Ehm. Lately people have been telling me... and I've been kind of thinking too... that this arc is going on too long, with too much Shizuka focus. Yet, I cannot bring myself to shorten it. Frankly, although this story has parts that were thoroughly planned out, it is equally transient. I've thrown out so many perfectly good plotlines it's not even funny.
Why? Because I just couldn't write them. I just... they were boring or lacked something or... something. Or... they were just too similar to most Naruto fanfiction. There's just a lot of Naruto fanfiction staples that... like... I'm tired of (I'm a hardcore veteran reader). My profound hope is that I blindside every single reader at even one single point each over the course of this whole story.
Ehm, basically I'd like to just call the lack of other Konoha presence in this arc a sacrifice to writer motivation and call it even. Also, some people don't really dig the Shiuka while others do. It's one of those tradeoff things that means I can't make everyone happy.
Chapter 28
Duty
"Sorry… does that make sense?" Shizuka asked, feeling sheepish after the rush of memories and feelings died down.
"It makes perfect sense." Haku affirmed quietly, head turned away in deference while Shizuka collected herself . "But you're right. Naruto-san would never understand. He is not anywhere near being a pebble."
Shizuka giggled. It shook her somewhat from her state. "Yes. The last thing Master gives, is the impression of a pebble." she agreed.
"Yes. Or even if he were a pebble, he probably wouldn't notice." Haku added conspiratingly.
Shizuka grinned. "And if anyone brought it to his attention, he would insist that he was the biggest, most excellent pebble. And he was going to be stepped on by no one. He would decide to be the first pebble to kick humans to the side of the dirt road." Shizuka laughed joyously. "He would! And he would do it, too!"
"I can believe that." Haku admitted. "When it comes to Naruto-san, anything seems possible."
Shizuka nodded, happy that Haku had noticed that of her master. "It is Master's policy to be 'strong enough'. He believes in choosing the appropriate strength from an overwhelming pool of excess. He will accept being slower, have lower probabilities, or being out-teched, but to not have the strength for it is his cardinal sin. He wrings things similar to miracles out of capacity and courage. He always has. As I understand, he learned that miracle worker craft from his mother."
Haku nodded slowly. "This calm is a form of miracle too, is it not? It is extremely unlikely for a tornado to be so wide and so stationary. It is practically a shelter itself. But Shizuka… this miracle is somewhat suspicious, is it not?"
"Hm?"
"Somehow it just felt that… Naruto-san was expecting this tornado. When he heard, he was not simply calm. He was… relieved and his decision was instantaneous. I can't help but feel that this tornado was Naruto-san's true destination, and not Water Country at all."
"Master said he had to get to–"
"Shinobi, as I am to understand from my travels, frequently use that kind of misdirection. In claiming his objective was water country, we would of course have to pass through the sea between the mainland and the water country islands. His objective is obscured with no extra cost."
Shizuka was silent for a moment. "As I said, he learned the miracle worker craft from his mother. Surely he knows some miraculous things that we do not. He was also called out here on a mission but he… has not shared the mission specifics with anyone."
Haku answered in a tone of curiosity. "But how will you know how to assist your Master, if you can't understand what he does? We know that he intends to 'heal' the ocean to stop this hurricane, but that is such an abstract thing. Unless he explains the specifics to you – unless he lets you in on the secrets to the miracles he intends to craft – how can you assist him? How can you keep him safe? And if even his tool cannot stand by him, how will the rest of us?"
Shizuka held a sinking frown. "It does bother me how even now he won't say specifics of what he will do when he wakes up. Kenta and Barkeep are concerned as well. Yet Master has said that these secrets are very dear. He said that they are very dangerous. And he has forbidden me from asking further."
"I see." Haku nodded slowly, observing the somewhat tortured look on Shizuka's face. "And so he keeps the danger to himself, as a protective Master would. Of course many great men meet their ends through ways we cannot understand, but Naruto-san is quite capable." She expressed her musings in a calm and reassuring tone. "I'm sure there is only a very little risk of death and well… If that is all right with you then all is good. You have your orders after all."
Shizuka stared at Haku, and then down at her cooling tea.
