A problem like Oki Tachibana.

Nozomu Anzai looked first to the two men dithering behind his desk, then to the lanky portions of Oki Tachibana at ram-rod straight military address, and then finally back at the men again. There was a muscle twitching in his neck, keeping perfect rhythm with the crimson throbbing that never seemed to leave the back of his head these past five years. He slowly brought a hand to his mouth and glared at the three perpetrators as if the sheer vehemence of his gaze would burn them-and hopefully every other banal problem that he was left to pander to-right into the earth.

"I," Nozomu began, voice seething out in a strained growl, "am not paid enough to deal with this shit."

The two men flinched, the one on the left's arm swaying uselessly at his side with the motion. Tachibana-damn her-didn't as much as blink. Nozomu felt his teeth grind. After all he'd given and after all he'd done, Kirigakure had repaid his sacrifices by promoting him to glorified babysitter to a bunch of glaze-eyed kids. He was so bloody angry all the time. He couldn't hold down a stable relationship, couldn't get through a day without a migraine that felt as if his very skull was cracking open, and any peace he felt when he returned to his grotty apartment at the end of the day was ultimately fleeting and bitter.

"But-" the moustached man who'd accompanied the bulbous man with the broken arm stammered, "b-b-but he's your student, shouldn't you do something about this?"

Looking at the pair was making Nozomu sick. He'd bleed for cockroaches like this? Everyone wanted a damn hand-out, it was always someone else's fault and responsibility. His fingers itched towards the pill bottle strapped at his waist until he swallowed down the urge.

"And?" Nozomu glared at them both, "How is this my fucking problem? In fact why are you two limp-dicks still fucking standing there?"

That was one advantage of the triangle shaped classroom; it made Nozomu that much bigger and more intimidating. The lines of the space all converged to the single point of his desk, pulling in reluctant gazes and making eye contact unavoidable without someone putting an obvious effort into avoiding it. Nozomu felt somewhat better knowing that the children were terrified of him, because truthfully sometimes they downright scared him. It was ridiculous to be unnerved by a group of kids that could barely wipe their own asses properly, but unlike every mission Nozomu had conducted beforehand, here he was on his own. There was no definite aim or enemy or team backing him; just him and forty prospective shinobi, and sometimes Nozomu became anxious at the notion of them realising that.

More than two thirds of them wouldn't be alive to even become full shinobi by the end of next year. Those left would likely die in a year-three tops-on the frontlines, carrying messages or injured troops or conducting the dog's body work that the Chunin didn't want to be bothered with. Those that were 'lucky' enough to survive would probably be scarred or infirm or fuck knows what else, far too damaged to ever have a healthy life again.

How could anyone be happy with a job like his? It was ultimately meaningless and conclusively sadistic. But Kirigakure didn't ask Nozomu Anzai to be 'happy' with his task, they just asked him to do it; and like any good Shinobi Nozomu did as he was ordered. He'd not received any orders about dealing with whiny civilians though.

"Did I not make myself clear? Get. Out!" Nozomu barked and the two men promptly scuttled out the room, nearly tripping over themselves in retreat.

"Tachibana," Nozomu shifted his glower to her, "Care to explain this?"

Oki Tachibana. Group 1C's current prodigy and Year 1's idol. And Nozomu could perfectly understand why. It was rare he received a student so intuitively suited to the Shinobi life. His last had been two years ago, Kisame Hoshigaki, who he understand had already reached the rank of Chunin. There were some people in Nozumo's opinion that you could just look at and know that they were capable of things others couldn't stomach. He hadn't taught a kid who fought with such clean execution and ruthless ferocity since Hoshigaki. In terms of style the two differed completely; Hoshigaki's skills (those that he remembered from his previous students performances) were always powerful and huge, while Tachibana had an eye for speed, precision and efficiency. It was like comparing a shout to a sharp whistle, but nevertheless both of them possessed that raw sense of threat. You wouldn't believe that Oki Tachibana had only arrived in Kirigakure almost a year ago; she had an adaptability and drive that Nozomu found personally enviable.

