[Fic] "An Ounce of Prevention" chapter 6 -- Naruto/Harry Potter

[edenfalling]

This is part 6 of An Ounce of Prevention, a Naruto/Harry Potter crossover that I started as a giftfic for askerian.

Technically, it's an insertion of one HP character/plot device into the Naruto world, but that does count as a crossover of sorts. "An Ounce of Prevention" 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 6: Too Many Cooks
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"Hello, Tomu," Sakura wrote. "I hope you haven't been bored or lonely. I would have written sooner, but I had lessons with Tsunade-sensei."

Tomu's angular script welled up through the page as her own words sank. --Don't worry, Hana. I understand that you're busy and have other friends. After so many years of only my own company, I'm grateful for any time you can spare.--

"Still, I feel bad for you. You can't talk with other people, read books, or take walks when I leave you." Sakura nibbled the end of her brush, trying to put her thoughts in order. Anko's presence itched as if she had a target painted between her shoulder blades. "Tomu, I wanted to ask you something. We agreed that you're probably from a different world, but you speak my language. That seems unlikely; are you using magic to translate?"

--Yes. Would you like me to explain the jutsu?--

He didn't pause before answering. That was interesting -- even if Tomu were being completely honest and had no ulterior motives, it would be natural to hesitate over revealing information. Did his lack of hesitation mean he was acting? Or did writing slow their conversation just enough to let him anticipate the ends of her sentences and make his choices before she lifted her brush?

"I'm not sure I'll understand your explanation," Sakura wrote, "but yes, please do. I always like learning new things!"

--Your teacher must appreciate that, Hana. In any case, the jutsu is based on a muguru machine that puts together large amounts of information and finds relationships among the entries faster than humans can spot them. My jutsu collects examples of whatever language is used around the diary and finds a framework of words and grammatical rules. It's very slow, so for us to understand each other as well as we do, my diary must have been in your world a long time.--

"What does muguru mean, Tomu?" Sakura wrote. Then she looked over her shoulder at Anko. "The diary fell from non-space into Tsunade-sensei's hands. I'm the first person to write in here since then, so how could he learn kanji and katakana?"

"Proximity absorption," Anko said after a moment. "And a code-breaking jutsu. Shit. Who knows what he's learned from Tsunade's papers?"

--In my world, muguru is what we call people who can't use magic,-- Tomu wrote.

His phrasing caught Sakura's attention. "There are people who can't learn magic? That's strange! Everyone can learn to use chakra; it's just that most people don't bother, since it's tricky and it's best to start young. Many priests and mystics are healers or experts on seals."

Anko poked Sakura's shoulder with a sharp fingernail. "Where did Godaime-sama keep the book?"

"With her collection of epic samurai romances, so I doubt he learned anything classified," Sakura said. "His translation is too smooth to be a type of code-breaking, though. We already know he uses genjutsu. Maybe he can pull things out of my mind when I'm writing?"

"If he can, we're fucked beyond recovery," Anko said, "so we'll assume he can't. Most mind-walkers can't get more than surface impressions, but stop thinking about me, just in case."

--What do your priests seal away?-- Tomu wrote.

"Monsters and demons, of course," Sakura answered, trying to keep her paranoia under control. She wasn't Haruno Sakura. She was Hana, a flighty, bubbly girl just a bit too trusting and naïve -- the way she might have been as a civilian, without Sasuke and Naruto. Hana had no reason to suspect Tomu. "Don't you have animals that use chakra -- or magic -- in your world?"

--Yes, but we haven't made a habit of imprisoning them.-- This time, Tomu paused. --Hana, are you sure everyone in your world can learn to use chakra?--

Why did that interest him so much? Sakura settled on a half-truth. "Chakra is the combination of physical and spiritual energy. If you don't have both types of energy, you die, so of course everyone has chakra." On the other hand, Rock Lee was living proof that having chakra wasn't exactly the same as being able to use chakra, but it was probably best to give Tomu an exaggerated idea of Konoha's strength, just in case he got out of the diary.

