Burning Courage: Hinata Shines! - 6

They thrashed about, knocking into each other brutally, slashing and cutting and blood had splattered the icy surface of the river, red on white.

Sasuke's goal was simply to pull away. If he could get some distance from Haku he could fly beyond his reach and gain the advantage. Sadly that was not what was happening. Haku was too cunning to allow him such a luxury. He sank his claws into any spot of flesh he could reach (most often his wings) and wrestled with the young Uchiha, wanting to wear down his stamina.

Any blows that Sasuke tried to land were often evaded; Haku was simply too slippery and lithe to be touched. And on the rare occasion Sasuke did spot an opening with his Sharingan, his attacks would glance off of the Ice Armor that had spread over Haku's skin during the fighting.

'There's no way he's stronger than me!' He refused to believe it. Haku was a weak, docile person who was barely fit to be a shinobi. Sasuke felt his hand throbbing in pain from where he'd punched the armor and only broken a few bones in his hand.

Haku wheeled about like a wildcat, scratching a dodging. He'd cut a clean line though the center of the Leaf symbol on Sasuke's hitai-ate with his claws. It hadn't been intentional, and yet Haku supposed the mark would serve as a reminder of what trouble he had caused for his village and comrades.

After stumbling over a weaker patch of ice Haku and Sasuke broke a part momentarily, but it was all the time Sasuke needed. He spread his wings and took to the air again, but Haku pursued with an inhuman bound. He caught Sasuke while he'd been rising upward and hooked onto one of his wings like a twisting feline.

He slashed downward, his claws diamond-hard and reinforced with ice, and he ripped the entirety of Sasuke's right wing off. The two plummeted out of the air, punching, kicking and slashing: furious and beyond the point of exchanging pithy words.

Haku disappeared while they were falling, but Sasuke had seen him slink off into another ice mirror with his Sharingan. The Uchiha prodigy slammed into the ice but quickly stood again, still intent on finishing Haku even if his flight ability had been impaired.

He assaulted the mirrors with powerful fire jutsu as they encircled him, making them steam, but not even remotely melting them. A spire of ice jutted up from the river's surface suddenly and Sasuke leapt back to avoid it. Haku caught him from behind after exiting one of his mirrors.

He held his flailing opponent up in the air by his throat, perched neatly on top of the tall ice tower he had created.

"You have lost, Sasuke." Haku informed him, his voice growl-like but still retaining the placid traces of his regular tone.

Sasuke writhed furiously, thoroughly caught. He was unable to put up a significant struggle when his windpipe was being crushed by a single, clawed hand. He kicked Haku, meeting the ice armor futilely. Sasuke's remaining wing flapped desperately, trying to off-balance his captor, but Haku was too angry and crazed to allow his victim to overpower him.

In a last effort, Sasuke spat in the water-nin's face and only gained a hiss in response. Next to Haku a sword comprised of ice began to form and with his free hand he seized it by its hilt.

Everything had been swept up in the moment. They were berserk, bloodthirsty ninja who were far cries from who they'd been when they had left Konoha. Haku narrowed his eyes and steadied the sword in his hand; Sasuke's exposed gut would be too easy to hack into.

"Haku-kun, stop!"

Things seemed to freeze up and Haku instantly, near instinctively recognized the voice that had called out to him. He dropped his ice blade immediately, and turned his pale gaze to see Naruto and Hinata sliding out across the surface of the ice towards him.

He realized how far he'd gone, 'Too far. Our mission was to rescue Sasuke…not kill him. I am the greatest disgrace in all of Konoha…' Haku felt ashamed that he had let himself get so carried away while fighting Sasuke. The power of the cursed seal was so intoxicating it had an almost brainwashing type of effect and he had fallen prey to it.

His mouth formed the words of his apology to Naruto and Hinata, and Sasuke as well, but there had been a bright light that distracted him. It had jarred him. Slowly, very confused, Haku looked down to see that Sasuke had taken his hand away from his wrist.

He had plunged the Chidori straight through his ice armor, in through his chest and reached out of his back.

Naruto had skidded to a horrified halt down below beside Hinata at the sight of Sasuke skewering Haku after he'd let his guard down. He was speechless at the sight.

