Normally I wouldn't reveal a contest winner so soon but only one person made a guess. As the enemy is being introduced in this chapter, the contest is over. That means Lycoris1305 is the winner! You can PM me with any question about this story or myself and I will answer as long as the answer isn't a spoiler.

Chapter 18

A penny for your thoughts

"Shino-kun, be honest. Do my eyes really look like a Hyuuga's?"

True to his word Shino was leading them to the pond just after they finished their meal. He had suspected Sachi was mulling over a question in her mind, given the tense silence of the last few minutes.

"There are similarities. The Hyuugas' eyes have no pupil only a large pale iris. Your pupil and iris bare similar colors, unlike most eyes where the two are usually seen as separate."

"So, their eyes are cloudy white like mine?" she questioned. "That's the color Kaachan told me my eyes were."

"Not exactly. The Hyuugas' eyes are more of a pale lavender."

"Lavender, that's one of those purple colors, right?"

"Yes. What makes you so interested in colors?"

"Oh, I've always been interested in colors. Thier fascinating but they just go over my head. I've just always wondered if Kaachan really meant that my eyes were like a Hyuuga's or if she was just saying that to make me feel better by comparing me to a prestigious clan. I guess she really meant it then."

Thier conversation ate up the time it took to arrive at the pond and Shino sat against a tree, stretching out a leg in front of him and bending his other knee to rest his arm upon it. He was surprised to find Sachi sliding herself between his legs, leaning her back against his chest.

"Is this okay? Would you like me to move?" she asked, not wanting to elicit discomfort in him.

"No. It's fine."

"Anyway, colors are just difficult. Sometimes I think I understand them but other times I still feel like I don't have a clue."

"How do you perceive color?" he questioned. He was curious how a visual concept would be taken in by one that was unable to discern such obvious understanding of the subject.

"It's just association. Like when you said lavender I thought of the flower and how it smells." She leaned herself forward and wrapped her arms around her knees. "When I think about blue I think water and sky and sadness. But I think red is a lot harder to understand. They say it's for fire and anger but it's also for love and roses. So it's difficult to think of my hair as red. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be good or bad."

"Your hair is nice the way it is." Perhaps it was simple propriety or the desire to gift her with clarity that made him say this but he did indeed like her hair. It was short and simple and he was sure it required minimum upkeep. No doubt it was because she cared less for her appearance and much more so for convenience. Long hair was quite a lot to manage- he knew from all the times he had watched Hinata picking various bits of foliage and knots out of her hair over the years. Long hair was beautiful if it was maintained properly but there was not enough payoff for her to work so hard on it.

"Thanks," she said. "I understand visual concepts in my own way. I learn a lot just by listening to other people talk. It's surprising how much-sighted people think I don't understand when they don't even notice the things I do. I can tell they think about it when they pause in talking like they expect me to ask what 'shiny' is." She groaned in irritation. "Sorry," she said in a lighter tone, "it's just frustrating sometimes."

"Have I ever frustrated you in this way?"

"Not that I remember. Are there a lot of insects around here?" She switched from her answer to an unrelated question quickly. Shino noticed she changed the subject often, not so much to avoid an answer but it seemed more like she would suddenly remember something she had to give a voice to.

It was second nature for him to be aware of the tiny lives around him. Even if he didn't have the ability to sense them, one could postulate that there were many insects around a pond in the spring.

"Insects are everywhere. But yes, there are many around us."

"Will you tell me about them?"

Shino casually tilted his left hand in the air, the one not placed on his knee, and called for a nearby insect. A speedy dragonfly was the first to answer the call.

"Hold out your hands." She crossed her legs under her and turned her palms up. He commanded the dragonfly to crawl from his hand to hers and it readily obeyed the insect master.

"Whoa!" Sachi intoned in surprise.

"This is a dragonfly. They consume smaller insects for nourishment. They begin as larvae in bodies of water after they hatch."

"No wonder they call it a dragonfly. This thing is huge compared to regular flies. Can I touch it?"

Shino continued to summon individual insects for her perusal. He told her the names and a few facts about each as they crawled across her palms. She most enjoyed the ones she could safely touch without fear of injuring the insect. Several beetles were counted among her favorites for their smooth chitin exoskeletons.

