Haku sleeps for twelve hours straight and wakes up cotton-mouthed and stiff. He blearily stumbles his way into the bathroom and gargles with mouthwash twice before brushing his teeth. Jounin vest tossed over the back of a chair and soiled blues tossed in the hamper, he takes a much-needed shower. The hot water undoes most of the aches and pains, but his chakra reserves are still not fully recovered, perhaps around seventy percent. Food would help.
He shuts off the water, towels off, and throws on his pink satin robe, one of the few luxuries that he's allowed himself to have, then pads out to the kitchen in bare feet.
"You're probably hungry too, huh, Ryuuki-kun?" Haku coos at his fish, nudging aside the tank lid with his stump and sprinkling food flakes in. He's not quite sure if fish have emotions, but if they did, Haku would say that Ryuuki-kun had missed him. If only because he missed being fed.
Speaking of being fed. Haku straightens up, stretching like a cat, and plucks a plum from the fruit basket on the low table to munch on while he peruses the cabinets for something quick and easy. Chicken flavored instant ramen is a staple, and he starts a pot of water boiling on the stove. Next is the dried ramen and seasoning packet, and once the ramen starts to separate, Haku cracks two eggs into the pot. A few more minutes, then he turns off the burner and carries the pot to the table, setting it on a ceramic trivet patterned with white rabbits.
Haku eats the soup right from the steaming pot. His stomach finally stops complaining and he sits back in his chair with a contented sigh, deliberately ignoring the anxiety over the upcoming final stage. He needs a good distraction.
On his bedside table is a book that he's been meaning to pick up ever since Nadeshiko gifted to him as a half-joke. Now is as good a time as any. Haku retrieves the novel and settles back in the chair, needing something without any similarity to his life. The synopsis promises samurai, romance, and intrigue. The cover promises porn.
Three for four isn't bad. Plus, Haku actually enjoys the intrigue aspect of shinobi life. Samurai are a rare sight, though they do, supposedly, exist, Haku has never come across one. Romance is something that he is disallowing himself from getting involved in. Sure, he's pretty, but most shinobi who are interested in him don't see much past that. That and the whole Kiri-traitor thing. It's better to just pretend he doesn't care. And, well, if his romance life is six feet under, his sex life is probably in hell somewhere.
Icha Icha proves to be a such a good distraction that he's startled to find the ANBU agent standing in his apartment. He glances out the window, then at the clock glowing red on his nightstand. Is it really 0100, already?
The stout woman in what appears to be a bulldog mask speaks gruffly, but without emotion. "Hokage-sama requests your presence. Ten minutes."
Haku scrambles to salute her, then performs one of the quickest clothing changes known to man. It helps that he didn't have much to take off. After a slight hesitation, he secures his empty holsters to his thigh, then ties his hitai-ate on. Ready to leave, he sets his wards and follows Bulldog over the roofs to the Hokage's Palace.
The last memory Haku has of this place consists of disgust at his betrayal of Zabuza and warmth at Yondaime-sama's approval, neither of which are productive right now. He locks the memory away as Bulldog opens the door to an antechamber. A few sleep-deprived candidates are already there, including the green-haired kunoichi. Haku should really get her name, since she's one of Bachyou's friends.
Wait, Haku wonders, am I one of Bachyou's friends?
He's surprised to find that he'd be pleased if the answer was yes. So, maybe he should try being nice.
More candidates filter in as the seconds tick by. Bachyou is the last to enter, and he takes the empty seat on Haku's left, grinning despite the fact that it looks like he took a fireball to the right half of his body.
"Mornin', Haku!" Bachyou says, far too cheerful for the occasion.
"Koeshi," Haku says, aiming for calm, "You're burnt..."
"Oh, this? Psh, it's nothing a few rounds with a medic won't fix. I finished the second trial, didn't I?"
"I figured as much, but doesn't it hurt?" Haku is already rummaging around in his medkit for ibuprofen.
Bachyou reaches out and stays Haku's hand, the skin on his wrist shiny and taut as if he's already had a healing or two. "I said it's fine. Keep me from doing more stupid shit in the future."
Ah. Haku knows all about forgoing medical care to teach a lesson. He shrugs and pops two ibuprofen himself, staving off the soreness in his muscles, then repacks his medkit.
