Eric Holdt
30th June 2006, 06:23 AM
Dragonboy: We've had several people so far tell us that they haven't read
our Shino/Temari fic that preceeded the Shikamaru/Hinata fic that we sent
last night, which isn't so surprising since it was sent out about five
months ago when the ML was rather vacant. So rather than sending it out
individually to anyone who asks for it, we'll just repost it to the ML
again. Hope no one who's read it before minds too terribly.
Dragon-Stiel Inc. Presents:
Sand Beetles
A Naruto one-shot
Standard Disclaimer: All Naruto characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto-sama
and are in no way being used for profit or with permission. Please enjoy.
Author's Note: This story takes place during the three years that Naruto is
off training.
In the village of Konoha, Temari, sibling of the newly appointed Kazekage
and well established badass kunoichi of the Sand, was plotting dastardly
plots of evil, painful vengeance against a certain super-genius.
"Lazy-ass bum!" she muttered as she slammed her fist repeatedly against the
trunk of the tree that she was currently leaning on. "'I'll meet you here
at noon for lunch' he says. What a crock of crap! For his sake, he'd
better not show up at all, or I swear he'll be on the wrong end of my fan!"
She grimaced while taking a few practice swings with said fan. "They think
Gaara's vicious, well they haven't seen anything until-"
"Excuse me," a low-pitched voice called out. "Could you please take your
senseless ramblings elsewhere?"
The Sand ninja looked around in wonder, then looked up; finally spotting the
source of the voice.
Lying on a branch only a few meters above her was an unrecognizable figure.
The voice had obviously been male, but with the high coat collar, dark
sunglasses, and long hood covering all distinguishable aspects of his face,
Temari failed to recognize him.
Already in a foul mood by having to wait on Shikamaru, she was none too
happy to know that someone had been eavesdropping on her. To make matters
worse, she's been so irritated that she hadn't even noticed him.
"How long have you been up there?" she demanded.
"...Since before you arrived," he answered after a long pause.
"And you've just been spying on me this whole time?"
The boy detected a rising anger in the woman's voice. "Well...while I admit
that I tried my best to ignore you by sleeping, you were making it rather
difficult."
She sneered up at the boy and placed her hands on her hips in a defiant
pose. "Well, excuse me! How inconsiderate of me to disturb your rest like
that, sir!"
"Apology accepted. Please go away now."
Now if there was one thing that could be said for certain about Aburame
Shino, it was that he really enjoyed his solitude. He shied away from large
gatherings when at all possible, and even kept to himself within his own
ninja squad. Hinata he could handle, and Kurenai-sensei was no big problem
either, for that matter. But Kiba...well, Kiba was about a hundred times
too loud, out-going and obnoxious for the beetle master's liking.
And now, the one day in a long time where he'd had no team practices or
missions to worry about, his brief moments of silence and solitude were
being taken from him by this annoyingly loud woman.
"Look here, punk," Temari shouted. "Don't give me that holier-than-thou
attitude. I was asked to meet someone here and I'm not leaving until he
shows up! So what's stopping you from going somewhere else, huh?"
Shino stared down at her with great disinterest. Or it could have been
irritation. Hell, he could have been smiling cheerfully and no one would
have been the wiser. "Well, in all fairness...I was here first."
Temari snorted. "You're just looking for a beat down now, aren't you, tough
guy?"
"I'd have thought that I'd made it clear by asking you to leave that I
wanted nothing of the sort from you. I can't very well enjoy my day off
with a loudmouth girl like you around, so either leave now...or force my
hand and see what happens."
"I dare you to climb out of that tree and say that again!" Temari demanded.
"Now you're the one who's looking for a 'beat down'," Shino informed her.
The two glared at each other for several moments before Temari gave a
frustrated huff and turned away. "Whatever. As soon as Shikamaru shows up,
you and I won't ever have to-"
"Shikamaru and the rest of his team left on a mission this morning."
Temari's body seemed to lock up as she slowly turned back toward Shino.
'Wow, that's a new look,' Shino thought to himself after seeing the 'look'
that Temari was now giving him. He'd never actually had one quite like that
directed toward him before, but every male fiber in his body told him that
he should be thanking his personal guardian angels that he was out of the
kunoichi's fan range.
