An Author's Note: Warning. Kankuro has a foul mouth in this.

Chapter 10

Not a Good First Impression

The Hogwarts group had been waiting for about five hours. Within the first ten minutes Ron had started get concerned.

"Hey, are we going to miss the feast?" he asked.

"Don't worry about filling your gut." Azzeraell said "This rod will take us back to the exact same time we left. We are not on Earth anymore, remember?"

Ron was relived. He didn't want to miss the feast. It was the best part of the first day.

They had been taken to a room in the large citadel like building that was situated in the middle of the village. It was yet another rounded building in a sea of rounded buildings, but larger and taller. Baki had taken them there and told then to wait while he talked to some council about their proposal. It looked for all the world like a waiting room with large chairs and tables. It was even freaking air conditioned. It was rather pleasant.

Marik was getting bored.

"Gah, how long until these people get here, anyway?" he muttered "I have a feast to get to, remember?"

"Oh relax, Ishtar." Bakura was looking out the window, studying the village. "They will be here. What I want to know, is why does this place have an air conditioning system while Hogwarts has to be heated by fires." He turned to smirk at the rather tense looking guard that Baki had left at the door "Hey, you know the answer to that, grunt?"

The man stiffened "Just because you wizards refuse to interact with your own kind does not mean we do. Every village sends out teams each year to explore Earth and sometimes they bring back things. Like the air system and computers. We use chakra, but we are not savages."

Marik laughed "Oh, I love this place! See that, Ron! I keep telling you you people are cavemen! I was right! Hahahaha!"

"Oh stuff it." Ron muttered, not pleased at this at all. He was hungry and grumpy.

The door to the room opened, and Baki entered.

"Great, what took so long?" Marik asked.

The ninja looked at the odd wizard. He was not so sure about this bunch. Maybe it was the amount of gold this man had draped all over his body. Maybe it was the short boy's gravity and logic defying hair. Maybe ti was the mad gleam in the pale white hair boys eyes. Most likly it was the fact that they were with Azzerael, an elf that Baki knew was trouble. Sure, he was on good terms with the elf, but that did not mean he was less trouble.

"Trips to your world are never to be taken lightly." he replied. Actually, it had been more that the council simply wanted to be difficult. Ever since the Kazekage had been murdered the place was in an uproar. Of course, the moment someone mentioned that it would get Gaara away from the village, and possibly killed, the entire room had been behind the idea. Baki had to listen to crap like that a lot. He went along with it. At first it was because he to thought it better if the demon was dead. Had Gaara still held his old attitude Baki would have sent him there alone, hopefully to die. However, things had changed. It had not escaped Baki that Gaara was making a true and honest effort to change, and for that the older ninja was grateful. However, in the end Baki went along with the plan. Time away from the village might do Gaara some good. With people who were unaware of the demon Shukaku inside of Gaara...well perhaps Gaara would regain some of that humanity that he seemed to want to rediscover. As for Temari and Kankuro, Baki was sure that when push came to shove they would support their little brother. Despite Kankuro's fear of Gaara Baki knew that deep down Kankuro cared for his little brother. Why else would he have carried Gaara and tried to defend him during the Konoha invasion? And Temari had always cared for her younger siblings, both of them.

Baki realized how his thoughts had started to ramble. He looked directly at Azzeraell, deciding that the elf was probably in charge.

"We are going to accept this contract. Here, I hope that you can actually read this thing." the ninja walked over and gave Azzeraell a scroll.

Harry tried to peer at it. Unfortunately it was all kanji, and Harry did not know a lick of Japanese writing. Or the language for that matter.

Apparently Azzeraell was satisfied, because he shoved the scroll into a pocket and looked back at Baki "So they are your team then?"

Baki nodded. "I have duties here, but I have instructed them. They are the best in the village" Not a lie. Gaara had completed many high ranking missions without a scratch. Most found it hard to fight large amounts of sand trying to strangle you.

Unfortunately this is when the siblings decided to make there appearance. And it just went downhill from there.

Marik took one look at them and fell over, laughing uncontrollably. It was not Temari or Gaara who had caught his attention. Temari was, fortunately of her, a rather normal looking individual. Expect for the large folded up metal fan she carried on her back, and the fact that she styled her blond hair with four individual short little clumps, she was normal compared to her brothers. Gaara, of course, was creepy. The fact that he had no pupils and that he had permanent black circles around his eyes gave him an eerie stare even when he was not glaring (and he glared a lot). The huge gourd filled with sand sometimes drew comments, but even this was not what Marik was laughing at. Nope, he was laughing at Kankuro. The black jumpsuit with the red and yellow circle was not it, though. What drew Marik's scorn was the fact that Kankuro had on a black hood that, for all the world looked like it had little cat ears. This catlike quality also extended to the face paint that looked almost like a tabby cat's stripes. This was what Marik was laughing at. And now he could not stop laughing.

