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The 400th reviewer was Utena-Puchiko-nyu and she asked for lemon ice cream!
Chapter 12: Friendships and Rivalries
The next two days people were congratulating Harry on his excellent performance against the Horntail, which he eagerly appreciated because it was a much better change than having everyone hate him for being a champion and thinking he did it for more glory. The Slytherins still flashed their badges at him whenever they could, since Gaara and Naruto hadn't shown up at all, but it's not like he expected them to turn chummy.
Even Ron got some admiration at how he tried to help Naruto and fought against the boggart, now that he was out of the infirmary.
"Well, I could see that he wasn't going to move out of the way," Ron explained to some starry-eyed first year girls in the common room, "and Naruto's one of my buddies, so I had to do something. I just gathered up my courage and stood in front of him, ordered the boggart to stand down—and it wasn't the prettiest sight mind you, the freak's neck was moving around in the air like a snake and he had the most evil looking eyes I've ever seen—"
Harry turned away and smirked, itching to come up with a retort, but he didn't want to ruin their renewed friendship. If anything, the experience taught him how hard it was for Ron to "be in his shadow" so he figured his best friend should be allowed to enjoy the attention.
Just as he was about to ask Hermione for help on their Potions homework, Ginny burst into the common room, slightly out of breath but nonetheless excited.
"Kakashi's woken up!" she announced.
Eager for an excuse to delay his Potions homework as much as possible, Harry leapt off the chair, closely followed by Hermione.
Ron looked happy as well, and faced the small group of girls. "If you'll excuse me ladies, I'll be right—"
"Oh come on!" Hermione groaned, yanking his arm and pulling him through the Fat Lady's portrait. The four of them ran through the halls, careful to not run into Filch, and reached the hospital wing in record time.
When they entered, Kakashi was already trying to stand up, fully dressed in his newly repaired clothes and mask, doing his best to resist Madam Pomfrey's orders.
"Absolutely not!" she said firmly. "You may be awake but you will need to rest for at least another day, young man!" The four wizards smirked at Kakashi's astonished expression, most likely due to the fact that he had just been referred to as a "young man."
"Good," she said proudly, evidently taking his shock to mean he was willing to listen. "Now don't make me use my wand!" Once she was sure he would not try and escape again, she spun around to face the four wizards.
"I'll have you know that you can't—" she began.
"Oh, we would just like to speak with him for a few minutes, Madam Pomfrey," Hermione pleaded.
"We promise to make sure he doesn't leave," Harry added with a smirk, aware of Kakashi's annoyed glare resting on him.
She paused for a moment and relented. "All right, but only five minutes."
"I thought you were going to bust me out of here," Kakashi grumbled as they came to his bedside.
"Nice to see you, too," Ron teased.
"How are you feeling?" Harry asked, the image of him broken and bleeding standing out too clearly in his mind from a few days ago.
Kakashi shrugged. "The same I always feel; sore, tired, and with a complete fear of staying in a hospital bed too long." While the others laughed, Kakashi narrowed his eyes at Hermione, who looked ready to play the part of a scolding mother.
"How many times have you been in a hospital, Kakashi?" she asked, her tone indicating she already knew the answer and didn't like it.
The jounin paused for a moment and sighed. "Far too many times to count, and even more than I would like, but from what I've heard, you three have become somewhat frequent visitors yourselves, especially Harry," he added, trying to change the subject. Unable to come up with a retort, Hermione simply sighed and folded her arms in frustration.
"How did the match go, Harry?" Kakashi asked, focusing on the boy trying to hide his smirk at Hermione's expense.
"Wha—oh, yeah, I did okay," he answered lamely.
"Okay? You used your broomstick and had the bloody thing chasing after you around the school and lived to tell the tale!" Ron exclaimed incredulously. "Not only that, but it was also the Hungarian Horntail!"
Kakashi was instantly alarmed at this. "You got the Hungarian Horntail? Didn't Charlie say that was the worst one of the group?" At Harry's embarrassed nod, Kakashi shook his head in amazement. "I sure hope that's the last of your worries."
"Are you sure you're okay, Kakashi?" Ginny inquired, still evidently concerned for his health.
He waved her off kindly. "Quite well actually, I can assuredly tell you that I've had much worse," the jounin answered darkly, remembering all too well the encounter he had with Itachi not too long ago. The lingering memory still left him with horrible nightmares, causing him to wake up covered with sweat and a terrible tremor every so often.
