Cuts From Chapter 15
Panic
“Where could they have gone?” Hunter hissed. She was running through the forest, the largest of Kakashi’s ninken—Bull—keeping pace by her side.
They had been running out here for an hour yet no sign of the boy’s was to be found. As soon as Kakashi got up he summoned his pack, ushering forth all eight of the hounds who tracked the boy’s down to the edge of the river only to come to a chilling realization.
“Their scent is scattered.” They had said, whining in fear as none of them dared approach the water.
Hunter had felt it. Something off, an after-IMPRINT lurking above the surface. Something was here, something that should not have and it took her children. And so she ran. Ignoring logic or consequences of this being a trap, ignoring Kakashi as she picked a direction further downstream and ran. She had to find her boys. Before whatever was here did something to them, before their lights were snuffed out or twisted into something horrible.
Her thoughts continued to spiral, panic filling her so much that she lashed out at the sudden intruder leaping out from behind. It had been too small for her to reach though, giving them enough pause for her to recognize them and lower her blade.
“Bull.” She said, stunned long enough to temporarily hold back her bloodlust. The bulldog nodded, bowing his head and ducking his shoulders in a sign of submissiveness. While Pakun growled openly around Hunter, Bull was ironically the most passive when it came to regarding her ‘offness’. She had little time to care for why he was here, though she had known instinctively it was to help her.
“Have you found them yet?” She had asked. The dog shook his head, making her curse. “Damn it!”
“They weren’t bleeding by what we could find,” he said, making her pause, “whoever took them didn’t outright kill them.”
“Hostages, then.” Or worse. Hunter did not want to linger on it.
Without another word she turned, beckoning Bull to follow as she continued running down the river, instinct pulling her across the water to wherever the stream ended. By gods, if anything touched one hair on her boys…she would kill them.
And so they ran. And ran. Searching the forest with little to no trail, following only Hunter’s instinct and determination as the sun started to rise. She refused to give up hope, refused to dare think about the worst coming to pass, and so she continued to run. And run.
“I’ve found something!” Bull said, his nose shooting up in the air and making Hunter’s breath catch.
“The boys?” She said breathlessly. Bull sniffed the air deeply, closing his eyes in concentration before bobbing his head.
“Further down the lake—someone’s with them.” He said.
. . . .
Ultimately this piece had to be scrapped because it was redundant and ruined the overall intensity of the opening scene. But it’s always fun to see Hunter in Mama Bear mode and this is pretty much what happened while she was looking for the boys.
. . . .
Alternative Kakashi and Hunter discussion (Kakashi confronts Hunter for not fighting Haku)
“I know! I just—“ she hesitated, guilt and helplessness swirling in her mind because there was no right answer. To kill a child to protect her own, or to let them free and possibly be the cause of her little ones’ death? There was no good answer.
“He did not kill them when he had the chance. I know that—he clearly dragged them to shore and was talking with Naruto when he had full access to his senbon the entire time! How could I—“ she stopped herself, knowing that Kakashi was trained to refuse notions of kindness or sympathy to dictate his decisions. But she could not refute it, not for her life and not for her sanity. Damn her then, if it meant she spared the boy.
“I do not regret it, Kakashi. I want to say I am sorry but I can’t. I just can’t.” She did not look up at him, knowing she had let him down.
“Is that really all you have to say?” Kakashi said slowly. Hunter nodded, staring down at her hands that must have been used to cause so much pain and misery, yet she could not refute her decision to spare the child’s life.
“I don’t know who I am, what I am, or what I’ve done. I know I have taken lives before.” She whispered, closing her fists in resolution. “But never a child’s. It does not matter who or what they are Kakashi, whatever I must do I cannot cross that line—even if it makes me an enemy to you.”
She swallowed. This was it. The moment where he’d decide if she was an enemy of his village and shatter their tender friendship. It tore at her, tore at her until she couldn’t breath but she could not compromise, not on this. Not even if she cherished this fragile life she had built with them.
Kakashi said nothing, staring at her long and hard for an GANDALF time. He did not take his eye off her, did not flinch or move to reach for his weapon like she was fully anticipating him to.
“I get it.” He whispered, finally. Making
“It…it’s not exactly the same but,” he paused, “a long time ago I learned a lesson about morality. ‘Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum’.”
He looked up at her then
“If your values are that important to you, if you really think protecting that boy’s life is worth sacrificing yours…then I get it.” He said.
“But,” he followed shortly, “if you have to choose, who will you save? The ones closest to you or a stranger?”
