Summary
Sure, he really didn't want to be blind, but that didn't mean she had to read over his shoulder like that! Or steal the scroll he stole from Madara.
A/N: Another little vignant. There isn't going to be any kind of flow with these. I'm just putting them up at random. Initially, this was going to be the Scroll chapter, but I changed my mind. In the end, I thought it fitting to put it with this little group of One-Shots. Picks up where chapter 19 left off. Enjoy!
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"What about this scroll?" Kagome asked, picking up a delicate looking roll of paper and examining it. Itachi glanced at it and furrowed his brow. What was that one again?
"That one... I'm not sure. Let me see it," he replied, holding out his hand to take it. Rolling the furled paper out, he read through the contents and had to suppress a sigh. "It's a summoning scroll." Completely useless to him in his current situation. He already had a summons.
"A... what?" the priestess blinked, confused by the wording, "What does it summon?"
"I just recently acquired it, so I have no idea," the Uchiha answered, carefully analyzing the wording and trying to decode the lore. "It looks as though it's some kind of dog." He wasn't about to tell the girl next to him that he'd actually rifled through some of Madara's scrolls in hopes of finding an interesting medical scroll that would help him. She seemed like the kind of person that didn't condone stealing.
"Well, read it to me and maybe I can help you out," she decided, bouncing excitedly in her seat at the prospect of working on a project with the prodigy. If it was a dog, well, that would be fun! Itachi looked over the scroll again and shook his head.
"Honestly, it makes little to no sense to me. I doubt you'll be able to figure it out." She huffed and sent him a glare that promised pain and lots of screaming, so to preserve his hearing, he cleared his throat and started reading.
"Only one of pure blood may be deigned fit to bring forth the mighty beast of the moon. Those that are judged accordingly shall answer to the call of the general of the west, the Inu no Taisho of the house of the white dog." Itachi sighed and glanced at the dark-haired girl next to him for any ideas, then felt his stomach drop a little at the ashen color on her face. "Kagome? What is it?"
"It's... Let me see that!" Before he could open his mouth to answer, she snatched the scroll away and frantically read through the contents again. Even though the characters read slightly different than modern day Japansese, she could still understand it, for the most part. That, and her abilities as a priestess had given her something of a 'translator of tongues'. The words he just spoke spilled out of her trembling lips at a rapid pace, blue eyes wide and dark as she stared down the paper.
"Kagome!"
"Hang on! House of dog..." skimming over the words again, the former time traveler read the message once more before letting it really sink in. In a daze, she handed the scroll back to a worried looking Itachi and stared at her kitchen table. "It's so... simple. Of course no one would know if they'd never heard the legend."
"What legend?"
"The story of the great Dog General of the West. The Inu no Taisho," Kagome replied, blinking suddenly and taking a deep breath, "Unless... unless it wasn't him, but one of his sons..." She jumped up and spun to face him. "Teach me how to do this summon thing."
"You have no concept of chakra and its' intricacies. So, no, I will not teach you."
"But what if you taught me about chakra? Then would you show me how?"
"Summoning is a high-level technique that many ninja aren't even capable of doing," the former heir explained patiently, heart thumping when she gave him a pleading look, "You wouldn't have the needed control to perform something so drastic. Besides, with a summons like this, whatever happens to come out of this scroll will likely be big. You don't want to destroy your house, do you?"
Kagome sighed and shook her head, "No. I don't. And it would be a dog. A big dog, but still a dog. I just... I think I could summon whoever it is." She looked so downtrodden that he almost had no choice but to say the next words.
"If we can boost your ability to use chakra, then we will work on a summon. Agreed?" Between one heartbeat and the next, the priestess threw herself energetically into his arms with several happy "Thank-you's" and a squeal. Itachi blinked, not really sure how to take a reaction like this.
"You're... welcome." She ripped herself away from him a moment later, dancing happily around the kitchen table.
"You won't be disappointed! I'll be a great student!"
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A few weeks later, Kagome was eating her words as she tried again to conjure up a fireball from her mouth. The little ball of flames that she managed to spit out was impressive to her, but weak compared to the one Itachi could let out at will. She'd seen that one, and it had left her in a state of shock.
"I don't understand," she muttered a few moments later, wiping at her smudged cheeks and licking her parched lips. Itachi automatically handed her a water bottle and she easily drained half of it. "For all intents and purposes, I'm doing everything right."
"You're still fairly new at ninjutsu, Kagome. It will take time to get to the point that I am at," the Uchiha explained patiently, smothering the urge to smile when she merely grumbled and started in about it again, "Think of it this way; you have had no prior training. In fact, you may not even have an affinity for fire. You might be much more capable of performing water techniques or even something wind-based."
"So... do you think I can try a summoning now?" she asked, eyes wide in earnest. The former heir hesitated, then finally nodded. She'd been asking him every day, and he was tired of saying no to her all the time.
"It will probably drain you completely, and I'm not even sure it will take. You're blood has magical properties that ninja don't possess, so the contract may not even be summoned."
"I want to do this, Itachi." She was still unusually firm about the whole thing, and he really had to wonder why this was so important to her.
"... Very well, but I'm staying close by in case something goes wrong." He showed her slowly and carefully how to do the signs, what amount of chakra to use, and how to go about using it properly. "Of course, to summon the ultimate form, you must channel an enormous amount of chakra."
"... Okay. Like this?" She flipped through the signs with a grace he hadn't known she possessed and her powers flared to life around them. She was putting out an alarming amount of spirit energy, and it sent the hairs on his arms standing up in danger.
"Kagome! Don't-!"
"Summoning Jutsu!" An explosion rocked the area, covering everything in smoke. Itachi coughed, Sharingan activated as his eyes watered from the dust. When it cleared, though, he wished he'd never shown the girl that scroll.
Because standing nose-to-muzzle with her was the largest dog he'd ever seen in his life. It was bigger than the Hokage Tower!
'Oh. Shit.' The beast's eyes, bright vermilion in color, were focused completely on the small priestess standing stock still in front of it, low thunderous growls rumbling from deep in its' chest. Its' fur was white, no, bright silver, and flowed over its' powerful body. What drew the heir's attention, though, was not the sheen of its' coat, not its' bared teeth, which looked to be dripping some kind of acid onto the ground, and not those wild viscious eyes so intently fixed on the frozen girl; but the smudged indigo crescent moon on its' brow.
Kagome blinked, let out a small breath, and smiled tiredly up at the furred face as she reached out a hand to its' nose. The dog sniffed, taking her scent deep into its' senses, and let out a low whine before flopping down on the ground in submission. Itachi stumbled to regain his footing from the resulting quakes and cautiously approached the duo.
"Kagome?" She turned to him, and he met her bright blue eyes.
"Itachi? This is Sesshomaru-sama. He's the ruling Taiyoukai of the West. Onii-sama, this is Itachi, my new best friend."
Sesshomaru gave the mostly human boy a look and snorted, closing his eyes and letting the excited priestess rub his muzzle. It seemed he'd been called to protect the troublemaker once again, and damn if he was going to let anyone hurt her.
'That includes this new friend she's made,' the dog demon thought, set on ignoring the boy until he became a problem.
"... I should never have taught you how to summon." So now she thought the giant dog was her brother?
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A/N: And so ends the spoof of that chapter. I wanted to do it, but then I thought that having old Sesshy enter the Naruto realm in such a way would be a little too... cliche? Anywhoozles, I hope you enjoyed this.
You're welcome to leave a review.
