White

By A Unique Kunoichi

I don't know how long after it was, but some time later I blinked my eyes open. I found myself in a white room, lying in a bed with white sheets. Looking to the left I saw a small bedside table, and on it in a glass vase was a single daffodil. To the right was a small metal pole, which had a pouch of liquid hanging from it. I saw a tube hanging from it and looked down - it was connected to my right arm.

This place wasn't Heaven or Hell. It was a hospital room.

How had I not died? My head hurt and my body felt slightly numb, but it wasn't what I'd expected - to say the least.

I tried to recollect my memory to the last events. Zabuza and I had been fighting the Leaf Village ninja. The pink haired girl…Sakura? Sasuke, and Naruto…and their sensei Kakashi. They were all protecting the bridge builder. I couldn't recall his name. Zabuza was fighting Kakashi, and I Naruto and Sasuke. Then…I couldn't remember if it was before or after, but I asked Naruto to kill me. He'd refused.

Kakashi went to strike Zabuza, and upon instinct I'd jumped in front. I couldn't let him die, and that jutsu would have undoubtedly killed him. The jutsu that I thought took my life…

My body tensed, painfully I noted, as the room's door slid open and a young nurse clapped a hand to her mouth as she gasped. "Oh! You're awake." Withdrawing the hand, she smiled. "You were out for quite some time. It's a relief you're up."

I managed what I hoped was a polite smile. "How long have I been out?"

"Nearly two days," the nurse replied. "It's amazing you're alive!"

This earned a small chuckle from me. "It's more of a shock to me than it is to you. …What happened?"

The nurse blinked. "You were brought here by a Jonin and his students a few days ago. He didn't tell me the details, but…" she paused for a second, as if trying not to cringe from what memories she'd brought back to the surface. "Your skin was a mess underneath the bandages, centimeters from your heart." She frowned. "It looked like somebody barely missed killing you. Just a little more over and you wouldn't have been so lucky."

I processed her words in my head, repeated them over and over after she left and the door closed. Kakashi had missed? He had missed, and I was alive…

But what of Zabuza?

As if on cue, the door slid open moments later to reveal a man with grey hair, a mask, and his Konoha headband covering an eye.

'Kakashi.'

"You're awake," the grey haired Jonin mused casually. I decided to ask him the same question I'd asked the nurse moments ago.

"What happened?" Then, with a pause, "…Why am I alive? Where's Zabuza?"

Kakashi sighed as he stood by my bed, and I almost thought I heard regret. "He died killing Gato. And you…" He faltered then; I could tell he was choosing his words wisely. "It seems I missed. Instead of piercing your heart, I tore the skin beside it. You went into a catatonic state - we bandaged you in the village then brought you back here." He scratched at the back of his neck, and I was sure that somewhere beneath his mask a sheepish grin was on his face. "Naruto and Sakura have been bugging me constantly about your condition. They've been visiting you every day."

With each word he spoke, fresh shock, horror, and sorrow rose inside me. Zabuza was dead. I was alive. I thought myself how the roles should have been reversed, how he should have been alive, even if it was in this state, and I should have been the decaying body, rotting to feed the animals and earth.

Kakashi's last words about the ninja who I'd encountered did little to tear me from my misery. My face must have given me away, because at last Kakashi spoke again. "I guess I won't hold you up." Then with a barely noticeable pause I could hear him murmur, "I'm sorry." as he turned his back and walked out.

And again I was left all alone.

The few days that followed dragged on monotonously. Naruto and Sakura came to visit me the next day, despite the fact that Sasuke had refused to pay me a visit - not that I minded much. They didn't stay long. Somehow, it was as if Naruto knew I was silently mourning the death of Zabuza. Because of that the visit was short - Sakura left me some fruit which her and Naruto delivered, they asked my condition, and the Genin departed. Kakashi came in when the nurse didn't to check on my condition. In his own aloof way, he was taking care of me. I didn't know how the village was reacting to hosting a ninja from another village - especially one who had been serving one of the Swordsmen - and I assumed realistically that things were a little chaotic in regards to my staying. However, there was no proof to back my theory up.

Maybe the people here took care of outsiders as if it were normal. It was an unfortunate decision that they'd chosen. I simply didn't care anymore - without Zabuza, my life was nothing. I was worth nothing, a useless body occupying another hospital bed and room. I would lie there, just lie…contemplate my worth, my purpose if I had any at all after it'd been yanked from my life. I concluded that I had no worth, I had no purpose. Both had been pulled from me the moment Zabuza's heart stopped beating.

More people had come to visit me as I steadily got better; I reluctantly ate and did everything else necessary to care for myself I would everyday. More Jonin came to visit me, curious to see the Mist village shinobi who was staying in their village. I'm sure they all thought I was a boring ungrateful being, as I displayed no enthusiasm or emotion. There was no reason for me to be here.

If there was one thing I noticed during the stay in the hospital, it was that there was one consistent color which was slowly numbing to me: white. The ceiling was white, the nurses' uniforms were white, the floor's tiles were white, the bed sheets over me were white, my hospital gown was white. White for everything. The only color I got would be when others would come to visit, and even then they'd leave and it'd be as if their color had not been there at all. Their presence. So I'd withdrawn into my state of mourning, in my world had no color. Just the trite, monotonous white which drove me to what felt like my numbing, inevitable insanity.

Until she came to visit.

She arrived with the black haired female sensei, and the moment she entered my room her shy warmth began to thaw the ice that'd layered on my heart. That numb sensation started to fade into feeling… Feeling.

As she fidgeted before me quietly I took in every small detail about her. She wore what seemed between a tan or vanilla colored hoodie with dark blue pants, her village headband around her neck. She had short black hair, slightly pale skin, and white eyes which studied me as if bashful, like somehow she was inwardly asking permission to look at me. But her eyes weren't the same white as the hospital room, my gown, the nurses' outfits. Hers was a beautiful shade… A delicate pearl.

Everyone who had visited had color too, but it hadn't hit me like hers. Theirs was dull - she made hers vivid in her humble manner. She lit herself up.

I realized that my lips felt funny while I watched my visitor, her sensei having faded into the background. Then I realized that I was smiling. She caught sight of my smile and as she smiled back, a faint blush tinted her cheeks. I couldn't help but chuckle as my smile only grew.

I'd gotten my color back.

As stated in the summary, this was a request from a friend. I've never done HakuxHina before, nor have I ever written Haku, so I hope that I managed to keep him decently in character. I hope this made for an enjoyable read! Favorites and reviews are appreciated, but flames are not.