AtO What If: A Change in Age.

Warnings: Not at all part of AtO-storyline. More like a what-if divergence. Probably has way too much potential fluffiness/sappiness. No proper transitions between scenes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...there were some complications and you're the only thing he seems to remember clearly," Tsunade said.
She opened her mouth to say something else. Probably give him more details. But considering he had already missed most of what she had said before, Harry decided to save everyone's time. Harry walked past her, ignoring her calls and pushed the heavy door open only to flinch when a loud childish wail reached his ears. He'd barely taken a step inside the room when something hurtled towards him and slammed into him with a loud and terrified sob. "Nii-san."
It took a moment for Harry to catch his breath and look down. He was vaguely away of broken whispers of  'nii-san' and 'where were you' from the tiny body clinging to his leg. Harry pushed the little body away from him, knelt down carefully and looked at the teary eyes with wonder and horror. "Naruto?"
A tiny child, a perfect replica of Naruto with spiky blonde hair and the unmistakable whisker marks on his cheeks, sobbed as he clung to Harry's hands.
Even though he wanted to question what was going on, Harry pushed his thoughts away and gently rubbed the edge of his long sleeve across Naruto's tear-streaked face.
Little Naruto, clad in a white hospital gown, stood still and his sobs quietened down slightly but he kept his blue eyes fixed on Harry.
Harry smiled when Naruto's red face was relatively dry. "There. Much better, don't you think?"
Instead of replying, Naruto burrowed his face into Harry's chest with a tight and desperate hug.
Harry automatically wrapped his own arms around the tiny trembling body, feeling more than a little lost. His mind kept trying to figure out the hows and the whys behind the situation. He didn't know how long he was lost in his thoughts, but he tightened his hold in brief panic when Naruto's body slumped forward. He sighed in relief when Naruto made a sleepy protest and grimaced at the cold numbness of his legs.
Just as wondered how he'd stand up from his kneeling position hands grabbed onto his arm and a familiar voice said, "Need some help?"
"Thanks, Kakashi-san." Harry flinched as he forced himself up. He stumbled slightly and probably would have fallen if Kakashi's grip hadn't steadied him. "Son of a ..." Harry cut himself off from cursing out loud as the renewed blood flow through his legs left him with the horrid prickling sensation of pins and needles on his skin. He took a second to adjust and secure his cautious hold of Naruto.
Naruto sleepily shifted in his hold and grabbed a fistful of Harry's shirt.
"I'm glad he calmed down," Kakashi said as he stared down at Naruto.
"Glad he..." Harry twitched, glanced down at Naruto and lowered his voice. "How did this even happen?"
Kakashi chuckled uneasily and turned to Tsunade.
"Are you going to tell me how this happened?" Harry said, wondering how he hadn't noticed the two of them in the room before.
Tsunade looked down at Naruto and sighed. "All we know is he stumbled across some sort of seal and then changed... after being knocked unconscious. They brought him in and I had just started examining him. But he woke up and panicked when he didn't recognize any of us."
"But he recognized me," Harry said. "Will he change back on his own?"
"I can't say."
"So can you fix this?"
"Not right now," Tsunade said reluctantly.
"Is there anything you can tell me?" Harry said tiredly.
"Until we can figure out how to fix this, you'll have to take care of him."
I already knew that, Harry wanted to quip. But he just nodded. "Can I take him home now?"
"It's probably for the best," Tsunade said. "I'll assign guards for you two."
Kakashi came forward. "Why don't I..."
Harry flinched away from the outstretched hands and tightened his hold on Naruto. "I can carry him." An utter lie considering his arm felt slightly numb at the moment.
But Kakashi just nodded and pushed the door open for Harry.
When they walked out of the hospital, Naruto huddled closer to Harry as a slight night breeze greeted them.
Kakashi hmm-ed thoughtfully. "I could shunshin you two to the apartment. No need to spend extra time out in the chilly air."
Harry wondered what a 'shunshin' was but nodded in agreement when another cool breeze made Naruto shiver.
                                                                   -x-x-x-x-x-
Harry woke up to the sound of muffled giggling and something moving around next to him. He opened an eye and even without his glasses, he could tell that a wide awake Naruto was staring up at him.
Harry moved his arm till it was on Naruto's head and then gently pushed it down. "Go back to sleep."
Naruto giggled, ducked away from Harry's hand and climbed up onto Harry's chest. "But nii-san, it's morning already..."
"Don't care. Go back to sleep," Harry said sleepily.
Naruto settled down.
Until someone knocked on the main door loudly.
                                                                    -x-x-x-x-x-
"All right, time to go," Harry said and stood up.
Naruto blinked up at him and then glanced towards the kitchen.
"What is it? Do you want something else to eat?"
Naruto shook his head. "Have to say bye."
"Say bye?" Harry repeated in confusion.
Naruto nodded and walked back to the kitchen.
Harry followed Naruto till they both stood in front of the family photographs on the kitchen wall.
Naruto tugged on Harry's sleeve and lifted his arms.
It took a moment for Harry to realize what Naruto wanted. Thankfully Naruto seemed patient as Harry fumbled to get a good hold of Naruto and lift him up. Just when Harry thought he had a secure hold, Naruto leaned forward till his face was right in front of the photographs and started whispering.
A minute turned into more than ten minutes.
But Harry just shifted his hold, wondering what Naruto was whispering to photographs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There's more to this- all disconnected scenes like the ones above- but in order to keep this post short, I'll put the remaining bits in another blog post later.

Polar