Author's Notes: Okay, this is a long chapter, but it's very important and a lot of stuff happens. Actually, I think most of the chapters in this story are working out to be pretty lengthy. There's some action here for the combat eager as well.

Thanks to the reviewers, it's nice to have multiple responses, and so I'll share a few thoughts as well:

Meggido: It's really encouraging to have a steady reviewer as well, thanks. I suppose I am sort of following my usual 1 girl 1 guy layout, but I promise that there will be different stuff in here that I haven't done before as things go on.

Szabotage: This is probably my most detailed story to date; I feel the characters here as more suited to the emphasis than ones I've used in the past (Forged In Water was much more emotional for instance). Glad it seems to be working.

Yumeko: It's funny, Ying may actually may be the least original character I've ever really made up. Props to anyone who knows where the inspiration is coming from. The glass stuff is my own idea though, it's something I've been playing with for a little while, and one I hope I can manage to work out properly.

Chapter 3 – Mirrored Disappointment

(Kodori Manor - Sometime Before Dawn)

As Aburame Shino opened the final panel to the secret compartment he sought he recalled the path up to this goal. It had not been too difficult, avoiding the manor's guards and traps. His bugs assisted him greatly, serving both as a cloak to make his appearance completely dark, a distraction to hassle and confuse guards, and even as an extension of his limbs to pull him up and over obstacles.

It had been simple enough to hold the outer guards back long enough to climb the wall by having bugs fly into their ears. Past that the swarm crawled over him, altering his appearance to duplicate that of bushes and rocks scattered throughout the garden, so that he might incrementally advance to the wall, where the cloaking bugs upon his skin blended him in as a barely visible bulge in the masonry. Past that it had been an easy climb, with only a moment of difficult as he encountered the seals of the lightning ninja Tokimitsu clearly did keep in his employ. The bugs had formed out to extend his arms then, making a bridge out past the edge and swinging him upward. The trapped window had likewise been simple enough, simply having his bugs plug the various mechanisms and triggers, and chewing through the alarm wire was enough to allow him to pick the window lock and pull it open.

There had been some delay in the study as Shino searched for the secret compartment, mostly due to his undertaking the exercise of finding it himself, and not having the bugs aid him. It was purely a point of training, something that Shino perhaps should not have done in mission, but he had justified by considering the study an area of minimal risk. Also, it gave him some time to have the bugs he had sent throughout the building to scout the other floors report back their findings.

It had been immediately clear that intrusion from the outside would be preferable to the inside when Shino arrived at the Kodori manor, but the ANBU had desired a map of the grounds, and he would provide one. Reconstructing the bug's pathway's in his head it was possible to assemble a rough map of the passages and rooms within the manor. A minor thing, perhaps, but Shino did not neglect minor things. After all, like his bugs, if you added enough of them together they could become unstoppable.

So, he had tapped and probed his way about the room, searching first behind the bookcases before turning to the desk. He recognized later that he should have searched the desk first, it was the most standout place in the room, and men hiding secrets liked to have them in a place they always could recognize, so they would never be troubled with a moment of forgetfulness, but Shino considered it of little importance in this instance, simply something to note for the next time.

The latch tripped then, and the secret compartment slid open, revealing a row of scrolls with interesting labels. Shino could not read in the dark, especially not behind his dark sunglasses, but that was easily remedied. He pulled open a hidden pocket and took out the fireflies hidden there earlier. It was of course too early in the season for fireflies, but an Aburame ninja could summon insects even from far distant climes to his service for a short time. With their soft glow the fireflies provided enough light to read the scroll labels, but not enough to be seen as a flash should anyone possibly be in a position to observe such a thing. Shino read along the scroll labels, realizing swiftly that they were encoded as something of minor puns; it was enough to be slightly amusing.

Amusement vanished when Shino saw that the scroll for ninja business was missing. None of the other labels fit, it was clear, and even by only glancing at the compartment it was possible to note that a space that had been filled was empty, for the other scrolls were tilted out of alignment in the way a row of books would be if one in the middle was removed.

