Alrighty! I do not own Naruto at all! All rights and regulations do go to Masashi Kishimoto! Azuna does belong to me however! Ok now to write this fan fiction I did use the episodes and I used all of the actual sentences said from the anime so all of those rights again go to the producers, Madman Entertainment and of course the beautiful voice actors and everyone on the crew. Thanks guys... hope you like it!
Chapter Twenty: Battle on the Bridge! Zabuza Returns! Part One:
Back within deep inside the purple and blue lit forest, Haku stood by one of the many windows gazing outside it. He pulled the pins from his hair - which was held up in a bun - out and let his long brown hair fall down his back.
Haku bowed his head and shut his eyes. He was thinking about Azuna and her smile. "How have you gotten mixed up in this Azuna?" Haku wondered. "How have you become a Leaf Shinobi this quickly?"
He remembered when they were little Azuna used to peer over the windows when he and Nozomi were sparing. Zabuza never like having Azuna around when the two boys were sparing, believing she might try to copy them or help and get hurt in the process. But none-the-less the troublesome little girl would peer over and watch them. She would always try to mask her appearance as well - moving most of her hair in front of her face. It acting like a wall between them. Somehow think that it would be able to hide her. Nozomi and Haku always knew that she was there but they never did anything about it. They both loved her too much to tell her that she couldn't watch them. As long as that was all she was doing.
Haku lifted his head and smiled into the sunlight. "Oh Azuna how I wish we were not on opposite sides this time. How I wish, I could see your smile once more."
Back inside the normal forest – away from the one that glowed purple and blue – Haku knelt on the ground picking different plants from the ground. He had changed outfits and was now wearing a pink kimono. His whole outfit made him look more like a girl than a boy. But he did not mind. A bird came and landed on his shoulder. He greeted it with a smile and it tilted its small heads to get a better look at him. Suddenly the bird flew from his shoulder and Haku followed it with his eyes.
The bird circled and then landed on a boy's stomach. He moved his head as the bird jumped around on it and Haku noticed the Leaf Headband around his forehead. He immediately remembered the boy from the fight a couple of days ago. The boy was Naruto.
Haku got up slowly and walked towards the boy. He didn't stir, in fact, he was fast asleep. He stood beside him and blinked down at him. He reached his hand down towards his neck and all the birds flew away. They knew that Haku was danger.
Back at the house Sakura walked into the dining room yawning. She looked sleepily around the table and saw Tazuna and Inari sitting where they were the night before, Sasuke at the head of the table opposite Tazuna, Tsunami at the sink and Kakashi sitting on the ground.
"Good morning everyone." Sakura mumbled yawning into her hand.
Sasuke turned his head towards her and was half expecting Azuna to be behind her but she wasn't Sakura rubbed her eyes and moved further to the table, sitting down. Tsunami handed her a bowl of food and she accepted it with a thank-you.
"Oh Sasuke I need you to go and wake Azuna up."
"Why do I have to do it?" He asked a little annoyed.
"I tried and she won't stir for me. I have no idea how Naruto gets her up every morning."
"Ugh fine." Sasuke grunted getting up from the table. He walked from the room and made his way to where Sakura and Azuna were sleeping. He let himself into the room and found Azuna sprawled out on her bed. Her black shirt she was sleeping in had ridden up and was exposing her stomach. Sasuke blushed slightly and walked over to her.
With his foot, Sasuke kicked Azuna's side lightly. "Come on Azuna get up it's time for breakfast."
Azuna didn't move. Not one inch.
Sasuke growled and kicked her again, a little harder than before. "Hey loser wake up!"
Again she didn't move.
Sasuke ground his teeth together and pulled his foot back. He moved it forward as fast and hard as he could, hoping to boot Azuna across the room when her hand snaked out caught his ankle and pulled him to the ground. In an instant Azuna was sitting on top of Sasuke with a Kunai pressed to his throat.
"Kick me one more time Uchiha and I'll cut your foot off." Azuna growled as her hair fell on either side of her face making a small curtain - a tiny room between Sasuke and Azuna.
