Folded Hands, Chapter Twenty-Four

Pairings: Zabuza/Haku, possibly others later

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Notes:

Sorry, I didn't mean to freak anyone out with the end of the last chapter. I am NOT pissed off or anything…just mildly entertained by cursing.

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Haku awoke the next morning to the sound of knuckles on wood. He sat up, orienting himself quickly. He was in his bed, in the room he shared with Sasuke, and (by the lack of light in the room) he knew that it was before daybreak.

The knocking noise was repeated, and Haku thought for a moment that Naruto had come to take him away from Sasuke. He shook his head, realizing that he was confusing a memory with the present, and out of the corner of his eye he saw that Sasuke had only responded to the knocking by turning over in his sleep and sloppily pulling a pillow over his head.

The water-nin quickly pulled himself out of bed and pulled open the door.

A bright flash of pain sent him to the floor, and Haku grabbed his forehead and closed his eyes tightly, trying not to cry out from his injury. The sudden blow to his forehead had hurt his neck, temporarily blinded him, and had come as a complete surprise.

He heard a muttered curse, and an apology, as Uchiha Itachi glanced around the room. His red eyes found Sasuke, and he deactivated his Sharingan before offering Haku a hand.

"My apologies," Itachi said after he pulled Haku to his feet. Haku walked nearly blindly to his bed and sat down as Itachi moved to stand over his sleeping brother. "It was meant for him." Itachi scowled at Sasuke before delivering his second forehead flick of the day, this time to its intended victim.

"MOTHER-FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!"

The task of waking his brother complete, Itachi turned back to Haku. Sasuke rubbed his forehead and glared at Itachi in a sort of adoring contempt as Itachi said, "The first one was meant for him as well. I was not informed that Sasuke was sharing his room with anyone, so I assumed that he would answer the door."

Sasuke stuck his tongue out at the back of Itachi's head, and Itachi followed Haku's momentarily distracted gaze. This alone allowed him to determine that Sasuke was trying to 'get back at him' and he smirked.

Haku quickly returned his attention to Itachi, and he continued. "The pain, I know, is quite horrible. If need be, you should visit Shizune or Kabuto; one of them should be in the nurse's office right now, or if not there exactly, then lurking the halls in that general area." He dismissed their location with a wave of his hand, and Haku tried to ask WHO Shizune and Kabuto were, but Itachi was not finished.

Without turning around, Itachi said, "Foolish little brother, leaving your roommate, a guest of the temple, to open your door when your own blood knocks."

"It's your fault for not checking to see who it was before you flicked him!"

"And that is the reason for my apology." Itachi bowed to Haku before turning to Sasuke. "I'm leaving for a mission this morning, and I came to say goodbye, little brother."

"Oh." Sasuke's pout disappeared, and a look of genuine unhappiness took its place. "Good luck on your mission, Itachi."

Itachi nodded, and he left quietly.

With one hand protecting his still-pulsating and quickly-bruising forehead, Haku turned his attention to Sasuke, who was still sitting up in bed, bearing an injury identical to his. He let a small internal battle take place in his head before smiling at Sasuke. Haku decided to take the safer route when it came to talking to the younger Uchiha about potentially touchy subject matter.

"Do you want to have your bruise treated?" he asked softly.

Sasuke frowned. The pout returned to his face, and he shook his head. "Itachi ordered all of the nurses to never treat bruises in the center of my forehead." He scowled and looked away, then he cleared his expression and asked Haku, "Do you want me to walk you there?"

Since he still did not know who these Shizune or Kabuto people were, Haku replied, "Yes, if it wouldn't be too much trouble."

Sasuke forced himself out of bed and threw on a robe. Haku did the same, smiling when he had turned his back to Sasuke.

The smile left his face when he guiltily realized the reason for its existence—he'd felt like he was Sasuke's brother for a moment, like Itachi's little brother, like a part of their family, like someone who was worthy of that sort of honor, someone who could be a part of an inside joke.

He knew better than to let Itachi's mistake boost his ego.

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The 'nurse's office', as Itachi had called it, was a sick room housing six beds. When Haku and Sasuke entered it around three in the morning, they found only one of those beds occupied, and the occupant was none other than Sai.

