A/N: Well, this was an idea I had stuck in my head for quite a bit. As for my other stories… lets say, they are still on Hiatus/I have no idea what to do with them. This story however, is pretty much planned out in my head as is, all the way up to A's, then a gap… which I intend to figure out what to put in there, then a lot of StrikerS is also planned out in my head, and a bit of what happens after too. Obviously Hogwarts, Voldemort and Dumbledore will play into the story, but not yet.
As a note, I know that this is probably not well written and as such I request that if you don't mind, leave some reviews on how I can improve the chapter, such as characterization, grammar, writing style etc. I would greatly appreciate it!
Also I am aiming for the chapters to be as good as possible so, they would probably be edited even after I post them, to add in any changes that you guys might suggest that I think needs to be in here. However the plot will not change, and if it does (which I doubt) it will not change dramatically.
Speech/thoughts Guide (Subject to additions/changes):
"Normal speech"
"Speech by intelligent devices"
Thoughts
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, neither do I own the Nanoha sequels A's and StrikerS or any licensed/published movie/book/anime/show related to them.
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It was a normal night on Privet Drive, people were preparing for bed as the day ended. The street was empty but for one car driving into the driveway of Number 4 Privet Drive. It swiftly parks, and a furious overweight man comes out and slams the car door shut; and quickly walks up the house in a fury.
"BOY!" Bellowed the overweight man, with his eyes blazing in inhuman anger as he entered the house, "YOU FREAK! IT MUST HAVE BEEN YOUR FREAKISHNESS THAT CAUSED ME TO LOSE MY JOB!"
In his fury he stomps over to the kitchen where a young scrawny boy, no older than the age of five, had been washing the dishes a few moments ago
"B-but Uncle Vernon –"stammered the young child in fear.
"SHUT UP YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING FREAK, YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!" screamed the man named Vernon cutting the child off, "SINCE YOU DON'T WANT TO STOP RUINING OUR LIVES WITH YOUR FREAKISHNESS I SHALL BEAT IT INTO YOU!"
With those words, a world of pain descended upon the boy.
It was an hour later when the child's punishment ended with him lying on the floor of the kitchen unconscious with blood pooling around his body from the lashes he had received from Vernon's belt.
At this moment a woman walked in and raised her eyebrow questioningly at the site of the child's blood covered body, seemingly on the brink of death.
"Ahhh Petunia, as you can see I was just disciplining the freak." The man said smugly, and then a thought hit him, "Why don't we rid ourselves from his taint for good?"
"Vernon, what do you mean by that?"
"Well, as we all know he's a freak, useless, a waste of our money that could better spend on our Dudders." He spat out, "What I am proposing is that we leave him in a forest far away from here and if those other freaks come and ask us where he is we could always tell them he ran away, and to avoid any scrutiny from our neighbors we can always say we lost him somewhere in London and file a missing child report tomorrow. If he dies its all the better for us"
Petunia's eyes lit up, and with the following words, she sealed the fate of her sisters child "Do it Vernon, I don't want to see him ever again."
As all the people on the street had already went to bed, evidenced by the lack of lights except for the streetlights, both Vernon and Petunia hurriedly wrapped a blanket around the boy to prevent blood from staining their house or car, and cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, making it seem as if the violence that had occurred only a few minutes ago had never happened.
Throwing the child in the car's trunk, they drove off, and when they came back a few hours later, there was nothing to show that there was another child aside from their own Dudley had lived in the house on number 4 Privet Drive.
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It was a few hours later that the child awoke in a clearing in the middle of an unknown forest, with the full moon barely visible over the trees. With wracking sobs, he tried to haul himself up attempting to use the nearby tree as a support only to fall down, all the while crying and stuttering "I-I'm s-so sorry U-uncle Vernon… I-I'll n-never do it again."
Although he promised to never do it again, he never knew what he had done wrong, throughout his short life he had been abused by his aunt and uncle, slaving away at whatever they wanted. However, he remained loyal to them for one reason; they were the only family he had left, without them he would be alone…
"Please…. Don't leave me! Don't leave me alone…."
The child continued his attempts to pick himself up scratching his hands on the bark of the tree, groaning in the pain from his injuries and broken bones from his beating. After a few attempts, he collapsed letting out a scream, the pain overwhelming him. As the pain continued to wrack his battered body, he realized that he had been abandoned by the only people that he had left.
I'm alone now… alone… why…why? "Why Uncle Vernon? I promise… I won't do anything bad, I'll try hard not to be a freak, please… please… don't leave me…"
This realization and the pain from his wounds caused him to continually scream out and weep in pain as he continued crawling along leaving a trail of blood on the forest floor.
He was only able to crawl for a short while before he began to hear low growls coming from behind him. Turning around, there were a few glowing pairs of eyes all belonging to wild dogs in the area.
Turning back in fear he begins to crawl as fast as his battered body would allow, trying to avoid the hungering looks of the dogs, all the while being scratched by the fallen branches, screaming for someone to help him…
----------A short distance away-----------
It was his screams of fear mixed with pain that echoed across the forest which attracted the attention of a man who had been camping out in the forest. He quickly put out his fire and ran towards the sounds, knowing that these screams were not from any native animal but rather a child.
------------At the clearing--------------
The child continued his attempts to get away from the dogs, his tries getting weaker and weaker as time passed… and his attempts began to feel futile, the more he tried the faster they seemed to catch up to him…
I can't get away…no ones going to come… no one would want me…I'm freak as Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia say… who would want a freak like me? Now even they abandoned me…I have no one left… I'm alone… all alone… Theres no point for me to try to get away anymore… I have nothing left… no one to care for me… I should just die.
With those thoughts, the child's resistance against the dogs ceased, his acceptance of death so unnatural and heartbreaking to see in a child so young.
