Green Tea: Ok, this is it, a Shino/OC fic. I don't think this girl is much of a Mary-Sue… I hope not. Please read it and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own the main canon plot of Naruto, nor any of the characters. Ayame and the plot of this story, however, do belong to me.
Summary: She was strange. Odd. Happy. Eccentric. So weird that it left him breathless. And she specialized in reading his mind. But somehow, with just a smile, she gave him a complete tour of the beauty of life. (Shino/OC)
How To Smile:
Chapter 1: Ayame
Ayame watched the team as they trained, hiding behind a nearby tree. She watched them everyday, unless they were on missions. As long as they were there, she was there too. It was her routine, and she had no intention of changing it after almost four years...
Shino felt a presence that day as they trained... somewhere in the trees, watching him.
After they finished their training for the day, he expressed his concerns to Kurenai. The older jounin just nodded.
"I know, she's been watching you guys for almost four years. A weird girl, eh? But it doesn't seem like she'll do any harm. I don't think she's a ninja. More like a ghost. Hah, we have our own little ghost."
Kurenai chuckled as she glanced off into the nearby trees.
"She's probably listening right now, if she can hear us, that is... Just let her be, she's not exactly bothering us."
Shino pondered this for a moment.
"A 'she'?"
The dark-haired woman nodded and packed away her equipment.
"Yep... Apparently she's a local girl. I think Hinata knows her a little better than I do... Well, anyways, I've got to talk to Godaime-sama... I'll see you tomorrow."
"Mn."
Shino glanced again at the trees and saw a pair of bright blue eyes meet his, for an instant, and then it was gone.
The next day, and the day after, and the day after that, he continued to feel the 'ghost's presence, and grew more and more curious.
Finally, one day, he met her.
The sun was beginning to set, bathing the sky in a gradient wash of red to purple, when she came.
Shino was the only one left on the training field, preoccupied with bandaging a particularly nasty wound Kiba gave him earlier during practice.
He was beginning to regret turning down Hinata's offer of help. The pearl-eyed girl was exceptionally good at temporary first-aid, while his skills left much to be desired.
He tried to pull the knot tight using his teeth and left hand, but failed miserably.
"You know, the knot won't hold if you tie it like that. And besides, you're binding it wrong."
Shino was up in a flash, holding a kunai in his uninjured hand.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you... Or more like, I can't hurt you, even if I wanted to. But why would I? That's so silly." The feminine voice giggled, resembling the sound of lightly tinkling bells.
Shino looked to his left, and his right... No one was there.
"Behiiiind you."
He turned around and saw a girl about his age, with frizzy russet hair, hands held behind her back, and looking at him expectantly.
"I've waited so long to meet you! I now I can! It's so exciting!" The girl giggled again. But then she stopped abruptly.
"I'm so rude, I didn't even tell you my name. Anyways, I'm Ayame. Ayame Soramachi."
He knew instantly with one glance at her bright blue eyes that she was the girl 'haunting' their team.
"It's funny, what did your sensei call me? A ghost? That's so funny... I'm no ghost, just a girl that lives nearby."
She stepped out of the underbrush of the forest, out into the fading light and tilted her head to the side, as if he were a puzzle she was trying to figure out.
Ayame wore a strange, long sleeve tunic, decorated with brightly colored patches of... green lamps, and orange light bulbs?
Under the tunic, she wore a simple pair of faded jeans, along with a pair of bright green sandals. Her frizzy hair was tied back with a clip of some sort of purple bird.
Shino raised an eyebrow at her attire. Was she mentally deranged?
The redhead took off her purple clip and reclipped her hair.
"Nah, I'm not crazy or anything. Or maybe I am. But I think I'm normal enough. I just like things that normal people consider weird. But I have weird hobbies. Like observing your team. I suppose your sensei already told you that I've watched you guys for... almost three years?"
"Four." Shino replied.
"Ah yes, four... But before I go on, lemme help you with that."
She pointed at his right arm, which was still hopeless tangled with bandages.
