Blind Dogs Hunting Deer.
Fem!Harry-is-Yoshino Nara. In this, Yoshino is a reserve Chunin. Because Narutopedia says that she is a Chunin, but her occupation is listed as housewife; both at the same time. My theory is that she took indefinite leave when she became pregnant or something, but instead of returning to active duty, put herself on the reserve list. Hey, keeping both Shikaku and Shikamaru awake is a full-time job.
Blurb: Dumbledore made several mistakes when he tried to summon the missing Girl-Who-Lived. 1) He didn't summon her as a 14-year-old. 2) She brought someone with her. 3) He motivated the entire Nara Clan of Konoha. Naras are scary enough when lazy. They're utterly PTSD-inducing when vengeful.
Theme Song: Stricken by Disturbed
Mrs Weasley wrung her hands nervously as she stood at the edge of the runic array. "Are you sure this is...you know...safe?"
Albus Dumbledore looked up from inscribing the last few lines on the stone floor and smiled, blue eyes twinkling. "I am quite sure, Molly. We found this ritual in the Black Library; it was used to find and return errant relatives of the Black Family before it was forgotten. Since young Miss Potter is related to the Blacks, this should return her to us."
Yes, Heather Potter had mysteriously disappeared within the timeframe of Hagrid leaving her on the doorstep of 4 Privet Drive and when Petunia Dursley opened the door to collect the milk the next morning. However, her vault status at Gringotts indicated clearly that she was still alive, somewhere. Sirius Black had been proven innocent once Dumbledore had pushed for a trial and once learning of the circumstances, had delved into extensive research to try and find a way to get his goddaughter back. This ritual was the result.
Members of the Order of the Phoenix stood in position around a runic array, ready to combine their magic.
"Is everybody ready?" Asked Dumbledore. He received nods of affirmation. "Then let us begin."
"Kaa-chan?" An seven-year-old Shikamaru Nara said as he poked his head around the door. "I'm going to the park to hang out with Chouji."
"Okay, but wear a jacket Shika, it's chilly today."
Yoshino Nara smiled to herself as she heard a muttered 'troublesome' and the sound of her son trudging up the stairs. A cold breeze hit her back and she frowned. Really, Shikamaru could at least close the door. Walking into the living room, she saw to her surprise that Shikamaru had closed it. So, where did that breeze come from?
She felt the breeze again, stronger this time. It tugged at her clothes and hair. Slowly, she brought her hands into a seal; if this was an intruder, they would soon find that her rank of Chunin wasn't undeserved.
Then, there was a pulling, stretching sensation in her gut and she gasped as she doubled over. There was the sound of displacing air behind her, and she turned.
There was a crack in the air, that kept growing and shifting, until it burst open. It was a black, yawning abyss. The wind and the pain came again, and Yoshino couldn't help staggering towards the black hole. What was this? What was this jutsu? No!
Sending chakra to her feet, she clung to the floor, gritting her teeth against the waves of pain.
"Kaa-chan!" Her eyes widened as Shikamaru dashed into the room. "Kaa-cha...what's going on? What is that? Are you alright?"
"No!" Yoshino screamed. "Get away!"
Too late.
The wind shoved him off his feet and he cannoned into her, pushing them closer to the abyss so that they were almost touching it; he didn't know how to use chakra to stick to surfaces yet. Exhaustion flooded her frame and she realised with a jerk of horror that her chakra was being drained. Soon, she wouldn't even have enough left to remain attached to the floor.
Shikaku burst through the door, kunai in one hand and the other ready in a seal, cold eyes gleaming with killing intent towards whoever was threatening his family. One of his cousins was just behind him, kusari-gama held ready.
They saw chaos.
His wife, holding his dazed son close to her, even as a fierce wind pulled them into a monstrous abyss floating in midair. Both had their eyes locked on him and he could see the terror in them. He couldn't hear her over the roaring of the wind, but he saw Yoshino say his name. Then, they stumbled, and fell back into the darkness.
The crack closed behind them.
Gone.
Shikaku couldn't breathe. His wife, his bossy, overbearing, frightening, beautiful, clever wife, was gone. His son, his lazy, snarky, brilliant son, was gone too. They had been taken from right under his nose, where they should have been safe. From the clan house protected by countless seals, where they should have been safe. From the middle of Konoha, where they should have been safe!
