Day 4

The four of them were once more back at Naruto's apartment. Harry had been thoroughly inspected by Sakura-chan. Most of his injuries were mild and superficial. She had them cleaned and patched up in a matter of minutes. His arm had taken a little longer. The jutsu was a new one, and she took her time examining how it affected his nervous system before declaring that it would fade on its own and already was. The best they could do was keep him warm and let him rest. The words were no sooner out of her mouth than Sasuke had him wrapped up in a blanket and firmly instructed not to move from his spot sitting on Naruto's bed. The only reason he seemed to actually be listening was because Sasuke jumped up to hover over him every time he twitched. Which sent Sakura into a furor of outraged medic as she tried to treat Sasuke's scrapes and burns. She already wasn't very happy to have been left out of all of the action again. Apparently she was staying the night with them from now on, like on a mission, except at Naruto's apartment instead of out in the field.

Which was just fine with Naruto, really.

"Goddamn it, Sasuke, if you do not hold still, I will tie you to that chair and temporarily cut your nerve endings if I have to!"

Naruto grinned from ear to ear and bumped Harry's shoulder good-naturedly with his own. "Don't worry, Harry-kun, Sakura-chan will have old Sasuke back in shape in no time."

Harry didn't answer.

"Really. It's not as bad as it looks."

Harry turned his head slowly and stared at him. Sakura had done a great job of fixing up the bruise along Harry's check bone. You could barely even tell anything had happened. He looked a lot better than Sasuke. Sakura-chan had had to cut off what remained of the teme's shirt, and the other boy had bitched about it the whole time.

Naruto laughed nervously as Harry continued to stare at him. "Honest! It's about time someone burned the bastard a little. He sure as hell doesn't hesitate to singe his teammates from time to time," he muttered.

Harry managed a weak smile and replied dryly, "completely undeserved, I'm sure."

"Damn right, the bastard," Naruto agreed before giving Harry another bright smile. It was good to see him joking around again. He'd been really quite on the walk back. Whether that was because of what Sasuke had said, or what had happened, Naruto wasn't one hundred percent sure. Yeah, Harry had been kind of freaked out about the mess and the idea of Sasuke getting hurt, but he'd also looked like he'd been caught rather off guard by Sasuke's little speech. Harry hadn't been the only one, Naruto thought with another grin. He knew this whole family thing was going to be great.

You know, all except for the near death experiences.

"Sakura, there is nothing wrong with my leg! Let. Go!" Sasuke yelped.

"Then what do you call this, hm? Blood! Splinters! Hold still!"

Naruto ignored the two of them. People didn't believe him when he said Sasuke made for a lousy patient. Not that he was much better, granted, but it typically took something really big to get him condemned to Sakura's tender mercies. He could still understand not wanting to let someone see where he was hurt.

"Everything turned out alright," Naruto repeated, since Harry seemed to be missing that little fact.

"Yeah, this time."

Right. That issue.

Naruto didn't miss the way Sasuke's eyes flickered over to the two of them before he started complaining even more loudly about whatever it was Sakura was doing with those tweezers.

So Sasuke hadn't missed it either. Naruto had had a front seat for the last fight and he's had a couple of seconds to actually see Harry in action, and he sure as hell hadn't looked panicked then. In fact, he'd looked about as cool as Neji on a good day. It wasn't till afterward that he'd been scared, scared he'd be in trouble, scared about Sasuke, even scared for Naruto - which had been beyond weird.

He wouldn't say he understood it, not yet, but he was beginning to. He tried to think of the best way to start this conversation. He needed something smooth, something that would inspire confidence, something wise. Sinking further into his seat, Naruto tilted his head in and lowered his voice conspiratorially. "So," he drawled, "crap happens. You know, a lot."

Harry's head turned slowly to face him. His brow furrowed. "What?" he asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Naruto scowled. "You know, crap. It happens. To good people and everything. And it sucks."

And now Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme had also gone rather suspiciously quiet as well.

"Well, it does."

Harry started to snicker quietly. He tried to smother it off to one side, but Naruto knew the sound of being laughed at when he heard it. "Yes, yes, it does," Harry agreed, but his voice wasn't really mocking.

Naruto thought that might be alright, so while Sakura-chan starting insisting loudly on another round of diagnostics jutsus for Sasuke, Naruto soldiered on. "Wanna tell me about it?" he asked.

Harry's shoulders tightened up once more, but he didn't try to move away or tell Naruto where to shove it. Instead, he glanced away and stared off to the side as if the collection of dirty glasses on Naruto's bedside really were that fascinating. "Tell what?" he asked back, with what Naruto was starting to privately call Uchiha-moodiness. Unfortunately, the condition was hereditary.

Fortunately, however, Naruto had developed an immunity to it. "How about ya start with whatever's got ya so twitchy and convinced somebody's goin' to die?"

Harry shot him a dirty look, which Naruto just grinned back at. "You mean other than people regularly trying to kill us?"

"Sure," Naruto said with a shrug. "That happens all the time. People don't get twitchy like you, though, unless someone's actually died. So who was it?"

Harry's eyes widened slightly, but he didn't look away. "That-" he started to say before shaking his head and frowning. "Just how often does that happen around here?" he asked instead, his voice sharp.

Naruto didn't try to shrug it off. He held Harry's gaze and thought about all the messed up things he'd heard from people in his own village, and the even worse ones he'd stumbled across over the years in other villages. "More than it should," he agreed solemnly. "People seem to think it's normal around here," he explained. "I keep tryin' to explain to them that just because that's the way things have been done, doesn't mean it's gotta keep being that way. That people are worth more than that. But you'd be surprised how blockhead a lot of these great ninja are." Naruto pulled up another small grin. "So I guess I gotta keep knocking them around until they learn better."

"Have-" Harry broke off again, blushing a little and looking miserably uncomfortable. "Have you ever killed anyone?" he finally asked.

"No," Naruto answered easily.

Harry flinched. "Right. Of course not. Sorry, I can't believe I asked that."

Naruto waved it off. "Ask away," he reassured him. It wasn't like Naruto was going to take offense to anything Harry could say to him. "It's a reasonable question. Sasuke has. So has Sakura."

