I don't own Inuyasha or Naruto.
Ugh this is a tough goal..seven chapters in one week…bleargh. Anyway here's an update!
Chapter 29
Kagome sniffed, this was the longest time that she'd gone without talking to Shikamaru and it had gone from bad to worse. Earlier that hadn't been talking to each other and after people started talking about it, Shikamaru had started to ignore and avoid her completely and it made the blued girl want to sob. She could honestly say that she missed Shikamaru more than anything she'd ever imagined.
So for the last three weeks Kagome had tried to be okay, but she was on the verge of breaking down. Because of how Iruka liked them to sit them in class they sat right next to each other in class but they didn't speak to each other and Shikamaru wouldn't even look her in the eye anymore and that hurt more than anything.
Choji and Naruto tried to make it better but they couldn't do anything unless the two of them sat down and talked. The problem was Kagome didn't know if she could say anything without breaking down into tears, and she knew Shikamaru hated tears more than anything. Because of her upset and not wanting to bother her mother or father, Kagome had taken to going to the shrine and often times ended up crying beneath one of the god trees. So far she'd managed to hide most of her upset from the adults and her friends but the young nin in training wasn't sure how long that would last.
The Sarutobi girl sighed, she didn't feel up to going to the shrine and she certainly didn't want to go home. Kurenai was due to give birth soon like within the next month and she tended to always been in pain because the baby was laying on her spine. It was hard for Kagome to watch that as well. Souta had been spending a lot of time with their cousins because Shouko had agreed to watch the smaller boy until Kurenai was better.
Looking up Kagome was slightly surprised as to where her feet had lead her, she was at the park that she had meet Choji and Shikamaru for the first time. Looking over the hill, Kagome could only sigh today just seemed to be a bad day. Inhaling deeply the girl marched up the hill before plopping down beneath Shikamaru's favorite tree. She didn't come here as much as she used to, this place had bittersweet memories. She was still young enough to remember the treatment that she'd received from her biological mother, and had talked with both her adopted mother and her aunt about the conditions that she'd been found under.
This whole thing with Shikamaru reminded her of that time in her life and it made her feel unwanted and it was the worse feeling in the world. Kagome knew that she needed to talk to Shikamaru but she didn't know how without being ridiculous about it. Drawing her knees up Kagome simply curled into a ball, maybe she just needed some more time alone?
Shikamaru sighed, he'd been getting a lot of flak but he'd also been getting a lot of concerned looked to these mostly came from his mom, and Choji, though Naruto and Shino had started giving him looks to like what was he doing. For once Shikamaru didn't know what he was doing he'd never had to navigate relationships before, he was just used to being in one state of mind just like every other student in this school. Now his state of mind was scattered all over the place, this was like the one and only time that he and Choji had gotten into an argument it just left the shadow using boy unbalanced.
So as he usually did Shikamaru found himself looking for his tree in the park to calm down and think things over, only he didn't expect Kagome to be curled up in a ball looking like she'd cried herself out. Instead of walking away like he had for the last week and acting like his father, Shikamaru forced himself to calm down and be direct.
"Kagome." Shikmaru wasn't being loud but he knew that she had hear him considering the way her body had stiffened. When he sat beside his friend, something inside him clenched when she seemed to curl more tightly in on herself. Sighing to himself, Shikamaru settled beside the girl before pulling her into his lap, he didn't know what to say anymore to make it better. Relief eventually rose in him, when she began to cling to him like he was the only thing that mattered.
The small Sarutobi girl just huddled closer plastered against him, she didn't like the awkwardness that seemed to float around them. "Can we not be upset anymore? I don't like not talking to you, I don't like that your avoiding me. It's like you don't me anymore." It's like you don't want me anymore like my mom. Kagome sniffled at the through that followed, there were some things she couldn't say out loud, it was as if she vocalized them it would just make things worse.
