A/N: Well, I'm still trying to get the story to move on… Poll is still open, but the battle on the bridge might be in the next chapter so… I apologise to those who wanted Haku to stay male because a majority of the people who voted wanted him to be female. I'll be doing… you'll see, but only for this chapter.
Maj156: Thank you. That helped.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I haven't done this in a while.
Chapter 12: Haku
MINATO
The days flew by, and Sasuke nailed the tree walking exercise. Both Sasuke and Sakura now had bridge duty, leaving me the only one who had yet to prove to Kakashi my tree walking skills. It was early morning and I'd sneaked out once again for personal training, only this time in my original form, so that I could perform Hiraishin if Zabuza decided to attack the bridge. I smiled and fingered my hitai-ate, reliving the time I had spent with Kushina. Kushina had always been so spunky, so full of life, that it was hard to imagine that she now lay in a grave. My eyes misted and a tear made its way down my whiskered cheek. I wiped it away with the heel of my palm and lay down on the grass, inadvertently dozing off.
HAKU
I was gathering herbs to heal my master, Zabuza. I was picking some when I noticed a patch of yellow in the grass. I drew closer, curious about this mysterious yellow thing, drawing a senbon in case it proved to be dangerous. The closer I got, the more humanoid features I noticed. 'Big Bird' was the first thing that came to mind before I realised that it was actually a human with blonde hair, not a giant chicken with yellow feathers from Sesame street. 'She looks like that boy from the team guarding our target.' I thought. 'Maybe I should kill her just in case.' I pondered, bringing the senbon near 'her' heart. I blushed when I noticed that 'her' chest was completely flat. 'Oh god! She's male!' I faltered, 'and hot!' I added as an afterthought. Though I couldn't see it, I'm sure I was blushing.
Suddenly, a warm hand wrapped around my wrist and gripped it so hard, the senbon fell out of my grasp. I gasped, turning to the blonde lady, no, man. "What are you doing?" the blond man asked gently. His impossibly blue eyes bore right through me, down to my soul. I swear I felt my blush spread and I'm willing to bet that my cheeks were as red as this man's eyes were azure despite my pale complexion. "Are you okay?" he asked tenderly, his blue eyes filled with concern. I nodded my head, not trusting my voice to work. "Well then, what were you doing with that senbon?" he asked placidly, as if I had not just tried to kill him.
"I was afraid you might attack me." I lied, feeling the blush recede.
"Well, I'm not, so you don't have to. Besides, I was sleeping. How am I supposed to attack you in my sleep?" he smiled serenely at me and my heart nearly stopped, the blush coming back on again.
MINATO
"What's your name?" she asked, regaining her composure.
"It's more polite to give your name before asking for another's you know?" I informed her, my smile still in place.
"My name's Haku. What's yours?" She tried again.
"That's better. I'm known by many names, but just call me Minato." I said, reaching out to tuck a chocolate brown lock behind her ear. I didn't understand why her face suddenly became red, like Hinata's whenever she saw me.
HAKU
I could have sworn the temperature shot up 10 degrees. "So, what are you doing here?" Minato asked, glancing at her basket full of herbs.
"Gathering herbs. My friend is sick." I replied, noticing another one that I needed. I wound my fingers around the flimsy stalk and tugged gently, the roots giving way, leaving the plant dangling in the air, dirt trapped between its roots. I shook off the dirt and tossed it into the basket, emphasizing my point.
"Let me help you." Minato offered.
"Alright. You just have to find this plant." I told him, picking an herb from my basket and showing it to him.
"Will do." Minato said cheerfully, finding one and gently easing it out of the ground before dropping it into my basket. His movements were so graceful, very different from Zabuza-sama's lumbering gait.
MINATO
We spent the entirety of the morning gathering herbs for Zabuza. I knew that Haku was the fake Oi-nin and was about to unseal my tanto and kill her when she startled me with a question. "Are you a ninja?" she had asked. I found the question rather ridiculous as the hitai-ate around my neck gave away my status as a shinobi.
