Author's Note : So we end the prologue with this, and actually get into the beginning of the story without the basic info dumps needed to set up the major plot points. Just to confuse you, the prologue isn't part one. Part one is childhood, up until Hermione finally goes back to Hogwarts. We will have more of Kakashi than Hermione up until that point, then more of our witchy woman, then back to the ninja for a short while then back to Hogwarts, and… yeah. You get the point, yes? How will this also be pairing Hermione and Kakashi? Next chapter... I think.

Yes, we're keeping Déjà vu story elements. How Konohagakure works as a village, the features of fūinjutsu, and Summoning especially. Because I did the world building already, so we're going to use it.

All Your Base Are Belong To Us

Part One, Chapter Two

Still Day 2

After Alastor Mad-Eye Moody dropped his little bomb, Hermione extracted herself from the library and the conversation still on-going to get herself some thinking space.

Using the knowledge six years living in the castle with one Harry Potter trouble magnet had given her, not to mention the time she had spent exploring lesser known parts on her two years of Prefect patrols, she easily found herself a remote nook well out of the way. Then she took a seat against the wall and allowed herself to brood.

It wasn't just the prospect of being forced to redo the entire second half of the wizarding war and six years of Hogwarts that was making her baulk over the whole idea. It was the death-defying she, Harry, and Ron had to do through it all. Some of that they had lived through only by sheer dumb luck.

Not to mention Alastor's comment on her worries for the death-toll it extracted from magical Britain.

Yes, if Moody was correct and she had to do it all again she would be not only better informed but more mature and probably better help for Harry… but Malfoy Manor alone…

Hermione couldn't repress the shudder that went through her, nor her reflexive gripping of the spot Bellatrix Lestrange had carved the word 'MUDBLOOD' into her arm with a cursed dagger.

There was also the Basilisk, they had been insanely lucky there had been no deaths that year with a thousand-year-old King of Snakes slithering around the pipes. Sirius Black might not had been a threat they had to guard against, but the Dementors were given they never wanted to leave Harry alone. The Tri-Wizard Tournament and the mockery of it that took up their fourth year had been just stupid, Dolores Umbridge and the DA in fifth…

Really, their sixth year was the only one that remotely had any resemblance to an actual scholastic year, and the school had been invaded at the end of it.

Seventh year was self-explanatory, they couldn't afford the risk alone.

Supposedly safest place in Britain her arse.

Afterwards Harry hadn't wanted to return to it because he didn't want to go back and face the lingering echoes of what they had lost, Hermione because after a year on the run she hadn't been able to muster the motivation to return to being a student, and Ron… because he then wouldn't need to take the NEWTs.

Sometimes she really did wonder why she married him…

Ron. If this happened and they did it, she would no longer be Hermione Jean Weasley. Her husband would be no more, the man he became might as well had never existed. It wouldn't be her husband she would see next, it would be that insensitive little boy that caused her to cry in a loo and get cornered by a troll.

Hermione placed her head in her hands, trying not to pick apart her feelings over that.

She was either dead, about to be dead, or existing in a moment just before her death. No matter which way she looked at it they would end up no longer married.

No longer married, no longer part of the Golden Trio, nothing more than muggle-born Hermione Granger. Only just the smartest witch of her age, and way too young to do anything for a couple years.

To make it all worse, all the work she had done in her life was about to disappear as if she never did it.

Certain corrupt pure-blood families would still be in power, paying off their crimes at best and hampering the modernization of the wizarding world so the muggles wouldn't catch them with their robes up at worse. Any and all legislation she had helped pass in the last half a decade would not exist…

Fudge would still be Minister. Sirius would still be in Azkaban. Harry would be with the Dursleys.

"Hermione-san?"

Kakashi, part of her mind identified absently. For such a man gifted with the ability to present himself as a non-entity he was surprisingly pleasant to be around.

"Give me a bit. I haven't come to terms with the thought that all I've ever worked for is about to disappear like so much smoke."

"…sure."

Hermione didn't bother to see if he did leave her alone or not, she held the suspicion both Hatakes merely slipped outside of her senses when either one left then circled back.

Sakumo's appearing trick was a rather big tip off on that end.

"It can't be that bad, can it?"

The formerly bushy haired witch lifted her head to give the one-eyed man a bland look. "Yes, yes it can be. I don't particularly wish to be tortured twice, or have to aid and abet a revolutionary group under the nose of someone that had no compulsion against mutilating the students she was supposed to be teaching."

"…aa."

"That doesn't even include the fact I have to risk death twice more before I learn anything I could remotely use to defend myself with, or that I will have to sneak this all under the nose of someone that can easily read minds… make that two people, and put up with someone managing my best friend into walking to his own bloody death just to end one damn war!"

"What?"

Hermione gave a bitter laugh, dropping her hands to her lap. "Harry… oh, Merlin, Harry… we'll have to go through that thrice cursed Hunt again."

Kakashi fidgeted a bit, and slunk down to sit across her little cubbyhole behind a tapestry of a tree. "I have to figure out how to save both of my teammates, my sensei, and his wife from dying before their time."

"We have an immortal madman who will spend three years trying to kill us before we remove his immortality."

"I have a snake traitor that's obsessed with immortality who tried his hardest to destroy my home and may make off with one of my students."

"I will end up spending ten months out of six years living with bigots that have no moral issues with strangling me young and murdering my parents for the supposed crime of my birth."

Kakashi hummed at that, crossing his arms over his vest. "I've got to protect my sensei's son from morons trying to use him like a weapon or a battery."

Hermione winced at his offer. "Ouch. I've got a whole year of being on the run and living with a price on my head to redo."

"There will be a war on in my country if we get sent back as far as your Mad-Eye person claims."

