Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Naruto

In the Final Battle, the Shikon Jewel had been almost impossible to beat. But they had managed it. When Kagome was into the world in the Jewel, it had pressed her to make a wish. But no wish was selfless and so it would only add to the evil within the Jewel. So she had resorted to the only option which she could think of under the pressure of the situation. She would burn the Jewel with her body.

Not as Kikyo's body had been burned with it, but using her body and its miko energy itself as the fuel for which it burned with.

And so in this way, the Jewel's body itself had disappeared, never to reappear again. Even when she reincarnated.

What she hadn't thought of, was where the Jewel's energy was supposed to go. For though its body had been destroyed, its power power entered her soul, the nearest conductor for it, effectively making her the Jewel.

Poor Kagome.

Kagome was shocked when she woke up to darkness.

It wasn't the black which shocked her, but the act of waking up that did it. She had not expect to ever wake up again. She had fully expected for her soul to lose the memories of her life when reincarnating; just as had happened when Kikyo's soul had been reincarnated into her.

But she was quickly becoming tired. And as she was slowly falling asleep, she finally began to realize that her decision had not led to the results she had expected and a feeling of dread began to settle in her stomach.

Kagome kept waking up for short periods of times. She learned that the darkness did not go on forever as she had first thought. She was surrounded in some kind of barrier. She had also learned that trying to break her way out of it, was not an option. She was weaker than she had been before and had trouble moving around, not for the first time, she had wished that she could see herself and judge her health level.

The next time Kagome woke up, there was a strange feeling. It was as if she moving from her previous spot.

She found out why, a while later. As she stared up at the face of her new mother, she realized that she was reincarnated.

And she proceeded to cry and scream as she realized that she could feel the energy of the Shikon Jewel gathered in her body.

It had been a few months since she had been born and Kagome had finally stopped throwing a temper tantrum every time her mind strayed towards the topic of the energy now within her.

Her parents were much happier now that she was allowing them to sleep at night.

Speaking of her parents, it appeared that the world they called home was not the same one that she was in before. She constantly worried about her friends and family. Wondering how they dealt with everything after she was gone. She had almost become depressed, until she remembered that it would do her no good and that they would have wanted her to move on with her new life.

She had taken their imaginary advice and moved on. She had started with getting to know her family. Apparently their names were Honoka and Shun Inuzuka.

They were also ninjas. And they had large dogs, ninken, for partners.

She wanted a dog, once she was older. But she didn't want to be a ninja.

Kagome had gone through enough troubles in her last life. She would be happy to have a normal one now.

Kagome was around four months old now. She was constantly frustrated by her body's lack of development. Her muscles weren't strong enough to do what she wanted them to do.

Luckily, her knowledge from her previous life had helped her in ways that other babies didn't have. She knew how to do what she wanted. She just needed to wait for her body to catch up with her mind. And with all of the practice and exercise she was giving it; it was developing quicker than pretty much all other children.

She had been practicing her speech too; so hopefully she would be able to do more than babble soon.

At seven months, she was finally eating solids, which was better than the previous goop she had been given. She was also capable of a larger range of motion now, able to crawl around.

At a year old, Kagome was able to speak a large variety of words. She was also walking around, though slowly.

Throughout her development, her parents are amazed by her advanced learning. Though they are also concerned with her slightly antisocial nature (having been more focused on getting past her embarrassing childhood than anything else). A week after her birthday, they decide to try finding her a friend.

It does not turn out well.

All of the other clan children they try to have her befriend are at least two years older than her and much too rowdy.

So they look outside the clan.

That's when she meets the first child she can tolerate. He is not loud. Nor is he too active.

Inuzuka Kagome and Hatake Kakashi were definitely having a staring competition.

That was all that the two Inuzuka parents and single Hatake father could think of the situation in front of them. For year-old children like them could not possibly be assessing each other. That was a skill that came with age and experience.

However, the two children were in fact analyzing each other. From physical appearance to apparent personality.

Until Kagome walked over and plopped down beside Kakashi. He briefly looked over at her before deciding that he would not argue.

Her parents were overjoyed that she was finally showing attachment to someone other than themselves.

Kagome loved playing with Kakashi. Sure, it was more of them doing their own thing next to each other, rather than with each other. But they would still do things together occasionally.

If she became upset by her body's weakness, Kakashi would help her out. And if Kakashi could not think of the word he wanted or had trouble pronouncing it, she would help him.

They were both considered geniuses for their age and so had much in common. Both wanted to grow up quicker than the others their age. And both considered the other children beneath them.

Not out of cruelty. But simply because they were not as mature as them.

Strange as it was to call a toddler mature.

At one and a half years old, Kagome was finally capable of a full range of motion. She could walk, run, jump, and more.

But she would always calm down when she was with Kakashi. Content to simply talk with him, especially now that she was able to speak for a whole conversation.

Kakashi did not talk back that often. Mostly, she would talk about her day or whatever was on her mind and he would just listen, unless she was looking for an answer or response.

However, at four years of age, their friendship was challenged.

"Mommy and Daddy want me to start the Academy soon. They think that I could probably graduate in a much shorter time than it takes others." Kagome announced.

"Father has already signed me up to take the entrance exam. I want to help in the war." Kakashi said. "I want to be a well-known ninja like my father."

Kakashi greatly admired his father. In fact, he had taken to wearing a face mask similar to his lately.

His admiration only made her next comment that much harder to say. "I don't want to be a shinobi."

Kakashi immediately redirected all his attention to her face. Seeing the seriousness in it, he had to wonder how she had come to this decision. "Why?! You don't just come from a family of ninjas like I do, you come from a whole clan! You've pretty much been bred to be a ninja, it would come as easy to you as breathing!"

She was becoming angry at his lack of understanding. Didn't he understand how much it would hurt for her to disappoint her parents and the rest of her clan?! "Because it's what I want! I don't want to be constantly fighting for my life! I don't want those around me to be targeted for what I've done and I don't want to hurt others. I want a normal life!"

"So you'll simply allow yourself to be weak?! Because this is weakness! If you don't want those close to you to get hurt, then you just have to be stronger than the people trying to hurt them. And no matter how much you don't want to hurt others; they'll be hurt anyways. The only things that change are who does it and how many people they hurt in the meantime!" He paused in his rant, to take a breath. "I thought you were better than those other kids, that's why I hung out with you. But it turns out that you're just like them, content to have people out there dying for your normal life. People like my mother!"

Kagome was shocked. She had never heard Kakashi yell, let alone for such a long time. For it to be directed at her was heartbreaking. Even worse was his statement of her apathy for the deaths of shinobi. Finally, even her matured mind could no longer take it and she ran off crying.

When Kagome arrived at home, she ran into her mother's arms; sobbing into her chest. Her parents were greatly alarmed. Kagome had not once cried since the week she had been born. No matter what happened to her, she was always calm. For her to be crying, something big must have happened.

Shun, as the calmer parent, decided to take the lead in this conversation. "Kagome, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

He only got a quickly mumbled response, the even he with his Inuzuka ears couldn't understand, as an answer.

He sighed, "Kagome dear, I can't understand a single word your saying. Try to calm down. Take a deep breath in." She did. "Now just let it go."

Continuing with the deep breaths, Kagome was finally able to calm down.

