Hello hello! I apologise for the fact this chapter being extremely dull and just not well written in my opinion. I was very stuck on it, which you might have been able to tell from the fact I did another year long hiatus and have only done two updates in two years...I'm so sorry. I promise it won't be like this the entire way through. There's an A/N at the bottom at the bottom of this chapter explaining my absence.

Here's chapter seven. Enjoy!

Misted

Chapter Song: Blackmill – Let It Be (feat. Veela)

We had managed to find five ice release scrolls in Uzushio, as well as a multitude of water and wind release scrolls that had too many rare or powerful jutsu to be left behind. One of the scrolls we found happened to contain the one and only Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals jutsu—a.k.a. the fortress of ice that Haku had used to nearly defeat Naruto and Sasuke in the anime, and again when he was reanimated in the war. Beyond the fact the technique was horribly complex and required a monstrous amount of chakra, seeing the jutsu itself written on paper—seeing proof that it was a thing that did in fact exist beyond the pages of a manga book—I felt what could only be described as a gross mixture of dread and awe at the prospect of one day being able to perform it.

Zabuza hadn't performed an awful lot of jutsu in front of us, and since I had become used to my own borderline magical ability to manipulate and freeze water at will, many of the ones he did show us didn't overwhelmingly amaze or shock me—but being able to achieve something such as the 'Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals' jutsu (which was overly long name, in my opinion) was still something that went slightly beyond my comprehension of just how chakra worked, and how it was capable of doing the things that it could.

I had suggested we stay in Uzushio for a while to train, but Zabuza said that was too dangerous since too many exiled ninjas travelled there to raid it, and instead decided we needed to return to Kiri as soon as possible; he wanted us to be out of the reach of whoever had been following us. Not that I believed Orochimaru didn't have informants in all villages including Kiri, but we'd be far harder to reach there anyway. It was the actual village I was scared of beyond anything else, since I didn't know whether people still held the same hatred toward our clan that they had thirty years before, and the name 'The Village of the Bloody Mist' was still one very much applicable to it.

And the walk to Kiri was beyond gruelling, since we weren't allowed to camp or take any breaks that lasted longer than 5 minutes! Instead, we were forced to travel for two days without a blink of sleep, and the exhaustion was killing me. Zabuza's chakra reserves were big enough to handle it, but mine were not, and my eyes felt as though they were being tugged shut with every passing moment. My steps were sluggish, since I couldn't help but drag my feet, and I had stumbled and fallen into Haku an embarrassing amount. But my consciousness was becoming progressively harder to cling to, and I felt myself swaying again.

And, just as any child would be when tired—especially since my body's hormones still liked to fight with my actual mental age—I was moody as hell. Every step was causing me to be more and more irritable and I wanted to scream at Zabuza for making us walk so damn long.

"Please can we take a break?" I asked, trying but failing to not sound like a whining kid with an attitude. "I feel like I'm going to faint."

"We're nearly there." He replied, sounding entirely unconcerned. You need to push yourselves, he always said, ninjas don't get the luxury of comfort. And, as much as he was correct, I was still only eight years old. I, for once, actually wanted to sleep.

"If I collapse it's yoouur fault!" My babyish voice drawled, "Not mine."

I hadn't expected my protests to achieve anything, yet, before I could even take another step, I felt myself being swept from the ground, and onto Zabuza's back, replacing the spot of his precious Kubikiribocho. My exhaustion coupled with the sudden movement caused me to become completely disorientated for a few moments, but my confusion continued to remain even once the initial spinning cleared.

"I'm only doing this to get you to stop complaining." He said, almost as if he had sensed the impending questioning of his actions. But even that supposed justification did not distract me from how extremely out character this was.

Zabuza was not one to sacrifice his own comfort to make someone else's life more comfortable. This was something I had learnt in the 5 months I was constantly in his presence. But I chose to ignore my confused feelings and the inkling at the back of my mind which insisted it wasn't just so he wouldn't have to hear me complain—which could easily be argued to be for his own comfort rather than mine, anyway! I couldn't think it was because he cared, because he didn't…at least not outwardly. Him caring would mean we were something more than just mere tools to him to turn into his weapon, and something more than just pawns for his use and disposal. And that thought was both a terrifying and blissful one that I wanted to refute with every fibre of my being. We're just tools, just puppets, I reminded myself mentally.

