Warnings: underage drinking and mention of non-graphic rape. Also this is unedited, so beware of grammar mistakes.

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Dark Waters

Chapter 30 – Home Sweet Home

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Uchiha Fugaku was not having a good day. Scratch that, he wasn't having a good week.

It all began, he thinks sullenly, when that horrible Chunnin Exam started.

Fugaku never liked them. Sure, it was a good way to warn off their enemies and attract future clients with a show of power from their young shinobi. Sure, it brought income to the village, money they desperately needed, especially in those troubled times of war. The festivities could even be fun sometimes.

But there was always a chance that something would happen that would fuck up the whole process. The problem with the Chunnin Exams is that, when something fucked it up, it fucked up bad.

Bad, like discovering that there has been a girl running around in Water Country with their blood and without their notice for the last decade, give more or less.

Bad, like discovering that said girl is your own goddamn niece, your sister's lost daughter coming back from the dead.

Bad, like discovering that this unassuming-looking girl (really, she was tiny) was the daughter of the fucking Yondaime Mizukage of Kirigakure.

At least, Fugaku thinks rather bitterly, it's not the damn Raikage.

Not that it really changed the situation. After all, Kiri was not known for its sunny beaches and friendly citizens.

But even that wouldn't have been so bad, if not for one crucial fact.

His sister. His completely senseless little sister.

Their conversation earlier that day had gone more or less like this:

"What do you mean you don't want to take her from her father?"

"Kurai loves him. I will not alienate myself from forming any type of loving relationship with my daughter by taking her away from the man who raised her."

"Meimu. If you let him leave Konoha with your daughter, the chances of you seeing her again will be minimal."

"I trust Yagura to do right by Kurai. I trust him."

"Woman. Listen to yourself. What do you think will happen? That the Mizukage will allow you visitation rights? There will be a whole ocean separating you two. Is that really what you want?"

She whirled around to face him, eyes blazing red with Sharingan and Fugaku was unpleasantly reminded why he had such a healthy respect for the fairer sex.

Because they were terrifying, that's why.

"It doesn't matter what I want! What matters is what Kurai wants, what she can be or cannot be comfortable with! I have been granted a chance, big brother, a chance to repair past mistakes, and I will not allow you or the elders of this clan to spoil it for me, am I understood?"

It became worse, a thousand times worse, when his own wife sided against him.

"A mother knows what's best for her child." Mikoto says, with steel in her voice and a glint in her lovely dark eyes that promises him a whole month sleeping in the doghouse if he dares to oppose her. "I say, let Meimu handle this. Kami knows she's more than capable to."

"Besides," Meimu continues, as if there was never a pause. "We can write letters to each other in the time we're apart. Or have you forgotten I have a contract with the ravens?"

Fugaku, reaching the end of his rope, turned in desperation to the only other person in this room that might have been spared from the sudden explosion of estrogen. His hopes for a kindred soul, however, were dashed when his brother-in-law looked at him, looked at the united front that was their wives, and looked back at him, shrugging his shoulders as if to say 'what can you do?'

"I will support whatever choice my wife makes," Kagami replies stoically, receiving warm glances and fond smiles from the women in the room, before the icy looks returned to stare at the Uchiha Clan Head.

In that moment, Fugaku felt deeply betrayed.

You traitor, he wanted to hiss; only to choke on his own tongue when his sister's next words reached his ears.

"Of course, you will need to inform the elders of this change of plans. Mikoto and I will be too busy and Kagami isn't good with these sorts of things, right my dear husband?"

"You are most definitely right, joy of my heart," was the swift answer.

Fugaku thought he could feel his soul leave his body.

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"Kaa-chan, why is Chichi-ue frozen in the middle of the room?"

"Ara, don't worry about that Itachi-chan. Your Tou-chan just had a little shock. He will be back to normal soon enough."

"… Kaa-chan, what is that grey, mushy thing cowering in the corner?"

"Why, Itachi-chan, that's Tou-chan's soul! I was wondering where it had gone off too… You have such sharp eyes, my cute little son!"

"… Do I get dango as a reward?"

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In the end, everything worked quite well on Kurai's end.

