Folded Hands, Chapter Twenty-Six

Pairings: Zabuza/Haku, possibly others later

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Notes:

Thanks for 10,000 hits!

Also, there's more art up on my deviantArt page! There's even a picture of Sai, which turned out approximately 1.3 million times better than I expected.

To the manga readers: I may not have written Sai's fighting abilities correctly. Please excuse this.

Also, if you're into NarutoSai please check out my new story "The UsThem Complex".

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Haku dashed towards the lake. An ink-lion Sai had drawn followed him closely, and he had the same bizarre feeling he'd experienced at Gatou's; everything slowed down.

He reached the lake in no time and ran to the middle. Time sped up again, and Sai followed the beast he'd set on Haku, grinning as if he was playing with him, which Sasuke knew Sai planned to do.

The beast skidded across the water as it followed Haku, and to Haku's relief the thing's paws began to dissolve when it touched the surface of the lake. However, the size of the beast and the slow rate of dissolution meant that Haku would not be able to eliminate it in the way he'd originally planned.

"Interesting," Sai said as he sat down by the lake. Haku made a note of this; the artist-nin seemed to have no intention of fighting him himself. He frowned and turned back to face the lion Sai had given life to.

Sasuke was nowhere in sight. Haku wondered about this briefly, and decided that it didn't matter.

You are nothing to these people anyway. Whether Sasuke disappears from your life today, or in three weeks, it will be the same.

Haku formed the hand seals for the Water Dragon Bullet Technique, and two large water dragons crashed out of the lake. Their creator directed them to attack Sai, and Haku himself ran straight towards the ink lion, planning to dissolve it with water manipulation.

Sai drew out another creature, and a small swarm of ink-black birds formed around him. A third picture gave life to two thin black dragons, which wrapped themselves around Haku's water dragons and committed suicide in the lake. The artist-nin looked at his birds curiously for a moment before releasing them; he did not want to miss whatever Haku was planning.

To Haku's surprise, the water wave he'd sent towards the ink-lion had only taken off the thinnest of layers of the beast, but he shook that off and ran towards it himself. If it's ink, then it should be made of water, he thought. He held out his arms as if reaching for the beast, then moved his hands and his wrists.

Sai laughed when the beast didn't move. "What are you doing, Haku?" he asked. "Running out of ideas?"

Haku smiled back at him. "There's not water in this ink, is there?"

"There's a difference between the beasts and the drawings. I thought you would have realized that." And with that, the beast charged Haku.

Ink-forged fangs nearly met at Haku's torso, but the water-nin quickly dropped and kicked upward when he was under the beast. His foot met its underside firmly, almost as if it were an actual animal, but its body as too hard to be flesh. Haku rolled out from underneath the lion, and it quickly changed directions and charged at him again, fangs bared.

He whipped water out of the lake, hand seals and ninjutsu forgotten, and slapped the beast with a hard, heavy wave on its left side. The lion stood up shakily; it seemed as though Haku had ripped one of its joints. Deciding that he liked this strategy, Haku repeated the action from the same side. The lion dodged, but it still suffered a heavy strike and its front left leg dissolved back into ink.

If he keeps sending these my way, I'll use up all of my energy before I can do anything to him. I need to get that notebook away from him, or he'll just play with me until he kills me.

Haku was already exhausted, but he pulled himself together and repeated the Water Dragon Bullet Technique. Before he attacked, though, he split the dragons apart, sending one towards the ink-lion and the other towards Sai.

Sai was mildly surprised by this, and he created another flock of birds to shield him, but Haku released the jutsu as soon as the snake neared Sai. The dragon melted back into water, soaking Sai, and, more importantly, his notebook.

"You ruined it," the effeminate ninja lamented as he stood and faced Haku. He held up the notebook and looked at it with a blank expression.

"You can't draw anything on that, right?" Haku asked, smiling at Sai. "If you do, the drawing won't come out clearly, and you won't be able to form any more animals correctly."

Sai dropped the notebook. "That's pretty much right, Haku," he said as he reached for the sword on his back. The ink-lion to Haku's side dissolved as Sai stepped onto the water.

He's going to fight me with his sword? I still can't use taijutsu very well, so I'll combine it with water manipulation. He's too close for me to use the Water Dragon Bullet Technique again, and that takes a lot of energy to use anyway.

Haku readied himself for the fight, and Sai smiled at him, holding his sword at the ready. "I'll give you a handicap, Haku," he said. "You can attack me first."

Not sure of how to use this chance, Haku looked at Sai, and then at their surroundings. He felt a presence around them and guessed that a few ANBU were watching their fight. If they hadn't been stopped by then, though, Haku decided that there was no reason to worry about their interference, so he pushed them out of his head.

This is Sai's home ground, but if I make it more like mine, maybe I can through off the advantage he'll have from using his sword.

Haku knelt down, and placed both of his palms on the water's surface. He closed his eyes—though only for a moment; he wasn't ready to trust Sai's word—and he concentrated, forming an image of the water below his body turning to ice.

