shino's future spouse. I was shocked to hear about it from Shino's dad, but from the way Shibi-san was so serious talking about it, it seemed as if there wasn't anything that I could do about it. I've heard stories from the rain country of dekichatta kekkon, where the head of a noble clan forced a young shinobi to marry his kunoichi daughter due to pregnancy.
But the problem was that I wasn't even pregnant. Just out of the blue, the kikai moved into my body, and somehow concluded that I was "worthy" of being an Aburame bride. I may have saved Shino's life by unintentionally inheriting his swarm, but that didn't mean that I was in any way interested in him, particularly as a husband. This was all too confusing for me, and Shino's silence didn't help that fact. He just remained to my left and a bit behind, and continued to pace casually with his hands in his pockets, like he always had.
Finally, we arrived at the Hokage's office, and we were in her office, in her presence. Shino eyed the Fifth with a bold expression, the latter staring back with an equally intense glance. After a short moment, she sighed.
"Good to see that you're alright, Shino," She said. "The other shinobi from your team are still in critical condition. Our medic-nin are still working nonstop."
"Good to know." Shino said briefly.
"The mission was a failure then, I presume."
Shino regretfully nodded. "But now I'm facing a different situation."
The Fifth turned her head at me, and then back to Shino. "Ino too? Is there something you need to tell me?" Her eyes sharply narrowed as she shot a serious glance at him.
I immediately jumped in, explaining everything to her. I mentioned how it was around this time yesterday when I was pulled from my mundane duties at the hospital to help the medical staff deal with a large number of injured leaf ninja that had been brought in at once.
I then told Tsunade that my duties were to look after Shino, one of the victims of the incident. He was in stable condition initially, but his low levels of chakra caused his insects to eat away at his own body. In an attempt to restore him to normal levels, I tried to infuse some of my own chakra into him.
Then I went on to mention that I, as a result of trying to rescue Shino from his own bugs, inherited his entire nest of kikai in the process. As a related consequence, Shino was left without his bugs, and thus, more vulnerable as a ninja. I chose to finish my explanation with that main point, consciously omitting details about the kikai choosing me as Shino's wife, as that was less important than actually housing the bugs themselves.
Shino nodded in agreement to all the points that I had explained to the Hokage, finally speaking when I had reached the end of my explanation.
"I fear it may be related to the mission."
There was a dreadful silence that hung afterward between the two of them.
"I don't receive the mission report until later this evening," the Hokage said sternly, "but I trust that you have adequate details about what happened."
I stared quizzically back at them. Since when was I involved?
"Hai," Shino said, and turned to me. "Ino. Better you know about this now than later."
He began.
"Two weeks ago, we were sent to Earth Country to investigate a reported rumor regarding an invasion of the Leaf Village. Sometime during the third great Ninja war, the Kamiziru Clan, a clan of shinobi from the Hidden Stone Village, attempted to invade Konoha, but were repelled by the Aburames. The Kamizuru are best known as bee-users, much like the kikai-users of my clan."
He spoke with such seriousness; I was enthralled by the tone of his deep voice.
"According to the mission reports in the archives, the Kamizuru clan was significantly reduced in number as a result of that war. Their clan leader, the Tsuchikage, stepped down due to the shame the clan brought to the village as well. When our team met with an informant from the village, we were told that the Kamizuru had secretly grown in numbers over the years, and have re-emerged recently with the intent of reclaiming the title of Tsuchikage, possibly resorting to a coup d'état if necessary. That was as much information as we were able to get, as we were ambushed by Kamizuru immediately afterwards. We were able to retreat and meet up with a backup force, but the bee-users quickly caught up and simply overwhelmed both groups."
Shino began to sweat.
"They targeted me specifically, because I was a rival clan. They didn't injure me, but instead performed a jutsu that put a seal on my back."
He lowered the hood of his jacket, took it off, and lifted the back of his jacket and shirt, revealing a pattern drawn onto his lower left back. It was spider-like design enveloped by numerous circles and insignias. He lowered his shirt and jacket again, leaving his hood down. He turned to me.
"I am not sure if your situation is related to my own, and I'm sorry for not telling you this sooner, but I had to report to the Hokage about this."
He sighed. I wasn't angry at him for withholding that information, but I was content knowing exactly what was going on.
Tsunade nodded, and began to think. "Hrm…" After a moment of contemplation, she decided on a course of action.
"If what you say is true, Shino, then you need to find out a way to dispel the seal. Otherwise, Ino will have to live with her condition until this problem is solved."
