Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Naruto or Harry Potter

Summary: When Harry, Ron, and Hermione find themselves reincarnated into the world of Naruto as the night of Naruto's graduation, they must learn to adapt in a world far more sinister than their own, a world in which death and destruction make the world turn, and in which the strength to kill is the only deterrent to war.

Chapter 1: A Shadow of Memory

"Are you sure?" It was, surprisingly, Ron who had asked, glancing down at the resurrection stone in his hand as if it were made of glass. As if he couldn't believe he was holding it in his hand.

Harry took a deep breath, "Yes. I wouldn't…" he took yet another fortifying breath. "I w-wouldn't be able to resist u-using it again. They wouldn't be here, not whole." He glanced off towards the forest where he had last seen the ghosts of his parents. Of Sirius and Cedric. "I'm not sure what I would do then."

Turning to Ron again, Harry looked him in the eyes, "You have more tying you to this world than I ever will. More to lose if you risk using it. I trust you."

Towards the end of his small speech, Ron had gained a determined glint in his eyes Harry had only ever seen during the last few hours of the war, "I won't use it, and I'll take it with me to the grave." His fist clenched around the small stone.

"Hermione," Harry looked at his other best friend, holding the Elder wand firmly, resolve and resignation shining in her eyes.

"We don't have a choice, do we?" she sighed, looking at Harry softly, "You're giving me this because out of everyone, you can be sure I won't use it."

"The Deathly Hallows," Harry muttered wryly, "They're far too precious – to powerful – to destroy." They had tried to, after all. The wand, when broken in two pieces, had only appeared hours later fully intact. "I don't trust anyone else with them, but they have to be kept separate. You two are the only ones I can trust. Fortunately for us, the Hallows were perhaps the best kept secret during this entire war."

"Do you think we're doing the right thing?"

Harry turned to face one of the two people in the world he would trust with everything. She stood off to the side of him, her bushy hair framing her face in tangles and falling to just below her shoulders, seemingly frizzing up with stress. Her face was lined, looking far too old for her age. Her eyes, if anything, were even older.

Harry was sure he looked much the same. Although his own eyes had lost none of their vibrancy, there were shadows lurking there, a kind of darkness that peered out when he glanced into a mirror. The days of the war had left scars on them, physical and otherwise. Some were fading ever so slowly, some had been reopened time and time again.

He surveyed the Ministry of Magic, broken in some places but being rebuilt. It had been a war that had destroyed much of their world, had shown them the darkest aspects of human nature. Death Eaters had killed, maimed, raped, pillaged without hesitation, and even those that fought back were not entirely innocent of all crimes. There were things you did for your own safety and security that you could not admit out loud, but that made their way to haunt your dreams at night.

After the war, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had contemplated upon leaving this world. They had done their duty. They had killed the most dangerous Dark Lord in history. It wasn't their duty to help rebuild a world that had only sought to harm them from the moment they had entered it. And yet…they had stayed. Perhaps it had been because of Harry's loyalty to the only home he'd ever known, Ron's ties to his broken family, or even the lingering shreds of Hermione's morality. Perhaps it had simply been because of a need for something constant in their lives. Harry wasn't sure, but at the end of it all, they'd stayed.

Harry – no – Sasuke jerked awake and nearly fell out of his bed at the vividness of his dream. His head pounded and his mind was chaotic, thoughts and memories swirling around in his brain as if it were not his own. As if those memories did not belong to him. Moments of another life, another world. Flashes of green and red and streaks of light flying through the air, leaving gashes and sprays of blood in their wake. Memories of ghosts in dark robes and skeletal masks, of dragons and unicorns and castles that towered into the sky.

And Kami, his head hurt. He rubbed his hand over his face tiredly. Red eyes flashed though his mind for a mere instant and he snarled on instinct, sure they were Itachi's eyes until the lack of any discernable sharingan made him pause. Who's then? The name came to him like a whisper from the back of his mind. Voldemort. He shuddered even without knowing why, until another rush of memories made him groan.

