Through Her Eyes
By: Nanashi Sonzai
Disclaimer: I own nothing except Shirei Kurai Night, Shi Kurayami, Sei Hikari, Tsuriai Kage, Hakai, Sozo, Jigen, and Nanashi Sonzai. And the few familiars and the plot. But I don't own Harry Potter or the songs or the various series that may or may not be referenced in this fic.
Summary: This is the story of Shirei Kurai Night, 18-year-old Miko with a bent for both languages and various arts, including those of Bushido and Ninjitsu. On holiday in London, she finds herself thrown into a place she has only read about, with no explanation beyond her own insights. But those might not be enough to return the young priestess to her home. For there is more to this young girl than appears on the surface.
Chapter One: Into the Past.
The passengers of Tour Bus 13 were quite relieved to finally reach their stop at the Main Street of London. The trip had been rather stressful for all the passengers, full of tense silence and surreptitious glances toward a rather frightening individual. At first glance one wouldn't believe them a threat, but any provocation and you would think you had had a tornado sweep through. Followed by an earthquake. And a mudslide. And Armageddon. The passengers on the bus had quickly learned not to converse with said individual, as they didn't want to risk further irritation. The only person to talk with that person had come out of it scarred for life and in need of both a physician and a psychiatrist. It had been truly terrible to behold, and they had all learned an important survival rule.
Do not make any references to height when talking about or to someone who looks half your size if you wish to go unscathed.
Arriving at the stop, the passengers got off as though they had been granted freedom from the horrors of the afterworld. They each hurried to get out of there, glancing over their shoulders to make certain that the unholy terror was not following them. Indeed, this individual was the last to get off the bus. Walking down the steps with an air of calm, stopping once securely back on nonmoving ground, was a young teenage girl. As the bus drove off, she picked up her black and silver backpack to head off into the capital of England.
Ducking through the crowds with an ease earned by years of training, she looked around at the various display windows until she was nearly knocked to the ground by a well-dressed pig of a man who must have been 35 or so. The man, feeling rather inconvenienced, looked around for what he nearly tripped on, and finally noticed her standing right in front of him.
"What do you think you are doing, knocking into people like that? You could injure upstanding members of the community." The pig like man squealed, I mean said, to the young girl. She merely brushed off her black jeans and tank top, and started to push past his enormous bulk. He snorted with indignation and attempted to grab her, managing to get hold of dark violet hair. She merely tugged it from his grasp without looking and continued on her way, leaving behind the sputtering whale sized talking pig.
As soon as she was out of sight from the blimp-like humanoid, she immediately began looking around for a public restroom. That guy was just exuding nasty stuck up I'm-better-than-you-you-have-to-do-what-I-say-ness. She wanted to rinse or at least brush her hair after that thing had touched it. Finding the answer to her search, she immediately headed into the women's restroom at the mall and pulled out a purple hairbrush. After wetting it, she removed the tie and brushed through her knee-length or longer hair. Though it took some time, she made sure she had gone through all of her hair before tying it back in the style of Mikos, shrine maidens and priestesses, at the nape of the neck, with a strip of black leather. Checking her reflection, she concluded her hair was properly restrained. Heading back out onto Main Street, she looked around a bit more, her crimson eyes alight with curiosity.
As she moved through the streets, she was nearly run over by several more people. The small, slender girl just could not understand why people could not learn to watch where they were going. She studiously ignored the fact that she was only just five feet tall. She barely restrained herself from kicking out at the man who pushed past her without even an excuse-me. She sighed.
She had told her parents it was a bad idea to send the—her, her here. Damn it, why was it always so hard for her to think in the singular person? One of these days she knew she would slip-up…
Derailing that rather incriminating train of thought, the girl looked around, eyes darkened with slight paranoia. She never knew if there were other psychics around. Strengthening her formidable mental shields, she continued on her way to a small cafe. She ordered her meal and sat down, placing her fingers against her temples in an attempt to decrease her headache. Her fingerless elbow-length gloves, made of black leather with beautiful silver tooling, were cool and soothing, and her headache began to recede. She noticed a few people were looking at her strange attire, especially her silver armlets with inscribed black diamond runes. She huffed in annoyance, wishing she could just give them the Glare of Death, but the poor defenseless mortals would probably faint.
