Chapter Nine

Last Time:

Kagome was tense, but prepared. She went back to her position near Kakashi and Sakura. One hand hovered over the handle of her sword, the other was ready to shoot out her whip as they stood there in anticipation. As the fog thickened, they were not aware of the danger Inari and his mother were in.

"sorry to keep you waiting" Zabuza's voice cut through the silence, not unexpected, but unwelcome none the less.

"that one's still trembling" he pointed out, referring to Sasuke's shaking. In less than a second, they were surrounded by Zabuza clones.

"I'm trembling with…" he gave a small smirk "… excitement"

In one solid movement, Sasuke had cut through the Zabuza clones with his kunai and they dropped to the ground as pools of water.

The real Zabuza just stood there, unfazed. "Looks like you got better" he commented.

"you were right" Kakashi said, referring to Kagome and Sasuke, though the pair wished they weren't.

"so, you've been lying the whole time, and hiding behind a mask too" Kagome spoke, quite confidently, though a part of her was still unsure. It was true that they had gotten stronger, but you couldn't be sure that they would win, especially with the masked boy around, they didn't know how far his abilities went.

"Looks like we've got some formidable opponents" Zabuza just shrugged "do your thing, Haku" The boy nodded and charged at them.

"I'll take him" the others just nodded and watched as Sasuke pulled out a kunai and soon kunai collided with senbon.

"It's almost certain that I will win, give up" Sasuke just glared at him as is grip on the kunai tightened.

"no chance" was his response.

"suit yourself."

Team seven was shocked at what Haku was doing. 'hand seals with only one hand!' Kakashi thought, surprise shown clearly on his face. Haku quickly finished his hand seals and the water around them started to rise. Slowly, it started to form needles. Sasuke closed his eyes and started to focus his chakra to his feet. The senbon/water closed in and Haku quickly jumped away as a large cloud of dust, water and ice. When the debris cleared up, Sasuke was nowhere. Haku looked up to see the uchiha in midair. He landed behind Haku "so, when are you planning on winning" he smirked.

He attacked Haku with a kunai boy he easily blocked, but he couldn't predict that Sasuke threw a kunai Haku ducked and was kicked by Sasuke. He went a few feet back and landed in front of Zabuza.

Zabuza was in shock. He was staring hardly at the ground then turned his attention to Sasuke. 'so he can keep up with haku huh'

Kakashi felt some sort of pride seeing how well his students were doing. "you made a big mistake insulting these ninja and calling them brats."

"And that's sure to bring out Sasuke's attitude" he smiled "he's the best rookie in the entire village, and Kagome is our greatest new kunoichi" Kagome smiled a bit at that remark. "and Sakura is our sharpest mind" Sakura beamed with pride. "and our number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja is none other than Naruto Uzumaki" Kagome laughed a bit at the description of her cousin, and she couldn't help but agree.

"Haku if we keep going in this way, we'll be the victims instead of them"

"right" he said. A strange blue aura surrounded Haku. "I'm sorry it's come to this" he said. The air got colder and the aura flared. Haku formed a hand seal. Pillars of ice rose from the ground and branched out to form mirrors out of ice. "secret jutsu: crystal ice mirrors"

Sasuke looked panicked for a while as he was completely surrounded in the ice mirrors. He franticly searched for a way out, but he could find none, aside from the gaps that wouldn't be easy to get to, Haku would block his path for sure.

"what kind of jutsu is that?" Kakashi asked himself.

Haku walked into the mirrors and was slowly being absorbed by them. Now he was inside the mirrors, but Sasuke felt more apprehensive than relieved, just what was he planning? "How" was all Sasuke could say. Haku's image reflected on every mirror there, but he couldn't be all those places at the same time, right?

Kagome raced forward to help Sasuke. Zabuza appeared infront of her, stopping her in her tracks. No matter how much training she did here, Zabuza standing in front of her, it made her heart race. If he truly put all his strength into it, he could, he would kill her.

"if you want to help that boy you have to go through me" He said. Kagome growled but had no other choice. Her fears didn't matter right now. She drew her sword and tried to stab Zabuza but he blocked with his own. She jumped back before rushing at him again. Zabuza sidestepped and swung his sword at her head. Luckily, Kagome managed to dodge the fatal attack, the sword's blade only a mere inch above her head.

