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o.O.o

Chapter 4

"Get away from her."

The Sound-nin turned in surprise and saw the standing Zaku, pale-faced with blood dripping from his reddened right hand. Before they could react he was on them, punching them with his bloody right hand and stabbing with the kunai in his left. He was clumsy, but they'd been caught off-guard.

Ayame took advantage of their distraction and kicked at them, screaming wildly. Zaku's energy peaked and he stabbed his kunai down, catching one ninja in the thigh with the triangle of rust. The ninja cried out and grabbed the other, both of them retreating from the angry townspeople while spitting abuse.

They were gone. Zaku collapsed, his energy leaving him all at once. Ayame gathered him in her arms and fled the scene, his blood soaking into her clean white shirt.

"No Zaku, you are not leaving me after this. Stay with me."

He smiled weakly. "Thank you for being kind. I'm glad I got to repay you." His eyes closed and the welcome blackness overtook him, rescuing him from the pain.

o.O.o

Tired eyes opened in pitch blackness. The scent of mould reached his nostrils and he scrunched his face up as if it would help. There were faint voices. He was lying down on a coarse stretcher. What had happened?

"Zaku, can you hear me?"

His eyes slid left and saw a familiar face. "Ayame…"

She let out a sigh of relief. "Welcome to the land of the living Zaku."

"Where are we?" He coughed.

"We're in the bunker behind the Hokage Monument. All the other villagers are here." She sighed and brushed her hand through her hair. "Don't scare me like that ever again. I was worried you wouldn't make it."

"What?"

She hesitated and pointed down, prompting him to raise his head and look at his right hand. Awareness flooded through him and pain engulfed his entire body, allowing blackness to threaten again.

His right hand was bandaged completely except for his thumb, pointer and middle finger. Where his ring and pinkie finger should be, there was nothing but red stain on the bandages. He could swear that he could still feel the missing fingers but it was like a ghost.

"My… my…"

"You saved my life," she said softly. "Why?"

He swallowed and ignored his churning stomach. "You showed me kindness when no one else did. You gave me food and you and Teuchi didn't force me from where I slept. I could have starved if you hadn't done what you did."

"And I owe you my life." She smiled and pushed her hair from where it hung limply on her forehead. "Sleep now. I'll go and find chichi and we'll see if I can repay that debt. He went to watch the fights and I haven't seen him since he left."

Then she was gone and Zaku reclined on his stretcher, closing his eyes and allowing the pain to drift away with sleep.

o.O.o

Much of the village would need rebuilding, but Zaku didn't have to concern himself with that. The Shinobi were taking care of that and he was an urchin and partially-crippled to boot. As well as that, the doctor had told him to go home and rest. She hadn't understood that Zaku was homeless and relaxing usually meant he would go hungry.

He had his hands stuffed in his jumpsuit pockets as he finally left the hospital. The jumpsuit was completely clean for the first time in forever thanks to the hospital staff, but it wouldn't be clean for long. Being an urchin assured him of that. As he walked past, a few people whispered behind their hands and pointed to him curiously.

"Did you hear?"

"Yeah, he cut off his own fingers to save Ayame."

"I don't believe it."

"Ayame told me herself!"

Zaku flushed at their words and ducked his head further, ignoring all the other whispers until finally reaching the alley behind the ramen shop. He entered reluctantly, unsure if he wanted to see the scene or not, but it was all clean. His cardboard bed was gone and the wall was clean of blood and severed fingers. He stared at the empty spot on the ground. Where were his things?

"Ah, just the man I wanted to see!"

The urchin jumped and flicked his eyes to where Teuchi exited the ramen shop, Ayame in tow. They smiled at him and he blinked nervously. He hadn't seen them since he was put in the hospital.

"Hi…"

Ayame stepped forward and threw her arms around Zaku. He stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do because he'd never been hugged before.

"Thank you," she gushed, stepping away with pink cheeks. Teuchi snapped his fingers.

"I have a proposition for you young Zaku," the man declared. "As payment for saving my only daughter's life, I'm offering you the chance to work in our shop and live under our roof until you're able to support yourself. What do you think?"

His mind went blank. Zaku was frozen in the spot, staring at Teuchi and Ayame who looked at him expectantly. It was… they were… he had to say-

"Yes."

