Hi, reader! I'm back. Sorry for the wait. It was a combination of stuff coming up and that this is another loooooooong chapter. I got no shot at winning over anyone attention-span challenged, or anyone who doesn't have, like, an entire afternoon to spend reading ME!
Anyway, I hope you like ;)
Haku
"I have to say, this is something of a surprise," remarked Kakashi in a mellow voice that Haku took to be pure, aloof confidence. "I really didn't believe it was you at first."
The young ninja nodded uneasily from where he sat on the curb and said nothing, feeling the weight of their short, shared history pressing upon him. The teenager's grey eyes wandered along the Hidden Leaf Village's friendly and unassuming streetscapes – its storefronts and power-lines, wood-planked fences and posted advertisements; they followed passers-by, other ninja, traders, travelers and townspeople, so as to avoid the sight of the silver-haired man who stood before him – a jonin with powers so vast and daunting that he'd all but destroyed Master Zabuza even with Haku's self-sacrificial intervention.
"How did you survive?"
Haku took in a long, slow breath, certain that he couldn't really have heard concern in the leaf-ninja's question. "It's kind of a long story," muttered Zabuza's former student at last in a labored voice, "but basically I was very lucky."
The sounds around them rattled intrusively. Footsteps on the pavement, fragments of passing conversations, peals of laughter from kids playing in the park beyond, even the whisper of the wind through the trees all seemed to heighten the uneasiness between the two.
Kakashi nodded, put his hands in his pockets then added simply and with a quiet, undeniable sincerity: "I didn't mean to do what I did to you, Haku."
The teenager stared straight ahead then scratched his chest reflexively as the not-so-old wound taunted him with a psychosomatic itch. "I know."
"Having the skills I've learned, I'm fortunate in that I can often avoid having to take someone's life but it's not always possible. I've killed quite a few since I became a ninja, but never anyone I didn't mean to." Kakashi paused and gathered his thoughts. "As far as what happened with your sensei, Zabuza, I think you understand that the paths we chose allowed no other choice. Neither of us could turn back."
Haku nodded. "Zabuza wanted to fight you," he illuminated morosely, "much more than he wanted to kill Tazuna. I'm sure he must have thought that by killing Konoha's famous Copy-Ninja he would restore himself to the man he was – a feared shinobi and revolutionary, the Demon of the Hidden Mist, and not just some…" the teenager hesitated, his voice quavering. The treacherous words of bitter truth he was about say tasted like dirt in his mouth, "…mercenary, reduced to killing for a miserable handful of coins." Haku paused then, taken by a storm of emotions. "Though you may have beaten my Master, you should know that when you faced him he was far from at his best."
Kakashi returned a thoughtful, noncommittal hum then ventured with unexpected delicacy: "Towards the end…I think Zabuza saw for the first time that what was really important in his life wasn't his reputation, his skills or his ambitious plans to take over Kirigakure -- it was you."
The young ninja trembled, crossed his arms and steeled himself against tears. How many had he shed already?
"I've often regretted killing you," continued Kakashi in earnest, "or, I suppose now, the thought that I'd killed you."
Haku shook his head. "It wasn't your fault. I am a shinobi and was more than willing to die to protect Master Zabuza. I knew the sacrifice I was making. You had no reason to regret."
Kakashi seemed like he wanted to say more, to argue the point, but held back. "So," the tall figure observed instead, giving the visitor and his uniform a quick once-over, "are you a ninja of the Mist again? That's a little strange. The Mizukage must be much more forgiving than I'd given him credit for."
"That part's all a little complicated," Haku had to admit. "I'm not really a mist-ninja. I never was one, but I am a real constable now…however strange that sounds."
The jonin nodded then looked calmly skyward. "How's Tazuna?"
The black-haired teenager's eyes went narrow. "Alive," he insisted.
Kakashi glanced down at him with a single, steel-blue eye. "I didn't mean it like that."
"My fault," acknowledged Haku, "I shouldn't have taken it that way." The constable's jaw tightened then as he shifted uneasily back and forth on the curb though none of that improved his comfort. "I guess," the ninja confessed the obvious, "I guess I'm still not quite over what happened as much as I should be, or as much as I'd thought."
Kakashi straightened, walked toward the curb and sat down a pace away from the troubled visitor. "Don't rush it, or force it," he advised and rested his elbows on his knees. "Some things you don't ever get over. And I'm not sure if you're ever supposed to."
Haku looked at the leaf-ninja and recognized from what he could see of the man's partly-concealed face and subtly lugubrious tone that, with all his experience and reputation, he must surely have lost someone dear to him at some point. In their vocation, in this world, such things were inevitable.
"I probably don't have any business asking about the details of your life," continued the silver-haired shinobi after a time, "but I would like to know -- are you happy?"
Haku's eyes rose that the jonin would break down a conversation neither of them were comfortable having to a single, basic question. The teenager thought of his adoptive family, the Tezukas, his young students, Chuuya and Inari, friends like Tazuna and some of the mist-genin, he thought of his position now in the Mist's Wave Country garrison and couldn't help but believe he'd helped to make things better.
Most of all he thought of Mari – the center around which all else revolved.
The young ninja nodded then spared the man a kind look. "Yes, Master Kakashi," he answered cordially. "My new life has its complications, uncertainties and responsibilities, its good moments and its bad, but…yes, I am happy."
"That's good," concluded Kakashi with eyes crinkling and a sympathetic smile evident beneath the snug, midnight-blue fabric of his mask. "I think you deserve it."
The corner of the teenager's lips lifted slightly, begrudgingly, at the affirmation. Haku looked away, then back. "And you?" he felt obliged to ask in return.
Kakashi shrugged, gestured vaguely then quipped in an easy voice: "As much as someone with my somewhat pensive disposition can be I suppose."
