endless_scrolls (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
endless_scrolls) wrote2006-10-08 07:21 pm
endless_scrolls) wrote2006-10-08 07:21 pm
Entry tags:
July: Tutoring
Title: Tutoring
Type: Fanfic
Fandom: Naruto
Theme: July - Seven times ten make...
Character(s): Aburame Shino, Tenten
Pairing(s): ShinoTen
Warning(s): Young Shino being a sneaky little devil.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but these words.
Note: Prequel to Snow Beetle
Dedicated to:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
levyrasputin for her love of ShinoTen. ^^
“Eighty five?” the younger boy asked rather than stated.
A cool breeze was blowing as Tenten sat at the picnic table in the park. She was staring in awe at her temporary math student. Ever since she had started going to the Ninja Academy, Tenten had found that she greatly excelled in math. She had studied for hours beforehand in order to be able to make the proper calculations for her weapon throwing in an instant; an important skill to have in the heat of battle.
When her mathematical talents were discovered a few years later, Iruka had took it upon himself to urge the young kunoichi in-training to tutor other students, using the idea of being paid for such a seemingly mundane task to spark her interest.
Currently, she was in the process of aiding the one and only Aburame heir, Shino. Unfortunately, the task was proving more difficult than she had initially realized. Though the young boy was said to be smart and one of the top students in his class, his mathematical skills proved to be the shinobi in-training’s seemingly one and only weakness.
“The answer to the equation is eighty-five?” Tenten questioned.
“You tell me,” the young Shino said, unintentionally using a biting tone, “You’re my tutor.”
“And apparently I’m not doing my job,” Tenten commented absentmindedly as she looked over the young Aburame‘s recent test papers, “You suck at multiplication.”
The young boy shot her a look that pierced through the sun glasses he wore, as if to tell her “DUH!”. She managed to ignore it, having been used to such stares from other students she had tutored before (which included one Hyuuga prodigy and one Uchiha heir). Instead, the young kunoichi in-training concentrated on the next course of action to take to alleviate this problem.
“What’s seven times ten?” Tenten asked out of the blue, just to be certain.
“…Sixty-nine?” Shino said questioningly.
“…No,” Tenten replied, rubbing her head in restrained frustration.
This is going to be one long math session, she thought to herself.
Glancing over to the side, she spotted a small ladybug. Instantly, and idea formed in the young kunoichi’s head, knowing that the Aburame family specialized in attacks using insects. Carefully, the girl gathered the small black and red insect in her hand and moved to present it to her younger pupil.
“Let‘s try another approach,” she said in a more patient tone.
But she had turned towards Shino to find that he had disappeared. Curious as to where he could be, the brunette took a quick glance at the surrounding area only to find no sign of him anywhere. Just then something brushed against her leg, pulling the kunoichi in-training’s attention under the table. To her utter surprise, she peered under the wooden picnic table to find a pair of sunglasses staring up at her, belonging to none other than the young Aburame boy himself.
“Shino, what are you doing under there?” Tenten asked curiously, raising a brow with inquiry.
“Um,” Shino replied with slight hesitation, “No reason.”
“Then how about you get out from under there so we can continue this math lesson?” the brunette suggested calmly.
With a nod, Shino wordlessly crawled out from under the table and quietly sat back down across from his young tutor. Satisfied with his obedience, Tenten opened her hand to reveal the tiny ladybug in her hand. But just as she opened her mouth to speak, she noticed that her student had shifted slightly to the left. Eyeing him suspiciously, the kunoichi in-training leaned her hand closer to the boy only to have him slide away once again.
“Shino, are you ok?” Tenten asked in a soothing voice, seeing how utterly uncharacteristic the boy was being.
“Um…no,” Shino said calmly, despite the apprehension he was showing.
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of one little ladybug,” the girl said in disbelief, casually glancing down at the innocent insect in her hand.
“So what if I am?” the boy asked rhetorically.
“But your family specializes in using bugs in battle,” she stated in response, confusion evident in her tone.
“That doesn’t mean that I have to like them,” Shino pointed out.
Tenten couldn’t help but see the logic to his statement. Just because your family believed one thing didn’t mean that you yourself couldn’t believe another. But with a family such as the Aburames who had dealings with insects for generations, Tenten still couldn’t understand the young boy’s fears for the multi-legged creatures who were so much smaller than him.
“Alright, we won’t involve actual bugs in this lesson,” the kunoichi in-training said, hoping that would interest the shades wearing boy.
“That’s fine with me,” he said shortly.