Ayame cried out happily and hugged her chichi. "I'll take him home. Are you okay with the shop chichi?"

"Yes. You guys go and I'll be waiting for you." Teuchi smiled and went back into the shop. Ayame tugged at Zaku's sleeve and dragged him away from the alley that had been his home for six years and towards his new home. People greeted Ayame as she hurried past and she paid barely any attention to them.

Her home was close to the ramen shop and she welcomed him inside. It was made of stone with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, dining and living room, and nearly all the furniture was wooden. He was overwhelmed by the wealth that surrounded him.

"Your room is this way," she said, taking him to the first door in the hallway. He went in first and took in a bed with plain sheets, a wooden bedside table and a wardrobe with some clothes hung up.

"A bed," he said absently, moving to stroke it with his right hand. He winced at the bandages and shoved it back in his pocket.

"I got you some clothes that look like they might fit you. Do you want to change now?"

He nodded and she left him to his own devices. There were actual sandals that fit his feet, but they weren't Shinobi sandals. He pulled on loose grey trousers and a tan t-shirt before slipping the sandals over his feet and wiggling his toes. They were the comfiest thing he'd ever worn on his feet.

Ayame called through the door. "If you want to brush your teeth I'll show you what you need."

"I'll be right out." He rifled through the rest of the clothes and found a plain band of white material. Smiling, he wound it over his forehead and tied it on securely, pulling his hair away from his eyes. Since it was pushed from his face it stuck up at all sorts of odd angles. He loved it.

Exiting the room, he was shown the bathroom and accepted toothbrush and toothpaste from Ayame. For the first time in years, he brushed his teeth and it felt amazing. When he left the house he was a new Zaku.

"You'll be able to learn all different types of cooking techniques," Ayame said excitedly. Zaku smiled and went to slip his hands in his pockets, but there weren't any. He panicked slightly because he couldn't hide his bandaged hand unless he stuck it under his shirt.

"I, uh, can we go a less-crowded way?" he asked awkwardly.

Ayame shook her head. "You're brave. Why would you want to hide that? Besides, I've told everyone about what you did and a lot of them didn't believe me."

"Tell that to the ghost fingers on my right hand," he muttered, twisting his hands together. His right hand began to ache.

"Just relax. You have nothing to be afraid of."

Taking a deep breath, Zaku walked stiffly beside the taller Ayame, the volume of his hair making up for his lack of height. The curious looks were back and he kept his eyes on the ground, very embarrassed at the attention he was receiving, all because he'd cut his own fingers off. It would take a long time for him to come to terms with that he'd done and the situation he was now in. He would always wake up in the mornings and wonder if it was a dream, but his hand was a stark reminder of what he'd gone through to get there. Shinobi used hand-signals to perform their jutsu and for that they needed all their fingers. Zaku would never learn. He couldn't learn.

They reached the ramen shop and were welcomed inside by Teuchi. He told them to put on aprons and get to work; Ayame would help cook and Zaku would serve bowls with his left hand. After getting to work, Zaku found that he enjoyed the time with Teuchi and Ayame. The customers were nice enough and very forgiving of his clumsiness with his left hand. Teuchi told him that once his right hand fully-healed he would be able to help cook and clean.

His day got much brighter when a familiar face appeared, one he could put a name too.

"Hey kid," Naruto greeted. "Long time no see."

"It hasn't been that long." Zaku handed over the bowl and Naruto dug in happily.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Zaku. How did you go in the exams?"

"I won my fight but I'm still Genin. We've all been a bit busy to worry about stuff like promotions." Naruto sighed. "We're still looking for a new Hokage." He looked at Zaku's bandaged hand. "What happened there?"

Zaku looked down. "I… cut them off."

"What!"

"Yeah, um, they were pinned to the wall and Ayame was in danger so I… cut them off."

Ayame stuck her head over the counter. "He saved my life Naruto. Show him some respect."

"Sorry! That's really impressive. I just can't imagine cutting my own fingers off. I need them for jutsu."

Zaku shrugged. "I don't." He turned and gathered other bowls of ramen to serve to other customers and by the time he looked back, Naruto was gone. Smiling, he looked at Ayame and she grinned back.

He was glad he'd refused the stranger who'd offered him power when he was a child. This was much more rewarding.