Author's Note: Thank you to all who favorited/followed/reviewed. Thanks also for being so patient.

Beta: Kalafina94

© Anime by Masashi Kishimoto

Chapter III

Academy

Shinra slid open the door that lead to the back portion of their home, and sure enough, there they both were. Shino and Shibi both stood outside, their insects flying around them—some flying back over to their respective vessel. Shibi turned to look at his daughter as soon as he noticed the new presence in their general area.

"Shinra?" he said, holding up his arms to call back the rest of his bugs. They flew up into his sleeves, just as normal. Shino mimicked him, his own doing the exact same. "What are you doing here? I thought you were out playing with Torune."

She subconsciously fixed her shades on her face, rocking back and forth on her heels just a little. "I was, but Torune wasn't feeling very well. He wanted to come back home." This wasn't exactly a lie; after infecting that feathered creature and his short moment of anguish...Torune, of course, hadn't been in the playing mood anymore.

"Is he alright?" Shino asked, a bit concerned for his surrogate brother. "Is he sick?"

Shinra shook her head. "No, it's nothing like that. Besides," She looked up at her father. "I kinda wanted to talk to you, Daddy." Hearing this, Shino asked Shibi for a brief excusal to go speak with Torune—one that Shibi granted.

As soon as Shino had walked back into the house, Shinra trotted over to Shibi. The older man knelt down and rested a hand atop her head. "What did you need to speak with me about?" he asked, and her cheeks turned pink. She suddenly felt nervous.

"Um..." she trailed, looking down at her feet and pushing her shades up a bit—they'd slipped off of her nose slightly. "...can you train me too?" she meekly asked, not meeting his gaze. She heard nothing from him. Her eyes flickered up to look at his face before she lifted her head back up. His face was mostly covered like always, but she could see that his eyebrows were raised. She wasn't sure if that meant he was surprised or what, really.

"Train you?" he repeated, as if to process what she'd just asked of him. "Why? What makes you ask?"

She chewed on her bottom lip a little. "Because, you're training Shino right now." Her desire to be trained was only partially due to her feeling left out. Not to mention seeing her brother do it made her want to as well. "And I think I can do it, too!"

Shibi tilted his head a little; well, he sure admired her determination. But..."Shinra, it isn't that simple." He ruffled her hair with the hand that had yet to leave her head. "I understand you want to train and that's great. And you will, just not right now. When you're a little older—"

"No!" she exclaimed. He hadn't expected the outburst, it made him pull his hand away from her hair. "You said that last time. I'm not a baby!" But she certainly was beginning to act like one. "If Shino can do it, then I can, too!" she said. It was the first argument that came to her mind. "I wanna start Academy with him!" She really did, she didn't want to have to go through it without him. She might not have been certain if they'd be placed within the same class (she never was sure how the classing system went in the anime/manga), but at least there would be a possibility of it if they started the same year. If she began a year behind him, she probably wouldn't see much of him while there.

She at the very least wanted the familiar face of her older brother there, so she wouldn't feel so...out of place, so to speak. As if she didn't belong. "Why?" She blinked. She hadn't been expecting him to reply back to her outburst with a question.

"Because..." she trailed off hesitantly before trying again. "Because I just want him to be there..."

"You'd still see him, Shinra." Shibi tried to reason.

Shinra shook her head. "You don't know that."

Her father sighed, a bit irritably. "Shinra...please understand that you being a year younger means that you possibly wouldn't be able to perform as well as the other children in the class," he explained, already knowing that the children would be a little more physically developed than her. "You wouldn't be able to mold your chakra as efficiently. You would eventually learn how, but you would most likely start out behind everyone else. I don't know if it would be by a lot, a little, or even at all. But I feel it's best for you to start at the standard age, like every other child."

She shook her head again. "I'm not like every other child." She crossed her arms. "And I know how to control my chakra just fine. I can even control my Kikaichuu!" As she said this, her bugs dug their way out of her arms by her command and began flying around her. "Shino showed me how to do it, see?" She tilted her head down and allowed for her shades to slide down her nose. Giving Shibi a good view of the puppy eyes she was giving him. "At least give me a chance, please?"

He stared at her, contemplating if he should or not. He supposed he could at least let her demonstrate what she claimed to know already, then he could come to a more final decision. It was a lot more fair, after all, than just telling her 'no' and leaving it at that. "...Alright, show me what you can do."

