Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow of the Lightning Kitsune ❯ Not-So-Loony Luna Lovegood ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Shadow of the Lightning Kitsune

Chapter: Prologue - Not So Loony Luna

Beta: None

Rating: T (swearing, not fully thought out math)

Date / Words: Nov 5, 2007 (revised) /1740

Disclaimer: Not mine.

AN: Revised into past tense instead of bastardized present tense. Attempted to fill a minor plot hole concerning Luna's age. Some minor added content near the end.

Original AN:

AN: Okay, I'm currently being over-run by rabid plot bunnies and this one somehow managed to bite me in the ass along with his companion Chapter 1 Bunny. Yep, I'm currently working on chapter 1 of this as well as Surprises, D5, and another evil bunny. I've been reading a lot of the independent, dark but not evil! Harry's recently and figured I'd try my hand at this. I'm trying to avoid the huge cliche's like James or Lily being a ninja, Ninja family member suddenly emerging and claiming Harry, Golden Trio suddenly stumbling upon the info in the library, etc etc. Tell me what you think won't ya?

Warnings: Some swearing.

Disclaimer: Don't own HP or Naru just the bastard plot bunny that sired this...

"..." talking

:: talking :: Parseltongue (I will explain Hermione and Ron later)

"What the hell do they expect you to do mate?"

Chuckling mirthlessly he replied, "They expect me to die."

"What? Harry no -"

"Yeah Hermione, they do. I'm their little weapon, expected to come when called then disappear back into my cupboard until I'm called again. They know I'm powerful and no one knows my full potential, even me! What the hell do you do to a weapon with no war to fight?"

"Destroy it," was the faint, tremulous answer.

"Hell mate we can't, you can't, let that happen! Especially when everyone is counting on you to save our collective bloody arses!"

"Thanks Ron." He smirked then quickly sobered. "Yeah mates, they'll destroy me. I'm too powerful, too big a threat to too many people. Why do you think they give me no real training and almost all our previous DADA teachers sucked arse?" He chuckled bitterly and, with a quick exchange of glances, was engulfed in the arms of his two best mates. Holding on tightly to their only anchoring points in their tumultuous times, the Golden Trio tried to think of something.

::We have to get you trained Harry and not just magically. Wizards depend so much on their magic and wands most are defenseless when unarmed.::

Ron smirked and Hermione rolled her eyes. ::Yes Ron, you are one of the few and far between wizards who is just as dangerous unarmed, possibly more so. How are your brothers anyway?:: Hermione smirked at Ron's grumbling.

::Gred and Forge would be more than happy to provide new toys but are too closely monitored for anything more. Bill would help in a heart beat but we'd have to find a way to get to Egypt. Same for Charlie expect getting to Romania and from there we could just hop between them.::

Harry shook his head. ::That would work for you two but not me. The name Harry Potter is too big, if Britain makes a big enough stink I'd be back here on the fastest international portkey and then Bill and Charlie would be monitored like the twins.::

Three faces settled into Snape-worthy scowls. ::Damn Flaming Turkeys. Just know that the Weasley boys are with you Har.::

::Hey!:: Ron chuckled at his girlfriend's scowl. ::Okay, Weasley boys plus Hermione.:: Hermione harrumphed::Thank you.::

Harry chuckled softly before sobering again. ::You two should hook up with the others. I think I'm going to be stuck going solo just to protect our key players. Of course, I need to find a bloody instructor and location that won't blow my cover sky high. Damn.:: He sighed heavily and pulled apart from the hug, Ron and Hermione followed.

"Don't worry mate, this counts as a life or death situation." Ron grinned. The other two look at him like he just became one of Luna Lovegood's infamous creatures. Cheeks pinking he scowled. "Potter Luck remember? Harry gets into a life or death situation and something just happens to occur in the nick of time to save him? Sound familiar?"

"You really shouldn't have continued Potions Ron, I think Snape is rubbing off on you mate," Harry pout. Hermione snickered beside him and Harry's pout deepened causing Ron to join in snickering. "And you wonder why you're the hottest item male or female in Hogwarts." Blushing and scowling he flicked his wand at his two best friends pushing them a few feet toward the castle. Getting the hint they wave and continue into the castle still snickering.

Huffing in annoyance he turned to head for the lake and nearly had a heart attack as he comes face to face with Luna 'Loony' Lovegood. Coughing and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly he managed a weak, "Hey Luna."

Luna smiled dreamily, "Hey Harry. They're right you know, you're too cute to not be the number one bachelor in Hogwarts." Cue blush and scowl. "Luna this is hardly the Dating Game." Vague eyes and dreamy smile suddenly melt into calculative and secretive respectively. "Oh I don't know Harry. Whoever can claim the status as Harry Potter's significant other will hold power and status in the school hierarchy. Just like who can claim The Boy Who Lived can claim this war." Shrewd and intelligent green eyes narrow and analyze this new Luna. Twirling his wand three times the duo become unseen, unheard, and unfound.

"Now, who are you and what have you done to Luna?"

"I am Luna 'Loony' Lovegood, Harry. Just an earlier version of her if you will." Harry blinked and then scowled as realization hit, "Reincarnation."

