Hikari ran between the trees as fast as her little feet could carry her.
Heart hammering in her chest, her head swiveled around to search for her pursuer, her eyes tracking the movement of every leave.
Drip
Drip
A drop of red liquid fell on her face and flowed to her nose and her cheeks. A feeling of déjà vu assaulted her. Hikari glanced behind her –
There was no one.
Drip
Another droplet hit her head before she looked up, and then up and up and up.
The new successor of the deer clan was on top of the tree, directly above her, looking down at her with black motionless eyes.
If Hikari was a lesser person, she would have screamed in horror. However, she had already gotten used to the dramatics of the deer.
When it saw that she was looking directly at it, it jumped.
Hikari only threw it an uninterested glance, as it kicked the trees and landed in front of her. "You know, I don't understand why you always want to play hide and seek if you always win."
The young stag, affectionately named 'Prongslet Jr.', huffed and nudged her with its nose, Hikari translated the noise to laughter.
"Har har, Good job! you beat a five year old at hide and seek, should I clap for you? Do you want a prize?" Hikari rolled her eyes and scoffed, patting its head when nudged again.
"And I told you to clean yourself in the river before playing! What the hell is up with all that dripping? Look, you ruined my favorite dress! What if mum gets mad at me?" She glared at the mighty beast.
Said 'mighty beast' whimpered a bit and licked at the collar of her dress and her face, wiping the blood off of them.
Hikari giggled, trying to push it away. "I am joking, hey – lay off."
But Prongslet Jr. only licked and nudged harder, pushing her onto the ground, he then started chewing her hair. Hikari laughed loudly, hitting its head but Prongslet wasn't deterred at all, committed to the task of eating the black strands of dead cells.
"HEY, hehe, Stoop! Hahaha, Prongslet, get ooOoffff. I am not cutting my hair again because of you!"
She pushed it and rolled away, Prongslet only shuffled, made grunting noises and chased after her.
Hikari ran from him, laughing all the way.
Who could believe that the little fawn that she saved when she was a year old, would live to become the successor?
Her mother had finally let her play with the deer two years ago, Hikari didn't even try to ask her father whose response would probably be negative due to the counsel being fucking blind and thinking she should become a successor. Besides, everyone knew who the boss was in their household.
(She had heard them with her shadow dolls hiding under her father's desk, ordering her father to convince his teammates to have another child. So that they could have another Ino-Shika-cho team 'Just in case', they said. The sick bastards talking about Shikamaru's death like he was an object, thinking they can order couples to have children whenever they want.
To get more soldiers, she thought with disgust.
They didn't even mention how hard it would be for the Yamanaka, when they knew how dangerous the first pregnancy was, and how the mother and the baby almost didn't make it – much like the story of her own birth, although less severe.
They knew and they kept pushing and pushing for her to be something she wasn't, something she didn't want to be. Hikari's only savior was her mother who decided that Hikari was a normal child who needed normal hobbies like drawing, knitting, sewing, things the counsel abhorred.
But Hikari didn't forget how her father didn't start teaching her any clan techniques, how he always looked at Shikamaru proudly but never her. How he kept her at arms length even after all these years and only shared casual affection with his son.
He didn't even assign anyone to help her, just like she had predicted years and years ago.
Hikari knew, had predicted this and had pulled a Ron and planned for things if it did happen, but it didn't stop it from hurting any less.
But that was neither here nor there)
She breathed heavily, occasionally letting out uncontrollable giggles, even when she was cornered by a bloody stag that would give people nightmares, for her it would just be the deadly hair eating machine.
Hikari escaped and ran deeper into the forest.
She didn't notice how the trees got darker and darker as she was chased deeper and deeper into the forest.
She stopped, panting. Prongslet stopped right behind her.
She leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees and tried to regain her breath. Prongslet knew to give her a few minutes after their games so he stood silently beside her despite the occasional shuffle.
Hikari was about to sit down on the ground to rest before she noticed the color of the soil. Black – not brown, the soil looked so opaquely dark that she felt she was standing on a black hole that was about to suck her in any minute.
Glancing around her confirmed that she had never been to this place before, the trees which were usually huge had never look as abnormally humongous as this. The leaves, unlike the vibrant green they were – like her eyes, as her orange-loving companion would comment – were white, heavily contrasting with the dark trees and the black soil.
Then her eyes caught the white marble in the middle of the clearing.
Hikari shivered, feeling like she was about to get into trouble but wasn't willing to back off of the mystery.