Before long, Akihiro, Mei and Takara know about her Sharingan as well. Akihiro looks more shocked than scared, but his surprise goes away quickly enough, leaving room only for curiosity. He manages to wrestle a promise from her that she will use her eyes to help him create even more intricate traps and seems satisfied when she nods along. Mei shrugs, saying that she can't say anything about it, since she herself is from a clan of kekkei genkai users. Though she is upset that Kurai waited this long to tell her about it and demanded a 'real' spar with her, without restraint, the moment they could find a more secluded place than their spot on the river outside Kiri. Takara's reaction though, was by far the most surprising.

To be honest, Kurai was mildly afraid of the older girl's response. Of them all, Takara had more reason to fear bloodline users than anyone else, being raised in a poor area constantly preyed upon by cruel men and sadistic ninja and being witness to the brutalities wrought by those same people that carried unique powers.

And there is trepidation in Takara's eyes, there is fear hidden in the blue depths.

But is not fear of Kurai.

Rather, it's fear for her.

The first thing Takara says after Kurai's revelation is "Do you know how to use it? Does it have any bad side-effects? I can try to find some information for you; I'm sure Konoha's public library keeps books about the clans living here, even if the information will not be as detailed as we would like. I better try the restricted section first. Anyway, the librarian there likes me, I'm sure I can feed him some lie about my being there. Or just cast a genjutsu over him. He won't even notice, he's a low-ranked chuunin. Or better yet, there are some Uchihas that go to the bar down the street. They like to drink there until they pass out and it will be a piece of cake to charm some answers out of them."

And Kurai is… touched, that Takara would go to such lengths for her. Touched that the girl cares so much about her safety.

And even while she shakes her head, telling Takara that none of that will be necessary, that she already has all the information she wants and needs, the glowing feeling in her chest doesn't go away. It stays, settled over her heart, light and warm and damn freaking immovable.

Kurai can't bring herself to wish it away.

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It had been Mei's idea, to commemorate the end of another chapter in their ninja career. Like almost everything else coming from Mei, it was sudden, and by all rights, shouldn't have happened.

So of course the girl managed to hunt down and convince everyone to go.

All the teams from Kiri gathered together in the best barbeque of Konoha they could find, scrounging up enough money to pay for all the dishes on the menu, much to the happiness of their waiter, whose eyes changed into ryo signs the second he heard the length of their order.

Soon, their table was overflowing with a great variety of delicious-smelling food. There was a bit of a scuffle as the gennins –or more specifically, the boys- began to fight over a piece of meat like savage wolves. Kurai couldn't really blame any of them though. Being raised in a time of economic depression with food shortage almost every week wasn't good for one's appetite, especially when they didn't have parents who were as high in the social ladder as her father was. They were soon set straight by Takara, who, with a truly terrifying smile that send shivers down to the very soul of the people in that restaurant, said in a sweet voice;

"People are starting to stare, children. Behave yourselves."

Kisame and Mangetsu, the worst of the lot, settled down very quickly after that. Their party continued, in a much more civilized fashion this time.

Kurai soon lost track of the time as she talked and laughed with Takara, cheering Mei as the girl strong armed Kensuke under the table and Yoroi took the chance to happily steal his teammate's half eaten chicken wing, swallowing it in one big gulp. On Takara's other side, a miserable Kisame, Akihiro and Mangetsu were getting completely trounced in a game of cards by Reiko, who winked at her boyfriend and sent him a kiss that had Kurai's teammate blushing a bright red and getting teased mercilessly by the other two. It was only hours after, when Takara tapped her shoulder and passed her a cup that Kurai realized how late it had gotten and that someone had smuggled alcohol into the party.

She swirled the clear liquid inside the glass. "Aren't we too young to drink?" she asks nobody in particular.

Sitting at Kisame's left, Mei snorted, own cup in hand.

"If we are old enough to die, then we certainly are old enough to drink," she says almost arrogantly.

"Damn right we are," Mangetsu, the youngster in the group, agreed, rising from his seat and lifting his glass high. "I propose a toast!"

"To what?" Reiko asked eagerly, looking up from where she had situated herself on a red-faced Akihiro's lap.

Mei took over then, her voice sounding strong and sure. "To new beginnings and opportunities! To a brighter Mist!"

There was a pause as the gennins glanced at each other, thinking over Mei's words and its implications. It's been a long time since anyone in that table thought about a better life. Longer still since they thought about a better Kiri.

Abruptly, Takara stands up. Everyone turns to look at her wide-eyed.

"Aa. Mei's right. We are the new generation that will shape the future," she raised her glass high. "To a better Mist!"