Haku nodded. "If it means anything to you," he offered in a more conciliatory tone, "you and your team made a big difference in Wave Country. You stood up for all those people and in the end got them to stand up for themselves. I think things were destined to change there but now they can face those changes with greater confidence, and Gato can no longer hurt them." Haku frowned then scowled, fists clenching, at the foul name of the man who, in the end, had betrayed Zabuza and ordered his army of murderers and thieves to kill him. It made the young ninja remember a deal made between the two – a seemingly simple task which turned out to be the beginning of the end for his master and for his former life. "Zabuza never should have taken money from that man."
"You made a difference too, Haku," Kakashi intervened. "Before my team met you they only thought they knew the meaning of sacrifice. Only afterwards did they really understand. And by returning those canisters to us instead of the Mizukage…you probably headed off a war."
The teenager shrugged doubtfully. "Headed off, or only delayed the inevitable?" he mused then continued, unable to hide the resentful thoughts he'd been stewing over for days, ever since Lady Orimi had told him what the mysterious canisters contained: "Your village took cruel advantage of the Uchihas and doubt I even know the half of it. I won't even begin to speculate as to how you obtained those genetic materials from them without their knowing. One can only wonder what else Konoha has in the works." The visitor rubbed his forehead and once again regretted his rash words. Waving his hand as if to dispel them, Haku mollified sourly, "Forget it. I can't really fault you too much; the Mizukage is no better."
Kakashi leaned back then gave the shinobi an appraising look. "You can't fix everything, Haku," stated the leaf-ninja matter-of-factly. "But you did the right thing. With any luck those of us who realize that will be moved to follow your example…and do the right thing too."
Zabuza's former apprentice smirked, not at all encouraged by the jonin's far-reaching optimism. "That seems a bit unlikely," moped Haku, "human nature being what it is."
Kakashi canted his head toward him. "You have to trust in people at some point because in this world what you have the most control over is yourself, your own actions. If you worry about or try to control too much beyond that, you'll only drive yourself crazy."
Haku gave the man a measured glance then grunted, unsure of where the jonin was headed with this or what he'd meant by his peculiar inflection.
"You know," ventured Kakashi, suddenly and conspicuously bright and capricious, "you seem way too serious for such a young man. You need to relax a little. You know what helps me?"
Haku cocked a skeptical eyebrow at the rangy, silver-haired jonin then shook his head. "What?"
Kakashi reached into his vest then handed him a manga.
The young ninja's face widened with surprise then screwed as he studied its bright, lurid cover. "Make-out Paradise?" he read aloud then thumbed through a couple of the illustrated booklet's salacious pages. "Should I even be reading this?!" Haku marveled, chuckling, shook his head and tossed it back.
"Not your thing, huh?" allowed Kakashi with a touch of laughter rising in his voice. "Well, that's ok. But you should find some way to get the seriousness of life off your mind every now and then. 'Just some advice."
Now Haku stared. As a sensei, this Kakashi was a very, very different sort than Zabuza Momochi. Zabuza certainly had his quirks too, to be sure, but had never been mysterious. Rarely did anything pass from him without at least a brief explanation and most of what did was self-evident anyway.
At this moment, by contrast, Haku had no earthly idea what had brought this subject to Kakashi's mind and thought that asking would only make him seem obtuse. "Um," he ventured uncertainly to fill the conversational gap, "thank you, Master Kakashi. I'll – I'll keep that in mind."
"Well," the (apparently) one-eyed ninja piped in a carefree tone then rose to his feet. "I'm afraid I'm running a bit late as usual. I'm scheduled to be getting lost on the road of life even as we speak," he remarked half-cryptically then bowed, inquiring in a friendly voice: "No hard feelings, Haku?"
Haku, watching him, shook his head, rose then returned Kakashi's bow. A part of him wanted to hate this man, a lingering sense of obligation to hold the inscrutable leaf-jonin responsible for Zabuza's death whether it made any sense to or not, but: "No hard feelings, Master Kakashi," the young ninja found himself saying then knew at once that he'd done the right thing. Blaming Kakashi Hatake would not serve the present or the future; neither would it honor the past.
When Haku looked again, the masked ninja was gone. The teenager blew out a breath and couldn't help but laugh at the stereotypical exit reminiscent of so many bad martial-arts movies.
Alone now and standing there in the shadow of the Hokage's Tower reminded Haku again just where he was. Since this was the first and probably last time he'd ever find himself in Konohagakure no Sato, the ninja drew a bracing breath then concluded that he might as well make the most of it and see all he could.
Mari
Pulling her wheeled cart behind her with it's assortment of tools, spare clothing and equipment, Mari Tezuka trudged uphill along the familiar, forested trail. Behind her, leaping and running back and forth through the trees, the girl's younger brother, Chuuya and his friend, Inari, followed in a more-or-less continuous whirlwind of noise and movement.
Ugh, the lean, black-haired girl lamented then wiped her freckled face. The boys' shouts and cries, sometimes cheery, sometimes strident, was grating on her nerves and she was starting to regret Haku's decision to train them.
Mari looked up in time to see the hyperactive pair bound past her at speeds she thought absurd, cut back across the road then crash into the underbrush all but disappearing from sight.
Aren't ninjas supposed to be f-ckin' QUIET? she asked herself sourly. Haku's quiet, why the hell can't you be like HIM?
Chuuya had only been the former fugitive's disciple for about eight months and yet the changes were almost frightening – to see a silly, easily-distracted and unmotivated little kid rise every day before dawn to go running, practice his chakra-building forms, or march down into the basement to strike the fronts and backs of his hands against beanbags a thousand times or more then continue on with multiple series' of wrist-curls and push-ups on his fists and fingertips.
