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).
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Chapter 19
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"Since we're dating now, you've got to officially meet my family," Tenten explained with a grin.
"I've met your parents," Neji pointed out as he pulled her close against his chest. The two of them were watching the stars from the roof of a building. Tenten leaned fully against him and let her head rest on his shoulder.
"Yeah, when you were eleven and first introduced as my teammate. You haven't met my brothers, though, and my parents haven't interacted with you since that disastrous dinner with Guy-sensei and Lee all those years ago."
"Tenten, I'm your teammate. I'm sure they remember who I am," Neji smiled. "And you've mentioned your brothers before, especially Nanaru and Yonda."
"Yes, but I'm the youngest of ten and the only girl, so my brothers can be a little overprotective at times."
"I'm sure it will be fine," Neji assured her.
Tenten remained unconvinced, but decided to just enjoy Neji's warmth instead of worrying about the many ways he could die at the hands of her niisans.
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Shino kissed her cheeks, her lips, her forehead, her nose, every inch of her face that he could reach. Then he slipped one below her chin and against her neck. The sudden moist caress sent shivers up and down Hinata's spine, and she gasped as her hands fisted Shino's normally tidy-looking jacket. He nibbled along the silken line of her neck and suckled the delicate flesh right above her collarbone. She squirmed deliciously and held him close. Shino moved back and gently, teasingly brushed his lips against hers. Hinata felt his tongue touch her bottom lip, silently asking for permission. Without thinking, she felt her lips part for him, and his tongue slipped into her mouth and danced along her own.
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"…tomorrow, Shibiki," Shibi finished.
"But father," Shibiki sighed. "I'm not actually interested in any of those girls. And while some of them talked to me, they were far more interested in Tachoro."
"So go into town without Tachoro," Shibi reasoned.
Shibiki rubbed his temples. His father was being particularly stubborn about this.
"You don't have to stay there all day. Just go for a few hours."
"Fine," Shibiki sighed. He wearily pushed himself to his feet and dragged himself to the room he shared with Shino and Hinata. Actually, he mused, it was sort of like being in a three-man cell.
He yawned loudly and pushed open the sliding door. The sight within made him pause. Hinata was curled up in a ball with her face buried in her pillow. Shino was looking amused and gently nudging her in the side.
"Hinata, it's alright," Shino said reassuringly.
Hinata shook her head furiously, never lifting her face.
"You're going to suffocate if you do that," he noted cheerfully.
She gave a little squeak.
Wait a minute. Shino was being cheerful? Shibiki studied his brother carefully. Shino looked completely relaxed, and he was looking at Hinata with an expression of playful affection. Shibiki turned to hide his wide smirk before gathering his toiletries and slipping into the bathroom down the hall.
The three turned in for the night. Was it Shibiki's imagination or was Hinata-chan's sleeping mat even closer to Shino's than before? He turned his back to his brother and faced the wall. About twenty minutes later, he heard a tiny rustle and the soft sound of a secret goodnight kiss. In the dark Shibiki grinned. Mission accomplished.
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Hanabi tossed and turned. She sat up briefly and punched her pillow with slightly more venom than necessary before flopping back irritably and drifting back to sleep. Half an hour later, her fist gripped her covers tightly. In the darkness and silence, the veins at her temples bulged with pressure although her eyelids remained shut.
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"Rika, you will stay here, won't you?" Mika asked one last time.
"Yeah, yeah," her younger sister grumbled.
The older girl sighed and finished brushing out her long dark hair.
"Use it," Rika mumbled.
"Huh?"
"The perfume. Use it. This is our last chance, so you might as well go all out."
Mika hesitated, but she drew out the tiny bottle from her bag. She stared at it for several moments.
"Try not to attract any creeps while you're wearing that stuff," Rika reminded her.
Mika nodded silently.
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Several young women stopped Shibiki to ask about Tachoro, but they left as soon as he explained that his cousin had no intention of coming into town today. He sat down at an outdoor café and placed an order for hot tea. For some reason, he found himself thinking about the girls he had dated, or simply liked, over his lifetime.