As he did this, he opened his eyes for a moment and saw Sai's feet planted firmly on the surface of the water.

That's it.

He kept his eyes open this time, and a circle of ice formed and expanded from his palms. When the circle met Sai's feet, though, Haku forced some of the lake water to rise around his ankles and he froze the water then, trapping Sai where he stood.

Sai frowned at this, but he didn't seem too worried. "You really are running out of ideas, aren't you?" he asked Haku with a straight face.

The numb feeling had not yet left Haku, and he felt the smile still frozen on his own face. "I don't see how you could think that right now."

Haku realized that, for one reason or another, the panic and nervousness had left him when he had started his fight with Sai. With his mask on, he was no longer vulnerable. He could have killed Sai, and he felt that then; Sai was, quite possibly, at his mercy. Sai, who had attacked him.

His Master would have been proud.

Haku walked toward Sai slowly. I might be able to win fights like this. If I can be like this around my opponents, like a weapon…

He drew a column of water from the ice and wrapped it around Sai's right arm, freezing his arm and the sword in place. Sai blinked as he watched his arm pulled to the side, now useless in the fight, but he still did not panic. His black eyes found Haku's, and he asked, "So, do you think you're doing pretty well, Haku?"

my Master wanted me to become strong, to submit to his will, and to be his tool…

Haku took stock of the situation. Sai was helpless now, wasn't he? He was still so undisturbed, though, and Haku wondered if there was anything he'd missed. Sai couldn't draw, or move, or use his sword, so what was it?

if I can do that, he will desire me.

"I don't see why not," Haku answered.

Sai smiled. "Well, then, what are you going to do to me now?"

Haku stared at him. He hadn't thought of that. Sai was trapped, so hadn't be won? He wasn't supposed to kill Sai, was he?

"I…" he forced out. Haku felt his mask drop away, and he shuddered. "This is enough," he said, releasing the ice he'd formed, and Sai stepped away from him while rubbing his cold right arm. Haku suddenly felt sick, and he wasn't sure of what he'd been thinking, or why he'd fought Sai in the first place. He turned around and held his head with one hand, only aware of Sai's presence when he heard his feet stamp across the water.

Haku turned and dodged Sai's sword, watching at the blade cut through the same air his should had occupied moments earlier. He glared at Sai, who smiled back at him. "It's not up to you to say when it's enough," Sai said before attacking again.

The water-nin panicked and 'threw' water at Sai. He dodged the wave as Haku tried to escape, and ran after Haku, shouting, "You're just getting sloppy now, aren't you?"

Haku turned and he drew a wave over his torso, freezing it a moment before Sai's sword crashed down on it, shattering the ice. Haku released the small shield and Sai attacked again, forcing the water-nin to duck, and as he fell he drew three ice needles from the lake and threw them at Sai, trying to hurt him in any way possible.

This small attack took Sai by surprise, and his head turned to the side as the needles scratched his feminine face, making three parallel cuts on his left cheek. Sai let three small rivulets of blood drip down the side of his face as he smiled, stopping his attack.

"You wanted me to look like Naruto?" he asked softly.

Haku watched him in anticipation, and he and Sai were both surprised when they were suddenly surrounded by six ANBU.

One of them, and man wearing a cat mask, took a step forward and said in a low voice, "If either of you attacks again, you will be taken in for an interrogation."

Haku's eyes shot open. Since when had this match become a crime? Sai seemed surprised, too, and he turned to the man in the cat mask.

"I'm only following the order that I was given," he explained.

The ANBU was firm. "Actions of this sort have not been authorized by the Hokage. If you make another move, the head office will begin to look into Ne."

Sai sheathed his sword and turned to Haku, three lines of red marking his face. "It was nice fighting with you, Haku. Maybe we will do it again, another time." He left with that, and two of the ANBU disappeared.

Are they following him? Haku thought. What's happening?

The ANBU in the cat mask walked up to him. "Please explain what you were doing with Ne's tool."

Ne's tool? "He asked me to fight with him."

"You're new to the temple, but it is my duty to tell you that training with him, or fighting him on temple grounds, is not allowed. ANBU and the head office would like to avoid any entanglements with his superiors. If you fight him again, or attack him, then you will be punished for it." With that, the four remaining ANBU pulled out, leaving Haku by himself on the lake.

He fell to the water then, shaking badly.

What just happened?

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Naruto watched Haku's fight from inside the temple. When he had run out to find Haku, an ANBU had stopped him and told him that no one was allowed to interfere with Ne's business until an explanation came from the organization. He'd run off to find Tsunade, thinking that she could have made ANBU get off his back (he was very worried about Haku by then) but he found her with Iruka in one of the halls leading to the Ne office. She had brushed him off when he'd tried to ask her a question, and Iruka had even snapped at him and told him to stay out of it.

He was glad that the others were still at lunch. Tsunade had given an order soon after their meeting in the hallway that the fight between Sai and Haku was to be kept a secret, at least until she obtained an explanation from Ne.

