OF BUZZING AND CHIRPING

"Quantities"

At the onset of it all, the conspiracy that lies in the idea of Aburame Shino regarding the impeccability of his mission is staggering in Uchiha Sasuke's mind: a loyal Konoha shinobi that would even risk his life who, by the virtue of deviousness, attempted to steal a forbidden scroll to max up his potentiality; a loyal Konoha shinobi that would even risk his life, who, by virtue of silence and compassion, hid the information regarding a particular missing-nin (that would be him); a loyal Konoha shinobi that would even risk his life, who, by virtue of generosity, gave the stolen scroll to the missing-nin. Uchiha Sasuke was marveled at these thoughts as both of them hurdled from one tree to another to reach the fortress of Sound, to reach Orochimaru, the villain that never dies no matter what stronger people do. By virtue of hope Sasuke hopes to defeat the monster who plotted the whole of this; Shino, on the other hand, doesn't hope: by virtue of strength that is within their bloodlines all would be well in battle.

Seconds turned minutes passed and they were atop the abandoned tower – which happens to be higher than they thought – in Rice Country, a part of Sound territory; they've figured it would be better to take new routes than the ones they have stumbled upon, primarily for the reason that others might catch them. The Sound Four was still after Sasuke, and Kabuto is waiting for Shino for third round they presumed; Naruto and the others are still lurking somewhere, which is irking because it's been two years and counting and they haven't given up. Many others will still come, and they hope to evade such pesky encounters. The winds were breezy and almost cold as they touch both geniuses' body; several birds flew just in time for them to gawk at as the sun boisterously stretched out in its sunbeams, the rusty metals that sparkle from light. The abandoned tower in this Rice Country was supposed to be a watchtower they realized; but at the sight of civilians surviving the harsh conditions of the country by hostility it was clear enough for them both that they don't need such tower. They could cling on to themselves for all its worth, and that's more decent than to depend on someone else.

But the beauty of it all lies in the scenery before them. "Hey,"

"Hnn?"

"Look, the clouds; Konoha got better weather, y'know,"

"It seems so."

"Is the weather there still fine?"

"Sometimes; days come when there're harsh rains,"

"The only day I encountered heavy rain was..."

"The 3rd's funeral?"

"...Yeah," Sasuke replied quizzically yet astonishingly.

"I always see you Sasuke," the other has spoken, opening his eyes to reveal russet globes that yearned for exposure, tilting his chin up just enough for the sunlight to caress his face. "What's gonna happen after this Uchiha?"

"I... I don't know, Shino..."

"It'll probably end soon; we'd be off each other and we wont probably see each other. When we meet again it'll feel strange to us."

"Yeah, I know."

"What do we do this last day, Uchiha?"

"Enjoy it."

Darkness spills like light at the caves somewhere that one cannot easily locate; lights flicker only to make several rings visible at the tip of their sights and there was nothing to describe but utter silence; they talked in velvety silence and there was nothing more to it. "We'll suspend this mission," the other said, eyes red from unknown reasons.

"Orochimaru is too demanding on Sasuke's body and the Uchiha is getting stronger than we thought," an Akatsuki has said.

"What about Naruto?"

"We'll let him be... by now; we'll get his kyubi after these interventions are over. The extraction process of the Kazakage is now starting,"

"Can't we have any slight fun?" Kisame has whined.

"Soon, Kisame... soon."

By the end of this seeming conference Itachi Uchiha has his eyes closed for the recovery of his strength, for the recovery of his sharingan; images of startling discoveries are unfolding in his psyche like no other, and the more he tries to avoid this scheme it only reverberates more on his mind like mantras of dead men. He has to admit – his brother has gone stronger, gone more in liaison with people his older brother least expected. He knew of the Aburame clan as the clan entirely in deep intimacy with silence, he knew well, too of the strengths of destruction bugs – and maybe the Aburame he previously fought with has more latent potentials to discover. So, too, his brother, but it was grandiose to see raikiri formed by hate, it was grandiose to see his younger brother cringe at the sight of losing people. In a way, he thought, he had won; he had won because the younger one succumbed to the older's influence. But what is it that dictates otherwise? It was perhaps the sentiments of happiness in knowing that his brother has gone stronger than he thought.

"Are you all right, Itachi-kun?"

"I'm fine Kisame; tell Orochimaru the deal is over."

"Sure thing," and the shark-man was gone in a puff. Considering all these dramas, Uchiha opened his eyes and it felt better, felt the images fading.