Having broken BOTH wrists just a few days apart, right around what Wave Country's townspeople now called the Second Battle at the Bridge, Chuuya had sworn never to let that happen again and had adopted a punishing regimen of exercises to strengthen his hands and forearms. Watching him and Inari slam their arms against each others' in a painful-looking drill they called 'wu shing chow-so' (or something like that) had been fairly startling. Watching Chuuya practice alone against a power pole or on one of the basement's steel columns when his friend wasn't available had been ever more so.
Mari, in light of all this, had asked Haku if maybe the kids were overdoing it but the ninja only smiled and assured her that it was all pretty normal and that Chuuya and Inari's training was actually FAR less intense than his own had been under Zabuza.
For a long while Mari had almost thought her little brother was wasting his time, then one day he corralled her, cried 'watch this!' and took off running, traveling much faster then she'd seen him or anyone else run before. Haku explained later that Chuuya had finally gotten the hang of letting the chakra he'd been so diligently developing flow through his body when he moved – and so it was nothing now for the boy to run like an antelope or jump clear over an eight-foot fence from a standing start.
Mari remembered almost falling over the first time she'd seen him do that. This kinda stuff just wasn't NORMAL, especially when it was someone she knew (besides Haku) doing it.
For all his training though, Chuuya was still kind of pudgy probably because he ate what seemed like his own body-weight in food daily. The only real outward change she noticed was that his forearms had gotten more muscular and were thicker now than his upper arms which were still pretty lean. That combined with his normally large, round head made the proportions of the eleven-year-old's little body look even more ungainly.
If such a thing's possible, Mari commented wryly to herself.
Of course, the girl considered, there were plenty of good things about Chuuya's training. Being that he was so occupied, he was bugging people a lot less and not getting into fights or loud arguments with his older brothers or her as much.
And Inari? Inari, Mari had to admit, was a good kid. He'd kind of gotten off to a bad start with her, but Tazuna's grandson had quickly made up for that and seemed to be turning into a good friend for her little brother who was in desperate need of one.
They could tolerate each other, for the most part, which spoke volumes about their characters.
"OW!" Mari heard Inari yelp behind her, shook her head with exasperation and thought: not again.
"What!?" answered Chuuya's defensive voice.
"Not so hard! It's just practice!"
"I hardly touched you! OW! Whudja do THAT for?! "
Mari blew out a breath then turned around just in time to watch Inari duck Chuuya's looping counter-retaliatory swat then spring head-first hard into her bother's rounded stomach. Chuuya crumpled breathlessly and the ensuing fight went to the ground. The girl watched the two wrestle furiously for a few minutes, rolling one way, then another, back and forth over the dirt road until they settled into a stalemate of sorts – Inari with a fistful of Chuuya's black hair, and Chuuya cruelly pinching Inari's trapezius muscle with his surprisingly strong grip. Both faces were red with exertion and agony, but both were just as fiercely unwilling to concede.
"Really," Mari muttered with caustic impatience as she marched up on the two.
Pressing the heel of her right hand behind the long bone of Inari's gripping thumb, she captured the tip with her fore and middle fingers then squeezed. While doing that, she hooked inside Chuuya's grimacing mouth with the forefinger of her left hand and jerked back hard. Both moves would have gotten her disqualified in any wrestling ring, and the two boys parted as if by an explosion.
"HEY!" screeched Chuuya belligerently in his piercing, boat-whistle voice once he'd come to his feet, fists balled and sweaty, young face constricted with righteous anger. His oversized evergreen-colored t-shirt and knee-length grey shorts were caked tan with dust and streaked with grass stains. "What was THAT for!?"
"Yeah!" agreed an equally petulant Inari who rested on his knees, nursing his thumb. The boy's teal overalls worn over a white turtleneck were in just as bad a shape, and it was almost strange to see him without his signature floppy white hat which had come off during the fray.
Mari straightened imperially, glared then pointed at the both of them. "'Cause you guys were being DICKS!"
Chuuya sputtered indignantly, shocked at this unfair and unfounded allegation.
"What? You know you were," the older girl restated dramatically before her brother could work up an even bigger head of steam, then pivoted tactically: "And if you keep it up I'm gonna tell Sensei."
The boys' eyes widened for a moment before they both fell bitterly and resentfully silent.
Victorious, Mari smirked, turned around then sauntered away quite pleased with herself. Threatening to tell her mom and dad, or even Tazuna or Tsunami, was an empty threat and both Chuuya and Inari knew it. But telling Haku, their master and sensei, THAT was fair game and there was not one damn-thing either of them could do about it.
And none of this was new. Mari knew the drill by heart. Chuuya and Inari would commiserate for awhile about what a MEAN sister she was, they'd forget about what ridiculous thing they were fighting about, and things would go back to normal…for at least another ten minutes.
A little further down the trail, where it bent, Mari looked off through the trees and decided to visit her boyfriend's grave since she was passing so close to it anyway. She was kind of sentimental like that.
Haku, though technically a notorious criminal had in death gained a bit of a cult following, having 'risen from the grave' once before, frustrating the mist-ninja team pursuing him, then coming to Wave Country's defense before being killed again during his final showdown with the ANBU at the Second Battle at the Bridge. That was the quasi-official story most accepted as true.
Since Haku and his master Zabuza were the only real 'famous' people ever to die dramatically in the Land of Waves and had played a part in freeing the country from Gato's tyranny, there were often flowers, votives, candles and other interesting offerings left at their gravesites to appease their spirits or in some cases plea for their intercession as if they were patron saints. For whatever reason, the widely-known fact that both graves were empty didn't seem to dampen anyone's enthusiasm for these rituals.
But as Mari entered the clearing, a tranquil overlook encompassed by trees, she saw immediately that something was wrong. "Aw, no!" she muttered aloud and stopped short in alarm.
Chuuya and Inari rushed protectively to her side. "What's wrong, Mari," her brother asked alertly, did a double-take, then gaped.
Zabuza's sword, which had been planted into the earth to mark what had been his final resting place before the ANBU had disinterred and processed his body, was now missing.
