Hello everyone! -random crappy update no jutsu!-

um... my apologies for this one XD;;; I know I do a bad job keeping Zabuza in character XD;;I go for indifferent, and begrudging, and it doesn't really end up sounding that way D: And I 'm sure all the medical stuff is here is total crap XD I did alot of reading, and wikipedia-ing, but I'm sure it's still all wrong. like, basically, what I did was draw a little Kotone (I made one of those flash dress up games XDD it's on my DA account) and drew the scars from the cat-mauling on. Then I took a look, and compared it to a circulatory system chart thing in this book, then kinda, like, saw where all the damage would have been. xD;;

ok, like, also, sorry for all the rambling, but I'm having a really hard time replying to reviews D: it won't let me. (like, I click the reply thing, and it's all, oh, you have to log in, so I do, and then suddenly it's like, to my logged in page, and not the review thing XD;; and if I close the window, it happens all over again. My computer's kinda dead.)

um... and for those here who read the manga... thanks to a certain someone -pokes Suigetsu, and Mangetsu- I'm afraid there are going to be all these like, flashbacks to Kirigakure, and it'll kinda make this totally AU. Like, I know OC fics are AU to begin with XD;; but I kinda like to see if I can make it plausible... Like with my first real OC story, Introduction. I wrote it way before we knew anything about Amegakure, or much about Deidara, and now, it's total crap, so I have to rewrite it n.n;;;

anyways, what I want to know, is, if recent manga chapters make this like, unbelieveable AU, and OOC on everyone's part... would you guys still want to read it? or should I stop if that happens?

anyways, yet another huge hug to Nobukane for reading over this for me n.n and thank you for all the lovely reviews! 100, wow, I really can't believe it! thank you all so much! So, please enjoy! and sorry for the crappyness of this chapter n.n;;

Naruto: Masashi Kishimoto

Aoyama Naoko: Nobukane n.n

Subclavian ...Superior vena cava... Femoral... Aorta...

The tracker unit captain's mind clicked through the damage mechanically, as she collapsed against his chest, in a bloody parody of a lover's embrace. He dropped to his knees, doing his best to be careful with her, in a movement that was much too hurried to be considered gentle. Though he didn't see how make things much worse. Kotone's breathing was erratic, her eyes wide and panicked, skin now a deathly, blood drained pale. She was cold- he noticed that immediately. The ambient temperature, and snow would have chilled her, slowing her heart rate a fraction, and with it, slowing the blood loss. It was probably the only reason she hadn't died quite yet. He arranged her in his lap, lying the injured sixteen year old in a way that kept her secure.

He hadn't forgotten his promise to sit with her if ever he found her dying. Zabuza rarely gave his word, and was determined to keep it when he did.

Hisui was sitting a few metres away, pawing at one of the many bloody patches of snow, spread over the clearing, denoting exactly how much blood she had lost already. He grit his teeth, digging through his shuriken holster hurriedly, with one hand, the other supporting her head. Zabuza made a small noise of recognition as his fingers found what they had been searching for, withdrawing the blood clotting pill that he was required to keep there.

"Damn it!" His unconscious mutterings of his country's swear words ceased as the kunoichi went limp, eyes rolling back pathetically. "Kotone? Kotone." But she made no sign of having heard him. The pitiful whimper as he shifted slightly, however, indicated that she was indeed reacting to pain, at least.

A thumb held her mouth open, as he forced the vacant-eyed kunoichi to swallow the pill. Not that it would do any good, of course, he reminded himself bitterly. Blood clotting pills were next to useless, but it was something.

She'd been shaking violently, when he'd caught her, no more than a minute or two ago, and that had subdued to a weak little tremble. He frowned, only just noticing the warm blood that was seeping through his shirt. She'd be dead in less than a few minutes, at this rate... And for some reason Zabuza would really rather ignore, that didn't sit well with him.

She was dying...

But of course, he reminded himself firmly, that didn't matter. He was a ninja... her death would be nothing to him. It couldn't be anything.

