My Butterfly, a naruto fanfic

My Butterfly

Author's Note: This was a request from XxLovelikeWoahxX. She wanted to see a Hinata x Shikamaru or a Hinata x Shino story. So I decided to try out Hinata x Shino in this one shot. We'll see how it "feels" and what the reception is. If it gets a good reception and I find that I enjoy writing this pairing, maybe I'll do a longer Shino x Hinata story at some point. All reviews are greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit off of any of my stories.

Timeline: Set a bit after the war with Madara. We'll just say that Shino and Hinata are both 18.

Chapter One

Shino was glad that he wore glasses. It made it easy to hide the fact he was rolling his eyes. Again.

Of course like most ninjas, he admired Naruto. The man had helped to save the world. He was still irritated that the blonde hadn't remembered his name. But that was a minor thing compared to his greatest "sin" in Shino's eyes.

"How can he not notice that she's in love with him?" Shino shocks his other teammate by voicing his question.

Shino rarely talked. It wasn't that he was shy. He just felt that words had more impact if you used them wisely.

"I don't know. What does she have to tattoo it across her head?" He replies.

"For the savior of the ninja world, he is so…oblivious." Shino mutters.

"Yeah. Well it's late. I'll see you tomorrow." Kiba says and departs for his home.

He sighs as he walks home, with his hands in his pockets. The introverted ninja had long ago accepted that his beautiful teammate was in love with another. The insect lover wanted her to be happy. If being with Naruto made her happy, then he'd live with that. But of course, Naruto was too oblivious to even notice his "sacrifice."

Could you sacrifice something you never had? It's not like she had ever viewed him anything other than a teammate or a friend. But he felt like it should still count.

Meanwhile Hinata was at the Hyuga Estate and having tea with her father. That fact alone terrified Hinata. Hiashi was not a very affectionate man. Rarely did spend time with his daughters or other family members merely for the sake of family bonding. This meant something was on the Hyuga Patriarch's mind.

Her father was like a mountain in her mind. He was massive and unyielding. No matter how hard she tried, she would never be able to scale it to reach his heart.

She would always lose her footing and fall down into unforgiving depths below of his disappointment. Each disappointed look, like a kunai driven straight through her heart again and again.

"Hinata, you are eighteen now. You are a woman and of age. Right now I should be instructing you in how to lead our clan. But I'm afraid that is not possible. Your skills have grown. But you are still entirely too soft hearted to be suited for this task. This is…regrettable. You are my eldest. You are the natural heir. Your sister is still too young to be considered a replacement. Removing you of your heir status, would disgrace you. I have no desire to do this." He says.

"Father, I can lead! I've gotten m-uch stronger." She says.

"Yet, you still stutter like a girl. The Council will quickly manipulate you. It is not because you are unintelligent. You are simply too trusting and too eager to please everyone." He continues.

"Father, I can do this." She protests.

"The ideal solution would be for you to marry someone from another clan. It would forget a new alliance or strengthen an old one. Then your sister would be the natural heir. Perhaps you could find happiness elsewhere." He says.

"Father…" She pleads.

"I am not marrying you off immediately. I would prefer it be a husband of your choosing. There is no need to rush. Your sister is a few years from being old enough to assume the mantle of Clan Head. I just wanted you to start thinking about your sister. I truly am sorry." He says and walks off.

Hinata chokes back her sobs. She runs out of the building and races towards the Forest of Death. She needed to be alone. No one else would be there. She could shred her tears in privacy.

"Not again. Why? Why am I never enough." She says as silent tears stream down her cheeks.

It was bad enough that Naruto would never notice her as anything but a friend. But now her own father? Her own father was practically begging herself to disown herself through marriage. Granted, he was at least kind enough to allow her to save face by doing that instead of disowning her or stripping her of her title now. But still that cut like a knife.

Shino was unaware of his teammate's inner turmoil. Currently, he was walking through the Shopping District of the village. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the sunlight reflect off something small and beautiful.

"Can I see that?" Shino asks as he walks over to one of the booths.