An image flashed. A tombstone, and her standing before it. No one was beside her. Nothing existed all around. It was an image she had carried often when she had been hunting him down. It used to motivate her to kill him. Now it motivated her to save him. "It's not all right with me." She declared as she shot to her feet, terrified. Her Master was so strong. To Shizuka, he was like a god made flesh. He had always been, and to be honest the vague image of his grave had been as far as her imagination could ever stretch. And to be fully truthful, she had known she was never his match. Nor had she ever gone all-out against him herself. But if anything could kill her great Master, it was the great secrets that he held and feared.
And something just freshly forged… something called 'security' broke in her.
Again, she had something too terrible to consider. Again, she had something she could simply not accept. Killing Toda-sama had left her with a reality that she spent six years unable to bear, but if she stood by and allowed her Master to possibly… for there to be any chance at all that he could leave her -!
There would be no recovering from the madness that would bring. And madness would be the least of her emotional concerns.
"It's really, definitely not all right with me!" She gasped, ice entrenching in her veins. The thought of him being in actual, mortal danger still seemed so abstract but it felt more real by the second. And she hated that. "I can't… I can't possibly go on without him! I can't even imagine going back to being alone. I love him so much and I… Do you think he would really tell me? How must I ask him? He keeps some secrets so tightly and he can be so set in his ways when it suits him!"
"If he would ever tell anyone, he would tell you." Haku reassured compassionately. "He loves you after all. He might call it care and not love, but it's all the same. You are important and precious to his heart."
"Yes." Shizuka nodded nervously, fidgeting with restless energy. "Yes I am. And my Master needs me. I have to go."
Haku stopped her. "Wait. Let me check that your Kimono is straight."
"Oh." Shizuka blinked. "It is. I always know how my kimonos fall on me - it is a core courtesan skill. Visually, a dressed woman shows more dress than woman. However, it is good to check before anything important." She said. "Thank you. You are so wise."
"No problem," Haku said as she straightened the fabric with skilled fingers and confirmed the presence of a small and discretely placed device, "it is my pleasure."
Shizuka left in a determined gait.
Haku made sure to visually see the woman disappear up the stairs.
The time had come.
"Excuse me. The alcohol has finally knocked my Master out. I must see him to bed."
"Shizuka-san? Will you leave your kimono by the fireplace so that it can dry? If you leave your kimono by the door, I can come fetch it and hang it up for you."
"What? But I don't have any other… Master might not appreciate my nudity. My body is for his use, of course, but I cannot perform in that way without permission. It would be Bad. He would not be pleased. And in his current state…"
"He's quite inebriated. He'll do no drunken molesting tonight I assure you. I know my share of medicine, being an apothecary in training. And you must not go to bed in wet clothes. You could easily come down with a cold."
"A cold? Colds are… contagious, aren't they?"
"Of course. He could catch it from you, or could catch it himself from being pressed to your wet kimono. You will be sleeping with him, of course? He could do with your body heat tonight. He is in a delicate state and the nights are cold and humid."
"I… see. No, I could not possibly lay wet atop him. What you say is indeed for the best. You are wise and I thank you for your care towards my Master." Shizuka bowed deeply at the waist. "But my purple kimono is the only one I have with me. It is the primary external tool of my craft. I can't just…"
"I understand completely. I am rather like yourself."
"Like me…? You do have a famillair air about you, but it is not that of a courtesan."
"No. But we are very similar in our situations."
"Do you mean, you have a…"
"Yes."
"Oh. What a fortuitous meeting."
"I assure you that I will look after your kimono with all care. While I have it, I can repair its damage as well."
"I should really do that myself, but I may not have the time… It must… It must look appropriate. You understand, don't you? I imagine that you care for your apothecary chest very diligently. My kimono's are much the same. And I have only just found my Master. I must be at my best."
"I am skilled with needle and thread. I am quite confident in my capacity and I understand completely what you are saying."
"Then… I entrust it to you. And I will explain your great deeds to my Master in the morning."
"Oh no. Please don't. These times should only be about the two of you, after all. You have just found each other. You are only just properly bound."
Shizuka broke into a brilliant smile. "Then I will keep your advice and sewing services secret. My thanks are not nearly as powerful as the thanks of a Houou clansman, but you have it."
"Think nothing of it."
And Haku later went to retrieve the wet kimono before Naruto and Shizuka's door.
And Haku waited by the fireplace until the very dead of night when all reasonable things slept heaviest. Haku waited with her sewing kit before her and her small, discreet listening device hidden in her apothecary chest.
Yes, Haku thought.
The time had come. It was time to see her duty through. It was time to offer the one friendship she had made up to an alter for her Master's sake.
