NinjaDemonAngel: I'm happy that you like her! Thank you!
hachi hashi: That's actually pretty impressive considering I'm awful at making characters that can be hated. Kakashi is going to have his work cut out for him.
ShugoTuuki123: Thank you, here it is!
YSPMistake: Done.
Sabie0521: It's good to hear that!
I brought the weapon up, aiming below where I knew a head would be, hopefully. MY finger touched the trigger. I wasn't shaking this time. I didn't want them dead, in fact if I remembered right this was where Sasuke unlocked his sharingan, so he needed to face Haku, something he had already dibbed. Naruto had whined about it and I had warned him that if he started losing I started shooting.
"He's shaking again," Zabuza mocked. Behind me I heard Sasuke huff under his breath. "How pitiful."
The statement was a chorus around us thanks to the newly appeared water clones. Ten of them, each with one tenth the amount of chakra that Zabuza himself possessed. Maybe a little less.
I could hear Sasuke smirk. "I'm shaking with excitement."
Kakashi's smile was also audible. "Go for it."
Sasuke's chakra flared, prompting me to roll my eyes as he attacked, taking the clones out with reckless, newly acquired speed. It wasn't much to someone who had trained with Gai and his team, but considering Sasuke's former speed it was an impressive improvement.
When the clones splashed down some of the mist thinned out, allowing us to see Zabuza and Haku on the other side of the bridge, approaching us.
"He can take out the clones," the smaller commented.
Zabuza agreed. "The kid got stronger."
I lifted my arm to aim at his knee. If we got Zabuza down, Haku wouldn't be that hard…
"Asuka," Sasuke was frowning at me, "I called."
"You're a dick."
"Children," Kakashi warned.
"He is," I insisted.
Zabuza cleared his throat. "If you're done bickering amongst yourselves?"
"You," Sasuke wasn't talking to Zabuza, his focus was on Haku, "Fight me."
"Oh? A challenger. What do you think, Haku?" Zabuza shifted a bit, his sword catching what little light we had.
"I will take care of him," he assured.
There was a simple command of "go," before Haku became a blur, a veritable tornado. Why he was spinning all over the place I didn't have a clue. Some ninja were just flashy and weird. Haku was no exception.
To be fair, neither was I.
"This would be faster if I just shot them," I complained to Kakashi. Kakashi hummed.
"Sasuke called dibs."
I grumbled under my breath, looking back as Sasuke, who was now watching with shock as Haku ran through a series of one handed signs. Which was much more impressive now that I knew how impossible that was to do than when I had just been watching it on TV.
The water rose to form a thousand needles, all of them shooting at Sasuke. He managed to avoid them, somehow, before clocking Haku. The older boy was sent flying across the ground, skidding to a stop beside Zabuza.
"Looks like my speeds better," Sasuke was very close to smiling, the proud brat.
"Don't get cocky," I warned.
"I'm sure most of the girls in our class would love that."
My mouth opened in shock, eyes wide. Sasuke was twelve. He wasn't supposed to be making those jokes yet! Both Kakashi and Zabuza snorted laughter.
"Child! Get your head out of the gutter!"
"You're still a child."
"Kiss my ass!"
"Why? It's so flat."
I shrieked in indignation, red coating my cheeks. Sasuke was laughing at me. Not openly. No, Uchiha didn't do that. In his head. He was cracking up. The bastard.
"Are your children done arguing yet, Kakashi? Or do I need to wait longer to kill you?" Zabuza taunted.
Kakashi shifted on his feet. "You can't underestimate us just because we have children," he scolded, "Sasuke is the Rookie of the Year, Asuka is the villages smartest child, and the other one is the number one at surprising people, Naruto."
"Smartest?" I tilted my head. "Tenzo says I'm the scariest girl my age."
Zabuza arched a brow. "You don't seem that scary to me."
"That's because she's never blown your face off," Kakashi wailed in mock despair, "Why do you think I have to wear this mask?"
Sasuke looked back at us at that. "Seriously?"
"Yes," I nodded grimly. "It was a dark day."
Zabuza was rolling his eyes. "Haku."
"Yes'sir."
He shot at Sasuke the second after the order came, almost catching him by surprise enough to stab him.
My hands twitched to let lead fly when the mirrors rose from the water around them, putting Sasuke in more danger than he had ever been in before. I knew Haku didn't want to kill him. I did. That still didn't comfort me much.
I couldn't do much except watch, watch Haku attack my friend, watch Zabuza keep Kakashi from interfering, watch Naruto make a stupid, awful mistake. I grit my teeth together.
