Two Scarred Souls Heal Each Other

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto. They belong to their respective authors and publishing/media companies.

Warning: Yaoi/Slash. Harry/Ibiki. Please don't read if its not your cup of tea.

Shout outs to my marvelous beta: latte2

Author's Notes: Please vote for Hermione's pairing in the poll on my profile page! The voting will end five days after this chapter is posted. Thank you!

Thank you to all my readers and reviewers. Your pm's and reviews are a daily source of motivation. Thanks a million for sticking with me!

Enjoy!

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Chapter 3: Now Opened for Business

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Konoha, Fire Country

Harry gradually woke up the next morning, feeling gentle tugging sensations that disrupted his slumber. Blearily, he pried his eyes halfway open to see Hedwig with a strand of his hair in her beak. After tugging his hair one last time, she released the captive strand and gave a soft chastising bark to her wizard in admonishment for taking so long to rouse out of sleep. Smiling faintly, Harry gave his familiar a scratch by her right ear and a soft morning greeting. He tossed back his grey-blue comforter and rose from his bed. Padding softly over to his suite bathroom, he groggily got ready for the day. Meanwhile, Hedwig flew out of the room, via the balcony, and left to continue her reign of terror upon the helpless and delicious denizens of the fish pond.

After a long shower, Harry quickly got dressed in a grey kimono and went downstairs to join his sister in the newly renovated kitchen for breakfast. He took a moment to admire the dark stained cabinets, gleaming stone countertops, and industrial stainless steel appliances. The wizard gave a silent acknowledgment to the goblin's craftsmanship; their renovation work was impeccable. He greeted Hermione and happily accepted a plate of food from an energetic Dobby before sitting down at the countertop onto a barstool in front of a preoccupied witch. After sipping his tea and taking a quick bite of food, he directed his rapt attention towards his best friend as he continued to enjoy his breakfast.

Hermione was furiously scribbling notes on a piece of parchment. She made one last note and nodded in decisiveness. 'Here it come.' contemplated an amused wizard. Hermione in Hermione Mode always led to unexpected adventures and quests. To Harry, it was a continuous source of private amusement that he was regarded as the trouble seeking member of the ex-golden trio. He mentally snorted at the blind perception of sheep. It's always the quiet ones…

"I think we should open a business." declared the intelligent witch.

'And Boom! She strikes again!' Harry stared incredulously at her. "Excuse me?"

"I think we should open a business." she repeated.

"Why? For Merlin's sake, we just moved here, Hermione! What business could we possible run anyways?" he questioned, even though he knew he was going to lose this argument. Again. 'When was the last time I won an argument?' he thought to himself.

A delicate frown crossed Hermione's face and she looked earnestly at her brother. "Harry, I have put a lot of thought into this. Yes, we did just move here. Now what? More renovations? More cleaning? Dobby would lock us both out of the house! Furthermore, you know neither one of us can stand doing nothing for days at a time. We would drive each other crazy!"

She tapped her parchment paper before continuing her argument. "More importantly, you and I are in a precarious position right now. This 'bloodline' business may cause problems in the future. So, we need to become valuable members of the community. That way when the trouble arises, we will be in a defendable position and hopefully able to deal with it before it becomes a major issue." she concluded.

"So…you basically want to open a business so we won't be bored and make allies at the same time?" he clarified.

"Yes."

"Okay then. What type business did you have in mind?"

After another round of discussions, they decided to open an unusual combination of an apothecary and café, ironically naming it ….the Apothecary Café. Hermione and Harry decided to use their potion and herbology knowledge to make and sell an assortment of salves, ointments, and herbal teas to the public. The products would not be dramatic like a skelegrow potion but subtle like bruise creams, scar ointments, and muscle relaxants. Simple, effective and more importantly, reasonably better than the current market items without being miracle cures.

They were going to exploit their British heritage by offering a wide selection of teas from their homeland. In addition, some of the teas will be the dried herbal versions of milder potions such as a hangover cure, energy renewal, and a headache potion. Once again, they were going for effective but non-miracle potions. Dried herb potions used to be common but fell out of practice and popularity because liquid vial potions were easier to administer and therefore faster acting. Plus, the creation of stasis charms/rune sequences ensured the contents of glass vials would last longer and became less inclined to spoil. Harry found it ironic that dried herb potions tasted vastly superior to vial potions due to their ability to magically dissolve in tea. He would have happily drunk any tea from Madame Pomphrey than take any of the vile concoctions forced down his throat during his numerous stays at Hogwarts' Infirmary. Luckily, the siblings uncovered a plethora of obscure and old potion books in the Potter and Black library to use. With her excellent memory and deduction skills, Hermione will be in charge of the teas even though Harry will be helping to make the herbal potions and growing the plants.

