Again, thank you for taking time to review and critique my work, I really appreciate it. I'm enjoying working on this fic so far and hope I can keep it going for awhile :)

Also, I know it's been going slooow between Zabu and Haku (It's BARELY a yaoi so far), and this chapter's main purpose is background information, but I SWEAR if you just be patient and read the actual plot, there will be romance and blah blah. In fact, I decided to upload this chapter, and chapter 5 at the same time so that you get some interaction between the 2 main characters.


When he arrived at the bottom of the staircase, not having seen anyone yet, he glanced around the room before heading over to the opposite steps. He climbed them quickly, glad there were little to no distractions this morning and knocked on Jaken's office door.

"Come in!" He heard a cool female voice from the other side and opened it, a little confused. Had he gotten the wrong door again?

"Hello, it's wonderful to meet you, Momochi. My name is Emily." She had bright baby blue eyes and thick blonde hair, and looked enough like her middle son so that he knew right away who she was. She had been sitting demurely in a seat next to her husband's desk with her ankles crossed, but when he entered the room she stood, holding out her hand.

Zabuza took it, unsure of whether to shake it, or kiss it. These types of women were always a mystery to him. He decided to shake it gently, so as not to frighten her. He wasn't sure if he could pull off the charming hand-kissing card, since he wasn't that charming of a guy to begin with. "A pleasure, Mrs. Hoshigaki." He said, deciding on the formal, as he had done with her husband. "Mr. Hoshigaki asked me to meet with him this morning and give him a sort of. . . Status report, if you will."

"Oh yes, of course." She said, smoothing her skirts as she sat. "I have to say, I'm a little concerned. . ." She said softly, laying her hand on the arm rest, elegantly.

Shit shit shit. Concerned? Does she know something? "I'm afraid I don't know what you might be concerned about."

She laughed a little, a subtly polite little laugh. "Oh no, it's nothing to do with you personally. I just worry for Haku. Such a fragile child."

Zabuza thought he was hardly a child, but he didn't say so. Underage, yes. A child, no. "I see." He said, indicating for her to go on.

"Ever since the incident, I worry so much for him, but. . . I'm afraid we never really 'got close'." She said, frowning a bit. "He's such a loner."

"I. . . Hadn't noticed." Zabuza said honestly. Haku had practically jmped at the chance to accompany him to his apartment.

"Oh?" She asked, a little surprised. "We hardly even get to talk to him. He usually stays up in his room, or in his studio."

"Studio?" He asked, feeling dumber by the moment, only being able to answer her with one, two, or three word answers.

"Mm, yes. Well, it's more of a darkroom, really. Down in the basment, he takes all of his film to be developed and all of that."

"He didn't tell me took pictures."

"Oh yes, he spends so much time on it. All of the pictures he keeps, he puts them in a book. In the library, in the East wing, there probably hundreds of books filled with the pictures he's taken."

"I might have to take a look at those."

"Oh, would you?" She asked brightly. "He would appreciate it. He's too shy to mention, I'm sure, but he loves it when people look at his work."

"It's no trouble at all." He said, clearing his throat, suddenly feeling out-of-place. "Ah, anyway, I came to inform you that everything seems fine. As you know, I escorted him out to the inner city last night, as he insisted. Nothing troublesome occured."

"Wonderful." She said, folding her hands over her breasts. "I worry so much about that man, although most tell me he may not even be alive anymore. But. . . You know, it's better to be safe than sorry. It's why we insist on having an escort for Haku at all times."
Zabuza frowned a little. "Well I don't think he's dead, but I'm assured Rikudo is contained in prison."

She looked puzzled for a moment before shaking her head. "Oh. . . No, I. . ." She trailed off, then began speaking again as if she didn't quite know to phrase it. "I wasn't talking about Rikudo. That was. . . An unfortunate incident. A very traumatic experience in Haku's life and quite stressful for me as a mother, but he isn't the man I'm talking about. Didn't anyone tell you the reason Haku has a bodyguard to begin with?!" She cried out, her words getting louder by the sentence.

