A month later, Takeo had been moved to a secure facility far away from the village. They had gathered all the information they could out of him, now all that was left was to keep him under lock and key. After getting permission from the Hokage, Ibiki kindly shared the information he gathered from Takeo.
She sparred with Orochimaru as her thoughts ran through her head. He had agreed to continue to train her. Today he got her to place her name on a special scroll and was teaching her to summon a snake. On her first attempt, she had managed to summon it alright, but the normal sized snake smacked her hard enough in the head to knock her out.
When she opened her eyes again she saw her sensei standing over her with his arms crossed and his usual neutral face.
"You're kind of creepy to wake up to, you know that?" she said as she stood up.
"Would you rather I train you like this?" he transformed into Shino and removed his coat and shirt.
"Very funny, sensei."
"But I thought you'd love to train like this." he teased.
"Well if you're going to train me like that then I'm going to do this." Hanako transformed into what she thought he would look like as an attractive woman, and was dressed in a dark purple crop top and black short shorts.
"I see your point." he said as he transformed back into himself.
"Aw… You mean you don't want to train like this?" she teased.
"Not even a little."
Hanako laughed as she transformed back to herself.
"Now, that's enough fooling around. Let's get back to it." he instructed.
Later that night, Hanako laid in her hammock and looked up at the stars.
"How'd your training go today?" Shino asked as he landed on the balcony.
"It was good. The pace has slowed down now that we don't have a time limit."
"Do you have enough energy to go on a bug hunt with me?"
Hanako sprang from her hammock, threw her arms around Shino and planted a passionate kiss on his perfect lips. "I always have energy for you."
They stayed out till 2am hunting for bugs then laid on the grass together. Shino rolled on top of her and started kissing her passionately. She kissed him back with just as much passion. He quickly removed his coat and shirt. Hanako shifted under him as she did the same. Their passion continued and it wasn't long till they were making love under the starry sky.
They awoke with the sun rise and Shino gave her a loving kiss on her forehead.
"I love you." he whispered.
"I love you too."
After a bit of a silence, Hanako had a brilliant idea pop into her head.
"We should get Orochimaru Sensei a date."
"I'm sure he's capable of doing that on his own."
"Yeah I guess you're right." she let the idea drop.
That afternoon at about 3pm Shino and Hanako were cutting through the park across from the hospital on their way home when they heard a woman singing. They migrated towards the stage as they listened and were swept away by her beautiful voice. There was a sign on the stage that said "Kimi Hara" on it. They stayed and listened to her the whole time she sang. When it ended she gave a bow and everyone applauded.
""Thank you all. I came to share my voice with you and to share the joy I feel. This is also what I do for a living, so if you would be so generous and give whatever you can, it would be appreciated." The singer said.
Hanako dug into her pockets and dumped all the change she had on her into the jar that was just in front of the stage marked for tips. She was surprised when the singer came down off the stage to mingle with the fans. Hanako laughed as she saw Naruto ambush her then get a punch to the head by Sakura.
"We should go say hi." Hanako said.
"Alright."
Once Kimi Hara wrapped up her conversation with Naruto and his team, Hanako stepped forward.
"I know you probably hear this all the time, but your voice is amazing."
"Thank you. I'm Kimi Hara. What's your name?"
"I'm Hanako Shizaki and this is my boyfriend Shino Aburame."
"It's nice to meet you both."
"Is it alright if I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Is it hard to make a living off of your voice?"
"Sometimes, but I've been doing it since I was little so I've gotten used to it."
"With all of your travel do you at least know how to defend yourself?" Shino asked.
"Shino!"
"What? It's not that unusual of a question. Besides, a woman traveling alone is prime target for bandits and sexual predators."
"Shino!" was all she could say. Hanako knew that someone who didn't know him could easily take what he said the wrong way. "I promise you Miss Kimi he's not threatening you! He's just being forward!" she said trying to salvage the situation.
Hanako was confused when Kimi giggled.
"It's alright. I've learned to read people pretty well. I know he's not a threat."
Hanako sighed in relief.
"To answer your question Shino, yes I know how to defend myself."
"Care to pro-" Hanako slapped her hand over his mouth stopping him from continuing the question.
"That depends."
Crap it was too late she already figured out what Shino was going to say.
Shino moved Hanako's hand off of his mouth. "On what?"
"On what your reason is for wanting me to prove it."
"My reason is simple. You can never tell a person's strength by just looking at them. So since I can't tell your strength by looking at you I want to make sure you can keep yourself safe."
Hanako just stood there in shock of the scene that was unfolding in front of her. Was the singer seriously considering sparring with Shino?
"I like your answer. How about three days from now at 7am?"
"That's agreeable."
Shino drew her a map of how to get to the nearest training grounds, then they said goodbye to the traveling singer and started walking home.
"Was that really necessary?"
"Yes it was. Why? Because every woman needs to know how to defend herself."
"Yeah, but…"
"There is no buts about it."
Hanako wasn't sure where this was coming from, but she decided to not argue the point further.