"Let me in!" Screamed Alex, who was banging on the door to Shino's hospital room. She was becoming very agitated at the attitude of the nurses.

"I cared for him as a medical ninja, let me in god dam it!" Once Hinata had finally caught up with her she played with her hands and spoke.

"Alex, Shino said, erm.. that he didn't want you to be near him right now" Hinata said in a soft voice, it was clear that she didn't want her friend to be mad. Alex's face had a look of both sadness and anger. Her brows knitted together as she growled. Inside Alex's heart was breaking.

What did I do? All I did was treat and look after him while he was asleep. Why would he do this? We are comrades and friends! I'm going to kill that stupid bug!. Ah, yes I'll squish him like the bug he is.

"I'm going to kill you, Shino! "

"Please clam down, Alex. " Hinata was trying to calm Alex but it wasn't working.

"If you won't let me in, I'll just sit here! I've got a lot of paperwork to do anyway." And with that Alex slide down the wall and sat on the freezing floor of the corridor before grabbing her pen out of her pocket and aggressively marking the chunin exam papers. While she continued her work, she mumbled a mixture of insults towards Shino and how much of an insult this was.

It didn't take long for her eyes to form tears that were fighting to be freed. Hinata noticed this in her friend and sat beside her silently. The tears began to fall onto the exam paper she was currently marking but before Hinata could ask Alex if she was OK the jounin spoke.

"Stupid allergies" Both Alex and Hinata knew that she would always blame her tears on allergies or having something in her eyes, after all Alex had too much pride to admit she was brokenhearted. Alex knew it was something stupid to be sad over but she had spent so much time and effort since his accident on him, as well as making her own condition much worse saving his life.

All of the contradicting thoughts were circulating her head while she kept on marking the papers, however it wasn't long before she began to drift off to sleep. It was luckily Hinata was there beside her and Alex's head fell onto her friends shoulder inside of slamming on the tiled floor.

"The answer is 42!" Alex screamed as she was shook by the shoulders. When she opened her eyes a pair of jet black eyes were staring at her with the owners forehead pressed against her. With any one else this would have been a violation of personal space but Alex just looked at them with a aggravated look in her eyes.

"What are you going,Mutt?"

"Just looking"

"Go away"

"No" When he said that Alex smirked and grabbed him by the ear and pushed him backwards.

"Your such a pain, I said go away!" She growled before rubbing her eyes with a yawn.

"This marking is so boring, I must of fallen asleep."

"Why are ya doing that out here?" Kiba said with curiosity in his voice but this just made Alex mad.

"Shino refuses to let me see him and I'm not leaving so I'll do it here!"

"Same old Alex, huh? You must be the only one he won't let it" His words just made Alex angrier and she clenched her fist before punching the floor.

"What?! That's it. He's so dead! First I put my own health in risk, then I basically only leave him to get him flowers and look after the chunin exams and the thanks I get is this?!" Her yelling got her the attention of the nurses but Alex didn't care.

"I've had enough of this, if this is how it's going to be I'm going" Alex grumbled before grabbing the paperwork and matching away from his room.

Alex hit her kitchen light as she walked in to make a cup of tea. It was 2am and she hadn't gotten any sleep yet, or she might have if she actually went to sleep but she had stayed up marking some of the chunin exam papers. She had made a mental note to kill Shikamaru later for making her do them all.

"That's it, he's going to let me in whether he likes it or not."

It was probably a stupid idea on her part, but then again Alex wasn't know for her IQ. Sure, she was decent but her plans never really seemed to work. However without a thought she ran out her apartment and made her way to the hospital. She came to a stop when she reached the outside and ran full force at the hospital and ran up the side of it by controlling her chakra in her feet. Once Alex had identified Shino's room she tapped on the glass slightly but it seemed he hadn't been to sleep that night either.

"You shouldn't be here, why? Because I don't want you here." Shino said as she stared her from behind his dark glasses. His words brought a frown to Alex's face and sadness to her heart.

"I don't care, Shino. Out of everyone I protected you and saved you. I put my own health on the line for you and I did it again just now for the pure reason to see you" Her eyes were searching for some sort of change in his demeanor but there was nothing. Unlike her, who was trying her hardest not to show the sadness that was clouding her judgment.

The silence between them was too much for Alex and she had to brake it but Shino beat her to it.

"There was no need" How could his voice be so calm?

"No need?!" Alex's voice trembled slightly at his words.

"There's always a need. As I told your father, I would do anything in my power to protect you." She glared at him and as she did, her balance wavered. Shino's reactions were as good as ever and he grabbed her wrists.

"Why won't you acknowledge this childish act your pulling!" Alex's emotions were begging to take her over and tears formed in her eyes. Nothing could be done now, it was now or never and she didn't like the idea of being this emotional but there was no way round it. However she couldn't think of the right words to say and so she fell forward into the room and grabbed onto him tightly.

It seemed that Shino was taken off guard by her action as well because he stumbled slightly but was able to keep them standing. It took Alex a few minutes to control her tears and stood a few inches away from him and looked up at him.

"Stop making me feel like such a useless shinobi! I would save your life over and over if it came to it! Surely your not even that clueless about it that you can't see how I treat you?!" She was practically yelling at him as this point and the tears had began to fall.

"Your such a fool" Were the only words Shino said and it put Alex in a state of shock. Her eyes fixated on his glasses and with a small chuckle she wiped her eyes.

"Maybe your right about that, I'm a fool. However I am a fool who understands her own feelings, Shino. I understand how I feel towards you. I was only a obnoxious girl when I first came to see you in a different light but after the war and taking different roles in the village" She paused for a moment before continuing.

"I became a woman and understood what my feelings were" The silence drifted through the room again and it was only now that Alex realize Shino was wearing his typical get up but she wasn't going to question it, or she didn't have time to question it as Shino had closed the gap between them and pressed his forehead against hers.

"Your still the same foolish Alex"