A New 'Leaf'

Disclaimer: I don't and will never own Inuyasha or Naruto, and if I do own those, then Jiraiya is not a pervert, Jiraiya, Itachi and Minato all wouldn't have died, Kakashi would NEVER wear his mask and Sasuke wouldn't be such an Emo asshole.

Chapter 10: Tag

Now, Kagome was not aware of the fact that Kakashi was waving his hand in front of her face. If she did, she would have smacked his hand away and smile innocently at him. She also did not know that he had seen the distant look in her eyes and he grew curious and or worried about her weird behaviour. Well you couldn't blame him; Kagome had looked terribly sad as she was lost in her thoughts. When Kakashi still did not manage to get her attention, he finally used the last resort; to break the compromise they had.

"Kagome-sama, are you in there?" Kakashi asked, and even knocked her head gently.

Kagome blinked and snapped out of her thoughts, even using her hand to grab a hold of Kakashi's hand, to make sure that he would stop that insistent knocking on her head. Then as his words processed in her head, she smiled and replied "Yes Kaka-kun?"

Kakashi sighed inaudibly "I thought we said that there would be no need for the honorifics or the nicknames?"

Kagome stood up and she put her hand under her chin, pretending to think. "That's true…" her voice trailed off thoughtfully. She started to lean closer to him and Kakashi swallowed thickly at the close contact before he tried to edge away from her. But his body just wouldn't move as fast as he wanted it to, and Kakashi mentally cursed at this. Soon they were a few inches away from each other's face and Kagome could feel Kakashi's cool breath blowing at her face.

Then unexpectedly, she poked Kakashi on his forehead in a way similar to Itachi's. Kagome had picked up this habit from Itachi a few years ago because sometimes he would poke her forehead just for the fun of it and tell her 'Sorry, maybe next time,' whenever he couldn't fulfil any promises to her.

Kakashi blinked at her and Kagome smiled mischievously "That was for calling me Kagome-sama! Did you think that I didn't hear that?"

Then she started to back away from him slowly, before grabbing her basket and finally turning around, running away and giggling playfully. "Catch me if you can Kakashi!" she sang out in a playful tone before she disappeared through the trees.

Kakashi could only stare at her departing figure, before a small smile appeared on his face.

Kagome sped silently through the trees, the wind whipping at her feet. She hid behind a tree and waited, sometimes poking her head out to see if Kakashi was following her. When she didn't see him, she sighed and turned around, ready to go back and find him. But she ended up bumping heads with Kakashi and she fell to her knees, her head spinning out of control.

"Ow," she muttered, her hand rubbing the back of her head.

When her vision finally stopped seeing double, Kagome looked up and she could see that Kakashi was standing upside-down on the tree branch. He was no doubt channelling his chakra to his feet. Ah… so that was why she bumped heads with him.

Kakashi creased his eye "You can never outrun a Ninja Kagome," he drawled playfully.

Then he stopped the chakra flow to his feet and somehow manoeuvred his body in midair, so that he landed gracefully onto the ground. Kakashi extended his hand towards Kagome and she took it gladly. He helped her up with relative ease and she dusted off the dirt on her clothes. "You can't blame a girl for trying can you Kakashi?" she asked with a shrug, and then she frowned when she noticed something "And why does this scenario feel like our first meeting all over again?"

Kakashi chuckled and replied "It does, doesn't it? But there are slight differences here; like this time I wasn't reading my book, and we also aren't arguing about a silly matter like the last time."

Kagome rolled her eyes and muttered "It wasn't a silly matter…" then she sighed "Well I suppose you're probably wondering what that poke was just now…" her voice trailed off and she glanced at Kakashi, noticing that she had caught his attention. "So anyway…I called you by your nickname just now because you broke our compromise first. But you ended up calling me by my nickname so I poked your forehead as a punishment. Get it now?"

Kakashi nodded and his shoulders visibly slumped.

Kagome noticed his little action and the gears in her head started to turn. She smirked "What? Are you disappointed? Don't tell me you thought that I was going to kiss you just now like the last time? You pervert," she told him in a teasing tone. Kagome expected Kakashi to throw a witty comeback at her so they could start their playful bantering again. But instead she saw his eye widen and the skin that was not covered by his mask turned slightly red.

He was blushing underneath his mask.

Kagome almost dropped her basket in shock and she felt her face turning incredibly hot. Damn it now she was the one blushing! There was an awkward silence between the two of them for the next minute; Kakashi was trying not to look at Kagome while she was at a loss at what to say to him.

But finally when the silence became too tense for the both of them, Kagome decided to say something.

