Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. So if you recognize anyone or anything from the anime, I'm just borrowing.

Takes place sometime before Shippuuden. Technically, it takes place in the Naruto world, but without regard to Shippuuden. The Konoha 11 are now 16ish, but I wouldn't call this AU, so I'll call it OS (for Outside of Shippuuden).

Thanks and love to my wonderful reviewers! I'd make you all cookies, but then I'd have to shove them into the cd slot.

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Chapter 14

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Everyone filed into the enormous family room and settled amongst the cushions. Most of the older generation and the little ones went off to bed. Kaoru and Shinomaru waved good night because it was her turn to watch the kids. Shino and Shibiki sat down on a couch, and Hinata slid in beside her teammate.

"What should we start with?" Kinako mused.

"How about I Spy?" Karika suggested. "My sisters and I loved playing that game when we were little."

"Oh! Hanabi likes that game. She can sit still for hours trying to figure out how to break the seals on Neji-niisan's room."

"Chotto chigau, Hinata," Shino explained. "It's not quite like that. It's not actual spying."

"Oops," Hinata grinned sheepishly. "Oh! Is it like the game that Iruka-sensei taught us where you each select a piece of paper? And the one with the star is the spy and everyone has to figure out who the spy is?"

"No," he shook his head in amusement. "It's actually very simply. A chosen person looks around the room and picks an object. The rest of the people have to figure out what the object is based on one clue."

"You don't hide it?" Hinata puzzled. "It just stays there? In plain sight?"

"Yes."

Hinata still had a puzzled frown on her face, and Shino thought it was one of the most adorable things he'd ever seen. Unfortunately, he had the strong urge to make it go away by smoothing it away with his fingertips, or his lips, which would not be a good thing to do. He needed to snap out of it.

"Karika-basan-" he began.

"Shiiiinooo…." Karika interrupted with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "What did I tell you?"

"About what?" Shino asked innocently. Too innocently.

"You know what."

The two commenced a brutal staring contest. Unfortunately for Karika, it was impossible to outstare an Aburame. They could be fluttering their eyelashes at you and you wouldn't know the difference—not that Aburame men ever did things like that. Her eyes watered and she blinked hard to soothe them. She sent him another glare, though.

Hinata watched the byplay with a worried expression on her face. Did Shino get into an argument with his aunt? Sori, Karika's husband, also frowned in confusion.

Finally, after a full minute of being glared at, Shino sighed and gave in. "Alright, if it makes you happy. Karika-ch…Karika-ch…Karika-neesan, why don't you go first and give a demonstration?"

"Neesan is better than basan," Karika grumbled darkly. "I'm only six years older than you, hardly old enough to be an aunt to a teenage boy." As if a switch had been turned on, she brightened with a wide smile and turned this was and that to study the room.

Hinata covered her mouth with her hands and couldn't hide the little giggle that needed to escape. Perhaps it was the release of tension after thinking a real confrontation was underway. Perhaps it was the sight of solemn Shino being scolded like a little boy.

"Hinata, it is unkind to laugh at your teammate," Shino deadpanned down at her.

That pushed her right over the edge. Her tiny giggle became that wonderful laugh that he rarely heard and secretly loved. Hinata blushed cherry red. She knew all of Shino's relatives were watching, but she couldn't stop. To hide herself and calm her fit of giggles she suddenly dove forward and buried her face against her teammate's arm, clutching the fabric of his jacket in her fight to control herself.

"G-G-Gomen, Shino-kun," she murmured against his bicep.

"I forgive you," Shino said with mock-seriousness, although it probably sounded like regular seriousness to everyone else. It didn't matter. He could feel her smiling even through his coat.

All of the women in the room shared an "awwwww…" look at the sweet closeness of those two, and had to hide it quickly when Hinata's pink face popped out of hiding.

"Okay," Karika began, rubbing her hands in her excitement, "I spy something that starts with the letter k."

"Kikaichuu!" Hinata said eagerly.

Karika shook her head.

"Karime?" her sister guessed. When that wasn't correct she asked, "Me?"

Again Karika shook her head. Her husband leaned over and asked, "That ceramic kitten over there on the display shelf."