Beginning her meal, she sipped quietly at her green tea while listening for threats. While no one approached her yet, she knew someone would go after the tourist sooner or later. After all, that would be just her luck. She ate her salad calmly and stoically, as she had learned from all of her training as a miko, ninja, and follower of Bushido.
Of course, the training the others had from the times before was also extremely useful…
Focusing her attention back on her meal and the surroundings and away from her current train of thought, she sped up slightly in her consumption of food. Not only had she nearly lost her focus, but also she had almost started thinking about things best kept secret. Finally finishing her meal, she returned her tray and headed out. She noticed that some people followed her out of the shop, and when they continued to follow her for three walks around the various shops, she lead them into a small alley. They immediately fanned out around her; she counted four of them, all young men.
"What do you want?" she asked, her voice cold and monotone. The four people surrounding her shook slightly before hardening again.
"We want you to come give up the cash and any valuables on you, and just maybe we'll let you go." The leader of the small group of thugs said bravely. When she raised her eyes to his, he gulped. They were an angry vivid red, much like the color of blood. Regardless of the fear he felt, he signaled his gang to move when she made no sign of doing as they said.
It was over in a matter of moments.
Her feet, clad in black Chinese fighting shoes, moved in a blur as she kicked, dodged, and blocked. Her movements were smooth and graceful, speaking clearly of her knowledge and experience. She had them all unconscious on the ground before she stopped, returning to a relaxed stance, silver tooled black leather leg warmers briefly visible. Wiping the back of her hand across her forehead, she displaced her bangs just enough to give a glimpse of ruby and platinum. Brushing some hair behind her lightly pointed ears, which held double piercing, one pair of silver hoops with dangling ruby teardrops, and the other rune encrusted bands on her cartilage. Her ears disappearing back into her hair, she checked briefly that she still had her necklace. Lifting a black woven silk cord from beneath her shirt, she looked down at the finger length blue crystal teardrop twined with engraved platinum strips. Satisfied, she put it back beneath her shirt, in no way willing to tempt fate by leaving such an important treasure out longer then necessary.
Exiting the alley calmly, she returned to the crowds. Heading down a street to find a place to calm down and get under control, she struggled against the anger and dread of the others before it caused her to do something that would get them all in trouble. Finding a convenient bench, she sat down. Pulling out her iPod, she put on some of her favorite music so she could relax enough. After making as certain as she could no one was watching, she briefly closed her eyes and began.
'Hakai. You need to calm down.' She thought to the one who was responsible for the problem emotions.
'Those people made me mad, little one. But for your sake, I will back off.' Hakai replied, voice gentler then usual in the face of one she cared for.
Giving a brief feeling of acknowledgement, the young girl returned to the outer world, only to find that in the short time she had been oblivious to the world, it had decided to rain soon. She grumbled slightly before standing up, prepared to head off to attempt to find a place to stay. In her parents' haste to go to Egypt, they forgot to arrange for a hotel, or anything like that. Sighing, she headed off toward the Main Street Market area, listening to Evanescence the entire way.
'This is just my luck,' she thought bitterly as she moved through the crowds carefully to attempt to avoid being trampled. Soon after she had reached the area she had headed for, it had started raining, but it was pouring now. She had put away the iPod fairly quickly to avoid it being damaged, and fortunately she was quick enough. She sighed, trying to move under an easement to use some reiki to remove the water from her clothes, hair, and skin. And then call a push-button umbrella. As she headed toward the shelter offered by a nearby bookstore, there was a sudden shift in the crowds. Being, though she hated to admit it, much smaller than everyone in the crowd, she was pushed along a new path into a very dingy looking pub.
The young miko looked around the place in bewilderment, she had never seen such weirdly dressed people since the days when they had been… it didn't matter, but she thought England was out of the times of Merlin and the Dark Ages. Shrugging mentally and spiritually at the people who seemed well set in their ways, she decided to find the way out of this place. She sensed something about this place that made her highly uneasy.