Hunter said nothing, regarding the bent stalk as she remembered Haku’s story. It would do nothing to help them when the time inevitably came. When she needed to choose who’s life was more precious. No. She would not allow herself to make that choice, it was not necessary. She would find a way to prevent either of them dying, even if it would cost her own life. Hunter nodded to herself, glancing at Kakashi who was silently staring out the window, no doubt rummaging through his own anticipations for the fight ahead.
“I’d choose both.” She said. “It doesn’t matter if it is not an option, I’ll make it one. Why should we accept something so BINURAL?”
Kakashi regarded her quietly.
“I will protect them with my life, Kakashi. Do not mistake me on that,” she spoke with a protective growl in her throat, “but I will not decide to take the easiest path just because it is that way. If blood can be spared then I’ll spare it.”
“And if you can’t?” Kakashi pushed, because they both knew there were times when it was impossible. When you had no other choice than to do the unthinkable. So she hesitated. Looking down at her hands once more because she didn’t want to say it out loud.
“…I’ll do what I have to do.” She finally whispered, because she knew, and he knew, it was the truth.
Kakashi sighed. He shook his head, taking no pleasure in her admission nor how grimly it set their horizons. Hunter equally stewed in the silence, wanting to pause time forever and keep them safe in this small pocket of tranquility, because they both knew it wouldn’t last forever.
“They…were gathering these.” Hunter said, disrupting the silence by pulling out an herb from her pocket. She handed it to him and he hummed, rubbing the leaf intensely between his fingers until juice leaked out. She watched him quietly, trying to capture this moment in a better light rather than the oppressive shadow looming over them both.
“Do you think it is poisonous?” Hunter asked, sincerely hoping Naruto had not aided their enemy in collecting something that’d be used against them.
Kakashi sniffed the bruised plant, thinking for a moment.
“No. This is a strictly medicinal herb. You’d need an insane amount to do anything more harmful than a sedative and there are better plants for that.” He explained. Hunter sighed with relief.
“Good.” She said, her shoulders sagging. “Well—it can still be weaponized, but at least it’s more likely harvested for Zabuza’s sake than ours.” She rambled.
Kakashi hummed.
“Pity the bastard’s still alive.” He said, dropping the plant outside.
“Yes, a pity.” She echoed, remembering the love in Haku’s eyes as he spoke fondly of that monster. She rolled her wrist, now hanging over the window Kakashi stared at.
“You got him good though, it’ll be a while until he can strike back.” Kakashi said. Hunter smiled because she knew that was what he wanted, but it quickly faded.
“How long do you think it will take for the boys to recover?” She asked, biting her lip as he only reminded her that they now had three of their own lying in bed. He paused.
“Naruto’s gonna be the first to recover. Sasuke…whatever hit them it drained him the most.” He said. Hunter bit her lip again.
“What could have done that?” She whispered to herself. “It couldn’t have been that boy…nor Zabuza and even if he was running around we never caught him doing something like this.”
Kakashi paused, a glance flickering over to her for a moment but she knew what it meant.
“Do you know?” She asked, softly, because it
He fidgeted.
“I…don’t know what I saw.” He said.
. . . .
I ended up liking this conversation more than what I put in the official chapters but there were ultimately two issues that made me rewrite it. 1) I wrote this segment before what happened while they were tending the kids so it would’ve been hard forcing this flow of dialogue into the chapter. 2) much like the first segment, it’s redundant.
. . . .
Haku’s POV
Haku kept his eyes glued to the kunoichi, even when the summon left and those cold, void-filled eyes turned back at him. He did not break eye-contact, even though that gaze made him inwardly shudder. Those eyes were so cold, he thought, colder than Zabuza’s. And yet they seemed to pierce into him not with anything hostile, but comforting. It echoed a long forgotten time when his mother smiled down at him.
“…you were the one who ferried Zabuza into the river, weren’t you?” She said in a gentle voice that contradicted the lifeless nature of her eyes. Even still Haku’s teeth clenched, remembering the wound that was inches away from stealing Zabuza from him.
Before she could launch an attack he retreated to the canopy of trees, pausing only when he realized he forgot to grab the basket. He hesitated then. Zabuza needed those herbs, it was the only way he’d be able to recover quickly enough to fulfil their mission. He couldn't come back here, now that the kunoichi knew he had been here and these plants only grew along this bank of the river.
. . . .
Is it noticeable that I reeeally struggled writing Haku’s conversation with Hunter? This encounter took a whole day to figure out and like always I’m not entirely satisfied with it. I did toy around a bit with it being from Haku’s perspective but ultimately gave up on it. Still, it’s a good exercise to do when you’re stuck writing something—even if you wont use it try writing from another character’s perspective to get a different angle on things.