------------ A few meters away ---------
The sounds of the dogs growling reached his ears as he came closer to the child's location, he quickly grabbed one of the various long branches that litter the ground preparing to use it as a weapon and continued running as fast as he could. As he arrived he was greeted with the sight of the dogs, having caught up with the child, beginning to dragging him back towards where they came from. The child looked up lifelessly at the man, the man looking in to the child's eyes, seemingly devoid of all life and all will to live.
What did this child have to go through to have these kinds of eyes? What would cause him to give up on life at such a young age? Thought the man, his heart going out towards the young boy.
As the man prepared his makeshift staff, ready to strike down the dogs to save the child; a howl pierced the night, one that one would normally expect from a wolf, however, this was from no ordinary wolf but rather a werewolf. The man's eyes widened and his grip on the branch tightened.
"Shimatta…"
As that word escaped his lips, the werewolf charges into the clearing; seemingly incoherent of rational thought like most of its kind on such a night.
It stops for a few seconds observing the situation and spots the child covered in his own blood. It's eyes continue to roam and sees the man holding a branch, instinctively the werewolf knew that it had to kill the man before it could eat the child.
The werewolf lets out a short growl and to the man's amazement the dogs stopped their harassment of the child and turns towards him, their hackles raised and prepared to attack him.
Wha....? How?... This werewolf can control those dogs? This is not going to be good
Another growl from the werewolf brought the man out of his slight shock. He prepared himself for a tough fight, entering a fighting stance holding his makeshift staff in both hands planting his feet shoulder width apart ready to strike with a sweeping maneuver or a thrust, whichever was necessary. Seconds passed with both sides watching the other; the man felt his heartbeat speeding up, adrenaline beginning to course through his veins.
I hope this works thought the man, as a circle etched with various sigils and runes suddenly appeared beneath his feet, and his face showed that he was concentrating intensely, mumbling some undecipherable chant.
Seeing his deep concentration the dogs charged at him, the werewolf staying standing in position behind them a few meters away from the man.
Just before the dogs were within range, the stopped his chant and yelled, "Blades of Ice" resulting in five swords made of pure ice appearing around the man and beginning to circle him.
The man quickly pivoted slamming his staff into the flank of one of the dogs, a satisfying crack was heard and the dog flopped to the ground unable to move. At the same time, one of the swords shot out and pierced another dog, killing it.
A sweeping attack with the makeshift staff allowed him to take out a few more dogs; as he completed the strike he sent three of the swords to kill three more dogs and sent the last blade at the werewolf.
The man widened his eyes as the werewolf, with a backhand strike, batted the sword aside and caused it to shatter, soon enough it charged at him and before he knew it the werewolf was on him attacking from above. The man quickly used both hands and held the staff above his head in a defensive position, however it was futile, the werewolf broke through the wood like it wasn't there.
If it weren't for the man's reflexes the werewolf would have killed him in that move, luckily he had been able to dodge the attack, but at the cost of a few deep scratches from the remaining dogs.
He quickly kicked the few remaining dogs as hard as he could, taking them out, and leaving only the werewolf. Instinctively he spun to the side, hoping to avoid the mad charge of the werewolf that he saw out of the corner of his eyes. However that was unsuccessful as the werewolf managed to lay a few deep cuts into his torso with its claws. It was only by luck that he had dodged its bite.
Proving that it hadn't lost all intelligence whilst transformed they werewolf grabbed the man and tossed him forward, causing him to fly a few meters and hit a tree knocking the air out of him.
The man quickly recovered and stood up, breathing heavily.
"Shimatta… and here I was hoping to take them all out without having to resort to this" said the man as he took out of his pocket what looked like a shard of ice that fit into his hand, attached to the end of it was a chain which would let one wear it as a necklace if one so wished.
"Yukihime, I'm going to need your help"
A mechanical voice came from the shard and it flashed in accordance to what it said "Yes, my master"
"Naginata please, Yukihime"
"As you wish" with that, the shard began glowing and was soon replaced in the man's hand by a black staff, topped with a larger version of the ice shard with smaller shards surrounding the perimeter of where the staff and the larger shard met. The ice began extending from the larger shard, when it stopped the staff was now topped with a curved blade similar to the blade of a katana.
"And now to take care of these wounds Yukihime"
"Minor Healing"
With that the minor cuts and scratches healed over as if there weren't there and the larger cuts and gashes scabbed over preventing anymore blood from flowing.
As this happened, some of the dogs that were unable to fight earlier due to being pinned down by their fallen comrades had managed to get back up and were now at the werewolf's side, growling and snarling worse than before, prepared to take the man down.
Weird, There seem to be more dogs than before, counting the bodies of the ones I killed earlier… Out of the corners of his eyes he then notices a few more dogs entering the clearing, reinforcing the numbers of remaining dogs. I guess the only way is to take down the werewolf… the man sighs in resignation.
The man rushes towards the group, his movements swifter than before, and more fluid as he now held a real weapon in his hands.
A sweeping attack quickly took out a few dogs, and the man incorporated the momentum from that move into his next attack, and the next. The momentum from one attack flowed into his next, making it seem that he was dancing; a dance of death. Dogs quickly fell one after another, all the while the man parried and deflected any attacks to his person, many of which came from the werewolf.
Suddenly three dogs broke off and ran towards the child's unconscious form. The man seeing this, did a sweeping attack to force the remaining dogs and the werewolf to move back giving him space to do a back flip to gain some distance and hurriedly ran to intercept the dogs.
Three swings of his naginata and all three dogs fell to the ground dead. The man was standing between the child and the werewolf with his back facing it; the werewolf seeing that the man had his back turned charged, attempting to catch the man off guard.
However, the man spun around and slammed the butt of his weapon into its side, causing the werewolf to roll to the side before it managed to stand up again ready for another attack.