Her eyes widened, then an excited smile stretched across her face.

＼(゜ロ＼)(／ロ゜)／

It was finally the day, the day that would pretty much really begin her life in this universe. The night before she had a bit of trouble going to sleep. There was just too much to think about. The excess brain activity made actual sleep take a while to kick in. Then having to wake up a bit early didn't really help; she had only gotten a few hours at the most. But it was necessary. The distance to the Academy from their house was quite far. It was located near the Hokage Tower, and that particular location was at the very rear of the village.

Though—once she was actually out of bed and doing the average morning routine (eating breakfast, brushing her teeth, getting dressed, etc.)—her constant moving around had eventually woken her up a little. Once her and Shino were finished and their lunches were packed, they set off.

And now, Shibi walked the three children through the Academy gates. As soon as they were fully inside Shibi gave both his son and daughter a one-armed hug, instructing them to go sit with the other children. Torune, of course, stayed back with Shibi and the other adults, with his hands firmly behind his back.

They did as they were told, but as soon as they reached the rear of the small sea of children, Shino sat on the ground. A bit distanced from them all, one might add. Shinra didn't hesitate in taking a seat next to her brother, but she was thankful that she could still clearly see the people up front. It was surprising how many kids actually showed up here.

Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, was there to give them a welcome/introductory speech. A bit of a lengthy one it was, mostly due in part to him going on about the importance of the bonds that they made there. As well as having a "Will of Fire" that burned brighter than the sun and whatnot. She was mostly tuned in and out of it, glancing at Shino as well as the other kids every now and then.

She had caught sight of Kiba, what with his puppy sitting right on top of his head. She also could see Sakura, her blossom pink hair made her stick out like a sore thumb. It barely took her a second to see her. And she'd spotted Shikamaru and Chouji as well (they were seated right next to each other), but no one else from canon other than that. Not that she was exactly trying to find them. More like, she was looking around and just so happened to spot them.

Once the Hokage was through speaking, there was a small moment of applause before he left the grounds.

One by one, the sensei stood front and center with a single clipboard of names, calling those that were in their class. When one was done, they would lead their class inside and the next would stand up. Three sensei did this before it was finally Iruka's turn.

Shinra brought her knees to her chest and clutched at the sleeves of her red coat. Waiting for him to begin.

"...Aburame Shino, Aburame Shinra, Akimichi Chouji..." Shinra lifted her head up, then looked at Shino. He was still looking ahead, right at Iruka. She turned back ahead with a smile on her face.

She heard names being called that were unfamiliar, obviously the students that had served as fill in characters for the class canon-wise. Then she heard the names of the recognizable characters, like Hinata for example. "...Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki N-Naruto—" Iruka's voice had faltered a bit before he coughed into his fist, clearing his throat. Shinra found that to be a little strange.

'I guess Iruka wasn't too keen on Naruto at first...' She figured that with the way he treated Naruto so nicely in canon, he never had a problem with him from the start. But that was clearly just an assumption. Iruka didn't know him yet, so that wasn't the case at the moment.

She'd even heard some gasps and murmurs from some of the parents in the back as well. It was honestly no real wonder as to why.

"... and Yamanaka Ino." He looked up from his list. "If you heard your name called off of this list, please follow me inside in an orderly fashion." Shino, Shinra, and all the other students called stood up from their seated positions. Shinra glanced back at Shibi and Torune, both waving at the two of them. Shinra waved back and turned back around, seeing that Shino had stood there waiting on her to begin walking instead of catching up with the class.

The two of them followed their class inside the building, and Shinra gaped when they all finally entered their new classroom. It was very...large in person. In comparison to how it appeared on television or in the manga, but maybe that was because she was little. The class had bench seating that was designed in the style of an auditorium or a movie theater. The rows went higher each one you went up. There was a large cubby station to put things like their lunch boxes and there were some posters on the walls here and there. Some were purely educational and serious, and others had funny ninja related memes.

Shino, Shinra, and a few other students all took their seats (the two of them sat in one of the high rows, near the door). Everyone else? They were running around, touching and snooping through things. It was actually quite entertaining, it took Iruka a bit of time to get them to settle down and take a seat.

Once he had order, he first went into listing and explaining classroom rules. Of how there was to be no eating or drinking, sleeping, talking over him, the students must show each other respect, and other things of that nature. He also mentioned the penalties of not abiding by these rules, and how it would be in their best interest to just follow them from the start.

