Author's Note: All right, finally done! xD Took me forever to edit this monster… o.O But anyway, hope you enjoy thirty pages of… of… well, this. It's humongous, yes, but it'll probably be another couple of centuries before I update again. Yeah, this sucks, I know. x.X
Btw, thanks to Multiple Eights for critiquing this… it was very nice of you to spare me a bit of your time, and I'm glad you liked it. -bows respectfully, and sticks out tongue at N00b-
Anyway, on with Chapter Fourteen. X3
14. Plan
Like humans, dogs were very busy creatures. Just because they didn't have floors to wash or grocery stores to run it didn't mean that they sat around idly on their tails, doing nothing all day.
In fact, in the Unseen Village of Twin Rivers you would seldom find a dog that had no business to go about whatsoever. The beasts scampered all around the place, chasing cats and heavy ox-driven food carts, squabbling over territory and looking for scraps to eat. It was a difficult life. Annoyances constantly came along in the form of fleas, children, angry oxen or cold water being dumped on your head out of the window.
A dog's life had its own dangers as well. You had to constantly be on your guard, for the streets were swarming with boots that were simply itching to connect with your backside. And then, there were always dogs that were Bigger Than You.
A large, scruffy-looking white dog was making its way along one of the darker, emptier village streets. It stopped here and there to sniff at the filth-covered telegraph poles, only to continue merrily on its way a couple of seconds later. Finally, it rounded a corner into a narrow, shadowy alleyway stretching away from the left-hand side of the empty main street. Three more dogs were there, squabbling over a mangled piece of old beef. The newcomer stared at them. They stopped fighting at once, and stared back.
There was no growling… just a drawn-out silence. Which was odd.
A few streets away, Nami Hidaka's little red terrier was browsing through a series of smelly wooden trash-containers, as if he wasn't getting enough to eat at home already.
For Haku and Zabuza, this was a really, really busy week. There was still a lot left to be found out, planned out and carried out; and even though Loki with her useful olfactory senses was now out of the game, it didn't really change anything much. Of course, using Loki's nose would have bought the assassins a great deal more time, but there was no way in hell Zabuza was letting the girl near this assignment ever again.
At the week's end, Momochi had already gathered all of the information he needed in order to complete his job. Countless sunrise hours spent productively by the Jounin and his youngest assistant provided excellent results: it was finally established that the food cart arrived at the mansion's hidden back entrance every three days, at exactly four-thirty in the morning. At its approach passwords were usually exchanged, after which the cart was let into the yard through the hidden gate; and then everything went back to normal.
That was it; that was all Zabuza needed to know. It wasn't an entirely foolproof option, but time was pressing and that was the best chance available to the renegades so far. Looking for a better solution would probably demand days and days more, and that was a luxury Zabuza no longer had due to Loki's accursed sloppiness. Thus, he decided to build his plans around the bits and pieces that he had at hand.
After some more careful analyzing of the developing circumstances, the ninja concluded that there was no possible way of getting into the mansion without starting a ruckus. There were plenty of guards around, not to mention all the dogs… And Hidaka's connection with the Military Corps… Bleedin' hell! No matter which way you turned to look at it, it always came down to noise. That, and a very high level of risk. And since both were practically unavoidable, the assassins could only ensure that as little as possible of the former was made.
Hence, according to Zabuza's plan, he and Haku would intercept the food cart just as the back gate would be opening to let it into the courtyard. Zabuza's Hidden Mist Jutsu would be cast sometime beforehand, of course, rendering the security almost blind right up to the very last moment. After that, Haku's Ice Needles would come in, and the guards would be out cold before they even had a chance to squeak. Thus, the ninja would be inside; however, sensing the intruders, the dogs would inevitably warn everybody in the area of their arrival. A commotion would undoubtedly start; but that way (rather than simply hopping over the wall and hoping for the best) there would actually be a greater possibility of getting to Hidaka before he could get away in all the turmoil or send a message to the Military Corps. It was all down to becoming a matter of timing and getting spotted later rather than sooner. Every second was precious. And this way, seconds would be won. That was probably the sole advantage of the food cart plan.
However, the Hunters would show up eventually; and this time, the opportunity to escape them would be very slim. There would be more running, more hiding out and more restless, excruciatingly long nights of anxiety and apprehension to come; but, again, it was the best option Haku and Zabuza had. And in the end, their struggles would be greatly rewarded.
Or they had better be, Zabuza thought to himself. They had better be.
In the meantime, Loki was back at working on the sidelines and doing pointless drills. With Zabuza completely engrossed in the developing of his plan, the girl was pretty much left to her own devices. And in-between her long sessions of chakra control practice and various other physical exercises, Loki had a lot of time to ponder about things. Now that she was well-rested and over her initial shock, the wolf-girl was able to think back to the past couple of days and calmly re-analyze everything that had taken place.
The main notion occupying her thoughts, however, was the event that had occurred on that particular evening, after Zabuza had dumped her into the lake. It happened when she had been trying to manipulate chakra, yet again, in a desperate attempt to prove to Zabuza that she was not a complete loser. That had failed miserably, the girl's chakra blasting out of control and hitting her own nose. The strength of the blow had caused Loki to collapse, but not before her temporarily-magnified-by-the-chakra senses registered a wide variety of scents from across quite an extensive surrounding area. Back then, these scents had seemed all bundled up together into a confusing and overwhelming mix. Now though, with a clear head and loads of free time on her hands, Loki could just sit back and unravel the knot thread by tiny thread until it actually began to make some sort of sense.
Eventually, it did. And it gave Loki a lot of miscellaneous but useful information; like, for example, that the food cart arrived at the hidden back gate every three days. Loki really wanted to share all that with Zabuza, but she was afraid that this would only get her more scolding for not staying on task – he was still angry with her because of the spying incident.
So Loki talked to Haku instead; and even though he wasn't allowed to relay the assassination plan to her in explicit detail, he provided the girl with a general idea of how it was going to go. In return, Loki told him about what she was able to figure out on her own; but even though it got a polite 'thanks' in return, she could see that it didn't really help much. Most of it had already been figured out without her assistance.
But Loki did not despond, for she had a secret idea of her own that she hadn't shared with anyone. It had started out as a vague thought, turning into a wistful 'what if' sort of contemplation; but eventually, without Loki even realizing, it turned into an almost-realistic scheme. And before the girl knew it, she began to seriously consider this new, daring opportunity of proving herself worthy of Zabuza's praise and respect.
While the two male ninja were busy preparing for the murder, Loki had her own experiments to conduct. Zabuza was paying little attention to her now that the assassination day was approaching, only checking up on her progress every now and then, and making sure that she was present at dinner. Thus, nothing was stopping the girl from taking little mysterious tours all by herself and coming back before anyone even noticed she was gone. And even if her absence had been noted, there were plenty of excuses that Loki could provide.
The planned date was drawing nearer, and the atmosphere on the little glade was dripping with tension. Zabuza kept chuckling and rubbing his hands excitedly at the thought of profits to be made, and Haku was putting more effort into practicing his Ice Needle Jutsu than ever before. Loki's scheme was ready by that time as well, and she kept shivering nervously at the thought of actually trying to carry it out.
The girl also felt that she needed to inform the other two of her plans in some sort of way. She knew that she couldn't just tell everything straight out; and not only because Zabuza had clearly ordered her to keep her nose out of this whole affair. Nevertheless, Loki did realize that she couldn't just do whatever she pleased because this mission was serious business. And no matter how sure she was that her idea would work and her attempt to help would not fall through, the humans had to know. It was another one of those Centre things.
