Kanojo Hisoka

Chapter Nine

Fearful Heart

POW

"You won't land another hit on this gorgeous face again."

A loud, painful grunt echoed before a scattering thud of a body soon followed.

Kagome's eyes were shut tightly as she pushed herself off the ground. The left side of her face was rapidly swelling up and a bruise was forming from where her strange looking opponent back handed her like a rag doll. She had been doing so well against him until she was hit with that monster sword of his.

When she had first been confronted by the powerful shinobi, dressed in a black cloak along with a blank headband, she had been stunned by his abnormal appearance.

He wasn't like anything that she'd ever seen before. He was extremely tall and fearsome looking with blue, clammy looking scaly skin, black beady eyes and to top it off, he had gills on the sides of his face!

He was like a fish out of water, but once he had opened his mouth and she saw those sharp rows of teeth, she knew he was more like a shark than a harmless fish out of water.

Kagome had managed to put the boy down a safe distance away before facing the blue skinned shinobi who had formally introduced himself as Hoshigaki Kisame. Not a moment later the battle had commenced. He hadn't even asked for her name- not that she wanted to reveal that bit of information in the first place! She thought it was just plain rude.

She was holding her own against him until Kisame's massive sword came into contact with her body, striking her in the leg and eating her chakra away in large gulps.

Kagome glared at him before pushing her beaten body up from the ground and soon stood up once again. She wrapped an arm around her abdomen at the feel of nausea settling in the pit of her stomach due to the rapid loss of her chakra. The left side of her body just below her rib cage felt like it was on fire and she blamed it on her over reactive imagination, especially when she could have sworn she felt as if it was spreading throughout her body.

This wasn't the time to be getting sick or to be hallucinating.

Kagome's body was shaking from the motion, but she ignored it along with the nausea. She had to think of a plan since she couldn't risk wasting all of her chakra fighting against her opponent if Neji and Lee happened to be hurt and in need of medical attention.

Kagome needed to save it for them.

"I was mistaken when I thought you would have been some sort of a challenge." Kisame grinned, his sword placed over his shoulder lazily.

Kagome scoffed at the comment, she had barely gotten started and if it wasn't for her concern in reserving her chakra, she would have laid it all out on him.

Kisame's eyes brighten in amusement at the simmering fire within her eyes at his comment.

"Little girl has attitude, I see." He stated seemingly amused for the moment.

Kagome furrowed her brows as she began to assess him. This guy sure liked to talk a lot, especially when it concerned his self. Maybe she could gain some information if she played her cards right. Plus, the time would do her some good while her body rests for a few seconds.

"Yeah, I get that a lot, but it can't be helped. I did get it from my mama after all." She retorted back with a smirk.

"I am curious though, why is someone like you taking the hero water from this village? You're already pretty strong on your own from what I can see." Kagome spoke as she tried to calm her pounding heart as she waited for his reaction to her words.

Flattery can go a long way and from the way he mentioned his face being gorgeous, she deduced he loved being flattered and that he was quite vain. If he had all those qualities then she can assume as well that he was quite egotistical as well.

Kagome felt her heart come to a stop when he let out a hearty laugh that lasted several seconds. She raised a brow wondering what was so funny.

He brought his beady black eyes on her once more and grinned widely, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

"I kind of like you, kid. You got spunk and I admire spunk." He began as he recalled the hits she had managed to inflict on him earlier in their battle. Kisame could feel his cheek beginning to bruise from that punch of hers, not to mention that solid roundhouse kick to his ribs. It will take awhile for his now fractured ribs to heal.

She was physically stronger than most kunoichi he'd fought in the past, but he wasn't about to let her know that.

Not only was he somewhat impressed with her strength, but she was also very clever and brave; complimenting him and stroking his ego in an attempt to fish out information from him. Well, he wasn't quite dumb and saw when he was being manipulated, but it wouldn't hurt to play with her for a little while before killing her.

Although, now that he got a good look at her she did seem familiar to him. That black hair and those pretty eyes, now where has he seen that face of hers before?

Hm, she must be someone he'd met before in his past, but from where?

Kisame tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes in concentration as he observed her facial features and figure.

After several seconds, three distinct faces from his past appeared in his mind and his eyes widened before narrowing in utter amusement at his sheer luck.

Who would have thought he would run into this ghost of a child once again.

Meanwhile, Kagome felt a blush forming on her cheeks and she immediately willed it away. He had just complimented her in his weird way and she felt her confidence spike just a little from his comment.

Kagome could feel her chakra beginning to build back up again.

If only she had more time, she would gain a little from the amount she lost to his blade in a few more minutes.

"Thanks, I guess." She muttered out in a light pout.

"But you still didn't answer my question, Kisame-san, why does someone like you need the hero water? Is it for your own gain or for profit?" Kagome asked once again, hoping that by her being polite and civil with him will give her the answers she desired.

Kisame raised a brow at the girl before him.

She was a weird one calling him Kisame-san, very unlike most shinobi that knew of his status, but that was to be expected he supposed since he remembered where he knew her face from. He wondered if that mother of hers resided in Konoha as well.

"What's your name, girl." He demanded swiftly with a hint of curiosity to his tone and expectation. If she was who he thought she was then she would bear the same name.

Kagome's eyes widened in surprise; she didn't expect for him to ask for her name seeing as he had dubbed her as 'Konoha Scum' during their fight earlier.

