Chapter Six: Suspicious Surprises and Startling Snakes
Ginny winced as blood trickled down her lip, dripping off her chin. She had a feeling she might have almost bit right through her tongue. The pain however, helped her clear her mind. She had no doubt that the tents in the clearing were filled with Oni gang members. It was further confirmed by the murmurs she had heard from the tent she currently hid behind.
So how was she going to get over to Luna and Neville before they attacked her. She sighed mentally, it appeared she’d have to wait for whatever Kankuro and his brother were up to, to distract the men before she could get to her friends.
Only nothing was happening.
She was watching the sun creep up, filtering between the trees when it happened. Two figures appeared near the center of the clearing with small puffs of smoke. It wasn’t Gaara of Kankuro though.
One was a man in mostly black and a green vest. He had his black hair pulled back in a sharp, spiky ponytail that looked so tight that it must have hurt. A metal band, much like Kankuro’s was strapped to his arm with some sort of spiral design. Though she couldn't really tell from this distance.
The girl was in a long black dress that had slits up the sides with a red sash. She held onto a black lacquered board and wore her blonde hair pulled up into four spiky ponytails. Her headband had the same symbol as Kankuro’s. Were these allies? They had too be, but did they know who she was, or would they hurt her thinking she was part of the Oni-gang.
The man yawned, “Temari, why do you always bring me into these troublesome situations?”
She looked down at her crouching companion, “We need your particular talents to catch this guy alive.”
“Hnn, seems to me I was just there and available.”
“Well there’s that too.”
“So it’s the guy with the white hair right?” He said it and Ginny remembered the masked man with long, shaggy white hair that had run a finger down her cheek, promising pain and something she didn't want to think about.
“Yeah, capture him, we need him alive.” She sighed, looking around the clearing and noticing the captives behind them. “Hmm, wonder what happened to those guys?”
“Got on the wrong side of the rebels I suppose.” He sighed, not looking too terribly worked up about them, which made Ginny bristle silently. Were these people all apathetic killers?! “What do you think the bandits are waiting for anyway?”
“Yeah, didn’t we purposely appear here? Where are the little bugs, I wanna get started... Maybe they’re all cowards.” She yelled the last part and it was as though she had said magic words. The masked men burst from the tents surrounding them running full-tilt and screaming in wordless rage. There were hundreds of them.
They’re gonna get bloody well killed! Was Ginny’s thought, until the madly grinning Temari started cackling wildly. She picked up her lacquered board, unfurling it to reveal a massive white fan with three purple circles.
“Kamaitachi no Jutsu!” She shouted as she brought her fan slashing downward. Over a dozen men were sent flying backwards by a massive gust of wind that also took out a few tents. Ginny’s eyes widened.
The man in the green vest had straightened when the men charged while reaching into his pockets. He was throwing sharp blades that multiplied in the air, striking men in any exposed and vital area. Slews of men were falling and more just kept appearing. It was like watching a car crash, she couldn't look away.
Suddenly, Ginny found herself being grabbed in a vice-like grip from behind. “What have we here? Another...” The man wasn’t given a chance to finish. In a brutal move that her older brothers had taught her (which worked well because she had a very hard head as she had been told) She brought the back of her head crashing up under the man’s jaw. She felt the edge of the mask bite into her scalp but ignored the pain as the man dropped her, startled.
She spun around and kicked him hard in the groin. Then grabbing his fallen mask she ducked low and ran, giving the clearing and its battle a wide berth. She dodged through the trees at the edge of the clearing then, slipping on the mask, she dashed into the melee from the other side. No one seemed to notice the masked figure that was shorter then the rest and thankfully the two that were killing all masked men without any qualms were far enough away from her.
Hitting the center of the clearing she breathed with a sigh of relief to see the table still standing with the wands still there, albeit scattered a bit. The brooms had only fallen to the ground, however, someone seemed to have grabbed the sword to use in the battle. No matter, thought Ginny, they’d get it later with either acio or a tracking spell. Ginny dived under the table pausing briefly to grab the wands. Selecting hers from the bunch she felt instantly better, though not entirely safer.
