12 - Angst Of The Avenger (edited)

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Kakashi spun around as the mist thinned a little and his eyes widened as he saw Zabuza toss Tsuki off the bridge. Time seemed to slow as he watched the girl tumble backwards, eyes filled with fear as she disappeared out of sight.

"Tsuki!" Sakura screamed.

"Now I have no more worries," Zabuza chuckled, the clone turning to water.

Kakashi freed a scroll from his Jounin vest and opened it, swiping his blood across the writing.

"Listen Zabuza, we're both busy men. I know how you like to stretch these things out, but please, let's stop playing around," he suggested, swirling the summoning scroll around. He threw it into the air and it rolled up again, he caught it and made a hand sign. "Why don't we put an end to this now?"

"Interesting idea," Zabuza replied, "Let's see what you can do. Show me, Kakashi."

Kakashi scowled and slammed the scroll into the earth and several ridges formed in the ground leading away from it

"The dense fog is lifting," Tazuna announced a few minutes after he and Sakura heard the noise of dogs. Sakura looked up with tearful eyes.

"Look, they're squaring off," she stated, looking ahead.

They could just make out the shape of Kakashi, and past him was Zabuza, pinned down by several dogs with their teeth sunk into various parts of his body. There was a sudden chirping noise from Kakashi as his chakra ran around his feet in a circle and then formed in his hand as lightning. He charged and the blow hit, but it wasn't Zabuza who was injured. There was a blast of strong wind, and blood poured out of the hole in Haku's chest. His senbon had struck the scroll cancelling the summon.

Kakashi's eyes were wide, just as Zabuza's were. The boy was just standing there. Sakura used her free hand to cover her mouth. The lightning disappeared and Haku closed his eyes as his head dropped, a mass of blood spilling out of his mouth. He looked up at Kakashi and gripped his wrist tightly.

"Z-Zabuza-san," he whispered.

"So, my future holds only death, huh?" Zabuza asked and chuckled, "Wrong again, Kakashi."

Naruto came running to view on the other side of Kakashi but he froze, seeing the blood pouring out of Haku.

"Isn't that the young man in the mask?" Tazuna asked.

"Well done, Haku." Zabuza chuckled, and yelled as he freed his sword.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled.

"I knew I'd picked someone useful. You've not only given me my life, but Kakashi's as well!"

As the sword came down, Kakashi jumped out of the way, taking Haku with him and then lay him down gently.

"You'll pay for that!"

"Naruto, stay out of this!" Kakashi ordered as he closed Haku's eyes. "This is my battle."

"Naruto," Sakura gasped, "Naruto! You're alive!" he looked down. "Where's Sasuke-kun? What's wrong Naruto? Where is he?"

Naruto turned his head to the side and a pang of realisation hit Sakura.

"Sakura," Kakashi murmured.

"Kakashi! I'd stay focused if I were you!" Zabuza announced, charging but he went flying backwards from a kick. He rolled across the ground and flipped onto his feet.

"Let me take you to him," Tazuna offered, looking down at Sakura, "As long as we're together, you won't be disobeying your sensei's orders."

"Hai," Sakura agreed, taking Tazuna's hand in her free one.        

Naruto's head was still down, teeth clenched as he fought back tears. Sakura stepped up to Sasuke's side before collapsing to the ground, shaking. She caressed his cheek gently.

"His body's so cold. This isn't just one of his jutsu is it?" Sakura asked.

"Go on, you don't need to be brave on my account. Go ahead and let your feelings out."

"I always got a perfect score in class, I memorised all the shinobi principles. There are more than one hundred. Exams were so easy for me, I remember this one exam where they asked us to explain the twenty fifth principle. A shinobi, should never show his feelings, no matter the circumstances. Duty must be the first priority. He must keep a straight face and show no tears."

Sakura slumped onto Sasuke's chest, pouring her heart out but a few minutes later, the boy shifted.

"Sakura, you're crushing me."

"Sasuke-kun?" she asked and then threw herself on him, hugging him.

"Sakura, that hurts." She got off him, and Sasuke sat up shakily. He looked around.

'Where's Tsuki, I would have thought she'd be here? Maybe she's fighting?'

"No, you shouldn't move," Sakura insisted

"How's Naruto? Tsuki? And what happened to the kid in the mask?"

 "Naruto's just fine. But the one in the mask, he'd dead," Sakura explained.

"Dead, but how?" Sasuke asked, "Did Naruto do it?"

"I'm not sure what exactly happened, but he tried to protect Zabuza. I had faith in you Sasuke! I knew you'd pull through!"

Sakura managed to get him back on his feet and hugged him again before turning around.

"Naruto!" the blonde turned. "Look, it's Sasuke-kun! He's alright! He's alive!"

"Eh? But how?" Naruto asked. Sasuke looked away from the blonde, almost shyly and raised a hand to wave. Naruto grinned and laughed a little before remembering what Zabuza had said minutes before.

"Good to know Sasuke's alright too, what a relief . . ." Kakashi thought.

The thugs that had come with Gato said something Sakura didn't catch and charged but an arrow fired from behind and landed between Haku's corpse and the crowd. Inari held a cross bow, and was backed up by the entire village.

"Don't you dare come any closer to our island!" one man yelled, "We have the entire village here to finish you off!" and to add to it, they all cheered and raised their weapons.

"Inari!" Naruto yelled.

"Heh, heroes usually show up at the last minute," the kid grinned.

Then to make it worse for the thugs, both Naruto and Kakashi created a bunch of Shadow clones each. The thugs retreated as fast as they could, to the boat. As Sakura and Sasuke joined Naruto and Kakashi, Kakashi had placed Zabuza's body by the young boy. It began to snow.

"Haku," the blonde said.

"Nani?" Sasuke asked.

"He told me," Naruto said, "He came from a village where it always snowed. Hey, where's Tsuki?"          

Sakura blanched taking a step forward and then sprinted towards the rail but she couldn't see any trace of the red head

"Sakura," Sasuke said, his voice shaking in anger as he glared at her, "Where's Tsuki?" There was a blur as Kakashi ran past them and they all leaned over the rail to see him plunge into the water.

"There!" Sakura exclaimed a minute later when Kakashi surfaced, one of Tsuki's arms around his neck. "Let's go," she said.                

The three of them reached the shore and Sasuke and Naruto hurried to help drag Tsuki out of the water. Sakura hurriedly checked her breathing and cried out.

"She's not breathing, and she's really cold!"

"Move!" Kakashi ordered, pulling his mask up a little but he was bent over so they couldn't see his face. He pushed down on the girl's chest several times, then pinched her nose and blew air into her mouth. He checked for breath and then did it again. Sasuke clenched his fists, for once completely terrified. 

'If she doesn't wake up . . . i'll be alone . . . why am i so scared right now?'

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