The Son of the Mist

1 ;; Goodbye, Old Friend.

Excuse any mistakes for now; I plan to proofread more thoroughly soon.

-&-

The Uchiha boy lay dead off to the side, where the Uzumaki had gently discarded him.

"Is this the first time you've lost a comrade in battle?" Haku asked smoothly, gazing at the boy with a detached sort of sadness. He hadn't actually killed the boy - but for the Uzumaki to believe he had, Haku kept speaking. It was quite simple - for him,at least - to send someone into a false state of death. He'd done so to Zabuza not long ago when they'd first faced the group of Leaf ninja, and while when the boy awoke he would be weak and lethargic - he would also be alive. He hadn't been lying, after all, when he'd said he hadn't wished to kill anyone. "He entered this life knowing the risks it would entail; that one day it would mean that his very life would be forfeit. This is the true life of a Shinobi."

"Shut up..." The anger in the boy's voice was not unexpected, nor the way he reacted to the callous and apathetic words of the older boy. What did surprise Haku, however, was the abrupt explosion of burning, oppressive chakra emanating from the crouched figure of the Uzumaki boy before him. He was hunched on all fours, head bent down towards the ground as if he were praying. His shoulders heaved like he was weeping with his entire body, but the sounds emitting from him weren't cries - they were growls.

"Just shut the hell up!"

Haku could only gasp when the boy lunged for him without prior warning. The last thing he saw before darting at full speed to a mirror clear on the other side of the bridge were the glowing orange eyes. The same ones that were meant to be blue. Haku expected the bones in the boy's hand to shatter with the force of his own punch - for his mirrors had been impenetrable to this day - but the only thing to break was the ice. It fractured apart like the frailest of glass, and Haku burst forth with new motivation to avoid the incoming attacks when the Uzumaki came for him again. Just like before, the mirror shattered when met with his fist.

That chakra was quickly becoming even more prominent, like an invisible weight on Haku's chest that threatened to squeeze the air from his lungs. It seemed to conglomerate around the other boy like an aura. His form had taken on a more bestial likeness, with elongated canines and darkened birthmarks on his cheeks - making them resemble whiskers even more than before.

He dove for Haku again, and it seemed that in his case the third time was the charm. Haku wasn't fast enough, and the sheer force of the punch sent him hurtling backwards as the mirrors all shattered in unison, broken by Haku's involuntary removal.

The railing of the unfinished bridge halted the older boy from sailing over into the water, but Haku's spine seemed to rattle within him, aching from the harsh collision. He coughed, tasting the bitter tang of copper at the back of his throat, and attempted to push himself up again. Someone grabbed a fistfull of Haku's shirt and yanked him to his feet, nailing him with another punch that he didn't have the luxury of flying away from. His head snapped back, hard,and the crack in his mask grew longer.

Haku had resigned himself to the fact that he had been bested. His rouse had had the opposite effect that he'd meant it to. Instead of being discouraged of fighting further, the "death" of his teammate had ignited an unforseen fire in the genin that had allowed him to tap into a new, more powerful chakra frightening enough to halt Haku's advances. He was no longer any use to Zabuza, and this boy had earned the right to take his first life.

Haku briefly considered explaining the situation, but he was above begging for his life.

"Fight back,will you!?" Came the frenzied and garbled voice of the Uzumaki. He shook Haku roughly with both hands, and the older boy's head lolled wildly with the treatment. "Don't just sit there!"