A/N

Hey guys! So this is a sort of one shot that decided to make itself present in my head. It's not necessarily in the Heroes au but you can think of it as something that happened before Heroes if you want. It can also be read separately so you don't need to read Heroes before. The timeline for this one shot is shortly after the beginning of Shippuden when Naruto returns to Konoha (after Sai joins team 7). Some stuff in this is canon some are not.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, its characters or its canonical events.

It hurts. He thought that after years of being in the same team they would have at least understood what not to say to avoid hurting his feelings.

I guess I was wrong.

It has been happening for years. Not just in his team but their supposed friend group at large. The thinly veiled look of disgust Sakura would throw him before 'subtly' moving seats so as to not sit next to him at gatherings. The way Ino shivered and looked everywhere but him when they were in the same vicinity. He couldn't understand why she was afraid of him if she had to tend to flowers daily. Plus there is the fact that her clan calls on his clan to assist in pollination.

It doesn't make any sense.

The way Naruto almost always forgets him. The way everyone talks over him when he tries to talk. It was frustrating. On numerous occasions he left gatherings without ordering anything. Simply because they talked over him then sent the waiters and waitresses away before he even had the chance to say anything. He resorted to eating before going because he still wanted to enjoy the company of his friends.

Can they even be called that?

He knew of all these things but he still held out a little hope that maybe they would eventually realise that he is there too. This however is the last straw.

Team 8 was currently in the training area going through exercises under the supervision of their sensei. Kiba's mistakes are glaringly obvious and could have been avoided but everytime Shino tries to give some advice he is brushed off by his teammates.

He knows he is not the most social person but he is trying. The explosion from an accidental triggered trap resounded across the training grounds along with Kiba's voice cursing up a storm.

"Kiba why don't you take a break and think about all the things you could have done differently?-"

"Shut up," Kiba growled back.

"It makes no sense for you to continue like this. Why? Because you will continue to-"

"BUG OFF FUCK DAMN IT!" Kiba shouted at Shino cutting him off.

"I-"

"Just BUZZ THE FUCK OFF ALREADY." Kiba growled pointing at Shino.

"Kiba- kun maybe you should be nicer about it." Hinata tried to pacify the dog nin, though the snort she tried to conceal was not missed by the Aburame.

"Kiba, Shino did nothing wrong so you can calm down." Kurenai sensei said to her hot headed student. Shino would have felt happy for someone taking his side if not for the amusement dancing across her face. Whether she found the squabble funny or Kiba's choice of words, he did not care. He was done.

"Ok." He offered in his signature monotone.

"Shino- kun maybe you should-

"Naruto is heading to the Hokage office if you wish to stalk him like the little stalker bitch you are. Hurry up and get out of my sight." He said with a glare towards his female teammate. She looked close to tears. Good.

"Shino,-" Kurenai started, amusement gone from her face.

So it's not funny anymore huh?

"Asuma- san is at Shikamaru's house playing shogi. You can go ahead and undress him with your eyes while he plays. At least it would be more entertaining for you don't you think." He cut her off. She looked hurt and guilty. Probably at finding his offense amusing in the first place. Not that it mattered anymore the damage was done.

"Oi! Who the fuck do you think you are?" Kiba, who had finally managed to get words out past his angry growls, marched right up to Shino.

Shino turned the deadliest most acidic glare he could muster at Kiba and delighted in the shivers he saw running down the spines of his teammates.

Probably won't be teammates after this.

"And you, shut the fuck up and never speak to me again." He said in the coldest voice he could.

The rest of team 8 was stunned. They have never seen this aura from their silent teammate. Nor had they ever heard him curse. Nor heard such a tone from him. Nothing was making sense.

Shino took in their stunned expressions before continuing,

"Now if you'll excuse me I will proceed to buzz the fuck off as you so kindly put it. And I don't want to see your faces again."

He turned his back on them and went on his way.

