A/N: So... Howdy... Hello there... *chirp chirp* I know it's been a while... well, maybe not for this particular story of mine, but for you readers who also read some of my other stories, well... you'll know that I haven't really been updating those much, either. I apologize. That's all I really have to say- other than I don't own the song "Never Knew I Needed" by Ne-Yo, which is used (and recommended to all you saps out there) later on in this chapter.
One important note, however! I have been undergoing some editing and re-writing, which you may or may not have noticed by the end of this chapter. I would like to let you know that this story will not be updated until the 11 chapters that come before it have been edited and re-posted. The reason for that is simply because I don't want to leave anything half-done, if you know what I mean. And since I'm so absent minded, it's likely to happen. One other very important change to be aware of... during the editing process, Chapter Eleven Part 1 and Part 2 will be merged, and the note in between Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 will be deleted. As such, the reviews will be thrown all out of whack, depending on which chapter you have reviewed to. If you are so inclined to leave me a review that you are upset when it says you cannot, please feel free to PM me instead!
That is all.
Piano Man
XII: Discovering
By ancient-relic
-::-
Kagome tripped her way through the underbrush with a grumble. The branches left raised welts along the bare skin of her thighs, because she had forgone the cloak she'd been given hours ago. She was sweaty and tired- and her limbs were aching in protest as she propelled herself towards (or what she thought was towards) Konoha.
As she moved through the forest, keeping tabs on the road somewhere to her right, Kagome hummed a little tune to herself. She didn't want to attract attention, as she likely would if any traveler crossed her path. A different face, a different outfit, a different dialect… all could single her out, and so she chose to keep to herself—never straying far from the road, but never breaching it.
Pausing a moment to clean her face and arms off with the edge of her cloak and some of her precious drinking water, Kagome decided to sit and rest, and to consult the map that Gaara had insisted she take.
"I can't be too far- I've been travelling in this direction for 3 days." Kagome folded her cloak back over her shoulders from where she'd balanced it like a scarf, letting it encompass her again, and took a swig from the bottle before replacing that too. "If a ninja could travel that last stretch so easily, than I should theoretically be back by now."
Kagome scowled to herself.
Gaara had explained rather patiently that the trip to Konoha wasn't the easiest of trips- in fact, it could be rather tedious, given the only path between them. He also went on to explain that the trip was usually made by ninja, and they tended to cut straight through the forests and desert that separated the villages, so it cut the time down distinctly. He'd given her a map and shown her how to mark herself against the land, and pointed out good rest places commonly used and hidden within the trees.
Kagome now figured herself to be in the final stretch; the final stretch that had her on her feet for almost 24 hours straight, with periodic stops to catch her breath and eat. Glancing at the map, Kagome felt satisfaction swirl in her gut as she realized she would probably only have to walk for another hour or so before she would see Konoha's gates on the horizon. Looking out between the trees and down the curving road, Kagome also realized that she could see the faint outcroppings of mountains stretching atop the tree line- the same mountains that the great Konoha monument was carved into.
Replacing her pack on her back, Kagome pulled herself to her feet and slipped deeper into the trees. As she began to walk, a shiver of dread rippled down her spine. Her miko ki flared to life against her will, curling lazily like a cat waking up from a pool of sunshine. Someone was coming towards her.
It could just be a traveler on the road… it could just be a traveler on the road... Kagome whispered feverishly to herself. Despite her thoughts however, Kagome crossed the path with long strides before ducking into the trees on the other side. From the trees on the other side of the road, she glanced suspiciously behind her, and picked up her pace to a light jog.
No figure made itself known in the trees behind her, but the lingering feeling of being watched didn't fade. With a quiet curse, Kagome picked her pace up from a jog to a run. Konoha wasn't far away… she could make it. Hopefully, her energy signature would catch someone's attention just like it had caught Kankuro's attention when she approached Suna.
