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—Goodbye and Farewell—
It was dark, only dimly lit by the small lamp sitting upon the corner of a desk, shadows cast creepily upon the room.
Two people sat across from one another, with the desk set between them.
One old, one young; one male, one female.
The older gentleman slouched slightly in his chair, giving off a relaxed air as he stared at the young girl across from him, a worn pipe slipped between his lips. It emanated a faint red glow as smoke wafted above into the air.
The girl; at the age of twelve, she had yet to enter her preteens, but the hitai-ate wrapped around her right bicep signified her status as an adult.
Long, black hair; big, deep, dark blue eyes shining in determination in the lamp light… Ivory skin with freckles scattered across her cheeks, pert nose… Her small, stubborn chin jut out with defiance – her already thin lips set at an even thinner line. Hands clasped on her lap, slim fingers idly fiddling with the ends of the blood red sash tied around her dark blue, short-sleeved shirt kimono right under the bust.
"You know what you have to do?"
Kagome looked away, her defiant façade reluctantly breaking at the soft, grandfatherly tone, and she bit her lip before finally answering. "…Yes, Hokage-sama…"
A puff of smoke escaped the elder's lips, his gaze sympathetic as it settled on the child before him. He sighed.
Kagome's fists clenched the soft gray fabric of her shorts. "This isn't fair," she announced suddenly, voice quiet and quivering with pent-up fury. "I just graduated! I'm finally a genin – I was about to be assigned a team of my own!"
"You knew this was coming," Sarutobi reminded her gently.
Kagome huffed in incredulity. "Not this soon! Not now!" she countered quickly, eyes tearing. "I don't even know what I'll be doing – how long I'll be gone!"
"You will follow the path that fate has set you on, Kagome," Sarutobi advised sagely. The Third Hokage reached over, taking her smaller hand in his own and offered a comforting squeeze. "Your father was vague, but he said when it was time, the seal on the scroll was to release and we were to follow it to the letter."
"I-!" Kagome's automatic rebuttal was stopped short, cutting herself off at the mention, at the reminder, of her late father. Kagome sighed. "Maa, I know…" she said in resignation, pouting lightly, and then muttered. "I just don't like it…"
Sarutobi's lips twitched, wry. "You don't have to like it, but you must complete the mission," he murmured rather dryly. "It's a burden that comes with the responsibility of joining the ranks of shinobi: you'll not always like the mission given to you, but they are necessary – whether they are trivial or of dire importance."
Kagome nodded, still a little reluctant. "I know, duty and all that… Just - what am I supposed to tell Naruto and Sasuke?" she moaned in guilt-ridden resignation.
Sarutobi took a pass of his pipe, savoring it for the moment as he contemplated. He exhaled, smoke evaporating, and finally spoke. "Your good-byes, for now. And then after – it will be at your discretion…"
Kagome nodded once more, and sighed. "At least I'll get to see Mama, Grandpa, and Souta-kun…" she mumbled, trying to look for the silver lining.
Sarutobi smiled gently, and whispered a reminder in that raspy voice of his. "Just remember: to the letter," he told her, patting her hand before letting it go.
Kagome's hand tightened around the scroll in her grasp. "Right," she affirmed with a determined nod, now serious.
If she was to go on a mission, then she couldn't fail.
Failing the mission meant failing the Hokage; it meant failing Kakashi, and Naruto, and Sasuke.
And even more importantly: it meant failing her father.
She would die before she let that happen.
o.O.o
That next day, Kagome woke up before dawn. She collected her things, sealed most of them into a scroll so she wasn't burdened by the weight, slipped them into the holster clipped to her shorts , and locked up the compound.
No one else of the Higurashi Clan was alive and around to take care of it anymore, and who knew when she would come back?
First things first, she had to say good-bye to Sasuke and Naruto.
With that in mind, she headed over to the training grounds.
o.O.o
Maybe it was a lucky coincidence, but Kagome wasn't about to complain at finding only Sasuke and Naruto at the training grounds.
The last thing Kagome wanted to deal with was Sakura and her obsessive-slash-jealous tendencies towards Sasuke while she tried to say goodbye…
"Kagome!" Naruto exclaimed loudly when he saw her, his voice brimming with delighted excitement as he jumped up from his spot on the ground and waved at her. "What are you doing here?"
Kagome shrugged as she walked up to the two by the fence. "Haven't seen you guys since I went to see the Hokage."
"Kagome," Sasuke, who was leaning against the training field boundary fence, quietly greeted as he pushed himself off. "Everything settled then?"
Kagome shrugged once again. "Yeah," she replied, being rather uninformative. "Just needed to take care of something before I can get assigned to a team."
"Great!" Naruto shouted, grinning as he clapped his hands together. "So, whose team are you on? Everybody else has already been divided into three-man teams." His eyes lit up. "Does that mean you're being added to another team? Is it our team? Is it?!" he demanded, bouncing lightly at the thought of his best friend being on his team.
