Standard disclaimer, see previous chapter.
A Simple Mistake
By:
TF
Chapter 02: Sand and Sleeping Potions
Naruto knew that he was in trouble from the first foreign sensation he felt, he just didn't know how bad it was going to be. When he'd regained his balance and sense after hiding behind a few of his clones he'd found himself surrounded by oddly dressed people pointing sticks in his direction and babbling in an unknown language. If that wasn't enough he'd turned and found Gaara lying prone on the floor, arms and legs flopped almost bonelessly on the stone floor.
The translation charm hadn't done much more than startle him as he fed Gaara a soldier pill in hopes that the red head would regain more consciousness than he had. Gaara's sand may have been missing, but, as far as he knew, the other boy still housed a badly sealed demon that tended to go rabid with or without the sand. It took almost no effort to yell back at the bushy-haired girl, weapons in hand as she tried to get him to stop helping Gaara before more oddly dressed adults filed into the already crowded room and continued pointed more sticks in their direction.
Then, much to Naruto's relief, Gaara stirred and finally woke up enough to figure out the situation was far from normal. Even when Naruto felt his seal tugging so hard at his stomach that he puked as Kyuubi's voice roared angrily through his head he was glad that he wasn't alone. He let Gaara take control without a hassle, even through his panic and readiness to attack, submitting to Gaara's warning before the red head silently requesting another soldier pill.
But Naruto really knew he was in trouble when Gaara asked the most important question, "How far are we from Wind Country?" and got a reply of, "I'm sorry, there is no such country." They weren't even far from home, they were in a whole world not their own.
Beside him Gaara's breathing sped up as his green eyes widened in barely concealed shock. Naruto wasn't sure what to do first, follow through on jumping the old guy telling him that there was no way to get home or calm down Gaara before things got even more out of hand. Gaara chose for him when he put his head between his hands and held it there for a moment, face contorted with pain as his breathing got erratic for a few tense moments before he calmed.
"Gaara?"
Naruto wasn't sure who (or what) was in control until the red head took another deep breath and glared at him instead of giving him an insane look like the blond knew Shukaku would have done. The robed adults were all sharing looks while the students whispered in easily overheard tones.
"It would seem that you two will be stuck here for a while," the old man with the long beard said. Naruto refrained from rolling his eyes and saying, "No, really?" when Gaara gave him a sharp look.
"I can see that you two have been through a scuffle or two, so we're inviting you to spend the night in our infirmary as we decide what to do about this situation," the man continued, light eyes watching the shinobi duo carefully as they communicated silently before the red head nodded. "If that's settled, then please follow me and my associate without attacking any of our students. That does mean put your weapons away."
Naruto hesitated, but finally returned his kunai and shuriken to their proper pouches while wearing a skeptical look. Gaara watched the other boy for a moment, darkly ringed eyes appraising Naruto as he twitched with the insecurity that came along with being unarmed. After a moment the blond nodded and Gaara led the way, consciously taking point while Naruto created an extra clone to help him watch the rear as they left the classroom amidst whispers.
No one was in the hallway except for a longhaired cat that hissed at the passing boys before disappearing around a corner as the small group passed it by. The female teacher shook her head at the animal, much to the old man's amusement.
"Albus, what is the meaning of this? Who are these two boys?"
The elderly wizard stopped the nurse's questions with a raised hand, motioning for her to lead the way through the infirmary. She muttered, but led them past gaping students anyway until they were in a more private corner of the infirmary and mostly alone.
"This is the only place that they'll be relatively left alone," the nurse said, frowning when the old man, Albus, smiled brightly. "I'll leave you to finish your conversation before I start running a few diagnostics to insure their health."
Everyone was silent as the woman walked away before the two adults turned back towards Naruto and Gaara as Naruto released his clone. The adults jumped, then looked at each other for a moment before the woman sighed and started introductions.
"I am Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house, and Deputy Headmistress. This," she gestured to the man beside her, "is this school's Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore."
The two boys watched them silently, wary eyes moving between the two adults as the introductions were made. There was another moment of silence before McGonagall sighed and looked at the boys reprovingly.