And then Reiko was rising too, dragging Akihiro with her, who gripped Kisame's shoulder in order to not fall. Kisame grinned wide, turning to her and offering his hand.

"Toast with me?"

She took it.

Soon everyone was on their feet, cups in the air as they clinked together and Kurai's friends (friends, friends, she has true friends-) shouted their joy to the world, not caring that now everyone in the restaurant really were staring at them or that the thing they were toasting for seemed impossible.

"TO A BETTER MIST!" they all shouted heavenward, and Kurai couldn't tell if that was a promise or a declaration of war.

Because, Kurai realized, as the sake burned a path down her throat and settled as a warm weight in her belly, it wasn't really impossible. Not anymore. Difficult, yes. It would take a great deal of work, of course.

But, it was closer now. That dream that she remembers her Father telling her about, when she was young, still had a bed time and she begged for a story. That dream from so long ago, where there were no starved children dying in the streets and no sadists hunting down and torturing orphans for fun, where the streets of Kirigakure were not stained with its citizens' own blood.

It was so close now that Kurai could almost taste it with her tongue, like she tasted the drops left on her lips by the alcohol. So close she could almost feel it hours later, like she could feel the heat radiating from Kisame's hand as he pulled her closer to him after they toasted.

So close, that it felt more like reality than a simple dream.

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Izumi Yagura sat on a comfortable armchair in his suite, biting his lip while in deep thought. Outside, night had already fallen over Konohagakure, and the Mizukage dreaded the time when the sun would once again light the sky.

"The Hokage and the Uchihas have agreed to let Kurai remain with me."

"But?" Ao intoned. He was standing in the middle of the room, ready to carry out any order of his Mizukage.

"They first want to be sure."

"Sure of what?"

"That my daughter doesn't possess the Sharingan."

All Ao could think of in that moment was oh, shit.

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"This was the best I could do. Since she's only a half-blood, there's a 50% chance that the girl hasn't inherited our bloodline Considering that the chances of her choosing to marry an Uchiha are also very low, any child she has won't have the necessary genes to develop a Sharingan on their own. However," Fugaku paused, staring at a troubled-looking Meimu. "If she does have it… Then there's no way the village will let her leave."

His sister nodded, hand reaching up to tug at a curl while the tip of her tongue poked from between her lips, showing how lost in thought she was.

Fugaku sighed.

"Meimu," he began, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I must ask. Do you know if Kurai has awakened the Sharingan?"

The woman's face scrunched up. "I don't know. I didn't ask and neither of them told me anything about it."

"Then I suggest you find out soon sister. Because if it turns out that Kiri has have access to the Uchiha's bloodline during all those years… I'm afraid the alliance between our two villages will be over before sundown."

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It was the dastardly bright morning light filtering through her window that woke her up, which was suspicious, since she distinctly remembered closing the window before crashing in her bed last night. Then again, considering she had been slightly tipsy, it was possible that she had only imagined closing the window.

Just then, a decidedly unwelcome voice made herself known.

Elyse giggled. And you only had one and a half cups of sake. Tell me about light weight.

Kurai groaned. She had almost forgotten about the dead girl.

Why do you sound so chipper? Shouldn't you be feeling miserable too? Because that's certainly what Kurai was feeling like right now. Miserable and sick. She was just glad that it wasn't sick enough to have to go worship the toilet in her knees. She groaned when she tried to leave the bed. Her head pounded like her Father had just hit her with his staff, her mouth felt drier than the Suna desert and the room spun madly before her eyes. Was this what people called hangover?

I didn't get drunk with you when you started swooning around, so it just seems right I am not affected by your hangover too, which means I can watch you make a fool of yourself and then see you suffer about it afterwards.

Kurai straightened up. She almost wanted to aks what do you mean make a fool of myself? but chose to remain quiet. It would be better in the long run if she didn't listen to Elyse.

Whatever. She needed water. Right now.

A glass of the aforementioned liquid magically appeared in front of her, and Kurai eagerly grabbed it with greedy hands, gulping it all down in seconds.

"Thanks," she said to the room.

"You're welcome," the room responded dryly. "More?"

She held out her glass. "Please."

The moment it was refilled, Kurai chugged it all down again.

"Better?" the room asked, taking the glass from her.

"Much," the girl nodded. Then she paused as her brain finally caught up to what was happening around her.