"Where's Naruto and Gaara? They haven't been at school, so we figured they would be here . . . " Ron trailed off, glancing around the infirmary as if expecting them to pop up any second.
"I have no idea," Kakashi admitted truthfully. "My best guess is that they are training in the forest, or Forbidden Forest, as it seems to be named," (he ignored Ron's involuntary shudder) "though I expect them to arrive soon, if they have detected my chakra signature properly—"
As if on cue, there was a swirl of sand two beds to their right, and the five of them shielded their eyes and waited until it all settled to reveal two eager shinobi, both slightly out of breath and their clothes soiled, proving the jounin's theory of training to be true.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed joyfully, while Gaara merely gave a small grin in relief. "We were wondering if you would ever wake up!"
"Spoken from the one who slept for three days straight after training with Jiraiya," Kakashi retorted with a gleam in his eye. Naruto nervously rubbed the back of his neck before facing the wizards.
"How was school?" he asked sheepishly. They all shrugged.
"Potions wasn't as fun without watching Snape try to decide if he should be disgusted or afraid of you," Harry admitted with a chuckle, referring to how Naruto's knack of having most everything he created explode whenever Snape happened to pass by. It was only by the grace of Gaara's sand encasing the cauldron at the last second that the poor Potions teacher did not get blown to bits. After a few episodes of that, Snape seemed confused as to how much he should loathe the boy, because his cheery attitude was hard to abate.
"Why weren't you guys at school, anyway? Didn't—" Ron began.
"—I think we should allow them some privacy with Kakashi and go back to finishing up our homework," Hermione cut in a little too quickly, shushing Ron and giving him a glare for lack of tact.
Kakashi sighed when they left and lay against the pillow in a disgruntled fashion. "Did I ever tell you how much I hate hospitals?" When he was met with silence, he sat back up in alarm, clearly expecting some type of response from Naruto about Tsunade or Sakura, but noticed his student staring guiltily at the bedside, apparently in a trance.
"Naruto?" he whispered softly, snapping the boy out of it.
"Wha—oh! I . . . uh—um . . ." At this he slumped down into the bed behind him and sighed. "I'm really sorry, Kakashi-sensei," he muttered after a few moments of silence.
"For what, Naruto?" Kakashi asked in concern, already knowing what the answer was. It was now that Gaara decided that he was very thirsty and excused himself silently for a glass of water.
"Because of me you ended up in the hospital, were injured, and part of the school is destroyed," he answered feebly, not meeting the jounin's eye.
"You can't say it's your fault, Naruto," his teacher said sternly. "You had no idea what you were dealing with and having the Kyuubi inside of you was not your choice. Everyone knows you didn't mean to do it. Besides, I've had worse, and I'm positive that the wizards have already patched everything up good as new."
"But I still feel—"
"Never mind that," Kakashi continued. "You can't keep blaming yourself for things that are beyond your control. I regret that it was in such an enclosed area, or I would have been able to use a stronger jutsu to subdue you, but there were too many students and I didn't want to take the risk. Just be grateful that it went over well."
The blond brightened up considerably and faced his teacher with a small grin. "I wonder how everyone else will take it." It was now that Gaara had decided that it was safe to return, and brought with him three glasses of water, which the other two took gratefully.
"We won't know until we face them," Gaara said. "Although I feel like delaying it as long as possible."
Kakashi was silent for a while, knowing how devastated the two Jinchuuriki were, and how hard it was to find friends—true friends who would know the faults and secrets but still care for them anyway. And it's not like everyone had the same secret these two boys had.
"I won't force you to go and interact with anyone until I get dismissed from this infernal place," he informed them, quietly though, because Madam Pomfrey was almost within earshot. The two sighed in relief.
"Who'd you get the flowers from, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto teased, pointing to the small vase of yellow flowers on the little table.
"The Weasley girl—Ginny, I think is her name. Very nice. She was putting them there when I awoke, and I think I gave her quite a scare," he chuckled as he recalled the event. "How about you go continue your training," he suggested in a way that was basically an order. The two nodded and disappeared, leaving Kakashi stuck in the hospital wing with a very annoyed nurse, who was mumbling about getting sand into everything.
The next day Kakashi was freed from the hospital, and he soon joined up with the two shinobi where they were practicing.
"You all better now?" Naruto asked in confirmation. Kakashi nodded as he stretched his back. The two Jinchuuriki looked slightly crestfallen at this.
"So, that means we need to go back to classes," Gaara said slowly.
