Sorry for the long break. Kinda got carried away writing chapters for Book 2.
Shizuka walked around the village, having just finished helping the academy teachers lead the academy-level infiltration mission throughout Nadeshiko's many stores. Each would-be graduate should be able to steal from a store where the shopkeeper is on alert. For some reason, accessory shops were fairly popular spots, the academy having long since learned exactly what gets stolen from each one.
She was looking for Haku, but her search was, for the most part, fruitless. Before she could give up, though, she noticed a wisp of smoke coming from the academy itself, and decided to investigate. She wasn't aware of what happened there, just like no one else from the village knew of the confrontation that played out in the rooms of that very academy.
He was sitting in front of the academy, arms crossed and staring into the distance. For the few days that they knew each other, she never really saw him without some kind of smile. As he sat there, not only was he missing his smile, but he was obviously pained by something. With sure step, the princess of Nadeshiko walked into view.
"There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"
The boy raised his head, blinked, then brushed some of his hair away. It was obvious that he was trying to force a smile to his lips. "You found me."
He made one last effort to force the smile, but then gave up, letting the frown he was holding back come to his visage in full force. He heaved a sigh, then moved over to let her sit down next to him. How was he supposed to explain this whole mess? Sure, his techniques made sure there was no evidence left, but she'd surely notice something off... and informing Zabuza would be much, much harder.
While not completely sure about sitting down on the ground while wearing a skirt, she still did so, doing her best to take the least risky position. Turning her head to the boy who was essentially her roommate, the princess asked the one question that was on her mind. "What's wrong, Haku?"
The boy returned her look, giving a soft smile. A complete contrast to his former expression, the smile still looked truly genuine. "I'm just worried, that's all."
"Worried? About what?"
"Zabuza." The boy answered.
The girl cocked an eyebrow, curiosity getting the better of her. "Zabuza Momochi, the demon of the mist? What does he have to do with you?"
"During my travels, I've run into him a couple of times. He's not a nice man..." A weak lie, but he hoped it would be enough to steer the girl away from the real relationship between the two Kiri-born men.
"And you're worried he'll be coming for you now, is that it?" She asked.
Haku offered a weak nod.
Shizuka smiled, standing up and taking a few steps away from the boy.
"The kunoichi of Nadeshiko are strong ninja, they'll drive him off for sure! And even if they don't, I'll protect you! I'm supposed to lead this village one day, and I can't have rouge ninja threatening the people who depend on me!"
If Haku was afraid of the man, she had little hopes of actually doing anything to stop the demon of the mist, but the boy told her that having a reason to fight makes you strong. If she fought to protect him, and the village, she would definitely be strong enough to at least hold the rogue ninja off for a while.
Haku smiled, standing up. Hearing Shizuka's bold claim was enough to at least put him back on track. Hearing that someone was willing to fight for him... it made what he just did hurt a bit less. He was still sad, knowing that almost everything he had told the girl was a lie in one way or another, but some small part of him felt gratitude for her words.
While he might not be happy with what had to be done, there was still solace to be found in the fact that he was important enough to be worth saving. A shinobi world was often full of mistrust, with good reason, but to see that people could still put their faith in others was something the boy could appreciate.
When he and Zabuza move on from the village of kunoichi, he will remember his time here fondly.
"In that case, when the time comes, I will stand alongside you. I cannot sit idly by as the danger my arrival brought threatens the village that was so hospitable to me."
Shizuka smiled at that, looking over at the rest of the village, a tired look suddenly washing over her countenance. The threat of the former swordsman of the Mist couldn't have come at a worse time. Her mother, as well as the rest of the village leadership, were at the end of their nerves, having recently sent the ANBU out in an attempt to drive the swordsman away, or bring him in.
If he were to somehow reach the daimyo... the political implications would ruin Nadeshiko forever, showing that their village isn't strong enough to defend itself from one single man. No matter how strong he was, even Zabuza should eventually fall to the number of ninja sent after him, right?
At least Haku will be there. While they never talked about it, she could see the impact of whatever hardships he faced reflected in his eyes. It must be a terrifying life, fleeing from your own home, having to stay away from a man like Zabuza Momochi... She could only admire Haku's strength, his resolve not to let all that weight show in any way.
She didn't want to see him taken away by some rouge ninja.
What kind of ninja unit attacks a water specialist under a waterfall!?
Zabuza was shocked and disappointed with the way the enemy force was handling his presence. To be desperate enough to try and surprise him by attacking him in an area no level-headed shinobi would ever attempt to was simply idiotic. What came next was completely deserved.
Ducking out of view, Zabuza began weaving hand signs, intending to reach the forty signs needed for a greater water dragon. The enemy unit would be washed away, leaving him to simply pick off any potential stragglers.
