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

9 : Quite the Eventful Day

After a long day of mishaps and embarrassment, Hisako could finally get out of the frilly and tight maid dress. It was definitely super cute, but the girl would rather go back to her much breezier shinobi clothes. The owner of the restaurant thanked them for their service, offering to give them one meal for free. Sekiro and Takeru were basically best buddies who spent the entirety of dusk eating away at the restaurant. Mikoto turned down the offer and went back home, and Hisako packed up her own food to bring back to Iruka.

The girl waved goodbye to her sensei and her friend before they went back to eating to their heart's content. She was surprised to see Kiba and Shino still standing outside the restaurant, so decided to approach them. Besides, she hasn't really thanked them for helping her out.

"Shino! Kiba-kun!" Hisako waved. "Is there anything you guys are waiting for? I didn't expect to see you two still here."

"Shino wanted to wait for you, or something along those lines." Kiba shrugged, looking to his friend. He was obviously still quite unsure with why Shino wanted to stay or what he wanted to do, but he decided to not question it.

"I just wanted to check twice and see if you were alright." Shino said, blunt as ever.

"Oh! I'm doing good, don't worry!" Hisako giggled. She was surprised to hear that Shino wanted to check on her, but after a wide range of events, it wasn't out of place to be very worried. "Actually, I'm happy you guys are here. I wanted to thank both of you for helping me earlier."

"Nah, don't worry about it Hisako. That guy was being a big creep and you couldn't do anything because it was your job." Kiba shrugged once more as Akamaru seemed to bark in agreement. "I was wondering if you three would wanna walk back home."

Hisako, Shino, and even Akamaru turned their heads. Hisako looked like she was about to accept the offer, but she stopped when Akamaru barked a couple of times and Kiba raised an eyebrow at him.

"Huh? What do you mean let them walk together?"

Hisako turned red. She didn't know why, but her face suddenly succumed to the embarrassment building up in her stomach. Kiba looked back and forth between Akamaru and his two friends before his mouth widened in surprise, finally understanding what his little friend was saying.

"Ohhh whoops! I forgot my mon needed...uh, something back at home!" Kiba said as his eyes avoided direct contact with the two. "Akamaru and I gotta head home, otherwise Mom might get mad, so..."

Kiba was gradually taking steps back as Hisako took a step forward, about to speak only to think about what she was going to say first. Shino might get the wrong idea if she shows that she didn't want to be alone with him, and it reminded her how personally he could take things just as he did earlier in the restaurant.

"Y-yeah! See you, Kiba-kun!" Hisako instead simply raised her arm to wave, her fingertips going cold as she got nervous. She never really understood why, but being next to Shino was always such a random array of emotions for her.

"So..."

Hisako said, fiddling with the cute cloth that held a packet of food together. She never found it that difficult to speak with Shino until now, and it didn't help how red and warm she was beginning to feel. It was as if her insides were churning in a way that was both annoying and satisfying.

"Shall we go to your house? Between us, you..." His voice trailed off a bit, not really knowing how she'd take her own blindness.

"Hey, it's not that bad! I can practically sense most stuff around me, but then again I need a little assistance making sure I enter the right house..."

She frowned, but not long after, the frown turned into a happy smile. Despite her doubts earlier, this couldn't be so bad, could it?

It didn't take long until the two were walking down the street. Shino had his hands in his pockets, and Hisako had basically been skipping righy beside him. The boy had to lightly nudge the girl everytime she might accidentally step on a rock or stone that may cause her to trip. She definitely needed to work on sensing details.

"So... Shino..."

Hisako mumbled, wanting to start a conversation with him, but not knowing how to do so.

"Ah! How's Kiba-kun doing on your team?"

She asked with a small smile. Shino slightly turned his head to the side to look at her before giving another short response.

"Well. He and Akamaru are practically inseperable, and they play a big role in tracking."

"I see..."

Hisako nodded, simply trailing off as she didn't know what else to say. Shino didn't seem like he spoke much, and that was starting to show a lot more right now. In the end, Hisako bore an expression more dazed than she usually looks. She wanted to get close to this bug guy, but didn't know how. She had tried conjuring up a plan in her head, but each plan crumbled down before she even actually spoke.

Shino stops walking and so does Hisako, and she smiles. She turns to him, facing just a little too south, but enough for him to see her grateful smile.

"Hisako, I have something to ask you about Kiba."

"Eh?"

She blinked, wondering what this could be about. She silently hoped Shino would ask to be friends, or maybe that he would ask to go somewhere with her sometime. She could only dream, though.

"Do you like him?"

There was a silence.

A bit more silence.

A little more, and...

"W-WHAAAAAAAAT?!"

Hisako had a shocked, annoyed, confused, disappointed expression. What the hell made Shino think she liked Kiba?

"Am I correct?" He asked. Despite his tone being monotonous, he appeared quite proud of his speculation. "I was able to guess Hinata's crush on Naruto, and I suppose I could guess yours on Kiba."

"H-hey, that's not even true! Kiba-kun and I are friends, what makes you think otherwise?!"

Shino adjusted his long coat, then shoving his hands back into his pockets.

"When we arrived in the cafe, you seemed embarrassed about it. Next, you asked me why I was there, so I take it you wanted to be alone with Kiba. Earlier when Kiba wanted to leave, I saw you take a step closer to him, as if you wanted him to stay."

Hisako sighed, but Shino continued on.

"Aside from that, you call him Kiba-kun instead of just 'Kiba', unlike what you do with me."

Hisako raised an eyebrow. His tone slightly changed, though she could not read what it was.

"Oh come on, Shino! I was just shocked most of the day. Besides, if it bothers you that much, I can call you Shino-kun too!"

Shino stayed silent. Perhaps he didn't want to admit to wanting to be called that, and so Hisako persisted on.

"Huh... It does have a nice ring to it. I'll call you Shino-kun from now on, okay?"

She waved, turning to the door of her home as Shino watched her. Hisako's cheeks turned a bit red, and they seemed to glow as the sun set further down the sky.

"You know, there's someone else I like, and it isn't Kiba."

From the outside, Shino was not at all expressive, but inside he had to admit he was a bit shocked. Hisako turned even redder, not knowing what the hell she just said. In embarrassment, she ran towards the door, but ended up crashing head-first against it.