Nowhere left to hide...

It wasn't long now, till Zabuza was fully dressed in his darkest clothes, fully equipped again with his sword on his back and pack at his side, approaching Haku who had just prepared that same.

"Ready?"

'Ready.'

Zabuza had scooped up Haku, sliding an arm under her legs and another behind her back, lifting her up in his arms with her pack and Aiko's cage in her lap, and left the room in a hurry. It was only a matter of time before the three hunter-nins saw they weren't at the other inn and would come to check this one next. Zabuza knew it would be easier just to go out through the front and leave the way he came, but easiest for them would be easiest for the hunters as well; so Zabuza made his way back into the inns bath house and jumped out through the hole for venting steam. Now finding himself back a forest outside the village, Zabuza held onto Haku tight and stated leaping from tree to tree downhill. He was masking his chakra as best as he could and told Haku to do the same, not wanting to be spotted too early and have plenty of time to gain distance in front of the suspicious three. In a hurry to get as far away from the village and three that he could, it was Haku's wise suggestion to head to the burial ground of the monk temple Zabuza had stayed at, due to the chakra flowing there to keep the dead at peace and protected, and the idea of being able to use that chakra as a veil over their own. Zabuza nodded in agreement, knowing that Haku needed to use her chakra to stop the pain in her ankle and they needed a place to hide for a while, and began to head in the direction of the burial ground, letting his chakra flow to his legs finally in order to speed up. He figured that even if they sensed his chakra, it would get them away faster, and the three wouldn't be able to track it in time if he hid amongst the free flowing chakra of the burial grounds.

Upon reaching the eerie burial ground, Zabuza felt a chill run down his spine; not in being scared or worried, but simply a sort of omen and foreshadowing. The burial grounds was almost down in a pit, with sloped hills down, forming walls around the entire area. There were wooden crosses linged around the top of the walls, some crooked and broken, small shrines built for the dead to travel to the next life in peace, and a thin layer of fog flowing over the cold ground. Feeling open even in the dark and veil of chakra, Zabuza quickly ran Haku behind one of the shrines to cover themselves and have her tend to her ankle. It was then that Haku saw and suggested hiding in the mausoleum, to give there more of a shelter and safety in hiding there. Zabuza, once again, agreed with Haku, picking up again, and running over the old looking, stone tomb. He was quick to reach an arm out from under her and tug the stone door open with a force, sliding inside with her, and using his back to shut it closed behind them.

"Haku... tend to your ankle now."

'Hai, Zabuza-san."

Zabuza walked in slowly, ignoring the stench and the coffins around him, and headed in to a circular room in the center with a bare, even floor. Setting Haku down slowly for her to tend to her ankle, he watches as she crawled back slightly, huddling in a corner because of their surroundings. Haku had no doubt seen death in being a shonobi, but never had she been surrounded by so much at once. Zabuza stomped down on a spider crawling near her without any hesitation and reached over to brush cobwebs off the wall so she could sit back against it for support.

"Haku... try to ignore the surrounding for the time being," he offered her in hopes of comfort as he sat down next to her, setting his sword at his other side.

Zabuza reached for remaining bandages as she wrapped her ankle, using them to slowly wrap around his neck, up and over his chin, mouth, and nose tightly.

"I'm sorry, Haku..."

'Zabuza-san... for what?'

"We're hunted for something I did... and you had nothing to do with... you don't deserve to have to go through all this."

'We've been through worse, ne?'

"Yes... maybe... but... something about this is different... I need to take care of it."

'Hai... then we'll take care of it.'

Zabuza squeezed lightly at the hilt of his sword, taking his other hands to slide over Haku's slowly.

"No, Haku... hold this against me if you must... but I want you to stay here and be safe. You need to tend to your ankle... I'll take care of this."

'Zabuz-san... theres no need to do anything yet... they don't know we're here.'

"Haku... I'm going to meet them. I want to know why we're hunted again so suddenly... and I want you safe."

'We are safe... don't go.'

"Haku... hiding is never safe. Do you doubt my ability to dispose of these three?"

'No... but...'

Zabuza quickly fell to his knee, leaving the blade of his sword scraping over the cold, stone floor, leaning intp Haku to embrace her in a tight hug; even after everything, it was an unusual sign of affection from Zabuza. He pulled her in close up against him, speaking in a soft tone, with his cheek up against hers.