As the werewolf charged again, the man disappeared from its sight leaving no visual or any other sensory evidence that he had stood there, he simply vanished.
Unknown to it, he had appeared behind it at the exact moment he disappeared from its sight, using this to his advantage, he delivered a kick which was vastly more powerful than when he had kicked the dog, evidenced by the werewolf flying a couple of meters before hitting one of the various trees on the edge of the clearing.
I'm getting old now… I never had to resort to Yukihime with something like this.
Suddenly he was surrounded by around twenty swords of ice floating in the air, the same circle from when he had casted the same spell earlier appeared just before the swords did, and disappeared soon after. "Blades of Ice" came from pendant now turned Naginata.
With a downward slash of his arm, the swords rushed forwards to their targets, killing the remaining dogs, however, the majority of the blades flying towards the werewolf were either blocked and shattered to pieces or dodged, only a few managed to pierce it but it was enough to pin him to the tree.
"Freeze" came from Yukihime.
The werewolf began to howl in pain as the areas where the swords were piercing the werewolf began to extrude ice, which continued up its body until it was totally encased in a block of ice.
"This is the end for you" he whispered, and with a snap of his fingers, the ice crack and shattered to pieces; killing the werewolf.
The man turned his back to the sight and hurriedly headed for the child's unconscious form. Arriving at the child's side, he swiftly put Yukihime down on the ground and got on both knees to check the child's condition.
"How can this be, he has wounds all over his body not to mention numerous scars, most of them look like they were done with a belt… He has some scratches and gashes on his legs aside from those whip marks which were probably caused by those dogs," mumbled the man as he checked the child's wounds
Suddenly, the child awoke, his eyes looking straight into the man's eyes. He whispered, "Am I dead? It still hurts, does it hurt when you are dead?" in a voice which tugged at the man's heart.
Those lifeless eyes… ones that belong to a person that has given up on life… ones that a child so young should not have.
"Child, you are not dead, you're still alive. How do you feel now?" asked the man gently as he picked up Yukihime and casted a healing spell on the child.
"Why?" sobbed the child, "why am I alive… I'm a freak, no one wants me… If I live I'll be alone… I don't want to live alone"
The man grabbed the child in a hug carefully avoiding the child's wounds "Don't worry, you're not alone now, you're not a freak or anything unwanted, just a child."
The child looked up at the man, his face streaked with tears, "Am I really not going to be alone?"
Smiling the man answered him "Yes, I promise you, you won't be alone, you'll be my son, how is that?"
The lifeless quality in the child's eyes seemed to have died away, beginning to give rise to a light that children should have, "Yes!" he replied exuberantly, then his face darkened, "You won't abandon me like Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia did will you?"
"Never, I will never do that." his face darkening at the thought of the child being beaten and abandoned by his so called uncle and aunt. However, he brightened up again asking the child, "Now, my son, what is your name? I'm Kazuma Izumi."
"I… I'm not sure… Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia never told me… I was always called freak or boy…"
Those monsters! How can these people not only beat him on a regular basis, if his scars are any indication, and also deny him his name? he thought as his face began darkening again.
"I-I'm sorry…" stammered the child in a scared voice when he saw the man's face.
"It's not you that I'm angry at, its your aunt and uncle, either way they are not worth us mentioning, Don't worry, I swear I will never get angry at you for something you don't do. And I will never beat you, just scold." Kazuma smiled at the boy hoping to give him some peace of mind. "Since you don't have a name, how about I give you one?"
The child nodded excitedly, accepting his oath and giving him his trust all the while happy to get a name.
Laughing Kazuma told him, "how about the name Haru? You'll take my last name as you are my son. How about it? Haru Izumi."
"Haru Izumi" the child repeated happily after Kazuma bouncing on his lap, "I am Haru Izumi" the newly named Haru repeated again and again.
Kazuma smiled at the child's antics, "Haru, I have to mention this, since we are going to head to japan, I'm going to need to teach you how to speak Japanese. Also, on that note, you would have to introduce yourself as Izumi Haru in Japanese"
Haru looked at him happily and nodded, "Father, I just noticed, my body doesn't hurt anymore, why is it like that?"
"Ahhh, well Haru, the simple form is that I'm a mage. I used a spell to heal your wounds, with help from Yukihime here of course" he said as he lifted Yukihime up to show his new son.
"Hello son of my master" flashed Yukihime.
"Cool! Hello Yukihime, nice to meet you! Father, Can you teach me? Please Please?" asked Haru with the trademarked puppy dog eyes that all children seem to have.
Kazuma chuckled wondering how Haru could be depressed to the point of wishing for death one moment and now bouncing happily asking him to teach him. I suppose he readily gave his trust to me since he had no other lifeline… Well, he's only been my son for a few minutes and already he's grown on me, there's no way I'll betray that trust he has given me.
"Yes Haru, I'll teach you" said Kazuma with a smile, then his face became serious, ", but remember, I'm teaching you this so that you can ensure that neither you nor anyone you wish to protect in the future will undergo anything similar to what you had to go through with your aunt and uncle. "
Seeing the confused look on his new son's face, he smiles "Just promise me this, never use what you learn from me for evil."
Haru nodded understanding the simplified version that Kazuma gave him. "I promise"
"Now that's done, Its time to leave" said Kazuma as he stood up, giving a hand to Haru, he continued "Its time to leave now, time to go home, Haru, back to Japan."
"Yukihime, Dimensional Transfer"
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Unknowingly one of the myriad of devices on the desk of the man known as Albus Dumbledore, suddenly flashed brightly before bursting into flames, curiously leaving everything unharmed except for itself... the device was labeled, Harry Potter's Current Location.
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One and a half years later
THWAK! The sound of wood hitting wood was audible in the small room.
Two combatants disengaged their staves from that clash and quickly hopped back to give themselves space; using that space to give themselves time to calculate their next move. One of the combatants seemed to be a child of the age of seven, and the other was a man who was in his late forties.
