Chapter 10: Conclusion of Year One

She was fighting her cousin again. It had already been a year into her training and her looks had changed a lot since she first started. She was no longer that awkward twelve year old girl. She was thirteen. She was strong and she moved gracefully around the clearing, beating away Bankotsu. They had decided the first year would be nothing but hand to hand combat, no jutsu of any sort. The first half of the day was spent with the two of them fighting hand to hand. The second half of the day was spent with her working on her jutsu while Bankotsu did his own training on speed. She knew he wanted to get faster because she was faster than him. So he did his training and she did hers.

She smirked and she had shoved him back, catching him by surprise. She sunk a kunai into his shoulder and he faltered. She swiped again with the other kunai and kicked him. She grabbed his Banryuu from his hand and threw him down, Banryuu at his throat. "Looks like I beat you, Bankotsu," she said with a smirk.

"So you did." He smirked as she helped him up. He took back his Banryuu. "I am amazed that you can carry my Banryuu. She is really heavy after all."

"Well, I have been training with you, haven't I?"

"You have a point there." He rubbed his chin. "I did talk with your parents before I left. They felt that I should train you for four years instead of three, like other Higurashi clan members. You have three years left of me training you. I plan to make you the best kunoichi in the village." She nodded as she started on lunch. She was so glad to be away from the village and away from everything that could possibly hold her back.

He watched her beat her cousin for the first time, and with his own weapon as well. He was able to follow their routine by now and she didn't seem to tire so easily. She wasn't tired easily to start with, but she was able to stay up longer now, and was able to keep a constant speed from the beginning to the end of the hand to hand combat training. Not many could go from sunrise to noon fighting hand to hand without a break, but she was able to. She was already surpassing a lot of the other ninja her age. He knew that they were yet to hear about what had happened to the village. He was shocked when he found out, some odd months ago. His surveillance of Kagome kept him away for months at a time. His father understood this but Inuyasha didn't. His half brother always had to find a reason to complain. But his training wasn't slacking either. When they would finish for the day, which was always the same time, he would go off and train for the better part of the night then sleep for a few hours and continue with his surveillance. It wasn't hard but it was interesting enough to see someone her age train and master techniques others had such a hard time doing.

Tomorrow, though, he would watch them train then head back to the village to give his report. The new Hokage was just as eager to know about her as the old and he figured the old Hokage had left her a note explaining the situation. Yes, the Higurashi clan had four or five people around her age also gone from the village with four or five other Higurashi members, but ten ninjas from the Higurashi clan was nothing. The clan was still fully functioning and still able to protect a good portion of the village and they still had enough people to do missions. But hopefully his report would not disappoint her.

"Okay, now, we will fight until lunch using both hand to hand combat and jutsu, minus summons. I want to see how you weave the two together."

"Yes, Bankotsu-sensei." She pulled out her kunai and looked at him. He pulled his Banryuu from his back and got ready. He smirked and leapt forward. She dodged and weaved, hand signs being done in quick succession. She dodged his dragon hammer and charged forward, lightning engulfing her kunai. She slashed and he dodged before slashing and she dodged. This went on for a while until she finally managed to land a hit. She was not using her body flicker technique. She wanted it to be fair, or as close to fair, and she was faster than Bankotsu. Yes, he was working to become faster, but she had always seemed to get faster.

"You are holding back," Bankotsu pointed out.

"I am far faster than you are, dear cousin," she commented back. She dodged under his attack and struck him again with her Raiton ha. He grunted. It really did hurt getting hit by something like that.

"That really hurt." He swung again and threw forth a ball of fire. She dodged and he threw more fire, her dodging and weaving, Raiton ha ready to be used. She knew that she would get tired after continuous use of the Raiton ha, as well as with the hand to hand combat. She knew she would not last as long as him though. He had experience doing this. She would have to think fast to beat him before she completely tired out.

He smirked. It was near lunch and her speed had decreased enough for him to notice and pick up on. He smirked and launched several fireballs and his dragon hammer. She dodged most of the attacks but had gotten hit by most of the dragon hammer. She gave a cry of pain before falling to the ground.

"Damn." He ran to her. Parts of her were burned and cut. He grabbed his bag and grabbed his first aid kit. He was good at fighting but his medical jutsu was only so-so. He had to treat her fast if he was going to minimize scarring. He cleaned away the blood only to see the damage was already healing. He knew there was something about her that was different but he wasn't sure what it was and he was unaware if she knew anything or not. But he cleaned and dressed the wounds and looked at her. She had lost consciousness from the attack but she looked like she would be okay. He sighed. He should have been more careful with his attacks. He knew she wasn't on par with an ANBU just yet, even if she was stronger than most her age.

