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Chapter Text

Tenten watched Neji's nostrils widen with the deep inhale he took to try and remain level-headed. A stranger might have thought he didn't care about the other boy he was doing his best not to yell at if it weren't for the fact he was mid-way rewrapping a bandage around his arm. Lee looked only slightly ashamed at holding up their journey home after their mission by running down a nearly vertical hill too fast. If the tea shop hadn't been built right at the bottom, Tenten didn't know how long he might have kept rolling.

“Lee, I hope you'll remember this the next time you feel like running off.”

“But it was good training!” Despite being bandaged from head to foot, he gave Neji a giant pleased-with-himself grin, all shame gone in a flash, “Running down the hill at the slope it was-!”

“A brilliant way to injure yourself, yes,” The tiny yelp Lee let out when Neji, not so subtly, yanked the bandage tight on his next loop over his arm, making Tenten snort, “Now sit still. I'm not going to tie this again.”

Tenten silently laughed at her two best friends and the funny scene they made. She had witnessed this argument too many times to need to stick around and find out how it ended, mainly because Neji had already informed the owner of the shop that once Lee was patched up, he would fix the damage to the side, the distinctly Lee shaped hole in the side of the wooden wall he had created, so she decided to entertain herself with the other shops and cafes on the road they had been forced to make an abrupt stop at.

It was the usual stores that clustered together on the roads well trekked. A sweet shop, a few cafes, a general store for supplies most travellers would need, to be combined with a small self-defence weapons shop that Tenten already knew wouldn't have anything she hadn't seen before. She was about to confirm her idea when an older woman sitting cross-legged in front of a laid-out blue mat, swaddled in multiple shawls of just as many colours that were all in need of repair, caught just the corner of her eyes.

When Tenten tried to lean back enough to see her again, already halfway in the door to see if they had any kunai polish she could buy for cheap, the loss of balance made her quickly jump down the step and back onto the path to stop herself falling over if she hadn't been caught trying to take a peak before she certainly had then.

The older woman smiled at her, her greying hair falling around her face when she told Tenten to come closer with a summoning of her hand. Too late to try and pretend she hadn't seen her Tenten's hands found her hips, and her lips pulled into an awkward smile as her feet took her over to the makeshift setup. Telling herself she would make enough small talk to pretend to be interested long enough that she could leave and quickly duck into the other official shop without being completely rude. The dry grass under her sandals crunched, adding another level of embarrassment.

“You interested in those that creep and crawl?”

“Umm, not really,” Tenten admitted with a half-apologetic shrug, only glancing back up at her for a second.

She liked being outdoors and everything that came with it. Bugs were part of it, but she had never been wowed or amazed at what they could do. She had also never screamed when they ended up on her. She had to lay exhausted in the mud after an intense training session with her team to care about a worm or two crawling over her.

From what little she could see from her still-standing position, there wasn't even any variety to what was being offered. There was only a handful on the threadbare mat. The sharp, almost glare-like expression she got when her hand hovered over one of them made Tenten quickly let her know she wasn't going to touch it.

A not entirely clear thin film stretched over the frame of a sturdy light, light-toned wooden box, distorting the colours of whatever was inside. The box only looked to contain a single what she guessed was an insect from what the lady had asked before, and the fact that whatever was in the box seemed to have quite a few long black-coloured legs and two black rods that appeared to come out of its head. To even see that much, Tenten had to practically lie on the ground and squint before forcing herself to sit up and brush the dirt off her arm and trouser leg.

Its entire size would fit in her palm, two if they sat side by side if she had been allowed to hold them.

The silver that coated its main body and shell was the only thing that looked unique to her untrained eye. She'd never seen a silver insect before and couldn't remember ever seeing one that sparkled in the sun like the ones in front of her did. It had a strange, mesmerising aura; the way the reflection made her eyes feel the need to blink.

Her lip curled as Tenten had another thought: who sold insects? Where was the money to be made in that?

“Why are you selling bugs anyway?”

The older woman's smile grew, making a feeling of secrecy fall over them.

"Aren't you interested in things that are priceless?”

She perked up at that. When Tenten realised she had. She tried to hide it, but from the grin the other woman gave, she knew that the brief second of her eyes lighting up had been caught. She might not think twice about bugs, but rare collectables would always be interesting.

Now that the idea of money and rarity was added to them, her hands itched to reach out to hold them more. Squatting down further into her seated position, Tenten wrapped her arms around her legs, her thumbs pressing into the soft material of her dark green trousers.

“What are they anyway?” Her head jolted down and to the side as a way of pointing to the boxes.

“They are called the Silver-headed Cardinal Beetle.”

Her head bounced in a tiny nod. The silver colour was too prominent not to be in its name somewhere.

“They are rare,” the woman's hand drifted from her lap to skim across the top of one insect-containing box, her hand never touching any part as if fearing the lightest touch would make them disappear, “Only appear once every fifty years to hatch under a full moon.”

