"Are you from the Hidden Village of Mist?"
Zabuza reached behind him, grasping the hilt of his broadsword before replying with a dismissive "No." The boy who had asked them shifted uneasily on one foot, nodded, apologized and sprinted past them. Haku peered at the fleeing back of white-haired boy. The boy had empty eyes. Haku recognized those eyes. Those were his eyes before he had met Zabuza, to whom he owned his life to.
"What are you looking at, Haku? Let's go."
Haku nodded and turned, trailing after his master. He felt a slight twinge of sympathy for that boy because he, too, understood the desire to be needed by someone, by something, anything. He hoped that that boy would be able to find someone, like how Zabuza had found him and taken him in.
At the forest, Haku dipped his fingers into the cool water of the stream, enjoying the soothing hum of flowing water, and faint snores that drifted from behind him where Zabuza slept. A heavy fog had formed that morning, hovering all around them. He heard a rustle, the muffled sound of someone yelling. Leaning over the side of the stream, he squinted through the mist dampening his vision. He could make out a small figure in the distance, far away enough for that figure to not notice him. He blinked, picking out the white hair and the pale completion of the figure that stood crouched over something, arm raised. Another figure appeared through the fog, a taller figure this time. Haku unconsciously crouched down lower, shrinking away from the hypnotizing aura that he could sense clearly, even at such a distance. Words that he couldn't hear were exchanged and soon both the boy and the taller figure were walking away together, the mist swallowing them greedily. Haku felt relived. Maybe that was who the boy belonged to, who the boy could live for, and fight for.
Haku rose and stared at Zabuza's prone form. He wondered what would have happened had he met the white-haired boy instead of Zabuza, and had the boy met him instead of that menacing figure standing stock-still in the fog. He wondered, dismissed the thought, and went to wake Zabuza up.