Double Edged Blade, by Elisavan Yaslana
Disclaimer - I do not own any of the work done by Yoshihiro Togashi, nor do I own any works completed by J. K. Rowling. The Characters own themselves and their own actions. I can only take credit for my interpretation of their personality to shape reactions to a previous reaction of the prior action. I can only take credit for the genre, I own the plot line, I have a general idea of what is going on, but I'll be honest and tell you up front, I may become unaware of what my story is doing, even as I write it down. This story is mine for those reasons, but the major building blocks do not belong to me. Expect to see a few sightings of other anime, I will disclaim them at the proper time.
Warning: Language and Questionable Themes. Not Reccomended for children under the age of 13.
Welcome to the Mind Fuck, let me Ninja your brain for a moment/eternity
(This next Chapter is dedicated to MagicalRain and Lcampbell947 for being the best supporters and encouragement of this story so far. Please enjoy!)
Tutoring Dimwits -
Summary so far - Kurama has been sent to England, specifically Hogwarts, for a high profile mission. He was told to go alone, but is he really alone? What part does his blue feline familiar play in all this, and what mission is so sensitive that Kurama must avoid contact with the Tantei?
Kurama sat beneath the old willow on the grounds, each little twitch and quiver of the twigs above him not bothering him in the slightest. Honestly, a 300 year old plant master has little to worry about from a willow, regardless of how many other pupils it has whomped in it's 50 odd years on campus. In his hands he cradled a leaf that sported a moving image on its previously green surface. In the first week at school he had made short work of setting up surveillance systems for virtually every corner of the grounds and castle.
Sighing, he let the leaf retract into the roots just beneath the surface. Roots that are part of a large network spanning the entire grounds, constructing the root system alone took Kurama the better part of two days. I say short work because it would have taken anyone else less than a true plant master at least 3 weeks to complete an entire surveillance system that could barely stand up to the lowest standards.
"Che, I don't understand. Sure, I'm the only one who can adequately perform this mission, but would it really be too much to ask to be accompanied by some form of companionship? OTHER than my constantly present irritating demon of a soul," Kurama muttered to himself, annoyed by Koenma's lack of explanation. Once Koenma had commanded that he was to go alone, that had been the end of it, no why's or how's.
His attention caught by the swiftly approaching aura of a female he had come to call a friend, "Shuuichi!" She called, using his more human name he used in school. "Mind if I join you for a while? I've got a break between classes and wanted to talk with you. You seemed quite absent at breakfast this morning. Are you alright?" Her serious and sweet voice had enchanted many other pupils, but her curious energy signature had Kurama on his toes.
An Irish lovely with vibrant red locks not too different from Shuuichi's. Her name had been given to the whole student body at the start of term feast as Professor Jade. In her classes that focused on foreign magicks, she had insisted that her students not use her title. A select few were given the privilege to use her first name, Aurora. Separated by year, the younger students focused on wrapping their minds around foreign concepts (the first years were simply given history lessons on the subjects). The Sixth years would be focusing on Japanese magic for the first half, and depending on how well everyone progressed, she would begin lessons on the American arts at the very end of the year. Aurora had given them all this speech the first day of class, as well as the universal warning for death in the study of Japanese magic. 'It is much easier to kill with the Japanese brand of magick than it is to kill with the tame brand you learn with the rest of your time at Hogwarts. When we practice against eachother, death is a possibility and injury is guaranteed,' after that, they had begun to meditate to search for their inner power well.
Malfoy had turned his nose up at that suggestion and stood in the corner. Kurama frowned and had been about to go speak with him when Jade appeared directly in his path. 'Do you want to become much more powerful? Then I suggest getting your act together, and start focusing your inner well,' her voice had been a sharp slap in Malfoy's face, but after surveying the class, not a single one had responded to her tongue lashing. This had Kurama paying attention, sure he had been the closest to them, but why had he been the only one to hear her just then?
Her voice and a poke to his shoulder had Kurama launching out of his recollections and smilling in her direction, "Yes, Aurora? How may I assist you?" He was courteous as always, but all nerves on the inside.