The two boys sped to the yet-again-violated grave then split toward the clearings edges and stared hard into the surrounding woods as if the perpetrator might still be at hand…scampering away with the Demon of the Hidden Mist's ridiculously-large sword.
"Who do ya think took it?" ventured Inari desolately, his dark eyes somber beneath the brim of his hat as he rejoined Mari and Chuuya by the two graves.
Mari sighed, raised her arms and let them fall to her sides. "I don't know," she offered honestly, "some idiot who thought it looked 'cool' I guess." The girl paced away and looked down the hill's steep, wooded, western slope at the bustling village down below with its web-work of scaffolds and towering construction cranes, then out toward the sea-channel and the Great Naruto Bridge. "Maybe it's in the window of some pawn shop somewhere," suggested Mari, "who knows."
"Ya think Sensei'll be mad?" asked Chuuya in a worried voice.
"I don't think he'll freak out or anything," Mari answered him, "but he won't be happy. People he cares about a lot, things – not so much."
"How could somebody just TAKE Zabuza's sword?" Inari wondered aloud.
Mari nodded in sympathy and walked back toward them. Having lived all her fifteen years in Wave Country, long before the recent reversals of its perilous fortunes, she had already accepted the loss. "I doubt we'll ever know. Unless you guys see it at next week's flea market, it's probably gone for good. It's probably hanging over somebody's fireplace by now."
Chuuya's face went red with anger at the idea. "If I ever find the guy," he hissed, "I'm gonna give him a big face-full of Cannon Fist!"
Inari, his expression less emotional but equally serious, nodded at the sentiment.
"How come you guys are so upset?" Mari asked them. "You know how it is around here -- people steal stuff. Not as much as they used to but still. And anyway, it wasn't like it was your sword."
"In a way it was," Inari, who was often the more reasonable of the two, quickly explained. "What Haku-sensei's teaching us, HE learned from Zabuza."
"Yeah," added Chuuya, riffing off his training-brother's logic. "So Zabuza's kind of like our grand-master."
Mari's expression shifted. "I didn't think about it like that," she allowed. "Ok, well, maybe you guys should put up a new marker to replace the stolen sword. What do you think?"
Both boys looked up at her, surprised and impressed by her insight, then nodded at its propriety.
Mari smiled. She really didn't 'get' the whole ninja thing, but was happy that she was able to connect with these guys this one time about something they cared about so deeply. The girl then went over then to Haku's grave which, thankfully, was as she remembered it.
"Wow," she startled then bent down before its humble wooden cross, having spied something unusual amidst the offerings. Clearing away husks of now-desiccated fruit, dried flower petals and stems, Mari patiently revealed what lay underneath. "Wow!" she remarked again and held the artifact up in the leaf-dappled sunlight – a small, ancient china plate, a precious thing with scalloped edges inlaid with a pattern of blue and gold scales. In the middle was a colored drawing of a tall, regal white bird and a red and gold fish -- as splendid an artwork as the girl had ever seen.
The two boys were quick to notice, rushed up behind Mari and gaped. "No way! Hey! Look at that! Let ME see! Is that real gold?" they gushed collectively.
"I've sure never seen anything like this," commented Mari, rising thoughtfully as she studied the plate while fending off Chuuya and Inari.
After a few minutes of this the girl turned and barked out an order: "Men!" she commanded with the gravity of a dowager empress. "I have a mission for you."
Chuuya and Inari exchanged glances then played along, dropping to one knee. "Yes, Lady Mari!"
"Your task is to transport this valuable saucer back home and put it somewhere safe so that Haku can look at it when he gets back. But be careful!" she warned with a theatrical flourish, her dark eyes darting left and right. "As we've seen, there are thieves everywhere, bandits, enemy ninja and whatnot. And don't break it either 'cause it looks really, uh, breakable."
"We will not fail!"
Inari took the saucer from her and cradled it carefully into his chest. The two boys then sprang off – not quite vanishing in a burst of speed or a whirling wind like Haku could, but fast enough to suggest the idea which was terrifying enough.
"Well, that got 'em out of my hair for a little while anyway," said Mari with a thankful smile once she was alone. The girl then walked back to her cart, shook her head and muttered with great aggravation, "ninjas."
Kiba
For the better part of two hours after the surpassingly-strange Kakashi Hatake had departed, Kiba Inuzuka trailed Hiroo Okame as the mist-ninja meandered his way around the village – viewing some of its training ranges, open-air markets, gardens, parks and overlooks, and milling randomly among its people. The visitor strolled with what seemed like more than usual interest around the clan compound of the Hyuuga and the lonely, abandoned precincts of the Uchiha then paused for quite awhile at a quiet vantage just to gaze up at the four Hokages' massive, stone faces.
The deeply-annoyed, deeply-bored, chestnut-haired leaf-ninja scowled then shook his shaggy head. "What's WRONG with this guy, Akamaru?" said Kiba to the white puppy whose short-snouted, canine face peered out just under the genin's from inside his cloudy-gray hooded jacket, with paws hooked over the collar. "I've never seen such a DULL ninja in my life, walking around like some tourist." Kiba glared again down at Okame then adjusted his hitai-ate. "And he's supposed to be some big-shot from Kirigakure? Ya gotta be kidding me!"
Things only got progressively worse over the course of the next hour as Okame lead Kiba up one of Konoha's streets then down another, up and down, up and down, block after tiresome block, to where he stopped suddenly outside the Yamanaka Flower Shop.
From the parapet of an adjacent building, Kiba watched Okame cup his hands against the window and peer inside interestedly for a few moments before going in.
The young ninja rolled his dark eyes and frowned.
At least, he offered himself in consolation, this is ONE mission I can put in the 'win' column. It's not like anyone's gonna attack this guy out of the blue in downtown Konoha, especially wearing that necklace the Hokage gave him.
