Haku is, by definition, pretty. 'Open up the dictionary and he's plastered on the page.' Look even Naruto's smitten with him.
We had been sitting around a table in Tazuna's hut for an hour, not including Kakashi and Zabuza who were talking about 'grown up stuff' as they had put it. So four children were left to fend for themselves in the living room after being told not to kill each other. 'Sasuke seems to be barely restraining himself from strangling Haku.' But why? 'Obviously it's because Naruto thinks Haku's pretty and Sasuke thinks he's the prettiest and he's jealous about it.' Annnd the rom-com continues.
Haku cleared his throat to break the silence. His soft yet rich voice filled the room. "Sakura, if you don't mind you asking, how did you know I was there?" 'He's onto us' We're fine. I smiled as sweetly as I could before responding. "I'm sworn to secrecy." Naruto looked at me blankly, "Sakura-Chan, that's Kakashi's excuse." He accused. I grinned. "Seeing as it is not copyrighted I plan to use it whenever and however I wish." I retorted. Naruto couldn't argue with that and instead turned to Haku. "Can you tell us about yourself Haku?" 'I think Iruka finally got to him, he's pulling out the icebreakers'
Haku stared at the table for a few seconds before responding. "Uh, well, my name is Haku Yuki. I'm 15 years old. I'm not a girl. And, I can make ice when I feel like it." '15? Ok that's not such a bad age difference I can live with that.' I really, really hate you sometimes. Naruto blinked. "Ice?" He questioned. Haku nodded. "Ice." I smirked, "That's cool." Sasuke gave me a bland look. 'I'm surprised he got the pun' Honestly same.
Zabuza and Kakashi walked into the room, tension between them. 'Sexual tension?' Get. Out. Kakashi cleared his throat. "Zabuza has agreed to our terms, however, he has a condition of his own." He glared slightly at Zabuza. "He will take Haku with him, ...and I will take Sakura."
'Oh shit.'
And with those words, chaos erupted.
...
Kakashi and I were sharpening kunai in preparation for the next day. He finished up with his own knifes and sighed. "There's not much I can do about the situation, you can already tree walk, so we could give water walking a go." 'I'm sorry but do you know what this humidity does for my hair sir? It's worse that my host doesn't actually take care of it.' Shampoo and conditioner, that's all your need. 'You disgust me.' I shrugged. "I probably won't be much help, but I'm all for improvement." I responded. Kakashi patted my head... like a dog. "Good student." 'Please, tell me he has dogs.' Eight of them.
Kakashi gathered his things with unnatural haste before turning back to me, "I'm going to check on the others to make sure Sasuke hasn't murdered Haku. Try water walking on your own for now, I'll check on you in a bit." I nodded dismissively, Haku vs. Sasuke, thats something I would like to see. Oh wait, I already have. 'The battle for Naruto.' No.
I walked down to the shoreline, gazing down at the gray water. 'A tad too gloomy for my taste.' I don't know, its pretty in its own way. I slipped off my vest, weights, and kunai pouch, leaving me in all black attire. 'They're gonna clean up your looks, With all the lies in the books, To make a citizen out of you~' Look I know I sing in the shower but you don't have to make a big deal out of it- 'Because they sleep with a gun, -just start walking- ,And keep an eye on you son, So they can watch all the things that you do~' I walked forward with my eyes closed. 'Because the drugs never work, They're gonna give you a smirk, Cause they got methods of keepin' you clean~' They're gonna rip up your heads, 'Your aspirations to shreds.' Another cog in the murder machine!
They said all- 'TEENAGERS SCARE, THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF ME!' Ok thats a little muc- 'THEY COULD CARE LESS AS LONG AS SOMEONE'LL BLEED!' Dude chill- 'SO DARKEN YOUR CLOTHES, STRIKE A VIOLENT POSE, MAYBE THEY'LL LEAVE YOU ALONE BUT NOT ME~' ...You seriously, memorized MCR. 'You seriously, sing MCR in the shower?' ...Point taken. It was at this point that I decided to open my eyes. I gulped and slowly looked down. 'Surprise?' I was soaked before I knew what was happening.
