Disclaimer: I don't own anything... what a pitiful existence I lead.
"talking"
'thinking'
"Demon speaking"
Of Lilies and Murder
Once upon a time, there was a princess—no wait, that's not where I was going with this. Let's try that again..
Long ago—and by long I mean ten years—there was a village much like Konohagakure and the other various hidden ninja villages in the Elemental Countries. It was located very far west, past Kumokagure in a place that no one really had the will to travel too because well, it was pretty much impossible to find. Tamashikagure was its name, and it was home to many unusual characters. Demons, Mikos, Monks, Imps, Slayers, you name it, they had it. But there was one clan in particular that rose above them all. The Higurashi Clan.
The Higurashi Clan was a clan of holy people that had supposedly originated long before the Sage of Six Paths was born. Now, no one knew if this was true or not but it was well known that the Higurashi Clan was the most powerful of all in the village. That was because certain members born housed two souls in their bodies. Their own soul, and the soul of a demon. It was said that these demons had made a pact with Midoriko Higurashi—the very first Higurashi— to protect her bloodline in exchange for their lives. Because of the nature of the demons, only the most powerful and pure could handle the extra addition, which basically meant not all Higurashi possessed two souls. About 13 years ago, a baby girl was born as the second child to the Patriarch of the Higurashi Clan, Harutora Higurashi. This little girl, born with a violet crescent moon upon her brow and beautiful eyes the color of the ocean at midnight, was said to be bonded with the most powerful demon of them all. The Lord of the West, who had valiantly ruled for hundreds of years many centuries ago, Sesshoumaru Taisho.
This girl was Higurashi Kagome, and this is her story.
XxxXxxX
Now, it wasn't unusual for her to wake up in a bad mood. There were days when she felt like going on a murderous rampage from the moment she opened her eyes to the moment she fell asleep. It wasn't like she wanted to rage like a rabid baboon every morning, it was just kind of hard to wake up happy when your soul was bonded with a cynical dog demon's, who just so happened to hate mornings. But today was not like the normal humdrum days her life seemed to consist of. Well, if you counted arguing with a voice in your head the majority of the time, normal. But that is not the point.
Today she graduated from the Ninja Academy. Today she was one step closer to her goal. Today she became a full-fledged ninja—
"Child, if you don't stop raving on about today, I will take over your body, bite your tongue off, and bury it somewhere." muttered a dark voice from some corner of her mind.
She grinned. "Do you know how many times I've heard that from you? That hasn't gotten to me since I was five years old. Try something a little bit more threatening next time, Sesshoumaru."
It became apparent that he wasn't going to respond when all she heard was an indignant growl that sounded sort of like 'insufferable human'. Deciding that dealing with the bane of her existence that was Sesshoumaru could wait for later, Kagome wiggled her way into her trademark ninja gear that consisted of a body suit much like the standard ANBU under clothes except high collared and much much tighter, and a flowing white haori that had a red honeycomb pattern on the collar and sleeves. Around her waist was a yellow and blue obi that held a sheathed sword and bandages were wrapped around her dainty ankles. On her tiny feet were the standard blue ninja sandals.
Satisfied with her clothing, she brushed her long blue-black hair up into a high ponytail and her bangs fell down to frame her beautiful face. The crescent moon on her forehead was visible for the world to see as was the Konoha headband that she tied loosely around her neck.
The raven-haired ninja quickly darted into her miniature kitchen to fix herself a bento for lunch then ran out the door. After locking up her apartment, she took off full-speed towards the academy.
Rabid baboon on a caffeine high, she was.
XxxXxxX
Despite the fact that doors had been created for purpose of coming and going, Kagome had always found using windows way more conventional and a lot more practical. So it wasn't really a surprise to the class of newly-instated genin when their residential Higurashi popped in through the window and rushed over towards the closest empty seat... which just so happened to be next to one Uchiha Sasuke.
"Higurashi! How dare you sit next to Sasuke-kun! That's my spot! He doesn't want someone weird like you siting next to him!" a certain pink-haired thing—because it seriously was debatable whether Sakura Haruno was human or not with all that screeching—yelled loudly.
"Shut up, billboard brow! I got here before you, therefore its MY seat!" seethed a blonde blue-eyed girl. Ino Yamanaka was basically your stereotypical blonde female, from the top of her ridiculously light colored hair, to the tips of her freshly painted eggplant purple toenails.
Kagome, being who she was, rotated her head so fast it was like something from an exorcist movie and sent them a seething glare that shut them up in the blink of an eye. She was really not in the mood for annoying fan-girls this morning.
While the best-friends-turned-rivals sputtered indignantly, Naruto Uzumaki, Kagome's self-proclaimed otouto, found this the best time to climb up onto the table and put his whiskered face right into Sasuke's.
"Sasuke, Sasuke! What makes you so special, teme?" Naruto ranted venomously. Sasuke just continued to look at the orange jumpsuit wearing genin with the famous Uchiha glare.
