When we stepped ashore, I was feeling rather irritable. I mean, I am a bijuu and not that pathetic, but did they HAVE to tilt the boat so much? Where did they even get their licence from?!

I heard Tazuna clear his throat before speaking.

"Okay, take me to my home. And I mean get me there in one piece!"

I snapped my head at him, glaring daggers.

Who does this sock-bastard think he is?! Ordering me around, he sure has some guts!

I watched in satisfaction as he drew back under my glare, evading my eyes. Once I no longer had the energy to glare I just huffed and set off walking. I could hears the others following me in silence. Only their footsteps and the crash of the waves was heard. Even the chirping of the birds had completely stopped with my presence.

Aaah, good old silence.

...

We have been walking a forest path for a while now, and I must say the pollen is getting to me. I mean, it's sticking to my clothes! So frustrating!

As I was impatiently dusting of my pants, I heard Naruto yell something before flashily throwing a kunai at a bush. I lifted my head and tilted it to the side in a questioning manner.

For a second there I thought I heard some "awwwww"s sounding... must be my imagination.

I watched questioningly as Naruto slowly stood from his flashy pose and calmly closed his eyes, a slight smirk on his face, and struck a cool pose.

"Hmph! It was just a mouse."

I deadpanned at him and my eyebrow started twitching.

Is he trying to show off...?

Well, it'll just be easier if I don't question anything...

"MOUSE YEAH RIGHT! EVERYONE CAN SEE THROUGH YOUR STUPID ACT, IT'S SO OBVIOUS ITS EMBARRASSING!"

Sakura was pointing madly at Naruto while reprimanding him. I watched the duo with blank eyes before turning around to face onyx ones. A smile spread over my face before I walked over to him and leaned my head on his chest. I felt an arm wrap around my waist and could practically hear the smirk as it spread on his face.

I rolled my eyes.

Yeah yeah, smirk while you can duckbutt.

"Naruto, those are kunai knives... they're dangerous!"

Kakashi chastised while gesturing wildly with his hands, not seeing Tazuna ready to explode behind him. I watched in amusement before my name being called made me turn my head and lean away from the warm embrace with some regret.

Seriously, that duckbutt is just so comfy! It's heaven-defying!

"But there really is someone following us! I know it! Cei-chaaaannnn!!!"

Right then I was assaulted with a blond ball of sunshine.

"There really is! I know it!"

I watched with incredulous eyes as Naruto pulled a pouty face on me.

Really? Hey, I'm not the one that needs convincing!

I sighed slightly before giving my beloved bright blond a gentle smile. My hand stretched up, reaching for his head, and I petted him. I could hear my mind resonate with Kurama's purr, and for a moment I was impressed that I could hear him. But then my mind seemed to drift to more worldly concerns...

His hair is soft...

On that note, my eyes uncontrollably slid to the person standing to the side behind me. And as my eyes fastened on the smooth, shiny black hair, my eyes lit up with sparkles.

Wanna...touch...

I shook my head, bringing myself back to reality. Looking back at Naruto, he seemed very happy as I was petting him but there was anticipation in his eyes as well. I prepared to say something, completely not noticing how quiet it had become compared to before when everyone was berating Naruto. I only concentrated on how his eyes lit up as I stated talking.

"I believe you. If you say there's something, there's something."

As I said that, in my mind I was thinking and if there isn't, I'll just put something there.

Naruto smiled happily at me before running a few meters away from me and throwing another kunai.

"Over there!"

I just watched in amusement. What can I say, I'm doting on dad's container. What of it?

I glared viciously at Sakura and Tazuna, daring them to say/do anything. Sakura who was already on her way towards Naruto with a fist raised stopped in her tracks and glared back at me while Tazuna just looked away, having learned his lesson.

I looked back towards Naruto and saw Kakashi walking into the bushes where Naruto had thrown his kunai earlier. I walked closer and peeked from behind him. And what I saw made my eyes widen.

A white rabbit was pitifully lying against a tree, the kunai mere millimeters from it's head. Rivers of tears were flowing down it's eyes. It looked like the ultimate image of patheticness.

And it was hilarious.

I didn't even know rabbits could cry, never mind cry in rivers. Hah, guess you really do learn something new everyday...

I scrutinized the rabbit with intense curiosity, but the moment the poor thing caught my gaze, it's eyes rolled into the back of it's head and it fainted. Dropped into a complete dead faint.

Ooops.

I felt Naruto walk up behind me and when he saw the rabbit, he rushed there with a speed leaving dust clouds behind him. When he reached the pathetic thing, he picked it up and squished it in his embrace.

I winced slightly in sympathy for the poor creature.

"Oooh, I'm sorry little rabbit, I'm so sorry!"

He kept apologizing and I was starting to sweatdrop.

Naruto, you're going to kill it...

I watched with wry eyes as Naruto squished the life out of rabbit while profusely apologizing at the same time.

Is it just me that finds this tragically ironic?

I was startled out of my musing when Kakashi suddenly shouted "Duck!"

...and I was totally confused.

"Whatever do you need Sasuke so urgently for?"

But before I even finished my sentence I saw everyone dropping onto the ground. In the second while my brain was processing what was going on I faintly felt as my body was cut into two at the waist by... a big-ass blade?

