Disclaimer: As unfortunate as it may be, I do not own Naruto.
Key: "" is talking '' is thinking
Author's notes: Ah...its so sad, nobody even reads this thing. But that's really ok, cause I write for me and whatever input anyone gives is just extra I guess. Owell, another chapter and I'll go through my couple of shoutouts...considering that its so few people anyway...hah.
Magicalfoci: ah, my only commentator for this last chapter...so sad...but thanks all the same! Haha, your entry was so full of energy...geez, probably more energy that I put into my fic...haha. Yeah, I was thinking about some sharingan eyes...but I think that is something you just can't take away from the uchiha clan...no worries, though sharingan there may not be, other powers may lurk behind those "shades of darkness"
Chapter 5: Light and Dark, Aburame Successors Clash
The winds rained heavily down upon the two combatants, their eyes focused, unwavering, upon only their rival. Shino's mind ticked and grinded, calculating, evaluating his opponent's strength. His bugs shivered powerfully. Her chakra emission was strong, much like Neji's had been. But she was no Hyuuga; no, there was no doubt as to her Aburame origins. Her control over Suzukaze's white destruction bug necklace showed that undeniably. But the sheer amount of her chakra could not be possible had her entire body been devoted to destruction bugs. 'She must be a renegade Aburame. One of the Limited Konchuu Aburame clan deserters I have heard of. Traitors to the Aburame tradition, they purposely allow the bulk of their destruction bugs to dissipate, freeing their chakra for standard use, but keeping just enough to utilize the unique abilities of the bugs. She couldn't have more than a handful of bugs, with this kind of free chakra. What kind of techniques can she perform with such a limited force? Right, a direct attack, using the shielding strength of my bugs' skeletal solidity should overwhelm her lack of bugs. Her ninjutsu won't work against the steel-like bodies of my bugs and she won't be able to defend using so limited a number of bugs. Dyuaru Kurogane Konchuu Mari Tsuppari!' As before, both of his hands filled with the gathering of his dark insects, when his ball of destruction was sufficiently large, Shino pulled back and unleashed the ball, traveling at incomparable speeds, hurtling toward his cloaked enemy. The dark figure disappeared instantly, darting into the skies above Shino with admirable velocity. 'Perfect. Without the aided weight of extra bugs, her speed was expectedly high. But in the air her speed is useless. Kurogane Konchuu Mari Somasshu!' Shino closed his hands together, his huge chains and maces following suit, combining into a massive monstrosity. With one powerful upward movement, his weapon sliced skyward, faster and more powerful than before, directly at his falling enemy. A brilliant flash of blue blinded Shino's vision. Despite his protective sunglasses, he could withstand the sheer intensity of the happenings above him. His bug mace fell powerfully to the forest floor, deflected completely to its original location. The trees shook with the force of the impact and a crater opened beneath his great gathering of bugs. His enemy landed lightly on the ground opposite, unscathed and without any sign of tire. 'I see. She emitted incredible amounts of chakra from her feet, changing both the direction of my bug mace as well as her own movements. To release that kind of chakra is amazing in itself, but she has done so without tiring in the least.' His giant weapon tore across the forest floor again, this time as a horizontal swing, decimating the floor beneath as it traveled. Again the cloaked demon disappeared, easily evading the attack.
"Too slow oh great Prince of Bugs! The end is near!" She taunted, appearing balanced calmly on Shino's great mace.
'She dodges my attacks with such ease, and without use of kaiwarimi at all. Is her speed truly this great? It nears, no, overwhelms that of Sasuke and Lee...' Shino's thoughts were cut short as the cloak began to move again, this time in an attack, slicing through the air with Shino's own bug chain underfoot. 'Dissipate.' The dark insects immediately broke their bonds, scattering in all directions. Her movement continued, now across the floor, kunai drawn, charging toward her enemy. Her blade engrained deeply within Shino's chest, shattering the bug clone into a heap on the floor. Shino appeared behind her, a kunai of his own brandished in his hand. The blade flew from his hand, carving through the resistance of the air directly for its target. Suzume moved a single arm, allowing the blade to fly directly through the folds of her cloak, thudding within the hard surface beneath.
