Even though Kiba gave me some advice, I still had no idea what to do. Despite the fact that part of me did want to talk to Shino and ask him out on a date, every time I saw him I got scared and ran away. It was not something I was proud of, but it was a habit I had gotten into. Part of me wanted Shino to never find out that I was avoiding him. Even when I came home from missions, I would try to avoid him at the Hokage's office. That was how bad of a scaredy-cat I had become.

As more time passed by, it became more natural for me to avoid him. No matter how many butterflies I felt in my stomach, I would run away. When Kiba had found out that I still ran from Shino every time I saw him, he shook his head in disappointment. He was a bit happy to find out that I did not punch people anytime I saw Shino. Nevertheless, I was a scaredy-cat over love.

After a few more weeks of my crush deepening and avoiding Shino, he confronted me on that matter. It was a terrifying experience for me.

"Chika," he said to me in his regular tone of voice, "Why are you avoiding me?" Those words felt like a punch to my heart. My face was red from Shino's presence and my embarrassment of being caught. "Have I done something wrong?"

"No Shino! You have done nothing wrong." I replied as I waved my arms around.

"Then why have you been avoiding me? I thought we were friends."

Those words felt like a stab to my heart. I realized that even if I was trying to help myself, I was not helping Shino. It was as though I was punishing him as I avoided him. He and I were friends. He really valued our friendship because he knew that having friends would be a bit of a difficult task for him. That did not stop him from trying in our friendship.

"Friends do not avoid each other."

"I-It's not what you, um, think." I said and wanted to hide. I should have known that Shino would have caught onto what I was doing. He was a ninja who could pick up on the little details in a battle.

"What is it that I am thinking?" He inquired and I could sense that he was disappointed in me.

"You are thinking that I no longer want to be friends with you, but I do Shino. I really do." Quickly, I sputtered out. I was a bit worried that he did not catch what I had just said since it came out so fast. "It's just that you see, um," my mind went blank as I tried to come up with a good answer, "I have just been doing this uh, new technique to um, test my speed?" It came out as a question and I wanted to punch myself in the face. My hands began to shake badly.

Shino sighed and I knew he did not believe it. "You are a horrible liar." I sheepishly smiled at that and scratched the back of my head. "Friends tell each other things. I believe you can tell me the truth."

This is it; this is the perfect time to confess. I thought to myself in an anxious manner.

"Ah, well Shino, you see that I, um," my face felt as though it was on fire and I could feel myself beginning to sweat. "I uh, really," I did not finish that sentence.

My legs began to move on their own.

Within seconds, I was a full block away from Shino. Mentally, I yelled at myself and cursed at myself for running away from him. As much as I wanted to be strong and confident to confess, I could not. Anger swelled up inside of me as I continued to run.

I had a perfect opportunity to confess! The sign for me to confess was right there, yet I did what I have been doing for weeks and just run away. How can I be so oblivious? The perfect opportunity and I blew it.

"Sweetie, is everything alright?" My mother asked me in a worried tone as she heard the door slam behind me. "That was a very stressful door slam you just did. Usually people do those when they are stressed." She then walked out from the living room to look at me. "Yes, you are definitely under stress. I will make us some tea."

My mom is a bit terrifying with how well she can adjust to a situation. I pondered as I followed her into the kitchen and sat down on a seat next to the table.

"So, tell me everything." She said to me as she turned the burner on to boil the water. I was a bit shocked with how quickly she had gotten everything out and prepared to make it.

"I had forgotten just how quickly you could get things ready on a moment's notice." I said to her and sweat dropped.

"You need to be prepared for anything on a mission." My mother explained with a mischievous grin on her face. "Which is why I plan on training you in the future, you will follow in your mother's footsteps of awesomeness." She stroked a pose with determination burning in her eyes.

Oh no, I thought and lowered my head. I only had a vague idea of what my mother was capable of on missions. Whatever she was planning on teaching me, I was scared of it.

"Enough of me, tell me about your problem." She said and leaned back on the counter. "Don't think that I haven't noticed how odd you have been acting lately. Sometimes I come back from missions to see you randomly run throughout the village with a panicked look. I am your mother; you can tell me whatever is bothering you."

I inhaled deeply and exhaled in a similar manner. My heart was beating like mad and I was a bit worried to tell, but knew it was something that had to be done. "Um, well, I have been falling for somebody around me. I never know what to do whenever I see him, so I run away. The first time though, I punched Kiba in the face then ran away. After I dragged Kiba with me, he gave me some advice. I think I want to confess to this person, but I do not know how to."

"What advice did Kiba give? Was it for you not to punch him in the face? Guys do not find that too sexy if they see you punching every guy around you." My mother said to me and wagged her finger. My jaw dropped at how alike she and Kiba could be at times. No wonder she adored his company so much, they thought alike is many ways.

"That was that, and that I needed to decide that if I want to confess or not. I think I really do. For so many years I have been doing things for everybody else, but this is something I need to do for me." Confidently, I said and felt the passion burning in my eyes.

"Let me tell you a story about how I met your father." Right away, those works made me perk up more. As much as my mom had loved telling stories, she told very few about my father. "He and I were on the same squad together. When I tried to surprise attack him, he just chuckled. At first I was really frustrated at him for not taking me seriously and tried to give him the cold shoulder. As time went on, some of our teammates climbed up ranks, were moved to a different group, retired due to a serious injury, or died in battle, so we got more teammates. Your father actually gave me some ideas how to surprise the newbies so he and I began to talk more."

My mother poured me some tea and I could see the happiness and sadness in her eyes. "That sounds like how father was." She nodded her head and smiled.

"Slowly, I realized that I was falling for him more and more. There was one mission where the situation got deadly. It was either one person was not going to make it back or all of us were not going to make it back. Your father volunteered to stay back and fight the enemies. When the other members and I were halfway home, I turned back to go after him. When I got to him, he was losing badly. There were just too many enemies and too little of him. I pulled out my skills and began to kick some enemy ass." She punched the air with a weak smile that showed all of the nostalgia.

"When we got back and he was in the hospital, he thanked me for coming back to save him. He was bit mad that I did go back to save him and put myself in danger, but I knew I would have done that a thousand times if needed. It was just a few days later that I confessed to him and luckily he did feel the same way. I realized that in the world of ninjas, sometimes the good die young and those precious too you could die at a moment's notice.

"Our love lives are not like everybody else's. Ours can have a time limit that we have no idea about. From what I have learned, it is better to have taken a chance to be in love with somebody than to not try at all. We never know how limited our time is, so we should spend it with those precious to us."

I could see the pain in my mother's eyes. She looked so vulnerable and I could tell she was close to crying. In an apologetic manner, I leaned over and hugged her. It was then that I realized how much I needed to stop being scared.

"Thank you mom, I know that dad would have thought you gave me great advice." I then got up and looked her in the eyes. "I have a certain somebody whom I need to ask on a date."