In fact... if anything... this was an opportunity to take advantage of. Kotone was an ideal kunoichi: devoted, loyal, obedient... She did as her kage told her. It was all she knew how to do. All she'd been trained to do. Like all those other bastards he served with. He remembered observing the phenomenon years ago, and finding himself at a loss, to describe it. He knew now. Those 'faithful' shinobi, so willing to throw their lives away for their kage. For their village's honour.

They were stupid.

But Kotone wasn't like the others. As misguided as the others, yes, but not quite the same. She was stronger. Dangerously so. And he could think of no one who knew himself better than she did. She could, in the long run, be a threat. When the time came, if he had one less enemy to face, all the better. All he needed to do was let her die... it wouldn't be long now...

But there was something else making him hesitate.

If he let her die, it was one potential ally gone. He had always assumed she'd help him when he moved to put his plan into action. But if she didn't... She could easily be more trouble than she was worth. He roared in frustration, inwardly. It wasn't like him to be so indecisive. Kotone would be dead soon, and no matter what he decided, there probably wasn't anything he could do to save her, anyways. He scowled, his grip on her shoulder tightening, then slackening just as suddenly, when she let out a choking little squeak. Impulsively, and perhaps apologetically, a hand stroked her cheek, in a gesture he assured himself wasn't affectionate.

No... no there was still time. He could convince her... She might be perfectly happy to help him. He had always wondered- suspected, that perhaps she... well, that was something else he shouldn't focus on , too carefully. But, if his suspicion were verified... If he was right, it was safe to assume she'd help him willingly.

Besides, he could always eliminate her later, if it was necessary.

But for there to be a later, he would have to do something very, very soon.

The panicked, shallow breathing of what couldn't have been more than a minute ago had slowed to a crawl. And, even as he gave a light little jab to the injured portion of her arm, she gave no reaction. Of course, that didn't mean she wasn't still in agony.

On second thought... His face twitched uncomfortably, as he drew a kunai from it's holster. The kindest, and most practical thing to do would be to put the poor creature out of her misery. The back of his hand pushed her head back, fully exposing her throat- the only part of herself that seemed completely unharmed. He readied the kunai against the soft, ashen flesh of her neck, thinking for a moment about how best to proceed. Slitting her Jugular vein would be too slow... cutting her larynx would be slow as well, as he'd have to wait for her to suffocate... He scowled again momentarily, again cursing his unusual reluctance. Somehow, this stupid mercy killing was bothering him, unlike his usual assignments. Damnit, usually he'd just have picked a stupid vital point, and done it. Her carotid artery would be bloody, but quick. Zabuza had never actually been required to deliver a coup de grâce before, but it was indeed standard procedure, given that it would be impossible to get her to help before she bled to death. Her heart was pumping the blood from her body much too quickly...

His eyes widened a fraction as a thought struck him.

Her heart...

Zabuza abandoned the Kunai hastily, instead bringing his hand back to her cheek, and turning her face to the side, leaving a different part of her neck vulnerable. Were he to stop her heart, there would only be the gravity induced blood loss to contend with. It was dangerous, and highly unconventional, but could, conceivably, buy her a little more time.

Using the points in the neck was unusual, and caused, though temporary, massive amounts of damage to the nervous system. Usually he'd have gone for the heart directly, but that particular portion of her body was, at the moment, mutilated beyond all recognition. Her clothing had been shredded completely, and some tiny glimmer of modesty the seventeen year old still possessed had kept him from looking until now. Not that there was anything worth seeing, at the moment. It was nothing but dark red blood, torn fabric, and bandages. The area was unstable, and had suffered far too much harm already. The neck would be safer.

Senbon were far from his weapon of choice, but he did carry a few, and they would be best for causing the effect he wanted, without spilling any more blood. He aimed it carefully against the proper place, then double checking his positioning, before chuckling bitterly to himself. None of his victims were ever this still. Usually he had a moving target to deal with, so there was no reason to worry.