Harry jerked his head up and stared at Naruto as if he was trying to figure out if Naruto was bullshiting him or not. Then his eyes darted over to Sakura and Sasuke – and away just as quickly. Naruto's teammates pretended not to notice. Sakura was dragging out her inspection as long as humanly possible. She was even healing the bruises and strained muscles in Sasuke's shoulder, her chakra spreading deep into his muscle tissues with a glow that probably felt warm and pretty damn good. Sasuke-teme could probably use it. Judging by the muscles in his back, he was about two seconds away from crushing something bare handed. He was probably envisioning Naruto's face, but that was alright. He'd just have to get over it. If he wanted Naruto to figure out what the hell was wrong with his cousin, then he was going to have to deal with Naruto spilling some of the beans about Sasuke's own questionable history. Besides, it wasn't like the whole village didn't already know.

"Sasuke did?" Harry asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Naruto nodded back silently.

"How?"

"Probably ought to ask him that. Like, later though, k?" Naruto paused, trying to think of how to explain why Sasuke probably didn't want to talk about this with his cousin. He couldn't exactly say it was because Sasuke regretted it. After all, while there were things Sasuke regretted, Naruto knew that, the kills he made in battle didn't count. Saying anything otherwise would be a lie. But he couldn't exactly explain to Harry how neurotic Sasuke was about keeping Harry out of the ninja side of his life. Beyond it being a kind of stupid idea, Naruto suspected Harry would take to it about as well as Naruto would if someone told him they left him in the dark cause they thought he couldn't handle the truth. Yeah. He wasn't getting in the middle of that one.

So he needed a diplomatic answer. Time to channel Iruka-sensei. "It's just not polite, you know? To ask out of the blue, and everything. I mean, you and me, we're having an important talk. So it's okay. But, you know," Naruto hesitated, then grinned and decided to go for it. "Sasuke's moody and everything. Very touchy about stuff. So be gentle with him , ya know?"

Ah, if looks could kill. The one Sasuke-teme was barely managing not to send his way ought to be classed its own forbidden technique.

"Right," Harry agreed, glancing himself at his cousin. "I just – I couldn't. I wanted to. I wanted to hurt her. But I couldn't. She was right there…" He shook his head. "And it's only going to get worse. What am I supposed to do when I don't have a choice?"

Naruto scowled. "People always got choices, Harry. Always. They might suck, but we all got 'em. And Harry? Killin' people is never supposed to be easy. I don't care what other people might say.

Harry frowned back at him like he didn't understand. Which was alright. Naruto was just getting started. He had plenty of experience explaining to stubborn idiots how to be human. It was practically a specialty of his.

"I know it's not supposed to be easy," Harry finally announced with a frustrated huff.

Well, at least they had that established. They were already further along than most of the twisted-up nin Naruto encountered.

"But I don't have a choice," Harry continued. Naruto opened his mouth to repeat himself on that matter, but Harry cut him off. "No, really. I. Don't. Get. A. Choice."

Naruto frowned back, feeling his own stubbornness starting to kick in. He really hated it when they just kept repeating themselves. It meant they weren't listening to Naruto at all. Which usually meant the only option was knocking together some heads. Except smacking Sasuke's cousin wasn't an option. Besides, Harry wasn't like that, Naruto was sure of it. He always seemed to listen to Naruto.

"Okay," he said as calmly as possible. "Who says you don't have a choice?"

Harry's mouth snapped shut so fast he was lucky he didn't hurt himself.

Well, well, well. Now they were getting somewhere.

Harry's eyes shifted away, down to the hands as he worried at the blanket in his lap. "Everybody says it."

"I don't."

Harry shot him a dark look. "I mean everyone back home."

"Well that's not everybody then, is it," Naruto announced proudly. "No one here wants you to kill anyone." Hell, Sasuke would probably gladly strangle anyone who suggested as much. Which was such a weird thought. Everyone accused Naruto of being the trouble maker, but Sasuke was just as likely to resort to physical means of persuasion as Naruto was. Seeing the other boy bristle in his very best grumpy porcupine impression at the mere idea of Harry becoming involved in nin business was just plain freaky. Sasuke had never ever been protective of anybody. He had never ever flinched away from the more unpleasant aspects of nin life. Watching him try to coddle a cousin that was increasingly chaffing at it was just plain weird. Naruto shook his head and tried to focus. "Why would you have to kill anyone anyway?"

Harry scowled. "I told you. There's a war going on."

"Thought you were still in school," Naruto replied, trying to picture what a war would look like back where Harry was from. They didn't seem very aggressive or war-like. Though Harry's magic might change all of that. After all, they had a jutsu just to kill a person - no fighting back, no build up, no warning - just dead. That had kind of freaked Naruto out. He hadn't had a chance yet to talk about that with Sakura or Sasuke. There'd been a bunch of ANBU hanging around earlier and he defiantly didn't wanna be talking about an Instant-Kill jutsu in front of a bunch of nin he didn't know well and trust. He probably oughta tell the Old Lady. He definitely oughta tell Kakashi-sensei. He wanted to talk to Sasuke and Sakura first though. This didn't need to go any further than Team 7 right now. As much as Naruto hated to admit it, Sasuke was probably right that anything Harry related ought to be first handled as a team before involving anyone else. Naruto had seen the lengths other nin would go to for new jutsus and that wasn't anything they wanted Harry-kun near. All of that, though, was not the issue right now. Team 7 would address that later. Right now, Naruto had been entrusted with figuring out what-was-wrong-with-Harry.

"You said you didn't learn to fight in school. Why the hell would it be your business to be killing anyone?"

"Because!" Harry snapped, his voice raising as his patience diminished. "He'll kill me if I don't kill him."

There were moments in a guy's life, when for one brief point in time, the world seemed to hold still. In Naruto's experience, it usually didn't follow anything good. Finding out about Kyuubi. Sasuke walking away from the village. Anything involving Itachi. They also never seemed to last long enough to actually do anything to prevent them from happening. Naruto had just enough time to blink before all hell broke loose. Again.

