Surrogate
Chapter 6
His gaze unblinking, studied the ceiling above and his ears focused in on the mandatory drip of the faucets all through his house. He thought, as exhausted as the mission had left him, that a full night's rest would come easily. Unfortunately, it still fled Shino; some of his symbionts were also awake and conversing with him...mostly, it was a sympathetic gesture. He discussed with them what they made of now having a surrogate.
The beetles didn't seem all that disturbed by the contract; Shino was still alive, after all, and was of greatest importance to them. They seemed confused if they were able to communicate with kunoichi though...the could sense something besides their male host, but whether it was Hachi or something else, they could not yet distinguish. This left the Aburame pondering the side effects of such a contract. When done between insect-users, the seal established a communicative bond for the surrogate, but there was no caveat for this instance: Hachi was not a insect-user and had no formal training to communicate with the kikaichū. She cannot communicate and therefore cannot control how they feed on her chakra.
The thought was followed by a sudden chill of sweat on Shino's brow. He didn't know if he could stomach the possibility that his friend could die at the hand of his colony. Without proper training, the symbiosis could kill her; he prayed that his father could sway the other elders to let her live and be taught to care for the parasites. Rolling over, the kikaichū master buried his face into his pillow as if to hide from the inevitability. He then found himself craving more warmth.
The parasites responded in kind, waking some of the dormant to raise Shino's body temperature, but he was still feeling unsatisfied and soon bade them not to fuss over him. The insects settled again into rest. Their host lay his eyes to the snowy scene beyond the window pane; imagery began creeping in his mind, personifying the heat that radiated from his chest into the mattress below. His memory harkened back to the night he'd spent with Hachi in the tent. He huffed out a quiet chuckle now and wondered why in the world he decided to do more than share heat...to test his boundaries with her that much.
The seductress was somewhat taller than other women, but she was still quite small in her features...at least to Shino's perception. He couldn't neglect to note it in the way she fit well against him that night. He remembered her face...neck...ear...they were invitingly soft and pale as his own complexion. An audible sigh fled his parted lips and Shino found himself burying his face into the warmth of the pillow again. The smell of her, cleaned and aroused by his hands in the washroom, had his thighs clenching from a surge of need.
His hips pushed deep into the mattress of their own accord. Suddenly, being shirtless didn't seem freeing enough on this cold night. Shino rolled over and rubbed his hand roughly over the juncture of his pants, grasping himself through the fabric; he let out a hissing breath and felt more urgency for relief. One of the drones under his skin suggested a visit to the person of his interest, but the Aburame host mentally replied that the idea would certainly not be feasible tonight. There was an exceptionally low probability that Hachi would greet him with sore arms at o'three hundred...or whatever hour it may be.
Growing restless and pent-up, Shino made for the bathroom. With the area memorized, he turned on the shower and discarded the remainder of his clothing in the dark. Only as he leaned his sore back against the bathroom wall did he turn on the light switch. He stared for the sign of steam and wondered how likely it was that he could have Hachi in here with him...then the thought veered to what experience she had. From what he had gathered lately, he starting to think that she didn't have much outside of her book collection.
Well educated, but still novice, naked, and soaking wet in his shower...in his hands again? Shino's breath hitched as the possibility made his hard member twitch. Reaching down and stroking himself, the insect-user finally saw glimpses of vapor rising from the shower. He climbed in the stall for the second time that night and hissed at the wonderful spray while using his unoccupied arm to brace against the wall. Shino's teasing strokes quickly turned to a firm and fast pumping against the large cock in his grip.
The hot water hardened him even further as it streamed down bracing, pale abs to his focal point. The Aburame paced as fast as he could with the thought of having the kunoichi bent over and taking him in right now. His grunting echoed rather substantially in the stall...he wasn't quite reaching the pinnacle he wanted. Resting his head on the shower wall, his left arm reached down, cupping his balls in his palm while he hurriedly rubbed the sensitive spot just behind his scrotum. He felt it edging-in now.
