"I suggest you don't look." The voice was quiet, and soothing as cool hands guided gently her to the ground. Her legs had turned to jelly, and only the masked shinobi's support had stopped her from ending up like her teammates or sensei. Face first on the ground, senbon in their necks.
They are dead. Sakura thought. She was the only one left. She didn't know whether to scream in fear, or beg for her life as tears began to stream out of her. In the back of her mind, she was reciting the shinobi code of conduct. She shouldn't be crying, she shouldn't be sitting frozen in fear as the monster that had decimated her team walked up to her client. She should be grabbing her kunai, charging her foe. Or coming up with some sort of plan. A crazy idea like Naruto or Sasuke that would save herself and Tazuna. But Naruto and Sasuke were dead, their insane plan working until it had gone off the rails with the appearance of Zabuza's ally.
Instead she could only watch as the bridge builder squared his shoulders with resolve. Sakura could hear voices, Tazuna's gruff tone laced by false bravado as he confronted his assassin, and Zabuza's short responses. But the words were background noises as she continued to process the events her mind refused to accept as truth.
She didn't listen to the masked shinobi's advice, and watched Tazuna's last moments. He didn't flinch, not like he had the time. In the blink of an eye, the bridge builder's head went from his shoulder onto the ground. The body lagged behind by half for a second before crumbling as well, she noted with a detached interest, anything to focus on, to ground her back to reality.
"Brat." She flinched away, noticing that Zabuza, the murderer, had crouched down to talk to her. He snapped a finger to get her attention, and she flinched again at the noise. "Brat," He repeated. "Want to make it out of here alive?"
Sakura blinked staring at the Kiri shinobi. "Why?" She croaked out, her voice raw from crying. Mercy was the last thing she expected from this monster, yet here it was being offered to her. It had to be a trick, some final joke to raise her spirits before her blood joined Tazuna's on the Swordsman's blade.
"Because, I got enough problems to deal with, and don't need Konoha riding my ass looking for revenge." Zabuza stood up and turned to face his companion. "Haku!"
"Almost done sir." Haku said as he finished extracting the last of the senbon. Two each from Sasuke and Kakashi, and six from Naruto, Sakura noted again, trying to focus on something, anything to keep herself from passing out.
"They'll wake up in half an hour." Zabuza said tersely, not looking at her as she let out a breath. With his business seemingly finished, Zabuza started to walk away at a slow pace.
They were alive, she thought as relief washed over her. Cool hands broke through her thoughts as they took hold of her own. Sakura looked up into kneeling hunter-nin.
"It isn't much, but it will help them recover faster." The gentle voice hidden behind the stark white mask said as they placed a small pouch in her hands. "Best of luck." Haku said as he drew away and turned to follow his master.
Sakura stayed locked where she was on the ground, a thousand thoughts swirling in her mind long after the Kiri shinobi had departed. She knew what she had to do, but how to do it by herself, or what to do first, that was lost on her. What was the protocol here? Had there been any lessons in the academy about this situation? None that she could remember.
As she racked her brain, she heard a noise come out of Naruto. He must be waking up, she thought. Soon Sasuke and Kakashi would follow him. Then they would have to deal with the aftermath. Of their failure. Of her failure.
With shaking legs, Sakura forced herself to stand up as she surveyed her surroundings. They had failed, on their first mission no less. But they were alive, she thought as she started to drag her teammates and sensei off to the roadside. They were alive, and they would return to the village in shame. But as Sakura started to construct a basic shelter for the night, a new resolved burned inside of her. They would survive this, and they would improve.
"Never again." Sakura whispered to herself as she wiped sweat off her brow. Never again would she just stand by while her teammates did all the work.
"Does it hurt?"
"I'm fine."
