Once a Wizard, Always a Shinobi Ch 29-31

Nov 14, 2008 21:32


Alrighty Guys. I'm not going to try any fancy shit with this bit at the moment. I'm just getting it up on here since I abandoned you all for so long! I'll provide a link to my FF.NET profile in the final of these three posts so you can get the faster updates. I don't update here nearly as often as I do there.

Kiba stumbled sleepily down the stairs and into the kitchen. A jaw cracking yawn blurred his eyes and made him grumble quietly. “Morning Kaaaaaaasan.” he yawned again and then glanced confusedly around the kitchen as the usual reply didn’t come. There was no Kaasan in this kitchen.

Then he remembered that his mother had gone on a long term mission and would be gone for a while. A frown pulled at his face and Akamaru whined unhappily. He would have to make breakfast for himself then, and lunch. Hopefully someone made him dinner though, because he wasn’t very good at cooking.

Several minutes, a piece of burnt toast, and a smoking oven later, Kiba was heading toward the meeting place for his team. He grimaced as the last of the toast was forced down, his mothers admonishment to have breakfast echoing in his ears.

When he arrived, Shino shifted enough to expose two bento boxes, making Kiba feel a little better about his food situation. Hinata showed up last, apologizing and bowing like crazy in order to make up for her tardiness.

Kurenai smiled at her team “Alright genin, your first official mission is to help Yamamoto-san rebuild his shed! Get to it!” There was some confusion, but they all went along without much complaining.

When they paused for lunch Kiba and Shino settled together on a large rock and opened their bento lunches. “My grandmother made them, so we don’t have to worry about them being edible.” Kiba grinned widely and stuffed a rice ball in his mouth. Shino couldn’t help his small smile at his friends antics, even as both of them ignored the fact that Shurachi’s usual note to have a good day wasn’t there.

The return home after the mission was lonely, though Kiba couldn’t figure out why as he had walked home by himself numerous times. He thought he had an idea of the reason when he got home and found it silent though. The Inuzuka went through the motions of heating the leftover dinner from the night before, something his mother had made, then settled himself into bed without a friendly voice calling good night.

Akamaru was strangely silent through the whole day and when they settled for bed neither boy nor dog slept very well.

Several weeks later, Kiba had managed to burn something into the bottom of the oven. Shino had smirked at him, his version of a chuckle, and tossed a convenience store package at his head. They’d taken to staying at each others houses, mostly Shino’s, because neither could really fend for themselves all that well.

They had another useless mission, this time to catch a bird who had had one wing clipped and could still fly a little. It was difficult, especially considering the damn thing kept flying higher and higher then falling out of the trees.

With Hinata’s help they managed it though, and brought the retarded bird to it’s owner. Both boy’s bid their female teammates goodnight and headed to Kiba’s house.

“What should we have tonight?” The Inuzuka asked brightly, obviously trying to lighten the idea that Shurachi wasn’t going to be cooking for them.

Shino reached a hand into the small bag he’d had with him the whole day and held up a partially thawed something. “Shura-obachan made some soup for Otousama and we never finished it. Otousama just froze it and I remembered we had it this morning. We could heat it up on the stove and have it for dinner?”

The grin that split Kiba’s face was wide enough to frighten several civilians on their way home.

0000000000000naruto00000000000000

Naruto stood in front of the Inuzuka compound gate, obviously uncertain if he should go in. Deciding it was better if he didn’t, the blond moved away and wandered back to his own house.

It had been a long day of ‘missions’, if one could call painting a fence a mission. Sakura had yelled at him to quit being so stupid three times, Sasuke-teme had told him he was a moron more times than he could count, and Kakashi-sensei had ignored him until the mission was over and he was assigning individual training times.

All in all, he really needed a hug and maybe some good home cooked food. So Naruto found himself outside of the Inuzuka compound for the second time, sweaty and hot and miserable in general. Again he wondered if he should go in, if he would be welcome now that Shurachi wasn’t there; and again he decided he couldn’t risk being rejected and turned to walk morosely toward his apartment.

Several weeks, and an unholy amount of ramen, later he was back with a pillow, blanket, night cap, pack of clothes, and uncertain eyes. Once more he was starting to turn back when a large arm wrapped around his waist, picked him up like he weighed nothing, and began to carry him inside the walled off area.

