Author's Note: Chapter twelve up :D It's called Suspicions, although perhaps Nightmares would have been a more suitable name for it, lol xP I guess I must've been in my Steven Spielberg mood, with a mixture of House (if you watch this show) when I wrote this… xp Oh my. That's what happens when you read too much "Night Watch"… o.O
FaithsWings-- Heh heh. x3 -pats self on back- I just don't like it when people say things about Haku, like that he's girly or a transvestite or something. They don't even wonder what his real reasoning for dressing up as a girl might have been. So I just wanted to clear things up a bit. :3 Oh, and these are their current ages: Haku's 11, Loki's 13 and Zabuza's 22.
White Lioness-- Loki's only got two constant "shapes": one, when she looks/seems like a normal human (forget her whole 'I'm proud to be a werewolf' issue), and her other form, when she is a wolf – that's when she's just sort of like a very intelligent animal; except on the full moon, when she's just like a very rabid animal. So she can stay as either a human or a wolf. But… if she's really upset (or if she's around a lot of blood), she starts developing some wolfish features, like her claws and fangs grow, her eyes change or her sense of smell increases. But that's just a transitional stage, meaning that she can't stay this way for long, and soon afterwards she'll either calm down and return to her human-shape, or she'll finish the transformation and go rabid wolf on everyone. X3 So it's not really like a third "shape"… Are you confused yet? O.o (Because I am… sort of… and I'm the one writing this fic. Waaah, I'm pathetic, I know! TToTT)
Everybody else--TTAW's up to 2600+ hits! xD I thank you all for the time and attention. X3 Enjoy chapter twelve:D
12. Suspicions
Chilly northern winds combed the morning air more and more often now that summer in the Water Country was coming to an end. The cold was still bearable enough to live under the open skies, but the thought of finding reliable shelter sometime soon had already crossed Zabuza's mind more than once. The renegade was as tough and proud as they came; however, even he knew better than to underestimate his land's harsh climate.
They were almost near the Village of Twin Rivers now. There were no more unpleasant encounters with the Hunter Ninja on the way, so Zabuza decided that he and his team were relatively safe. For the time being.
Nevertheless, Zabuza wasn't in too great of a hurry to return to civilization. Momochi was never a 'people' kind of person. For him, Haku and Loki were enough of a crowd.
And in the meantime, Loki was losing a desperate battle against Mother Nature. It couldn't even be called a true battle… That rough bass voice and those deep, dark, ever-glaring eyes… Poor Loki never stood a chance. All that was left for her now was to admit defeat; and the once-proud female-werewolf was currently busy doing just that by confessing her feelings to the indifferently-silent surface of a nearby pond.
"So, I think he's a little attractive for a human," Loki was grumbling sullenly at no one in particular. "So what's the big deal? It's not like it's a crime to like humans…"
She paused, contemplating what she had just said. 'Like' and 'humans' together in a sentence without any violent verbs to separate them still made her shudder a little. Werewolves had a very, very hard time letting go of certain concepts.
"Alright, I admit that I like him…" Loki muttered after a while, scowling at her own sulking reflection and feeling like a loser. "And don't look at me like that! It's your fault as much as mine!"
The girl punched the image of herself frowning up from the depths of the pond with an angry fist, sending muddy ripples across the placid surface. At the same time, she heard a rustle and a crash as a bundle of navy-blue fell flailing through the reeds. Loki whirled around in time to see Haku getting to his feet amidst a heap of broken bulrush stems. Too late, her nostrils sent little tingling alarms to her brain, but her eyes had already beaten them to it. Pupils narrowing, Loki bit her lip. Haku was here? Damn, damn, damn! How much could he have overheard? She really should have taken out those nose-filters before confiding private information to the forest at large!
Meanwhile, Haku dusted off his clothes and approached his team-mate cautiously. The sudden accusation had caught him by surprise, causing him to lose all his delicately-acquired-among-the-dense-reeds balance and fall out into the clearing. Not that Haku had been intending to eavesdrop. He had just been passing by, looking for Loki, and was startled by her angry voice. Anyone would have fallen over from an exclamation like that, especially if it was uttered by Loki and especially if they knew how scary she could be when she was angry. The image of the drunkard from that pub being chased screaming down the street was still fresh in Haku's mind.
Nevertheless, Haku was curious, and slightly confused. Who could it be that Loki liked, and how was it his, Haku's, fault?
"Err… Loki? W-were you yelling at me?" he asked uncertainly. You always had to make sure first, just in case.
Loki was staring up at him, blushing so hard that she could easily replace the red signal in a traffic light.
"No, I… I wasn't yelling at anyone… in particular. Just… just yelling." Loki decided not to go into detailed explanations about scowling reflections, annoying tingly feelings and inner voices that got on her nerves. This would just spawn new conversation topics, and Loki didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment. Right now, she just wanted Haku to go away. Right now, she just wanted to be left alone in her miserable defeat.
