It was only truth or dare.
He smiled. It was the first time that I had seen him smile. It was creepy and fascinating all at the same time.
Zabuza Momoichi had been in my academy class in Kirigakure. I had seen him all of my life but had never actually spoken to him. He was too scary. Even with his rather short stature and quiet ways, he was still too intimidating to approach. Even the teachers avoided direct contact.
It wasn't until the last few days before the graduation exams, the one my eldest brother and sister, would attend, that I would actually speak to him.
It was recess, in the middle of the day, when he approached us. My friends and I had been talking about the exams nonstop. I was mostly bragging, because Chiaotzu and Daiki were going to be in the finals. It was a great honor. We all wanted to someday become great ninja, and it was rare that two relatives, such as my siblings, were able participate simultaneously. It spoke well of our "breeding" as mama use to say.
Any who, somehow we had gotten off topic, and Chiaotzu had dared Ayame to eat a water bug. Of course she refused and passed it on to me. I debated it for a second before giving the squishy looking beetle a sniff.
"Nope, killing for no reason is wrong," I told him confidently.
Chiaotzu looked at me with in disbelief.
"What are you talking about; you kill things all the time!"
I glared at him in exasperation while Ayame backed me up. Her hands were on her hips and she reflected my annoyance. Chiaotzu always thought he was so smart!
"Like when?!"
Aya and I shrieked together. It made the brown headed boy wince.
"Like when you pick flowers, or step on grass or spiders or wash your hands or…"
Chiaotzu continued to ramble until we told him to stop. If we let him he would go on until the sun went down…or at least until recess was over and neither of us wanted that.
Both Ayame and I grumbled.
"That doesn't count."
That was when I felt eyes in the back of my head and saw my two best friends looking at me in horror.
I frowned.
"What?"
Then he spoke.
"You know, Chiaotzu is right…you do kill every time you do those things."
His voice was only a murmur but it left me feeling cold and shaky. It was one of Zabuza's infinite abilities: to strike fear in anyone's heart.
I jumped, of course and skittered away, right behind Ayame, who was looking like she wanted to run too.
Zabuza merely laughed good naturedly, as if there was actually something to be laughing about. There wasn't. When he stopped he looked directly at me and smiled. It was the first one I had seen him smile. It was creepy and fascinating all at the same time.
He had shark's teeth.
"Or didn't you know that, Kohaku," he looked at me critically as if my answer now would decide my fate for the rest of the year. Zabuza had always been mean, and he always had a reputation. It was funny. He was only seven.
For some odd reason, at the sound of his challenging voice, I got cocky. The boy was shorter than me after all, and he was always quiet. No one knew him well…maybe everything we heard about him was wrong.
I would prove it, he wasn't as scary as everyone thought he was. He couldn't be.
I stuck my head up a little higher in arrogance and rose to my full height. He was only an inch or two shorter than me.
Well, Zabuza, those things don't count…its harder to kill living things. Not things you cant see, I said with a snide remark hanging on the edge of my tongue.
Zabuza frowned and narrowed his beady eyes, he stepped up too.
"You wanna bet", he said looking me straight in the eye, "it's just as easy."
The look in his eyes was wide and eager, like he was ready for this. It reminded me of seeing the look of a rabid dog's eye.
He had his hand swung for me to grab it. I hesitated before agreeing to it. Something wasn't right. I finally caved in.
"Dare."
I wouldn't talk to Zabuza for the next three days. Sometimes I would catch him looking at me, and sometime he would catch me looking at him. It was a long cycle that got us both into , we never spoke to one another. It was the looks we gave each other that said it all.
It was on the third day that I finally gave up on the dare, and considered myself victor. Besides today was the day of the final exams, it was required by law that we all attend the showings. My siblings had already left earlier that morning for the tournament; we were all excited and fearful for them. Their dream was so close, yet so far.
While we struggled through town square in order to get the best seats for the screen I noticed something weird on the screen. A shadow. It ran at a speed that by the time you blinked you missed it. A few other saw it but by that time the games had begun. We thought nothing of it.
There was gore, like always. Some genins didn't have strategy, those were the first to go but some did get lucky and ended up skewering at least one person before they went. Others set traps, or explosives (those were tricky without the correct paper) and I was happy to see that none of my siblings were dead yet. I knew they would make it.
It wasn't until noon that things were beginning to get weird.
Half the genins were already dead, or was dying. The cameras couldn't pick up much, except sliced bodies and the shadow from earlier. It never stopped, and when it did all you could see was shaggy black hair and body wrappings, not to mention the sword. It was small but big enough that whoever it was could wield it with such ease that it made that crowd gasp.
No one knew who or what the mystery fighter was, but rumors spread that the Mizukage wanted them found. Until then, nothing could be done and the show was cut off. We wouldn't find out who it was until the next morning.
It would be all over the news, and channels.
A boy of seven, with gray skin, and shaggy hair who was but an inch or two shorter then me, would be the only one alive after the tournament. He was barely a student. When asked exactly why he did it, he would look into camera and smile for the secondtime in my life and say as cool as a cucumber
"Because it was easy."
A/N: The ending was rushed, but I finally got it out! Yay for sleepless night and days! Hope you liked it and the whole watching the deaths of the genins came from Hunger Games. Gotta love it! Kohaku is an obvious oc…I'm having a lot of those lately…and a girl but can be viewed as a dude too. I don't really care. REVIEW!