Soon they rushed in, closing the gaps they made in a second and quickly proceeded to meet in a flurry of blows, however it was obvious the child was outmatched, he was being pushed back the longer the bout continued. Both fighters fought in the same style, dodging when needed and blocking only when necessary, any attack they made were swift; speed seemed to be the key.
Suddenly, the man hit the child's staff from under the horizontal position the child had it in, disarming him and causing it to fly up in the air, the man held his own staff in his left hand and quickly grab the airborne staff as it came back down.
The child fell on his back breathing heavily, "Otou-san, how did I do this time?" he asked in Japanese.
"You've improved a lot Haru, at some points you almost got me, even though I wasn't going all out on you. However, I want you to remember, be like moon, it seems so close yet it's so far away, use your speed to close in for attacks but shift away before they can strike you. I'd say that in another half a year we can start practicing sparring with magic included." Replied the man in the same language, smiling. "How are you doing with the Mid –Childa style magic that I've showed you?"
"I understand and can use the basics that you've taught me, but your ice based magic is a lot harder to do…"
"Don't worry, I was a lot older than you when I learn most of this, you must be born to learn this stuff" Kazuma said jokingly, "then again, you do have an abnormally large linker core… no matter! Let's go work on your magic"
"Otou-san, when will I be able to use Yukihime?"
"With the rate you're going at, I'll let you learn to use her in a year and a half" said Kazuma as he walked out of the dojo with his son.
------One hour later-----
"You've more or less mastered the use of the basics, channeling your magic from your linker core as needed for the Mid-Childa type spells, and focusing it into your device. Now let's try for you to focus that magic into the offensive and defensive spells I've shown you."
"Hai, Otou-san" Haru replied as he began to cast his spell.
"………. Blades of Ice" intoned Haru as a circle made of some type of runes/sigils appeared beneath his feet.
Three swords made of ice appeared floating around him, waiting for his command to strike a target.
"Fly!" yelled Haru as he wave his hand towards the targets that he and his father had set up. Instantly, all three swords flew to each of their respective targets piercing each with a loud THUMP.
"Impressive Haru, you managed to create two ice swords and have them both hit two different targets, its not on the bullseye, but its pretty close, you should start practicing with more than three swords now." Said Kazuma in a proud voice, "Now lets see how your defensive magic has improved… Hopefully, you can get it to work this time…"
Again Haru attempted to focus his magic, however this time it was in a defensive frontal shield spell. Sadly, what came out could barely even be called a shield, as it shattered with the slightest amount of pressure, rendering it useless for holding back any physical attacks, much less magical.
Sighing Kazuma told Haru, "I have no idea how you can catch on with the physical training and the offensive spells so fast, but you seem hopeless with defensive ones…"
"I can't help it if, I suck at defensive spells" Haru pouted, "They just don't agree with me, besides, what's its use if I just make sure I'm fast enough that I don't get hit."
"That is true, but what would you do if someone is faster than you?" answered Kazuma smugly.
"I'll just make sure I'm faster than everyone then!" Haru replied hotly.
Kazuma laughed, "I guess you really don't like the fact that you have no talent with defensive spells, well then, we shall turn that statement of yours into truth in a few years."
"Of course Otou-san, don't doubt me" said Haru puffing out his chest, "Should we continue working on my offensive magic then?"
"Don't bother, it's getting late. Let's go prepare dinner, you have school tomorrow remember?"
"Awww, can I stay up for a bit though? I really want to read some more of the books on Mid-Childa magic you gave me."
"Yes you can, but not too late" Kazuma chuckled thinking back to how hard it had been for him to change Haru's unwillingness to ask him about bending some house rules occasionally. Well at least that fight is over with, Haru had to undergo so much abuse from his Aunt and Uncle for five years; I'm surprised that he was still able to be a child when I found him.
***Flashback***
It had been a few days from when Kazuma had brought Haru home, he had observed that whenever he had assigned a chore or task to Haru it was done promptly, and when he told him it was time for bed, Haru would immediately be in his room, totally prepared to sleep, before he could even finish his sentence.
Whilst that was something that most parents wish for in their children, Kazuma had noticed that Haru did them as if he would be punished if they weren't done immediately or well enough as time and time again Haru had continuously apologized saying things such such as please don't hit me, if he had thought that there was something wrong in the task.
However, curiously enough, Haru was still energetic about various things, it may not have been to the extent of how an average child would have been, but there were times when he was bouncing ball of energy.
But again, as soon as he perceives that he has done something wrong, even if the act had nothing to do with him or if he thought that Kazuma was angry, Haru immediately reverted into a shy timid child.
This was frustrating for Kazuma as through this he was able to see how deep the emotional and mental trauma Haru had from his stay with his aunt and uncle.
Finally, he decided to confront his son about it, "Haru, although it's a good thing that your finishing your chores and tasks, and also heading to bed when I tell you to, you don't need to act as if I will punish you if you make a mistake or are slow, it is human nature to make mistakes. Talk to me if you are having problems, it is my job as a father to help you with your problems, whatever they may be."
"Sorry father… I won't do it again" said a downcast Haru.
Sighing Kazuma told him, "Don't say you are sorry, you did not do anything wrong, I'm just trying to make sure that if you have problems come to me, don't keep them bottled up"
"Ok…" came a timid reply.
This is going to be a lot of work… thought Kazuma
***End Flashback***
Eventually, Kazuma was able to get Haru out of his mode of apologizing for every little thing, evidenced by how he was currently, however it had been true to his thoughts when he first confronted Haru about it, it took a lot of work for him to get this far with Haru.
"Otou-san, Otou-san" Haru said, whilst pulling on Kazuma's sleeve, "Time to make dinner."
