Thawing an Icy Heart

Frozen Waves

"That was a close one Haku, we nearly lost him." Taka spoke in a somber tone of voice, as he and his older brother brought Zabuza back from the forest after his battle with the famed CopyCat ninja of the leaf Kakashi. Zabuza who was leaning up against a nearby tree, recovering from his ordeal looked up at Taka, his eyes showing a glimpse of sadness in them.

"Sorry to have worried you Taka." He then turned to face Haku, who was smiling warmly at his Master. "I owe you again Haku, but it looks we'll have to battle him again, along with those brats with him. So be ready for it." Haku nodded his head, and turned to look at Taka who was about to speak himself, but found himself cut off by Haku. "You're forbidden from interfering, even if we look like we're losing, you are to stay hidden!" Taka looked at his brother incredulously, this was his chance to fight with them, and he was forbidden from doing so?! "Haku! That's not fair and you know it! I want to fight by your sides, so we can fulfil our mission!"

As soon as he had finished his rant to Haku, he found himself feeling an all too familiar pain in his neck. Haku had slipped a senbon needle into his neck, to render him unconscious at least for the moment. Until they had finished their battle. Taka moved his lips to protest, but found himself falling face first into Haku's chest. "That was cold, even for you Haku." Zabuza spoke up, now in an upright position, looking down at the unconscious form of Taka, whom looked up to Zabuza as a father. "Hopefully he'll forgive us one day."

With that the two vanished from sight, and made their way to the bridge for their showdown with Team 7. A little while later, Taka slowly regained consciousness far quicker than Haku had hoped. "Those....I hope I'm not too late!" He then ninja ran as fast as he could to the bridge, where he knew they were going to do battle. Though when he got there, his world completely shattered. He dropped to his knees, as the prime form of Haku lay on the floor dead. Dead before his very eyes, and Zabuza wasn't in much better shape himself.

Before he could make a move though, he spotted the guy who had hired them to stop the bridge builder, and he proceeded to kick the dead Haku, which infuriated one knucklehead Ninja, to the point he was threatening to rip the guy apart. Though none of them were quite prepared for what was to happen next, as the Boss' men all began clutching at their throats, blood slowly bubbling up out of their mouths, and Zabuza knew what was happening. He turned to see the rage filled face of Taka, who with tears rolling down his face, was slowly pulling the blood out of the Boss and his men. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto and Kakashi watched on in a mix of horror and awe at what was going on.

Zabuza then had to make a decision. He knew he wasn't long for this world, and he refused to leave Taka alone. So he made the only sensible decision he could make, he moved towards Taka and hit him in his pressure points. Rendering him unconscious, as the men he had been targeting lay in a pool of frozen blood now. Zabuza held Taka up, and hoisted him up into his arms and carried him over to Kakashi. Who just by looking at Zabuza, knew what he wanted to ask of the Copy Ninja. With a nod of his head in acceptance, he took the boy into his arms and watched as Zabuza made his way towards Haku, where he was going lay and allow himself to die.

Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto looked upon the sleeping form of of the ninja who had dispatched of those men so ruthlessly. Naruto with a look of sadness on his face, Sasuke with a look of contempt at this boy who had shown but a glimpse of his horrifying power, and Sakura who couldn't avert her gaze from him. He was even more beautiful than Sasuke, she thought to herself. With the mission a success, and Zabuza and Haku buried the group made their way back to the bridge builders house, though Taka had still yet to regain consciousness after his ordeal.

"He's still out of it." Kakashi said aloud, drawing the attention of his three students and the Bridge builders family. "His abilities...that must be the true strength of the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai, Haku must've only been scratching the surface." He spoke letting his words sink in for the moment, before continuing. "Fortunately Zabuza managed to stop him, before he lost complete control of himself."

Sakura then spoke up, for the first time since they had been back at the Bridge builders. "What will happen to him? When we get back to the village I mean." Kakashi thought for a moment, before shaking his head. "Honestly I'm not sure, he'll probably have his abilities sealed and he'll be locked away, until the Hokage decides what to do with him. Anyway, you shouldn't be worrying about that right now. It's time we got a move on, we've got some time to make up."

With that said, the three students nodded and Kakashi went to pick the boy up, only to find him sitting down at the edge of the bed he was resting in. Knees up against his chest, his head leant over his legs, as sobs escaped him with tears flowing down his face. "We need to leave, can you manage that?" Taka looked up at the voice that had spoken to him, before giving a small nod of his head. Slowly, he stood himself up and made his way to Kakashi. "So the Hokage, will decide my fate huh?" He said with an almost nonchalant tone in his voice. Kakashi looked at him, and nodded.

They then both left the room and made their way to the others who had been waiting for them, much to their surprise they Kakashi and the young boy standing next to him, they thought he was still out of it. Then Sakura wrapped her arms around one of his, and leant herself on him. Which took him by surprise somewhat, he hadn't expected that at all, and it caused his cheeks to turn slightly rosy. Which of course Sakura giggled at, and with the group now saying goodbye to the Bridge builders family, they set off back to the Village hidden in the leaves.