Hi guys!

Um... yeah XDD Kotone starts acting a little weird here... uh... She's not supposed to be angsting, at all XD

So... Thank you so much to all of the lovely people who read and review! You make me so happy:'3 And a HUGE hug to my beta reader, Nobukane, who's stories you should go read, because he's made of awesome XD

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

"Well isn't this homey," Zabuza raised a thin eyebrow, examining Namazu island's rocky, desolate shore. It was cloudy, as he had expected, but lacked the fog that seemed to permanently envelop the Kirigakure region. His partner was busy searching for something that could possibly be the cave they were looking for- should it even exist- and had begun scrambling up a craggy cliff, taking her time to scan the surrounding area as she got higher. Though, her slow pace, which led to increasingly less graceful climbing, was more than a bit funny to watch. "Sometime today, Kotone?"

"If you're so anxious to find it," She huffed slightly, pulling herself up onto a squared outcropping, turning to her feet dangled over the sides. "You could help me look."

"I'm fine down here, thanks." She glared momentarily, before resuming her unnecessarily slow, and chakra less ascent.

"Jerk."

She disappeared over the top ledge, for a long while, Zabuza leaning against some large red-brown boulders that he could tell would be half submerged when the tide came in. He huffed impatiently, taking in the familiar scent of salt and decaying seaweed he had come to associate with the seaside.

"Hey!" Her voice was faint, but he heard her alright. "I think I've found something." The tracker nin took considerably less time scaling the rock face, as he had no reservations about speed or, losing chakra, at the moment. He wasn't even sure why he'd bothered to come with her.

She was crouched down by what looked like a steep drop, eyeing the bottom carefully. Taking a step forward, the gravelly surface below was exposed, and with it, the thick frame of stone, that clearly outlined a squared hole in the ground. "Well, that's certainly something."

"It's a straight drop down," She replied, eyes set, and suddenly serious. "Means I probably can't get out this way. Nothing to secure a rope to."

Zabuza nodded, but didn't answer, unsurprised as she hopped down towards what she had, only moments before, labeled as a deathtrap.

She stalked towards the stone entrance, cautiously, before peering inside, for a long moment. "I can't see the bottom." Zabuza remained silent, the island's stillness disrupted only by the waves, and occasional scream of a seagull.

His eyes followed her, as she paced around the circular dip in the rocky ground, mouth moving, but sounds lost to the ocean winds. She bent down, picked up a pebble, and strode over again, before letting it drop. "I can hear it though!" Her voice barley carrying to where he was perched. "It's solid. I was afraid the damned thing'd be filled with water."

"You going, then?"

She nodded, glancing back at the entrance with a small pang of apprehension. The distinct lack of an exit of any kind was worrying her.

"If you're not back by this time tomorrow, I'm leaving without you." The almost sixteen year old shouted down, gruffly.

"Do you think it'll take that long?"

"No. That's why, if you're not back by then, I'll know you're dead."

"Oh thanks for that lovely thought. Great. Now you've jinxed me."

A quick sigh, before returning to the gaping, framed mouth of the cave. "Wish me luck."

"You know I don't believe in that crap."

"No," The dark haired girl admitted, stepping on the closets stone slab, back now to him. "But it'd make me feel better." And with that, she was gone, disappearing into the blackness of the cave's opening.

Zabuza stood there for a moment, before turning stiffly and heading back to the beach.

"Come on, Kotone..." He muttered bitterly, remembering both the ominous cave's reputation as deadly, and the kunoichi's as incorrigibly reckless, and the rather obvious problem that caused. "Don't screw this up."

vvvvvvvvv

Kotone landed gracefully, crouched in the dim square of light the entrance let in from above. She stood, examining the small bit of what looked like a endless stone hallway, bits of dust and sand unsettled by her landing floating aimlessly in the light. "Hm," She brushed a bit of inky blue hair from her face, examining the walls. Nothing to hold a torch or candle, and there was no sign of light ahead, the wide passage fading into a murky nothingness.

"Looks like I'll have to go by my ears," she concluded. This was probably the designer's intent. It was made by mist nin, after all...

