Harika woke up with a dry mouth and heavy eyelids. It took her what felt like an eternity to regain consciousness, as if she had been dru—… Oh. She suddenly remembered what had happened, or the little she could recall. She fought against the drug to recover the strength in her limbs and began to take in everything around her. She heard the sound of wind and distant waves, as if she were near the sea. She forced her eyes open only to shut them abruptly to shield herself from the radiant sun.
"Ugh… Where am I?" she asked into the air, squinting as she looked around.
She found herself on an unknown beach in some remote place. There wasn't a single soul around. Questions began to swirl in her mind: who had kidnapped her? Why? Where had they left her? Why wasn't she dead? It was clear that person wasn't Naruto, but they had held the scroll she'd given him in their hand, so whoever it was had read its contents.
"Oh no!" she gasped in horror as she recalled the few sentences she had exchanged with her captor.
Could it be that…? She raised her wand, seeing it was still in its holster, and thought of the spell.
"Point me Tokyo."
The wand spun until it pointed in a direction. Her world collapsed the moment she realized she was in her own dimension. She began to cry uncontrollably. She had wanted to return for so long and now… now she had been sent away from Shikamaru by force; without knowing how to return, without being able to tell him she didn't want to leave him, without being able to show him the scroll… She cried as she never had before, shattered. Not even the irony of having accidentally achieved exactly what she'd set out to do could coax a hysterical laugh out of her.
Hours later, when she had no tears left, she looked up at the darkening sky, lying on the sand. She didn't even have her backpack.
… Her backpack! She sat up again, her thoughts racing a mile a minute as she processed what that meant. Shikamaru would know she hadn't simply left without a word. He would find her backpack, he would know she hadn't abandoned him. The scroll on the table! She felt her heart pound with renewed force as she realized Shikamaru had all the clues he needed to figure out what had happened. Whoever it was couldn't have entered her apartment, protected by magical barriers as it was, except for Shikamaru. As soon as he walked in, he would see her things scattered everywhere, belongings her kidnapper couldn't have destroyed, and he would deduce the truth. She was certain of it.
But who had kidnapped her? They hadn't killed her, but they had sent her far away. Far from Konoha. It could only have been the monks… or Temari. How had she done it? Was Naruto okay? Clearly, whoever it was had been watching her for hours. They had seen her enter her home, seen her talk to Naruto that night, seen her hand over the scroll. They must have stolen the scroll while Naruto slept. They must have known she would open the door to Naruto because she had done it before… The fact that the captor kept asking whether she could return or not almost confirmed it had been Temari. She hadn't wanted to kill her, but she did want to get rid of her by sending her away.
"Fucking bitch…" she hissed furiously as she remembered how Temari had been watching her on the street. "If I ever see you again…"
The pain and grief gave way to anger and a flicker of hope. She had used one of those portals once, so she knew she could use another. The question was finding them. Judging by where she had landed—a random, unremarkable place—the falls seemed to be random. Also, she knew she had used the Tokyo portal about… two and a half months ago, so it clearly hadn't recharged yet. She sighed, shifted form, and took off flying toward Tokyo. It was the place she had disappeared from, so she would start there.
The flight back to civilization felt relatively short. She had thought she had fallen into another country, but she was still in Japan; Osaka, to be exact. She began to wonder whether all the portals might be located in Japan, rather than scattered around the world as she had believed. If so, she was lucky; the area she needed to investigate was much smaller.
"Let's see… Tokyo," she whispered to herself when she transformed again, far from people.
She vanished and reappeared in the abandoned neighbourhood once more. Relief washed over her as she saw everything remained the same. Her disappearance seemed to have left no mark on that mysterious place. Wand in hand, she ventured once more into the temple, this time with extreme caution. She was alone, of course, but she didn't let her guard down. She snorted a sarcastic laugh when she saw the hole in the ground, the same hole that had covered the well that had swallowed her months ago.
"Fucking hole," she growled, leaning forward a bit to see what was there, but all she saw was a stone slab with a strange symbol.
She sighed and vanished again. Tokyo hadn't changed at all during the time she'd been gone, so she simply walked through the crowded streets, blending into the masses as she searched for her old hotel. She didn't expect to find Luna and the others, but maybe they had left her a note or something. If not, she would go straight to the Ministry to order a portkey back home.
She watched the faces of the people who came and went, unhurried yet relentless like automatons, and once again marvelled at the difference in lifestyle. Konoha had been calmer, more homely. Tokyo, however, couldn't be more different. They were like two different worlds. Like-
"What?" she breathed in surprise, staring at the advertisement on one of the massive hanging screens. "How is this possible?"
1999, May 9
The Japanese date format confused her for a moment, until she realized what it was. How was it possible? She had arrived in Japan on April 30, and by her calculations, she had spent about two and a half months in the Land of Fire. How could only ten days have passed since she disappeared? Had it all been a fever dream? Had she hit her head instead of being transported to another dimension? She pulled out the coin she shared with Shikamaru and saw that his last message was still written. Thankfully, that physical proof stopped her thoughts from spiralling.