Shikamaru snorted, "I don't like it either, the next time we have issues then we have to talk to each other." He knew that he was only eleven but he also knew that this avoidance thing that the two of them wasn't very good for you. His father and mother never avoided talking about things and he was relatively sure that this was something that was long overdue. When they had been little Choji and he had noticed odd little quirks that Kagome had but no one had been willing to explain. As they had gotten older they had eventually realized it had come from a bad home life, as their parents called it but neither of them had been willing to talk about it. They hadn't wanted to push the younger girl, but they did continuously worry about what exactly had happened.
"Okay." Kagome muttered quietly trying to get as close to him as possible. "What…what do you want to know?" The young Sarutobi girl couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding taking over her. Shikamaru was going to ask her something that she really, really didn't want to talk about.
"You keep hiding from us and a lot of us know that, but sometimes we do or say something and you cringe. Or you get more clingy, then you back off like your waiting for us to tell you to stop. It's confusing for most of us." Shikamaru replied, he wasn't going to push her away again. Sighing, Shikamaru simply rubbed her back like his mother did the few times he could remember being upset.
Kagome could only make a distressed noise, the idea that anyone would know made her feel so ashamed. It was different to tell her family, but what if her friends looked at her differently? The girl could only shake her head in disagreement, she didn't want them to know about that sort of thing.
Shikamaru could only sigh, there really wasn't a way he could force it out of her without doing something drastic and none of the ideas that came to mind were worth it. Instead he simply held onto her and hoped that things never got this bad again. Looking around, Shikamaru was surprised that it had gotten as dark as it had. "Come on, Kagome we need to go home before it gets too late. Kurenai is more than likely getting worried."
Kagome simply nodded, she didn't feel like talking just an un-ending relief that things were going to go back to normal even if things weren't right yet. Moving slowly the young raven eyed girl stood up, Shikamaru followed minutes after and Kagome couldn't help but to snag his hand and lace their fingers. When they looked at each other it was a quiet understanding that this wasn't going to happen again.
As they walked it seemed very odd as it kept getting darker, at a much faster pace than normal. Eventually it was slowly becoming pitch black and neither of them would be able to see anything. Before it became too dark they shared a look, this could only be genjutsu by why would anybody be using in on them?
Suddenly Kagome could only give a cry when in the darks Shikamaru's hand was ripped away from her own, she could hear the older boy struggling before a soft cry of pain and then it was silent again. "Shikamaru! Let me go! Shikamaru!" Kagome struggled violently at the hands that were holding on to her, biting scratching and kicking with everything that she was, the young girl knew that she had to get away or something horrible was going to happen she needed to get to her friend. And just as quickly her struggles stopped a sharp pain seemed to echo through her head, before the darkness clear and all she could see was a bright afternoon, and lazy clouds rolling by before her vision went black.
"Hmmph, god this little brat was awful." A female voice snarked in amusement, the little Sarutobi girl had fought tooth in nail to get out of her grasp but the pretty little girl hadn't quiet managed. Honestly she felt sorry for the girl, Sachi the girl's mother was a useless piece of shit and had every intention of selling the girl to the highest bidder. The boy on the other hand, well they simply couldn't leave him there or he'd alert the nearest nin to come after the two of them.
`"Well, let's take off I have no intentions on getting caught or killed." The male replied, lifting the boy's body he easily rested the kid over his shoulder before taking the other brat from his partner for the same treatment, maybe they could get a bonus for bringing another kid for sell, or maybe selling him their selves.
The woman nodded before both of them took off, normally they would have waited for the night but this had been a prime opportunity and they couldn't pass it up. Unfortunately for the kidnappers, an ape named Koaku had watched the entire thing. Unfortunately she was too far away to do anything to stop the kidnappers from following. Instead she sent an emergency beckon that allowed all other summons of her clan as well the summoners of the clan which allowed them to know what was happening.
O o O o O o O
Asuma felt like his heart was going to burst from the terror and horror of the thought that his daughter had been taken, this was much worse than anything that he could imagine. Konoha was supposed to be a safe place to raise his daughter and she'd been snatched as easily as you pleased in broad daylight, as well as Shikamaru. They wouldn't even know if the boy was alive until they caught up with the two home wreckers. Shikaku was furious, and Tsume as well as Kakashi had been called in to help the hunt down the two nin's that had taken the children.