Sasuke snapped off part of Naruto's poor remaining chair, its wooden frame not holding up in the face of a seriously deranged nin. Sasuke didn't even notice, however. He was already on his feet, spinning around to face Harry, that look in his eyes that reminded Naruto of when they were younger.

Sakura-chan, beautiful, talented, Sakura-chan, was also already on her feet and had moved in front of him. "Outside. Now."

Sasuke actually growled back at her. Not very dignified, that. "Who-"

"Out! Now!"

Naruto held himself perfectly still. He hadn't even so much as twitched from his sprawled position next to Harry. No reason to add to this little drama. Especially since Harry had jumped a good foot into the air. Apparently he'd forgotten about their audience. Naruto was kind hoping acting calm and understanding might rub off on the other boy. Even if it was hard to see that desperate look on Sasuke's face and not do something about it.

Sasuke stared at Harry, looking furious and scared and a little betrayed all at the same time.

"Uchiha!" Sakura snapped in her best medic-nin voice. "Outside! Now! Do not make me repeat myself again. You will not like it." It was amazing how much Sakura-chan had learned from the Old Lady. Amazing, and absolutely terrifying sometimes. But even that didn't look like it was going to be enough in the face of an enraged Uchiha with something to protect.

Naruto made sure to catch Sasuke's eye. Naruto nodded slowly, carefully, hoping Harry wouldn't notice and that the message would be clear enough to get through that thick skull of Sasuke's.

"Sasuke," Sakura started to growl, before the other boy spun sharply on one heel and marched out the door. Sakura took one deep breath before turning to face Harry. She smiled brightly in that creepily forceful way she did sometimes, as if she could shove good-humor down your throat like some kind of tonic. "Sorry about that, Harry. Nothing to worry about. I'll just go straighten this out. Be back in a bit!" she said before she too pivoted sharply and stalked out of the room.

"Well," Naruto announced into the empty silence. "That could have been worse."

Harry dragged his eyes back to Naruto. They were wide with shock at the sudden outburst, but they were quickly narrowing into annoyance.

Crap. Better, distract him from that. "Well, we only lost the chair, yes? Not so bad."

Harry jerked around and spotted the shattered chair. "That arse! He promised not to break anything else!"

Naruto laughed. A lot. "Harry," he finally gasped out between chuckles. "Trust me, if that's the worse that happens around here, then we're doing just fine. It's just a chair," he said, waving the whole issue away. "It's not like he, you know, forgot to mention someone's trying to kill him or anything."

Harry grimaced but didn't lose his glare. "That's none of your business!"

Naruto gave him a sad look and shook his head. "You still don't get it, do you? You're Sasuke's important person."

Harry started to flush. "I'm not-"

"Yes, you are," Naruto corrected sternly. "Whether ya like it or not. You're his family, which is just like being part of a team. And that means that everything that matters to you, matters to him and ya need to start taking responsibility for that," he tried to give Harry the stern look he remembered Iruka-sensei giving him so often, but he sort of spoiled it when he grinned again. "Likewise, don't worry about Sasuke and the fire someone lit under his ass. He's always like this. You get used to it. Now how about ya explain this whole business of needing to kill someone or they'll kill you."

Harry opened his mouth with a look like he intended to argue about this some more, in typical stubborn Uchiha style. But then he stopped. He actually seemed to think about it. Naruto had to resist the urge to crow in triumph. Finally, Harry sigh gustily, his shoulders slumping a little - but he looked less like someone burdened down by an invisible weight and more like he'd decided to relax a little, for the first time since he'd gotten there. "It wasn't supposed to be a problem here, you know," he muttered. "I really did not think they could find me here."

Naruto nodded once to show that he understood Harry and believed him. Even if he was thinking they always find you and secrets always mean trouble.

Harry nodded back. "Right," he said, before sighing loudly and leaning back to lounge the same way Naruto was. "You know that war thing I mentioned? It has to do with that. And how my parents died."

Naruto's eyebrows shot up. Just how many secrets had their little Harry been hiding right under their noses? Naruto wasn't surprised to find out that Harry's conviction of being doomed to be a killer had something to do with his parents' murder. For some reason those two things seemed to always go together.

Harry gave a dry, lifeless laugh. "It's weird you know. Back home everybody knows all about this. I mean, everybody I meet in the wizarding world already knows my name, who I am and that my parents got killed when I was a baby and I'm supposed to be special because I didn't die," he sucked in a deep breath, his voice gone passed something twisted.

Naruto nodded slowly. He didn't understand all of that, but the important thing was to listen. He thought about pointing out just how painfully similar that all sounded to Sasuke's fucked up childhood. But interrupting at this point probably wouldn't be bright. It was so damn hard to get Harry to talk as it was! Maybe his awesome insight would have to wait.

Harry stared at him for a long moment, as if daring him to say anything. When Naruto still didn't, Harry sighed and switched back to staring at his hands. "My parents -" he cut off, before shaking his head. "This wasn't the first time this war happened. Back before I was born, the same - group - tried to take over everything. My parents fought against them. That's why he killed them. Or part of it anyway."

"Who?" Naruto tried to ask as nonchalantly as humanly possible. He even slouched down and folded his hands behind his head. He could so totally do subtle.

Harry glanced over at him, his eyes looking for something, before he started to smile shyly. "You wouldn't believe what they call him," he replied.

It was almost playful and seeing Harry relaxed enough to sort of joke around was maybe the best thing that could happen. Naruto grinned back. "Try me."

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

"I know!" Harry exclaimed suddenly, as if he had just shared some important revelation with Naruto. "Ridiculous, isn't it? They won't even call him by the ridiculous name he made-up for himself." Harry was waving his hands about now, as if he'd kind of like to strangle something. Naruto just sat back and watched in wide eyed fascination. He didn't think he'd seen Harry this animated without there being a fight. It was so weird. Sure, Harry and Sasuke didn't look that much alike, but there were enough similarities to make watching Harry gesture wildly just plain surreal. Harry didn't even slow down. "You ought to see the way they completely freak out if someone so much as mutters his name."

