I am thrilled with the response to this, so i have written a second chapter, i hope it meets expectations.

Kunai for a blade

Chapter 2

The beginnings of the red demon

Naruto sat at the edge of the firelight; his blue eyes stared into the flickering red flame as it blackened the logs and pieces of wood that fed it. Haku was curled up on the floor close to the fire, her dark hair splayed about her closed eyes, red from her crying. The moonlight flickered as a cloud passed briefly in front of the moon. The clearing was quiet as Naruto strained his hearing. The occasional hoot of an owl and Haku's quiet breathing were the only things to break the silence.

Zabuza's blade, the Kubikiri Houcho rested on the floor in front of him. A partially unraveled scroll rested atop the blade, showing what appeared to be instructions and diagrams adorning the parchment. A scratched mist headband sat next to the scroll.

Naruto stared up at the sky, the gray clouds moved slowly, reflecting Naruto's own inner feelings, a crescent moon shone down on him, and he fell into an uneasy sleep from the soothing light of the moon.

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Naruto awoke to a gentle touch on his shoulder, the bright morning sunlight stinging his eyes. He blinked rapidly to clear the last of the fuzziness from his eyes, and Haku's face entered into Naruto's rapidly clearing view. Her hair was matted around her face and she appeared to move stiffly. "Wake up Naruto-Sama." She said, her eyes were lifeless and her tone was flat as she spoke.

"Haku-Chan?" Naruto struggled to remove the last of the sleep from his mind as he looked around the small clearing they had stopped in last night. The morning sunlight illuminated the clearing and streamed through the canopy of the forest. The fire had long since burnt out, the charred remains were almost impossible to define as what had been the fire the night before.

Haku seemed to give a little bow where she was knelt, "Hai, Naruto-Sama." Her eyes were drawn to where the Kubikiri Houcho rested.

"Are you okay Haku-Chan?" Naruto slipped off the log he had been sat on all night to sit in front of Haku. As he looked at her he could see the pain clearly in her eyes.

"I am fine Naruto-Sama." Haku's voice seemed dead, lacking in any emotion. Naruto couldn't help but see a shell of what had been a person, one who only days ago has been smiling in that wooded clearing that was so alike the one they were in now.

A hand shook the sleeping blond awake, the light causing a small throbbing in his eyes as he adjusted to the light, a face framed by dark hair above him, the morning sunlight coming from the canopy above her gave an ethereal glow to her. "An angel?" he spoke in a quiet still half-asleep whisper.

The boy's vision may have been blurry from sleep and his mind still not quite awake yet his comment still caused the girl to blush, "Are you okay?" The girl chose to ignore the boy's angel comment for the time being.

The boy gave a wide innocent grin, "I'm fine." Only years of having that look in her own eyes let the girl see the pain and loneliness in his eyes. The girl moved back slightly and sat down, the boy sat up and looked at her, "I'm Naruto."

The girl stared at the honesty in his eyes and felt herself compelled to give the boy her own name, "Haku." His grin seemed to widen if anything, a grin that had Haku fighting down another blush.

"If you sleep out here you'll get a cold." Haku couldn't help but give a small sad smile at the way that those blue eyes shone at someone caring about him.

"I never get ill." His smile seemed to light up the clearing more than the light of the sun that filtered through the foliage. Haku found herself cheered up by that smile.

"Are you a ninja?" Haku saw that sudden real smile break through his mask, one that was far more disarming than his fake one.

"Yeah, I'll be the best too, since my dream is to become Hokage." He said it with such conviction that Haku found herself agreeing with him, he was going to be a hero, she knew that.

Naruto winced as he remembered his dream to become Hokage. It was something that seemed even more out of his reach now; doubt about his decision entered his mind. Should he have fulfilled Zabuza's last wish, even though he had to betray Konoha to do it?

Naruto crushed his doubt, a dying wish was something to be honoured, not discarded; he would fulfil his promise, that was his nindo, to keep his word in a world of subterfuge and deception.

With his mind clear he took his headband from his head and drew a kunai from his pouch, staring at the shining metal of his Forehead protector as it glinted in the morning light. Naruto took his slightly beaten Kunai and made a quick motion, a slice through his headband, cutting through the Konoha emblem.

He returned his headband and kunai to their places, "I will protect you Haku. I promised."

With that statement, Naruto picked up the slashed mist headband of Zabuza and tied it around his right bicep. He knelt before Haku and looked into her lifeless eyes before telling her "I keep my promises."

Haku stood up. "I am your tool Naruto-sama." Her voice hadn't changed.

Naruto couldn't keep the pain out of his eyes at that comment. "Haku, you are not a tool..." He met Haku's lifeless eyes with his own passion filled ones. "You are my first true friend."

It may have just been the early morning light, but Naruto was sure he saw a tiny light in Haku's eyes.

It was a start.