Looking back toward the door that had been her entry, she knew from the press of the much taller gigantic Brits she could not safely make her way out the same way she had got in. She sometimes hated being half Japanese! A slight scowl passed over her highly elfin features as she looked around for another way out. Spotting an older woman in an emerald green cloak heading through a door in the back, she moved to follow after her. Once she got through the door, she found herself in the back yard of the pub. The woman in green had taken out a short stick and was tapping bricks in a particular order. The girl was struck by the similarity of this act to one of the things done in her favorite series, Harry Potter.
Until the brick wall opened into an archway.
She was shocked; through the archway the woman had opened, she could see a busy market, crawling with strangely dressed humans. When she looked more carefully, she could see that it was overflowing with power. Walking through the archway, she stepped into Diagon Alley.
She looked around in wonder at the magical shopping district, feeling much like she had stepped into a fantasy.
'You haven't, young one. But we are all glad to know you are happy.' Hakai said. Hakai was the one to speak with her the most often, after all.
The young girl merely smiled, but sent back feelings of warmth to the others within. She had always hoped that she would get to visit this place, but hadn't considered it truly possible. She couldn't help but smile, and spin slightly to look around this magical place. And though she had confirmation from the others, she couldn't help but feel some amazement and awe.
She, Shirei Kurai Night, was in Diagon Alley.
It was just too cool. The young girl, now identified as Shirei, looked in the entire store windows, gazing with awe and admiration at the wares displayed there. One of the first places she entered was Flourish & Blott's. Shirei was always interested in learning everything that she possibly could. She found some wonderful books on the mental magics and psychic arts, as well as some awesome books on enchantments and weapons/item-crafting. She headed over to the front desk with her purchases, and asked how much the amount was in pounds.
"For all ten books, the total would be two-hundred pounds." The desk clerk informed her.
Shirei merely raised an eyebrow at the price, but paid anyway, not wishing to cause a scene. She took her purchases and put them in her backpack, the books fitting quite well in it. She turned and headed out the door to avoid attracting too much attention. Once back on the street, she decided to merely go window-shopping. This went rather well, considering it wasn't raining here as it was in Muggle London. Shirei looked intently at various wizarding gadgets, wondering what they were for. She paused in front of a particularly intriguing store.
It appeared that after the series ended, a magical music store had opened in Diagon Alley. Shirei went inside and looked around at all of the beautiful instruments. Some were light and whimsical, others dark and mysterious. Her attention was caught by a beautiful light silver purple Ocarina, and a beautiful silver lyre.
'The Ocarina of Jigen and the Lyre of Sei… Shirei, you must reclaim them.' A dark voice spoke softly within her mind, different yet similar to Hakai's.
'I will, Shi. But, aren't those the instruments that She gifted to…?' Shirei asked, moving toward the stands to check on whether or not they were for sale. The one she was named most closely after sent back feelings of confirmation and reassurance, which meant that it would be explained later.
"Excuse me," Shirei called out to the person behind the register, successfully getting their attention.
"What is it," they asked, curious what the dark stranger wanted.
"How much are these two instruments?" Shirei asked, pointing to the Ocarina and the Lyre. The sales-witch came over and looked, checking the prices.
"The two instruments together would be about 30 Galleons," the witch said.
Shirei raised an eyebrow; clearly they had no clue of the value of the instruments in question.
"How much would that be in pounds?" Shirei asked as innocently as possible, trying to avoid calling to much attention to her.
"150 pounds, I assume you wish to purchase them?" Shirei nodded to the sales-witch, reaching into her wallet for the appropriate amount. Counting out the bills, she came to the realization that if she did this, she would only have 650 pounds left. She mentally shrugged, Shi had told her to do this, and she rarely disregarded the others' advice.
Handing over the money, she took the instruments from the woman almost reverently, wrapping both in black silk from her pack before placing them within it. Turning to leave before she drew any more notice, Shirei nodded to the woman before exiting the store. Once she had gotten a slight distance down the street away from the music shop, she sighed. This was a lot more nerve-wracking then she thought it would be.
As she passed by Ollivander's, she wondered what it would be like to go inside the place where all the Wizards at Hogwarts got their wands. Deciding that it would be worth the risk to satisfy her curiosity, she went through the door. The place was shadowed and dusty, very mysterious atmosphere to her. Reaching out carefully with her awareness, working to keep it from being noticed, she caught a flash of something familiar within the store.