His unilateral thoughts were shaken when Shino heard a sharp pop from his bedroom that had the colony suddenly awake and in a fit of warning. Their frantic vibrations overloaded Shino and made him spill out involuntarily on the shower wall, but no relief was found as adrenaline flooded his veins; the insect-wielder bit back any sound and grabbed a stashed kunai, turning his back to the wall. He tried to filter through the pollution of noise from both the cascading water and the beating pulse in his own head and chest. Dilating a pore on his hand, the academy sensei lifted his fingers away from the stream of water and dispatched five sentinels.
Quickly rinsing his seed from himself, Shino crept over the opening in the top of the stall, not turning off the water or opening the noisy shower door as he waited for the kikaichū and their report. Silence from outside of the bathroom gave him no comfort until the beetles returned to him one at a time. Porch and garden, clear...attic clear...kitchen clear...living room, dining area, second bedroom, second bath...all clear. Damn this cumbersome house...the report was clear from his bedroom, but there were signs of entry.
Quietly, Shino opened the door to the bathroom and immediately saw where the intruder came in: the window he stared out of earlier. The bang-pop he had rigged to the sill snapped to life when the window opened. Ignoring the harsh bite of winter wind on his wet and over-sensitized skin, Shino inspected the room...nothing was out of place except the point of entry. He grabbed a pen-light from the desk...studying the window frame, he noticed an orange drop of liquid stain on the snow.
He ordered a worker out from his skin to test the stain. Almost as quickly as the male beetle bravely consumed the substance, it seized up and died.
"Poison...a strong one, too." Shino fumed quietly.
Gently retrieving his fallen worker, the Aburame man saved the carcass in a petri dish on his work table. He quickly re-rigged the window and stood naked, dripping wet with the cover of darkness. Shaking his head of his mental reeling, Shino quickly returned to the now cold water of the shower. Scrubbing himself furiously and hurrying to clean and dress.
Clearing his mind, Shino made haste to Hachi's apartment. Given their recent dispatch of seven missing-nin, all the assumption was, to the chūnin, that the yakuza may have traced the assassinations back to Konoha...if they had an ID on him, little that he did, they most certainly had one on the seductress. Staying in the shadows of the alley, Shino silently directed a sentinel beetle toward the third floor apartment.
Gnawing his way through the door's weatherstrip, the lone kikaichū entered the apartment. None of the rigs on the windows or door had been disrupted, and Hachi was asleep, flat on her back. The male scout landed without a sound on the kunoichi and felt for her vitals, finding her in REM sleep. The insect watched the woman's face momentarily...as Hachi's eyes darted rapidly under their lids. The kikaichū moved in closer onto the pillow, noticing something just below the kunoichi's ear.
There was the same female kikaichū from the hospital resting in the brunette hair. The male saw that the other tracker was dormant and did not notice his presence. Recognizing the female beetle's scent as one of the Aburame, the alert insect deemed its likeness to be no threat. Silently, he made his exit and returned to his host to report the findings.
Shino held council with the tiny parasite and walked away from the kunoichi's house. His clan was still keeping tabs on her, apparently. Just as he settled down though, the shinobi's alertness was stoked again as he spotted a brisk movement passing the alleyway behind Hachi's building and move to the rooves quickly. Shino's brows furrowed under his visor and with swiftness, he followed the shadowed figure.
The pursuit led him into the neon glow of downtown...not as surprised as he hoped to be, the Aburame man saw the figure descending into the light to reveal ash-blonde hair and brown eyes. He watched as Eiji quickly changed his demeanor from rushed to casual, bemusing the tea stall owner with an order of wagashi to go. The academy teacher wasn't as perplexed by the strange request though, and the colony goaded along as Shino moved in to exploit it.
"You're in quite a hurry for such a late hour."
Eiji jumped but quickly waved off his shock with an innocent laugh as his paid the stall owner. "I need a sugar fix."
Shino wore no amusement, "Surely though, if you'd venture out this late for a snack while on leave, you would respect the chef and take time to have the proper tea." though his logic was correct, the dark-haired man couldn't help but inject some mockery toward Eiji's last tea merchant act.
"I have better tea at home" the blonde was clearly becoming annoyed.
"Now, that is even more disrespectful." the kikaichū host antagonized in a flat tone, "Not only will you refuse the customary tea, but you insult further by boasting your own beverage more superior than a man's that has spent his livelihood perfecting the pairing."
