Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Troika Parallel ❯ Of Wizards and Hanyous ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

 

Naruto felt very stiff. That was the first thing that came to mind as he approached wakefulness. The next thing was the scent. It seemed only seconds ago that the acrid taste of hell trounced his senses whereas now it was a mellow and comforting aroma that surrounded him, one that smelled of leather and sage and freshly-turned earth. He let out a weak cough that was all too painful for his rib cage and opened his eyes.

He definitely wasn't in hell. He was in a plain, sparsely furnished room. The walls were a dull taupe and there was a chair in one corner of the room with a slapdash pile of books stacked on top of it. The single window to the left of the small bed he occupied told him it was about mid-afternoon, as the sun was the only thing providing light for him. It appeared he was in someone's bedroom rather than a hospital room and he only could pray they were friendly.

This was the second time in the same day (God, he hoped it was the same day) that he woke up in a completely unfamiliar place. He really needed to do something about that.

His throat felt scraggy and dry and his eyes burned even in the dull light. His head was heavier than he remembered but he managed to lift it a bit so he could better see his body. He was blanketed with a powdered blue comforter which he peeled back with his good arm (his other, the one he recalled being crushed, was in a sling) with slow movements to reveal a heavily bandaged stomach. Where the seal would be was stained red; it must have bled through.

What had happened to the seal? To the Kyuubi?

Naruto desperately wanted to entertain the idea that the Kyuubi escaped him, set free in Hell, and he was rescued there after; that he was a normal human with normal chakra and no misplaces sins. But as an accomplished jinchuuriki he could recognize the familiar heinous chakra swimming through his canals in an instant, mingling with his own pure chakra, and knew the Kyuubi was still within his person.

But the question was how? The seal...it was irreversibly damaged. Not even the fourth could—

The door directly across from his bed opened and Naruto jerked out of his musings to see who his rescuer was.

It was a boy, not much older than himself, maybe by just a few years if he were to guess. He had stark black hair, more messy than his own, that hung over his eyes and wore clothes he was unfamiliar with: a textured dark blue pants beneath a simple but tight grey shirt with a foreign logo of sorts. It was his leathery scent that matched the room along with a hint of tobacco and sage that told him to whom this residence belonged to. The boy's striking green eyes behind rectangular-framed glasses widened.

“Hey there, you're awake.”

He spoke with an accent Naruto had heard once or twice before in his travels with Jiraiya. And that voice...he knew it...the same he heard right before he passed out.

“W-where am I?” Naruto cringed at the sound of his voice and the boy smiled sympathetically. He reached behind him and pulled out a long stick. Giving it a short wave a glass appeared out of nowhere, floating about a foot in front of his chest and before his eyes quickly filled itself three-fourths with crushed ice. Well, it looked like ice to him, anyway. The strange boy, still smiling, plucked the glass from the air and walked to the edge of the bed, offering to help him lift his head to take in some of the ice. Naruto looked into his eyes, trying to determine his motives, and saw nothing but sympathy. Good enough for him.

“What the hell was that?! Is that a Jutsu? What's the stick?” Naruto asked after allowing the ice (and it was ice) to moisten his throat without caring to test it for poisons; his voice flowing much smoother than before. The other laughed, and seated himself comfortably on the side of the bed.

“You are awfully lively for someone who was near death only yesterday.” —`damn,' Naruto thought, `yesterday...'— “That was magic, and this,” he pulled out the sleek stick which glinted off its polished state to the sunlight, “is my wand. I don't know what a...jutsu is.”

Naruto stared at him as though he were an idiot. Magic? Wand? Did he fall out of Hell and into a fairytale? Or did he end up in another part of Hell filled with sugarplums and unicorns and all that crap? And how could he not know what a jutsu was? That sounded a bit too far-fetched for his tastes.

“Where am I?” Naruto repeated, trying to remain calm.

“Um...you're in Salem, Massachusetts.” At the blank stare he tried again. “The United States?” Another stare. “North America? Western hemisphere? Earth?”

“Oh! I'm from earth too,” Naruto said cheerfully. God only knew what the hell the rest of that was. Now it was the other guy who was staring at him like he was the idiot.

“Eh, we'll work that out later,” he decided and held out a calloused hand, “Harry Potter.”

Naruto smiled, always willing to make another friend.

“Uzumaki Naruto,” he replied, taking the hand and giving it a light shake. Something that wasn't that easy when he was lying down; he really wanted to sit up but didn't think his stomach would agree with him. Harry cocked his head to the side, amused.