The feeling was fairly weak, as though whatever it was coming from had been there for a long time but had been removed so that only the imprint and echo remained. Shirei had a few ideas on which one it was made by, as well as some guesses as to what for, but nothing more than that.
'The feeling is most reminiscent of Shi, under the domain of Darkness…. What could it be?' Shirei thought, her contemplation deep as she headed out of the store to avoid being noticed by the mysterious wand maker. She had no idea what would happen if Wizards who knew more about Magical Beings then most people ever do discovered her.
She exited the shop safely enough, and so continued her exploration of the Alley. Wondering where to go next, she bumped into a man in a blue robe with light blond hair. He grabbed her by her wrists, looking at her with great scrutiny. She began to feel nervous at his rough treatment, and began attempting to get away. He held firm, and when one of her slightly more violent attempts shifted her hair for a moment, he saw the flash on her forehead.
"Where did you get that circlet?" he asked, squeezing her arm slightly when she tried to look away. "Answer me!" Shirei remained silent, not willing to reveal any of her secrets. She stared into his eyes defiantly, and he noticed her lack of pupils. His face paled slightly, recognition setting in. He had caught a Dark Being in Diagon Alley!
"What are you," he said in wondering fear, looking into her pupil-less pale red eyes. Shirei stared back, terrified. He couldn't find out what she was, they'd try to kill or enslave her. She looked away from him; well aware that unless she wanted to have even more trouble from these people there was nothing she could do.
Auror Maltre looked down at the longhaired girl, trying to come to a decision about what to do. He had come to Diagon Alley to search for an intruder into the Magical World. The wards protecting the Leaky Cauldron had gone off, alerting the Defense Department of the Ministry of Magic that a rare species of Dark Being had invaded the magical shopping center. After the momentary panic had subsided, Aurors had gone to locate and retrieve it before any harm befell the citizens of Wizarding Britain.
Realizing that he had orders to bring the being he found in, he pulled the strange looking girl to him, to avoid splinching since he was going to Apparate. Looking into pupil less red eyes, he transported them both into the foyer that was the entrance to the Ministry of Magic.
Shirei was getting very scared now; a strange man had grabbed her and Apparated into the Ministry of Magic. She remembered from her readings of the series that the Ministry had always been highly intolerant of what it classified as Dark. And judging from what she knew, that would be her classification. What on earth was going to happen to her now?
Maltre took the strangely silent being through the lobby to the elevator, barely glancing at the Fountain of Magical Brethren as they passed. He pressed the button to take them to the Department of Ministry/Courtroom Ten, the Wizengamot Court.
Shirei felt tense as they descended through the levels of the Ministry. Somehow, they had detected her presence in their Alley. They must have upgraded the sensory wards on Diagon Alley. Somehow they now detected Dark Beings as well as Death Eaters.
It didn't surprise her that they would detect her, however. She is one of the Darkest Beings in existence. Any type of Dark Detector that scanned for inherent Darkness would spot her as soon as she stepped within its radius of scan. How the hell was she going to get out of this?
While Shirei mused on her options, Auror Maltre was also musing on a similar topic. The Wards that had gone off and signaled that a Dark Being had entered Diagon Alley were the ones that scanned the Beings for the Darkness inherent to their Nature. It had gone into overdrive as soon as the Being in question had entered the Alley. It had indicated that this Being was extraordinarily powerful and Dark. If the Being he had caught in the Alley were the one that had set off the Wards, then they would probably take it to the Unspeakables for study.
Both of them were drawn out of their thoughts when the elevator announced their arrival on the floor of The Department of Mysteries/ Courtroom Ten. Keeping his grip on her arm, Auror Maltre took her down the Hallway; nodding to the employees he passed on the way. When they finally arrived at the door to the Courtroom, he knocked to announce their presence. Waiting for them to acknowledge them, he looked down at the strange Being.
She was even paler then before and her eyes were a strange pinkish red. He felt her trembling in his grip, the tremors barely visible when looking at her. He thought that she looked completing terrified. He was actually a compassionate person, so he couldn't help but be concerned.
"Are you all right, Miss?" he asked gently, trying to calm the girl enough to answer him. She looked up at him with wide eyes filled with terror.