"Do these insects know I'm different because of my chakra?"

"They sense you are not like most just as they do with me. But they pay no mind unless they are called as they are not parasitic."

He did have to order away many parasitic insects that thirsted for her blood. She had not exaggerated when she said they seemed to seek her out. It was an almost constant command to order mosquitos away from her. He was sure if she started to itch heavily that she would want to go home and he was not ready to give up on their first date yet.

Caterpillars were praised highly for their fuzzy outer layers. Unlike most women, she didn't favor butterflies and moths. She was unable to touch their beautiful wings without hurting them and therefore held neutral feelings for the adults of the Lepidoptera order.

Her favorite of all was the monarch caterpillar as it was "velvety smooth and squishy".

This comment earned a full smile from the man behind her, though it went unnoticed as her chakra sense remained focused on the caterpillar she was petting in her hands.

It was a lovely experience for Shino to see her taking such an active and avid interest in a large part of his life. He wished it wasn't true but he knew that his connection with insects was a deal breaker for many women that might have considered him for their romantic exploits.

He had dearly wished for a woman to come along that could at least look past that part of him and love him in spite of his 'creepy' nature.

Once again he marveled at how compatible he and Sachi were. He couldn't find the words to express how grateful he was that she had never considered him creepy. He was incredibly thankful that she was accepting of all parts of him. From his nitpicking tendencies that irritated his teammates to the simple fact that he held insects within his own body.

When he had first implied that the insects she heard came from within him she did not question nor feel disgusted for such a revelation. Sachi took it as a fact and hardly thought on it again after that moment. She brought a delightfully welcome change. None other than another Aburame or Sachi would put so little thought into casual touches to an insect user.

Not that he meant to describe Sachi as thoughtless. She didn't often think about her words before she said them but there was rarely ever malice behind her unfiltered thoughts.

Which was, in itself, a gift. Each time she spoke without thinking she gave Shino insight to how she was as a person. It told him that she was a genuinely kind woman, albeit one with a temper when properly riled.

She was kind and quick to forgive, something he was never good at. He still held a grudge from Naruto's inability to recognise him after he returned to the village with Jiraiya.

"We're a lot alike, Shino-kun," she said offhand, breaking into his thoughts. "We both appreciate things that others take for granted." She indicated the caterpillar in her hands.

"We also share a disinterest in aesthetic value."

"Yeah, that too. You're a great guy, Shino-kun."

"And you are a wonderful woman Sachi-chan," he said accidentally continuing her small alliteration.

"What is it you like about me?" she asked curiously, letting the monarch caterpillar go in the grass, not wanting to keep it from its busy life of eating milkweed.

"What isn't there to like?"

"I was just wondering what it was about me that you liked enough to want to get to know me. Your kikai were the first thing that interested me most when we first met. The buzzing is very nice. Normally I hear so many things it's hard to pick out what I want to hear. But when you're around the buzzing drowns out the other sounds like a fan or white noise. It also makes me appreciate your voice more when it's one of the few things I can hear." She turned her body to the side giving him a profile of her face. "I really appreciate how great of a friend you have been before we got together." There she was, off topic again.

"I enjoy many things about you," he began attempting to steer the conversation back to her original question. "Your acute hearing was the first thing that intrigued me. No one has ever been able to hear the kikai while they remain within their host. The fact that you hear them from several paces away was a surprise. Your inquisitive and kind nature is appealing and your lack of negative reaction to the kikai in my body solidified my interest in you."

Sachi smiled and breathed out a small laugh.

"The way you speak is strange but I like it. You always have me hanging on your every word."

She leaned back against him, tucking her head under his chin and tilting her head to hear the thrumming within his chest.

And that was what reminded him of another thing he loved about her.

It was easy for ones such as himself to get lost in the crowd and easily forgotten. But whenever he was with Sachi she made it seem like he was the only one around. She was able to pick him out of a crowd even when she was not expecting to see him, such as the first day he sought her out in her home, she had heard him outside and was eager to greet him.

"Is this okay?" she asked from her position against his chest. She could hear his heartbeat picking up as well as the kikai buzzing louder in response. But what had worried her was the gulp just inches from her ear. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

"It's fine," he said, honestly. It was not that he was uncomfortable. He was just unused to such close contact with another person. He never expected he would be cuddling with anyone! But he found himself its pleased all the same.

