Wedding Dress | fourteen
"Yeah! Give me a five, Shino!" Kiba leaped into the air with a howl of joy, ignoring the fact that Shino hadn't even so much as twitched a muscle. Hinata's face was flushed with happiness, her smile radiant. In fact, she looked a little like she was going to faint from excitement.
"Calm down, Kiba, before I make you," Shino advised calmly.
Kiba grabbed Shino by the shoulders and tried to stare him down. "Shino, we're chunins. Hello? Has it entered your bug-infested head that we've been promoted? We're chunins! We're awesome! Rejoice!" He grabbed Akamaru's front paws, lifting the dog and hugging him tightly.
"Look, it's Kurenai-sensei!" Hinata laid a hand on the crook of Shino's elbow and pointed at the figure walking towards them.
"Congratulations, all of you!" Kurenai looked as delighted as Kiba and went around hugging all of them, even Akamaru, who gave a rumbling bark and slobbered all over her face. To Kurenai's surprise, Shino took the hug without a flinch, although he did clear his throat and push up his sunglasses uncomfortably when she pulled away.
"I'll treat you all to lunch, how's that?" Kurenai asked, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she smiled. "Then I have some good news of my own to tell you."
"Hey, sensei, who didn't pass the chunin exam this time? Did Naruto pass? And Choji?" Kiba chattered endlessly as the four of them walked through the crowded marketplace. "Did you see Akamaru chomp that Sand ninja's arm while I attacked him? And Shino! His insects were killer! But not as good as my attacks, of course!"
Kiba twisted around to wink at Shino cheekily.
"Yes, Kiba, I was there, and all of you fought excellently," Kurenai replied rather indulgently. She looked as if she was resisting the urge to reach out and ruffle his hair. Kiba, with his adorable grins and hyper personality, had that sort of effect on people.
Slowly, Shino raised his hand, lifted his hood slightly, and ran his hand through his hair experimentally. A small shower of bugs fell into the back of his hood. Shino replaced his hand in his pocket, trailing a little behind the other three as he usually did. He watched a cool breeze ruffle the ends of Kurenai's wavy hair, watched Hinata give a small laugh at something Kiba said, watched Kiba looking down at Hinata with a huge smile.
Hinata doesn't like Kiba. She likes Naruto.
Shino was confused when that thought occurred to him, and even more confused at the strange sense of relief that washed through him. He shook his head irritably; Aburames were never confused about their emotions. Not to mention he shouldn't even be thinking about…whatever he was thinking about right now, like boy-girl relationships. No. Aburames thought about insects, beloved insects, and only insects.
And expanding the clan. Don't forget about that.
What? For the first time in his life, Shino was truly baffled. Mind-boggled. Where had that thought come from? This had to stop, and pronto.
.
.
.
Surprisingly, Hinata finished eating first. She didn't usually eat much but she ate very daintily, very prettily, and that made her a slow eater. Today, she had eaten even less than usual before sitting back, chewing her lip nervously. Shino looked surreptitiously at her from behind his dark glasses.
"C-can I say something?" Hinata suddenly spoke up, albeit a little hesitantly. Her pale eyes flitted from Kurenai's face, to Shino's, to Kiba's.
"Of course you can," Kurenai said encouragingly. Shino stopped eating, waiting wordlessly for Hinata to speak. Kiba cocked his head curiously; beside him, Akamaru had assumed the same position, his tongue lolling out peaceably.
"I-I just wanted to say, I'm really grateful to all of you f-for encouraging me all this time," she stammered, twirling a strand of dark hair between a fingers. "Everytime I feel like I'm n-not strong enough, you remind me that I can d-do it, and I just have to practice and try harder. And I'm very grateful t-to all of you. Thank you. It m-means a lot to me to have such a great team."
"That's because you can do it, Hinata!" Kiba said, puffing up proudly as if he'd done something great. "Right, Shino?" He nudged Shino hard, who didn't even bother glaring. He'd been nudged and shoved and hit and, in general, abused by Kiba too much for it to have much effect on him now. Anyway, here was a statement by Kiba that he actually agreed with.
Shino nodded. "Definitely. You put yourself down too much."
"Way to be harsh, Shino!" Kiba yelled indignantly. "Hinata just lacks self-confidence!" Kurenai, who had been watching the exchange between her three students, hushed him hurriedly before he could disrupt the peace of the restaurant even more.
"N-no, Kiba-kun, Shino-kun doesn't mean it in a bad way. T-that's his way of saying he believes in me," Hinata cut in hastily, before Kiba could blow the issue way out of proportion. Impulsiveness was simply in Kiba's blood.