"Your attack speed is pathetically slow; your kind doesn't deserve the Aburame title."
"A renegade Aburame like yourself cannot possibly defeat me. My bugs with eat through your traitorous heart!" Shino paused for breath, his air stream seemingly unnaturally strained. "Besides, that strike to your side will leave a trail of blood for the remainder of this battle. Regardless of your speed, you will be slowed by the injury and my vision of your movements will be improved by the lines of red across the air and floor. You're finished."
"Renegade?? Have your rebellious minds been diluted to such an extent as to have forgotten the history of our clan? I am no traitor; it is you who have abandoned your people! Ask your father." Her temperament cooled as she continued. She shrugged carelessly, "It's a small price to pay, the strike by your kunai that is, considering the damages you've sustained for it."
'Damages? I haven't sustained any injuries in this bout. If anything, I'm stronger with the interior workings of my healing bugs, though my neck does feel constricted.' He rubbed his neck ruefully, trying to eliminate its clamping feeling. Shino's eyes widened. His hand, tainted with the stain and odor of his own blood, returned to his pocket. Hastily he returned his demeanor to one of unshakable calm. Glancing up again at his nemesis he saw her pawing a pure white kunai, the end dripping with the blood from his neck. From her other arm, a band of white destruction bugs carried out his own kunai, completely clean of any blood or marking.
"How? You traitorous Aburame are weak. Your speed is pitiable. Did you truly believe that your dismal attack surprised me? Or that you had the velocity to combat my own dazzling speed? You fool, before you even launched your attack I had circled your position and sliced at your throat all the way around. Your throat was lessened and your airway has been reduced by an eighth. You can still breath, but your stamina and speed are now even more deplorable than they were before." She took a deep breath, sucking in the air greedily, taunting his gasping form. Her explanation continued. "Upon the 14th year of the swarm's containment within a host they cocoon for a week, sprouting to reveal wings. Their speed with their wings double, and, as they are now, contained within my body in great quantity, I control their movements within myself and take their speed for my own. My speed eclipses that of any gravity-bound shinobi. Your life continues only because of my mercy. But feel again great Prince!" She mocked, a smirk thinning across her face.
Slowly Shino's hand came to his neck. The blood was gone as was the cut. In its place was a chain, pure, vibrantly white silver, encrusted within the line of the cut, blocking the blood from spilling. His eyebrows lifted and eyes doubled with reflex-like reaction. Shino glanced again at the white kunai in his opponent's hand, then to it's owner's face. Another devilish smirk spread across her lips and an evil wink sealed the truth. The tip of the kunai was completely gone and, with a snap of her fingers, the entire kunai dissolved into a mass of white bugs within her hand. 'These are...her white destruction bugs...the same chain as the one on Suzukaze's throat.' Something cold crept into his body, something alien and dark. 'What is this feeling? I...fear her.' He shook his head violently, trying in a feeble effort to eradicate the emotion. 'She's still human, and if I halt her movements, she will fall as any others would.' A slight buzz shivered through his body, moving noticeably toward his feet. 'But first, for this chain.' His hands moved toward the glimmering chain of white destruction bugs, his own black bugs, legs tipped with chakra, engulfing both hands. Suzume eyes followed his movements.
"You fool! Your carelessness will be your downfall! The bugs on your neck are not the true threat, you're finished!" She charged forward with her blinding speed, a swarm of white surrounding her cloaked frame and stretching to the very limits of Shino's vision. This great wave of white thundered, crushing tree and ground in its wake, toward Shino's motionless form. "I am no renegade Aburame. Feel the wraith of the totality of my bugs! Die Prince!"
Crack! The attack faltered, gasped, and halted, falling only feet away from it's target. The wave of white likewise diminished, falling to the floor with the sudden and unexpected pause. Suzume, face (revealed by the unsettling of her hood upon her fall), drenched in sweat and contorted by pain, turned to her left leg, twisted unnaturally behind her. Despite the anger and pain saturating her features, her beauty shimmered noticeably through the sweat and dirt littering her face. Her creamy white complexion shined with inner radiance and her long brunette locks framed her face perfectly. And there was something bright behind her dark sunglasses, unable to be hidden by the protective coverings was the bright depth of the eyes below. Her small nose and surprisingly small mouth completed the vision. The sun glittered against her sweat drenched face for a second before its pervasive rays were effectively blotched out by two dark swarms approaching from above and before her.