Surprisingly, ninja school wasn't seeming that much different from regular school.

He gave everyone name tags to write their names on and stick above the cubby hole they wished to use. Then he assigned books, went over tools and where they were located in the class, how certain ones were to not be touched (like the kunai and shuriken) until it was instructed that they would be needed for the lesson. For the time being, Iruka was simply just explaining the things they needed to know instead of doing any teaching.

It was clear by now that no actual lessons would be given today.

Because of that, only some were paying attention. Shinra could see that some students were beginning to break the rules already, what with Shikamaru already falling asleep and Chouji munching on a little bag of chips.

She glanced at Sakura, who sat on the other side of the room on a row higher than her. Her choppy pink bangs covered her forehead, and she was sitting a bit low in her seat. Swiping her bangs down with her hand to cover her slightly big forehead a little more, quiet as a mouse she was being. It was a bit strange to Shinra. Looking at this timid little girl, she was a real contrast to the tough tsundere that she already knew she would become.

But before coming here, Sakura had been a sheltered child, no? Shinra wasn't very sure, but that would definitely explain her shyness. Being in the constant company of your family, then suddenly being put out in the open around other people? Sitting around a bunch of strangers, people you've never seen before. That sounded a bit intimidating, when you got down to thinking about it. Way to be put out of your comfort zone.

Sakura glanced over at Shinra, noticing through her peripherals that the Aburame girl was looking. Her cheeks tinted pink when she met her gaze and she quickly looked back at the still speaking Iruka. Shinra blinked then turned to look elsewhere. At Naruto, specifically.

There was quite a bit of space around him, no one sat on his row. Any one who was on the row in front or behind him sat far away. Shinra pursed her lips in thought.

As many laws as the Hokage had come up with to keep people quiet about Naruto's "situation" (as well as keeping the children of his generation from finding out), there were still some obvious issues. Starting with the fact that the other children stilldisliked and feared him, despite never being told anything. Simply because they picked up on their parents fear and weariness of him.

Some thought Naruto was the Kyuubi in a human form, others thought that he would lose control of the beast and release him—ultimately recreating that devastating event from the night he was born. It was ridiculous, just nothing but speculation stemming from silly fear (fear that was still understandable, she supposed).

While it could be worse, the constant feelings of isolation and being ignored were still damaging. As she could remember Naruto telling Sasuke in Shippuden, he himself could have turned out just as bad. And he was sort of right, but Shinra felt it wouldn't have been on a level like Sasuke's. Or even Gaara's.

Gaara. His situation, while still very similar to Naruto's, was a bit of a different case. They grew up the same, no friends, lonely. The only difference was that Naruto was only ignored (with the exception of dirty looks from time to time). Gaara had assassins sent after him quite often. He felt like there was absolutely no way out of that cycle, that if people didn't care about him, then he didn't have to either. It didn't help that the one person he thought loved him tried to kill him; that was just the last straw.

Because of factors that were out of his control, Gaara unfortunately just became a victim of circumstance. He turned homicidal and uncaring.

At the moment (though she couldn't see his face), Naruto seemed a bit sullen. He kept his head low and he was being just as quiet as Sakura. Thinking back to the boisterous ball of energy she recalled him being, he was acting out of character as well.

But they were only kids, events that happened that changed them later on haven't occurred yet.

＼(゜ロ＼)(／ロ゜)／

At the end of the day, the students spilled out of the building. Some were sitting outside for people who hadn't arrived yet and others going straight to their parents or older siblings who were already waiting on them.

When Shino and Shinra stepped outside and searched the front entrance for their father, they instead saw Torune. She wasn't shocked or anything, but she assumed their father would be here to pick them up.

I guess he's busy.

As they were walking towards him, Sasuke jogged past. Running straight to his brother, Itachi. She stared at him, a bit surprised to see him. He looked so different. He had a smile on his face. He was happy. Looking at his face...it made her think about the things he would end up doing. Killing his own family, messing with Sasuke's head and joining the Akatsuki. Even though his intentions would be anything but good from the very start, all the pain that would result from the massacre...

"Shinra," she heard Shino call. She broke from her thoughts and saw her brother was a bit far from her. She noticed that she'd stopped walking when her gaze fell upon the elder Uchiha. "What are you doing?"