Nanoa was his first love. He'd brought her flowers every day, and she'd let him push her on the swings at the playground. That was a long time ago, even before he'd received his hive. It was actually her mother that had put a stop to their relationship. Nanoa had looked fascinated as he showed her his first bugs one day, but suddenly her mother had snatched her up and carried her home. He didn't see her for many years after that because she wasn't meant to be a shinobi and never attended the academy. After he'd made jonin, he'd seen her working in a shop in the village. She was pregnant with her second child and cheerfully married to the plump, kind son of the village's confectioner. Sometimes he stopped by to chat and she'd give him a chocolate to take home.
Kukira had given him his first kiss. She'd simply walked up to his desk after school, tugged down the collar of his jacket, and pressed her lips against his. She was very direct like that—so direct that she was the only girl to flat out tell him it was the bugs that had turned her off. They were still friends, though, and sometimes they'd share a drink at the local bar if they happened to meet up.
Shisa was the first woman he ever slept with. He'd gone out as a civilian, even foregoing his sunglasses, to attend the Spring Festival. His own teammates had walked right by him without noticing. Shisa just happened to be sitting near him on the lawn during the fireworks show, and they'd started chatting. She'd taken him back to her apartment and made him feel special for the first time in his life. Although he hadn't known her long enough to be in love, it had really hurt the next day when he'd shown up in his everyday attire and seen the fear appear in her eyes. It was much harder to be friends with her after that. He had, literally and emotionally, shown more of himself to her than to anyone else, and her rejection had wounded him more deeply than any before.
There were others that he'd loved and lost. Konoha was filled with pretty girls. For the most part, his relationships ended amicably because he wasn't one to hold a grudge. Still, repeated rejection takes an emotional toll on a person, and Shibiki found himself pulling back a bit. He still went out with his friends to have a good time, but he hadn't bothered making the first move, not for a couple of years. After Shisa, he'd realized that his only shot at a long-term relationship was to find a girl who knew everything about him first. Of course, he didn't go around flaunting his bugs. That was just not a good dating habit. Instead, he just remained polite and waited to see if anyone could look past the glasses and the collar. If they did, he still remained polite and waited to see if they'd stick around after "meeting" the bugs. Sometimes they did, for a little while. Often it was the girl's friends that pressured her into leaving him to find someone more "normal."
It wasn't until about a year ago that his father had taken a keen interest in finding him a wife. Shibiki suspected it had to do with Sora, Soru, and Sori getting married. The omiais usually went fine. He was a nice guy, warm and open-minded, but it was one thing to have a pleasant conversation over a formal tea and quite another thing to convince a girl to marry you even though you had bugs within every inch of your body. Shibiki's general strategy was to attract a woman with his good-natured charm and then introduce the bugs and see how she reacted.
Suddenly, he gave a low chuckle. That hadn't been the order of operations with the last girl he'd met. She was cute, he thought absent-mindedly. He'd been coming home from a mission. On the outskirts of one of the Fire Country villages to the east of Konoha, he'd heard a scream. A young woman's cart had been surrounded by robbers just as she'd reached the bridge that led out of town. She'd grabbed a bag of money and raced to the middle of the bridge. In retrospect, it was a very a foolish thing to do. She'd stopped in the center of the bridge and almost seemed to be daring the robbers to follow her. Most of them did, but one stayed to poke through the contents of the cart. Instead of running away with the money, the girl froze stiff before running back to the cart and straight into the robbers. Between him and his bugs, he'd dispatched the robbers easily. Unfortunately, the remaining robber had found the girl's little brother hidden amongst the boxes and packages and threatened to throw him over the side of the bridge if Shibiki didn't back off and hand over the money. It wasn't a long fall; Shibiki could have jumped down with ease, but it would seriously injure a little boy. They were going to trade for the boy—Shibiki having every intention of later beating up the robber and returning the money to its rightful owner—when the feisty child had bitten the arm holding him up in midair. The robber let go of the boy with a cry of pain. While sending half his bugs to take down the robber and half to slow the boy's fall, he'd jumped straight over the rail and caught the boy in his arms before landing safely on the dirt below. Again, misfortune seemed to be on his side. He hadn't realized the irrigation runoff led straight out of a pipe below. Although he and the boy landed safely, their combined weight sent jets of mud flying, and the both of them were covered from head to toe. The small boy had laughed, proclaimed it was the most fun thing he'd ever done, and asked if they could do it again. Shibiki had chuckled and handed over the little boy to his sister with a sheepish apology. She'd thanked him profusely and shyly explained that he was her son, not her brother. Not my best impression, he laughed quietly. I seem to be on a downward spiral when it comes to meeting women, he thought wryly.