Honoka continued where her husband had left off "Now, while staying calm, tell us what's wrong."

"Kakashi and I got into an argument."

"Oh really?" Her father said.

He spoke quickly, knowing his wife would decide to hunt the boy down and pummel him for making their little girl cry, if he didn't. He needed to find out the whole situation before judging. "What were you arguing over?"

At the question she ducked her head and mumbled out an answer. This time that didn't need her to repeat it to understand.

Her mother bore an overly shocked expression "You don't want to be a ninja? Why not?"

Kagome shook her head and gave the same reasons she told Kakashi.

Her father, catching on to the reason for the argument, asked " and Kakashi did not take this well when you told him?"

"No, he said I was weak and a coward. And that I was happy letting all the ninjas die so I could be normal."

Finally, he completely understood the situation. "Now Kagome, I'm not saying you're wrong, but think about this from Kakashi's point of view. His mother died in the war. He wants to fight so that other people don't lose friends or family the way he did. Your rejection of becoming a ninja, even when it is well within your abilities, was seen by him as a declaration that you don't care about those people."

Before she could protest, he stuck his hand up. " Also, I believe that Kakashi has, for all this time, believed that the two of you would become ninjas together. Not only was your rejection of this seen as a betrayal, but now he may feel that all the lives you two, as prodigies, could have saved together are up to him to save. This sudden pressure could have made him lash out, even if he didn't mean to."

Her dad's explanation made her quiet. Even with her advanced experience, she had not thought of it that way. It seemed she still had a lot of maturing to do.

"Kagome, I think you should leave Kakashi on his own for a while. Let him think about this. I'm sure that, once you two see each other again, you'll be able to put this all behind you."

"...ok, daddy" she accepted his advice. She stood up, to head upstairs to her room, but stopped and turned around at the stairs. "You guys aren't mad at me for not wanting to be a shinobi?"

It was, surprisingly, her mother whom answered her "Kagome, you are free to do what makes you happy. Sure, we were hoping for you to be a ninja like us, but we are both fine with it. You have the right to lead your own life."

"Thank you"

Kakashi was still fuming when he got back home from the park. He stomped right past his father and into his room at the end of the hall and threw himself on his bed.

How could Kagome say that. She was supposed to become a ninja with him. They would have been great together. They could have saved so many lives. But she gave up before even trying.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't hear the door opening. He did, however, notice his visitor when he sat down next to him on the bed.

"What?" He demanded, not in the mood to talk to anyone.

Hatake Sakumo was unfazed by this attitude. He had faced much worse from his enemies. "What has you in such a bad mood?"

"Nothing" he replied grumpily.

"It's certainly not nothing. I know I'm not you're mother, but you can talk to me about things."

At the thought of his mother, The remnants of Kakashi's anger subsided and he finally tilted his head to look at his father. "Kagome and I got into an argument. She said she doesn't want to be a shinobi."

"Why did you get angry over this? It is not your choice to make. And can she not be your friend without being a ninja?" His father reasoned.

Kakashi felt his anger rise to the surface again "We were supposed to be great ninjas like you. We would save lives. That way others wouldn't lose people close to them like we lost mom."

Sakumo sighed. "Don't you remember, Kakashi? Your mother fought for Konoha to be free. So that the citizens could be safe and happy; even during this war. She would have wanted you to let Kagome live her life the way she wants, even if you wanted something else."

How could he respond to that. All he knew was that he suddenly felt ashamed for being so mean to Kagome.

"It doesn't matter anyways. Kagome won't want to be friends with me anymore. I said some really mean things to her." He looked up at the ceiling "I made her cry." Now that his anger was gone, he was hurt by the memory of her running away in tears. She would never want to see him again.

His father, however, believed differently. " Kagome's a nice girl. I'm sure if you apologize she'll be willing to be friends again. But you better make sure it's a good apology; not some simple 'sorry'."

Then his father turned to walk out the door, but paused before stepping out. Suddenly he disappeared at speeds only a ninja could meet and Kakashi felt a pain in the back of his head.

"What was that for?!"

"That was for making a kind girl like Kagome cry. Remember this Kakashi, a true man never make a girl cry. Do it again and that small tap on the head won't be the worst of your problems."

Then he truly did leave and Kakashi was left to think about their conversation.

He knew one thing for sure though, he would make sure that Kagome never cried again.

For the past two weeks the two four-year-olds had seen neither hide nor hair of the other. Kagome was giving Kakashi time to let go of his anger. And Kakashi was working up the courage to apologize to Kagome.

It was by pure coincidence, that they met up in the park where they had gotten into the fight.

Kagome had been sitting on the swing for a while, simply staring at the ground below her, when she noticed someone come to stand in front of her.

Looking up, she noticed that it was Kakashi.

"Kakashi, I-"

"Kagome, I-"

Deciding to let Kakashi go first, she gave him a nod. He began again "Kagome, I'm sorry for how I acted last time. I should have let you do as you pleased. It wasn't my place to impose my beliefs on you and I was in the wrong. I'm really sorry."

"No, I'm sorry Kakashi, I was being selfish and not considering your thoughts."

"It's fine, you had a right to get upset...will you forgive me?"

Taking note of how apologetic he was, Kagome realized that he would not let it go if she said a simple yes. So she quickly thought of a way for him to accept her forgiveness and at the same time lighten the mood. "I will...but only if you let me call you Kashi-kun from now on."

Kakashi was overjoyed at her acceptance, but spluttered as he heard her condition. Stoic as he may be, even he would show evidence of shock and embarrassment at her request. However, he got over it; and remembering his promise to himself he answered "If it will make you happy."

As embarrassing as it would be for him from now on, it was worth it when he saw her grin.

"Thank you, Kashi-kun."

Kakashi and Kagome were laying side-by-side on the hill near the river. For once, it was Kakashi doing the talking and Kagome listening.

"-is so annoying. He's always saying things about being my rival and how he'll surpass me. Father says that I should take him seriously and that he looks like he could be extremely skilled in taijutsu, but it's hard to ever take the idiot seriously."

"You have such funny classmates, Kashi-kun. Maybe it's a ninja thing. All of the people in my civilian classes are so boring."

"That's what you get for choosing a normal boring life." he teased her.

She couldn't just let that go. "I'll have you know that my life is not boring."

"Oh really?" he challenged.

"Yeah, I'm taking archery lessons and mommy is teaching me self-defense." When he gave her an unimpressed look at her repetition of information he had already heard, she was forced to think of something new. "Oh, and daddy said that even though I'm not going to be a ninja, I could get my own puppy soon."

That had him interested. "You're getting a ninken?"

"Well, I'm not getting a ninken, per se, but mommy and daddy said that I could get one of our other dogs and I could train him however I want. He simply wouldn't be predisposed towards the things that our ninken are."

That made more sense. It would be strange to give a dog raised to be a ninken to an Inuzuka that wasn't going to be a ninja. They would think it a waste of the dog's potential.

Luckily, he was quick enough exiting his thoughts to hear her next statement "They said that I could look through the kennels for the dog that I think best suits me this weekend. I'm so excited."

"As an Inuzuka, what will it be like getting your dog?" he asked. He had been curious on the differences he had seen between her and the already partnered members of her clan.

