16. The Tunnels

Snow was falling through the night in thick, swirling flakes. Black spruces towered over the frosted land, an almost indistinguishable mass of ominous darkness among the white, furious flurry raging over the Water Country.

Somewhere in the night, six shadows were racing through the blizzard. They dashed among the drooping fir branches, dislodging avalanches of snow; they glided over the ground like a flock of enormous, deadly birds of prey. They were on to something.

They suddenly stopped, landing softly onto the rime-covered trees surrounding a small, forgotten glade somewhere in the heart of the woods. The untouched eye of pristine white was taken into a tight circle of menacing figures glaring at it from above. Then one of the shadows detached itself from its tree, descending into the bluish, frosty depths as if wishing to examine something closer up. It stood there for a moment, waiting for something; and then, with just one sideways chopping motion of its arm through the air, it cleared off the entire snow-bank. The flakes dispersed in a pallid hurricane, revealing the gaping blackness of soil underneath. The figure stalked over to the centre of the newly-formed circle and crouched down, squinting at something on the ground.

There, expertly hidden by miscellaneous forest debris, old traces of a bonfire stared back from among the rotting foliage.

Zabuza lay on his bed, pondering about… well, everything. It was a mission-free morning, so there was a lot of time on Momochi's hands to ponder. This had been one hectic month, and the… ahem, the fund-raising was going well, so they could finally afford to spend a couple of days in a not very comfortable, but at least a warm and secluded inn.

And in good time, too. Winter settled in early, as it always did in the Water Country. Zabuza listened to the blizzard whistling and moaning like a wounded animal outside the sturdy walls of the inn. He then glanced over at the second bed in a corner. There, unperturbed by the wailing fury of the snowstorm raging away in the night, Haku and Loki were fast asleep. Haku, wrapped in the blankets, was dozing in a semi-sitting position in a spot farthest away from the window. He was frowning slightly in his sleep, but other than that he seemed calm. Loki, half-curled up on top of her sheets, was occupying that entire part of the bed that would not be, psychologically, Haku's personal space. Not that Loki had any idea of what personal space was; it was just that Haku, when sleeping, could kick really hard. It was unintentional, of course; but it hurt nevertheless.

Loki… Now she was strange, very strange, Zabuza mused. He still remembered that day, the day on which her big secret was finally uncovered. Oh, her story made sense; in that insane kind of way truth sometimes has of making sense. And yet… some parts made no sense at all. Or perhaps Zabuza was simply missing a few crucial points of the conundrum.

After he had found out that Loki was not, in fact, a human but apparently belonged to some kind of a separate caste called 'werewolves' (what-wolves?), Zabuza was surprised to discover that he took the news unnaturally calmly. Well, what should he have done? How do you react to it if one of your best recruits announces that turning into a rabid, bloodthirsty monster every once in a while (or, more precisely, during the full moon) is customary to the species? That had taken quite a while to sink in.

And yet, oddly enough, Zabuza wasn't surprised. He thought it was rather bizarre, he never remembered hearing anything about a hunted species of wolf-people and a mysterious Centre that sought to subjugate them; but somehow he just wasn't surprised. After all, he was the Demon of the Mist and a genetic mystery on his own with his mouth set with two rows of pointed teeth, when it came down to that. And then there was Haku with his rare and incredibly powerful Kekkei Genkai, the full extent of which even he, Zabuza, could not yet fathom. Loki would only make a fine addition to the troupe, an exhibit undeniably worthy of their little freak gallery, the assassin thought with an unpleasant smirk. Huh, what a company… A beast-child was all they needed. Now, it would be really amusing if it turned out that the rabbit had some kind of mystic powers as well…

As if hearing Zabuza's thoughts, the white rabbit in Haku's arms twitched its ears and blinked a mad, pinkish eye. A hand got placed onto its head as Haku shifted his position unconsciously in his sleep.

The next few weeks after the revelation of Loki's secret had been… quite unusual. It felt as if she had suddenly become a whole new creature, a stranger again, to whom they all had to get used to. Days passed in pretty much the same manner; only now, every time the ninja happened to be fighting, eating or resting under the trees after a long day of training, Zabuza just couldn't help but notice how… wolfish Loki's behaviour was. It was as if Momochi suddenly became aware of a wild animal residing within her and peering at him suspiciously out of her cautious olive-green eyes. Oddly, this didn't alarm him.

They even got to see the girl transform into her wolf-form. She had been very reluctant about it at first, trying to lie by saying that she only ever changed during the full moon; but Haku had his little ways of persuading people. That Haku. He even sacrificed a kimono for the cause. It all turned to bits and shreds after Loki was done with the transformation.

It felt really… weird, watching her change. It hadn't been as terrible as Haku had described in his story; but perhaps that was because during daytime Loki didn't go mad. She didn't look that frightening, either; if you didn't know better, you'd take her for an ordinary, slightly oversized street mutt with, admittedly, very clever green eyes. Though when Zabuza watched her watching him out of a furry, shaggy white body, he just couldn't shake off the feeling that this wasn't an illusion or a temporary transfiguration of any kind – he realized that this was in fact, Loki's second permanent body, her second default state; that she, unlike humans, could choose whether to look like a human girl or an animal; that she was as comfortable in her second form, if not more so, than in her first; and that this appearance, unlike the one invoked by a Jutsu, would not vanish after any amount of time unless Loki chose to change back.

And it seemed that Zabuza was not the only one who could feel the animal within Loki's being. Haku, too, remained wary of the girl for quite a while after that disturbing discovery. Even Momochi, a man entirely insensitive in this area, could feel the estrangement seeping in-between his two students in form of long, embarrassed silences and frowning, diverted looks. Loki was not very pleased with the fact that her first and so far only friend not only spied on her to find out and disclose her intimate secret (although what else could she expect from somebody so devoted to his master Zabuza?), but was also now eyeing her with suspicion and distrust, not at all unlike the humans at the Centre. Haku, on the other hand, preferred to keep his guard with the girl after having witnessed her full-moon transmogrification. He also felt that in return for everything he and Zabuza have done for Loki, the least she could do was share the whole truth with them from the very beginning; especially a truth as important as this. The boy did not approve of what he thought was dishonesty towards their group, as well as towards his favourite mentor. The two still worked well together as a team; although now they spoke less and less to each other, their interaction diminishing to curt interjections and brief orders during training combats. It was uncomfortable, and none of the trio liked it very much; and, as Zabuza was realizing with a hint of annoyance, it had to stop very soon. As much as he disliked the thought, the fact remained that in order for his further plans to be crowned with success, Momochi relied heavily on both his disciples' getting along well. Without that, there would be no unity in the team, and, therefore, they would all be doomed to fail. Again. Nope, lack of unity was never good for this kind of business.