Glancing down, she could see the pebble she had used as a test on the cracked and sandy rock floor. She tapped it with her foot experimentally, listening as it bounced out of sight, stopping with a small click. The ground ahead was flat, and otherwise uninterrupted. Good.

She continued this way, first testing the ground with the small bit of rock, until it had been worn down to nearly nothing, and was no longer kick-able. She shrugged, and simply took a more sturdy shuriken from her sleeve, and used that. When that too became lost, she didn't bother replacing it, instead deciding to rely on her own reflexes, if anything came up. The grating of metal on stone was incredibly distracting.

Since the age of six, Kotone had been trained to be quiet. To, communicate with her teammates without alerting the enemy... To walk in complete silence...

It was impossible to tell how long she walked like that. Blinded, deafened. Lost to the infinite darkness that surrounded her. Enveloped her. Her own body was invisible in the non existent light, her eyes as useless open as closed. Her own footfalls inaudible.

There was a gripping feeling of controlled panic, rising in her chest. People died here, and they died for a reason. She had yet to see what it was. There was something deadly waiting in the unending shadows, and the minutes, hours, days... she couldn't tell how long it had been, simply spent wandering had given her time to begin doubting. Her mind envisioning whatever horror it was, but never really grasping anything concrete. Never coming to a conclusion. Never allowing her to prepare herself.

She almost chuckled, as something occurred to her. She couldn't see, couldn't hear a thing, and knew nothing but that some vague danger was waiting in the dark, that could strike from anywhere, at any moment.

Heh...This must be how all of Zabuza's victims feel.

The mention of her partner's techniques sent a shiver down her spine, as an unprecedentedly horrible thought hit her.

The silent homicide technique... the ability to kill so quickly, the soul hasn't the time to realize it's been torn from it's body.

What if she was dead already? What if, at some point between stepping out of the lit section, and now, some hazard had killed her too quickly to register?

Quickly, and perhaps without thinking, Kotone dug a particularly sharp fingernail into the bare skin of her forearm, her other hand flying to rest just before her mouth. She sighed, smiling with extreme relief, comforted, as a tiny bit of blood rushed to the surface of the broken crescent of skin her nail had left, and warm air hit the palm of her hand.

She felt pain. Her blood was running. She was breathing.

She was still alive.

The jonin mentally kicked herself for overreacting, and continued to silently hope for a little bit of extra luck today. Which didn't help much.

She stumbled suddenly, catching herself, and skipping backwards, as one of her feet landed on nothing. She paused, before approaching the drop off again, establishing with one trailing hand that it passed from one side of the tunnel to the other, interrupted only by a thin metal bar, passing perpendicular to the edge. Much like a tightrope...

Another dropped shuriken- she didn't carry many, as her aim was atrocious, and was beginning to fear running out- assured her that the bottom was a far ways down. And probably an incredibly unpleasant fall. There were probably pointy things at the bottom... that's what she'd have done, anyways.

Her best choice of action seemed pretty clear, so she placed one sandaled foot on the thin metal beam, testing to see if it supported her weight, which it did. She stepped forward gingerly, placing one foot directly in front of the other, in a catlike sort of way, balancing easily. Well this isn't so bad..."

Balance, speed, and agility had always been her strong points. She would readily admit that she wasn't as strong, physically, as most of the men at her level. But she was a hell of a lot faster. Ninjutsu had always been Zabuza's thing, not her own. Her chakra control wasn't exactly what it should be for her level, she knew. She had given up all hope of ever being good at genjutsu years prior.

She soon felt the ground return to normal, though on a much steeper, downwards incline, and continued, a bit more lightheartedly than before. If that's their idea of danger, this'll be easy! Kotone started, blinking in surprise, as something caught her attention in the distance. A tiny, far off, shimmering sliver of light. Her pace jumped to a run, for several bounding paces, before she realized her stupidity. That would be the perfect bait, to make one let their guard down, and fall into another potential pit full of sharp things.

She forced herself to walk, which proved to be a smart move. As she approached, the ground grew cold, and slippery, the tell tale gurgling of rushing water filling the otherwise still air. Cautiously, Kotone bent down, trailing one sharp nail through the thin film of liquid, spilling from the light, which she could now see as the crack beneath a heavy stone door. She gently pressed her finger to the tip of her tongue, grimacing. "Salt? This is seawater..."