“That's a mouthful.”

“Uzumaki is his last name. Naruto is what you call him.”

Two sets of eyes snapped to the door where another man, this one a bit older than Harry, was leaning against the doorframe, sipping casually on a canned drink. He had on similar pants to Harry but wore a light green jacket over a white shirt. That wasn't what caught his attention. It was the twin, furred dog-ears poking out of the mess of silver hair, twitching at every sound. That and this guy reeked of demon.

“Damn it Inuyasha, knock you bastard!”

“You kidnapped my wife, I have every reason to barge into your house and drink your last diet coke.”

“...you didn't,” Harry said quite seriously. Inuyasha shrugged indifferently and Harry leapt from the bed, stalking past him and giving him an unforgiving look as he exited the room. Inuyasha shut the door with his foot and approached the bed, placing the drink next to the bedside table where the half-empty glass of ice was.

Now that he was closer Naruto could see the demonic amber eyes and sharpened canines.

“What are you?” Naruto asked, oblivious to how rude he sounded. Inuyasha wouldn't have been offended even if the statement was meant to insult. The kid was too cute with the large azure eyes and innocent look of wonder.

“I'm a hanyou. Half human and half demon.”

Naruto's jaw dropped a bit.

“They come in halves?!”

Inuyasha barked out a laugh, “We come in all kinds. Think of it as an ethnicity of sorts.”

Naruto decided then and there that he liked Inuyasha. His instincts agreed with him; something about Inuyasha was warm. He held this timeless aura of wisdom and power but at the same time his presence was inexplicably calming. You just felt safe around him.

The door to the room was kicked open, making Naruto jolt and Inuyasha smirk.

“You fucking liar!” Harry yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Inuyasha while holding an impressive stance that promised pain. A delicate looking hand flew out from behind the irate wizard and slapped him in the back of his head.

“Watch your mouth,” a female said sharply, following through the doorway. She was a young woman of average height and above average beauty. Her hair was long and dark and her figure slim. She wore a tanned skirt with blue leggings and a loose blue turtleneck.

“Ow...Kagome...” Harry moaned, rubbing his smarting skull. Kagome ignored him and walked to the other side of the bed, Naruto's eyes following her every move. This one seemed dangerous.

“You should have told me when he woke up in the first place.” She said, brushing a hand underneath Naruto's bangs and feeling for his temperature. Naruto couldn't stop his face from blushing; she was very pretty.

“But he did just wake up!” was the whining response.

Kagome sighed and smiled gently at the confused boy.

“Hi,” she said softly so as not to frighten him even more. The other two may not have been aware of it, but she could sense the apprehension the boy felt as he was overwhelmed by his situation.

“Kagome, this is Naruto,” Inuyasha introduced them, “Naruto, this is my wife, and mate.”

“Hi,” Naruto mumbled, grinning shyly, “Um...can you tell me how I got here? The last thing I remembered was Hell and the Kyuubi.”

“Sure,” Kagome said. She had very nice eyes, Naruto concluded, very soft and grey, “I'll just check over your injuries while these two fill you in.”

She peeled back the covers a bit and clicked her tongue at the stained bandages. She walked over to the dresser and opened the middle drawer, pulling out some gauze and cleaning solution and returned to his bed, beginning the removal of the old bandages.

“There's not much to tell,” Harry started as she worked, “I felt a forced opening in my district, went to check it out, and there you were with some crazy demonic aura around you—“

“Wait,” Naruto interrupted, “district?”

“We are guardians to two of the nine gates of Hell,” Inuyasha explained, “I'll explain more later.”

“Cool...” Naruto whispered. He didn't even know that was a job.

“It was coming from your stomach.” Harry continued annoyed at being interrupted, “I didn't really know what to do so I just suppressed it and it went down pretty easy. That's when I saw you had some sort of a seal—one I've never seen or heard of before—but I gathered it had something to do with that demon.”

Harry paused and pointed to Naruto's stomach, which was now naked, pink and raw with the fresh skin that grew over the gaping hole that was there hours before. Around his naval was the black marks of the old seal, but there were pieces missing from it, as though someone had taken an eraser to it. On top of that was a new, red seal that intertwined with the original, filling in the blank spaces.

“The seal, how did you fix it?” Naruto asked before hissing as Kagome rubbed some sort of cream over it that cleaned and burned the wound.

