Versus
Chapter 1
Dust from the barren training field whipped in their faces from the wind. The sun beat down mercilessly like it was wont to do in Fire Country's terrible summers. Iruka and Mizuki stood at adjacent points to sparring square. Given who the fighters in the middle were it made sense to have both teachers for the class present. It was also not too surprising that the class was a good distance away from the fight. Sweat beaded on Iruka's brow and he shot Mizuki a look. His friend gave a minute shrug and nodded. Iruka got the message, it wasn't like they could avoid this fight. Everyone had to fight an open match with all ninja disciplines allowed. It was simply their bad luck that these two would be the ones tied for the top spot.
"Yamanaka Harry, no fatal attacks," Iruka said. The boy turned his furious green eyes to him once and nodded. "Nara Bella," he said to the black haired beauty of the shadow-user clan, "When I say the match is over, it is over!"
The girl gave him a sweet smile but it looked to him like a snake was bearing fangs. The girl had always had a frighteningly developed killing intent. "Of course, sensei. We wouldn't want Harry-chan to get hurt."
"Fuck you, bitch," Harry snapped back. "I'll beat you like I always have."
"Yamanaka Harry, Nara Bella!" Iruka snapped. It was best to head them off before they started ranting at each other. He never understood half the nonsense they spouted. "Begin!"
The ground around the two suddenly cracked, columns of earth rose and other fell. Nara Bella cursed and leapt from column to column, trying not to get crushed. Yamanaka Harry stood where he had at the beginning of the fight. One hand spread open above the ground and the other in a hand seal. He clenched his fingers in a fist and the rippling earth took that command to swallow the Nara beauty. Iruka was about to intervene when Mizuki signaled him to halt.
There was a crack of noise and the girl appeared behind the auburn haired prodigy of the Yamanaka clan. Her black and green yukata was covered in dust and blood streaked her face from wounds on her head. Harry leapt up and to the side as soon as he heard her appear but her shadow was faster. Defying anything Iruka had ever seen a Nara do, the shadow rose from the ground and tied itself around Harry's limbs. In one more heartbeat she had her hands wrapped around his throat.
Uzumaki Naruto started cheering for Nara Bella along with quite a few boys from the class. Iruka shifted his eyes to his favorite student for just a second and then back to the battling pair. He felt deeply troubled about Naruto's impressionable personality being around the ever nebulous Nara Bella. Mizuki called to him, "I think she's got it," he said, "Only a matter of time before he passes out or she crushes his windpipe."
"No!" the heiress of the Yamanaka clan shouted. "He isn't done for yet!" Ino, the only contender for Kunoichi of the year title against Nara Bella, was staring fixedly at her clansmen.
"Never mind," Mizuki said with a grin. "I think we're going to get to see one another Yamanaka Harry surprise."
Iruka grumbled, "Is teleportation not enough of a surprise for you?" In answer Mizuki simply cast his eyes to the rock outcropping far in the distance. The heads of several clans could be seen there. Words of the fight between the two prodigies of Iruka's class had gotten out. Everyone wanted to witness the never before seen techniques the two academy students were rumored to have created.
Nara Bella started screaming in outrage. An invisible force seemed to be making her hands unclench and her shadow release Yamanaka Harry. She fell to her knees while Harry stood above her and stared into her eyes with burning hate. Her hands bent upon themselves and grabbed her own throat. "It's over, you're going to die by your own hands, you evil bitch!"
Iruka frowned at the boy's words but he couldn't disagree. Nara Bella had been more of a ninja walking into class the first day than any of her peers graduating that week. She had the mentality of a veteran from the Bloody Mist. Iruka expected she would be picked up by a specialist branch very fast. But it had been his job to drill teamwork and care for her comrades. He wasn't sure he had succeeded, no matter Naruto's adoration of her.
"You self-righteous mudblood!" Nara Bella hissed. "You call me evil when your entire clan practices dark mind arts!"
A shiver went through Yamanaka Harry and whatever control he had over Nara Bella's body began to loosen. She was able to pull her clawing hands away from her throat. "Face it, Potter, this world is for people like me. What will you do when I'm dead? Be a light ninja?" She howled in laughter as Harry's face lost all color and his control over her broke. Lightning quick, she plunged a kunai in his gut.