"Oh… I understand," said Haku, who didn't understand. He did realize one thing though, and that was that his presence wasn't wanted. Oh well. The boy lived with Zabuza and knew that everybody needed their alone-times every once in a while. He was used to that.
Haku muttered a 'later!' and turned to leave. Loki sat for a moment, staring at his back and biting her lip. She couldn't take it anymore. She had to tell someone, anyone. Perhaps that would make her feel better. Perhaps that would ease the throbbing inside her chest somewhat. Anyone who'd listen; and she didn't care whether it was a tree, her own reflection or a small human child that wouldn't understand anything anyway.
Besides, Haku seemed to know Zabuza for a very long time; longer than she did, in any case. Maybe he could advise her on what to do.
"Haku?" she called out anxiously at the boy's departing back. "Um? Could I talk… to you?"
Haku turned around at the sound of his comrade's pleading voice. He might have been dressing as a female sometimes, but he sure as heck didn't get how women's minds worked, not one bit. One second, they make it very clear that they'd rather be left to their own devices, and the next, they want you to stick around for a chat.
All right. Loki did seem very upset; and it would be rather impolite to leave now, when she was counting on him to stay and listen.
"Sure…"
Haku sat down on the damp grass beside the girl, giving her the okay-I'm-all-ears-now look and an encouraging smile. Encouraging smiles always helped.
Loki's truth seemed short and simple. It only consisted of three small words, Haku noted; however, it took a while for the phrase's meaning to fully sink in.
Brighter than all of the world's traffic lights put together, Loki finally, after a long, loo-oo-ong pause, uttered:
"I… like Zabuza-san."
The male ninja sat there, gaping. Some sort of reaction was clearly expected of him, but he just couldn't think of anything to say. Or do. It seemed to him so… so… well… Loki liking Zabuza-san…? Loki liking Zabuza-san? Loki… liking… Zabuza-san… Whoa.
Well, he should have guessed. Finding Loki sulking in a huddle near a pond like that was a sure sign of astonishing truths on the verge of discovery.
But that wasn't all that surprising when you thought about it. Loki was a girl, after all. And as far as Haku could see, it was only natural for a teenage girl to fall head over heels for someone as strong and… masculine… as Zabuza-san.
Meanwhile Loki, suddenly overcome by inexplicable waves of sincerity and a great surge to open up, went on pouring out everything that was nagging at her mind and soul and dragging her down, lower and lower into the abyss of misery. The girl couldn't stop herself now. She was prepared to feel embarrassed, put down, humiliated in the end; but she wasn't able to break the flow of her own speech for the world. Though surprisingly enough, with each word that she said she felt lighter, as if some enormous weights were being lifted off her soul, one by one; and so she continued. Haku was patiently listening to the whole of her disrupted, senseless monologue, nodding briefly from time to time, and that reassured her.
By the end of her story, Loki knew that talking to Haku had been the right decision. The tension was long gone, and her heartache was already dispersing. The tingly feeling moved over a little, leaving some space for the other thoughts in the girl's mind. This felt strangely… pleasant.
"So, er… what should I do?" Loki asked simply after a short pause for breath.
"Wha…? Oh…" Haku was startled by the question. How should he know? He'd never considered himself an expert in the field of relationships between weird teenager girls and fully-grown male assassins.
"It's just that… you seem to know Zabuza-san so well. So I was just thinking…" Loki's voice trailed off, all hope draining out of it.
"Oh, well… I dunno…" Haku shrugged, racking his brains for any other, more suitable answers. The boy really wanted to help out his friend but he honestly didn't know what to do in situations like that. "You could try talking to him, I guess," he said after a while. That was his way of getting out of this uncomfortable conversation without actually revealing Zabuza's personal information. Not that Haku didn't trust Loki, but… it would be better if whatever she found out about Zabuza came from the man himself, and not from his younger subordinate.
Loki stared at Haku with a strange mixture of amusement, annoyance and disbelief. "Talk to Zabuza-san? Talk to Zabuza-san? Can you actually imagine somebody sitting down and trying to have a chat with Zabuza-san?"
Haku sighed. It did sound a bit absurd if you knew the infamous Demon of the Mist personally for more than an hour.
Well, Haku was trying to be helpful.
"Well… you could ask him about the techniques that he knows," the young Mist Nin struggled. "Like… the Water Jutsu. And pretend to be really-really interested. Yeah… Just ask him whether they're difficult to perform, and how long did it take for him to learn them, and, you know, things like that. Master likes to... well, to boast a little every once in a while, you know… So… you'll have no problem, just as long as it doesn't look like you're prying." Haku watched Loki's face carefully as he said that last bit. "That sort of thing can get him paranoid, and you don't want that. But otherwise… you do still need help with your chakra, so you could use that as your reason for asking."