Haku stared at the sleeping artist-nin for a moment before Sasuke tugged on the sleeve of his robe, motioning for him to ignore the sleeping young man.

A chill ran down Haku's spine as Sai stirred in his sleep, but he complied and followed Sasuke into another room.

This room was smaller, and two of its four walls were lined with desks. A man with silver hair held back in a ponytail was sleeping with his head on his arms at one of these desks, and a pair of glasses lay next to his folded arms.

Sasuke walked up to him and shook his shoulder. "Kabuto?" he asked softly. When the medical-nin didn't wake, Sasuke shook his shoulder again, a little rougher this time, and then Kabuto sat up, rubbing his eyes and looking around in confusion.

His dark eyes found Sasuke, and he immediately said, "I know better than to heal you, Sasuke," with a grin on his face.

Sasuke scowled. "It's not me, it's him," he said, pointing to Haku.

Kabuto put his glasses on and looked at Haku, then smiled. "Has your brother been attacking people at random?" he asked as he stood to examine the bruise. He touched the bruise gingerly, and Haku winced. What did he have to touch it for, isn't it obvious that it's a bruise?

As if one of the medical-nin's questions had been answered, Kabuto stepped back and prepared to heal Haku.

Five minutes later, Haku and Sasuke left the nurse's office. Haku couldn't help but steal one last look at Sai. This time around, he noticed the exhaustion that seemed to have consumed all of Sai's energy; he did not turn or move as he slept, and his face looked drained; he was still emotionless, but without his concealing smile to hide his weariness, he looked more like a human than the soulless entity that he liked to show himself to be.

When they had left, Kabuto returned to Sai's bedside. The artist-nin was still out from before, and Kabuto checked his vital signs to ensure the safety of his health. Sai could have died in his sleep without making a fuss; Kabuto was sure of it. The effeminate young man was a stunning example of a true ninja, someone who could die without showing fear, and pass on peacefully, an expendable item.

Kabuto checked the calendar and he allowed his face to light up for a brief moment. He forced those thoughts from his mind, returning his attention to Sai. Sai had landed a place in the infirmary after trying a new ninjutsu on himself…this had happened in the past as well. Kabuto had allowed him to sleep in the infirmary even after he'd been healed, and Sai had of course taken him up on his offer.

The silver-haired medical-nin frowned. He'd always found the way that Ne worked sickening.

Then again, Kabuto disliked many things about Konoha temple.

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Haku noticed Shino's absence during the morning run. He thought about asking Naruto why Shino was gone, but he knew that it wasn't his place, or his business, so he didn't say anything. Kiba and Hinata talked constantly during the morning run, except for the times that they found themselves near Team Seven; then, Hinata would become flustered and fall silent, and Kiba would bite back a laugh.

The dynamics among the three teams were all very interesting to Haku. Team Eight acted like a little family; Shino and Kiba were Hinata's older brothers, and, although there may have been small amounts of teasing or joking, they were all on equal footing with each other, and they seemed to support each other. There were no insults, and no cold shoulders, and certainly none of the violence he had see between the members of Team Seven.

His eyes strayed to Ino and Chouji, who were running together as usual. Team Ten's dynamics were a little rockier; perhaps the absent member, Shikamaru was simply irritable. He still didn't quite understand what was happening there, but it was obvious that the members of Team Ten did not see each other as family.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Naruto asked as he ran beside him.

Haku smiled back. "Nothing of interest."

Team Seven was an odd blend of quasi-family relationships, a three-way best friendship, and something else Haku couldn't put a finger on. Now that he was there, though, he knew that Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's relationship may have changed to 'make room' for him.

Then again, he was entertained by their antics, no matter what their actual relationships were like.

Sakura caught up to him. "How's your breathing?"

Haku blinked. "My breathing?"

She nodded. "Do you feel winded?"

He looked away and laughed for a moment. "Are you going to heal me already? We haven't even had breakfast yet!"

Sakura gave him a guilty look, then pouted and said, "Well, if you're going to be like that, I'll just leave you on your own!"

Haku smiled back. "I'll make the best out of that situation, Sakura."

