The plot line is sort of based on a chapter in Ranma ½, which I do not own. Sorry for the long wait. My brain is stumped at times…

One happy sunny day, Shino was inside, so I guess the weather isn't really important… ANYHOW! Like I said, Shino was inside, but he wasn't just loafing around, no, he was sitting, on the floor, looking at a cake… baked by Mary-Sue…

Shino sighed as he remembered his last encounter with the girl: tied up to a tree and screaming her head off at him. It was dreadfully unpleasant, and now, just when he had almost forgotten her, WHOOSH, she sends him a cake…

Hikari, what if she puts some kind of… power or drug or something in it? She's planning something, I definitely know that, so NO you CANNOT eat it. And NO! I DON'T have any pineapples! I thought that was-

"Shino! Buddy! What are you doing inside on such a day!" Shino twitched as he turned around to see Kiba standing in his doorway along with Hinata, who was playing with her fingers again, and looked like she sort of had a cold. Of all the people… of all the only people, why them? Why now?

"H-Hello, Shino," Hinata said timidly like she always was, but immediately perked up when she saw the cake. "Oh, Shino! Did you bake that? It looks really good," she commented.

"Ha! Shino… baking? We're talking about SHINO, Hinata! Heck, I doubt he'd even BUY one, for that!" Kiba laughed as he gave her a pat on the back. "So who gave it to you then?"

"Mary-Sue," Shino answered with disgust, though you could hardly tell through his shades. Kiba and Hinata stared at him for a while, processing what he just said, because they certainly didn't know any fanfiction lingo, or any English at that.

"Mary-who…?" Kiba asked with confusion, but then something in his mind clicked. "Oh! You got that from a girl, am I right, or am I right?"

"Kiba…" Shino told him in a warning tone. He might have glared, but really, who could tell?

"Hehehe… So, who's the un- I mean lucky girl?" Kiba said, purposely letting his tongue slip. Hinata looked pretty into the whole thing too at this point, but Shino, no, he was dreading it like, well, you know…

"You must be deaf to have missed the name," sighed Shino as he gingerly picked up the cake, holding it as far away from him as possible, and preceded towards the window… if he even had one, but he does, let's be happy, okay?

NO! The cake, Shino, the cake! I want it! LEMME AT IT! LEMME AT IT!

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Shino!" Kiba said sternly, snatching the cake away from him. "You're not going to let a perfectly fine cake get ruined now, are you?" Quickly wrenching away the cake from Shino's grasps, Kiba placed it once again in the middle of the floor in the opened box that Mary-Sue had sent the cake in and stepped back to examine it.

"Look, if a GIRL sent it to you, you just HAVE to have at least ONE bite!" Kiba went on, cutting the cake with a knife that just magically appeared out of nowhere, and slapped it on a plate that also magically appeared, and handed it to Shino with a magically conjured fork.

"Kiba…" Shino said warningly. "If you- mmf!"

"Hmm… I didn't think Shino…" Kiba decided to stop there as Shino's face started skipping around the color wheel. Like Kiba cared… "Swallow!"

"Is… is sneeze g-good?" Hinata asked, rushing to get a tissue. This was just not her day, and even worse, she caught the cold from Neji, who was so prickly about sharing anything with her, even a cold, but she still caught it.

Shino shook his head, but obediently swallowed, letting out a small sigh and quickly sent half a cup of water down his throat.

"Kiba!"

"What? It looked good!" Kiba confessed, thoroughly sniffing through the cake, "Weird scent, never smelled it before… hmm…"

"B-but -sneeze- how… Shino?" Hinata blinked, and then she blinked again and again. You see… it was a rather… no, very odd situation. "Shino… why are you hugging me!"

"I…I… don't… know…?"

Outside…

"Curses!" scowled Mary-Sue, looking through her binoculars into Shino's bedroom window. "My Hug-Me cake plan backfired! He was supposed to hug ME, not that stupid Hyuuga slut! Grr… Until I strike back next time!"

Inside…

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kiba hollered, shaking his head and waving his arms around. "There is something seriously wrong with this scene! Either that, or those eight chocolate bars are getting to my head."

"Um… we should just go meet Kurenai…" Hinata said, prying Shino off of her and slowly backing away. This was all too creepy to her.