The door on the other side of the room opens and the Vice-Commander's crow mask peers around it. "Mizuno."
The green-haired kunoichi pushes off of the wall and strides into the Hokage's office, the door clicking shut behind her. Haku commits her family name to memory and resolves to introduce himself to her later.
Shizue, a short and stocky kunoichi with mousy brown hair, props herself on one arm of Bachyou's chair. "Making friends, Ba-chan?"
"Oh, you know me. I'm always forging new relationships," Bachyou says with a wave of his hand. "Think Morei'll go easy on them?" He inclines his head towards the door.
"She never goes easy on anything. Her damn toothbrushes have smashed bristles because she doesn't know how to do things halfway." Shizue shakes her head, but she's smiling.
Haku repeats the name in his head, Mizuno Morei, and assigns it to the mental picture of a green-haired kunoichi with proportions like a string bean.
"For what it's worth, I'm glad you made it through." Shizue's flat gaze is locked on Haku, and it takes him a second to realize she was talking to him.
"Oh. Thank you." Haku ducks his head away modestly.
"You're welcome. I saw you getting fussed over by the guy in the tanuki mask when I was running up Hokage Mountain."
"He needn't have worried about me. Honestly, with how he was hovering, you'd think I was about to fall over."
Bachyou looks at Haku with a careless grin and says, "Did you?"
Haku rolls his eyes. "Only after I got back to my apartment."
A soft chuckle rumbles through Haku's companions. The conversation dies down as the stress in the room ratchets. Two more candidates are called into the office before Shizue, and none return to the anteroom. Bachyou takes out a kunai and twirls it around his fingers, tracing a complicated pattern in the air.
"So," Bachyou says, eyes on the door, "What do you think is happening in there?"
Haku opens his mouth to answer, but he doesn't get a chance to respond. The Vice-Commander's mocking crow mask looks directly at Haku. "Yuki."
His mouth feels dry and his feet feel leaden, but he walks into the office with his head held high. Bachyou, being an utterly ridiculous person, calls out, "Go get 'em, tiger!"
Crow takes his place behind Monkey, to the right of Yondaime-sama. The director of T&I and the head of Intel stand on the other side, Shibata smiling down at Haku with something like fondness. It suddenly occurs to Haku that the director of T&I and the ANBU Vice-Commander are related, probably father and son. Minato sits in the Hokage's chair, wearing his traditional flame-red robes. Haku drops into the shinobi's kneel and deliberately doesn't remember the last time he was here, when all Minato had to offer him was approval.
"At ease, shinobi," commands Yondaime-sama, and Haku falls into a tense parade rest.
Shibata-sama wastes no time. "If the mission required the loss of innocent life, would we be able to trust in your ability to carry it out?"
Haku looks him in the eye. Since his first week in Konoha was under T&I's care, he realized he had no reason to fear the director, so long as he was honest. "If that was the mission, I would do it. Obviously, I would prefer not to, but I don't know a single decent shinobi who wouldn't rather fight a team of enemy-nin than kill one innocent life."
The painted monkey mask belonging to the ANBU Commander tilts quizzically. ANBU is not a place for decent shinobi, Haku can imagine him saying.
Monkey nods as if he can read Haku's mind. "ANBU is a place for exceptional shinobi. Something especially exceptional is those who are able to retain their humanity after completing such vile tasks."
Haku swallows hard and tries not to make his unease obvious. Is it genuine reassurance, or is this a trap?
The head of Intelligence is a Yamanaka, with a worn, motherly face, but the gaze she turns on Haku is as cool and calculating as the look any enemy-nin would receive. "The mission requires the assassination of a young child. How will you handle yourself after the completion of the task, such that you and your team are undiscovered?"
"As if I was operating in enemy territory, ma'am. I would conceal my chakra and remain as silent as possible." Haku tries to keep the, Are you an idiot, or do you think I am? out of his tone.
"She means emotional repercussions, sweetheart," says Monkey, almost bored. Hokage-sama shoots him a look.
"A mission is no place for a breakdown. Ma'am. Any issues I could potentially have can wait until we walk back through Konoha's gates."
