This chapter is weird... O.o;; um... So I'm going to apologize for this chapter... sorry DX

Um... All I'm going to say is that something bad happens that I don't condone or encourage in any way xD violence is bad. But like, when you have a couple of people trained to hurt things for a living... Stuff like that would probably happen eventually. Anyways... I'll shut up now.

A great big thank you to every one reading this! And especially those who review n.n I love you guys!

Oh! and another big thanks to Nobukane, for reading over this for me! ( Go check out his stories! You know you waaaant tooooo: D n.n)

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Zabuza rolled his eyes, as he slumped over, drumming his fingers impatiently against the counter. In his years since becoming a jonin at thirteen, he had learned quite a bit. The fifteen year old was now observing what they had meant when they had told him a kunoichi's role was sometimes 'different,' as he watched his partner flirt shamelessly, with a much older, drunken man across the restaurant.

He had wanted to simply beat the information out of their target, but had been assured by his partner, and the Assassination unit officer supervising their assignment, that this would alert any other potential accomplices of their real target, and potentially cost them the mission. So, Kotone had been asked to get the information more subtly. He hated it when she did this. It was demeaning, tedious and, as he listened to her sly, well timed inquiries, and deceptively pleasant voice, kind of creepy. Though he'd never admit the last bit.

She smiled, as she stood, striding sanguinely out of the room. He recognized this as his cue to leave, and, for the sake of inconspicuousness, waited a minute or two before also taking his leave.

The street was fairly crowded, as this had been one of the few missions they had been asked to perform in broad daylight. Kotone was waiting, leaning against the pawnshop across the street, an older, masked man in dark, baggy clothing waiting impatiently close by.

The ANBU operatives who oversaw their missions recently always seemed peeved, at being given a menial 'babysitting' job. But shadowing a qualified member of the assassination unit was mandatory to applying for a position.

Though their records as jonin were impressive ( Zabuza's frighteningly so) to be recruited to the tracker and assassination team, extra courses and training were required, to learn specialised techniques, which, though terribly complicated, greatly simplified a kill.

Kotone looked unduly pleased with herself, as she always was after she completed a successful investigation. Which was actually pretty rare. She didn't succeed as often as Zabuza had expected her to. In fact, she was struggling with the ANBU training.

Though Kotone was more than at home navigating by sound, and being quiet, for some reason, the silent homicide technique proved to be a difficulty, She was fine with taijutsu, and sparring in dense mist, or with her eyes closed was easy enough, but she simply couldn't seem to sneak up on a target, and aim properly. From any distance away, eyes open or closed, she'd miss. A topic she refused to discuss with her partner, who had taken to it like a duck takes to water. It had come so naturally to him, it was unsettling. Hitting a target dead on, from inhuman distances, or without benefit of eyesight, was a simple task for Zabuza. His reputation as a demon was always asserted on missions where he could employ those techniques.

Worse still, Kotone had a strange ineptitude for fire jutsu of any kind, and though she could take a body apart as precisely as anyone, found herself without a way to dispose of it. Something else she refused to address.

"He said they were hiding somewhere near the west coast." The kunoichi finished, speaking to their supervisor, who nodded, his voice flat when he answered.

"Good work, Ume. That confirms it. That's what all the others have said. You two are dismissed, for today."

It was warmer than usual that day, and an unusual lack of wind kept Kirigakure's air still, as they made their way back towards their now paid-for home. It had taken a lot of work, but they both considered it worth the effort. Zabuza had to deal with far less people on a daily basis, and Kotone was exceedingly happy to be able to shower in her own home, without having to worry about several small kunoichis staring at her, as she had back at the academy building. Which got more and more awkward the older she got.

Actually, over the years, a lot had gotten awkward. The best example of which, would be a short while before, when Zabuza had suddenly found himself enormously averse to punching anywhere near Kotone's chest area. But after enough lost sparring sessions, he abandoned this odd bit of propriety for the sake of professionalism.

As they walked side by side, he was now, for the first time, quite a bit taller than she was, and still seemed to be growing. His width hadn't quite caught up with his height yet, and he found himself now rather lanky, and almost, misleadingly, weak looking. Not something he liked at all.

