*Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in it. I simply borrow them for my own musings and fantasies and do not get paid for their use in said musings or fantasies. –Nira

Chapter 30

The group had finally arrived in the Land of Waves and Tazuna guilt-tripped them into continuing the mission until the end, else he would surely be killed, his eight-year-old grandson would cry, and his daughter would blame Konoha's shinobi for his death and cry and grieve in solitude, he said. As they walked, Naruto made a point to try to one-up Sasuke by being super alert and throwing kunai at nothing, scaring everyone into thinking that there really was someone or something there. The second time he did, he barely missed a snow rabbit and Yuriko and Kakashi were both perturbed by the fact that it was white despite it being summer.

Yuriko looked around and the foreboding feeling that she'd had before when they defeated the Demon Brothers came back tenfold. Their next opponent was already there, watching from somewhere in the shadows. Kakashi and Yuriko both looked behind them, hearing a branch rattle and Kakashi yelled for everyone to get down. As they all dropped to the ground, a giant sword barely missed them and lodged itself into a nearby tree. Another Mist shinobi with dark hair and bandages covering the lower half of his face jumped, landing on the hilt of it and upon seeing the sword and the shinobi, Yuriko went pale, an icy chill running down her spine and paralyzing her.

"Well, well. If it isn't the Rogue Ninja of the Hidden Mist," Kakashi said as courteously as he could, stepping forward.

"Zabuza Momochi…" he and Yuriko finished together, and Kakashi glanced back at her, hearing the shaking of her voice.

Seeing her expression, his eyes narrowed. Her eyes were wide and teary and her entire body shook in terror. Her reaction to seeing the rogue was the same reaction she had to thunderstorms and it concerned the silver-haired former ANBU. Of all of the times for her to freeze, this could possibly be the absolute worst, he thought. Naruto made a move to attack but Kakashi held his arm out to stop him.

"This guy is on a totally different level from the guys the other day. You'll be in the way."

"If it isn't Kakashi of the Sharingan. Sorry, but I'll need you to hand over the old man," Zabuza demanded in a deep voice.

"Get into Manji battle formation, guys. Protect Tazuna-san and do not interfere in the fight. That will be our teamwork for this battle," Kakashi demanded of the Genin trio as he lifted his headband to expose his Sharingan. "Yuriko!" Hearing her name, Yuriko looked to Kakashi whose expression was stern and authoritative. "Snap out of it. We need you."

Yuriko looked to the Genin to see their concerned and frightened expressions and it snapped her back to reality, though her heart was still gripped in icy fear. Kakashi was right. This was no time for her to succumb to the shadows of her past. Her group needed her to focus.

"Oh, I didn't expect to see the Sharingan so soon. I'm honored," Zabuza stated, turning to face the group.

"Everyone keeps saying this Sharingan. What is it?" Naruto demanded.

Sasuke explained what it was and Zabuza added that not only did it allow the one with it to deflect ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu, but it also made it possible for its user to assess and copy any ninjutsu and use it for their own.

"When I was in the Kirigakure ANBU Black Ops there was information about you in the Bingo Book that I carried around," Zabuza stated, looking at Kakashi. "Now, let's end the talking there. I need to kill that old man immediately… but Kakashi, it seems I have to defeat you first."

Zabuza made his way to the water and stood on its surface while he gathered a massive amount of chakra. When he released his jutsu, he vanished and the mist grew thicker and thicker until Yuriko and Kakashi lost sight of each other and the group. Kakashi explained that Zabuza was a master at the silent killing technique and told the Genin to keep their guard up, so they tightened their formation around Tazuna.

"Eight spots," echoed Zabuza's voice through the fog. "The larynx, the spine, the lungs, the liver, the jugular, and subclavian veins, the kidneys, and the heart. Now… which vulnerable spot would be best?"

"Yuriko," Kakashi said through the fog.

"Understood," she responded, withdrawing her fan and blowing the mist away so that everyone in their group was visible to each other again.

They stood there in silence and Yuriko could see the sheer terror in Sasuke's eyes, mirroring her own. He began to lift his kunai to harm himself when Kakashi called out to him. "Don't worry. I'll protect you with my life. I won't allow my comrades to be killed."

