standard disclaimers apply.

OF BUZZING AND CHIRPING

"Of Buzzing"

Leaves are falling in the depths of endlessness by the forest that promenaded the sights of Shino and Sasuke; as both of them leap from one tree to another towards Sound Village, the former, with eyes closed from the absence of his glasses, is recurrently recovering from the ruins of Kabuto's victory as his kikai bugs disperse all over his neurons, chewing off damaged cells to aid the natural disposition of Shino's immune system to create another set of newborn cells to create newborn tissues, to create newborn muscles, to create a newborn Aburame Shino with vigor and strength. The latter is silent, albeit aware that the bugs have been relentlessly working from the distant rustles coming from the Aburame genius. It was great weapon – those kikai bugs – he thought; his healing techniques aren't that boisterous but his ego is far more superior. That way – of self-driven volition that is – impossibility is never out of the question.

Of buzzing and chirping, both of them by the shrubs.

"How d'ya know directions when your eyes're closed?"

"My bugs," And they rested on one stout tree.

"What do you plan to do?" he continued.

"As long as I'm in your company I wont be easily sensed, but I think you have your own affairs so I'd leave the decision to you."

"What d'ya mean?"

The hesitant Sasuke is conscious that the former stoic is sensing such anxiety; it was his ego perhaps, the extant metaphysic ideology which provides nutrition for self-preservation. Or was it pride, that unruly virtue that struggles for honor and dignity over preservation? Sasuke thought it was introversion. "I... I want to patch up things in your company alright..." he whispered, "but what I meant is that it's up to you whether you'd like my crowd or not."

"I see. Sure."

"Eh?"

"Stay; I am only recovering and I need someone to back me up." Sasuke thought it was Shinos' counterfeit denial of friendship – obviously of pride – and this made him brokenly smile; as arrogant as it is, Sasuke is sensing how deep such silence is.

In matter of days, forty-five minutes and ten seconds after, they have reached the setting in which Shino and Kabuto fought; no one is to be found as traps have already blockaded the gate, chakra embedded on them. The ruins of the filth, those holes where bugs have previously dug, those faint hues of blood that dried from three-day exposure to sun, that frustrating ambience that seemed to have never left. Shino and Sasuke stealthily settle meters away from the obstruction, settling upon infinite resolutions as far as Shino's mission and Sasuke's escape are concerned. The foliage rustled once more as kikai bugs percolated from Shino's skin and traversed the grounds, strolling towards the gate; a few flew and relaxed at the safest distance from those traps, and Sasuke – listening to the birds that chirp over them, closed his eyes and the buzzing Shino's destruction bugs were making – it was already a music in his ears from almost four days of listening to them.

"Can't we just grapple up the entrance?" Sasuke has said in slight arrogance.

"The silver-haired medic-nin is waiting just right next to that door."

"Eh?"

Kikai bugs dispersed as the entrance access to Sound Village creaked open, seven sets of kunai's flying straight as both geniuses dodged; the bugs have cracked the traps void, and as the door unlocked itself Shino has ordered his vermin to traverse back, his heart pumping from the tenacities he's been delving. "I have a fight to redeem."

"I'll help you."

"We'd be leaving this place soon; just follow."

Yakushi Kabuto stood impassive at the entry, smiling mockingly as five more poisoned knives plunge straight towards the two; they have sidestepped from such stupid trap, and as Aburame Shino step outside the undergrowth that hid them luminous threads started to be visible as the poisoned knives plummet again towards Shino. Kawarimi bugs dispersed and finally, the master of insecta revealed himself to the medic-nin. Kabuto's fingers fixed his spectacles up to his nose, his arrogance a manifestation of readied aura. In fractions of seconds, more kunai's soared like dancing fireflies and Shino avoided them, leaping from one tree to another. "This time you're not getting away," Kabuto warned with a broken smile and followed the so-called adversary, his body glowing in red tinge as more chakra seep out. Sasuke could only curse, following them silently as another skirmish initiate.

It was one of those moments where silence is a phenomenal transcendence between wars and preoccupation; it was cadenced, from the natural point of view. As deafening as it is, such phenomenon is an advantage on both sides; they can preconceive thoughts of warfare, studying the stance and everything else. They can cease the violence, but of course it is without a solution in this case. The forest, which seemed too immense in space but limited in strategic locality, is a space of all spaces for Aburame Shino, in which redemption is a lovely revelry to be made merry when audacity fulfills victory. The woods have become the most prevalent arena, creating trends as if to weave the plot of any story with only one setting. The earth was aptly firm in its natural compositions and dead leaves were dancing as if to signal autumn; greenish forms of molds coated some of those antiquated trees, biblically massive for both ninja's. Yakushi Kabuto's hair vaguely flapped as the wind bypassed his existence, powered up by the reality of knowing the insecta master survived all along.