"Dammit!" She cursed, slamming her fist against the floor. 'I see, that buzz through his body was actually the movement of a troop of his destruction bugs to his feet. They burrowed beneath me and caught my leg in mid-charge. No wonder its broken like this. Impressive, his control is impeccable to keep his mind calm enough to launch his attack with my impending all-out attack. Perhaps I underestimated him. But he underestimates me as well!' "Konchuu Shouheki no jutsu!"
Instantly four walls of white formed around her shaping a protective pyramid around her body. Black and white bugs of destruction met, clashing cataclysmically together, their masters' determination and heart engrained into the blow. In seconds, the air filled with speckles of black and white, both attack and defense crushed and dissolved by the force.
'Incredible power by use of his bug compression maneuver...'
'Amazing combination technique, reinforcing and binding together her wall of destruction bugs with chakra...'
Shaking off their admiration, the two combatants struggled to their feet. "The force of our bugs seems equal, but my defense served its purpose!" The white insect manipulator squealed, tearing off the remainders of her tattered cloak revealing a light white trench coat, belted at the waist, covering a black shirt and skirt beneath. Her formerly shattered leg returned comfortably to its normal location. "Thank you for showing me your regeneration technique when you tried to remove my chain by healing your neck, it was quite useful to me." Shino's shock remained dormant beneath his heavy dark sunglasses.
"Good," Shino responded calmly, "it would only be fitting for you to be near full-strength to witness my shift to the offensive!" His hands, filled with and array of kunais and shurikens, flashed twice, unleashing a host of metallic fury.
'Impossible! His movements are faster than before! Suzume thought, barely dodging the assault. Regardless, his bugs must be drained and weakened for him to revert to such a menial tactic. Mine are as well.' A grin crossed her features as she dodged the final shuriken. 'My abilities, however, are not as limited as his!' "Mizu Bunshin no jutsu!" Dew, gathered from the trees and ground, jetted toward the girl, smashing into the ground on either side of her, slowly forming into mere images of herself. "Attack him my water clones!" The two charged, there speed far less than their maker's, but still considerable, moving toward Shino, kunais drawn. Shino, drawing two more new kunai, charged toward the pair, reaching them and thrusting his two blades deep into their chests. The clones sustained for a second, the kunais sinking into their bodies, then an explosion of water and bugs. 'What is this? His kunai were made of bugs?' Realization of her error rushed upon Suzume, but it was too late. The kunai and shurikens she had dodged just seconds before thudded powerfully into her back, embedding holes into her skin before separating into Shino's familiar black bugs on her back. The girl crumpled to the floor. 'Because they were his bugs he could control them. He must have purposefully aimed to ricochet them off of trees so that they could make another attack from behind. What a guy...'
'Into the holes.' Streams of dark bugs poured into the holes their joint forms had just created. Suzume screamed painfully at their infestation. "This is now a battle within yourself Suzume. Summon your bugs within to do combat with my own or be overrun." Shino stated all too coolly.
'He's right, I know he is. I must deal with this quickly, the longer this battle drags on the stronger he seems to become. Somehow his speed has increased remarkably, regardless of my collar. With each passing turn he more accurately predicts my strategies and counters perfectly. His ability to read my maneuvers is unhuman. I'll arm my bugs with extra chakra to finish this quickly.' Her hands clasped and her eyes shut, concentrating completely on the internalizing of her chakra. It was seconds after her eyes initially shut that she again realized her horrid miscalculation. Her eyes snapped open just as Shino's fist crunched powerfully into her stomach, sending her sprawling across the ground. She lied motionless, smashed directly into the pearly white bark of a tree.
