Itoshii Sune-ku

Itoshii Sune-Ku.

Chapter 25:Tsukemono...? Or...?

"And that's what they told me. Isn't it neat, Sirius? I wouldn't have figured anything like it would be possible. And they were shocked that I didn't get poisoned when I stuck Hanone's finger in my mouth. I didn't even know someone's blood could be poisonous, it was just a habit. I always suck on any bleeding fingers I get. And--"

"HARRY!" Harry blinked large green eyes at Sirius, noting the somewhat pained expression on his godfather's face.

"What? Are the demons coming back?" Harry looked toward the barred door, only seeing more barred cells and hearing only the ramblings of some of the others in said barred cells. He turned back to his godfather and saw him pinching the bridge of his nose, shaking his head.

"You are the strangest kid, I have ever met. You're even more strange than Moony. And the only reason he was so strange was because he liked playing in muggle sandboxes, for some out of this world reason!"

"Huh?" 'Sandboxes?'

"Sirius, why sandboxes?" Sirius stared at him a moment, wondering why Harry would be asking that, then realized. Sandboxes were what Harry primarily played in when he was younger.

"He convinced your dad it would be good to put in a sandbox in your yard. He used to take you out and play in the sandbox when you were a baby. We all knew he just used you as an excuse to get to play in the sandbox, though." Sirius snickered, and Harry smiled.

"I like the sandbox. It's fun. But I don't remember that." Was all Harry said.

"Of course you wouldn't. You were just a baby. Not many people can remember things from when they were that young, so it's no surprise you don't remember." Harry smiled, and requested Sirius to tell him more of his Hogwarts.

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"Harry,

Hi, Harry! I think you should be named Pickles! I asked Fred to help me pick out a name for you, and help me find some names in um, Japanese...But anyway! He didn't help me none. And George didn't help none. So I asked Charlie but he didn't help me none neither. So I asked mum to ask Percy to help me. He did. So...I think you should be named 'pickles!' It's a cute name, 'spesic...specil...And in Japanese it's a really cute name too! It's...Uh...I forgot how to spell it...Hold on! I'll ask Percy!"

Harry stared at the letter in his hands, wondering if his new found friend was as hyper as he imagined from her writing style. There were little drawn pictures in every corner of the parchment, happy faces, hearts, and an odd looking drawing of a puppy. He looked back to the writing.

"Tsukemono. Yeah! So, be named that. So, the next time I see you, I can call you Pickles! Please! It's the cutest name in the world! Oh! Anyway, hope you decide on a name soon, and it had better be a cute name. But right now I have to go. Percy said he'll teach me...Japanese, if I promise to be serius...Serious about it. It's gonna be so awesome! So, I'll write again soon! Bye, Harry!

Ginny."

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Ginny,

Hi! Boy, you seem rather hyper. I think I might like being Tsukemono, it's much better than the names Sumikiru has been coming up with. Names like 'Denkou,' or 'Rakurai.' Or even 'Ato,' or 'Soukon.' All those because of one of my scars. Or other names because of my green eyes. I think I'd rather be named after pickles than be named after a tiny little scar or two little green eyeballs.

Plus, pickles are yummy.

I've got to go to bed now. I'll write a longer letter later. Good luck on learning Japanese!

Harry.

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"Where am I?" Bright green eyes looked about, taking note of strange knick knacks and a bright red and gold bird sleeping on a gold perch, but at the sound of his voice, the bird woke, stared at him, and trilled loudly. Harry jumped, and whirled to face the person that had entered at the beautiful bird's trilling.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Long white hair, bright blue eyes, and an outfit for a stereotypical wizard, Harry thought frantically, 'It's Merlin from my books!' Harry started stuttering, trying to get a sentence out, and failed. Giving up, he bolted behind the large desk in the center of the room.

"Oh dear. It's all right. How did you get here, child?" Albus Dumbledore, rarely ever surprised, was shocked beyond belief. A tiny child of no more than five or six, maybe, just maybe seven, was in his office, and he had no idea how he got there. The child mumbled something, and Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"Pardon?" He said. A small, dark haired head, with bright green marble eyes, peeked out at him from behind the desk.

