Disclaimer - Naruto does not belong to me, so don't sue.
A/N - I stumbled across this pairing by accident, and figured I'd try my hand at it. Considering this is my first Naruto fic, I'm not all too sure how it came out, but I hope you enjoy.
A.A.

Waiting for Fate
Chapter 1
First Appearances and Second Impressions

The Aburame clan had long been known in Konoha as a reliable and steadfast means of defense for the village. Every member of the clan that lived in a symbiotic circle with their bugs was a perpetual weapon if need be. If you didn't know them, many would think that the Aburame were perhaps the most dangerous clan that inhabited Konoha. And the fact that they were usually stoic individuals only made the few outsiders that ever dared to venture far into the hidden village even more wary of them. Some called them apathetic, others had remarked that they were completely incapable of having human emotions because of what they were. Some even went so far as to compare them to yakuza gangsters who valued self preservation above all else.

But that was far from the truth. Behind the dark glasses and high collars, and underneath the ridiculously calm demeanors, the Aburame clan members were no different than anyone else where emotions were concerned.

The kikai were in a category all on their own.

As such, when a six year old Shino Aburame's kikai warned him of the imminent arrival of some other nins while he was with his father in the forest one day, he immediately took cover. The young boy was the only child of the current clan leader. And despite the fact of his position, Shino was one of the shyest children in the village. There were few that weren't afraid of him because of his bugs, or because he was always wearing his high collared shirts and sunglasses, would know that Shino was just shy. But after being alone for so long, with only one or two people he could call friends, he had learned instinctively that most people wouldn't like him because of what he was. Or more appropriately, what was inside him.

Oh, what the mind of a six year old won't come up with…

So when his excited inhabitants relayed the message that there were people coming up the trail towards where he and his father were working on his control of the bugs inside him, Shino done the first thing that came to mind. He had climbed into the thickest branches of the tree and stuck his head out of the rich foliage to get a good look at them as they passed by. His father just shook his head, knowing exactly what had caused his only son to try and hide himself.

It took only a few moments before a group of three people broke through the thick spring foliage and Shino got a good look at them. There were all together, one woman who he knew was a jounin who specialized in tracking, and two others, an older girl, and a boy about his own age that had a small white puppy perched on his head. Shino though that was an odd place for a dog to be. But he figured if it was okay for him to keep bugs inside his own body, then it was plausible to have a dog on your head if you wanted it there.

Along with them were four hulking dogs that were yipping and playing around with each other as the group continued. Shino could see that the girl was wearing the Konoha Leaf headband. So she was a genin, at least.

"Father, who is that?" the young Aburame asked quietly, glancing towards is his father.

"That is the head of Konoha's Inuzuka clan, Tsume Inuzuka," the elder bug wielder explained. "The girl is her daughter Hana, and the boy is Kiba."

"They are loud," Shino said, his face wrinkled into confusion at the racket the trio were making as they walked towards the village gates. His father actually chuckled, but Shino didn't think it was funny.

His kikai didn't like loud noises, and he could feel them getting agitated from the ruckus the newcomers were making, causing them to move around uncomfortably underneath his skin. That was the main reason why most Aburame preferred the quiet to loud noises. It kept the bugs from becoming scared, making it easier to keep them under reign. And Shino, who was still mastering the command of his chakra eating companions, didn't want anyone around who would only make it harder for him to learn what he needed to do to control the kikai.

"Oi! Shibi-san, that you up there?" came a gravely female voice. Shino's father looked down, and Shino saw that the wild haired brunette kunoichi had stopped right under the tree they were in, hands on her hips. Shino blanched and tried to make himself one with the trunk of the tree. The woman looked absolutely feral! Shibi shook his head and bent down to whisper in his ear.

"You don't have to come down if they are agitating you," he said.

"Thank you," Shino said quietly, wondering if the wolfish woman could hear what they were saying. Thankfully though, she had turned her attention temporarily to her two roughhousing children, ordering them to calm down. The two youngsters obediently disentangled themselves and stood up straight, coming to stand right behind their mother, but not before the girl reached out and hit the boy on the head with her fist one more time for good measure, causing him to growl and her to stick her tongue out at him. Shino smiled slightlyb at the antics, but remained quiet as death.