Everything she had experienced had truly happened. She had proof. So, the only remaining possibility was that time flowed differently in the two dimensions. It seemed that about ten days in Shikamaru's dimension were equal to one day in hers, approximately. That meant that even though only hours had passed since she had been kidnapped, Shikamaru was likely no longer on his mission. A chill ran down her spine as she realized that for Shikamaru, days—perhaps weeks—would pass before he could see her again.
She was certain that the first person to notice her disappearance would be Naruto. She had spoken with him the night before her abduction and had given him the scroll. Sooner or later, Naruto would knock on her door and discover she wasn't there. Unfortunately, Naruto wasn't included in her magical protections, so he wouldn't be able to open the door without Shikamaru's help. She was screwed.
Then, something dawned on her. Only ten days had passed! That meant she had been gone for a very short time. Maybe her friends hadn't even realized she was missing to begin with.
She vanished again, this time heading toward Japan's magical alleyway.
…
The return home was abrupt, incomprehensible. The tour wasn't supposed to end for months, so there was no one waiting for her at her house in Scotland, nor did she have any suitcase or souvenir from her trip with her. Luckily, the portkey had cost her very little gold. Slightly less than the little she had on her. She found herself in the middle of her living room, holding her head as she tried to think about what she had to do.
First of all, contact her friends to let them know she was alive,if they had even noticed she was missing. She knelt in front of her fireplace and spoke Ron and Hermione's address. In less than ten seconds, Hermione's head appeared in the flames. Her surprised face almost made Harika cry with relief.
"Harry? What's going on? Why- are you calling from your house?"
"Hermione… You're not going to believe what happened to me," she sobbed at last, unable to hold it in, alarming Hermione. "Can you come?"
"Both of us?"
"Yeah…"
"We're coming right now."
Harika moved away from the fireplace, biting a nail in impatience, when they appeared. She threw herself into her friend's arms, hugging her tightly as if she hadn't seen her in months. Ron's alarmed expression appeared behind his girlfriend, looking even paler under the light of the flames.
"What happened!?"
Harika cried again, with that same intensity she thought she'd left behind on the beach in Osaka, and she had to calm herself before she could begin her story. Hermione led her to the sofa, turning on the lights with a flick of her wand. Ron examined her from head to toe, finding nothing strange, and then sat on the white pouf where he usually rested his feet.
"Are you feeling better?"
She nodded, pulling herself together. "A few… days… ago I had a break in the tour and went to explore Tokyo. I found an abandoned temple that gave off a really bad feeling. Fuck. Just hearing myself say this… You're going to call me an idiot."
Hermione frowned while Ron gave a faint smile, still not knowing what was going on. Harika summoned a crystal glass and one of her unopened bottles. She wasn't usually one to drink, but after the shitty day she'd had… anyone would need a drink.
She proceeded to explain in detail her fall into the well or nexus, the discovery of the other dimension, her near-kidnapping at the hands of a ninja, the investigation throughout the Land of Fire… until she had to talk about Shikamaru's rescue.
"The first man who's ever truly caught my attention in my whole life," she smiled, eyes misty as she thought of him. "You would have liked him, Hermione, he's a genius."
"So… Shikamaru is a ninja?" Ron asked with a delighted smile and an enthusiastic sparkle in his eyes. "Like the ones Hermione showed me?"
"If you only knew the things he can do… and he's a muggle."
Hermione burst out laughing, surely imagining the pure-bloods' faces. They spent a long time questioning her about everything she'd experienced, but especially about Shikamaru. It was the first time that talking about a man made her blush so violently. Maybe because Shikamaru wasn't just a crush, she was in love with him.
"Only you could accidentally fall into another dimension and fall madly in love with a muggle who has almost magical powers in less than two and a half months," Ron said, laughing. Then he grew serious. "Are you sure that Temari girl is the one who kidnapped you?"
"It really seems like it. It looks like she wanted to get rid of Harika without hurting her. Without Harika in the other dimension…"
"She'd have a free path with Shikamaru."
"But this proves she's naïve," Hermione continued, shaking her head. "From what you've told us… Shikamaru is never going back to her."
"The question is, how can I return to that dimension again?"
"Have you tried sending a message with the coin?"
Harika shook her head at her friend's question. "I tried with our connected coins. Nothing. It's like something blocks signals between dimensions."
"It's clear those portals are protected. Like the Veil in the Ministry. Otherwise anyone could use them. It would be dangerous," Hermione said, shaking her head. "No. The first thing we have to do is let the Scamanders know you're alive. Why don't I write a letter while you take a bath and relax?"
"Take a calming potion."
Harika nodded, standing up and leaving her friends alone. She felt a little bad leaving them with the heavy work of thinking up an answer and drafting a letter, but she was simply… exhausted. When she came back down the stairs, a long while later, she saw that Ron had disappeared and Hermione was preparing something to eat. The moment she saw her, her friend smiled.