It took two seconds for Shikaku to notice his cousin's face was ashen from the amount of KI he was giving out. It took him a second longer for him to realise that the screaming he could hear was himself.
Shikamaru was scared. He was falling through a black void full of a darkness so terrible and thick it was like he was choking. He clung to his mother like a lifeline, her presence the only thing there and one he was so, so glad for.
Was he going to have to stay here, in the blackness? He would never see Chouji, or Ino, or Tou-chan again. Hell, he would even miss Naruto. Iruka-sensei would never yell at him for sleeping through History lessons again, he'd never feed the deer again, he'd never cloud-watch again...
Had they been captured by enemy ninja? But, but he and Kaa-chan weren't important! Kaa-chan was only a reserve Chunin and he was only at the academy! What if they had been captured because of Tou-chan? Tou-chan was important, a powerful ninja! Enemy ninja might want to threaten him with his and Kaa-chan's safety.
No! He wouldn't let them hurt Kaa-chan! He wrapped his arms tighter around his mother.
Then, there was light, and cold, and stone.
The members of the Order waved away the smoke that had suddenly blossomed from the array.
"Did it work?" They heard Kingsley Shacklebolt ask. As the smoke cleared, they could see the figure of a woman lying down in the middle of the circle. What they didn't expect to see, was the boy holding onto the woman.
"Is that Potter?"
"Why's she so old?"
"Who's the kid?"
"Looks like you screwed up again, Black."
"They're not...dead...are they?"
That last question, voiced by Mr Weasley, planted a seed of doubt into everybody else's minds. Nymphadora Tonks approached hesitantly, flicking out her wand as she prepared a basic diagnostic spell. She promptly let out a scream as the boy plunged a small knife into her calf. She thought he was still out!
"Stupefy!" Yelled Severus Snape. He didn't get time to see if his spell had worked, because the moment he had stepped towards her, Potter's hand had closed around his ankle, her hand on fire, fledgling flames spreading up the cloth. He too let out a shout of pain as he felt his skin begin to sear.
"Katon: Houka Hira," the woman hissed through gritted teeth.
"Stupefy!" "Aguamenti!" Although she tried to dodge, Moody's stunner caught her a glancing blow on the lower arm, and she fell unconscious. The water spell put out the flames on his robes and offered momentary relief for the burn on his leg.
Shikamaru had only just dodged the red light, when he saw another dark-haired man aiming a stick-thing at him from the corner of his eye. He threw his shadow, strong in this dim room with plenty of candles, and ensnared him.
Before Sirius could throw a spell, or even think of one to throw - it was a kid for Merlin's sake, not even Hogwarts age - he found himself unable to move. The first thought that went through his head was the Imperious curse, but he dismissed that when he couldn't hear the whispers in his head that was the giveaway sign of the Imperio. The kid was smirking! Smirking, dammit! The boy, who was what? Eight? The boy pointed at him. With horror, Sirius felt a tugging sensation on his on arm, and it mirrored the kid's.
'Whatever he does, I copy,' Sirius thought with dawning apprehension.
"Black!"
"What the hell are you waiting for?"
"The shadow, look at the shadow!"
It was Moody's shout after looking through his fake eye, that made everyone look down and shriek.
"He's done something to Sirius' shadow!"
"That's Dark magic!"
"He's a child!"
The boy flung his arm out, making Sirius point his wand at the others.
"Diffindo!"
Sirius grunted in pain as a thin gash appeared in his shoulder, then stumbled back as he was released from the boy's technique; he had let out a strangled cry of pain, pressing his hand to the mirrored wound on his own shoulder.
"Stupefy!"
He slumped to the floor. Sirius rounded on Moody. "What the hell, Mad-Eye?"
The man just shrugged as he returned his wand to his holster. "He was twisting both his and your shadow to make you copy his movements. I wanted to see if wounds would copy themselves from you to him."
"Can we continue this another time?" Shacklebolt called out as he helped Tonks to stand. "We have injured and two prisoners."
Yoshino kept her eyes closed, feigning sleep. She was lying on a soft bed, and subtle 'stretching' of her limbs revealed that she wasn't bound. She wasn't certain whether her chakra had been sealed, or if her inability to gather it was because of her still-remaining chakra exhaustion. That threw any escape attempts out of the window. Whoever had designed that jutsu had definitely known what they were doing; considering that chakra-exhausted was the most efficient condition to capture a shinobi alive. It was why the Aburame were so feared as hunter-nin.