The figure- No, she realized with dread, the figures- behind her picked up their pace, and Kagome thought she heard something move in the trees above her. She could feel a distinct presence, but she couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. No…no… not yet…
Kagome flipped her cloak over her shoulders so her arms were free, tucking it into the straps of her bag so it would stay out of the way. Her now-free hands made their way towards the small pouch Temari had bought her, where the kunai blades Kisame had left her were tucked away. She flipped them out of the pouch, and grasped them firmly in her hands as she continued to run, ducking under low hanging branches and hopping over logs.
A figure was clearly in front of her now, and panicked, Kagome burst out of the trees and onto the path, breaking into a dead sprint.
"Kagome."
Kagome hesitated, stumbling to a stop. "Itachi?"
As Kagome slowed, Itachi seemed to materialize before her. Unsure of her self, Kagome took a step backwards.
"Kagome, why did you run away?" his voice was low and dangerous. Kagome shivered. Several other presences slowed to a stop in the trees around them, but didn't emerge from the shadows.
"I have to get home, Itachi." Kagome said slowly, flexing her hands around the black blades. "I told you that."
"You can't," Itachi shook his head.
"You have no say in the matter," Kagome shook her head. "I have things to do. I can't just stop trying. I won't let you stop me."
Swallowing once to reassure herself, Kagome darted forwards, summoning her quickly diminishing ki to form a slight shield around herself. Itachi's eyes narrowed at her, and he took a step back as if to brace himself for impact, but when Kagome moved within striking distance, he disappeared in a flicker of motion.
"Kagome." Itachi spoke, reappearing at her side. Kagome slashed outwards with her wrist, and the blade bit into his cloak, but didn't meet skin.
"Why can't-" Itachi's words were cut off as Kagome lunged at him again. He was forced to bring a kunai out of his own cloak to meet her blade, and the clang of metal echoed eerily through the forest. At the sound of a physical confrontation, the figures just beyond the shadows moved into the light, and Kagome counted four other Itachi-figures, beside the one in front of her now.
Kagome used the stalemate to repel herself backwards from Itachi, and continued towards Konoha. Itachi– the five of them- followed her. Kagome knew he was faster than she was, but he matched her pace and didn't try to overtake her.
"Kagome…" his voice was so faint, Kagome wondered if she had just imagined it. Itachi abruptly stopped running, and Kagome skid to a stop, turning to face him.
"Itachi, thanks for all your help. There's more to you than meets the eye, really. But I can't go with you. I can't stay with you. I'm sorry." She apologized. Itachi stood still, scrutinizing something she couldn't see. He didn't approach, though, and feeling slightly safer, Kagome tucked the blades away, pushing as much of her remaining power as she could into the front of the barrier between them.
"I cannot go any further," Itachi said slowly. "If you go that way, I cannot help you."
"I don't need your help, Itachi!" Kagome felt her irritation rise. Why did everyone think she needed assistance? "I can do this by myself!"
"Kagome…" Itachi repeated her name for what seemed like the upteenth time, with an undechiperable look on his face. His form seemed to flicker as if he had begun to move but hesitated, but it solidified a moment later, and Kagome passed it off as a trick of the light.
Suddenly, his arm flicked out in a blur, and sent three shuriken whirling through the air towards her. Her barrier wasn't weak- and repelled two of the projectiles. However, she was exhausted from travel and one of them ripped through the barrier, impaling itself in her stomach.
Kagome grunted, falling to her knees.
"…why?" she whispered, tears stinging her eyes. Itachi looked at her emotionlessly, before glancing into the distance. He looked at her one more time before his eyes widened in curiosity, and he disappeared in an vague puff of smoke, the four silent figures disappearing one by one right after he did.
Gritting her teeth at the pain that was radiating from her side, Kagome picked up the other two shuriken and slid them into the pouch at her side. Ripping off her bandana, she took several shaky breaths before ripping the third shuriken out of her side, and screaming through her teeth.
