I'm kinda surprised at the lack of reviews. Only five? No one loves me, do they? ;-; Ah well, here's the next chapter.

EDIT: Thanks to keight for a small grammatical edit. And thanks to my beta for beta-ing this.

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Itachi stepped out of the stairway, to the upper level of the train. There were only a few people on this level so far, so he chose one of the open aired tables, setting his sack in the seat next to him as he took the one by the window, letting the morning light warm the dark, skintight material of his outfit. His gloved hands opened the durable duffle bag, withdrawing the semi creepy looking book with all together too happy children and a man-sized, human-like fox wearing a weird sort of coat and top hat dancing along the cover. 'A Start to English' was on the front, from what the wizard said the night before. They used the same characters their mission's ratings were based on, and was sometimes found in advertising. He knew two words in the language, but he didn't think 'fresh' and 'wow' would get him very far, so he flipped open the book, activated his sharingan, and began to memorize the book as the train started to move around him.

He lost himself in the brightly colored pages, reading each word beneath each picture. Within a few pages, he knew 'Apple', 'Book', 'Cat', 'Dog' and various other simple things, one for each of the 26 letter alphabet. He tried to think how apple was said, because 'Ah-p-pl-eh' couldn't be it. Soon he was moving onto basic sentences—'See Spot Run' with a picture of a dog running across a field—not worrying about having to get off at the correct stop. He would remain on this train the entire time until he reached the other side of the Sand, in a town against an ocean he'd never seen before. This was a very fast train, and had very few stops, but it would still be night time the time he made it to the 'connection point' despite the time it would gain as it traveled through the different time zones from Konoha to the sea-side peninsula. The train was highly expensive and for passengers only, so traders and the like were limited to car and foot power, and he didn't have to be bothered by anyone.

With his mind buzzing with the basic words of the children's book, he took out the much larger dictionary, opening it to the first page. He scanned the page of completely unfamiliar words until he found 'apple.' 'Apple; ap·ple ápp'l (plural ap·ples) n 1. Firm round fruit with a central core, red or green skin, and white flesh 2. Fruit tree: a deciduous Eurasian tree that has white or pink flowers and produces apples. Latin name: Malus pumila' So it is, 'Ah-pl'. Such an odd language, he thought sounding it out behind his mask. His eyes burned with chakra as they filed away the unknown words in his head. He flipped through the dictionary, searching for the ones he didn't know so his sharingan could memorize those entries as well until sentences started to make more sense.

He continued working in this fashion, sharingan memorizing entry after entry as pieces started to fill in the puzzle of this language, gleaning grammar off the sentence structures of the book. A few hours passed, and he was back to the beginning of the book, reading from the first page. It was boring and dull, but he had to do it.

The other passengers didn't bother him. He wore his bone-white ANBU uniform, freshly cleaned and crisp, with his weasel mask firmly in place. That alone scared off any of the curious, besides one little girl—probably no older then three—who just stared at him, looking over the headrest of her seat down the compartment while her mother (he assumed) dozed with a magazine propped over her face. When he finally turned his face to her, she blushed and ducked behind the large seat. He remembered when Sasuke was at that age, he would stare too, but even if Itachi looked over at him, he would continue to stare with the almost dulled, creepy, three year old eyes. At least she had the sense to look away.

Itachi was getting hungry around the time he finished reading the dictionary, having skipped over the excessively long entries. More often then not, those ones were pointless words which would only come along in a conversation so much. Also, this dictionary had pictures for every animal (and quite a few common artifacts) listed in it, so he just read the name and then looked at the picture, not bothering with the description. He reached into his bag, fished out a ration bar which was to keep his energy up for one full day, and his water bottle. Lifting just the bottom portion of his mask, and bowing his so his face wasn't revealed more then necessary, he popped the small flat stick into his mouth and chewed like a dutiful soldier, ignoring the horrid taste. Sucking a few large swallows of water to help it down, Itachi sighed with relief when it was swallowed, replacing the mask in its original spot, and opened the Magical Creature book, wanting to know what he could possibly face in the strange new world. Also, it was the smaller of the two he had yet to read, and he was quite interested.

Though occasionally having to look up a word in the dictionary, he thoroughly enjoyed the book. He wanted a Niffler, just to release in the Hokage Tower and watch the destruction that it would cause; it seemed like something Shisui would enjoy as well. The dragons sent a chill down his back, and he itched to try his hand at fighting one. How would a ninja like himself fare against a legendary creature known even in his home land?

