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Dem Bones	By : zomboid Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 949 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Note: This work of fiction is now a collaboration with the AFF author/GODDESS Kirishtu. Check out some of her fics, you will not be disappointed.
Dem Bones

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Gozu had seen a ton of shit in his miserable life. He and Meizu had gotten tangled up with a madman and for a while life had been good. Dangerous as hell, but good. Then they made, quite possibly, the biggest mistake of their lives and tangled with Sharingan no Kakashi and somehow survived with minimal injuries.

Of course, they were both so afraid they didn�t try to leave the area for days.

They had heard of Zabuza�s demise. They had stopped by Haku�s grave to say their final farewells and cry. They�d miss their little family.

And then part of their little family surfaced out of the river like a Lorelei hell-bent on chewing Gozu�s eyes out. Of course, not that Haku would chew Gozu�s eyes out, not unless he was pissed off, but the general idea of it was enough to make Gozu walk in silence behind� well, Haku really was no longer a boy. Man, then? Or zombie? Zombie was sounding better considering Haku�s visible skin was translucent, like rice paper. Veins and arteries pulsed with something, blood maybe. Gozu didn�t want to dwell on it. For all he knew, ice was flowing through Haku�s zombie veins.

�Gozu, as hot as I am, I don�t think Meizu would appreciate you staring.� Haku said dryly. Gozu�s eyes sharpened considerably, his gaze narrowing to almost hate. That alone took Haku back a bit.

�Right now,� Gozu quietly snarled, �Meizu� just don�t.�

Haku blinked before his lips curled into a wicked smile. Gozu, though, didn�t elaborate or back down, so Haku decided to press his luck. It wasn�t like Gozu could do anything to him.

�What�s wrong, Gozu? Afraid Meizu�s gonna up and leave you for another man?�

Gozu�s frown turned into a snarl in a split second. �No, not for another man.�

�A woman then?� Haku asked snidely.

�A rough, inescapable mistress we all have to answer to.� Gozu looked at Haku and snorted. �Except you, I suppose.�

Haku glowered at the older man as they walked now in dead silence. Gozu�s body was tense, horribly so. Haku was almost afraid he would snap something vital and then Gozu wouldn�t be moving very far.

�We all?� Haku pressed, enjoying the way Gozu glared at him.

�Humanity.� Gozu looked away from Haku and to the path before them, the two splitting apart to walk around a caravan of traders, shovels and spades clinking dully against sheathed swords as the men walked. Back side-by-side, Haku was frowning. Gozu was leaving the worn path now so Haku followed, determined to figure out why the elder was so angry. It all clicked in his head when he saw the makeshift camp and Meizu lying under a moth-eaten blanket, head pillowed on a pack and his face flushed with fever.

�What happened?� Haku asked, nose wrinkling from the scent of decay and sickness. He looked to Gozu, certain the other man smelled the putridness of his brother. The man�s face indicated nothing of the scent, not even when he got closer to kneel beside Meizu, helping him sit up and drink from the flask of river water. Meizu choked; the violent coughing that followed made Haku wince, because the scent of disease only grew stronger at that time of weakness.

�Just a mission.� Gozu said huskily, drawing dark eyes to him. �It was an easy mission, supposed to be.�

Fighting back nausea, Haku knelt beside the Onikyoudai and lifted up the blanket shielding Meizu. Haku�s lips curled into a snarl, eyes centering on Meizu�s arm, bandaged with clean � and bloody crimson � linen. Now it made sense, what Gozu said, why he was so angry. He was losing Meizu.
Losing him to Death.

�What happened� Haku asked as he took hold of Meizu�s arm, feeling something akin to disgust when he began to remove the bandaging. Gozu swallowed.