With a polite nod, Tenten put the ladybug back where she had found it before continuing on with the math session. Pulling out a random test paper, she scanned the contents until her eyes rested on a word problem. Seeing that he had less difficulties with these kinds of problems, the older girl decided to try using word problems to help Shino with his multiplication.
“Ok, let’s use something you would be interested in,” she started off, “Let’s say that I threw seven kunais at you.”
“Why would you do that?” Shino inquired.
“That’s not important,” Tenten replied quickly, still managing to keep hold of what little patience she had left, “I know you’re smart but stop over thinking things.”
“…Sorry,” he young Aburame said flatly.
“Anyways, for each kunai I throw, you’ll need ten…ladybugs to stop them,” she continued without hesitation, “What is the least number of ladybugs you would need to send out to protect yourself from my attack?”
There was a pause as Shino considered the information for a moment. Reaching out for a piece of paper, the young Aburame scribbled down the problem and attempted to solve the equation. After reaching an answer, he quietly slid the piece of paper over towards his tutor. Glancing down at the number written on the sheet of paper, Tenten couldn’t help but lift a brow.
“The answer is a hundred and seven?” she questioned.
“I take it, that’s not the right answer,” Shino assumed.
“Well, that would be enough to stop all the kunais,” the kunoichi in-training replied simply, “But that’s not the least amount you would have to send.”
“…The bugs threw me off,” he said unexpectedly.
The older girl couldn’t help but laugh at his excuse, finding it and off to a point that it was amusing. It was then while she was glancing at the passive boy that she noticed one slight addition to his attire. Knowing that the young Aburame heir would react badly to this, she decided to approach the situation in a more delicate manner.
“Sure, blame those who can’t defend themselves,” Tenten chuckled in response. Then as an afterthought, she asked, “What did they ever do to you, anyways?”
“I had a bad experience when I was a baby,” Shino replied evenly, glancing off to the side in a shy manner that made him appear, for lack of a better word, cute in Tenten‘s eyes.
“Do I really want to know?” Tenten asked, lifting a brow with inquiry.
“Even if you did, I’m not telling you,” the young student responded flatly, his hard outer shell returning.
“Fair enough,” the kunoichi in-training said casually, dreading her next words, “But you should know that there‘s a ladybug on your cheek.”
“What?” was his simple reaction, a great contrast to his actions.
Without warning, the young boy jumped from his seat in an attempt to shake free the offending insect that was crawling about his body. Suppressing a laugh at the mere sight in front of her, Tenten released a small wave of chakra strings towards the frantic boy. Once he was tied down and calmed, the young girl casually walked up to him and began her casual search for the innocent insect.
“Honestly, a shinobi like you shouldn’t get so worked up over one tiny ladybug,” she said in a motherly tone as she searched for said insect.
Unbeknownst to her, the Aburame heir was trying his best to hide the blush that was forming on his young cheeks, unaccustomed to having anyone be so close to him. It became slightly more noticeable as the kunoichi in-training wordlessly unbuttoned his oversized jacket and proceeded to search around his neck and back for the missing ladybug.
“Did you find it yet?” Shino asked as calmly as he could.
“No, I don’t…oh here it is!” the brunette replied excitedly, “It was behind your ear the whole time.”
The Aburame heir could feel the soft glide of Tenten’s finger over the rim of his ear as she scooped up the tiny bug, stirring up a tingly feeling in the pit of his stomach. Chalking it up to his apprehension towards the close contact with the bug itself, Shino was able to ride himself of the embarrassing blush before the older girl turned to face him.
“All this excitement over one small ladybug,” she mused, holding said insect in front of his eyes, “And in all your worry, nothing bad happened, did it?”
“No,” Shino admitted after taking a moment to come to a revelation, “I guess not.”
“So,” she asked, easily masking her mischievous intentions, “Do you want to try and hold it?”
A small cough from the Aburame boy was all that she got as a response. Rather than get discouraged by his lack of communication, Tenten went to logic to act as her guide. After all, a person like Shino would respect logic more than any trick she could come up with.
“Oh come on, it’s already spent ten minutes on your ear,” the kunoichi in-training pointed out, “What could go wrong?”
The young Aburame stared down at the ladybug crawling around the brunette’s hand as he considered this. It was true during all the searching Tenten had done, the little insect had innocently perched itself on his ear and caused him no harm. So logic dictated that a few more seconds in his hand would be of little consequences.
“Well?” Tenten asked eagerly as he turned to her.
A nod was all Tenten needed and she quickly took hold of Shino’s hand in her own to keep it steady. A bit startled at the girl’s invasion of personal space, the young boy resisted the urge to jerk his hand away, finding the warmth of her hand somewhat pleasant. The blush that had disappeared before came back once again at the thought. Oblivious to all of this, Tenten tilted her hand so that the ladybug crawled on to her pupil’s waiting palm.