They relaxed like that for some time enjoying the other's company and the quiet. Well, Shino enjoyed the recognize sounds of crickets among the forest and leaves in the trees brushing in the light wind. Sachi focused on all the sounds of Shino, heart, kikai, breathing.

Beat, beat, hum. Beat, beat, hum, breath.

He could feel her sunglasses digging into his skin and while this was not uncomfortable it did cause them to lay askew on her face. He thought it was about time to address the issue.

"Sachi-chan, you don't need to wear your sunglasses around me. I will not react negatively and there is no reason for you to hide."

Sachi nervously brushed her fingers along the exposed arm of her sunglasses. She knew Shino spoke the truth. He had already seen her eyes and did not feel uncomfortable. Her head dipped slightly as she contemplated.

"You should do what makes you feel comfortable," Shino continued, "and know that I will accept either choice you make."

Acceptance would be a wonderful thing. She had only hid her eyes behind the frames for fear of causing anyone distress. Her younger self was so concerned with how she made others feel that she never showed her eyes to anyone but her family. She didn't want to hear her eyes compared to the stiff bodies of the dead. Wearing her glasses was simply a force of habit now; a comfortable distance between her and everyone else.

She sighed. Maybe if she explained the reason she wore them he would understand a bit better.

"When I was just a kid I had a pet hamster..."

Flashback

Sachi- five years old

Sachi awoke early in the morning. She was usually an early riser but today she woke to the cries of her new baby brother and the shuffling sounds of her mother tending to him. She peeled back her blankets and jumped out of her high bed, her tiny feet slapping on the hardwood floor. She trailed a hand along the wall to her dresser where her unseeing eyes were level with a small cage that sat on top of the wooden drawers.

"Morning, Piggy-chama," she greeted cheerfully.

The rodent was a hamster but when she asked her parents for a pet she had requested a guinea pig. Having already picked out the name she decided it would work just fine for the hamster.

"You were quiet all night. You weren't even running in your wheel. You must have been sleepy," the 5-year-old intoned to her pet. "Rise and shine it's breakfast time," she singsonged cheerily.

She took a small handful of food from a container next to the cage and dropped it into the bowl in the corner after opening the cage door.

But something didn't seem quite right. Piggy-chama hadn't moved to get her food. Sachi's tiny hand searched the cage, hoping her little friend hadn't escaped somehow. Her hand patted the shredded paper until her fingers found the familiar fuzzy mass. She lifted the hamster out of the cage and into her hands.

Sachi cupped the tiny body in one hand as her fingers trailed along the rodent's hair.

Piggy-chama didn't move.

Sachi knew something was wrong. Her fingers trailed the body frantically from the dry nose to the stiff tail. The whole body lost its smooth motions. It refused to be moved. Piggy-chama was cold and held no heartbeat.

Sachi's own body tensed as the realization came to her. She had heard about death before now. She had asked about it when her family had attended her grandmother's funeral. At her tender age of 5, she understood it as no longer moving, breathing, or talking and having no beating heart.

She had never imagined it to be so disturbing.

Piggy-chama's death left her stiff, cold and unmoving. Sachi felt a chill shoot up her spine and her hair stood on end as everything in her begged her to stop touching the decaying body.

She shoved the hamster's body back into the cage, rougher than she intended in her distress. She scrubbed her palms on her pajama bottoms, desperately willing away the memory of a dead body on her hands.

Tears streamed down her face as she began crying and running as fast as she could to her mother for comfort and answers.

Later that morning after Noriko managed to answer all the 'how's and 'why's and 'what for's relating to the loss of Sachi's beloved pet, she calmed to a state of gloomy sadness.

She understood they had to move on and Sachi reluctantly accompanied her mother and baby brother to the market for grocery shopping.

Sachi held onto her mother's shirt as the woman steadied a hand on her newborn in a sling and busied herself at a produce stand on the bustling street.