"I don't think so." Zabuza replied. What the hell had Gatou left out telling him? That bastard.

"This is unacceptable!" She said, standing, her mid-length skirt swishing behind her a she took a step.

"To be honest, Mrs. Hoshigaki." Zabuza intervened, normally dull eyes widening slightly. "I've only skimmed through the dossier I was provided when this mission was assigned to me. The event you're referring to could be in those notes."

"No!" She said firmly. "No, this should have been the first thing you were informed of! The most important element of protecting him." She stood at the doorway, the seemingly elegant and reserved woman looking as though she were braced for a fight. "Parkins!" She yelled out into the empty hallway. "Bindi, or Parkins or someone! Please report to me immediately!" She said louder this time. Zabuza watched with slight interest, wondering if she'd gone a bit mad, or if there really was a huge chunk of importance that he was not aware or concerning the boy.

When it was a slightly husky woman a few years younger than Zabuza who showed up at the door, slightly winded as if she had sprinted across the house and up the stairs, the brown-haired man assumed it had been Bindi who had heard the angry woman first.

"What's the matter, Mistress?" She asked, leaning forward, hands resting on her apron.

"I request to see my husband. Immediately." She added, eyes dangerously narrowed. "I am not concerned with whatever he was previously engaged in, inform him I need him in my presence now."

"Yes, Madam!" Bindi said swiftly, eyes wide. "I will fetch him right away." She said, hurrying off and down the stairs.

"Ah. . ." Zabuza began awkwardly. "Should I get you a glass of water or something?"

"No." She said quickly, waving her hand. "I'm just a little distressed. I do hope Bindi fetches Jaken quickly. I don't know how this happened."

"Nor do I." He said flatly, leaning back in his chair again. He wondered when Haku was, and if he had heard his mother bellowing like a provoked wildebeest.

They waited for about another minute and a half before Jaken appeared at the door, his facial expression bemused. "May I ask why Bindi nearly broke down my door in a panic, and informed me that you were dying to speak to me?"

"Feel free." Emily said haughtily, taking her seat again next to his large desk.

He looked surprised for a moment, then his face took on the stormy look as well. "Why did Bindi nearly break down my door in a panic, and inform me that you were dying to see me?" He asked, between gritted teeth. Zabuza wondered how good of a marriage this was.

"While speaking to Momochi, who, let me remind you is the sole person responsible for our youngest son's physical well-being at all times, I discovered he is quite uninformed about a very important event that took place in our lives."

Jaken sighed, dropping down into the seat behind his desk and looked wearily at his wife. "No, I did not bother Momochi with the story that you seem to dwell on. I didn't find it relevant to our current situation, really. As long as he knows to protect-"

"You didn't find it relevant to the current situation!?" She barked at him. "Need I remind you why we decided to have a guardian for Haku to begin with?"

"No." He said, twisting a pen between his fingers. "I don't need to be reminded. But we haven't heard from him in years. I don't want to scare the boy, or worry Momochi with things that are no more than an idle threat made years ago!"

"If they were an idle threat made years ago, then why is Haku still in need of an attendant?" She asked.

Zabuza cleared his throat, tired of sitting by and listening to them argue like children. He was sure Haku and Deidara at their respective ages would have handled the situation better than these 2 full-grown adult parents. "With all due respect, Mr. and Mrs. Hoshigaki, instead of arguing about it, maybe you should just tell me." He deadpanned.

Emily glanced at her husband then at him, then back at her husband, who sighed, waving a hand toward her tiredly, a sign for her to go ahead and tell the story.


Flashback -

Young Haku, at the tender age of 7, sat on a park bench, happily swinging his legs in rhythm, inches over the ground. His head swayed side to side with the beat of his legs, humming a small tune. "Well you seem happy, Haku." Emily remarked, smiling. She sat beside her youngest, after giving Deidara a large ice cream cone and watching him scamper off to play with the other children.