She sighed, cradling her temple with one hand. "We'll be currently in the stalemate part of our own, though that will only last barely a decade more before the opposition takes over and starts slaughtering a large part of our society."

"I've got twenty years of combat likely missions to redo."

"I have to re-break into a bank that had previously never been successfully robbed before, a part of our own government's building then again a few years later, and a very nasty man's personal stores."

"Quite the little thief, aren't you?"

(ooo000ooo)

Kakashi counted the small lift of her lips a win.

It was rather impressive, given he figured that should be equivalent to C- or B-ranked infiltrations depending on the circumstances. She had done four of them, one place twice, and that was something he could see his comrades in arms bragging about over drinks.

That also solidified the impression she wasn't a civilian, or at least not completely. Possibly retired, given her resistance to doing any of it again.

Kakashi wasn't looking forward to redoing a lot of his life again, but the benefits on his end outweighed the drawbacks.

"I have to arrange a breakout or an acquittal for an innocent man trapped in the worst prison known to man."

She definitely was not any normal civilian, if she prioritized the breakout before the legal method of release.

"How is it the worst?"

"Soul-sucking wraith-beings guard it."

"Aa."

Well, she very well may have a point with that.

Kakashi gave some attention to sanitizing his next point before informing her of it. "Somehow, I need to prevent a kid from being forced into murdering his family and going on the run as if he wasn't ordered to do it."

Hermione blinked up at him, nibbling on her lower lip. "I have to figure out how to either prevent or reduce the amount my best friend was abused, without being able to remove him from that household due to the protections it has."

"I…" the shinobi trailed off and heaved a sigh, "have to deal with fangirls again."

"I am going to lose my husband no matter what we do."

That did top Kakashi's reluctance to be cooed over as a midget genin, truth be known.

"We're going to go back to being short midgets for a few years."

She snorted, then groaned. "I'm going to have frizzy hair and buck teeth again."

"Really?" Alright, he supposed he deserved the glare she gave him for that. Waving one hand lazily, he at least lessened her ire enough she didn't get up to do anything witch-like to him. "Right, sorry. So?"

"So." Hermione agreed slowly, tilting her head back to stare up at the high ceiling. "This is not going to be pleasant… but if it saves even a handful of lives…"

"The pain might be worth it?"

"So long as we manage not to get ourselves killed early on, maybe."

Kakashi snorted, pushing off the wall and standing up to tower over her. "Are you always this pessimistic?"

"Only when it comes to losing everything I ever worked for. Are you trying to tell me you're always this cheerful?" Hermione countered pertly, in an almost sing-song tone of voice.

"Only when it may annoy someone, if you listen to my co-workers."

(ooo000ooo)

"I know what you are."

"Oh?" Sakumo questioned in a noncommittal tone of voice, giving the grizzled old warrior his attention.

His son had gone after the little witch, after giving her some time to come to terms with things. Leaving the elder Hatake with the latest arrival to their little group.

Missing a leg, eye, and chunks of flesh would have marked him a warrior to keep a wary eye on alone, the fact his spinning blue eye seemed to track what Sakumo figured was his son through the stone walls was another.

This warrior also treated the young witch as someone who he knew would keep up. Giving more credence to Kakashi's theory that she wasn't merely a civilian pressed into service to defend, but a key fighter in her own right.

"I don't know whether to be disgusted or amused. Ninja. Sounds like a delusion of some snot-nosed little brat."

Sakumo gave the old wretch an unamused look. "And we are dealing with a young witch and a…"

"Wizard, obviously."

"Wizard. Sounds like someone's mad fantasy to me."

Mad-Eye gave a barking laugh, reaching down to physically muscle his peg-leg into a better position.

The shinobi considered it, then decided he had shifted to give himself a better initial position if he needed to move in a hurry.

He could respect that.

"What will happen to us if this goes as you think?"

"You might still be dead. I won't have the memory to help." Blunt and unapologetic, the man shrugged the topic off dismissively. "Depends mostly on them after that."

Kakashi would then face redoing most of his life, for better or for worse. Sakumo wondered what it said about him if the witch was more reserved about the possibility than his son.

Probably that he found his life as depressing as his father did.

"Fine. Saying Hermione-san agrees, how are we sending them back?"

"That will take a wee bit of doing, truthfully." Alastor mused gruffly, raking a hand over his coarsely shaven jawline. "It all isn't supposed to work this way, and we'll be stretching a few things that were never meant to be messed with."

"That makes me feel so much better about this, Moody." The tart voice drew the two older fighters to the return of their younger charges, even as Hermione and Kakashi rejoined them. The witch had a troubled frown stubbornly affixed to her lips, but seemed not as upset as she had been when she left.

"Wasn't supposed to, Granger."

"Okay," the younger Hatake interrupted with a raised finger, looking between the witch and the wizard, "his name is…?"

"Alastor Moody, but he was nicknamed 'Mad-Eye' due to that incredibly creepy thing affixed to his face." Hermione informed him dryly. "One of the most legendary Aurors of our time, a dark wizard catcher, he was feared even well after his death."

Sakumo was glad he had initially categorized the old warrior as such, mentally reclassifying him as something similar to a retired hunter-nin. Mad-Eye didn't look pleased at her talking about him at first, but grunted and sniffed at the news his legend did at least linger on after his demise.

Kakashi bobbed his head, probably readjusting his own view of the crotchety old warrior. "So."

"So." Hermione agreed with another nod of her own, turning to the two actually dead members of their group. "How are we doing this?"

"Hold you horses, you've got a little time. Not much, but enough to make a few plans." The twisted snarl that passed over Mad-Eye's face probably wasn't meant as evil as it came off, but still made all three of them that saw it instantly wary. "You can't take anything here with you, but you can prepare somewhat."