"I'm impressed, most can't even begin to mach me kid" he complemented. She smirked. "I've fought someone like you a lot so" she said almost hitting him this time "I have a lot of experience" She swung again. Their swords separated and she narrowly missed his stomach. Zabuza aimed a kick at her and she dodged with a back flip. But could not dodge and got a small gash across her leg. Zabuza just laughed.

"what are you laughing about" she growled. "You got guts kid, and skills too. But, you see, I have a trump card, with it I can't loose" 'what is he talking about' she asked herself. Kakashi was wondering too.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_Zabuza's Flashback-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

"What do you want" Zabuza asked impatiently, he obviously had better things to do. His injury and almost defeat at the hands of Kakashi and his band of genin had put him in a foul mood, and Zabuza didn't have the best temperament to begin with. Just at the sight of Gato, his knuckles turned white from clenching his fist too hard, trying to resist wiping his smirk clean off his face, permanently. Gato had called Zabuza for a meeting, though he just mostly tuned the businessman out.

"Take this" Gato handed Zabuza a vial full purple liquid.

"what is this?" Zabuza asked shaking the vial around, examining the contents. He opened the lid and took a cautious sniff. The look on his face turned into one of confusion. If this was poison, then it as one he hadn't encountered before.

Gato smirked."Someone wants the girl dead. And if she's dead that's less trouble for all of us in the future." Gato explained.

"Someone?" Zabuza repeated.

"He's a very powerful man, sometimes I doubt if he's human" Gato shuddered a bit, "That girl also isn't completely human either. That vial contains a solution that is dangerous if not lethal to her kind. It's the same one we used to kill the others like her" Gato explained. Zabuza nodded and slipped the vial into his pocket and left without another word.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_Flahsback End-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Zabuza quickly charged at Kagome and she dodged hit after hit, then she felt another presence 'a water clone' she thought she made an attempt to dodge but she was hit by shuriken. Kagome raised an eyebrow "you think that's all it takes to stop me" she asked, feeling a bit insulted, pulling the offending items from her arms.

She raised her sword but suddenly lost the ability to stand. "What?" she muttered, her eyes widened in shock. "I told you kid, I won't loose " He smirked 'this poison, but how!' "How did you know about this?" She asked trying to get up. "Someone wants you gone" He said. Kagome wanted to ask, but she didn't want to waste and valuable energy.

Zabuza raised his sword and prepared to end her, but Kakashi came just in time and got her out of the way. He noticed that she was almost completely limp.

"What's wrong?" He asked, concern evident in his voice. "Those shuriken, they have a special poison in them. I have minimal, if any use of my chakra and it's also hard to move." She said as she struggled to get up but was stopped by Kakashi. She gave him a questioning look. "I'll handle this" he smiled. He patted her on the head and waled away. "Rest up alright" She was silently protesting, and Kakashi could see that. "nothing's gonna happen, I promise" Kagome knew better, but she trusted Kakashi. She reluctantly nodded her head and finally relaxed. 'There has to be something I can do' she thought in determination.

"now, the real fight begins" Haku took some of his senbon and threw them at Sasuke, slicing his shoulder. In no time he was pelted with senbon coming from all directions. The others could only watch helplessly at his pain. "I'm sorry but I can't just stay here and do nothing" Sakura suddenly said, it was a surprising sentence to come out of her mouth.

"I understand, help your friend" Tazuna said, giving her a nod.

Sakura grabbed the kunai on the ground and ran toward Sasuke. She jumped high and the air and threw it into a gap between the mirrors. Unfortunately, Haku was the one who caught it. Shuriken came out of nowhere successfully hitting Haku and knocking him out of the mirrors.

"huh?" Sakura said. Everyone stared at Haku in anticiption.

A huge cloud of smoke and noise appeared. 'idiot' Sasuke thought. but was thankful for the respite. "number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja" Haku quoted. "Naruto Uzamaki is here. Believe it!" his voice echoed throughout the whole bridge. "do you know how in stories the hero comes exactly at the last minute and kicks butt? that's exactly what I'm here to do!" Naruto exclaimed.

