disclaimer, I don't own Naruto, of course.
The Haku Interlude
Chapter 4
--
When Haku was five he liked to play with dolls. When he was seven he fell in love with his male elementary school teacher. When he was thirteen he realized that there was something wrong with him.
The thirteenth year of his life must have been the most important one, the most turbulent one for sure. He lived with his mother and father in a small apartment in the Wave City. His mother worked as a nurse in a nearby hospital and his father was a construction worker. They shared their living space, his mother and father rarely argued and Haku was happy.
He felt odd at times, and got bullied more than often but he was the sort of person to forgive and forget. When people said nasty things to him and made him feel unworthy, he smiled to himself, breathed in and out, and walked on, hoping for better times to come.
Beside his honest optimism Haku's character was defined by another important personality treat. His unbreakable faith in love.
Now Haku had never really loved another person before, besides perhaps his teacher but that wasn't love like he thought of it. His dreams of love came from his mother who told him stories every night of how with just the power of love kingdoms collapsed and wars were won. She told him that by fighting for love you'd always be victorious. Haku, naïve as he was, and maybe still is, thought his mother based her stories on her love for her husband.
How unbelievably wrong he was.
--
It was late winter when Haku came home one day and heard his parents shouting at each other in the bedroom, or maybe it was just his father shouting at his mother in the bedroom. He stopped in the living room and threw his schoolbag on the kitchen table. He did not like his parents arguing but like all children he heard it more often that he liked.
Though he suddenly felt a feeling of worry clasp around his chest with cold convincing hands. His mother was sobbing there in the other room, her cries sounded almost desperate. His father would not hurt her so, right?
That exact moment the door to the bedroom was violently kicked open by his father. His face was ugly and contorted with rage and pain. When he looked at his son, his usually calm blue eyes spit fire and hatred.
'You!'
He screamed at him and grabbed him roughly by the neck. He had never done that before, he'd always treated his son like a fragile bird, maybe because he looked so much like his mother. But now, his finger pinched his skin and it hurt.
Haku gave a scared cry, his eyes sought his mother's. She was yanking pitifully at her husbands hands trying to get them of her son.
'It's not his fault. You let him go!'
Haku's father slapped her away and she fell backward and hit her head against the table. There was a gash in the back of her head and blood dripped out onto the carpet. Haku saw it and started to resist in his father's arms, he struggled to get out.
'You little bastard, you and that slut, your mother, thought you had me fooled right? I'll teach that bitch a lesson.'
'Let me go, mom's hurt.' Haku shouted back at him trying not to let the words sink in. What had his mother done?
'Fuck that whore!'
He pushed Haku on the floor and kicked him in the ribs. Despite the pain Haku crawled to his mother's side, lifting her head and stared at the blood on his hands. Just how hard had she hit her head?
His father shuffled in the kitchen drawers and he heard a glass break. When he came back there was shiny piece of metal clutched in his fist. 'Knife' Haku's head screamed.
With a power and speed he wasn't familiar with Haku crawled back against the wall, away from his father, who had now become like a strange man to him. He heard his lips utter words he should never have the need to say to him. 'Please spare me, I want to live, Sorry…'
He was crying now and shaking uncontrollably.
'You know, in some way it's a little bit of a comfort to know that such a freak like you didn't come from me. Look at you. You're a fucking shame.'
Haku closed his eyes and groped around on the floor until his fingers curled around something sharp and cold. It was one of the glass pieces of the vase that had created the breaking noise in the kitchen earlier. It cut his hands but wasn't about to let go of it. At this point that little piece of glass was life.
His father finally took the dive and prepared to stab him with the knife, but for some reason he missed and lost his balance. With the knife down he fell, and his weight was used against him when gravity pushed him down onto the shard of glass in Haku's hand.
Haku had lifted his hands to defend himself but with the razor-sharp edge up. The moment warm blood trickled down his knuckles and spotted his vision he sliced further with the glass, eventually pushing the big dying body of him.
He immediately threw away the shard of glass, and touched his face with blood-soaked hands. The world was red, white and black, he couldn't breathe but he had to get out.