She kept on eyeing him, even when the two shinobi shared a look. "And by that I take it you mean…"

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He barked at her, surging up to his foot and peg-leg then smirking at the aborted grab for something from the other two men. "You've got to hoodwink the greatest mage of our time, not to mention counter the grasping attempts by rogue elements to kill that laddie of yours. But… you'll be starting off unarmed and sequestered away from anything really useful."

"I am aware of my starting limitations, Alastor." Hermione informed him, twisting and plucking at her fingers. "The Headmaster… I know for a fact may be an issue, but it's Snape I worry about. He's the one I'll have more contact with."

"Good. Means you're thinking." It wasn't unkind, and the grizzled old wizard stumped over to her with a shrug. "Occlumency will be key. You're also going to need the basics of going wand-less, and that I can arm you with. Something to think about for later, animagus training. Damn useful, that."

He gently took the witch by the arm and led her out of the library, leaving the two shinobi wondering what they were discussing.

Until Sakumo turned to Kakashi with a wide grin. "Son, I take it you might need help with-?"

"…a child's reach in taijutsu?" The prodigy Hatake heaved a sigh, not looking forward to that at all.

Given that he would probably be facing one keenly intelligent Namikaze Minato the moment they did go back? Any and all aid he could get would only help.

ǂBǂ

Day 3

"…you may want to think hard on your friends."

Hermione froze, narrowing her eyes on the old Auror. "What, exactly, do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what you think, Granger."

She respected Mad-Eye, she did. However, if he was suggesting what she thought he was…

"Ron is not only my husband but my friend."

"Not just him, either. There were a few people you should have never given the time of day to, and a few more that would have been assets had you actually talked to them." Moody mused aloud, running whatever idea he had through his head a few more times. "But if you're going to bring him up… look, I liked Arthur and Molly. Their brood was something else, if I have to be honest. Ronald was… not typical of that."

"If people would stop comparing him to his own brothers, maybe he wouldn't have had as many issues." Hermione gritted out, before looking over to the two Hatake males ambling into the Gryffindor common room.

Sakumo had broken in for her, when she sighed over the fact she wouldn't be able to return to the tower due to the Fat Lady not occupying her portrait. The vexing man didn't say how he did it, nor why part of the wall had been removed to open the entranceway, but the witch appreciated the gesture anyways.

Alastor didn't seem to care where they bunked, which made her wonder what House he had belonged to in his school days.

To her alarm, it seemed as if Kakashi was limping a little before he sprawled out on one of the couches.

"You didn't try to go up the girl's dormitory staircase again, did you?"

He snorted at her, then cast the feature named a dirty look as his father snickered. "No."

"I did warn you."

"Why are all of your staircases evil?" Kakashi wondered with an acid bite to his tone, looking more than a little disgruntled even with most of his face covered. Rather impressive as a feat, even for the magical community. "They are supposed to connect one level of a building to another, not actively try to discourage travel between them."

Hermione very carefully didn't show her amusement, and wondered if…

Could Kakashi or Sakumo break into the Headmaster's office if the castle was actively defending itself?

She apparently failed to keep all her delight over his misfortune to herself, he gave her an evil-eye then huffed and sulked a little in his seat.

"Focus, Granger." Mad-Eye interrupted with a grunt.

"We're not continuing that conversation."

"Time will not go on as it had." He sharply returned, she wasn't sure if he was irritated or not by her stubbornness because he always sounded gruff and grumpy. "We, you, will end up ripping the fabric of time apart just to free yourself, and him over there, from this place. You will not be the same Hermione Granger as before, not nearly as naïve nor trusting as you once were. Therefore what happens around you will never be the same as it had once been."

"That doesn't mean-"

"He nearly got you killed a few months into your first year!" Moody barked instead of allowing her to finish. "He abandoned you two twice, once when you were being hunted."

"The troll was not Ronald's fault. In no way can you pin the blame on him for that." Hermione denied tartly, trying her hardest to keep calm. Blowing her top was not ladylike, nor was she sure if Mad-Eye was trying to get her to lose her cool for whatever reason he may have.

She did wonder if it was because he was dead that he knew of the few months in winter she and Harry had gone without Ron's presence.

"I see you've abstained from addressing his desertion."

"It was a very nasty, horrible situation we were in." She frigidly informed him, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the old wizard. "Harry and I may not have had much family to worry over at the time, but he had his family to think about. They were also in the middle of the worst of it, with a big target painted on their backs from their long association with us."

"I don't agree, obviously." Moody grumbled. "I know what you think justifies his actions, and I still maintain he had no right to leave you two at all. In the dead of winter, the middle of nowhere, and possibly risking both your position and whoever had to put up with him."

"We moved around too much to have been caught that way." Hermione gave him the look she thought that deserved. "You know, there may be a reason why you never found anyone to marry or have children of your own with… just a thought."

He gave her a sneering grin, sharp and dark in a way that slightly disturbed her. "Oh really? I never would have guessed."

Kakashi gave a delicate cough, drawing the two mages' attention to the fact there were more people in the room than just them. "Uh… story time?"

The only woman in the group sighed heavily, pressing the bridge of her nose with the fingers of her left hand. "Moody is talking about my husband, who was an insensitive little snot as a young child but grew up to be a good man."

"I'm not saying he isn't, Granger. Just that maybe someone else would be better placed as your third."

"There is nothing wrong with Ronald!"

"I think I agree with your Mad-Eye, actually." Sakumo interjected before Hermione could lose it over the slights to her husband. "Do you really have to risk death because of him?"

