Folded Hands, Chapter Twenty-Two
Pairings: Zabuza/Haku, possibly others later
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Notes:
I've drawn more fanart. Please go to my profile page, then to my deviantart page from the link.
"ANBU Naruto 2" in is particular mother-fuckin' awesome.
Also, as a blanket response to some reviews…some mistakes were found; some things were changed; some things were explained. Nothing big, though.
One last thing, because I'm not sure if it was clear. The original "rookie nine" are all Chuunin in this story. Gai's old students are Jounin (and are in ANBU). Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon are Gennin under Gai (they're with Ebisu in the manga but I like Gai more). Iruka is still a Chuunin, Kakashi is a Jounin, and all of that.
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Haku nearly collapsed at lunch. Naruto took in his condition, and quickly told him, "I'll bring your lunch to you," before running off to join the lunch line.
Haku set his head down on the table, exhausted from the morning run. The dining hall had grown noisy, and several of the Chuunin-level students had entered by then.
Sakura pushed past Team Ten on her way into the dining hall, then spotted Haku and sat down with him. "Did everything go okay?" she asked. "Sasuke and I started to worry when you two didn't come back."
He sat up and nodded weakly. "Naruto and I ran into Sai."
"Oh…" She looked away for a moment, then smiled at him. "Well, after lunch, we're going to break up into our three-man teams—or, I guess we're a four-man team with you—and practice together, so you can probably rest then." Sakura looked around for a moment, and, with her brow furrowed, asked, "Where's Naruto?"
Haku shrugged. "I think he's getting food."
Ino sat down next to Sakura then, and the blonde girl butted into their conversation. "Man, Shikamaru is such a downer! I can't believe he skipped out on running again!"
The man himself sat down next to Haku, glaring at his female teammate. "Why wouldn't I? It's turned into such a love fest recently."
Ino blushed. "What are you talking about?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "I don't want to talk about it anymore." Haku heard him grumble something about the birds and the bees and Yamanaka and Akimichi and Uchiha and Haruno.
"Hey!" Sakura shouted, blushing furiously after hearing Shikamaru's mumblings. "That's not true!"
The lazy chuunin's eyes narrowed. "You two ran together today, without the waste of space. That NEVER happens. He always follows you two around whenever you're alone for a second."
"Seriously! That was NOT what was happening!" Sakura insisted, now angry rather than embarrassed. "It's normal for teammates to be together!"
"Actually, Naruto was--"
As Haku tried to explain the situation to Shikamaru, he slammed his hands down on the stable and stood up. "I don't feel like eating," was the last thing he said before he left his fellow Chuunin sitting at the dining table, staring at him with their mouths agape.
"Uh…" Sakura tried.
"Did something happen?" Haku asked Ino.
The blonde ninja shrugged. "He's been like this for a while now. He always gets…pissy…well, more than usual…when he sees guys and girls alone together." She stared into space for a moment, and added, "I don't know why, though."
Naruto rejoined them, brining Chouji with him. Ino quickly indicated the seat next to her for Chouji, and Naruto sat down across from Haku, passing a plate of food to him.
"Hope this stuff's okay," the scarred ninja said before digging into his own plate. "Godaime-granny's still serving the good stuff."
"Yeah," Chouji agreed, "Time to eat up!"
As if an alarm in her head had been triggered, Ino's head and attention snapped towards Chouji, and she started to pull plates off his tray.
"Ino!" he whispered, "What are you doing?"
Haku watched in amusement as Ino glared at Chouji. "I'm making sure you don't get any fatter, fatass."
"That's not nice!"
"It's not healthy, either!"
Haku glanced at Ino's arm as she reached across the few items she'd already pulled from Chouji's tray to take a few more away from the whining young man. He noticed, once again, that Ino was bone-thin. If Chouji was unhealthy, Ino was more so.
A smile broke across his face as he watched Ino try to stuff her face to keep Chouji from eating the dessert she'd stolen from him. Chouji stared at her in shock before grumbling and eating what she'd left him.
