Wow I've been absent awhile! Just a little ShinoTen fic to get me back into writing... thanks to Snowsong and IR for their encouragement on this! :)
This was probably a very bad idea.
Shino stared at the door in front of him. It was rather unassuming as far as doors went, painted a somewhat cheerful shade of blue that was beginning to show signs of wear. Near the handle, a grasshopper was sunning itself in the remains of the afternoon sunshine, a Chorthippus Parallelus if he was not mistaken, one of the more common varieties found in Konoha. His hand was raised in the act of knocking but he hadn't quite got there yet...
Forget the probably, this was a very bad idea.
Still, cataloging the doors condition and surroundings in great detail wasn't exactly changing it in any way. He should either knock and go through with it or leave and deal with the consequences later.
His raised fist clenched tighter as he struggled to come to a decision.
Suddenly, the door was wrenched open and Shino found himself looking into the rather confused face of the house's occupant.
"Oh you're here! Great, I was starting to think you weren't coming."
The sudden smile that lit up Tenten's face still made his stomach clench and turn in a decidedly odd manner. And that was both the reason why this was a bad idea and why he was here in the first place.
Somewhat awkwardly lowering his hand and tucking back into his pocket, Shino nodded in greeting.
"Well come in then"
Standing back she motioned him inside. He noticed she already had a rather lethal looking pair of scissors in her hand... long bladed, silver, most definitely capable of drawing blood especially in the grip of someone like Tenten. It set him even more on edge and it was only be sheer force of will he suppressed a nervous twitch when she slammed the door shut behind him.
"Take off your jackets."
Shino turned to stare at her in alarm.
"...no."
She huffed, one hand on her hip, the other brandishing the scissors at his face in a way that made him feel mildly uncomfortable.
"Shino, I can't see half your hair, let alone cut it! At least take off the green one and...I don't know...fold the collar of the other one down or something."
Deciding that antagonising the weapons expert when she was wielding a bladed instrument directly in front of him wasn't the best of plans, Shino wordlessly slipped out of his overjacket.
It felt strangely exposing. Even though intellectually he knew he'd worn less than this in front of people before, the very act of taking off any form of clothing in front of a female...an attractive female...made him nervous. And he hated being nervous.
Folding his jacket neatly and placing it on the hall table, he reluctantly followed Tenten into her kitchen.
It was slightly bigger than he would have expected from a non-clan building in the middle of Konoha and had the look of just having been hastily tidied. She had pushed the table to one side and set a lone chair in the middle of the room, the floor around it covered in newspapers.
To Shino, it looked uncomfortably like an interrogation set-up.
He wasn't sure why he was unconsciously waiting for some kind of ambush or attack... though it probably had something to do with how unexpected this situation was. When Kiba had begun to tease him mercilessly about the fact that Konoha's only barber refused to serve him (on the basis he was an Aburame) he had hardly expected Tenten to react as she had. He had known Team Gai were a rather physical team, he'd seen her shaking and sometimes punching her teammates on numerous occasions but he hadn't expected her to turn around and score a direct hit on of his.
Then she'd marched over and offered to cut his hair herself. He'd been taken back but after a slight pause had agreed, he could see the gesture was kindly meant and Tenten was...well... she was...
The prospect of spending time alone with her was very appealing.
Now he was cursing himself for agreeing without thinking things the whole way through. This was why he hated acting on impulse.
Obviously getting impatient Tenten grabbed his arm, towing him insistently into the room. Their footsteps crunched loudly on the newspaper.
"I've got everything set up... scissors, towel, chair, comb... I couldn't get a mirror but that's because my only one is very firmly attached to the wall in the bathroom. So firmly in fact trying to remove it kind of cracks the wall a little. So I guess you'll just have to be surprised!"
Reaching up she placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed him down into the chair. He tensed for a moment, almost resisting, before allowing himself to be guided into the seat...this he wasn't particularly comfortable with either. When he was standing he towered above Tenten's petite frame, giving him a psychological advantage, now he was forced to look up at her making him feel even more uncomfortable.
With one finger she hooked his underjacket collar, tugging on it playfully.
"I thought you were going to fold this down?"
