Butterflies or Beetles: Chapter 7

Hinata explained to Sakura what was going to happen, but that didn't calm Sakura.

In fact, as she sat half naked in her own bedroom, she found herself unusually nervous. Hinata's hands were cupped on her back, keeping a small Kikaichu from wandering around and staying only in that one spot. It was so that the Kikaichu made a burrow where Sakura wanted it to be, and not anywhere else. It still felt weird as it wandered around, making noises.

It chirped and fluttered its wings. It tried to skitters beneath Hinata's fingers to escape, but her chakra held it there.

"Try not to flinch." Hinata said, used to their crawling around by now.

"This is so weird." Sakura said when she grit her teeth. She was waiting to feel a bite, but it didn't come. "What in the hell is it doing?"

"It's just wandering around." Hinata assured.

"Yeah, well I wish it would stop." She could feel it wandering around in a circle over, and over, and over again. It was an odd sensation.

"It'll settle down soon." Hinata assured. "Then she'll probably bite. Once she starts gnawing, it'll only take a second for her to pierce into your skin." Hinata could only vaguely recall the awkwardness of the bugs. It had been years since the feelings of bugs across her skin actually made her physically uncomfortable.

"What then?" Sakura asked sardonically. "Am I going to start gushing blood everywhere?"

"At first, probably a little bit, just like any other puncture." Hinata shrugged. "Then she'll continue to go deeper."

"Shino really should be the one doing this." Sakura mumbled darkly.

"Actually, it's probably better if he didn't." Hinata wasn't quite sure how to say it without being too crass…but… "Sakura, we're friends, right?"

"That's a pretty silly question, Hinata." Sakura said a little uneasily. "Of course we are."

Hinata nodded, even though Sakura couldn't see her. "And friends talk about...particular things sometimes."

"Gossip?" Sakura asked. "Or otherwise?"

"Otherwise, preferably. Keep this to yourself." Hinata took a peek between her fingers. The bug was starting to settle. "When Shino and I…when we were younger…" Hinata struggled to find the words. "When we were sixteen, that time I vaguely told you and Ino about..." She swallowed hard. This was more difficult than she thought it would be. "I left out a few details. Ino doesn't have a right to know, but…maybe you do."

"Did you have sex with him, Hinata?" Sakura asked, it was the only thing that came to mind.

"No!...oh, no-no, nothing like that." The taller woman shook her head vigorously. "It's just..."

Sakura tossed a glance over her own shoulder. "Just what?"

Hinata looked away. "Sharing bugs with a person is an intimate thing. They only do it among family members. Spouses to spouses, parents to children, siblings to siblings. It's an act of family bonding…or…in some cases…courtship…" With her blush burning her cheeks, she cleared her throat. "He wants you to have Anita, and if she's a lone female who burrows in, she'll attach to a chakra point. She'll grow bigger."

"I didn't know…" Sakura admitted, thinking back to the day that she handed Anita back to him. She thought that was what she was supposed to do.

"I know. Shino didn't want to tell you because he didn't want to put too much pressure on you." Hinata saw the small Kikaichu burrow into Sakura's back, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Blood began to flow, and Hinata began to blot it away. "Okay, she's under. If you decide to keep her, she'll become the queen of your hive. She'll live until you die."

"Do you have one?" Sakura asked. "A queen?"

"Yes." Hinata said softly. "Which leads me to my next point. Don't allow any male Kikaichu to burrow into you unless you want to breed a hive."

It didn't hurt, but she ended up bleeding more than she thought she might. Hinata said the holes would be the least problematic on her back, but, Sakura found herself faced with an issue. She couldn't change the gauze on her own.

Hinata changed the gauze the next day during their shared hospital shift, but it would need to be changed again in the evening.

It was as good a time as any to show Shino what she had done. She wasn't sure if he would be overly pleased with the new burrow that had formed. She waited until the shift at the hospital ended, and then she slowly meandered over to his home. He was already outside basking in the shade, his arms crossed as he leaned against one of the wooden poles that supported his home.

"Oh, good, you're home. I didn't know if you would be out on assignment today." Sakura told him with a small smile.

"No assignments for the next few days." Shino told her. "I'm on military leave while the hive reproduces a new batch of specimens with antibodies. It's a particular type of poison."