Six ANBU dropped down to the lake after the fight, and Naruto watched Sai walk back to the temple first. Sai walked past him about two minutes later, walking towards the infirmary, and Naruto's blue eyes did not miss the cuts on his left cheek.

Once the ANBU had left Haku, Naruto ran from the window he had been watching from and found Haku collapsed on the lake. He stopped running when he reached the shore, though, and he watched Haku, not sure of what to make of the fight he'd seen.

"Hello, Naruto," Haku said softly, his body turned away from the blonde ninja.

Naruto ran onto the lake then, and he sat down in front of Haku. "Sai didn't hurt you, did he? I saw what you did to them, that'll teach him, him and his ugly face--"

He saw Haku then, as if for the first time, and he shut his mouth and waited for Haku to speak again.

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Sai sat idly in one of the infirmary beds as Kabuto spoke with someone at the door to the room. He had already had his cheek bandaged, and he had expected to be gone by then, but someone was making a fuss of some sort and he was a part of it for some reason.

He sighed as he listened to Kabuto talk to the unidentified person. He heard the name 'Ibiki' mentioned, and he wondered why that man would be a part of any of this…

This was Danzou's will, at any rate. He was content to fulfill his duty; it was the hows, not the whys, that concerned him.

His black eyes found Kabuto's calendar on the wall. Oh, he thought. It's almost time for my next mission.

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Haku entered the room he shared with Sasuke and sat down on his bed. The lights were off, but that was the way that he wanted it right then.

He'd had to brush Naruto off earlier; he was in no mood for his company, or anyone's company. He suddenly wished that he could see his Master again.

I wonder what Master would have done if Sai had attacked us when we were together, he thought. Sai was probably nothing when compared to his Master, or at least Haku felt safe believing that.

He wanted to train, but he also wanted to be alone, to think about his fight. It seemed as though his battle sense had sharpened through his experience at the temple, but he still had the feeling that Sai had been toying with him throughout the fight; he had looked bored the whole way through, even when Haku found himself struggling or trying to think of ways to fight what Sai threw at him.

Sai had used so little effort, too.

It wasn't a win. If Master had seen it, he wouldn't have been proud, and he wouldn't have rewarded me later.

Haku felt guilty as soon as the thought entered his head, and he pulled his knees up to his chest, hugging his legs and resting his head on his knees. Of course he wouldn't have rewarded me. I know that I'm not worth that much to him.

He jerked out of his sitting position when he heard soft knocking on the door. "Haku?"

Haku laid down on his bed. It was Naruto standing outside, and he didn't feel like facing him, not after that fight, and not after pushing him away, so he kept quiet and pretended to be asleep.

"He's sleeping," he heard Sakura say softly. "Just leave him alone."

"But…" Naruto's voice trailed off, and Haku heard no more from either of them. He turned on his side, and he found himself falling asleep before long.

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Zabuza wrapped his face and neck with a thick cloth, laid over his bandages, to fight the cold. He was used to that sort of climate, but he wasn't sure if the fire-nin who would accompany him on the mission would be able to deal with it.

Well, it'll suck to be him, then.

He chose his largest sword and left his hotel room. It would be an hour before he had to meet Itachi outside the Yukitori clan compound.

Itachi was waiting for him when he arrived, shattering his current expectations of men from the Fire Country—they weren't always late. He nodded at him, and Itachi turned to face the compound.

"I visited the clan a few days ago," Itachi said coldly. "There are about ten adults, and there is one child. Only two of the homes here are occupied. I don't know if the Bloodline Limit is manifested in every clan member, or the extent of the Bloodline Limit."

"Do they know we're coming?" Zabuza asked, not sure of what Itachi meant by 'visit'.

Itachi shook his head. "There is one more thing I can tell you about them: they are unable to sense other's chakra. It should be easy to slip in and kill them one by one." He then pulled a muffler around his face, trying to fight off the cold.

Zabuza's eyes swept over the compound. The collection of buildings looked desolate.

"Has Haku ever been here?" Itachi asked as he wrapped his lower arms in bandages.

Somewhat surprised by the question, Zabuza said, "I don't know."

Itachi gave him a quick glare, but he decided not to vent his frustration on the man. How could he not know? Haku has a Bloodline Limit. Does he not understand the importance of that? Has he never asked him about his past? These are the responsibilities of teachers.

He finished wrapping his forearms, and closed his eyes, forcing himself to act in a civil manner, before turning back to Zabuza. "I've come here to collect information on Haku's clan. When we return to the temple, I will teach him whatever I've learned about this place. With that in mind, please make careful note of the clan member's abilities. We can learn a lot about Haku's potential from this mission." He steadied himself, and added, "When we return to the temple, I would like for you to help Haku learn how to use his Bloodline Limit."