Before he could answer, she began working on unclasping the little hooks that held it together. This was...even more agitating and he had to remind himself rather sternly that she was not actually undressing him.
Tenten unclipped the third hook and her fingertips accidentally grazed the skin she'd uncovered. Shino swallowed hard, his adams apple bobbing erratically.
She pushed his collar down flat against his shoulders, making his neck feel cold and exposed.
"Right! Let's get started!"
Producing a towel with a dramatic flourish she wrapped it around his shoulders, tucking it in.
"Have you cut hair before?"
In retrospect that was probably a question he should have asked earlier.
"Not really, except my own...but how hard can it be?"
Shino consoled himself with the fact that should he end up sporting some ridiculous monstrosity of a haircut at least no one would think it odd he was keeping his hood up constantly. So long as she didn't accidentally cut off his ears he'd be fine.
Tenten reached up and slid his headband off, fingertips moving briefly across his temples. His eyes squeezed shut, enjoying the sensation of her slightly calloused fingertips against his skin a little too much.
Yes, this had really been a bad idea.
She started to comb his hair, muttering at how much force she had to use to get through it.
"Jeez, you have enough hair for three people you know that?"
To illustrate her point Tenten dug her fingers into his hair, fingernails scraping his scalp a little. He was utterly unprepared for the jolt of electricity that seemed to make it's way down his body. She was still complaining about his unruly hair but he was no longer listening instead concentrating all his energy on stifling the gasp that had been trying to make it's way out of his mouth.
"You're not going to like this..."
Her voice almost took him by surprise but he recovered quickly, shooting her a questioning look. In response she reached out and tapped the lens of his goggle with her fingernail. The soft ting sound echoed in his ears.
"No."
Tenten frowned, leaning away from him. He found himself irrationally annoyed at the distance she'd just put between them... as ludicrous as it was, he felt like she knew he'd been enjoying the closeness and was chastising him by moving away.
"Unless you want a big line of uncut hair, you're going to have to!"
He already felt metaphorically naked in front of this woman... now she was demanding he bare more, which seemed utterly unfair.
She got fed up of waiting and leaned towards him, hand out-stretched,
"Oh come on Shino it's not..."
He caught her wrist, jerking it reflexively away from his face. Caught off-guard by the movement from the until-now passive Aburame, Tenten fell forward. Using her free hand she managed to catch hold of his shoulder which just about prevented them from ending up in a heap.
"No."
Her grip tightened on his shoulder and her eyes narrowed.
"Hey! Why're you being such a...a...unco-operative jerk! I'm just trying to help!"
Shino felt strangely exhilarated. It was probably some primitive part of his brain misinterpreting her flushed face, accelerated breathing and flashing eyes as...something else. Which was probably understandable considering she was practically sitting on his lap.
He took a shaky breath and her glare softened marginally.
"Why're you so nervous?"
A flush suffused his face... he was extremely apprehensive about the idea of taking off his glasses true but at the moment he was rather more distracted by the attractive girl practically straddling him, leaning towards him a sweetly concerned look on her face, lips parted temptingly...
He looked away, needing to tear his eyes away before he did something he'd really regret. But no sooner than he'd turned his head than Tenten took hold of his chin and pulled his head back to face her again. Startled by the touch of her hand and already on edge, Shino's arm jerked, accidentally pulling her closer.
Better try and explain things before she got really angry or he got too distracted...
"Without my glasses I am...somewhat incapacitated."
Tenten tilted her head in a speculative look, twisting her wrist to loosen his grip slightly.
"What do you mean?"
"A side effect of the kikkai. My vision is bad and I am extremely sensitive to bright lights."
His lips thinned as he admitted weakness. He was certain his clan would be not be pleased with him... no one outside of the medical profession in Konoha knew about the Aburame's weak spot, as was sensible for a ninja clan. By telling Tenten he'd broken one of their unspoken rules.
"Oh... I didn't know."
"I would appreciate it if you did not tell people. Why? It is often a fatal mistake for shinobi to allow others to see their weakness."
She nodded, then reached out with her free hand...
