Hi all. I know: I did it again. I couldn't help it though. I decided to learn how to do taxes before next tax season. What the heck was I thinking? That final was so brutal that my head is still spinning. I should have just decided to get a normal spring part-time. Anywho, here's the next chapter.
Thanks again to my beta, Capito Celcior.
Fated Meetings: To Fight What You Can't See
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Anko sighed in boredom as she watched her client toil away on the bridge that was now just feet away from reaching the main land. The blonde brat had gone to deal with the two peons back at the house and so far it was looking as though that was all the action that they were going to see today. She wasn't about to hold her breath though. The sun was still high in the sky and Gatou stood to loose quite a bit of money from the bridge's completion. Anko had no doubt that Zabuza would reappear at some point today.
Work soon came to a halt as Tazuna secured the last beam for the section they were working on and ordered the three other hired hands to break for lunch. The three had scarcely left before a heavy mist set in and a cold killing intent made itself known. Anko turned to the end of the bridge, hardly surprised to see a fully healed Zabuza standing alone with his trust Zanbatou. She didn't even need to look over to know that sand brat and needle boy had taken defensive positions around their client. She gave a predatory grin and focused on her opponent.
"I take it from the fact that you're all still here that you have decided to embrace your death at my hands," called Zabuza with a chilling laugh. Anko grinned and let loose her own killing intent. Zabuza stopped laughing and pulled his sword out angrily. No tree hugging, kunoichi wannabe was going to outstrip his killer intent without facing the consequences! He allowed a feral grin to show under his mask and let fly his trusty sword. Both nins were engaged in the air before it even reached its destination.
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Haku and Gaara stood in front of Tazuna as they watched their sensei battle with the deadly mist nin. Neither held any weapons ready and Gaara held his arms in their customary crossed position. It was therefore logical for Tazuna to assume that neither was paying very much attention to him. He trembled at the sight of the full out Jonin battle that was occurring in front of him. Neither of the brats seemed concerned with the large water dragon that was currently attacking their sensei, or the snakes that were attempting to coil the dragon conjurer in a strangle hold.
Tazuna was just about to scream out and remind them of their duty to protect him when a sudden wall of sand rose up and blocked a rain of kunai that had come out of nowhere. He jumped in shock and watched in awe as Haku sent an answering rain of senbon the moment the sand shield dropped. The senbon planted themselves firmly and harmlessly into a nearby tree.
Haku sighed and stepped away from his teammate and client cautiously. It was clear that this new enemy would not show themselves any time soon and by the time he could get a location using Gaara's sand that enemy would have already moved, making any retaliation useless. So the question was: How do you fight something you can't see?
"Hyoton: Crystal Ice Spears!" All around Haku, spears of ice shot up from the ground and shimmered with a clean and deadly elegance: a miss. Haku dispelled the jutsu and tried again. "Hyoton: Crystal Ice Spears!" A splash of red and a soft cry: only a glancing blow but it was enough.
Haku watched as the trail of blood weaved between his spears and the enemy attempted to take refuge behind one of the large blades. "We can't have that," he murmured softly. Forming his chakra to surround the puddle of blood he formed his seals and called on his Makyo Hyo Sho. He nodded in satisfaction as he felt inside of his prison and located his opponent. They would be unable to escape now. He turned to where his teacher was fighting and observed her battle.
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Anko smiled sadistically as Zabuza retreated from her Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu and fell perfectly into range for one of her waiting traps. Zabuza swore and dove for cover as a rain of explosive notes fell from their hidden catch and began to blow around him. He growled angrily and jumped back up once the blasts had ended.
"Damn you, leaf dog. You booby trapped the field!" Anko grinned and liked Zabuza's blood from her Kunai.
"You didn't think that I'd let you sneak up on us without paying the consequences did you? You life is what I will demand, though I'll have some fun cutting you to pieces first." She flew through some seals and sent out her attack, "Doton: Mud Cocoon." The ground around Zabuza rushed up and encased him in a shell of mud. Anko smirked and threw her kunai at the cocoon directing her chakra to set shadow clones of the kunai to fly at it from all angles. Another seal and the shadow clone kunai shifted into ten deadly katana. The shell of mud was pierced through like a pin cushion and fell apart to reveal that it was in fact empty. Anko sighed and jumped and Zabuza's Zanbatou cleaved through the air where she had been only seconds before.
"I'm not about to make it that easy for you," he spat. "This party is just getting started."
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Haku watched his sensei send a wicked looking fire whip careening at Zabuza and sensed that his prisoner was attempting to escape his ice prison. He turned to find that the trail of blood had stopped, meaning that his opponent had managed some first-aid, but that mattered little. There was not a thing that went on in his prison that he did not know about. He located his opponent trying to sneak between two panes of ice and maneuvered them to shift and close off the escape route.
Haku entered the nearest mirror and allowed his reflection to reflect over the other panes. He did not have to kill his opponent but neither could he allow them to escape. He would just delay them until Anko-sensei had finished with Zabuza. There would be little point in battling then and Haku could avoid the kill. With that in mind, he sent a volley of senbon and set himself to wait out the proverbial clock.