"It solidified our friendship together…" Hermione allowed slowly, puzzling her early Hogwarts years over in her mind. "I suppose repeating the same series of events just to do that all over again is a little foolish."

"And manipulative." Moody tacked on almost gleefully now that someone had gotten the witch to be less defensive. "Could also be irrelevant in time too. Not to mention forcing the same events from before will have you forever comparing the kids to the adults they grew up to, no matter how long you know the second versions of them."

Kakashi reached a lanky arm over to pat her on the hand. "I think maybe you should find yourself a different husband, actually."

Hermione gave him a flat look, flexing a bit of magic she knew intimately to light her hands on fire with bluebell flames. "Thank you for your unsolicited opinion, Hatake."

The shinobi jerked away from the flicker of fire, even if Mad-Eye cackled.

The witch sighed, collecting the charmed fire into one hand and dumping it onto the low table situated near the wall. Both Sakumo and Kakashi kept staring at the blue fire, even after they realized it wasn't burning the wood it was sitting on.

"What is that?" The older Hatake questioned warily, drawing closer and poking the table the fire was situated on.

"Bluebell flames. A specialty of Granger's." Alastor sounded almost proud, which gained him two incredulous looks from the younger of their number. The man snorted in response. "I can count on one hand the number of us that can pull off something as complex without the usual tools we normally use. The fact she managed it even upset and irritated without losing control is impressive."

"Remus could too." Hermione informed him pertly, strangely pleased with the boasting he was doing on her behalf.

"Lupin was another few years older than you before he managed it wand-less." The grizzled old warrior pulled himself upright, instead of the strange half-slouch perch he had been in. "It will be harder when you go back, but at least you know you can do it now."

"I realize that."

Moody gave her a sharp nod, then looked to their ninja guests. "You two set yet?"

"I'd like another spar, just to be sure." Kakashi shrugged, waving one hand. "That we can do at just about any time."

"Fine. Break time's over Granger." Even with a peg-leg, the grizzled old Auror managed to get to his foot rather gracefully. "A few more hours of prep-time, then we'll work on ending this little vacation."

(ooo000ooo)

"They left it here."

Kakashi looked over to see what his father was talking about, and stared at the merrily crackling blue fire still coating the top of a table. "…are we sure that's not going to burn the tower down?"

Sakumo narrowed his eyes at the sight they both were staring at, kicking the table lightly.

Both shinobi drew back sharply when the fire rolled a bit and covered another section of the wood.

"I vote we ignore it unless it actually starts burning something." Kakashi might have touched it once, but it wasn't a chakra created fire and therefore of unknown ability and something he didn't want to poke again.

Sakumo gave his son a short nod. "Agreed."

ǂAǂ

Day 4

Hermione speed read her way through another Occlumency book even as Moody loudly lectured her on basic contingency plans she might wish to set up or implement or her return.

She wasn't sure if she was surprised the old paranoid Auror had knowledge of the books he had shoved into her hands or confused. While it did explain why Albus Dumbledore never realized Barty Crouch Jr. was impersonating his friend, with Moody's paranoia he was probably obsessive with his Occlumency skills, why did Harry never read the same books during his Occlumency training with Snape?

She had the feeling that and a few other lingering questions were something she would eventually find out, given that she'd never be nearly as trusting of authority as she had once been and she would now be harder to distract or divert.

"Granger."

"I heard you. Anything near Crawly?"

The wizard considered that. "You know where the train tracks are?"

"A bit north of my parent's home, yes."

"Before they cross under Hawth Avenue, the flyover? First tree on the west side."

Hermione stared at him, which he only snorted in response to.

"Really."

"Light up your little fingers with your flames and tap it's exposed roots until a part of the trunk pops open." Moody continued as if she hadn't spoken. "Basic brewing kit, some ingredients that keep well, a small foe glass, and a bag of coins."

"You have a stash of wizarding supplies in my mainly muggle home town."

"You say that like it's surprising."

Hermione brushed that aside, because it really wasn't in a way. "Anything I would need to watch for?"

"Don't touch the sides of the bark when reaching in. I never got around to using it, should be safe enough until you can get your own supplies."

She sighed, plotting out how she might slip her parent's watch long enough to at least collect the bag of wizarding money. "This would be so much easier if I could risk getting an owl."

"Don't. How the bloody hell would you explain that?"

"Which is why I've discarded the idea." The witch snapped, gripping the edges of the book she had been reading. "What would be even more helpful is being able to get an adult witch's or wizard's help. But again, that's also something I can't risk."

Moody snorted again. "Damn straight."

Hermione sighed again, closing the book because she had read the sections on building up one's Occlumency shields already. "Isn't there any way to get your help? Anything I can do or say that would get the living you to listen to me?"

"No." He shot her down bluntly, scowling. Whether at her or himself was questionable. "I am a paranoid, suspicious old tosser. Nothing that I know can help you, because I will be instantly suspicious of anything you may try. Then I'll change my methods up if you do, and you'll be in the dark yet again… but then with a very ornery codger after your hide for knowing more than you should."

"A fate worse than death, indeed."

He cackled at her snippy reply, stumping over from where he had been pacing before they were derailed. "It's not a complete loss, Granger. You managed to be an insufferable thorn in the sides of the Death Eaters without the benefit of two decades of extra knowledge, this time you might even become the Order's equivalent to Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Lovely comparison, Mad-Eye." Hermione drawled, ignoring that her lips twitched in an attempt to smile.

Although that was also slightly concerning. Bellatrix had done massive amounts of damage before Molly got to grips with her, the former Black sister had taken out some rather formidable fighters from Frank and Alice Longbottom to Sirius Black.

Hopefully Moody wasn't calling her nearly as crazy.