But, for some reason he couldn't quite discern, there was a difference between his usual rogue victims, and the dying kunoichi in his arms. He scolded himself again for becoming distracted, jamming the small sliver of metal into her skin. As he'd expected, there was no reaction from her, but the bright, arterial blood that had been gushing quickly tapered off. He wasted no time in scooping her up, and standing, Hisui huffing fervently, bounding after him, as he took off at a run.

'After all the trouble I just put myself through,' Zabuza growled, through sharp, clenched teeth, 'Don't you dare die now.'

vvvvvvvvvv

"So how long will you be away?"

Hiraku shrugged, turning his polished mask in one hand absently. "Dunno. could be a couple of days. These guys were spotted near the village this morning, and halfway across the country a few hours ago. To be moving that fast, there can't be many of them, but I don't know if the recon team has even reached the area yet."

The Medic, who was watching the clock carefully, mindful of her allotted break time, nodded. "Enemy shinobi wandering around... That's serious, right? Do you know what village they're from?"

"Apparently, Kusagakure. I can't believe a village that small would try anything here. But it would explain why those losers were so sloppy-" Shinju watched as her brother froze, back straightening suddenly. "Captain Momochi-"

Judging by the deep, surly voice, the taller, though younger tracker had indeed appeared behind Shinju, and was frowning deeply. "Kasumi, I need a word with you."

"I swear," Hiraku stammered, feigning boldness. "I was going to be ready on time-"

"Not you."

"What?" Shinju spun around in surprise, unsure of what the tracker captain might want with herself, of all people. It was then that she noticed the large, dark stain across his shirt.

Blood. A lot of blood.

"That's-"

"Not mine,"

The medic nin's eyes went wide for a moment, as she realized the implications of this. If it wasn't Zabuza's, it was someone else's. And she had a very good idea who's.

The young man had turned and started from the direction he'd come by, Shinju quickly following after, much to her brother's disapproval."Oi, neesan-!" But she shook her head, and continued running.

Zabuza glanced over his shoulder as they neared their destination, frowning. He had expected the rather pathetic little chunin to have lagged behind, but there was an odd ease to her strides, and she matched his own effortlessly. He shrugged, stopping to yank the rickety front door open, with an uncharacteristic amount of disregard, and thought nothing more of it.

He flinched, slightly, as the medic stepped into his partner's room, gasping lightly. He'd done a horrible job bandaging her up, and really didn't have time to be berated for it. Hisui had made quite a nuisance of herself, growling, and snapping at him when he, out of necessity , began undressing the kunoichi. And dealing with an irate leopardess, and a bleeding interrogator at once had been, as Kotone would have put it, 'a bitch'.

He took a uncertain couple of steps to where the Medic was crouched, next to Kotone's bed, muttering medical jargon to herself methodically. "She needs a hospital." The older girl said quietly, still studying the extensive wounds. "Badly." A sigh, and the young woman's hands glowed green, with healing chakra. "But there's no way she can be moved, like this. It would kill her."

He grunted ambiguously, before turning, and starting for the door again.

"For injuries like this we use more complicated jutsu, that take much too much chakra for one medic. I'll have to make do alone, with simpler techniques... but that's hardly ideal- hey! Where are you going!?"

"The tracker team I assigned to the mission is scheduled to leave in fifteen minutes. I have no intention of missing my own deadline."

Shinju brushed a bit of perfectly straight hair from her grey eyes, indignantly."You can't just leave her like this-"

"I see no use being here."

"I'm not sure how much I can do for this" She replied tersely. "Given how delicate her condition is, she may very well die."

He scoffed quietly. "Then there really is no use being here." And with that he was gone, leaving a very frustrated Shinju alone, in the now green lit room.

"Jerk." She whispered angrily, suddenly wishing that wasn't the extent of her curse- vocabulary.

vvvvvvvvvvv

Sunset three days later found the demon standing opposite Hachidaime Mizukage, eyes flickering around the room wildy. The only thing more infuriating than this accursed room, was the older man smiling from the other side of the heavy wooden desk, his expression a sickening mixture of amusement and disdain. Zabuza ground his teeth, keeping his treacherous thoughts at bay, for the time being.