Having particularly sharp eyes, Kagome noticed the disaster waiting to happen via elbow to the blond's back and decided that she was feeling rather compassionate on this certain day. So when the astray elbow accidentally knocked Naruto forward on a crash course to Sasuke city, the blue-eyed girl quickly stuck her hand in between.
For a split second there was complete silence...
..but then the roaring began.
"NARUTO! I can't believe you just almost stole Sasuke-kun's first kiss!" Sakura predictably shouted and with it, followed many other screechy yells of horror and rage.
Many moments of dreaded cries of 'Sasuke-kun' and fan-girling later, everybody was sat down and mostly paying attention to what Iruka-sensei was saying.
"As of today, you are all genins. I know you have gone through your fair share of difficult hardships to get here, but compared to what comes next, that's absolutely nothing. You will all be placed on a three-man squad lead by a jounin." the class looked intrigued at the prospect of this. Kagome just yawned and placed her chin in her hand and proceeded to tune out everything Iruka-sensei was saying until she heard her name.
"Team 7, Naruto Uzumaki.."
'Please let Sakura and onee-chan be on my team. Scratch that, just anybody besides Sasuke!'Naruto pleaded inside his head.
"Sakura Haruno..."
Naruto stood up and cheered while Sakura bowed her head in depression. 'Why do I get the dobe? Please let Sasuke-kun be on my team, please!'
"...Sasuke Uchiha..."
It was Naruto's turn to pout and Sakura's turn to cheer while Sasuke thought 'why me?'
"..And Kagome Higurashi!"
Kagome smiled a little at the prospect of being on Naruto's team. Despite popular opinion, she really believed that Naruto had the most potential of them all. And he was her only friend, so that was a plus.
'Looks like this isn't going to be so bad after all, ne, Fluffy?' the pretty genin thought, making sure to let him feel the smug smirk on her face.
"One of these days, I will kill you for your audacity, miko." 'Fluffy' growled back, but they both knew that even if he had the chance, he wouldn't dare to take it. Pact or not, he had come to respect the human child that was basically his ward.
'Sure you will, Fluffy, sure you will.'
XxxXxxX
Kagome sat peacefully cross-legged on top of a desk, meditating. To the other on her squad that were waiting for their jounin sensei to show up, she looked like she was sleeping which was sort of weird because she was sitting up, but she was actually deep within her mindscape.
Her inner-world, as she called it, was basically just a small clearing deep within a forest. The luscious green grass was long and swayed in a gentle breeze that brought along the aroma of lilies which were all over the field as well. The sky was always cloudless and blue and the sun was always shining. The purity of her mind, heart, and soul shone through in this place deep within her.
In front of her stood a very tall imposing figure. This man—demon—was Sesshoumaru and he stood proud with his long silver hair flowing in the breeze much like her own dark locks. He was dressed in an outfit similar to her own, except his haori was neatly tucked into a pair of pristine white hakama and he had black ankle-boots on instead of ninja sandals. In a pile not too far from the pair was his armor, swords, and mokomoko.
Sesshoumaru's cold golden eyes regarded the chibi in front of him and they softened for a split second before he turned his head to stare off into nowhere land.
"How long will you wait, until you go after them?" He asked. This question had been brought up numerous times, it was almost routine to ask when they came face-to-face.
"When I am strong enough, I will go and I will avenge my village. Although I hate to admit it, we both know I'm too weak, and I can't draw upon enough of your jyaki to do anything besides die," she said and her fists clenched hard enough to draw blood as she thought about it. For a moment, shadow fell over them as clouds drifted across the sky and blocked the sun. As quickly as it came, though, it was gone and she looked up at her demon with a bright smile.
"In the meantime I need to stay positive and train as much as I can. I'm going to start conditioning my body and soul again so we can increase the amount of jyaki I can handle. Are you ready for that, Fluffy?" she grinned. The young undeniably powerful girl was trying to sound nonchalant but he could feel the excitement as the gentle breeze kicked up.
The silver-haired demon lord merely smirked and said, "your sensei has arrived."
Without any further warning, she was kicked out of her own mind and sent stumbling back into reality.
XxxXxxX
The first thing her midnight blue-eyes saw was the chalk mark on top her the silver hair of her masked jounin sensei. Kagome smiled slightly because that just screamed Naruto.
But wait, why silver hair?! Didn't she get enough of that from Sesshoumaru?! The genin thought she heard a chuckle in her head, but she wasn't sure.
"My first impression of you guys is..." they all held their breaths as the masked man talked, "...I hate you. Meet me on the roof."
They all sweat dropped while Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke headed up the stairs and Kagome disappeared in a swirl of lilies.
From his spot on the roof, Hatake Kakashi looked up when he felt a small swell of chakra and noticed the dark-haired female of his cute little new genin squad had used Shunshin no Jutsu(Body Flicker Technique) to beat the others to their designated meeting area.
'So this is the infamous Kagome Higurashi, eh? Interesting. She already knows Shunshin.. I wonder what else she has up her sleeves.'
The other three arrived so Kakashi decided to start.
"Why don't you introduce yourselves? Name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future. It would be a good idea to familiarize with eachother since you will be on a squad together for quite sometime," the jounin said.