They were too stunned to do anything about it.

Shino left the training grounds and headed to a lake he knew was nestled between two training grounds near the edge of the village.

Finally reaching his destination, he opened the high collared coat covering his face and sat down on the ground with his back against the tree. The frustration and anger he had been feeling over the years had built up and now the dam was broken. Before he knew it, he was crying, sobs wracking his body. Some dark corner of his mind duly mocked the fact that the proud strong and stoic Shino Aburame had been brought to tears my the mere fact that he didn't have true friends but another part asked the more important question,

What's the point?

Neji finally managed to weasel his way out of team practice after hours of sparring with Gai sensei. He made his way to his favourite spot to rest for a bit before beginning his personal training on the surface of the lake.

On his way, he was approached by Shikamaru.

"Yo Neji, heading to your usual spot?"

"Yes. We can play shogi while I rest."

This meetup to play shogi started after that disaster of a mission to retrieve Sasuke. After being brought back from the brink of death, the Nara made it a habit to spend some time with him while he recovered. After he was released the shogi matches between them continued.

The two walked in companionable silence. Upon approaching the lake, they sensed the faint presence of someone. They approached cautiously since this place was near the edge of the village they could never be too sure. Activating his byakugan, Neji confirmed the identity of the presence they sensed.

"It's Shino."

"What's he doing all the way out here? Team 8 has team training right now."

"I don't know but from here he looks tense."

"Well let's go see what that's about."

They picked up their pace and approached their friend. Shikamaru knelt in front of him.

"Hey Shino, what's wrong?"

Shino was so caught up in his thoughts and trying to suppress his sobs, he was a little too late in realizing he had company. When he realized who the company is he went back to ignoring them.

It's not like they're gonna see me anyway. They'll just walk pass me like everybody else… Why did he have to leave me? What's the point?

"Hey Shino what's wrong?"

The question jarred him out of his thoughts. Surprised, he lifted his tear stained face to look at Shikamaru, kneeling in front of him with Neji standing behind him. He internally cringed at the sight of Neji remembering what he said to his cousin. Also remembering the question he was asked, he answered truthfully,

"Everything."

Shikamaru and Neji exchanged a look. They both sat and Neji hesitantly offered,

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Shino stared at the two infront of him.

"Why should I tell you? Do you even care? Why are you even here anyway? Shouldn't you be with your friends?

Shikamaru and Neji shared another look. That sounded like it was a lot to unpack.

"Well to answer your questions in no particular order, Neji comes here to train, I usually seek him out to play shogi. You don't have to tell us if you don't want to but we wouldn't be asking if we didn't care. That would be troublesome." Shikamaru answered while observing the shinobi in front of him.

Shino turned his head to Neji and asked,

"Would you still care to know even though I called your cousin a little stalker bitch?"

Shikamaru and Neji stared at the Aburame with dropped jaws. Shikamaru quickly recovered and before Neji could get angry, he asked

"What happened?"

Shino looked at him and asked,

"How many of the get togethers have I been to recently?"

"All of them." Shikamaru answered.

"What does that have to do with you saying such a thing to Hinata- sama?" Neji countered.

"How many times have I been ignored, talked over, scorned and disrespected among our group of 'friends'? Shino continued ignoring Neji's question for the moment.

"All the time." Shikamaru answered honestly.

"Neji and I may have been guilty of it too and we haven't even realised. On top of that we did not take into consideration how you may have been feeling about the matter especially since knowing about your deep insecurities of being forgotten we neglected to include you in activities and discussions. For that I am truly sorry." Shikamaru said while bowing to a dogeza position. Neji feeling guilty after hearing Shikamaru's apology realised he was guilty of that as well and promptly apologised in the same position as Shikamaru as well.