Aburame Shino is now stoic, impassive from unnecessary phenomena; it isn't because of insolence but because the art of war made him opt a decision in which honor and life is at stake.

"Nehanshoujo no Jutsu!"

Instead, Shino felt a surge of enthusiasm; as Sasuke watched closely he, too, resolved of hypothetical tactics to be carried out in case his "comrade" begins to fade in terms of strength. Yes, Uchiha Sasuke's pride has been overwhelmed by a sentiment in which humility and emotional disclosure demands such phenomenon. He cannot quite grasp the concept of friendship yet, but the feeling was overwhelming he felt sincere anxiety for the Aburame genius. Meters away, he readied his chakra as his eyes watch the fight in stealth.

Shino's immune system is an advantage; his body having thoroughly adapted in such conditions wherein kikai bugs perpetually reside in him entitles him the physicality in which foreign substances are refurbished and recycled. Yakushi Kabuto's technique is already done to death; in such benefit the master of insecta readied his own set of kunai's, and in seconds soared straight towards the medic-nin.

Kabuto's aura is now visible. Intercepting those three kunai's in bare hands without even a scratch on the skin, he smiled wretchedly upon the realization of Shino's immunity to his ninjutsu; nevertheless, his body leaned by a shrub, forming another seal, and his chakra increased in magnitude. Sasuke was sure Shino, too, formed a seal – it was his first to watch him fight – and six clones started to appear, which, on the other hand, decreased Shino's chakra. Or was it? "You're wasting your energy!" the silver-haired medic-nin has said as those visible hues of energy branch out, shooting like sunbeams but not really detached to his body. They were supplementary appendages with sufficed strength, an extension of taijutsu in the form of raw and pure natural force.

As six clones avoid those red beams of taijutsu, Shino's feet dragged him meters away from the arena; branches cracked like bones and leaves fell vigorously at the force of coiling medic-nin, trying to resolve in his shinobi wisdom who is the real Aburame. It seems that their body composition is same-styled as that of the real Aburame, and this made the medic-nin frown. A red shaft of chakra rear-end with one clone and immediately eradicated it. "Six more. Shit!"

Kabuto has finally found the master of destruction bugs.

Alas, Shino was done with his ninjutsu; chakra of outsized proportion is needed to execute such technique save for the concentration that must be mustered at the onset of every seal. Six Aburame Shino took their coat off, exposing their upper body and letting loose of the bandages that held his formerly spoiled physicality. Those wonderful creatures – those destruction bugs – have started to come out as they affix firmly on those ragged dressings. Drones were nuisance at the medic-nin's ears and with such anger his extended ray of energy collided with two more clones. This has pissed the psyche of the Aburame genius.

Shino ran with those bandages fluttering, targeting flawlessly but missing nevertheless; two clones leaped high to seize Kabuto but the sliver-haired is too skilled for that. Dodging, red-hued tentacles aimed at the clones but they have steered clear of it with their own version of violet-hued tentacles. A few kikai bugs dispersed and traveled the softness of the earth.

"You shithead!", the medic-nin has cursed. Inhaling deeply, his eyes fashioned wideness as he prepared another attack. "Mesuka Combo!"

Those seemingly extension of Kabuto's powerfully ostensible taijutsu plummeted clear-cut towards Shino, the blows uncalculated from its rapid succession. The clones have been dodging it with its own appendages of kikai bugs; an exchange of whipped strikes was making Uchiha Sasuke's pulse to quicken in ways where worry and excitement both overwhelms his psyche. Red and dark violet colors fought in the air and such sight was fireworks, a feast in the eyes of a violence loving entity like him.

However, two kikai clones dispersed as they hit the robust jolts of chakra. Two Aburame Shino stood impassive nonetheless, trying not to show any grimace as it may make the medic-nin earn his little victory. Nonchalant, a clone ran swift in the air and tapped the foe's neck but those ten extremities of Kabuto's chakra had rushed quickly at the clone. Scattering with a puff of smoke, the clone vanished, and Shino stood behind the medic-nin. Violet-hued in distance, the old straps have corkscrewed between Yakushi's neck, arms and left leg; Shino, in his verve, coiled like serpent and kicked the adversary just below the shoulders, kicking in might as the medic-nin flew in the air, landing almost humiliatingly as filth covered his face and clothes and breaking his glasses once more.