"Everything went well, I assume?"

"Yes."

The kage chuckled at the rigid answer, raising an eyebrow. "Something the matter, Momochi?"

"No."

"Well, since you sound so convincing," Hachidaime drawled, "I suppose everything's been taken care of? What were they after?"

"Spying. We were unable to determine exactly what."

"Hm," He sighed theatrically, resting his head on one fist, thoughtfully. "Shame we didn't assign an interrogator to that mission. But we're so short staffed in that department... Especially so now, eh?" The tracker made no reply, face unreadable behind the menacing face of the mask. "It's a dreadful shame. Ume was one of our best. Pity losing something so useful."

There was a sinking, or tightening in his chest somewhere, and he ignored the cold feeling seeping in. Zabuza's shoulders tensed, his hands clenching into painfully tight fists, as he fought to restrain another feeling rushed to the surface. Rage. He recognized the tone... He was being taunted. "She's dead."

"How am I supposed to know?" The water-shadow laughed, slumping back in his chair, contentedly. "Your mission returned early this morning, you're honestly telling me you haven't been home yet? Haven't checked on her? Weren't worried?"

"No."

"Good man." Zabuza grunted a vague reply, eyes narrowing. The kage turned his attention to the window, staring intently at the pale grey sky, tinged with orange and pink, as the sun sank lower on the horizon. "Hm... If she has kicked the bucket," He started with a sigh, Aoyama can take over her duties. Kisame's girl is also very talented... which is more than I can say for certain interrogators."

Zabuza turned, as a distant, though noticeable, huffing noise was heard, heavy, ungraceful footsteps could be heard down the hall."Speak of the lazy bastard," A scoff, and a low muttering that only the younger man could hear, before the kage brightened. "Ah, there you are." The short, plump man who lead the interrogators popped his head into the doorway. "I was wondering. Given that we are now down an inquisitor, perhaps you could accompany the assassination mission to the land of lightning next week?"

"What?" The middle aged, and unfortunately unfit man's eyes went wide, before nodding hesitantly. "Um, yes, of course, sir. Right." He was excused, and disappeared quickly.

"That should do it." The kage allowed himself one more private little laugh, at a joke only he understood, before dismissing Zabuza as well.

The seventeen year old ANBU captain's pace was unusually leisurely as he made his way home for the night, taking time to meander, and examine anything that caught his attention on the way home. From particularly tempting fish market stalls, to the way the civilians, who often seemed nothing more than a mass of faceless blurs, scattered, frightened as a group of chunin passed by.

You're stalling. A voice at the back of his head chided.

When he finally found himself wandering towards his home, he stopped, glancing down at the recent tracks in the snow. There had been a light snowfall the night before, so Kotone's traces would have been erased, but a smaller set, from a smaller woman indicated Shinju's presence. But it was the second set, larger than a woman's but smaller than his own, that made him raise an eyebrow. He quickly drew the conclusion, of what other man would be skulking around, and announced that Hiraku should 'get the hell out of his house' before he had opened the door fully.

Sure enough, there was a bewildered, teal-haired boy on his couch, when he stepped inside. Zabuza shook his head, striding past before Hiraku had a chance to explain himself, instead moving resolutely to his partner's room, where the Shinju was reading over a thick paperback book she would have had to have brought from her own house, as neither Kotone, nor himself knew how to read well enough to enjoy it at all. Kotone had all the literary skills of a six year old, and her handwriting reflected this quite clearly.

Shinju was seemingly unperturbed by the large, murderous looking jungle cat curled in a corner. He hadn't known Hisui to have ever been around for so long, but apparently, she would rather stay with Kotone.

