Folded Hands, Chapter Twenty-Eight
Pairings: Zabuza/Haku, possibly others later
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
Notes:
There is more art up, including a silly little comic about Zabuza, Haku, and two apples.
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
Haku ran by himself the next morning, ate breakfast without a word, and began to train with Team Ten. He was unable to stop thinking of his Master, wondering why he had treated him so differently from before. It was true that his Master was rough with him, and that he was a stern, strict teacher, but he had never lashed out at Haku like that, or thrown him away, without telling him what he'd done and asking Haku if he understood.
Last night, his Master had been vicious.
Pulling his attention away from his worries, Haku side-stepped Chouji's punch and continued with his defensive stance. The two other members of Team Ten had very little to teach him, as neither specialized in taijutsu and neither wanted to teach him their clan's secret techniques, leaving Chouji to train him as Shikamaru wandered off, saying something about Sandaime and shougi, and Ino painted her nails as she sat on the grass in the training grounds, glancing up every once in a while to watch Haku's training.
Haku had been somewhat surprised by Chouji's strength. It was to be expected that some of the ninja's extra body mass must have been muscle, and not the fat that it looked like, but when Chouji attacked him it felt like it was all muscle, and he found that whenever he attacked Chouji that the other young man barely took any damage. The only advantage he had in his training fight with Chouji was his speed, and so far that had only enabled him to dodge his instructor's blows.
He let his body take over as his thoughts returned to his Master. If he had done something terrible, he would have been able to understand the way the man had acted toward him, so he thought back to the night before, trying to recall any other mistakes on his part besides seeming a little too willing to get into bed with his Master. He had not been disrespectful, or insulted his Master. There was the chance that one of the teachers at the temple had informed his Master of his progress, and that the man had become irate because of it, but it still didn't make sense.
His Master would have told him what he had done wrong and not left him to guess about it.
"You're doing pretty good," Chouji said with a quick smile as he paused his attack, wiping sweat from his forehead.
Ino laughed as she screwed her bottle of nail polish closed. "Don't tell me you're tired already, fatass. You've only been going at it for forty-five minutes."
Haku smiled and bowed politely. "Thank you for taking the time to teach me by yourself, Chouji," he said in a soft voice.
A look of panic crossed Ino's face, and she stood up quickly, but not before tucking the little bottle of nail polish into her weapon's pouch. "Hey, Chouji," she said with a guilty smile, "take a snack break or something. I'll train Haku for a few minutes, 'kay?"
Chouji shrugged. "Thanks, Ino," he said as he left the training grounds, stretching his arms over his head as he caught his breath.
Haku straightened his body in time to see Ino take up a basic taijutsu stance, her brilliant red nails highlighting the pale skin on her hands. She smiled broadly before saying, "I'm not too good at this, Haku, so go easy on me will you? Taijutsu's not really my thing."
He held back a chuckle. "So why did you take over for Chouji?"
"I DIDN'T WANT THAT FATASS TO DIE!" she shouted, blushing furiously. "It was obvious he was exhausted! How could I let him go on?"
Ino glared at him, trying to hide her embarrassment. "Whatever! He's gone, and now it's you and me! Just come at me!"
Haku let his eyes travel over her body and he contemplated her position. She seemed off-balance, and he thought it was rather curious that she would actually volunteer for this, since she seemed to be less experienced than he was, by some odd twist of fate. She'll be weak around the knees. If I was fighting her for real, then I'd go for that, but I'm just fighting for practice, so…I'll skip her knees. I'll also stay upright and I won't use any of the tricks or combinations the others have taught me.
His opponent stomped her foot. "What are you waiting for?"
"Sorry," Haku replied, bowing quickly. "I was just thinking, that's all."
He ran towards her, and time slowed for just a minute as he watched Ino's disturbing blue eyes shoot open. Once the distance had been closed, time sped back up.
"What the FUCK?" she shouted when she was face-to-face with Haku.
This exclamation caught him off guard, and the sheer volume of the outburst made him cover his ears with his hands and wince, and they stared at each other for a moment before laughing.
"Having fun, kids?" Haku and Ino turned to see Asuma walking towards them from inside the temple.
Ino put her hands on her hips and glared at her teacher. "Master Asuma, where did you run off to yesterday after our mission?"
He grinned back at her as he set down his gear pack and knelt to open it. "Oh, I was relaxing with Kurenai at the new bar in town. Wonderful atmosphere." Before Ino could voice her opinion of this scandalous revelation, Asuma pulled something from his pack and threw it to Haku.