By then, upsetting surprise has caught the Shino as the filthy Yakushi Kabuto disappeared in a puff of smoke. "A replacement?" he has whispered, immobile at the hands that wrapped both his ankles; his body felt vulnerable and lethargic, and sets of bugs dashed on those hands as they bite. Coming out from the ground in mud, the silver-haired made his another signature of broken smile; it was a sign of victory, he supposed – his ego and pride is even more boisterous with both Konoha shinobi's. His so-called vast knowledge about bodily systems, about the idiosyncrasy of every individual's physicality, has made his preconceive a notion of arrogance and natural sarcasm. He assumed himself a reality where strength is construed in self-importance, and that self-importance creates a reality where skirmishes are ought to be taken in derision and broken irony. This was his tactic, to brag his strength which is actually true by nature; his raw and intrinsic faculty to discern the advantage and disadvantage of a strategic move in a fight like this has led him into thinking that his superiority rises above the totality of the universe.

Shino was full aware that he's temporally unable to rearrange and shuffle himself; it wasn't that he feared such circumstance however. Whether his body shift in one position to another or not, his weapons of destruction can still play by the rules of warfare such as this. Kikai bugs inside him are already repairing his damaged ankles but he knew that it'd take some time. His plans were overturned by some darned tactic he never saw coming, and now, down in Sound Village's forest, both ninjas will a start a fight spoken in sadistic meanings.

Biting his thumb, Yakushi smiled in anticipation of victory. Uchiha Sasuke's right hand glowed in luminously white tinge, readying himself as the former finished his ninjutsu. "Manda Yamikake!" A summon was made upon the medic-nin's palm's contact in the ground; a standard slithering snake – mauve and black in color, which is actually striped for some unknown aesthetic – lunged at Shino as its jaws opened in starvation. Its teeth were almost shining, and upon its devouring, kawarimi bugs disbanded inside the creature.

The formidable summon was a mistake; the creature, whose body wrenched like it was poisoned, is now being eaten away by kikai bugs. Yakushi released the summon and molds of snake tissues were left; his eyes traveled roundabout the forest, never to stop looking for that bastard Shino, and kill him for all its worth.

"It's done," Shino has whispered in Sasuke's ears, panting, a manifestation of the Aburame genius' dwindled strength. "What d'ya mean it's done? He's damn looking for you!"

"In our previous fight, my bugs have attempted to consume his chakra but they weren't able to due to his poison embedded with chakra. Some of them survived and has been living inside him since then, implanting their spawns."

"And what was that seal for? It wasted your energy,"

"It's Mushishihari Sogaichuu. I can control my bugs in great distance," he has said, opening his eyes to reveal a pitch-black scene at the picturesque Sharingan eyes of the Uchiha youngster. How odd, he thought; one time it was as beautiful as naturalness and one time it becomes nightmarish. How odd, he thought; one time Shino's eyes stood perfect amidst all other aesthetics the Uchiha lad has conjured up, one time they arose sentimental wariness and concern. How odd, he thought; they were still beautiful.

Aburame Shino's jet-black eyes contracted, returning to its natural auburn splendor. And now, down in Otogakure no Sato's forest, Yakushi Kabuto screamed in pain as kikai bugs – hornets to be exact, one of Shino's variety of weapons – percolated outside his skin in coercion. Blood splattered all over him as more cocoons inside his body metamorphosed into vicious little creatures, stunning the medic-nin before flying towards their master. Hornets took the air and swarmed at the two geniuses, a smile escaping from Shino's mouth. The Uchiha, on the other hand, is wary, stunned at the power his 'friend' is holding. "They have transmuted into hornets; it must be the poison they are now immune with."

"He's an ally, don't lose sleep," Sasuke heard Shino whisper, and this resulted in a smile. Yakushi Kabuto lay flat on the ground with blood and filth amalgamated all over as to create the reality of his defeat, the overthrow of his pride and the oust of his ridiculous philosophy.

"What about him?"

"He's not yet dead."

"Eh?"

"But it'll take mature time for him to recover. His muscles are ruptured and almost out of chakra,"

"What do you plan to do?" Shino continued, smiling sincerely with those brown eyes that never seemed to end Sasuke's fascination.

"You've got to put your feet up first."

"I need the mission to be done with,"

"After you're healthier. Come on," Sasuke has clutched the master of insecta like broken bird, his psyche revolving on one fixed resolution – to help his 'ally' recover; and they were gone, aware of the possibilities of a more tightened liaison between two men of stillness.

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