standard disclaimers apply.
OF BUZZING AND CHIRPING"Resuscitations"
The waters that flowed seamlessly at the riverbanks by the miscellaneous terrains of Sound Village echoed at the pits of Aburame Shino's sensations; his acknowledgment of the soreness of his body made him remember that embarrassing skirmish, which only led into frustration in his consciousness. The sun was shining like the moon – slightly warm in its sense – and as his fingers ran through the starkness of his face, his enthusiasm shot up like he was just resuscitated. His glasses were gone.
"You're awake," The voice was distantly familiar – yes, it was paradoxical – but the stoic genius didn't budge; still his eyes were closed, affirming beforehand the health of all his kikai bugs and his riposte was stone cold again. Somehow it felt strange having to exhibit such indifference as regards with that familiar voice, and he cannot help apologizing silently at the realms of his bugs' vision. "You okay?"
"Uchiha Sasuke."
Sasuke felt a slight nuisance at the way Shino spoke his name; there was no gratitude whatsoever, though his emotional priority doesn't revolve around that. The leaves were fresh from the dews of the morning, droplets of water overpowering the hearing of both shinobi's; trees were old but adequate to support injured people. Chirps of birds are heard as they perch slightly on those trees, while his ears buzzed of the starving whispers of his bugs. He, too, was hungry.
"Here,"
Shino didn't move, even at the slightest motion. He wasn't donning his coat, he finally recognized, and he was dressed in bandages instead; they were used bandages, but at least his wounds were sheltered from infection. "That's my bandages, I didn't have anything to cover those wounds," Sasuke has said. Feeling his collarbones, his chest heaving for breath, he resolved on opening his eyes as his kikai bugs electrify the depths of his body as though they were neurons misfiring to permit Shino himself to do such outlandish act.
Now it was clearer. Because Aburame Shino's sight is cloaked always in shadows, he thought he was only seeing patches of reality; he thought he was only living in half-truths and all its worth. It was much clearer now, that the leaves falling on the trees were greener, that the waters streaming in the rivers just below a waterfall, that the soil felt more natural in his naked eyes. It was more than truth, he thought; reality is nothing more than beauty endured by the volitions of man, by shedding one's individuality amidst the conditions set upon him. Shino, deep inside, is happier.
"Thank you," Shino said as his hands reach for the food from Sasuke's palms. The Uchiha, on the other hand, is in the state of transcendental shock.
"You're the only one besides my family who sees my eyes,"
"Oh," was all Sasuke could reply. Shino's eyes were unflustered, impeccable in its hues. Shino's utterance of such trivia shocked him even more; how was he fortunate to see such unsullied eyes? Perhaps it wasn't fortune as it was only a given happenstance, that it is mere accident to see those... eyes. They were russet, bright like the ecstasy of autumn amidst the notion of its negativity. Shino's eyes were as natural as any person's but why the master of insecta keeps on cloaking it in mystery he didn't know.
"Please don't look at me like that,"
Sasuke's head swiveled away.
Hesitating, he leisurely coiled his head as he wondered on the possibilities of Shino's resolves on why he hides such eyes – but all those presumptions were preposterous. Aburame Shino, alternatively, is trying to recover his strength via the food Sasuke had given him. Bandages have dressed his stomach, his chest and his right arms near the collarbones, firm in force and mustering both pain and pleasure for the Aburame genius.
Long minutes after, they were sitting by the supposedly shores of the riverbanks as they wait for Shino's coat to dry; silence was deafening in the most strident way, but it was all comfort at the profundity of their individualities. Of buzzing and chirping, both of them in the riverbanks.
"How did you find me?" Shino broke the silence, impassive still with his closed eyes.
"I planned to follow you."
"Eh?"
"Your bugs were following me."
"I see. You sensed them."
"I'm not as stupid as Kankorou."
Shino smiled.
"I saw you in here, unconscious."
"I see. Thank you."
"Save your gratitude to those who really deserve it."
At the skips of heartbeats, there was yet again another shot of silence; awkwardness was suffocating in the ambience of each other's company but they could never identify specifically the amiability that overwhelmed them. They were not in liaison before – they were sure – wherein the only moment they really talked is when Shino fought the said puppeteer. Their emotional gap is at farthest. But now, down in Sound Village's forest, two men silently met in ways spoken in wealthy meanings.
"I..."
Shino's eyes started to open, those brown hues that encircled the focal point of his sight; his hair was slightly wet, he yet again discovered. How long was he soaked in that riverbank anyway? "I intend to kill my brother."
"Your brother?"
"He killed my kin."
"I see."
"But Konoha's too austere they won't allow me to go beyond the knack of every shinobi."
"You seem really determined."
"I am."
"I thought you joined Orochimaru,"
"Well now you know,"
"Know what?"
"That I do not intend to go to Orochimaru..." Sasuke has said this with a mocking tone, the both of them creating broken smiles at the shallowness of conversation. Or was it shallow at all? "I want to be strong on my own."