Inside of the prison, Rin was racking her mind, trying to find some way to escape from Haku's jutsu. Invisibility didn't seem to protect her any more: it seemed he could tell where she was regardless of sight. For some strange reason, however, she did not want to let him know that it was her that he was fighting. Rather then conserve chakra by dropping the jutsu she collected herself and tried to do as Zabuza had always advised her. When in a dangerous situation just shut up and think. She watched dodged Haku's senbon, taking two into the arm rather than letting them hit her vitals. Sunlight glinted off of the mirrors as she repositioned herself to face the reflection that she thought might be Haku. Rin paused mid-move and looked to the sunlight again. Maybe she could make this prison work for her.
Rin smiled and began weaving her chakra differently. Instead of just allowing the redirected sunlight to bend around her she began to concentrate it together. She thanked Kami for the movie that Zabuza had allowed her to watch while they were still in Suna and targeted her new 'laser beam' at the most angle worthy mirror.
Haku watched as his opponent's invisibility jutsu seemed to waiver. He just barely got the impression of a slender form before a twinkle of light in front of the opponent distracted him. He watched as the twinkle grew until it was the size of a grapefruit and then dove out of his mirror as the light shot quickly at him and struck the mirror that he had just been standing in. He watched in shock as it slowly cracked and fell apart, opening a hole in his jutsu for his opponent to escape through. He prepared another row of senbon in a futile attempt to get his opponent to stop but paused as he heard a familiar voice scream out, "Fire Flash." He quickly covered his eyes and allowed the jutsu, which had the intensity of a flash grenade, to pass over him as he counted slowly to five. Opening his eyes, he turned to thank Naruto for his timely arrival and caught his first glimpse of his opponent.
(I was going to leave it here but that wouldn't be very nice. Besides, you guys deserve a little more for waiting so long)
Haku felt a shiver of betrayal as he watched Rin shake off Naruto's jutsu and stand up slowly again. She blinked several times and finally pulled out a Kunai with nimble hands. Naruto moved to meet her attack but was blocked by Haku moments late. "It's my fault that she escaped our perimeter guard," Haku stated quietly. "Allow me this battle." Naruto nodded slowly and moved to help Gaara protect Tazuna. Haku turned his full attention to Rin.
"It's not too late to give up," he urged quietly. "Just allow yourself to be captured. You're only a genin and not a dangerous nukenin so the leaf will show mercy on you."
"You know I can't do that Haku," she responded quietly.
"Then I have no choice but to fight you. Hyoton: Demon Ice Spear Roulette!" Haku jumped into the air as spears of ice burst out of the ground, one jetting out from right where he had been standing moments earlier. This jutsu was, just as its name suggested, a game of chance. The spears would move around at random, bursting from the ground so randomly that not even Haku could predict where they would show up next. He knew that he would have to make the kill soon but at least this way he would be not know when his hit came and so he could tell himself that there was nothing he could have done. It was a twisted form of logic but he would take what he would get.
Haku felt a spear coming up under his foot and thanked Anko-sensei for her training earlier as he leapt and barely avoided the hit. Rin gave a started cry but she too avoided the hit and the spears sank back into the ground. Haku held himself perfectly still and a group of spears burst out surrounding him. Rin screamed as a spear sliced her leg, reopening and lengthening the earlier injury before they disappeared again. Haku jumped to his left and miscalculated as a spear nicked him on the side. Rin landed safely on the ground.
The spears disappeared and Haku took that moment to form a one-handed seal and tweak the jutsu. This time he jumped before the spears arrived and watched as a fine layer of ice formed an inch or two off of the ground. Rin did not notice this new development and made to jump as a spear grazed by her. The ice around her foot gave no quarter and Rin fell, a telling snap sounding. Rin screamed and grabbed her obviously broken ankle with tear filled eyes.
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Zabuza smiled viciously as he landed a dirty kick to Anko's middle and watched her crash unceremoniously into a nearby tree. He was preparing a kunai to finish her off when a scream broke through his battle excited mind. Zabuza spun and quickly found the form of his injured subordinate with one of the leaf brats standing over her. "Rin," he screamed loudly and then sent a volley of water bullets at her. Rin ducked obediently and the bullets went flying over her towards the leaf brat. "Foxfire," was the answering call. Zabuza gave a frustrated scream as his water bullets hit a wall of fire and disappeared in a cloud of steam. The blonde brat stepped forward proudly.
"Hey mask freak," he called loudly. "You want to hurt my brother, you got to go through me first."
"Be careful Naruto," Haku urged as he secured Rin.
"Don't worry Haku; this guy won't stand a chance against me." Zabuza chuckled.
"Idiot boy, do you honestly think you can take me when your precious sensei couldn't." Naruto gave a fox like grin.
"What makes you think that you got her?" Zabuza spun around and watched as Anko's still form melted into a lump of mud. He turned back to find her standing next to her blonde pupil.
"Take him down Naruto, or the yesterday's training will be a piece of cake compared to what I'll do to you."
Naruto smirked and faced Zabuza with kunai drawn. "Let's go wild!" he declared excitedly.
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And that's all folks. The journey back to leaf should begin next chapter and the arrival will be the chapter after that. That means two chapters left before the chunin arc begins. Any suggestions on a title?
Will Zabuza still die? Will Haku and Rin still get together? Will Anko finally get her dango fix? All this and more on the next episode of Drago… uh, I mean Fated Meetings. Yeah…
