One by one, at day's end,
the birds take flight in all directions-
which could lead me to you?
-From The Ink Dark Moon
"I didn't come here to fight you," Shino's voice came suddenly from behind the Beekeeper. "I just want to talk."
But more insulting than the Aburame's endless dodges and his wacka-mole game of substitution jutsu was that once again, the Beetle User refused to finish this longstanding battle between them.
What was the meaning of showing his damn face here then?
To toy with him?
To rub salt in the Beekeeper's wounds?
To revive the fallen Bee User's hatred for the one opponent he could never bring himself to kill in the end?
"Shibi," Beekeeper spoke. "How much longer will I go punished before you finally settle the score between us?"
Because surely, Aburame knew that the Bee User hadn't dared to step out of the protective veil of the fog to face his shame in the shinobi world.
Only the Aburame Clan had such an honor now. Ever since...
Bees' nest...had it really already been 20 years now since his last fateful battle with Shibi?
The Beekeeper hardly noticed.
What was time to a ghost anyway?
Like forgiveness, the passage of time meant nothing to the endless dark.
All that lived in the fog now were these maddening memories of how he had failed unredeemably to keep his name.
Exile was such a demeaning and lonely place for those who have long lost the right to their name.
And knowing that he was nothing now but a hollow of himself from the old days, Beekeeper laid a wager of his stamina against the prime of the mighty Allied Shinobi Forces.
Indeed, he would find the Aburame a nuisance for an opponent to keep up with.
But he no longer cared to be bled as prey for the mosquito of his revenge.
Unable to enjoy even the privilege of taking his own life, knowing that he was the last of his kind, and that he was bound by a shinobi's oath to fight for his clan until his last breath.
A defeat that Shibi still refused to stake claim to, remaining an enduring mystery that even the Beekeeper failed to understand.
As the Bee User wasn't ever dumb enough to believe it'd been his own skill that costed Shibi every missed opportunity to kill him.
Until now, he had managed to stay alive by countering Shibi's skills in battle through the grit of his rage alone, and not by any talent of reading the cryptic Aburame's mind.
And so, the only reason Beekeeper could truly understand why Shibi kept him alive was that their mutual hatred for each other would not allow him to take his life.
A hatred so absolute that they could only ever manage to beat each other to a pulp in battle, and then forefit.
Leaving the other at the edge of death without ever dealing the fatal blow.
And Beekeeper had suffered long enough waiting for Shibi to return and fulfill his vow to defeat him, allowing the Beekeeper at last to escape these tormenting memories and join his fallen clan in the next life.
But now that Shibi Aburame had come here to find him, and face his old enemy again, Beekeeper would not allow him to stall their battle this time.
"Another substitution jutsu? Such wanton and meaningless cruelty," Beekeeper's rage was restrained behind gritted teeth. "After everything you've done to dishonor my name, why do you continue to insult me? I know you are capable of more power than this!"
And in his blind fury, the Beekeeper advanced toward Shino.
"You will not forfeit this fight a second time, Aburame."
But having gambled all his chakra to summon his ultimate 1000 Bee Stings technique, his taijutsu skills couldn't match the speed of Shino dodging every blow that came his way.
"I'm not here to pick a fight," Shino persisted.
"Not here to pick a fight?" the beekeeper called him out, suspiciously glancing at the kunoichi caged by Shino's insect cocoon. "Is that what you call peacekeeping?"
"If you will allow me, I can explain-"
"I will not stand by and do nothing this time as I watch you kill this girl too," Beekeeper swore. "I am not the same indecisive fool I was that day on the battlefield. I always knew, even back then, that I should've stepped in to kill you when I had the chance. I won't make that mistake a second time."
"Rather than waste your time fighting me," Shino suggested, as they went on blocking and dodging each other's striking attacks. "You should be more worried about what you're going to do when she wakes up."
"What the dung-beetle is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you got the wrong idea about us," Shino informed him. "Because she's the one who came onto me."
"Insolent acarid!" Beekeeper declared. "Is there no limit to your arrogance? A woman like her is out of your bug jar!"
"As you can see, I found a bigger bug jar."
"Same satirical bastard you always were."
"Maybe we can help each other."
"And why would I ever do that?"
"Can you afford not to trust me?" Shino countered. "The reason is because you are not trying hard enough. For all your talk, you are not the shinobi you used to be."
"How dare you dismiss me!" Beekeeper professed. "This time, I will prove my true strength to you, Shibi Aburame, and you will have no other choice but to return the name you took from me. You will acknowledge my name in battle before this is over."
"Then you should work on getting stronger, if your only reason for living now is to fight my father," Shino advised him. "The reason is because I am not the shinobi you think I am. I am his son."
The Beekeeper dropped his fighting stance, completely taken aback by the sudden revelation.
"You?" he finally drew in a breath. "You're Shibi's son?"
"Yes," Shino affirmed with a nod. "Shibi Aburame is my father."
Beekeeper stood still in the silence of the swirling fog, as he studied the young beetle shinobi whose face resembled the stunning mirror-image of his mortal enemy.
But he would not let down his guard just yet.
"News travels fast in the Leaf from beehive to beehive," Beekeeper went on. "The bees often buzz about Shibi's two exceptional sons. One has gone away to join the Anbu in his brother's place. And the youngest one, Shibi could never bear to let go of...Which of his sons are you?"
"I am," the young ninja informed him. "Aburame, Shino."
"His only true blood son," Beekeeper nodded quietly. "Have I really been trapped here in this fog for that long?"
"How do you know so much about my-"
But Shino was forced to save his words when the Beekeeper abruptly darted above him, building up his limited chakra for his next move.
