Castle Guards
Castle Guards
By Ammie Hawk
Disclaimer: Do I really need to go through with this again?
AN: I had a bout of inspiration yesterday, depression does that to me, and don't worry, amazingly enough the chapter's not all that angsty. Just don't expect this fast a chapter to come up often. I do know where I want to go with this story, it's just hard getting there.
Another thing I wanted to address is the legal age thing from my last chapter, I know that technically Genin are considered legal, but it's similar to the difference between 16, 18 and 21, 16 is considered legal for certain things, but 18 more rights are given, and at 21 all rights are upon the individual, my shinobi are at the 21 stage, they can legally drink, marry, or do whatever.
And I'm still taking suggestions on the Draco issue, though I'm leaning toward good. But don't think that means he's gonna end up with Harry, cause that's not gonna happen, there may be small scenes between them but nothing too major. I've already got plans for who I want with Harry. And I will also tell you, as addressed by one of my reviewers, that I am open to crossover pairings, in fact I've got five, I think that's the number, already decided, but not much will come of those till the sequel, cause I mean most of the ninja aren't at Hogwarts.
Alright upward and onward, right?
"Blah" Japanese
'Blah' thoughts
"Blah" Kyuubi
Chapter 8: Face the Facts
"SHE WHAT?!" Kiba's voice rang through the almost empty common room on Monday morning.
The shinobi scattered throughout the room, the only people present, looked at him in annoyance.
"Quiet down, Kiba," Shino admonished, looking to his captain for support.
"Shino's right, Kib," Naruto sighed. "We don't want the whole castle to hear us. Anyway, yeah, Hermione's getting suspicious of us. She told Harry and Ron to get close to us to see if they could find out anything. But come on, we're not ninja for nothing. Be careful of your charges as well, if she hasn't already, she's sure to rope those three in on her little scheme and with Fred and George on her side it'll be interesting to say the least."
"It's not her fault really," Neji said quietly. "If you recall, all this came about because of that man, Moody. He's the one that let it slip about the ninja communities. She is a person devoted to knowledge, of course her curiosity was peeked. We have been a bit lax as well. None of us have given anything away intentionally, but there are things that are said that would cause suspicion; Naruto claiming to have found Voldemort and fought giant snakes that attacked our village, Gaara's commanding presence, these things do not go overlooked to the trained eye. I have to say, I'm quite surprised she has not asked to see our headbands yet, as we were all wearing them when we first met her, and the village symbols are bound to be in that scroll along with the names."
"I think we need to bend some rules," Kankuro sighed, removing the arm that had been draped over his face as he lay on one of the armchairs.
"How so?" Gaara asked, staring at his brother.
"Well, one of us needs to 'help' her out with her research," the puppeteer shrugged. "Maybe we could get Kakashi and Iruka to do it. I mean that would lessen her suspicions and keep her off track enough so our cover's not blown."
"I think that's a good idea," Neji glanced over at Naruto for confirmation. "Only I think it should be one of us, that way she'll feel we are trustworthy. Perhaps Sakura?"
"I could give it a try," the pinkette nodded.
"I don't think that would be such a good idea," Shino interrupted. "Sakura is almost as much of a know-it-all as Hermione, she might unintentionally reveal something, trying to prove her superior intellect. It should be an ANBU who helps her, as we are trained in subterfuge."
"Temari," Gaara crossed his arms over his chest.
"Very well," the blonde kunoichi shrugged. "I'll corner her at some point and offer my help, what little I will offer."
"Just don't scare her too much, Temari," Naruto grinned. "We do want her on our side."
With that settled they made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Upon entering they noticed the Golden Trio flipping through the newspaper. The shinobi sat down with them and began eating as if nothing had changed between them, though the three wizarding students all tensed slightly.
"Well, come on," said Hermione suddenly, or at least it seemed that way to the shinobi as they had just arrived a few moments earlier and hadn't been paying attention to her, "we'd better get going, if she's inspecting Binns's class we don't want to be late…."
The shinobi hurriedly finished their breakfast and followed the trio to the History of Magic classroom. But Professor Umbridge was not inspecting their History of Magic lesson, which was just as dull as the previous Monday, nor was she in Snape's dungeon when they arrived for double Potions.
Naruto sat down next to Kankuro once again, but Neji had traded places with Gaara. Apparently he was back to avoiding him whenever possible. This bothered the blonde slightly, since he had convinced himself his lieutenant had just used the kiss as a simple evasive maneuver, rather than an actual kiss.