"He's...what?"
Had Shino not been the overly cool and collected guy that he was, he would
have gulped. "Like I said; Tsunade-sama sent them on a mission. They've
been gone for hours."
In one swift motion, Temari grabbed her giant fan and struck the trunk of
the tree with it. Not enough to topple it, but enough to knock Shino from
his perch and send him unceremoniously to the ground. Before the startled
boy even had a chance to recover, he felt himself roughly raised to his feet
by his collar. The next thing he knew, he was face-to-face with a very
pissed off Temari.
"Why the HELL didn't you tell me that thirty minutes ago, damnit!?"
Shino slowly readjusted his glasses and brushed the front of his coat off.
"And how were you expecting me to know that the sole reason for your being
here was to meet with Nara Shikamaru?"
"You could have asked! I've been standing here for almost an hour!"
"My apologies. Had I known that simply telling you would have gotten you to
leave sooner, I most certainly would have," he assured her. "But now that
you know, I can safely assume that you will be leaving, correct?"
Temari did indeed turn to leave. Unfortunately, she didn't release her hold
on Shino's coat collar, choosing instead to drag the startled boy along
behind her.
"...Excuse me?"
"Quiet!" she shouted without looking back at him. "I was promised a free
lunch today and I'll be damned if I'm gonna miss out on it because of you!"
Shino's eyebrow rose above his shades. "Your logic baffles me."
"Don't be dumb! You owe me for wasting so much of my time and you're gonna
pay up, pal!"
Shino slowly scratched the side of his head. "But I don't-"
"I SAID BE QUIET!"
And Shino was quiet. He was quiet the entire time he was being dragged from
the forest into the village, and while he was being dragged down the busy
streets while ignoring the stares of everyone else. In fact, the only words
he spoke the whole way was when he was dragged past Kiba and Hinata who were
passing by the diner that Temari had apparently picked out for herself.
"A-are you okay, Shino-kun?" Hinata asked.
"What the heck are you doing, man?" Kiba called after him.
"Call the police," was all that he had time to say before disappearing
inside the diner. His two teammates stared after him in silence.
"Um...w-what do we do, Kiba-kun?" Hinata asked.
Kiba grabbed her hand and started running down the street as fast as he
could. "We go find a camera! This has to be good!"
Back in the diner, Temari found an empty booth and flung Shino into the
seat, seating herself on the opposite side. Shino looked ready to make an
escape, but a death glare from the Sand kunoichi made him change his mind.
A waitress showed up a moment later, smiling warmly at them. "Good
afternoon, Shino-kun," she greeted. "Out on a date?"
Shino casually pushed his sunglasses up by their bridge before muttering,
"How insulting."
Temari scowled at him. "And you're really something to be proud of, right?"
"Let's not forget who forced who to come here," he reminded her.
The waitress looked back and forth between the two, not completely sure what
to make of them. "Well anyway, what can I get you two?"
Temari grinned wickedly. "Bring me the most expensive thing on your menu,
along with the most expensive beverage. And be ready with the dessert menu,
too. I feel like treating myself," she said, smirking at Shino after
hearing a small snort escape him.
"And what will you have, Shino-kun?" she asked after writing down Temari's
order.
Shino remained silent for a while as he buried his hands back into his
pockets. "Tea," he finally said.
The waitress walked away, leaving the two together in a long, almost painful
silence. Temari stared at Shino while he stared off elsewhere; it was hard
to tell where due to his glasses. But as she watched him, something about
his name triggered something in her head.
"Wait a minute," she said. "You're that bug guy who beat my brother during
the Chunin exams."
"Indeed," he answered without looking at her.
"He told me you only won because you attacked him from behind."
"Your brother is a sore loser."
Temari sniffed, but didn't reply.
Another silence ensued.
"What's your deal, anyway?" Temari asked about five minutes later.
Shino finally turned back to her. "Elaborate."
She gestured towards his coat, hood and glasses. "I mean, what's with the
getup? You look like some sort of vampire trying to hide from the sun." A
wicked smirk appeared on her face. "Or are you just really ugly under
there?"
Shino adjusted his glasses once again. "You're hardly one to be commenting
on other people's clothing."
