Wow, my wonderful readers and reviewers. Its been months, and so much has happened that I don't have any idea where to begin… except thank you so much for your reviews, encouragement, understanding, and patience.

In my opinion, not the best chapter, but hey… it was rushed.

And anyway, its great to be back!

DISLAIMER: Blah blah Naruto blah not mine blah blah HOT MAN-SEX blah. You know the routine.

Enjoy!

x

"Ouch! God dammit!"

Naruto woke up with a snort at the curse, and rubbed his eyes. He had a pounding head ache, and who ever had just woke him up would get the 'telling off' of his life. It had took the boy forever to finally clear his head enough to fall asleep, ever since the 'dementor' attack, he was being constantly plagued by the memories of his childhood. Any other day, he would easily push the unwanted thoughts to the back of his head by thinking of something happier, more light hearted, like ramen or his team, but this night, he just couldn't bring himself to.

The blonde genin dismissed the whole thing with a snort and instead peered through the slit of his tapestries to see a furious Harry hopping up and down on one foot, seemingly in pain. He must have stubbed something in the pitch blackness. Naruto never really had any trouble seeing in the dark, he was a little better at it than the average genin, and wondered if it was because of the Kyuubi, just as it was the cause of so many other abilities.

Naruto watched as Harry regained his composure, and began to dig in his trunk. Maybe he's looking for more chocolate, Naruto thought.

But what Harry pulled out was not chocolate, but a strange sheet. It shimmered, reflecting non existing light in the thick darkness of the dorm room. Naruto was going to alert the other boy of his presence by asking him what it was, but stopped.

First Harry's head had disappeared, then his torso, his legs, and his finally his feet. Harry was gone.

No, not gone, but invisible.

The tired blonde could still hear the breathing and heavy (compared to that of a ninja's) footsteps. Just then, the boisterous boy was overcome with an attack of mischievousness and curiosity.

Naruto pulled off his (extremely stylish) sleeping cap and grabbed the kunai pouch he kept under his pillow (like a good ninja) when he heard Harry loudly exiting the dorm, debating whether or not waking Kiba would be a good idea. He decided it wasn't, and slipped out of bed as silently as his inexperience with stealth would allow.

And they weaved though the hall ways and corridors, past the sleeping portraits and down the enchanted steps, flitting through the night, quiet as stumbling shadows.

Naruto briefly wondered where they were going, until Harry finally came to a stop in front two massive stone gargoyles. To Naruto's surprise, the gargoyles eyed the wizard boy suspiciously before demanding a pass word.

"Uh… Lemon Drops?" the wizard guessed, scratching his head in thought. "Toe-Nail Tasties? Acid Pops? Pimple Puffs? Carmel Chicken? God dammit… Snickers?"

Naruto had no idea of what Harry was doing, but he decided to announce his presence by sneaking up to the other boy and loudly yelling "Dango!" in his left ear anyway, causing him to jump, and Naruto to grin in amusement.

The stone gargoyles, at Naruto's outburst, jumped to the side, revealing a door.

"Naruto! What in bloody hell do you think you're doing here?"

"No, Harry. What in bloody hell do you think you're doing here?"

"And what in bloody hell are the both of you doing here?"

x

Harry had saw him before, but it was in a haze of bad memories and desperation.

But now that Harry saw him in person and with a clear head, he couldn't help but note how unbelievably, truly… strange his mysterious, red headed savior was. The heavy eyeliner, tattoo marring his forehead, giant gourd and thickly dark aura didn't go unnoticed.

"And what in bloody hell are the both of you doing here?" is what he said, his arms crossed, and a scowl contorting his features.

"Gaara!" piped Naruto cheerfully. "What are you doing roaming the halls so late?"

For once, Harry and the blonde's thoughts were in sync. What was the red headed ninja doing in the hallways at this hour?

"Patrolling," the other drawled. "Do I even want to know what you're doing, Naruto?"

"Not really, 'cause I don't know either!"

Gaara, the mysterious ninja, after turning an unconcerned gaze toward Harry, shifted the massive gourd on his back slightly, and crossed his arms more securely, giving the wizard a measuring look. When Harry noticed that the other boy's scrutinizing gaze neither wavered nor moved from his person, he was reminded of his extended invisibility, and quickly moved to expose his still unrevealed bottom half.

"Harry, this is Gaara… of the Desert," Naruto said, adding the last few words as an afterthought, "He's from a neighboring Hidden Village allied with ours, remember? You've met, right?"

"Uh…" stammered Harry, much too busy trying to conceal his invisibility cloak rather than trying to mutter something remotely intelligent. "Not exactly."

Gaara, who seemed uninterested with the conversation, turned his back to take his leave. Harry and Naruto watched as he slowly turned a corner, melding into the shadows of the dark hallways, disappearing with not a good bye, but an icy command to "Take him back, Naruto."

Harry, who's curiosity had been successfully (and reluctantly) extinguished, turned away, walking toward his dorm, leaving a confused Naruto blinking after the two retreating figures.

He couldn't believe that he went through the trouble of digging out his invisibility cloak in the middle of the night, risking expulsion, just to meet that red headed, pompous sod Gaara. Harry swore that all ninjas were the same, unbearable.

As Harry all but stormed through the hallways, unconcealed and frustrated, he noticed that Naruto was following him when the blonde boy spoke up nervously.

"Ano… Harry?" he started uncomfortably.

"What?" the other boy snapped.

"I wanted to know when it happened, but didn't know how to ask…"

"What is it?"

"What… what were those things in the forest? You know… earlier?"

Harry stopped abruptly, suddenly feeling awkward and slightly guilty. He had forgotten that the ninja had knew close to nothing about the wizarding world, and doubted anyone had took the time to explain what had happened in the forbidden forest that afternoon.

