Windows to the Soul

Disclaimer: I dont own naruto. what a shame.
Authors' Note(s): yea, i couldnt kill her. i wanted to. but i couldnt. oh, and raven, my beta is writing a related story, but dont take anything he says seriously. that never happened. oh well, he can borrow loki. its ok.

They had been there for a little less than an hour now. Shino sat beside Loki, stroking her hair affectionatly while she laid on the ground, her neck broken. Shino was never one to express emotions, but he let the tears of her loss fall down his face without any hesitation. He moved his hand over her eyes and muttered a soft apology. With the slightest of movement he closed her glassy blueish green eyes. Then a hand shot out and snatched his wrist with suprising strength.

"Ya know that you should wait til I'm dead to do that," a raspy voice said from beneath him. Loki looked up at him, a frail smile on her face, showing blood-stained teeth. Shino was speechless. He had seen her head jerk at that impossible angle, heard the sickening snap of her spine, and felt the lack of a pulse on her wrist. Everything came back to him. The chain, the fang, the creature, and the death of Loki. Yet here she was, looking up at him, smiling.

A soft groan escaped her lips as she tried to sit up. Shino looked at her in a totally diffrent light now. No longer was she Loki the corpse, but Loki the wet dream on perfectly curvy legs. He made his own primal groan in the back of his throat. Shino prayed that Shino Jr. wouldn't decide to pay Tobias Loki a visit.

'Please oh please oh PLEASE don't get a boner in front of her! Oh God, she barely even knows my name. Think of something... umm, Grandma in a bikini, Adolf Hitler in lingerie, Grandma-in-a-bikini and Adolf-Hitler-in-lingerie making out and cutting my 'fro off...' Thankfully these images were enough to suppress his animal instincts. Shino reached his arm around her back and grabbed her hand tightly as he pulled her up into a sitting position. Loki moaned and clamped her eyes shut.

"Its ok, I've got you," Shino said softly. Loki opened her eyes and he was glad to see that they were not the glass orbs of the dead, but the glowing green ones that he had fallen in love with only hours before. She was now in a sitting position, although her back was slumped and her head hung low. Loki looked as if she had just woken up from an operation and the sedatives were still in mild effect. She tried to straighten out her back, but failed and slumped against Aburame Shino.

He really didn't know what to do. Shino patted her back lightly as he looked at her throat. Instead of being broken and at a terrifying angle, it was only lightly bruised and the marks were beginning to fade. Shino's attention left her neck as he felt he shiver against him. 'Starting to get really chilly out here. Probably should gather up her things and go take her to Iruka.' he thought.

Shino touched the side of her face and she looked up at him. "I'm going to let you lay down for a second while I get your stuff and I'll take you home." Loki nodded and said thank you. He noticed that she was still shivering. If anyone that had known Shino saw what he was doing at this moment, they would probably die of a heartattack as Shino slipped his large jacket off and pulled it over the formerly nude girl. Aburame Shino had actually let TAKEN OFF HIS JACKET AND LET SOMEONE ELSE WHERE IT. In his defense, the "someone" wasn't just anyone. It was the love of his life.

Loki thanked him again as he set her down and curled up into a ball. The jacket went down to her knees and was a good substitute for a nightgown. Shino walked over towards the giant tree where all of this had started. He untied the chain and was shocked to see that the tree was still standing. Just barely. Shino didn't really know why he was even bothering to pick up the shredded garments. There was no way Loki could ever where these things again anyways. Unless she wanted a black bikini. He was ok with that, but decided that he and Loki might as well head off.

"I hope that its ok with you that I didn't bring your clothes. There wasn't much left. If you want me to get them for you, I will," Shino said as he slipped the chain into a pocket of the coat Loki was now whereing. Loki looked up at him and shook her head lightly. She watched him quietly and began why he would hide sucj a nice body beneath the large jacket. He wore a t-shirt displaying the name of an underground band that she liked, too. To Loki, Shino looked very handsome, and he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders and a big heart in his chest. He bent down and scooped her up like a groom taking his bride to their wedding bed. If Shino had his way, this wouldn't be too impossible a dream. Shino walked with Loki in his arms towards the village.

They walked in a comfortable silence for a few moments. She liked not feeling the need to fill the void with words. It comforted her to be with someone who she could communicate to without having to say a thing. Despite this, Loki's heart was heavy. Here Shino was, carrying her home and lending her his jacket even after she had tried to kill him. He didn't even ask her what the hell had jusst happened.

"I guess I've got some explaining to do," Loki said, softly. After what seemed like ages, he replied. "Not if you don't want to." This guy couldn't be real. Had anyone else been in the situation Shino had found himself in an hour before, they would have killed as soon as they saw her change. But not Shino. He was something special.