"Haku... I love you... please trust me on this."

'Zabuza-san... please don't go, or at least let me come with you.'

"No... with your ankle as it is, you're not very mobile, and I'm not going to risk losing you. I couldn't live with myself if I lose you again."

'Zabuza-san.....'

"Haku... please... forgive me."

As the last whisper parted from his lips, Zabuza reached his hands around her, pushing into two pressure points behind her neck and back, bringing Haku into an unconscious state. Zabuza stared down at her sincerely, and with a look of apology and almost sadness in his eyes, as he set her back against the wall to slowly. Carefully sitting her upright so she wouldn't fall over and hit her head, Zabuza leaned forward and placed a light kiss through his bandages on her forehead and gave a final, "I love you."

'Ah... the perfect place for a demon to dwell.'

'Yes... and the perfect place for the reapers to collect his soul.'

Zabuza stood up from Haku slowly, staring down at her for every last second that he could, squeezing the hilt of his sword in the frustration of wondering if he made the right choice. He honestly didn't want Haku hurt in any way, let alone killed or captured, and nodded down at her, resting in her involuntary slumber. The older mist ninja slowly turned to the stone door and started walking to the exit, Kubikiri Houcho dragging over the stone floor in one hand, and the mist concealment technique seal with his other hand, as mist started to flow freely, both outside an inside. He figured the mist wouldn't make a difference in battle with other shinobi of the mist, but it allowed a small veil to keep Haku hidden and produced moisture in the air for his water jutsus. Still approaching the door slowly, Zabuza placed his sword on his back again and performed his water clone jutsu, leaving the copy inside as a backup, just in case either of the three were to enter and find Haku.

'Momochi Zabuza... wanted dead or alive... on accounts of treason, murder, unaccounted for attempted murder, and abandonement.'

'I presume this fog is your way of admitting defeat?'

With on final glance back at Haku, Zabuza pushed open the large stone door, slipping out catiously, and closing it behind him tightly. Zabuza could already see the shadowy outlines of the three a short distance away through the mist and reached up to grab the hilt of his sword, falling into his usual battle-ready expression.

'Stubborn devil isn't going down without a fight, is he?'

It was then, in almost a blink of an eye, the largest figure disappeared from the shadowy bunch, and Zabuza felt an enormous shock of pain in his stomach. Dropping his gaze slowly while trying to recatch the breath he just lost, Zabuza saw an arm, covered with an iron gauntlet, with its fist pressed firmly against his stomach. It was the larger ninja with a muscular build, but it made no sense to Zabuza how someone of his size could move that fast.

'Zabuza... mist won't save you from a blind man...'

Zabuza was trying to take in the large ninja's words, but couldn't really think straight in the sharp pain of the blow. Before he even knew it, Zabuza had taken six more blows to his torso, and flailed back into the stone door hard, coughing up blood against the bandages over his mouth.

'...and you breathe much too loud.'

The larger ninja charged forward with a force unlike before, as if ready to deal his final blow, and just as his fist met Zabuza's forehead, a large rock shattered in his place. It wasn't Zabuza's style to use a replacement technique, because he was never really one to run away, but in this case, he made an exception. Appearing high up in the air with the blood-soaked bandages over his mouth, Zabuza released his sword and threw it down at the larger ninja with an agitated force. The Kubikiri Houcho, always known to be able to cleave through even the thickest and hardest of substance, was whistling as it cut down through the misty air, slamming down hard where the larged ninja stood, but came to an abrupt stop. Zabuza's eyes opened wide as he stared down at the large ninja, holding the blade with his own hands, so close to his face, and squeezing it with the metal of his gauntlets.

"How could he- ...?"

'Sakkai is one of the strongest ninja's you'll ever know in whats left of your lifetime,' Zabuza heard from the female ninja staring up at him from down below. It was then that Zabuza knew this wasn't going to be his usual battle, over with in one or two attacks, and that these three were highly skilled shinobi. Zabuza glared down at the she-devil and prepared for his next attack directed at her, because it would be much easier to defeat them one at a time then all at once, but was interrupted a the lashing whip of a sharp blade over his back and a wicked chuckle from behind. As the blood sprayed from his back and Zabuza began to fall back towards the ground, he looked up to see the Renkei, the ninja in black, smirking down at him with his now blood-stained blade on his left arm. Zabuza had to act quickly, trying to regain his balance and composure before he landed. It was uncommon for hunter-nins to ever give their prey a break and fight fairly, one on one, because they only had one mission and goal: to kill or capture their target, by any means necessary. Zabuza could then feel the connection at the side of his face, knocking his jaw loose out of its socket, as the woman gave him a landing by dropping her heel hard with a kick, slamming Zabuza down into the ground.