Harry Potter. That's who he had been. Sasuke would have thought himself insane if he didn't know it was true. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he did, like an undeniable fact. He had been Harry Potter, and that had been Lord Voldemort. He'd been a wizard in that other world, a being capable of doing magic, but far different than the uses for chakra they had in this world. He'd been the Boy-Who-Lived for surviving a curse that could not be survived. He remembered the dusty dark of old wood and worn cobwebs. The cupboard. His cupboard.

He remembered Hogwarts, the castle he'd made his home. The gleaming lake and fields of endless green. Straight ginger hair and wild, frizzy brown. Ron. Hermione.

Sasuke jumped out of bed, uncertainty filling him at the pang in his chest. At the wistful longing he didn't even yet acknowledge. Was this life even his? Had it all been a dream? It had felt too real, his forehead stinging savagely in some phantom pain, the imaginary scars shining eerily upon his arms where now there was only smooth flesh. He glanced towards the window, only to see the light streaming through the dark, translucent curtains. Sasuke cursed, quickly dressing and getting ready to head to the Academy for his team assignments.

A team. Ha. As if a team would do him any good. There were few in the Academy who he could respect, and even fewer were likely to be on his team. With his luck, he'd get stuck with a fangirl. And as he stepped through the Academy classroom doors, the first sight he was greeted with was a particularly surprising one. Shikaramaru Nara, awake. Not barely awake, but eyes wide open, alert and aware in a way he'd never been before.

Sasuke stared at him until the Nara glanced up and their eyes locked. He froze. The unmistakeable feeling of familiarity washed through him like a surge of fire, all-consuming and without relent. He could feel Nara's eyes staring at him as he walked forward, body moving involuntarily to take a seat beside the Shadow-user. They stared at each other, eerie silence filling in the gap between them, until finally…

"Hari," Nara breathed, a whisper of a breath that only the two could hear, his accent making the previously English name sound somewhat exotic. Sasuke closed his eyes in realization. He certainly didn't feel like Harry. In spite of the memories whirling around in his mind, it felt as though there were two different identities at war within himself. And yet unless the Nara had turned into a Yamanka, he had all the confirmation he needed.

"Ron," Sasuke replied, a little stiff. Shikamaru straightened, the bags under his eyes becoming more pronounced as his mouth curled into a frown.

"You too? Here?"

"Apparently. I'm having trouble processing…everything," Sasuke muttered vaguely, not wanting anyone to overhear and understand.

"I wasn't sure if I was the only one. When?"

"Last night. You?"

"Same," Ron's – Shikamaru's – face became pensive. "I wasn't even sure if this was real, but with you here…if you are here, and I am here, then…"

"Then she's here as well."

"It'll be interesting to figure out who she's become," Shikamaru laid his head upon his desk in a decidedly lazy manner, and Sasuke was forced to admit just how much this lifetime had changed who they were. It made sense that Ron was Shikamaru. His skill for strategy and his passive intelligence had become legendary. As Head Auror, Ron had been ruthless and calculative, trapping his opponents like pawns upon a chessboard. Some part of him had grown up after the war, and some naïve part of him had been lost. Of course, the same had happened to him as well, and to Hermione, but they had already been quite mature for their age anyway.

Shikamaru, however, was quite different from Ron. Although he possessed the same lazy intellect, Shikamaru seemed more observant of social interactions. He also seemed to coast through the academy on his natural intellect, while his true aptitude was far higher than Ron's had been, almost as if Ron's inherent abilities had only been exemplified in Shikamaru.

It was the same for him as well. As a wizard, Harry had possessed a natural talent for dueling and spellwork. He certainly hadn't been a genius, but his instinct and inherent connection to magic had more than compensated for his lack of academic intelligence. And now…Sasuke seemed to have all of Harry's abilities, and more. Although certainly not a genius like his murderer brother, Sasuke knew he had an instinctive talent for combat, and instinct could be more dangerous than intelligence when it came to this profession, because the brain could always process involuntary reactions far quicker than conscious thought.

Furthermore, Harry had always been grey. Not purely light as many of the tabloids had suggested, but balanced grey, capable of doing good as easily as committing murder. Years as an Unspeakable had left him with more doubts about what was light and what was dark than any amount of time at Hogwarts. He wondered how that had been amplified in him now.