This arrangement didn't end well for the poor little demon vessel. Halfway through the mixing of his potion, which was supposed to be turning turquoise at this point, his was a very thick brown, a faint hissing filled his ears. Cerulean orbs locked on the frothing contents of his cauldron and he just barely managed to jump out of the way before it exploded in his face. He ended up on the dungeon ceiling, his chakra coated hands and feet supporting him in an awkward angle as he faced the floor, but no one noticed this.
"Uzumaki," Snape hissed dangerously, coming over to his work table.
Kankuro reached over, dipped his finger in the remaining liquid, and sniffed it. "Damn Naruto, what're you trying to do? Blow us all to hell and back? That stuff could've brought this castle down on top of us if it wasn't so botched up. Now if you'd taken the powder in its raw form instead of grinding it up, it would've made a better explosion, but the real issue is that you added one too many ingredients, you shouldn't have put in that…"
"Mr. Sabaku," Snape interrupted his tirade, "that is quite enough. Where is Mr. Uzumaki?"
Kankuro met the professor's glare and then pointed with two fingers to the ceiling. All eyes flew upward and landed on the blonde. Many of the wizarding students gaped openly at him being apparently glued to the ceiling, though Hermione's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Get down from there this instant, Uzumaki," Snape's voice dripped venom.
"Is someone gonna catch me?" Naruto looked around nervously, or at least he pretended to. "Cause I really don't want to hit the floor from this height, it's pretty hard, I might break my neck."
"As if, kit," Kyuubi chuckled. "But nice save. I didn't know you could move that fast without my help."
'Ha ha, very funny,' blue eyes rolled in annoyance.
"I will stop your fall once you let go of the ceiling, Uzumaki," the greasy professor sighed heavily. "Now let go."
"So I should try and fall on you then?" the blonde asked curiously.
"No, let go," Snape snapped, drawing his wand out.
"Fine, just don't let me get hurt," Naruto pouted, releasing his chakra hold.
As he fell, he had to exercise enormous control so as not to flip and land on his feet. About a foot above the desks, Snape muttered a spell and Naruto felt himself stop, as if he'd reached the end of a string. With the help of Kankuro he was lowered to the floor, where he sat looking sheepishly up at his Potions professor.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor, Uzumaki," Snape said silkily, "ten for your cheek and the rest for not following instructions and putting the lives of your fellow students in danger."
"As I said earlier, professor," Kankuro interrupted, "he botched it so bad the only one he put in danger was himself. It's not fair for you to take away forty points for something he didn't do."
"Ten points for arguing, Sabaku," Snape turned his gaze on the puppeteer. "And do not act like you know what you are talking about, that was the worst case of potion making I have ever seen, even worse than Longbottom's usual performances."
"Well," Kankuro began, until he caught the glare his brother was sending his way, "sorry Professor Snape, it won't happen again."
After Potions let out, the Golden Trio made their way to the Great Hall, while the shinobi hung back, giving Temari the signal that she should take this opportunity to offer her help.
"Hey guys, wait up!" she called, dashing up the stairs behind them.
"Oh, hey, Temari," Hermione greeted casually, "did you need something?"
"No," the blonde shook her head. "I actually wanted to offer you my help."
"Help?" the brunette looked at her confused.
Temari glanced around and nodded to an empty classroom. The trio followed her inside. She closed the door behind them, after making sure no one had noticed them coming into the room.
"Now what is this about, Temari?" Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and began tapping her foot impatiently.
"Well, the other day you asked us for help," the kunoichi shrugged. "Well, of course, Gaara said no," she rolled her eyes for effect. "But since when have I ever listened to my younger brother. If you don't want my help then fine, but I thought I'd throw it out there. Not that I know anything on the subject, but I could help with the pronunciation and stuff and translating some shit, like those names you gave."
"Can't we talk about this later," Ron moaned, rubbing his stomach. "I'm hungry and I've got Divination after lunch."
"You guys can go," Hermione waved him and Harry off as she took a seat at one of the desks, thinking about putting her plan into action.
"They can stay if they want, I've got some food," Temari shrugged and reached in her backpack, finally pulling out four foam containers. "But if you tell Naruto that I've got them, you're toast."
Harry sat down, his curiosity on the subject finally piqued. Ron sat down reluctantly and stared at the small container Temari had produced.
"Damn it," the blonde sighed, "I forgot we need hot water for these."
"That's not a problem," Hermione waved her wand, and a second later a tea kettle and fire appeared before them. "Now, I'll tell you what I've found out."
"Okay," Temari grabbed the kettle and poured the now hot water into the foam cups. "You've got to wait three minutes before eating it," she admonished Ron, who had instantly reached for his.
"Well, besides what I told you the other day," Hermione began. "I've discovered that there are six other smaller villages. But the main five are ruled by what is know as a Kage."
