Aburame Shino; 2 Years Later

Age 14

-Too Late-

I guess the Hokage didn't take me very seriously since I come from the clan of the Aburames.

I got so few B-rank missions that I might as well have still been a genin. I was no low-ranked chuunin so there's no reason why I should not receive higher B-rank missions.

Finally I received one, but of all people... I had to travel with Hyuuga Neji. In addition, it was a mission that involved escorting a loud teenage girl named Ito from one village to another. But this girl just so happened to be the daughter of the Kazekage, which meant there would be assassins and ninjas trying to kill her JUST because of who her father was.

"How much FURTHER?!" Ito complained.

I was angry that I finally received a B-rank mission on the day of the Chuunin Exam Tournament. Both Hinata and Kiba were in the tournament and I had hoped to return in time to watch them. But at the rate we were going at, that didn't look like it was going to happen.

"We already told you that we'd be there in another hour." Neji said, stopping to address the girl. Why did he stop? We didn't have time to spare. "But not if we keep stopping like this."

"I'm going to tell my father on you two!" she cried.

"What for?" Neji said. "We're only doing our job."

"You're RUSHING me!" she said.

"You're the one who wants to get there faster." Neji said.

"Neji, don't bother." I said before Ito could respond. He was letting her distract him. "Let's just go."

"We should slow down just a bit." Neji said.

"No." I said. "We only have an hour and half until the Exam starts."

"My father said I didn't have to be there for that!" Ito whined.

"But I want to be there for that." I said to her. "Both of my former teammates are in it and I want to see their fights."

"I don't care!" Ito yelled so loudly my ears hurt. "I'm not going to kill myself tromping through some kind of jungle just so you can watch your friends beat each other up! I'm RESTING!" That was certainly a degrading view of the ninja world. I thought it was strange that her father was the Kage of a village, yet she had no appreciation for ninjas.

I looked at Neji, hoping he would do something to make her move. "There will be other exams to watch." Was all he said.

That made me angry. I wasn't going to show it or dwell on it, though.

So I began to walk back and forth, hoping that would clue in Neji and Ito that I wanted to leave. I had already stated my requests on numerous occasions so saying it again would be pointless. They obviously cared nothing about my opinion and therefore nothing could be done to remedy the situation.

Ito was moaning and sighing as if her life was a big hard mess that just made her sigh. Her final sigh suggested she was about to say something, so I stopped my pacing and looked at her.

Sure enough, she spoke. "I'm so angry at my father. He should have made this an A-rank mission so you guys would send five jounin ninjas instead of just two pathetic chuunins."

I think Neji and I both whipped our heads around to glare at her after that comment.

"'Pathetic' is not the—" Neji began but I think he noticed it as soon as I did.

He, being closer, grabbed a weapon and deflected numerous shuriken away from Ito that were coming down from the trees. Ito began to shriek as soon as she realized she was in danger.

"Shut her up!" Neji said in a very commanding tone as he leapt up into the trees.

I guess he liked to think that he was the mission leader. I went over to Ito to calm her down.

"Ito, stop." I said. "You're not in danger anymore."

"What's happening?!" she cried.

"You have to stop screaming so you don't attract attention." I said.

"They already KNOW we're here!" she screamed.

I turned around to block an attack just as another ninja came in to punch me out of the way. It was not the same man who had attacked Ito earlier. He went to attack me with the other arm but I think he caught sight of the infamous Aburame bugs and decided to back off instead.

Actually, now that I think about it, they're not all that famous.

I couldn't concentrate with Ito screaming constantly.

"Ito, you must calm down." I advised, turning around only to see that she had another ninja sneaking up on her while my back was turned.

I ran over and attacked the ninja before he could do any damage. The two ninjas stood near each other and then nodded.

Both ran in to attack at the same time. It would do them no good because I was prepared for such a decision of fighting. My bugs swarmed from either side, heavily distracting them from their task at hand.

There were no other ninjas in the area so I focused my energy on defeating these two. They were likely two jounins or high-level chuunins or else they wouldn't have been able to sneak up on us without being detected.