Putting aside the book when he was finished with it, and taking a glance outside to the setting sun, he picked up the one yet to be read, about the size of a dinner plate and an inch thick. He twisted in his seat, smiling slightly at the satisfying crackle of his spine, before he went back to hunching over so he could read through the small holes in his mask, immersing into the culture he was supposed to join for the next year.

The low hiss of the train's breaks and the gradual slowing of the rocking compartment brought Itachi's attention up for the first time in a few hours. He glanced around, then out the dark window as the train came to a stop, and saw a man wearing a strange outfit—making him stick out like a sore thumb to the ninja—with an unmistakable Konoha symbol was drawn on the ground beneath the mans feet, so he knew he was there for him. It seemed Itachi had arrived at the connection point, and he was just getting to the more interesting part of the book.

Sighing, he quickly packed away his things with practiced efficiency, and made his way out of the train while ignoring the feeling of blood rushing back to his legs, and the ache in his back.

The man, decked in a purple striped outfit similar to a jacketless business suit, but with puffier sleeves of his cream under shirt, was turned away from where the train was, looking wearily into the crowd, as if expected to be attacked and eaten alive at any moment by some of the few other people on the wooden platform. Brown hair poked out from under the flat hat, and slightly pink skin showed between his hair line and collar rather then the slightly yellow Itachi was used to; a foreigner.

"Ahem," Itachi spoke, and watched as the man jump in surprise and turned around to face him. He started again as he fully took in the boy's appearance, and clutched a hand over his heart, taking a few steps back with a small cry.

"Itachi?" He asked, gulping down some air and hesitantly approaching, breathing heavily. Itachi nodded. "Fuck," He muttered to himself, saying the first word Itachi ever heard in English, "You look like some ghoul! Why're you wearing that strange get-up? You'll attract unwanted attention!" He hissed, suddenly over his fear of the ninja, and cast a glance at the people around them, who quite frankly looked uninterested. The man's face was broader then what Itachi was use to, a more predominate chin, nose, and eyebrow ridge, and his eyes were not the slitted verity to be found in Konoha or places near it, instead they were large and round, and were the color of honey brown.

"In my country," Itachi said, flinching slightly behind his mask at his heavy accent, far different from the man across from him. "It is you who is out of place."

"Bah, whatever. We have to go, follow me." He glanced around again, before turning to head off to a darkened brick cove, presumably for when it was raining as it didn't lead to anywhere and it only had a deserted wooden bench in the center. "M'name's Patrick, I'm the Conductor of the train you'll ride to Hogwarts." He said, glancing around the ledges to make sure no one could see them. There were only a handful of people on the plat form, and none of them were in the position to see inside the little nook. The train Itachi arrived on had already shut down, the lights inside turned off, resting from its long travel.

"Ok," Patrick said, satisfying himself that no one would see what they did. "The entrance is right behind you." Itachi turned and looked at what appeared to be a brick wall to the normal eye... But his were not normal. "All you have to do is lean against it, and you'll fall through. You can give it a run and go if you need ta. It may look—"

"There is a genjutsu cast there." He said simply, unable and unwilling to translate one of his abilities to this crude language.

"A what? Hey!" The man shouted as Itachi simply just walked through, as if it wasn't there. And to his eyes, the entrance was as plain as day.

He appeared in another rain-cove, but this one was flooded with morning sunlight, showing he had jumped worlds and time zones. A sleek, shiny, scarlet train with smoke billowing out of its smokestack sat humming in odd bursts, waiting for them in the loading bay. Red and gold cars, four of them, tagged along faithfully to the back of the engine. There was no one else in this platform, and Itachi wondered why. Wasn't this the train supposed to take the students to the school?

"Hey!" Patrick appeared behind Itachi, looking back and forth from him and the barrier. "Why didn't you tell me you've gone through ona them before?"

"Because I didn't. Why is there no one else around?" Smoothly, his masked face looked around until it landed on clock, observing it was eight thirty.

"'Cause they're all at the next stop, about two hours from here. This one is just a loading station; people don't normally get on here, just food. You're the first kid on the train today." He moved to the side, where there was a large trunk. "This thing has all the school supplies you'll need through the year, clothes and such, even a wand and some money. Dumbledore thought it'd be nice to give you some spending cash for when Hogsmeade rolls around, you're a Third Year, right?"

"The conversion is different from your school to my old one. I am thirteen, however." Itachi said emotionlessly, following the brown haired man as he lifted the trunk and made his way to the train.

