Never Let You Go [Zabuza Momochi]

Chapter 17

Chapter Inspiration: Holler Till You Pass Out by 3OH!3

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"Just because you were sick, don't think I'll go easy on you," Zabuza stated. "I have to be sure you're still in shape, otherwise, you'll be costing me money."

Lacey stood up from her stretching exercises to face the rogue. It had been a week since the incident. At times the muscles still felt weird, though that was partly due to being confined to a bed for so long. And nearly all the puncture wounds were healed.

"You want to spar," she stated.

"Of course." His arms crossed. "You have ten seconds."

Lacey took off, disappearing into the forest. "Why do you do it?" the teen asked.

"What?"

"Always make her prove herself. Hasn't she done it enough."

"Her skills are still shaky at best." But not only that he wanted to be certain that Lacey remained prepared the next time a mission called for her involvement. Zabuza didn't want her throwing herself in front of danger like that. Or if he couldn't reach her... the young man just felt a need to be reassured the dancer could handle herself. Despite the fact she fought her way to their position.

Haku sighed. "Just don't hurt her too much. She just got better." He grumbled, rushing off. "Don't do something stupid." The ninja knew why he was in this mood for another reason. Whenever the young man felt himself getting too close to the female of the group, he always ended up doing something to slightly push her away. It was in his nature. To not have attachments. And Zabuza spent a lot of time around Lacey in the last week during her recovery. Haku shook his head, "I will never understand you."

Zabuza didn't have to go far, surprised to find the young woman standing out in the open with a weapon in hand. "Not running and hiding?"

"I'm done doing that," she stated. "I know you always tell me it's my greatest asset, but when I was within Shoji's estate and I was forced to fight back I knew I was lacking in areas. What threw them off and gave me the upper hand was that they didn't expect me to be with you and armed. And they had other things in mind..."

Zabuza's expression darkened at the memory of the young woman recounting her steps through the household once she was strong enough.

"Haku and I fight one-on-one face to face. The last time I went against you, you wiped the floor with me. But it's been months since that. I've grown a lot. So I want to test myself."

"If that is your choice, very well." His hand reached back for the hilt of the blade. "As I said before, you better be a fast learner."

Lacey's shoulders rose and fell with a deep, steady breath to ease the nerves. Zabuza rushed forward, sword coming over his shoulder in an attack. It was quick, but Lacey managed to cartwheel to the side. She made it almost look easy as the sharp edge embedded into the ground and kicked up dirt in its wake. Their eyes met as she landed on all fours and without hesitation the man threw the weapon up in her direction. This time the young woman lunged into a roll, releasing a kunai. The young man easily deflected the attack when the broad face blocked his chest. She watched the blade carefully as it came in, faking right before twisting to the left. Sticking the weapon into the ground his hand tightly gripped the hilt to swing himself around trying to compensate for Lacey's misdirection. Zabuza used his fist instead, bringing it down in determination. The dancer's eyes widened, throwing herself backwards, spine hitting the dirt and tucking both legs into her chest. Knuckles slamming into the ground she used the extended limb of her opponent to her advantage and pushed off to gain distance.

Lacey was moving again, swiftly flipping through the air and avoiding his attacks. Post-flip she paused, kicking around one leg. The dancer caught the flat side of the kunai coming head on against the sole of the shoe using chakra. She spun in place before releasing it back in Zabuza's direction, starling the rogue. He only had a second to dodge by shifting out of the way.

"Where did you learn that?" he inquired.

"I don't know," she said truthfully. "Haku was talking about the possibilities once. I've been practicing with it for a while, but this is the first time I've used it in a fight."

This intrigued him greatly.

Zabuza chased the young woman, who pumped chakra into her feet and ran up the trunk of a tree just before the blade swiped at the legs. Pushing off, Lacey gripped both his shoulders to complete the flip and jumped away. However, the young man was suddenly at her side, weapons clashing. Impressive block on her end.

A clone appeared on the left, the dancer's body tensing before using the blade to her advantage and twisting over it. She dodged the clone's kunai and, in the process, smacked her foot against Zabuza's cheek. The opponent stumbled backwards. Testing the jaw, he glared at the young woman, who suddenly grew nervous from the dangerous look in his eyes. And she had a right to be.

Zabuza left no openings for the dancer to go on the offensive. She needed to resort to dodging his attacks that relentlessly swiped at her from every angle. It was better than losing a limb. He caught her by surprise when suddenly disappearing on the spot. A foot roughly made contact with her back and her mouth snapped open in shock from the kick. Lacey went flying through the air and tumbled to the ground trying to catch her breath.

He came in from above next. The dancer rolled out of the way, stumbling to her feet. She was seeing double. That attack and the fact that she was still healing made it difficult to focus. Which is why seeing two dangerous rogues charging at her made her react quickly. Hand forming into a fist, the young woman's chakra began to gather before roughly slamming it into the ground. A steady stream of fire flared up, forcing Zabuza back so he didn't get burned. Taking the opportunity, Lacey stood, shaking her head. The dancer formed a hand sign quickly, producing a wall of fire.

Growling, Zabuza cut through the jutsu, finding the young woman facing him again, but with a bit more distance between them. Both breathed heavy, waiting for the other to move. Finally, the man sent a kunai flying. Lacey bending backwards and immediately realized her mistake. She'd taken her eyes off the enemy. Zabuza was now above her position, hand wrapping around the neck and slamming his opponent into the ground. The air left her lungs again. For a brief moment it felt like she was about to pass out.

"Good." The grip fell away. "You did better than I expected."

"Thanks..." she breathed, chest heaving up and down.

"If you stay calm it'll come back naturally." Zabuza sat beside her on the ground. It took a few minutes for everything to stop spinning and for the black spots to go away from her vision. "Better?"

"Yeah... Did you have to hit that hard? Sleeping on the ground is going to hurt now."

He snickered and stood. "Let's head back. That way Haku doesn't think I killed you."

Lacey gave a light laugh and shakily stood to follow after the rogue. But they didn't get far when something disturbed the area. A flare of chakra that disappeared as quickly as it came.

"What was that?" Lacey asked.

"I don't know." They waited a few moments, feeling nothing more. Whatever it was disappeared. "Stay alert. It wasn't Haku."

"Another rogue?"

"A possibility. We're leaving."

She didn't dare to argue.