"If this doesn't end soon I'm going to shoot one of them," I warned. I saw the barest dip of Kakashi's chin. There was permission.
"It is difficult for me to become a pure ninja." Haku's voice carried. "If possible I do not wish to kill you, or make you kill me. However if you choose to fight me I will kill my compassion with a blade and become a ninja. In short, I will fight for my dream, and you will fight for yours. Please do not hold any grudges. I want to work for him, fight for him, and make his dreams come true. That is my dream. In order to accomplish it I will make myself into a ninja. I will kill you!"
What is it with ninja and monologues?
The boys were getting excited, even through the mirrors I could see their grins. They had a love of fighting that I would never understand. So it was no surprise when Naruto attacked before Haku, ignoring Sasuke's warning.
True to the Uchiha's prediction the clones, and their original, were all struck down by Haku's speed.
Kakashi reached up for his headband.
"Hold on," I requested. He glanced in my direction, squinting. "Something's up. If Haku was that fast, those two would be dead."
I swallowed thickly before continuing to voice my earlier thoughts, "We all should be. You had the chance to kill us all before, from my understanding. But you didn't. You went slow enough the boys had a chance, you kept your partner waiting in the wings, you just held Kakashi instead of killing him." I narrowed my eyes at Zabuza, "So why? None of it makes sense. Why are we still alive?"
His eyes were on me, calculating. "I didn't feel like killing you then."
"Sasuke!"
Naruto's shout echoed around us, horrified. My head snapped towards the mirrors. Dark energy exploded from within it, horrible, awful, oppressing, murderous energy. My vision blacked before fading to spots, my throat closed and my heart squeezed.
With legs of jelly I forced myself to stay conscious. It was worse that Zabuza, worse than Kakashi but I didn't have time to be afraid. There were more important things right then.
"Okay. That's enough," I growled. I pointing myself at Zabuza, pulling the trigger before I could back or black out. I managed to cock the hammer back and fire again before he realized what had happened, taking out knee cap and a shoulder.
Let me tell something interesting. The knee is a very delicate system of nerves, muscles, ligaments and cartilage. Breaking it, or having it destroyed by a bullet, can permanently cripple a person, no matter how strong. That's why I aimed there. That's also why Zabuza hit the ground.
He was lucky, he'd moved to the side just enough that I probably only tore into the muscles and bone instead of destroyed them. That didn't mean he'd be using that leg any time soon. He rose on his other one, swinging his sword and using that as moment to carry a jump at me. Kakashi blocked him before he reached me, kunai catching the downward swing of the other weapon.
I swallowed thickly, taking a step back. Zabuza was bleeding badly from both wounds. In fact I was pretty sure that the one in his shoulder had gone far enough to bury itself into his scapula.
"Asuka!" his voice was sharp, and order. I cocked the hammer and lunged before I could second guess what he wanted me to do. In the air I twisted, pointing my gun towards Zabuza.
I wish I could say that I froze in place when someone not-Zabuza appeared in front of me, mask missing, brown hair flying and arms outstretched in a shield. I my finger moved before my brain could tell it not to, the sound cracking the air around us. I didn't want to shoot. I didn't want to hurt anyone, not unless it was my life or theirs. Which, right now, it was not.
So we were frozen, the two older men locked in steel status while Haku and I had something of a stare down, he now bleeding heavily from serratus. Off to the side I felt Naruto beginning to calm, the horrific chakra starting to seep back into him. Sasuke's chakra was there, barely.
"Naruto," I called, "Sasuke's alright. His chakra's still there so he can't be dead."
The entire time I spoke I kept my eyes on Haku, who watched me just as intently. Only when the dark energy ebbed away did my heart stop trying to tear me apart. My blood started to even out then, which really didn't make me any less dizzy. Years of having my head rush had my body trained to stay up even when my balance went to shit.
There was a flare of chakra, eight individual ones smaller than human but larger than regular animals. Zabuza's cursing filled the air.
With Zabuza's pain the mist began to lift, ebbing away until it was almost completely gone. When it lifted enough I could see a veritable army standing on one of the ends.
A short, frizzy haired man stood in front of them all, dressed in a suit that had to be made of silk. A frown marred my face. I could have sworn Gato didn't show up until later. This was also throwing things out of line. Haku hadn't died, so Naruto would have no reason to challenge Zabuza about his judgement of the boy and-
My thoughts were cut off when the Zabuza voiced a question and Haku stumbled, managing to hold his balance. I moved forward, ready to catch him on instinct. He misread my movement and tore a senbon from somewhere on his person.
"What's with all these guys, Gato?" the demon asked, somehow still standing. He was stronger than I had ever hoped to be, shot up with a pack of dogs clinging to him.