He'd just killed his father, although it was self defense and appearantly it hadn't been his real father in the first place, he'd killed him, and right now the only thing he wanted to do was run. His entire body was shaking with adrenaline, he needed to go.
So instead of leaving home at an age like eighteen, with his parents waving him goodbye and inviting him for dinner if he ran out of money, he left at thirteen, parents dead, covered in blood, with no money and no hope.
Three and a half days later a man and women were found dead in their apartment. The man had died of blood loss, a cut throat, and the women had cracked her skull. Their thirteen-year old son was missing.
--
Cold spring mornings woke him with pale sunlight. He woke underneath bridges and in abandoned apartments and parking lots. Haku wandered the streets of deserted area's in town, or he got lost in the noisy city flows. The first days after, he cried a lot and he ate little.
He was scared to book hotels or talk to people on the street. But with time that paranoia went away. The cops got less motivated, his parents were dead, who would look for him? He was just another orphan in a broken city.
The bridge his father had worked on was finished now. It was shiny and glowed with lights at night.
Haku had found an empty little house in deserted street at the artificial beach. When he closed the door after him and looked east he could see the bridge. He would sit at the waterside for hours and watch the ever-changing city on the other side. The lights, the pretty lights. They were like his mother's eyes.
But it is an undeniable fact that money eventually runs out, and so after a week and a half Haku had no more. It was at this time that he crossed the beautiful bridge and look for money on the other side. He had turned fourteen by this time, the loneliest birthday of his life. But he had a number of jobs in café's and such, though most asked for ID and Haku didn't have that. He was no one in that period of his life.
He didn't have a name and he had no purpose. But one day Zabuza came, and gave him both.
--
Haku had been walking the streets most part of the night. His feet hurt but he had earned some money filling in for a waitress in a bar he frequently visited. Streets were narrow and dark, there were neon light but they gave little real light. Everything was distorted.
As always Haku took a shortcut through an empty warehouse. The lock was broken on the door and enabled him to walk through, winning some time, getting back earlier.
This night he wasn't alone. He opened the door and walked to the stairs like always but he froze on spot when he heard some stumbling to his right. There was a man there. He looked just as surprised as Haku to see someone here. The man wasn't very big, but he had huge shoulders and looked like he could handle himself.
'Do you know the way out?' He said, slurring a little, giving Haku the idea that perhaps he was drunk. He lifted his hand and pointed to the broken door. The man looked and nodded but didn't move. Haku prepared to turn around and walk on but the other man said:
'What's your name?'
Haku shot him a quick look and realized what was about to happen, he turned and told his legs to start moving.
'Hey, stop. Turn around.'
The man had followed him and grabbed his shoulder, turning him roughly and pushing him back with force. He really was drunk Haku noticed when the smell filled his nostrils.
'Whow, you're really pretty. What's your name?' He said.
Haku looked longingly at the door and kept his mouth shut. His entire body was tensed.
'Say, you want to come to my place and we'll have some fun.'
'No.' Haku said in a little voice. First time he found he could speak again.
'Come on, you're so hot, it's a shame to waste a pretty girl like you.' He said, this time leaning in and touching his face his big hands.
Haku quickly whipped his head to the other side and brought up his arms in between them for protection.
'Let me go.'
The man moved his hands to hold Haku's sides. This triggered him and he violently struggled to get away, pushing and hitting where he could. His breath going so fast that he couldn't keep up.
'Hey!? Don't play hard with me! What's wrong that beautiful chicks don't want to fuck no more?' He grunted while grabbing Haku's wrists and pinning them to the wall. With his feet, stuck in heavy boots, he kicked away Haku's legs from under him and caught him when he fell. The smell of alcohol and sweat made him sick as he cried out. By this time he was almost hyperventilating.
The floor was cracked in the middle and wood painfully stuck in his side. Big hands were ripping away his coat and tearing his shirt. He'd placed himself between Haku's spread legs. His face was red and buried by curly brown hair.
But then his big hands had covered his chest, and he withdrew them immediately. Haku heard him mutter 'what the fuck?' and closed his eyes. He lay limp now, arms half raised but motionless.
