Yoz...here's another lovely chapter……..

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Disclaimer: I no own Inuyasha and Naruto…….

Chapter 21: Trouble and concern
"Speaking/thinking inside flashback"
"Thinking/small flashback"
"Jutsu/abilities"
'Actions'

Recap:
Zaku slowly started to walk over to her and started to move his arms up and in front of sakura with the palms forward. Sakura's eye widened and she continued to try to force herself up but it was no use she couldn't get up. Zaku saw this and grinned. "Say goodbye gir-."

"Leaf hurricane!!"

Zaku was unable to finish his sentence for he was suddenly thrown back next to Dosu who widened his eyes at the new comer. Sakura looked up at the new comer and her eyes widened. "Lee?!"

--xXxXxXo0o.O.o0oxXxXxXx--

The figure continued to jump branch from branch before stopping and leaning against a tree for support. They adjusted the load over their shoulder before cursing. And standing up straight before continuing on their way.

--xXxXxXo0o.O.o0oxXxXxXx--

"Die! You two!" zaku raised his arms to attack the fallen sakura and lee making their eyes widen but the rustle of the nearby bushed caught everyone's attention making them all look.

A figure came into view and sakura smiled seeing black hair. "kagom-!" sakura stopped and worry and fear replaced any hopeful feeling she had in her gut for it wasn't kagome who appeared before them…it was kin and she was holding kagome's body.

Now:
Kin looked around before taking kagome's body off her shoulder and carelessly tossing her down to the floor making kagome land roughly onto the rough ground before rolling slightly and stopping.

"Kagome!"

Sakura got no answer and she started to shake while staring at the motionless kagome. She looked up at the smirking kin and glared at her with hatred. "What did you do to her?!"

Kin's smirk increased before she sighed and lightly rolled her right shoulder. "The damn girl did it to herself…" sakura seemed confused and looked back at the banged up kagome before returning her gaze to kin. "What-what do you mean?"

Kin stopped rolling her shoulder and looked at sakura curiously before sighing in fake sympathy and holding her arms up slightly while shrugging. "The stupid girl set up the explosions and set them off while we were fighting...don't blame me I did nothing." Kin smirked. "She did this to herself."

Angered sakura tried to stand but fell back down frustrated. More tears fell down her face and sakura bit her lip. Zaku chuckled and turned back to sakura. "See I told you…she's dead and you and those boys are the only one's left." Zaku held up his hands again to attack them.

"Let me do it."

Everyone stopped and turned to the still smirking kin. "I said let me….that girl wasn't much of a fight before she killed herself and I'm still bored." Zaku looked at kin for a moment before sighing and letting his hands drop to his side. "Whatever I don't feel like wasting my chakra on these weaklings anyway."

Kin continued to smirk before walking up to sakura and lee while grabbing a few senbon from her pouch. Zaku backed off and when kin was in front of sakura she grinned and lifted up her senbon. "Sorry girl but-." Kin lifted up the senbon higher before suddenly turning on her heel surprising the others and throwing them at Dosu and zaku. Both zaku and Dosu jumped to the side to dodge the attack and zaku turned towards kin angered and confused. "What the hell kin!"

Kin smirked and let her hand fall to her side. "I'm not kin." The others looked confused before kin and kagome's images started to blur and look like water. Seconds later when their images cleared it showed kin on the floor and kagome in front of sakura and the others. Zaku gritted his teeth and glared at the smirking kagome. "A transformation jutsu."

"k-kagome." sakura couldn't believe her eyes. "y-your aliv-."

"I'm so sorry sakura." Sakura blinked at kagome's sad tone. "What do you mean?"

Kagome looked back at her and sakura stopped surprised at the sadden emotion on kagome's face. "I'm...sorry...I couldn't keep my promise." Sakura tried to smile at kagome but kagome had already turned away to face the remaining sound Nin. Kagome blinked still seeing the same light glows coming from the others. "I can't use my kouyoume...so I'm going to have to deal with this weird vision for now…"

Kagome fisted her hands before holding out her right arm with the palm down. Seconds later kagome's hand started to glow a light blue that flickered for a few seconds before her chakra started to form into a small sword.

Zaku stared at the sword in caped amazement. "How's she doing that-?" Zaku's amazement was interrupted by kagome suddenly disappearing and reappearing in front of him with her sword held high before she aimed her sword down and cut his shoulder. Zaku yelled out in pain and gripped his shoulder as he fell down to his knees panting. Zaku looked up at kagome and glared. "w-what was that…"

Kagome stared down coldly at zaku before holding her sword out and pointed it at Zaku's head. "That you felt was my chakra sword. If you haven't guessed this sword is made up of completely my chakra but I've added a small touch to it…..an electrical current that will shock anything it touches, but it's still under testing so I'm not sure what exactly will happen to either of us."

Sakura watched kagome carefully before looking down to her hand but widened her eyes seeing that kagome's hand was smoking and slowly getting burned. "Her hand's burning….is it from her sword?"

Zaku seemed shocked til he glared at kagome. "Bitch!" kagome's glare increased and she moved her sword closer to Zaku's face. "Can't you th-." Kagome quickly turned to the left and used her sword to block against dosu's kunai.

Dosu added more force into his kunai making kagome slide back a few feet before she bit her lip and added more force but being over powered. Dosu suddenly smirked and lifted up his sleeve making kagome momentarily stop pushing against dosu's kunai.

Sakura's eyes widened understanding what it meant. "Kagome it's a trap-!"

Sakura's warning came too late for kagome suddenly yelled out and fell gripping her ears tightly in pain making Dosu chuckle. Kagome bit her lip drawing blood before screaming out again and falling forward. "w-what is this…..my ear-?"

Kagome was sent flying back and landed roughly on the ground before rolling to a stop. Kagome's sword flickered away and she slowly got up on her knees before coughing and spitting up blood. Kagome wiped her mouth before cursing and shaking her head. Hearing chuckling kagome looked up to see that both zaku and Dosu were laughing at her. Glaring at them before slowly getting up on her knees, but stopped and fell down again coughing up more blood. "It seems your hurt girl."

Kagome looked up again before slowly forcing herself to get up. Once she was on her feet kagome glared at them before she disappeared from their view. "I may not have enough strength but I still got speed."

Both Dosu and zaku scanned the area but turned when they heard something from their right. They turned to see kagome in the air and doing a list of hand signs. "fire style: fire flower!" kagome inhaled before exhaling a huge breath and the fire that came out of her mouth formed into falling flower petals before they headed towards both Dosu and zaku.

They both dodged and kagome landed roughly on her knees while looking around and panting. Wiping the blood from her mouth kagome spit it out before struggling to get up. Kagome fell back down and fisted her hands. "I'm getting weaker and weaker and I have about enough chakra for two more jut-." Kagome froze and looked up when she felt someone in front of her. Kagome saw zaku grinning down at her and struggled to move out of the way but she was stopped by zaku grabbing the front of her shirt and lifting her up into the air.

Zaku's grin increased and he fisted his free hand. "Payback for the shoulder girl." Before kagome had time to comment back zaku punched her in the stomach making kagome lean forward coughing before her head flew back due to zaku kneeing her in the chin. Kagome coughed up blood and slumped forward with only Zaku's hold on her shirt keeping her up.