"Bleh!" Ino shouted after a few bites. She glared at the cheesecake in front of her. "How can you EAT this, Chouji? It's so fatty. It feels like FAT in my mouth."
"Ah, quit your bitchin'," Naruto said. He shoveled more food into his mouth, and, glaring at Ino, he said, "If you take it from him and you eat it, then how can you complain?"
"Don't talk with your mouth open," Sasuke reprimanded him as he sat down next to Naruto. Not heeding his advice, Naruto turned to him and shouted, "Whey vuh hell hab vu bin?"
Sasuke gave him a confused look, then turned to his own tray of food. As a result of Sasuke's presence, Ino started to take smaller, neater bites, and Sakura blushed, probably thinking about what Shikamaru had said before he'd left in a huff.
Haku frowned as the other students fell silent and at without comment. He tried to piece together the status of the relationships at the temple. It seems that Sakura likes Sasuke…I'm almost certain. And does Shikamaru like Ino? He gets angry when she's with Chouji…or maybe that's not it…
All activity at the table stilled when Uchiha Itachi sat down across from his little brother. Haku was instantly awed by the older man, though he wasn't sure of why. There was something about Itachi, a strong, calm, presence that demanded respect. He noticed that the others sitting with him were all staring at Itachi, all for Sasuke, who tried to ignore his brother's presence or to act as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
"How is training, little brother?" Itachi asked. Chouji started to eat again carefully, and the others joined him, still watching Itachi and Sasuke and pretending not to.
Sasuke shrugged. "Same as usual."
Haku froze when Itachi turned towards him. "You're the new student, aren't you?"
The water-nin nodded nervously before answering, "Yes."
Itachi smiled, though only for a moment, and he said, "I'm Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother. I have some time off, so I'll help you train today with the other kids."
Sasuke glared at Itachi then, instantly breaking the mood. "Kids? KIDS? I'm seventeen!"
Itachi closed his eyes and smiled. "Yes, you're still very young, foolish little brother."
"What is THAT supposed to mean?" Sasuke crossed his arms and tried to harden his glare when Itachi turned towards him. "Why do you always talk down to me?"
The Uchiha prodigy shrugged, and began to drink the tea he'd brought to the table. "It's the natural flow of things, little brother. Like the hierarchy of our temple, and the government of the village. Those with more power are allowed to treat those with less power in any way they choose. That is the nature of power."
Haku watched in amusement as the brothers continued to argue, and it was obvious that they thoroughly enjoyed each other's company and that they were trying to make the most of the limited time they had together. Something about Itachi's words had settled into his brain, though, and he wasn't sure of what it was right then, but it wouldn't leave him alone.
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"Stop blowing so hard."
"Eh? Come on, blowing is what it's all about!"
"Only for people who can't do it correctly."
Haku looked to the side as Sasuke tried to teach Naruto how to use Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique. The younger Uchiha sat on a rock near the lake in the center of the temple, a look of extreme boredom on his face, as Naruto stood on a small pier that protruded into the lake, trying time and time again to perform the technique Sasuke had shown him.
"Entertaining?" Itachi asked him.
Haku quickly remembered where he was and what he was doing and he faced Itachi again, bowing quickly and offering an apology. "I'm sorry for looking away."
He saw that Itachi was watching his brother try to teach Naruto with a smile on his face. "It's alright. They're both loud and distracting, so it's not really your fault." Itachi looked back at him, then smiled ever so slightly.
"Are you ready to begin again, Haku?"
He nodded, and once again took up the battle stance that was particular to the Uchiha clan's fighting style.
Sunset was nearing, and the sky was burning with color. Haku absently noted that the sunsets in the Fire Country looked far different from those in the Water Country, when Itachi attacked him. Using what Itachi had taught him, he caught the older man's fist and used it as leverage for his body, as he had seen Sasuke do when Sasuke had demonstrated the fighting style earlier with Itachi. His upper body was still rather weak, though, and his shoulder gave out before he had carried out the second strike of the taijutsu sequence.
