Hey there! I'm ill so I got some spare time to write this chapter! Ha!

Thanks to Mirani, Jestie Uchiha, MikaHimura and some random chika (thanks for pointing it out, fixed it right away^^) for your lovely reviews, you're awesome! And thanks to all the cool people who read this story! I love you all!

Study trip last week! Was fun but I'm somehow relieved that it's over now.

Anyhow, here's chapter 11 just for you guys! Enjoy!

Sins and Sunshine

Chapter 11: Old friend, old memories

"Who are you?" Zabuza asked me hostilely.

"Wait. Aren't you…" Haku shouted.

"Haku-kun!" I yelled happily.

"Minari-chan!"

"You know her, Haku?"

"Yeah, she's an old friend of mine." Haku explained and then turned to me.

"What are you doing here, Minari-chan?"

I smiled sheepishly.

"Well, first I wanted to spy on you but this issue has been settled after I recognized you."

"How have you been? You found a place where you could live in peace?"

"Yep. Currently I'm living in Konoha and I even found some friends." I announced proudly, "And as it seems you, too, found someone who needs you."

"Wait a sec! Could you explain to me what's this all about?" Zabuza interrupted our happy reunion, visibly irritated by the fact that he was the only one who didn't know what was going on.

"Oh that's a long story." Haku said and then started narrating.

Flashback

7 years ago somewhere in the water country…

A little boy was running bare feet through the fresh snow. Traversing a snow-covered field he was desperately looking for a place to stay and hide but around him was nothing but trees and the white powder that covered the world with its icy silence and restricted his sight to a few meters. They killed his mother and then tried to do the same to him. They would have succeeded if he hadn't killed them with his Kekkei Genkai first. Since days he was running through this forest now without rest in the fear they could catch him otherwise. Not knowing what drove him so much to survive he fought against the hunger and fatigue and ignored the stinging pain of the cold and the urge to sink to the floor and sleep. He was alone now. He had no one who cared for him or needed him. So why was he struggling so much? Wasn't it so much easier to just die like they all wanted?

Slowly he could make out something from the grey in front of him. As he came nearer the silhouette became clearer. It was the wall of a village. His steps became slower until he came to a halt. Starring at the grey sky he sank down on his knees, his sight getting blurry before he finally collapsed in the snow. Lying there he knew this was it. He hadn't any strength left to stand up.

"Hey, you. If you sleep here, you'll freeze to death, you know?" a soft childish voice said.

Slowly opening his tired eyes he stared in clear hazelnut-colored ones. There was a skinny little girl, only one or two years younger than him, crouching in front of him. She wore a shabby kimono and her tousled light-brown hair fell over her shoulders while the snow got caught in her strands and eyelashes. When she noticed his gaze on her she started smiling, fished an old chunk of bread out of her small backpack and handed it to him. She kept smiling as she watched the boy gulping down the stale bread.

"By the way, my name is Minari. And you are?"

"Haku." The boy answered smiling at the girl who just now saved his life.

Three weeks passed and the two kids became good friends and as beggars and pickpockets they fought everyday for their survival. Happy with the loot from today – 2 loafs of bread and even a few slices of beef jerky – they lay on their makeshift bed made of straw and linen in their little hideout, vacant storage shed they discovered while strolling through the small alleys of the village. Chewing on the last two beef stripes they lay side by side staring at the ceiling of the shed. It was made of corrugated iron and rust created little holes, but the permanent snow blanket, that covered every house in this village, acted as isolation so they didn't waste a second thought about them.

"Say, Minari-chan." Haku said, rolling around so he could face the girl, "You told me you're from Suna. So why are you here so far away from you home?"

She looked at him then closed her eyes and wore her usual smile.

"Precisely because it's so far away."

"What do you mean by that?"

The girl also turned around so she could look him in the eyes.

"I told you that I lost my parents, right? They died because of me. If I stayed, I would've been killed as well, so I had to flee. The Land of Water is far away from the wind country and relatively remote from the continent, so this'd be the last place to search for a little girl like me."

Haku looked at her with a slightly shocked expression.

"How long have you been on the run now?"

"About one year, I guess."

"Why have you been chased?"

"…" Minari didn't know what to answer here. It's not that she didn't know, she just didn't want to tell. Haku realized this and started to tell his own story instead.

"They wanted to kill me because of my Kekkei Genkai. I could flee but they killed my mother. I don't think they are hunting me anymore so I'm just trying to survive."

"What is it you keep living for so desperately?" she asked looking at the boy with her big innocent eyes.

"I hope to someday find a person whom I can be of use and give my life for."

"That's a nice goal." Minari stated with a warm smile. Haku sat up and replied the smile.

"You also have a goal to live for?"

"Yeah, I have." the girl answered mimicking her friend.

"I'm looking for a new home to stay, where I can live in peace. And someday when I'm strong enough I'll return to Suna and make good on a promise I made to a very special person."

In this night the two orphans made a vow to give it their all to fulfil their dreams.

Two years later Minari continued her journey. She wanted to return to the continent to carry on her search. Another reason was that she was fed up with all the coldness and the fog and was now looking for a sunnier place to stay. Admittedly it wasn't easy for them to bid farewell, but they both knew that this had to happen some day, just the way they both knew that this goodbye wasn't forever.

Another three months later Haku met Zabuza who took him in. Meanwhile Minari was aimlessly wandering through the Land of Lightning.

End of flashback…

"…And after she departed I met you, Zabuza-san." Haku finished the abridgement of our story. Sweet, sweet memories.

"So your little friend here won't make us any trouble?" Zabuza asked warily.