Zaku continued to beat up on kagome before he finally kicked kagome back. Kagome flew threw the air before falling to the floor and creating a small crater. Kagome moaned in pain and was still for a few moments making the others watch sakura in concern and zaku and Dosu in amusement. After another minute passed they saw kagome's body twitch before she started to slowly get up. Kagome was stopped and picked up again by zaku who looked surprised and a little frustrated. He lifted kagome's battered body higher into the air and glared at her. "Why do you keep struggling? Don't you know you're going to lose anyway?!"

Kagome was silent except for her deep breathing making zaku glare at her before bringing her closer to him. "Why do you keep trying?!" kagome's body started to tremble lightly and kagome slowly looked up with closed and pained eyes. "I-I keep trying…b-because those important to me are harmed..." kagome opened her eyes and zaku froze seeing sharp blue eyes stare back at his brown. Kagome slowly lifted up her hand before she gripped Zaku's wrist and squeezed making zaku yell out in pain as he dropped her.

Kagome continued to keep a tight hold onto Zaku's wrist making him start to struggle to get free. Once his hand was free zaku turned towards the still kneeling kagome and held out his arms. "I'm sick of you just die!"

A huge blast of wind came from his hands and covered up kagome's form making sakura's eyes widen. "Kagome!" sakura's voice was covered by the winds own loud voice as it cut down tree's and made huge dents in the ground. A few second's later the wind disappeared and zaku smirked before he widened his eyes seeing that kagome was unharmed with a silver barrier protecting her.

Kagome opened her eyes and looked up surprised to see a silver barrier and slowly reached out her burned hand to touch it. Immediately a warm, comforting feeling overcame her body and the stinging pain from her hand disappeared. Confused kagome drew back her hand to look at it and furrowed her eyebrows seeing that her hand was still burned but no pain radiated off it. "How?" Curious kagome lifted up both hands to touch the barrier and the same warm feeling washed over her making her smile. "Whatever this is...I'm feeling better and my wounds don't hurt as much...it's like their being numbed."

Kagome's musing were cut short by the barrier surrounding her flickering. She looked up to see that zaku had a kunai to the barrier and struggling to keep it there and pierce threw. Second's later zaku failed and he was sent back by the barrier seemingly attacking back. Zaku landed on his feet and ran at kagome and the barrier again before starting to attack. As zaku started to attack the barrier.

After a few more seconds of constant attack, the barrier cracked under the pressure making zaku smirk. "Ha whatever this barrier is it won't save you!"

--xXxXxXo0o.O.o0oxXxXxXx--

Jumping down on the tree branch with Tenten next to him Neji stared down at the scene to see that lee was on the ground unconscious. Scanning over the rest of the area he saw that team 7 and the sound Nin were fighting.

He glanced over the unconscious Sasuke and naruto and the hurt sakura but stopped slightly amazed at what crossed his vision. A silver barrier was glowing and looking as though it was protecting someone. Looking closer he saw that the one in the barrier being protected was the girl kagome. "What is that chakra?" Activating his Byakugan Neji stared down at the chakra barrier before looking closer at kagome's chakra network.

Slight confusion clouded his eyes. "What's with her chakra...it's not normal." Neji looked back and studied kagome's network again still with confusion. "This chakra is different….it's flowing in her body but not in the original networks...it's like there are separate networks connecting in her body…"

--xXxXxXo0o.O.o0oxXxXxXx--

Zaku sent one last kick at the barrier and it cracked before finally shattering and sending both zaku and kagome back. Kagome turned herself and landed on her knees with a surprised face. She looked down at her arms and frowned slightly. "I feel a bit better…but all my wounds are still there." Kagome pondered about it for a few more seconds before standing up and shaking her head. "No time to-."

A tingling feeling suddenly overcame kagome's body making her pause before turning to look over to where the boys where instinctively. As soon as her eyes rested on the boys a horrible feeling of dread and something she couldn't explain overcame her making her eyes widen and shiver. Kagome continued to gaze at the boys and noticed something faintly moving around like a small wind. Focusing kagome froze seeing dark purple chakra slowly grow and become clearer and clearer as it swirled around Sasuke like a miniature tornado.

Kagome narrowed her eyes and looked closer at Sasuke to see his mark was glowing a bright orange red and it clicked into kagome's mind. "It's coming from his mark."

"Kagome watch out!!"

Kagome turned and saw shuriken heading towards her. Kagome turned on her heel of her foot to dodge most of the shuriken but wasn't fast enough and got a few shuriken in her shoulder.

Kagome felt the kunai stab themselves into her skin but only felt a small stinging and stood in her place curious. Kagome looked down at her shoulder and saw the kunai along with blood soaking her shirt and widened her eyes. "I got hit…but there's only a small stinging...why? Is it from that barrier earlier?"

"What are you?"

Kagome looked up from her shoulder the amazed look still on her face to see zaku staring at her with amazement and a bit of fear. "How are you…you were hit...yet you act like nothing happened." Kagome was silent unable to answer that question angering zaku and making him stick his arms up and take aim at her. "Why won't you die?!"

Zaku released summoned a huge amount of chakra to his hands before releasing it all in a huge blast of wind. The blast headed straight towards kagome who widened her eyes before the blast hit her. Kagome flew back and rammed into a tree creating a medium sized crater. Kagome's mouth was opened in a silent scream and blood dribbled down her mouth before she fell down against the tree.

Zaku appeared in front of her and once again lifted her up into the air by her shirt before tossing her again behind him. Kagome fell to the floor a few feet from sakura and the boys and was still for a few moments. "I need…to get up….."

Kagome forced herself to get on her knees with her arms shaking holding herself up. She panted and tried to move but found she couldn't move from her spot. Kagome looked down slightly and coughed up more blood. "I-it's no use...I feel no pain...but I can't move my body that much…it won't move due to the injuries…." shocking blue eyes looked around and saw sakura staring at her with worry…and shock? Kagome furrowed her eyebrows but inwardly shook her head and looked over to the boys again but stopped.

Sakura continued to gaze at kagome even after she gazed at her in confusion. "What's up with kagome's eyes? Why are they blue...is it apart of her Kekkei Genkai?" sakura continued to look at kagome but blinked when she saw kagome's eyes widen. Realizing she was looking at the boys behind her sakura turned to look and her own green orbs widened. "Sas...Sasuke?"

--xXxXxXo0o.O.o0oxXxXxXx--

Sensing a huge increase of chakra suddenly Neji moved his gaze from kagome to Sasuke and saw the purple chakra. Deactivating his Byakugan Neji stared down at Sasuke. "His chakra is so thick I don't even need the Byakugan to see it."

--xXxXxXo0o.O.o0oxXxXxXx--

The tornado of purple chakra increased and suddenly they saw Sasuke slowly rising and standing up straight before he turned towards them. Kagome shivered slightly despite her protests not to when she saw how Sasuke looked. The whole left of his face was covered in ink black markings that resembled the curse mark on his neck that still glowed a bright orange-red. The purple chakra continued to swirl around him only adding to the dread kagome was feeling earlier. "Something's not right..."

