Folded Hands, Chapter Nine

Pairings: Zabuza/Haku, possibly others later

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Notes:

Thanks for all the reviews!

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Haku and Zabuza met the foreign ninja again at the lake the next day. To Haku's surprise (and possible to his master's) three of the four other ninja arrived at the lake on time.

"Haku!" Naruto shouted, waving Haku over. Haku paused for a moment, but then shook his head and sent a sideways look towards his master to show that he wasn't free to come to Naruto's side.

Naruto looked confused for a moment.

That was when the fireworks began.

"HEY!" Naruto shouted to Zabuza. "Let Haku come over, you weirdo!" He glared at Zabuza.

Haku's eyes widened, and he glanced at Sasuke. Sasuke tried to shrug it off, but the guilt on his face told Haku everything he needed to know. He had told Naruto what Haku had said after he had taken the pill. Haku knew that the information may have been relayed out of context, or that Naruto may have jumped to conclusions.

He decided to wait.

Meanwhile, his master waved Naruto off and joined Kakashi, where he was looking over the battle plans once more. A map of Gatou's place, as well as laminated photos of the VIP's and files on ninjas who were suspected to be in Gatou's employ were scattered over the rock.

Naruto continued to glare at Zabuza as he continued to ignore him. "What's there left to go over?" he asked the foreign teacher.

Kakashi's expression was bland as usual. "Not much. I just like to cover the details." He glanced at his two male students, who were watching the teachers. "Let's send them off for a while."

Zabuza nodded and turned to Haku. "Go practice on the other side of the lake," he said, still ignoring Naruto's inexplicable glaring.

Haku lowered his eyes, turned, and silently began to walk.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, looking from the water-nin to his teacher to Zabuza and then back to Haku. "I need to talk to you!" he shouted, chasing after Haku.

Sasuke sighed and followed Naruto. "Dumbass, what did I say earlier?" He shouted at Naruto's back.

Haku fought back tears as he continued to walk. Naruto nearly crashed into him when he caught up to him, but he steadied himself and continued to walk, blinking back tears.

"Haku," Naruto said more softly this time. Haku looked at Naruto now. The blonde ninja looked angry and concerned.

Haku continued to ignore him. He didn't know what to do about this.

Sasuke caught up to them now and whispered, "Haku, calm down. Naruto, shut up."

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted. He glared at his teammate and caught Haku's arm, spinning him around.

Haku kept his eyes down and asked, "Where is Sakura today, Naruto?" he asked softly, in the same voice he always used. He smiled at Naruto then, the same smile he'd used when they first met.

This surprised Naruto to no small extent. "Sakura…?"

Haku nodded. "I noticed that Sakura isn't here."

This made Naruto stop in his tracks. He tightened his grip on Haku's arm. "Don't change the subject," he growled.

Haku looked away and said, "Sasuke didn't explain it correctly, then?"

Naruto snorted. "He explained it to me, alright."

"Naruto, would you let go of him?" Sasuke hissed. Kakashi and Zabuza were staring at them right then. Naruto dropped Haku's arm, and Haku felt relieved for an entire second.

"Hey! BANDAGE FACE!"

Naruto had now turned from Haku to his master. Zabuza stared at him, but didn't say anything. The blonde young man continued to advance.

"Naruto!" Sasuke hissed. He glanced at Haku apologetically for a moment, then ran after Naruto.

Haku swallowed nervously. Do they all think…now…that Zabuza…

He felt sick. He wanted to stay with this master, and one of the worst things that he could have done would be to spread rumors to free men that his master would…do that to him.

Another wave of relief came over Haku when he saw that Sasuke had succeeded in dragging Naruto back to where he was frozen. His master looked somewhat amused and somewhat confused. His eyes never strayed to his slave, and Haku hoped that his master did not link Naruto's odd behavior back to him.

Naruto struggled against Sasuke, still glaring at Zabuza. Sasuke fought to keep Naruto's hands apart so that he could not form any hand seals.

