"That was nice of Shino." My mother said and smiled gently as she chopped up some vegetables. "Did you thank him?"
"I, uh, I think I did." Sheepishly, I admitted and scratched my head. "I can't remember exactly-"
"You need to thank him right now!" She roared and gave me a glare. "Do you know how kind that was of him? Some guys would have run the other way. Well, most ninjas worth their headband would save their teammates. There are some that are selfish cowards though."
"Do not worry mom!" I yelled and waved my arms around. "I am pretty sure I thanked Shino. I only got back from the mission today so my mind is a bit blurry."
My mother sighed and looked at me sympathetically. "I am a mom who loves her favorite and only child. I have been in the ninja world much longer than you have and I have more experience than you. There are times when terrible and terrifying things happen, but you have to keep going. It is difficult for me to acknowledge that you are going to have to go through that too."
It was then that I admired my mother even more than I did before. She did have imperfections, in fact many, but I still loved her. I felt as though the universe knew I would need a mom like her. She was strong, funny, courageous, and caring. It was odd to see my mom look vulnerable in a way, but it showed how human she was.
Happily, I smiled as I replied. "Then maybe I will come out as amazing as you are."
"Hell yeah I am amazing." She said and strokes a pose. "I am one amazing person. Anybody who says otherwise is a liar. Did I tell you how I prepared my new teammate to be on my squad?"
I groaned because I knew that poor person probably went through a living nightmare. My mother had a thing for making sure her teammates were ready for anything and everything. Her squad did very important and high ranking missions. This made her want to make sure her teammates were ready for anything.
"What did you do to this poor person?" I whined at her. Part of me was scared to find out what she did.
"Stop always showing pity for any newcomer. I am just mentally training them." She said.
More like mentally torturing them. I thought and scrunched up my face.
"Anyways, this guy was a shy guy. This made me want to test him even more. So when he went to the bathroom, just seconds after he was in there, I attacked him." She explained and saw the look of horror on my face. "Stop looking at me like that! He was not prepared for that attack. I know what you are thinking, 'That is invading personal privacy and yada, yada, yada.' Do you think the enemy would wait until they were out of the bathroom? Nope, you have to be ready for anything."
"Mom that is a good point you have there." I said and sweat dropped a bit at her. "That is a little over the top. What happened to him after that?"
"That slow slug is still on our squad. I can only hope that with my kindness and amazing characteristics, I can turn him into a fighting machine." She said with passion burning in her eyes. Luckily, somebody knocked on the door at that very moment.
"You do your cooking, I have this." I said to her as I walked out of our kitchen and towards the door. When I opened it, I saw Shino there. "Shino, what are you doing here? We have already reported our mission to Tsunade and she said we can go to her tomorrow for some missions around the village."
"We agreed that we would hang out together for a day. Neither of us have missions today. I thought that we could hang out today." He explained to me and gave me what I guess was one of his looks. "Did you forget our agreement?"
My eyes widened in shock. "No, no, it is just that I did not expect it to be today."
"That is what you get for not expecting the unexpected!" My mother shouted in victory. I simply rolled my eyes at her. "By the way, yes you can go hang out with him. Have fun! Oh, thank you Shino for saving my daughter!"
"It was no problem." Shino said in his regular tone of voice and then looked at me. "Are you ready?"
"Uh, yeah," I said and tried to grab a hold of what was going on. What is going on with my stomach? It did not feel that way when I was at home with my mom. I thought it would go away when I got back from my mission.
We walked through the village together. For a while things were quiet, but Shino spoke up. "Is something wrong? You are more quiet than usual."
"What? No, it is just that my stomach is acting weird." I explained and Shino nodded.
"You might be constipated." He said to me in a serious tone. My eyes widened in shock and my face went red from embarrassment as I waved my arms around.
"No! It is not that. It is not bad; it is just different than usual." In a panicked manner, I explained. At that moment, I wanted to hide myself under a rock in embarrassment. My eyes avoided Shino because of how embarrassed I was. Constipated? I see where he is coming from, but that suggestion is just so, not something you say in public.
When I finally looked back at him, I saw he had an eye brow raised. "Would you like me to use my bugs to-"
"Nope, that will not be needed." I said and waved my arms around. "I am sure whatever it is will go away. No need to bring bugs into this situation. Thank you for your concern." He nodded and we continued to walk around the village together.
There was something about seeing the people of the village be happy, that always made me happy. They felt protected by the ninjas and looked up to us. I felt even happier when I remembered that I was helping the village. Even if I was a small part of a big picture, I was still glad to help.
My thoughts slipped to Shino. I had been friends with him for years, but did not know much about him. That thought made me a bit mad at myself for not asking him. Now is better than never.
"Shino, I just realized we have been friends for a long while but I still do not know much about you." I remarked to him.
"What do you want to know?" He asked me and I thought about it for a few moments.
"Why did you become a ninja?" I asked him.
"It runs in my clan." He said and I sweat dropped at his short reply.
You do not want to even try to elaborate on that answer? I thought to myself. I shook my head to try to rid myself of my nonsense. "Okay, next question, what is your favorite type of food?"
"I will show you." He answered and took a sudden turn to the right onto another street. For some reason, my stomach began to act up even more. "What is your next question?"
"Uh, I, uh," I began to stutter out. For some reason, my mouth was not working with my mind at the moment.
Shino then stopped and turned towards me. "Are you sure your stomach is fine? You are not your usual self. Are your wounds healing correctly?"
My face then went red again. "No, I promise I am fine." I said to him and waved my arms around. "You can show me your favorite food, I will be fine."
He looked at me for a second more, but then turned away. His legs started to walk again and I followed him. What is up with me today? I am not usually like this. I inhaled heavily and then exhaled in an attempt to get my act together.
After a while of walking, we stopped in front of a fruit shop. I was shocked. I had no idea what I thought Shino's favorite food would be, but it did not cross my mind that it could have been fruit. Shino must have seen how shocked I was since he pointed it out.
"You appear shocked."
"Yeah, I was not expecting this. I had no idea what I was expecting to be honest." I explained and he nodded his head. We then walked inside and Shino looked around. He grabbed two peaches and set them on the counter. The peaches were paid for under a minute and one was then put in one of my hands.
"I have to say Shino; you have a great taste in fruit." I happily said with a smile as I bit into the peach.
"I know. The scraps help make food for certain bugs." He said and I sweat dropped a bit.
"What a thing to say on a da-" I then stopped in midsentence. My eyes widened in shock at what I was about to say.
I then realized that no matter how much I disliked bugs, Shino was giving my butterflies in my stomach.
What did you guys think of this chapter? How is Shino coming along? Is he out of character at times? Come on guys, you can give me the cold hard truth. I can take it. *Shows off nonexistent arm muscles* See; look at how strong I am. cx
How are you guy? QUICK! Tell me one thing you really want to do this summer. c: I really enjoy hearing what you guys have to say about the chapter, how you are doing, or if you really want to tell me a butt joke. I would really appreciate that butt joke and probably chuckle because that is where my maturity level is. cx
Have a swell day and smile. ^w^