'Are you a boy?' He asked in a sort of silent shock.
Haku kept his mouth and eyes shut. He didn't respond. He heard and felt the man getting of him. Still he didn't move.
'Fucking hell.'
Then he was violently hauled up by his hair and received a punch in the face and a kick in his ribs.
'Bloody fag.' The man yelled a him before spitting on his face.
Haku dropped to the floor, clutching his head, fearing for more physical abuse, but the man stumbled away, leaving only the smell of liquor and the panicked beating of Haku's heart.
He lay there for maybe 10 minutes. All the time he wanted to jump up and run away, home, to his mother, but she wasn't there anymore and he was afraid that his legs wouldn't carry him if he tried. When the shaking finally reduced to where he could breathe normally again, he sat up. The first thing that his eyes looked on was the open door. The door that hadn't been open before.
He jumped to his feet, swaying. Tears had dried on his face, but there was a fresh load on its way.
'Who is there?' He heard himself say.
There was a rustle of fabric behind him. He whipped himself around and faced a tall man in a faded navy-blue trench coat. The collar was up so only half his face was visible. Draped over his shoulder there was a body bag. It was occupied.
Haku stared up at the man. He took one step backwards, the man took one forward. His face was now completely in the light; He had sharp features and a crooked nose. His black hair was cropped short. His eyes…
Haku said to him:
'You have the same eyes as me.'
And it was true. They shared the same eyes, cold and lonely, hurt and betrayed. Eyes that tell sad stories but that also tell of a strength deep inside.
The man dropped the body bag. It collided with the earth, and send a little dust flying. The man looked at Haku's face and said:
'Do you want to kill him?'
He nodded with his head towards the door out of which the drunkard had walked away.
Haku thought, and slowly, almost unnoticeably nodded his head. His hands did not shake anymore. The tall man sighed and looked down at him. Then he seemed to make up his mind and walked through the door with long calm strides.
It took them about 5 minutes to relocate the man. He was sitting outside against a wall with a bottle of liquor in his hands. His eyes saw nothing but blurry images.
The tall man who shared Haku's eyes stopped at the corner and opened his coat. He pulled out a handgun and a sound absorber which he attached to the handgun with quick efficient movements. Then he stepped around the corner and towards the man.
He stopped when he was right next to him and held the gun to his left temple. He exchanged one look with Haku who was standing at the other end of the street, before pulling the trigger twice. The shots sounded muffled but clear in the silent city. There was no blood. The man just collapsed against the wall and dropped the bottle. Then it was over.
Haku was joined by the tall man who now had taken apart and put away his gun. He took him by the neck and pushed him on, heading for the warehouse again.
'What's your name?' He asked.
'Haku.'
'Haku, I'm Zabuza.'
--
Zabuza had no house. He drifted around, crashing at friends' houses or getting rooms in shabby hotels. The night he picked up Haku he was living with a friend of his called Cole. Cole'd been out most of the night so when they arrived at his penthouse the lights were off and he lay KO in a king-size bed with a naked girl wrapped around his leg.
Zabuza didn't let Haku see it and ushered him along to the guestroom. For some reason Haku seemed innocent, and although he had just given the green light for him to shoot a man, he didn't want to spoil his purity.
The guestroom was a little less glamorous. One double bed, a mirror, a low cupboard and an armchair. The walls were soft beige and the carpet was white. It was still a very beautiful room. Haku had never seen such wealth before.
He sat down on the bed carefully, as if he didn't want's to creak the sheets. Meanwhile, Zabuza had kicked open the door to the bathroom and was washing his face. He'd thrown his coat over the chair, his gun on the pillow.
When he came out of the bathroom with a towel in his neck, chin dripping with water, he gave Haku a puzzled look.
'Tell me Haku, are you a boy or a girl?'
Haku sighed and folded his hands, he really wanted to give him an answer. He liked him, very much.
'That depends, sometimes I'm a girl, sometimes I'm a boy, but mostly I'm both.'
'At the same time? You must have a crowded little body then.' Zabuza answered in total honesty and Haku frowned.
He opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted.
'Do you have a home?'
He shook his head.