Shino slid toward his unmoving rival, drawing his bugs out of her immobile form. 'I didn't mean to kill you. You were a powerful opponent, the greatest I have ever faced. You also shared my Aburame heritage, despite our separate paths.' He thought apologetically. 'I hadn't seen that tree at all.' He pondered. 'I was almost sure that I had directed the blow toward the stack of kunai from the attack of Suzukaze's men...' He spun around, searching for the stack of weaponry. Suddenly shock reentered his mind. He coughed painfully and drew his hands to his neck as the chain tightened painfully nearer. So strong was its grip that with its turning his entire body turned in response. His body, paralyzed by the sharp pressure against his spine, lied limp, helpless against the collar. Slowly his body began to lift from the floor. He gagged, the grip cutting deeply into his throat, with each passing second slowly breaking his neck. His bugs quickly came to his aid, forming a footing beneath him to prevent his hanging. As if angered, the suffocating grip of the chain tightened even more, in effect making up for the removal of gravity as a death dealing force. His eyes watched as the large white tree his nemesis had fatally crashed into dissolved first into a familiar pile of kunai, then dispersing into their true form: the hateful white destruction bugs.
And there she stood, an aura of smugness surrounding her injured but proudly upheld body. Her fifteen-year-old face brimmed with impish satisfaction, gleaming victoriously at her struggling enemy. Her hand went over her stomach, bruised and battered from the sheer force of the blow, and her back was speckled with dots of white where her bugs blocked the spill of blood from her many unwanted injections. Her left hand was outstretched, obviously controlling the tightening grip of her bug collar pressing deeply into Shino's neck.
"And so falls the Prince of Bugs..." she croaked dangerously, slowly closing her hand into a fist; but something halted her, some force fought against the press of her hand. She glanced into her palm revealing a handful of black: Shino's bugs feebly attempting to protect their master from a vicious death. She shook at them violently, finally detaching their grip from her hand only to find another troop of black terror, fresh and strong, glued on in substitution. In seconds it was not only her hand, but her arm, then her chest and stomach. 'How could they have reached me without my sensing their presence?!?' She questioned, her mind rushing into a panic. Her eyes returned to her foe. He continued to struggle, gagging and choking against the pressure of her chain, and he remained implanted on his pillar of destruction bugs, preventing his hanging. But there was something different, something altered. 'Too close to the ground! That fool lowered his own tower of bugs, straining his neck more, just to allow the excess bugs to tunnel beneath me again!' She whirled around, by this time struggling to move as the bugs overwhelmed a good half of her body. Behind her was a small hole and a jet of black buzzing upward, silently inching itself throughout her body. 'No matter! His bugs will stop when his mind does and his mind cannot give orders if it is detached from his body!' Her deathly grip tightened, all the strength of her mind and attention poured into her vice-like hold.
'If my bugs can reach her brain then her binding control can be broken, temporarily at least.' Shino gasped within himself, straining against the ensuing waves of unconsciousness mercilessly pummeling his psyche. The world was a blur and darkness crept infinitely closer to engulfing his entire person. 'Just a little more, must hold on a little more...' His army of insects marched forward, creeping up the neck unopposed. Suzume's complete focus rested on the slow crushing of Shino's neck by her chain of white destruction bugs, and the remainder of her bug legions stood motionless, without command, on the floor behind. 'To the nose, just a little more, the nose is a direct pass to her brain...' His line of bugs passed his enemy's lips, climbing slowly up the smooth surface of her face. Beads of sweat burned down the sides of both combatants' faces, Suzume's acting as a natural defense against the charging army, smashing like miniature tidal waves wiping out nearly half of the bugs trekking across her face. 'Just one, I only need one and I can disrupt her mind for a second, more than enough to free myself from...from...this...' The pain surged throughout his face, overwhelming even the words within his mind. Only the determined thoughts controlling the movement of his bugs remained untainted by the powerful flow of pain throughout his system. Four bugs, surviving the onslaught of sweat, tucked safely into the nose. The crushing chain slackened for a second as Suzume tried in vain to blow the bugs out. Realizing their unflappable resistance, her focuses quickly shifted again to the crushing of her rival's throat. 'A second more...'
crackle
The four, the remaining hope of survival, the world, fell, four tan cocoons, immobile and useless. The remainder of the bugs engulfing half of Suzume's body did the same, falling from her frame and raining down upon the ground, thousands of rock-hard, wonderfully useless cocoons, and then darkness...
An all-too familiar smile stretched across Suzume's lips as she shook the helpless cocoons off of her body, twiddling the life of her adversary, her nemesis, her rival, and her equal, within the whims of her mind.