Shibiki sat for another hour. When he was quite full of tea, he paid his bill and stood up to leave.
"Oh, are you already finished?" a disappointed voice asked.
Shibiki turned to find Mika standing on the other side of the little fence that marked the boundary of the café.
"I think I've had enough tea for a week," he smiled apologetically.
"Only tea? Have you had lunch yet?"
Shibiki hesitated. Mika seemed nice enough, but her sister was a piece of work. Was it even possible to show interest in the one and ward off the other at the same time? "Not yet," he answered.
"There's a little dumpling shop a few streets away. The pork ones are especially good. Would you care to join me?" She smiled sweetly and hopefully at him.
Shibiki shrugged. "Sure." Might as well. It's not like I can go home for another two hours.
Mika led the way. Shibiki admitted she was looking pretty cute today. Her hair was down in soft waves, and she wore a low-cut top and a short skirt. She smoothed the back of her skirt down with her hands, effectively drawing his attention to her backside, though he quickly caught himself and jerked his eyes away with a slight blush.
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Was it Shino's imagination or was Hinata avoiding him even more than before? He met her gaze with a tilt of his head and raised a single eyebrow when she squeaked in alarm and scurried out of the room. Shino wondered if she knew that her sudden shyness and alarm was actually having the reverse effect than she probably intended. Instead of wanting to leave her alone, he had to tamp down the urge to pounce on her in front of everyone.
He walked nonchalantly out the door and followed her down the hallway. Sneaking up behind her in the kitchen, he wrapped his arms around her.
Hinata squealed and jumped.
"Someone's a bit jumpy today," Shino noted with a smile. Then a concerned look passed over his face. "Hinata, did you sleep alright?"
"It was fine," Hinata assured him. "It's just…" she broke off with a startled look in the direction of the hallway and dashed out the other way.
Shino raised an eyebrow at that. A few seconds later, his mother waddled in with his aunts. What in the world was going on?
OOOOO
Shibiki took a bite of one of his dumplings. "Mm. This is good." Not quite as good as Hinata-chan's, but still pretty good, he amended silently.
"I'm glad you like it," Mika beamed. Suddenly she looked down demurely, her eyelashes fluttering against her cheeks. She moistened her lips, and Shibiki found his eyes drawn to the tiny flash of her pink tongue. This time, he didn't look away in embarrassment. Instead, he let his eyes wander up to meet hers.
"That metal plate. That's a forehead protector right? That means you're a shinobi?"
Shibiki nodded, feeling a bit uncertain.
"I haven't actually known many shinobi," Mika continued. "Is it a difficult life?"
Shibiki shrugged with a little grin. "Sometimes. I like it, though."
"Is it exciting?"
"Sometimes," he chuckled.
"Do you have any really special things you can do?" Mika asked with wide-eyed excitement. Can you detect a Supaichuu and keep it away from your kikaichuu? "Can you walk halfway up a tree without falling down?"
Again, Shibiki chuckled at her innocent eagerness.
"That's not really all that special," Shibiki admitted. "Almost all shinobi can do that."
Mika felt a tiny stab of unhappiness. She was a shinobi, but she couldn't do things like that. Neither could Rika. The Inago Clan was composed of very strong fighters, but none of them ever trained with the two girls, and so both sisters were still technically Genin under the control of their father. Mika secretly suspected the men wanted to keep them weak so that they couldn't use the Supaichuu to take over the clan. She knew Rika suspected the same, but they never spoke of it aloud.
Shibiki's brow furrowed at the sight of her unhappy expression. "Mika-san?" he asked tentatively.
Mika started. She'd slipped and forgotten where she was and what she was supposed to be doing. "Y-You must think I'm stupid, going on like that," she said miserably.
"No!" Without thinking, he reached out and cupped her cheek with his palm. "I think you're very sweet!" A quick blush stained his cheeks, and he sheepishly dropped his hand and looked away. "I'm sorry, Mika-san. I didn't mean to be so forward."
Mika smiled. Shibiki-san is a very nice man. Her clan was not composed of nice men, and she rarely interacted with men outside of her clan. "I didn't mind," she replied softly.
Shibiki shyly glanced back at her and felt his heart warm at the sight of her sweet little smile.
