Lean on Me...
Summary: She was found at such a young age, taken in by Shikaku, not as a daughter, but as a wife in training for his youngest son. How will this affect the Nara Clan...more specifically the laid back, easy going, semi-lazy...Shikamaru?
Anime: InuYasha/Naruto
Pairing: Shikamaru/Kagome
Genre: Romance/Comfort/Hurt
Rated: M for Mature
-x-x-x-
Shikaku held the legs of the little girl who was holding onto him, her arms around his neck, as he, Chouza and Inoichi ran towards Konoha. A few hours prior to leaving their makeshift campsite, Inoichi and Chouza had returned from doing a perimeter check, he'd been informed by Inoichi that he had found something and it would do him best to take a look for himself. So leaving Kagome with Chouza who told them he'd stay with her, he left and followed Inoichi to a river twenty or so clicks from camp.
(FLASHBACK)
"You can see the leg wrappings from here," Inoichi pointed from where they stood at the base of a waterfall, having followed the river a little bit and come to the sound of heavy water against rocks.
Shikaku nodded, seeing well the fabric wrap blowing from the sharp tip of a rock that the girl must have grazed before falling over the edge of the waterfall. "Let's see just how far her trail leads,"
"Right!" Inoichi followed Shikaku up the waterfall, both looking around for any signs of a struggle or fight, anything that would prove their theory that her falling into a river and down a waterfall was no accident. "Can you smell that?" A rustic scent touched their nose, a familiar scent, playing on the wind as they grew closer to another clearing. The scene they came upon wasn't one that they were particularly hoping for, but expecting all the same. "I guess we can rule out her parents looking for her," Inoichi muttered sullenly, a sound of disgust in his voice as he took in the blood and broken bodies lying beside one another. "It looks like they were ambushed, and clearly they lost." Inoichi sighed, "The girl either ran and accidently tripped into the waterfall, which I doubt, or she was pushed over in order to save her."
"...no..." Shikaku lifted a vine, his eyes measuring the thickness and running over the mark on the girls ankle, "I'm willing to bet that the girls' parents, one or both of them, were trained in Earth Ninjutsu, they through her into the river to get her away from their attackers. Now, they are dead, but so are the five Nin around them, this means that one or more survived and will no doubt come looking for the girl."
"We are assuming that they knew about her?" Inoichi asked.
"We are assuming that they were after her, or something she knows..." Shikaku stood and glared up at the clouds before taking in a deep breath, "let's head back, we will send another team to pick these two up, for now, our main concern is finishing our mission and getting the kid to safety."
(END FLASHBACK)
"Kagome," Chouza called from behind Shikaku, "do you remember how you got all wet?"
"...no, I woke up wet, my throat hurt, my head hurt, my eyes hurt...everything hurt...and I was being pulled into the water of that river back there...I grabbed a root and pulled myself out. I don't know how I got in there though."
"You just remember climbing out and hurting then?" Inoichi frowned, "do you know where your parents are?"
"...I don't..." she said, though sounding sad as she spoke those words.
"Can you tell us what they look like?"
"...I can't..."
"What about-"
Shikaku held a hand up and stopped Chouza from asking anything else, "she's suffering from amnesia, I'm certain of it. That incision on her head, I'm sure it happened during her adventure in the river, we will question her more later, but for the time being, a name is enough to work with."
Kagome snuggled into the warm back of Shikaku, thankful for him stopping his friend. She wasn't lying about not knowing where her parents were. The fact of the matter is, she couldn't tell you anything about them. What they looked like, their names, if they were alive or not..."...mama...daddy..." Her hand tightened, the jewel in her hand had been there since she clawed her way out of the river, and yet all she had on her was this jewel she'd been holding onto as if it were her life.
"Do you know what that Jewel in your hand is?" Inoichi asked, catching Shikaku's eyes, before turning back to Kagome. They would be at Konoha's front gate in another half hour or so, he wanted some information to go off of.
"...I..." she paused, looking down at the jewel curiously, she shook her head, "...I don't know..."
Inoichi and Chouza sighed.
"...but...I know it's important." She pulled her arms from around Shikaku's neck and held the jewel with both hands gently, pressing it to her chest, she closed her eyes and a few tears fell along her cheek. "...I will keep it...safe."
-x-x-x-
Arriving at Konoha, delivering Kagome to the hospital, then turning in their report to the Hokage, this was the order that Shikaku chose to take.
"I see you have all returned safely, what has your mind wandering, Shikaku?"
Inoichi and Chouza glanced to Shikaku, the three of them had been together since their own school days.
"We came across a young girl on our return to Konoha, she's currently at the Hospital receiving a checkup."
"A young girl?" The Hokage frowned, "how young are you talking?"
"No older than six, she's about the age of Shikamaru." A sudden thought came to him, but he quickly shook it out of his head.
"I see, I will go and see her, is there anything you can tell me about her?"
"Only her name, and not even her last name, just the first." Inoichi said, "Kagome..."
"Kagome...and no last name, five years old...her parents?"
"Deceased." Shikaku answered, "We found them just past the Fire River four hours from the gate, heading North West."
"I'll send a team to retrieve their bodies." The third said as he called out to one of his Shinobi, "Genma,"
"Here," he appeared on one knee, head bowed low.
"Gather two more Shinobi and head North West for four hours, you will come to the Fire River, and a few bodies, bring them back."
"Sir,"
"Genma," Shikaku stopped the man before he could disappear, "they are up the waterfall, you will find them in an abandoned park. The parents of a little girl, and about five Shinobi who they had killed before being killed themselves."
The third sighed, "Genma, take five Shinobi instead,"
"Sir."
Shikaku gave a lazy look out the window and let his mind wander, finally, he said something he'd been thinking about for a while since he'd dropped the girl off at the Hospital, "I would like to care for the girl once she is able to leave the hospital, after Inoichi has a chance to delve into her mind, of course."
"Oh? You wish to adopt her then?" The Hokage sounded surprised.
"No," Shikaku frowned, "I merely think she would make for a good choice in bride for Shikamaru."
Chouza and Inoichi gave their friend a bewildered look, neither knowing what to say, they both stayed silent.
"...I see, very well. It isn't as if we have anything to go off of as far as surviving relatives go. For now, you can care for her."
Shikaku bowed, "thank you, Lord Hokage."
-x-x-x-
Me: Chapter two is done, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, much love~! Just finished my ASVAB, sadly I won't know the test results until Friday. I'll keep everyone posted! Also, I changed the photo for the story, it now has a cover art.