"You're lucky you're pretty." He commented dryly as the masked man was out of sight. "I doubt that guy'd have talked to easily otherwise."

"The hell are you talking about?" She answered airily, grinning. "Zabuza kun, you insult me. He talked because I know good interrogation techniques, and strategy. I studied hard, and I got fairly good at them. Looks have nothing to do with it." She sighed, "And only you could say 'pretty' like it was an insult."

"I saw how he was looking at you, you know. You sure the fact that he was a drunk pervert didn't help?"

She frowned momentarily, before regaining her confident smile. "Knowing how to pick an informant you can exploit would fall under 'strategy,' ne?"

"Didn't bother you at all that he was staring?"

"I'd have killed him if he tried anything stupid." She answered plainly.

Zabuza grunted ambiguously. "Whatever."

"But it's lunchtime, isn't it?" Kotone asked, as they met a turn in the crowded street. "Want to grab something to eat, maybe?" Zabuza sighed, knowing that she'd probably been waiting quite a while to steer the conversation this way, as they were now conveniently near a restaurant they often frequented. Usually, he'd have disagreed. But today, he thought better of it. He had his own reasons for wanting to go, that had very little to do with food.

"Zabuza... what the hell are you doing?" Kotone had stopped dead as they neared the establishment's door, and was watching as he compulsively adjusted his hitai ate, and attempted to flatten his messy hair.

"It's bothering me."

"Doesn't usually."

He muttered something unintelligibly under his breath, narrowing his eyes in annoyance, as he grabbed a seat at a small, wooden table near the corner of the room, the kunoichi taking the chair across from him. There was a long silence, occupied only by the sounds of the young redheaded waitress bustling around behind a counter, and Kotone shifting in her creaking chair, as she sat up, and leaned over, eyes squinted, attempting to get the best view of the menu posted on the far wall.

"Hey, Zabu kun, what does that say?"

"What does what say?" He turned, craning his neck to see what she was pointing at.

"The top thing there?"

He turned back to face her, eyes incredulous. "Forgotten how to read, Kotone?"

"You're closer."

"By what, a foot and a half? Sheesh, you're always asking me to read things for you, these days."

She faltered slightly, biting her lip. "It was bright outside, and dim in here. Everything looks green to me right now. Your eyes are darker than mine, they're not as sensitive to that kind of thing."

He shrugged, and turned again, looking over his shoulder, and reading over the menu a second time, searching for anything that looked good, as he was actually feeling pretty hungry, but soon found his eyes wandering around the room, to rest on the most distracting thing in it. His hand immediatly began to smooth his still-untidy hair unconsciously. It was only when he heard a low chuckle that his spaced out stare snapped back to it's usual alertness.

Kotone was grinning, in an ostentatiously feline way, leaning against the polished tabletop. "You're staring at the waitress, aren't you?" He hunched his shoulders slightly, looking away from her in an all too familiar gesture of dismissal.

"No,"

"Aw, you're full of it!" Her smile widened, mockingly. "I've caught you looking at her before, but never like that. Is that why you're fussing over your hair? Awww, that's cute, Zabu kun." His eyes narrowed. 'Cute' was a term he had come to hate with a passion.

"Shut up!" His voice cracked rather pathetically, and Kotone practically fell off her chair laughing. He scowled, thoroughly embarrassed, as he muttered quietly to himself. "Damned hormones, distracting me like that...stupid voice..."

They ate, Zabuza faster than usual, ready to leave the scene of his recent humiliation as soon as possible, and returned home, Kotone smirking all the way.

They'd cleaned the little shack up, repairing the unhinged back door, and the multitude of leaking gaps in the roof, which had let in rain and the occasional bit of snow, and it now actually looked inhabitable.

They'd picked their rooms early on, Kotone taking hers because it had been painted a pretty shade of blue by the former owners. And Zabuza took the other room, simply because it had not been painted ( what he thought to be) the same sickeningly bright shade of cerulean. She rarely saw the inside of his room, as he was very particular about keeping his door closed, and locked. She had always noticed him to be on the territorial side, at times...ok, so a lot of the time...all the time. Kotone was much more lenient about her space, not that he ever really intruded.

