Hi again. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and that you like my new chapter.

--Jono'


Kiba

With his brow darkened by the sheer, galling injustice of it all, Kiba Inuzuka paced down the shop-lined street with his faithful companion Akamaru trotting by his side.

"Stupid ANBU," the young ninja growled; his mind a long way from being able to accept his abrupt dismissal from a mission he never wanted in the first place.


"So what the hell do you a—holes want?" Kiba remembered barking at the two towering, armed and armored, zodiac-masked leaf-ninja who'd confronted him on his rooftop vantage just a short while ago.

"Stand down, Mr. Inuzuka," the taller of the two had then replied in a curt, authoritative tone before breaking the news: "Your mission's been scrubbed."

"That's right," the second one added smoothly with barely a pause. "Turns out this mist-ninja you've been following is WAY more dangerous than he looks. In fact, he's an imminent threat to Konoha and all its citizens."

"That's why we've got to step in. We'll be taking it from here."

"Yes, it's better if we do. This is no job for a genin."

Kiba, glancing back and forth between them as they'd switched off, gave them a look like he'd swallowed sour milk. Considering the visiting mist-ninja, Hiroo Okame's, girlish, very non-threatening face and mannerisms, delicate frame, and the friendly way he seemed to get along with Sakura and Kakashi-sensei, he found the ANBUs' report a little hard to accept.

"An imminent threat?! THIS guy?" questioned Kiba in a piping, incredulous voice as he gestured spastically in the general direction of the street down below.

Both masked ninjas nodded gravely.

The boy gathered himself, eyes wide as he brayed: "You gotta be KIDDING me!"

"We appreciate that you kept an eye on him," the first ANBU offered in a half-hearted effort at placation.

Kiba turned away in disgust, shook his head then blew out a breath as he rested his hands tiredly on his hips.

"Hey, don't be mad, kid," said the second in a sarcastic kind of consolation. "Just think of it as a day off."


"Just think of it as a day off," parroted Kiba in a mocking, insulted voice while he walked, "Think of it as a day off!? Sh-t."

Akamaru fell back a pace and made a sorrowful, sympathetic sound.

"Well it's bullsh-t," the genin argued angrily. "I mean, who the hell do they think they are anyway? 'Stand down, Mr. Inuzuka; this skinny little punk-ass Okame guy from Wave Country is WAY out of YOUR league, Mr. Inuzuka.'" Kiba grunted in disgust then spat, "Gimme a break!"

People walking down the sunny street gave the young ninja a wide, wide berth, as those unfamiliar with the Inuzuka clan saw the boy talking apparently to himself…loudly!

"And anyway it was the freakin' Hokage who told me to watch the guy in the first place, so why'd they have to come AT me like I'm small or something, huh? I'm a ninja too! And WE'VE faced death and been on dangerous missions just like they have!"

"Rarf!" the little white puppy answered, tail wagging.

Kiba stopped abruptly, frowned and looked down at Akamaru. "You know what?" he began in a cresting voice then lowered a finger at him. "You're right, It AIN'T good enough. You don't just send us out to do something then yank us back mid-way through, unh-uh." The genin turned right around, his expression transforming as he adjusted his hitai-ate. "Come on, boy. Let's follow 'em. Let's follow the big, bad ANBU black-ops, and see just how big and bad they and this Okame guy really are!"


Haku

The Village Hidden in the Leaves, Haku wondered and sighed as he let his eyes roam. Even though the place's quirky buildings rose up all around him and he'd met so many of its ninja, even its new Hokage, Lady Tsunade, it was still hard for him to believe he was actually here.

For the better part of eight months the young shinobi had envisioned this place as the pinnacle of civilization, assuming all the qualities he'd admired so much in the four leaf-ninja he'd met reflected the nature of their home. It was a lovely idea – that the Leaf Village was the opposite of the Mist; that there was a place in the world as happy and full of life as Kirigakure was troubled, dark and violent.

But what Konoha's guardians had done in the name of self-defense had shocked Haku, and torn at the seams of wounds he'd almost forgotten. The blood-gifted clans the Hidden Mist Village had turned on then slaughtered, the Hidden Leaf Village had chosen instead to exploit. Though the latter seemed kinder than the former, both policies shared the same basic outlook – that the lives of those who were different, like him, held little value.