"We won't be on the same team," Shikamaru commented dully.

Sasuke ignored the rabid fangirls now pouring into the class, fighting past their surprise at his chosen seat – different from where he usually sat at the front of the class, and now competing for the seat beside him. "No. Everyone is here, and we haven't sensed Hermione."

"I'll most likely be part of a new Ino-Shika-Cho team. Troublesome," Shikamaru mumbled, hiding a wince as Yamanaka Ino screamed particularly loudly, evidently still competing with the pink-haired Haruno girl. Kami, Sasuke hoped he didn't get her in his group.

Just then, Uzumaki Naruto bounded into the room, a grin on his face but a dark look lingering in his eyes.

"Oi," Shikamaru muttered, "Naruto, this class is for graduates only." Sasuke was well aware of the hitai-ate bound to the blond's forehead, and he knew Shikamaru had noticed as well, but it would be interesting to confirm.

"You don't see the hitai-ate?" Naruto scoffed, "I graduated, fair and square!"

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said, and Sasuke rolled his eyes. Although the lazy Nara had some part of Ron in him, a lifetime of being a Nara wouldn't change so easily.

Iruka came in shortly after and began announcing team assignments. Sasuke smirked slightly as Shikamaru was put with Ino and Chouji, the former pouting miserably while simultaneously leering at him, making him shiver slightly in revulsion. However, it was his own team assignment that made him want to bang his head to the desk.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke."

"Haha! Take that Ino-Pig!"

Sasuke winced, and Shikamaru glanced at him pityingly.

As their jounin instructors came and took them away, Shikamaru leaving with a quick, "We need to talk about this," Sasuke was forced to sit in a room, idly waiting as the pink-haired banshee made googly eyes at him and the blond dobe set up a trap juvenile enough to fool perhaps a two year old. Of course, this was right before their jounin instructor stepped through the door and ended up with a head full of chalk dust. Sasuke groaned.

"My first impression of you three…I hate you. Meet me on the roof in five minutes." With that, the silver-haired jounin shunshined out of the room, leaving them to head to the roof.

Sasuke got up, ignoring the screeching Sakura now whacking Naruto on the head, and made his way leisurely to the academy roof. He barely had to wait a minute before the other two arrived, seemingly having noticed that their third teammate had already disappeared. He grimaced as Sakura immediately took a spot beside him, sending him bashful looks as if she hadn't just pounded Naruto's head into a desk.

Sasuke found it…strange. As Harry, he'd always been subjected to this sort of odd, stalkerish behaviour of his fans, and as Sasuke, the parallels were now somewhat unnerving. He was still an orphan, his family had been murdered, just as Harry's had been. He was the last of his family, as Harry had been the last Potter. And he'd become somewhat famous in Konoha because of that. Yet somehow, Sasuke's own fangirls were morbidly obsessive in a way that Harry's never had been.

Harry's fans had been fans at a distance, shaking his hand and greeting him exuberantly, but only occasionally. He'd had to deal with stares and trying to hide from the publicity, but as Sasuke, being old enough to witness his own parent's murder and remember what had happened – remembering just who had killed them…it made it far more unnerving. Harry had become famous because he had lived, and Sasuke was famous because his family had died.

Sakura was certainly book smart, he would have to give her that much, but she lacked any sort of common sense. At first, he'd thought that Hermione might have reincarnated as her, but a second thought had quickly absolved him of that notion. Hermione might kill him for that idea, if she ever found out. His old friend had grown up into a quick-witted, sharp woman who valued common-sense over any sort of tradition or pompous posturing. She'd valued intelligence over traditional power, but she'd also realized that academic intelligence wasn't enough to change the world. That it wasn't enough to change the minds of a society who had since long become stagnant with prejudiced notions of superiority based on no scientific evidence or empirical proof.