"Tsume-san. Doing well, I hope," his father said cordially, drawing the woman into a conversation. But Shino paid no attention to what the adults because he was busy watching the warring siblings as they discretely kept picking on each other when they thought their mother wasn't looking. The boy appeared to be about his age, and had the same dark brown hair as his mother, as well as its tendency to stick out at odd angles all around his head. The girl however, had smooth hair that was gathered into a short ponytail on top of her head, which was kept in place with her forehead protector that bore Konoha's village symbol. All three of the Inuzuka shared the same big eyes with slit pupils, as well as the slight fangs and red markings along their face. Shino tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible, not wanting to draw any attention to himself. Unfortunaely, as he moved to get into a more comfortable position, he rattled the leaves, causing the girl to look up and lock eyes with him.

"There's someone still up there, okaa-san!" she said loudly, pointing to where Shino was standing in the shrouded area of the tree. Shino groaned. So much for staying hidden.

"I know, Hana," Tsume answered simply. "That is Shibi-san's son. And we should get going."

"Huh? Why?" the boy demanded, trying his luck at peering into the branches for the other boy. Shino just cringed. "I don't see nobody, Hana! If he's there, why don't he come down and say hello?"

"Shino received his kikkai a few months ago and is still getting adjusted to them," Shibi explained to Tsume, who nodded in understanding and turned to her brood.

"You heard Shibi-san. Let's…."

"Kicka what?" Kiba asked, obviously confused and paying no attention to his mother.

"Nothing." Hana said, thunking him on the head again. "Just be quiet before you aggravate them anymore, brat. They don't like loud noises."

"I'm not aggravating anyone, Hana!" he practically yelled, only to have his sister clock him again and the two of them degenerate rather quickly into a wrestling match that their mother had to break up. Shino was surprised that the boy and girl were actually fighting right in front of their own mother.

If he'd done something like that with one of his cousins, he'd be in all kinds of trouble. Not to mention what his father or mother would do to him if he had interrupted them while they were speaking to him.

"Break it up!" Tsume barked, picking Kiba up by the collar of his shirt, bodily separating him from his sister. "We've interrupted enough. Get back to the village." The two children nodded and quickly took off towards the village gates, while their mother said her goodbyes to his father. "I hope Shino-chan gets to feeling better."

"Thank you, Tsume-san. Your concern is appreciated," his father answered. The feral woman nodded and grinned, quickly looking up into the trees and spying the young boy. Shino's eyes went wide when he saw the set of fangs she was flashing with the smile she aimed at him.

"Take care, chibi," she said, giving him a quick wave before heading off after her children in a dead sprint. Shino waited until he was sure that the pack of Inuzuka were out of sight before hopping down from the tree and standing next to his father, a bit uncertain as to what had just transpired.

"They are an odd family," Shino commented carefully.

"That they are."

"That boy had...fangs."

"Yes, he did."

"The girl did too, Shino said, his confusion evident in his young voice, even to himself. "And she kept hitting her brother. Was she mad at him?"

"No. That's just the way most of them behave, Shibi explained. "Where as we need calm and quiet, the Inuzuka family thrive in making as much noise as they possibly can."

"Even Tsume-san?"

"Especially Tsume," his father confided. "She's the worst one out of all of them." Somehow, Shino could believe it. Even to his young eyes, the Inuzuka matriarch looked like a woman that could stir things up into a right chaotic mess if she wanted to.

"They're just…scary." Shino finally said.

"None of Tsume's clan will harm you. Though they may look it, they are mostly a peaceful, if not loud, clan. Don't let them worry you," Shibi said calmly, gesturing for him to continue on with their previous work of watching the forest bugs and gathering the needed data. Shino said nothing else to his father, instead following the instructions given to him.

He needn't worry about the Inuzuka clan, or any of its members. They lived on the opposite side of the village, and rarely had any interaction with any member of his own clan. So he was safe. At least for the time being.

The second time Shino had a run-in with the Inuzuka came one day about six months later, after his Academy class had ended for the day. He had left the building, and was waiting for his father to come get him so they could go home, only to find that the older Aburame was not there yet. The seven year old boy decided to take a seat on one of the benches and wait patiently. He watched behind his dark sunglasses as the rest of the children who were waiting began a game of tag while others found their guardians and headed out, calling out farewells to their friends.