Haku's hand shot out and he caught the object reflexively before turning his hand over to examine it. Asuma closed his gear pack and stood again, heaving the large bag over his shoulder as he stood over Haku. "That's a forehead protector from the old temple that used to be somewhere around the Mist Village in the Water Country," he explained as Haku looked it over. He had seen something similar on several of the ninjas at the temple; even Asuma was wearing a different version of it, though the metal plate on his forehead protector was adorned with the image of a spiral set inside a leaf. The metal plate of the forehead protector that Haku was holding was engraved with four short wavy lines set in a square formation, resembling ripples on the surface of a lake.
Asuma tapped his own forehead protector as he continued. "It's a rule at the temple that all students wear one, though no one really follows it. Godaime figured you should have one, though, and she got one of her office workers to dig this out for you. It's old, but it seems to be in good shape." Haku looked up from the forehead protector and nodded.
"Thank you, Master Asuma," he said through a smile.
"You're welcome." As Ino's teacher turned to leave, he stopped in his tracks and turned around. "Does your teacher have one?"
Haku blinked at the question, his thoughts returning to the man who owned him. "No, Master Asuma, I don't think that he does, and if he does own one I've never seen him wear it."
"Oh." Asuma stared at him for a moment before adding, "Well, if he owns one, then I sure hope it isn't a fake." He left his bored female student with Haku then, and Haku stared at his back, thinking over what he'd said. He slipped the forehead protector into his robe and began to play with the hem of his robe, trying to find some meaning in Asuma's last statement. Why would that be any of his business?
Ino stretched and yawned, turning her back to Haku as she stared down the temple door. "Where is that fatass anyway? I told him snack break! He should've been back ten minutes ago--"
"It's okay."
She turned to face Haku again, and he smiled at her, waving her concern off. "I'm going to study by myself for a short while," he said.
"If that's what you want. I mean, I can train you a little more, though I don't know if I'll be much help," she offered, a look of guilt crossing her face again.
Haku shook his head. "I'll be back for lunch." With that, he returned to the temple, and Ino shrugged him off. As she started to look for Sakura, she realized that her nails had been scuffed.
"Crap," Ino said before plopping back down onto the grass and pulling out her bottle of nail polish. She wasn't into all that hands-on stuff anyway.
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
Tsunade tapped her foot under her desk as she read over some request from one of the temple's departments. Tch, someone else wants money…they can go cry about it for all I care…
She heard a heavy knock on her door and sighed. I guess that it will be better to talk to someone than to read this garbage… "Come in!" she shouted, hoping that her visitor was not one of the odder Jounin or some lonely old temple elder.
To her surprise, the man who entered her office was Momochi Zabuza. She sat up in her chair quickly, hoping that he hadn't caught a glimpse of her lazy nature, and then she waved him forward to her desk. "Hello, Mr. Momochi," Tsunade said as the man sat down in the chair before her desk. What the hell did you come here for? "Is there anything I can do for you?"
Zabuza gave her a nod. "I just wanted to check in with you about my kid."
She raised an eyebrow. "You mean Haku, your slave?"
He stared at her for a moment before saying, "Yeah, Haku."
"What about him? He hasn't caused any trouble, if that's what you're worried about," she said, keeping Haku's 'tagging' experience a secret though she was almost certain he had been involved.
"I wanted to spend some time training at your temple myself, but I'd like it if you could keep Haku off of my hands for a while, while I'm here," he said.
Tsunade shrugged. "Fine, as long as you don't cause any trouble for the temple. I'll have Haku rotate between squads as per the original plan, and I trust that you'll take him with you after that?" After not receiving a response, she added, "Or, possibly leaving him here for a longer period of time?"
Zabuza nodded. "I'll decide when the time comes."
"Is that it?" Tsunade asked. She had just remembered that bottle of sake in her drawer…she wanted to finish it off before Shizune found it…
He stood up. "Yes, Princess," Zabuza said before leaving her office.
A chill ran down Tsunade's spine, and she forgot about the sake in her desk drawer. "Momochi Zabuza…" she whispered, resting her chin on her hands for a moment as she stared at the place the man had been sitting.
"Momochi Zabuza…who are you?"
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
Haku returned to the room he shared with Sasuke, setting his new forehead protector on their shared desk as he opened one of the books he'd been leant. As he read about genjutsu and how to break them, his attention flickered to the forehead protector, and to his Master.
Does Master have one of these? I'm too afraid to ask him right now, but if he does, then he might be glad that I have one. I'll leave this as it is for now, and I'll reconsider telling him that I have a forehead protector when he's not so angry with me.