We both nodded.
"Ino, Shino," Tsunade continued, "the strongest skill any shinobi needs to have is the ability to adapt. It may take days, months, even years, before the two of you return to your usual condition. But we don't have the time to wait for this situation to resolve. As Shino has already said, the uprising in the Hidden Stone may have dire consequences for our village in the future. We need as many shinobi as possible to help prevent a coup!"
She paused. She pondered with serious intentions in her mind.
"That is why," She concluded, "the two of you will be sent on a mission to gather intelligence about the Kamizuru clan. You might figure out how to dispel the seal that way, and we'll have enough information to properly stop their rebellion."
A real mission, eh? Sounds kick-ass!
The bugs vibrated inside me, and I felt that perhaps maybe they were just as excited about the mission as I was. It was about time that we were able to agree on something!
Shino grinned. He turned to me and said, "Ino. Let's go then." We both turned to leave the office, but were interrupted by the Hokage.
"Wait! One more thing." She said, "Shino, I'm not sure if it's against your clan's rules, but it would be in your best interest to teach Ino as much as much about the bug-using shinobi arts."
"Hai, Tsunade-sama."
"Good. And besides, it's probably not against the rules of the clan if she's going to marry into it anyways, am I right?"
She cackled. We both blushed, and disappeared from the room as fast as humanly possible. How the hell did she know?
I escaped into the hall, fuming. Shino trailed not too far behind me.
"Ino, wait up!" He reached out to my shoulder and held on to it with his masculine grip. I paused for a moment, fearing that I may clumsily fall over trying to resist his pull.
"What? Didn't you hear what Tsunade-sama said? Aren't you embarrassed as I am?"
Shino dryly chuckled, something that I'd never seen until now. He was calm, smiling in a sly manner that nearly reminded me of myself somehow. I couldn't help but smile back at him; somehow he had an immediate calming effect. Maybe it was his influence on the bugs inside me, which had not reacted too kindly to my internal mood swings.
"Yeah, it's awkward. But I don't feel bad at all. A bit flattered, even."
I looked back at him with narrower eyes, somewhat confused by his words. Flattered? Eh? Really?
"Hear me out."
We finally exited the building, and continued walking randomly throughout the village, eventually stopping at the Ichiraku stand.
"With all of us growing up together learning the ways of the shinobi," he said, poking his chopsticks into a bowl of pork ramen, "You've always stood out. Why? Because you're a skilled kunoichi. Definitely the most naturally talented one in our class."
I grinned like a childish girl. I always enjoyed praise from others, particularly Choji and Shikamaru back in the day. It had been such a long time since then, so I savored Shino's compliment, as well as those that followed.
"You're trying too hard to flatter me, Shino!" I squee'd, "But please, do go on!"
He laughed again. I've never felt more excited about a mission than now.
"Hmm…well…"
He became silent, contemplating with an alluring intensity.
"Just to let you know, Ino. It's true what they say, my dad and Tsunade, about the insects and marriage and stuff."
A drop of sweat ran down from the top of his forehead onto the bridge of his nose. Whether it was from the heat of the ramen in front of him or something else, I wasn't so sure.
"Well, I have to follow the clan tradition. But I'll do whatever it takes to see that you don't have to do something you don't want to do."
"Thanks Shino." I let out a heartwarming smile. Not the other kind that I used when I was younger to get Shika to do troublesome tasks for me. This was genuine happiness that I felt.
"No problem. Either way, with your looks and talent, you're definitely a girl worth marrying."
I felt an intense warmth surge through my cheeks. Slightly embarrassed, I looked around to make sure nobody could see my face as I heard those words. It felt nice. Even the bugs inside me began to scurry around in agreement. For some reason, I suddenly got used to the sensation of them as they moved about inside me. With or without them, I would have felt the shivers from under my skin either way.
"That's quite enough Shino," I said, grinning back, "save your flattery for later. You don't want to waste all your best moves on me when we haven't even started the mission yet!"
I was completely aware of what I was doing. I knew the game he was playing, and I was just as eager to play along. Maybe this arranged marriage thing isn't such a bad idea after all.
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Author's note – Yay! I'm really starting to enjoy writing this story, probably just as much as those of you who enjoy reading it. I wanted to add another event to this chapter, but the week was short due to Canada Day (I'm Canadian eh?), so I'll leave it for the next update. On a related note, happy Fourth of July to everyone in the United States!
See y'all next week!