"Mmhmm." Haku nodded his agreement, still humming. She handed him the other cone she held in her hand, and he lapped at it gleefully.

"Why such a good mood, my love?" She asked, running a hand down his shoulder-length hair. She thought it looked a little unkempt, but he insisted that she and Jaken not make him get it cut. She remembered his tearful plea, which had squeezed her heart painfully, that without his hair, he wouldn't be the same person. Although she explained to him that hair had nothing to do with who you are, Jaken and she had decided to let it grow out to whatever length he wanted. After all, when he got older, he might decide to cut it anyway.

"Kisame is letting me come watch today!" He said, his eyes sparkling.

"Watch?" She asked, leaning back into the uncomfortable bench. It was such a nice day out, she couldn't find a reason not to grin along with her boy.

"Watch him play football!" 18-year-old Kisame played football with enough other boys for it to be considered a 'team', and they sometimes played other 'teams', much to Haku's amazement. He had always wanted to watch, and this would be his first time getting to.

"Well that'll be fun. You think you wanna be a football player when you get older, too?" She asked, and he giggled.

"I don't know, Momma. You have to be really strong for that. Dad says I might not ever get as strong as Kisame." He said sagely, before licking his strawberry cone again.

"You'll bet better, my love. You'll be as strong as Kisame one day, I promise." She said, and he tilted his head at her.

"Dad says-"

"Your dad doesn't know, honey, he isn't a doctor." She said firmly, her tone indicating the conversation was finished.

"Ok, Momma." He said, and continued eating. She looked away from him, sighing. She didn't want to think about that, not today. It was too nice of a day to worry herself into a fit like she did most other days over her third son. She didn't know how this had happened anyway. Kisame and Deidara were strong, healthy boys, they always had been. But from the time her sweet little Haku had been born, the doctors had fretted, causing her to panic. She remembered with dread laying in the hospital bed after giving birth for the 3rd and final time, asking the doctors to bring her baby to her.

"Bring me Haku." She had said, not quite strong enough to sit up, but strong enough to raise her arms up. "Do you hear me?" She cried angrily, glaring at the nurse who stood beside her bed. "He's mine, bring him to me."

"Please calm down, Mrs. Hoshigaki. Haku is. . . There is a small problem. They're looking at him right now."

"A problem." The words she had spoken had sounded very far away as if she were in a long tunnel.

"He's just a little small, that's all. No need to worry. They're putting him in an incubator for a little while." When Emily didn't respond, the nurse went on. "His immune system isn't really where it should be yet, he doesn't need to be in the open air."

Her baby had stayed in the incubator for 2 weeks before she was allowed to hold him and play with him like she wanted. She had been utterly heartbroken when she was the 4th or 5th person to hold her beloved child.

Even when she got him back, they had to frequently visit the doctors, the specialists. His lungs were weak, his organs were weak, his immune system was weak, he was low on white blood cells, he wasn't growing fast enough, she had heard everything she had never wished to hear about her child.

But it wasn't the time to reflect on those memories. She sat up, glaring up into the sky and her fate. It wasn't the time for that at all. When she looked over, Haku was still humming happily, the ice cream was gone, and he was chewing on the waffle cone. She managed a small smile. Her baby boy would be okay. She was sure of it.

About 20 minutes later, Emily gathered up her purse, pulling the strap over her shoulder, and gestured for Haku to follow her. "Time to go home." She said, and Haku sighed.

"Alriiight." He said, hopping down from the bench and grimacing. He hated leaving the park.

"Come on now, and let's go get Deidara. He's over by the swings."

Haku nodded, fully intent on going with her, but then noticed a water fountain in the opposite direction. "No, Momma. I'm kinda thirsty, let me just run over there to that fountain while you get Dara." She couldn't see anyone in that general vicinity anyway.

