~Give Me Love~

~Chapter 5~

Hinata woke up the next morning with that feeling you get when you wake up in a place you've never been before and you can only vaguely recollect how you got there the day before. Her body was sore and she felt horribly stuffy, and her eyes were sticky with sleep. Not only that, but despite having slept for quite a while, the room seemed just as dim as it had when she fell asleep.

Hinata sat up and rubbed her eyes with the back of her sleeves, then gave her body a good stretch and a yawn. She then took a moment to extend her legs and reach down to touch her toes. Her knee was still a bit sore, but it felt much better. As such, she decided to test it out. She wobbled as she got to her feet, but after about ten seconds, she remained sturdily upright. She then took a light step off the futon and onto the hardwood floor, and managed to get there without falling over. Hinata smiled to herself, feeling quite pleased that she had regained this basic function.

At that point, she noticed a glowing seam of light peeking out from under a shabby little curtain that was crudely pinned to a window. Hinata delicately stepped over all the notebooks and boxes, and made her way over to it. She peeled back the curtain to reveal a blinding ray of sunshine, that illuminated the whole room with a great proficiency. She squinted into the light, then noticed a latch at the bottom of the window that was encased in a thick coat of dust. Hinata pinched at the latch, then shoved the window up with a creak and a plume of ancient dust, and was immediately greeted with a sweet, refreshing breeze. She inhaled the scent deeply, thankful for the relief from the clostrophobic little flat.

When she was done, she took a good look around the room now that she had a better eye on things, and immediately wished that she hadn't. The little boxes that had been hidden in the darkness were filled with all sorts of hideous little creatures with wings and legs and jaws and all manner of things that shouldn't be touched. Dust and cobwebs were a common theme, and the notebooks took up more space than previously thought.

It was then that Hinata noticed the occupant of this hovel himself, snoozing away on a stool and buried deep in folded arms on a desk. He looked terribly uncomfortable, but he hardly made a sound as he slept.

Hinata tiptoed her way over to him to examine him a bit closer. His goggles were still off, but his ominous eyes were peacefully closed. Hinata waved a hand in front of him to check if he was truly asleep. When he made no response, Hinata smiled to herself.

"You ended up falling asleep anyway, Shino-kun..."

She placed her hands on her hips, and gave another look around the apartment.

"Well, I might as well do something to thank you for everything you've done for me..."

A few hours later, Shino slowly emerged from his slumber. He lifted himself up straight, keeping his eyes clenched shut from the grogginess, and rubbed the back of his neck with a gloved hand. His eyes opened slightly and stared at his desk, trying to gain conciousness from hours of uncomfortable sleep. Then, he noticed something amiss. The notebook he had been buried in the night before was neatly closed in front of him with a pencil placed acrossed it like it was a display in a store. He lifted a brow at the spectacle, and noticed that his entire desk was just as clean, and wiped free of dust and papers. His eyes widened as he realized what was happening, and he turned sharply to see Hinata in the middle of a thoroughly cleaned room, sweeping the last of a pile of dust with a broom that he had completely forgotten he owned.

"What did you do?!" He barked with a hint of growing anger.

"Ohayo Shino-kun! I just cleaned your place up a bit cause it was so messy..."

In a wave of movement that Hinata could barely register, Shino grabbed both her shoulders, glaring at her in fury.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?! My research! My decades of research! It's all gone! And my insects...what did you do?!"

Hinata felt herself pulling back defensively, eyes wide with fear.

"I..I didn't...I I didn't do a-a-anything! I-It's all here, I just..o-organized it, Sh-shino-kun!"

His onyx eyes narrowed at her.

Hinata lifted a shaky finger and pointed at one of the bookcases. Shino glanced over at it, and found that it was completely full with all of his notebooks, organized alphabetically, and free of dust. On another bookcase, his bugs had been neatly set in a row and labeled clearly. Even their cages looked cleaner. He began to release his grip on her.

"S-see? If...if anything, it should h-help you. I can tell...you...you really like your work, so I made sure that everything was...easy to find..."

As she explained everything to him, he had walked over to the bookshelf filled with his notebooks and was dragging his finger across them. Hinata finally began to relax a bit.

"You...also had some stray pages around, so I stacked them up and set them on that desk over there. I wasn't sure what order to put them in, so I thought you could do that yourself."

Shino turned to her and said nothing, but looked at her with an expression that was equal parts awe and confusion.

Hinata clutched the broom to herself shyly, then continued pointing out things to him.

"I also made your bed for you, and dusted, and I cleaned your kitchen up too. Doesn't it look much nicer?"

Shino's expression remained unchanged for a few minutes, then meandered his way back to the stool he awoke from and sat back down.

Hinata took a cautious step towards him. "What's wrong? Do you not like it?"

He held his head in his hand. "No, it's not that..."

She chewed her lip nervously.

"It's just, no one's ever done something like this for me before."

Hinata gave him a cheerful smile. "Oh, it's no big deal...I just thought I would repay you for taking care of me, and I think your bugs will be happier in this environment."

Shino up at her and looked right in her eyes. Then, he gave her a pure, genuine smile.

"I think they'll be happier too. Thank you, Ga-chan."

Her cheeks lit up, and she looked away from him.