Four little multi-colored heads nodded.
"I'll go first. My name is Kakashi Hatake and I will be your new sensei. My likes and dislikes... irrelevant at the moment. Dreams for the future? Not something I really think about ever... and I have lots of hobbies," the genin deadpanned.
"You didn't tell us anything and you couldn't even dodge my eraser prank! Are you sure you're a jounin?" Naruto loudly pointed out.
Kakashi smiled with his one eye—how that was even possible, nobody knew—and said, "Okay.. whiskers. You first."'
Naruto reached up and grabbed onto his headband and grinned almost as brightly as his clothes.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I love instant ramen and Kagome!" at this the jounin spared a glance at said girl and noticed she had a small smile on her pretty face as she leaned her head back onto her folded hands and closed her eyes, "I hate the time it takes for the instant ramen to get ready. My hobbies are pranking people, training with Kagome, and finding new kinds of ramen. And my dream is to become the best Hokage ever so everyone notices me and the village starts treating me like an actual person, believe it!"
Kakashi sweatdropped and held in a small chuckle. 'Well he has grown up in an interesting way..'
"Alright, pinky, your turn."
'Pinky' blushed and and said, "I'm Haruno Sakura and what I like... uh... I mean the guy I like is..." insert giggle and glance at Sasuke here, "well, my hobbies are... my dream for the future is..." there was some loud squealing and a snicker from Kagome at this point.
"And? What do you hate?" Kakashi urged.
"I hate Naruto and Higurashi!" she yelled. Naruto pouted while Kagome pinched his cheek and pulled, smiling. Obviously she didn't care what 'pinky' thought.
'Girls her age are only interested in boys, not being a true ninja.' The scarecrow thought dryly.
"Alright, next."
From behind the hands that were joined in front of his face came his reply, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate most things, which means I don't particularly like anything. I don't have a dream... I have a goal that will become reality. I will revive the Uchiha clan.. and kill a certain man."
Kakashi and Kagome both swear they saw a dark storm cloud above the brooding Uchiha's spiky head.
"Moon girl, you're up next."
All of the genin besides Kagome looked confused for a second until she sighed and pointed to the crescent moon on her forehead.
"My name is Higurashi Kagome. My likes? Training. My dislikes? Fan-girls. My hobbies... I'd say training, hanging out with Naruto, and talking to fluffy. My dreams for the future, eh? Well as Uchiha previously stated, they are not dreams because I have been destined for this. I will avenge my village and I will unlock my true power."
They all regarded the serious expression on the beautiful young girl's face for a moment.
'How dare she try to sound like my Sasuke-kun! Lying won't help you get him because he loves me, cha!" Inner-Sakura ranted.
Sasuke had a different train of thought. 'So she is like me, huh? But her whole village... I never knew she wasn't from Konoha."
Kakashi leaned back against the beam he was somewhat sitting on and sighed. 'I figured as much.. But what's this about true power? I guess I'll have to ask the Hokage about that.'
"That was good everyone, you all have extremely different personalities. That will keep things from being boring. Tomorrow we will have our first mission. Actually, test is the better word for it and it is something the five of us will complete together."
Naruto and Sakura looked confused and Sasuke looked contemplative. Kagome looked like she was listening to something else for a second before firm understanding flashed across her face and she gave a small, almost unnoticeable nod.
"And Kakashi-sensei? What is the test, huh?! Tell us!" was Naruto's intelligent response. Kagome rolled her eyes and smacked him in the back of the head.
"This is unlike your previous training at the academy. This is a survival test. If you pass, you are ready to be genin. If you fail, then oh well. Unfortunately for you, there is a 66% chance you will fail," the jounin started to giggle almost ominously, "Meet me at training ground 7 tomorrow morning at 5am. And don't eat any breakfast. You'll throw it up. That is all."
There was silence until...
"WHAAAT?!," both Naruto and Sakura yelled before the jinchuuriki continued, "How is that even fair?! What was that graduation test for if they were just gonna send us back after we passed! We worked hard, believe it!"
Sasuke's glare just intensified.
Kagome noticed and smirked in amusement. 'Broody Uchiha is like a wannabe fluffy!'
Kakashi took a moment to observe their reactions before moving on. "I decide whether you pass or not. The academy just got you ready to be considered as genin. Now stop complaining and start training."
With that, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
The four genin glanced at eachother before Sasuke got up and left silently with his personal dark cloud following him and Sakura, being in full fan-girl mode, trailed after him.
"Hey 'Gome-chan, wanna go to Ichiraku Ramen with me?" the blond-haired boy asked the remaining raven-head.
Kagome thought about it for a second before her eyes got large and starry.
"ODEN!"
And with that, the two best friends raced off into the sunset, full of hope for tomorrow and thoughts of delicious food.
XxxXxxX
Mokomoko: Sesshoumaru's fluffy white tail-thingy.
Hello readers! Please review, I worked really hard on this and I want your opinions! Aside from that, thank you for taking the time to read this!
Ja,
Biz.