Although, I began to then ponder on the prospect of him caring—or him showing and acknowledging that he cared, and then came a sort of bubbly feeling and urge to smile, so I bit my lip and hid my head in his neck.

It's only because I'm a child with a lack of emotional attachments that I feel like this.

I heard a giggle escape from my brother. Zabuza's head shot in his direction, which made my head jerk and I, of course, groaned in annoyance and discomfort against my own will. And, if I could deduct anything from the way he turned his head back ever so gently and how his steps calmed down, then it would mean he took notice of my discomfort and adjusted himself so that I would be as comfortable as possible and oh god that would mean he cared.

Please don't care about me. Please don't care about us.

I could feel myself getting attached.

I fought back the urge to cry that had suddenly come over me. I knew I couldn't start crying here, but a wave of mixed emotions overwhelmed me entirely, and my lip started to quiver. I didn't even have access to my hands to wipe away any of the tears threatening to spill, so I simply shut my eyes and hoped my eyelids prevented them. I knew I couldn't sniffle, since that would be a dead giveaway. I didn't even know why I was crying—it was probably the tiredness. I was just tired and confused and dazed.

I suppose I knew from the beginning that he cared about Haku and would probably end up caring about us in this version of reality, but that didn't help the fact I had let myself become attached. I had let myself care, even despite constantly reiterating to myself that the only thing he cared about was himself.

But I couldn't let my own feelings get in the way of my plan. I couldn't let myself care. He would try and condition us to be his personal mindless ninjas that listened to his every command regardless. He would train us for his own personal benefit regardless. Unless…this version of reality was manifesting itself differently. Unless my presence had somehow altered it—unless it had somehow altered everything.

I couldn't allow myself to think like that. I couldn't allow myself to have an inflated sense of self-importance and egoism. I was an irrelevance to the grand-scheme of things. My goal was to keep Haku and I safe—not to take down Akatsuki, or to defeat Kaguya, or stop Orochimaru or prevent Sasuke from leaving Konoha! I was only interested in what benefited me, I couldn't a damn about the rest—there was other people dealing with that. And I couldn't allow myself to become hopeful. That would only make me more attached and hinder my plan of leaving when we were strong enough. My goal was to be powerful. That was my use for Zabuza, as was his use for me. I didn't want emotional attachments

Yet here I was.

It was clear that I wasn't going to be able to sleep, so I instead just focused on resting my muscles and allowing my chakra to rebuild. I began to drift every so often, but my muddled thoughts were keeping me far too awake despite my exhaustion. And they also seemed to keep me distracted long enough to not even realise we were beginning to arrive at Kiri.

I felt Haku tug on my sleeve excitedly, prompting me to open my eyes and see that our surroundings had in fact changed drastically.

Kirigakure's name was no exaggeration. It really was a Village Hidden in the mist, and the pall of fog that enveloped it was far from slight. It was ominous, to say the least. I almost expected it for to turn red the closer we approached to the village, since I suppose part of me took the name literally, but no blood seemed to spill into it. I wouldn't have been surprised if it had, though.

Although, the ominous atmosphere of the dense cloud of fog was somewhat spoiled by the sheer humidity of it all. The early summer heat had been bearable, since my ability to keep my body temperature low did help in keeping my sweat minimal, but now I couldn't help the moisture that was clinging to my body. Gross.

At least that was a benefit of my bloodline. I could pretty much withstand any temperature, not just cold, since my body stayed at a lowered temperature when in hot environments and functioned normally even reduced to freezing point. But, I kind of had to be careful with that, since it seemed our bodies went into instantaneous severe hypothermia if below zero degrees, and I kind of preferred not dying…

Well, most of the time.