The sparsely occupied stall went quiet as the owner held the to go box and a couple watched uncomfortably.
Eiji then snatched the box from the confectioner. "And what? Why do you care if I'm out doing me? You're not exactly sawing logs either, asshole." the chūnin made his way to leave.
Shino decided to call him out and get to the point of it. "Because there is a security risk. I assume your presence at Hachi's apartment was also to maintain her safety from this. Did anyone follow you back from the mission?" he cajoled, but his lack of tone made his insincerity obvious.
"I don't leave trails." Eiji grew short and turned back to face the sensei. "The only security risk I see here is you. What happened to Hachi's arms, bug-boy? They weren't like that when I left her with you."
"You should desist this nonsense until we can determine if the yakuza traced the dead nin back to us." Shino refused to digress.
"I told you, idiot, I don't leave trails! If they traced anything, it was to you and that slut!" Eiji shoved the insect-user. "What'd she do, give you a hand job? Cum bugs on her, freak? Is that what happened?"
"Hey! Take your garbage out of my shop!" The elderly confectioner admonished the men.
"Shut it!" Eiji mouthed back, leaving the other patrons aghast.
Shino, on the other hand, relented his loaded questions and obeyed the business owner, bowing deeply in apology. As the academy teacher walked away, he directed a warning to the chūnin, "It is in your best interests to never insult myself, my kikaichū, or Hachi ever again."
The blonde man didn't let it lie though, "HA! Threats now, huh?!" Shino felt the collar of his trench coat snatched backward as Eiji pulled him, "You really think you can take me?"
Before Eiji could even react Shino knocked his hand away, twisted it behind his back and pinned the chūnin's chest and face against a brick wall. Through the blonde's growling protest, the Aburame man held true and leaned a hushed voice toward his opponent's ear. "I know I can...with ease...and you will lose." the colony began to hiss under their master's skin.
Eiji suddenly tensed as his felt tiny beetles crawling up on his arm.
"That will be quite enough." A familiarly cold voice interrupted.
Shino glanced to his right. "Tatsuma..."
Eiji fought out of Shino's grapple and fretfully swatted the kikaichū away.
"What's the problem here?" The tattooed policeman demanded.
"Your whole fucking family is the problem, Aburame-san. Keep a frikin' leash on him, will ya? He's got a seriously short fuse." The hot-headed chūnin pointed to the younger Aburame.
Tatsuma spared no reaction to the insult. "Disperse and go home. Both of you. If I see either of you causing more disturbance, you'll being spending the rest of your leave in detainment." he ordered.
"Got it, Sir!" Eiji waved off and quickly left, grinning obnoxiously at his recent teammate as he threw the colorful box of wagashi in a garbage can.
The colony expressed great paranoia over the blonde's reason for the late night loitering. Shino mentally concurred and noticed that Eiji had dropped a vile during their skirmish...it contained orange liquid...similar to what was on his window sill. The academy teacher's blood suddenly ran cold with more suspicion. As he knelt down to retrieve the vile, Tatsuma collected the tiny vessel for himself.
"It must have slipped from my pocket." Shino lied.
"I saw that it certainly did not. Not from your pocket, Itoko-san." Tatsuma calmly called him out. "Go home. We already have eyes out for your 'security risk.'"
His older cousin then disappeared to the rooftops. Shino was not at all comforted by Tatsuma's words. Given these developments, the first place he felt the need to be was with Hachi. Motivations though, had morphed into something much more alarming than what they were a mere hour earlier. The color of the liquids...Eiji's odder-than-usual behaviour...Tatsuma keeping vigil with, what Shino correctly guessed, were his cousin's kikaichū...this was the furthest from a coincidence that it could be.
As he stood unmoved...he felt himself boiling inside. It was making the sensei beside himself to calculate that in the past twenty-four hours, his priority on the kunoichi had escalated above a mere colleague...more than merely a physical attraction as well. No...as much as he wanted to be near the kunoichi tonight, there's no telling what Eiji would lash out at her about later if he found out.
