I've never found a plausible HP crossover that's Kakashi/Sasuke, and I'm just too impatient to wait for it happen. That's my main reason for writing this. Being a crossover, you'll have to suspend your disbelief, though hopefully not as much as with others. For the time being this is complete and will be labeled as such. I may or may not write more snippets – it all depends on inspiration.
I've limited the use of Japanese terms as much as I could, as I do not believe Naruto's world to be on some discrete Japanese island that people have neither seen nor heard of before. Sometimes the English equivalent (obviously for names and especially for techniques) just doesn't work, so you'll have to excuse that.
Setting: Harry Potter-wise, it's a good ten-plus years before the epilogue of Deathly Hallows – Albus Severus Potter has not been born yet. Naruto-wise, it's after time skip; AU with established KakaSasu.
So much gratitude to Sinnatious for helping me with the pain-in-the-ass article and uh, putting up with me in general. Raaabu. :D
Title: Crossroads
Summary: Wearing the uniform that holds a striking resemblance to Death Eater garb, Kakashi and Sasuke find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Harry Potter/Naruto Crossover. Slight Deathly Hallows spoilers.
It happens in a second. A pulse, just a tiny disturbance of energy that's invisible to the naked eye, before the fabric of air splits into a scar tainted with a faint colorless glow. As if in reverse, it contracts, swells, and then expands like a bleeding gash.
Just as suddenly, there are two bloodied bodies suspended midair. Momentum sends one right into the wall lined with wooden barrels and empty bottles. The man grunts as the impact shatters in a debilitating array of refracted light. A muffled groan manages to escape his gritted teeth when he hits the floor, small shards piercing through his clothes, digging eagerly into his flesh, drawing more blood from his already battered body. He frowns and forces himself to remain as motionless as possible. He's painfully backed against the glass-stained barrels, but movement will only worsen the disorientation that usually comes with using— well…
Through the static haze clouding his mind, he feels more than hears as his partner collides against the opposite wall. He opens a tired eye and sees the crown of the midnight hood. He imagines his partner's face is tightened with pain, that he's biting his lip to stop from making any noise. He starts to say something – perhaps apologize for the rough landing – but before he can think of the right words, his partner's knees unlock and he's sliding down the wall, painting a long, dark streak over the bricks. A small grunt is the only indication of his partner's pain. It makes him wonder how much of the blood actually belonged to his partner.
"Sas'ke," says Kakashi. His tongue feels thick and the name comes out slurred.
The head tilts up marginally in response, and Kakashi catches a glimpse of madly spinning wheels within pools of blood. Then the red disappears when his partner swears and covers the shadowed slits of the porcelain mask with a gloved hand.
Kakashi furrows his brows together with concern, and, cautiously, opens his left eye. He promptly bites his tongue to stop from cursing, but it feels as if someone has taken the sun and shoved it into his eye. He immediately closes the eye with a wince, thankful that he hadn't been born with the sensitivity to see chakra through his own eyelids, or any other physical obstructions. There is chakra everywhere and neither of them are in any condition to stare at all the bright, multicolored lights.
"You all right?" he asks. It's a stupid question and he already knows the answer, but Kakashi wants to hear his voice.
"Fine," is the faint reply; a lie. A fully-gloved hand moves and takes with it the mask to reveal tentatively-blinking eyes that had reverted to their usual black. Sasuke pinches the bridge of his nose, the motion smearing the trail of dark blood across his left cheek. There is a sullen expression on his face.
"…This doesn't look like Hidden Leaf," says Sasuke after a stretch of silence. He eyes the solid door, neighbored by a drainpipe and a segmented window, to Kakashi's right. Golden light flickers through the gritty glass and they can hear, all too clearly, the sounds of life just beyond – a bar of some sort.
"No," says Kakashi, voice mild. Sasuke can tell he's just as clueless.
"Or Fire Country."
Kakashi hums his agreement.
Sasuke narrows his eyes. "You used that didn't you?"
"Ahh." Kakashi pauses, as if considering his answer. Had his fingers not been splintered with glass shards, Sasuke suspects he would be scratching his head in that irritatingly casual way of his. "How do I put this…" And that's as good as yes, with Kakashi.
Though really, Sasuke couldn't blame him. They had both been low on chakra and terribly outnumbered. He would have done something extremely, recklessly life-threatening (fatally so) had Kakashi not dragged them out when he did. The only problem… Sasuke scans Kakashi's bloodied form with a critical eye. "You didn't have enough chakra for it," says Sasuke, more deadpan than usual.
Kakashi leans his head against the barrel, looking for all the world comfortable sitting on a pile of glass. He closes his eye and chuckles with misplaced amusement. "Hmm."
Sasuke would have rolled his eyes had it not been for the sound of approaching footsteps. He glances warily at the door. Someone had heard their arrival.
Kakashi holds a sigh. It would be problematic for anyone to see them in such a state, citizen or ninja. "Get up," says Kakashi needlessly as he slowly straightens his spine, careful of the shards digging into his back. "We'll go find—"
The door bursts open, drawing their attention towards the newcomer. In a quick fluid movement, Sasuke has his mask secured to his face while Kakashi is absorbing and cataloging every detail he can of the stranger; an old man, frail and toothless and dressed in the strangest clothes that are definitely not from Fire Country, or any other country he can think of. He wrinkles his nose when his mask fails to dampen the strong, distinctive odor clinging stubbornly to the old man. He suspects venturing into the bar would effectively render him useless until his sensitive olfaction adapts, if it even will. He feels the beginnings of a headache throb at his temples and forces down the urge to gag.