Naruto knew he would have struggled more if it weren’t for the dog trotting along beside them.

When he was let down again they were in front of Shurachi’s house. The man gave him a little push and opened the door.

“Shurachi-alpha says that you can stay here as long as you want.” Naruto whirled around to look at the older man. Brown eyes were trailing over him critically before a smile lit the older mans face in a way that reminded Naruto strongly of Shurachi.

“I believe Shino is already staying with Kiba, so I’m sure they won’t mind you joining them.” Naruto smiled brightly up at the man.

“Thank you Inuzuka-san!” He reached out to pat the dog on the head and then ran into the house.

Outside, the man closed the door quietly and took a step back. When his canine companion whined quietly he gave it a pained smile. “This was once our house Kira, but our pup has made it a home filled with pups of his own. We don’t belong here anymore.”

The dog whined again, but stood to trot slowly alongside the man toward Kunimitsu’s home. Yes, they had once lived happily in that home, but now it was his sons turn to lead the clan and raise a family. Even if that family was his other son, an Aburame, and the holder of the Kyuubi.

00000shino000000

Shino woke and got dressed as he usually did. He ignored the empty echo of his home, lacking the sounds of his father in the shower, and set to work making his and Kiba’s lunches. Once that was done he moved out to the shrine wall and stood in front of his uncles shrine.

“Please look after us while Shurachi-obachan and Otousama are gone. I know they can look after themselves, but Kiba is very difficult to manage sometimes.” He bowed slightly and placed the bread rolls on the alter before heading to the meeting place.

Red eyes caught the last piece of blackened toast being shoved in his friends mouth and Shino grimaced. Good thing he had some idea on how to cook. So, wanting to make sure Kiba didn’t try to make anything, Shino let him see the pair of bento he’d tied together for them. Kiba’s grateful smile was enough to make his getting up an hour early worth it.

When they stopped for lunch Shino realized with a small blush that it would be highly embarrassing for him to admit to having made their lunch. He didn’t want to sound like some love-sick girl! And so he mumbled that his grandmother had made it and watched his best friend enjoy the lunch he’d made.

They parted ways to head home and Shino settled for bed. He tried to sleep, even went so far as to have all of his kikai move to his gourd, but by midnight he was still trying to fall asleep. So with a deep frown he gathered his blankets, a pillow, and some clothes into the rather large pack he’d gotten as a graduation present.

Silent as the shinobi he was, the Aburame slipped out of his house, across the compound, and then into the Inuzuka compound. Kiba’s window was found and squeezed through with the ease of practice.

“Kiba?” Shino whispered quietly. The Inuzuka didn’t rolled over with a frown, but remained asleep. Shino shrugged and pulled his sleepover things out of the pack. Once settled, Shino took little time to fall into the oblivion of sleep.

Shino rolled to his feet silently, long practice making the motion subconscious. It had been several weeks since Shurachi and his father had left for their mission and he was starting to get the hang of feeding himself and Kiba. He had a brand new respect for his adopted aunt considering Shurachi had made most of the meals for much more than two people.

Rummaging around his fridge for something he could make for himself and Kiba to eat at dinner time, Shino suddenly remembered the soup his father had brought home from a visit with the Inuzuka’s not to long before he left. They weren’t able to eat it, so Hajime had frozen it in the freezer.

The Aburame rummaged around in a cupboard for the miniature, portable cooler that was usually used for over night training trips into the forest. He put the large bag of frozen soup into the cooler, packed in some ice, and set off to meet with his team.

He planted a kikai on the bird and followed it silently from the ground, frowning when the creature ate his insect. Thankfully Hinata was able to find the stupid avian and they caught it with relative ease.

On the way home He showed Kiba the soup and smiled behind his coat as he realized the small offering had brightened his friends mood. They set it on the stove, in a pot, to heat and moved into the living room.

“Did Hokage-sama tell you how long they would be gone? Or if we could contact them?” Shino asked after a few seconds of silence.

Akamaru barked and Kiba flashed the canine a grin. “He didn’t say how long it would be, but he did say that he was sending reports to Kaasan, so we could probably get him to send our letters as well.”

Shino hummed and moved to check the soup, it was almost hot enough to eat.