Naruto frowned. "What, does he have some kind of surveillance jutsu or something that lets him know where you are or something?"

Harry paused, then blinked slowly. "No. No, I'm fairly certain not. Dumbledore said there wasn't any reason not to say his name."

Right. "Who's that?" Naruto asked. He was starting to feel like he ought to be taking notes. Sasuke, if he wasn't already listening through the door, was going to want to know everything. And by everything, Naruto knew that meant every damn thing from the specific speed with which Harry said each part down to where his eyes were when he said it.

"Oh," Harry replied, his voice relaxing once more into something bored and dismissive. Like it didn't matter, or it was so well known that it wasn't even worth mentioning. "He's the Headmaster at my school. He's been really active in resisting Voldemort. Oh, that's what he calls himself, if you can believe that. Lord Voldemort. His real name's Tom Riddle. Not so high and mighty."

Naruto nodded. He wasn't sure what kinds of titles Harry's people used, or what ya had to do to earn one, but it didn't sound like Harry thought this guy had the right. "So what's his problem then?" he asked.

Harry scowled and kicked his legs out in front of him restlessly. "It's stupid. Some rubbish about certain people being better than other people, so naturally, they ought to torment and kill those other people because that's what better people ought to do." Harry sucked in a deep breath through clenched teeth and slowly let it out. "He's a dark wizard. The worst of our generation, from what people say. And he is, I guess." Harry hesitated. "He's certainly powerful. And dangerous. But at the same time, he's just a power hungry arse, you know," he added, looking more angry than scared. Which was defiantly an improvement in Naruto's book. "He tries to make it sound like it's something political or something like that, but really he just doesn't care what lives he has to destroy to take what he wants. Hell, he enjoys it. He's the one who killed my parents." Harry kept his eyes focused across the room and had his voice carefully back under control by the time he'd finished. Like he could forcibly distance himself from all of it if he just tried hard enough.

Naruto found himself having almost as much trouble. It was all too easy to picture exactly what Harry was talking about. Naruto had seen enough shitty stuff himself. How much did that suck, that it was easier for him to understand a seriously messed up situation than anything else. He carefully unfurled his clenched hands and tried to shake it off. Now wasn't the time. Later, maybe. Definitely. "So he's the criminal that kill them?"

Harry's eyes flickered over to him for a moment, shaken out of the funk he'd started to drop into, looking confused for a moment. "Oh. Yeah. He is. A criminal, I mean. Not that many people seem to remember that. They're all too scared."

Riiiight. So Harry had been sort of stretching the truth out of that one a bit. At least it wasn't a lie. They could work with that. "So. He killed your parents years ago. I can get why you'd probably wanna do something about that. What's his problem with you?"

Harry shifted slightly, just barely moving his shoulders down and away from Naruto. "It's complicated," he said right away, as if trying to cut the conversation off before it could even begin. "I -" he tried. "I don't even know if I get it really." Harry shook his head. "Not that it really matters. He's determined to kill me, and everyone else is determined I have to kill him." He scoffed and glanced over at Naruto with a hesitant look. "Wizards," he groused. "They don't - I mean, somebody tells them something and that's it. It's not changeable. Hell, I guess they're probably also right." Harry dropped his head back against the wall behind him and stared up at the ceiling. "There's nothing I can do about it. He's not going to stop. And me, what the hell am I against a dark lord? I'm just trying to get through school half the time. And they can't - other people can't keep trying to protect me." He sucked in a lung full of air as if there wasn't enough of it left. "I - I can't let that happen again. I can't."

Naruto sucked in a deep breath himself. Well, shit. They hadn't taken that possibility into account. Should have. Should have assumed things could get worse. "Who?" Naruto asked softly.

Harry shook his head. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. It was the kind of thing no self-respecting nin would ever do. At least not where anyone could see them. But Harry didn't seem to care. He even glared out at the far wall like he was daring someone to start something with him. "I don't - does it matter who? It's still my fault."

Naruto scowled. "Of course it matters! People should never be forgotten."

Harry's head jerked up and he gave Naruto such a look of utter confusion and horror it was almost funny. "How- how the hell am I supposed to forget?" he shouted suddenly.

Naruto flinched back a little, and glanced nervously towards the door. God, he hoped Sasuke wasn't going to kill him for this later. Things had been going so well up till then. He had him talking and everything about important stuff. Though realistically, it was only a matter of time before Naruto managed to say something to piss him off. It was kind of more the norm for Naruto than anything else. No help for it, might as well carry on. "Then who was it?"

Harry didn't seem too interested in answering and rather more content to continue glaring at him like he really was channeling his inner Uchiha. Good thing Naruto was immune to by now. The temptation, however, was too much to resist. He let it drag out for a moment longer before giving in and sticking out his tongue.

Harry reared back as if he'd been slapped, eyes wide. For a moment, they stayed like that, before Harry burst out laughing. His eyes scrunched up ecstatically, before he hide his face in his knees again, shoulders shaking from the laugher he managed to silence but not to fully stop.

Naruto laughed along with him. He shot a cocky grin back the direction Sasuke had left in, as if the other boy could see him. Then he laced his fingers together and tucked them behind his head.

"I can't believe you did that," Harry told his knees once he had himself under control. "I needed that. Thanks."

"No problem," Naruto replied, his ego only swelling even further. Finally. Somebody who understood things. "What are friends for."

Harry gave him another bright smile, apparently not having any problem at all with being Naruto's friend. After years of having to fight for and prove himself to just about everybody he called friend, it was kind of weird to have somebody simply accept it so naturally. Some of those hard fought for friendships were the best things in Naruto's life, and he doubted he'd change a damn thing, but this alternative - it was kind of nice. So while Harry sat and thought about whatever had him starting to frown, Naruto contemplated the advantages of a comfortable, easy friendship.

"He was my godfather," Harry finally announced.

Naruto shut his eyes and breathed slowly in and out. "I'm sorry," he replied, trying not to think of how badly he had always wanted someone to take such a role in his life, the few people he'd like to think sort of came close, what it had felt like to lose some of them and how terrifying it was to imagine losing the others.