Zabuza just shrugged but Sasuke was beyond pissed. 'what an idiot, he would have been much more useful if he stayed hidden' Kakashi sighed.

Naruto put his hands together to form a hand seal "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted but before he got the chance zabuza threw shuriken at him. A startled"huh!" escaped his lips as the shuriken drew closer, but he stayed still, his mind had gone blank. He closed his eyes and waited for the impact, but nothing happened. He slowly opened them to see none other than kagome kneeling on the ground next to him, with the shuriken imbedded in he arm.

"Kagome?" he asked in surprise. She just held a victorious smirk despite her ragged breathing, a simple movement like that drained a lot of energy in her current state. "you always strive for the dynamic entry huh naruto." He was worried at first, but he smiled back thinking she was just fine "of course"

"Naruto are you crazy!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Naruto, next time try to be more secretive, it's not a talent show. We are shinobi, deception and secrets is the ninja way!"

"entering a battle like that turns yourself into a human target, putting yourself, your teammates and your mission in Jeopardy"

"I'm SORRY okay"

"cut him some slack for once would ya?" Kagome sighed.

Ok, So I originally typed up about ¾ of the zabuza fight ( with some changes), but now I'm not going to continue it. I will skip to the ending/ near the endling of the fight because nothing important really happens until that part. Do most of you really wanna read about the fight with minor changes? Sorry if you wanted the Zabuza fight but I'm going to cut it.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_Right After Haku Gets Stabbed By Kakashi-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Naruto and Sakura were standing where the ice mirrors once stood, along with Tazuna. They were grieving over the loss of sasuke. Kagome was unconscious on the ground,

Kakashi was busy fighting Zabuza and had just paralyzed both of Zabuza's arms and then,Gato had made his presence known as he quietly stepped onto the bridge. He carried a malicious smirk with him along with an aura of confidence. Standing behind him was an army of thugs armed with swords, spears, etc. Although they didn't look that dangerous, especially compared to team 7, said team was in no condition to fight.

Sakura was crying uncontrollably and naruto was on the verge of tears. "damn it!" he shouted, pounding a bit hard on Sasuke's chest. He let out a groan of pain. "Sasuke is that you?" He asked, hitting the Uchiha again, a bit harder.

"Naruto that hurts" he said, trying to sound irritated, but couldn't manage even that because of the injuries. A few minutes later Kagome regained consciousness and slowly sat up.

Kagome's POV:

'uhh, my head hurts, how?" then it hit her "Sasuke!" She quickly looked over at him and was relived to find him alive at least. 'I owe Sesshoumaru for this one'

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_Flashback-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

"Where are we going Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asked the stoic silver-haired dog demon. Sesshoumaru grunted, but she swore she could see a smirk on his face. He enjoyed this! He just loved to keep secrets from her. "you'll see" was his reply. Kagome pouted. Though she was excited. Sesshoumaru had access to a lot of knowledge, if the large library at the Western Castle was anything to judge it by. She speculated that a normal person would take more than a lifetime to learn everything there. In the meantime, she would have to find a way to amuse herself.

After about ten more minutes, she was led to a riverside.

"are we training here?" He turned around to face her "Imouto, you are fond of healing right?" "yes" she replied, confused but couldn't hide the excitement in her voice

"I will teach you a technique I learned from an elderly demon some decades ago" Her eyes lit up considerably. "really?" Sesshoumaru nodded. "but keep this in mind, only use this when there is no other option. Am I clear?" Kagome nodded "I understand" He nodded. " first…"

You'll have to wait till later :P

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_FlashBack-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

"Kagome!" Naruto shouted, overjoyed. "I thought you were dead!" he said hugging her a bit too tight, anime tears streaming down his face. Kagome smiled the best she could and patted him on the back." Naruto, people need to breathe" she managed to say, and the blonde boy quickly let go of her. Kagome smiled before embracing him again, but much gentler. Her eyes snapped open suddenly, and she broke out of her cousin's hold.

