Mother worked at a restaurant. I found this out about three months after my first birthday, when mother finished up her maternity leave. To be honest, I was surprised this world even had maternity leave, but then the civilian world of Naruto was never well explored. Actually, the health side of the world wasn't explained much either, outside of brief glimpses at Sakura's training under Tsunade. Before mother left maternity leave I hadn't given it much thought- it was not an immediate effect on my family or myself, so why should I have even considered it?

But now, with a civilian mother and a shinobi father (and brother in the not-so-close future), I should probably look into the systems, check the limitations and freebies which applied to us.

Applied to me.

I was applicable to-

Sitting there, in the workers room all alone with only Shino by my side, I began to panic.

A whole year; a whole year and three months, and I only just realised the issue, the problem with my existence. I shouldn't have one- I shouldn't have been born, I shouldn't have been created. The timeline, the characters I'd learned and the story which I'd loved- they were no more, simply because I was born! Shivers ran down my spine, shook my hands, and I trembled where I sat. Sure, I hadn't done anything intentional yet, but even my pure existence- Shino would be more family based than he was in the tale, and knowing me could change or interrupt thought patterns that would've occurred and lead to-

"Shiko."

Okay, maybe I was over reacting. But then, it was entirely possible that I wasn't, too. It was just, it was impossible to tell.

"Shi." Two hands covered my eyes, and my hands twitched. Sandpapery bark and minty leaves drifted around my nose. Shino.

"Shiko." I folded forward into him, and we clung to each other, his hands shifting to the back of my neck.

That was right. The future didn't matter- I had to stop looking there. I had to live in the moment, live now. The joy of the moment; I had to make other's feel it. My hands tightened on Shino's shirt. They had to know the joy of family.

Maternity leave existed for both ninja and civilians alike, I later discovered. At the very least, within Konoha it did. Civilian maternity leave lasted until the child was a year old. My mother had possessed an extended leave because she was, technically, still on leave with Shino when she gave birth to me. Children within shinobi villages are view in a way very different to my previous world, especially during and directly after a time of war. After all those who are sent out to war have to be able to look after themselves, and that's just the reality of it all. Civilian jobs are, unfortunately, viewed in a very negative light, though. Hence, while civilians get until they're child is a year old for maternity leave, kunoichi receive all the time until their children become qualified genin, which is an average of ten years.

It was fairly backwards, the way this world viewed civilians, honestly. Even in the way they were portrayed in the show, the civilians were viewed as 'background noise'- unnecessary and generally unwanted. It's remarkably easy for one to forget that without civilians ninja wouldn't have missions, trade, or downtime restaurants, shops and bars. Regardless, this backwards view heavily influenced the service civilians got when it came to many things, such as governmental influence, medical aid and retail service.

But the reality was, military force was everything- both in this world, and in my last. Those with power got better deals, and those who didn't had to settle with what they had. It was unfair. It was unjust.

It was cruel.

My legs were getting strong enough to walk on, and it was a usual sight to see me waddling from room to room with Shino holding onto my hands. He'd been walking by my fifth month as Shiko, but had felt no need to explore- both inside and out. Me though? I wanted to see everything, memorise every inch of my new dwellings.

Despite my appalling environmental awareness (and consequential clumsiness), I had always adored houses and their layouts. Perhaps it was the creative spirit I got from my mother playing up, but I loved to see all the furnishings laid out, and all the possibilities for all the blank rooms. Once I spent around twelve hours straight just designing houses on my old and outdated Sims game. All the possibilities, all the life that could come from the rooms, I thrived on it.

Hence, I wanted to get to know here. And once I was done with the inside of the house, I would get to know the clan grounds. And once we were done there, I was going to memorise the layout of all of Konoha (somehow).

"You're learning to walk." I blinked up at Shino, and he stared down at me. "Don't get ahead of yourself." I looked away, sheepishly.

There were few things that got me worked up- whether that energy came from excitement or anger- but art was definitely one of them. Puzzles and family were the only other two that came to mind. I suppose, in that way, I had always been a simple person to understand. Really it was no surprise that my new brother had come to know me so well, having spent a full year and a bit with only each other (and occasionally our parents) for company. People had always been able to guess what I was thinking and what I was going to do. Shino was no different.

But then…

I looked up, and smiled happily. I could see his eyes squint in return under his (newly obtained and absolutely adorable) sunglasses.

Perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing.

Aburame had surprisingly high stamina and extremely high chakra reserves. I'd found this out after father started teaching us to stick the autumn leaves to our forehead. It took me a while before I could do this without shredding the leaf into pieces, but once I'd figured out the trick (it was that feeling, that trickle down the back of your throat, that tightness in your stomach, direct that rage and passion into the front of your head and bam!- concentrated chakra) I could hold it there for a good minute before I got exhausted. Perhaps not as good as your average genin, but as a year old kid? Absolutely amazing.