"I'm not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be in Azkaban, with Padfoot. He needs me. Who are you? Where am I? Where's Padfoot?"

"Azkaban! A child! In Azkaban! What is the Ministry thinking!" Harry squeaked, and ducked back. Albus, seeing this, frantically back-tracked.

"I'm sorry! No, it's all right! I didn't mean to scare you. Ahh...Umm..." Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was not good with children under the age of ten. Harry's head peeked back out, eyeing Dumbledore distrustfully. Dumbledore eyed the boy back, but curiously.

"What is your name, little one?" Harry tilted his head to the side, before glancing the red and gold bird that seemed to be studying him.

"Hanjimono Suke." Green eyes stared at the headmaster, who looked slightly shocked.

"Chinese?" Harry raised an eyebrow, and said, slightly mockingly.

"Japanese."

"You do not look Japanese. And you speak English rather fluently. Did you just move here?"

"I'm not really here."

"What do you mean?" Dumbledore moved slowly to a high backed chair sitting in front of the desk. He sat down, and looked closely and the boy. Dark, slightly shoulder length hair, bright green eyes, and a thin face. Much too thin.

"I'm not really here. You just think I am." Dumbledore stared incredulously, before Harry started giggling, trying to smother his laughter.

"I'm kidding, sir." The headmaster slowly smiled, then chuckled, eyes glittering brightly.

"Well, Mr. Suke..."

"Hanjimono."

"Pardon?"

"Hanjimono. If you're trying to address me by my last name, it's Hanjimono. My first name is Kyosuke. Suke for short...I guess..."

"Ahh...Of all the places I could have traveled to, I didn't even think of going to Japan...Maybe I should..." He muttered, cheeks actually tinting pink. Harry giggled again.

"Are you Merlin?" Dumbledore's eyes widened.

"Pardon?"

"You look like Merlin, from my books. But then again, you don't look like Merlin from 'Anone's books. My books are just story books. 'Anone's books are study books. What's your name?" He blinked innocently up at the stunned headmaster, quirking an almost unnoticeable smirk. Dumbledore began to stutter then finally settled on just his name.

"My name is Albus Dumbledore."

"Headmaster of Hogwarts! Hi! Padfoot told me all about you! Heh, heh, lemon drops..." Harry put a hand to his mouth, giggling, then his eyes widened and he dropped out of sight. There was sounds of scuffling, drawers opening and closing, then the dark head popped up once again, crying slightly accusingly.

"You moved them! Padfoot said that you kept them in the third drawer on the right side of your desk, but they were on the left!" Harry looked at him and then down at the desk, looking thoughtful.

"Or maybe it was that it was on the right side from where you're sitting, not from where I'm hiding." He started muttering to himself turning around to face the way Dumbledore was, and muttering some more. Harry turned back around and looked at Dumbledore seriously. He held out a bright yellow draw string bag.

"Lemon Drop?" Dumbledore stared for a moment, then laughed delightedly, reaching over to take one of the candies from the bag and popping it in his mouth. Harry jumped up into the chair behind him, and put his elbows on the desk. He steepled his fingers and looked across at Dumbledore, who wore a highly amused expression.

"Now...What do you need from me?" Harry asked, green eyes bright, and glowing. Dumbledore tilted his head, thinking the green eyes to be very familiar, and rather unnerving.

"I don't think I need anything. Except to know why the Ministry deemed it wise to place a child in Azkaban, and how you came to be in my office from Azkaban." Harry smirked, and the Headmaster thought it looked rather out of place on such an innocent looking child.

"That's not what you need from me. You brought me here. You were the one thinking--either consciously or unconsciously, you were thinking you needed me. Usually it's only Padfoot that needs me. And that is why I am usually in Azkaban." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"Usually?" The smirk widened into a grin.

"Usually. In Japan it is night time. Here, it's day. Right now, I am laying in my bed, fast asleep. While this part of me is here. Sitting in front of you. Wondering what your need could be, to be stronger than Padfoot's." Dumbledore's eyes widened, and he looked at the small boy in a new light.