Haku realized that right now he was giving out lots of potentially dangerous information that could successfully be used against him and Zabuza-san in the future… but you could only not trust a person for that long. Though if Loki did try to run away with their secrets, she wouldn't get far in any case. Not from the Demon of the Hidden Mist, she wouldn't.
In the meantime, Loki was carefully considering the boy's suggestions. The idea of an actual calm conversation with her eyebrowless wonder (an interaction not involving any yells, curses and death-threats of various degrees) sounded rather tempting. Even if it was highly unlikely to happen, and would be about unimportant stuff anyway.
Though overall, if you thought about it, it seemed like a good idea. And she wouldn't even have to pretend to be interested in what Zabuza had to say.
"Thank you," Loki half-smiled at a fretful-looking Haku. She had a sudden, momentary urge to hug him for being so helpful and understanding and not laughing at her… but then the moment passed, and the urge was gone. The shattered remains of Loki's dignity still wouldn't allow her to hug a human, no matter how helpful and understanding he might have been.
And then Haku beamed back; a warm, gentle smile. The kind of smile that reassured you and said, "I'm gonna be there for you no matter what". The kind of smile that only the best of friends could share. And the kind of smile that always got you so well out of awkward situations. But at that exact moment in time Loki realized that she truly had made a friend. The first real friend, for the first time in her life.
Loki would have hugged him now, but she was already feeling too discomfited about this whole ordeal of a confession, and didn't want to make herself suffer even worse. At any rate, if she blushed any harder, she would have probably become the proud creator of a whole new shade of dark-red.
August was coming to an end. Autumn was quick to grasp Water Country into its cold, leaky clutches. Clear sunny days were soon replaced by grey, rainy gloom from morning till night, and fierce northern winds raided the blackened forest with ever-growing anger. And the moon was gradually rounding out each night, slowly but mercilessly revealing more and more of its pale, bloodthirsty face.
Pale moon against the damp, dismal sky.
Loki was staring up at it, the ever-increasing pool of silver light reflected in each of her big, olive-green eyes, and remembered, with a shudder and a soft tinge of guilt, about the dreadful nights to come. Nights full of pain, madness, blood and oblivion. Nights when she couldn't tell left from right, up from down and friend from foe. And Loki trembled with fear and disgust at the thought of what might happen if she didn't get far enough from the two of her companions in time.
The usual near-full-moon worries.
It was funny, in an unfunny sort of way, that a werewolf actually cared about what happened to a bunch of sorry humans. Especially if she was going to abandon them, anyway.
Loki shook her head, embracing her own shoulders as if to protect herself from the gale and block out the outside world. Haku and Zabuza weren't sorry humans. They were humans all right, but they weren't sorry. Or pathetic. Or weak. And she wasn't going to abandon them. Not yet, anyway.
And not ever, perhaps. Unless she found her pack, that was. But considering all the efforts she was putting into searching for her possibly-existing family, Loki doubted that she would ever find anyone or anything at all. And the most sickeningly frightening question arose treacherously from the depths of her mind – did it all really matter? Was it even worth searching?
Yes. Yes, yes, yes, of course. She had already gotten out of hand, going soft and developing feelings for human scumbags. She had to hide her own identity from them in fear for her life, the pride of her bloodline turned into something shameful and disgusting. This wasn't the best possible way of spending your one and only lifetime, and if there were any potentially better options whatsoever, then they definitely deserved a shot. And wasn't a life with no insecurities, a life with those like yourself around you, from whom you wouldn't have to hide in shadowy corners whenever your true nature began to sprout from your jaws and fingertips, the best option there ever could be?
Yes, the moon sneered down coldly from behind its thick, grey veil of rain clouds. Dream all you want, foolish little girl, but don't count on it to ease your struggles, or change your life. Happiness won't drop down on you from the sky like a great big brick if you just sit around doing nothing but dreaming. But what else can you do? You're a weapon. A mindless, manufactured weapon. It would be easier to just accept that you're all alone in this big, human world, where you don't belong and no one will ever understand. You're not the center of the stage here, no matter how strong you will get; and the spotlight will never, ever belong to you, because you're not like them.
Among humans, you will forever be an outcast.
Yes, Loki mused. How could I be so stupidly childish as to actually dream of one day being reunited with my pack, my real family? No… that's just my way of escaping, my way of denying the fact that I don't fit in and trying to stay sane. But it can't really happen, because I'm not even trying to do anything about it. And what can one achieve without trying? The world doesn't work like that, fool…
But all I need… All I am truly looking for is just some evidence… any evidence at all that would prove that the Chief was wrong, that they really had existed… and that I'm not just a manufactured weapon.
