Hey guys!

I know, I'm sorry. I'm being horrible with the updating. D8

I'll try to get more to you (like Treacherous Heart, maybe?) before the end of the weekend! Promise!

Promises Not Made are Promises Never Kept

Flashback Thirty-One: Fist

The girl that appeared was obviously nervous, with wide brown eyes set within a heart-shaped face. Her cheeks flushed red with either make-up or embarrassment, and her straightened, slick dark brunette hair seemed slightly messy. Sasuke noticed that her white kimono had a few more wrinkles than everybody else.

Her eyes though – her eyes were what made his breath shorten ever so slightly. In this place of emptiness and dull, her eyes were full of life and shone with an internal fire that instantly made him relax as she stared at him.

This one. This one wouldn't be boring in the slightest.

That gaze – that guarded, rebellious spark within her instantaneously reminded him of Naruto.

She stood there, like a statue, until her mother shot her a look and gave a very mild, very dangerous throat-clear. Jumping a little, she glanced at the woman before looking back to Sasuke and giving a slight cough, bowing stiffly.

"It's a… p-pleasure to meet you, Terranova-sama," she bit out, trembling. Sasuke smiled, gazing at her in wonder. He bowed deeply to her as well.

"The pleasure is all mine, Inaré-san," he replied warmly, hoping to ease her tension. "It's good to finally meet you. I know we will be the best of comrades."

The mother swelled with pride at this, and she bowed to Sasuke as well.

"Glorious."

From there, Inaré was ordered to spend the day with Haku, Sasuke, and Zabuza. There was to be no training – only talking and getting acquainted. Because of this, Inaré ventured out in her kimono.

"Don't get anything on it, my dear," her mother had told her before they left, sickeningly sweet as she pinched her daughter's cheek. "It is such a lovely thing."

With that, they had been sent off with promise of dinner with the family once the sun set.

At first, it was completely awkward. Sasuke had an innate sense of impending danger when it came to his new teammate, and it was exciting and frightening at the same time. It reminded him a little bit of the woman from before- Tyra. And that, needless to say, he had mixed feelings about. For a while, they simply in silence walked as a group, Inaré refusing to meet any of their gazes or even strike up a conversation.

Haku, bless his heart, was the one to salvage the situation.

"Inaré…" he began with a smile. Stiffening in her walk, she glanced sharply at him. "That is a beautiful name. May I ask what it means?"

She nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment before looking away.

"It doesn't mean anything," she replied guardedly. "It's just a name."

Blinking, Sasuke and Haku glanced at each other. That was a lie and they both knew it. With big clans like that, names always had meanings.

They didn't say anything else for a little while more. Then, Zabuza turned and sighed.

"Ah, good. Here we are."

Looking up, everyone glanced at him and then looked to where he had turned. Sasuke cocked his head and confusion.

He had led them to a training field.

"But, Zabuza…" Sasuke began. "What're we doing here?"

"You three are a team, right?" Zabuza asked as he walked into the center of the clearing – one of the few spits of land that were created solely for training on solid ground. Most of the training in the village happened over water. "And I'm your teacher, right? So we're going to train."

For the second time, Inaré spoke – this time nervously.

"B-but…" she stammered. "My-my mother said-"

"What she said doesn't matter," Zabuza told her sharply, making her eyes widen. "Go ahead. Tell on me to your little ole mommy. I am your teacher, not her. Only what I tell you matters. When she moves to take a kunai to the back for you, then she can tell me how to be your sensei. But until then, I don't give a good Goddamn what she says – got it?"

Smiling, Sasuke looked over at Inaré to see her dumbfounded.

"He's like that," he stated as way of explanation. "You get used to it."

Frowning, she shot him a seething, completely undeserved glare that made the smile fall from his face as he blinked at her before she looked back over to Zabuza.

"I… I never said I was going to tell on you," she bit out, still a little shocked. "But… I… I can't get this kimono dirty."