She had been slightly disorientated on coming round, but her abductors had not dressed like shinobi, nor had she seen any forehead protectors or identifying symbols of any kind. Shikamaru had been quick on his feet, yes, but he had overplayed his hand and had had no time to assess his opponents beforehand.
Shikamaru...where was he?!
A mother's instincts momentarily overriding a shinobi's cautiousness, she sat bolt upright, eyes raking the room for any sign of her son. She was in some sort of infirmary within a stone room, and Shikamaru was lying on the bed right down the other end of it. Thick leather cuffs attached to sturdy chains encased his hands and bound him flat the the bed. Otherwise, he seemed unharmed. But why was he restrained and not her? True, she had mild chakra exhaustion, but a shinobi didn't need chakra to kill and Shikamaru had only just finished his first year at the academy. Someone had their priorities messed up.
Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she tentatively tested her weight. Walking wasn't too bad, she was just a little wobbly, but the railings on the ends of the beds made convenient hand-holds. She made her way to Shikamaru's bed without any staff or guards coming in, and sat on the edge of the bed. Quickly, she conducted a chakra-less examination, patting him down for any wounds or broken bones. Nothing. But there was a slight brown stain at the corner of his mouth where someone had made him drink something. Drug, medicine or food; she couldn't be sure.
So she planted a kiss on Shikamaru's forehead and just sat there, her hand on his chest feeling the regular thumping of his heart. Their captors had kept them alive and their wounds had been treated. If they were after information, they wouldn't have bother with bringing them to an infirmary, so they must need them to actually do something for them that required the maximum effort that the peak of health provided. The lack of restraint could possibly mean that they wanted to coerce her into doing whatever it was. So if she was that valuable...that meant she could hold herself hostage.
The creaking of the iron-bound door at the other end of the room made her tense. She reached for her chakra; a little less than half left, but slowly climbing. Not enough to fight her way out(which would be unwise anyway), but enough to establish that she would not be pushed around.
"Miss Potter, what in Merlin's name are you doing out of bed?!" It was a short, matronly woman that squawked indignantly; her chakra coils were barely open and her chakra pool was ridiculously small. Barely a shinobi. But, Yoshino hadn't understood her. If she was this far away from the Elemental Nations; her heart plummeted at the thought of never seeing home again.
Then, the woman drew one of those short sticks. Immediately Yoshino let out a burst of Killing Intent. If they wanted to draw a weapon on her, she would respond with force. The foreign woman collapsed to her knees, gasping and panting.
"Madam Pomfrey!" A man shouted, rushing through the doorway and crouching down beside the first woman. Yoshino frowned slightly as she shut off her KI; anybody with martial training would have stopped to take in the situation and would certainly not have taken their eyes off of the enemy(herself in this case), yet he hadn't been badly affected by the KI she had briefly put out. So, this man must be either insane or had experienced enough battle in the past to throw off small amounts.
"What the hell did you do?" The man snarled at her as he helped the woman to her feet. It sounded like a question. Yoshino merely raised her eyebrows in what her husband had once laughingly told her was her 'a moment of silence for your brain cells that have died from atrophy' look. The man flinched.
"I can't understand a word you're saying," she said clearly. "But judging from that tone of voice, you want to know what happened. She drew a weapon, I responded in kind. That is all." The man's face fell, lack of any understanding of her speech in his eyes.
"What?"
"Well," Tonks started slowly. "This is awkward."
The rest of the Order glared at her.
"What?! It is!"
The adult woman the ritual had selected and summoned as Heather Potter was sitting on the bedside of the young boy who had used Dark magic on Sirius in the fight. Merlin's beard, she knew from Sirius that Heather Potter had inherited her paternal grandmother's Black looks, but it seemed that the scathing, blister-raising, bone-scouring Black Death Glare had been inherited too. Andromeda Tonks nee Black had proved to be a scary, scary woman in the last war and all in the Order who had been acquainted with her(Sirius had reinstated both Andromeda and Nymphadora when he claimed the Black headship and had introduced them to the more prominent Order members as a matter of course) shuddered at the similarities.
"So far, all the spells used by us she's seen have been used to attack her. How do you think she's going to react if we try to hit her with a translation charm? I do not want more wandless fire magic directed at me, thank you!"
"How is everything, Madam Pomfrey?" Asked Sirius Black as the Healer bustled in.