She shook her head, muttering "nothing" while jogging to catch up. He began walking again when she fell into step, and watched as Sasuke and Itachi left.

"How was your first day?" Torune asked once the two were within earshot. Shino made some sort of undecipherable sound, which told Torune that the day wasn't very interesting for him. It was enough of an answer.

"I liked it," Shinra stated while the three began to walk home. "Iruka-sensei's really nice, and the classroom's reeaally big!" She said, gesturing just how big with her hands. "We get to sit where we want cause there aren't any assigned seats and stuff. I got to sit next to Nii-san."

Torune gave a small smile. "That's nice. Did you make any new friends?"

"Um...well, no," she answered truthfully. "We didn't really talk to anyone. We kind of just kept to ourselves." Torune's smile fell a little, and he nodded. "But I saw a lot of people."

"Like who?" he inquired.

"Well, there's this doggy boy. He gets to bring his puppy to class." She chuckled when she remembered. "At lunch, a bunch of the girls wanted to pet him. The doggy, I mean. I think his name is Kiba."

"The dog?"

"No, the boy," Shinra corrected. "I heard him calling the dog Akamaru. He talks to him a lot." Which was normal (considering his clan), even though Akamaru didn't respond with anything outside a bark or a howl.

"So he's from the Inuzuka clan." He'd figured that out as soon as she said this boy had a dog with him.

"Yeah, sure," she said. "And there's that blonde-haired boy."

"Naruto," Shino added.

So he was in their class? Torune saw him walking outside. He also saw some mothers quickly pull their children away from him, none of them hesitating to shoot him a look while doing so. A look that wasn't very nice.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" Torune asked. "Him?"

Shinra nodded; she wondered if Torune had a problem with him as well. "Yeah, people avoided him all day." She looked up at the oldest in their trio. "And some people treated him kind of weird, too. That's not very fair. Do you think that's fair, Torune?"

"No." She kind of expected an answer like that. He of all people knew what that felt like.

"How do you feel about that then?"

"I don't know him, and he doesn't know me either," he answered. "While his treatment may not be fair, it's also none of my concern." He looked down at her. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," she replied, looking down at her moving feet. "Just curious, I guess."

＼(゜ロ＼)(／ロ゜)／

A month into the Academy, everyone had gotten into the groove of things. The students had gotten used to each other's presence, cliques had long since been formed, familiarity with the classroom and school were made, and most of all, the class had a good idea of just how low Iruka's tolerance was by how often Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, and even Naruto got into trouble for breaking the rules. Ultimately, they had to stay after school quite often.

Like usual, both Shino and Shinra showed no real interest in interacting with the other children. So, as always, they kept within the comfortable company of each other. If Torune ever questioned their interaction with other people, she would just tell him a story of what Naruto or some other child did in class or at lunch. That always seemed to work.

Shinra, quite frankly, had little to no interest in any of them anyway (aside from watching what the canon characters did, out of curiosity), and so did Shino. Mostly because you can't get along with everyone. People were different. Whether she liked it or not, kids around this school ground had and gave labels. Labels that were by now well established. Ino was a popular social butterfly, Sakura was Ino's "shadow" (or conjoined twin, she heard someone jokingly say once), Hinata was just a plain old shrinking violet who barely made eye contact with people, Sasuke was even one of the cool kids himself (even though he couldn't have cared less).

Chouji was even considered "that fat kid that eats all the time", up until he beat up the kid he heard say it. Maybe he still is, but certainly the other children knew better than to say that around him now.

They were all like puzzle pieces, there were ones that fit in like Ino and Sasuke. But then, you had those pieces you could do without, the ones that just didn't really belong. That's where her, Shino, and others fell.

If you were a bit weird, quiet, just different overall, then you stood out. Ultimately, you were noticed immediately, and sometimes that just wasn't a good thing.

Every class (that was within the same year) was let out for lunch at the same time. As always, she and Shino stuck together, and she would watch everyone else. During this time, she would observe how the kids interacted with each other.

She saw boys chasing each other around, throwing handseals that most likely weren't the actual signs, and guessed that they were playing ninja. A group of girls, Ino and Sakura's friends, sat together eating. Some people kept by themselves, like Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata. Some kids messed with each other, either playfully or seriously. Sometimes she wondered if she liked watching people a bit too much.

Sakura getting up to throw away her empty box caught her eye. As soon as the pink haired girl made it to a bin and tossed it, Ami had stepped up to her.