She jumped so high she fell out of the bed.

"O-otou-sama!" spluttering, Kurai held on to the covers, staring at her Father wide-eyed.

Izumi Yagura leveled a faintly disapproving glare on his daughter, still holding a jar of water that he used to once again fill the cup, this time for himself.

"Honestly, Kurai," he said, sounding exasperated. "Drinking? I thought I had taught you better than to get inebriated while in a potentially hostile environment."

Wait, wait, wait, Elyse said inside her head. The guy is more worried about you getting drunk in another village rather than you getting drunk in the first place? Does no one here care that you are technically underage?

Shut up. Otou-sama has his priorities in order. I was the one at fault.

Keep telling yourself that. Are you going to ask how high if he tells you to jump too?

Expertly ignoring Elyse, Kurai ducked her head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Otou-sama. It just… it sounded like a good idea at the time."

There was a tinkling laugh that definitely didn't come from Yagura and Kurai whipped her head around in surprise. How the hell had she missed another presence in her room? That's it, she thought to herself. I'm never touching alcohol again in this lifetime.

Elyse let out a derogatory snort. She was promptly disregarded when Kurai saw who was in the room.

"You?!"

Uchiha Meimu smiled gently at her from where she was sitting in the windowsill, before turning to Yagura. "Don't be so hard with her, Yagura. She was just having fun with her friends."

Her Father stiffened, frowning at her. "Don't tell me how I should act with my daughter Meimu."

The woman immediately drew back, nodding. "Of course. I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention to question your authority."

There was a tense pause where Kurai glanced between the two of them, realizing that this was the first time she had seen Yagura and Meimu together, without other people around.

Family reunion time, huh?

The Mizukage drew in a breath and let it out in a loud sigh. "Just tell her what's happening Meimu, so we can finally leave this matter behind us."

"Why? What's happening?" Kurai turned to look at her mother.

"Yesterday there was a meeting between the Kages alongside the elders from the council and the Uchiha. They've come to a decision regarding your existence."

Apprehension filled her being as she looked from her Father's blank face to Meimu's worried frown. "And what is that decision?"

Meimu bit her lip. "You are free to remain with you father… if you can prove that you have not inherited the Sharingan."

Oh.

Oh.

We are so screwed.

It was a testament to Kurai's worry that she didn't tell Elyse to shut up.

Meimu didn't gave her daughter a chance to say anything, rushing right ahead.

"I don't know if you have awakened the Sharingan, don't know if you have even inherited it. And frankly, it's better that I remain in the dark about it. What I do know is that in a few hours you will be escorted to the Hokage Tower and be put through a test. If you pass, the Clan will renounce any right to you, and you will be able to leave with the Kiri delegation."

Kurai swallowed. Cleared her throat. "What happens if I don't?"

Her Father answers her. "You will be taken from me, kept as a permanent prisoner in the Uchiha Clan compound or be instated as Konoha kunoichi. If the latter, then you will rarely be allowed out of the village walls as you will forever be a flight risk, and certainly nowhere near Water Country. If you don't conform yourself to your situation, or prove to be too much trouble for little worth, they will harvest your eyes and then quietly dispose of you."

A hissing sound comes from Meimu, but the woman doesn't contest Yagura's words, meaning that there is no lie in them.

Kurai feels cold sweat gathering at her nape. "What's the plan?" she asks in what she hopes is a steady voice.

It seems to work, since she can feel Meimu's shoulders relaxing. "There is a man in the village. His name is Minato. You might know him better as the Yellow Flash."

Kurai nods, letting her continue.

"He is a sealmaster, and has an invested interest in studying –and breaking- the Caged Bird Seal."

"Caged Bird Seal?" the girl asks, furrowing her brows. She has never heard of it.

"The Caged Bird Seal is a seal the Hyuuga Clan has been using for decades to control their branch clan members. In resume, it's a brand on their forehead that causes them enormous amounts of pain when activated by a main branch member. It also destroys their Byakugan if they are ever captured by enemies, ensuring that the no one not from the clan will ever be able to use it or know its secrets."

Meimu pauses, as if waiting for a reaction. Kurai wonders if she's supposed to feel shocked or disgusted that family, no matter how distantly related, would do this to each other. She finds that she doesn't particularly care.