“This isn’t so bad,” said boy mused after a while as he watched the ladybug explore the span of his hand.
The older girl tried hard to suppress a smile as she took note that Shino didn’t seem so frighten of bugs as he was before. Seeing a particularly lush leaf on the ground, Tenten picked it up and placed it in Shino’s hand, thinking that the tiny insect would enjoy something to snack on. Excitedly (yes, bugs can get excited) the red and black insect start munching away at its meal, bringing an amused smirk to the Aburame’s lips.
“I think it likes you,” Tenten commented, smirking at how mesmerized the young boy seemed with his tiny new friend.
“I think you’re right,” the younger boy said in agreement.
Suddenly, a beeping sound was heard that quickly stopped when Tenten pushed a button on her wrist watch. Without uttering a word, the older gathered up her things, adding to them all Shino’s test papers so that she could determine if the younger boy needed to work on other aspects of arithmetic.
“Well, my hour is up,” Tenten said in explanation, “I’ll see you next week, Shino.”
When she didn’t hear a word in response, the kunoichi in-training looked at her pupil to find him still entranced with the tiny insect in his palm. Chuckling to herself, Tenten left the younger boy with his new friend, knowing that she had saved the Aburame clan years of therapy bills. She didn’t see Shino glance up at her retreating back, nor the small smile he had in his face.
“Seven times ten equals seventy,” he said to himself. Then returning his gaze to the black and red bug in his hand, Shino said thoughtfully, “I think I’ll name you…Keiko.”
Faintly, he heard the little ladybug whisper something. The Aburame heir tried to listened intently to what she had to say, but found her small voice a little hard to hear (yes insects have voices).
“What was that?” the young Aburame asked, leaning down so that he could hear better as Keiko repeated what she said, “Well, it’s not like me pretending to be bad at math is hurting anyone.”
She softly chirped something in retort, taking the young boy off guard when he leaned in again to listen. Abruptly, Shino’s head snapped back up and looked down at the little ladybug with a slight blush on his cheeks. Clearing his throat in a calming manner, the young boy attempted to keep his passive attitude.
“Yeah, I think she‘s cute too,” Shino casually agreed, pushing up his sunglasses to sit on the bridge of his nose, “But I‘m not going to tell her that.”
Type: Fanfic
Fandom: Naruto
Theme: July - Seven times ten make...
Character(s): Aburame Shino, Tenten
Pairing(s): ShinoTen
Warning(s): Young Shino being a sneaky little devil.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but these words.
Note: Prequel to Snow Beetle
Dedicated to:
levyrasputin for her love of ShinoTen. ^^“Eighty five?” the younger boy asked rather than stated.
A cool breeze was blowing as Tenten sat at the picnic table in the park. She was staring in awe at her temporary math student. Ever since she had started going to the Ninja Academy, Tenten had found that she greatly excelled in math. She had studied for hours beforehand in order to be able to make the proper calculations for her weapon throwing in an instant; an important skill to have in the heat of battle.
When her mathematical talents were discovered a few years later, Iruka had took it upon himself to urge the young kunoichi in-training to tutor other students, using the idea of being paid for such a seemingly mundane task to spark her interest.
Currently, she was in the process of aiding the one and only Aburame heir, Shino. Unfortunately, the task was proving more difficult than she had initially realized. Though the young boy was said to be smart and one of the top students in his class, his mathematical skills proved to be the shinobi in-training’s seemingly one and only weakness.
“The answer to the equation is eighty-five?” Tenten questioned.
“You tell me,” the young Shino said, unintentionally using a biting tone, “You’re my tutor.”
“And apparently I’m not doing my job,” Tenten commented absentmindedly as she looked over the young Aburame‘s recent test papers, “You suck at multiplication.”
The young boy shot her a look that pierced through the sun glasses he wore, as if to tell her “DUH!”. She managed to ignore it, having been used to such stares from other students she had tutored before (which included one Hyuuga prodigy and one Uchiha heir). Instead, the young kunoichi in-training concentrated on the next course of action to take to alleviate this problem.
“What’s seven times ten?” Tenten asked out of the blue, just to be certain.
“…Sixty-nine?” Shino said questioningly.
“…No,” Tenten replied, rubbing her head in restrained frustration.
This is going to be one long math session, she thought to herself.
Glancing over to the side, she spotted a small ladybug. Instantly, and idea formed in the young kunoichi’s head, knowing that the Aburame family specialized in attacks using insects. Carefully, the girl gathered the small black and red insect in her hand and moved to present it to her younger pupil.