But by a lucky stroke of fate, an unforeseen incident mended Haku and Loki's friendship. It happened just a few evenings before the trio's arrival at the inn, in which they were currently spending the night; and it was Haku's rabbit that had to be thanked for the happy reunion. During one of their rest breaks the rabbit managed to escape the vigilant supervision of its owner; and it was Loki's sensitive nose and immediate interference that saved the little critter from being devoured by a wandering pack of starving wolves. Needless to say, Haku felt so grateful as he was receiving the small bundle of white, breathing fur into his arms from a scowling but flushing Loki that he had forgotten all about acting with suspicion and distrust. Very soon Zabuza could already hear them having a conversation over from where the knapsacks were, catching up on everything they'd wanted to share, and quite happy to be friends again.

Now that her werewolf secret was out, Loki also acquired a new function in the team. She now acted as a spy, sent into villages in her wolf-form to sniff out what was up. Incidentally, that was how they found this inn. Loki considered it her personal accomplishment and was very proud to finally be of some real use. Zabuza could almost see this pride spilling out of his student's joyful, twinkling eyes. He also thought, after watching Loki's furry hind hurry off on a number of occasions, that he was, perhaps, now beginning to understand how she had managed to get past Nami Hidaka's heavily guarded gates on that eventful night…

And not only that. Loki's keen sense of smell was now starting to make a lot more sense as well…

Somewhere in the snowy night, a vine slithered past, an unnervingly green streak on a blanket of white. The atmosphere trembled, sending blue electricity sparks in all directions; and, for a moment, the surrounding grey air imploded to reveal a patch of thick, luscious, flowering shrubbery among a wall of gigantic, century-old pines… The apparition hovered over the snow-covered field unsteadily, quavering like a mirage; only to be swallowed up by the furious blizzard the next second. The Kallmanah forests were ever-persistently probing the barriers between this universe and their own. So far these barriers were holding; but who knew for how long…?

Back in the inn's wide, warm, slightly insect-infested bed, Haku was having a nightmare that had nothing to do with bed bugs. Trapped in some ghoulish reality visible only to him, he was running around in circles as tentacles of all shapes and sizes were reaching out to get him. He desperately tried to escape, but wherever he turned, he met yet another impassable wall of green, squirming, rope-like things trying to grab him, trying to make contact… It was as if something was probing inquisitively at his conscience, wishing to break open his mind like a suitcase and shake out the contents for examination… And suddenly he was already feeling the sickening vines twisting around his legs and closing around his arms… and felt something else, for which he had no words but which he knew had been filling his insides with a warm glow of hope all this time, leaking out of all his crevices in a hot trickle of silvery… silvery energy…

But then…

One of the tentacles holding him reached out in a sudden, jerky motion and shook his shoulder, as if to wake him from a slumber. And from somewhere incredibly far away, Haku thought he could hear a deep voice that sounded oddly like Zabuza's call out to him:

"Fwawawaaaa wawaaa? Wawawa fwaaaa-wa!"

"Whaa…? Wu'ss happ'nin'?"

In the rapidly dispersing darkness, the tentacle strangling the boy shortened and thickened to become a muscular, violently-shaking his shoulder arm. Zabuza's face was hovering over the boy some distance behind it, stricken with panic and annoyance.

"Come on, open your eyes, you lazy sack of bloody bird guano! No time to be lying around enjoying sweet dreams! We're moving out, and fast," hissed the man, his voice filled with urgency.

The last of the mists of oblivion finally lifted, and Haku caught sight of Loki flailing madly in the background in an attempt to pack all of their belongings into the knapsack at once before Zabuza turned his angered, agitated attention towards her. Her mission failed, because the next moment Haku heard Momochi's annoyed growl aimed at the girl:

"Stop mopping about and get our bloody things together, you useless…"

Something bad was up; or rather all around them, among a flurry of urgent arms, flying things and hushed, hurried curses. Haku sat up in his bed, his head throbbing. What was wrong with him? Usually he sprang up alert and ready to go even when awakened at the most indisposing times of night if needed, but this time his mind just wouldn't clear… It was as if that nightmare, whatever it had been, was somehow still holding him in its clutches… But how was that possible? He knew about dreams, they were just random chemical processes going on inside his brain, that was all… Haku didn't like it one bit.

But there was no time to give any thought to dreams at this point. In a matter of seconds everything was packed. Loki made to go for the window, but Zabuza stopped her and, in a single wide swipe of his arms, brought both of his students towards him.

"Oh no, the windows aren't safe," he muttered in a low, warning voice. "We are gonna have to go this way…"

He closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to block out all sounds. Somewhere down, on a floor below theirs, loud thuds and crashes could be heard.

Zabuza was still concentrating. With both his forefingers pressed to his lower lip, he looked as though he was telling somebody invisible to be quiet. Haku and Loki were staring up at him anxiously from under his arms, not daring to utter a word. A viscous silence stretched between the three…

The thuds from downstairs were rapidly approaching.

This was taking a hell of a lot of chakra… In the meantime, the rabbit in Haku's hands twitched its ears nervously, blinking at the door in alarm. All around them, the boarders of the lodge were waking up, disturbed by the commotion caused by the unknown perpetrators. On the stairwell, somebody screamed. The unidentified pursuers were almost at the renegades' door…

In the middle of the room, Haku and Loki suddenly felt a wave of chakra wash over them, like the warmth of sunshine spilling over their heads and enveloping their bodies in a warm, slightly prickly embrace. Then the air became unexpectedly chilly, freezing increasingly more and more until Loki felt as though her nose might begin to sprout icicles. The world in front of her eyes trembled and swam sideways. Just before the surroundings became an indistinguishable blur, however, she thought she caught sight of their dormitory's door flying off its hinges. But the next second Loki, along with her team-mate and master, was already spinning through unidentified dimensions away, far away from the room and into a direction unknown.

Four men in black uniforms rushed into the room in time to witness Zabuza and his followers dispersing in a whirlwind of damp, icy air. There was no time to intercept them; but one of the ninja reached into the depths of his uniform and took out a small dark blob of… stuff. With all the force he could muster he tossed the blob into the disappearing indoor hurricane; and in the next second it vanished, along with the wind funnel, without a trace.

The Jutsu unwound, spitting out three madly flailing shapes into a snow-bank somewhere deep in the woods. The pristine whiteness was momentarily disturbed by three bodies flying into it at full speed, and was then wiped clean once more by a passing frost-carrying wind. After a few ponderous, snowdrift-filled moments, Haku's head poked out of the white, fluffy pile and shook madly to get the snow out of the eyes. A soft scuttling noise came from his left, and the snow parted to reveal the rabbit poking its muzzle tentatively upward, towards the air. In a desperate leap towards freedom, the little creature jumped out of its frosty prison only to land into another snow-bank; but a second later it gave a frightened squeak as the snow-bank unfolded and started rising to its feet. Haku flinched, but only for a brief second, for he recognized his mentor's bandaged visage on the slowly unfurling, snow-covered monster. It was Zabuza getting up.