There was something else, though, that caused a great deal of conflict between them at first. Zabuza, it seemed, quite unlike his partner, was unbearably tidy. Simply put, a neat freak. He couldn't stand seeing things out of their place, or clutter of any kind. Nothing that could hinder or impede him in any way. Which, given the fact that his roommate had a habit of simply dropping things on the floor, and passing out from exhaustion on the couch or on her bed after missions or training, was a problem.

It was only after several confrontations ( Kotone stating that it was a pain to put things away exactly, and Zabuza arguing that it was an even bigger pain to go looking for them) that they'd agreed that Zabuza could keep his room as inhumanly tidy as he wanted it, which he did, and that Kotone could keep her room in total chaos, which she did, and that the rest of the house was to be kept 'Lived in' at the very worst. Actually, to be fair, while she was careless with things, she herself was far from unhygienic, and was actually quite preoccupied with keeping herself clean. Her long, raven hair, especially.

Kotone's fifteenth birthday passed, and he was relieved to see that she was much less sluggish than usual this year. Though she did spend most of that night going through a bag of popcorn.

It was the following April fourth that proved to be a problem. She had always been a pain this one day specifically, but was now getting strong enough to pose a real challenge. "Come on, Kotone." He groaned, slouching against her doorframe. The kunoichi, all but ther top of her head hidden under the covers, didn't respond. His eyes roved around the room. Several kunai and shuriken were discarded on a bookshelf, There was paper on the ground, old useless mission information mostly, but there were some maps laying near the shuriken. Her sandals were lying haphazardly by her bed, as was a tattered training shirt. He cringed. How she could find anything in here was completely beyond him.

He was incredibly lucky that he didn't put much of his weight down as he stepped forwards, treading on the shirt lying beside her bed, and luckier still that the shirt cushioned the point of the sharp metal spikes hidden beneath. Caught completely off guard, ( something he was not accustomed to) he shouted, cursing loudly.

"Who the HELL leaves Makibishi on their floor?!"

"Someone who isn't getting out of bed today." The not-so-asleep kunoichi answered firmly.

Zabuza's eye twitched involuntarily, his shark like teeth gritted. "Like hell you're not."

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No dice."

"We have extra training for the assassination squad, Kotone, we can't miss this."

"Yes I can. It's not like I'm any good anyways."

"And you won't be if you skip all the damned practices."

She could hear the vexation rising in his voice. "Just this once! Tell them I'm sick. No one will miss me."

"You're going."

"Make me." She challenged, snuggling securely into her pillow. This was always how it went, and every year, he had managed to talk her into it. But not this year. This year, she had decided quite decisively that there was nothing he could say to make her get out of bed. Absolutely, positively, nothing. The dark haired Kunoichi grinned contentedly, sensing that she had won, and waiting for him to turn, and leave the room.

She was quite surprised, however, when instead, she felt strong arms encircle her waist, and lift her from her nice, warm, cozy bed, to land, quite roughly, on something much more solid. It took her a moment to recover from the shock enough to realize that she was, quite upside down, slung over the taller ninja's shoulder like a sac of potatoes.

Zabuza had been threatening to pick her up, and carry her to their training, by force, for years... but she had never once thought he would actually do it.

"Hey! What the hell, put me down!"

"Pft, no."

"Zabuza kun! Damn it, put me down!" The indignant kunoichi had one arm around his shoulders to keep herself from falling, and began beating at his back mercilessly with her free hand.

"You're the one who was being lazy. I told you, it's almost time for them to actually recruit people. You're not missing today."

"I'm still in my freaking pajamas!"

She couldn't see his face, but knew from his tone that he was smirking. "That's your problem."

"Augh!" Kotone suddenly seemed to remember her training, and dug two fingers into a particular spot near his shoulder. Zabuza grit his teeth, immediately dropping her ( 'accidentally' letting her fall on her own makibishi). He shook his head, as the pain ebbed quickly. Kotone wasn't nearly as good as killing as he was, but she certainly knew how to hurt somebody. Which wasn't something he minded... as long as it wasn't used on himself.

