A/N: I succeeded in passing my exams! (Admittedly, Biology was abysmal, but it was a PASS *dances*) Only two retakes :) so im a happy little girl. An extra long chapter in celebration! Arigatou gozaimasu to cutiekyoto, Azami, jenjenjojo1012, CookieKrisp and WhisperInTheRain :D! Enjoy, this is for you! ACK I FORGOT DISCLAIMERS D:
Disclaimer - Masashi Kishimoto-sempai is the rightful owner of all things Naruto related as the creator of the loveable goofball and all characters appearing in the manga series. Masashi Kishimoto-sempai has no ownership over anything created by this weird teenage girl and knows nothing of Kari's or Kita's.
Claimer - Kari, Kita, relationships tied to the two and scenes that do not appear in either the manga or the anime series belong solely to Ookami Tsubasawa. Stealing in any sense is not appreciated. I will find out.
(The Edited Version)
Chapter 9
Koorino Nakani Kiretsu
Cracks in the Ice
-x-
Pain in any sense, is the hardest thing to accept.
-x-
It was a sensation similar to drowning. The cold air stung as she tried to draw breath, choking her in coils and seeming to tear the inside of her lungs. It forced its way into her pores freezing her to her very core, so cold it felt hotter than a burn.
"Shh, it's okay," a voice soothed next to her ear, and her eyes were shrouded by cloth as Haku pulled her into an embrace. Her hands clawed at the material, but she barely felt it and it provided her with no warmth at all. "I know how you feel, I know, I know it hurts." She tried to say something but couldn't, the cold air strangling her as she tried to form words. "That emptiness... It's okay, I won't let you suffer anymore, I'll make your pain go away..." She tried to pull on his yukata shaking her head frantically.
The boys, I have to protect the boys!
Her own pain meant little if they were okay, she didn't want to die for nothing, she wanted to protect her team-mates.
"I'll let you sleep toutai bishoujo," Haku said gently and she felt the barest brush of warmth against her forehead. She looked up into his eyes, desperately trying to explain her need to protect them, to live for Sasuke and Naruto, but something penetrated through the skin covering her ribs. The cold caressed her wound, numbing it before she could feel it. She tried to suck in air as her vision darkened and her legs gave out, the cold consumed her as she felt another senbon puncturing her side.
"No regrets... but I do, I'm so sorry... I'm so, so sorry..."
-x-
"No, no, Kari-chan! Where did she go?" Naruto cried in panic as he frantically looked from one mirror to the next, desperate to find a trace of his missing friend. Sasuke's stress was more inward as outside he tried to remain calm. He shouldn't have lashed out at her, she was trying to bargain with the enemy to save them, not just throw her life away. He immediately regretted saying it but he wouldn't admit it, as was his insufferable pride. He almost flinched when she suddenly reappeared, tossed out of the mirror and stopping frighteningly still laying with her back facing them. Naruto wasted no time scrambling over to her, pulling her back into the middle with them.
Sasuke all but pushed the idiot out of the way as he hurriedly assessed her, one hand grabbing her wrist and the other pressed to her neck. Her pulse was lethargic, it was too slow. The skin beneath his fingers was all but turned to ice, even colder than before.
"Baka, oi! Wake up, come on, look at me!" Sasuke said as his eyes took in the countless scratches that marred her pale skin. Needles stuck out at various angles and he saw some were dangerously close to vital points.
"She's so cold, she's so cold..." Naruto moaned taking her hand in his as he tried to warm it.
"Kari!" Sasuke hissed and she finally responded, eyes rolling towards him.
"It'll be okay, we'll get you help," Naruto promised. "Just try and stay out the way and rest while we get out of here."
Her limbs trembled as she tried to move and Naruto helped her sit up. Her hand slid to a senbon protruding from her side and went to rip it out, but flinched when it moved. Blood oozed out of her mouth as her eyes fluttered, black spots starting up in her vision.
