After a rather long absence I find that I have the itch to publish a story once again. This time, it's a crossover HP/Naruto. The story is a Kakashi/Hermione pairing, though it will be some time in coming. I have about 25k words already written, but I will be working this and On Her Majesty's Magical Service at the same time, so updates will be relatively slow, not to mention that I am now married and living in a completely different country, so that takes a lot out of my day as well. Without further ado, I give you…

The Disclaimer: I own nothing. Harry Potter and Naruto are property of JK Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto, respectively. Kudos to them.

Now, for real this time. I give you…

The Witch Hidden In the Leaves

Chapter 1: Hermione Takes her Leave

"You… you… BASTARD!" Hermione's scream tore the silence of the cold December evening.

"Her…Hermione! What are you doing here?!" Her husband was looking at her with eyes wide as saucers, his hands still wrapped around the girl who seemed to be torn between shock and confusion.

"What am I doing—what are you doing! I take time off to be able to come back early to celebrate our anniversary and find you making out with some—with some girl! On my couch!"

"I thought you'd be home late today again!"

"And that's an excuse for cheating! I can't believe you! OUT! Get out of my house, now! Expect my lawyer to contact you about our divorce during the week." Ron wasted no time in gathering his things, which included his flannel shirt that had found his way to the floor and high tailing it out of the house. The girl, Demelza Robins, Hermione's brain supplied, was a little slower. "What do you want?" She said harshly.

"I—I'm sorry Hermione," she started and then plunged on before Hermione could interrupt. "If I'd—He told me you guys weren't together anymore. If I had known I never would have done this. I—you were always there for me back in school, so I just—just wanted you to know that." Deflated, Hermione watched her go. He'd told the girl they weren't together anymore. Somehow, that made it worse. She looked up to the mantelpiece to see a picture of her and Ron on a rollercoaster. She'd taken both her boys there after the war. A day out in the muggle world, just the three of them. No cameras, no reporters, no gawking.

Ron had asked her to marry him after that ride.

Her wand was in her hand and before she knew it, the picture frame had been blasted to pieces. All other pictures of her and Ron suffered the same fate. The gaudy vase he'd given her, filled with the most horrendous flowers ever, for Christmas a few days ago followed suit. Her rage spent, she curled up into a ball in the middle of her sitting room… and cried.

That's how Ginny and Luna found her the next morning. Curled up in a ball, her face streaked by dried tears, having exhausted herself into a fitful sleep.

"Hermione? Hermione, wake up." She was being shaken lightly.

"Go 'way…"

"Hermione, come on, wake up." The voice said again.

"Nooo…" She moaned softly.

"Hermione, Professor McGonagall's class is starting in five minutes, you're gonna be late!" Another voice interrupted. She bolted upright, barely missing Ginny's head on her way up. Luna smiled. "Works every time…"

She looked confusedly at her two friends. Then her gaze landed on one of the broken picture frames and everything came rushing back to her. She let out a half broken sob.

"Hermione?"

"Go away."

"No. We're not leaving until you explain what you were doing sleeping in the middle of the floor."

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Too bad. You don't have a choice. Luna, get her to the shower, I'll get started on breakfast. We'll talk over coffee." Not having the energy to argue, she let herself be led to the shower, where after assuring Luna she could get undressed on her own, she was left to her own devices. Fifteen minutes later, her long hair dripping wet down her back, she stumbled into her kitchen where a cup of coffee was handed to her by a concerned redhead.

"Talk." Sensing she wasn't being given a choice, she slowly spilled the story over to the girls. How she'd come back early as a surprise for Ron on their anniversary. How she'd found him playing tonsil hockey with Demelza, and what the girl had said before she left. When she was done, she looked up to see Luna staring at her with that half-vacant expression of hers, while Ginny was fuming.

"That git. No worries, Hermione, after I'm done with him he won't be able to walk straight for a week. Just you wait, we've got you covered." She didn't have it in her to respond. She just sipped her coffee quietly. "Luna, stay with her. I'll get this straightened out."

Her lack of response worried the girls. The Hermione they knew would have forbidden them to interfere. Hell, they wouldn't have needed to, Ronald wouldn't have been able to walk for a month.