(Kurai saw a mother try to sell her baby in the market of Kiri one day, for a piece of bread. She doubts anything can top that)

"Minato-san hasn't had much success in breaking it to this day, but over the years he has invented some other variations of the Caged Bird seal, and today one of them will help us."

"How?"

She pulled a piece of paper from a kunai pouch, showing the drawing to her. It looked like a cross closed inside an incomplete square, surrounded by circles and squiggles Kurai couldn't make heads or tails of. By the unsure look on her Father's face, neither could he.

"And you are sure this will stop Kurai from manifesting the Sharingan?"

"It's worth a try."

Meaning, she wasn't sure. The plan wasn't a fail-safe one, but it was a plan, and by that point, Kurai wasn't about to be picky.

"Where do you want to put it?"

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"How will I be tested?" Kurai asked, worry clear in her face as she looked at Meimu.

They were walking towards an empty room the Hokage provided, where no one would disturb them. Her Father was walking a little ahead, having a whispered conversation with the Hokage himself as he led them down the stairs of the Tower.

"They will put you in a… especial genjutsu. The only way for you to escape it will be by using the Sharingan. It is a natural reaction for an Uchiha to use it in order to create and escape from illusions. Almost instinctive, you could say."

Surprised, Kurai turned to look at the woman. "That's it? But what if I simply deny my 'instinct'? What if I consciously decide to simply not use the Sharingan?"

If she had known that was the test she would have protested the use of the seal. Even now, the patch of skin above her heart felt tender to the touch.

Meimu looked queasy now that the doors were in view at the end of the corridor. "Believe me, you will want to escape. They will show you anything to drag the Sharingan out from you. Every fear, every horror you have ever experienced or thought about… they will use it against you. You must be prepared."

She looked so scared for Kurai, so sick and mad. As if she believed that Kurai would leave that room broken.

Well, she would just have to prove that Kurai wasn't as delicate as Meimu thought her to be. No way was she going to fall for some paltry illusion.

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"Mangekyo Sharingan."

Kurai falls to her knees and screams.

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Water.

She's drowning. She's drowning all over again.

The cold water invaded her mouth, filling her lungs and chocking the life out of her. Whoever said drowning is a peaceful way to go should be stabbed repeatedly.

It's not peace she's feeling right now. It's an all-consuming, mind-numbing terror, the desperate desire to breathe beating at her chest, while the exhaustion and hopelessness slowly closes in into her, like a shark circling its prey, like the darkness swallowing her whole.

It's cold, and she can't breathe. She reaches out a hand, and there is no one to drag her up.

Drowning it's not peaceful.

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The man stares at her, and as she looks back, she sees his face slowly melting as wax from a candle, until half of it is gone and she can smell the burnt muscle and see the stark white flashes of his bones every time he moves his head. A horrible grin curls at the edges of a destroyed mouth. His hand is reaching for her invitingly, as if he's asking her for a dance, and the soft, cooing noise he makes are enough to make her shrink away from him, bloody knees drawn up to her heaving chest as she tries to breathe through her fear. But she's three years old again, and so weak, so frail and breakable and fucking defenseless, that she can do nothing while the man inches closer and closer, until he's towering over her, his suddenly white hair hanging around his face like a curtain and eyes that look more like chips of ice watching her cower from him with sadistic glee. He approaches her, and she can see bones sticking out of his back, creating the illusion of grotesque wings, and she wants to laugh at the image of him as an angel, laugh loud enough to block the sound of her tears To block his words.

"You have such pretty eyes."

She tries to fight, tries to scream, hopes that someone –anyone- will come and save her.

No one does.

It's not real. Not real, not real, not real-

It's real enough.

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She's in an arena, and the smell of blood is heavy in the air. Children she has seen before, spoke and trained with, sat on a classroom and shared lunch are being butchered in front of her like lambs to the slaughter. The only choice they have is to choose between being the lamb or the butcher.

She looks up, a plea for help in her lips, to stop such senseless murder, and is met only with laughter and sneering faces.

There is a cry to her right, and she turns to see Takara being felled by a sword. Another one to her left and Mei is being cornered against the wall, before being ripped apart until there's nothing but her body left.

"Sukoshi"

She faces forward is met with Kisame's smiling face, even as blood dribbles down the corner of his mouth. She looks down, and sees her dagger plunged deep in his chest, right over his heart.

It's an illusion, Kurai thinks desperately. It's only a fucking illusion.