I'm not manufactured, Loki thought stubbornly as she trudged along through the damp, naked branches of the undergrowth. Reddish muck stuck to her sandals, sucking her feet deeper and deeper into the ground. The sky was already dark; and in the distance, thunder rumbled dully. It was going to be a rough night in more ways than one.
The girl had left her ninja team-mates sleeping tenderly under their make-shift willow-branch shelter, ready to awaken at any soft noise or slight hint of a movement. Loki's departure, however, left them quite unperturbed. Loki was a werewolf, and werewolves moved like shadows. Swift, silent hunters… made even swifter and deadlier by the beckoning silver light of the full moon.
Loki had snuck away to transform, yet again. She was running as fast as she could now, to put as much distance between herself and her humans as possible. The dirt on her shoes dragged her down, slowing her, but Loki kept running. She was angry, anxious, ashamed and afraid all at the same time. She hadn't even known that so many emotions starting with an "a" existed, let alone being mixed together all in one to create an entirely new feeling.
A rabbit shot out from under Loki's feet, startling her. She stopped for a brief moment, watching it scuttle away, and wondered whether it was the one Haku owned.
His pet. Loki would never be anyone's pet. She was not going back to the Centre, or staying with any humans at all. She was going to find her pack and live like a normal werewolf.
A normal werewolf - was such a thing even possible?
Loki shook her head. Pre-agony thoughts. That was all it was. Silly thoughts to keep her mind off growing claws and sprouting fangs. How stupid. Some things can never be ignored, no matter how much you try to think about something else.
Thunder rolled tumultuously above Loki's head as she sped on. Rain came drizzling down in a whispering curtain. The girl stopped abruptly, clutching her head as a searing jolt of pain shot through her skull like a bullet. When it had subsided and her vision had cleared, Loki sniffed at the air around her. The atmosphere was thick with moisture and the pleasant smell of damp vegetation, but there was no sign of Zabuza's or Haku's scents. They were left far, far behind, which was good. Loki could now stop where she was, and prepare herself for the dreaded transformation.
The girl took off her sandals and tossed them in-between two large, moss-covered rocks, her kunoichi outfit following. In a minute, she stood completely naked under the rain, feeling cold wetness land onto her pale skin. It was not unpleasant, for her blood was boiling with the heat of anticipation.
Loki reached up to remove her nose-filters as well, and noticed, just in time, the sharp, shiny claws that were already marking the tips of her fingers.
…The full moon peered out of the clouds to hear a howl of agony ringing desperately through the woods, echoing away until it was muffled into silence by the indifferent rain.
Haku was running through the forest, breathless with terror. Something was on his trail. And it was very hungry.
Against all logic, Haku didn't stop and turn around to knock out whatever was following him with a nice, refreshing hail of ice needles. He just kept running along through the velvety darkness, unable to scream, unable to fight, unable to do anything but run.
The darkness was watching him. It seemed alive somehow, as if there were creatures concealed in it right on the verge of visibility. The darkness was breathing. And it was creating obstacles out of thin air, anything to prevent the boy from escaping.
Tall trees were all around Haku, shaking and quivering their gnarled branches at the child, those movements having nothing whatsoever to do with the wind. The earth itself appeared to have a life of its own in this place, trembling and bucking like an untamed stallion under a rider's saddle, trying to trip Haku up, to stop him from running. Thickets of brushwood emerged out of nowhere, grabbing on to the flaps of Haku's blue kimono with their tenacious, claw-like twigs, their thorns leaving small, but annoying gashes on the boy's bare knees.
Overcome by a new wave of terror, Haku was finally beginning to realize: he wasn't getting out of this. He was slowing down already, and he could almost feel his hunter's hot, excited breath on the back of his neck. The darkness was jeering with exhilaration. The forest gave another strong shiver, this time nearly sending the ninja flying to the ground. It was all against him. This whole place was against him. The whole world wanted to see Haku stumble and fall into his predator's jaws. The boy felt tears swell up in his eyes. Why, why him? Why did it all have to happen to him? Was he really that horrible of a person for everything to hate him so--?
Suddenly, the earth under his feet exploded as a tree-root shot out of the ground and wrapped itself tightly around Haku's left ankle. The boy struggled as hard as he could against its vicelike grip, but the root was much stronger. It dragged at his foot, pulling the boy deeper and deeper into the hungry ground. Haku slashed at it angrily with a materialized-out-of-nowhere kunai knife; but more roots emerged in its place, grabbing him even tighter, drowning him even faster in the black, slimy clay.
And suddenly, Haku knew that the predator wasn't just behind him. It was all around, this whole time; and the trap had clicked shut the moment he had stepped onto these wretched grounds, whenever that had happened. The forest was the predator, and it was after one thing only.
His Kekkei Genkai.