The gentle, declining slope was causing the water to pool near the door, that, from the tiny amount of light that was let in, appeared to be suspended by some sort of pulley system. So, naturally, to open it, there'd have to be a switch or something similar. She found it, in trailing her hands through the frigid puddle of water. One of the bricks that made up the floor was raised, and sank, when she placed her weight on it. The door was lifted, with a strange sort of groan.

The torrent of water that immediately came crashing down upon her, was such that she would, without hesitation, place it on par with Zabuza's Daibafuku no jutsu. She was sent flying back, skidding against the slick stone floor, as the door slid itself back into place, the water finished draining.

She got to her feet, the temporarily flood of light had scorched her darkness adjusted eyes, and she was now blinking clumsily, preparing herself for another fight with the killer door. She took in a deep breath, knees bent, ready to pounce on the doorframe as soon as she stepped on the switch. The resulting spray of water was rather unimpressive, trickling from the open doorway and washing lightly over her sandals. Well that certainly was weird,

Kotone stepped carefully into the room, before the door had a chance to shut itself on her, more than a little bit happy to finally have some light. Looking across the open, dimly lit room, she could make out an identical door, on the other side. As they closed, in unison six counterweights along one of the walls, raised at the same rate.

Moonlight was spilling from a hole in the wall, close to the high ceiling. Light meant a way out... She frowned, though as she examined it more closely. While actually getting up there for anyone who could adhere to surfaces with chakra was no difficult task, actually getting through the opening might be. It was much too small for a human.

Not wasting any time, she immediately strode over to the stone block across the room. There were odd seals drawn around it in black ink, that she didn't even attempt to decode. There, lying in the patch of moonlight was a large scroll, the wooden peg around which it was wound was hollowed out, and a metal bar ran through it, bolting it to the table.

There were words carved on the wall behind it, somehow worn down, and difficult to read, at times, but she could see that they were clearly instructions for the summoning technique. As instructed, Kotone made a small slash in her hand with a senbon, writing her name in an allotted space on the blue trimmed scroll, then closing her hand to coat it completely, before making a hand print, as the wall said. As she pulled the scroll out to examine the previous owners, her hand stopped dead. A thin glow of purple sealing chakra blocked her way, stopping the paper from leaving the confines of the seal-painted area. An impressive technique, she noted, with no small amount of admiration. Whoever had hidden this scroll there had wanted it to stay there.

"I, Inu, Saru, Tori, Hitsuji," She recited, running quickly through the hand seals.

Two rather odd things caught Kotone's attention just then. A grisly, wet smacking sound. She whirled around, to examine the source of the noise, but another, sound, more macabre still rang out. A crunching sound. Her eyes darted down to beneath her own feet, and she immediately jumped back in alarm.

A bleached white bone was crushed beneath her foot. A human bone. Part of a hand, she guessed, purely out of habit.

Upon examination, the entire room was filled with decimated skeletons, all of which's bones had been completely picked clean of flesh. The first sound, was a fish. It was a blueish silver, and flopped pathetically in the air, gasping for breath, scales shimmering as it suffocated.

The second thing that caught her attention was the water, lapping against her shoes. The counterweights were more than just weights, she realized. They were doors as well. And outside was underwater.

The room was, quite quickly, filling with seawater.

This is how all the others had died. They had drowned. That's how the fish had gotten in. It was probably the fish and sharks who had picked the bones clean, as well. It was why the skeletons were scattered, the water rushing in was making them swirl, and churn, in a morbid sort of dance. The same rushing water that made escape by the holes in the wall impossible. Also, there was no way of knowing how deep down she was...

But there was the door. The water was up to her ankles now, and she hopped above it, focusing her chakra downwards to keep herself above it's surface. She ran at the thick block of stone, turning as she neared it, and spinning, for the extra momentum, snapping her foot at it quickly, hitting dead center. She wasn't especially strong, but with enough speed, the momentum would be more than enough to handle the door.

A stabbing pain shot from her ankle up through her thigh, as her foot connected with something unyielding. The same purple flicker of chakra licked the stone surface, Kotone cursing loudly. It was sealed. From the outside, trapping her within. The other door was as well, when she checked it in the same way.

