Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter XIII: Heaven's executioner

Anji stared at her for a moment, it seemed her reaction had pissed him off a little. Though she hadn't meant it, somehow the small change in his always stoic expression felt like a victory. She bit the inside of her cheek, wondering what he was going to do. Instead he took out a pack of cigarettes, placed one between his lips and lit it. Sakura quirked up an eyebrow at him, 'Those will kill you.'
He let out a hollow snicker, blowing the smoke out into her direction. 'My dear medic, it's a habit I'm afraid I can't get rid of.'
She had to suppress a cough and gave him a glare in return while her hand waved off the smoke surrounding her. 'So, tell me…' Sakura started, wanting to hear what he wanted her to know so badly. Perhaps if she listened to him talk she'd be able to figure him out a little.

It startled her when someone entered the room without knocking but Anji seemed at ease. Giving the man a small nod when he came in. A servant, she noted. He placed a trey full of food on the table, a paid no attention to the chained up, beaten up girl sitting across of his boss. 'Good,' Anji said, while gesturing at him to leave again. 'I do not want to get disturbed,' he then added threateningly. 'Of course, sir,' was all he said before bowing deeply and shutting the door.

'Eat something, angel,' he then said with a smirk while grabbing something to eat himself.
'I can't eat with that foul stench ruining the air,' she answered him snippily. Again he snickered in response, ignoring her plea. His expression made it obvious he could care less if she was going to eat or not.

'Where do we start?' he said to himself while slowly eating his own dinner.
Sakura gave him an aggravated look, unable to stand the enigmatic man. Though her eyes softened when he gave her a strange glance that held something harmless, as if her harshness hurt him at times. I wonder if you are as strong-willed as I think you are… You seem so… uncertain at times.

She could feel her face create a frown of pure confusion.

'Oh, let's start at the beginning,' he then said on a light tone. 'My parents… were poor. As hardworking as they were, they made very little money. So when our village got taken over by a man, very dubious, very greedy, we knew our chance of living in peace had become nonexistent.'

Sakura tried to catch a glimpse of what he could be feeling but his eyes remained the same the entire time, not showing any type of emotion. But just a minute ago… She felt herself getting confused again and tried not to dwell on it too long.

'We were hungry but content most of the time… When the tyrant, as the villagers liked to call him, started to ask for money, to protect us from "criminals", his true reign began.'

Pity washed over her and the way his eyes turned colder with every words he spoke, she began to feel for the boy again. She never had forgotten the image of how she found him… Never had her mind dared to think what had happened before that.

'One day, my father refused to pay him, though, it was more his pride really. We simply didn't have any money to pay the tyrant… A drought had ruined our harvest earlier that year and there were no jobs available outside of the village. He opposed to him in public and a little fight erupted… My father and brother were quite the swordsmen. He said he would send us a demon from the pits of hell… and anyone who would dare to stand up to him again would end up with the same fate.'

'Zabuza…' Sakura whispered in horror. She had known of course. Of Zabuza being the cause of his hurt. She had witnessed his revenge first hand, had even dared to hate him for it for the longest time, until her mind found peace and she understood it was circle of hate that was surrounding her. When she let her mind ponder about it deeper, she would often think about what could've had happened to the red-headed boy she had found in the woods and what had driven him to display such violent act of vengeance towards Zabuza.

She felt a painful stab go through her heart, making her subconsciously place her hand on her heart. It was a feeling of betrayal.

At first she couldn't decipher the feeling, whether she felt betrayed by Zabuza, or rather the image she had of him, or by herself, for choosing to be naïve and refusing to accept the truth. She placed the blame mainly on herself.

'My father got brutally murdered by him. I watched my mother and aunt get raped by his men...' His icy cold-tone, frightened her. The look in his eyes changed and instead of hollow, it was filled with the redness of burning hate again. The origin of all his hate had occurred at that very moment. What else could one feel when witnessing such a trauma?
'My little sister… died rather quickly,' he muttered and then drank down the entire content of his drink. Harshly placing the glass back on the table, he got up, grabbed the bottle and filled up again.

The movements numbed her mind a little, hazily staring at him. She didn't know what to say to him, so she just kept her mouth shut. Only daring to swallow the lump of guilt that had settled down in her throat.

'My brother manage to fight off some of the men, grabbed me and flee to safety.'

