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edenfallingThis is part 3 of An Ounce of Prevention, which is a Naruto/Harry Potter crossover that I started as a giftfic for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
askerian.
Technically, it's an insertion of one element of HP into the Naruto world, but that does count as a crossover of sorts, and the HP element will be playing a larger role as time goes on. This story will not affect canon in either series; that is, it takes place during the Naruto timeskip, and significantly before CoS in HP.
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Chapter 3: Imitation Is
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Sakura ate dinner with her parents, and then excused herself to study. By now, her family knew better than to interrupt her when she was working with finicky medical ninjutsu, so she could write to Tomu without fear of discovery. It would be more prudent to wait until tomorrow, to make sure the guard could monitor her words and behavior, but... she wanted to get a better feel for her new opponent. And fifteen minutes -- she set her alarm clock to make sure she didn't get distracted -- probably wouldn't hurt.
She laid the diary on her desk, braced herself, and set her brush against the page.
"Tomu? Are you there?"
The characters sank into the paper and new ones welled to the surface. --Yes. Hello, Hana. Thank you for taking the time to write to me.--
"It's no bother. I only have lessons in the mornings, and I can't practice all afternoon and evening. Normally I'd spend time with some friends, but they're out of town right now." Actually, only Team 8 was out on a retrieval mission -- Gai's team and Team 10 were around and, to hear Ino tell it, bored out of their minds training for the upcoming chuunin exam -- but there was no need for Tomu to know that.
--Is it hard, learning to be a medic-nin? It seems very complicated. Do you attend a school for that, or are you apprenticed to a master?--
An interesting question, Sakura thought. Tomu's country must have schools that taught more than just basic subjects -- they might be like the engineering colleges various daimyos and businessmen sponsored in order to produce marvels without chakra. But to teach medical ninjutsu in a school? How peculiar.
"I'm Tsunade-sensei's apprentice," she wrote. She frowned, and decided to offer a bit of information. "It's a great honor to be chosen, since I'm young and not a chuunin yet, and she's very famous and strong. I work very hard, so she won't regret agreeing to train me."
There was a pause as her words sank into the paper. Then, --If it's not rude, may I ask how old you are?-- Tomu wrote. --You seem very mature to me.--
Flattery. Welcome flattery, but too obvious to trust. Sakura grinned, and inked her brush. "I just turned fourteen," she wrote. "How old are you?"
--I was sixteen when I was copied into this diary, but I've been in here for a very long time. The odd thing is that while I know time has passed, I don't feel as if I've gotten older.--
If true, that was very interesting. Any information on the limits of this memory imprint seal would be useful in establishing lines of research.
"How does that work?" she asked. "If time passes, your mind grows older even if you have no body. Logically, you shouldn't be sixteen anymore."
--Logic and magic rarely have much to do with each other,-- Tomu wrote with a wry air. Sakura nodded in rueful recognition -- chakra and logic had a similarly troubled relationship -- and then frowned. How could writing carry a vocal inflection?
"Kai," she whispered, and reached across her desk to prick her finger on a kunai. The pain was mild, an old friend, but it helped clear her head.
"That must be confusing for you," she wrote. "It's confusing enough being fourteen once -- I wouldn't want to be a teenager for decades! My parents and all my teachers say everything seems out of proportion when you're young, and my life has enough drama on its own; I'd like to be sure I'm not exaggerating my problems out of perspective."
There -- what would he make of the bait?
--I doubt two years' seniority gives me much more perspective,-- Tomu wrote after a moment, --but if you tell me more, I'd be happy to help, Hana. If nothing else, I've found that talking through a problem can make it easier to deal with, and I have all the time in the world to listen.--
Sakura swore Tomu was smiling, wherever 'he' really was. That was unnerving, but she didn't care at the moment.
"You're fishing, too," she murmured, "but you're not very good at this, are you? I think you and Hana will become very good friends. And then we'll spring the trap."
Anyone who thought girls were stupid and weak deserved what was coming to him.
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End of Chapter
Back to When In Rome
Continue to Birds of a Feather
Read the final version on ff.net
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---------------------------------------------
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NaNo Word Count:
11/7 -- 275 words (275 on "Lemonade")
11/8 -- 650 words (650 on "Debts")
11/9 -- 900 words (900 on "Guardian")
11/10 -- 1,300 words (350 on "An Ounce of Prevention," 950 on "Lemonade")
11/11 -- 1,225 words (800 on "Harvest," 425 on "Lemonade")
Current Total = 9,950 words
In other words, I suck. But this still averages out to about 900 words per day (all right, 904.545454... ad infinitum -- yes, I do long division by hand on scrap paper), which is more than I usually manage, so I'm okay with it.
askerian.Technically, it's an insertion of one element of HP into the Naruto world, but that does count as a crossover of sorts, and the HP element will be playing a larger role as time goes on. This story will not affect canon in either series; that is, it takes place during the Naruto timeskip, and significantly before CoS in HP.