This time Harry fell to his knees, holding the blade in his stomach. Iruka and Mizuki ran to stop the fight when Bella fell to the ground and began writhing in agony. Her screams curdled Iruka's blood, cuts appeared on her body, her skin began to melt as if she were on fire. Before the two chuunin could do anything the heads of both the Nara and Yamanaka clans appeared.
Yamanaka Inoichi stood between the two facing his clansmen. "That's enough, Harry. Let her go!"
Harry's green eyes met his clan head's in a contest for a fraction of a second and before he looked away Nara Bella's screams lost their desperation. She remained whimpering in pain. Her clan head, Shikaku, picked her up bodily and disappeared off to the hospital. Inoichi did the same for Harry.
"They're monsters," Kiba said out loud in obvious fear. "Did you see that? He tortured her with his mind! With his mind!"
"What'd you expect?" Uchiha Sasuke said. "He did what he was supposed to."
"Bastard," Naruto jumped against the last Uchiha as always. "He was killing her!"
"Only after she tried to kill him first, idiot," Sasuke snapped back. "Though…that technique, the teleportation, it was too fast to follow, and her shadow techniques are even better than the clan heir."
Naruto grinned. "You're damned right! She's the best."
Sasuke snorted. "It's obvious Harry was winning-"
"That's right, Harry-kun is the strongest!" Ino interjected.
Naruto flipped them both off. "Well what does that make you two? Second best shinobi and kunoichi of our class? You know second best is the same as the first loser, right?"
"You'd know all about being a loser wouldn't you, Naruto!" Ino reared back and put him on the ground with a haymaker.
The instructors decided to stop the brawl that was breaking out. Iruka worried for their future. Harry and Bella separately were very capable and Harry especially cared about his classmates. But with Bella on the opposing team he only saw blood. The fact that these two children had developed original techniques and taken their clan techniques to new levels was troubling.
He let Mizuki control the class as he walked to the gathering at the rock outcropping. He could make out the features of that year's jounin sensei and one of the elders. Undoubtedly the Sandaime was also somehow keeping watch. He hoped there wouldn't be any repercussions for either of his students. Sasuke only responded to Harry in class. It was as if they had an unspoken understanding of each other. The grieving and difficult boy would be worse off if Harry were to be released from the ninja program. For much the same reasons Naruto would be devastated if Bella came to a bad end.
xXx
Homura, elder of the council, sat at his desk in the Hokage tower. As usual his small office overflowed with scrolls, maps, and various books. In his old age he had taken to more scholarly pursuits of chakra manipulation when not attending to village duties. His latest interests were Yamanaka Ao and Nara Kumori. He was well aware of their preferred nicknames, Harry and Bella, but paid them no attention.
He unfurled a scroll he kept on the Nara girl. His pen flowed without hesitation over the end of the parchment, noting down new observations from the fight at the academy. The child had somehow created a space-time technique more advanced than that of the Yondaime and Nidaime. The only downside was the sound… but already she seemed to be reducing the noise. If she managed to increase the range and stealth of the technique she would have the potential to be Konoha's best assassin. The intellectual side of the elder noted various theories on how she had managed the technique.
Steam rose from a cup of green tea at his elbow. He paused to sip from it and stared out unseeingly from his square rimmed glasses. It was a foregone conclusion that Danzo would want the girl, but Homura wanted her for himself. On this he would not bend. Noting to himself to bring up her over-emotional personality to dissuade Danzo he put her name down for Hatake Kakashi's team. It was a precaution. Kakashi was too high-profile a ninja and his students were to be the same. It was already decided that the Jinchuriki and the Uchiha would be his students. Nara Kumori would be safest under his care until he could take her in himself for further training and study. Danzo or any other clandestine division would have find it impossible to poach her from under Kakashi.
The clock in his office rung noon. Homura sighed. He had only a handful of minutes before his meeting and he wanted to be done with his team recommendations for the Hokage. He moved over the scrolls for the Uchiha and the Jinchuriki, the decision for their placement had been made years ago. Only Kakashi could be trusted to keep both loyal, to train both, and if worst happened to subdue the beast with his eye. The only other person of interest was Yamanaka Ao.