"And that is a really sorry excuse," Zabuza stated dismissively. "How old are you?" She blinked.

"Fourteen."

"Ah, perfect. So you are approximately fourteen years too old to still act like a baby. I know you have training clothes under that kimono. There is no way the material is that thick."

Sasuke gazed at her in awe.

"Do you really?" He asked in surprise as she flushed, caught red-handed. "Did you really come prepared to train?"

Again, she shot him another look – a look that called him all kinds of idiot. This time, he scowled at her.

What do I keep doing to deserve that?

"I'm always prepared," she stated simply as she loosened the kimono's wrappings with one pull and flung the offending piece of expensive material off. Uselessly, it collapsed upon the dirt.

Beneath the kimono, Inaré had been wearing full-scale training body armor, her bust barely fitting into the chest piece with her clan's insignia carved into the leather breast plate. A white scarf wrapped around her midsection, and leather elbow and kneepads protected her joints beneath the tight long-sleeve shirt and tights. A sheath for what looked to be a mighty sword hung just perfectly across her back so it wouldn't be seen beneath the kimono, and her headband hung around her neck

Sasuke stared in impressed shock as she pulled the scarf from her waist and began to pull her hair up. Zabuza chuckled.

"I knew it," he crooned. "You were itching for a fight the entire time."

Her face stern with a no-nonsense expression, she began to fix her forearm guards and adjusting the bindings, rolling her shoulders.

"I'm always itching for a fight," she replied, and Sasuke yet again sensed the rolling inferno right below the surface of her skin. Zabuza grinned.

"You're a little hurricane, aren't you?" He asked in amusement. Inaré raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is that a problem?" She asked, lowering her arms to her sides, and squaring up.

Haku had to laugh.

"No, I don't think so at all," he replied easily, making Inaré turn ever so slightly to gaze at him. His eyes were warm as he looked at her. "In fact, I think that may just be what he was hoping for."

And Sasuke, drinking in the positions of his teacher, his teammate, and his to-be-bride (Gods, what did that even mean?) realized something.

"Inaré…" he began slowly, making her scowl at him. "Do you feel like… we're against you?"

The expression dropped from her face, and she blinked a couple of times as she looked at him. Then after a moment, her face hardened over again and she looked away, her lips pursed together in a frown. He pursed his own lips, and in decision he walked slowly over to her. She stiffened as he moved, and he could see her guard rising as she turned to look at him.

"You shouldn't," he stated simply as he neared. "We're not against you. We're a team. We're family now. That means we're on the same side. So…" slowly, as she looked away, he reached out to touch her hand. "Please don't be so tense, okay?"

The instant he touched her hand, she flinched and yanked it away from him.

"Don't touch me!" She cried out before her other hand lashed out, and Sasuke's face was promptly introduced to her fist. "I HATE YOU!"

The force was enough to drive him back and send him crashing to the dirt, his head pounding. Holding a hand to his cheek, he stared up at her in bewilderment as she stormed away from him to where she had dropped the kimono, kneeling down to snatch it up.

Without a word to the other two, she stomped off, and Sasuke was still blinking in shock even as Haku walked over to him and helped him up.

"What the fuck was that about?!" He exclaimed as she vanished, even as Haku raised an eyebrow at him concerning his language. His gaze switched back and forth from where she had disappeared and Haku's mildly concerned, mostly amused face. "Did you hear me say anything to earn that?"

"No," Haku admitted, shaking his head and trying to fight back a smile as Zabuza downright grinned behind him. "But you did breach some sort of boundary. I wouldn't touch her again if I were you."

Pouting, Sasuke crossed his arms and looked away.


Dinner was equally tense. Sasuke didn't want to go after what had happened, but Zabuza had told him that it was necessary.

The dining room was unimpressive, everybody sitting on cushions at a low-level table as food of the sea was brought out.