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Neji calmly strode into the kitchen to serve himself breakfast. Immediately, he felt the dark waves emanating from a brooding figure at the table. His eyes flicked to his uncle, who sat watching his daughter cautiously. Normally, Hanabi was the picture-perfect daughter around her father, so this strange mood was quite out of character.
Hiashi cleared his throat. "Daughter, is something wrong?"
"No, Father," Hanabi replied quietly without even looking up from where she was glaring at the food on her plate.
Hiashi watched her for several minutes, but Hanabi remained silent. Ah. Perhaps she is having her first menstruation, he thought uncomfortably. He sighed inwardly and wished once more that his wife was still with him. Hiashi was good at leading his clan and being a source of strength for the village of Konoha, however, he wasn't good with women, let alone little girls. He'd finally realized, years too late, where he'd gone wrong with his eldest.
During the wars in his younger days, he'd trained and pushed many young men to reach their full potential. He did it by being unyielding in his expectations of them; by expecting the best from them, he taught them to be the best for him. His expectations of the common Konoha soldier were already high, so the demands he made of his heir, the future leader of the strongest clan in the village, were exponentially high. In retrospect, this was not the best way to deal with a tiny three-year-old girl who was naturally shy and whose secret wish was to see her father smile at her with pride, just once.
It had been a wise choice to step back from her training. Yuhi Kurenai did not like him because she thought he was cold and callous. He didn't really care if she liked him or not, but he did appreciate the way she had managed to slowly coax his eldest out of her protective shell. He knew Hinata had reached a new level when she came home and explained that she had failed yet another mission. This had not surprised her father, for it was not her first failed mission. What had surprised and pleased him was the cheerful smile that accompanied her words and her pledge that she was going to work hard to become stronger.
After he and Neji had healed the rift between them, Neji started behaving differently toward his younger cousins. It started with the occasional polite "good morning" or a quiet "thank you" for the tea that Hinata always served him. Hiashi knew he'd made the right call to ask Neji to look out for her. Once Neji had let go of his resentment and hatred toward the Main Branch, he'd proven to be an excellent trainer for Hinata. Neji picked up everything Hiashi taught him, rarely needing a lesson explained more than once, and patiently worked with Hinata afterward. Hinata's taijutsu level was still below that of her cousin, but she was improving drastically. Nowadays, Neji was acting like the niisan Hinata had always thought of him as. It was Hiashi's secret hope that Neji, Hinata, and Hanabi would one day lead the Hyuuga Clan together. Recently, that dream seemed more attainable than ever.
For the longest time, Hiashi believed Hinata could never be the leader of the Hyuuga Clan. Hiashi had also despaired of his eldest ever learning a complicated, high-level Hyuuga technique such as the Kaiten. He'd watched from his study one afternoon (What good was it to be able to see through walls if not to keep an eye on your children?) as Neji explained how to perform the difficult technique that the young prodigy had somehow learned on his own years ago. Hiashi had expected Hinata to fail completely and eventually give up after a few weeks. To his immense shock, she'd spun gracefully on one foot and executed the technique perfectly, although with footing completely different from anything the Clan leader had ever seen. He'd felt a rare smile tug at his lips for the first time since his wife had been alive.
Neji stared at his uncle in horror. Hanabi was glaring daggers at her food. Hiashi, stern, stiff Hiashi, was smiling. Sure, it was a relatively tiny smile, but this could only mean bad news. Had the Hyuuga elder council finally convinced their leader to arrange marriages for his two daughters? They'd been pressuring him for the last few years. What else could so thoroughly upset the youngest Hyuuga in front of her father?
Hiashi finished his tea and politely wished the two of them a good day. Then he went off to talk to his housekeeper about talking to Hanabi about…things.
"Neji-niisan," Hanabi began in a small voice. "When does neesan get back?"
"Not for another week," Neji answered with a hint of surprise in his voice. "She's really only been gone for a few days."
Hanabi nodded morosely.
Maybe Hanabi's foul humor had nothing to do with arranged marriages. But Hinata-sama has been away on long missions before, so there's no reason for Hanabi to be mourning like a lost puppy. Neji made a mental note to never reveal to Hanabi that he'd just compared her to a lost puppy.
Neji cleared his throat. "Hanabi-sama-"
"She's in danger!" Hanabi exploded suddenly as she pounded her fist into the table.
