Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Harry Potter.

Curse

Kakashi places me on something soft. "Sleep, Riko-chan," he says, and I drift off into some sort of half-sleep.


"Troublesome girl," a voice drawls, penetrating through the fog in my head. "Don't use a jutsu if it knocks you out, baka."

Jutsu wasn't supposed to work like that.

"Are you staying with her, Shikamaru?"

"Yeah. Go back to the matches, Kakashi-sensei. Your team is worried. I think Sasuke is putting dents into the railing, he's gripping it that hard."

Then why isn't he here? Oh, right, he's Sasuke.

I hear someone leave.

"Damn, Ri, you're troublesome. And what's up with you and Sasuke?"

I died and he watched. And then he made me live again.

Shikamaru can't hear my thoughts.

Someone else approaches. "Hey, Shikamaru, is Nara-chan gonna be okay?" a mildly annoying voice asks.

"Fine. She's exhausted. Now get lost, you're troublesome," Shika says.

"Right, right. But man, she really was amazing, huh?"

"Sure," Shika pauses. "You are still here."

"Right, leaving already. Oh hey, there's Kabuto-senpai! Hey senpai, can you check on Nara-chan?"

"Yes, of course, Fumio-san. It's what I'm here for, after all," a friendly voice says and I don't like it.

"What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asks. "You left the exam."

"Ahh, I'm a medic and decided to help out the injured here, since I'm not competing. I'll check on Riko-san now."

Liar! Get him away from me! Please...

I try to make a sound, but before I can, I feel cold foreign chakra on me and my body freezes.

"What are you doing?" Shikamaru asks.

"I'm just giving her a chakra transfusion. She really exhausted herself, didn't she?"

Something is wrongwrongwrong I can't breathe what is he doing please stopstopstop...

Help me, someone, Shika, Sasuke, Ruto, Dad, Kakashi, please...

Kabuto is filling me with chakra, but it feels so wrong and cold and it hurts. Suddenly there is a hitting sound and it stops. "What the hell are you doing to her!" Fumio shouts. "That's not a chakra transfusion!"

Thankyouthankyouthankyou, Fumio.

"Fumio-san, calm down. It's a technique you don't know yet. She'll be better soon."

"Kagemane no Jutsu, success," Shikamaru says and I almost sob in relief, but I still can't get a sound out.

"Ahh, what gave me away?" Kabuto asks.

"Like I would tell you," Shika answers. "Fumio, get Kakashi-sensei here, now."

"Yes!" I hear someone running and then-

I can't breathe. I'm going to be killed, I'm so scared, help me, they're going to kill me...

I hear something hitting the ground. Laboured gasps from Shikamaru. A whimper from Fumio, further away.

A chuckle from Kabuto. "Orochimaru-sama, your Killing Intent is splendid as always."

"Kabuto," a hoarse voice says and I want to scream and run but I'm still frozen. "Is she ready?"

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

I feel the Bad Thing approach. Orochimaru, Kabuto called it. Cool fingers caress my face.

Stop! No! Don't touch me!

"K-kagema-" Shika's voice cuts off and something hits the floor.

Shika! No! Please...

"You didn't kill him," Kabuto notes.

"It would have been a waste," Orochimaru answers, his hand still on my face.

"Get your hands off Nara-chan!" Fumio shouts and I finally manage to open my eyes. The man that stands above me is disgustingly pale and has straight, black hair. His eyes are yellow, the pupils are slit, and so, so cold. Inhuman.

Get him away from me, get him away, get him away!

"Fumio! Run!" I scream and those disgusting fingers are suddenly on my throat and my voice cuts off.

"No!" Fumio shouts back. "I'm not leaving you behind!"

I see him run towards us, face sweaty and pale, kunai in his shaking hand. Then Kabuto is behind him, punches a glowing hand at his neck and Fumio falls. Kabuto smirks and pushes his glasses back on his nose.

Fumio's sightless eyes see nothing.

No. No. No. Nononono, not Fumio, not him, wake up, pleasepleaseplease, it's not funny, wake up! Fumio!

Orochimaru turns his attention back to me.

"You are a very special girl, Riko-chan," he says, licking his lips, and I can feel the tears dripping down my face. "I have a gift for you."