"I suppose we should get a move on, then." Hermione changed the subject, setting the book in her hands to the side. "None of us are getting any younger."

"I'm not. You are." Mad-Eye countered almost cheerfully, for him, grinning in that twisted way of his. "Then again, in another way, we both may be."

"Very funny."

(ooo000ooo)

Kakashi, in all his midget glory, skidded back from his father's kick aimed at his stomach. Then the man turned child ducked again, that time just enough to feel Sakumo's punch disturb his hair.

"Better." The older Hatake claimed, but plucked his son up by the harness he used to wear to sheath the White Light Chakra Saber in when it wasn't broken. "I do kind of miss doing this, though."

His son looked rather disgruntled at the interruption. "Why are you stopping?"

"Aww… you look rather cute as a kid."

Kakashi strictly denied there was any blushing going on, twisting around in his father's hold to see the new arrivals.

Hermione had a very wide smirk on her lips, even if Moody at her back looked highly unimpressed.

"Whenever you two finish up, we're ready."

"Maa, maa… we'll be in shortly." Sakumo claimed with a bright grin.

"You couldn't have said something?" Kakashi questioned quietly, releasing the modified henge that made him child-sized.

Being Uzumaki Naruto's jōnin-sensei had it's benefits, learning his stupidly intensive and almost permanent transformation technique was just one of them.

Sakumo patted him on the shoulder, a little harder than usual for someone giving sympathy to another. "If you're not going to pay attention, you deserve it."

"Thanks, otou-sama."

Kakashi straightened his jōnin uniform, for what would possibly be the last time for several years, then followed his father back into the strangely ceiling-less great hall of the castle.

It had changed a bit, the four great tables and their benches that once ran down the length of the chamber had been stacked on either side, barring a large open space. Moody was quietly informing Hermione about whatever he knew about getting them out of there.

She… didn't look impressed. "You must be joking."

"Does it look like I joke, Granger?"

The witch huffed at him, glaring even as she moved to take off her necklace. With the pendant in one hand she beckoned to Kakashi with her other. "Say your goodbyes, Kakashi. Time to leave the old men to their retirement."

"Oi!" Sakumo protested, giving his son a miffed look when he merely gave him a jaunty wave of two fingers as he passed him.

Hermione ignored any attempts to glare at her, peeling the gemstone out of her pendant instead. It didn't seemed designed to open up, but once she had it she first looked to him to ensure he was ready then to their dead fellows.

"You two might want to back up."

The stone, from the look Kakashi got due to shinobi curiosity, had some kind of image in it. Which was odd, because other than the crack it seemed to be a naturally formed chunk of jet or onyx.

With a perfectly formed geometric pattern trapped inside.

Hermione swiped her thumb over the lines, ignoring that a slivery light followed in it's wake… and the silver lines that suddenly formed on the flagstone floor to cage the witch and shinobi inside.

She repeated the patter three times before something happened.

If ever asked, Kakashi would liken the sensation to Gai dropkicking him in the chest.

ǂTǂ

September 22nd, 1985

She flailed slightly, scrambling for the little calendar set up next to her childhood bed that had faithfully tracked the date for her until she started Hogwarts. Then she stifled a very nasty curse word.

Hermione Jean Granger, smartest witch of the age and one third of the Golden Trio, was six.

She felt like smacking someone… but bloody hell did she hurt.

Luckily it was a Sunday, she didn't have primary to deal with just yet.

No, instead she had that to look forward to tomorrow.

Dropping the wire bound calendar and curling up in her bed, ignoring the little part of her that worried over what her parents would say to her lazing about, Hermione vaguely wondered what was hurting.

Taking stock of her body and what hurt, it seemed as if the cursed scar Antonin Dolohov gave her during the battle at the Department of Mysteries had flared up again. Which made no sense, she was supposed to be physically six and hadn't participated in the fight yet.

From the feel of it, she didn't have the scar either.

Curious, Hermione stretched her weak feeling arms until she had the inner part of her left elbow.

The scars spelling out 'MUDBLOOD' weren't there.

She wondered how she felt about that.

It was a hated memento from a very crazy witch torturing her… but she had been proud of herself for not breaking and giving up her best friend.

She was distracted from her own arm by a knock.

"Hermione? Love? Are you up?"

Twenty-eight years of age or not, the witch blinked a few tears back at the sight of her mum cracking open her door. Who didn't give her that wary look she always had after Hermione altered her parent's memories of her before going on the run with Harry and Ron for the Horcrux Hunt.

That massive blunder hadn't happened yet either.

"N-not yet."

Helen Granger frowned slightly, pushing open her daughter's bedroom door. "You look a little queer, sweetie."

"My stomach hurts." It didn't hurt anything to be honest, and it rather did.

Hermione submitted to the older woman feeling up her forehead easily enough, but flinched slightly when her mum brushed a hand over her belly.

"Hmm… do you want to stay in bed for a bit, then?"

The witch considered that. "With a book?"

"Of course." Helen gave in with a small smile, waving a hand to the only half-filled bookcase she would spend all of two years with before filling it up and getting a new one. "Which one do you want?"

Hermione drew a blank. What book did she like at this age? Which ones had been published, and which ones hadn't?

"Pick for me?"

Her mum plucked a rather worn book and handed it over with a small smile. "Try not to get too caught up, love. I'll check on you in a few more hours."

Her daughter nodded obediently, plucking at the worn cover she knew quite well.

Once her mum closed the door behind her, Hermione hauled her protesting body up to a sitting position. The book, from the Dragon Riders of Pern series, toppled into her lap as the witch absorbed the fact she had five years to go.

While five years of meditation to improve whatever Occlumency skills she may have was a good thing, five years of twiddling her thumbs until she could return to Hogwarts was depressing.