Hermione had been brilliant, making her way through the Ministry as the head of Muggle and Magical Relations. She'd made much headway to bridge the gap between muggle technology and wizarding magic, to promote awareness and dismantle the ridiculous ideas of magical superiority that had plagued their world for so long. In contrast, Harry had spent much of his time holed within the labyrinths of the department of mysteries, pouring over old tomes and obscure magics, studying artifacts and making discoveries that would never see the world outside those walls. After a lifetime of war and death, followed by years of rebuilding, Harry had wanted nothing to do with changing the world.

"You next, broody."

Sasuke blinked, not having heard anything of the conversation the past five minutes. By the expectant looks, he supposed he was supposed to give some sort of introduction.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto rolled his eyes at his apparent aloofness, "Teme! What about your likes, dislikes, dreams?"

Oh. So that's what he was supposed to talk about. "I like tomatoes, and training. I dislike…" Sakura was giving him another one of her bashful looks so he decided to end this before it got too far (not that it already hadn't), "I dislike fangirls who can't take this profession seriously."

Sakura reeled back as if slapped in the face, and he was glad that she was intelligent enough not to think that the label "fangirl" didn't apply to her. Her hand snapped back from where it had been about to grasp on to Sasuke's arm, and in the relief of it all, he even managed to ignore Naruto's quiet snickers.

He paused. There was one thing left, wasn't there? Ah…his dream. A day ago he would have said without hesitation that his dream was to kill Itachi in repayment for what he had done. Now, he wasn't so sure. Although his life as Harry still seemed like a disjoint thing, Sasuke knew enough to realize that those memories had already affected him. That they'd already wormed their way into his heart and changed his perspective and the way he thought.

"My dream is to…" What was his dream? Although it was really more of an ambition. His ambition had always been to…survive. That in spite of his life with the Dursleys, his enmity with Voldemort, his adventures at Hogwarts, Harry had always managed to live. And in spite of Itachi murdering his entire family, Sasuke was still alive to want to kill him.

"My ambition is to live." Neither can live while the other survives… There was more than one meaning to the phrase, but he allowed his team to ponder that themselves. Sasuke wasn't even sure himself what meaning he followed.

"Maa…that's a little plain, isn't it Sasuke?" Kakashi commented lazily, though there was a thoughtful spark in his singular eye.

"That sounds…a little morbid, teme," Naruto said, for once not shouting. Sasuke shrugged and turned away from him.

Kakashi surveyed his (potential) genin thoughtfully. Naruto and Sakura were as he had expected, quite different from what the academy reports had mentioned about them. Sakura was reported to be a stellar student, easily top kunoichi with her grades and sheer knowledge. While certainly academically intelligent, Sakura at the moment was nothing more than a fangirl with textbook knowledge and low chakra levels. Naruto was a loudmouth, a prankster and a troublemaker but he had a surprisingly compassionate heart. He was inherently good and seemed to radiate happiness in spite of what his life had thrown at him. He was far from the nefarious demon that many seemed to portray him as.

Sasuke…how to put it. His academy report was more correct than those of the other two genin, but there were still inconsistencies. Sasuke was not a genius as the report had made him out to be. Kakashi had read the reports and he knew that Itachi (and himself) had scored far higher in most aspects of the exams, theoretical and practical. And yet he was certainly a talented child, far ahead of his peers. He was antisocial as the academy reports had stated, and had a touch of arrogance that was characteristic to an Uchiha. Even the Last Uchiha.

And yet…he wasn't as cold-hearted as Kakashi had expected. There was a darkness to his gaze, but it was also tempered with a bright passion – what for, Kakashi wasn't sure. They certainly weren't the dead eyes that Itachi had had, though, during his time in ANBU. He hated his fangirls with a passion and was clearly disdainful of Sakura, but he didn't actively try to hurt her. His earlier jab had been meant to make her back off, but he'd never done more than that.

He had originally thought to do the bell test, but if the last Uchiha failed, the council might throw a fit. If this team would pass anyway, then there was no point in testing them. Most of the jounin instructors didn't, either way. Based on the academy reports, these three would have no teamwork, but Kakashi would change that.

"Meet me tomorrow, at 8."

