I'm so glad that all of you enjoyed that last chapter, and your reviews were greatly appreciated: The Full Moon Crys, MadnessLover, IvanAlive, SongoftheDarquePhoenix, Lupanari, yaoifangrl4ever, Lily Yamamoto, cardcaptor eternity, wednesday1990, Darak (3), Harue Harlequin, sandaime23, Lunatic Pandora1, Kitty-chan and Nya-chan, Ella Clevek, dragongirl92, ArrangedloveMatch, Namikaze naruko14, Dragon Alchemist, Bovi, xXKuroTenshi666Xx, Octavia Andrea Tucker-Harrison, Tainted-reflection-126, Hailey619, Acara Whitefox, yuroshima, NaruXHinata-Rules, Megaolix, greengirl6, Cooltony101neo, r2d2cool, ReaperofDarkness, BlaqueKitsuneTempest, 7Kyuubi7, Ashley, graypheonix, SilverHowler, Sakamoto Michiko, Narutoboyluver, Hitsuka-Hatake, 2stupid, .girl, Flame05, sugarcrazedninja, dragonblack, avatard/narutard, Sakuramar, pamellka, Lily Uzimaki (2), upyoursrasengan, Naruto is the best (2), and Zetsu's Other Half!
The 350th reviewer was 2stupid and pocky and dango were requested!
Chapter 11: The First Task
The walk to the infirmary was a long and arduous one, with most of the people struggling to support the unconscious figures they carried. Many people gave them a wide berth, wondering why in the world they were carrying the newcomers like that. As soon as they saw Kakashi though, many screamed in fright with some almost fainting at his condition, most having never seen that much blood or bruises on another human being before.
"What the devil is going on here?" McGonagall demanded as she shooed students out of her way. She gasped when she laid eyes on the injured people before her.
"Merlin's beard! Quick, we must go to the hospital wing! Ginny, please alert Albus Dumbledore at once! You six come with me, and the rest of you go back to what you were doing!" As Ginny rushed off to the headmaster's room, everyone else did their best to keep up with McGonagall's worried pace.
When they finally arrived, Madam Pomfrey covered her mouth in shock, then composed herself and ordered that they lay them down and began work on Kakashi immediately, tearing off what was left of his shirt to expose the slashed chest underneath, then his Hitai-ate, and then his mask. She was puzzled for a moment when the first one revealed a second one to be under it, but shrugged and yanked the other one off in a frenzy.
As soon as his entire face was revealed, everyone gaped in astonishment.
"Blimey, he looks no older than Bill!" Fred gasped, breaking the silence. They all stood there for a few more seconds, unable to comprehend the fact that he was so young. Their trance was broken by the hospital doors being burst open by a very concerned Dumbledore. Everyone moved out of the way for him to talk to Madame Pomfrey, but to their surprise he asked for all the students to come speak to him. McGonagall stayed to offer some assistance to Poppy, which she took gratefully.
"I want to know everything that happened," he asked gravely, then sat on an open hospital cot while everyone told him exactly what they saw.
That night, while everyone else in the infirmary was sleeping, Hermione crept in and saw Gaara sitting next to the window, his legs pulled up to him slightly; gazing out into the darkness. Suddenly his ears perked up, and he appeared to hastily rub sleep out of his eyes.
"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Gaara inquired without even glancing her way.
Hermione bit her lip. "Yeah, well . . . I just wanted to make sure you were all right."
Gaara frowned and turned to her, cocking his head. "You saw me after Madame Pomfrey attended my wounds. She said we were fine."
The girl sighed, taking tentative steps towards the boy. "Sure your cuts and bruises are healed, but—" At this she paused. After a few seconds she finished quickly, "Listen, I've been around mostly boys all my life, and I think I've gotten pretty good at understanding their emotions."
"Oh, you mean like that Ron you have a crush on." Hermione just gaped at him, taken completely off guard; face turning as red as his hair. Gaara almost smirked; she had taken the appearance of a fish out of water.
"N-n—no! Don't change the subject!" Gaara just shrugged.
"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. It's not like I'm going to tell anyone. Not that I care really."
Hermione furiously brushed her hair behind her ear, not going to be distracted like that. "Something is bothering you, something that always has, and it has to do with what happened with the boggart," she continued softly.