She glanced over, judging the distance, and nodded. "Alright. Don't go anywhere else, just to that fountain." He pranced away happily, crunching the leaves under his shoes, enjoying the satisfying noise it made. As he walked, he looked up into the trees, making him dizzy. He smiled at the woozy feeling, but continued walking straight toward his destination, ever obedient. He could hear the birds singing to each other, chirping and whistling, and wondered if they had a bird language like he had a people language.

When he got to the fountain, he twisted the knob and slurped noisily at the stream of water coming from the unsanitary thing. Being a child, he had no concern with germs or bacteria, but he knew the doctors talked about it a lot. Forgetting himself, he back up a few centimeters from the streaming water, and did the special trick nobody knew about. He was afraid to tell Momma or Dad or Kisame or Dara, he was afraid they would get jealous of the awesome tricks he could do with the water. He didn't want to make them feel bad because they couldn't do it. He giggled as the stream twisted up and away from the fountain, touching his fingers lightly before dripping down onto the grass before him.

"Pretty cool." He heard a deep voice behind him. The boy spun, eyes wide, as if he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar before dinner. A tall man with long dark hair in his late 30's smiled at him.

"What is?" Haku played dumb. He didn't want to get in trouble. . .

"What you can do with the water."

"Oh." Haku said, shifting onto his other foot, looking sheepish. "I guess so. Hay mister." He said suddenly.

"Oh, please, call me Orochimaru." He said warmly. Anyone but a child might have seen that his eyes were colder than ice.

"Orochimaru." Haku said, the word sounding weird tumbling out of his mouth. It was a long name. "Did your mom and dad ever tell you to cut your hair?" When the man smiled, he had sharp-looking teeth. Just like Kisame, Haku thought excitedly.

"I don't remember. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I-" Haku let out a strangled cry when he was jerked up violently by the front of his shirt. He had never been touched in a less-than-positive way before, and just the sheer violence of the act sent his young mind into a sort of shock. He felt the man's hand cover his mouth, cutting off any screams he might have made for his mother. He tried to wriggle out of the tight grip, but Orochimaru was incredibly strong. Dimly, he felt the man's hand move up an inch or so, so that it covered his nostrils and mouth at the same time, cutting off his supply of oxygen.

Unwise as it was, he continued to release muffled shrieks into the dark-eyed man's palm, unwittingly wasting the air he had in his lungs. He kicked and scratched as best he could, in the awkward position he was in. The bright sun that he been beaming down into his face began to dim, his vision fading and blurring in front of him. He could feel himself becoming sleepy, like he was every night towards the end of the stories Parkins read him while he laid in his bed.

His eyes opened again when he heard a woman screaming bloody murder. Momma, he thought, his mind hardly registering it. His Momma was here with him, at the park. She could see him, and the man who called himself Orochimaru. He heard the feminine screams more, becoming louder, and he felt his body being jerked upwards. He felt the vibrations from the man's chest as he screamed back. Words were being thrown back and forth but he couldn't hear them well enough to understand. He cried out again, tears rising from his eyes when he felt razor-sharp nails digging into his shoulder. When he felt the finger slip down from his nose, he breathed in harshly, choking from the sudden surplus of air. But he was still being held tightly and not in the way his father picked him up and squeezed him in what he called a bear hug. He could still feel the fingernails under his skin. It was hurting him so badly.

"You wouldn't know what to do with a boy such as this." The man hissed. He sounded like a snake, Haku realized.

His mother's screams were becoming even louder, and more urgent. The boy's head lolled forward, fatigue hitting him hard. He felt himself, and the man falling backward and hitting the ground hard. He heard more voices now, two more men's. He felt himself being ripped away from Orochimaru, the skin of his shoulder and neck tearing, blood blossoming through the fabric of his little t-shirt. His eyelids raised half-way and for a moment, he saw the completely unfamiliar face of a man wearing a blue baseball cap before he felt himself being pulled into the familiar arms of his mother, who held him nearly as tightly as Orochimaru had.