Had he bothered to look at Sasuke, he would have noticed that the black-haired ninja's fingers kept straying to the bruise on his forehead. After a few minutes of this, Sasuke put on a forehead protector to keep himself from touching his brother's parting gift.

Tch, he thought. Normal siblings would HUG when they parted.

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Haku had noticed, though, that he wasn't quite as winded that day, and they finished their run much earlier than usual. It was something that had not escaped Sakura's attention, and she thought of telling Tsunade. She didn't know who was handling Haku's Bloodline Limit training, but that the person may have been interested in the fact that Haku was getting into shape at a much faster rate than normal people.

Sakura kept this information from Haku for several reasons, one being that he wouldn't know what to make of it. From what she had gathered, Haku knew next-to-nothing about Bloodline Limits, and he would only be confused if she told him bits and pieces. They would have to wait until the ninja who had been sent to research Haku's clan returned, hopefully with information regarding the young man's abilities.

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Kiba dragged Hinata over to Team Seven during practice time. That day's match-ups had been Sakura with Sasuke, and Naruto with Haku. Haku's training that day entailed the creation and subsequent (and sometimes humorous) destruction of many loud, blonde clones.

Hinata's eyes widened as she found herself in a sea of Naruto, and she temporarily forgot why Kiba had made her walk over to Team Seven in the first place.

"Who's this cute girl?"

"I like her hair!"

"Ooooh! Her eyes are pretty!"

Hinata blushed as a few of the clones tried to talk to her. Maybe Naruto does like me!

Ino walked by then, and a few clones turned towards her and resumed their catcalls.

"Hey, baby, you look like you need something to eat! Wanna get it with me?"

"She's blonde too!"

"Ooooh! Her eyes are pretty!"

"Shut the hell up!" the blonde young woman shouted, and a few clones whistled.

Hinata's heart fell, and she crashed back down to reality, a reality in which a few of Naruto's clones were still hitting on Haku.

Haku was the first to notice her and Kiba, and he dropped the clone he'd been preparing to throw and turned to her. "Hello, miss Hinata," he said softly.

"H-hi Haku," she responded, eyes wandering about the sea of Naruto. "C-could I s-speak t-t-to--"

Kiba grabbed the front of his shirt. "We're borrowing him!" he shouted to Naruto over Haku's shoulder before dragging him away with Hinata.

Naruto let him go, smiling smugly. Sakura and Sasuke had noticed the odd exchange…or rather, the kidnapping of their temporary fourth team member…and they stopped their fight for a moment.

"Where's he going?" Sakura asked, her thin brow furrowing.

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "You have no discipline, letting your opponent walk away in the middle of a fight." He pulled a kunai from his weapons pouch and quickly 'killed' a nearby clone as if to illustrate his disgust with Naruto's work ethic.

Naruto shrugged, and grinned. "I think Kiba is setting up Haku and Hinata!"

The blonde's teammates exchanged a look.

"Um, Naruto, I don't think that's what it is," Sakura said through a tight smile.

"Uh…yeah," was all that Sasuke could add to Sakura's 'hint'.

Naruto turned to face his teammates with a confused look on his face. "Then what is it? I'm totally lost, if that's not what it is?"

Hinata's affections for Naruto were somewhat well-known throughout the temple. This had not always been the case, but, if a person trains, eats, and sleeps with the same eight people day in and day out for five years, they generally find themselves entrusted with many secrets, some of which they were told, and some of which they learned in other ways.

Any pubescent teenager could have seen Hinata's affections; any but Naruto, a complete and total dumbass.

"You're a retard," Sasuke said under his breath.

It was also an unspoken rule, though, that no one could OUTRIGHTLY tell Naruto of this. The other Chuunin wanted Hinata to build up the courage necessary for confessing to Naruto.

It was also blindly obvious that this would probably never happen.

"Dumbshit," Sasuke added.

Naruto blinked at them, ignoring Sasuke's insults as he pursued the truth. "Well, if Hinata isn't about to hook up with Haku, then what just happened?"

Sakura and Sasuke glanced at each other before sighing at the same time.

There was also one more thing that was wrong with Naruto's assumption, but Sakura didn't know about it and Sasuke had only a limited amount of evidence to go on, and this was the fact that Haku was a homosexual.

