"Haku…you don't know what you're asking of me. I can't…whatever it is that you're thinking; get it out of your head right now." He hissed to the younger boy. "You're only fifteen. You're still child."

Haku's eyes were downcast. He pulled his kimono closed, bowing his head. It would be a lie if he said that those words didn't hurt him. He had been good to Zabuza for so long…and the only think Haku wanted in return was for his master to love him and make him his, in every sense of the word! Was that so much to ask. He raised his head so that his big brown eyes would meet Zabuza's sharp black ones.

"I'm old enough to kill, but not old enough to bed. Is that what you're telling me?" He'd never used that indignant tone of voice with his master before. There was a think silence in the room as Zabuza stared down at the boy on his bed. He was shocked that Haku would talk back to him like that. He'd never done it before. It enraged him. He stood up, and walked to the other side of the bed, were Haku lay. He grabbed the boy up by the back of his kimono, and lifted him off the bed and into the air. He turned, and threw him towards the door. The brunette stumbled, and fell on his hands and knees a mere foot from the door. He crumbled there, humiliated. His hair was fanned out like a halo across his back and shoulders as he lay on the ground, broken.

"Get up." The ex-Mist ninja hissed. Haku remained motionless, the only sound coming from him was his rasping breath. Zabuza stomped over to him, and lifted him up by the collar of his kimono. He brought the smaller boy up to face level, but his chocolate eyes were cast down to the floor. "Look at me!"

"Are you just going to throw me away, Zabuza-san? Like I'm trash? I always knew I was…I always knew I would never be anything more than that. I supposed I was just hopeful. Hopeful that maybe…just maybe, I meant something a little more to you. I'm sorry, Master."

"Haku…" Zabuza didn't know what to say…what to do. He set the boy down on his feet, and watched him silently walk back into the kitchen.

Zabuza didn't sleep that night.

Xxx

The battle at the bridge was bloody. It was chaotic, and it was more than most ninja could have handled. Bodies were scattered all over the ground, all from Zabuza's assault on Gato's men. Said gangsters head was now floating off to sea. But those bodies meant nothing. The only body that mattered to Zabuza belonged to a young man, and it lay more than twenty feet from him. He looked up at Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja, with a pleading look in his eye.

"Please…please, take me to him." The swordsmen's voice was hoarse. Kakashi nodded sadly, and picked the man up. He carried him quickly to the young corpse, and lay him down next to him. He stepped back, to give them some privacy.

Zabuza reached out one broken hand, to stroke his companion's cheek. He was dead. He had gone on to a better place. He really was an angel now. Zabuza only wished…

"I wish I could follow you, Haku. I wish I could go to the place where you've gone. But I'm afraid I can't. I'm so…" He started to sob now. He didn't care. His foolish pride didn't matter anymore. "I'm so sorry, Haku. I loved you. I'll always love you…Haku…Haku…Forever…"

As he looked at the only thing of beauty that had every graced his life, he took his dying breath.