Ahem, I AM NOT DEAD!

Though being a nurse in these interesting times, that's not guaranteed to be a permanent condition. Real talk, no matter what your belief is about everything going on now, it shouldn't take a global health crisis to get grown ass adults TO COVER THEIR COUGH AND WASH THEIR FUCKING HANDS! It's appalling how many nasty mo' foes are offended I won't shake hands with them right after they come out of the restroom and the only running water heard was from the toilet flush. The health care professional in me dies a little each time.

Sigh.

Anyhoo, here's chapter two. Like a year or do later.

Two days. Two god damn days. That's all the time it took for Naruto's resolve to crumble and uncover the mirror again. And boy did he regret it. Just like the first time, he had no control over what he saw...or ability to look away. As if he were possessed by the glass and bronze portal.

Unlike last time it was more like he was in the vision than just getting a 2D view.

The scene it showed appeared to be a cafe of some sort. The mirror versions of the Hyuuga and Nara clan heads seated in a rear section booth. Other than the strange clothes, they looked the way he knew them to be in his world. The two were silently staring at one another. Rather one was glaring at the other over a mug while the other looked ready to fall asleep at any point.

What really alarmed the young ninja though was that his lumpy futon sudden felt like a leather cushioned chair like the booth they say at. The scent of coffee and baked goods, the sound of soothing music were too real to be anything other than actually there.

What the fuc-?!

"I don't appreciate your son molesting my nephew." Ibis curtly spoke after a sip of tea. His voice cutting off the internal panic.

"No beating around the bush eh? You Hyuuga tend to favor verbal fencing, must be serious to forgo it. Fine. The dictionary definition of molestation in the sense you are alluding to is to make annoying advances; especially to force physical and/or sexual contact on. Considering the parameters of their binding ritual would have killed them both were that the case, try again." Dusk yawned, leaning back on the overstuffed lounge sofa casually.

"..." The pale eyed man frowned before sighing and setting his mug down. "I don't appreciate it but I understand it."

"Good. We done?"

"No we are not. I still don't like it and I know my father outright abhors it. It's bad enough his backwards ideas about blood purity will yield issues in our gene pool within a few generations. But he barely tolerates Delphi as it is and that's only because the boy is so magically gifted." The Hyuuga rubbed his eyes. "I don't think that old man understands what Delphi lacks in self preservation instinct he makes up for in spades on the protection front. As it works out, your son now falls under that narrow umbrella of 'hurt these people and your life is forfeit'. Few have seen him in high stress mode but I assure you it is terrifying. He meditates to stay so damn chipper so he doesn't go off and psionically devastate half the city. This can only end badly."

"Which is why Shade chose him...among other details. He doesn't want a Mama Bear, he wants a Mama Dragon for his children. Almost a shame the kid ain't knocked up yet."

"Feh." A grey eye twitched. "I basically just told you a psychic timebomb is magically bonded to your mentally deranged child and you're mad enough yourself not to care. Typical. Are you also so insane as to overlook that my nephew is male?"

"Irrelevant." he waved it off. "There's a few ways to circumvent that little issue. Adoption, for one, works differently in our clan. Their binding also makes that a moot point."

"I came here under the impression that you'd be at least a little upset by your son's choice of...bride given our history has not been the best. Does nothing bother you lunatics!?" Ibis rubbed his temples.

"Ah, there's that famous wordplay. You set me on fire and Lady Eir barely saved my face and sight. I severed your leg and you were lucky Master Vasuki could reattach it as well as he did. You knocked me off the school roof onto a spiked fence. I threw you through a half finished office building. We were young testosterone fueled idiots, flexing our might what? 60? 70 years ago?. Amazing how time and responsibility cures adolescent stupidity. Especially since no one younger than 200 years old even knows what the fuck our families have been feuding over anymore. Spoiler alert, it's dumb as shit." Dusk uncrossed his legs to lean forward. Now frowning himself.

"The idea of soulmates is off putting to many- here is this person ordained by magic to be your one true and only complement that you often have never laid eyes on before that moment. Still they are the best match for you. Our clan recognizes this for what it is- they are merely our counterbalance- romance may or may not factor. Bitching and moaning about it doesn't help anything. Fortunately after initially terrifying the poor thing, accusing Del of trying to bewitch him, Shade realized his feelings were actually affection, not just their cores pulling on one another. I'm personally looking forward to seeing Delphi's sweet innocent nature temper my son's chaotic streak. I remember being near Yoshino quieted the voices in my head enough to actually relax. The sudden silence and ability to think without semi psychotic impulses was a bit jarring." The scarred man Z laughed. "I can see why it confused him."

"Excuse me, voices?!" The pale man's head snapped up. "How the hell can this get any worse..?"

"Mmm? Oh right. If we were mortal our powers would be comparable to schizophrenia. The shadows we tame are sentient and very vocal. Much of their power comes from the negative emotional spectrum so much of their feedback is negative. Hence the infamous 'Nara Madness' our clan is known for. Most are unaware our mental health has improved greatly since the city's founding by becoming kyuuketsuki. Not in-house marrying to the point most members could pass as clones probably helps to."