"Nope." I assured him with a broad grin "As long as you're Haku's friend you have nothing to fear from me."

"Master." Zabuza corrected me.

"What?"

"I'm his master, not his friend."

"Whatever."

"What are you going to do now?" Haku asked me.

"Dunno. Maybe hang out with you guys."

"No." Zabuza decided without the shortest hesitation.

"Why not?" Haku and I asked in unison.

"Because I say so."

We began giving him puppy dog eyes.

"…"
*stare*

"…"

*harder stare*

"…"

*ultimate heart-wrenching stare*

"…Okay, she can stay." the nuke-nin admitted his defeat and Haku and I gave us a hug and made the V-sign behind his back as if there was a camera or something like that.

Zabuza's hideout…

"But I don't want to rest." Zabuza complained right after we arrived at his hideout (some strange housing in the midst of the forest) because Haku confined him to bed.

He was lying in a fluffy bed while Haku and I were standing next to him. I also want a fluffy bed!

"Should I read you a bedtime story so you can better fall asleep?" I teased the fully grown evil shinobi.

"Should I chop off your head so you finally keep you trap shut?" he retorted.

"No can do. Your knive-sword-thingy is on the other side of the room and Haku won't let you out of the bed."

"I don't need my sword. A normal kunai is more than enough for you."

"You know that injured people should play with pointy things?"

Unfortunately Haku interrupted our profound discussion.

"Gatou's about to come in. Minari-chan, you should better go and hide somewhere."

"Why?"

"Because it doesn't make a good impression if the enemy is with us."

That did make sense, so I hastily looked for a suitable place to hide. Too bad that this room was completely empty expect for the giant bed, the sword and a small commode it was leaning against. Oh, well.

I jumped on the other side of the bed and slip under the blanket using Zauba's massive body frame as a visual cover.

"What the fuck are you doing, brat?" he complained.

"I'm also not very keen on sharing a bed with you but unfortunately that's the only hiding spot in this room." I shot back and hid under the blankets so that I couldn't be seen from the door side. Wow, wait a sec. If they would really spot me, what would they think? Something like 'Omg, Zabuza is a lolicon'? Ugh! Bad thoughts, need diversion!

Luckily this diversion came, unluckily in form of Gatou. And the worst is he didn't even knock before entering! No manners, tzz, tzz.

"So even you came back defeated. It looks like the mist village ninjas are pretty pathetic." the short man sneered. Zabuza tensed what I, of course, noticed right away, because I was lying next to him.

I heard someone coming closer to the bed. I guess it was Gatou. I wasn't really able to tell by just the sound of the steps, I was hiding after all.

Then he reached out a hand and demanded an answer from the mist-nin. This was easy to tell, because I heard Haku moving, Gatou painfully groaning and Haku warning him to keep his filthy hands off of Zabuza.

After that were the sounds of swords being drawn. It seems like Gatou brought some bodyguards with him. Okay, that was somehow obvious. However Haku somehow stopped them and sounded really angry. I got goosebumps even in this warm and fluffy bed!

Finally the gatecrashers scrammed and I stuck my head out from under the sheet.

"I really can't see why you're working for this bossy jerk. I'd really like to make this poison dwarf a few heads shorter." I said completely irritated.

"I intended to do that." Zabuza replied revealing the kunai he hid under the blanket. Remind me, the next I jump into the of someone else to first check if he or she isn't armed.

"It's too early to kill him. He's still out best cover. If we cause a commotion, they'll be after us again." Haku explained.

"And why are you working for him again, if you also can't stand him?" I asked again.

"Because we need the money." Zabuza said.

"And why do you need it?"

"To finance the next coup against the Mizukage to stop his reign of terror. And now shut up!"

A grin spread across my face.

"Awww. So the demon still clings to his village!"

"Tsk." was his answer. That somehow reminded me of Sasuke. Aw, I really miss my team.

I rolled around so that my back faced Zabuza and pulled the blanket up to my chin. I wonder what they were doing right now. I doubt that they're still looking for me. Maybe Kakashi-sensei teaches them some new ninja techniques right now?

"Hey, why are you still lying in my bed?" Zabuza asked glaring at me with his lack-of-eyebrows-ness.

"But it's so soft and fluffy." I said and made puppy dog eyes.

"That doesn't work."

My eyes wandered to Haku pleading him for help, but the boy was too busy to try not to burst into laughter.

"Out." the nuke-nin threatened.

"But-"

"Out!"

"But I don't wanna!" I kept whining. He sightened and turned his back towards me.

"Do what you want." Yay! Won!

Then even Haku slipped into the bed, because he felt a bit excluded as the only one standing around. Good that this was a really big bed.

The next morning it looked like this:

I was rolled up on the edge of the bed hugging the only pillow and a tip of the blanket. Haku used Zabuza's chest as a pillow because of the lack of comfortable enough things to rest one head on. That's why Zabuza rested his head on his arm while he had the other one draped around Haku for some unknown reason.

While creepily starring at the two cuddling ninjas I magically pulled out my camera of thin air (actually of a pocket similar to the ones where you store your weapons, but oh well) and took a nice picture of this cute scene. Zabuza will kill me for sure, if he ever gets wind of this picture!

And another chapter done. One part of Minari's past revealed, but there's still more (a lot more) so look forward to it! In this flashback mode I tried to change my style a bit, like more describing and all. I'm afraid I turn out pretty cheesy… Well, blame the novel 'the farseer' that I'm reading right now. Just have to love it. But too difficult to copy the writing style… Whatever.

Just saw that only a few more chapters are left before Gaara finally makes his entrance. Yaaay! Okay that was all from my side, so good night, I'm really tired now!