Thus, on the warm, sunny afternoon of the day before the appointed one, Loki found a moment when Haku was practicing on his own, and timidly approached him from the back. She made her presence known with a cough (oh, Loki knew that he knew she was there anyway; but his good manners had a nasty habit of rubbing off on you no matter who you were); and Haku turned around just as the last ice senbon struck its target.
"Yes?" he asked politely. It was rather irritating to be distracted from his work now, just when he needed every second of his time to polish up on his Jutsu for the mission; but taking it out on Loki would do nothing to help. Besides, she didn't look as though she simply came over to have an idle chat.
"Haku? I… There is something I must tell you." Loki stared at her feet. She didn't know how to put it. Telling Haku was easier than telling Zabuza, but it was not a very easy task nevertheless.
"Is it important? Can't it wait until after the mission, because, you see, Loki, I'm kind of busy right now… My Ice Needles…" Haku hated being insensitive, but right now just wasn't the best time… The time… You just never had enough of it.
"That's the problem, Haku. It's about the mission."
"The mission?" The boy stopped in mid-senbon-forming. "What about it?" he asked cautiously.
"I… I know a way to make it… well, easier. I, I think. Um," Loki stuttered. She realized that it was rather sudden, but she wasn't sure how else to start. She wasn't particularly good at words and introductions and the like.
A brief pause followed as some digesting of information took place. Then…
"What? How in the--?! Tell me!" Forgetting his training, Haku whirled around to fully face the girl. Loki lowered her tone, embarrassed by the sudden attention.
"It's not… It's something I'll have to do on my own… I'm afraid," she said quietly. She could already guess what was coming up next.
"What? But Zabuza-san said… You're not allowed to-- what do you want to do?" Haku whispered loudly. He had a look of such indignation on his face that Loki flushed and stammered even harder. This was a foreseeable situation; and she hadn't been expecting an 'okay' for an answer, anyway. Still, the girl was almost beginning to feel ashamed, as though she was breaking some unspoken, but incredibly strict taboo.
"I… I, I, I can't really… see, I can't really explain. I planned it all out and wanted to do it all by myself at first, because it was so… but then I felt that I must warn you because… because… because. So… so… B-but don't worry, I'm sure it will work. I'm pretty sure, at least… It won't be like the last time, I promise. I--" (Haku's glare was so intense now that you could use it to drill holes in a concrete wall) "I know how to get the dogs out of the way!" Loki burst out at last, unable to hold it in any longer. She realized that what she was saying sounded like a complete bunch of rubbish at best, but it was the best she could do.
"How?!" was all Haku could reply.
"I told you, I don't know how to explain it. I…" Loki's voice trailed off. She had to come up with something. Haku would squeeze an answer out of her one way or another, and a small voice inside her head was telling her that the other way was not going to be very pleasant at all.
Loki sighed deeply and decided to try a different approach.
"I want to make the dogs go away, right? Well, it will be kinda… well, kinda like turning into a big dog and telling all of them little ones to get lost. Right? Ahaha…"
In the awkward silence that followed, one could almost hear the clang of the cymbals.
"Oh, very amusing," said Haku finally, with an unexpected hint of sarcasm that was quite out of place in his usual speech.
The girl was beginning to sweat heavily.
"I can't… say exactly… how it will be done. I don't know how to put it into words, but… but… I'm pretty sure about this… this thing. But I just want to-- I have to do it myself. I… I am sorry." The wilting grass under Loki's feet was apparently a very interesting subject of examination.
This time, it was Haku's turn to sigh. "Look, I know that you like Zabuza-san and you want to show him that you're good enough all on your own an' all, but this is serious. You have to tell him what you're planning. He'll be able to figure out whether it'll work or not; and anyway, he won't pat you on the head for breaking his rules and rushing into something like this all by yourself. Look, I can't let you do this. Even if… even if you think that you can. If you fail, we will all suffer the consequences, do you understand? And as much as I value your friendship and your wishes to help, I can't let you jeopardize the mission."
Loki kept her gaze on her toes dejectedly. For an eleven-year-old, Haku could sure be mature and strict. Sometimes, he seemed even more firm in his decisions than Zabuza himself. That was what living on the streets for the most part of your life could do to you.
"It… it could be the only way…" was all Loki could add in her own defence, her voice trailing off unsurely. She was already failing, and she knew it.
Haku didn't know whether the girl meant that it was the only way to complete the mission successfully, or the only way to prove her worth to Zabuza. Either way, it was all very troublesome business and he wasn't sure at all about how to react.
"I cannot let you do this," he repeated.
"But…" Loki tried stubbornly.
"I can't let you."
The two ninja-in-training just stood there, facing each other and not saying anything for a long while.
And suddenly, something happened. Haku had no idea what it was; not even later, when he was thinking back to this moment in dismay. He didn't know what exactly managed to get through his common sense's impenetrable defences. Whether it was Loki's devoted determination or his own anxiety at the idea of having to face the Hunter Nin again tonight, the boy couldn't tell. But it was as if something took over him, something inexplicably daring and foolish, something that made him think that there might actually be an easier way.
And before he could bite back his own tongue, Haku found himself babbling away rapidly, blurting out the words that he knew he was going to regret later on.
"All right, here goes…" the boy murmured, white as chalk. "I hope that you realize how much trouble we'll be in if your plan, whatever it is, goes wrong. If you're really that certain that it will work, then… and only then… can you go ahead with it." (The last few words came out with some difficulty.) "But… I hope you do realize that it will be entirely your responsibility. And if something happens, it will all be on your conscience, I want you to remember that, Loki." Here, Haku stopped to intake a deep breath. Being mature could be very difficult at times; he was already running out of impressive-sounding phrases. But he could also see Loki grow tenser by the minute. Maybe, just maybe she was changing her mind.
Or perhaps not.
The boy breathed out and continued, this time at an even quicker pace than before.
"I… I am giving you five minutes' time to get away from here. After that, I am going to Zabuza-san and telling him everything you've told me here. I'm sorry, but I hope that you understand that Zabuza-san is just as important to me as he is to you, and I can't keep something this big in secret from him.
"Anyway, I will tell him about your plans. And whatever happens afterwards, stays happened. All right? If he will set out and catch you, you will do what he tells you. If he tells you to stay put, then you will stay put. And if you get caught by Hidaka's guards, you are on your own. We can't risk trying to pull off a rescue; and anyway, even if Zabuza-san did attempt that, it would only be to kill you afterwards. Do you understand, Loki?"
Haku fixed the girl up with a glare. He was a whole head shorter than her, but it didn't make his glares any less threatening. That was another thing that you mastered while living on the streets. Loki could be scary enough when angered; but when it came to ensuring Zabuza's safety, Haku could be even scarier than that. And that was something not many eleven-year-olds could manage.
Loki gulped. For a moment, she just wanted to forget it all and go back to quietly doing her drills in a corner somewhere; but then she remembered the look of disappointment in Zabuza's dark-brown eyes, and his cold, indifferent voice ringing over the lake's surface: '…And to become a shinobi of MY expectations, you will have to learn how to handle the bloody things just as fast as they bloody present themselves!...'
Something inside of her lurched. Something massive and extremely proud. She could do it because she was not a failure. She could do it because she was a werewolf. She could do it because no werewolf would ever be outdone by a stinking human. She could do it because she wanted Zabuza to see that she was no worse than others, and that she could come up with clever strategies, too. And she wanted to be praised again, dammit!
Loki made up her mind. This time, for sure. She frowned and clenched her fists, the wolf-feeling reflecting dimly in her unwavering gaze.
"I will do it, Haku. You just carry on and do what you're supposed to, and I will do my part. And I won't mess up this time. Promise." You could set cities on fire with the passion in her voice.
Haku sighed, yet again. "If you're sure of it," he said at last. "And now, I will turn away and pretend that nothing is happening for five whole minutes. Do what you can, try your best, and please, just be careful. Good luck to you." With this, the boy turned away, showing that the countdown has started now.
Loki beamed. "Good luck to you, too!" she whispered.
When Haku turned his head to peek over his shoulder, the girl was no longer there. A couple of leaves landed gently onto the place where she had just been standing. The boy sighed even deeper than before, if it was still possible, silently cursing himself for not having a heart of iron and for understanding the girl's wish to redeem herself in the eyes of his treasured mentor. Perhaps all she needed was a little trust… and if her plan would actually work, it would be even better for them. No dogs in the way sounded great… And Haku was willing to take any risks if it meant that there would be less chance of his precious Zabuza-san getting killed.
He sure hoped Loki knew what she was doing…
Loki was ecstatic. She knew exactly what to do. She was a wolf with a plan. And she was helping Zabuza and Haku with their mission! What more could one want… except for luck, more luck, and good timing?
When she felt that she had gone far enough from their camping spot, Loki stopped. She stood there for a while, swaying gently in the breeze and sniffing at the air around her. The coast seemed to be clear. Loki took in a deep breath and kneeled…
In five minutes' time, just as he'd promised, Haku ran over to the shady place under a large oak tree, where Zabuza was sharpening his neck-slicing Cleaver (he wasn't going to be using it in the mission. He just liked sharpening it). The little ninja told his master everything that happened on the clearing after Loki had approached him. Zabuza was not very happy with this story's ending.
"WHAT?!!!" he yelled so loudly that a flock of birds took off into the bright, clear skies. "She's GONE? And you let her GO?!?"
"N--no, Zabuza-san, it's just that it was all so sudden… I mean she just ran off! I didn't know what to do at first; but then, it was already too late! So I decided to come straight to you and tell you what happened, because you'd know what to do much better than me! I swear that's how it was, sir!" Haku was trembling. He hated lying to Zabuza-san. Hopefully, it was for everybody's good. Well, for the assassins' good, in any case.
"You little liar. You knew perfectly well what had to be done. But you let her go on purpose!" Here he said an unprintable word, and then another unprintable word. After that, he continued, "…Very well, then. We're going to look for her. And when we find her, I'll… I'll…" And here, Zabuza let out a string of words that were so unprintable that they turned Haku's ears an embarrassed shade of crimson.
Without further hesitation, the two ninja set out to look for the runaway. They went as far as the village itself, but even there they did not find the girl. Zabuza produced a couple of water doppelgangers to scan the surrounding forest, and made Haku check all the streets in the vicinity. With a 'you know that I'll know it if you let her go again', the Jounin saw his apprentice off and finally quit searching himself about half an hour later, rounding back to where he left his newly-sharpened Cleaver. There were enough problems on his plate already, in form of last-minute preparations to be made; or things to be packed, in case they had to make a quick escape. So he entrusted the pursuit entirely to Haku; a difficult decision in itself, but one that couldn't be helped.
And Haku tried his hardest; he really did this time because he'd given his warnings. But even then he couldn't find his team-mate. He saw few people along the way; and once, a shaggy white dog scampered out of his path as he hopped past. But that was it; Loki was nowhere to be seen. It was as if she had completely vanished from the face of the planet.
…When he reported back to Zabuza, probably for the first time in his life, that he'd failed, he got stared at hard in the eye. After that, the older assassin spat onto the ground and swore quietly.
"Very well," he hissed calmly but frostily, in a tone that suggested that it was not very well at all. "Go hide at the spot that we've chosen for tonight's job and see what happens. At any signs of trouble, come back here straight away and we're leaving this place. Screw everything; the mission, the money and the brat, I am not sticking around to be captured by those bloody Hunters.
"…But! If by some miracle everything goes smoothly, just stay where you are, and I will join you at the time that we've planned. Although I do highly doubt that it will happen now… damn that brat…" The man cracked his knuckles, murmuring something under his nose that vaguely sounded like 'that's what I get for liking to risk'. Oh well. He was going to have a long and serious chat with Haku about this incident after this was all over.
"What, you're still here?" he growled, glancing up a second later only to witness his apprentice evaporate from sight with a delayed and slightly frightened nod. It was too late to do anything effective about this now, the man mused darkly; so why waste chakra and energy looking for a foolish brat when they could simply observe the events from aside?
Whatever just happened, had already happened. That was all to it. And it sure was risky, but all that was left for the ninja to do now was to rely on their tough renegade luck.
And Zabuza always took his chances.
In his mind though, Momochi was silently cursing the day when he'd let this girl join his group.
…Haku hurried deftly along a well-memorized path, his stomach lurching. Why, oh why didn't he press an exact explanation of everything out of Loki when he had the chance? But… this whole thing, it had all been so sudden, so out of the blue… What he'd done had seemed like a good idea at the time, and… and it wasn't like he'd had any time to give anything a thorough thinking-through, anyway… But now, his master's whole carefully-crafted plan was about to fall apart. And it was all his, Haku's, fault.
Or maybe it wasn't. When it came down to the probability of having to deal with the Hunter Nin, you would readily trust anyone who claimed to have a better plan.
And yet…
Despite his temporary relief at Loki's escaping Zabuza's immediate wrath, Haku was already beginning to regret ever letting her go in the first place. Something was going to happen; and he had a very bad feeling about it, too…
It almost felt like the night of the full moon, except that it was daytime. Loki sped through the streets, choosing the emptiest shortcuts she could find. She dodged into shadowy alleyways whenever she sensed people approaching. The werewolf-girl felt so insecure, running around in broad daylight like that; it seemed as though everybody stopped to stare and knew what she was up to.
Loki knew the way well. Her supervision over the past few days being reduced to minimal, she could go pretty much wherever she wanted to during her resting periods (given, of course, that she came back before dinner). The girl used this time well, going out into the village and exploring the surroundings on her own. She had done much observing, and found that there was a lot to be learned. Particularly about dogs.
Dogs were very interesting creatures, indeed. Loki had learned that they barked and attacked you if they thought you were a threat; however, they tended to leave you alone if you turned out to be a bigger threat than they had anticipated.
Loki had also learned that dogs had a lot more freedom than humans. Being a dog was much easier. No, it wasn't as if they were allowed into places; they simply went there, and nobody noticed. Nobody asked to see a dog's identification papers, or whether it was invited over, or if it was of age. If a dog didn't belong where it went, it was nicely shown out the door with a kick under its tail; but nobody ever went to call the authorities.
And in the world of dogs, size did matter. The bigger you were, the more influence you had. And, again, you could go pretty much anywhere, and no one tried to stop you. At least, not one sane dog did. Loki soon learned that, as well as a great deal of many other things. Before long, the world of dogs became an open book to her; and that was when she had realized that her idea was a doable business, after all.
Loki's plan in itself was quite simple, much of its invention owing to Hidaka's little red terrier.
According to the familiar scents that Loki managed to make out of the whole complicated bundle of them on that eventful evening, the terrier was allowed in and out of the courtyard in question. The girl figured that the dog must have probably had constant access to the outside world; or at least it hadn't gotten out by a mere accident. And that made Loki think – what if… what if other dogs could come and go from the household whenever they pleased?
That was a thought. Loki had wanted to share it with Haku and Zabuza at first, but later she dismissed that notion. It wasn't like Zabuza would listen to her anyway. And besides… Loki really wanted to participate in the mission as well. And not only for Zabuza's praise. The wolf-girl had been brought up believing that she lived to serve; and she was already so used to being the humans' indispensable tool that she didn't much like the idea of those… of those weaker beings managing all by themselves. Why not use a werewolf's services if you already had one at your disposition? Loki couldn't understand that.
But then again, nobody seemed to realize that she was a werewolf. That was it, Loki told herself. Otherwise, of course, they would let her handle everything. Of course. They surely would. And since they'd let her handle everything anyhow, Loki thought, then she could surely do a little work by herself, on her own initiative. Since she'd be allowed to anyway. If they knew. And it would only be a little work. And she'd make sure to be very careful this time. Yes.
And so, it was decided. Quickly and easily. Loki was going to venture out into the village, all on her own.
Naturally, she wouldn't be able to get very far if she went around looking like a savage in a dress. So she chose to do the next best thing.
She went around looking like a really big dog instead.
Rather sooner than she would have liked to, Loki sensed the approach of the warm, multicoloured cloud of all-too-familiar scents that usually hung over Hidaka's household. A few moments later, the mansion itself appeared into the view. It loomed in the hazy, dusty air of an unusually hot autumn day, the giant red-brick wall around it looking just as big and impenetrable as ever. It always looked that way, no more and no less. But something about seeing it now made Loki tremble with anxiety. What if this didn't work after all…?
The guards were on their duty, as usual. Loki made a few circular motions in the air with her nose, the kind of movement that dogs usually make when trying to intake a larger picture from afar. Then, gathering up her courage, she made a few timid steps towards the distant back gate.
The dogs behind the brick wall exploded in a chorus of yaps, snarls and howls of fury as the white-furred werewolf pitter-patted closer and closer towards their fortress. Loki stopped again, her nervousness returning quickly as the unwelcoming sounds reached her earshot. Come on, you can do it, she soothed herself. You can do it.
Big! Stranger! Big! Stranger! Go away! Go away!
Don't listen to them, Loki thought as she was approaching her target steadily. Humans can hear but they can't understand. Relax... Calm down… She thought about Zabuza, about how glad he would be if the mission was a success. That gave her confidence, and Loki continued on her way.
Closer and closer she came. Nearer and nearer grew the mansion.
Comes this way! Comes this way! Careful, careful, warned the dogs. But their desperate warnings were wasted on their human masters. Loki took a few more steps. Stopped. Then, a few more steps. Almost there…
The guardians paid little attention to the scruffy white dog coming slowly to a halt not a long way away from their post. Loki eyed them cautiously, sizing up their lances and wondering whether they would go for her spinal cord first or be content with simply skewering her head. She licked her lips in anxiety. She was afraid to do this, really afraid. She knew how much threat a human with a weapon could pose, especially if he knew how to use one. Thankfully though, there was no full moon to drive her crazy and get her to reveal her true colours as a werewolf; but you just never knew how much humans could figure out simply by observing you. Humans might have been weak, but they were by no means stupid.
Loki's hesitance was interrupted as one of the securities finally noticed that she was still there.
"Hey, what's up with that dog?"
Loki got pointed at with the sharp end of a lance. Something large and slimy did a somersault in the pit of her stomach, and her heart pounded even harder against her rib cage. Those memories; they were beginning to flood the back of her mind once again, just like that time… The reformatory... Escape... A man with a silver spear, approaching her as she lay, barely hidden by the undergrowth… No, not again!
"Do you think it's a stray?"
Loki resurfaced with some difficulty, straining herself to stay on task. To stay cool. At least she looked like a dog in full daylight, and not like a rabid beast that had to be put down. Nevertheless, facing two armed humans like that was intimidating. The wolf-girl felt a sudden urge to turn around and run, run and never come back; but it was too late. She had already promised to her masters that she'd do her part. There was no way she could back out of it now.
Both men's eyes were already on the waiting werewolf. It was now or never. It had to be now.
Loki wagged her tail, unsurely at first. She had watched other dogs interact with humans before, and had the basic movements vaguely memorized. It was like trying to recite a greeting in a foreign language: she sure hoped she was getting everything right. In the background, the real dogs were going ballistic with fear and rage.
"I think it's just hungry. Ignore it, it'll go away," said one of the guards, eyeing the big dog cautiously.
But Loki did not go away. Instead, she began wagging her tail much harder; and then, even harder than that, to the point where she felt that her rear would come apart at the seams if she didn't stop soon. When that didn't seem to make an impression, she pressed her ears against her head, bowing it a bit, and pawed the ground in front of her. Realizing that this as well must have been too little to achieve the effect she was going for, Loki emitted a series of soft whines and, front paws still outstretched, began to approach the two men. That was what other dogs usually did. Or… that was how she remembered it, anyway.
"We have no food for you, big fella! Go away now, shoo, shoo…" one of the guards tried to push the persistent dog aside with his boot, but Loki didn't budge. Her tail still a blur, she slipped in-between the men's legs towards the back gate and clawed at the damp, brownish brick. Behind the hidden entrance the noise had subsided just a bit, as if the dogs were moving away to defend their territory from a safer distance. Just in case.
"No, no, can't be going in there!" the security's kicks were getting much more painful and insisting now, but the werewolf wasn't about to give in. Seeing how none of her efforts were having the desired effect, Loki decided to allow the last and most revolting thing happen. It was something that a true werewolf loathed; especially when in wolf-shape It was something that the girl had let no other human do to her before. In most other circumstances, Loki would rip out throats for that. But today, it just had to be done.
Wincing in disgust, Loki rubbed the side of her head against a guard's lance-free palm and allowed him to scratch her ear. Uggh.
The man that had been kicking her frowned and struck her heavily with his weapon's shaft across the back. Loki whimpered loudly. Only the thought of Zabuza's cold brown eyes kept her from lunging at his throat. Only that one vague thought. Stay calm. Must stay calm.
"Go away, mutt! We have no food!" The soldier's bark was as good as any dog's. Loki kept her tail wagging. Just a little bit longer; come on, come on…
There was the shortest of pauses, and then the light bulb of realization finally lit up.
"Hey, hold on a sec… Maybe that's a hound from the household? A stray wouldn't actually try to get in, would it?" asked the other guardian, caressing Loki's coarse, dusty fur. For one insane moment, Loki felt like leaping up and licking his cheek. Yes! Good human, clever human! At last, arriving at something here…
But her bubble was burst the very next second with a really, really pointy pin.
"Strange, I don't remember ever seeing that one…" said the guard with the painful kick. Loki wished she could tear his limbs apart, very slowly, piece by tiny piece…
"Well, Lord Hidaka has loads of dogs… I don't remember what half of them look like…" The first guard was now rumpling Loki's cheeks. But at this point she loved him so much that she wouldn't mind it even if he tried to scratch her belly.
"The dogs over on that side are going nuts!" the Painful Kick gestured over to the brick fence. "I tell ya, it's a goddamn stray."
"These dogs are always like that… It's in their herre… hairy… harry-deterry… They were born like that, all right? To bark and to bite. 'S why they're here! Anyway, you know what they'll do to us if one of Lord Hidaka's dogs goes missing because of our carelessness!"
"But letting in a stray? I don't think Lord Hidaka would be very happy about that…" Apparently, the Painful Kick was not about to go down without a fight.
"Look, it knows exactly where it's going! It came here because it knows that there's an entrance at this very spot--" The last seven words were said in a barely audible whisper.
"It came here because it was hungry!"
"Hey, hey, I know you're mistrustful of 'em, but it was just one bite long ago, okay? You can't go taking it out on all dogs now, especially not on Lord Hidaka's dogs! Besides, this one seems friendly… He-hey, big fella!"
Loki's cheeks got stretched out into different directions and back again several times, like some sort of a miniature furry accordion. She now looked as though she was trying to make some very deformed kind of a grin. Well, you had to have your amusement after a long, boring day as a guard on duty…
The Painful Kick harrumphed in a disgruntled sort of manner. "And how, may I ask, did it get out of there (a thumb was jerked in the direction of the mansion again) in the first place, then?"
"Oh, don't ask me… Lord Hidaka's little pet-dog does it all the time! Maybe this one followed it or something… Or got out by accident when the shifts were changing… I dunno…"
Loki wondered if by 'Lord Hidaka's little pet-dog' the man referred to the little red terrier. In the meantime, the Painful Kick was still looking sceptical.
"Never happened before…" he said, though sounding a bit unsure.
"You never know… We aren't always on this shift, are we…"
"So… what do we do?" asked the Kick. He was beginning to waver, and that was good. Loki only wished they'd hurry up and decide on something. Her tail hurt from all the wagging, and she felt that her cheeks would never be the same again.
Meanwhile, the barking behind the wall was getting overwhelming.
"I say, let's let it in, just in case. Anyway, if it really is a stray, our dogs will rip it apart. But at least we'll know for sure, and no-one will hold us responsible if one of this household's hounds gets lost."
"Well…"
The world was waiting tensely.
"Well… You've got a good point there." The war seemed to be finally coming to an end. The Kick pondered about that for a bit longer, and then nodded briefly. "Oh, what the heck. Let's let it in."
Loki held her breath, and for a second forgot all about the wagging. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Were they actually going to let her inside? The impenetrable Hidaka defences were finally giving way…?
The guard that had been caressing the wolf-girl's head pressed something on the wall in a motion that an untrained eye would find difficult to follow. A few words were exchanged, and a tense pause followed. Loki waited. She prepared to pounce, just in case.
Finally, something deep inside the wall clicked. An unseen mechanism began to whirr dully; and with much rusty creaking, the tired old gate was roused into awakening. Loki followed tiny crumbles of red brick cascading down from above with wide eyes. It was the first time that she was watching the hidden entrance open from close up.
Next, a crack appeared on the wall, turning into a long straight line and eventually widening into an opening. A puff of new scents rolled out from behind it, enveloping Loki's nose in a veil of new information. Somebody's face, partly obscured by the shadows, glared at the two men from the inside.
"Where?" asked the face a one-word question. The guards understood.
One of them gave Loki a slight prod, pushing her towards the opening. She measured the wall with her eyes up and down once more, still not quite believing that this was really happening, and then slipped quickly inside before the humans could change their minds.
Behind the giant brick wall, the dogs went suddenly quiet.
In the shadows of the abandoned alleyway, Haku was waiting. He had gotten there a short while after Loki had disappeared behind the hidden back gate, and thus didn't have the slightest clue about whether she had succeeded or not. The boy did notice that the dogs seemed awfully quiet this afternoon, but he waved it off as simply a trick of his imagination.
Time oozed by slowly. Nothing was happening. Haku kept waiting.
A cart rolled by, creaking ominously as it jumped up and down on the uneven cobblestone road. Haku jerked his head up at this, involuntarily being reminded of Hidaka's own food cart. But that obviously wasn't it, and he went back to being slightly bored.
…It was growing dark already, but there was still no sign of any trouble. Haku was wondering if Loki would come at all. Maybe Zabuza had gotten a hold of her himself, after all. Ooh, this would not be a pretty sight…
But something was still missing from the atmosphere. Something that you wouldn't know to be there in the first place until it was taken away. It took Haku a while to realize what it was. Strangely enough, the dogs were still rather quiet. He found that quite… disquieting.
Loki was in Hidaka's courtyard. She was inside. She was also rather dazed, because she still couldn't believe that it had just happened. But when she got over her initial shock, she realized that the bulk of the task at hand was still ahead of her.
Loki didn't necessarily go homicidal on every living thing in sight after she changed. That only happened during the full moon; or if something had excited her hunting senses, like the scent of fresh blood in large quantities. Nevertheless, in her wolf-shape, the dogs saw her as a threat. As a really big threat. And now, this threat was on their property.
On one hand, they felt that they needed to defend their territory. On the other hand, it was a big threat. And now, there was no brick wall between them and this threat. That sort of thing never happened before. Thus, the dogs weren't really sure about what to do. For now, they huddled around the werewolf in a wide semicircle, eyeing it apprehensively from a relatively safe distance.
Loki was acutely aware of about a dozen pairs of eyes boring into her, sizing her up and down and across, and probably calculating which of her body-parts was the most detachable of the bunch. The wolf-girl knew that she had to begin before the dogs did; otherwise, it could turn extremely bloody. And that was an unnecessary complication that she was hoping to avoid. She shifted from one paw to another uneasily. What was it that one said in such circumstances?
Uh… hello…? Loki tried in canine. Words came out with some difficulty – her tongue had to give them a powerful prod in the backside to get them to budge. She suddenly felt like an explorer who'd ventured out deep into the jungle only to stumble upon a tribe of hungry-looking natives and realize that the local slang dictionary had been forgotten at home.
The dogs didn't move a muscle. They didn't as much as blink. It was unnerving.
I, um, I, um, uh… Loki was struggling to find the right words. It was a bit hard, considering that she'd only had a couple of days to practice beforehand. Loki was bad enough at negotiating in human; but here, she could only rely on her massive size to make an impression.
Um, not trying to be any trouble or anything… the werewolf started again, struggling hard to sound impressive.
The dogs were waiting. Loki was lost in an unfamiliar territory without as much as a compass. Fighting, now that was something she could understand. It was a lot less awkward. You just leaped, ripped apart and worried about protecting your own hind. You didn't have to worry about causing trouble. But the problem here was, if Loki did cause trouble (in this case by ripping apart all of the dogs in question), there would be trouble for everyone; in which case, Zabuza would get nothing done. And that kind of defeated the whole purpose.
The dogs were very patient. They had to be, because it wasn't every day that a hulking heap of muscles and fangs tried to come to any understandings. It was usually the other way around.
I will promise not to cause any trouble, Loki was slowly scrambling out of the swamp, if you will, if you will, um, um… stay quiet and not make any noise, say, for the rest of the night. No matter what goes on, no noise. And no trouble from me. So, how about that?
The wolf-girl loved the way she could think so soberly despite being in her wolf-form. No full moon in the sky made a world of difference. Her mind was clear, completely clear of all those simple, animal thoughts; and she could even think in full sentences, like she did when she was human-shaped. That, of course, helped a lot. She could actually notice things around her this way. She could notice, for example, that the dogs were doing something that would be the equivalent of snickering in human understanding. She wondered what was so amusing. She was being intimidating… wasn't she?
Hthe big one is hscaredhh, she heard someone growl.
The big one don't want to be trouble... the big one knows we rip her apart, barked somebody else.
That wasn't it at all! She was only trying to discuss matters peacefully because of Zabuza, otherwise she would just tear them all to shreds just like useless sacks of slush that they were, and... but… well, Loki had to admit, she was feeling a little bit restless. But that wasn't helping the situation at all, because the dogs were catching on. Slowly but surely, they were beginning to realize that the big bad wolf in front of them was not going to cause them any harm. All around the wolf-girl, courage was gradually returning.
R-r-rip the big one, a third dog suggested, from somewhere behind the shaggy tails. The idea was taken well. A couple more hounds yapped in agreement.
In the semicircle, a low growling was starting.
Rip the big one! Rip! Her! Apart! …Rip the big one!
This is getting bad, Loki thought, pressing her ears against her head, her hackles rising. She'd thought she'd have some difficulty at the gates, but she had never foreseen this. Oh well, let them come at it. That only made things easier. Fighting was something Loki was on first-name terms with.