For awhile, Haku remembered, he'd really envied Sasuke Uchiha. That this boy, who possessed not JUST a kekkei-genkai but the most feared of them all, could be regarded as an equal, could have close friends like Naruto who'd defended him with his life and Sakura who'd been moved to tears at his apparent death.

For awhile Haku had wondered how different his own life would have been if his nameless, long-forgotten clan had made Fire Country their home; if maybe, HE had trained here and become a shinobi of the leaf.

But the Hokage's frank admission of what had been done to the Uchihas smoldered in his mind, and answered the teenager's wishful dream with a crueler reality: that the outstanding fact of his genetic difference would still have been an issue.

There's still the Hyuuga, Haku pointed out to himself hopefully. THEY seem to be at peace here. The ninja shrugged, unconvinced despite not having an answer for that.


Pausing then, Haku cast his smoky eyes around curiously at the pastel-colored roofs and plank walls and wondered where Sakura's friend, Kiba, had gone. He no longer seemed to be following him. It was possible, of course, that the leaf-ninja was only being more careful. If that was so then he certainly deserved some credit, for Haku couldn't detect him at all.

There were definitely still eyes upon him, many more than before; that much Zabuza's student could feel even though most of the newcomers were determined to keep their energies and intents subdued.

The visitor hummed thoughtfully, wondering what this sudden increase in attention meant. He certainly didn't remember doing anything to provoke it. But maybe Kakashi or someone else, maybe Sakura, had told Lady Tsunade who he really was, and could understand how she might think that having a killer and notorious criminal running around loose amidst all these civilians might warrant a few more minders than just a couple of genin.

Another idea occurred to Haku – that maybe the Hokage had already verified the contents of the canisters he'd brought then decided to eliminate everyone who knew about them.

The idea gave the fifteen-year-old pause. It made sense. And though Tsunade really hadn't struck the young ninja as the kind of person who would practice such cynical treachery, it was probably pure foolishness to think that anyone who could rise to such a lofty rank would be above it…especially with so much at stake. People had certainly been executed for much less.

Haku rubbed his chin and looked around again. The environment shifted subtly in his mind as he considered that Konohagakure might now be, in reality, a pretty prison from which he would have to escape.

A difficult matter, Haku assessed, depending on who and how many ninja she sends against me.

The shinobi paused then closed his eyes in a meditative moment at the end of which he chuckled at himself for having once again lapsed into the melodramatic. There was no real reason to jump to such a dire conclusion right away. The extra people keeping him under surveillance could be nothing more than the Hokage acting with an abundance of caution. And really, if it did come to a fight, the young ninja still had every reason to be confident. After all, hadn't Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist and one of the Seven Legendary Shinobi Swordsmen been his sensei?

Whatever the case, Haku thought, he would find out soon enough.

Looking up toward where leafy tree canopies floated over the rooftops, Haku made his way toward them and, after walking a few blocks, found himself in another of Konoha's parks – an oasis of green encircled by forest. Here and there people strolled and walked their dogs along winding paths, and children ran around, played soccer, tag, or hide and seek on the rolling lawns.

"Tea, sir?" a man with an impressively large urn strapped to his back offered.

Haku smiled pleasantly and shook his head. "I've just had my fill," he declined demurely, "but thank you."

The vendor bowed and went on his way, tacking toward other customers.

The ninja continued along a paved pathway for awhile toward where the trail arced. There a wooden bench sat along with a kiosk that displayed a map of the park. Past that stood a tiny building with a shallow, gabled roof and broad, overhanging eaves, and was marked with a sign on which was painted the internationally understood pictograms for 'Men' and 'Women'.

Around the restrooms and down the path that meandered by them stretched a long length of ornamental hedges and flower beds, as immaculately-trimmed and well-cared-for a landscape as the teenager had ever seen.

Taking a seat on the bench, the young traveler set the present he'd bought Mari down beside him and settled his arms on his lap. Seeing how peaceful a place it was, full of light, warmth, and people with smiles on their faces, it was hard not to let the place work its charms on him. The ninja raised an eyebrow as he considered that maybe this was why Lady Tsunade had granted him such liberty instead of having him confined to a holding cell, which would have been well within her rights.