...
I'm doing push ups on water, oh my kami Inner I'm doing push ups on water. 'Yeah. Have been for the past twenty minutes, I'm surprised you haven't killed your arms yet. Not to mention you have those god awful weights back on.' How dare you, I'm simply bettering my mind and body through simultaneous chakra control and physical exercise. '...I'm starting to miss OG Sakura.' No your not. 'I hate it when your right.' I wonder if Milo can water walk, I should summon him! 'Oh no you don't young lady, you have to assassinate a midget tomorrow, there will be no wasting of the chakra.' Well I wouldn't consider it wasting- 'No' ...Fine.
I finished up my repetitions and starting jumping around doing flips and stuff. 'Where'd you learn all this stuff anyways?' Years and years of practice and hell. If anything I've been slacking with my training, oh kami Miss Val would be so disappointed with me! 'Slacking? Were you trained by the devil or something?' Well, Val certainly had her moments. 'Such as?' One time she made us run a marathon and rode behind us on her golf cart, if we walked she would shoot us with a paintball gun. 'Ah. So thats where you get it from.' Harsh.
What time is it? '3:19' Ok, well I'm done with everything so I might as well head back. 'Finally, a decent idea.' Believe me, I have more than you. 'Why you little-' Hard working kunoichi? Why yes I am thank you. 'Little narcissistic don't you think?' I prefer to consider it confidence.
I walked into Tazuna's hut, kicking off my shoes and beelining it straight to the shower. 'Amazing, another good idea. This must be some kind of record for you.' You have a weird definition of good, this is common decency. I wouldn't want to smell like wet dog in someone else's house. 'So its fine in our house?' Well yeah. I don't really care what Kizashi and Mebuki think of me, they don't care about me anyway. '...' You don't have to feel bad, I basically replaced their daughter. If anything you should feel bad for them. '...If you say so.'
...
'One hour till dinner. No sign of Kakashi.' Its fine, he's probably teaching Naruto and Sasuke how to tree walk. 'Okay, so what about Zabuza and Haku?' Preparing. Imagine the Demon of the Mist being outdone by Friend Killer Kakashi. 'I'm sorry, but friend killer? What'd he have to do to get that nickname?' Another time. 'But-' Just, drop it. Its not something that I get to explain, even if you're in my head.
I squeezed the last of the water out of my hair, making sure not to get my casual clothes wet. 'Shorts and a tank top. Couldn't you have at least shot for a skirt?' Oh, so your against showing off my legs? Cause I could always grab my sweatpan- 'I take it back, strut your stuff.' Thats what I thought. I threw my hair up in a ponytail before walking to the kitchen.
Tsunami can cut vegetables with scary velocity, and honestly its pretty awesome to watch. 'The ultimate housewife.' I aspire to be her. 'Ha, so you will get married.' Don't get ahead of yourself. "Here dear, toss these in that pot over there." Tsunami ordered without looking up from her work. I scraped the peppers and onions into the boiling water before I was handed a small bowl of spices. "That one too dear." I shrugged and dumped it in. Tsunami continued to order me around the kitchen, its not like I had anything better to do so I continued to help.
"-hut it dobe! You didn't win at all, neither of us made it up the tree!" "Yeah! But I have more chakra than you!" "I have a Kekkai Genkai!" "You can't even use it yet!" "Yes and?" Kakashi trailed behind the two menaces, annoyance clear in the small portion of uncovered face. 'Annnd they're back.' Kakashi bopped Sasuke and Naruto on the head before walking over to the kitchen. I grinned, "I water walke-" "I know." He finished. I sighed, "Clone?" Kakashi nodded, "Clone." I sighed... again. "Soooo, whats my prize?" Kakashi's eye crinkled before he pulled a piece of fabric from his pouch, and handed it to me.