"Ka-ge," Temari corrected, "it's two syllables, not one. It means shadow."
"Anyway, there's the Hokage of Konoha, the Kazekage of Suna, the Tsuchikage of Iwa, the Mizukage of Kiri, and the Raikage of Kumo," Hermione began rummaging in her bag for the scroll. "They are the most powerful ninja of their village. The other six villages are ruled by individuals, but only one name was listed, so I'm assuming he's dead, as that seems to be the only way to get a name printed in this scroll."
"Oh?" Temari's brow furrowed in thought, she hadn't heard of any of the village leaders dying recently.
"What other ranks are there?" Harry asked curiously, thinking he knew some of those names from somewhere.
"There are Genin, the lowest rank, which is right after they graduate from the academy, Chunin, Jounin, Sanin, and then Kage. There have only ever been three Sanin before, according to what I've read. There are also specialized Jounin, but they don't say what that level is called." Hermione rattled off. "I've also discovered that there are what are called S-class criminals and rogue ninja. The criminals are just that, the S classifications means that their crimes are either numerous or really, really terrible, there's one they mentioned who killed every member of his clan, save for one. Rogue ninja are ninja without villages, or who left their villages. You can tell what village they are from by a symbol they wear."
"Wow, Hermione," Ron looked at her amazed. "That's a lot of information. How do you manage to remember all that and keep up with your homework?"
"How could someone do that to their family?" Harry shook his head, not waiting for Hermione's response. "I mean yeah, I don't like the Dursleys but I'd never kill them."
"Sometimes that type of life can have a very stressful outcome," Temari sighed, wishing she hadn't been volunteered for this. "Think about it, you grow up trained to fight and kill. Others around you wouldn't understand that. Maybe there was a reason he did it, or maybe he just snapped from the pressure, or maybe he was a sadistic bastard, I personally wouldn't want to ask him his reasoning."
"I thought Moody said they were magical though?" Ron scratched his chin in thought.
"They don't actually have magic," Hermione shook her head. "They have what they call Chakra. It's a spiritual energy they use to manipulate the things around them in what they call jutsus. There are three different types of jutsus, ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. Taijutsu is hand-to-hand, physical combat. Genjutsu is an illusion technique. And ninjutsu is basically anything that doesn't fall into the other two categories. And then there's what's called a Kekkei Genkai, which is a family trait, it has to be passed down through genetics in order to use that particular type of jutsu."
"So these jutsus would be honed and trained till perfected?" asked Temari.
"That's what I'm assuming," Hermione shrugged, silently upset that Temari had asked instead of telling, but that could've been her cover, she'd just have to trap her with it. "I would personally like to find out more about certain Kekkei Genkai I've read about. There are two that involve the eyes, the Sharingan and the Byakugan, the Sharingan apparently allows the person to mimic another's chakra and reproduce their jutsus, while the Byakugan acts like an x-ray, allowing the person to see chakra flow."
"That would be an awesome ability," Ron sniggered and elbowed Harry in the ribs. "So when do they graduate? Seventeen like us?"
"Twelve," Hermione shook her head. "They can graduate younger, like the one who killed his family, he was only ten when he made Chunin, he became an elite Jounin captain at age thirteen. He was only fourteen when he killed his clan. But they become legal adults at fifteen, meaning they can drink, marry, or live away from their parents at that point."
"That would be nice," Temari smirked. "Cause I could use some alcohol right about now."
"Oh and rank doesn't go by age either, I mean, it all depends on skill," Hermione shot the kunoichi a glare. "I mean look at the age difference between some of the Kages, the Hokage is in her fifties, while the Kazekage is only sixteen."
"That makes him only one year older than us," Harry shook his head, still thinking he'd heard the title before, it was almost like Nicholas Flamel all over again.
"We need to get to class," Temari stood suddenly. "You two had better run, it's almost time for the bell."
The four of them left the classroom, Temari gathering up the empty ramen cups and discarding them on her way out. They made their way up the stairs, where they met up with Naruto, Neji, Gaara, and Sakura. The three girls split up and headed off to Arithmancy, while the boys went off to Divination. They all sat down and were pulling out their dream diaries when the trapdoor opened, and Professor Umbridge emerged. The class, which had been talking cheerily, fell silent at once. The abrupt fall in the noise level made Professor Trelawney, who had been wafting about handing out Dream Oracles, look around.
"Good afternoon, Professor Trelawney," said Professor Umbridge with her wide smile. "You received my note, I trust? Giving the time and date of your inspection?"