"I do. You deserve to know. I guess I'm not what you call "Normal". My family is from the Fire Country's most secret of villages: The Land of Wolves. We are all born with the ability to change into wolf-creatures. We can control the stages most of the time, but I haven't changed that much since I arrived in Konoha. Being a Lupin isn't easy. Not to complain but I wasn't dealt the best of cards. My pedigree is Silver Wolf, and Dark Fox, so I'm the Shadow Kitsune. My father's clan, Tobias, is the Silver Wolf, made up of some really strong Dog-Soldiers, the Lupin warriors. My Momma's clan of Dark Fox is made of assassins. Most of her clan is dead. So that makes me the Shadow Kitsune, the-" she was cut off by Shino's words.

"The sole heir to the Lupin Society. You are the one meant to unite all Lupins and lead them into a great battle as an ally of Konoha. My father studies Lupin history. I guess its one of his hobbies. Besides bug-gathering." Shino spoke softly. He noticed that Loki looked away most of the time that she spoke, as if she was ashamed of what she was. Shino thought that she should be proud of who she was, being the savior of her kind and all.

"No suprising you, huh'? Well I know a few things about your clan, too, Aburame Shino. You are the heir to the Bettle-Masters of Konoha. I've also heard that you are not to be taken lightly, especially if you value having hands," with this Shino blushed. This girl seemed to know a lot about him. Loki even reveered him as being strong.

"How do you know all of this?" Shino questioned. Curiousity killed the cat, but Shino was more of a bug person anyways. He liked her attention, and he was pround that he was worthy enough to be respected by Tobias Loki, who was an heir to hr own clan.

"Papa told me. I wanted to make friends when I got here, so asked him about the local shinobi. He said that I should definatly play nice with you unless I wanted a horde of fleas to ravenge Balthazer. But I'm really glad I met you. You seem to be... a sweet man." Loki finished quietly.

"Your father knows about me? I thought you said he lived in the Land of Wolves," he said. Loki's sweet smile instantly faded as bad memories filled her head. Shino immediatly regretted his comment. He had fogotten something that his father had told him of a clan in Loki's home.

"My father was killed when I was five. My mother disappeared before I could remember anything about her. Just like my dog, my dad's name was Balthazar. He died a martyr. Lots of people from the Land of Sound came and took out his heart, believing that he was the Shadow Kitsune. They carved his heart out because they were stupid enough to believe that was the only way to kill one of our kind." Loki said, her voice a whisper.

"I'm sorry... I forgot." a long silence filled the air as Shino carried Loki back to Konoha. She said that it was ok, and faked a smile that made him feel a bit better.

"May I ask you something?" Shino said, feeling that she was feeling good enought to talk again. Loki nodded and looked up at him, patiently awaiting his question: How did you survive? Your neck broke.

"Oh, that. Well, my kind are pretty good about healing themselves, and I'm a bit better at it than most, being the Shadow Kitsune, and all." Loki chuckled and he pulled her closer to him.

"May ask you someting else?" Aburame Shino asked softly. He lowered hisface close to her's. Loki's eyes widened as she said yes. Curiousity was running wild in her right now.

"Will you go out with me?" The question hung in the air for a moment. Shino's heart sank, and he predicted a "no". No one ever wants to kiss a guy who's insides were crawling with bugs. Loki's words brought him back to his depressing reality.

"Under one condition: Let me see your eyes, please?" Her voice sounded like she was begging. Loki looked so beautiful in his gray jacket, the collar folded underneath her chin. Shino inclined his face because he couldn't take them off himself, his hands holding her up. Loki carefully slid them off his face, and gazed into his eyes. Shino looked down into her green eyes with his own eyes. They were beautiful. His eyes were silver, and there seemed to be no white in them at all. Upon looking again, she saw some white. Just a tiny bit. They seemed to last forever. Loki saw some emotion flicker through them. It was shame. She now knew why he hid them: the eyes are the windows to the soul, and he didn't want anyone looking into his inner world.

Loki smiled in wonder. "They're..." she searched for the right word for to describe something as wonderful as Shino's eyes.

"Freakish," Shino said in shame and closed his eyes and turned his face away. He knew that not even Loki would be able to see something good in him. A soft hand carassed his cheek, directing his face to Loki's as he opened his heart-breakingly wonderful eyes.

"No. Not at all. They're so beautiful. I love everything I see in them. I love your eyes, and your soul." Loki's opinion was the only one that mattered to him. Shino leaned down to her face and touched his lips to hers softly, and then harder. Shino loved her more than anyone else in the world. Loki loved him more than anyone else in the world.

OMG!!! WE'RE DONE!! oh, and this little saga is going to be continued in more stories. I was gonna make this longer, but felt like it needed to be continued later. this one's over. WOOT!! time 4 a new one!! aww, sweetness! i didnt really know what to for shino's eyes. i was gonna make them a dark gray, but thought that they needed to be something that he would want to hide. there is nothing wrong with having 2 diffrent colored eyes. the reason for this will be continued in a later story. THANK YOU 4 THE SUPPORT!! WOOT!! R&R!!