Why can't Kirigakure no Sato be like this? Haku couldn't help but ask himself, though he knew he didn't know the answer.

Zabuza, along with the various sages and philosophers the jonin had pressed into service, had taught Haku many things but history had never been one of them. To Zabuza, studying the past was inherently pointless because only the future, the great and glorious future created by HIM, mattered.

In retrospect, it struck Haku as kind of funny that, as Zabuza's disciple, he'd joined in a coup-de-etat' against a ninja-lord he knew almost nothing about. Not that details like that had mattered to him back then. In those days he would have done (and really HAD done) anything his master ordered no matter how dangerous or ill-conceived.

Haku shrugged and smiled wistfully. It seemed a shame that he knew so little about Kirigakure's history, or even how it had formed. It seemed like it would be interesting to know; that it might be a story full of drama and hope like the summarized version Tsunade had shared with him about the formation of the Hidden Leaf Village.

Hmm, the ninja reconsidered. No, probably not.

After all, everything about the place was founded on an all-consuming quest for strength – the kind of strength that flowed from a bloodthirsty ruthlessness cultivated specifically to deter any rival from raising a hand against Kirigakure or the lords they served.

Haku canted his head as he tried to remember the name of the current Mizukage, a shinobi with a somewhat less than impressive background, who'd come very close to having his head lopped off.

Lord Kouji Oku. Haku's face lit as the name came back to him. That's it; that's his name – the Fourth Mizukage.

The teenager frowned sheepishly then, because if Oku was the Fourth then that meant there'd been three before him and, for the life of him, he couldn't recall hardly a single detail about either of the first two!

Number Three, of course, was easy. Haku knew a lot more about him because Zabuza had talked about HIM often. Where most people passed through Zabuza's life like rain splattering on pavement, flowing away without remembrance or recognition, the Third had actually affected him.

Haku's master had described to him in stirring detail how this ninja-lord had made Kirigakure even greater as a military power, and bestowed the honors and titles on the men who would from then on be known as the Seven Legendary Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist -- that august group which included Zabuza. It was a reward for their slaughter of the rebellious Kaguya clan after they'd dared to attack the Hidden Mist Village, and public recognition that these seven had set the examples of strength and ferocity that all mist-ninja should emulate.

But even before that, Zabuza had been the Third Mizukage's eager follower, which always struck Haku as a little odd considering his master's otherwise misanthropic nature.

What helped to explain that was something Zabuza Momochi had never told Haku: that the two had met once before. It had been one of the Demon Brothers, Meizu, who'd told the apprentice the whole story of how it had been this ninja-lord who'd gone out to meet Zabuza that night when he, then just a boy, had walked alone from a training camp littered with the dismembered bodies of all the classmates he'd killed. There in the dark, cadet Zabuza, both child and mass-murderer, looked up into the eyes of the Mizukage; his own eyes showing neither deference nor regret. On that night, the ninja-lord acknowledged that Zabuza had made his point…then rewarded him by tossing him his hitai-ate.

Lord Oku, the present Mizukage, had taken over from this illustrious predecessor suddenly and Haku couldn't remember if the Third had been assassinated or what. In any case, Zabuza Momochi had no love at all for this unsatisfactory replacement he'd likened to someone who'd brought home an attack dog but was too afraid to make it obey. Indeed, one of the new Kage's very first acts was to disband the Seven Swordsmen in apparent terror of them.

From that day on, in Zabuza's mind, the Fourth's days were numbered. So while the other Swordsmen left Kirigakure in disgust or outrage the Demon stayed and planned his revolution. Haku's master could never serve a man he had no respect for. The Hidden Mist Village was about being strong and pitiless, and Zabuza had been proving since the time he was twelve years old that he was the strongest and most pitiless of them all.

What a waste, mused Haku, gripped by an almost overpowering sadness. A whole country believing that being strong only means how well you can hurt and kill others, and make them afraid. And they'll never know what they've lost, thinking that way.