Winds pass by and the grasses swayed like entities enjoying the rhythms of the winds like music; it was already noon but the sun is still boisterous with its light that surrounded the three of them; Kimimaro of the Kaguya Clan stood impassive as the both readied themselves in a fight stance. This was inevitable, of course – to reach the heart of darkness they must overcome the shadows that linger in its. Kimimaro is just a shadow, but how dark is his shadow the two can never deduce; for the most part, it was only a first encounter. "I've been observing you both from Orochimaru-sama's stronghold, and both of you impress me; however I cannot give you privilege to freely roam about in this village..." Kimimaro has said as he raised his right arm, sprawling his palm and directing his fingers at both shinobi's. "...Much more now that you want Orochimaru-sama's head."

"We're not the only ones haunting your leader," Shino has said as a bee rested on his index finger, "Konoha jounin's are coming here,"

"That's okay, little one, this fight will take short moments," and bullets of bones soared in tremendous speed; Sasuke attempted to dodge as he jumped high, Shino calling out his kikai bugs to make a dark-hued armor as it one hits his neck. "Impressive defense," the silver-haired one has said. Forming handseals, Sasuke rolled in the air and landed finishing the seal. "Katon Gokakyu no Jutsu!" And a surge of flames came forth towards the enemy, the grasses burning and the sun advancing even more as Sasuke reached for a kunai, knowing that the attack was futile as his suddenly activated sharingan foreboded him of the enemy running towards him.

"Tsubaki no Mai," and the gray-haired swayed like the grasses did before even they weren't burnt, Sasuke barely dodging as he tries to fight Kimimaro's sword with his own kunai. Several cuts are made into his clothing while faint blood seep, and the graceful dance of death in Kimimaro's rhythmic attacks, a kunai was thrown towards his back and the gray-haired dodged it with his sword, and Sasuke found the lag a significant time to... attack or evade. It was a quick dilemma for the Uchiha and he found it quite difficult to settle on a resolve that he, in the end, wasn't able to attack or evade as Kimimaro kicked hard on the Uchiha genius' stomach.

"Bones; you're Kaguya," Shino was uttered to himself, and as destruction bugs pour out from his pale skin, his hands reached out on his neck and held the bone bullet and smirked as he threw it in the most mocking sense. Sasuke has stood up, meanwhile, and now the scenery is just angular, with Kimimaro somewhere in the middle of both geniuses as grasses burn like fuel.

"Katon Hosenka no Jutsu!" And Shino has jigged high enough so as not to be roped in from Uchiha Sasuke's offense as multiple fireball soar towards the Kaguya genius while few kikai bugs disperse to locate the whole essence of the enemy, spying, and Kimimaro quickly dodged the fireballs. Shuriken's are alongside the fireballs, he suddenly realized, and stood focused as razor-sharp bones promptly grow out from his body, catching the shuriken's. "Karamatsu no Mai," and the bones broke away and lunged at Shino and Sasuke. Shino landed and sprawled his palms and destruction bugs rapidly smoothed out, trying to dodge the skeletons as they dig onto Shino's defense; Sasuke dodged using his two kunais and jumping in rhythmic succession as more kunai's and shurikens are thrown to Kimimaro.

Shino threw his own kunai's and shuriken's, hoping to reinforce the strength of Sasuke's long-range offense, metals shining as sunbeams light on them, as the fires reflect on them. "Tsubaki no Mai!" and Kimimaro danced away, jazzing himself up as his sword harshly brush over those weapons, dancing in seeming isolation as he sidestepped those weapons, clashing with them and several sounds are heard at this cadence – bone against metal – which quite a music to his ears as his curse seal on his chest started to glow, marks appearing like that of Sasuke's but different in character. At the end of such formidable dance kikai bugs have now swarmed themselves in Kimimaro's feet. Moving like stars across galaxies, violet-hued in distance and almost alarming the silver-haired warrior, Aburame Shino formed the necessary seals and his eyes were austere, determined to see the ending almost impatiently. "Sogaichuu no Justu!"

With Kimimaro's eyes wide, destruction bugs coiled on his body like tangible twines, remorseless as they bite through Kimimaro's body and sucking away his chakra; Sasuke watched with his sharingan as he sees quite perfectly the schemes of destruction bugs: those miniature weapons networking each other by their feet as they sting in regular pulse, eating away those seeping chakra from the wounds of the silver-haired warrior as they drop themselves off the ground and repeat the whole process again. Sasuke imagined himself in this situation and the thought made him cringe.

"You..." Kimimaro has said, "...You're an Aburame... a strong Aburame!" And another set of powerful bones came out all over his body and destruction bugs dispersed quickly in agitation. This made the Aburame genius raise an eyebrow and prepared for another offense but grew overwhelmed as Kimimaro's curse seal flared once more to reveal himself the demon of deathful blows of skeletons. Sasuke ran beside the Aburame genius. "What trouble; now we're going to fight a demon..."