"Uh…" stammered the wizard, not knowing where to begin, "Remember when I said there were dark creatures in the forbidden forest?"

The other boy nodded his head.

"Well, these dark creatures were called dementors… and they feed on good memories."

Naruto nodded again, absorbing the little piece of important information somberly.

Harry gave him a quick look before continuing the walk to the dorm in silence.

x

Sasuke peered over his half eaten buttered scone to steal a glance at the characteristically quiet Neji. The Hyuuga branch heir was enjoying pickled vegetables, rice and miso soup with a pair of polished, bamboo chopsticks. Just yesterday, the older boy was scowling disdainfully at western breakfast food.

The raven haired avenger concluded silently that Neji was just another added addition to the growing list of ninja that discovered the kitchens… and of just how terrified house elves were of fire based ninjutsu.

The Uchiha then made a silent declaration to make a little visit to the kitchens soon. Maybe to demand tomato scones. Maybe to practice his fire breathing techniques.

Whichever one.

x

Harry, feeling an ominous cloud looming somewhere around the Slytherin table, directed all immediate attention toward Sasuke and Neji. Neji was quite contently enjoying his breakfast as Sasuke looked as if he were deviating plans of pure, destructive evilness whilst nibbling a scone.

Harry decided to ignore them, choosing instead to focus on Neville, who was sitting beside him, helping himself to some bacon.

"Neville," Harry inquired, "are you alright? You look a little, uh… dusty."

The portly boy gave an embarrassed blush before reluctantly admitting that while practicing for the upcoming Quidditch tryouts, he had fell off his broom into the sand pits. He also brought Harry's attention to the fact that the sand pits, whose purpose was to create a safe, comfortable cushion for players unfortunate enough to fall, really weren't all that comfortable. All they did was make an undignified noise as you hit the ground with a mouth full of sand.

But their conversation ended, and their attention was then directed toward the teacher's tables. Dumbledore had arisen to give a morning announcement, spreading his arms wide as if he were trying to embrace the enchanted ceiling.

"Now that we are all situated, eating, and very much awake, I would like to introduce our new students!"

Dumbledore had chimed new students like church bells. Harry only heard the rumble of Hell's thunder and the sinister cackling of Satan's minions. His jaw dropped a bit, a meat-crumb of sausage escaping from the confines of his teeth.

He couldn't believe it. Could it be… MORE ninjas? How much possible destruction did he think the school could take?

"They are to be sorted," declared the headmaster, "into their respective houses after dinner this evening. Please welcome Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara… of the desert." The last bit was added on as an afterthought, much in the same fashion Naruto had last night. Dark, eerie images of Gaara, the short red headed boy with the gourd strapped to his back, plagued Harry's memories from last night.

The giant oak doors of the great hall began to creak open moments later, and the dull, gossip-ridden roar of the students quieted to a silence. Naruto looked up from his coco crisps expectantly, as all the other shinobi in the room seemed to stiffen in apprehension.

Three silhouetted figures, each with a monstrous object attached to their backs, appeared in the door way, and Neville gave a yelp. Harry turned to see the varying layers of sand that was coating the other boy's person began to slither off of his clothes and hair in little lines of beige grains, trailing towards the great hall doors in thin, controlled rivers. Harry was speechless. But the phenomenon was over almost as quickly as it had occurred with no witnesses except Harry and Neville to account for.

A blonde girl, walking with an air of veteran sergeant, led the little line of new shinobi, and though they wore the school robes, that was where their uniformity ended. The girl, another boy who walked behind her with an indifferent swagger, and the illustrious Gaara each featured some oddity that screamed unconformity.

They had reached the end of their trek. Each stood in front of Dumbledore at the teacher's tables. The hall broke out into whispers once again, and the only girl of the trio raised her arm, demanding silence. She slipped a long, flat, polished black object from her back, and rested it on her hip. Her sandy blonde hair was pulled back into four pony tails as her lips were pulled back in a smirk.

And then there was the other boy. For some reason, his robes sported a hood that had been pulled over his head and had shadowed his face upon entry. But Harry could see it now. He donned striking, dark purple face markings brushed over his rebellious features, causing him to stand out a little more than the other two. His hood was also sewn strangely, for it was crafted in a way that two corners pinched in an odd angle, causing him to look like a face-painted cat.

He also wore a large object on his back. From where Harry was sitting, it had appeared to be a person wrapped to the scalp in bandages, unruly hair peaking through the top, oddly reminiscent of a mummy. It looked heavy, and it was strapped to his back much in the same way Gaara and the other girl carried their large objects. If Harry had to pick, he would say that out of the three, this one was the most outlandish.

And of course, there was Gaara. For a boy that seemed very inexpressive, at the moment he wore all the emotions that Harry had ever seen him display articulated at once: boredom, contempt, and annoyance. His arms were crossed impassively as Dumbledore finished the introduction, something about welcoming new students and being open to new cultures, and in the end, the hall clapped, mostly out of politeness, and resumed their breakfast.

"Gaara!" cried an over excited voice sitting a little ways away from him. Harry peered over to see Naruto frantically motioning to the red headed ninja to sit at the table beside him. With some hesitation, he made his way over.

"Harry!" cried another, welcomely familiar voice. It was Ron and Hermione, rushing towards him, both looking like they had half ran, half sprinted to the great hall for some breakfast.

"Sorry 'bout that, Harry!" said Ron breathlessly as he took a seat between his best friend and the silently perplexed Neville.

"Hey… what's up with Neville?"

Instead of explaining the sand, Harry shook his head in feigned puzzlement. He wanted to begin his day as normally as possible.

Or at least, as normal as it gets.

x

Sorry for the wait and short chapter.