She summoned the brooms that had been scattered and then cast sticking charms on them attaching them to Hermione’s bag. She dragged the bag under the table then crept out from under it. Everyone seemed focussed on the battle and she noticed blood soaked puppets had now joined the melee. Kankuro was around somewhere.
She went to get Neville down first. Casting a feather-light charm on him, she wrapped an arm around his waist and proceeded to cast a loosening charm on the ropes around his wrists. She was not going to risk a cutting spell so close to a major artery. Carefully she lowered him to the ground, canceling the feather-light and cast ennervate.
“Ughh... what... who?" Ginny lifted the mask briefly to eliminate his fears, "Ginny?” He winced in pain as he tried to sit up.
“Neville thank god your alive.”
“Why are you wearing that mask?” he asked as she handed him his wand.
“Trying not to get killed. Neville, listen, we’re in the middle of a battle, I’m going to get Luna down then we have to get out of this clearing. We can’t fight against these people, they’re much too strong and unlike us, completely willing to kill.”
Neville nodded, though he looked like he was in immense pain. Ginny repeated the process with Luna and gave her, her wand. Then casting a feather-light charm on the bag they dashed out of the clearing. Half way to the edge of the forest a puppet jumped in her way and without pause she whipped off the mask. Though she couldn’t see Kankuro anywhere the puppet immediately backed off and attacked the masked men beside her. They made it out of the clearing but Luna tripped over a root, breathing heavily as she tried to get back up.
“We’ll wait here.” Ginny whispered.
“Wait for what? Ginny, where’re Hermione and Ron? What’s going on?”
“Long story Neville, but we have to wait for the battle to end and hope our temporary allies,” she winced slightly at the word, “are the ones that win.”
“T-temporary... allies?”
Ginny looked at Neville, letting him know just how serious she was, “They may have saved us, but they’d kill us without any hesitation.” Neville gulped and gripped his wand tightly watching the battle.
“They have been trained to kill since they knew how to walk, their magic is tainted by blood but not influenced by it.” Luna had her trademark faraway look on. “They kill to protect what is precious to them, the path of the ninja is a blood-soaked one.”
Neville and Ginny stared at Luna for a moment. Then Ginny reached over ans snapped her fingers in front of Luna’s nose. The girl came back to herself and gave Ginny a look that on anyone else would seem bland. Ginny, however, recognized it as the closest thing Luna ever gave to a glare. All three gripped their wands and watched the raging battle.
And it was bloody. More of the masked Oni gang swarmed the area. There were hundreds of them and she didn’t know where they were all coming from. Sand undulated and took out handfuls of men in sweeps. Gaara stood not to war away from his area of carnage, completely untouched.
Kankuro dogged attacks on his person attacking with more puppets then Ginny could count. He was grinning wildly, splashed head to foot in blood and gore. The blonde haired girl, Temari?, stood on a tree a good way back slashing her fan back and forth, wind unfurled from it slicing up anything in its path, from tents to trees to bodies.
For awhile she couldn’t see the green vested man, however she did notice the man with white hair. The same man that had ambushed their camp and threatened them. He was standing across the clearing grinning at the carnage, not seeming to care that it was his own men dying.
A small pop of smoke beside her made Ginny jump and aim her wand at the disturbance, Luna and Neville following suit. The man green vested man simply raised an eyebrow, not seeming to understand the threat of three wands trained on him. He shrugged and said conversationally, “You must be the one Gaara warned us about. I won’t hurt you, don’t interrupt me.” And he turned back to the battle.
They watched in confusion as he made several hand signs. Ginny was trying not to gag on the stench of blood coming from him. “Kagemane no Jutsu” he mumbled and to their amazement his own shadow started to stretch.
They can control sand, puppets, and wind without wands, why not shadows?! But this was magic used on a scale Ginny hadn’t seen used before.
They watched silently as the man’s shadow began creeping around the battlefield, carefully avoiding the shadows of any people but running through shadows of trees and tents. His eyes were narrowed in concentration as the shadow edged closer to the man watching the battle with aloof cruelty. What is it with guys that have white-blonde hair... are they all assholes? The Malfoy’s certainly had been.
