A/N: Hello everyone!

This is somewhat of an experimental story where the POV gets passed onto a different character every chapter. First two chapters will have much less SasuHina in them than the rest, but please bear with me (especially in the beginning). I hope you will enjoy reading this story as much as I did writing it. :)

Without further ado, let's start with a chapter inspired by the prompt "A glance that reveals everything" (Day 3). Thank you to KilJoius for approving my interpretation of Shino and to Jessie for agreeing spontaneously to beta for me.

Summers were the worst. Worst of the worst. Why? Everything felt like and reeked of decay and his kikaichū were loving it. They were breeding – all the time. He had to take measures to prevent the exponential growth in population or else he could die from chakra exhaustion. Their excitement and buzzing dulled both their and his sensory capacities. He felt useless. Getting a hot head in times like this wouldn't help.

The kikaichū went even faster through all stages of metamorphosis. In the summer, he had less tracking time out of a bug he could place on someone. It could die within the day. And if that wasn't enough, the kikaichū were also getting fatter – less discrete when planted on a target and noisier when sneaking up from behind. And if he finally would die of chakra exhaustion, would anyone notice?

Hinata's heaving broke him out of his musings. Right. Why? There was someone who had it worse than him. An oven. He felt like he was in an oven surrounded by putrefaction and stench and clammy fluids but there was someone who was suffering more. She had always been one to faint and get heat exhaustion easily. Her hair would burn after spending mere seconds under direct sunlight and her pale, nearly translucent skin would get flushed already mid-May. Hinata had always barely functioned in summer. Team 8 wasn't made for this.

To Shino, even the Hokage faces carved in rock seemed like they were nothing more than decomposing bodies. During his musings, the kikaichū had gathered above his female teammate's head to provide some shade for her increasingly warm hair. Right. He was powerless to do much else. She smiled at him, trying to convey her thanks. He didn't bother to explain that he hadn't even commanded them to do so. He had been absent-minded. Maybe the heat was getting to him too. He just acknowledged her with a nod. His insects would never need his instructions to protect Kiba or Hinata.

Despite the best efforts of his swarming insects, Hinata's skin was rosy and her eyes had started to look glassy. The sun was too much for her. She had always been sensitive like that, not unlike beetles and stink bugs… Or like his own colony when exposed to highly energetic radiation.

Akamaru wasted no time and knocked her down on in the shade of the thickest tree on the training fields and barked his orders to Hinata. Three short ones. 'Stay right here.' Shino and Kiba made eye contact.

"Maaaan, I'm so hungry! What did you bring today, 'nata?"

And just like that, his teammate plopped down next to her and swung an arm around her neck, grinning cheekily. He had just convinced Hinata she wouldn't be the one asking for a break. It was unclear whether she fell for Kiba's trick or if, bless her heart, she decided to roll with it to appease him. She carefully unwrapped the bento boxes she had placed in the shade, pointing to each dish and its components. Shino just smiled in his collar and approached them. Yeah, that extra box packed with watermelon just for him sounded heavenly.
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Of course, he couldn't even get one bite out of the delicious-looking fruit. Why? Because he, of all shinobi, was summoned. Alone. He stood up, bento box still in hand. The messenger was an ANBU whose identity wasn't much of a mystery. Sasuke Uchiha. Yet something about his presence reeked and the kikaichū were sent into a frenzy. His pulse was slightly off. His chakra tasted differently, the swarm supplied. The Uchiha was nervous. He must have been doing something he shouldn't have. Interesting.

Shino had to bluff to find out the reason behind this. Why? Because keeping tabs as a ninja on anything off kept you alive. Shino lowered his chin and engaged in eye contact with him just above the rim of his sunglasses. The Uchiha was a split second too late to meet the challenge because they had lingered a second too long.

On Hinata.

Now he was certain.

That was all Shino needed to turn his torso towards the Uchiha. "I know something you wish I didn't," were the words left unsaid. He placed a female bug on Hinata. Just in case the last Uchiha would get up to something suspicious. If she had noticed, she didn't object.

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The summons had proven to be only a notice that he and Team 8 were off the rooster during the heatwave. He let go of a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He had been feeling frustratingly powerless lately, unfit to coolly lead and protect his team.

Hinata had then announced she'd enroll as a novice at the hospital to make some use of her abilities. Kiba joined the rotation of guardians watching over Konoha. As for himself, he'd join his father in his selective breeding efforts. Kikaichū needed to evolve to thrive in a wider range of temperatures – even when scorching.

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Back in the Aburame compound, bare feet on the moist cool ground, he felt his colony buzzing with excitement despite all the misery of the heat wave. Why? The sunrise came with news from the female bug he had placed on his teammate. He had been right. The Uchiha and Hinata had finally come within vicinity of each other in the most obscure periphery of Konoha – the cemetery. Hinata had been there since dusk to whisper to her cousin and keep him up to date. She had asked him questions. No answer came back. Somewhere around this time she had openly addressed the female kikaichū (unclear for how long she had known about its presence, Shino suspects from the start) and thanked it for providing her with comfort. She fell asleep with a hand on the warm tombstone and with the female bug resting on her chest.

Well after midnight the Uchiha had shown up – first to visit another grave and just before dawn he came in the vicinity of Neji's. He seemed to watch over Hinata from a distance of a few feet. The female kikaichū had stayed put on Hinata to avoid detection and wasn't entirely sure what he did. It had, though, managed to detect traces of pheromones, overall indicative of… kinship. Hinata had been stirring during the whole encounter and even had blinked a few times, mumbling unintelligibly. The insect reported that it was uncertain whether Hinata had noticed the Uchiha. Most likely yes.

Was this a new habit of hers – or rather of theirs? Was there even a 'they'? Maybe. Was he intruding on her privacy? Yes. He should probably stop. But if his intuition served him right, this might be the beginning of something. Interesting. If so, Kiba won't need much longer to notice. That wouldn't go down too well.

Well, that wasn't the whole truth. To be honest, Shino did love his drama. Oh well… The young Aburame smirked. Maybe this year's heatwave won't be as miserable anymore.

Up Next: Sakura's POV where we learn just how well Hinata manages her new obligations in the hospital.

See you on Day 5!