The water continued to rise, her mind racing. That hole in the ceiling... the Kuchiyose no jutsu... Something clicked, the solution suddenly clear. But it didn't make her feel much better.

If both doors were identical, the second could only be opened from the outside. The only was she could see to the outside was the impossibly tiny hole in the stone. Whatever it was she was supposed to be summoning must be able to fit through that opening, and let her out.

That still left one huge problem.

As the water would now be halfway to her knees, were she not keeping herself on the surface, she estimated about fifteen minutes before the room filled entirely.

Fifteen minutes to master a ninjtusu technique. Or she would drown.

Fists clenched, eyes focused on the bright patch of water illuminated by the outside light, she nodded firmly. She would do this, she vowed. But still took a minute to ask no one in particular what she had done to deserve such horrible, horrible luck.

vvvvvvvvvvv

The tracker-nin exhaled sharply, shoulders tensed as he looked out over the area that had been dry when they had arrived, the tide now fully in. Besides the lights from another small island close by, stars were being reflected now, the water black, and glistening.

"She's taking too long." The deep, rough voice he was only just growing into sounded louder than normal, in the deserted island's stillness. "She should be back by now."

He had a reason for hurrying, really. He was something of a natural, in his field of work, and was, some whispered, a likely candidate to someday run the division, though he could be sure his reputation had as much to do with it as his skill level, which somehow felt insulting. He disliked being away from missions for so long, when he could actually be out proving himself to his superiors ( who, in his opinion, weren't all that superior) instead of sitting where he was, waiting for a kunoichi he could safely assume was dead.

That bothered him, for some reason.

Bothered wasn't really the right word. There was an odd sort of constriction in his chest, and an funny little ache in his stomach, that he had convinced himself simply meant he should have brought more food. After all, he was a growing boy...demon... whatever he was.

What was unusual about it was that his 'hunger pains' seemed to intensify when he considered exactly how long his partner had been down there. Or when he considered how likely it was that she had done something moronic, and gotten herself killed.

And, if by some off chance, he was in the least concerned for her, he had put together an explanation for that, as well. He and Kotone had trained together for years, now, and, he had always considered her somewhere along the lines of being as strong as he was. If she was killed that easily... Well, he found that worrisome.

Then again, if she did something impulsive, and died, it wouldn't necessarily reflect on his own odds of being defeated. After all, Zabuza was one to plan ahead. He was careful.

In fact, Zabuza was one to plan very far ahead. There were some little ideas, bouncing around the back of his mind, that had become plans, that had become goals, and had finally grown into something he could only call ambition. A tiny smirk formed at the thought of it.

Kotone, on the other hand, never planned anything. She was impulsive, reckless, but instinctive, and somehow, it worked for her. She could improvise. But long term planning was totally lost on the kunoichi. In fact, he could honestly say, that she had never really planned anything in the time he'd known her. She had given no thought to what she would do after they graduated, or after any promotion. If she had any goals of her own, she had never mentioned them.

He couldn't comprehend how she could be happy, simply floating about, doing what the higher ups told her to do. It was a phenomenon he had observed in the vast majority of his fellow kiri-nin, and couldn't begin to imagine being content with such an aimless existence.

He had no real opinion on it, at the moment, though. It was just something strange he often found himself contemplating.

When looking at the shinobi of his village, and their mind set... He couldn't quite think of the word he wanted, but he knew what he meant. They made very little sense...they were... He shook his head, finding himself lacking the correct term.

He sighed, glancing over his shoulder, to find no one there. "Looks like I'm leaving alone, then."

vvvvvvvv

"Damn it!" She grit her teeth, repeating the hand signs, before once again slamming her bleeding hand to the skin of the water. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" But again, like the time before, and the hundred times before that, nothing happened.

She felt drained, exhausted. But at the water level neared the ceiling, her determination increased, and she tried again. But now, as the air was nothing but a small pocket at the room's ceiling, there was no longer enough room to stand. Stopping the even flow of her chakra, she splashed down beneath the rising water. Below, the fish from earlier was now swimming about happily, the bones still twirling in their ghastly frolicking, that she had no intention of joining, anytime soon.

