Are these honey loaf cakes...or poison?
With one brow raised suspiciously over his dark shades, Shino studied the honey loaf and Bee's Flower tea Hotaru left for him.
I don't understand girls. One minute she hates me, and the next...Is this just another pathetic attempt to kill me again? Does she really think I'm gonna fall for this again?
But the gurgling in Shino's stomach left him tempted to take his chances.
He'd worked up his immunity to poison since the Chunin exams, with a little extra help from breeding Torune's Rinkaichū insects with his.
If she thought poison could get me, I'm not sure how she'll get over the disappointment of seeing me alive this time...This girl never quits.
A little smile played on the corner of Shino's mouth at the thought of Hotaru's face.
Still, better to die by poisoned honey than starve to death.
Not only that, but it smells delicious.
Even so, he couldn't underestimate this girl. Just like he'd never underestimated anyone else out for his life.
But instead of sacrificing his kikaichū against any said poison, Shino decided to use a few of Torune's insects instead.
And since his body couldn't naturally host as many of these hybrid bugs as Torune could, Shino decided to spare a few of the Rinkaichū from a sample colony he carried on him at all times.
If the honey loaf was poisoned, Torune's bugs would be able to detect it without suffering any damage, allowing Shino to spare his own kikaichū from any unnecessary harm.
Shino introduced a small piece of the honey loaf to his special hybrid bugs.
The plan seemed to work.
The venom-resistant insects were unimpressed by Hotaru's honey loaf, returning to their jar with nothing to report.
I guess this makes us even now.
Shino concluded, deeming the meal safe to eat.
Is this her way of thanking me?
It'll be night soon...I'm really starting to hate the dark.
Hotaru was so sick of the fog.
Why did the weather never change in this place? Would it always be this dark, lonely, and depressing?
Would she ever see real sunlight again?
Hotaru sadly sighed as she reinforced the bamboo ties on her tent.
Frivolous work for a girl so hopeless.
What's the point in even trying anymore? I'm never getting out of this place...Just me and Aburame...Stuck here forever...
She stopped suddenly, pausing in the middle of tying her last bamboo stem.
Something felt off.
The gentle humming from the hives around her subtly changed in pitch, peaking her interest.
The bees warning her that someone was coming.
Hotaru rolled her eyes and kept working.
Does he really think I'm gonna fall for this again?
I know you're there, Shino. I'm onto your shinobi tricks now. You'll never be able to sneak up on me aga-
A hand gently slipped under her cheek and turned her face away from her work.
Guiding Hotaru's eyes to gaze into Shino's sunglasses, his face only inches from hers.
Hotaru stared back at him staggered, baffled by how he ended up so close to her without ever making a sound.
"Don't fight me," Shino said to her. "Just take it and swallow."
What in the actual hell?
Hotaru freaked.
White hot and steaming.
Honey eyes like a doe's caught in a hunter's trap.
Mouth open and ready to give him a piece of her raw and unfiltered mind.
How dare you talk that dirty to me, you little pervert! We barely know each other!
But before Hotaru could slam his jaw with her fist, Shino dropped a slice of honey loaf cake into her mouth.
Dumbstruck and cheeks full of cake, Hotaru didn't know whether to kill him that very instant...or kiss him for being so right.
Her honey loaf was to die for!
Just like it always was when she baked it.
Aphrodisia.
A nirvana of all the sunshine and honeydew-kissed flowers she was missing from the outside world.
Chasing away the melancholy and cold of the fog.
"I know," Shino said to her, as he watched the lovestruck look on Hotaru's face melting into a sugar rush. "That's why I saved you half."
Shino offered her more of his honey cake, sliding it between them on a bamboo leaf for two to share.
"Honey loaf is a delicacy in my village. The reason is because not many people make it like beekeepers do," Shino said. "In my clan, at least, we share it with friends."
Friends?
Hotaru's mouth was too stuffed to object to that.
Too helplessly entwined in his web to fight back.
All she could do was be still and surrender herself to a mouthful of irresistible sweetness.
Just like Shino planned.
"Maybe you'll trust me with your recipe someday," he said.
Hotaru was caught off guard by that.
Had she given herself away by making him honey loaf in a small act of kindness?
Did he know she came from a village of beekeepers?
If he suspected it, why would he ask for her recipe and not demand information about her home village instead?
Come to think of it, why hadn't Shino even tried to piece it all together?
Didn't he think it was a little suspicious that she knew so much about bees?
"I'm glad you're awake. I couldn't sleep either," Shino told her. "That's because I wanted to see you."
Hotaru stopped chewing her honey loaf, gazing at him curiously.
"I want to show you something," Shino said, rising to his feet, and walking toward the thick of the bamboo forest.
Hotaru didn't move or follow him. Suspicious of Shino and the dark.
What does he want to show me in the bamboo forest this time of night?
Shino stopped.
The Aburame glanced back at her over his collar, his stoic mouth breaking into a playfully cute grin, leaving Hotaru unexpectedly breathless.
"Don't tell me," he teased her. "that you're actually scared of the dark."
Strolling back to her with his hands in his pockets, Shino offered her his elbow.
"If you feel safer walking with me, you can hold onto my arm," he told her. "I know my way around the dark."
Hotaru stared at him in conflicted silence.
But Shino waited.
He didn't care how long he had to.
Until Hotaru decided to trust him, gingerly slipping her arm around his elbow and letting the Aburame gently guide her into the darkness with him.
By that point, Hotaru didn't care where he was taking her.
As long as she always felt this safe.