"I was under the impression your blood based traits came from your creature genetics. Whatever. I understand your point, as vulgarly delivered as it was. I truly do. But, to use a turn of phrase I'm sure you're familiar with, this is going to be a shit show." Ibis drew on a steadying breath, clearly trying to ignore the jab at their family breeding practices. "My father has led the Hyuugas publically and behind the scenes for the better part of four centuries. Nothing happens without his approval. Along comes a child from the branch family who has shown abilities never seen even in the main house and he handicaps the child with a forbidden seal at birth under the guise of protecting him from his unstable powers. And he's still too strong for father's tastes. Then, he goes and falls in love with and cements an unbreakable bond to a literally bloodthirsty shadow shifter whose clan uses borderline illegal dark rituals to grow their numbers. My father doesn't seem to understand 'pot calling the kettle black'. He is going to do whatever it takes to remedy the situation even if that means killing the boys. The old man is deluded if he thinks he has enough pull to cover that up. Half my clan would revolt and all of yours would go on a kami be damned rampage. And that's assuming he manages to kill either of them. Which I'll eat my cane if he actually pulls off. He's never seen Delphi lose it, only heard of it. I was right there when a toddler basically reduced a pair of assassins to unrecognizable smears on the walls of his nursery after they murdered his parents and another clan member. It's hardly a secret Bloodshade can easily juice a man like an orange with his shadows either."

"You're not wrong. I am concerned about a war of sorts." Dusk sighed and leaned back, eyes closed. "But the Uchiha tried something similar last decade leading to an attempted coven take over-which is the only way this could go down in Thoth's favor. Considering that coup was halted by their prodigy driving the whole clan to suicide inducing insanity I don't worry that much about it. The newer generation doesn't dance to the tune of 'I'm older therefore I outrank you' so much as 'I have a brain, therefore maybe consider what I have to say'. The current Hokage is proof of that. The council wanted literally any of the 3 Masters and were pretty heated when all 3 refused and suggested Recall with glowing recommendations."

"Yes, several elders had actual tantrums at the thought of kowtowing to a college dropout who looked more suited to working at a Hot Topic than leading our people." Ibis grumbled taking a sip of his cup. "They have to be a special kind of dense not to understand Recall merely tolerates their antiquated ways at best because he's too lazy to directly confront them. They don't seem to realize times have changed. Even though we no longer have to hide what we are. None of our children know what that's like. Should ever know."

"But since our forebears seem insistent on dragging us all back into the stone age, I don't think we can do much to stop a conflict, only try to manage the aftermath. If that means a few...overly mature branches of some family trees getting pruned...we all get more breathing room in the end right?" Dusk shrugged.

The scene abruptly shifted from a bright day to a dark night. The warm relaxing vibe replaced by bitting cold and wind.

"He's over here!"

"Quickly, the barrier! He must not escape!"

A white robed blue rocketted past where Naruto now stood. His body moved on its own to follow and the blur could be made out to be a barefoot, darked haired slip of a person fleeing a literal army of people in hunter in masks. He might be faster than the geezers giving chase but the patches of ice that bloomed under their feet would make it impossible to ditch their pursuers.

Though to their credit, they didn't even break stride when they reached a lake; the surface freezing in his wake. Suddenly a mirrored wall sprang up forcing him to skid to a stop shoring up a frozen wave.

"Child, why do you resist us?" called a masked figure walking patiently up to him.

"Are you serious?! I just found out my doting parents raised me to be a sacrifice!" the boy screeched.

This world's Haku seemed...more or less the same dainty looking killer. What followed that incredulous declaration was 5 minutes of faceless grunts getting impaled, gored, decapitated by ice constructs and frozen from the inside out. But it was nothing like their bridge encounter.

The execution of his attacks lacked any type of discipline or finesse. He could tell this world's "witches" had no use for hand seals yet every motion came off as wild, panicked. Mirror Haku clearly had no idea what he was doing. Running on adrenaline and pure fear.

"Our god chose you! You should be honored, for whatever reason you have gained his favor. Your extraordinary powers are testament to this."

"Cryokinesis I can't control! What an honor!" he roared. Ice began to creep along the barrier only for the surface to glow white and melt it. This seemed to trigger some sort of seal as chains of ice shot out and ensnared the teen causing him face-plant onto the frozen surface.

"He's bleeding and tied down. I was clear that he was not to be harmed." a deep voice rumbled from behind the priest. Who dropped to his knees, head bowed as did all his captors.

"Forgive us, my lord. The child was more difficult to subdue than we anticipated. Rest assured-"

Haku's eyes widened in horror as the man's head rolled off his shoulders. The other robed figures in that had followed trembled from their positions as a bloody sword as wide as a man's body glinted in the moonlight.

"Useless. Well, you're already terrified so fuck it. Hello there snowflake."

