Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. That's why my OCs are OCs, not real.

"Kumo, this is my father Shibi, leader of the Aburame clan."

Kumo bowed slightly. It was probably best to be polite to the Aburames since they would be allowing her to stay with them for a few weeks.

"Your rooms are this way." Shibi stated and headed for the hallway on their right. When they reached a moderate room, with serviceable furnishings, Shibi asked. "Are you prepared to start your treatment now?"

"Yes."

"I will be the first to drain you. Or, rather, I will be the second to drain you, seeing as Shino drained you during your episode."

He sent out his kikaichu to the girl, but she began shifting shapes uncontrollably and he withdrew the bugs. Kumo regained her human shape and said "The kikaichu will have be distributed evenly over me instead of clustered together. Draining the chakra from one area destabilizes my passageways, and causes me to shift."

"Noted." His kikaichu moved to the girl, but covered her like a second skin this time. When he withdrew the insects, Kumo crumpled, and Shino caught her before she could hit the floor. "You will stay with her for the first shift. Yukio will relieve you in the evening." With that, Shibi departed, leaving his son to place the girl on the bed and wait for her to wake up.

During the first few days that Kumo stayed with the Aburames, Shino kept her company and they talked for most of the day, since being drained of her chakra left her too weak to leave her bed, but she was still the prickly Kumo that Shino knew. But as the days progressed, she grew listless, and Shino had to plead with her to get her to eat anything, and she showed no interest in talking. Worried, he asked Sakura and Hinata to come.

Hinata reported that her chakra networks were stabilizing nicely, and that they should be fully healed in a week, but Sakura was worried about the effects of having her chakra drained constantly. She suggested reducing the amount of chakra drained by a little. A little more chakra may reduce her listlessness, but hopefully not interfere with the healing of her chakra.

When Kumo finally woke from her haze she realized that Shino was sitting on the bed next to her, one arm behind her, struggling to keep her upright while he forced soup between her lips. Her eyes opened, opened a normal width, not the tree quarters closed eyelids that had characterized her for the past few days. Shino, seeing this, smiled in relief. Wait, did Shino just smile! I must be dreaming. Shino doesn't smile. "Ngh." She managed to say.

"You need to eat to get your strength back." Shino told her, worry present in his voice. I'm definitely dreaming. Shino doesn't get worried. But she obediently opened her mouth to receive the spoonful of soup that he presented. Dream or no dream, she was hungry.

Her soup finished, Kumo fell asleep, Shino's arm still around her, and her head pillowed on his shoulder.

Yukio, who had the shift after Shino entered the room to see Shino sitting on the bed, the girl sleeping with her head on his shoulder and his lips twitched slightly. "Would you like to take the next shift Shino?"

"I would. I don't want to wake her."

A week later, Hinata pronounced Kumo's chakra network fully healed and Shino breathed a sigh of relief silently. The two weeks had taken their toll on him as well. He had rarely left her side, and struggled to force her to eat when she was listless. There were dark circles under his eyes, hidden by the high collar of his shirt and the ever-present black shades. But Shibi knew his son and had noticed. Shino had never shown any real interest in a female, but he was different around this girl. Shino, never one to show much emotion had been noticeably worried. I guess Shino does have hormones after all.

When Kumo awoke again, Shino was present as ever, but she felt different. She felt awake. Crappy, but awake. She vaguely remembered Hinata coming for a final check-up, but the details were fuzzy. "Am I all healed now?"

"Your chakra network is stable, and does not need to be drained anymore, but you have yet to recover from the side effects of the treatment."

"I don't remember much of … however long I've been here."

"For most of the two weeks you were barely conscious at best, so that is not surprising. Now you need to gain back the weight you lost and accustom your muscles to moving again."

Kumo swung her legs to the side of the bed and Shino watched carefully as she attempted to stand. He was there, offering support when her legs protested the sudden movement after 2 weeks of inactivity.

"Where are you going?"

"To take a shower. I feel gross."

"Be careful." Shino warned as she wobbled to the bathroom.

She just waved one hand at him, of course, of course.