A large selection of pastries and light food would be sold to accompany the teas, especially the medicinal teas that recommend eating food with their usage. The café aspect will be Harry's domain. When he was younger, his aunt enrolled him in numerous cooking classes in the efforts to further his cooking skills and ensure higher quality food to impress her 'friends' and Vernon's business guests. Regardless of her pretentious reasons, Petunia's actions resulted in Harry's cooking skills rising from mediocre to extraordinary as he was a natural cook and thrived under actually instructions rather than a recipe from a cookbook. Harry grew to love cooking as hours spent on elaborate meals meant less time being forced to do other hated chores like weeding. If the café became popular, they may expand to serving lunch and dinner. However, Harry only wanted a revolving menu that would allow him to cook whatever he felt like cooking. Years of meal selections being dictated to him at the Dursley left him stubbornly against following a set and predictable menu. Hermione completely agreed to Harry's stipulations because she was well aware that his childhood had left numerous mental and physical scars on her brother.

A greenhouse would be devoted to growing herbs needed to sell in their shop too. Dobby volunteered to pop all over the elemental country to retrieve rare herbs and plants too. House elves possessed unique magic that allowed them to travel distances easily to serve their masters plus their magic was refined to allow them to maintain invisibility due to generations of being unseen servants in Pureblood households. Harry and Hermione tried to dissuade the little elf, but Dobby was determined to help his masters and he also did not want be bored at home when they left for work each day. Upon realizing they couldn't make him change his mind, Hermione and Harry made the house elf promise to take every precaution necessary and to never be seen by anybody. In addition, the siblings demanded to pay him a fair share of the profits from each sold plant/herb that he gathered.

The remainder of their supplies could easily be purchased from the goblins. Before leaving, the siblings bought four expensive pairs of vanishing trunks from Knockturn Alley. The vanishing trunks worked similar to vanishing cabinets in the fact that a pair was connected only to each other. Unlike cabinets, people were unable to use the trunks to travel. On trunk was shrunken to a shoe box size and was placed in the right corner of Harry's desk in the study. It was a communication box which would allow letters and presents to be quickly exchanged between themselves and the Marauders.

Currently only one trunk was at normal size and it was in operations with its brother trunk in Griphook's office. They left a trunk with Griphook so they could exchange communication easily without it being traced. While they did not give their specific destination to their friends, the siblings gave them a mailbox address. Gringotts would forward their mail from the box and deliver their replies for them. In addition, the trunk would allow them to be order provisions (specifically potions) through the bank. Money from their purchases would be taken out of their vaults, along with a finder's fee to the goblin. Due to the mutual profit involved, each party was satisfied with this arrangement. This service was only available as courtesy to them due to their status as Goblin Friends.

Finally after an hour spent on arguing, lecturing, and debating with one another (and Dobby!), the siblings were very happy with their business plan for Apothecary Café. Struck with a sudden apprehension, Harry turned large earnest puppy eyes at his sister who regarded him suspiciously.

"What Harry?" she asked, steeling her will against the dreaded eyes of doom.

"Hermione," he began, purposely injecting a wobble into his voice, "you know I love you right?"

'Oh Merlin! He's really not pulling his punches.' was her inner contemplation as she watched his lower lip began to tremble and tears glisten in his eyes. She nodded her head slowly. "Yes and I love you too."

"So you'll deal with the scary realtors by yourself, right?" came the piteous plea from the green eyed wizard.

"You're going, Harry!" sternly rebuked the exasperated witch. It was followed by a vicious glare for even attempting to feed her to the salivating realtor wolves.

"Damn!"

Harry shook silently as he tried to shake off the horror that was a mercenary realtor hell bent on a lucrative commission. He gave an affronted glare at his unrepentant nemesis that was walking slowly around their new shop. Their future business was a modest two story dwelling. According to the real estate piranha, it used to be a barbeque restaurant until the owners expanded into a larger building three blocks over. Fortunately, it was in much better shape than the house. The walls needed a fresh coat of paint and the floors only needed to be retouched. Of course, they had to refurnish the entire dining area and kitchen as everything was completely bare. Even the light fixtures were taken when the business moved to a new location.