There was an awkward pause while she thought; tilting her head from side to side. "Hm... we don't usually tell outsiders, but they never really said that I couldn't...I guess it will be fine if I tell you." she decided.

"Okay, listen up. Once an Inuzuka has chosen their canine partner, they go through a ritual that gives them their advanced senses and ability to understand canines. I can't really go into the specifics of it, since I haven't gone through it yet and they refuse to tell me. But after we go through the ritual we become an official member of the clan. We are then inscribed with the fang markings commonly seen on our cheeks, symbolizing this induction."

"Why are outsiders not supposed to be told about this? It doesn't sound like anything all that secretive to me." he asked.

She attempted to answer as best she could "I think it's because of the mention of the ritual. They don't want anyone thinking that attacking the Inuzuka and attempting to steal information on the ritual. I mean, just think about how many people would appreciate being able to speak to their ninken. We would have a ton of enemies. What's even worse is they might not realize that you can't just go through the ritual to get the effects. You have to also have the bloodline."

"Ah, that makes sense."

They relaxed for a while until they decided to part.

"Goodbye Kagome, make sure to visit me after you've received your partner."

"Goodbye Kashi-kun. I'll make sure to do that."

Kakashi and Kagome met up after school on the following Monday and decided to walk around the village.

"There wasn't a single dog in the kennel that felt right for me. They were all nice, but none of them had the right personality for my first dog. Whichever dog I choose becomes the leader. That requires a pretty specific quality that I just couldn't see in any of those dogs. They were all trained to submit to the ninken, not lead."

"So what are you going to do? I imagine it would take a while for them to get different dogs; having to breed them and all."

"I don't know, maybe I'll look again, just in case I missed something the first time around. My first opinions could have been wrong."

They moved on to lighter topics then, such as talking about their day and what they learned.

Then it happened.

Kagome and Kakashi had parted ways to head home. As she was walking down one of the side streets, she heard a whine coming from an alley. She immediately rushed over, animals only made that specific whine for one reason.

What she saw froze Kagome's Inuzuka-blood cold. A female dog was laying there, laying against the wall. It was dying. She could see it in the thin frame she sported.

However, what made the situation even worse was the fact that there were six pups surrounding her. The whole family was dying of starvation.

She cautiously approached the litter, making sure the mother would not snap at her.

There was nothing she could do for the mother, but maybe she could save the rest of them.

It was not to be. She cried as she realized that three of them were already dead and two more were on their way.

Then she remembered the remaining puppy. Reaching over, she carefully placed him in her lap. He was cold, not enough meat in his body to keep him warm. She could fit him in one hand.

As the realization that this puppy would die in her lap if she didn't do anything. She decided to help him. She would do the one thing that she had been determined to never do.

Kagome let loose the power that had once belonged to the Shikon Jewel. And she made the puppy healthy then she took it even further, because this puppy had gone through enough hardship. She had already made him healthy, but she would make him strong. She cut off the flow of the Shikon's energy and replaced it with the remnants of her miko energy.

Looking away from the now sleeping puppy, she turned towards his dying mother. "I'll take care of him, I promise."

She watched as the mother and other puppies died. Imprinting it into her memory. She would never forget the tragedy which led her to this puppy.

When she got home she immediately headed to her parents. She needed to get the puppy a check-up to make sure she had fixed everything.

Her parents were surprised by her sudden determination to have this puppy that hadn't even been bred by the clan. But they let her have her way and simply took him to the clinic.

He was perfectly healthy and they had said he looked even healthier than some of the ninken they owned.

Imagine what they would think, if they knew what he had been like before she had found him.

Kagome was absent from school the next day. She was at home, taking care of her new partner. They weren't true partners yet, as that hadn't gone through the ritual. But they could not do that until they got to know each other.

She was absent from school for the rest of the week. She and the little dog walked around the clan compound together.

The puppy was unused to being so healthy and well fed. He had become especially attached to her, as his savior.

They became inseparable.

Finally, it was determined that the puppy had adjusted enough to be ready for the ritual. It was scheduled for that Sunday.

Kakashi was angry. Kagome and he'd been meeting everyday after school, but for the whole week he had been forced to wait an hour at their meeting point before walking home alone.

The first day he had thought she had simply been delayed for some reason. Once the hour mark had been reached, however, he decided that she must be sick or had something come up so suddenly that she couldn't tell him.

Finally, on Friday, he decided that he had enough of pointlessly waiting forever for her. He decide that he needed to visit her home to see if she was okay.

However, when he saw her rolling around in one of the fields in the Inuzuka compound, his worry turned into the anger he now possessed.

But then she saw him, and he was forced to let go of his anger. Her whole face lit up when she saw him and he acknowledged that she didn't mean to ditch him. Especially if the puppy, currently being carried in her arms as she ran over, was anything to go by.

"Kashi-kun, I missed you so much!"

He let out a sight, "You wouldn't have missed me, if you hadn't ditched me the whole week."

She turned sheepish then, "Sorry, I've just been so distracted."

"Look!" She said while holding out the puppy. "I finally found my partner! I get to go through the ritual on Sunday!"

"I guess that means that we won't be able to hang out then?" He asked.

Her abashed expression returned then. "Yeah. And I'll be busy getting ready tomorrow; so I won't be able to hang out then either."

He sighed theatrically at that. "I guess you'll have to make it up to me another time. I had wanted to show you what I've learned in the academy so far. Now you owe me for the delay."

After she quickly nodded her head in agreement, he changed the direction of the conversation. "So does your dog have a name?"

"Not yet, we're decided to choose it together after the ritual."

Around this time the puppy started getting frustrated with their inattention and started wiggling around in her arms. He almost fell the long way to the ground, but Kakashi was able to catch him before then.

The puppy licked Kakashi in thanks before looking towards Kagome for attention.

Kakashi took this as his cue to leave. "I'll see you Monday. You better not ditch me again."

The ritual for her becoming a true Inuzuka passed without incident.

It mostly consisted of her and the puppy standing in a large sealing array. Her parents channeled their chakra into the seals, causing them to activate and the two within to pass out while her mind reconfigured itself to be more canine in nature.

Kakashi was confused by the sudden change in Kagome. It wasn't the physical change that had thrown him off, but the change to her personality.

Kagome had always been calm for her age. She was skilled at maintaining her happy personality without being overbearing about it, something most of the Inuzukas seemed to have trouble with.

Now she possessed almost too much positive energy.

As soon as she had seen him on Monday, she had tackled him to the ground. It hadn't helped when her puppy had jumped in to join the dog pile.

It had taken a few minutes to convince her to get off him.

When they had finally returned to normal standing positions, excluding the puppy whom had been placed on top of her head, he was finally able to see her new physical features. She possessed two purple-red striped markings on each cheek. They extended from the side of her face to a little past halfway to her nose ( AN: think Sesshomaru's markings).

"I like your markings, though their not the normal color. How does it feel to to be a real member of the Inuzuka."

"Thank you, I love the markings too. I couldn't have asked for any better. And it's wonderful. Pakkun and I have so much fun together."

"You named your dog Pakkun? What does it even mean?" He was starting to question her naming skills.

"Yes, he wanted to be called Pakkun and I agreed to it. And it doesn't have to mean anything." she argued.

"Alright, alright, no need to get defensive. It's a perfectly fine name." He was always giving in to her. But that's the price he payed if he wanted her to be happy.