“What do you think we should write about?” Kiba asked from behind his friend, startling the Aburame into turning around.

“I’m not sure, I guess we can tell them about how we’re doing, how everyone is getting along without them here.” Shino shrugged and checked the soup again; close enough.

They filled two bowls, leaving some in the pot, and settled down at the low table. Kiba was about to take the first bite when Akamaru began to bark and Naruto wandered timidly through the door decked out for bed and dragging a blanket.

No one said anything, Shino simply filled a third bowl with the rest of the soup and they ate in silence.
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Shurachi tossed senbon into the forest, watching Doku chase the deadly needles, jump up to catch them, then trot back to him with a wagging tail. His hand itched where the hole from his very first appearance in Konoha had healed over. There was still a small bump, but otherwise one would never know he’d been pinned to the ground by a senbon.

Students were scurrying around in the castle, getting costumes and masks and kami knew what else ready.  Apparently there was some sort of party to celebrate the end of October. He didn’t know why and didn’t really care to learn.

“Inuzuka-sensei!” Green eyes lifted quickly at the urgent tone, but the tight look smoothed over when Jonathan’s smiling face came into view. “Inuzuka-sensei, Chiaru-sensei said you’d be out here. I’m sorry for bothering you, but I wanted to go to the party as one of the anbo you were talking about in class. They sounded really amazing!”

A small quirk of Shurachi’s lips was his answer and Doku barked, dropping his latest retrieval in favor of going up to the first year for some quality petting time.

“That’s Anbu Jonathan. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you went as an imitation of them, though your mask can only cover part of your face. A full mask would be against village laws.” Jonathan looked a little disappointed, but he nodded understandingly. Doku didn’t care to notice, obviously enjoying the attention his ears were getting.

“I don’t mind, but would you help me? I’ve never seen one before so I don’t know what to make my costume look like.” The quirk of his lips became a full blown smile.

Doku’s tail wagged as he followed the two humans back up to the large stone den. He made sure to make himself look professional when they entered, not wanting to make his human seem weak in front of the puppies. Then they were inside their personal den, with allies glancing up at them, and he could wag his tail again.

Shurachi sat Jonathan down on the couch in the shinobi common room. “Let me get my wand and we’ll start making you look like an Anbu.” He said loud enough for Chiaru Totsuke to catch. The jyônin smirked a little, obviously amused, before heading to the door.

“Ún ga íi Inuzuka-san.” (Good luck Inuzuka) He called and Shurachi poked his head out of his room, a braid dangling over his face.

“Náze sóo ka?” (Why so?) Shurachi asked and Jonathan shifted a little uncomfortably.

Both shinobi noticed this and smoothly switched back to English. “It is difficult, getting those sticks to work properly. They aren’t accurate at all.”

Shurachi laughed and waved a hand at Totsuke as he slipped back into his room. “You just dislike the idea of wizards using them for everything. Go relieve Mimiru-chan, I’m sure she’s getting annoyed at having to stay on that tower for so long. It’s very cold up there you know.” Totsuke snorted, but vanished silently from the room to do as he’d been told.

Doku barked happily at the warm spark in Shurachi’s eyes when the other reentered the room. “Now then, what is your favorite animal?” He asked cheerfully, feeling much better now that he was taking care of someone again; even if it was only for a little while.

Jonathan seemed to think before glancing at Doku. The Inuzuka chuckled and twirled his wand, muttering something under his breath. A mask that would cover three fourths of Jonathan’s face appeared on the couch, it’s features reminiscent of Doku’s face. Jonathan quickly snatched the mask up and tried it on, grinning as it fit perfectly.

After that it was a simple matter to transfigure the child’s clothes into the white and black uniform of the Anbu and give him one of Shurachi’s smaller shinobi cloaks. It was a standard brown and fit a little large, but Shurachi had only brought it to cover Doku if they were assigned to go “undercover” during the mission; it was much to small for him now.

The first year beamed up at him, the only hint of this being the crinkling of his one exposed eye. “Thank you Inuzuka-sensei!” He said happily, then shocked Shurachi by quickly squeezing his waist in a hug before running out the door.

The next morning there were reports of a massacre of muggle children and their parents. Apparently they’d been running around in the dark dressed up as monsters, collecting candy. The idea didn’t make sense to the shinobi, it was an easy way to get poisoned after all, but the news was devastating to the school. Everyone’s cheer from the night before had been sucked away by the article.