Neji scowled darkly as Gai and Lee launched into another one of their disturbing hugs, waves crashing against a rocky beach with a bright orange sun setting in the background. He'd had the oddest dream last night, one filled with magic – not completely dissimilar to chakra – and a war against a dark wizard that had been alive for decades. Worst of all…he'd been a girl.

An intelligent girl, certainly, but a girl! A bushy-haired, buck-toothed know-it-all girl. There wasn't anything wrong with girls, per say, but something about his dreams had taken a stab at his own masculinity. And wasn't that just a little humiliating? The dream had been eerily realistic, so much so that he had almost believed it. Lee and Gai were still hugging when he turned back towards them, so Neji turned and left the training ground. They wouldn't notice his lack of presence for a while yet, and he had some…investigation to do.

If his dream had been real, and if Ron and Harry were indeed a part of this world, they would have to be in the newest batch of graduates. Or at least one of them would have to be.

Neji began walking his way to each of the training grounds surrounding Konoha. The first team he found was his cousin's new team, consisting of a loud, brash Inuzuka and what looked like a silent Aburame. Neji wanted to scowl at the reminder of the Main Hyuuga house, but a stab of nostalgia made the expression vanish. How was it that this team reminded him so much of…Ron and Harry. He shook his head, retreating as quickly as he'd come and headed for another training ground.

It took another five training grounds before he found another occupied. Odd, Neji thought as he wandered closer, there's only two of them. Where's the other? All he could see a blond haired girl shrieking at a pudgy boy. Their sensei was standing a little off to the side, holding a smoking cigarette between two fingers, watching them with vague amusement.

"Hermione."

Neji whirled around, two shuriken in his hands before he'd even had the chance to consciously think about grabbing them.

"Relax," Shikamaru mumbled lazily from where he'd been leaning against a tree, behind him.

White, pupil-less eyes widened incredulously, "How did you…?"

Shikamaru frowned slightly. Had he been wrong? No, that couldn't be it. The feeling was unmistakable, even though Hermione had been most definitely female in her past life. "You can't feel it?"

Looking to his hands, Neji's eyes closed, frustrated. The wistfulness and familiarity had left him with no doubt. He'd half denied his dreams because he'd thought they could never be real, but now...what he felt was unmistakable.

"Ron," he sighed, voice becoming monotonous as was his tendency when stressed. Strange memories of a lifetime encapsulated in a single dream were now unravelling in his mind. Hermione had always been proficient at processing large amounts of data and categorizing it effectively in her brain, and Neji was no different. He was just as knowledge-driven, only more practical about it. Hermione had sought knowledge for its own sake, but Neji's life had made him value it for the defenses it gave him, for the power it provided him.

He'd had to use every ounce of cunning to survive as a member of the branch family, to survive and yet shine. Hermione had always promoted equal rights for magical creatures, as well as muggleborns, but she had never truly had to face the fact that her life was unwillingly controlled by another. That a single seal could end her life or cause her immeasurable pain if a member of the main house willed it. Even on a whim.

Neji was very much like Hermione, wanting to change the fate of his house, but his childhood had embittered him in a way that Hermione's had not. He was not as idealistic. As optimistic as she had been. But he had the passion, and the determination, and even the power to create that change. And perhaps it was enough.

"I'm surprised you're a Nara," his lips quirked in the slightest hint of a smile, "Aren't they supposed to be smart?"

"Oi, that's mean," Shikamaru deadpanned, slouching lazily again, hands shoved into his pockets.

Neji glanced towards the side, studying him from his periphery, "Who is Harry?"

The lazy Nara winced slightly, peaking her interest.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

His breath hitching, Neji turned to face him again, "You're not serious?"

"Of course not. He's always had the worst luck. Although," Shikamaru's eyes flicked up to her hitai-ate, "You're not much different."

"I'm surprised you know about it," he muttered, resisting the urge to make sure his hitai-ate was still in place. Something about the impulse reminded him awfully of Harry.

The Nara merely shrugged, before turning back to glance towards his team, "Ino's stopped yelling and Asuma will probably call us for proper training soon. You should go see if you can find Harry – Sasuke. Kami, processing all these memories and keeping them straight is troublesome."

