Aburame Shino; 3 Years Later

Age 15

-Bystander-

It's not that I was worried about Kiba or anything. Just…concerned.

I didn't think it was such a great idea to send him off on his own for a mission. Kiba's never really been the levelheaded type and to make him his own boss and crew on a mission just was a situation asking for a disaster. He was two days late in returning.

Maybe I wasn't the only concerned one.

"Do you do this EVERY time Kiba goes on a mission?"

Hinata looked up at me. She had been staring off into space in the vague direction that Kiba was expected to return from. I didn't know how long she had been there or how long she planned on staying there, but she was probably taking years off her life worrying. It was so typical of Hinata to be like that. Kiba told me that she did that all the time when I went on missions too.

"Not normally." She answered as I sat down next to her.

"What makes this time so special?" I asked.

"I'm just worried about him." She replied.

She didn't need to tell me that. It was quite apparent.

"Well, we know he's not lost." I said, trying to comfort her a bit.

"Getting lost is impossible for Kiba." She said, trying to make herself smile.

I didn't even know how I had ended up here. Was it truly my concern for Kiba's well being that had brought me to this place? Or had I just so happened to come across Hinata?

"So what made you come here at this time?" I asked, figuring I could get an answer from her.

"I got a feeling Kiba would come back today." She answered.

Maybe that was it. Maybe something in my subconscious had told me that Kiba would return today.

Minutes dragged by as Hinata and I sat in silence, staring off down the road.

This was so unlike me.

Hinata finally stood up. "I should be getting home." She said, though I could tell she didn't want to.

Her father expected her home, that much I knew. I nodded at her.

"Are you leaving too?" she asked.

I didn't want to hear myself answer. No, I wasn't leaving. But I didn't want to say it out loud. For some reason, it just didn't seem right. Slowly she wandered off when she realized that I wouldn't answer.

"No." I said once she had left.

What was I doing?

It's not like he was just going to come running up the road.

Oh wait, here he comes.

He was running as fast as he could. He didn't look like he could see anything except the Hokage's office. Was he really that eager to report that his mission was finished?

"Kiba, slow down." I said as I stood up.

He stopped and looked at me. He was so dirty that it appeared as though he had simply rolled around in the mud the entire duration of his mission. It was then that I notice Akamaru curled up in his arms.

"Shino, Akamaru's hurt really bad!" he said. "Where's the Hokage?"

"She's on vacation."

Kiba tripped over his words. "How can the HOKAGE just take a VACATION?!" he demanded as if it were my fault. "She has to heal Akamaru!!"

"Shikamaru is filling in." I told him.

"Shikamaru isn't going to help." He said, looking annoyed.

I had figured he'd want to know why the village wasn't falling apart. Apparently, Kiba has a one-track mind. "You could try asking Shizune, the Hokage's assistant." I tried.

"Where can I find her?" Kiba asked eagerly.

I knew it would practically counterproductive to just TELL him where to find Shizune. I had to actually take him there or else he'd mess it up, just like he tended to mess up everything else. I motioned for him to follow me and I hastily took him upstairs because I knew he'd have a heart attack if I didn't move fast. I took him past the Hokage's office and into the area where one could usually find Shizune, taking care of paperwork.

"May I help you?" came Shizune's voice from behind all her work.

I figured I'd let Kiba take it from here.

"Hey, can you heal Akamaru?" he asked, walking right up to her.

She looked at Kiba questioningly. She waited for such a long period of time before actually doing something that even I was ready to ask her if she planned on acting on the matter. I was surprised when Kiba just looked at her silently, waiting.

Finally, she did something about it. It took her less time to heal the dog than it did for her to consider doing it. She probably thought it was ludicrous to spend time healing a dog and that she shouldn't waste her time on it. Though, it would have taken her less time to just heal him as opposed to consider all the possible ways she could have potentially gotten out of it.

"There." She said. "Just rest him up for a day or so. No vigorous training or missions for at least a week, though!"

"Yes ma'am!" said Kiba. "Thanks!"

Kiba turned around and crashed into me. I could have sworn I had stopped at the doorway…

We left Shizune's office. Kiba looked much lighter, like there was a weight off his back. He was caressing his dog in his arms with more affection than I see most lovers deal with each other.

That boy would be so sad when that dog died.

For some reason, that thought made me think of Hinata.

"You should find Hinata." I said to him.

"Why?" Kiba asked.

That was a stupid question. "She's been worried about you." I told him.

"Let's take Akamaru home." Kiba said. "Then we'll find Hinata!"

"Okay." I said, not knowing how it suddenly became 'we'.

I knew that the moment we opened up the door, Kiba's mom would be all over him and give him the speech about how he was too young, too inexperienced, and how she NEVER should have let him do it, and how she should have listened to his sister.

"Kiba, I was SO worried about you!!" his mother shrieked, running over to him and clinging onto him that suggested she'd never let go. "I never should have let you go on that mission on your own!! I knew you were too young!! I should have listened to your sister!!"

"MOM!" Kiba said, pushing her away. "I'm dirty! You don't want to hug me!"

"Of course!" she said. "But why are you so late?!"

Kiba went through the whole story. Akamaru had fallen down a trap and gotten hurt. Kiba couldn't get down the trap, so he had to dig down and out the walls so he could reach the dog. I was shocked to hear that he had been doing that for two days straight and then still had the energy to run home as fast as he did, but then I realized that it wasn't really all that strange for Kiba.

