Silently two people waited inside their cell. One an older man, covered in scars and bandages that obscured his face, he paced by the bars. The other, a beautiful young man, simply sat and waited.

"This is bullshit" in a fit of rage the older man slammed the bars. "We've been kept in here for days and no one has said shit to us. At least say what the fuck you want before leaving us to die."

"I'm sure this time when you attack the guard bringing us food he'll tell us something" the young seemed somewhat used to this situation.

"We didn't even break any laws, major laws at least, how is being hired for mercenary work worthy of jail time."

"It's only been a few days, a few more and someone will have come to collect us from the guild."

"Yeah well, it'd be nice if they could hurry the hell up" frustrated the older man sat down as well. "It's us for fucks sake, Zabuza and Haku! I bring in most of the money for the damn guild."

"And how often have we taken an extra few days after a job because you get us lost?"

"I don't remember raising you to be such a smart ass."

Haku just gave him a small smile in reply. The two returned to their silence, left with nothing else to do other than wait for the jailor to drop off their food. After another hour of waiting the sound of approaching footsteps brought Zabuza back to his feet.

"Finally, a could to damn well starve down here!"

"Silence please" rounding the corner of their cell was an older man and three gaurds, all of them without dinner.

Wordlessly Zabuza motioned for Haku to get ready, they clearly wouldn't be staying here another night. The old man unlocked the gate and motioned for Zabuza.

"You're free to go."

"Finally, let's get our stuff and head back home"Zabuza headed out of the cell, ready for some kind of underhanded attack.

"Not him, just you" two of the guards came into watch Haku.

"If I'm out of here he is too."

"No, we still require him. You may either leave now, or we can escort you out."

"Oh yeah old timer? You and what army."

The guards brandished their clubs at him. Haku braced himself, preparing for the fight that would inevitably break out.

"In exchange for both of your pardons we simply need him to deliver some things on behalf of the town. Due to your actions earlier most of the town has asked you to leave now though."

"What! That's bullshit I didn't do anything to these pricks"

"Since your arrival here there have been ten cases of destruction of property."

"You think that's a lot? I can make it a hundred before midnight."

"Oh just go" Haku spoke up, trying to expedite this process. "I can have this little errand taken care of in no time and I'll catch up to you."

"You can't be serious, you want me to just leave you here?"

"Yes that is exactly what I want, so just head out please."

"Fine" Zabuza grumbled angrily as he walked towards the cells exit. "But if I don't see you in six hours I'm coming right the hell back here."

"Of course you are, just don't break anything on the way out."

With some angry muttering and an escort Zabuza was on his way out. This left Haku and the older man alone.

"So, what am I delivering and to where?"

"Right to the point, good" the older man began walking off. "Come with me and don't dawdle please."

Getting up from his seat Haku followed the man. They left the small jail he'd been housed in for a few days and went towards the south side of town. He was met by a large covered bowl on a cart.

"If you follow the road and keep a moderate pace you should get there in about an hour."

"There is what exactly?"

"There's a cave that opens up on the side of the mountain, bring it in there."

"Right" Haku had worked with less information in the past, but this still felt strange.

"And try to hurry, don't want it to get cold."

With vague instructions and a sort of warning, Haku set off. Pulling the bowl wasn't very taxing on him, the cart seemed to have been made just for this job. The road was well worn, whatever this delivery was it must happen often. It wasn't long before Haku could see what he assumed was the mountain, it currently looked like much more of a volcano to him though. Red streams cascaded down it, he was thankful it wasn't erupting currently.

"Just take deep breaths and it'll all be fine" forging on he did his best to stay positive. "At least this bowl will stay warm I guess."

When he reached the base of the mountain the light chill that had been in the air was completely gone. With a quick spell he kept himself cool, hopefully the cart could withstand the heat. The cave was within sight now. Trudging on to the final leg of the journey he climbed the slope.

"Hello?" as he entered the cave he decided to check for the recipient of this delivery.

As if to reply something flared up deeper in the cave, casting light throughout it. With a deep breath Haku continued in. His cooling spell was beginning to lose effect as the cave became hotter. Just his luck to deliver something into an active volcano. Sweaty and tired Haku reached the followed the cave into this massive chamber. Crossing the threshold only increased the heat, he was now on some platform above the lava.

"So uh, I'm just gonna leave the bowl here and head out" he called out again.

In reply a horrible roar came from below as a massive clawed hand came up from the lava. It dug into the wall of the cavern and slowly the rest of this creature's form emerged. Between the heat distorting his vision and his sudden fear of dying, Haku could barely make out its fox-like features. It pointed towards the center of the platform.

"Uh, alright then" with sweaty hands Haku gripped the cart handles again, on shaky legs he pulled it towards the center.