"What the hell! Bunraku! Did we hire mercs or the entrainment for the Qudditch match! I didn't know you guys had fighting theater troupes!"

"Bun what now?" Ron asked Yugi, who was the closest friendly Japanese person in range.

"Bunraku. It's Japanese puppet theater. He," Yugi nodded at Kankuro, who was now scowling heavily at Marik "is kinda dressed like one."

"Surprised you know that, Ishtar." Bakura said, now in full yami mode "I wouldn't think that you had any culture at all."

"Hey! Shut up!" Kankuro bellowed at Marik, who was now on the ground practically rolling "At least you can tell I'm a man! What the hell is up with all that jewelry!? Are you a girl?"

"Fool! There are no women where I come from! Only extremely girly men! And I am the girliest one of them all!" Marik did not know where that came from, but it was funny. It made him laugh even harder.

"Yeah, that is accurate." Yami Bakura said with a smirk "What the hell is this, Azzeraell? Is this a joke?"

Kankuro was not having a good day. He knew that this was trap, even if these Earth people were honest that did not mean that the council was not trying to get the three siblings killed with this deal. Plus, Baki had finally told them what Hogwarts was. A school. With children. Lots of them. Kankuro hated children. A lot. And, it was in England. Which was cold. And wet. He hated that as well. And now this weird she male was laughing at him. So, when Bakura asked if he was a joke the puppeteer shifted his glare to the other duelist. He did not like what he saw. Arrogant dark brown eyes meet arrogant and insane lighter brown eyes. The dislike was pretty much instant. The same way a negatively changed battery will repel a similar battery of the same polarization.

Kankuro didn't like Yami Bakura.

The feeling was mutual.

"You calling me a joke?" the puppeteer growled.

"Hmm, yes I think I did." Yami Bakura grinned. It was his usual mad grin. Most people paused when he flashed it, but Kankuro only scowled harder.

Kankuro was not about to take this. Practically snarling now, he reached aground his shoulder and took hold of the piece of cloth wrapped around it. The cloth was actually a piece of the wrappings that continued a large, cylindrical something strapped to his back. It had a little patch of brown hair on top, giving it the appearance of a mummy. With bang he slammed the thing to the ground and let it fall.

"You little wizard brats shouldn't complain when we come to save your asses." Kankuro growled "You can't even fight your own battles. Don't presume to tell me how to fight."

Yami Bakura glared. "You want to see Hell, boy? Come and try me."

"Umm, guys, I am sure if we all just calm down-" Hermione could see the train wreck. However, she was unable to stop it. Yami Bakura didn't like the way Kankuro was glaring at him. He was not used to being disrespected and he wanted to wipe the smirk off the puppeteer's face.

Yami Bakura saw no need to attack with his monsters, at least not yet. No point in giving things away to the ninja. He yanked out his wand and flicked it towards Kankuro. "Expelliarmus."

Yugi looked a bit surprised. He was used to the temperamental yami summoning a Man-eater Bug, not using a Disarming Charm.

The jet of red light hit Kankuro square in the chest and blew him backwards. Temari sighed and shook her head. Here we go again. She thought. He pulled this same act in Konoha too! Idiot!

Gaara looked from his brohter to his sister. He was unsure about what to do. Should he help his brother or just watch? What was approate in this situation? Temari just looked disgusted, but then she usually looked disguted when Kankuro was doing something stupid. Gaara decided to wait.

The show was far from over, anyway.

With a rattle what the Hogwarts group had thought was a rather temperamental sand ninja jerked to its feet and lunged forward like it was being propelled. The sand that had been covering it fell away. What was revealed beneath was a bizarre wooden thing. A puppet, shaped basically like a human, with four arms and a cloth draped around most of the body. It had a round head and three eyes. It rattled and clacked like an angry rattlesnake.

/Good God, Yami, what have you done now?/ the normal Bakura asked.

/Oh! This...is going to be great!/

/Oh dear./

It was not lost on neither the yami nor the host that this thing, this puppet, was similar to what now dwelt in the new deck the two of them had made.

The thing on the floor wiggled, and the real Kankuro emerged from the wrappings. From his hands blue light, his chakra, formed five strings that were attached to the puppet. Manipulating it and controlling it.