Shurachi noticed the dank atmosphere at breakfast, which he’d watched from the rafters in the Great Hall. He watched the students eat silently, watched the teachers poke at their food, and watched the few students that had gotten black envelopes with the mail leave the hall. He watched all this and decided he would let his classes do something fun.

As soon as he realized the decision he’d made he frowned. It was easy to tell himself that he knew the impact of a family member dying, that he wanted to give them something to be cheerful about, but he knew that the real reason was because he was concerned for these children.

His first years slowly trickled in, lacking the enthusiasm most of them usually had so early in the day. Jonathan was the last to enter and Shurachi could smell his cloak on the boy, though it was probably in his bag or something similar. He smiled warmly at all of them, obviously throwing a few of them off, and motioned for them to stand again.

They did so, slowly, and Shurachi pulled out his wand. Someone gasped, obviously they’d thought he couldn’t do magic. “Now then children, why don’t we have a little fieldtrip?” He asked in a slightly more cheerful voice than he usually had. He waved his wand and the desks moved to line the walls. “First I want everyone to get a cloak, if you don’t have one with you then hurry to your dorm and grab one.” Several people shuffled out of the room.

“While they’re doing that I want everyone to start stretching. We’ll be doing a lot of moving around and it’s important that we warm up our muscles before hand so we avoid injury.” They slowly started to do some of the stretches they’d learned in class and Shurachi wandered among them, correcting as needed.

The door opened and the last person came back into class with a cloak. “Alright everyone, put on your cloaks and follow me.” He led them through the halls, down a staircase, and then out into the brisk November air.

“Who here has heard of tag?” Most of them raised their hands. “And how about hide-and-seek?” Slightly less raised their hands. “For those who don’t know, both games have one person who is ‘it’. The person that is ‘it’ has to chase the other players in tag, touch one of them, and then quickly run away. The person that was touched is then ‘it’ and the process repeats. For hide-and-seek the players all hide and the person that is ‘it’ must find them. The first person found is the next one to be ‘it’.”

There were nods of understanding and Shurachi waved his wand. Instantly, various trees, bushes, rocks, and even random sticks morphed to form a small village around them. It took up a good deal of the school grounds, leaving wide streets in between the various classes that the students had to go outside to get to and the school.

“We will be playing a mixed version of these two games. I want you to pair up into groups of three.” He watched them mill around, pairing up with each other and slowly gaining life back into their faces. Jonathan was left standing alone in his brown cloak, a small frown on his face. “Each group please come up to me for assignments.”

One by one, the groups came up to him and he whispered their ‘missions’ to them then handed over a mask that would identify them as a group. They weren’t allowed to show the mask to anyone else in order to keep their identities a secret from the other teams. Once all of them had come up and gone back to chattering he cleared his throat.

“There will be no use of a wand in this. If one is used you will be painted neon orange and removed from the village to a ‘holding cell’ in my classroom. You each have your assignments, either to hide or to seek. The only way to get someone is to tag them with a ball that will automatically turn their skin purple. These balls can be found throughout the village, so make good use of your time and search!”

He laughed as they all shifted, anxious to get moving. “If your skin turns a color other than purple you are to find a building with that color on it and stay there until the color vanishes. If your whole team is caught by these colors then you will turn purple and have lost the game, so teammates protect each other! On the count of three move out and once you’re sure you’re alone put on your masks.”

The students raced into the fake village and Shurachi conjured up a mask from himself. Jonathan was standing alone, Shurachi having turned him away when he came up for an assignment. The child looked very put out, almost on the verge of tears.

“Have you got the mask I made you last night?” Shurachi asked quietly, his ears already perked for movement from the silent village around them. Jonathan nodded and dug in his bag to pull it out. “Good, put it on.” He did so with a confused little frown and then stilled as Shurachi put his own dog mask on. It also had one eye exposed, though is was the opposite of Jonathan’s.

“We will be on a team together. Our job is to hit as many people as we can with the different colored balls. Try to get the whole team, but if you can’t then move on  and find another team to attack.” He handed over a small sack filled with different colored, pea sized balls and a small straw to shoot them through. “Doku is our third teammate, so if he nudges you follow him as quietly as you can.”