When you thought about it, though, it really wasn't that shocking. Aburame had to constantly supply chakra for the creatures nesting within, along with being able to pull of chakra enhancement and jutsu of various types. Altogether it was an incredible amount of energy exertion, and required a deadly long stamina. It was almost a shame that we specialised in tracking rather than combat- in conjunction with the general fear of bugs shared among the population, we could have been a deadly force.

But no one could track quite as effortlessly as an Aburame and their kikaichu could, and so we were pushed to the tracking teams.

Still, I couldn't bring myself to object. We died less, you know? The family were still together, safe. It made me selfishly happy.

When I was one year, five months and twenty two days old mother stopped taking us to work with her. Apparently two was the age children were considered capable of taking care of themselves and their younger siblings in Konoha. Ridiculous in my opinion, but then I suppose there would be many points in my life where I'd feel everyone was wonky in their perspective. Waddling through the clan grounds with Shino, though, I couldn't bring myself to regret this opportunity. With my hand in his, I gazed around the outside world with blatant fascination.

Previously I'd always had difficulty going outside, having a large fear of bugs and open water. Living as a nest for kikaichu, however, had slightly reworked that first fear of mine. Now I could wander barefoot over the grass and gaze out at the architectural beauty of the clan without fear whispering at the corner of my-

Shino let go of my hand.

Jaws waggled, and I nibbled at the creme brulee, swinging my feet softly as a distraction, entertainment, safety net. The get-togethers with our brother school were both a relief from and a great source of pain for me. The girls were entered, distracted, focused, flirting. The teachers were busy as always, distracted, and I was lost in the crowd. No attention was directed to me.

Relief.

And when it was?

Pain.

"What do you think?"

No one answered. He must be asking me. I didn't look at him. A foot connected forcefully with my knee cap, and I looked away.

"Don't mind her, I don't think she even speaks English. She's an idiot, anyway."

Attention. Too much attention.

Look away.

Please.

I didn't want to-

"Shi!" There were tears in my eyes for some reason? I didn't understand. I looked into my brothers dark, dark glasses. His voice had grounded me, pulled me back, from… from what? What had I? Why was I crying?

"Did you get the, um…" What had he been getting again? Disbelief filtered into my brother's expression, and he looked away from me.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to…" Had I prevented him getting the bug? I was such a bother, I don't even remember why I called him back to me. God, I was an idiot. "I'm sorry, Shi."

Silently he pulled me close, and we sat there for the next hour, identifying every insect which crawled past us.

Apparently I was having black outs. I couldn't recall having them, but Shino told me this wasn't the first time I'd been unresponsive. I never said anything during these episodes, never twitched or spasmed, but apparently I just sat there, staring out into space like nothing mattered at all.

He didn't say it, but it scared Shino. I could see it in his arms, the way he held them out, around me, but hesitant, holding back slightly. Protective, but unsure if the danger was from outside or from within. Quietly I leant in, attempting to consolidate him, thank him.

"I don't know." Quietly, my words bubbled slightly, sounding chubby and young on my tongue. "I don't remember what happens."

"I let go." Shino grasps my hand, holding tight. A couple of his kikaichu scrambled over, and I sent a couple of my own back in return. We'd slowly been mingling our nests, crossing them over so that it was always easy to identify and locate one another. It had to be slow, though, because cross breeding was highly frowned upon as a casual pastime in the clan. With the lifespan of the kikaichu, it was far to easy to mess about and extinguish a subspecies completely. It was why each Aburame could only host one subspecies ever, and all other subspecies had to be carried in glasses and tubes. It was too dangerous, too easy to turn out advantage into a disadvantage.

"I won't do it-"

"You have to!" He had to. Oh god, he was going to have to leave me behind. I couldn't hold him back, fate needed to play out, my big brother would have to take his place in the plot. He had to go to the academy by himself, he had to graduate by himself, he had to be in a team with Kiba and Hinata, he had to be in the Chunin exam disaster, he had to… he had to abandon me.

"I won't." Stubborn ass. I stared up at his chubby, immature two year old face, determination burning in his core. Though logically I knew it was impossible, I sometimes felt the determination of an older sibling could easily out do the determination of a knucklehead like Naruto, someone who just didn't know that they couldn't. His refusal reminded me of lessons with my own little brother, of my refusal to move on without my sibling.

There was no way to dissuade him.

I looked at my hands, soft and chubby in his.

Then I'd have to move up too. If I couldn't let him go down a level, and I couldn't make him leave me, then I would simply have to move up a level. I began calculating furiously. There were only five months between us; depending on the cut off date, I could probably make it into Shino's year. If I could get father to teach us more, if I practice daily…

It wasn't likely. But it wasn't impossible.

I looked at Shino, at his determination, at his stubbornness and his refusal to leave a friend behind. His love, his will, his completely Konoha way of thinking, even as a two-year old.

Yeah, I could do this.

If I can ask, what do you guys think of my writing style in this story? Is it too disjointed, with too many stops and starts, and is it on track enough for you, or do you want more side-sections, more exploration and happiness sections?

Thank you for reading!