"Umm…Shall we continue our herb gathering?" she asked, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. But she inwardly winced at what words came out of her mouth. Oh, that was a clever way to break the silence between them…NOT! Kagome chided herself for her stupidity and she mentally smacked herself. Kakashi, who didn't know about her mental battle with herself, just nodded and Kagome heaved a silent sigh of relief.

She frowned as she looked around for a while.

"Um… Kakashi…? Do you happen to know which direction we came from? Everything looks all the same to me," Kagome said with a nervous laugh. Kakashi pointed to her right and he started walking towards that direction. Kagome stared at his departing figure for a while and her eyes automatically travelled downwards to…guess where?

'His ass looks even nicer when it's moving…' she found herself thinking with a lovesick sigh.

But then she realized WHAT she had been thinking about again and she snapped out of her thoughts, her face turning redder with each passing second. 'Very smart thoughts Kagome…Now who is the real pervert here?' her mind asked her. But Kagome ignored it and instead ran to catch up to Kakashi.

"Hey wait for me Kakashi! Don't leave without me!" she called.

The two of them spent the whole morning and half of the afternoon finding and collecting all of the different herbs. Well, basically Kakashi only helped her to locate the herbs; Kagome still had to do the job of extracting them. She was the one with medical knowledge between the two after all.

Then when they were done they walked back to the village together.

But they weren't holding hands or anything. The events of today were still replaying in both their minds so it was still a little awkward between them. And anyway, Kakashi's hands were in his pockets while her hands were occupied carrying the heavy basket full of the different herbs.

And the reason why Kakashi didn't just teleport Kagome and him self back to Konoha was because she had asked him not to. She DID not want him to wrap his arms around her waist again; it was still too soon! Just standing less than a metre away from him now made her feel all awkward and funny inside. And just now when she accidentally brushed her hand against his, her heart started beating like crazy and a deep blush appeared on her face.

See what she meant about things still being slightly awkward between them?

And besides, Kagome told Kakashi that he could teleport back to Konoha if he didn't want to walk back, but she wanted to walk back for the exercise. But surprisingly, Kakashi had just creased his eye at her and he offered to escort her back. "Well, if you want to walk back, I'd better accompany you. Who knows what might happen on the way back if you travel alone? You might really encounter Missing Ninjas or robbers," he had told her in a relaxed voice.

At that moment, Kagome knew that he was pretending that that incident didn't ever happen, so she should also do the same.

"Very well then Kakashi. But are you going to charge me for your services? I'm afraid I have nothing to pay the Great Copy Ninja with, unless you accept herbs? Or maybe you want a free stay the next time you end up in the hospital?" she asked in a playful tone, and she mentally heaved a sigh of relief.

That had gone well; she had talked to Kakashi again like nothing had ever happened between them.

Kakashi creased his eye "I think I'm going to have to decline the free hospital stay Kagome. I don't really like hospitals that much. And no payment is really required for my escort. My offer is free of charge and since you have the Great Sharingan no Kakashi escorting you why waste this offer?"

Kagome smiled and said softly "Thank you Kakashi-sensei."

Her eyes widened slightly when she realized what she had said. Darn, now she was the one who had broken the compromise. Kakashi seemed to notice it what she had said too because he had that playful glint in his eye. "You're welcome Gome-chan," he purred seductively. Kagome winced at that ridiculous nickname before she sent a full out glare to Kakashi.

"You're the spawn of evil," she growled with a pout.

Kakashi chuckled quietly "I know I am. I hear that quite a lot at the hospital. But if I'm not mistaken, you were the one broke our compromise, so I have the right to call you your nickname to punish you." Kagome continued to send a death glare at him and she muttered colourful curses under her breath as they walked back to Konoha.

To say Kakashi was surprised at her knowledge of swear words was just the right term.

"Really Kagome, I never expected a woman like you to know that much swear words. You should learn to mind your language; you're a girl for heaven's sake. And girls shouldn't be swearing like there is no tomorrow," he chided her, which in turn led her to mutter even more swear words. You'd be surprised if you found out how much cuss words Kagome knew. That's the kind of results she got because she had hung around Hidan too much.

And for a religious man, that guy knew how to curse.

Kagome almost burst out into a giggle when she imagined what would happen to Hidan if Itachi had found out all the words she had picked up from him; if Itachi was feeling benevolent he might just use Tsukuyomi on Hidan, but if he was pissed enough then he would use Amaterasu for sure.

Kagome was sure that the immortal guy wouldn't be so immortal once Itachi was through with him.