When they saw the bugs, they immediately backed off. But they didn't stop running. They ran away until I could not see them anymore. I hadn't even done that much so there was no reason for them to run away like that. I was a bit skeptical as to their reasoning for quitting so early, but I wasn't going to argue and make them come back.

That's when Neji had returned.

"What happened?" I asked. He had, after all, leapt up into the trees without a word to me other than a command to make Ito be quiet.

"There were two of them." Neji replied. "But they disappeared. And you?"

Same situation as me. How peculiar. "The same." I answered. "I'm thinking jounin assassins from the Sand Village."

"Assassinate me?!" gasped Ito, finally taking a breath. "But WHY?"

"I doubt they were trying to kill her." Neji objected. "They probably wanted to take her hostage to use against the Kazekage. It's best we get her back to the village as soon as possible."

"I agree." I said.

I was going to allow him to do something about it since I would prefer not to have any physical contact at all.

"Hey!" she yelled at him. "Don't be so rough!"

"We have to go now." Neji said. "Unless you want to be killed."

"You just said that they weren't trying to kill me!" she whimpered.

"That is just a speculation." I said. There was no reason to frighten her or else she'd just start screaming again, but we weren't about to lie to her.

Neji pulled her along on our way to the village.

At this rate, we would never get back to watch the tournament in time.

"You know, I bet you guys are the types who never have any fun!" Ito said suddenly. I'd prefer if she didn't say anything so we could focus on making sure no one else was sneaking up on us. "I bet all you do all day long is sit around and train!"

"How does 'sitting around' and 'training' have any correlation whatsoever?" Neji said, taking her bait.

"Do you guys even have girlfriends?" Ito said.

I didn't even bother responding to that. Neji didn't say a word either.

"Oh…I see." She said. "You guys are…" she paused. "Aren't you?"

As much as I didn't want to seem intrigued by her question, I couldn't help but ponder about what she meant. "Are what?" I asked finally.

"Just ignore her." Neji said. I felt stupid that I had fallen for that. She tricked me into responding to her.

"Then you guys ARE together!" she laughed.

We both stopped and turned around, staring at her.

"Or…not?" she said with a smile.

"Do me a favor and don't say anything else." Neji said, taking the words right out of my mouth.

Neji and me. What a joke.

"Do you suppose those ninjas will come back to kill or abduct me?" she asked even though Neji had JUST told her to stop talking.

"I hope not." Said Neji.

I hope so, I thought.

"Are you worried about me?" she said to Neji. I was glad she was bothering him and not me.

"No." said Neji. "It's just that if you die or get abducted, I lose my credibility as a ninja."

"Oh." She said, making a face.

I was tired of this conversation. I wanted to make it back to the village and we weren't moving fast enough for my liking. "There's still time to make it to the tournament before it starts." I said.

"I'm getting a blister!!" was the only response I got from Ito.

"Get over it." Neji said.

"It hurts!" Ito complained, trying to wrench her arm from Neji's grip. "I can hardly walk on it!"

What an annoyingly loud girl.

I thought about the ninjas attacking us. It wasn't entirely making sense.

"Neji, don't you think it's strange that those ninjas attacked us and then disappeared so suddenly?" I said, hoping to get a little feedback.

"Of course."

Okay…so much for feedback.

"What if they were scouts?" I tried, stopping. "What if there is more coming to finish the job?"

"Well, hopefully they won't run away so we can finish them off this time." Neji said.

"You don't have to worry about that!" came a voice as suddenly, four ninjas dropped down on us. I was attacked by two of the ninjas, different from the ones who had attacked us earlier.

"Protect her!" I heard Neji yell as I suddenly felt a bump against my back. I turned around to see Ito there.

I had to practically dive in front of her to keep her from being pummeled by one of the ninjas. She continued to yell annoyingly as I moved her to the side to avoid another attack.

"YOU protect her." I said, unable to deal with her shrieks that close to my ear. I tossed her back to Neji and went back to my fending off of the ninjas.

I turned around just in time to block an attack. The ninjas were coming on strong, but I didn't have any opportunity to use my bugs.

"I'm a little busy right now!" Neji said as I suddenly got Ito back in my face again.

The ninjas proceeded to back me up into a tree as I had the screaming teenage girl behind me. They were focusing only on attacking her, but of course I was in their way.