A pop rang out in Tenten's skull, a rush of excitement coming with it. Her hands became full fists with it.

“We just had a full moon.”

“Took me all night, but I caught as many as possible!”

“If they're so rare, why would you sell them?” Tenten's head leaned back as her eyebrow raised. “Why not keep them for yourself?”

The older woman gave a single loud “pah!” with a wave of both her hands; the blast of air it created made Tenten shut her eyes before giving the other woman a wrinkle of her nose as she readjusted her fringe.

“Just like you insects aren't of any interest to me,” when she pointed a bony finger right at her, Tenten leaned back the heels of her sandals digging into the dirt path to help keep her upright, “But the good karma that is foretold for both the gifter and the receiver? Well! I need some of that!”

That made Tenten let out a small laugh. Who would ever say they didn't want the promise of good things heading their way?

Even if there was an oath of good things in the future that still didn't tell her who she would even give the silver beetle to if she bought it, who did she know that would want a bug given to them? No matter how rare it was-

Tenten didn't need to finish her thought, a grin on her face.

At the loud call of her name from down the street in the direction she had wandered up from, the fact that the word friend was before her name meant it could only be Lee calling her. Looking around, there he was, standing tall, with a giant smile, both arms waving so high above his head that a few older folks passing by gave him odd looks, utterly unaffected by the enormous amount of bandages that still swaddled a large amount of his entire body as Neji stood beside him giving her his much more controlled look to ask her to come back.

“We must make haste to reach the village before evening sets in!”

She yelled back for her teammates to give her a second. If Lee could use up their travelling time by pointlessly injuring himself and having to fix up property damage, then they could wait while she pondered her purchase.

Turning back to the other woman once more, taking in her broad smile and calm appearance, she pursed her lips. With one final firm head nod, Tenten decided it was worth it. Some good luck for both her and Shino could hardly be a bad idea.

“How much?”

Chapter Text

Before she ventured home for a long bath and an even longer sleep after her team checked in at the Hokage Tower, officially stamping their successful mission as close, she was determined to find and give Shino his gift that was burning a hole in her bag.

Tenten needed help remembering which training ground they had been assigned when their team was created. But she did remember accompanying Neji for the walk a handful of times when he had been sent to retrieve Hinata from practice and bring her home, which carried her to what she thought was the right one, her lips making an annoyed pout when no one was there. Thinking they were maybe on a mission themselves or simply somewhere else, she was about to decide to head home and find them another day when Kiba's loud carrying voice was too deafening to ignore. Darting through one last set of trees, she appeared at the needed clearing.

“Kiba! Hinata! Hi!”

The two in question turned to her from the centre of the field, simply standing there, looking calm, but Kiba looked impatient. There was no kunai on the ground, no areas of messed up ground and how clean their clothes looked, so she could only assume they had just arrived and were waiting.

“H-Hi Tenten.”

“Hey! What's up? You looking for us?” Kiba asked, making her grin, “Is it a mission?”

“Is Shino around?” Flinging her bag off her back, Tenten flipped the protective flap open and retrieved the rare beetle from it with a careful hand before slipping it back on to keep it out of the way; she held up the gift-to-be, not that either of them would know what it was, “I got him a present.”

Hinata looked intrigued, placing her forefinger along her bottom lip, but Kiba snorted at her.

“Whatcha get him a present for? He your favourite or something?” Before Tenten opened her mouth fully or took the breath to form her reply, he continued, “Well, he should be here any min-yeah, there he is now.”

Kiba waved high over his head to her left, making them all turn to greet him. When the silent boy took his place in their created circle, she practically bounced on the spot, her excited energy desperate for an outlet. He would surely be ecstatic with how rare the woman had said the beetle was. Tenten didn't think she had ever heard him that way before. She had to bite her lip at the mere idea she might even listen to him yell in amazement. What a sight that would be!

“Shino, hi!”

“Tenten,” he greeted, never making any other movements in greeting. “Good morning. I did not expect to see you here. Is it a mission?”

She didn't know if she should have been insulted or not. Yes, her popping over to their training grounds wasn't the normal, but they had been friends for months, and they had been seeing a bit of each other with Neji and Hinata's connection. Couldn't she say hi?

“She got you a present from her mission!”

Tenten could see Shino’s neck turn so he could take her in at Kiba's outburst, but the fact that his collar didn't move made the movement a little strange. It was as if only the top of his head moved.

“You bought me a gift?”

“Yeah, look!”

Shino took the edges of the plastic-covered wooden frame with a graceful, gentle hold, taking his hands out of his deep pockets and raising them to take the present from her looking not the desperate grab she would give if someone unexpectedly bought her a present.

Unexpectedly, though, it gave his teammates the needed second to swarm to his sides to look at his gift just like he could. Kiba pushed against Shino's left arm and shoulder while Hinata lowered herself to avoid being in the way from his right side.

