And now, if you'd be so kind, I'd like to tell you that this was inspired by a rather long RP I was involved in a while ago.
Everyone who read or reviewed; thanks a bundle. D
The warnings for this chapterare OC, shounen-ai.
Italics signify a flash back. Woo.
Oh yeah! Start the first chapter now! FAETIO!
Hasn't Everyone Wanted to Catch Snow on His Tongue?
Chapter One: Do you Remember?
The morning forest was quiet, the first shimmering glances of sunlight just beginning to show up over the horizon. Birds that had been silent through the night slowly became to awaken, their voices slowly filling up the sky with their songs.
Haku loved the morning, especially around here. It was so peaceful and calm, and if there would've been snow on the ground, he could've sworn he was in another time and place, before anything had happened… when he'd still been wanted by his original family.
The boy sighed, looking up from his seated position on the ground. He'd always loved this place… Did Zabuza remember it; when they had first shown up here, so many years ago? It was hard to tell. If the elder shinobi did, he didn't make it very clear.
Letting another great sigh slip out between his lips, the dark haired ninja flopped to the ground on his left side, his knees bent slightly and his right hand laying palm-down just in front of his face. Staring almost unfocused at the world, Haku mulled over the things in his life.
Motionless, with only the steady, rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, the boy stared off into space, only snapping out of his thoughts when his white rabbit jumped up next to him, interrupting his contemplations by nuzzling against his stomach.
Shaken, though not letting it show, Haku's eyes drifted downwards to eye the bunny, but otherwise didn't move. He'd lain like this once, only then he'd been lying in a snow bank and freezing to death. Now, he was there of his own free will.
Shoving thoughts of his past away, he sat up slowly, drawing his pet into his lap. With a soft smile now gracing his lips, he scratched at the white creature's head, knowing just what spots to pet and nurture.
"How are you today, my little friend?" The mist-nin's voice was quiet, barely much more than a whisper. It always took on that slightly mothering tint when he was speaking to his beloved pet, though he'd never named the little rabbit.
Not getting a response from the small creature, he scooped it up into his arms, cradling it so it wouldn't feel frightened or be uncomfortable. "Let's go see what Zabuza-sama is doing…"
The fuzzy animal in his arms stiffened, knowing all-too-well who Zabuza-sama was. The scary man that held the animal up by its ears. The scary man that wanted to eat him.
Looking down at obviously horrified rabbit, the shinobi gave it an apologetic smile. "He's not that bad… Well, only when he's trying to cook you for dinner, but that doesn't happen too often anymore."
An angel, he truly looked like, with dark, straight hair hanging around his beautifully feminine face. His pale skin was unmarred and pristine, looking as if no troubles had come anywhere him. The pink kimono, though rather plain, somehow even managed to look ethereal on him.
But underneath this pure, saintly look, held a soul stained by the sins of all humans; emotions. What he had done; the people he had ruthlessly murdered, the families he ripped apart – all were done for the sake of one man.
The man he loved.
And so, as it seems to be for all of human kind, his greatest sin in the eyes of so many was to be in love.
The rabbit's ears twitched, knocking Haku out of his silent day dream. Sneezing as the soft fur brushed against his nose, the dark eyed boy looked back down at the bunny in his arms, giving it a small smile.
They were almost back to the house he and Zabuza had claimed. Overall, he didn't mind it, but truly, he couldn't wait to get into town… With a reminiscent smile, he wondered if Rose remembered him.
"Haku?" a gruff, questioning voice whispered across the trees, eliciting a tiny shiver up the young nin's spine.
"Zabuza-sama(1)…" The boy looked up in the direction of the voice, and gifted with the sight of his tall, muscular teacher.
The Momochi had obviously been training, wearing only a pair of training pants. Sweat was dribbling in rivulets down his back and chest, the light glinting off the wet muscles. The bandages that were usually guarding the bottom of his face from view had been discarded, revealing the tan skin beneath.
"Where were you?" The question was very nonchalant, but Haku was used to the elder's gruffness and seemingly uncaring sides. He knew that the former mist-nin had been worried about him, even if it was only slightly, and even if it was irrational.
Giggling slightly at the question, he knelt down and let the rabbit hop out of his arms, scratching it once on the head before moving back into a fully standing position, his eyes locked on the man in the tree above him.
"Walking in the forest, Zabuza-sama." He knew it wasn't the answer Zabuza wanted. Zabuza knew that Haku knew what he'd meant.