Haku fell to the ground and grabbed his arm, rubbing his shoulder. He realized with relief that he hadn't dislocated his shoulder, and he stood up again to find that Itachi had already re-entered the battle stance and was waiting for him.
The water-nin stood again, and he also re-entered the stance.
Sakura was off somewhere, training with a man named Kabuto whom Haku had not yet met. Haku listened to Sasuke curse at Naruto behind his back, and he found himself thinking, for Sasuke's cursing and Itachi's coldness, they are both rather kind teachers.
Itachi struck, attempting to punch Haku in the same way that he'd done it the last forty times, and Haku managed to make it to the third strike in the set before falling. He stared at the sunset for a few seconds before Itachi sat down on the grass next to him.
"Sasuke learned this combination when he was eleven years old," Itachi said suddenly, breaking the silence that had been held between them.
"Really?" Haku asked as he grasped a deeper understanding of his lack of experience.
The older Uchiha nodded. "I taught him myself. My father taught the sequence to me when I was seven years old." He laughed softly. "I was so short back then…it was almost ridiculous when my mother showed my old footage of my father training me."
Itachi's eyes found his little brother, who was scowling at Naruto as the scarred ninja now tried to parody the Fireball technique instead of executing it. "Sasuke wasn't much taller when he was eleven, though, since I was the one that taught him, he was able to learn how to use the move against someone his own size."
Haku sat up, and, out of politeness, asked, "Why did you teach Sasuke, and not your father?"
The smile left the black-haired man's face. "I was a prodigy; Sasuke was not. Our father did not want to be bothered with Sasuke."
Haku flinched as he watched Sasuke hit Naruto on the top of his head, and Naruto crumpled to the ground, holding his head in his hands as Sasuke stood over him and said something that Haku expected to be an insult.
"Sasuke's not a prodigy?" he asked Itachi. "He seems to have so much talent."
"He DOES," Itachi said, emphasizing his words. His voice and attitude changed for a moment; Itachi then calmed himself and sighed. "If it were not for me, our parents would have seen Sasuke's potential." He bit his lip and stood.
"That's enough rest," Itachi said, and Haku stood up silently, wondering what he had done to upset him.
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Haku nervously stepped into the public bathroom. There were no sounds, but he now knew better than to assume that that meant that he would be able to take a bath uninterrupted.
He slowly walked into the bathing area and found it, miraculously, unoccupied. Sighing, he changed out of his dirty clothes and dropped them into the bin where all of the students put their dirty clothing. Haku wrapped a towel around his waist and re-entered the bathing area.
As he settled into the water, he heard voices from outside the door, and his body stiffened. Surely enough, Naruto, Kiba, Chouji, Shino, and Shikamaru poured into the bathing area, and Haku was afraid that his heart would explode.
"Hi, Haku!" Naruto said casually, waving at him. Haku resisted the urge to hide, or to at least hide his face, as the others walked past him into the changing area. "Keeping the water warm for us?" Naruto asked.
Haku nodded weakly, not quite sure of what this question meant.
After cleaning up, the five other male students joined him, all talking loudly. Haku could not hear him, though; he had found a pleasant spot in the corner of the room to stare at as the other students joined him in the bath, nude.
I'm not here. I'm not here. I'm not here.
He stared in horror as Naruto sat down next to him, putting his arms over the sides of the bath and relaxing. "Good temperature, huh?"
"…sure."
Shikamaru seemed to catch Haku out of the corner of his eye, and he made a mental note of talking to Naruto some time later about Haku and baths. It was already peculiar enough that Haku was the only guy in the bath with a towel around his lower body, not to mention the only guy who shaved.
Sasuke entered the bathing area, and he quickly covered his eyes with his hands. "This had GOT to be the most disgusting thing I've ever seen," he said as he walked past the others and into the changing area.
Haku agreed…well, not disgusting, but it WAS the most uncomfortable situation he'd been in, in quite a while.