Zabuza met Itachi's firm, cold stare, and he narrowed his eyes. Who does he think he is? Arrogant bastard. "I was planning on seeing Haku soon anyway," he growled. "Maybe we'll get around to that Bloodline stuff, maybe not."

Itachi bit his tongue to keep himself from pursuing the topic. "Are you ready?" he asked.

Is he trying to take control of the mission? "Yeah, sure," he said as blandly as he could, and they advanced on the compound.

When they reached the compound, Itachi took one of the houses, leaving Zabuza with five Yukitori clan members. He quickly used the Hiding Mist Technique, and the house became surrounded in a thick mist. Zabuza smiled when he realized that the mist spread over the surrounding houses, and that Itachi would have to deal with it, too.

He heard sounds from inside the house, and he knew that its occupants were probably stumbling over each other in confusion. He closed his eyes, readjusting his senses so that he could leave his ability to find the locations on objects in space to his sense of hearing, and he heard the door fly open.

"What is this?" one of the men asked. Zabuza kept silent. It seemed that he would be able to finish the clan members off rather quickly.

One of the clan members tried to clear the water out of the air, but it was no use; the mist was laden with Zabuza's chakra, and it could not be swept away.

The clan members grew frantic, and Zabuza unbuckled his sword from his back and began his attack with his eyes closed, listening to the sounds of shuffling feet and screams.

Itachi scowled as a thick mist settled into the air surrounding the house he would invade. He did not like such showy displays, but it was too late to undo the jutsu, so he took a deep breath and opened the door to the house he was standing outside. The ANBU had not wanted to use his Sharingan on this mission—he rarely used it anyway—but he activated his Bloodline Limit when he found the mist was too thick to see through. His Sharingan, his sense of hearing and the map he had made in his head three days before allowed him to navigate through the house with moderate success.

Itachi's red eyes found four forms in the main room of the house, and each form was composed of only one chakra circulatory system, so he silently swept through the room, killing each clan member with one strike from his sword. He heard screams next door, and he knew that the panic Zabuza was causing would alert the remaining members of the house to their presence.

He walked down to the hallway and found the other room in the house. Itachi opened the door, and found two forms: the horizontal form he deduced to be the girl he'd seen three days ago, for she was lying down on a bed and there was a smaller chakra circulatory system at her stomach. The third system was small, and Itachi realized that its owner, while not a child, was rather diminutive in size.

"Please don't kill Aka," he heard a low, old voice say, and he knew that it came from the smaller person in the room, a woman in her last years if Itachi's ears didn't fail him. "She holds the last child of our clan. There is no hope for our clan without her child."

His Sharingan fell on the girl, who seemed unconscious. Her chakra circulatory system flickered, and he knew that she must have been rather ill.

"She's coming with us," Itachi said, drawing his sword on the old woman.

She sighed. "Thank goodness. Aka is the only life in this clan."

Itachi killed her quickly.

The girl—Aka, it seemed—moved a little on the bed, but was unable to escape. Itachi cleaned and sheathed his sword before pulling a thick robe from his pack and putting it around her. It was time for him to return to town. The screams from the next house over had ceased, and he knew that Zabuza was finished with his part of the deal. The mist suddenly disappeared, and Itachi was able to look around the room for the second time.

Aka looked to be about twelve or thirteen, and her hair was the same color as Haku's, but cut to shoulder-length. Short bangs covered the top of her forehead, and her skin was pale.

She was sick, and she was pregnant, somehow, and Itachi needed to get her to Konoha for treatment before she died.

Zabuza's heavy footsteps alerted him to his presence, and he turned to see the water-nin standing in the doorway of the room.

His temporary 'partner' took a step back when he saw Itachi. "What happened to your eyes?"

Itachi deactivated his Sharingan. "It's nothing worthy of note," he replied. Zabuza looked past him, to the girl on the bed.

"You're not killing her?"

"Godaime wants all children."

Zabuza looked at her again. "Did she get knocked up?"

Itachi took a breath and grounded out, "This clan had very few children. They probably tried to get her pregnant as soon as she began menstruating in an interest to keep the clan alive."

Zabuza stared at him and the girl for a moment. He had been right to not take an interest in Haku's clan after all, it seemed. "Those guys didn't put up much of a fight," he said, eyeing the old woman whose blood stained the floor of the room. He started to look around the room, reminding Itachi of his other order.

"If you see anything you want, take it. The locals will probably ransack this place when they learn the clan is dead, so Godaime asked me to secure any 'souvenirs' of the clan," Itachi said, turning to Zabuza.

Zabuza laughed. "She said you could take anything you wanted?"

"Actually, she wanted Haku to have some of his family's heirlooms, and she wanted whatever you two couldn't take to stay at the temple as a memory of the clan."

The smile faded from Zabuza's face as Itachi watched him for his reply. "So, this makes Haku the head of his clan, doesn't it?" he asked after a moment.

Itachi nodded. "If you will see him as that."

