Chapter 18: Leaf Meets Sand
Kagome was absolutely shocked to see Shippo, her young kit who she took care of when she was in the Feudal Era. He looked so different now when he was so small. It was also hard to believe that he grew up so fast.
"So what are you doing here?" Kagome asked.
"Well, I sensed your aura and Hachi's energy, so I decided to come." Shippo answered.
"I'm glad you're here, Shippo." Kagome said with a soft smile. Kirara mewed with agreement.
"Likewise, Kagome-chan." Shippo said and turned to Hachi, "Have been taking care of Kagome?"
"Yup, but she's also been taking care of me as well." Hachi admitted shyly as he scratched the back of his head.
"I should have known." Shippo sighed with a smile while shaking his head.
"Kagome, don't you have to get going soon?" Hachi asked.
"Oh that's right. Kakashi-sensei is meeting up with us," Kagome realized, "Could you take the bags back to the apartment?"
"Sure." Hachi said.
"I'll give him a hand." Shippo offered as he took the bag from Kagome's hands.
"Thanks, Shippo," Kagome thanked the kitsune, "Well I better get going. See you two later!"
Kagome waved goodbye as she ran down the road and turned around to head off to where her other two teammates were waiting for their sensei.
As usual, Kakashi was late. His students really hated his lateness. It made them wonder why the guy even chose to be a jounin sensei. They just wished that he would take his role more seriously. Which meant arriving on time when you're supposed to. So Kagome, Sasuke, and Sakura were waiting for him to arrive at the bridge.
"When will he ever show up on time?" Sakura asked.
"Probably never." Kagome replied, scratching Kirara's ears.
"Hn." Sasuke agreed.
Then they heard a poof above them and saw Kakashi crouching on top of a pole.
"Hello, everybody." he greeted casually. "Good morning. I got lost today, so-"
"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura yelled angrily.
"Could you at least try to show up on time, Kakashi?" Kagome asked, "Do you ever keep your dates waiting wherever you go out?"
That question caused him to comically stiffened. He never would have guessed that Kagome would ask him that question. He usually arrives on time for his dates, the very few he had. He cleared his throat and began to speak.
"Anyways, we have a few D-ranked missions. Let's get going." Kakashi announced.
"Right!" Kagome agreed as Kirara mewed.
The first mission they had was to pick out the weeds in an old lady's garden. Luckily Kagome knew the difference between weeds and herbs. However, Sakura had forgotten while she was glaring at Kagome and didn't pay attention to the plant she was taking out. But when she did, it was too late.
"Hey, you..."
Sakura looked up and noticed an angry old lady staring down at her.
"Um, u-um," Sakura stuttered, terrified of the angry woman, sweat dripping.
"Those aren't weeds…" The woman said.
"I-I-I-" Sakura stuttered, shaking.
"Those are herbs I've been cultivating!" The lady yelled as she began to pull on Sakura's cheeks.
Kagome, Kirara, and Sasuke sweatdrop at Sakura's situation.
The genins were cleaning a river, each with a basket strapped onto their backs. They picked up the rubbish with a pair of tongs and put them inside the baskets. Kakashi sat under a shady tree reading a book with Kirara resting beside him. Suddenly, Sakura lost her balance and fell, catching her teammates' attention. She tried to swim but the water current was too strong as she was being dragged towards a waterfall.
"Someone help...!" She shouted before falling down. "Free fall!"
When she realized that she was no longer falling, she looked up to see Kagome saving her. She was holding onto a rope that was tied to a tree with one hand while her other hand grabbed on her leg.
"You idiot." Kagome said, earning a growl.
In a forest nearby:
Team 7 were given the task to walk a few dogs. Kagome always enjoyed playing with animals especially dogs, cats, and foxes. Kagome patted each dog on the head which they all liked. On the way, the big dog that Kagome had patted earlier dragged Sakura to a minefield.
"Hey, don't go that way." Sakura said, trying to pull the leash but failed. "Hey, come on!"
"That idiot." Sasuke said. Kagome sighed.
"That's what happens when choosing the big dog." Kagome commented.
"Hold it...Wait!" Sakura shouted, still trying to pull the leash. "That's the minefield!"
And the next thing everyone knew, explosions started to blow up everywhere. Kakashi kept reading his book while the two genins sighed. Kagome and the dog she walked with ran towards Sakura and the big dog. She crouched down next to it and gave it a treat. She then looked at Sakura and a sweat drop appeared.
"Are you alright...?" Kagome asked.
All Sakura could do was open her mouth and smoke came out.
Back at the village:
Sasuke and Kagome carried Sakura on their shoulders while Kirara walked beside them as they walked back into the village.
"This is what you get for being reckless." Kagome scolded.