Hermione walked around the main floor as she made a list regarding everything they would need, while simultaneously ignoring her cutely pouting younger brother. He was quite oblivious that when it came to his loved ones, his intimidation was more adorable than threatening. She made a mental note to take pictures from her pensieve later to send to Remus and Sirius. Pouting Harry was too precious! Turning around abruptly, she walked back up to her brother.

"We are going to need to order a lot of furniture. This includes the display glasses for all the herbs, teas, and pastries. The appliances and kitchen equipment needs to be purchased as well. This may take one week to a month to get everything we need, depending on the suppliers. Now then, should we paint and redo the floors ourselves or hire somebody?" she reported briskly, tapping her pen against her notebook.

"Do it ourselves. We need to place runes on the walls and floor boards. It would be problematic if anyone else sees them and raises questions." he replied after a moment of contemplation.

"I thought so too. We are going to have to be extra careful with our wards. There are ninja clans that may be sensitive when it comes to magic, so the wards cannot be really powerful." she stated resolutely.

"Ah… We can use runes to ward against pests and help prevent fire. We'll claim the paint and glaze on the floor acts as a natural repellent and preventive barrier if anybody asks. Since you found out that seals and runes resemble each other, we will use runes to prevent thief and vandalisms too. We'll claim them as old family secrets which would be believable given the rumors of our wealth." he said after pondering the issue for a few moments.

"That should do it. We can't claim too many old family secrets or else we'll be scrutinized closely. But one or two family seals won't be too unbelievable" the witch agreed.

After looking the doors they departed to visit the various stores to order the necessities for their shop.

Two weeks later, the Apothecary Café was ready for its grand opening. On the first day when they went to order furniture, the Potter-Blacks accidently came upon an art gallery. In the gallery, they saw four sets of paintings. The duo quickly purchased the paintings and chose an elemental theme to decorate the cafe in. Each wall represented one of the elements and was painted to gradually show the transition of colors. The large framed painting of mythical creatures decorated the walls: colorful phoenixes captured in flight for air, dancing and happy fairies in a glade for earth, a gathering of beautiful and deadly dragons for fire, and graceful and playful mermaids for water. It was a fortuitous and lucky discovery to find the gorgeous paintings because it gave the café an "elegant and comfortable atmosphere that wasn't girly" to quote Harry.

Given Konoha's love of trees, finding the appropriate dining area tables and chairs wasn't hard at all. They eventually selected parson chairs with comfortable cushions and painted white. The tables were also painted white with glass tops over reproduced printed illustrations of mythical creatures. Against two of the walls, large glass showcases displayed their products, the plants/herbs separated into large glass jars that were carefully labeled. The cases were locked to prevent a five finger discount. In the back of the store ran a large glass pastry display counter that stood in front of the door that lead to the new kitchen. Above the large cutout and serving window to the kitchen, their menu hung proudly behind the pastry countertop. It was a large sliding blackboard with the teas written on one side and ample room to write the daily pastries and specials of the day on the other side.

Hermione and Harry moved energetically around the café. They checked and double checked everything to make sure it was ready for their grand opening at 8 am. Already, rumors had circulated around Konoha regarding their café. They had hired genin Team 10 to help them set up the glass cases with all their contents. Unfortunately, they were not aware that the innocent looking genin girl, with long blond hair and a fondness for purple, was an incurable gossip and very familiar with plants given her family's ownership of a flower store. Ino Yamanaka had rushed home that day and informed her intrigued parents (especially her father, Inoichi Yamanaka) about the various teas and rare herbs the Potter-Blacks were going to sell. Inoichi reported to the Hokage, who strongly debated using her Hokage powers to have a chance to buy various herbs earlier, while his wife regaled any interested florist customer about the dozens of new and unique teas the Apothecary Café would serve. Within days, the civilian and shinobi rumor mills had the name, Apothecary Café, well known amongst the population, much to the horror of the Potter-Blacks.