The jounin sighed wearily. "I know how you must feel but you can't stay out here forever. You can't run away from your problems," he added softly. The two genin glanced at each other nervously, knowing that Kakashi was right but not wanting to follow through.
"How about you still take today off but come to the taijutsu class later on, and we'll see how everything goes," the jounin suggested after a few minutes of silence. I pray there will still be some people willing to come!
"Anyway," he continued, cracking his knuckles, "let's make sure we're ready and that hospital stay didn't slow me down!" Naruto and Gaara exhaled gratefully and spent the next few hours training hard, the effort erasing all their troubles, at least until 4:00.
Five minutes before, the three shinobi stared at the crowd through the high branches of a nearby tree, two of whom were in shock. Truth be told, there was a significant amount of people missing; that was to be expected. What surprised them was how many did show. Granted, there wasn't a single Slytherin in sight, but there was a fair amount of Ravenclaws, Gryffindors, and Hufflepuffs, with Gryffindors being the most numerous. Neville was there, as well as Seamus, Dean, the Weasley twins, Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and many others.
Kakashi silently thanked the gods about the turnout. Before he went to the forest, he had posted signs up around the school that the taijutsu classes were back in session after the short break, and was worried if anyone was going to show up. Naruto and Gaara couldn't hide from the other students forever, and had to face up to the challenge sooner or later, a lesson Kakashi had learned himself when he was young. All he could do was hope that it wasn't painful.
When it was time to begin, the shinobi jumped down from the tree they had been hiding in. After they had appeared, all the wizards clapped enthusiastically, much to their surprise.
Fred and George stepped forward, arms folded with a signature grin on their face.
"Thought you'd never show up, mates," the eldest began.
"Be a downright shame if you didn't," the other added.
"None of us think of you any differently," Neville spoke up quietly, after a slight pause.
"Yeah, we're all pretty much used to this kind of stuff anyway," Ron announced, nudging Harry in the ribs playfully, who smirked in return. All the wizards watched the two younger shinobi stare back at them in pure shock. Hermione felt a pang of sorrow as she realized that they were probably used to being disregarded and didn't know what to do.
"Oi!" Angelina called, cupping her hand over her mouth. "Are you gonna stand there with your mouths hangin' open, or are you going to teach us?" This declaration was met with nods and murmurs of agreement from the crowd, causing all the shinobi to smile fondly; even Gaara, though it was rather small.
"Well then," Kakashi began, tugging on his gloves. "Looks like we've got some catching up to do. Let's begin!"
"So, you really don't care about—about what happened?" Naruto asked timidly as they sat around the common room.
"For the last time, Naruto," Harry explained, slightly annoyed. "It doesn't matter to us! You could have turned into anything and we wouldn't have cared." Once the taijutsu class was over, everyone surrounded the shinobi and assured them that there was nothing wrong with what transpired a few days ago. On their way to dinner a few Slytherins thought it wise to make a smart joke, but were hit with so many curses that they were sent to the hospital wing, barely recognizable. Kakashi had excused himself at that point, muttering something about "making sure they didn't remember" or something like that.
Now it was just the three shinobi, Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the common room, awake despite the late hour.
"Good," Naruto said, finally satisfied and back to his cheery self. "I wonder where Malfoy is," he added darkly. "I haven't had the chance to properly thank him yet."
"I heard he spent the whole day hiding in his bedroom!" Ron exclaimed. "What I wouldn't give to see that git cowering in fear!" He then proceeded to do an impressive imitation of a frightened Malfoy, much to everyone's enjoyment.
"I know what he did was horrible," Hermione warned once the laughter died down, "but it would be unwise to do anything against Malfoy. Remember what happened last time?" (The four boys smirked at the memory of Malfoy cowering outside the dungeons) "The worst you got was a detention, but who knows what could happen next! His father is a very influential wizard, and he could have you turned over to the Ministry for examination if he wants to!"
"Calm down, Hermione," Ron groaned. "These two have got him so scared of what they can do I'd be surprised is he didn't wet himself then and there when they started transforming!"
"Very funny, Ronald," Hermione growled over the laughter of the other occupants of the room.
"Careful, she's using your full name Ron—she means business," Harry retorted seriously, resulting in another eruption of laughter. The bushy haired girl huffed in anger before snatching up her books and briskly walking up the stairs to her room.
"I think Hermione is the one with the smart idea," Kakashi scolded them, suddenly appearing at their side. "It's time you three go to bed." It wasn't a suggestion.
They groaned in defeat and gathered up their things to retire to bed themselves, trying their best to stifle a yawn.