Kagome continued to gaze at the Uchiha and stiffened up when his eyes turned towards her the Sharingan activated and glowing a menacing crimson. Shocking blue met crimson before Sasuke removed his gaze from her and turned to look at sakura. Once his gaze was fully on sakura kagome shivered despite her protests not too. "That chakra…something is strange about it." Kagome stared at Sasuke a bit longer and finally noticed something was wrong. "Wait why is sasuke's glow darkening..." kagome continued to watch as the glow surrounding Sasuke started to get darker and darker. "Why is-."

After a few more seconds sasuke's gaze returned back to her own and kagome once again stiffened not at all liking the feeling that continued to nip at her spine and senses. Kagome fought down another shiver as the chakra surrounding Sasuke increased and his expression turned into hidden anger. "Who did this to you?"

Sasuke got no answer and his crimson eyes narrowed slightly not liking kagome's unresponsiveness. "I said who did this to you, sakura." He looked back towards the still sakura before looking back at her. "Kagome." This was no longer was an emotionless question but a demand and kagome knew it but continued to stay quiet while staring straight at Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes narrowed again in and the chakra increased slightly. "Who was it?"

Chuckling was heard from the left and everyone turned towards it to see that zaku was laughing and grinning. Sasuke glared at zaku before turning towards him slightly. "You." Zaku continued to chuckle and he nodded looking proud. "Yeah me...I was the one to beat those weaklings."

Sasuke turned to face zaku completely and the chakra suddenly increased and started to swirl faster around Sasuke. Sasuke's marks started to glow the orange red before they started to more before they covered his whole right and the rest of his body. The marks stopped glowing and returned back to their ink black color and the chakra surrounding Sasuke disappeared.

Not waiting anymore zaku took aim with his hands before releasing a huge blast of chakra. The blast flew forward taking down trees and branches and lifting up dirt making Dosu cover his head to protect himself.

Dosu continued to protect his head and sasuke's mark came to mind. "His mark...it activated..." suddenly kagome came to mind and he furrowed his eyebrows. "but if his has activated then why hasn't the girl's?"

After few seconds the blast died down and zaku let his hands fall to his side while grinning madly at the empty space in front of him seeing that they were gone. Zaku panted and a chuckle escaped his mouth. "Haha I did-."

Zaku was no longer able to finish his sentence for he was suddenly sent flying forward before he hit the ground and rolled to a stop. Once he was able t o get up he wiped his mouth and looked up to see that Sasuke was in the same place he was only moments ago with his leg in a kicking position. "He...how is he so fast?"

Kagome opened her eyes feeling that she was still kneeling on the ground and unharmed. "What..." kagome's unasked question was answered when she noticed she was next to sakura and the still passed out Naruto. "When?" kagome looked around for an answer and immediately knew the answer when she saw Sasuke in front of them. "He must have grabbed us…but when? That blast was too quick…"

Kagome's thoughts were interrupted when she heard shuffling and someone getting up. She looked over Sasuke to see that it was zaku getting up with a glare on his face. "Fire style: phoenix flower!" kagome looked up to see Sasuke inhale before exhaling a huge breath. Suddenly small balls of fire left sasuke's mouth and headed towards zaku.

In an attempt to protect himself zaku lifted his hands up and blasted the fire away but didn't expect shuriken in them and got stabbed multiple times in the shoulder, legs and arms making him yell out in pain.

Dosu took a step forward with eyes wide seeing something. "Zaku!" zaku heard dosu's warning and tried to move but wasn't fast enough due to the shuriken in his legs and was stopped by Sasuke who quickly slid in front of him before turning and moving behind him. Zaku still tired to get away but he was stopped by Sasuke grabbing both his arms and pulling them back with his right foot on the center of his back. Sasuke added pressure to his foot making zaku fall down to his knees and pulled lightly on his arms to keep him there.

Sasuke smirked and started to push down on his back with his foot while at the same time pulling his arms back. A small crack filled the new silence in the area and sasuke's smirk increased.

Kagome watched Sasuke and another shiver escaped her body. The feeling from earlier came back full force and kagome started to fill slightly nauseous. "This...that isn't Sasuke….he's actually enjoying every bit at the idea of torturing him…."

More pressure was added and another louder crack was heard making zaku yell out in pain and sasuke's smirk increase. "You seem to very attached to your arms…" Zaku's and everyone's eyes widened understanding the under meaning of that sentence. Zaku turned his head back with fear clear in his eyes as he stared at Sasuke. "P-please n-no don't!"

Zaku's pleas were ignored as Sasuke continued to slowly add pressure slowly torturing zaku. Sasuke's smirk turned was could be said demonic before he quickly at once added a huge amount of pressure. A huge horrible cracking followed and Zaku's pupils dilated before he yelled out in horrible pain.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Zaku's scream pierced threw the forest making everyone freeze at how much pain that one scream held. Kagome noticed trembling from her side and turned slightly to see sakura shaking with wide frightened eyes. Forcing her body to move, kagome moved in front of sakura slightly surprising said girl from her trance. "K-kagome?"

"Sakura…if you don't want to look its okay..." Kagome turned her head to the side to look at sakura sadly. "You also don't have to hold it in…rules be damned." Sakura nodded and her shaking increased before tears started to run down her face. Kagome stared at sakura sadly. "She shouldn't have to see this….she shouldn't have to see Sasuke like this." Turning away from the crying girl kagome took a deep breath before holding it and slowly tried to move her body and get up. After a few seconds her body listened to her wishes and she got up from her sitting position on the floor to standing a bit unsteadily.

Kagome shuttered seeing sasuke's smirk turn into a grin as he enjoyed the fact that zaku was suffering. Zaku's screams stopped as zaku passed out from the pain making Sasuke take his foot of his back before effortlessly throwing him to the side towards Dosu.

Zaku landed roughly in front of Dosu making him look down at his passed out teammate before looking up and freezing as Sasuke turned towards him the grin still on his face. "You're next…your teammates are down and you're the only one left."

Having enough sakura stood up tears still streaming down her face making kagome look at her curious. Sakura took a step forward and started walking to Sasuke making kagome widened her eyes. Sakura made a move to take another step forward but was stopped by a soft but stern grasp on her wrist.

Puzzled sakura looked back and saw it was kagome's wrist keeping her there with her head down. Sakura tried to get her wrist free from kagome's hold but kagome only increased her grip, not enough to hurt her but enough to keep her there. Frustrated that kagome wouldn't let her go sakura's face turned into confusion and a bit of annoyance. "Kagome what are you doing? Let me go! I have to go to Sasuke."

Still with her head down kagome shook her head and her hold on sakura's wrist tightened. "No… don't go near Sasuke." Sakura was silent and she continued to stare at kagome with confusion. "Why is she-?"

--

Kagome's face softened and her grip on his shirt loosened. "The Sasuke that I know wouldn't freeze up at the sight of danger he wouldn't do nothing. The Sasuke that I and the others have come to know would stand up to danger and wouldn't let his enemies get the upper hand…that Sasuke would get his act together and think of something do to instead of stand there being a coward."

--

Sakura was silent but her eyes widened when the dust cleared. Kagome was in front of Sasuke with Orochimaru's fangs in her neck. Kagome winced and her arms that were at her side's fell a small bit.

--

Kagome smiled a small bit even though in pain at Sasuke before wincing again and looking down panting. "a-are you okay?" she got no answer and painfully looked up worried that maybe Sasuke did get hurt but came face to face with slightly confused but very angry red eyes. "Why did you do that?!"