"Oh, sorry I was lost in my thoughts for a second there"
Haru grinned, "Otou-san are you sure you are not getting old? You lose yourself in thought a lot."
"Why you!" snarled Kazuma in mock anger "I tell you! I'm not thatold yet!"
"Whatever you say, jiji" said Haru mockingly with a grin that threatened to split his face, before quickly dodging Kazuma's attempt to grab him.
"Come back here you!" said Kazuma chasing after Haru as he disappeared into the house with a fit of childish laughter.
-----The Next day----
"Haru, get up, its time for school" yelled Kazuma as he walked up the stairs to Haru's room.
Entering the room, he found Haru dead asleep in his bed, covers strewn around his form carelessly.
Shaking his head at the sight, Kazuma began shaking Haru awake. What he got however, was not an awakening Haru, but rather a mumbled, "five more minutes."
"Haru wake up, you have an hour to get ready and eat breakfast before the school bus is here."
Sighing loudly, he shook his son roughly causing him to sit up on his bed blurry eyed, Haru took a look around the room and got up to change as if he was in a trance.
"I'll go get dinner ready, come down when you're done" he said as he walked out of Haru's room and back downstairs.
It was a few minutes later when Haru arrived at the table with the food all laid out, seemingly still half dead to the world.
"Haru, I told you not to stay up too late" scolded Kazuma gently
His reply from Haru was unexpected as Haru's half asleep state caused him to plant his face into his food, causing him to suddenly wake up from the shock of breakfast suddenly being inhaled through his nose.
"What?? Where am I? What's happening?" yelled Haru confused.
Laughing like no tomorrow, Kazuma was only able to reply when he was able to get a hold on himself, "You really shouldn't have stayed up too late last night, you now have your breakfast all over your face. Now go clean yourself up, or you can go to school like that if you wish."
The rest of breakfast was a simple affair in the Izumi household, a few dishes all prepared in the Japanese style and nothing more eventful happened before it was time for Haru to head to school.
"Sayonara, Haru, have a good day at school!" said Kazuma as Haru boarded the bus before he headed back in.
On the bus, Haru walked down the isle and spotted some of his friends, waving he called out: "Ohayo, Nanoha-chan, Arisa-chan, Suzuka-chan"
"Ohayo Haru-kun," came the reply from the girls.
They began chatting about inconsequential things, such as what they did for the weekend and about school.
School was an uneventful affair and passed quickly for the young boy. Being a boy he couldn't always hang out with girls all the time so occasionally he'd be out playing sports during recess with the other boys of his class. Soon enough he returned home on the school bus, and bidding farewell to his friends for the day, he headed back into the house, prepared for some more training.
And so the days passed in the Izumi household, Haru was able to enjoy a regular childhood, except for the magical training from his adopted father all was what a normal child could undergo. Pranks were played by Haru on his father, family outings occurred with them having more father-son bonding. The days passed into months which passed into years and as the time passed Haru became more and more proficient with his fighting and magical skills, however, no matter how much time he spent nothing could be done about his defensive magic, he just didn't seem to have the talent for it.
-----Hogwarts, Headmaster's office----
The flames of the fireplace burst green and out came an old man, looking like a fairy tale wizard, came striding through quickly mumbling to himself:
"How can this be… why would Harry run away from the Dursleys? According to them they treated him well enough… no matter… I'll find him and bring him back"
The old man – Dumbledore, opened his drawer to look for the very device that would show him where Harry was currently.
"I know it is here somewhere…. Ahah!" triumphantly pulling out a oddly shaped device that looked as if it had been through a fire.
Peering at the object closely he pinched the skin between his eyebrows,
"This is not going as I had planned…"
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Two and a half years later
A nine year old boy, Izumi Haru as we know him, was running through the park seemingly intent on getting to a destination quickly, his coat billowing out behind him a testament to how fast he was moving on this windless night. The moon hung in the air above the buildings, supplementing the light that comes from the street lamps.
"Shimatta, what is creating this huge magical signature?"
Running out of the park and after a few turns at some minor street he arrived at his location.
The site that awaited his eyes was one that would surprise anyone; in front of his eyes was a blonde girl who seemed to be his age, with her hair in long pigtails reaching to her back, in her hands was a scythe, the blade made of yellow cracking energy, much like lightning. She didn't notice Haru as she was occupied with fighting something, that Haru couldn't see as it was blocked by the wall in front of him. However, it was obvious to him that she was injured and seemed to be on the verge of exhaustion.
Who is that girl? She seems to be using some type of magic, which type I'm not sure of yet, the close range Scythe might indicate more of Belka, but Mid-Childa mages don't mind close range combat, I won't know until she casts a spell.
He move forwards such that the corner of the wall no longer obscured his vision and what he saw was a beast like none he had seen before. It looked kind of like a chimera crossed with Cerebrus, both from Greek legends, three lion-ish heads, and a tail that resembled a snake.
Don't tell me this is what I think it is… I had to deal with that four times already…
However what caught his eye was that when the Cerebrus-chimera hybrid jumped there was a blue diamond-like crystal with a roman numeral etched into it.
Oh boy it is what I think it is…Just my luck.
Haru began to quickly move to help the girl before she succumbed to her exhaustion, however before he was able to, the words:
"THUNDER SMASHER" cut through the night, said by the girl as a runic/sigil circle appeared in front of her, her black cape billowing back behind her.
So she uses Mid-Childa style magic
Suddenly, a large yellow beam of energy originating from the circle flew at the beast and engulfed it, the beam carried an electrical element to it, shocking and paralyzing the creature.
She then called out "Jewel Seed Seal", and soon enough the blue diamond-like crystal that Haru had to deal with four times before came off and was quickly sealed by her scythe which now lost the energy beam causing it to look like a staff. The beast quickly turned out to be three cats.