"Sasuke's so WEIRD," Kiba said out of nowhere. "He doesn't even act like a normal guy anymore."
"Yeah," Naruto said, sitting up and opening his eyes. "The other day, I saw him--" He waved for the others to come closer to him, and they did, and Haku cringed.
"I saw him PAINTING HIS NAILS." Naruto whispered, though he whispered it rather loudly.
"Don't talk about other people behind their backs!" Chouji reprimanded him.
"Whoah!" Kiba said. "How's that for--" He fell silent as Sasuke reentered the bathing area. Haku once again stared at his beloved corner as Sasuke stepped into the water. The little congregation broke up, and Haku tried not to sigh in relief.
"Hey, Sasuke, nice towel," Naruto said, breaking the tense silence.
Sasuke sneered at him, and Haku noticed that Sasuke had also entered the bath with a towel around his waist. "I don't get my kicks from exposing myself to other guys, unlike you, Uzumaki."
Naruto stood up and pointed at him, shouting, "Hey! That's not what it's about! Public nudity is MANLY!" Shino and the others nodded. "It's about CONFIDENCE!" Shikamaru shook his head and whispered, "Shut up."
The blonde ninja simply continued to glare down his teammate, and then he smiled and said, "It's about THE WAY OF THE NINJA."
Haku blinked at Naruto. "…what?"
Naruto nodded. "Ninjas have to be able to survive under INTENSE conditions. What if you don't have any clothes, Sasuke?"
"I'd steal some."
"You THIEF."
"Why wouldn't I have any clothes anyway?"
Haku smiled. "Maybe your enemy was using a clothing-removal jutsu?"
Somewhat surprised that Haku had joined the conversation, but not surprised that he'd joined in on Naruto's side, Sasuke looked at Haku, and he smiled. "But you're wearing a towel, too."
The smile left Haku's face, and he looked away. "I guess I fail too, then."
Seeing that the silly argument had gone in the wrong direction, Naruto waved his hands in the air and caught the group's attention again. "It's not about failing or…winning? What's the opposite of failing?"
"Passing," Shikamaru offered.
"Passing! That's it!" Naruto beamed. "It's not about passing or failing! It's about being a man!"
As he stood to say that, the door to the bathing area opened and every smile in the room fell as Sai walked in. His eyes fell to Naruto's lower regions and they stared at each other for a moment, Naruto in shock or apprehension, and Sai in amusement.
"Well," Sai said finally, "even if you do have a dick, it's not really much to look at."
Not wanting to admit any kind of defeat to Sai, Naruto folded his arms and did not cover himself. "Do you think you could do better, Sai?"
Haku looked around the bath and he saw the others staring at the two—in curiosity, or fascination?—and he found himself wondering what would happen.
Sai shrugged. "I don't need to prove my masculinity."
"With those clothes, you do," Sasuke said as he stood with his back to Sai.
Sai's smile faltered and he stared at the back of Sasuke's head for a moment.
"Well, then," he said, "how about we just go at it?"
Haku flinched—he didn't know what Sai meant, but if it involved the bath, he didn't want to be around for it.
"Sure!" Naruto shouted, pointing at Sai. "Anytime you want to fight, we're ready!"
"Er…leave me out," Chouji said.
"Too troublesome." Shikamaru replied.
"…" was Shino's response.
"No thanks, Naruto." Kiba said nervously.
Sasuke opened his mouth to protest, but Naruto cut him off. "It's good to see you have my back, Sasuke!" he said loudly. Sasuke rolled his eyes and gave up.
Sai knelt next to Sasuke at the edge of the bath. "He has your back? Or he's behind you?" He smiled at Naruto. "Forgive me; I'm a little rusty when it comes to gay sex terminology."
Sai's eyes then found Haku, and the water-nin could only stare back.
Naruto said that Sai always says things that aren't true…maybe everyone will just brush his comments about me off like that.
