Author's Notes: New chapter time, and this is a pretty cool one I believe, as the next major task begins and the characters get more detail. Hope everyone enjoys it.

Thanks to my reviewers, and some thoughts for your trouble:

EvilP: Well the biggest difference so far is that Shino and Ying's meeting was an accident, not deliberately arranged, and that unlike Ise and Yi they aren't going to be part of the same village. There are some stylistic differences as well (I'm not using direct thoughts in this story for instance) and I hope to make the plotline less linear this time. The biggest difference, however, should become apparent around chapter 10. I do have a weakness for the 1 male 1 female trick, possibly because it's easiest.

Meggido: I actually had a lot of problems typing Ying's name for the first couple of chapters as my fingers kept wanting to stop after the first two letters. Ying is only named Ying as respect for her inspiration; I wouldn't have otherwise chosen something so similar. Glad you liked Tsuchikage he seems to be turning out well so far.

Chapter 6 – Findings in the Cold

(Western Clay Country – Six Days Later)

The western portion of clay country was covered in the muddy red clay hills that gave the place its name. Many thought that dark red soil oddly beautiful, for it could catch and hold light to shine in a way most other soils could not. Shino thought it as barren. He knew that clay could support little life beneath it, with its tightly packed particles that resisted digging and propensity to turn from saturated slush to cracked brick in only a short time. There would be few insects in that soil, so it was rather boring to the Aburame. However, he found himself staring at those clay soils in the hills often; it gave him something to do while he waited.

Shino sat in his long green jacket outside a small restaurant, sitting alone at one of the outdoor tables. Winds whipped about him regularly, cold and chill, so that all the other few customers at this sparse mid-morning hour were inside. Spring was yet young here, and the local people saw no need to brave it. Admittedly, Shino was somewhat uncomfortable with the cold himself, but I was easier to sit outside than be bothered with looks from the old men indoors. Besides, being outdoors saved his bugs from having to walk through the doors and inside to him as they reported back from the various scouting missions he had set them. A little cold was more than acceptable to avoid inconveniencing his bugs, after all, Shino understood that they were doing basically all the work at this point.

It had been a hasty few days for the young chunin; ever since the scroll was decoded he'd been set a rather furious pace. The scroll had been coped frantically, though not without Shino learning a great deal of interesting things about the operations of ninja in these northeastern countries, and analyzed by the best of the ANBU. Not more than a day had passed after the scroll was decoded when Uzuki Yuugao had thrust another mission upon him.

Find a missing-nin from grass country, one Nozu Hidemoto, a veteran genin, so Shino had been instructed. They wanted him to use his bugs to capture the man and then send a message back to Konoha for an interrogator from the ANBU. Though he wasn't expected to, Shino knew why the man he was tracking was important, at least, he understood why he might be, the scroll had revealed that much when he copied it. The puzzle intrigued the Aburame ninja, all the missing-nin activity, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it, his native suspicions had been triggered by this assignment.

Yuugao, however, had been circumspect in her instructions, simply telling Shino to go to the western Clay Country and find the ninja. She had not specified a time frame, so Shino suspected the ANBU were sending him instead of an interrogator because they expected this mission to take quite a while. That is itself had not surprised him, but Yuugao's response to his own question had been far more puzzling.

It was not that Shino really had objections to working alone, in some ways he might be said to prefer it, but he understood that some ninja had better talents than others. So, he had asked if his teammate Kiba, loudmouth though he was, might not accompany him on the mission, expecting that an expert tracker might be very useful.

The ANBU Captain had immediately refused the request, and harshly, surprising Shino. It had been so vehement he knew there must be a deeper reason than simply secrecy for keeping his teammates out of this matter. After puzzling over the matter on the walk from Konoha to the Clay Country the Aburame had come to the conclusion that the involvement of the Stone ninja was the reason. He suspected now, and it was a dark and strange suspicion indeed, that Konoha did not want anyone else to interact with the Stone ninja, wanted to avoid as much as possible ninja becoming involved with them. Of course, this begged the question of why they desired this, but Shino hadn't quite figured that one out yet.