Neji nodded and left quietly, glancing back only once to see Shikamaru walking back over to his teammates and getting whacked on the head by an irate Yamanaka. He didn't try to find the Last Uchiha just yet, still needing a bit of time to process the new information. Instead, he headed back to his own training ground. Gai and Lee were engrossed in a taijutsu battle, apparently not having noticed that he'd disappeared.

Tenten, however, had given him a sidelong glance as he'd returned, but he'd ignored her to focus on the fight.

It was late evening when Neji found himself at the doorstep of the hauntingly silent Uchiha compound. The homes were in disrepair with no one to maintain them. It disturbed him that the boy who was now Harry had lived this life. Neji missed his father, and had been angered by his loss, but to see the lingering remains of an entire clan was, unnerving.

He knocked on the door and waited a minute before it creaked open, the surprised dark eyes of Uchiha Sasuke staring at him, features far too tense to suit such a young face. Not that Neji noticed that his own face was just as tense, his white eyes widened slightly in shock.

"Harry," he whispered slightly, a note of longing in his voice that could only belong to the part of him that was Hermione.

"Hermione," Sasuke blinked, glancing around them uneasily. Neji couldn't recall ever seeing Harry's face so inexpressive. "Shikamaru told me who you were. You should come in. He is already here."

She stared, "Why am I not surprised?" Sighing, she followed the silent Uchiha through the halls of the deserted main building, noticing with trepidation the numerous pictures that hung on the walls, some dusted over with years of neglect.

Shikamaru was lounging on one of the mats in the living room when they arrived, "About time you made it. I was afraid you weren't going to show up at all."

"After meeting you, I needed a 'rush to the library' moment, I suppose, without the library."

Snorting, Shikamaru sat up into a sort of half-slouch before peering at them seriously, "Who would have guessed we'd have ended up like this?"

Sasuke shook his head, "I'm not even sure which part of me is me, and which is not."

"It's interesting how different, and in some ways similar, we are from our counterparts," Neji muttered thoughtfully. "I can see you as Ron, Nara, but you're also far different from what Ron was."

"Shikamaru."

"Hm?"

"Call me Shikamaru. We know each other pretty well by now, don't we?"

Neji shrugged. Perhaps in another life, Hermione had been more extrovert, more open to showing her passion and her drive. Those things were still there in Neji, but they'd been kept in a tight hold, from the life he'd had with his clan and from the life of a shinobi. They were all significantly different. Harry had always been an angsty person, but Sasuke's life had made him even more cold and withdrawn, icy where Harry had once been fiery. There was the potential for power there, greater than most shinobi could dream of. But then again, Harry had always been an exceptionally capable wizard.

The cold intelligence and ruthless ambition that had been a part of Harry's life now took form in Sasuke's need for retribution. And yet…perhaps if he hadn't been Harry once, Sasuke may have possessed less kindness than he did now, Neji thought as he held a cup of steaming tea, made within a kitchen that Sasuke probably didn't even like entering.

And Shikamaru…he had always been intelligent as Ron, though hidden behind a veneer of laziness and lack of motivation. Years fighting in a war and managing the auror program after had taken away none of his passion, simply given it direction. He had always been clever in his own way, strategic and calm when even she had faltered. Shikamaru was more than that. Ruthless in his analysis, working through his life as if it were a game to be played. A game of chess.

"How did we even get to this world?" Neji questioned, making himself comfortable one of the corner mats.

"Or why just the three of us?" Shikamaru immediately became serious, rising up from his slouch into a straighter posture.

Sasuke flinched violently, so much so that Neji didn't even need his Byakugan to notice.

"Sasuke?"

The Uchiha squirmed in his seat slightly, the action so uncharacteristic that Shikamaru's eyes narrowed, "You know why."

Sasuke sighed, breathing out heavily before lifting his face and locking their eyes with his own dark ones, "I think it has something to do with the Deathly Hallows."

The words were like a slap in the face. They remembered being given the Hallows by Harry, mere hours after the war had ended. They also remembered never having spoken of them again.

"Of course," Neji breathed, "To collect all three would make you the Master of Death." His brows scrunched, "But then why would we be here? Shikamaru and I?"