He glanced back, at the man in the hat and Orochimaru and his eyes widened like saucers when he saw the long-haired man stand, snarling.

"You haven't foiled me, shrieking whore. I will gain control of your son, and use his powers for my bidding. Don't forget!" He spat out, before a dark cloud seemed to come out of nowhere and surround his body. When the smoke dispersed, the man was gone. The crowd gasped out loud, along with Haku, whose fatigue finally seemed to have bested him. He slid into unconciousness with Emily's arm still clutching him.

EndFlashback


Tears had fallen down the woman's cheeks as she told the story to the man, but neither her husband nor their hired escort mentioned them. When she was finally done re-telling every last detail, Zabuza cocked an eyebrow.

"You're telling me a man disappeared into thin air?" He asked slowly, to make sure he had gotten it right.

"Yes!" She wailed, pressing a tissue to her streaming eyes. "Yes. He would have taken Haku with him if I hadn't. . . " She was unable to continue as she began to weep.

Jaken cleared his throat, stiffly laying a hand on his trembling wife's shoulder. "The police concluded that Emily and the 2 witnesses at the scene were in shock." He said quietly, ignoring the woman's wild glare at him. "They never found a man with the descriptions given, and they had every reason to believe he was simply a kidnapper who'd nearly gotten caught, and had been prepared that time, with a smoke bomb of sorts."

"It wasn't a smoke bomb, Jaken. He disappeared." She repeated, although she knew it would do her no good. Who would believe her, even after all these years?

"I see." Zabuza said, pushing his seat back an inch. Obviously, the poor woman had been in shock, at the thought of having one of her children taken from her. "And you believe this. . . Orochimaru character will be back to get Haku?"

"He said so." She said again.

"Why now?" He wondered aloud. "It's been 10 years, right? Why would he come back for the boy now?"

"He said something about. . . Powers of some sort. Something about magic." She remembered, blowing her nose.

"Magic?" The bodyguard repeated incredulously. "What did Haku say about this 'magic'?"

"He said he didn't know what the man was talking about." Jaken replied. "We never did find out, because we can't ask him again. He seems to have forgotten nearly the entire incident. When we took him to a therapist, she told us it was common for childrens' brains to 'block out' offending memories, or events they deem 'traumatizing', to prevent an emotional disorder."

The conversation continued like that for several more minutes, until Emily finally couldn't take it anymore. Clearly she hadn't blocked it out, and might have developed an emotional disorder from it.

Zabuza stepped out, closing the door behind him, shaking his head. Definitely one of the strangest stories he had ever heard. But regardless of the claims of magic and powers and smoke bombs, he only knew one thing was true: Haku's well-being was his number one priority. Suspicious characters would be watched more than closely. His hog of a boss had been right in that he couldn't afford to 'fuck this up'.

He descended the stairway, the ghost of a smile flitting around his mouth as he saw the long-haired boy sitting on the same white loveseat as the first day. He gave a delighted grin at the sight of the older man, and bounced up out of his seat to a standing position. Zabuza's conscience was happy to see the boy wearing jeans today, albeit perhaps a little too snug to be called normal, and a navy blue top, with a tiny white jacket over top, the bottom of which was well above his midriff.

"Good morning, Zabuza. Did you sleep well?" He asked, and the man nodded, glad the boy hadn't been put off by his abrupt behavior last night. "Mm." He made a noise in his throat, and then glanced into the kitchen, where Bindi was cooking something that smelled fantastic in a large frying pan. "I thought maybe I'd like to go to the park today. It's been a really long time, and the temperature today is perfect." He held up a large camera with what looked like a lot of complicated buttons and knobs on it. "I wanna take some pictures of the butterflies."


Review! And like I said, the main focus of Chapter 5 (the one after this one) will be Zabuza and Haku. I'm going to try not to do so much background and filler stuff from now on, okay? xD

- Jesse