"Ouch," She winced, trying to remove one of the two metal spikes embedded deeply in her back, a small patch of dark red seeping through her pajamas.

"Damnit," He sighed, taking a step towards her, before crouching down. "I'll do it,"

Kotone was unusually quiet, as he placed one hand gripping her shoulder, the other tracing the indentations in her back expertly, deciding the risk the messily entrenched bit of metal. He brushed one away easily, but the second one was deeper. "It's not near anything important," He assessed indifferently. "The problem is the way it's stuck. A lot of the pointed ends dug in, If I pull this out, It'll take quite a bit of skin with it. What makibishi were designed for, as you know." He was speaking purely for distractive purposes, and didn't really wait for a response. pulled the embedded piece of metal out before the sentence was finished. She hissed, her back tensing, but did little else.

"It's your fault this happened, and you tried to do the same to me. So don't expect any pity."

"There's a difference between stepping on a makibishi cushioned by fabric, and being dropped several feet onto an exposed one. " She answered, after releasing a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. Her face still burning as his hands left her back.

"True," Zabuza admitted, "But this is still your own stupid fault." He got to his feet, frowning crossly. "We're officially going to be late...Get dressed."

"That's fine," She answered quickly. "You go ahead... I'll fix it... I'll meet up with you in a minute,"

"You're bleeding pretty badly,"

"Hey, lighten up, I'm a jonin! I'm tough, alright?"

He quirked an eyebrow, "If you say so," He turned to leave pausing just before leaving the house, for one final comment, shot over his shoulder. "Go see a medic on your way there, or it'll get infected, or something stupid like that."

"I will," She promised hurriedly, sighing, relieved when he was finally gone, quickly sticking a bandage over the bleeding chunk out of her shoulder.

'That should do it,' She thought with a nod, before hastily dressing, and taking off at a run, to catch up...Hopefully, she wouldn't be that late...

vvvvvvvv

"I can't believe I got that question wrong," A very flustered Kotone huffed, as they made their way home from practice a few days. There were always more and more ANBU hanging around, scoping out potential candidates. "I swear that was the subglavian artery."

"Subclavian."

"What?"

"You were thinking of the right one, but it's spelt with a C."

"You're kidding me! That's why I got it wrong? It sure sounded like a G when he said it,"

He stopped dead in the middle of the road, suddenly, causing the very puzzled Kunoichi to stop too.

"Kotone," He said, after an uncomfortably long pause, his voice low. "It was written on the blackboard."

"Oh..." She faltered, eyes momentarily flickering away. "Well... I don't see why we're still doing this written crap anyways."

"You're usually good at that," His eyes were locked on her's, questioningly. Her behaviour recently was beyond bizarre.

She made a face, and turned, quickening her pace towards home. "I was having an off day, alright?" She called over her shoulder as she stormed off, with a contained sort of tenseness and indignation. "I'm going to go practice. I'll see you later."

She had been making excuses for months now, whenever it came time to practice, and Zabuza was far from stupid. He had noticed her reluctance to train with him, and had started testing things, to determine the exact conditions of her aversion. Sparring, she would always agree to, as well as practising new ninjutsu techniques, or perfecting old ones. Reviewing their studies of pressure points that caused pain, death, or other specific outcomes she was also more than willing to do. Anything to do with targets, though, she craftily declined somehow.

After a very small amount of contemplation, he followed after her, employing the quiet, efficient, shadowing techniques that came so naturally to him now.

vvvvvvvv

She was, as he had anticipated, at their usual training spot, so entirely distracted by the target at the other end of the clearing, that he didn't need to be half as cautious as he was to avoid being seen.

It was amusing at first, as he watched from his concealed perch in a nearby tree, as she threw, and missed. But soon, his smirk wavered, steadily deepening into a frown.