But then I got it. I brought my fist down on my palm as my face lightened up with enlightenment.

"Ahhhhhhh, you meant to duck, as in dodge the random big-ass blade speeding towards us at an insane speed. Gotcha, sensei."

The place where my body was halved was seeping black mist that quickly closed the gap, making my body one whole entity once more. Realizing that they could have seen it, I turned around and started whistling, very convincingly I might add.

Glancing back at the team, I saw them slowly rising back up, but Kakashi had serious eyes locked onto something, so I decided to follow his gaze.

When I saw the legendary cow striking his cool mysterious pose, I almost slapped myself. Was I really that dumb? The obvious giveaway, the white rabbit, made an appearance. As someone who has watched Naruto I should know something as basic as the arrival of the Zabuza Momochi. How was my first reaction to 'Duck', 'Oh so we're calling him that to his face now'. How. Am I brain dead?

I faintly heard Naruto say something and snapped back into reality. Again, two choices. Let the storyline develop or...give....in. Just a bit.

Well, I've already done it once, so what's one more time!

I saw Kakashi was about to tell the team who the mysterious ninja was, (and I obviously had to beat Kakashi to it) so I put my hand on my chest and gasped dramatically, looking at Zabuza with wide eyes. That attracted everyone's attention. My team was looking really worried. On this mission I had already shown unnatural behavior once.

Zabuza was looking at me skeptical but I could see the blush spreading over his cheeks and the fever in his eyes.

I clenched my hand into a fist above my heart and stared at Zabuza with sparkly eyes.

"OMYGOOOOOSH. I know youuuuu!!!! Aren't you that legendary, S-ranked, cow! The one whose name is known throughout the Five nations, Zabuza Moomoochi, the legendary demon cow of the mist!!!!!!!!"

Mentally I lowered my head and sighed. Aaaah, okay. I've been totally out of character the whole mission, time to stop and give my teammates a break.

With my decision to stop, my amazed and admiring sparkly-eyed expression fell instantly, going completely blank as I said in a dead and emotionless voice;

"....yea I've heard of you before."

Then I turned around, my hair flowing in the wind, and elegantly glided to the nearest tree. Leaning against it, I took a lock of hair, nonchalantly braiding it. When the silence turned oppressive, I looked up.

"...what?"

Everyone that was staring instantly turned away, resuming their pre-showdown verbal warmup. As we all know, in the ninja world, it is very important to have a talk with you opponent before you fight, or even during the actual fight. You either give an inspirational speech (like Naruto), tell you opponent your life story, or spill your entire plan and reason for doing this. It's like, half of the battle. VERY IMPORTANT.

And, don't forget the parting words! Like, if you're 'tactically' retreating, something like "We will meet again" or "Next time, only one of us will leave alive" or something equally cool. Oh, and if you're about to die, you still have to say something hella dramatic! Like, "This is the fate of every shinobi", or "Don't be sad, live a happy life. Live the life that I could not" or even something like "MWAHAHAHAAA you think you can get rid of me that easily death can't stop ME you imbecile I will come back JUST YOU WAIT"(*cough*Madara*cough*). What do you know, there are many kinds of people in the world.

And this kind of cool line is a must.

Just 'cuz you're dying doesn't mean you're excused from imparting your own cool catch-phrase. That's the tough world of shinobi that we live in. Just gotta deal with it.

...

I was a bit unclear on what happened, I think my team fought Zabuza, but I was rather busy coming up with some seriously dramatic last words. It was a lot harder than it seemed...

When I looked back at the scene, my eyes instantly fixated on Sasuke who was bringing a kunai towards his own gut. My eyes instantly flashed a bright purple and the kunai's blade started falling apart. It looked like it started decomposing, it's surface started turning to powder and then chunks of metal started falling to the ground. But it didn't seem like Sasuke noticed. He was busy looking at the fight with terrified eyes.

But then a harsh shout broke Sasuke's trance.

"Sasuke! Calm down. I'll protect you with my life. All of you. I will not allow my comrades to die, trust me."

Sasuke, Sakura and even Naruto were staring at Kakashi with wide eyes. I leaned back into the tree trunk I had my black to and closed my eyes with a smile on my face.

Alright, Kakashi... I suppose it's only fair the promise goes two ways.

"I wouldn't be so sure."

Zabuza's smug voice made me crack open one of my eyes to see what that cow-dude was doing. Cuz I'm pretty sure it ain't nothin' good.

Oh, would you look at that. I was right.

Zabuza very dramatically appeared between Tazuna that sock-bastard and Sasuke and Sakura who were standing in front of him for his protection. He prepared to swing his sword and kill the two of them with one swing, but Kakashi made an even more dramatic interference move, using his flashy sharingan techniques. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. There was no need for me to see them showing off to each other and being impressed by the other. I mean really. Like for example, Kakshi showed off so bad just now that I'm sure Zabuza is currently oohing and aahing about how great the sharingan is and is thinking something along the lines of "ohhhh it can see through my mist hmm hmm that Kakashi is indeed a worthy opponent.." Like, it's ridiculous.

But then I heard three words that made my eyes snap wide open.

"Water Prison Jutsu!"