The elder grimaced when he unfurled the boy's scroll. Sarutobi was inordinately fond of the boy. Unlike the Nara girl who only seemed to have consideration for Naruto, the Yamanaka prodigy helped everyone. If the Will of Fire was in anyone it was the boy. Homura expected that Kakashi would ask to train the boy, he was like him in many ways without the tragic life history. The boy was already known for his exceptional skill with earth manipulation. He had the ability to make the battlefield entirely his own like he had shown with his fight with Nara Bella. Homura scratched more lines under his skills for the advanced Yamanaka techniques. Somehow he had taken control of Nara Bella's body without sending his spirit out fully. To have discovered a way to cover the historic weakness of the body-switch technique was worthy of a commendation in his record. No doubt the clan's prestige and power would rise based on just that technique alone.
His pen stopped sharply on the scroll as he thought of the technique the boy had used to win the fight. The torture technique - was it an illusion made real like rare members of the Kurama clan had been capable of? Unlike those wretched creatures of the Kurama clan that had been cursed with that power, Ao did not seem to suffer. Homura frowned and put his pen down. He drank from his cup, the tea was rapidly cooling, a minor fire jutsu warmed the tea up again. Deciding on his placement was very difficult. He would flourish in a team where he didn't have to compensate for weaker members. That way he could pay attention to his own training. But teams were never created with that intention. All members compensated for others. Unfortunately, the tendency to help others was too strong in the boy and it often worked to his detriment. In that Nara Kumori was a superior ninja to him.
"But who to place you with…" Homura tapped his desk and went over the list of jounin. Hyuuga Hiashi would be an unrelenting taskmaster and his pride wouldn't allow anything but the impossible from the boy. Unfortunately, Hiashi was a political animal and handing him a possible future S-class shinobi like Yamanaka Harry may not be the best idea. Frankly, if he or Koharu were younger, it would be best if they took him on in a genin cell. Tentatively, he noted speaking to Koharu to take him on once he became a chunnin. Maybe a simply adequate jounin would be enough to get Yamanaka Harry to chunnin.
There was a knock on his door. Homura checked the time, it was his appointment. Aburame Shibi entered and gave the elder a short bow. Homura motioned the man to sit down and mused that he had known Shibi's grandfather when he was still a young man. "What can I do for you, Aburame-san?" It wouldn't do to be too familiar in an official meeting. The man adjusted his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose. Homura had learned this to be a clan wide nervous gesture.
"As you know several clan heirs are graduating this year. I have come to speak about potential jounin-sensei for my son's team," the Aburame's clan head said in his traditional monotone.
"The teams have not been finalized nor the jounin-sensei," Homura said. "I was just working on my recommendations."
"Some teams are logical regardless of recommendations, Homura-sama. It's clear the heirs of the Yamanka, Nara, and Akimichi will be in one team under a Sarutobi sensei. Such an opportunity to exercise tradition will not be passed over," Shibi said. Homura simply nodded and indicated for the man to go on. "Going in length about other logical assignments is a waste of our time. I am certain you have come to the same conclusions."
Homura felt a little irritated with the young man. It certainly wasn't as simple as the Aburame made it sound. Otherwise he wouldn't be having such a difficult time placing the promising students from that year. "As you wish," he said, not giving away his annoyance. "Why don't we speak about your son, then? He did…well."
Shibi did not seem to notice the subtle insult. His son had been decidedly middling in the class rankings. "I have received word that a rookie jounin has been selected for my son's team. He is to be placed with the Hyuuga and Inuzuka heirs. That the Hyuuga do not care for their heir does not mean that the Aburame feel the same for their own. I wonder, Elder Homura, what message is being sent to us when other heirs will have jounin like Hatake Kakashi and the Hokage's son?" At the end the monotone had become a little more heated.
Homura had to entertain the thought that Shibi was actually upset and not simply angling for some political concession. "You're referring to Yuhi Kurenai, a gifted kunoichi. She has made quite a name for herself. We are proud of her achievements."