Temari's smirk instantly turned into a snarl. "And just what is that
supposed to mean?"
Shino shrugged. "Nothing. I was just always under the impression that
women wore clothes that accentuated their feminine figures, whereas yours
tend to give you the look of a tree trunk."
Temari's fan was out and ready to strike just as the waitress returned with
their meals, and after a few seconds of deliberation, she sat back down and
quickly dug into her meal, which consisted of soup, ikayaki, steamed
dumplings, and a large bowl of beef, rice, and vegetables, while Shino
looked on, undid his collar, and began sipping his tea slowly.
"One would think that you hadn't eaten in days," he commented.
She swallowed and stuck her tongue out at him. "What can I say? Food
tastes so much better when it's free." She continued to glower at him as
she raised her spoon up to her mouth.
"STOP!" Shino commanded.
Temari froze, mainly because that was the loudest Shino had been since she
met him. "What? What's wrong?" she asked in concern.
Shino reached over and very carefully plucked a small black object from her
spoon. "You almost ate this poor thing," he informed her.
Temari's face turned green in disgust at the sight of the beetle in the
boy's hand, but it quickly turned red with rage. "You put that thing in my
soup, you sick freak!"
"Don't be insane," Shino said while stroking the beetle with his index
finger. "Sacrificing a defenseless insect on you wouldn't be worth it, no
matter how satisfying your reaction might have been."
Temari was fuming at this point. "You are purposely trying to ruin my day!"
Shino tucked the insect away. Now that his collar was open, Temari was
finally able to see the near-emotionless expression on his face that matched
the normal tone in his voice, although she was positive that she could see
the outlines of a smirk forming on his lips.
"Not intentionally, no. Although, seeing as how you've managed to ruin my
day, it would only be fair that I returned the favor." And with that, he
calmly went back to sipping his tea.
Still seething, the kunoichi grudgingly pushed the bowl of soup to the side
and continued eating the rest of her feast.
The two teens continued eating in silence until Temari's enormous meal,
dessert included, was finished, at which point the waitress returned with
their bill.
"Alright kids, that'll come to 4,850 yen all together."
Temari gave Shino the smuggest look she could muster. "Well, what are you
waiting for, bug-boy? Pay her."
Shino rolled his eyes, which of course, went unseen, then withdrew his hand
from his pocket and dropped two small coins into the waitress's hand. The
two women stared at the solitary 50 and 100 yen piece.
"Well uh...that takes care of the tea, but you still owe the 4,700 for the
lady's meal."
Temari shot another glare at the beetle master. "Don't even think about
trying to back out of this at the last second!" She again unsheathed her
fan and held it centimeters from his nose. "Now quit fooling around and pay
her!"
"I can't."
"AND WHY NOT?!"
"I'm broke," he said bluntly. "If you had taken the time to listen to me
earlier, you would ha-aACK!"
Temari looked positively sinister as she lifted Shino off the ground by the
neck. "You little bastard! I don't have any money either!"
The waitress glanced back and forth between the two, looking very confused.
"So you can't pay?"
Temari dropped the struggling boy and turned to the waitress with a sheepish
grin. "Well uh..."
-=-=-=-=-
"I...hate you...so much that I can't even put it into words!" Temari seethed
as she stacked another dish on top of the growing pile beside her.
Shino snorted as he passed her another clean dish to dry. "Believe it or
not, I'm not particularly fond of you right now, either."
The two were now, as one would expect, in the kitchen of the restaurant,
working to pay off the money that they didn't have. Not surprisingly,
neither was in a good mood, and every other worker was taking extra care to
stay on the other end of the kitchen from them.
"This is all your fault!" Temari growled.
"I think not! If you had just listened to me before-"
"Well if you would have told me that Shikamaru wasn't here-"
"How was I supposed to know you were-?"
"You were only spying on me the entire time!"
"I was TRYING to sleep, you loudmouthed psychopath!"
"OH, a psychopath, am I?!"
"Yeah!"
"OH YEAH!"
"YEAH!"
And suddenly...
"..."
"..."
"You...you kissed me," Temari said in shock.