Shino caught it, frowning. Tenten huffed her annoyance,
"Look Shino, I get it okay? There's some slim chance I'm an enemy ninja under a genjutsu, whose sole purpose is to relieve you of your glasses and take advantage of a weakness I'm pretty sure hardly anyone knows you have..."
Wrenching her hands out of his grip, she cut him off as he started to reply, sitting back on his thighs so she could look more clearly into his face.
"Firstly, why would they pick me to impersonate? We hardly know each other, they'd be far more likely to go for Kiba or Hinata! Secondly, why set up something as complicated as this? Why not just drag you down an alley and off you? Thirdly..."
"...it would be ineffectual anyway as my kikkai can see through genjutsu."
Her eyes narrowed and Shino wondered what he'd said wrong.
"So there's no way it would be an enemy anyway? So you just think I'm likely to spontaneously decide to slit your throat with my scissors for no apparent reason?"
There was only one way out of this, as little as he liked it.
With a sigh Shino reached up and pulled off his goggles.
He really disliked being without them, his vision was so blurred that he had to rely on the kikkai's eyesight which was only a marginal improvement...they tended to use their other senses more. Pretty soon he was going to develop nausea and a blinding headache as well.
Plus...Tenten was to a certain degree correct. He disliked being so disadvantaged near a trained shinobi who was holding a weapon close to his face. It went against every instinct he had and it made him edgy.
She stood up, making him immediately miss her weight on his legs.
"I'm not going to hurt you."
Her voice was softer, obviously in an attempt to soothe him.
"I am aware of that. Besides the fact that even so disadvantaged I would be able to hold my own in a fight, you are far too direct of a person to engage in that kind of subterfuge."
"Apology accepted."
"I didn't..."
A finger against his lips brought him up short. One thing he hated about his sight being so impaired was that he didn't see things coming... the pressure, warm and firm against his lips actually startled him into a sharp intake of breath.
"Look I didn't invite you here to argue. Let's just get on with the haircut okay?"
Her finger seemed to slide against his bottom lip for a moment before she stepped back again.
The first snip seemed unfeasibly loud in the silence of the room. Shino wished he could look around the room to distract himself but anything not an inch away melted into a formless blur. He supposed he could have released his kikkai to bolster his abominable sight but really didn't want to alarm Tenten in any way, lest she accidentally slice off his ears.
He closed his eyes, finding it easier than trying and failing to focus on things. It didn't block out his awareness of Tenten though, in fact his other senses seemed to be going into overdrive to compensate for his lack of sight- he could feel the heat radiating from her body, smell the soap she'd used to bathe with, hear every measured breath she took.
Her hand moved over his hair, almost petting him as she decided what strand to tackle next. Shino could feel her rubbing the strands between her fingers, playing with them and it felt...like she was actually enjoying touching him.
"Do you live alone?"
He was aware of how stilted it sounded but he wanted to break the tense silence that had settled between them.
"Yes, just me here."
"No one else rents a room?"
"No, I mean I own it and I don't really like people in my space...so no lodgers or anything."
He was surprised, she must have saved very diligently to have been able to afford to buy an apartment on a chuunin's pay rate.
"It was my grandmother's flat. I inherited it." she continued, answering his unspoken question or maybe just trying to fill the never-ending silence "She used to take care of me when I was a baby, after my parents died but then she got sick and I had to go into the orphanage. When she died, she left instructions for the flat to be rented out until I was old enough to live in it... ended up with a decent amount of money from that as well as the flat when I became a chuunin. I'm grateful for it, means I don't have to go chasing around after clan members for 'security'"
Shino raised an eyebrow, turning his head slightly towards her which caused her to smack his shoulder in a reprimand for moving.
"...chasing clan members?"
She sounded a mixture of annoyed and embarrassed when she replied.
"Oh you know... most average ninja want to marry into a big clan. So that if you get injured or sick and can't work anymore they'll take care of you. Otherwise, if you get a crippling injury then you're pretty much screwed. Like Lee's mother."
Shino sat in silence, unsure whether prompting her to continue would be seen as overly inquisitve.
"Lee...really wants to provide for her. That's part of the reason he was so devastated at his injuries during the chuunin exams. I guess it's not really easy for you to see how troubling it can be, I mean you're a clan member...you know no matter what happens your family will provide for you."