"What?" Neji jumped back to avoid the hot tea spilling over the edge of the table and quickly grabbed a cloth to soak up the majority of the mess.
"Hinata-neesan is in danger," Hanabi declared adamantly. "We have to go save her!"
Neji was instantly reminded of Uzumaki Naruto, but he pushed back that disturbing thought. "Why do you say that?"
Hanabi frowned and muttered something inaudible.
"What? I didn't catch that," Neji said as he finished cleaning up the mess.
"I just know."
"That's not very logical."
"It doesn't have to be logical! It's…it's…women's intuition!"
"There's no such thing," Neji replied calmly.
"I know she's in danger."
"Fine, but tell me how you know."
Here Hanabi pinched her mouth shut and looked away. Her arms crossed protectively in front of her. Neji could tell that she was hiding some piece of information. That's why she wouldn't meet his eyes. She was also concerned and was protecting herself from rejection by putting up a wall between them.
"Hanabi-sama?"
"I dreamt about it last night," she muttered quietly.
"You had a nightmare?" Neji asked blankly. When his young cousin glared haughtily at him, he realized perhaps that hadn't been the right thing to say. "You had a scary dream?" he amended, only to be rewarded with pointedly narrowed eyes.
"Perhaps you are merely bored because your team is on enforced leave? Your subconscious mind might be trying to-"
"I'm not making it up!" Hanabi growled.
"I didn't say you were."
"Yes, you did!"
Neji sighed. It was like trying to reason with Guy-sensei. "Tell you what. I'll train with you tomorrow." She's probably just feeling cooped up because her sensei is about to give birth and will be on leave for a month afterward. Hopefully this will help her release some of this pent-up energy.
Hanabi paused with a surprised look on her face. Neji-niisan was offering to train with her? That was actually very generous of him. He usually only trained with Hinata-neesan, her father, or his own teammates. "I appreciate that, Neji-niisan. Honestly. But I really do think Hinata-neesan is in danger."
"But why, Hanabi-sama?"
"I told you."
"A dream?" Neji sighed.
"It was more than a dream," Hanabi argued. Frustration was evident in her voice. "Nevermind," she muttered before stalking out the door.
OOOOO
He was pretty sure he knew what this was about. At the same time, he wasn't entirely sure. Hinata was as skittish as a colt whenever she thought someone might actually see them together.
"Hinata," he whispered into her ear as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. "There's no one around. Besides, my family can't actually see through walls."
Shino smiled against her throat. Although he knew it by heart, he could never get enough of her scent. It was like a powerful drug calling to him. He could now truly relate to his bugs that felt the pull of the female kikaichuu's scent from miles away. He flicked his tongue against her warm throat and nearly growled when she shivered in his arms.
"Sh-Shino, no!" Hinata gasped. She pulled out of reach, red-faced and out of breath. "I-I…you-" she broke off suddenly when she heard footsteps in the hall and Shibi's deep voice. "I have to go!"
Hinata raced out the door past a startled Shiribi and Shibi and disappeared around the corner. Shino frowned unhappily. A strange knot gripped his stomach. Did Hinata change her mind? Is she…ashamed of being with me?
OOOOO
Shibiki shyly straightened his jacket before sitting down beside Mika on the couch of the place where she was staying. After lunch, the two had wondered around town for a bit before she'd invited him back to her place. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to be here, but…perhaps thinking of all of the girls he'd loved and lost had made him feel a bit lonely. He cleared his throat nervously and inquired politely about her family.
Mika stiffened slightly. "My family…"
"I'm sorry," Shibiki apologized quickly. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
"It's not that," Mika insisted. Actually, it was exactly that. "I just…seeing the love and closeness of your family made me realize how much I've been missing."
Shibiki's uncomfortable expression melted into a look of concerned tenderness. "Mika-chan…" He cradled her face with his hands and bent forward. Slowly and quietly—giving her ample time to pull away—he bent forward and placed a chase kiss of comfort on her waiting lips.
OOOOO
Hinata checked the seals on the windows once more. They were fine, just as they had been the fourth, third, second, and first time she'd checked. A familiar presence appeared beside her. It was a good thing no one was in the courtyard or they might have remarked on the oddity of two people having a conversation on the side of a building.
"Hinata, we need to talk," Shino said quietly.
