Hi everyone! I'm back with a new chapter.
Muhwahahaha! I've only had this story up for two days and I already got SEVEN reviews! *happy smile* and because of this, I had an urge to give you guys another chapter five days earlier than I planned because I'm nice that way.
My reviewers: ShadowsBloodPain, Crazy-Psycho-Anime-Lover, Afoxnamedrose, SiriusBalisticPretzels, Lilsis1232 and Bloody Rose! Thanks to you all. You made my day.
Also, extra thanks to ShadowsBloodPain because you were my first reviewer!
And some more thanks to all the people who favourited and alerted. If you can, please review. It makes me feel better ^.^
And even more thanks to all the people who answered my question last chapter about the ninja shinobi and nin thing.
Now that all the thanks are out of the way, here's Chapter Two.
Chapter Two: Life in Hogwarts
(...)
"We're in a place called Hogsmeade," Dumbledore said as he led the masked shinobi through the empty streets. Even he, a wizard who had seen more than any normal man could wish for in his lifetime, still found it uncanny that the ninja could walk with absolute silence. Although it was obvious that he was surrounded by the shinobi, all he heard was the sound of his own robes rustling. It was certainly unnerving. They were like ghosts.
The ninja slipped in and out of the shadows as they walked, seemingly part of the darkness; only their paper white masks portraying its snarling animals and silver armour stood out in the black. Dumbledore guessed that the shinobi had been trained to be one with the shadows, and continued to do so without consciously realizing it. It was a habit drilled into them from their harsh training.
The ninja and Dumbledore reached Hogwarts and entered its grounds. They went into the Entrance Hall and pushed open the heavy oak doors that lead to the Great Hall. Greeting them inside were a row of teachers, all with the same, identical disapproving looks on their faces.
"Are they the staff?" Dog whispered.
"Obviously," Stag yawned. Dog shot him a glare which he pretended not to notice.
"These are the shinobi I took the liberty of hiring," Dumbledore said after greeting the teachers. The ninja stared at him, not understanding the words that came out of his mouth.
"Nani? What did the old man say?" Fox asked.
"I believe he is talking in a language called English," Cat whispered. Hinata, or in this case, Cat, had long ago lost her stutter, although when she was under pressure it returned, and she seemed to be a little more outgoing, but she was still quiet and shy. She no longer fainted around Naruto either, but still retained her blush.
"Gomenasai. I will cast a spell on you regarding the language barrier," Dumbledore said. He waved his wand over the group.
"This is so cool!" Swan exclaimed.
"You can freely switch between Japanese and English," Dumbledore said. "So, with that little problem solved, may I introduce you to the teachers of Hogwarts?" He then went on and named the staff (too many for me to remember, but he definitely introduces ALL of them).
"Identify yourselves." A man with black hair and a hooked nose stepped forward. The shinobi remembered his name to be Severus Snape. Fox glared at him, but spoke.
"Fox. Captain of this mission."
"Raccoon. Second-in-command." The teachers raised their eyebrows at the gourd he was carrying.
"Raven. Third-in-command."
"Stag. Advisor and strategist."
"Eagle. Scout."
"Cat. Scout."
"Dog. Scout. And this is my partner Akamaru. He is also a scout."
"Dragon. Weapons mistress."
"Slug. Medic."
"Swan. Medic."
"Please reveal your faces," a teacher by the name of McGonagall said. She seemed to be one of the most disapproving of the teachers. Her lips were pressed into a thin line.
"Sorry. No can do. Our faces remain masked until Fox says so," Raven stated icily, not sounding very sorry at all. Dumbledore shooed the teachers away and closed the doors behind them. After making sure they had all gone, Dumbledore faced them again. Glancing at their captain, they received a nod. The ninja lowered the masks from their face and then proceeded to say their real names.
"Delighted to meet you all," Dumbledore said cheerfully after they had introduced themselves. He hid his surprise at how young they were behind a bright smile, but he knew that Hogwarts would be in safe hands.
