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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The four who had been keeping him from entering the barrier, released the hold they had and shot forward towards Orochimaru. He followed inside just as quickly, making his way towards the center of the battle where he found Kagome kneeling on the ground with the third lying in her lap. The ANBU chased after the retreating figures as Genma arrived beside Kagome. "Lord Hokage!"
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I realize that life is very rarely fair, especially for a Shinobi. There is no good and evil, there is no right and wrong. Someone always gets hurt and someone's always going to reap the repercussions of one's choice. Even though this is obvious to me, I guess I never thought that it could or would happen to the Hokage of all people. Silly, considering our past Hokage's all died in circumstances just as unfair. Still, looking down at him, blood dribbling from his aged lips and tears flowing freely and without restraint. I can't help but feel...life really does suck.
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Kagome choked back a scream, her eyes burning as she held the Third Hokage, his head on her knees. "Lord Hokage, you will be fine...please!"
"Heh..." he forced a pained chuckle as he coughed up blood, "Kagome...I won't live through this..." he smiled up at her, tears falling endlessly as she closed her eyes and tried to block out the painful sight. "Look at me, Kagome...listen...to me. I have...one last mission...to assign before I leave..."
From next to her, Genma forced himself closer to the scene before him as he listened to the Third Hokage's last words. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight in front of him.
"What are you talking about?" She cried, "you already gave me a mission! It was an A Rank if I recall." Her head dropped, her hair cascading around the old man's face as she continued shaking. "You can give me another mission when I get back...from that one..." Her voice dropped as she felt herself too choked up to speak.
A weak hand found her arm and tired eyes met her broken blue, tear-filled orbs. "That Jutsu...that I used, carries a hefty price. You can only use it once...that is how heavy the price of that Jutsu is."
'Lord Hokage...no...' She shook her head, crying silently. She barely noticed as Genma pulled himself to their side.
"This mission...is to be considered...S ranked."
"...Lord Hokage?" Genma frowned.
"It is...of utmost importance. My dying wish..." he coughed and wheezed. "Bring back...Itachi..."
"Lord Hokage!?"
Another pained chuckle sounded as his eyes touched the sky above them, "you never stopped believing in him..."
"I...no, I didn't...but, Itachi-Sensei...I thought..."
"He...to protect the Village...and myself...I'm sorry...that such a mission was given..."
Shaking heavily, her heart rate was increasing as was her breathing, "what are you saying..." Kagome desperately clung to the old man, "please...tell me that's not true!" More tears burned at her eyes.
"I wish...it could have been...averted. He asked me to protect Sasuke from…that man. I couldn't bring myself to change Konoha's Barriers Composition...Kagome...I've never regretted anything, as much as I regretted that."
"Lord Hokage...please, tell us clearly. Who assigned that mission!?" Genma asked, trying to piece together what he was hearing.
"...that...I'm sorry to say...was...Danzo..." his eyes grew heavy as he sighed, "one more thing...tell my Grandson...tell him...not to...let the Fire die. Kagome...I'm...I'm sorry. To you, and Sasuke...to this village...I couldn't properly protect." He gave one last heavy sigh of breath, his hand falling from her arm...his eyes unseeing.
"...what...do I do?" She cried, "I don't understand...what should I... how do I..." she shook her head, "damn it!"
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Genma sat with Kagome in his arms. She'd cried herself unconscious, her heartache was heavy, too heavy for her to bare. 'How the hell are we supposed to bring Itachi back, after all this time? On top of that, to find out that one of the elders, Danzo, ordered the annihilation of the Uchiha Clan...ordered Itachi to wipe out his own family. We need to find Lady Tsunade or Jiraiya. Either one must step up to be the next Hokage. Kagome's mission to find and bring back Tsunade still stands, and then again...Itachi...what about, Itachi Uchiha.'
"I'm sorry..."
Genma jumped and looked down at the girl in his lap, "what are you apologizing for?!"
"In the end, I was still too weak to protect our Hokage."
Shaking his head in frustration, he clenched the fabric of his pants as he tried not to yell out in anger. "The Hokage was the strongest Shinobi in the Leaf, Kagome. Don't...you...dare...blame yourself!"
She hid her face in his jacket as she fought to stop her tears, heaving deep breaths before she finally managed to calm herself down. "Genma, what should we do?"
"Right now?"
She sat up, looking out over the Village, she brought a hand to her tearstained cheeks and wiped away the proof of her heartache. "Silly question," she sighed, "where are the rest of the Rookie Nine?"
"They went after Gaara."
Nodding, Kagome forced herself up onto her feet and glanced at the old man that lay beside them. "Take care of him, I'm going to go and see to my friends. Right now, protecting the village, Shikamaru and Sasuke, that's what's important to me."
"Understood. I'll take care of the Hokage, if you see Kakashi or Hayate, send them my way. Ah, and Kagome...don't mention anything about Itachi. Not to anyone. Not yet."
Kagome frowned.
"Don't give me that look. If you tell Sasuke, he'll go insane. We need to take things slow and find Itachi first. You and I, along with Sasuke, will go search for him, but only after everything has settled down. We still need to find Tsunade too. I already have one lose cannon; I don't need two."
Sighing, she gave a nod before jumping off the roof to go seek out her friends.
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Shikamaru sat beside Sakura and Ino, the two girls were knocked out by Gaara when he started transforming. Ino had thrown herself in front of Sakura in an attempt to stop the sand hand from catching the pink haired girl, but both were struck down by it. Sasuke had put up quite a fight with Naruto by his side. He and Neji had managed to take care of the four shinobi, three had shown themselves, and while Shikamaru had claimed their shadows, Neji had gotten rid of the fourth member before dispersing of the three Shikamaru had ensnared.
"How is Chouji and Kiba?"
"Gaara did a number on them, but they should be okay. Akamaru is doing worse than they are." Neji said as he walked back over to Shikamaru with Akamaru in his arms. "Where's Kagome when you need her, right?"
"Under lock and key in the barrier with the Kage's."
"Could be worse, I suppose. I'm going to back track and check up on Shino. He took on Kankuro alone..."
Shikamaru sighed, "I'll go and check on Sasuke and Naruto," he looked out at where chaos had ensued not long ago. "To think we'd be able to see the Nine Tails fight in such a way." He closed his eyes as he thought back to the transformation of the large toad Naruto had summoned. "What a pain. When did that guy get so strong?"
Neji looked back towards the direction of the earlier destructive chakra, "Naruto..."
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Me: Here is chapter 60! I'm moving onto chapter 61 now, so please continue reading and I'll work hard to finish this story! Send Love Through~! Review!