The young ninja still deeply regretted some of the things he'd seen and done as Zabuza's disciple. How many ninja, rivals, bandits then, later on, ANBU, had gone into the afterlife, their bodies pierced by Haku's senbon? Though the teenager told himself that he'd never killed out of hatred or indifference to human life but only out of love for his master, and that all those he'd killed had known the risks, it brought him little comfort.

He regretted too how out-of-place he'd always been there in the Land of Waves, a place known for atrocities since well before his time; a place where he'd been doubly-outcast for both his kekkei-genkai and for his otherwise gentle spirit. Even with Zabuza Momochi as his constant companion and devoted mentor, he could never help but feel alone – as the last of his kind and as a kind soul in a country of killers.

Haku shook himself free, finding only bleak preoccupation in where his thoughts drifted.

What about Wave Country?

That was the question he really wanted to know the answer to, but it was still too early to tell.

One time, on a monument on a cliff overlooking the sea, Haku had drawn the picture of a wave and below it the epigram: 'The Future Will Be Your Epitaph'. The young ninja had then turned to the two boys, his students, Chuuya and Inari, then suggested that this would be the emblem for a new hidden village – the Village Hidden in the Surf. And it would protect the people of Wave Country. And it would be kind of like the Hidden Leaf Village…but better.

His theatrics, so heartfelt, so earnest, all seemed a little ridiculous to him in retrospect, more like a child's fantasy than a visionary's dream though it still brought a smile to Haku's face. His smile faded as considered his new home as it was – a protectorate of the Land of Water occupied by mist-ninja. And Kirigakure, whatever their motivation for invading the Land of Waves, would undoubtedly be reluctant to just pick up and leave.

Even with the occupation, Haku considered, there was a heady sense of freedom there that the young ninja both liked and disliked. It was…energized, electric and daring, pregnant with possibilities but it was a kind of freedom that was dangerous too – lawless, perilous, as if everything could suddenly collapse.

The legions of workers, thousands of them, brought in to man all the new construction projects worked hard and partied hard, but with a sense that the good times might not last. They were happy to sleep in tent cities or hastily-built barracks, hoarding their wages or sending them home, keeping their few belongings in lockers and duffle bags, suspecting all the while that they might be well-served to travel light. None had dared to bring children.

Slow, halting footsteps approached then, rousing Haku who looked up to find an old woman approaching along the path. Despite her age she was not at all matronly, having wind-blown curly brown hair streaked through with grey, a light-blue, loose fitting jacket, long scarf, and comfortable tan pants.

"Oh," she began in a perky, easy-going voice, one that delighted in surprises, "I'm usually the only one here so late in the afternoon. Do you mind if I sit?"

"No, Ma'am, please do," Haku replied, grateful to have his thoughts derailed, and gestured welcomingly to the length of empty bench beside him.

The newcomer smiled and lowered herself down with ginger care. "I don't think I've seen your face around before, I'd remember," the woman offered, her eyes crinkling. "Are you from this village?"

The ninja shook his head. "No, ma'am, 'from Wave Country. I'm just visiting."

"Oh, Wave Country," she startled slightly. "That's a difficult place I hear, poor and full of bandits."

"It used to be, but things have improved a lot over the last year." Haku smiled and snuck a look at the book that stuck from her handbag – 'Kingdom of the Imagination by Kalil Gibran,' then asked, "How do you like living in the Hidden Leaf Village?"
The woman's dry lips upturned thoughtfully. "It's a good enough place all in all. Living in a ninja village has its bad points – invasions, saboteurs, being attacked by monsters…that sort of thing."

Haku nodded. "It must be quite disconcerting," the ninja had to agree.

"It is. But the people are nice and there's always something interesting going on. I can't imagine living anywhere else!"

The ninja's eyes flickered for a moment before he returned an easy smile. "This is a nice spot. I can see why you favor it," he offered before continuing: "Would you mind saving my place for a few minutes?"

"Certainly," said the woman as Haku, leaving behind his present, rose then made his way to the restrooms.


Kiba

The ninja had assumed that the two ANBU he'd encountered would be hard to track by scent, being that they'd been seen last on a rooftop that was wide open to the wind. Though that assumption had proven correct, he found that following Hiroo Okame, a kid who walked slowly, had just eaten and still smelled a little bit like sesame oil and chili pepper paste proved to be simplicity itself.