(...)
The ninja spent the week before term started lounging around in Hogwarts castle. After getting over their shock at seeing pictures move, the ninja had then proceeded to memorise the rough layout of the castle, particularly the four house common rooms. Dumbledore had given them the passwords, and they entered and went as they pleased.
On their first day, Dumbledore had shown Fox their quarters for the year, and that night, he presented them to his friends.
"Guys, follow me," Fox called. The shinobi raised their eyebrows but followed their captain. He led them through corridors and hallways, finally halting to a stop in front of a blank wall.
"Uh, Fox, that's a wall," Swan said blankly.
"Yeah, yeah, just wait," Fox said. "Um, the password is… ah yeah, got it." Fox glared at the wall and said clearly, "Gokage." Immediately, a door appeared on the wall, and Fox grasped the ornate handle and opened it.
The shinobi followed their captain inside, and they were greeting with a room that looked a little like the Gryffindor common room, except it wasn't all red (A/N I like to call it the Ninja Common Room). There were long banners that hung from the ceiling, showing the symbols of the Five Great Shinobi Nations. On a wall, there was a map of the Ninja Continent and on the opposite wall, a map of Hogwarts Castle. Leading from the Ninja Common Room was a kitchen which had ramen, to Fox's delight, and complete with all the kitchen necessities. Upstairs, there were two bathrooms, one for girls and one for boys, and two dorms, all with six beds in each.
"In the bathroom, there is a laundry basket. Dumbledore-san said that if you put your dirty clothes and armour in there, close the lid, and then open it again, the clothes will be clean again," Fox explained.
"I like this place," Dragon said after inspecting everything.
"Nice, isn't it?" Fox said happily. The ninja made small sounds of agreement.
"Okay, back to business," Raven said coldly. Fox made a face under his mask.
"Always a spoilsport," he muttered. "All right, go back to whatever the hell you were doing before this." The ninja scattered, leaving Fox alone.
Over the next few days, the shinobi had most of the castle memorised, and then started doing their own little things. Stag spent most of his time sleeping while Eagle meditated with Dragon. Swan, Cat and Slug liked to go and spar in the Quidditch pitch and Raven was always found at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, trying to improve his techniques and kunai throwing. Dog and Akamaru spent their time training in the Forbidden Forest and could be out hours at an end. Raccoon liked to walk around the castle upside down (don't ask me why). Fox spent his time exploring the castle and attempting to talk to the teachers. Most of the time, though, he only got one word answers.
In the Shinobi Quarters, the ninja were free to remove their masks, don normal clothes and call each other by their names. They had made dinner in their Quarters for five days now, although they were free to go down to the Great Hall and eat.
Naruto, being Naruto, had managed to piss of all five boys that shared the dorm with him. It was the sixth morning of their stay at Hogwarts, and Naruto had, strangely enough, woken up first and went down to the common room. Later, everyone had woken up, and Gaara, Sasuke, Kiba, Shikamaru and Neji walked down the stairs, all looking as though they wanted to strangle the blonde. Ino, Hinata, Sakura and Tenten all raised their eyebrows at the boys' strange behaviour.
"Naruto," Neji growled. The said boy jumped to his feet and grinned when he saw his fellow ninja and completely NOT grasping the mood of the situation, being the obnoxious and dense guy that he was when reading moods.
"What's up with you guys? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" Naruto joked cheerfully. The sound of five jaws being clenched was heard throughout the room.
"As a matter of fact, I did," Gaara snapped. "Because someone I know was sleep-walking last night and decided to use a few of his techniques on me while I was asleep."
"Huh? Who?" asked Naruto, clueless as ever.
"He means you," Kiba hissed. "Naruto, do you know you sleep-walk, sleep-talk and sleep-fight?"
"Uh, no," Naruto said. "I do that?"