"I see. Me too."
"Eh?"
"I believe that strength is construed by one's faculty to overpower the harsh conditions set upon him. Strength is enduring the harshness of the world."
"I see."
"I intend to be an Anbu Captain."
"Really..."
"I believe that Konoha is more secured when I function as a great shinobi."
"Look who's ambitious, eh?"
"Well you are too."
There, yet again on the soil that barricaded the waters of river that flowed like echoes of distant happiness, broken smiles escaped from each other's lips. "How... how is Konoha?" the Uchiha genius surprised himself at the questioned he had uttered. What performative utterance. "What do you mean?"
"Never mind."
"Hinata is finally a chuunin."
"Her strength is comparable with mine," he continued.
"The Academy is being rebuilt due to Iruka-sama's request for more security. I am supposed to be on a mission."
"Mission?"
"A Sound-nin stole a Konoha scroll. I am supposed to be with Hinata, Tenten... and Sakura."
"Sakura..."
"She's currently under the Hokage's guidance."
"So she's going to be a medic-nin?"
"I dunno."
"Naruto and the others are still looking for you."
"I know."
"Eh?"
"They've been following me for years; they're actually not giving up. Damn them."
Shino smiled. "How skillful of you to persistently escape from them; Shikamaru is a good ninja, I cannot imagine how they could not retrieve you."
"They're not the only ones hunting me."
"Eh?"
"Orochimaru's underdogs; they're also after me."
"The old geezer still yearns for my sharingan."
"I see."
"My bugs are sensing them," Shino has said, halting the conversation as he reach for his damp coat. Wearing them, he stood with Sasuke and looked at the sharingan youngster.
"It's Shikamaru and the others. What do you plan to do?"
"I'm leaving. You'd be all right now, aye?"
"Yes, I would be."
"Then so long."
"So long."
The Uchiha genius has swiveled away from the master of insects, slowly and leisurely as he prepared himself in another chase for his freedom. He leaped and rested himself by a tree for seconds, then. "Wait."
Sasuke almost tripped but disguised it as his arms coiled at the branches. Smiling thereafter, he leaped another tree. "I'm coming with you."
The exterior terrains of the Sound Village was seemingly peaceful, but somewhere within was Hatake Kakashi's sadness divulging right about at Shizune's ears. The forest was silent but his heart was waging sentiments between emotion and reason, trying to philosophize his way for sanity as the master of poison helps; Kakashi could not blame it to the jounin – she was doing her job. There was a moral worth in such a way where the preservation of humanity is seriously concerned, where the delineating line of sanity and insanity is bound to be crossed like risked moves in ventures, gambling with his psyche and his sentiments. The sunbeams were perfect but his body wasn't; the paralysis was strong and up to now Kakashi could only disclose to Shizune what the hell was wrong with his life.
"I'm trying to redeem my mistakes."
"Mistakes?"
"I have failed my teammates before, and I don't intend to let history repeat itself."
"I see."
"I thought I could them of strength through teamwork, the very one thing I didn't have years ago. I thought strength is measured with that; unfortunately I was wrong."
"Why are you blaming yourself?"
"Blame?" Kakashi mocked.
"They're my students, for pete's sake; their failure is my accountability."
"Kakashi-san, you are their students and you may be accountable for their mistakes, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you should burden yourself with that. It was their choice to go onto different paths, and that's called change. They change."
"Change? How could anger and hate be change?"
"Well, I think you should not see it as hate. Call it... transcendence."
"They transcend in the harsh dilemmas set upon them; their decision to be what they are is construed by them in the end, not you," she continued.
"You've been affecting the whole of Konoha, you see, and the village cannot afford to lose such strong shinobi. We're under crisis, you know that?"
"Yes I know."
"Then you must not let sadness eat you alive."
"It already has."
"Let go."
"Eh?"
"If you really do not want history to repeat itself, then don't start distressing Konoha with your own efforts to let history repeat itself. Haven't you promised to the ones you love you won't be failing people again?"
"I..."
"Can't you see that you're the one who is letting the same misery repeat itself?"
"No..."
"Can't you see you've been wrecking the whole village with that attitude of yours?"
"No..."
"Can't you realize you've been the one all along who's failing your friends?"
"No!" And there was silence, and Shizune could only hope for the best as the poison in Kakashi's body wore off.
As Sasuke helps Shino traversing the notched environment of Sound Village, they kept on harking back on the days where liaison was distant and memories were the factors that initiated conversation. Little by little, both has been realizing, they've been molding and creating another liaison itself, breaking through the threads of aloofness as they try to escape the team of Shikamaru. Both intend to find Chuunin Hinata and the others, put vengeance on Kabuto and fulfill the mission. What happens next after presupposed plans they never discussed, for they were sure that it takes emotional audacity; they could only sentimentally reach moments when they'd aid each other, for emotional safety is straightforwardly earned with it. In split seconds, both searched for sanity, resuscitated by each other's silent company.
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