Very soon, Kagome caught sight of the gates and it took them a good 15 minutes just to reach it by walking. As they passed through the gates, the two Chunin on duty there greeted them. Kagome blinked when she remembered that those two were the Chunin she met on her first day here.

"Hi you two, I'm afraid that I didn't quite catch your names on my first day here. My name is Takahashi Kagome," Kagome said with a sweet smile.

The chunin with the bandages nose blushed at Kagome's smile and he replied in a nervous tone "My name is Hagane Kotetsu, and this is Kamizuki Izumo." The other Chunin, Izumo, was also blushing and he nodded "Hi Takahashi-san."

"Call me Kagome," she told them.

Izumo and Kotetsu nodded and their eyes couldn't help but trail up and down Kagome's body. Their blush deepened as they noticed the thin sheen of sweat that had formed on her peachy coloured skin, especially on her chest. But they couldn't help it; it was her fault for wearing such revealing clothes.

Kagome inwardly sighed at the intense stare that the two were giving her body. Here we go again…

Kakashi also seemed to notice where his fellow Ninja were staring at and he felt some jealousy bubbling in him. But he couldn't do anything that would hurt them so Kakashi only cleared his throat and told her "Kagome, we should get going."

But his words seemed to be a fatal mistake because a mischievous grin spread on Izumo and Kotetsu's faces. "Wow Kakashi-senpai, I didn't know you and Kagome-san were so close already; imagine that, you said her name without any formalities. Did you make her your girlfriend already? You both look a little out of sorts. Did you have 'fun' in the forest? Is the wedding soon? Please invite us if it is!" Kotetsu said with a cheeky smile.

Kagome's cheeks started to turn red from embarrassment. Oh how she felt like wrapping her hands around their scrawny necks and strangling them to death! She would take pleasure as she slowly watched their faces turn blue from the lack of oxygen.

Kakashi's reaction was not as severe as hers; he only choked in surprise before saying in a clear voice "Kagome is just a friend."

Kagome, who was beside him, nodded with an embarrassed smile on her face; and she tried to push back the feeling of disappointment she was feeling when he said that. "Is she now? Come on Kakashi-senpai, why are you so shy to admit it?" Kotetsu asked in a teasing tone. Izumo beside him suppressed a nervous laugh as he elbowed Kotetsu in the ribs. Kotetsu gave him a glare but he looked curiously at Kakashi when Izumo pointed at the Copy Ninja.

Kakashi was looking at them seriously with his half closed eye.

"Kotetsu, please don't tease us anymore. I am asking you nicely here. Or maybe instead you want me to ask you in a forceful way; like say promise to perform a Genjutsu on you to make you stop? How about unleashing my Sharingan or maybe using Raikiri or Chidori on your asses until they roast to a crisp? Or perhaps a nice decapitation is in order?" Kotetsu and Izumo gulped with each threat and Kakashi creased his eye at them "So now you understand what happens when you want me to use force?"

The two of them nodded hastily and Kakashi's tone became light again "There, now that wasn't so hard! I'm glad we're all seeing eye to eye now." Then he turned to Kagome "Shall we be off then?" he asked and Kagome was at a loss for words here, so she nodded slowly.

Once they were far enough Kagome burst out laughing.

Kakashi eyed her curiously for a moment "Is there something wrong?" he asked. Kagome shook her head and she smiled at him playfully "It's nothing. I just didn't realize that you could be so threatening. Did you see how badly you scared the both of them? They looked like they were going to wet themselves!"

Kakashi shrugged, obviously pleased with himself "I try."

Thank you Pure Iciness, j.d.y., AnimeMixDJ, Taeniaea, iheartanime43, Kakashifangirlnumber1000, VirusYoukaiChild, Aashni, Random Person, Crystal Tsuki Tenshi, Shawntay117, kakashixangela, gf, BuNeng-TiaoWu, merlyn1382, hermonine, LuLuCrazeD, enchanted nightingale, ryuuhime88, Rhiannon's blackbird and crystal wings5 for reviewing!

Well I just realized I haven't updated in the longest time. ^.^'

So sorry about that. I was busy trying to finish 'Love Actually' and it's still not finished. *Sighs* but it's going to finish soon. There's more Kakashi/Kagome interaction in this chapter and it seems pretty boring. and the next chapter is entirely new, it wasn't in the previous version but I think you readers might enjoy it.

I'll give you a hint. Kakashi: A handsome patient. Kagome: His personal sexy doctor. What more could a Ninja ask for? I believe Kakashi is in Heaven. And here's a spoiler; their relationship is going to change slightly because of a little something they shared.

Please review!