"You're not actually here..." He sounded awestruck. Harry's earlier smirk returned.

"Heh. You look funny." He gave the headmaster a weird look.

"You're old." That snapped Dumbledore back to the present, and he gave Harry a rather insulted look.

"No, no! I just mean, you're old, you've been a lot of places, seen a lot of things, heard a lot of thing, but you haven't heard o' something like this? Bah...You're weird." Harry sighed, shaking his head, before resting said head on his knuckles.

"So, can we get back to why I'm here? No offense, Albie, but I think I'd rather be with Padfoot at the moment. So hurry up and tell me what you need from me." The nickname brought something back to the old headmaster, and his eyes widened.

"Sirius Black!" Harry raised a brow, and wondered if he really should have used the nickname.

"Sirius Black was the only one to call me 'Albie.' That's who you've been with in Azkaban!" Harry applauded him slightly.

"Yup. Good for you, Albie! Now can you guess why the 'Infamous Sirius Black' would need me so much?" Albus studied the child sitting at his desk, and his eyes widened even more.

"Harry..." Harry's eyes widened slightly, but he didn't show any surprise.

"That's why he needs you so much! You're his godson! You're Harry!"

"No need to yell, Headmaster. Yeah, I'm Harry. Is this why you needed me so much? Because you've lost me, and can't seem to find me?" Dumbledore couldn't seem to speak. The look in Harry's eyes seemed to warn him, if he made a wrong move, or implied something Harry didn't like, it would be a real bad day for the headmaster.

"You know we've been searching for you for a year now, don't you...?" Harry nodded curtly.

"You know that some even think you dead?" Again, a curt nod.

"Harry, where are you?"

"Japan."

"And you like it there?"

"Yes."

"There is someone who takes care of you?"

"Five someones."

"Who are they?"

Kyoushi, Hanone, Yochi, Sumikiru, and Karasu."

"And they are good to you?" Harry's eyes narrowed. Dumbledore was beginning to tread on thin ice.

"They are very good."

"Will...Will you, ah, elaborate?"

"They teach me. I don't have to cook unless I want to. They put me in potion classes. And Hanone teaches me potions, too. Sumi teaches me healing spells, and gives her input on my potions homework. Yochi teaches me about magical creatures, especially werewolves, but that's to be expected. Kyoushi lets me cook with her, and she's teaching me household, and cooking spells. She says I still have a long way to go before I can use of the spells without getting tired, but I'm getting better. Hanone says I'm better at potions than I am at spell work, but that that's a good thing. She says potions are sometimes more useful than spells." Harry's whole demeanor changed as he started talking about the ones taking care of him.

"Karasu is teaching me some defense spells, though I sometimes think his lessons are boring. Usually I can convince him to let me work on my languages."

"Languages?" Albus asks quietly, hoping Harry wouldn't stop talking.

"I have dreams. When stuff like this doesn't happen. My normal dreams. Anyway, in my dreams someone is usually singing to me. But most of the time it's in a different language, and I'm trying to learn the languages they're in, so I can find out what they mean. Karasu gets bored of it, but he still helps me. Heh, I used to be real scared of him. And he's only a year older than me." Harry sat back, laughing lightly.

"Can you tell me about your new family? What is Yochi like? Why does he--"

"She."

"She--know so much about werewolves? Is she one?"

"Yeah. Yochi's a werewolf. I wouldn't call her a normal werewolf but..." He shrugged, then brightened, thinking he could alarm his godfather's un-alarm-able former headmaster.

"Hanone's a vampire, though. It's really cool." As he had expected, the headmaster looked quite alarmed. He pretended to not notice, and continued on.

"Sometimes, I'll sneak into her room and steal one of those blood pops of hers. But, truthfully, I think she knows I snitch them, and just lets me think I'm being sneaky. I mean, I have my own stash of them, but I usually run out long before she does. I don't get as many as she does on our shopping trips. I think she gets so many 'cause she knows I'll steal some of hers. Then again, she always laughs at me when she catches me." He grumbled the last part, and looked up at Dumbledore. And promptly burst out laughing. Albus looked shell shocked.