The blood dribbled out of the cut, quickly soaking into the line of her shorts. She wadded up the bandana and pressed it to the side with a hiss, before turning back towards the town. Kagome bit the inside of her cheek in protest, but moved forward in a light jog. She needed to medical attention before she lost too much blood, and she didn't have the energy to take care of it herself.
-::-
Sasuke blinked up at the sun, distracted. He twirled a pencil in his hands idly, and several sheets of paper on the grass in front of him fluttered briefly on a light breeze. Words and sentences and chords fluttered through his mind, and sometimes he scribbled them down. In his other hand, he held blank sheet music, already half covered in lines and circles and notes.
Music writing wasn't something that came specifically easy to him, mind, but Sasuke had tried his hand at it before… years and years ago. He and his mother had spent more than one afternoon together at the piano, making silly songs together. His heart warmed at the thought, and Sasuke turned to look over his shoulder into the glass-walled room where the very same piano sat, shimmering in the sunlight.
When he found Kagome again, he wanted to sit down at that piano with her, and play her songs until she smiled- that brilliant smile that he saw whenever he closed his eyes. He'd play, and she'd play, and they'd sing together, and laugh together… Sasuke blushed. It was so uncharacteristic of him- but everything had simply become easier since he'd acknowledged his developing attachment to the girl.
But… Sasuke's logical mind kicked into gear.
She's been gone for over a month. What if that means she's not coming back? The depression settled itself in his stomach, and Sasuke shoved the papers into his shorts pocket, his mood spoiled. He'd get nothing more accomplished in this frame of mind- and so he trudged back into his house.
He'd barely made it into his kitchen when a rapid pounding began on his front door. Sasuke grabbed a zippered sweater to pull on over his gardening tank top, and moved to answer the insistent knocking.
"Wh-"
"Sasuke, someone picked up a strange power a little ways East from the gates. Tsunade thinks it might be Kagome." Sakura breathed the words, Neji's fist still poised over the door. The three ninja stood there for a moment, staring at each other in silence, before Sasuke pushed his way past the two of them and sprinted towards the gates.
Kagome, Kagome, Kagome, Kagome…. Kagomekagomekagome.
The name was a vicious chant in his head as he ran, speeding past disgruntled civilians and ninja alike as he moved towards the East gate. He quickly moved to the rooftops to avoid the people that couldn't seem to understand that he was in a rush- and he mentally cursed both them and the lazy construction workers that had made every rooftop a different height. The outer wall quickly loomed ahead of him, and without a thought, he filled his legs with chakra and cleared the wall in a single leap.
"Did he…" Neji looked startled at the Uchiha's amazing feat. Sakura, beside him, seemed equally as shocked. Tsunade, Kiba and Kakashi were still standing at the gates, waiting for the two to bring the boy to meet them, and they were staring equally in wonderment.
"I've never seen Sasuke like this, before…" Sakura shook her head, moving to meet up with her sensei and her mentor.
"There is obviously something happening that we don't know about," Neji shook his head with a secretive smile. He did, of course, have his suspicions… but only time would truly tell.
Tsunade turned when they finally made it to their sides, and she scowled.
"That boy was running like he had hell on his heels," she sniffed.
"I'm worried about Kagome," Sakura said immediately, by means of explanation. "She's been gone a while. Sasuke is worried too."
"Surely no more than the rest of us," Kakashi said wryly, but his face betrayed his words- with a Cheshire grin stretched wide across his face beneath his mask. He too knew his student well… and anticipation for the immediate future kept his smile firmly in place. Life was about to get more interesting.
"Enough dawdling!" Tsunade was shouting at the guards. "What do I pay you for? Open the goddamned door, already!"
Kiba, Sakura and Neji all shared a quiet laugh at their Hokage before moving to catch up with Kakashi, who was already strolling leisurely through the opening Gate.