Professor Trelawney nodded curtly and, looking very disgruntled, turned her back on Professor Umbridge and continued to give out books. Still smiling, Professor Umbridge grasped the back of the nearest armchair and pulled it to the front of the class so that it was a few inches behind Professor Trelawney's seat. She then sat down, took her clipboard from her flowery bag, and looked up expectantly, waiting for the class to begin.
Professor Trelawney pulled her shawls tight about her with slightly trembling hands and surveyed the class through her hugely magnified lenses. "We shall be continuing our study of prophetic dreams today," she said in a brave attempt at her usual mystic tones, though her voice shook slightly. "Divide into pairs, please, and interpret each other's latest nighttime visions with the aid of the Oracle."
Neji moved from his place next to Naruto and quickly maneuvered Kiba over to work with the blonde. Kiba just shrugged at the long haired teen's behavior and grinned at the demon vessel.
"You wanna go first," he asked with a wide grin. "Cause personally I don't need a damn book to tell me what my dreams are about."
"I don't dream too often," Naruto replied off handedly. "Kyu seems to think that my mental abilities need honed so he doesn't let me."
"Well fine then, you asked for it," the dog ninja flashed his canines in a cheeky grin. "Last night I dreamed I was lying in bed…"
"Shut up," the blonde shuddered. "I don't need a damn book to tell me you're a fucking horn dog."
Unfortunately for him, both professors heard him. Trelawney was going to ignore him, however, as Umbridge made her way over, she decided to get there first.
"Mr. Uzumaki, may I see your dream diary?" she extended her hand.
"Sure," Naruto handed the woman his notebook.
She opened it and scanned through the first few pages. "You seem to have this fox in a lot of your dreams," she said quietly. "That is a very bad omen, my dear. Foxes mean trouble, and the bigger they are the more trouble you shall be in (1)."
"Tell me about it," he shook his head. "He's a big pain in the ass."
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Uzumaki," Umbridge said sweetly. "You need to learn to watch your mouth."
"And may I see yours, dear," Trelawney's lips pursed at Umbridge's interference in her class, holding her hand out to Kiba.
"Yeah," he grinned and handed over his dream diary.
She went through the same process with his as she had Naruto's. Only as she continued to skim, her eyes widened and her mouth fell open in shock, as a blush crept up her face.
"I would say from this, Mr. Inuzuka, you have a very unhealthy obsession," her eyes darted over to where Shino was talking quietly with Neji.
"Nope, it's not unhealthy," Kiba shook his head. "In fact it's a proven fact that sex is very healthy for a person."
This statement caused all eyes to rivet to them. Naruto began to chuckle silently but couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing. The other shinobi shook their heads at their antics, knowing the two very well.
"Detention, Mr. Inuzuka," Professor Umbridge cooed. "I will not have you mocking another teacher's class in front of me."
As soon as they moved on, Kiba leaned over and clapped his captain on the shoulder, "Damn that was too funny. Oh, by the way, I've been meaning to ask you, what's up with Neji? He's been acting odd the past few days."
"I don't know," the blonde shook his head. "But I'm gonna talk to him later today and find out, cause it's really bugging me."
In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry landed himself in another detention, but this time Naruto didn't interfere and land himself in detention with him. He didn't need that frustration at this point, not with Neji's attitude on his mind, he'd just have to conceal himself outside Umbridge's office and wait for Harry to get out.
8888888
Unfortunately for Naruto, his opportunity to speak with Neji didn't arrive until the next evening. He finally cornered the brunette as he was about to go wait for Harry to be through with detention, so he dragged him along. They stood in silence for a good hour, a good ways down the hall from Umbridge's office so as not to be caught, before Naruto finally had enough.
"Listen Neji, I don't know what your problem is, but it's really annoying me," he ran his hand through his hair in frustration, neither of them noticing Harry coming from Umbridge's office at the same moment and hiding behind a suit of armor to eavesdrop.
"I'm sorry, captain, but I don't know what you're referring to," pale silver locked with blue in an impassive stare.
"Don't 'captain' me," Naruto snapped. "And you know exactly what I'm talking about, you haven't talked to me since our run in with Malfoy on Friday, except when absolutely necessary. Even Kiba's noticed."
Harry looked between the two from his hiding spot, wondering what on earth the captain business was about, but also realizing the blonde had a point. Neji and Naruto had seemed really close before but something must have happened because the brunette was avoiding Naruto at all costs.
"Naruto… I—I can't," he began quietly, dropping his eyes. "All I can do is apologize for my rash behavior. But don't ask me to explain why I did it."
"I know why you did it, Nej," the blonde sighed, causing Neji to look up hopefully. "It was a diversionary tactic, a bit of a strange one, but still."
