I have taken a while to update this story, and no, I do not regret it. I love writing this but I will not write a sub par chapter with no inspiration.

That said, I am very happy to get another chapter out before the start of the new year, so here is a short one for you. Haku.

Haku lives in a small mountain village near Kirigakure no sato, a village always covered in snow and ice. Crops cannot grow there, nor can animals be kept outdoors. There is no future for a child of this place- the men are rough and small-minded, the women angry. Everywhere is bleak and barren and the inhabitants hate every minute they spend, trapped, in the frozen settlement . Even the village's name is despairing- Samuzamu, desolate.

The only light in that dark place is his mother, who loves the snow. She plays with the ice and makes it beautiful, (quite literally) the polar opposite of the harmful influence, which starves the village every winter. And she teaches Haku to do it as well. The ice whispers to him, loving, crooning things- as they mould themselves into beautiful, beautiful shapes. Sparkling crystals which capture the grey sun through the clouds and bring colour and life to Haku's eyes. His mother praises him- My little boy, you are so clever with the ice. It understands you.

And while the ice is whispering to him, and singing quiet lullabies and victory marches in his head, he forgets about the outside world, and does not hear his father's cry of devil child! or his mother's screams until it is too late.

The world is dark when his mother is not in it. Even the colours in his crystals have deserted him, his blood stained ice will no longer work for him. He has tainted his innocence, and the innocence of nature is forever lost to him. Without the whispers of the ice, Haku's mind seems empty, filled only by longing and hunger. Haku hates life, hates what he has become. Having nobody to serve could be freedom- yet he would not know how to be without a master. Once, he served the ice, but he has been abandoned by all he would follow. Unwanted, unneeded, unnecessary.

In his village, the idea of surplus is a cherished one, the dream which is both the first and last to die. The term was unfamiliar and strange to him- now, he wishes it still were. Outside of requirements, beyond help, he is nothing. Long nights pass, alone with his regret, and slowly the blood in his veins turns to ice. He has learned the true darkness of the world, and he is no longer afraid to be eclipsed by it.

(I require an apprentice, boy. Become my tool, and I will see to it that you are always needed.)

When he awakes, he is reborn. And with him, the ice, once his hope and then his despair, becomes his tainted and already bloody weapon. It serves him, now, for he serves another.

Zabuza is very different from his mother. He is harsh words and rough fingers like the men of Samuzamu. But he is not like them. Where once Haku would see only despair and bitterness, in Zabuza's eyes there is a wild sort of hope. Zabuza's eyes say I can never pay back for the blood I have spilled. But I know that I can change the future, and I only want to make it better. I will stop at nothing to make it better. In that way, Zabuza is just like Haku. And if Zabuza wants to change the world, then Haku will happily follow him, wherever it may lead. Like a sheep to the slaughter, laugh some. But Haku knows enough of slaughter to laugh as well.

Kill for me, Zabuza-sama says and Haku fights for him with hot blood and hard fists. He kills from the front with needles and a smile and from the back with ice, where nobody can see. And (literally) for the life of them, nobody else understands how he does it. His ice is so blood stained now that it moves in sharp and shining rivers. The voice that once sang lullabies in his head now whispers to him riptearkillstab when no one is watching. Haku will serve and kill for his master until the end of time itself. Their goals are the very same- Haku is the arm by which his most secret intentions are carried out. And if Haku hates needless bloodshed, Zabuza knows what bloodshed is necessary, and he is so much Zabuza that it is hard to know what amount of Haku is left.

It is so very, very nice to be needed. My little genius, Zabuza calls him. My tool. Zabuza owns him, because by the act of claiming possession of him, he made Haku give himself up. Haku failed the first person who needed him. He will not fail again.

Zabuza-sama calls him my tool. Haku happily repays him, with the title master.

Do look out for updates on this, and also feel free to suggest people, as I'm running out of ones to write about! Also, have a look for my new story, which should be coming out... soon.

Love, MagnoliaTree