Why Me? || Shino Aburame x OC (Naruto)

11 : A Slightly Harder Mission

The two were walking for quite a bit now. It was a little awkward, so much that Hisako couldn't focus on her surroundings, instead depending on Shino's directions. For some reason, the walk to the shop felt a bit longer than usual. Hisako assumed it just felt that way, and thought nothing of it.

"You sure you okay with walking me? I mean, Hinata-chan's house seems a bit far..." Hisako felt a little guilty to drag Shino into this, and as much as she wanted to tease him for it, she did feel bad.

"As I've said before, I'm okay with it."

"Ah, of course." She sighs, hoping that Shino meant what he said. Otherwise, he would start sulking over something not so serious.

"Ichiraku Ramen is near." Shino informed.

Hisako was excited to see her teammates again, yet glanced at Shino and kind of hoped it would have lasted longer. She stopped in her tracks, and so did the bug guy.

"So... you're super sure you're okay getting to Hinata-chan's house like this?"

Shino stayed silent, though shortly after, gave a silent chuckle. "If I take the short route, I can get there before Kiba does."

Short route? What short route?

Hisako turned to look at him. Not like she could see anything, but she knew for a fact that he was there. She then giggled.

Did he just take a longer route... to spend time with her?

Her cheeks grew pink, then scolding herself for assuming that someone like Shino would do such a thing. She then gave a shaky giggle as she nods.

"Welp, I guess this is where we part? I can already hear Takeru annoying the hell out of Mikoto."

"I'll see you around, Hisako." He nods, and she heard him turn around and walk the other way.

"HISAKOOOOO" Takeru screamed through the roads, earning some glares from some passersby. "OVER HERE!"

Hisako winced. Her hearing was incredibly sensitive, so she'll probably have to get used to her new super loud teammates. She giggled, finally getting a hold of her senses once she got over her embarrassment.

She slowly made her way to the group, Takeru getting up to help guide her to a seat. She normally didn't like being helped, as she didn't want to appear useless or weak, but at the same time such small gestures made her feel loved by her friends and peers.

"If you were going on a date with Shino, you should've said so earlier." Mikoto grumbled, half-asleep with his face planted on the wooden table.

"It's not a date!" Hisako immediately squealed in response.

"Ah, young love. Such a wonderful and powerful experience!" Sekiro said, his arms performing some sort of waving motion. "I, too, was once in love!"

"Ok, sensei."

Mikoto groaned, putting both hands on his head while Takeru appeared to be smitten with interest. He turned to Mikoto, a glimmer in his eyes.

"Hey, stop disrespecting Sekiro-sensei like that!" Takeru frowned, putting both hands on Mikoto's head as he messed up the tired boy's hair. "He's super cool and can beat lots of people up!"

"Calm now Takeru, for now we prepare for our mission." Sekiro crosses his arms and nods, then turning to Hisako with a gentler smile. "Have you eaten already? I can pay for another round of ramen."

Hisako smiled before replying. "Oh, no thanks Sensei. I already had a light breakfast." Her smile trembled as she remembered all she heard earlier. She just didn't know what to feel about her father appearing out of the blue only to turn out to be a criminal.

Mikoto was the first to notice the trembles on her lips, but was once again smacked by Takeru before he could say anything.

"Hey, Sensei! What's our mission again? Hisa-chan was late, so I think you gotta tell her what we gotta do." Takeru said with an excited grin, using Mikoto's tired body as an arm rest. "Oh, can we talk on the way? I'm WAY too excited! In fact, I think I can carry Mikoto on the way since he looks so tired!"

"No, no!" Mikoto immediately shot up from his nap. "I'll walk myself, just don't carry me!"

Sekiro cleared his throat, the gentle calmness he used to speak to Hisako suddenly exploding into yet another surge of energy from the rather spunky man. Hisako didn't mind, she even giggled. She was somehow already so comfortable around this team despite only being together for a week or so.

"Our mission is to guard a small store for one night, and stop a treacherous thief from taking anything more!" Sekiro spoke as if he were some superhero or prodigy, though Hisako would have no qualms believing that.

"It's deeeeefinitely more interesting than carrying a bunch of stuff!" Takeru said, jumping off his chair to give his sensei a high-five.

"At this rate, your voices will be enough to scare off the their." Mikoto groaned, another hand to his head as his eye twitched from the chaos.

"Isn't that a good thing though?" Takeru asked, his head tilted slightly.

"Well, we're supposed to catch him, but I suppose it would help if he's scared?" Hisako shrugged lightly, watching as Sekiro gouged down the rest of his ramen.

"Thank you very much for the meal!" The teacher stood up, leaning down into a perfect bow.

"And now we go, kids!" Sekiro said, suddenly grabbing Mikoto by the arm and yanking him over his back, securing his legs tightly.

Mikoto gave up trying to fight it at this point, not even trying to oppose it as he wrapped his arms around his sensei's shoulders. "Try to be slow, ok sensei? I'm going back to sleep."

Takeru jumps up, mimicking Sekiro's movements before giving yet another perfect bow. "Thank you for the food! Takeru Tanaka will be on a mission now!"

"Team 12, let's go!" Hisako pumped her fist upwards, more than hyped to not only spend time with her team, but to be on yet another mission.