When Shino came out of the fog, the wide, blue sky greeted him. He put his hands in the pockets of his coat, and waited in front of the Traveller’s Guardian Deity.
A line of ants were marching near his foot, and he watched them to pass the time.
After a while, he heard a voice from the midst of the bamboo thicket.
“Yahoo! We finally found the exit, Akamaru!”
The voice was immediately followed by a very familiar sounding bark.
Kiba leapt out of the bamboo grove, covered in mud.
“You’re late…” Shino called out, when a mud-covered Kiba leapt out. “Kiba.”
“WHA-” Kiba jumped back in surprise when he saw Shino suddenly standing beside him, “I know it’s you by the smell, but you could at least give some warning before you suddenly make an appearance!”
Kiba pulled out a hand towel to wipe off the mud on his face, grumbling about how Shino’s abrupt appearance had almost given him a heart attack.
“You look like you went through some hardships…” Shino noted.
“I did not! Everything was fine!”
Kiba was someone who liked to act tough. He was easy to understand.
He must’ve gotten lost too, in his own way. Just like Shino, Kiba had probably faced his worries and anxieties for the future, too, in that genjutsu-like bamboo grove. But, Kiba had still made it here.
What in the world had Kiba been worried about? What kind of a future was he going towards…?
Shino felt a little curious, so he wanted to prod for answers.
“Are you going to confess to that woman…?”
Kiba’s face had turned scarlet at the sudden question. “Wha-? What is this?! Why is it that even you’re bothering me about Tamaki?!”
“Hmmm…‘even me’, huh…”
Kiba really was an incredibly easy to understand man. But, that was one of his good points.
“Listen, you’re totally wrong! You know, Shino, you really don’t get it…It’s probably because you’re not super popular. Listen, a man can’t be too greedy.”
Kiba was trying to play it cool as much as possible, but his face was still red.
“Then, what should a man do…?”
“Well…the first step is obviously…uhh…you know…that thing.” Kiba was flustered, cold sweat dripping down his forehead, “Uhm- yeah, letters! Exchanging letters seems like the best place to start, right?”
“‘Seems like’…?”
“No, it definitely is! Popular guys start out things like that by exchanging letters! Right Akamaru?”
Kiba must’ve been very flustered, appealing to Akamaru for help. Akamaru averted his eyes.
“Anyway, more importantly, we’ve gotta go and find that honey wine.” Kiba changed the subject. “The sun’s gonna set soon!”
“I’ve already gotten some.” Shino said, “So let’s go home…”
“You’re kidding, right?! I didn’t even do get to do anything!”
Shino gave the astonished Kiba one backwards glance before starting the walk back. Akamaru looked up at Kiba, who’d frozen stiff in shock, gave one bark, and briskly followed Shino.
“Wa- wait just a minute!” Kiba followed after them, full of complaints, “Good grief, first Naruto, now you, why is it that you guys always get the good parts! I did a lot of work inside that fog too, you know!”
It looked like the only one who knew what Kiba had gone through in the fog was Akamaru. Akamaru himself seemed to be keeping his lips sealed, so he probably wasn’t going to go talking about it.
Shino was thinking about that as he walked, when–
“Hey, Shino, look at that!” Kiba yelled.
Wondering what he was yelling about, Shino turned his head to look back and…
The fog surrounding the bamboo grove had lifted.
In full sight, the bamboo grove wasn’t all that wide at all. Just normal-sized, like any other bamboo thicket.
“Shit, what is this, why is it just clearing up now…I got so lost in there…”
Kiba had apparently forgotten about how he’d bluffed that everything had been fine inside the bamboo grove, complaining openly now. So he had gotten lost in his own way.
But, Kiba didn’t know the true meaning of that fog.
The fact that the fog had lifted so completely meant…
“I see…so you worked things out…” Shino murmured to himself.
In that moment, Kiba glanced at Shino’s face. What he saw made his eyes go wide.
“Shino…this is rare…you hardly ever smile like that…”
“Hm? What are you talking about, Kiba?”
“Huh?” Kiba started blinking. “Was I seeing things…? That’s strange…”
Shino turned his back on him and kept walking. “We have to hurry up. The reason is that Kurenai-sensei is waiting for us.”
The atmosphere felt refreshing. The sky was clear, and the fog was gone.
Kiba hurried to catch up to Shino, and then squinted his eyes as he looked up at the sun to tell how much time had passed based on its angle.
“Gahh, I really wanted to find a wedding present before anyone else did.” He muttered.
“Seriously. We ended up whiling away so many hours…”