Part I: The Bamboo Arc

The last mission, huh? I wonder if Kiba and Hinata will remember me when it's over...Unlike that time Naruto couldn't remember my name...I'm always the last one they see...

But just like every other time when he'd talk, Shino's thoughts were abruptly cut off by Kiba's bark shattering the serene, natural harmony of the Sora-Ku forest.

"First, I'll track this guy down with my nose," Kiba rambled on. "And then when I find him, send in your insects!"

Shino opened his mouth to say something again, but Kiba dashed on to a new topic, leaving his demure teammate in the dust again. "Hey, do you think that girl we met is talking about us?"

"Why, you got a crush on her?" Shino remarked.

"Come on! Have you lost your mind?" Kiba downplayed his interest with a dismissive wave. "Nah, it's nothing like that. This is a crucial time for me to become Hokage. There's no time for love!"

"You're too easy to read, Kiba," Shino shook his head.

Or maybe it was he who just cared too damn much. Always the first one to guess what his teammates were thinking. Could anyone look at him and name what was on his mind now?

What was it they called him back in the Hidden Leaf? Stoic? Quiet and off-putting? Emotionless? Unreadable?

A creep?

Maybe that was the burden of being a good shinobi.

Maybe stoicism was exactly what it took to get his missions done.

What good was he to the Leaf or to his teammates if he wasn't so good at hiding the real Shino? How formidable of a shinobi would he be to the enemy if he wasn't the cool, calculating Aburame his clan was notorious for?

Would powerful shinobi like Kankuro of the Sand still be shaken at the thought of fighting him in the Chunin exams?

Shino had to admit, he kind of liked it when people ran from him, and when they said things like, "I wouldn't want to fight that bug guy".

After all, he was a Leaf ninja, not a pageant contestant.

But still...How could they call him stoic and matter-of-fact when the very force driving him as a shinobi was love?

Love for his clan, his teammates, his village, and his sworn loyalty as a ninja to protect the weakest of the Hidden Leaf, even at the cost of his own life.

But the only ones who understood all that were Shino and his bugs, and Shino resolved to keep it that way.

It's just like what he told Hinata and Kiba during their game of rock-paper-scissors.

The less your enemies know about you, the less they can use against you.

Shino was resolved to shoulder the burden of his reputation. He could be cold and ruthless, if it meant protecting everyone he cared about in the end.

That was his ninja way.

"Eh, what did you say?" Kiba asked.

Shino sighed.

Of course Kiba wasn't listening.

Who could get a word in when Kiba was around?

There was no point in trying, but Shino tried anyway.

"Nothing...I just said that I envy you," he said quietly.

And there it was again.

That emptiness eating him from the inside out like a parasitic beetle. But this time it was heavier than just feeling invisible all the time.

A feeling so painful and damning that not even Shino could lock it out of his consciousness.

It almost felt like...

"Oh, really? You do, huh?" Kiba replied half-heartedly, as he sniffed in the direction of every rock and tree that crossed their path.

Unsurprisingly, he didn't seem interested in knowing more about the torment his teammate was going through.

In fact, what Shino had said was completely forgotten as Kiba leapt ahead from tree to tree, trying to pick up the scent of the beekeeper they were tracking into the Sora-Ku forest.

But Shino was used to it, and he expected as much from Kiba. Sometimes, he liked it when Kiba got distracted and left him alone to his own thoughts.

Besides, Shino was about as good at explaining his feelings as Kiba was at listening to them.

Kiba always talks big...Maybe I've dismissed him too much because of that. However...who am I to criticize anyone?

"Shino! You gonna keep up or do I gotta leave you behind?" Kiba called back to him. "I told you I could take this beekeeper down myself! Wait, do you smell that?"

"Smell what-"

"It smells a little like (sniff, sniff)," Kiba cut him off. "Like honey, but it's.(sniff, sniff)..human."

"You mean you picked up the beekeeper's scent before my bugs could track him?" Shino doubted his fellow rival.

"No," Kiba sniffed the air around him. "I doubt it's that beekeeper guy. This is different. Something soft, like a girl."

"Will you stop daydreaming about girls and keep your head clear out here?" Shino told him.

"I'm not daydreaming! I already told you, I can't think about women at a time like this! I'm the next hokage, understand?" Kiba defended himself.

"Over the top as usual," Shino thought to himself.

"Hey, don't look at me like that, Shino!" Kiba changed the subject.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You always think you're so cool behind your hood and your sunglasses!" Kiba went on. "At least that girl actually liked me! That's more than we can ever say about you, Shino! What girl would want a guy who hangs out with a bunch of bugs?"

"You can say what you want about me, but leave my insects out of this," Shino answered. "Unless you want to tell them yourself."

"Sheesh," Kiba shuddered at the nightmarish idea of facing Shino in battle. "Let's just find this beekeeper and get this honey wine back for Naruto and Hinata's wedding."

The wedding...of course...

"Once Hinata is married, we won't be able to work with each other the way we used to..." Shino thought.

But his thoughts were interrupted again when a small swarm of his insects descended like onyx raindrops around him. A female Kikaichū caught the knuckle of his thumb, fondly brushing her tiny black legs against the warmth of Shino's skin.

Content once again at finding her way back to Shino, her favorite home.

And when she did, Shino remembered again that he wasn't really alone.

"I see," he said to her, receiving the scavenging insect's report through the entwined connection they shared in his chakra. "Someone's following us. Kiba sensed her too...We'd better keep an eye on her." He released the Kikaichū again. "You know what to do."

Shino's eyes followed his insect, but before he could make a good assessment of where the mysterious onlooker was hiding, the air around him changed.

Out of nowhere, the green leaves in front of him faded to a dull cool mist that thickened and cornered him from all sides. In a matter of seconds, Shino was surrounded by it, as it grew dark enough to make him lose track of Kiba ahead of him.

"What's with all this fog? Is this genjutsu?"

How could he have unwittingly walked into someone's trap without knowing it?

"Kiba?" Shino called out into the fog. "Hey, Kiba! Where are you?"

Excited and buzzing with agitation, swarms of his insects came flying back to report to him.

"You guys don't know where he is either?" Shino said, surprised. "This is most definitely due to somebody's jutsu."