Kiba trailed Akamaru who lead the ninja onward through Konoha's streets toward Senju Park, a place the genin knew well.

"Hmm," Kiba considered. "Y'know, Okame's stuck to the sidewalks the whole time he's been here. I'll bet we could cut through the woods and find him again inside the park. Then again, we might lose him.

"What do you think, Akamaru?"

"Hr-rar-rarf!" the ninja puppy answered with confidence.

"All right," laughed Kiba with the flash of a grin, "the short-cut it is."

Both boy and dog veered off the pavement and vanished into Senju Park's dim, thickly-wooded outskirts but were only about halfway through when Akamaru slowed to a stop then took cover behind a cluster of trees.

Kiba shot his canine friend a mystified look but quickly and carefully followed suit and fell in beside him. The ninja-hound's instincts and reactions were rarely wrong, especially in the forest.

The white puppy fixed his dark eyes upward into the trees just ahead where a lone figure crouched, his shadowed profile hidden expertly high in the boughs. A sly, upward tilt of the leaf-genin's chin was enough to send Akamaru on his way while Kiba himself circled wide, silently made his way up into the thickly-leaved treetops and crept toward whoever it was.

Once he had a proper vantage, he could make out the figure of a man who was tall with ropey muscles and wore a bulging backpack though the rest of his clothing was ordinary – work khakis, thick-soled boots and a stained white t-shirt. The intruder's head was hung and his hands, hidden because his back was turned, were busy at work on something. Kiba trained his keen eyes on the open flap of the man's backpack and made out the shapes of kunai knives along with reels of monofilament wire and camouflage netting. If the young leaf-ninja had harbored any doubts before they were gone now. This was not one of the ANBU or any leaf-ninja he'd ever seen or gotten the scent of before. And he was certainly no civilian; that was for damn sure.

Although eager to see what the unidentified ninja was up to, Kiba took his time – determined not to give in to impatience and give away his position. He had another few minutes yet.

'Stick to the plan,' he thought with a cold grin. 'It works every time.'

Moving slowly, the leaf-ninja worked his way higher and closer. Now he could see what the man was up to with such diligence that he didn't seem to be aware of much else.

'Origami?' Kiba wondered, because laid out on the stranger's knees and to the left and right of him on the tree limb on which he squatted sat an assortment of paper animals – a unicorn, a crane, a crab, a giraffe, a dragon, and even a little man. Each was about the size of his hand.

'What the hell --,' the leaf-genin gasped quietly as he realized what they were, for the man had from his backpack produced a fresh sheet of paper to fold -- special calligraphy paper that was covered with runes and markings. All those figures…were paper bombs.

As the man made the first crease, his shoulders shook with quiet laughter.

Kiba grit his teeth worriedly, his eyes darting around in search of Akamaru, as he thought to warn him but it was too late.

Just then, and right on time to provide a distraction, the puppy barked high and shrill as he approached and then again when he passed directly under the strange ninja's bough, rustling loudly through the leaves that carpeted the forest floor. The stranger looked down sharply as the little white dog raced by, then slotted two of his paper figures into his interlaced fingers and formed the chakra seals for a jutsu. Releasing his hands wide, the origami crane fluttered to life then flew after the dog while the unicorn dropped all the way down but hit the ground running as it began to give chase.

'F-CK!' growled Kiba to himself, knowing he'd have to make this quick while trusting in Akamaru's speed.

Timing the arc of his leap, he landed behind the enemy ninja and uncoiled into a sharp blow with the edge of his forearm just below the man's ear. In a whirl of motion, Kiba's arms twined around the stunned figure's neck and interlocked until the mysterious intruder went slack.

Working furiously, the genin struggled to strip the man of his backpack and pat him down for concealed weapons. He then used the ninja's own monofilament wire, adhesive tape and camouflage netting to secure him to the tree limb in an awkward position with arms and legs bound, eyes blindfolded, mouth gagged and ears muffled. His fingers were, of course, immobilized to prevent him from using jutsu.

As Kiba went through the rest of the stranger's pack he found in one of its pouches a wadded up hitai-ate. The boy shook it out, turned it over then gasped in shock at the engraved insignia that lay revealed on its metal plate – a single, musical note; an eighth note with a single, re-curved flag. Kiba restrained himself from snarling instinctively at the symbol he knew all too well, the symbol of Otogakure, the Village Hidden in the Sound.