"…don't do that, Kaimaru! Leave Nezumaru alone and behave yourself or I'm going to give your dinner to Gureimaru tonight!" a young girl's petulant voice called out disapprovingly. Shino watched as four figures suddenly blurred into being right next to him. His eyes widened when the smoke cleared and he found none other than the eleven year old genin Hana Inuzuka standing a few feet away from him, embroiled in trying to get one of her canine companions to quit biting the another one. After a few more reprimands, the dogs split up and went to flop down in the evening sunlight, leaving Hana by herself. She took no notice of her surroundings and plopped down on the other end of the bench he was sitting on without so much as a word to him, then took a deep breath and turned to look at him. Apparently she hadn't realized there was a prior occupant to her desired seat.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't take anyone's seat, did I?" she asked apologetically.

"No," Shino said quietly, trying to think of a way to get away from the hyperactive girl he remembered all to well from his first encounter. He didn't care what his father said about them. It had been almost a week before Shino stopped having nightmares of brown dogs with red tattoos attacking him at all hours of the day and night after he'd first seen them. The quiet boy shivered, remembering how he'd woken up shaking and panting those nights and couldn't go back to sleep for hours on end.

And besides, Hana Inuzuka was an older girl. Girls never talked to him…and all the older kids pretty much ignored the younger ones.

What was this girl thinking?

"Hey, you're Aburame-san's son, right?" she asked with a grin. "Shino-chan, right?"

"Yes," he answered politely.

"Nice to meet you, Shino-chan. I'm Hana."

"I know who you are."

"Really?" she asked, only to grin a little and scratch the back of her head sheepishly. "I guess there aren't many who don't recognize these guys, huh?" She motioned to the three grey colored dogs that had gone back to roughhousing in the courtyard. "Kinda hard to miss'em, I guess."

"That is not how I knew you." Shino answered. The wild looking girl cocked her head to one side and waited for him to continue. "You look like one of my classmates." That caused her to grin and nod enthusiastically. Her fangs flashed in the light and Kiba suddenly wondered why that feral grin make him shiver slightly.

"Oh, that's my little brother, Kiba." she said, nodding. "Okaa-san sent me here to get him, but I don't know why he hasn't come out yet. I bet he's in trouble. No telling what he's done now."

"He jumped out of the window of Iruka-sensei's class earlier, along with some other boys." Shino said hesitantly. Hana rolled her eyes and shook her head, apparently all too familiar with her younger sibling's actions.

"Again? Okaa-san isn't going to be happy to hear that." she grumbled. They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a few moments, giving Shino the time he needed to gather his scattered wits. The young Aburame heir was not used to speaking for anyone other than his family or sensei's for extended periods of time since most people knew he was a walking hive for the kikai. Apparently other people found this a bit off-putting. But it didn't seem to bother the genin sitting at his side.

A chorus of squeals cut through the air a few minutes later, and both Hana and Shino were on their feet instantly. Hana's dogs, which had been closer to the half dozen girls who had jumped onto a bench and were wide-eyed and shaking, also went to investigate.

"Get'em away!"

"Stomp on them!"

"They're going to bite us! Then we'll have to go to the hospital!"

"I don't want any shots!"

"What's wrong?" Hana demanded, walking up beside the hysterical girls while Shino stayed back in the relative shadows of the trees, having already spotted the problem before getting any closer.

"Them!" one little blue-haired girl yelled, pointed down at the ground where a handful of black bugs were hopping about. "Get'em away! They're poisonous!"

Shino watched, somewhat amazed when the elder girl gave them an are-you-nuts look. She wasn't running away? That was a surprise. He was actually half expecting her to just stomp on the defenseless bugs and be done with it, like he'd seen others do on countless occasions.

"It's just some crickets. They won't hurt you. Calm down." she said, scooping the little creatures into her palm, causing the younger girls to squeal and back away from her even further. Shino watched as the Inuzuka girl brought the insects over to a shrub and let them lose on one of the lower branches. "There, see. No harm done."

"You're a weird kid," one of the girls commented. Shino saw Hana's back stiffen slightly, and her hands clench into fists for a split second before she relaxed again and faced the rude girl, a grin on her face.

"So I've been told," Hana said, waving them down from the bench. "Now get out of here. You're parents are probably waiting for you outside the gate." The girls seemed relieved, but still watched the genin with wary eyes as they gathered their fallen bags and all but sprinted towards the gates.

Shino could understand their wariness of her though. She was an older girl, and a genin at that. Not only that, Hana also gave off that aura of wildness that accompanied any Inuzuka. Shino had heard other people say that the clan was unstable, and the members would turn on you at the drop of a hat, tearing you limb from limb before you realized what was happening.