For a moment Shino's breath came fast and ragged and he felt close to panic. Then his natural calm reasserted itself an instant later and he considered the possibilities. The first was that he was the victim of a cruel trap, but that did not seem to be the case, for he recognized that it would certainly have been sprung by this point. His second idea was that the scroll might simply have been removed by the owner for use, but that seemed inappropriate. It made no sense to Shino for the man to carry around such an otherwise well-hidden item while at a busy party, and certainly it would not have been stored anywhere else. This left Shino puzzled for a moment as he thought through what might have occurred. Finally he seized on the very simple idea that someone else had stolen the scroll.

It was a piece of chronic bad luck, or so Shino decided, but it was the only possibility that made any sense to him. Another thief, one who was certainly a ninja to reach this point, had made off with the scroll, almost certainly quite recently, for the compartment had not been disturbed since then. It seemed almost unbelievable, but Shino realized he would have to consider the possibility it had been stolen that very night.

By the time this thought came to him Shino had already closed the compartment, erased all traces of his entrance, and exited back out the still trapped window. He was swiftly descending the building wall as he considered possible options. His mission had not covered this area, so he was on his own now, but as Shino well knew; all ninja must react on their feet when the unexpected occurred. He must come up with a plan, one that was viable enough so that he could at the very least report he had tried everything if it came to reporting a failure before the ANBU. At this point, Shino was quite certain he had only a remote chance of actually finding the scroll. Indeed, the only way he could find it was if the theft had occurred the current evening or perhaps the one before.

For a moment Shino found himself actually wishing Kiba and his nose were present. Chagrinned, he crossed back over the wall and outside of immediate danger. He knew that while he might not have the supreme scent-tracking abilities of a ninja dog, there were other methods to find a quarry. Shino spread his arms and legs wide, letting the kikai bugs pour forth from the holes in his skin. The swarm might not track so well as Kiba could, but it had thousands of eyes, ears, and antennae. It could make a thorough search. The Aburame ninja climbed to a high point in the trees and then released his bugs upon the strong winds, searching for a ninja.

The sun was rising above the hills of clay country as Ling Ying walked calmly westward. She was in no hurry, for now that she had escaped, even though it had been unclean, there was little to worry about. The ship she anticipated for the journey back to her home village would not reach port for another four days, and it was only a three day walk. She could spare some time to appreciate spring in the verdant hills of Clay country's coastal lowlands.

It was a form of solace to Ying, to walk silently through the countryside, appreciating the rising plants and newly awakened insects and birds. This expression of the resilience of life after the cold of winter helped her to overcome the sadness she felt at killing the lightning ninja. No matter how Ying looked at the event she knew she would always consider it a tragedy. Though she had killed before, it had never been alone like this, and in the past those she had fought had been more clearly enemies. The lightning ninja was not one Ying could think of as an enemy. He had only been…an obstacle. That was the tragedy Ying saw, that the lighting ninja's role had been made equal with the traps and gaze's of the guards, reduced to something less than human, more like a mechanical challenge than the death of a real person. She knew that in time she would think of this death as nothing important, a minor altercation in an otherwise completely successful mission, and that was saddening.

Having life and brightness around her helped to banish such dark thoughts, and was pleasing in and of itself. She genuinely liked the outdoor world, even if much of her work was conducted inside. Perhaps it was the study of glass, but Ying felt that properly one who understood the barrier between indoor and outdoor must dwell freely in both.

The young ninja mused on such thoughts as she walked, enjoying the morning and the satisfaction of having completed her mission. Her guard was low, but it was not relaxed completely, no, she was a good enough ninja to never her drop her guard entirely, certainly not when in foreign lands. So she did not fail to notice when the sound of buzzing insects changed.

It was not a subtle change, even though it was a subtle sound. Where there had previously been the buzz of swift, darting flies and the occasional dragonfly, there came something else, a softer sound, from wings that beat with a deliberate slowness, and a greatly magnified number.

Suspicious, Ying twirled about, looking. She saw a rustling section of leaves against the wind, and then her surprise deepened to alarm when a young man dropped from the trees.