He had seen the devastating attack and had almost revealed himself but stopped when Bankotsu ran to her fallen form. He treated her quickly and soon had her in her bedding resting. He knew this would set them back a few days, but he had a report to make so he leapt away, traveling quickly through the trees. He'd be back in Konoha in hours.

She awoke, a dull pain ringing through her body. She sat up and rubbed her temples. "What happened?"

"You were hit by my dragon hammer, at least a portion of it." He sighed. "I should have been more careful with what I was doing."

"I was taught to fight as if it were life and death. I cannot have you going easy on me, Bankotsu." He nodded. Her stomach grumbled and he handed her a plate of food. She ate it slowly, not wanting to get a stomach ache.

"We'll have to wait until you fully heal to start your training back up. It will take a while." She nodded as she ate.

"Bankotsu?" He looked at her. "I know you said that the overwhelming feeling if my chakra should leave after a year, but it still feels the same."

"That rarely happens, but usually when it does, you have someone that is powerful and extremely beautiful. The last case of that happening was about a hundred years ago with a woman named Midoriko. She is the most well known Higurashi in our clan and saved Konoha and the whole ninja world from demons."

"I didn't know she was ugly."

"All Higurashi clan members usually start out ugly, minus Kikyo. But she became a priestess because she had no chakra and was a disgrace to our clan. She is in the land of mist now."

Kagome nodded. She knew about Kikyo. She was sent away by her father. It was hidden that Kikyo was a part of the Higurashi clan. The clan could not be known to have had a chakra less member so she was sent away when she would have entered the academy. Now though Kagome had things to do, like train.

"Can we get back to training now?"

"You are still hurt. When you are fully healed we will start training again."

She sighed and looked away. "But I don't even hurt," she mumbled, "Just a little sore." She stretched her arms over her head to try to relieve some of the soreness.

"Stop that. You're going to reopen your wounds," he said.

"But it feels so good." She stretched farther back and he jumped up to stop her. "Mmm. Much better." She stood and noticed the bandages on her face she pulled them off as Bankotsu tried to stop her, trying to say it was still healing but he stopped when he noticed just clear, unscarred skin beneath the bandages. He turned her face and saw no sign of a mark.

"That isn't right." He pulled the bandage on her leg down and saw nothing. He could have sworn that there were scorch marks on her legs. "I know that there was burns there and a few scratches on your face." He was stumped by this.

"Ano, Bankotsu, there is something I should probably tell you that no one else knows, not even my parents." She looked down. "I heal really fast. I am not really sure why though. Please don't tell anyone."

"I won't. Get some rest, we have a big day ahead of us." She nodded and climbed into bed. She really was feeling drained.

'Sleep child,' a voice rumbled in the back of her mind. Used to this, she closed her eyes.

Kakashi sighed. He saw a silver-haired figure walk by. Yes, he knew who it was. It was Taisho Sesshomaru. He was hardly seen around the village and was away on missions all the time and only came in for a day before he was off on a mission again. He was a high ranked ANBU and was younger than Kakashi by a few years. He was faster than a lot of the ninjas in the village. He was also skilled and one of the few Taisho clan members still alive. It was Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, and the man only referred to as Inu no Taisho.

He took a sip from his tea, his back to the street and there was no one around to see his face. All of his students, except Kagome, had tried to see his face. Kagome probably would have succeeded if she had tried. When in his home he had not tried to hide his face because his students, minus Kagome, knew where he was. Though sadly enough not even she had seen his face for the time she lived with him. Her focus was always on training, reading and fixing up his house.

He had managed to maintain the cleanliness of his house and had taken to gardening to relax. He had a flower bed in the back yard. The paint still looked it's pristine white with black shingles and dark blue borders. All of his windows were clean and the climber plants on his fence were blooming with purple flowers known as morning glory. There was still a few of her things in the room he had for her to use and he made sure to dust and clean the room every week. He didn't know if she would be staying with him, but he wanted everything to be as clean as she had left it.

He downed the rest of his tea and stood, mask in place. As he was walking home he saw Sesshomaru leaving the Hokage tower and towards his home. He didn't much care, still with drawn. Naruto had left to train with Jaraiya, Sakura was training under Tsunade in medic jutsu and fighting, and he was stuck training Sasuke. Yes, Sasuke was more skilled than Sakura and Naruto but he wasn't sure if Sasuke had what it took to learn what he wanted to teach him. He sighed. He missed Kagome and her wit. He wondered how she was doing.

He had given his report and was now at home relaxing. He would leave in the morning to continue watching Kagome's progress. He needed the rest. He traveled far and fast and he would have to get up early to get back to the designated place for their training. He wished to take a break from this mission but he couldn't. He couldn't wait for her training to be over.

Author's Note: Here is the tenth chapter. Review please.