'Good, neither do I. That means you can sleep on the couch if you want. But first you've got to take a shower, you smell bad.' Zabuza said and threw him the towel he had draped around his neck.
Haku frowned again, but took his advice and turned on the shower. It felt amazing, he'd missed warm water sincerely. The steam filling up the bathroom clouded his mind. Time went by and he felt himself melt under the hot spray. His shoulders sagged and he yawned. Today had been a good day after all.
--
Twenty minutes later he finally got tired enough to turn off the shower and wrap a big white towel around his shoulders. There was a knock on the door and without waiting for an answer Zabuza came in with little bundle of clothes in his arms and an apple in his mouth. He put away the clothes and sat down on the edge of the bathtub, at Haku's exact height. He played with the apple in his hands but his eyes were focused on Haku, who felt himself turn a little red.
Zabuza seemed to look right through him, all at once.
'Yeah, I can use you.' He muttered and reached out to touch the boy's cheek with his fingers.
For some reason Haku wasn't scared but only slightly confused. There was nothing intimidating about him, he thought.
'Sleep in my bed tonight.' Zabuza whispered.
'Okay.' He nodded back, his voice hoarse and unstable.
With slightly shaking limbs he followed him to the bed and crawled in at the left side. Zabuza turned of the light and got in as well. There was rustling of sheets and the heat of another body next to him. Haku lay with his back towards him. He was nervous as hell.
After a few minutes all had gotten silent and their breathing had evened out a little. In the time just before sleeping when everything is drowsy and heavy and soft, Haku felt a hand, maybe just one finger caress his bare back, drawing a line from the small of his back all up where his hair began. There the hand stopped and combed through his long hair sensuously. Haku shivered. But that was all that happened, and the hand retreated.
That night turned out to be the best night sleep he'd had a very long time.
--
In the time after that Haku was never asked to leave. He drifted around with Zabuza, sleeping in trains at night, with his head just inches away from the other's shoulder, and walking deserted streets together.
He never asked about Zabuza's gun, but it was pretty obvious what he did for a living. At first he tried to keep it a secret and never took out the weapon in Haku's presence again like that time when they first met. But after some days and night together he wasn't bothered by the thought anymore, and Haku got used to the gun. It was part of Zabuza's personality.
When they sat together in empty subway stations, Haku would sometimes talk about anything and Zabuza's cynical comments would have him defend his opinions fervently. Only later would Haku shut up and realize that Zabuza was laughing with him, then a small smile would creep on his face and grow until he was laughing as well.
--
Haku followed his broad back through the dark night streets that evening. It wasn't the first time that he accompanied Zabuza on one of his jobs but this one felt different. For one: he kept looking over his shoulder to see if Haku was following and he'd asked him to dress up for the occasion.
Zabuza stopped and waited until Haku had caught up, they walked the last block shoulder to shoulder.
When they eventually stopped the streets had gotten a little lighter and a little more crowded. Women wore flashy nightdresses that showed a lot of skin and men were dressed in bright colors. The neon signs on the buildings lured in their victims, some of thepartyers had crashed down on the pavement, a bottle of liquor in their hand. It was Wave City like Haku had know it all his life. Gloriously rotten.
One club looked bigger than the others. The bouncer at the door was twice as big and the lights hurt your eyes. In front of this one there was a group of young men waiting. They were laughing with each other. One of them had his arm draped around the shoulders of a young girl, not older than 15. These men were Zabuza's job.
He held Haku back in a dark corner of the street. His voice had become that monotonous and clear sound he used when he talked about things that were important for work.
'See him, Haku? The one in yellow and white, brown curly hair? '
Haku nodded.
'Chat him up.'
'What?'
'I need you to get him away from the group, he's the only target. Get him somewhere I can be discreet.' He said, no sign of annoyance in his voice whatsoever.
Tonight he was the teacher and Haku the student. The latter stood still for a while before hesitantly turning to the crowd and stepping forward. He threw one doubting look over his shoulder but never stopped.
From a distance Zabuza saw him, such a natural. He saw him casually touch the young man's shoulder and lean in subtly to ask him something in the noise. His hand stayed were it was as he pulled back and smiled his most innocent and desirable smile.