Kagome laughed at the angry Uchiha before her eyes began to close slightly. "Ha that-that's funny…. Like I need a reason to help my friends. You saw what he did to Naruto I saw what he did to all of you…what ever he was planning it-it wasn't good."

--

Though still unable to move all the way Sasuke was able to slightly move his arms and caught kagome abit awkwardly in his arms. He looked up hearing Orochimaru's chuckling and glared the best he could at the snake like man. "What did you do?!"

--

Sakura's confusion and annoyance turned into anger and she glared at kagome while attempting to get free again. "I-I understand now! I knew it! You-you also like Sasuke!! That's why you won't let me near him! Y-you-."

'Slap!!'

Sakura froze as kagome's grip on her wrist lightened and everything around them seemed to freeze. Sakura stared down at her right hand in horror before looking back up at kagome whose face was aiming to the left, and a bright red mark covering her whole right cheek.

"k-kagome I-I..." sakura stopped not knowing what to say and watched motionless as kagome released her wrist completely with her bangs covering her eyes. Kagome let her hand drop to her side before silently walking passed sakura. "I-I slapped kagome…"

Kagome stopped walking a few feet away from sakura still not facing her. "So…that's what you think of me…how you really feel." Sakura froze up at the empty tone kagome used. "If…I made it seem that way then I'm sorry….but if you want to fight, beat, or harm me for it…you will have to wait…." Sakura flinched. "Because if you haven't noticed…." Sakura flinched again and looked down slightly completely aware of the controlled anger and slight sadness in kagome's voice. "Sasuke is dangerous." Kagome looked behind her, her face emotionless. "Right now he is not your Sasuke and can easily hurt anyone of us."

Kagome looked forward again and started to do hand signs. "I'm sorry sakura but you need to look beyond that crush of yours on Sasuke once in awhile and see what's right in front of you." Kagome looked back and stared at sakura sadly. "Otherwise you'll pay in the end." Kagome looked away from her and sakura's eyes widened seeing the bruise already forming on kagome's cheek. Sakura looked down and guilt was clear in her eyes. "How could I have slapped her-?"

"Earth style: earth binding jutsu!" sakura looked up and watched as kagome slammed her hand to the ground. Seconds later the ground started to shake before giant poles of earth shot up and headed towards Sasuke before wrapping around him and keeping him in place.

Immediately Sasuke started to struggle and fighting against the poles before he looked up to stare at kagome knowing she was the one to restrain him. Confusion was clear in his eyes before he glared slightly at her and smirked. Kagome ignored him and looked down while doing another set of hand signs. "Earth style: earth barrier jutsu!" kagome threw both her hands down on the ground and once again the ground started to shake but this time a huge barrier made of rock and dirt shot up before raising and slowly covering Sasuke within the dome. Kagome stood back up and watched as Sasuke stared at her with a smirk before his form disappeared by the dome covering him completely. "I need to work quickly…it will only last for a few minutes...sooner if he fights it."

As if Sasuke was reading her thoughts the dome started to suddenly shake slightly and bits already started to fall. Kagome cursed. "Okay then…much sooner." Kagome turned towards the remaining sound Nin with a tired but still deadly glare. "You sound Nin….leave your scroll and go….if you don't I will deal with you myself."

Dosu stared at kagome and she glared at him frustrated. "I said go." Dosu continued to stare at her and her blue eyes flashed before the wind in the area started pick up. "I am in no mood. If you do not leave now I will make sure you don't ever move again tired or not."

Dosu looked from kagome to the slowly breaking barrier. "Even if I could take the girl I would never be able to take Sasuke in the state he is in now." Gritting his teeth, Dosu took out his earth scroll before placing it on the floor. He then quickly grabbed his teammates before turning towards kagome glaring. "Next time girl…you and your team won't be so lucky." Dosu casted one more glance towards the still shattering barrier before taking off into the forest.

Kagome looked in the direction the nin went for a bit longer before turning towards the barrier to see it was about to break. Kagome braced herself as the rest of the barrier crumbled revealing Sasuke standing in the middle of the rubble. Sasuke looked over to her still smirking and kagome tensed.

Seeing this sasuke's smirk increased before he turned away from her and started walking in the direction the sound Nin went intending to follow Dosu. Knowing what he was planning to do kagome gritted her teeth. "Sasuke."

Sasuke momentarily stopped before ignoring her and continuing on his way. Not liking being ignored kagome glared at Sasuke before slowly walking forward towards Sasuke. "Sasuke!" he continued to ignore her and made a move to jump away making kagome curse. "Crap."

"Damn it Sasuke don't you fucking dare-." Sasuke disappeared from kagome view and she tensed while scanning the grounds for any sign of the Uchiha.

"What."

Kagome froze in her place feeling someone directly behind her and moved her head to the side even though she already knew who it was. She felt a hand lightly wrap around the base of her neck from the right and kagome tensed with widened eyes. "When did he get behind me…?"

"I said what do you want?"

Feeling warm breath on her right ear kagome looked from the corner of her eyes to see black bangs before she met crimson red orbs staring at her own blue. Sasuke smirked and kagome froze. "Not good."

Kagome moved her eyes slightly around trying to think of something. After a few seconds kagome had an idea and quickly pushed her back into sasuke's chest making him move back at the impact. His hand moved a bit away from her neck and kagome took no time to jump forward and turn on the ball of her foot to turn and face Sasuke. She then got in a fighting stance watching Sasuke with a weak glare. "I need to try to knock him out…or something."

Kagome stood still when Sasuke stepped towards her smirking. Shaking her head kagome moved to attack but stopped when she saw Sasuke was frozen in his spot. Kagome saw arms wrapped around sasuke's chest and widened her eyes. "S-sakura." "Careful."

"P-please don't fight anymore….stop this…your teammates... teammates don't fight one another. Please stop." Sakura continued to cry and her hold on Sasuke increased. It was quiet for a few minutes till the marks covering Sasuke glowed and slowly started to recede back into his neck. His Sharingan also faded and disappeared leaving his eyes their normal onyx black.

Sasuke removed sakura's arms from his chest and kagome sighed thankful before falling on her knees and panting heavily. "Thank god….if he were to attack sakura…I wouldn't have been able to help her…and they're both okay now…" Both Sasuke and sakura saw her fall and both ran up to her. Kagome's arms began to shake and sakura kneeled next to her. "Kagome?"

Kagome looked up and sasuke's eyes widened slightly seeing kagome's blue eyes. "They're blue again-."

Kagome looked away from them and slowly forced herself up before walking over to the still Shirou a little ways from them.

Sakura looked at kagome's back for a minute or two before looking down ashamed. Sasuke saw the reaction between the two and looked at sakura before turning towards kagome and saw the fresh bruise on her right cheek. Looking back towards sakura he saw her looking down at her hands. Understanding Sasuke slightly raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.

Kagome smiled sadly and lightly petted Shirou on his neck. "I'm sorry Shirou….please forgive me."

"K-kag…ome"

A bit surprised Kagome looked down to see Shirou's eyes struggling to open. Gently placing her hand over shirou's eyes kagome nodded her head. "Yeah...Shirou...it's me…..I'm so sorry you're like this." Kagome stared down at Shirou before wrapping her arms around Shirou. "I'm sorry…so, so, sorry. Why didn't you just leave...you know you could have."