Her father had warned her not to go too deeply into the forest because it was a place not explored by humans, in fact humans weren't even allowed to go, all animals in the forest would prevent her, but her father got that weird look in his eyes that told her he thought she was going to do the impossible if he looked away for even a second and wasn't going to risk it. The Troublesome Look, as named by herself.
(Hikari always did the impossible, ever since she was Harry, but you wouldn't hear that from her own mouth.)
Hikari spared a glance at the surprisingly silent Prongslet, and stepped forward.
Prongslet was beside her, not even two steps away, she was going to be fine. The stag was barely two steps away from her, keeping up with her pace. She was sure if anything happened, Prongslet would know what to do. This was his turf, after all, and he wasn't stopping her for a reason.
(Naras loved Puzzles)
As soon as she got close enough to the marble altar, she saw the mark engraved on it. The triangle split in the middle by a line and a circle inside it.
The Deathly Hallows.
Hikari could feel the blood rushing to her head.
No no no, how could this be? They don't belong here, why are they in her home? Are they the reason she came here? Did they cause this? But she got rid of them, she was sure.
(But Hikari knew.
Hikari knew that she was the one who saved her mother. She remembered it. She remembered everything. Her mother was dying and she sacrificed her own life for her.
Yet, she didn't die when she was supposed to.
She knew it, her father knew it, and even her mother must have felt it to some extent.
She was only finding excuses for herself by believing her mother's wonder, of it being a miracle, a gift.
Hikari was afraid, frightened even, of just the mere speculation that she could be – could be – could be –
Immortal.)
She suddenly felt the world freeze, as if a dementor had dropped on her. The cold air sharpened her senses.
She couldn't find out how long the Deathly Hallows had been there. Her memories as Harry are not completed, she doesn't remember how she died (if she even did die) nor does she remember anything after her twenty-fifth birthday. Her other self could have done something and she would never be able to find out, there was no use in questioning this.
But it was troublesome.
Hikari lowered her eyes and stared at the three objects that were too troublesome to take.
She could barely hide her accidental magic; she wouldn't be able to hide three deadly artifacts (even if they didn't look as such) and her parents would question where she got them even if she disguised them as toys, she made or found at the forest. Her father would at least investigate them – maybe even her, as well – and she wouldn't be able to do anything.
She was just five.
The pros however, were too tremendous.
She would never be able to find another wand nor make one. The ingredients needed would never be available and even if she tried to switch them with something else from this world, there was no guarantee that she was going to succeed. Moreover, she wasn't sure about her limits in wandless magic, yet.
The cloak would be something to kill for in a world where secrecy was the most important. She would also be able to do the spying herself if she ever needed to. If she remembered correctly, there was something in the cloak that prevented the spells from detecting whoever was beneath it. Did it work on chakra, too?
And the stone..
The stone, Hikari grimaced, feeling ill at her own thoughts, would be perfect for interrogating dead people.
The Torture and Interrogation department that her uncle worked for would do anything to get an artifact that brings back the dead. They only needed the shades after all, they didn't need to bring them back permanently.
She could also.. She could also call people to teach her magic.
Hikari's breath was knocked out of her chest, her pupils started to shake.
It had been a worry for her, how she was going to survive on her limited arsenal of spells in a different world if her father refused to teach her any chakra attack techniques. She loathed to admit that her mother was also a factor preventing her from learning any useful skills.
Even if she went to the academy, she would be forever behind everyone else if she didn't have any trump cards. Her magic barely evened out the playing field. Even with Shikamaru teaching her some of his lessons when he had time in exchange for whatever she could teach him, she would never be able to beat clans like the Hyuuga who had been trained their whole lives.
But not anymore.
She could use the stone to get more than that. Not just magic either, she could also call upon different teachers for chakra as well.
But.. would the people who died in her own world even answer her call? Are they in a different place? Where was the stone connected to, exactly? Would she be able to call the dead from both worlds?
Hikari frowned. She hadn't thought things through. The only way to know anything for sure would be to try it.
She reached for the bundle on the altar then paused, glancing up at her deer friend, "Prongslet?"
The stag turned its head towards her and nodded a bit. Hikari bit into her lips. "Do you think I should take them? Am I allowed?"
Prongslet huffed, gently. It stepped closer to her and lifted her by the back of her dress above the altar, then let go, making her fall on it.