She instinctively moved around sniffed, as a dog would. Naruto noticed this unnatural behavior and couldn't help but ask " what's wrong kagome?" She ignored him and ran to where Kakashi and Zabuza were and where Haku lay.

'That scent' she thought 'I swear I've smelt it before, but where?" she slowly skidded to a stop as she watched the scene before her.

"Gato, what is the meaning of this? Why are you here, and who are those thugs?" Zabuza asked, he said the last part a but louder.

"change of plans" he simply said,in a way that would make you want nothing but to punch him on the face. "the new plan is you die right here on this bridge" he said his smirk widening. "what?" Zabuza asked, a bit taken back, but didn't loose his cool. "you're too expensive, so I'm getting rid of you" Zabuza tensed a bit, and I could sense anger in him, but who wouldn't be?

"but of course these thugs cost something, so if you could slaughter some of them, I'd really appreciate that" he finished. I let out a loud growl. This guy, Gato, he reminded me too much of Naraku. Even Haku and Zabuza didn't deserve this. How could people like them to be so cruel, how could they use people without remorse? Didn't the death they had caused faze them at all?

"do you think you can handle that, demon ninja of the mist?" he teased. "you look about as demonic as a wet kitten" I went nearer to Zabuza, who growled and pointed his sword at me. I as a bit startled, but I didn't want a fight with Zabuza. I slowly pushed the sword away, hoping he wouldn't run it through my chest. I dealt with him like one would a rabid animal, slowly, cautiously and making no sudden movements.

"well,how about a truce?" I asked Zabuza, giving him a small smile. He seemed taken back at the sudden friendliness. "after all we put you through?" he asked me. "of course, and besides, you guys had your reasons right?" I asked. "sure kid" Zabuza replied, I could have sworn I saw him smile under his mask.

Even if Zabuza was a killer, he still had feelings. He was still human. Gato took steps closer to us until he was beside Haku. "that reminds me punk, you almost crushed my arm, you're going to pay for that" He tried to kick Haku but stopped because I threw a kunai at his foot.

"gahhh!" he yelped in pain and glared at me. The coward, he talks so tough, but I bet this was the first time he had seen his own blood.

"you" I started "you remind me of someone, a demon who is unforgivable" by now, Naruto Sakura and Tazuna had joined us, and everyone seemed to be interested in what I was saying. "his name was Naraku" I finished. Gato just laughed. "what's so funny!" I growled out. My nails stated to become claws but I couldn't care less. My eyes bled red.

"Do you remember who killed the last of the dragons?" he asked. That stung. That question felt like I was being stabbed by a thousand kunai. "That's none of your business!" I growled louder, tears were starting to form. My eyes became a cold silver color, and a tail had come out, my demonic side was showing. I wasn't a danger to anyone though, except Gato maybe. But just as my powers were coming to me, I felt a sharp pain shoot though out my body, forcing my claws and tail to disappear and my eves were returning to normal. "on the contrary, it WAS my business" I was confused, what could this guy mean.

"you see, many years ago, I was given a job to do, that job is what earned me enough money to jump-start my companies. It was very simple. I was on search and destroy. My employers name was," My eyes widened, could truly be? But we killed him, so how? Was there truly a possibility that he was alive, that he survived?

"Naraku."

The second he said that time seemed to stop. Naraku, it seems all my troubles led back to Naraku. That thing was nothing but an embodiment of hate, distrust and evil. "he wanted to make sure you were killed when you were a child, so that you wouldn't have existed to trouble him. Of course you were the target but after the dragons, mainly, your 'mother' refused to join us, we decided that they could not exist" he finished with a smile, as if laughing at my pain. "maybe you want to know why your father-"

I didn't allow him to finish, I couldn't take it anymore. I charged at him with all my might, but Kakashi-sensei held me back. "put me down!" I demanded, attempting to get out of his grip, witch was practically impossible. I stuggled, kicked, punched and screamed. I was desperately trying to get of of Kakashi's grip, I could feel so many mixed emotions, I didn't even know I was already crying. I couldn't see Kakashi's face as he restrained me, if I did I would have seen pity and a mix of pain. Even Zabuza seemed to pity me. I was lost in my memories, and all I knew was that my demonic instincts were kicking in and screaming for Gato's blood.