"After being introduced to someone it is polite introduce yourselves in turn," she said sternly, watching the boys share looks. It was obvious that the red head had become the leader of the two judging by the way the louder blond kept deferring to him. Their faces were hard and composed as they looked around, easily ignoring the annoyed looks they were receiving.
"Boys," Dumbledore said, waiting until they both looked at him before continuing, "it would be nice if we knew your names."
Naruto shared another look with Gaara as they considered the situation for a moment. They weren't captured or under interrogation, but they were in a foreign place with strange people. After a few seconds Naruto just rolled his eyes and piped up.
"Uzumaki Naruto," he said, ignoring the way Gaara glared at him.
"Now, Uzumaki," Dumbledore was cut off when Naruto scowled and corrected him.
"My family name is Uzumaki," he snapped, rolling his eyes at the surprised looks he received. "But you can call me Naruto."
"What is the name of your friend?" Dumbledore was ignoring the darkening glare on Gaara's face, but the sheer animosity the boy radiated was hard to ignore.
"Sabaku no Gaara," Naruto said, meeting Gaara's eyes as the other boy started to get even more agitated.
"Sabaku.. no Gaara?" McGonagall asked, curiously watching what looked to be grains of sand starting to collect in the air above the red head.
"Uh, just Gaara," Naruto said, also watching the grains of sand drifting off of the red head's black clothes.
"Alright, Naruto and Gaara. As you know, you are in our school, and possibly in a world not your own. The most we can do at the moment is offer you a place to stay here as long as you don't cause harm to come to our students until we can figure out a way to send you back home," Dumbledore said. "Eventually we might have to figure out a way to integrate you into the school, but you will be settled here for the night. We will give you a few days to adapt before we discuss any significant changes."
The nurse came back, eyes wide as she too watched the small grains that were starting to swirl above the red head. "What is the situation?"
"They will be staying here for the night, Poppy," Dumbledore said, smiling at the flustered medi-witch.
"What's wrong with the red-haired boy?" she asked, watching the sand move angrily, and noting the slightly haze in the boy's eyes as well as the manic smile that was starting to grow.
Naruto blinked and looked at Gaara along with everyone else before sighing and hauling off and punching Gaara in the face hard enough to make the red head rock back.
"Boy!"
"Naruto!"
Naruto ignored the exclamations of surprise as he watched the sands settle even as the glares increased. Gaara pulled himself upright, giving Naruto a look that made the blond shiver.
"You were starting to do some creepy sand thing. I'd rather not be squished," Naruto squeaked, sighing in relief as Gaara turned away from him and the minute amount of sand that had been gathered settled.
"I will have you know that we don't approve of physical violence," McGonagall said, watching how Naruto paled under Gaara's look.
"It's fine," Gaara snapped, calming down enough to quit sending Naruto looks of death, much to the blond's relief.
The three adults shared a look for a moment at the apparent disregard the two boys had for hitting each other before McGonagall finished explaining their situation.
"Right now it is still early afternoon, so you'll be here for a while as you heal. Dinner will be brought up to you as long as Madame Pomfrey deems you fit enough to eat. We will leave you in her care until the morning when we will return for you. If you feel the utmost need to leave the infirmary ask Madame Pomfrey to call for one of us and we will escort you where ever you need to go," McGonagall waited until the two boys nodded before adding her last comment. "No more hitting each other, we do not tolerate violence in this school."
Naruto rolled his eyes at the backs of the adults as they left, robes billowing behind them as they walked away. After checking to make sure that there wasn't anyone within hearing range he turned to Gaara, eyes apologetic as he looked at the small bruise forming on the other boy's cheek.
"Sorry I had to hit you," Naruto said, moving close enough to the other boy to be companionable, but not close enough to invade the other boy's personal space.
Gaara turned his head to watch the blond with narrowed eyes before taking a deep breath and letting it go slowly. Shukaku was snickering somewhere in the back of his mind, shrill tones echoing faintly around his head. Even if the demon didn't get out, it got close enough to distract Gaara, which made it almost as happy as causing the boy pain. His control seemed to be shaky at best at the moment, but luckily, the scrape with the Akatsuki seemed to have left his demon feeling as drained as he currently did.
