The Hidden Countries;
Chapter Eleven,
Let's call him 'Tom'
Rose looked around nervously, and questioned exactly why she was in an interrogation room. To the best of her knowledge she hadn't let anything that bad out. Perhaps the Hokage was just paranoid, or maybe it was all about Haku. But really was any of that an excuse to be there?
Rose didn't know, but Rose trusted Kakashi enough to not to get her killed. He wouldn't let her get killed right? Rose knew that he wouldn't lead her into a potential death trap but still...
Rose's head snapped to the blonde haired man who walked in though the door with a friendly smile. He didn't seem too bad at least... Slowly like he was trying not to scare her, he walked over to the table that Rose was seated behind and took the seat in front of her.
It was kind of like an interrogation room from one of Dudley's muggle movies. Hell, it even had that screen that people could watch the proceedings behind. Rose wondered who was there...
The Hokage most likely but would anyone else be there? Would Kakashi be? Who else would be watching the proceedings? Someone that The Hokage would trust, that was for sure.
"Hello, my name is Yamanaka Inoichi," The blonde haired male said with a gentle smile, and an open face.
"Er- Hello."
"Do you know why your here?" Inoichi asked his voice taking on a informal tone.
"Um, no not really. Actually why am I here?" Rose asked with honest confusion as she looked around trying to place herself. Could she apparate at a moment's notice out of there?
"Well, Potter-San, we are here to look at your family... And you're connection to one Genin Uzumaki Naruto."
"My family...?" Rose asked with a growing horror before she got a puzzled look on her face. "Naruto? What about Naruto? Why is Naruto important?"
Inoichi hummed his smile never fading. "You don't need to worry about that. I just need permission to look though your memories."
Rose threw herself back, standing with her back straight, her eyes flickering to the door before her eyes settled on the mind reader. There were easier ways out.
"Calm down, I'll only look at the memories of your family."
"Why?" Rose said a slight amount of panic in her voice. "My family isn't very interesting really. Dead boring."
"I'm sorry; Potter-San, but you actually don't have a choice. The Hokage has demanded it." He did genially seem sorry.
Rose sat back down on her seat, her emotions – her panic written on her face. "You don't want to – I'll tell you whatever you need to know."
Inoichi shook his head, has face full of a frown. "I'm terribly sorry; this will be easier if you cooperate."
Rose sighed and hid her eyes with her hands, as she rested her elbows on the table. Getting out of here shouldn't be too hard for Rose – actually it should be relatively easy. But if she left than Ron and Hermione would have too as well.
The problem with that was then no one could get rid of that cursed snake. Plus Rose didn't want to leave Haku without anybody, and she didn't want to leave Naruto all alone again.
She really had no choice. Rose tilted her head up and looked the platinum blonde in the eye. "Fine."
"Lily! It's him, take Mary and go!" the picture was blurry a flash of colours before the picture settled with the slamming of a door.
They were in a nursery that was obviously for a young girl. The young red-haired green-eyed woman placed the black-haired green-eyed baby in the crib.
"Ma..?"
"Shh, Rosemary, everything is going to be okay."
The door burst open and the young woman threw herself in front of the crib – protecting the young baby from any harm. The intruder was a handsome man, who looked to be about twenty years of age.
"Not Rosemary please! please! Have mercy!" The red-haired woman begged the man. Why did she not fight back?
"Stand aside," The man ordered her, his red eyes shining.
"Please have mercy, have mercy!"
"Stand aside, stand aside silly girl!" The brunette said, growing more annoyed.
"Please not Rosemary, please, have mercy!"
"Advda Kadvra!" A green light shot from the mystery man, and hit the red-haired woman straight in the chest. The woman fell forward the light leaving her eyes.
"Mummy?" The black-haired baby cried.
The man sneered before shooting the same spell at the young girl, only to have to absorb into her forehead and shot back out at him, leaving nothing but a lightning-bolt scar.
"What...?" The man gasped before the spell hit him and he dissolved into a pile of ashes. Somehow in this process the house had caught on fire.