Hinata's forefinger tapped against her lip again, her white eyes never looking away from the insect in the transparent box, “What is i-it?”

“The woman who sold me it called it a Silver-headed, umm, something Beetle, cardindal? Cardin-”

“Cardinal,” Shino submitted, raising the box higher to his eyeline in an elegant two-handed grasp, his fingers tensing at uncomfortable-looking angles to put the least amount of pressure on any part of it.

“She said it's rare, only appears every fifty years or something like that, so I thought it might interest you or yeah.”

The fact that Shino hadn't said anything, just continued to stare at her gift, turning it slightly with the sunlight, his sunglasses reflecting the light, as well as his high teal coat collar, made his expression that much harder to figure out. She had no idea what he was thinking at all. It was starting to put her at unease, her now free hands tapping against her thighs for not having a kunai or anything else to spin around her fingers as Tenten tended to do when her nerves got the best of her.

Hinata let out an amazed gasp, her hands clapping in front of her. Tenten felt her lips curl in disappointment. At least someone was happy about it.

“Re-Really?!”

“Wow, that's cool!” Kiba's playful grin dropped to be replaced with an almost angry sneer that he firmly directed at Shino that made her blink a few times to adjust. How they dealt with his mood swings, if that's how suddenly they switched, she didn’t know, “Hey, come on, Shino, don't be an ass. Say, thank you!”

He didn't say a word even after his teammates verbally poked him to reply. Tenten felt her want to snap to break his silence bubbling. If he didn't say anything soon, she would say something stupid, maybe even snatch the gift back and give it to someone who would appreciate it. Not that she knew anyone else would understand a rare bug being given to them.

“This is; not; a Silver-headed Cardinal Beetle,” something akin to solid disgrace, and a little bit of panic fell to sit heavy in her stomach. If that wasn't what it was, what had she bought? “There is no such thing as a silver variety either.”

"There's not?” Tenten felt compelled to ask, her voice rough and shameful humiliation tinting it.

“No,” the invisible knife gave another stab. Did he have to be so blunt about it? “This is a standard red-headed kind that appears to be; painted; silver.”

“And the red one isn't rare?”

“The adults emerge from May to July,” his two hands lowered the box done with his inspection of her, now revealed to be, worthless gift. For a moment, she thought Shino was going to toss it on the ground like trash, but he remained holding it, “In a few months; this field will be filled with them.”

“Oh.”

Tenten felt like a prized idiot getting played by some random street peddler. So much for good karma. Her previous karma must have been terrible to fall so quickly for such a trap.

“Shi-Shino,” Hinata called his name with tinges of disappointment on her lips, even pouting out, “Please be nice.”

“Yeah, don't be a dick, Shino,” Kiba added. Akamaru barked in what felt like agreement with his owner, “She thought she was getting you something rare and cool that you would like. Don't make her feel bad. Say thanks anyway.”

Kiba and Hinata defending her only made her feel dumber; somehow, she shouldn't have fallen for such a cheap trick to need defending in the first place.

“Look, it's fine. Don't worry about-”

“Thank you; Tenten,” Shino lifted his head to look straight at her as he said it, and it only made more of a humiliated flush creep up her neck, “Thank you for my gift. It was very; thoughtful.”

She had meant it to be thoughtful. That was true. The thought was somewhat tainted when Shino had informed her, or more slapped her down, with the knowledge that she had wasted her money and time to give him something he had seen himself more times than she could count.

“Yeah, don't-don't worry about it.”

After that, Tenten quickly made her excuses and left, ignoring Hinata and Kiba yelling to her as she went; already feeling her stupid anger needing an outlet, she headed not for her house as she had initially planned but for her team's training ground to throw some very sharp ninja tools at many an unsuspecting tree as she mentally added the face that con artist's face on it.

Chapter Text

He wasn't used to receiving gifts.

Shino couldn't recall receiving a present that wasn't from someone he was related to or who wasn’t in his team, and even those were for special occasions. He tried to remember ever being given a present simply because someone thought of him and could only remember his father giving him a few books or other things he had mentioned, but that had not been since he was small.

It made his treatment of Tenten all the more shameful to him.

Kiba had been right. He had insulted her. He should have told her anything positive about it and stopped her from running off with her bruised ego when she had only tried to do something nice for him. The thought had been plaguing him for days.

When Shino finally cemented what he was going to say, how he was going to apologise and ask for her forgiveness; his team had been called to the Hokage's office, Kiba finding him almost as soon as he had stepped foot outside his clan's compound to head for where he knew her team trained.

Ready to set off back home, only two days after setting out on their mission, they had stopped off at the market of the small village in the very southwest of the Land of Fire right beside the sea to stock up on food for the journey home and to wait for their needed ferry when Shino found his feet taking him into a confectionary shop. A place he wouldn't usually drift to, but the thought of his ever-needed apology to Tenten when they made it back to Konohagakure had the gears in his mind turn.