"Kingsley will be fine," she huffed. "The cracked ribs and broken arm were soon fixed and I gave him a potion so he can safely sleep off his concussion overnight. I managed to get a response out out Miss Potter, but all she would say was 'Yoshino Nara, Hidden Leaf Chunin, 009091'. And to top it all off, she won't let me near the boy. I can't give him the potions to keep him under, and I dread to think what he'll do once he wakes up. A Dark magic user in my Infirmary; the thought of it scares me half to death!"
"So we got her name that she goes by, some nonsense, then a number. Really, that's not very...oh Merlin!" Sirius suddenly gasped. "Name, rank and number! It's all the information you're allowed to give up if you're a captured Auror or soldier! No wonder Heather can use wandless magic and we found those knives on her; she's a soldier! We've captured her so of course she's hostile!"
"Well, that explains the jamming-a-knife-through-my-leg," Tonks sighed. "She probably taught the kid a few moves. Good thing he has shackles on him. Still, all we need to do is explain what's going on and everything will be back to how it should be."
"Get that idealistic rubbish out your head, Tonks!" Moody growled. "She'll probably be expecting us to talk to her, try to brainwash her! She's not going to listen!"
"Get away from my son."
Again, the world of the gathered witches and wizards tilted on its axis.
"The fuck?!" That was Tonks and even Madam Pomfrey was too shocked to correct her language.
"That is usually how children come about, yes," Dumbledore replied absentmindedly.
Yoshino sat in a wooden chair, restrained this time. She glared daggers at the stone-faced man with the dark hair. He certainly had the look of an interrogator down pat. So, she didn't see any physical implements of torture anywhere; was he one of those who screwed over your mind?
"For all the little that it's worth, I'm sorry about this," he said, before flicking his wooden stick with a 'Petrificus Totalus!'
Yoshino couldn't move as he pulled up a chair opposite her, leaned forward and looked her in the eyes.
"Legilimens!"
Severus Snape encountered a barrier, seemingly constructed from compacted bad memories; a basic but very strong defense. Curious, and after all, he was there for information, prompted him to take a peek.
'Loud bangs and clashes of metal sounded overhead as she/he checked and rechecked her weapons pouch with a numbing monotony, distracting her/him from her/his teammate lying pale and wan under the glowing green hands of a weary and bruised med-nin. Around her were other such scenes; shinobi and kunoichi alike on trestle tables, straw pallets and even blankets on the floor. A courier-nin burst through the door, yelling "Evacuate! All able bodies to cover the rear and assist the wounded as much as they can!"
Cue an immediate orderly pour towards the exits; medical packs that still contained supplies heaved onto backs, wounded heaved piggy-back onto the able.
The orderly who had been tending her teammate rushed past her/him, carrying a man she/he did not know. She/he tapped him on the arm; "What about...?" He cut her/him off. "Sorry, he died just as I was getting him up off the pallet. We're leaving the bodies here and collapsing the place."
As she/he ran through the branches after setting an exploding-tag trap for any tails, she/he didn't...couldn't look back as the man she/he had fought beside for half her/his life was crushed under the weight of the underground temporary base. And shinobi don't cry.'
'She/he bit down on the wad of cloth in her/his mouth and let out a muffled scream as the med-nin manoeuvred the splintered end of bone that was jutting out of her/his forearm, back into her/his arm where it belonged. Fuck the Kiri-nin who blew up the supply runners carrying the medical drugs!'
'A chokingly thick and toxic chakra burned the starry horizon a bloody rust orange and an inhuman howl came from the beast of nightmares in the distance. This wasn't just an enemy, this was a force of nature driven mad by bloodlust. In the relative, and now very doubtful, safety of the seal-lined bunker beneath the Nara Estate, all she/he could do was pray for a miracle.'
'"Don't you dare die on me you lazy idiot!" She/he hissed tearfully, refraining from shouting because she/he was mindful of drawing attention to them, at her/his injured team leader. Why did he kawarimi her/him and take the hit from that exploding-tag trap?! Oh Kami, his face was covered in blood from the shrapnel wounds, two gaping things in particular. And the burn up his arm stank of burnt meat and reminded her/him of exactly how long it had been since she'd/he'd had barbeque. She/he retched when she/he realised what she/he was thinking of. "Kami-damn you for being such a samurai, Shikaku Nara!"'