Jonathan nodded and tucked the bag into his belt. “So we’re like the assassins?” He asked.

Doku huffed in amusement and Shurachi grinned a little behind his mask. “Yes, but we have very bad aim so our targets can sometimes recover from our attacks. On the bright side, we are immune to their attacks. Try not to get hit though, we don’t want them to know that.” Jonathan giggled and the three slipped into the village.

Doku yipped quietly at Shurachi almost an hour later, letting him know that it was almost time for class to end. Shurachi nodded and motioned for Jonathan to cover his ears. Only once the first year had done so did he pull out his wand and hold it to his throat. “Sonorous.” He muttered, then cleared his throat.

“All teams are to cast a levitation charm at this time and return to class. Roll will be taken then and anyone missing will lose all points for the next three assignments.” A series of Wingardium Leviosa’s echoed through the fake village. “Quietus.”

“Let’s head back to the classroom, alright?” He cast the levitation charm and vanished with a soft pop, followed closely by Jonathan. Doku simple settled down to wait for his human to arrive with the next class.

Everyone was neon orange, and when Shurachi opened his mouth to say the counter charm they could see that even his teeth were the obnoxious color. His class left in high spirits and spread the word to the other years. Everyone was eager to try the village out, even those that hadn’t taken the class.

When Shurachi entered the shinobi’s shared common room, Hajime was waiting for him. “I see you couldn’t resist helping the pups out.” He chuckled as Shurachi shot him a nasty look. “Our pups sent us a letter with the latest report.”

Shurachi was searching Hajime before the Aburame had a chance to produce said letter. A small square of paper was sticking out, so he snatched it and began to read.

Dear Kaasan, Otousama, Shurachi-kun, Shura-oba, Hajime-oji,

Naruto was being stupid and wouldn’t come over, Sófu (grandfather) had to carry him inside. I’ve used all of the leftover meals you made, but Shino’s been feeding me. Our missions have been kind of boring, but I remember that you said even the most boring things can at least keep up your stamina. Hinata says hello, but she’s really quiet. I don’t know if I really like her, she is a Hyuuga after all. I love you Okaasan, come back soon.

As for Hajime-oji, don’t get my mother in trouble! If I hear you’ve done anything I’ll hunt you down and feed you to Iwa shinobi!

Kiba has finally handed over the letter, I see he hardly wrote anything for how long he had it. I have been feeding him and Naruto, though a good deal of it is convenience store food. I know it isn’t healthy, but it’s better than ramen every night and I can’t keep cooking onigiri. How long until you return? Can you tell us anything about your mission?

Sófu says that they’ve replaced our oven Otousama. He says that you’re to come home as soon as you can because grandmother misses you and I do too. He then mumbled something about Shurachi-oba needing to be saved. I hope you aren’t being to mean to anyone. I love you Otousama.

Naruto was hesitant to come over, saying something like we wouldn’t want him to bother us. We’ve managed to convince him otherwise, or I think we have. He’s making grabs at the pen, so I’ll hand the letter off to him.

Shurachi-kun! I’ve never written a letter before! Iruka sensei says that it’s only polite I tell you about my missions since you aren’t here. To be honest they kind of suck. This old lady keeps losing her cat and can’t seem to hire any other genin team to catch the stupid thing! Honestly, if it hates you so much that it keeps running away then let it go!

Sakura-chan and Sasuke-jerk are my teammates. They’re kind of mean, but I love Sakura-chan and she loves Sasuke-jerk. It’s not fair! He isn’t even nice to her! I miss eating your cooking, Kiba’s is kind of gross and onigiri gets old after a while. Come back soon, okay?

All our love,
Kiba Shino and Naruto

Shurachi grinned at the letter and carefully handed it over to Hajime.

“Hah! They barely even mention me, being the stars in your eyes. The Kyuubi brat doesn’t even acknowledge that I’m on this mission as well.” He snorted and folded the letter, handing it back to Shurachi.

The Inuzuka frowned at him and smoothed out the wrinkled corner. “You haven’t made an effort to get to know him, I wouldn’t write a letter to a complete stranger either.” He tucked the letter into his weapons pouch and headed for his room. “You can have tower duty tonight Hajime, I’m going to be taking a group of students through the village I constructed once it gets dark.”

