"What kind do you want, Shino-kun?" Sakura looked at the platters of dango and then looked at him expectantly.

"I have no preference."

She scoffed and poked at his uninjured side. "Everyone has a preference! Don't be so stoic all the time."

"If I choose, will you cease your manhandling?"

Sakura smiled sunnily at him. "Nope! What's a little manhandling between friends?" She reran that sentence through her mind and felt vaguely embarrassed.

Ah well, it's Shino-kun. He's not likely to tease me about it, unlike some boys I could think of. Some perverted boys with perverted jutsu!

"Then I don't see why I have to pick anything."

"Fine, fine. Be difficult." Sakura finally looked at the dango vendor, who was giving them a bemused smile. "Two goma, please!"

The two took their treats to a nearby bench and sat side-by-side in silence, with Shino carefully settling his beetle jar on the far end. Sakura tried to daintily eat her dango and failed as per usual.

Why do I even bother? I always get it all over. I'm worse than Naruto with his ramen!

She tried to think of something interesting to say. Today she had spoken more to Shino than she ever had since they had become acquainted at the Academy. She actually knew very little about the quiet boy next to her.

Might as well start with the basics.

"So, Shino-kun, now that we're friends, you should tell me about yourself!"

He turned toward her, inwardly surprised at the question. He had assumed she would follow through with her obligation to him via dango and leave.

"What would you like to know?" He was at a loss. His interactions with his own team made it clear that his social skills weren't exactly standard.

Sakura frowned at him thoughtfully and said, "Do you always answer a question with a question?"

"Evidence of our past conversations suggests the answer to that question is no."

"Hah! I knew you had a sense of humor under there somewhere!" She grinned at him and took a bite of dango, unaware that Shino was slightly bewildered at her comment. He hadn't meant to make a joke.

Sakura finished her skewer and then used it to punctuate her next words. "So, you know, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams. Something along those lines. Kakashi-sensei made us introduce ourselves to him like that." She glowered briefly. "Not that he told us anything about himself in the process."

"Kurenai-sensei had a similar idea. I will tell you what I told my teammates. I like insects, winter melons and fighting. I dislike strong scents and being ignored. I do not have a clearly defined dream."

No dream? That's kind of sad. But then, my dream was to marry Sasuke, so I guess we're kinda in the same boat now.

No use dwelling on the past, even if that past was only hours ago. Sakura had never known that Shino was such a fan of fighting, since he was never the troublemaker that Naruto was back in school. She could see now why he had conceded so easily to her request for a spar.

"Shino-kun, would you like to be my sparring partner? You've actually been a big help to me today. I know I don't provide much of a challenge, but …"

"Like I said before, with practice you could be very good. Your idea is agreeable. We can meet after our teams disperse at the same training ground."

"Very good, huh? Well, that's way better than 'pathetic'." Sakura tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, but she saw Shino's face minutely twitch into an expression and knew she had failed. She warded off the question she could see forming with her hands. "It's okay, really. Sasuke was having a bad day and took it out on me and Naruto."

Mostly me. He just really enjoys fighting Naruto.

"Your team seems very dysfunctional."

She snorted before dissolving into laughter. "Dysfunctional is the perfect word for us, Shino-kun! Did you hear about on our very first C-Rank? It could only have happened to Team 7."

"Naruto was loudly talking about it with Kiba several weeks ago, but somehow I managed to tune him out. I would be willing to listen to your take on it."

"Really?" Sakura was slightly sad that she was so happy that someone would just … listen to her. It showcased how much her priorities the past few years had to do with Sasuke or what he would be interested in. Her rivalry with Ino over the boy meant that she was once again left without the companionship she had relied on from the blonde girl.

"I would not have said so if I didn't mean it."

"Let's just say we are probably the first genin team to go from "first C-Rank" to "immediate A-Rank fighting missing-nin" in Konoha."

"Missing-nin? Surely that can't be true."

Sakura laughed and said, "I swear it! Missing-nin and lying clients and an inhumanly pretty fake hunter-nin. Naruto even got a bridge named after him when we were all done." Her smile wavered as she said, "I was terrified almost the entire time. We all nearly died. The only thing I could think of when I got back was how far behind my team I really was. I didn't do anything useful."

"Then you will have to become useful in the future." His voice was even as usual. He passed no judgment, but also did not disagree with the negative assessment of herself.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Talking to Shino had been very beneficial for her peace of mind. "I'm glad you were at the training ground today, Shino-kun. You're a good person to know."

Amazingly, she saw a slight tinge of pink on his cheekbones.

Ohoho! Shino is a real boy after all.

Because she tried to be a good person as well, Sakura decided to ignore his embarrassment and tried for a different topic of conversation.

"So what are you going to do with those beetles?" She pointed to the glass jar and he looked down as if he had forgotten about them.

"I am attempting to create a new jutsu, but I do not want to subject my kikaichu to an untested experimentation."

"Creating your own jutsu! Shino, that's amazing! What does it do?"

"It would essentially combine my kikaichu with a body flicker technique, allowing them to swarm and move in an instant." He looked away slightly. "I hate to admit that I am having difficulties with forming the precise amount of chakra needed to complete it."

"Maybe I can help? One of the only things Kakashi-sensei said about me is that I have very good natural chakra control."

He curled his hand around the jar. "Are you sure?" When she looked surprised, he clarified. "People are generally uncomfortable with my clan techniques. Especially kunoichi."

"What, the bugs? I mean, it's got to feel weird to have them under your skin like that, but I'm not afraid of them. I spent a lot of my childhood before the Academy in the woods, you know."

It's the best place to hide from bullies. The butterflies never told me I had a big forehead.

Shino had the closest thing she's ever seen to a smile on his face. "Can we start now?"