Aburame Shino; 4 Years Later

Age 16

-Concern-

I was a little behind schedule, which was out of the ordinary for me. I had to move quickly to make it to the Hokage's announcement of those nominated for the upcoming Jounin exam.

If I hadn't entered my name to be nominated then I doubt I would have strove so hard to make it there on time. But as it was, I was already late. And I HAD entered my name. This certainly didn't look good to the Hokage who always required that everyone be on time even if she wasn't.

And she wasn't.

I arrived late, but still before her. So I stood in the back of the room and pretended to have been there the entire time.

I knew no one would say anything because I'm an Aburame, and there's a certain fear and respect towards Aburames.

I had entered myself last year, but I suppose the fear and respect of the Aburames aren't as powerful when it came to the Hokage. I suppose that might be a good thing in a way.

When I had settled myself in the back, looking as though I had arrived ages ago, the door opened and the Hokage entered the room followed closely by Shikamaru. I couldn't remember if he was a jounin or a special jounin, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was Hokage within a few years at the rate he was being promoted. Soon, they'd run out of promotions and just have to carve his head up on the mountain.

"The following jounins have been selected to have a try at joining the ranks of special jounin or ANBU." He said as he began to read off some names. None of the names were very recognizable since I didn't make a point of palling around with anyone or having or attending pow-wow shindigs.

He hesitated.

"…Nara Shikamaru…"

Another promotion.

Why am I not surprised?

After another moment's pause, he went on.

"The following chuunins have been selected to have a try at joining the ranks of the jounin." He said and then read some more names that I didn't know. Then he slowly waned into names that I had heard before, particularly, "—Hyuuga Neji—", someone I frequently went on missions with because of our similar skill level and age.

Then, of course, the most familiar of all, "—Aburame Shino—"

That felt like a weight off my chest. I had hoped that I would be nominated and had a feeling that I would be, but there was always that nagging voice in the back of my head that tried to convince me otherwise.

"Thank you." He said once he had finished reading the names. "If you have not been chosen to compete in the upcoming exams, then don't be discouraged because you have plenty of chances to succeed. And, just because you have been nominated, doesn't mean that you are a new rank."

"You are all dismissed!" said the Hokage with a wave of her hand.

The Hokage certainly was useless. Shikamaru always did all the work. Maybe they SHOULD just make him Hokage.

Looks like I'd just be training for the next few days until the jounin exam.

Then it sank in. I was going to be taking the jounin exam in just a few days.

The jounin exam wasn't going to just be a walk in the park like the chuunin exam was. I'd have to work hard. But there was one better aspect about it that I preferred over the chuunin exam;

It was an individual thing.

Meaning; I did it alone. Without Kiba and Hinata.

"Shino, it's about time you're home."

I walked in the door and my dad was standing there. Normally he didn't come right to the door and impose himself on me like that.

I stepped back away from him to honor both of our preference for personal space.

"What is it, Father?" I asked, questioning his strange actions.

"You know your loud affectionate clingy teammate?"

"Kiba?"

"He's in the hospital."

"Oh."

I don't think it immediately processed.

"Wait…Kiba's in the hospital?" I repeated.

"Yes." My father answered. "His mother just called here to tell you."

"Oh." I said. "I see."

I knew I had an obligation to visit him in the hospital. After all, he had been on my team…

"She also told you to tell his girlfriend."

"Hinata?" I said.

"Whatever." My father answered.

I turned around and walked out the door. How odd it was that I had just said that. Hinata and Kiba had never decided that they were going out. I mean, what if Kiba actually did have a girlfriend and my assumption that Kiba's mother was mocking him by calling Hinata his girlfriend was completely wrong and I accidentally left some poor girl in the dark?

I didn't let it bother me too much because I soon forgot about it. Obviously it wasn't that important.

As I walked further away from my house, I realized that I had forgotten another thing. To tell my father that I had been nominated for the jounin exam. After contemplating my forgetfulness as I stood out in front of my house, I decided that I'd just tell him upon my return.

I went to Hinata's house and rang the doorbell.

The Hyuugas didn't really like me all that much, but I get the feeling that they don't like anyone who's not Hyuuga. Especially Kiba.

"Yeah?" said Hinata's little sister as she opened the door.

"Is Hinata at home?" I asked her.

"She is." Her sister replied. "And you are?"

"One of her teammates." I answered. I didn't throw in the 'former' part of it just because…well… I think Hinata still thinks of us as teammates even though I'm a chuunin.

"Okay, I'll get her." Said her sister as she shut the door. I could hear her yelling throughout the house, calling for Hinata. Then footsteps approached and opened the door.

"Hi Shino!" said Hinata. "How are you today?"

I suppose I should have answered her question, but I figured it was more important to tell her that something had happened to Kiba.

"Hinata, I just got a call from Kiba's mother." I said even though I personally hadn't gotten the call. I wasn't going to get all technical on Hinata. "Kiba's in the hospital."

Hinata gasped, looking shocked. She stuttered a bit, but nothing coherent came out of her mouth.

"I figured you'd want to know." I said.

"I'll get my coat!" she said finally as she sprinted back into her house to retrieve her coat. I guess that meant we were going to have to go to the hospital to visit Kiba.

I stood there and stared at the door.

I wonder why Hyuugas shut their doors all the time?

Hinata returned after a little while but she hadn't gotten her coat. I was going to question her about the absence of her coat, but I really just didn't feel like it at all.

"I'm ready." She said.

We began to walk to the hospital.

Hinata was power walking. She was coming so close to running that I actually had a bit of a hard time keeping up with her.

Once we got to the stairs, she hopped up the stairs, skipping every other one. She must have been really worried about him, but I was pretty sure it would be nothing serious. This was Kiba we're talking about here.

Then again…maybe I should have been worried.

"Is Inuzuka Kiba here?" I heard Hinata asking the nurse as I came around the corner. She hadn't really gained all that much time on me by hurrying so much because now the nurse was taking her sweet time to shuffle through her papers and look things up on the computer. I kind of felt like asking her to hurry herself along a bit, but she was peering curiously at her screen and double checking her papers.

I suddenly got the feeling that there had been a major miscommunication exchanged.

"Inuzuka Kiba you said?" she asked Hinata.

"Yes!" Hinata said eagerly. I could tell she was holding her breath. "Is he here?"

"We have an Inuzuka Akamaru here, but no Inuzuka Kiba." The nurse replied.

I suddenly felt like someone dropped a ton of bricks on my head. Yes, Kiba was here IN the hospital. But my father had implied that he was sick or injured when he was, in fact, just inside the hospital with Akamaru who was sick or injured.

"Akamaru?" I said in my stupefied state.

"Hey!" came Kiba's voice from down the hall. We both turned around to see Kiba coming over to us.

"Kiba!" Hinata gasped, as if the nurse telling us that he was perfectly fine wasn't enough. "You're all right!"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kiba replied. "Akamaru's not doing to well though."

"What happened to him?" Hinata said, looking concerned.

Kiba then explained that he had knocked Akamaru around while they were out training and the dog had a broken leg. I felt like kicking myself for being so stupid and thinking things were ACTUALLY serious with Kiba for once.

"That's awful!" Hinata said as if nothing could be worse.

"Yeah well…Akamaru's getting pretty old…" Kiba began.

There were ten million things I could have been doing with my time other than sit around worrying about a dog's broken leg.

"I have things to do." I said. Then I realized that maybe that would upset Kiba that I seemed so insensitive to his dog's injuries, even though I sort of was. So, as I turned to leave, I stopped and thought of what I could say so I wouldn't sound stupid yet I would sound concerned. "Tell Akamaru I said to heal fast." I finally came up with, though I think I sounded pretty stupid.

"Okay Shino!" Kiba said.

I couldn't leave fast enough.

I had worried myself and worried Hinata over Akamaru getting a minor injury. Animals heal quickly so there was no reason to get worked up over something so small. Besides, the Hokage could fix an injury like that in just a few seconds.

I made my way home thinking about what exactly I had just gone through today. Briefly, for a moment in time, I had been rather…er… CONCERNED… about Kiba's well being.

I opened up the door to my house.

"Father," I said. My first priority was to tell him that I had been nominated for the jounin exam.

"Back so soon?" he said.

"Yeah, it was a false alarm." I said. "Father, the nominations for the jounin exam were today."

"Oh?" said my father. "And?"

"I got nominated."

"Congratulations, Shino." Said my father. "I became a jounin when I was seventeen as well."

"I'm sixteen, Father." I reminded him.

"Same thing." My father answered. "Oh, and Shino?"

"Yes?" I said.

"Don't you think it's time you started thinking about meeting with other young, teenage females your age?"

"What do you mean, Father?" I asked.

"For the sake of the clan's future." My father said, turning away.

"You mean a mate?" I concluded.

"Yes, eventually." My father answered. "Though you do not need to make an immediate decision. You're only seventeen after all."

"Father." I said. "I'm sixteen."

"Same thing."