"Ah, yes, Konoha's Mistress of Illusion. The nom de guerre loses any prestige when we have no Uchiha left and the Kurama clan is defunct. In the absence of traditional specialists of illusion…" Shibi trailed off when he saw Homura's raised hand.
"Thank you, Aburame-san," Homura said with a smile. "You just solved a problem for me. Rest assured, I will do what I can to ensure your son's team has a different jounin." Homura watched for and found the subtle tells of surprise on the man's face. He had not expected to win so fast.
Aburame Shiba stood and bowed. "Thank you, Homura-sama."
Left alone again, Homura quickly penned in his recommendations. Now all he had to do was recruit Koharu for the little tableau he wanted played out.
xXx
The Association of Konoha's Kunoichi was just breaking up when Koharu signaled to Yūhi Kurenai. The young woman busied herself with her things as others left the changing rooms of the hot springs. Koharu made sure to take her sweet time getting dressed. Making the young kunoichi wait would be a good way to build the tension. The changing rooms were fairly spacious with lockers made of polished wood and comfortable benches conveniently placed.
"Lock the door," Koharu ordered. The kunoichi responded with quiet speed and locked both entrances. Koharu sat on a bench as if it were a throne and gazed at the newly minted jounin. There had been a dearth of outstanding kunoichi with the deaths of Uchiha Mikoto and Uzumaki Kushina. Tsunade had long left the village and Inuzuka Tsume was the only visible kunoichi of significant reputation. The young kunoichi, Yuhi Kurenai, had potential to change that. Unfortunately her peers were such legends as Hatake Kakashi and Mito Gai. It would be nigh impossible for her to reach their infamy. But at times only the right sort of motivation was needed to grasp greatness. Homura had given the tools to manipulate Kurenai on that path.
"I am told you requested a genin team, specifically Hyuuga Hinata's team," Koharu began in a disapproving tone. The young woman before her didn't so much as fidget.
"Yes, elder, I have guarded Hinata for several years, I feel I can teach her best," Kurenai said confidently. Her red eyes were steady and didn't betray her thoughts.
"Walking the heir of perhaps the most powerful clan back and forth from school is not a qualification for the role of jounin-sensei," Koharu said caustically.
"With all due respect-" Kurenai began.
"Quiet. You are a rookie jounin. You are expected to take the long and broad view of issues at your rank," Koharu interrupted. "Reaching the rank of jounin is no mean feat, however, that does not mean you are truly the elite of our village. Your career and your rise to this rank has been average. Your peers achieved jounin status long before you-"
"Not all of them did, I am one of the few," Kurenai said and this time she was frowning. Her already pale skin had paled even further in anger.
Koharu locked gazes with her for a moment and then with the surety of plunging a knife in, she said, "All those who mattered did." She waited for another outburst from the young kunoichi but seeing only muscles tensing in her jaw, Koharu continued, "As I said, you are expected to take the broad view. So you will understand that handing clan heirs to an untested, rookie, jounin is not in the interest of the village." She stood and acted as if she were ready to leave. "Had you gained more strength and reached the same heights as your peers we would have trusted you with high profile students."
"If I'm not given a chance to prove myself, how can I earn your trust?" the young kunoichi snapped finally.
Koharu inwardly smiled. The girl had played into her hand. She still didn't have the confidence in her abilities to recognize something else than concern over her power was afoot. "Well, perhaps…we have some leftover students. One of them might even be gifted. If I were to speak on your behalf to the Hokage. But, Yuhi Kurenai," Koharu paused a let some of her killing intent flow in the room, "Should you fail to bring out the potential of your students and raise your threat level, I will personally bring an end to your career for disappointing me."
Kurenai bowed her head. "I swear you won't regret trusting me, Koharu-sama."
"Let's see what the Hokage thinks. I will do my best to champion you. Now let's get out of here." Koharu said and swept from the room. That had been entirely too easy.
xXx
Kurenai was in training ground 13. It was a place she was usually able to find peace. She stood outside a grotto on water that looked a milky green. Black porous rock formed little islands in the manmade lake. Tall trees ensconced the grotto to make it a secluded place. From experience Kurenai knew the rock surfaces to be slick with water and treacherous. The depth of the lake changed sharply, making falling in it a dangerous prospect too. But the small waterfalls and the quiet made it a good place to meditate.