And then, faster than I can comprehend, his mouth is at my neck and there's a sharp, piercing pain and then his head pulls back again. He gives me a mockery of a smile.

"You will come to me," he promises. The next moment both he and Kabuto are gone and I'm alone.

And then my neck throbs and there's ice cold fire flowing through my veins and I scream.


Kakashi

"I must admit, my Eternal Rival, Riko surprised me," Gai says as they watch the interesting match between Aburame Shino and Akado Yoroi. It's obvious though that the Aburame has already won.

"Hmm, did you say something?" he asks, and Gai grits his teeth, fire appearing in his eyes. He shakes his fist, muttering something about Kakashi being 'hip' and how this pisses him off.

Kakashi is amused. And pleased. Riko-chan impressed several jounin during the course of the exam, and her fight had been an excellent showing of strength and planning. Though the end could have gone better. To think she did an A-ranked water jutsu flawlessly without any water around... a miracle she was still conscious enough to stand up after the chakra drain hit her.

He chances a side look at his two remaining students. They'd wanted to go to the infirmary with Riko, but he'd ordered them to stay and watch the matches and study their future opponents - for Riko-chan's sake, too. Now their eyes are on the match below them, but while Naruto's attention is riveted, Sasuke appears to not be really watching.

Sasuke. Kakashi worries about him. The boy has been in a dark mood these past days during training, and Kakashi knows it isn't entirely about losing his right eye. But he couldn't get him to talk about it.

He suspects it has something to do with Riko. Whenever he hasn't been training Sasuke, the boy was with her, watching her with an intensity that was worrying. He's seen the brief touches they covertly exchange, how Sasuke sometimes brushes his hand over her wrist and how she seemingly accidentally brushes her hand against his shoulder or arm.

At first he suspected a budding romance – and how cute would that be, Riko-chan and Sasuke – but he noticed soon that that was not the case. No, what Sasuke was doing was assure himself that Riko's pulse was still beating, and Riko was silently reassuring him that she was still there for him.

He's seen this sort of behaviour before, among teammates that had close brushes with death. It had been fairly common during the war. Hell, he and Rin had been like that after Obito... There is nothing at all romantic about it.

He sighs to himself. The members of the team would be training separately for the finals. He just isn't sure if Sasuke can handle being separated from Riko-chan at this point.

"All three of your youthful students in the finals!" Gai continues, oblivious to Kakashi's musings. "I must train my students harder! If they aren't chunin within the next year, I shall..."

Kakashi's head snaps up as a girl's scream reaches his sharp ears. It sounds terrified, tortured, helpless. Full of rage and grief.

He shunshins immediately, Gai right behind him.

The screams come from the infirmary.

Riko.

They burst in, weapons drawn, but the fight is already over. Tachibana Fumio lays on the ground, kunai in his hand, eyes opened wide and seeing nothing. Dead. Shikamaru lays on the ground, unconscious next to Riko's bed.

Riko is on the bed, screaming in pain, clutching her neck. Her nails dig into her skin so hard they draw blood.

He body flickers next to her, prying her hand away from her neck and-

No.

The Cursed Seal stands out against her pale skin.

"Makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop..." falls from Riko' lips, her green eyes wide with fear and pain, looking up at him pleadingly.

"I'm sorry," he whispers and knocks her out with a small spark of lightning chakra to her neck. Her body goes limp.

There is nothing else he can do.


Riko

Where am I?

I'm floating in nothingness. Everything around me is white.

Am I dreaming? This better not be another near-death experience. Or actual death experience.

I can hear a child's sobs and look in that direction. It's a little girl with long dark red hair, sitting curled up, knees drawn up to her chest, face hidden as she cries.

"Hey," I say. "Are you okay?" I walk in her direction.

She looks up and I jerk back when I see her face. Bright green eyes, pale skin, scar on her forehead.

She's me. My six-year old self.

She stares at me with empty eyes. "It's your fault," she says in an emotionless voice.

I'm in my cupboard. Uncle Vernon stands over me, beating and kicking me.

"You're too weak," my younger self tells me.

Mummy's green eyes stare upwards sightlessly.

"You can't protect anybody."

Fumio falls to the ground unmoving, never to get up again. Eyes sightless like mummy's.

