"Zabuza."

"Haku, I wondered when you were going to show up. I would have won. There was no need to make it look like I was dead. Where's your side kick?"

"Raito is preoccupied at the moment. The reason I came is on behalf of the kids that were guarding the bridge builder you killed."

"What, they your little friends or something?"

"We would appreciate it if you didn't kill them, we need them alive. One of them has the nine tailed fox sealed inside of him, and we want him to train."

"You're getting soft, Haku. Trying to keep little kids alive."

"It's not like that, I couldn't care less whether they lived or died, if he wasn't so powerful. He could prove to be a valuable asset."

"Fine, I'll keep them alive and mostly in one piece. And Haku."

"Yeah?"

"Don't make me regret it."

Haku nodded.

"What lesson are you teaching us today, sensei?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Today we'll work on controlling your chakra."

"Kakashi sensei, what does that have to do with anything? I already know how to use my chakra."

"It does seem rather pointless, and repetitive. All of us already know how to control our chakra." Naruto nodded in agreement with Sasuke, who had supported his point.

Out of nowhere, Haku smacked both of them over the the back of the head. "That's from Raito. If she were here, she would have done that herself, but she wasn't."

"Haku, nice of you to join us."

"Don't hit Sasuke!" Sakura yelled.

'There just isn't pleasing some people...' "I was curious," he told Kakashi, "do you mind if I watch?"

"Why not?"

Haku sat at the foot of a tree, and watched. It didn't escape his notice that they were looking at him differently now, or that Sakura was borderline glaring at him. He knew that she liked Sasuke, but hadn't expected it to be to this extent. She was that mad when all he had done was smacking the boy over the head? He internally shook his head. Things would only get worse from there. That was nothing, comparatively. If she tried to do that every time he got attacked, she would be too busy trying to keep him safe to be of any use, and would wind up just getting in the way. On top of that, if she focused only on Sasuke, if something were to happen to Naruto she wouldn't be able to do anything about it. It was borderline suicide to play favorites like that. The entire team had to be treated equally in terms of priority.

The main reason for his staying wasn't for the lesson, he already knew what Kakashi was doing, he had undergone the exact same training multiple times. No, it was to gauge their strengths and weaknesses. It seemed that he and Raito would be dealing with these four for quite some time now, and it was better to know what they were capable of than to be kept in the dark. Already Sakura had revealed a fatal weakness that could be used against her.

The first time Naruto tried to climb the tree, he failed of getting his feet off the ground virtually at all. Sakura got fairly high, more so than Haku expected, and Sasuke managed to get a fair amount, but less than Sakura.

Come on, Naruto, I know we taught you better than this.'

The second time, Naruto got his feet to stick, and didn't get as high as Sakura, but close. He fell back down to earth, then got back up and tried again.

"You're getting better," came a distinctly feminine voice.

"Raito? I thought you were..."

"They dropped all charges," she explained. "Apparently someone else came forth as guilty, and confessed. Of course, after that they disappeared, and now they're launching a man hunt, but somehow I don't think they'll be caught. In any case, it feels good to be out of those jail clothes."

"Of course they did," Haku said. "Because we totally didn't see this coming from the beginning," he said sarcastically.

"Hey, I thought they were at least going to go through with the trial, but apparently they figured out that tactic wasn't going to work." She shrugged. "At least I got out early."

"I knew they were going to let you out early all along! Believe it!"

"How?"

"There's no way that you could have kidnapped someone, and turned your back on your village! You would never do something like that!"

Haku and Raito looked at each other, and then started laughing. "That's... hilarious..."

"What?" Sakura asked from her perch on a branch. "Are you saying you would then?"

"No, never mind. Sorry about interrupting your training. Come on, Haku, we have our own to get to."

"Raito, are you sure you're up to that?"

"Yeah, it's been too long, and I don't want to lose the progress that we've made."

"If you're sure then... We'll see you guys later."

"Wonder what kind of training they have to do," Naruto voiced.

"You should concentrate less on them and more on your own training," Sakura scolded, even though she was curious as well.

An hour later, each of them were tired. Despite that, Sasuke and Naruto were still going at it, each trying to beat the other. Sakura was still well ahead of them, but since Kakashi had made the comment that she was more worthy of becoming Hokage and better than an Uchiha, they had been steadily been making more progress. Neither hide nor hair of Raito or Haku had been seen since they had left. Several hours later, that was still the case. Sakura and Kakashi went home, to get some dinner and some rest.