Loki was found sitting in a cold, white heap not far off. With her left hand she was picking up fistfuls of snow and carefully letting it drop back down out of her palm in a perfunctory fashion, watching this rather uncomplicated process with a contemplative expression all the while. She had never seen snow before; or at least couldn't remember ever having seen it. It was very strange and very wet. For some reason it made her think of milk. Thinking of milk made Loki hungry. She made a snowball and sniffed at it, but her nose was filled with the sharp, greyish scent of water and very little else. Not milk, then. But she was still hungry. Loki looked up at the approaching two with a questioning look.

"Snow," said Haku automatically, who by that time had already gotten used to explaining to Loki some of the most usual natural phenomena. "Like your typical rain, only frozen. Happens every winter. And no, it has nothing whatsoever to do with milk."

"All right, enough of this," Zabuza interrupted gruffly. They had no time for nonsense, and he still had to let his students in on what happened.

"What was that attack all about?" was the question that Haku did not ask. It would be a waste of time to ask a pointless question such as this, since it was quite clear that the attack was all about capturing them and probably killing them on the spot; or possibly torturing them and then delivering them directly to the Mizukage for questioning and, consequently, more torturing. It would also be useless to brainstorm the attackers' possible identity, since they were almost definitely the Hunter nin. So instead, the question that Haku asked was: "How did you know?"

"I knew by keeping on my guard and paying attention rather than flying off into the Jolly La-la Land of Dreams the first chance I got," barked Zabuza rather unpleasantly. The fact that those sons of bitches managed to sniff them all out again did nothing to improve his mood. Was it an accident this time as well? Somehow he just didn't think so. And the fact that they hadn't bothered about keeping quiet and made a huge turmoil in the inn was very peculiar as well.

"Was it the Hunter nin?" asked Loki, giving up the snow-examination and getting to her feet. Oh, she remembered the Hunter nin all right. They were those nasty humans with the smelly masks. Zabuza talked about them all of the time he wasn't talking about practice or making plans for the future.

"Didn't you smell their masks?" barked Zabuza.

"I… I…" Loki stammered, flushing. There had been so much commotion, so many different smells that they had all mixed up in her nose and she couldn't remember what she smelled anymore, except for a vague recollection of a multicoloured cloud punctuated by a definite, powerful odour of generations of squished bedbugs.

"Never you mind that, I am sure it was the Hunter nin," grumbled Zabuza, deciding that he had no more time left for apprentice-intimidating, "and this means that they will probably appear here any second."

There was the universe's shortest dread-filled pause. It escalated in a meek question:

"So, what do we do now?"

"Well, what does it look like we're doing? We're scramming for our lives, and we've got to make sure they don't find us again. Loki!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Stop gawping like an idiot and tell me if you sense anything. Did you manage to take a whiff of our followers?"

"Um… um…" Loki made an attempt to unravel the vague colourful cloud still lingering in her memory, brushing the persistent crum odour aside. "Y-yes, sir! Got it, sir!" she reported after a while.

"Well then?"

Loki concentrated. As far as she could tell there was nothing abroad, nothing… Suddenly she remembered something, and took out her nose-filters. Oh-kay, let's try this again…

She sniffed.

"I do not smell anybody around except for us and a fox and a wondering wolf-pack somewhere not very far," she concluded, "but there is something very odd sitting on your right forearm."

Zabuza glanced at his arm. There, attached to his skin like a strange, round leech, hung a small dark blob of unidentified stuff. Zabuza eyed it for a moment with a shocked expression in his suddenly contracted pupils; then, without further hesitation, he detached it from his skin with a kunai. How could he have not felt that? He carefully examined the spot on his arm to which the blob had attached itself, expecting to see a wound or at least a sore. But his skin underneath was unbroken and smooth; or at least as smooth as the skin of somebody living a rough life in the forests could be, which was definitely not, say, the smoothness of a young geisha's cheek or a baby's bum. And that was perfectly normal. Finding a bum where his arm should have been, whether the former belonged to a baby, a geisha, or anything else, now that would be something to worry about.

"Aargh, look, it's getting away!" he heard Haku's shriek and, disturbingly out-of-character pink visions of young geishas' buttocks evaporating quickly from his mind, looked up in time to see the boy send an array of ice senbon after something leaving a quickly-departing deep line in the snow. Always on alert, Zabuza's arm was already flinging a kunai when his consciousness snapped to attention. That was shinobi instincts for you.

With a triumphant 'I got it!' Haku ran over to see his quarry as one of the senbon struck and the line stopped advancing. He was soon joined by a curious Loki and a glaring Zabuza. The trio bent over the senbon-punctured snow-bank… but no matter how hard they looked, they could find no trace of the mysterious blob. It vanished.

All heads turned to Loki, who shrugged.

"Damn," swore Zabuza with passion. "That was not a bloody good sign. It is a good thing we spotted it soon, at least… Well done, girl!"

Loki glowed like a 100-Watt light bulb at the praise. The tingly feeling, long forgotten in all the commotion of the past months, strolled nonchalantly through the girl's mind with a casual whistle. Loki cursed herself for that. She hated going soft.

Without any further words, the three renegades gathered together and Zabuza folded his fingers to form the first seal. The rabbit had to run to catch up.

And the next moment they were off again, swirling away into the unknown, further and further away from the dangerous spot as Zabuza's Jutsu carried them off in damp, chilly clutches…

…A few moments later, four black shapes appeared seemingly out of thin air and landed, not very gracefully, into the already-disrupted snow-bank. By the time they got out and took a good look around, there was, of course, no one in sight. They were too late.

One of the Hunters eyed suspiciously the thin trail that the blob left behind in an attempt to escape Haku's ice senbon. He raised two hands tentatively, as if contemplating something; then clapped slowly, three times.

There was a threefold 'fwap' sound as Zabuza, Haku and Loki landed into a much smaller snow-bank somewhere else in the forest.

Further ahead, from among the trees, a looming dark shape was visible. The ninja squinted at it, trying to distinguish what it was. Loki took a couple of tentative steps forward.

"Hey, this looks vaguely familiar," the girl said after a while. "And it smells familiar, too," she conceded.

This took a fraction of a moment to sink in. There was a groan as the trio realized where it was.

"Oh dear," Haku moaned.

"Oh fuck!" Zabuza cursed.

"Oh f—" Loki started, but corrected herself instantly under (or rather above, as she was slightly taller) Haku's sharp, piercing-to-the-point-of-drilling glare. "Shoot?" she tried rather uncertainly, with an awkward smile; but Haku was no longer paying her any attention. He was already immersed in examining the ominous shape that Zabuza was glaring at from among the trees.