"Huh," snorted Kiba confidently, one of his pointed canines denting his lower lip as he grinned.
Just the feeling of being on a mission, even a dumb 'D'-rank like this one, made him feel better than he had earlier. "Man, I can't believe I let Lady Tsunade bring me down," he said. "I mean, she gets up in everybody's crack like that."
"Rarf!" piped Akamaru agreeably.
"And Mom and Hana…they'd NEVER just give up on me," the ninja stated surely. "They wouldn't let me off that easy. And if I was suckin' THAT bad somebody would've told me by now; definitely Kurenai-sensei."
Still, thought Kiba, maybe this a good wake-up call. I mean, I've always been pretty strong, pretty fast and good at most of the stuff I had to be. But that's just not good enough against the serious guys I've been going up against lately. That traitor, Kabuto, took me out before I even knew what was going on. And I was really, really lucky against Sakon and Ukon, and still almost lost Akamaru…then almost lost him again when that spy infected him with a virus. I'm having WAY too many close calls.
"When we get done with this, Akamaru, we're really gonna have to get extra-serious. Y'know?"
The little ninja-hound raised an eyebrow and looked up at him.
"Definitely," Kiba confirmed. "Between Mom and Kurenai-sensei, they'll know what we got to do to kick it up a level and it's NOT gonna be fun or easy. But if we don't," he expressed in a softer, though grimmer voice, "then we'll just end up having more failed missions, we might lose each other, or we'll keep getting stuck with stupid, kid-stuff assignments like this." The ninja patted Akamaru's short-furred head at which the pup closed his eyes and smiled the way only dogs do. "But it'll be good for us in the long run. And I know Shino and Hinata will help us train, won't they boy?!"
"Hrar-rarf!"
The boy laughed, encouraged once again by his friend's reliable zeal. "That's the spirit!"
Kiba looked up then as Okame exited the flower shop carrying a wrapped box. "What the hell is this?" he muttered in disbelief. "Is he gonna get some postcards too? How 'bout a t-shirt?"
The young ninja started to laugh but stopped short as his keen, lupine eyes darted towards a distant movement at the edge of his vision. "Huh," he grumbled hesitantly. Of course this was Konohagakure so there were ninja everywhere, but it still seemed weird to Kiba that there'd be anyone else getting a line-of-sight on the guy HE was supposed to watch.
Haku
Haku, with purchase in hand, strolled down the street with absolutely nothing to do and nowhere specifically to go, wandering randomly and reflecting on all he'd seen so far, until the enticing aromas of food cooking made his eyes bug and his stomach rumble brutally. He hadn't eaten a thing since breakfast and that hadn't been much. All the excitement of visiting Konoha and the anxiety he'd felt carrying those canisters had put off his appetite which was now reasserting itself and making up for lost time.
The ninja marched straight in to the restaurant, not even taking the time to note its name, slid into a booth then ordered eagerly the moment the waitress arrived. Minutes later he was digging into a hot bowl of cooked rice, fragrant beef and sautéed vegetables flavored with chili-pepper paste and topped with a fried egg.
Only when he was almost finished with his meal did the ninja check his pouches in a panic to see if he had enough commonly-accepted ryo left over from what he'd spent at the flower shop to cover the check. Being that his new home in the Land of Waves was a port-of-call along many trade routes, Haku had collected minor sums of five different kinds of currency maybe none of which was held any value here.
I really need to keep better track of my change, he promised himself as he flagged down the waitress, a worried grin crossing his face as he spread out what he had over part of the table.
The woman returned a merciful smile and helped him with the exchange.
Haku, thankful and relieved that he wouldn't have to wash dishes, get thrown out or spend a night in jail, finished his meal in peace then sat back to rest awhile and enjoy some green tea.
Turning his attention then to the box by his side, the teenager smiled proudly that he'd thought to get Mari a present. Inside were blooms held in an arrangement with copper wire. They were fairly small, durable enough to travel, but quite pretty and found only in Fire Country.
Part of the young ninja's reason was simply that he'd been thinking about her. But then too Mari hated some of the demands of Haku's profession and he thought a memento like this would assuage her feelings a bit about his periodic absences…or at least take the edge off which was probably the best he could realistically hope for.
The visitor had just finished the last of his tea and was getting ready to leave, not wanting to keep the ninjas outside following him waiting too long, when a familiar voice caught his ear and he looked up sharply. Haku tracked snatches of a nearby conversation to a particular shade of deep-hued red – a knee-length red dress piped with silver, worn by a girl with hair a flowery shade of pink.
Sakura, the lone shinobi remembered immediately, Sakura Haruno.
The girl sat opposite the aisle-way with her back to him just two booths down, sharing her table with a pretty, if slightly edgy-looking, pony-tailed blond in a striking, sleeveless purple outfit with a leaf-ninja's hitai-ate worn around her tapered waist.
The two were engaged in an animated conversation about so many things that Haku couldn't quite follow the odd word or two he caught over the voices of the other diners.
Haku's grey eyes stole towards what he could see of Sakura's face, and he noted that her singularly-colored hair was much shorter than it had been last time.
What would she do if she knew you were here? the ninja sat back and wondered, cupping his chin between fingers and thumb. She probably wouldn't be very happy, he answered himself, considering what you did to her friends.
Haku looked down into his empty teacup then back at her again. But she's sitting right there, the teenager considered. Don't you think it's a little ill-mannered to just walk away as if you hadn't seen her?
The constable shook his head then let out a breath. What's there to say? And just how many awkward conversations do you plan on having today? he asked himself. Besides, out of all the leaf-ninja who came to Wave Country, Naruto was the only one I spoke with at any length and I obviously didn't make much of an impression on him. Any words I exchanged with Sasuke Uchiha were perfunctory at best, and I don't recall anything at all between me and Sakura.
Haku's eyes rose thoughtfully as he arrived then at the easier, more comfortable decision: Maybe it's better to just move on.
