"But… a blade of wind can be stopped by no one."
Crack.
"Protego!"
Luna's Shield Charm protected her and Hayate from most of the effects of Baki's Kaze no Yaiba. However, some blades tore through the charm, cutting Luna, who was standing in front of Hayate. The force of the wind knocked her backwards.
"Are you okay?" Hayate rushed over Luna.
"Yes," Luna pulled herself up. "Why are you fighting?"
"Little girls would do well to mind their own business," Baki growled.
"Step aside, Luna." Hayate commanded, "You did well in the exam, but you're no match for him." He and Baki faced each other, ready to resume combat.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Luna yelled, pointing her wand at Baki. His body froze in mid-attack, and he fell over. Hayate easily knocked him out with his attack.
A few rooftops away, Gaara observed the match patiently. Suddenly, a hand gripped his shoulder. Gaara turned around. It was a man with short brown hair, carrying a large burlap sack on his shoulder. Gaara glared at him
"Pleasant evening, isn't it?" the man smiled.
"What do you want, Father?" Gaara snarled.
"To see you. To tell you that I love you." Gaara's eyes widened. The Kazekage laughed. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"Go away…" Gaara warned him, as sand gathered around him.
"How's the exam? Are you enjoying it, Gaara… you self-loving demon?" the Kazekage laughed louder.
Gaara wrapped his sand around the man's arms. Both were twisted off in a splatter of blood. Gaara turned back to the match. Luna was now casting the rope-spell on Baki.
"Youngsters these days… no respect." The Kazekage spoke calmly. Gaara whirled around; shocked to see his arms had grown back. "Well, if you're that desperate to kill the Yondaime Kazekage, I have good news. I already did it for you."
The brown-haired man started to shift. He changed into a teenage boy with long, green hair. There was a circular tattoo of a dragon on his left thigh. He looked much weaker than the Yondaime Kazekage, but he easily lifted Gaara off the ground with one hand. He maintained a bone-crushing grip on Gaara's neck.
Crack! Luna had returned.
"Who are you!" Luna demanded.
"That's not important… I can be anyone you want." The boy tossed his hair, and changed his form into that of Hermione. He then changed into Dumbledore, then Voldemort, and finally back to his green-haired self.
"What are you?" Gaara rephrased.
"My name is Envy. I'm a Homunculus." Envy tightened his grip on Gaara. "I already know who you are, though. Gaara of Sand… holder of the Shukaku. I was under the impression that you would be stronger."
"Let him go!" Luna yelled.
There was a sickening snap! Gaara's head rolled to one side. Envy had broken his neck.
"With pleasure." Envy tossed the red-haired boy at her. Luna caught him, but they were both knocked to the edge of the roof. Gaara's sand pulled them back. Envy started towards them, a murderous gleam in his eye. Suddenly, there was a beeping noise. Envy tossed his burlap sack aside and reached into the pocket of his… skirt thing. He pulled out a cell phone.
"Hello?… Hi, Lust… Hogwarts? Now? Why?… I'm busy… Fine… See you there… Bye." He hung up, and turned to Luna. "You got lucky this time. I'll see you soon." He raised his cell phone into the air, where it started gleaming bright blue. There was a blinding burst of light that made Luna turn away. When she looked back, Envy was gone.
"Luna! Are you okay?" Hayate raced over to her rooftop, with Baki in tow.
"I'm fine," answered Luna, "But Gaara isn't."
"What's that?" Hayate pointed to the burlap sack Envy dropped. Luna shrugged, turning her attention back to Gaara. She still held him, cradling his head. His face was pale, and blood was streaming out of his mouth. Hayate approached the burlap sack carefully, expecting a huge, green monster with warts to burst out. He gingerly cut it, to reveal… a girl.
A very bruised girl with long brown hair and pink bangs had been stuffed into the bag. Her white dress was stained with a considerable amount of blood. She was (you guessed it) bound, gagged and unconscious. Hayate undid her ropes.
"All of you wait right here. I'm going to get the medics." He dashed away.
"Luna… you're bleeding." Gaara whispered. He shakily clasped her hand that wasn't supporting his neck.
"I guess so," Luna shrugged. She helped Gaara up. "Can I have my hand back? I'm going to fix your neck." She uttered an incantation, and a flash of light burst from her wand. There was a piercing moment of pain for Gaara. It numbed, and his neck felt normal again. "There. Good as new."
"Why, Luna? Why are you helping me?" Gaara seized both of Luna's hands. "I live to kill. It's my greatest joy, and you know that. I could probably kill you right now, and not shed a tear. Why aren't you afraid? Why don't you despise me like the others?"
