Haku walked over to the closet and opened the door. He pulled out a dark pink t-shirt and black capris and put them on.

Haku walked downstairs to find Zabuza sitting in front of the TV, watching the morning news. Haku walked past him and into the kitchen. He opened a cabinet and pulled out a pop-tart, opened it up, and started eating it.

Zabuza had heard Haku come in, but made no gesture to make it known.

Haku sat down by Zabuza, still eating his pop-tart. "Zabuza, we're running low on food again."

"Alright. I'll go to the store today." Zabuza said, standing up. He was walking to the downstairs bathroom to take a shower.

Zabuza had woken up hours ago, but hadn't changed or taken a shower, so he was still in his dark blue boxers and a dark green shirt that he had worn to bed.

Haku swallowed the rest of his pop-tart and grabbed the remote, changing the channel. He, unlike Zabuza, never liked the news. Probably because he was still a kid.

He flipped through the other ten channels they were able to get with the weak satellite they had. There wasn't anything on, so Haku turned off the TV and went back upstairs.

Haku flopped back down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. There's nothing to do…as always. Maybe I'll go to the store for Zabuza. Haku got up and started looking on his desk, which hadn't been cleaned off for a long time, for his wallet.

When he found it, Haku ran down stairs and grabbed the money that had been set aside for groceries for that week. Exactly ¥20,000 – Haku put the money in his wallet and put his wallet in one of the back pockets' of his capris.

Haku knocked on the door of the bathroom.

"What, Haku?" Zabuza said over the sound of the shower.

"I'm going to the store for you, be back later." Haku said.

"Okay."

Haku walked out of the front door and into Hidden Mist.

He got many weird glances from some of the men because of the way he was dressed and glares from some of the women because of who he was. Haku was used to this kind of treatment. It wasn't anything new.

A little girl dressed in a raggedy pink dress ran up to Haku. Her brown hair was tangled; she had many scratches and bruises on her face. "Hi. Can you spare some change, please…?"

Haku squatted down to be eye level with the girl. "Why are you like this?"

"Huh?"

"How did you become like this?" Haku asked, he was trying to get the girl to go away: he couldn't give this girl any change, as much as he wanted to.

The girl looked at the ground, sad. "Ever since Gato killed my mom, dad, and older brother I've been living on the streets." She looked up at Haku. "Do you have any change to spare? I'm really hungry."

Haku shook his head. "I'm sorry, I can't give you anything. I have to do something real quick. If I have some change left over I'll give you some later."

The girl turned away from Haku and ran the other way. Haku continued to walk toward the store. Once there, he noticed that nobody was there today, just the cashier, who Haku had made friends with recently.

The cashier waved at Haku when he walked in. "Hey Haku."

Haku nodded in respect to his friend. "Where is everyone?"

The cashier shrugged. "Beats me. I was wonderin' the same thing."

Haku picked up a small basket and started walking around the small shop. "Aren't you normally busy around this time?"

"Yeah, I tell ya this is PRET-ty unusual."

Haku picked up two apples and put them in the basket that rested on his arm. "Even when Zabuza comes…?"

"Yep." The cashier said, playing with his necklace.

"Strange." Haku said, putting four cans of soup into the basket.

"Speakin' of Zabuza…Why isn't he here today?" The cashier asked, looking around for Zabuza.

"I was bored, so I came today instead." Haku said, putting a box a cereal in the basket.

"I see…Ya know…I think Zabuza seems depressed as of late."

"Zabuza…depressed…?" Haku said to himself, comparing two different cantaloupes before choosing one and putting it in his basket. "That would explain a lot."

"Last week he came in here with that old outfit from his days as the demon of the hidden mist. It was odd, and kind of scary, seeing him in that outfit." The cashier said, shuddering a little.

Haku looked over at his friend as he picked up a tomato and some carrots. "He did?"

He nodded. "Yep. Scared a lot of customers away. That's probably why it's dead today."

"Zabuza…" Haku sighed as he put a couple of instant ramen cups into the basket and walked up to counter.

The cashier rang everything up. "¥10,000."

Haku gave the man the money, bagged everything, and left. Why would Zabuza wear that old outfit?

Someone pulled on the back of his shirt. "Excuse me sir, are you busy?" Asked a little girl.

Haku turned to face the girl. "Yes, I am."