From the short random messages that had been sent, the nin's had been foreign one male and one female. They had used something to disorient the two children, before separating them by force. Once the children where unconscious they had taken off as quickly as they could, Koaku had followed and was giving them a clear view of where the children were being taken.
Now they were gathering to go after the bastards but they really had no idea as to why to children had been taken. Koaku could only send short sporadic messages over the connection she shared with her clan, and summoner. Because of this they were having to piece things together bit by bit, and it was simply taking to long. Asuma knew that he was acting rashly in the way he wanted to go after his daughter, but all parents felt the need to protect their children and for this one time he had failed completely. He'd kept her safe, four years he had kept her safe and away from the dangers that came with being related to the Hokage.
"As you know the group of you have been gathered to go after my granddaughter. Asuma, Kakashi, Tsume, and Shikaku, you will be taking the short radios with you. I also expect updates via the summons. I want to know who did this, I want to know why, and I want to know what they are going to do with the children they have taken. If they can be brought back alive then do so, if not slaughter them." Sarutobi spoke calmly and quietly, and within a blink of the eye all four of them were off. While he's son was off reclaiming his grandchild, he was going to find out who let those two shit stains into his home. Then all nin's that were on guard duty were going to be in a lot of pain from remedial lessons, while the barrier team would be implementing new ways of keeping those who wanted to cause harm out.
The four man team took off with a vengeance, Tsume was in the lead with her partner Kuromaru, on either side of her were Shikaku and Asuma while Kakashi took up the back. The Inuzuka woman could only sudden at the killing intent the three men behind her were putting off, but she knew that if it had been Kiba that had been taken she would be in the same state. They were going at a rough pace but all of them were used to such missions thankfully. Once they returned council was going to be in an uproar, three kidnappings within ten years wasn't something that they would want to brag about. Not only that but the kidnappings had all been clan heirs which wasn't something that was considered acceptable by the clans of Konoha. The fact this time it was the first born granddaughter of the Hokage meant when the shit finally hit the fan in that meeting several people were more than likely going to get burned.
Hours seemed to pass as they followed the trail, it was obvious that the Sarutobi summon's had been through the area, they all had a distinct smell that was easy to track. The summon had also left tell mark all along the way to ensure that they were on the right path. According to Kuromaru several of the paths had been false and it could have taken them days to be able to discover which one was correct
As the hours passed true night settled in making it harder to track, they could no longer see the summons tells and Kuromaru was becoming confused by the multiple trails that had been created. Once it became impossible for the four of them to go on for the night, they found a secure campsite to settle down for the night. They would be ready when the son began to rise.
"Asuma, how long will Koaku last as a summon? I mean if we are running for several weeks, she'll run out of chakra." Tsume was more worried about that fact then anything, they would have to split up if the trails continued to branch and the summon ran out of chakra.
"Koaku generally slow releases chakra more than any of the summons I have, she watches over Kagome all day every day. We have a week to find them before Koaku's chakra becomes too low for her to do anything. I just resummoned her this morning." Asuma could understand that concern, it was something that had been bothering him as well they would just had to hope for the best and continue in the morning.
"What I don't understand is why they took the girl, I thought Sachi had given up?" Shikaku knew about Kagome's mother and he was concerned as to what the woman would do to his son, or Kagome for that matter.
Kakashi could only sigh, "There are rumors she's been involved with child slavery. Kagome would be something Sachi could "sell" legally, the fact that Kagome is that granddaughter of the Hokage doesn't matter to anyone. From the info, Sachi is a psychopath she doesn't care about right or wrong just what she can get for it."
All four of the ninja had to shutter, they had all done things that they regretted in life. They had all taken lives that really shouldn't have ended but as a Ninja if you were ordered to do something you did it damn the personal consequences. The brief conversation had put them all into perspective they would have to get the kids back, they might be rough to outsiders but to those who were part of their own the need to protect them was overwhelming. Kakashi was first to watch that night while the others bedded down for the night, the only thing he could think was this mission was going to feel like forever and pray that they got there in time.
