It is an odd experience to relive childhood. To watch experiences overlap, or contrast against each other with. To be taught a different set of values from one birth to another. Pyrrha was grateful she didn't remember the birth itself, thinking it an experience best left forgotten. But that didn't help with other problems. It was a conscious choice that her first word was 'Mama' at ten months old. It was all conscious decisions from then on.

In her previous life, she was a prodigy. Held to a higher standard, and paraded around as the paragon of her time only to... Fall. It was a lesson that still lingered in her mind after nine years in a new life. A lesson that didn't teach diligence, patience, or devotion to a cause.

Those were lessons thought by the village, lessons she was hesitant to call propaganda in the face of the lesson she had learned from Cinder. That she could be faster, she could be stronger, better trained, better prepared and all around better than her opponent. And yet, she could still fail. Even with the chips in her favor, she could still fall prey to a cheap trick or bad luck. That things outside her control could be the end of her. A massive Grimm for instance, or a stray arrow.

It took nine years for that to sink in as she spent her younger days going over the events of her passing, thinking of ways she could have done better. Only to come back to that same conclusion.

She was a quiet child, and she had to thank her new parents. Five years, a long time to get used to thinking of these strangers as replacements for her original parents. It was their constant care that stopped her from going down darker paths of thought. They were good people, and she could say that with all the honesty in her heart.

Which led her to the two beside her. A day after witnessing the incident, she hadn't made a move to talk to either of them. It was an odd curiosity that led Pyrrha to Hinata and Zabuza. A look at two different sides of the same coin named shinobi.

It was a position she'd compare to huntsman or huntress. A naive assumption that changed as she.. Grew older? Re-aged?... Grew taller. Both positions served a similar purpose, to protect people. It was the 'how', that Pyrrha met internal resistance. A morality carried over that put her at odds with the rest of society.

There was no Grimm to fight, and nothing to take their place. So who was left to fight, other than their fellow human. A notion she met with resistance before reluctant acceptance by the time she entered the academy. In one life or the next, she would always be a fighter. It was all she knew how to do, and she let it dictate her current path.

And before her was reflected the options she had. Hinata, quiet and good-natured. Pyrrha couldn't help but like the girl. She lacked confidence, that was clear as day. She struggled in her studies and the sparing matches. But as she'd shown yesterday, underneath it all was a sense of bravery and chivalry that she admired in someone so young. With her small knowledge of the Hyuuga clan, she could emphasize with the girl and her fate. Put on a pedestal with the expectations to go with it, isolated in her attempts to live up to the hopes placed on her.

Then there was Zabuza. She found the kanji on the back of his shirt to be a good indication of his abilities. When she looked at him, she didn't see an untrained child. She saw a young fighter, chomping at the bit to prove himself. He'd shown his colors in this mornings spar, dropping the former best fighter in the class with a simple punch to the throat, fast enough that only Iruka and Pyrrha could see him move. Brutal, simple and efficient like the boy himself. Yet underneath it all, he still gave Hinata a polite nod in greeting this morning. For all his perceived prickliness, he had never gone out of his way to be expressly rude to anyone. A true neutral.

Exact opposites that held similar positions of isolation. At least Naruto had Iruka, and Shikamaru and Choji didn't outright ignore him, occasionally letting him join them for lunch.

Hinata was left alone, seemingly for her Clan heritage. Pyrrha felt the Hyuuga eyes might have been her biggest hurdle after her shy personality. Zabuza for his newness and gruff disposition. Along with the fact he was born in a different village. Her parents had been civilian immigrants from Wind Country, but if what she heard was true, Zabuza's adoptive father was a defector from a village that the more she learned of, the more she understood why the man left.

Either way, she decided that these two might be enjoyable companions and even better teammates down the line. Now she only had to introduce herself. The question of who to deal with first gave her a moments pause as she picked apart her mostly finished lunch. Hinata, the easier route. She would need nothing more than someone at her side and time would do the rest. Someone to aid and grow. Or Zabuza, someone whose guard was already up, and would offer a challenge. And a decent sparring partner.

His lunch box was gone.

It was a plain tin rectangle that he swore he placed back in his backpack. The weirdest part was he couldn't understand why anyone would take it. He'd already eaten lunch, so the most amount of food that'd be left in it were a spare grain or two of rice stuck to the sides along with a small dripping of soy sauce. It couldn't have been the trio from yesterday, he'd have noticed.

The lunch box wasn't even that good. It was a couple ryo piece of junk that was bought because it was cheap and would last for the month or two it'd take him to convince Haku and the Hokage that the whole 'school' thing was a bad idea.

Still, it pissed him of as he laid out the contents of his backpack on the kitchen table. Some extra bandages, a kunai for emergencies, a blank notebook that would have been used if they were learning anything useful from the white-haired asshole Mizuki, a pencil to be used with the already mentioned notebook and a few odds and ends. Nothing else was missing, just his lunch box.

"I suppose my cup of tea will have to wait?"