My mouth fell open. '...But its a piece of cloth.' Not just any piece of cloth. I carefully stretched it over my head and adjusted it to cover the lower part of my face. 'He gave you a mask!?' He gave me a mask, oh my god this is awesome. I turned back to Kakashi. "Thank you I'll never show my face again." 'Sensei what have you done?!' A wonderful, wonderful thing. Kakashi nodded seriously at my response. Sasuke and Naruto stopped wrestling on the floor and turned to us. Naruto gasped, "Sakura-Chan! You look like Kakashi!" He proclaimed. Sasuke nodded in agreement. I tried to do think crinkle eye smile that Kakashi does, I'm sure they got the idea.
Another opening of the door drew my attention. Zabuza dragged Haku in by his collar. 'I have questions.' Zabuza unceremoniously threw him onto the couch before rubbing his temples. "Haku. I understand you're strong enough to take on Gato's men, but that isn't the point! We have to outdo Kakashi and his little pink haired menace in every way possible. I'm talking entrance, kill count, and over all finesse! You're a man! Act like it and own up to your pride dammit!" Zabuza lectured Haku while pacing and making various hand gestures to display his emotions. Haku, still face first into the couch, grunted in response. Naruto was snickering while Sasuke stared uninterested. Kakashi seemed to be grinning under his mask. "Hello there Zabuza and Haku. So nice to see you notice our existence." He said passive aggressively. Zabuza's head creaked cartoonishly as it turned. Angry eyes landed on Kakashi. "I knew that you idiot! Wanted you to see what you were up against!" He squabbled. 'I can't sometimes.' I gestured lamely to the men in front of us. "A-ranked ninjas, feared across the five nations, truly incredible." Naruto's snickering shifted to full blown laughter as he elegantly collapsed to the floor. I'm also 30% sure that I saw Sasuke snort. 'That's pretty low chances.' Now now inner, this is Sasuke we're dealing with. All show of emotion have less than a 50% chance of being real. 'Amen'
...
The sky was still dark when we left. Individual stars twinkled brightly as we readied ourselves for war. Well, maybe not war, but a battle of some form. 'Skip the poetry it's time to fuck some dudes up.' Easy there tiger. 'So if I'm a tiger, wouldn't that make you a lion? I mean it's fitting, you summon them and all.' I guess your right, when I was a gymnast people would call me 'the lioness' not because I was cool or anything, my hair was just crazy looking. 'No wonder you don't know any hair products.' As stated before, shampoo and conditioner, thats all ya need. 'Random question, what was your hair color?' Red. Like really obnoxious red. 'It all makes sense now.' What do you mean? 'Gingers have no souls.' Like I haven't heard that one a million times. 'Still though, Alana the Lioness...
how fitting'
Kakashi handed me a first aid kit and gave me an encouragement speech that I didn't really pay attention to. Something along the lines of 'Beat those weaklings into submission. If they are going to kill you. Kill them first.' he said it all in this super calm voice it was a little freaky. 'Uhh, you know I think you should've listened to that speech of his' Nonsense. Once I'm concentrated I don't lose focus easily. 'He deadass just talked about murder. You shouldn't be so calm.' Haven't you heard that one saying? 'Uh, which one?'
The calm before the storm.
We walked in eerie silence, showing no vulnerability. Zabuza and Haku led us to the base of the operations, the final resting place of Gato the terror. 'The terror? Oh come on, he's what? 2ft tall? 3? Gato sounds like more of a parasite then anything.' Ok so we're on our way to assassinate Gato the insufferable leech. 'Much more accurate.' Kakashi walked without worry, as if he had total confidence in me. I have to say the thought of that feels great. 'I'm gonna die' I think you mean we're gonna die. 'I have doubts that you can die.' Here I come. Alana the immortal. Watch out bitches. 'You forgot lioness.' Oh shut it.
Zabuza abruptly stopped in front of one of the trees, we stopped behind him. He turned to us. "Listen up. Beyond this tree is a bunch of hired mercenaries, they're all chunin or below so not much of a challenge. There is one entrance. Haku and I know where the midget is so we'll rush in and kill the fucker. You guys take out the other guys and we'll clean up once we're done with Gato. This isn't a stealth mission just hit 'em hard." He whispered so only we could here. Kakashi patted me on the head before hesitantly doing the same to Haku. "There will be know dying today, either of you. Have I made myself clear?" We both nodded.