But Oki Tachibana was likely to fade out like all forces of nature. She was far too straight-forward and dominating in her approaches, a common reason as to why people were drawn to her and also why she had no close friends he could speak of. Both were faults that her future superiors could possibly use to their advantage though. However her attention-seeking tendencies were not. Nozomu knew that the moment Oki Tachibana lost all her fame; she'd end up dead or like every other washed up Shinobi. People like Tachibana existed in a constant brutal momentum, their reputation and achievements keeping the fire burning and keeping them plunging forward. You cut off their supplies and they dried up, fizzled out and ghosted away. He'd seen it over and over again; brilliant comrades with popularity and potential, snapping once they'd experienced a fall from grace.

She didn't say a word, her dark eyes guarded with an expression he hadn't seen in them before. It was almost…loyal. A word he hadn't come to associate with Tachibana. She kept the Oda kid and that Nao girl close, the former as a means to promote her image and the latter for her unswerving dedication but she was neither loyal nor affectionate to either. Protective, maybe, but that was more because of Nao and Hajime's association with her and she wasn't deliberately rude or cold to her classmates. But she'd never be part of them; he knew that, she knew that and they knew that.

"Well?" Nozomu growled.

"It's like they said, sir," she finally spoke, "I attacked 'em."

"Alone?" Nozomu scoffed, "It's not like you to lose your cool, Tachibana, who are you protecting?"

"No one, sir," she replied, too quickly and with a brief flicker in her eyes, "I ain't got no reason to bother protecting anyone."

Nozumo spent another ten minutes glaring at his tallest pupil, before sharply rising to his feet. He stormed over to the chipped stand closest to his desk and snatched up two Bokken. He moved one roughly into Oki chest before taking his position on one of the sparring mats.

"So you think you can take on adults now, huh!" Nozomu roared, jerking his head to indicate for her to take position opposite him. She did so with slightly shaky movements.

'Good', he thought, 'at least she's not stupid enough not to be scared'.

….

Oki groaned and flopped right onto Zabuza's stomach. The boy grunted, shifting his comic higher and kicking with his knees. Oki didn't bother moving. Mr Anzai had beaten down what felt like every muscle in her body and although she had desperately wanted to collapse throughout the day, she'd been loath to show any weakness to the rest of her classmates. But, she mentally amended; she had managed to block a fair portion of Mr Anzai's attacks.

"I guess this means no training today, huh?" Zabuza muttered from somewhere above her head.

"Yeah," Oki mumbled in reply. She breathed in the scent of his shirt, stale and comforting it smelt of the little fires they built on their barbeque tray and the fustiness of the bolthole. Safe.

"Figures," Zabuza snorted, "Ya gonna die on me?"

"Feel like it," Oki replied but her words were slurred, her eyelids heavy and sleep beckoning her in with warm fingers.

She could feel herself relaxing after a day-every day-of continually performing, hiding away the parts of her that were not allowed to exist on that stage. She thought of nothing, not even the constant internal pressure of self-criticism and those ever-expanding goals. And it was a blessed relief that Oki Tachibana relished.

…..

Summer bleed out into Autumn slowly. The heat seeped away like treacle along the skin of Kirigakure, peeling away the golden tones and unending sunsets and sunrises of the Summer months to reveal crimsons of the roof gardens in the village and driving grey sheets of rain. Oki and Zabuza found the days shortening and the nights stretching out into the empty hours. Autumn nights were the clearest, star gazing becoming something of a fascination to Oki Tachibana when the mood struck. The segregated tin roof of the nearby warehouse became a favourite haunt of the pair, when they desired to feel the sweat cool on their bodies after their daily sparring matches.