�We fucked up,� he said hoarsely, fighting down tears. �We were just supposed to steal some shit, and we got ambushed. They did that to him. It hasn�t healed and he won�t get better. It�s� it�s like it�s my fault. Like it�s mocking me.�

Haku studied the wound, wincing at how angry it was. The cut began at Meizu�s bicep and traveled down to the underside of his forearm. Two inches up and a little to the right and the vein in his wrist would have been severed. The edges oozed milky white pus, the body�s own way of fighting infection, and the flesh around the mouth of the wound was angry red, painful if touched. Which was probably why Gozu had wrapped the bandages so loosely, why the infection wasn�t properly pushed out of the wound to give it a better chance to heal.
Haku looked up at the elder Onikyoudai and met his gaze. Gozu looked so young, so young and lost, even though four years had passed since Haku�s departure from the living. The memories the Machina hadn�t quite erased bubbled up, a flash of the brothers and Haku as a fourteen-year-old boy and a tall shadow, and one in particular of importance, as though showing Haku exactly what to do.

The memory was simple, painful and blurry around the edges. He had gotten cut, Haku remembered. His ankle had become the same angry red as Meizu�s arm, but he hadn�t said a word. The tall shadow had found out and he had been so angry. Angry because they had been traveling hard and Haku had been hurt. So he had taught Haku how to clean and dress the wound properly. He couldn�t see the man�s face, but he knew him, knew that this man was what he was searching for.

�Gozu,� Haku said evenly. �I�ll take care of the wound this time, but you have to pay attention to what I do to save Meizu, okay?�

Gozu swallowed and nodded. �Yeah, right.�

�Swear it.�

The elder Onikyoudai winced. �I swear. I swear upon my life and on your and Zabuza�s graves.�

Haku�s heart fluttered at that name. Zabuza. Suddenly, the nameless, faceless shadow in his memories became more substantial and Haku�s lips curled into a smile. He was aware of Gozu�s wince.

�Hold him,� Haku ordered, taking hold of Meizu�s injured arm as Gozu took hold of his brother to hold him as comfortably as he could. Meizu still whimpered. Haku sighed quietly in relief.

�This is going to hurt.�

Haku pushed on the edges of the wound. Blood and pus very nearly fountained from the wound, splattering Haku�s hands. He kept his lips a thin line, holding his head high even as blood and fluids slid down his neck. Meizu was screaming, Gozu was cursing, and Haku kept pushing until he had gotten down to the wrist. A few moments of quiet peace to properly clean the wound, to wash away blood and infection, and then Haku was pushing again, forcing out the remains of milky infection. The dark-haired young man continued his ministrations until all he pushed out was blood. One more time to make sure as he murmured apologies to Meizu and then he sat back, finished. He let Gozu comfort his brother as he washed his hands and neck with the flasks of river water to get rid of the crimson stains and other traces of other fluids. When his hands were finally clean, Haku dug through Gozu�s pack to find a roll of clean linen bandages. With Gozu�s eyes on him, Haku tenderly wrapped Meizu�s arm, tight enough to keep infection at bay again but loose enough not to cause the younger Onikyoudai much pain.

�There.� Haku said after a moment of silence from all there. �Just do that every night you stop to camp and wrap it in fresh bandages. It�ll heal and leave only a scar.�

�Great.� Gozu whispered, stroking his little brother�s forehead. He looked up at Haku, to look him in the eye and express his gratitude, and his breath caught in his throat. Haku looked back at him and raised an eyebrow.

�What?� Haku asked, baring his teeth in a grin. �I got blood on my face still?�

�More like blood in your face,� Gozu replied almost sardonically. When Haku blinked at him, Gozu bit the inside of his cheek and sighed.

�You looked like a zombie before. You know, see through skin and visible veins? It�s like, you�re alive again.�

�I was alive when you met me,� Haku said. But he had seen his reflection in the river, so he knew Gozu wasn�t lying or fooling around with him. He did feel warmer, comfortable in his body. He looked at the older of the Onikyoudai and shrugged.

�I guess I just got better.�

�You weren�t sick, dumbass.� Gozu said dryly. �You were dead.�

�Like I said, I just got better.�

�Uh-huh.�

They shared silence, broken only by Meizu�s breathing and his whimpers when he was moved, settled to lay back down and sleep. Gozu rose and moved over to Haku, placing a hand on his shoulder. Haku almost tensed, but the gesture was a familiar one. Still, he swore that if Gozu pulled him into a headlock and gave him an atomic noogie, he�d gut the bastard. Gozu didn�t do anything of the sort, just leaving his hand on Haku�s shoulder and staring thoughtfully into the distance. Haku shifted.

