A/N: I've been drawing a lot. Hurr. Delays and distractions abound. :B I got Art Student of the Month in my school for September, so I'm pretty happy right now.

Does anyone know the Silversun Pickups? I've recently become obsessed with their music. :D

There's a little something extra at the end as an apology for this chap being so late: THE FIRST DRAFT OF THE NARUHINA CONFESSION SCENE O.O Have fun with that.

Read and review, as always! :)

Chapter 24 – Bloody Bloody Memory

Because it was so late at night and she was so tired, Haku fumbled with her apartment key a bit before it finally went into the lock the right way. She turned the key and locked it behind her again behind her once she was in. She unceremoniously dropped her pack on the floor and made a beeline for the couch, too exhausted to even walk to her bed in the next room. The couch was hard but warm, and it even cursed at her as she threw herself on it. She grabbed around for a pillow but for some reason, she grabbed a fistful of long hair that did not belong to her.

"Haku! What the hell?!" the couch protested again.

Oh. Sasuke was on her couch.

…

Wait.

Sasuke was on her couch?

Realizing she wasn't exactly in a ladylike position on him, Haku tried to get up off of him but only succeeded in falling onto the floor with a yelp.

Sasuke swung his legs off the couch and sat up, holding his stomach and massaging his head where she had grabbed his hair hard. "What was that for?" he groaned. "You fucking crushed me."

She got up off the floor. "Well, what the hell are you doing in my apartment? You don't even live here."

He looked at the floor, knowing she was right. He decided to tell the truth. "I wanted to give you my answer."

Haku's stance and expression softened. He really had wanted to tell her this bad? "Well that going to have to wait until morning. I can't scold you the right way when I feel half dead."

He must have felt the same way because he left her apartment without another word.

Sasuke came back the next morning just as she was eating breakfast.

"Sasuke-san, if that's you, just let yourself in." she called from the table.

The door opened and closed down the short hallway around the corner from the kitchen. Sasuke sat down next to her and silently watched her finish her breakfast of cold cereal and milk. He started when she got up to wash her bowl. "Is now a good time?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, now is a good time."

"My answer is that all life should be respected and that just because animals aren't as smart as humans doesn't mean that they can be used as tools for our benefit."

Haku put her bowl and spoon on a dish towel next to the sink. "Exactly. If you don't have that mindset, idiot, then you will become a sick and twisted being and I don't want to see you ever become like that. Those people are the vilest to ever walk the earth and become villains because they will stop at nothing to accomplish what they want." She stood in front of him with her arms crossed. "Is that what you want? To be a villain? To be the bad guy?"

"If it allows me to have my revenge on my brother, then ye-"

"Goddamnit!" Haku threw her arms up and walked away. "It's always revenge with you! Revenge revenge revenge!" She shook her hand out in front of her at him, palms up. "Don't you get it? You will become your brother that way. You will be the same."

Sasuke stood up so fast that his chair fell over backwards "Don't you ever compare me to my brother. We will never, and I promise never, be the same." His eyes burned with rage.

"Well if you keep on believing what the damn Mizukage says and training like how you are with him, then you eventually will be just like him, a cold-blooded killer!" Her voice had an edge of hysteria as she walked to the door.

He followed her. "I swear I will never become a monster like him."

"That's great! Ask your sensei to teach you some other way." She opened the door.

He snatched her wrist. "Where do you think you're going?" he growled.

Haku shook him off. "I'm just getting the mail, sheesh."

"How can I ask that of him? I have to respect him." Sasuke descended down the stairs with her to the lobby.

"You sure don't respect Kakashi-san,"- she saw him flinch at the name – "and he's your old teacher too."

Sasuke looked away, silenced by her comment.

She opened the box in the wall that had her apartment number on it, took out the single small scroll that lay inside it and began to read.

Sasuke checked his own box and found a single small envelope. He tore it open.

To: Uchiha Sasuke

From: Unknown

Received via: messenger hawk

Message: Help me help you.

What did that mean? Sasuke frowned and shoved the message in his back pocket for future refrence. He would speculate who it came from and what "Help me help you" meant later. He looked back at Haku, and her new expression worried him. "What is it? What does it say?"

"The Mizukage wants me to come to his office today." She said as she rolled her scroll back up. "I had just gotten back from a mission too." She complained.

They went back up the stairs and went back into their separate apartments where Haku changed into something more appropriate for a meeting with the Mizukage. She was surprised when Sasuke was standing in her doorway when she opened the door to leave. She sighed. "What do you want now?"