Kagome bit her lip. "Maa, maa, actually… I still have that thing to take care of..." she muttered, before quickly moving on with an uneasy smile. "But after that, maybe I'll get assigned to your team – who knows…?" she murmured. The two boys shared a confused look. "Speaking of which, I never had the chance to ask – who's your jounin-sensei?" she questioned suddenly, deftly changing the subject.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head in mock-thought, eyes squinting. "Some weirdo – I think you know him, name's Kakashi Hatake," he said, snickering.
Sasuke nodded, smirking. "Doesn't seem like much," he commented, playing along.
Kagome's eyes widened. "No way," she laughed out. "For real?"
Naruto nodded eagerly.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "He didn't tell you?"
Kagome fought to keep a straight face and shook her head.
Obviously they didn't know how cruel of a slave-driver Kakashi could be - Kakashi wasn't the type to hold a person's hand through training – and if actively participating, he didn't hold back.
They obviously didn't know of Kakashi's pass-fail rate when it came to teams, either.
So far, it was a zero pass rate.
'These poor, poor bastards,' she couldn't help but impishly think in sadistic glee, more than aware of the tactics Kakashi employed to test genin teams. She was lucky enough to help out a few times – nothing beat a newly made genin's ego down better than getting their ass handed to them by a man burdened by protecting a child (who, Kagome was proud to say, was happily pointing out their mistakes and laughing all the way) while reading smut - and all without breaking a sweat to boot.
"Well, good luck then!" Kagome said in encouragement as she pulled on the strap of her pack, knowing they'd certainly need it.
Naruto grinned in thanks, but Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Going somewhere?"
Kagome licked her lips out of a nervous habit, and nodded shortly. "Yeah, I, uh – " she muttered, before deciding to get it over with. "That thing I've got to get taken care of? I'm actually being sent out of the village."
Naruto's face lit up. "You're going on a mission?!" he exclaimed in disbelief. "Not fair!"
Sasuke, however, picked up the fact that she wasn't telling the whole story. "For how long?"
Kagome rocked on her heels, looking decidedly away from them. "Indefinitely, until the mission is finished," she finally said. "Which might take a while…"
"How long do you think, exactly?" Sasuke asked slowly.
Kagome shrugged. "Who can say – weeks, months…" Kagome swallowed uncomfortably. "Could be years, even…"
"Years?!" Naruto parroted as his face fell, incredulous and panicked. "What?" he blurted out, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "You didn't do something wrong, did you?"
Kagome shook her head, laughing a little. "Maa, maa, 'course not, Naruto! You'd be the first to know if I did – we always do our pranks together anyways."
"What kind of mission is this?" Sasuke demanded, feeling puzzled himself.
"I… Uh, I can't say, really."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Can't, or won't?"
Kagome rolled her eyes. "I just can't," she said impatiently, 'I don't even know myself.'
Sasuke scowled.
"Then, where are you going, Kagome?" Naruto asked, concerned.
Kagome ran a hand through her hair. "I'm being sent to my mother's. I'll find out more when I arrive."
"Your mother's?" Naruto echoed, eyes wide. "Shit, that's – that's really far away…"
Sasuke's eyes widened in realization. "You're going alone, aren't you?" he accused, becoming more incensed at the guilty look that her face took on which only confirmed Sasuke's thoughts. "Why are they sending you alone, on a mission? You've just made genin!"
Only those that really knew him knew that the Uchiha's anger was a mask for his worry.
"Maa - the Hokage has his reasons," Kagome quickly said, fidgeting nervously, 'As Father must have had his own… I hope…' "I just – I came here to say goodbye, since I don't know how long it'll take. Hopefully, I'll be back soon though."
Naruto slumped, frowning and looking uncharacteristically depressed. "But you probably won't, right?" he said, having a bad feeling about Kagome's mission. "We won't see you again for a long time…" he muttered. "Fuck, this isn't fair!" he cursed abruptly, and Kagome suddenly found herself engulfed in a tight hug. "I'll really miss you Kagome!"
Kagome lips trembled. "I'll miss you too, Naruto," she mumbled, matching his hug with a fierce squeeze of her own. "Don't worry too much – with all the missions and training you'll have, I'll be back before you know it –dattebayo!" she consoled, cheekily taking his trademark phrase.
It coaxed a bright laugh from him at that. "You better, dattebayo!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and silently groaned at how corny the two could be.
And before he knew it, Sasuke found himself stiffening in a hug of his own.
"I'll miss you too, Sasuke!" Kagome whispered fiercely in his ear.
Sasuke let out a dry sigh, relaxing slightly, and awkwardly patted Kagome on the back. "Yeah, yeah," he mumbled, silently adding, 'Me too, Kagome.'