Zabuza held up three fingers. One by one he put them down, running into the darkness as soon as his fist balled, Haku joining him. Kakashi cracked his knuckles and gave me a quick look. "You've got this kiddo." He ran forward. 'Do us a favor and don't die.' Yeah...
Got it.
I slipped out two of my longer kunai, gripping them tightly in my hands before rushing forward. The adrenaline kicked in, suddenly it wasn't so dark. My eyes adjusted to the light as I ran. With a grin I threw off my weights before tossing them into a tree and marking it with an X. Then I was moving faster, everything was easier to do. A group of five in the distance, I locked on to them. My first targets, they would pay for bringing pain upon the land of waves. My kunais clashes against swords and knives, I bounced off of trees to keep ahead of them. I slashed at them, not really caring where I hit as long as they fell. I felt something gash against my left bicep, not deep, not a big deal. The adrenaline continued to rush through my veins as the last of the five fell. The fight must have created quite a bit of noise seeing as I now had seven new targets.
My hand reached to my wounded bicep, taking the blood on my fingers before swiping it under my glove, across the tattoo. I took a deep breath as the group lunges forward. "Summoning Jutsu!" There was a great cloud of smoke, startling back the mercenaries. The familiar grey coat and molten amber eyes faced me. I grinned. "Hope your up for some action." A toothy grin matched mine in return. "Depends on you pinky." We turned in sync, facing the group of mercenaries as they marveled at the lion that stood a foot above me. With all the sparring and ruthless training we had both endured in mind, we rushed in together, not as enemies, but as friends. 'I still have full faith that he's gonna kill you one of these days.' I was wondering where you went. 'Didn't want to throw you off your mojo.' Thanks.
I dodged Milo coughing up lava in the center of our battle, it worked to completely throw off our enemies. I was able to run behind them and slash with my knives. Milo surprised me by running on the molten rock, he lunged at two of the enemy, claws out. I grinned and swiped for the legs of the tree on the left. 'You two, are terrifying.' I got distracted for one second. One singular second. And that was all it took for a mercenary to have a hold of my hair. Well this is a little ironic. I gripped my kunai with nostalgia, before swinging it backwards, cropping the long pink hair that never seemed to suit me.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME" Look it had to be don- wait a minute. I swallowed. Before looking behind me. Punching the man who had held my hair, in all her glory, was the staticky figure of inner. Waist length pink hair, toxic green eyes. Wait a damn minute. I ran a hand through my hair, my hair. As in obnoxious ginger. Inner eventually finished pummeling the man before angrily turning to me. She gasped. "Holy shit your Alana!" A hand covered her mouth. I patted my face that was still partially covered by my mask. I reveled at the feeling of my cheekbones. I turned back to inner. "And, you- you're Sakura! Like actual Sakura. We're split, I don't know for how long, but we're split!" Milo gave us both a confused look. "Would anyone like to tell me what the fuck is going on here?!" I grinned before doing a backflip in ecstasy. "Who knows, who cares, doesn't really matter. All that matters right now is kicking some ass. Inner, should we come even remotely close to any members of our party other than Milo or myself, you have to merge. This is not the point in time for us to explain the whole reincarnation thing. Milo I'll give you the whole story after this is done, now who's ready to dominate a battlefield?!" I grinned as Milo let out a loud roar, Sakura accompanying him with a battle cry.
Now this was going to be epic.
...
Jinkies I just wrote that. Like inner is out in the world and shit. She got the Kakashi mask and I really like the idea of him potentially adopting her because Mebuki and Kizashi are a tad neglectful. I don't know, ideas are still in the works. But anyways here's the awaited chapter! I hope you all enjoy and make sure to wash your hands. Leave a vote or comment if you feel like it, and make sure to have a great day!
Till next time...