A howl rang through the thick, musty, breathing air. In the dark, waiting silence the sharp sound was almost tangible. And the little ninja tensed, getting ready for the final blow that would finish him off. He knew at once that it was pointless to fight, for there was no escape.
And no mercy.
…Haku sat up on his heap of pine branches, barely suppressing a scream. He was breathing hard, sweat pouring down his forehead. He had been biting his knuckles, which were now bearing the red, sore punctures of his teeth. The boy rubbed his teary eyes and wiped his nose. Just calm down, he told himself. He had to calm down. A nightmare… it had all been a nightmare. That was all it was. Nothing more.
And only then Haku realized that the howl had been real. He heard another one now, very faint – apparently, whatever was making it was far away from here.
Well, good. The farther, the better.
Haku drew Zabuza's coat, which he had been using as a blanket, up to his chin and looked around their make-shift shelter, to see if anyone else had been disturbed by the creepy howl. Zabuza jerked his head abruptly, as if trying to listen without fully waking up, mumbled something about 'damn coyotes' and turned onto his other side. And Loki…
Haku leaned forward a little for a closer look. But the darkness hadn't been playing tricks on his eyes: Loki's bedding spot was empty. Where could she have gone?
Lavatory, perhaps. Of course. The freaky man-eating forest was all just a figment of Haku's imagination; it couldn't have gotten Loki for real. Or could it? Haku gulped. Don't be ridiculous, he told himself quickly. Loki's just gone out because she had to go. She'll be back soon. And he had to go back to sleep.
But sleep just didn't come. Haku stared at the gaping hole that was the entrance to their shelter, afraid that if he'll close his eyes for as much as a second, the carnivorous forest will make another attempt upon his life. It could seem rather silly to an outsider that such a skilled, clever and collected ninja as Haku was scared of some ridiculous bad dream; but when you're eleven and you awaken in a forest full of spooky howling things right after a nightmare in which the trees had been trying to eat you, you wouldn't find that a silly matter at all. So Haku just hugged his knees tighter and decided to wait until Loki came back. Maybe he'd feel safe enough to fall asleep when he'd see her clambering back through the willow-branch entrance.
But Loki wasn't coming back. Haku sat there, waiting tensely for what felt like ages, but there was no sign of the girl returning from whatever business she'd been up to. Haku wondered what could have been the hold up. Constipation, perhaps…? Well, that seemed like a more logical explanation, rather than intelligent Kekkei Genkai-sucking trees intercepting her on her way back… Or maybe Loki simply got lost… But no, she would just use her great sense of smell to get back to the shelter…
Unless the killer trees raised a cloud of dust with their branches to confuse and sidetrack her. And then, with their great big strangling roots, they would gag her and drag her down under the ground to devour every last ounce of her chakra, like they tried to do with him…
…Gasp!
All right, Haku had had enough. By now he was absolutely sure that poor, clueless Loki had gotten herself into trouble and only he, Haku, who was already completely awake, full of knowledge about the enemy and unquestionably prepared for action, could find and save her from the chakra-eating trees. (If any movie directors were around at the time, they would appreciate Haku's heroically clenched fists and the gallant glint in his puffy from sleep, but nevertheless valiantly frowning eyes.)
He felt the shuriken in their pouches on one of his legs and made sure that his kunai was ready in his sleeve. There was no need to worry about the lack of water; it had been raining tonight, so there were plenty of puddles around. Just what he needed.
Knees shaking involuntarily from a sharp twinge of nervousness, Haku crawled out from under the flimsy wooden construction. A chilling wind pierced him to the bone, and the grass, wet with rainwater, brushed uncomfortably against his bare ankles.
At least the sky was clear, the storm having ended a while ago. The moon shone down from the ringing heights, illuminating Haku's way and casting eerie shadows onto the surroundings.
"Loki?" the ninja called out into the darkness uncertainly. A soft creaking of the branches in the breeze answered his call from above. "Loki-i-i?"
He began to move cautiously towards the blackness of the sleepy woods ahead of him, half-expecting tree-roots to shoot out from under the sticky muck.
"Loki? Where are you? Lo-ki…"
Somewhere at the far left, the bushes rustled lightly. Haku stopped abruptly, listening in.
"Loki? Is that you? …If you can't answer for whatever reason, mumble to say yes! Can you hear me? Loki!"
The rustling grew quiet. Haku listened for any signs of mumbling, then frowned and dashed in the direction of the noise, onwards through the thickets. He would never leave his friend to be devoured by a killer tree! Not even if he was scared! And especially not after all the trouble he went through to put her back on her feet the first time he'd found her almost dead…
Something white flounced through the brushwood ahead. It wasn't Loki, but Haku chased it out into the open anyway, overcome by curiosity and holding his breath. Eventually the shape came to a halt, allowing Haku to approach it and take a closer look. And when the boy's eyes finally descried what his small, softly-breathing chasee had been, he gave way to a short, relieved laughter. It was his rabbit.