If his was a fake, though, why would it matter? I don't know if Master came from that village that Master Asuma spoke of, the Mist Village, or if he's been to the temple nearby, and Asuma made it sound like the temple hasn't been in use in years, so I can imagine it would be rather easy for forgeries to pass off as authentic forehead protectors…I'm not even sure if it would matter, if the temple is not longer of any importance…
He picked up the forehead protector by the metal plate and examined it. The quality of the engraving matched that of the forehead protector he'd seen Master Asuma and Master Kakashi wear, not to mention all of the older ninja in the temple, so he guessed that his was authentic. Still, this seemed to bear no importance.
Haku shook his head. He was wasting valuable time that could be used to develop his knowledge of the ninja arts, so he decided to rid himself of his distractions by stowing his forehead protector away in his closet before returning to his textbook.
The book was rather informative, and not as boring as the books he'd originally found on his bed that belonged to Sasuke. Haku knew that the book he was reading was intended for children, but that meant that it was easy to read and that it was designed to hold the reader's attention (as children have short attention spans, as Haku did at the moment) as well as filled with pictures of the hand seals needed for each technique. He practiced these silently as he read the book until the bell in the Eastern Tower rang at mid-day, signaling lunch. Haku closed his book and left the room quickly.
He knew that it would be important to act normally around the others, even if there were questions and uncertainties plaguing him following the last two days' events. It would be easy, he was sure; he had forced a smile to his face before, and it could be painful, but he would do it again.
Well, if he owns one, then I sure hope it isn't a fake.
Haku bit the inside of his cheek. He hoped, for the first time, that he would not have to see his Master. He already felt guilty for being suspicious of his behavior.
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
Naruto slurped up noodles from his bowl during lunch, grinning as widely as he could without loosing the ability to enjoy his favorite food. This whole Haku-is-a-foreign-guy thing is really rocking for me today! Who would've thought that old Lady Tsunade would get Ichiraku to cater to the temple—and not only ramen, but GOURMET ramen!
Sakura and Sasuke watched him make a mess out of himself in disgust as they sat on either side of him. Hinata had managed to get a seat across from him, and she blushed darkly as she snuck the occasional look at Naruto, taking small, tidy portions of noodles into her mouth without making any mess at all. Kiba and Shino had noticed this, and they were both in awe of their female teammate's ability to stare at Naruto AND eat so neatly at the same time.
Naruto stabbed an egg that was floating around in his bowl with his chopsticks and was prepared to stick the whole thing in his mouth when he saw Haku standing at the entrance to the dining hall. He carefully set the impaled egg back into the broth in his bowl and made to wave at the water-nin, but Haku's black eyes were busy scanning the dining hall for any sign of his Master. Naruto dropped his hand, and watched as Haku's eyes found him. To his pleasure, Haku's face lit up with a smile, and he waved at Naruto before entering the serving area to obtain a bowl of ramen for himself.
Sakura, the ever-tactful Sakura, left the table before Haku returned, and the water-nin sat down next to Naruto as he smiled back at him. "Good afternoon, Naruto," Haku said.
Naruto chomped down on his egg, and as soon as he'd swallowed he said, "Man, I didn't think I'd get to see you again so soon, what with Team Ten stealing you away and all!"
Haku nodded, but he kept silent, and he sighed in relief when Kiba began to speak with Naruto about the mark they'd left on Tsunade's office, and how quickly Tsunade's assistants had redone her office. He didn't feel like speaking with Naruto, but he was content to listen to the others talk and smile at their rants and joking.
His thoughts turned inward, and he decided that he would try to forget about his Master for the time being and worry about their relationship when the older man wanted to act more civilly toward him. After all, his Master had recently returned from a mission and a journey, so he had reason to be ill-tempered. Haku wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt; he owed nothing less to the man he treasured.
Haku was pulled from his internal worries when he heard Naruto mention the name 'Sai'. Sai now seemed a distant memory, even though he'd seen the artist-nin just the day before. As he had thought earlier, Sai was inconsequential when compared with his Master; he would someday be a bad memory, or perhaps Haku would remember his taunts in good humor.
The others were comparing stories. Hinata was speaking now, her face ablaze due to the fact that Naruto was listening to her. "I remember w-what he said about K-K-Kiba's sister, Hana…" she said, turning to Kiba as if to ask him to continue the story.
The dog trainer rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, it's kind of funny," he said, "but none of you can tell Hana you heard this."