"Pleasant dreams, Ronald," Naruto teased as they broke off to their separate rooms, easily jumping out of the way of a half-hearted punch from Ron.
"Just think of what Hermione would do if she knew your middle name," Harry whispered as they changed for bed, unable to dodge the pillow thrown his way.
The next day was calm and peaceful. The sun was shining brightly and everyone seemed to be in a good mood in accordance with the weather. It was now study hall, and most of the students were on the school grounds, soaking in the pleasant rays and having a hard time focusing on schoolwork.
Naruto and Gaara were sitting in the grass along with fellow Gryffindors. The only one really trying to work on homework was Hermione, while the rest listened to the Weasley twins' plans for upcoming products.
As the blond genin giggled at the thought of presenting Sakura with a love potion, he spotted Malfoy in the distance, huddled near a tree with his fellow Slytherins on one of the few benches, whispering silently to one another.
He sneered angrily as he stood up and began to make his way over there. He never got his revenge for what he did to him and Gaara with that boggart, and he didn't care what Hermione said. Harry glanced up, realized his intentions and got up frantically, holding him back.
"Even I agree with Hermione that I wouldn't think of doing anything to him if I were you," he scolded, fearing more for what would happen to Naruto if he killed Malfoy than for Malfoy himself.
Naruto wrenched out of Harry's grip, slightly pulling up his sleeves. "I'll Rasengan the hell out of him!" Gaara looked up in alarm, knowing all too well the pathetic wizard wouldn't stand a chance against that powerful jutsu.
"Naruto!" Gaara wrapped his sand around Naruto to hold him back. "I want him hurt too, but you can't kill him." By now they had started attracting the attention of some of the Gryffindors.
The blond snorted and said sarcastically, "Oh, like you're one to talk!" Gaara found he agreed with Naruto, but stayed firm.
"It doesn't matter Naruto, you're not like that. Maybe—" He ceased talking at the look on Naruto's face. It was the most wicked and mischievous look he had ever seen on a person's face in his entire life.
"Ne, Gaara," Naruto said softly, unable to contain his glee. "Would it be all right to do this?" He leaned towards Gaara and whispered something, causing Gaara to widen his eyes in shock, and then let out something that sounded suspiciously like a snort.
The Gryffindors who weren't looking at the pair now had their complete and undivided attention on the two shinobi at the sound of Gaara's amusement. Gaara immediately stopped while his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. It had only lasted a few seconds, but the damage was already done.
"That is a suitable idea," he coughed, in a futile attempt to regain his composure. Now everyone was curious. What could he possibly do to Malfoy that would make Gaara act like that?
So, a large crowd of Gryffindors accompanied Naruto on his short journey to Draco, who shrunk at the sight of him. No matter how tough he made himself out to be, Malfoy knew Naruto could really do some damage.
"Oi! I never got to thank you," Naruto began threateningly while Draco gulped. His fellow Slytherins were inching farther and farther away.
"Yeah?" Instead of coming out brave like Malfoy intended, it sounded more like a squeak, provoking laughter from the Gryffindors.
"I just thought I'd show you my Ultimate Jutsu." As Naruto cracked his fingers those around him backed away to give him space.
At this point, Kakashi took note of the crowd of people out of the corner of his eye and decided to investigate. He was perched in a tree, keeping watch over Harry while he studied with his friends, and had been previously reading his favorite book, taking a break from having previously pouring over as many books from the library that he could. He gracefully jumped to another tree where he had a full view of the crowd with no one noticing, but realized with a sense of dread that Naruto was in the middle.
What is he doing now? he thought with a sigh. However, upon closer inspection, he discovered that he was facing Malfoy, and immediately inferred the reason. This should be interesting, he smirked. Because of what that brat did, he had ended up in the hospital for a few days and his favorite clothes had to be repaired. He was going to enjoy this.
Just so long as Naruto kept it under control.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Suddenly two other Narutos appeared, and they formed a semi-circle around Draco. At this point Kakashi became wary, especially because Naruto always used a bunshin to complete his Rasengan. But why was the other there?
All three Narutos snickered, held their hands in a rat sign, and yelled, "Henge!"
Suddenly, once the smoke disappeared, there were three, sexy, naked blonds where Naruto used to be.
"Why did you do that to us, Draco-kun?" they seductively asked in unison.
Everyone's mouth dropped. Harry couldn't believe his eyes! Naruto had transformed himself into a tall, skinny blond with long pigtails, and clouds that were quite conveniently placed around her naked person. He smirked when he saw that Naruto still had those marks on his face even when transformed, but they seemed to fit the girl.