They were back at the lodge. At the exact same lodge which they were in such a hurry to leave. Its illuminated windows were winking mockingly at them through the barren branches. From somewhere not too far ahead, faint screams could still be heard. Zabuza emitted a long combination of curses under his breath.

Back in the snow-covered field, the Hunter clapped his hands.

Underneath his feet, the snow began to melt. Soon, damp ground became slowly apparent. The soil was black. There was nothing wrong with that. Black was the normal colour that the soil should be. It was the sign of good, fertile earth. What was not normal was the fact that this particular patch of soil kept getting blacker and blacker as the Hunters watched.

"Are you going to transport us somewhere else?" Loki asked, turning back to her master.

Zabuza grunted, narrowing his eyes. "No…" he muttered, having finished to curse. He had been breathing heavily. "I have already used up too much chakra on we transport one more time and they happen to find us again, I will have no more strength left to fight… and the two of you won't be able to handle a squadron of Hunters all by yourselves, no matter how skilled you may be deluded to think that you are… We've got to get away by foot, and quickly!"

But it was too late. Somehow, the Hunters found out that the unlucky trio had returned; and a couple of them were already racing through the trees towards the renegades…

Grrr!wrth had a job to do. He was the leader of the group. He had to watch over them and make sure shit didn't happen to them. Lots of shit could happen to them if Grrr!wrth weren't there, standing guard.

Grrr!wrth's head was raised high, nostrils twitching slightly as he took in the smells travelling to and fro, or rather fro and fro, on the cold northern winds. Something suspicious was up… The uncomplicated machinery of Grrr!wrth's brain set to work, trying to figure out if it was dangerous enough to make shit happen to his group, and, therefore, if it was dangerous enough to run away from.

In the meantime, the group was under the hill, sniffing around in the snow. There was hardly anything edible to be found. Fearsome winters of the Water Country drove many living creatures into hiding. However, some of such living creatures often turned into dead creatures in the process. And if the group could find them in the snow, well, nobody minded the taste of carrion. In the coldness of ice and frost, things got preserved rather well. You just had to watch out for the bears.

On the top of the small hill, Grrr!wrth came to a conclusion. He yapped warningly a couple of times, and the group, abandoning their fruitless search, dispersed in the grey morning gloom.

The soil kept getting blacker and blacker, until blackness became almost like a skin. The small patch of land started bubbling like a boiling cauldron until, at last, the blackness separated from the earth and floated upwards in tiny dark blobs. The blobs condensed in the Hunter's outstretched hand, joining to become one. The man's fist clenched around the soft, slightly pulsating darkness. He nodded at his companions. They had all they needed now.

Besides, it seemed as though their team-mates managed to locate the outlaws at last. It was time to return.

In the forest near the lodge, Zabuza's team turned to face the Hunters. There was no way around it. To escape the pursuit they had to fight, and win.

The Hunters were not a talkative bunch. Thus, no customary threats and demeaning speeches preceded the clash of the two opposing sides. Why waste breath and energy on pointless statements like "This time it will be the end of you!" or self-evident explanations of the Jutsu in use? The clanging of colliding weapons were all the sounds you needed to make or hear when you were in combat. That was the way Zabuza liked it.

It was still dark, and difficult to tell who was winning, or how many opponents there were. Zabuza could only vaguely hear his apprentices fighting some way off; but there was no time to look for them, or, let alone, try to helpthem out. The Hunters were pressing in; and aid to their side was arriving. Momochi cursed silently as he blocked two kunai and dodged four erratic limbs, but very nearly missed a leg swipe. He just hoped that that weird black blob thing was not a poison of some kind.

In the meantime, Haku and Loki were in a rut. More precisely, they were in a shadow-clone-rimmed pothole. Haku knew about this Jutsu, but analyzing it and avoiding kunai at the same time was proving to be rather difficult even for a quick thinker like him. Loki was on to something, because on several occasions she'd tried to point out what apparently were the real Hunters in this whole mess of dark, uniform-clad bodies, but it was almost impossible to land a precise hit through the avalanche of clones. What to do, what to do? Haku was nearly not strong enough to create an equal counter-army of water clones, and the Mirror Technique was only good against a small group of opponents.

Haku crouched, and jumped. Lightning-fast, he dodged a whole array of random metal weapons of all sorts, and landed in a snow-bank. This was not going anywhere. The Hunters didn't seem to be putting very much effort or deadly force into it, but then again, they didn't really need to. Why show all of the aces they had up their sleeves when they could simply wear out their prey with great numbers and simple tricks? It was proving to be successful so far. Haku was already growing tired.

The boy was finally able to leap out onto a pine branch, and throw a flurry of senbon into the general direction of Zabuza's enemies. He seemed to hit a target, as one of the Hunters folded up with a short yelp. There went one of them… one out of what looked like an endless army due to all of the clones and other reproducing Jutsu techniques. There was one good thing about this situation, though. With so many opponents against only three of them, Haku thought, things were starting to get a little bit mixed up. Even now, from the height of his tree branch, he could see some of the clones beginning to fight themselves. That was the problem with pitting a horde of witless body replications against a single target – they would eventually get confused about what they're supposed to be fighting. It was strange that the clever Hunters couldn't notice such a glaring loophole in their plan. In any case, it was only working for the renegades' advantage.

Smirking nastily at this unexpected discovery, Haku was just about to join Zabuza in combat, when he suddenly heard a frustrated shriek from down below. He glanced down to see Loki struggling with some kind of a living mud puddle. She was making what seemed like wild warning gestures to her team-mate, and trying to jump, but strange mud clung to her limbs like a determined pit-bull. She tried to scream something, but the mud clamped over her face like a slimy, ghoulish hand, and the words came out as muffled and incomprehensible noises. Haku frowned. An unfamiliar Jutsu meant a new danger! He had to act fast…

Without a further thought, he dived like a hawk towards the spot where his partner was struggling.

…Somebody watched the boy diving like a hawk towards the spot where the girl was struggling with the Sentient Swamp Jutsu, and then the binoculars were taken away. The scene immediately took on the look of a swarming ant hill somewhere far, far below. Gods, these trees were tall.

"Here, now let me see," said a slightly capricious-sounding female voice. "I want to witness our moment of triumph. Hah, the Track-Mark-and-Make-Return Jutsu proved to be a success! It also got a bit of his DNA on it now, so when he dies we shall know right away. Hah! I shall have to remember to get a patent on it."

"I still don't think it's such a good idea to go testing out new inventions on such an important mission," muttered the previous binocular-holder. "What if it didn't work?"

"My inventions always work. And it's good to attack the oh-so-clever renegades with something they know nothing about and, therefore, don't expect. But that's all right. I forgive you for being jealous."

