"It's a nice apartment." Haku said politely.

It was funny how having a guest suddenly made her self conscious of the mess everywhere. "Thanks," she mumbled as she began picking up clothes from off the floor. "I wasn't expecting company. I'm sorry for the mess." Why the f#&k am I apologizing to him? It's my f#&king apartment, I can keep it however I want! Yet she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed that it was such a mess. "Do you want to sit down?"

"Sure." He sat down on the couch. Her apartment was a small one bedroom. The living room had a couch, table, and a couple more chairs.

"Do you want a sandwich? I don't really have anything to drink but water right now."

"I am fine, but thank you."

She tossed a bunch of clothes into her bedroom and quickly shut the door. She then came back out and sat down on the couch next to him. The two of them sat there for a bit just looking at each other.

"Why do you swear so much?" Haku suddenly asked.

She frowned at him. "Are you here to tell me how to f#&king talk? 'Cause if you are you can…"

He suddenly stood up and bowed to her. "I am sorry Tayuya if I offend you. It was not my intent. Truthfully I was simply curious why you talk so. I have never heard anyone else speak in a similar manner."

She stared at him, and a little grin touched her lips. "Why are you always so polite? I've never heard anyone talk that way." She motioned for him to sit down again.

"I don't know, it was how I was raised I suppose. My parents were kind people and they taught me to always be polite and courteous to others. When I… had to leave them I was already in the habit of speaking the way that I do. Zabuza–sama encouraged me to maintain a polite persona as an aid in deceiving others."

Tayuya nodded in a bit of sympathy. "Your parents forced you to leave?"

He swallowed. "In a manner of speaking. What of your parents?"

She shrugged. "My mother was a drunken whore who always hated me. My father was one of the random sailors she f#&ked, she had no clue which one." She told him with only a little bitterness in her voice.

"I am very sorry."

She shook her head. "Don't feel sorry for me. I hate that. It happened, I dealt with it. I don't waste my time feeling sorry for myself and I don't go around looking for f#&king pity."

"I am still sorry if you never knew a parent's love." Haku said quietly.

Tayuya looked at him; normally she would be screaming abuse at anyone who said something like that to her. But the boy was just so damn kind that she couldn't feel any anger. "Does that mean your parents loved you?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes, and for a time we were very happy."

"What changed? If you were happy why'd you leave?"

He sighed. "It was because of my blood. I have a kekkei genkai which marks me as different. Here in Konoha I have learned that such are welcome, but in water country they were reviled as symbols of unending war. When my ability first emerged my mother, who had passed on the trait, tried to hide the fact. But my father learned of it and he murdered her right in front of me. I was forced to… kill him and flee my village to survive."

Tayuya listened to his tale with a quiet empathy. "Whoa, and I thought my life was f#&ked up."

"If I may ask, did you run away as well?"

She hesitated, but decided that she would tell him the ugly truth. "No, she ran away from me. Some as#&ole merchant said he was in love with her and she left with him one day when I was five. No goodbye, no note, and no, 'I'm sorry for f#&king up your whole life.' One day she was just gone and she never came back. I had no other family so I was stuck in an orphanage. The other kids knew my story and they never let me forget it." She let out a dry chuckle. "Then Souta came. He was a recruiter for Orochimaru. He went through all the orphanages in Fire country looking for future recruits. He spotted me and could tell I had the potential to mold chakra. Do you know how much a human life is worth?"

"Usually between ten thousand and fifty thousand ryu," Haku answered. "It varies; I once knew a bridge builder whose life was worth ten million."

She gawked at him. "You are seriously going to have to tell me your f#&king life story." She muttered. "Well my life was worth a whole 200 ryu. That's how much Souta paid the orphanage manager to take me, no questions asked."

"And that is how you were recruited to the Sound village?"

She nodded. "That's right. Now I want to hear more about your story Haku."

"If you like, after escaping I made it to the village hidden in the mist. I was all alone surviving on what I could scrounge out of the garbage. Then one cold night I met Zabuza-sama…"

The two of them shared stories. He told her about his life traveling the countryside with Zabuza-sama. Of training and fighting while always on the run from the hunter nins. She told him of the harsh realities of training in the village of the sound. Of the grueling hours and hard discipline. She told him of being constantly mocked and teased and of learning not to show weakness. They both talked about the pain of being alone. As the hours passed they grew more and more comfortable with each other. As if by some strange magic they seemed to move physically closer to each other on the couch until they were almost, but not quite, touching. Their quiet talk was brought to an end when Haku finally noticed his watch.

"It is past one in the morning." He stood up and looked at her apologetically. He bowed to her. "I apologize for keeping you up so late when we are meeting in the morning."

She got up as well and gave him a smile. "I don't mind. I… really enjoyed talking with you. Let's do it again some time."

He nodded. "I would like that. Friends should get to know each other."

"So we're friends now?"

He looked a bit worried. "Are we not?"

She slowly nodded. "Yeah I guess we are. Ah, Haku…"

"Yes?"

