ShugoYuuki: She might be a little ticked at herself but she is okay. Thanks for caring!

Ilat-2: I didn't think that would be expected but okay.

Sabie0521: Yeah, that is kind of a problem huh?

alia00: Thank you!


I had never been so furious with myself than when I woke up to a white ceiling with the knowledge that I had fucked up. I was already dead for fucks sakes, why would killing intent have that much of an effect on me?

I could only assume that it was because the mind foes not always align with the body. Just because I knew that something wasn't going to hurt me didn't mean my body didn't react to it.

It was shit.

I wanted to kill something.


I didn't let anyone else into Kakashi's room until he woke up. Of everyone there he knew me the best, and would be least likely to have a kunai shoved in my chest if his instincts told him he was threatened. I waited patiently for him to wake up, cleaning the fouling from the barrel. I had done it on the road, but I wanted to be more thorough. If I wasn't careful it would eat away the iron. It would be even worse if I had rifling. Unfortunately I was still working out how to do that without specially made power tools.

It was a few days before the poor man came to. It was silent, the only give away was when he opened his eye. I hadn't felt his chakra move until he saw it was just me. That took major skill, a frightening amount in fact.

"You're awake," I observed, turning to face him from where I was seated a yard or so away from the mat he was laying on.

"How long was I out?" he questioned, trying to sit up. I scooted forwards to help him, bracing the man with my shoulder.

"A few days. You should have been out longer. I've seen fish with more chakra than you," I frowned at him, letting Kakashi adjust his mask, "You shouldn't have used Obito's eye so much."

The man rolled his real eye, ruffling my hair. "Don't worry so much, Asuka. I can take care of myself."

"'Can' and 'Do' are very different things," I muttered, leaning into the attention.

"I'm fine," he insisted.

"You're stubborn is what you are."

Kakashi changed the subject. "Where are the others?"

"Downstairs. I didn't want them to freak you out if you went into that jonin 'anything that moves gets gutted' mode."

Under his mask I knew he was cringing.

"You said everyone else was downstairs? Why I don't I just go and-" he tried to get up but apparently found that he could not. He may want to move but his body knew more than he and would not let him. And me. My hand on his shoulder was some help too.

"Don't you dare. You'll go into shock or something. I'll get them," I snapped, standing and moving to the door. Under my breath I muttered, "Stubborn Static Man."

Once my call went down the boys, who had only gone under threat of fire and brimstone, appeared at the top in record time. I stepped to the side, letting the two rush in. It was pretty impressive that Kakashi didn't stab Naruto when he flung himself at him, practically crying. Kakashi had treated all three of us with the same kind of dismissal since we were put together. I don't think he quite realized how much that equality affected Naruto, who always, always got the short end.

Sasuke and I pried our friend off of our teacher, sitting him down as Tazuna walked in to join us.

It took a few minutes but soon enough the four of us were sitting around Kakashi, listening to him explain more about the supposed mist ANBU. I didn't interrupt, listening intently. It wasn't often Kakashi explained something in so much detail without being physically forced to do it.

I was content to let him tell them about the hunters, about the need to keep secrets. When he moved on to the reasons he thought Zabuza to be alive I stayed quiet then too. It wasn't like I was awake to see it happen. The whole time I was itching with questions, wanting to know more. How did you get rid of a body? What if you caught the person in the middle of town? Was there any way to find Zabuza and stop him before he recovered?

I didn't ask any though. I didn't like asking questions.

Asking questions only ever got you in trouble.


In order to prepare for the next fight it was decided by our wonderful teacher that the boys should learn how to walk on trees and I, who already knew that, should learn how to hold up under someone who wants to kill me. How did I do that, you ask?

Why, but having Killing Intent beat down onto my back until I passed out. Again.

Knowing him as the lazy head of silver that read inappropriate literature in public places it was easy sometimes to forget that lurking in the shadows was the Hound, one of the villages top special forces, a person who would do whatever he was asked for the sake of his home. He had killed.

Under the force of his will to do so I knew that the number was bigger than I ever wanted to experience myself.

The amount and the speed at which it increased changed at random, throwing my senses and my pulse way out of whack. Fight or flight was off the charts and he only stopped thinking of killing me when I was inches from unconsciousness.

By the end of the first day I thought I really was going to die.


While we were there we made good use of my little blond friends talents, sending copies of him out to do our dirty work. They stayed with the client, went shopping with his family and spied on the kid when he thought he was alone. It was a pretty good system too. A single Naruto could disarm several civilians without causing too much trouble, once we had explained to him the purpose of staying hidden.

As the days passed we fell into a routine. The boys tried to climb a tree with no hands and I tried not to hit the ground while our teacher read his little orange book. At night we would troop back, half dead on our feet, and meet up with the Wave family for dinner. It was a good one, and while I didn't really like being subjected to life threatening terror for every minute of every day, I was steadily growing more resistant to it.