"What? Did you think Hanone was some evil vampire that liked sucking the blood of children or something?" Dumbledore's expression turned fleetingly sheepish, before turning to a look as if he was insulting himself.

"Yeah, Hanone's a year older than me. Then again, so is Kyoushi, Sumikiru, and Yochi. All five of them are a year older than me. Though they're much older mentally than they are physically."

"Quite. Sorry, I'm just not used to this. Are the others werewolves? Or vampires?"

"Well, truthfully, kinda sorta. Kyoushi is a snake. She's half snake. Well, more than half snake. Truthfully, though she looks human enough, she's barely human. Actually, with the way they were brought into the world, they're pretty lucky to have a human form at all." Harry looked around, eyes coming to rest on the beautiful bird that was preening a ruffled feather back into place. The bird looked up, staring straight at him, and chirped lightly. The sound was very soothing, and Harry wondered why. It seemed so very familiar, but Harry just couldn't remember at the moment.

"His name is Fawkes." Fawkes chirped again, but this time, to Harry at least, it sounded pretty indignant. And exasperated. Harry stared back at Fawkes, and saw in the beautiful creature's eyes, fond exasperation, but also irritation, and indignation.

"Why are you so peeved?" Harry asked, quietly. Dumbledore watched, not saying a word. He knew Fawkes was intelligent, and could very well understand the human language, but the only problem was that he couldn't speak back. At least, not to Dumbledore. He didn't have, what people called thousands of years ago, speech. Harry knew nothing of 'speech' or any such nonsense. He just knew that he could read anyone and anything if he tried hard enough. And Fawkes' look was telling him exactly why the creature was angry.

"I hate you humans thinking I'm male!"

Harry chuckled lightly, and hopped off the chair, and walked over to Fawkes' perch. He held out an arm, and Fawkes' delicately flew down to land on his arm, then gracefully shuffling up to perch on his shoulder. Harry carefully walked over to the headmaster, and looked up into twinkling blue eyes. Harry put his hands on his hips, and said, clearly and seriously, as if Dumbledore had made a grievous mistake.

"You do know, that Fawkes is female, correct?" Dumbledore stared dumbly at Harry for a moment, before squeezing his eyes shut and opening them again.

"You're fading." Harry looked down, and finally noticed his body was shimmering out of sight.

"Fawkes, I'm about to disappear, you might want to get off my shoulder before you fall." Fawkes did just that, but not before nipping at Harry's ear in an affectionate and grateful manner. Harry looked back at Dumbledore.

"Guess it wasn't you that needed me. It was Fawkes. She needed me. But now that she doesn't need me anymore, I'm going back home. Promise not to take me away from my family, Albie?" Dumbledore got over his shock quickly enough, and smiled brightly, eyes twinkling behind his glasses.

"As long as you promise not to call me 'Albie' when you come to Hogwarts."

"It's a deal, Albie!" Harry exclaimed delighted before disappearing completely.

Albus Dumbledore looked at Fawkes, who had perched on his knee after flying off of Harry. He eyed her critically for a moment, studying everything about the creature he had kept as his companion for more than fifty years, then said, cautiously.

"You're a girl?" Fawkes looked at him imperiously for a moment, before bending her head to preen a loose feather, then looked back. Her black eyes were glittering. She trilled loudly, sounding rather offended, and shot forward to nip his nose sharply, knocking his glasses askew while she was at it. Fawkes flapped her wide wings, accidentally on purpose, smacking Dumbledore in the middle of the face, before landing on her perch and commencing her plan to ignore him until he begged forgiveness.

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I have not updated in I don't know how long. I apologize. I don't have much of an excuse this time. New work, school. Whatever it is, I hate it. I don't have any time to write anymore. It's getting on my nerves. Again, I apologize. I'm going off to write since I have the chance, and maybe sulk some more.