"I wonder about that…" came Zabuza's voice again, and in an instant, he was in the middle of the group. "It's over."

It was then that Kakashi charged at him, stabbing him through the stomach. Hearing running water, Yuriko realized that it was a water clone and made one of her own. As the clone dispersed, Zabuza came up from behind Kakashi and Naruto yelled for him to watch out. Yuriko's clone jumped in the way, but the sword was too big and sliced through her and Kakashi both. When both Kakashi and Yuriko's clones dissolved into water, Kakashi came up behind Zabuza and held a kunai to his throat.

"It's over," Kakashi growled, but when Zabuza laughed, it tipped Yuriko off that something was wrong.

"Don't think you can defeat me by simply copying me. I'll admit that you're not bad, though. To have been copied from the very beginning, even through the mist is impressive… but I'm no fool!"

The Zabuza in front of Kakashi also dissipated into water while the real Zabuza came up from behind Kakashi, sword drawn. With speed and great skill, he'd managed to kick Kakashi away and into the water, but as Kakashi tried to get out, he was trapped in a bubble similar to the one that Yuriko had used on the spider woman on one of their missions together. When Zabuza made another clone and turned his attention to the Genin, Yuriko stepped up, telling them to get back into their battle formation and protect Tazuna.

"Oh… and who might you be?" Zabuza's clone asked, looking Yuriko over with mild interest.

"Yuriko, take the team and run!" Kakashi yelled out. "Protect the children and Tazuna. While I'm in this prison, Zabuza can't move and he can't sustain a clone if it's too far from his body."

"I already know that, senpai!"

"Then go!"

"Shut up! This fight is personal! This bastard is… he's the one who…" Yuriko yelled, tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she stood her ground with shaking hands and legs. "I've already told you that I can't lose you, too! Especially not to him! If I can't protect my friends, everything that I've learned and trained for was for nothing!"

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened in disbelief of what they were seeing and hearing. She was afraid but she'd said the fight was personal and that was why she couldn't back down, Sasuke thought. It was similar to his own ambition to kill the man who had destroyed his family, so he wondered if the fight was personal for Yuriko for the same reason. The line that caught Sakura's attention was "I can't lose you, too! Especially not to him!" and it made her wonder who else Zabuza had taken from her and who exactly Kakashi was to her to be so terrified of losing him. Could he be more than a friend? And Naruto's eyes watered, inspired by the last line because it was exactly how he, himself felt. Everything he'd learned and done to become a shinobi would have been for nothing if he died and couldn't protect the ones he loved.

"Yuriko… Yuriko… you look familiar… Have we met before?" Zabuza eyed Yuriko and when his eyes met hers, he raised his eyebrows and lifted his head. "Those eyes! Yes, I remember now. You must be the daughter that got away all those years ago. Your parents were in my Bingo Book, too- deserters from Kirigakure. They'd managed to evade us for years, but now here you are, wearing the headband of another village."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

Zabuza threw his head back, his sinister laugh echoing throughout the area and sending chills down Yuriko's spine. "So, whose head shall I take first?!"

An image of her mother's head being thrown into the air flashed through Yuriko's mind and she snapped. She screamed, using her fan to generate a massive amount of wind for her vortex jutsu aimed at the real Zabuza, but the clone got in the way, raising a wall of water to deflect the attack. Yuriko used a water attack of her own, slamming the clone with a tidal wave before encasing it in her own version of a water prison and constricting it until the clone was dispersed. She then turned her attention to the real Zabuza again only to see that Sasuke and Naruto had taken advantage of the fact that Yuriko was handling the clone to team together to distract the real one by using a shadow shuriken jutsu to get Naruto behind him and force him to release the water prison that he had Kakashi in. With Kakashi free, he took advantage of his Sharingan and copied everything that Zabuza did to the point that he knew Zabuza's attacks before even Zabuza was able to complete them. Kakashi matched Zabuza's water dragon attack followed by the same taijutsu moves, rattling Zabuza's resolve. Just as Kakashi had used the water vortex jutsu that Zabuza was going to release, himself and pinned Zabuza to a tree, Yuriko made a move to land the final blow but two senbon came from seemingly nowhere, piercing Zabuza's carotid artery and stopping Yuriko in her tracks, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"He's dead…" came a calm voice from a masked shinobi perched on a high tree branch.