I would provide for you... if you'd let me.
It was ridiculous and saying it outloud would undoubtedly earn him a punch to the face or at the very least a nick with the scissors but it was how he felt. He really needed to remind himself that this wasn't even a date so bringing up the prospect of marriage was likely getting a little ahead of himself.
"I would hope...in the event of injury, that your friends would take care of you."
He could hear the rustle of her clothing as she shrugged.
"I know they'd try... but anyway like I said I'm pretty secure financially. I'd be able to manage."
"That's good."
The silence settled again, broken only by the steady snip, snip of the scissors. Shino once again wished he could see properly so he could distract himself from Tenten's breath on the back of his neck, the way her fingers raked through his hair and her clean soapy smell...
"How is it I've been cutting for ages and your hair looks no different?"
Shino made a non-committal sound in his throat. As far as he was concerned she could take all night cutting his hair if she wished, the feeling of her hands running through his hair was both lulling and strangely arousing. Probably because so few people willingly touched him.
Even those who did usually had this hesitation in the moment beforehand, like they were steeling themselves, trying to forget what lay underneath the skin they were touching...
She bent down to trim the hair on the nape of his neck, her breath stirring the loose strands. Shino resisted the urge to squirm as the loose hair fell down his back, creating unreachable itches. She was becoming more confident with her cutting, hesitating less, seeming to be almost reckless now (at least that was how it seemed to his slightly paranoid mind)
Tenten ran her fingers lightly over the base of his neck, dislodging any clinging strands and making Shino's stomach clench at the light, tickling touch. This was like... some form of strange torture, feeling her touch him so boldly, so freely. His imagination was trying to insist the the touches were lingering too, that she was touching his skin far more than was really nessacery...
He almost shook his head to dispel the thought, remembering at the last minute to remain still. No that could not be, it was simply his long repressed hormones trying to find some sort of justification.
With an inaudible sigh, he decided to simply enjoy her touch while he could.
It took more time than he had thought but less than he had hoped for her to finish the haircut. All too soon she brushed away the excess hair from his shoulders and came to stand in front of him. Her head tilted in a contemplative way for a second before she leaned down to look him in the eyes.
"You look like a hedgehog," she told him solemnly, a smile trying it's hardest to break out on her face. He frowned.
"No, really, it's sort of cute! You know with the squinty-eyed thing, makes you look like a baby hedgehog. "
Shino wasn't used to having to school his facial expressions, the fact he wore so many covering clothes generally negated the need to- and judging by the increased amusement on Tenten's face he was doing a poor job of suppressing his bewildered annoyance.
"I do not resemble a hedgehog." he said with as much dignity as he could muster, hoping to quash her sudden amusement at his expense.
Instead she balled up her hand in front of her mouth, apparently trying to hide the laughter spilling out. Her laugh was... adorable, quite possibly the most absurdly endearing thing he had ever heard.
She moved back around behind him, much to his annoyance. Even if his sight was blurry he preferred having her at least where he could partially see her. At least she'd stopped laughing at him now...
"I've always liked your hair. So...sproingy."
"Sproingy is not a word."
"How would you describe it then?"
"Unmanageable."
"You don't like it?"
"It is not that I dislike it. I inherited it from my father. It is a rather prevalent Aburame trait."
"I think it's nice! Look at this way, at least it's not as insane as Kakashi's...though you know what?I always thought he was good looking."
Shino felt irrationally annoyed at her response. Why was she bringing up Kakashi anyway?
"I think it was his crazy hair and his mysterious manner... I... like that in a guy."
Her fingers slid across the junction of his neck and shoulder, dipping under the material and sliding down until they came to rest on his collarbone.
His heart seemed to stop beating momentarily, then it gave an almighty jolt.
Tenten laughed softly, under her breath.
"You're scared of me."
Shino felt affronted.
"I am not scared of you. That much should be obvious. Would I allow you near me with a weapon when I'm practically blinded if I were? No I would not."
"Why're you so tense then. And don't lie, I can feel your pulse going ten to the dozen."
Her voice was almost sing-song, teasing. And she had yet to remove her hand from where it rested over his heart in an excruciatingly distracting manner.