But I had the beauty of clan scrolls to teach me just how easy it is to control it. It wasn't quite a mind thing or simply thinking of a temperature and willing it, but instead directly correlated with our chakra around our body. Most ninjas developed the general ability to use their chakra to keep their body temperature up when in the cold, but it was strenuous and took a lot of concentration, and often a ninja couldn't perform jutsu when doing it unless with large enough reserves. But our clan was biologically different, since our chakra pathways are a biological thing. I didn't delve too deeply into the science of it all, since it only mattered that our body did it naturally with minimal chakra required and could be controlled if you knew how to control your chakra.

Haku didn't focus too much on that aspect of our bloodline, and he simply allowed his body to do as it would—which was why he currently looked relatively unbothered by the intense humidity, whereas Zabuza was starting to feel clammy. I however was oddly fascinated by the fact we could control our body temperature, perhaps because it made my body of my previous life look feeble and entirely unsuited for the world around it. I felt to some extent invincible from nature's ire. I knew that was arrogant in some ways, and I knew that my body was still very much susceptible from damage from anything non-temperature related, but it was a feeling I had, nonetheless. Maybe being subjected to a life without privilege had made me hyper-aware of any I did have.

But, even with my resistance, mist was oppressive. Even if the sun wasn't directly beating down on us and I couldn't feel the heat in the same way that Zabuza may have, it was still obscurely bright, and I didn't think I liked the light grey of the mist any more than I liked it when it was dark and gloomy. At least that added to the whole ominous, evil atmosphere. This instead only served in annoying me further, because couldn't even see five feet in front of me. Thank God Zabuza was carrying me (and not, because I still had too many mixed emotions about it).

"Well, this horrible." I spoke out loud. I could only imagine Zabuza knew where the hell he was going due to memory, because there was no visual offered whatsoever. The ground seemed to have some kind of path, but even that wasn't brilliantly obvious.

Zabuza let out a light snort. "It's not always this bad. It's better in winter." He responded. "Autumn is more bearable. We get a lot of rain, both then and in winter. And then a bit in spring, too. But, in summer, it's usually humid like this, and there are pretty bad thunderstorms."

I personally adored the rain. Many hated it, but I found it calming. Unlike the sleet and snow and hail we got for a majority of the year in our part of Mizu no Kuni. In the two or three months of summer we had, I basked in any rain that we got. It was a rare thing and I had come to the adore the dreariness of it that I had detested in my previous life. And storms—that immediately caused my head to prop up, and I began bubble with excitement. I loved thunderstorms. The scarier, the better.

"Does it snow?" My brother asked innocently, and I almost wanted to pinch his cheeks, forgetting for a moment that he was technically older than me. Physically, at least. Even though he had murdered our father and many others on that night, he looked at the world with a sort of wonder—as if it wasn't tainted, or as if he hadn't seen death. I knew he knew the harsh realities of it, but even still it was as though once we found refuge in Zabuza, the world was correct once again. It worried me a little, since I couldn't quite figure out what went on in my brother's head. And it was hard to get any conversation about that night going. He didn't want to talk about it; it felt like pulling teeth.

Zabuza hummed lightly, "Not often. Not like other parts of the country." And I couldn't help but wince inwardly at the subtle reference to the place we had once called home. To the locations 'cursed with coldness'. Part of me truly didn't want Kiri to be new home. I had adjusted to the life of a nomad, and everything about Kiri seemed to be a bad omen. But, then again, I couldn't think of anything in my life that wasn't an omen of some kind. I was forever waiting for whatever we had to fall apart or come crashing down in one way or another; I was forever waiting some sort of impending doom that would rip every good thing I had away from me again. Maybe that's why I struggled to sleep.

"Do you miss the snow?" I asked Haku in a hushed voice, although I knew the question didn't escape Zabuza's hearing. My brother's brows knitted together, and a pensive look formed across his features. My question wasn't as simple as it seemed, not really. We both knew I wasn't asking whether he missed the weather, but rather if he missed home—if he missed the life we once had, and what our family once was. I hoped this would evoke some sort of response that would allow me to start unravelling him.

"Sometimes." He answered, and I nodded in agreement. Another failed attempt, and another one-word answer. I hated how quiet he was. He spoke in single words ad expressions, whereas I talked always. Why did he have to be so reserved?

