Demon Hunters

“Haku, are you home?” the blonde boy asked as he opened the door.

“Yeah, Naruto. I’m in the kitchen,” Haku replied.

After taking off his shoes, Naruto made his way down the hall towards the kitchen.

“It smells good, Haku,” Naruto commented, opening the refrigerator to get a soda.

“Thanks, Naru; go ahead and sit on the couch. I’ll call you when the food’s ready,” Haku said.

The brunette was scurrying around the kitchen in a floral apron; his hair tied back into a high ponytail. It was times like these that Haku reminded Naruto of a girl.

“Did you find anything interesting in the park?” the brunette asked casually.

“Nope. Nothing,” Naruto answered a little too quickly, “So how did things go with Zabuza?”

“Real smooth Kit,” Kyuubi chided.

Naruto sighed; it wasn’t his fault that he was a terrible liar. He just hoped that Haku would be distracted easily enough by his mention of Zabuza.

Haku coughed lightly.

“Everything went fine,” Haku said wistfully.

Naruto looked at his best friend, not missing the small smile that had formed on Haku’s lips. At this Naruto arched an eyebrow.

“You like him,” Naruto stated simply.

He knew Haku well enough to see that he was attracted to the other teen; it was fairly obvious. Or it was fairly obvious to him at least; Haku seemed completely unaware of his attraction to Zabuza.

Haku spun around to look at Naruto.

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Haku asked, confused.

“It’s not nonsense. And I’m right, aren’t I?” Naruto smirked against his soda can.

Haku averted his eyes to the ground and muttered something about Naruto being stupid. Naruto smiled triumphantly. Just because Haku seemed unaware of his feelings didn’t mean that he couldn’t have a little fun teasing him. If asked, the blond would claim that it was payback for Haku’s comments from earlier, about the raven-haired bastard.

“So… Has he kissed you yet, Haku?”

A loud yelp came from the kitchen, followed by the sound of metal crashing to the floor. Naruto quickly got up from his spot on the couch and ran to the kitchen.

“Haku, what are you--”

Naruto never got to finish his sentence. As soon as he’d stepped into the doorframe of the kitchen he was assaulted with a barrage of utensils. Naruto found himself dodging a few forks, and upon missing their mark the projectiles embedded themselves in the wall with a dull thud.

“Out! Get out of my kitchen Naruto!” Haku yelled at the top of his lungs, throwing a few more dessert forks at him.

“Ah! Okay, okay, I surrender! Jeez, Haku, I never knew you could be so short tempered,” Naruto stated as he moved down the hallway away from the kitchen.

With an exasperated huff, Haku turned back to the food, which was now slightly burnt, and muttered; “`M not short tempered.”

Naruto rolled his eyes. Haku must really like him; and as long as Zabuza treated Haku well, there wouldn’t be any problems. Or so he hoped.

…

It was an unusually quiet night in Sasuke’s apartment. The usual sounds of Zabuza with one of his “victim’s” weren’t heard.

The Uchiha sighed. Finally. For once he might actually get a decent night’s sleep.

Although it was only 8:34 PM, Sasuke was ready to crash. That is, until he heard a familiar knocking at his door. With an audible groan, Sasuke threw the covers off his bed and headed towards the front door.

“What is it?” Sasuke growled as he threw open his door.

“I need your help,” was the reply.

The raven was a little stunned to see Zabuza standing at his front door; Sasuke nodded to the taller teen.

“Come in.”

“Thanks,” Zabuza replied.

Although Zabuza and Sasuke weren’t exactly best pals, they did tolerate each other (barely). But, most importantly, they didn’t get in each other’s way. They had an agreement of sorts; neither of them would do anything to provoke the other, but, in turn, they would never get close enough to become friends. Neither party complained.

Once both boys were comfortably seated in Sasuke’s living room Zabuza started.

“All right, I’m just gonna get right down to it. I like Haku, and I want you to help me get him.”

“Whoa. Slow down and rewind. First let’s start off with you telling me who Haku is,” replied Sasuke evenly, as he rubbed his temples, he could feel a headache coming on.

Zabuza rolled his eyes and shook his head at the raven’s display.

“You know, Haku, your boyfriend’s best friend.”

“Who the hell are you talking about?” Sasuke hissed.

“You know; the blond boy that you obviously like and want to molest? His best friend is Haku, and I want you to help me get him,” Zabuza replied seriously.