"I just like helping people, I guess." Luna shrugged. "And could you really kill me without a second thought?" Gaara squeezed her hands so hard he almost broke them. They stood there for a few moments, looking at each other and not saying a word. The stars glittered above them like tiny diamonds. The wind swept through their hair.
"What… where am I?" a voice came from behind them. The girl Envy dropped had woken up.
"Your safe now. The medics are coming. But how did you get here?" Luna asked the pink-and-brown-haired girl.
"My name is Rose Thomas, and I'm from Lior," the girl explained. "I went to confront our leader, Father Cornello, but found out that Envy had taken his form. He said something about how his boss would have use for my body, and I don't really remember anything after that."
"I'm back!" Hayate announced, with medic ninjas carrying stretchers in tow. "You're all hurt! Don't try to move!"
Luna, Rose and Baki were all loaded onto stretchers. It had been a long day for Luna. She fell asleep as soon as her head touched the stretcher.
"Open wide!" Hermione instructed Baki cheerfully, holding a spoonful of clear liquid in front of him. Baki disdainfully turned his head to the side.
An hour had passed since Baki's battle and Envy's visit. Hermione was in Baki's hospital room with Roy, Riza, Armstrong, Hayate, Anko and the Hokage. Luna and Rose were asleep in another room. Roy had explained what was happening in Lior, and now they were waiting for Baki's explanation.
"Sensei! We heard what happened!" Temari and Kankurou burst into the room.
"We're about to start a very complicated medical procedure," Riza snapped angrily, the mood she often tended to be in when Anko was around. "Don't interrupt."
"Where's Gaara?" asked Temari.
"He's sitting with Luna," Roy told them. "I don't know what happened, but he won't leave her side." Temari, Kankurou and Baki all looked at each other with perplexed expressions on their faces. This wasn't the Gaara they knew.
In Baki's moment of distraction, Hermione was able to force the Veritaserum into his mouth. She stepped back, admiring her handiwork.
"Okay, Baki. Tell us why you attacked Hayate Gekko," Anko instructed.
Baki explained Sand's alliance with Sound, and the Kazekage's plans to take down Konoha. He told them that the Kazekage told him that Sound had made an alliance with Ninjas from other worlds, but Sand didn't know much else. He'd heard that one group of the new allies liked to wear pointy hats and black robes. The other group were few and didn't look too special, but had inhuman strength and seemed to be indestructible. When he finally stopped, there was uncomfortable silence. It was interrupted by the appearance of a large transportation circle that took up the whole floor of the small hospital room.
"Watch out!" a voice cried from above. Ten teenagers, 6 adults, a dog and a corpse all appeared with a puff of smoke, crashing onto the floor. Six of the teenagers and two of the adults landed on their feet, but the others basically… crashed.
"Colonel Roy Mustang, sir!" four of them jumped to their feet and saluted Roy.
"Oh, that is just disgusting!" Temari pointed at the bloody corpse of Severus Snape.
"You killed him!" Hermione gasped.
"And ate him." Kankurou added dryly.
"Why is Malfoy here!" demanded Hermione.
"It's a long story." Harry said. "Well, to start it off, Snape really was impersonating Roy, and Malfoy was impersonating Armstrong. Then, a woman named Lust came and stabbed Snape, and her friend Gluttony ripped his arm off."
"It's true," Kurenai confirmed. "Asuma and I saw it, too."
She and Asuma proceeded to explain the circumstances, ending with how Lust mentioned something about England. Hermione decided to get into contact with Hogwarts. She spoke to Neji, who passed the mirror over to McGonogall. The connection was still bad, but the Hokage asked to speak with her anyway. After several minutes, he handed the mirror back to Hermione.
"Minerva and I have come upon an agreement. It's obvious that there are dark times ahead of us," the Hokage said to the Golden Trio. "We enjoyed having you as guests here for the past two days, but I believe it is time for you to go back to where you came from. However, we are going to send some of our ninja over as well. Most of us, including myself must remain in Konoha to protect it, but we will have some of our Jounin accompany you back. And, as for you, Mustang-dono, Hawkeye-sama… it seems the danger threatens you as well, but Professor McGonogall does not know who you are. Is there something you failed to tell us?"
"It seems our world is connected with this, too. Those creatures with inhuman strength that Baki mentioned might be the homunculi." Roy went on to tell the real story. Everyone listened patiently, except for Baki, who had passed out.
"I see. I believe I will still execute my plan. Whether or not you and your subordinates come is your choice. I am going to have a meeting tonight. I suggest the rest of you get some sleep. We will meet at the guesthouse tomorrow, at 0800 hours. That is all. Good-night," the Hokage, Hayate and Anko bowed. Roy, Riza, Armstrong, Falman, Breda, Havoc and Fuery all saluted them.