Her silvery laugh filled the grounds and made Shuuichi smile a bit, "I asked how you were feeling. You looked off this morning, something up?" Aurora had long ago accepted that he would not say anything trivial or that she had no business knowing. In the beginning of the term it had been insulting when she thought her student couldn't trust her. After paying attention to him in and outside of class, she swiftly decided that wasn't the case. She didn't know what the case was but she felt better knowing it wasn't an inability to trust on his part.
Kurama gave serious thought to her question before speaking softly, "Please, sit. The willow won't bite you so long as I'm here." Rustling of grass next to him notified Kurama of his new sitting companion. Her immediate trust of him surprised him slightly, but he brushed it off, "hn. It's nothing, really. On a different note, how are the rest of the students progressing?"
"Alright, I suppose, though many of them would do well with your added guidance. That's another reason I sought you out during your break, I have a request to make of you," Jade didn't really know how to ask him for a favor. "Since you obviously have a pretty serious grasp on this subject, and the rest of your class risks failing, I was interested in recruiting you to be a co-teacher. Or at least something to that effect," she added swiftly, misunderstanding his pensive expression for one of dislike, "Maybe just a position on the side? Or maybe if you tutored half the class and I'll tutor the rest? It's too many students for myself to do all of them, but they seriously need it."
"Please, Aurora, calm down. I never said I wouldn't do any of that, but the tutoring idea is a sound plan. Have you a plan for how to divide the students? I think about the teaching idea, one-on-one is much more my style," Shuuichi's voice was calming and accepting, but held a hint of warning. He would not take it easily on the students he taught simply because they were weak.
She nodded in understanding and spoke, "Then you can teach the Gryffindor students. At least that way you'll have less of a disadvantage with the way your students see you."
Kurama understood that concept quite well and nodded without needing an explanation. "When would you have me begin?"
"I believe the Gryffindor students have a break later this evening, your best bet is to speak with several of them before you wish to meet all of them. Their loyalty to each other is difficult to break, but if you befriend a few, it will be much easier to sway the group," Aurora stood up, her voice changing, "I don't care where you teach them or in what way or order. Just make sure they have enough understanding to pass a test," Her voice was soft and gentle again as she offered a hand to Shuuichi to help him up.
"Thanks for the tip, Aurora. Got any idea where they are now?" His tone indicated that he was mostly business now, but there was a bit more respect there. More respect than he'd give anyone in her position if they weren't a friend, but not quite enough to indicate the full trust of a friendship. They were colleagues now, and he would give her the proper respect that position demanded. Kurama was loathe to admit it, but he was feeling a bit less lonely than he had that morning.
Her blue eyes studied the sky before saying, "You might try the greenhouses for now, I seem to recall that to be their particular haunt at this hour." She smiled at him again and walked off, probably heading to the south tower, where her classes were held.
Kurama stood after a moment and focused on Shinku. The vines that held Shinku up, in particular, 'Learned your lesson?' Shuuichi's voice flowed along their bond, fully expecting the bristling response.
How dare you tie me up?! And then ignore me?! Shinku fell silent for a moment, and in curiosity Kurama focused his gaze on the Great Hall, which was being entered by Professor Jade. Oh, I see. Had a date with the professor.
'Not really, Professor Jade asked me for a favor, now come along. We need to "Infiltrate" Gryffindor Tower,' Kurama chuckled a bit at his terminology and gave an impatient tug on the bond that was between them.
Alright already! ... What do you mean by 'infiltrate'? Shinku landed gently on the parquet floor of the Hall and flounced out the doors before being tugged onto his face. Oi! I'm coming, impatient bastard. Shinku dutifully increased his pace to keep up with his 'master'.
Seeing Shinku's willing accompaniment, Kurama shortened his stride to make it easier on his feline companion. His emerald eyes flashed as the sun glinted off of the greenhouse roofs, 'In there,' his tone turned playful, 'how to get them out… I only need to talk with a few, best not to make a mess.' He spoiled his own fun in light of wisdom.
Shinku recognized the change within Kurama and grinned, need me for this plan of yours?