He sat there, observing more than an hour of mechanical practice, the only sounds being the repeated swish of the senbon through the air, the thunk of the metal into wood. This was always followed by swearing, that became louder, and worse as the hour wore on. She'd then go to retrieve the weapon, after a great deal of pacing around in circles, face in her hands, muttering to herself about how she'd try once more, and then it would start again.

Zabuza was far from stupid, and it didn't take him long to confirm the suspicion he had been reflecting on for quite a while. He hopped down from the branch, the sound startling her, as she whirled around, letting the projectiles in her hand fly again.

He didn't bother dodging. The senbon came nowhere near him.

"Your eyesight is going, isn't it?"

She took in a shaky breath, striding back over to the target. "Looks like it." He followed, face stern, as he examined it more closely.

It was a while after they became jonin that the rings on the targets had ceased to be sufficient. Little black dots had been painted at specific places on the damaged wooden surface, to more accurately portray pressure points. She hadn't managed to hit a single one.

A few were close, but when it came to deadening limbs, and stopping heart beats... When it came to the assassination division... close wasn't nearly good enough.

"For how long?"

"Couple of years now," She answered smiling, embarrassment apparent.

His reaction was far more serious. "How bad is it?"

"I don't know," She backed away a couple of long strides, and squinted slightly. "Your face gets blurry about here."

"You're not going blind or anything, are you?" The excessively tense mist nin demanded.

She took another small step back, eying him with a hint of wariness. "It hasn't gotten worse for a long while, and I think this is as bad as it's going to get. My dad wore glasses, so I'm not really worried."

"Why didn't you just get a pair then?" He was getting angrier, she noted.

"Woah," She quirked her head to the side, blinking at him. "Relax, will you? And because! I mean, don't they make your eyes weaker?"

"That's a myth."

"Still though, my eyes will get used to seeing things more clearly, right? What if they get knocked off during a fight or something? It'd be more of a shock, I'd have to find them or something, and that'd probably take me enough time to get killed. Twice. I'd rather accept the world as a little it blurry than have to rely on some stupid hunk of plastic and metal. And I fight close range- If I get punched in the face or something..." She shook her head, blue hair waving as she did. "Broken glass near my eyes? That would blind me."

He groaned, leaning his head back, and covering his eyes with his hand, as one might when frustrated. "Damn it,"

"What?"

"For once, you have a point." came the bitter reply. "Why didn't you say anything?" he snapped, turning to face her again, glaring.

"Why the hell does it matter?"

He turned sharply, leaning against a birch tree nearby. "It doesn't. Never mind." She took a few steps closer, but his targetless gaze remained steady. Kotone moved into his line of vision, and was not surprised to see him turn, eyes still cold and level, and relocate himself to yet another tree.

The little Kunoichi followed, sighing when he didn't bother looking over. "You're doing that thing again."

"What thing?" The response was frigid.

"That thing where you don't look at me." He didn't answer. "It means your mad."

"I'm not, alright? Leave me alone?"

"All your body language is angry right now." She assessed. "Turning away, not looking at me, narrowing your eyes like that?"

"Would you shut up?" He growled. "Look, just give me a minute to think this over, alright? Do you have any idea how serious this is? There's no way in hell you'll make the assassination team with all of your shortcomings. You can't dispose of bodies, and you can't aim."

"Why does that matter?" Her eyes closed for a moment. "So what If I don't?"

"Kotone, you know the ANBU get all the good missions. The important ones- "

"Would you stop it?" The dark haired girl interrupted emphatically. "You always say that. It'll be better when we're genin, chunin, jonin! And it never is. You're never happy."

"I'm trying to improve our situation, and your being completely useless isn't helping at all." Zabuza snarled, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Completely useless? Can you even hear yourself?"

"Just... shut up for a second, alright? Let me think." He scowled, shutting his eyes and turning away.

"Can't we just slow down? We've been pushing ourselves all our lives,"

"Shut up,"

"I mean, we always thought it'd get easier, and it hasn't. Maybe that's because we're worried all the time. You're always fighting for the next promotion,"

"Could you just stop for a minute?"

She bit her lip, treading forward slightly, to place her hand on his arm. "Zabuza kun,"

He reacted instantly. It wasn't exactly a conscious decision, but he did nothing to stop himself, as his fist moved, seemingly of it's own accord, and Kotone was thrown back across the clearing.