"How did you guess?!"

"I know you. What's my prize?"

"I'll give it to you later," she whispered huskily but leaned over to give him a kiss.

Hinata turned back to bright red and looked away as if suddenly fascinated by a book on the table. Shino, on the other hand, was used to the amorous ways of his older cousins and their wives. He'd thought they would have settled down by now, but he couldn't blame them. If he and Hinata were married, he… Shino actually shook his head violently to clear out that unbidden thought. He had to stop that. It was no good nurturing impossible hopes. For someone who was so controlled, Shino found it difficult to stop thinking about Hinata when she was by his side, her thigh just brushing against his own.

Genbo, who'd been watching the proceedings from the corner, grinned lecherously at the clearly disturbed youngest Aburame. "I spy something…long and hard."

Shibi turned a cold glare on his errant distant relative. Kinako merely gave an amused chuckle. Hinata had really gotten into the game by this time, however, and she looked around the room with determination.

"Eeh too…just let me think…the table leg?"

Genbo shook his head and tsked. "You've got to do better than that." He stared meaningfully at a certain place on the couch. From the corner of the room, he couldn't actually see the body of the couch, so he was just looking in its general direction. Hinata followed his gaze and realized that he was looking at the space between Shino and herself.

Shino added his stony glare to his father's. Shibiki, on the other hand, was trying not to laugh himself off of the couch.

"OH!" Hinata exclaimed. She proudly whipped out a kunai from her weapon's pouch. "Was it this?"

Genbo merely shook his head.

"These?" Hinata held up a few senbon.

Genbo shook his head once more.

Hinata pulled out a shuriken. She frowned as she thought aloud, "These aren't long, even though they are hard." Then her face brightened and she pulled out one of the huge windmill shuriken. "This one?"

Slightly startled, Genbo merely said, "Uh, no."

Hinata pulled out a simple machete. "This?"

"No," he answered weakly.

"These?" she grinned as she pulled out two full-length katanas and held them up proudly for his perusal.

Genbo froze and then very carefully shook his head.

"Where do you even store those?" Shibiki wondered in awe. One minute, she'd been sitting on the couch. The next minute she was pulling deadly weapons out of nowhere. She had a jacket that covered her well, but it surely wasn't large enough to hide katanas.

"I've been training with Tenten-chan a bit. She's given me a number of tips on storing weapons," Hinata replied simply. She sighed sadly. "I can't figure it out."

"It's alright. It was stupid, anyway," Shino reassured her.

"Oh…you mean you figured it out, Shino-kun?" Hinata asked hopefully.

Shino remained silent.

"You should guess then," Hinata prompted him encouragingly.

Shino shook his head. Hinata gave him a worried expression, so he tried to redirect everyone's attention.

"We should play a more interactive game," he suggested.

"Hinata, what kinds of games does your family play?"

"Hanabi likes to play pranks, but that's not really a group game. We don't really tend to play games, although Hanabi, Neji-niisan, and I have tried to play hide-and-seek a number of times."

"How did that work?" Shibi wondered curiously.

"It didn't work when the Byakugan was allowed. Hanabi and I would have to be halfway to Suna to get out of Neji-niisan's range," Hinata chuckled. "Sometimes we do that just to help with his training, so I suppose it actually works alright. The first time we tried it without the Byakugan allowed, there was some miscommunication about who was 'it.' We ended up waiting in hiding for three hours and then all coming out at the same time."

"Well, hide-and-seek won't really work with this group. The shinobi would have an unfair advantage," Karime explained, lightly poking her husband in the side with a mischievous smile.

Soru captured her hands, pulled her against him, and smirked, "Don't forget that an Aburame can track his woman anywhere."

"Hinata," Karika began innocently, "even if you don't play many games with your family, are there any games that you play with your teammates?"

One of Shino's brushstroke eyebrows quirked upwards.

"Hmm…sometimes we play fetch and catch with Akamaru. Umm. Oh! Sometimes Shino and I play little games, but I'm not sure any of those would be good for this sort of situation," she shrugged sheepishly.

That had everyone's interest piqued, but Hinata just shyly shook her head even as Shino's relatives pleaded and badgered.

