Chapter 2: "Those Nice Boys From Kirigakure" Pt. 1

Hoshigaki Kisame glared up at the ceiling. Everything hurt. Which is strange since, by all accounts, he should have been dead. Who knew escaping from Kiri with Samehada would be so difficult? Speaking of...

"If you're looking for your sword, it's up against the wall." A woman stepped into the room. He guessed she was in her fifties, but it was hard to tell. Her faded pink hair contrasted her sharp, almost glowing green eyes. She knelt next to him and placed down a tray with two cups of tea. She took a sip from both before handing him one.

"I know you..." He muttered, "Haruno, right? They say you'll heal anyone." He accepted the tea. If this really is Haruno Sakuya, he'd be fine. If it wasn't...well, they'd be less trouble to deal with. "Where am I?"

"The Land of Waves. It's a Shinobi-free nation at the moment, so you're safe here." She sips her tea. "But you should go back to Kiri. At some point."

His hand tightens around his cup. "You seriously sayin' that to me? Not that I don't appreciate you helping me out, Lady Haruno, but I got reasons."

"I know." She leveled a cool stare at him. "But they'll need you when it's time to rebuild and make things right. When you're healed and brave enough to go back..."

Kisame snarled and leaned closer. He snapped his teeth at her. She wrinkled her nose and reached up to flick him in the forehead. It hurt. Kisame grumbled and rubbed his head. "Ain't a matter of bravery..." he muttered. She swatted his knee under the blankets.

"It's rude to interrupt, Hoshigaki. Now pay attention. When you're ready to go back, find and ally yourself with Terumi Mei. She is the key."

He was familiar with the name. "Terumi Mei is hardly any older than I am..." He mumbled.

"But she's important. That is the first thing you can do to thank me for dragging you back from the brink of death."

He huffed. "First, huh? And what's the second?"

She finished her tea and stood. "The second...Will make itself clear to you when you return to the Land of Waves. Two more pieces needed for restoring Kiri will appear here in several years time. Make sure they stay alive.:"

"What, you some kind of fortune teller or something? Can't say I'm a fan of this cryptic bullshit."

"Or something, sure..." she murmured. Then she was gone.

Kisame stared at his tea. A tea stem, perfectly vertical, bobbed up and down in a cheerful, lazy rhythm. He sighed. "Good fortune, huh?" He looked at Samehada, then back to the tea. He drained it with a long sip, stood, and walked over to his sword.

He had no loyalty for the Mizukage or for his fellow Shinobi...but...for his country? There was still something there.

"Come on, Samehada. Time to find Miss Terumi. Hopefully that old bat was right."

The masked Hunternin landed on the water, light as a leaf. They gathered Zabuza to them, then vanished. Just in time for two kunai to go shooting through where they had just been. Sakura tugged Tazuna down out of the way as one of the blades shaved off a bit of his hair.

"Come back here, you brat!" A figure stumbled out of the woods, bleeding with senbon sticking out of nearly every limb. A huge sword, wrapped in bandages, trailed behind him. Team Seven froze and waited.

The figure collapsed in the dirt with a groan. "Damn it..."

Sakura looked at the others, then slowly made her way to the person on the ground. He was huge, and both his skin and hair were blue. "Um...Excuse me?"

He glared up at her with silver eyes, through the expression on his face softened immediately. "Oi, Pinkie. You a Haruno?"

She stared down at him, then nodded. "Y-yes. Haruno Sakura. Um, My grandmother is H-Haruno Sakuya. And you're..."

"Hoshigaki Kisame." Kakashi stumbled over. "A hunter-nin of the Village of Mist."

"Great. Now we're all friends. Pinkie-chan, could you do me a solid? Pull some of those needles out of my arms. Damn brat of Zabuza's caught me by surprise."

Sakura sighed but started extracting the senbon, each movement careful so as not to do more damage. "Wait...That masked hunter was Zabuza's ally?"

Naruto let out a shout of alarm and started yelling to Sasuke and Kakashi. Kakashi himself looked dead on his feet and collapsed not long after Sakura started working.

Kisame, once his limbs were free of Senbon, stood and stretched. He hefted Kakashi up onto his shoulder.

"Well, kid, seems like I owe you one. Come on, let's get this guy somewhere safe. You brats did a real number on Zabuza, he'll probably be out of it for a week. Heh."