"It's time for breakfast you idiot. If you had woken up when Sakura asked you to then maybe I wouldn't have to kick you, Momochi."
"Maybe if you would let a girl get her sleep she might have woken up on her own." Azuna grunted.
Sasuke belted out a short humourless laugh before narrowing his eyes at her. "Yeah right on what planet?"
Azuna and Sasuke glared at each other for a while. They weren't moving, just staring at each. They weren't game enough to blink or look away. Their glares only deepened as time went by. Suddenly there were footsteps that stopped at the doorway.
"Am I interrupting something?" Kakashi asked looking at the two Genin with an amused glint in his eyes. If only they knew how they were sitting it would make it a whole lot funnier to watch.
"He started it!" Azuna shouted at the same time Sasuke yelled. "She started it!"
Azuna's head whipped up to Kakashi's at the same time Sasuke did and Kakashi saw the blade that was held at Sasuke's throat. He shook his head and stood beside the two of them. "You pull your weapons on your enemies not your friends. Azuna put the Kunai away."
Azuna sighed in defeat and nodded, chucking the blade onto her makeshift bed on the floor. She leaned back from Sasuke and got off of him. When Sasuke watched her do so he realised how she had been sitting on him and he blushed quickly before storming out of the room.
"Sasuke's as cheery as ever." Azuna yawned stretching. "To be fair I did pull a knife of him, I can hardly blame the guy."
"Which brings me to this question: Why did you pull a knife on Sasuke Azuna?"
Azuna looked up at her Sensei through her hair and closed her eyes slowly. Should I tell him the truth or should I make up some lame excuse? Azuna wondered to herself.
"Tell me the truth Azuna." Kakashi said answering her question for her.
"It's nothing, really." She said after a moment of hesitation. Screw telling him, I don't need him to worry about me. I'm just fine on my own. "Just for some reason I'm a little jumpy. Sasuke kicked me I freaked out ok? I didn't mean for it to happen. It just did."
Azuna then stepped past Kakashi, not bothering to change out of her pyjamas, and walked to the dining room. Kakashi followed after her and sat down on the ground again where he was before.
Azuna sat down beside Sasuke and accepted the bowl Tsunami handed to her. She took a few bites of the food and then rested her head on the table, falling back asleep again. Sasuke rolled his eyes and ate his food that was given to him. And she's out cold again.
"Naruto's not here - looks like he was out all night again." Tazuna said while eating.
"He's gone completely crazy! He's out climbing trees in the dark. He could be dead by now, you know, from using up too much of his chakra." Sakura said matter-of-factly.
"Well I certainly hope he's ok." Tsunami said. "A child spending the night in the woods alone -"
"There's nothing to worry about. Naruto's a goofy kid but he's also a full-fledged ninja – he can handle himself." Kakashi assured cutting Tsunami off.
"Sakura's right. Naruto's such a loser he's probably lying out there dead somewhere." Sasuke said. He stood up from his chair and turned around, walking to the door with his hands in his pockets.
"Sasuke?" Sakura wondered, calling out to him, in the high voice she only used when talking to Sasuke.
"I'm going for a walk." Sasuke said before we walked out of the house.
"But we just started eating." Sakura said looking down at his plate that was beside Azuna. When she found the plate empty her eyebrow twitched. "That was fast."
Back in the woods, Haku knelt down beside Naruto reaching his hand out to him. He reached for his neck, as if to strangle him. Only at the last second did Haku back out and decided to shake him awake rather than kill him. "You'll catch cold if you sleep here. Wake up."
Naruto stirred and looked up at Haku. When he saw him he sat up and peered at him through his tired eyes. "Who the heck are you?" He said a bit rudely. But when he looked at Haku again he mistook him for a girl and a blush appeared on his cheeks. "Oh I mean, hi there, where did you come from? You know, what are you doing out here and all that?"
"I'm gathering herbs." Haku stated simply.
"Herbs?" Naruto exclaimed shocked.
Haku smiled and nodded his head. "Yes that's right. There for treating illnesses and healing wounds."