"N-no, I'm not," she said, speaking to him for the first time. He couldn't help but notice the shadowed beauty of her ethereal voice, sounding similar to an Angel.
"Might I ask why?" he asked as gently as he could, trying to sound friendly and sympathetic. She continued to look at him with her strange red eyes.
"I'm being taken to an unknown place for reasons I do not know and therefore cannot comprehend. I was forced to come to this place for reasons I don't know, and that terrifies me." She said, continuing to tremble as she spoke, her voice rising slightly toward the end.
Maltre was slightly shocked by her statements, she didn't even know what she had done wrong. He was about to ask her what she thought was wrong when Undersecretary to the Minister Weasley opened the door to call them in.
"We are ready to begin now." He said, holding the door open for the two of them as Auror Maltre pulled the girl into the Courtroom by her arm. He pulled her to the chair in the center of the room, sitting her down into it. He let go of her when the chains snaked around her, binding her to the chair.
Shirei couldn't help but begin to panic when the chains wrapped around her lower legs, forearms, and chest; binding her to the chair legs, arms, and back. She thrashed as much as she could, rocking the chair as she struggled. She looked up at the surrounding Wizengamot, glaring at them as they looked down at her trapped form.
"Are you done now?" the current head of the Wizengamot asked with a sneer of distain. Shirei stopped struggling, but also upped the level of her glare. She semi-recognized a few of the people in the room based off their descriptions in the series, but some of these people were completely new to her.
"I would like to know what in heru is going on." Shirei said in a dark and cold tone, causing the weaker willed people in the room to have a shiver down their spine. The Minister of Magic looked to his right, and his assistant stood up and unrolled a scroll of parchment.
"You are accused of breaching the Wards of the Leaky Cauldron, entering the Wizarding World, and being a Dark Creature." He said in a pompous tone that reeked of distain. Shirei raised an eyebrow in surprise at the charges.
"You dragged me here without warning, took me into a location I don't know against my will, and bound me by chains to a chair just for that?" her voice was filled with disbelief, and laced through with anger. The Assistant nodded enthusiastically, gaining confidence as time went by.
"Yes. You activated the Dark Being Detector when you entered the Leaky Cauldron, and the other Detector on the entrance to Diagon Alley. That is against multiple Laws of the Ministry, and we must decide your sentence." He stated, the last of his words containing a great deal of smugness. Many of the witches and wizards around the room nodded in agreement to his statement.
Shirei was shocked and appalled. They had become even bigger fools after the books ended. They were going to sentence her to something for something she had no control over at all. She paled drastically, her eyes lightening to an almost white pink.
"Now you will answer our questions. First, what are you?" a witch on the other side of the Minister ordered sharply. Shirei stared up at them with her extremely pale eyes.
"Kurai Tenshi." She barely whispered, extremely frightened by the possibilities that were running through her mind. The members of the Wizengamot looked at each other in confusion. They had heard of them before, but what were they?
"Why did you go into the Leaky Cauldron?" another asked, trying to get back to work.
"I was pushed in by the crowds who were trying to get out of the rain." The members were surprised by her response, they hadn't been expecting that.
"Why did you enter Diagon Alley?" a senior Auror from the Second War with You-Know-Who asked.
"I couldn't get out the way I came in, so I was looking for another way to leave." Her monotone voice contained no lie, so they moved on.
"What were you doing before being found by Auror Maltre?" the Minister asked.
"Exploring. I had never seen anything like it before." All the members looked at each other again. The Minister cleared his throat again.
"Based on the statements and evidence, I find the accused guilty of illegally entering the Wizarding World. However, because of the lack of knowledge on Kurai Tenshi, the accused will be placed under the control of the Department of Mysteries." He banged his gavel, ending the sick imitation of a trial. Auror Maltre returned to the chair where the girl was sitting. Tapping the chains with his wand, they unwound from her body, leaving her free to stand again. He grabbed her arm and pulled her upright, dragging her out of the courtroom. Going down the Hallway, he turned to the Director of the Department's office.
Shirei followed behind Maltre listlessly, wondering what she could do to get out of this. She couldn't let them find out what she could do! Besides, who knew what these people would do to her to learn more about her. Wizards were the reason she was the only one left.