"Because he gave us two of them." Shikamaru muttered, seemingly in complete disbelief of the situation.

"That would only mean there was no Master of Death. We'd separated the Hallows. No one person had them, then."

"True, but it was the first time all three Hallows had been collected. We were never sure what impact that would have," Sasuke responded.

"I assume we're involved because you gave them to us, Sasuke," Shikamaru spoke slowly, his mind going a mile a minute, "Gave them instead of having them taken from you by force."

Neji looked up so fast his neck cracked, "You're right." He looked at Shikamaru in a horrified kind of stupor. "Not only was it the first time the Hallows had ever been reunited, but the Elder Wand can only be truly taken if it is done so by force. Sasuke, you didn't have the three Hallows anymore, but at the same time, they were still connected to you, and each other."

Sasuke nodded, face full of guilt, "It must have confused them. They must have included the two of you in this entire situation. After all, the Hallows can only have one Master – one owner that possesses all three."

He looked towards them, "I am so sorry." The words choked his throat. As Sasuke – before all of this – he'd never apologized to anyone outside of his own family. And yet, now…words couldn't properly express the wave of guilt that made him nauseous. That made his head pound and his throat clench up so he couldn't breathe.

It was Shikamaru that sighed a low, "Troublesome," before moving forward to hold Sasuke in an awkward sort of hug, and it was Neji who reluctantly rubbed his back, looking somewhat like he'd rather be anywhere else. And when Sasuke choked out a laughing sob and pushed away their hands stubbornly, they said nothing.

They spoke for a while yet, comparing and contrasting their experiences of reliving their memories and figuring out what to do from here. Shikamaru snickered somewhat at Neji's irritation at having girly memories, remarking that with his long, silky hair and porcelain face, Neji was already more feminine than most girls anyway. Perhaps even more feminine than his female counterpart. He'd caught the calculative glint in Shikamaru's eyes, anyway, as plans upon plans began to form in his mind, layers upon layers of strategy.

They spoke of their teams, Neji complaining about the green, spandex clad teammate and sensei. Sasuke snorted that if he thought green was bad, Neji should try orange, to which he winced lightly. Shikamaru then commented about his blond haired teammate, to which Sasuke glared at him and merely mentioned pink.

The tension that had been so palpable merely an hour back seemed to have faded somewhat, though it lingered in the darkness behind Sasuke's eyes and the tenseness in Neji's shoulders. Even Shikamaru had risen somewhat from his perpetual slouch. There was an understanding though, a kind of unspoken loyalty that seemed to forgive all past mistakes and provide a clean slate.

Neji proposed that they should keep their correspondence under wraps for now, or at least make it so that it wasn't too obvious. Shikamaru and Sasuke agreed instantly, not wanting the suspicion that came from children of three important clans who suddenly knew each other after years of ignoring one another. Sasuke and Neji in particular would have to be watchful. The feuds between their clans were no secret to Konoha.

"We will not be in the same teams, but we should still keep in touch," Shikamaru muttered.

Sasuke nodded, "Come here whenever we need to talk. No one ever comes to the Uchiha compound, so it will be safe."

Shikamaru left for home first, complaining that his mother would likely yell at him for being late, and just how troublesome that was. As Neji got up to leave, he paused by the door and took in the too quiet house, Sasuke standing off to the side to close the door after he left.

"You shouldn't have to live like this. Not again," Neji spoke softly, his voice carrying through the house like an echo, one that spoke of memories both would rather keep buried.

"Where else would I go?" It was odd how the response was phrased so casually, despite the words. As if there was nothing wrong in the first place.

"I could ask my clan if they would…"

"No. You have enough trouble as it is," Sasuke's eyes flicked up to his headband, "And no Hyuuga would ever want an Uchiha in his house. Too much bad blood between the clans."

Neji nodded. There really wasn't a point to keep insisting when they both knew it wasn't possible. And both Sasuke and Harry had too much pride to rely on another person, or clan, for shelter. Almost two decades at the Dursleys had taught Harry patience, if nothing else.