Not taking his eyes away from Haku, Sai asked, "Is that what it's called, Haku? Do you say that one guy is behind another guy when he's screwing his ass?"
Haku's eyes widened, and Naruto stepped in front of Haku in the bath, as if this would allow him to shelter Haku from Sai's comments. "Look, he just got here, you don't have any reason to make fun of him!" he shouted, glaring at the artist-nin.
Sai stood up and sighed. "It's too noisy all of a sudden…maybe someone let a mosquito in. I'll come back later." He smiled at Haku one last time, and left.
An errant bar of soap struck the door as Sai shut it, and Haku retraced its flight path to see that Kiba had sent it airborne. "Jackass," he said.
"Don't listen to him," Chouji said to Haku. He had been told that many times, but each time, it seemed more and more difficult to do.
Shaking, Haku stepped out of the bath. He needed to get away from there; he did not want Sai to return before he left.
Naruto's eyes caught his movement, and the scarred ninja called out, "Haku? Where are you going?"
The water-nin turned around quickly and his towel dripped water onto the tiled floor of the bathing area. "I've been here long enough," he said softly, smiling at Naruto.
Naruto settled back down, but added, "Don't just get out because of Sai. Stay longer if you want."
He shook his head. "I'm really done," he said before returning to the changing area and dressing for the night.
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As he tried to fall asleep, Haku heard a knock on his door. He quickly stood and opened the door to find Sakura standing in the hallway.
He smiled at her, and said, "I'm sorry, Sasuke isn't here right now."
Sakura tilted her head to the side. "I know he's not! He's in the dining hall." She entered the room then, looking around curiously as Haku shut the door.
"I've never been in Sasuke's room before," Sakura admitted as she looked over Sasuke's side of the room. "He's really neat, isn't he?"
"I guess," Haku said, sitting down on his bed again. He found one of the books he'd been told to study and opened it.
Sakura turned to face him, and he looked up. "Was there something you wanted to talk about?"
She watched his face for a moment, then smiled politely. "I wanted you to come eat dinner with us."
"I don't feel hungry," he lied.
To Haku's surprise, Sakura sat down next to him on his bed, and she sighed. "I've heard Ino say that enough times when she didn't mean it that I know how it sounds when someone is lying about needing to it," she said. "Naruto told me about Sai. Are you not coming to dinner because he embarrassed you?"
Haku set down his book and tried to smile back. "Of course not, Sakura. I just wanted to be by myself for a while."
"Too bad!" she said. Sakura stood up suddenly and grabbed his arm. "You're coming to dinner!" She looked him over for a second. "Maybe you should change first," she said, indicating his nightclothes.
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Ten minutes later, Sakura dragged him into the dining hall, and the others made a place for him to sit. He found himself between Naruto and Hinata, and Sakura sat down between Ino and Sasuke.
Haku listened quietly to the others' conversations, and he found, as had happened almost every other previous time that he had visited the dining hall, that one of the other students brought food for him. Naruto began to whisper about something.
"Don't be cruel to other people," Chouji said as he took another bite of the roll he was eating.
"Yeah," Ino agreed. "You're totally going to hell, Naruto."
Shikamaru smirked. "I'm in."
Sasuke glared at his teammate when Naruto looked at him. "Are you insane? Do you know how much shit I'd catch back home if I got caught?"
Naruto turned to the students sitting on Haku's other side, and he asked, "How about you guys? Huh? Wanna tag Godaime-granny's place?"
"Tag?" Haku asked in confusion.
Hinata blushed from the attention she was receiving from Naruto, but she shook her head. "I c-couldn't, Naruto. If I-I got c-caught--"
"That's okay, Hinata," Naruto said, and Haku felt Hinata nearly faint on his other side. "I didn't really expect any girls to go."
"I'm there," Kiba said, reaching across the table to hit his knuckles against Naruto's.
Shino shook his head. "It won't be good for me, either. The insects need their sleep."
"Tag?" Haku asked again, his brow furrowed.