Wandering unhurriedly, searching over the offered confectionery with an eagle eye, trying not to be overwhelmed by the sweet smells crashing together in the air, a familiar brown bag tied near the top with a plain string, but a sapphire blue label with an image of a crashing wave made him head to it.

Picking up the bag in one hand, the smooth plastic feeling paper under his fingers crinkled with the motion.

“There you are, Shino! What are you doing?”

There were a few hurried steps before Shino felt Kiba lean around him, meaning his friend finally had a view of what he was holding, making Akamaru yip from his place in Kiba's hood, “I thought you didn't like the stuff they gave us the other day?”

Kiba was referring to the owner of the ferry company whom they had been tasked with delivering the needed scrolls for new agreed ferry routes, who insisted they try a few pieces of the town’s delicacy while they were there.

Shino had forced himself to eat enough of the sugary brown cubes to cover his obligations as the representative of their village as the team lead, but it was much too sugary for his liking.

His thumb swiped across the bag again, making more sounds of shifting plastic appear.

“I did not.”

Kiba gave him the same head bop and wide eyes that told him he was waiting for more information. When he didn’t say anything, his friend's curious expression morphed into one of impatience. “Then why are you buying more? That doesn’t make any sense!”

Hinata popped her head in the door, then quickly approached them, slotting into the space on his right side. Her forefinger balanced on her bottom lip as she surveyed her friends. That same finger pointed to the bag of candy in his hands.

“Is it for your da-dad?”

“I did not enjoy the sweet taste; and neither would my father,” Shino said, feeling a strange sense of unsureness when he continued. “But Tenten might; why? I believe she has a sweet tooth.”

Kiba leaned around him even more to ask Hinata if that was true, to which she smiled and nodded openly. When Kiba turned back to him, he had a sly half grin plastered over his face, his sharp canine tooth pressing into his bottom lip, only making him appear more mischievous.

“Trying to make it up to her for insulting her? When she got you that nice rare bug thing last week?”

Most of his pragmatic, logical part wanted to correct Kiba. She had yet to buy him anything remarkable; it was a standard insect spray painted in multiple layers of silver, but Tenten had thought she had. She wouldn't have known what she was looking for going by what she had presumably been told she was buying him something extravagant, something exceedingly rare that she had seen and thought of him. That was the most important part. The only part that mattered.

“Something to that effect; yes.”

Kiba gave a loud, defeated noise, and Akamaru released a sad one in response.

“Hey, look, I'm only joking. You know me, open mouth, insert foot, yeah?”

When Akamaru barked from his place, safe and cosy in Kiba's hood, the owner growled and told him not to agree, which only made Akamaru yip happily again.

“Kiba is right,” Hinata said, lowering her head to look up at him with her timid smile. "She'll love it, Shi-Shino. That's thoughtful.”

Shino tried to push his friend off when Kiba threw his arm around his neck and pulled him into a one-armed hug at such an angle it nearly choked him. His nails digging into the plastic to avoid dropping the bag of sweets.

“But just to be sure, if I were you, I'd buy two bags!”

He hadn't taken their advice before, not to the extent they had meant; his thank you to Tenten was shown to be rather pathetic and not the reassurance she needed when she practically spirited away in disgrace, so Shino made sure to take it then.

The shopkeeper gave a hearty thank you when he bought two bags of the caramels.

Chapter Text

He didn't know whether to be grateful or furious that Hinata and Kiba didn’t leave his side after they left the Hokage Tower, acting as if they were nearly as curious as to how his gift and apology would unfold as Shino was. Confirming they were following him when they started discussing the quickest way to team Gai's training grounds.

The first call of Tenten’s name became unusually stuck in his throat when he saw her. The unnatural pink shade of her regular top against the greens and browns of the nature around them, along with her chocolate-tinted hair and eyes, the throws of her multitude of metal weapons glinting from the sun as they zoomed through the air to hit the bullseye every single time feeling as if they caught him off guard. Perhaps he was more nervous than even he realised.

Making his way further into the clearing, Shino discovered she was thankfully alone. Gai, Neji and Lee were strangely absent, which he would most definitely take as a blessing now if she turned on him and told him that he had insulted her too harshly before demanding he leave with a threatening raise of her fist with whatever handheld impaling instrument Tenten happened to pull out of thin air at that moment he would only humiliate himself in front of his best friends and not two teams worth of people.

Lee and Gai would no doubt jump to conclusions and overreact in the way known throughout the village, demanding to know what he had done to their precious flower before he could envision them throwing down some challenge for insulting her even when they didn't know what it was. Neji, Shino had little doubt, would ask Hinata about it when they were back in their compound, given how close they had become.

“Tenten.”

When he finally managed to say her name loud enough for her to hear, her throwing arm paused but didn't lower. Tenten didn't drop her hand-held axe. It disappeared in a puff of smoke when her head spun around, eyes widened with curiosity, obviously not expecting visitors, or she was concentrating so intensely on her target practice she hadn't heard their approach. Still, the fact that she had disarmed and beamed when she realised it was them gave Shino hope she wasn't about to gut him.