'Probably not, but you can stand by and not make a mess. That will help greatly,' Kurama directed to him apologetically as he made his way to the third greenhouse. He straightened his uniform and knocked a few times before entering. "Hello Professor Sprout," his kind voice interrupted her lecture softly.
"Shuuichi? What are you doing here? How may I help you?" Her flustered voice filled the glass building and silenced the few chattering mouths in the back.
"I came her on behalf of Professor Jade, I need to borrow a few students for a moment. It won't take long," He gestured to the class at large and smiled disarmingly.
Professor Sprout nodded her consent and looked thoughtful, "Any students?" At Shuuichi's silent nod, she continued, "Alright then, you heard Miniamino. Longbottom, you won't need this lecture, neither will you Miss Granger, you too Thomas and Finnegan. Will that be suitable, Shuuichi?" At his nod, the four selected students filled their way outside following the distrusted Slytherin and his cat.
Kurama held the door open with a few augmented blades of grass, even after he walked away from it, letting the door close after the four Sixth years had passed through. Ignoring their murmers and momentary gasp of curiosity and impression, Kurama stopped walking and turned around. The six of them formed a broken circle, four on one side and two on the other, it was obvious the Gryffindor students didn't trust the Slytherin, but that lack of trust was misplaced.
"As you know from Professor Sprout just now, I am Shuuichi Minamino, and Professor Jade has asked a favor of me," He paused a moment for the four to settle down, "She wants me to tutor the Gryffindor portion of her class."
Miss Granger was not impressed, or at least didn't show it on the outside, "Why should we listen to you? You aren't any older than us."
"My dear, you of all people should recognize the insignificance of age upon skill," Kurama's silky smooth voice sharply cut down her argument.
"Why should we listen to you though? Hermione has a point," The boy who had twitched at the name Longbottom spoke out. His voice gave away his nervousness at facing down a Slytherin, but his inner strength was one of the few that had grown the most under Professor Jade's guidance.
Kurama smiled and nodded, "True, you have no idea how good I may be. A demonstration, then?" He turned his back on the group and walked several paces away. When the students made to follow him, Shinku held up a paw in silence, recommending sticking their ground.
Kurama didn't know how best to prove to them he wasn't using his wand, he could think of a thousand different ways to kill or maim or destroy a thing, but this proved to be a good mental exercise. 'You could always just show off your rose whip. That tends to be most effective in cases like these, just deal with the stubborn ones after the show,' Youko suggested, his cello-like voice reverberating within Kurama's mind.
Leaving out the cheesy shout of 'Rose Whip' Kurama turned around to face them and summoned his Rose, made a big show of enjoying its scent, and then flicked his wrist. One hundred rose petals showered the air, as a very real and very lethal vine encrusted whip whistled through the air. Several more flicks and an acrobatic move or two and the grass around them had been cut, along with the leaves of trees nearby, all of which grew back and the cuttings from which grew slightly as well. Returning his whip to seed form, he tucked it away into his hair. Kurama bent down and collected an armful of the cuttings and walked back to the group, tossing them down in front of the four.
"Do you believe me now?"
"But how…? What was that…?!" Finnegan shouted obnoxiously after feeling through the pile and finding them to be real.
"That, Finnegan, is what I can do with Professor Jade's lessons. I am from Japan, so this magick is natural to me. Am I a suitable tutor?" Kurama's voice held an edge only noticeable to those who knew him. But unfortunately, it was also an edge that he couldn't act upon in this company. If they still doubted him, his first move in the Makai would have been to kill one of them, or at least beat them in a duel. Not here, it was forbidden by Koenma.
Hermione was busy casting spells on the cuttings, determined to find a flaw, determined to prove that he had created the cuttings with a spell she didn't know. But after shooting as many spells as she could think of, she was the first to recover, "Fine. What do you want from us?"
"Good girl, you need to help me meet with the rest of the Sixth year Gryffindor class. Whether we meet in the common room, or outside, it doesn't matter to me, so long as I can meet with all of you tonight," His voice was soft again, calm and patient.