After one last look around, Harry left the front room to go into the kitchen to remove the last of the pastries and place them in the pastry case. For the grand opening, he cooked a wild variety of pastries: plain scones, scones with fruit, a wide variety of muffins, five different types of cakes, eight different pies, a multitude of tarts, and of course, his beloved treacle tarts. The scent of the pastries mixed pleasantly with the bread that was currently baking. Humming gently, he returned to the front of the store and stood behind the counter as Hermione bravely went to unlock the front door. Apothecary Café was officially opened for business.

Tsunade stared intently at the bruise cream that Shizune bought from the Apothecary Café earlier this morning. She had sent her assistant with an extensive list of herbs and plants to buy along with the demand to select two teas that seemed interesting. The Hokage wasn't prepared for Shizune to rush into the room, exclaiming wildly about how wonderful the café was. The tea she had brought back was certainly interesting, a Darjeeling Tea which tasted delicious with the berry tart.

However, the real prize laid in the salves and ointments that Shizune bought to share with her mentor. Tsunade skeptically tried the muscle relaxant crème on her tense neck muscles. Within seconds, the soothing heat felt wonderful on her neck. Buoyed by that discovery, she purposely gave herself a bruise and applied the bruise cream. Not surprisingly, the bruise cream worked just as well. She peered closely at the yellow looking crème and gave the oval container a curious sniff. It smelled pleasant and not the least bit medicinal. Now, her interest was definitely piqued. Time to meet Ibiki's mystery man!

"Shizune!" she hollered for her protégé. "Let head out to the Apothecary Café! I have some questions to ask the owners."

"Really! Oh, I can't wait to try more of their delicious tea. Maybe this time I will try that treacle tart. It looked so delicious." gushed Shizune as she dashed into the room and waited impatiently at the doorway.

Shizune…..not complaining about Tsunade abandoning her duties as Hokage and the damned pile of paperwork, that she could swear was breeding. 'I love Apothecary Café!' thought Tsunade as she fled her desk to leave her office.

Walking through the door, the Hokage suddenly came face to face with Shikaku Nara, who was just about to knock on her door. Seeing the look on the man's face, she questioned "Apothecary Café?"

A typical Nara sigh proceeded his lazy head nod. "A clansman paid me a visit and praised their products. He mentioned their medicinal teas and even had samples to share. I tried the energy renewal tea due to Yoshino's nagging, and damned if I don't feel energetic. Troublesome woman. However, the important part is that it replenished the chakra I used during morning training. Hokage, that tea could very well be an effective and less harmful version of a soldier pill."

Tsunade went completely still, honestly shocked by what Shikaku had just informed her. Soldier pills were used by most shinobi to replenish their energy and chakra for a limited amount of time. However, using too many soldier pills at once is extremely harmful to the shinobi's body and could prove fatal. If the Potter-Blacks had a tea that could be a viable alternative for soldier pills, the impact would be significant in the shinobi corps.

"Go get Inoichi and Ibiki. We need to have a strong questioning session with the Potter-Blacks. They may or may not have products that could be of significant importance to us. Regardless, its worth an effort to find out at least." she ordered. With a quick nod, Shikaku left quickly to retrieve one member of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and his protégé.

"Alright, Shizune. Let's go to that Café. I want to have a good look around so I can get a feel of the questions that we need to ask." With that, the master and student left the Hokage's Tower, determined to improve the lives of their shinobi.

The Slug Sannin stepped into the Apothecary Café. She was pleasantly surprised by the decoration theme, but it gave the café a nice atmosphere and caused it to stand out from its competition. Spotting the display cases, she quickly made a bee line towards them while Shizune eagerly went to the front counter to make an order. In the corner of her eyes, Tsunade took notice of the two siblings. She could definitely tell why Ibiki's interest was garnered on the young man. He certainly was an attractive picture, especially dressed in his dark green kimono.

Peering into the glass cases, she was completely shocked at the wide variety of herbs and plants they compiled in their store. Some of the plants were notoriously difficult to get. 'How the hell did they get them? Especially the ones from Water Country. Those damn Kiri-nins are a major pain in the ass when it comes to people poaching their precious medical herbs!' the Hokage thought in amazement. Already, she was mentally salivating over getting her hands on those rare herbs. The prices were so low too!

Hearing footsteps, she turned her attention to the approaching young lady with long curly brown hair. Hermione Potter-Black, if her memory served her correctly.

"Good afternoon, Lady Hokage. Is there anything I can help you with?" said Hermione with a polite smile on her face after she gave a respectful bow.