Malfoy's mouth practically hit the floor, and his eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets. He started to gag on nothing in particular and began to twitch, bringing all the onlookers out of their stupefied state to fall to the floor laughing.
"Why?" they asked again, which was too much for Malfoy. He fell backwards over the bench and collapsed on the ground, his legs slightly twitching.
His mission completed, Naruto smirked and released both jutsu, turning back into his regular self, hands cradling the back of his neck. Turning to face all the people shaking with laughter, his threw his hands up into the air dramatically and proclaimed,
"I call that my Sexy Jutsu!" If it were possible, people laughed even harder, some wiping away tears in their eyes.
"Man," Ron gasped in between bouts of laughter. "I thought . . . I thought that Malfoy being the bouncing white ferret was bad enough! That was bloody brilliant!" Everyone nodded their agreement, and some began giving the shinobi high fives and cheering his name.
At this point Malfoy sat up with help from Pansy Parkinson, and to everyone's amazement he was trying to quell a small nosebleed.
"That, my friends," Naruto sighed dramatically, "is the mark of a pervert." Those who had finally been able to control themselves erupted in laughter again, and the Slytherins scampered off, unable to do anything.
Thankfully, for Gaara, everyone was too engrossed in their own amazement they didn't notice the Suna shinobi shaking with mirth. He had both hands tightly clamped over his mouth to try and stop the erratic hiccups of his laughter. He knew he sounded more like a dying dog, but he hadn't really had that much experience with laughing.
The first time he could remember "laughing" was a few weeks after they returned from Konoha. Kankuro came storming downstairs, yelling at Temari for putting makeup on him while he took a nap. He resembled a clown (more than he usually did, anyway) and coupled with his angry expression he looked absolutely ridiculous, so much that Gaara burst out laughing. It came out like a bark and in ragged gasps, scaring him to death. Temari and Kankuro just stared at him while he covered his mouth, absolute terror on each of their faces.
But then Kankuro looked so scared it was like he had just wet his pants, which invoked even more snorts from Gaara, despite his efforts to stop this strange reaction, so he finally gave up and continued until he was done. After a while his siblings realized just what he was doing and that he was not having a mental breakdown, and soon joined in, with all panting furiously afterward from laughing so much.
As for now, Gaara attributed this extremely rare occurrence to the fact that he had never interacted with this many people with this many emotions in his life before. It appeared that they were starting to affect him, and the Jinchuuriki wasn't sure if it was for the better or not. After struggling for a few more seconds, he finally diminished his laughter and waited for the rest to follow suit, praying that no one noticed.
Kakashi simply stared, almost falling out of the tree. So, that was his infamous jutsu, he thought with a smirk. He had heard about it from the 3rd, Iruka, and Jiraiya, but he had never actually seen it. Now he understood why it was so powerful. Malfoy didn't stand a chance, he noted with deep satisfaction. He would have to congratulate Naruto on this later.
"You are the most amazing person ever!" Fred yelled, pointed at Naruto.
"Party later in the common room," George winked.
"And this time—" Fred began as he and George slung an arm over the beaming blond.
"—we'll make sure you come," George finished.
I apologize for the bit of fluffiness and emo-ness that took place in this chapter but you know this was a pretty depressing event and the shinobi need to understand that people do care about them. Plus, that little bit of revenge at the end with Draco made up for it, right?
If you can't remember, Ron's middle name is Bilius, revealed to us in the 7th book. (If it's earlier, I apologize)
Hope I didn't overdo myself with having Gaara "laugh." It wasn't that much, but you've got to think of the repercussions of him hanging around in Hogwarts all this time. They are surroundings that none of the other Naruto characters will ever encounter, so who's to say how they will act for sure?
Anyway, we're done with this mushy stuff, time to get some action! The next chapter will include some great things such as a little rendezvous with our favorite reporter, ramen in the beloved Hogwarts, a drunk House-Elf, and . . . asking girls to a dance? How will our heroes cope?
Oh! I'm so sorry that this note is taking a bit of a while, but if you can't tell, Ginny has developed a little bit of a crush on Kakashi. You know, like how schoolgirls sometimes have crushes on their teachers? I just wanted to clear that up because I'm going to be dropping hints every now and then, but I absolutely DO NOT want people think that I'm doing a KakaGin pairing, or whatever you'd call it. I'm just trying to make it a bit more realistic.