Shino was sitting on the ground. He was looking for bugs for his collection. Most of them had escaped. As he sat at the tree stump, Hinata came up to him and watched. He hated having someone looking over his shoulder. He did not turn around, hoping that the shy Hyuuga girl would leave. She did not though. Finally, he gave up on his idea. He turned around to address Hinata.
"What do you want?" Shino asked.
"Well, I wanted to train with you today." Hinata said.
"Can't you train with Kiba?" He asked, with a hint of distress in his voice.
"He is with Akamaru, training with his sister." Hinata said, she looked down at her shoes, and Shino sighed.
"I guess there is no other way. You may train with me today." Shino continued to look at his bugs, but he was distracted.
This girl hovering over him all the time. Hours past like this. Finally, it got dark and Hinata went home, but Shino did not. He knew that most of the insects came out at night. As he sat in the forest, the fire flies, his only light, he started to think. Why had he grown so hostile when Hinata was around? He had never really cared if Hinata was there. Why now did he care? Was I because he had seen his cousin with his new fiancée? Did he now desire love? Impossible. He did not care about such things. But still the question remained.
He shook his head. He cannot think such thoughts when he is trying to figure out where to find good bugs to study. When it was too dark to see even the fireflies, Shino left the forest and headed home. His father was sitting at the kitchen table, doing a dissection of a moth. He bypassed the whole scene and went to his room. As he lay down on his bed, he started to think about Hinata again. He fell asleep with his thoughts. In his dreams, he saw her. Her head was on a giant moth. And his, on a fly caught in a web of a spider. Hinata saved him from the spider. He woke with a smile on his face.
The next few days were the same, Kiba was doing something or other important, so Hinata stayed with Shino. He began to like the idea. He started to even teach her the basics about telling apart bugs. She did not say 'eww' or 'gross' to any bugs. She even let him put bugs in her hand, and she did not flinch. Her speech may have been a bit off, but her movements were not. When you paid attention, she was not the shy girl he had noticed in the academy. And then every night he had dreams about her. He always woke up happy and ready for the day.
One day, Hinata did not show up for training. He looked around for her, and saw that she was with Kiba. He was unhappy at this, but you could not tell it, by his shirt concealing his face. He went back to the forest, but he just sat there. Not doing anything.
The next day, Hinata was back with Shino. Under his shirt, he was smiling, glad that Kiba had the flu and could not train with Hinata. This day, they did not look for bugs. They actually trained with weapons for a change. They trained all day and some of the night. They ended up leaving on good terms. Hinata was getting better at fighting. She had almost beaten Shino, when he was not holding back.
He could not stand it anymore. He knew he loved her. He was not sure she loved him, but he could not hold it in anymore. He had to tell her, or it was going to kill him. He went to her house that night. He threw pebbles at her window, to see if she were still up. She was, and he climbed up her trellis to her window. He go into her room, and they sat down on her bed.
"Hinata-chan, there is something I must tell you, or it will kill me." Shino blurted out.
"What is it?" Hinata asked.
"I love you. I do not know if you do, but I do. And if you reject me, then I understand, but I love you and that is final." Shino just said it all in one big spill. No use in small talk here.
"This is sudden, but I understand. Kiba does not have the flu. I wanted to train with you. All this time that was it was." Hinata said, she clasped his hand.
"So…" Shino did not know what she was implying.
"I am saying that I love you too." Hinata said.
She leaned into his face and even if he did not want it, she kissed him. I lasted a long time. They ended up just making out for about an hour. Shino even took off his shirt.