"Serial number one retrieved" said the staff in a mechanical voice as the now named, to Haru's mind, Jewel Seed was absorbed by the yellow orb of the staff.
Ohhh damn, She can actually seal these things? Much better than what I had to do… I had to shove the four I found deep into the ocean to prevent them from causing problems. And that was after a lot of work to put them in a half – sealed state
"Thank you Bardiche" said the girl as she quickly passed out lying face first on the floor.
Haru walked up to the girl and picked her up bridal style in his arms, also grabbing the staff, named Bardiche.
"Well, I can't leave you here… not with you so injured… and I don't know where you live so I'll have to bring you home, Hopefully Otou-san knows how to treat you." Mumbled Haru, "Bardiche, don't worry, I'm not going to harm your master."
"Acknowledged" came from the staff.
With that, Haru quickly moved at a swift pace home, hoping to get her to his father for treatment before her wounds became worse, not wanting to take her to a hospital as he had no idea if she might cast some magic accidentally while unconscious.
As he left the scene, the sounds and lights of police sirens began to fill the air, drawn by the commotion that the girl had caused.
------------A few minutes later---------
"Otou-san! I'm back!" yelled Haru as he walked in through the front doors of the house with the girl in his arms and her staff in his hand. However, no reply could be heard.
"Otou-san! Are you here?" Slipping out of his shoes he continued into the house heading for the guest bedroom intent on putting the girl down on a bed so she could rest easier.
After putting the girl in the bed and placing the covers over her he called out again, "Otou-san!! Where are you? I'm pretty sure you are home."
The third time was the charm as he was answered loudly… by his father's snore from his work room.
Walking into the room, he finds books and ancient scrolls carelessly strewn about the floor, mechanical parts and ancient artifacts ranging from weapons to some unidentifiable items covering various desks.
Laying across the only couch in the room was his father Izumi Kazuma, snoring away with a book over his chest. It was obvious to Haru that his dad had been doing some research before he happened to nod away into oblivious sleep.
Haru sighs, then he brightens up as a malicious grin tugs at the corners of his mouth.
Silently creeping up to his father, he poked him to ensure that he was dead asleep, and not to his surprised he was answered with another loud snore.
Snickering, he took out the icicle pendant which was Yukihime and whispered, "Yukihime, can you create a piece of ice inside Otou-san's pants and shirt?"
"As you command master"
After a few seconds of waiting, the ice melted slightly and Haru was rewarded with his father's eyes popping open, impossibly wide, and suddenly hopping straight up, throwing off the books that were laying on him.
Kazuma began to hop up and down, "Cold Cold Cold" he repeated like a mantra, trying to get the ice out of his clothes.
Unable to keep himself from laughing, Haru chortled at his father's antics, enjoying his father's attempts at getting the ice out of his clothes.
After a minute, Kazuma had finally gotten the ice out, however, not before a good amount of the ice had melted and soaked through his clothes.
"HARU!! What did you do that for!? I really shouldn't have given you Yukihime, worse, Yukihime why did you betray me!" yelled Kazuma.
"Sir, you told me that Haru was master now, as such I didn't betray you, I was only following master's order" Kazuma could have sworn that the intelligent device was having a laugh at his expense, and decided to glare at it.
Laughing at the expense of his father and his device Haru began to think about when his father gave him Yukihime.
***Flashback***
Six months ago,
"Haru, I'm giving you Yukihime now, you've now mastered most of the offensive spells I've taught you and have learnt to use Yukihime well enough."
"Otou-san! What would you use then? Yukihime has been with you for a long time! I can't just take her from you!"
Solemly Kazuma replied, "Haru, I'm getting old, I can't use her to her full potential anymore, and I've begun to use her as a crutch to my magic, it time that I brush up on my skills. Also Haru, you are my heir, Yukihime rightfully belongs to you."
"Arigato Otou-san, I shall treasure her." Replied Haru reverently.
"Do that, she is an amazing partner, I can't begin to count all the scrapes I've been able to survive if it wasn't for her."
"Otou-san, are you going to use another device now that you gave Yukihime to me?" ask Haru whilst clutching Yukihime tightly as if, if he were to let go she'd disappear.
"I'm planning on using a storage device, they aren't as good as intelligent devices, since they don't have the capability of auto-casting some spells for you, and they don't cut down on casting time too much but they are a lot more common." Replied Kazuma as he pulled out a card which held some similarities to those that one can find from a playing deck.
Flicking the card into the air, Haru watch as it turned into a staff that looked similar to Yukihime in her staff form, however, there were some differences.
One of which being the icicle on the top was more of an orb and the ice spikes on the sides seemed to curve upwards as if they were going to cradle the orb.
"Another disadvantage of a storage device is that it only has two forms, its civilian form which is the card and the staff form. So Haru, with that little lesson out of the way, what do you say for a little spar to get used to our new devices? I'll hold back as usual."
***End Flashback***
"So Haru, what was so important that you needed to disturb my sleep with such a prank?" said Kazuma as he glared at Haru.
Schooling his face into seriousness "Otou-san, earlier I felt a large magical signature, sort of similar to what I had to deal with a week ago, but when I arrived I found a girl my age fighting it. I was going to help her, but she managed to defeat it just as I was about to step in. To my surprise she even managed to seal it! Apparently those things are called Jewel Seeds. Soon after she passed out from her injuries and I brought her here."
"A girl eh?" said Kazuma waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Otou-san!" said a blushing Haru "Get your head out of the gutter! I'm too young for that stuff!"
"You may be now, but who knows in a couple of years?" teased Kazuma, suddenly his face became serious, "Alright, no more goofing around, let's see the girl's injuries and see what we can do. Afterwards I'm going to look up what I have on these Jewel Seeds, they sound familiar…"
The two of them headed to the guest room where Haru had left the girl, when the arrived they found her still asleep, whimpering in pain occasionally.
