Note from the Author: On a one-shot/drabble roll, bitches. I have to do something during Celebrating the Sacraments class, after all. -.-
Ihrtinu: Yay:hugs: I love new reviewers. :warm fuzzies:
Notice
Kiba remembered the exact moment he first recognized Shino as a person.
He had always thought he was some kind of walking statue – he never smiled, rarely even spoke. And of course, Kiba had the good luck of sitting next to him most of the time.
It wasn't until they were eleven or twelve that he first noticed the incredibly human nervous little habit he had. During written exams, or even while listening to a lecture or directions, Shino would twist and untwist the end of his pen, taking it apart and putting it back together.
Kiba watched him do it for months before finally asking him why he did it.
It was the first time he'd even attempted conversation with him, and Shino had stared at him and then at the pen, and then he had laid it down on the desk, and something near a blush had come over his face.
That's when Kiba decided he liked him, and that he wanted to be friends with him.
So he was ecstatic that they were put on the same team when they graduated. At first, he tried his best to goad him into talking, because the stoic boy had a certain proud silence about him, and when he did speak, it was often condescendingly. After a while, he realized that didn't work, and just talked.
While Hinata was in the hospital after the Chuunin exams, they would train together, and Kiba would just talk. He'd say whatever came to his mind, just to keep the silence from coming back – asking questions and eventually answering them himself, because Shino wouldn't.
A few days after their mission to find the Bikouchuu, Hinata had been training with her father, and he had been sitting in the grass with Shino after training and had asked him, just for curiosity's sake, why he thought she liked Naruto so much.
It was one of the few questions he had seriously wanted an answer to, because love was a concept that he didn't really understand because he'd never really felt it. He knew that how he felt about his family was that pack bond that didn't quite mean the same thing. So he sat quietly in the grass beside his friend, not really expecting an answer, but deciding it best not to answer himself.
"I think she sees what she wants to be in Naruto."
Kiba had blinked at him for a moment, unsure of whether or not to answer, because he didn't want to ruin the fact that he had actually spoken to him. "What do you mean?"
"Well," his words were halting, as if he really wasn't sure of how to hold a conversation, "she wants to be strong, and she doesn't want to give up at anything – and Naruto is like that. You know firsthand."
He snorted at the reference to the Chuunin exam fiasco. "I was sure I was going to beat him." He mumbled moodily.
"You would have if you hadn't gotten so cocky."
He scowled – this was the Shino he knew – and decided to change the subject. "So do you have anyone you feel like that for?"
He was met with silence.
Not particularly surprising. He sighed, resting his chin on his knees. He probably talked as much as he did for a year.
"I want to be like you."
His head snapped up, sure he had heard wrong. "What?"
There was a faint flush across Shino's cheeks. "I admire you. You always say what you're feeling, and do what you want to."
He stared at him for a second, then grinned. "Do you like me, Shino?"
No answer.
His fingers slid into the other boy's, his head falling against his leg like an affectionate dog. "'Cause I like you."
Shino's muscles tensed beneath the contact, as if it was unusual for him to touch anyone if he wasn't trying to kill them. Eventually, he relaxed again, venturing as far as to wrap an arm around the boy beside him.
They were silent a long time, taking in the pleasant awkward beauty of the situation.
Kiba finally broke through it: "Hey, Shino?"
"Hm?"
"Thanks for noticing me."
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Additional A/N: Eek:flail: You have no idea how much fun I had writing this. It's so fluffy:hugs my ShinoKiba: