It was almost October. Weeks of information gathering were soon to pay off. The Shinobi had been in contact with the Wizarding world for less than two months, and they'd already drained the Hogwart's library of knowledge, copied every text-book available and had a feel for the political climate. Thank Kami for Naruto and his trusting nature.
In short, give them a few more days to test out the defensive wards in the ministry itself, and they could bring the entire nation to its knees if needed.
Some say violence isn't the answer, and Haku would agree on most counts. But a lesson that Zabuza stressed to the ice ninja, and anyone who'd listen is that sometimes, the simplest solution is the best solution. And frankly, assassination is among the simplest type of jobs available. To any competent Shinobi, it was as simple as breathing.
And frankly, what's simpler then an assassination? Step one, pick a target. Step two, kill said target. Step three, enjoy no longer having a problem.
The fact that Minister Lollipop-... Fudge, it was Fudge. What is with these damn wizards and names. It's either candy or pigs, no wonder they can't use chakra. Far too out of shape. Anyways, Minister Bubblegum was like many of the local lords back home.
Completely incompetent, and only had his job cause someone better suited for the work didn't want to deal with the hassle.
Regardless, the time passed in a blur with minimal incidents. Haku could have jumped for joy after his initial meeting with Luna. Why? The Room of Requirements! It was perfect for the Shinobi's training, for the weekly debriefing and as Haku discovered just yesterday. It was a treasure trove of magical artifacts and rare books... They still did small demonstrations during the weekend with D-rank techniques to fan the ever-growing flames of Wizard interest in their 'magic'.
With the addition of the room of requirements, the visiting ninja now had somewhere to actually train, out of the eyes of watching witches and wizards, which doubled as a secret base to catalog, inspect and store everything they could get their hands on. Haku was flying on cloud nine, and people noticed the spring in her.. his.. Haku's step. Those that didn't, were given the treat of watching Loony Lovegood nearly crushed in a bone-shattering hug.
Most just passed it off as Haku being Haku, while his fellow ninja's were left in a minor state of confusion. But that was yesterday, September the twenty-ninth.
Haku looked at the eyes before him. A misty blue that many would pass off as madness, insanity, or in the words of a tactless ginger 'bat buggeringly nuts' but the ice ninja knew better. Those eyes hid a great deal of intelligence behind their cloudy surface. He knew the truth.. After all, it was laid out plain as paper before him.
"Checkmate." Luna practically sang as her trap was sprung. Damn, he knew he shouldn't have taken her rook two turns ago.
"I believe that is... twelve for myself and.. oh my, have you yet to win a game?" The blonde continued with a playful smirk. "Are you feeling alright Haku? You may have caught Loser's Lurgy? I have a potion back in the common room that would remedy it? A mixture of Heliophant hair and nargle buggies. Rather good for your health"
"No, but thank you Luna-san... maybe if I don't win tomorrow's game I will consider it..." This blasted game. Wizard chess. It was similar to shogi but he was still terrible at it...
"Of course, I'll give it to you after your daily beating~"
"One game.. that's all I ask from you Kami..." Haku sighed, as he placed the chess pieces back in their respective boxes.
"Mr. Momochi is coming to visit soon, I hope. It'd be nice to finally meet him. The gersprurts have been acting up today, it's a good sign." Luna said before lying back onto the floor, flipping open a divination text-book to get started on her homework.
Haku smiled as he finished putting away the game back on the shelf. "Yes, Zabuza-san will be arriving tomorrow to have lunch with Minister Fudge.." The Ice ninja's heart went out to his father figure. Politics were a pain. "But after that, we have the rest of the day to show him around and introduce him to wizard culture."
In other words, give him an update on the infiltration. Still, Haku hoped he'd be able to relax for at least an hour tomorrow. "It'll be nice to introduce you. But.."
"Don't worry Haku~ I remember you saying he wasn't the nicest person when dealing with 'brats'. I'm sure he's just shy~" Luna sang back as she started to jot down the dream she had last night. It involved herself, Haku an empty library and a few books. Let your imagination make up the rest... not like that you perverts.
"Might be nargles.. wonder if I have any spare radishes left.." The young witched mumbled to herself, getting a quiet chuckle from Haku. Luna was an interesting girl to say the least.
"I'll be sure to tell him your theory... need any help with that?" Haku sat back down, looking through a nearby pile of books, trying to decide on today's reading material... might as well go with Icha Icha Just Deserts.
"Only if you wish... Trelawney really is a fascinating women... such a shame so many view her as a fraud.. she's rather brilliant." Luna took out another sheet of parchment, sitting back up to look at Haku. "Now, what did you dream of last night?"
"I was having a sparing match with Zabuza-san in the rain. I could really see his face.. I can't remember who won though..." Haku mused out loud as he closed his book, giving Luna his undivided attention, along with a small smile. "My apologies. I should have written it down this morning."
Luna just waved her hand at the apology, swatting it away with her cork ring. "Don't worry. Tomorrow I'll have your fortune told... oh! Then we can braid our hair to show Mr. Momochi!"
Haku blinked, then shrugged. "I don't see why, but only if you have the time."
"Well.. I only have charms tomorrow.. though I wanted to feed the Thestral's.. I could do that at night..." Luna smirked to herself. Filch had long since given up trying to catch Luna wandering the halls at night. The old man realized it was a fruitless endeavor after he caught Mrs. Norris allowing herself to be pet by the misty eyed blonde. The traitor.
"Would you mind some company? I've heard Suigetsu talk about Thestral's but aside from the short carriage ride," Which was spent having a brief talk between himself and Kimimaro on how to deal with Suigetsu if he misbehaved. So far, neither of them had to regulate his behavior. Thank Kami for small mercies?
"I have never actually gotten a good look at them." Haku finished as Luna turned back to her homework. He didn't mind, a bit of light conversation went well with any book.
"Of course you are!" Luna spoke up, almost defensively. Haku just smiled a bit, her eagerness to spend time together was rather cute.
The ice ninja was a rather 'sociable' person in the eyes of many. He always had a small smile on his face, was always around to talk, but he rarely let anyone close. After all, he had Zabuza-san, Kimi-kun and Mei-san. Why'd he need anyone else in his life as more than a polite acquaintance. Someone to only be thought of when actually talking to the person. An individual to be forgotten until you see them again.
But this weird, blonde little witch seemed to have a knack for breaking his guard down in a way that reminded Haku of a certain blonde idiot, but almost purer... mostly since this blonde wasn't hiding some weird demonic power that could beat his secret technique.. the damn cheater..
Haku was not bitter about losing to a cop-out like that, shut up, you're lying and making up stories.
Luna just smiled and continued to scribble away at the parchment, oblivious to her friend's chaotic thoughts. Haku bit back a swear. He'd talk to Mei-san later... she was better with emotional stuff.. who knows, maybe all this worrying is homesickness.
With that final thought, and bright smile on his face, Haku went back to his book, wishing the day would end already.
Haku brought his hand up to cover his mouth as he yawned. He really needed to stop thinking that four hours of sleep is enough to get by with...
Regardless he kept up... well slowed his pace down to stay by Luna's side as they walked towards the Great Hall for lunch. Flitwick was nice enough, a tad short but from what Haku seen of wizards thus far that doesn't seem to be anything more than an advantage.
"Sphinx toe for your thoughts?" Luna asked as they turned down another corridor. If Haku had to give these wizards, aside from Luna, one compliment at Kunai-point, he'd say they seem to have an amazing natural sense of direction.
"Professor Flitwick is a rather interesting man, and I'm curious to hear if he's ever-" Haku cut himself off as he saw a familiar head of platinum blonde hair. Specifically the arrogant face under it which was smiling at the ice ninja, looking like a snake that just ate a rather tasty mouse.
Just in case, Haku took a step closer to Luna. Since the pair had started spending more time together, the number of incidents of lost or stolen property belonging to the poor blonde girl had decreased rapidly, along with bullying. Still, he didn't trust Malfuy as far as he could throw the blonde worm... hm.. then again that metaphor doesn't really work. Haku probably could have tossed Malfuy a good distance... but you get the point.
Draco just smiled and waved at the foreigner. Now many people would have forgiven and forgotten the small incident two weeks ago, but no. Not Draco. He was a Malfoy, making a mountain out of a molehill was not only par for the course in his family, it was a pass-time he rather enjoyed.
So with that in mind, and a whispered incantation later, a small box appeared in front of the Lovegood girl who the foreign witch seemed to like. The bait was in place.
Haku immediately stepped between the mystery box and her friend. And the trap has been sprung. Draco's smile couldn't get any wider as he whispered the last incantation, opening the box as a crowd gathered to see what the commotion was.
"Kami damn these wizards to their own personal hell... like fuck I'm going to agree to half this stuff... all members of the Mist are under the Ministry's authority while in muggle and magical Britain.. ten percent of revenue from private missions given by British Wizards given as operating tax... immediate disclosure of all magical knowledge belonging to the Mist within a week of signature... Mother. Fuckers..."
Zabuza was not having a good day. Why you may ask? The wizards were still trying to fuck with him, or specifically screw over the Mist with diplomacy. As of this instant, the fifth Mizukage was regretting sending the letter just for the damn headache's he'd been plagued with since first contact.
"If this doesn't pan out for the Mist... Mei is going to wish I killed her.." The Demon of the Mist mumbled to himself as he continued to read through the parchment detailing the Ministries demand-... sorry. The Ministry of Magic's polite and totally fair terms of alliance that doesn't bend the Shinobi village over a table before wailing on their exposed bottom with a plank of wood..
On the bright side, Zabuza now had an idea what to call the piece of garbage if he was ever brain-dead enough to sign it. Small mercies. Take them when you can get'em. He should have seen this coming after yesterday's land slide of mediocre and pleasant news.
Deciding he still had a few minutes before his lunch with Minister Peppermint, Zabuza moved the wizard parchment aside before picking up mission reports from some of the Hunter-nim. An amazingly lucky development was that with the reformation of the Mist, some of the missing-nim were trying to rejoin under Zabuza.
It was very much a case by case basis, but still. He'd worked with or knew some of the ninja that abandoned the village when things looked like they were about to go bottom's up, so he couldn't blame them. What he could do is carefully look over and question them to see if they could be useful in rebuilding.
"Now if only Ukitake would stop hiding.." Another sigh escaped Zabuza's lips. Again he couldn't fault the ninja, once he read his file and came to his own conclusions, he just hoped the Hunter-nims found the bubble user before Akatsuki did.
A small, familiar thud of a scroll landing on his desk shook Zabuza out of his own head and back into reality. It was a message from Mei, marked urgent... Well damn... and he thought today couldn't get any worse. With a tired groan he grabbed the scroll and opened it.
It took him less than a minute to read the entirety of the message after a quick glance at the first line.
"Ao! Get your ass in here now or I will have you executed before you can say Suton!" Zabuza yelled as he slammed his fists into the table, trying to take deep breaths to calm himself down.
The senior ninja, recognizing the tone of voice his Mizukage was using wasted no time, appearing in front of Zabuza on one knee in a small cloud of mist. "Yes, Zabuza-sama."
"Ao.. get me Wave, Ice, Storm, Island, Sleet and Blizzard. Tell them they have ten minutes to be in my office fully prepared before I kill them personally.." Zabuza ground out between clenched teeth, watching Ao nod and disappear into another puff of mist.
"That's it... I was fine playing their games.. but I believe it's time these damn wizards saw what a shinobi is really made of..."
Haku blinked, then blinked again. He knew what.. who was standing before him but for some reason it just didn't make sense. Zabuza wasn't due to show up until after the student's lunch was over to talk to the Minister and Headmaster. So why was he early, why was he wearing his old renegade outfit, he even brought the Executioner's Blade.. and why... why could Haku suddenly smell blood?
"Zabuza-san?" The ice ninja had to ask, ready to attack the imposter at any sign of movement.
"Haku..." It was certainly Zabuza's voice but there was something that bothered Haku. It was the tone. A tone Haku knew by heart, it was the tone of voice Zabuza used only when speaking of Yagura and his actions that nearly destroyed the once proud village. But Zabuza used it for his name... why? He hadn't done anything.. did he?
"Haku.. you failed me... you were my tool, supposed to protect me... but. You. Failed." The Zabuza doppelganger uncrossed his arms, bringing them down to his side to reveal the burnt and bloody hole through his chest. "A tool with no use shall be thrown away.."
"Zabuza..." Haku managed to squeak out, eyes locked on the wound as flashbacks of that faithful day on the bridge came up to the forefront of his mind, driving off any thoughts of getting away or attacking. The memories of seeing Zabuza pinned down by Kakashi's dogs, seconds away from getting a Chidori to the chest and Haku unable to do anything were enough to hold him in place out of fear and self-loathing.
"I should have left you for dead... because of you the Mist will die a slow death... you, everything about you disgusts me Haku."
The words hit Haku like a punch to the gut, sending him to his knees. "No.. no.. Zabuza.. I didn't fail you.. I didn't... I promised..no.." He whimpered almost to himself, not knowing or caring if anyone heard him as the Zabuza imposter fell to the floor, a small pool of blood gathering under him.
"Ridikulus!" Luna screamed as soon as she gathered her wit's from seeing her friend start to breakdown. The crowd watched as the corpse shrunk, turning into a small Zabuza plushy with a pinky dress and a permanent scowl.
"Stupefy! Stupefy! Wingardium Leviosa! Colloportus!" The young blonde continued, stunning the Boggart before it could change into a new form, specifically her fear before floating it up and into the box it came in, shooting of every and any locking spell and jinx she could remember. Anyone that tried to open that box now would be in for a surprise that'd make the Boggart seem tame in comparison.
"What are you idiots waiting for!? Someone get Madame Pomfrey and his Headmistress!" Luna shouted at the assembled crowd in front of the Great Hall, seeing a few first and second years run off in the direction of the Hospital Ward, while spotting.. Harry Potter and his friends run off in search of either Haku's school mates or his teacher.
A quick glance around told her that Malfoy had disappeared. She'd seen him toss the box, assuming it was just another prank to be ignored or forgotten about, but no. This was a personal attack on her first, and best friend. This was not something to be forgotten.
Luna knelt, wrapping her arms around Haku's thin frame as she patted his back. "Hush, hush, it's alright Haku, I'm here for you.. nothing is going to hurt you..." The young blonde tried her best to get him to calm down, but all she got was choked out sobs and whispered phrases. 'He hates me... I failed him.. I let him die.. I'm sorry Zabuza-san.. I'm sorry.."
Haku's teacher was the first to arrive back, running through the halls, daring anyone to stand in her way. Mei took one look at Haku, and she understood exactly.. or at least probably what happened. She helped Luna pick Haku up before they carried him towards the Hospital Wing.
Thankfully Madame Pomfrey was ready and waiting for them. Luna made herself promise that she'd find the students that ran ahead and thank them.
It was only after Mei and Madame Pomfrey had managed to force a calming draught and sleep potion down Haku's throat that they turned to Luna for question. Well, Mei turned to Luna for questioning, as Madame Pomfrey took out her wand, muttering spells to check Haku over for injuries.
"Girl. What happened?" Mei's voice was cold and flat as well polished steel, a rather noticable change from the airy, flirty tone that everyone in the castle knew about. Frankly, Luna was glad she was Haku's friend, since the look in Mei's eyes wasn't that of someone planning murder. No, they were the eyes of someone who'd killed more times than they could count and gotten away with it.
"We were umm.. walking down the hall. Haku picked me up from Charms and we were going to get some lunch. It was normal.. we were just talking about my homework when we were just outside the Great Hall.." Luna wasn't ashamed to admit she was uncomfortable under the older woman's gaze. "He was going to ask me a question about Professor Flitwick before a box appeared in front of me.."
Luna looked at the ground, ashamed of her actions. She should have acted faster, but shock from both the Boggart's appearance, Haku's reaction and her own wish not to broadcast her fear to the entire school was all she needed to hesitate for five seconds too long, and now her friend was in the hospital ward.
"He.. he stepped in front of it for me.. probably thought it was just another prank directed at Loony Lovegood.. but it was a Boggart." Luna looked up to see Mei raise an eyebrow to continue, her gaze softening slightly as Luna continued. "It's a creature that shows you your worst fear.."
"I see.." Mei sighed, mentally cursing herself. "Luna-chan.. thank you.. for helping him. Haku is... fragile on certain subjects.. I'd really appreciate it if what you saw and heard was kept to yourself... I know it'll probably be all over the school within the hour.. but please.."
"Ms. Mei. I won't..." Luna gave the older women a weak smile.
"Thanks... now do you have any idea who could have done this?"
"Draco Malfoy. Slytherin. Platinum Blonde Hair, Grey eyes. Fourth year." No hesitation. The Malfoy's may have enough sway to bury her and her father, but not before she got a shot off. And she had a feeling, anything the Ministry could do to her family, was nothing compared to the hell the Shinobi could raise.
"Good... now I have a report to write.. you are free to stay here if you wish..." Mei paused a moment to think, before letting an evil, delighted grin come across her face. "And you.. are free to remain here as long as you wish. Don't worry about the call to the Great Hall that is sure to follow. It'll just be us taking care of business." She gave Luna a quick hug, before standing up straight to fix her hair. She had a mission to do now, and needed to look fierce.
Luna blinked as Mei turned on her heels and left, swaying her hips as she walked, but Mei noticed the difference between this walk and the woman's usual saunter. This time she looked ready to destroy anyone who dare got in her way.
Giving her head a slight shake, Luna took a seat by Haku's bed, deciding to stay there until he woke up. It's the least she could do.
AN: In retrospect, I'm thinking naming the previous chapter 'The Shit' and this chapter 'The Fan', and the next chapter 'The meeting of the two.' But that's toilet humor, and I am far beyond that... not really but I need some standards... shut up. I can lie to myself all I like. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter~ Shorter than usual, but I think that may be standard from now on. Though I mostly cut this chapter off since I want an entire chapter dedicated to the aftermath.
Ps. Any fans of Draco.. well.. my condolences.
