An Expected Twist

Another week had passed by. There were only two things looking up in Shino's life right now... the first being that his Father would be back in two weeks. The second..? I refuse to admit that those masturbation jokes are true...

Well... there was one other thing. It wasn't anything major. Mainly a distraction. Hopefully, it would be a good distraction... That would be helpful. Very helpful. I might not do something I'll regret later. This hopeful distraction was why he was where he was; Standing in the Hokage's office.

He was waiting patiently, leaning against the wall over beside the door, hands stuffed in his pockets with his eyes glued to the wooden desk across from him. A mission... sure, an easy, C-level mission, but still... a mission. I haven't been on a mission in almost two monhs now.

The door slammed open, and he had to block his body with his arms. "Damn kid... late! Teenagers these days!" He pushed the door closed, stretching out his arm as he did; it twinged in pain. Tsunade jumped when the door slammed shut, and turned to look at him. "Ah! Shino! You are here!"

"Yes," he nodded, stepping forwards. In fact... you were the one who was late, Hokage-sama.

"Good... good..." she moved to her desk, moving scrolls and papers and books as she tried to find the information she needed. "Your mission... the information is right here... just... give me a minute to..." Scrolls, papers, and books alike all started to fall off of the desk as the Hokage got more and more frustrated, until only one scroll remained on the desk. "Aha!"

Shino rolled his eyes, and moved across the office to help Tsunade pick up her things from the floor; the first book brought the pain in his arm again. He flinched, and she noticed. "What did you do to your arm?"

"Blocked the door," he ignored the pain, picking up more of the heavy books and dropping them on the table; he reached down to pick up some scrolls, but the Hokage grabbed his arm to look at it.

"Hair-line fracture," she said boredly, healing it with her chakra. "Might still tinge for an hour or so, other than that, it's fine."

"Right," he took his arm back, stuffing his hand back in his pocket. "The mission..?"

"Here," she held out he scroll for him. "The son of a lord is coming here, and you get to show him around and make sure he's safe and what not... his name is Sasaki Yukio."

"Why not just send a Genin on this..?" he sighed, but took the scroll anyways.

"He specifically asked for you," Tsunade shrugged. "Maybe you know him...?"

Shino frowned, opening the scroll and looking at the details. "No... he's from the Hidden Snow Village. I've never been there, so I doubt I know him."

"Hn," she shrugged again. "Oh well, not my concern... make sure he doesn't kill you, and that no one kills him, and everything should be fine. He'll be at the gates in half an hour."

------

Hinata moved around her room sluggishly as she got dressed; it felt like execution day. Everything she wore, from the fishnets and shirt, to the boots and pants, were black. She even had a black to put on over top. But first, lets finish with these rediculiously fancy boots...

They had buckles. Not just two or three buckles up and down the side to keep it shut, but criss-crossing buckles that made her look more like a wannabe fashion model than the future Leader of the Hyuuga Clan... butthey werewhat was laid out for her. And not just stupid buckles... no, they have to lace up first! And underneath the buckles were a tiresome ammount of weaved leather twine, securely fastening the boots to her calves where the loose buckles failed.

It took almost twenty minutes alone to put them on.

When she was finally done, she stood up. The metal buckles clinked against each other as they fell into place, and she looked in the mirror at her reflection. Gah... I hate it. Who am I trying to impress? Shino isn't going to see me, so why bother..? Damn it! Thought about Shino again...

"Hinata-sama..?" Neji said on the otherside of the door. "Hurry up... Uncle wants to see you before breakfast."

------

It hadn't taken long for Shino to reach the gates... so he was mildly surprised to see someone already there. Walking up to the other boy, he stayed as quiet as possible and watched him from a nearby shadow.

The boy (it must be Sasaki Yukio... I have never seen him before.) was about Shino's height, maybe a little taller, with feathered blond hair that fell around his shoulders and into his eyes. He looked up at the sunny sky in wonder, soft blue eyes not used to such hot weather... but the weather didn't make him take off his heavy cloak or gloves, and Shino spied a glint of armour.

Might as well make my pressense known... "Sasaki Yukio?" The boy jumped, and turned to look at him.

"Shino-san!" he laughed. "You gave me quite a scare... you are Aburame Shino, correct?"

"Hai," Shino nodded. "And you are Sasaki-dono?"

"Pah, such formalities," Yukio waved dismissively, and Shino saw two guards step into view. "Please, just call me Yukio... well, show me around!"

"Do you know where you will be staying..?" He asked, turning to head back into the heart of the village; Yukio fell instep beside him.

"Yes, yes... but I'll deal with that later," he waved again, and Shino had to bite down on his tongue to keep from snorting. That's the second time he's waved in maybe sixty seconds... this will become very annoying, very fast. "I need to eat something! And meet the people here, of course... I plan to spend a lot more time here in the future."

"Of course," he nodded, and pointed to the first place he saw. "Yamanaka Flower Shop; the kunoichi Yamanaka Ino works there with her parents. She's talented, and can switch minds with you."

"Lets go say hi!" Yukio cheered, moving away and heading straight for the shop. Shino sighed, moving to follow. Oh yay... I'm stuck with a hyper blond for two weeks; it's like deja vu. "Ooo... pretty."

"A customer..?" He heard Ino's happy voice, glaring at the cut flowers for a moment before looking over at the counter; he was shocked to see Shikamaru at the til.

"Yes, yes!" Yukio said excitedly. "First shop, and it's the perfect place!" He hurried over to Ino, and the two blondes started chatting pleasantly. Shino rolled his eyes, and moved over to where the lazy-nin stood.

"Troublesome..." Shikamaru sighed, leaning against the counter.

"I have to deal with him all day," Shino countered. The shadow-master winched, feeling pity for him. "... is there some sort of perfume in here..?"

"One of the flowers gives it off soon after they're picked," Shikamaru explained. "Happens every years."

"Hn," it's too strong for even me... "I'm going outside. Make sure he knows." He grunted in response, and Shino walked back outside; Yukio didn't notice.

The air was fresher outside, and he took several long gulps of it before standing still to listen to everything happening around him. People were walking, a child laughed in the distance, birds chirped overhead, and-

"Sh-Sh-Shino?"

His heart stopped for a moment, and he slowly looked up; standing a few feet away from him was Hinata... she looked like she was dressed for a funeral, her long, hoodedcoat making her delicate features look frail. And Neji was there, too, half a pace behind her.

"Hinata..." he breathed; his heart started beating again, picking up a staccato rhythm. "I... what are you doing here..?"

"I'm... I..." she looked nervous. Why is she nervous..? She was so... confident last time I saw her. So sure of herself. Is she doubting what she said..? "I'm supposed to meet someone at the-"

"Hyuuga Hinata?" ... Shino couldn't stop his groan, and turned around to glare at Yukio as the blonde left the Flower Shop; he had a dozen, long stem roses in his arms. What is that for..? "Shino-san, now its my turn to introduce you to someone?"

"You know Hinata..?" He knows Hinata? How the hell does he know Hinata?

"Not yet, no," Yukio chuckled, moving around the Aburame boy. He handed the roses to Hinata, who blushed appropriately. "But she is soon to be my betrothed."