"Idiot!" he hissed. Naruto did not take his eyes away from Zabuza, and Haku continued to watch their struggle. A bland mask had settled over his face.

"I'll release it, right here," Naruto said. Haku didn't know what he was talking about, but he had stopped listening. He felt dead inside. He knew that they wouldn't believe his side of the story….

"You wouldn't," Sasuke said. He let Naruto go, though.

"I would!" Naruto shouted. Haku noticed that they had once again earned the adult's attention, though Kakashi and Zabuza soon lost interest in what they probably thought was a kids' fight.

"That guy…." Naruto growled, glaring at Zabuza. He turned to Haku. "If he does anything, I swear that I'll kill him."

"Naruto." Sasuke said, trying to calm down his teammate. "Please, just listen to what Haku has to say."

"How much did you tell him?" Haku asked flatly.

Sasuke looked away guiltily. "I told him that you said one of your masters abused you, but that you said it wasn't Zabuza."

"Then why would you tell him?" Haku asked, the anger beginning to show in his voice.

"In case that started to change." Sasuke said. It was an admission that he did not trust Zabuza, or Haku, or both.

"Haku," Naruto said. He hadn't lost much steam from earlier. "Why shouldn't he have told me? Do you think that we should just let him rape you?"

That heavy word instantly weighed down the atmosphere, and Haku stared at Naruto for what felt like hours. Naruto glared back at him, still angry, and not sure of where to direct the anger.

"Zabuza has never touched me," Haku said under his breath, at last. "He doesn't even want to. It was my LAST master who did those things to me."

"See?" Sasuke asked Naruto. "It wasn't Zabuza." He wasn't sure of that himself, but he didn't want Naruto to cause any more trouble than he already had.

Tears began to gather in Haku's eyes, and he dried his eyes with the sleeve of his training robe. "Please, don't shout at my master like that."

Naruto looked defeated now. "You're still going to stand up for him?"

"Like I said, he has never touched me." Haku looked down in shame. "Not even affectionately."

"Not…what?"

"Never mind." Haku dried his eyes again. "The mission starts in a few days. I still…I still can't fight, so please," he said, looking at Naruto, "please help me train."

Naruto stared at him.

"How can you think about that?"

"There's nothing else for me to think about."

Sasuke cleared his throat. "Haku, come over here," he said, beginning to move away from his fuming teammate. "I'll help you train."

"Thank you, Sasuke," Haku said. He bowed slightly to Naruto, who didn't move, and followed Sasuke to the lake's shore.

Do they all think that now? He thought. I don't want this to get in the way of the mission. I don't want any of the foreigners to think badly of Master, either.

Sasuke stopped when Naruto was no longer in hearing range. He turned to face Haku, and Haku realized that Sasuke may have had his own opinions on the matter of his relationship with Zabuza. He bit the inside of his cheek and waited for whatever Sasuke was going to say.

"Sakura has already left for her part of the mission," Sasuke said in a very business-like tone. Haku stared dumbly for a moment, then nodded.

"We have three days until the mission. According to Master Kakashi, I will enter from the west side of the base, Sakura will attack from the inside, Kakashi and your master will come in from the north, and you and Naruto will attack from the south."

Sasuke kept a straight face. Even as he called Zabuza Haku's master, his expression showed no bitterness as Naruto's would have, nor did it show the arrogance Haku might have expected from a free man.

"Kakashi and your master will go after the VIP's, since they will most likely have the better-trained bodyguards. Sakura will serve as a guide, and she'll meet and assist each group in turn."

"What are Naruto and I supposed to do?" Haku asked.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, who was sitting on a rock near the shore, sulking. "You two will take on the southern guards. Master Kakashi said that the layout of the base suggests that that side needs heavy protection, so you should expect to meet a lot of guards."

"Guards?"

"Probably low-level ninja. They might even be kids. Naruto should be able to take most of them down; you'll be back-up."

Haku nodded. He knew that they couldn't expect much from him.

"So, I guess you don't really need to train me then."

"Yes, I do."