"You can't tell anyone," Harry said suddenly, surprising Naruto. He even reached out and grabbed onto Naruto's arm, his eyes wide. "I mean it, Naruto. I wasn't ever supposed to even meet him. People -people wouldn't understand. They think he'd done something awful, but he hadn't. He hadn't."

"Alright," Naruto agreed easily. If Harry trusted this guy, that was enough for Naruto. "Though I'm gonna have to tell Sasuke and Sakura. You know that, right?"

Harry sighed and slouched back down again. "I kind of figured. You all aren't big on keeping things to yourselves, are you?"

Naruto grinned back. "Would you keep secrets from your teammates?"

Harry's grin was a little lopsided, but it was probably one of the best one's Naruto had gotten out of him. "No, I guess I wouldn't. If I know what's best for me, anyway. Hermonie can be really scary when she's mad."

Naruto shot a quick glance at the door before turning back to Harry and leaning in. "I know!" he exclaimed in a hushed whisper. "Girls are freakin' crazy sometimes." Harry laughed just the way Naruto wanted him to, so he figured he might as well push for the last little bit. "Really though, Harry, you gotta start thinkin' of us as your teammates. I guess it's a bit weird for ya right now, but - we all think of you like your one of ours, ya know? Our teammate. So, could ya try to think of us the same way?" Harry flushed a bit around the ears and Naruto couldn't help but grin. Score one for the dobe. He totally rocked at this talking to people thing, no matter what else anybody said. Some stubborn idiots just needed a good talkin' to.

His little internal victory dance didn't get to last long however. Harry literally seemed to pull himself together after Naruto's guilt trip. He sat up straight, shoulders back and glared at Naruto like he'd been the one to do something wrong here. "I can agree to that on one condition. I can believe that you and Sakura are open to being equals in all this. But you have got to be kidding if you think Sasuke is. I know he's keeping secrets from me, and he doesn't trust me to walk down the street without getting killed."

Naruto smiled sheepishly, reaching back to scratch the back of his head and laughing a little. Alright, so maybe Sasuke was a neurotic freak sometimes. Really, it was part of his charm. Once you got to know him. Really know him. Not that Naruto could really blame him too much. He'd probably be the same way. Hell, Harry was Sasuke's cousin, but that didn't stop the rest of them from feeling really protective of the other boy. "You do have to admit, it's been a stressful couple of days," Naruto pointed out.

Harry opened his mouth to argue, but then snapped it shut. "I suppose. I've kind of gotten used to weird stuff happening all the time."

Riiiight. Weird was not exactly the word Naruto would have chosen, but he supposed it'd have to do. "Alright, so we good for now?" Naruto asked, trying to remember where this crazy conversation had even started. "People are trying to kill you, cause of some stupid war, and we're going to have to really rethink some of our defenses. That all sound right?" Harry smiled back and shrugged. Naruto supposed that was about as honest of an answer as he was going to get. "Right. Okay then," he said, slapping his knee. "I'm going to go round up the bastard, talk some sense into him, whatnot. Might take a while." They shared a long look and Naruto grinned brightly. "A long while. Not to worry though, Harry-kun! I'll get him all sorted out." No need to mention that it might take a few thwumps on the head to do so. For some reason, stuff like that bothered Harry. For Naruto and Sasuke it was their best way of communicating. Maybe Naruto would have to start translating Harry-worry-speak into Sasuke-head-bashing and Sasuke-manic-hovering into Harry-guilt-tripping. Naruto grinned widely. He could probably handle that.

Sasuke wasn't willing to go very far from his cousin, and Sakura couldn't say she blamed him. She was starting to seriously feel she needed to glue herself to the guys' sides at this point. Normally they kept a little space in the village, especially ever since Sasuke went off of probation and moved back into the Uchiha complex. It had only seemed right to give him a little room and time to himself while he continued to adjust to being back with the village.

Having Harry here, however, was starting to feel like a long term mission - just one stuck within the village walls.

Sasuke's burns were bad but not life threatening. She had repaired the tissue as much as she was comfortable with doing at the moment. She'd made sure there wouldn't be any possible scar tissue that might hinder the elasticity and mobility of Sasuke's arm. She would have to keep an eye on it for infection. Everything else was merely cosmetic. It certainly didn't stop Sasuke from pacing like a caged animal just outside of Naruto's apartment. They could hear Naruto's and Harry's voices coming from the other side, sometimes raised sharp in anger, other times rolling in warm laughter. They could pick up some of the words without trying. The effort it took for Sasuke not to try for more looked almost painful. Sakura could see his hands clenching and unclenching as he moved back and forth. While Sakura would never say Sasuke didn't have patience, it was more that his patience was extremely limited when not in the field. And trust - trust had never come easily to Sasuke. Having to wait and trust Naruto to handle this properly... Well, Sakura was a little surprised that Sasuke wasn't destroying something.

The voices drifted off once more, softening and slowing down. Sasuke moved to hover in front of the door, his eyes fixed on one point in the middle as if he could bore through the dented wood by will alone. A moment later they could hear Naruto moving across the short distance of his flat. The door flung open, giving them a brief view of Harry sitting slouched on the bed, his body language open and relaxed if still a little curled in on himself. His eyes locked on them right away before Naruto moved between them.

The blond boy slipped through the door and pulled it shut behind him with a sharp thunk. "Success!" he informed them brightly. He then grabbed Sasuke firmly by the arm and grinned at him manically. "Let's take a walk, bastard. I've got a lot to report and you're going to wanna yell and stomp around some and might as well do that where Harry-kun can't hear ya and get pissy about it."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and his mouth twisted in a sneer.

Sakura cut him off before he could say something stupid. "You boys go on ahead," she told them, smiling brightly at Naruto and letting Sasuke hear the edge to her voice. "I can keep Harry company. We haven't had the opportunity to spend much time together yet. It's my turn!"

Naruto's smile was wide and warm just for her. "Great idea!"

Sasuke glared at both of them for only a moment before giving it up with a sigh. He shook his arm free of Naruto and stepped up next to her, his head tilted down but his eyes focused somewhere behind her. "Please watch after him," he said quietly.