Haku knelt down on the ground, a couple of feet away from the animal.
"Come here! I've got celery stalks," he beckoned.
The rabbit's ears twitched a bit at the word "celery", but it could tell a lie when it smelled one. Rabbits aren't as dumb as everyone thinks. Of course, if you've lived your whole life in the company of a gloomy assassin and a weird kid with great makings of a surgeon and a sadistic craze for ice needles, you manage to develop at least some sort of intellect, or you're hamburger patties. Thus, instead of approaching its master, the rabbit gave Haku a final wave of its fluffy white tail and was gone in the tall, whispering grasses ahead.
Haku sighed. By now, he was used to the darkness; and after being awake for such a long time, the first frightful impressions of his nightmare had been dulled somewhat. It seemed ridiculous now to him too, the thought of trees coming to life and eating innocent passers-by. Running out to look for Loki was just an over-reaction from his part. Perhaps she did just go out for a bit of fresh air, or… (Haku giggled at the thought) maybe she really was constipated, after all.
Calmed down a little by these thoughts, Haku headed back for their shelter. Perhaps Loki had come back already, and he had been worrying for nothing.
The ninja was running down the moonlit path. He (yes, it was definitely a he) was rather in a hurry. The ninja wasn't on a mission to kill someone; nor was he after any scrolls. The ninja was a messenger. He was returning to his village to announce a task well-accomplished, and to say that his team-mates were right behind him, but they might get held up a little on the way.
The man was speeding through a dark pine forest now, barely able to wait to get home and tell everybody all about the powerful enemy that got beat by their clever, sneaky schemes and undisputed skill. Yes, tell them everything, receive awed 'ooh's and 'aah's in return and get a pat on the back from the elders. And then… and then he'd go find Satsuki-chan and re-tell her the whole story over (only with slightly more descriptive detail and sound effects); and, if he'll be lucky, she'll agree to go out for a bowl of ramen with him.
Of course, it had only been a small mission. But when you're eighteen, anything involving sneaking and fighting, or basically anything more exciting than washing the floor in somebody else's house is, well… exciting.
The werewolf smelled the human's scent long before he had actually entered the woods. It had been lurking on the outskirts of the forest, feeling, knowing in some eerie, inexplicable way that the prey would eventually come. And its uncanny sixth sense had been right. The human was hopping among the trees now, an excited young male in a hurry to get home. The werewolf tasted his scent, a bright orange wave of agitation entwined with thin purple-and-white threads of exhaustion and just a hint of green nervousness. Oh yes. He had a good reason to be nervous, indeed…
The werewolf rushed through the darkness silently. The lust for blood, ever-unquenchable at the full moon, drowned out everything that was human in the werewolf in daylight, all the feelings, all emotions. Even the pain. There was only one distinctive thought flashing on the inner screens of the werewolf's mind right now, and that was: "Hunt!"
And the mad, thirst-driven creature obeyed.
The ninja was becoming more and more edgy as he sped along through the forest. He didn't yet know why exactly; he simply wanted the forest to hurry up and end.
Out of the darkness, he felt someone's eyes watching him. Cold, clever, blood-thirsty eyes. Oh relax, he told himself. For gods' sakes, he was a ninja, after all! Who cared about the blood-thirsty eyes these days? There were plenty of Jutsu and seals and incantations that dealt with that sort of thing, so it was all nothing…
The werewolf felt the human's chakra, beautiful azure fluids circulating through the man's body. He was quite strong… But that didn't matter. He was a human, and his chakra would only work against other pathetic human weaklings. The beast was so close to him now, tailing the human in the shadows. The werewolf was certain that the man could feel it, too, and it licked its lips in anticipation. His nervousness was increasing by the minute, clouding his judgement, making his frail little knees weaker still.
Soon… it will all be over soon…
Finally, the ninja couldn't take it anymore. He hopped down onto the ground and pulled a kunai out of its pouch on his sleeve, taking a proper battle stance.
"All right, who's there?" he yelled, wincing at the sound of his own voice, which sounded like thunder among the silent trees.
There was no reply. No movement from the nearby bushes, no tell-tale rustle of the leaves or creak of the branch under someone's cautious feet. 'Great… I'm becoming paranoid for no reason now, what an embarrassment…' The ninja hung his head in shame after realizing how cowardly it would have looked if someone was watching, and put away his kunai. Good thing Satsuki-chan wasn't around…
He was already preparing to continue on his way when he felt a… a slight change in silence behind him.
Oh dammit, the ninja thought. So, he was going to have to do it the bloody way after all…
Haku was kneeling on the damp grass beside the willow-branch shelter. He hadn't checked whether Loki was inside or not, but he didn't feel like going in himself, either. He knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep anyway, so he'd just be disturbing Zabuza-san (and Loki, if she was already back) for nothing. So he just sat and stared at the full moon up in the skies, wondering when the night will end.