The semicircle began closing in, but the dogs took their time attacking. Growling 'rip her apart!' was easy; but when it came to doing the ripping part itself, that was where hesitation began. Somebody had to be first. And that meant risking your own limbs, or eyes.
Or even head.
All around, the atmosphere itself felt like one giant tightly-taut bow-string. And then, all the tension, concentrated in a single deadly arrow of fur-covered, jaw-clashing wrath, was suddenly released. Finally making up its mind, one of the dogs lunged at Loki's throat. There was a moment's vision of flashing, foam-flecked molars, and then…
Splatter, went the blood, turning the yellowing grass crimson. Loki had opened her own jaws, set with sharp, three-inch-long fangs; and the daring attacker fell away with a torn, bleeding shoulder. A second hound leaped at the intruder through the air; but it, too, was caught and brought down before it could do any harm. Loki snorted, licking blood off her lips. She waited for more, but the rest of her foes were quick on the uptake. They might have never met werewolves before, but they sure knew better than to mess with a glaring heap of dagger-sharp fangs that meant business. None of them moved as Loki fixed them all with a grim, savage glower.
Listen to me! she ordered, her voice gruff and shaky with agitation. It was turning out that with these dogs you had to be clear and concise. And, preferably, menacing. If you weren't all three, then perhaps 'dinner' would be the next most descriptive word to use.
I will not hurt you… if you do what I say… she repeated, her tone low and threatening now.
The dogs listened. It went really quiet, except for the soft whining of the injured hounds down on the ground.
I am not here to stay. I will leave soon. But you must stay quiet! No matter what happens! No matter who else comes tonight! You must not make any noise! You hear me? Loki sure hoped she was being intimidating enough this time.
…Or I will rip the lot of you to pieces! she added as an afterthought.
The dogs understood. She could feel it in their scents. The fear. It was increasing by the minute. Good.
Two humans will come, that will Smell Like This… Then, in a complicated series of yaps, she explained the scents of Haku and Zabuza to the dogs. Do not attack them! Do not make noise! Stay out of the way! Or I will hurt you. Am I clear?
There was a whole pack of dogs, and only one young werewolf. They could have taken on the werewolf anyway. They could have made noise and gotten the humans to help them. The werewolf wasn't that much stronger. But it had Fangs. It was Bigger. And it sounded big. It acted intimidating, and the dogs were intimidated. As long as the charm held, the dogs would stay quiet.
Loki only hoped that she could keep up the performance until Haku and Zabuza showed up. She couldn't get into the house and kill Hidaka herself because dogs weren't allowed into the mansion, and she wasn't all that good at sneaking in any case. If she tried to get in on her own, she would surely start a commotion. And that, once again, would kill the entire purpose of the enterprise.
On the brighter side, having witnessed the savage ferocity of the newcomer, the dogs were fully willing to cooperate. Thus, Loki just had to wait for her masters and keep the canine guardians in check in the meantime.
A gloomy evening descended onto the village streets. All around, gates were closing, equipment was stored away and food stalls were being cleared out for the night. In tiny houses, kerosene lamps were being lit because somewhere further north a hurricane had brought down the electricity lines.
Cold winds carried heavy storm clouds over the village, and every now and then one could hear the low grumbling of the thunder. Somewhere, a dog was barking; and somewhere else, another one responded in trills of high-pitched yaps. Only behind Hidaka's giant brick wall, the dogs were quiet.
Haku didn't know how much time had passed. He witnessed the moon rise, and watched the pallid sickle hide and reappear from behind the thick, dark clouds wafting high above his head. How long until morning? he wondered wearily.
It seemed like an eternity before the boy sensed a slight movement behind him. From the shadows came the sound of somebody dropping lightly onto his feet. Haku thought he also heard the soft 'chink' of a weapon being drawn.
"Anything interesting happening?" said a soft whisper right by the boy's ear. Almost soundlessly, Zabuza had come to crouch beside his trainee in the darkness of the alleyway.
"Not as far as I can tell, sir," Haku answered, not taking his gaze off the distant mansion.
"What about the brat, any sign of her?" Zabuza's voice was dripping with irritation at the mention of Loki.
"Nossir!" came the rushed reply.
"You think they're interrogating her right now, just as we speak?"
"I don't think she's even here, sir," said Haku thoughtfully. "I haven't seen her at all, and there was no sign of any struggles going on. Everything was calm when I arrived, and it stayed exactly the same way through the whole time that I've been here."
Zabuza contemplated this. It sounded truthful enough.
"All right," he said finally. "We're waiting for the cart, then. Prepare your Ice Needles, Haku. We must be sure to give the guests a proper welcome…"
A covered cart rolled along an abandoned old road, mud splashing thickly under its wheels. Tall grasses brushed against its rough, wooden borders. High above, dry leaves were whispering in a chilly morning breeze.
Three men sat in the cart, all of them silent. One of them was holding the reins of the horse, but it needed no guiding. It had traversed this same road so many times now that it no longer needed any humans to know where it should be going.
The cart took a few lazy turns, crossed a bridge and was already approaching the outskirts of the Unseen Village of Twin Rivers. It was four-twenty in the morning. Not even the roosters were up this early. Well, maybe just the roosters.
Swirling greyish mist was creeping down the silent streets, drowning out the sounds of the hooves on the cobblestone road. It stirred in the air, saturating it with stifling dampness, and floated above the distant Twin Rivers in wispy, dishevelled clouds. By the time the required street was finally reached, the mist was already so thick that one could barely see the tips of his fingers if he outstretched an arm in front of him. But the cart kept going.
…In a dark alleyway nearby, Zabuza was uttering the last words of his murmured incantation when Haku stirred in his look-out corner on the ground.
"Sir, I think I hear something… No, I can definitely hear it! Hoof-beats! Someone's approaching us," he exclaimed in an excited half-whisper.
Zabuza lowered his hands, having finished casting his infamous Hiding Mist Technique (having the real mist at his disposition tonight certainly helped a great deal). He could hear it now, too. Clip-clop. Clip-clop. The sound of hooves on the cobblestones, fast-approaching. Unlike Haku or anyone else that would happen to wander by through the area this very morning, the Jounin could see through his own Jutsu perfectly. And now he saw it, too – a cart was coming, and it was definitely approaching the hidden back gate. There was no doubt about it. It was that cart. Zabuza grinned unpleasantly.
"Get ready for my signal, Haku…"
At the hidden back gate, the guards squinted to make out the faces of the cart-drivers approaching through the mist. Just to be sure, one of them raised his lance while the other demanded:
"Password!"
The word sounded muffled in the moist, suffocating air. On the cart, there was a moment's silence; then the man holding the reins said, a bit unsurely:
"Er… muffins. With… caramel sauce? Master's favourite… um?"
(Nami Hidaka could get a bit… odd… when it came to coming up with passwords. Perhaps he found it amusing, the idea of people delivering food having to exchange matching word-codes.)
There was another pause from the guarding end of the conversation, and then:
"And we will be having strawberry cakes tonight. Um."
It was really clever. No strangers could have ever guessed that the password was something as silly as a strawberry cake. Convinced of the newcomers' authenticity, one of the guards raised a hand and pressed a seemingly ordinary brick right above his head. Something inside the wall clicked, whirred and then the wall spoke with a creaky, gruff-from-the-lack-of-sleep voice.
"Yerss…?"
"Sausages in a bun," said the guard.
"Whaaa… What the hell…" Insomnia seemed to have made the voice in the wall a little bit slow on the uptake.