Zabuza did not respond to the anger seething below Itachi's words. As far as he was concerned, the foreign ninja was too concerned with clans and Bloodline Limits. Instead, he looked around the room, and pulled the pack from his back to load it with Yukitori family heirlooms. Itachi did the same.

The girl on the bed stirred in her sleep, not aware of what was about to happen to her.

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Haku was awoken by a loud knocking on his door. He forced himself out of bed and called out, "Who is it?" before his desire to avoid any curious fire-nin kicked in.

"It's party time!" he heard Naruto shout.

Haku hit his forehead with his palm, and he thought about his options for a moment before opening the door. Naruto walked into the room, accompanied by Kiba and Shikamaru.

"Hey, buddy!" the scarred ninja shouted, as if life was good and nothing strange or bad ever happened. He was dressed differently from usual; he was wearing an short-sleeved, orange button-down shirt and khaki pants. Civilian clothes.

Party clothes.

Kiba and Shikamaru were dressed similarly, and the lazy ninja even wore his hair down, so Haku realized that they were going to the party Tsunade had thrown for the temple (and select village-dwellers). He quickly remembered Hinata, and he guessed that she had worked up the courage to ask Naruto to the party.

Kiba threw open Haku's closet and started to look through his clothing. He whistled. "You don't have much here, do you, Haku?" he asked as he looked through Haku's training robe collection.

Haku shut the door to his closet and stood in front of it, effectively stopping Kiba from looking through his clothes. "My Master…Zabuza must not have thought that I had a need for them," he said.

Shikamaru sat down at the desk at the end of the room. "Sasuke should have stuff you can wear," he said with a yawn before setting his head down on the desk and taking a nap.

Kiba's eyes lit up, and he turned away from Haku and threw open Sasuke's closet.

"Please don't do that," Haku said. Naruto tackled him (to his horror) and sat on him, grinning.

"So Sasuke's clothes are kind of gay, sure, but he's a good dresser," Kiba said as he looked through the Uchiha's closet. "Granted, there's lot of black in here…" he looked on a shelf. "Damn, he has make-up…"

"Probably trying to look like Itachi," Naruto said with a smirk. "Though Itachi's cooler, so he can pull it off."

Haku tried to push Naruto off of him, but Naruto weighed quite a bit and Haku gave up after a while, somewhat happy that the scarred ninja would try to make him feel better. He did want to be alone, though…

The odd scene was interrupted when Sasuke opened the door to the room. He saw Naruto sitting on Haku, Shikamaru sleeping at his desk, and Kiba looking through his clothes. Torn between getting angry and walking away (pretending that he had never seen anything), Sasuke chose the former.

"What the FUCK are you guys doing?" he shouted, directing the statement entirely in Naruto's direction.

Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, you know, we're going to the party tonight, but Haku doesn't have anything to wear, so…"

Sasuke scowled at him before heaving Naruto off the water-nin and pulling him to his feet. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Haku smiled weakly. "Yes, I guess I'm a--"

"Okay," Sasuke said quickly. He turned on Kiba, pulling him out of his closest. As the dog-trainer tried to argue with him, Sasuke pulled a shirt and a pair of pants out of his closet and handed them to Haku. He then turned to each other student in the room (except for Shikamaru; there was no use).

"If ANY of you ever look through my shit again, I will kill you." he said, trying to sound as serious as possible.

Haku looked over the clothes Sasuke had handed him. Kiba seemed right about Sasuke's taste in clothes.

"Now," Sasuke said, looking through his closet for clothes for himself. He pulled out a black shirt and black pants, and a pair of black shoes. Turning back to the other Chuunin, he continued. "I'm going to the restroom to change. If any of you, even Shikamaru, are here when I get back—except for Haku, because this is his room—I will pants you at the party."

Haku's eyes shot open as Sasuke glared each of the others down. It was the oddest threat he had ever heard, but it seemed effective, because Naruto laughed nervously and Shikamaru sat up, glaring at Sasuke.

His threat laid down, Sasuke took a bottle of black nail polish from his closet and left the room.

Naruto laughed when he was gone. "Pants us? Sai would LOVE that, as much as he talks about my dick…"

Haku's heart stopped beating for a moment when Naruto nonchalantly dropped the artist-nin's name, and Naruto stopped laughing as he recalled what he'd seen earlier that day.

"But, you know," Naruto said, "he probably won't be there--"

Shikamaru suddenly pulled Naruto towards the door. "Come on, let's go, I don't want to make an Uchiha mad at me," he said.

Naruto nodded. "See you at the party, Haku!" he said as he left. Kiba followed them and shut the door, leaving Haku to change into Sasuke's clothes.

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Zabuza left the law office a few hours later. Itachi had the girl, and they had both kept their 'findings' in their own hotel rooms. As far as he knew, Itachi had not told anyone from the village that he'd let the girl live.

In his own room, Itachi watched the girl who was sleeping on his bed. He was certain that she couldn't have been older than fourteen, but she looked like she was about five months into her pregnancy. The Uchiha clan was large, so they did not have to resort to impregnating girls as soon as they came of age.