'Nice one, Sulia. That oughta' shut him up,' the smaller ninja, Renkei, called out as he dove down in the air, preparing to implae Zabuza with his blade.

Zabuza had obviously lost battles before, but he always at least provided a fight to remember, and right now, he was providing nothing it seemed. Zabuza now grew frustrated in the pain he was feeling, popping his jaw back into place and springing up quickly. He at least was able to feel each of the three's strength and could at least assume what was to be expected from them. Returning to his feet, Zabuza moved at just the right moment and speed, to grab one of Sulia's arms, as well as Renkei's left arm with the blade, and tugged them both towards him hard. Zabuza forced over Renkei's blade to cut across Sulia's belly lightly, and kicked up, directly into Renkei's face while tugging him close, sending the smaller ninja flying back, and the female ninja flailing back a little at the wound. He then swung his leg around from the previous kick to sweep into the woman's stomach, kicking over the newly-made open wound, and sending her flying back as well. Now, Zabuza gave himself an opening and started performing the seals for his water dragon bullet technique, prepared to crush the bones of the two under the pressure of the water. However, Zabuza was interrupted by the third shinobi. The large ninja, grabbing Zabuza's arms and pulling them apart so he couldn't finish the seals for the jutsu, and tugging hard to dislocate both of his shoulders. Zabuza did cringe in pain now. It was all starting to build up, and still, even with everything, all Zabuza could really think of was Haku, and wondering if she'll be alright. Not leaving much time for thought, Zabuza kicked back against the large ninja's chest as hard as he could, only making him flinch a little, before he was unable to do so anymore, once the larged ninja brought Zabuza's arms back down to his sides, and squeezed over his skinny body in a bear hug. Zabuza could hear the sound of several of his ribs cracking, and could feel the pressure inside him as Sakkai continued to squeeze over him even harder.

'You took my sight from me, Momochi... you deserve much worse then you're going to get.'

Pain feeling like it lasted for hours now, even though Zabuza had only walked out that door a few minutes ago, Zabuza wasn't even able to really focus his thoughts on anything but Haku now. The larged ninja re-adjusted his grip over Zabuza and bent backwards fast, slamming Zabuza's head, neck, and shoulders hard against the ground. The last thing Zabuza could see was his sword, stabbed over in the ground, before his vision grew blank and his eyes rolled back in losing consciousness and grew solid white. Zabuza murmured out once more in his state, "I... Haku..."

The large ninja, Sakkai, then stood up, grabbing over Zabuza's face, and lifting him up entirely off the ground with just one hand over his head.

'We should kill him now...'

'Sakkai, no... we have him... our orders were to kill him if he couldn't be captured, but we have him. We need to bring him back so he can accept the full punishment for his actions in the past.'

'Tch... fine...' the large ninja agreed against his will, tossing Zabuza back over his shoulder like a ragdoll.

The three hunter-nins from the mist then left the area together quickly, taking the unconscious Zabuza along with them like some sort of hunted game, leaving behind the Kubikiri Houcho and the silent, unknown Haku without a second thought.

The hunted Devil of the Mist, after so many attempts, had finally been overtaken and was being brought back to the Village of the Mist.

((Eh... doesn't feel like my best to me, but it was still kinda fun ^^; hope its alright and not too long... and, uhhhh... yeah... I guess to be continued, ne? XP))

The hunt begins...

After the long, hot bath at the village inn, Zabuza took Haku back to their room. Due to Haku's injured ankle, Zabuza still didn't want her walking on it, and lifted her up into his arms again, keeping weight off her ankle so that she could recover as soon as possible. Upon entering the room, Zabuza set her down on her bed and walked back towards the door.

"Haku... I'm gonna go get something for us to eat, alright?"