Sakura gave him a subdued smile in return before patting his arm. "You don't have to ask," she informed him. "Besides, I have years of experience with you two. I think I can manage."

Sasuke simply nodded before walking past her like it was his idea that the two of them should relocate. Naruto just rolled his eyes and darted after him, his shoulder giving Sakura a friendly nudge as he passed her.

Her boys were being down right affectionate today, and if she hadn't been such a good nin, she might have blushed a little. Thankfully there was no one around at this hour to see, and Sakura was able to move on with a bright smile.

Harry had moved a little by the time Sakura came back into the room. He was starting to look uncomfortable again, shifting so that he wasn't lounging on the bed, and instead perched carefully on the edge. Naruto's small, one room apartment wasn't exactly the height of luxury, but it had its own charm. That or prolonged exposure had finally fried something in Sakura's brain. It didn't seem right to have someone looking nervous in it. That was the kind of thing Naruto would never stand for. She would have to do something to fix that.

Sakura smiled at Harry as she moved back into the room, but moved straight to cleaning up her supplies instead of hovering. She was used to dealing with patients at times when they were still feeling a little vulnerable, and often the best thing to do was keep busy looking and give them some space while not leaving them alone at the same time. Tidying up a few bandages and disinfectant shouldn't have taken nearly as long as she made it, but it gave Harry some time to pull himself together. It wasn't long before another pair of hands was helping her clean up the mess Sasuke had left.

"I take it he's mad," Harry muttered quietly, his voice carefully level. Sakura couldn't be certain if that was due to frustration, worry, or resignation. She certainly wouldn't blame him if he was feeling a bit of all three. The heavens knew she felt that way about her boys often enough - and she was their teammate and had to like them.

"Not mad exactly," she answered carefully, before smiling a little. "Well, no more mad than he is with the world any other day." Normally, she wouldn't have dared to say something like that about her more volatile teammate. When she had been younger, the rosy goggles of young love wouldn't have allowed her to admit out loud that her prince had any such flaws. Being older now, hopefully a little wiser, and much more cautious, she knew the importance of maintaining a united team front before the rest of the world. Admitting it to Harry, however, earned her a soft chuckle that made her smile back.

"He'll be fine," Sakura quickly reassured him. "Really. He's trying. He may not have the...best...social skills, but he learns quickly." She smiled even brighter. "Really quickly."

"Yeah," Harry agreed slowly. He kept rolling the same length of bandage between his fingers, seemingly determined to get it as tight as possible. She didn't bother to tell him that stroking it like that was destroying any semblance of sterility. "I'm trying too," he added, the words coming out in one big rush.

Sakura stopped what she was doing and stared back at him. She let a slow, gentle smile spread across her face. "I know. We all know. Even Sasuke."

Harry nodded sharply. "Good. Good," he repeated, sounding a bit relieved. He flushed a little.

Sakura was carefully not to show how entertaining that was. Instead she tried to think of a good change of topic, something that didn't lead back to any secrets, late night fights or Sasuke's temper. She was just about to extend an invitation for Harry to visit her tomorrow during duty hours at the hospital (it seemed like a better idea than visiting the academy with its hordes of kunai-wielding over-eager students). The sudden sound of many footsteps on the landing distracted her. The booming banging on the door made Harry jump. Probably not enemy nin then.

With a deep breath, Sakura stalked over to the door and flung it open like she owned the place. The senbon in one hand was merely practical. Just because they were likely friendlies didn't mean she wouldn't need to stab them a little. There were, after all, a limited number of people that would arrive on Naruto's doorstep in the middle of the night, unannounced.

"Forehead-girl!"

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut. It was worse than she could have imagined. Sasuke was going to kill her. Unfortunately, this was one problem senbon couldn't fix.

Didn't hurt, though. Sakura flicked one up out of her hand, aiming for Ino's left eyeball. The other girl knocked it aside without slowing down. She elbowed her way through the door, great big mouth running the whole way. "What the hell, Forehead-girl? You go off the stinking map. Literally! Halfway around the world, to lands unknown, and do you even tell me? Do you let your best friend know you're going to be MIA from your shifts for days, leaving someone else to pick up the slack? You had better have bought me something nice while you were gone." There was a lot of hand waving and stressing of certain words by the time she was done. It made it easy for Shikamaru and Choji to go unnoticed in her shadow. Sakura barely had a chance to nod to them. Ino's tirade came to a sharp conclusion as she spun on one heel and pointed one long finger at Harry. "And who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"Ino," Sakura started warningly.

Ino didn't hesitate to lean in close, her hands on her hips, as she studied Harry. He held up under the scrutiny well. Sakura couldn't tell if it was genuine or faked, but Harry managed to stare back in the face of Ino's nosiness with the perfect expression of mild-mannered bewilderment. Sakura doubted that he had much experience with girls yelling at him, especially not girls like Ino. He handled it with a great deal of calm. But his eyes darted to her over Ino's shoulder and she had the very distinct impression that he simply didn't know what to do.

"Give him some space, Ino-pig."

Sakura was ignored as Ino squinted her eyes and studied Harry from different angles. "Word around the village is that you're an Uchiha now. Which is ridiculous. The only way someone could become a Uchiha is through marriage, and that's obviously not the case here. Besides which, I'd know about it way in advance. So you had better explain yourself and just what you think you're doing with our Sasuke!"

Despite the impending disaster this was turning into, Sakura couldn't help feeling a little happy to hear Ino calling him "our" Sasuke. Since about as far back as she could remember, the two of them had argued over who got to call him "mine". Certain things had changed that, of course. Changed everything. And for the longest time after that, the two of them had hardly ever spoken of Sasuke, much less argued about him. And while she certainly didn't want things to go back to the way they were, it was reassuring to know the important part had survived. It was still Forehead-Girl and Ino-Pig arguing about Sasuke, if not over him. There was still an ideal there, buried somewhere deep that the two of them both valued and remembered, even if it had never actually existed in the first place. No matter how jaded the two of them might get, they both would always have a soft spot for lost boys. And as terrible of a thought as it was to use Harry like that, there might be something to the idea of capitalizing on the endearing factor of Harry-kun's return. Assuming they could keep things under control and maintain the warm and fuzz aspect and avoid the potential psychotic, paranoid possibilities. Sakura just had to convince Ino of that, and everyone else would fall in line.

