Oh my god, Jay-Chan's actually posting something! Lol, sorry, I know I haven't done anything in what seems like forever. Lei-Fang's escape has been kind of abandond, but if I get a couple requests I may continue it. Anyhow, getting back to the matter at hand - may I first point out that I do not own any of the characters in this story. Well, except for the annoying nurse, she's mine. But everybody else is copyrighted Masashi Kishimoto (- GENIUS!) And, if he wishes, he may have my annoying nurse as well *hands him a nurse-sized present box* Anyhow, yes, this is my first attempt at an actual yaoi fic, and between two of my favorite characters: Zabuza and Kakashi! Woot! Lol, my personal favorite yaoi couple would have to be KakaIru, but KakaZabu's a close second. Funny how popular yaoi has gotten in Naruto fandom, ne? Anyhow, I just wanted to try my hand at writing a romance-ish thingamabob, so lemme know what you think. I'm currently in the process of writting an alternate ending to the Wave Saga (no, there is no yaoi in the actual AE, I tried to stay true to Masashi Kishimoto's style), so we'll just say that this would take place then. And if anybody's intrested in reading the AE, lemme know and I should be able to get it up in, at the very least, script format. Also, you may not want to read this fic if you have not finished the Wave Saga in Naruto. If that be the case, mozy on over to www.narutofan.com or somewhere and download it, curse you! Go! GO! BEFORE IT'S TO LATE! And now, without further annoyance - er, I mean, ado:

A Little Bit of KakaZabu

By Jay-Chan

Sunlight wafted lazily in through the large, half-open window, splashing carelessly over the small room. Zabuza, who was rather annoyed over not having any bandages to warp around his face as he usually did, shifted to the best of his ability against the crisp white sheets of the hospital bed he lay in. He was, as of yet, still somewhat unable to move after the battle on the bridge. From what he had been told, the leaf ninja who had been his opponents had somehow managed to save both himself and his comrade, Haku, though the latter was apparently in even worse shape than himself. After what the boy had gone through, however, this came as no surprise to Zabuza. He was actually amazed that Haku had survived at all.



The mist ninja made a sound that was caught somewhere between a growl and a sigh. He did that a lot. He knew that it was his fault Haku and himself were even in this stupid mess. Haku, the only person who had ever really cared about him, was lying in the next room with a fist-sized hole through his chest, internal bleeding, and likely a serious concussion, all because Zabuza had been too damn stubborn to just stop the fight. He had risked everything and everybody - Haku, the leaf ninja, even the entire Wave country - just so he could earn enough dough for a mere chance to get revenge on the Mizukage. For his own ideals. He sighed again. This time he had taken it too far, and he knew it.



Though he would not willingly admit it out loud, Haku was a very special person to him. Haku cared - really, truly cared - about him, and, despite Zabuza's best efforts, he found himself caring for the boy in return. At first he had sort of hoped the feeling would pass, trying to help it along by denying it, but eventually he had just given up and taken it in stride. He had never really bothered to give it a whole lot of thought, but come to think of it, that was the only thing in his life he had ever effectively given up. Everything else he fought for until he either got it or it became completely meaningless to him. How perplexing. And yet, understandable. After all, how many people could love a monster such as himself?

Angrily, Zabuza shifted his attention to trying to get his tattered body to cooperate. First he moved his toes, then his feet, and then managed to shift both legs. As far as his injuries went, that was a fairly low-damage area. Wincing, he moved on to his fingers. He could get most of them to move, but decided against pressuring his arms to do the same. After all, they had been run through at the elbow with kunai a little while ago. Those were a lot messier than Haku's senbon. Best to leave them be.

As he continued, his mind drifted back to the conversation he had had with Kakashi upon waking up. He had told him pretty much everything, not seeing any real point in leaving anything out. The guy was probably gonna get hell from his superiors when he got back to Kanohagakure Village over saving the two missing nin. Zabuza was almost surprised to find himself hoping that they would be alright. The infamous Devil of the Hidden Mists, hoping for someone else's good fortune? Had he not been so puzzled, he might have laughed. Still, he could not shake the feeling. Ah well. Kakashi knew the truth, he could probably keep himself and his students out of trouble. He was certainly tricky enough.

A light rap on the half-open door caused Zabuza to turn his attention in that direction. A head of spiky, silver-gray hair was poking in from the doorframe. "Yo!" Kakashi piped up, inviting himself in. The wooden crutches he was using added a soft "clop" to his normally silent walk.

"Oh, it's you," Zabuza muttered bluntly.

"Yep," Came the casual reply, as Kakashi meandered up to the bedside. He was holding what appeared to be a tray of food. "I brought you up some foodstuffs, so dig in." Zabuza felt his stomach grow restlessly, but attempted to ignore it. He was not exactly in the mood for hospital food at the moment.

"I'm... not hungry," He muttered, feeling his belly squirm in protest. Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow in skepticism.