In a flare of green flames, Ginny flooed back to The Burrow, where her brother had probably escaped to. She knew he wasn't at Harry's because he wasn't there when she had been woken up by Luna had found her in the morning insisting that they go and see Hermione. She hadn't given a reason, just that they needed to go, and by now, Ginny had grown used to Luna's oddities and didn't really questions things like that anymore.

"Hi, Mum. Ron around?"

"Hello Ginny. Yes, he's crashing in his old room. Poor boy. Came back late last night, told us Hermione had come home and kicked him out of their flat."

Ginny stopped. "Kicked him out, huh? Did he say why?"

"Well… he said he had a friend over and Hermione overreacted. Said he couldn't be inviting friends over without her say so. Bit harsh, if you ask me." So Ronald hadn't told. By the looks of it, he'd let their mum think it was a male friend, even. She could work with this. "Do you need him for something?"

"Oh, it's alright. I'll wait until he comes down." She settled herself on the kitchen table and accepted the mug of coffee her Mum handed her. She made good coffee, but her mum's was… something else. Five minutes later, he appeared, still rubbing the sleep off his eyes. He froze when he saw her, but when she made no move towards him, he relaxed and settle himself on the table, where his mother put a plateful of eggs and bacon in front of him.

"How are you feeling, dear?"

"'m better, Mum. Thanks for letting me stay here last night."

"Oh, dear, it's alright. You'll always have a home here, don't you worry."

"Mum told me Hermione kicked you out, Ron. What happened?" Ginny said with false cheeriness. Ron didn't catch it, but her Mum did. She looked at her oddly.

He choked on his coffee. "Oh… ah. Um. I had a friend over and she flipped. Said she was tired and how dare I invite someone without her say so. Barmy."

Ginny ground her teeth. She couldn't believe him! How dare he try and make Hermione the one in the wrong here! Still, if she wanted her mother even more furious with him, she had to play along. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"I know, right? Mental, that one. Always coming home late, and then she flips because I invite people over to keep me company. But I'm done with her, Gin."

"Good for you, Ronnie. You don't need a woman like that in your life."

Ginny ignored her mother and looked directly at Ron. "Yes, I imagine you are. After all, having your wife walk in on you without a shirt while making out on her couch with a girl who's not yet out of school on your anniversary does tend to end marriages rather quickly." She took another sip of her coffee and watched the fireworks go off. Sending a Bat-Bogey Hex his way might have been satisfying, but watching their mother ripping him a new one, not only for cheating but for lying as unashamedly as he had, was way better. Making a note of asking Professor McGonagall for access to Dumbledore's pensieve later to show Hermione, she drained the cup and grabbed another toast from the plate.

~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~

Back at her place, Hermione was still staring blankly into her now cool cup of coffee. Her husband's betrayal kept running through her mind. The last in a long string of bad things that had happened to her in the five years since the war had ended. First, the news that her parent's memory could not be restored. The knowledge that even after everything their damn society had barely made any progress towards equality in rights regarding muggleborns and other magical beings. Sure, the discrimination wasn't as blatant as before, but it was still there.

Something broke inside her. She didn't know quite what it was, but the sense of loss it left behind told her it was something important. She felt hollow. And with that thought, she suddenly knew what she had to do. She had to leave.

Luna watched the expression on her friend's face and recognized the moment when Hermione realized she had to leave. She had known this, of course, had suspected it for weeks now, but knew the moment she told them of Ron's betrayal that Hermione wouldn't be able to stay. She was sad for her friend. Leaving her life behind like this, her Transfiguration and Ancient Runes masteries almost done, her career in the Department of Mysteries, her friends who would miss her. She wished she could help. Hermione's soft, broken voice interrupted her thoughts.

"I have to leave."

"I know," she responded.

"I don't know where I should go."

"We'll figure something out. My father travelled a lot, as you know, even if he prefers to stay at home and manage the Quibbler now. I'm sure he can suggest something."

"Are you sure he won't mind?"

"Of course not, Hermione. You are my friend, and more than that, I owe you my life. He'll be happy to." A quick note to Ginny in case she came back before they did and two pinches of floo powder later saw them arriving at the Rook.

The Rook was the Lovegood's ancestral home, now inhabited by the only two Lovegood's left: Luna and her dad, who was currently sitting at the kitchen table nursing a cup of…something.

"Hey Dad," said Luna cheerily.

"Hello, my pumpkin seed. And Miss Granger, I see! What brings you lovely ladies to our humble abode so early in the morning?"

