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edenfallingThis is part 8 of An Ounce of Prevention, 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 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.
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 8: If at First You Don't Succeed
---------------------------------------------
The trouble with talking to Kakashi was finding Kakashi. When he wasn't tied, however loosely, to the obligations of a jounin-sensei, the man was practically a ghost.
Sakura spent two fruitless days chasing him around town. "Oh, I saw him just a minute ago right over there," people said, but whenever she reached 'there,' Kakashi had already left. If she didn't know better, she'd swear he was avoiding her on purpose. But that made no sense, right?
Anko found the situation hilarious. "You have no idea, do you?" she said the second evening as she cooked a chicken and vegetable stir-fry. "He spent more time with you than with anyone other than his old teammates, and you don't have a clue how to read him."
"So now you're an expert in reading him?" Sakura said sourly. The constant restrictions forced on her by Anko's presence were driving her crazy; she wondered if this trapped feeling was anything like being shut in a book.
Anko shrugged and divided the stir-fry onto two plates. "No, but I know something about his history and I didn't let our shared allegiance stop me from fitting together the pieces he lets slip. Work it out for yourself." She scooped rice from a pot and molded it into neat spheres, and then set a salt shaker and a bottle of soy sauce on the table. "But eat first; it's hard to think when your body's nagging at you."
Sakura ate, and then went to talk with Tomu. "My Aunt Inpon came to visit a few days ago," she wrote. "She's a lot younger than my mother, and she likes to pretend she's still my age, so she wants to hang out with me all the time. She's driving me crazy!"
Behind her, Anko laughed.
--It can certainly be irritating to have constant company when you'd rather be alone,-- Tomu agreed. --On the other hand, your aunt clearly likes you and might be willing to do you a few favors. Perhaps she could give you permission to do things your parents normally don't allow.--
"Manipulative little sneak, isn't he," Anko said. "So are you. That's a terrible pun -- drama to depravity. I'm ashamed to have you as my niece, Hana-chan!"
Sakura bit the inside of her cheek to suppress a smirk.
Later that night, she thought about Kakashi. What did she know about her former jounin-sensei, anyway? He was relatively young, though most jounin reached their rank fairly young. He'd been an Anbu assassin, which didn't speak well for his mental stability, and he certainly acted completely loopy most of the time. He deflected all personal questions, sometimes so bluntly you couldn't help but feel snubbed. He was obsessed with teamwork, though he had almost no social skills himself. He had a Sharingan eye...
Oh.
Sakura felt like slapping herself. "To get a Sharingan eye, he had to know an Uchiha -- he had to know an Uchiha really well, and since Kakashi doesn't have friends, that probably means they were teammates. All his old teammates are dead, and he has a reminder stuck in his face." No wonder Kakashi had been all kinds of awkward dealing with her team. No wonder he'd favored Sasuke.
No wonder he was avoiding her now.
The next day, after her training session, Sakura hovered uncertainly in Tsunade's office door. "Tsunade-sensei? I have a request for my mission."
"So ask -- don't just stand there like a kicked puppy," Tsunade said as she fished a bottle of sake from a desk drawer.
"Um. I'm not getting anywhere, and I have a feeling that I'm missing something obvious. I need someone to talk to, to think of crazy ideas and turn the problem upside down until I see what I'm missing. So I wondered if you could assign Kakashi--"
Tsunade choked on a mouthful of sake.
"I'm sorry! Are you all right?" Sakura asked, dashing forward in case Tsunade needed help.
Tsunade waved her off. "I'm fine, I'm fine -- I just swallowed the wrong way. Let me get this straight. You want Hatake Kakashi to help you solve a problem?"
"Yes," Sakura said, wondering why that was funny. "I was going to run it by him in hypotheticals, but I think he's avoiding me. If you make it a mission, I can tell him the truth and he won't be able to weasel out. Kakashi-sensei drives me crazy, but he's brilliant and I'm used to looking stupid in front of him, so he'll be more useful than Anko."
Slowly, with an edge of schadenfreude, Tsunade smiled. "Sure. It'll do him good to face some of his obligations. Do you want me to give him all the details in advance, or would you rather spring them on him yourself? Even behind the mask, his expression should be priceless."
"I don't care -- whatever you think is best," Sakura said.