At exactly that moment, Sakura's companion, the blond kunoichi's luminous, blue-green eyes flickered up, locked on Haku, flashed alertly then fell away as if she hadn't seen.
Haku winced, his fingers tapping an annoyed drumbeat against the tabletop. Of course, how could she NOT notice some stranger staring so intently at her friend like some kind of stalker or something?
Stung by his inexcusable artlessness, Haku shook his head then looked back in time to see the girl inform Sakura. At least that's what the teenager inferred judging by her body language, in the way she tilted forward with a secretive expression of import on her eager face. 'That guy in the booth behind you is checking you out', he could all but hear. Reading lips was not one of Haku's many skills but in this case it really didn't have to be.
Sakura started to turn to see for herself but her companion caught her.
Rolling the tip of his tongue around the inside of his cheek, Haku reconsidered his options. He couldn't just leave now because that would be like he was running away plus it would leave Sakura to wonder just who the hell was staring at her, and that wouldn't do.
Reluctantly, Haku conceded, swallowed his nervousness and rose, remembered to take his present then went to the girls' table.
Again with the lip-reading: 'Sakura! He's coming OVER!'
"Hello," Haku bowed and greeted the yellow-haired girl with as much easy-going pleasantness as he was capable of at that moment, then turned to Sakura. "Hello, Miss Haruno. I saw you sitting here and thought I should at least say 'hi'."
Sakura looked up, her appealing, fair-featured face and emerald eyes below a high, intelligent forehead was just as Zabuza's former student remembered. The girl's forced, carefree expression faded then and she just stared…and stared at him.
"Although," the visiting ninja allowed, his gaze flickering uncertainly, "I'll understand if you'd rather I didn't…or if you don't remember."
The bluish-green eyes of Sakura's blond companion shot back and forth curiously between her friend and the stranger, unsure of the dynamic, until at last the pink-haired girl's face lit with shock and she gasped, "Haku?!"
The teenager canted his head with a sheepish shrug.
"Ah!" piped the blond, "so you two KNOW each other!" With the sure movements of both a dancer and a bouncer the girl flew from her seat, hustled Haku into the booth, then slid back in beside him.
Haku wobbled once as he came to rest then looked blankly at Sakura who looked blankly back. Both then turned to look at Sakura's friend who waited with a sly, patient smile on her face.
"Oh, uh, no, Ino," explained Sakura anxiously with a nervous smile and a light flush coming to her cheeks. "It's not like that."
Haku, just now catching on, joined with matching vigor, "We're just…well, we haven't seen each other in awhile. But no, it's not like that."
"No?" said Ino, her brow narrowing with disappointment. "Well I don't know why NOT, Sakura," she advanced critically, brushed a stylish drapery of golden hair from her face, looked Haku up and down then drew up closer to him. "He's kinda cute!"
The visiting constable's face flushed. "Ah…I'm flattered you think so, but I'm, uh, I'm afraid I'm attached," the ninja demurred, then picked up his boxed present as if it was proof. "See?"
The blond girl stared at the present then back at him, her expression melting. "Aw, that's so sweet." Ino looked over at Sakura meaningfully. "He's LOYAL too," she gushed then leaned into Haku and looked him right in the eyes. "You know that only makes you MORE attractive, right?"
The young shinobi sputtered for a reply.
Sakura forced a laugh then continued, "Listen, ah, Ino," she began then made a sort of abstract circling motion with her hands, "would you mind…?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going," her friend relented. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you; Haku, right?"
"Uh, right," answered Haku with a sideways glance toward Sakura.
"See you around sometime, Haku," finished Ino, who pushed herself from the booth. "I'll catch ya later, Sakura." She'd only gone a couple of steps when she turned right around, leaned close to her friend and whispered insistently: "I expect DETAILS."
Once Ino had gone, for real this time, it took the remaining two a few moments to acclimate.
Sakura smiled nervously, a little guarded. "Sorry about that," she offered. "Ino's nice but she can be," the girl made a face as she struggled for the right way to say it, "a little much sometimes."
"No, it's a…it's fine," Haku replied. "Fine."
"I…," Sakura went on, momentarily at a loss. "I can't believe it. You look so different in that uniform and the shorter hair. And I really thought you were, well, we ALL thought you were --!" she looked up at him clearly not wanting to say it, "you know."
"I was, I suppose, or as close as anyone can get."
The girl shook her head in disbelief. "How did you…?"
"It's a long story," the visiting teenager summarized awkwardly.
Sitting there in front of Sakura was difficult and he'd known it would be, for nothing that had happened in the last eight months could erase the fact that when they'd last met he and his master had tried to murder an honorable and knowledgeable old man.
Though Kakashi and his team of genin had been hired too, to protect Tazuna, there was little doubt as to who commanded the moral high ground – who was right and who was wrong.
"For what happened the last time we met…I'm sorry," offered Haku in painful admission. "It was not my wish to hurt any of you or Tazuna either. It's just," he paused and frowned, "it wasn't up to me."
"That part we figured out," said Sakura in an understanding voice. "And you could have killed the bridge-builder, Naruto, Sasuke, and me too I suppose, but you didn't. If anything I should thank you."
Haku grinned tightly, not having expected to be let off the hook so easily, but said nothing. That battle, the First Battle at the Bridge, had torn him – pitted his loyalty to Zabuza against his own nature. It was a battle he'd both won and lost.
The pink-haired girl smiled then saved him from the lingering, complicated memories. "So are you really 'attached'?" she inquired demurely, throwing a playful look towards his present. "I wouldn't blame you if you just said that. Ino was coming on a little strong."
Haku's eyes lifted. "Yes, as it happens."
"What's her name?"
"Mari," he answered.
"What's she like?"
The ninja's face broke into a smile. "Strong," Haku almost blurted, "fiery, spontaneous…kind, and very pretty."
