Oleander Hearts Bloom in Shadow

"Don't cry, Sasuke. Your big brother is here to protect you, no matter what happens."

--Itachi Uchiha

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"Have you gotten used to academy yet?"

Shino's dark sunglasses turned away from the ladybug he was studying on a nice green Angelica leaf.

But one look at nii-san's hopeful smile, and Shino's eyes darted back to the ladybug for a convincing enough cover from that dreaded question.

"If ladybugs had harder shells," Shino changed the subject. "Do you think they'd be invincible against the formic acid of ants?"

"Why do you ask?" Torune wondered.

Shino's dark brow tensed downward in deep concentration, as he calculated the ratio of weight distribution and balance between the ladybug's armor and her dancing legs.

"It's nothing," Shino answered. "Just an experiment of mine."

"Don't you mean evasion?" Torune pointed out lightheartedly. "Every time I ask you about academy, you ask me about ladybugs."

"Academy is what you'd expect," Shino answered vaguely. "But do you think a ladybug would take a stag beetle as her mate?"

"Come on, Shino. I'm sure you have more to say about it than that," Torune insisted lightly. "Have you made any friends in Academy yet?"

"Not yet. That's because my class is so rowdy," Shino replied, offering his finger to the ladybug so that her tiny black legs could rest against his fingertip. "I prefer playing with insects like this."

"That won't do, Shino," Torune sighed. "In time, you will go on missions. When you do, having friends and not having friends will make a huge difference."

Shino listened attentively to nii-san, but kept his silence.

His eyes focused on his new ladybug playmate, who winked her antennae at him in a friendly hello.

He liked how much he and the ladybug could say to each other without ever using words.

How easily things like trust and friendship grew between them, without Shino ever needing to "get it right" to impress anyone, or be called a "creep" for things he couldn't control.

The silent buzzing connection between he and the ladybug was a deeper, more satisfying bond that his other classmates couldn't begin to understand in Academy.

Because no one understood a bond more intimately than an insect user and his insects.

"It's not that I'm a loner or that I don't understand friendship," Shino told Torune. "Maybe it's just that I understand friendship too deeply. The reason is because once I make a friend, I will honor our bond until my death. It is unlikely that my academy classmates would do the same for me. Therefore, I'm sure a bond is not something I will ever share with anyone. Except my insects."

And then gently gliding his finger against the angelica leaves, Shino let the ladybug return to her home.

"Did you ever go to Academy, Torune?" Shino wondered the same about nii-san.

Because there was no way Torune could understand, if he hadn't.

If his brother knew what Academy was really like, would he insist on these artificial and meaningless attempts at comradeship?

"Well, I...I envy you, Shino."

"Why do you say that?"

"Sometimes, I wonder what being in the village is like," Torune said. "What it might've been like to have a normal life and friends like yours?"