"If it hadn't been for you, he'd still be alive."

Sasuke's closed eye.

Eight-year old Ruto, broken on the ground with Kuramoto standing over him.

I'm dragged underwater helplessly by the mist-nin.

"You let it happen."

Bodies lined up on the ground. Dad, mom, Shika, Sasuke, Ruto, Chouji, Ino, Kakashi, Kiba, Hinata, Hanabi...

"Not real," I whisper shakily.

"But it will be," she says. "Unless you take the power to prevent it!" A demonic grin lights her childish features. One of her hands comes up and slowly rips the skin of her face, revealing a cold yellow eye with a slit pupil. "If only you had power..."

The world around me is consumed by ugly, purple flames, the demonic child standing amidst them untouched, grinning.

The flames reach me and I burn.


I open my eyes to a large, empty room. Purple chakra is swirling all around me, inside me. It feels incredible.

I stand up. Throw my head back and laugh. The chakra seems to react and even more of it is released.

I'm invincible.

More, more, more! I want more!

I feel a burning sensation on my skin. I lift my hand to my face. There are burning markings on my skin, looking like delicate vines. When they stop glowing, they are black on my skin.

I giggle delightedly. So pretty! I want more!

I take a step forward and find that I can't.

"That's enough, Riko-chan," Dad's voice says.

I laugh. "Dad! Look!" I wave my beautiful marked hand at him. "See how strong I am!"

"This isn't you."

My body freezes as shadows creep up my body. "What are you doing?"

My new chakra doesn't like the shadows. More burning marks appear on my skin.

"Stop, Riko-chan."

"No, you stop!" I scream. I force my legs to take one step away from him. And another. "I feel great! Why are you trying to stop me?"

The shadows become stronger and I'm unable to move again. "Enough. We need to seal that mark."

"Why? It makes me strong! I can protect everyone now! Stop holding me back!"

"You brother is injured."

I freeze. "Brother?"

"Shikamaru. Remember?"

"Shikamaru..." I whisper.

A voice echoes in my mind.

"Troublesome girl."

I squeeze me eyes shut, starting to tremble.

"What would your friend Fumio say if he saw you like this?"

"Shut up!" I scream.

"Wanna hang out, Nara-chan?"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! I hate you!" I whimper, tears falling out of my eyes. My knees hit the ground as the shadows let go of me. The marks recede and I feel so weak and cold all of a sudden.

"Riko-chan," Dad says. He moves closer.

My hand clutches my neck. "Get it off!"

I don't want this thing on me. It's so much worse than the Thing that used to be in my scar.

Dad crouches down in front of me, hands grasping my shoulders. "Riko-chan, look at me."

I stare into his eyes.

"We have no way to get it off of you. We can seal it however. There's a sealmaster waiting outside the door. Alright?"

I nod. "Just make it stop," I whisper.

He moves to hug me, but I lean away. I can't handle touch right now.

Dad sighs and stands up and moves away. I hear him exchange words with someone, and then he and a large man with a mane of white hair and a forehead protector with the kanji for 'Oil' written on it walk over to me.

"Riko-chan, this is Jiraiya. He'll seal the Cursed Seal."

Great. Another Sannin. This one looks nicer, though.

"Hi," I say shakily. "You wrote my favourite book."

The man aims a beaming grin at me. "A fan! Shikaku, you didn't tell me your little girl was a fan!"

Dad facepalms. "I'm going to kill Kakashi," he mutters.

"So which one is your favourite?" Jiraiya asks me.

"Violence. The plot is great. Is there going to be a book featuring Akemi-sama?"

He grins. "Now that would be telling, no?"

"I guess," I say. I gasp and hunch over as my neck throbs.

"Ah, we should hurry. The seal I'm going to use is the Evil Suppression Seal. It will seal the mark, but it is dependent on your will to keep it that way."

"Understood." I grit my teeth against another wave of pain.

I won't use this power. Those bastards hurt Shika and they killed Fumio. Fumio, who never really hurt anyone, who wanted to become a medic. Who annoyed me at every turn and tried to trick me into dating him. Who died trying to save me.

Such a pointless death.

Orochimaru and Kabuto are going to die. This, I swear to myself.