"Perhaps you do not scare me but you...unsettle me."
Her hands finally moved, settling on his shoulders over the material this time. Shino was unsure whether he should feel relieved or extremely disappointed.
"Why?"
"You are not unintelligent Tenten. I am sure you know why."
Her grip on his shoulders tightened momentarily and he willed himself to calm down, feeling the pulse thrum in his throat. That sentence had been a risk but...being a shinobi was all about taking calculated risks was it not?
Hands still on his shoulders, Tenten plucked at the fabric of his jacket pulling it away from his skin then pushing it back again in a way reminiscent of how she'd been playing with his hair earlier.
"Want to know something?"
He was pretty sure that was a rhetorical question but he found himself nodded anyway.
"Sometimes I feel a little intimidated by you. It's not about the kikkai," she added quickly, no doubt feeling the way he'd tensed " It's more that you're so quiet and so intelligent and you seem like you're on a different level to everyone else... it's difficult to approach you. Which means if someone wants to get to know you better they have to make an excuse, like, for instance offering to cut your hair."
She moved closer, her breath hot in his ear and her voice low and oddly breathless.
"Because they're worried if they just asked you to go to lunch with them or even just hang out or something they'd end up looking like an idiot if you said no."
"And why would you assume I would say no?"
"In case you hadn't noticed you can be a difficult person to read Shino. For all I knew you hated my guts."
"...but now you know that I don't dislike you?"
She laughed quietly, lips almost brushing his ear.
"The fact you've turned up at all kinda made me realise that. And you've been blushing like crazy every time I touch you..."
As calmly as he could, he answered,
"I was hoping you had missed that."
Her hand moved from his shoulder, fingers trailing up his neck and skirting round his jaw before she pressed them against his burning cheeks. They felt almost cold in comparison, soothing.
"Shino, you're about the same colour as a beetroot. That's difficult to miss."
She seemed to hesitate for a moment but then leaned down to whisper in his ear again.
"Close your eyes."
He hesitated for a moment but seeing as he was practically blind anyway...
As his eyes slipped shut Tenten gently tilted his head back so it was lying pillowed on her forearms. The clean soapy smell of her skin almost overwhelmed him and he wondered vaguely if it was normal to find the smell of soap so...erotic.
He felt her warm breath against his face a moment before her mouth slid against his.
His upside down angle meant it was near impossible for him to return the kiss, he wondered momentarily if this was her intention. Then he stopped wondering as all his concentration was required to stamp down on the insistent tightening that was growing in his stomach
Hormones were not his master.
Tenten's tongue flicked experimentally against his bottom lip.
He made a little noise then, half-gasp half-sob, utterly embarrassed to hear such noises coming from his mouth.
She moved back from him, hands still resting on his cheeks, fingertips moving in small circles against his skin.
He kept his eyes closed, head tilted back, mouth parted, neck exposed. Half of him was waiting for a strike, this would be the perfect time for someone to act, to cut his throat. Instead her hands moved down from his cheeks, sliding down the colomn of his neck, moving into his jacket again.
"Why did you do that?"
"I don't know... I wanted too I guess. You're cute."
His neck felt stiff, ready to cramp but he didn't move it. Part of him was afraid that if he moved he'd be breaking that spell, that she'd stop those sliding wonderful touches.
"Sooo..."
He could hear the smile in her voice.
"When do you think you'll be needing another 'haircut'?"
Shino felt a rare smile tipping the corners of his mouth in return. Opening his eyes he studied the blurry upside down image of Tenten, wondering if she would notice the way he was tensing his muscles in preparation.
"My hair grows extremely quickly."
"Well that's luck...mmph!""
Tenten was abruptly cut off when Shino spun around in his chair and kissed her. In his glasses-less state he very nearly missed her mouth, landing clumsily on the corner. A minor adjustment later and he was properly kissing her. For a moment she didn't kiss back and he had a horrible creeping feeling that he'd taken things too far, done something she hadn't really wanted...then she flung her arms around him and kissed him back so fiercely the chair nearly toppled over.
Perhaps, Shino mused rather dazedly, there was something to be said for acting on impulse after-all.