Toudou Yui. In the days before the war, that name brought an image of a hopeful and beautiful young girl to the minds of the Kirigakure natives. She was the daughter of Toudou Daisuke, a rich man of many trades. Or, rather, the master of men of many trades. He was essentially the most powerful man besides the mizukage in all of Kiri. If there were a business in the Bloody Mist Village that was found indispensable, he owned it. Yui grew up spoiled, she never had to see the hardships of labor or experience bloodshed. So when news came of a possible war in the future, she was mortified. She despised violence; Yui took pleasure in things like painting and calligraphy. Men killing one another for reasons no one really rationalized confused her pretty little head. When Yui was fifteen, Daisuke arranged her marriage with an important figure of the Mizukage's own select force, The Seven Swordsman.

Momochi Yoru grew up in the shadow of his ancestors, some of the greatest warriors the Bloody Mist Village ever produced. He was an eighth generation Seven member, following his father Tetsu. Yoru was young but one of the most level-headed men you could meet in Kiri. He was twenty-one when he married the fifteen-year-old Yui, and immediately fell in love.

Four years after their arranged marriage, which Yui had learned not to loathe despite her husband's hand in bloodshed, the couple produced a son. Momochi Zabuza, successor to the Toudou family as well as the Momochi family, one of the closest beings to nobility in Kirigakure.

"Yui-chan, you know what my family is, this has to be done!"

"No!" Yui, as strong-willed as she is beautiful, stamped her foot and shook her head. "I will NOT allow my son to grow up and become some barbarian! He is to take over the Toudou family establishment after daddy dies! He is NOT going to become a shinobi!"

Yoru sighed, he was only thirty years old, but he felt so much older. The weight of his rank had been upon him since he was seventeen, the age his father died and left the family position in the Seven to him.

"Yui, I do not want to argue with you, but I have just as much claim as you do in this matter, Zabuza is five now, high time he began training for the Seven. My decision is made, he can still be a shinobi and lead the Toudou industry, your father will most likely die before I do!"

Yui glared at the floor, she had no argument. Just the same complaints about how the violence ninja are taught bring nothing of character to a person. That an education is more important. Learning business, and music, and art were much more prudent. Yet she could never convince Yoru of this.

"Love, please look at me."

Yui's brow softened. As much as she classed her husband as a disgusting took of the merciless and blood-thirsty mizukage, she also recognized that he had the most beautiful heart of anyone she had known. He was gentle and kind, If it were not for battle scars, no one could have guessed that Yoru was a ruthless shinobi. Nor that few men in Kiri had killed more people than he.

Yoru stepped forward and pulled Yui close to him, she, despite still being mad at him, allowed this. Yui pressed her face into his chest and let herself relax in his hold.

"Let us leave this talk for later, Zabuza should be awake soon."

"Is it really so late?" Yui pulled away. "I have to go to the market, we are out of bean sprout and eggs. I wanted to get there before ten."

"It is only nine-thirty yet, you could wait."

"No, I also need to stop and buy some new fabric. It is June tomorrow and I want to make a summer kimono for Zabuza."

Yoru nodded, "Okay, seeing as I just came back from a mission, I do not think that the Mizukage will call on me today. I can watch Zabuza while you are out."

"Yes," Yui smiled, "seeing as he doesn't know you are home yet, that should be a great surprise."

"Yes, that was what I was planning." Yoru laid a hand on Yui's shoulder. " I will see you when you are finished. I think I can handle everything until then."

Yui stared at her husband for a moment, then left. She was still hurt from their little argument and mostly just wanted to get out of the house. She walked down the street, viewing her world waking around her.

Light filtered in from the window above his desk. Despite being so young, Zabuza's parents had made sure he was not left idle. He always had a new text to read or a new lesson in calligraphy, or a new song or scale on the koto or yokobue. Yui made sure her son had many talents to call upon, and while his skills lagged in calligraphy, reading, and mathematics, he enjoyed music. Zabuza probably preferred the koto to the yokobue, though he would never let his mother notice him favoring one over the other.

This young student, schooled at home by his mother, was trying to ignore the light of day. He had his blanket pulled up to his forehead but knew he was too far from the realm of sleep to return.

After a few more moments under his blanket, Zabuza sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Stepping quietly with the hoped of surprising his mother, the boy descended the stairs.

Looking around he realized that no one was in the lower level of the house.

"Mama?" Zabuza looked around the dining room, the kitchen, the sitting room, and the tea room. Yui was nowhere to be found.

The garden! The thought came to Zabuza as he had just began to climb the stairs again. Sometimes Yui took walks in the garden, she liked the way the morning light played with the leaves, the flowers, the rocks, the pond, and with the massive koi that swam there and tried biting her son's fingers when he decided to get playful with them.

Zabuza stepped out the back door onto the deck. The deck stretched all of the way around the house, a polished wood skirt for the manor the Momochi called home. Zabuza stepped onto the path leading to the pond, just a moment later he was stopped dead in his tracks.

A man sat on the bridge streathing over the body of water. A long, slender pipe stuck out of his mouth. He was dressed in a black yukata with casual straw sandals, his black hair was pulled to the crown of his head with a piece of string yet it still reached the middle of his back. Even from several yards away, Zabuza could see the scar running from the man's jawbone near his right earlobe to mere centimeters away from his eye. The man was sitting with his back against part of the railing and gazing across the yard, smoking tobacco and humming lightly to himself.

It took a moment, but shock disappeared from the young boy and was replaced with joy.

"Daddy?"

The man turned, when he saw Zabuza he smiled and raised one hand in greeting.

The boy didn't speak, instead he ran. He cleared the distance between himself and the bridge in a seemingly inhuman amount of time and leaped onto his father before he had completely made it up the bridge. Yoru laughed as his son buried his face into his side. Zabuza made noises of pure delight as his father pulled him onto his lap and hugged him until he gasped for breath.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" Zabuza leapt up and threw his arms around Yoru's neck. He snuggled into his father's shoulder and giggled from out-and-out happiness.

"Haha, well I see someone's glad to see me!" Yoru held Zabuza, the moment was so perfect his eyes filled with tears. It had been nearly a month to complete this mission, a S-rank assassination. It was some leader of a land far away from home, it took a week just to get there. And there wasn't a single day he didn't think of Zabuza. "Let me take a look at you," Yoru pulled his son back and studied his face. Sure no one changes much over a month, but where there was change, he wanted a full inspection of it. "Your hais sure does grow fast," Yoru commented as he brushed his fingers across his son's forehead, pushing aside strands of dark brown hair as he did so.

"Uh-huh, Mom says I need a haircut but she still hasn't done it."

"Yeah, well now that I'm home I can do it. What do you say we give you a trim before she gets back from the market?"

"Okay!" Zabuza smiled, unlike most children, he liked getting his hair cut. It bothered him once it touched his ears. "Daddy, how long will you stay home this time?"

"Hmm," Yoru didn't like thinking about this, nor did he want to answer. The truth was, he was at the Mizukage's beck and call, if he was summoned then he left without hesitation. "Well, I don't really know."

Zabuza looked down, "Okay." He pouted a little although he tried not to.

"Hey, while I am here we can spend every day together. I'll tell you some exciting war stories and spoil you rotten no matter what Mom says."

Zabuza smiled and nodded.

"Okay, now let's go inside."