"I understand," Gaara said in his usual flat tone.
"Boys, you can use the beds behind you."
They both looked up at Madame Pomfrey as she bustled over with her wand out, but not necessarily pointed in a threatening manner. Naruto shrugged and sat on the bed after sharing a look with Gaara, eyeing the medi-witch warily. She waited patiently between the two beds as the boys situated themselves before turning to the less intimidating of the duo.
"Albus said that you were having stomach problems," she said, looking at Naruto who scowled and rubbed a hand over the covered seal.
"It's gone away now. I just don't deal well with being jerked around by my stomach," Naruto said quickly, watching her distrustfully. "I'm fine, I don't need anything stitched up either. Even if I did it would only be for a few minutes anyway."
"I would still like for you to hold still for this," Madame Pomfrey said, gently pushing the blond boy down onto the bed as she held her wand a few inches above his skin and slowly moved it down the length of his body. "What I'm doing right now is just a diagnostic scan. I want to make sure that you don't have any injuries or a sickness that you don't know about."
Naruto nodded warily, keeping a close eye on the wand as it passed over him. He was reminded slightly of Tsunade when she was healing a patient, the green glow coming from the wand was about the same color as the chakra she generated for the medicinal jutsus.
"Hmm," the nurse muttered, frowning slightly as she ran the spell again. "Well, you don't seem to have anything wrong with you, but you do seem to have a few differences…"
"I know, it is fine," Naruto said, sitting up quickly as he scooted away from the wand still positioned over him. "It isn't anything I haven't heard about before. Anyway, you said that I'm fine, right?"
Madame Pomfrey sighed and nodded, "I guess you're right. Now, Mr. Gaara, could you please lay down as well?"
Gaara removed the leather straps that used to hold his gourd and placed them on the floor before he settled back into the bed as the same spell was cast over him. Instead of watching the wand as Naruto had done, he just closed his eyes and relaxed, ignoring the rest of the room. As she had done with Naruto, Madame Pomfrey ran her wand over the boy a second time, a frown starting to form on her face.
"Well, I was mistaken, it seems like you two share some of the same differences."
Naruto nodded, unsurprised by this news.
"At the same time," Madame Pomfrey continued, "Gaara seems to have something similar to what we witches and wizards call 'magical exhaustion' as well as a massive case of sleep deprivation. Magical exhaustion is rare, and generally only happens when a witch or wizard has worn themselves out by pushing themselves too far during the course of a fight or an extremely involved or taxing spell. What happened?"
Gaara cracked an eye open and sighed before saying, "I was in a fight, that is all."
Madame Pomfrey also sighed and placed her hands on her hips as she looked down at the boy. He had already closed his eyes again, appearing to not care about the seriousness of his conditions.
When it was clear that Gaara was going to continue to ignore her, Madame Pomfrey turned to back to Naruto. "I'm going to fetch a few potions for your friend. Please, both of you stay in bed until I get back."
She waited for Naruto's nod before leaving. In a few minutes she was back and carrying a tray that held two cups.
"What exactly are you going to give him?" Naruto asked, watching the colored liquids warily.
"A potion to help boost his energy reserves and a sleep potion. He'll need sleep in order to get back to normal as quickly as possibly," she replied, noting the distinct circles around the red head's eyes weren't all kohl or eyeliner as she had initially assumed.
"No," Gaara snapped, eyes narrowing at the cups in the woman's hands.
"No what, dear?"
Gaara started to glare as Naruto muffled his laughter behind Madame Pomfrey's back, "I'm not taking anything that will make me sleep."
"But you really need some rest, just look at those circles under your eyes," Madame Pomfrey protested, eyes narrowing stubbornly as she tried to force the cup into Gaara's resisting hands.
"I'm not taking this," Gaara hissed, sitting up as the small amount of sand he'd gathered started rising to swirl in agitation.
"But-"
Naruto cut Madame Pomfrey off before she could anger Gaara further, "He doesn't sleep, so don't give him anything that will force him into unconsciousness. It's just better this way."
