Lee and Tenten sat down at Shino's table, both happily out of breath from the dancing. The band was taking a break and someone had hooked up the sound system really well; the modern dance/pop tunes pounded through the crowd, enticing the younger chuunins and genins to groove. In addition to the music, Suna also installed strobe lights around the square, turning the whole place into one large open-air club.

"Where's everyone?" chirped Tenten, looking about. Shino pointed to the Hokages' table. A bunch of Konoha ninja were clustered there.

Lee took a mental tally. "But that still leaves Sakura-san, Naruto-kun, Ino-san, Kiba-kun, Gaara-sama and Hinata-san."

Shino shrugged.

Tenten smiled wryly. "Shino-kun, you've been sitting here the past hour and a half. Aren't you going to do anything? You don't have to dance."

"I don't want to dance," Shino replied coolly. He stood up and strode off into the crowd near the door.

Lee drank a glass of orange juice and said, "He is really odd."

"Well, now he's gone." Tenten snagged the juice from Lee and sipped. Her lacquer red frock was a little crinkled by the vigorous dancing. She smoothed out the material and brushed her elegant braids back from her shoulders.

Lee slipped a hand into hers, and they watched the young teenagers writhe in time to the heavy beats. Silently Neji joined them, his engagement ring flashing in the strobing light. Lee clapped a hand to his left ear – the damage wrought a few years back still cropped up every now and then – and the three of them moved out of the range of the pulsating beat.

They weren't surprised when Shikamaru and Chouji joined them.

"Can you believe we used to like such noise?"

"Yes, Shikamaru-kun, except we used to call them music." Lee massaged the back of his ear. Tenten reached up and found the sore spot. "That noise is a symbol of youth!"

All of the Konoha shinobi smiled nostalgically at the phrasing. Chouji asked, "So what are your plans now, Lee?"

"I'm going to specialize," he answered. "Then I will take on a genin team if possible. I think teaching is the path for me."

"You'll make a great teacher," said Tenten warmly. Neji nodded, agreeing with Tenten's biased assessment.

Shikamaru stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Of course you would. You had a great teacher to guide you."

"Yes I did." Lee's expression turned pensive. "Without Gai-sensei, I'd be nothing. But there's no one like Gai-sensei."

Neji spoke quietly. "He was a true hero."

All five of them took a moment to process the simple statement. They could recall the valiant attempt Gai made to combat Tobi/Uchiha Madara, fending off the vicious attacks until Naruto got his kyuubi chakra under control.

Then that one, final, stunning blow, when Gai opened all eight gates, from Kaimon to Shimon, and collapsed the entire sealing structure by himself to save Naruto. Neji, Lee and Tenten had lost all composure, digging through rock with their bare hands to locate the bloody and broken body of their inspiring teacher.

Lee sniffed and Tenten wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "He was."

Shikamaru swallowed the lump at the back of his throat, and Chouji rubbed his nose. There were too many heroes.

-----

Shino stalked into the Kazekage building. He knew where she was.

Gaara's office was open. That was good. If the doors were closed and locked, he might have -

"Who's there?"

"Aburame Shino."

No one came out of the office, so Shino waited. He didn't wait patiently though; the bugs beneath his skin hummed with increasing frequency as a reaction to his mounting fury.

Then Gaara spoke again. "Please enter."

-----

Hinata was lying on the sofa, covered with a black cloak.

Gaara was seated in his own chair, looking over reports. "I suppose you wish to send her to her room?"

Shino glared at the kazekage. "What did you do?"

"I did nothing." Gaara looked up. "She was upset, I asked her to come here to compose herself, we had tea, she fell asleep after too much crying."

Balling his fists, Shino's bugs spilled out of his sleeves. "Why was she crying, Gaara?"

"I didn't ask that much." Gaara didn't stand, but the sand gourd started disassembling into sand grains. "Stand down, chuunin. I let you in because you're her teammate, but she needs to rest."

Shino recalled the bugs. He turned and observed the sleeping face of his teammate, noting the tear-streaked cheeks and the bite marks on her wrist.

"I apologize, Gaara-sama. I know why she was crying now." Shino paused, unsure of how to phrase his next sentence, but Gaara intercepted.

"I will look after her until she wakes." He returned his attention to the paperwork. "The fireworks will begin soon."

-----

He sent his bugs to track the source of Hinata's pain.

Hotel suite? With Ino, Kiba and Sakura? Shino debated his next move, but decided that it could not wait. He leaped across the rooftops and landed on the balcony where the four were eating cookies.

Shino grabbed Naruto by his wrist and yanked him into the room. He slammed the blond chuunin against a wall.

"Shino!" yelped Naruto. "What the fuck are you doing?"

In the few seconds that everything happened, nobody else moved. Sakura, Ino and Kiba were shocked. Kiba scrambled to his feet, asking, "What's wrong, Shino?"

"He made Hinata cry." Shino let go of Naruto. "What did you say to her, Naruto?"

Naruto's eyes grew round. "I didn't say anything... when I saw her last she was dancing with Neji!"

"What happened before or after that?"

"Well, Sakura and I went for a walk..." he glanced at his just-confirmed girlfriend, who was now kneeling on the blankets, a look of concern on her face, "and then we went back to dance, then we came here."

Shino's eyes could not be seen behind the shades he wore at all times, but all four could feel the chill in his gaze. "You knew she liked you a lot."

There was no escaping it. "Yeah. I did."

"Why did you break her heart then?" Shino moved closer. "She must've seen you and Sakura together. If not for Gaara I don't know what would have happened."

"Why? What did Gaara do?" Kiba interrupted.

"I don't know, but it calmed her emotions down. She's resting."

Naruto's eyes found the floor, the wall, then finally Shino. "Look," he tried, his hands spreading wide. "Hinata is very attractive and everything, but... I like Sakura. More than like. I can't change that."

"You-"

Kiba stepped in between them. "Whoa, playing referee here. Shino, I get why you're upset. Hinata's like the sister we all want to protect."

Perhaps only Ino caught the faint pink stealing up Shino's cheeks.

"But Naruto has a point, y'know? You can't pretend to love someone just cos that someone loves ya." Kiba was making sense, Shino knew that, but it wasn't easing the tightness in his heart.

He went to the door and opened it. "Naruto, you had better find something to say to make Hinata feel better."

"Gotcha," Naruto replied weakly. He caught Sakura's gaze. Both of them smiled lopsidedly, not sure of how to break the news to Hinata.

Kiba and Ino looked from one to the other. "You two just got together and you didn't tell us?"