The rather tense trio silently trotted down the streets of Konoha, avoiding each other's gaze, but the same thought all on their mind.

Why did I hug her? How am I supposed to know! It's like my body had a mind of its own! Hmm? Yeah, so? It's not like I actually wanted to hug her! Yeah, but- Hey! I don't like her like that! Are you crazy, Hikari? Yeah, I think you are, I need to give you medicine! Exactly, it's BECAUSE you hate it I'm going to give it to you, and nothing you say can change my mind.

"Uh…" Kiba began, trying to break the uncomfortable silence. "Um… look! There's Lee, TenTen, and Neji!" Oh, not a good way to break the silence…

"N-Neji?" Hinata gasped, immediately quickening her pace, the two boys doing to t he same to keep up with her. Too bad plan "Get-Away-From-Neji-Before-He-Comes-And-Yells-At-You" didn't work well, as the other team spotted them, and Lee came running over, followed by the other two.

"Hi guys!" Lee said happily. No reply.

"How are you doing?" TenTen asked. No reply.

"Let's get out of he -sneeze- Stupid cold…"

Yeah, there was something definitely wrong with that cake, for Shino, completely against his own will, suddenly flung himself onto Neji, not daring to let go even if his life depended on it.

Total silence…

"OMG! Are you trying to rape him or something!" Lee gasped as he dramatically slapped his cheeks and pried the stupefied Neji off of Shino.

"Uh, sorry?" Kiba apologized for Shino's little predicament. "Shino ate this weird green thing and now he's all… uh… acting weird. He must have thought you were Hinata or something. Bye!" And this excuse was obviously spoken in rapid pace that no one could possibly understand.

"Shino, what's with you!" Kiba demanded. "You're acting like those creepy fluffy things on T.V. that hug everyone and everything and say I love you all the time!"

"I-I'm sure Shino didn't mean to hug Neji…" Hinata whimpered, frightened by the sheer thought. If SHE was ever caught hugging Neji in PUBLIC, why she would just DIE. No, not because of embarrassment, because Neji would just probably kill her on the spot.

"I definitely didn't," Shino replied curtly.

"Then why –sneeze- ugh… I smell pepper…" Kiba apologized. That's when he and Hinata noticed that Shino seemed to be fighting the worst mental horror ever, because he was twitching like mad, and quivering and everything.

"Uh, Shino… -sneeze-"

"…"

"…"

"…Um, I'm sorry for just randomly and completely unwillingly hugging you?"

"SHINO!"

So after Kiba gave his 'best buddy' some hard punches and kicks, the trio was once again off to meet Kurenai. However, thoughts of many things clouded their heads. Well, actually, only Shino's weird hugging syndrome did. Anyhow, they reached Kurenai without anymore hugs at least.

"Hi guys! Wow, it's a bit chilly," she exclaimed as she gave a small sneeze. Kiba and Hinata politely stepped aside, knowing what was going to happen soon enough. And indeed it did as Shino headed… well, headfirst into Kurenai.

"Uh…" Shino began, quickly letting go.

Silence…

"…Shino, explain," Kurenai said sweetly in a dead dangerous way. "Because I will not tolerate such behavior!" And that's the three's cue to run for it.

"Okay, Shino, what is with you?" Kiba demanded, circling him and sniffing all about. "The only thing I can smell wrong is you, Hinata, your bugs, and cake."

"The cake!" Hinata gasped. "Do you think there was something in there?"

"There must have been!" Kiba insisted, putting his fist into his palm. "Why did you ever eat it, Shino?"

"You forced it down."

"Oh…"

Silence…

"So… where do we find a cure?" Kiba asked for them all as the clock stroked six. The sun was letting out a faint red shimmer before it finally fell beyond the horizon.

"Uh… Uh… I think I'm going to sne- -sneeze-" Hinata gasped. They waited for one second, then two, then five. Shino didn't budge, nor did he feel the need to.

"You're cured! –sneeze-" Kiba announced as the clock stopped ding-donging (if Konoha had a huge clock tower). Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. In went Shino, uncontrollably on hugging rampage once again.

For some reason, I don't like this very much… Oh well… Sorry for the wait again, though this hardly seems good enough for the time.