He grinned at Sasuke and Naruto who blanched. Naruto then grinned and folded his arms behind his head.

"Yeah, I was pretty kick-ass, wasn't I?"

Sakura's head fell. They had done all the fighting...and she'd just stood back. Useless. Helpless."

Kisame watched her.

A day later, Kisame watched the bridge builders work. His hunter mask was tied to the side of his head. He looked down at the girl at his side.

"So...your teacher is the Copy Ninja, huh? What's he teaching you anyway?"

She hummed in thought and rocked on her heels. She didn't seem to be afraid of him, which was strange. What was it with Haruno women and a lack of healthy fear?

"He taught us how to walk on trees today. I got it right away! But...then he said he wanted to focus on teaching Naruto and Sasuke. So I'm here."

He stared. "And that's it?"

"Yeah. Um! He said that once the boys mastered tree walking, he might show us water-walking." She fiddled with the end of her hair. He let out a long sigh.

"So while he's training the wonder twins to control their chakra...he sent a ten year old girl to guard the bridge builder."

"Okay." She folded her arms and glared up at him. He bit back a chuckle. She looked about as imposing as a kitten. "First of all, I'm twelve, thank you. Second, you're here, aren't you?"

He hummed and ruffled her hair. "Fair points, Pinkie-chan. Still...for fuck's sake, you're a damn kid. He should know better than to leave you with big, scary foreign ninja. What if...I don't know, what if I decided to eat you or something?"

She stared up at him. Her and her grandmother had a similar unimpressed stare, he realized.

"You're not that kind of person, Hoshigaki-san." She said finally, turning away. "You look scary...but you have eyes like Naruto. You seem like you enjoy a good fight...but more than that, you like having a purpose for fighting."

He froze. Then he sighed and chuckled. "Alright, fair enough. Still, wouldn't be good for me if I let Lady Haruno's granddaughter die on her first big mission. So tell you what. I'm gonna teach you some skills. You got the control for water jutsu down, all you need is practice."

She looked up at him in shock. "You'd do that...?"

"Damn straight! Now pay attention. First step is learning how to walk on water. Walking on trees is all well and good, but the real test is how well you can maintain your control on a shifting surface."

The battle raged, with Sasuke and Naruto vs Haku while Kakashi and Zabuza faced off. Kisame was nowhere to be found. That's when she felt it.

Hundreds of feet approaching. She looked back at Tazuna, murmured an apology, and darted forward. She zipped around Haku's wall of mirrors and barely avoided a senbon in the ankle. Kakashi shouted something to her as she dashed past him, but she didn't here him. She was too busy making sure she got every hand seal right.

With the final hand seal, she felt all the mist and water in the air swirl around her. She shoved her hands forward and her chakra shot out past the end of the bridge. The water took the shape of a huge, angry shark as it swam through the air towards a mob, barely hidden in the mist. The fights behind her froze to a standstill at the display.

Zabuza heard the screams and his head shot back toward Kakashi. "You taught your kid that?!"

"Like hell he did." Kisame landed next to Zabuza. He swung Samehada up to rest across his shoulder. "That's my girl! You show 'em, Pinkie-chan!"

Zabuza adjusted the grip on his sword but Kisame waved him off. "What are you doin' here, Hoshigaki? Still wanting my head?"

"Something like that. More like fulfilling a debt I owe. Someone told me once that...when I came back here, I'd find two pieces that were vital to restoring Kiri, makin' it better. I'm guessing she meant you and your student. Plus, I found out that Gato was planning on killing you both once Hatake's little team had you nice and vulnerable. No pay in sight, I'm afraid."

Zabuza snarled slightly and turned back, though he paused. The little genin girl fired off another Shark Bullet into the approaching mob, then crumpled to her knees with exhaustion. Kisame was at her side in an instant and picked her up. He watched as his fellow swordsman spoke to her, his face soft and bright with pride.

Haku dismissed his mirrors, seeing as the fight with Sasuke and Naruto looked finished. He flash-stepped to his master's side.

"Shishou...?"

Zabuza glanced down at him. Then he ruffled his hair. "Not bad work yourself, Haku. Come on, we gotta talk to Gato about our pay."

Haku stared up at him, then nodded, smiling brightly under his cracked mask.