Kisame grins at her.

And falls.

A scream is tore out of Kurai's throat, but before she can do anything Kisame disappears and in his place there is someone else.

"No…" she whispers brokenly. "Stop it…"

Izumi Yagura looks down at her, a hole where his heart should be and he doesn't speak. There is no need to.

Kurai falls to her knees and screams.

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Water.

She's drowning. She's drowning all over again.

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Kurai comes to gasping on all fours, face red and wet, her nose too obstructed for her to breathe properly, and the sensation of not being able to draw in enough air to her lungs sends her into another panic attack.

There are voices shouting around her, and someone is screaming. She thinks it might be her, but isn't given the chance to think about it too deeply as someone comes closer, trying to gather her in their arms.

She lashes out, memories of that man reaching out to touch her, of Hiyasu's fingers trying to pry her eyelids open so he could hold her eyes in his own hands.

"Kurai! It's over, it's over, you've passed, it's over-"

"Someone, get the girl to calm down!"

"What have you done to my daughter?!"

It's that voice, in the cacophony going on around her, she manages to hear. It's that voice, and the person to whom it belongs to, that she latches on. Ripping herself free from the arms that are trying to hold her still, Kurai lunges towards her Father, still half-blinded by her tears and not caring who saw. She crashes into his side, almost toppling them both over, before Yagura steadies himself, and wraps an arms around her shoulders. She sobs against him, holding on tightly enough that she's sure it will leave bruises.

The Third Hokage looks at father and daughter, and sighs. "I think it would be best for you to take Kurai-chan back to her room, Yagura-san. It's been a long day for everyone here, I'm sure."

Yagura's only answer is to gently guide Kurai out of the room.

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"Why did you do it?"

Yagura sits on the bed, watching his daughter sleep fitfully, tossing her covers from one side to the other. After a while, he turns to face the other occupant in the room.

Meimu is leaning against the wall, eyes fixed on their daughter. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, Meimu, it doesn't suit you."

"She wants to stay with her father," she says simply.

"You betrayed your village. We both know that Kurai has the Sharingan. You're a traitor now."

A beat of silence.

"Then I guess we're even now."

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The day they leave Konoha is a bright one.

"Promise you will write?"

Kurai looks down at Shisui, who's staring up at her with a pout. She laughs lightly, patting his head. "Of course. It might take a while, but I will try to write as often as I can."

Shisui cheered, grinning brightly enough to put the sun to shame. "It's a promise!" he says, and runs back to his father, who picks him up and sets him on his shoulders.

Kurai gives a little wave. Kagami gives her a quick smile, and nods back. She thinks of how strange the man is.

"I hope you will accept this little gift from me."

Kurai looks at the small gift box Meimu offers her curiously. "Thank you," she says, opening it. Inside, there was an elegant hairpin, in the shape of a red lotus flower. "It's beautiful," she whispers reverently.

"It belonged to my grandmother, before it was passed down to my mother, who passed it to me. You don't have to use it of you don't want to," the woman rushed to say, but Kurai stopped her.

"No. I like it. I will use it."

"Oh," her mother's face softens. "I'm glad."

"Well, I have to go," Kurai starts awkwardly. "It… it was good. Meeting you, I mean. And Shisui. Yeah. Good."

Her mother laughs again. "You sound like your father, when he was younger and more prone to embarrassment," she teases gently.

Kurai reddens at her words, torn between being pleased or offended in her Father's behalf.

"Your Father loves you very much Kurai. And he's so proud of you. Don't ever forget that, alright?"

Kurai nods silently, whispering another goodbye before turning around and taking the first step out of Konoha.

She can see her team and Father up ahead, and hurries to catch up.

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They board the Red Jackal and see Captain Hige and his puppy Jakkaru again. The puppy seems happy to see Kurai and jumps into her arms to lick at her face. She laughs and twirls him around, before letting the dog down to go back to his owner.

She ignores the worried looks her father and Kisame give her, just like she ignores the girls when they ask if she's alright after she wakes up from a nightmare.

The world is strangely muted, as she stares down at the dark waters from the ship's quarterdeck and thinks about her friends' corpses and her Father's blood in her hands.

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"Where are we going?"

It's a simple enough question, she thinks, but she receives no answer from Kisame. He just grins at her and keeps dragging her around the ship.

"You will see," he promises, and Kurai lets him do what he wants.