“Let‘s try another approach,” she said in a more patient tone.
But she had turned towards Shino to find that he had disappeared. Curious as to where he could be, the brunette took a quick glance at the surrounding area only to find no sign of him anywhere. Just then something brushed against her leg, pulling the kunoichi in-training’s attention under the table. To her utter surprise, she peered under the wooden picnic table to find a pair of sunglasses staring up at her, belonging to none other than the young Aburame boy himself.
“Shino, what are you doing under there?” Tenten asked curiously, raising a brow with inquiry.
“Um,” Shino replied with slight hesitation, “No reason.”
“Then how about you get out from under there so we can continue this math lesson?” the brunette suggested calmly.
With a nod, Shino wordlessly crawled out from under the table and quietly sat back down across from his young tutor. Satisfied with his obedience, Tenten opened her hand to reveal the tiny ladybug in her hand. But just as she opened her mouth to speak, she noticed that her student had shifted slightly to the left. Eyeing him suspiciously, the kunoichi in-training leaned her hand closer to the boy only to have him slide away once again.
“Shino, are you ok?” Tenten asked in a soothing voice, seeing how utterly uncharacteristic the boy was being.
“Um…no,” Shino said calmly, despite the apprehension he was showing.
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of one little ladybug,” the girl said in disbelief, casually glancing down at the innocent insect in her hand.
“So what if I am?” the boy asked rhetorically.
“But your family specializes in using bugs in battle,” she stated in response, confusion evident in her tone.
“That doesn’t mean that I have to like them,” Shino pointed out.
Tenten couldn’t help but see the logic to his statement. Just because your family believed one thing didn’t mean that you yourself couldn’t believe another. But with a family such as the Aburames who had dealings with insects for generations, Tenten still couldn’t understand the young boy’s fears for the multi-legged creatures who were so much smaller than him.
“Alright, we won’t involve actual bugs in this lesson,” the kunoichi in-training said, hoping that would interest the shades wearing boy.
“That’s fine with me,” he said shortly.
With a polite nod, Tenten put the ladybug back where she had found it before continuing on with the math session. Pulling out a random test paper, she scanned the contents until her eyes rested on a word problem. Seeing that he had less difficulties with these kinds of problems, the older girl decided to try using word problems to help Shino with his multiplication.
“Ok, let’s use something you would be interested in,” she started off, “Let’s say that I threw seven kunais at you.”
“Why would you do that?” Shino inquired.
“That’s not important,” Tenten replied quickly, still managing to keep hold of what little patience she had left, “I know you’re smart but stop over thinking things.”
“…Sorry,” he young Aburame said flatly.
“Anyways, for each kunai I throw, you’ll need ten…ladybugs to stop them,” she continued without hesitation, “What is the least number of ladybugs you would need to send out to protect yourself from my attack?”
There was a pause as Shino considered the information for a moment. Reaching out for a piece of paper, the young Aburame scribbled down the problem and attempted to solve the equation. After reaching an answer, he quietly slid the piece of paper over towards his tutor. Glancing down at the number written on the sheet of paper, Tenten couldn’t help but lift a brow.
“The answer is a hundred and seven?” she questioned.
“I take it, that’s not the right answer,” Shino assumed.
“Well, that would be enough to stop all the kunais,” the kunoichi in-training replied simply, “But that’s not the least amount you would have to send.”
“…The bugs threw me off,” he said unexpectedly.
The older girl couldn’t help but laugh at his excuse, finding it and off to a point that it was amusing. It was then while she was glancing at the passive boy that she noticed one slight addition to his attire. Knowing that the young Aburame heir would react badly to this, she decided to approach the situation in a more delicate manner.
“Sure, blame those who can’t defend themselves,” Tenten chuckled in response. Then as an afterthought, she asked, “What did they ever do to you, anyways?”
“I had a bad experience when I was a baby,” Shino replied evenly, glancing off to the side in a shy manner that made him appear, for lack of a better word, cute in Tenten‘s eyes.
“Do I really want to know?” Tenten asked, lifting a brow with inquiry.
“Even if you did, I’m not telling you,” the young student responded flatly, his hard outer shell returning.
“Fair enough,” the kunoichi in-training said casually, dreading her next words, “But you should know that there‘s a ladybug on your cheek.”
“What?” was his simple reaction, a great contrast to his actions.
Without warning, the young boy jumped from his seat in an attempt to shake free the offending insect that was crawling about his body. Suppressing a laugh at the mere sight in front of her, Tenten released a small wave of chakra strings towards the frantic boy. Once he was tied down and calmed, the young girl casually walked up to him and began her casual search for the innocent insect.