Shino slowly reached up and touched his lips. "N-nonsense. If anything,
you're the one who kissed ME."
They were silent for what seemed like forever before the shock wore off and
Temari smirked. "Just couldn't help yourself, huh? And after all that crap
about me not being feminine enough."
"I did no such thing," Shino mutter indignantly. "I am, however, rather
surprised at your insuppressible attraction for supposed 'ugly' people."
"You ARE ugly!"
"And yet you kissed me."
"YOU kissed ME!"
"Um, guys?"
"WHAT?" they shouted at the trembling waitress.
"Could you please uh...take this outside? The dishes are fine, but you're
starting to scare our customers."
"Gladly!" Temari snarled. She grabbed Shino by the back of his coat and
began dragging him along out the door.
The other workers breathed a small sigh once the door closed behind the two.
"I don't remember that Aburame boy being quite so hostile before," one of
them mentioned.
"Yeah, I guess love'll do that to you," another commented.
"Love?" a third asked. "Are you kidding?"
"Well, they kissed, didn't they?"
-=-=-=-=-
Once they were back onto the street, Temari flung Shino away and unsheathed
her fan. "All right, beetle-boy. You and me, right here, right now!"
Shino picked himself up and gave Temari what was probably a glare. "Can't
you just go away and let me try to enjoy what's left of my day?"
"After the hell you've put me through today? Fat chance, pal! I'm giving
you that beat down that I promised before!"
Before Shino could respond, the Sand kunoichi swung her fan in a wide arch,
sending a powerful whirlwind in his direction. Rather than trying to avoid
it, Shino just stood there as a multitude of black insects began pouring
from his body. They began attaching themselves to each other, forming
crude-looking ropes from their master's hands and feet and anchoring him to
the ground.
When the wind hit, Shino remained where he was standing, but his tall coat
collar was blown open, his hood blown back, and his glasses blown clean off
his face.
The winds died down and the bugs began retreating into the hidden confines
of Shino's body. Seeing an opportunity, Temari wound back and swung again,
only this time, there was no whirlwind to follow it. Confused, she glanced
at her fan and nearly freaked when she saw it was covered with hundreds of
Shino's black insects.
She furiously flung the weapon away and stormed up to the now visibly
smirking Shino, noting for the first time his spiky, light-brown hair and
equally light-brown eye. They glared at one another for a few moments in
silence.
"You find me that interesting?" Shino asked, finally breaking the silence.
Temari smirked. "Just noticing how right I was about you hiding your face
in shame, is all."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, it is!"
"Oh yeah?"
"YEAH!"
And for the second time that day...
"..."
"..."
They began attracting a crowd at this point. Neither seemed to notice.
"..."
"..."
"Your kissing ability is atrocious," Shino commented after coming up for
air.
"You're one to talk, beetle-breath," Temari retorted before pulling his face
back toward hers.
-=-=-=-=-
On a rooftop, a faint clicking and whirling sound could barely be heard.
"Oh man, this is even better than I thought it would be," Kiba laughed as he
pressed the camera shutter as fast as possible.
Hinata stared down at her stoic teammate and friend, who had yet to break
off the lip-lock with the Sand ninja. She smiled happily that her teammate
had apparently found himself a girlfriend, then gave a small disapproving
look at her other teammate.
"Kiba-kun, you really shouldn't be doing that."
Kiba's grin just grew wider. "Yeah, I know, but it'll be funny as hell when
we show 'em to Shino later!"
-=-=-=-=-
The next day...
"You need to learn to curb your temper," Shino stated.
Temari stuck her tongue out at him. "Hey, that jerk thought he could get
away with taking those pictures of me, so I taught him a lesson."
"I believe the 'lesson' was learned after the first seventeen hits. You
realize that him being in the hospital is going to be bad for my team if
we're assigned a mission any time soon."
"Look bug-brain, don't go telling me how to take care of my problems. The
methods that I use work just fine!"
"Of course. I wish I could solve all of MY problems by beating them until
they were crippled, too."
Temari stepped in front of him, barring his path. "Just what are you
getting at, huh?"
Shino pulled down his glasses enough that they could look each other in the
eyes. "That your a short-tempered lunatic who should seriously consider
counseling."
"Oh yeah?"