Shirou seemed to chuckle lightly for kagome felt his chest rumbled a small bit." Ha...and leave you here….I thought...that you were… dead… I wasn't going to leave until I knew you were alive…stupid kagome-sama."

Kagome laughed lightly. "I know…but now you can rest…you deserve it." Shirou grinned slightly at her. "Yeah…and you'd better summon me again soon…you can't do anything without me." Kagome smiled sadly before nodding and lifting up her hand. Her hand suddenly started to glow green before the glow started to turn into symbols and covered the top of her hand. Kagome then moved her hand over Shirou and he grinned one last time at kagome before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

Sasuke and sakura both covered their mouths from the smoke and when it cleared it showed kagome still on her knees with her hand up in the air glowing green. Kagome sighed and stared 

at the empty place where Shirou once resided letting her hand fall to her side. Kagome continued to stare down at the ground before shaking her head lightly trying to get rid of the dizziness that suddenly came to her. "Ow... my head…"

Shaking her head again and ignoring it, Kagome moved to get up but stopped frozen in mid-stance. Sasuke and sakura noticed seeing that kagome was frozen and starting walking towards her. "Kagome-."

Sakura was interrupted by kagome glowing very faint silver and pulsing lightly creating a small waves of chakra.

Both sakura and Sasuke stopped where they were, not knowing what the chakra was and became still when the small waves headed towards them. Once the waves met their skin both tensed but immediately and involuntarily relaxed as the waves continued to wash over them.

Sasuke felt a small stinging come from his mark and lifted a hand to touch it confused. Sasuke looked from the small waves heading towards them and looked at the still frozen and slightly glowing kagome confused. "Why is the mark stinging? Is it because of this chakra coming from kagome?"

Sasuke no longer had any time to ponder about the weird chakra coming from kagome because the glow dimmed and pulsed one more time before completely disappearing from kagome's body. In response and as if she was being held up by the chakra, kagome fell back down onto her knees but something was wrong she was now gripping her arms tightly and yelling out in pain. "Why….does it hurt all of a sudden…my wounds…." Kagome closed her eyes when another wave came and hit her but this time from her shoulder. Kagome's eyes opened wide understanding why. "From that barrier…it was only numbing my pain…but now…whatever kept that numbing going is go-." Kagome couldn't keep her thoughts going because another wave hit her but from her back.

Unable to take the pain anymore kagome let her forehead touch the floor as a way to steady herself. "b-by the way things are seeming….I-I'm going to feel every one of my wou-."

"Ahhh!"

"Kagome!" both Sasuke and sakura ran up to kagome and kneeled next to her. Sakura lightly touched kagome's shoulder but retracted her hand when kagome yelled out as if in pain. Feeling something warm on her hand sakura looked down to see blood. Confused and scared sakura looked over to Sasuke to see he was staring at kagome with what could be said a small sliver of confusion and concern.

Sakura ignored the feeling that filled her chest and shook her head while staring at the still yelling girl. "Why is she in pain all of a sudden…earlier she acted as though her wounds didn't 

hurt her…but now after that glow...she's in pain…when I touched her shoulder her yelled out…what's happening to kagome?"

Kagome's yelling calm down and she was only wincing time to time and panting. "Kagome…ar-are you okay?" hearing her name kagome weakly lifted her head from the ground to look up and see both Sasuke and sakura staring her before their eyes widened at her for some reason. "w-w-."

"Your eyes." Kagome's pained filled eyes clouded in slight confusion, but neither he nor sakura paid attention for their attention was captured by kagome's eyes. When she looked up at them her eyes were still blue but they started to flicker from their blue to their original silver. After a few more times of flickering, her eyes suddenly stopped and stayed complete silver.

"What-?" kagome stopped with her mouth opened and her eyes wide before falling forward unconscious. Sakura looked down worried and slowly lifted kagome up and placed her head on her lap before looking at Sasuke. "What…happened? Why did kagome yell out like that?"

Sasuke looked at her for a moment before looking away not answering for he couldn't.

--xXxXxXo0o.O.o0oxXxXxXx--

"Ow…what's touching me?" drowsy blue eyes opened and blinked seeing two fuzzy figures looking down at them. When their vision cleared and they were able to identify who it was, they blinked seeing Shikamaru and Chouji staring down at him in slight annoyance.

Blue eyes blinked again before remembering what happened and quickly shot up into the air looking around frantically. "w-what happened?! That disgusting weird looking Nin guy where'd-where'd he go?? "

Surprised both Shikamaru and Chouji moved back and away from the frantic person and Shikamaru sighed. "Naruto." Naruto continued to look around clearly ignoring or oblivious to them making Shikamaru sigh in laziness and annoyance. "So troublesome….Naruto!"

Naruto stopped panicking and turned to face him and Chouji before his face converted into confusion. "Shikamaru? Chouji? What are you 2 doing here?" Shikamaru sighed again and placed a hand on his head not believing the blond in front of him. "You don't remember anything?" Naruto was silent before he recalled the Nin again and started to freak out. He quickly jumped to the floor covering his head. "If you guys are here then you need to watch out! That nin could be anywhere!"

Shikamaru and Chouji sweat dropped at the blond in front of them. "I can't believe him."

Naruto's loud yelling caught the attention of the others and both Sasuke and sakura looked behind them. "Naruto?" Naruto looked around hearing sakura's voice till his gaze landed on her 

and Sasuke a few feet ahead of him. Seeing sakura's hair and her wounds naruto's eyes widened and he hurriedly got up concerned. "Oh no! Sakura! Sakura are you alright?!"

Sakura turned to him a bit confused. "What?" Naruto quickly slid to a stop and looked down at sakura. "Your hair something's happened to it are you okay?!" sakura looked surprised before she smiled a bit sadly and touched what was left of her pink locks. "oh…it's nothing really…..I just felt like it was getting in the way…I mean we are in the forest so long hair could get in the way…" Naruto nodded understanding before turning to face team 10. "And what about you guys…why are you here?" everyone sighed at the clueless blond and sakura looked down. "Everyone just came…to help us..."

Naruto still looked confused but nodded anyway before he stopped suddenly and looked around. "Wait where's kagome?!" everyone stilled at naruto's words making him look worried. He turned towards his teammates. "What...happened to kagome? Why...isn't she here?"

Sakura looked down and her hand stopped touching her hair to rest in her lap. "Kagome is here." Naruto looked around. "Where." Both Sasuke and sakura moved to the side and Naruto saw kagome but widened his eyes at all her wounds. Kagome was laying on the ground with her head to the side. She had a bad burn on her hand and both shuriken and kunai wounds were scattered across her body. She had bruises on her arms and legs and some parts of her clothing had holes. Her complete left sleeve was torn off revealing her slightly bloody arm. Blood and dirt spots covered her clothes and her right sleeve was practically bathed in blood. Mud and blood also littered her raven colored hair that seemed dull and worn. Kagome had a huge bruise on her right cheek and a few scratches and dirt splotches covered her face. "w-what happened to kagome?"

The others were quiet before sakura looked up. "She protected all of us." Naruto looked confused. "What do you mean?" sakura sighed and looked down again.