Sasuke’s brain had stopped taking in information after Zabuza had said the word ‘molest.’ Something inside Sasuke snapped, and he became eerily peaceful. Kind of like a calm-before-the-storm, type of thing.

“Are you insane,” Sasuke asked flatly, “How the hell could you think that that stupid blond idiot and I--”

“Well that wasn’t vain, Sasuke-chan,” Zabuza interrupted Sasuke in the middle of his rant. “Besides, it’s so obvious that you like him. You’re always making fun of him, and finding some way to get his attention. Even if it’s in a negative way.”

Seeing no point to argue any further, Sasuke resigned to help Zabuza get close to Haku, if only to get the other out of his house faster. Happy that Sasuke would help him, Zabuza left Sasuke to brood in his apartment.

Sasuke had a feeling that things in his quiet, little life were about to go spinning out of control. He went back to his room and lay wide-awake on his bed. He reflected on the new orders he had received from the man he refused to call his master. It was hard to believe the blonde was a demon hunter. Things at the Academy must be bad if they’re willing to send in a dobe like that to investigate those killings. Sasuke shook his head to rid himself of his thoughts. But he had to wonder at what kind of power the dobe had that would have that man (he would not call him his master) interested in him. Those were Sasuke’s last thoughts as he drifted off into a fitful slumber.

…

“Naruto! How could you?” a woman screeched.

With tears streaming down the young boy’s face he replied with; “I-- I didn’t do anything… I just came in and found him like that… I swear.”

Before Naruto laid a dead man covered in blood, a large knife wound visible on his neck. It had severed the artery. A few feet away from the corpse that Naruto was hunched over, lay a knife, also covered in blood. The woman bent down and picked up the knife, slowly walking over to Naruto. Kneeling next to the sobbing boy, she lifted the knife and gently caressed Naruto’s unscarred cheek with her free hand.

“I believe you, Naruto,” the woman said tonelessly. Quickly she grasped Naruto’s chin firmly, and lifted the knife to one of the boy’s unblemished cheeks. Slowly, she dragged the tip of the blade over the trembling boy’s cheek, making a whisker-like mark. Blood slowly slid down Naruto’s cheeks as the woman continued to mark him, making six visible cuts to his face; three on each cheek. Naruto cried out in a mixture of pain and confusion.

“W-what are you doing?” Naruto wailed, “Mama! What are you doing?”

“Marking you as a murderer! You are no longer my son,” the woman spat as she threw the knife to the side of the room, admiring her handiwork. Slowly she licked her lips, as anger slowly took over her features. Without warning she hoisted the still sobbing Naruto from where he sat, and threw him across the room. As soon as Naruto’s head collided with the wall, he passed out. The last thing he heard was his mother yelling; “You killed your father!”

…

Naruto woke with a start, jerking upright, his face covered in sweat; tears were streaming down his scarred cheeks. Breathing heavily, Naruto placed his head in his hands, and pulled his knees up to his chest. It had been a couple of years since Naruto had last had that dream.

“Kit? Are you all right?” Kyuubi asked with a slight yawn.

She had woken from her sleep due to Naruto’s unrest.

“I’m fine, Kyuubi,” Naruto whispered his reply.

“All right, Kit… I’m gonna go back to sleep.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Naruto replied, lifting his head from his hands.

Wiping away the stray tears, Naruto glanced at the clock on the nightstand next to his bed. The time flashing on his alarm clock was 6:45; it was still pretty early. Haku was probably awake and in the shower. Rather than attempt to fall back asleep, Naruto got dressed and went out to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. As he rummaged through the fridge, Naruto had a feeling that it was going to be one of those days. Naruto pulled out a few eggs and cracked them into the hot frying pan as Haku emerged from the bathroom, apparently done with his shower.

“Naruto? Why are you up so early?” Haku asked, eyeing the eggs and frying pan.

Naruto just smiled at his best friend while he poked the eggs around in the sizzling pan.

“Making us breakfast,” Naruto said simply; a forced smile on his face.

Haku stood there for a moment taking in the scene before him before going back to the bedroom to dress. As he was pulling on a shirt, Haku realized what had happened. Naruto used to act like this a lot when he had first come to the Academy. The blond used to wake up in the middle of the night, crying from a night terror. Haku never asked what the nightmares were about for fear that the boy would start sobbing uncontrollably; he wouldn’t have known how to comfort him, anyway. Eventually Naruto’s nightmares became less and less frequent; the most recent one having been a couple years back. Haku wanted to ask Naruto about the dreams but he didn’t want to pry into something that Naruto wasn’t willing to tell him. He soon dropped the idea altogether and settled with the fact that if something was wrong, Naruto would tell him in good time.