"Meet the Crow, asshole. Let's see how cocky you are when he's using you for target practice!" Kankuro said.

"Cute toy. Want to see mine?"

/Yami, wait!/

/Like hell! Let's show him a real puppet!/

Yami Bakura reached into his pocked as the Crow flew towards him. The mad yami knew his deck like the palm of his hand. He reached the card he wanted instantly, as if it had been waiting to be used.

"Come to me, Malice Doll of Demise." he tossed the card to the ground, and the fiend monster appeared just in time to catch the Crow's poisoned blade on its own large battle axe.

Kankuro swore at the thing that was blocking his puppet. "What the f-"

"Take this, fool." Yami Bakura was not going to let bad language stop him when he was on a roll. "I don't need to do a thing! My fiend will eat your soul all on its own!"

"Ummm, he's not really going to eat the soul of the one of the guys we are supposed to be hiring, right?" Ron asked.

"Never know with Bakura." Harry said, astonished at the display.

He was not the only one. Of course Baki was somewhat familiar with shadow mage summons from the elf, but Azzeraell had never summoned more then a giant pair of dragon claws, and even those had been indistinct. This thing was not only corporal, but Baki could sense the dark strength in it.

You idiot, Kankuro! How many times have I told you to think before you act? I thought the incident with Shino Aburame would have taught you a little discretion! But it looked like having his chakra drained by a bug controlling Leaf ninja had not taught Kankuro a single thing.

The two puppets slammed into each other, knocking around chairs and tables and taking large chunks out of the walls.

"Alright, I have had enough of this!" Kankuro bellowed. With an evil smirk he knelt to the ground. He had never tried to operate the Crow one handed, but now he cut the strings attacked to his left hand. He then shot out his hand, reforming the strings and attaching them to Yami Bakura's leg.

"Ha! Got you now!"

Yami Bakura cackled. He laughed like a hyena.

"Stop laughing at me!" this was driving Kankuro insane! He hated that his opponent kept laughing at him no matter what he did!

"How much you like your toys, boy?" Yami Bakura grinned as the tines on the Ring began to wiggle.

The Pharaoh decided it was time to stop this. Summoning was one thing, but showing off the items? Not a good idea.

"Tomb Robber! Halt!" he bellowed.

/He is right! Stop it!/ Bakura tried to reason with his yami.

But, this just goaded him on. The Ring shook and flashed, and both the Crow and Kankuro fell to the ground, lifeless.

Now Temari was pissed. It looked like this lunatic had really done something harmful to Kankuro this time! "What have you done?" she bellowed.

Yami Bakura laughed. "Nothing much. He is just getting to know his little friend better. Intimately, you might say."

Yami Yugi was shaking in rage. "You fool! Have you no self control! You put that soul back where it belongs right now! I command it!"

"You command!" Yami Bakura whirled on the Pharaoh "You don't command me! What makes you think you ever could? Damn Pharaoh, I am going to-"

The Crow rattled.

Kankuro had always wondered what it felt like to be a puppet. He had always wondered what it would be like to operate one from the inside. Now, he was inside his beloved Crow, and while it was uncomfortable, that did not mean he was completely horrified by this. It took him a few minutes, but he found that he could still tap into his chakra.

And operate the Crow.

The puppet stood and aimed its hand at Yami Bakura. It bent at the wrist, exposing an opening. A blade slide out of the hole, dripping with poison. Kankuro could not speak, but it was obvious what he wanted.

"Hey, how about this?" Harry stepped into the mess. "How about this is a draw, okay? Let's stop fighting each other. There will be plenty of time to fight Death Eaters later. Okay?'

Yami Bakura scowled and turned away "Whatever, I do not care anymore. This is starting to bore me."

The Crow nodded.

The Ring twitched again, and Kankuro was back where he belonged. He might have started the fight again, but he was to busy mentally going over how it had felt to be inside the Crow. He wondered if he could do it again? It was kinda cool.

Hermione sighed. This was a bad start to things.

A/N: Yeah, I do not own Naruto, Yugioh, Harry Potter or any random references to Yugioh abridged.

I don't know if Kankuro's eyes really are supposed to be dark brown. It just looks that way on my tv. Could just be the tv. A lot of fics on this site say that they are green, but they look either brown or black to me. I think people just go with green becasue that is definitly Temari's eye color, and Gaara's are a sort of greenish blue (and pupilless). And since they share a few chromosone pairs...but I decided to go with what they look like to me.