Haku nodded, a little guilty knowing that he was interested in the story only because he wanted to hear how Sai ridiculed other people, and the Chuunin sitting with him nodded also. Kiba continued. "When I first met Sai, he asked me how my sister's cat was."
Sasuke's eyes widened, and a smirk found its way to his face as he said, "I remember this."
"You want to tell the story, then?" a flushed Kiba asked him. "Because if you want to tell the story, Uchiha--"
"No way," Sasuke said, waving his hands in front of his chest to clear the air of that idea.
Kiba shrugged. "Okay, then." He paused, making sure he had not lost any of his former classmates' attention. He hadn't. "So, Sai asked me how my sister's cat was doing, and of course I didn't know what he was talking about, so I just said, 'My sister has three dogs, and she doesn't own any cats.'. I thought he must have heard about my clan wrong; I mean, come on, we're dog trainers, not cat trainers. Then…" He blushed. "Then, the jackass smiled, and he said to me, 'I thought your sister liked pussy.'"
Hinata covered her ears. "Oh, Kiba! I remember that! You know I hate that story!" she cried out, sending Kiba a pained look. Shino nodded, making his male teammate feel even guiltier.
Meanwhile, Naruto stared at him blankly. "I don't get it."
Haku let a smile creep onto his face. It's a good play on words, but rather vulgar. I doubt that I'd ever retell that story…
He sighed and finished his lunch in silence, enjoying the conversations playing around his head.
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
Haku returned to his room after lunch. He had missed Team Ten somewhere, and he guessed that they had either had another mission or had taken their lunch somewhere else. Either way, he was content to read the textbooks he'd been leant. It seemed as though Team Ten was not as interested in training him as Team Seven had been, but it was understandable; he had met Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke before Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji, and he knew the former three on a more personal basis. He decided that he would ask Chouji to teach him again the next day, and study after his training. There was still a large gap for him to close, after all, when it came to knowledge of basic techniques.
When he opened his book, he was surprised to see that there was writing on the bookmark he'd used. Haku felt nervous for two reasons: he didn't own the bookmark (it was Sasuke's) and he didn't know who had written on it. There was only one word, though, and its ambiguity caused an uneasy feeling in his stomach.
FAKE
Haku stared at the bookmark before putting it into one of the drawers of Sasuke's desk and closing the drawer. He found a notebook on Sasuke's desk and used a sheet of paper from it to make a new, less creepy bookmark.
He wanted to ask Sasuke about the bookmark, but he reasoned that if it was Sasuke who had written on it, then there had to be a reason for Sasuke to communicate with him in this way rather than telling him what he meant outright. At the same time, he didn't know what FAKE meant.
Fake…fake…Master Asuma said that he hoped my Master's forehead protector was not a fake. Sasuke wrote fake…if it was Sasuke. I don't know who else could have obtained access to our room.
Haku knew that there may have been many techniques by which ninja from the temple could have snuck into his room, and paranoia began to take over. Haku forced himself to calm down, and he slammed his book shut, leaving it on the desk, as he gathered his nightclothes and left the room to take an early bath. He hoped that the warm water would calm his nerves, and that he would be able to concentrate on his studies once he had relaxed.
During his walk to the bathroom, Haku passed his Master, of all people, and the man was talking to Kakashi about something. They both seemed engrossed in the conversation, so Haku averted his eyes from the two men. Once he had passed them, though, Kakashi turned around and said, "Haku, go see Godaime when you have time."
He did not turn around. He did not want his Master to look at him, when he still held contempt for him, when he still chose to ignore him.
Instead, Haku nodded and continued on his path to the bathroom.
The bathroom was blissfully empty, and though Haku had come more accustomed to bathing around the other students over the past few days, it was still a stressful experience and it would have had the opposite effect of what he desired. Keeping a towel around his waste after he'd washed his body, Haku sunk into the hot bath and closed his eyes, leaning his head back as he let his thoughts drift to his Master.
Have faith in him. Faith, Haku.
Fake.
Fake.
That's the only explanation that doesn't involve any wrongdoing on my part, or any behavioral change on Master's part. But how could he…what if I doubted him and it was really him…how could I face him?
He came in through the gate without Hinata checking his chakra signature, and I didn't ask her to today…moreover, if Master…is not Master…then who else is not themselves? Even Hinata could be a fake…
No, No, No, Master is himself, or I'll believe it until I see other evidence. He's the only man I don't want to run away from, and I won't push him away because he isn't treating me like a loved one. That's not really faith, but I know that faith has its limits. I just have to want to believe in him. I don't want to see something that's not there, and lose him because of it.