Not to mention four years of primary school.

If things were the same, she would be enrolled in Hilltop Primary and had just started her second year. She was already established as a bossy bookworm know-it-all, unfortunately.

Unlike the first time around, Hermione wasn't nearly desperate for any friend.

She'd be getting her friends back at Hogwarts, and as a twenty-eight year old witch she was mentally well suited to waiting however long she had to.

Harry was definitely worth it. So were Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom, Ginny and Ron Weasley…

A flick of blue drew her eyes down, and she moved her book before it smothered the tiny bluebell flame she had accidently summoned to life.

Mad-Eye and his advice to not befriend Ron to the same extent could go hang. He was a friend, even if he was a prat sometimes.

She cradled her little flicker of charmed fire in one small palm and raked her other hand through her hair… or tried to.

Right, the other reason she hadn't wanted to return to being a child.

Her mane of wild and bushy hair, an untamable mass until she finally grew out the length and it's natural weight straightened it out a little. Which, as typical for a girl who just woke, was snarled and messy from her tossing and turning as she slept.

Why, oh why had she kept it shoulder-length for her childhood?

Hermione smothered the flame she still held, using her newly freed hand to help her extract her tiny fingers from the rat's nest on her head. Then, blindly reaching for the brush situated on her bedside table, she set to work taming her bushy hair.

Five years of… what? Meditation, working on her wand-less skills, and probably…

Her first assumption of wizarding kind had been correct, most didn't have an ounce of logic to them. However, given she had just recently survived a brush with death due to not crediting the creative methods they used…

…maybe she should get a newfound appreciation for fairytales.

Hermione weakly wrestled with her brush for another few moments, finally getting the last snarled knot out, before wondering how Kakashi was dealing with his new lease on life.

He seemed rather keen on it, from the time they spent in the empty Hogwarts look-a-like.

The witch sighed, and turned her attention to more pressing matters that what someone she may never manage to see again was thinking. Raising her right hand up, she concentrated on calling up the same fire she had already accidently created.

Even before she got her Hogwart's letter, Hermione had been actively attempting to control and replicate the feats she could do with accidental magic… even if she hadn't had any idea of what her ability really was.

It was all just a type of wand-less, just more untamed in nature. She had taken a bit of silent pride in the fact that, while pure-blooded children probably got tutored and helped a bit to upstage the muggle born before going to Hogwarts, she had accomplished a type of wand-less completely on her own.

Hermione had gotten fairly good at it as well, at minor usages unlike what Harry tended to pull off at the same age as her, until Professor McGonagall made a house-call to the Granger household.

Learning that under-age magic use was frowned on and illegal had gotten her to stop… but she wasn't so conforming anymore. She also might just need the ability, especially if she wanted to do something before actually being formally invited into the magical world.

A wicked smirk crawled across Hermione's lips as a lick of fire went up first her index finger, then a sheet spurted into existence and coated her palm with gentle warmth. It was nowhere near as controlled or tame as she used to be able to do, and the drain on her magical reserves for such a simple charm was staggering compared to before when she held her wand… but her hand was on fire.

The true test of her development to use wand-less magic reliably would come from trying to cast and hold onto a spell she didn't have an affinity for, but conjuring bluebell flames wand-less was still an accomplishment in and of itself.

It flickered out before long, leaving a tired miniaturized witch staring blankly at her own palm.

Ten seconds of a palm sized flame wasn't any great feat, for an adult witch even without a wand.

For a six-year-old child, no matter the knowledge she held? She had thought she wouldn't have been able to hold it for five without some decent time spent working for it.

She supposed finding Moody's stash of supplies should be next on her list of things to do.

After a nap.

ǂUǂ

Kakashi woke up… and spent a long moment mentally cursing out whoever it was that decided to get him drunk.

He'd had hangovers before, sure… but this one took the prize for worst one ever.

Maybe he had been caught drinking by Gai? It felt like someone had worked him over rather well. Asuma was banned from being their designated sober friend, this was the second time in a row he let the two of them get into a taijutsu spar dead drunk after a drinking challenge.

Haltingly, the Hatake prodigy carefully levered himself upright. Still with eyes closed, habit since one eye ate up his chakra like it was nothing and it felt like it was irritated already anyways, he swung his leg over whatever it was he was sleeping on and shifted to stand up.

Only for his foot to meet air… and way too late for him to abort the movement.

Kakashi ended up crashing into the floor face-first, his ungraceful sprawl ignored in favor of getting the world to stop spinning.

He eventually gave up a lay there until he felt a little better, wondering what the hell had happened last night.

Thumps, which was odd enough because generally his few handful of drinking buddies tended to dump him in his apartment and leave him there after a night out, steadily growing louder made the shinobi stiffly turn his head to see who was coming.

Minato-sensei, bleary-eyed and clutching a painfully familiar three-pronged kunai, wrenched his bedroom door open. "Kakashi-kun? What's wrong?"

"Ow."

It was the first thing that popped into his head. Other than 'was the witch-wizard dream true' question that made him clam up faster than Gai confronted with dead baby turtles.

That was Namikaze Minato standing in his bedroom doorway.

Which had to be impossible, because the man had been dead for over a decade and a half.

Said dead man heaved a sigh, setting his weapon on the Hatake's dresser and padding his way over to his prone form. "I told you, didn't I? Maybe you should cut back on the training a bit."

Kakashi had no words to answer that with, because he couldn't really recall any conversation they ever had about his training regimen. Admittedly, that was probably because he had ignored the blond whenever he expressed concern over him.

Kakashi was an utter dick of a person, but he had known that for years.