"Ha!" concluded Sakura delightedly, "it's love."
Haku's brow lifted and he couldn't help but smile wider at the girl's judgment. "How can you be so sure from just that?"
"It's all there in your face. I can tell," offered Sakura with a sagacious air. "So does she love you too?"
The young ninja hesitated at first then nodded. "It's hard to speak for another, especially about matters of the heart, but yes, I believe so. When I think about it, I don't think she would have done or said quite a number of the things she's done and said if she was not."
Sakura smiled. "I'm glad to hear that," she offered then looked at him again and piped: "This is just so unbelievable! What are you doing here? I guess, since you're wearing that necklace, you didn't sneak in." The pink-haired kunoichi looked at him again. "That's quite a change of clothes too."
"I suppose it is," Haku agreed, assessing his current standard-issue mist-ninja fatigues against the jade robe, ANBU mask and hakima-style black pants he favored during his years as Zabuza's apprentice or the dresses he favored when on his own time. "I don't know if you've heard this but the Hidden Mist Village has a compliment of ninja garrisoned in Wave Country." He turned his shoulder to display the wave emblem on the sleeve. "The reasons why would take awhile to explain, but I am one of the new provisional magistrate's constables. Just by chance, she needed me to deliver something to the Hokage."
"Hmm, that doesn't sound good – the Mist having ninja stationed in Wave Country, I mean," replied Sakura with a touch of concern evident in her voice. "How's it going over there? And how are Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari. They're ok, aren't they?"
"They're all fine," Haku reassured her and smiled. "We're on good terms now if you can believe it. Wave Country's changed a lot. You'd hardly recognize the place anymore with all the new buildings and all the people the construction's brought in. It's a boom town. As far as Kirigakure's involvement, well, it's still an occupation – though a benign one so far. Oh, I probably should have said earlier, almost everybody thinks I'm dead. I'm going under the name Hiroo Okame now."
The girl's lips thinned thoughtfully and Haku realized he'd kind of given her a lot to digest in a few short sentences. "I know," he kidded her to lighten the mood, "it's not that great a name. But how have you been this last year, Sakura?"
The girl's brilliant, green eyes flickered then sank. "It's…it's been hard," she began then shifted self-consciously, dropping both hands into her lap. "Not too long after we got back from Wave Country, I took the chunin exams for the first time. My team did ok, but I didn't make it past the single combats."
Haku nodded. Things like 'exams' and 'graduations' were concepts he understood, but having never undergone them personally (at least in the classic sense) kept them somewhat abstract in his mind. "Your opponent must have been fierce," he assumed on her behalf.
"Actually," explained Sakura, who rolled her eyes towards the door, "she just left."
The ninja grinned cleverly as he picked up on her tone. Obviously Naruto and Sasuke was not the only rivalry in Konoha. "I wish I could have seen it."
The kunoichi waved her hand. "You'd have just been bored. I'm not like some of the others, really powerful, with crazy powers and jutsu or really at home in a fight." Sakura's face fell guiltily. "You probably remember I didn't exactly contribute much on our Wave Country mission."
Haku looked back at her curiously and shrugged. "I don't see what you mean," he said. "Kakashi ordered you to guard Tazuna and that's what you did."
"While Kakashi-sensei, Naruto and Sasuke did all the heavy lifting," Sakura continued unhappily. "About all I could do was cheerlead."
Haku's lips pressed into a line then the ninja shook his head. "Those two would much rather have died than failed with the other around to witness it; I've thought about that part a lot over the last few months. Their rivalry pushed them to extremes I never would have guessed; that I didn't think were possible. It's unfair to compare yourself to them that way. And just so you know," the ninja went on, remembering a detail he thought might put things in perspective, "in my time as his disciple I've seen highly-skilled ninja, trained soldiers and even ANBU veterans, drop their weapons and run before Zabuza Momochi, but you held your ground. No one should find fault with you, yourself least of all."
Sakura's expression froze for a moment before she blinked and grinned. "Thanks, Haku…uh, Hiroo."
The ninja shrugged off her praise.
Both paused then as the waitress arrived. Sakura poured briefly through the menu then ordered.
"Dare I ask," ventured Haku when she had gone, "how is Naruto?"
"Full of surprises!" the kunoichi answered immediately, her expression animated by a cornucopia of conflicting emotions. "It always amazes me how much that yellow-haired idiot's changed, AND how much he's stayed just the same."
The visitor from Wave Country smirked at how apt her reply seemed and how affectionate her disparaging words came out said the way she'd said them. Haku inquired keenly, "You don't know if he's around do you?"
Sakura's eyes rose in thought. "He's kinda hard to keep track of; been doing a lot of fill-in missions lately."
Haku nodded, hiding his disappointment.
"I'd love to see the look on his face when he sees YOU again, though."
"I doubt he remembers," said the ninja offhandedly as he shook his head. "If anything he'd probably be mad at me for sticking him with so many senbon. Most people take that kind of personally…or so I assume."
Sakura shook her head. "I wouldn't worry. It's not like him to hold a grudge."
Haku looked away then back. "And what of your other teammate, Sasuke? I've no doubt that he must be --," he started to inquire then stopped short at the distressed look that came immediately to Sakura's face. "I'm sorry," the black-haired teenager offered at once in contrition, fearing that Rock Lee's report about the Uchiha's survival might not have been accurate. "I didn't mean to --. I just thought that --."
"It's alright," the kunoichi replied though her expression was overtaken by gloom. "It's just…Sasuke's left the village. He's a fugitive now, a rogue ninja."
The ninja's eyes widened with surprise. "I-I can hardly believe it," he muttered, remembering how committed the Uchiha had seemed when they'd fought. "Why?" Haku asked. "Do you have any idea?"
"He left to become the disciple of a very powerful ninja-lord named Orochimaru, the same one who was behind the Sand and Sound's attack. He left so he could learn what he needs to avenge himself on the man who destroyed his clan -- his older brother, Itachi."