"You know! Sausages in a bun," repeated the guard irritably. "Y'know, these foreign things that were brought to us from… from… Oh, the password, dammit, the password!"
"Ohhhh…" the voice seemed to vaguely recall that something important was supposed to be going on at this time of night. Inside the wall, something began to make rusty sounds again. Outside, the cart-horse stomped one of its hooves and snorted impatiently. Then, just as a part of the stony surface began to separate and steadily slide aside--
--It all happened in a matter of seconds. There was a soft 'whoosh'. One of the carter's bodyguards slumped sideways, as if in slow motion; and then, finally losing his balance, fell out onto the road. Whoosh. The other bodyguard and the carter himself were sitting perfectly still, but upon a closer examination one would see several thin, pointy needles sticking out of their throats. Whoosh, whoosh. Before the two guards of the gate could figure out what was going on, their own necks came to look as though they belonged to some strange, icy hedgehogs. Soon, the senbon melted and seeped away in thin trickles of water; however, the men remained to lie motionlessly on the ground.
The carter's horse hadn't been spared, either. Horses tended to make noise. And in the situation in question, noise was obviously not wanted.
Two figures sprang out of the fog. The smaller one was panting, one of the deadly needles clutched in its hand. The larger one didn't as much as glance at the bodies – its attention was focused entirely on the giant brick wall.
"It's not moving!" the large figure swore in Zabuza's voice.
The man was right. The part of the wall that had already begun to move aside stopped frozen still, with only a thin crack breaking its surface. Behind it, the small hidden world was waiting tensely.
At Zabuza's side, Haku was awaiting further instructions. His mentor spat onto the ground. More setbacks. Bloody great.
"We're going over," he muttered finally, realizing that the wall was not going to budge and that they had to act quickly; and prepared for the leap. There was no choice left now. They had to get in one way or another. And they had to do it fast.
"Yessir!" whispered Haku, all of his muscles tensing like springs about to unwind.
But their jump was never to be made.
Suddenly, the once-hidden gate shuddered, sending down a cascading shower of dust and crushed brick particles. Slowly, it resumed its uncomplicated task of sliding aside until an opening wide enough for a cart was formed. Beyond it, there was silence. Not even a movement. Zabuza thought about it, and decided to take his chances. He always did, in the end.
On the other side of the gate, the courtyard was empty. Or it had seemed so on the first glance, at least. For a moment, the mist revealed an image of a man kneeling on the withering grass, his neck bent at an odd angle. The fingers of his left hand were curled around a large iron lever in the wall – the man's dead weight had been pulling it down, apparently causing the gate to open. On the bricks in front of him, something black had been spattered.
Zabuza turned briskly before the nearby bush even had a chance to rustle. Haku noticed his master's movement and himself prepared to strike down the invisible enemy. There was a moment of stillness as breath was being drawn, and--
From under a misty veil, Loki emerged unsteadily. She was trembling slightly and wiping the blood off her face with a filthy fist. Her once-new kunoichi outfit looked as though it had been attacked by a pair of runaway rabid scissors. Haku lowered his weapon, gaping at the apparition, but there was no time for any questions or surprised remarks.
Zabuza sized the girl down with an icy death-glare, spat out a brief "Stand guard while we're gone", and vanished into the thick fog ahead, Haku at his heels. He'd get to the bottom of this when he'd have time later on. But in the meantime, there were things to be done.
Loki nodded gravely at the two departing backs and retreated to her former position in the dried undergrowth. Well, at least nobody wanted to kill her here… yet. From behind, the wolf-girl could feel a pair of anxious eyes drilling holes in the back of her head.
You stay quiet, she hissed, turning around. I'm still the bigger one around here, remember?
When the Jounin and his apprentice had gotten over the inner wall, they found themselves surrounded by a garden stretching away into the misty gloom. Squat cherry-blossom trees extended their leafless branches upwards, like spectres praying to the dark, murky sky. An eerie silence hung over the place. The only finishing touch that was missing from the picture was the stench of a nearby swamp and, perhaps, a pair of menacing, glowing yellow eyes.
The yellow eyes were present, though. Zabuza stared down at them just as he was about to soundlessly open that exact door of the mansion which, according to his memory, was supposed to have a kitchen on the other side of it. A dog was crouching under that door, watching the two ninja rather apprehensively. For a split second, there was a shocked, still-movement-filled pause as the assassins expected it to explode in a hurricane of fury, vicious jaw-clashing and noise. But instead of raising an alarm, the dog simply got up and scurried away into the hazy obscurity, whimpering gently. Soon it was out of sight, but even then no barking followed. Zabuza unfroze and exchanged glances with Haku. He would have killed the dog on the spot, but… the way it behaved was so odd that it would have caught anyone unawares. Running away quietly was not what ordinary dogs did when their territory was being invaded by strangers. Just to be on the safe side of things, Zabuza sent a kunai after it into the darkness. There was a muffled yelp, and then everything was still again. No barking. No noise.
The ninja nodded at his apprentice and slipped inside without giving this a further thought. It was strange all right; but there was no time to wonder about anything.
There were no other guards around. Not in the kitchen, anyway. Though this was probably the case because the entrance from the kitchen into the mansion itself lay through the servants' living quarters. Apparently, Hidaka thought that no one could get inside unnoticed as long as there were loads of people hanging around the doorways at all times.
He obviously hadn't been paying much attention in his Ninja Studies class.
In a couple of moments, the servants' quarters were left far behind, none of their residents disturbed from their sleep. Well… almost none of them. By chance, a slight draft, created when the curtain dividing the room from the kitchen had been moved aside to let the ninja through, carried all the way to a young woman drowsing away in a corner. Involuntarily, she shifted over a bit to get out of the nuisance's way, accidentally prodding a little servant boy curled up on the floor not too far from her foot. The boy jerked and sat up, roused from his sleep by this rough treatment. He sat like that for a while, rubbing the hurt spot and muttering something sluggishly under his breath, before suddenly realizing that he was… thirsty. Yeah, that, and hungry as well. Hungry… they ran out of food yesterday evening, and tonight more provisions were supposed to arrive with the food cart! Yes, the cart! All right, and it must already be here, too, the servant boy thought. Well, there was certainly plenty of food in there…
Shaking off the last of his sleep, the boy got up from the floor and headed outside.
…In the meantime, Zabuza was already standing over a sleeping Nami Hidaka, in the bedroom on the second storey of the house. They had made it up the stairs without much trouble; the mansion itself seemed rather deserted. And it wasn't that large, either. Hidaka's bedroom, in fact, took up most of the second floor. The door to it was heavily equipped with all sorts of intricate locks and other such fancy security measures, but all it had taken to get past this nuisance was a bit of picking with Haku's senbon and a frustrated swing or two with a well-sharpened kunai. And now, Zabuza's mission was almost accomplished…
…Haku was waiting for his mentor in the doorway. The young ninja didn't want to approach the future victim, nor did he want to see the face of the man they were going to kill. He was beginning to feel nauseous, and wished for nothing more but to get out of here as fast as possible.
Zabuza, on the other hand, took a second to examine the face of that sly, elusive old bastard that had taken such meticulous measures just to keep his skin out of trouble. Heh, didn't help you one bit, thought the Demon maliciously. He was not a very sympathetic person when it came down to assassinating.
Suddenly, as if sensing the danger in some uncanny way, Hidaka opened his eyes. He saw the large figure looming in front of him in the darkness, gave several sleepy, teary blinks and squinted to get a closer look. In the gloom, he could almost swear that he saw a hellish light flicker in the dark figure's eyes for a split second. Then, it was gone.
