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Chapter 11 – Journey to the Land of Waves: Part 7 – A New Path

Amaya thanked the gods that Zabuza's cut had been shallow; Kakashi had been able to avoid a fatal strike. The fabric of his jacket hung open slightly, wet with blood. Mamoru sat on her shoulder, listening for the enemy. "Kakashi, you're going to get yourself killed. Forget the Genin. We can't help them. You've got to focus."

The silver-haired Jonin nodded slowly, silently cursing himself for his lapses. He may not have been at his best, but he knew he was better than this. He straightened and reached for a scroll in his jacket.

Both Jonin froze as they felt a heavy chakra in the air. They glanced at each other; there was no mistaking the Fox's chakra. Kakashi swore. "I think the seal's slipping. We have to end this now." He continued to reach for the scroll.

Amaya placed her hand over his. "I think we can get Zabuza to see that I meant what I said."

"No. I've gone along with you this far, but too many lives are at stake." Kakashi slipped the scroll into his hand and took a few steps back. Running his thumb through the blood still oozing from the sword slash on his chest, he unfurled the scroll with a flick of his wrist. He smeared blood down the length of the writing, swirling the scroll around himself. Another flick of his wrist closed the scroll, and as he slammed it down, Amaya felt the bridge shudder as Kakashi's ninken burrowed through the structure.

Snarls and a cry of pain told Kakashi and Amaya that the ninken had found Zabuza. The missing-nin wasn't going anywhere, so the pair didn't hurry. As layers of mist peeled back, the two Jonin saw the assassin pinned in place by Kakashi's ninken. Amaya recognized Pakku but didn't call out to the smallest of the dogs; he knew she was there.

"Looks like your words meant nothing, woman," Zabuza sneered above the snarling and growling of his captors.

Amaya bit the inside of her cheek, keeping silent, but didn't let her gaze waver from the man who'd spoken. She hoped he saw that she had indeed meant what she'd said but that circumstances now prevented her from fulfilling the promise.

No words were exchanged between the silver-haired shinobi and the rogue nin. Their eyes locked for a moment before Kakashi performed the hand seals for his chidori. Lighting-like chakra gathered in his hand. Without hesitation, he dashed forward, meaning to end Zabuza's life. The auburn-haired Jonin watched as her comrade raced toward his target. A flicker of movement caught her eye and she sped forward, barely able to catch Kakashi's wrist before he impaled Haku. The ninken vanished in puffs of smoke, freeing Zabuza. The silver-haired shinobi glanced at her sharply, angry at her interference, then seemed to notice the boy not five inches in front of him. His gaze softened as he released his jutsu and stepped back. Killing a child, even one as skilled and lethal as Haku, wasn't a thought he relished.

"I must say, I'm disappointed you stopped him, girl. He would've rid me of half my problem."

All the shinobi turned to see Gato grinning wickedly. Behind him, a large group of thugs and cutthroats gathered, all looking for a piece of the money Gato promised.

"Why're you here, Gato?" Zabuza demanded.

"Well, you see there's been a slight change in plans. According to the new plan, you die right here on the bridge, Zabuza. You've become too expensive. Of course, these thugs I brought with me cost something, so if you could take out a few, I'd appreciate it. Think you can handle that, Demon of the Hidden Mist?" Gato laughed at Zabuza's glare.

"Well, well, Kakashi," Zabuza said, turning to face Gato and his hirelings, "looks like our fight's at an end. Since I'm no longer in Gato's employ, Tazuna's safe. I'm content this is how it will end. Come on, Haku." The two nin stepped forward, brandishing sword and senbon. Gato blanched, running to hide behind his thugs.

Amaya stepped around Kakashi and joined the rogue shinobi, drawing her hidden blade and a kunai. Neither Haku nor Zabuza said a word; all three shinobi moved again as one. Soon, the screams of the dying filled the bridge. Amaya slashed through one hireling after another, but unlike her counterparts, she maimed instead of killed. Hands were lost, legs made useless, arms were broken. As the remaining thugs lost their nerve and fled, Zabuza and Haku quickly and easily slew the defenseless Gato.

Walking back through the trail of corpses and moaning men, both missing-nin came to stand behind Amaya, who was putting a mortally wounded man out of his misery. Zabuza sneered down at her, his left arm dangling uselessly. "You're even softer than Haku." The nukenin said this even as Haku started patching up any damage he could reach without interfering with his master's talk.

"Just because I don't revel in the suffering of others as you do makes me no less of a shinobi," she said, rising to her feet and turning to face him. "So, do you believe me now? My offer still stands."

Zabuza glared at the tattooed woman. "I don't "revel". And don't act so high and mighty. It's easy to see you were once a killer like me."

"I did what I had to in defense of my village and my life."

"As do I," the missing-nin replied. They were both silent for a moment as his words sunk in. Then he continued. "As for if I believe you, I know nothing in this world is free. What do you want in return?"

Haku interrupted. "Might we talk about this after I tend to Master Zabuza's more serious wounds?"

Exchanging glances with Kakashi, Amaya nodded and told them where to meet the next morning. Swirling mist shrouded the nukenin and they were gone. A horde of villagers, armed with whatever they could find, appeared through the clearing mist. They seemed disappointed to find the battle done and their homes safe again but that feeling was forgotten as they began to help their fellow villagers.