She had too many things to think about, and Anko was starting to fidget behind her. "I'm sorry, Tomu, but my mother is calling. I have to go. I'll write again tomorrow."

Sakura shut the diary and turned to face Anko. "That's Tomu. Now what?"

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End of Chapter

Back to Assumptions Make

Continue to Time Flies

Read the final version on ff.net

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In real life news, my mom decided to visit me over the weekend for no particular reason, just that we hadn't seen each other since mid-February. (I also think she and my dad may be irritating each other at the moment, so she wanted to get away for a day or two. Because he's mostly unemployed these days, she has to leave home to get some 'alone time.')

We had dinner at Moosewood, which is a semi-famous vegetarian restaurant in Ithaca. They've published cookbooks and stuff, and they sell logo souvenirs. Anyway, Mom's friend Lucy loves Moosewood cookbooks and has been nagging at Mom to eat there since I first moved to Ithaca. Because my family is not vegetarian, we never quite got around to that... until now.

And I have to say, the food was very good. We each got one of their two soups of the day and shared them, and sampled each other's entrees (salmon for her, a portobello mushroom and pasta thing for me). It's just not something I have a driving need to experience on a regular basis, since, as I said, I'm not vegetarian. :-)

(I might make an exception for their Mississippi mud cake, though. It is to die for.)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I'm pretty sure "muguru" is not how you'd render "Muggle" into Japanese--as it is, it would sound like "moo-goo-roo", so unless we pronounce the word differently, I don't think that's what you were going for :P. The Japanese language doesn't have the "muh" sound, so I believe the closest rendering would be something like "mageru" (mah-geh-roo).

[eatsyourface.livejournal.com]

Hm, I'd argue "maguru" would be a closer rendering and have a more similar pronunciation to "muggle" - where the "guru" is the "ggle". "maguru" comes out with a narrow "oo" sound (as in the french word "tu"). (mah-goo-ru <--- where the "u" isn't specifically pronounced - like the way "desu" is pronounced "des").

[(Anonymous)]

That was one rendering I'd considered as well. I ended up going with "ge" instead of "gu" mainly b/c it was my first instinct, but also b/c "gehroo" sounded closer to the "guhl" sound to me. Honestly, they both could work. I'm sure you can get the official rendering in the Japanese translations of the books if you asked on any translation community (multilingual for instance--someone on there has to have it) or even on a general Harry Potter community.

[edenfalling]

*headdesk* Of course the first syllable should be 'ma,' not 'mu.' *is sheepish*

I think I'll go with 'guru' though, rather than 'geru,' because I want to make it clear what the word is derived from, and keeping the U is therefore more useful than switching to an E.

[askerian]

*happyhappy*

Ahaha, learning the language through samurai romances. *snerk* The only thing funnier would be if she'd stacked it with her supersecret collection of jiraiya's books. XD

Oh, Tom, I can hear your mind whirling over the "everyone can learn jutsu" thing.

[hoshi-ryo.livejournal.com]

It's not a super-secret collection, exactly. It's just where confiscated copies of porn from minors and prisoners are stored. (It merely happens to be a rather complete collection, that's all. Really complete.)

[edenfalling]

Secretly she buys a copy of each new book to show support for her old teammate. (But not because she reads them, you understand! Suggest that and you'll get your face introduced to the wall.) And she'll never tell him, not when he already has such a swelled ego. :-)

[hoshi-ryo.livejournal.com]

Of course.

Jiraiya does wonder sometimes about the occasional neatly-written & painstakingly anonymous note he's gotten, informing him of mistakes he's made concerning what is and is not physically possible. It ought to be quite interesting if he ever mentions some of his theories about the author of said notes to Tsunade...

[edenfalling]

Her collection of Jiraiya's books is shut up in a trunk somewhere, with explosive notes tied to the locks. :-)

[snake-aes.livejournal.com]

This made my day. :D

[edenfalling]

Thanks!