Haku sighed before climbing out of the bath. He dressed quickly, and he remembered Kakashi's message: 'Go see Godaime.'. Haku had been to her office twice now, and he found it a third time with little difficulty. After a brief, gentle knocking on the door, Tsunade shouted, "Come in!" and he entered her office, nervousness building up inside his chest.
She regarded him for a moment with a still expression on her face before smiling politely. "Haku, it's nice to see you again. Please shut the door and sit down."
Haku obeyed, and he watched Tsunade scribble notes onto a request from one of the temple's departments before scratching out the line that had been provided for signing her name, instead writing, 'NO WAY IN HELL' under the signature line. Having done this, she pushed the document to the side and smiled at Haku again. He smiled back out of courtesy, and she nonchalantly pulled out a bottle of sake and a small cup, pouring herself a little of the alcohol before addressing the reason for Haku's visit.
"So, Haku," she said after slamming the little cup down on her desk and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, "I just wanted to tell you that your Master will stay here for a while, but your training will go on as previously decided, at least until he changes his mind. I don't really want him to be here, and I wish that he'd have told you about this instead of telling me, but he seems to want to avoid you for some reason."
Haku nodded, and he lowered his gaze to the trim on the near side of the desk. "I thought as much, but thank you for telling me outright, Miss Tsunade."
She smiled at him. "Such a good kid, you are, you know to call me 'Miss' and not 'old Lady'…" her smiled cracked a little and she downed another glass before beaming at him. "Well, Haku, it seems like you're having a little trouble with your Master, but don't worry, these things work themselves out. I'm sure that he'll see how well you're doing and he'll whisk you away in no time."
Haku stared at her, not quite sure of how to take what she'd said, so he replied, "Thank you, Miss Tsunade."
Tsunade nodded before pouring herself another cup of sake and raising it, as if to offer a toast. "No problem, kid. I do have a parting gift for you before you go, though." She looked through another drawer on her desk, and as she rummaged she asked off-handedly, "I take it Asuma gave you the other gift already?"
"Yes, Miss Tsunade," he said. "You're speaking of the forehead protector, correct?"
She nodded before pulling a used-looking weapons pouch from the drawer. "Do you remember what he told you?"
"…that I'm supposed to wear it, but no one ever wears them anyway…"
Tsunade smiled, setting the pouch on her desk. It fell with a distinct 'chink' noise of metal-on-metal, and Haku regarded it wearily. "That's right, kiddo!" She shut her drawer and handed him the heavy pouch.
"There are a few special kunai in here that are easy to throw. Yondaime used to have them custom-made, back when he was a Jounin…" she hiccupped, and covered her mouth with an embarrassed look on her face. Haku ignored it, and accepted the pouch.
"You can throw away the pouch as soon as you get to the room, but whatever you do, make sure to clean the kunai as soon as you can." She gave him an even look, and he felt himself nodding under her heavy gaze. "As soon as you can."
The moment was lifted when she poured herself another cup. "Go on, get out of here, you little whipper-snapper," Tsunade said. Haku stood to leave, and she grumbled something about children watching her get dead-drunk.
He held the dirty old pouch at arm's length, wondering why she hadn't given him the special kunai in a clean pouch, and why she had left the kunai for him to clean. I am thankful, though, that she would go out of her way to give me something. Miss Tsunade seems a tad eccentric though…
In accordance with her words, he dumped the kunai onto his floor and threw the pouch into the trash can. Most of the kunai were plain kunai, though several were curved in an odd fashion, and Haku began to sort them out, wondering why she had given him any plain kunai to begin with.
As he put another plain kunai into the pile he'd created for them, though, a flash of white on the kunai's hilt caught his eye. He slid his little finger into the whole at the end of the weapon and let it hang from his finger like that. His eyes shot open when he read the word that was written on the kunai's hilt in white chalk.
FAKE
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
The medicine had done its work. Aka had not coughed all day, and Zabuza had only left the room to buy breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the three of them from stalls around the White Town marketplace. Itachi had taken note of his irritable state, and had agreed that they would be able to leave the next day, though their pace would be slow.
When Itachi stepped out, Aka turned to him and regarded him with weird eyes. It seemed as though she had taken a liking to Itachi, or at least that she preferred Itachi to him.
He stared back at her, and she smiled at him. The smile knocked Zabuza out of his mood, and he realized that he had already forgotten Haku's smile.
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