"I can't protect you two too," Sasuke said and squeezed Kari's shoulder pulling her back into awareness. "Kari," her head tilted showing she was listening. "Try and protect yourself, you can't afford to take more damage."
She smiled and felt her dry lips split, eyes drooping with exhaustion as she fought tooth and nail for her consciousness.
"Gomen," she croaked and he almost felt angry with her for apologising for something so stupid.
"I'll do my best to protect you Kari-chan," Naruto promised as she swayed. She didn't know what the hell Haku had done with those needles once she was half frozen, but it was having a terrible effect on her.
"We are going to be hit, we just need to avoid a serious wound. There must be a limit to his Chakra, he's already slowly..." Sasuke began but he suddenly tensed. "Here it comes!"
-x-
"Sakura, protect Tazuna-san!" Kakashi ordered and the pinkette nodded as her sensei prepared to battle. She mentally put faith in Sasuke, sure he would be fine.
"What's this super-thick mist? You can't see anything!" Tazuna said anxiously.
"The enemy is serious! Stay near me Tazuna-san!" Sakura cried holding a kunai tightly, sounding much braver than she felt. The old man agreed, shooting a glance at the dome of ice where the other kids were trapped.
'The mist is too thick, Zabuza shouldn't be able to see anything either,' Kakashi thought. He sensed the oncoming shuriken in the nick of time and with lightning reflexes, managed to knock them away from his body.
"Impressive that you blocked those Sharingan Kakashi," Zabuza said from behind him, his eyelids closed, smothering his sight. "But the next time you see me, will be the last." With that, Zabuza once again disappeared into the mist. "You have overrated your Sharingan too much, heh. You acted as if you knew everything, but that prediction was wrong. Kakashi, you can neither read my mind nor see the future. The Sharingan is merely a trick to make your opponent think you can. It's basically a doujutsu consisting of hypnotism and an attention to detail. By using these two abilities together, you can process to copying the body, to copying the mind, to copying the jutsu. This is the dance that makes it seem like you can see into the future. First, with that keen eye you copy my movements and shake my mind. After I'm confused you can figure out what I'm going to say and become me. Once my worry and confusion reaches its peak, you attack with a clever trick. Through hypnotic Gen-jusu you suggest what seal I should perform and simply copy that. So... the answer is simple. First, with this mist I make that keen eye of yours useless and if I keep my eyes closed I reduce my chance of being hypnotised."
"But why? Then you can't see anything either," Kakashi pointed out.
"Have you forgotten? I am a genius at silent killing, taking the enemy down by just their sound."
Kakashi barely had time to figure out Zabuza's next move when the Kirigakure Nukenin appeared behind Tazuna. He rushed in to protect them, but he knew before Zabuza declared it.
"Too late!"
-x-
Sakura's shrill scream carried over to the icy prison and Kari's eyes snapped wide. She trembled, cold and senbon wounds restricting her movement.
"Sakura... Kakashi... Tazuna... Kita..." She murmured as she swayed forward, trying to take a step but crashing to her knees. Haku had barely missed two pressure points which was why she felt so dizzy, the crashing falls had left her ribs in agony and more than once her bad leg had twisted underneath her as she fell. Her eyes blurred every few minutes and she knew she was fast approaching her limit. Refusing to give up, she started to crawl. "Ka...shi..."
"Kari," Sasuke warned. He had quickly realised she was very responsive to her given name, which was understandable when he had been referring to her as 'idiot'. She crashed forwards, her chin hitting the ground as her hands clawed at the ice beneath her fingers, still trying to drag herself forward.
'This is bad, I have to do something,' Sasuke thought. As his eyes were adapting to the enemy's moves he was getting better at avoiding the critical blows. Naruto was scratched up and exhausted, outcold from the last attack and from what he could guess, Kari had a punctured lung. If she pulled out the senbon, her lung would collapse and she'd either suffocate or drown. To Sasuke's slight relief, she didn't seem to have the energy to start dragging out senbon, so for the meantime, she was still alive. Though if he didn't end this and quick, she was going to be the first to die.