"I think we should hurry up with that next step," said a third voice rather impatiently. "Wait a little bit longer, and they'll figure everything out… or worse, make a run for it."

"Not to worry, Izu… Have patience. We must wait for all of ours to get out of that place," the female voice cut him off.

"We are all here, except for Aki and the new kid," supplied the third speaker. "They have been taken down, unfortunately. But other than that, I believe that we are ready to proceed."

"Excellent," hissed the female voice. "Now, pass me the… oh, here… ah."

From far above, the Hunters watched as a small scroll was tossed into the struggling heap of predominantly clone bodies below. The scroll fell, tumbling, into the snow, unnoticed by anyone on the ground. This was probably the best time to scram, because at any second the scroll was going to explode.

…In the meantime, Zabuza was fighting off his attackers, one by one. It was strange, really. The very first one had seemed to be the most of a challenge, but then… it was all just clones. Expertly executed, he had to admit, the most perfect clones he had possibly seen throughout his entire shinobi career, but still… just clones. With no sign of their actual performers. This was all very suspicious…

And Haku was trying his best to help Loki out of the clinging mud, but it was no good. It was becoming creature-shaped now, with long, sludgy claws and fangs. They were snapping at the boy as well now, but he stayed alert and kept the strange Jutsu at bay. Haku was so preoccupied with freeing Loki that he'd almost missed the fact that there were no more clones trying to attack them, and that he found weird, but…

One of the muddy jaws opened wide and bit Loki hard on the ankle. It was much more painful than the girl had expected, so she just couldn't help but emit a loud howl, a savage animal cry so full of pain and desperate plea for help…

…Somewhere not very far off, Grrr!wrth raised his head. Something stirred in his mind, something almost forgotten, pushed so far back by animal instincts and veiled by mists of time… He shook himself. He had a pack to take care of. A careful voice inside his head told him that if they didn't get out of the dangerous area right now, some terrible shit would happen to the others. No, really, some very, very terrible shit was about to happen. The leader turned towards his subordinates, his muscles tensing, ready at any moment to dash even further into the safety of the darkness ahead.

But something made him stop.

It wasn't just any creature that had cried out for help. It was one of them.

But that wasn't all. There was… something else. A slight disturbance of the atmosphere…

No. He couldn't risk it. The… this group was his all. What kind of a leader was he if he didn't bring them to safety? And he knew damn well that nobody could protect them better from all the dangerous shit than him. That's why he was their leader after all. Because no-one in the entire forest could match him in strength and intelligence. They had to go, they had to go now, and he knew it. But Grrr!wrth still hesitated. The strange, half-forgotten feeling inside was making him stay.

The group was his present, and they were the past.

There came another terrible howl. Some of the wolves whined slightly from among the trees, but they weren't dashing for cover because their leader wasn't. Grrr!wrth really hated himself for this. He was betraying them, he knew. But he had no choice.

It was his own blood calling for him in desperation.

He suddenly knew what to do. Bracing himself, Grrr!wrth barked a couple of times, calling into the gloom again; then, with a sinking heart, he dived into what, from a certain angle, looked exactly like a snow bank.

…Back on the clone-littered battlefield, Loki and Haku had finally managed to take control of the Sentient Swamp Jutsu, although not without some difficulty. Loki was sitting on top of what looked like a fat, slimy neck, while Haku frantically tried to free one of her legs from the creature's oily jaws with some kind of a Jutsu. In the meantime, the girl was slashing in half any wandering clones that happened to approach them too close.

Zabuza fought off the last of his conjured opponents, and hopped over to where his students were struggling. A couple of clones started towards him drowsily, but he finished them with just one swipe of his Cleaver. Then Momochi focused once more, and a powerful wave of chakra sent Loki flying into a large puddle of sludge, Haku falling beside her in exhaustion.

Zabuza looked them over anxiously. He believed he could see where the Hunter Nin have been going with this. The kids were in a bad shape, and, he had to admit, he himself felt little better. There couldn't have been a more perfect time for the last, all-decisive strike.

"Get up and brace yourselves," he said. "The worst is yet to come, I assure you."

"Z-Zabuza-s-san?"

Momochi looked down. Haku had already risen to stand beside him in an alert position, but Loki had not shifted from her awkward position on the ground. She was staring up at him, wide eyed, with a strange expression on her face.

"Didn't you hear me? I said get up- hey, what's wrong?"

But Loki wasn't looking at him anymore. She was staring off into the distance and mumbling something under her breath. In the strange, suddenly fallen stillness, he could just make out what sounded like "I… I f-found… I th-think I f-found… I can't believe…"

And then, several things happened at once.

There was a buzz, and a sudden prickling in the atmosphere that sent blue sparks down the backs and through the hair of the three unfortunate assassins.

Then there was a silent, all-consuming flash of blinding white light, and the little forest clearing suddenly detonated in a hurricane of fire, snow, up-rooted trees and miscellaneous flaming debris.

But moments before that Zabuza felt the ground break open under his feet and several sets of jaws closed around his ankles, dragging him downinto what seemed like unfathomable depths. In the second that followed, the backlash of the merciless explosion finally caught up, knocking the assassin into oblivion.

A couple of hours later, several black-clad figures hopped down into the smoking crater that had once been a peaceful, secluded grove sheltering a modest, undistinguished inn. There was no inn here now.

There weren't any survivors, either.

The leader of the Hunter Nin squad looked around in a self-satisfied fashion. They did a fine job, indeed. The Recruiter will be pleased. Of course, the trails would have to be cleaned far better if they wanted extras; but a few simple Illusion Jutsu would do the trick for now.

Overall, however, their mission was accomplished, the leader thought with a smug smile. It turned out not to be so difficult after all.

A black blob was taken out of the velvety insides of the dark outfit. It withered and turned grey as the leader held it up theatrically on an open palm for everybody's examination. Then, with another self-satisfied smirk from the part of its holder, the blob was stuffed back into the depths of the Hunter's uniform.

"Our business is done here," the leader turned back towards the rest of the team-members, who were waiting silently. And so it was. The black blob's transfiguration was the undeniable proof.

The almighty Demon of the Mist was no longer.

The almighty Demon of the Mist groaned and opened his eyes. It had been a powerful explosion; and it was difficult for him to get his act together after a backlash hit like that despite the fact that he was a powerful Jounin. His head felt as though it had been tap-danced on by a herd of elephants, and something sharpstill seemed to be clinging to his foot. Somewhere at the back of his mind, Zabuza was just hoping that nobody important was around to see him in his current state and spread rumours. Rumours would not do any favours to his rating in the Little Black Book… Shit, his head hurt.