The kikaichū disputed this excuse, of course, but their host didn't budge. The air was too hostile to let emotional leanings blur his logic. Again, Shino felt as if he was gripping a double-edged sword. The parasites went quiet, albeit with great disapproval, and Shino walked home...slowly.
*
She also packed a gift into her satchel. Shino's gift...as yesterday was his birthday, but the Tamechia woman wasn't prudent enough then to keep her hopes from rising. It felt a rather pathetic of her to curb her trained mind for what her kunoichi sensei would've deemed such 'childish wanting.' So many years conditioned to never chase...don't get caught up in the moment...the same things she drilled into the work ethic her pupils. And here she was: pining.
Breaking off a couple chunks of milk bread, the kunoichi felt the kikaichū crawl under the collar of her armour while she wrapped one piece with great care. Human and parasite traipsed out into the blindingly-white snow, Hachi eating the unwrapped bread on her way to the academy. She was meeting Amaya there for training, but she quietly hoped she'd see Shino as well...at least in passing. He wasn't in line of sight as the woman strolled toward her star pupil, but the seductress hid any hint of discontent. The preteen's ebony skin seemed to glisten with the reflection of the snowfall. Hachi smiled warmly as Amaya's onyx eyes lit up in excitement.
The sensei's recovery had suspended their training and both teacher and student were anxious to resume their routine. The pair took to the rooftops as Hachi lead them into the surrounding forest. Dodging the giant icicles as they pressed-on, Hachi spotted a clearing up ahead and flagged Amaya for their approach. The opening presented a fallen tree and a reprieve from the noise of the village. The kunoichi sensei tossed her raven-haired genin the treat wrapped in coral parchment.
"Thanks, sensei." Amaya licked her lips and wasted no time on the snack.
Hachi smiled while hanging the satchel on a branch of the dead trunk. "How are your missions going?"
Gulping down her mouthful, the genin wore a rather perturbed look. "Still D-rank. All we've done lately is pick up garbage."
Hachi's eyes narrowed with a mocking snicker, reminiscing on her own days of D-rank work. "You've got to earn your way up to chūnin, half-pint. Everybody does."
"Yeah, yeah." the ebony girl sassed lightly and finished her bread.
"We're going to up the difficulty in your genjutsu today." Hachi detailed as she sat on the dead trunk.
Amaya followed suit, "Like how, sensei?"
Hachi's muted-blue gaze focused with intent. "Tell me about the environment we're sitting in now."
Amaya looked puzzled but glanced around. "It's freezing..." she stated bluntly.
"Is your seat comfortable?" Hachi pressed.
"Umm...no? My butt's getting wet and numb."
The seductress laughed. "Yeah, mine too. So, your lesson is to fix it. Now that you know how fool the eyes and ears, you need to learn how to manipulate the touch, temperature, and smell of a situation as well. So, give it a go: make me feel comfortable, Ama-chan."
Amaya's eyes blinked in epiphany and she nodded with surety. Hachi watched the youth mold her chakra with a flurry of hand signs and waited...rather slowly, she felt the world around them warm. The academy teacher felt dry without forgetting that they were outside. She opened her eyes to find herself lying in a snow-white bed, morning sun pouring in on the kunoichi's milky skin. Still not completely detached with reality, Hachi peered over the fluffy blankets to see her student lounging in a chair across the open-air room.
"Impressive...but I can still remember we're out in the snow. Now here's the step up: move inward. Make me disconnect and feel it inside." the older instructed.
"Yes sensei." Amaya acknowledged and focused.
Slowly, Hachi felt the purpose of their exercise slipping from her mind. The bed became intoxicatingly stifled as she felt her mind grow fuzzy. A warm knot began to creep in the pit of her gut...blackness.
The cold snapped back to her forethought and Hachi's eyes popped open to see Amaya had released her genjutsu, the teen's face riddled with a threatened look.
"Ama—" Hachi stopped immediately as she sensed a hostile chakra behind her.
Hachi turned to see her brown-eyed teammate inspecting the tag on Shino's gift. Tossing the parcel to the ground, the chūnin weaved hand seals and lit the gift on fire. It was obvious in his features, that Eiji was trying to get a rise out of the kunoichi. The blue-eyed sensei yielding him no such gratification though and sat unfazed. The gift was replaceable. Eiji stood behind the jōnin instructor with a malicious look about his face. "Having fun mind fucking each other today?" he spat.