I grabbed her by the shoulders I flung her up over the ninjas and back over to Neji. "Likewise," I said to him.

Then I spun back around to attack the ninjas' backs. But just as I did, two more appeared in front of them and blocked my attack. I had to almost bend myself in half to avoid the attacks from the ninjas.

"Shino, I NEED you to watch her!" I heard Neji yell.

"Can't right now." I responded, trying to knock the ninjas off their feet my sweeping my legs past theirs.

As I jumped to my feet, the four ninjas went over and joined four that Neji had been fighting. I went over to where Neji was protecting Ito and stood there with him.

"Take a breath!" Neji yelled at Ito.

She finally stopped screaming.

It gave me a moment to clear my head. "What are they doing?" I said, referring to the eight ninjas that were now performing a seal I didn't know.

"I wish I knew."Neji replied.

"Don't let them kill me!!" Ito shrieked, grabbing Neji and shaking him.

"Stop doing that!" Neji said angrily, handling that better than I would have.

"Neji, you take Ito to the village and I'll stay here to distract the ninjas." I said finally.

"No." He said unreasonably. "YOU take Ito to the village. It's easier for me to fend off a group of ninjas than it is for you."

Where did he get an assumption like that? "How do you know something like that?" I said.

"Experience." He replied.

As if he's ever REALLY seen me fight. "If we can't come to an agreement, we'll both have to stay here and fight." I said.

"Right." Neji said. "And YOU protect the girl."

"No, YOU protect her." I said, getting a little annoyed.

"SOMEBODY protect me!" wailed Ito.

Suddenly, it began to get really dark. I couldn't see anything that was happening, but I knew I had to get Ito to safety since Neji wasn't going to do it. I grabbed her arm and went to take her off to a safe place before an attack could be carried out but I was pulled back by some force and then bumped heads with Neji who apparently had the same thought as I.

I fell first and Ito landed on top of me. I can only assume that Neji landed on top of the both of us because I was now stuck underneath the two of them. I struggled to get myself free, but I could hardly move my arms.

Then I felt some kind of impact. I knew Neji had been attacked on top because he suddenly jumped off—or got pulled off—the pile.

"How did you see…?!" I heard a ninja cry out.

With only Ito's weight on top of me, I was able to get out from underneath her.I summoned my bugs, knowing they'd be able to seek out the assassins in the dark. They had really only impaired themselves because now they did not know which way the ninjas were coming from.

I've never been fond of the cries for help that people yell out when they are being attacked by my bugs, but what am I supposed to do?

The sky lightened, and I could see again. The eight ninjas were out of commission, and Ito appeared unharmed.

Neji was standing a bit away with his back to us.

"I told you I could fend off a large group easily." I said, figuring he needed an explanation just in case. "Are you injured?"

"No." He said, turning around. I paused and waited a bit, hoping that maybe he just didn't consider the shuriken sticking out of his shoulder an injury because there was no way he couldn't have noticed that.

"Right, except that." I said, pointing.

"Ow." He said.

"Oh God no!!" shrieked Ito as she put a hand to her forehead and passed out.

"It's not that bad." I said, ignoring her. "You should be able to take it out."

"If I take it out now, I'll lose too much blood." Neji said. "I'll wait for the Hokage to do something about it once we get back to the village."

"So you're just going to go traveling around with a shuriken sticking out of your shoulder until then?" I said, making sure he fully understood what exactly he had just said.

He looked at me long and hard.

Almost as if I was being the irrational one.

When he so clearly was.

"Yes." He said after thinking it through, realizing that that is exactly what he had said.

"Fine." I said, looking back at Ito who was unconscious because of her own doing. "What about the girl?"

Neji looked vaguely at her.

It was finally quiet for once.

"We should have knocked her out earlier." He said. "Now we can move faster."

Move faster…hm…oh yes. That reminded me. I looked at the sky to check the time to see that much time had passed. We had likely missed the exam. "There's no point in rushing, especially with your injury." I said. "The Chuunin Exam will be over by the time we get back if we hurry or not."

"There will be other exams." Was all Neji could think of to say. I had wanted to see Kiba and Hinata fight.