"What about you?" He fired the question back at me, breaking the silence that had ensued. I remained quiet for a moment, contemplating my answer. I first wanted to respond 'no', but that would simply be untrue. I tried to force myself to hate the snow, but it came from my self-loathing of myself in ways. It was the stupid ice inside my veins that had ruined my life, so I started hating myself for it, but it was an undeniable part of me. Not a repressible trait, but an immutable gene born from an unchangeable bloodline. No good would come from my self-loathing.

I smiled lightly, "The snow is with me wherever I go." Unwrapping one of my arms from around Zabuza, I extended my arm down to Haku, showing a snowflake in my hand, which quickly dispersed as I dropped it. "See?" Snow and ice exist wherever I will it.

Haku beamed.

"We've arrived." Zabuza spoke, bringing me out of my musings. My head shot up, and only then did I notice how the fog began to dissipate. There was still a blur to the air, but it was considerably easier to see, and the faint outlines of Kirigakure started to become visible.

"Halt!" The wall guards shouted out, the silhouettes of their figures coming a few steps forward. "State your name and business!"

"It's me, you dunces." Our mentor responded in his usual gruff voice, lacking any softness that had developed when he spoke to me and Haku. As we stepped closer, the guards' faces began to become more visible. One of them was an older ninja, who seemed worn in ways. His eyes had wrinkles by the sides of them, seeming sunken by his dark circles, and seemed to lack any sort of sparkle at all. Maybe it was the mist.

The other ninja was far younger. Not exactly a teenager, but not all that adult either. His face was fresh, and any facial hair that he had was uneven and fluffy. The way he clutched his weapon to the point his knuckles whitened showed he wasn't at all paying attention when being taught shinobi 101. His fear far too obvious.

One of the first things we learnt about combat is to never let your opponent know you're scared, no matter how terrified you may be. Even if you know you're going to lose, you need to be confident in losing—otherwise, you've already lost.

The older ninja immediately relaxed; the younger one tensed.

"Zabuza-san." They chorused, both bowing slightly, and both with starkly different tones. The elder clearly had no sense of fear toward Zabuza, which seemed odd to be. He was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, for goodness sake. The Demon of the Hidden Mist!

The younger guard shook ever so slightly in his presence, which was more the reaction I would've expected. Even still, who the hell thought this guy was cut out for the mantle of ninja?

The shinobi moved out of the way, allowing Zabuza, my brother and I to walk pass and enter the gates of Kiri. Clearly, they had missed me on Zabuza's back, and only saw my brother as he scurried up next to our sensei's side, as it was only then a look of pure bewilderment donned on both of their faces. But, even still, none of them questioned it. The elder's lips thinned into a tight line, but the younger only continued to look comedically bemused.

Zabuza lowered me back to the ground as we entered.

"I didn't want to come back to this hellhole so soon." Zabuza muttered to himself. "But I suppose we don't have any other option. You two are both targets, and the person after you two was tracking us. This is the safest place to be right now. At least from whoever was tracking us. And there's also that other thing we need to move along with." That 'other thing' being the coup d'état. "You two need to train more."

"Train more?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows. "Are we not training enough?"

"Your current strength or skill level isn't nearly enough to accomplish our goal. You need to start learning jutsu. You've done enough chakra and taijutsu training to start learning how to do them."

Part of me became giddy at the prospect of finally being able to start learning and using jutsu; of finally being able to implement them into my fighting style. How on earth my brother managed to be able to hide in ice mirrors or even how Zabuza could summon mist at will, I couldn't understand, but soon I would. That was the beauty chakra—it's fascinating inexplicableness. Everything humans were capable of in this life should've been beyond reason and completely impossible, yet it wasn't.

"But," Zabuza began, catching my attention, "we have one more destination before that."

My eyes followed Zabuza's line of sight, and my gaze landed on a building larger than the rest, with an unmissable kanji plastered on its side: Mizu. Yagura.

I tried not to focus on the fact we were about to face the infamous fourth Mizukage. It was still the earlier hours of the morning, so the village was relatively quiet. But even those few who were out and about wore looks of dejection. Some light from the lingering rising sun still managed to spill through the layers of grey, but it was starting to wane as more clouds drew in. Still, I think I preferred it that way. It would give some relief from the humidity which would only worsen as the day progressed.