Kotone hit the ground, the wind knocked out of her. It took her a moment to push herself to a sitting position with a pained, breathy, gasp, her free hand cradling the side of her face he had struck. Zabuza stood immobile, breathing heavily, eyes wide in something she could only relate to surprise. But that didn't matter.

Their eyes had met for the infinitesimal moment before his hand had connected with her skin, and she had recognized the look in them all too well.

She might as well have been nine years old again.

Kotone got to her feet, drawing herself up to her full height, her narrowed, blue eyes locked on his darker, still widened ones. She turned without a word, and strode away, quickly vanishing between the trees.

She had justified his actions the last time she had seen those eyes, six years earlier. She didn't intend to do so again.

vvvvvvvvv

In her years as a ninja, there were several little spots in Kirigakure that Kotone had found, and loved to pieces. One of her favourites was a sectioned off bit at the end of the road, that came right up to the edge of the village, overlooking the docks. A waist high fence as the barrier between the top and bottom of a slight drop, mostly to keep the local children from toppling over the sandy ledge, and potentially hurting themselves.

The kunoichi leaned against the railing, more on her right side, as her neglected left shoulder was gradually starting to hurt more. She sighed, scratching a bit of the peeling red paint away, as she waited for the heavy feeling in her chest to subside, letting her eyes turn skyward. It was an unusually clear night, and the stars were beginning to come out. She could see piles of slush along the beach. The snow had stopped, and spring was finally on it's way. Though near the coast, snow always turned to rain anyways.

She'd been out for hours, but felt no desire to go home. The pain, and swelling near her eye might have had something to do with it.

"Oi, Kotone chan!" The jonin removed her weight from the fence, turning. She recognized that voice...

Sure enough, there was Kasumi Hiraku, trotting over, his sea green hair flopping in his face. Kotone waved, before turning back around, frantically ensuring that her bruised face was hidden by blue-black bangs. "What are you doing out here, Hiraku kun?" She asked as pleasantly as she could manage, when he stopped, and leaned next to her.

"Me? I live around here, remember? The real question is, what are you doing out here?"

She shrugged, feebly. "I like this spot." Unfortunately she turned her head away, and her shoulder brushed against the purpling patch of skin. She clenched her teeth, hissing in pain.

"Hey, what the heck? You're not hurt, are you?" He asked intrusively. "Let me see?" The slightly older jonin slipped a hand under her chin, tilting her face to examine the damage. He whistled, incredulously. "Whew. that's pretty bad. How'd that happen? Sparring?"

She shook her head, forcing him to release his gentle grip on her. "Zabuza and I had a bit of a fight..."

Hiraku turned, eyeing the street behind them nervously. "He isn't... here, is he?"

"No,"

"Oh, good!" The grey eyed boy sighed, with obvious relief. "Man is that guy ever creepy. I mean, how do you put up with that freak?"

"Obviously, not well," Kotone replied resentfully.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but He's...well..." Hiraku trailed off, putting a finger to his lips thoughtfully. "A possessive bastard?"

"What?"

"Kotone chan," Hiraku chuckled. "There's an inverse relationship between how far away a guy is from you, and how pissed off kijin is."

She blinked, looking down at the cold sand falling over the edge of the railing, as her hand brushed it off perfunctorily.

"But anyways," He said abruptly, grabbing her hand. "Come on, you know Shinju nee san's studying medical ninjutsu, right? She'll get you fixed up."

Kotone nodded, once the shock of being towed away by the hand relented. "Really? Ummm... Thanks?"

Hiraku just smiled. "It's no trouble, Kotone chan. No trouble at all."

so yeah... Um... hitting people is bad. Dx XDD sorry. I feel really guilty about writing that, for some reason.

And the neatness thing... Um... I know that's strange, but that's jsut kind of how I pictured him O.o Anyways, I'll shut up now... I'm sorry if that chapter wasn't very good. I'll try and make the next one better

Bye everyone! and thank you! please review, and have a nice day! n.n