A Bug's Life (A Shino Aburame Love Story and Naruto Shippuden Fanfiction) ON HOLD

Sunglasses

    Six ninjas sat around a small fire, looking startled when the two of us landed. A blonde headed boy, around my age, sat up, his eyes widening. “Shino? Are you okay?”

    Grumbling, I rolled off the squished guy, shakily getting to my feet. As I stretched, he stood, adjusting a small pair of black sunglasses that sat on his nose, the rest of his face hidden behind his collar and hood. I heard muffled patters as the rest of our squad landed behind me.

    Mr. Sunglasses shoved his hands in his big coat pockets, looking frazzled from my mini-attack. “I’m fine. I’m just wondering about her.” Then the guy had the audacity to point at me like he’d found out I had cancer. He looked afraid and actually kind of worried. I mean, as much as I could tell from his hidden features. The rest of his crew joined his expression, and a pink-haired girl even stood up and asked me if I needed help.

    “You look exhausted,” she said, coming to stand behind Mr. Sunglasses. “Do you need help?” Mentally rolling my eyes, I took a step forward. When my foot hit the ground, a sudden wave of nausea and fatigue washed over me. I found myself falling forward, regretting not listening to my comrades, and collapsed right into Sunglasses’ arms.

    “What the hay is happening?” I moaned, my eyes drooping. I felt a pair of strong arms begin to lift me up, and heard Konkuro say something about crashing, then everything sunk into black.

    As I slept, I felt as though I was in motion, like someone or something was moving me. This lulled me, but not for long. In a sudden jerking motion, I flicked open my eyes, taking in my surroundings.      Everything was moving quickly, as if I were somehow speeding through the trees. When I looked even closer, it came to my realization that little Sunglasses was carrying me. Through the trees. In his gosh darned arms.

    Screaming, I wriggled free, landing awkwardly on a branch. Taking a deep breath, I blushed apologetically as everyone else stopped. Riko, who was standing next to the pink-haired girl from the night before, put her hands on her dainty hips. “It seems someone finally woke up.”

    Fuming, I curled my hands into fists. “Why was he holding me? Why didn’t you wake me up?! Where the heck are we going in such a hurry?!”

    Rolling her eyes, my friend jumped on to my branch, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Calm down. I guess he felt bad about scarin’ ‘ya or something so he offered to carry ‘ya. As for not waking ‘ya up, ‘ya should be grateful those Leaf shinobi convinced us that’cha needed the rest. And ‘ya know where we’re going! We’re still on the mission, smart one.”

    I sighed, jumping to the next tree. “Don’t stop because I’m a hormonal girl. Keep going, people, keep going.” Nodding, everyone else set off, Jackie and a silver haired Leaf shinobi in the lead. As we leaped, I turned to the pink haired girl, who was bounding along next to me. “I’m guessing I missed the introductions, huh?”

    She smiled, looking forward. “Actually, no. Your friends insisted you wake up first. I guess I’ll start then.” She reached up, nudging her red Leaf headband. “I’m Sakura Haruno, member of Team Kakashi.”

    The silver haired man in the front glanced back at us, his face halfway hidden behind a black mask. “My name is Kakashi Hatake, leader of Team Kakashi. I’m also in charge of the entire Leaf squad.”

     Kokoko Sensei’s eyes became wide in admiration, and she blushed deeply. “You’re the Copy Cat Ninja, Kakashi of the Sharingan!”

    There was a collected ‘woah’ from our team.

    Giggling, the blonde boy raced up next to me, nearly knocking Sakura out of the way. This one was obviously just an idiot in orange; I could tell by the way he acted. Giving me a thumbs up, he smiled grandly. “Naruto Uzumaki, at your service!”

    I nearly fell out of the trees at that.

    “You’re Naruto Uzumaki?! The Naruto Uzumaki that defeated Pein and a billion other guys including Lord Gaara?!”

    “That’s me!”

    “Anyway!” shouted a guy shortly in front of me, who sat perched upon a sparkling white hound. (Which was pretty big…) “I’m Kiba Inuzuka, and this is my dog Akamaru. I’m a part of Team Kurenai, and my buddy here is my loyal ninja hound.”

    That was almost all of them, only two left. A shy-looking black-haired girl, with big, pupil-less, lavender eyes waved kindly at each member of our squad. “My name is Hinata Hyūga,” she managed in a whispering voice. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

    As we all returned her greeting, a silence settled. The last of them seemed to be a little hushed. Kiba, however, wished to break that. “The guy that you crashed into is-“

    “Let him introduce himself,” I burst, glaring at Dog Boy. Sunglasses seemed to focus for a bit, then sighed.

    “My name is Shino Aburame of Team Kurenai.”

    This time I did fall.

    Crashing through the thick branches of the tree I’d been in and flailing through several bushes on my way down, I landed right on my butt in the middle of a dirt clearing. “Ow.” Getting up, I patted soil off my backside, groaning and stretching. There were some sighs from above me, and when I climbed back up, everyone seemed to be giving me a dirty look.

    Kiba adjusted himself on Akamaru’s back, smiling. “Hey Naruto, this girl acts a lot like you, huh? Klutzy and loud.”

    I felt my face get hot, and grabbed onto Shino’s sleeve, pulling him toward me roughly. “You wanna know why I fell, huh, puppy boy?!” I yapped, fighting the urge to feed him to my kitten, Mittens. It would be the most horrifying of ends. “I fell because I was in shock that I was in the presence of someone from the Aburame clan. The freaking Aburame clan!”

    Shino seemed confused, and took a cautious step away from the fuzzy-haired lunatic girl from the Hidden Sand. That’s me, if you were confused. Kiba had the same reaction, but Hinata seemed kind enough.

    Letting out a shy giggle, she covered her smiling mouth with a too-long purple sweatshirt sleeve. “I believe the clan is remarkable as well, Hotaru, is it? But what about it would stun you enough to take such a fall?”

    We began to jump through the trees again, and I smiled widely. “I’ve always wanted to be an Aburame. Why? You have the ability to control bugs. They live inside you and everything! Ever since I was a kid I’ve had thousands of pet insects of all sorts, but my cat Mittens ate a bunch, so before they all were gone I set them loose. To be honest, I highly respect the Aburame for their abilities with bugs.”

    A quiet settled, and we found ourselves rocketing on, all lost in thought. It looked about noon already, and the sun stained the sky with orange and yellow, clouds brimming with gold. I sighed, watching the fleeing scenery to my left and right.

    It seemed things were going to go a little differently than I thought.