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edenfallingThis is part 22 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. (Which gives away at least part of the ending, but whatever. *grin*)
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Chapter 22: What Doesn't Kill You
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Tsunade waited a full ten minutes -- which Sakura spent reciting multiplication tables under her breath while Kakashi and Anko muttered quietly in the corner -- before summoning again. Kikaikuji reported success. Tomu was securely back in his home world, and Sakura's note had stayed with the diary all the way through the transition.
"That's that," Tsunade said after dismissing the slug. "I want written reports for the archive, but they can wait a day or two. Today, just relax. We've earned it." She dusted her hands on the hem of her tunic and strode toward the door. "Oh, and Sakura? Tomorrow we'll do a complete review of your fight in Hanjimono's mind. Be here at nine."
"Yes, Tsunade-sensei," Sakura said.
She followed Anko through the crowded streets to their apartment, glad to walk instead of leaping from roof to roof. She felt wrung-out, empty: a pale echo of the emptiness she'd struggled to fill after Sasuke's flight and Naruto's departure.
She'd fought that. She'd fight this.
But... she'd lost, then -- had lost, and had been lost. This time she'd won. Why feel the same way, like everything was faded and hollow, sepia-toned paper wrapped over dusty emptiness?
Anko unlocked her apartment and grabbed a sake bottle while Sakura cleared her things from the bathroom. Then she leaned in the doorway of the spare room, watching Sakura pack her clothes. A half-smile hovered at the corners of her mouth.
"Bit of a let-down, isn't it?"
Sakura rolled a dress and pressed it into the bottom of her pack. "I guess."
Anko knocked back a long swallow of sake and tossed the empty bottle from hand to hand. "Wondering why?"
Sakura shrugged, dropping her hairbrush on top of her clothes. "Maybe. It's just... we won, right? We protected Konoha, we didn't hurt anyone innocent, and we gave the people in Tomu's world a fair chance to destroy him. So why...?" The right words swam just out of reach, too solid to capture her nebulous unease.
"So why do you feel like none of it mattered?" Anko guessed. "Like you screwed up? Like maybe you didn't win after all?"
Sakura began to unmake the futon, pulling her hidden knives from under the sheets and inside the pillowcase. "Something like that."
Anko sighed and set the empty bottle on the floor. "I told you, intelligence work twists you around, gets inside your head. You weren't just pretending to be Hanjimono Tomu's friend. You were his friend. And you betrayed him. If that didn't eat at you, I'd get your clearance stripped in a heartbeat."
She grabbed the crumpled sheets, shook them out, and began folding them. "And this isn't your first time dealing with traitors, is it?"
"Sasuke is not---" Sakura began, and then Anko's eyes, flat and dangerous, made her instinctive denial catch in her throat.
"Uchiha Sasuke swore an oath to this village and his fellow Leaf-nin," Anko said, setting down one sheet and gathering the other into her arms. "He left. He attacked Leaf-nin, possibly with intent to kill. He joined Orochimaru for his own gain. He's a traitor." She shook the edges of the white fabric into alignment and made another fold. "Denying that is stupid."
"But---"
Anko dropped the second sheet on top of the first and opened the closet door, fishing for the woodcuts Sakura had taken down from the walls when she'd moved in. "Yeah, I know. But he was your teammate. But you loved him. But he was only trying to hunt down an even worse traitor. Everybody has a thousand reasons. There's still no excuse. And now you've done the same thing." She hung one woodcut over the futon and stepped back to gauge the effect. "Do you know what makes you right and him wrong? Why we give you a bonus, and hunt him down like a dog?"
Sakura stared at the kunai in her hands. "Why don't you tell me?"
"You betrayed Hanjimono in order to protect Konoha. Uchiha Sasuke betrayed Konoha because he's too selfish to care, because he wants to kill his brother himself, no matter how many Leaf-nin and civilians get hurt along the way." Anko settled the second woodcut onto its hook. "That's the difference."