She pauses when he climbs up the mast though.

Now her voice is flabbergasted. "What are you doing?"

He looks down at her, smiling roguishly and offering a hand. "I want to show you something."

"And what could you possible show me up there?"

He shrugs. "Come and see."

Damn her curiosity to hell. She goes.

They climb the mast and reach the crow's nest, where Kisame helps her up, and she gasps at the sight of the thousands of stars shining down on them.

"Make a wish, Sukoshi," Kisame whispers in her ear, the same moment a shooting star trails its path on the night sky.

Kurai closes her eyes, leaning against the warmth that is Kisame behind her, and wishes.

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The next morning, when they finally arrive on the port of Kirigakure and Kurai breathes in a lungful of air mixed with salt water, the world is a little more real. She's home.

Her eyes sharpen as she hears how her Father still has his hands full with the old-fashioned council, who cling to the Sandaime's old way of thinking.

She has work to do.

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This is how it goes for her.

The first time Kurai hears about him is a month after they are promoted to chunnin rank. Kisame is the one to speak of him, while reclining on his favorite boulder near their river, complaining about this kid who might be picked as a new apprentice for one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

"The brat," he says, annoyed eyes narrowed as he thought back in a memory. "I seriously hope that shishou manages to convince Jūzō to forget about him. Most disrespectful little shit I ever met, and that includes Mangetsu…"

So, feeling curious, Kurai excuses herself and slips away from her friends, deciding to hunt down this new boy who managed to win Kisame's animosity so effortlessly. When she finally finds him, training in the area behind the Academy with a bokken, Elyse is there at the forefront of her mind, using Kurai's eyes to see. She goes back to her corner soon enough, curiosity satisfied, while muttering about demons and bridges and broken dreams amidst a bloody slaughter. So used to the girl's nonsensical words, Kurai ignores them, taking back her vision to stare at the boy's eyes, and thinks,

This one. This one is strong. This one will survive.

This one will do.

She crouches next to the child, who is at most four years younger than her and already has the eyes of a killer. The spiky haired youth glares and snarls at her, asking who she is and what she thinks she is doing. He reminds her of a wolf cub, too young and fearless yet to recognize the threat sitting a scant few steps away front of him.

And Kurai smiles, because in this she is exactly like her Father. Both of them like to search for pearls hidden among the trash, cleaning and polishing them until everyone could see their shine… and then let them know that they are theirs, would forever be theirs and curse the person who tried to steal them away.

And there is no doubt in Kurai's mind that, like Kisame, like Mei, Akihiro, Takara and Kakashi, Momochi Zabuza will be worth the effort it will take to polish him into something truly great.

"I am many things. But for now, you can call me sensei."

They go from there.

.

.

.

This is how it goes for him.

Zabuza Momochi has a goal, one he plans to reach come hell or high water. That goal is to become the most powerful shinobi in his village.

He will graduate from the Academy and receive his hitai-ate. He will take Kubikiribōchō and his rightful place as a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Then he will go one step further and take the Mizukage hat as well, because by then he will be the strongest ninja in Kiri, so it would only be natural to become the villager's leader.

But even if his thoughts sound arrogant, Zabuza is not overconfident. He knows that first he has to train. Train to survive the Academy Graduation Exam, train to become a chuunin, jounin, a swordsman worthy of being part of the elite.

So of course he accepts the pink eyed girl's offer of teaching.

How could he not, when he can see that she is powerful by the way she moves, like she impersonates water itself, every gesture and movement made with a quietness and fluidity even jounins would be hard-pressed to match. He sees her strength when she punches a boulder twice her size and turns it into a pile of dust. He sees it all and Zabuza wants it.

He wants to possess that power, that strength. But above that, he wants a tool that can give those things to him.

He tells her that, and she laughs at him. There's something terribly tender in her eyes as she speaks next.

"Sorry, Zabuza-chan. I'm afraid you're nine years too late. I've already been claimed as someone else's weapon, you see."

When he asks who it was, wanting to fight him for the right to call her his, she refuses to tell him the same way she refuses to tell her name.

"I'm teaching you. I'm your sensei. That's all you need to know."

And Zabuza nods and conforms himself, because if he's honest, the boy doesn't care what she's called. As she said, she's his sensei, and that's enough as far as the boy is concerned.