Zabuza just waved off Haku's tease as he sat staring at the contents of his backpack. Someone stole his empty lunch box. Why, or how didn't matter. Someone stole something from him. Now he just had to figure out who.

"You could have just forgotten it at the academy." Haku suggested, also having noticed the missing item from the table.

"Or, someone stole it." Zabuza returned with the most likely outcome as he turned his gaze to Haku. At twenty years of age, Haku looked the exact same as when Zabuza met him at sixteen. Soft brown eyes, with an ever present, friendly smile and long dark hair on a slender frame. Age did little to differentiate Haku as a male, still looking like a pale skinned beauty that picked him up off the streets years ago. Zabuza pitied anyone who mistook Haku's kindness, or preference for female clothing as weakness. Zabuza respected strength, and few were stronger than his adopted father.

"Or, you are just being paranoid." Haku said as Zabuza began to put his stuff away with a few muttered swears.

He'd figure out who the thief was later.

"Language." Haku chided, as he searched through the cupboard for tea bags.

"Shouldn't you be on a mission?"

"Shouldn't you be training?" Haku smiled back, watching as Zabuza stopped his retort, closing his mouth with an audible click of teeth against teeth. "As I thought."

Zabuza waited and watched as Haku set the table, a cup placed before him. Haku sat down as they waited for the water to heat. "How is the academy?"

"Stupid. I could kill every person in there with my eyes closed and one arm tied behind my back. They haven't even started chakra theory yet."

"We both know that's not why you're there." Haku had seen to the boy's training himself from the age of six. Zabuza was anything but combat deficient. Which was the problem. As much as Haku loved the boy set before him, he was not blind to his faults. He was a naked blade, and years of affection had only dulled his edge, instead of removing it entirely. A sword without a cross-guard, just as likely to down an ally given the proper provocation.

Which is why I'm avoiding the subject, Zabuza thought.

"Have you made any friends?" Haku asked in his casual kimono. It always baffled Zabuza how well Haku could pull off traditional dress.

"Haven't made any enemies." He probably should have beaten the shit out of the trio yesterday, but he had no idea if he'd be punished for 'starting' a fight on his first day. In a blame game of three against one, and the one being a foreigner. The foreigner was going to lose. It was a question he'd ask at a later date, until then he could take a few punches. It'd make the payback all the more satisfying.

"That wasn't the question."

"Yet it's my answer."

The pair stared at each other for a moment, trading blows with little more than raised eyebrows and stern looks until the tea pot whistled. A whistle that was amplified by the sound of the apartment door bell ringing.

"For you?" Zabuza asked, noting the look of mild confusion on Haku's face before it was buried away.

"No, the Lord Hokage has given me a weeks vacation. To better learn the village, and it's inhabitants. Perhaps something came up." Haku said as he stood up, headed towards the door. Zabuza could certainly handle pouring two cups of tea.

He left Haku to deal with whoever was at the door, he certainly wasn't expecting any visitors. The Hyuuga girl might have defended him from the idiot trio, but she was far too reserved to actively seek him out. Especially when he'd only said less than a dozen words to her. And no one else came to mind, unless the sulky kid he knocked out was looking for a rematch. Who knows, he might even accept it. Fighting got the blood pumping, and if his blood was up it was easier to think. Which would make it easier to figure out which asshole who stole his lunch box.

Pyrrha expected a myriad of results when she knocked on the door to what she hoped was Zabuza's apartment. She could have been given wrong directions, or arrived at the incorrect destination. The village was a maze at times, and it showed best in the residential sections. She supposed when the most common occupation was shinobi, they were expected to go through a few mental gymnastics in their daily lives.

She wasn't ashamed to admit that she was expecting someone who looked like Zabuza but older, with scars and muscles that spoke of a long life in battle and eyes that could cut her excuses down with ease.

Instead, she was met with a young women in a floral pink robe- Kimono, she corrected herself. Clearly she'd gotten the wrong address.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The woman asked with a small smile.

"I'm sorry, I was looking for someone." She said, metal container partly hidden behind her back. At least she had a chance to get re-orientated. "Would you happen to know if Zabuza Momochi lives nearby?"

"Yes, I would." Haku's smile was almost blinding as she looked over the small red-haired child before her, and more importantly the lunch box in her hand. Zabuza's accusations fresh in his mind, he couldn't help but gloat to himself. A possible friend had emerged from the wood works. Now he had to hope Zabuza didn't fuck it up. "We were just about to have tea. Would you care to join us?"

AN: And thus Pyrrha enters the scene. Some of you will say this is out of character, I will defend my actions by pointing out the fact Pyrrha "I'm going to let the chips fall where they may" Nikos went out of her way to ensure that Jaune was her partner in a very blatant displace of not letting her own fate be decided for her. But I'll stop myself before I get rambling on Pyrrha and destiny. As for the reviews, tis a mixed bag but thank you in general for the input.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as always comments, concerns and questions are welcome. Hope you have a good day. ^.^