While not terribly good as combat practice, the shinobi forces of Nadeshiko reacted much like any other ninja force would, being useful enough to help spark the beginning of an idea in the swordsman's mind. Approaching Yagura directly was impossible, but if he were to create the illusion of danger everywhere, the paranoid Mizukage was more likely to make a mistake.
Of course, it had to be a pretty good trick if he hoped to play someone with Yagura's experience and skill. Not only was the childlike Kage a fearsome warrior and an extraordinary battle tactician, he was also one of the three jinchuriki to have completely gained control of their tailed beasts, next to Roshi of the hidden Stone, as well as the Raikage's brother, whose name Zabuza did not know.
He'd need to drag him out somehow, force him to make the first mistake, and press the advantage. But to really shake someone like him up, the threats would need to spread rapidly through the entire village, each one possibly worse than the last one. Of course, the able shinobi of the Water would deal with the problems, leading to Zabuza's own public capture.
That was the problem, any realistic scenario Zabuza could come up with would always end up with him either captured or killed...
"There he is! B-team, move in!"
So it wasn't a foolish assault... it was a plan to lure him out and make him waste chakra. Still, they must have been desperate to divert so much manpower just to ensure that he'd take the bait.
Two dozen Nadeshiko ANBU, all armed to the teeth with the best possible gear, came rushing out of the forest, trying to force the swordsman into the corner. Somewhere among them a dark-haired man in a kimono, with a bastard sword in his hand, was moving, intent on finally stopping the Demon of the Mist.
/OST: Glued State, Bad Situation, Strong and Strike, Lightning Speed/
Zabuza paused to assess the situation. He was seriously outnumbered, and his chakra was roughly at three quarters... The enemy were ANBU, the best trained operatives in the village, backed up and probably led by the one man who was good enough to stick out from the rest of the common rabble. Taking them all at once would be nearly impossible, while attempting to retreat to the waterfall once more would leave him open to anything they might try and throw at him, be it weapon or jutsu.
Water clones wouldn't help, as the ANBU were more than enough to handle weak constructs like clones. Spending chakra to create water for a jutsu was also a poor choice, due to the possibility of a triple-layered ambush. While it was unlikely, the mere possibility of such a trap would mean certain death after dealing with this second attack.
No, he needed something else, something to even the odds... and he had just the tool. Straightening himself up, he formed the tiger seal, then raised his arm straight up.
"Hidden Mist Jutsu!"
Thick fog materialized on the battlefield, bringing the attack to a sudden stop. The ANBU withdrew, aware that a jutsu like that was the least favorable place to engage an assassination expert. For all intents and purposes, Zabuza now had the advantage.
Nearby, perched atop one of the rocky cliffs that watched over the valley leading to the waterfall, Kei smirked, pleased with the fact that his plan was going roughly as expected. Ideally, the swordsman would try and take them all, dooming himself to C-Team's ambush, but the hiding in mist technique was also something he had accounted for. The swordsman was terrorizing the village long enough!
He stood up, taking a deep breath. While usually a quiet man, Kei knew that even one's voice was a useful tool on the battlefield, and was ready to use it as such. In this instance, he'd shout to get the bladesman's attention, potentially misleading him.
"Don't let the mist deter you! Attack, full force!" He shouted, then leapt from the cliff, the sole shinobi to do so. The rest of the unit were already setting themselves up around the fog, readying seal scrolls intended to nullify Zabuza's jutsu. They would remove the fog, and then they'd attack the swordsman himself. If he tried the jutsu again, not only would he be burning chakra, but the new jutsu wouldn't last nearly as long.
oOoOoOo
That man was a fool. Trying to attack a swordsman of the mist in the confines of this jutsu was no different from suicide! Still, just because the man was a fool, didn't mean he'd get a free pass.
Using the man's voice as a starting point, Zabuza prowled through the mist, intent on tracking down and knocking out the Nadeshiko swordsman. He would thoroughly embarrass the man by defeating him and the ANBU, and he would do so again the next day, in the village palace, right in front of the Daimyo.
The wood of a sandal pressing against dirt, the soft tap of cloth against skin, even the smooth contact between a sword and it's sheath, all were enough to guide the Demon, but his prey seemed reluctant to give him even that... If he intended to wait the jutsu out, he had another thing coming. Focusing his chakra, Zabuza pushed his hearing far beyond standard human ability, hearing a steady rhythm with growing clarity.
If he could not hear the man's voice, he would hear his heart instead.
Locating the Nadeshiko jonin, Zabuza smirked, then took to the man's direction, step light and quiet. He didn't need anything more than a simple punch; one hit would be more than enough to knock someone like him out for the remainder of the fight.