Gaara's eyes widened slightly, but then quickly replaced it with a look of indifference. "What does it matter to you?"
Hermione sat down on the other end of the sill and stared out the window. Finally, after a few moments of silence, she asked quietly, "Was that woman your mother?"
Irritated, Gaara scowled and resisted the ridiculous urge to wrap his arms around his knees. He hadn't felt a need to do that for a long time. "Obviously. So?"
She tried again. "Who was that man? Did . . . did your father really try to kill you?"
It looked like Gaara's eyes were tearing up, but then Gaara quickly scratched his nose and then they were dry again. "My uncle. My father realized that I was too unstable and ordered him to kill me, but I stopped him." Hermione was frightened at how cold his voice was. "After that, there were numerous other assassination attempts until my father simply gave up.
"Since then, I've always had to protect myself, kill off others before they killed me, and it was quite easily," he said with a dry laugh. Then he glanced at Naruto, who was peacefully sleeping on the hospital cot.
"I had no one, until he came. Naruto taught me kindness, because he was just as alone as I was, until some friends came along. He knew of the loneliness I had known all my life, and together, we are trying to make the world a better place for people like us."
Hermione gulped, not knowing if her final question would be answered, "Why did you both have people calling you monsters? What happened to you on the grounds?"
Gaara mentally grimaced, knowing that at least someone would ask it. He didn't want to tell her, because he was afraid she would react the way all the others had.
After a few minutes of silence passed, Hermione stood up to leave. "Well, good—"
"Because there are monsters inside of us."
"Huh?"
"When we were born, our villages performed a sealing technique that merged our souls with demons. Naruto's for the safety of his village, and mine for their own benefit," he added with just a hint of sourness in his tone.
"However, the ways they were done vary slightly. The Kyuubi was sealed into Naruto in a way that he would not be influenced by the demon fox unless he was close to death, called upon the chakra himself, or, as it seems, when he experiences strong emotions." Gaara sighed and began inspecting the glass to avoid eye contact.
"With me . . . Shukaku is almost a part of me. When I was younger, I was unable to resist his thirst for blood. He talked to me constantly, ordered me to kill random people to quench his thirst for blood. When I was just a few years old, it was so confusing to hear his voice inside my head, and I would periodically fulfill his demands just to shut him up. He doesn't do it as much now because I am more skilled in subduing and ignoring him." The redhead sadly glanced at Hermione, who looked at him in horror, but to his relief, it was out of concern.
"How could they do that?" she squealed. "Is there any way you can get rid of it?"
"Yeah, but it means we die as well. Not that you'd want it to escape, anyway. If these demons were let loose, they could destroy everything. In a way, we are saving everyone's pathetic life." He sighed tiredly. "Naruto and I will live out our lives, and hopefully we will die peacefully, bringing our demons along with us."
Hermione felt her heart break. Naruto and Gaara's lives were so full of sorrow and bitterness! How could they keep on living like that? They were so young and had gone through so much; she still hadn't gotten over how young their sensei was. After seeing the way he interacted with everyone, she had decided he was in his late thirties at least, but to learn he was around mid-twenties was a shock to say the least! It just wasn't—
"Hermione!" Gaara's voice interrupted his thoughts. She turned to look at him and he had gained complete control of his emotions, as if he never had any in the first place.
"Your friend Harry is competing tomorrow. You should help prepare him," he stated matter-of-factly, and she took it as a dismissal. She bit her lip, then relented.
When she came to the door, she stopped, then looked at each of the injured people in turn. Gaara was still at the windowsill, Kakashi had the sheets pulled around him (which she guessed were for privacy), Naruto was sleeping soundly, albeit a little worn out next to his sensei, and Ron was the closest to the door. Hermione cast a nervous glance at Gaara and walked over to Ron.
A white bandage was wrapped around his head, but other than that he appeared fine, as his snores appeared to tell. She smiled weakly and wiped her eyes, recalling all too vividly the image of him being thrown against the wall by that strange orange chakra surrounding Naruto. As a last comfort, she grasped his hand tightly, then kissed him lightly on the forehead.
After a final glance at Gaara (who still wasn't looking in her direction), Hermione left the hospital wing, knowing full well she would find Harry wide awake in the common room, dreading the next day's event.
She sighed weakly, What would they ever do without me?