-::-
Kagomekagomekagome.
The chant never ended. Sasuke ran and jumped from tree branch to tree branch, his eyes bright with the Sharingan, searching for Kagome. Desperation made him speed up- and he nearly fell from the tree when he glimpsed something to his left and made a dangerously sharp turn.
"Kagome," he whispered.
Breaking from the treeline, Sasuke hit the packed earth of the ground hard as he moved towards the black-swathed figure standing in the middle of the road. As soon as he hit the ground, the person turned defensively to face him.
"…Sasuke…?" Kagome's voice was quiet, hoarse, and clearly pained. She was wearing a black travelling cloak, but her dark hair was pulled away from her face and her bright blue eyes glittered in the waning sunlight.
"Kagome," Sasuke heard his voice crack embarrassingly, but he didn't care- he closed the distance between her in a millisecond and pulled her as close as humanly possible, pressing his cheek into her head; taking comfort in her presence despite the fact that her body trembled against him.
She was sweaty, she was dirty, and she was obviously exhausted, but Kagome tentatively hugged him back, and let him hold her weight so she didn't have to stand by herself. The pain in her side was momentarily ignored as she pulled back to see his face, and she pulled her hair out of her eyes and off her neck.
"Where have you been?" Sasuke sounded so hurt and betrayed- but his eyes shone with thinly concealed relief and joy. He let her pull back from him, but he didn't let her go, instead settling for pulling her pack off her back and shouldering it, and letting both hands rest on her hips.
"I-" Kagome began, but winced when his hands brushed her wound.
Sasuke finally noticed that the hand she had brushed her hair away with was stained, and pulled back his own hand from her waist to find it stained with transfer as well. Without a word, he ripped the cloak off her shoulders, and threw it to the ground.
She was still wearing Naruto's orange jacket, but it was stained a murky colour. Her shorts showed off her long, tanned legs, and she was wearing a messily cropped shirt that also served to show off her abdomen; which coincidentally showed off a raw, irritated gash almost four inches long, which had slowly and steadily been leaking blood. Her shorts were stained down the side, and the redness trailed down her leg almost to her knee. After carefully pulling off Naruto's jacket, Sasuke could clearly see that she'd pressed some kind of cloth or rag in an attempt to stop the blood flow, but because it was near her hip, the motion of walking hadn't allowed the cut to clot.
"Who did this to you?" Sasuke hissed, his fury overwhelming any other thought, as he tentatively reached out to touch the puckered flesh. Kagome winced as his cold fingers brushed her overheated skin, and pulled away. Wordlessly, he pulled off his own sweater and tugged it over her shoulders. Between blood loss and exhaustion, it was just his luck that she was going to catch a fever.
"Sasuke, I ne-" Kagome began, fear making her voice shake. She knew that Sasuke had serious big-brother issues, but she didn't dare tell him it had been created by Itachi. Luckily she didn't have to, because another voice cut her off.
"Sasuke! Did you find Kagome?" Sakura called, moving towards them from around the corner of the path.
Sasuke looked up at his teammate, and at her small entourage. They didn't know Kagome had been wounded, of course, but why were they just walking? He'd practically flown across town the second Kagome's name was out of Sakura's mouth.
They obviously don't feel the same way about her, Sasuke's mind supplied. Without a second thought, Sasuke scooped Kagome up, ignoring her cry of pain and protest, and began to walk as quickly as he could towards them without jostling Kagome further.
They met half way, with mixed looks of surprise and worry. Kiba had realized first, apparently, catching the scent of blood before any were close enough to see it. Kagome shifted weakly in his arms, hiding her face away from the inquisitive, worried stares.
"Get her to the hospital," Tsunade barked, her face paling the second she caught sight of the blood that now stained his white tank and down Kagome's leg. The rest of her companions were grim and silent, and Sasuke wordlessly sped off, cradling Kagome as gently as he could without upsetting her side further. At some point on the way to the hospital, Kagome's head had lolled lifelessly to the side, signaling that she had finally passed out.