I grit my teeth, fighting to not succumb to the pain while Jiraiya paints symbols in blood on my skin and around me on the ground.

"This is going to hurt," he says. "But it won't last long."

I nod. "Just get it over with," I force out.

Anything is better than this cold pain that the Cursed Seal sends through my body, the temptation to draw upon its power still strong.

I hear the sounds of Jiraiya forming a long sequence of hand seals. "Fuuja Houin!" he shouts and slams his hand on my neck, and a shrill scream erupts from my throat as white-hot pain ravages my body.

When the power stops after an eternity or seconds, I fall forward and know no more.


I'm alone in a hospital room when I wake up. The calendar on the wall tells me that four days have passed since the preliminaries.

Surprisingly enough, I don't feel that bad physically. Sure, my body hurts like hell, but my chakra levels are alright. I've had worse.

Emotionally...

I escape through the window and run.


I end up in the Clan Forest. I doubt anyone will come looking for me here, and the only ones that can enter are Nara Clan members anyway.

I stumble through the forest, feeling cold and numb. Eventually, my legs give out in a clearing and I have to sit down. That's what I do for the next hours. Sitting there and staring at the clouds, but not really seeing them.

A snout nuzzles my hair.

"Hey Rikumaru," I murmur, lifting a hand up to pat him. He bumps his nose against my palm. "Come to keep me company?"

He lies down next to me and I lean against him, continuing to pet him. "He was going to be a medic," I whisper. "He said he was going to be the best medic ever."

I should be crying or raging or something. But I don't feel much of anything except dull pain. I'm cold inside.

"He was supposed to grow up, find a girl that isn't me and take her to that creepy café with the heart-shaped cakes, get married and have troublesome children," I tell Rikumaru. "He was a good person if a bit annoying."

Rikumaru snorts. "Or a lot annoying," I say. "I don't know how often I've wanted to strangle him."

I hide my face in his fur. "I even wanted to strangle him seconds before he died, when he refused to run away."

And now all I wish is that I'd known Fumio better. That I'd hung out with him at least once, that I had been nicer to him, that I hadn't run away from him that one time in the café. Maybe we could've been friends. Then losing him would hurt even more, but he'd have been happier.

I deserve to suffer. Fumio would still be alive if it hadn't been for me.

"It's all my fault," I echo what the creepy younger me told me.

Rikumaru and I sit like that for about an hour, until he stands up and bumps me with his snout. Then he looks in another direction. I follow his gaze and see dad walking towards us.

"Thanks for the company," I tell Rikumaru. He bumps his nose against my forehead and walks away.

Dad sits down next to me. Neither of us break the silence for a few minutes.

"Is Shikamaru alright?" I ask then.

"Woke up with a headache."

"Does he know about-" I touch my neck.

"No."

I nod. "What about the chunin exams?"

"You can still compete if you want."

"Should I?"

"It's your choice, Riko-chan."

"You don't want me to," I deduce.

"I don't, but it's your choice."

Dad usually knows best. Besides, whoever my opponent is had more time to train and no weird curse to deal with. Not to mention the curse can screw with my head and my medical condition is definitely not the best.

But...

"Hey Nara-chan, wouldn't it be awesome if we both became chunin?"

I clench my fists. "I want to become chunin. I'll compete."

Dad sighs and pulls a few papers out of his pocket. "Here's the match-ups for the finals and reports on the preliminary matches that you missed."

I take them and look through them while dad pulls out some other stuff.

Huh. My first opponent is Rock Lee. From what little I've seen of him, he won't be an easy opponent, especially not if Gai is training him for the month.

I skim over the rest of the papers. In the preliminaries, Shino won against Akado Yoroi, Hinata lost against Neji, Eiji was beaten by Lee, Kiba forfeited when he had to fight Gaara and Kankuro got by automatically. The matches for the finals are Naruto vs. Neji, Sasuke vs. Gaara, Kankuro vs. Shino, Temari vs. Shikamaru, myself against Lee and Ino will have to fight Dosu.

A poofing sound makes me look up. While I was looking through the papers, dad used a seal and some blood from a vial to summon a dog wearing a vest and a Konoha-hitae-ate.

"Riko-chan, this is Pakkun. He'll take you to your trainer for the month."

