Butterflies or Beetles: Chapter 6

Hinata looked at her back in the mirror, examining the tiny pinholes that the Kikaichu made. They weren't very large, and didn't hurt, but they were fairly fresh. She sighed as one of the tiny bugs skittered across the mirror in question. Fluttering little wings and buzzing about.

"No." Hinata scolded quietly. "Disobeying me would make Shino very unhappy you know." That little one in particular had been wanting Hinata's attention for a long time. Honestly, she was hoping to kill two birds with one stone today as she plopped him into a tiny vial to keep him out of trouble.

The plan was simple. Go over to Sakura's and get her to bond with the Kikaichu. With any luck, Hinata could divert some of the unwanted Kikaichu behavior away from herself. The worst case was that Sakura would still end up being afraid of them, or reject the idea of owning a hive all together.

The best case was that Sakura might start to develop a toleration, or even a bond with the tiny bugs. The same kind that Hinata herself had, learning to control them with a firm but nurturing hand.

Hinata didn't know what outcome she would encounter once she arrived at Sakura's apartment. All that she knew was that she had to hope for the best.

They took tea and shared polite banter for about an hour before Hinata was able to steel herself for the inevitable. "I admit, I did have a reason for stopping by so abruptly, Sakura. Though, I'm a bit afraid you'll read too deeply into my motivations for doing this, and I really hope that you won't."

"Motivations for what, Hinata?" Sakura asked quietly. "Are you in some sort of trouble?"

"Nothing of that sort." She said with a small laugh that disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared. "Shino told me that you held one of his Kikaichu the other day. For him that's an important thing. He doesn't let everyone do that."

Sakura frowned. "He was pretty worried about it. Honestly, it kind of freaked me out."

"Team eight never really was a team that prided itself on being good with other people." Hinata almost felt silly for it now, but all of them had antisocial tendencies in some capacity or another. "Shino is a cautious person, so his words reflect that. Maybe, sometimes too much."

"Hinata!" Sakura squealed when one of the bugs skittered out from under her shirt sleeve. "Your arm..."

"They do tend to do that." Hinata sighed with a small shake of her head. She could only avert her gaze to the tiny creature, contempt lacing the edges of her eyes. "That's one of the ones that comes and goes as it likes. It just happened to be there when I woke up this morning, with about seven others."

"I am never going to get used to this." Sakura sighed, eyeing the little creature that had made its way onto the table between the two women.

"I know it seems difficult, but from my perspective, it truly isn't."

"They're crawling all over you, Hinata…"

"Well, hiding them won't do either one of us any good now." Hinata slumped slightly defeated. She had been hoping to use just a little more tact. "Sakura…I was wondering…would you perhaps like to see the tunnels they make?"

"Shino won't show me." Sakura sighed with a shake of her head.

"He's got some new ones, so there's blood." Hinata told her. "He doesn't want you to see that, but having basic medical training does have a few perks."

"You've been healing yours?"

"Hm." Hinata nodded. "For several years. I have a few on my back though. I haven't healed them because those places are so hard to reach on my own."

"Why didn't you tell me the last time you were on shift?" Sakura asked pointedly, as she forced herself up from her sitting place. She had no idea what she would find, but the idea of Hinata being punctured full of holes set her medical mind into a slowly rising panic. "I could have done that, or Ino, Tsunade, or anyone else up at the hospital."

"Well…" Hinata wondered about that honestly. "I tend to only heal the burrows that they don't use anymore." Hinata exposed her left shoulder down to the bottom of the blade where three puncture holes sat open. There was a gauze pad tapped over another set loosely, and Sakura's fingers drifted over the white material. Hinata answered her unspoken question. "The ones under there are brand new as of this morning."

"What ones do you want me to heal?" Sakura asked.

"None of them." Hinata said quietly. "If you want to look under the gauze, you may. However, those are still bleeding, and will bleed for several weeks."

Tiny little stains met Sakura's green eyed gaze. There were two new holes, and so two small rivers of dried blood. Sakura loosely replaced the gauze and swallowed hard. "Shino's back is covered in gauze right now, isn't it?"

"His upper arms, part of his lower back." Hinata said quietly. "New tunnels scab over from the inside out, but that takes time."

"That's got to be so painful."

"Honestly, it isn't."

"I don't know how you can stand it."

Hinata had wondered that at first too, when she was younger, until one of them borrowed into her arm when she was asleep. That had been years ago. "If you want to know what it feels like, I've got Anita with me. You could let her burrow into you. If you really don't want her there, all Shino would have to do is call her back out again."

"This goes against clan politics, doesn't it?"

Hinata knew that it was, but Shino's father was aware that Shino let his bugs have a bit more freedom. She considered the tiny creatures on her arm. The bond she had with the Kikaichu would never change, even if she did get married to Choji. To her, they were invaluable team members, and having a strong bond with them meant that she would always have a way to call for help if she ever needed it. She would never cast aside the Kikaichu she befriended.

Hinata closed her eyes and sighed. "It isn't exactly an accepted practice, but we also aren't Aburame. His clan will do anything in their power to curry favor to us. That includes our involvement with his Kikaichu. If you do marry him, you'll have to cultivate your own hive. That isn't a widely accepted practice by outsiders."

What would Sakura do? She wasn't entirely sure. To Shino's credit, she liked him, he was a good man. He was a little slower. Maybe less intense than she would have normally sought after in a suitor. Her parents approved of him. They were hard people to please. Most boys she would have brought home would have made her mother turn her nose up at them. Shino was different, he was quiet and respectful, and he was well respected in return.

It probably helped that his parents had spoken with hers, and that Shino had asked her father for his blessing. Those old practices weren't often used in the civilian quadrant. It probably meant the world to them that their opinion seemed to matter. Her mother was a retired genin turned shop-keep, and her father was a discharged chunin since he was no longer able to fight. The only people left in her family who were actually ninja were distant relatives; cousins in the academy, her uncles and aunts.

Sakura took a slow breath. She was a ninja, she wanted to continue being one. She wanted a family to understood that honor. "Alright, let's get this over with."