Reborn as a Nara

fifteen

C H A P T E R      1 5
— Back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves

She was staring at him again.

Haku shifted slightly but showed no other signs of discomfort, content with allowing the stare on his person no matter how prying the gaze seemed to be. He met her eyes, understanding that she wasn't just staring at him but rather, she was ripping him into pieces as if he was an experiment to dissect solely at her own expense.

Shirayuki Nara had an unnerving stare, she was also the girl he barely managed to avoid murdering during that situation before. When she had jumped out in front of her teammate, hands spread out wide and full of determination, Haku felt his own actions falter.

(Perhaps that was why Zabuza-sama had died.)

She looked at him, not that she could see when his face was hidden behind his mask, but she had locked eyes with him before looking at her teammate with a face filled with something that reminded him of, well, himself. And Haku barely, just barely, managed to shift the trajectory of the needles so they didn't kill her. Otherwise, it would've killed her.

But maybe killing her would have avoided Zabuza-sama from dying, maybe he wouldn't have to be alone right now if she had died.

Perhaps that was why Haku felt that he wanted to resent her a little bit, even though the most logical part of him explained that Zabuza-sama had only lost due to his own emotions getting the better of him. Being emotional in a fierce battle even after the many times Haku had been warned by the man to do the exact opposite.

("You go and live, alright? Don't follow me." Zabuza-sama smiled before closing his eyes.)

When he was alone, left in the snow without his parents and memories of his father calling for their death with a face filled with despair, Zabuza-sama was like the sun in the abyss. But his eyes, when Haku looked at the man then, he was reminded of himself.

Full of self-loathing.

"Your eyes are like mine," Haku had said then.

With his hands and feet so cold he couldn't even feel them, his eyes fixed on the man that stared him down. Haku wondered what would have happened when he had first spoken, would he be killed? How would he die? Gutted? But Zabuza-sama knelt down on his knees and offered his hand.

"Come with me," Zabuza-sama had said, three words making him Haku's whole world.

And with eight words, Zabuza-sama had taken the whole world away as well, along with his final breath. Haku inhaled, getting rid of the memories. Zabuza-sama's final order was for him to live, not survive or die, but to live. Don't follow him, Zabuza-sama had said.

"Hm..."

The sudden hum jerked Haku out of his memory lane, reminding him that right now, there was someone observing his every breath. He snapped his eyes up to meet hers again, her eyes so cold even when she had so much fire then, saving her teammate without any regard for her own life. Haku watched as she leaned her head on her palm, eyes still fixed on him.

And then she spoke, shattering the tension around them.

"So, what do you plan on doing once you arrive in Konoha?" Shirayuki Nara asked as if she wasn't part of the reason why he was without a motive right now. But that's it, she wasn't part of the reason at all, Haku thought bitterly. Which brings back to her question, what was he going to do in Konoha?

"I don't know," Haku answered honestly and for once, he was shocked at how lost his voice sounded. Naruto, a charming boy who reminded Haku of everything he could've had and lost, was instantly by his side, with all the signs pointing towards an incoming chatter.