"Oh really?" The mirror-ninja questioned disbelievingly, listening to the complaint coming from Zabuza's abdomen, "Your stomach seems quite pleased with the prospect of nourishment."

"Yes, really," Zabuza enforced, trying in vain to figure out how to get his stomach to silence itself. Kakashi smiled in mild amusement under his mask. Leaning his crutches up against the wall, took a seat on the small chair at the bedside.

"S'no good starving yourself, Zabuza, even if the food doesn't fit your fancy," He placed the tray down on the bedside table. The black-haired shinobi glanced briefly at it, but said nothing. Receiving no reply, Kakashi glanced out the door to make sure no one was listening, then continued, "I caught Naruto and Inari trying to sneak up some instant ramen again."

Zabuza glanced at him. The two boys had brought some up earlier. According to Naruto, it was impossible to live without ramen, and Inari had wanted to thank him for killing Gato. Either way, it was a welcome gift, which Zabuza had accepted. Not without a little persuasion, off course. Naruto had also wanted to ask Zabuza to forgive Haku for losing to him, and he was ready to reveal that he had the Nine Tails in him if it had come to that. But Zabuza had already deduced that from what Kakashi had told him. Still, Zabuza had to commend that kid for being willing to go that far for Haku's sake. Right now, however, he was thinking about the ramen.

"So what did you do with it?" He asked. Kakashi shrugged.

"I confiscated it, off course, as you are supposed to stick to the hospital food, but... what the hell, eh?" With that, the masked shinobi produced a small cup of steaming instant noodles from behind his back. Zabuza's stomach almost did a somersault in anticipation, and he gave in.

"Alright, fine, I'm hungry," He admitted, glaring up in annoyance at the at the leaf ninja, "You win. Now gimme some food, will you?"

"I thought you'd see it my way," Kakashi affirmed. He placed the cup of noodles on the bedside table and picked up the tray of hospital food. Zabuza watched in confusion as he snapped apart the chopsticks.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He growled angrily, extremely frustrated at the fact that his arms were immobile. He hated having to be fed like some one-year-old child. He was 24, dammit! "What about the ramen?"

"Eat the good stuff first, Zabuza. You can have the ramen when you're finished." The incapacitated mist ninja nearly exploded in fury.

"For crying out loud, Kakashi! What am I, 2!? Give me the goddamn noodles!" Kakashi scowled disapprovingly.

"Hospital food first, ramen second." He declared, "And be quiet about it, unless you want someone to come in here and take it away all together. I'm doing you a favor."

"Fine." Zabuza muttered after a moment, and allowed Kakashi to help him get the food in his mouth. He was amazed how normal Kakashi was acting around him (if you could call how Kakashi acts "normal"), especially considering how enthusiastically they were going after each other's throats just a little while ago. Zabuza was still somewhat fuzzy about why Tazuna and the ninja would want to save him at all after everything he had done. At any rate, he was alive. Kakashi was alive. The three genin were alive. Haku was, as far as he knew, alive. Tazuna was alive. He hadn't gotten paid, but at least things were turning out better than he thought they would. Now if only he didn't have to be fed... Zabuza ate as quickly as he could so as to get it over with. Kakashi sighed.

"Slow down, you're going to choke. Then what are we supposed to do with you?" Zabuza shot him a look, but complied. Being fed wasn't all that bad, he supposed. He couldn't say he didn't slightly enjoy it. But it was rather humiliating, and quite awkward. Still... He chewed the last bite thoughtfully as Kakashi snapped a fresh pair of chopsticks for the ramen.

After he was finished and the ramen cup had been thoroughly disposed of, Kakashi picked up his crutches and stood up. Instead of leaving, however, the mirror-ninja walked around the bed and stood, staring out the window in silence. Neither said a word for a long while, both apparently lost their own thoughts. After a while, a nurse entered the room to check on Zabuza. She glanced over the IVs attached to his arm and checked the bandages around his chest and back.

"Anything I can get you?" She asked, picking up the now-empty food tray from the bedside table where Kakashi had placed it.

"I'm fine," Zabuza replied shortly.

"Alright, then" She murmured, turning to leave. At the door, she paused and looked back at the man staring out the window. He had not moved or said anything at all. "Umm... Mr.Kakashi, sir?"

He turned his head to look at her out of his one visible eye. "Mm?"

"Uhh... is everything alright?" She asked in concern.

"Everything's fine, Miss," He confirmed, "Go back to your duties."

"Well... alright..." Kakashi turned his head and returned to staring out the window. The nurse lingered for a second longer, then left with the tray. And then it was quiet in the room once again. After a while, Zabuza began to feel rather tired. He yawned heavily and was just about to drift off when Kakashi spoke, catching him mid-yawn.

"Za... Zabuza?" He started hesitantly. Zabuza glanced over to find Kakashi looking at him.

"What?" He asked hotly, the prospect of sleep flittering teasingly away.