He grinned weakly. "Why? It's obvious that I'm not essential to the mission. I could probably hide behind a tree and let Naruto do everything for me."

"Well, that might be best," Sasuke replied. "Master Kakashi asked me to train you, though."

"Why?"

Sasuke gave him a hard look. "Don't you want to learn?"

"I don't want to drag you down." Haku started to stare at the ground.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes. Haku did want to learn. He wanted to please his new master.

What Haku didn't want was to have to interact with these ninja anymore. Now that they all suspected that his master was sexually abusing him, there was no way that he could be viewed as an equal.

He didn't understand how any of them could have thought that his Master would even want to touch him. That wasn't normal. His feelings for his new Master weren't normal. He knew that they had to be hidden, just as his last master had hidden what he did to him.

Haku glanced at Sasuke. Sasuke had folded his arms, and was staring at the lake. Haku began to worry that he had made him upset.

Sasuke was just trying to be generous…

What's wrong with me?

"I'm sorry," he said. Sasuke shook his head.

"I really do want to train," he said shakily. "But first, I need you to understand that my master really isn't doing anything to me."

Sasuke turned to him then, looking guilty. "I know that he probably isn't. And I just told Naruto about those things you said because I know that he cares about you, and if something was to happen…he'd want to keep you safe."

Haku was confused. "Naruto cares about me?" he asked, looking past Sasuke to see Naruto, still sulking on his rock. "I don't think I'd like that."

"Well…I just mean that he has a big heart. He thinks that everyone is his best friend. And he doesn't like to see his friends get hurt, or let themselves get hurt."

Haku drank that in.

"He's not really mad at you. He knows that he often jumps to conclusions or meddles with things that he has no business in. He's probably just berating himself for flying off the handle." Sasuke said. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

"Oh."

In that moment of silence, Haku let his emotions settle. He was on training ground, wasn't he? And Sasuke, a skilled ninja, was offering to teach him how to fight, wasn't he? And he wanted to learn so that he could please his master, right?

Haku looked across the lake to see his Master speaking with Kakashi. It seemed as though they were speaking casually now.

He swallowed nervously, then turned his attention to Sasuke. He tried to pull together his pride.

"Is it okay for you to train me now?"

Sasuke nodded. "I'll start with the basics, and I'll go slow. Sakura isn't here to heal your wounds, so we can't work as intensely as I'd like."

"Alright." Haku bowed slightly.

"I'm in your hands."

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Naruto stared at the lake. Stupid lake. You're supposed to go swimming when there's water, but it's too cold here. Stupid country. I can't wait to go back to the Fire Country.

He sighed and rested his head on his hands. He could hear his teacher and Zabuza speaking a distance away, talking about old missions they'd been on. Naruto's interested was piqued when he heard Kakashi mention Yondaime, but he didn't feel like interrupting their conversation. He gradually tuned them out, thinking about the rock he was sitting on instead.

This rock is cold.

He heard Zabuza laugh, a low, scary laugh. He glared at his back, but didn't say anything.

I would have released it, too. If he does anything…I know that he's stronger than me, probably, but if he touches Haku I'll beat the shit out of him. Slavery should be illegal in this country.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard Haku shout. He looked up suddenly and saw that Haku was fighting Sasuke.

Haku sucks.

The long-haired water-nin's fist went straight for Sasuke's face. Sasuke caught his arm with one hand (his 'forward' hand) and struck Haku across the face—or rather he would have, if he hadn't stopped just short of Haku's face.

He then dropped his hold, and gave Haku some kind of instruction. Haku nodded, then tied his hair back and shed his outer robe. He entered a fighting stance again, and looked at Sasuke for a few seconds before trying to strike him.

Naruto knew that Haku must have felt incredibly intimidated by Sasuke. Who wouldn't be? Sasuke scared the shit out of him sometimes too, and he was the Demonic Child!

He rested his head on his hands again.

Stupid big mouth.

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Notes:

You can't spell Sasuke without uke!

Not that that has any bearing on anything.