Simple things
by Artemis Obscure
A/n: Christmas fic to Syairan-no-hime san for HD's Secret Santa project. Meri Kurismasu.
Come rain, come shine, come snow or sleet, Aburame Shino always keeps his dark glasses on. Most of the people of Konoha wondered, how on earth did he manage to get things done with a pair of shades everlastingly stuck on his face. Especially during a night like this. How on earth did he manage to see his way around without bumping into something? But as far as Shino had remembered, no one had ever asked him about it. They were all probably too freaked out by his kekkai bugs to even stand within a five foot radius from him. No one would even come up to him and ask what was he doing, sitting by the river in the middle of the night, let alone why he wore his shades 24/7.
Well, at least everyone else except her.
Hinata had asked him once, when they were on one of their earlier missions. He could still remember her hesitating voice, politely asking, and yet, tinged with slight curiosity.
"Ano, Shino-kun. Why do you wear your shades all the time?"
It had taken him by surprise. Thrown him off balance. Of all people, he had never expected the shy Hyuuga Hinata to ask him such a personal question. He had always had the impression she was a little afraid of him. He didn't blame her. After all most people treated him with a polite, squeamish sort of curiosity. Not many people liked bugs.
So he had just shrugged, unsure of how to answer her. "I just do."
She had smiled shyly back at him.
It was her smile that did it, really. He felt the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. It was a funny sort of smile: a cross between a smile and a smirk. Which of course, was quite wasted, as half his face was hidden in his coat. But it was a smile, nevertheless.
One of the things that he admired about her was the fact that she was one of the most non-judgmental people he had ever known. She had accepted him – bugs and all – as a part of him and had not treated him differently. She was also kind hearted, unable to see others in pain. Another was because she kept trying hard to improve herself. She kept trying to make herself stronger. Hinata had proved her strength during the Chunin exam, where she fought against her cousin. Although she lost, she lost with pride, still holding on to her beliefs at the end.
Because of that, he respected her immensely. It didn't take him too long to realize, after a while, he felt something that ran deeper than respect for her.
He watched her sometimes when he knew she wasn't looking. He knew that she kept pushing herself beyond her physical limit to improve herself. He knew that she liked eating peaches. He knew that the reason why she couldn't look at a person properly in the eye when they were talking because whenever she talked to her family they would look away anywhere, except at her. He knew Hinata twiddled her fingers together when she was nervous, but when she was unsure or scared about something, she would clench and unclench her fingers.
He knew because he saw her clenching and unclenching her fists when she talked to Naruto.
There were times, of course, when Shino felt like hitting the loudmouthed, self-professed future Hokage in an attempt to knock some sense into his thick blonde head. In his opinion, Naruto was not only deaf and dumb, he was blind as well. Hinata's interest in him was so blindingly obvious, but he still remained blissfully ignorant – and still very much infatuated with his pink haired teammate. Of course, the latter was still pinning over a stupid, angsty, double-crossing Uchiha, but that was another story altogether...
But no matter what, the result was always the same. Hinata was still in love Naruto. Period. End of story. And nothing was going to change that.....
But it also didn't change the fact that his feelings for her bordered on the more than platonic I'm-your-teammate-and-teammates-care-for-each-other feeling. Shino sighed inwardly at that. He'd be a fool to hope for anything more than friendship from her.
"Ano, Shino-kun," her soft voice broke him out of his reverie. He looked up at her. She was holding something behind her back. "Ano, I went over to your place, but your weren't in. Your father said you might be here."
"What are you doing here. It's late," he answered brusquely. Shino winced inwardly at his curt tone. "I mean, it isn't safe for you to be wandering out at this time."
"Aah. It's nothing. I just wanted to give you this." She handed him the package. It was wrapped neatly in white and red paper with curling ribbons. Shino raised his eyebrows, rather surprised at her unexpected gift.
"What's this for?" he asked.
"Er, it's your Christmas present," she said. "After all, it's going to be Christmas tomorrow."
Shino remained silent for a moment. "Technically, it's Christmas today. It's already past midnight." He paused, for a moment unsure of what to say. "Merry Christmas, Hinata."
For reasons unknown to Shino, Hinata blushed prettily. "Er, merry Christmas, Shino-kun." she looked at the ground for a moment. "Ano, would you like to open your present?"
He willingly complied. He untied the ribbons and carefully unwrapped the present, revealing a transparent box filled with.....
"Cookies," he said. "Thank you."
"Um, you're welcome," she said. "They're butter cookies. I made them today."
"Thank you very much," he repeated. Their conversation seemed to end there. Shino was suddenly struck with the stupid self-conscious feeling of how stupid he was, holding a transparent box of cookies in one hand and a handful of wrapping paper and ribbons in the other. Not only that, the awkward silence between him and the girl he cared about was getting unbearable. He had to do something to break the silence.
Putting down the wrappings, he then proceeded to open a box and eat a cookie. The thing that struck him when he ate it was the rich buttery taste that flooded his mouth. Next was the sugary taste. Shino found it a little too sweet for his liking, as he wasn't too partial to sugary food.
Hinata was looking at him with expectant eyes. "Um, does it taste okay?" she asked.
He opened his mouth to say it was too sweet when he saw it.
Hinata's fingers were clenching and unclenching. He knew that his opinion meant a lot to her. Either that or..... Shino didn't want to think about it. It was a false hope. But it pleased him to know that it was his opinon that mattered so much to her.
"I like it very much," he said. And for a moment, he really meant what he said. Her face lit up in a shy, but definitely happy smile.
"Ah, um, sou ka? Thank you."
Shino felt something happening to his cheekbones. Before he knew it, there was a full fledged smile, stealing onto his face.
"It's getting late. I better walk you back," he told her, still trying to hide the smile on his face. She nodded, and wordlessly walked beside him.
Sometimes, Shino mused. He didn't need a reason to go on loving her. Although he knew that he wasn't her first choice, he would go on loving her as usual. He didn't expect her to do a complete 180 and turn around and devote herself to him the way she did with Naruto. Like he said, sometimes, it was just the simple things that means so much.
Simple things like eating the too-sweet cookies she made for him and watching her smile and walking her home on Christmas morning was more than enough. He was just contented to be by her side.
the end