"I, err..." Kakashi scratched the back of his head and looked awkwardly out the window, "That is, I, uhh... hmm..." Under his headband, his brow furrowed, "I'm... not sure how to say this..."

Zabuza raised a brow, "Why? What is it?" In the short time he had known him, Zabuza had never seen Kakashi lose him cool. He always had an air of confidence about him, even when he was down for the count. It hit the missing nin that right now Kakashi was acting fairly hot and bothered. Somehow, that made Zabuza feel somewhat uneasy as well.

Kakashi turned and looked Zabuza right in the eye, "Are you sure you want to know?" The expression in his eye and voice was dead serious, but seemed to have an undertone of worry. Zabuza felt something in the pit of his stomach drop.

"Is this about Haku?" He asked in worry, trying to sit up, "What's happened? Is he alright?"

"Haku's fine," Kakashi assured him, pushing him back down gently, "Well, as fine as can be expected in his current state, anyways," Zabuza sighed in relief. Kakashi looked at him for a moment before asking, "Do you still want to know?"

Zabuza shrugged to the best of his ability, "I guess so," Kakashi hesitated, then leaned his crutches against the wall again. Carefully, he took a seat on the bed beside Zabuza.

"...Well, then..." He murmured. Zabuza was rather confused.

"Err... Kakashi?"

"Shhhh..." The silver-haired shinobi placed a finger over his lips gently. After a second, he removed it and leaned slowly over the other ninja, who was now thoroughly confused.

"...What are you-?"

"Look," Kakashi leaned in close, so that Zabuza could feel the warm breath coming through the black facemask on his cheek, "Just... please don't hate me for this, alright?"

"Kaka-?" Before Zabuza could even get the name out, Kakashi placed his lips over the mist ninja's, cutting him off with a soft kiss. Zabuza's eyes grew wide in surprise. He was too shocked or injured to even move, leaving Kakashi to do what he willed.

After a moment, Kakashi ended the kiss and slowly pulled away, sitting back up. Upon seeing Zabuza's shocked expression, though, he felt as though someone had put a knife through his heart. He had feared this. Blushing, he averted his eyes awkwardly. "I, uhh... I'm sorry..." He stammered uncomfortably.

"Ka... Kakashi..." Zabuza spluttered in astonishment, somehow finding his voice again in his shock. The mirror-ninja he was addressing blushed harder, impatiently pushing a lock of silver-gray hair out of his face.

"If... if you're angry, I understand..."

"Kakashi..."

"...But please..."

"Kakashi."

"...Don't hate me..."

"Kakashi?"

"I'm sorry-"

"KAKASHI!" Zabuza nearly yelled to get his attention. The masked shinobi shut his eye and cringed. The mist-ninja stared at him for a moment in utter astonishment. Copy-ninja Hatake Kakashi, wielder of the Sharingan eye, creator of the Chidori... cringing? Kakashi didn't cringe, not even when Zabuza had nearly sliced his chest open, or stabbed him through the hand trying to get at his face. Zabuza looked on as Kakashi's shoulders started to quiver.

"...I'm sorry..." He whispered again. With no small amount of effort, Zabuza moved his arm out from under the covers. Somehow, he managed to move it enough to rest his hand on top of Kakashi's.

The mirror ninja opened his eyes and looked down at the hand resting on top of his own in mild surprise. He followed it up the arm until their eyes met. Zabuza smiled a little, despite the pain in his arm.

"It's alright..." Zabuza stated quietly. Then he nearly laughed as he realized it was true. "It's alright!" He repeated happily, doing his best to close his fingers around those of Kakashi. And it was alright. Aside from Haku, no one had ever loved him, or even liked him before. And certainly never in this way. No one had ever given him so much as a hug before, let alone a kiss. Perhaps he was going against the grain, but right now that really didn't matter.

Kakashi looked at him for a moment, his one visible eye softening. "...Zabuza..." Leaning in close to him again, Kakashi let his eyes fall closed peacefully and again locked lips with the black-haired shinobi, kissing him passionately. At first, Zabuza just lay still and let Kakashi kiss him. After a second or two, however, the devil of the hidden mists slowly closed his own eyes. Perhaps it was possible for someone to love a monster such as himself after all. And maybe, just maybe, it was possible for him to love them in return. With this in mind, Zabuza blissfully followed Kakashi's lead, and kissed his new lover back.

So, what did you think? Please R&R, me like reviews^_^. Like I said, I'm just trying my hand at this sort of stuff because the basics of this scene popped into my head while I was writting to outline for my AE and would not stop harrasing me until I wrote it down. So pardon if it sucked :(. To be honest, I'm kinda surprised there's not more KakaZabu stuff out there, but whatever. Now, I was gonna say something else, but now I've forgotten... now, what was it... umm... ah well... sorry for the crappy title, I was too lazy to think of anything better. Oh well. I'm not sure when I'll post again, as once school starts up again I'll have a rather rough time finding time to wirte much fanfiction, but whatever, I'll see what I can do. Later!

~Jay-Chan~