The Kage's building was pretty much empty, and we only passed the odd ninja who barely made eye contact. It was only once we reached the outside of Yagura's office did there seem to be more people. Zabuza placed me on the ground again and motioned for us to stay where we were against the wall. I watched as he spoke with a few of the shinobi outside the door before entering the room. The doors were painted blue, which seemed completely unfitting.

Both Haku and I stayed silent, only exchanging the odd glances of uncertainty toward each other. Much to my relief, when Zabuza spoke with Yagura, our presence wasn't needed nor requested. However, it was a bit nerve wracking waiting in the infamous Mizukage's tower—especially with all the other cold, hardened Kirigakure ninja eyeing us suspiciously. I tried not to cower under their gaze, but that seemed to prove slightly harder said than done. They were intimidating, so I simply decided to keep my eyes down.

My hoodie had become dirty. It was white and we had been travelling, yes, but still it reminded me again that this wasn't an anime and the clothes didn't just become tattered and ripped after battles. Things withered, no matter how many times you saw your favourite anime characters wearing the exact same thing, day in day out. Everything remained finite here.

This wasn't a drawing.

I had a change obviously, and my basic training clothes I kept with me, but I still refused to take my hoodie off a majority of the time. Even in the current heat. My brother thought it was mad—he was the practical type and had already began to wear clothing far more similar to that of the ones he wore in the manga, haori and all—but I, of course, paid no mind. It didn't affect me, and the bagginess of it made me feel secure in ways. I knew it wouldn't actually protect me in any shape or form when it came to combat (if anything, it'd hinder me) but it was the feeling that counted.

While we waited, I practised my one-handed seals underneath the sleeves on my hoodie. I didn't expect any sort of jutsu to form as a result, but I was practising all the different hand signs, and trying to increase the speed at which I did them. My fingers tended to stumble over a few of them at this stage when I went too quickly, which would mess up the whole jutsu in a battle. Ideally, I wanted to end up at the level in which I only would need to form one or no seals to perform a jutsu, but right now I struggled to even do them with two hands at a not particularly fast speed.

After a while, Zabuza emerged from the doors, wearing a mildly annoyed look on his face. A quick flick of his hand prompted both Haku and I to follow. Where exactly, we didn't know. We had long learnt that to question what Zabuza was doing or where he was taking us was futile, as he would not answer, and he 'always had a plan'. His words, not mine. Eventually, we reached what I assumed to be Zabuza's apartment. It lay more toward the outskirts of the village, where there were no shops or official buildings, just houses and blocks of flats. The sun had become overcast above the already existing layer of fog since we emerged from the Mizukage building, but even with the sun no longer bearing down on us or piercing the layer of mist that encased the village, the thick humidity that hung in the air still was a stifling reminder of the summer season. I was sure it was almost palpable. I could probably freeze some of the moisture in the air were I to try. The thought was tempting, but, even though I couldn't see nor hear another soul in the area in which we walked—and even though this part of the village remained eerily still, the only sound filling it being the echoed reverberation of our feet hitting the floor—Haku and I were both under the strict instruction of not ever using our ice release when in the village walls. Not without his explicit permission.

His apartment was rather minimal, not at all messy, and most likely in the exact same state he had left it in if the layer of dust covering everything was testament to anything. His furnishings looked as though they were only really meant to serve one person and weren't particularly made for comfort, but Zabuza seemed to make up for that with the two futons he dropped in our arms after he emerged from what I assumed to be his bedroom.

Then, he walked off without uttering another word. I frowned, my eye twitching with annoyance. He always did that. Just, said nothing, expecting us to know what to do.

I sighed inwardly. "What are we supposed to do with these?"

He stopped in his tracks, turning his head back slightly to acknowledge me. "Sleep in them." He said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. My eyebrows knitted further together, the frown that marred my face growing deeper.

"Yes, but, right now—"

"Right now," he interrupted, "you sleep. You two both need rest, as do I. So, I'm going to sleep."

Blunt as ever.

As Haku began to set up his futon on the floor, I remained in place, staring at Zabuza's back as he entered his room. As though he sensed this, as well as my internal defiance toward the command of sleeping, Zabuza uttered the words: "And do not leave the apartment, Byakuren."