Severus almost felt himself being sucked into the images of fire and steel and torn flesh, but in the corner of his mind's eye he could see a train of thoughts and emotion leading from that last memory deeper into the psyche and past the barrier. He grabbed hold of it and let himself be swept along as a new, fonder set of memories assaulted him.
'"Congratulations on passing your exam, and if you could restrain your jubilation for a minute, I will now proceed to read out the team allocations. Your respective sensei should be along shortly...Teams Six and Nine have been merged due to deaths and are now Team Sarutobi, so the new Team Six will be Yoshino,...'"'
'"We just wanted to thank you for saving Shikaku's life," Inoichi-san said solemnly as he nodded his thanks, his other friend and teammate, the Akimichi heir doing likewise. "It's nothing, I'd have done the same for any Konoha shinobi...'" she/he blurted out. "We know," Chouza rumbled firmly. "We just wanted a look at the kunoichi that caught his heart." The blasé statement made her/him choke on her/his breath. "I...I swear I didn't do anything! It was just a few times to blow off some stress, we're not together!"'
'"I'm expected at the front lines tomorrow." The quiet sentence made her/him catch her/his breath. Shikaku heard the small sound and took her/his hand in his. "I'll be alright. Minato Namikaze's going too and that kid's a regular monster." Yoshino forced her breathing back to normal. "I wish I was coming with you," she/he said quietly as she/he leaned her/his head against her lover's shoulder.
"But then I'd have to look after you as well, troublesome woman."'
'"I'm an orphan, Shikaku. A shinobi patrol found me wandering in the forest at the tender age of two, soiled, underweight and dressed in rags."
"Shit. Who does that to a baby? Why weren't you left at an orphanage?"
"They never found who dumped me, but I wasn't exactly high priority. Although, they changed their minds when they had a Yamanaka scan me."
"What did they find?"
"A piece of someone else's soul next to mine. It was transferred out of me into a laboratory mouse, which was then killed."
"Fuck."'
'"Man and wife I now see you and may you remain so as long as you draw breath, kami and luck be willing," the Nara Elder intoned. "May your days be long and happy and may neither of you fall to sickness, pain and death until you are are at peace.
Now kiss already, I've been eyeing that buffet for the past hour."'
'Wrapping her/his legs around her/his husband's waist, Yoshino gasped out a moan as Shikaku...'
Severus promptly backed out of that that one; watching that memory would be pushing the limit of human decency. Stepping past it, he dived back in.
'"Love you so much," Shikaku rumbled as he ran his scarred and calloused hand over the almost non-existent baby-bump of her/his belly. She/he made to move away, but he gently pulled her/him onto his lap, burrowing his face into her/his neck and breathing her/him in.
"I have work, Shikaku."
"Work is troublesome," was the muffled reply. "And you're pregnant." She/he poked him on the shoulder in protest. "I can work up until the eighth month, I'm not crippled. Besides, Minato-sama relies on me to keep digging him out of his paperwork and make sure he has time for Kushina."'
'"Oh, my congratulations!" Minato-sama started, before he smiled at her/him. "I must remember to congratulate Shikaku. Please, feel free to book your time off now, but if you could arrange for someone to fill in for you while you're gone, that would be appreciated."
"Minato-sama, I'll just be on lighter duties for a while, then at home. It's not like I'm dying!"
"I know that! Aaargh, but if anything happens to you, I'll be dead meat! Not to mention I'd never forgive myself. I'll reassign one of my Guard to you and here, take one of my Hiraishin kunai...'"
"Calm down Minato-sama!"'
'"Shikamaru," he/she said, looking down at the bundle in her/his arms.
"Ah, he's beautiful," Inoichi said. "I wonder if he inherited his old man's brain-" he was pushed aside by a worried father.
"Shikaku, it's fine," she/he said. "You've only been gone two minutes; Inoichi was just complimenting our son."'
"Well, Severus?"
"When the fuck were you going to tell me that the Dark Lord made Heather a Horcrux?!"
Grimmauld place erupted. Amidst the chaos, Severus Snape stood tall and foreboding, glaring down at a pale Albus Dumbledore with palpable anger.
"Heather was found abandoned in a forest at the age of two and in poor shape," Severus relayed. "When they read her mind to ascertain that she was not dangerous, they found and removed a piece of the Dark Lord's soul, which in turn made her scar disappear as that was what had been holding the fragment."
"And you said to leave that scar be Albus!" Minerva McGonagall spat furiously. "And abandoned! I told you they were the worst kinds of Muggles!"