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Haku followed Hinata and Kiba outside the temple. The guard didn't ask them where they were going; he simply waved them on. As soon as he had stepped foot out of the temple, however, Haku could feel a slight pressure behind him, though when he turned to look he never saw anyone behind him.

"Thanks for coming with us," Hinata said softly. Haku noticed that her nervousness had disappeared and that a smile had brightened her face, and he was glad that he had agreed to come with them.

"Of course," he said. "Thanks for having me."

"The temple's always had this problem of not having enough girls," Kiba said. He frowned. "In fact, right NOW, the temple has the best girl-to-guy ratio it's ever had."

"The temple used to be for men only, didn't it?" Haku asked.

"Yeah. Uh."

Hinata turned to Kiba. "Is Akamaru still with your sister?"

The dog-trainer nodded. "Man, I let one kid ride him, ONE kid, and she just snapped and took him. I think she was PMSing or something, I don't really know with girls. Not that you've ever acted like that, Hinata."

She giggled, and Haku's face reddened. He was not used to hearing about…that.

Now that he thought about it, he'd never really spent long periods of time with girls. When he'd been with his last Master he almost never saw women; the man had been gay, his patrons had mostly been gay, and Haku's knowledge of women and reproduction had been limited to a few glimpses into occupied bathing rooms, followed by feelings of sickness. He reasoned that he must have been interested in men from a young age, and Haku remembered that boy from the orphanage…

"There she is!"

Haku's attention was pulled from his musings when Kiba pointed at a girl with brown hair. She looked to be about Naruto's age, and she was certainly pretty, at least aesthetically; her face was soft, her eyes were bright blue, and her figure looked nice enough, at least to Haku. The girl was walking down the street, traveling in the direction opposite to the one Haku was traveling in , and she was holding hands with a little boy who had the same coloring as her.

The blue-eyed girl looked up from her (presumably) little brother and Kiba blushed when her eyes turned to him. The glance lasted for only a moment, and the instant it was over, Kiba could be found staring at the sign for the local bakery, and the girl continued her way down the path again, acting as if nothing had happened.

Kiba's shoulder had turned stiff, and Haku thought he looked somewhat comical. Haku wondered if he was nervous…but he knew that he had acted the same way when he had first seen his Master's unbandaged face (though Kiba's expression lacked surprise, and Haku had been quite surprised).

When the girl was out of sight, Hinata giggled and Kiba turned on her. "Shut up!" he hissed, his face a brilliant shade of red.

"Hmm…" was all Hinata said back as she touched her lower lip, grinning.

Kiba folded his arms. "Okay, you may think it's funny, but you're DEFINITELY worse around Uzumaki." He glared at her for another moment, and her face started to redden, before he bit his lip and turned to Haku.

"Okay, buddy," he said. "Let's find a girl for you."

Haku stared back at him. This was what he'd come for, wasn't it? He forced a smile to his face, and laughed a little, covering his mouth with his hand before saying, "I can't wait."

He did not realize that Hinata's pale eyes allowed her to read body language better than most. She recalled what her cousin had told her during their Chuunin Exam fight, and she checked her own body language, dropping her hand from her mouth to hide her giddiness.

But what Haku had done…covereing his mouth with his hand while he laughed…that was…

Hinata smiled at him, then linked arms with him and pulled him away. Surprised, Haku let the shorter young woman drag him after her, and he began to walk of his own accord, wondering what had come over Hinata.

"Wait!" Kiba shouted after them. "Where the hell are you going?"

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The next hour found them sitting on a bench in the village's small park. Kiba slumped forward in boredom; there were girls here, but none of them were HER, and he didn't want to look at anyone but her (at least not that month), and to make matter worse Akamaru was gone…well, the village had asked him to stop letting Akamaru out into the common area a few years ago, due to his size, so Akamaru would not have been in the park with him even if his sister hadn't come down on him, so Kiba just frowned and watched random people play with their puny dogs.

He caught bits and pieces of Hinata's conversation with Haku, though.

"What about her?"

"I guess…she has nice coloring…blonde hair, blue eyes."

Hinata blushed. "Like Naruto…"

Haku held his hands up, ready to defend his sexuality. "That's not why!"