"Yeah," He grunted, crab walking so the large box wouldn't catch on the thin door of the second carriage, "You're a Third Year. Is that... thing you're wearing a uniform?" He cast a side glance at the almost Halloween costume, eyeing it apprehensively. This kid was just playing a joke, right?

"Yes." Just not the type you're thinking of, Itachi finished to himself.

"Weird foreigners..." Patrick muttered lowly to himself, shaking his head, but the ninja heard anyway. This train was different then the one the Uchiha had just left. Instead of open air tables with occasionally two seats without a table dotting along each carriage, a hallway hugged the windowed wall and mini rooms with sliding doors dotted along the hallway. "Here we are. You don't mind staying in this one?" He said, having already opened the door, went in, and began heaving the box under the bench found in there. "There! All set. We'll be leaving soon, and, um," He looked up and down at the ANBU outfit again. "You might want to change out of that before the other kids come." And he disappeared, walking towards the front of the train.

Itachi went into the compartment, placing his bag on one of the two benches while he dragged out the trunk so he could open and look through it. Ninja rule number six, always be familiar with your supplies.

In the trunk, there was a few books, some feathers and bottles of ink, a cauldron, a stick he was told was called a wand, a package with numerous varieties of plants he couldn't even begin to name, some civilian closed toed shoes—he was glad to note they weren't his size, as he never liked wearing that style the few times he had to—some clothes, and two robes, folded neatly top of a cloak. All of them were plain black (besides the white under shirt and the grey sweater), but the cloak had silver clasps and looked to be quite warm. As the train started to chug along, Itachi withdrew a full set of clothes and the wand, laying them on the bench, and then quickly took off his armor and mask. He placed his old clothes and weapons neatly into his duffle bag, before grabbing the plain black uniform off the robe. He easily slid them on, strapping a single kunai holder around his waist to be hidden by his open fronted robe but easily accessible—as he wasn't fool enough to go anywhere unarmed. Others called it paranoia, but just because you think they're all out to get you doesn't mean they aren't; at least, that was how he and nearly the entirety of the ANBU liked to explain it—and slipped on the robe, feeling a little awkward. A glance reminded him of the stick, and he reached for it, grabbing the thicker end. He was surprised as warmth bloomed at his fingertips from the direct contact, but he just slipped it into an inner pocket on the robe without examining it further; it was magic, after all, and he was a ninja. It was supposed to be weird to him.

He smoothed down his new clothes, taking out the wrinkles, before he looked at his reflection in the window for lack of a mirror. What looked back was a boy with dark, narrow eyes and long jet black hair tied in a low pony tail, looking completely blank and unreadable, like normal. He glanced down at himself, and saw a body wearing a plain black vest with a plain black tie tucked unto it, a plain white collar just poking out of the neckline of a plain gray sweater that poked out from under the vest and went to his wrists, with a near floor length plain black robe draped over his shoulders hanging open at his front. His shirt and sweater were tucked into the plain black pants, but leaving his vest to poke over the wrappings he used for his kunai pouch, completing the look. Itachi frowned minutely. If this turned out to be a joke, there'd be some hell to pay. Who the heck would wear such an estrange get up? The only thing normal exposed were his dark tan shoes, still being mostly covered by the pants, but leaving his toes exposed none-the-less. Sighing, he wearily pushed the trunk back under the bench; put his bag in the overhead luggage rack before nearly crawling onto the empty seat. He had almost two hours of resting from the hard travel to keep him alert for the next day, and he wasn't going to waste it reading when he already knew enough to get by.

Rule of the ANBU; sleep when you can. And Itachi did just that.

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The loud hiss of the train's breaks snapped Itachi instantly out of his light sleep, a kunai appearing in hand. He quickly sat up, and looked out to the surrounding area, seeing through the water specked window the inside of an enclosed platform, the employees' only side. 'It must have started raining while I slept.' He thought to himself before the sound of voices drew him to the door on the opposite side of the window.

Sliding it partially open, he peered out the other windows across the hall, down to the loading platform. Kids, some wearing oddly disproportioned civilian—muggle, the book called them—clothing, some wearing the same robe he was were scattered about the Area, were hugging what he presumed to be parents and other relatives (who were also either wearing 'muggle' clothing or equally... Strange get ups. He eyed one older lady in particular. Was that a dead bird on her head?) before waiting for the train to slow to a stop. More and more people were filtering in through another genjutsu, which reminded him to turn off his Sharingan. They were not supposed to know about it, if he could help it. His eyes faded from blood red to coal black, and then he fully stepped out of his little room to look out the window to better observe his future charges.