"I need to kill him!" I shouted, tears streaming down my face. "use your head!" sensei shouted. and somehow brought me back to reality. "you are in no condition to fight, even if you did kill Gato, you can't beat those thugs, at least not in this state. You're injured, exhausted and not to mention poisoned. Don't even try to tell me otherwise!" I sighed. I've never seen Kakashi this serious and I've never heard that strict tone before and besides, no matter what, Kakashi was right. I relaxed, and just fell, limp and lifeless, I broke down crying.

"Give me you kunai" Said a gruff voice"what?" I asked, looking up at Zabuza. "are you deaf? hand me your kunai" I took a few seconds to process his words, but threw a kunai, which Zabuza caught with his mouth.

Gato came to his senses and realized he had pushed me, us too far. He ran and quickly disappeared into his group of thugs and emerged at the end, thinking it was safe. Zabuza ran through the crowd. Kicking and stabbing some unlucky thugs who got in his way.

"st-stay back!" Gato stuttered shaking in fear. "you fool! If you're so eager to join your friend go ahead but you're not taking me" Zabuza smirked. "no, where Haku has gone I cannot follow. No,it's the other place for us. A demon like me would fit right in but you on the other hand, are in for a long and painful eternity." With that said, Zabuza delivered the final blow. Zabuza collapsed not too long after.

"Hey what about us!" One of the thugs infront said, tapping his sword on the ground to get our attention. "yeah, with Gato gone, who'll pay us now?" the other asked. "I know, let's get that village and see what they've got for us" one shouted, the rest of them cheered on his idea. "not good" I heard Kakashi mumble. "come on Kakashi-sensei, you've got to a have a jutsu to beat all these losers!" Naruto said. Kakashi sighed "not now, I've used too much chakra, and so have you." Naruto looked at me, prepared to ask, but Kakashi cut him off "Kagome can't either, that poison is still in effect, right." I didn't want to admit it but I nodded. Sasuke was out of the question, and Sakura,well, I'm not to confident that she could take them on.

Just then, a howl echoed through the entire bridge. It chilled me right to the bone and stopped the thugs right in their tracks. Whatever creature it came from it radiated power and authority.

what was that?" one of the thugs asked as the others looked around. "it's just a wolf, now let's go!" This time it was a growl, fierce and loud. The mist in the space between us and the thugs thickened. No one knew what it was, except for me. I could recognize that aura anywhere. But this day was making less and less sense. First Naraku was alive, and now he shows up? Although the latter was a very welcome surprise.I could see a giant white dog through the fog. The white dog was engulfed in more mist and shrunk into the size of a person.

Everyone watched in anticipation. The mist cleared. There stood a tall man. His appearance was very regal. He had long silver hair and gold eyes. He also had pointed ears, blue crescent moon on his forehead. He also has two magenta stripes on each cheek and on the sides of his wrists. The man held his head held high, in a superior and sort of proud kind of way. He was wearing traditional clothing that looked like a white kimono with puffy white pants. He had two swords strapped to his side and white fluffy thing on his shoulders.

"Who the hell are you!" The person who appeared to be the leader of the thugs asked. But all he got was silence. "hey, are you deaf?" he asked once more.

No response.

"never mind, let's get him!" one shouted. Some of them charged at him, weapons raised. I'm one flick of his wrist, he let out his whip but instead of killing them like it should, he skillfully knocked the weapons out if their hands. One of them didn't have a brain apparently. "who do you think you are?" the said on outrage and lunged at him, but the silver haired person caught him by the neck. "If you wish to live, you will leave now" he said and voice that could make anyone pee in their pants. The silver haired man threw him back and he as well as the rest of the group hurried back to their ship, determined to get away as soon as possible.

As soon as they were gone, the silver-haired man turned to them. His gaze was intense. She could hear Naruto whimper. Kakashi tensed up, and Naruto drew his kunai incase of attack, but he knew he wouldn't last a second against this new person. I, on the other hand, smiled brightly and ran to him. "Kagome wait!" sensei shouted, but she didn't listen. "Aniki!" (older brother) I yelled and hugged him tightly.