Haku's brain flooded him with the Uchiha clan's storied and murky past, a past that corkscrewed through history until it arrived unceremoniously in the present in the form of two canisters – one black and one white. "I'm sorry," the ninja offered. "It must have been hard."
"It was…and is," admitted Sakura seriously. "But I don't exactly have any right to complain. How could I? It's not like he ever kept what he wanted to do a secret." Tension ebbed from her as she remembered something then recounted: "Actually, that was one of the very first things I ever heard him say – that he 'wanted to kill a certain someone'."
The girl paused then added with a flourish of self-recrimination, "But I was too busy falling hopelessly in love with who I wanted him to be, completely ignoring who he WAS. That's kind of selfish, isn't it?" Sakura concluded – a thought that seemed to Haku that she might have considered a thousand times but never voiced before. "I wonder sometimes…if only I could have been a better friend, if things wouldn't have turned out differently.
"I'm sorry," the young kunoichi blurted and forced a smile, "all that's a lot more than you really wanted to hear."
Haku, disconcerted a little by her admission, bit his lip.
Zabuza and those who'd orbited him rarely yielded such insights to their thoughts, feelings and regrets. It was only, really, since he'd lived apart from him that he'd discovered that many others did. Having little experience in this area, Haku determined to at least try and be helpful. Often that was enough.
"There's no point in second-guessing," he proposed. "I spent a long time doing that myself.
"I don't think it could have been easy for Sasuke being an Uchiha, with the burdens that lineage carries, some obvious and others subtle…and then, added to that, the tragedy of what happened to his family." Haku opened his mouth to speak but found himself lost in a growing sense kinship with the unfortunate Sasuke – someone so much like himself who shared the blood-gift and who'd had his family taken from him, a fugitive. The idea that he'd fought Sasuke almost made him sick.
"I'm sorry," said Haku when he was able to. "I just meant to say that if he felt so strongly about avenging his clan that he'd abandon his village and all his friends then I doubt there could have been anything you might have said or done to stop him." Again he stopped as his mind flashed over the words Kakashi had said to him not hours earlier. The confluence of it all was starting to make his head hurt. "Take from what happened what you can and let it help you," Haku concluded firmly. "That's the best thing you can do now."
Sakura smiled sadly and nodded. "I guess I forgot – how much you've been through."
The young shinobi smiled thankfully at the girl's sympathy. "After my master's death, it was hard for me. Zabuza was my whole world," mused Haku. "But, in time, I discovered…there were others."
For awhile longer the two sat in their booth and talked, Sakura having lunch while Haku ordered tea and told her in greater detail about how things had changed in Wave Country, along with the more palatable and appropriate stories he could relate about his time as Zabuza's Apprentice.
In between bites, Sakura described some of the adventures she'd had as well as her current apprenticeship to Lady Tsunade.
After she was finished and they'd talked awhile longer, the two left together, waiting until they were outside to say their goodbyes.
"Oh, Sakura," said Haku, who almost forgot to ask, "I'm being followed. Do you see the man atop the building behind me over my left shoulder, small, light-grey hooded jacket with black fur around the rim?"
The pink-haired girl gave a casual, passing look in that direction then smiled. "Oh, don't worry," she offered with complete confidence. "That's just Kiba and Akamaru."
Haku's eyes lit. "Ah, so there're two of them?"
"Almost," agreed Sakura with a friendly giggle. "Akamaru is Kiba's ninja-hound, but he's just an adorable little puppy right now."
"I see," said the young constable with an understanding nod. "And they're friends of yours?"
The girl shrugged. "Classmates anyway. We never really hung out very much and hardly ever got teamed up for any missions…but Kiba's nice, I promise. Lady Tsunade probably told him to keep you out of trouble."
"You're probably right."
"I should get going," said Sakura reluctantly. "I'll be in really, really big trouble if I'm late."
Haku nodded, understanding completely. "If you're ever in Wave Country --," he offered.
"— I'll know not to make any trouble!" Sakura quipped, smiled and winked playfully.
Haku laughed then bowed, almost knocking her in the head as she came forward to hug. Haku, embarrassed, then tried to hug her and their roles reversed. At last, Sakura simply offered him her hand, which he took.
"Take care, Sakura."
"You too," she said then whispered, "Haku."
Kiba
The hooded genin leaned forward on the parapet, staring hard like a vulture at the exchange he'd just witnessed on the street down below.
"Did you --?" he sputtered angrily and pointed. "Did you SEE that, Akamaru?! This girly-looking string-bean's in town like five minutes and he's already got a DATE?!"
Kiba stalked away from the rooftop's edge then paced back and forth, grumbling under his breath.
"Bouw?" offered Akamaru, who jumped down from the parapet, sat and wagged his tail, trying seemingly to be helpful.
"I'm NOT interested in Sakura and anyway that's got nothing to do with it." The leaf-ninja crossed his arms and sulked then rushed back to watch Sakura and Okame part ways. Stepping back, Kiba asked: "so what's THIS guy got that I haven't got? Huh? I mean, I'M cute, right?"
The little ninja-hound looked up at him and cocked his head.
"Ah, you're no help at all," brayed Kiba disappointedly and gave the dog a dismissive wave. His eyes snapped up then as two ninja materialized on the rooftop a few paces away, wearing the grey armored vests and zodiac masks of the Hidden Leaf Village's ANBU corps.
"Excuse us," greeted one sarcastically. "I hope we're not interrupting."
Kiba scowled, utterly unimpressed, folded his arms then growled: "So what the hell do you a--holes want?"
Hehehe. I really do TRY to max out at 6,000 words ;) If you made it this far, I appreciate your patience and definitely, definitely hope you liked this latest chapter.
Please leave a review and let me know what you think.
Thanks!
--Jono'