And Haku knew that Shizuka would never forgive her for what she was about to do – what she had already done.
But the woman would understand.
Shizuka would have done the same to her, in a heartbeat.
So yes, Haku felt bad. But guilty? No. Not even marginally so. Haku sipped her tea as she adjusted a small black earpiece and slipped it into her inner ear.
Channel A-2 wasn't it?
*ZZzt* *ZZzt* "-ster"
There we go.
"Master. Please? Can't you trust me?"
"Shizuka. It's not a matter of trust. It's not that kind of secret. I could tell you –"
"- but you'd have to kill me? That kind of secret, Master? Just what kind of thing are you planning to face! I come in here and I see you checking your Genesis Seal? What am I supposed to think!"
"Killing you wouldn't be my job Shizuka. They have departments for that. They have acronyms and masks and a six step process to hunt you down and kill you if they find out that you have something in your head you don't have clearance for."
"That doesn't matter! I can't live without you anyways, so why can't I fight with you? Why do you have to be such a hero? I just want to share in your danger like a good –!"
"-Because it's wrong! It's wrong, damnit! We're distinct individuals Shizuka! We're our own people!"
"Not me Master. I'm not my person. I'm yours."
"That's the whole damn problem!"
*ZZzt*
Why were these things so unreliable just when you needed them the most? Surely it could have been damaged in the trip but now was not the time for it to fail.
"-don't have to be risking your life for me because I'm saying you can live without me Shizuka! There's a wealthy family in Sunagakure that owes the Houous a favor. They'll look after you and I left you all my money. It's all in my will."
Haku shook her head. He was completely missing the point.
"You have a WILL!" It was not a question. It was an exclamation of horror.
"Shizuka, come on. I'm a shinobi. I've had a will since I was three. I update it like every week."
Well that was the wrong thing to say.
"Ohgod, ohgod, ohgod."
"It's not a big deal!"
*ZZzt*
"- saying that I will die Master! I really will. I will die if I ever see you die before me! My heart will break in two. Otherwise it will simply quit! And if not I will rip it out myself!"
"What did I say about that? You can't keep spouting this 'Master' crap and then just ignore me! I told you, you aren't allowed –"
"You can't stop me from killing myself if you're dead!"
"I don't believeyou! What the hell Shizuka!"
"I love you! I love you! I love you!"
"That's not–"
"I'll prove it! I'll jump out this window! If you're going to die then I don't want to live!"
"One: stop assuming I can't keep myself alive without your help. Two: You realise we're in a second story room above a body of water… right? Hey - Oy! Don't jump with the back of your neck like tha – What did I just say!"
*ZZzt*
*ZZzt*
*ZZzt*
No. No.
Haku tapped the device in her ear impatiently. It was water resistant. She knew it was.
Not now. She had worked too hard. Risked too much. Betrayed too deep.
*ZZzt*
"-ter. Thank you so much. I'll be so Good. I'll be so helpful. I promise no one else will ever find out."
Just in time.
"Enough." Naruto said. He sounded tired to Haku. Exasperated. Resigned.
Ideal.
"We'll talk. But Shizuka, I can't believe you did that. You know, the human body can be pretty sturdy if it's hit in the right place, but if it's in the wrong place then – hey, be careful. Furyuu Toppa can be pretty gentle, but you can still fall out of its mouth."
That was it. That was why the device had problems. For privacy… he hadn't swept the room or anything so mundane.
He had taken them up, perching on his dragon of solid air. Up to the clear sky where no one would expect them to go for privacy. And even if the walls had ears, the sky surely did not.
But he had not stripped Shizuka. He would not think to.
Shizuka was quite astute. Her hearing was alarmingly accurate, seemingly born from spending her childhood in a man's basement. She was also acutely aware of anything attempting to enter the area around her body. Whether this was a courtesan skill to enforce exclusivity clauses by holding unwanted male attention at a distance, or whether this was a retainer skill to guard against the constant threat of assassination, it was at a masterful level. And her kimono never left her. It was as her second skin.
Except Haku had been invited to operate on that skin.
It should be said, that for all that Shizuka was…
She was not a shinobi. That was so easy to forget, but so very important in this instance.
"I really need to get you to a psychiatrist."
"It's not like that Master. Or, not quite."
"Then what, huh? What is it? You just tried to kill yourself to prove a point!"
"I… I just love you Master. I love you so much."