The moon sure was pretty when it was full…
For some reason, yesterday's events floated up into Haku's conscious part of the mind. Zabuza had put him through his paces thoroughly, what with Loki being sick again and the man having no one else left to torture. And after all that he was saying that Haku was the sadistic one…
Somewhere in the gloom, the stillness shifted. The atmosphere stirred, sending waves of blurred vision throughout the silent forest. It had been a dark night. All nights were dark, of course; but as far as darkness went, this night was especially dark, despite the full moon. It was a good night for sneaking. It was a good night for things to go on a crazed rampage, tearing apart everything in their path. It was a good night for the Kallmanah Forest to prod the unstable borders between itself and the other worlds, searching for loopholes through which it could gather the powerful Energy, usually discharged in enormous quantities on such dark and bloody nights.
Through the sleepy immobility of the moonlit woods, a vine slithered with a soft hiss. A vine that didn't belong in the Land of Water. Or, for that matter, in any other land.
To somehow occupy himself throughout the long, sleepless hours, Haku attuned himself to his thinking mood. Time always seemed to pass faster if you thought about something, didn't matter what, rather than just staring blankly at the wall (or in Haku's case, the sky), your brain going "ba-dum, ba-dum" or "…".
Therefore, Haku sat and thought. He pondered about… anything really, like the inexplicable ways in which imagination worked, creating man-eating trees; or the possible causes of Loki's sudden illness. The latter was very strange, because she appeared to be coping quite fine with all the stress up until yesterday. And yesterday she simply… came down, just like that. She couldn't stand properly, let alone fight… That strange weakness, as if she'd caught a flu or something…
…And had recovered from it by dinnertime already? That was hardly possible if you had flu. But it was true; Loki's immune system seemed to have gotten rid of whatever virus or infection the girl had caught fairly quickly.
…Just like one month ago! The exact same thing had happened then, as Haku recalled. During the day Loki had been extremely sick as well, but by morning she was already up and about. Haku clearly remembered that, because Zabuza-san was going to give her hell for walking off without telling him, and then… It was all so weird…
Flues didn't last one day. Unless, of course, it was something else. Another disease, perhaps? Haku searched his memory for any ideas, but no illnesses with symptoms similar to Loki's came to his mind.
So what was it, he wondered. What's wrong with you, Loki?
The ninja didn't stand a chance. No mere human without proper equipment would hold a candle to a transformed werewolf, driven by pain and lust for blood. Thus, in a few seconds, it was all over. The unfortunate teenager's body was now nothing more but a rumpled, bloody heap on the ground, all that was left of a once full-of-life-and-excitement messenger ninja.
The werewolf hovered over the remains, staring at them uncertainly. Some sort of an inner struggle seemed to be going on inside its head. It was as if the other part of it had suddenly awoken and was now trying to regain control over the creature's mind.
For a moment, something almost human flickered in the hungry beast's eyes. What am I doing, the werewolf almost wondered; why? It gaped at what was vaguely recognizable as a masked face, and a familiar partly-bandaged visage flashed briefly across the creature's agonized, clouded mind. Overtaken by a sudden, inexplicable anxiety, as if a part of its memory had suddenly gone blank, the werewolf flared up its nostrils, taking in the corpse's scent.
No, not him. Good…
The brief moment of painful sanity ended, and the wolf-feeling came back in all its furious glory. The bandaged face and all the rudiments of intellect were swept out of the werewolf's mind in a hurricane of savage hunger. Tonight, instincts were especially hard to deny…
What could be wrong with Loki? Haku was hurriedly assembling all the pieces of the jigsaw that he had at hand, but he still couldn't see the complete picture. He had to get to the bottom of this. If the girl was sick, then, as her friend, Haku had to help her get better, right? But how can you treat a disease if you don't even know what it is?
Let's try this again. Firstly, Loki falls sick. She has a high fever and can't as much as stand straight. By evening, however, she seems to recover a little, and in the morning she's already found strolling about. About a month later, the same thing happens. She's sick, too weak to train, recovers by dinnertime, and at night… she wanders off, again! What if… what if that, and not constipation, was the reason for Loki's mysterious absence? But where was she now, then? Healing? Suffering somewhere all by herself, not wanting him or Zabuza-san to know about her condition? But why? Why, why, why not tell them? Was it really something so bad?
Oh, Haku, you didn't know just how close you were to discovering the truth…
All reason drained out of it once more, the werewolf was preparing to devour its prey. But, for the second time that night, its gory feast was disrupted.
There was a disturbance in the atmosphere, as if the world itself had somehow shifted. The air became denser and harder to inhale, and even the pitch-black darkness grew a little bit darker. Small electrical currents charged through the surroundings, making the silence fizz and hum, as if a large cloud of insects was flying nearby, somewhere out of sight.