Accidentally coming across one of the ANBU, Zabuza silently took her down, a jab to a vital point more than enough to overload the sensory system and make the body shut down involuntarily. While sneaking up on an ANBU would usually be a challenge, it was child's play for Zabuza, for whom the mist was an ideal battlefield.
However, just as he was approaching the man's unguarded back, Zabuza noticed something strange. The mist... it was not as thick as he had made it to be, and the jutsu wasn't supposed to start dissipating yet...
Trusting his ninja instinct over his desire to bring the foe down, Zabuza retreated, finding a decent hiding spot atop one of the many trees that littered the valley. He watched, his lips curved into a frown, as four bright seals absorbed the entirety of his jutsu, revealing the ring of ANBU that had taken up position around the center- around Kei.
So it was a trap. The Nadeshiko swordsman had predicted the jutsu, which meant that he was either expecting him to try and take them all down under the cover of fog, or was still playing the positioning game, waiting for the right moment to strike...
Just as the idea came to his mind, Zabuza instinctively ducked, just in time to avoid a slash from what seemed to be a standard short sword, carried by many ninja who didn't like the short range of the kunai. Throwing his arm out, the demon caught the assailant's head, bashing it against the tree trunk twice, letting the now unconscious body fall to the ground. Before it even hit, Zabuza had disappeared in a shunshin, taking up position on a different tree, intending to see what the Nadeshiko unit had in store.
This was it, the all-in, the assault that was meant to take him down. Zabuza had to admire the village's tenacity with the whole thing. No matter how hard he beat them, they kept coming back, and he'd recognize some of their faces right before knocking them down again. It was a game of stamina now, and the Demon of the Mist wasn't intending to lose.
oOoOoOo
Kei frowned. He had intended to use himself as bait, luring Zabuza into a position from where he couldn't escape. For some reason, the Demon saw through the trap, and had instead decided to flee. He couldn't have gone far, as C-Team was ordered to watch the entire perimeter just in case of something like this happening... still, it wasn't a good situation. Yet again, the rouge ninja from the Mist had the advantage, no matter how slim.
He ordered the ANBU to spread out and search, taking special care to travel in groups. Having been part of their ranks himself ever since the conclusion of the Third War, Kei was well respected among them, and not one of the operatives had issues with working under his command. In fact, he was next in line for captain, but had decided to leave ANBU before the position was offered to him.
Almost immediately, a kunoichi came up, informing him of the operative that Zabuza had managed to knock out. Apparently, the ANBU was still an upstart, and had intended to prove herself by bringing the Demon down with a surprise attack. She had failed.
"Damn it..." He needed the sensory types, but most of them were either hospitalized by Zabuza, or away ensuring that the Daimyo would arrive safely. Searching for a foe of Zabuza's caliber without the aid of tracker ninja was a dangerous and foolish endeavor.
Another came up, informing him that two groups have been taken out. Then another followed, repeating the exact same words the one before had spoken. Kei shook his head, ordering that the rest of the ANBU regroup. Running around aimlessly would only cost them people. He needed to flush him out.
"I didn't want to use them yet, but it looks like there's no other choice. Summon the hounds, he won't be able to hide from them."
The ANBU nodded, then scattered, rounding up the chosen few that had ninken as their personal summons. The assembled group all worked through the same hand signs, summoning up a pack of ninja dogs. Kei looked them over, nodding at the lot of them. Crouching down, he offered a thin strip of cloth to the dogs. It was the only thing of Zabuza's he could have taken, and getting it required taking a punch to the jaw. Still, if it meant that this mission would succeed, he'd accept that.
Their target obvious, the dogs immediately bolted to the northwest, having detected the man's scent. No matter how good you are at hiding your tracks, you can't escape a ninja dog up close without genjutsu or advanced body modification techniques. This was something Kei learned the hard way over the years.
He had lost just over half a dozen ANBU by the time they had him cornered. At every turn, the Demon had given them the slip, either proving to be a water clone, or pulling off moves that regular ninja simply couldn't do, leaping over the entirety of the pursuit force and bolting in the opposite direction. With each encounter, the swordsman managed to take out one or two ninja, slowly working towards an advantage.
However, they had him cornered now, his back was to the wall, and there was nowhere to go. He'd either have to power through them all, or he'd give up.
"It appears you've run out of options, Demon of the Mist. Though I must say I'm surprised that you're still doing your best to keep all of us alive. Why would you keep working like that? Wouldn't it be easier to permanently remove the threat?"
The swordsman gave him a dark look, then shook his head. He was in battle stance, the sheer killing intent he was pumping out the only thing that had kept them from attacking and ending the man's terror spree. With the obvious advantage, Kei found it prudent to at least try and get some answers. However, even he didn't expect Zabuza's next words.
"You're a fool. You've set your traps, your ambushes and seals, and you believe that it's enough to defeat me."