"Well, I suppose I should tell you my good news now, before Kiba starts a fight," Kurenai started with a laugh, waiting for the boy in question to settle down. "I'm…getting married next month, and I'm inviting all of you, of course. I hope-"
"T-to Asuma-sensei?" Hinata interrupted, very uncharacteristically. Her pale eyes were bright with interest and she gave a small giggle when Kurenai nodded with an equally uncharacteristic blush.
"I sense love in the air!" Kiba sniggered.
"Congratulations." Shino was ever-polite.
"Have you chosen your wedding dress?" Hinata asked, without a hint of a stutter. Kiba was engaged with trying to lure one of Shino's insects from his coat with a piece of bread—you do know they feed on chakra, right, Kiba? —and didn't notice, but Shino noted this with some interest. It wasn't often, or ever, that Shino saw Hinata like this.
"Yes, I have!" Kurenai said to Hinata happily. "I would love for you to be my flower girl, along with Ino, so we'll have to go pick out your dresses, and you'll get to see mine too."
"I think a white one would be nice, just brushing the floor, with a train," Hinata murmured dreamily, "and Naruto would wear-" She stopped, looking horrified, her face turning a becoming shade of crimson. Her mouth gaped as she fumbled with her cutlery, no doubt hoping she could turn back time or disappear off the face of the Earth. She opened her mouth twice, looking at each of them in turn with panic in her eyes, but no sound came out.
Kurenai was looking at Hinata with a mixture of amusement and pity. Kiba, being considerate, was holding on to Shino's sleeve, shaking with suppressed laughter. Even Shino cracked a slight smile at Hinata's awkward moment.
So she likes traditional wedding dresses, Shino mused, with trains. What are those?
.
.
.
Shino was very close to panicking. Akamaru was dashing around like a crazed dog, howling and getting tangled with Shino's legs. Shoving the dog away with a grunt, Shino increased his pace, dragging the makeshift stretcher-sled behind him. Akamaru whimpered sadly and trailed behind Shino, licking Kiba's face feverishly.
Shino spared a quick look back. Come on, Kiba. Hang in there. He didn't like the paleness of his teammate's face, the sweat beading on his forehead, the way he moaned quietly as he shifted in pain.
The mission had been simple: escort an important emissary back to the Mist village. That had gone smoothly enough, but in the middle of their return trip, a hoard of crazy Sound village ninjas had ambushed them, demanding some secret scroll or other. They had clearly attacked the wrong team, since Kiba and Shino had absolutely no idea what scroll they were looking for. Unfortunately, they found that out only after a short bout of fierce fighting in which Kiba had been stabbed with a poisoned blade.
Poisoned indeed, Shino growled angrily to himself. What kind of self-respecting shinobi resorts to poison to defeat an opponent?
Shino had never been so glad to see his home come into view. His arms were aching, his mouth dry and gritty, his head full of fear for Kiba.
At the hospital, Kurenai paced up and down the corridor with Asuma trying to calm her down, his arm around her shoulders. Kiba's mother looked very pale, quite unlike her normal rather ferocious self. His sister sat in a chair quietly, her face composed, but her fingers were twined in her dogs' fur, clenching and unclenching repeatedly. Hinata, holding on to Shino's sleeve for comfort, looked very close to tears. Shino leaned against the wall, his calm exterior once again in place, waiting for news from Tsunade.
Gradually, the others arrived too. Shikamaru and Choji with Ino; Naruto, dragging Sakura along; Neji, who immediately approached Hinata with concern written all over his face, with Lee and Tenten. It was interesting, Shino felt, to see these familiar faces so drawn and worried, especially Lee, Naruto, Choji, those who were always smiling and laughing. Just like Kiba.
Kiba, who was so likable, so loyal, so thoughtful. Granted, he was almost always annoying, but he was a permanent fixture in Shino's life. Kiba, who had once broken Shino's wrist by pushing him out of a tree, who had plucked a few bugs from Shino's coat and tried to drown them in soy sauce, who had punched Naruto—punched Naruto, imagine that!—when he'd called Shino a lame loser. Nothing ever got him down, and at this very moment, Shino really couldn't imagine life without Kiba.
Shut up, he snapped at himself. You sound like you're reciting an epitaph.
Finally, Tsunade opened the door to the operating room. She looked tired, and there were spatters of blood on her clothes, but her smile was genuine.
"He's okay. I managed to extract all the poison from his system. You did a good job, Shino. A little later and your friend might not be here now." She nodded approvingly at him, before turning to speak to Kiba's frantic mother and sister.
"No, he's my teammate," Shino corrected automatically, but no one was listening except Hinata. She smiled up at him knowingly, her eyes passing over the frown on his face that meant bewilderment.
Friend. Kiba is my…friend.
Shino liked how that sounded.