"So what does Pakkun have to say about things. What's he like, now that you can understand him?"

"Well... He mostly only likes me. I mean I could tell that before, but I kind of thought he was just at shy. Now I know that he doesn't really care about other people. He kind of likes you too. He says it's 'cause you saved him from falling the other day, but also because you're my friend."

She hmmed and hawed for a moment before saying "I mostly only know this from guessing. He doesn't really have full conversations since he's still young. Mommy and daddy say that it's normal for the dogs to not talk so much, even when they're older, since conversations are more of a human thing."

"That makes sense. How old is he anyways?"

"Maybe a couple months. I don't know how old he was when I found him and doesn't know when he was born." she answered. "I think we could just treat his birthday as the day we met. What do you think, Pakkun?"

Pakkun answered with a bark.

"I'm guessing he agrees?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah..." the conversation reached a lull, so they started walking.

"Hey Kashi-kun... how have you been doing in school? Since we didn't get to talk much last week."

Kakashi shrugged and replied "It's pretty easy. Everyone else seems to be having trouble with what we're learning though, so I've been forced to skip ahead of them in the material."

Kagome felt proud of him and the grin on her face showed it. "That's great! You'll have to show me everything you've learned sometime soon, Kashi-kun."

"Are you free Saturday? I could show you then."

"I'm busy training Pakkun in the morning, but I can meet up with you around lunch time."

"That's fine. You can come over to my house and I'll show you to the training grounds."

Kagome had only been to Kakashi's house once, but she hadn't been invited inside then. This time was different.

She and Pakkun had arrived early, so Kakashi's father had let them in. After getting directions to Kakashi's room, they headed to his room down the hall. She didn't get a response to her first knock on the door so she knocked again and called out "Kashi-kun!"

She almost didn't hear the distant snort from Kakashi's father, over the sudden noise of things being moved around in Kakashi's room.

The door opened and she could see Kakashi's masked face. "Kagome, I'm almost done getting ready." he stepped aside for her and said "You can sit on my bed while I get ready."

She looked around, while waiting for Kakashi to finish digging through drawers and trunks. Kakashi's room was mostly sparse. There were a few pictures with his mother and father here and there. But there were also quite a few with Kagome herself in them. She hadn't known he had so many pictures of them together.

Her perusal was halted when Kakashi finished assembling all of his gear.

"Come on Kagome, we need to go, if you want to see everything."

"Come on Pakkun!" she called as she stood up.

As a civilian, Kagome had never had a reason to know where the shinobi training grounds were. So Kakashi told her about the different training grounds that could either be reserved of freely visited. Some were reserved for higher-level shinbones only and there were a couple smaller ones for Academy students only.

They were headed to one of the ones reserved for Academy students.

When they arrived Kakashi had her and Pakkun watch from under a specific tree, so that she didn't run the risk of being hurt.

He then went through various taijutsu stances, before fighting an imaginary opponent. After resting next to her for a while, he got up and threw an assortment of weapons at the targets they had set up. Each of them hit dead center.

When she was sure he was done and that she wouldn't interrupt his concentration, she clapped and cheered for his achievements. Pakkun joined in, barking out compliments (not that Kakashi could understand).

"Hey, I'm not done yet! I still have to show you my ninjutsu!" he yelled across the field.

"Oh, sorry! Please continue!" Kagome yelled back.

Kakashi then proceeded to show what he said were 'General skills', like walking vertically up a tree and hiding behind a cloak to appear invisible.

Those were not as impressive as when he started using actual ninjutsu. There were so many things he could do.

Transformations

Clones

Evan disappearing instantaneously (though he said it was just too fast for her to see)

Kagome was starting to regret her decision to not become a ninja. If only to learn all of these wonderful techniques.

This time she asked before cheering "Can we cheer now? Or is there still more"

"I'm done now. What did you think?" he answered.

"It was wonderful. I love seeing you use all of your techniques. You look so happy and proud of your accomplishments, that I can't help but be proud too."

At her straightforward response, Kakashi couldn't help but blush under his mask. "It's not that large of an achievement. Actual ninjas can do way more than I can."

"But you're not a ninja yet. So that makes it even more extraordinary." she praised him.

"You shouldn't be so excited over it. I'm sure if you had become a ninja, you would be just as skilled as I am."

"We're not getting into that again, are we?" she questioned testily. Pakkun responded to her mood by growling lowly.

"No, I was just making a passing comment. No need to get upset." Kakashi quickly backtracked.

"Good, and I'll have you know I am exceedingly skilled in my civilian classes. They're letting me skip quite a few grades, since I already know most of the stuff."

"That's great for you. I overheard my teachers saying something similar. They may let me skip ahead."

"Oh, that's great Kashi-kun!" she said. ignoring the last part of his statement. "Just don't push yourself too hard."

"You too." he said, returning her advice.

He didn't know that she had already learned all of the material (and more) in her previous life.

"What's on your mind, Kakashi?" the absence of his nickname proved how serious she was about the question. He would not be able to divert her attention from the topic.

He debated trying anyways, before discarding the idea and quietly asking"Why are you still friends with me? Everyone else considers my father a disgrace and don't want to be associated with me."

"We're friends Kakashi. And friends stick together. Besides your father did what he thought was best. He saved the lives of his comrades. That is something that should be admired not condemned."

"Not if it meant abandoning the mission. It's a ninja's job to complete the mission at any cost. He should have continued it, even if it meant his comrades dying."

Kakashi had trouble comprehending the sudden burning in his cheek.

She had slapped him.

"Don't you ever say that again! Your father is a great shinobi and a wonderful man. You used to believe in him. Like I still do. But then you let what everyone else was saying get to you." She seethed out angrily. "You, more than anyone, are not allowed to lose faith in him. You are his son. And as long as you believe in him, he will be able to bear whatever the villagers have to say. But if even you, whom had always sought to become like him, sees him as a failure, then he may just give up. You are the only reason he has been able to hold his head high."

Kakashi had not yet learnt to simply follow Kagome's wisdom in these matters and so attempted to defend himself. " I can't help it that he broke one of the most important rules for being a ninja. He-"

But he was cut off by Kagome "You mean this oh-so-important rule of completing the mission no matter what? What if it was my life keeping you from completing a mission? Would you just leave me to die? Or would you come back for me?" She questioned, peering hard into his face. "And another thing. Remind me again what your reason for becoming a shinobi was. Didn't you say it was so that you could save lives? So that people wouldn't lose family members like you have? So much for that."

At that Kakashi was finally defeated by her reasoning. He gave up on any form of protestation.

Seeing his look of defeat she finally closed the conversation "I'm going home now. And when I see you tomorrow, you better be back to normal."

As she walked away, Pakkun stayed behind for a few seconds. He growled at Kakashi for getting his partner upset, before turning around and running to catch up with her.

The next day Kakashi refused to let the stares get to him. And with the memory of Kagome's tongue lashing, his pride in his father was restored.

But it was not to be.

After a couple weeks, the whispers brought back the feeling of shame.

…

A month later, Kakashi found his father dead on the floor.

He had committed suicide, unable to cope with the overwhelming disdain of those around him. His death pushed Kakashi even further into the belief that rules must always be followed. But he made sure not to mention it around Kagome, lest it spark an argument.