"If you really are Shibi's son, then prove it!"
Shino held his ground, dodging and blocking the Beekeeper's takigakure whirlwind assault as he dropped down for another punch.
"You're quick on your feet," the Beekeeper acknowledged Shino's defensive strikes. "I'd expect nothing less out of Shibi's son."
But it was not the same fight they were having before.
The Beekeeper's tactics appeared to change.
Because Shino knew the difference between hand-to-hand taijutsu to kill an enemy and sparring to test one's skill.
And the Beekeeper appeared to have the latter in mind, pulling back in restraint when he caught Shino at an advantageous opening, and advancing only when he knew Shino would logically counter his attack.
'Why is he holding back?' Shino wondered. 'If he hates the Aburame Clan and my father, why isn't he trying to kill me this time?'
"You must be telling the truth," Beekeeper realized. "You look exactly as he did when I fought him 20 years ago. I never imagined you and I would ever cross paths like this. But I knew there had to be a reason why the poison in my 1000 Bee Stings hadn't killed you yet."
"The poison did get me," Shino answered him. "But the poison isn't a problem for me. The reason is because your bee's venom is weakened, and that small amount wasn't enough to kill me."
Beekeeper grunted in amusement.
"Do you really believe it is because of your own mastery that I have not killed you yet?"
He straightened his shoulders, withdrawing his next attack, as he faced Shino in a stand-off again.
"I see clearly now that your ignorance is your father's true revenge against us," Beekeeper said. "And I refuse to play this tragic game of history all over again."
And then the beekeeper knelt down and bowed his submission to Shino.
"I offer you my life, if you wish to kill me. Your father was never brave enough to end this, and because of my oath, it was only Shibi who could do it. Because I promised someone dear to me, that I would fight Shibi Aburame to the brink of his last despicable breath, but never take his life for the sake of my revenge. And though it tormented me to leave him for dead every time we fought, the vow I made for that person means more to me than any grudge against him," he said. "And so, it would be an honor to die by an insect user of your caliber, as I've been haunted by this damning existence for too long."
"I'm sorry, but it's not my revenge to take, and killing you is not what I came all the way in here for," Shino respectfully declined. "The real reason I'm here is because I want your honey wine."
"What?...My honey wine?"
Beekeeper raised his head in surprise again.
"You only came here for...honey wine?"
"That's right," Shino answered. "I'm looking for a wedding gift to take back to the village for a friend. That's what I've been trying to tell you all along."
"But the girl you fought..."
The Beekeeper glanced over at Shino's captive, still unconscious and guarded by his beetles.
"Don't you know that she's...But you had to have known that she belongs to...Why would you two even be...How could this ever...What in the Bee's Nest is going on here?"
"Do you know who she is?" Shino's voice peaked slightly in anticipation.
"Of course I do! What Bee User doesn't know who she is! What kind of question is that?" the Beekeeper declared. "Why, her name is..."
"Yes?" Shino waited, his cool indecipherable face masking just how eagerly he wished to know that name.
But the Beekeeper appeared to lose his train of thought, still hung up on matters of other confusion.
"So, it seems...after all this time...we have learned nothing from our tragic mistakes," Beekeeper rambled on ambiguously. Appearing to forget Shino's question completely, as well as the answer he had for it, as he studied the girl's face intently. "And once again, we are back to where we first began...I can not stand for it...No, I will not allow this all to happen again."
And then the Beekeeper looked up to Shino at last.
"I will give you all the honey wine you ask for, on one condition," he said. "I may not have the prowess of my youth, but I am still more advanced in my poison healing art than you are. I can find the antidote to cure her. Therefore, you will leave the girl with me and find your way back out of this bamboo grove. Forget you ever found each other here, or that she challenged you to a fight. Absolutely forget. That is my price."
Shino gazed at the snowy haired ninja held captive by his insects, and tried not to think about the girl from his childhood, who'd shown him kindness, just before the Aburame Clan slaughtered her and her teammates.
There was no reason why his father and grandfather would lie to him.
No evidence to suggest that Firefly hadn't actually died that night. Or that she now lived for the sole purpose of unleashing her wrath against the Aburame Clan.
Until this unnamed kunoichi woke up and told him she was Firefly herself, Shino had no reason why he shouldn't bargain with the Beekeeper.
Making his decision, Shino ordered his insects to release the captured assassin.
"If you can find the antidote to save her life," Shino said finally. "I will accept your offer."
"Very well," Beekeeper nodded, his attention still locked on the girl in Shino's arms. "However, it's dangerous in this fog after dark. I'll take you back to my honey farm where you can rest and find your teammate in the morning."
"Thanks, but I really can't stay," Shino politely turned the offer down.
But the Beekeeper didn't answer, walking ahead of the Aburame to his honey farm. Giving Shino no choice but to follow, or risk getting lost in this fog again.
"You better keep up," the Beekeeper warned. "I meant what I said about the dark."
But it wasn't the dark that scared Shino at all.
The reason is because his eyes saw the world through kikaichū eyes.
And such keen eyes were better suited for the darkness than in the blinding, headache-inducing light, which is why Aburame like him shielded their eyes with darkened shades.
A side effect of his developing sight as an infant, after spending most of his first 3 years of life in dark rooms while the kikaichū beetles were infused with his body.
And as it was painful for him to gaze too long into any light, Shino preferred the dark.
So, it wasn't the darkness that made Shino decide to follow the Beekeeper into the forest.
As restitution for trying to kill him, he would not allow the kunoichi to die without giving him her answer.
Because if she truly held the secret of what really happened to his friend, Firefly, Shino would do whatever it took to make sure this girl survived the night.