He was glad that he had found a child, though; Haku would be able to meet another member of his clan. There was also the chance that he girl knew about their Bloodline Limit, and that she may have been able to give him information concerning it.

He had agreed to leave with Zabuza the next day, and he hoped that the water-nin would not break that promise and skip out on seeing his student.

On the bed, Aka took a deep breath. Itachi frowned. She had not fully awaken during the trip there, or even afterwards—and his efforts to wake her had been unsuccessful. He knew from the pale shade of her skin that she was horribly sick, and he wanted to get her to the temple for treatment. Itachi doubted that the town's doctors would be able to do much good for her, and he didn't want to have to deal with any questions concerning her pregnancy.

He knew that her pregnancy would cause some commotion at the temple, too, but he trusted Tsunade with Aka's health.

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The party (the first one of the evening) was held in the dining hall of the temple. The normal rectangular tables had been replaced with circular ones, and the lighting had been softened. A small band played in one of the corners, and Haku watched a few of the teachers, temple elders, and villagers dance.

It was rather obvious that this party was not held for the students, as every Chuunin from the temple had congregated at one round table, and no one under the age of twenty-five was dancing.

Haku sat down at the crowded Chuunin table next to Hinata. She was wearing a white dress and a pearl necklace, and her pale eyes were fixed on Naruto as soon as he entered the room.

Naruto was about to sit down next to Haku when he saw Hinata. He seemed torn for a moment, then he turned around and Haku watched in morbid fascination as Naruto hit himself in the forhead, not with his palm but with his fist (and rather loudly) before turning to Hinata and asked, "Hinata, would you like to dance?"

She blushed, and looked like she was about to die. "Y-yes, Naruto," she said. He held out his hand, she took it, and they walked to the dance floor.

Haku smiled and he found Kiba. "I'm glad that she asked him out."

"Well…" Kiba looked away and frowned.

Haku watched him, confused. "What?"

He shook his head. "Hinata…got nervous…" He leaned closer to Haku and whispered, "You remember Sasuke's threat? It works pretty well."

Haku stared at him and leaned back, disappointed. He watched Naruto try to copy Asuma and Kurenai on the dance floor while Hinata stood stiffly, too afraid to tell Naruto that she knew how to dance. "So…"

Kiba sighed. "I know, but I just couldn't stand it."

"Why did you try to set them up?"

"She's been in love with him for so damned long, that's why," Kiba growled. "He's an idiot who doesn't know anything about girls, and I don't know how soon he'll learn if left on his own, so I wanted Hinata to get a shot at being the person to teach him. And she'll be happy like this."

Kiba told him this with complete and utter sincerity, and Haku felt bad for doubting his intentions.

Kiba…cared about Hinata.

Enough to push her into this uncomfortable situation.

And she cared about him enough to force him to talk to the girl he liked.

The girl Kiba had asked out in town appeared in the doorway, and Kiba stood up and waved her over. They began to talk again, and Haku watched the people on the dance floor. Hinata had taken control of the situation to a small degree, and was in the process of trying to show Naruto how to dance while blushing an unnatural shade of red.

He noticed that two of the teachers he'd met before then were dancing…Asuma and Kurenai, if he remembered correctly. He supposed that it was only natural for something like that to happen.

Chouji, Ino, and Shikamaru had left the table, and they were all talking to what seemed to be older versions of themselves. Shikamaru's dad slapped him on the back jokingly while they talked, and he self-consciously touched his hair and said something back to his father. Chouji spoke with his own father, who was gorging on whatever food Tsunade had ordered for the party, and Chouji stared at a piece of cake before Ino flicked his ear and shouted at him. Ino's father looked a little frightened of her, but he shook it off and he started to ask his daughter about something that Haku couldn't hear.

He noticed the Hokage on the dance floor, and to his surprise, she was dancing with Naruto's guardian. She seemed incredibly inebriated and, if Haku had been able to understand Yondaime's smile, he would have known that the blonde man though Tsunade's drunkenness was funny as hell. She soon left the dance floor and fell asleep at a table.

Kiba and his crush left for the dance floor, and Haku sat back in his chair. He hoped that Naruto's 'party' would start soon, because it sounded a lot more interesting than this one, but he hoped that Hinata would get a few more minutes dancing with Naruto first.

Sakura sat down next to him. "Lonely, huh?" she asked.

He turned to her and smiled. "Just a little. Care to join me?"

She gave him a look. "You mean, dancing?"

He held up his hands defensively. "No, just talking."

"I guess," Sakura said. She sighed. "I want to dance, but considering the guys here…" Sakura's voice trailed off when Sasuke joined them.

Haku stole a glance at Sasuke's black fingernails. He had seen Itachi's violet nails a few days ago, and he realized that Sasuke may have been trying to emulate his older brother.