"It's nothing…she just passed out from all the fighting she did."

Everyone turned towards Sasuke who sighed in annoyance and turned away.

"Lee!" the conscious members of team 7 and team 10 turned to the voice and saw Tenten standing up and running towards Ino who was holding up lee. "I'll take him from here." Ino blinked before nodding. "Umm….okay?" she handed over lee to Tenten and Tenten nodded her thanks before grabbing lee's shoulders and shaking him. Everyone sweat dropped but stopped when they saw lee actually woke up.

Lee looked up. "Um...Tenten what are you doing here?" Tenten sighed and placed her hand on her hips. "I came her to help you what do you think?" lee nodded and looked around. "What's going on...and where are those sound ninja?" Tenten kneeled down so she was eye level to lee and gave him a serious look both Sasuke and kagome dealt with them…so their gone."

Lee looked a bit surprised and turned towards team 7 and saw them checking a passed out kagome. Seeing kagome's condition lee looked surprised. "What happened to kagome? Did the sound nin do that?" Tenten shook her head. "no I don't think so…from what I know it seems kagome was up this entire time since the test started fighting…and she just passed out now." Lee nodded and faced the others again. "Fighting this entire time…"

"But what were you thinking?!" lee turned back towards Tenten to see her glaring at him lightly. "Going out and fighting on your own….your a mess!" lee looked down. "I know but...sakura needed my help-."

"Bushy brows what are you doing here?!" everyone turned to see Naruto pointing at him until he flew forward with sakura behind him looking angry. "Don't you go making fun of lee you here me Naruto?!" Naruto fell to the floor. "What happened…while I was asleep?"

Sakura calmed down and turned towards lee. "Um...lee...thank...you for saving me…and I'm sorry you got hurt in the process." Lee gave her a small grin before it fell in and he looked down. "No thank you sakura…but I guess it wasn't good enough…I couldn't save you on my own…kagome and Sasuke interfered and were the ones to save you." he looked up and faced Sasuke. "Sasuke…you are as good as everyone says….I should have expected that from the Uchiha clan though….you must be really strong….unlike me...I just got beaten to a pulp…and kagome too..She also must be really strong… she came and saved us when I was down…"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "What does he mean he was beaten…to a pulp…were those sound ninja…really so strong."

Lee looked back up and grinned slightly at sakura. "Sakura. The lotus of the leaf blooms twice." Sakura looked confused but lee's grin increased. "So when we met again...I will be a stronger ninja…you can count on it!" lee gave her a thumbs up and sakura stared at lee for a bit before smiling and nodding. "Thank you lee."

"Sakura!" everyone turned towards Ino who waved. "Sakura if you come here I'll fix your hair for you." Sakura looked surprised. "Ino…."

"Well are you going to come here?" sakura snapped out of her thoughts and smiled lightly before nodding and running over to Ino. "Coming!" the others watched as sakura ran to Ino before Naruto turned his attention to the still passed out kagome and looked a bit worried. "What do we do about kagome…her wounds seem okay now but we need to bandage her up or something."

"Um...I might have something." everyone turned towards Tenten who reached for something from her back pouch. When she found what she was looking for tenten's face brightened and she pulled it out smiling lightly before handing it to Sasuke. "Here…its ointment…you guys can use it…you will probably need it more than me…" Naruto looked at Tenten with a thankful expression. "Are you sure?"

Tenten nodded. "Sure….besides kagome helped and stuck up for me during the first test...so it's a way to pay her back…it's not much but should help." Both Naruto and Sasuke nodded and Sasuke pocketed the ointment for later. Tenten nodded before turning towards lee. "We should get going." Lee nodded and stood up before following after Tenten. He turned back once to grin at Sasuke and Naruto before he disappeared with Tenten in the forest.

--xXxXxXo0o.O.o0oxXxXxXx--

Tenten and lee landed on the branch next to him and Tenten turned towards him. "Ready?" Neji nodded before looking back once at Sasuke and then the passed out kagome. Looking back forward Neji turned towards his teammates before jumping off with Tenten and lee following after.

--xXxXxXo0o.O.o0oxXxXxXx--

Hearing footsteps coming towards them Sasuke and naruto turned to see sakura with her hair fixed up. She stopped in front of them before turning around hearing some one coming. They saw team 10 and blinked. "Yeah?"

Shikamaru placed his hands behind his head. "We need to get going…and technically we are opponents in this test." Team 7 nodded and team 10 waved before they also left leaving team 7 alone. Sakura turned towards her male teammates before looking down at kagome. "So what do we do?"

"We need to find a river or something for food…then we need to clean kagome's wounds before they get worse." Sasuke took out the ointment and handed it to sakura before walking over to kagome. Sakura stared down at the little brown container in curiosity. "When did he get this?"

"Let's go." Both sakura and Naruto looked over to Sasuke to see he was holding kagome bridal style due to her wounds. He caught them looking at him funny and sighed. Adjusting kagome a small bit Sasuke stared back. "We need to go…and find a river and it's faster if I carry her." they nodded and Sasuke looked at them one more time before disappearing from the ground and reappearing on a tree branch. Seconds later Naruto and sakura appeared next to him and he nodded to them before jumping to another and leaving his teammates close behind.

Sakura stared after Sasuke and self-consciously gripped the ointment in her hand tighter before shaking her head and placing said contained in her back pouch.

--xXxXxXo0o.O.o0oxXxXxXx--

Sakura sighed and picked up another sick to add to the make-shift fire pit. Grabbing one last stick sakura placed it by the others in a small tepee like fashion. Satisfied it was going to stay in place sakura turned towards the river and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Sasuke! The fire-pit's ready! Could you use one of your fire jutsu to light it?!"

Sakura placed her hands back in her lap waiting for said Uchiha to come and smiled when she saw his figure walking towards her. Once he was close enough sakura gave him a small smile before reaching in her back pouch for the ointment she placed in her pouch earlier.

Finding it her face brightened and she turned away from Sasuke currently lighting the fire to get up and walk towards the still passed out kagome laying a few feet away. Grabbing the ointment in her hand tighter sakura kneeled next to kagome and looked her over before frowning slightly. "I'm going to have to clean her wounds from the blood and dirt...but what could I use-."

"Take them…I made extra incase we will need them later but for now you can hold them…."

Remembering the two rags kagome gave her sakura's eyes brightened and she reached back into her pouch searching for the two cloths. Feeling something soft and torn touch her fingers sakura grinned slightly before grabbing the cloths and taking them out. Looking down at the objects in her hands sakura gripped them before placing the ointment down and standing up and preparing to leave. "I need to get these wet..."

"Sakura."

Sakura stopped and turned around to see Sasuke staring at her. "Yeah?" Sasuke shifted on his place on the ground and took a quick glance at kagome before returning his gaze back to sakura. "When kagome got bit….and after I got this mark." Sasuke placed his hand over his mark looking serious. "Did kagome get this mark also." sakura froze slightly. "What do I tell him...?"

Xx.Flashback.xX

"Sakura." Sakura looked up from kagome's back from on top of Shirou as he ran. Ignoring the wind blowing in her face sakura blinked and moved slightly to the side to see kagome's face. Kagome turned towards her with a serious expression making sakura gulp lightly. "Y-yeah kagome?"