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 3: Imitation Is
---------------------------------------------
Sakura ate dinner with her parents, and then excused herself to study. By now, her family knew better than to interrupt her when she was working with finicky medical ninjutsu, so she could write to Tomu without fear of discovery. It would be more prudent to wait until tomorrow, to make sure the guard could monitor her words and behavior, but... she wanted to get a better feel for her new opponent. And fifteen minutes -- she set her alarm clock to make sure she didn't get distracted -- probably wouldn't hurt.
She laid the diary on her desk, braced herself, and set her brush against the page.
"Tomu? Are you there?"
The characters sank into the paper and new ones welled to the surface. --Yes. Hello, Hana. Thank you for taking the time to write to me.--
"It's no bother. I only have lessons in the mornings, and I can't practice all afternoon and evening. Normally I'd spend time with some friends, but they're out of town right now." Actually, only Team 8 was out on a retrieval mission -- Gai's team and Team 10 were around and, to hear Ino tell it, bored out of their minds training for the upcoming chuunin exam -- but there was no need for Tomu to know that.
--Is it hard, learning to be a medic-nin? It seems very complicated. Do you attend a school for that, or are you apprenticed to a master?--
An interesting question, Sakura thought. Tomu's country must have schools that taught more than just basic subjects -- they might be like the engineering colleges various daimyos and businessmen sponsored in order to produce marvels without chakra. But to teach medical ninjutsu in a school? How peculiar.
"I'm Tsunade-sensei's apprentice," she wrote. She frowned, and decided to offer a bit of information. "It's a great honor to be chosen, since I'm young and not a chuunin yet, and she's very famous and strong. I work very hard, so she won't regret agreeing to train me."
There was a pause as her words sank into the paper. Then, --If it's not rude, may I ask how old you are?-- Tomu wrote. --You seem very mature to me.--
Flattery. Welcome flattery, but too obvious to trust. Sakura grinned, and inked her brush. "I just turned fourteen," she wrote. "How old are you?"
--I was sixteen when I was copied into this diary, but I've been in here for a very long time. The odd thing is that while I know time has passed, I don't feel as if I've gotten older.--
If true, that was very interesting. Any information on the limits of this memory imprint seal would be useful in establishing lines of research.
"How does that work?" she asked. "If time passes, your mind grows older even if you have no body. Logically, you shouldn't be sixteen anymore."
--Logic and magic rarely have much to do with each other,-- Tomu wrote with a wry air. Sakura nodded in rueful recognition -- chakra and logic had a similarly troubled relationship -- and then frowned. How could writing carry a vocal inflection?
"Kai," she whispered, and reached across her desk to prick her finger on a kunai. The pain was mild, an old friend, but it helped clear her head.
"That must be confusing for you," she wrote. "It's confusing enough being fourteen once -- I wouldn't want to be a teenager for decades! My parents and all my teachers say everything seems out of proportion when you're young, and my life has enough drama on its own; I'd like to be sure I'm not exaggerating my problems out of perspective."
There -- what would he make of the bait?
--I doubt two years' seniority gives me much more perspective,-- Tomu wrote after a moment, --but if you tell me more, I'd be happy to help, Hana. If nothing else, I've found that talking through a problem can make it easier to deal with, and I have all the time in the world to listen.--
Sakura swore Tomu was smiling, wherever 'he' really was. That was unnerving, but she didn't care at the moment.
"You're fishing, too," she murmured, "but you're not very good at this, are you? I think you and Hana will become very good friends. And then we'll spring the trap."
Anyone who thought girls were stupid and weak deserved what was coming to him.
---------------------------------------------
End of Chapter
Back to When In Rome
Continue to Birds of a Feather
Read the final version on ff.net
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
NaNo Word Count:
11/7 -- 275 words (275 on "Lemonade")
11/8 -- 650 words (650 on "Debts")
11/9 -- 900 words (900 on "Guardian")
11/10 -- 1,300 words (350 on "An Ounce of Prevention," 950 on "Lemonade")
11/11 -- 1,225 words (800 on "Harvest," 425 on "Lemonade")
Current Total = 9,950 words
In other words, I suck. But this still averages out to about 900 words per day (all right, 904.545454... ad infinitum -- yes, I do long division by hand on scrap paper), which is more than I usually manage, so I'm okay with it.