Sasuke started to tap his foot to the music. The song ended, and a slow one took its place; soon after, Naruto practically ran from the dance floor and sat down next to Sakura. He pulled her closer, and asked, "Why…does…Hinata…want…to…dance with me?" Naruto's face was red, though no where as near as Hinata's.

"Um…" Sakura snuck a look at Sasuke, and he gave her a look saying, 'don't expect me to explain it to him'. She smiled at Naruto, and said, "Well, boys and girls do those sorts of things sometimes."

Naruto sighed at held his hands up in exasperation. "But why ME? I hate dancing! I wouldn't even want to dance with a girl I LIKED!" He turned to Haku. "Do you know? I mean, seriously, please tell me."

Haku smiled a little. "No, Naruto, I can't say that I do."

Naruto slumped forward and let his head hit the table. "I don't get girls…"

"It's because you're RETARDED," Sasuke said under his breath.

"You like girls, though, don't you Naruto?" Haku asked him.

Naruto turned his head so that he was facing Haku. "Well, of course, but I also like other things that I don't understand…" He frowned.

"You don't understand a LOT of things." Sakura said with a smile. She turned back to the dance floor and watched Tsunade try to dance with Yondaime again. He openly laughed at her now. "Maybe there are some things that I don't understand either."

Sasuke tugged on Haku's sleeve, and he turned to face the black-haired young man. "Haku," Sasuke whispered.

Haku leaned in. "What is it?"

"…you doing okay?"

Though he thought the question was odd, Haku just smiled back. "Of course!" He didn't know why Sasuke would worry about him, at least not right then.

Sasuke gave him a look before leaning back in his own chair. Sasuke raised her eyebrows at him and he shrugged in response.

Naruto sat up. "No fair! What's up with these secrets all of a sudden!"

Haku wondered that, too.

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They snuck out of the party as soon as Kiba could say goodnight to this crush and as soon as Shikamaru could get away from his dad. The four young men quickly ran back to their rooms and changed into ANBU uniforms that Naruto had pilfered before meeting again at the men's bathroom.

Naruto passed out four masks when they had gathered. "Okay," he said, turning to Kiba. "You have the spray paint?"

Kiba held up a bag, and he said, "Yeah, I brought ten cans. It should be enough."

Haku shivered in nervous anticipation. It was really happening; they were really going to…

Shikamaru tied his hair back up, remembering what his father had told him earlier. Haku tied his back, too, as Naruto continued.

"Alright, let's go, he said." Shikamaru pulled his deer mask onto his face; Kiba, his dog mask; Naruto, his fox mask; and Haku, an otter mask.

"You know," Shikamaru said as they left the temple, "everyone's going to know who we are if they see our masks."

Naruto shushed him. "Quit your bitching already. No one knows what we're up to."

Haku followed them as they jumped into a tree near the Hokage's office, then Naruto opened the window from the outside and jumped into the room. Shikamaru was next. Kiba helped to pull him into the room as soon as he'd entered, and Haku shut the window behind him silently.

He wasn't sure of what it was that had interested him in this 'party'; he knew that one reason may have been Naruto's enthusiasm. Haku had also never heard of spray paint before, much less what one could do with it when they were on the property of someone they didn't like, and although he didn't dislike the Hokage he felt that she was a strong enough person to be able to recover from the vandalism that he was about to be a part of.

Kiba threw him a can of red spray paint, and he stared at it, not sure of what to do. Naruto was already shaking his green can, so Haku copied him. Shikamaru took a white can, and Kiba a brown one, and the room was filled with the sounds of metal clanking on metal as each ninja worked himself up for what he was about to do.

Naruto jumped onto Tsunade's desk and held his can up to the wall behind her chair. He sprayed something onto the wall in large, block-style letters, and Haku couldn't read it at first but when Naruto was done, he found that the message said:

KONOHA RULEZ

The others had also begun; Kiba was writing out a lengthy message, while Shikamaru had just settled for playing tic-tac-toe with himself. Naruto moved on to the next wall and he drew a gigantic frog.

Haku stared at the office as its black-and-white walls were painted. He wondered what he could write, and he realized that he had nothing to write. Haku couldn't think of one thing he wanted to say, and then, when he did think of something, he wrote it down as soon as he could, not bothering to worry about the message's content.

FOR YOU I WILL BECOME STRONGER

Kiba looked at the red message over his shoulder. "That's kind of cool," he said. Turning back to his own wall, Kiba wrote:

I LOVE YOU KAEDE

Shikamaru laughed, and Kiba blushed and glared at him. "Shut up, lazy-ass," Kiba said, throwing his can at his ridiculer.

Haku felt vulnerable, too, and he wasn't sure of his message, just as Kiba wasn't sure of his. That was what he felt, though, and through his embarrassment he could feel his will rising in his chest.

He now had a reason to like tagging. It allowed him to express and cement what he'd felt. Haku's desire was no longer transient.

Haku looked around the walls of the room. Naruto had drawn spirals on each wall, then had taken a break to write:

FUCK SAI

in big block letters. Haku stared at the name and found himself laughing, even though he knew it was wrong. Naruto grinned at him and moved on to another message.