“Honestly, a shinobi like you shouldn’t get so worked up over one tiny ladybug,” she said in a motherly tone as she searched for said insect.
Unbeknownst to her, the Aburame heir was trying his best to hide the blush that was forming on his young cheeks, unaccustomed to having anyone be so close to him. It became slightly more noticeable as the kunoichi in-training wordlessly unbuttoned his oversized jacket and proceeded to search around his neck and back for the missing ladybug.
“Did you find it yet?” Shino asked as calmly as he could.
“No, I don’t…oh here it is!” the brunette replied excitedly, “It was behind your ear the whole time.”
The Aburame heir could feel the soft glide of Tenten’s finger over the rim of his ear as she scooped up the tiny bug, stirring up a tingly feeling in the pit of his stomach. Chalking it up to his apprehension towards the close contact with the bug itself, Shino was able to ride himself of the embarrassing blush before the older girl turned to face him.
“All this excitement over one small ladybug,” she mused, holding said insect in front of his eyes, “And in all your worry, nothing bad happened, did it?”
“No,” Shino admitted after taking a moment to come to a revelation, “I guess not.”
“So,” she asked, easily masking her mischievous intentions, “Do you want to try and hold it?”
A small cough from the Aburame boy was all that she got as a response. Rather than get discouraged by his lack of communication, Tenten went to logic to act as her guide. After all, a person like Shino would respect logic more than any trick she could come up with.
“Oh come on, it’s already spent ten minutes on your ear,” the kunoichi in-training pointed out, “What could go wrong?”
The young Aburame stared down at the ladybug crawling around the brunette’s hand as he considered this. It was true during all the searching Tenten had done, the little insect had innocently perched itself on his ear and caused him no harm. So logic dictated that a few more seconds in his hand would be of little consequences.
“Well?” Tenten asked eagerly as he turned to her.
A nod was all Tenten needed and she quickly took hold of Shino’s hand in her own to keep it steady. A bit startled at the girl’s invasion of personal space, the young boy resisted the urge to jerk his hand away, finding the warmth of her hand somewhat pleasant. The blush that had disappeared before came back once again at the thought. Oblivious to all of this, Tenten tilted her hand so that the ladybug crawled on to her pupil’s waiting palm.
“This isn’t so bad,” said boy mused after a while as he watched the ladybug explore the span of his hand.
The older girl tried hard to suppress a smile as she took note that Shino didn’t seem so frighten of bugs as he was before. Seeing a particularly lush leaf on the ground, Tenten picked it up and placed it in Shino’s hand, thinking that the tiny insect would enjoy something to snack on. Excitedly (yes, bugs can get excited) the red and black insect start munching away at its meal, bringing an amused smirk to the Aburame’s lips.
“I think it likes you,” Tenten commented, smirking at how mesmerized the young boy seemed with his tiny new friend.
“I think you’re right,” the younger boy said in agreement.
Suddenly, a beeping sound was heard that quickly stopped when Tenten pushed a button on her wrist watch. Without uttering a word, the older gathered up her things, adding to them all Shino’s test papers so that she could determine if the younger boy needed to work on other aspects of arithmetic.
“Well, my hour is up,” Tenten said in explanation, “I’ll see you next week, Shino.”
When she didn’t hear a word in response, the kunoichi in-training looked at her pupil to find him still entranced with the tiny insect in his palm. Chuckling to herself, Tenten left the younger boy with his new friend, knowing that she had saved the Aburame clan years of therapy bills. She didn’t see Shino glance up at her retreating back, nor the small smile he had in his face.
“Seven times ten equals seventy,” he said to himself. Then returning his gaze to the black and red bug in his hand, Shino said thoughtfully, “I think I’ll name you…Keiko.”
Faintly, he heard the little ladybug whisper something. The Aburame heir tried to listened intently to what she had to say, but found her small voice a little hard to hear (yes insects have voices).
“What was that?” the young Aburame asked, leaning down so that he could hear better as Keiko repeated what she said, “Well, it’s not like me pretending to be bad at math is hurting anyone.”
She softly chirped something in retort, taking the young boy off guard when he leaned in again to listen. Abruptly, Shino’s head snapped back up and looked down at the little ladybug with a slight blush on his cheeks. Clearing his throat in a calming manner, the young boy attempted to keep his passive attitude.
“Yeah, I think she‘s cute too,” Shino casually agreed, pushing up his sunglasses to sit on the bridge of his nose, “But I‘m not going to tell her that.”