"Always a brat," the elder mist-nin muttered, making sure it was loud enough for Haku to hear. The younger one just gave a smile. "What were you doing?"
"Hmm…" The young shinobi looked away, back towards the direction he had just come from. "I was thinking… more like reminiscing, actually."
A frown. "Reminiscing about what?"
Smiling again, Haku leapt onto the branch next to Zabuza in one graceful movement. "Don't you remember this village?" His head tilted very slightly to one side, as if to better view his master's face and emotions.
Grunting softly, Zabuza frowned, looking away from his subordinate's face. He knew that behind the pleasant, soft, understanding smile lurked a certain brat-like quality. It was that 'oh come, you can't have forgotten, can you? you've gotten old' look, hanging back behind the softness.
Or maybe he was imagining things. Either way, he was reluctant to say that he had, indeed, forgotten about this village. Unless, of course, there had been nothing to forget and Haku was just teasing him.
The elder nin eyed his student, earning him a slightly confused and worried look.
Why did the kid have to be a brat? What had happened to the nice little kid that would do anything without questions? This… this thing, this teenager… was far too complicated, and far too driven by emotions.
Wasn't there anyway to skip ahead a few years?
Sighing, the man awkwardly scratched the side of his face, looking back at the younger, paler one beside him.
"There was something worth remembering that happened here?" There. That wasn't a bad response. Haku could take it as him not remembering, or as him just being an ass, trying to drag some annoyance out of his student.
But as always, Haku could see straight through him. "You really don't remember..? It happened just a year or two after we first met…"
The missing-nin duo had stumbled into the village dirty and tired, aching and ready for a good place to rest for the remainder of the day.
They'd gotten into the village just before the sun was rising, and had spent the majority of the morning looking for an inn to stay in. It was a surprisingly small village, very far out of the way and very unimportant. Yet still, the only inn in town had been filled to the brim with guests.
Oh, luck sure did shower on them.
By the time the afternoon had arrived, Haku had begun to wear down, being just a small child and needing some rest after such a long trek from his homeland.
Both he and Zabuza were dirty, filthy even. The two barely had any money, greatly limiting the supplies they could buy, but even a gruff man like Zabuza could see that Haku would need at least something to eat if he was to keep traveling.
Finding a nice, white bench to flop onto, Zabuza led Haku over to it, sitting them both down. Across the street from them, a woman stood on the corner, practically throwing herself on the men that walked by.
The young boy stared at her, wondering what on earth she could be doing. Cocking his head to one side, he watched her at her work, before looking up at his master and tugging gently on the older man's shirt sleeve.
"Zabuza-sama… what is that woman doing?" he asked, his still young voice rather high-pitched, but still soft and calming.
The mist-nin looked up, spotting the woman across from them. "That's a prostitute, she's selling herself."
Haku's eyes widened in understanding. "Was that building we passed a while ago a place where they gather?"
"That was a Geisha house, Haku. They're usually seen as a step above the common prostitute… Geisha are more like escorts than actual pleasure slaves, though they can be used that way."
Zabuza knew that Haku wouldn't understand. If the boy had questions later on in life, he could answer them, but for now the boy seemed to get the general idea and nodded slowly, looking over at the woman again.
Sighing and deciding that it was time they got something to eat, he patted Haku on the head. "Here, take this money and go get us something to eat." The man held out a few coins; enough to buy a decent enough meal.
With wide, innocent eyes, the young boy took the money in his two hands before hastily shoving them into a pocket of his kimono. "What would you like, Zabuza-sama?"
"Human," he replied, smirking a bit. Of course, being a child, Haku didn't necessarily understand the nuances of sarcasm.
"Right, sir!" With a determined look on his face, Haku set off for one of the buildings, leaving Zabuza's line of sight.
In his childlike mind, he was putting two and two together. Zabuza wanted human… and Geisha sold themselves… so what better place to find some humans to eat than the Geisha house Zabuza had told him about!
Smiling, he stepped into the traditionally-style building, looking up at all the beautiful women as they rushed back and forth. Spotting one that looked fairly close to his age, the young boy ran up to the Geisha.
"Excuse me," he said politely, tugging at the Geisha's long kimono. The woman looked down at him, grinning at the little boy.
"Well, aren't you a little cutey? What can I do for you?"
"I want to buy you." He took the coins out of his kimono, holding them up to the taller person. "Is this enough?"