A glance to the side of the small room he'd been avoiding alerted him to the girl's condition, and he relaxed, released a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. She was fast asleep, still deathly pale, but a tiny bit of colour seemed to have found it's way back to her face, and the blue oxygen deprived tinge that had crept to her lips, and fingernails when he'd left, had faded as well. He frowned, watching the gentle rise and fall of the sheets, indicating breath, something still seeming amiss. Kotone was frail, and defenseless. And that just didn't happen.

"She was awake earlier." Shinju set the book down, getting to her feet. "She was asking for you." The much larger shinobi seemed to ignore her, removing his mask, and letting it rest absently in his hand. "I've been checking in before, and after my shift at the hospital. She's alright, I think. I was able to fix all the internal damage, from the wounds themselves, and the hypoxia. I can say quite honestly, that your stupid stunt with the needle caused an huge amount of damage, but..." She sighed. "I think it may have been what saved her."

"You said you fixed the internal damage...?"

"Yes..." Shinju shifted, examining her patient again. "You see... She should have gotten to a medic much sooner. Or to a the hospital... there was only so much I could do on my own. Kotone's immune system suffered a massive blow. If I'd fixed everything, it wouldn't have bounced back on it's own. If it stayed repressed, she'd be vulnerable to infection, and disease for god knows how long. So, I healed the superficial wounds just enough to keep them closed." She looked up, expecting anger, but found only a blank look on the man's face. The dark haired young woman frowned, continuing again more slowly, and carefully, to be sure he understood what she was getting at."It'll be a weeks before she can stand or walk. And she'll be in a lot of pain, for a long time..." His face remained indifferent, so she took a breath and continued. "Zabuza San, what you have to understand is that this is the kind of injury that ends a shinobi's career- "

"Not her's."

"What?" The medic blinked, as the stony faced tracker continued to watch the deathly still Kunoichi intently.

"Not her's." He repeated plainly.

"She'll be helpless for weeks." The medic pointed out collectedly. "She'll need a lot of looking after. Perhaps it's best if she came to stay with my family, once she's strong enough to be moved. We can look after her-"

"And so can I." He interrupted again ,voice now a tiny bit sharper.

"I'm not saying you can't care for her properly, I'm saying you won't."

Zabuza's face twitched momentarily to a scowl, before he regained his composure. "Look, I'll handle it, alright?"

Shinju's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "It's against my better judgement, but alright. I'll pop in though, to make sure there's no neglecting, going on." She smiled wryly. "And change those bandages."

"Thank you," He breathed, glad to be rid of such an awkward task. There were downsides to being partnered with a kunoichi A great deal of potential embarrassment. He watched singularly as the short little medical ninja pulled something from the bag attached to her belt.

"Here," She pushed two bottles of small little white, or orange capsules into his hand. "The orange ones are to fight infection. And these... well, they're painkillers, and I'm really not supposed to do this, but they also act as a powerful sedative. I know what she's like, and it's imperative that she rests..."

He nodded. "Which she would never actually do, because she's an idiot."

Shinju nodded, before starting again, tone warning. "Be careful, though. Taking more than prescribed could put her out for days. More than that, and she'll overdose, which generally causes heart failure. And I don't mean your phony tracker rubbish. Real cardiac arrest."

Zabuza grunted, a curt nod of his head indicating his agreement, and Shinju turned to leave, dragging her brother along with her when he protested.

He read over the directions briefly, before setting the containers down on her night stand. He didn't need to worry about it until morning, assuming that Shinju had given her some already, and sat himself down on the edge of her bed distractedly.

She had no right to do this. She had no right to lie there, looking so harmless, when he knew full well how deadly she could be. She had no right to look delicate, and frail, when he'd watched her crush opponents's bodies, and minds without a moment's hesitation. She had no right to die peacefully, in her drugged sleep, when he knew she was a fighter to the core. He frowned, brushing a stray bit of blue black hair from her sickly pale face.

She was a kunoichi.

She had no right to look like the fragile little sixteen year old girl she really was.

That she would have been, had life been kinder.

so! thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Please review, and happy holidays, everyone!