Sasuke did nothing but pick up his pace.
-::-
Kagome blinked groggily, moaning low in her throat. Her whole body felt stiff and sore from disuse, and a dull ache vaguely reminiscent of menstrual cramps radiated from her side.
This is the second time in forever that I've woken up in a hospital, Kagome mused, taking in the white stucco ceiling with a comforting sense of déjà vu. The lightness of the white room stung her currently-sensitive eyes, and Kagome shut them again, inhaling deeply as the rest of her body woke up.
Slowly, she wiggled her fingers and toes, experimentally. She could feel every limb, so she pushed her arms up to her side, and slid herself backwards against the pillow. Kagome was surprised to find a slight resistance. Cracking her eyes open again, Kagome was met with a dark fan of hair spread out across the light grey of her blankets, and baffled at why she hadn't felt the weight before. She immediately recognized the hairstyle, however, even if the person's face was currently turned away from her.
"S'suke," she croaked, her throat and mouth dry from disuse. Swallowing, she tried again. "Sasuke,"
He must have been sleeping deeply, because he didn't stir.
"You're awake," a voice responded instead, catching Kagome again by surprise.
She looked up to see Neji slip into the room and shut the sliding door softly behind him. He made his way over to the unoccupied side of her bed, picking up some scattered papers from the bedside and floor along the way.
"Neji," Kagome smiled softly. "Do you think…?" her voice trailed off as she was forced to swallow again.
Obligingly, Neji lifted a glass of water to her mouth, and Kagome sipped from it slowly, licking her lips. When she was finished, Neji replaced it on the bedside table, and she smiled greatfully.
"Thanks," she said, her voice soft.
"Not at all," Neji said, with the barest incline of his head. "It's good that you've finally regained consciousness, because you were extremely exhausted and dehydrated on top of your sustained wound. Tsunade actually worried you'd slip into a coma."
"A coma?" Kagome was surprised. She knew she'd been more banged up recently than she had been in a while, but she'd never ever fallen into a coma before, even during her various skirmishes in the Sengoku Jidai.
"Go back to sleep," Neji said in answer, and brushed her hair out of eyes in a fond manner. "You're not ready to be awake now anyhow- there's nothing for you to do."
Against her will, Kagome felt her eyelids growing heavier with each passing minute. She was exhausted, she realized. Her glance trailed to Sasuke, who was still asleep on her calf. Neji followed her glance, and smiled secretly to himself.
"He brought you here." He answered her silent question. "He hasn't left your side since you were admitted- you've been asleep for almost 48 hours, including your brief surgery to cleanse and close the wound in your side."
Kagome struggled to process Neji's words, her mind foggy and unfocused. Neji seemed to understand, because he gave a short laugh and simply repeated, "Go back to sleep."
After a brief, weak attempt to combat the fatigue, Kagome slipped back into a peaceful sleep, her breathing evening out. Neji watched her face slip into a simple, eased expression, before he rose from his seat.
Glancing down at the papers in his hand, Neji was surprised to recognize Sasuke's less-than-tidy scrawl, and it took a moment of dechipering before Neji realized with a start what he was holding in his hand.
"Music and lyrics," Neji commented aloud, disbelief clearly laced through his tone. He glanced over at Sasuke where he slept on, oblivious, and shuffled briefly through the pages he had collected.
Finding what appeared to be the master copy of the whole song, Neji hummed the song quietly to himself.
"For the way you changed my plans -
For being the perfect distraction
For the way you took the idea that I have
Of everything that I wanted to have
And made me see there was something missing
And for the rare and unexpected friend-
For the way you're something that I never choose,
But at the same time something I don't wanna lose,
And never want to be without ever again-"
Neji arranged the papers into a neat pile, placing them at Sasuke's side, careful not to disturb the Uchiha. It wouldn't do for him to be caught with something so personal, after all. Despite his honest intentions, however, Neji found himself humming the few bars of the song that Sasuke had written, the lyrics repeating themselves from memory in his mind.