Apparently not expecting an answer, which just made the prodigy feel even worse for how he had treated the future Yondaime when he had been just his jōnin-sensei, Minato carefully plucked the significantly smaller than usual Hatake off the floor with one hand. "Where does it hurt?"

Rattling off a list of things absently, Kakashi ran his mind back over his apparent not-dream.

Huh, wizards and witches existed… and he spent a few days with a few during his near-death experience twenty some odd years in the future.

Okay. Good to know.

If he ever saw Hermione again he should probably thank her for whatever she did that resulted like this in the first place. Moody he was avoiding, flat out.

The man still gave him the creeps, and the wizard wasn't even there.

The soft sound of breathing reminded him that there was another in the room with him, and Kakashi tilted his head around enough to see Minato's flat expression.

Right…

Both Sakumo and Minato had a very bad habit of treating Kakashi like a piece of luggage, back when he was young enough to be lifted with one hand. The first time around the young Hatake had hated it when the blond unintentionally mimicked his dead father's habits, omitting the fact he hadn't known he was doing so because Kakashi didn't talk about Sakumo to him at all.

Minato was probably bewildered that the silver-haired shinobi hadn't immediately kicked up a massive fuss for doing it again.

Instead of heeding his first impulse, which was to apologize for every damn thing he ever did to make the blond's life more difficult, Kakashi merely gave him a flat look of his own and repeated his first comment. "Ow."

"…maybe you're sick?" The jōnin wondered aloud, reassured that this still was his little prodigy of an unwilling house guest. Now, instead of being suspicious that who he held wasn't Kakashi, Minato ran his free hand through his messy hair and studied him from arm's reach. "Are you sick?"

The younger shinobi could only shrug, but the grimace that painted itself across his face from the movement finally got the other moving instead of staring at him.

Getting tucked under one arm was humiliating… if Kakashi had actually been a snotty little brat like he used to be. It was still humiliating, but the nearly thirty-year-old jōnin who occupied the child's body just ignored that and appreciated the fact Minato was alive and worried over him.

It had been a long time since anyone worried for him like Minato had.

Kakashi was eventually carefully dumped on the blond's living room couch, the man himself abusing his hiraishin technique to leave.

Probably to get backup, from either the hospital or…

An eye-watering flash of yellow light later, Minato reappeared holding one very irate Uzumaki Kushina bridal style.

Who was dressed in skimpy clothing in respect to the late summer night's heat and looking very pissed Kakashi's jōnin-sensei had just plucked her out of her bed with probably little to no warning.

"Minato! So help me, if this isn't a damn emergency I'm gonna-"

"I think he's sick!"

Kushina stared at the cringing blond until he set her on her own feet. A well-timed shove to the chest got Minato to fall backwards over his own coffee table even as the kunoichi crouched down before the sliver haired prodigy and blinked her green eyes at him. "Kashi-kun?"

"Kushina-nee. Ow."

It was funny to see Minato get manhandled by the headstrong Kushina, true… but the feeling of being worked over by a bright green taijutsu master hadn't gone away ever since Kakashi had woke up.

In a vastly smaller form than he was used to.

The blond gave a pout, even as he levered himself back upright from where he landed on his palms. "Why does he like you more than me? He lives with me!"

"Obviously, I'm awesome." A few deft tugs here and there, and the redhead had gotten Kakashi lying flat on the couch with minimal additional stress. One cool hand was pressed to the man-turned-boy's forehead as she used one of the few medical jutsus she knew well, an iryou-nin diagnostic technique.

Uzumaki clansmen didn't tend to make good medic-nin unless they devoted a lot of time to refining their chakra control. Something to do with the incredible stamina and chakra reserves most were born with.

Kami knew Naruto hadn't ever gotten the hang of even the minor ones Sakura tried to teach him.

"Hmm… something weird is up with his chakra system." Kushina declared after a moment, pursing her lips and smoothing back Kakashi's rooster hair with a pat. "You probably overdid it today, badly."

Minato had, by then, gotten back to his own feet and was standing by his student's head. "So he's okay?"

"Might be in the process of getting sick, but alright for now." She agreed absently. "Go get him a blanket."

"Why?"

"Because he's a kid, Minato! He can't retain the body heat we can, especially not if he's getting sick." The kunoichi sighed and rolled her eyes when the blond bolted to fulfill her order. "He's an idiot."

Kakashi, because the woman was part of the reason he developed the sense of humor he had later in life, nodded weakly. "I know."

Namikaze Minato was a terrifying shinobi, he would eventually have a flee-on-sight order before the war finally ended and would become their next Hokage. Fear inducing to his enemies or not, when he got slapped with taking care of one recently orphaned Hatake prodigy the man had absolutely no clue what to do with him at first.

Much like Sakumo had been at a loss when he was suddenly trying to raise his son on his own.

From what he remembered, Minato would lose the slightly awkward edge around him only a little before picking up Nohara Rin and Uchiha Obito as Kakashi's teammates for Team Seven.

Two? Three? More years, from the look of things.

Kushina snatched the thin blanket from Minato, from the look of it the one that had survived the trip from the Hatake clan compound, and spread it over the tiny form on the couch. "Stay here, and in the morning I'll make you miso soup for breakfast."

"With eggplant?"

She quirked a smirk at him. "Sure."

One of the things Kakashi would have cheerfully murdered to have again, Kushina's cooking. Obvious bribe or not, he accepted with just a nod.

She beamed at his easy agreement, reaching out with a lightning fast hand and snagging his sensei's left ear. "Alright, just try to get some sleep and we'll take another look at you in the morning. Minato. A. Word. Please."

The blond probably could have dodged that.

Kakashi wondered if it was the attraction between the two of them that made Minato put up with Kushina's less than loving touches.