Hikari froze when she fell, quickly grabbing the objects and standing up again to glare at him. "Hey! That was dangerous! What if it turned out to be a sacrificing altar or something?!"
As if on cue, the altar started glowing gold.
Hikari, who thankfully had more self preservation than Harry could ever hope to have, immediately jumped and was caught in the air once again before she was thrown onto Prongslet's back, the stag beat its hooves against the ground and ran out of the clearing.
Hikari couldn't follow what happened after that but when she looked back from her place on Prongslet, she saw the altar glowing faintly with other markings outlined on the edges.
Runes.
She reached her home, feeling like she had no knees. Her blood was pulsing in her head and the world was spinning.
Hikari was afraid.
She had quickly buried the artifacts near her home, after checking that no one was around and stumbled through the door.
Hugging her mother as greeting but secretly seeking comfort, she tried to forget the ominous glowing that she had activated. She didn't know what it meant and Hikari hated not knowing.
Giving her mother a smile and promising to practice her crochet and knitting skills, she walked to her room.
Seeing her comfortable bed seemed too good to be true, Hikari felt like she was about to collapse from relief. She waddled to her bed, not feeling like bathing or doing anything other than resting.
She lifted the blanket, and promptly gasped, stumbled back, and fell to the floor.
There, on her bed under the blanket, looking completely innocent, were the very three artifacts that she had just buried in the forest not far from here.
Hikari felt her hands shake, and closed her eyes.
The altar had a binding ritual runes carved into it, Hikari couldn't be completely sure, but if she ever went there again, she would check the runes from far faaar away.
But then, why did Prongslet throw her on the altar?
'He must have felt that it was odd, but he wanted me to do it anyways and decided not to take chances with me not doing it and put me there himself.
But why did he run afterwards?'
She scowled, that was what she got for only having animal friends. They couldn't even bother to explain anything.
She stood up and with the dispassion of someone who had been through hell and back and didn't care about anything anymore, pushed the deathly hallows onto the floor, heard them clatter, and kicked them with her feet under the bed.
Troublesome.
One of the shadow figures chose that moment to appear behind her.
Hikari didn't even have to turn around. She sighed before starting to listen to the meeting in her father's office.
Her father had a meeting with the fucking counsel again. Hikari listened in for half a minute before realizing that it was about her. Again.
"She should start training her shadow. She is already five years old and wasting precious time, she will be a fine addition, Shikaku."
"Enchu-sama is right, Hikari-hime already shows promise. She is very motivated and getting her to direct that energy towards training would be optimal."
There was a pause.
"No." The familiar voice of her father sounded bored.
"Shikaku-san, you can't just ignore your daughter's potential. We are already outgunned by the other clans, Shikamaru doesn't seem to be taking his training seriously. We can't waste any opportunities."
"No. Hikari doesn't want to learn. She will find ways to avoid it if I force her. She also doesn't need to learn this early. She will know the basics in a few years when she starts the academy."
"Shikaku, do you not realize our position? Your daughter is gifted. The deer have never been this friendly with anyone. You can't just –"
"Enough, Enchu-sama. Hikari will not be forced to anything. Yoshino doesn't want her to."
"YOSHINO-" Rage vibrated in the man's voice.
"You will not speak ill of my wife in my presence!"
The silence could be cut with a blunt kunai.
"Did you forget who the Head is? The counsel are my advisors, but they do not get to make decisions concerning my family. Do not forget your place." The coldness of the voice rung in the air.
"Yes, Shikaku-sama." Multiple people repeated.
Hikari shook in anger. How dare he? How dare he claim to know what she wanted? How dare he decide for her?
She didn't need him anymore. She had the Hallows with her, she had her powers and she's never going to let anyone decide how her life would be again. She had learned as Harry to never trust adults with her future. She wouldn't be a sitting duck this time, she would be ready, and they will regret it.
She was roused from her rage by the rattling under her bed. She lowered her self and looked at the source, seeing the wand jumping and the cloak being kneaded back and forth with the stone sailing in its folds.
Damn accidental magic.
Hikari sighed explosively, and slammed her shields down blocking all her emotions. Wrinkles melted off of her face.
The rattling stopped.
She dropped her shoulders in defeat and jumped on the bed, deciding to sleep on all the information that she had acquired.
"Ri-chan, lunch is ready!" Her mother yelled from the kitchen.
Hikari groaned.
Damn it all to hell.
Deep in the forest, the deer started the celebration rituals while the successor of their clan was presented with all sorts of shiny stones and fresh meat.