Full name treatment! Seriously?

The door shut with a click, and then Haku watched me expectantly—almost authoritatively—as he waited for me to set up my own futon. Letting out a sigh of defeat, I proceeded to setting up my bed and getting inside it. I had hoped to at least explore more of Kiri, no matter how much it unnerved me and no matter how exhausted I was. Now I just felt restless.

The moment I heard Haku's soft snores of slumber, my hands were rummaging through my bag and grabbing my scrolls and journal. We had left Uzushiogakure too early for me to really have any chance to properly study any of the jutsu, only skim read them. All the notes were handwritten, and had little scribbled out notes here and there, and wonky words. Underneath the Absolute Zero technique, there were a few sentences I had missed the first time reading it.

Cannot perform. Killed the person who last performed it. Body frozen. No life has grown in the area technique was performed two weeks later. Autopsy shows his chakra coils destroyed.

The words made a shiver travel down my spine, but, oddly, intrigued me further. Every fibre of my being was telling me that I should never under any circumstances whatsoever attempt to perform this jutsu, but, God did I want to. With correct training, of course. First, I needed to learn the 'air freeze technique', though. Apparently, the person was successful in performing this one, and didn't die in the process. The 'user' emits freezing air—from where, I had no idea, the scroll didn't say—which, in turn, causes the user's body temperature to drop dramatically, to freeze surrounding opponents.

Some opponents have been able to survive by channelling chakra to keep their body temperature up.

If there was anything that I was at all interested in other than the actual techniques, it was who on earth this person was, and who had they fought. Did this person make the techniques, or were they just the written down versions of techniques that were passed down through the clan? When the clan actually was a clan, that is.

All the techniques on this scroll seemed to be orientated around implementing the Yuki Clan's ability to control their body temperature through their chakra. 'Freeze Touch', where the user channels a whole load of chakra into a person or object and freezes it. That was also extremely vague. Freeze how, exactly?

No matter my insatiable desire to start learning these jutsu, sleep seemed to tug more and more at my eyes and body as I read, until I collapsed, scroll sprawled across my body.

We had remained pretty much trapped indoors with minimal training for two days straight, and I slowly felt as though I was going insane. Perhaps it was due to my own impatience or need to do something, but I felt as though I could feel my muscles deteriorating from the lack of movement, so I had been pacing around the apartment constantly, walking up and down walls—and at times the ceiling—which was probably driving Haku even more insane. He was meditating for the most of it, and I was almost definitely distracting him, but I had way too much energy to meditate. I tried, became irritated after two seconds and began exercising again. The only time I was still was when I was practising controlling my body temperature or reading the scrolls to practise the jutsu more. It probably wasn't wise of me to practise without Zabuza's guidance, but I had actually started to make some progress and release some cold air from random parts of my body, only because of the intricate instructions left on the scroll. Admittedly, I hadn't been able to read some of the kanji on it, but I had actually managed to find a dictionary after raiding Zabuza's cupboards for an hour or so.

Zabuza had pretty much left us alone for the two days, only returning to check we were still around and to sleep for about 3 hours before heading off again. He never gave us a reason, only vague explanations that he was 'making arrangements' or 'sorting things out'. It was putting me on edge. As much as I was beginning to like Zabuza more, I didn't completely trust him at all. It was entirely possible that now returned to the village, his motives or persona would change. Here, he wasn't just two kids' sensei and carer, but the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist' known for murdering his entire class. It was unlikely that anyone here would think he would piggy-back a tired little girl. He had a reputation to uphold.

The curtains were kept shut mostly, even despite people definitely knowing of our existence in our village, but I would often peak out to look at the village. Disregarding its horrid reputation and marring mist, it was beautiful. It was a shame, really. And I had yet to experience on of their magnificently horrifying thunderstorms, and I was absolutely dying to.

47 hours after our initial arrival, Zabuza returned for the fifth time. It was the morning still. Haku was sleeping, I was eating breakfast. The moment he walked through the door, we made a sort of awkward eye contact, which I decided to continue until he broke the silence.