"...Yeah."
And...I think we all know where this led.
End
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our Shino/Temari fic that preceeded the Shikamaru/Hinata fic that we sent
last night, which isn't so surprising since it was sent out about five
months ago when the ML was rather vacant. So rather than sending it out
individually to anyone who asks for it, we'll just repost it to the ML
again. Hope no one who's read it before minds too terribly.
Dragon-Stiel Inc. Presents:
Sand Beetles
A Naruto one-shot
Standard Disclaimer: All Naruto characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto-sama
and are in no way being used for profit or with permission. Please enjoy.
Author's Note: This story takes place during the three years that Naruto is
off training.
In the village of Konoha, Temari, sibling of the newly appointed Kazekage
and well established badass kunoichi of the Sand, was plotting dastardly
plots of evil, painful vengeance against a certain super-genius.
"Lazy-ass bum!" she muttered as she slammed her fist repeatedly against the
trunk of the tree that she was currently leaning on. "'I'll meet you here
at noon for lunch' he says. What a crock of crap! For his sake, he'd
better not show up at all, or I swear he'll be on the wrong end of my fan!"
She grimaced while taking a few practice swings with said fan. "They think
Gaara's vicious, well they haven't seen anything until-"
"Excuse me," a low-pitched voice called out. "Could you please take your
senseless ramblings elsewhere?"
The Sand ninja looked around in wonder, then looked up; finally spotting the
source of the voice.
Lying on a branch only a few meters above her was an unrecognizable figure.
The voice had obviously been male, but with the high coat collar, dark
sunglasses, and long hood covering all distinguishable aspects of his face,
Temari failed to recognize him.
Already in a foul mood by having to wait on Shikamaru, she was none too
happy to know that someone had been eavesdropping on her. To make matters
worse, she's been so irritated that she hadn't even noticed him.
"How long have you been up there?" she demanded.
"...Since before you arrived," he answered after a long pause.
"And you've just been spying on me this whole time?"
The boy detected a rising anger in the woman's voice. "Well...while I admit
that I tried my best to ignore you by sleeping, you were making it rather
difficult."
She sneered up at the boy and placed her hands on her hips in a defiant
pose. "Well, excuse me! How inconsiderate of me to disturb your rest like
that, sir!"
"Apology accepted. Please go away now."
Now if there was one thing that could be said for certain about Aburame
Shino, it was that he really enjoyed his solitude. He shied away from large
gatherings when at all possible, and even kept to himself within his own
ninja squad. Hinata he could handle, and Kurenai-sensei was no big problem
either, for that matter. But Kiba...well, Kiba was about a hundred times
too loud, out-going and obnoxious for the beetle master's liking.
And now, the one day in a long time where he'd had no team practices or
missions to worry about, his brief moments of silence and solitude were
being taken from him by this annoyingly loud woman.
"Look here, punk," Temari shouted. "Don't give me that holier-than-thou
attitude. I was asked to meet someone here and I'm not leaving until he
shows up! So what's stopping you from going somewhere else, huh?"
Shino stared down at her with great disinterest. Or it could have been
irritation. Hell, he could have been smiling cheerfully and no one would
have been the wiser. "Well, in all fairness...I was here first."
Temari snorted. "You're just looking for a beat down now, aren't you, tough
guy?"
"I'd have thought that I'd made it clear by asking you to leave that I
wanted nothing of the sort from you. I can't very well enjoy my day off
with a loudmouth girl like you around, so either leave now...or force my
hand and see what happens."
"I dare you to climb out of that tree and say that again!" Temari demanded.
"Now you're the one who's looking for a 'beat down'," Shino informed her.
The two glared at each other for several moments before Temari gave a
frustrated huff and turned away. "Whatever. As soon as Shikamaru shows up,
you and I won't ever have to-"
"Shikamaru and the rest of his team left on a mission this morning."
Temari's body seemed to lock up as she slowly turned back toward Shino.
'Wow, that's a new look,' Shino thought to himself after seeing the 'look'
that Temari was now giving him. He'd never actually had one quite like that
directed toward him before, but every male fiber in his body told him that
he should be thanking his personal guardian angels that he was out of the
kunoichi's fan range.