Hachi stood to stare down her teammate. "You're not welcome where we train, Eiji. Only kunoichi are allowed to be present, you know that."
*
Shino's concentration broke for the fifth time today; his meditation was failing miserably and he stared off, lost, into the snowy garden. Heeding his father's words, the Aburame man gave himself space. Typically, that was all he needed to regain his correct train of thought...this time it wasn't working. Everything ranging from worry, to heated fantasy addled his calm, and of it all, one particular person was the center. The colony wasn't faring much better: the beetles were fretting about something they could not identify and it kept Shino on edge.
Their behaviour made him feel like a new parent trying to understand the crying of an infant. He retreated to the inside of his home and made a bee-line for the bedroom. Shino sat at his desk, arm crossed, and stared with clenched teeth at the dead worker in his petri dish.
After analyzing the poison, the liquid revealed to be a deadly cocktail of DDT and BTX concentrate; the insecticide would kill his kikaichū before they could break down the paralyzing toxin, with his own cardiac arrest soon following. The maker of this poison knew exactly who they were dealing with...and wanted the job done quickly. If the vile Tatsuma confiscated from was the same liquid...the unknowns had the kikaichū host landing a frustrated kick at the wall under his desk. He wasn't gaining anyway headway in resolving this matter and he hated it. Kiba had been on a mission and by the time Shino could ask his help, the trail from the window had gone cold. The female beetles were unable to locate Eiji and tag him. Tatsuma was also nowhere to be found, but that was to be expected; how Hachi could access the detective, Shino theorized, was only because of her past work with the ANBU divisions. And now, she had the elders' judgement pending, right along side the former Root operative.
Unrigging and opening the window of his room, the insect wielder went to lie back on the mattress. He let his thoughts numb as the winter breeze cooled his anxiety. He wanted to see her...not that he'd yet admit it. Much to his dislike though, Shino knew that seeing Hachi now would do him no good; he simply wasn't in the right frame of mind.
*
"Not welcome?" Eiji laughed. "Please, don't be such a bitch—"
"You're pushing your luck, Eiji!" Hachi cut him off and pushed him back a few steps. "I don't know what the hell's gotten into you this winter, but you need to back off and let me teach my student."
Eiji pushed back with a raised voice. "So you're gonna ditch me for some stupid kid?! Since when is some desk job more important than OUR team? Just you and me?"
Hachi grew quiet...sensing that this was turning into something worse than mere bickering.
Not looking behind her, Hachi called out an order to her student, "Amaya...training's cancelled. Get back to the village now, quickly."
"Nah, Ha-chan. She should stay, since you want to train her to be a slut sooo much!" Eiji said mockingly and began to walk toward the young girl.
Hachi shot back in his path, kicking up a cloud of white powder in her wake. "Now, Amaya!"
The ebony girl back-stepped a few times before taking off for the village.
Brown and blue glares met as Eiji sized-up his teammate.
"I said she stays." he demanded and his hands moved fast.
Before Hachi could look down, the blonde man grabbed her shoulder and shot out his chakra, paralyzing the kunoichi's right arm before he sprinted off after the genin. Hachi quickly tailed Eiji as her arm went limp.
"RUN, AMAYA!" she screamed ahead of them.
Amaya focused her chakra into her feet, but the girl grew fretful as she sensed the man gaining on her. Abruptly, she was plucked from the air mid-leap and a hand muffled her yelp.
"Shh." Tatsuma quickly warned in the genin's ear as he hid them both behind a trunk.
The coal-eyed girl watched her tattooed captor clutch her close and silently unsheathe a tanto blade. As she glanced around, Amaya spotted three others hiding in the trees, bearing the signet of the military police. She calmed then as best she could. Just before Eiji crossed their path, Hachi swung around a trunk with squealing wire and landed a kick square on his face, knocking the chūnin to the forest floor. The kunoichi brandished a kunai in her left hand and readied her stance when her teammate rose, nose bloodied.
"I won't let you lay a finger on my student. Now, explain yourself." she demanded coldly.