"Ron went to send the letter."
"Pasta?"
"Pasta."
Harika sat at the dining table, feeling tremendously better with her best friend's company.
"What am I going to do, Hermione? I don't even know where to start."
"If what you've told me is true… Whoever kidnapped you couldn't access your belongings, and that's the most important part. Shikamaru will figure out what happened sooner or later. No. Actually, I'm sure he already has. Time in Konoha's dimension passes much faster than here, so the few hours you've been awake must have been like several days for Shikamaru."
They heard the sound of an apparition and then the door opened. It could only be Ron, so she wasn't even surprised to see him reappear.
"Letter sent," Ron said, giving a thumbs-up. He sat next to her on the sofa. "Now what?"
"We have a small problem."
"What problem?"
"Well… we don't have the Black library, which is probably the only place that might contain any information about this. Harika took the books with her in her backpack."
"And the backpack is in Konoha."
Harika tried not to burst into angry tears. She was sick of the constant emotional swings. The fact that time passed differently between both dimensions comforted her a little, since that meant that, even if relatively little time had passed for her, for Shikamaru it should have been enough to realize what had happened. She was sure he was already looking for her, that he had read the scroll she left on the table, that he had already figured out what had happened and who was involved. But that didn't mean she wanted to sit back and let her boyfriend do all the work. She needed a plan. She needed to—
"Go back to Japan," Hermione interrupted her thoughts. "That's what you should do."
"Why do you think so?"
"Think about it: you fell into that dimension through a portal in Tokyo, the dimension you landed in speaks Japanese and its culture is almost identical to Japan's, and when you returned you came out at another random point, yes, but still on Japanese soil. It's obvious that Japan seems to be protecting and/or hiding those portals—otherwise the rest of the world would know about them. I think it's very possible you'll find another one of those portals in Japan."
"And what if Shikamaru figures out the same thing and shows up in Japan at the same time Harika returns to the other dimension? Time moves differently. Harika's been here almost 17 hours already… In less than 7 hours a full day will have passed, which means that in the other dimension 10 days will have passed. That means… 10 hours there equals 1 hour here. So, a little over 7 days have passed for Shikamaru," Ron said with a calculating look. "If he's as smart as Harika says… could he possibly use the map Harika left in the scroll to get here?"
Hermione looked at her. "Do you think Shikamaru has already returned or… well, rather, do you think that in the amount of time that has passed for him, he's already realized you disappeared and started investigating?"
Harika thought about it. She didn't know exactly what Shikamaru's mission was, so she didn't know if he had returned or not since she disappeared which, for him, would have been 7 days ago. Wait a moment. Maybe Shikamaru hadn't returned home yet, but Naruto was in Konoha. It was obvious that Naruto would immediately notice something was wrong. Which meant that, somehow, Naruto must have contacted Shikamaru. She'd stake her life on it.
"I think Shikamaru already knows," she said minutes later. "I was supposed to meet Naruto the next morning."
"And for him that must have been 6 days ago," Ron nodded. "So clearly they know you're not in Konoha."
"Then, assuming they already know you've disappeared… I would go back to Japan and wait for Shikamaru to come here. If Naruto has warned your boyfriend and he can get into your flat, then it's obvious he'll find the scroll and know how to cross over. In fact, he might already be there."
"Yes, that's a good idea… If I try to go back, it's possible we'll miss each other. For him it's already been a week. If anyone could have moved faster, it's Shikamaru."
Harika stood up abruptly. Now that she knew what she had to do, she couldn't just sit still in her house. Before she could do anything else, Hermione grabbed her sleeve with an exasperated look.
"Wait a moment, Hari. Aren't you forgetting something?"
"What? What is it?"
"Here. You're going to need it," her friend said, pulling out a magical black coin purse. "It's the gold people have been donating to you these weeks."
"She didn't even remember," Ron laughed. "She was about to go back to Japan with no money, just her wand."
Harika felt herself blush when she realized it was true. She was so desperate to return that she had completely forgotten she had already spent the money she had managed to gather from her magical pockets. Her fortune was in Konoha, inside her bottomless backpack, so it would have been hard to return to Japan without money. For the first time in her life, she was grateful for the anonymous donations people had sent her, because without that money she would've been screwed. Hermione and Andromeda had permission to take the gold and other things before the deadline set with the goblins, so she knew all the gold her friend was handing her had come from her temporary vault in Gringotts.
"I'll leave right now. Thank you for everything, Hermione, Ron. I don't know what I'd have done without you."
"Lose your mind and keep crying in your bathtub."
Harika laughed, much more hopeful than she had been hours earlier, and gave them a tight hug. Hermione and Ron disapparated, returning to their homes to get some sleep, while she rushed up the stairs to grab some clothes. In less than half an hour she returned to the Ministry, ready to return to Tokyo as soon as possible because she knew every hour counted.