What's WRONG with these…these bastards! the genin cursed angrily. We kicked their ass MONTHS ago. What the hell are they doing back?

An approaching, rustling sound alerted Kiba that he didn't have time to think about stuff like that right now. Akamaru was back from having circled around and the little guy was moving fast, VERY fast, knowing he was being chased.

Hot breath and flecks of froth gusted from the dog's mouth; leaves and clots of dirt flew up in his wake, kicked up from his galloping paws.

Drawing kunai, the young ninja readied himself, took aim then let one fly. The blade whirled through space toward the paper crane that dove like a condor at the white puppy's back, skewered it through and carried the figurine off into the underbrush. The leaf-genin's eyes tore then through the forest floor behind Akamaru in search of the remaining unicorn but the thing was so close on the little ninja-hound's hinds that he almost didn't see it tearing along on stiff but fast-moving pleated, triangular legs.

Again he flung a blade but the paper creature darted aside in a blur of motion and the knife thudded, stuck point first into the ground.

"Dammit!" hissed Kiba as Akamaru sped past followed by only a few paces by the rapidly-closing unicorn. He'd already assumed that the 'paper-bomb on legs' was chakra activated, so any really close contact would cause it to detonate. The ninja rushed after the origami then raced ahead to get a good angle for his next throw.

A pair of Kiba's kunai blurred through the air but again the paper animal dodged easily. The stupid thing was small, fast, jittery and erratic in its movements which made it incredibly hard to hit.

Akamaru, changing tactics, bounded evasively left then right, sprang up into the trees and leaped from bough to bough. While the puppy managed to gain some ground on his relentless pursuer, Kiba's knives stuck into the ground, into trees, or went whistling by the unicorn as it continued to veer and weave with jerky, hummingbird-like ease.

Sweat beaded on the leaf-ninja's forehead, his cheeks burning with frustration at the knowledge that Akamaru was starting to tire and time was running out.

Landing on a tree limb ahead of the oncoming puppy, Kiba focused and blew out a quick breath then gasped as Akamaru, instead of rushing past, ran up the tree straight at him using chakra to cling to the trunk.

"What are you doing, boy?!" sputtered the ninja in alarm as the puppy leaped backwards off the tree, clear into space, leaving the genin with a clear shot at the folded figurine that followed right behind him. Kiba flung his knife, not straight but spinning so it took up more space. The knife struck the unicorn and knocked it to the base of the tree where its progress was slowed enough for Kiba to stick it through, pinning it to the earth like a trophy butterfly. The paper creature struggled and twitched like a living thing before it went still – the jutsu that animated it fading.

The young leaf-ninja allowed himself a moment of satisfaction and relief before jumping down to join his recovering ninja-hound. "Are you ok, Akamaru?"

"Hrrf," the puppy responded with weary readiness between raspy, panting breaths as his master patted him, rose then looked around cautiously into the woods which were quiet once more.

"This is bad if there's a bunch of sound-ninja running around loose inside Konoha." Kiba exhaled sharply then dropped his gaze. "It's even worse if that Okame guy's mixed up with them. Hey, you don't think --," the boy swallowed hard, his face growing pale. "You don't think that Mist and Sound are teamed up now, do you…like with Sand before?

"Agh, dammit!" snarled Kiba. It was hard not to think about the destruction wrought by the last invasion and all the senseless deaths, even that of their beloved Sandaime.

"This is too much." The young ninja's limbs fell slack as he struggled with the picture the assembling pieces of the puzzle were starting to show him. "No wonder the ANBU said this guy was so dangerous."

Remembering how Kabuto had laid him out, and how he'd slept through the entire war while his friends, family and classmates fought, killed and died to protect the Hidden Leaf Village, brought a scowl to his face. "There is no…freakin'…WAY, I'm gonna miss this!" he vowed. "If Otogakure wants a rematch, I'll give 'em one they'll never forget."

He thought about Hiroo Okame -- a visitor, a damn guest!