"You're a girl that needs help all the time." Sasuke said, bluntly.
Sakura hung her head in shame with depression lines all over.
"The teamwork is out of order lately." Kakashi sighed.
"Why do you keep doing this to yourself?" Kagome asked.
A tick mark appeared on Sakura's forehead and forced her arms away from Kagome and Sasuke's arms and stood in front of Kagome.
"You're the one who disrupts our teamwork, Kagome! You always stick your nose into everything!" Sakura angrily accused her as she pointed at Kagome who just arched her eyebrow with her hands on her hip as Kirara jumped onto her shoulder.
"That's on you, Sakura." Kagome said, "If you don't want to slow the team down, just get stronger."
"Shall we call it quits for today?" The jounin asked, breaking the tension. "I have to go submit the mission report now."
"Then, I'm going home," Sasuke said as he walked away.
"Hey!" Sakura shouted, running after him. "Hey, um, how does strengthening our teamwork now sound?" she stuttered with a blush.
"If you have time to mind me, go practice a technique or two. To be honest, your abilities are lower than any other genin." Sasuke stated, bluntly.
Sakura began to sulk at his words. Sasuke looked at Kagome and gave her a small smile but quickly turned around and walked away. Kakashi left as Kagome began to as well. Suddenly, she heard rustling from behind. She turned around to see a box following her. She stared at it suspiciously before running back and forth with the box trailing behind her. Finally, she stopped and sensed a familiar aura along with two unfamiliar ones.
"Konohamaru, I know that's you." Kagome said.
"I should have expected that from the woman whom I have high hopes for and is also my rival." A voice said from inside. Suddenly, the box burst and smoke with three different colours appeared. Three kids emerged from it, coughing on the ground. "Hey, you used too much gunpowder." They noticed Kagome staring at them and quickly got up.
"The one who possess the sex appeal of an adult, and the female ninja from the senior group, Moegi." The orange haired girl said as she did a pose.
"The one who loves algebra, Udon." The bespectacled boy said with a pose.
"This village's number one genius ninja, Konohamaru!" A boy with spiky brown hair said.
"The three of us make Konohamaru Corps!" The three shouted in unison.
"I should have known," Kagome and Kirara sighed, "So what do you three want?"
"You've been treating us so cold lately." Konohamaru said.
"Huh? What do you mean, Konohamaru?" Kagome questioned, confused.
"You haven't spent any time with us is what!" Konohamaru declared.
"Oh, how about you three can train with me for a little bit?" Kagome suggested.
"Cool! We'll play ninja together!" Konohamaru cheered which caused Kagome to smile.
"What's the point in ninja playing Ninja?" Sakura mocked, still feeling down from Sasuke's answer, depression lines on her head.
"Hey, who is that nee-chan?" Konohamaru asked.
"That's my teammate, Sakura." Kagome replied.
"Is she a weak one?" He asked, an angry tick mark appeared on the back of Sakura's head.
"I'm gonna have to agree with you on that." Kagome agreed as Kirara nodded.
"NO, I'M NOT!" Sakura shouted as she raised her fist to punch Kagome.
Kagome simply stepped out of the way, causing Sakura to punch her first into the fence which didn't do much damage. Sakura trembled as she bit her lip, trying not to scream in pain. Kagome and Kirara sighed.
"Totally weak." Konohamaru commented and turned to Kagome, "Besides, you're more beautiful and stronger than her."
"Thank you, Konohamaru." Kagome thanked Konohamaru and Kirara mewed happily.
Sakura cracked her knuckles. Konohamaru screamed as she walked over and punched him in the head. She scoffed and walked away with her head up high.
"Are you okay, Konohamaru-kun?" Udon asked.
Kagome and Udon helped Konohamaru get up while holding his head in pain.
"That ugly wide-forehead girl... Is she really a girl?" Konohamaru asked the latter.
Sakura immediately stopped walking as everyone looked at her with fear.
"Konohamaru, I advise that you should start running." Kagome suggested.
"Good idea." Konohamaru agreed.
Sakura turned around while glaring at the little boy and ran towards him at full speed. The three kids started running away as fast as they could with Konohamaru being the fastest. He ran until he bumped into something and fell on the ground.
"That hurt." A male voice said.
Konohamaru looked up to see a boy who wore a black, baggy, full body suit with a red and yellow circle in front. He also wore a black hood that covered his head completely and had cat-like ears and his hitai-ate was on his forehead. He had a purple triangular face-paint design on his face, which gave him a somewhat creepy clown look. He also had a mummified figure strapped to his back. The one next to him was a kunoichi who had teal eyes and sandy blonde hair that was gathered into four consecutive ponytails. She wore a light purple-coloured, off-the-shoulders garment that extended to halfway down her thighs, a scarlet sash tied around her waist, a fishnet worn over her shoulders and on her right calf and left thigh, and black ninja sandals. She wore her hitai-ate around her neck and she was carrying a giant tessan on her back. Kagome and the rest stopped to look at them.