She giggled. "I know…Naruto is much better-looking anyway." Returning to business, she asked, "Would you like to ask her out?"

Quickly, Haku said, "Yes, so you can watch, right?"

Hinata laughed and nodded, and Haku forced himself from the bench.

When he was out of earshot, Kiba turned to his female teammate. "Hinata?"

She didn't take her eyes off Haku. "Yes, Kiba?"

"…"

Hinata glanced at him for a moment, and the smile did not leave her face. It was a genuine smile; Hinata had no others. She was not a secretive person, and even Shino, the most 'mysterious' member of their team would have felt free to talk to her, or to Kiba, about anything, so Kiba kicked himself mentally before continuing.

They were very open, after all.

"Hinata…"

She looked away and smiled. Kiba sighed as he watched Haku stumble his way towards the blonde girl, who was playing with a little brown dog FAR inferior to Akamaru.

When his female teammate said nothing, Kiba grinned. "I thought so."

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Haku took a deep breath when the blonde girl looked up at him. Like Kiba's crush, she looked to be about sixteen, and like Naruto, she had bright blonde hair (though hers was much longer) and bright blue eyes. Those eyes found his face, and she stared at him for a moment as if she was trying to recognize him, before she blushed and looked away.

"Hello," he forced out.

This was for Hinata's benefit. Haku realized belatedly that Kiba had not yet asked out the girl he actually liked, and that part of the reason that he and Kiba had agreed to ask out various girls in front of Hinata was to entertain her. He did not turn around, and he tried to push Kiba's and Hinata's faces out of his head, and to be a good sport, as he made good on his promise.

As she looked back at him, though, he found that he was in very, very new territory and he hadn't the slightest clue of what to say.

So, Haku did the first thing he could think of, which was kneeling next to her, smiling, and petting her dog.

"What's his name?" Haku asked softly.

He was surprised to see that she was still blushing, for some reason, and she said, "Koala." After a short pause, she added, "I heard the name somewhere once…and I liked it…"

Haku sighed. Okay, it was a level playing field. She was just as stupid as he was.

Haku tried again. "What's your name?"

She blushed harder (much to Haku's confusion) and she said, "Reika…and yours is?"

"My name is Haku."

"Oh. I haven't seen you here before, Haku."

He nodded. "I'm a new student at the temple."

Her eyes widened, and she smiled. "Wow, I didn't know they were still accepting students." She looked behind him, and as her eyes found Kiba and Hinata sitting on the bench, she asked, "They're your friends, right?"

"How did you know?" Haku felt a little guilty for calling them his friends, since he barely knew them, but if the girl was talking, he'd talk too.

"Well," she said, having trouble meeting his eyes, "That's Hyuuga Hinata…she's a little famous…and that's Inuzuka Kiba."

"You know Kiba?"

The blush on her face intensified, and she whispered, "Well, I'm dating his sister."

Haku's eyes widened, and she tried to amend her words. "You must think I'm pretty bad, since I'm dating his sister and I'm talking to you. But…well, I don't meet many girls who like other girls so, I thought maybe we should get to be friends..."

Haku left soon after that.

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Kiba and Hinata hid their smiles as best they could when Haku insisted they leave the park immediately and pursue Kiba's crush. As they returned to the part of town that Kiba said the girl frequented the most, Haku glared daggers into Kiba's back, but whenever the dog-trainer turned around, he smiled sweetly before glaring once again when Kiba stopped looking at him.

He began to wonder if this whole expedition was some barely-concealed scheme to make him wish he'd never come to Konoha.

"So," Kiba started, trying to wipe the smile from his face as he turned back to Haku once again, "we didn't really get to hear any of that, but it looked funny enough, so you don't have to ask any more girls out…unless, of course, your dream girl suddenly shows up. I'll just make as big an ass out of myself as I can to make up for you."

Haku felt a little of the tension in his body drain away and he sighed before replying, "Thank you, Kiba, if that's alright with Hinata."

"Of course!" she said. "Now that I saw you talk to her, I feel a little better. It kind of looked like neither one of you knew what to say, and maybe N-Naruto will be like that when I ask him out." The pale-eyed girl blushed and lowered her head, smiling nervously, trying to make it clear that she would, indeed, make good on her end of the deal.