These puzzles kept him busy in an otherwise boring stage of his mission, however. He had spent the past two days sitting in front of restaurants much like this, letting his bugs range far and wide, searching. Shino would have liked to search himself, but though the bugs could track him down anywhere, it was too confusing to try and assimilate their reports when his own location changed. Therefore he let them roam, looking about for anyone who might be a ninja, tracking chakra sources above normal throughout the vicinity. Of course, that was hardly enough, since he had already detected a number of persons who were likely ninja, or many people who were likely simply naturally supplied with strong chakra. Without a description of Hidemoto to compare against Shino could only roughly sketch each description the bugs gave him. They were not the best source of data on human appearances, though he had trained them to recognize the various forehead protector symbols. That last was a bit of help. Though a missing-nin could not be relied upon to wear his forehead protector it helped eliminate legitimate ninja from the search pattern. Already Shino had noted four cloud ninja, a full platoon moving east, one stone ninja moving back west, a pair of leaf ninja headed into central clay country, and even a rogue bearing the sound headband near the border. That final one Shino had logged carefully in his head, planning to report it as soon as an opportunity arose. He'd tracked Sound ninja, both those who still served Orochimaru and those who'd turned bandit, before, and had no intention of letting any slip past him.

For most of the morning Shino sat out on the windy terrace, ordering an occasional hot drink to sip from a serving girl who seemed displeased anyone dared sit outdoors in the chill, he enjoyed the calm silence of being undisturbed, slowly piecing together the reports from his bugs on a map in his head.

Then suddenly Shino was disturbed, as the bugs shouted at him urgently, reporting a strong source of chakra close by, very close, and the whispers began a description that was all too familiar.

The Aburame ninja's right hand dropped into his coat, reaching for a hidden kunai, even as he turned whipcord quick to his left, beginning to stand sharply, his right leg pushing the chair behind him back to knock it away.

A slender hand with short, un-lacquered nails caught that chair suddenly, and held it up. "There's no need to make a mess now is there?" a voice Shino immediately recognized asked smartly.

Shino turned to see a ninja in garb of gray, green and brown before him, wearing the forehead protector of Hidden Stone. His eyes followed the curve of her face to meet bright brown eyes with a glittering intelligence, and then down a smooth plain face to a softly smiling mouth. He did not need his eyes or the bugs frantic reporting to recall the long shaft of the scythe haft that rose behind her armored garb or the other weapons concealed among those unusual clothes. It was all graven clearly into Shino's memory of that morning only a short time before, even as it now seemed long ago. It was a form graven into his mind, one that marked his first legitimate failure as a ninja. This young ninja from Stone, a girl whose age seemed similar to Shino's own by both the estimate of his eyes and his bug's aid, though she was not the most dangerous enemy he had ever faced, or the most powerful, was the first to truly put a stop to his completion of a mission. Yet somehow, Shino felt no hostility toward her, and sensed none the other way. It was puzzling for he knew well that he had striven with all his strength to kill her only two weeks before.

So Shino nodded in reply to the remark, and reached his left hand out lightly, still inside his jacket, and pulled the chair back in slowly. Then he sat down, a calm and reserved motion, keeping his muscles light and relaxed. Not for an instant, however, did he lessen the grip on his kunai, and bugs swarmed about his under his jacket and the table, ready to strike.

"Did I startle you?" the stone ninja asked. "My apologies, but I saw you sitting here and I couldn't help but come over." Her voice was unusual to Shino's ears. Most ninja girls he knew spoke very softly, like Hinata, or extremely brashly, as Ino or the Hokage often did. This girl's voice was crisp, clipped and even, with a slightly feminine inflection, but no weakness. There was also just the slightest edge of noble refinement to her words. All in all Shino found her voice rather pleasing, just business-like enough to avoid irritating associations, but otherwise completely personable. Still, that was only a minor thing to his mind now, as he wondered how she had avoided his bugs.

"You don't mind if I sit down do you?" she asked when Shino only shook his head slightly in response to her first question. When he shrugged moderately by way of response she took that as assent, and sat across from him. "You seem to be puzzled, it's the bugs right? You want to now how I got so close."

Shino just stared at her with his dark sunglasses.