The Uchiha quickly avoided multiple senbon directed only at him.
"Dodging my attacks at the last second, you... move well," Haku commented. "But this time I'll stop you."
'He's coming... calm down... concentrate... and see through it!' Sasuke thought, eyes taking in every detail and mind working furiously. At the last second, Sasuke grabbed his team-mates bodies and hauled them out the way of the incoming attacks.
"He saw it? No way!" Haku gasped as they landed with a crash. Kari let out a soft moan of pain as her throat felt sticky and blood bubbled out her mouth.
"Sasu..." she said as hereyes threatened to roll back.
"Stay awake," he growled and eyes flashed up to glare at his enemy, cool onyx replaced by a blazing crimson as two tomoe swirled on a thin line between the edge of the iris and the pupil in his right eye and one tomoe in his left. He flinched at the sudden cold touch to his cheek and sent Kari an accusing look. This was a battle he couldn't afford to be distracted. She managed a faint half smile and Sasuke was slightly taken aback by the fact she seemed proud. Proud of him.
"Sha... ringan..." she said and his eyes widened slightly with shock.
"I see, you are also from an advanced bloodline," Haku commented and Sasuke gave Kari a rough shake as she started to go floppy. "Then I can't fight for much longer... My jutsu uses up a lot of Chakra, there's a limit for how long I can keep up this speed."
Thoroughly irritated at being shaken around when she had such a miniscule amount of energy, Kari crawled over to Naruto, aiming to shake him awake.
"Most likely, the longer this fight goes, the better you will be able to read my movements. If your eyes are starting to catch me..." Sasuke jumped when Haku suddenly flung himself out of the frame. "Then this is the end."
Despite the speed, everything seemed to suddenly slow into slow-motion. Seeing that Haku was aiming directly for Naruto, Kari immediately flung herself over his body in an attempt to protect him from harm. She heard Sasuke's shout and it ripped through her like a physical strike as he yelled for her and Naruto and pleaded that he make it in time. But Haku was faster and she hoped he would get there first. If Haku struck her, Naruto would be protected and Haku would be open to Sasuke's hit. Let it be her, so they could live...
"KARI!"
'Sasuke, Naruto, gomenasai...'
-x-
"You were too slow Kakashi, did your desire to save those brats cloud your mind and make the mist even thicker?" Zabuza mocked as Kakashi held the gash to his torso. It dribbled blood, but it wasn't deep enough to be fatal. Kakashi knew Zabuza was right though, he was worried to death about his Genin trapped in the ice, he couldn't feel Kari's erratic Chakra anymore and the thought terrified him. "Even without that precious eye, your ability to read my movements is dimming. Let me enjoy this a bit more Kakashi, I want to have fun as I return the favour... Don't worry about the brats, Haku has probably killed them by now. Plus, I'm about to send you to the same place as them. You can apologise to them in the next world for lacking the strength to protect them."
Kakashi concentrated on believing in his team. In a sense the icy dome was almost beneficial, if Kari had seen him bleed, no doubt she would angrily attack Zabuza in his defence and despite her strength of heart, Zabuza was far too much for a small inexperienced kunoichi to handle.
"Sasuke-kun won't be defeated by a guy like that so easily! Kari-chan and Naruto too!" Sakura cried in protest.
"Exactly, I believe in their strength. Naruto's determination, Kari's strength of heart and Sasuke as the offspring to Konoha's most formidable clan," Kakashi said.
"You mean..."
"Yeah, his name is Uchiha Sasuke," Kakashi confirmed. "A genius ninja with the blood of the Uchiha clan running through his veins."
"An offspring of that tragic clan," Zabuza mused, understanding that it was the cause of the boy's quick improvement. "But that's the same for Haku, no one's ever beaten that special jutsu."
"He disappeared!" Sakura cried as Zabuza once again hid himself in the coils of the mist surrounding them.
