Hey all! Sorry about the delay, I was moving and so finding time for writing was hard, but now I'm back. So here is chapter 3! Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the animus/manga referenced here.


Chapter Three:

Kagome groaned for the third consecutive time in ten minutes. How long had they been here now? Minutes? Hours? Days!? Okay, well days was being a bit dramatic, but it sure felt like that to Kagome.

Her, Sasuke and Naruto were all waiting and waiting for their Jonin instructor. All their other class members were gone already and it was the three of them left. And their teacher was still a no-show. Sasuke took to brooding in the corner like the emo child he was, Naruto was pacing around like a nervous pidgin and Kagome had sprawled across the top of a table and resorted to making noises every once and a while that her team mates would join in on.

"Ughh." She would groan.

"Hnn." Sasuke would mutter.

"C'moooooon." Naruto would whine.

Somehow in their state of boredom and stir-craziness they had stopped thinking about tearing each others throats out and had come together to whine and complain about their situation. What good teamwork they had. It was only a matter of time before one of them broke though… And of course it was the ever loved trouble maker of their group.

"Alright! Thats it!" Naruto stated and finally stopped his pacing. Kagome was somewhat glad. Whatching him for this long from the corner of her eyes had made her dizzy. "How come our teacher is the only one who hasn't shown up! I'm ready to roll! Everyone else is probably off on amazing adventures and we're stuck here! Even Iruka-sensei is gone!"

Kagome sighed, "There isn't much we can do about it Naruto…" She murmured softly.

Naruto padded over to the chalkboard snickering maniacally and then went back over to the door, peeking outside. He grabbed a stool and opened the door, sticking the chalkboard eraser up into the corner and closed the door, wedging it there so that if anyone came in it would most certainly fall on them.

Kagome laughed and sat up. "You really think thats going to work?"

Sasuke looked over and sighed. "Our teacher is a jonin. Do you honestly think that an elite ninja would fall for that?"

They all froze when a hand slid into the door and was shoved open, the person sticking there head through… Letting the chalk board eraser fall straight onto the mans head.

All three of them froze before Naruto burst out laughing and pointed at the man. Kagome's face turned red as she tried her very best to hold in the laughter that was threatening to burst forth. Sasuke sighed and shook his head. Is this person really a Jonin? He thought.

"Hahah! I totally got him! He fell for it completely!" Naruto barked in laughter before Kagome hopped up and nudged him with a small giggle of her own. The boy quieted down to soft snickers.

The older Jonin brushed off his hair and straightened up. He was almost twice the size of Kagome, wearing black pants, black regulation ninja sandals, a black long sleeve shirt with the usual army green utility vest overtop and the usual kunai and shuriken holsters. What was unusual was the black mask that covered up his neck, over half his face and ended at the nose and cheeks. His own hitai-ate slung over his right eye, hiding it from view. His visible eye was black and small. His hair was the colour of the chalk that he had just brushed off and spiked tp the side softly.

The man looked down at the chalk board eraser and then set it down. "Hmm," He hummed, "How can I put this? My first impression of this team is… You are all a bunch of idiots."

Kagome, Naruto and Sasuke all drooped. Kagome slapped her face with her palm.

Kakashi crossed his arms. "Meet me on the roof within five minutes." He said in a blank tone before pooling away.

Kagome blinked before looking at Naruto and Sasuke. "You heard the man! Go go go!" She yelled and ushered them towards the stairs of the building. When they arrived he was leaving on the edge of the roofs railing. "Take a seat." He said.

Kagome sat down on one of the ledges, the other two sitting on either side of her.

"Why don't you all introduce yourselves." He sighed and crossed his arms. "One at a time."

Kagome raised a brow. "Introduce ourselves? What exactly do you want to know?"

The man shrugged. "Your likes, your dislikes dreams for the future, hobbies. Things like that."

Naruto cocked his head. "Well why don't you go first? Tell us about you so we know how this kind of thing works." He suggested.

The grey haired man pointed at himself. "Me? I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and thinks I hate… Ehh, I don't really feel like telling you that." Kagome and Naruto looked at each other. "Uhmm?" Kagome hummed. Kakashi continued though, "My dreams for the future… Never really thought about it. As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies."

Kagome blinked and looked at the boys. "So really all we learned was his name?" Kagome asked, the other two nodded and Kagome sighed.

Kakashi shrugged and looked at them. "Alright, your turn. You on the right, you go ahead."

Naruto looked at the others before realizing that was him. "Oh! Believe it! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I like instant ramen in a cup and I really like the ramen Iruka-sensei buys me from Ichiraku's Noodle shop sometimes. I really hate the three minutes it takes when you have to wait for your ramen to cook. My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them; salt ramen, chicken ramen, miso ramen… mm. Well you get my point. My future dream though, is to become Hokage!" He shouted and raised his fist. "Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and treat me like somebody, somebody important!"