Sasuke and Naruto took a brief break for a few seconds. Sasuke was getting steadily more frustrated that Naruto was beginning to catch up again, despite his best efforts.

"Uh, Naruto," he said hesitantly. The blond looked at him curiously, Sasuke never started conversation.

"Yeah Sasuke?"

"Um... uh, what exactly did Raito and Haku tell you?"

"Tell me about what?"

If it were anyone other than Naruto, Sasuke would have said that they were playing dumb on purpose. "Getting... focused or whatever," Sasuke replied.

"Oh." There were a few seconds silence. "I'm not telling you."

They glared at each other, and then dashed up the tree.

Haku and Raito sat a few sat a few feet apart from each other. Both were in identical positions, legs crossed and hands rested on their knees, eyes closed. Blue chakra surrounded them, but didn't touch. Raito's face twitched angrily, and the chakra faltered for a second before once more growing steady. She sucked in a calming breath, but other than that it was completely silent. About half an hour of complete silence and stillness except breathing later, a tendril of chakra morphed from the mass surrounding Haku. In mirror image, the same thing happened to Raito, and they slowly crawled towards each other. They paused when they got within proximity of each other, and for agonizingly long minutes they stood in complete stillness. Then they started moving again, twining around each other without touching. When each were at the point where another movement forward would touch the space between their eyes, they paused again, for half a second, then the two chakras blended as one.
Immediately the blue disappeared, and Raito cried out. Haku drew in a sharp breath, and the air was still with the exception of them panting.

"Again?"

"..." Raito wasn't sure if she could do it again, it took enormous amounts of energy to draw out her raw chakra like that. She sucked in breath raggedly and shook her head. She wasn't even capable of speaking.

"We've made a lot of progress, that's the closest we've ever gotten," Haku panted. He was able to tap into his chakra with much less difficulty, it was almost effortless, but keeping it up for hours while Raito built up hers was incredibly difficult, not to mention trying to combine the two... it was like getting electrocuted. Nothing could have prepared either of them for that kind of experience. Raito closed her eyes, but tears still dripped down. Accessing her chakra was like forcibly ripping out the inside of her chest, it caused physical pain while she was doing it, and still hadn't recovered from the aftershock yet. "Are you going to be ok?"

"I'll be fine... just give me a minute."

Haku knew there was nothing more he could do for Raito than just staying by her side and waiting for the pain to subside. He could tell that it was getting better, that it hurt less now, but that didn't stop his concern. Raito wasn't only his partner, but his best friend.

He supported the majority of her weight when she was finally able to move. There was no way she was going to be able to move on her own for a while, much less walk home. At least she wasn't hurting other than being tired anymore. He was pretty sure she was sleeping against his shoulder blade now. How that could be comfortable when he was walking, he had no idea. She must have completely worn herself out this time, they should have waited. He was carrying her on his back, leaving them vulnerable for attack. If she were anything less than dead tired she wouldn't be able to sleep, between the movement and her being paranoid. Not that being paranoid wasn't a bad thing all the time, it saved their skins quite a few times. All the same, he would be happier if she didn't insist upon working herself to the bone.

"Haku, what happened to Raito?" Naruto inquired when he saw the sleeping girl. Sasuke paused as well.

Haku adjusted her weight so it was more comfortable. "She pushed herself too hard, as usual." He chose not to add that he was drop dead tired as well, and barely functioning.

"What were you guys doing that tired Raito out that much?"

"We're working on a special kind of training, and it takes more out of her than it does me. We've got to get going though, it's pretty late. Good night."

Sasuke nodded. "I'll go too."

"Are you coming, Naruto?" Haku asked.

"No, I'm going to stay here until I get to the top of this tree, believe it!"

"Suit yourself."

Haku and Sasuke walked in silence for a while. Mostly this was because Haku was both mentally and physically, and wasn't up for conversation and Sasuke, as a rule, wasn't the first to speak. Despite this, eventually the darker haired boy was the first one to break the silence.

"Haku, are you sure you're fine?"

Haku had started stumbling around over the last ten minutes, and almost run into Sasuke.

"Huh? Yeah, um, let me sit down for a minute."

The feminine looking boy set Raito down, then leaned against the tree and closed his eyes for a few minutes.

"Do you want me to carry her for a while?" It was unlike Sasuke to offer to help, but then again, it was unlike Haku to stumble around in front of him when he was obviously exhausted. Not for the first time that evening, Sasuke wondered what they were doing that would make the two of them so tired.

"Are you sure?"

"You're about to fall over, I think I can handle it."