"Sakura, stay here. I guess I should end this fight too..." Kakashi said. He jumped into the mist clutching his wound. "Do you hear me Zabuza? You thought I survived in this world on only my Sharingan. I am a former member of the Anbu, the Special Military Assassin Team. What kind of ninja I used to be, not just copying... I'll show you my own jutsu!"
-x-
He was woken when a sudden weight was thrown on top of him, but it took him a moment to fight off the grogginess that still lingered from unconsciousness. Opening his eyes he saw Haku face down on the ground past Sasuke's ankles.
"Geez, all you ever do is get in the way..." Sasuke grumbled.
"Sasuke! You-!" Naruto began excitedly but stopped at the expression of Kari's face. He'd never seen something like it, such a raw, terrified emotion. "K-Kari-chan?" Her eyes were wide, horrified and gleaming with unshed tears. Her lip trembled from a suppressed cry. Naruto smile promptly disappeared. "What's wrong? Sasuke he-"
But then Naruto saw what she saw. The needles protruding from Sasuke's body at all angles. The blood spilling from the Uchiha's lips as he stood frozen from the enemy's attack. He'd intercepted, saving his team-mates life at the cost of his own body.
"What's with those faces...? Morons..." Sasuke asked glancing back at them as Kari made a choked wail.
"Why?" Naruto asked.
"How should I know..." Sasuke said as his sight blurred. "Pfft, I hated you..."
"But why? Why? Why me?" Naruto choked. "I never asked for your help!"
Kari's first sob tore through her, lungs burning in protest at the tightness. Her eyes stung as though pierced with senbon as the first warm sticky tear slid down her face.
"How am I supposed to know, my body moved on its own... Baka..." Sasuke said as he crumpled and fell. Kari caught him with shaking arms and held him to her, his head resting on her lap. At the blankness of his eyes another tear sprang free of her other eye. Gone was the fierce strength of the Sharingan. Gone was the sharp, calculating, indifferent, mocking onyx eyes. His eyes were a faded, bleary grey. "Stop crying..." Sasuke grunted, his eyebrows drawing together. Her face... how could a face express such feeling, display such agony. Was it the difference of her tears? The way saltwater was replaced by a liquid so horribly alike to blood?
"Sasuke..." she moaned as her breath hitched more tears streaking down her face in a cascade of pain. "I would... I would have protected him... why?"
"Who'd have protected you?" he murmured. "Baka, don't cry over me..." he grimaced slightly as this only made her cry more. Frustrated he lifted a shaking hand to try and brush her tears away, but they just smudged making a mess of her cheek. Her hand clutched his, the other brushing his long bangs out of his face with the care of a midwife handling a newborn baby. When did she start caring about him so much? He thought she found him irritating and stubborn. But such a face... it was as though his fast approaching death meant the end of her entire world.
"Sa...suke..." her voice was more desperate, broken by the sobs that shook her whole body.
"That man... my brother... I told myself I wouldn't die until I killed him..." Sasuke said, his voice slower, more thick as he fought the darkness lingering at the edges of his vision. He never told her about himself, a part of him wished he had. He knew she would have listened, wouldn't have judged, maybe, just maybe, would have understood.
"You will," Kari promised holding his hand tighter even though her own hand shook horribly. "You'll achieve your goals Sasuke, you will, I know you will..."
The closest thing to a smile she'd ever seen tilted the corners of his lips, his eyes half closed now. He barely felt her death-grip on his fingers, or the gentle caress of her thumb stroking his cheek. She had so much belief in him... He didn't want to let her down. But he felt his grip slipping as the waves of darkness slid closer.
"Don't die also..." Sasuke whispered, then his eyes fluttered closed, his head tilting on his lax neck, his body falling limp.
"Sa-Sasuke..." Kari said shakily. "S-S-Sasu-k-ke, w-wake up!"