Around him, there was just darkness and silence. Zabuza lay where he was for a while, his every sense straining to detect even the slightest signs of anything around that might want him dead; but there were none. He was lying on a cold, rocky, somewhat damp surface completely alone.

Oh wait, he was not alone. Haku lay curled up not too far off, apparently unconscious. But something else was definitely missing. Zabuza looked around this way and that.

"Oh, crap," he groaned under his breath.

Momochi's Cleaver was nowhere to be seen. That was most infuriating, because it meant that Zabuza would have to go back and look for it, wherever 'back' was. Hell, he didn't even know where they were at the moment…

Or where, for that matter, was Loki.

Somewhere deep in the forest, Loki awoke to a whole lot of… well, white. She was lying in white, white was covering her belly and limbs, and it was falling down on her face in soft, chilly flakes. At least, that was what she saw. Yet strangely enough, she wasn't feeling any cold in her body.

That is because my friends are keeping you warm, said a rough, but not unpleasant to Loki's ears, male voice.

At the sound of it she stirred, and realized that her arms, legs and sides were being squeezed by something warm and furry that growled warningly at her attempts to wriggle free. The snow bank shifted as several wolf muzzles poked out from underneath it, and several pairs of yellow eyes stared accusingly into Loki's. She grinned back nervously, and looked beyond, at a large, hunched dark figure sitting by itself in front of a small bonfire. The stranger didn't say another word to her as she finally managed to get out of the mildly resisting wolf-blanket and approached to take a closer look. But even without having to see him, the girl already knew exactly who he was. Or, rather, what.

Loki came to a stop on the opposite end of the bonfire, so that she could face the mysterious stranger. Upon closer examination she noticed that his face was wide and hairy, and he had an overall appearance of what humans would consider a regular thug who was probably more used to proving his worth through physical prowess rather than wit. However, his beady dark eyes gleamed with intelligence and cunning.

'Um, er. You are- 'she started. How did you start conversations like this one?

'I am called Grrr!wrth, ' said Grrr!wrth. 'And I believe you have already met my pack.'

Loki remained silent. She was still a little bit dazed from the explosion, and it wasn't doing anything to help her brain in processing all the new information that was cascading onto it in big streams of shocking revelation.

'So you are a-'she repeated dumbly. The corners of Grrr!wrth's lips twitched slightly. It looked almost like a compassionate smile.

'Yes,' Grrr!wrth repeated patiently. 'After all, I am speaking to you in lupine, am I not? That is quite all right. It must be very sudden and confusing for you, I understand. It was a long time since I have seen those of my kind as well. I too could not believe this at first, but here you are. Have no worries, I will explain everything later. But first things first: you must be hungry. Take a seat, and do help yourself. I believe I still haven't forgotten how to make these.'

And with these words, the male werewolf held up several moderately burned pieces of meat on a stick. But Loki didn't budge.

'Where are Haku and Zabuza-san?" she asked. First things first.

'Who?' For a moment, Grrr!wrth seemed a little confused, but then realization dawned in his stern, but not wicked eyes. In canines, he knew, some habits died hard. One of those was Loyalty to Your Master. 'Oh, you mean the human cub and the other… part-wolf. Ah yes. I left them behind. I do not think they would have liked to come along. They are not like us. Our ways would not have suited them. Do have some meat. '

Now it was Loki's turn to look perplexed.

'Another part wolf?' she asked. 'What part wolf? There was just me, Haku, Zabuza and the rab- Wait a second. Are you meaning to tell me… '

'That's right.'

'…that the rabbit is actually part wolf? But this is ridiculous! I… guess. Um. I mean, think about it. Unless it was… Say, this is interesting… what would happen to a rabbit if it got the Bite? Supposing, of course, it somehow survived a werewolf attack without, ahaha, being swallowed alive or ripped to shr-'

'No, no, no, that is not what I meant! Silly cub. I meant the huge male with the sharp teeth! Haven't you noticed? Oh, what else could I expect of a child who's lived with humans for most of her conscious life…'

'What? I mean, WHAT?' Loki gave a start. 'Are you implying that living with humans has made me a lesser werewolf?'

'Girl, you catch on quick,' smirked Grrr!wrth, with just a hint of irony.

'And what was that bit about Zabuza being part wolf? It can't be true… I mean, how do you know?'

'Ah, that's what I was talking about. You lived with him all this time, and didn't even notice all the tell-tale signs… You are a werewolf. The advantage of being one, is that you can take one look at the person you're having a conversation with, and know all about them. Like… you. I don't even need to take a good whiff of your scent to know that you've spent most of your life in a big metal box… I mean, look at you. Oh, don't glare at me like that. Just have some meat and sit down, I will explain…'

Open-mouthed, Loki obeyed and sat cross-legged close to the bonfire, nibbling at the half-raw bits of mysterious origin. The wolf-man had her half mesmerized. And what he had to say even more so…

Grrr!wrth explained that Zabuza was definitely not pure human. He figured it out after only just picking up and quickly analyzing a faint scent of the man. The ninja renegade was not a pure werewolf as such, of course, and not even a half-blood, but… something about him hinted rather heavily at lupine descent. Perhaps a distant ancestor, sometime long, long ago, happened to stumble upon this world, which is not natural werewolf habitat, mind you. It was by accident, of course, just like it had happened to Grrr!wrth, decades ago. Andnow, to Loki. Only whereas Grrr!wrth, unable to find a way back or a different pack of those like him, opted for what was in his opinion the next best thing – the company of wolves; that mysterious ancestor – the one who had contributed wolf blood to Zabuza's lineage – must have chosen, for reasons that will never be known, to hobnob with humans. Of course, since werewolves aren't native to—er, to this land, wherever it happens to be, the line of descendants that followed became infused with more and more human genetics. The further it went, the human-er it got, ahaha. It remains unclear whether the immediate offspring of the werewolf had to use a doggy-door a couple of nights every month, or how the werewolf's human wife (or could it have been a husband?) reacted to the fact that the newborns in their family were slightly hairier than is expected of normal babies. But as generations after generations followed, wolf heritage got diluted with human blood so much that what you eventually got was someone like Zabuza: for the most part human, not Switching at full moon or cringing at the feel of silver, but with just a hint of something wolfish about him. Like sharper teeth and sense of smell. Or a savage glare. Or a tendency to growl when angry, eat undercooked meat and live in a forest all alone.

But in the end, when it boiled down to the basics, Zabuza was just that, a human with pointy teeth. Whereas he, Grrr!wrth, was a true werewolf. And Loki, despite her unfortunate up-bringing, was a true werewolf as well. And a female. A bit young, maybe, but that was all right, he could wait a few years. Slowly but surely, Grrr!wrth was moving on from the bit about Zabuza' heritage and to the bit about why, after the rescue,he'd left behind everybody but the girl.

Which made Loki feel quite uncomfortable.