The Aburame waved and headed out to find his station. Sometimes he had to wonder about the leader of the Inuzuka clan.
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Snow covered the ground and Shurachi watched more fall from his position on the north tower. Dumbledore had become more annoying the closer to Christmas they got, causing Shurachi to seek out a more covert position. He’d heard that the children were asking after him, wondering where their main teacher was, but he couldn’t bring himself into the light of day without Dumbledore showing up.

Snape had also taken to following him around. He wasn’t sure what the other man’s reasoning was, but this stalker was much less annoying to deal with.

Beside him, Doku sighed loudly. The dog’s breath steamed in the air, reminding Shurachi of how cold it was. The snow brought him a sense of nostalgia. He’d arrived in Konoha when it was snowy outside, had felt Koishi’s love for the first time when the white powder covered the ground. They’d only been small children and he’d only been trying to make Shurachi feel better, but it was the first time he’d felt loved by the older boy.

A rush of heat swept through him, reddening his already wind blown cheeks. The cold reminded him of Haku as well. The ice user seemed like he would be perfectly at home in the frozen winter. A sigh escaped him this time, misting the same as Doku’s had.

“Haku, I wonder what you’re doing right now? And my pups.” He sighed again and turned his eyes to the Forbidden Forest. “They’re probably throwing snow balls at each other. They never could resist having shinobi battles with snow.” He snorted and folded his arms, shivering a little in the cool air.

A longing to go home, to leave this place behind, filled him. He could request someone else conduct this mission, could leave these people to their fate. It wasn’t like they were really doing anything here. Teaching children weak taijutsu and watching after them like babysitters when they left the castle was hardly part of their contract.

“We were hired to kill Death Eaters Doku, so why have we stayed in this miserable castle? Why aren’t we putting our skills to use, tracking them down and destroying Voldemort’s support base? This should be a simple, if time consuming, mission. Why are we still doing nothing?” He mumbled and wrapped his cloak tighter about himself.

Doku hunkered down in his own cloak, whining his agreement to his human. This was not the hunting trip they’d been promised. Nothing had been tracked, nothing had been killed, and nothing had been taken care of save for puppies. If they’d wanted to visit with puppies, they would have found the one that smelled of blood and sand, not these strange ones that don’t pay any heed to his human.

Though he did rather like the puppy that reminded him of a bad training session, with his scent of bad blood.

A small smile tugged at Shurachi’s lips. “I have no real reason to stay here, the contract isn’t being followed and our skills are being squandered. On the other hand, I have every reason to leave this miserable castle. My pups are going to be training and going on missions, they’ll need me there to welcome them home and help them along.”

His smile got a little more lazy. “I have a new mate that I haven’t claimed yet. He’s waiting for me, eager as myself to join us for the first time.” The smile slipped a little and he sighed again. “The chûnin exams will be coming up this summer as well, they’ll need extra training and I won’t leave them to do something like that by themselves.”

A scent drifted up to Shurachi’s nose and he shifted to make room for Hajime on the ledge. “You could leave Shura-chibi. We wouldn’t think any less of you for it. The clients have been harassing you, trying to make you become a missing nin. That’s grounds to drop a mission with honor.” He whispered.

Shurachi shot him a grateful smile, but shook his head. “There was a reason Lupin-san hired me specifically. I’m certainly not the best shinobi in the village and trying to get me to defect, while leaving everyone else alone, makes no sense.”

He sighed again and leaned against Hajime’s side, enjoying his warmth. “ Besides, Inuzuka never run away from a mission.” He chuckled quietly.

The pair stood quietly together, watching the snow drift towards the ground. They’d sat for nearly ten minutes before Shurachi moved away and disappeared back into the castle. Tomorrow was a Hogsmead weekend, the last one before Christmas break, and he was one of the shinobi assigned to go with the kids.

The sun was bright, the sky was blue, and Shurachi was absolutely bored out of his mind. He could have been wandering around with the children, enjoying himself. In fact, the professors had suggested that the shinobi do just that; Voldemort would never attack Hogsmead after all.

But they were hired to protect these children from Death Eaters and he would hardly be able to notice an attack in advance if he was on ground level. So Mimiru Kita and himself had stationed clones all throughout the town. They even had a few mingled amongst the students.