She paused for a second, the Common Room was out, since she'd never give him the password, let alone lead a Slytherin into their stronghold. "Considering everything involved and your previous example, why don't we meet outside at 5pm sharp? We can meet by the lake and go wherever you want to after that, suitable?"
Kurama knew there was more to her reasoning than she spoke of, but it wasn't something he could blame her for, it was actually something he commended her for. "Fine enough by me, I'll see everyone then. Do not forget," His voice changed to ice with his last phrase, he was not joking with them and would not respond well to being ignored. He walked between them and opened the door once again, letting the students pass by, "Thank you Professor," he offered before closing the door to the third greenhouse.
Shinku was waiting for him a couple meters away, I don't suppose we could skip out on the meeting, could we?
Kurama caught up with Shinku and frowned, 'I can't, but you can,' Kurama sighed and studied the clouds for a moment. 'Come on, let's go get some food,' his offer was met with a happy purr of excitement before he began to race Shinku to the kitchens. A blue blur matched by a red and black one.
Here they come, late, but they came. I'm leaving, Shinku announced as he got up and stretched, waking Kurama up from his nap beneath a tree of his own making. Shinku glared at the body of students heading for the tree as Shinku wound his way through.
Kurama woke to the simultaneous alerts of Shinku's voice and the grass telling him of a large group coming his way. He sat up and leaned against the tree, a beautiful Sakura that should not be growing here, it was his own creation. Meant for an eye opener, a symbol of his power to those who would recognize it for what it was, and a sensory cleanser. This particular brand of Sakura had a knack for aiding in meditation and the clearing of thoughts, it had done wonders for Kurama during his nap.
"Welcome, Gryffindor House. For those of you who do not know me, or have not heard my name, I am Shuuichi Minamino, Slytherin Sixth year, exchange student from Japan," Kurama stood and bowed slightly in greeting. He squelched a smirk as several other students tried to imitate his bow but failed. His attention was caught, however by a shorter Gryffndor who performed a respectful bow in return, though it was of a different brand than his own. It held a strong current of martial arts. Passing it off as a student who had an affinity for such things, he simply offered her a smile and moved on.
"I trust you have all attended and are all aware of what is to occur. Please speak up now so I don't waste my time foolishly," Kurama's emerald green eyes swept the crowd and nodded once when no hands were raised. "Please, form a semi-circle around the Sakura tree behind me and sit," Kurama himself sat Indian style and breathed deeply, patiently waiting for all of the dimwitted stragglers to catch on and sit down.
"Now then, let's begin by meditation, if Professor Jade's strategy did not work for you, try mine. Close your eyes and feel yourself relaxing, slow your breathing and deepen your breaths as well. Calm your mind and do not think about anything, focus on the scent of the Sakura tree if you must focus on something. Feel your mind begin to leave the realm of the physical and 'float' in your inner space. Float there for a while and take in your surroundings," His voice was soft and low, carrying to all of their ears easily and going slow to allow them all to take each step at their own pace. His voice lowered and slowed as he came to an end of his instructions, "notice your energy spread throughout your whole body, pull your energy to your core and hold it there as long as you can. Do not forget to clear your mind while you do this, slow your thoughts and make them blank."
Kurama followed his own instructions slipping into the final stage as easily as one might pull on a jacket, the moves and his inner self were so familiar. For fifteen minutes he meditated, having moved on to the more complex steps he was familiar with. He reached out into the grass and observed each student's progress. Smilling he dropped out of meditation, overall, the class was doing mediocre. A little better than a child would accomplish at his first try, but a few were holding their energy with greater ease. They had probably followed Aurora's instructions and practiced in their own time.
Clapping his hands twice, Kurama effectively brought all of them from their meditation. Some came more smoothly than others, rising from within with a practiced air, others stumbling without ease. "Swiftness in moving in and out of your mind is not the goal here," he advised, "It is ease and smoothness. One can easily break the surface of the lake with a rock by throwing it to the bottom. But more difficult is it to let the rock reach the bottom with the least amount of disturbance on the surface possible. Let me show you."