"..." For a moment, the Geisha stared at him, completely unprepared for the young boy's questions. "Uh… well… I-What does a little kid like you want with a Geisha?"
"Oh! It's not for me, it's for my father (2)!" Haku answered happily, a smile growing on his face.
"Your father asked you to get him a Geisha? I bet you don't even know what we are." The Geisha looked pissed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I know what you are. You sell yourselves, correct?"
The Geisha eyed him. "You shouldn't know that much about us at such a young age…"
"I want to buy you for breakfast."
"Well, you can- wait, what?"
"For breakfast," Haku repeated, the innocent smile lighting up his face. "Zabuza-sama said that he wants human for breakfast, so I figured that I would come here and buy a Geisha for him to eat."
The Geisha almost laughed in relief. It was just a child, confused by the world around him. "Hey darling," the escort said, kneeling down, "I like you. Why don't you run off and get your father, and I'll treat you both to breakfast and a bath."
"Ah, really! That would be wonderful! I didn't really want to eat another person anyway..." The boy was practically beaming.
"Heh heh, yeah, and for free too! My name's Rose (3)," the Geisha said, extending her hand towards the younger child.
"It's nice to meet you, Rose. My name is Haku."
"It's good to meet you too, now run off and go get your father." The Geisha patted him playfully on the butt, spurring along his movements.
The young boy ran off back towards Zabuza, finding him sitting at the same bench as he had been when he'd left. The prostitute was no where to be seen.
"Zabuza-sama! Zabuza-sama!" Said nin raised an eyebrow at the accomplished look on Haku's face but said nothing, noting the obvious lack of food.
"I found a place where we can get breakfast for free!"
"For free?" the mist-nin echoed, eyeing his young companion. "And just where would this be?"
"The Geisha house! I met someone named Rose, and she said that she'd give us food for free!"
"The Geisha house? Why on earth did you go to the Geisha house in the first place Haku?" His voice was exasperated, and his mind was racing with the possibilities of what troubles Haku might've gotten himself into.
"Well, you said that you wanted human, and since Geisha sell themselves, I figured the best way to get human was to buy one." Zabuza mentally smacked himself in the forehead. "But they she offered to just give us a free breakfast, and a bath too!"
Not waiting for the elder man to reply, he eagerly grabbed Zabuza's arm, dragging him back to the Geisha house while the man mentally prepared himself for whatever berating he would most likely be receiving from the women of the Geisha house.
Ah, now he remembered. It had been… one of the single most embarrassing parts of his life with Haku. Trying to explain to quite a few angry women that there had just been a misunderstanding with some of his words and jokes.
Eyeing Haku now, he wondered if the boy's teenage self had somehow planned that event out for the future, just to watch Zabuza get annoyed.
"I remember now… Rose, was his name?" Yes, Rose. The Geisha that practically fell in love with Haku, lavishing things on him until the very minute he left. In fact, another reason he remembered Rose was the fact that the Geisha was a man. A man that looked incredibly feminine.
Just about as feminine as his younger companion.
"Yes, that was his name. He was very kind to us," Haku replied, smiling softly again. He wondered if Rose would remember him if he went to visit the Geisha. It had been many years since they had last seen each other, but perhaps the older boy would remember him…
Almost as if reading his thoughts, Zabuza patted him on the head as he had all those long years ago. "I'm sure he remembers you. Who could forget such a feminine little boy?" The 'feminine little boy' gave him a mock glare, but the effect was ruined by the slowly growing smile encompassing his face.
The rabbit's ear twitched as it looked up from the ground.
"Do you think so…?" Now, it was Haku's turn to move his gaze away from Zabuza's, staring instead at the thick forest of green leaves surrounding them.
"Just go. You can always remind him as you reminded me." Those were the most encouraging his master's words could get, and Haku knew and appreciated the effort nonetheless.
"Thank you, Zabuza-sama," he whispered, turning and throwing his arms around his teacher's neck, giving him a quick hug.
After disentangling his arms from the older man, the shinobi jumped down from the tree, running off towards the village.
Shaking his head slightly and watching as his student ran off, Zabuza tried to ignore the fact that the hug had left him with a definitely more-than-friendly feeling tingling up and down his back.
1 – I know he uses 'san', but I dunno, 'sama' is more respectful, and I just like it better for Haku.
2 – I figured that little Haku would think of Zabuza as a father…
3 – Rose is twelve at this time, just a few years older than Haku.
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