They had no knowledge of astrology but instead made their own constellations, stringing stars together to create increasingly outlandish beasts immortalised in the night sky. Kirigakure would lurk below, all smoke and mist and driving rain breathing through channels of snaking streets and between the bones of its spire-like buildings. Sometimes it felt to Oki as if she and Zabuza were laying in the mouth of a great beast, as much a part of them as they were of it.

Oki's birthday passed though she did not know the exact date, she was aware that it was sometime around when the leaves began changing colour. Her time outside the Academy lulled into this pattern and soaked out into this space. Zabuza Momochi and Oki Tachibana. Simply that; no posturing and ineffectual false sympathies because both would not allow it, the competition mild and often, food split between dirty fingers and halved, conversation what they wanted to say because approval or disapproval be damned they needed that bubble of time between them to exist. Oki maintained as if it were something precious but expected, like air. It seemed an appropriate analogy because although she worked best in the pressure-heavy conditions at the Academy, she breathed better when she was reading a comic with Zabuza or simply sleeping with her fists resting against his skinny spine. Even fighting and squabbling with Zabuza was preferable to any intelligent or amicable conversation with her classmates.

Sometimes she hated his guts but over the almost year they'd known each other, Zabuza Momochi had managed to achieve something in Oki's mind that no one else had.

He understood and was equal to her.

It was a precedent, made even more alarming by the fact that he still wished to be her friend despite knowing how much she was willing to sacrifice in the name of her ambitions. That knowledge still shocked her when she found the time to think about it. She'd never had a friend before, and she would have never envisioned that that friend would be someone as short-tempered, stubborn and determined as Zabuza Momochi. Nao's temperament would have been her instinctive mould, not a person like Zabuza who was unwilling to back down and would drag himself to the end of whatever he put his mind to with unswerving fortitude even if it killed him. He was stubborn and prideful and, to Oki at times, completely admirable.

"Hey," Oki spoke between heavy breathes, "Zabuza?"

Both she and Zabuza were lying with their arms behind their heads and the cold metal of the roof digging into their backs. The stars and moon were obscured by thick reams of smoky coloured clouds, fat-bellied and blackened at the tips with the promise of rain. She could hardly tell the difference between her breath and the ghostly presence of the mist, but it hardly mattered. Kirigakure signature technique was Hiding in the Mist, and it's people were born to it.

"What?" he replied, frowning as his tongue darted out to test the damage to his split lip.

"Y'know Mr Anzai said something weird today," Oki began, "Wait, nah it weren't weird. I'd just heard it before is all."

Zabuza chuckled to himself, "This goin' somewhere, Oki?"

"Yeah," she grinned, "I'm just building up the suspense and stuff."

She sighed, "Well I was beating the living shit outta Tetsu during Kenjutsu practice-"

Zabuza snorted, "Nice of ya."

She smirked, "It was class, if he wanted to avoid the hits he shoulda kept his guard up instead of only guarding his face. Tch, you'd think he woulda realised that's he not just a floatin' head by now."

Zabuza released a barking laugh that bounced across and through all the night time revelries of the drinkers and their music below.

"Anyways," Oki began again, "When I'd finished, Mr Anzai comes up to me, all bald and angry and stuff but then he pats me on the back and says-"

"Wash ya damn shirt, ya hobo," Zabuza smirked.

"Oi!" she smacked his arm, "Nah, he says, 'you're a natural'."

Zabuza blinked, absently rubbing at the spot Oki had hit as he tried to process why this was so important.

"Someone else said something like that 'bout me once," Oki murmured, the words escaping her lips in barely a whisper, "it feels like a long time ago now and the words were bit different. He said I was a natural born killer…but it's the same thing."

She could still remember that exchange between Teacher and Kenki with startling clarity; words rasped out and bundled up in the darkness of that cave. She hadn't thought about the burned ruin of a man in nearly a year, hadn't needed to so didn't. She could barely remember his face or the stink that used to constantly linger about him; but she did remember the tone of his voice, broken and raspy as if it were being pulled over barbed wire.