"Yeah, and last night was especially bad," Sasuke grumbled. "You've been doing it every night since we got here, but normally you just kinda moan and punch your pillows, but last night was just terrible."
"You made about five shadow-clones and decided to make them hang me upside down," Gaara snarled.
"A few of you tried to Rasengan me out of my bed," Kiba said. "Thank god Akamaru woke me up."
"And you yourself went over to me and attempted to punch my lights out," Sasuke said, glaring at the blonde.
"One of your shadow-clones tried to poke me in the eye," Shikamaru reported.
"But the lazy bastard kicked him in the balls and the clone disappeared and then he went back to sleep," Neji said. "And another one of your clones woke me up and used the Sexy no jutsu on me, but then I Gentle Fisted it."
"And you were yelling at the top of your voice about how you were going to challenge us to a duel and beat us," all five boys said simultaneously.
"All in all, we didn't get much sleep," Sasuke said. "We were all trying to protect ourselves from you."
"Do you know how long it takes me to get to sleep?" Gaara groaned. "It takes me ages, and I finally dropped off only to be woken up by some stupid blonde by the name of Naruto."
"I have no idea how the girls slept through that racket," Kiba said, gritting his teeth.
"Well, why didn't you wake me up?" Naruto protested.
"Naruto, you are a really deep sleeper," Gaara sighed. Naruto was silent for a few seconds.
"Ah, so that's why all of you guys have these shadows under your eyes," Naruto finally said, "and that's why the dorm looked a mess when I woke up." The ninja sighed and face-palmed.
"Looks like you boys have got it rough," Tenten laughed.
"You should strap him to his bed," Sakura suggested.
"That's a good idea," Ino giggled.
"Anyone want breakfast?" Hinata asked, completely changing the subject. They all smiled (most of them) and headed to the kitchen.
(…)
"Hi Gaara," Naruto said. He stood in the doorway of the dorm and watched as the Kazekage lazed around on his bed and made little figures out of sand with his raccoon mask sitting on the desk. Naruto entered.
"Naruto," Gaara said. Naruto bounced over and jumped on his bed.
"Watcha doing?" Naruto peered at the little sand figurines which had become as hard as steel.
"Trying to find out how much I can solidify and strengthen my sand," Gaara said. He made another figure; Shukaku.
"That really does look like him," Naruto said, picking it up. Gaara gave him a half smile.
"You know, at first I felt lonely without Shukaku talking to me in my head," Gaara said, referring to the time when he had been rescued from the Akatsuki. He had died while losing Shukaku, but then Chiyo had brought him back to life. "But then I realised that I felt something stronger."
"What was that?" Naruto asked. Gaara smiled truly now.
"I felt free." Naruto grinned, but said nothing. The two sat in companionable silence for a while, until they felt the chakra of Kiba and Akamaru outside the door.
"Dinner," was all Akamaru said. Naruto jumped up, but then instantly sat back down again when he remembered that all the ramen cups were finished and that he would have to eat something else. Gaara sighed, guessing what was on his mind.
"Let's just go, Naruto," Gaara said. "Besides, it's your fault for eating all of them. We'll ask Dumbledore-san where we can get some more." Naruto pouted.
"I want ramen," Naruto whined, sounding a lot like a child. Gaara stared at him for a few moments, and then smirked. The ninja downstairs heard a few screams and shouts coming from the bedrooms and they paused in their activities to see what was going on.
"OKAY! OKAY! I'M COMING! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS ME! I'M SORRY! I'LL COME! DON'T KILL ME JUST LET ME GOOOOO!" Sakura popped her head out of the kitchen.
"Why does that sound like Naruto?" she groaned. Ino smirked.
"Maybe because it is," Hinata mumbled.
"Hinata, it's called sarcasm," Ino laughed, lightly punching the blue-haired girl's shoulder.
"Na. Ru. To." Sakura growled. Hinata raised an eyebrow but continued making dinner.