He still refused to see her cry.

Kagome's mother, Honoka Inuzuka, died a couple months later.

Her team had been ambushed by enemy shinobi.

Kagome took her death hard.

She decided that she would no longer be complacent in her self-defense training. She signed up at a dojo in the village and quickly rose through their ranks. After that, she decided to start sparring with Pakkun, the little dog would never be a fighter, but he would at least be able to hold any enemies off for a while.

Her archery class was also taken seriously and she progressed to the point that she no longer had to pray to hit her mark. She could do so effortlessly now.

When she felt she had progressed enough, she asked Kakashi to spar with her.

She managed to tie with him, but only because he was using straight out taijutsu. No chakra or weapons allowed.

When he asked why she had the change of heart, reminding her that not wanting to fight was part of her reasoning for not becoming a ninja, she replied that she still wished to not fight, but she would not let herself remain helpless.

He agreed to continue the sparring.

"I was called up to the head office today. They said that, since I'm so far ahead of my classmates, they would let me take the graduation exam early. I'm set to take it at the end of the year with the current graduating class."

"I'm so happy for you, Kashi-kun. This is what you've been working so hard for. I'm kind of jealous. I wish I could graduate early, but civilians don't get recognized as 'mature enough' until they're a certain age. They'll let me skip grades, but not enough to graduate this early."

"You don't really need to graduate to get a job though." he responded.

"That's true. But it makes it much easier. Plus, employers are usually unwilling to hire people for higher positions unless they have an education." Kagome shot back.

"What kind of job do you want anyway?" he asked.

She didn't even have to pause and think about it "I want to work as one of our dog trainers. If one of our clan members is incapacitated, I can step in to keep the dog in shape."

"Wouldn't that be hard, since you don't have the ninja training." he questioned; pointing out the flaw in her plan.

"That's what I thought too, so I decided that I was going to add Pakkun in as my partner during our sparring sessions. I can get a clue about how a ninken fights with their partner and I can use Pakkun as an assistant in my training."

Kakashi sighed. "You weren't even going to ask for my opinion were you."

"Kashi-kun, Kashi-kun, you will never believe what happened. It was amazing. I just knew that Pakkun was special."

"What, Kagome? I can't believe anything if you don't tell me." he said, exasperated by her lack of clarification.

"Okay, so I was training with Pakkun. Not sparring training, mind you, but command training. And then it happened. Just watch" She said and then stepped in front of Pakkun.

"Ok, Pakkun. I know you can do it. Speak."

Kakashi thought Pakkun was going to bark like a normal dog would (why wouldn't he?). So he was greatly surprised when he heard something totally different.

"Yo." He said in a gruff voice that was at odds with his small appearance.

Only Kagome would be able to tell it, but underneath his mask, Kakashi was shocked. "How can Pakkun talk? He isn't a ninken. Heck, he wasn't even bred by your clan."

Kagome thought it had to do with her pouring her energy into Pakkun when she was saving his life. But she couldn't tell him that. She hadn't even told him that she had saved his life, only that she had found him in an alleyway. So she simply responded with an "I don't know..but now I'll get to teach him to speak to non-Inuzakas. And you'll be able to understand him. Oh this is wonderful!" She turned to Pakkun and started cooing praises to him "I just knew you were special. You're absolutely perfect. So smart!"

Kakashi sighed. This was going to go on for a while.

Pakkun was so spoiled.

Kakashi didn't tell Kagome when he was scheduled to take the graduation exam.

He didn't know why, but when he thought of her being surrounded by his previous classmates while she waited for him, he got a horrible feeling.

...

He told himself he did it because he was keeping her away from the life she didn't want.

She didn't want to be a ninja, so associating with even more of them than she already did was counterproductive.

He was just trying to obey her wishes.

That's all.

...

But deep down he knew it was because he wanted to keep Kagome to himself.

They didn't deserve her.

Kagome was upset when she saw Kakashi.

One day he was talking about his day at the Academy and the next day he shows up wearing his forehead protector.

"Kashi-kun, you're so mean! Why didn't you tell me you were taking the exam? I wanted to wait and congratulate you." she pouted.

"I didn't think it was that important. Besides you can congratulate me now."

"It's not the same. Now I can't be the first person." She took a while to stop pouting before smiling at him. "Great job, Kashi-kun!"

"Pakkun, you congratulate Kashi-kun too." She told her companion.

"Great job Kakashi" he said in his gruff voice.

"Kashi-kun, you need to get along better with your teammates." Kagome admonished him. "You keep complaining that you are taken off the team before the Chūnin Exams arrive and that's the reason why."

"It's not my fault they can't follow the rules."Kakashi protested. "The next team you'll be on is from the class you would have graduated in if you hadn't skipped ahead. Please don't get kicked off this team. For me." Then as added incentive she said " And just imagine how embarrassing it would be to be placed on a team with people younger than you. You don't have to like your teammates. Just cooperate with them."

Kakashi sighed "I'll try."

"Great! I'll even give you an incentive. I'll give you a reward if you can make it to chūnin without getting kicked off."

That got his attention. Kagome always gave wonderful gifts. They were always useful in some way.

His extremely durable ninja sandals were one.

"Pakkun, I don't want to tell Kashi-kun that I'm graduating soon. I like having him come pick me up."

The puppy answered in the human tongue that Kagome was currently forcing him to practice. "Then don't tell him, but when he does find out, 'cause he will, he'll be upset with you."

"So you think I should tell him?" She asked.

"Probably, but that's your decision."

"You know Pakkun, you're really wise for how young you are."

She told Kakashi about her early graduation the next day.

As Kagome left the school for the last time, she saw Kakashi standing next to her father. They both looked proud, despite their skill in hiding emotions. She ran up to her father and wrapped her arms around his waste "Daddy!"

"Oh, my little girl, all grown up! Graduating at the age of six! I'm so proud of you, you genius you!" Shun had taken to pouring all of he's affection into his daughter after his wife had died. Kagome was okay with being babied, as long as it kept her father from becoming depressed.

"Don't forget Kakashi, Kagome" Pakkun chimed in. The little pug had grown to like the boy. They both saw life in a mature light, even if he thought Kakashi was a tad extreme in his beliefs.

Kakashi was the next one to be tackled. Then Kagome grabbed both of their arms and started dragging them out of the school, chattering all the while.

"-asked her if I could help out in the kennels. She said that I could do it when I graduated. So now I just have to tell her the good news. This is going to be so fun. I mean, first I'll be learning some of the things that I don't already. But then I'll be allowed to help with the dogs' care and training."

The other three individuals present could only look on, as she continued chattering and displaying her obvious joy.

Everyday he had to meet with his team, only one thing got Kakashi through their horrible antics.

Minato's silliness and complacency.

Rin's obvious affection for him.

And most annoying of all. Obito's continued tardiness and stupidity.

All of these things became much easier to ignore, when he thought of the reward Kagome would give him when he became a chūnin.

His team temporarily stopped their usual antics to look at Kakashi weirdly.

For a while now, he had been muttering a continuous mantra under his breath "-just until the Chūnin Exams, just until the Chūnin Exams, just until the Chūnin Exams-"

'Sometimes Kakashi is so weird' they all thought.

Kagome was working hard on Kakashi's gift.

She had even used her miko energy, multiple times, to get it ready.