"So?" Zabuza shrugged, "That's a good thing right, makes it easier an' stuff."

"…I dunno," Oki breathed, "Yeah, I mean I can do things other people in my class can't but is that good? I…dunno."

She sighed, trying to force the underlying panic that skittered about at the 'praise' into words, "I mean you get this stuff quickly, right Zabuza?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"So…." She ran a hand through her hair in aggravation, "that means we're different, right? I mean…what does that say about us?"

Zabuza was quiet for a long moment, his posture hunched over his raised knees and his gaze spearing out into the noise and lights deep in Kirigakure's belly.

When he spoke his tone was defensive and angry, "Don't say much. I dunno where ya going with this shit, Oki, but I don't like it."

"That's 'xactly it," she nodded, "I know I should be happy with it but somehow I don't like it, or maybe I am happy 'bout it but feel like I should be. Argh, I dunno."

She sighed and closed her eyes, "Forget I said anything, yeah?"

Zabuza glanced across at her, eyes sticking to her profile in the semi-darkness.

"Alright," he murmured.

It was quiet for a long moment then, a stray dog's howl and the crashing of broken glass as someone disturbed the alleyway to their right intruded in on the silence but remained ignored.

"…Hey, Oki?" Zabuza licked at his lips.

"Yeah?" she muttered back.

"Even…even if we are natural at this stuff," he hunched further in, eyes shadowed as they glared at her from underneath the barrier of his forearms, "y'know…ya still think I'm human, right?"

And that was it. It was precisely the point Oki had been attempting to shoot down before but eluded her. When you had…done the things Zabuza and Oki had done, and found yourself surprised at how easily and instinctively you managed it, your humanity was in question. Even if she were a ten year old and he a nine year old now, the future prospects of what they could achieve were…chilling. Situational factors aside, neither regretted killing their own fathers so did they honestly deserve to have their feelings or personal identity taken into consideration.

Oki answered it as she answered most questions, bluntly and honestly, "Yeah…do you think I'm still human?"

He turned his head away but the reply was instantaneous, "Yeah."

The response calmed her in a way it shouldn't have. Zabuza's regard was somewhat skewered, he was no innocent that she could receive unbiased forgiveness from. But Oki was not looking for forgiveness. Everyone would remember her name, but if she died to tomorrow there was likely only one person who would remember her as a human.

….

That all changed come mid-Autumn.

Away from the battles playing out along its borders Kirigakure was struggling. The Seven Swordsmen had been distributed to camps at every corner in hopes of clawing back an advantage. In the Land of Wind, the Kirin in dug in deep. The weather conditions there were proving difficult to the Shinobi unaccustomed to them. Water supplies were fast disappearing and it not only affected food supplies, the general morale and health of those stationed out in the dessert country but it was also having an effect on their chakra. No water meant no immediate supply for their water-based Jutsus, and therefore they were forced to expend twice the usual amount from their chakra reserves to create their own. But the Mizukage was unwilling to allow what ground they've gained in the Land of Wind be sacrificed in the name of caution. Not only did it seemingly undermine the effort it had taken to get there, but it also offered an invaluable foothold towards Kirigakure's ally, Iwagakure.

Despite Kirigakure's battering by forces of Suna and the logistics of having their forces so phenomenally stretched, they've been making moderate headway in the Land of Fire. There the climate is not so shockingly different and water-based Jutsu have that much needed edge over Konohagakure's more prominent fire-style techniques. This success is curbed, however, by the incursion of Kumogakure Shinobi into some of the smaller Islands that make up the Land of Water. Kumogakure's military might is not something to be casually flirted with and their proximity to Kirigakure had been one of the significant factors that spurred the Mizukage into initiating an alliance between his Village and Iwagakure. Iwagakure had been undergoing a long slugging match with Konohagakure since the war began, Kusagakure hanging precariously between the two warring Villages. The tactic was for Iwagakure and Kirigakure to outflank them, chipping away at their borders but it was proving to be a long, hard effort and Iwagakure's loyalty to them had forever been cast in doubt.