He wore a long pale green coat, hiding his mouth and keeping his hands in pockets well below the waist. His face was clean, what small amount of it was visible, for the coat hid much, and a pair of icy dark black sunglasses completely concealed his eyes. He had spiked brown hair, and appeared otherwise average. Most interesting to Ying, of course, was the forehead protector of Hidden Leaf that he wore, and the kunai in his hand.

Shino had only gotten his first truly good look at the female ninja when she turned. He thought her appearance unusual. She did not wear a normal ninja uniform, but instead a design of green, brown, and gray patterns that was fitted to her form. It had a split armored skirt, cut fairly short two thirds down the thighs and close to allow mobility, and a series of plated, stenciled pieces covered her shoulders, knees, wrist and her chest most of the way to the neck. The most obvious piece that stood out was the great scythe strapped to her back, a strong and powerful weapon that was clearly not a farmer's tool, but a weapon made for war. It had a top spike and back spike, and a strong, edge with an impact point in the middle. The blade sat ornately but sturdily fastened to a haft of dark red wood, with a small spike at the butt. The girl's face and form were fairly plain, though Shino was struck by the obvious intelligence in her light brown eyes, and her quirky and honest smile. Smooth brown hair hung in a continuous wave to slightly past her shoulders, tied back behind a forehead protector marked with the split mountain symbol of Hidden Stone Village.

The leaf ninja was a serious concern for Ying, and while she held a smile at fist, the calm menace behind his seemingly casual stance disturbed her. It was easy enough to tell that he wanted something from her, and if it was the first thing intuition brought to mind, there might be serious trouble.

When he spoke, with a quiet but focused voice, it was only to confirm Ying's fears. "You have a scroll I require."

"Do I?" Ying questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Shino noted the intelligence in her voice, and the soft seriousness to her otherwise pleasant speech. His confidence, however, did not waver. "Yes, a scroll you acquired from a certain banker to the east, less than twelve hours ago."

Ying did not like the accuracy of that assessment from this oh-so-calm leaf ninja with his hands in his pockets. She had the disturbing feeling that no matter what she said, talking was not going to provide a solution to the current dilemma. "Supposing I had such a scroll?" she asked. "What gives you any right to ask me for it?"

It was not in Shino to mince words at this point, he could tell that his adversary was more than intelligent enough to render such games unnecessary, and al the points were clear to them both anyway. "I was assigned a mission to acquire that scroll, and if you have it, then I must get it from you."

"So," Ying spoke sadly. "This is a stroke of bad luck, as I'm afraid my mission is also to retrieve the scroll. I cannot give it to you." She smiled feebly. "I don't suppose that you'd just let me keep it by right of winning the race, would you?"

"No," Shino answered, voice cold. "That is impossible. Instead, if you hope to live, you will toss the scroll to me now."

"That's a fairly substantial threat leaf ninja," Ying replied, not being coy, simply being honest. "Why should I believe your nasty words?"

"Look down."

Ying did, and gasped. A dark sea of bugs stretched out in circle around her, covering the ground for many meters in every direction, and it did not take any time at all for the stone girl to understand who had brought them there. "So, these bugs will eat me then?"

"They eat chakra, mostly," Shino answered, shrugging. "But if I command it they will consume flesh as well."

"A very nice trap, I must say," Ying acknowledged. "I wasn't paying enough attention." She tensed for moment, reaching back. As she saw her opponent tense, she bought the one second everyone one laboring under such a demand has. "I suppose I'll have to give you the scroll then,"

Shino had no choice but to interpret the beginning of Ying's reach back as a move to grab the scroll from a pouch, anything else would be an unjustified act of aggression. However, the instant later, when it became clear the girl was not reaching for the scroll, but moving to grab a weapon, he ordered the bugs to swarm. Shino knew there was no time for his opponent to complete any jutsu or other such move, so he simply raised his kunai to block any desperate throw.

The instant, however, had been enough. Ying reached down and grabbed a piece of glass from her belt pouch, a hollow tube shaped like a tiny flute, and carved with a single seal. With a swift flick of her wrist she tossed it at the ground.

The glass tube broken into shattered pieces the moment it struck the hard dirt of the road and a terrible shrill cacophony of lurid high pitched shrieks seared the air.