"Alright, it's simple enough," she smiled softly, a motion that brought light to her eyes and a calm assurance to her otherwise plain face. "I happened to see a couple of your scouts when I was far away. I caught one in my hand and figured out they eat chakra the hard way I guess." She rubbed her left hand slightly. "After that it was simple enough to suppress my own chakra consciously so you wouldn't find me." Shino made no reaction to the explanation and the girl seemed to run out of things to say. Then she twisted slightly, remembering something. "Oh, yes, I had to keep your little bug captive as well, couldn't let him report back," she reached down into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a small glass box. Opening an almost invisible hinge on the top she opened one side and let out a small dark bug. "Seems okay for being in that box for an hour or two," she remarked idly as she put the box away.

The bug flew back toward Shino immediately, coming to rest on his hand before his mouth. It related its story quickly, and Shino understood that the Stone ninja had told him the truth. It took only a moment to recognize that she was able to sneak so close only because he had the vast majority of his bugs scouting long distances, and almost none at mid range. Also, he had not been bothering with moderate chakra sources, only clearly strong ones. The girl had not masked hers more than he might expect from any skilled ninja. Still, there was one bit he wanted to confirm. "Most people wouldn't notice a single bug."

"Well, yes, I guess you're right," she replied, almost giggling. "I kind of got lucky, I happened to be thinking about those bugs of yours just at the moment I spotted that one flying by. And, well, I do keep a look out for bugs most people don't, but you knew that already."

Recalling the swarm of wasps this girl had summoned Shino knew he did at that, but he said nothing.

"Quite interesting bugs by the way…" the stone girl went on idly, and then stopped. "Ah, but we shouldn't talk like this without having been properly introduced. Now, I gave you your bug back, so could you give me your name?"

"You're a stone ninja," Shino replied, as if that were enough answer in itself.

"Harsh," she remarked, and her smile faded. "I had thought you would be more courteous."

Shino sighed inwardly. It probably wasn't wise, but he could tell he would be giving this woman his name. It wasn't like his name was worth much anyway. Anyone who'd seen his bugs could identify him as Aburame, and there weren't any other Aburame ninja his age. Besides, it wasn't like this girl would be the first foreign ninja he'd told his name, and that one had been far more dangerous. "Aburame Shino, age fourteen, chunin, Hidden Leaf Village."

"Thank you," she replied with another little smile, and reciprocated. "Ling Ying, age fourteen, chunin and journeyman Glasscrafter, Hidden Stone Village."

There was a lot of information in those names and ranks, quite a bit indeed. Neither Ying's age nor rank surprised Shino, but there was something else. "Ling Ying?" he asked, altering his voice just enough to make it clear he was asking a question.

Ying jerked back slightly, and her eyebrows narrowed. "Yes, Ling Ying, I wasn't born in the shinobi countries. My exiled farther sent me to Stone for safety as infant, do you intend to make an issue of it?" it was almost a challenge, but it held echoes of old resentment and old pride.

"Not at all," Shino replied, his first real comment of the whole encounter. "I simply wondered, and there is one other thing…"

"Journeyman Glasscrafter right?" this time Ying did laugh slightly. "Of course you would wonder about that. It's no harm to tell you, you've already seen the moves in action. Journeyman is my rank on the Glasscrafter path. It is artistic calling as well as a ninjutsu method. Journeyman is the middle rank, above initiate and below master. This sort of thing is common in Stone, but perhaps it is not well known in the Leaf."

"I've heard of it," Shino remarked, and so he had, there were a few ninja who practiced methods much like a trade, instead of a fighting school. The Leaf had an order of woodcarving ninja who used the crafter's titles in addition to ninja ranks. "But then why do you know insects?"

"You put things together fast don't you?" Ying asked with a quirked eyebrow, and Shino could not tell if this amused her, threatened her, or even both. "Don't think I'll fall behind. Regardless, the insects come as an interest from my Master. He was the first to work with insects through glass, and I have followed in his footsteps."

Those dark sunglasses continued to stare at Ying, even as she stopped. She waited a moment, and then reached down to her pouch again.

"Here," she placed a small thing on the table between them.

Shino stifled a gasp when he saw it. Ying's hand drew back from a wasp made of crystal, only a few inches in size it modeled the shape of the flying insect with a great deal of accuracy, head, thorax, abdomen, wings and legs, all the pieces were there, and though it was hardly a great work of art, Shino was greatly surprised and quite astonished at the accuracy of this crystalline replica.