"Yes. I would like to purchase some herbs from you. I also heard you have an unusual collection of curative teas." she said, waving one hand vaguely at Shizune who was seating at a table and happily sipping rooibos tea while eating her treacle tart.

"Yes, Lady Hokage. We offer a wide range of medicinal teas ranging from headache relief to a hangover cure. If you can describe what symptoms you need treated, I can identity the right tea for you. We encourage all of our customers to try a cup of the tea before purchasing any of the medicinal teas." briefed Hermione to a very interested Hokage.

"Hangover cure?" queried the Senju Princess.

"That is a very popular restorative tea. The unique mixture of the herbs helps to alleviate most of the symptoms of a typical hangover. It can be purchased at 5 doses at a time." explained Hermione.

"How fascinating. I would like to to try the energizing tea that I have heard so much about" stated the Hokage.

"An excellent selection, Lady Hokage. Do you have a particular tea you would like the herbal remedy to be customized to?" asked Hermione as she turned and led the Hokage to the main counter for teas.

"Yes. I quite enjoyed the Darjeeling tea that Shizune brought earlier. Perhaps with a pastry?"

Ten minutes later, Tsunade sat with Shizune and felt wonderfully refreshed as she drank her Darjeeling energy tea with a scrumptious blueberry scone. Hearing the door open and feeling familiar chakra, she looked up to see Inoichi, Ibiki, and Shikaku walk into the café. Gaining their attention with a brief Chakra pulse, the last Senju watched the men walk over to their table while internally laughing over the numerous times Ibiki's heated eyes swept over Harry's form in its green kimono. She could tell Ibiki enthusiastically approved of Harry in traditional attire. Clearing her throat, the Hokage returned back to the matter at hand.

"I see what you were taking about Shikaku. This tea is fantastic." she truthfully stated as she watched the men take a seat at their table.

By this time, Hermione and Harry were staring intently at the table. Despite their customers not paying any attention to the five shinobi in a corner table, the Potter-Black siblings were well aware something import was occurring in their shop.

"I haven't been able to identify the mixture of herbs, Hokage-sama." Inoichi confessed. Shikaku had allowed his friend to examine a sample the Nara clan head received earlier. "A few was familiar but the rest was a complete mystery". He looked carefully around the café and made a mental note to bring his wife here for a breakfast date.

"Neither could I. Which is a complete surprise, given my medical knowledge." Tsunade was a legendary healer. She is even called the mother of modern medic nins.

"We need to see if the Potter-Blacks will tell us about the ingredients in the energy tea and fully test its effect. If it proves to be effective, we can recommend it" drawled Shikaku.

"Do they have any more curative teas that could increase the vitality of ninjas?" asked Inoichi.

"Hmmm, probably." replied his teammate.

"So we need to ask them about all their teas, herbs, and plants that can help us too." declared the florist.

"Ah…so who is going to ask them about it?" interjected Shizune.

Immediately all eyes swung to Ibiki. He glanced from face to face before a ferocious scowl crossed his expression. Without saying a word, he got out of his chair and stalked towards the siblings who stood apprehensively behind the counter.

Tsunade and Inoichi watched, vastly entertained, while Shizune and Shikaku exchanged looks of exasperation.

"Don't worry. Love would be good for him." declared Inoichi as he watched his ex-subordinate stop in front of the Potter-Blacks.

"And he has excellent taste in men." Tsunade punctuated her statement with a flourished wave of her tea cup.

Ibiki walked closer to Emerald, severely disliking the look of apprehension in his beautiful green eyes. The desire to eliminate that look was so great that the jounin decided to forgo any subtlety and quickly get to the point.

"Your energy tea could be greatly beneficial to the shinobi forces. We would like to know what ingredients are used in it, but not to unlock your tea's recipe. We wish to ensure that none of its ingredients are harmful to our ninja, especially ones from clans like the Aburame or Akimichi. In addition, we would like your input on any products, herbs, or teas that you have that could be useful to shinobi as well. The Hokage is prepared to offer a lucrative contract for your cooperation in this endeavor." Ibiki calmly recited. The effects were immediate.

Both of the siblings visibly relaxed after his first statement. A look of profound gratitude for being direct shone in Emerald's eye and made him feel a sense of pride. 'I've officially lost my damn mind.' thought Ibiki. It was official. Ibiki Morino was intensely attracted to Hadrian Potter-Black. His beauty gained his attention but it was his personality and mystique that reeled him in. Ibiki was slightly unnerved by self-doubts though. 'How in the world am I going to get his attention on me? He's an exotically beautiful man, and I am a scarred wreck of a shinobi.'