"Ah, you've changed, good. You look like a proper wizarding English Schoolboy now." The voice of the conductor caused his eyes to glace over, to see Patrick pressing a red button that triggered a loud click sound before turning back to the engine, the door to the connecting hallway closing after him. Apparently, the button had opened the doors all along the carriages, as people were starting to board.

Itachi turned and went back to his compartment, sitting against the wall next to the window on the bench he just slept on. His eyes glanced around to make sure things were secured, when a thought occurred to him. He stood and reached up, feeling around in his bag until his fingers wrapped around some cloth and metal. Withdrawing it, he ran a hand over the slightly beat-up headband, tracing the insignia. It was a symbol of his adulthood in his village, and there had been no mention that he could not wear it. But tying something around ones' forehead was too bold in this country, where he was the only ninja around for thousands of miles, so Itachi chose to wrap it around his bicep, over his school uniform, where it would be present, but not the center of attention. The black band of the headband blended easily into the robe, so it looked almost natural.

"Oh, sorry," A voice caused his head to jerk over to the door, to the retreating form of a dark haired girl about a year or two younger than himself. He sighed, berating himself for loosing focus on his surroundings but not bothering to close the door. Now that the students were searching for a room, he might as well leave it open to proclaim the room already partially taken. He took a glance at the watch on his wrist, the one he had found with the uniform. Half an hour until eleven, when he was told they'd depart, so he had some time to kill.

Itachi had mastered the much sought after technique of zoning out. He looked out the window, thinking about nothing, not reacting to anything, but fully aware of what was going on around him. Able to respond instantly if he chose too, he could waste boring time away quite easily. Kakashi-sempai often sulked over not being able to do it as well as Itachi could, but then again, he had his book to pass the time.

It was by doing this that he soon found the train moving, and three students, all older then himself, sitting and talking to one another in a joyful manner, ignoring him as much as he was them. There were two boys and one girl (she had eyes similar to his, but still wider then normal along with other features, which caused him to believe she was a half breed between one of his type and one of the white type) who wore a blue and bronze tie, and a similarly colored crest on her left breast side on her robe, and by judging the closeness and overly friendly manner had with the tall, handsome boy with the black and yellow tie, and matching breast crest with a badger on it on his robe sitting next to her, she was his girlfriend. The other boy who sat next to the ANBU was rather scrawny, but not that bad looking, wearing the same raven breast crest, and a blue tie as the girl. The three were close friend, and had been for a number of years, from what he concluded.

Itachi glanced at his watch, it was almost twelve. He looked out the window again, zoning, seeing the rain thicken even more then it had been before.

"Alright," An older woman's voice said, causing him to look over, as she slid open the door, much to the other occupants delight, and Itachi's curiosity. "Lunch. What will you kids have?"

The Uchiha watched with interest as the other kids took turns ordering things he'd never heard of before. When they finished choosing, they handed over some coins to the plump woman in return for food that somewhat appeared normal.

"And you, deary?" She asked, her eyes focusing on him.

"I will have," He said, feeling around absently for the pouch he'd place in his pocket. As this was the first time he'd spoken since 'yes' that morning, every eye in the compartment was on him. He was proud, though, that his accent was heavily diminished, simply from listening to the lively conversation around him for the last hour, though he still had to concentrate to make it easily understandable. "One of everything," he finished.

"Everything? Are you certain? It'd be," She looked down and stuck out her tongue slightly, before turning to him. "Thirteen sickles and five knuts."

He reached into the pouch, withdrawing one of the many gold coins (Dumbledore had described the currency and basic conversion rate) and handed it to her. "Alright then, it's your gold." She quickly—which only came with practice—plucked a few things from each of the many drawers. Placing them in a white plastic bag, she handed it over with his change. "Thank you, and enjoy your meal."

He placed the bag in his lap while he still felt every eye in the room on him, but he clasped his hands and said "Itadakimasu"—to their befuddlement—before he opened the bag. He was hungry, yes, but the only reason he ordered that much was he never tried any of it before. Who knew what was in the food? Gently, he pulled a blue box from the bag and looked at it carefully, reading, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

"Careful with those," The smooth voice of the boy next to him said, holding a half-eaten cake-like thing in his hand. "When they say 'every flavor' they mean it. I got a boot flavored one once."

Itachi felt his eyebrows bunch as he looked at the boy. "Boot flavored?" Perhaps he misheard.

"Yup, it was all salty and leathery with a funky taste. But don't worry, there's normal flavor ones in there too, like apple and grape and stuff.