The next morning students were excited and cheery, both for the match as well as what had transpired last afternoon. It was all over the school by now, with some of the tale slightly exaggerated. As expected, the Slytherins were praising Malfoy for what he had done, and the rest either hated him for it, or didn't care.
Harry, on the other hand, found himself more and more terrified about the dragon encounter, but he still was worried for Ron's condition. He didn't have the courage to go to the hospital wing like Hermione did, but she came back last night and said everyone was all right. They practiced with the Summoning spell a little more, but thanks to Gaara with that . . . incident earlier, he didn't need that much more practice. He only had problems with objects that were farther away.
However, as he paced around the tent, looking as green as the other champions had, Harry didn't find himself as nervous as he originally thought he would. After seeing the things Gaara and Naruto had to deal with, a dragon didn't seem quite as dangerous.
The wizard had felt detached from the world as he and the other champions learned they had to catch the golden egg, stay away from the dragon, and then chose their own miniature dragon from a bag. Harry had a sickening feeling that the Hungarian Horntail he had chosen was the nastiest of them all. Plus the commentary on each champion's actions did not calm him down in the least bit. He found himself silently wishing that he had been first, and not last.
Finally, the whistle blew, and Harry walked in a sort of daze to the stadium, wondering why he wanted to do this in the first place.
When he entered the stadium, all he could do was stare for a second. Off to his left were hundreds of onlookers, with the Horntail off to the far right, the golden egg near her feet. He stepped forward a little more so he was in better view of everyone, trying to recall what he was supposed to do, his mind completely blank.
"Good luck, Harry," a familiar voice said to his direct right. Startled, he glanced up and noticed Naruto and Gaara standing on the ledge, both with their arms folded, and both with the same exact, emotionless expression. Naruto wore his orange outfit as well as a couple bandages, while Gaara also wore the clothes he came in, with his robes on top, blowing in the wind. Harry figured it was because he had all his sand in it.
He was so focused on the shinobi that he almost was burnt to a crisp by one of the fireballs directed in his path. He felt the infernal heat seconds before it hit and jumped out of the way to a chorus of people gasping in relief.
"Come on, Harry!" He glanced up at the stands, heart racing, and discovered the voice belonged to none other than Ron. His friend appeared slightly disoriented, but there was evident concern in his eyes. He was surrounded by his family as well as Hermione, who frantically shook her wand at him, trying to tell him something. Seeing that his friend was up and moving gave Harry the strength to face the dragon, and he overcame his initial fear and remembered what he was supposed to do.
"Accio Firebolt!" he declared as loudly as possible. After waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, the familiar whizzing of his broom came at him, and suddenly Harry was so focused he did not hear the cheers of the crowd or Bagman's commentary.
After a couple minutes of dodging fireballs and attempting to disorient the Horntail, she yanked her chain off, roared loudly, and then took off towards him. At first, Gaara grabbed her neck with his sand to try and hold her down, but she responded by flicking her tail in his direction and it was only thanks to Naruto grasping him by the waist and jumping to safety that the boy did not come to a possible untimely death.
Now freed, the Horntail proceeded to chase Harry. Seized by uncontrollable fear (for this was not in his original calculations) Harry took off towards the castle, trying to get out of the Horntail's reach.
Gaara and Naruto were shocked, to say the least, at the sight of the dragon breaking free and tearing after Harry.
"What do we do?" Naruto asked concernedly, helping his friend to his feet.
"Follow them," Gaara said simply, gathering all the sand that had been previously used to restrain the Horntail in a levitating disc large enough for the two shinobi to jump on. He grunted with the strain and took off after them, much to Naruto's delight. Having never flown like this before, it was definitely a treat.
When they arrived close to the battlefield, all they could do was watch as Harry did quite an amazing job of holding up his own against the beast. At one point he appeared to be in dire trouble, and the shinobi struggled to figure out what they should do, because they had been strictly instructed to only interfere with cause of almost death, but they weren't told how to handle a situation with the dragon actually escaping! They were also just filling in for Kakashi, who still lay comatose in the hospital wing.
Finally, Harry outsmarted the beast and sped off towards the stadium after it crashed with the ground to its death, leaving a trail of smoke behind him from a small fire on his Firebolt. Seeing that Gaara was busy just keeping them afloat, Naruto took a deep breath and performed a small water jutsu to extinguish the flame on Harry's broomstick. He figured they were far enough away and it didn't seem like cheating.