"Aw, come on. We want to know what games you play," Karika prodded with a knowing grin.

"Yeah, Shino," Shibiki grinned. "What kind of games do you play?"

Shino shrugged. "Sometimes we play 361."

"What's that?" his mother wondered.

"It is a game that is also a form of training. All of our games are forms of training." His father nodded approvingly.

"Show us!" Karika clapped.

Hinata blushed and looked up at Shino expectantly.

"It is up to you, Hinata."

"Um…it probably won't be very interesting to watch…"

Shino's relatives assured Hinata that they really wanted to see it, and Hinata was never good at saying "no."

Hinata reached up and tugged at the zipper of her jacket. Shino resisted the urge to look down. Well, that's what sunglasses were good for, but he was a gentleman at heart. She pulled off the jacket and revealed her simple, fitted black tank top. He'd actually forgotten about that. At least she wouldn't be wearing her little black shorts. Or her bathing suit. He wouldn't be able to handle either of those with his family scrutinizing him the way they were. Hinata had a very interesting collection of bathing suits. She'd gone on a bit of a shopping spree a number of years back—something about needing to be prepared for water training. It was one of the few types of clothing that she actually selected with care, and they were all very…pretty. Hinata always looked cute in her bathing suits, and she always laughed adorably whenever one of her teammates, namely Kiba and Akamaru, splashed her with water. Shino realized he'd been fantasizing again and snapped back to attention.

Hinata was sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor and looking up at him expectantly. He stood and moved to a spot several feet in front of her. They faced each other calmly, and Shino hoped the light heat in his cheeks wasn't visible to anyone.

The various Aburames waited patiently as Hinata closed her eyes, adopted a meditative stance, and evened out her breathing. Shino waited patiently until she nodded once. He opened a particular tenketsu on his face and called out, "One." The tiny bug flew across the space and landed on Hinata's left cheek where a pinprick of chakra light glowed. "Two. Three." Hinata had a triangle of kikaichuu on her left cheek.

Shino's relatives stared in shock as Shino quickly increased the count. Kikaichuu exited from different places on his body, and soon Hinata was covered in a latticework of small black bugs.

"Three hundred sixty-one," Shino finished softly. He kept time silently and studied the look of concentration on Hinata's face. This was the difficult part. It took precision chakra control to emit very low level chakra from each tenketsu simultaneously. His family members were completely silent. The first bug flew back, and Shino noted 7 minutes and 47 seconds. Several bugs flew out from the collar and hem of Hinata's top and the cuff of her pants until a swarm of the bugs rushed back to their host, who calmly called them back up his sleeves.

"That was good, Hinata," Shino nodded. "7 minutes and 47 seconds. That's more than a minute longer than last time."

"It's been getting easier with practice," she smiled.

"I think I messed up on 145 through 192 and 237 through 259. Those are still difficult for me to discern between."

"That's also better than last time," Hinata reminded him encouragingly.

Shino simply nodded and waited. No one spoke.

"Uh…well…that was very…I had no idea…" Kinako trailed off.

Shibiki was lost in thought. At several points during the demonstration he'd been tempted to look away. Even if those two called it training, to release a bug from a particular part of your body and place it on the matching part of a woman's body seemed…strangely intimate, especially since the 361 tenketsu covered every section of the body. Unbeknownst to him, he and his father were having similar thoughts.

"Shino, how do you know about the individual tenketsu?" Shibi inquired. "I thought only the Hyuugas could see those."

Shibi shifted to face Hinata when she answered instead. "We had to create a map because there is no numbering system that we know of. Since the bugs exit through the tenketsu, Shino was already somewhat familiar with the general placement of tenketsu. It was just a matter of creating the map and pointing out which was which."

Pointing out? Shibiki wondered. Did that mean…Hinata had to physically point to every tenketsu on Shino's body? His eyebrows rose up and up.

Shibi, a master on par with Hiashi when it came to hiding his thoughts, merely nodded. "That seems like very effective training. Shino, I had noticed your chakra control has increased drastically. Perhaps this training was part of that."