He had to hand it to the dark-haired recluse –the song was good.
-::-
"Jewel shards…" Itachi repeated, turning to look at Naruto with narrowed eyes.
"Hey, hey," Naruto put his hands up defensively. "I didn't know something like this was gonna happen, okay? I just knew that they had something to do with Kagome's random appearance."
"And so we find ourselves where Kagome appeared from in the first place," Itachi mused aloud. He glanced up at the silver-haired figure that was growling at them, and then once over to the blonde ninja beside him.
Blinking once to clear his eye of blood, Itachi gathered his chakra and lept from the well, sending the startled man reeling backwards. A moment later, Naruto followed with less grace; hurtling upwards, having put too much force into his jump.
"Woah!" Naruto shouted, landing in a crouch. "Is it just me, or is my chakra all out of whack?"
Itachi glanced at his unwilling companion. Several possibilities ran through his mind, but a telltale motion at the corner of his eye had him substituting himself with a clone and several feet away.
The man in red had charged him, hands out, and slashed his clone apart in a millisecond. Naruto immediately distanced himself from him, but wisely moved away from Itachi as well.
"Don't ignore me!" the man yelled, his golden eyes flashing. Itachi scrutinized him carefully- noting the animal ears on his head, and the clawed fingers on his hands. He had moved faster than Itachi previously suspected- and there was a sword at his waist that hadn't left its sheath yet. Not a threat to be taken lightly.
Making a decision, Itachi quickly made another substituion with another clone, and watched safely from the treeline, hidden in shadow. Naruto recognized the simple trick and glanced his way briefly, but turned as the red-clad man howled.
"Are you some new Naraku-spawn?" InuYasha hissed, pointing at the Itachi-clone, whose red eyes were narrowed dangerously at him.
Naruto felt the situation slowly slipping out of his grasp, and stepped forwards before Itachi attacked.
"You're InuYasha, right?" he said loudly enough to attract the man's attention. "Kagome… err… told me about you."
Surely enough, the dog ears swiveled towards him, and slowly, InuYasha turned to face him, his teeth bared.
"And I already asked ya, how d'you know Kagome? Where is she?" InuYasha demanded.
"He isn't part of Naraku," Naruto continued, keeping his hands up and part of his attention on the real Itachi, who still lingered in the shadows of the afternoon. "He's with me. We're from another… somewhere else."
Naruto wasn't sure what to call it, really, because from what he had gathered from Kagome's diary, neither of the two places she traveled were in a different world… they were just different times. He didn't recognize anything about either one, however, which led to questions he just couldn't answer.
"We found Kagome in the forest and took care of her until she fell down a well," Naruto said. "She went missing, and we've been looking for her, but we haven't been able to find her."
InuYasha's hand rested on the sword at his side, the other one curling into a fist at his hip. "So you found her and then lost her? You useless little twerp."
"OI!" Naruto snapped. "You're the one that lost her first, fuckface. And if she fell down a well, shouldn't she be back here, or something? Since she uses wells to travel?"
InuYasha bristled for a moment, but slowly the anger drained from his face, leaving only guilt. He moved his hand from Tetsusaiga's hilt, and shook his head slightly, as if to clear his mind.
"Come on," he grumbled. "I'll take you to see Baa-chan, and she can fill you in while I round everybody up."
Naruto moved to follow InuYasha as he turned and walked, but hesitated in his step as InuYasha growled suddenly, and bound forward, beheading the Itachi-clone in a single swipe. The clone slumped to the ground before disappearing in a plume of smoke.
"And don't think you fooled me for a second, you bastard." InuYasha snarled at Itachi's silhouetted figure in the trees. "I'm not as stupid as you'd think."
tbc.