The 4th champion arrived at the stadium to thunderous applause. He swooped down to catch the golden egg before landing rather roughly on the floor, where he was immediately snatched by Madame Pomfrey who tended to his burns.
Gaara and Naruto landed a little rougher, with Gaara's control giving out at the last second. He still hadn't fully recovered from the chakra drain of yesterday, and neither had Naruto. They lay there panting for a few minutes, watching the crowd go wild with Harry's score.
The two shinobi glanced over and saw Ron approach Harry, and Naruto smiled fondly for the first time since the boggart incident, glad that he did not injure the Weasley boy too much.
"Let's—go, Naruto," Gaara panted. The blond nodded and they disappeared with a gust of wind, turning into sand with Gaara's transportation jutsu.
"Harry!" The wizard glanced up and grinned, seeing Hermione and Ron running towards him.
Madame Pomfrey sighed and cleared him to go. He thanked her and jumped off the cot to met his friends at the entrance to the tent.
There was an awkward silence as Harry and Ron stared at each other.
"Harry, I—"
"It's all my fault—"
"Nah, it's all mine mate." They regarded each other for a moment, then burst into grins, while Hermione burst into tears.
"There's nothing to cry about!" Harry told her, bewildered.
"You two are so stupid!" she protested. "First you go and get yourself thrown against a wall so hard you're knocked unconscious," she yelled at Ron, "and then you go get yourself chased by a blood-thirsty dragon!" she yelled at Harry. There was silence as she stared at them angrily. "What am I going to do with you?" she finally cried before storming off.
". . . Barking mad," Ron muttered as they watched her in silence.
"Well, you did worry us a lot Ron. That was pretty stupid," Harry admitted.
The Weasley smirked. "What, and this wasn't?" he exclaimed as he gestured to the arena. "Besides, I couldn't let you always be the gallant one! Not all of us can fight dragons," he protested, then glanced around. "Where did Naruto and Gaara go? They left the hospital wing before I did, and Kakashi was being looked after by Madame Pomfrey so she shooed me out. Are they all right? What happened after I was knocked out?"
Harry waited to explain after he received his score, where Ron commented on them emphatically, trying to make up for what happened between them earlier. Truth be told, Harry was just happy they were friends again.
"You've got to be joking me!" Ron exclaimed after Harry told him the story. He shook his head wearily. "Blimey," the Weasley whistled, looking up at the sky. "No wonder everyone's talking about it. They must have taken off pretty quick, if you ask me. Do you suppose they're all right?"
Harry shrugged. "They sure didn't look happy to me," he admitted.
"Man, I'd really like to know why that happened to them," Ron wondered aloud as they caught up with Hermione.
Later on that night, Harry went to the hospital wing to see how Kakashi was doing. He figured the man was still injured since Naruto and Gaara were there acting in his stead. He really hoped the jounin was okay though; he had really started to take a liking to him. Kakashi reminded him of Sirius in a way; mysterious and liked danger. They should really meet one day, he thought dryly.
Sneaking through the door and keeping an eye out for Madame Pomphrey, Harry crept to the back where he knew the shinobi was kept. When he came to Kakashi's bedside however, he noticed he wasn't the only one there.
"Naruto?" he asked quietly, taking off his Invisibility cloak slowly.
The blond just mumbled. Sensing something was wrong, Harry quickly sat next to Naruto on the cot, staring at Kakashi. Harry paled slightly at the sight of the injured man. Although he looked better than he had yesterday, he was still in obvious pain. Both the headband and mask were still removed, only now there was a breathing aspirator over his mouth to help him breath, which just made him look younger and more vulnerable.
"Where's Gaara?" he asked, trying to break the silence.
"On the roof," Naruto replied, as if it were something to be expected.
There was silence for a few more minutes; the two of them just staring at the even breathing of their unconscious friend.
"I finally get to see him without his mask," Naruto chuckled softly, unable to stop the tremor in his voice. Harry bit his lip, unsure of what to do.
Naruto sighed. "No matter what, because of who I am, the people close to me get hurt." Harry's eyes widened at what he said, finding those words to be rather familiar.