Eiji licked some blood from his upper lip, "No, Ha-chan...you explain..." he pulled out a kunai and lunged forward.
Sparks flew as Hachi blocked the attack. The two began a lethal dance as the military police looked on. Tatsuma stilled the genin in his restraint as he signed his officers to fan out over area. Blurred silence dispersed in the trees above the distracted shinobi.
"What did you and that creep do at your place?! What'd you two do when I left?!" Eiji raged as he backed Hachi against a tree.
The kunoichi just did duck below the blade aimed for her face. Her opponent had his weapon jammed in the sappy trunk and leapt back when Hachi moved to uppercut him.
"What the hell does Shino have to do with you losing your fucking mind?!" She took the offensive and managed to slice a bit of the chūnin's ear.
The ash-blonde man lurched back in disbelief and quickly sprang to perch on the side of a tree trunk. "You..." he panted, touching his ear the see the blood. "...You don't get get it, do you? I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT IDIOT! IT'S YOU, YOU BITCH!" he screamed.
Tatsuma leaned to whisper in Amaya's ear, "Can you camouflage yourself?"
Hand still covering her mouth, the girl nodded an affirmative.
"Do it. Go now and be silent." The Aburame man ordered as he left the girl on her own without a sound.
Tears threatened to well-up in her eyes and Amaya obeyed, summoning a jutsu that blended her in against the icy tree trunk. She watched as her sensei commenced trading blows again with the brown-eyed chūnin. Amaya's lip quivered at the sight before she shook it off and made her way toward the nearest person she knew would help. Just as she turned her eyes away, Eiji elbowed Hachi hard in the gut, slamming the kunoichi back against bark. Hearing what sounded like shattering glass, Hachi looked up to see a rain of sharp icicles plummeting toward her.
*
The colony panicked inside of him so strongly that Shino had to sit up and command them to still. "Tell me, please! What's frightening all of you?!" he whispered with clenched teeth, but none of his symbionts could give him an answer he could use.
Something was wrong...very wrong. Scanning the area outside the window, Shino watched the wildlife...the birds were acting normally...no living creature was fleeing or seemed distressed. Only his beetles were a paranoid mess. Just as he was preparing to leave for the main house, the academy sensei heard his name being called from afar outside. Leaping out of the opening, he swung over the window frame and crouched on ledge of his roof. The colony went silent so he could listen more clearly.
"SHINO-SENSEI!!!" Again, he heard his name.
"I know this voice..." he roamed his memory, scanning the area of the compound. "Amaya?"
Then he spotted her: running through the grounds and gathering the audience of his clansmen disturbed by her commotion. Shino leapt from his roof and sprinted to meet her.
*
The cloud evaporated, revealing to Eiji a mere smoke bomb casing impaled with the fallen spears of ice...and no kunoichi. Growling, he walked cautiously to try and spot his hidden teammate. Hachi locked her eyes on his movements and tried to form hand seals with her right arm in vein. Tatsuma and his squad closed in, but still did not advance.
Fingers rustled through short ash-blonde hair in a feral impatience. "I should've off'ed you with the others! he way sensei always told me to stay out of the way...the second Hōki stole your first kiss from me! They turned you into an ungrateful slut and I got rid of them to keep you! Not like you fucking care, right?!"
Tatsuma tensed in anticipation...this is what they were waiting for...
Hachi's eyes widened in shock and disgust when she realized what Eiji was saying. "You...killed them?" she whispered from her cover in a holly bush.
Eiji didn't hear and continued his tirade, "Now you start getting sweet on that Aburame prick?! AFTER ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH?! Y'know how fucking hard it's getting to trip him up?!! How much trouble do you really think you're worth?!!"
Hachi screamed and managed to land three shuriken in her teammate's back. She charged him, and the two dueled with kunai once again. "I won't let you hurt him! You bastard, how could you kill them! We were a team! WE WERE A FAMILY!" she cried and aggressed with unrelenting force.
"NO FAMILY OF MINE!" Eiji leapt and summoned his ninjutsu.
Caught up in her rage, the woman didn't dodge fast enough, and the chūnin bore down on Hachi from above.
"PARALYSIS JUTSU!" he grappled the crown of her head in his palm.