They talked for a while, and Haku's hand went up to put a few lone strands of hair behind his ear. Eventually the young man nodded and began to search for something in his pocket. Haku grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the line heading for the more empty part of these streets.
Zabuza followed them into an alley silently.
'I hope you don't mind, but I won't be able to make that phone cal in such a noise.' Haku said while starting to dial a nonexistent number on the cell phone.
All the young man could do was watch and smile, and blush. He was enchanted.
Zabuza didn't need a better opportunity. He stepped out of the shadow, gun outstretched and pulled the trigger twice, just like last time. The shots did not echo on but were abruptly cut of by the silencer on the gun.
Haku only startled slightly, but he composed himself quickly and turned around to face Zabuza. A look of expectation on his face.
Zabuza only glanced at him sideways and said:
'You did good.'
It was enough to make him smile.
--
Haku soon discovered that he truly was good at doing these jobs. He'd been picked out perfectly, someone to use and abuse and who never minded. He was alright with the fact of simply being a tool. He would be Zabuza's whore, spy or thief, gratefully.
Things never went wrong, until that day, and even then, they went wrong at first but that was okay because of what happened afterwards. It was the day they went to pay back Gato.
The lamps of the dingy back room where green and red, thus bathing the room in light of the same colors. The room was small and luxuriously decorated although every single ornament in the room screamed 'pimp'. It was the sort of room that people with a lot of money but no taste would inhabit.
Throughout the smoke Haku could vaguely distinguish the man that had to be Gato. Small, fat and unhealthy looking. He was sitting in one of the big red armchairs, a cane resting against his knee and a small black hat dangling from his outstretched index finger. He was talking with a lanky young man in a white suit.
Haku smiled at the sight. They were all the same. Hell, even their faces started to look alike now. After so many of these jobs everything blurred together and became one big thing. If was like dreaming the same dream over and over again.
Breathing once, composing himself he prepared to become the person who would feel at home at these kind of meetings. Shoulders back, chin up, ooze wealth. Zabuza at his side.
He glanced up once and caught his eyes, there was a faint smile around those lips just for him, but then he felt a hand in his neck, pushing him gently forward. Show's on.
'Gato, it's good to see you again'
'Zabuza, it's been a while since we've last seen you around.' He said, making it sound a little condescending.
'I'm going to be frank. You still owe me money on that last job.' Zabuza said softly, trying to keep as low a profile as possible.
'That last job was a mess, I don't owe you a thing.'
'It was perfectly executed, and you never paid.'
Gato was about to reply, and according to the reddish color his head had gotten, it wasn't about to be pretty. Haku quickly interfered, his voice ripping through the tense atmosphere with accuracy.
'I don't think now, is such a right time to discuss business, don't you Zabuza? It's so boring.'
Gato finally noticed him. His eyes rested on his face for a long time before he averted his head confusedly and asked Zabuza:
'Introduce me to your charming friend.'
'Haku' Zabuza said, short, to the point and a little hostile.
Haku just smiled and asked for a drink.
It wasn't hard keeping Gato amused. Big men like that always wanted to talk about themselves, so all he had to do was inform after his latest 'accomplishment' and nod and comment at the right times.
All this time Zabuza's words echoed through his head. 'Don't go that far with him, not this one.' He had been given straight orders. Steal the money, (which was in the wallet, Gato liked to keep a small fortune in his pocket just because it made him feel good. He was obsessed like that.) and get out.
It did not take long before Gato, already drunk, asked him to continue the conversation (monologue) somewhere more privet. Relieved that it was finally getting somewhere, Haku agreed.
The place they went was the room behind the bar where the waiters could relax and where some of the crates of drinks where kept because it was cool and dark. Really fancy, Haku thought by himself.
'It's a little dark in here don't you think?' He was saying before a pair of groping hands startled him against the wall.
Very direct indeed. But used to this already, and focused on the job, Haku was soon subtly feeling for a wallet, moving his hands along the belt and below. The greasy fat man had his nose in his neck and against his cheek, one hand on his face and the other near his waist. It was damn right repulsive. But in the darkness of the little room they were easily ignored. All that mattered now was succeeding and being of purpose to Zabuza, who had such high hopes for him.