"Well, Daddy, Hermione here has been hurt very badly recently and would like to take a break from magical Britain and we were wondering if you had any suggestion as to where she might go."

Xenophilius studied Hermione with a critical eye. After a minute or so of this he got up and disappeared down the hallway. Hermione and Luna followed him silently. He entered a room on the right which turned out to be his study. From there he took out a journal and passed it on to her daughter. Luna opened it and, on seeing the title looked up at her father, startled.

"Are you sure, Daddy? The Elemental Countries?"

"Quite sure, pumpkin seed. What she needs, she'll find there." He looked up to Hermione, who still hadn't said anything. "I'll draft a letter for you to take to my old friend Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. You'll be welcome there."

All Hermione could do was mutter a quick thanks before Luna grabbed her by the hand and led her to the sitting room so they could floo back to Hermione's flat. She had a lot to pack.

Ginny came in later and found Hermione's flat in disarray. Things were floating through the air, being shrunk and stored into different boxes, some labeled "travel" some labeled "storage".

"What's going on here?"

"I'm leaving."

"What?! Hermione, you can't leave! Don't let what my prat of a brother did make you leave!"

"It's not just that, Gin. It's everything, I just… I just need a break." Seeing the amount of pain in her friend's eyes, she could only nod.

"What do you need?"

"Could you get Harry?" Ginny nodded and flooed back to her and Harry's home. She was back a few minutes later with a frazzled looking Harry who had been informed of Hermione's intentions on the way. While he didn't agree with her wanting to leave and was extremely furious with Ron, he understood Hermione's decision. He had certainly wanted to take a vacation of the magical world more than once. Maybe he'd join Hermione wherever she was going for a few weeks later on.

~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~

"So all I have to do is make contact with this Nakamura Aimi after getting to Kyoto and she'll help me get to the Elemental Countries?" She couldn't help but sound a little skeptical. She was dealing with Xenophilius Lovegood after all.

"Yes, Nakamura-san guards the rift that serves as the entrance to the Elemental Countries. Be sure to tell her you want to go to the Land of Fire, and to make your way to Konohagakure no Sato before you do anything else. This is a dangerous land to be traveling alone in."

"I know how to protect myself," she said, a bit miffed.

"Here, you do. I'm afraid you'll find yourself to be sadly inadequate to go head to head with the chakra users of that land. They are trained warriors, whose sole purpose in life is to be the best, and they start training for that at a very young age. One last thing: what we call magic, they know as part of chakra, the spiritual part, to be specific, and use it in very different ways. For one, they don't use wands or other kinds of physical foci, instead channeling their chakra through hand gestures—seals, and for some of the most advanced ones not even that is necessary. While I know you have more than a passing knowledge of wandless magic, your skills simply won't be up to par for a confrontation with them." Hermione resisted the urge to smirk. While she knew he was referring to her more public skills, no one really knew where she really stood. The training to be an Unspeakable was nothing if not comprehensive and she was quite sure she could kick any Auror's ass and not even work up a sweat. She had been quite pissed off when she realized the standard for Unspeakables and then remembered the fact that they had kept themselves out of the war. They had their reasons, and she came to understand them eventually, but she had still been angry.

Her name being called twice in a row broke her out of her musings, but she tucked the thought to the back of her head. "Miss Granger, were you listening?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lovegood, I got distracted there for a bit. What was the last thing you said?"

"That after you get to Konoha, you should make contact with Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hokage of the village and give him this letter. It will prove to him that you know me and should smooth the way down for you to be able to settle there, however permanent or not you want that settlement to be." She blushed a bit when she realized he knew she didn't really have intentions of coming back. Sure, she still had some things to do here, and new ideas kept cropping up, but after reading Mr. Lovegood's journal about the Elemental Countries and about shinobi, her heart had been telling her that this was a one way trip and any further visits to magical Britain would be just that: visits.

"Thank you, Mr. Lovegood."

"Nonsense, Miss Granger. And I must insist you call me Xenophilius. Mr. Lovegood makes me feel old."

"Only if you call me Hermione."

And that is all for this first installment of The Witch Hidden in the Leaf (horrible title, I know, if you have any suggestions, I appreciate it). I'll try to post the rest soon.

Reviews are food for the soul!

Cheers,

C!