"He didn't hurt me," Sakura said, very quietly, but she rolled her knives in their storage cloth and zipped her pack. Then she helped Anko fold up the futon.
"See you around, Sakura. It's been fun," Anko said as Sakura slung her pack over her shoulders and moved toward the window.
Sakura grimaced. "For you."
Anko laughed. "Trust me, one day you'll look back and think this was one of the easiest missions in your life. No death, no mud, no blood, and no arguments over the target's guilt. You should think about intelligence as a career -- you were pretty good, aside from the excessive scruples."
Sakura shook her head. "Maybe someday. But right now, Naruto and Sasuke need me. I won't give up. I won't betray them."
"Stupid," Anko said. Then she smiled, sharp and wry. "I guess everybody has to fight reality sometime. I hope your try works out better than mine did."
"Thank you. I learned a lot from you and Tomu, Anko-san, and I guess it was fun sometimes. See you around." Sakura tipped her head in a shallow bow, and flung herself into the air.
Two more years until Naruto returned. Two more years to learn from Tsunade. Two more years until they brought Sasuke home.
She was strong enough.
She would keep faith.
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End of Chapter
Back to If Wishes Were Horses
Continue to chapter 23
Read the final version on ff.net
---------------------------------------------
Happy almost-not-Independence-Day-anymore! (I think I sneaked in just under the wire.)
I fiddled the first four chapters thematically -- which meant adding a paragraph or so to chapter 1, tweaking a couple word choices in chapter 2, reconceiving the ending of chapter 3, and adding a parenthetical phrase to chapter 4 -- and will post the revised versions on ff.net shortly.
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. (Which gives away at least part of the ending, but whatever. *grin*)
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 22: What Doesn't Kill You
---------------------------------------------
Tsunade waited a full ten minutes -- which Sakura spent reciting multiplication tables under her breath while Kakashi and Anko muttered quietly in the corner -- before summoning again. Kikaikuji reported success. Tomu was securely back in his home world, and Sakura's note had stayed with the diary all the way through the transition.
"That's that," Tsunade said after dismissing the slug. "I want written reports for the archive, but they can wait a day or two. Today, just relax. We've earned it." She dusted her hands on the hem of her tunic and strode toward the door. "Oh, and Sakura? Tomorrow we'll do a complete review of your fight in Hanjimono's mind. Be here at nine."
"Yes, Tsunade-sensei," Sakura said.
She followed Anko through the crowded streets to their apartment, glad to walk instead of leaping from roof to roof. She felt wrung-out, empty: a pale echo of the emptiness she'd struggled to fill after Sasuke's flight and Naruto's departure.
She'd fought that. She'd fight this.
But... she'd lost, then -- had lost, and had been lost. This time she'd won. Why feel the same way, like everything was faded and hollow, sepia-toned paper wrapped over dusty emptiness?
Anko unlocked her apartment and grabbed a sake bottle while Sakura cleared her things from the bathroom. Then she leaned in the doorway of the spare room, watching Sakura pack her clothes. A half-smile hovered at the corners of her mouth.
"Bit of a let-down, isn't it?"
Sakura rolled a dress and pressed it into the bottom of her pack. "I guess."
Anko knocked back a long swallow of sake and tossed the empty bottle from hand to hand. "Wondering why?"
Sakura shrugged, dropping her hairbrush on top of her clothes. "Maybe. It's just... we won, right? We protected Konoha, we didn't hurt anyone innocent, and we gave the people in Tomu's world a fair chance to destroy him. So why...?" The right words swam just out of reach, too solid to capture her nebulous unease.
"So why do you feel like none of it mattered?" Anko guessed. "Like you screwed up? Like maybe you didn't win after all?"
Sakura began to unmake the futon, pulling her hidden knives from under the sheets and inside the pillowcase. "Something like that."
Anko sighed and set the empty bottle on the floor. "I told you, intelligence work twists you around, gets inside your head. You weren't just pretending to be Hanjimono Tomu's friend. You were his friend. And you betrayed him. If that didn't eat at you, I'd get your clearance stripped in a heartbeat."
