Author's Note: Hello everyone! Sorry about not updating last week. I'm not even going to lie: I'm a huge procrastinator. I also am fairly lazy. Put those two factors together and you get... well, me. (It also doesn't help that my little sister tends to take things too seriously every now and then... It's a looooonnngg story...)
Oh well. On with the Chappie!
Disclaimer (Dark Side of the Moon): If I owned Hetalia and Harry Potter... *Giggles* There would be Germany in a duck costume, Luna would be the star, Japan would have Kuro bother him so much more... You get the idea.
After the meeting, Kiku returned to his dorm to look at his new books and Arthur's sack, which Arthur had entrusted to him. England had given him a short explanation about the sack and how it was enchanted so only people with the sight could open it. The blonde also mentioned something about it being able to hold large amount of things… Kiku shook his head; he'd try that out later. For now, though, he'd just need to check what England gave him- other than the sack and books.
Now in the Gryffindor commons, Kiku headed over to the corner he found on his first day, seeing that the commons was fairly empty. He opened the sack as wide as he could and peered inside. It was very strange; instead of the bottomless abyss he was expecting, he could clearly see the brown fabric. What he couldn't see was the books that he was certain he saw his friend put back inside.
"Must be another enchantment of sorts…" He cautiously stuck his left arm in the brown clothe and felt around. He could feel the books- there seemed to be even more than what Arthur had shown him, he noted- and reached in deeper, fingertips lightly brushing against something unfamiliar.
"What's this?" He looked around the room and saw it was completely void of human life, meaning that no one was watching him.
Tightly grasping the strange object, Kiku pulled it out, mouth falling when he saw what it was. It was the Pensieve. Kiku pulled the bowl-like device closer to him, looking at the barely legible engravings on the rim. He noted it was written on in Latin… not his forte, but he could still get a basic translation. It read "To look into one's mind, to see what might've been forgotten, these are the keys to one's future."
Or… something along those lines… Kiku quickly made a mental note to relearn the language before focusing on the magical device again. "Why would Arthur-kun leave this in my care…? There must be a reason…" Kiku pondered this for a few minutes before giving up.
"I don't know…" He sighed; disappointed that he couldn't figure it out. "Might as well see what else they left me."
He put the Pensieve back in the sack before once again feeling around. There was some sort of a stone, a few herbs, and- "A sword?" Kiku ran his fingers over the blade and hilt. "A katana…"
Several thoughts about training bubbled into his mind, reminding him to train sometime before he went to the World Conference, lest a certain German get mad at him. "But how…?"
When he thought of the answer he nearly slapped himself. "They call it the Room of Requirements for a reason… I better do it tomorrow, or else I won't have any time… I wonder what the Room of Requirements will provide me with…"
He let go of the blade, briefly wondering what time it was. No sooner than the question was formed, he felt a familiar object fly into the palm of his hand. He pulled it out; smiling lightly when he saw it was a clock.
"So, in order to get exactly what I need, I have to focus?" He shook his head in amusement; "I could get used to this…" He stopped smiling once he realized what time it was.
"It's no wonder no one's in here!" He grimaced, "They're all asleep!"
Despite his lack of sleep, Kiku woke up early on Saturday morning and immediately got dressed; he figured he could shower and eat after he did his training. He was glad that his 'old habits die hard', as America would say, and that he brought some of his old hakama* with him to Hogwarts.
He tucked Arthur's sack into his sleeve and made his way to the Room of Requirements. Once he was there he passed by three times and thought, "I need somewhere to train. I need somewhere to train. I need somewhere to train."
When he entered the room, he gasped in amazement. He was just expecting something where he could train, maybe a few mats and some weights- what he got was completely different.
The room was huge. Several different types of flooring for all types of exercise gave it a patched-up look. There were weights, dummies, swords, bows and arrows, tessen**, targets, and other various weapons he couldn't name immediately.
"I could train an army in here…" He couldn't believe that this was possible, "Now I understand why normal people don't know about magic- they'd probably abuse it… So many humans have fallen to their greed and desire for power, not caring about the people they hurt…"
He walked over to the archery section of the room, picking up an ebony bow and a quiver of arrows, stringing the bow and aiming at one of the targets. He pulled the string back and released his grip, shooting the arrow into the center of the target.
"… My form was sloppy," he sighed. "Well, at least I know what I'm working on today…"
"Ah, hello Snape-sensei," Japan bowed his head in respect. "What is today's lesson going to include?"
"Mr. Honda," Snape replied. "Today you will be learning about the history and different types of Occlumency," he took a short pause to give Kiku a sharp glare. "… You will also start to learn about Legilimency, which is the reason Occlumency was created in the first place.