It was the exactly the right move, Shino noted, even as he reflectively covered his ears. A visual attack, or even a scent based one, would not have stopped the bugs, but this auditory attack was able to do so.

Ying jumped back, coming to land on a branch some meters above and away. "Bugs is it?" she called out. "Well then, try this: Swarm Summoning no jutsu!"

The stone ninja girl's hands passed through the quick seal forms, a set Shino recognized well, and then slammed down into the branch. A loud crack sounded in the air and from between Ying's hands a cloud of black and gold erupted, one that advanced toward Shino.

They were wasps, something Shino noted instantly, without thinking. Immediately he directed his own bugs to combat them, for even a few stings could cause him debilitating pain and cause him to loose focus at a critical moment. He dodged back, disconcerted. This situation was not to Shino's liking. He had never seriously fought against an opponent who truly knew something about insects before, as it was impossible for members of the Aburame family to direct their kikai bugs against each other, and it took away one of his chief advantages. Still, Shino adapted quickly. He was not helpless without his bugs to aid him, and even with the wasps to fight, some of the colony was still in his body. His maneuvers were limited, but not depleted completely.

Wasps and kikai met in midair, and in the manner of insect swarms in combat did not crash of shove against each other, but melted together becoming a single swarming mass of insects, biting stinging and stabbing at each other with every weapon they had.

Then suddenly, Shino had a more dangerous concern.

Ying had not waited for the swarms to collide, but had immediately pulled the scythe free from her back and roll-jumped down. Rolling forward she came up underneath the battling insects to attack.

The great scythe was held with blade low, left hand down and right hand high, so the blade was swung out on the left side and the haft came across the body. Ying's initial strike brought the blade up and across, to slice at Shino's right side. He reacted well, blocking with his kunai, but Ying continued the move, sliding the curving blade over the kunai and bringing the scythe over to the right. She twisted her hands about the haft and then brought the blade back from her right. Shino blocked again, but sensing that the move would continue, broke away abruptly, ducking and rolling back, so that the third stroke, one coming overhead, passed through empty space.

Recognizing that it would be difficult to match that scythe close in Shino jumped back, seeking the safety of the trees.

Ying did not follow, but smoothly switched the scythe to her left hand, and pulled free three kunai with her right, throwing in a swift, skilled motion.

Shino still had his own kunai, and he raised it to block rapidly, knowing that would be a difficult move, but possible. Then he noticed how the light seemed to reflect oddly on these kunai, each caused a tiny spot of glare on his sunglasses. With a flash on insight he recalled the stone girl's earlier move, and saw suddenly that the kunai were glass.

Desperately countering Shino threw his kunai to knock away the furthest of the oncoming weapons. It shattered into many shards, but luckily they were far enough away that none struck him. Next, with precise timing and anticipation coming from the long hours of learning to evade and counter Hinata's deadly soft strikes Shino reached up and grabbed both oncoming kunai. It was an extremely difficult maneuver, but he executed it perfectly, and moreover, using the long sleeves of his jacket he caught the razor sharp glass edges with fabric and not his skin, preventing deep cuts to his hands.

Ying's eyes showed surprise when Shino blocked the attack so completely, but she was already moving, with a follow-through in motion even before the strike ended. Though the counter to her throw had been successful, Shino no longer held a weapon, and therefore had no way to deflect the overhand attack of her scythe and she leapt at him.

With speed that deified expectations bugs swarmed out from holes in Shino's palms and wrists. The glass kunai fell from his hands and the bugs moved across, forming a solid bar. There they locked together, presenting only a wall of solid, shielded abdomens to the outside.

The black staff of bugs rose with Shino's arms as he blocked the overhand blow.

Scythe held against bug-form for a long moment, the sharp steel blade sliding against that unified carapace, but finding no way to push past. Indeed, the lock proved that Shino's strength was somewhat greater than his stone opponent's, enough to make up for the greater leverage provided by the scythe's size.

Then the staff came apart as all the momentum of Ying's downstroke was used up, and the bugs swarmed out to attack her face.