"Mummy?" the baby sniffed before busting out crying as the house burned down around her.
#!#!#!##!#!#!#
"Girl! You did this didn't you!?" the voice of a shrill woman yelled.
There was a young black-haired girl that didn't look to be over five years of age. Her hair was long, and in messy curls. "I didn't I swear, Aunt Petunia!"
They were in a room that was seemingly bare, only a bed and a small dresser – the walls were a soft shade of pink. "Yes you did! The walls were white you freaky girl!"
The bony woman's hand came out and slapped the young green-eyed girls face. The girl's eyes filled with tears. "I swear I don't know how that happened!"
"You're a liar and a freak!"
! #$%^&*()(*^$! #$%&*(
"I wish you could come and live with me you know, but Dumbledore won't allow it," A male with shaggy black hair said, he looked like he'd seen far too much in a short amount of time.
A girl who looked like she could be around thirteen pouted. "But Sirius!"
The man laughed as he mused up the girl's short hair. "Now, Dumbledore may be old but he does have the right idea. He's keeping you safe."
"The Dursley's suck."
The man gave out a bark like-laugh. "Yeah but he's protecting you from Voldemort."
"Voldemort shomledemort."
"That's my girl!" The man gave Rose a hug.
#$%&
"Rose?" The vision of a red haired boy and a brown haired girl appeared.
"Yeah?" Rose replied bitingly.
"We're worried; you're like a sister to us and, well..." Ron started sounding worried.
"We don't think your handling Sirius's death very well – Even Fred is worried," Hermione finished sounding equally as worried.
"He's the only family I had left Hermione. And Voldemort took him from me – I swear I'll kill him."
"We'll help, you know we will," Ron said with a smile.
"You will?"
"Of course," Hermione added. "We are family."
"Yeah, we are."
"Nee-Chan? Can you buy me some Ramen?"
A black-haired woman turned around to see an orange-wearing blonde boy standing behind her with wide-blue eyes. "Please Nee-Chan? I spent all my money on more kunai!"
There was a smirk on the lips of the green-eyed woman. ""Hm, shouldn't you take more care of your money?"
The boys head hung. "I guess..."
The woman beamed. "It's okay, let's go get some ramen!"
#$%^&*()
Rose opened her eyes slowly, wondering which of the memories the man had seen. She also wondered if they would actually answer anything - Rose wasn't even sure what they were meant to be looking for.
Rose looked at the blonde haired man – only to see his bewildered face. "That was rather intense."
"What were you looking for?" Rose asked, feeling kind of drained – she hated reliving the first two memories – they were kind of personal.
"Your family."
"Well, you didn't look for Naruto at all. Just saying – you're not getting Naruto from memories of my family." Rose replied, gaining some more of her nerves.
"Who was the red-haired woman?" Inochi asked instead of justifying himself.
"My mother," Rose replied sounding pained.
Inochi's face twisted into a frown. "How old were you when that happened?"
"One."
"You still remember...?" Inochi was amazed.
"Well you don't exactly forget your parents getting killed right in front of your face do you?" Rose retorted feeling sore.
"I'm sorry," Inoichi apologised hastily. "Thank you for co-operating. The purpose of this session was to tell your intentions with Konoha and Uzumaki Naruto."
Rose paused for a second. "Why is Naruto so important to all of you, and if he is so important... Why is he treated so badly?"
He tensed. "That's nothing."
Rose simply raised an eyebrow. "Well, did you get what you wanted?"
Inoichi paused for a moment. "No, it was like..."
Rose sat up straight, nervously. "It was like?"
"Someone was there, that wasn't meant to be, watching your memories. But that had to be impossible... Are you alright, Rose-San?"
Halfway through the man's words, Rose's hands fell into her hands and thought hard. Someone that wasn't meant to be there – it couldn't have been her; it was her mind after all. It couldn't be him, because he obviously did that often, plus he had gotten permission.