Anxiety was making her shorten her breaths. Riled up at knowing where the story could only progress to, she decided to finally grab something to eat, so she could focus on anything but his face. Noticing her change of demeanor he halted his story a little, examining her movements first. He took another drag off his cigarette before putting it out. Blowing the smoke this time to the side.
She glanced up to take look at him and got startled by how intense his stare was, making her immediately look back down. She could practically hear him smirk but he remained silent on her action and resumed telling the story.

'He followed us… Amused by the antics of my brother and in a way, intrigued by his skill…' he continued on. 'My brother wasn't much of match, though…'

Sakura stopped all her movements. She could hardly breath.

'His little…friend,' he hissed. Haku, she quietly thought. A flash of the loving memory she had of him shortly appeared before her eyes.
'Suggested to put me out of my misery but he halted him…' he took a long wary breath, rather it was to control his emotions or raise the tension, she didn't know but it made her feel sick. 'He, Zabuza, thought that it be better for me to live… He could see in my eyes that I had what it took to become much like him…' he hissed the last words at her. His hand smashing down on the table next to hers. 'Bury your brother, your family… Come at me when you are all grown up, he said.'

Nervously she dared to look up at him, swallowing when seeing his furious expression.

'I cried so hard… I didn't let go of my brother… The only thing I had was his heartbeat,' he said icily calm and took a moment to redeem himself and made his expression match the tone of his voice.
'After a couple of hours… I heard voices. I was so scared,' he halted a little, giving her softer look. She couldn't bring herself to look away, finding herself to be nothing but a coward if she did. This was the part where she… 'I saw a pretty girl… ' he said. 'Everyone else was kind of blur… At least, they were for the longest time.'

Kakashi, she thought in pain of his memory. Please be safe.

'I got examined by… you,' he softy said. 'Got the chance to bury my brother and stay somewhere safe for a day or so. I stayed for a little while… Said goodbye to my angel,' he sounded a little delirious now, as if he was no longer focused. His fingers entwined with hers, holding their hands up. His auburn eyes stayed on their locked position for the longest time. 'I told myself I would get my revenge… As I wandered the streets, feeling lost after only a couple of days, all I had where these emerald eyes telling me to not give up.'

She tried to still her hand but she could see it clearly tremble in his hand. 'So I never did. I worked for a thug, no better than the man who had taken everything from me. But who else wanted a stray kid? No one. Only the worse of scum. I wasn't alone. I met a girl, who reminded me much of you.' His eyes saddened for a split second. 'Held captive, threated like… a whore. Because she was nothing, only poor and useless… I vowed I'd safe her but unfortunately,' he hardened his grip on her moving hand, 'It appeared my dear boss was on the list of ANBU. He got murdered… So did my friend. I caught a glimpse of the man who did it… silver-hair.'

'Kakashi wouldn't—''I wasn't certain for the longest time,' he said, dismissing her protest. 'But once you have some… influence, you can achieve quite a bit, even the darkest kept secrets. Knowledge is right for the taking.'

'I…' she still didn't know what to say to him nor what to think.

'I got trained by a man working under him, who took some pity on me. Learned me the right skills and above all… felt the same hate for the man who taken everything from me. Apparently he and Zabuza went way back.'

Zabuza… Why is everything turning into a blur? I can't remember anything anymore. Years of people telling me how to feel and what to do has made me doubt myself. Hearing you speak… She glanced at the man again and felt her heart ache. I don't know what to do…

'After a year of training with unstoppable resolution and a dream to keep me going,' he gave her another look, emphasizing the meaning she held to him. 'I found him… The demon.'

'Anji…' she hesitantly started, 'I never… I…'

'And there you were, my angel, at his feet… crying,' he said harshly. His auburn eyes, filled with hate, bored into hers.

Sakura kept silent, unable to utter a word to him. Her mind was chaos and so were her emotions. She had vowed to keep a straight face but his story had shaken her up, brutally cutting deep.

'After that, I did follow in the footsteps of my sensei, who was much like Zabuza I suppose. After I killed him, I didn't care about anything. I only lived to hate and kill everything and everyone who stood in my way. As the years passed, I grew stronger, not just physically, like I said, power is knowledge. I kept an eye out on you. Followed your every move, which was quite easy after the war. But one thing held my attention a bit more intense than anything else. My demon, Zabuza. I wanted to know who he truly was. And I found everything I needed to know about him, down to the very first moment his life took existence in our world. Except for one thing and one thing only…' he stopped, making her catch her breath.
Heaving she hadn't realized how intently she had been listening. She wanted to place her hand on her heart but he would not let go, as a matter of fact, he grabbed her wrist instead. Squeezing it just hard enough to make it painful. Unfazed by her distraught expression, he slowly took out another cigarette, with his other hand, and lit up.