"Huh? I'm not training with mom?"

"Nah, girly, you're training outside the village," The dog says.

A talking dog. Great.

"With who?" I ask.

"Not allowed to tell you." He turns around on his short legs. "You coming or what?"

I blink, at a loss. So I'm supposed to follow the talking dog to who knows where. Right.

Dad pushes a backpack into my hands. "There's what you'll need. You should stop by the house though and change out of the hospital clothes."

"Yeah. I'll do that," I mumble numbly, somewhat confused. "Hey Dad?"

"What is it?"

"I don't hate you. You're my dad."

He sighs deeply and ruffles my hair, smiling at me. "I know, Riko-chan."


After saying goodbye to dad and gathering some supplies in the house, I follow Pakkun.

"Do you want to say goodbye to anyone?" Pakkun asks me.

"I... no. I don't really want to see anyone," I mumble. "Let's just go."

The dog stops. "Touch my paw?"

I blink. "What?"

"It'll make you feel better! It's really," he gives me a slightly obsessed look and holds his tiny paw out to me "bouncy!"

"Bouncy," I repeat, giving him a blank look.

He shakes his paw a little. "Bouncy! Touch it!"

I suppose he's trying to make me feel better. Not that it's helping, but it's sort of sweet. I reach out and softly touch his paw.

It feels weird. Soft, squishy and bouncy. I giggle a little, despite my grief.

"See? Now carry me."

"Lazy dog. Can't you run on your bouncy paws?"

"I know I'm a cute dog. No need to flatter me."

"That's not what I said."

He gives me the puppy eyes which looks really weird on his not-cute pug-face. Unfortunately for him, I have a high resistance to the puppy eyes due to growing up with Naruto.

"Fine," Pakkun huffs. "See if you can keep up."


Pakkun leads me a few hours away from Konoha to a completely deserted stone desert. There's only dust and stones here. Nothing lives here except lichen, crippled looking trees and dried out looking bushes.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" I ask. "Because I'm water natured and there is no water here whatsoever."

"It's the right place. Come on," Pakkun barks and takes off again, leading me right into the stone desert. We take a break after another hour.

I'm really tired now, and my whole body hurts. But the physical pain distracts me from the emotional. No thinking about Fumio.

I probably missed his funeral. Or will miss it if it hasn't been held yet.

I shake the thoughts off.

After another half hour, we halt in an abandoned village. Abandoned houses, ruins, broken structures... the place is eerie.

"Wait here for your teacher. He'll be here soon," Pakkun says gruffly. "Bye."

And with a poof of smoke, he's gone. "Wait!" I call after him uselessly.

Awesome. I'm in the middle of nowhere, all by myself. And it's getting dark, and this is a desert, it will be cold in the nights. Best to find shelter.


I find a house that looks completely run down from the outside but isn't that bad from the inside. Until I find something better, this will have to do. I sort out the stuff in the backpack dad gave me: some storage scrolls with enough food for three weeks, camping gear, some weapons and my sword. There's a water-ninjutsu scroll, a genjutsu scroll and a fuinjutsu one. And...

Holy shit. A summoning contract?

Dad snuck a summoning contract into my backpack.

I knew he has a contract himself, with the moles, but I didn't think he'd give it to me. Though, as I open it, I don't see his name among the ones written there, so this isn't his contract. It doesn't say which animal it is.

I wonder where he got this contract. Maybe in the Clan Archives? Someone from the clan probably acquired it on a mission but already had a contract, or wasn't compatible with whatever this is. Hmm, what could it be?

I hope it's something that can fly.

I decide to summon whatever it is later, since I'm exhausted from traveling. I'll rest for now.


It's the middle of the night when something crashes into my hideout. I jerk up from my sleep, senbon in hand, and run out of the room. Instinct makes me duck, and something large cuts the air above me. I throw my senbon in a spread out manner, hoping they'll hit something, and clinks of metal as they are deflected are my reward. I throw shuriken in the direction and get the hell out of the building.

A kick crashes into my side with incredible power and I skid down over the dry and stony ground. I get to my feet as fast as I can despite the pain, unsealing my sword. There's no water here and I don't have time for a genjutsu, so this will have to do. Unfortunately, it's dark around us and mist is rising up.