The Yamanaka's eyes narrow, but Hokage-sama and Shibata-sama barely react. The ANBU Commander makes a humming noise, apparently satisfied.
Haku wills himself still. Since that wasn't a question, he feels no need to answer. He's been in worse stress positions than parade rest, but everyone in the room has razor focus on him. It's uncomfortable.
"A teammate of yours is critically injured," says Minato quietly. "They may survive if you remain with them, but your other teammates risk death proceeding to the objective with such diminished numbers. How do you proceed?"
Haku runs his tongue over his teeth, "The mission objective takes priority, Hokage-sama. I have a greater responsibility to my multiple living teammates than to one that is dying."
"What if the two of you are all that remains?" says Shibata in his soft, slurring way. "You have a reasonable chance of succeeding on your own, but they, of course, are still dying."
"In that case, I have confidence in my ability to complete the mission on my own, as quickly as is reasonable, and return to my teammate."
"Such optimism!" says the ANBU Commander, monkey mask leering in the florescent light. "Why not give them the mercy cut? Or would you prefer to prolong their suffering for your sake?"
Haku knows that now is not the time to be contrarian, but he tilts his head. "That depends on the nature of the injury. If it were something like a ruptured spleen, and there was absolutely nothing I could do, then the mercy stroke would be appropriate. If I felt certain that I could save them, I would at least try."
The ANBU Commander sits back a little - Haku can't read disappointment or satisfaction or anything from him.
"Do you feel you would be capable of taking missions in the Land of Water?" says the Intelligence head. Due to your history, Haku supplies.
Haku's expression is blank, but the vicious thing that lives in his gut lifts its head, aching to get its claws on a mist-nin. "I assure you, ma'am," Haku's voice drips with cloying sweetness, "There would be no problems if I was needed there."
Monkey laughs. Hokage-sama's brows lift for a second, and he asks, "If you were to encounter living members of your clan at some future point, would you feel any desire to leave Konoha?"
"No. I would instead convince them to come here. Living in the Land of Water was nothing short of a death sentence for me, but Zabuza-san insisted we stay."
None of them ask after Zabuza, but there is a silence that feels like it goes on for years. Haku flexes the fingers on his right hand.
"You may go, shinobi," Hokage-sama says, clipped, and gestures towards a side door.
Haku doesn't let his shoulders relax until the door shuts behind him and he collapses onto the nearest chair, looking at his hand. The other candidates look about as shaken as he does. Shizue sidles over and sits on the arm of his chair, seeming to prefer that over actual seating. Morei, who's at least somewhat normal-acting, sits in the adjacent chair.
"Hi," Haku says warily.
Morei jerks her chin at him. Shizue replies softly, "Hey. I dunno about you, but Shibata-sama is fucking scary."
Haku snorts, relaxing back into the cushion. "I lived at T&I for a week. He's not that awful, he just doesn't appreciate being lied to."
"Thought we were gonna have to fight Hokage-sama," Morei says gruffly. She has a smoker's voice. "Went in lookin' to throw hands and got chatted up instead."
"Well," Haku says, "I'm sure ANBU appreciates agents who aren't dead."
Morei cackles, though it sounds more like a cough than a laugh. "You're alright, Yuki. Ever play eights?" She takes out two decks of cards.
Haku shakes his head. Morei and Shizue tag team on the rules as the game progresses - both traditional and house. After an hour passes, Bachyou finally passes through the door and the card-playing triangle opens to include him.
"There's four of 'em left," Bachyou says as he lays an eight on the pile. "Hearts."
Haku groans, "Really? You just started!" The complaining is a ruse. Haku actually has a lot of hearts left to give.
"Sometimes being quick on the draw is a good thing," Bachyou winks at Haku, who feels his heart skip a beat and thinks, gods this is not the time to be crushing on a comrade.
Shizue flicks him in the ear and Morei sniggers. "Maybe that's why y'can't keep a woman."
Bachyou shrugs, unashamed. "Can't much keep a man, either. S'probably because they're all intimidated by me."
"Oh, please." Shizue rolls her eyes. "Any skilled ninja playing with your squishy bits can be intimidating. Shinobi are just allergic to commitment."
This conversation is quickly spiraling out of Haku's control. He surreptitiously puts the Queen of Hearts on the pile and murmurs, "Back to you, Koeshi."
