Chapter 10
The second time Lady Natsuki requested Shino was met with amusement and knowing looks within the clan, and by his teammates.
Kiba started, grinning, "Hey, man, anything you want to tell us about this Lady Natsuki? 'Cause this is turning into kind of like, yeah, the plumber, 'Come and check my pipes, if you get what I'm sayin!'"
"Kiba! It's not like that!" Hinata reprimanded, then paused, suddenly unsure of herself. She turned to Shino with the beginnings of a blush on her face. "Um… is it like that, Shino?"
"No."
"See!" Hinata said, relieved, her blush fading out, "She must just… have some very persistent bugs!"
"She does."
"Sure, man, sure!" Kiba exclaimed, giving Akamaru a hearty pat on the head and laughing all the same.
Shino thought he was safe outside of the house, but on this third trip Lady Natsuki took even that from him. She met him outside, even outside the manor's walls, and fed right there in the woods. Even the birds went silent.
"Ah, it bothers you, your family and friends' assumptions about us?" Lady Natsuki spoke to him, when he woke, still groggy, though realizing they were once again in her bedroom. "A man and a woman alone together, and everyone jumps to the same conclusion. I know you find it all quite boring and I confess at this point, I do as well.
"Yet, I cannot deny, if anyone saw us here, in my quarters, especially with my arms around you, and my lips on your neck, they would assume we were lovers. Strange, how two things can look alike yet in reality be vastly different.
"Though this is undeniably intimate, I do agree with that. After all, I am getting to know you quite well, am I not?"