It was a jewelry booth, he noticed. He saw hundreds of pieces. They ranged from inexpensive items that were clearly designed for children to stunning ones that were clearly intended to be given to someone's most precious person.

"Of course." The owner of the booth says and hands it to Shino to examine.

It was a silver chained necklace with a glass butterfly as the centerpiece. He smiles. It would make the perfect birthday gift for Hinata.

Shino came from a clan that had made its name based off its association with insects. It was only natural that insects would remind him of people he knew. Kiba for instance was definitely a bumblebee. He was a social creature, loud, loyal, and determined. Kurenai was a ladybug. She was beautiful and kind. Everyone loved her. Neji was an ant. He was always very practical and driven to protect the colony.

"I'll take it." He says with a smile.

Hinata used to be a caterpillar. Cute, but overlooked. Perhaps as a bit odd. No one considered a caterpillar a threat. But now she was a beautiful butterfly, in the process of emerging from her cocoon.

Years ago, they had been placed on the same team. First he had accessed his new teacher. She was beautiful. She was kind. She was unassuming.

Shino decided that they were lucky. They had gotten the most normal Sensei possible. He mentally sent a thank you to the Gods for not giving him Guy as a teacher. That green spandex was disturbingly form fitting.

"Hey! I'm Kiba." His teammate had said.

Shino had merely nodded his head at the other boy. He was loud. But he seemed friendly. He was far too easily excited. But Shino didn't mind him much. Clearly, Kiba expected more of a greeting. He seemed almost hurt by Shino's standoffishness. Shino offers him his hand for a handshake. Kiba takes it and shakes. This seemed to pacify him a bit.

His last teammate was the most interesting. She was quiet, like him. But unlike Shino, it was because she was shy. Hinata was fairly talkative, but she had an adorable little stutter.

She was kind, he noted by the fact that she had been genuinely upset during the Academy's Survival Skills lesson. They had to learn how to hunt wild game. She'd seen someone kill a rabbit and had mourned for the furry creature.

"Hello." He had said to her.

"He-llo." She had mumbled back.

It was her eyes that drew him to her thought. It wasn't because of the Byakugan. Shino was the type of person that wasn't easily impressed by a pedigree. No, it was how expressive they were.

If Hinata was happy, her eyes would light up. If she was sad, you could see the unshed tears. If she was determined, the skin around her eyes would crinkle adorably. You could tell exactly how she felt just by looking at her beautiful lavender eyes. He'd never seen anything like it.

He hadn't known it that day, but he'd fallen in love. It was unlikely that any twelve year old boy would recognize when the love bug had bitten him. But it had. He'd fallen hard.

He'd contented himself with the role of being her teammate, her friend, and her protector. Just like Kiba, but quieter. He didn't need to speak. Hinata knew what he wanted to say, without him saying it. He appreciated her ability to understand institutively what was on his mind.

She would have made a good counselor, he thought to himself. God knows the Leaf could use more of them. Almost everyone was only a step or two away from insanity.

One had to be partially insane to want to be a ninja in the first place, he reasoned. Most ninjas would never make it to thirty. Yes, it was crazy to willingly subject yourself to likely an early and violent death. But that didn't stop them. For most ninjas, it was in their blood.

"A ninja can no more give up their headband, than a butterfly can give up their wings." He mutters to himself, after he paid for his purchase.

Meanwhile in the Forest of Death, Hinata tries to compose herself. She knew she couldn't hide here forever. Someone would eventually come looking for her, probably her teammates. She didn't want them to see her like this.

"Kiba might actually attack father if he knew what happened." She mumbles.

The canine lover was by far the most aggressive and assertive of their team. You could always count on Kiba to be full of energy and well yeah, he was a little on the loud side.

"That's okay though. It balances the team out." She says, realizing that she and Shino were both quiet by nature.

Kurenai was the best Sensei she could have asked for. She was so understanding about the fact Hinata was shy. She handled Kiba's boisterous nature with ease. Oh and once in awhile, she actually got Shino to say more than two words in a row. She remembered one of her private training sessions with her teacher.