No wonder Sasuke was feeling a little tense when he had so many unknowns and possibilities to keep track of.

Sakura took a deep breath and tried to keep things as simple as possible. "This is Sasuke's cousin Harry. His father moved out of the village before he was born, died, and nobody knew about him. Tsunade-sama agreed he ought to return. Ask Sasuke if you want to know more."

As far as warnings went, that last bit was a fairly lame one. But Sakura had faith that it wouldn't be lost on her former classmates. They could all remember those days in the academy, when Sasuke would have gladly stabbed anyone in the hand who dared to try to borrow a pencil. Sharing had never been his strong suit.

Ino blinked back at her. Even Shikamaru's perpetually bored expression had been replaced with something close to shock. "Excuse me, what?" he demanded.

Sakura couldn't help but grin cockily back at him. "Surprise!" she exclaimed back in a tone so sweet it had to be false. It was good to keep her comrades on their toes every now and then.

"Really?" Choji asked, looking to Shikamaru instead for confirmation.

Sakura nodded back simply, trying to keep things calm through sheer will-power.

Harry picked that moment to wave his hand a little in greeting and announce "Hi!" to the whole room. The tips of his ears were turning red, but he still managed a small smile.

Ino spun back around to stare at him. One long moment stretched out as Sakura waited for the implosion. Then Ino smiled broadly. "Reeaalllly?" she cooed in delight. "A brand new Uchiha? I bet you even look a little like Sasuke-kun without those glasses. I can see the family resemblance now. So tell me everything about yourself. Leave nothing out, Harry-kun. I want you to think of me as a close, close friend," she said, and with that attached herself firmly to his arm.

Harry may have whimpered, just a little. He certainly had that slightly glazed over look unsuspecting guys tended to get around Ino. It made Sakura want to whimper too. Sasuke was going to kill her.

There was a suddenly explosive sigh from beside her, and Shikamaru shuffled over beside her. "You might as well invite the others over. There's no way she isn't going to tell everyone. Might as well get it over in one painful swoop. Who knows, might give you a buffer to tone her down. Certainly more bodies to hide among when Uchiha-san gets his constipated ass back from where ever he and his other half have disappeared to."

Sakura turned wide eyes to stare at him before whispering a very heartfelt "Thank you!"

Apparently it hadn't taken long for word to travel around the village. Harry couldn't say he was exactly surprised. The wizarding world seemed to operate with the same kind of small community feel, and if there was one thing Harry had learned since joining the wizarding world it was that gossip spread fast. Not long after the first group of visitors showed up, Naruto's small apartment seemed to be overflowing with people. Ino, Choji and Shikamaru were apparently only the beginning. Sakura had taken over the role of introducing him to everyone, rescuing him from Ino's somewhat ambivalent attentions. Harry certainly wasn't going to complain about having an attractive blond hanging off his arm, but there was still something kind of nerve racking about her. Like he might not escape her grasp with all his pieces intact. So when Sakura came over and wiggled her way between him and Ino, Harry was nothing but grateful. He had a feeling it was better for his sanity to have Ino as something pretty to look at than to have her quite so close. The fact that Sakura gave Ino a matching toothy smile in the process didn't bother him. He trusted her to use her powers only for good.

It wasn't long after that that the long line of people had started to arrive. Most of them came alone, but Harry could see there were certain patterns to all of them - natural groups that Harry was starting to realize were teams, just like Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura.

And all of them were very interested in meeting Sasuke's new cousin.

Most of them were very polite about it. Hinata and Shino both greeted him very formally, but didn't seem to even notice the clumsiness of his own replies. He wouldn't exactly call their greeting warm, not like what he was use to in Gryffindor, but they seemed to be trying. Sakura warmly invited them to hang around, since Ino had decided to make an impromptu party, despite it being so unreasonably early. Choji had already magically produced some snacks from somewhere. Ino flitted back and forth between talking to her own team, taunting Sakura, and trying to engage everyone else in chitchat. Apparently, it wasn't polite to talk about their work, even though that seemed to be all these people did. Everyone who came was either getting off of some kind of duty, or getting ready to go to one, or trying to fit in practice in preparation for the opportunity for more.

Like Tenten. Tenten had been cheerful and happy to meet him, but he only understood about half the things she'd mentioned as she and Sakura had talked about their day. Tenten had just finished some sort of guard shift, was expected to help run her parents shop later that day, but had squeezed in her visit between a report she had made and a training session she had planned. Sakura had just nodded and smiled as Tenten had explain all of this, as if it was normal for her friends to approach fighting like Hermonie preparing for an exam. It was like a full time DA club, except more normalized. No sneaking about, no fearful whispers of what might be happening out in the real world, no constant wondering what was really happening closer to home. Everybody was so calm and almost cheerful about everything.

Like Kiba. If Hinata and Shino had both been very polite but oddly quiet and reserved, Kiba was exactly the opposite. He was loud, gestured wildly, and a bit vulgar, all at the same time. Harry found himself laughing along right away. And then there was Akimaru. He was probably the biggest dog Harry had ever seen. When he'd first come scrambling into the room behind Kiba, there'd been that first flash of painful memory, but it hadn't lasted. Akimaru had so much of his own personality, it was hard to look at him and see anything else. Kiba and Akimaru had been regaling him with stories of all their grand adventures, Akimaru eerily acting out the best parts in a manner far too intelligent for any mere dog.

Then the creepy guy that had tried to pick a fight with Sasuke yesterday showed up. He strolled into the room as if he owned it. Sasuke might not like him, but Sakura greeted him cordially enough. Harry wouldn't exactly call it friendly, but he didn't seem very much like a friendly kind of guy. "Uchiha," he greeted curtly.

"Um, hello again," Harry replied. It was surprisingly hard trying to figure out how not to stare at his odd white eyes while at the same time making eye contact.

Sakura's arm around his tightened a little. "Neji-san, you and Harry have met before?"