"Shizuka. Other than how I fight, heal, and how I lock people up you barely know anything about me."
"I know that. I realize that now. But every new thing I learn keeps driving me deeper and deeper in –"
"Enough."
"…"
"…"
"*sigh* And anyways, I took you up here, didn't I? I'm going to tell you. But remember, if you tell anyone you'll be in a world of trouble. And then I'll have to bail you out. And we'll probably end up on the run together, going place to place fearing for our lives."
"…That sounds very romantic."
"Shizuka."
"Yes Master. Sorry Master. I won't tell a soul."
"*Sigh**deep breath*… Firstly, the storm isn't caused by chakra. But that doesn't make it natural either, okay? Humans aren't the only ones that figured out how to twist energy and do great things. Demonic Chakra, or Yoki, that demons use, isn't exactly chakra in the sense that our chakra is. And it takes a particular tweaking of chakra sense to feel it. Just like that, there are other powers that can't be sensed because they aren't quite chakra either. Okay? And there is a thing like that, like an animal, but one that can control the ocean like its own hand. We might as well call it the ocean's spirit. It's heart. But we don't sense that it's behind all this because its energy is different. And it's hurt. You get it? That's what I was called for. I'm a healer after all. And all this crap that's happening to the world all comes back to that. It's hurt and like any animal…"
"… it protects itself." Shizuka breathed. "Those natural disasters were all done by this Leviathan?"
"Yes. That's where the storm came from, and what it's for. If you spin water around in the air hard enough and control the heat and cold currents just right, you can whip together a powerful local tornado that has no right being so large or so stationary. If you make thunderclouds, the lightning will come on its own. They're all meant to keep things away from it; like a hedgehog that curls up into a ball. They're all designed to keep enemies away from exactly right here. Right here and about 14,000 ft. down."
"But then why doesn't it attack with us so close? Why not lash out like a true beast? Swallow us whole with the jaws of the sea itself?"
"There are ways for it to sense me when I'm this close. That's why it doesn't mind us here. It's because of me. This has always been about me and it. I'm its family doctor. Or, my clan is. That's why a Houou had to be called in. It recognizes me. We've been introduced."
The rumours were confirmed. Even the Leviathan needed a doctor and the Houou family had an enormous amount of goodwill and family honour. Double-crossing in Water Country was far too common, so if anyone would be trusted enough for the task…
"I… understand Master. At least… I am trying to. I'm doing my best. But… Is it a very dangerous creature? Are you… going to be safe? I can't… you have to know that I can't live without you. You have to understand that much."
"I think I'm starting to catch on, yeah."
"So… is it very dangerous?"
"It's just a big teddy bear on the inside."
"Oh! Oh good..."
"It's just that I have to prepare for the worst. Leviathan is a big deal, Shizuka. It's hard to explain just what you could do with that kind of power so a lot of people are after it. I don't expect trouble but I want to be prepared for it. And there are lots of other problems."
"Yes Master. How may I help you?"
"Leviathan is probably in deep sea. The pressures there are very different. I'll need a hyperbolic oxygen array set up for when I come back and you'll need to power it."
"Yes Master."
"I'll need to prep my equipment too. I don't know what kind of injury or illness it has. The mission specifics were vague on purpose."
"Yes Master. Thank you so much for trusting me with this. Thank you so, so much for letting me in. Letting me help keep you safe. I'll be so Good, you'll see. I promise I'll take your secrets to my grave. I swear on all that is bright in the sky."
*ZZzt*
*ZZzt*
Click.
Mission accomplished.
A/N: If you really don't know what to say in your review I propose you answer one of these questions: "Coming into this chapter, how likely had you thought it was that Haku would have an agenda? Was the reveal done well?"
Okay… so now go back and re-read the bar scenes with all that you have learned. Bwhahahahaha.
So… everyone remembers... that Haku is, like… a missing-nin murdering shinobi and stuff… so she's sneaky and stuff… and her master is Zabuza and stuff… right?
Also, remember when Naruto couldn't sense Shukaku chakra way back when he fought it a long time ago? Yeah, that's because in my story at the time I had decided that demon chakra would be a little different from human chakra and so Naruto who had no instinctive chakra sense but who slowly built it up in a methodological way, would not be able to sense it properly. I don't think I ever explained it and I might have been holding onto that fact aaaaal this time only to make use of it now when he explains the whether energy thing.
The answer to the question posed by the very last part of the previous chapter is: "yes you should."