In his moment of uncertainty, he missed the pointed looks exchanged between the duo.

Hermione was beaming with happiness. This was perfect. It was a chance to cement their value and gain strong allies – the shinobi corp of Konoha. Not bad for two weeks worth of work. Plus, Harry gets to spend time with his cuddly magic man. Excellent!

Inoichi and Tsunade weren't the only matchmakers in the building. Hermione Jane Accalia Potter-Black had just crossed over to the dark side.

Her poor younger brother didn't stand a chance.

"Oh, my! This is so surprising. Of course we will be happy to help the shinobi corps. In fact, Harry can take you to the storeroom now. He would love to explain the ingredients we use in the energy renewal potion and our other products. I will go talk with the Hokage regarding a possible contract and all the products we have and can possibly order!" smiling widely, she happily shoved her brother towards the doorway to the storeroom and gently shooed Ibiki to follow him.

Hermione conveniently overlooked the looks of indignation, shock, and betrayal that her brother was shooting her. Completely happy with the new turn of events, she reached below the counter, grabbed their products catalog, and walked briskly to the table with the remaining four ninja. She never once looked back.

In the storeroom, Harry could feel his heart rate accelerating due to the intoxicating presence of Ibiki Morino. His magic was purring more than Crookshank. However, he knew that at any moment, he could make a complete fool of himself.

'Why, Hermione? Why?' the wizard lamented in his head 'Why did you do this to me? I wasn't really going to leave you alone with the realtors!'

The storeroom was a large room with multiple cubed shelving units. Each cube measured 8 inches by 8 inches with a locked glass door that was labeled. Half of the locked cubes contained large glass jars filled with one type of herb or plant. The other half was filled with individual dosages of specific teas packaged in squared, one inch plastic sealed bags.

Glancing at his companion, Harry found himself looking directly into ebony eyes that were staring intently at him. Immediately a fierce blush painted his cheeks as he quickly jerked his eyes away. Talking a deep breath, he entered the code that unlocked one section of locked cubes. The green eyed wizard quickly grabbed one dosage of energy tea and its individual ingredients from the cubed storage unit. He placed them on the work table and turned around, only to jump in surprise when he found Ibiki standing closely behind him.

Ibiki Morino was considered a master at reading body language. It was a skill needed to be in the Torture and Interrogation Division, and as the direct supervisor, his skills grew with experience. Right now, he was feeling dazed and disbelieving due to the signals he was reading from his Emerald. And the man was certainly his. The blushes, shy glances, increased heart beat, and looks of fascination and lust all pointed to signs of mutual attraction. Like the experienced predator he was, Ibiki wasted no time in pouncing on his prey.

He leaned closer to his Emerald and took great delight in the acceleration of his breathing and pulse. He knew being forthcoming and blunt was highly appreciated and desired by his little koneko. The dark shadows in his gorgeous green eyes told him this. So he continued to disregard the unspoken rules of being a ninja and was brutally honest.

"I find you very attractive and would like to get to know you better. With your permission I would like to take you on a romantic date this Saturday to accomplish this endeavor." he whispered in a low voice as he looked directly into Harry's eyes.

'I'm going to pass out!' was Harry's first thought. It was quickly followed by 'Oh Merlin! Oh Merlin! Oh Merlin! He asked me out. He asked me out! Say something you fool, before he changes his mind!'

Unfortunately, the wizard's mouth refused to cooperate with his brain so he could only nod his head mutely as he continued to stare back at the sexy shinobi. Particularly his lips. 'Oh most definitely his lips!' leered inner Harry as a slow sexy smirk began to form while a husky chuckle escaped from the darkly handsome shinobi.

Ibiki was delirious in delight. Watching his Emerald's pupils began to dilate with attraction while a delicate blush adored his cheeks was one of the most enticing sights he had ever seen. It only heightened his state of arousal that has been slowly simmering since he walked into the café and saw his exquisite koneko clad in a gorgeous dark green kimono.

Gazing lustfully at each other, Ibiki softly asked "Can I kiss you?"

On mute head nod later, they kissed.