"Konohamaru!" Kagome shouted when the boy picked him up by his scarf.
"That hurt, brat." he said, pulling the scarf harder.
"Stop it." The girl scolded him. "We're going to get scolded later."
"I'm sorry, I was just joking around, so..." Sakura trailed off when she stopped next to the kids.
'Who are these people?' She thought.
"Hey!" Kagome shouted. "Let go of him!"
The boy grinned when he saw the forehead protector as Kagome also saw the boy and girl's forehead protector.
'These guys are genins of Konoha.' He thought.
'These two are from Suna. Why are they here?' Kagome thought.
"But I want to play around before some noisy people come." The boy said.
"Let go!" Konohamaru demanded as he kicked him, but nothing happened.
"You're very energetic, kid." The boy pulled his scarf harder.
"Let go of the kid, do you really want to start a war by trying to harm a kid from this village?" Kagome questioned.
"Like anyone would care about some runt." The boy said.
Unexpectedly, a dark brown cat jumped onto the boy's face, causing him to let go of Konohamaru. Kagome quickly appeared by his side and caught him. Then she brought him over to Udon and Moegi while the boy was struggling with the angry cat who was scratching his face.
"Konohamaru, are you okay?" Kagome asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Konohamaru replied.
Finally the cat let go of the boy and jumped off him and ran over to Kagome's right side as Kirara went to Kagome's left side. The cat hissed angrily at the boy while the boy glared at Kagome and the three kids who stood behind her.
"You piss me off," The boy said. "I hate short people anyway. And you're so impatient for someone younger than me. It makes me want to break you."
The girl next to him sighed.
"I'm not going to be responsible for what you do." She said.
'Who is this guy?' Sakura thought. 'He's dangerous...'
"After this short kid, the short kid over there is next." The boy said as he raised his fist.
Kagome took out one of her chakra blades and held it in front of her. She studied the boy's chakra and aura. Even though he was a foreign ninja, she sensed strings of chakra around him and the mummified figure.
'A puppeteer? I better be careful of him. If I'm trapped by one of his strings, I'm doomed. I'll have to use my speed against him as I dodge the strings.' Kagome thought as her chakra blade was coated with her blue chakra.
Kagome ran forward and twirled with her arm out, cutting the strings which shocked the boy. He quickly took out his kunai just before she was about to hit him. The two pushed their weapons against each other. Kagome leaned back and swung her leg into the boy's stomach which caused him to gag. Kagome jumped and landed in front of the kids and Sakura. The boy held a hand over his stomach as he glared while holding his kunai. The boy was about to step forward until a kunai and shuriken landed in front of his foot, making him step back.
"Why do you always get into troublesome situations?" A male voice asked.
Everyone turned the male voice and Kagome saw Shikamaru standing on top of the fence with his hands in his pockets and a familiar grey cat sitting on his shoulder.
"Don't know, I guess it's part of my charm." Kagome teased, shrugged.
"Of course." Shikamaru sighed before he appeared at Kagome's side.
The boy glared as he was about to throw his kunai, only for a pebble to hit his hand, making him drop it. He looked down at the pebble and kunai, confused.
"What do you think you're doing in another village?" A male voice asked.
Everyone turned to the male voice and saw Sasuke who was sitting on a tree branch tossing another pebble up and down with his hand as he stared at the two Suna ninjas.
"Sasuke-kun!~" Sakura squealed.
'He's pretty handsome.' The blonde girl thought with little blush.
"Another kid that pisses me off..." The boy muttered.
"Get lost." Sasuke ordered as he caught the pebble and crushed it with his hand.
"He's so cool~" Sakura swooned with Moegi following her as they had hearts in their eyes.
"Good grief." Kagome muttered.
"Hey, come down, kid." The boy ordered. "I hate kids like you, who think they're so clever." He reached out for the mummified figure on his back and placed it on the ground.
"Hey!" The girl said next to him. "You're going to use Karasu?"
"Kankuro, stop." A voice said from the tree Sasuke was at. Everyone looked up to see a red haired boy with pale blue-green eyes with black rings around them and the kanji "love" on the left side of his forehead. He had a gourd strapped to his back as he stood upside down on the tree branch. "You're a disgrace to our village. Why do you think you came all the way here to Konoha?"
Everyone was shocked to see his sudden appearance.
"L-Listen, Gaara..." Kankuro trailed off nervously. "These guys started it."
"Shut up." The red haired boy said, not buying the lie. "I'll kill you."