“Oh, hey, guys! What's up?”

She sounded cheerier than when she left them last with what Kiba would describe as her tail between her legs. Well, maybe he had overthought the encounter. It would be in his nature to overthink every meeting and interaction after it had happened, but his want to make it right with her, whether his careless words truly injured her pride, would not unclench in his mind until he had said it.

Shino felt a sharp poke in the side of his ribs, almost startling him. How long had he been silently staring at her as she took the few steps needed to be beside them? Tenten’s friendly smile, stretching around the edges, indicated Shino had uncharacteristically zoned out for longer than could be waved away.

Wasting no more time, he took one of the brown bags of caramel cubes out of his deep teal blue coat pockets and held it in his palm. The sweets were now heavier feeling, now that he was offering them to her instead of just holding them in the shop, the muscles in his arms even giving an unhelpful twinge, forcing him to tense them into not threatening to tremble as they did.

"What's that?” Tenten bent at the waist, her hands on her knees, to read the label instead of taking it from him like he had assumed she would have, “Salted caramel chunks? I've never heard of salted caramel before.”

“They make it in the village beside Kakizome Port; beside the shore,” he explained, making her let out a gentle hum, “We have just come back from there.”

Pushing his arm out further towards her, Tenten took the bag now with a half-startled jump as he unceremoniously removed his hand even before her two took a firm hold, the bag material making the same crinkling noise from before as it met her chest and her hands grasped it hard to stop it falling, the need to place his shaking fidgeting fingers back into the safe space of his deep pockets hidden from eyes making his movements clunky. His fingers flexed out once it was safe to do so.

Looking down at the bag in her hands, he had practically shoved into her hold. She blinked her expressive chocolate eyes at him for a second before they lit up with understanding; her full lips formed a small 'o’, and Tenten raised the bag higher.

“Is this for me?”

“I saw it and thought of you,” when Shino saw her become flushed at his wording and the snickering behind him from Kiba, he rushed on, “It is also an apology. You could not have known the silver beetle was a fake. It was a thoughtful gift; and I did not-”

“I said don't worry about it,” most people would say what she did with an air of sarcasm, but the upbeat tint of her tone and the quirk up of her lips meant she was genuine. The only negative attached to it was a minor dull of the brightness in her expression one that told Shino she had learned from it but was still upset with herself it had happened at all, “I shouldn't have fallen for cheap sales tricks.”

Tenten rolled her eyes at her previous self while she gave a single tug on the chord to open the bag. Only after a tiny glance inside and raising the bag higher to her face did she give it a little shake followed by a sniff, her eyes closing as her sniff turned into a deep inhale through her nose. Seeming to deem it acceptable by both sight and smell, she took a single piece between her forefinger and thumb and, after a squeeze, popped the cube in her mouth. After only a few bites, Tenten made a rumbling, pleased groan even as she continued to chew the sweet.

“Oh, that's good.”

Hinata and Kiba let out tiny noises of delight and excitement that were thankfully smothered from Tenten's hearing by her letting out another euphoric noise.

The joy on his teammate's faces must have outshone the sound she couldn't hear because next, Tenten was bouncing over to them and offering them the bag to take a sweet treat for themselves. Kiba shoved his hand into the bag without precedent. Being more polite, Hinata thanked her before taking a delicate piece for herself. Turning back to him, she offered him the bag but not without reaching into it and flicking another piece into her mouth, smiling around it as soon as it entered.

“Wanna share some with me?”

“I have never possessed an appetite for overly sweet things; I am afraid.”

“Oh.”

The next piece Tenten took a bite of was slower, biting down into the piece instead of taking the entire cube excitedly as she had with the few before she chewed slower as if the candy suddenly tasted as bitter as it previously did sweet.

When the dust had settled on their last encounter, realising he had hurt her feelings when he was so adamant to himself that he would be wary of his friends and all they felt, Shino felt downright ashamed of himself for one of the first times in his recent history. Still, this one, the insecurity he created in her just then, was sharper, more profound; seeing the pushed-aside look in her chocolate eyes now that he was more keenly aware of it made that knife between his ribs twist painfully.

Lifting his eyeline, from behind Tenten, he saw Kiba violently waving his hand across his throat, the international sign for cut it out and Hinata, with her far calmer action but not in the panic on her face, of raising her hand and made a fake sipping motion which still made her point.

He understood what they were trying to tell him, but it was Tenten's disappointed aura and sad eyes over everything else that compelled him to offer.

“I; however; would enjoy sharing a pot of tea as you eat them.”

Kiba nearly collapsed onto the ground with the giant exhale he let out while Hinata placed her hand over her heart, releasing her relieved breath.

Tenten beamed at him, hugging the open bag to her chest, then an almost brightened look in her eyes.

His offer made her happy. Her being happy was nice to see.