The werewolf froze, pricking its ears, the hairs on its back standing on end. This… shift was horrifying it; the werewolf didn't know why, but it realized that sticking around might not be the best of ideas.
Suddenly, the trees ahead twisted, bending and blurring, like in a drug addict's raving. The darkness condensed around the werewolf's paws, becoming thick, black mist; and out of the gloom, a thick vine protruded, probing the unfamiliar grounds ahead of it. It could sense the Energy, and it wanted it all for itself.
The werewolf howled with fear, its instincts screaming for it to get away. So it turned and ran, abandoning its prey, leaving the horrible entity to feast on the body alone. And somewhere behind the fleeting creature, already out of sight, the vines wrapped tight around the corpse, dragging it back into the suffocating, misty gloom.
Another loophole had just been found. Another Portal was thrust open into the world from the forest of Kallmanah. And the barrier was weakening still, unable to withstand the pressure of another dimension…
The morning found Haku dozing away peacefully, his back slumped against the willow-branch shelter, all the night's fears and suspicions banished by a sound, dreamless sleep.
It also found an exhausted, trembling Loki staggering shakily towards the spot where she'd left her companions, her kunoichi's outfit back on already. Werewolves had a very short-term memory during their transformation on the full moon, thus Loki could only remember the previous night's events in brief, vivid flashes. Nevertheless, it was enough to make her feel… disturbed. Loki didn't know why. She'd killed humans before, but then it had only been out of self-defence. Because humans got in her way. But… she had never before hunted a human on purpose… simply to satisfy her own hunger… and that… Somehow, it just felt wrong. Despite the fact that it was in her nature, Loki was feeling completely disgusted with herself.
It would always feel wrong, for as long as she lived alongside humans. Her up-bringing in the Centre had left an imprint on her that wasn't likely to ever fade away. And Loki wasn't alone. All werewolves that went through the Centre's metal clutches would never be normal werewolves ever again.
When she reached their shelter, the first thing Loki saw was Haku. He was sleeping in a rather uncomfortable position, hunching on the ground with his cheek resting against his knees. Haku's scent, now faded out, bore evidence of the boy's nightly adventure. Loki felt a tinge of fear strike her spine as she watched the imprints of his odour, a white-and-blue aura interwoven with lime-green threads of terror. He went out at night… what for? He could have gotten hurt…
Loki's musings were interrupted as Zabuza hopped down from above, his wet, half-naked torso gleaming in the rising sun. He was just back from taking a morning bath in a nearby stream.
"What, you slack off from your training, but then you're suddenly all better enough for an early stroll?" he greeted the girl with a rough grumble. Of course, the Jounin had already noticed her absence.
Loki stared up at him, blinking in confusion. Oh shit, she thought as realization dawned. She had forgotten to hunt on her way back, so there was no way she could get out of that one smoothly.
"Um, I… I'm sorry, Zabuza-san. I know I did really badly yesterday, so I decided to train a little bit by myself to make up for the day I lost." Loki averted her eyes, and blushed as she stammered out the lie (although the blushing itself had very little to do with the fact that she was lying). She was pretty amazed, though, at how quickly she came up with a good excuse.
Zabuza sized her up and down with his calculating death glare. "Well?" he snapped. "Any progress?"
Loki sighed and looked away. He seems to have bought it, the girl thought. "Only a little bit," she answered, going along with her lie. "I'm sorry if I'm not improving fast enough, Zabuza-san." The last bit, at least, was sincere.
Zabuza frowned, wanting to say something, but then let it go. Loki was doing rather well as she was, and he couldn't ask from her to be great at everything. But she had her own uses, and that was fine.
"Just try your best," he muttered, casting a sideways glance at Haku, who was just beginning to stir into awakening, "because we have to hurry up and start preparing for our mission."
End Chapter!
Haku-san's clever… very clever. But will he figure out the truth?
And what's the deal with that Kallmanah Forest again?
Hah. Like I'm gonna tell… xP
A couple of other things… The messenger ninja was just a random original character, and so was Satsuki-chan (Satsuki-chan? I have no idea why I called her that o.O) Also, I don't know what the months are called in Naruto's world, so I'm just going to stick to their normal names.
And does anyone have any idea what Naruto's world is called? Because they don't mention it in the manga or the anime, and I couldn't find anything on the Net either. So I'm just going to be reffering to it as 'the world' for the time being.
Man, long chapters are such a pain to edit… o.O But in the end at least, I'm always proud of the result. x3 So I hoped you enjoyed this chappie, because school is starting (Boooo! -thumbs down-) and I don't know when I'll be able to release the next one. -.- But! I won't be abandoning this fic! So… just be patient my friends, and keep checking. x3