"He's...what?"
Had Shino not been the overly cool and collected guy that he was, he would
have gulped. "Like I said; Tsunade-sama sent them on a mission. They've
been gone for hours."
In one swift motion, Temari grabbed her giant fan and struck the trunk of
the tree with it. Not enough to topple it, but enough to knock Shino from
his perch and send him unceremoniously to the ground. Before the startled
boy even had a chance to recover, he felt himself roughly raised to his feet
by his collar. The next thing he knew, he was face-to-face with a very
pissed off Temari.
"Why the HELL didn't you tell me that thirty minutes ago, damnit!?"
Shino slowly readjusted his glasses and brushed the front of his coat off.
"And how were you expecting me to know that the sole reason for your being
here was to meet with Nara Shikamaru?"
"You could have asked! I've been standing here for almost an hour!"
"My apologies. Had I known that simply telling you would have gotten you to
leave sooner, I most certainly would have," he assured her. "But now that
you know, I can safely assume that you will be leaving, correct?"
Temari did indeed turn to leave. Unfortunately, she didn't release her hold
on Shino's coat collar, choosing instead to drag the startled boy along
behind her.
"...Excuse me?"
"Quiet!" she shouted without looking back at him. "I was promised a free
lunch today and I'll be damned if I'm gonna miss out on it because of you!"
Shino's eyebrow rose above his shades. "Your logic baffles me."
"Don't be dumb! You owe me for wasting so much of my time and you're gonna
pay up, pal!"
Shino slowly scratched the side of his head. "But I don't-"
"I SAID BE QUIET!"
And Shino was quiet. He was quiet the entire time he was being dragged from
the forest into the village, and while he was being dragged down the busy
streets while ignoring the stares of everyone else. In fact, the only words
he spoke the whole way was when he was dragged past Kiba and Hinata who were
passing by the diner that Temari had apparently picked out for herself.
"A-are you okay, Shino-kun?" Hinata asked.
"What the heck are you doing, man?" Kiba called after him.
"Call the police," was all that he had time to say before disappearing
inside the diner. His two teammates stared after him in silence.
"Um...w-what do we do, Kiba-kun?" Hinata asked.
Kiba grabbed her hand and started running down the street as fast as he
could. "We go find a camera! This has to be good!"
Back in the diner, Temari found an empty booth and flung Shino into the
seat, seating herself on the opposite side. Shino looked ready to make an
escape, but a death glare from the Sand kunoichi made him change his mind.
A waitress showed up a moment later, smiling warmly at them. "Good
afternoon, Shino-kun," she greeted. "Out on a date?"
Shino casually pushed his sunglasses up by their bridge before muttering,
"How insulting."
Temari scowled at him. "And you're really something to be proud of, right?"
"Let's not forget who forced who to come here," he reminded her.
The waitress looked back and forth between the two, not completely sure what
to make of them. "Well anyway, what can I get you two?"
Temari grinned wickedly. "Bring me the most expensive thing on your menu,
along with the most expensive beverage. And be ready with the dessert menu,
too. I feel like treating myself," she said, smirking at Shino after
hearing a small snort escape him.
"And what will you have, Shino-kun?" she asked after writing down Temari's
order.
Shino remained silent for a while as he buried his hands back into his
pockets. "Tea," he finally said.
The waitress walked away, leaving the two together in a long, almost painful
silence. Temari stared at Shino while he stared off elsewhere; it was hard
to tell where due to his glasses. But as she watched him, something about
his name triggered something in her head.
"Wait a minute," she said. "You're that bug guy who beat my brother during
the Chunin exams."
"Indeed," he answered without looking at her.
"He told me you only won because you attacked him from behind."
"Your brother is a sore loser."
Temari sniffed, but didn't reply.
Another silence ensued.
"What's your deal, anyway?" Temari asked about five minutes later.
Shino finally turned back to her. "Elaborate."
She gestured towards his coat, hood and glasses. "I mean, what's with the
getup? You look like some sort of vampire trying to hide from the sun." A
wicked smirk appeared on her face. "Or are you just really ugly under
there?"
Shino adjusted his glasses once again. "You're hardly one to be commenting
on other people's clothing."