"And NOW we're going to go and find Hinata!" Kiba said, finishing up his story. "Cause Shino said she's been really worried!"

"She has been!" Kiba's mother said. "I think she's been over here three different times to ask me if you were home yet! Which, of course, only made me worry even MORE! Oh, Kiba, if you're going to go and see your girlfriend you should at least wash your face off."

I knew Kiba would go off about how Hinata was not his girlfriend.

"MOM!" he yelled angrily. "She's not my girlfriend!!"

I would never get away with yelling at my father.

"Shino, she's not my girlfriend." Kiba said.

I zoned back in. "Okay." I said.

Then Kiba went off to the bathroom to clean his face. He always did what his mom told him to do. People told him he was a mamma's boy, but I never gave him any crap about it. I didn't care.

He came out of the bathroom. He had done an extremely insufficient job at washing his face. He had gotten the major parts in the middle, though those areas were still dirty, but there was still a ring around the outer rim of his face that hadn't even been touched.

"Come on, Shino!" he said, obviously not caring as he grabbed me out the door.

"Come home soon!!" his mother called but he slammed the door on her, also something I would never get away with.

We began the walk to Hinata's house.

"Hey Shino, I think I'm growing a beard." Kiba said.

And I had actually just begun to think about how Kiba had been unusually NOT random today.

"Okay."

"Should I grow a beard?"

"I don't know."

Kiba put his hands in his pockets and kicked the ground. He was probably feeling a little weird without Akamaru trotting by his side. I have to admit, it felt weird for ME to be with Kiba and not have Akamaru shadowing us.

"Hey Shino, was Hinata REALLY worried about me or just KINDA worried about me?"

I thought about it. At first, I figured she had just been 'kinda' worried. But then I considered all of the aspects of how she had acted. Then I realized that she had been REALLY worried.

"REALLY worried." I told him.

"Oh." He said.

I caught sight of Hinata walking across her front lawn and across the street. I think Kiba was a little caught up in his thoughts for once because he didn't look up at first.

"There she is." I said, pointing at her.

"Where's she going?" he asked.

How was I supposed to know?

"Let's follow her!" Kiba said.

I have to admit I was slightly curious as to where Hinata was going. In addition to leaving her house at an un-Hinataish time, she was also a little dressed up. What did this mean? Was Hinata going to a party?

She crossed the street again, going towards a club.

With music.

Kiba got behind me as if I was some kind of tree that he could hide behind and not be noticed. "Whoa, Hinata's going clubbing?" he said.

I watched her walk right up to Naruto and begin to talk to him.

"I think she's meeting Naruto." I said.

"WHAT?" Kiba said, nearly knocking me over in attempt to get a better view.

Hinata and Naruto then went into the club. They weren't hand in hand or anything, but it was enough to make Kiba worry. After all, no matter how much he tried to deny it, it was quite obvious that he was attracted to her. I mean, I am probably the last person in the entire world to ever think or consider something like that, but it was still apparent to me.

"Are they going on a date?" Kiba whispered.

"I don't know."

"It LOOKS like they're going on a date."

"Why do you even care? It's not like she's your girlfriend."

"I know that, Shino!" he yelled angrily.

I'm no Cupid, but when people reacted in such a manner, that tended to mean that they were jealous.

I looked at him, wondering what he was going to do next. He most definitely wanted to go into the club, but obviously felt bad about spying on her. I was going to let him make the decision.

"Okay, FINE!" he said. "Let's follow her! But only because YOU want to so badly!"

If that made him feel better in his skin then I wasn't going to argue with him. It was rather pointless to argue with Kiba, especially on such matters. So I allowed him to lead the way into the club. I scanned the area for Hinata and Naruto, but did not see them initially.

Suddenly, Kiba dove on top of me, knocking me to the ground while screaming, "DUCK!"

No doubt he had seen Hinata and Naruto and was now afraid that they had seen him.

"Kiba, if you yell like that, you'll get noticed." I warned him.

"Shh, be quiet Shino!" he said, as if I was being the loud one. "Let's go sit over there!"

He pushed me over to a table. I sat down and observed as Sasuke and Ino joined Hinata and Naruto, and then Lee came over. It seemed like they were having a little pow-wow shindig.

"Hey, Sasuke and Lee are there too!" he said. "What's going on?! I've only been gone a few days!!"

Was I understanding this correctly? Did Kiba think that Hinata was involved in some kind of…orgy?

"Ino's there." I said to help calm his nerves.

"Oh, okay." Kiba said, relaxing a bit.

But his relaxation was short lived.

He kept trying to see past the people who were bouncing by us, moving to the beat of the music.

I must have had a better seat than him because I could see everything perfectly and didn't have to move at all. Ino, Sasuke, Naruto and Lee all got up from the table to do various activities.

Kiba looked at me and then sprung out of his seat. "Hey!" he yelled. "Hinata's sitting at the table all by herself!"

"You should go over and talk to her." I said.

"No way! She'll think I'm stalking her or something."

"You kind of are."

"Be quiet Shino!" he said, always avoiding the truth. "I'm going to get a little closer."

I observed him move across the club. He spoke to a woman a bit and then followed Hinata as she went to the bathrooms. At that point, I lost track of both of them. I hung around for a little while, but neither of them came back.

Was I happy for them?

Was I angry that they forgot about me?

Was I sad now that I was alone at some club?

Naw.

I was none of the above.

I was Shino.