She leapt back, recognizing the danger, spinning her scythe before her in wide circles, clearing the bugs away. Yet, she recognized the shift, as for a moment the leaf ninja had been blocked from view by the bugs.

As she skidded backward along the ground, and swiftly circled to the left, Ying looked for her opponent. She knew he could not have gone far, but there were plenty of trees for him to hide behind.

Then he appeared, sliding out from behind a tree to throw a set of shuriken and charge with a raised kunai.

It struck the stone ninja as a somewhat foolish move, but there was no choice but to counter. She blocked the shuriken with the hard wood of her scythe's haft and the armored plate over her right shoulder, not loosing the scythe's attack position. So, when the leaf ninja approached she simply swung up in her base stroke again, sliding cleanly past his guard and sending the blade deep into his body.

A body that melted away into a cloud of dark bugs.

Ying gasped at the trick, and further, when she saw the set of shuriken and kunai buried about an explosion note in the form. It was a deadly trap, and she had only a second to act.

The knee jerk reaction was to jump backward, but Ying was a ninja, she knew instinct could cause death. Instead, she continued the initial blow, whirling her scythe around to spin with furious rapidity, pulling tremendous force and throwing the cloud of bugs and weapons back even as she leapt upward with the spin's momentum, flipping back and away as she did.

It was the right choice, steel weapons blasted by below her and to the sides, but she avoided being impaled. Still, Ying was slammed by the power of the explosion note, and fell to the ground somewhat unsteadily.

However, she reacted quickly. "If you want to play with bombs, well…" She reached into her pouch and pulled out a pair of thin glass rectangles, each carved with special seals. Flinging one to each side she made a quick seal with her hands when they reached into the trees near where the leaf ninja must be hiding.

The glass cards exploded with all the force of an explosion note, plus they sent tiny pieces of razor sharp glass in every direction, forming a hail of crystal shrapnel that could seriously injure anyone it even grazed.

Ying fully expected her opponent to avoid this attack, however, it gave her a moment to get back into a fighting stance and restore equilibrium.

Then four copies of the leaf ninja dropped from the trees.

"The bug trick again?" Ying asked skeptically. "Well then, perhaps I'll have to take a closer look." She reached up with her right had to her forehead protector, and then from underneath the metal plate pulled down a small set of lenses, fitting them over her eyes.

"How will glasses help you determine which one is real?" Shino asked openly, not bothering to hide a twinge of curiosity.

"Oh, it's simple enough," Ying replied. "Even if you can mask the colors perfectly, light passes through a solid person and a conglomerate differently." She spun about suddenly, and launched her scythe from her hands.

The weapon whirled through the space between the trees, spinning through each of the copies in turn, even as Ying rolled forward beneath a thrown shuriken and came up next to a tree. The scythe came swirling back after spinning through each of the four in turn, sending bugs scattering everywhere. "How interesting that none of them were really you." She caught he blade easily as it came back to her. "If you could create that many, then your swarm must have beaten mine."

"Caterpillar Ooze no Jutsu," Shino spoke from Ying's left.

Great gobs of a yellow, pussy substance began to fall from the tree branches, sticky and thick. Ying's left foot, against the tree trunk, got caught in some. With a swift motion she pivoted and cut through it with her scythe blade, but even then her movement was slowed.

Bugs began to rain down from the trees then, gathering toward Ying. She spun forward, keeping her scythe ready, and deflecting a sharp rock thrown from somewhere above left, but the bugs closed in. "Your bugs protect you, but it seems I need a shield of my own," Ying sucked in a deep breath. "Well," she jumped up, spinning through the air, and letting loose her scythe for a moment. Her hands flashed through seals as she channeled chakra. "Shard Shield no jutsu!"

The bits and pieces of shattered glass weaponry scattered about the forest floor rose slowly to surround Ying, spinning slowly in orbit around her body. Bugs struck that screen and were knocked away bloody.

The stone ninja grasped her scythe from the air, flipped, and landed softly.

She discovered only a moment later that she was now in a pile of caterpillar ooze, one a slightly different color so that it blended with the ground.

From the left Shino attacked a kunai in his hand. The glass shards struck him, but they had not the force to drive through his thick jacket to inflict any serious wounds, something he had already noted.

