This appeared in one sitting. I got bored, and I was thinking back on how every character from Naruto seems to have a 'precious person.' Or if they don't, they long to find one.

So, i've decided to start a series of oneshots called Precious Person. This is the start of it. Enjoy.

He was dying. He was dying. He was dying.

And he knew it. He wasn't the sort of man to keep pushing when he knew for a fact that the door was marked "pull". He knew that these few breaths were his last, and he wouldn't fight it. He had died righting wrongs, killing the man that had made that island a living hell for its occupants.

And he was with his precious protégé at the end. That poor, innocent young boy. Goodness incarnate, he had always thought. The epitome of naivety. It had never really bothered Zabuza until today.

Why, Haku…? Why did you do it? Why…did you save me?

His angelic face was spotted with blood. Blood that shouldn't have been spilt. Blood that should have kept flowing for decades to come.

Haku…you shouldn't have…

The dying man reached forward to touch the dead boy's face, and tears filled his usually remorseless eyes. It felt like a piece of him had already died, and the rest of his soul was just trying to catch up. Too bad that they would never be together again…

((Flashback))

"Haku."

"Hai?"

"When I pass on…if I haven't fulfilled my purpose yet…I want you to take my sword and fulfill it for me."

Haku surprised me by laughing at my sudden proclamation of faith.

"What's so funny?" I demanded, looking at the twelve-year-old with mild irritation mixed with a much stronger curiosity.

"Master Zabuza, by the time you pass on, I'll already be waiting for you in the afterlife."

What a morbid thing to say, I thought to myself, looking at my protégé with a cocked eyebrow. "Why do you say that? Are you sick?"

"No, of course not. It's just…if you were dead…I wouldn't have a purpose for living. And living without a purpose, as you taught me, is the same thing as being dead. Knowing that, I would gladly give my life before letting any harm befall you." He paused to think for a moment, and then turned his face to grin at me. "So, sorry, but you're going to just make sure that you carry out your dreams for yourself."

I shook my head, and then mussed up my protégé's silky hair. "You say that. But just you watch. I'm going down first."

Haku laughed. "Wanna bet?"

I frowned. "Quite a gloomy bet."

"We're shinobi, aren't we? We have to be gloomy just to make it through the day."

I shuddered at the look in my precious's eye. "How about this? Neither of us goes down. We live forever. Good plan?"

Haku gave me a seraphic smile. "An excellent plan." Then his smile wavered, and it transformed into a more morose expression, though it was still a smile. "But if that doesn't work out…I'll still die first."

((End Flashback))

Zabuza closed his eyes. Well, Haku, you win. You went down first. You died how you wanted to die. For me. You fulfilled your self-proclaimed purpose. But there is only one thing I want to know… Why couldn't you have chosen something else as your purpose?

He opened his eyes one more time to look at the precious face in front of him. The tears fell faster. Haku…thank you. And…I'm so, so sorry. Please…forgive me.

As he closed his eyes for the last time, his last sight being the boy he had lived alongside with for so long, snow started to fall.

The demon and the angel were dead.

I stand in a dark hallway. There is a light at the far end. How cliché. The light at the end of the tunnel. Heaven. Yeah right. This is just another form of torture. As soon as I reach the light, some devil will come grab me and pull me down to Hell, where I belong. I'm not an idiot.

"You're not getting to me like this!" I shout to the hidden devil that I know is watching me somewhere in the darkness. "If you're going to take me, do it now and get on with the damnation!"

Then, I hear the voice that I had resolved never to hear again.

"Master Zabuza?"

I grind my teeth. There he is, right in the middle of the light. My angel, my son. My only precious person. He stays in the middle of the light, unable to come to me, though the look on his face clearly shows that he wants nothing more than to run to my side and never leave.

"Haku."

"C'mon, Zabuza. They're expecting us."

"They?"

"The rest of the angels. I haven't met up with them yet."

"Why not?"

"Did you really think I would rest at peace without you?" He willingly steps out of the light.

"Haku! No. Go back. I cannot follow."

He grins. The look on his face nearly breaks my heart. He is so naïve. Does he seriously think that I belong in Heaven?

"Zabuza, come on. If you couldn't follow, you wouldn't be here. I promise."

He doesn't lie. Well, yes he does, but not to me. Never to me. But there's a difference between being a liar and being wrong…

He walks closer to me, increasingly farther away from the light he belongs to. As the glare stops blocking out his features, I notice that he is wearing a simple white and silver hakama. His hair falls down his back, and his fingernails still have his signature green nail-polish. He is a literal angel now.

But I am Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist. I can no longer associate with this angel, for the sake of his own salvation.

As I turn away from him, I feel a tight grip on my forearm. I turn to face him, and there is an uncharacteristically furious expression on his cherubic face. The only times I remember seeing this face was when Gato attempted to attack me, and when Haku saved me from the Copy Cat nin's Lightning Blade. The look makes me shiver.

"Zabuza. Stop it. You belong where I belong. And if by some cruel joke I'm wrong, I'm still staying wherever you are. Nothing will stop that. Get it?"

I stare at the unrelenting force in his eyes, and then I drop my gaze. I can't deny him anything, even if the afterlife.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it."

Haku smiles. "I win again."

I ruffle his hair, and then face the light. If that devil is coming at all, he'll have to be quick about it. Because nothing is going to take me away from my precious person ever again. Nothing and nobody.

So, yeah. Zabuza and Haku. Short and sweet, but I still like it.

If you've got ideas for the series, let me know. I plan on doing Lee and Gai, and Iruka and Naruto. And no, i don't mean this series to be yaoi or anything like that. Just a look at the complicated and yet so simple relationships in the world of Naruto.

Ja na!

Miyazaki A2