"I have borrowed several books from the restricted section of the library for this purpose- don't ruin them," Snape sniveled.
"Hai, Snape-sensei, I won't." Kiku deadpanned.
After about two hours or so of quiet reading, Severus's curiosity got the best of him.
"Mr. Honda, when I looked into your mind last, I saw a man with thick eyebrows. Who was he?" He asked quietly, half hoping that his pupil didn't hear him.
"…" Kiku stared at him, as if contemplating whether to tell him or not.
"I won't tell. In fact, thanks to your little deal, I can't," Snape rolled his eyes; he still couldn't believe that the Gryffindor in front of him had outsmarted him on his first day.
"I'm afraid I don't trust you enough either way," Kiku smiled ruefully. "Maybe one day, I could tell you."
"What exactly is he hiding?" Snape thought to himself before an idea came to him. "I'll figure it out soon enough…"
He quickly reestablished eye-contact with his pupil and began to search in his mind.
Snape didn't get very far before Kiku kicked him out, but he saw enough. Kiku was certain of that.
"Who were those people I saw and what were they doing in Hogwarts?" Just from his voice, Kiku knew his teacher was furious.
"Calm down, Snape-sensei," Kiku said slowly, trying to get Snape to stop yelling. "They are friends, they are helping me."
"Helping you with what?" Snape growled.
"… I can't say exactly what, but there is something wrong… with me… They are helping me fix it by sending me here for Occlumency lessons…" Kiku struggled with words; trying to be vague and explain something was hard.
"What could possibly be so bad that they'd send you to a school half-way around the world?"
"I guess I could show him… he can't understand Japanese, so he wouldn't be able to figure out what I am…" The Nation of Japan sighed heavily, "Are you certain you want to know?"
"Of course I want to know," Snape said coldly. "I can't have any of your problems get in the wa- nevermind. Just tell me."
"… I'll show you instead," Kiku pulled Arthur's sack from his sleeve, gaining a strange look from the Professor in front of him. "It's just an invisible bag."
Ignoring how crazy he sounded, he reached inside and summoned the Pensieve. When he pulled it out, Snape gave him an even more bewildered look.
"Why do you have a Pensieve?" Snape inquired, eyebrows raised.
"I guess you could call it a gift," he answered simply. "Do you know how to use one?"
Not waiting for an answer, Kiku put his wand up to his head and acquired a particularly nasty memory and dropped the string of silver light into the bowl.
"Alright," Japan began, clapping his hands together. "Promise me that, regardless of what you may see, you won't stop my Occlumency lessons. We don't want the Japanese, English, or Wizarding governments to get involved, now do we?"
Snape nodded slowly before Kiku and he went into Kiku's past.
The scenery around them changed into a dark, old Chinese house. In the center of the room, there were two people drinking tea whilst sitting on the floor, arguing about something in a language Snape couldn't understand.
"How very like him…" Snape snorted, "He shows me something without showing me everything. It's almost too much like Dumbledore."
Snape snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the arguing get louder. The men, one that looked like an older version of Kiku and another with long hair, both elegantly dressed, began yelling at each other. Finally, the one that looked like his pupil turned around to leave, but the other man didn't let him have the last word.
The long-haired man said something that made the Kiku-look-alike snap. The look-alike's eyes flashed red and with inhuman speed was behind the other man, his drawn sword slicing through the flesh and bone of his victim's back.
Snape spun away from the gruesome sight of blood pooling around the limp body to his student. Upon seeing Kiku's face, his heart nearly broke for the boy; nearly.
"Wait… If this is his memory… then shouldn't I see him somewhere? Unless…" Snape's eyes narrowed. "Unless I've already seen him…"
The memory ended shortly after that, leaving Snape and Kiku standing in the Potions classroom alone once more.
"That is what will and has happened when… the thing inside my head gets control…" Kiku lowered his head in sorrow.
"I see," was all Snape could say at a moment like this. "So was that a memory of this 'thing' in his head? Is it a curse passed down generation to generation?" There were too many questions left unanswered.
"I think that this would be a good time to end today's lesson; it's nearly supper time," Snape said. Now wasn't the time to ask these questions.
"… Hai, Snape-sensei," Kiku agreed, picking up his Pensieve and putting it inside of his so-called 'invisible bag' before leaving the room.
*Hakama- Basically an outfit that people who practice martial arts (and sword stuff- Google it) wear.
**Tessen- Pretty much a metal club made to look like a folded fan or a metal fan. Sometimes the edges are sharpened so you can use it to cut stuff.
If my dumbed-down explanations are wrong... Just Google it.
I was really looking forward to writing this chapter... Suspicious Snape was bound to happen at some point...
Next chapter is the meeting! (Unless I'm lazy again...)
R&R
~Dark Side of the Moon