"Sorry Zabuza," the lying bastard was smiling. "There's been a change in plans. You die here.
"What?" the missing nin snarled.
"If I hire official ninja it would cost a lot, so I hire exiled ones like you. If you ninja had just killed each other it would have saved me time and money. Instead you, who are supposed to be the 'Demon of the Mist' couldn't even handle a few children."
"This child is about to blow a hole in that fat mouth," I growled darkly. Him, I wouldn't mind shooting.
Kakashi sent me a look.
"Sorry, Kakashi, it looks like our fight is over. With this my contract on Tazuna is terminated. We have no more reason to fight."
"Yeah," Kakashi agreed, "You're right."
I took a deep breath, lowering the barrel of the gun to the ground. I turned from Haku, to Zabuza. "If that's the case, would you mind either helping or taking a break? I promised a kid that I would free him of that sonuvabitch."
"You think you can take them all out?" Zabuza asked, sounding amused.
I snorted. "Yeah, no. But I've got three shots left. I'd say that's enough for him. He's what, thirty yards out?" the older ninja nodded. "Then my accuracy should be fine without distance compensation."
"Are you really going to kill him?" Kakashi asked, lowering to one knee.
"Er, I don't really want to kill anyone. But I made this knowing what it could do and what it would be used for. And I promised Inari that we would beat Gato, so… if I crippled him, he would still have his money and his power right?" I licked my lips, ignoring the beginning of shaking in my hands. It wasn't target panic, thankfully. Just nerves.
"You're right," Kakashi confirmed after a moment of watching me. "Can you do it?"
I shrugged, bringing the gun up and lining the sights up with the mans throat. "One way to find out."
A deep breath, aim was taken. Never point a gun at someone unless you plan to kill them with it.
The man was laughing, mocking Zabuza and threatening Haku, something about a broken hand. I didn't hear him. I was busy.
Why did I even care if I killed him? Was death really so bad? Mine hadn't been, and I'd died the same way. Except I still had an ache in my chest whenever I remembered all I had left unfinished, all the friends I would never see again and all the accomplishments that now meant nothing.
Yes, death was terrible.
Gato was also terrible.
I pulled the trigger.
When we walked back to the house, Kakashi supporting Zabuza, I helping Haku and the boys leaning on each other, Tsunami did a miraculous job of rushing us inside without question as to why the men who had tried to kill her father were with us. Inari had shown up after Gato was down, dead before he hit the ground. His hired army had been about to try and attack us when the boy had shown up with almost every villager there, sans his mother, who had prepared warm water, bandages and alcohol for our returning.
We set the boys down on chairs and had them strip, much to Naruto's mortification. I inspected the damage I did, being the only one who understood it fully. Zabuza watched me carefully while I checked his knee.
"I hope you understand how lucky you are that that missed your knee cap," I informed him, manually moving his leg. I wasn't a doctor, though I had a doctorate. That didn't mean I didn't know what I could do. I had studied the human body to figure out where best to hit depending on my motivation.
"How come?" Naruto asked, leaning over me. He was in nothing but his underwear, most of his injuries already gone.
"If I had hit his knee cap it would have permanently crippled him."
Death for a missing nin.
"That's mean," Naruto accused. I took a swipe at him, one that he dodged with a laugh, the jerk.
While I patched up Zabuza as best I could, warned him about the dangers of having a bullet lodged in his bone, and went on to Haku, who now sported a hole in his side. The boy, who was about five times prettier than I would ever be and had a knowledge on the human body I might never possess, was lucky enough to not have any irreversible damage. Maybe just to his spirit.
"Sorry, by the way," I looked up at Haku from where I was at his side, packing in herb paste as he had instructed. Brown eyes lifted from my hand to meet mine, surprise shining in them.
"For injuring me?" he clarified. When I nodded he offered me a soft smile. "Don't be. I knew I would be hurt if I stepped between you and Zabuza. It was my choice."
"It was a stupid choice," I chided, "You were already hurt, I could have killed you."
"Would you have done any less if you had been able to see your friends?" he asked. I faltered.
"Well when you put it like that…"
I would have done anything for my boys. They had become such an important part of my life I couldn't imagine it without them in it. Death might not be the end of everything, but it did rip away things and people that you loved.
I wouldn't let it take away everything I had worked for in this life.
There was one good thing that had come out of this mission, I mused later that night as I watched Tsunami force vegetables down the throats of the males we were stuck with. Zabuza and Haku were alive, which meant that my fears of the future being set in stone were banished. I could change things. I could make a difference.
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. ― Buckminster Fuller