"He landed a blow on me and without flinching... died to protect the both of you," Haku said, getting to his knees. "To protect a precious person, even though he knew it was a trap...he was still able to jump in. He is a Shinobi deserving of respect." He stepped back into the mirror behind him. "Is this your first death of a friend? This is the way of a Shinobi."
"Shut up..." Naruto growled. Haku gasped as Chakra seemed to pour out of the two remaining ninja. Naruto's seemed to ooze out, building with his rage while Kari's was erratic with her overwhelming emotions and excruciating pain. "I'll kill you!" Naruto roared as the most terrible of screams erupted from Kari's lungs, chilling the already freezing air around them.
Their Chakra swirled angrily, cracking the ground beneath them with the sheer force of it. Kari's eyes rolled as her body seemed to contort, her gums bled as her canines lengthened and sharpened in her mouth and her ears and spine burned in agony as though they were being pulled out of her body. Naruto's orange-red Chakra seemed to form the face of the fox above him while her own remained wild and shapeless, at one moment swirling like fire before lashing out like lightening.
All that registered in her mind was pain, horrid, excruciating, unexplainable pain. Sasuke was gone, her team-mate, he died protecting her. Her sorrow and guilt were thrown into the background when a foreign heat bubbled inside her, pushing its way to the forefront.
Pure, uncontrollable, rage.
"It's impossible! For Chakra to change like this and for their aura's to suddenly become so evil!" Haku cried in alarm. Naruto was becoming wilder, sharpened nails, red slit-pupil eyes, his hair seemed static from the charge of the peculiar Chakra as he bared his teeth, the cute whisker-lines on his face becoming more defined until they almost seemed like tiger stripes. His cuts were rapidly healing with no trace of the skin ever being broken.
Haku for the first time in a long time felt afraid. Kari seemed to almost be transforming into a wild beast, her changes more drastic than Naruto's as her claws and teeth were longer and sharper, her ears becoming pointed, the outside covered in fur. A furry tail burst free from the bottom of her spine, swishing wildly and she snarled and hissed in agony. Wings had ripped out of her back, blood clinging to the white feathers making the scene haunting, as though a metaphor that the innocence in her was now tainted.
But her eyes... those terrifying eyes. What once Haku found a thing of beauty, as though the hues of the sky, sea and forest were mixed into a dazzling display of colours, of blues, greens and greys, dancing with the innocence of a child with no sins, those eyes were replaced by eyes that should belong to Satan himself. The bright ruby red glowed the colour of the blood leaking from her wounds, the thin pupil monstrous and snakelike. The girl he had befriended had been consumed by some terrible sort of monster.
"What are these two?" Haku cried as an unearthly roar found its way between Kari's bleeding lips. He'd never experienced such a sound, the cry of a beast from the depths of the nightmares of the most traumatised of people. As Haku readied his senbon in uncharacteristically shaky hands, both pairs of demonic eyes turned to him.
-x-
Both Jounin suddenly stopped at the eruption of Chakra.
"Is that Zabuza?" Kakashi cried alarmed. "No, that terrible Chakra, it can't be..."
The silver-haired Jounin flinched when he heard her scream, he recognised it as Kari and his heart stopped cold in his chest. Something had happened, something terrible had happened. Chills swept down his spine as Kari's scream faded into more of an animalistic screech.
"What's this Chakra?" Zabuza murmured. "Kakashi? No it's too strong to be his... And there's more than one..."
"Naruto? This is bad... could the seal have been broken?" Kakashi expanded his mind, trying to sense the Chakra more clearly. "It's alright, the seal hasn't completely broken! The seal has just weakened and the Kyuubi's Chakra is pouring out!" He shuddered as chills clawed their way down his spine and his stomach contorted with a sudden intense feeling of terror. "But that second Chakra... What on earth is it?" Forcing down the sudden rising panic he could pick out Kari's Chakra mixed within the foreign second Chakra. "Kari?"
Suddenly finding the situation even more dire, Kakashi pulled out a scroll and hurriedly wiped blood from his chest wound across the kanji written there. If he hurried there would still be time. A monstrous roar echoed through the mist and his heart skipped a beat. He had to be fast.