"I'm coming with you."

She closed the door behind her and walked down the hall. "Why?"

"I'm curious." was all he said.

Five minutes later, they were in the Mizukage's office, which also had his secretary there sitting in a chair with a notepad and pen on her lap. Both Sasuke and Haku bowed to the masked man standing in front and leaning backwards on his desk, arms folded. "What is it, Mizukage-sama? Why have you called me?" The slightest bit of irritation showed through Haku's voice.

"That is true that I called you here, but why are you here Sasuke-san? I did not request you."

Sasuke gave a slight bow again. "I was interested in what the Mizukage had to say to my comrade the day after she returned from a mission. That is all."

The Mizukage turned back to Haku without another word to Sasuke. Evidently, his reason was valid. "I have called you here because while you were on your mission, I was looking through your file. Here in the Village Hidden in the Mist, we require a history of all shinobi and kunochi, which remains confidential unless needed for some purpose. There is no history record in your file, so I just want to rectify that. Nothing more." He said lightly and waved a hand.

"Although my name is Momochi Haku, I have no blood relation to Momochi Zabuza. He found me as an orphan on the streets and took to me and began to teach me the ways of the ninja." She said no more, as of the words burdened her.

"And? There must be more to this tale. Do you remember how you became an orphan?" the Kage prodded.

"I was born in a small village in the Mist, near the mountains. My mother and father loved me dearly since I was their only child, but we were poor farmers and we could barely afford milk and rice.

"One day, I discovered I could control water. I showed this to my mother, holding the water in midair in my hands but she quickly knocked it down and told me to never do that again. Unfortunately, we lived in the time when bloodlines were outlawed and such people were hated and killed because of the Fourth Mizukage's law. My father saw me show my mother and he immediately marched over to her and I watched him beat her to the ground with a shovel. Then he turned to me, but I ran as far and as feast as I could. He caught up with me and was about to strangle me when I suddenly froze him with ice. And then I ran away."

The scritch scritch scritch of pencil on paper continued for about a minute or so as the secretary wrote down her story. "Thank you." he said when she was done. "You may leave."

"The second part of your story sounded slightly fake." Sasuke said once they were out on the street.

"You're right. That's 'cause it is."

"You lied to the Mizukage?" His voice was calculating.

There was a moment of silence before; "There's a reason."

"Goddamnit Haku, there's always a reason."

"You want to know?"

"Yes."

She took a deep breath. "I trust you enough to do this but you must swear you will never repeat this to anybody, even if an enemy has you at knife-point."

Her heart skipped a beat when he looked her straight in the eyes and nodded.

Haku took another deep breath and began her tale.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Shiroi-nee-chan!" A little boy who could pass for five years old ran through the snow, over to the girl his same height and who also had the same hair color.

"What is it Haku-nee-san?" Shiroi asked her brother as she continued to play dress-up with her doll in the three-walled tool shed.

He grabbed her hand. "Come to the river with me. I wanna show you something cool."

They ran to the "river," which was only a small stream that ran through the patch of trees that had lost their leaves for the winter. Haku carefully bent down to the streams surface and scooped up some water with both hands. He grinned. "Watch this."

The water in his hands began to float and write in the air.

"Wow Nee-san! How'd ya do that?!"

He let the water splash onto his hands. "I dunno, but maybe you can do it since we're twins."

"Lemme try." Shiroi scooped up some water. "Now what do I do?"

Haku stared at the water in his sister's hands. "I dunno how to explain it. I just… I dunno I pushed my energy into it and kept it there and then it floated."

She looked from her brother to the water in her hands and focused intently upon it, a crease forming between her small brows. She tried to do what Haku had said with the energy, but nothing happened. "I can't do it." She complained.

"Just try again!" he encouraged. "It took me a few tries too."

Shiroi focused again and the water shuddered violently this time. She was so surprised that she let the water slip through her fingers and onto the snow. Her astonished eyes met her brothers.

"See? You can do it too! You just gotta practice some more."

They grinned at each other and she scooped up more water and tried again and again until their mother came looking for them.

"Shiroi! Haku! Supper time!" she called.

At this point, Shiroi could barely lift the water out of her hands. "You think we should show Okaa-sama?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "Not until you get better okay?"

She pouted a bit but agreed. She wanted to impress her mother as much as possible.