"Part of it," Shino agreed. "This exercise mainly helps Hinata practice her fine control and helps me learn the tenketsu. There are many other games that require more chakra precision on my part."

Many other games, Shibiki blinked. He wondered what those games entailed.

"Gomen," Hinata blushed. "I should have cut it short. I'm sorry it was rather boring to watch, but that is one of the games we play."

"Iie. It was not boring at all," Shibi reassured her. "In fact, I thought it was fascinating, and it has given me much to think about."

Shino's brow furrowed. What did that mean? He's up to something. Hinata, on the other hand, smiled sweetly at his father. Shibi-san is always so encouraging, she thought to herself.

"Does anybody have any-?" Hinata was interrupted by the shouji slamming open.

Tachoro stood in the doorway looking much the worse for wear. He pointed an accusing finger at his cousin, Shibiki. "You ditched me! You just left me at the mercy of those…of those…"

Hinata leaped to her feet. "Tachoro-kun, what happened? Were you attacked?"

Tachoro glanced at her worried face and groaned. "Not…sort of…I mean, I'm okay, but I only just got away and I had to resort to using a bunshin and…and…and you shouldn't have ditched me!" he finished with a glare at his cousin.

Shibiki had an unmistakably guilty look on his face. "I'm sorry, Tachoro. I thought you…wanted to stay with your new friends."

"I never said that!" he moaned. "I only went in the first place to spend some time with you and Shino, and then you both left me there!"

"Tsumaranai, Tachoro," Shibiki apologized sheepishly.

Tachoro huffed a sigh and plopped down on the ground. "You owe me a new shirt, too."

"How did you lose half of yours?" Shibiki wondered.

"It's best not to talk about it."

"Oh dear! Were you accosted by thieves? I didn't realize the village was so dangerous!" Hinata fretted. "I'm so sorry, Tachoro-kun! If I'd known, I'd have escorted you!"

Shibi couched to disguise the sudden chuckle at the idea of tiny Hinata standing guard for his full grown nephew. He knew she was more than capable of doing just that, but the mental image was still amusing.

Tachoro grinned kindly at her. "Not thieves. Just…very persistent people. Actually, I think it would have helped if I'd had a girlfriend with me. Then, maybe, they'd have backed off."

The temperature dropped immediately at his words. Even from his lounging position on the floor, Tachoro could see Shino tense completely. So his quietest of cousins did have feelings for his teammate. He had wondered, but with Shino it was hard to tell. Ah well. He'd really liked Hinata, but he would never try to steal his cousin's girl. He just hoped Shino realized what he had before it was too late. Hinata was looking down at him with slight confusion in her eyes, completely oblivious to the unique Intent to Kill radiating from her teammate and the rest of the Aburame clan. Now, how to stop the kikaichuu user from trying to burn a hole through his head... Tachoro made a show of stroking his chin in deep thought. He swore he saw Shino edge closer to Hinata and reach out his arm as if to shield her.

"I've got it." He suddenly pointed at Shibiki. "Shibiki, if I have to go into the village, you are disguising yourself as a girl and coming with me."

"MAH!!!" yelped Shino's brother. He gaped like a startled fish for several seconds before yelling, "What kind of resolution is that?! That is so ridiculous! Why would I do something like that?!"

To disguise his sudden lunge, Shino deftly reached for a piece of candy from the dish on the small table next to Hinata and handed it to her.

"You'll like it," he said quietly. "It's strawberry and cream flavored."

"Arigatoo," Hinata smiled, still keeping an amused eye on the continuing volley between Shibiki and Tachoro.

"You probably won't have to," Tachoro shrugged. "I plan on staying as far away from the village as I can. But it I have to go, you're it."

"B-B-But why me?! Why not, why not," Shibiki glanced around desperately. "Why not Shino? He left first!"

Tachoro shook his head as if explaining to a slow child, "Shino didn't leave me. He left us, so it's not his fault. Besides, Shino could never make a good girlfriend."

"Wha…? He's my brother. We look the same, except I'm taller! If you're so afraid, why don't you just dress up as a girl," Shibiki shrugged. "You've got the hair for it."

"Are you making fun of my hair?"

