Magic's Strongest Disciple
#01—Sakaki's Decision
Sakaki gets hired for a bodyguard job of a high-class British businessman whose political enemies desire to do him in. Normally, Sakaki wouldn't accept such a job (because it was on the other side of the world!), but the dojo desperately needed money. Because the businessman lived in suburban London, Sakaki was instructed to meet the man at a local park as the man dropped his kids off to school. During his wait there, Sakaki watched as a group of young children (led by a particularly fat one) chased around a smaller boy. He was rather impressed with the boy's agility and speed, which what helping keep him out of the bullies' clutches, until he stumbled on some gravel and the bullies caught up to them. Having zero tolerance for bullies, Sakaki stepped in and scared the bullies off with a sliver of his battle aura, leaving behind only the kid that was being chased. After a brief talk with the kid, Sakaki realized that he was always being bullied by those kids (led by his own cousin, no less) and that his relatives did nothing to correct this behavior. Deciding to try to help the kid, Sakaki shows him some basic Karate stances and moves (namely the Yamazuki) and tells him to only use them to defend himself with those moves the next time they attack him. It was shortly after getting the kid's name, Harry (8-years-old), that his client showed up and he officially began his mission.
Two days later, Sakaki's mission is finished. Out of curiosity for the kid he encountered, Sakaki returned to the area that he'd found the kid in. After a little bit of investigating, he found the kid and his cousin's home after visiting the school. He watches from a distance as the boy Harry is forced to do all manner of chores and is regularly hit and abused (verbally by the aunt and uncle, physically by the cousin). Feeling guilty, angry, and even more curious, he pays them a visit. He is able to guess that Harry had been hurriedly stuffed away and hidden somewhere out of sight when the door opens. Though the man and woman seemed respectable enough, when their son recognized him as 'the monster' who taught 'the freak' to fight 'like a demon,' the parents showed their true colors. They claimed that their ungrateful nephew had decided to suddenly attack their innocent and harmless Dudders during recess, shortly after Sakaki had shown Harry how to defend himself. Dudley had apparently been taken to the school infirmary with a pair of bruises (one on his face and one in his gut), and one of his friends had a broken wrist. As they were starting to make demands about Sakaki paying the hospital bills and to compensate Dudley for his terrible injuries, Sakaki had finally lost his temper. With a flare of his ki aura, he subdued the trio and asked where Harry was. He found Harry in the cupboard under the stairs after hearing the boy quietly knocking on the door. Realizing that the cupboard was the boy's bedroom was the last straw for Sakaki, he offered Harry the choice to accompany him away from his relatives and to start a new, fresh life somewhere far away from them. Though very hesitant about leaving the only place he was familiar with, Harry decided to risk it because the scary stranger's advice and teachings had actually helped him out a lot in that fight during recess. When Sakaki informed the Dursleys of his intentions, Vernon happily handed the boy over to him, giving him the court papers to sign (Vernon had already had them drawn up and ready for processing, he only needed to find someone who would've been willing to take the freaky burden off of their shoulders). With the papers signed, Sakaki promptly took Harry to the airport and left Great Britain for Japan.
When they arrived at Ryozanpaku, the other masters were all extremely surprised about Sakaki's unusual decision to bring back a kid. After introducing Harry to Miu and letting them run off to play together (Miu, age 11, was ecstatic at finally getting her own 'little brother'), Sakaki explained about Harry's situation in England and what had led to his decision. It was quickly determined that they would raise Harry and send him to school once he was fluent in Japanese. Akisame gave Harry an IQ test and was able to determine that Harry was an exceptionally bright boy and that he picked things up very quickly once he put his mind to it. Akisame, Kensei, and Miu were largely responsible for teaching Harry how to read, speak, and write Japanese.
One year later…
It had taken Harry almost a year, but he had finally mastered Japanese well enough that the masters felt he was ready to attend the local public school. During his free time at the dojo, Harry spent a large amount of time doing basic stretches and exercises to help improve his strength and endurance (it wasn't yet decided that he would learn martial arts, the masters left that decision up to him). Harry was also very observant and studied many of the masters' techniques in secret after having seen them in action. During Harry's first days at the new school, he was quickly singled out and bullied because he was quite clearly a scrawny gaijin. But Harry was mostly able to dodge the bullies thanks to his experience with Dudley.
One day, the bullies had managed to corner him on his way back to the dojo, and they outnumbered him five to one. Despite the disadvantage, Harry was able to put his superior agility and limited martial arts knowledge to use (even using improvised attacks) to help him defend himself and knock the bullies out. After making sure that they were alright, Harry quickly rushed back to Ryozanpaku. Unknown to Harry, Kensei and Akisame had seen the entire thing during their own trip back to the dojo after shopping. Later that night, after tending to Harry's minor injuries and putting him and Miu to bed, the two of them shared their observations about Harry's fight with the others. Akisame and Kensei both agreed that Harry had an incredible natural talent, as proven by the fact that he could use certain moves of each of the masters (crudely of course) after only seeing them done a couple of times. They decided that they couldn't allow such talent to go to waste and that they would begin training Harry in martial arts the very next day (if he agreed, which they knew he likely would).