Well, Haku thought, maybe they're not just trying to be mean to me. But then why would he have me talk to his sister's girlfriend?

"Oh!" Hinata whispered, "There she is!"

Indeed, the object of Kiba's affection was now walking by herself, a grocery basket in her arms. Kiba's shoulders went stiff, and Haku felt some sort of inner demon awaken as his pride called for revenge. However, he had enough self-restraint to resist the urge to push Kiba into his crush.

Hinata was a different story.

Haku stared as the shy girl landed a foot squarely on Kiba's lower back, sending him stumbling towards the blue-eyed, brown-haired girl as she shopped for eggs. Kiba made some sort of protesting noise as he tripped towards his crush, and the girl looked at him in wonder as they came quite nearly face-to-face. He smiled widely, and she started to talk to him in a soft voice that Haku couldn't hear.

Hinata smiled softly as she watched the boy who usually took care of her try to do something for himself. Meanwhile, Haku was absorbed in Kiba's conversation with the civilian girl; their words seemed to flow very easily, and though Kiba was still flustered he was obviously much more comfortable talking to this girl than Haku had been talking to the blonde in the park.

A tug on his sleeve and Hinata's voice led him away from Kiba, giving the dog trainer a little more privacy as they walked down the adjacent street.

Haku and Hinata were silent for a moment.

"Do you think he's doing well?" Haku asked in an attempt to break the silence. He realized that they were in another section of the town now, far, far away from Kiba, unable to bail him out.

"I'm sure of it," Hinata said. She smiled. "Well, I really do have to ask Naruto out now. I feel bad for kicking Kiba…he might get back at me later." The pale-eyed girl paused, and Haku felt that presence again, the one that had stayed behind them since he'd left the temple, but he resisted the urge to look around.

Without turning to face him, Hinata said, "Don't worry; it's just an ANBU."

Haku's eyes shot open but he forced himself to act naturally. "You knew?"

She nodded. "They're probably following you to make sure you don't run away with any of the village's secrets."

Haku knew that there were other reasons, though. He was a foreigner, but more importantly, a slave; either way, complications could arise if he ran from the temple, or if he was stolen.

Stolen.

As he walked past one of the restaurants on the right-hand side of the street, he crashed into someone, a man who'd just left the restaurant. He quickly pulled away from the man and bowed, but when he looked up to apologize, he found that the sun was right behind the man's head and for a moment, he looked just like his Master.

Haku quickly looked down again. "I'm sorry, sir," he said.

"No, it's okay, kid," the man said. He took off then, not giving Haku another glance.

He straightened his posture and Hinata looked at him curiously. "Are you alright?"

Haku smiled. "Of course. But, now that I think about it…"

The sky had turned red, orange, and gold, and Haku realized that the sun would soon have set, and that he had only trained for an hour that day.

Sensing this, Hinata said, "I know it's out of your rotation schedule, but would you like me to train you? Just until Kiba finds us, of course."

He smiled. "Thank you, Hinata."

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Haku knew better than to judge Hinata by her appearance. She was short, and somewhat slender (or at least her legs were; her jacket hid her upper body quite well), and she was, of course, a girl. Hinata was a ninja, though, and she carried the Hyuuga name quite well, which Haku would soon learn.

Hinata shed her jacket when they returned to the park, depositing it on the same bench Kiba had sulked on earlier. Haku considered taking off his robe, as he had done before, but he was afraid that it would be indecent, so he decided to keep it on before tying his hair back.

Hinata bowed to him before they began their fight. Haku bowed back, out of habit, and Hinata fell into her Gentle Fist stance, waiting for his attack.

Needless to say, Haku did not know what to expect. For some reason, his memories of training with his Master outside the old house returned.

"We're going to keep going until you get a sense for this. You have no experience in fist fights, and there won't always be water around for you to manipulate. The only way for you to learn how to fight, is to fight. There's no point in being kind when I'm training you. Kindness will only hurt you later. I'm going to make sure that you won't die on this mission. I'm not going to save you if you get yourself into a dangerous situation. I need you to be able to save yourself."

"We're going to keep going until the sun sets."