“We could do that! I know just the place!”

Scrunching up the bag closed, Tenten grabbed his coat sleeve with her free fist and took three steps towards the entrance to the grounds before stopping still and spinning on the spot to his teammates, the movement almost making Shino lose his footing and slam into her side.

“Do you two want to come with us?”

It was only the second time in recent history where Hinata and Kiba had been the afterthoughts; it was usually, always, him who was given that role if Shino was thought off at all. The first time was when Tenten had given him that Silver-headed Cardinal Beetle.

Hinata was the first to throw her hands up, her cheeks heating up after being asked a direct question.

“Oh n-no! I have to-! Umm-”

“We have stuff to do!” Kiba butted in with a customary grin and a wave of his hand as if telling them to scat, “You guys go right ahead!”

“Okay then!” Tenten didn't even seem to blink; she just shrugged her shoulders, showing she was unbothered, throwing them a lazy wave as she started walking again, never letting go of his sleeve. “See you later!”

Kiba flashed him two thumbs up, and Hinata gave him a little wave as he continued to be half guided, half dragged out of the training grounds.

Chapter Text

The place Tenten had half lugged him to was a small cosy tearoom off the beaten track of the main roads, having to take several twists and turns down side streets to find it her singing its praises the entire time, popping a few more of her salted caramels, into her mouth as she did so. He took it as a compliment. Tenten meant that she still offered him a piece another handful of times on the journey. Shino could see it in her face that she wanted him to enjoy the, to her taste buds, delicious treat like she was.

The Bronze Brew, as the intricate wooden sign above the door indicated it was called, was small without being cramped, inviting without being overbearing. The furniture was a mismatch of chairs and tables in rich colours, designs and materials with indents, scuff marks, and flattened cushions that all said the café had been around for a long time and had been enjoyed for as long.

A wide range of sugar-coated aromas floated in the air, mainly coming from the small kitchen behind the counter, but more miniature, just as pleasant scents wafted from tables they passed occupied by friends and other couples.

Tenten bypast a handful of empty tables to sit at one at the very back, practically skipping to and jumping into a giant single seater of a slightly dulled mull wine red that made her look as if she were trying to sit in her father's chair. She had so much space she could cross her legs without her knees banging into armrests. Shino still sat politely with both feet firmly on the floor but was amazed at how empty the chair still appeared, even with him occupying it.

Picking up the leaflet that sat on the table between them, Shino discovered the menu had a wide variety of teas and coffees, some flavours or brands he had never heard of before, and even options of savoury snacks for those like him that did not have a sweet tooth. He had barely finished reading the first handful of pages before someone approached their table.

When their server, an older but happy-looking lady, asked for their order, she beamed and welcomed them with her view entirely on Tenten. Shino watched as his friend took out his gift to her and popped a cube in her mouth after she greeted her back.

At that moment, another table was told off for eating their brought-in food beside them while Tenten was left to chew and nibble on her smuggled contraband in peace. Adding to how she seemed to be on a first-name basis with many servers and knew the sweet treats menu by heart, he could only assume she was a regular.

Orders were placed for them both, and the waitress bounced off, leaving them alone.

It wasn’t the easiest conversation without gifts or where they were going to act as a starter. They were friends, but they were not the closest of companions, especially for him. Shino still found it hard to begin speaking freely with his teammates, whom he had spent nearly every day with since leaving the Academy; he still found himself being ignored or spoken over regularly.

Shino found out that unlike Hinata, who would only comfortably speak when every other member of the group was already talking, or Kiba, who could loudly shout about anything even if he had only heard the topic for the first time, Tenten appeared to be a helpful mesh of the two.

Forceful when she needed to be and able to listen when he felt comfortable enough to speak himself, and once she had some small slither of a topic, Tenten seemed to be able to pull on that thread and create a natural feeling around it. Flowing from one talking point to another without taking over, poking him for input whenever a light entered her eyes. It might have been a trick of the light reflecting off the numerous multicoloured glass decorations hanging from the ceiling or his mind reaching, but her smile looked wider when he spoke.

It was serene, it was friendly, it wasn’t overpowering. She was easy to be around.

They spoke for so long Shino was brought back to reality by the waitress politely reminding them that they closed in five minutes. Checking the clock on the wall, he was amazed that she was right, even when she had no reason to lie. Tenten again addressed their server by name, which smoothed the minor irritation he could tell beneath the polite reminder of the time.

Tenten surprised him once again when he tried to pay when she quickly threw down enough paper money to cover what he quickly calculated to be a little over half of their bill without him asking. She shot him a playful wink and told him it only made sense since she had ordered more than him. He deeply respected that.

He left a significant tip to ensure they, especially Tenten, stayed in the tea shops’ good graces.

Stepping out into the pleasantly warm early evening air, the sun had just begun to set, painting the sky a calming mix of pinks and oranges; Tenten held the second full bag of treats Kiba had convinced him to buy, grinning happily as she hugged them to her chest as if someone might be foolish enough to try and part them from her.