“He didn't,” Inuyasha interjected, “That seal is hanging on by a thread, kiddo.”

Harry nodded and took up his previous seat on the side of the bed.

“Yeah, I'm holding it together with a blood seal, but its not going to last.” He saw Naruto's stricken look and was quick to continue, “Calm down, it's got a few good months in it before it snaps. We'll think of something before then.”

“So how did I get here?”

“Well, after I took care of the demon issue I brought you to my apartment, which is here, and got Kagome to heal you. You were a mess.”

Naruto grinned, abashed, and scratched the side of his face with his index finger.

“To tell you the truth, I didn't expect to survive that. Thanks.”

Kagome sighed and stood back, having finished her work.

“Well you heal fast, but I wouldn't move around for a bit. You've suffered severe blood loss. I managed to mend most of the bones in your arm but the rest of the healing is going along a bit slow.”

Naruto nodded his thanks and struggled to sit up. His stomach muscles were completely shot so he had to rely on his left arm to lift himself.

“Did you not just hear me? Don't move!” Kagome yelled, swatting at her husband and Harry who had both broken out into loud guffaws.

“I don't like...talking to...ugg...people...while I'm horizontal,” Naruto finished, finally managing to set himself against the headboard of the bed with a pleased sigh. He could see that he still had on his orange pants and chose this time to wonder if his jacket survived.

“This kid's fun! He stays,” Inuyasha declared. Kagome rubbed her temples, afraid that they just took in another strange one.

“So, Naruto, care to tell me what you were doing in hell?” the priestess asked. Naruto, who was grinning—albeit a little hesitantly—at Inuyasha's declaration, stilled and his face slacked as his mind took him back to yesterday morning. He remembered his elation at finally saving Sasuke, the pain as Kyuubi was ripped from his stomach. He remembered Sakura's face as he was pulled into hell; as if she herself were in absolute agony having to watch another teammate taken from her. He never wanted to see that look on her ever again.

“I...It's a really long story.”

The heartache in his voice was unmasked and his face only reflected his inner turmoil. The three other occupants of the room shared a look over his head.

“Why don't we get you something to eat? It's nearing dinner time anyway.” Kagome said rubbing his shoulder; a gesture that nearly shocked Naruto out of the bed as it was so rare to be physically consoled. “You can tell us as we eat.”

Naruto smiled weakly and nodded while Kagome gave Harry a pointed look.

“Sure, sure, but all I really have at the moment is instant ramen. I don't do groceries, `cause I'm a bachelor.”

“Don't let Bridget hear you say that,” Inuyasha warned teasingly. Harry sniffed, pretending not to hear, and left the room.

“R-ramen?” Naruto asked hopefully. His mouth was already salivating at the thought of the delectably salty broth and his stomach growled loudly, bringing his attention to his unfed state. Inuyasha looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“You like it?”

“Like it? It's my soul mate!” Naruto yipped, the sparkle back in his eye.

“Oh no,” Kagome moaned, dropping her face into her hands. It was definitely another strange one; he would fit right in with Inuyasha and Harry.

Inuyasha was grinning madly.

“I really, really like you.” He said, happy that there was one more person in the world who could appreciate the deity that was ramen. “Like...more than my wife.”

“W-what?” Naruto stuttered, his ramen induced jubilation dissipating quickly as he pressed his back against the headboard.

“Inuyasha,” Kagome snapped warningly. She turned to soothe Naruto, “He was just being an imbecile.”

“I meant my other wife,” Inuyasha assured her. Kagome gave him a dirty look. “I mean the first one...or...five...or...you know what? I'll just shut up now.”

Naruto chuckled at the couple's antics and rubbed his bare arms, which were starting to raise goose bumps with the approaching dusk. There was something off about him, and yes, he could feel the seal was off, but there was something missing on his person…

Naruto slapped his hand to his neck, his eyes wide as he realized just what was absent.

“Where's—”

“Its right here, sweetie,” Kagome said, already predicting this and took out the first's necklace from the top drawer of the dresser, “It was so pretty and I didn't want to damage it while I was healing you.”

“Thank you,” Naruto said gratefully, taking it from her and slipping it over his head. It rested coolly on its rightful place beneath his collarbone. He may be light-years away from his home, but at least the necklace kept him connected to Konoha and the people he cared about in some way.

The door opened for the umpteenth time that day and in came a heavenly sight: Harry...with a tray filled with cup ramen.