Haku released Sasuke's throat and his feet planted down on the top of the ice spire in front of Haku. Sasuke withdrew his hand from his opponent, leaving a bloody hole where flesh and tissue had once been. Haku made no move to retaliate, he was so shocked. His cursed seal form receded; the white strands of his hair blowing away as snow in the breeze and his cat-like features disappeared within seconds.

The water-nin's eyes rolled back in his head, completely drained from his wounds, and he fell backwards off of the ice spire, landing with a painful thud to the frozen river's surface.

Hinata was the first to react. She quickly ran ahead to the fallen shinobi with a shriek, angry and heartbroken over what she had witnessed. She dropped to her knees beside Haku and used her Byakugan to scan for the worst of his injuries.

Sasuke leapt down from the ice tower and his curse mark also receded. Naruto couldn't believe the Uchiha had the audacity to face him after he'd punched a hole through his best friend.

"Naruto!" Hinata was calling for him, desperate, "I don't know if he's…I…I need help!"

He didn't budge and merely stared back at Sasuke, his stomach turning over at the sight of his stoic face, "…why did you…do that?"

"He got in my way."

"He tried to save you!" Naruto bellowed, absolutely infuriated, "We all tried to save you and this is how you treat us?"

His eyes narrowed, "I didn't ask to be saved."

"Neji's dead because of you! And who knows about the others?" Naruto howled accusingly, "If you had just stayed they'd all be fine! This is all your fault! Did you even think about Sakura-chan or Kiba? They'd do anything for you!"

Sasuke remained silent.

"Naruto-kun, please!" Hinata cried again, "I need you!"

Naruto was utterly torn in deciding what to do. He had to determine whether revenge or his friend was of more importance, and he didn't have much time to decide.

"If you want to fight me that's just fine," Sasuke said smugly, seeing his indecision, "And if you do he will die. It's either me or him."

It fell quiet again and Hinata's cries for Naruto reverberated through the chilly air.

"Haku-kun is my brother and I'm going to protect him," Naruto announced boldly, "It looks like we have different missions in life, huh? You need to kill your brother and I need to look after mine."

Even if it was only for a brief moment Sasuke's eyes looked troubled. Some sort of nostalgia still did reside within him for the camaraderie that existed between kin, but he had long since learned to live without it. It was one of the reasons he had felt so betrayed by Itachi.

"Go then if you have to!" Naruto snarled, "But the next time I see you, I'll make sure to do to you what you did to Haku, so don't forget it!"

He turned his back on the Uchiha and ran to Hinata, who had stopped calling for him after he'd gone to her.

Sasuke stood staring at the two remaining Leaf ninja dawdling over Haku. After a long, silent moment he also turned and walked away across the ice in the direction of the Sound village.

*

Tears of frustration slipped down Hinata's cheeks as she desperately tried using the Palm Healing Jutsu she had learned from her medical scrolls. Even if she could heal most of his minor injuries, she barely had any chakra left to tackle the wounds that were most life-threatening.

"How bad is it?" Naruto asked quietly, kneeling down beside her.

"I…I've stopped most of the bleeding but…I can't do anything about his internal injuries," She shook her head, "I'm sorry I'm so useless, Naruto-kun!"

"Hey! Don't start that again!" Naruto warned her with a smile, "It's okay. We'll take care of him."

Hinata nodded in agreement and asked, "But what about Sasuke? Aren't you going to-?"

"Haku's more valuable than he is." Naruto growled darkly, and she hung her head, understanding the mission had failed because priorities needed to be kept.

Naruto pulled her to her feet, "Right, well, we've got to get going back to Konoha now. Otherwise we're all in trouble…" Her knees buckled unexpectedly, but he reacted quickly enough to catch her, "Woops! You still tired, Hinata-chan?"

She squeaked in embarrassment and he took it as an affirmative.

"Then don't try to look so tough when you're exhausted like that, okay?" He made a shadow clone that bent down for her and she climbed onto its back, grateful and yet slightly humiliated she had to be piggy-backed home. It felt good to relax her weary muscles, though, and she nuzzled the back of the clone's neck.

It was the first time Naruto had seen one of his kage bunshin blush.

Carefully, Naruto pulled Haku onto his back, "Hang in there, okay, Haku-kun?" He and his clone moved back in the direction of the forest southbound, desperate to get back to Konoha.