It was taking a long time to finish, but she knew that if she hadn't used her power then it would take more than twenty times as long.

So she was actually moving at a pretty quick pace.

With the Chūnin Exams beginning in a month (as Kakashi loved to keep reminding her), it was a good thing she was almost done.

Her gift came in multiple parts, but she had decided to work on them all at once to further shorten the time.

She just knew Kakashi would appreciate her hard work.

As Kakashi stepped out of the building with his chūnin vest and documents in hand, he felt great.

He couldn't wait to show Kagome. Then he could finally get his reward.

He had tried multiple times to guess what it was, but she would never let anything slip.

...

The only one who's opinion mattered was Kagome.

Kakashi was surprised when he saw Kagome.

As soon as she had seen his chūnin vest, she had sent Pakkun off, saying "Go on Pakkun, you know what to do."

Then she had led him to one of the fields in the Inuzuka compound.

"Here you go, Kashi-kun." Kagome stepped forward and handed him as scroll.

As he unrolled it he spotted a sealing array. "What does it do?" He asked. He didn't want to use it, if it spoofed or did something else destructive.

"Use it and find out. As long as nothing goes wrong, everything should be fine."

So he did.

He bit his thumb and quickly spread it across the seal.

There was a large cloud of smoke obscuring his view of the result. As it dissipated though, he could see a small pack of dogs. There were only four, excluding Pakkun who was sitting on top of the largest dog's head. Each of the dogs wore a vest and had a leaf forehead protector around their necks.

He turned towards Kagome for an explanation.

"Congratulations, Kashi-kun. You are now the proud summoner of this small pack I've been training. I'll still be training them here, but whenever you summon them they're all yours."

Kakashi was unable to speak. This was, by far, the best gift he had ever been given. He didn't know what to say.

Kagome was unnerved by his silence, usually he was able to remain calm in any situation.

"Here, Pakkun and I'll introduce you to everyone. Together, we even managed to teach them to speak like humans." She turned towards the ninken and yelled out "Line up!"

She grabbed his arm and pulled him over towards the first dog. He was tan-colored with his ears and legs a darker shade of brown. He also had dark rings around his eyes. On his forehead was the kanji for 'shinobi'. "This is Bisuke."

The dog nodded towards him and said "Nice to meet you."

The next dog he was dragged towards was the large black bulldog that Pakkun had been sitting on top of earlier, this one actually had a spiked collar around his neck, instead of the forehead protector which was around his forearm. "This is Bull. He doesn't like to speak, so don't expect to have any long conversations with him."

The next dog had light grey fur and a white underside. He also had a mohawk and wore bandages on his front legs. "This is Shiba."

"I hope we get along."

Moving on, the final dog was light-brown with white around his muzzle, on his underside, and the insides of his legs. His eyes made him look angry. "And last, but not least, we have Urushi."

"We'll all work our hardest."

Kakashi was finally able to speak. He surprised Kagome by turning and hugging her. He whispered in her ear, "Thank You." She quickly relaxed into the unexpected hug and returned it.

Breaking up, she responded to him "No problem".

Pakkun decided to break up their moment by continuing the conversation. "We'll all, including myself, work are hardest to help you in your ninja duties. We have quite a bit of training in fighting, though we'll never be as skilled in it as the traditional Inuzuka ninken. However, Kagome trained us to be the best tracking unit you'll ever see."

"It's nice to meet all of you. We can train and get to know each other later. But today I hope to spend time with Kagome, if you don't mind." Kakashi said to them.

"No problem, boss" was his response (from Urushi, he believed), before they, minus Pakkun, dismissed themselves and disappeared in large a puff of smoke.

Uchiha Obito was curious. "Rin, what do you think Kakashi does in his spare time?"

"I don't know. Train?" she answered.

"I don't think so. I mean, he doesn't even need to train for as long as us to learn things. Also, he rarely hangs out with the other people from our class. So he has to do something with all that free time." he said, explaining his curiosity.

Suddenly, their sensei appeared next to them, to shouts of "Minato-sensei!"

"Great job with your deduction, Obito. I'm surprised that you were the first one to think of it and ashamed to say that I had never thought of it myself."

"Really? You've never been curious about Kakashi? We never see him outside of training and missions. And he always wears that mask. Aren't ninjas supposed to know all they can about those around them?" Obito asked the both of them.

Minato felt as if he were being admonished. Which was strange; since the person doing the admonishing was his own student.

The one whom was always being chastised for being late.

…

Oh. my. God.

How had he ever been approved to be a teacher?

His two students were unfazed by his sudden assuming of the fetal position. Such strange acts had become common to them, after bearing witness to the results of their teacher's strange thought pattern so many times.

They turned away from him and resumed the conversation.

Now that she thought about it, Rin was curious too. "Do you think he has friends we don't know about? Or a girlfriend?!" She desperately hoped her crush didn't have a girlfriend.

Minato suddenly returned to normal, just in time to answer. "Hmm, I still think you all are to young to be dating yet. So he probably doesn't have one."

They were all quiet as they became lost in their thoughts, wondering about Kakashi.

Finally, Minato had enough and yelled out. "Okay, this is enough! We're having a training session." both of his students were amazed at how easily he was able to dismiss his curiosity. Until they heard what he next said "We're going to practice our stealth and espionage skills by watching Kakashi go about his daily life." He said all this with a blinding grin on his face.

Even if it wasn't considered an order, the two team members would have agreed to follow Kakashi around anyways.

The curiosity would kill them, if they didn't.

Kakashi had been feeling strange for the past few days.

Maybe it was paranoia, but he felt like he was constantly being watched.

He had decided to not take any chances and had not simply dismissed the thought. He was constantly alert wherever he went, catching glimpses of his followers in the corner of his eye.

As he did not know the intentions of his followers, he decided to stay away from Kagome for a while.

He refused to bring her closer to danger.

"This is so boring!" A hidden Obito complained to his likewise hidden teammate and sensei. "He hasn't done anything but relax at home, for the past few days!"

"Shh, Obito." he was chastised by the both of them.

They immediately stilled when they saw their target get up from his position.

Luckily, it appeared that he hadn't noticed them. Kakashi walked out of his house for the first time since they started tailing him.

They never noticed Kakashi's discovery of the identity of his followers.

When Kakashi heard the rest of his team speaking in hushed voices, he immediately realized that they were the ones following him around.

This meant that his followers did not wish any harm upon him and that he did not have to worry about them harming Kagome. This revelation caused him to feel a great sense of relief. He could finally meet up with Kagome again. He had greatly missed her during his period of isolation.

He immediately stood up to depart for the Inuzuka compound.

As soon as Kagome smelt Kakashi's scent, she took off for the entrance of the compound. Pakkun following closely behind her. Seeing Kakashi, she tackled him to the ground while yelling out "Kashi-kun!"

He sighed and returned her greeting. "Hey Kagome."

Her happiness at seeing him was quickly wiped away. "Don't you 'Hey Kagome' me!" she said, poking his chest. "You skipped our meeting!"

Then Pakkun informed her of three additional scents in the air. They were hidden well, so she couldn't smell them, but she had trained all of her canine companions to have a sense of smell stronger than even the dog's that the Inuzukas bred. Even though Kakashi couldn't understand the canine tongue, he could figure out that Pakkun was using it to secretly inform Kagome of his team's surveillance. "I'm sure you can figure out why I didn't come earlier."