The sun was setting then, and Haku realized that he was shaking from his memories of the man. Adrenaline had flooded his veins, adrenaline that had nothing to do with the deadly young woman waiting for him to attack her.

She wasn't Hinata. She was an enemy. She was his opponent. She was his instructor. He could hear his Master's voice in his ear.

"Attack, Haku," came the deep growl. "Just try whatever you can. This isn't a fight. It's a deathmatch. Don't get hung up on technique."

These people, the ninjas from the temple, were profoundly different from himself, and the difference was not limited to the fact that Haku was a slave. They devoted their lives to the way of the ninja. His Master's life, and his life, were not devoted to that.

What to, then?

To him, of course. You are devoted to your Master. He is your goal, and he is ultimately unattainable.

"Master," he said under his breath.

"Haku?" Hinata asked, easing up her stance a little as she looked at him in concern.

"Master," he whispered, almost inaudible.

"GO."

Haku dashed towards Hinata, and she prepared to strike his abdomen. He had seen this, though, he had somehow seen it and the Uchiha Alpha combination was burning in the muscles of his arms and his legs, waiting to be used, so he grabbed onto her arm and began the sequence. Haku executed the first three strikes when his weight overwhelmed Hinata; it was not a matter of strength, but rather of physics, and they both fell to the ground.

The fight was not over, though, and Haku quickly planted one palm firmly on the ground and performed a one-handed back-handspring, removing his body from Hinata's just as she finished extending her leg in a kick that would have sent him to the nearest hospital had it landed. Her eyes darted from Haku's previous position to his current one, and she stared at him for a moment before gracefully pulling herself up, and she became the aggressor, landing a quick blow to Haku's collarbone.

Her eyes shot open as he failed to dodge this blow and he fell, clutching his shoulder.

"Oh my god, Haku!" she shouted then, covering her mouth with her hands. "I'm so sorry!" Hinata knelt by him, and he hissed as she checked over the wound.

Hinata touched her lower lip again as she contemplated what had happened. Haku had shown his Bloodline Limit again—though it seemed he hadn't been aware of it. She had decided before the fight that she would not use her Byakugan against him, as she had assumed that he could not use his Bloodline Limit against her.

It seemed as though he could not control it, though.

"It's okay," Haku said, rotating his shoulder. "You went easy on me, thankfully. I'll see Kabuto again when we return to the temple."

She hung her head in shame. "I am so sorry, Haku."

He shook his head. "We were training, Hinata. My Master would have done the same thing, anyway."

If Hinata had caught the title he'd used for his 'teacher', she said nothing. "At the same time, I'm not Master Zabuza, so I need to act more respectfully towards you," she said.

"I'm sure he'd be glad to see you actually hit me, rather than coddle me," Haku said, ending the conversation.

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They soon returned to the alley they'd left Kiba in to find that neither he nor the girl had moved; they were still talking in front of the egg vendor, and Kiba spouted joke after joke, and his crush laughed at them.

Haku unconsciously shielded his shoulder as he watched the dog trainer with Hinata. Kiba suddenly turned around, spotted his female teammate, and he tore himself from the girl (but not before getting her phone number).

"Well?" Hinata asked him?

Kiba drew in a breath, waiting for their attention, and when they looked at him, he shouted, "I have a date!"

"How was it, talking to her?" Haku asked.

Kiba thought for a moment. "It was fun, I guess. She told me that she liked me too." He grinned smugly. "How cool is that? I mean, I had no idea! She never looked at me or anything before, but she told me that she's always made herself act that way around me because, well, she though I'd only like someone from my clan."

Hinata laughed. "That reminds me…Father recently started to look for a wife for Neji…"

"I know!" Kiba shouted. "This clan crap is terrible. Well, I guess we Inuzukas can kind of adopt people in, so it's not as bad as being a Hyuuga." He turned to Haku. "What's it like in your clan?"

Haku blinked. "Clan?"

Kiba nodded. "Kurenai told us you have a Bloodline Limit. What's your clan like? Or did you grow up apart from them?"

"I…I grew up apart from them."