He barely managed to get it there before his legs gave out, the heat was too much for him now. The final thing he saw before blacking out was a large hand picking up the bowl.

"AH FUCK SHIT FUCK" screaming back to consicousness Haku sprung up as water was poured on him.

"Whew, thought you were dead or something" standing over him holding a now empty bucket was a strange blond man.

"Where am I and who are you" it was noticeably less unbearably hot now.

"You're in my home, carved it all by myself thank you very much" the blond man gave a prideful smile. "And most people call me Naruto! Or the giant mountain fox demon, but that doesn't have the same ring to it in my opinion."

"You're, you're the giant thing that I saw earlier?"

"Unless I've been living a lie, you betcha!"

"And you could've just, turned the heat off instead of letting me almost die?"

"Ok, this sounds bad I know, but I forgot about that."

"You forgot that?"

"That the heat can you know, kill people or whatever."

"How do you forget that!"

"I was hungry!"

Haku looked around, he could see the cart standing roughly where he'd left it, but now the bowl was on the floor. It was uncovered and empty now but the smell was still in the air.

"DID I FUCKING GET HELD IN PRISON AND ALMOST DIE TO BRING YOU RAMEN?"

"YOU WERE IN JAIL?"

"NO YOU DON'T GET TO FOCUS ON THAT PART YOU ALMOST KILLED ME!"

"I SAID I FORGOT!"

"THAT'S NOT SORRY" Haku jabbed him in the chest, causing Naruto to jump back.

"OW" he held a hand over the jab stop as steam rose off him. "WHY ARE YOU SO DAMN COLD!"

"I'M NOT THAT COLD YOU'RE JUST MADE OF FUCKING LAVA!"

"BULLSHIT" to prove his point Naruto grabbed onto Hakus arm, causing a massive amount of steam to erupt from the two of them.

"WHAT THE HELL GET OFF ME" Haku shoved him away, causing two final spurts of steam to come off him.

"STOP TOUCHING ME!"

"YOU TOUCHED ME FIRST!"

The two were now a solid ten feet apart. Haku was able to stand now but thinking about the trip back made his body ache. He eyed the cart and tried to gauge if he'd fit.

"Hey, as a way of apologizing for nearly killing me" Haku shakily hopped onto the cart. "You can wheel me back to town."

"I can't go out there!" Naruto fearfully pointed toward the opening on top of the mountain.

"Why not?"

"I'll die!"

"If you don't, I will kill you."

Hardly a few moments later Naruto was pulling the lounging Haku along the road. Frightfully he kept looking towards the sky.

"It's not going to fall down on you so relax" Haku had noticed him slowing down to do this.

"Yes it will! It's why I made that platform over my bed."

"Well if you go faster you'll be back home in no time."

"Right" his voice shook a little as he picked up the pace.

Haku began to doze off, the cart was a surprisingly smooth ride. He knew Zabuza would be much harder to trick into getting a lift home from; so he savored this little treat. At least he did before Naruto screamed in fear and sprinted off the road.

"IT'S FALLING I'M GOING TO DIE" Naruto clung to the side of a tree for dear life, causing smoke to rise up from it.

Haku looked out from under the trees. It looked like it was beginning to lightly drizzle at most.

"We can just wait it out, it's not even really raining currently" he tried to use a calm voice to soothe Naruto.

"I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE" it didn't seem very effective.

"SHUT UP" this snapped Naruto out of his fear induced stupor. "Just sit here and don't burn the damn forest down. I'll put something up to stop the rain from falling onto you, but I swear if you keep yelling about dying I will throw you out in the rain. Got it?"

Naruto nodded, slowly inching away from the tree that he'd scorched an outline into. Exasperated Haku traced a circle in the ground around the tree. Taking a deep breath and focusing his magic, a barrier of ice slowly formed up around them. It wasn't anything too fancy, but it'd stop the rain.

"Are you an ice demon?" Naruto looked at the dome with fascination in his eyes.

"No, don't be ridiculous" Haku sat down a few feet from him. "I'm just an ice witch."

"Does that mean I'm not actually a demon but just a giant fox witch?"

"Considering you don't know what rain is I will not get mad at you for saying something that stupid."

"Thank you!"

Haku moved closer to the tree to lean on it. He could probably make the walk back from here, but leaving Naruto alone would make him look like an asshole. Now that they were in an enclosed space the heat he gave off was able to build up again, thankfully it wasn't as intense as before. With the sound of the rain slowly hitting the dome and the comfortable heat Haku slipped back asleep. Naruto sat there staring up at the dome, this was his first time out of the mountain. His biggest fear was bouncing off this dome his new acquaintance had made instead of harming him. After awhile he too was lulled to sleep, thoughts of what the rest of the world could be like swirling inside his head.