Kakashi stared at the boy. Well… He's grown up in a very interesting way, thought Kakashi. He sighed and then looked at the other two. "Alright. Next."

Kagome looked at her hands in thought. "Well, my name is Kagome Taisho. What I like? Well I love training and hanging out with Hinata and Ino. Sparring with Inuyasha is always fun and reading with Sesshomaru is always nice." She tapped her chin, trying to think. "Things I hate? Well, I've never been so great at math… Oh! I hate when people act all snotty and pompous when they don't deserve the credit!" She sniffed and looked at Sasuke from the corner of her eye, finding him glaring back at her. She then looked back at Kakashi. "My hobbies are training, reading, sparring, surprise attacking Sesshomaru and Inuyasha and playing with animals… As for my future dreams? I guess I haven't really thought about that. Maybe i'll try and become ANBU someday. I just want to make the world a better place." She murmured. The thought of the future always bothered her though… Somehow she felt like she had already lived so many lifetimes, it made trying to find things to strive for harder. She just usually took life one day at a time.

Kakashi raised a brow. Thats odd. Most girls her age are too busy thinking about boys than ninja training. Plus she seems rather feisty. Surprising… But she seems quite off about her future. Hmm. I wonder…

Kakashi shook his head from his revelry and looked at the last boy on the left. Of course he already knew who each of these kids were but it was interesting to gauge how they presented themselves. "Alright, last one."

Sasuke didn't look up from his leaning position, rands crossed in front of his face as usual. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything." He grumbled. Kagome rolled her eyes, Emo. Definitely emotionally unstable. Jerk. Sasuke continued, eyes darkening, "What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I am going to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone."

Kagome, Kakashi and Naruto all looked at the boy in silence. Naruto quivered, Gee, I hope he isn't thinking about me. Kagome looked at him in thought, Destroy someone? Maybe something is really up? It couldn't be me, could it? Kakashi narrowed his eyes, Just as I thought.

"Good then," Kakashi redirected everyones attention. "You are each unique and you have your own ideas. We will have our first mission tomorrow."

Naruto jumped in excitement. "Oh, what mission are we going to have!?"

Kakashi didn't budge, "A task that the four of us will do together."

Naruto squirmed, "What, what, what, what!?"

Kakashi sighed, "A survival exercise."

Naruto drooped. "Huh? A survival exercise? I thought we did those already?" He whined.

Kagome put her head in her hand. "He is right, we have done our fair share of survival training before in the academy."

"This is not like your previous training." Said Kakashi.

"So, uh, what kind of training is it then?" Asked Naruto.

Kakashi's body began to shake as he chuckled to himself in amusement. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man and Kagome raised a brow.

"What, may I ask, is so funny?" She looked at the teacher in confusion.

Kakashi continued to chuckle, "If I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it." Naruto looked at him in confusion. Kakashi hummed, then gained a serious expression. "Of the thirty graduates that just left here only twelve will actually be accepted as Genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words, this is a make it or break it; pass-fail test. The chance that you'll fail is at least sixty-six percent." Naruto looked shock and both Kagome and Sasuke narrowed their eyes. Kakashi smirked, "See? Didn't I tell you that you wouldn't like it?"

Naruto clenched his fists, "Thats crazy! We worked hard to get here, believe it! What was that graduation test for anyways!?"

Kakakshi shrugged. "Oh that? That was just to make the selection of people who could become Genin, it was never to say who would become Genin."

"Whaaaat!?" Naruto whined.

"Thats how it is." Kakashi stated. "I decide whether you pass or fail. Meet at the designated training spot at five am. And don't bring your ninja gear."

Kagome could see Naruto shaking in anger. She huffed, "You know what? Thats fine. If theres only sixty-six percent we will fail, we will become the other thirty-four percent and pass. We';; show you that team seven is not to be messed with." She looked at the man and crossed her own arms.

Sasuke clenched her fists. What she was saying was bold, but it was true. They would just have to suck it up and show him what they were made of.

"Alright, you all are dismissed." He hummed and then looked back at them before leaving. "Also, if I were you, I wouldn't have breakfast, otherwise you'll puke." He stated and then jumped away.

Kagome sat there for a few minutes before standing up and looking at the other two with a determined expression. "I'm going to go and start practicing some more and then get a good nights sleep. I would encourage you two to do the same… And have a big dinner, we'll need energy tomorrow." She advised before waving and jumping off on her own, going building to building.

I won't let him scare me. I'll give it my all.


That whole afternoon and night Kagome trained. She practiced hard and made sure she knew what she was doing. She was going to pass the test no matter what.

The question about what her future goals were kept popping into her head and the more she thought about it, the more she didn't know what she was going to do, but she sure as hell knew being a ninja was going to be involved in whatever decision she chose. So she had to get through this test and become one of the twelve Genin that would be moving on in their training.