"I thought my goddaughter would be healed and checked for any injuries, that's why I let Hagrid take her!" hissed Sirius. "Go on Sn...Snape."
The Potions Master raised an eyebrow at the civility from Black. "She was raised in an orphanage and was later entered into a school that would train her to become a soldier. She fought in a war. She has been, stabbed, burned, had bones broken and has watched those close to her die from explosions, complex injuries, poison and blades.
She fell in love and married a man of power and high standing. Clan Head was the phrase used and it seems these Clans use special abilities. The one she married into could manipulate shadows to their will - not Dark magic. The boy is her son and also the Heir to an Ancient Clan. A Clan that is also closely allied to two other Clans of equal lineage and power. We have kidnapped the Lady and Heir of an entire Clan of shadow-manipulating warriors; we have dug a truly deep grave for ourselves."
Among the muttering that sprang up, Tonks stood up silently before leaving the room, effectively silencing the proceedings. She turned around to face them at the sudden lack of noise and raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to unchain and revive the innocent boy we kidnapped who was only trying to protect himself and his mother, before returning him to said mother. There's no point or benefit in keeping him restrained and unconscious. Plus we're all in deep shit already. And maybe we should think about grovelling for mercy once we send Heather and her son back home to her family. Her family of shadow-manipulating, wandless-magic-using, battle-hardened, pissed-off soldiers by the way."
Tonks thought to herself that whoever Heather's...sorry, Yoshino's husband was, he made really cute kids. It made the heavy contrast of the shackles all that more sickening. She pressed the sequence of runes on the cast iron with her wand and they sprang apart. She took a minute to massage the pale wrists to get the blood flowing, before heaving up the unconscious boy; boosting her muscles in response to the weight.
She felt the tingle of a recognition ward pass over her skin and she pushed open the door of Yoshino's guest-room/holding-cell with her shoulder. She gulped as dark eyes and a ripple of bloodlust focused on her and the boy she was holding.
"Your son," Tonks murmured, mustering her courage and walking past the smouldering, baleful fury of the female warrior and laying the child down on the bed as gently as possible.
"When will the drugs wear off?" The question was short and clipped, but Tonks took heart in the fact that Yoshino was willingly talking to her. Tonks counted in her head; "hmm, one and a bit hours."
"Your interrogator looked at my memories. Be warned that I will not cooperate with any plan to use me against my home."
Tonks shook her head. "We wanted to know about you, not your home. All we know about it is that it has a large, capable military force of which you are a part and that you are married to the Head of one of several uniquely powerful Clans."
"A Clan that you have declared war on."
Tonks sucked in a breath. "We know. What sort of war? I mean...total extermination, willing to negotiate or somewhere in-between?"
"Select execution of the guilty as well as a show of power as a warning example, I would expect. You declared war on the Nara Clan and through the Alliance, the Akimichi and Yamanaka Clans. Our Patrons may choose to get involved." The accompanying grin was most unsettling.
"Oh, sorry to disturb you," said the bushy-haired girl who poked her head around the door. "I just came to offer you the use of the baths and a new change of clothes."
Yoshino looked up from the book she had been given. "Why?"
The answer was a confused sputter; "Well, wouldn't you like a bath? You have been here four days."
"It would not be the first time I have gone without washing for days on end, and my son might as well learn to cope with it now."
A condescending huff. "Well, when you start to smell so bad that people refuse to talk to you, don't come running to me!"
"I've had dirt smeared into every inch of my skin, been drenched in blood, had my hair charred off and wounds infected. I learned to tune it out after a while. A little sweat and dust is nothing."
"Hey, lady," the new voice made Hermione turn and see a thin young boy with a his hair in a spiky ponytail holding a pile of books. "I've read all of these books and solved all the puzzles in them, can I get some new ones? The shapeshifter lady said I could ask for more."
Curious, Hermione grabbed the topmost book. Seeing it was a third-year rune dictionary and question book, she flipped through it. To her shock, all of the questions were filled in, correctly as far as she could see. "But...how!?"
A deadpan stare from the, what, seven-year-old. "New books. Please. I'm bored."
Sirius hurried into the kitchen at Grimmauld Place with a consternated expression. "It's Heather! My mother's portrait actually likes her!" As he swept passed them, Fred and George glanced at each other before rising from their seats.