With the bridge-builder's men taken care of, Amaya turned her attention to gathering the Genin, a weary Kakashi following behind. Naruto and Sakura knelt beside Sasuke, who was trying to sit up. Neither moved to help him, too caught up in the fact that he was still alive. The auburn-haired Jonin helped the young Uchiha stand before the other two Genin broke from their trance. They took her place, supporting their teammate between them.

Kakashi fell into step beside her as she led their charges back toward Tazuna's glanced at him, silently offering her own support. After a moment's hesitation, the silver-haired Jonin gratefully sank into her. He leaned on her in such a way that the Genin would think that, for the most part, he walked under his own power. In truth, his legs could barely hold him up; the combined loss of blood and chakra had taken their toll. All this she learned from a sigh that never passed further than her.

Tsunami greeted them with a warm meal and plenty of bandages. Leaving Sasuke in Tsunami's capable hands, the Jonin went to Kakashi's borrowed room. She ordered him to lay down while she fetched some warm water, rags, and the small medical kit she always carried with her. When she returned, he'd already taken off his jacket and shirt, leaving his mask on out of habit. Her eyes couldn't help but trace the well-toned contours of his chest. She forced down the memories beginning to surface as she knelt beside him.

"Well, the cut's shallow, so that's good. And it's stopped bleeding," Amaya said as she began to clean away the dried blood. Kakashi kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling, his own memories running wild. Her touch was gentle as she rubbed a stinging salve into the wound; he remembered quieter times when she'd been gentle for another reason.

He forced his breathing to remain normal, grabbing her wrist and lifting her burning fingers from his skin. "Stop. Let me finish." He spread the rest of the salve and she quickly dressed his injury.

Amaya said nothing, leaving to check on Sasuke. Well, mostly, she needed to get away from Kakashi. She didn't like that he could still make her heart beat wildly, didn't like that she could still do the same to him. That was behind her, part of her old life. Wasn't it?

The silver-haired Jonin sat up, resting his forehead against his palms and his elbows on his knees. He knew he still cared for her. But this? The feeling constricting his breath was akin to what he'd felt before she left. He'd thought time and distance would dim its intensity, that, if she came back, he'd be able to bear the thought of not holding her again. This was what she wanted, after all. For them to leave the past in the past. He sighed; he'd have to learn to live with the circumstances given to him. To lose her completely by perusing what they'd had before wasn't something he wanted to deal with. He dressed in the spare clothes he'd brought and composed himself before joining everyone else.

All Sasuke's injuries proved to be superficial, so Amaya sought Naruto to make sure his were as well. Naruto sat quietly as she examined his cuts, some already beginning to heal. He noticed Kakashi-sensei join them. The other Jonin and Amaya-sensei didn't meet the other's gaze, something they normally did often, as if to reaffirm that neither one had vanished.

"Is everything all right, sensei?" Naruto asked softly.

Amaya didn't answer right away and the blond wondered if he imagined the slight blush that rose on her cheeks. "Everything's fine, Naruto."

He wasn't sure he believed her.


The next morning, the Konoha shinobi met Zabuza and Haku where they'd all first met. The signs of their battle were gone. The missing-nin lounged in the branch of a tree, Zabuza sporting many more bandages other than the ones he normally wore, Haku no longer wearing his hunter nin uniform. They leapt from the tree; Amaya was rather shocked to see Haku dressed as he was. A pink, sleeveless kimono decorated with red edges and plum-colored swirls, hung to his ankles. Around his waist was a simple white obi tied in a bow, and he wore a pair of light brown sandals with dark straps. A dark choker adorned his neck.

"So, what's our part of this deal?" Zabuza wasted no time getting to business.

"To form an alliance between Leaf and Mist. Mist needs money. Leaf needs allies," Kakashi replied.

Zabuza thought for a moment. "Fair enough. I'll see what I can do." He shouldered his pack that rested nearby and Haku followed his master's lead. "I have one favor to ask of you before I go. Take this one with you. He's shown me today that he's too soft to ever be a proper Kiri nin. Let him live with you weak-hearted Leaf shinobi."

Haku turned wide eyes on his master, obviously hearing this for the first time. Zabuza vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the bewildered boy alone.

The tattooed shinobi understood. Kiri was still unstable; it would be dangerous for Zabuza to return. He didn't want to put Haku in that danger. He also seemed to want the boy to experience something akin to a normal childhood for a while, as normal as a ninja's life could be.

The two Konoha Jonin glanced at each other and Kakashi spoke. "We can't just leave him here. He'll return with us. If you want, that is." He directed his last comment at the young ninja.

Haku sighed. He'd known something would happen, the way Zabuza'd been acting last night, but he never guessed his master would abandon him. The Mist nin had said that his dream would soon be complete and had hinted that Haku should find his own dream. He turned to his new traveling companions and smiled. "It'd be an honor to travel with you." If this was his master's will, then he'd become a shinobi worthy of his master, a shinobi Zabuza couldn't help but be proud of.

Sasuke and Sakura glared at the nukenin, Sasuke because Naruto was his rival, Sakura because Haku had hurt her precious Sasuke. Unlike his teammates, Naruto's face lit up and he practically tackled the older boy. "You're gonna stay with me when we get back to the village. And I won't let you show me up again!" Haku gave a tentative but warm smile.

Without further delay, the group set off for home. Naruto threw his arm around Haku's shoulder, telling him about all the places they'd go in the village. Zabuza watched from the branches of a tree. Despite his dislike of the loudmouthed brat, he thought that Naruto would be a good friend to Haku.

"Goodbye, Haku. Have a good life," The Assassin of the Mist whispered, before heading off on his own way home.