"That's not what I asked. I know you're 'fine'. You are always fine. I need to know if it hurts." Haku chided as Zabuza took a seat on his bed in their hideout. He could feel Zabuza's gaze on him. He didn't even need to turn around to know the look of exasperation and irritation that was being directed at him right now. So he continued gathering supplies. Ointment, fresh gauze and bandage. The essentials for the life of a missing-nin and accomplices.
"Chest hurts. Probably cracked a rib from Kakashi's water jutsu." It was a testament to Zabuza's training and physique that he could walk away from such a technique with a relatively minor injury. And a greater testament to his stubborn refusal to show weakness that he was admitting to it only now, Haku thought with a sigh as he put the supplies on the bed. The next few minutes passed in silence as the two shinobi fell into the well practiced ritual of the after-battle patch up.
"Shall I inform Gato of our success?" Haku asked as he put away what remained of the gauze.
Zabuza simply shook his head as he took a few experimental stretches, testing the limits of his rib. "We'll inform him tomorrow, get our pay, then collect our bonus." Gato was slime, unlucky slime at that. The pay for this job was the last push Zabuza needed to restart things in Kiri, and end his time as a missing-nin. It would take some work, but Zabuza was confident that Gato would betray him, before Zabuza betrayed Gato. All Zabuza needed was an excuse, and he could collect his pay check, with the added bonus of control over Gato's shipping company.
"And after that?" Haku questioned as he watched Zabuza, making sure he didn't overexert himself. "Are you going to Mei, or?.."
That question hung in the air between them, as Zabuza settled back onto the bed, eyes bearing down on his apprentice. "You got an opinion about our next move? Thought tools weren't suppose to question orders."
"But what is the purpose of having an advisor if you don't listen to them?" Haku countered as he put his hands in his lap. He took the silence as his opportunity to continue. "We both have what each other needs. Mei has a power base that you lack, with enough people to back up her claims, while we will have supplies, and funding. The enemy of my enemy is a friend after all."
"Terumi and I were never on great terms."
"But you were never on poor terms either." Haku sighed and matched Zabuza's gaze, not intimidated by what he saw behind the cold brown eyes. "How much longer can we keep running? Yes, we now have enough money to never go hungry again, but when will we eat? When will we train, or rest? Mei's rebellion has helped us in the past by keeping most of the loyalist forces within the border of Water Country, but how long will that last? Until the occasional single Hunter-nin becomes the weekly squad of Hunter-nin? Kakashi Hatake is a high-ranking shinobi, and yes you had him dead to rights in your Water Prison, but you made a mistake. One that would have cost you your life if I hadn't intervened. Please, Zabuza. We no longer have Meizu and Gozu. Gengo, and so many more have left us over the years. It's just you and I now. How much longer can you keep fighting?"
A pause. "As long as it takes." Zabuza said as he flopped back to lay on the bed. He stared at the ceiling, examine the cracks in the paint as he mulled over his choices.
"Fine." Zabuza muttered in a voice laced with contempt, weighed down by exhaustion. "After we deal with Gato, I'll try to get a message to Terumi."
"Thank you." Haku bowed his head.
"I hate it when you start making sense." Now only the exhaustion remained in Zabuza's voice.
"It's why you keep me around, Sir." Haku said as he stood up. It was his purpose after all. A tool to be used. Perhaps not in the way that Zabuza would prefer, but he was a pragmatic man at heart. He would see the sense of an alliance with Mei Terumi. Perhaps one day he'd fulfill his dream of seeing Kiri brought back to it's former glory. And Haku's dream, that was a goal without end. But so far, he had enjoyed the journey.
AN: Dunno, just got an idea of what happens if Haku decides to intervene in the original fight with Zabuza and Kakashi by knocking out Team 7 instead of Zabuza. After all, he caught everyone by surprise taking out Zabuza, seems fair he could catch 'our heros' flat footed as well. Also, if anyone wants to remind me where it says that Mei was leading a rebellion I would love to know, cause I sure don't remember that. Might be canon, might be fanon but a source would be great. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the story, and see you next time!