"Zabuza, can you hear me? Neither of us has any time to waste," Kakashi stated, throwing the scroll around him in a certain pattern. "This might not suit your style but let's end the fun and finish this now!" Kakashi caught the scroll and performed a seal with it still in his grasp.
"Hmph. Sounds interesting. What can you do in this situation, Kakashi? Show me!" Zabuza taunted from the mist.
-x-
Their Chakra settled slightly, detracting its rage to settle around their bodies, though Kari's still lashed out at certain moments. Haku braced himself as they pounced, movements far too fast as they crouched on all fours.
"What killer intent! They're completely different than before!" Haku cried in alarm throwing needles which just seemed to bounce of Naruto's form. Haku flinched when he felt one of his mirrors shatter when Kari's fist, lathered in her different Chakra destroyed his mirror into ice shards before destroying the next just as quickly. He felt a new urgency, knowing he couldn't keep the jutsu up for much longer and jumped out from a mirror above, heading down for both of them. He crashed to the ground, missing both of them as they flung themselves away from his attack. Shaken by his miss, Haku immediately turned to race for the nearest mirror when both his wrists were snatched by his opponents. "No way!"
Naruto's Chakra started to melt his mirrors while Kari's lashed out like a whip, smashing two to their left to smithereens. Haku groaned in pain from their bruising grip and then gasped when he saw fists coming at him, the two Genin moving in frightening synchronisation, their knuckles crashing into his mask and gut. He was sent straight through one of his mirrors crashing to the ground as cracks raced across in a spiderweb pattern across the porcelain.
Kari's Chakra crackled and snapped out, smashing the remaining mirrors before they had a chance to dissolve, letting ice shards fall like diamond rain, crying for the pain they had caused.
"Zabuza-san..." Haku murmured as a piece of his mask fell from his face, revealing a bleeding lip. "I cannot defeat these two..." The rest of the mask faded away, revealing his delicate face. "Zabuza-san..." Haku made no movement to evade the attacks hurtling towards him as a cold emptiness swept through him. He had failed...
But before Naruto's fist could connect, Kari's fingers wrapped around his wrist, halting the attack.
"You... You're from that time," Naruto said in sudden recognition. The wild expression faded from his features as he turned back into a baby-faced boy with bright blue eyes. Kari's Chakra also died, as did the ruby colour of her irises, to be replaced by a stormy grey taking dominance over the other hues.
"Why did you stop?" Haku asked quietly. "I killed your precious friend, yet you can't kill me?"
Kari promptly finished Naruto's halted punch and sent Haku crashing to the ground.
"What happened to your intensity? You can't kill me with that..." Haku murmured as he sat up, blood dribbling down his chin. "There are people who make this mistake, not killing their enemy because of pity, letting them leave with their lives... You understand don't you Kari-chan? Not having a dream... Not being needed by anyone... The pain of simply living..."
Haku didn't react when he was forced into a straighter sitting position, the collar of his jumper tight in her fists. He looked away, glancing at the ends of her golden hair as it tickled his cheek. He looked up suddenly when he felt a wet drop hit his cheek. It hurt to look at her pained expression, he wished she wouldn't bleed her tears for him, yet he couldn't bear to look away. Her hands shook yet remained tight in their grip as Kari sank to her knees, her pain ripping her strength from her.
"What are you trying to say?" Naruto demanded, eyes switching from his comrade to his enemy.
"Zabuza has no need for a weak Shinobi. You have taken away my reason for existing..." Haku said with a broken smile.
"One lost fight does not make you weak!" Kari hissed, tugging on his collar in frustration.
"Why for a guy like that? He's a bad guy who takes money from a criminal!" Naruto protested. "Is that eyebrow-less freak the only person important to you?"