That only left one person – Voldemort. That brought the question up to why he was going though her mind. And how the hell did he manage to get past her shields... Wait, she had made them weaker to let the man though?
Fuck. Voldemort had been waiting for her to mess up in such a small way? What could she do?
"Rose-San?"
Could Voldemort know where she was though the small clip with Naruto? Where had she been? They had been on a dirt road, but was there any defining qualities? Rose couldn't be too sure but there was one thing Professor Dumbledore had told her before he died... That Voldemort had been one of the smartest students he had ever taught, to never underestimate him.
Rose had to assume that he knew. But, could that even be Voldemort or was she just panicking for nothing?
"Rose-San!?" The voice was starting to sound slightly panicked.
Rose looked up to the slightly to see him looking worried. Rose blinked. "What kind of feeling did you get? Malice? Can you even get feelings?"
The blonde haired man frowned. "More like a desire, a strong desire. It tried to steer the memories into a different direction but I have had much too much experience."
Rose rubbed her eyes with a growing frustration. Voldemort.
"Your reaction suggests that you know who or what I'm talking about."
Rose bit her lip and scratched the back of her head. "That wasn't meant to happen. This is not meant to happen..."
Rose felt happy to know that he hadn't gotten what he wanted, but he got Naruto. Rose's eyes widened with horror. Voldemort wasn't one to ignore something like that. Could he even get here – to Konoha?
"Naruto." Rose shot out of her chair, the seat clanking to the floor behind her, but Rose wasn't paying attention to it.
"What about Naruto, Rose-San?" Inoichi pressed, standing up in a much calmer manner. He looked like he would subdue her if he needed to. Rose rolled her eyes.
Rose huffed. "Naruto needs to be protected. Okay? If someone with no nose – none at all- comes, keep Naruto far far away from him. At all costs, don't engage him either... You'll just die."
"Why would I do that?"
Rose fixed him with a hard stare and then looked at the door debating if she could just walk out... "Because you obviously care about him and if you don't than he will be used as a... let's call it a hostage."
"Why?"
Rose had to keep her temper in to not yell. "You know that man, Tom Riddle who killed my parents and then tried to kill me in that memory? Our minds are linked because he could bloody kill me properly, and by letting you see those memories, you let him in as well. He's the kind of person to use my attachments to get to me."
Inoichi's eyes widened, almost like he hadn't been expecting anything like this. Hell, no sane person expected that of all things.
"He will stop at nothing. He will use Naruto, because he knows that I don't leave anyone behind."
"This is quite serious," Inoichi mused. "Why did you come to Konoha?"
Rose turned to the screen and gave it a look. "Hokage-Sama, I would be happy to tell you my full story."
There was a pause, and then another door, this time originating from the screen opened. Rose blinked in surprise – she hadn't expected there not be a door there.
Out walked the Hokage, followed by a long white haired male and Kakashi. Rose almost cursed; it wasn't like she didn't want... Oh well.
"How long have you known we were there? Normal people don't usually know what's behind the screen." The Hokage asked seriously.
"Since I walked into the room, come on; how idiotic did you think I was?" Rose asked bluntly.
The Hokage nodded his head as he seated himself in Inoichi's seat. "I see Potter-San, this is Jiraiya of the Sannin," He gestured to the old man to his left. "And if you would continue to answer, Inoichi's questions. I'm quite curious to know about the danger that you have introduced to Naruto."
Rose breathed in deeply and had to remind herself that now wasn't the time to mouth off at the ruler. She did that way too often.
"What do you want to know?" Rose's voice was flat, bored.
"Why are you in Konoha?" Inochi started seemingly surprised.
"For Haku... And because we need him to master the Snake summoning contract. Tom Riddle had done something that is illegal in our community, and it's made him almost immortal."
"Almost immortal?" Jiraiya of the Sannin, interrupted. Rose glared at him.
"He can't die, because he spilt his soul into eight pieces and put it into different objects, so as long as a piece of his soul is still alive – he cannot die."