"Oh," Neji's face fell as he once again looked at the floor. "Of—of course."
Naruto reached out and lifted his lieutenant's chin so he could look him in the eye, "It was just a diversionary tactic, wasn't it?"
Neji couldn't take the hopeful look in those blue eyes and looked away. He couldn't help the tears that pooled on his lashes, of course Naruto wouldn't want it to be anything other than what he thought. How could he? Neji couldn't get his hopes up that his captain would ever be interested in him. For all he knew, Naruto liked girls, why would he even consider him.
"Answer me, Nej," Naruto whispered pleadingly. "I can't stand it when you don't talk to me. I don't want to lose you. Please don't shut me out. Don't turn into him."
"No," he said so quietly Naruto almost missed it.
"No what?" the blonde pressed, not quite sure what part he was referring to.
"No, it wasn't just a diversionary tactic," Neji sighed, still unable to meet the blue eyes of his captain.
"I told ya so," Kyuubi taunted. "Told ya so, told ya so, told ya so…"
Naruto ignored the fox's laughing and focused on his lieutenant, "If it wasn't, then what was it?"
"A mistake," the Hyuuga shook his head, effectively breaking away from Naruto's grasp but didn't move away.
"Oh, so kissing me was a mistake?" Naruto snapped, unable to believe the pride of the man in front of him.
At this point, Harry had to cover his mouth so the other two wouldn't hear his surprised gasp. Neji had kissed Naruto? And then he'd called it a mistake? That was a bunch of bullshit if Harry's ever heard it. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that Neji had a thing for the other teen.
"I shouldn't have taken advantage of you like that," Neji sighed. "I lost control. And for that I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, you fucking baka!" the blonde growled. "And don't you ever say what you did was a mistake! You're smarter than that. Don't belittle yourself. You deserve the chance to be happy as much as the next person."
"I'm not free to be happy," the brunette shook his head, his hair swaying slightly with the agitation of the movement.
"You are as free as you let yourself be, Neji," he reached up and traced the green seal on the other's forehead. "Just because you have this doesn't make you a caged bird. I thought we'd already been over this four years ago. If you need me to beat it into that thick head of yours again, I'll gladly do it."
"That won't be necessary," Neji allowed himself a small smile. "Thank you, Naruto."
Harry, not understanding a word of what just went on, decided it was a good time to leave, not wanting to witness anymore of this obviously private scene. He slipped out from behind the suit of armor and dashed across the hall and headed for the stairs to Gryffindor tower, never noticing the eyes following his retreat.
"I believe our charge has just left for the tower," Neji shook his head and moved away to follow.
"Don't let him go, kit," Kyuubi hollered. "Don't let it end like that."
'What would you have me do, you stupid fox?' Naruto scoffed.
"Show him how you feel, kit," the demon sighed, almost frustrated with his young, naïve vessel. "Let him know you don't regret what happened. Otherwise, you will lose him."
Almost of its own volition, his hand shot out and grabbed the sleeve of Neji's school robes. The brunette turned and looked at him curiously. He saw the confusion on the blonde's face and realized he was having an argument with the nine-tailed fox.
"Naruto?" he stepped closer, hoping to break whatever hold the Kyuubi had over his captain at the moment, knowing it could wait at least until they got up to the dormitories.
"It's now or never, kit," Kyuubi said quietly. "If you want this, then show him, otherwise, let him go."
Naruto looked up and met the concerned gaze of the Hyuuga.
"Neji," he whispered, before reaching up and pulling the other close, claiming his lips in a heated kiss.
To say Neji was surprised was a vast understatement. Naruto was kissing him? Wait, Naruto was kissing him! Without further thought on the matter, he wrapped his arms around the lithe waist and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. His tongue darted out and tentatively brushed against Naruto's bottom lip, silently pleading for entrance. His lips parted, allowing the other access. Neji explored the moist cavern, finally pulling Naruto's tongue into his mouth to repeat the gesture. They finally pulled apart for air, their foreheads resting against one another.
"Don't," Naruto said, rather breathlessly, "ever say kissing me was a mistake."
1. I know that's not what foxes in dreams really mean, but hey it's Trelawney, I can get away with it.
Ammie: Okay, that was my first real attempt at a decent kissing scene, so don't be too harsh on me. I've written some with my sis before but yeah this one was all my own.
And I know some of you don't like the way Hermione is acting, but it does have a point to, it's just who she is and I have to have someone who doesn't just fall for the ninja's 'we're transfer students' line. Please tell me what you thought, I love reviews, they make me smile and make me want to work harder on this fic.