The Psychic, The Swordsman, and The Sorcerer

Chapter 37

I don't own Naruto, X-Men, Zorro, or Harry Potter. Fun Fact: In X-Men: Days of Future Past, the scene where Magneto shoves metal into Logan's body is a visual reference to the comics, where he rips the Adamantium out of his body.

Haku was still in her room. She had to find just the right outfit for this occasion. It needed to be intimidating to show that she could best her rival, and it needed to be elegant because... Well, she wasn't sure why it needed elegance, but she felt certain that the outfit needed to be elegant if the bun-haired assassin was going to see it. She would have to ponder that later, however, as she still hadn't determined what met her criteria. Going through her admittedly limited choices in wardrobe, she found the perfect combination.

As Haku was getting ready, one of the clones entered the study to inform Zabuza and Tenten that dinner was almost ready, and arrived just in time to hear the conclusion of Zabuza's narrative.

"And I never saw her again after that," he finished, seemingly oblivious to the fear and confusion in Tenten's eyes, "But I still have that blue ribbon. After everything we went through, I couldn't just throw it away..."

"Dinner is about to be served," the clone stated, "Sai has gone on a picnic with Yakumo, and, as I said earlier, I'll be taking my meal in my office. Another clone is telling Haku the same thing."

By the time that Zabuza had gotten out of his seat, Tenten had already followed the clone out the door.

The two were seated at the table, waiting in silence for Haku to arrive while the clones put the food and drinks on the table. When his adopted daughter finally appeared, Zabuza was somewhat confused by her choice in attire.

The outfit that Haku had decided upon was the nicest-looking of her many 'hunter nin' costumes and had a kunai pouch, likely filled with senbon, on each hip. She had, however, decided to not wear her customary mask, since it was dinner.

Had anyone asked, Tenten would've freely admitted that Haku's face did not look how she thought it would. Haku's looked much more feminine than she'd expected, yet, for some reason, it seemed to suit Haku perfectly. Perhaps she would have considered the possibility that she'd been wrong about Haku's gender, but, given that one of her teammates was often mistaken for a girl, it was understandable that the possibility didn't automatically occur to her.

Once Haku had taken her seat, Zabuza decided that it was his cue to begin the discussions and said,"So, Tenten, where did you get the senbon you gave Haku?"

"I made them," she said as the swordsman began eating his ramen, "I make almost all of my weapons, actually."

"Really?" he asked as Haku intentionally kept her eyes away from the conversing pair, wishing she were somewhere else, "How do you get the supplies?"

"I own the village smithy," she responded, "I'm technically the village blacksmith."

"How did you wind up with that job?" Haku inquired, finding herself intrigued. Tenten looked about her age and was the village's blacksmith.

"I'm not actually sure," she admitted, "The old man who used to run the place took me on as an apprentice when I was about seven or so, for some reason, and he spent the next three years teaching me the ins and outs of steel-working and weapons maintenance. He was a nice man. He let me take the scraps and make my own weapons. As a matter of fact, he's the one who taught me how to seal my weapons in scrolls. I miss him, sometimes... Anyway, what about you? How id you make all those ice senbon able to fly so perfectly."

"Zabuza-sensei taught me," Haku replied, unintentionally finding herself engaged in this dialogue with her enemy, "I got used to the weight distribution of a senbon, and, while I can use ones of other balance, I learned how to make my own with practice, and made them to my preference."

"Took you a few tries to get it right, though," Zabuza interjected, glad to have one of those moments that he'd heard about, "I remember you almost took out my eye one of those times. Haku kept apologizing, even though it missed, and refused to try again until they were all made 'perfectly.'"

Haku slid down slightly in her seat, mortified to know that her foe was now aware that she wasn't infallible with her weapon of choice. What sort of misdeed had she done to make Zabuza reveal such a weakness as that.

To her surprise, however, Tenten said, "I know that feeling."

At those words, she reached into the kunai pouch she had behind the sheath of her wakizashi and pulled out a messily-crafted kunai that looked like it had never known proper balance in its entire existence.

"This was the first weapon I made on my own," she explained, "The old man wouldn't let me try again until I told him everything that had to have gone wrong for it to be like this."

She handed it to Haku, who could feel the imperfections in the metal the instant that it made contact.

"Like they say," Zabuza stated, "Practice makes perfect, kid. I remember this one time back when I was in Anbu. They expected me to explain what it was like to be a part of the Anbu to the new recruits..."

Tenten mentally noted upon Haku's sudden look of concern and frustration. Apparently Zabuza had told this one before, and it was likely as disturbing as the one the swordsman had told her. This was apparently going to be a long dinner...

In his own seat, Zabuza inwardly smirked. This was going exactly like he'd always dreamed it would.

Meanwhile, in his lair in the basement, Naruto was sitting at a table with Hinata, forgoing his usual Zorro attire for the date.

"I'm happy that you were able to come, mi amor," he smiled as he poured her some tea, "I was worried that you wouldn't be able to make it."

"I wouldn't miss this for the world," she responded, favoring him with a smile of her own.

Across the village, Itachi and Hana were enjoying a private meal, as Sakura had decided to drag the last Uchiha off on a dinner date of their own. While they ate, Hana resisted the urge to chuckle at Itachi's eating habits. It seemed that the falsely-accused jounin had yet to fully regain his table manners, despite the fact that he'd been in Konoha for a month and had been commonly undisguised in his house Still, it wasn't as if she hadn't grown up in the Inuzuka compound, so she was used to such displays.

Atop the Hokage Monument, Sai and Yakumo had finished up their own, individual paintings of the sunset and had set up the picnic that Sai's employer had provided them. As the paint dried on each canvas, Sai tapped Yakumo on the shoulder. Once she had turned to face him, he signed, 'This is enjoyable.'

"Yes it is," she replied, leaning against him comfortably, for once not being bothered by either Ido's bizarre commands, or the underlined voice's arguments with her, "We should do this more often."

As the mute valet nodded in agreement, the couple relaxed. It was a peaceful night, and they were going to make the most of it.