The tip of the shadow was just about to merge with the leaders shadow when the man dodged to the left in a flicker of motion.
“Shit.” Green Vest muttered. The shadow began branching out attempting to catch the dodging leader. He suddenly put on a burst of speed running full out around the battle, grinning madly. He dodged all the little branches of the shadow trying to touch his own. Ginny’s heart leaped to her throat as she realized that he was headed right for them. He pulled two short swords from their sheaths and while he was dodging Green Vests shadow his gaze was locked on Ginny’s eyes.
He’s going to kill us! Her mind was screaming but with her wand in her hand she did not fall into the blind panic she had been in before. She aimed her wand at the figure swiftly coming closer. Not one step closer!!
“STUPIFY!!” The spell shot from her wand hitting the man square on the chest. He was lifted off the ground with the force of it and flung backwards ripping through several smaller branches before slamming with a sickening crunch into a tree trunk. He crumpled to the ground.
Silence rippled out in waves as masked men realized their leader had fallen. And suddenly they were all running, in every direction. When the clearing was empty except for the dead and the silent ‘allies’ Ginny finally lowered her wand.
No one spoke for several moments before Neville struggled to his feet, looking around for a moment confused. His eyes were feverish and bleary, and he didn't look like he knew where he was anymore. He then raised his wand and murmured, “Accio Sword of Gryffindor.”
Luna laughed eerily from beside Ginny. Her eyes too, looked glassy with fever, “Magic meets chakra, cultures clash, and the boy-who-lived will now learn the power the Dark Lord can never have. Neville duck.”
“Huh?” Neville looked down to where Luna sat by his feet. “What do you mean duc...” Luna knocked his feet out from under him and he fell into a heap just as the Gryffindor’s sword sliced through the air where his head had been, burying itself in a tree. “Oh...” was Neville’s response.
“People who summon sharp objects tend to become pin-cushions.” she said to no one in particular.
“Didn’t think of that.” was Neville grumbled reply as he struggled to his feet. Several of his wounds had reopened (not they had been healed, rather the blood had clotted). He winced as one particularly nasty gash started bleeding sluggishly.
That, as well as movement from the rest of the living in the clearing, reminded Ginny of their still potentially dangerous situation. She looked up to see a very surprised looking Kankuro check the pulse of the white haired man and suddenly Ginny was gripped with fear. She had never killed someone before, what if she... but the force of that blast... and...
“He’s alive,” muttered Kankuro before pulling out some ropes and tying the man up. Ginny let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.
Green Vest sighed from beside her, nearly scaring her out of her skin, and stood up wiping blood off his face with a cloth he had pulled from one of his pouches. “Looks like I really wasn’t needed in the end... at all.” He gave her a strange look as he continued to wipe blood from his face and neck. None of it his own. Ginny gagged.
“At least we had your pretty face here, eh Shikamaru?” So that was his name. Shikamaru shrugged and sent a very bored look at Temari who grinned back.
Kankuro stood up from the bound man and looked over at Ginny, Neville, and Luna. His lip seemed to twitch as he watched Neville’s clumsy attempts at pulling out the sword from the tree. Finally huffing in frustration Neville pointed his wand and muttered “labefacio” The sword began shaking back and forth loosening itself and with one final tug Neville freed the sword. Gripping it in his right hand he held his wand in his left, still not looking like he knew where he was or what was going on. Rather he looked as though he might pass out.
“So how the hell did you do that?” Kankuro turned to her and narrowed his eyes, “No hand seals, no jitsu, just a word and he goes flying, another word and a sword comes flying out of nowhere, a third word and it starts wiggling in a tree loosening itself.”
“Uh, well, it’s normally not that strong.” Ginny muttered under her breath, thinking more about her stupify. This was just great, they hadn’t seen her as a threat before, but now they were suspicious. Didn’t they recognize wands and magic? Didn’t they have any bloody wizards in this world?!
“I think,” came the cold, monotone voice of Gaara, sending chills down her spine, “that it is time you tell us who exactly you are.”