"Sasuke... after some more minutes the jounin's are coming here,"

"I know,"

"So let's enjoy this battle."

"Sure thing Aburame," and his hands glowed like light but it was actually lines of lightning mustering at the fist of the Uchiha genius. Kimimaro held out a historic-looking whip made out of darkened skeletons as they lash out on the ablaze field of grass, the sound making them both wince in apprehension. Destruction bugs have emerged underneath the ground and formed vortexes, offensive towards Kimimaro as the silver haired ran towards them flaying at the whirlpools of bugs in ease; Sasuke has rolled sideward and Shino jumped high, and Kimimaro leaped as his whip lashed and Shino dodged but at the most significant second, the whip spiraled and caught Shino's torso.

Both landed but Shino is now caught in Kimimaro's Tassenka no Mai Tsuru.

"I caught you." The silver-haired demon has said impassively.

"Yes, it seems so." And Shino was aware of the pain of the spikes throbbing his skin. Kimimaro looked around and felt none of Sasuke's presence.

"It seems your company has left you to die."

"That seems to be the case."

"My forearm will be encased in a considerable javelin next and I will jab it in your body; my next attack will be your death. How does it feel?"

"Nothing. We all die anyway."

"What escapism... you all resort to the consolation of the reality that we're all gonna die. But don't you feel any fear now that you won't be able to see your nearest and dearest? That you wont be able to transcend anymore in this world? It's painful isn't it?"

"The spikes in your lash, yes."

"You're a funny one, Aburame; Kidoumaru has told me a lot about Aburame's. He was right when he told me your clan is epitome of impassiveness. You even are impassive at your own demise," and skeletons in Kimimaro's arms fix themselves, forming a helix of some kind as the sound pierce through Shino's ears, but not from the sound of Kimimaro's next offense.

"Any last words?" he said, readying his stance as his curse seal gradually disappear.

"Mushihashira Sogaichuu no Justu."

Uchiha Sasuke's presence is in swift pace as his right arm reach out and lines of lightning as seen from their eyes, flickering, foreboding the adversary and in quick moments – lightning against skeleton – Kimimaro's readied spike turned sideway and the spiked whip loosed around Shino's body and the Uchiha genius felt barely damaging the javelin of skeleton as Kimimaro used it to shield himself from chidori. Sparks fade as far as Sasuke's chakra is concerned, and the Uchiha has to jump away – jump far away – as Shino's destruction bugs form a huge eddy, swarming on the silver-haired adversary as almost all of Shino's destruction bugs gather themselves to attack around.

Of buzzing and chirping, the attacks that they made.

"Can you see that?" Shizune pointed at the direction where a violet-hued whirlpool that reached even the skies. "What is that?"

Genma looked up, playing with the senbon needles as usual. "Yeah, looks like someone's engaged in battle,"

Kakashi leaped next to them among other shinobi's, raising his forehead protector that hid his sharingan; dots rolled and his sharingan eye can see through distances. "They're kikai bugs. From an Aburame."

"Oh my, it's Shino!" Shizune has said, almost audible from all the gathered jounin's and it was quite a clear resolve that they go there. "We've got to go there!"

Sasuke walked towards Shino as both of them watch the marvelous scenery before them, almost like a picturesque image of fireworks display, only that they are all dark-hued; fires have stopped burning the field and though the arena was unpleasant to be in both still knew of the beauty of it all – the emotional liaison, the attachment that brought these happenstances all together like illusions. Sasuke smiled at one bee that seems to flicker, and such marvelous sight indeed; Shino smiled upon the glimpse of Sasuke's smile.

"We make a good team."

"It seems so."

"But I have to go; I think your bee has told me that shinobi's are coming here,"

"You can read their thoughts? That's impossible."

"I think they're starting to like me that they make me understand their thoughts."

"Silly Uchiha,"

"I'm not lying. I don't know how it happens, but the bee told me so."

"You're actually believable in that voice of yours,"

"Silly Aburame."

Silence passed by.

"I... I'm going,"

"Keep your eyes open."

"I will."

"Thanks."

"Yeah, me too." And Sasuke walked away, hesitant, but on the brighter side they could do it over again sometime, like memories of the most precious moments.

"I'll..."

"I'll see you around," both said in unison, but by then Sasuke was gone, his kikai bugs dispersing and fading away; several long minutes then the jounin's have come. The vortex has faded only to reveal a tattered kawarimi, and this was unsurprising to them all. Just like Shino unsurprisingly anticipating Sasuke's departure.

disclaimers apply. reviews welcome. thanks again to phyrric lotus.