"That's if you believe in a soul," The Hokage added, with disbelief colouring his voice.
Rose bit her lip. "Everything has a soul. With the power that we wield, anything is possible... The first memory, that was Tom Riddle, you saw him do something that killed my mother." Rose said instructing the last part to the blonde.
"It is true, but it also didn't kill you."
"It did."
"I hate to tell you this. But you're alive." The Sannin added dryly.
Rose tried to smile but it came out more like a grimace. "I am but berley, I did die for a moment - my mother protected me at last minute – I'm alive only because of what she did."
"This doesn't explain why you're in Konoha," The Hokage said, looking like he was interested but wanted to move on the conversation.
"He split his soul – as I was saying into six different pieces. I've been destroying them all – because when they're all gone, he can be killed. There is one piece left other than the one in him. One in a snake."
"You had Haku sign the snake contract and realised that he needed training to use it so you came to Konoha to get him trained?" Kakashi said talking for the first time.
When he said that it made her feel like she was cheating him slightly, she didn't like the feeling – his voice was so flat. "In essence, yes."
"So you were using Konoha for you own personal gain?" Jiraiya asked, with a raised eyebrow.
Rose reluctantly nodded her head. "Well yeah but..."
"Why is Naruto in danger?" The Hokage pressed.
Rose looked at the ceiling not liking where this was going. "Good old Tom might not be happy with his inability to kill me... He has this tendency to kill anyone I get close to. That includes Naruto."
There was a pause before Inochi interrupted. "How many times have you and...Tom? Fought exactly?"
Rose blinked and started to count in her mind. "I dunno, I'd say about five times... Once when I was one, eleven, twelve, fourteen, and sixteen... he tries a lot."
"You tell us this Miss Potter, but, if you are not in Konoha will the threat to Naruto disappear?" The Hokage asked coolly.
Rose shrugged. "He's a stubborn bastard, so I'm not sure. Kick me out if you must – but really – let me kill that snake first."
"What position does this Tom hold in your community?" Jiraiya of the Sannin asked.
"He kind of runs it now, he toppled our ministry," Rose answered feeling quite annoyed over that fact.
"You're going against your ruler?" The Hokage asked, sounding cautious.
"Well, he is trying to kill me. And I do lead the resistance."
"You seem so young though..." Jiraiya mused thoughtfully.
"I assure you, I very capable of the task."
"I don't doubt that..." Jiraiya muttered.
"Very well, Potter Rosemary, I degree that you are allowed to stay in Konoha to protect Naruto – I believe that is the best option. You will stay until you are able to move out against 'Tom'." Rose winced, she really didn't like being called Rosemary, or Mary anymore.
"Serious?"
"I can assure you Miss Potter that I am indeed 'serious'," The Hokage responded sagely.
"Er-"
"You can call three others of your resistance to help you plan and to help guard Naruto from any attacks."
Rose blinked owlishly. "Yes, sir."
$$%%%^TTYLB
"Okay, okay, so who're we getting?" Ron asked eagerly.
"Not sure," Rose said with an equal sized grin.
"I can't believe the Hokage is even letting us stay in Konoha after all that. Really Rose how do you convince people?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows farrowed deeply.
"I've been asking myself the same thing for seventeen years."
Ron and Hermione cracked up. "Oh, tomorrow, The Hokage said he would get Anko to do the summoning for us. He's going to be mortal again; we can destroy him – all those people."
"We can avenge them," Ron finished.
"Just wait!" Hermione said smiling. "Things are only going to get harder from this."
"The calm before the storm," Rose mused.
"Exactly."
"I'm ready for it – I always have been," Rose said with a small smile. Rose was wondering who Hermione would contact to come down to Konoha and how they'd get here.
...Rose also wondered if she should go talk to Kakashi iron a few things out, he'd seemed pretty distant... Rose didn't know Kakashi that well but... She didn't like him being distant with her when she worked so hard for him to warm up to her.
Rose figured that Kakashi and her were friends of sorts. She would figure something out.