And Tsunade told me to protect him; to…protect…HIM! Kiba raged quietly. This guy, with a girl's face, who looks so…so harmless! This guy who managed to trick Sakura, Kakashi, and even Lady Tsunade!

Unable to contain himself, Kiba hammered his fist into a tree. Bark crumbled under the impact and spilled to the ground. "Come on, Akamaru," the ninja commanded, "let's go."


Haku

For a little while after his return from the restrooms, Haku sat beside the old woman and kept her company while she read. The ninja's smile was placid, his back straight, with both feet flat on the ground and arms folded gently at his waist in so formal and effortless a posture that any debutante would have envied him. His big, calming grey eyes glanced at his companion, over his shoulder then at the quartet of gardeners who'd arrived and were going over the hedges and planting beds just across the path from him.

"Ma'am?" the teenager inquired at which the lady looked up from her book.

"Oh, yes?"

The teenager's expression turned sad but serious as he looked away for a moment then back. "Thank you for saving my place. But I have another favor to ask."

Her expression rose at the mystery. "What's that?"

"I think you've been sent to kill me," explained Haku who then added lightly: "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be coy, actually I'm quite sure of it or I wouldn't have said so. But I beg you, give up your mission." The woman's aged face blanched with shock but, before she could speak, the young ninja added: "Please, just hear me out. It may sound impossible to believe, but I came here in good faith and I swear that I will keep Konoha's secret as dearly as if it were my own."

The woman's distressed expression quivered. "Young man, I –."

Haku raised his hand. "When I left the Hokage's tower earlier today, there were only two ninja following me. Now there are over a dozen – you, the tea-vendor, the ones in the trees behind us and in the culvert pipe below, those gardeners trimming that hedge that's already been trimmed within an inch of its life --." The teenager's eyes rose as he covered his lips with his fingertips. "I'm sorry," he added, "that was a poor choice of words. What I want you to understand is – it is not my wish to hurt anyone."

The old woman leveled her gaze then flashed him a thoughtful smirk. "What do you propose?" said she in an altogether different timber.

Haku smiled gently. "Let me go."

"That's it?" said the lady, wide-eyed. "You make it sound so simple."

The young ninja nodded. "I'm sure you can signal your team to call it off. I'll go my way, you'll go yours. I'll leave the Hidden Leaf Village at once and promise you'll never hear or see me again."

"And if not?"

"I fear," intoned Haku, his thin, dark brow knitting, "that it will end badly for everyone."

The woman nodded. "You may have a point." Her expression pinched in deliberation before she closed her eyes then expressed a sigh. "Very well," she said at last. "I suppose, since you caught on to us, that you must be smarter than any average sort of shinobi. You may go."

The teenager's face flushed with relieved surprise. Haku seemed to savor the moment, finding meaning in it, then rose and bowed to the woman. "Thank you, Ma'am," the young shinobi offered gratefully at which the old woman shrugged, smiled and nodded abstractly.

"Easy come, easy go," she replied with a casual air.

No sooner had Haku turned to leave then, with a quick, fluid movement, the woman whipped her scarf around the teenager's neck. The weighted end wrapped twice around in an instant then, in a blink of an eye, the kunoichi synched the ends tight in her grasp and yanked her prey in close, turning hard into him so that they were back to back, bowing his posture, pinning him tightly, and making sure to hook him at the ankle so that he couldn't flip over her. The fabric of her scarf was slick and tough and, in her capable hands, easily capable of crushing the fragile structures of a man's neck. Only the high, reinforced collar of the ninja's vest had saved him this long.

Haku's hands flew to his throat, his eyes bulging from the pressure, hands clawing desperately at the ligature while his face swelled and darkened; his white teeth bared, mouth wide and gasping though hardly a trickle of air could pass.

"Hope you enjoyed your stay!" cackled the woman, who was really not as old as she seemed without her disguise.

Other ninja leaped from their hiding places in the trees behind them, but they were just guards. The gardeners, responding to a silent signal, gave up their transformation-jutsu disguises, spun around then leaped with swords drawn toward the helpless visitor from Wave Country, the razor points of their blades homing toward his unprotected belly.


Yeah, I know, kind of a cliffy. But you know how I do. All comments, questions, praise hopefully but criticism too are appreciated. Thanks so much for reading!

--Jonohex