"Oh, you're lucky!" Kiba exclaimed. "Clans are the WORST! I mean, outsiders think they're cool, but there's all these rules…and you have to dress alike…"

"Well, I do wish that I'd known more of my family," Haku admitted.

"Oh." Pause. "Shit…er, sorry."

"Speaking of family," Haku said, thinking back to the park, "why did you have me flirt with your sister's girlfriend?"

Hinata's eyes shot open and Kiba stared. Haku was suddenly afraid that he had spilled a secret that did not need spilling.

"Oh shit! That girl's datin' Hana?" Kiba shouted, hitting his forehead. "Sick! Since when is my sister a cradle-robber?"

Haku sighed. "You knew she was…"

Kiba stared at him. "Well, yeah, I knew she was a lesbian. She's my sister. You tend to know these things about family."

"Oh." Well, this isn't strange.

Haku looked away, and a smile lit up Hinata's face. Kiba caught her eye, and he smiled too.

They would keep Haku's secret a secret, at least for a while.

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One the way home, Kiba kept going on and on about how he was glad that his crush liked him back. Haku just smiled; he didn't know the feeling, so he could only force a smile to his face and tell Kiba he was happy for him.

Haku thought of his Master again, and he hoped to see him soon. Even if I have to seduce him, I want to make him return a little bit of what I feel, he thought guiltiy.

It was blatantly obvious that the man did not long for Haku, as Haku found himself longing for him.

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Zabuza awoke that morning to the sound of blizzards, wreckage, and screaming. He quickly threw on a pair of pants and his shoes before grabbing his close-range sword and running out the door.

He had awoken to many mornings like that back in the Mist Village, mornings when violence had torn him out of bed and he had been summoned by his superiors to quiet whatever was running through the town.

Zabuza was an expert swordsman; ruthless, efficient, skilled.

What met his eyed that morning was not a scuffle, like many he had seen between the drunks of the town at early hours; it was not a gang war, as he had seen his share of these too.

What he saw was a monster.

A single man with pale skin, dark eyes, and dark hair commanded a cloud of snow, and the cloud quickly reformed into a spiked ball that its master sent crashing through one of the local homes. Shrieks were heard from inside; its occupants had not been ready for the attack.

Only slightly fazed by the man's abilities, and chalking them up to some kind of Bloodline Limit, or whatever, Zabuza drew his sword and went straight for the man. His opponent quickly dodged him, though, and he commanded the spiked ball to attack Zabuza while he walked through the home he'd destroyed, and Zabuza stared at him in confusion before slamming the blade of his sword into the ground and executing his Water Dragon Bullet Technique.

The man was equally appalled when he watched one of the water dragons form from snow on the nearby ground, then dive into his abdomen, knocking him down as he tried to leave the ruined house.

Zabuza left his sword where it was and dragged the man from the house as a few of the local policemen ran up to him. The officers stopped running when they saw the man that Zabuza was holding, though, and they stared at both of the brawlers in horror.

"That's…Yukitori Tobi…" one of them said as he stared at the unconscious man.

Zabuza glared at him. "So what? Is he allowed to fuck up this town or something?"

The other officer came to his senses, and handcuffed the unconscious man immediately. He turned to his companion, who was still staring at 'Tobi' in shock, and said, "Go tell the men at the station that we got Tobi. Send some other men out so we can bring him in…" He stared at the dark-haired man, then turned to Zabuza. "You did this by yourself?" he asked as his partner ran away.

Zabuza grunted, "Yeah. Who is this guy?" He looked down at the unconsciousness man, and something about him looked familiar. His coloring was similar to Haku's, but then again, dark hair and eyes were very common. That pale skin color, though…

The officer stared at him. "Haven't you heard of the Yukitori clan?" Without waiting for Zabuza's reply, he shook his head, rage spilling from his being. "The Yukitori clan lives a few miles north of here. They'll come to town every once in a while and take things they need." His gaze returned to 'Tobi', and he sighed. "I can't believe you were able to knock him out."

The swordsman's eyes narrowed. "Aren't there any ninjas in this village?"

"No, of course not!" The officer replied. "None but the Yukitori clan, and I'm not sure if that's what you meant."

"How big is this clan?" Zabuza asked.

The man blinked at him. "Why?"

"I want to work out a deal with your town."

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