Even though it hurt, Hotaru pushed herself to keep going.

Trying to put as much distance between her and that creepy bug guy as she could.

When that Aburame ninja wakes up, he's gonna come looking for me? Which means I gotta be ready for him...I have to think this through," she continued analyzing her situation. "If he can summon an unlimited number of those bugs from his body, there's no way I can summon enough bees in time to outmatch him. I just don't have enough training for that...He mentioned a beekeeper...is there really a honey farm around here? Maybe if I find this beekeeper, I can-

But her thoughts were suddenly cut off.

What was that noise?

Hotaru glanced back over her shoulder as she kept running, hypervigilant and alert to an instinct alerting her that she wasn't alone in this fog anymore.

Like she was being watched.

She stopped, trying to catch her breath as she listened for who or what could be following her.

"Hello?"

But she couldn't see anything in the fog.

No recognizable landmarks. No paths that made any sense. No sign of this honey farm anywhere.

I know I've seen that rock before, which means...

She turned this way and that, trying to retrace the steps of how she'd gotten lost this time.

Why did it seem like this bamboo grove was purposely trying to keep her here?

It's been hours since I left bug boy back there! How am I not making any progress? Is this genjutsu?

"Release!"

She waited.

Nothing.

There's got to be a way to break out of here...There's always a way...I have to keep moving. No matter what, I can't let that Aburame freak find-

"Found you," Shino muttered from behind her.

Hotaru all but died.

But how did he...

"If you're running away from something, you should do it quietly," he said. "The insects in here can hear you."

Slowly, Hotaru turned around.

Shino casually leaned back against a tree as if he'd been waiting there for her the whole time.

But he...how did he get here so fast? And what happened to all the blood under his headband...Am I going crazy now?

Hotaru backed away from him, now questioning if this guy was really a demon spirit in human form.

She was sure that she put at least half a day between her and his campsite.

"Thank you for cleaning my wound before leaving me to die," Shino said. "Lucky for me, it was just a bug clone. Just like this one."

And right before her eyes, Hotaru watched in horror as Shino's body dissolved into a swarm of kikaichū.

"There's more of me all over this bamboo grove. Why, you ask?" Shino's voice came from behind her ear, giving Hotaru goosebumps. "I'm curious how many times you'll try to kill me before you give up on finding the real me."

As many of you as it takes.

"Before I let you go,"Shino told her, sliding his hand down her thigh until he took back his stolen kunai from her tool pouch wrapped around her leg. "One last thing you should know."

Hotaru's heart raced.

Why is he toying with me? If he's going to kill me, why doesn't he just do it already?

"You can't run from me," he said into her ear.

Then Shino stepped around her, continuing on his own path into through the bamboo grove.

And much to her aggravation, dying would have to wait a little longer, because today wasn't the day she'd face his black sea of kikaichū beetles.

Instead, Shino's index finger extended out, pointing directly at her shoulder.

"That's because I planted a bug on you," he said. "So no matter where you go in this fog, I will always find you."

And without so much as a by your leave, Shino left her alone, casually walking away with his hands in his jacket pockets.

Because she was more than just an enemy ninja to him now.

To Shino, she was an insect. One who had fought hard to evade his capture, but with his own skill and wit, he had gently coaxed her into fluttering right inside his bug jar.

And like all of his captured insects, she was now his to keep.

His own firefly.

Shocked, confused, but above all agitated, Hotaru watched him walk off the scene.

Funny...that's because...

Hotaru thought, remembering back to the moment she'd first met Shino Aburame in the Sora-ku forest.

Because I planted a bee on you too.