To his seven year old mind, Hana Inuzuka didn't seem like the type to rip anything apart, let alone a human…well, at least now that he actually managed to talk to her. She was too nice, too friendly…and too pretty. Shino felt himself turning red at the thought of thinking a girl was pretty…let alone one that was older than him. He managed to tamp down the flush as she reappeared at his side, her arms folded over her chest.

"Bunch of sissies," she said, "Scared of some little bugs."

"You didn't want to kill them?" Shino asked curiously. Hana gave him a questioning look, and he clarified his question. "The bugs, I mean."

"Why would I do that?" Hana asked absently, scratching behind the ears of one of her dogs that had wandered to her side. Shino took note that the dog was almost as big as its mistress. It was even bigger than him, and he was tall for a seven year old. "They didn't do anything."

"Most people do," he answered.

"Well, I don't," Hana answered proudly, as if that settled the discussion. "The only bugs I try to get rid of are fleas or ticks. And that's cause they drive the dogs crazy," The girl grinned even wider and looked over at him. "Don't think you could tell the pests to stay away from the compound, huh?"

Ah, so she did know what he was.

"Only if you tell the strays to keep out of my okaa-san's gardens," he answered without thinking. "They keep digging up her radishes."

"Deal!" the girl said happily, thumping him so hard on the back that he almost fell face first onto the courtyard steps. He readjusted his glasses, hoping the heat he felt coming to his cheeks was not visible to her. Thankfully though, if it was, she didn't comment. The young Aburame was saved from any further embarrassment with the loud arrival of Hana's younger brother Kiba.

"Oy, what you doin' here, nee-san?" the gruff boy demanded, scowling at her as he tumbled out of the Academy building.

"Okaa-san sent me to get you, brat," Hana answered, giving the itinerant seven year old a look that clearly showed her aggravation.

"We don't need no babysitter!" Kiba shot back, followed by a bark of agreement from Akamaru.

"If what I've heard is true, then yes you do." she answered hotly as they continued to stare each other down. Shino took a tentative step backwards. They weren't going to fight right here, were they?

"Who you been listen' to, nee-san?" Kiba asked, sending a suspicious glare towards his classmate. Shino said nothing, and thanked the gods that he didn't even fidget under the scrutiny.

"Doesn't matter who told me. You jumped out of Iruka-sensei's window in the middle of class? Again, Kiba?" Hana demanded with all the authority of an exasperated elder sibling. Shino was suddenly feeling bad for the other boy and wished he hadn't let the truth slip to Hana as to why Kiba was late. Although...it was kind of interesting to see the rambunctious boy put in his place by an older angry sibling.

"I was bored." Kiba answered flippantly.

"Well you can tell that to okaa-san when she asks why we're late getting back to the compound," she said, grabbing Kiba's ear and getting ready to drag him away from the Academy. Shino winced as Kiba yelped and tried to kick his way out of his sister's grip.

"Let go, nee-san!"

"No. You're just going to run off again," she reprimanded, causing Akamaru to let a little bark lose in his partner's defense. The resounding growls from Hana's own three dogs, coupled with the glare the older girl sent the little white puppy, was enough to have Akamaru burrowing underneath Kiba's coat without another whine of protest. She then turned to him, and Shino was surprised to see she was grinning at him again. Talk about mood swings. "We gotta go now, Shino-chan. It was nice meeting you. And remember our deal, ne? Dogs for bugs." She gave a friendly wave to him as she bodily dragged a still protesting Kiba out of the Academy courtyard, her three large canines bringing up the rear and ensuring that should Kiba manage to get out of his sister's grasp, he wouldn't get very far.

"Of course." Shino muttered, watching the brother-sister duo disappear beyond the gates.

"Shino, who are you talking to?" a familiar voice asked. Shino looked up and saw the familiar face of his father.

"No one," he answered quickly. The Aburame clan leader simply nodded and gestured for his son to follow him. The two bug wielders were soon outside the Academy and headed towards the family compound. It was only when they were about to enter into the gates that sectioned off the village's bug users from everyone else and Shino hear his mother's raised voice threatening to string up the stray dogs that were terrorizing her vegetable patch that Shino realized exactly what he'd gotten himself into while talking with Hana.

"Father?" he asked quietly, trying not to fidget uncomfortably as they walked up the flowered path towards their house. "May I ask you something?"

"Yes, Shino?" his father asked, looking down at him.

"Can you teach me to talk to fleas?"

Later,

A.A.

Oh, and please review as I'd love to know what you think.