"Sh-Shino-kun…what did you want to talk about?" Hinata whispered absently as her eyes darted around the courtyard. It seemed clear. Unfortunately for Hinata, she hadn't bothered to scan the hall right on the other side of the window. Within the shadows of the building, Shibi stood listening. He kept his chakra completely masked.
"Are you…have you changed your mind?"
Hinata stopped scanning when she heard the sadness in her teammate's voice. "What?"
"Are you…if…Hinata, if you don't want me…I mean, don't want to be with me…" Shino couldn't bring himself to say that he would let her go. He didn't think he could. He certainly didn't want to.
Unseen, Shibi frowned with disappointment. It didn't sound like things were going well between Shino and Hinata, and he'd seen for himself that Hinata was avoiding Shino assiduously.
"Shino-kun, what are you talking about?" Hinata's distress was evident. "Of course I want to be with you!"
Shibi's eyebrows shot up at that.
"You're avoiding me, Hinata," Shino pointed out with a small, hurt voice.
"N-No! I-It's just…"
"What? What else could it be?"
"I-I-I'm afraid tha-that Shibi-san and the others…"
"Father?" Shino was visibly shocked. "You're afraid of my father?!"
"No! I mean, yes! I mean…Oh!"
Shibi frowned again. Hinata was afraid of him? She'd seemed rather comfortable with the whole clan, but perhaps he'd said something to upset her?
"Shino-kun…I'm on duty!" Hinata exclaimed. She looked at Shino with an expression that said this was all the explanation he needed.
Shino did not agree with that. He stared at her intently and tried to follow her logic. There was none. "Huh?"
"I," Hinata began. Then she suddenly pulled him close and whispered. "Shino-kun, I'm technically on a mission! Shibi-san has been so kind to me. W-what if he's disappointed that I-I'm not doing my job? What if your f-family doesn't like me anymore because they think I-I'm taking advantage of you? I-If they see us k-k-kissing, i-it m-might make them a-angry…"
Shino continued to stare at Hinata intently for several more moments. "That's ridiculous," he finally managed. He walked over to her and covered her mouth in a firm, possessive kiss.
Suddenly, loud, low, rumbling laughter shook the wall beneath them slightly. It died down after a few moments. Shibi, the picture of calm and collected, leaned out the window to address the startled young couple. Only a little twitch of his lips revealed the amusement he was burying deep inside.
"Hinata, you have the Aburame Clan leader's permission to kiss Shino as much as you like," he said, as though making an official decree. "Shino is quite capable of preventing you from 'taking advantage of him.' Just don't do anything that will have Hiashi or that cousin of yours hunting him down."
Hinata's jaw dropped open in mortified astonishment. She promptly fainted and dropped like a rock into Shino's waiting and amused embrace.
OOOOO
Mika gasped for breath as she pulled away from Shibiki's heated kiss and laid her head against his chest. The kikaichuu. She could feel them under his skin, vibrating along with the sweet tension filling their host. This close to his chest, she could even make out the gentle, low hum of a million tiny bodies shifting.
"Shibiki-san, what is that sound?" she asked innocently.
Shibiki froze. It was going so well, he sighed unhappily.
"Did you know that certain shinobi families have skills and techniques that they pass down over the generations?"
"Mm-hmm," she nodded sweetly against the firm muscles under her cheek.
"My family uses bugs," he admitted with a faint note of detached defeat in his voice. "They live inside of me. In return, they also follow commands that I give them." Shibiki mentally braced himself for the scream of terror.
Instead, the woman draped across his chest murmured in a sleepy, seductive voice, "Really? Can I see them?"
Author's Note:
Special thanks to Kaotic312 for your words of wisdom! I was having trouble deciding if I wanted to up the rating or keep the story at T.
The Hinata/Shino moments of this chapter seem pretty fluffy, but at the same time, I think Hinata really would have issues with public displays of affection, at least in the beginning. Plus, they had to have some screen time in this chapter!
I suppose I was in an introspective mood because there are a few long monologues in this chapter. Usually Hiashi is just the cold father figure that serves the plot. Perhaps reading Kaotic312's "Marry My Father Please" has warmed me up to him as a character.
Author wants input: should Shibiki eventually end up with Mika or not? Originally, they were definitely not going to be together, but now they're being all cuddly. Sometimes I feel like the story writes itself behind my back…