"Wake your brother up."

I frowned, "Well, you're awfully bossy this morning."

"I'm always bossy." He retorted.

I rose from the table, bringing my glass of water with me, and deciding I'd allow myself a tad bit of comic relief from my currently ever-mundane existence and to mess with the ever-serious Zabuza and my ever-calm brother. Even with Zabuza watching my every move, he didn't seem to intervene when I decided to pour the ice-cold water over my brother's head. My brother woke up spluttering, and I could only giggle indignantly. Zabuza's face, while covered with his usual bandages, seemed to be one of exasperation if the way his eyebrows knitted together was anything to judge by.

"Why can't you be more like your brother?" He muttered under his breath. "Just, clean this up."

"It would be boring if we were exactly the same." I replied, smiling a tad too coyly.

"It would be a lot easier."

My smile faltered. It was a light-hearted comment, this I knew, but it was entirely true. My brother had been so easily manipulated into being Zabuza's little shinobi slave in the original version because of his nature—he wanted to please and make people happy. And, without me, Zabuza was the only person he could do that for. He was lonely, and naturally very subservient. I was dominant, outspoken, and defiant. And I gave my brother a purpose beyond fulfilling Zabuza's every desire and request, and training only for the purpose of doing so. My presence meant he had other priorities because, as his younger sister, he was my protector in his eyes. I was his last family.

"Well, he's awake!" I joked, forcing a chuckle. And he was sitting there in complete and utter silence, head to the floor. I looked at him worriedly, not knowing if I had made a grave mistake that would be the trigger to a never-ending sibling war.

As I knelt down to make sure he was okay, Haku's hand lifted, the water following, which was promptly thrown in my face, and I was once again reminded of our ability to control water.

Dramatically wiping the horribly cold wetness from my face, I smiled wryly, mumbling through gritted teeth. "I suppose that was deserved." But now, my hair was entirely wet, and if Zabuza wanted me to wake up Haku, it meant he actually wanted us for something, and I wasn't going to have time to dry it. Because Zabuza didn't care for a girl's vanities. They were an unimportant nuisance to a kunoichi in his opinion, but I thought otherwise.

Regardless, I had definitely starting a sibling rivalry. I had finally made the first hostile move, and it was only inevitable siblings would fight, even if jokingly. Oh well.

Ignoring our antics entirely, Zabuza began: "Make sure you're ready in twenty minutes, we have places to be. Your training needs to start today if you have any hope of being strong enough in time to complete our task."

And there it was, the coldness I had been expecting. The change in persona. He was entirely focused on the coup d'état and making sure we could aid him with it. My heart sank a little in my chest, feeling as though I had already lost the Zabuza I was actually starting to like. The one that seemed to be setting himself apart from the one I knew from the original version of this universe—the one that only realised how much he cared for my brother after he died. But rather than motivate me more to get strong and leave, it only made me want to be more damn successful with this coup, change the village, and stay with the Zabuza I actually liked. The two days trapped inside made me able to actually able to contemplate my new feelings and warm to them a little. He had proven to me beyond the pages of a manga that he was human. Maybe he wouldn't be so bad in the end…

I hoped, anyway.

"Where are we going?" My brother asked.

"You'll find out when we get there." He replied in an extremely stern tone, which crushed me a little inside, for some reason.

This was why I hated getting attached.

Got my fingers painting pictures

On the glass in front of me

The reason my updates became so infrequent was due to the usual culprit: depression. I've struggled on and off with depression from a very young age, and in 2018 from January until about June it was very severe. I struggled to go to school and even shower or get out of bed a lot of the time. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I've now left the toxic relationship I was in and I'm with someone who makes me immensely happy, and I've started college which is SO much better than Secondary school. My mental health has been extremely stable from about September and it's very odd and new for me to be content and productive and just happy with myself and where I am, especially for such a long period of time. I hope it lasts, and I hope anyone who's reading this who is struggling with anything at all right now knows it can and will get better.

I'll try to update as frequently as possible. This should be the last slow chapter. I plan to reach the Coup in about two chapters! And please leave reviews or PM me, your feedback and suggestions are extremely valued! - scaredfox