Haku showed Naruto where he was picking herbs before. The both sat down and pick the small green plants and were placing them in the basket that Haku had. Naruto picked off a small herb shoot and flopped down on the ground cross-legged.
"You start work early huh, don't ya sis?" Naruto said playing with the herb shoot in his hand.
"I like it early, it's calm, but I didn't think I'd find anyone out here sleeping in the woods."
Naruto grinned and laughed. "I'm training!"
"Hmm, so are you a ninja? Because I noticed that headband you're wearing, or, are you just making a fashion statement?"
Naruto's blush deepened and he grinned pointing at it. "You notice that? Alright! Only super cool ninja can wear these!"
"Oh really? I see that's very impressive." Haku said as Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head. "But, does that mean your training for something dangerous?"
"I'm just developing my skills so I can get stronger!" Naruto pipped.
"You seem very strong now, isn't that enough?"
"No, no I need to get strong and stronger! I have to keep practicing!"
"How so?" Haku asked narrowing his eyes ever so slightly. "Why's it so important?"
"So I can become the best ninja in my village! Then everyone will know who I am and they'll all respect me! There's also a certain person, a kid, I have to prove something to!" Naruto shouted excited.
"So are you doing it for this certain person?" Haku asked leaning forward. "Or are you doing all this training for yourself?"
"Huh?" Naruto asked completely confused. Haku laughed which cause Naruto to go hysterical and start waving his arms about. "What are you laughing about? What's so funny?"
Haku laughed and shook his head. "Is there, someone who's precious to you?"
"Someone who's – what are you saying sis? What'd you mean precious?"
Haku bowed his head slightly in sadness and thought about his past. Where the snow was always falling. He remembered being cold yet not cold at the same time. Sitting on the side of the road as a little boy, grubby and homeless, waiting beside a trashcan.
He was lucky enough to have a man throw his rubbish out and he remembered feeling glad, not happy, just glad. He rushed to the can and started to rummage through the rubbish as a dog came up behind him and started to bark. She also wanted the food but Haku was too hungry to share.
Haku quickly hit the dog back and resumed to rummaging in the bin. As he started to untie a bag he heard lower more childish growls from behind him. He found two puppies growling, standing on either side of their mother. They were willing to protect her at all costs.
He then remembered sitting alone on the bridge, wishing to have some need in life - hoping to just die because he was unnecessary. He remembered the footsteps coming towards him and looking up, to see Zabuza dressed in the standard Kirigakure ninja uniform with a boy, the same age as him holding onto his pants. And then a small girl hanging off of the boy's back, a long brown scarf – which Haku wore with his normal clothes - firmly wrapped around her neck. The smile that she flashed at him, the feeling of brotherly love coming from the boy that was directed at the girl and the look of pity in Zabuza's eyes – those were the looks of those who were to become his family.
Haku lifted his head and looked at Naruto, the sadness still lingering in his eyes. Naruto blinked a couple of times and turned his head to the side slightly. Hmm, what's she thinking? Naruto wondered.
"You see, when someone has something precious that they want to protect then they become genuinely strong." Haku explained.
"Hmm?" Naruto said confused for a moment. "Hmm."
He finally understood when he thought back to the story that Tazuna told him about Inari's father. About how he saved them in the flood. Then to when Kakashi told them that he would protect them with his life – while Azuna was out cold. And then to when Iruka saved him by taking the Dai Shuriken in the back to save his life and then him swearing that if Mizuki ever touched Iruka he would kill him.
"Yeah, I hear ya! I know exactly what you're saying." Naruto pipped.
Haku smiled back at him and then stood up, picking up his basket of herbs as he did so. "You will get strong very strong." He said turning away from Naruto. "Good-bye, we'll meet again sometime."
Haku walked away a bit and Naruto was still grinning after him. He stopped suddenly and without turning around spoke to Naruto. "Oh, and by the way. I'm a boy."
"HUH!" Naruto shouted. NO WAY! HE'S PRETTIER THAN SAKURA!
As Haku walked away from Naruto, Sasuke was walking towards him. The two boys walked straight past each other, not sparing the other one a glance. This was until Sasuke stopped walking and stared back at him suspiciously. Eyeing Haku was he walked away.