What stepped out of the shadows was the Zabuza Moimichi of this world...but holy shit.

His nails were glassy black claws. His eyes glowed a faint red. His bare dark skin chest littered with battle scars and intricate series of tats that reminded Naruto of frost flowers. And oh yeah THE ROWS OF WHITE KUNAI HE WAS TRYING TO PASS OFF AS TEETH.

"Oh god...oh god..oh god..." Haku started thrashing against his bonds, repeating that phrase hysterically. "Somebody help me!"

"Calm down snowflake." the monster casually slung the massive blade across his shoulder. Heavy black boots crunched across the ice only to stop right over the prone boy. Blood red eyes scanning his body. Frowning at the scapes and bruises that stood out like beacons on his pale skin.

"All you dipshits scram. And take this trash with you." Mirror Zabuza barked.

The priests flickered into thin air. Both living and corpse. The frozen lake remained a bloodbath though.

"Good help is hard to find. I didn't want you roughed up, sorry about that."

"A-are you going to eat me?"

"Eat-? What the actual fuck did those pissants tell you?!"

"That I was raised to be a sacrifice."

"..." The monster face palmed. "Kid, I ain't gonna eat you. It'd be a waste." The literal demon Zabuza yanked the chains out of the mirror wall forcing Haku to stand. "You are mine boy. I am the only reason you survived your birth. Born from a dead woman you came into this world half dead yourself on the altar of my temple. A clear offering to me. No idea what the dumb bitch thought she was gonna get. She ODed on all the heroine in her system and obviously had been using for a long time before you came along."

"N-no...my parents...they raised me-" The pale boy began to hyperventilate. The moisture in the air crystalizing as he panicked more. He didn't pay much attention to the demonic god's movements as he away down.

"Those two raised you because I told them to." A clawed finger lifted his chin. "Drink up Snowflake."

Naruto turned a bit green. Mirror Zabuza was offering his bleeding wrist to the bound and terrified kid. The disturbing part was the blood was fucking blue. Like bluebell flower blue. Mirror Haku looked even more disturbed though.

"My medicine-"

"Yeah, you've been drinking my blood since the day you were born, Snowflake. What part of 'born half dead' wasn't clear? Your mother was an addict." The demon chuckled. "Gotta heal up the damage my idiot priests did to ya. Drink on your own or I force it down your throat. Makes no difference to me."

Hesitantly, the brunette did as he was told. His obvious revulsion soon overshadowed by the awe of seeing his wounds heal.

"Wasn't so hard was it? Been waiting 16 years for this and I want you whole and unmarred."

"What are you going to do to me?" Mirror Haku probably had some idea based on that vague statement and how this version of Zabuza held his chin. So did Naruto. Who silently prayed he wasn't about to witness it.

"Kill you, of course."

Snap!

All it took was a subtle flick of the wrist to break the child's neck. The body spared from falling by the chains alone.

What.

The.

FUCK?!

Why go through all that effort just to kill him?! Why toy with him like that and tell him such cruel things?! Kami this version of the Bloody Demon was just as sick-

"I have no use for yet another mortal slave whoever you are watching." The demon spoke suddenly. Standing with the limp form in his arms he turned to look directly at the blonde. Under the curtain of deep brown, the same dark patterns could be seen bleeding to the surface of pale skin."Yeah I can sense you and your righteous indignation. You're not really anchored in this world, only a peeping tom. And you can fuck right off you nosy asshat."

That's all the warning Uzamaki got before slamming back first into a wall in his apartment. The one opposite the cursed looking glass.

This wasn't like the bridge. This Haku didn't blindly throw away his life for a man that raised him solely to be expendable. He didn't live the nin life with the understanding that his life was not his own. This Haku had been lied to and raised by a frickin cult then murdered by the 'god' they served. Being told the truth of his circumstances only moments beforehand.

One had a choice, one didn't...but which version was more tragic?

Ok, established aging and time doesn't work the same in this world. Dusk and Ibis have to at a minimum be pushing 80 but look like their series ages. And by that logic, Thoth is at least 6 times that age.

Also the Hyuuga and Nara are basically the Montagues and Capulets with one side trying very hard to appear not to care. This romance is a potential trainwreck in progress.

Yeah, the way Naruto is experiencing the mirror world is changing. The more he discovers about the differences, the more the way he learns will change. And Mirror Zabuza not only felt him but forced him out, so what exactly does that imply?

A good visual of Haku's fight is the Ice Palace confrontation in Frozen meets the Crazy 88s massacre in Kill Bill. A novice cryokinetic racking up a body count in interesting ways out of fear.

By the by, this whole COVID19 thing has given me time I didn't have to update other fics. I promise to update Bound in Blood, Once Upon a Time in Everlie, Seriously WTF?! And Why Does No One Read the Manual soon...ish. Nightmare Syndrome and In the Garden of Frozen Blooms are a maybe too. Fingers crossed!

So, love it? Hate it? General indifference and wish I would finish another fic instead? Let me know, reviews are like hugs! Sirensoundwave out!