The Hoshigaki manor's butler and maid, and parents, are original characters, because I didn't see the point in using real characters if they were only going to be implemented in a few sentences total, throughout the entire story. So if you saw some names you didn't recognize, that's why.
After slinging the two suitcases over his shoulder and following Haku inside, Zabuza closed the front door with a low click. The younger male had already gone through the entrance hall, the living room, and presumably the right flight of stairs. The man inwardly groaned. Great, now the kid was avoiding him. Before he could make his way up with his luggage, he was stopped by the same older butler as before. He thought he remembered the man saying his name was Parkins.
"Shall I carry your bags up for you, Master Momochi?" He asked in a slow voice, with an accent Zabuza didn't recognize.
"Uh. . . No." He said, shaking his head. "Thanks I got it." Master Momochi? Pfft. "Just, uh. . . Did you see where Haku went?"
"I believed the young Master retreated up to his room." Parkins said, raising a gray brow. "He looked a little upset. Perhaps I sh-"
"No." Zabuza said flatly. "I just said something I didn't know would upset him. I'm going to apologize right now. No need to. . . Do anything." He finished, turning on his heel and hurrying up the stairs.
He threw his suitcases into his new bedroom haphazardly, and headed straight to the teenager's bedroom door. Oh shit. He glanced at the 6 doors in the long, brightly lit hallway, not counting his room. He knew 3 of them would be 2 bathrooms and a library. The other 3 had to be the bedrooms of the 3 brothers, but which one belonged to Haku? They were all tightly closed, except the 2 bathrooms. So that eliminated those 2. 4 rooms left. . . "Goddamn it." Zabuza hissed. This was so aggravating. How could one house need so many rooms and doors? "This is ridiculous." He finally said, rolling his dark eyes. He walked up to one of the doors, and knocked on it. When he heard shuffling inside, he assumed he had gotten one of the bedrooms and waited, eyes narrowed.
"Zabuza, un." Deidara grinned at him from his open doorway, when the door opened. Fuck. Wrong room. "Something the matter?"
"Uhh, yeah." Oh, you really want to put him in this? "Well. . . Actually no." He said quickly. Deidara tilted his head, puzzled.
"Yes or no, un?"
Zabuza sighed. "Do you know which one is Haku's door? There are too many doors, it's confusing the hell outta me." He finally said, annoyed.
The blonde giggled. Zabuza had never heard anyone giggle before, except very young children and very fake women trying to seem coy. Deidara's seemed genuine. "It's alright, un. I know it's kinda overwhelming sometimes." He stepped out, pointing to the door directly beside Zabuza's. "That one is his. The one aaaaaaall the way down there at the end is the library, un. And the other right over here is Kisame's." He didn't mention the bathrooms, since they were open. But he didn't need to know about them, anyway. He had one connected to his room.
"Thanks." He said sincerely.
"No problem, un." The teenager answered, just as sincerely. He went to turn to shut his door, but stopped, glancing up at the man one more time, and Zabuza, for just a second, could see the resemblance in the two youngest brothers. In their eyes.
"You won't hurt him, un. Not like the last one." It was phrased like a question.
"I won't hurt him." Zabuza said dully. "I'm a trained professional specializing in close combat and long-range gun firing. He's completely safe in my hands. I will protect him with the best of my abilities. My mission is my top priority at all times."
Deidara looked serious for another moment, then smiled sweetly. A smile Zabuza was sure would have other men or women melting into incapable puddles. The blonde boy was obviously accustomed to getting his way, and wasn't above using his looks to get them. "I'm glad to hear that, Zabuza, un." The charming looks weren't going to work on the man - He wasn't interested in teenage boys. Not this one, anyway, the voice hissed, making Zabuza frown. And he doubted Deidara meant it in a less than innocent way. It was probably just habit of him to act that way. Just a flirty personality.
"Right." He said, backing up an inch. "Well. . . Thanks again. I'm going to go talk to Haku now."
"Be good." Deidara said, closing the door. Be good? What was the boy getting at? Why wouldn't he be good?
Stop being paranoid, nobody can see your thoughts, Momochi. Nobody knows you were checking out the kid's legs. It's not a big deal, anyway. Just looking. Barely even looking. More like a glance. And what does he expect, when he prances around in shorts like that?
Suddenly, horror washed over the man at a memory. He could quite vividly see in his mind Haku's haunted eyes, the boy wringing his hands in front of him when Zabuza had asked him if it had been his fault about Pain getting fired. "Mother and Father told me it wasn't, but he told me it was." and "I probably could have done a little less to provoke it, but I didn't do anything on purpose." He was just as bad as Rikudo, eyeing him and then acting like it was his fault. He should be able to dress how he wanted without the fear of being raped or abused by someone.