"Of course it's bigger than the real thing," Ying went on. "It has to be, small is harder, and also this is not a great piece, I can make much better, and even that is nothing on my Master's skill. This is a field piece, one I wouldn't be unwilling to lose. It's not superb but still," and she put her hand back over it, and held it there for a moment. When Ying took it away Shino saw that the terribly evanescent crystalline wings were moving, and that the bug was crawling forward on the ground.

"A puppet?" he asked.

"No, not a puppet," Ying replied. "Though that's close, but there are no strings here. This is a true automaton, one powered by chakra and able to carry out a few instructions on its own. It's a more limited method, but less vulnerable, and there are jutsus to control it directly, but those are very taxing. Still, I'm sure you can see the uses."

Shino only nodded, impressed.

"By the way, your bugs are very interesting little creatures," Ying remarked, shifting topics. "I wasn't easily able to place them, are they hemipterans?"

"Yes," Shino replied, pleased that beyond simply summoning and recognizing insects Ying actually knew something about them. "But we've bred them to be rather different. They were once similar to assassin bugs."

Ying smiled widely, amusement clear on her face. "I should have known."

Though Shino didn't say anything he had to admit that he too found that rather amusing, it was somehow just too stereotypical even if true. However, he knew he must be careful to avoid simply falling into conversation with this stone ninja. There was something more going on here, and he had no intention of being blindsided.

"What do you want here?" he asked her abruptly.

"We had a piece of rather bad luck before, Aburame Shino," Ying answered. "Being assigned the same objective. I wonder if that happened again, and how to avoid fighting you again. I'd rather not do that if possible."

"Why do you think we have the same objective now?" Shino asked, even though he had a good idea himself, he wanted to gauge Ying as best possible. "That is statistically unlikely."

"There's no coincidence when ninja are involved," Ying's smiled vanished completely, as she answered with one of the hundred shinobi sayings. "We were both sent here for a reason, and in response to the information on the same scroll. Also, I think our masters anticipated this, sending each of us alone. Konoha has a strong team structure, just like we do."

"True," Shino muttered cautiously. Then he decided there was no need to be further circular. Ying was clearly able to sort through his silences to some extent, and he could read into her well enough. They were closely matched in more areas than combat it seemed. "Then let's find out. Though if our missions are not the same will you keep the secret?"

"Of course I won't, but I will promise I'll tell you mine as well," Ying replied smartly. "That's a fair trade isn't it?"

"If such a thing even exists," Shino grumbled slightly, prompting a slight giggle from Ying. "Regardless, my mission is to capture a certain missing-nin, Nozu-"

"Hidemoto," Ying completed the name for him. "We have been most thoroughly boxed in."

"Correct," Shino replied, not bothering to state the obvious, that it was impossible to drag one ninja back to both villages.

"Well, what do we do now?" Ying asked, seemingly speaking both to Shino and herself.

"Is it not simply a race?" Shino questioned, stating the conclusion that made the most sense to him.

"You're skipping a step there," Ying replied, her eyes sad. "With those bugs I know you're a better tracker than me. I could just follow you and attack you once you've captured the missing-nin, and you know that too. Hunting each other would limit searching to almost nothing; we'll hamstring each other that way."

Surprised by the keen insight the Aburame nodded, recognizing that working against this young woman would be very difficult indeed. He sat silently for a moment, letting Ying look at him as much as she wished, knowing his face and the black lenses of his sunglasses revealed nothing. Instead he thought through the possibilities, trying to look at as much of the puzzle as he could. Shino had never been like so many of his teammates, to make a decision on the spot with his emotions. He preferred to consider everything logically, searching for the ideal solution as a ninja. It was as when he had pursued Gaara and fought Kankurou, he'd known the sand puppeteer would be his opponent from well before he even left the stadium. Knowing the path in advance made it easier to focus on other problems that occurred down the road. So Shino assembled the puzzles visually in his head, using all the skills of visualization he'd gained from using his bugs in battle. He recognized swiftly that his orders had indeed anticipated this possibility, as his teammates had not been sent, only him alone. He could easily see that Ying's situation was a mirror to his own. There were indeed no coincidences, the two of them had been sent into a situation where an encounter was more likely than not.