It was about half way through the trip that the first sign of trouble occurred. The small amount of chakra used to create a shadow clone returned to Shurachi, indicating that one of his had been destroyed. From it’s position on the ground, he could assume that it was one of the ones he’d had in a pack of fifth years. It was also the only one visible on the ground.

He moved to it’s last known location, but before he could get there screaming broke out. The town was suddenly alive with fleeing students and frightened townsfolk. Though he couldn’t really see how the small settlement was a town, it felt more like a village to him.

Doku barked, and Shurachi turned his attention to the men marching menacingly down the street. They wore half skull masks and long black robes to hide their identities. These were the men he was hired to get rid of, the men that wanted to destroy all the ‘mud bloods’ in their society.

Another harsh bark, this one from Shurachi, and Doku was darting into the panicking crowd. The first enemy casualty came second later, Doku’s deadly jaws ripping an artery out of the Death Eater’s thigh. The flash of metal alerted him to Mimiru’s involvement in the fight.

With the pair working on this group of Death Eaters, Shurachi moved further into the village to take care of any packs of Death Eaters that weren’t with the main ones. He’d gotten two groups before he noticed something that shouldn’t have been possible. A group of first years was huddled between two buildings, a pair of Death Eaters closing in on them.

He gave off a small growl, very annoyed that the first years were even out there when they were supposed to be safe at the castle. Really, he should just leave them to their fate, but he was being paid to keep them safe and his own motherly instincts wouldn’t let a child be harmed.

One of the first years must have seen him, because they all seemed to relax a little and whispered frightenedly amongst themselves. Then, like a speeding kunai hitting a gong, a tiny bark rang out. It was squeaky, shaky with fear, and not very well done when everything was considered, but it was an Inuzuka pup’s distress cry.

He couldn’t ignore something like that, couldn’t just watch them close ranks before the children. He couldn’t even bring himself to be stealthy with this attack.

Jonathan huddled in the middle of the first years that had snuck out of the castle, wishing he had just stayed like he was supposed to. Now Death Eaters were trapping them in an alley and there was no sign of a teacher. They were going to die and it would be their own fault.

The person in front of him suddenly stilled, a sort of hysterical laugh escaping her. She twisted a little and looked straight at Jonathan. “Inuzuka-sensei is behind them, he’s watching them!” She whispered, the sound barely a breath in the noise from around them.

Jonathan twisted, craning his neck to look passed the pair of terrifying men at his favorite teacher. Sure enough, Inuzuka-sensei was walking toward them, a pair of knives of some kind in his hands. The glasses he wore weren’t a pair Jonathan had ever seen before, they seemed to wrap around almost like goggles. The mask was there, but the usual over robe that hid most of his uniform was gone.

The boy next to him whimpered, obviously still terrified even though the prospect of being saved was drawing closer. Inuzuka-sensei’s hair was unnaturally still, the heavy braids weighed down by something. Then he paused, almost as if he were changing his mind about saving them, and Jonathan felt panic rise in himself again.

Trying to think of some way he could convince their teacher to save them, Jonathan began to list everything he could remember about Inuzuka-sensei in his mind. He loved his family, cared about his students, was a very strong fighter, worked with three other hired fighters, had a dog, called his children pups…THAT WAS IT!

He called his children pups! Hajime-sensei had mentioned something about Inuzuka being very much like the dogs they worked with. He’d even heard Inuzuka-sensei barking at Doku, and the dog barked back as if they were speaking with each other.

Tilting his head back, Jonathan prayed that his idea was right, and yelped out as loudly as he could. Everyone in the alley stilled at the odd sound and Jonathan flushed a bright red color. But his eyes were focused on the now tensed Inuzuka-sensei.

He wasn’t sure how he managed to follow the movement, but one instant Inuzuka-sensei was there and the next his fist was poking out the front of one of the Death Eaters. The second one whirled around and fired off a spell that ripped Inuzuka-sensei’s mask and put a slash in his cheek.

The first years all froze, shocked at seeing their teachers face and at the carnage that just took place. Shurachi snarled, flashing his elongated fangs at the frantic Death Eater. His kunai came around and slid easily through the man’s neck, though not before he managed to fire off another nasty hex that shattered the bones in Shurachi’s upper arm.