"Just – don't die, alright?"
o.O.o
Kagome stepped out from the village; let the gates shut behind her with a final, almost foreboding, clang.
Remember: to the letter…
Kagome nodded as she remembered the Hokage's words, determined. 'Right.'
Bringing her hands together and silently thanking Naruto for teaching her the technique, she formed a sequence of hand gestures.
Her body shifted before she took off down the path and started her three week journey to Tokyo, Japan – two on foot to get to the nearest port city, one on boat to the island country itself.
For the most part, she looked the same – except three years older. She was taller and filled out with more curves – and if her bust was a bit larger than average, then, well, she'd blame it on taking inspiration from Naruto– since it was his jutsu she was using, she couldn't just half-ass it and give it any bad rep.
Besides, there was a reason some kunoichi dressed so provocatively: while men had brute strength to their advantage, women were left to use their womanly assets and wiles to give them that extra edge.
And why the letter said to look the part of a fifteen year-old woman, well, Kagome didn't know.
But she'd find out, sooner or later.
"Kagome."
The kunoichi whirled around, hand hovering over her kunai pouch out of reflex. Kagome relaxed at the sight of familiar gravity defying, silver hair. "Kakashi."
"Yo." The jounin's lips twitched as he stepped forward, one eye glinting with amusement as he took in her new form. One of his hands was in his pocket, the other outstretched: in it, a small, brown package.
Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment, before her eyes lit up. "Maa, Kakashi – a goodbye present, for me? You shouldn't have!" she exclaimed bouncing over to accept the package.
Kakashi's one visible eye twinkled. "I didn't," he said with a hint of sadistic glee before adding, "Training scrolls." He smirked at Kagome's following groan. "What, you think just because you don't have your own sensei now, you'll get a break from training?" he taunted lightly in jest.
"No," she admitted sulkily, thinking back to the previous years in which Kakashi happily (and sadistically) supplemented her academy training...
—"Maa, what are they teaching you kids these days? When I was in the academy, I would have been able to finish a long time ago, evaded and disarmed all the traps, and do it all without breaking a sweat."
Kagome stared at him incredulously, pale face drawn and sweaty as she paused in her attempts of making it through what she deemed as 'Kakashi's Obstacle Course of Doom™'. "When you were in the academy, Konoha was at war and you had graduated at age five because your were a freaking prodigy!"
Kakashi only lowered his little orange book in his hand and eye-smiled at her. "Which is exactly why I'm giving you the watered down version!" he said cheerily with no sympathy whatsoever.
A crazed sob crept up her throat, but Kagome managed to salvage the remains of her tattered pride by swallowing it down. "Evil," was all she said with vehemence, going so far as to point at him with a shaky finger. "Evil."
To save the last shreds of her sanity, she told herself that the following evil and maniacal cackles and giggles was purely her imagination... —
"One could wish though." Kagome sighed as she resurfaced from the memories. That wasn't one of her more prouder moments...
Kakashi chuckled, a slightly evil edge to it that made a small part of Kagome, a part she locked away long ago, want to whimper inside. "We'll be sending more if you're gone longer or if you finish them faster than we assume you would."
"Awesome," she muttered, tucking the package into her bag. Kagome looked up suddenly when she felt Kakashi approach her.
"Maa, be safe," he murmured as he gathered her into an embrace, and he pressed clothed lips to her forehead. "And come home soon."
Kagome nodded, eyes determined. "You got it, Kakashi." And suddenly she smirked. "And don't be too hard on Naruto while I'm gone."
Kakashi matched her smirk with one of his own. "Found out, did you?" he murmured wryly. "Maa, no words of concern for his teammates?"
Kagome shrugged, and stepped back, pulling on her pack and tugging it to check it was on tight. "Sasuke can take care of himself. Naruto can too, of course, but, well, he's Naruto – and they've already underestimated you. Sakura, well…" Kagome grinned rather sadistically. "You know what they say: if you don't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't say it all."
Kakashi cocked an eyebrow at her. "Never stopped you before."
"True, but then that would just spoil the surprise!" Kagome said cheekily before giving a jaunty wave of farewell. "See you later, Kakashi!" And with that, she disappeared into the leaves.
As Kakashi's soft chuckle faded away, so did his light smile, which was replaced by a concerned, thoughtful frown. Looking over, he nodded to the ANBU hidden within the tree, before their mostly suppressed chakra signature disappeared, taking off in Kagome's direction.
"See you later, Kagome. And good luck…"
Words- 2,655
And now, Chapter 2. XD
Not much to comment on, to be honest. The last couple of chapters are mainly to show/establish the relationships between everyone, like any introduction I guess. I must say though – I love writing Kakashi, despite how difficult it is to do so, hehe.
Anyway, that's all folks! Tell me what you all think, please!
Till laters!
RainLily^^
A big huge honking thanks to all those who read, alerted, and fav'd this fic, and to these awesome reviewers!
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