"Do you consider Gabrella a friend as well, or is she something more to you?"

He smiled. "She is my girlfriend."

S#&t. "I see." Her face fell a bit.

Seeing that look Haku reached out and took her hands into his. This was the first real physical contact between them and Tayuya suddenly found her self feeling a bit warm. "Please do not look sad. Gabrella being my girlfriend does not mean I do not want to be close to you as well."

"As a friend."

He looked worried. "Is something wrong with that?"

She shook her head. "No, of course not. I'll see you tomorrow Haku."

With a smile he left her apartment.

I'm a f#&king idiot, like he's really going to be any different than the others. Even while she reminded herself no to get her hopes up she went to bed looking forward to seeing him.

XXXXXXXXXX

He entered the mansion silently and headed to his room.

"Hello Haku."

He was surprised to see Kushina in the hall near his room. He bowed to her. "I apologize if I woke you Kushina-sama."

She shook her head. "That's all right; I was waiting up for you. Though you are an adult I still would like to know where you have been."

He grinned. "I was with Tayuya talking to her and creating a bond."

She quirked an eyebrow. "You've been with Tayuya all this time?" He nodded. "And you were just talking?"

He had a confused expression. "Of course, what else would we be doing?"

Oh I am not answering that. "Haku, what about Gabrella?"

"Gabrella? What does she have to do with this? I am sure she would want me to spend time with Tayuya and become friends with her."

"Really?" Kushina said in a dry tone. "You think she would be happy to know you were alone with her until one in the morning?"

"Why wouldn't she?"

Kushina sighed. "I could tell you but it would take the rest of the night. Go ahead and go to bed. We'll be having a long talk over breakfast."

XXXXXXXXXX

Having breakfast together Gabrella decided to just go ahead and ask. "Dad, would it be all right if I invited someone over for diner tonight?"

Riyuki looked at his daughter over his eggs. "Well of course honey. Who did you have in mind?" She mumbled something. "I'm sorry, what was that again."

"I said I wanted to invite my teammate Haku." She saw her father grin. "It's not like that!"

"Like what honey?" Riyuki tried to sound innocent.

"Like it's a big deal, which it isn't. He and I have been teammates for a while now and I just thought it would be nice to invite him over, that's all."

Her father smiled at her knowingly. "Isn't he the boy you had dinner with the other night?"

Looking a bit embarrassed she nodded. "Yeah that's him dad."

Her father rubbed his chin. "Hmmm, you've told me about his kekkei genkai. It might make a valuable addition to the family blood line."

She turned as red as a tomato. "Dad! We've had one date! And he's not adding anything to our blood line!" Well not yet, but he is a beautiful looking, sweet boy.

"I'm just saying he might make a good choice for you… someday. Bring him to dinner by all means."

She frowned. "Now I'm not so sure I want to."

XXXXXXXXXX

The practice went well. Kushina had decided to give them some basic team building exercises followed by sword training for Gabrella and taijutsu for Tayuya. Though Kushina didn't make it obvious she kept an eye on the subtle interplay between the three of them. Both girls eyed Haku and offered him smiles. They also sent each other hostile looks ion a regular basis. But the tension did not turn into anything blatant and remained suppressed, for now.

Given the scream fest the previous night at dinner Kushina had expected a difficult day. But instead Tayuya gave a real effort to work with her team. She also managed to get through the entire day without cursing anyone. The most worrisome moment actually came near the end of practice when Gabrella had asked Haku to go to dinner with her and her family. Tayuya had listened to the invitation and Haku's acceptance of it. She made no outward sign but it was clear to Kushina that the girl was not happy.

Kushina let out a long sigh. This would be a very interesting group to try and mold into an effective team. Well at least it will only be for a couple of months.

XXXXXXXXXX

A year and a half had passed.

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack…

Damn it every single morning! Feeling annoyed and a bit hung over the man tossed aside the cover of his sleeping bag. He crawled over to the tent flap and quickly got out. It was summer time and he could already tell it would be another hot and sticky day. The sun was not quite up yet but the sky was a light bluish purple. Through blood shot eyes he could see the two of them standing on the lake going at it with wooden practice swords.

"Hey!" he shouted as loud as he could. "Could you knock it off just this once?"

"Huh?" One of the ninjas on the lake looked his way.

The other took advantage of the temporary opening to smack him on the side of the head and knock him down.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted as he got back up. "No fair! I was distracted by pervy granddad's whining!"

Saishu shook his head. His sword was up and in the ready position. "There are no time outs in real combat. If this were real you would be dead."

Naruto snorted. "If this were real I'd have made a hundred clones."

Saishu grinned. "Well I hate to tell you this Naruto but at some point you may have to depend on actual skill rather than simple numbers." Saishu laughed to himself seeing the boy obviously react to his mild teasing. Naruto quickly launched a fresh attack and forced his grand uncle to the defensive.

Jiraiya could hear those annoying, 'clacks' coming even faster than before. "Another day of teaching the kid to be the best." He muttered to himself. "Kami help me."