Shino was speechless. To think they would have admitted to it and apologised without coaxing or guilt tripping allowed another wave of usually suppressed emotions to wash over him. The tears came back. He doesn't know if it was because of the need to talk to someone right now or the fact that he had the chance to actually have a true friend but he accepted the apologies given to him and as they came up from the dogeza, he told them about how he has been feeling for a while. The frustration, the anger, the sadness, the loneliness, the hurt each time his own teammates, who he had classified as his best friends, said hurtful things or laughed at the hurtful things that were said. Told them about what happened at the training grounds earlier and how he snapped because he was tired of being the team's laughing stock. It all ended back to the main question he had been asking himself for a while now.

"What was the point? What was the point of him subjecting himself to that organization in my place, when i couldn't do the one thing he wished for me to do?"

"Who are you talking about Shino?" Neji asked. As far as he knew none of their friends knew much about the Aburame and now that he thought about it that was really sad.

"My brother."

"You had a brother?" Shikamaru was shocked at the revelation because as far as he knew, the Aburame was an only child.

"Biologically he's my older cousin but my dad adopted him when his father died so we became brothers." He took a deep breath and continued,

"Each clan has a department in the force where most of their shinobi are sent. The Yamanakas dominate interrogation, the Naras dominate intelligence and cipher corps, the Uchihas were the police, the Inuzukas dominate the tracking unit and while there may be Aburames in the tracking unit, the Aburame clan produces the village's best assassins. From the moment we are infused with our hives we are trained in the clans various methods of assasination. When we become competent enough with our hives we are trained to wield them for assassinations. Then once we pass the clan tests we are matriculated to ANBU. It is the reason why not many Aburames are sent to the academy. I was trained in the same way as all my other clan members but I guess I would be classified as a clan prodigy as I was able to accomplish things no other clan members had done before especially with my kikai. Eventually I captured the attention of the leader of ROOT. The same organization that new guy Sai is from. I was given the invitation to join before going to the academy. That meant I had no choice. If I refused they would have kidnapped me anyway. My dad knew but he still didn't want me to go. Torune, my brother stepped up and decided to go in my stead. He wouldn't have been able to go to the academy anyway so he told me to go instead and do the one thing he couldn't do, and that was to make a friend outside of the clan. I tried but I only ended up on the receiving end of the treatment that made the Aburames avoid the academy in the first place. So now I ask myself what's the point?" Shino finished with a bone deep exhausted sigh.

Neji and Shikamaru sat silently processing the information they were just given as quickly as they could. It made them feel even worse. Neji even forgave him for what he said about his cousin. They watched as Shino stood up, took off his green hooded overcoat revealing the high collared gray coat which they now knew was sleeveless. He took off his gray coat and headband and walked towards the lake in his iron mesh undershirt and gray shinobi pants. They watched as he completely submerged himself.

"I had no idea he was feeling like this." Neji sighed.

"Considering it is the nature of the Aburames to suppress their emotions I'm surprised he even let us see him cry much less told us what was bothering him not to mention he gave us his childhood story." Shikamaru responded.

The Aburame was interesting and now that they have had a little background information they would like to get to know the real Shino Aburame. The one that hides behind the coats and glasses.

"Well technically we just saw beyond the coats" Shikamaru snorted to himself.

Movement of water alerted them to the Aburame coming back.

Shikamaru stood up and waited for him to get back.

"I'd like to get to know you better. Not the stoic Shino that everyone sees but the real you."

"Likewise." Neji added standing beside the shadow nin.

"Friends?" Shikamaru asked, right hand outstretched. Neji reached out with his left hand and gripped Shikamaru's wrist. Both shinobi then looked at Shino.

The Aburame was again rendered speechless at the gesture. Quickly working out the handshake, he gripped Neji's wrist with his right hand while Shikamaru gripped his wrist. And with a genuine smile that rendered both boys speechless, he agreed.

"Friends."

A/N

So I know I said I was gonna wait until after my exams to update my other story but while studying this fic popped in and boom, procrastination. So hope you enjoyed it.

Until next time,

Cece.