Haku smiled. And that's when the door flew open. A tall silhouette appeared in the dim light and he moved forward in a flash. Grabbing the busy man in his collar, turning him around, and punching him in the face. He sagged to the ground in a formless heap, and closed the eyes that had looked so surprised a second before.
Zabuza was shaking although Haku didn't know why. He dared to lift out a hand to him after a few seconds, but Zabuza grabbed his wrist instead, dragging him along, out the door. Haku struggled once and managed to snatch away Gato's wallet in the hurry.
The people they passed on their way out were blurred, and their surprised expressions made no impression on his mind. All he could think of was the tight grip that Zabuza had on him. He had the feeling that he'd done something bad. Something wrong.
In the deserted subway station a few minutes later Zabuza let him go and sat down on one of the benches, head in his hands, without saying a word. Haku settled for the uncomfortable silence. He hugged his arm and stood a small distance away looking a little forlorn.
'What's wrong?' He eventually said, little voice, honest eyes.
Zabuza sighed and answered without looking up.
'I told you not to go that far, I told you.'
'It was just a job, I almost had his wallet.'
'That's not what this is about!' His voice echoed over the empty station.
'Then what is it about?' Haku asked.
'Zabuza?' He said his name, and came a step closer, tying to get him to look him in the eye.
He put his small hands on the others shoulders and pulled him up by the collar.
'Hey, come on.'
Zabuza did not resist and let himself be pulled up. He stood close, leaning against Haku, who had let go of his collar and was now a little confused at what to do.
Just when he was about to put one step back, hands seized his head, covering his jaws perfectly, like they were the mold out of which he was made. Everything seemed so much quieter now, and slower too. Ever so carefully, as if scared to break him, Zabuza lips searches his own. Touching them softly. Not even kissing, just touching. It left Haku breathless.
Then Zabuza stepped back immediately and turned around. His shoulders were tensed as if his was arguing with himself. He lifted his hands to his hair and then dropped them, and repeated it multiple times. He paced up and down once and then retook his place in front of Haku again. Determent.
This time they really kissed.
--
Following him back through the disintegrated, empty suburban streets felt unreal. They walked close. The sky was clear, the sun was not out yet but steadily rising. Everything was cast in a cold blue light. It was cool but there was absolutely no wind. Haku felt his heart beating, and in his mind he imagined that he heard Zabuza's too. Steady, and calm and comforting. A supply of strength he could take from when he felt uncertain.
They stopped at the house they'd been sleeping in for the past week. A friend of Zabuza's told him he could use while he was away.
It was expensive and large with wide clear rooms and big windows. The floors were all made of hardwood. The wall were painted in cool modern colors, brown, light blue, pale yellow. Inside, Zabuza immediately retreated to the master bedroom, where he slept. Haku usually took the guestroom, or, if they lacked a guestroom: the couch.
Not a word was spoken.
Haku lay awake for long time. He tossed and struggled to keep his eyes closed but they kept flickering to the door. When would he come? In the morning, to wake him? Not at all? Or would he be just as restless as himself?
He sat up, and whispered to himself:
'If you won't come to me, ..'
Without flicking on the light he glided out of bed and drifted towards the hallway, like a mist, leaving nothing but the patter of feet on the floor.
Zabuza's door opened without giving a noise. He lay in bed on his side, back to the door, sheets up to his middle. Haku always imagined him to sleep on his stomach. He smiled.
Then Zabuza moved in his sleep and rolled over into his back. One hand above his head, the other near his cheek.
Haku walked over and put his hands on the sheets. They rustled, and soft breeze caressed his ear. The window was open. Cool blue light outside.
He crawled up and lay down on the side of the bed. There wasn't a lot of space. Haku reached out with his hands and tugged at Zabuza's short hair softly.
'Hey.'
Zabuza froze, his hands clenched for about a second before he firmly place them around Haku's wrists, squeezing. He was scared.
'It's me.' Haku breathed, knowing that he would never be hurt. He believed that, with all his heart.