OoOoO
Harry watched in amazement as Naruto dodged his silver haired teacher, Kakashi’s, fist and kicked out with enough force to break bones. The man wasn’t there to meet his foot however, disappearing in a puff of smoke. The two had been dueling... sorry... sparring since early that morning and now the sun was nearing its zenith.
“Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!” And suddenly there were five Naruto’s attacking Kakashi-san. Hermione wouldn’t believe this... hell I’m seeing it and I find it hard to believe. Each clone vanished in a puff of smoke when it was hit with any kind of force. And with a speed that made Harry completely miss the move, Naruto was sent sprawling backwards landing hard on the ground.
Before he could move his teacher was there, blade resting on Naruto’s throat.
“Why can’t I ever beat you?” muttered Naruto as Kakashi-san helped him up
“Naruto I have been training with you for eight years, most of what you know I taught you, except what you learned from Jiraiya-sama.” He ruffled the blonde’s hair and started to walk off, “Oh yeah, Rock Lee and Gai-sensei want you to work with them tomorrow.” He called over his shoulder.
Naruto shuddered in mock horror and turned to Harry grinning. “What’cha think?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it.” said Harry honestly and with a grin. “I see what you mean about me being helpless compared to people here my age.” Harry smirked again, “Though if I must say, with my wand I’m pretty formidable.” Then he sighed, he felt way too vulnerable without his wand.
As if reading his thoughts Naruto smiled comfortingly, “Don’t worry, Tsunade Baa-chan is finalizing some plans. Once they’re done we’ll be able to give you your wand back.” The blonde suddenly hopped up and stretched. “Come on! Let’s get some ramen, my treat, and then we’ll go get you some supplies.” Harry grinned again and followed his new hyper-active friend.
You think he’d be tired after a workout like that, but it’s like he barely did anything...
Harry was jolted out of his thoughts when Naruto jumped back with a yell. A snake was slithering across the ground, making its way to a near by bush. Naruto reached into his pouch as if to go for a throwing knife when Harry stayed his hand. “What’s the problem?”
“I hate snakes.” was Naruto’s very bitter and vicious reply. Harry sighed, it seemed no matter which world it was, snakes were reviled as the source of evil.
He crouched down ignoring Naruto’s widening eyes, reached inside himself and spoke.
“What are you doing so far from shelter serpent brother? People like this one fear you and would kill you given the chance. There is no hiding out in the open.”
The snake froze and looked him full on. Naruto froze as well but Harry couldn’t see his expression. When the snake answered it ignored Harry’s question.
“Though it is true the more powerful of us can speak human tongue,”Harry nearly had to choke back a laugh at the idea of a snake speaking human language, “the collective memory of my ancestors has never some across those who can speak our native tongue.”
“It is one of my skills.”
“Yes we know, it is called Parslemouth right. The other serpent speaker has told us about it, he is very powerful, do you know him?”
Harry’s sharp intake of breath made Naruto behind him worry, especially when the boy fell back, unable to support himself. He looked horrified.
“I know him, he is evil... he... he would not care if he destroyed you in the process of getting what he wants. You should not trust him.”
The snake looked affronted, “We snakes are proud creatures, we serve those with enough power to suit our needs, but if they become a threat to us we will not answer their call. It is our choice, he is powerful and he has not shown himself to be treacherous yet.”
Harry hung his head, hands trembling in rage and fear. The snake continued more gently, “We can see that you fear him greatly, we will not tell him of you. But he may find you anyway. Be warned young human brother.” With that the serpent started away.
“Wait!” Harry called after her, “Thank you, what is your name?”
The snake cocked it’s head as if surprised, “My name is Azelz though it matters not, I am not one of the ones that get called.”
“It matters to me, I am Harry.” If snakes could smile Harry swore that Azlez would be grinning.
“It is pleasant to meet you Harry, may the mother snake guide your path. Maybe we shall see each other again.”
Harry ignored Naruto’s attempts to find out what had happened. He buried his face in his hands content to let himself rage against his fate, even if only for a bit. It seemed he would never escape his destiny.
Voldemort was here.
O-O
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Chapter end notes: So yeah, there is all six chapters that were posted on fanfiction.net. Now you have to wait like everyone else for the next chapter, which I hope to have up soon.
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