The woman that Sasuke recognized as Inaré's mother sat at the head – her father was nowhere to be found. At her right hand side sat Zabuza, and Sasuke could only hope he was making the woman as uncomfortable as possible as Inaré sat across from him.

Sasuke – much to his dismay – sat next to Inaré, with Haku next to Zabuza and thus across from him.

Gods it's like a connect-the-dots game of hell. Sasuke thought bitterly, able to feel the silent resentment issuing from Inaré's pores even through her new, clean white kimono, her hair pulled up into a complicated bun and decorated with delicate white flowers.

"Shrimp?" The teenage boy on his other side offered politely, making Sasuke turn to look at him. Smiling, he took the heated plate from the male's hands.

"Thank you," he breathed softly as he put some on his plate before silently sighing and turning to Inaré. With the friendliest inflection he could muster, "Shrimp?"

Inaré took a moment too long in turning to acknowledge his question.

"Oh, no thank you," she said graciously, taking the plate from his hands. "Please go die," she told him softly with a grand smile before turning to offer the plate to her mother. Sasuke stared at her in angry shock before turning his gaze over to Haku, silently motioning his confusion. Haku merely shrugged with a smile, and placed a finger to his lips.

"So, Terranova-sama," her mother began, looking over at him as he raised his eyes from his food and turned his attention to her. "I believe I speak for all of us when I say that we are blessed by your presence. Our esteemed Mizukage informed us of your plan to take the God within yourself and save our lands. I only wish there was more we could offer you in thanks for your sacrifice."

It would be hard for Sasuke to notice, but Haku saw the way Inaré's eyes fell at her mother's words, and she bit the inside of her cheek as her hands fell into her lap.

"Ah, well, thank you, but nothing more is necessary," he responded as politely as he could. "I am only doing what I must to save the people that I love."

Instead of looking at Haku and Zabuza – as was his instinct – he glanced down to his plate instead as Inaré's mother sighed in pleasure.

"What a benevolent soul you are," she crooned, making Inaré turn her head slightly so her mother couldn't see her roll her eyes. "And not too soon, either. The weather has become more and more disastrous as of late, but as soon as you arrived, the sun showed her face for the first time in months. Already you have been written as a godsend."

"Careful," Zabuza warned in amusement. "My student already has an overly large ego. Inflating it just means that I'll have to poke a hole in it."

Sasuke scowled in confusion at his teacher as Haku laughed softly. What on earth did the man mean by that?

But the woman's words made him think. Was there already that severe of a change? Were the people of the Land of Water actually in danger? Was his sacrifice really helping them as much as she wanted him to believe?

"Well, um…" he began brokenly, realizing that he still hadn't answered her. "Glad to uh… be of service."

He smiled at her, and Inaré took in a deep, calming breath as she closed her eyes. It was like every word coming out of Sasuke's mouth just gave her a bigger and fiercer urge to hit him again.

"By the way, Terranova-sama, what happened to your face? It's bright red."

Sasuke blinked as the events of the afternoon flashed through his mind, and he opened his mouth – completely ready to rat on his new partner for the bullshit she pulled – but someone else beat him to it.

"We were demonstrating some of the techniques that your daughter will be learning while training with us," Zabuza explained before he could speak, as Inaré relaxed a little in front of him. "And as we were, Sasuke slipped up, and fell… right into Haku's fist."

Haku blinked pleasantly as he was suddenly included in the story, and he looked at Sasuke only to beam at him and wiggle his fingers at the younger male in hello. Sasuke, resisting the urge to pout, looked away from the mother's direction and rolled his eyes.

In awe, Inaré looked over at Sasuke then back to Zabuza, who nodded slightly towards her. Shifting a little in her seat, her fingers interlaced under the table and she looked away, fighting down a pleased smile.

End Flashback Thirty-One: Fist

So yes. Sasuke is the youngest. His new and feisty female companion is two years older than him, and Haku is the old man of the group. :)

I hope you enjoyed! Please find it in your heart to review? :3

Thank you!

Much love,

DDB