Temari's smirk instantly turned into a snarl. "And just what is that
supposed to mean?"
Shino shrugged. "Nothing. I was just always under the impression that
women wore clothes that accentuated their feminine figures, whereas yours
tend to give you the look of a tree trunk."
Temari's fan was out and ready to strike just as the waitress returned with
their meals, and after a few seconds of deliberation, she sat back down and
quickly dug into her meal, which consisted of soup, ikayaki, steamed
dumplings, and a large bowl of beef, rice, and vegetables, while Shino
looked on, undid his collar, and began sipping his tea slowly.
"One would think that you hadn't eaten in days," he commented.
She swallowed and stuck her tongue out at him. "What can I say? Food
tastes so much better when it's free." She continued to glower at him as
she raised her spoon up to her mouth.
"STOP!" Shino commanded.
Temari froze, mainly because that was the loudest Shino had been since she
met him. "What? What's wrong?" she asked in concern.
Shino reached over and very carefully plucked a small black object from her
spoon. "You almost ate this poor thing," he informed her.
Temari's face turned green in disgust at the sight of the beetle in the
boy's hand, but it quickly turned red with rage. "You put that thing in my
soup, you sick freak!"
"Don't be insane," Shino said while stroking the beetle with his index
finger. "Sacrificing a defenseless insect on you wouldn't be worth it, no
matter how satisfying your reaction might have been."
Temari was fuming at this point. "You are purposely trying to ruin my day!"
Shino tucked the insect away. Now that his collar was open, Temari was
finally able to see the near-emotionless expression on his face that matched
the normal tone in his voice, although she was positive that she could see
the outlines of a smirk forming on his lips.
"Not intentionally, no. Although, seeing as how you've managed to ruin my
day, it would only be fair that I returned the favor." And with that, he
calmly went back to sipping his tea.
Still seething, the kunoichi grudgingly pushed the bowl of soup to the side
and continued eating the rest of her feast.
The two teens continued eating in silence until Temari's enormous meal,
dessert included, was finished, at which point the waitress returned with
their bill.
"Alright kids, that'll come to 4,850 yen all together."
Temari gave Shino the smuggest look she could muster. "Well, what are you
waiting for, bug-boy? Pay her."
Shino rolled his eyes, which of course, went unseen, then withdrew his hand
from his pocket and dropped two small coins into the waitress's hand. The
two women stared at the solitary 50 and 100 yen piece.
"Well uh...that takes care of the tea, but you still owe the 4,700 for the
lady's meal."
Temari shot another glare at the beetle master. "Don't even think about
trying to back out of this at the last second!" She again unsheathed her
fan and held it centimeters from his nose. "Now quit fooling around and pay
her!"
"I can't."
"AND WHY NOT?!"
"I'm broke," he said bluntly. "If you had taken the time to listen to me
earlier, you would ha-aACK!"
Temari looked positively sinister as she lifted Shino off the ground by the
neck. "You little bastard! I don't have any money either!"
The waitress glanced back and forth between the two, looking very confused.
"So you can't pay?"
Temari dropped the struggling boy and turned to the waitress with a sheepish
grin. "Well uh..."
-=-=-=-=-
"I...hate you...so much that I can't even put it into words!" Temari seethed
as she stacked another dish on top of the growing pile beside her.
Shino snorted as he passed her another clean dish to dry. "Believe it or
not, I'm not particularly fond of you right now, either."
The two were now, as one would expect, in the kitchen of the restaurant,
working to pay off the money that they didn't have. Not surprisingly,
neither was in a good mood, and every other worker was taking extra care to
stay on the other end of the kitchen from them.
"This is all your fault!" Temari growled.
"I think not! If you had just listened to me before-"
"Well if you would have told me that Shikamaru wasn't here-"
"How was I supposed to know you were-?"
"You were only spying on me the entire time!"
"I was TRYING to sleep, you loudmouthed psychopath!"
"OH, a psychopath, am I?!"
"Yeah!"
"OH YEAH!"
"YEAH!"
And suddenly...
"..."
"..."
"You...you kissed me," Temari said in shock.
Shino slowly reached up and touched his lips. "N-nonsense. If anything,
you're the one who kissed ME."
