Lean on Me...

Summary: She was found at such a young age, taken in by Shikaku, not as a daughter, but as a wife in training for his youngest son. How will this affect the Nara Clan...more specifically the laid back, easy going, semi-lazy...Shikamaru?

Anime: InuYasha/Naruto

Pairing: Shikamaru/Kagome

Genre: Romance/Comfort/Hurt

Rated: M for Mature

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AGES RIGHT NOW

AGES

Kagome – 11

Rookie Nine – 12

Neji – 13

Itachi - 18

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Kagome was dying from the pain in her neck and wanted nothing more than for it to end. She kept slipping in and out of consciousness but refused to open her eyes.

"Will she be okay?"

"I hope so...she's been out for going on a day..."

"Well, we have four left..."

She knew these voices; she knew them well...after only knowing them for a day.

"That Sand Village Team is here too, and they keep looking over at Kagome..."

"They are friends, I think?"

"You think?"

Kagome wanted everyone to be silent, she wanted the noise to stop...and the pain...damn it! Damn it! The pain, she'd give anything to make it go away!

"Hey! She's...she's glowing again!"

"That's right, she's healing."

"Healing?! Like, a Jutsu? How? She's asleep, so how is she healing!?"

"It's not a Jutsu, just a natural reaction, I think."

"Hey!"

"Huh? Oh...your name was...um...Temari, right?"

"Yeah, and you three are being entirely too loud. You are disturbing her..."

"...oh..."

...it was quiet now. The silence cooled her nerves and the thumping in her head grew weaker. She wanted to wake up, why she wasn't, she didn't know...however, she understood clearly that those familiar voices around her, were none other than Ami, Fuki and Hoki. Kagome smiled at their names. 'They'd make a great team, I bet.' She momentarily wondered where Shikamaru had gone off to but realized he must have brought her to her Team. 'He probably returned to help Sakura. Sakura...I can't believe she didn't do anything. She yelled at Sasuke, defended Naruto by saying that he at least wasn't a coward...but, she never did anything. I was only helping, and I let myself get dragged in too deeply. In the end, I couldn't even protect Sasuke...' She felt herself drifting unconscious again and mentally screamed before the world around her slipped away again.

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(Dreamscape)

"Kagome?"

"Daddy!" Blue eyes turned up and were met with the same bright blue eyes, "daddy!" Kagome yelled as she ran forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. A hand met her shoulder and she cried at the familiar touch. "Daddy, I missed you!"

"Missed me?" He asked curiously, "Kagome...I'm right here...what do you mean, you missed me?"

"You and mama, you were..." she cried, shaking her head erratically, "no, no... it's fine now...Daddy is here...mama too?"

"She's here...just look behind you."

Kagome smiled and turned around...her body...went rigid, stiff, she was frozen in terror. She felt like, at any moment, her heart might stop. "...no..."

Blood dripped languidly down a blade...

"That's...no...no!"

Her mothers' lifeless body was hunched over, held up only by the blade that was stationed in the upright position on the ground.

"M-mama..."

The tears that had fallen from her mothers' eyes, her parted lips when she'd let out that shrill scream when the blade impaled her...the blood...

"Daddy!" She turned around to hide away in her fathers embrace, hands on her shoulders patted her as she cried. She looked up and her eyes widened. "NO!" She screamed, pushing away from the man before her.

"Heh heh...what's wrong, Kagome? Come, let me heal your broken heart." He moved closer to her.

She stumbled backwards and cried, the pain in her neck struck her again and she was no longer a child of five-year-old. She was her eleven-year-old self...on the ground, crawling backwards away from the snake ninja before her. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She shook her head as the pain pulsated within her body, his eyes strayed over the small body she had to offer him, and he grinned as he licked his lips.

"Kagome!"

She could hear someone yelling out for her, looking around desperately, she searched out the owner of the voice, but found no one.

"Kagome, you aren't leaving me...are you?"

Her mothers voice pulled her eyes to her, her face contorted in fear as she looked at her mothers' dead body, still impaled, but her moms face turned towards her and her eyes looking straight at her. "...this...isn't real..." she was shaking uncontrollably by now.

"Isn't it though?" Orochimaru whispered in her ear.

"KAGOME!"

"It's not real!" she turned and tried to hit Orochimaru, but he'd already vanished. "...no...it's just a dream...it's just...a dream!"

"KAGOME, WAKE UP!"

The world around her began to fade, but a chilling laugh echoed in her head as her cognition became clear.

(End Dreamscape)

Blue eyes snapped open, looking to see a pair of worried green eyes staring down at her, she looked around to see who all was yelling. Temari...and Hoki...they were kneeling on either side of her, and Ami and Fuki were standing behind Hoki watching in worry. Kankuro was behind Temari while Gaara was watching from across the room, though, he seemed unnerved to be sure, he wasn't hovering over her like the others.

"You need to stay awake..." Temari said sternly, "I have no idea what you are dreaming of, but you attacked Gaara accidentally."

"..." her eyes widened, "what do you mean?"

Kankuro nodded, "like...pink electricity shot out of that orb when he got close to you and struck him. It didn't hurt him, but it did lash out at him."

"...pink electricity?" She placed her hand over the jewel that was hidden under her shirt...'this jewel is more dangerous than I thought...' She sat up and felt an ache in her body, but the initial pain was gone...for now.

"Kagome...maybe you should forfeit..." Ami said as she looked at the sheen of sweat on her Team Leaders forehead.

This comment seemed to send Kagome over the edge as she turned a fierce, almost deadly glare on the purple haired Genin. "Are you serious?! I didn't almost die...have some Snake Sanin take a bite out of me...only to quit this close to the end!"

"...she's just voicing everyone's concern," Fuki said, stepping in front of the frozen and fearful Ami, "you were contorting in pain before you were woken up."

"...I appreciate...your concern...but I won't quit. I won't give up...no, more like...I can't. This is something that I have to do till the end."

Fuki sighed,"...we understand...we will see you till the third part of the Exam...and we will support you thereafter."

Ami nodded, "yeah...if you aren't gonna forfeit...then...we will just watch you finish this all the way till the end!"

"...thank you both." She looked down at her hand and a thought occurred to her, "I could have given Naruto and his team one of the spare scrolls we picked up!"

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Me: Here is chapter 35 of Lean on Me~! I hope you are all still enjoying this story. I don't get too many reviews for this story, so I don't know if anyone is still even reading this fic...XD...If you are, Review, even if it's just a sentence, let me know that this story hasn't been forgotten. I tend to update quicker anyways when I see that a story is popular in demand.