'Speaking about the rescue, how did you manage it?' she asked, anxious to steer the conversation away from the awkward path it was beginning to take.

'What? Oh, that…' said the wolf-man, blinking as the blissful visions of a future werewolf family slowly dissolved and he was thrust back into reality. 'Yes, that… It was most curious…'

And Grrr!wrth began another lengthy but no less interesting speech. He talked about something he called The Tunnel in Space. According to the wolf-man, it was that mysterious Tunnel that made the rescue possible. As for what it was… Well, he didn't know for sure, but it was definitely one of the most peculiar things about local forests. For weeks the running would be smooth. But every once in a while, the surrounding air would fill with electricity and a strange blueish haze would veil the area; and Grrr!wrth's pack would then experience the phenomenon of 'The Tunnel'.

It was indeed very much like a tunnel, even if only in concept. What it really was, and here Grrr!wrth had some trouble with the explanation, was like some sort of a pathway between one place and another much further away, only with the space between them compressed somehow; so that you covered the same large distance you'd usually spend days crossing in a matter of mere seconds. It was like a shortcut, of sorts. Only… weird. Grrr!wrth was not much by way of the sciences, but even he felt that the physics here were all messed up. And when a Tunnel opened up, it looked like… well, if the surrounding environment were fabric, then the Tunnel was the tear in the cloth, complete with the ragged edges and loose threads sticking out. This Tunnel was, somehow, a tear in space itself, if only that. It happened at random, and there was no telling where it would lead; but he'd learned that it could come in very handy in getting the pack away in extreme situations. The wolf-man didn't know how safe (or unsafe) using it was, or what caused it to happen, or how it worked. It helped if you didn't think about it much once you were inside. But it did, as he'd once noticed, help a bit if you thought about your destination.

Grrr!wrth also had a theory about the Tunnel. To Loki, it seemed a little far-fetched at first, because his explanation involved the world, or, er, as he put it, the world where they, namely him and Loki, were currently located. Which was not the same world as the one into which they'd been born. Grrr!wrth believed that it was a Tunnel, only a very big and potent one, that had brought them from their world into this universe.

'What? No way, I am sure you're misunderstanding something,' Loki interrupted. 'A different forest or land even I can buy, but a different universe altogether? I wouldn't know about that…'

'You wouldn't know about many things, you silly cub. But I've lived here for over a century, and I've had time to get around and observe things, believe you me. I mean, for one thing, isn't it odd how nobody here seems to know what a werewolf is?'

Loki was quiet. She did find it strange that Zabuza and Haku have never heard of werewolves before.

'But… maybe we're just in a different land, where there are simply no werewolves, you know, like my Chief back at the Centre, one day he'd shown me images of those weird green birds that we did not get in our country because it was too cold, and…' her voice trailed off. The sudden memory of the Chief was not at all pleasant, and perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to mention it in front of Grrr!wrth. But he hadn't seemed to notice.

'Oh trust me,' he continued, in a conspiratorial hiss. 'This is a different land. It doesn't matter where you go. Every land here is a different land. Weren't you there when I've explained to you about your friend Zabuza's family tree? I thought I'd made it clear. There are no other werewolves here in these woods. Or anywhere here, for that matter. At least, there weren't originally, and there aren't supposed to be any now. The fact that you and I are here is a bizarre accident that shouldn't have happened, but somehow it did. We don't belong here. Look, I don't know how it happens, but there are these Tunnels in space, and every once in a while one big enough crops up that has the power to take someone as big as a werewolf from our world into this one, and there's no way to get back unless you find a big enough Tunnel, which is close to impossible because they are random and the chances of stumbling across the right one are slim to none!' Here, Grrr!wrth had to stop and catch his breath.

'And even if you do see one that is the right size, you don't know for sure if it will take you back where you came from,' he continued, a bit more calmly.

'But I thought you said that if you think about the desired destination, it dumps you off where you want?' Loki interjected.

'I'm not sure if it works that way with the Big Tunnels. I mean, they're… big. So they must be extremely powerful, and not so easily influenced. Never got a chance to try, though. But even if I did, don't know if I would, to be honest. That's the thing about them Tunnels. You may wish, but in reality you never know where you might end up. And I'm… well, I'm all settled down here, nice and quiet. And now, there's you…'

'Oh. Um. Well, I was planning on finding my pack, you know. You were right, I did live with humans ever since I was little, but I got away and now I'm looking for my family,' explained Loki, noticing that the conversation was once again returning into uncomfortable grounds. 'You know, like parents an' all. I was hoping that they were somewhere around, so…'

'Somewhere around!' Grrr!wrth roared with laughter, suddenly and unpleasantly. 'Somewhere around, oh, ahahaha, you silly wolf child, somewhere around, she says, haha...' His rather large belly shook as he wiped a tear out of his eye. 'Somewhere around…'

'Look, I got it about the magical Tunnels and different universes and stuff,' said Loki, a bit less patiently. 'So now I want to know how to get back. This Big Tunnel… if I see it, how do I tell it apart from a regular shortcut one?'

Grrr!wrth stopped laughing abruptly, and his expression turned serious.

'Well, first of all, it is bigger. Wider. More blue sparks,' he added as an afterthought. 'But you aren't planning on leaving, are you.' The last phrase was not a question, but rather a statement. 'You're going to stay here, with me. I'm a werewolf, and you're a werewolf. What more do we need? We'll start our own pack.'

Loki pondered about it for a minute. Start a pack with this guy? True, he was the first other real werewolf she had encountered ever since she was little, but… She hadn't imagined the first meeting with a kinsman to go like that. She did still want to find her family, but starting a pack of her own just like that was not on her agenda, at least not yet. As for Grrr!wrth himself, he was so… so…

She took another look at him. He was sitting across from her, big, wide, with a huge belly and lots of hair, and overall not very appealing to a girl of near fifteen. Loki had never before given much thought to the prospect of finding an actual mate to have children with… but even so, here and now, she was absolutely sure that, given a choice, Grrr!wrth was the one she would not pick.

Even if he was the only werewolf left on the face of the planet. Which, given everything he'd just said was true, happened to be just the case.

Or perhaps not? If he'd made it into this world from theirs, and she had, and Zabuza's mysterious ancestor had…

Wait a second. Zabuza! If Grrr!wrth was correct, then he was part werewolf too… Not that Loki had been thinking as far into the future as planning any 'meet the parents' type events, but it was definitely an option worth considering, and Zabuza was a much more attractive candidate than Grrr!wrth…

And… oh, how couldshe forget! She'd made a promise to Zabuza and Haku. But now it wasn't so much about the promise, even though a small part of her brain still insisted that she Must Obey the Master. But what it really was all about… well, Haku and Zabuza had become like family to her, of sorts, even the rabbit. And abandoning them for this wolf-man was not an option she had in mind. And Loki realized that 'can't we all just live together?' would not be an argument that would convince Grrr!wrth. That was not how things worked in the werewolf society. And even if they did, there would definitely be misunderstandings about the rabbit.