Bachyou throws the King on top of the pile and looks at Haku with a complicated expression as Morei's turn is skipped. Haku pulls a veneer of calm over himself and pushes any possible subtext out of his mind. They're just playing a game. It's fun. Have fun, Haku, gods.
Another ninety minutes pass before the last candidate enters the room, and it's another twenty until the door to Yondaime-sama's office reopens and the crow-masked Vice-Commander makes an appearance. The village looks gray in the early morning light, cast in the shadow of Hokage Mountain as the sun rises behind it.
"The Hokage has made his determination," says Crow.
Morei collects her cards and shoves them into the pouch at her waist. The candidates silently line back up in front of the Hokage's desk, with Haku on the far west side, but even the Hokage is standing. Haku doesn't dare show any sign of fatigue. He'd have to crane his neck to see all of Konoha's leadership, so he keeps his eyes forward, waiting for the axe to drop.
The Hokage looks at each candidate as he speaks, his voice as serious as the Hero's Stone. "I appreciate all of your service, as well as your desire to continue serving. Yamaguchi, Inoue, and Oka, please follow the Vice-Commander into the west antechamber."
Not only were none of those names Haku's, none of them were anyone he knew all that well. He lets his right hand relax and feels the blood rushing to where his nails dug into his skin. He's so distracted by the relief that he nearly misses the glare from one of the rejected candidates - Oka Tsughi, perhaps - and the soft click of the knob sliding back into place.
"Yuki Haku," the Hokage says, and Haku's head snaps over to look at him. "Will you serve as ANBU of your own free will, knowing its dangers and the sacrifices you will be called to make?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Haku hears himself saying. His voice doesn't waver, but for the first time, he can see the dark circles ringing Minato's eyes and the wrinkles beginning to form. Haku speculates that this isn't much easier for him than it is for the candidates.
Next to Haku, Bachyou's answer rings out like he's never been more sure of anything in his life. Morei's gravelly voice is sandwiched against Shizue's toneless and unassuming alto. Affirmations reverberate down the line.
Minato smiles at the candidates, and the warmth of it sinks into Haku's bones. That much would be enough to last years, but then, Minato speaks. "Thank you, all of you," he says, and Haku shivers down to his toes. The Hokage is thanking him.
"Sakamoto-san will take you to ANBU HQ," Yondaime-sama continues, "where the Quartermaster is going to take your measurements and outfit you with some new sharp edges. You all have a lot of paperwork to fill out, too. Meet me back here at sunrise tomorrow to take your oaths and meet your teams. If at any time between now and then you change your mind, let Sakamoto-san or Shibata-san know. Nobody will hold it against you, except maybe the Quartermaster, because he'll be up all night working on your gear. Regardless of what you choose, each and every one of us is grateful for your service."
Then, Hokage-sama bows to the initiates. Haku doesn't jump out of his skin in shock, but it's a near thing, and he makes sure to bow even lower in response. If Haku wasn't backing out before, he's definitely not backing out now.
When Haku straightens back up, the Hokage is smiling at all of them, and Haku soaks it up like sunshine. The Hokage nods at Monkey, who steps forward.
"Ready for the tour?" Monkey says, then leads them out the main doors without waiting for an answer. He runs them down a maze of stairs towards the back of Hokage Palace, through a network of hidden tunnels, across the training field from the first Trial, and down another back-way of stairs in HQ.
They stop in front of an unremarkable door, which Monkey describes as, "The entrance to Morita Rei's personal BDSM dungeon," before he taps out coded knocks on the door.
An assistant opens the door just wide enough to stand in, then bows deeply. "Good morning, Sakamoto-sama. Morita-san will be but a moment." She disappears behind the door.
A short while later, a man with the traditional phenotypes of Kumo swings the door open. Haku notices the lack of beard, but that could just be a fashion choice. He tries not to stare, but it's a weird feeling, meeting yet another person who traded up for Konoha. Something warm curls in Haku's stomach and he feels the corners of his mouth tugging up.
"Ah, thank you, Sakamoto-sama. New blood never fails to liven up my day," Morita says with a flashing white grin as his eyes settle on Haku. "You first, smiles, if you're so eager."