'The blank period,' he snickered, blowing the smoke right into her face. 'When you and Zabuza were all by yourselves.'

Sakura swallowed, trying to control the havoc of emotions swirling inside of her mind. Actually, after all this time she had forgotten certain things or started to doubt the memories were as good as she remembered them to be. She doubted that, even if they were truly just her imagination, the memories of the time she had spent alone with Zabuza was something Anji was willing to hear. He might just kill her on the spot.

Over the years she had met people who had suffered because of the fate of Shinobi but Anji was somehow different. He hadn't grown up wanting to become who he was, he had never wanted power or anything really. He was truly innocent. He got thrown into the deepest pit of hell, into the dark underworld that, no matter how hard people fought it, would always roam the earth and somewhere, someplace, take over people's lives. She lowered her eyes, looking at the food on her plate she had yet to touch. All signs of hunger had disappeared. She felt sick. Not only because of what she heard, because her naïve sense of mind had been woken up rather gruesomely. Some people, much like Anji, could not be helped. The look in his eyes… She took a sharp breath when he squeezed her wrist again. His hurt… is incurable. I can never make him see it differently… And in all honesty, I don't know if I could too if I were him.

'I asked you a question, answer me.' The stern tone of voice made her snap up from her stare.
'I…' she gasped a little, uncertain of what to tell him. 'I don't really remember all that much.'
'Angel… are you lying to me?' he immediately asked. 'No, I really don't,' she tried to sound a genuine as she could. 'I tried years to forget,' she whispered, hearing her own voice tremble when she lied. She tried to play it off, making it look as if the subject distraught her. Hesitantly she bit her lip, hoping he'd believe her.

He gave her another one of his long stern stares before letting go of her hand and getting up from his seat. He walked towards the huge closet on the left, that was taking in the entire length of the wall. Without a word of explanation he pushed it open. Sakura gasped when seeing what was inside.

A collection of swords. Various, powerful tools passed down from generation to generation, created by the greatest masters swordsmiths.

It included, the Shibuki, the blast-sword that combined swordsmanship and explosions.
The Nuibari, the sewing needle, one of the most gruesome blades to be a part of the Seven Swordsmen and then there was the… Kubikiribōchō, also known as the executioner's blade.

Sakura eyes widened in horror when seeing the familiar sword. Zabuza's sword, her mind corrected her. But how? She had left it at his grave… 'W-where did get that?' she stammered out in shock.

'I took it…' he simply answered. 'I thought you would know where I got it from since you left it there.'
'Have you no honor?' she blurted out, instantly regretting the words. Of course, to him, it would not matter. She closed her eyes when a nauseating feeling took her over, torn between the past and the present. She heard him move and when she opened her eyes again, he was in front of her.

Grabbing her chin forcefully, his eyes locked on to hers. 'Do you like my collection?'
His breath tickled her face, making her close her eyes again for a brief moment. 'Obviously, you too have interest in them since you did see I own three of the seven swords.'

Sakura bit her lip, it was a strange curiosity her time with Zabuza had left her with. For some reason it made her feel embarrassment to be caught prying into her former captor's past and everything that had to do with him. Yes, she had even studied the swords a little.

She dared to open her eyes and got startled by his closeness. He had leaned in so close that now she could feel the heat of his cigarette just an inch from her cheek. Fluttering her eyes a little when he let smoke leave his mouth. She had to suppress a cough.

The sight in front of her made her feel uncomfortable. Your red eyes… Smoke surrendering you… You look like the devil himself. '…demon,' she muttered unthoughtfully. Hearing her say that made him snicker in response. 'They don't call me that…'

'Y-you can wield it?' she whispered in unbelief. He unleashed an empty laugh on her, filled with malice.

'Yes.' Finally letting go of her face, he spitefully looked down on her. 'You've seen my wings, have you not?' Sakura simply gave a short, numb nod. 'So, what do you think they call me?'

She remained still. Unable to comprehend the thoughts in her mind, she listen to his words intently.

'Heaven's executioner.'

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I hoped you enjoyed this chapter but most of all hope I didn't bore you in any way and that you can appreciate the character I've created. Let me know how you're feeling! Next chapter is ready so it will be up soooon!