Ying blocked, but Shino read the move and flowed with the scythe, striking again, and then again. Suddenly desperate, Ying threw her strength to her almost immobilized feet and executed a spin, bringing the scythe wide in horizontal circles, forcing Shino back. A moment of time purchased with the expenditure of chakra, Ying jumped back on her momentarily free feet, taking care this time to land in a clear area. She recognized that Shino had already made an adjustment to fight her style, even if she had managed to block the effectiveness of his bugs. It was not a good sign. She paused a moment to glance through the battle so far, and made a sudden decision.

"Stop!' Ying shouted. She flipped her scythe around, so that it was held in her right hand alone, blade facing back behind her, and extended her left palm outward. "That's enough."

Shino, standing before Ying, stopped in mid-motion, but he did not lower his kunai. Pausing he looked at her carefully, and seemed to search for the right thing to say. "Are you surrendering?" It was an almost foreign word to the ninja tongue, but it was the Aburame's best guess.

"Hardly," Ying laughed softly, a light, open sound. "You haven't beaten me yet, but, I haven't beaten you either. The way this is going either of us could kill the other, I don't have any certainty. I don't think you do either."

Shino shrugged a tiny motion of his jacketed arms. "Is that not the way of ninja battles?"

"Maybe," Ying answered. "But this is rather extreme isn't it? After all, it's only over a scroll."

That was indeed something to consider. Shino was prepared to risk his life if need be, all ninja must be willing to do so, but it seemed unnecessary to risk his life in this battle, fighting over a scroll with names and numbers on it. Still, he could not simply forsake his mission. "I must have the scroll. That is not debatable."

"Alright," Ying replied, with a small smile. She reached into her pockets and pulled out the scroll taken from Todori's secret storage. "I can give you the scroll, but I have to ask you to let me make a copy of it first."

"A copy?" Shino took a good look at the scroll. "It would take hours at least even for a skilled scribe to copy that scroll. That amount of time cannot be considered."

"And if I can copy the scroll in a few moments?" Ying quirked her head to the side slightly, tossing her brown hair about momentarily.

"How?"

"I'd like you to put that kunai away first."

"What about your weapon?"

"Well…" they stared at each other for a moment, and then suddenly, in an eyeblink the weapons were put away. Ying's scythe was on its harness and Shino's kunai had disappeared into his pouch. A moment later Shino's bugs crawled back into the holes in his body and Ying let the screen of glass shards fall to the ground. Shino noted with interest that Ying did not seem much disturbed by the bugs crawling into him. It was unusual for someone to see that and not be seriously shocked.

"Now then," Ying said easily, and she took a rectangle of glass from her pockets. "With this, I can make an imprint of the whole scroll." With steady hands she placed the scroll on the ground, and then opened it slightly. Into the opened portion she put her piece of glass. Then Ying took a glass shuriken from her pouch and used it to scrape several characters onto the glass rectangle. "Glass Recorder Seal." Then she simply moved the glass pane along the scroll from one end to the other, unrolling as she did so.

Shino walked over, picking up the end of the scroll, and began to roll it back up as Ying proceeded. However, his attention was on the technique being displayed. Tiny lines of writing, far too small to read, appeared on the glass for every line on the scroll it passed over, forming an incredibly compressed record. Shino guessed that there must be some way to unseal the technique so that it could all be read out easily. It was a truly interesting technique; one Shino could immediately see had many uses.

When Ying was done she tossed the edge of the scroll back to Shino, who easily rolled it up in midair. Both scroll and glass disappeared a moment later.

"Well then," Ying said after a short silence. "I guess that's it. Bad luck for both of us, but perhaps it will work out acceptably."

"Perhaps," Shino said nothing more in way of answer, but simply turned and walked away.

Ying did likewise, but both knew they were thinking carefully about the other as they did so.

Insect Stuff: Obviously some insects get thrown around in this chapter, but there's not a whole lot to say about them. It is generally accurate that large groups of insects fighting each other don't stay in nice demarcated lines but become a giant nasty mass (this happens most often when ants go to war).