Kagome turned away from her. "Shirou you can stop now...this place seems alright for now." Sakura saw Shirou nod before running to a stop in front of a huge tree with most of its roots up-lifted making a small but somewhat steady cave. Kagome jumped down from shirou's back before holding out a hand for sakura to take. Once down from shirou's back sakura thanked kagome with a confused expression. "What did she want to tell me?"

"Sakura. I need you to do me a big favor." Sakura looked at kagome's back as she walked next to Shirou while keeping the unconscious boys still on shirou's back. Kagome stopped making Shirou stop but kagome shook her head telling him to continue into the cave. Shirou nodded and continued on his way while kagome stood still with sakura watching her.

After a moment kagome seemed to sigh before turning around completely to face her pink haired friend. "I need you to promise me though…it may not seem like a big thing but I still want you to 

promise." Sakura nodded slightly confused and scared making kagome laugh slightly and wave her hand in the air aimlessly. "It's nothing big or scary sakura…" kagome seemed to wince slightly and placed her hand over her mark. "It's just about my mark…"

Sakura's eyes widened. "Your mark?" kagome nodded and let her hand fall to her side. "Yes my mark…you see I want you to promise not to tell the boys or anyone about it."

Sakura made a move to complain but kagome beat her by lifting up her hand palm facing her to keep her quiet. "I know I should tell someone…but right now that's no concern." Kagome looked behind her towards the boys Shirou started to place on the floor.

"Sakura I need you to promise me you won't tell them no matter what….even if Sasuke asks you must lie to him."

"But-."

Kagome sighed and placed her hand back on her mark and smiled a bit bitterly. "They are our teammates I know...but if you tell them it could cause un-necessary conflict….I don't want Naruto to worry and don't want Sasuke to feel like he's weak and couldn't care for himself leading to so many more problems. it's probably a bad choice to keep it from them, but right now the way things are….I think this is the best course of action." Kagome looked up with the serious expression back on her face. "You won't tell them right? Do you promise not to tell them?"

Sakura stared at kagome for a moment slightly nervous. "Should I promise…would I be able to keep it…" sakura stared at kagome for a moment longer before taking a deep breath. Smiling lightly at kagome sakura nodded. "Yeah….I promise." Kagome smiled at sakura and bowed. "Thank you...and I'm sorry for forcing you to keep a secret like this."

"It's...no problem."

Xx.End Flashback.xX

"Sakura."

Sakura snapped out of it before smiling in apology at Sasuke. "S-sorry could you repeat that?" Sasuke seemed to sigh in annoyance before staring at her seriously. "I said. Did kagome get the same mark as me after Orochimaru bit her?" sakura stared at Sasuke silent.

Do you promise not to tell them?"

"Yeah….I promise."

Sakura sighed inwardly and shook her head in the negative. "No…after he bit you and you passed out he only….fought kagome and beat her up pretty badly before leaving." Sasuke was 

quiet and still for a long time before he nodded and went back to tending the fire leaving sakura on her own again. Sakura turned around and gripped the cloths in her hand tighter looking depressed as she walked. "Maybe I should tell him…no...I promised kagome I wouldn't…and then earlier I promised Sasuke I wouldn't tell Naruto or kagome..."

"Sakura?" sakura looked up and blinked at Naruto who stared at her a bit weirdly while holding a couple fish in his hand. "You…okay?" sakura nodded faintly before running past him and towards the river. "Hey sakura where you going?!" sakura turned her head still running to face the blond. "I need to get these rags wet to clean kagome's wounds!"

Naruto seemed to understand and nodded before sitting down and placing the fish next to him and grabbing a few sticks.

Facing forward again sakura ran till she arrived at the river and kneeled down staring at the river seeing her expression. Shaking her head sakura submerged the two cloths into the water. After a few seconds sakura lifted them up and little wringed out extra water. Once she was sure she had taken out enough water sakura stood up before running back to her team.

Coming to a stop sakura saw both her teammates surrounding the small fire with four fish set up and cooking in the fire. Passing the boys sakura once again kneeled down next to kagome before looking over kagome's wounds and smiling sadly. Deciding to start at kagome's face sakura started to gently wipe away the blood and dirt from kagome's face but stopped when she saw kagome moan a bit in pain. Confused, sakura lifted up the slightly dirty rag but froze when she saw a huge bruise looking back up at her. Lowering her eyes guiltily sakura sighed before continuing to clean kagome's face and applying the ointment on her cuts and scratches.

Once she finished with kagome's face sakura decided to move to kagome's arms and winced when she saw all the dried blood on her sleeve. Coming to a decision sakura grabbed a kunai from her pouch before gripping kagome's redden sleeve and cutting it off catching the attention of her teammates.

Concerned Naruto got up from his spot to kneel next to sakura. "What's wrong-?" Naruto stopped seeing sakura show him the bloodied sleeve. "Oh." Sakura tossed the sleeve away before grabbing the cloth again and cleaning kagome's arms while Naruto sat down next to sakura quiet for once.

"It's been 4 days since the test has started…we only have one day left…24 hours…" sakura stopped cleaning kagome's wounds as both she and Naruto turned towards Sasuke who was tending to the fire. An uncomfortable silence filled the air before sakura nodded and went back to tending to kagome's wounds. "I wonder….how many teams...do you think….already have their scrolls and are already at the tower by now?"

Sakura got no answer and she let her hands fall onto her lap while gripping the now bloody rag in her hand. "Maybe…we should just give up-."

"What?! No way can we give up!" everyone turned towards Naruto who looked at sakura like she was crazy. "We can't give up! I mean…" naruto's face saddened and he calmed down. "What about kagome... she wouldn't want us to give up…and she's this beat up because she didn't want to give up right?! Wouldn't kagome's wounds mean nothing then if we just decided to give up?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah I know Naruto...but there most likely isn't any heaven scrolls out there anymore…" sakura turned around to face Sasuke. "You said so yourself...Four days have already passed….we've used up practically all our time...only 14 team are aloud to pass….and our scroll was destroyed so that means only 13 teams will actually pass…plus most of the other 27 teams probably already have their scrolls by now."

It was silent before Sasuke stood up holding a wooden bottle. "we've probably wasted to much time resting…..as soon as kagome's wounds have been tended to…we'll leave and start our search…the next enemy we run into most likely will be our last chance." Sasuke turned and started to walk away. "I'm going to get some water." Sasuke walked away towards the river leaving the others alone.

Sakura watched as sasuke's form disappeared before sighing and finishing up kagome's wounds. Naruto stared at sakura curiously before grinning and grabbing the scroll. "Hey sakura." Sakura looked up from applying ointment to a small gash on kagome's shin and turned towards Naruto. "What?"

Naruto held out the scroll in front of him still grinning. "I have an idea…on how to fix the problem." He grabbed his pouch before taking a few scrolls out and placing them on the floor. "See...scrolls I have a whole bunch of the-."

"No! Absolutely not!"

Naruto looked up to see sakura silently fuming at him before exhaling and returning to kagome's wounds still looking steamed. "We cannot do that! It's against the rules...and anyway if your planning to copy the heaven scroll how can you do that without looking inside one and we don't have one to look inside of!"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah but we do have a clue on what's inside." Finished with kagome's wounds sakura wiped her hand on one of the rags and turned towards Naruto curiously. Naruto's face became serious and he pointed down at the earth scroll. Sakura's eyes widened and Naruto nodded. "Yeah...I'm going to look inside the earth scroll…if we do that we can find what's inside the heaven scroll-."