"Whoa I've seen a lot of weird things in my life before but this one takes the cake!" Naruto complained.
Sasuke who had made his way over to Naruto stood in front of him and hit him across the head. Naruto's hands flung up and held his sore head while Sasuke crossed his arms in front of him and glared at Naruto.
"Hey! Ow! What did you do that for? Cut it out!" Naruto complained loudly.
"Hey twerp, did you just forget about breakfast? You're such a loser." Sasuke grumbled.
"Huh?" Naruto asked. But he soon grinned and laughed like an idiot because he knew that it ticked Sasuke off.
Just as Naruto had predicted Sasuke glared deepened and he turned to the side a bit in annoyance - like he could barely stand the sight of him. His arms were still crossed and his teeth were grinding together as if he was trying to refrain from beating Naruto to a pulp.
Sometime later Sakura, Azuna and Kakashi stood in the forest where they had been training earlier that week. They looked around them for a while until Sakura got tired of looking.
"Naruto!" She called out loudly trying to find him with her voice. "Knowing Naruto he could be anywhere and Sasuke hasn't come back either. I wonder where they are."
Suddenly from up high somewhere a Kunai knife came flying down and landed right in front of Azuna's feet, who was standing in the middle. They all looked up in surprise and Sakura gripped tighter onto the picnic basket she was holding.
As they looked up they saw Naruto lying down on a branch with the biggest grin on his face. Azuna's eyes widened as she realised just high up Naruto was. Kakashi and Sakura seemed to be impressed as well.
"Whoa. Naruto can climb that high now using his chakra? That's great!" Sakura praised.
"What do you think? High enough for you guys? I mean it's a long way down!" Naruto shouted down happily. He then jumped up and stood on the branch with his hands on his hips. Suddenly his foot slipped and he started to fall backwards.
"Oh Naruto!" Sakura called.
"You idiot." Azuna grounded out as he fell back even more.
"Uh oh." Kakashi muttered.
Sakura broke out into a scream and shut her eyes tightly. Naruto only wrapped around and stood on the other side of the tree branch. Now effectively hanging upside down.
He broke out into laughter and grinned at them. "Just kidding! You guys really fell for it!"
"We were worried about you Naruto!" Sakura shrieked. I'M GONNA STRANGLE YOU! CHA! YOU DORK! Her inner, angrier Sakura shouted.
Azuna rubbed her forehead and shook her head. "Idiot." She muttered sighing loudly.
"Why do I think this is going to end badly?" Kakashi said with a bored look on his face.
Naruto laughed again but it soon stopped as his feet popped off of the tree. Kakashi bored eyes suddenly burst out of his head with worry as did Sakura's.
"YOU JUST HAD TO PUSH IT DIDN'T YOU SHOWOFF?" Sakura bellowed.
"Dammit Naruto!" Azuna mumbled.
Naruto began to freak out as he fell, screaming loudly while his face was mortified. However while everyone was looking at Naruto, loud footsteps could be heard. Azuna's eyes followed the noise and found Sasuke hanging upside down from the branch Naruto fell from, holding Naruto by his ankle- saving his life.
"You really are a total loser Naruto." Sasuke mocked.
"Gah! Sasuke?" Naruto wondered looking up.
"Oh! Alright Sasuke you're the best!" Sakura admired while giggling like a little girl.
"If I'm still sane by the time I finish their training it will be a miracle." Kakashi laughed giving his students a closed eyed smile.
Back in the purple misted forest Haku stood behind a purple couch in his normal clothes. Zabuza sat on the couch now dressed in black pants and a sleeveless black shirt. He wore grey, black stripped leg and arm warmers and the usual black Shinobi shoes. His bandages were coming undone at his neck.
In his hand Zabuza crushed an apple with little effort. The juice and bits of the apple went flying across the room and Haku nodded at him. "You're recovering quickly." He stated quietly.
"Mm, just a little longer Haku." Zabuza sighed gruffly dropping the remaining apple.
"Yes." Haku nodded thoughtfully, thinking of Azuna once more.