Sachi occupied her childish attention span with listening to the crowd around them. She couldn't run off to play unless she wanted to get lost. In the small village of Konoha blindness was a rarity. And even those that were blind were typically very old or had lost their sight fighting as a shinobi for their village. Sachi's mother had scoured the village for both products and people to help her daughter adjust and learn to live without sight. She had found an old man willing to teach Sachi how to navigate the world through the use of a cane. But the man had refused to teach her until she was at least six, an age he deemed old enough to actually learn anything. Until then she relied on her mother in unfamiliar territory.

The usual chatter of business transactions hit Sachi's ear accompanying the sounds of life in the lively village of Konoha.

"How much?"

"I was going to..."

"I'm hungry."

"...blind girl..."

Sachi tuned her ear to the conversation across the street. It was likely the man was speaking about her. With so few blind people in the village, the odds of being the only blind girl on the street that day were rather high.

"You mean that red headed girl holding the woman's shirt?" a second male voice responded to the first.

"Yeah," the first voice confirmed. "Look at her eyes," he said in disgust. "They're all gray and creepy looking."

Sachi gasped. Creepy? Was she really creepy?

"Ew, yeah. Reminds me of that dead body we saw on our mission last month, all gross and empty looking. Her eyes are just dead."

Sachi's unseeing eyes widened in horror, her breath catching in her throat. Did she really resemble the dead like Piggy-chama? Did her eyes look cold and stiff? Did they induce the same chilling shiver she had felt on her spine just that morning?

A feeling of terrible empathy coursed through her. Had she really subjected everyone around her to the same disturbing feelings she had only just learned about?

Her bottom lip quivered as she remembered her terrible feelings of disgust just hours ago. Tears filled her gray eyes and she shut them away from everyone around her. She sniffled quietly and rubbed away the tears leaving cold tracks on her face.

If that was really how she made everyone feel she would make sure that no one ever saw her eyes again.

End flashback

"I felt so terrible that everyone was just being polite and not mentioning that my eyes bothered them. I didn't want them to feel that way anymore. I know I wouldn't want to go through that again."

Shino was greatly upset that anyone would be so heartless as to cause a child to cry, especially when they left such a lasting impression with their careless words.

"I am honored you shared this with me. But I remain adamant in my opinion. They were wrong. Your eyes are beautiful and if you wish to continue to wear your sunglasses I would understand but you will receive no negativity from me."

"Maybe..." she paused and chewed on her words, fingering the arm of the sunglasses in question again. "Maybe another time," she said softly.

"Maybe," he echoed. "It's late. I should take you home."

When he dropped her off that night they took the long way home. Shino listened to the nonsensical thoughts that spilled forth from Sachi as they walked slowly back to her house. In between her verbal wanderings, Shino thought back to the first time he saw her in the bookstore.

She placed a kiss on his cheek and left him at her door step, full of thoughts.

He knew it was not love at first sight. Neither of them was frivolous enough to put stock into that idea.

No. Shino believed he had fallen into familiarity. As if he knew in that moment that one day it would be her he would love.

It was as if he could glimpse the future and he knew she would always be a part of it. Perhaps it was fate as the Hyuuga preached.

Whatever it was, Shino knew now, it was her. It will always be her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A lone insect sat at the corner of its target's window sill. It's compound eyes peered through the glass at the woman as she readied for bed in the muted light from the moon.

It waited patiently for the confirmation it needed.

The woman towel dried her short hair and threw the towel into the laundry hamper in the corner of the room. She rolled her shoulders and neck just before climbing into bed.

The insect upon the sill heard the woman speak to the kikai upon her head, inquiring if it needed more chakra. It responded with two low chirps. The woman whispered a goodnight to her tiny companion and settled herself under her covers.

The foreign insect waited again for the woman to fall asleep and as she relaxed it could feel the pull of her chakra. The insect twitched it's wings irritably. It had been expressly forbidden to be seen or detected. It would have let itself into the house by any means to gorge on the woman's unrestrained chakra if it had not been ordered otherwise.

With it's reconnaissance done it flew back to it's master, perched on a high branch of a tree outside the leaf village.

The insect's master welcomed it back with an open palm.

"What have you discovered?" the low voice inquired.

The insect relayed it's information to it's master.

Under the cover of a cloak, the insect user smiled toothily and purred a sickly sweet, "Sachi-chan."

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