All in all, when Oki Tachibana was ten, everyone was losing the Third Shinobi World War, except her home Village was losing more than others. It only fed a more erratic sense of paranoia and desperation within the Academy. Kirigakure needed troops quickly and in mass quantities. Yagura's new final examination progress meant those weaker candidates were weeded out, but that did nothing to alleviate the demand. Infiltration was also a constant worry since Kirigakure's economy and therefore technology was so inadequate in comparison to the giants like Yumogakure, that not even Shinobi identification numbers were provided. Kirigakure needed its Academy Students out before their education could be sabotaged, and they needed them on the battlefields were they could bolster the ranks.

Regardless of age or innocence.

"What?" Hajime whispered with shock.

It was the only sound in a classroom of painful, fragile silence and wide, disbelieving eyes.

"You heard me, Oda," Mr Anzai barked but for the first time in Oki's memory the glowering, pretty-faced man was incapable of meeting their eyes, "Graduation has been moved up. The Second Years are participating in their Final Exam next week; yours will be a month after."

"B-But," Akane's voice was rich with pleading tones, "But we can't be ready yet, we've only been training for a year, how can we be ready?"

"Its orders!" he barked, "You're all damn well ready when I say you're ready!"

The silence was so loud that Oki could feel it eating away at her classmates, hungry and despondent and altogether terrifying on a level she had never experienced before. She'd been scared, terrified was not an emotion alien to her, but she had never felt…insecure. Inexperienced perhaps and sometimes dwarfed by the abilities of her mentors but still Oki's internal wall of confidence had remained. This news of their looming rushed graduation unnerved and even….excited Oki in a way that made her fingers twitch.

It was the ultimate test the Academy, Oki already having reached the second spot on the Year Rankings and one flawless demonstration of her Kenjutsu skills away from capturing the top rank. Her relentless need for improvement couldn't ignore the bait Mr Anzai's announcement had offered, and yet…it unsettled her. Unlike with her Seals Oki could not screw this up and start over, there were no recurring students in the Academy and the 'losers' of this Final Exam were never seen nor spoken of. She wasn't sure if her classmates had picked up on this detail, but Oki had been preparing for impeccable results and this minor information made her edgy. You won or you failed, you didn't just disappear.

"What happens in the Exams?"

All eyes were on her but Oki was so accustomed to that position by now that it didn't faze her in the least. Mr Anzai's jaw clicked, she wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't been watching him so intently.

"Just a demonstration of your skill," he replied.

"Like what?" she pushed, she was good at that, pushing people. It was likely the reason why only Zabuza who was too stubborn to bend and Nao who was too obedient to do otherwise were the only two who could tolerate her total attention for hours on end.

"I don't know, Tachibana, why not those fancy-ass Blinding Tags you pulled out your ass last week," he grit out.

"Shock Tags," Oki corrected absently.

It had taken days and multiple pages ripped from Academy textbooks to alter her Explosive Tag template enough to supply the burst of light without the heat and prolong the effect. She still had less chakra than the majority of her class, and such a handicap had forced her to focus on Jutsus that required little to none such as Taijutsu and her new favourite, Kenjutsu, or develop alternative methods that garnered the desired result. She may not be capable of stunning an opponent with a Raging Waves Jutsu like the Itaru and his comparatively huge Chakra Stores could, but she could at least paralyse them with a Shock Tag instead.

"You could call them fucking Kibble Bites for all I care!" he roared, that offensive attitude kicking in whenever someone questioned or corrected him, "You just go in there and show them your skills, is that too fucking difficult for you Tachibana?"

"No, sir," she replied.