Ami was someone who regularly teased Sakura. The girl not only looked different, but she acted different from everyone as well. Ami started to pick on her as soon as she picked up on it, especially so when Sakura hardly did anything to defend herself. Whether it was her big-ish forehead or her hair, Ami always found something. The girl was no different from the usual bully their age. She put on a nice girl act whenever a teacher or adult figure was around, then turned into an obnoxious brat when they were gone.

Sometimes she wondered if Ami even had manners to begin with. She didn't act that way everywhere she went, right?

As usual, Ino would come to Sakura's defense whenever she saw the purple-haired girl near her friend. Ino was always quick with witty comebacks and quips, and they would go back and forth until Ami finally got mad and left the two alone. Just like right now.

Ami and her two friends stalked past them, Ami fuming with an embarrassed blush spreading across her cheeks. Shinra watched them walked past with a giggle. The look on her face was funny, while her friends tried to tell her that Ino was just stupid and didn't know what she was talking about.

Now, one of them just so happened to see the Aburame girl's head turn to them. She stopped walking, spinning her body in her direction and putting her hands on her hips. "What are you looking at?" the girl asked with narrowed eyes. This made Ami stop and look at her friend. And then she turned to Shinra with a scowl.

"What?" she questioned, turning all the way around and crossing her little arms. Shinra looked a bit taken aback by the force of her question. When she didn't reply to her, Ami raised an eyebrow. "Wait, I know you," she said. "You're that creepy weird girl that's always playing with bugs!"

"Ewww!" Her friends chimed. Shinra scoffed under her breath. She doesn't "play" with them.

"I bet they're crawling all over you," She smirked. "And I bet you've got flees, too." She chuckled. "Need a flee bath, bug girl? Maybe you can take one with Kiba." Both her and her friends broke out in laughter after that joke.

Shinra's mouth fell open a little. She saw what this was. She was chased away from Sakura and now she set her sights on someone else. And she set them on Shinra, just because she happened to be looking? That wasn't very fair. But she wasn't gonna say anything. She was better than that. You don't feed a fire. Leave it alone and it'll put itself out eventually.

"I can feel my intelligence dropping whenever you open your mouth," Shino said from beside his sister, after swallowing some food. "Maybe you should keep it shut."

Ami blinked. She hadn't expected for him to say anything at all, much less something like that. Though she quickly wiped the surprise from her face, narrowing her eyes again. "And just who are you supposed to be?"

"Her brother," he coolly answered.

Ami scoffed. "Well duh."

"If it was that obvious, then why would you ask?" Shino inquired.

"...Shut up!" she exclaimed, not having any way of answering his question. Or, at least, not an answer that wouldn't make her look foolish. "You're just as weird as she is! And I clearly wasn't talking to you anyway, so keep out of it!"

"You're right. You weren't talking to me," he stated as he sat his bento to the side. Slowly, he stood. "But I'm also not going to sit by while you're being rude to my Imouto."

Ami's friends both took a step back, while Ami tensed up. "What's that suppose to mean, is that a threat?" While she tried to keep her voice strong, Shinra could hear the slight tremor in it. "What are you gonna do about it, beat me up or something?" She pointed a finger at him. "Hit me and I'll tell your sensei on you!"

"No, I won't hit you. I don't want to fight you, and I'm sure you wouldn't want me to," he stated. Then all three girls' eyes widened when the saw the mini swarm of bugs flow from his sleeves. "But, then again, I'm sure you wouldn't want hundreds of insects eating away at your flesh either." At first, they stood there, wide eyed and frozen before breaking out into peals of shrieks and ran off screaming when the Kikaichuu got close.

Shinra watched them run off to the school building, yelling for their teacher, then looked up at Shino. Well, guess you could just douse the fire with water. That works good, too. But, now, what if he got into trouble?

"I didn't care about any of that." She really didn't; her teasing was at a child's level. "You didn't have to scare her off."

"Yes I did," Shino said as he recalled his bugs and sat back down. He said it in a way that told her "and leave it at that" and she did. Her mouth grew into a small smile, a little touched at how he genuinely cared.

Author's Note: Sorry if this felt rushed, I'm trying to establish the Academy days while at the same time trying to get them out of the way. Thanks for reading.

I'd appreciate you leaving your opinion behind, instead of ghost reading. Your opinion is love.