She knew what he meant. I didn't want to lead my followers towards you. But if he had come anyways then that meant she didn't have to worry about them. Deciding to trust in Kakashi, Kagome dismissed their onlookers from her mind.

"So what did you come over for?" she asked.

"Just to see you. You can choose whatever we do."

In the tree where they were hiding, Kakashi's team was surprised by this other side of him.

Whenever they saw him, he was stoic and uncaring. But with this girl, Kagome, he opened up. This was what most of them were thinking.

Obito, however, had picked up on something else. "Pfft, he lets her call him 'Kashi-kun'." he said between quiet snickers.

But he quickly silenced himself when he noticed that the Inuzuka girl's dog was looking in his direction.

Oops.

He blew out a sigh of relief when the dog didn't alert his partner. 'I really needed to learn to keep my mouth shut.'

Kagome and Kakashi decided to head out to the training grounds.

Kagome had decided that she wished to see how well the pack was working with Kakashi. He had said that they hadn't tried any field testing yet, just training. But she said that was fine, she still wanted to test their teamwork. On the way there, Kakashi brought up the question he had been thinking about. "Who exactly do you want us to test our skills against?You wouldn't have your usual partner and normally you can only barely tie with me when he fights with you."

"Hm, that's a fair point." then she gave him a sheepish grin "I actually hadn't thought of that. But now that I think about it, I don't know if I would be a good opponent for the fight."

She had rescued all of the dogs from the various situations they had been in and they would always be grateful to her.

They were perfectly capable of sparring for training with her, but she believes they would hesitate if it came to a competitive fight such as this. Even if it wasn't meant to do permanent damage.

"I could use the new dog I'm training, but I don't think he's ready for such a fight. That and the fact that the fight would be pretty one-sided against me." she continued thinking as they got closer and closer to the field.

When they arrived at one of the empty fields, and still hadn't come up with a suitable opponent, Kakashi sighed and said "I guess it can't be helped." Then to the onlooker's surprise, having believed they had gone unnoticed, he called out "You guys can come out now. We know you've been following us."

Behind their respective bushes, the hidden members hesitated before standing and revealing themselves. While walking over to the group in the center of the field, they were forced to endure Kakashi's condemning gaze.

Minato, however, was able to push it aside and ask "Great job discovering us Kakashi. When did you notice us?"

Kakashi answered with a deadpan voice "I noticed that I was being watched almost immediately, but I only figured out that it was you three after hearing you talking outside my house today."

Obito didn't like how great that made Kakashi sound "Liar! Why didn't you call us out earlier than?"

"Because I hadn't figured out why you were following me. But that doesn't matter now." Kakashi answered and turned towards his sensei and said "Minato-sensei, I need your help with something."

"Yes, I heard about you needing a sparring partner. Although you were exceptionally vague when discussing what for. That's fine, I would be willing to help out, but…" he paused for a moment to add to the suspense "But first you should probably introduce us to your friend."

Kakashi sighed and was about to start the introductions, but Kagome decided to spare him the tedious task. She jumped into the conversation with all of her Inuzuka (lack of) tact and said "Hi, I'm Inuzuka Kagome. You must all be the other members of Kashi-kun's team. He's told me much about you."

"Oh, really? He hasn't told us anything about you." Rin was becoming slightly jealous of this other girl. She was Kakashi's teammate. So why was he closer to this civilian than he was to her?

"Yes, that makes sense. Kashi-kun gets really protective of me for some reason." Kagome decided to skip over that for now, in order to get back to the point of their whole trip there. "Now, let's clear the field. I want to see Kakashi spar."

When the two opponents were the only ones to remain in the field, they waited until some unspoken signal before beginning their fight. They immediately leapt towards each other, meeting in the center with their kunai locked together.

The blonde sensei was obviously going easy on his student, but not enough to let him have the upper-hand. Kakashi was able to pull off some impressive jutsu, but he was slowly being pushed back and tired out.

Finally, he decided to get to the point of the spar. He pulled out the scroll Kagome had given him and finally summoned his ninken (Pakkun disappearing from his spot next to Kagome). His team was surprised to learn that he possessed a summoning contract, having never seen it before.

Minato would have asked about it, but the quick attacks by Kakashi and the pack members forced him to push that off until after the fight.

The fight lasted longer than it usually did, showing just how much more trouble Minato was having than he usually did.

Kakashi still lost, but he considered the extended amount of time it took to be an accomplishment. So even as he lay on the ground in defeat, his spirits were higher than they should have been. He just wished he hadn't lost in front of Kagome.

Speaking of Kagome, he noticed a large grin as she ran over to him. His teammates were walking over at a more sedate pace behind her. He was once again on the ground, as Kagome tackled him. "Kashi-kun, I'm so proud of you! I knew you would get along with the pack perfectly."

"Speaking of which," Minato said, stepping into the conversation. He faced Kagome "I'm guessing you have something to do with Kakashi's newfound summoning contract."

"Yep, I trained his whole pack. I'm even working with a new member now." she boasted.

Kakashi decided to draw her attention back to the issue at hand "So Kagome…Did you see what you wanted to?"

"Oh yeah!" she turned contemplative as she prepared to deliver her evaluation. "Your teamwork with the pack is progressing well. Your main issue is moving to act as if you were operating solo, when one of the ninken could have handled it. This lowers your efficiency by temporarily throwing the team out of balance. You need to work on trusting your team more, so that your responses are seamless and with little error." Then her serious air dissipated and she complimented him with a "Good job, Kashi-kun!"

Kagome separated from Team 7, in order to return to the Inuzuka compound for work.

Kakashi's teammate and sensei watched in bemusement as their usually stoic teammate returned the civilian girl's parting wave with a smile on his face (the portion of it that they could see anyways). However, as soon as she was out of sight, his smile dropped. And when he was sure she was out of hearing range he turned towards his team and said one simple phrase "Stay away from Kagome."

The three people he addressed were startled by his blunt comment.

However, Obito quickly got over it and took offense at Kakashi thinking he could tell him what to do and protested. "You can't tell me what to do. Besides, it's not up to you who hangs out with her."

"I outrank you, so you should listen to me. Also, I'm Kagome's friend and it's my job to make her happy."

Rin agreed with what Obito was saying, but attempted to keep them from arguing over it. She was ignored. She looked imploringly towards Minato.

Their sensei sighed "Now Kakashi…you may outrank the others, but you are not their superior." He looked towards Obito next "Obito, I understand how you feel. But maybe you should have asked Kakashi for his reasoning before getting into an argument over it."

The two boys were still angry and now refused to look at each other, but at least they hadn't continued their verbal spar. With the argument now out of the way, Minato was now able to get to the center reason for the argument. "So Kakashi…What is your reasoning for keeping us away from Kagome?"

Kakashi was silent for a while as he continued looking away. Finally, he decided to speak up. "Kagome wants a normal life, so I'm trying to abide by her wishes."

Obito decided to contradict Kakashi again, stating "You do realize that it can be considered normal for civilians to sometimes hang out with ninjas. I mean she even hangs out with you and you're a ninja."