"I had people very dear to me a very long time ago... my parents," Haku said softly as he absentmindedly played with a lock of Kari's hair, ignoring the red tint from her blood. "I was born in a small snowy village in Kirigakure. I was happy, my parents were very kind people. But... When I grew up and began to learn the ways of the world... something happened..."
"What? What happened?" Naruto asked as Haku wiped the blood from his mouth and looked at it blankly.
"This blood... My father killed my mother and then tried to kill me..."
"What?" Naruto cried in alarm as Kari's hand loosened in their hold.
"Kirigakure had endless civil wars and those with Kekkei Genkai came to be hated. Bloodlines with special abilities such as mine. Because of these abilities, clans with kekkei Genkai were used as weapons in countless battles. As a result, these clans were blamed for bringing misfortune and war into the country. After the wars, the clans had to hide the truth about their own blood, for those whose secret was discovered, only death awaited. That young man must have also experienced much hardship, people with Kekkei Genkai are often feared. My mother was from one of those bloodlines, my father had discovered this, when I realised what I had done I had killed him – my own father! And at that time I realised... the most painful thing... That in this world, I am a person who is unwanted..."
Naruto knew the feeling, the villagers backs as he tried to approach them, the whispers as he passed...
"You said you wanted to become the best ninja in your village and have everyone acknowledge you. Now, if someone had acknowledged you from the bottom of their heart appeared... wouldn't that peron become the most precious to you?" Haku asked. "Zabuza-san took me in knowing I was a person with a Kekkei Genkai. This blood that everyone hated, he desired it." Haku paused as tears glittered in his eyes, a smile from the depths of his heart lifting his lips. "I was so happy..." But from the happiness, he felt despair from his failure, but before he could speak another word he felt a crushing pressure as Kari threw her arms around him, holding him to her and shutting out the horrors of the world.
"I'm sorry," she whispered as the tears slipped down her face. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you... I'm so sorry."
"Silly girl," Haku murmured as he momentarily allowed the comfort of her touch. He was glad he took her hand of friendship and treasured the short time he was a boy, she was a girl and they were just children, friends. The ninja world disappeared in those moments and only peace remained. The touch Zabuza didn't want, she was all too pleased to receive, welcoming the affection and letting him express the love he desperately wanted to give. The feel of her blushing cheeks were burned to his fingertips and the indent of her body from each embrace still echoed even when his arms were empty. She was precious to him too, but Zabuza shaped his very existence and without Zabuza, he had no meaning. He clung to each soft patter of her heart and holding her to him, said the words that needed to be said.
"Naruto-kun... please kill me."
-x-
"Ninpou: Kuchiyose!" Kakashi cried, slamming the scroll into the ground "Doton: Tsaiga no Jutsu!"
"Hmph, whatever you do is useless," Zabuza stated confidently. "You can't figure out where I am. But I know exactly where you are, Kakashi, you are trapped by my jutsu." The ground began to rumble beneath his feet. "Huh?"
Zabuza was caught off guard when sharp teeth closed around his ankles and dogs burst forth from the earth, leaping with jaws wide open.
"What's that sound?" Tazuna cried at the rumbling growls and barks coming from the mist. Kita's ears perked when she sensed the Chakra's of creatures that were slightly Kita-like.
"If eyes and ears don't work, then just use your nose," Kakashi stated matter-of-factly. "This is what happens when you have your eyes shut in the mist. This summoning is especially for tracking down an opponent. The reason I purposely let my blood spill twice was for this. Your weapons are soaked with the sent of my blood. These are my cute Ninken, their sense of smell exceeds that of all other dogs. You are the one trapped in my jutsu. The mist has cleared, your future is death."
"My future is death? I'm sick of your bullshit," Zabuza sneered, well aware the tables had turned. The dogs had a tight grip on him and one was easily heavier than he.
"Don't be foolish, there's nothing you can do in this situation. Your death is certain," Kakashi said. "Zabuza, you went too far. Your ambition was too great. You abandoned the country of mist and became a Nukenin, your story reached even Konohagakure no sato. Your attempted coup de tat and your attempt at assassinating the Mizukage both failed. You needed money for your revenge, you also needed to avoid Oinin, that's probably when you attached yourself to scum like Gatou."