Sakura insisted on patching both Zabuza and Haku up once the fighting was all over. Zabuza watched the girl with interest. Just what had Kisame seen in her? His answer came when he saw her hand light up with mint-green chakra. Medical chakra, the hardest kind to learn, let alone control. And this girl was still a child.

"You a medic, kid?"

"I'm learning. My grandmother taught Tsunade. She taught me a few things as well, but most of them are still out of my reach right now."

He watched with barely-veiled interest as she soothed the burns from his and Kakashi's second bout. "Not bad. No wonder that damn Kaijin thought you were worth his time."

Her face colored and she grinned up at him. "I'm a quick study."

He huffed, then motioned for Haku to come over when he was done. "Strip for the girl so she can fix you up."

Haku blushed horribly. He bit back a grin to keep his face stern. So the kid wasn't as oblivious as he thought.

"No, really, Miss Sakura, I'm fine, I hardly need..."

"Nonsense! Come on, at least let me take a look."

He looked up at Zabuza pleadingly. This time, Zabuza didn't bother hiding his smirk. "You heard the lady."

He sighed but undressed enough that his chest was bare. Sakura was surprisingly professional. Only a mild blush dusted her cheeks. Haku, on the other hand, was bright red. He glared at his teacher, and had to bite back a yelp as her hands gently ghosted over his skin.

"Um...I think Naruto would be sad once we leave to not hear from you again so..." she looked up from her work. "If you want, I'm a pretty good pen pal. I'd be happy to help you keep in touch."

Haku looked down at her, then smiled. "That...would be nice, thank you. I would love to stay in contact with Naruto-kun. And yourself."

She colored more at the blush and had to look away. "Great! Good. Um. You're all set so..."

She skittered out of the room, though she came back in with her address written on a spare sheet of paper. Haku accepted it and stared after her as she left.

Zabuza watched his student. Then smirked.

"You know, your kids might end up having pink hair."

"Shishou!"

They stopped and Zabuza gave Sakura a lazy wave. He noticed her talking to some red-head while a tall blonde fumed in the background. A black haired man who resembled her former teammate also stood with them.

"Haku-kun! Zabuza-san, hello! I am so glad to see you, you have no idea!" She trotted over to them and smiled brightly. He watched the blonde trail after her while the red haired man talked softly to the elder Uchiha.

"Hello, Sakura-chan. I'm glad to see you looking well." Haku was a head taller than her now but still as pretty as ever. He smiled at her with no small amount of fondness. "Kisame mentioned he sensed a large amount of enemies en route to the hospital. We offered to help you intercept them."

She grinned and Zabuza stifled a chuckle. "Thanks. We'll need the help." She then pulled Haku into a sudden hug. "I was so worried when I stopped hearing from you. Don't you go dying on me now, okay? Either of you."

Haku froze but hugged her back. He carded a hand through her short hair. "I promise, I won't die now, Sakura."

The moment lasted only a second longer before the blonde tugged Sakura out of Haku's grasp and held her close to him. He glared at Haku jealously. Sakura shrieked in surprise.

"That's my Saku-chan, yeah! Keep your hands off, girly boy!"

"Deidara! Put me down! Haku's a friend!"

"No way, Saku-chan!" He smiled up at her. "It's been too long since I saw your pretty face. I want to keep you to myself a bit longer, yeah."

She sighed and shook her head but Zabuza noticed her smile. He also noted the way Haku's hands clenched.

Another pair of ninja landed near them. The current Otokage stood tall, his second behind him. Sakura waved from Deidara's arms.

"Otokage-sama! Tayuya, hi!"

Kimimaro smiled. "Sakura-san. Gaara-kun sends his regards and his regrets. He is busy elsewhere but asked us to assist you." A small force of Oto-nin landed after him. "I was a bit worried when you screamed and feared we were too late."

"No, no, Deidara just spooked me." She glared at the blonde until he sighed and set her down. "I'm so glad you're here to help. But are you sure you're feeling okay?" She walked closer to Kimimaro to fuss over him while he watched her with a fond expression that matched Haku's.

Zabuza sighed and patted his student's shoulder. "Have faith, kid. You still have a shot. I can tell."

Haku nodded and smiled up at him. "Thanks, Shishou. I'm not giving up yet." Deidara looked at them and narrowed his eyes. Haku simply smiled. He was just happy she was okay. Even if he had to compete against everyone in the world...he was not going to give her up without a fight.