Mist. In a desert.

I can't believe Kakashi got him of all people to teach me. What did he promise him, eternal protection from the Ramen Talk?

I throw myself to the ground again, lifting my sword above me. Metal screeches and sparks fly as another sword clashes against it with unbelievable force. I roll to the side, avoiding another kick and get to my feet.

I channel chakra into my sword, making it glow an eerie blue, and swing it at where I think my attacker is. He bursts into water. Water clone.

Shit.

A mass of water slams into me from behind and I get thrown down and around until I don't know up from down anymore. When I finally lay on the ground, gasping for air, my attacker comes into sight.

Fucking hell.

"Your training in Wave almost got me killed," I gasp out accusingly, though since I probably look like a drowned cat right now, my glare might not be all that impressive.

"That was the point, brat," Zabuza growls. "Get used to it."

He lets out an insane amount of Killing Intent and I shudder.

"Get up, brat!" he growls. He swipes his sword at me and I hastily clamber to my feet, shivering in my wet clothes. I get the feeling that under the bandages that cover his face, he's grinning demonically. "Lesson one: Don't die."

I gulp.

I'm really regretting ever blackmailing Zabuza now.


The day of the tournament, Haku shunshins me right in front of the village gates. I could have done it myself, but Haku offered and I don't really want to waste chakra before I fight Lee, even if my chakra reserves have grown immensely.

It turns out that constantly exhausting oneself by training water jutsu in the middle of a desert has that effect.

"Thanks, Haku," I say. "Without you I'd probably be dead."

Zabuza's training was one long torture session. I barely had time to think. I barely had time to even sleep. I had to resort to lay down and get some shut-eye whenever there was a calm minute, until Zabuza decided to kill me in my sleep again. When he gave me instructions, it was usually in the middle of beating me up. When he taught me a new technique, he gave me an hour to practice and then started his attacks on me again. If I managed to do the technique, I got hurt considerably less. If not... well it's a good thing Haku was there.

Haku was awesome. He picked me up when I couldn't move anymore, nursed my bruises and scrapes and taught me the shunshin so I could escape better.

"You are welcome, Riko-san. But Zabuza-sama wouldn't have killed you. He made sure to never seriously injure you."

That's true. I never broke a bone and I only got a concussion once. But my body was one giant bruise for the three weeks of training, I had to heal countless cuts and gashes made by Zabuza's kubikiribocho and I got chakra exhaustion almost every day. Most training days ended with me barely conscious.

The results are nothing to sneeze at, though. My sword skills alone...

"If you say so," I answer Haku. "Guess I'll see you around. When I come to kick Demon-sensei's ass, maybe."

Haku gives me his kind smile. "I look forward to seeing you again. Please send my best regards to Naruto-san."

"Sure. See ya."

"Goodbye, Riko-san."

He disappears in a swirl of wind and leaves while I turn around and walk through the gates. After checking in at the gate guard's booth, I make my way through the village. It's noon already and the fights should be starting by now, but I still have some time since there will be four matches before my own fight starts. And there is something I have to do before my fight.


I step in front of the cenotaph, eyes scanning the countless unfamiliar names until I find him.

Tachibana Fumio

I hadn't been sure if his name would have been engraved here, but I assumed it was, since he died fighting against an enemy of Konoha.

"Hi Fumio," I say, sitting down crosslegged in front of the stone. "I have something to say to you."

I take a deep breath. "'You are really annoying. I don't like you and I think you are an idiot. Your constant bugging me is getting on my last nerve.'" I sigh. "I wonder if, had I ever told you that, you would still be alive."

I shake my head at the stone. "You were such an idiot. Always constantly trying to get me to go on dates with you. Never taking the hint that I did not enjoy your company."

I wipe away a tear. "Damn it, why didn't you run when I told you to? You weren't supposed to die. You were supposed to grow up, find a nice girl that wasn't me, take her to the creepy café and eat those stupid cakes with her, marry her and have annoying children."

I pull out the box with heart-shaped cake I bought a few minutes earlier. "Itadakimasu," I murmur and start eating the way too sweet dessert with tears running down my face. When I'm finished, I get to my feet, staring at the cenotaph.

"I'm going to miss you, Fumio."