Key: "" is talking '' is thinking
Author's notes: Ah...its so sad, nobody even reads this thing. But that's really ok, cause I write for me and whatever input anyone gives is just extra I guess. Owell, another chapter and I'll go through my couple of shoutouts...considering that its so few people anyway...hah.
Magicalfoci: ah, my only commentator for this last chapter...so sad...but thanks all the same! Haha, your entry was so full of energy...geez, probably more energy that I put into my fic...haha. Yeah, I was thinking about some sharingan eyes...but I think that is something you just can't take away from the uchiha clan...no worries, though sharingan there may not be, other powers may lurk behind those "shades of darkness"
Chapter 5: Light and Dark, Aburame Successors Clash
The winds rained heavily down upon the two combatants, their eyes focused, unwavering, upon only their rival. Shino's mind ticked and grinded, calculating, evaluating his opponent's strength. His bugs shivered powerfully. Her chakra emission was strong, much like Neji's had been. But she was no Hyuuga; no, there was no doubt as to her Aburame origins. Her control over Suzukaze's white destruction bug necklace showed that undeniably. But the sheer amount of her chakra could not be possible had her entire body been devoted to destruction bugs. 'She must be a renegade Aburame. One of the Limited Konchuu Aburame clan deserters I have heard of. Traitors to the Aburame tradition, they purposely allow the bulk of their destruction bugs to dissipate, freeing their chakra for standard use, but keeping just enough to utilize the unique abilities of the bugs. She couldn't have more than a handful of bugs, with this kind of free chakra. What kind of techniques can she perform with such a limited force? Right, a direct attack, using the shielding strength of my bugs' skeletal solidity should overwhelm her lack of bugs. Her ninjutsu won't work against the steel-like bodies of my bugs and she won't be able to defend using so limited a number of bugs. Dyuaru Kurogane Konchuu Mari Tsuppari!' As before, both of his hands filled with the gathering of his dark insects, when his ball of destruction was sufficiently large, Shino pulled back and unleashed the ball, traveling at incomparable speeds, hurtling toward his cloaked enemy. The dark figure disappeared instantly, darting into the skies above Shino with admirable velocity. 'Perfect. Without the aided weight of extra bugs, her speed was expectedly high. But in the air her speed is useless. Kurogane Konchuu Mari Somasshu!' Shino closed his hands together, his huge chains and maces following suit, combining into a massive monstrosity. With one powerful upward movement, his weapon sliced skyward, faster and more powerful than before, directly at his falling enemy. A brilliant flash of blue blinded Shino's vision. Despite his protective sunglasses, he could withstand the sheer intensity of the happenings above him. His bug mace fell powerfully to the forest floor, deflected completely to its original location. The trees shook with the force of the impact and a crater opened beneath his great gathering of bugs. His enemy landed lightly on the ground opposite, unscathed and without any sign of tire. 'I see. She emitted incredible amounts of chakra from her feet, changing both the direction of my bug mace as well as her own movements. To release that kind of chakra is amazing in itself, but she has done so without tiring in the least.' His giant weapon tore across the forest floor again, this time as a horizontal swing, decimating the floor beneath as it traveled. Again the cloaked demon disappeared, easily evading the attack.
"Too slow oh great Prince of Bugs! The end is near!" She taunted, appearing balanced calmly on Shino's great mace.
'She dodges my attacks with such ease, and without use of kaiwarimi at all. Is her speed truly this great? It nears, no, overwhelms that of Sasuke and Lee...' Shino's thoughts were cut short as the cloak began to move again, this time in an attack, slicing through the air with Shino's own bug chain underfoot. 'Dissipate.' The dark insects immediately broke their bonds, scattering in all directions. Her movement continued, now across the floor, kunai drawn, charging toward her enemy. Her blade engrained deeply within Shino's chest, shattering the bug clone into a heap on the floor. Shino appeared behind her, a kunai of his own brandished in his hand. The blade flew from his hand, carving through the resistance of the air directly for its target. Suzume moved a single arm, allowing the blade to fly directly through the folds of her cloak, thudding within the hard surface beneath.
"Your attack speed is pathetically slow; your kind doesn't deserve the Aburame title."