"I was at fault." Kankuro admitted. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."
Gaara looked at Kagome. "I'm sorry for the trouble he caused."
"It's fine." Kagome assured him.
'He has unpleasant eyes.' Sasuke thought.
'She's able to fight against Kankuro and he hit his hand with a pebble so easily.' Gaara thought. 'They're good.' He disappeared into sand and reappeared next to Kankuro.
"Let's go. We didn't come here to fool around." Gaara reminded them.
"Wait up." Sakura said as they stopped walking.
"What is it?" The blond girl asked without looking.
"Judging from your forehead protectors, you are ninjas from Suna, right? The Land of Fire and the Land of Wind have an alliance, but a treaty prevents ninja from entering each other's countries without permission. State your purpose." Sakura demanded.
'You shouldn't make any demands if you don't have the skills to back you up, Sakura.' Kagome thought, inwardly sighing.
"If I'm not mistaken, judging by what Gaara had said, they're here for the Chūnin Exams, right?" Kagome questioned as she put her chakra blade away.
"Glad that someone is not living under a rock." The blonde girl said as she and her teammates turned around. "'What you're looking for is closer to you than you think.' You don't know anything?" She held up an identification card. "This is a traffic pass. Like your friend here said, we came to this village to take the Chūnin Exams."
Gaara snorted and started walking away with his team.
"Hey, you there," Sasuke shouted as he jumped down in front of Kagome. "What's your name?"
"Me?" The blonde girl asked, pointing at herself while blushing.
"No, the one next to you with the gourd." He said.
The group turned around to look at him.
"Sabaku no Gaara." He replied. "I am also interested in you. What's your name?"
"Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke smirked.
"Shikamaru Nara." Shikamaru said, bluntly.
"And her?" Gaara asked.
"Who? Me?" Sakura asked, scared.
"No. Her." He looked directly at the blonde girl.
"Kagome Uzumaki." She introduced herself.
Gaara 'hm' and turned around and left with his team.
'This is getting interesting.' Sasuke thought with a smirk.
'This is getting very interesting.' Kagome thought as they watched the Suna team go around the corner.
Kagome, Shikamaru, and the three kids let out a sigh of relief. Kirara climbed back onto Kagome's shoulder.
"Finally, they're gone." Shikamaru sighed.
"Yeah," Kagome said as she knelt down beside the dark brown cat who was now calm and stroked its fur as the grey one jumped from Shikamaru's shoulder and rubbed its head against her knee. Kagome used her other hand to stroke its head, "Thanks you two," The cats meowed and soon took off, climbed up the fence, and jumped down on the other side. Kagome watched them go and turned to Shikamaru, "Thank you as well, Shikamaru." Someone coughed and Kagome turned to see Sasuke, "Oh and you too, Sasuke."
"Don't mention it." Shikamaru said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Man those guys were scary." Udon commented.
"I agree." Moegi added.
"Especially that guy with the red hair." Konohamaru pointed out.
"I agree with you, Konohamaru," Kagome stated, "Sorry about that being troublesome, Shikamaru." Kagome apologized.
"Don't worry, I sort recognized that grey cat and somehow I knew that something was wrong." Shikamaru assured her.
"But still, thank you." Kagome said with a soft smile.
Shikamaru's cheek had a small blush on them. At that moment, someone's stomach growled. Everyone turned to Konohamaru who was scratching the back of his head nervously. As if it was a domino effect, Udon's stomach growled followed by Moegi's.
"Sorry about that, we forgot to get lunch." Konohamaru apologized.
"I was on my way with my team to get barbeque. Wanna come?" Shikamaru suggested.
"Sure." Kagome agreed.
"We're in!" The three kids agreed in unison as they raised their hands.
"What about you Sasuke?" Kagome asked.
Sasuke knew that Ino was on Shikamaru's team and if she sees him, she won't stop flirting with him. Perhaps this might be the one time that he'll let Shikamaru have time with Kagome. Just this once.
"Sorry, I gotta go," Sasuke turned around and headed home, "Later."
Kagome sighed. She knew that Sasuke didn't want to interact much with others. Just her and Ryouta were the only ones he would even talk to. The decision would be up to him. But then she remembered that Ino was on Shikamaru's team and Sasuke did not like his fangirls.
"Well then, lead the way, Shikamaru." Kagome said.
Shikamaru walked ahead with Kagome and the three kids behind him.
"You do know that Asuma-sensei is going to be broke by the time we finish eating, right?" Kagome teased as Kirara mewed.
"Most definitely." Shikamaru grinned.
And still I wander, seeking compensation in unforseen encounters and unexpected sights, in sunsets, storms and passing fancies. - Charles Kuralt