"Haru, please get the first aid kit we might be needing it considering her wounds, we'll need to take off her cloak and shirt to be able to clean her wounds correctly. I'll go do that while you get the kit and some hot water."
"Hai, Otou-san" with that answer Haru went off in search of the kit and started heating the water.
Coming back a few minutes later with both required items at hand, he hands a cloth soaked in water so that his father could clean the girl's wounds and bandage them. However, when they began to check her back, the sight surprised them,
"Wha… the… this girl's back is covered in scars… not just normal scars that children get but whip scars… who does this?"
"Otou-san… could she have been abused like I had been when you found me? Unless she was orphaned and trained by someone to use magic…"
"I don't know Haru, I don't know… but the best we can do is to finish bandaging her so that her wounds don't get worse, we won't know what happened unless we ask her…"
And so, the father and son finished bandaging the girl and left her to rest, As Kazuma left the room Haru spoke up,
"Otou-san, I'll watch over her, and if she wakes up I'll talk to her,"
"Alright Haru, it's a good thing that it's a weekend tomorrow, I'll leave you with her, wake me up if she wakes up," agreed Kazuma, as he walked out the room he added, "And Haru, I hope you get through your own demons"
Haru nodded understanding that his father meant the mental scars that he still had of the various beating he underwent with his so called family. He turned back to the girl lying on the bed and looked at her face, thinking,
How can there people that that in the world… she is as old as I am and probably had to undergo what I had to or worse for much longer than I did… If it wasn't for Otou-san I don't know what I would be… I was lucky… I am lucky…Why is it only me? I don't understand…
And so his thoughts continued for a few hours, and he spent them all wondering on how things such as this could happen in this world, and how lucky he had been to be lifted from such a life whilst many others weren't.
A sudden shift in the bed followed by a groan broke him out of his thoughts and his eyes immediately flew to the bed in which he girl lay. The girl was no longer asleep, she had awakened confused at where she was and what had happened.
"Where am I? What happened?"
"Don't worry I brought you here, you were injured and fainted after you seal that 'jewel seed', I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to bring you to a hospital so I took you home and asked Otou-san to treat you. Don't worry he knows how to treat wounds, he has done it a lot, so nothing bad will happen to you." Explained Haru
"Thank you for helping me, uhmmm…. Who are you?" asked the girl in a quiet tone
"Ahhh! I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Izumi Haru, and you are?" came the gentle reply from Haru.
"My name is Fate Tesstarossa"
"So how do you feel now Fate-chan?" Haru asked, adding on the –chan as he normally would to most girls of his age.
"Uhmmmm… I don't feel any pain anymore… it feels a lot better," suddenly her eyes widened as she recalled something "Bardiche! Izumi-san have you seen a back staff set with a yellow orb? Or a palm-sized golden triangle with a yellow gem set in it?" she asked him frantically.
Haru laughed, "Don't worry, your device is here," as he picked up Bardiche, which was still in its staff form and handed him to her.
"Sir are you feeling better yet?"
"Yes I am Bardiche, Thank you," she whispered to her device, smiling and stroking it gently before it turned into the golden triangle she had described earlier. She started to get up, wincing at the pain of her wounds, "I need to go now, thank you Izumi-san for helping me"
Putting a restraining hand on her shoulder Haru gently told her, "You need to rest for a bit; it was only a few hours ago that you got hurt."
"I can't I need to go, I have to collect more jewel seeds for Kaa-san, I can't disappoint her" replied Fate in a frantic voice, struggling weakly against his hold.
"Take it easy, even if you try getting more jewel seeds you'll probably end up worse."
"I really need to collect more for Kaa-san, I can't afford to waste time" she repeated desperately
"Why does she need these Jewel Seeds so badly? Do you know Fate-chan?"
"I don't know," she replied shaking her head, "Kaa-san wanted them so I'm collecting them"
What is so important about these Jewel seeds? I know that they have a lot of magical power, but what would they be used for? They are very volatile.
"Why would your mother want you to collect them? Wouldn't she be stronger than you and more able to collect them?" asked Haru.
Again she replied with a whispered "I don't know" further piquing Haru's curiosity
To ask your own daughter to collect something so dangerous...unless… Fate's mother views her as expendable?
Putting his other hand on her other shoulder forcing her to face him, he asks her with a serious face, "Fate-chan, does your mother 'punish' you when you fail to do what she asks?"
She pauses for a moment, slightly shocked, she then replies as if she was choosing her words carefully with a thin smile, "Well any mother would punish their child if they don't do as they asked."
Haru looked unconvinced, however, with how Fate's eyes seem to insist to him that there was nothing wrong and that that's how it is in the world, he decided to stop talking to her about it.
She fully trusts her mother unconditionally…It was kind of like how I was… I wanted to be as good as I could for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia because they were the only people I had in the world at the time…I don't know her circumstances, but she is similar to how I was…
"Fate-chan, rest for now," said Haru gently whilst those thought were running through his head, he then adds "I'm sure your mother understands that you need rest to be able to collect more Jewel Seeds" trying to convince her to rest her wounded body.
Fate nods, deep in her mind hoping that her mother will understand, as she laid back on the bed and closed her eyes in sleep.
Haru watched her as she fell asleep, Otou-san said that he taught me magic not for myself but for me to help others… I understand now. I want to help Fate-chan, not by helping her collect the Jewel Seeds, but help her so that she won't be under the illusion which I had also been once under.
Looking at her peaceful sleeping form one last time, he heading to his father's room to talk to him about what he had discovered from Fate.
Entering Kazuma's room, Haru proceeded to Kazuma's bed to wake his father, who sleeping in it.
Shaking the man, " Otou-san, wake up"
After repeating it a few times, Kazuma finally awoke with a groan. " I assume our guest is awake?"
"Nope, she is asleep at the moment" replied Haru with a grin.