"Is he an insomniac? Is there some other reason? I can tell he doesn't sleep, or at least not much, but he really needs to catch up on the sleep he's missing," Madame Pomfrey said sternly, giving Naruto a frown as he supported the red head.
"No, he doesn't sleep, at all," Naruto snapped as Madame Pomfrey before adding in a mutter, "Which is for the best, considering the last time he went completely nuts."
"He doesn't sleep at all? That's not possible!" Madame Pomfrey protested, finally throwing up her arms and taking the tray away from the two uncooperative boys. They watched her go until she moved out of sight before arranging themselves more comfortably on their beds.
"At least you aren't in the hands of Akatsuki anymore," Naruto said quietly, keeping his eyes on the ceiling and off of the Sand-nin.
Gaara watched him for a moment before turning his back to the blond and facing the wall, sand falling to rest gently on top of his clothing and the sheets. Naruto sighed from behind him and he could hear the blond boy shifting into a better position to guard the both of them.
Silence fell over them as they drifted into their own thoughts, only looking up whenever they felt someone walking by in order to catch a glimpse of the two boys who had appeared. The news that Harry Potter had managed to summon two oddly dressed boys had spread across the school by dinnertime. Students were trying to find any and every excuse to visit the infirmary to get a glimpse of the boys for themselves.
A cracking noise between their beds startled both boys into defensive positions, a small amount of sand swirling around Gaara's form as kunai found their way into Naruto's hands. They were both surprised to see an ugly little thing holding a tray almost bigger than it was with huge ears and eyes.
"Dobby has brought dinner for you," the thing squeaked, placing the tray on the table between the beds before stepping back and looking at them expectantly.
"Uh, thanks," Naruto said, watching the thing with confusion as it beamed and disappeared with another crack.
Naruto shared a 'what the hell?' look with Gaara before they looked at the food on the tray. Their meal consisted of some baked chicken, two bowls of soup with noodles, some bread, and some pudding. After performing a quick jutsu that tested for poisons they tentatively started to eat, Naruto inhaling the soup as quickly as he could before starting on the chicken as Gaara ate at a more sedated pace.
Once they were done the thing, Dobby, returned to take their tray, squeaking at them happily before disappearing again. Naruto knew that the thing creeped him out, which meant that Gaara was most likely contemplating ways to kill it the next time it came back, especially since Gaara nearly snarled every time the thing showed up.
Not too long after that Professor McGonagall showed up looking rather put upon as she approached the two shinobi. They looked up from where they had been quietly talking and watched her expectantly as she stopped at the foot of Naruto's bed.
"What the hell was that thing that brought the food?" Naruto asked, scrunching his face up in disgust at the memory.
"That was a house elf," McGonagall said, slightly irritated at being cut off before she could even begin. "Now, why have you two been causing problems?"
"What problems?" Naruto asked, blinking up at the irate teacher.
"You both refused potions designed to help you as well as frustrating the wits out of our medi-witch," McGonagall snapped, looming over the two unaffected boys as they watched her calmly.
"She was going to give Gaara something to make him sleep, which is a bad idea," Naruto said as if it were the simplest idea in the world.
"He obviously needs the sleep if she's trying to give him the potion," McGonagall said, irritation rising as Naruto rolled his eyes and heaved a dramatic sigh while Gaara continued to look indifferent.
"He doesn't need sleep and never has," Naruto said matter-of-factly, much to the annoyance of the teacher watching them.
"I'm not going to argue with you two like this. I'm here to let you know that there will be a tour of the school organized for you in the morning that we would like for you to attend. I will be leading you to the Great Hall where you will meet the rest of the school before we head out," McGonagall said. "We know that this must be strange for you, but we would appreciate if you could cooperate with our staff while you are here."
"Hey! Hey! We aren't babies who need to be watched! We are both capable adults," Naruto snapped, puffing up with indignation as he up at the stern looking woman.
"You are a teen, and therefore, in our culture and in this school, not an adult until you are 17 years of age. Unless you can tell me that you are that old, we can't consider you anything more than children," McGonagall explained, raising an eyebrow as Naruto burst into laughter and Gaara started to look angry. "What's so funny?"