"Hinata, you are stronger than you know. You just need more confidence. Let's work on your dodging." She says with a smile.

"Oka-y." She says unsurely.

"Don't worry. It's instinct." She informs her and hurls some kunais at Hinata.

Hinata was fast. She was flexible. If there was one thing that she was good at, it was dodging.

Years later, Hinata would realize Kurenai probably knew that. It was likely her new teacher had access to their progress reports from the Academy. She had started off with something ease to try to build her confidence. Kurenai was kind like that.

Finally, there was Shino. Shino was the quietest member of their team. Actually, he was the quietest of the Rookie Nine. It probably wouldn't be a stretch to say he was the quietest member of the Leaf Village.

That was alright though. Shino might not say much. But he cared. She knew this. He had proved that he viewed Hinata and Kiba as precious to him numerous times. More than once, he had leapt to their defense in battle. (Well more accurately, his insects had. But it still counted!)

It was their first "real" mission. They were going on a diplomatic mission of sorts. Their job was to deliver a scroll to another village. Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned. They were attacked by bandits.

"Aren't you a pretty little thing? And those eyes of yours are worth a fortune." One of the bandits had said, when he cornered Hinata.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Shino had yelled.

It was the first time she heard him talk, other than muttering that hello on their first day of the team. She was just as stunned as her attackers. That's when Shino had sicked a swarm of Killer Bees on them. It had been gruesome.

"Are you okay?" He asked, flitting to her side.

"I think so. W-hy aren't they attacking me too?" She had asked.

"Because I don't want them too. They realize you are member of my hive, so to speak." He told her.

"Oh…they are very smart." She mumbled.

"Smarter than most people." He agreed and helped her out of there.

The next day, Shino goes to meet his team. He noticed that despite Hinata's best efforts, her eyes were still puffy. She had clearly been crying.

"Hinata, what's wrong?" Kiba asks.

Kiba had noticed too, it seemed. He looks at their other teammate in concern. What could have possibly caused her to cry so many tears?

"No-thing, Kiba." She answers.

"Hinata, you aren't a very good liar. If someone hurt you, we wanna know. We'll kick their asses." Kiba promises her.

"No one hurt me, well at least not like that." She mumbles.

Shino takes that moment to slip off. Kiba would keep Hinata distracted. The insect lover thought he had a very good idea of who might have distressed the beautiful heiress so.

Hinata's birthday was today. She was old enough to begin her official training to take over the Hyuga Clan. He'd bet his life that Hiashi had said something cruel to her. Whether it was intentionally cruel or unintentionally, it mattered little to Shino.

No one hurt his butterfly and got away with it. He didn't give a damn that Hiashi was the Head of a Noble Clan. He wasn't going to overlook this transgression.

"I would like to speak with Lord Hiashi." He says when he arrives at the door of the Hyuga Estate.

"I will ask him if he is willing to meet with you. Is he expecting you?" One of the Hyugas asks.

Shino honestly, wasn't sure what this person's name was. Other than Hinata and Neji, most of the Hyugas were interchangeable to him. They all looked so much alike.

Privately he wondered if maybe too many interclan marriages were going on and diluting the gene pool a little bit too much. He wisely kept these thoughts to himself though. He had no wish to offend his teammate or start a clan feud between his clan and the Hyugas.

"No. I shall wait." He says and the Hyuga nods, heading off to find Lord Hiashi.

It didn't take long for Hiashi to arrive at the door. He raises an eyebrow. The imposing man's eyes looked Shino over from head to toe. He knew that he was being quietly judged. Whether he had been assessed positively or negatively, he didn't know. Shino didn't care. He was here for Hinata.

"Shino, was it? You are on Hinata's team. Is she injured?" He asks.

"She is not injured physically. Emotionally, is another matter. I am aware it is her birthday today. Perhaps I'm being presumptuous, but I believe you might have had a conversation with her regarding her heir status." Shino states.