"Well, at least you can get some rest. It's good to relax a little every now and then, and I know you don't do that enough." She said as she sat beside him. How would she break the news? She wasn't entirely sure. She clung to their small talk like glue. "What kind of poison is it?"

"Snake venom." Shino replied. "Completely toxic." He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "The Hokage asked me to personally cultivate anti-venom that can be transferred into medical grubs."

Sakura crinkled her nose. She hated those little things. "I didn't realize you involved yourself with our infectious disease center."

"I don't. At least, not at this time." Shino said simply, his soft voice causing her to look at him. "That is a job for the head of the clan. I have not been given the details of the medical facility, or the tactics they utilize. I have only been given the orders of the Hokage."

"Well, maybe you should start learning the medical applications." Sakura said quietly. "Your Kikaichu eat chakra, right?" Shino nodded, and Sakura continued. "As a medical ninja, I need to know how far I can go. I use my chakra for everything. From stitching internal wounds, to amputations."

Shino was surprised by that admission. He wasn't sure, not exactly. The medical ninja in his clan were able to keep enough in reserve to do complicated operations, but he wasn't sure how they made that happen. "It may be because they maintain smaller hives by nature." He said offhandedly. "However, that is merely my speculation. I would need to look into it."

"There's probably a lot of things we need to do." She still wasn't sure about owning a hive for herself, but, if she married him, there wouldn't be any other choice. If Hinata wasn't afraid though, why should she be? "I've got to ask though, and don't freak out…but is there always so much blood when they tunnel in?"

Shino paused at this, and for the first time in Sakura's presence, pulled off his glasses to look at her. "Are you bleeding?"

He asked this seriously, and Sakura nodded. "On my shoulder, just above my breast bindings. I let one of them tunnel into me with Hinata's help, but there is a lot of blood."

"They chew through everything." Shino said knowingly. "Even bone."

"Can you change my gauze?"

Shino's dark irises were unlike anything Sakura had ever seen, they were a deep color, but a little transparent in the center. She could see the shadows behind his eyes. The skittering of little bugs. At first his gaze held only concern, but they softened ever so slightly. He put his glasses back on, much to Sakura's dismay.

"We should go to someplace more fitting." He said, guiding her to stand, and ushering her into his bedroom. The first aid kit was sitting on his desk, and he offer her his chair to sit in. She unzipped her vest, and pulled it down far enough that he could get to the dark red square of cloth.

Shino pulled it away without flinching. With his thumbs, he pulled open the pinhole to its full size. He could see one of his Kikaichu still digging away and left it at that. Sakura could feel even more of her vital fluid trickle out. "Uh, Shino, don't you think you should wear gloves?"

"There's no need. It's bleeding the usual amount." Shino concluded quietly as he plucked a fresh square of gauze. He fastened it loosely, so that the bugs could travel underneath it if they wanted. "You'll have to get used to foregoing antiseptic, and getting used to the idea of bacteria entering into your body. Those holes are going to stay open until they've healed on their own. That'll only happen if the Kikaichu let them. The Kikaichu will eat the foreign substances and produce antibodies. Those will enter into you through their saliva."

Sakura was only half listening, her focus was on his fingertips, feeling them caress her back. She held back a shiver, not wanting to spook him. She couldn't stop the tingle that lingered all the same. She pulled her vest back up, but left it partially unzipped as she turned to look at him. "Shino…" She found his name hard to say, found that talking itself was a little more difficult than usual. "Take off your glasses."

The young man hesitated, and Sakura stood, rising up so that she could reach out. Her fingers and thumb grazing his cheek. A spark went through the both of them, and then Sakura heard buzzing. A low hum coming from Shino's body. She could only guess at the noise, but she wanted to see his eyes again, needed to see them.

"Take them off." She whispered.

Slowly he reached up, doing as he was told since the lights in his room were kept dim.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Sakura asked as her full palm rested softly against his cheek. "You could have…" She could feel a soft vibration beneath her fingers as a few small bugs skittered away beneath his skin. The sensation was so strange to her, and yet, she didn't yank her hand away. Shino was hesitating, and she saw the flicker in his gaze. "Don't you even dare think about putting them back on. I want to see you…the real you."

And…she wanted answers too.