Kagome worked herself as hard as she could without wearing herself out too much. She trained until even Sesshomaru got home from his mission. At first she was so concentrated that she didn't notice him there, but when he flicked a rock at her head and she instinctively caught it, she looked over to see the man.

"Oh, Sesshomaru, you're home." She giggled sheepishly and scratched her head. "I didn't realize what time it was…" She looked up, realizing it was getting dark.

Sesshomaru watched her through amber eyes. "This Sesshomaru suggests you come inside and have nourishment."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "By that you mean you want me to cook dinner?" She asked, and when he stared back at her unmoving, she got her answer. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

She followed the Silver haired male inside, instinctively grabbing hold of his baggy sleeve as she always had since she was little. Sesshomaru didn't complain. He looked down at her when they came to where they would part. Dinner would take a while and Sesshomaru was always off reading and studying. She grinned up at him and the man sighed, raising his snarly clawed hand and pat her head. Kagome grinned bigger and let go of the man, parting ways with him. She headed into the kitchen and he into his study.

"What do we have…?" She hummed to herself and opened the fridge. Her and Sesshomaru had their own wing of the Taisho compound, due to the fact that Sesshomaru was next in line for heir. Everything was private and secluded, but most times their house was filled with people unexpectantly. Jaken, Sesshomaru's advisor, often squirmed his way in. Jaken and Kagome didn't get along too well. The tiny imp of a man worshiped Sesshomaru and the ground he walked upon, but believed Kagome was only a nuisance blocking Sesshomaru's success. Rin, a friend and old teammate of Sesshomaru often came in and brought her treats and helped her bother the silver haired man. And most of all, Inuyasha liked to creep in and bother her.

Speaking of Inuyasha, just as she closed the fridge with all the ingredients she would need, he entered the kitchen. "What we having? Ramen?" Kagome rolled her eyes and threw a zucchini at the boy, smacking him in the face with it. Besides Naruto, Kagome hadn't met a person so in love with Ramen before. "No."

Inuyasha huffed. "C'mon, I had to deal with a bunch of wenches all day today, can't a man have some ramen?" He asked and sat on a chair.

Kagome scoffed. "I don't see any men in this kitchen."

Inuyasha crossed his arms, "Keh. You're lucky we're family or I would have pummelled you by now." He hissed.

Kagome shrugged, "You can do that after you've given Toto-sai a bath." She grinned, talking about their bet from earlier. She had won the race so now she didn't have to.

Inuyasha wretched. "Don't make me vomit, just make me some damn food, I'm starving."

Kagome laughed and got onto the preparation. She would be making pan fried shrimp and vegetables, rice, dumplings and miso soup for them all. Over the years she had learned to fend for herself when it came to food. When she was younger Sesshomaru had Rin bring them food but soon enough Kagome was old enough to figure it out on her own. She had spent plenty of nights alone in the kitchen making her own food and eating it in silence.

Kagome listened as Inuyasha told her about his day; how his whole team went together to some 'girly' tea shop and some old woman pinched his cheek. They all introduced themselves; Sakura rude and huffy and trying to be better than everyone as always, and Sango was quite feisty. He himself had been dying to get out of there so he barely heard about the mission they were meeting up for the next day, another test no less. Inuyasha had then spent the rest of his day doing 'manly' things which Kagome assumed as punching things, scratching his manly parts and picking his nose.

By the end of his oh so majestic story, she had finished up the food and dished it onto three plates. She gave one to Inuyasha and set the other two at the table before heading to the hall and calling to Sesshomaru, "Dinner's ready Sesshy!"

Sesshomaru entered shortly after, looking displeased to see the other silver haired boy sitting at the table. Inuyasha looked up from his food and shared a similar look of disgust.

Kagome rolled her eyes and sat down. "Yes, yes, you hate each other. We all know. Now eat your food." She hissed and grabbed her chopsticks and ate. Dinner was silent as usual (besides Inuyasha almost choking by shoving too much food in his throat and the almost catastrophic moment when the half-brothers both reached for the last dumpling at the same time), but it was nice to have company none-the-less.

After dinner she washed up the dishes and headed to have a nice long bath and relax her muscles. She put some bath beads in the water that helped stimulate chakra recovery and nourishment of the skin. After that she dried herself off, dressed in her nightgown and stood in the door of her bedroom, peering down the hall.

Like clockwork, Sesshomaru turned the corner and began padding down the hallway. Kagome never understood why he always came down this hall at this time, but he always did. As always he walked up, turned to her, patted her head and continued down the hallway. Kagome smiled and yelled, "Night Sesshy! Have a good sleep!" To which he would reply, "Hnn." He would never let her realize that the only reason he walked down the hall was to bid her a good night before circling back to his study. He could never let on he cared that much.

Kagome closed the screen door with a smile and climbed into bed. She sighed happily and relaxed. Before she fell asleep though, she drifted off to her thoughts.

Tomorrows the day… The day I can prove my worth to Team Seven…