He nodded with his words, offering as a question, but not taking no for an answer anyways. He didn't want to leave Haku's side for very long, so he planned on just finding the nearest stand in the village for ramen, onions, and some sort of meat other then rabbit and deer; so long in the wilderness and you get tired of the food it has to offer. Zabuza turned to leave the room, heading out in just the yukata from the bath; not wearing his bandages, ninja equipment, or even his headband. Zabuza almost had the appearance of a normal man, aside from any of his battle scars on his body, and left the inn, heading to the main alley market.

It was dark out, but stars ligned the shady skies, and lanterns were lit at the places that were still open. Zabuza strolled down the street relaxed, it was a new sight and feeling, seeing Zabuza unequiped and in a yukata, walking slowly and relaxed instead of running in the heat of battle.

"Ah... that'll do... I bet Haku will prefer this over forest shrub and rodents..."

Zabuza had caught scent, even more so then sight, of a stand with all but one of its seats filled. He walked over and filled the last seat, breathing in the scent of the meat and vegetables they were frying and looked over at the other customers talking, slurping up their noodles, and drinking sake. Zabuza saved his words for only answering the owner, ordering two beef and ramen bowls to go, and keeping quiet as he waited for the food. It was then that Zabuza heard and almost startled yelp in the distance and looked over a few stands down to see three figures surrounding another.

'I thought you said you saw him enter this village...?'

'Well... I did...'

'Then... where is he!?'

'Easy Renkei... you kill him and we have no information...'

'I thought you said /he/ was bad...?'

'Mmm... yes, he is dear... but we're much worse... and we don't like when people hold back information.'

'Yeah... he was wearing a headband like this, right!?'

It was then that Zabuza sat back on his stool to get a better look over at the figures, listening carefully to the words that seemed so suspicious and ill-intended to him. It was a small old man that seemed to be cornered and shaking in fear, while the three surrounding him, two males and one female, had the appearance of shinobi, but he still couldn't make out which village was represented on their ninja bands.

'Yes... it was just like that... I know it.'

'Looks like we finally got him...'

'Good... he's gonna get what he finally deserves.'

'Can I go now...? Please?'

'Mmm... not yet... where in this village would you say he'd be staying as a visitor?'

Zabuza watched more intently now, focusing in on the three and their words, noticing that they hide their chakra like many hunter-nins do.

The first shinobi, was a very large man with a muscular build, about as tall as Zabuza, but a lot thicker. He had bandages wrapped over his head entirely, down to his nose, covering his eyes and the top half of his nose. There was a tattoo of a tiger on his back, curving over the edges of all his muscle, wearing no shirt, but wearing only the bandages on his head, poofy gray pants, plates gaunlets on his arms, and his ninja band tied around one of his legs.

The second shinobi, was a woman, black hair down to her shoulders with crimson streaks, and a mask like Kakashi's over her mouth and nose. She had on a rather revealing crimson and violet uniform, covering the front and back, but leaving the sides open from her thighs up to her arms, with thin strands holding the front and back together, giving her the appearance of a seductress. Her ninja band was around her neck like a collar, also unable to be seen.

The third shinobi, was a shorter, slender man with jet black spiky hair, slightly slicked back, and seemingly known as Renkei. His clothes were all black, with the net-like ninja chairn mail over his chest under his clothes, and a blade stapped over his left forearm. His face was revealed, but unfamiliar to Zabuza, however, his ninja band was around his head and able to be seen.

These three... were hunter-nins from the Village of the Mist and it was very clear who they were looking for.

'One of the two inns... this village is small and not too many people visit here.'

'Good...'

Zabuza watched as the larger ninja reached one hand over and snapped the old man's neck, setting him down gently over the stand counter as if he was asleep. Then, all three of the ninja jumped up onto the roof of the building and started jumping roof to roof quickly towards the direction of the other inn. It was then that Zabuza got the full effect of the reality before him, and shoved off his stool quickly to start running back to the other inn where he had left Haku. Ignoring the food he had ordered, with only one concern in mind: Gathering Haku and the equipment and leaving the village as fast and as quiet as possible.

Zabuza had been hunted in the past... but something was different about these three in his eyes. Plus, its had been a while since he had been hunted and this was suddenly out of nowhere, not to mention Haku was injured and he'd have to protect her as well. Wanting to avoid being captured or killed was less of a worry then keeping Haku safe, especially now.

((To be continued... XP hehe))