Friend or Foe?! - 3

"If this is all you can do I'm not impressed!" Temari swung her fan in a huge arc, blowing away the incoming clones and needles as they approached. Haku amassed more and more clones with little chakra and she continued to stubbornly hack and slash her way through them.

'Soon she'll realize she's only attacking water, which is not the best idea while it's raining…' Haku wondered if Temari was actually aware she was only tiring herself out, or if she was possibly preparing a counterstrike.

Deciding to get in close, Haku and a clone dove for her from behind. The clone landed a punch before she sliced it in half, and Haku aimed a few senbon expertly at her exposed arm, hitting pressure points that would slow her movements.

Hissing, she switched hands, to his shock, and attacked just as fiercely as she would with her other arm. The fan came sweeping down, and a blade of wind left a gash on his chest that stung like fire.

Haku leapt back, trying to regroup, throwing more senbon at her other arm. Unfortunately for him she was more cautious than she had been before, and kept her functioning arm out of his range.

He let his clones distract her as he inspected his wound for a moment. It was fairly deep and bleeding freely. He commended her on her ingenuity, 'I don't have time to heal myself… I have to end this fight…'

Temari cut her way through the water clones, keeping track of the real Haku, 'It'll be easier to spot him in this rain now that he's bleeding! Even his water clones can't fake that!'

"Gaara…" Naruto muttered to his friend and he understood. Things were getting serious and he knew Haku wouldn't last long injured.

Temari had finished the last of the clones and faced off against the waiting water nin who had more senbon at the ready. She moved forward and gave a small cry when she slipped and fell unexpectedly.

The water on the ground had frozen over into a sheet of ice.

Temari couldn't get sure footing on it and watched wide eyed as Haku raced toward her with perfect balance, 'He fights dirty! He can walk on this like it's nothing!'

Haku reached her just as she had slid her feet feebly beneath her, and knocked her fan away while she was struggling to regain her balance. She snarled at him, swiped at his head and then dove for her weapon frantically.

Her iron fan clattered to the icy ground where the incoming raindrops pelted it, freezing it like an icicle in seconds. Temari didn't bother to reach for it, knowing it would be a vain effort.

He had deprived her of her weapon.

Clenching her teeth in rage she drew a kunai and glared at him, taking a step back warily on the slippery ground. She bumped into something solid and from afar she could hear the distant sound of Kankuro's shout.

Temari glanced over her shoulder and saw her own face. Startled, she turned about completely, only to see an ice mirror, 'But this is-!'

She turned back to her opponent who stood outside the house of mirrors that were forming all around her. It wasn't the first time she had seen it, but she suspected it may be her last if she didn't move quickly.

Temari slid ahead over the ice sheet, accustoming her feet to the ground with chakra. It was a different type of water-walking, but water-walking all the same.

The rain was becoming unbearable, and she knew it would be more difficult to fight and think clearly while she was shivering and sopping wet, 'I have an idea though. His strategy is so predictable!'

Haku disappeared into one of his mirrors and she steadied the kunai in her hand patiently. He reappeared in the mirror in front of her, looking just as tired as she. For a moment the blood that had soaked the side of his gi looked as if it would actually drip out of the pane of ice.

"You really are Gaara-kun's sister, I don't doubt that now…" Haku admitted quietly, "I have no intentions of harming you."

"You could have fooled me!" Temari snapped in response, not buying his soft voice, "Let's end this!"

He obliged her by leaving his mirrors a fraction slower than he would normally have and hurled senbon in threes. She blocked them as they came near, her keen eyes searching the mirrors he dashed through.

Gradually he began to move faster, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to block the needles he threw. A few of them had sunk into her shoulder and lower back. They hurt terribly. Temari had managed to block the senbon aimed for vital areas, a fact she took pride in.

From his fleeting reflection in a mirror to her left, she could see his blue gi was soaked a deep maroon, 'Does he want to bleed to death? It won't be long now…'

"He isn't going to last much longer." Gaara was aware that Haku had strained himself to use so much chakra during his fight on top of being wounded.

"Should we do something?" Naruto was doing his best not to become nervous but it was very difficult, "He's hurt pretty bad. I don't think Haku-kun's gonna win this one…"

Gaara could find nothing to say. He hadn't been able to foresee the outcome of the match between his friend and his sister, and now he was certain he didn't want to see the conclusion.

'He's only got a few senbon left…after this he'll leave his mirrors and try to slip me up again!' Temari was predicting his future course of action, 'One blow to the head ought to do it, he's been weakened.'

Senbon came at her again and she raised her kunai to block them. It was a surreal moment in which the needles halted a few inches from her face and she slashed at them in confusion, wondering why they were icicles rather than the metal senbon he had been using before, 'Is it…it's a-?'

Haku pitched his last two senbon.

'-a decoy?'

The needles stuck in the side of her neck as she stared ahead, not realizing he had moved to the mirror behind her while she was distracted. Temari shuddered, feeling everything from her chin down go numb, "Oh."

She toppled over onto the icy ground and the rain began to slow. Kankuro gave a frustrated cry from his place above the arena, unsure of what had happened.

Haku, exhausted and in pain, dispatched his mirrors while taking a shuddering breath. The downpour ended shortly after, and the ice on the ground proceeded to melt away. Hayate crouched over Temari, inspecting her, 'That kid's got some aim…she's dead as a doornail!'

Naruto noticed as Gaara went rigid beside him. He recalled the day Gaara had once told him that Haku didn't kill people, and wondered if his red haired friend was going to reconsider his words.

'Oh this is bad, really bad,' Naruto stared down into the arena, 'Haku-kun would never!'

Hayate stood up, his expression grim, "The winner of the match is Haku."

The crowd cheered wildly, most especially those who had placed their bets on him.

Haku paused beside Hayate, putting pressure on the gash below his collar bone, "Sir, she isn't dead."

The examiner gave him a skeptical look, "She has no vital signs."

Haku bent down and carefully removed the needles from the Sand kunoichi's neck. He tossed the bloody senbon aside and stood up when she rolled over like a boneless fish, trying to regain consciousness.

Gaara's facial expression relaxed and Naruto grinned at him, "Come on! You know Haku-kun! He'd never hurt someone you cared about!"

Gaara had known that Haku wouldn't actually kill Temari, though it did startle him to see that he had the capacity to do so with ease.

He was honestly glad that he had spared her from more pain, although it seemed that Haku had not received such generosity from Temari as he limped away with the medics while they tried to tend to the wound on his chest.

From above, the Kazekage narrowed his eyes gleefully, not commenting on the fight.

Hayate watched as Haku left the arena, impressed, 'Shinjutsu like that could take out even a jounin if they're not careful!'

The sky was blue once again and Temari was cleared by a medic before returning to Kankuro, who was a bit surprised to see her on her feet.

"Don't look at me like I grew another head or something, will you?" She grumbled, peeved that she had lost, "I'm fine. He just got a lucky hit."

Kankuro calmed down a bit and smirked at his sister, "Right, because you definitely were in control throughout the whole match."

She punched his shoulder with what little strength she had left in her and he snickered.

Hayate cleared his throat, "The fourth match will be between Rock Lee and Uchiha Sasuke." The crowd's volume escalated significantly and he nearly had to cover his ears.