As the situation crystallized in his mind Shino saw only a small set of options. Basically it came down to two situations, one was to oppose the girl in front of him, to treat her as an enemy, in which case his greatest chance of success lay in attacking right now with the bugs under the table and the kunai in his hand. The other option was to try and work with her somehow, to search for a solution that split up their objectives, reducing the potential success for either, but greatly increasing the overall chance that at least something would be learned. It was complicated, and would be difficult, but it was not impossible. Reflecting on these options Shino recognized that he would have to make a choice this moment, as would Ying, that would likely cascade down for some time. He looked out through his dark glasses, studying the profile of this strange girl who had not more than two weeks before battled him with life and death on the line. The haft of that potent scythe stretched past her head, a visceral reminder of that moment, and Shino could still hear the ringing from when that weapon connected with his kunai.

Finally Shino had gone through all the variables, and he was still left with two choices, one to strike and seek the full advantage but that offered tremendous risk and the other to accept a reduced success but provided far great options and opportunity. There seemed to be no real advantage either way, and so Shino was left with a choice that could not be considered on logic alone. He could decide either way. It was a free choice and his emotions would decide. Searching those carefully controlled impressions Shino's decision became easy. He really had no desire to fight with Ying at all, even with their violent first encounter between them.

When Shino finally spoke his decision was made, however, he was not about to come right out and state it openly. "What other options are there then?"

"We both have to capture Hidemoto right?" Ying confirmed, and Shino nodded. "Well, we could both work together on that, and why not, I think it would likely double the chance of success. The only trouble is who gets to interrogate him, and why don't we wait until we have him to work that out?"

Now Shino gave his answer, having heard clearly Ying's desire to cooperate in her words. It was easy to recognize that she did not want to fight with him either. "That is possible," even as he spoke Shino reminded himself to be cautious. It would not be acceptable to treat this girl as if she was a Leaf ninja he had just met. That was assuredly not the case, and Ying was not, and could not be considered as an ally. She could become an enemy at any moment. As dark and tragic a thought as it was it was Shino's great hope that Ying was reminding herself of this same thing at that moment.

"Good," Ying smiled again. "Here's to capturing our target as quickly as possible." She stretched out her right hand to him across the table.

Shino's own hand was still at its customary place in his pocket, and he had not quite expected this move, it was rather too personal for his taste. There was also the niggling fact of a kunai still in his right hand. Calmly, however, Shino dropped the kunai into his pocket and withdrew his hand. He brought it up slowly, not really wanting to shake Ying's but with a greater urge to avoid being discourteous to her. He couldn't place that feeling, but he didn't bother with it much. With a careful motion he took her hand in his own.

Ying's hands were thin, but not delicate. Shino could feel the marks of weapon work on them, but also finer lines, ones he assumed must come from working with glass. In a rather spontaneous action he decided to do something unusual, and as they brought their hands back up he let the kikai bugs creep out over his hand and Ying's.

She jolted the moment the bugs' feet made contact with her skin, but it was in surprise, not fear. By that reaction Shino confirmed her comfort with bugs, something he found greatly pleasing. Even his teammates were not so easy with the creatures even after a great amount of time.

"That tingles," Ying smiled softly. "Does it mean they agree to work together as well?"

Willing the bugs to crawl back inside his body, Shino only shrugged again, a slight motion of his shoulders that raised his jacket just enough to be seen.

"In that case, I'm sure we have much to discuss about this mission," Ying's tone dropped easily into that of regular conversation. "Should I start or do you want to?"

Behind the obscuring cowl of his jacket Shino's mouth twitched slightly, almost smiling. This mission had just become more complicated, but it had also become much more interesting.

Insect Stuff: the best picture of Shino's kikai in the manga (from the fight with Zaku in chapter 69) makes it unclear exactly what they are. I have chosen to place them in order hemiptera (the true bugs) somewhat arbitrarily (it's quite possible they are supposed to be beetles). However, it allows me to make the assassin bug joke this way. Assassin bugs do exist, their order hemiptera, family reduviidae and are stealthy ambush predators with penetrating forearms. I think it's quite fitting.