That decided it. Loki got up and shook the snow off her behind.

"I am very grateful for the fact that you rescued us, and the meal you cooked was simply delicious," she started politely, but nonetheless a bit pointedly switching to human-tongue. "But I believe that it is time for me to part. I would love to stay with you, but I'm afraid that all those years of living around humans have made me a bit too human for your liking. So, er. I am off, then. Thank you again!"

She strolled past the sitting Grrr!wrth, facing him all the time, and began backing away towards the forest, with lots of bowing, 'thank you's, nervous grins and general politeness. There was a soft growl behind her as her behind bumped into something soft. The wolves were forming a tight semicircle around her, assembling into a furry, rumbling wall with glowing yellow eyes. They weren't exactly threatening, but something about their look suggested that leaving was a bad idea.

Grrr!wrth got up and turned towards Loki. Shadows were flickering on his face, half-illuminated by firelight.

'Look, I do not wish to harm you in any way,' he said softly, in the kind of tone that suggested he just might. 'And, mind you, I do not want to start off on the wrong foot, but I've been alone for so long, and so will you if you don't listen to me.' With these words, he slowly began approaching the cornered girl. 'Of course, I can let you go your own merry way, but then you will regret it in the long run. You are but a little cub, after all… You have no idea what it is like, wandering around all on your own, not having a soul around that understands what you are going through, no one to talk to you, no one to show compassion… Please understand, child, this is all for your own good…'

His shadow was already looming over the girl. Of course, she could fight, but something told her that, despite all of her training, he was stronger and faster and really good at chasing prey…

There was a swish in the air. Loki heard it. But Grrr!wrth, too preoccupied with convincing her to join him, was not paying attention. He was a werewolf, but, in the end, there was a difference between someone who was trained for combat and someone who wasn't…

It was rather a pity, because he hadn't braced himself in time. There was a familiar hail of ice needles, a few faint grunts…

When Loki uncurled herself from the ground and released the tension in her muscles, she saw a big body lying in the snow, needles sticking out of it like spikes out of a porcupine's back. It was Grrr!wrth. Yes, combat training from an early age made all the difference.

Loki turned around. The snow behind her was littered with bodies that looked like big, wolf-shaped hedgehogs who had collectively decided to take a nap. With a slight shudder, she looked up. There, standing on a branch high up in the tree, was Haku.

"There you are," said a deep voice that did not belong to the young ninja. "Ah, doesn't it feel so nice and cozy when we're all reunited like that. Been looking everywhere for you. Barely found you, and only to discover that you are fraternizing with the enemy."

Seemingly out of nowhere, Momochi Zabuza stepped out into the firelight.

"I ain't fraternizin' with no enemy," Loki said sulkily. "I was just planning on leaving, but he tried to overtake me. It's a good thing Haku hasn't killed him, though, because then I'd have to tear him to bits for destroying my kinsman. It's a werewolf thing. Us werewolves, we're all about principles, you know."

But Zabuza was grinning.

"Principles, huh," he said, strolling around Grrr!wrth's huge bulk. "Kinsmen, huh. So, I gather, he is also a… whatchamacallem… werewolf? How very interesting. People that turn into wolves. Never encountered that type before." He crouched and gave the body a slight prod with the tip of his finger, then looked up at Loki.

"Oh, I know you're all about principles, girl," he said, answering the silent question in her eyes. "Oh, I know you are loyal. That's why you are still alive and by my side. By thunder, I am not a boasting man, but I would be nowhere now if I was a bad judge of people."

"Just don't kill him," Loki said, becoming unpleasantly aware of the pleading notes in her tone.

"And why should I not? He just tried to entice one of my most useful tools away, and I wouldn't say that he was entirely unconvincing, was he now?" Zabuza's voice was as sugary as treacle tinted with venom. That girl… He had never had such trouble with Haku. And Loki seemed to be all about trouble.

Not at all unlike him, therefore. The thought made Momochi smirk.

"I really hate to interrupt, Zabuza-san, but the needles won't hold him down for long," called Haku from above. Indeed, on the ground, Grrr!wrth was beginning to stir.

But Zabuza did not seem to be in much hurry.

"So, should I finish him off while he's down, or not?" he mused aloud. "Oh, but killing him will make me an enemy out of you, won't it, girl? Oh, don't you give me that glare!" he snapped, catching Loki's eye. "Just get up into those trees before he fully wakes up and we really have a problem on our hands, or else I will need to kill him, and don't think your basilisk glares are going to stop me then! So off with you!"

Loki knew that expression of finality on Zabuza's face far too well to argue, and complied. Momochi followed shortly afterwards. He could have killed that, for want of a better word, man. But then he would be a bad psychologist, and he did not get to be infamous by being a bad psychologist. Loki was a useful tool, and you didn't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out her reaction to the extermination of her, erm, species by his hand. And Zabuza had far too many enemies already, and far too few allies. Pitting an unusual and, all right, rather powerful student against himself was not a part of the assassin's grand scheme.

Just before disappearing into the creaking and rustling heights of snow-covered pine trees, the man turned around and with a faint murmur of "gonna trace our scent, huh," flung something back into the white snow bank far below, where the wolf-man was just struggling to get up. The small blob exploded in a pink-and-green cloud, but left the werewolf unscarred.

It did, however leave him dazed and confused. Scent bombs do smell rather a lot.

A few hours later, as the last traces of the overbearing scent died away, Grrr!wrth took a break from throwing up and tried to make some sense out of what had just happened. One moment, he was trying to convince a quite attractive, if even a tad bit too young, werewolf female to join his pack, and next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground and being sick because something incredibly smelly had exploded under his nose. And the female was gone without a trace.

The first explanation that sprang to Grrr!wrth's mind was that she'd disappeared via a Tunnel. But that couldn't be right… He hadn't detected any of the usual signs that appeared before a Tunnel opened up. There was a definite lack of blue sparks, for one thing.

Whatever the case, he thought, gradually sliding back into his wolf form, the Tunnels had been cropping up much too often over the recent years. Whatever that could mean…

End Chapter… Yes, I know I've been away for eternity. What with one thing happening in my life and another, I've almost forgotten that I even started to write this story… But recently, something made me remember about it, and, more, want to finish it off. :) I don't know what that sudden urge was. Perhaps it was the man-eating vines? Or maybe I just miss the attention… And yes, I know it was very Loki-oriented again, it will stop being that way soon. :) Just a few more knots and tangles to sort out, and it'll be Zabuza and Haku fan-service all the way from there.:)