"A renegade Aburame like yourself cannot possibly defeat me. My bugs with eat through your traitorous heart!" Shino paused for breath, his air stream seemingly unnaturally strained. "Besides, that strike to your side will leave a trail of blood for the remainder of this battle. Regardless of your speed, you will be slowed by the injury and my vision of your movements will be improved by the lines of red across the air and floor. You're finished."
"Renegade?? Have your rebellious minds been diluted to such an extent as to have forgotten the history of our clan? I am no traitor; it is you who have abandoned your people! Ask your father." Her temperament cooled as she continued. She shrugged carelessly, "It's a small price to pay, the strike by your kunai that is, considering the damages you've sustained for it."
'Damages? I haven't sustained any injuries in this bout. If anything, I'm stronger with the interior workings of my healing bugs, though my neck does feel constricted.' He rubbed his neck ruefully, trying to eliminate its clamping feeling. Shino's eyes widened. His hand, tainted with the stain and odor of his own blood, returned to his pocket. Hastily he returned his demeanor to one of unshakable calm. Glancing up again at his nemesis he saw her pawing a pure white kunai, the end dripping with the blood from his neck. From her other arm, a band of white destruction bugs carried out his own kunai, completely clean of any blood or marking.
"How? You traitorous Aburame are weak. Your speed is pitiable. Did you truly believe that your dismal attack surprised me? Or that you had the velocity to combat my own dazzling speed? You fool, before you even launched your attack I had circled your position and sliced at your throat all the way around. Your throat was lessened and your airway has been reduced by an eighth. You can still breath, but your stamina and speed are now even more deplorable than they were before." She took a deep breath, sucking in the air greedily, taunting his gasping form. Her explanation continued. "Upon the 14th year of the swarm's containment within a host they cocoon for a week, sprouting to reveal wings. Their speed with their wings double, and, as they are now, contained within my body in great quantity, I control their movements within myself and take their speed for my own. My speed eclipses that of any gravity-bound shinobi. Your life continues only because of my mercy. But feel again great Prince!" She mocked, a smirk thinning across her face.
Slowly Shino's hand came to his neck. The blood was gone as was the cut. In its place was a chain, pure, vibrantly white silver, encrusted within the line of the cut, blocking the blood from spilling. His eyebrows lifted and eyes doubled with reflex-like reaction. Shino glanced again at the white kunai in his opponent's hand, then to it's owner's face. Another devilish smirk spread across her lips and an evil wink sealed the truth. The tip of the kunai was completely gone and, with a snap of her fingers, the entire kunai dissolved into a mass of white bugs within her hand. 'These are...her white destruction bugs...the same chain as the one on Suzukaze's throat.' Something cold crept into his body, something alien and dark. 'What is this feeling? I...fear her.' He shook his head violently, trying in a feeble effort to eradicate the emotion. 'She's still human, and if I halt her movements, she will fall as any others would.' A slight buzz shivered through his body, moving noticeably toward his feet. 'But first, for this chain.' His hands moved toward the glimmering chain of white destruction bugs, his own black bugs, legs tipped with chakra, engulfing both hands. Suzume eyes followed his movements.
"You fool! Your carelessness will be your downfall! The bugs on your neck are not the true threat, you're finished!" She charged forward with her blinding speed, a swarm of white surrounding her cloaked frame and stretching to the very limits of Shino's vision. This great wave of white thundered, crushing tree and ground in its wake, toward Shino's motionless form. "I am no renegade Aburame. Feel the wraith of the totality of my bugs! Die Prince!"
Crack! The attack faltered, gasped, and halted, falling only feet away from it's target. The wave of white likewise diminished, falling to the floor with the sudden and unexpected pause. Suzume, face (revealed by the unsettling of her hood upon her fall), drenched in sweat and contorted by pain, turned to her left leg, twisted unnaturally behind her. Despite the anger and pain saturating her features, her beauty shimmered noticeably through the sweat and dirt littering her face. Her creamy white complexion shined with inner radiance and her long brunette locks framed her face perfectly. And there was something bright behind her dark sunglasses, unable to be hidden by the protective coverings was the bright depth of the eyes below. Her small nose and surprisingly small mouth completed the vision. The sun glittered against her sweat drenched face for a second before its pervasive rays were effectively blotched out by two dark swarms approaching from above and before her.