�Huh?� Haku asked, realizing he�d missed Gozu�s words. The elder man rolled his eyes and gently cuffed the side of Haku�s head.

�I said I have something for you. We�ll get it tomorrow. Meizu should be able to walk that far.� Gozu mused and Haku realized the elder Onikyoudai was no longer speaking to him. Haku just nodded anyway and as night fell, he helped Gozu make a fire and cook dinner. Gozu told him of events that had happened in the past four years, just what he knew, but enough that Haku could conclude events and fill in blanks by himself.

He supposed he felt sorry for the Sandaime, dying in such a brutal way at the hands of a pervert, but he was in Heaven now.

Apparently, dying at the hands of a pervert sent you to Heaven.

Haku snickered.

As the fire burned down to embers and Haku lay on a borrowed blanket, staring up at the stars, he thought about the memories of his childhood, the ones washed out and blurred by the Machina. Many were almost clear, except for the tall shadowed man that was a bittersweet mix of cruel and kind. A frozen soul that had been alone too long only to be warmed by innocent eyes. Not that Haku was innocent anymore.

�Zabuza.�

Whispered, lovingly, a caress. Haku rolled to his side to quietly cry tears he hadn�t been able to shed, mourning for his lost mentor, his lost beloved. When the moment of weakness passed Haku rubbed his eyes and inhaled sharply. He would get Zabuza back. This time, he would be the one to do the rescuing, to save, again, what was most precious to him and this time live to enjoy it.

He was shaken awake by Gozu and grumbled threats at the elder Onikyoudai until he received the wonderful offerings of a bland breakfast, smiling at Meizu when he turned a dazed gaze onto the dark-haired young man. The jerks wasn�t half as satisfying as Gozu�s reaction had been, but Meizu had been sick � and still was, if his flushed face as any indication. Still, after a while of hanging around the campsite, erasing all traces of their presence, Meizu claimed he felt well enough to walk.

With his arm in a sling fashioned by Haku from his discovered clothing � and Haku wearing Gozu�s black pants and Meizu�s old shirt � the Onikyoudai led Haku through the woods toward a clearing beneath the shade of very old trees. Haku felt his stomach tighten, every fiber of his being fighting taking even one more step toward those graves. He snarled at himself and pushed on against the nausea and pain to stand before two graves, one with recently disturbed earth and the other already beginning to grow grass, except for a hole where something large and sharp had been set, a grave-marker for a warrior. Haku fought not to grind his teeth as memories refused his command.
Eventually, he gave up chasing them and turned his attention onto the Onikyoudai, Gozu in particular. He was kneeling close to the smaller of the two graves, digging into hard earth, shifting aside clods and grass roots, giving a soft breath as he closed his fingers around something.

He pulled, freeing one metal casing from the earth. Upon brushing the shining metal free of earth, Haku recognized it as Meizu�s claw. Gozu rose then and turned to Haku as he kicked dirt over the hole.

�Here,� Gozu said, offering the arm. �Take it. You�ll probably need it more than we will.�

�But, this is yours.� Haku protested softly. Gozu shook his head and again offered out the metal claw.

�Freely offered, Haku.� Gozu said, getting an assenting noise from Meizu. �We�re not in the ninja business anymore. We decided to bury this shit here because it was close to you guys. It was like,� Gozu paused, searching for words.

�It was like we were together again,� Meizu supplied. �All of us, our twisted little family, you know?�

Haku reached out to touch the earth tarnished metal, fingers curling around it and pulling it away from Gozu. It sang to him, that shaft of hollow metal, a chorus of voices that told him so many things. He snapped the guard into place and felt the weight settle easily. A murmured thanks, and Haku turned away, walking away from the two older men who had been his playmates for a very short amount of time.

�Haku!� Meizu cried out after him, �Where are you going?�

Haku shifted, turned to look back at his friends and gave them an icy smile. �I�m going to get back what�s mine.�
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Dem Bones