"No problem. He'll be here tomorrow after your lesson," Tsunade said, leaning back in her chair. "And speaking of lessons, make sure you get enough sleep tonight. Your reactions were slow this morning, and while there are stimulants and jutsu that will shunt tiredness aside for a while, it's best to avoid crutches like that."
"Yes, Tsunade-sensei," Sakura agreed, and slipped away as Shizune walked in with stacks of paperwork.
That was odd, she thought as she sat on a roof railing and enjoyed the sunshine and mild summer breeze. She hadn't been losing any sleep. So why did Tsunade think she seemed tired? Could it be Tomu's fault? If he could work genjutsu through the diary, maybe he could try other ways to weaken and manipulate people?
No, Sakura decided, that was too far-fetched. She was just distracted. She'd been spending too much time worrying about Tomu and Anko, and not enough keeping up with the rest of her life.
She had a free afternoon. She decided to drop in on Ino.
---------------------------------------------
End of Chapter
Back to Time Flies
Continue to Idle Hands
Read the final version on ff.net
---------------------------------------------
Back in real life, I am actually going to get a vacation this year! In mid-August, I will fly out to the Twin Cities. Vicky will meet me there, and we'll drive up to Cass Lake and spend some time on the island. I didn't get there at all last year, so this will be lovely. It's also a vacation -- a time to relax -- instead of a trip for a specific purpose.
I will get to go swimming. I will get to drive the boat. I will get to go hiking. I will get to be appallingly lazy for a couple days, should I be so inclined. (But only a couple days; I suspect Vicky will want to Do Things at least part of the time.) I will get to fill hummingbird feeders and leave peanuts out for chipmunks. I will get to refamiliarize myself with the scent and sticky-tacky feel of bug spray drying on my skin. I will get to watch the sun rise over three miles of open water. I will get to watch light filter down through a forest's worth of trees. I may get to fight whitecaps and howling winds, if the weather is unfavorable, or go waterskiing if it's calm. (Or at least drive the boat while Vicky waterskiis; she's more into that than I am.) I will get to say hi to the other people along the east shore, and maybe hike down to Unistar and see the latest crop of UU campers.
God, I miss the island.
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.
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 8: If at First You Don't Succeed
---------------------------------------------
The trouble with talking to Kakashi was finding Kakashi. When he wasn't tied, however loosely, to the obligations of a jounin-sensei, the man was practically a ghost.
Sakura spent two fruitless days chasing him around town. "Oh, I saw him just a minute ago right over there," people said, but whenever she reached 'there,' Kakashi had already left. If she didn't know better, she'd swear he was avoiding her on purpose. But that made no sense, right?
Anko found the situation hilarious. "You have no idea, do you?" she said the second evening as she cooked a chicken and vegetable stir-fry. "He spent more time with you than with anyone other than his old teammates, and you don't have a clue how to read him."
"So now you're an expert in reading him?" Sakura said sourly. The constant restrictions forced on her by Anko's presence were driving her crazy; she wondered if this trapped feeling was anything like being shut in a book.
Anko shrugged and divided the stir-fry onto two plates. "No, but I know something about his history and I didn't let our shared allegiance stop me from fitting together the pieces he lets slip. Work it out for yourself." She scooped rice from a pot and molded it into neat spheres, and then set a salt shaker and a bottle of soy sauce on the table. "But eat first; it's hard to think when your body's nagging at you."
Sakura ate, and then went to talk with Tomu. "My Aunt Inpon came to visit a few days ago," she wrote. "She's a lot younger than my mother, and she likes to pretend she's still my age, so she wants to hang out with me all the time. She's driving me crazy!"
Behind her, Anko laughed.
--It can certainly be irritating to have constant company when you'd rather be alone,-- Tomu agreed. --On the other hand, your aunt clearly likes you and might be willing to do you a few favors. Perhaps she could give you permission to do things your parents normally don't allow.--
"Manipulative little sneak, isn't he," Anko said. "So are you. That's a terrible pun -- drama to depravity. I'm ashamed to have you as my niece, Hana-chan!"
Sakura bit the inside of her cheek to suppress a smirk.
Later that night, she thought about Kakashi. What did she know about her former jounin-sensei, anyway? He was relatively young, though most jounin reached their rank fairly young. He'd been an Anbu assassin, which didn't speak well for his mental stability, and he certainly acted completely loopy most of the time. He deflected all personal questions, sometimes so bluntly you couldn't help but feel snubbed. He was obsessed with teamwork, though he had almost no social skills himself. He had a Sharingan eye...