Anyway it happened, still amusing to watch the jōnin cringe as he was yanked around by one ear.

She pulled them far enough away that one sick or miserable young prodigy would've not bothered to try eavesdropping, but not far enough to be ignored by the jōnin shinobi he grew up to be. "Try to keep him in tomorrow, or if you can't have him stick to light training. I don't know what he did, but if he's suffering this much from whatever it is a break is needed so he won't kill himself."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Bribes, weren't you watching?"

There was a rustle of something, odd noise from two shinobi of their caliber. Probably Minato gripping something out of frustration. "He doesn't take bribes from me!"

"Then you don't have anything he wants. He's eight and a chūnin, try using something he might actually like to do with you. Sparring, show him a jutsu or two, something he'd find interesting."

Kakashi sniffed lightly as he pried his left eye open to check it. Age and rank had been two of the things he hadn't been sure of, thankfully Kushina had supplied it without him being forced to ask.

Although irritated and watering, it seemed as if he really didn't have Obito's eye anymore. The chakra he could once see with his sharingan didn't show with his left eye open, meaning he had both his original eyes again.

That would have been a little hard to explain, so on one hand it was a good thing.

A heavy sigh drew the prodigy's attention back to the conversation going on barely a room away. "So I take it you're staying?"

"For the night." Kushina agreed, kunoichi enough that the agreement was matter-of-fact and not embarrassed or self-conscious at all. "I'm stealing your bed."

"What?"

"You're the one who dragged me out of mine, you can stay up and keep an eye on the gaki so he doesn't get worse. Only wake me if he develops a fever or has trouble breathing. No wait, if the latter happens take him to the hospital."

She left the blond spluttering in what was probably his kitchen, padding over on silent feet to double-check on the prodigy she had been all but kidnapped to check out. "How are you now, Kakashi-kun?"

He'd already learned his lesson about shrugging, instead he hummed in answer.

Although the blanket trapped heat was helping a little, he still ached in places that didn't normally hurt unless he had been overextended something. From the feel of it… it was just like he had overextended every major muscle group all at the same time, and a few minor ones just for the hell of it.

Kushina tilted his head to see his irritated left eye better, frowning slightly. "You're not pushing chakra into this, are you? I didn't think your clan had any eye based traits…"

No, but Obito's eye ate massive amounts of chakra on a daily basis. Even if Kakashi left it covered and kept his lid shut. It was possible it was just ingrained habit to feed the eye a little chakra over the years he had a sharingan implanted in his skull.

The burning, itching sensation faded slightly now that the prodigy had a clue what was wrong and stopped trying to feed chakra to something that wasn't there.

That habit would probably take a bit to break.

Kushina frowned at his continued silence, but eventually just tucked in the edges of the blanket before heading for Minato's bedroom. The blond himself looked slightly disgruntled at getting kicked out of his own room, slumping into the stuffed chair across from the couch without another word.

"…sorry."

"Eh. These things just happen." The older, physically, shinobi claimed lightly. When all Kakashi did was stare at him with one eye, Minato rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Part of the reason they didn't want you living on your own, actually. So it's okay, honest."

Kakashi had long perfected the skill of talking without actually talking to someone. Minato might have meant it was alright to get sick every now and again and need help, but the prodigy was actually referring to the little hellion he had been originally.

However, they both were also shinobi. Which made it just as likely the blond had understood some of what the apology was for, and was just choosing not to make it even more awkward than it had to be.

More likely, Minato was accepting an apology for Kakashi's past-recent difficult behavior.

It worked for the both of them.

"Think if I get sick again, Kushina-nee will come back and make us breakfast?"

Namikaze Minato would eventually become one of the most revered shinobi Konohagakure would ever produce. Feared by many, adored by his village.

However, at this point in time he was a healthy young man, who had a kind of painful to watch crush on the redhead in question…

"I will pay you to fake that a few times."

…and a shinobi.

Kakashi thought about it.

It wasn't like he could suddenly change his behavior to be less of a colossal brat overnight, something like that would raise any number of red flags for a lot of people. As a chūnin, and a lesser extent as eight-years-old, he had been rather obsessed with his shinobi skills and not much else.

"Teach me some raiton jutsus?"

He probably knew most of what Minato could teach him, but he had already been acknowledged as a prodigy well before this anyways.

The man hummed, giving Kakashi a knowing look. "Was that what you were doing that got you into this mess?"

"…no?"

That got him a disbelieving look, but it wasn't like he could tell him what had happened before waking up earlier. Kakashi almost didn't believe it and he lived it… or died it? Was dead through it?

No, according to both Sakumo and Moody, was near-dead through it.

The shinobi suppressed a shiver at the thought of that peg-leg. That had nearly happened to any number of his colleges, seeing a man with that replacing a leg had just made it more disturbing.

Do not think about the eye, nope. No thinking.

"It was supposed to be white chakra."

"Oh… okay?"

Clan things, always a good way to get Minato to shut up.

The blond was in the middle of trying to get Kushina to see him as a potential boyfriend and somehow finish raising an orphaned clan child in his time off-duty, he had tripped into the dreaded minefield of almost-dead clans more times than he was comfortable with.

"So?"

Minato blinked at him once, before recalling what conversation they had before getting into why Kakashi was supposedly sick. "Aa, sure. I can do that."

"Deal."

An amused smirk crossed the blond's face. "Try and get some sleep, Kakashi-kun."

He would, if he wasn't nearly terrified that this was just the second part of a very strange dream and falling asleep would see him waking up from it. Probably on Sakura's operating table, or in his own damn bed the day before the invasion of Pein.

In the end, his determination to stay awake and watch one of the precious people he had lost well before their time wasn't matched by his body's ability to remain awake.