Alvie

Chapter 1

Shino Aburame cared about all of his bugs dearly, and if one died or was seriously injured, he would hold a silent memorial for it in his mind. He usually tried to keep them out of immediate danger, and away from people because for some reason a lot of them weren't too fond of bugs. Mostly, the bugs would just stay in Shino, feeding off of his chakra, or around nearby him quietly observing the people around.

When something he'd never seen before flew right through his window, his interest was piqued. A new type of bug? Could he let it feed off of his chakra? Maybe there were others like it nearby...

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the "bug" begin to shout. It's voice was feminine and high pitched, but also quiet and melodious. To his ears it sounded beautiful. Shino cautiously approached it, keeping his footsteps low and quiet so that he wouldn't alarm it. Seeing it closer up, he immediately noticed that it wasn't a bug at all, and there was no way it had flown through his window.

~~~

To say that Alvie was in a lot of pain would be an understatement. This was utter agony. She wasn't sure exactly what had happened as it had all gone down in a mere couple of seconds, but she was almost certain that one of her wings had been torn right off.

The wind had blown her into a huge bedroom, with a weird boy in a large coat and glasses, almost completely obscuring his face from view. He stood up slowly, and took silent, hesitant footsteps to come closer. Alvie had never seen a giant before, the monsters of the Woods were enough to frighten her kind into keeping away from the giant's land.

"Help! HELP!" Alvie screamed, panicking, as the giant crouched down to look at her. She quickly tried to stand up and get her bearings straight. Maybe if she tried hard enough she could gain enough momentum to fly away and get to safety! Although, one wing could only take her so far before she'd need support.

In hindsight, trying to flap her wings was a terrible idea. She wasn't agile enough to flap one at a time, and the strain of moving the tiny, torn stump that was her left wing had made her black out immediately.

~~~

Shino didn't know what to say. This was definitely not a bug, at least any type he knew. It was a tiny human, just bigger than a butterfly, with wings akin to one too. It was definitely a female too, he could tell by her appearance and body figure. Actually, she looked just like the pictures of fairies in children's books.

She had pale brown hair and a semi-transparent wing, the other of which looked like it had been torn off by a large predator. Judging by the small marks in what remained of it, he assumed a bird had attacked her in mid-air. It wasn't clean and it didn't look good at all. He wasn't sure if she'd be able to fly again.

When she passed out, her wings twitched a little, so Shino assumed she had been trying to fly. He knew how painful it was for his bugs to try and fly with a twisted or torn wing, so that was an obvious answer to what had happened. He also had no idea when she'd wake up or how long 'fairies' slept for, or what temperature they preferred or anything--

Shino took a deep breath, then sighed. He gingerly picked up the fairy, making sure to be gentle with her tiny body. There was a lamp at his desk that would probably provide her with heat, and there was a spare cushion on his bed she could use. Glancing out of the window quickly, he estimated that it was around 7 or 8 in the evening. He just had to hope that in the morning she didn't wake up before he did and accidentally hurt herself or her wing even more.

Looking at her again, he remembered what he had thought when he saw what she was. She did look like a classic storybook fairy, maybe those books could tell him something about them? It wouldn't hurt look through them, just to check.

Without a word, he slid out a box from under his bed. He had many of his old things in storage boxes like this, that his mother thought held too many memories to throw away. Surely there'd be a kid's book in one of them?

After looking through all of the boxes, and turning up with nothing, he realised that his mother might have kept them somewhere, or might know where they are. How was he going to explain it though? She'd be suspicious of what he, a 12 year old boy, would be wanting with a children's book about fairies, for sure.

Before he could stand up to go and ask her, his door opened and the very woman walked in. "Hello, Okaa-san." Shino greeted quietly.

"Good evening, Shino-kun!" Riye Aburame greeted cheerfully. "I needed to tell you that I've just received a call from my boss. He wants me in early tomorrow, so I won't be here in the morning. OK?"

Shino nodded, taking in the information. His mother was one of the librarians at the main library near the centre of Konoha. He was going to be alone in the house in the morning, which meant he should have enough time to look after the fairy. Could she read Japanese? Maybe he could leave her a note?

Riye turned to leave, before Shino stopped her. "Okaa-san? Do you have any old children's books? Maybe ones about fairytales?"

His mother couldn't hide her snicker. "Fairytales? Why?" She asked in a mocking tone.

"No reason," Shino felt the blood rush to his cheeks in embarrassment, feeling grateful for his coat hiding it.

Riye laughed a little before stepping out the door. "I'll see what I can find for you, Shino-kun."

~~~

Riye Aburame (Shino's mother) in this story is an OC.

Shino's real mother is unknown.