Just like Magic

Chapter One

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She told herself that she wouldn't get involved, even as she is reminded of her own childhood.

This is not her world.

But when he turns his face and his beautiful emerald meet her own dulled green, she's reminded of a small blonde boy with large cerulean orbs and a similar look in his eyes. And before she knows it, she is staring down a small bunch of snot-nosed children, sneers replaced with looks of fear as she levels them with her own infamous glare and the small spike of killing intent she hadn't realized she was releasing.

"Leave."

The word barely leaves her lips before the children are crying out as they run away. She thinks maybe she should feel guilty for going overboard as the slight smell of urine reaches her nose, but the memory of a small boy being sneered at and mistreated for no reason of his own comes back and she cannot bring herself to care.

Slight shuffling pulls her attention back to the boy, and she finds herself relaxing slightly when she looks down at him, having been pushed on the ground. Pulling her chakra in so it is once again tightly bound, she meets his bright curious eyes with her own.

Kneeling down, she moves to help him up, noticing his flinch at her contact, she slows her movements as she gently brushes the dirt off his frame once he's standing.

Standing, she brushes herself off, then makes her way to his bag which has been tossed aside. Picking it off the floor, she hands it back to him.

"Are you well?" She speaks slowly and carefully, the words still unfamiliar on her tongue from lack of use.

The words of her shishou surfaces from her memory of the day Tsunade told her she would have to learn the foreign language.

"You never know, Sakura, it might just save your life one day."

Sakura had brushed them off as a joke, but learned the language anyway out of respect for her mentor. She wondered now if Tsunade was laughing at her from beyond her grave.

Pushing the painful thought aside she watches the boy nod with surprise written on his features.

"Y-yes. Thank you miss."

The green-eyed boy spoke so quietly she wasn't sure that if she wasn't a shinobi she would have heard him.

"Good."

An uncomfortable silence settles around them and Sakura cannot help but wonder when she had become this unaccustomed to small children. She remembers treating plenty of sick children at the hospital who came in with colds and broken bones, scraped elbows and grazed knees from training or playing in the park and market place in Konoha.

Her eyes take on a faraway look as she remembers a happier life in a different time and different world. When the home she loved still stood strong and the people she loved still breathed.

"My name's Harry. Harry potter." He says, breaking Sakura from her painful thoughts and giving a small, unsure smile while shifting from foot to foot.

Sakura takes in the features of the little boy she helped in less than a second. His clothes are several sizes too big, his shoes too small and too worn, and his wrists too skinny. Her gaze is then drawn once again to his bright green eyes hidden behind his cracked glasses.

"Nice to meet you Harry Potter, my name is Sakura Haruno."

Her lips also lift into some semblance of a smile, the action has become as unfamiliar to her as the words on her tongue, but she tries anyway, for Harry's sake. She knows an abused child when she saw one. The worn-out look from his clothing and the way he flinched away from contact. And the sadness that never seems to leave his eyes, making them appear older.

"I will walk you to your home." Sakura says quietly but in a tone, that leaves little room for argument.

The boy, Harry, looks at her as if considering something, and Sakura thinks for a second he might actually try to refuse, but he just nods and turns in the direction she assumes his house is.

They are silence most of the way, only the sound of Harry's footsteps and the rustling of his bag and clothes between them until they reach the road his house is on. Sakura takes in the neatly cut green grass and trimmed gardens of all the houses along the street. Their structures so similar that if it weren't for their allotted numbers, someone unfamiliar could easily mistake them for each other. Though, compared to other houses she has seen in the city, they look well off.

Which begs to question why this little boy looks the way he does?

"Every day are you hurt by others?" Sakura asks, not sure if she has worded her question right. She may have been familiar with the language when she arrived, but two months is very little time to actually become fluent when you have next to no one to talk to.

Harry glances up at her warily but she can also see the sadness in his eyes, too old for someone his age in this world.

"Sometimes, they leave me alone." Harry says, stopping in what she assumes is the front of his house. "They usually only bother me at school. But it's alright, I'm used to it I suppose."

Sakura knows what it's like to be picked on every day, to feel like you don't belong and aren't good enough. She grew up feeling as if she was never good enough, the words of her tormentors constantly whispered in her head as she looked at herself in the mirror every morning and every night.

Forehead girl.

Cry baby.

Freak.

Looking at the small boy in front of her she wants to tell him that it's not alright, that no child should be treated that way. But instead she just nods.

"I am sorry." Sakura says sincerely.

She thinks of Naruto and his childhood and this boy who is experiencing similar things he once had. Her heart aches for him. She wants to help this boy who reminds her so much of her blonde teammate, but she knows she is in no position to do so.

Catching a slight movement in the front window of the house, Sakura is able to make out a feminine figure watching them through the curtain. Looking back at the boy next to her, she places her palm on his dark hair, glad that he doesn't flinch or move away, and ruffles it gently.

"Be strong, Harry Potter." She says before dropping her hand. "Goodbye."

Harry looks up at the older girl slightly puzzled, but thankful for her kindness.

"Goodbye…" He whispers, watching her walk away and wondering if they will ever meet again.

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This is a shorter chapter, but I do have some drabbles already for a follow up that I will post in the future. Let me know what you think :)