Groaning Kazuma replied, "Why did you wake me up then? Don't tell me this is another of your pranks."
"Yup!" Haru replied cheerfully, as Kazuma groan and collapsed back on the bed. "I only said she is asleep at the moment, she did wake up."
"What!?" Kazuma suddenly sat up quickly accidentally slamming his head on the headboard of the bed.
"Hahahah" laughed Haru, "I got you there!"
"If you're done laughing at me, tell me what's going on" said Kazuma whilst scowling at Haru
"Ok ok, Basically her name is Fate Tesstarossa, and when she awoke she seemed to be very worried about not being able to collect enough Jewel Seeds for her mother, she kept saying that if she doesn't collect enough, she'd disappoint her mother, I asked her a few questions such as why her mother needed them, why isn't her mother the one collecting them, and also if her mother 'punishes' her if she fails" recounted Haru.
"Hmmm…. Tesstarossa, where did I hear that from?… No matter… So Haru, what were her answers to your questions?"
Haru continued, "she basically doesn't know why her mother wants them, neither does she know why her mother had her collect them, and the way she answered my last question implied that her mother did punish her if she fail to collect the Jewel Seeds probably by beating her…"
"So what do you think about her situation then?"
"Well… I thought about it and also what you told me when I asked you to teach me magic, and I decided that I want to help her… no I mean save her, what she's going through right now was similar to what I went through before you found me." Haru replied in a determined manner.
Kazuma smiled, "I knew I taught you well, now get some rest, it is late now, I want my rest too so go to sleep!"
Haru chuckled and answered with a "Hai, Otou-san"
With that, Kazuma went back to sleep, as Haru walked out the room and turned off the lights and began heading to his room, halfway there he turns around and heads to the room where Fate is resting in.
Walking into the room he looked at her peacefully sleeping form, seeing that the covers fell off he pulled them up to ensure she kept warm and grabbed a spare pillow in the closet to prepare a place to sleep on the floor near the wall.
Lying on the makeshift bed he closed his eyes in preparation to sleep. As he drifted off he promised that he would help save her from her own demons, the very ones he had encountered before.
------A few hours later----
The sun hadn't risen yet, but the sky had begun to lighten, the young girl named Fate Tesstarossa slipped out of her bed quietly and looked around the room.
Her eyes stopped at the sight of the boy… that had saved her. What was his name again? Oh it was Izumi Haru Seeing that he had slept without a blanket, she took the blanket that was on the bed and draped it over him, with a slow small rare smile.
"Arigato, Haru-kun" she whispered before opening the window silently and left through it.
---------------
The sun began to shine its rays of light through the open window, one of the stray rays shone on Haru's face, eventually causing him to rise. Yawning he took a look around the room, and saw the empty bed with the missing blankets.
Feeling something covering his lower body he looked down and smiled, noticing the blankets that belonged to the bed covering him. Stretching he got out of the bed and checked the house for the girl,
"Fate-chan are you here?"
After looking for her worriedly for five minutes he suddenly remembered the open window in the room, I remember that window being closed last night… unless… she left while I was sleeping…I wanted to talk with her a bit more…best tell Otou-san about this
Walking into his fathers room and seeing his bed set, he went to the study, and not to his surprise he saw his father in the room.
As Haru entered the study, Kazuma looked up from his work and said "Ahhh, I guess you found out that the girl is missing, I assume she went back to her place to give her mother the Jewel Seeds she collected last night."
Haru looked at his father surprised, "Did you see her leave?"
"No I woke up and checked in her room and guess what I found?" he raised his eyebrow.
Haru blushed a bit "I just wanted to make sure she was ok"
"It's ok, not like you two are old enough for that stuff yet," snickered Kazuma.
"Otou-san! Stop thinking perverted stuff! I'm only nine! She looks like she's around my age!"
"I know I know," he chuckled, "I'm really only messing with you"
"By the way Otou-san do you know what these Jewel Seeds are? I really don't understand why someone would want to collect these… It took me so much effort to subdue four of them and that wasn't even a permanent solution, they are really volatile."
"Well Haru, I haven't really found much, when I used to work for the Time Space Administration Bureau before I retired to do my own research on lost ancient magical knowledge, I remember that there were mentions of some Scrya clan discovering them, as far as I know they were in the process of excavating them at the time…"
Kazuma paused for a bit to remember the details,
"If I recall correctly there were quite a few of them, and legend has it that they had the power to grant wishes, however one thing that was known about them was that they are highly unstable and will cause violent disturbances to whatever it fuses with and it fuses with things pretty easily."
"So Otou-san, I guess these Jewel Seeds are more important than I thought they were at first." Haru took a deep breath, "Well then, if I follow up on any Jewel Seeds that appear I'll be able to find out more about Fate-chan and possible help her"
"Ahh, Haru I wish you luck, I believe that you can take care of this on your own, if not I'll help you if you want"
"No Otou-san, I'll do this alone… This is something that I need to do, to close that chapter of my life."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: I promise, I won't use a lot of Japanese words, just enough for me to convey the feeling, I'll use the honorifics where necessary, but I won't be spamming Japanese phrases left and right
I know Haru may seem a bit mature for a nine year old, but hey… he did get beaten up for a good chunk of his young life, I'd think that'd force someone to mature a bit faster.
Japanese word / Translation (Subject to additions/changes):
(I'm not great at this, so if I miss the meaning for a word, tell me and ill change it)
Shimatta - curse word, kind of like Damn it
Yukihime – Snow Princess
Naginata – weapon, staff with a katana-like blade on top (check it out on wiki if you want)
Otou-san (Tou-san) – Father
Okaa-san (Kaa-san) - Mother
Jiji – Old man
Ohayo – Good morning
Sayonara – Good bye
Arigato – Thank you
POSTED: 08/09/2008
EDITED: 11/25/2008