As if he had just noticed Haku right then, Naruto's eyes widened and a mischeivious smile lit up his face.
"Well, my friend," he said, putting a hand on Haku's shoulder, "you see, there's going to be a little party next week, and you're invited…"
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Haku and Sasuke walked back to their room after dinner, and Haku found Sasuke's eyes on him. He looked away at first, unsure of why Sasuke was looking at him, but the Uchiha finally asked him, "So what did you say?"
"To Naruto?"
Sasuke nodded.
Haku sighed. "I said yes."
"Don't let him pressure you."
"Well…" Haku looked away, then continued. "I've never done anything like 'tagging' before, and it sounds like fun."
Sasuke smiled. "You want to try what you can while you're here, huh?"
Haku's eyes widened, and Sasuke laughed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I just mean, because you may not get the opportunity again, it makes the risk worth it."
Haku looked away and smiled. "Yes, in a way. My Master would never let me do that."
To dispel any unease, Sasuke quickly said, "I didn't think he would."
The Uchiha pulled out the key to his room, and he unlocked the door, letting them both in. Sasuke pulled a set of nightclothes from his chest of drawers, and said, "I'm going to the bathroom to change. I'll be back in a little while."
Feeling a little guilty for giving Sasuke a reason to leave, Haku nodded and said, "I should be changed soon."
Once Sasuke had left, Haku quickly pulled off the second set of day clothes that he had worn that day, and changed back into the nightclothes he'd worn when Sakura had dragged him out of the room. Still alone, he sat down on his bed and reopened the book he'd started reading earlier.
He fell asleep with his book on his chest, and Sasuke found him like that two hours later, when he returned from his 'short' run to the bathroom which had been extended when he had run into Itachi in the hall. The Uchiha pulled the book away from him, placed a bookmark on the page Haku had been reading, and set the closed book on the desk they shared. He unfolded the blanket at the end of Haku's bed and laid it over him gently, careful not to awaken the water-nin, before turning off the light in their room and falling asleep.
Sasuke grinned as he tried to fall asleep. He remembered one night when Itachi had found him asleep during a study session, and had tucked him into his bed. He had not been asleep, and he had pretended to sleep to see if he could trick his older brother.
He would never know that Itachi had known that he was awake, but had taken care of him anyway.
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When Haku opened his eyes, he was back at the lake with his Master, back in the Water Country. His Master motioned for him to come at him, and he did. He caught his Master's fist when he tried to defend himself, and he executed the Uchiha clan Taijutsu Combination Alpha, just as Sasuke and Itachi had demonstrated. He jumped away from his Master's body then, proud of himself.
He watched as his Master stood slowly, and took up the stance again.
"That's not nearly enough, Haku. Good, but not nearly enough."
Haku nodded. "I will learn more, Master, to please you."
His Master nodded, and then he said the most peculiar thing.
"The difference between us will never be resolved. No matter how strong you are, I will be stronger."
"Yes, Master."
"No matter what you learn, my techniques will be better."
"Yes, Master."
"You are my property; your body is mine."
"Yes, Master." Haku said. He was beginning to worry. He did not know why his Master would feel the need to reinforce his point so many times.
"I have power over you, so I am allowed to treat you in any way I choose. That is the nature of power."
Haku dropped his stance, and he nodded in defeat, keeping his arms at his sides. "Of course, Master."
"But Haku," his Master said, still so far away from him, not making any move to close the distance. "That is only because you allow me it."
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Haku awoke then, not as he had the other night—not sweaty, and certainly not aroused—but in a state of confusion. He sat up quickly, and he found that Sasuke had entered their room and that he was sleeping in the bed beside him, still but for his breathing. The book he'd been reading was gone, and his body had been covered with a blanket. He looked at Sasuke for a moment, and his roommate started to say something in his sleep. The Uchiha turned over then, and fell silent.
He had suddenly forgotten his dream, but he knew that his Master was in it, so he lay awake until morning, trying desperately to recall the face and words of the man he treasured.
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