The Academy schedule that followed Mr Anzai's announcement was something Oki hated with a passion. They were rushed through subjects, sometimes the lessons so rushed that half of Class C learnt nothing after stumbling once and being incapable of catching up. The techniques or information they were given were brutal, Mr Anzai even encouraging the students to mercilessly defeat their opponents in spars. The focus on following every little order also became increasingly intense, as did the punishments for disobedience.

Akira was the first to experience this punishment, Mr Anzai holding his head underwater until he almost reached unconsciousness after the boy had messed around in the underground Swimming Pool Room.

Oki was not spared in these new procedures. During a Kenjutsu match between herself and Nao, she'd grumbled and restarted completely when she had stumbled through her footwork on a particularly stern manoeuvre. She hadn't even known Mr Anzai was there until the blunted edge of his Bokken came sailing down on her back.

Oki hissed and instinctively moved to leap away but the next blow never connected.

Nao, her lip split and half of her face already swelling, looked up at Mr Anzai with a hostility that seemed so much more expansive than her tiny body could maintain. Oki blinked. She'd never seen an expression that fierce, not even from Zabuza, and because of the sheer depth of it, Nao suddenly appeared so much more powerful than she actually was.

"Please refrain from maliciously injuring Tachibana," Nao's voice was as empty and smooth as usual, but her burning eyes added layers in her tone that would not have existed.

Mr Anzai was not a man to be intimidated so Oki tensed preparing for a retaliation that never came. Instead their teacher remained silent, watching Nao with a look that almost held…pity. It made her stomach turn. Nao was largely ignored by the others, because she was 'dating' Oki for some and despite 'dating' Oki for others. Those that did acknowledge her presence it was uselessly with contempt, disgust or a strange morbid fascination for her apathetic outward appearance.

Only Oki treated the golden-eyed girl with respect, and that was for her diligence, Taijutsu skills and perseverance. No one looked at her with such sympathy, why would they when she was Oki Tachibana's girlfriend and unwilling to speak about her previously disastrous upbringing? The pity in Mr Anzai's eyes sent warning bells ringing in Oki's head.

Slowly Oki reached a hand out and curled it around Nao's arm, pulling the smaller girl behind her. As usual Nao blushed in response to the contact and lowered her gaze. Mr Anzai's eyes snapped up to Oki instead and lingered there a moment, his gaze unreadable, before moving on as if nothing had happened.

"You okay?" Oki murmured, inclining her head towards Nao's bent one.

"I am, thank you for your concern Tachibana," Nao whispered, "…it is appreciated."

Oki sighed with an exasperated smile and ragged a hand through her hair. Like hell would Nao tell her if she was injured? As her right hand man so to speak, Nao was Oki's responsibility; and although blunt and somewhat clumsy with her regard, Oki was not about to let the girl limp through the rest of the day.

She knelt down and carefully moved Nao's head upwards with a long-fingered hand under her chin and another on the side of her face that wasn't swelling. Oki's inspection of the damage was clinical, totally oblivious to the way Nao was turning tomato red.

"That's gonna bruise," Oki sighed, "C'mon let's get some ice."

When Nao didn't reply Oki murmured a noise of confusion and finally met her eyes. Nao was staring at her as if she were enchanted. Two big, soft eyes the colour of burnt gold unblinking and completely fascinated in their regard, as if Oki was the most magnificent thing Nao had ever seen in her life. In reality Oki smelt of sweat and the porridge she and Zabuza had had this morning. Strands of her light blue hair had escaped the neat slicked back hairstyle and there were dark circles sulking about under her eyes.

"Your hands," Nao's voice was tinged with affection, "they're always cold."

"Huh?" Oki glanced down at her palms now removed from Nao's face, "They botherin' you?"

There wasn't a sorry but Nao smiled as if there had been.

"You've never bothered me, Tachibana," she breathed through a small, fond smile.

"Alright then," Oki launched to her feet, completely ignorant to the 'atmosphere' that Nao had been carefully creating, "let's get some ice, then I wanna go over my footwork again."