Returning to the diminishing surface, treading water, Kotone focused her remaining chakra, only having the time, and energy, for one more attempt. "I..." She shut her eyes, concentrating as much as her drowning-preoccupied mind would allow. "Inu..." There wasn't much room now. "Saru..." The air was almost all gone. "Tori..." One last shot. "Hitsuji! "

She slammed her hand down against the surface of the water, willing something to appear with every bit of resolve she had. A trickle of chakra flew through her fingertips, odd little pattern being formed by the tiny waves it sent out. Eyes closed, and water in her ears, she could only feel the chakra working, and when something flew from nowhere, bounding off her shoulder, she smiled, though the water had filled the last bit of breathing room. She'd done it.

There was a long moment of swimming, downwards, lungs constricted, craving air. Then there was a pull, the water suddenly forming a great current, all of it sweeping from the now open doors, one way or the other.

Dragged through the second door by the powerful stream of water, Kotone found herself hurtling through the tunnel, flung forwards, as the ground became a grid of thick metal bars, through which the water drained. She hit the ground, struggling to breathe, chakra spent, hair undone, and falling around her shoulders, coughing, and sputtering.

"Hahaha!" She wasn't entirely sure what that sound was. It hadn't come from her. It sounded like a odd sort mix between a screeching, and a whimper.

Still hacking, and hissing, she turned her head weakly, still sprawled on the ground, to see the source of the noise. This side of the tunnel was dim, but definitely lit, the brightness and sudden fresh air promising an exit.

Illuminated by the dreary glow from down the hallway, was something small. It got up, apparently having been sitting, and plodded over on four feet, crouching down again lazily. "That's funny!" The voice was high, and lively. A child's voice, coming from the small animal. "Hisui Nee san makes noises like that when she's angry!"

Kotone blinked at it slowly, still disoriented. The thing giggled again, and batted at her nose with an clumsily large, soft, black-furred paw. Saffron coloured eyes glinting in the dark. "A kitten?"

The thing, that did indeed resemble an incredibly chunky little kitten hissed, before letting out a strangled mewing sound that may, had he been older, been a roar. "Small cats have kittens. Big cats like me are called cubs."

"So what are you then?"

"Oh, me?" A long, pointed fang glistened. "I'm a jaguar. They say I'm gonna get much bigger than this! I'm just little now," The little jungle cat got to his feet, before bounding around excitedly, growling and hissing. "I'm gonna be real big and scary some day! Like the others are!"

"I'm sure you will," She answered sleepily, before her eyes shot open. "Hey! You're talking!"

"So are you, silly."

"I'm sorry," Kotone sat up, still slightly dizzy from exerting so much chakra in such a short time. "It just surprised me, that's all."

"Hm," With that, he, or at least what Kotone assumed was a 'he', began his way towards the light, his pace springy. "My name is Menou, by the way."

"Menou," Kotone repeated, as she dragged herself to her feet. "Thank you for your help, Menou."

Another odd little chuckle. "I'm actually kinda surprised you made it. As you see, a lot of shinobi drown. Once the water gets high enough, they just kinda stop trying."

"I can understand how that might happen," Her hand strayed to her loose, dripping wet hair, combing through it mechanically, pausing as her hand brushed by her ear, to assure herself that somehow, both of her earrings had stayed in.

Water dripped quickly against the already soaked floor, as she rung out her dark blue hair, walking as quickly as she could manage towards the exit.

vvvvvvvv

Zabuza grunted, untying the bright yellow rope he had secured to a rock near the shore, keeping the little boat they had borrowed, folding it up, tidily, and placing it beneath a bench by the prow.

"Leaving so soon?" Eyes widening for a fraction of a second, he turned. She was standing a ways off, soaking wet, water dripping from her drenched hair, and clothing, darkening the patch of sand beneath her. There was something small and furry pawing at her leg affectionately, tail swishing. Her posture was infirm, arms hanging feebly by her sides, looking disheveled, and utterly drained, eyes half shut wearily.

"Kotone..." He breathed, looking her over. "That has got to be the ugliest kitten I have ever seen."

XD so...yeah. That was a weird one, I'm sorry XDD anyways! thanks for reading, please review, and have a nice day!