“Did you really need to make that many?” Kagome asked, staring at the many cups of ramen that seemed a bit excessive for just four people. Well, in her opinion anyway.

“Yes.” Three voices replied.

“Alright,” she sighed, shaking her head at the loosing battle she always tried to fight, “talk away.”

And talk he did...after they explained to him how to use a fork. In between mouthfuls of noodles he could feel his strength returning to him; his chakra was granted the much needed fuel to begin healing him properly. Naruto was interrupted quite a few times and was even forced to start at the very beginning: explaining the world of shinobis and the circumstances around the sealing of Kyuubi, of him being a jinchuuriki. He talked about Orochimaru and Sasuke, about the Akatsuki and his capture; about the forbidden jutsu he used that landed him in Hell. By the end of his tale it was pitch black outside and the hardwood floor was littered with styrofoam cups and a few cold noodles.

Kagome had tears in her eyes.

“You...you poor thing!” she leapt at him, smothering him in her arms. He was very tricky and evasive about his upbringing, mentioning just enough to know that jinchuuriki were feared and hated. But she could pick up on enough hints to know that his childhood wasn't that different from Harry's or Inuyasha's. And after all that struggling...he sacrificed himself to bring those people peace. It was so sad!

“Um...” Naruto's face was cherry red as she smothered his face in her breast.

“What...what...?” Inuyasha sputtered as his wife went all emotional on them.

“Maybe she's pregnant again,” Harry whispered to Inuyasha, who gave the wizard a dead look before bopping him on the head. Fortunately, Kagome didn't hear this and pulled away from the young ninja, wiping her eyes dry.

“Sorry. I just don't like it went sweet people have hard lives.”

Naruto smiled and shrugged it off, “It's cool. But how am I going to get back? I need to tell everyone I'm not dead. Baa-chan is probably going stir crazy thinking I bit it.”

“Eh, it may not be so cool.” Inuyasha said carefully while thinking hard on the matter. “From both your stories I'd say you're from a parallel world to this one, one that has shinobi as the leading military power. And to tell you the truth I don't know how we're going to get you back...”

“What?” There was an edge of fear in Naruto's voice. If he couldn't get back then how...oh wait, he did return Sasuke to Sakura so...no! He had to be Hokage!

“Don't worry,” Harry assured him, “We'll figure it out and we'll fix the seal properly. We always do...at the last minute.”

“Okay...” Naruto said without conviction.

Kagome looked at her watch and gasped. “Oh crap! I told Bridget that I'd be back two hours ago.”

“So?” Harry said, “She's fifteen, she'll be fine.”

“No, no, I left her with Cal.”

“Oh.”

Kagome gave Inuyasha a quick peck on the lips that he didn't even have time to respond to before turning to Naruto.

“I'm sorry for having to leave you here with these two. I hope to see you again soon!” she ran out the door, leaving the three males in silence.

“How the hell does she think she's getting home? I shadow-walked her here.”

Inuyasha looked at Harry.

“You want to go help her out, then?”

“Nah. I think I'll let her figure it out on her own.”

Harry hooked an arm around Naruto's neck and leaned across the bed towards Inuyasha.

“So...can I keep him?”

“...keep me?!”

“You've got a strange taste in pets, kid.”

“Pleeeaase? I've always wanted a ninja my very own.” Harry pouted, grabbing Naruto's face with the hand that wasn't slung around his shoulders and squeezing the younger boy's cheeks, “I mean, just look at this face.”

Naruto was too sore to properly struggle away.

“He he...he is cute.” Inuyasha said fondly while ruffling the dirty blond hair.

“W-what the hell is wrong with you people? I'm not some damn pet! Dattebayo!”

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

 

Yes, Harry Potter is a diet coke addict. It's not strange; there are many in this world, myself included. Though I am trying to wean myself off it a bit using seltzer...

To those who haven't read Millennium, etc. and don't plan on it: it's the year 2005—Inuyasha is old and experience since he lived through all the times and is the guardian to the seventh gate of Hell. He recently found Kagome (they separated in the feudal era after a fight) and ended up with her. He found Harry when he was almost sixteen and trained him to fight demons and eventually Harry became the guardian of the ninth gate of Hell. And Kagome's in her late twenties. And Shadow-walking is a different form of traveling Harry uses instead of apparation.

More details should be explained throughout the fic.

To Millennium veterans: There's a reason why Naruto couldn't sense Harry's demon blood. It's not interesting.