It dangled at his side, useless to him, but he ignored the pain in favor of turning furious eyes to the first years. “Náze(Why)?!” He snarled, then shook his head. “Why are you out here?! You’re supposed to be safe at the castle!” He hissed, and all six first years huddled in on each other in shame.

“It doesn’t matter now, you will follow my orders and remain as close together as possible. I will deal with you once we make it to the castle.” He grabbed the closest person’s arm and dragged them forward. “When I say go, you all run as fast as you can toward the candy shop. I want you to get into the basement at all costs and stay there.”

He looked them over, his gaze lingering on Jonathan. The boy pulled his cloak, the one Shurachi had loaned him, tighter and looked at the ground in shame. Then the shinobi was slipping out of the alley, checking for Death Eaters.

None met his gaze, just a lot of empty street. “Go!” He whispered, and they all made a beeline for the candy shop. Shurachi stayed at the back, making sure they all made it. He had to snatch Jonathan up when he stumbled and ended up carrying the child the rest of the way to the building.

They pushed passed terrified people huddled behind shelves and slipped behind the counter. No one was there, oddly enough, and Shurachi directed the students to the trap door under a pile of boxes. “Go through that tunnel and once you come out the other end find the nurse. I want all of you looked at.” His gaze lingered on Jonathan once more before he was in the tunnel and the trap door was firmly shut.

Shurachi slipped back into the street and moved to find Doku. The Death Eaters had pretty much retreated, their numbers significantly lowered thanks to the shinobi. Every now and then he’d come across ones body, or one that was uninjured they were unable to flee. Those he tied up and dragged along behind him. They would need to interrogate them.

All of that fled his mind however, when he finally found his canine partner. Mimiru was crouched over him, her hands gently petting the whining dogs head. She was mumbling something to him, but Shurachi couldn’t hear.

He dropped his captives to the ground and slipped easily over the edge of the roof he’d been traveling on. “Doku?” He whispered, the sound unbearably loud.

His partner whined and tried to push himself onto his feet. “No! Doku, don’t move!” He replaced a silent Mimiru and cradled the dog in his lap. “Shh Doku, you’ll be fine. I just need to patch you up is all. We’ve seen worse.” He smiled a watery smile and looked up at Mimiru. She closed her eyes and turned away.

Doku whined again, and Shurachi whined back at him. The dog stretched his neck and swiped his tongue across his humans bleeding cheek. He yipped quietly and Shurachi shook his head vehemently. “I won’t, you’re going to be alright Doku. You have to be.” The pleading in his voice was enough to bring tears to Mimiru’s eyes.

As Doku’s head lolled and he breathed out one last whine, Mimiru turned her head away. She couldn’t stand to see the normally strong Inuzuka clan head break down.

Back at the castle, Shurachi drifted through the stone corridors. His face was blank, his motions slow. It was as if he weren’t really moving through their world. Hajime was beside him, eyes hard and jaw set. The gargoyle leaped aside for them, seemingly afraid of the killer intent drifting off the pair.

They didn’t wait for the stairs to take them up and instead leaped to the door and forced it open. Dumbledore was there, looking surprised, and so was Remus Lupin. Shurachi’s eyes seemed to darken, but he didn’t lose the aloof air around himself.

“The mission is done. Our pay is to be sent to the Hokage and the fee for the death of a shinobi shall be billed to you.” Hajime bit out, anger clouding his eyes.

Remus paled and Dumbledore frowned. “None of you died though.” he pointed out logically. Shurachi’s face darkened and he flashed his fangs at the old man.

“Inuzuka Doku was a registered inunin of Konoha. He has died and his partner must choose and train another. You have no say. Just feel lucky that inunin don’t have the full shinobi requirements. If he’d taken solo missions then you would have had to pay for those as well.” Shurachi sneered at the pair and turned to leave.

“So you are leaving us Harry? Leaving your people to Voldemort?” Hajime frowned at Dumbledore, but Shurachi didn’t even turn around.

“The period for this mission’s suspension will be however long it takes me to get a…replacement…for Doku.” He narrowed his eyes and continued walking, Hajime quick to catch up. He would be home in a few days, then he could grieve properly for his lost partner.

harry potter, haku, naruto, owas, inuzuka

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