Hermione yawned. "Well, I'm going to bed. I have a feeling the next year is not going to be boring."
"What the…" a half-asleep Ron Weasley stopped dead right outside the door. He gawped at the people gathered in the living room.
Roy Mustang was flirting shamelessly with a giggling Kurenai. His crew was playing a merry game of cards. Riza often missed her turn because she was glaring daggers at the kunoichi. Havoc was comforting a disappointed Asuma with the words "He does that to me all the time." Winry and Rose (who had returned from the hospital earlier that morning) kept close to the military, holding a whispered conversation. Hayate, Iruka, Anko, Jirayia, the Hokage and a man wearing a Konoha bandanna with scars running down his face all stood off to one corner, talking quietly amongst themselves. Kiba watched fondly as Akamaru and Black Hayate played tag. Shikamaru sat with a bored expression on his face beside Shino and Hinata, who were quiet, as usual. Chouji was eating, and Ino, who was nagging him, stopped to wave at Ron. Hermione sat in the midst of this, calmly drinking her coffee and reading a book.
"Excuse me," a voice came from behind. Ron turned around and jumped back, squealing. It was Gaara. Luna stood beside him, and his siblings followed them.
"What… why… why are you… you?" Ron sputtered.
"Good morning, Ronald." Luna smiled. "I invited Gaara to go back with us."
"And we wanted to support our teammate," Temari added.
"You're in our way." Kankurou told Ron, and they pushed past him into the living room.
"Good morning, Ron," Harry yawned, approaching Ron. "Why are there so many people in our living room?"
Hermione suddenly spewed out her coffee. "Oh no!" she screeched, staring at the page she was reading. Everyone stopped what they were doing, and looked at her questionably.
"What's wrong, Hermione?" asked the man with scars on his face.
"Oh, it's nothing, Mr. Morino," Hermione waved her hand, "No problems at all! The rest of you just go back to what you were doing before! I just have to go and check something really quickly!" She slipped off her chair, and walked out of the room. She started off towards the basement, beckoning Ron and Harry to follow.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"The book! It says that the Anti-Disapparation charm has to be renewed every twenty-four hours! We cast it more than a day ago! Bellatrix and Lucius could be gone!" Hermione started tugging at her hair. "What am I going to do!"
"Calm down, Hermione. Breathe!" Ron comforted his friend.
Hermione inhaled. "The four of us cast the spell at once. The book said the more the charm is cast, the more reliable it is. Maybe it'll last longer. Maybe they're not gone."
"Well, we should probably go check on them," said Harry. "They're in the basement, right? Let's go." All three of them walked down the stairs to where their prisoners were held. They were almost there, when they heard voices. Hermione motioned for them to be quiet, and they all peeked around the corner. Draco Malfoy was standing there, facing his family.
"Well, are you just going to stand there?" Lucius demanded.
"Let us out!" Bellatrix ordered.
Draco stood there, staring at them coldly. He shook his head.
"Useless boy!" Rudolphus scolded him.
"Just because you branded me against my will doesn't mean I'm loyal to your side." Draco snapped, rolling up his sleeve. "I'm an adult, now, and I can choose for myself! And I choose Potter's side!"
"You're switching sides after what Severus pulled?" Lucius sneered. "If you think they'll ever trust you again, you're wrong!"
"I'm going to earn their trust," Draco snarled. "And someday, I'll avenge my mother!" He turned his back on them, and stomped past them. He was so infuriated that he marched right by the Golden Trio without noticing them.
"Well, unless he set this whole thing up…" Harry looked thoughtfully at his friends.
"I bet he is!" Ron hissed.
"I suppose we can trust him with caution," Hermione concluded. "Anyways, let's go renew the anti-Disapparation charm."
"Okay, everyone. It's best if you either keep your mind blank, or think about Ed, Al or Naruto and Neji's teams," Hermione instructed to everyone standing in the circle, "We don't want to make a mistake like last time!" She glared at Harry, Ron and Luna.
"Funny that the only time the circle works is when she's not here," Ron muttered under his breath.
"Okay! Everybody clear?"
"Yes!"
"Prisoners still in place?"Lucius, Peter, Bella and Rudolphus, who were sitting in the middle of the circle beside the body of Snape, glared at Hermione.
"Yes!"
"Everybody ready?"
"Yes!"
"Let's go!" Hermione cried. Everybody took the hand of the people beside them, and raised their arms in the air. Luna, Ron, Hermione, Harry and Draco cast the spell, and the circle started glowing. The Golden Trio found themselves traveling back to their starting point.
How old is Rose, anyway? I'm guessing she's maybe 18 or 19.
In the Next Chapter: A reunion with old friends and new allies.
