Hidden Villages

I: Watery Ways

"I see the Kage called for his pet."

A pair of violet eyes stared at the closed doors leading towards the Mizukage's meeting room. The jinchuriki of the three-tailed beast paused rather than flinching. Without looking the man standing by the door in the eye he spoke. "Don't forget Zabuza that this pet of the Mizukage could easily take the life of every Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist if he so choose."

A gravely laugh escaped from between the lips of dark skin man as he leaned up against the wall outside of the meeting room. One hand lifted up and pulled back the wrappings around his mouth. "If the Kage's pet could do this, why does said pet let the Kage push himself around like he does?"

Yagura's head turned towards the man. His violet eyes narrowed, but his mouth twisted into a frown. Zabuza remained standing there without flinching. After a few moments the jinchuriki turned towards the door and flung them open with both hands. The slamming sound simply made the Mizukage look up in irritation.

The man waved his hand while continuing to glare at Yagura indicating the two Anbu watching the door should leave along with everyone else in the room. The doors clicked shut and the Mizukage motioned for Yagura to approach. The village jinchuriki stepped within three meters of the Mizukage when the other moved.

The old man towered over the jinchuriki, but his hand reached out and popped Yagura on the chin making the jinchuriki's teeth clatter slightly. "What, pray tell, is this rumor I've heard about you becoming soft again Yagura?"

"Soft?" Yagura looked the man in the eye as his teeth clenched together. "What is this nonsense about a shinobi of the Bloody Mist being soft? Only a fool would think..."

The Mizukage's hand tightened around Yagura's chin forcing the jinchuriki's violet eyes to look towards the right. "Explain this scar on your face child."

"I'm not a child." Yagura's teeth clenched tightly, yet a shudder ran down his spine as the thumb of the man's hand traced the scar running below his right eye across his entire cheek.

"I still remember when you got this injury, child of all three Mizukage's bloodlines. Do you remember how this happened?"

The jinchuriki remained silent and instead continued looking to the right.

"I'll remind you then. You didn't take your graduation exam seriously, but your best friend did. They attacked you leaving you with this scar. Of course, you wouldn't be standing here in front of me if you hadn't instinctively killed him thus leaving his bones in the ground. And an older student at that."

"Your point Lord Mizukage?"

"Look me in the eye Yagura."

The young man turned his head towards the man. He still felt the man's hand on his chin. "Yes?"

"Tell me why I sealed Isobu in you?"

Yagura didn't turn his head, yet his violet eyes drifted slightly towards the right. "Because I was soft, and in this world those who are soft don't survive. More importantly I am a child with the bloodlines of all three Mizukage. I can not be seen as soft. If I am seen as soft then the other Mizukage will be seen as soft and I'll thus weaken the strength of the Mizukage in the village."

"Good. You understand it has nothing to do with me wanting a precious grandchild to survive. After all, your softness is an embarrassment, but is it not the reason we no longer hold the exam?"

"What?" The jinchuriki paused before looking the man in the eye. "What is that supposed to mean? Everyone knows the exam was canceled with that person killed a hundred students despite not being a student. Everyone."

The Mizukage's hand moved from Yagura's chin to the top of his head. The fingers wrapped around Yagura's locks of hair as the man leaned forward so he might whisper into the jinchuriki's ear simply to make him uncomfortable.

"You don't remember Yagura?"

Yagura turned his head despite doing so made the man's grip tighten on his hair. "Remember what?"

"You don't remember what led up to that incident?"

"I don't know what you're talking about let alone the point you're trying to make."

"My point? How can you not see my point dear child?"

"How can you keep forgetting I'm not a child?"

"Let me see. This is coming from the child who cried himself to sleep after his graduation for days. Of course, only those who came near the Mizukage residence heard, but then again, nobody comes near unless invited. You wouldn't happen to have invited an outsider to the residence of an insider did you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Or how about how the child in front of me screamed in pain when I sealed Isobu in you? The entire village still speaks of how you screamed bloody murder for hours during the sealing."

"Are you admitting you take great joy in my personal pain?"

"Not at all. Oh, not at all my dear child, unless you count the joy I take in you becoming a stronger shinobi. I raised you, did I not?" This comment made Yagura turn back to the man in disgust, but the Mizukage continued before he could open his mouth to protest the man's heart was as cold as they come. "Of course, did Zabuza take joy in your pain?"

A pair of violet eyes glared at the man, but the words came out as if laced with venom. "What do you think? This is Zabuza we're talking about. You know as well as I he takes great joy in the pain of others. Who in this village doesn't?"

The man's hand lowered slightly so he might grab onto Yagura's chin. This time his grip was painfully tight. "You know better than to speak of your own village as if we were a village of psychopaths. You know full well that graduation test was to remove the weak, but we've suffered in our strength."

"A..." The Mizukage's hand tightened a bit more around Yagura's chin.

"You know my point. Despite becoming one of the swords of this village Zabuza is still an outsider, but he would never have reacted the way he did if you hadn't been soft." The man thrust the jinchuriki slightly making Yagura stumble slightly. "Out of my sight. You disgust me."

Yagura walked over to the doors with his back to the man. A shiver ran down his spine just as he closed the doors behind him. Zabuza was nowhere in sight, so the jinchuriki headed back to his quarters which were located near that of the Mizukage.

The door to his quarters slammed shut. A deep breath escaped his lungs once Yagura was alone and had nobody but himself to vent to, yet out of the corner of his eye he saw a familiar figure skulking in the shadows by the window. The closest thing in reach was a cushion which he found himself flinging across the room at the intruder.

Zabuza's hand reached out and grabbed the cushion before it managed to hit him in his face. "If you want to kill me, you should actually throw something else."

"Seriously! Why does he always belittle me and remind me how soft I was that day? Why does he always have to treat me like a child despite graduating."

"You know, you wouldn't have to deal with him if you just killed him."

Yagura felt the corner of his mouth twitch slightly. "Seriously? You know why I can't do that?"

"Because he's family? Because of how it would look? Because it would throw the village into a disarray?" Zabuza dropped the cushion and pulled his arm back into the shadows.

Yagura turned so he wouldn't look the swordsman in the eye. "It doesn't matter. I'm really not..." The jinchuriki flinched when he felt something flat placed on his head. "Zabuza..." His hand reached up and removed a carton of milk from the top of his head. Yagura felt the corner of his mouth twitch again. "Zabuza, what..."

"If you drink all of your milk you might actually grow." The other man moved back into the shadows. Yagura's teeth clenched as he flung the offending object into the shadows at the other shinobi. The resounding thud and sound of spilling milk told him he'd missed his target. "You're too soft."

"I am not soft."

"The Kage thinks otherwise, but you really should be far more concerned about him finding out about that."