Oh.
Sakura felt like slapping herself. "To get a Sharingan eye, he had to know an Uchiha -- he had to know an Uchiha really well, and since Kakashi doesn't have friends, that probably means they were teammates. All his old teammates are dead, and he has a reminder stuck in his face." No wonder Kakashi had been all kinds of awkward dealing with her team. No wonder he'd favored Sasuke.
No wonder he was avoiding her now.
The next day, after her training session, Sakura hovered uncertainly in Tsunade's office door. "Tsunade-sensei? I have a request for my mission."
"So ask -- don't just stand there like a kicked puppy," Tsunade said as she fished a bottle of sake from a desk drawer.
"Um. I'm not getting anywhere, and I have a feeling that I'm missing something obvious. I need someone to talk to, to think of crazy ideas and turn the problem upside down until I see what I'm missing. So I wondered if you could assign Kakashi--"
Tsunade choked on a mouthful of sake.
"I'm sorry! Are you all right?" Sakura asked, dashing forward in case Tsunade needed help.
Tsunade waved her off. "I'm fine, I'm fine -- I just swallowed the wrong way. Let me get this straight. You want Hatake Kakashi to help you solve a problem?"
"Yes," Sakura said, wondering why that was funny. "I was going to run it by him in hypotheticals, but I think he's avoiding me. If you make it a mission, I can tell him the truth and he won't be able to weasel out. Kakashi-sensei drives me crazy, but he's brilliant and I'm used to looking stupid in front of him, so he'll be more useful than Anko."
Slowly, with an edge of schadenfreude, Tsunade smiled. "Sure. It'll do him good to face some of his obligations. Do you want me to give him all the details in advance, or would you rather spring them on him yourself? Even behind the mask, his expression should be priceless."
"I don't care -- whatever you think is best," Sakura said.
"No problem. He'll be here tomorrow after your lesson," Tsunade said, leaning back in her chair. "And speaking of lessons, make sure you get enough sleep tonight. Your reactions were slow this morning, and while there are stimulants and jutsu that will shunt tiredness aside for a while, it's best to avoid crutches like that."
"Yes, Tsunade-sensei," Sakura agreed, and slipped away as Shizune walked in with stacks of paperwork.
That was odd, she thought as she sat on a roof railing and enjoyed the sunshine and mild summer breeze. She hadn't been losing any sleep. So why did Tsunade think she seemed tired? Could it be Tomu's fault? If he could work genjutsu through the diary, maybe he could try other ways to weaken and manipulate people?
No, Sakura decided, that was too far-fetched. She was just distracted. She'd been spending too much time worrying about Tomu and Anko, and not enough keeping up with the rest of her life.
She had a free afternoon. She decided to drop in on Ino.
---------------------------------------------
End of Chapter
Back to Time Flies
Continue to Idle Hands
Read the final version on ff.net
---------------------------------------------
Back in real life, I am actually going to get a vacation this year! In mid-August, I will fly out to the Twin Cities. Vicky will meet me there, and we'll drive up to Cass Lake and spend some time on the island. I didn't get there at all last year, so this will be lovely. It's also a vacation -- a time to relax -- instead of a trip for a specific purpose.
I will get to go swimming. I will get to drive the boat. I will get to go hiking. I will get to be appallingly lazy for a couple days, should I be so inclined. (But only a couple days; I suspect Vicky will want to Do Things at least part of the time.) I will get to fill hummingbird feeders and leave peanuts out for chipmunks. I will get to refamiliarize myself with the scent and sticky-tacky feel of bug spray drying on my skin. I will get to watch the sun rise over three miles of open water. I will get to watch light filter down through a forest's worth of trees. I may get to fight whitecaps and howling winds, if the weather is unfavorable, or go waterskiing if it's calm. (Or at least drive the boat while Vicky waterskiis; she's more into that than I am.) I will get to say hi to the other people along the east shore, and maybe hike down to Unistar and see the latest crop of UU campers.
God, I miss the island.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-09 09:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-09 10:36 pm (UTC)Oh well, I got to play the "Ack! Tom's starting to drain Sakura!" thread, and overall the plot is still going where I want it to go, so I guess it all works out in the end.