She grabbed the crumpled sheets, shook them out, and began folding them. "And this isn't your first time dealing with traitors, is it?"
"Sasuke is not---" Sakura began, and then Anko's eyes, flat and dangerous, made her instinctive denial catch in her throat.
"Uchiha Sasuke swore an oath to this village and his fellow Leaf-nin," Anko said, setting down one sheet and gathering the other into her arms. "He left. He attacked Leaf-nin, possibly with intent to kill. He joined Orochimaru for his own gain. He's a traitor." She shook the edges of the white fabric into alignment and made another fold. "Denying that is stupid."
"But---"
Anko dropped the second sheet on top of the first and opened the closet door, fishing for the woodcuts Sakura had taken down from the walls when she'd moved in. "Yeah, I know. But he was your teammate. But you loved him. But he was only trying to hunt down an even worse traitor. Everybody has a thousand reasons. There's still no excuse. And now you've done the same thing." She hung one woodcut over the futon and stepped back to gauge the effect. "Do you know what makes you right and him wrong? Why we give you a bonus, and hunt him down like a dog?"
Sakura stared at the kunai in her hands. "Why don't you tell me?"
"You betrayed Hanjimono in order to protect Konoha. Uchiha Sasuke betrayed Konoha because he's too selfish to care, because he wants to kill his brother himself, no matter how many Leaf-nin and civilians get hurt along the way." Anko settled the second woodcut onto its hook. "That's the difference."
"He didn't hurt me," Sakura said, very quietly, but she rolled her knives in their storage cloth and zipped her pack. Then she helped Anko fold up the futon.
"See you around, Sakura. It's been fun," Anko said as Sakura slung her pack over her shoulders and moved toward the window.
Sakura grimaced. "For you."
Anko laughed. "Trust me, one day you'll look back and think this was one of the easiest missions in your life. No death, no mud, no blood, and no arguments over the target's guilt. You should think about intelligence as a career -- you were pretty good, aside from the excessive scruples."
Sakura shook her head. "Maybe someday. But right now, Naruto and Sasuke need me. I won't give up. I won't betray them."
"Stupid," Anko said. Then she smiled, sharp and wry. "I guess everybody has to fight reality sometime. I hope your try works out better than mine did."
"Thank you. I learned a lot from you and Tomu, Anko-san, and I guess it was fun sometimes. See you around." Sakura tipped her head in a shallow bow, and flung herself into the air.
Two more years until Naruto returned. Two more years to learn from Tsunade. Two more years until they brought Sasuke home.
She was strong enough.
She would keep faith.
---------------------------------------------
End of Chapter
Back to If Wishes Were Horses
Continue to chapter 23
Read the final version on ff.net
---------------------------------------------
Happy almost-not-Independence-Day-anymore! (I think I sneaked in just under the wire.)
I fiddled the first four chapters thematically -- which meant adding a paragraph or so to chapter 1, tweaking a couple word choices in chapter 2, reconceiving the ending of chapter 3, and adding a parenthetical phrase to chapter 4 -- and will post the revised versions on ff.net shortly.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-07 12:37 am (UTC)And you've given a lot of depth to Sakura's eventual feelings on teh subject. I really enjoyed this!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-07 03:14 am (UTC)I haven't changed the livejournal versions of the chapters, since I kind of like having a record of my revision process, but I did tweak the first four chapters as posted on ff.net so they do a better job of setting up the story this chapter finishes. It turned out to be much more about Sakura and her coming to terms with her status as a ninja, and her attitude toward Sasuke, than about Sakura fencing with Tom.
I think some of that was because the Leaf-nin were just better than Tom, which made it hard to get him and Sakura into really meaningful conversations... but some of it is probably because I was just more interested in Sakura in this scenario. My original outline had a lot more Sakura-and-Tom conversations about various things, but somehow they never made it to the page.