"W-- who are you? Who are you??" Hidaka kept repeating in dumb bewilderment, slowly beginning to catch on but remaining too taken aback by the vision to start yelling right away. "What are you-- what are you doing in my room?"
A moment later, he was already opening his mouth, his vocal cords straining to form some sort of a cry or any other loud sound that would have gotten the security's attention. But he was one moment too late. Zabuza's kunai plummeted through the air like lightning, leaving no time for any action messages sent by Hidaka's brain to be delivered to the rest of his body. One second – and the unfortunate man was leaning away, gaping dumbly at the weapon's blunt end sticking out of his chest. In the doorway, Haku averted his eyes, grateful to the morning gloom that was so mercifully concealing the dying victim's facial contortions.
Zabuza waited for a couple of seconds before twisting the kunai out of the corpse's chest. Blood sprayed out of the wound like a fountain the moment his knife left the flesh, covering the surroundings in sticky, dark spatters. The assassin tried to wipe it off his face, smearing it even further all over his cheek. His shirt – well, that was another matter. Black had definitely been a good choice - them little marks never showed, on black. But it was all just details. The only thing that truly mattered now was the mission; or rather getting out alive and receiving the check.
Zabuza grinned, satisfied with a job well done.
"It's over," he whispered, turning to his apprentice. "We're lea--"
A shrill scream from the outside made them both turn towards the window. They had no way of knowing it, but mere seconds ago the very same servant boy that had wandered out into the courtyard in search of the food cart had just stumbled across six dead bodies (including that of a horse) and an unfamiliar girl with a bloody mouth.
"Shit!" was Zabuza's immediate reaction. "Damn that girl, where is she looking?"
The scream came again, much more assured and desperate this time. Somewhere in the depths of the mansion, low thuds made by people running in heavy uniforms could be heard. The household guardians were coming to the rescue.
The ninja wasted no time in making their escape. With the lithe agility that could only develop after years and years of dedicated training, they hopped out of the window, down to the ground, and in a couple of leaps they were back in the outer courtyard. They arrived just in time to witness Loki raise her deadly metal claws over a boy weeping in a huddle on the ground.
"Shut up!" the wolf-girl was hissing through greeted teeth. "Quit your squealing or I'll--"
Haku called out to her.
"Leave him be! Come on, we must hurry!"
From somewhere at the front of the mansion, shouts could be heard. The guards were swiftly approaching from all the directions, hoping to surround the enemy. But Zabuza's fog still hung, making it difficult for them to find the right path; and they kept stumbling into each other, cursing as they ran.
Loki retracted her claws and turned away, losing all interest in the screeching human brat. She had to go, too. She knew that the dogs would resume all activity the moment she was well outside the brick wall, but that was fine because her own humans would be out of reach as well. The mist was starting to disperse, Zabuza's Jutsu wearing away; and the mansion's residents were already beginning to make some progress, led by the safely-escaped little servant. The girl took a last sniff of the surroundings, to better record the memory of this triumphant moment for nostalgic days, and was herself soon lost in the shadowy depths of the sleepy morning streets ahead.
Far behind, the dogs erupted into a belated chorus of livid howls.
Two hours and several kilometres later, when the renegade trio finally stopped to catch their breath, Zabuza slumped onto a rock and motioned for Loki to come over. She approached him, panting and red from all the running, but beaming with the strength of a hundred suns. Time for praise, cackled her inner self happily.
Zabuza, too, was grinning. It was not a nice kind of grin. It was the kind of grin that people hid under beds from. He waited for the girl to get within reach; and then, in a swift motion that an untrained eye would've had a difficulty following, he threw out his hand and closed his fingers tightly around Loki's windpipe. It was the last thing she'd been expecting. Gasping in shock and struggling for breath, she clawed at his fingers; but Zabuza's grip was like a steel-trap. He drew the girl towards him until her eyes were level with his, and shook her up slightly.
"Never do something like that again. You hear me? NEVER do this again!" he growled loud enough for Haku to wince. "If there is anything I will not tolerate from my servants, it is disobedience! I told you to keep your nose out of it, I specifically ordered you to stay put, didn't I? Didn't I???"
He shook her again. Loki was trembling from head to toe, just like a dry autumn leaf in the wind (if it had any heads or toes). She was still desperately trying to uncurl the man's fingers from her throat, but to no attain.
"Didn't I???' roared Zabuza.
Her proud lupine heritage forgotten, Loki found herself nodding shakily.
"And when I order something, I expect it to be done, whether you like it or not!" Zabuza kept snarling. At that moment, he looked more like a wolf than any other human beings Loki had ever encountered. It was scary. "Is that understood? Well?!"
Loki was slowly beginning to turn blue.
Zabuza spat to the ground and let the unfortunate girl go, not ceasing to pierce her with his infamous death glare. Loki overbalanced and fell back onto her rear, breathing heavily and clutching at her throat. Haku stood where he was, wisely not trying to interfere. She could be much worse off, he thought.
Zabuza seemed to be thinking along the same lines. He got up, shaking the dust off his backside, and came to glower over his female trainee.
"I don't know what it was that you did tonight, but it certainly helped," he said, sounding a shade of a tone less rough. "Our assignment has been successfully accomplished, and that is probably the only thing holding me back from killing you right here, right now. You're lucky that it played out so well, girl."
Loki looked up hopefully. The man's glare intensified.
"I'm in a good mood right now, so I'm giving you a last chance. But if you ever, ever disobey me again, I'll…" he let the last few words hang in a viscous silence. Loki gulped. She had never seen a human look so terrifying before.
"I won't disobey you again, sir…" she muttered softly.
"What was that? Couldn't hear it," mocked Zabuza in a sing-song voice.
Realising what was being expected of her, Loki swiftly sprang up to her feet and saluted smartly.
"I won't disobey you again, sah!!!" the girl shouted much louder this time, breaking down into a coughing fit afterwards. But she actually meant what she said.
Zabuza smiled in satisfaction. He was good at getting his point across.
"Good, good," he muttered, adjusting the bandages on his face before turning his blistering gaze onto his younger apprentice.
"Haku?"
"Yes, sir…?"
"I do hope you're smart enough to figure out what will happen to both of you if you two try something like that behind my back ever again," the man uttered with all the cold-blooded calmness of a cobra.
"Yes, sir…"
"Do not make me draw you a picture." Every word had been punctuated with ice.
"All right, sir."
"Well then." Now that they were all sorted out and clear about who the boss was, it was a perfect time to go get that money.
A couple of days later, the Village of Twin Rivers with all its excitement, agitation over the bodies and Hunter Nin rummaging the surrounding area for the bandits was finally left far behind the shaggy, evergreen branches of spruces and pines. Having received their gold, Zabuza and the group went back into hiding, once again retreating far into the very heart of Water Country's extensive forests. They had a lot of spare time on their hands now; and while most of it was used, obviously, for training, Zabuza did give his students short breaks for a little rest.
It was during times like this that Haku wandered off all by himself to think. Having to kill people always put the boy in such a thoughtful, even depressing mood afterwards; but this time, it was something else as well. Something very odd was going on, and it was bothering him; but Haku couldn't quite put a finger on it, whatever it was. Perhaps it had something to do with the way the dogs had been so quiet that night – by the way, how did Loki manage to do that? – or maybe it was simply the upcoming cyclone changes in the atmosphere. Haku couldn't really tell.
But sometimes, it just made him wonder.
End Chapter! Hope you liked it, and thanks for being such a patient and polite audience. X3 Sorry for any typos if you see any, but I have been reading this over so many times now that all the mistakes sort of blend in with the background when I look at the text.
Stick around for the next update (hope you make it till the 22nd century…) Lai out.