Note: I realize that Riza didn't become Black Hayate's owner until later. But, to keep this story short and sweet, let's just pretend she took him in the moment she saw him (coz he's so adorable :P)


"Sabakusôsô! Imploding sand funeral!"

Splat. Ron, Hermione, Ed and Al had arrived at their destination. Their welcome was not very hospitable. They had chosen the wrong time to appear at the wrong place, and now they were covered in blood and guts.

"Ewwww! Nasty!" Ron screeched. He scourgified the gore off himself. Ed swore so loudly and colourfully I'd have to up the rating if I included it.

"Everyone, watch your step!" Hermione cautioned, drying herself off as well. "It must be a trap!"

She sprung to her feet, and turned 360° to check where they were. They were standing in the middle of a forest dense with trees. They were not along. Three children a few years younger than Hermione and Ron stood a few meters away with them. The only girl of the group had spiky blonde hair, and carried a huge fan on her back. The taller boy had a lot of purple face painting, and he wore a black costume that included a hood with little cat ears. He carried something on his back that was wrapped in bandages. The smallest member of the group was also the scariest. He had red hair and his green eyes were lined with black. He carried a humongous gourd ¾ his size on his back. He stood with his palms outstretched, and a look of bloodlust on his face. It could not be anymore obvious that he was the cause of the blood and gore. All three had headbands with an hourglass-like symbol on it (although only Face Paint was wearing it on his head).

"&?#&!&!" Ed finished swearing, and proceeded to dry himself using alchemy. He dried off his brother as well, and turned towards the three strangers. "Hey, you! Where are we!"

The strangers said nothing. The redhead gazed the group, the murderous look in his eye surpassing even Voldemort's abilities. He turned his palms toward them. His companions looked utterly terrified.

"Gaara! No!" Blondie yelled. "They've got nothing to do with us!"

"We're done with the mission, so let's go!" Face Paint added.

"Kankurou. Temari." Gaara sneered. "I don't answer to you. We're connected by blood, but that won't discourage me from killing you as well."

"Gaara!" the blonde girl, Temari, reached out to stop him. Grains of sand flowed around him, solidifying and forming a shield. Gaara glared at his sister, and turned back to the group.

"Think we ought to do something?" Ron suggested.

"Good idea!" Ed performed a quick bit of alchemy, turning the forest floor near the siblings into cage-like bars, enclosing them. Hermione and Ron pulled out their wands and executed a restraining spell on the redhead.

"Stay away, you mascara-wearing freak!" Ed commanded.

A change seemed to come over Gaara. He seemed to turn, well… less bloodthirsty. Sand came together in his hand and formed a cork. He stuck it into the gourd on his back, and dropped his arms to his sides.

"Let's go," he told his siblings.

"You can let us out now!" Kankurou of the Face Paint told the group.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Hermione called.

"If you let us out, we won't kill you!" he called back.

"Yeah, right. Something tells me I've got a better chance of killing you than the other way around." Ed cracked his knuckles.

"Let us out, pipsqueak!" Kankurou commanded.

"Who are you calling a shrimp so puny you can't even chew it because it'd get stuck between your teeth if you tried!" Ed yelled.

"I never said that! Let us out, shorty!" Kankurou yelled back.

"That's it! Now I'm never letting you out! You loser that's so ugly you have to keep your face covered in makeup!"

"Never say never pipsqueak! And just so you know, these markings are decorative!"

And so they went on, back and forth, back and forth. Temari, Al, Hermione and Ron sighed and sweatdropped. Gaara watched patiently, but finally decided to have his say.

"Let us out." Gaara requested (and by 'requested' I mean gave them his evilest glare that communicated very well he was going to give them all a very painful death if they didn't listen).

"No! You said I was short! Take it back!"

"Let us out." Again with the glare. Al decided to be the bigger person and granted Gaara's wish.

"We'll see you at the tower!" Temari called back as she and her brothers bounded away.

"Oh no!" Hermione suddenly gasped. "Am I the only one that's noticed? There are only half of us than when we left!"

"What tower?" Ron wanted to know (obviously, he hasn't noticed).

"There final destination for this exam, of course." A boy walked out from some bushes he was hiding behind. Two more people followed him.

All three had headbands with a swirly leaf on them. There were around Gaara's age (although still taller than Ed :P). The boy that spoke had doggy eyes, fangs and wore a huge furry grey jacket. A small, white dog was hiding in it, peeking out at them. The other male member of the team had the high collar of his white jacket hiding the lower half of his face and a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes. His hair was bushy and black. The only girl had short, indigo hair, creepy white eyes and was blushing.

"Kiba Inuzuka! And these are my teammates Akamaru, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga!" he grinned good-naturedly at them.

"Arf!" said Akamaru.

"…" said Shino.

"Um, hi." Hinata blushed even more and turned away.

The group introduced themselves.

"What you did back there was pretty cool!" Kiba complimented them. "You're ninjas, too, right? Where are you from? Is this your special weapon?" he pointed at Al. "What does it do? Is it a robot?"

" 'Robot'?" Al repeated, his face falling and jaw dropping right open.

"No, we're not ninjas, we- well, me and Ron, anyway- are wizards from Hogwarts, and... well, Al's a person." Hermione explained. "We were transported here by accident, and we'd appreciate some help."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Shino stared at them.

"Yeah... you did beat those creepy Sand Ninjas pretty easily. How do we know you're not trying to steal our scrolls?" Kiba turned from friendly to suspicious.

Akamaru jumped out of Kiba's jacket and started to sniff Hermione & co. He then reported back to Kiba.

"No, Akamaru says they're okay." Kiba assured his group. "Well, what are you doing here?"

"It was an accident." Hermione repeated. "Someone probably thought of other things during the spell and transported all of us to the middle of nowhere!" She glared at Ed, Al and Ron.

"Well, we can take you to the tower, where the exam officials can probably help you." Kiba offered. "But you have to promise to use your special ninjutsu to protect us on the way."

"Okay," Ed agreed. "You help us, we help you. It's a deal."

"Great! We're a team!" Kiba high-fived Ed and Ron. "Bring your robot and let's go!"

"I'm not a robot…" Al looked at his tin body.

"Not really winning that argument right now, mate." Ron patted him on the arm.