He asks her what she intends to teach him instead, and the way she smirks at him makes a foreboding feeling settle itself in his chest.

"Don't delude yourself, Zabuza-chan. I won't teach you the art of swords, nor will it be any of your Academy curriculums. Taijutsu, ninjutsu or genjutsu are out too."

Fed up, he snarls "Then what will you teach me?"

She smiles but her eyes are cold.

"I will teach you how to kill."

And she does just that.

.

.

The art of silent killing is a difficult one to master. To slip in and out of a room, unseen and unheard, leaving only a silent corpse behind as proof you were there is no easy feat, especially when that corpse will more than likely be surrounded by body-guards or such things during missions.

So Kurai considers herself fortunate indeed when Zabuza proves to be a natural, taking to it like a fish to water.

(But then again, she knew he would, the moment she stared into his bloodthirsty eyes)

My little demon, she thinks, somewhat fondly, watching him rip apart a pack of wild dogs that had been interrupting their training with their incessant barking.

She goes home later with the sound of the mutts' dying howls and Zabuza's happy laughter still ringing in her ears.

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.

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This is how it goes for them.

The day begins normally enough for class B-2. The teachers are making the roll call, students are already being paired up with their usual training partners and the clouds are the same dull, grey blobs in the sky blocking the sun.

It is slightly unusual, for the teacher to leave them alone barely five minutes into the lesson, and it makes a few of them nervous, but it is quickly forgotten when they have to suddenly roll out of the way of a punch or kick coming from that day's opponent.

For the first half an hour, everything seems normal, even though the mist has managed to enter the classroom again. Some wonder how, since all the windows were closed and all the doors leading to the outside were firmly locked.

And then the screams start.

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This is the result.

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There are bodies littering all the corridors, tiny corpses who had their throats slit from behind so deeply that one could see their tracheas, or had a blade viciously driven inside their skulls. There was one body that was quite obviously missing a head, and another one that had his legs cut off.

And in the center of all that carnage, the only living soul in a sea of dead was a young spiky haired boy with a grin sharper than knives and eyes full of savagery.

Kurai was impressed. She doubted even she could have managed to pull this one off while at that age.

"Demon…" one of the chuunin standing behind her whispers taking in the slaughter with wide eyes.

And Kurai nods, because the chuunin is right, of course. Only a demon could do a massacre this size while getting out relatively unscathed. It was almost unfair actually, how Zabuza looked no more winded than when she had him kill a pack of beasts all on his lonesome. She remembered the boy returning covered in blood and gore from head to toe and complaining about how he was hungry.

(There was something seriously messed up with that kid. But then, who was she to judge another person?)

"Go warn Mizukage-sama that we have a new gennin needing his headband. And tell him that I'm afraid Kiri won't be able to hold more Graduation Exams like this one. We can't possibly compensate for an entire generation gone."

The chunnin follows her orders without a word, leaving her to deal with the village's new monster.

No. Demon. This one was a demon.

My little demon.

She pats his spiky hair, that now looks more red than brown, ignoring the bits and pieces of flesh that clung stubbornly to the boy's head.

"Congratulations, Zabuza-chan," she says warmly, only for her grip to tighten on his hair and force him closer to her. "But did you have to take out your entire year? I think just four or five classes would have been enough."

The boy glares mutinously at her, almost pouting at her words.

"They thought they were stronger than me," he tells her, dark eyes narrowed as he looked down at the bodies around them. "I had to prove them wrong."

Kurai sighs, giving up in trying hammering some sense into the younger child. "Very well. Just refrain from going overboard in the future, alright?"

It doesn't take long for people in the street to hear about how the Mizukage's daughter, Kiri's own Shikyo no Mitsukai, had taken the boy who massacred his entire year graduation classes under her wing. Soon, they had a name for Zabuza as well.

Kirigakure no Kijin.

Kurai thought it suited him rather well.

(She hears how the council bows their heads to the Yondaime, and pats herself on the back for a job well done)

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AN: IT'S HERE. FINALLY.

So. The end feels a little rushed for me, but I'm so sick of this chapter that I just want it done and over with. I'm so tired of reading this over and over again, looking for mistakes. Anyway, hope you like it. Don't forget to review.

In the next chapter of Dark Water:

"What's this?"

Nie smirked at her "A gift to commemorate your promotion to chuunin."

"It's a summoning contract."

"I'm sure you and the wolves will get along famously."