Naruto was interrupted by sakura blowing up and hitting him over the head a few times. "Are you crazy? It's absolutely forbidden and you know that we are only able to open them at the tower!!" babying his head Naruto nodded looking a bit stressed. "I-I know that! But if we do nothing then we won't make it anyway!!" sakura stopped and sat back before looking down at the scrolls on the floor with a distressed look on her own face. Naruto let his arms fall to his side while staring at sakura and waiting for her reaction.

It was completely silent for a few minutes as sakura gazed down at the scrolls and Naruto at sakura. Sakura gripped her clothing lightly. "s-should we…" sakura continued to gaze down at the scrolls before shaking her head inwardly and sighing.

Looking up at Naruto with a serious expression sakura's grip on her clothing increased and she nodded once making Naruto nod back. Naruto shakily reached for the scroll before picking it was and holding it in his shaking hands. Gulping once and looking back at sakura she gulped also before nodding with a tensed expression. Turning his eyes back towards the scroll naruto's shaking increased and he lightly touched the edge of the paper before lifting it up slightly.

Gulping one more time the muscles in his hand tensed as he prepared to open the scroll.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Both sakura and Naruto looked up in shock before their eyes widened. "Kabuto?"

--xXxXxXo0o.O.o0oxXxXxXx--

Returning with the water needed Sasuke looked up but widened his eyes before throwing the water aside and running towards his team.

--xXxXxXo0o.O.o0oxXxXxXx--

"I can't believe you guys almost." Sasuke trailed off and glared at his two conscious teammates whose heads where down in shame.

"That was close….if I didn't come then…."

Everyone turned towards Kabuto who fixed his glasses. "Don't worry to much though...your not the only one's who have tried to break the rules….there have been many others." Both Naruto and sakura looked up. "but it's a bad idea because it seems there is a strong hypnosis jutsu placed on both scrolls and if opened not at the tower those jutsu go off and will hypnotize those in it's range…I've see a lot of teams go down like that…"

The others nodded but Sasuke glared at Kabuto suspiciously. "Kabuto right?" Kabuto nodded and Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing out here on your own without your tea-."

Kabuto smirked. "Don't worry I'm not after your earth scroll." Sasuke's eyes narrowed even more. "No because if you were you would have just taken it from Naruto instead of stopping him from opening it... so you must also be looking for a heaven scroll correct?"

Kabuto shook his head. "No I already have both...so I don't need anymore scrolls." Sasuke's eyes widened making Kabuto smirk before turning away. "Anyway I'll be going then."

"Wait. What if I fought you for your heaven scroll."

Kabuto stopped and sakura and Naruto turned towards Sasuke surprised. "But sa-."

"Be quiet. Right now only getting through this test is important." Both Naruto and sakura stopped and Kabuto smirked before turning around. "Very good speech but I know your lying." Sasuke gritted his teeth making kabuto's smirk increase. "You say that passing this test is the only thing that is important yet you told and challenged me which would make me on my guard….you say and act as though it is but your heart isn't." Sasuke continued to grit his teeth making Kabuto grin before turning around and sighing before finally noticing something was wrong.

Kabuto looked around making the others look at him confused. After a few seconds Kabuto turned back towards team 7 with a confused look on his face. "Wait I just noticed…where's your fourth member…kagome right? I don't see her with you guys."

They froze slightly before Naruto sighed and pointed over to a direction a few feet away. "She's here but unconscious." Kabuto looked interested and walked passed the others towards kagome with a suspicious Sasuke, and confused sakura and Naruto following.

Kabuto stopped next to kagome before kneeling down and looking her over. Once he finished his scan he closed one eye and winced slightly. "Wow…who did a number on her?" sakura kneeled next to him. "It wasn't just one person actually…she was protecting us for a while and just collapsed about 6 hours ago."

Kabuto was silent before looking over the conscious members of team 7 and sighed again before sitting on his knees and lifting up his right hand. "Since I admire you for your exclamation instead of just attacking me...I'll do you some favors." The others looked up but Kabuto ignored them by doing hand signs. "I'll heal kagome some...and after I'll show you guys which way to go to get to the tower and possibly the scroll you need."

Kabuto finished the hand signs and his hand started to glow a light green before he started to move his hand towards kagome.

He was about to reach kagome when a hand shot out and tightly gripped onto his wrist and keeping his hand there. The hold on his hand tightened and the green glow from his hand disappeared as he looked at who grasped his hand. When he looked up he saw Sasuke glaring 

down at him and smiled. "How do we know you're not lying…and attempting to kill her instead?"

"What Sasuke?! He just said he's going to-."

Kabuto shook his head. "No it's alright. I understand where he's coming from." Kabuto looked from Sasuke to the others with the same smile. "He's just suspicious….I mean truthfully in this exam I am an enemy…." He turned back towards Sasuke who still had a grip on his wrist. "But I have no reason to kill kagome. I already have the scrolls I need and it's not my style to kill someone who is not prepared or able to fight. You can be sure I won't harm her." Sasuke continued to glare down at him making him sigh. "Fine if to assure I won't, if I do harm her you can kill me immediately after and take my scrolls."

That seemed to finally convince Sasuke for he let go of kabuto's wrist and backed off a small bit but still continued to watch him for any sudden movements other than what he said.

Feeling the glare still aimed at him Kabuto sighed inwardly before repeating the same jutsu again. Once his hand glowed the light green Kabuto started to heal most of kagome's bigger injuries before moving to her smaller injuries. Once he finished Kabuto backed off while wiping his forehead as kagome's teammates inspected her.

Surprised that most of kagome's injuries were pretty much healed, sakura turned towards Kabuto with surprise and slight thankfulness. "Thank you for healing most of kagome's injuries." Kabuto waved off her comment. "It's nothing...I said I would help you guys a bit…and having kagome walk around in that condition could cause her major problems." Sakura nodded and Naruto turned from kagome to Kabuto with amazement in his eyes. "That's so cool! I didn't know you could do medical ninjutsu! I only thought that kagome was the only genin able to do that!"

Kabuto scratched the back of his head slightly embarrassed. "Well I only know a few-wait kagome can do medical ninjutsu?" Naruto nodded and Kabuto nodded back. "I didn't know that I thought I was the only genin to." Kabuto laughed slightly before calming down and getting up. Dusting off his clothes and facing a pacific direction kabuto's expression turned serious. "Well…since kagome's a bit healed we should go now….your guy's fire will attract a lot of this forest's creatures and any enemies still looking for their second scroll."

The others nodded and Sasuke bent down to pick up kagome before placing her on his back. Once he adjusted kagome on his back Sasuke turned towards the others and nodded. They nodded back before jumping away into the forest.

Wow! This is by far my biggest chapter! 25 pages and like 12,100 and something words…. wow….. I'm now tired…… and I think I'm going to go hibernate somewhere for a bit…..I 

would have made it longer but any longer and I think my eyes would pop……and I don't want that to happen….so bye, bye for now…………

Reviews are loved, flames stared at, and advice appreciated!! Till next chappie!!