The girl sighed, disappointed. Her beautiful light red dress showed wealth, as did her shiny blonde hair. "I'm bored. Daddy's always busy and nobody in this village will play with me."

"Who are you, kid?" Haku sighed.

"I'm Maria, Gato's youngest daughter." She said with a smile.

Haku gasped in anger, remembering the words of the poor little girl he had encountered earlier. "Ever since Gato killed my mom, dad, and older brother I've been living on the streets."

Haku turned around. "You detestable girl, leave my sight!"

Marie became angry at the sound of Haku ordering her around. "You know who my father is, don't you…?"

Haku glared back at the little girl. "Of course I do! He's caused much heartache in this village! Leave, now!"

"How dare you! Don't you give me orders! I give you orders!!" Maria shouted as loud as she could.

Some of the nearby villagers started going into the nearest house or store, they knew how short Haku's temper could get.

Haku chuckled menacingly. "Well then, Marie…Tell your dear daddy, who makes you think that you have authority, that the assassin of the snow has a short temper."

Maria froze, everyone knew who Haku and Zabuza were; even Gato's family knew to fear them.

Haku walked away, back to the house he and Zabuza shared.

Zabuza was sitting on the couch when Haku walked in, watching TV. "How much do you have left over, Haku?"

Haku put down the groceries, pulled out his wallet, and pulled out the rest of the ¥10,000, giving it to Zabuza. "This is all."

Zabuza counted it. "You could've gotten more."

"We only need stuff for a week." Haku said, putting the stuff away. "Besides, my dear friend, the cashier, told me that you wore your old outfit, from when you were the demon of the hidden mist, last week."

Zabuza tensed up. "Why would he tell you that?"

"Zabuza…Why would you wear that outfit deliberately when you know that the villagers already look down on us for being who we are?" Haku asked, he tried to hide that he was still pissed from running into Gato's daughter, but it hardly worked.

Zabuza sighed. "Two things. One: I wore it because I was out of clean clothes. Two: are you pissed off at something?"

"I ran into Gato's daughter in town today and she was a regular bitch! Until I told her who I was, I mean." Haku laughed. "She was scared out of her mind!"

Zabuza shook his head and sighed. "I thought the point of living in the Hidden Mist village was to prevent fear from spreading…?" And isn't that what you were just telling me?

Haku finished putting everything up and sat down next to Zabuza on the couch. "She was just Gato's daughter. No big deal. She needed to be taught a lesson."

Zabuza just sighed and continued watching TV. Haku also watched TV, curious as to what Zabuza was watching.

Silence.

"Zabuza…" Haku started. "I've been having that dream again…of the day we met."

Zabuza looked over at Haku. "You have…?"

Haku nodded. "And I was wondering if you…"

"No, I haven't. Not lately anyway." Zabuza said, turning back to the TV.

Haku stood up. "I see." He walked upstairs, to his room. Zabuza didn't even bother to look up as Haku walked away.

Once in his room, Haku shut the door and sat down on the edge of his bed, feeling confused. He remembered how he felt on the first day him and Zabuza bought this house, it was the exact same feeling as he had then.

So many thoughts ran through Haku's head. Did Zabuza really like him? Was he really useful as more than just a tool for Zabuza to use? Why didn't seem that Zabuza felt the same about Haku as Haku felt about Zabuza?

Haku fell back, half-laying on his bed, his legs still over the edge, his feet dangling a half an inch off the floor. He stared at the ceiling again as he had that morning. Does Zabuza not care that I care deeply for him? Does he not care that he is my most precious person?

Haku shut his eyes and fell asleep.

A young Haku ran up to Zabuza, a bunny in his arms.

"Haku, where were you?" Zabuza asked, almost angry.

Haku smiled. "I saw a bunny and wanted it. It's so cute too!" Haku said, showing Zabuza the bunny he had caught.

"Did you want it as dinner?" Zabuza sighed.

Haku clutched the bunny to his chest. "Never! I wouldn't do that to a poor bunny!"

Zabuza patted Haku's head. "Come on then, lets continue on."

Haku nodded, following Zabuza with the bunny in his arms.

Haku's eyes shot open and he sat up. Only a few hours had past since he fell asleep.

Haku looked around his room, remembering what had happened earlier. Why did I have another dream about when I first joined Zabuza?

"Haku!" Zabuza shouted from downstairs. "Dinner's ready, come down here, boy!"

Haku stood up and walked to the door. "Coming!"