Kakashi's hand formed the seals for ox, rabbit and monkey and his Chakra sparked like lightning in his hand, a ring from the ground forming as the Chakra was compressed.
"Raikiri!" Kakashi cried, his hand holding the lightning Chakra, preparing to attack. "You are too dangerous, Tazuna-san who you are trying to kill is this country's courage, the bridge he seeks to build is this country's hope. Your ambition sacrifices many people. This is not what a Shinobi should do."
"I don't give a damn," Zabuza snarled. "I fight for my own ideals, and I will continue to!"
"I will ask once again," Kakashi said quietly. "Surrender. Your future is death."
-x-
"Please... hurry and kill me," Haku asked as he pulled away from Kari, who sat there numb, hand still reached out towards him like a child. No longer able to bear her pleading eyes he turned his focus onto Naruto. "Why are you hesitating...?" Kari stood and stumbled back, away from Haku where she glanced at Naruto.
"I don't understand! Is being strong the only reason for you to be alive?" Naruto shouted. "Something other than fighting... You could have been acknowledged for something else..."
"The day I met you both in the forest... I thought you were both like me... You should be able to understand," Haku said softly, his eyes looking to Kari once more before turning back to Naruto. "I'm sorry that you will have to stain your hands."
"Is this... Is this the only way?" Naruto demanded.
"Yes..." Haku responded immediately. Naruto closed his eyes and grit his teeth as he pulled out a kunai. Kari's eyes stung in protest of the tears once again making their way down her face. "Please fulfill your own dreams, both of you."
"He... Sasuke also had a dream," Naruto said looking over at his fallen comrade. "If we'd met under different circumstances, we might have become friends."
Kari's face crumpled in despair for a second precious life she was unable to protect. Her hands clenched into fists as she tried to stop her streaming tears.
Sasuke... Haku-kun...
"Arigatoo," Haku said as Naruto charged. Kari closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to see, not ever wanting to see the death of one precious.
-x-
"The super-thick mist's starting to clear!" Tazuna cried as it started to become more transparent.
"There are two figures over there!" Sakura noticed as two figures appeared in the foggy white. "They look like they're staring at each other, which one's Kakashi-sen... Oh! He's moving!" Sakura cried.
-x-
Haku gasped as Kari felt a chill and the tingle of a potent electric Chakra, Chakra she recognised as her sensei's. Her eyes snapped open in time to see Haku stop Naruto's attack, his hand grabbing Naruto's wrist before the kunai could strike him.
"Gomen Naruto-kun!" Haku cried as his hands slid into a seal. "I can't die yet!"
As a mirror of ice rose out the ground Kari had already acted, legs pumping as she raced forward, decision made in a split second as her heart contracted. She felt Haku's presence slip from near Naruto to a dozen or so feet ahead of her and pushed harder, a blaze of Chakra surrounding her legs from the hips down as she ran.
She would not let another precious person die.
That was her dream, her goal, her reason for existence.
Kakashi was in sight and she saw the other mirror form, Haku toes peeking out as he prepared to step in the way, to take the blow for his master.
Sound disappeared, everything blurred into blobs of shape and colour as she ran faster than she had ever ran. In the last split second she saw a shadow dart in front of Zabuza, Haku's body acting as armour against the incoming attack. The boy's face was set, eyes blazing with a passionate bravery that almost caused her to falter.
At the last second the lunged forward, body twisting and arms flung outwards like a bird launched into flight as she felt the electrical Chakra collide with her back...
-x-
Translations;
toutai bishoujo - precious beautiful girl
Raikiri - Lightning blade
Ninpou: Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsaiga no Jutsu - Ninja technique: Summoning: Earth Style: Fanged Tracking no Jutsu
-x-
Feelings, thoughts, good, bad?
Review please :)