No matter the conducive environment, Kurenai didn't feel peaceful at all. Her meditation was disturbed by her fury. To be dismissed like a child by the elders! To have all her efforts to earn the jounin rank be called average! Did they think it was easy? And, poor Hinata, the girl needed careful handling. To pawn her off to Inuzuka Tsume of all emotionally blind women was insanity. That is nothing to say of giving her a partial team.
That last thought gave her pause. It was strange. The elder had said she was to be given leftovers. That implied that the students would be unpromising. Yet, she had netted the rookie of the year and a girl who was solidly in the top ten percent. Why would they trust her with the Yamanaka prodigy and not the less stellar heirs in the original team she was supposed to get.
She heard the sounds of someone approaching the grotto. It must be my students. Originally she would've tested them but after her conversation with the elder she knew their failure was hers. There was no way she was letting that happen. So she planned on giving them some cake test for appearance's sake. She smirked to herself. She had no idea what game the elders were playing but with a student like Yamanaka Harry she pretty much had the sensei gig in the bag. Hinata often sung praises of the auburn haired boy. The girl, hopefully, wouldn't too much trouble. In fact the more she thought about it, the better the situation looked for her.
Her two students hopped over rocks, balancing well, and Harry even helped the pink haired girl a couple of times. Teamwork will be easy to instill, but the girl needs to stop acting like a damsel in distress. She didn't think they would've had time to synchronize their clothes but both had red gear on. The girl wore a red qi pao and Harry wore black pants and a red shirt.
"Good morning, Sensei-" the boy began when he was within speaking distance but suddenly froze. The girl hopped to a rock next to him and have Kurenai a short bow.
"Are you alright?" Kurenai asked her male student. His green eyes had gone wide and his mouth was slightly open. He seemed to be lost in some vision. If Kurenai didn't know any better she would've thought he was under a genjustu.
"Voldemort!" he shouted and killing intent roiled over him. Kurenai had only a moment before the boy launched himself at her. She slapped his kunai aside and followed up with a roundhouse kick. It hit him in the side hard and threw him into the grotto.
"Harry-kun!" Sakura shouted.
The rock Kurenai was standing on suddenly cracked open. She struggled for balance but gave it up when the rock parted and rows upon rows of teeth appeared in its stony maw. She leapt in the air. It was the opportunity the boy was looking for. He had come out of the grotto and was standing waist deep in the water. His hands were together in the seal for the Yamanaka body-switch technique.
Kurenai felt her arm move of its own volition and punch her in the gut. She fell out of the air and into the water. The muddy bed swirled around her, blanketing her, and sucking her deeper inside. The mud and silt poured into her mouth and nose. With instinctive ease she used the kwarimi to get herself out of the trap.
She appeared standing above the grotto, sopping wet with mud and water. Before Harry could attack her again she put him under the Hell viewing illusion. As a Yamanaka the boy should have training to resist illusions but she only needed a little breathing room. Killing intent starting spiking as soon as she cast the illusion. She looked for her other student and found Sakura had gotten out of the way and climbed a tree.
"No… Mum, Sirius! I won't let you kill them!" he roared and broke out of the illusion. He looked around in obvious confusion. "Um, what happened?" he said looking up at Sakura who he spotted before Kurenai.
Kurenai had had a very trying few days. She used all her jounin speed to appear next to him and slap him upside the head. He tumbled into the water and appeared a moment later spewing water and spluttering. "What was that for?"
"That was for attacking your superior officer!" Kurenai snapped, wringing her hair of mud.
"No one warned me you had red eyes. I thought you were…" he started then with an audible click shut his mouth. The boy's face lost color and he looked embarrassed.
"Yes?" Kurenai demanded furiously.
"Ah, sorry…the red eyes kinda set me off."
Kurenai rubbed the bridge of her nose. Of course, it all made sense now why Yamanaka Ao (Harry to his friends, and she felt she definitely wasn't in that category) was on the leftover team. He was a little psycho whose trigger happened to be red eyes. The elders hate me, Kurenai concluded. "Do you have issues with red eyes too?" Kurenai focused not a little killing intent on the pink haired girl.