"Yes, why do you ask?" I smiled, waiting for her answer.
"Were you training?" she asked, plucking another herb.
"Of course." I replied, wondering where this was going.
She looked me in the eye and asked, "Why do you train so hard? Is it for yourself, for someone, for revenge? Why do you train?"
"I train to protect the people precious to me." I let another smile grace my lips.
"Good. Only when you're protecting someone precious to you can you truly become strong." She bade me farewell and left, leaving me with these words to think about. I watched her retreating figure before standing up and turning back, sensing Sasuke approaching.
I dusted myself off and watched as Haku and Sasuke crossed paths. "Will wonders never cease. Sasuke actually came to check up on me." I taunted.
"I didn't, idiot. I just came here to escape. This boy, he keeps stalking us, and then Tazuna started telling us about this man called Kaiza." He drawled.
"Well, tell me about it." I begged. He then told me about Kaiza. How he was the village's hero, but was executed by Gato in the end. Now, because their beacon had disappeared, they were living with their heads down, getting cowed by Gato. I sensed Kakashi and Sakura approaching, and stopped all conversations with Sasuke. When they arrived, Kakashi challenged my competency in tree-walking. I decided to fail yet again to have an excuse to stay near the house because the possibility that Gato would send someone to the house and take a hostage was high. I ran up to the halfway mark before forcing more chakra into my foot than necessary and was launched off the tree. Kakashi shook his head and told me to continue training.
KAKASHI
Naruto flew off the trunk again. I shook my head in disappointment, not sure what to make of it. Maybe he just had incredible luck, or maybe there was a reason he did it. Then it hit me like a tsunami. Hostages! Gato could take hostages if we left the house unguarded! I told Naruto to keep on training, my suspicions that he was hiding something still in place. I hoped that, one day, he would trust me enough to tell me. I called for them to follow me back to the house for a nice uninterrupted breakfast.
INARI
I was still upset with Grandpa for telling them about Dad. I hated the ninja for trying to be heroes. There was no such thing. No one could oppose Gato. I found the blond one alone in his room and had had enough. I screamed at the blond one that he didn't know anything about pain and suffering. I expected him to look ashamed or something, but his reaction was the complete opposite from what I was expecting. He looked straight in my eyes and said, "I know how you feel, but there are people out there who are worse off than you. You didn't have to watch as your entire family was slaughtered in front of you by your own brother, you didn't have to watch as your father was ridiculed by his comrades until committed seppuku, you didn't have your entire village hating you for something you have no control over, so don't think your life is that miserable. You still have your mother and grandfather and they love you very much. Don't worry about Gato, you let us worry about that. Ninja are stronger than you think. There will always be hope at the end of a rainbow."
"But there isn't a rainbow." I sniffled, glancing at Dad's picture. Then the blond did something totally unexpected. He did something with his hands and fingers and a lot of water came out of his mouth! The water went out the window and the light refracted off the water droplets and created a rainbow. He actually created a rainbow! Then he stopped spouting water and the rainbow stayed for a few seconds before it faded away into the landscape.
"There is now," he said while the rainbow was still there. I smiled and he returned it with his own. Somehow, that smile filled me with hope, and I felt I could trust him.
MINATO
After giving Inari a pep talk, I left the room and took a walk around the village. True to Tazuna's word, there were signs of poverty everywhere. This only fuelled my determination to end Gato's reign and also, his life. Having seen enough, I went back to the clearing, where I stayed for the rest of the day, going back only when the sky looked like the twilight zone with the clouds obscuring everything. I slept that night, because it was nearing the end of the week and Zabuza could have already recovered. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore Sasuke's light snores.
A/N: I'm so sorry this chapter is so short. Apparently, FemHaku wins by a landslide and a living Haku is a shoo in. Zabuza is still going to end up dead. Please don't hate me for making this so short. I'll try harder next chapter.