"Bingo! I heard of your little problem with certain elements of this war and I thought we might help each other."

"Hold on a minute. Reincarnated souls lose their memories of their previous life and any activity in that previous soul fragment becomes dormant. You are obviously active and aware of your past."

Luna smirked, a disturbing sight to see on the normally dreamy Ravenclaw. "Simple, I was never fully merged with my new soul. Ah ah, don't interrupt and I'll explain. Now, you must understand two things first. One, Death holds all the cards and can do whatever the hell he wants with those in his domain. Two, Death exists outside time and can thus manipulate it.

"Okay, get ready for a headache. Twenty years ago a fox demon, yes demon, attacked my Village and destroyed half of it easy. In order to save my Village I sealed the demon's soul inside my newborn son's body. To do that I literally made a deal with Death. In exchange for my soul the fox demon's spirit was separated from his body and sealed while Death trapped the fox's physical body and myself outside time. So far so good?

"Remember that Death holds all the cards? He got bored and with me and the fox there he decided to play. Now, onto a related tangent about demon breeding. Don't look at me like that! Hmph, now where was I? Oh yeah! Demons can breed two ways - normally and asexually. You need to know about the asexual bit.

"Demons are the ultimate in pureblooded elitism - they will next to never interbreed with humans and will never crossbreed with other demon types. It is extremely rare for a half breed demon to live to adulthood. If there are no more demons of a certain type, the last demon can literally split itself to create a second demon, male or female. Normally this is done by combining a bit of their physical being, part of their energy, a piece of their soul and voila! Newborn demon! Okay, lets apply it like this - one used demon body infused with it old soul's energy minus said spirit. Now, put pre-made demon body into center of Death's domain and let sit 20 years."

Harry growled and began pacing within the confines of his wards. "So lemme guess. Demon got soul, demon got reincarnated, demon is currently sitting inside me, demon is reason for absurdly huge magical core and all Unforgivables either not working or working only partially. Right?" he snapped, eyes glowing AK green.

"Uh…exactly?"

"Addendum to Potter's Luck: There is no such thing as serendipity. All good or seemingly trivial things come back and bite Potters in the arse. Hard.

"Addendum Two: There is no such thing as coincidence.

"So it only makes sense that when a reincarnated soul offering me a deal for what I want mentions a demon fox…"

"Ah, makes sense then. So yeah, only your version of the fox demon isn't completely awake or fully merged and only has seven tails and is the offspring of the Kyuubi no Kitsune or Kyuubi no Youko, whichever name you prefer."

Cue gaping like a landed fish and accompanying stuttering. "K-Kyuubi no K-Kitsune? Seven bloody fuckin' hells! Even I've heard of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox. And you're telling me that I have his bastard offspring inside me?"

"Hai, err…righto kiddo. So, what do you say.?"

"I say you finish your explanation. You explained Death holding all the cards and demon breeding and my being a demon's flippin' reincarnation. Why did I need to know about Death and time?"

"Eesh, no need to get testy. You remember I said I died twenty years ago when I sealed Kyuubi away? Well, my kid is currently 13."

"What?" Harry scratched his head in confusion. The math just wasn't coming to him.

"Death exists outside of the time stream, one of the perks of being Time's boyfriend. Don't give me that look! Really, anyhow…another perk is he can see all times and all realities. Now, just because he's Death doesn't mean he supports mass killing, paperwork ya know? So, he has been known to sweet talk Time and manipulate a few poor dearly departed bastards into regulating and preventing these mass genocides. Thus me and Kyuu being plunked back in the time streams three years before we even died. Don't think too hard, trust me, contemplating paradox is a bitch and you will never win." Shudders wracked Luna-but-not-Luna's body. (1)

“Okayyy then...so what do you want from me?”

“The obvious. I know I screwed Naruto over but if he was in my shoes I know he would've done the same thing. I can hope in my heart that the villagers will treat him well but the realist in me says that it will never happen. Sooo...I decided to make a deal. You look after my son, guide him, protect him, everything and I make sure you get the training you require.”

"Understandable. So, explain a bit more about me getting training like what type, where, when, ya know?."

"Hand to hand, stealth, tactics, chakra use, working with teammates. You know, basic stuff.” Not Luna shrugged, “As for where and when, my home and now.”

Harry paced slowly around the perimeter of his wards, rubbing his scar unconsciously in a thoughtful gesture. Not Luna rocked slowly back and forth, quietly watching Harry's internal debate. What felt like an eternity later, Harry stopped and turned his penetrating gaze on Not Luna. "I'll do it."

Not Luna grinned a huge foxy grin and pumped her fist into the air. "Yosh! Thank you! I'll pop you just outside Konoha with the basic culture info and language in your head. Sound good?"

"Just one question. Who the hell are you?"

A somber smirk replaced the foxy grin. "Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze." (2)

1 - Someone pointed out that Luna was actually a year younger than Harry. So, instead of 2 years I made it 3. Let that fill in the age gap or make up your own reason.

2 - Popular opinion says that is his actual name. Just for my sanity, I changed it from Arashi Kazama to Minato Namikaze. Besides, I think the second name sounds better.