Hey everyone sorry for the long wait and shorter chapter, but this one was such a pain for me to write for some reason and I just wanted to finally get it out. The next one might be a bit shorter as well, but after that, I'll hopefully get my chapters back up to their normal length. I just really wanted to give Kagome a chance to say goodbye to her old life for good before giving all her energy into her new one.
Kagome silently fumed as she watched Kirara safely lower her two idiots to the ground. They better have a plan or so help them she would kill them both when they get out of here. What in the world were they thinking? Well, obviously they weren't! Honestly, who willingly mind walks into the head of an unconscious child who has a crazed Miko after them? Its obviously a trap!
The moment Kirara landed and the boys started getting off was the moment Kagome started stomping over to them. Shikaku noticed her and conveniently distanced himself from the blond next to him by quickly taking a few steps back. Inoichi on the other hand was seemingly starstruck with Kirara and didn't notice Kagome until it was too late.
Kagome reeling her fist back and flowed chakra down her arm before punching Inoichi in the gut. Inoichi let out a grunt of pain as he collapsed onto the ground and he held his stomach. She heard bursts of surprised shouts from her friends who weren't used to her using her fists while Minato chuckled in good humor.
"Are you two completely stupid or something?" Kagome fumed angrily but was more driven by her worry for the two of them.
"Aww, Kagome, what do you mean?" Inoichi groaned out from his position on the ground. She really hadn't held back from that punch, if he hadn't noticed at the very last second and strengthen the area she was aiming at with chakra he probably would have gone flying. As usual, he was torn between being proud and being terrified. Because if she was this strong now, just how strong was she going to be when she was all grown up?
"Well, I know for a fact that neither of you were close enough for me to accidentally pull you in as I did with Minato. So, that means you, Yamanaka, willing mind walked into my head knowing something was wrong. Do you even have a plan or did you think you'd just be able to simply pull me out once you got in?" She semi-ranted at them.
Shikaku let out a long sigh as he placed a hand on her head to calm her down a bit, "Relax, Kid. I'm here too right? Which means actual thought got put into this mission."
"Hey." Inoichi pouted in annoyment at the blatant barb thrown his way.
"Can the crazy lady hear us?" Shikaku asked, ignoring his friend.
Kagome frowned in thought as she shot a glance at Kikyo, "I don't think so?"
Kikyo cast her Ki out searching for any foreign energy around, "I do not sense her anywhere near, but I can put up a barrier while you talk for extra security if you would like."
"That would be very helpful, thank you," Inoichi said politely.
An idea popped into Kagome's mind and she reached into one of the pouches strapped to her leg and hoped that all of her equipment was there. She gave a little shout of joy when she pulled out some of her fuinjutsu and sutra combo papers. She handed them over to Kikyo, "Here key yourself into these, I made them as a specialized silencing barrier. They have become necessary on missions lately."
Kikyo took the sutra papers, cut her finger, and placed her bloody finger on the Fuinjutsu seals to activate them. Seconds later she had them placed around the group. She sat down and activated her ability, instantly a barrier sprung into existence around them. Both Kikyo and Miroku were visibly surprised.
Kagome let out a small amused laugh at their surprise, "Yeah, you don't need to meditate to keep it active. The only thing it requires is access to your power. After feeling rather useless having to keep a barrier active during my first mission I started looking into ways to make a strong barrier without made these a couple of months ago. They still need a few tweaks, but they work decently well. I just want them to work a bit better."
Inoichi ruffled her hair with a chuckle and she tried slapping his hand away with a huff but he moved it away too quickly. He chuckled at her, "Jiraiya really has you studying up on funijutsu hard doesn't he?"
Kagome shrugged, "He keeps saying he wants me to take over as Konoha's master of Fuinjutsu when he retires. It definitely keeps me busy."
"Back to the matter at hand," Shikaku interrupted with a smirk, "We can talk about those other things when we are on the move."
Kagome nodded seriously, "You're right, sorry. What is the game plan outside of my head?"
"Right before Inoichi brought us in, Hokage-sama and Jiraiya had shown up to begin the plan we've put together. We have been ready for a bit now, but we couldn't let anything slip in case the crazy lady was listening in. Jiraiya and Hokage-sama are currently moving both yourself and Minato to one of the training grounds in case things get violent once we get you out. Less of a chance of the Namikaze district getting wrecked.
"Once they arrive, Jiraiya will start applying two of the three seals to get ready. One is on you, Kagome, right where the jewel came out of you. The second is on the jewel itself. The third needs to be put onto Midoriko herself, which is why we needed to wait until she made her next move, unfortunately." Shikaku started explaining.
Inoichi took over, "The seal on you is merely a holding place for the jewel. You will have the unsealing key for the seal, I promise, but Hokage-sama figured the jewel would be safer sealed back inside of you and out of the view and possible temptation." He did his best to settle Kagome's worries he knew she would have. He had a general idea about how she might react, he knew he wouldn't be too happy about the circumstances if he were in her shoes. He knew he was right when he saw the uneasy frown on Kagome's face as she rubbed the scar on her hip.
"You swear that I'll be told how to unseal it?"
"I swear on my life," Inoichi swore to her as seriously as he possibly could.