It was shortly after his training began that the masters discovered Harry was magical (he was always happy or content since he'd arrived at Ryozanpaku so he hadn't had any accidents). He had been knocked flying by Miu during one of their early sparring sessions and had teleported to safety and attacked her while she was surprised and confused. After realizing what he'd done, Harry had apologized profusely over his little accident and begged them to let him stay at the dojo. Once they'd gotten Harry to calm down, Kensei finally mentioned that he'd known about Harry's magic all along because of his own magical heritage. After a bit of storytelling, Kensei offers to teach Harry in the ways of Chinese magic (despite not being magical himself). It was a choice that Harry decided to accept because it wouldn't have been smart to let his magic grow unchecked and untrained. Because he couldn't teach Harry himself, Kensei brings his daughter Renka, who is magical, to Ryozanpaku (blindfolded, of course ) to help teach Harry how to feel and control his magic. After a couple of lessons, Renka and Kensei work out an agreement that she can visit during school breaks to teach Harry (which she had to keep secret for Harry's protection) in exchange for him returning to China during those same times to visit his wife. Of course, Kensei just goes into hiding rather than return to China.
Two years later…
Dumbledore is alarmed to learn that Harry has disappeared from Privet Drive without his knowledge. After speaking with the Dursleys, he is concerned and confused as to where young Harry might've gone. The roster for all magical children in Great Britain is failing to locate the boy, even though it should've been able to track him anywhere in Europe. The Dursleys hadn't cared enough to get to know anything about the monster of a man who had taken custody of Harry. And he was concerned about what the boy might've been learning from a man who so obviously wasn't a 'little kid's person' to begin with; the fact that he'd so freely and easily taught an eight-year-old how to beat up other kids with relative ease only reinforced his concerns. He quietly assigns Moody with the task of tracking down this man and bringing Harry back to England to fulfill his destiny. The Wizarding World went about its usual self of laying, shifting, and dodging blame and accusations (many of the recent ones were pertaining to Harry's disappearance and that it was all Dumbledore's fault).
Three to five years later…
What happens next is largely determined by what kind of environment you want the Wizarding World to be in and when/how you wanna bring Harry back into it. Do you want Voldemort to have returned? Is he still a ghostly wraith that's leeching off other people or did he get reincarnated after obtaining the Philosopher's Stone? Is Dumbledore the classic manipulative old bastard or 'underrated' overprotective idealist who's making some poor choices in regards to Harry's wellbeing and destiny? Are Ron and Hermione friends? Is Hermione even still alive or did she get killed by the troll that Quirrel let into the school? Does Draco have almost free run of Hogwarts because no one there has the power and influence to oppose him or has he simply tried to take control?
In regards to the pairings, I think that Harry/Renka would be the best choice in this case. Given how long they'd have known each other, I'd assume that Harry and Miu would see each other as siblings and not potential boy/girlfriend material. Let's face it: because she's a gaijin, Renka's never gonna have a chance at getting Kenichi in canon. Renka is one of my favorite female characters in that series; she's a kickass martial artist in her own right, but she's not spacey or depressing like Miu and Shigure are. The fact that she's adorable like a kitten doesn't hurt her case either in my opinion. Although, I suppose if you wanna add some humor and teenage drama into the mix, you could always have Harry develop a crush on Shigure (that'd be rather funny in my opinion). But there is one particular issue that I hope you don't fall victim to, as countless others have done before now: don't confuse love with lust. Real love is a slow process that is generally created after considerable amount of time. And lust is what people often like to call 'love at first sight.'
Plus, I think that Kenichi should also be included in this story…at least on the Japanese side. After all, what's the point of writing a crossover if you only invite 'half' the original cast? Also, if you're going to include Kenichi, I figure you should keep his most defining skill as a martial artist his own (namely his insane endurance and ability to stand when he should've been beaten down), which is why I chose to give Harry some/a lot of natural talent in martial arts. And, by giving Harry high natural talent, you're also paying homage to his most defining attributes in HP canon which is his naturally high defense against the Dark Arts.
If you decide to include Kenichi, then I strongly recommend you consider compensating for Harry's inclusion in the story by giving him his own opponents to face in this story during the whole Ragnarok arc. Here's an idea: give him some 'history' with some of the various Yomi members. Like have him and Shou or Koukin or Tanimoto Natsu (Hermit), or have all of them be longtime martial artist rivals. How about this: rumors spread in Yomi about Ryuuto forming Ragnarok with the explicit purpose of defeating Yomi and that one or two of the Yomi members decide to personally investigate. And when they witness some of Kenichi's fights, they realize that Ryozanpaku has finally decided to choose an official disciple (because Harry was essentially adopted, he is treated like Miu in that he isn't considered an official disciple by most of the masters). Anyway, when they move in to attack Kenichi, Harry notices and intercepts them, which starts off a series of battles between the rivals until one of them finally admits defeat and returns to their master(s) for increased training.