Here it is, the Haku story. Not very in-depth and possibly OOC, but I hope I did a good job. I think it'll just remain as this one-shot, though if I get a few reviews, I may elaborate -nudge nudge-.
The sky was split down the middle by a streak of brightness, the lightning exploding in all its brilliance then fading from sight. The clouds were illuminated only for a second, before pitching back into darkness once more. That was how Zabuza liked it... dark; an endless pit of quiet and rest. Not to say that he enjoyed such things, but it was a nice break from the constant chaos that raged in his mind.
The sound of branches snapping and crackling as something moved amongst the bushes made him turn his head. "Haku... that you?" There was a moment of silence. The crackling had stopped and Zabuza hesitantly readied himself. He would've thrown kunai now and asked questions later, were it not for the fact that he still needed the boy and wasn't very keen on having to dispose of a deady body this late at night.
"Haku?" he repeated, getting annoyed; his voice became throatier than usual as he bellowed it once more "HAKU?!" It was not panic, but anger, that made his body shake. A sound that made his heart clench in rage came from the exact spot he'd been staring at: giggling.
A nine-year-old appeared from the darkened shadows of the forest, grin on his angelic face and something held in his hands. Zabuza would've chewed him out for disrupting him like that, but he was more interested at what the kid was clutching. "What are you skulking around there for?" he growled, leaning forward and inspecting the furry mass in his hands. His rabbit had run off a few weeks ago, it couldn't have been that...
"Look!" Haku proudly held it up. It was a dead hare, senbon in its neck and its eyes gazing up at Zabuza with a kind of empty fear.
To say he was shocked was an understatement. "You killed it?" he asked, eyebrows furrowing together as he took it from him. Haku did nothing to prevent the taking of the dead animal, nor did he flinch when the older man got out his knife and began skinning it.
"Yes. Y-y-you said you were hungry" his slight stutter made Zabuza look up, a question in his eyes.
"You feel sorry now, don't you?" he inquired, mercilessly tearing the strips of fur from the beast while Haku watched on in a quiet stupor. "You wish you'd let it bound off and join its family in their warm little burrow..." he was frowning internally, deciding to dole out the boy's punishment for the earlier incident. He didn't say it, he didn't need to. The kid was smart, he'd figure it out himself. The connection... destroying a rabbit's family and destroying his own.
Zabuza could hear his protege's terrified shouts sometimes, as he slept, crying out 'daddy, stop! What did mommy do?'
There was silence for a few moments, as he finished preparing his meal. Haku gulped and held back the tears in his eyes as Zabuza cruelly skewered the animal, working on pitching it over the fire. To add insult to injury, he smirked and asked "You want some, ki...?" He trailed off as he noticed that he was talking to an empty clearing.
Whatever, the boy would be back. He always came back.
---
Zabuza was picking his teeth clean when he heard the rustling again. He didn't bother to look up because he knew who it was. And if it was somebody else... well, he'd just have to get up off his ass and fight them. Not that many stood a chance. Heh.
"Zabuza-senpai" Haku whispered, barely able to be heard "I apologize for running away." Zabuza couldn't get over the fact that this boy had killed so many people, been trained to kill so many people, had no problem killing so many people... and yet he ran off when an animal was being skinned and stared at his feet when talking to the one man that cared for him. For some odd reason, Zabuza felt as if he had been in the wrong in this situation.
"I ate all the ha-" he stopped himself, not wanting to upset the boy further. Why? He didn't know. "There's no more food left. Only some rice. You can have some of that... we should get to sleep." He didn't wait for a response as he set to preparing his bed roll. Haku did the same, unsurprisingly, not hungry after what he'd seen earlier.
It was still strange to his gaurdian and mentor as to why he could see so many dead bodies of humans in a day, and greedily suck down bowls of ramen only a few hours later; yet, now, when something as insignificant as a creature of the forest was torn up before his eyes... though he'd been the one to kill it... it was a difficult concept to grasp.
Haku's shuffling stopped, and Zabuza turned. "What is it?" he asked, following the boy's eyeline to the small pile of bones left behind from the meal. Grasping how it could upset the kid was now the easier task, because he was left wondering why he got up, scooped up the bones, and turned, walking towards the forest. "Come on" he growled. Haku wasted no time running after him, wondering what was going to happen and terrified that he'd upset the man.
They only walked for a few moments, their feet crunching against the dead leaves, before they stopped. The glow of their campfire was still visible from where they stood. Haku jumped back with a start as Zabuza grabbed his sword, swinging it down one-handed and sending dirt flying from the floor. Was he really that angry?
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean t-" the boy was cut off as he heard the clattering of something... the bones. They fell into the small crater that'd been made in the ground. What was senpai doing?
"Get a stone, kid." He rushed to do so, returning with one about the size of his hand. The crude grave had already been covered with freshly-churned dirt and crushed leaves. Once the marker was in place, the two stepped back and stared at the hare's final resting place. They said nothing, an awkward silence in the air.
When Haku began to cry, Zabuza didn't stop himself from pulling the boy against his side and allowing him to do so.
Sobs penetrated the former quiet, their noise only broken by another loud crack of thunder as it bore down on the Earth.
-Weeps- Poor Haku, I bet a couple of Reviews would cheer him right up