They were silent for what seemed like forever before the shock wore off and
Temari smirked. "Just couldn't help yourself, huh? And after all that crap
about me not being feminine enough."
"I did no such thing," Shino mutter indignantly. "I am, however, rather
surprised at your insuppressible attraction for supposed 'ugly' people."
"You ARE ugly!"
"And yet you kissed me."
"YOU kissed ME!"
"Um, guys?"
"WHAT?" they shouted at the trembling waitress.
"Could you please uh...take this outside? The dishes are fine, but you're
starting to scare our customers."
"Gladly!" Temari snarled. She grabbed Shino by the back of his coat and
began dragging him along out the door.
The other workers breathed a small sigh once the door closed behind the two.
"I don't remember that Aburame boy being quite so hostile before," one of
them mentioned.
"Yeah, I guess love'll do that to you," another commented.
"Love?" a third asked. "Are you kidding?"
"Well, they kissed, didn't they?"
-=-=-=-=-
Once they were back onto the street, Temari flung Shino away and unsheathed
her fan. "All right, beetle-boy. You and me, right here, right now!"
Shino picked himself up and gave Temari what was probably a glare. "Can't
you just go away and let me try to enjoy what's left of my day?"
"After the hell you've put me through today? Fat chance, pal! I'm giving
you that beat down that I promised before!"
Before Shino could respond, the Sand kunoichi swung her fan in a wide arch,
sending a powerful whirlwind in his direction. Rather than trying to avoid
it, Shino just stood there as a multitude of black insects began pouring
from his body. They began attaching themselves to each other, forming
crude-looking ropes from their master's hands and feet and anchoring him to
the ground.
When the wind hit, Shino remained where he was standing, but his tall coat
collar was blown open, his hood blown back, and his glasses blown clean off
his face.
The winds died down and the bugs began retreating into the hidden confines
of Shino's body. Seeing an opportunity, Temari wound back and swung again,
only this time, there was no whirlwind to follow it. Confused, she glanced
at her fan and nearly freaked when she saw it was covered with hundreds of
Shino's black insects.
She furiously flung the weapon away and stormed up to the now visibly
smirking Shino, noting for the first time his spiky, light-brown hair and
equally light-brown eye. They glared at one another for a few moments in
silence.
"You find me that interesting?" Shino asked, finally breaking the silence.
Temari smirked. "Just noticing how right I was about you hiding your face
in shame, is all."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, it is!"
"Oh yeah?"
"YEAH!"
And for the second time that day...
"..."
"..."
They began attracting a crowd at this point. Neither seemed to notice.
"..."
"..."
"Your kissing ability is atrocious," Shino commented after coming up for
air.
"You're one to talk, beetle-breath," Temari retorted before pulling his face
back toward hers.
-=-=-=-=-
On a rooftop, a faint clicking and whirling sound could barely be heard.
"Oh man, this is even better than I thought it would be," Kiba laughed as he
pressed the camera shutter as fast as possible.
Hinata stared down at her stoic teammate and friend, who had yet to break
off the lip-lock with the Sand ninja. She smiled happily that her teammate
had apparently found himself a girlfriend, then gave a small disapproving
look at her other teammate.
"Kiba-kun, you really shouldn't be doing that."
Kiba's grin just grew wider. "Yeah, I know, but it'll be funny as hell when
we show 'em to Shino later!"
-=-=-=-=-
The next day...
"You need to learn to curb your temper," Shino stated.
Temari stuck her tongue out at him. "Hey, that jerk thought he could get
away with taking those pictures of me, so I taught him a lesson."
"I believe the 'lesson' was learned after the first seventeen hits. You
realize that him being in the hospital is going to be bad for my team if
we're assigned a mission any time soon."
"Look bug-brain, don't go telling me how to take care of my problems. The
methods that I use work just fine!"
"Of course. I wish I could solve all of MY problems by beating them until
they were crippled, too."
Temari stepped in front of him, barring his path. "Just what are you
getting at, huh?"
Shino pulled down his glasses enough that they could look each other in the
eyes. "That your a short-tempered lunatic who should seriously consider
counseling."
"Oh yeah?"
"...Yeah."
And...I think we all know where this led.
End
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