"Dammit!" She cursed, slamming her fist against the floor. 'I see, that buzz through his body was actually the movement of a troop of his destruction bugs to his feet. They burrowed beneath me and caught my leg in mid-charge. No wonder its broken like this. Impressive, his control is impeccable to keep his mind calm enough to launch his attack with my impending all-out attack. Perhaps I underestimated him. But he underestimates me as well!' "Konchuu Shouheki no jutsu!"
Instantly four walls of white formed around her shaping a protective pyramid around her body. Black and white bugs of destruction met, clashing cataclysmically together, their masters' determination and heart engrained into the blow. In seconds, the air filled with speckles of black and white, both attack and defense crushed and dissolved by the force.
'Incredible power by use of his bug compression maneuver...'
'Amazing combination technique, reinforcing and binding together her wall of destruction bugs with chakra...'
Shaking off their admiration, the two combatants struggled to their feet. "The force of our bugs seems equal, but my defense served its purpose!" The white insect manipulator squealed, tearing off the remainders of her tattered cloak revealing a light white trench coat, belted at the waist, covering a black shirt and skirt beneath. Her formerly shattered leg returned comfortably to its normal location. "Thank you for showing me your regeneration technique when you tried to remove my chain by healing your neck, it was quite useful to me." Shino's shock remained dormant beneath his heavy dark sunglasses.
"Good," Shino responded calmly, "it would only be fitting for you to be near full-strength to witness my shift to the offensive!" His hands, filled with and array of kunais and shurikens, flashed twice, unleashing a host of metallic fury.
'Impossible! His movements are faster than before! Suzume thought, barely dodging the assault. Regardless, his bugs must be drained and weakened for him to revert to such a menial tactic. Mine are as well.' A grin crossed her features as she dodged the final shuriken. 'My abilities, however, are not as limited as his!' "Mizu Bunshin no jutsu!" Dew, gathered from the trees and ground, jetted toward the girl, smashing into the ground on either side of her, slowly forming into mere images of herself. "Attack him my water clones!" The two charged, there speed far less than their maker's, but still considerable, moving toward Shino, kunais drawn. Shino, drawing two more new kunai, charged toward the pair, reaching them and thrusting his two blades deep into their chests. The clones sustained for a second, the kunais sinking into their bodies, then an explosion of water and bugs. 'What is this? His kunai were made of bugs?' Realization of her error rushed upon Suzume, but it was too late. The kunai and shurikens she had dodged just seconds before thudded powerfully into her back, embedding holes into her skin before separating into Shino's familiar black bugs on her back. The girl crumpled to the floor. 'Because they were his bugs he could control them. He must have purposefully aimed to ricochet them off of trees so that they could make another attack from behind. What a guy...'
'Into the holes.' Streams of dark bugs poured into the holes their joint forms had just created. Suzume screamed painfully at their infestation. "This is now a battle within yourself Suzume. Summon your bugs within to do combat with my own or be overrun." Shino stated all too coolly.
'He's right, I know he is. I must deal with this quickly, the longer this battle drags on the stronger he seems to become. Somehow his speed has increased remarkably, regardless of my collar. With each passing turn he more accurately predicts my strategies and counters perfectly. His ability to read my maneuvers is unhuman. I'll arm my bugs with extra chakra to finish this quickly.' Her hands clasped and her eyes shut, concentrating completely on the internalizing of her chakra. It was seconds after her eyes initially shut that she again realized her horrid miscalculation. Her eyes snapped open just as Shino's fist crunched powerfully into her stomach, sending her sprawling across the ground. She lied motionless, smashed directly into the pearly white bark of a tree.