"Yes, but she's more likely to be drawn into shinobi matters, the more of us she interacts with. She's fine with me because we've known each other since we were children and I take measures to keep her from being drawn into this life. Which is exactly what I'm doing now. I let her get as involved in it as she wants, but if something comes up that she didn't choose to let happen then I get rid of it for her." Kakashi replied.

Rin was slightly upset about how attached her crush was to Kagome. She wished he thought of her that way. "Kagome mentioned before that you were protective of her, but I don't think she realizes just how much." she said in a vaguely depressed voice.

Kakashi didn't know how to answer that. He remained quiet before replying "I made a promise. I promised myself that I would never let anything make her cry."

He looked away as he recalled the events leading up to that oath. "I'm sure you know how everyone considers me a genius. That had always been the case. When Kagome and I were children, both of us were considered prodigies. We learned in months, what took others years."He paused before continuing on. "When we were four years old, I signed up for the academy. I had fully expected Kagome to go with me. We had done everything together and I thought we always would." He had trouble speaking about the argument, knowing how horrible he had acted. "So I reacted badly when I found out that she didn't want to attend. We had our first argument then. I called her many things and was cruel to her in ways only a child could be."

Kakashi wanted to stop speaking. It was becoming hard to get the words past his mouth. "Kagome ended up running off in tears. When I finally calmed down enough to realize how poorly I had reacted, I thought that our friendship was over and that she would never want to see me again. I promised myself that if Kagome would only forgive me; I would make sure she never cried again."

"So when I ask you to leave her alone, I'm doing it for her. And if you end up ruining her happy life…"his eyes turned hard as ice as he said the next words "…I'll destroy you."

Kakashi hoped that by telling them this story they would understand his viewpoint and leave her alone.

Luckily, it seemed he had managed to get through to them. His team was astounded, not only by how much Kakashi had spoken in that short amount of time, but also by this more emotional side of him. Even Obito had forgotten his anger in the face of this revelation. So they simply nodded their heads before departing.

If Kakashi was this passionate about what he deemed right for Kagome, than they would trust his judgement.

Now that his team knew that Kakashi wasn't completely without a social life, they pestered him less about eating up outside of training. They had even helped him get away from Gai on a few occasions where he had been cornered on his way to meet up with Kagome.

So when he was promoted to jōnin and didn't stay with his year-mates; they understood that he was heading off to celebrate with Kagome and let him go.

While she gave him his gift, they planned what to get him for their gifts.

"So Kashi-kun, I was thinking that simply adding the last three dogs I've been working with to your pack wasn't grand enough a gift for you. So..." Kagome said and proceeded to pull out a wrapped gift. "...I got you this."

Unwrapping it, he was slightly surprised at what he saw. "Clothes?"

"Hey! They're not just any clothes!" She protested. "I got you a whole new shinobi uniform. Daddy helped me pick it out. The outfit should be less baggy than your current one, so it won't get in your way at all. It's also made with some pretty fantastic material. It's made to keep quiet when you move around in it, so when the fabric rubs together it doesn't make any noise. It also helps keep you at your natural body temperature. It'll keep you warm when the weather's cold and cool when the weather's hot (to an extent). They're also more durable than your old clothes. I mean, they won't block a weapon or anything. But they'll be pretty hard to wear a whole in."

"I see. I hadn't realized they were so special. Thank you, Kagome." And indeed he was grateful. It seemed she knew what he wanted even better than he did.

For the rest of the afternoon, they hung out in pretty much the same way as they had when he'd been promoted to chūnin. He met his three new ninken (Akino, Guruko, and Ūhei) and spent the rest of the day with Kagome and Pakkun.

Kagome felt awkward as she stood there in her black dress. She hardly knew Uchiha Obito and was mostly there to support Kakashi.

It appeared that during that last mission, Kakashi's had managed to truly bond with his teammates. Enough for his fallen comrade to be willing to gift him with his eye as a replacement for the one he lost.

She wished that Kakashi had manage to bond with him before that fatal mission. Kagome took hold of Kakashi's arm and leaned her head against him. She was determined to support Kakashi in his time of need. She stood there with him until he could not bare to remain there any longer.

...

She couldn't hell but think that she might have been able to save the fallen boy with her miko energy if she had been there.

Kakashi once again stood in front of that stone monument.

He had expected peace with the end of the war. But then this had to happen. He grieved for his fallen teammate.

As he stood there, he felt the urge to push Kagome away from him. He didn't deserve to have her supporting him. He who had been the one to deliver the killing blow to his own teammate. He didn't want to hurt her too.

...

Kagome set him straight after a mere week of avoiding her.

Kagome spent most of her time with Kakashi now-a-days. She had decided on continuing the training of her previous ninken students, rather than working with new ones. It gave her an excuse to make sure that Kakashi was doing well. She didn't want him to wallow in his sorrow and hide it from her. So she made sure to find reasons to hang out with him more than she usually did. From training the ninken to pretending to need his help.

Kakashi ignored any strangeness in her. After the deaths of his comrades he had become even more protective over her than usual.

She let him do it. It was fine as long as it gave him something other than his grief to focus on.

Kagome was in shock during the Kyūbi attack. She had not thought there were demons in this world.

The only reason she wasn't feeling the negative effects of his presence was because she had used her miko energy a few times to give the ninken she trained the ability to speak. That small amount of exercise for it had kept it from falling completely asleep. However, she hadn't practiced it nearly enough to be as unaffected as she had been in her past life. So throughout the assault, she had only been able to stare off in shock.

And as she walked through the town in the aftermath, feeling the oppressive yōki with even her little-remaining abilities, she despaired. For, so many lives could have been saved, if she had only been able to use her miko energy on the nine-tailed demon.

If only she hadn't allowed herself to become a complacent civilian.

If only she had trained her miko powers.

If only she had been able to do more than simply sit by as so many died.

If only.

Kakashi didn't know what to do or whom to go to.

Kagome and he had attended the large memorial for those whom were lost. His sensei was among the dead, as well as her father.

When they were done grieving, that had returned to their empty houses to grieve alone. But when he had tried to find her the next day she was gone.

He had searched all of their meeting spots. Finally, when he decided that he was too panicked to care about privacy, he entered her house despite the locked door. That's when he found out why she hadn't answered the door.

Most of her things in her house had been removed. All of her essentials and some sentimental tokens had disappeared. Actually, it was more accurate to say that she had probably packed them away and taken them with her when she had left. Because that's what had happened. Kagome had left and he hadn't been able to find her in the whole village.

He had summoned Pakkun and the dog had told him that he was unable to say where she had gone. The little pug was now staying with the rest of the pack.

Kakashi wondered what could have been serious enough to make her leave all that she had left.

To make her leave Pakkun.

To make her leave him.

…

With Kagome gone, he truly was alone now.

So...

Writing this took forever and I've kind of been more focused on this than my other story. Sorry to any of you who are reading that and are waiting for me to update, but I just couldn't get this out of my head. Now that it's out, I can hopefully get back to When Anger Meets Fragility.

At first I intended this as a oneshot, but then I thought 'I wonder how Kakashi would react if he were to find Kagome again one day?'. So I may make a sequel eventually, but I don't plan on it happening for quite a while.

If anyone sees any errors in here or has some constructive criticism for me, please let me know by reviewing. I would like to be able to fix it.

Thank You for reading :)