Commencement

"And this is your class!"

Startled into the world, everything takes shape and definition in the blink of an eye. What Shino saw was the head of the academy gesturing him into a classroom full out round faces. She was a little younger than he recalled, her long hair down instead of up as it usually was these days.

Leveling him with a stare, the woman demanded, "Well? Are you going to go in and introduce yourself to your class?"

"Yes..." he murmured stepping past her and into the room. Meeting the gazes of all the orb-like eyes, he nearly lets a smirk slip past when he sees Mirai give him a little wave. That had been a pleasant surprise then - and it was still nice now - knowing he'd been involved in his old sensei's daughter's training. Later, she'd be on Kiba's genin squad and someday, Mirai would be roped into watching Hinata's holy terror of a son, Bolt.

Bringing his hands together, he strained his voice so they would hear him all throughout the room, "Hello, I am your new instructor Aburame Shino and because I am your sensei, I do expect that you will all call me Shino-sensei."

"Yes, Shino-sensei," they echoed back at him docilely.

He didn't stop from smirking this time. These kids were going to be nothing compared to Naruto's son or Shikamaru's - hell, none of them could even hold up a candle to Choji's lazy daughter, but they'd damn well tried to chase him off in the beginning.

Not that he'd really expected less, having once been a student himself.

It'd been Kurenai who'd pointed him in the direction of being a instructor at the academy in the first place,

"They could really use an unflappable guy like you, Shino."

She'd told him that just as her daughter had been about to start her schooling. While he didn't think he'd like being a sensei as he'd never really cared much for children to start with, he'd gone along with it to give Kurenai a bit of piece of mind.

Shino's old sensei still got worried sometimes, she feared what the big bad world could do to her only daughter and well, he really couldn't blame her. They'd all lived through some awful things and Shino liked Kurenai and Mirai enough to take a go at being a teacher for the academy.

Of course, he hadn't expected he enjoy it so much. But he did. There was something about kids that just kept you on your toes and well entertained.

Tucking his hand behind his back, Shino re-focused on his students and told them all, "Today, we'll take it pretty easy. As I don't know any of you and you don't know me, we'll start with a nice round of introductions..."

And that was how the day went on. He got reacquainted with kids he hadn't spoken in-depth with in years and remembered how interesting his first year as a teacher had been. Learning all the tricks and finding his own way.

Once the day wore down, he said goodbye to all the round faces and Mirai came over to him at his desk and smiled.

"Hi, Shino!"

Resting his chin in his hands, replied, "Mirai."

Reaching into her pocket, the little girl said, "This is for you, from mom!"

Taking it, he recalled with sudden clarity the little note and pin his old instructor had given him. Swallowing back a wave of nostalgia, he reached over and gave Kurenai's daughter's hair a quick tousle. "Tell your mom thanks for the pin."

"How'd you know without opening it?" Mirai asked.

Chuckle vibrating in his ribcage, Shino didn't mind telling her the truth. "I'm from the future."

The girl squinted her eyes at him and nodded. "Uh...huh, got to get home now! Maybe you should too!" And with that, the kid was gone.

Shaking his head, Shino unwrapped the little package and pinned the button to his vest - as he'd done the first time. All he had to do now was go out and enjoy the rest of his day. Maybe he'd be invited to a bar with the rest of the instructors if he hustled.

And later, he was invited out and with these people he'd be friends with in the future, they swapped teacher horror stories and funny things that had happened while working as an academy instructor.

When night came and stole him back to the future, Shino just smirked at the nighttime sky and wondered if he could find that stranger. Maybe, if he happened to be lucky, he could wheedle the guy into telling him how he preformed this trick. Going back...it'd been invigorating. Seeing things he'd done with fresh eyes and experiencing it with a new mindset.

The first time, he had thought he wouldn't last more than a year as a teacher, but now? Shino could see himself doing it well into his twilight years.

Do you like Shino's chapter? It's kind of a pleasant read, isn't it? Any guess who's next?

Thank you to reviewers, Karkatsbabe and Dulemina; you guys are the best :)

Thank you all for reading and please REVIEW!

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