Lucky me.

The peace of our routine was broken a few days later, at dinner time.

Really, no one should have asked about the picture.


I didn't really pay attention to his screaming. Honestly, it hurt my ears. I felt bad for the kid, honest, it was awful, but Inari needed a reality check. So when the Static Man stood up to follow him I cut him off, slipping out of my seat as well.

Blue eyes caught mine as I moved for the door. "Asuka? Where are you going?"

I smiled lightly. "Oh, just to compare sob stories. You want in? A few orphans an almost-there might add a little perspective," I joked. Sasuke rolled his eyes, grunting out an Uchiha version of 'fuck you'. Kakashi's smile said enough that I knew that he would let me handle it and Naruto snorted.

"That brat is all yours," he decided.

I hummed my understanding, waving goodbye and slipping out into the cool night air.

It was damp, more humid than it was in the land of fire. It reminded me a bit of Florida, just with less… Florida. A good thing, to be sure. Florida is terrible. The wood of the house creaked under my weight as I walked, tracking the child small signature to where he sat between a couple of bars. I slid down to join him, leaning my head on one of the barriers.

"You're quite the little pessimist, aren't you?" I teased lightly.

He scowled. I had to make myself not laugh. I knew it was mean, but it isn't in my nature to take things seriously. Even death was something I could joke about, being one who had firsthand experience and ticking clock in their chest.

"You know, I'm a little jealous. Not that your dad is dead, but that he loved you so much to begin with," I admitted, not looking at the boy. I could feel Kakashi behind us, probably listening from the other side of the wall.

"He's dead. What does it matter if he did?" the child snapped.

"It matters," I drawled, "Because love never dies. Even if that person is gone, they'll still love you." I still loved my father. The real one.

"What do you know? Is your dad dead?" Inari snapped harshly.

My laugh was harsh. "It might be easier that way. No, my dad hates my guts," I confessed. I had finally accepted that as the truth earlier that year, when I finally caught him outside of the hospital room that my mother slept in. Even now his words echo.

Why aren't you dead yet?

"I don't want him to die," I clarified, feeling Inari's eyes on me, "It would just hurt less if I got to say goodbye to him back when he loved me, and have those memories, than if he dies now, which he will, and have the memories tainted by it."

I cleared my throat. "Sorry, I'm not trying to tell you not to be upset, or to mourn him or anything, but being mad? At him? At us? That won't do anything. Nothing will change. Unless people like you, just regular, ordinary people, start to stand up for what's right, nothing will get better. People will keep losing their family until eventually… there are no families left."

I stood up then, brushing myself off. "We will beat Gato. It might be hard, it might take us a bit, hell it might even kill us. But this country will be free of him. The question is, will you be able to take that freedom, or fall back into subjugation?"

There was silence beside me except for a sniffle.

Then. "You'll die."

I ruffled his hair through his hat, the same way Kakashi had done mine for years. "I'll take Gato with me."


Kakashi closed his book, stowing it away and sighing. His back was pressed against the wall of the house, the two children on the other side audible to his trained ears. This mission had gone from routine to ruined far too quickly for his tastes. That wasn't even the most annoying part, his current weakness wasn't even it.

It was the fact that now he was going to have to track down Akio Suzuki and either talk or knock some sense into him. Kakashi wasn't sure when he'd started caring about the girl, but he did, so he had to take care of her, and that meant trying to make sure she didn't have as many issues as he did.

Which would have been easier, if her normal behavior didn't border on suicidal.


The week passed slowly until one day, while the youngest team member was sleeping soundly, the rest of us appearing on the bridge shortly after dawn. All around us when we arrived were the unconscious bodies of Tazuna's workers, laying around. None of them were dead, strangely enough.

There was something wrong with the whole picture really. Zabuza could have killed us easy when we were fighting him before. He could have taken out Kakashi while he was trapped. He could have had Haku attack with him and finish us off when we weren't expecting it. He could have killed all of the construction workers around us. The question was, why didn't he?

I didn't have much more time to think about it before I was pulling out my gun, the mist starting to set in around us. I wasn't freaking out. I wasn't. I was creeped out, but thanks to Kakashi I wasn't going to feint.

Sasuke, Kakashi and I moved into positions, guarding each other's back and Tazuna as well. The fog settled, thick and obscuring. From around us a voice echoed.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Kakashi," Zabuza called. He didn't sound at all sorry to me. The pressure of his killing intent settled on my shoulders, about the same amount as what Kakashi had gotten me used to. I would not be useless this time.

I brought my gun up, pointing it towards where I could feel the two enemies standing.


There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. -Colin Powell