Bamboo Hearts Firefly

The Bug God

As I dig for wild orchids in the autumn fields,

it is the deeply-bedded root that I desire,

not the flower.

-Izumi Shikibu

___________________________

'Are these actual food pills?'

The bee shinobi narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

'...Or poison?'

She wouldn't put it pass the Aburame. 

And she wasn't taking any chances.

Even if her stomach growled like a wild Nine Tails, she couldn't trust him. 

Because what was the meaning of this kindness she'd never earned or asked him for?

The Kamizuru never even gave Shino a reason to take pity on her, and knew she'd be damned to even let herself try.

Was this all just a trap to make her naively let her guard down?

What other reason could Aburame have for being so unforgivably unforgivable, doing everything a "mortal enemy" shouldn't do?

Didn't he understand what an "archnemesis" was?

Because that was starting to become a problem for her.

She wanted to hate Shino.

She wanted to hate him so hard, it made her sick. 

But as they say, it takes two to toxic. 

And if Aburame refused to be the villain, did that make her the nefarious rogue?

What part was she supposed to play if Shino wouldn't cooperate with being 'irreparably evil beyond all hope of redemption'? 

Once upon a time, there lived an Aburame and a Kamizuru, and they ruthlessly dueled  each other to the death. 

That was supposed to be the final chapter of their epic narrative together.

The story of a destiny written for her and Shino since birth, by generations of Kamizuru and Aburame who'd performed upon the very same stage of this dark opera, in which they'd found themselves entwined by its deadly script. 

And unlike Shino, the Kamizuru couldn't just shrug it all off as an antiquated, pointless feud and go home.

Shino had to be her enemy, if she ever wanted to be a Kamizuru again.

There was no other alternative story for her outside her village, and to imagine that there could be another existence for her apart from war was...well, scary, to say the least. 

How could any identity as a ninja ever be just as meaningful as defending her clan against its enemies?

Where else was she to go, if not home?

Who else was she to be, if not the avenger?

Why else should she believe she was capable of bringing peace to her clan, if Shino Aburame wouldn't stop saving her in the end?

He couldn't keep rescuing her like this. 

Not from being poisoned...Not from wild queen bees...Not from the rain...Not even from hunger. 

He couldn't keep showing up whenever she needed somebody the most.

He couldn't just disregard the long history of violence between their clans, all to sit outside her tent in a rainstorm and make sure she fell asleep ok.