Walburga Black approved of her idiot son's Goddaughter. She had Dorea's face and Charlus Potter's scathing attitude and had made a good marriage into a family with Shadow Magic. The boy needed some of the laziness beaten out of him, but she'd give him a pass for now, given that superior intellect and wandless Shadow Magic. It seemed that the society Yoshino came from had taken steps in the right direction; Muggles had proper deference even if they were in the know about magic and the use of blood in runes and summoning was common, if not sometimes encouraged.
Still her lack of basic knowledge was a disgrace to the name of Black. Their names had appeared on the tapestry under Dorea's offshoot, so it was official. If only she had a physical body..."You two boys! You're of age and descended of House Prewett, aren't you?" Ah, it seemed her new favourite relatives were already prepared for trouble; fire flickered at Yoshino's fingertips.
The twin Prewetts confirmed her guess. "I am enlisting you to teach this daughter of House Black apparition. Close your mouths, you gormless louts, before my good mood ends!...'"
Madame Amelia Bones pinched the bridge of her nose as she digested the story one of her best Junior Aurors had just told her. "Dear Merlin, Morgana and Mordred...I just hope we can alienate ourselves from Dumbledore in time so we don't get caught up in this."
Tonks shifted on her feet nervously as she stood in front of her superior. "Yoshino...Heather Potter, that is, means it too. She said this word 'Patron'. Snape didn't look too deep, but I think she's talking about something like an old Coven Patron. You know, when...'"
"When the Coven would invoke the spirit or raw magic of an extraordinarily powerful Elemental avatar or deceased magical. I'm a with of House Bones, Auror, don't quote my history to me; House Bones might choose not to practice our arts, that doesn't mean we've forgotten."
"Apologies, Ma'am."
"Does the rest of Dumbledore's little Club know what's coming?"
"They don't know about the Patron. I'm the only Pureblooded witch who's House practiced Covens they have and I haven't said a word. Severus Snape has disowned himself from the Order and plans to grovel alongside myself. Sirius has his mind stuck on getting Yoshino to acknowledge him as her Godfather. You know his personality, you can guess how that's going. Remus is torn between fleeing to join that werewolf pack in Cornwall and offering an apology. I had a crush on him for a while, but...I guess a man shows his true colours on the battlefield. The Weaselys are blithely going along with Dumbledore's whole chosen one thing, but the Twins might have cottoned on that something's a bit off. The two eldest sons were apathetic or opposed to the kidnapping from the beginning and both are out of the country. The Granger girl is in a right huff as she thinks Yoshino should conform completely to our beliefs; I have no idea how she'll end up. My parents support my stance to beg forgiveness and offer a debt of service."
Madame Bones looked askance. "A debt of service? If you think that's necessary...I will be sorry to lose you."
Shikaku felt the heavy weight of the skull mask as he set it on his head and the chakra in it coating his face in liquid shadow. He adjusted his seat on the mighty stag that ruled the Nara Forest. Behind him, the rest of the Nara men were astride their own stags. The Elders and himself wore antlered skulls that bathed their faces in darkness, donated remnants from the ancestors of their four-legged brethren.
This was a Clan war.
An unconscious bandit lay bound in the reverse summoning circle around which the mounted Clan stood. Without fuss, he was slaughtered and his blood fuelled the ritual that had been provided by the Patron of the Nara Clan and forefather of the Nara deer. The wise one himself was among them; black as pitch and with a rack of antlers that numbered a hundred points, moss and vines entwined in them as testament to how long he had lived. The Clan had been attacked, been put in danger, been wronged and he had answered the call.
Shadow flowed from the circle up the forms of the Nara and the deer, including the Patron. For a moment, there were only writhing black forms. Then sunlight was suddenly allowed to return, sweeping over the bloody circle in the empty clearing.
The Yamanaka and Akimichi would keep watch while the Nara exacted vengeance.
And that was where the Plot Bunny's lifespan ended. And if Doujutsu can come from a psycho rabbit Goddess, the Nara shadow techniques can come from a guardian spirit animal; more like how in the A:TLA universe, bending comes from animals. Of course, since Yoshino knows how to apparate, she could save Shikaku and Inoichi at the last minute.
I looked through Japanese mythology and one of the kami of longevity and wisdom is accompanied by a black deer. Wisdom...intellect...Nara. Also, in real life, Nara city in Japan is occupied by over a thousand feral deer who are protected and will take food(special crackers can be easily bought) from your hand.