"You are being presumptuous. But she is fortunate to have a teammate who cares for her enough to be so…rash. It is unfortunate, but she is not fit to lead this clan. She is far too kind hearted. I'm certain that you realize this. You must. You have been on her team for years. You know how tender her heart is." He murmurs.

"Her heart is far stronger than you give her credit for. She would make an excellent Clan head. If you can see it, it is you who isn't fit to lead." He says.

"How dare you speak to me in such a fashion?!" Hiashi thunders at him.

"Someone should have done it a long time ago. You've been allowed to hurt her for far too long. I don't know if you did it intentionally or not. But the end result is the same. She lacks confidence because of you." He snaps.

Meanwhile, back at the team meeting sight, Hinata blinks. Where did Shino go? Her eyes widen. He wasn't there.

She bites her lower lip. Shino was smart. He knew today was her birthday. The other ninja probably could fill in the gaps about what had upset her. That could only mean one thing. He had gone to see her father.

"I gotta go! I'll be back soon. I just remembered my family was having a special birthday breakfast!" She lies and races towards her family's home.

Hinata got there. She saw Shino talking to her father. She had clearly come in during the middle of their conversation. Curious, she hides and decides to listen in. Hopefully, she wouldn't need to intervene.

Hinata winces here. Yes, Shino had figured it out. He knew that she was one step away from being disgraced. It was bad enough to know it herself. It was utterly humiliating for her teammate to be aware of her desperate situation.

The bluenette winced. Her own father had basically told Shino that she was too weak to lead. It hurt. It was salt in the open wound. She hadn't gotten over the sting of rejection yet. This was yet another blow to her self confidence.

"Her heart is far stronger than you give her credit for. She would make an excellent Clan head. If you can see it, it is you who isn't fit to lead." Hinata quietly gasps when she hears Shino challenge her father.

"How dare you speak to me in such a fashion?!" Hiashi thunders at him and Hinata worried that it might actually come to blows.

"How dare you?! You are fortunate that she is standing right over there, otherwise I would throttle you." He warns him.

"Hinata is here?" He asks and blinks.

"Yes, my eyes see everything. She is standing behind that corner." Hiashi points out.

"Hinata…" Shino says.

"It's okay Shino. I understand why he doesn't want me to be the Clan head. He's right…" She says sadly and looks down at her feet.

"He's wrong, Hinata." Shino says and forces her to look at him.

"I'm not wrong. This is for her own good!" Hiashi snaps.

"He still sees you as a caterpillar. But you aren't anymore. You're a butterfly. He's the cocoon and is preventing you from spreading your wings. I got you this…for your birthday." He mutters and hands her something.

Hinata blinks. She looks down at her hand. There was a beautiful butterfly necklace in her hand. She smiles. It was nice of Shino to remember her birthday and to stick up for her. But the fact remained that Hiashi was right.

"Thank you. It's beautiful." She mumbles.

"Just like you then." He says and pulls her hair off the nape of her neck, sliding the necklace onto her.

Hinata blushes. No one had ever called her beautiful before. His hands felt warm on her neck. There was a pleasant tingling sensation, that shouldn't quite identify.

"How dare you speak of things you do not understand? I am protecting her!" Hiashi says.

"You are stifling her. You might think you are protecting her, but you can't keep her in the cocoon forever. She needs to be able to fly. Stop clipping her wings." He says with a scowl.

"You love her…" Hiashi states.

It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact. It was written clear as day on the other man's face. He wouldn't have dared to challenge Hiashi like this if there weren't real feelings there.

That was a beautiful piece of jewelry. Far too personal to have been given from just one friend to another. No that was something one might get their lover.

"You're right. I do. But I'm not you. I let her make her own decisions. She decided she loves Naruto. I respect that. If she wants to lead the Clan, you should respect that decision. That's what love is. Trusting someone else to make their own decision and placing their happiness about your own." He says.

Hinata blinks. This was the most she had ever heard Shino talk. He loved her? Did he mean as a friend or as a lover? She looks at him uncertainly.