Days later, it was time. The twins decided to show their parents right before lunchtime. However, Haku became too impatient while they waited for their father to come in from the rice fields.

"Okaa-sama, look what me and Shiroi-chan can do!" Haku looked at his sister. "One,-"

"-Two-"

"-Three!" Both children presented their mother with floating blobs of water.

Her eyes shot open and she slapped down both sets of hands. The water splashed onto the floor. "Never ever do that again." She whispered coldly, looking both of them in the eye. "Do you understand?"

The floorboards creaked and she looked up, freezing in place with a jolt. Shiroi and Haku looked around to see their father standing in the doorway with a burning hatred clear on his face.

"You never told me," he began, his voice seething with rage, "that you had a bloodline." He took a step forward, his heavy boots clunking on the floor. "Freak." he spat. "Vermin. Traitor."

The pots on the wall clanged as their mother backed up into them, never taking he eyes off her husband as he advanced. "I-I'm sorry I h-hid it – I-I thought i-it wouldn't m-matter if I n-never told you about-"

"LIKE HELL IT DOES MATTER!" he roared, grabbing her shirt and pinning her against the wall. "You know the law by the Mizukage! All people with bloodlines are freak and therefore should be killed! I can't believe I married a creature like you!"

The children's feet were glued to the floor by the horror that was their father. It was only greatened when he began to punch every inch of their mother that he could reach.

"Outou-s-… Daddy!" Haku screamed. "Stop hurting Mommy! She didn't do anything wrong!"

He turned to his only son and released his hold on his wife, who slid to the floor, drenched in her own blood and unconscious. He picked up Haku with one hand. The boy began to struggle helplessly. "And to think I fathered vermin like you."

"Stop it Daddy! You don't mean it! I love you Daddy! Stop! St-"

His cries were silenced forever by a hard fist slamming into his face.

Only when her brother's body crumpled into a pile when it hit the floor did Shiroi fid the strength to make her legs move. She fled from the cottage she called home through the snow. The terror of her father propelled her running like she had never run before. She tripped over something hidden in the snow and curled up, ignoring the bitter cold nipping at her nose, cheeks and ears, wanting only to cry away the images she had just witnessed.

A shadow stood over her. The heavy breathing told her it was him. Shiroi rolled over to see his hands reaching down to her throat.

"No Daddy…" she whimpered helplessly. "No…please…" His cold hands constricted around her neck, determined to take away every last bit of life she had. Her small fingers tugged at his grip, her legs beginning to thrash and kick beneath him. It was no use. She thrust her hands in front of her, closed her eyes and screamed with her remaining breath, "STOP!"

Something clicked inside her, unlocking.

The sound of something crackling came from above her and she felt her father's grip slacken and grow freezing cold. She opened her eyes and saw him completely encased in ice. Startled, she scrambled away from him and a hand came up to her mouth in shock, surprise and horror. Shiroi stared at her palms. Had she frozen him?

She would not go back to the house. Only nightmares remained there. She would run far, far away, where these demons could not catch her. She would run far, far away and never return.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It was winter again, so much like that other one.

Shiroi sat against the railing of a bridge that led into a city. Hunger ate away at her insides, and the coldness nipped at her body, threatening to take her thinly clad toes and fingers with it.

A man passed by. "Please sir," she started, getting up to beg from him, "Do you have any change you could spare?"

He regarded her out of the corner of his eye for a moment and kept on walking.

Shiroi sat back against the wall again and hugged her legs to her chest, laying her forhead on her knees to conserve body heat. More footsteps came a few minutes later, coming her way. She warily looked up.

A man with black, white and gray military print pants and forearm covers with bandages all over his face and a shinobi hitae-te tied sideways around his head came walking down the road. He was slightly scary looking, but she could try…

"Please sir, do you have any change you could spare?"

He stopped and looked down at her. Shiroi had the weird feeling of being x-rayed for something.

Just when she thought he was going to walk away, the stranger offered his hand. His deep voice rumbled out one word.

"Come."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"And that's when I started traveling with Zabuza." Haku finished.

Silence enveloped Sasuke. He now sat in one of her armchairs, while she sat cross-legged on the couch.

"Why did you change your name to your brothers?" he finally said.

She paused, hesitating to tell. "It was to honor him," and then more quietly, "and to protect myself."

"Protect?"

"If nobody knows my real name, then nobody knows the real me, and I can break away from them without this big gaping hole in me."