Maltre stopped in front of the door to the Department Head Office and knocked. While he was distracted, Shirei broke away and fled down the hall as quickly as she could. She came to a corridor with many doors. She had no clue which door led where!
"She went this way!" she heard the wizards running down the hallways. Panicked, she opened a random door and shut it behind her. Calming slightly as she heard their footsteps go past without slowing, she began to take a look around her.
Shirei was in a large atrium, and standing on a raised dias in the center stood...
"The Veil..." she whispered in awe, moving forward to examine it more closely. It gave of energy much like the energy of Tsuriai and Jigen, but it was not unsimiliar to the deadly aura of Shi. This power was the Power of the Nameless One.
'So beautiful...' Shirei couldn't stop looking at it in fascination, everything focusing on the strange mystery before her. That is why she jumped in surprise when the door banged open.
"Stupefy!" the Unspeakable yelled professionally, reacting according to training upon finding anyone in the Veil Room. Shirei jumped out of the way on instinct, moving backwards towards the comforting energy on autopilot, not even realizing what she had done until she fell through the Veil.
As she fell through the Veil, all Shirei could feel was pain. It hurt, whatever this artifact was doing to them, and she didn't like it.
After a single instant that seemed to last an eternity, Shirei fell out of the Veil. She landed on her hands and knees, winded by the journey across space and time. When she managed to get the energy to stand she noted that she was still in the Department of Mysteries.
Everything was different. There was no Unspeakable attacking her, and she was on the Veil's opposite side. Everything was higher than it had been before she fell through.
Shirei looked around for a way out, leaving the Veil room. She came across an Auror near Courtroom Ten.
"What are you doing down here? Did you get separated from your parents?" Shirei couldn't believe the man wasn't trying to capture her, but she decided to play along with his ideas.
"My daddy and I were Flooing to Diagon Alley, but I got sent here..." she sounded different from before, but she ignored it for now. The Auror looked down at her with compassionate sympathy.
"Here now, I'll take you to Diagon Alley, and you can find your dad." He held out his hand, and she put her small hand in his. Giving the strange child a reassuring smile, he Apparated.
Reappearing in Gringotts Lobby, he looked down at the child. She was looking around with a slight awe on her face. When she looked up at him and smiled, he felt his soul lift.
"Thank you sir. I think I can find them now." she said in a soft voice. He gave her a concerned glance, but he was called away to the office. Giving her a card with his name and floo, he disapparated.
Shirei relaxed a bit when the Auror gave her his information and left, but it was time to figure out what the Veil had done. She looked around carefully before heading out of Gringotts to find a place to do the investigation. As she walked down the road, she noticed that everything was different then before.
To start with, everything was higher than it was before. The people were more friendly and less guarded than they had been last time. Stores that she had found were not there. But it was the feel of the Wards that truly indicated differences.
The Wards that searched for inherent Darkness were not there anymore.
As Shirei brooded over this information she passed by Madame Malkins. She happened to spot herself in the mirror out of the corner of her eye. What she saw stopped her in her tracks.
In the mirror was a small child of eleven years, with dark violet hair that brushed their ankles, pupil-less crimson eyes, pale skin, and black tunic, skirt, pants, belt, and shoes. All the jewelry and the gauntlets were the same as her own. On their forehead was a ruby crescent moon with a silver sun between its upturned points, framed by platinum wings.
The child in the mirror was herself, at the age of eleven years.
What in heru was going on here! She was returned to age eleven, the Wards were gone, and everything seemed so familiar, almost a sense of deja vu, like she had come to associate with the training from the others' memories. What had happened when she fell through the Veil?
'The aura of the Veil... that was the Nameless One's signature... with Overtones of Jigen and Tsuriai... it is possible that we have been sent into the past, little one...' Hakai's gentle tones soothed her agitation with the reasonable explanation. She sent feelings of agreement and gratitude toward the one who comforted her, and began searching for a newspaper.
She found one in Flourish and Blott's. Keeping out of sight from all the magic-users around her, Shirei opened the paper she had "borrowed". When she looked at the date, she stared in open shock and amazement.
July 31, 1991. The day Harry Potter was first introduced to the wizarding world.
Seven years before she was born.
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