"I mean you are my most precious person, Hinata. You always have been. It's alright. I understand that you only view me as a friend. I'm okay with that. I just want you to be happy. And you aren't going to be happy if you allow your father to tell you that you aren't good enough. Because it is not the truth. You are more than good enough." He states.

"Thank you," She mumbles in astonishment.

"Marry him." Hiashi says.

"What?!" Hinata asks.

"He loves you. You could marry outside the clan. It would gain us a good alliance. You could be happy with him. Then your sister would be the heir." He states as if it was obvious.

"That's it." Shino says and he sends a swarm of fire ants at Hiashi.

"She should marry the person she loves. Hinata shouldn't be forced into a political alliance because it would be easier for you. I wonder how the village would feel if they realized you were taking her title from her? Probably not well. No wonder you are so desperate to marry her off." He muses.

"You really mean it? You love me?" Hinata asks and ignores the howls of her father's anguish as he tries to use a water jutsu to drown the ants.

"Of course I mean it. Have I ever lied to you before?" He asks.

"No, you haven't." She says.

"Then why would I start now? It's okay. I understand that you love someone else. I wasn't going to tell you. I just wanted you to be happy." She says.

"You're the first person who has thought of me first." She mumbles shyly and presses her lips against his in a chaste kiss.

She had intended for it to be an innocent Thank You kiss. Shino however, had other ideas. He knew that this might very well be the only time that he ever got to kiss her. He decided to take full advantage of it.

He kisses her back. At first, it was a gentle, coaxing kiss. His lips were surprisingly soft against hers and warm. Hinata lets out a surprised gasp. That was all that the permission that Shino needed.

He pushes her against the wall. His mouth explored every corner of hers with a passion that was as hot as any fire ant's sting, as Hiashi would later attest to. Hinata moans into the kiss when she felt his tongue glide along hers in a seductive dance. Shino had a refreshing minty flavor to his kiss.

Hinata had never thought of kisses as having a flavor before. But Shino's definitely did. It felt nice. It was refreshing. While his taste was refreshing, his kiss was passionate.

She wraps her arms around his neck and allows him to deepen it. He grabbed her by the waist, pulling her closer. She'd never been kissed like this before. Actually, she'd never been kissed before at all. But she somehow knew instinctively, that Shino was a very good kisser. Well they said it was always the quiet ones.

"I love you." He murmurs, breaking the kiss for a moment before returning to it.

She tasted so sweet. It was like honey and vanilla. Hinata was a shy kisser, at first. But now she was growing bolder. He groans when he feels her tongue. He was tempted to explore her further, when Hiashi apparently had dealt with the fire ants.

"Get your hands off my daughter right now!" He snaps.

"I'll remove my hands if she asks me to. You have no authority over me." He answers.

"Then I suppose I shall have to establish some." He goes to lock up Shino's chakra points.

Hiashi was fast. But Hinata was faster. Instead of him locking up Shino's chakra points, She locked up her fathers.

"I'm not going to let you two fight. You are both precious to me." She says.

"Well then he should learn to respect his elders." Hiashi huffs.

"I won't fight him…only because you asked me to. He isn't worthy of my respect." Shino says.

"Thank you. Wo-uld you like to maybe…go get some dinner with me?" Hinata asks, blushing furiously.

"I'd love that, my butterfly." He says and walks off with her.

Hiashi clearly as about to charge him. Shino didn't care though. He snaps his fingers and a massive swarm of insects keeps him busy for hours. That night they had their first date. Two years later, they were wed. (Hiashi never got rid of the insect bites.)

On their honeymoon, Hinata learned what they meant by it was always the quiet ones. Shino had to be the most…attentive husband, on the planet. They had honeymooned in the Land of Tea. She was sure it was a beautiful place. The Honeymoon Suite was certainly beautiful. This was a good thing, because they didn't leave it for the entire honeymoon. Shino had impressive stamina.

Shino smiles. He had caught the beautiful butterfly after all. Hinata and Shino would end up leading the Hyuga Clan for many decades to come. They freed the branch members. Now all the butterflies were free to fly wherever they wanted.