Kagome hesitated, unsure if she should reveal her name to him.

"Have a little bit of confidence, it is okay to flaunt once in a while." At her Shishou's words Kagome decided to listen to her advice. She had managed to impress Kisame so it would be only be right if he knew her name.

"Higurashi Kagome."

What she didn't know was that by giving him her name she only confirmed his suspicions of her identity and set off a nationwide search.*

At the mention of her name Kisame's expression changed from being curious to full on recognition. "Ah, so you are alive." He revealed with his wide grin. "To think you've been in Konoha all this time," He added with a disappointed 'tsk' at the end for falling for that woman's trick, "…right from under my nose."

Kagome was beginning to feel the rise of panic surge through her.

Why did he seem to know her all of a sudden?

They had only met once in her life, but his gaze said something different now.

What did he mean by being 'the one'?

What was going on here?

"What do you mean I'm the one?" She asked him with her voice rising slightly in her panic.

Kisame only seemed to find this more amusing and laughed again, this time bending over slightly to hold his gut in with his right arm.

"This is priceless, but to be expected." He stated as he stood upright once more, letting out a snicker now and then.

"It seems your beloved village has been keeping secrets from you, Kagome-san or maybe your mother is the one keeping the secrets of your origins from you. Yes, that would make more sense. After all, if Konoha knew about you, you wouldn't be outside its walls." He informed her while mocking her in the process.

Kagome's eyes widen at the prospect of secrets being held from her by her mother and possibly by her own village too. That was a huge accusation coming from a rogue shinobi.

How could she believe him?

"Like what?" She asked, wanting to know more, her voice becoming edgy in her growing anger.

Kisame narrowed his eyes at her before walking towards her in swift strides.

He stopped when he was four feet away from the short kunoichi.

"You are known as kanojo hisoka to every shinobi who cared about nothing, but power." He explained vaguely, causing Kagome to brace herself for any attack he would unleash upon her.

"Her secret," Kagome repeated in thought as she translated the two words, confused.

"I'm done for now, but rest assured, we will not be coming back to this village anymore." He began before walking past her and towards the edge of the building. Kagome's eyes widened, startled at his statement.

"Wait, why?" Kagome demanded.

Kisame looked over his shoulder and his grin was present, but this time it was malicious and held a dark promise.

"I just found something better than hero water." He revealed, once again in a vague tone, before jumping down the building and running towards his recruits.

His sword was held high in the air as a signal for the others to depart.

Kagome fell on her backside and leaned against the wall. She was confused and exhausted. She didn't understand anything he had said except for her village keeping secrets from her, but the question was, why?

"What did he mean about kanojo hisoka? Why am I a secret, and whose secret do I belong to?" She murmured to herself before closing her eyes to rest. So many questions and no answers, but at least one good thing came out of all this. She managed to get Kisame to leave the village alone, but she couldn't help but feel that she had caused something else to set in motion.

Neji and Lee had been preoccupied with the rogue shinobi and had been so focused on their battle that they both became confused when they all suddenly fled. Neji managed to pin point the cause of the retreat and saw a large man with a giant sword held up in the air wearing a dark cloak.

It was a signal.

Neji narrowed his eyes as he watched each and every one of them flee from the village. Once they were all gone he went to search for Kagome. The last he saw of her, she was healing a wounded shinobi in an alleyway. He went there and when he didn't see her he began to feel a slight panic rise in his chest.

The panic didn't last long, however when he saw movement on a rooftop. He activated his Byakugan and noted that it was indeed Kagome. He noticed she was low on chakra and hastily set off towards her direction.

She was leaning against the wall, her eyes closed and her expression strained. He noticed the left side of her face was bruised severely from the corner of her eyebrow to the bottom of her delicate jaw line. Whatever hit her had a rather large hand, and anger filled him. He gingerly touched the tender flesh and instinctively caught Kagome's flying fist in the process with his other hand. Her eyes snapped open, obviously startled from her rest.

"Oh, Neji, I'm sorry!" She apologized tiredly once she saw that it was her friend and not Kisame.

"I thought he came back." She murmured with half-hooded eyes from exhaustion.

"Who?" He questioned quickly.

"Hoshigaki Kisame." At the name Neji stiffened.

She fought against him and was still alive?

Neji stared at her in awe.

"Are you well enough to stand on your own?" He asked her and when she nodded he helped her up. "We'll discuss what happened later on, but for now we should meet with Shibuki and the others." Kagome nodded and motioned for the boy a few feet away from them.

"He needs to be taken to the hospital first." She told him with concerned eyes.

Neji proceeded to gather the boy into his arms and with that, they both headed to the hospital before meeting with the village's leader.

A/N: So many of you might be curious as to whom exactly Kagome is the secret of. Well, you all shall find out who it is eventually. As you can see Kanojo Hisoka is the title to this story and you can start to see how it is relevant in the story itself. Kagome is the Secret in the story, but in what way and to who is the question.

*Hint of foreshadowing!*

The whole Kisame recognizing Kagome is the second plot to this story, as Itachi and Kagome's relationship is the main plot, obviously, but both plots will come together in an awesome way, well to me it is. I also like how I wrote Kisame in this chapter, it was fun and enjoyable. Well, I hope you all enjoy the chapter and will review! Next chapter will be up soon!

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Lady Manami