Kurama knelt at the base of his tree and pulled his energy from the seed, as he did so, the tree regressed in its stages and was soon a seed again which he plucked from the earth and replaced in his hair. After walking to the shoreline, he bent over and retrieved a rock, "Observe." He tossed the rock up into the air, and let gravity pull it through the water, "That is the normal interaction between a rock and the surface of water. Now, forced," Kurama bent a retrieved another rock and threw it down, creating a large splash. He got wet for his efforts, but the difference was noted by his pupils. He knelt again and retrieved a final rock, as well as a rose from his hair, creating a thorn-less vine, "And now, eased," Kurama wrapped the vine around the rock and slowly let the vine grow, lowering the rock past the surface and to the bottom. As he did so, he spoke, "Observe how few and tiny the ripples are that are created by the rock."
A small voice from the crowd behind him spoke up, feminine and snobbish, "I see just fine. I don't understand what a rock has to do with my mind. Are you calling us pebble-brains?"
Kurama turned and fixed the girl with an icy stare, "I have much more inventive ways of insulting those who deserve it, child. As for the rock-to-mind principle, I could not have began the lecture better. Our environment is most easily described as water, when minds or energy is moved, ripples are created. Like the rock, if you throw your energy, anyone who is barely trained in this art can tell where it is, where its going and, more importantly, where it came from. In a battle, this is unsatisfactory. Understand?" Kurama's voice lessened in ice, but remained sharp, his displeasure clear. At her silent nod, he let out a sigh and told them to write down their break times for each day on a sheet of paper.
Hermione scrambled to pull out a pencil and a scroll from her purse, ignoring the incredulous looks her friends and those around her were giving her. "What?" she inquired defensively, "I wanted to be prepared just in case he wanted us to take notes!" She wrote her name down, filled out her information and passed it on to her red haired friend.
"What am I supposed to write on? I can't write mid-air like you Hermione!" His voice was whiney; apparently he hadn't been doing so well in the classes.
Her huff of irritation was well placed, she sighed and put the scroll on the ground, "There, Ron! Happy?" She tapped her foot impatiently while Ron and then the black haired boy after him finished writing their names and times down before she stalked away to the other side of the understood class boundary.
Kurama watched each student as they filled the scroll with information, attaching a name to each face. Once they had all finished, he rolled the scroll up and returned the pencil to Hermione, "Thank you, Miss Granger. I'll give you a new scroll tomorrow, the rest of you should continue to practice in your free time and expect a letter from me detailing when and where our meetings will occur. For now, you are dismissed, thank you," Kurama made his way back to the castle as the sun slipped down behind the forest line. He paused momentarily and admired the sunset, allowing the Gryffindor students to pass by him. Unbeknownst to him, one other student had brought paper and pencil.
As he stood there, he felt a piece of paper slide into his palm as the last Gryffindor passed by. His head turned and his other hand went to catch the person's arm while his right hand brought the paper to his gaze. His left hand missed, but he called out, "Wait, what is this?"
The woman paused for a moment and turned her head, saying only, "It is a piece of paper with a note written on it. You should read things for yourself before asking foolish questions, Sempai." With that, the woman continued to walk towards the castle, leaving behind a flustered and surprised Kurama.
It wasn't her short answer that had shocked Kurama into speechlessness; it was her unexpected proper use of a Japanese word combined with the proper inflections, and the recognition of her face from before as the girl who had bowed properly. Sensibility returned to him and he read her note. His grip on the parchment loosened enough that a soft breeze lifted it from his hand. He called out for the grass to latch onto the note. He recovered and retrieved the note, crumpling the parchment and tucking it into his inner jacket pocket as he entered the castle for the night.
Summary so far - Kurama has been sent to England, specifically Hogwarts, for a high profile mission. He was told to go alone, but is he really alone? What part does his blue feline familiar play in all this, and what mission is so sensitive that Kurama must avoid contact with the Tantei? Kurama has been recruited by Professor Jade to help her tutor the Sixth year class in Japanese Magic. Who is this new student who gave him that note? And what did it say?
This chapter is 9 pages long in MSWord and is 4,140 words long!
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I still dunno what the plot is, and if you have any questions, I'll be happy to sort things out for you!
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