He rolled his shoulders, aiming the tip of the kubikiribocho straight at the kimono-wearing swordsman of Nadeshiko."But you fail to realize that nothing you can come up with is going to stop me from reaching my goals. You should have brought the whole village, Kei of Nadeshiko, because this pathetic force isn't nearly enough to stop me!"
With a roar, the Demon of the Mist threw himself into the fray, the visage of a water demon hanging in the air above him. The ANBU unit of Nadeshiko never stood a chance. They were warned that Zabuza was not a man to be taken lightly, but the way he was now, as he mercilessly beat on the brunt of Nadeshiko's military power, sending people flying into trees and down the valley, never once killing them, they knew all was lost.
C-Team never made it in time.
"Come Haku, let's dance!" Shizuka spoke, pressing the button on the radio.
The civilian radio stations in Nadeshiko had a tendency to play dance music for a couple of days before the Daimyo's visit, in order to help the people prepare for the big event. While not everyone was allowed into the palace itself, the whole village generally took part in feasts and dances for the entire night. It was a tradition that quickly became popular, the only reason it wasn't a proper festival being the fact that the village leader wasn't very interested in matters of faith, refusing to take the time to go through all the proper rituals necessary to start an annual religious festival.
Haku, who was not much of a dancer, seemed to be making good progress. While neither he nor Shizuka were very dominant personalities, their combined patience ensured that both would quickly get over any mistakes in either form or approach, leading to their first successful dance not three songs in.
"You're not bad. If we can dance like this at the Daimyo's event, no one's going to complain. We'll be the highlight of the evening!" She declared, smiling brightly.
It was strange. She never remembered herself smiling this much. In the last couple of days, the things that usually bothered her, like her mother's constant nagging, or the boys that always seemed to want to challenge her, were completely absent from her life.
Adding to that, she had regular spars with Haku, whose Ice Style techniques still didn't stop surprising her, even after several days. Each time she'd think she'd learned all his tricks, only to have him freeze her to the ground in some new, imaginative way.
"I'm glad you think so. I've never been part of a large event like a Daimyo's visit, so I'm curious to see how it'll play out."
/OST: Many Nights/
Hopefully he could reach Zаbuza and convince him to leave before the Daimyo arrives. He wouldn't want to cause Shizuka and her mother any more grief than necessary. It was already enough that they had given him their hospitality... Zabuza's presence was a stress to them.
They would just leave, suddenly and with no words of parting. They would go to the Land of Water, and they'd finally finish their years of exile. They had both killed and suffered because of the Mizukage and their decisions, so it would only be fair that the two of them would bring the Yondaime down.
Haku didn't care how strong Yagura was. He had been practicing... he was strong enough to take out two hunter-nin without raising the alarm. He was strong enough to kill them.
Becoming a shinobi... what was the purpose of such a decision? Was keeping true to one's own nature more important than saving the life of an entire village, or helping the man who had given your life purpose? If he didn't choose to fight, to reach after Zabuza's dream, would he be making the right choice? Their path was one of pain and death, no matter how many lives they manage to spare.
Men like us walk only towards death. Would you follow him that far?
Haku recalled the dark-eyed Itachi, the strangely somber man that he had spent those few days travelling with. At first, he had answered automatically. He had indeed given his all to Zabuza, and would do so as many times as he could, but...
No, he would support Zabuza in anything. His own wishes could wait. Once the Mist was liberated of the tyrannical Mizukage, then he could perhaps choose what he will do with his life, which dream he would pursue. Until then, he would be the tool he had so many times referred to himself as.
"You're strangely quiet." Shizuka noticed, sitting down to the pale Yuki.
He turned his head, registering that the radio had long since been switched off, and that he had been thinking for a while now. He gave her a soft smile in apology.
"Forgive me, I'm just nervous."
"About the dance?" She asked, the hope that that's the reason very obvious on her face. However, it soon died out. "Or is it about Zabuza?"
Haku sighed. So many things could go wrong the next day. He had no way to contact Zabuza before, and the swordsman had made it painfully clear that he would be crashing the Daimyo's event. Odds are, wherever the two of them meet, Shizuka would get in the way. He didn't want to see her get hurt, not by Zabuza's hand, nor by the truth he had been concealing from her all this time.
While she was kind and caring, she was still a princess. Her life was easy and comfortable; hunger, cold and hunter-nin were never a problem for her. She would never understand the reason he had to be at Zabuza's side.
The problem was that he had made a mistake, allowing himself to get attached to the girl. That was two mistakes he had made over the course of his mission, and he wasn't sure if he could afford making a third one...
Ok, I'll admit that I have no idea how many chapters I'll need to close out Book 1.
It could be two more, or it could be five. Just bear with me, ok?
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Also, leave a review; I'll feel guilty and write faster!