Shino slid toward his unmoving rival, drawing his bugs out of her immobile form. 'I didn't mean to kill you. You were a powerful opponent, the greatest I have ever faced. You also shared my Aburame heritage, despite our separate paths.' He thought apologetically. 'I hadn't seen that tree at all.' He pondered. 'I was almost sure that I had directed the blow toward the stack of kunai from the attack of Suzukaze's men...' He spun around, searching for the stack of weaponry. Suddenly shock reentered his mind. He coughed painfully and drew his hands to his neck as the chain tightened painfully nearer. So strong was its grip that with its turning his entire body turned in response. His body, paralyzed by the sharp pressure against his spine, lied limp, helpless against the collar. Slowly his body began to lift from the floor. He gagged, the grip cutting deeply into his throat, with each passing second slowly breaking his neck. His bugs quickly came to his aid, forming a footing beneath him to prevent his hanging. As if angered, the suffocating grip of the chain tightened even more, in effect making up for the removal of gravity as a death dealing force. His eyes watched as the large white tree his nemesis had fatally crashed into dissolved first into a familiar pile of kunai, then dispersing into their true form: the hateful white destruction bugs.
And there she stood, an aura of smugness surrounding her injured but proudly upheld body. Her fifteen-year-old face brimmed with impish satisfaction, gleaming victoriously at her struggling enemy. Her hand went over her stomach, bruised and battered from the sheer force of the blow, and her back was speckled with dots of white where her bugs blocked the spill of blood from her many unwanted injections. Her left hand was outstretched, obviously controlling the tightening grip of her bug collar pressing deeply into Shino's neck.
"And so falls the Prince of Bugs..." she croaked dangerously, slowly closing her hand into a fist; but something halted her, some force fought against the press of her hand. She glanced into her palm revealing a handful of black: Shino's bugs feebly attempting to protect their master from a vicious death. She shook at them violently, finally detaching their grip from her hand only to find another troop of black terror, fresh and strong, glued on in substitution. In seconds it was not only her hand, but her arm, then her chest and stomach. 'How could they have reached me without my sensing their presence?!?' She questioned, her mind rushing into a panic. Her eyes returned to her foe. He continued to struggle, gagging and choking against the pressure of her chain, and he remained implanted on his pillar of destruction bugs, preventing his hanging. But there was something different, something altered. 'Too close to the ground! That fool lowered his own tower of bugs, straining his neck more, just to allow the excess bugs to tunnel beneath me again!' She whirled around, by this time struggling to move as the bugs overwhelmed a good half of her body. Behind her was a small hole and a jet of black buzzing upward, silently inching itself throughout her body. 'No matter! His bugs will stop when his mind does and his mind cannot give orders if it is detached from his body!' Her deathly grip tightened, all the strength of her mind and attention poured into her vice-like hold.
'If my bugs can reach her brain then her binding control can be broken, temporarily at least.' Shino gasped within himself, straining against the ensuing waves of unconsciousness mercilessly pummeling his psyche. The world was a blur and darkness crept infinitely closer to engulfing his entire person. 'Just a little more, must hold on a little more...' His army of insects marched forward, creeping up the neck unopposed. Suzume's complete focus rested on the slow crushing of Shino's neck by her chain of white destruction bugs, and the remainder of her bug legions stood motionless, without command, on the floor behind. 'To the nose, just a little more, the nose is a direct pass to her brain...' His line of bugs passed his enemy's lips, climbing slowly up the smooth surface of her face. Beads of sweat burned down the sides of both combatants' faces, Suzume's acting as a natural defense against the charging army, smashing like miniature tidal waves wiping out nearly half of the bugs trekking across her face. 'Just one, I only need one and I can disrupt her mind for a second, more than enough to free myself from...from...this...' The pain surged throughout his face, overwhelming even the words within his mind. Only the determined thoughts controlling the movement of his bugs remained untainted by the powerful flow of pain throughout his system. Four bugs, surviving the onslaught of sweat, tucked safely into the nose. The crushing chain slackened for a second as Suzume tried in vain to blow the bugs out. Realizing their unflappable resistance, her focuses quickly shifted again to the crushing of her rival's throat. 'A second more...'
crackle
The four, the remaining hope of survival, the world, fell, four tan cocoons, immobile and useless. The remainder of the bugs engulfing half of Suzume's body did the same, falling from her frame and raining down upon the ground, thousands of rock-hard, wonderfully useless cocoons, and then darkness...
An all-too familiar smile stretched across Suzume's lips as she shook the helpless cocoons off of her body, twiddling the life of her adversary, her nemesis, her rival, and her equal, within the whims of her mind.