Nao nodded obediently but before Oki could stride away, a small, dark hand flashed out and caught her wrist.

"Tachibana."

"Yeah?" Oki glanced back at her.

"Do you…" she paused, recollected her courage then soldiered on, "would you be averse to going to the festival with me?"

"Festival?" Oki replied, "I didn't know there was one."

Nao nodded, "tomorrow, you weren't born in Kirigakure so you wouldn't be aware. It celebrates the founding of our Village; there will be stalls and dancers."

"I don't really like dancing," Oki frowned.

"There's no need to participate," Nao replied evenly, "Would you please accompany me?"

Oki sighed. It would waste valuable time but…she cast a glance at the bruise welling on Nao's face and the smothered hopefulness in her eyes. Nao had been nothing less than absolute in her loyalty, following Oki's heels like a shadow and upholding her promises with total seriousness. Despite everything, Oki found she hadn't the heart to deny her this request after everything the girl had sacrificed for her.

"Alright," Oki nodded, "I'll meet ya outside the Academy tomorrow?"

Nao's grin was uncharacteristically wide before she ducked her head and nodded with far less composure than Oki had ever seen.

"Yes, thank you Tachibana."

A/N:

If people are wondering if I've gone mad, don't worry I haven't. The final Examination was always going to be bumped up (remember, Zabuza murdered his classmates BEFORE he was officially a student) but don't worry Oki won't be woefully underprepared since she'll still be training under a Jounin Sensei. Not a lot of information is really given on the Third Shinobi War besides what Team Minato was up to, but the impression I got was that Kirigakure really wasn't doing so well. All you really hear about them during the war is Kisame's advancement to Swordsman and meeting Obito, the horrific practices at the Academy and the Tradegy of Yosuga Pass; all of them not nice things (even the first considering how it happened). Considering how young Konohagakure were willing to send them out (and they're own of more benevolent Villages) I can only speculate that a Village as brutal as Kirigakure (where they make the students fight to the freaking death first) wouldn't be too squeamish about their age if they were at least somewhat combat ready. Course, I don't know any of this for fact and if I have accidently gone against Cannon I'm sorry….

On another note, I have a question that doesn't really have to do with the story. I know that it says you can't put pictures you haven't created up on Fanfic as your story covers but I can't draw and I've seen others with pictures up from the actual series. So does anyone know if you're allowed to do that or will I just get my ass sued off? Or even better would anyone even want to create a cover? If not, is fine I'm just kinda confused as to how it works :S

Reviewer Replies:

Completely Confunded: Thanks for the review it was really interesting :D I'd never even thought about the comparisons between Haku and Oki but yeah, they are almost completely different despite going through quite similar experiences. I mean, it really gives you some new respect for Haku considering how much faith he STILL has in people after everything he's been through. I really enjoyed reading through that comparison so thank you!

Countenance: Thank you very much, I'm glad you think so :D Whenever there's a chapter without Oki 'attacking' someone I always dither about putting in some random fight XD so once again thanks for the review!

TurtleBiscuit: Sooo glad that the Zabuza backstory makes sense and is believable -.- I really was trying to avoid coming up with some super sob story while still trying to explain (not sure if that's the right word but oh well) Zabuza's behaviour. And yeah XD if Hajime so much as stole Oki's riceball I could imagine Nao like gorilla tackling him or something. Thank you for the review and all your reviews! They are completely appreciated :D

Sadistic Avocado: Thank you for the review, I'm really trying not to just mash them together ('NOW KISS' style) but they're both not the most…erm, affectionate people in the world XD I loved the comparison with Nao and Mikasa, they should hulk it out over who's the bigger silent, supporter though I guess Mikasa would probably destroy Nao in a fight. And yeah, Hajime is slimy but he's an orphan in Kirigakure whose most talented at influencing others so I guess that's the only way he's managed to survive. Thanks for the continued support!

Massive thank you also to everyone who has favourited, followed or even just read this too! You are not forgotten ;D