“Thanks for the caramel!” He discovered that Tenten’s smile grew wide when she spoke about specific topics. The two main ones seemed to be anything made of metal she could throw at an enemy or anything sweet she could eat for dessert, “You know I’m going to eat it all!”

That went without question. She had finished a bag early on before starting on their shared snacks and drinks. He was not usually a snacking person, but even he had made his way through not only one plate of bite-size salad baskets, but she had convinced him to try a bowl of vegetable crisps as well.

Shino had even been so curious about her first pot of tea that, when poured, was a dark purple colour and smelled of warm berries that when Tenten had caught him staring and offered him a cup, he couldn’t refuse. It was sweet, even sweeter than he imagined, and wasn’t for him. Politely telling her he would stick with his plainer green tea instead. It only entertained her, claiming it was his loss. He could feel the sugar stick to his teeth when she drank a whole cup in one go.

“That is why I bought it for you,” at her happy silent giggle, one that lit up her eyes and made her smile take up so much of her face it could rival the sun, Shino added quickly with a warmth in his chest, “I am glad you like them.”

It had already been such a wonderful day. He forced himself not to believe she could want to do it again when Tenten said they should.

Heading home, his stomach was full, his teeth sticky from the small amount of sugary snacks she had tempted him into trying, but his mind felt lighter than it had in days.

Chapter Text

Shino awoke gradually, feeling something was off. A slight off-season chill made him curl further into Tenten’s side of the bed and reach to pull her closer to his side, but when his sprayed-out hand dug in, his searching fingers found nothing but the soft fabric of the bedsheet, his eyes opened swiftly.

It was almost unheard of that he wouldn’t instantly be awake if she shifted from his side in their sleep. Without the multiple outer layers, he usually wore, not needing them when she burned enough to keep them both warm meant when her heat shifted, Shino followed or brought her back in. He must have been more exhausted from his first week or term than he thought.

The clinginess in his slumber was something Tenten had made him discover about himself.

Pushing himself to sit upright, already mentally preparing to send his hive out to find her, when as quickly as his mind started to race with all the horrible possibilities the world had to offer that would drag her from his side in the middle of the night, it calmed.

Tenten hadn’t gone far, which made a thankful whoosh of air leave him. She had only made it across the room to his main bookcase that contained the majority of his biology and entomology textbooks, classroom teaching texts and other assortments of purely non-fictional books and scrolls he had acquired throughout his life.

But one out-of-place item sat right in the very centre of the third shelf from the floor, right in his eyeline, so as soon as he entered the room, it would be the first thing he saw; now sat in her tanned hands he adored so much.

One of her flawless braids danced along and over her shoulder, bared by the simple lime green tank top she wore, her hair finally falling like a curtain when she stepped around to look at him, a tiny apologetic smile on her face.

“Did I wake you?”

“It is; cold; without you,” that always made her grin, “What are you doing?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” raising the box that contained the silver-painted red beetle in both hands, a small wistful smile appeared on her lips, “I can't believe you still have this.”

Leaning on one forearm, Shino beckoned her with his right hand, “Come back to bed.”

She did, with silent barefooted steps on the wood. Tenten slipped back under the covers beside him, naturally slotting into the space at his side. Even if she had been standing for, he didn’t honestly know how long the warmth of her skin far outweighed his own; his very soul started to warm just having her back at his side.

“It is the first gift you ever gave me,” he felt her shift her head further into the crevice created between his shoulder and neck, Shino only having to move his own up an inch for her to practically fold herself over him like a second blanket, even more of her warmth enveloping him soaking through his t-shirt, his skin and muscles to his very bones, “I would never simply; dispose; of it.”

“But it's kinda bad looking now,” she was referring to the chipped wooden edges of the box and the peeling paint of silver that had helped sell the story about the fake mythical insect. Tenten scratched at the coating through the thin film that no longer correctly stretched over the wooden frame, the protective barrier broken by an unfortunate incident with Kiba and his sharp nails. No matter how often Shino tried to repair it, it never sat properly again.

“And it wasn't even anything impressive to begin with, remember? Just a normal beetle that you could find anywhere.”

Her head fell completely onto his shoulder, her hands never losing their hold on the box with a defeated sigh. The sound of loss in her breath made his heart give a painful squeeze. He placed a kiss into her hair, a few of the shorter strands tickling his cheek and nose as he did so.

She could be so hard on herself. Shino hated when her self-doubt and overthinking made her spiral and made her forget about all the ways Tenten shone compared to others. Whoever had sold it to her had not only done the leg work of painting and boxing up the beetle but had most likely had their story rehearsed and used far and wide. Shino had little doubt she was the only one who handed over their hard-earned money at the tale spun.