"He visited us at the house the other day," Harry answered right away. "Sasuke didn't mention it?"

Sakura smiled tightly. "Must have slipped his mind. You know how Sasuke can be about telling people things. I bet he must have been thrilled to have the company." The sarcasm in her voice wasn't even slightly masked.

Neji's expression didn't change. "Family business," was all he said.

"Of course," Sakura drawled.

Neji turned back to Harry and somehow managed to lift his chin a little bit higher. "I am certain your cousin must be very pleased to have you returned to his guardianship. Hopefully it will be a benefit to him," he announced. He then turned sharply on one heel and stalked away. Apparently, hovering around the edge of the room was more interesting than trying to make conversation.

Harry couldn't say he was heartbroken to be ignored. Ino was always there if the conversation lagged, giving him little tidbits of gossip and asking endless questions about him. Some of them were easier to answer than others, but these days he was starting to get the hang of not talking about the things he didn't want to share with strangers. He'd certainly had plenty of practice with all of the nosey people he meet back home. At the same time, Kiba kept telling funny embarrassing stories about when they were kids. He seemed to delight in trying to get a rise out of Ino. Hinata hovered by his shoulder, a silent part of their conversation, and Harry noticed that the stories Kiba told never featured her as the source of amusement the way they did everyone else. Harry had a feeling that had more to do with the way she blushed the entire time and not a lack of opportunity.

Sakura had moved to the other side of the room, quietly discussing something with Shino and occasionally laughing at something Shikamaru muttered. She would glance across the room at him from time to time, but gave him some space. "These are our classmates," she had explained before the rest of the group had arrived. "We've all trained together and worked together for a long time. Each one of them is a good friend and someone I'd trust to watch my back." She had smiled bright and confident as she told him "I'm sure you'll be good friends with them too." Harry wasn't as sure about that as she was. He had a hard time making real friends. But he had to say, this wasn't a bad start. It reminded him of afternoons spent in the common room, talking about nothing but still catching up with friends and sharing bits of their daily lives with each other.

This was maybe one of the most normal things he had done since coming to this crazy village.

And no sooner had that thought crossed his mind then there came the sound of someone pounding up the apartment stairs. Harry's shoulders stiffened and he pulled his arm back from Ino's grip as he shifted to face the door. He was fairly certain it wouldn't be another attack. Not so sooner afterward and not in such a crowded place. But he couldn't discount the possibility for more trouble. Or even just an angry Sasuke coming back. He wasn't sure which was worse but he wanted to be ready for either possibility.

And for a moment, the entire room was silent, as if the others were also holding their breath to see what this was. Then TenTen sighed explosively and everyone else relaxed.

The door slammed open.

A tall figure filled the space, calling out loudly.

"Am I late? Did I miss it? Yosh!"

And suddenly Harry's hand was being shaken enthusiastically, another hand pounding him on the back like one of Hagrid's friendly greeting. The other boy was taller than Harry and broad in the shoulders but had a haircut like one of the Beatles and was wearing a very bright and very tight one piece track suit.

"GREETINGS and welcome to the FAIR and MIGHTY village of Konoha! What a HEARTwarming and TENDER blessing!"

The hand shaking continued, but thankfully the heavy drumming on his back stopped when Sakura came up by his side.

"TRULY, it moves one even such as I beyond all words! That a LOST child of Konoha could be RETURNED to our village's LOVING EMBARCE!"

Sakura was smiling but it was a little strained around the corners. "Thank you, Lee-kun, that's very –"

"The POWER of LOVE and familial AFFECTION can overcome any distance!"

Harry's hand had gone limp, giving up the fight. He let his arm be pumped up and down and tried to fight off a smile. Laughing would probably only encourage things and Sakura looked rather distressed.

"Please stop crying," she instructed. "You're going to scare him."

"But Sakura-chan! It is such a WONDEROUS and GLORIOUS day! Your precious teammate must also be overwhelmed with ELATION and DOMESTIC SENTIMENT!"

"Oh my god, stop."

Harry couldn't help it. He started cracking up then, the laughter bubbling out of him. He tightened his gripe briefly before finally pulling away. "It's very nice to meet you," he said sincerely. He never thought he'd miss the kind of outlandishness that was typical of the wizarding world, but there was a certain charm and comfort to it.

"So POLITE!"

"Lee-kun!" Sakura said sharply before turning back to Harry. "Please don't encourage him. He means well, but we're trying to work on…moderation."

"But FAIR Sakura-chan, now is not-"

"MODERATION."

"Yes, Sakura-chan."

Conversation around them had already picked back up, but Harry couldn't quite shake the feeling like people were watching him. He shrugged self-consciously, ad smoothed down his hair. "I don't mind," he reassured her. "People back home can sometimes be just as….interesting."

"Really?" the other boy asked, his eyes going wide. "I must go to this place and see such OPEN EXUBERANCE!"

Sakura sighed, but stopped trying to calm him down. She glanced at Harry oddly. "It really didn't seem like that from what of it I saw. Things there were very-" she hesitated for a moment before picking the right word. "Very uniform."

Harry stared back at her, confused. He didn't think anyone had every called the wizarding world uniform, even when they were wearing uniforms! But then it clicked into place and he waved his hands frantically. "No, no, not the Dursleys. That's not home." It was hard not to shudder at the idea of that being the only home Harry had and once more he was so very very grateful for Hagrid coming to find him. "The wiz-" he cut off, still not quite able to talk about it with so many outsiders nearby. He glanced over nervously, but no one was looking at them. No a single person. But that still didn't mean they weren't listening. Harry swallowed and shuffled a little closer to Sakura. "I mean, where my parents grew up. It's different. Not at all like the Dursleys."

Sakura watched him for a moment before nodding. "I think I know what you mean," she said. "I think every village has to have a couple of people like Lee-kun here."

"There is NO ONE else like me! I am the SPLEDID-"

"Yes, Lee, I know."

He shrunk in size like a balloon deflating but still looked up at her with wide hopeful eyes. "But it's very nice of you to think there should be more people like me."

Harry smiled widely. "It certainly makes things interesting."