Haku huffs out a breath and follows Morita into the room, where he's instructed to stand upon a low, wooden pedestal.
"Lose the shirt, vest, and hitai-ate," the Quartermaster says, threading a tape measure through his fingers.
Haku is acutely aware of the other candidates' eyes on him as he slips off his garments, carefully folding them and placing them to his right on the pedestal.
Morita circles him with a scrutinizing expression and stops on Haku's left side. "May I?" He says, reaching for the stump of Haku's left arm. Haku holds it out without protest, and Morita palpates it. "Can you feel this? How much do you use your left arm for?"
"Yeah, I can feel it, but it isn't as precise as fingertips are. I...tend to use my arm to block, a lot. I can also channel chakra through it to throw senbon, but my aim isn't as good as with my right hand," Haku admits.
"Hm." Morita examines the slender fingers of Haku's right hand. "Ninjutsu, is it? You'll need a fingerless glove. Do you use anything other than senbon?"
"Kunai, but nothing else, usually. I try to keep my hand free for seals, in case I need to."
"I'd like you to try out a tanto, for short range. You can't block a well-placed strike with your arm. Ekemini, could you-" the assistant from before hands over a tanto in a black leather sheath. "Ah, thank you." Morita places it in Haku's hand. "Play around with it. If you don't like it, for gods' sake, bring it back. I can't tell you how many rookies have lost my weapons under their beds."
Haku can't help but smirk at that, "Don't worry, sir, if I'm displeased I'll bring it back."
"I wonder," Morita says as he starts taking measurements. His hands are around Haku's neck and gone before Haku can react, moving on to measure increasingly obscure proportions. "I could probably make you a custom prosthetic that can latch onto your tanto and leave your right hand free." He thumps Haku's shoulder. "You alone could have me up all night!"
"Sorry, sir." Haku blushes and looks away.
"Yeah, I'll believe it when you come back from your first mission unharmed." He pats Haku's shoulder more gently this time, eyes scanning the candidates. "You, with the burns."
Haku scoops his garments off of the floor and retreats to the corner, where he skins back into his shirt and vest, leaving his hitai-ate dangling from his wrist. He looks up to see the broad, muscled expanse of Bachyou's back, and gasps involuntarily. Once his brain catches up with where his blood is headed, he manages a single, terse question. "Where do we go to fill out our paperwork, Morita-san?"
Morita doesn't look up from Bachyou's chest, fingers probing what is hopefully an old injury. "Room X-2. You should've passed it on the way here. Koeshi, do you always block with your chest? I might not have armor strong enough for you."
Haku bows and scurries out of the room, retracing the path the candidates took, and eventually finds Room X-2 one floor up in one of the middle spots. He grabs a stack of forms from the desk and a pen, then finds a worktable in the corner of the room. Focusing on the pressure of pen on paper as he copies down familiar information and marks each page with his signature helps to resettle him. Bachyou enters the room and Haku thinks he's going to ask uncomfortable questions, but he respectfully takes a chair a few seats away. Close enough if Haku wants to talk, but far enough away that he doesn't have to.
Haku finishes his paperwork, drops it off on the desk, and pauses in the doorway. "Thank you, Koeshi. See you at sunrise tomorrow." He doesn't wait for Bachyou's response, he just traces his way through HQ's corridors and out into the sun.
Thanks to the trees, there are enough shadows for Haku to conceal himself on the short run back to his apartment. He drops into the kitchen chair and gives his fish a withering look.
"Oh, Ryuuki-kun, I worry I'm making a huge mistake."
What, exactly, that mistake is, Haku can't quite articulate. Ryuuki-kun burrows himself in one of the seaweed plants.
"That's true. I'll probably feel better once everything is packed. We're moving to the barracks tomorrow, and I'll get my mask! What do you think it'll be?"
Ryuuki-kun blows bubbles out of his mouth.
"A fish is a little cliche for a Water Country brat. Maybe I'll be a bunny..." Haku's voice trails off, and he remembers Shiro, his old pet rabbit from years ago, who is probably dead.
Haku shakes his head to clear the thought away and lays out a sealing scroll. By this time tomorrow, he'll be a true member of ANBU. He hums giddily as he packs.