While everyone stared at the mysterious shinobi just as shocked as Yuriko, Kakashi jumped down from his own tree to check Zabuza's pulse. After a brief moment, he confirmed that Zabuza was, in fact, dead and Yuriko clenched her fists. She'd been robbed of not only vengeance for her parents but her own redemption, as well. The masked shinobi bowed and thanked the group, saying that he'd been waiting for the chance to kill Zabuza. Kakashi noted that the mask that he was wearing was that of a tracker ninja from Kirigakure, but something felt off to both Kakashi and Yuriko. He wasn't much older or taller than Naruto, but he was no ordinary kid.

In frustration, Naruto ran closer to the masked ninja and looked between him and Zabuza. "What are you?!" he demanded, and Kakashi stood from Zabuza's side, telling Naruto that he wasn't their enemy. "That's not what I'm asking! I mean… That Zabuza… Zabuza was killed. He was so strong but he was killed so easily by a kid who's no different from me! We're… we're pathetic! I can't accept that!"

"Well… I understand your disbelief… but this, too, is reality. In this world, there are kids younger than you and stronger than me."

The tracking ninja made his way to Zabuza's body and explained that he had to dispose of it since it contained many secrets and left leaving the group speechless. Naruto ran over to the tree that Zabuza's corpse had been at and began punching the ground in his frustration, asking what the point of everything up until then was mirroring Yuriko's own thoughts and feelings.

"Things like this happen when you're a ninja," Kakashi said, grabbing Naruto's arm before he could throw another punch. "If you're frustrated, apply it next time. In the meantime, our mission isn't complete yet. We still have to bring Tazuna-san home."

"So sorry for all the trouble, everyone! You can rest at my house!" Tazuna smiled.

"Alright, everyone. Let's cheer up and get going."

Kakashi glanced at Yuriko, concerned by her silence and the unusually sullen look in her eyes. It seemed that she had had some kind of history with Zabuza, and from the little that he'd said and the way she reacted to his words, it was something big. He would have to ask her about it later, in private, but when he took a step to continue on their journey he collapsed, unconscious.

"Senpai!" Yuriko called, running to his side and kneeling to examine him.

She could feel that his chakra levels were extremely low, but he was still alive and that was all that mattered for now. She wasn't sure what she would do if he was seriously hurt, but she reassured the others that he'd be fine after some rest as she picked him up onto her back and carried him the rest of the way to Tazuna's house. When they arrived, Yuriko ensured that the children were taken care of -fed, bathed, and put to bed- and sent a report to the Hokage before she made her way to Kakashi's side. She stared at his sleeping face, her mind in chaos after the day's events and emotions running wild. The more she sat beside him and thought about what had happened, the more turbulent her emotions became. Not knowing what else to do or where to go, she sat there beside Kakashi and just cried.

Kakashi awoke the next day and was greeted by Tazuna's daughter who suggested he not move so much. Kakashi admitted that he'd overused his Sharingan and that it would probably be hard for him to move for about a week. The group heard him talking so they all made their way over to check on him. While the children fretted over him, Yuriko stood at the back by the door, her arms folded, expression blank, and head down in silence.

"Sensei, your Sharingan is fantastic, but if it's going to put that much of a strain on your body, it might not be worth it," Sakura scolded.

"S-Sorry…" Kakashi apologized and glanced at Yuriko. "You still have Yuriko-san, though. Right Yuriko-san?"

"Of course," Yuriko forced a smile and Kakashi instantly knew that something was on her mind.

"Anyway, that kid with the mask… What was he?" Sakura inquired.

"He was an ANBU Black Ops agent from Kirigakure," Yuriko chimed in. "It's a mask that the elite tracking unit wears. Their duty is to eliminate any trace that a ninja ever lived if they ever go rogue to prevent the village's secrets from getting into the wrong hands. A ninja's body holds many secrets from the composition of medicines they use to ninjutsu and chakra characteristics unique to the village."

