"Over there, come on! Over there, over there, over there!"

"Okay," Fuyu pulled my hand as we walked. He was pointing at a small area of grass where eight other young children were playing. Two of the children were older than the others, two girls around twelve or thirteen years old. The other children were near Fuyu's age, none older than five.

"See," He stopped and pointed at the children. "They play over there."

"Do you play with them?"

Fuyu looked up at me and shook his head.

"Why not?"

"I don't know…"

Why the heck did he bring me over here then? I watched him turn back to the giggling kids, he stared longingly at them. "Do you want me to take you over there?"

He looked back up at me, his eyes answered for him.

"Come on then," He let me lead him this time. When we got close the two older girls and a couple of the other kids turned to us. "Hey, my friend wants to play with you." Fuyu looked uncertainly from behind my leg.

"Okay," A girl with pale hair and yellow eyes walked over. "What is his name?"

"Fuyu," the bright little girl walked around me to confront Fuyu directly.

"Hi, I'm Nariko."

"And I'm Saeko," another girl came over, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder."

"Hi," Fuyu let go of my hand and came followed the girls as they went around introducing their friends. Another young girl by the name of Tsubame and two boys who were apparently brothers named Hansuke and Hiroto.

"Hansuke and Hiroto are my cousins, they are the second oldest here because they are twins and those are my other cousins who are watching us, they are twins too." Nariko spoke proudly, crossing her arms over a high chest" They are Hokuto and Hiyori, they are going to be in the chuunin exams soon."

"What's a chuunin?"

I smiled and sat down; glad I could just relax and let Fuyu play with these kids. I looked over at the two older girls, Hokuto and Hiyori, who looked away as fast as I turned to them. They both sported the same hair and eyes as their young cousin, as well as the exact same features as one another. I wondered which one was which. Their brothers had darker hair, a sort of dirty blonde-light brown color. They too were completely identical and both were coveting a ball that Tsubame obviously wanted very much, but when Fuyu came over they abandoned their game. They were probably excited to have another boy to play with even if he was a little younger. I would imagine the thought of ruling over someone of the same sex would be appealing; such a thing is to older males as well.

I half watched the children playing as I allowed my mind to wander. I wonder where Zabuza is right now, and what exactly his mission was. When he returns it may become obvious but I had no idea how long that would be. He seemed to think that it would not take that long. Of course this could go either way; personally I hope he is back soon. I don't mind his son at all, but he is a familiar face and I would be more comfortable with Zabuza-senpai back in Konoha. Plus he is probably the only person here I trust completely.

I yawned and rested my elbow on my knee, then my chin on my hand. This was going to be a long day.

…

"We can probably stop for a minute or two." I looked up through the branches of the trees. The air was already cooler here though we wee not technically in the foothills yet. This land, not even twenty years ago, belonged to Kiri. In fact my parents owned a modest vacation house that couldn't be more than sixty miles from here. Who knows if it still stands now.

"How close are we?"

"Well I cannot be sure as to where he is exactly. But there is a village near by where we can ask around a bit."

"Yes, I know of it. It is mainly a family who secluded themselves from the rest of the world. Over the years other people have come to live there but it is still a very small and secluded community. They do not even have their own resources."

"Yea, they used to be part of Kiri. They disappeared with several other families, most inherits of kekkei genkai. But there were others who were segregated for other, similar reasons."

Yamato nodded. He looked though the trees silently, surveying the surroundings with dark, severe eyes.

"Yamato, how old are you?"

He turned towards me quizzically, silent for a moment. "Twenty-six…Why?"

"No reason, I just wasn't sure."

He nodded. So he was four years younger than me. I was honest when I said I was asking because I wasn't sure of his age. As far as I could tell he could be a few years older than me or barely into his twenties. I never really had any time alone with him or I would have asked earlier, for some reason it just bothered me since I met him. I knew he was a captain in the Konoha ANBU Black Ops; I was just curious exactly how much experience he must have had.

"Zabuza-san, you are the same age as Kakashi right?"

"Yea."

"Okay…" He was quiet for a moment. "Does it bother you leaving your son behind? Weren't you somewhat retired before all of this?"

"It has been difficult, but to be honest I never was comfortable leaving behind the life of a shinobi. It is what I was born into."

"The same, but I meant does it concern you that if you die your son would be placed wherever it is seen fit?" Yamato was looking at me from the corner of his eye.

"Well I suppose. When I was first required to leave him I was worried about things like that. It was always in the back of my mind but as time went on I became more focused on the mission. And now I know even if something were to happen to me, Konan would take care of him. She has really become pretty attached to him."

"That's good," Yamato looked away, his ebony eyes distant. "I don't think I have really seen her warm up to anyone, she always seems rather mysterious when I see her."

"Yea that was the immediate thought I had of her. Thought she was just a distant, cold kunoichi…but she has much more warm qualities when you get to know her. But I agree, she doesn't get very close to many people."

He nodded, "Well we should get going again."

"I suppose," we remained still for a moment longer before continuing on our way.

I only had to wonder what exactly I would tell Utakata. I had never formally met him; I had no idea what kind of person to expect. It may be too much to expect him to be much like either of our parents since he has never met either of them. But if I were to be so presumptuous as to expect to meet a mirror image of one of our parents, I hope it would not be our mother. It was not that I ever hated her, when I was young I fooled myself into believing I did. I thought she was the most horrible type of person. Spineless, self righteous, and intolerant. In the shadow of what I had made her out to be, our father was a saint. He did everything he could to protect our family; he loved my mother and me unreservedly. He would have died for us, and he did. I thought my mother had ran away after he died, abandoning me. I never heard otherwise till years later, and even then I hated her for not stopping this in any way possible. It wasn't until I was older that I realized I had never really despised her, I just couldn't stand her because I was just like her.