Sasuke picked up the sleeping girl, who was surprisingly heavy. Haku heaved himself to his feet. He felt really light now that he didn't have Raito on his back. He stretched. "Thank you."

"You're... not Haku," Raito mumbled sleepily.

"I'm right here, Raito, everything's fine."

"Who's carrying me?" she asked blearily.

"Sasuke. Sorry, I'm too tired to carry you myself."

"I blame what's his face. Who? I'm sorry, I forget people when I'm tired."

"He's a friend, go back to sleep."

For once, Raito listened, and closed her eyes. Within seconds she was asleep again. She buried her face in Sasuke's shirt. "I'm guessing she isn't usually this... cuddly."

"Never." Haku was was surprised she was acting like this, even unconscious, especially after what they had just been doing. "She must still be hurting then. The only time she shows any sort of physical affection is when she's tired, in pain, and really trusts the person. Even then..."

"I didn't notice any wounds."

"There aren't any. How to put this... it causes Raito physical pain to use her chakra, to any extent, while she's awake. Even then, it appears in its rawest form, which is exhausting. Channeling that, all of it, to be external and then pushing further control to shape it hurts her. She says it's like having the insides of her chest being ripped out. Take how tired you are after working using your chakra for the last what, four hours? multiply that by twenty, and that's how tired she is. That's not even counting her mental exhaustion. That I can't even begin to describe."

"Why would you put yourself through that?"

"Because we have to get stronger. Basically we're training ourselves to combine our collective chakra, which would give us a huge advantage in a fight. Even though she can't really use it, Raito has an extensive pool of chakra, and a knowledge of jutsus that surpasses even mine. To be able to use it... we'd be unstoppable."

"So that's what this is about, power," Sasuke said. He looked at the sleeping girl is his arms, she had the same goal he did.

"Hardly," Haku replied. "If that were the case, things would be a lot different right now." He smirked. "You probably wouldn't be on speaking terms with us right now, much less trusted enough that Raito would fall asleep in your arms."

"Then why?"

"That's not something we can share just yet. We have our reasons. Well, this is where we live."

Sasuke looked at the mediocre, at best, apartment building. Compared to the rest if the city, it was downright shabby. The doorman was asleep, the flowers were wilting, and dust gathered around the lobby. Haku led the way through a row of dark reddish brown door with identical gold knockers, and slipped the key into the door.

The inside of their apartment couldn't be any more different from the rest of the building. It was like stepping into an underwater room. The atmosphere was light and open, with few pieces of furniture, bits of art, and teal walls. Everything fit into the color scheme, and flowed together nicely. Pieces of sea glass strung together with wire made up the curtains, and the moon reflecting through the window gave the room spots of different color. The place was immaculately clean, almost as if no one even lived here. Even the air held a salty ocean tang. Haku flipped a switch and the place was illuminated by a chandelier made of glass to look like bubbles. Mirrors reflected their images all over the room.

"Where do you want me to put her?"

"Her room is back here."

Raito's room was just downright depressing. The walls were painted a light grey, the furniture black, with a few silver accents. Sasuke set her down on the bed, and Haku pulled her shoes off.

"Thank you for carrying her all the way here."

"You're welcome."

With that, Sasuke left their apartment.

"Sasuke, you're so slow that I beat you here and you left way before I did!"

"Raito and Haku needed my help, sorry if I've kept you waiting."

"Hmph, why would they ask for your help when they could have mine?" Naruto grumbled.

"Who said they asked?"

'Sasuke is so kind, giving help to people in need...*sigh*'

"Of course they would have to ask! You never help people just because they need it!"

"Naruto does have a point, offering assistance is unlike you," Kakashi said. "Unless, of course, you get something out of it in return."

"Haku was about to drop Raito and fall over from exhaustion himself, so I asked if he would rather I carry her."

'WHAT! THAT PIG! I BET SHE WASN'T EVEN TIRED AT ALL! I BET SHE WAS FAKING THE ENTIRE TIME JUST TO GET SASUKE TO CARRY HER! I'LL KILL HER!'

'Haku must have been more tired than he looked then, if he was about to drop Raito.'

"I guess they're not as strong as Kakashi sensei says they are then, if he can't even carry a girl as small as her."

"Raito's not light at all, despite her size. Besides, they had been training for four hours before they decided to call it quits."

"Naruto practiced longer than that," Sakura said in a condescending tone. "It's not that long."

"I couldn't care less if you believe me or not," Sasuke replied. "I'm tired, so I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."