"What if you broke away from me?"

She looked away from him, down to the floor, her cheeks going slightly red. This was a dangerous personal question.

"What does it matter to you?" she countered, sidestepping his query.

The bastard smirked with a twinkle in his eye. "I'm curious."

She snapped her eyes up to meet his in a vicious glare. "Fuck you." she huffed.

His grin only grew wider. "I think you would miss me, more than you would like to admit."

"Alright, so what if I would?!" She threw her arms up above her. She continued to glare as he got up and came to sit down next to her. "Why does it matter to you?" she asked again, though changing the meaning slightly.

"You know, Haku, you're pretty good at a lot of things.

She continued to shoot daggers in his direction. "And?"

"Dealing with me is probably the best. Putting up with all my shit, I thought you might leave at first."

"So what, you want me to leave now?"

A peculiar look came into Sasuke's dark eyes. "No," he said, his voice low, "I like having you around. I want you to stay."

She began to blush a bit at the look he was giving her, but she couldn't look away, caught up in his stare. Suddenly, she got up and began to walk to the other room in the apartment, her bedroom. "Stop playing with me, Uchiha-san." Her voice was harsh. "I do not appreciate it."

The smile that had been wiped off Sasuke's face when she had moved returned. She had seen though him again, even though his words to her were true. "Do you want me to leave?" he murmured.

She still hadn't turned around from where she was leaning against the door frame, facing away from him. "That would be desirable."

"Well then, good day Haku." he said with a slight bow.

"Good day, Sasuke-san."

She heard him walk across the room and open the door to let himself out.

"Wait, Sasuke-san."

He paused. "Hn?"

"Why didn't you start calling me Shiroi instead of sticking with my brother's name?"

Sasuke thought about that for a moment. "It seems more normal to me. More natural, cause that's how I know you." And then he closed the door with a parting 'click.'

Haku's back slid down the door frame and she looked up at the ceiling. He was a pure asshole, but why, for that one moment, had she believed he had meant what he had said? He might have gotten used to her, grown tolerant, but now he wanted her to stay?

And why hadn't he asked her the most important question? How was she still alive when Kakashi had shoved a Chidori clean through her chest? How was she even here after something that fatal had happened to her? Did he even know she had died in the first place?

She shook her head. No, he probably didn't know she had died, because he had never asked her how she was still living. Zabuza had cared for Haku like he was his own daughter, even though she was just a rat he had picked up off of the street. In return, she had learned to become his tool and obey his every command. He was running up to her from behind on her way to the gates of the Afterworld, guarded by the Shinigami.

He had pleaded to the Death God to give her a second chance at life because she had given up her life for him. As he had done this, Haku realized from reading copies of ancient scrolls handed down by the gods that one could be reanimated if they were pure of heart and had thrown away their life for someone without a second thought.

The Shinigami had found Haku to be in good favor and revived her in a forest o the shore of Fire Country. She had woken to discover the hole in her chest had been healed as well.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." Haku said as she stood up. Whether, she was referring to herself or Sasuke, she didn't know. Maybe…both.

Hey, here's a little outtake from earlier in the story, back when I was still sketching it out. See, I had taken a few pieces of notebook paper and I wrote down notes about the storyline, what's going to happen, side-plots that feed into the main one etc. etc. and during this, I got kinda carried away with planning the ahem… NARUHINA confession scene. So, here, as an apology for me writing this chapter late, I bring you THE FIRST DRAFT. PREPARE TO ECOUNTER MUCH CHEEZYNESS AND CORNYNESS.

­­­­­­­­-Naruto has just hugged Hinata out of the blue while they are reading/ studying stuff that Yoshi has given them.-

"Na-…Naruto-kun? What are you doing?"

"Hugging you."

She would have laughed if she wasn't caught so off guard. He didn't move for a good full minute.

"A-Ano…" her heart was beating a mile a minute. "Are you ever going to let go of me?"

"No." he answered firmly. After a moments silence, "Not now and not ever."

"Why not?"

"I…I never want to leave you."

Hinata knew what he was saying somewhat subtly but it still wasn't going to register until she had regained her head. "Wha-what?"

"I'm in love with you. I don't know how else to say it. I've been in love with you since the time came here cause I was so scared that I was going to lose you because e of Kyuubi."

She was stunned. Never in her lifetime would she have ever expected those words to come from him.