"Anyway, hi, my name's Marcus Belby." The boy waved with his baked good, before gesturing towards the others. "That's Cedric Diggory, and this is his girlfriend Cho Chang."

"I am not his girlfriend," She hissed, scooting away slightly.

"Marcus," The handsome male blushed, groaning his friends name in embarrassment.

"What? She's practically in your lap, and you deny this?"

Itachi already knew their names from the conversation, but it would be rude for him to tell them that he had been eavesdropping. "My family name is Uchiha, and my personal name is Itachi."

"Pleased to meet you, Itachi." Cedric raised his eyebrows over to him, added with a slight hand wave.

"Hello, Itachi."

"Weird way to say your name," Marcus said, taking a big bite of his food only to be kicked suddenly. "Wad?" he said through the mouthful.

"Marcus, don't be rude." Cedric hissed before turning back to Itachi. "Sorry about that, but he's an idiot. You get use to him. What house are you in? I don't recall seeing you before, and you look to be older then a first year. And your robes are just the standard issue."

"I am going to be a third year, but I have not been assigned a house yet." Itachi put the box of mystery beans down, not wanting to risk it, reaching in for another food item to pull out a box that said, Chocolate Frog. A candy amphibian? Hm...

"How can you be a third year if you don't got a house?" Marcus spoke up, swallowing his food.

"I have been selected from my peers in my home village in the country of Japan to come to Hogwarts and study abroad." He said the lie easily, shaking the box at his ear to see if he should open it or not. It seemed fine, and they weren't warning him...

"...What?" Marcus said only to be kicked again. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"You're a shame on the Ravenclaw's name," Cho said, being the one who kicked him this time. "He said he's a foreign exchange student, stupid!"

"Oh, why didn't he say that in the first place?"

The girl made a noise of disgust in the back of her throat. "You're hopele—EEK!" She suddenly shrieked, jumping to cling to Cedric.

Apparently the frog, once released from its cardboard prison, attempted to hop to freedom in the direction of the girl, away from the dark haired boy. Of course, Itachi was not expecting his food to be moving, so he shot out with a kunai and stabbed the frog in a sweeping motion while it was still in midair in a pure, reflective instinct.

Magic gone, the frog hung limply with the blade through its head, unmoving chocolate once again. "In your country, is it common for your food to try and run away?" he asked simply, drawing his kunai and the chocolate back to him, picking it off so as to not ruin the deadly weapon.

"Whoa..." Marcus broke the silence that followed, staring wide eyed. "That was so cool! I didn't even see that dagger-thingy before! And then it was just—BAM! Dude, you're so awesome, I want you in my dorm."

"I don't think you're allowed to bring weapons to the school, Itachi." Cedric said, still leaning away from him as Cho took up her own seat again.

"Where I am from, they are required." He said, expertly putting the blade back in its hidden pouch, after wiping the brown candy on his pant leg. He never was one for chocolate, especially if it tried to get away from him on its own.

"But this is Hogwarts."

"You allow these," He said calmly, taking out the wand with a hint of disgust, feeling the warmth bloom in his fingertips again as he touched it with bared flesh. "From what I am told, they can kill and harm people in far worse way then a single kunai."

"Yeah, but it's illegal to say those curses." He persisted, frowning.

"And it is perfectly legal for me to kill someone randomly with my kunai?" He shook his head, placing the wand back were it was in the folds of his robe, before calmly looking through his food sack again. "To allow a wand and not a kunai would be hypocrisy. My leader, the Headmaster and I have already discussed the manner, which is why they are currently hidden and I do not have more." Seeing the thing called a 'Cauldron Cake' perfectly still and didn't look like it would move any time soon (also recognizing as the same type Marcus had just eaten), he took a small bite out of it, finding it to be spongy and a little two sweet for his tastes, but not all that bad.

"Dude, what's up with your shoes? Your toes are showing!" Marcus so much reminded him of Shisui, with the abrupt changes of topics...

"Really? I didn't notice." Itachi closed his eyes, concentrating on chewing the cake.

"You should get some new ones, then. Or get a teacher to fix those." A very stupid Shisui.

"Why are you in my Ravenclaw again?"

"Oh bloody hell, not again, you two..."

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MDF:I didn't want to be all corny and have Itachi meet with Harry and them first thing, so I choose random people. I had fun with Cedric's and Marcus's interactions. However, they won't be coming back into the story line after Itachi gets to Hogwarts—maybe a line or two, but nothing important.