The fading silver paint giving way to the natural orange rouge red colour of the body and the black of the antenna and legs that were partially preserved wasn’t entirely uncomplimentary to the grey that now only half covered the insect's body. When he had noticed it had started to peal, a few days after Kiba and his nails had damaged it, Shino had coated it in a liquid quick-drying film of his creation to stop anything more happening to it.

“It still means a great deal to me,” he told her, placing his palm over the back of her hand, his fingers slotting in the spaces between hers, his thumb rubbing along the soft side of her battle-worn fingers, only the tip of his thumb catching the box, feeling a splinter in the making, “I treasure it.”

He did. It meant everything to him. It was the gift representation of what the Aburame believed in. That one act, even something as seemingly insignificant as an insect landing on a flower, could be a beautiful beginning. Her giving him that present began their gradual change from barely friends to making her the one person in the world he trusted and loved above all others.

They had not been that close back then to expect gifts whenever the other left on a mission, so she didn’t need to give it to him. Tenten could have given it to someone else, kept it for herself, or spent her money on something else entirely, but she had. She had gone out of her way for him.

Also, something a lot of people couldn’t understand was that people tended to forget him, so the simple, undeniable fact that she had even remembered him as an option was more of a gift than he could begin to put into words; Shino wasn’t even sure he had told her that at the time. The thought had felt too personal to be shared.

Funny now, in hindsight, since there was nothing he couldn’t tell her now.

He had too many thoughts to tell her. All Shino could only pick the strongest one and give voice to it.

“I love you.”

In a breathy-sounding voice that made delightful goosebumps flow up his long pale neck, Tenten told him she loved him too.

“The lady who sold me it told me it was supposed to give the gifter and the receiver good karma,” he could hear the smile enter her voice. Even if Shino couldn’t see it from the position they were in, it lightened, bringing with it a freeness in his chest, “Did I ever tell you that?”

His head sunk further into the pillow as he leaned more to the side, allowing her to slot in even more comfortably beside him, a lazy smile pulling at his lips at the reveal. “You did not.”

“I guess it kind of worked just,” Shino heard and felt her giggle into his pecs as she rolled half on top of him to do it, her hand setting the beetle on his chest with her palm over it. Even if she claimed it was not worth protecting given its state of ruin, she did it instinctively anyway, “Not really in the way I thought.”

That made him ask, “What were you wishing for?”

“Oh, you know,” she let out a dreamy-sounding sigh as Tenten rolled further into him, her right arm flinging itself around and up beside his head. His hand naturally gravitated up to take hold of her own, his pale skin, a contrast to her beautiful sun-kissed type, “A new bunch of Naginata magically appearing in my private collection. An unlimited supply of fresh Dango every day for free. To be named the master of all weapons, you know,” she grinned up at him with such joy he found his mouth forming a smile back, “the usual stuff girls ask for! But instead, I got an afternoon with you.”

The fingers of her lightly captured hand curled around his own, and he couldn’t help but grip them as tightly as he could. As Tenten had her self-doubt demons, he felt his own raise their ugly unwanted head.

“And? Was I an; acceptable; substitute?”

His head turned away from her and lowered, his chin nearly touching his opposite shoulder, his neck muscles screaming at him from how unnatural it was to evade whatever answer he feared was about to come. His arm wrapped around her back to keep her safe when Shino felt her move. A gentle call of his name fell from her lips.

Crawling up him to slot their foreheads together, the rest of her draped over him, leaving nothing between them, not space, not air, and certainly not misunderstanding she was telling him in the way that she did with touches where he never felt he could that he was letting his thoughts betray him again.

Bringing the silver and red beetle up, Tenten forced his hand to uncurl before pressing it into his palm, their fingers intertwining as much as they could around the box. Their hands weren’t touching anymore than a sliding of fingers, but his breath still hitched as if they were.

“You’re so much better than anything else I could have possibly asked for.”

The kiss Tenten graced him with then was slow, beautiful, nerve-tingling, drawn out. Long enough for those fears that appeared from the dark that tried to curl around him to slither off him to shrivel up completely. Every brush of her soft full lips against his, every scrape of her tongue over his teeth or against his, every tug of her teeth on his bottom lip, his hand spreading out at the bottom of her spine while her free hand drifted up and into his hair, eliciting pinpricks of incredible sensation that drifted over his skin. All topped with the peck she gave him just before she broke the connection, like a seal on her work, made every negative thought, fall away and made him fall in love with her all over again.

Shino pulled her down against his side again, tucking the blanket back around her to keep her warm and secure, making her shoot him a mischievous grin, her leg slotting over his hip to bring him even closer, his arm finding itself encircling her waist as quickly as the breath he let out when she placed a kiss to the underside of his jaw.

He took the encased beetle from their joint hold with one hand and set it on the window sill. The firefly's light dancing outside his window, bathed it in a glowing green light, giving it the beautiful backdrop that one of his most treasured possessions deserved.

“And think about it. I can just make you buy me all the Dango I want.”

Shino only smiled, hugging her tighter.