"For instance," Kakashi added. "...if I were to die, the secrets of my Sharingan would be thoroughly investigated and in the worst case, there's a chance that my entire jutsu could be stolen. Normally they dispose of the body right there on the spot..."

Yuriko's eyes widened, realizing that the masked shinobi hadn't gotten rid of the body right away, and just then it dawned on Kakashi and Sasuke as well.

"But that kid took the body with him…" Sakura stated.

"What have you all been clamoring on and on about?" Tazuna demanded.

"Zabuza is probably still alive…" Yuriko stated, her body trembling again, and Tazuna, Naruto and Sakura all yelled in disbelief.

"But sensei, you checked that he was dead!" Sakura proclaimed.

"I did… but he was probably in a state of near-death. The senbon that the tracker ninja used have a very low chance of actually killing unless they hit a vital point. They were initially used for medicinal purposes, like acupuncture therapy."

"Don't you think you're reading too much into this?" Tazuna inquired.

"No. If something seems off, it's always best to be prepared in advance. That is an ironclad rule for all shinobi."

"How will we prepare if you can't move for a week, sensei?"

"Why do you think I'm here? To stand around and look pretty?" Yuriko scoffed with a forced grin and feigned humor. "I'll oversee your training while Kakashi-senpai rests. In the meantime, can we have a moment? There are some things I'd like to discuss with Kakashi-senpai before we begin."

The group nodded and everyone left the Jounin to themselves, closing the door to the room behind them and Yuriko sat beside Kakashi on her knees. When Yuriko heard everyone walk away to ensure that nobody would be eavesdropping, she turned to Kakashi with concern dominating her expression. Kakashi needed answers about what was going on with her and Yuriko needed to tell him everything before it tore her apart and jeopardized the mission more than it already had.

"You have a history with Zabuza?" he inquired, jumping straight into it, and Yuriko nodded, her fists balled and clenching onto her shorts. "What happened? Tell me everything."

Yuriko's eyes instantly teared up and she felt like a child being reprimanded by a disappointed father. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry. I… I couldn't do anything again…" she sniffled as the tears ran down her face, absorbing into her mask. "I couldn't do anything and it put everyone in danger... He was right there and I couldn't kill the bastard! He killed my parents in cold blood and I couldn't even touch him! What have I been doing all my life if none of the training that I did could prepare me to slaughter him like the useless swine that he is?! Why am I still so pathetic after all these years?!"

Kakashi's eyes widened and heart broke. He suspected that the history between Yuriko and Zabuza was big, but he hadn't expected that, exactly. He was speechless as he watched her crumble before him, bawling. With effort, he sat up and reached out to take her hand in his, his visible eye soft and concerned as he watched her, unsure of what to do to comfort her in her vulnerability. A while later, she calmed down, her tears drying but her hand still held firmly in his.

"You are stronger than you think you are, Yuriko-san," Kakashi cooed. "Despite everything, you still acted against him. That is a feat of bravery in and of itself… but now those children need you to be strong. They need your leadership and guidance if they are going to have any chance of making it through this while I am in this state."

Yuriko made a move to wipe her tears away, but Kakashi gently stopped her and did it, himself, his hand warm and soothing against her cheek that burned bright red and her heart thudded hard against her ribcage. The tender smile on his face and the caring look in his eye made it feel like Yuriko had butterflies in her stomach and she couldn't break eye contact.

"I believe in you, Yuriko-san. You are one of the strongest kunoichi I have ever met. There is nothing that you can't handle… okay?" Yuriko slowly nodded and Kakashi's smile widened before he gave her hand a gentle squeeze before he let it go with a heavy sigh. "Now, about this training…"

While Kakashi explained his plan for the training that the Genin would be undergoing, Yuriko listened, but half of her thoughts were elsewhere. He'd done it again, she thought. She'd completely given in, telling and expressing to him exactly how she felt, letting him in, and he'd responded with kindness, reassuring, and affection and it made her feel completely and totally safe despite her vulnerability. Maybe… maybe just this once, everything she'd learned about men was wrong… Maybe.