"Y-you're welcome, Sh-Shino-kun."

Shino and Hinata exchanged a look with each other for a few moments in silence.

"So," Shino said after a while.

Hinata blinked.

"How'about we take you back to your family now?"

Being out in public was a very strange feeling. Hinata knew that she couldn't be seen by anyone else, but it felt like every passerby was looking at her with her over-sized sweater and her hand curled around Shino's arm. She hoped dearly that Shino's intimidating wardrobe was the one attracting the curious eyes and not the winged creature at his side.

After spending all morning cleaning Shino's apartment, Hinata's knee had gotten sore again, so Shino offerred his arm for her to lean on. He was also walking at a very slow pace for her, which gave Hinata the opportunity to look around for any signs of Neji. Shino had decided that the best rooftop would be the Konoha Hospital, since it was a relatively tall building in a central location. On the way there, they stopped at a market stand for a quick bite to eat. Shino got a couple of to-go Bento boxes, and mentioned that it would be best to eat them once they got to the rooftop. It was already strange enough that one of them was invisible...it would be even weirder to be seen eating together.

When they reached the hospital, they were stopped by a familiar nurse with fluffy pink hair.

"Good afternoon, Shino-kun! Do you have an injury or are you here to visit someone?"

"Hello Haruno-san. Actually, I wanted to go to the rooftop. I think I might have left one of my belongings there."

"Shino-kun, I didn't think you were the forgetful type! What did you leave up there?"

Shino furrowed his brow at her intrusiveness. Hinata clung to his arm, but hid behind him as if she could still be seen.

"My extra pair of glasses. May we come up?"

"We?" Sakura asked with a curious look. Hinata bit her lip. Did he blow it?

"Myself and my insects, of course," he said without skipping a beat.

Sakura looked slightly disgusted.

"Oh...right...of course. Well, you're welcome to go up there. Just don't disturb any of the patients on your way."

"Noted," Shino replied, and he strode onward without another word.

When the pair reached the rooftop, they settled themselves down against a fence opposite of the hospital sheets that had been hung out to dry. Then they swiftly dug into their Bento boxes. Hinata was starved, and she figured it would be a while before Neji would find her anyway, so she might as well enjoy these last few minutes with her strange friend before she never saw him again. After nibbling a few pieces of sake nigiri, she turned to Shino with a question that had popped up a little while earlier.

"Shino-kun...why did that woman look at you like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like she was grossed out."

"She probably didn't like the thought of my insects," he said calmly, taking a bite of beef teriyaki.

"What's wrong with that? She doesn't like that you keep bugs in your sleeves?"

"I don't keep bugs in my sleeves, I keep bugs in my body."

Hinata froze solid, turning pale. Shino looked at her her, his face shadowed under his hood and goggles not unlike the first day she had met him. Hinata's eyes were wide.

"...wh...what?"

"It's my family's special ninjutsu," he said, setting his chopsticks down to reach a hand out toward her. Within moments, his fingers were crawling with little black specks.

"We use a special species of insect to fight or perform various tasks for us. They feed off of chakra, so we let them stay in our bodies in return for their protection and service. It's a symbiotic thing."

Hinata's face was white. She'd never heard such a bizarre phenomenon in all her days.

"Does that bother you?" he asked quietly.

She hesitantly shook her head, trying to be polite, but was very obviously flabbergasted at the whole concept.

"It's not your fault if you are. Not many people are fond of being around me, which is why I stick to myself most of the time. I don't mind it."

Hinata felt guilty that she was quickly becoming one of those people, but it was difficult to look at him the same way.

"Are you going to eat the rest of your bento?"

"I-I...I'm not...hungry."

"You only at two bites of fish."

"I'm...okay..." she whimpered.

Shino stared at her. It was difficult to tell his expression under all that fabric, but a cupid knew when certain feelings were strong. It was painful for her to admit it, but she had hurt him somehow.

"It's alright, I understand completely," he said rather numbly, getting to his feet. Hinata looked up at him, struggling to keep the disgust from her face.

"I'll leave. Your family should be able to find you up here, so hopefully it won't take long."

Hinata was filled with a variety of emotions swelling within her awestruck silence. Half of her was relieved that he was going, and that it was only a matter of time before Neji found her, and she could go back to Sky Castle and take a hot bath and sleep in her own bed and just forget about the whole stupid cupid thing and just wait until next year and try her trial again. It didn't matter anymore...as long as she was home with her family. As long as she was out of caves and forests and horrible dusty apartments. But, the other half of her was filled with pain and regret. She realized then, as Shino began walking away from her, that he was the only friend that she had every really had. Now he was about to leave her forever.

She almost called to him, but he stopped on his own accord before half-glancing at her over his shoulder.

"You know...I...I was happy, having you around. I'm sorry I can't do the same for you."

Before Hinata could react, he vanished behind the rows and rows of sheets billowing about on the rooftop. She felt very cold then, but hung onto the thought of Neji coming to get her. She bundled herself up in her over-sized turtleneck, and wrapped her arms around her knees. Her broken wing stung, and the sun was starting to make its way down into the horizon.

Hinata shut her eyes, and wished for Neji with all of her heart.

~End of Chapter 5~