"They are going to wreck this place soon," Ino said. Hinata laughed in agreement.
The two ninja's eyes followed their teammate as she darted up the stairs.
"YOU STUPID BAKA! QUIT MAKING SUCH A HUGE RUCKAS WHILE EVERYONE IS TRYING TO WORK!" Sakura's voice was heard by everyone in the Quarters. Ino and Hinata giggled. Back up in the dorm, Sakura was fuming at Naruto who looked as though Doomsday was approaching.
"Sakura, let him go," Gaara said. "Besides, it's not as if we're all doing important stuff. We're just lazing around." Sakura glared at him before dumping Naruto on the ground, leaving him bruised and bloodied.
"Gaara! Please explain to me why the HELL Naruto was dangling from the ceiling while you were making your sand look like a ghost," Sakura said through clenched teeth. Gaara shrugged.
"He wouldn't shut up," Gaara said tonelessly, "about ramen."
"Hey! You silly tanuki! Would you stop saying everything in that bored voice of yours? At least try to sound more enthusiastic or something," Naruto said, rubbing his head. "You're gonna start sounding like Sasuke-teme." Gaara didn't turn to look at him or even acknowledge that he had spoken, but everyone heard the thud Naruto made when he hit the ground face-first, pushed to the floor by a fist of sand.
"I'm going down to eat," Raccoon said. Shikamaru was sitting at in the common room staring out the window to the clouds and was amused to hear everything that went on upstairs, and even more amused when Gaara came down the stairs acting as though nothing had happened, followed by Naruto who was limping and groaning, with Sakura bring up the rear, cracking her knuckles and quietly threatening the blonde. Then again, they always acted like this.
"Geez, what's with the noise?" Kiba moaned as he slumped down on one of the chairs. Akamaru plopped down next to him. "You guys know that you were splitting my ears?"
"Ehehe. Sorry Kiba," Sakura said sheepishly. "Some idiots" – she shot Gaara and Naruto a glare – "were being stupid and I had to go and straighten them out." Kiba glanced at Naruto, who turned away with a huff, and Gaara, who met his gaze head-on.
Back in the girl's dorm, Neji and Tenten were relaxing and doing absolutely nothing, despite the fact that Neji, by an unspoken rule, should not be in the girl's dorm, strictly speaking.
"Seems like Naruto and Sakura have shut up," Neji said. He and Tenten had abandoned their masks, tossing them into a corner. Tenten grinned.
"They really are loud," she commented. A silence fell between them as they simply enjoyed being in each other's company. Tenten read a book about different types of weapons over the ages while Neji was looking at the mission scroll.
"Do you think we should go down to eat?" Tenten asked. Neji nodded. He got up first, and without thinking, he stretched out his hand towards her. Inside his mind, Neji was screaming Oh my god what the hell am I doing? But it was too late to draw his hand back now without the gesture looking awkward. Tenten glanced at him, surprised, but then she smiled and took it. After a second, he pulled her to her feet. The contact was brief, and he let go after that, but somewhere in the back of his mind, Neji wanted it to last longer.
Baka. Stop thinking these weird thoughts, Neji scolded himself. I'm on a mission. I have to focus on the mission, I can't get sidetracked. Little did he know that Tenten, who was walking by his side, was thinking the exact same thing.
End chapter.
There you go! Chapter Two done. I put the little Tenten x Neji scene in there by impulse, and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I was trying to make them get together and at the same time trying not to make them seem OOC. So, how did I do?
QUESTION: which sounds better, courting or dating?
E.g. Neji was courting Tenten
or
Neji was dating Tenten
Again, please review. It really makes my day. You can point out little mistakes I've made, ask me questions, give me anything to improve my writing, but just don't flame me too bad. I can get burned, you know.
So if any of you, by some strange reason, still don't know who the people are behind the masks, just put it in your review or something and I'll message you back.
Well, Saturn out!