Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I make no money from this work of fanfiction, it is a labor of … Love. *Teary Face Chin Quiver*. This applies to the entire story, I will weep for my fallen dreams. Will you?

"Speech"

Jutsu

'Thought'

Bijuu

"Remnant Pulse!" A shimmering wave launched from his extended palms, blasting the senbon meant for his vitals out of the way, before slamming into the ground and grinding it to gravel. Sadly, the woman who'd been there wasn't when the jutsu hit. She also managed to avoid the subsequent pulse of razor sharp wind that exploded from the source of the impact.

Four senbon struck him in the left shoulder rendering it useless for the moment. "Fuck, she's still faster than me," He said under his breath. "I won't get anywhere from this range."

He unsheathed the blade at this lower back.
***

She noticed him the moment he set foot into the forest, her sensor abilities having developed over a life on the run. His attempted ambush had never stood a chance, but who was he? No hunter-nin dared enter the forest without a full team at least, even that didn't help. Yet this fool thought she could be taken by a single shinobi in a place she'd had nearly a year to prepare for almost any situation. His white mask shone like a pale ghost in the darkness of the forest.

She nearly lost her head while practically hypnotized by the intricate fox face painted on the mask. His tanto removing a few hairs as she ducked under it. She repaid his attack with one of her own, a blade made of ice angled upward under his sternum. A sadness claimed her at the thought of taking another life before the body burst into smoke.

She barely had enough time to get a guard up before the man appeared through the smoke, his tanto smashing into her blade and cutting clean through. A rather bothersome cut appeared along her left shoulder as she narrowly evaded the shimmering blade. 'He's channeling wind chakra. I must end this quickly.'

That turned out to be quite difficult to do as he didn't miss the chance to press his advantage, skillfully swiping at her with the wind
covered blade. Already a few cuts had appeared along her body. She jumped to the left suddenly, the masked shinobi hot on her tail, he never saw the tripwire.
***

The log slamming into his side was unexpected, the broken ribs from said log weren't. No time to kawarimi away from this. He rolled with the impact, losing his tanto along the way, before coming to a stop some distance away. He rolled again to avoid the senbon that now riddled the spot he'd occupied.

A blast of concussive wind toward the ground allowed him to avoid the cluster of ice spikes bursting from the ground. He caught a branch, righted himself and stayed there, getting a good look at his adversary's face for the first time in a long time.

Long black hair framing the porcelain skin of her face. Features that were both delicate and strong. Beautiful in so many words and more. A thin trail of blood flowed from a cut along her cheek, it did nothing to detract from that beauty. She looked much like she had three years ago, only older. Her features were void of all emotions, her eyes though, they told of great sadness and loneliness. He felt his heart pang at the sight, it reminded him of the first time they'd met. The second person he'd felt a real connection with, the only one he'd ever held ... real feelings for. 'Why? Why did you do it?'
***

'What are you doing?' She watched the masked shinobi carefully as he sat on the branch, looking at her. "Who are you, who sent you? We don't have to do this, you can walk away and we can forget this ever happened." She called out.

The hunter-nin said something, but it was so soft she didn't catch it."I'm sorry Kitsune-san, I didn't hear that." The masked shinobi stood on his branch, she readied herself in case he decided to attack her.

"I said, we've met already."

That was surprising, most people she'd met had tried to kill her and refused her peace when it was offered, they weren't around anymore. "I can't say I remember you, please forgive me."

He looked off to the side suddenly, as if struck. "I don't think I can forgive you, you took two of the only people I cared about from me. My precious people..." He lifted a hand to his mask and with a soft click removed it. Her breath caught.

"Naruto..."

"Haku."

A/N:

Okay, I wrote this on my phone and that's why the paragraphs are shorter in some areas where they likely should have been longer, that's the way they looked on the phone. Now that I have this up on the computer screen I can see how it really looks, I'll remember that for the future.

So with that done, I know some things need cleared up, here we go.

Yes, Haku is a female.

Some three years have passed since the wave mission making Haku about 18 and Naruto around 15 1/2.

Lastly, both of these characters are strong, not nearly godlike, but this fight was just testing the water on both parts if that gives you a clue. Things have changed from canon drastically. Everything before the wave mission remains the same but during is mostly different and after is almost completely different, changes will be made clear as the story progresses. I'll try to update at the very least monthly, if not sooner. Chapter length should increase as I get my head around this more firmly.

P.S.- This is my first story, constructive criticism is wholeheartedly welcomed but if you want to flame that's your prerogative, I'll take what I can from your hatred and make myself a stronger writer. If you see anything (plot-holes within my story, plot-holes regarding canon, grammar mistakes, spelling errors, anything you deem wrong) please let me know so I can fix it.

Update- I noticed after updating that I'd forgotten my disclaimer. Also my formatting was messed up some, so I'm working on that.