Hotaru opened her eyes slowly.

Realizing that this wasn't her village, and that Kenji only existed in dreams now.

There was nothing left for her anymore, but the swirling mist around her in the bamboo grove.

Am I dead?

Then it all came back to her.

This endless fog...the queen bee that almost killed her...the Aburame guy who fought beside her.

Slowly, Hotaru turned her eyes toward him, daring to finally look into his face.

Shino laid next to her, a nasty gash bleeding from underneath his Leaf headband.

He wasn't moving.

But Hotaru could still see his chest rise and fall faintly with his breathing.

Stubborn bug bastard. Not even a queen bee could take you out.

And for a longer than she should've, Hotaru laid still there watching Shino. Studying the face now left uncovered by his protective gray hoodie. His charmingly boyish jawline, and fair skin, smooth like honeybutter. Leaving her suspicious about how clean and smooth it actually was.

Has this guy ever had a pimple in his life? she wondered jealously.

Then her eyes scanned up to his sunglasses, drawn to how smart it made him look and how reassured it made her feel.

You know, if I didn't hate you so much, I'd think it was kind of cute how dorky you actually are...I bet you know a lot about whatever it is you do in your village...I bet you could even tell me everything I never wanted to know about those weird bugs of yours...I bet your friends would miss that if you were gone...if you never came home, someone would want to find you...that's more than I can say about my village...

At that thought, Hotaru's smile lost the battle to the agony in her heart.

It's all clear to me now, she thought sadly. I was never prepared to fight you...Hachimitsu Sensei's training was never meant to win me this battle...But did Sensei know that? Did they send me to kill you, knowing I would die trying?...And if that's true, then what did this all mean in the end?

It wasn't Shino who would deal her the final blow. It was her village. Her clan. Her father.

From the beginning, the question had never been why they wanted this Aburame ninja dead, but why they wanted her dead?

Even so.

Hotaru glanced at Shino again.

Help me understand why you're taking away the people I love...Are you an innocent bystander of this feud too...or is this really the face of Kenji's killer?

Hotaru had to know.

She had to see Shino's face for herself, and gaze into his eyes to know if he was the killer.

If he had the soul of the Aburame ninja they told her about. The one who killed her best friend without a reason.

Forgetting to breathe, Hotaru slowly reached out her shaking hand toward Shino's sunglasses, inching closer and closer to remove them from his soft, why-is-it-so-damn-pretty-for-a-guy kind of nose.

But just as her fingers were within inches of his glasses, Hotaru closed her trembling fist.

Summoning every measure of willpower to pull her hand away from Shino, she left his sunglasses untouched.

"No," she whispered, squeezing her fist tightly. "On second thought..."

After risking his life to save hers from the queen bee's honey bomb, it would only haunt Hotaru more to look this shinobi in the eyes just before shoving a kunai into his chest.

Even if he was an Aburame flea, she was still a Kamizuru, and her clan had more honor than that.

Leaving his sunglasses where they were, Hotaru carefully slipped Shino's kunai out of his ninja tool bag, having lost her own in the queen bee's battle.

Positioning herself over Shino, Hotaru's hands shook violently as she tried to hold the kunai steady above him.

All Kenji wanted was peace. If that's not the kind of world the Aburame want, then you deserve what's coming to you.

And then Hotaru hatefully stabbed the kunai into him.

Only to realize that while closing her eyes, she had missed her target.

The kunai falling within a hair of Shino's neck, pierced straight into the ground beneath him.

She couldn't do it.

And knowing that she couldn't, Hotaru screamed in frustration with herself, falling off of Shino again in the torment of her dilemma.

Am I a coward?

Aburame or not, did I ever have it in me to take another person's life?

Whatever the answer to that question, Hotaru didn't wait to find out. Because it wasn't that she was neglecting her mission, she decided.

It's just that restoring honor to her clan was more than just taking out her enemies.

I will kill him.

She promised herself.

But not like this. What honor is there in killing him while he's unconscious and injured from battle? How could I know that I defeated him by my own skill? He has to face me in a real battle. He has to know that it was a Kamizuru who served him his fate. Until then, I need this bug creep alive.

And grabbing Shino by his wrists, Hotaru began dragging him back to their camp.

Only dropping him here and there to swat off a bug or two that crawled out from under his sleeve.

Ouch! What are these things and why do they keep crawling out of his body? He's like a nightmare in a green jacket! This is so gross!

She flicked off the vicious little beetles from her arm, but they kept coming. Crawling out of Shino's jacket to nip at her, jealously guarding their bug master.

There's no way I'm spending another night with this creep! I'll mix some antiseptic with that honey wine he's carrying around and leave him at camp. Then I'll make a run for it. If he survives or not, I don't care.

At least now we're even.