"I like your hair, Tachoro-kun!" Hinata reassured him.

Tachoro blinked up at her and smiled thankfully. He hadn't meant to drag Hinata into this.

"It's really nice!" she bobbed her head eagerly. "It reminds me of my friend." Suddenly she turned pink and looked away.

Shino felt a sudden pain in his chest. Tachoro reminded Hinata of Naruto. It was impossible not to see the resemblance. Blond hair and deep blue eyes. Naruto didn't return Hinata's feelings, but what if he did someday…?

"Arigatoo, Hinata-chan. That's kind of you to say. At least someone's on my side."

"It's not that I'm not on your side," Shibiki sighed wearily. "There's just no way in hell I'm going to be by your side as your pretend girlfriend."

Tachoro waved Shibiki's objections away. "I was just making things difficult for you," Tachoro explained. "You'd be a crappy boyfriend anyway."

"Oh, thank goodness! I really thought you were serious for a…hey! What do you mean by that?!"

Shibi sighed inwardly. What a strange conversation. Beside him, his wife just seemed amused.

"I bet you didn't even realize I wasn't here until I showed up," he sighed sadly. "And when I didn't make it for dinner, I thought someone might come looking, but…"

Shibiki gave a guilty start. "Well, I just thought you were out partying."

"Oh no! Tachoro-kun, did you not eat in the village? I'll go make you something!" Hinata sped out of the room.

By this time the only other people left in the room were Shino's three cousins, their wives, his parents, and his uncle Shiribi. Genbo and Panto had wandered off before the kikaichuu demonstration. Some of Shino's older cousins had headed off to bed as soon as they knew Tachoro had not faced any real danger.

Tachoro shook his head a bit sadly. "Shibiki, you've known me since I was a little kid. Since when have you started thinking of me as a party guy?"

"Well, those girls really seemed to like you. All, what, 12 of them?"

"I didn't ask them to sit with us! I don't…I don't want a girl like that. They were all…a bit off."

"Off?" Shibiki wondered. They'd seemed normal to him. Then again, he was used to being the guy that sat off to the side when fangirls crowded his more attractive friends.

"Yeah. It was like they didn't care about who I am. They only seemed to care about finding a way to get married."

"Really?" Shibi's attention was now fully captured.

"Father…" Shibiki groaned.

"This is a good opportunity for you."

"I don't think you want a girl like that, Shibiki. I think one of them tried to slip something into my tea. I turned my head for a second and then the next mouthful tasted really bitter. I spit it out, but that's why I haven't eaten since lunch."

"Sorry, Tachoro."

Tachoro shrugged.

Shibi cleared his throat. "Still. This is an opportunity, Shibiki."

"Tachoro, you must be really popular with the ladies to have to resort to using a bunshin," Sori mused.

"Actually, that was to get away from the one that kept asking me questions about Shino. There were two of them. One of them was pretty interested in you, Shibiki. She was the least offensive of the bunch—actually seemed to be listening to what I said. They asked me questions for an hour at least."

Kinako frowned. "Those weren't those two girls that came by early in the afternoon, were they?"

"Pika and Chika? Or was it Gika and Bika…?"

"Rika and Mika?" Shibiki supplied.

"Yeah, them. They found me early in the evening. Actually, I think they scared off a number of the other ones."

Kinako frowned. "I'm not sure about those girls. The older one was okay, but the younger one…"

"If you did want to go out with the older one, you'd probably have to find a date for the younger one. And, no, I'm not going. Besides, she seemed to be pretty set on Shino," Tachoro added.

"No," Shino cut in decisively. "Absolutely not."

Shibi nodded. Even as far back as a week ago, he'd have for-encouraged Shino to go for the sake of the clan. At this point, however, it was more important to the head of the family that Hinata one day become a member of the Aburame clan. He wouldn't jeopardize that hope even if it meant losing a possible match for his eldest.

Author's Notes:

Thanks, Searching for Blood, for the I Spy suggestion!

I used the triangle of Kikaichuu because of those three holes we see the bugs coming out from. I figured that would be "one."

I'm not crazy. They are trying to get longer. This one didn't want to end, but I made it.