Sakura had just managed to come down the tree and make it back to the rest of her team. "No, sensei!"
Kurenai glared at her. "Do you have any other mental issues that will surprise me?"
Sakura fidgeted and gave a very unconvincing, "No?"
Kurenai was usually a very composed woman. "Just out with it. I want to know if my other student is going to start attacking me too."
"No, sensei! I swear she wouldn't do that!" Sakura shook her head violently.
"She?" Yamanaka Ao entered the conversation again. "Who's she?"
Sakura fidgeted some more and gave them both a sheepish grin. "The… voice in my head?"
Kurenai started weeping inside but kept a tough exterior outside. There was nothing she could do. Koharu-sama had told her in just as many words that if she didn't realize the potential of her students her career would be dead. She couldn't tell anyone Harry had tried to kill her or that Sakura heard voices in her head. "That's okay," she said in a convincingly warm tone. "Some of the best ninja in Konoha are crazy. I'm sure if we work together you will be legends in no time."
"Um, Sensei, that isn't very nice," Sakura said a little sadly.
"Forget that. Isn't her smile looking a little manic?" Harry asked Sakura.
'Team 13.' Kurenai should've known nothing good would come of that unlucky number.
xXx
12 years prior, Harry and Bella Age 1
Nara Mei opened up the door to see her friend's smiling face. "Mio! Come in, come in! Oh, let me see little Ao, I can't get over these gorgeous green eyes!"
Yamanaka Mio smiled as she handed her son over to Mei. As she was taking off her sandals she replied, "They really are beautiful, aren't they? I think he'll be quite a lady killer when he grows up." The two woman giggled as they cooed at the infant.
Harry smiled up at his Aunt Mei and gurgled happily before looking around for his playmate. He was here for his weekly scheduled playdate with Kumori, which he looked forward to. She and Shika were the only ones his age that he could stand for more than a few minutes at a time. The rest of the babies were, well, they were babies. Kumori and Shika were much more collected than the rest of their peers. He heard his mom say something about the Nara clan always having immensely intelligent kids, he supposed that was why he could relate to them more - he was, after all, a teenager in a baby's body.
As Mei walked into the playroom he locked eyes with his playmate. Kumori gave him a nod as he was set down next to her. He nodded back and proceeded to crawl towards a mass of blocks near the door. He might've been seventeen, but building stuff out of blocks never got old. Kumori usually liked to draw things and color in some coloring book.
Their mothers walked to the kitchen. Mei asked, "Some tea, Mio?"
"Oh, yes, thank you, Mei. Ao is such a delight but can be so exhausting sometimes! We've spent the entire morning practicing names for different things around the house. He's getting so big now, it's getting hard to carry him everywhere!"
Mei laughed and said, "How cute! How many words can he say now?"
Mio's face lit up as she said, "He can say a couple dozen now, at least! He's also starting to speak in sentences now, too!"
"Wow! That's really impressive, Mio, babies don't start talking in simple sentences until they're two, Ao's only a bit more than one!"
"Ha! As if Kumori is any different, you know she's just as smart as my Ao."
"Ah, that's true! It's such a pleasure hearing her speak, she's even more advanced than little Skikamaru, Shikaku's kid," Mei laughed, "I think Yoshino is a bit upset at that, I've noticed her trying to get Shikamaru to talk to her more than a few times."
The two women chuckled to themselves and slipped into a comfortable silence as they sipped their tea. Mei suddenly laughed again and Mio looked at her inquisitively. "What's so funny, all of a sudden?"
"It's just Kumori, you better not let her hear you call her that!" laughed Mei.
"What, her name?"
"Mmhmm. She insists on being called…" Mei paused as she tried to recall the name.
"Well?"
"Hang on, it's a bit tough to say. She started getting angry when I couldn't pronounce it right."
Mio blinked at her friend. "She gets angry at you?"
"Beh-ra!" exclaimed Mei suddenly.
"Beh-ra?" asked Mio.
Mei nodded and replied, "Yes, or something simliar. I don't think I said it right though."
