Summary: Kagome looks for someone and finds Itachi
AN: Disclaimer in chapter 1
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
...ooO Promises Ooo...
Kagome scowled. If she could have she would have smacked the evil woman! She had no compassion for an innocent baby!! In a futile gesture she swung her arm through the womans head with no effect.
"Stupid bitch! She is an absolute disgrace!" Kagome fumed as she watched the woman ignore the crying baby in favor of her other charges. "You deserve to be tortured by youkai! The No-Onna would be the perfect youkai to punish you!"
Kagome glided across the room to the make-shift crib made from a crate lined with blankets. She kneeled next to it and held out her hand wishing dearly she could touch the little one. Babies needed to be touched. They needed to hear heartbeats and feel the warmth of human skin. Kagome was no expert but even she knew touch-deprived newborns were emotionally stunted later in life.
"There there little one. I'm here. I know no one else cares but I do. And so does that ojii-san Sandaime Hokage. He tries to visit as often as he can." Kagome had seen him sneak into the nursery at odd hours. He had tried replacing the crate-crib but the replacements were always damaged within hours leaving the baby the only available makeshift crate-crib.
To her surprise the baby stopped sniffling and blinked wide blue eyes. He was kind of cute with his pointed features and whisker markings. At least he didn't have a tail or fox feet like Shippo. Kagome felt any more obvious evidence of the Kyuubi would have resulted in the Council forcing the Sandaime Hokage to kill him.
He gurgled and waved a clenched fist enthusiastically at her and through her extended finger. Of course it passed through her hand.
Kagomes eyes widened and she moved around the crib. In whichever direction she moved those wide blue eyes followed her face. She held out her hand at different angles over Narutos face, just out of his reach but within his line-of-sight. He giggled and reached out in an obvious attempt to touch her, occasionally pouting when he failed, but never giving up, following her movements with almost unerring aim. His motor skills were very developed for such a young age.
"You can see me."
A wide smile spread over the mikos face.
...ooOoo...
Kagome sighed as she watched Naruto stifle his tears curled up in his closet-room. The orphanage directors refused to let the four-year-old sleep in the boys dorm. He was breaking and Kagome knew it. She had splintered just like that through the months and years of indifference from InuYasha. She had given and given in a futile attempt to gain his affection, and in the process she had emptied herself out.
She would not let that happen to Naruto. She would not let this town do that to Naruto.
She settled on the corridor floor and considered past and potential future actions. She had done her best to reassure the boy that he was loved, cherished. Every night she listened to his day and soothed his emotional hurts. When the elementary teachers ignored him she taught him to read and write herself. Determined to help him get a good education she helped him develop basic disguises to use the libraries when he was thrown out. Noticing most people avoided the Aburames she helped him secure appropriate baggy shorts, a high-collared jacket, sunglasses and a black bandanna that hid most of his bright yellow hair.
She had done her best to instill the basics but for Naruto to progress further he needed a living friend and teacher. Someone to teach him how to be a shinobi. Kagome knew nothing about fighting humans. She was used to channeling pure spiritual ki to purify youkai, not molding chakra like shinobi. She needed a shinobi skilled enough to teach Naruto, but powerful enough not to bow to Council or peer pressure. She needed someone who could see her so she could argue Narutos case (a.k.a. beg him or her to train Naruto).
Kagome sighed. Time to run through the training grounds. Maybe she'd find someone with enough spiritual ki and mental flexibility to see her.
...ooOoo...
Kagome was sure she would have been sore if she had a real body. She had walked miles combing the town, training grounds, and outskirts trying to locate a shinobi who could see her. Her last stint in the Mission Office informed her she had tested almost all active shinobi in Konoha. If she couldn't find one she'd have to wait for the ones on long-term missions to return.
She had hoped those Hyuugas and Uchihas with their dojutsus could see her but to her surprise they were dumber-denser-more spiritually insensitive than civilians who at least shivered when she passed through them.
Her shoulders slumped as she cut through an Uchiha training ground ignoring the shinobi using it.
"What are you doing here?"
A cold cutting voice interrupted her thoughts. Kagome ignored it. It was probably some other living intruder.
To her shock a kunai went through her and struck the tree beside her.
Kagome looked up into the shocked black eyes of a teenage boy dressed in all black wearing a green jounin flak vest.
"You can see me?"
Perhaps the Kamis were smiling on her.
- - -
Uchiha Itachi was bored. Here he was a new jounin, back from his tenth successful A mission desperate for a challenge. It was useless sparring one-on-one with most shinobi. Even in practice he forced himself to Not use the Sharingen to improve his body reflex. His usual sparring partners were out on missions. He could find someone if he wanted… But the thing was he didn't. He didn't want to spar with opponents that would always end with him winning. He wanted a challenge, not the emptiness of hollow victories and easy kills. How was he supposed to improve unless he was pushed beyond perceived limits?
Something crossed his peripheral vision. A civilian in Uchiha training grounds?
"What are you doing here?"
The foolish weakling didn't even hear him. A wicked smirk twisted thin lips as he launched a carefully angled kunai. It would leave an uncomplicated wound. A lesson to remember.
The kunai flew perfectly. And through her. And struck the tree trunk on the other side.
His eyes widened. An unknown Blood Limit? Something similar to Nara Shadow Skills?
To his shock she did not seem the slightest bit disturbed. In fact she smiled.
"You can see me?"
As he activated his Sharingen she approached him with a gliding run-walk.
She was a being of raw chakra, more spiritual than physical. A vivid pulsating aura of pink energy surrounded her form. No body, no chakra flows, just a subtle pulse.
Feeling slightly shaken he deactivated his Sharigen and prepared to use a genjutsu, just in case. He wasn't even sure if a genjutsu would affect her.
This one was no shinobi with her open smiling gray-blue eyes, her gentle expression framed by wavy black hair. She was dressed in civilian clothes: green pleated skirt, white shirt, green collar, red tie, white socks, brown shoes.
"I'm sorry for being so rude Uchiha-san. I didn't expect an Uchiha to be able to see me. Most of your family is spiritually null." She wrinkled her nose. "Most shinobis sense me but your folks refuse to be open to the possibility of my existence."
Itachi swallowed. "And what existence is that?"
She smiled, a faint sad smile. "I'm a ghost, of sorts." Her smile brightened. "My name is Hiragushi Kagome and I really need your help. Well, actually someone else needs your help."
Itachi felt a headache building. He would prefer being bored.
...ooOoo...
TBC…
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Review, Review, Review