Zabuza slackened, but he did not release his grip an his wrists.
'What are you doing here.'
Haku looked at him, big, brown eyes full of a sentiment that couldn't have gone unnoticed.
'You know why.'
Zabuza looked at him. He was not stupid, he knew why. He was arguing with himself and doubting his own judgment. How far could he go with him? He looked at the wrists he held. Hands were not clenched, not shaking. Haku trusted him with his entire being. For a moment he was touched.
'I… you have to know…' He tried to speak his mind.
He was not verbally gifted, and he feared that his eyes were not as expressive as Haku's. How was he to let him know that every time he smiled it was only for him, and that whenever Haku did jobs for him, it killed him inside. He felt jealous and sick with himself. But Haku was grateful and sweet, so much better than he deserved. Far to good for the world he was forced to live in.
Zabuza moved his hand from a wrist upward toward a shoulder blade. He covered Haku's back with his hand and pulled him over him, on top. Haku relaxed, he rested his arms folded on the other's chest. He was perfect.
Zabuza kissed his cheek. It made Haku laugh, he was like a knight, he thought, all gallant and noble. Anxious to get on with it he moved his face and kissed his lips. Just like on the station but horizontal now. It already felt familiar.
--
The next morning he woke up naked, it was pleasant reminder of what he'd just done that last night. One glance at the clock betrayed that morning had actually already passed. It was two in the afternoon. The sun shone brightly, but its light was softened by the crème colored curtains. Next to him Zabuza started to stir. He opened his eyes eventually and immediately searched Haku's, who mouthed good morning.
Zabuza smiled, the print of the pillow was drawn on his face. Haku laughed and pointed it out to him. 'You look terrible in the morning.'. He said. At this Zabuza frowned and wrestled him on his back, until he was giggling with excitement and fatigue.
Then Haku smiled at him with his eyes, and they did it again. Consequently they got out of bed at about 2.50 and started a late lunch.
--
The following days were hard to determine as real or true. It was all vague, as if in a dream, senses amplified and reason forgotten.
Haku thought about his lost virginity for a long time and finally decided that it couldn't have gone better. It did not hurt like he thought it would, it had been amazing. He felt different these days, more matured perhaps, but also wanted. Not needed like before, but really wanted. He had just turned sixteen.
He had known Zabuza for over a year now. Memories of his parents rarely came to him anymore. They used to be there at night, but now there was always someone next to him. He was kept busy most of the time, he could sleep peacefully.
When the owner of the house eventually returned, Zabuza and Haku were forced to pack their bag (they only had one) and leave their little place of love and solitude. Of course not before getting embarrassingly caught making out in the kitchen. Being chased out had felt good to Haku, he'd been in a giddy mood the entire day after.
The drifting continued, the jobs got more difficult and more frequent. There were times that Zabuza had two appointments on one night. All this Haku could live with. He was not just a tool anymore, but more of a companion. He was so happy. It could only have gone on for so long…
--
'How does it look?'
'It looks fine.' Zabuza answered.
'Just fine?' Haku whined.
'It looks beautiful.'
'That's better.' Haku smiled.
His eyes traveled down his shoulder blade through one of the large mirrors on the wall. There was the small outline of a butterfly tattooed on his fair skin. It looked fragile in the bright tubular lights. The room was tastelessly decorated, with bright colored graffiti on the walls and ferns and exotic types of cactuses lining the metal shelves and window-sill. It smelled like antibiotics, which was for once felt normal and comforting. They were in a tattoo parlor after all.
There was the sound of rummaging in the back, something fell on the floor and scared the black and white cat that was playing with a crumpled paper flower on the floor.
'You should think about what color you want it.' Pain called from the back. His orange hair peeking out from behind his glasses.
Zabuza nodded. And Haku looked at him.
'I don't know what color to pick.'
'Do you want to know what I think?'
Haku nodded
'White.'
'White?'
'Yes.'
Haku smiled and started to tie up his long brown hair.
'Why white?'
'That's what you're name means.' Zabuza answered in a steady tone. Unmoving like the earth itself.
'Haku means pure and white.'
This made him laugh.