"What . . . why did that happen yesterday?" Harry asked in spite of himself.
"Do you remember what happened once I jumped in front of Gaara?" Naruto asked after a brief silence. Harry nodded.
"Well . . ." Naruto began, "The girl was my friend and her name is Sakura, as well as the boy, Sasuke. He's the one I'm trying to save from turning into that snake bastard, Orochimaru."
Harry shuddered, remembering the sight and feeling he got from the man whose neck had inhuman capabilities. "But, what was the strange fox with all the tails?"
"He's inside of me," Naruto admitted so softly Harry almost missed it.
"I-In—inside of you?" Harry didn't see how this was possible.
"Yep, the Kyuubi or Nine-Tailed Fox. He is one of the nine demons, the most powerful in fact. Thirteen years ago, he attacked our village. In order to save it, the 4th Hokage sealed him within a baby who had just been born . . . me." At Harry's shocked expression, he said quickly, "It's not like I'm mad or anything, it was for the sake of my village, and it's proven helpful in more than one occasion. I can't really do anything about it anyway, so I've learned to accept him."
"Well . . . if he's so powerful, can't he just come out whenever he wants?"
"No, there's a strong seal that keeps him inside. There are only some occasions where part of his chakra, the orange stuff I was surrounded by, comes out. It could completely overcome me if I let it."
There was silence after that, with Harry not really knowing how to continue. He couldn't imagine how horrible it would be to have something so evil inside of you, something you never wanted in the first place and were afraid of having it consume you. He was just glad it wasn't him.
"Well, I have a feeling that the twins are going to have some sort of celebration in the common room, with all this food they've nicked from the kitchens. You want to come?" he asked eagerly, knowing he could get the shinobi with the promise of food.
Naruto shook his head slowly. "No, you go have fun. I think I'll stay here a while." Then he turned his attention back to Kakashi and sighed.
Harry was amazed at the decline of a party from Naruto. He must really feel sad, he observed. I'm scared of what Hermione will say when she notices they're not coming.
As he reluctantly left the hospital wing, he could make out a faint, "Good job today," and walked away, unable to stop a small grin from spreading on his face.
When he entered the common room, there was a burst of applause, and like he imagined, there was a large party.
"Is our little friend going to join us later this evening?" George asked pleasantly as they passed out treats.
"Nah, I think he's a little tired, having to watch dragons all day and all," Harry said quickly.
"You hear that, George? I think our little mischief-maker-in-training doesn't know not to miss out on a decent party!" Fred noted indignantly.
"You're right, Fred! That simply must be the next step in our training, or else we could never look ourselves in the mirror again?" George replied in mock horror.
"Or each other," Fred added, warranting a laugh from all those around them.
Hermione, however, was not to be fooled. "Are you sure they're all right?" she whispered once she and Harry had a bit of privacy.
Harry sighed. "They're just down in the dumps, Hermione. Don't go to them!" he protested at the look on her face. "Believe me, I know how they feel, and right now I think trying to talk to them could do more damage than good. Just . . . just give them some space."
The girl bit her lip and pouted slightly, knowing Harry was right. She sighed angrily then chased after the twins, who were trying to sell Canary Creams for seven Sickles apiece.
You like it? I'll have to apologize, but I just had to go with the movie's interpretation of the task because I really liked how the Horntail followed him. Sorry it wasn't as chock-full of action like the last, but whatever. -shrug- I tried.
And man...that scene between Harry and Naruto? Oh the irony! XD I had fun writing that.
EXPLANATIONS:
If you think Gaara was a little too OOC with Hermione: The last time Gaara saw Yashamaru, it changed him from the innocent six-year-old he was into the merciless monster that he became for the next six years. It was quite an emotional occurrence, and being faced with that same person again had to be traumatic, especially because he truly believed him to be the real Yashamaru. Something like that is bound to have some sort of effect on him.
If you think that Kakashi isn't recovering fast enough, seeing as how he didn't use his Sharingan: Wizard and shinobi medical practices and customs are quite different. Madame Pomfrey has only had to really deal with everyday injuries and not the critical or life-threatening ones that shinobi deal with on a daily basis. Plus, the shinobi method with healing chakra is more suited to heal shinobi chakra while magic is more suited to heal wizard magic.