"Hina-chan-…hime? Are you okay?" he loosened his grip so he could look at her. She had a bemused look on her face. He hugged her from the front this time. "Are you okay?" he repeated into her neck.

She suddenly latched onto him and began to cry into his shoulder.

He squeezed her tighter. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it so sudden-"

"Shhhh…" she managed to get out. "You did get me off guard there just, well… wow. You don't know how long I've waited to hear that Naruto-kun." A tear ran down the side of her face and the side of her mouth curved upwards into a smile. "You don't know… I'm not crying because I'm sad. I'm just so…happy. I'm thrilled because I can't remember a time when I wasn't in love with you. Even back then Academy…"

He nodded into her shoulder and impulsively kissed her neck, caught up in the moment. She shuddered. "I heard you singing one night. About snow, and it building up, like love." He laughed. "At any rate, when you went into your coma, I wanted to tell you when you woke up, that was if you did. I almost told you." he murmured, eyes half lidded and looking down at her lips. He wondered what it would be like to touch them with his own. He was already so close…

Promptly he mentally kicked himself. She probably wasn't ready for it yet. They hadn't even officially gotten together. But still, she was already so warm, her soft body pressed into his…

Hinata though, was thinking along the same lines, even though they weren't exactly coherent. All she could focus on was that he was just… so… close…and this must be a dream. This would never happen in real life. There was no other explanation.

"Naruto-kun…" she whispered. "Am I really… dreaming? Are you really…there?"

"I'm thinking the same thing… but no, I don't think so. Tell me if this is real then." he said, his voice husky. He bent in and kissed her just below her jaw line. He remained there, eyes closed, his breath beginning to come slowly faster. He kissed her jaw and kept kissing it to her chin, where he planted the longest kiss of all.

"Now tell me, was that real?" he drew back to look into her eyes. Eyes that were wide now with anticipation, with trust and requited love.

Coherency couldn't come fast enough to her. "Y…yea…yeah" it felt like each place he touched her was tingling, burning. She brought a hand up and cupped his face, running her thumb over his whisker-marks. She felt his face turn into her palm and nuzzle it, while his other arm slowly removed her hand from where it had grabbed a fistful of his shirt on his back and twined his fingers with hers. His other hand came up and took her hand from his face.

Quite truthfully, Naruto had no idea what he was doing. (A/N: AND NEITHER DO I EL OH EL.) He just followed what his instincts told him and his desire right now was to have this beautiful – the word right now barely scratched the surface of what she really was to him – girl here in his arms.

She on the other hand, had even less of an idea of what to do. She was frozen in all of this, unsure of herself. Her lips parted and her eyes became half-lidded, waiting for what might come…

"Naruto-kun…could you… hold still for a second? I wanna…try something."

She drew her hand slowly from his and placed them on either side of his face. Both of them blushed. She re positioned herself so she was kneeling. She ran her tongue briefly over her lips and leaned in, closing the distance between them.

She softly pressed her lips to his then drew back, hesitating, unsure if she should continue. Apparently, she should because he came back in slowly like she had before. As they kissed, his hands made their way to her waist and hers got knotted in his hair. He slowly laid her on her back, lips never breaking contact. He supported all his weight on one arm while his other hand ran up and down her curves.

Desperate for air, Hinata broke it off and he fell sideways, breathing hard.

"Wow…" he whispered.

"Wow." she agreed.

"So…" He wrapped his hand around hers and brought it up between them and propped himself up with his other elbow to look at her. She laid there, chest heaving and lips half parted. "I would ask you out right now, but quite frankly, there aren't any restaurants nearby." He laughed at the last part.

She smiled and Naruto's breath caught.

"So are we…y'know?"

That's it. That's all I wrote before I stopped myself. It's a very sensual confession scene, no? O.o As I was typing this I was like "Did I seriously WRITE this?" XD Yeah. The reason why I omitted the kiss from the final confession scene was because A: I might get carried away like I kinda did here. :B It might seem like Naru and Hina were going a little fast.

I posted a massive Vampire Knight piece a week or two ago, and i urge thee to go and check it out before the next chapter of VK comes out. Tis a prediction!!!

I enjoy writing Sasuke and Haku's side of the story for some reason. I don't know why. Maybe its all the lively banter and pissed-off-ness that occurs frequently between them. =/

Until next time,

-IBP-

Next chapter: Handling the power of a demon is a lot like trying to divert a river or move a mountain. But each of those things is possible, if you know how to do it.