'How could you know that Zabuza? There's more to you than meets the eye perhaps.'
Zabuza smiled but remained silent. He reached out with his hand and combed big fingers through Haku's hair. He closed his eyes.
'Made up your mind yet?'
They pulled apart immediately although Pain stood there with a bored expression on his exuberantly decorated face.
Haku gave him the color. Soon after that Pain took his usual spot next to the dentist-like chair, the pen in his hands. It hurt like little needles, a shallow pain, one you felt like scratching. It was uncomfortable at first, but you got used to it.
Zabuza and Pain talked about work (they were acquaintances) and other people they knew while the gentle hum of the needle filled the room. Haku was glad just to listen.
In the end the butterfly morphed into color. White wings with purple and lime-green spots on them. It looked so real, as if it could come alive and fly away any minute. Pain was a very skilled artist. He knew how to capture something evanescent, and how to immortalize it.
The phone rung. Its shrill sounds ripped apart the moment and Pain stumbled off to take it. They herd him answer and gasp at what was said at the other side.
'What the fuck? How can you do that, you know I've got shit here! Fuck, what am I gonna do?!'
He slammed the phone down and kicked against the table.
'FUCK!'
Then he started to pace around, fidgeting and grabbing things, either throwing them around or packing them in a bag he found. He didn't look at Zabuza and Haku who followed his movements with curiosity. He said with a quick, unsure voice:
'I've just been informed that the cops are coming.'
'Why?!' Zabuza shouted, suddenly panicking.
'I don't know, somebody told them about the drugs or something!'
'You still do that,? FUCK, what am I gonna do?!'
'I DON'T KNOW!' Pain shouted back at him, turning slightly red, too wrapped up in his own misery to notice Zabuza's.
'I'm a bloody wanted felon. I'm a criminal stupid! What were you thinking!'
'So get the hell out then! I don't care!'
Zabuza got up and violently threw a metal container against the wall. He grabbed Haku's arm and dragged him up while he hastily bandaged his shoulder blade.
They grabbed their bag and dashed out the entrance. The sound of police-sirens was already filling the air. It was winter, and it was cold. There was a little drizzle. Typical humid weather for the Wave city. Haku ran like his life depended on it, followed by Zabuza. They hid in an alley, choosing their path randomly. The area was unfamiliar.
Then there was a voice in the air that made their hearts stop. It froze their blood.
'You there, STOP.'
The voice came from a distance but there was no doubt as to whom it was directed to. Zabuza franticly whipped his head around, looking for an exit. For once his eyes showed true fear.
This time it was Haku who kept cool. He stopped in his tracks, leaning against the grey wall. Zabuza looked at him, pleading him to go on but Haku shook his head.
'Go' He said.
Zabuza pretended not to understand. He also stepped outside of the glare of the streetlights. A little drop of rain crept down his cheekbone.
'He only saw only one of us. Go!'
They didn't move. The sounds grew louder. There were lights in the sky, red lights. People were shouting.
'Don't be foolish-'
'Let me be strong.' Haku said, with all the resolution in the world.
'Please, I want to be strong for you.'
Footsteps were gaining on them. There were more men now. But all that fell away for a second.
Zabuza suddenly pressed himself against Haku and kissed his face. He sobbed. A grown man like him, he broke down. Whispering desperate, tender sweetness in his ear.
He was abruptly pushed away by an equally teary Haku.
'Leave.' He said, choking on his words and stepping out of the shadow. The policemen were shouting and calling, they had seen him now. There was the barking of dogs as well.
Zabuza still stood frozen, he was turned around half already but it was tearing him apart.
'We'll find each other.' He whispered.
Haku nodded. They will. He wanted to believe it. He swore on the butterfly.
'We will.'
Then Zabuza turned completely and disappeared. Not a second later flashlight were shoved into his face. He was yelled onto the floor and cuffed.
From back in the dark alleys of the city a black and white cat saw the whole thing. It blinked its eyes and left silently. Shrinking and drowning.
--
I'm sooooooooooooo sorry for the weird cat ending, i just love cats :p (Her name's gonna be Konan). anyway, I'm really curious what you think about Haku's story. Please review.
xx