In the playroom Harry was busy with trying to build Gryffindor tower. He couldn't help but overhear his mum's conversation with his aunt as he was right next to the door. He glanced at Kumori with amusement when he heard she got annoyed when she wasn't called Beh-ra. That was just like the stubborn girl. She was very adamant and demanding when she wanted something.
Wait, Beh-ra? Harry sat for a minute, staring at Kumori. Why did that name give him such a chill? Beh-ra… Beh-wa?
He scrunched his nose in confusion as he pondered the issue. His face slackened as a name popped into his head.
Bella.
His eyes narrowed and his tiny fists clenched. Bellatrix Lestrange.
Bellatrix, meanwhile, had calmly been trying to draw, knowing that it would improve her dexterity. She felt eyes upon her and looked up, and saw her playmate, Ao, looking at her with a slackjawed expression. What in Merlin's name is wrong with him? He doesn't usually look so utterly stupid. She turned her attention back to her drawing.
"Oo. Bish."
Bella blinked and stared up at Ao. Bish? She did a double take as she saw the pure rage and hatred on Ao's face. Emotions like that didn't belong on a babies face.
Harry's face quickly morphed into one of annoyance as he tried to say it again.
"Bish!" he insisted.
He's gone round the bend, I think, Bella thought to herself as she stared in fascination at the crazy baby.
"Argh! Bish. Bith. Bith!" Harry was having trouble pronouncing the word bitch. For a moment he forgot how angry he was supposed to be and focused only on getting the word out correctly. His new mouth and tongue had never spoken English before, hell, they could barely speak the new language his parents spoke. The problem was that his brain knew what he wanted to say but he had no muscle memory to back it up.
"Bi. Ch," said Harry as he attempted to break the word apart. "Bitch!"
He grinned toothily and shouted, "Wah! Bitch!" He pointed towards Bella but grimaced as he couldn't correctly pronounce the word 'yeah'.
Bella just sat there flabbergasted as she witnessed a baby call her a bitch.
Wait. Bitch? Did he just speak in bloody English?
"Oo spee Eng… ait, PO-ER?!" exclaimed Bellatrix, giving a grimace of her own at her mutilated words.
Harry was glaring at Bellatrix with all the hate his cute little face could project. This little cunt had killed his godfather. She had tortured Neville's parents into insanity. She had gone through the veil with him. It had to be her. He had suspected for months that she had also been reborn in this world, but never knew for sure. Until now.
Bellatrix's astonishment faded and she grew amused at the sight of a baby staring at her with such venom. "Aww, icka 'awwy Po-er, oo eah too!"
Harry's rage just intensified as he translated her words. Mocking him, again! How fucking dare she! "Oo kiwoo Siw… Swi… Pafoo!"
Bellatrix just lost at it that and fell to the floor in peals of laughter. Harry screamed at her with all the force he could muster and tried to walk over to her so he could punch her, but only succeeded in falling flat on his face. Bellatrix saw and tears started leaking out of her eyes as she laughed even harder.
"Bish!" screamed Harry. GODDAMNIT, WHY CAN'T I SAY BITCH!?
He got up and started crawling towards Bellatrix, murder in his eyes. "Uck oo!"
"Uck oo!" cackled Bella as she started crawling towards Harry too.
Harry let out a childish yelp of anger as he reached Bella and reached out to punch her in the face. Bellatrix tried to do the same - both ended up on the floor, tangled in each others arms. They each shouted incoherently and tried to get the upper hand. Harry managed to get Bellatrix beneath him and put his hand on her neck to try and throttle her.
Bellatrix wheezed as she tried to push Harry off of her. When that didn't work she used her infant flexibility to bring her legs up and kick Harry off of her. She coughed as she attempted to get back upright and then suddenly grinned. She had forgotten about her drawing pencil. She giggled as she gripped it in her hand and crawled towards her opponent. She raised it high above her head and was about to bring it plunging down on his eye when she abruptly felt a sense of vertigo as she was lifted five feet into the air.
"Kumori!"
"Ao!"
As their mothers babbled apologies to each other, Harry and Bellatrix could only glare at each other balefully.
"M gon geh oo…" whispered Harry.
Bellatrix smiled sweetly at him and whispered back, "Jess ty it."
Edit: July 7th, 2014 - some minor syntax fixes.
