บท 59: Chapter 59
He nodded and removed the mask, revealing that adorable little face that looked like he had too much on his shoulders.
"So are you really *the* Harry Potter? You're different from all the others you know. Wielding life energy...I didn't think such a thing possible. More life energy than magic? And only eleven yourself. What are you supposed to be anyway? Oh, where are my manners... My name is Hermione Jane Granger. Or was. Not sure about that actually..."
When she started mumbling by the end, Harry shook his head. This was all too much information to take in. first the girl turns out to not be human, then doesn't even blink when a kunai nearly slices her arm off, and regenerates like a shadow demon or tentacle monster or living gloop of some kind. Then she drags him off to this room in a remote part of the castle and promptly begins interrogating him with an ease that would be more at home at a tea party. It was official. He was now in the twilight zone.
And the sad part was he knew he was outmatched by this girl, who didn't show any discomfort at being nearly dis-armed and presumably couldn't be killed via physical means. And jutsu were an option only after as a last resort and he had nothing left to loose. Playing trump cards at the drop of a hat was not his ninja way.
As it was, he was getting quite an inkling of why a Bijuu scared people shitless. The feeling of being powerless against another being, a power gap that no training could overcome. It was only sheer force of will that kept him from bolting and possibly dieing in a way that would have been in short pointless.
"Yes, I am the real Harry Potter. I've come from unusual circumstances. What I wield is similar to but not exactly life energy. Yes I know I'm eleven, by all accounts so are you. May I ask what I am here for?"
Hermione merely grinned.
"Now now, Harry, If I can call you that-"
A hint of a nod.
"Well yes, its like this. Very recently I was transformed from my human self into something unique as you have seen... Now, I find my new self rather bored and lonely. And then all of a sudden, I find that *you* are another such unique person who is different from the rest, wolves among sheep..."
Harry was not sure, but he really didn't like the way this conversation was going. Transformed? From Humanity? Lonely? Unique? Statement conveying that they were different from everybody else and implying implicitly that they should stick together? Klaxons were screeching in his ears. So he interrupted her speech.
"I'm not giving up my humanity." he growled.
Hermione was even more amused. What a funny little boy. Jumping to conclusions like that.
"Nothing like that my dear. I just want somebody to talk to and somebody to go on adventures with...maybe some mutual training? Hmmm...there's a thought"
"No offense lady, but I really don't trust you and you're not showing many signs of sanity either. I have a personal rule against associating with possibly hostile S class entities."
Hermione blinked and filed away the last bit to examine for later. Maybe it had to do with the life energy he wielded, maybe not.
"Please! Pretty please? I can be useful! I know, next time you go kill something, let me watch!"
Harry was getting so freaked out that he was subtly pinching himself between the gaps in armor. And antagonizing somebody who behaved like a 5 year old in a sugar rush was quite unwise. So he simply nodded his head and prayed he would not end up getting sacrificed to some satanic cult or otherwise. He already had a battalion of clones he knew were totally useless sticking around (on walls, ceiling around aiming sharp implements in her direction. She didn't even blink. He was just thankful she hadn't brought out the "gun". Dodging bullets had not been an exercise he had practice in.
Hermione grinned. Somebody to help relieve her unusual boredom. Oh joyous day! Sure, books were nice, but this body required something more amusing to slake its thirsts (for chaos actually, but she didn't know that). It was extremely convenient to ignore the fact that her definition of amusing had changed to something truly terrifying.
Maniacal laughter was bouncing of the walls and scaring the self taught shinobi half to death. In another part of the castle, Tetsuya caught a shiver in his spine, as if some great and powerful evil was around him. He was sure of it. In Japan, a certain blind lady echoed similar sentiments.
In Kyoto, an old woman tossed and turned in her sleep. Dreams that had never been concieved of before plagued her ancient mind like a swarm of locusts over a field of grain. The fact of the matter was, her visions were rarely this haunting. Most visions were symbolic and sometimes hard to understand. A line of ants eating carrying away spilled rice might mean anything from an attacking army prepared to rape, slaughter and pillage a city to a new infestation of ants in the imperial kitchens, and magical ants were quite the pesky pests. The ones that were in essence portraits of creatures or landscapes were worse. They were impossible to interpret and were mostly clear, if at all, after the event. That was why Chiyo was rarely consulted about the future in beyond the vaguest of terms. Rarer still were her prophecies, often in convenient haiku form, that were sometimes clearer than a thousand pictures, and often more clouded than thunderstorm.
As a result of these extreme shifts in the nature of her "sight", Chiyo was most valuable as the unknown advisor, somebody who knew the generalities of the present and the future but was not mired in the trivialities, of the power plays and politics that were quite natural in any and all organizations. Her retainers both took care of her and kept her abreast of the latest news and gossips. She listened and did not speak, letting the trivialities of the day wash over her and letting her sight retain what was important. It was perhaps a rather effective system, as an absolutely neutral viewpoint was always there, either for the empress herself, or the chief of her guard, Hayate. The fact that any biases in her advice came from her gift, simply made her all the more useful. She was a tool, in essence and a willing one. And perhaps more to the point, a willing one.
Today though, Chiyo was in a truly sour mood. With her dreams had come visions among which were such disturbing sights such as that of of a hand crushing the earth, a pair of gambling die, an enormous demonic looking fox with nine tails that was too terrifying to even imagine and an abyss. And for some reason, a girl and a boy were there, gaijin, staring at her blankly from beyond a window in an otherwise distorted wall. But what came after that was what had her truly shaking with fear. A grinning maw that took a bite out of the planet. Not perhaps as scarring as the demon fox, but far more troublesome.
Some of which she had no idea about, others were, from past experience and the writings of seers from ages past, crystal clear. At least she had something to tie some of it to reality.
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