The man is gaping openly at them, no real surprise; they're both soaked through with blood and wearing the uniform that's unmistakably of the Black Ops division. Something clatters to the ground; a polished stick of sorts. Kakashi raises a brow and stills in his crouch.
The man, shock still painting his face so plainly, stumbles over his tongue. The words leaving his mouth are garbled and not in a language either of them knows. It soon turns into a series of panicked shouts. The old man's voice is rusty and cracking, but it's enough to draw thundering footsteps towards them.
Sasuke flickers in front of the man and aims a particularly vicious knifehand strike at the base of his neck. The man crumbles to Sasuke's feet, unconscious.
The angry – panicked, even – shouts from the various occupants of the bar grow steadily closer. Kakashi glances upwards and sees the sky spiked with towering spires made obscure by more panels of murky glass. "Sasuke," he calls with a slight inflection in his tone.
Sasuke understands. He flickers away from the door and pulls out his sword, throwing it up at the faux ceiling in a less-than-smooth motion. Sasuke risks the use of his Chidori Current to deflect the raining shards from both of them. He ignores the disapproving look he knows Kakashi's giving him from behind his dog mask. Sasuke catches the handle of his blade and sheaths it as Kakashi leaps up onto a ledge.
A loud pop, a shout, a flare of chakra-infused killing intent, a burst of light. It sets off yelling from a woman and a dispute erupts among the attackers. Kakashi glances over his shoulder and feels his heart dropping to his stomach just as Sasuke falls to the ground with a lack of grace unbefitting of any Uchiha.
Kakashi can't feel Sasuke's chakra. He feels like his heart is trying to jump out of his chest but gets lodged in his throat instead. The usually even-paced beats are irregular, pumping so hard that it makes the irrational part of his mind wonder if he's experiencing a heart attack. Adrenalin is rushing through his veins and blood pounds loudly in his ears and it's suddenly harder to breathe and something's twisting inside his chest, stabbing and burning and trying to break free from of the tight control he'd wrapped around it ever since that day his father—
Kakashi opens his left eye, frantic and desperate and so very relieved when he sees the pitifully dim glow of familiar chakra still flowing though Sasuke's body.
He's still alive.
Kakashi forces himself to breathe. It results in a loud, shaky exhale, but no one hears it, no one sees it; no one sees him because they're starting to fight amongst themselves, and Kakashi doesn't care about that because Sasuke's still alive. Of course he would be, there's no doubt he wouldn't be. They'd already lived past their life-expectancy, but it isn't time yet.
But Sasuke's core is fluctuating violently. It's being suffocated by chains of green charged so strongly with a killing intent that's more vivid than any Kakashi's ever seen. And it's wrong, so, so wrong that it's even in Sasuke's body, that it's able to leech away the life from a core that's supposed to be so intensely bright that it blinds Kakashi no matter how little or long he looks. It's so dim right now. His vision is flooded by the glow of hauntingly-deep emerald.
He forces control over his haggard breathing so that it becomes so quiet his chest barely moves with the rise and fall of every inhalation. He has to remain calm. He's not allowed to panic. The minute a ninja panics they're as good as dead and it's not time for either of them to die because they still have so many unfinished things to take care of and Kakashi can't be alone again when he's too screwed up to be with anyone but Sasuke because they're like the shattered pieces of a broken puzzle and Sasuke cannot fucking die.
You're not going to lea—
Mind blanking and body moving on autopilot, Kakashi crouches down, holding his right wrist with his left hand and—
It's trying to kill Sasuke.
—a tight ball of hot white lightning crackles to life in his palm but—
It's succeeding.
—it hurts to breathe and his eyes are burning again, just like that time where—
Kakashi closes his unscarred eye and focuses the Sharingan on the robed figures.
—No.
The world falls into silence but he can still hear the high-pitched frequency of screaming-crying-hurting birds as green bleeds into the inverted world of red-white-black.
I'm not losing anyone else.
The woman points her strange, lethal stick at Sasuke's still form, long hair rippling down her back as she moves. He allows a growl, deep and low in his throat.
I'm not losing anyone else.
"Raikiri."
ATTACK ON THE LEAKY CAULDRON
Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt has issued a full investigation after seven wizards and one witch were killed at the Leaky Cauldron Friday afternoon. The first of the victims identified is Ginevra Potter, noted for her participation in the Battle of Hogwarts, her initiation into the Holyhead Harpies, and more famously recognized as the wife of Harry Potter. Auror John Dawlish also met his untimely demise as he apparated into the midst of the fight to assist the struggling patrons of the Leaky Cauldron. The families of several others requested names be withheld, and there are still two awaiting identification. The only survivor of the attack, the owner of the establishment, is currently in St. Mungo's and remains comatose despite the efforts of the Healers called to the scene. A spokeswizard for St. Mungo's said in a statement, "Other than a severe bruise on his neck, he is otherwise unharmed. He is not responding to any of the treatment, but he does not appear to be under any spells." Head of the Auror Office Gawain Robards said in a brief statement, "We sent in reinforcements as soon as we received the owl from Dawlish. It is regretful that he engaged in a duel before backup arrived. He was a brave man and will be missed." A witness, who requests anonymity, provides chilling information that the Ministry of Magic failed to disclose to the wizarding public. This fellow wizard had been leaving Diagon Alley just in time to see two dark wizards apparating away. "They were both wearing masks, white masks. Definitely looked like a snake," he says. He is being held by the Aurors for questioning. Is this the work of the disbanded Death Eaters, or is there a new Dark Lord on the horizon?