"Where we come from we are considered fully functional adults despite our age," Naruto said, still smiling at the idea that he and Gaara couldn't survive in the real world. Gaara was the Kazekage of Suna, if that wasn't qualification enough, then nothing would be.
"I'm sorry, but here you aren't," McGonagall said, starting to get irritated at the smirk the blond was still wearing.
The woman watched the two teens until they shrugged before nodding and gathering herself as she left the infirmary.
"I don't like this "tour" and children business," Naruto muttered, watching the infirmary entrance until Professor McGonagall's form disappeared.
"We'll deal with it tomorrow."
Naruto turned. Gaara's eyes were closed and his face had the almost slack quality that Naruto associated with Gaara's sand. He was right. Small particles of golden sand were drifting up from between the cracks in the stone floor and walls. The small trickle at the beginning built until there was enough sand swirling around Gaara to form a miniature sandstorm around the hospital bed.
Slowly the sand condensed and solidified until it had taken its normal gourd shape within the leather straps attached to Gaara's back. For a while after the sand settled Gaara kept his eyes closed as he sat with a strained look on his face.
When he opened his eyes and met Naruto's questioning stare he answered simply, "I am never without a weapon."
---
"Are you really planning to sort these two into houses? Why don't you just place them under Harry's watch since he was the one who managed to bring them here?" McGonagall asked, rubbing her eyes tiredly as she set her glasses down on Dumbledore's desk.
"Placing them under Harry's watch would place even more stress on the boy. Stress that he doesn't need," Dumbledore said, blue eyes watching his deputy headmaster tiredly.
"How close are we to kicking those two boys out?"
Snape stormed into the headmaster's office, robes billowing out behind him until he sat down in the extra chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. McGonagall blinked and looked at her colleague who was looking angrier than normal and was holding more animosity he normally felt for minors.
"Why, Severus, we aren't throwing the boys out," Dumbledore said, looking more amused than he had a few moments before.
"Why not? They're already more trouble than they're worth," Snape snapped angrily as he leaned forward. "My house is already in an uproar over this whole situation and it is only a matter of time before we start getting owls from parents."
"Who are these boys? They obviously aren't from around here, and we have no clue what they're capable of," McGonagall said tiredly, looking even more exhausted than before. "And Naruto's cursing just isn't acceptable."
"Good luck trying to change that," Snape muttered.
"That isn't the half of it," McGonagall continued. "When I started trying to discuss giving them a tour tomorrow and cooperating with our rules they insisted that they were adults, despite their apparent age and my explanation of our system."
"That's strange," Snape commented. "What kind of society allows kids to be considered adults?"
"One where they learn early," Dumbledore said as the two teachers turned towards him. "They wouldn't be considered adults if they didn't start whatever it is they do early.
"We will need to talk to them before the tour in the morning," the elderly wizard continued. "No fighting, no cursing, nothing destructive, and nothing that will distress the other teachers and students."
"Too late for that," McGonagall said, "the red head has already refused a sleeping potion from Madame Pomfrey and the blond even supported him by saying that sleep wasn't good for the red head."
"How can sleep not be good for someone?" Professor Snape asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose again as he absorbed the information presented. "I don't even want to know, I don't."
"Albus, what are we going to do with these boys? Now I'm almost afraid to separate them," Professor McGonagall sighed.
"We'll let the hat sort them if they agree to it. If it separates them, it separates them. Besides, this may encourage inter-house relations instead of the mess we have on our hands now. Besides, the situation can't be made worse," Dumbledore said after a moment of thought, blue eyes moving between the two teachers in front of him. "We will also want to give them more permanent translation charms in either ring or necklace form."
Snape and McGonagall took this as their sign to leave and got up, saying a quick goodbye to the headmaster as they descended the spiral stairs. Dumbledore sat alone in his office for a few minutes, watching the spinning silver instruments as Fawkes stirred from his sleep, shaking quickly as he fluffed out his feathers before turning to watch the elderly man curiously.
"We'll just have to see where this turn of events takes us, my friend."
TBC…Revised 6/09.
If things don't make sense, please let me know.