Before he could object, she already was kneeling next to him, adjusting the dressings on the wound.
"You know, based on what I observed of you, I figured I'd have to approach you first. That's after you noticed me, of course. I had to do the same with Hinata. She would stare in the woods everyday after your training, but she wouldn't say a word..."
Ayame shook her head, loose curls of red catching on the corner of her mouth.
"So, I decided to talk to her first! I don't regret it. Hinata's a really cool person. She comes to my house almost every week, but I made her keep my existence a secret until you guys found out of your own accord."
She paused as she tied the bandages in a neat knot.
"There. Much better."
Shino looked at her handiwork. It was indeed, very professionally done.
"Are you training to be a medic-nin?" He asked, replacing his kunai in his pocket.
Ayame laughed and shook her head.
"Nope! I'm just a plain-old, average girl, planning to inherit my mom's vegetable shop. I wish I could be a ninja though. That'd be so awesome... But nah, I decided that I'm too spacey to be a ninja... and besides, you have to do all that training."
She stuck out her tongue.
"Yuck. I'd hate to do training."
Shino looked at his bandaged arm. It was odd that a normal girl could tend to wounds so effectively.
"Oh. Well, I did learn a little bit about treating people from Hinata. I suppose I might have to know a little, just in case. Besides, there's plenty of ways to hurt oneself while tending a vegetable shop. Why, you could break your hand while hauling a crate of eggplants! Or winter melon... Yummy!"
Shino looked at her sharply. This was the second time this happened. Was she a...-
"Nope, not telepathic, or anything funny like that. I can understand people really well. That's all. Ack, I just did it again, didn't I?"
Shino nodded.
Ayame looked at her watch and her eyes widened.
"Golly, it's already eight! I better get home and help my mom with the tomatoes. It was nice meeting you, Shino-kun!"
With that she ran off toward the suburbs of Konoha, leaving him unable to grasp a single solid emotion at all.
She was so sudden, so strange, so... eccentric. One second he didn't even know of her existence, and then a second later, she was here, binding his wounds and telling him all about herself.
But she was strange in a sort of good way, right?
He shrugged and headed toward the Aburame complex.
For the next few days, Ayame continued to talk to him everyday after training with Kurenai, around seven or eight in the evening. She would bind his cuts and wounds, they'd talk a bit and watch the sunset before returning to their respective homes.
He was beginning to understand Ayame a little better, but although she was an open and friendly person, there were still aspects about her that remained a mystery to him.
What was her purpose of watching them everyday? Was it simply out of boredom, or did she have an ulterior purpose?
But he did discover the secret of her odd clothing.
"Eh? My tunic?"
"Mn."
"Well, what's wrong with it?" Ayame looked at her sleeve, confused.
"Noses, clifftops and flowers?"
Ayame stared at him as though he were the strange one.
"I thought you were smart!"
"Even Hinata figured this one out!"
"Fine! I'll give you a hint... I make all my clothes myself, and I give every piece a theme. This theme is a homophone!"
Then it hit him.
"That's right. It's Hana." She giggled.
(AN: Ok, to understand this, you have to understand some Japanese:
Flower: Hana
Nose: Hana
Tip/Edge/Tippy Top: Hana
So Ayame's tunic is under the theme of "hana".)
"It's odd." The boy replied.
Ayame smiled.
He liked her smile. A little bit. A tiny bit. A micro itsy-bitsy bit.
It reminded him of a ray of sunshine. Soft, but warm. Very warm.
"I'm an odd person, I guess."
The two stood in the deserted field, enjoying the silence...
"You know what? You should come to my house for a visit sometime."
"Mn."
"Hey, look at my sleeve. I took a picture of your nose and had the picture printed into some cloth. See, this piece by my elbow is YOUR nose. Isn't that cool?"
"Mn."
"And this one on the back is Kiba-kun's nose."
"Mn."
"And this one is Hinata-chan's!"
"Mn."
"Look! It's another one of your nose!"
"Mn."
Green Tea: How'd you like it? Good? Bad? So/so? Please tell me in a review!