As Naruto tilts his head in deep thought, Haku responds to Zabuza, "it doesn't hurt to try."
"How's this for diplomacy," Zabuza irately tells them. "When I win, not only will I take Kubikiribōchō, but I'm killing the thief and taking his daughter. Of course, Haku will be my weapon again."
Tenten freezes at the plausible turn of her fate. Haku remains serene as ever, unbothered by the possibility of murderous change while a confused Karin asks Haku, "uh, are you okay with that?"
"Of course," Haku serenly answers. "As a tool, I love both these men more than life itself. If one dies whether by the other's hand or not, I will mourn him while following the other."
"You're a special cookie, aren't ya," Karin mumbles, though Haku only smiles merrily.
Naruto was quiet throughout the exchange, staring sternly into Zabuza's eyes. After another moment of silence, Naruto tells the tall Kiri-nin, "that won't work, but, it doesn't matter because I'm going to win. And you're not going to die because I'm not going to kill Haku's special person. So, when I win, I'm lending you Kubikiribōchō and you have to stop doing bad stuff like kidnapping people and hurting them for no reason."
"Counter-proposal," Zabuza insists. "I kill you and everything else falls into place like I expect, but if for some ungodly reason you manage to pull off another little miracle, I'll... borrow Kubikiribōchō and I'll give you the option of keeping Haku or the Bun Head."
Shocked by a ludicrous counter-proposal, Naruto yells, "what?"
Zabuza threatens, "we both know if I say the word, Haku will come right back to me."
"You can't do that," Naruto asserts, glaring at the much taller assassin.
However, Zabuza gravely reasons, "if you can't choose Haku over everyone, then you don't deserve him."
"But that's wrong!"
As he sets Kubikiribōchō comfortably on his back before Zabuza raises a hand seal to his chest as he asserts, "then prove it, Naruto." Chakra created mist swirls around the tall Kiri-nin, shrouding the man, his scratchy voice rings out, "Haku knows where to go. If you don't show, I'll kill the thief and his daughter," before the Demon of Hidden Mist disappears.
XXX
INO
Nodding in clear understanding, Sakura asks a content Ino, "so, are you being nice or casual about this because you feel you owe me?"
"No," Ino asserts, standing in front of the mirror again to make sure the threading of her legging is straight and isn't pulling unduly anywhere.
"Well, then I don't understand," Sakura heaves, roughly setting down her large backpack. "You raped me, then blackmailed me, repeatedly..." Sakura pauses as her mind quickly evaluates the cause and effect of everything that's happened to her in the past couple of months, mostly how it relates to Naruto and Sasuke; her positive opinion of Naruto rising in equal proportion to her hard realization of Sasuke.
'He'd kill me or my parents as easily as he nearly did Naruto,' her mind repeats for the thousandth time as a mostly dressed Ino takes Sakura's bag and drags the heavy pack beside the desk.
Moving to sit on the bed, an objective Sakura comments, "look, I hate being this aware of this reality, but I can't say I don't prefer the brutal truth, no matter how colorless, tasteless, loveless... bleak... challenging... grotesque-"
"Alright, I get it," Ino calls out with a smirk as she drags the desk's chair in front of Sakura and takes a seat, crossing her toned legs.
"It would be so much easier if you were evil about it all... but the truth matters," Sakura huffs, recalling her role in it all. "You did something horrible to me, but I was doing something horrible to myself. I hated you for what you did, but... if I wasn't so..."
"I get it," Ino speaks. In her perfect posture, Ino enjoys the serenity clarity tends to offer. She's grown confident because she has the answers Kurenai-sensei helped her to learn and it shows. Content in herself and her environment, Ino light-heartedly affirms, "neither one of us was in the right mindset. Kind of like being in a pit we, not only, couldn't get out of but didn't even know we were in. Thoughts and emotion dictate our actions and if we only ever thought of Sasuke-kun in a world where any mission could be our last, our actions would fall in line. Everyone told us we were acting boy-crazy, but we couldn't listen because we hadn't woken up enough to listen. I mean, how often did your short term goals matter compared to your long term when it involved the last Uchiha?"
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Recalling her Optimal Plan, Sakura can easily tell Ino, "every spare second I had was dedicated to Sasuke."
Nodding, Ino adds, "we should've been training instead of worrying about our hair and nails. In my case, nothing else mattered, and from that standpoint, the decisions I made for myself weren't healthy ones. All that said, I'm aware that despite the reason, despite my own lunacy for Sasuke, I know what I did to you and I know what that makes me. We were best friends but I raped you. I want to see you succeed but I blackmailed you. Rivals to roommates, yet, evil nevertheless."
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