Accidentall In Love, ShinoxTenten (part 1)

The first thing that Tenten had noticed about her current mission partner was the fact that he hardly ever spoke. This could not have been more opposite of the weapon's mistress, who filled every available moment of time with words. It was one of the multitude of opposites the two had when compared. It wasn't that she didn't like Shino; it was just that it was hard to form a friendship with a person who didn't respond to 99% of what you said. However, his skills as a tracker had indeed come into handy whenever they had wandered into unfamiliar territory, or when their target had attempted to escape from them. Millions of man-eating bugs erupting from a heavily trench-coated figure may easily have scared anyone else, but after years of being a shinobi, it was just another day of the same weirdness all over again.
“So, that’s one less gangster who’s sheltering Akatski members for the Allied Shinobi Forces to deal with.” Her teammate nodded slightly, as they leapt from tree to tree on their way home to Kohona.
“I guess you’re family will be happy to see you in one piece when you get home.” Shino turned to her, one of his eyebrows cocked in a clear sign of confusion. “I mean,” she turned and blushed in embarrassment, “I saw on the information boards that you turn nineteen soon, and the Aburame Clan has been setting up a huge celebration. It’s the big talk of the village.”
Shino made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a moan, “You are wondering why my clan is doing this. It is only natural for people to do so when my clan has more than often avoided such things in the past.” A rather long pause followed. “Upon my nineteenth birthday, I will be introduced to my betrothed.”
At his words, Tenten could not help but a feel a little disappointed, yet she kept her tone in a light mood. “Oh, you must be excited! Have you ever met her before?”
Shino shook his head, “I have not. Like most Aburames, I was entered into an arranged marriage at birth. It is not uncommon for ninja clans to do so.”
Tenten continued, trying to see if she could at least get a peek at the man that was Shino Aburame. “Oh, well, do you at least know her name?” She figured that at least they would have told the husband-to-be a little about his future wife.
“Her name is Kisari Tetsukawa, and she is a member of a rather wealthy family of weapon smiths and shinobi. She is however not in possession of their kekki genkai and also not a shinobi.  Apparently she is as equally, vexed, about this wedding as I was when I was informed about this.” From the way he said vexed, Tenten assumed that he had wanted to use a word a bit more hard than that.
“What’s wrong, I mean, she can’t be that horrible looking, right?” She made her voice as caring as was possible, but the apprehension in Shino’s voice made her feel strangely a little better.
Shino shook his head, “From what I have been told, she is quite the attractive bachelorette. From what I have also been told, her first words when learning of the arrangement were; ‘Do I have to marry some creepy bug-filled freak?’” The slivers of bitterness in his voice were audible, and Tenten felt bad for him. It couldn’t have been easy to grow up with a colony of insects living inside of your body. It wasn’t just kids and teenagers who were cruel in this world. Many times she remembered that when Team Guy and Team Kurenai went out to celebrate together, sometimes the owners of shops or restaurants would refuse service to Shino on the grounds that they viewed him as a walking safety hazard. The particularly nasty ones wouldn’t even let him walk into the shop. Shino had always been the most overlooked and isolated member of the group, and she couldn’t help but feel that it must have made him feel all the lonelier.
“Well, if I were her I’d be happy to know that I was going to be marrying such a responsible and thoughtful person.” She clapped a hand to her mouth immediately feeling like a total idiot. I mean, here he was, almost married, and she had just practically admitted her strange little crush already. Today was going to be a long day.
Although his collar and hood hid it, Shino smiled slightly, and by his voice the weapon’s kunoichi could tell he was not weirded out by her comment at all. “Thank you Tenten, it is not often that those of the Aburame Clan receive such high praise, even from each other.”
Tenten blushed and turned away, “Hey, anything else would have been an insult. Is it getting darker?” She noted, not fully intentionally changing the subject. Shino grunted in affirmation, as the two landed on a branch together.
“Those dark clouds don’t look too good either.” Tenten pointed at a mass of dark grey clouds that were looming ominously to the west and coming for them fast. Just then, they could feel the wind start to pick up slightly, and Shino’s kaikachu began to send him distinct atmospheric pressure changes that indicated a massive storm. A storm, they reported, that not even his father had ever witnessed of such size and magnitude.