After Haku had properly dressed, he headed to the kitchen and sat down at the table, where Naruto had placed their breakfasts. It smelled great, and tasted just as good. Haku stole a glance at Naruto, who was preoccupied with some extra physics homework that he had forgotten about last night. Usually Naruto hated to cook, he preferred to go out for ramen, but on the rare occasions that Naruto did bust out his figurative apron he always made something delicious.

Haku had to admit that Naruto was a very talented teenager. He could cook and bake, he did his own laundry and knew how to separate it by lights, darks, heavies, and delicates; he was also a great fighter. The only thing that Naruto wasn’t great at was schoolwork, which the blond haired youth hated with a passion. Thinking back, Naruto had always been that way, for as long as Haku had known him.

“Hey, Haku, are you done with your breakfast?” Naruto asked, interrupting the dark haired boy from his thoughts.

“Um, yeah. Thanks Naruto. I’ll go grab our bags if you’ll clean up the dishes,” Haku said as he smiled happily at the blond.

“Deal,” Naruto smiled back, grabbing Haku’s mostly empty plate along with his.

…

Sasuke woke up with the biggest fucking headache ever. He had barely gotten five hours of sleep, due to a certain blond boy invading his thoughts. With an exasperated sigh Sasuke combed his fingers through his hair as he adjusted the tie on his school uniform.

It was ridiculous; last night the blond boy had not only invaded his thoughts but his dreams too. Sasuke had dreamed that a young dobe had been accused of killing someone, and a woman had taken a knife to Naruto’s cheeks and given him those six whisker-like scars. It was an absurd dream that ended with Naruto getting thrown into a wall and falling unconscious.

That was the last time he talked to Zabuza before he went to sleep. Sasuke grumbled as he took one last look into the full-length mirror on the back of his bedroom door. The school’s uniform was a simple three-piece set; a white shirt, a dark gray blazer, and dark gray pants, accentuated with a royal blue tie.

Deciding that he looked acceptable, his slightly bloodshot eyes notwithstanding, he grabbed his school bag and exited his apartment. He decided to head straight for school this morning instead of stopping by the café for a cup of coffee. After all, he had a blond dobe to see.

…

Tsunade sat in the chair behind her desk, reminiscing about the past. She held a half-empty bottle of sake in one hand and she used the other to prop her head in. Things were quiet around the Academy with Naruto and Haku gone. Shortly after the two had left her office, she made a call to a man that she trusted to watch over the two teens.

Iruka Umino had been stationed at Konoha High a few years back, before the dead bodies began to surface. But before that he had been one of Tsunade’s best demon hunters, as well as the demon hunter representative. She had trained him herself, and she knew would be able to discreetly watch over the boys and provide them with protection, should they need it. It wasn’t Naruto that worried her though; he had been exposed to the human realm prior to this assignment. Haku, on the other hand, had been at the Academy since birth, and in all that time he had rarely interacted with anyone other than Naruto.

“Do you remember when Haku first came to us, Shizune?” The older woman asked her part-time secretary and full-time best friend.

Looking up from the pile of paper work she was working on, she nodded and smiled sadly.

“I do remember Tsunade-sama,” Shizune said fondly.

“He was practically a newborn. I could sense the demonic energy that had sent him to us. His little body exuded energy from a spell that I recognized; it was basically like the boy had been reborn. His memories of his life before the Academy were sealed away.”

“Yes, Tsunade-sama. I remember you tirelessly checking the boy over after his arrival. You thought he might have been a spy,” Shizune giggled at the thought, “Then, after hours of examining him, you told me that you were able to tap into a few of his sealed memories. You told me his name was Haku, and that he was a demon. That’s all you knew; his memories were too fragmented to decipher much else.”

“Yes. His demonic powers were being suppressed by the spell that had been cast over him,” Tsunade said thoughtfully.

There was a pause and then Shizune spoke; “Are you still researching? Are you still trying to find out who Haku is?”

Tsunade said nothing and took a long drink from her sake bottle. Shizune’s eyes widened as a thought struck her.

“You know. You found out who Haku is,” she stated, stunned.

Tsunade’s silence was her only answer.



-----TBC-----
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