Oh God, this was getting more complicated than he had anticipated. Knocking on Haku's door quickly, he decided there would be no more looking at the kid as anything more than that: A kid. There was no reason he couldn't completely put off sexual thoughts, at least for the time it took to complete this mission, however long it would take.
"Yes?" Haku asked quietly, opening the door slowly. Zabuza's face blanked, and all thoughts were wiped clean from his brain. The boy was wearing nothing but a pair of red fleece pajama pants. He was sure they weren't designed to be sexy, but Haku was so thin they barely clung to his hips, slipping down to rest less than an inch above exposing himself completely. In the next instant, the dark-haired teenager held a red top, lifting it over his head to put it on. For the moment the shirt covered Haku's head and face before it was pulled down to cover his chest and belly, Zabuza stared dumbly at the shallow navel that he could lucidly see putting the tip of his tongue in. His eyes darted to the lovely hipbones, angled perfectly so he could see himself gripping them. Gripping them while the boy writhed under him, covered in nothing but sweat, begging and pleading for- "Zabuza?" He asked questioningly, opening the door a little wider.
You are going to Hell, Momochi. Ignoring the voice, he managed to speak. "Yeah sorry, I was just thinking for a second."
"About what?" He asked innocently, moving aside to let the man come into his bedroom.
What you would sound like when you moan for me. "About, uh. . . I hope I didn't hurt your feelings about that whole thing, Haku. I want us to be able to trust each other." Oh, that's ironic. When Haku gestured for him to sit in a chair in the bedroom, he did so.
"I trust you." Haku assured him softly. "I can see you're a good person."
"I'm not." Zabuza blurted out. He couldn't help it. Nobody had ever said that to him before. Haku looked a little shocked at the outburst, but turned away from the man and shut his bedroom door. Leaving them completely alone again. This was not the way Zabuza had wanted their conversation to go.
"Why would you say that?" He asked, sitting on his bed, his eyes downcast.
"Haku. I'd be lying if I said I was!" Zabuza said louder than he meant to. How could this sweet person think that HE was so great? "I've stolen before. I've been in gangs, and I've hurt people because of it. I've killed before." He said the last sentence quietly, his head turned. He didn't want to see the boy's face during his confessions. "I've been to prison before, for good reason. I've done drugs. Lots of them."
"But you don't do any of those things anymore, do you?"
Zabuza paused for a moment, considering. "Well. . . I don't steal or do drugs. But killing is a necessary part of my job, if one of my clients is in danger."
"You're a good person." Haku repeated. Zabuza repressed the urge to get up and shake his shoulders as if to knock some sense into him. "You're the first person that actually listens to what I'm saying. And you're not pretending. I can tell." He said with a little desperation in his voice.
Zabuza didn't know what to say. It was true, he was interested in what Haku was saying. And if that's what the dark-haired beauty considered made someone a good person, then he supposed he was. "Thank you." He said, more than a little stiffly. He didn't want to get personal with the kid, he didn't want to have feelings for anyone, especially not someone who was the key to his current job. He stood, opening the door. "Sleep well." He said quickly, shutting the door behind him. He just hoped Haku couldn't see his entered his room, glad he didn't see Kisame or Deidara, or the maid or butler. He didn't want to talk to anyone.
Laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, Zabuza shifted so he was laying on his side, breathing out deeply. This bed was the most comfortable he had ever been in, but this was the most uncomfortable situation he had ever been in. It doesn't have to be like this, you fucking pervert.
"Damn it." He hissed. What was wrong with him? This had never happened before. Yeah, he had met people he had been attracted to before, even lusted after. But nobody had made him feel like he was burning from the inside out just from a voice or a pair of melted chocolate eyes. Thoughts of him, even innocent ones, clouded his brain, making it difficult to focus on anything else.
He wondered if Haku was sleeping peacefully, innocent mind free of stress and worry, or if he was being tormented with the same thoughts. Do you really think someone like that is interested in someone as repulsive as you?
He didn't know how late it was, but he knew he had to be awake and alert tomorrow, for the first official day of his mission. Turning over again, he growled, pressing his face into the soft pillow, willing himself to fall asleep.
It seemed to work, because the next time he woke up, the sun was up, beaming in through the venetian blinds on his window, making everything in the room butter yellow. He slid out of bed, ready to begin the day anew. Well, as ready as he could be, anyway. Maybe Gatou had been right about this being more difficult than it seemed.
Now I hate to seem repetitive, but I see some people adding this story to their favorites and alerts and all, but NOT REVIEWING. Let me explain this to you again, I WILL NOT UPDATE WITHOUT SOME REVIEWS. And this happened to me a lot with my other fics, and it's starting to get on my nerves. But thanks to everyone who DID review so far :]