Haku looked at his message again, and he felt like he was finished. He let his arm fall to his side, and he suddenly became aware of the clanking sound of a can of spray paint being shaken. Haku realized that the sound had persisted for the last few minutes, and he froze.

The others heard it now, too, and they all turned around.

The man standing with them in the room was none other than Yondaime. He was still dressed in party clothes, and he looked much like an older version of Naruto; they had been wearing the same clothing, except for the fact that Yondaime's shirt was a different color. Now, though, a mischievous expression had lit up the blonde man's face, and he looked even more like his charge as he shook a can of yellow paint.

Shikamaru's jaw fell slack. "Yon…Yondaime…"

The man grinned. Kiba dropped his can and lowered his head in shame, and Naruto just stared at his guardian, not quite sure of what to do. Haku watched him silently. He had known that certain risks would be involved that night, and he had been prepared for whatever would happen if they were to be caught.

"Hey…" Naruto said, taking a step forward. "Um, you know, we were just…"

Yondaime smiled and Naruto shut up. His guardian looked around the room and said, "You know, I never liked how Tsunade redecorated my old office. There was never enough…color."

With that, he walked up to the least-decorated wall in the office and wrote, to the other's astonishment:

YONDAIME WUZ HERE

with a backwards r in the word 'here'.

Relief flooded Haku's chest, and the others started to laugh. Yondaime turned around and surveyed their work.

His eyes landed on Haku's message, and he smiled at Haku. "That's very nice. It's better to leave behind positive messages, than negative ones."

Haku could only nod as Yondaime turned to face the large message Naruto had left. "Naruto, no good can come of this," he said, pointing to the words 'Fuck Sai'.

Naruto walked over to his guardian. "I'm sorry, Yondaime," he said, bowing. Haku was a little surprised about the sudden change in Naruto's behavior.

Yondaime shook his head. "You need to know that things like this will only deepen that boy's wounds."

And with that, Yondaime took Naruto's green spray paint and started to spray over the message. The Chuunin watched as he drew the letters' mirror, on both the horizontal and vertical axes and then used his own yellow to fill in whatever bits of the wall hadn't been covered with green paint. The result looked nothing like Naruto's insult.

Yondaime threw his can to the ground. "Well, I think that's enough. You kids can leave the way you came in, and don't let anyone catch you with those uniforms or masks."

Naruto suddenly came back to life. "No one knows we did this, right?"

His guardian smiled. "No. Two ANBU guards tried to follow Haku at first, but I asked to go in their place. I'll tell them that we all went to the village and that I got all of you drunk as punishment for not enjoying the dance. Just act like you have headaches tomorrow and no one will be any the wiser."

As he turned to leave, Haku noticed that Yondaime hadn't changed the original message he'd left.

"Yondaime, sir?" he asked softly.

Surprised, the blonde man turned around. "Yes?"

Haku pointed to the message. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

Yondaime smiled. "No one will believe it was me anyway," he said as he left.

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The next morning, Tsunade opened the door to her office…

…and screamed.

Not ten minutes later, Naruto, Haku, and Sasuke stood in her office. She fumed at them, staring them down, and Sasuke wondered how he'd got pulled into this.

"Now," she said to them, "I know Uzumaki was a part of this."

"No I wasn't!"

"And Uchiha, you have the motive."

He stared at her as if she was insane. "The WHAT?"

Tsunade stood in front of him anD stared him down as he looked back at her unbelievingly. "I was chosen as the Hokage over your brother."

"…I don't care…"

She eyed Haku. "You're Naruto's friend, and you were seen leaving the party early. You're not really my student, so I have to dismiss you. I've got my eye on you, though," she said, staring him down through her hangover.

"Y-yes, Miss Tsunade," he said nervously. Naruto watched him, and Haku smiled back guiltily as he left the office.

Sasuke scowled. He was going to kill Naruto.

The Godaime turned back to Naruto before pointing at Yondaime's message.

"DID YOU HONESTLY THINK I WAS GOING TO BELIEVE THAT?"

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Haku walked around the temple grounds. Sakura was training with a woman named Shizune, and he was supposed to train with Team Ten starting that day anyway, but they were no where to be found.

He continued to walk, and he decided that they weren't inside the training grounds, so Haku considered looking for them outside the temple and he eventually decided to do this, hoping that the gatekeeper would let him through or at least tell him if they were outside.

To his surprise, he found Kabuto talking to the gatekeeper.

"He doesn't know the password."

Kabuto shrugged. "Let him in."

"But," the guard said, looking at some man on the other side of the gate, "Miss Hinata has read his signature, and--"

"I know him. I asked for him to come here," Kabuto said firmly. The gates opened, and Haku saw none other than his Master standing outside.

Kabuto noticed him then, and he grinned. "It looks like you Master came back early."

Haku stared at Zabuza, and his heart began pounding in his chest as he waited for an order.

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