To say it was magically was not a figure of speech. Harry's magic roared in celebration and surged through both participants leaving them weak kneed and exhilarated as their nerves sung with the heady intensity of a fatal attraction. It was literally an electrifying feeling that evoked barely controlled primitive sensations of dominance and submission. Ibiki wanted to ravage Harry while Harry wanted to be ravaged by Ibiki. However, both participants knew that this was neither the time nor the place for such wanton actions.

Reluctantly, Ibiki broke the kiss with his new koibito. Barely an inch apart, the sounds of heavy breathing filled the air as they continued to stare ardently at each other. It felt good. Hell, it felt great. The feelings of certainty herald through both their hearts.

After another quick kiss, Ibiki spoke softly "I'll see you on Saturday." With that he turned around and left the storeroom.

Harry pressed two trembling fingers to his lips. Unsurprisingly, the wizard was in a slight daze. The heady kiss and sharp thrum of his magic left him giddy and incredibly nervous. 'I have a date this Saturday!' was the only thought that echoed through his head. Repeatedly.

In the dining room, Hermione and the shinobi was enjoying their intense discussion about the various herbs and their medical effect. The Hokage and Shizune were pleased with the wide selection of useful products and Tsunade had arranged for a large delivery of ointments and salves for Konoha's hospital. Inoichi was glad to learn more about several exotic plants and was happy with the café's order for fresh flowers from his florist shop. He was positively bringing his wife here. Likewise, Shikaku was intrigued by all the new medical possibilities and mentally brainstormed strategies to get the Council's approval to make a mutually beneficial contract with the Potter-Blacks. Based upon their wealth, he didn't believe the Council would be against such an alliance.

Through the back doorway, Ibiki appeared and strolled through the café with a sense of dark triumph rolling off him in waves. He neither paused nor acknowledged the group as he exited the café.

After a brief moment of silence, different sounds of amusement came from their table as individuals laughed, chuckled, giggled, and cackled in shared amusement.

Step One in Operation Get Harry/Ibiki A Man …..Success!

Thank you for reading my story. Please review!

Posted: 02/02/13 Chapter 4/10 Word Count: Over 6,100! It appears each chapter just keeps getting longer!

AN: Sorry! I was going to introduce Naruto in this chapter but it completely ran away from me! He will be written in the next chapter.

Below are explanations to clarify certain aspects of the story. Please read if you are interested! Any questions, comments, suggestions, or issues of concern, please pm or review them. Thanks a million!

Dobby being bonded to Harry - Yes, Dobby is a bonded house-elf of the House of Potter. I honestly believe he would have loved to be Harry's elf. In my story, he is a strong and independent elf capable of great feats of magic because he has a strong magical bond with Harry. Elf bonds based on love, trust, and respect are logically much more powerful than bonds of fear or ones that were forced on young house elves. Ergo, Dobby is a powerful house elf who is proudly bonded to the powerful wizard, Harry Potter.

Tea instead of Coffee – They focused on tea due to it being favored by Asian and British culture.

Goblin Friend status – during the war, Hermione and Harry went to the leader of Gringotts regarding the horcrux in the Lestrange Vault. It turns out that horcruxes were banned from Gringotts in accordance to an old treaty with the British Ministry at the end of another Goblin War. By going to Gringotts instead of forcing the action through the Ministry, the duo proved they had more respect and trust in the Goblins. After the war, Harry and Hermione gave the Order a false story on how they got the horcrux, thereby preserving Gringott's reputation of discretion to the Wizarding public, particularly the Purebloods (and their money). In addition, they helped to save goblin lives during a Death Eater attack on Diagon Alley. For their actions, Gringotts discretely awarded them the status of Goblin Friends. Their alliance with Gringotts allowed them to have invaluable information regarding the Hidden Countries. That information allowed them to select the best place to live – thus they chosed Konoha.

Opening a business easily – Konoha has a laissez faire policy. If you had the money to open a business – go for it as long as it wasn't illegal. That laid back attitude explains how the business could discriminate unrepentantly towards Naruto.

Accalia – it's a name that means she-wolf in Latin and serves as a symbol of respect and love to a devoted uncle. And yes, the really long names of the witch and wizard do have a purpose.

Ibiki's pet names for Harry: Emerald – his eyes. Koneko – little black kitten, Harry can be very hissy, snarling pouty kittenish like …..so koneko was born. Koibito – Japanese term for boyfriend