Kagome bit her lip as she fidgeted uncomfortably. She started talking slowly, "I understand what needs to be done. I don't like it, but I understand it." She was not at all a fan of the fact that the cursed jewel was going to be back inside her. However, she did understand that it was the smartest move to make.
Shikaku settled a hand on her head, silently lending his support, and she leaned into him slightly. Just as silently thanking him.
Miroku glanced at the two of them thoughtfully. He had noticed a lot of things about the one he thought of as a little sister in the past few hours they had been traveling. She was more sure of herself for one, something he was rather proud of her for. She didn't just take Inuyasha's vocal abuse, she fought back quicker. She was clearly much more capable of protecting herself than she had been.
She was absolutely adorable as a child and he had to hold himself back from attacking her with cuddles. The only reason that he held back was Kagome's new brother. He was wary of the blond. Sure; he was nice, amiable, and the way he interacted with Kagome clearly showed how much they cared about each other. But the look he had seen in Minato's eyes when he had warned him not to touch Kagome showed a very deadly and very dangerous man. Miroku knew not to underestimate the seemingly carefree man. The relationship between Kagome and Minato was deep and strong. They teased each other happily and built each other up. It was a very healthy sibling-ship.
What he couldn't figure out was what her relationship with the black-haired man was. The other blond was clearly just very close friends with Kagome, he could tell by the way they acted together and how quickly he was to assure her fears. The laid back one, however, and Kagome didn't even seem to have to talk to communicate. She was 100% at ease around the man. While Kagome was a generally trusting person she usually had to keep her guard up a bit. She needed to with how many people were after her and the jewel shards she protected. On principle alone, he didn't want to like these men as they were taking his little sister away from them for good. Logically he knew it wasn't their fault, it was Midoriko's. At least he knew she would be in good hands wherever they were. When they had to part for officially the last time. The guy with the long blond hair started talking and brought him back to reality.
"The seal we are putting on the jewel marks it as the prison. The seal that will be applied to Midoriko marks her as the prisoner. Once she enters the jewel after the seal is applied she will never be able to leave the jewel by herself ever again."
"So, that means this won't affect Magatsuhi then. Right? He'll still have free reign, even if the jewel is sealed inside me?"
"As long as the prisoner seal isn't applied to him as well, none of the seals should affect him," Shikaku reassured her as best as he could under the circumstances. This was the first time this seal was ever tried, however, so there were no certainties. He knew that she knew that too.
"Why the hell you worried about that damned Magatsuhi?" Inuyasha growled out angrily.
Kagome sighed as she turned to him, "Suhi has changed sides. He's a good friend now. He helps train me and when the situation calls for it he even comes out and helps fight."
"Are you stupid or something? You trust way too easily, he worked with Naraku. He tried to kill all of us." He barked out.
Kagome balled up her fists, why did he have to question every little thing that she said and did? She glared at him angrily, "I am NOT stupid. If you recall YOU tried to kill me when we first met. Shippo stole from us, Miroku kidnapped me, and Sango tried to kill us. I gave all you a second chance, and you forgave all of them. Get over yourself!"
Sango couldn't help the burst of laughter that escaped her. She walked over to Kagome and pulled her into a hug, which was returned after a moment. She had never seen Kagome stand up for herself so quickly before. This was amazing! Sure, the younger body she now had was a bit odd to get used to. other than that she was absolutely loving the person Kagome had become since they had gotten separated.
Inuyasha glared at the two hugging girls but wisely chose to stay silent. He was not happy with this new Kagome.
Kagome turned to Kikyo, "You can take the barrier down now. Now that I know my two boys weren't total idiots, we can keep going."
Kikyo nodded silently and began ripping the sutras apart.
Inoichi dramatically draped himself over Shikaku, "Why does she always say it like we belong to her?"
Shikaku let out a snort, "Because she can snap her fingers and we come running." He stated before pushing his friend off of him.
Inuyasha glared at them upset before grumbling, "Just like you to slow us down for stupid shit." Before taking off towards the direction they had been heading before they had been interrupted.
Shikaku narrowed his eyes at the back of the white-haired boy. Now he knew how Kagome had gotten that endlessly irritating self-doubt outlook she had. It was easy to say that he was definitely not a fan of the dog boy. He made sure to keep a close eye on him during the rest of this trip.
A few hours later and they were finally getting closer to the power source they were really hoping was the totem that they needed to break to get out.
Shippo approached Kagome with curiosity in his mind, "Hey Mama, I know that you guys are capable of a lot, but what exactly can you do now? What can ninja's do?"
Kagome chuckled, "We can do a whole bunch. There are generalized things that everyone does and learns, and then there are things that only a single person or a family line can do. Take Shikaku and Inoichi for example, they are both from old family lines in Konoha. The Nara clan work with shadows while the Yamanaka clan works with the mind. My brother is very quickly becoming known as the yellow flash because of the jutsu he recreated which basically allows him to teleport."
"So, what are things that you can all do?" Sango asked interested. She had noticed the more controlled movements of Kagome. She had tried to teach Kagome some basic self-defense in the past, but they always seemed to get interrupted or too busy. She knew that Kagome had always wanted to learn so she was happy that she had finally got to.
"Well, in the academy everyone is taught basic weaponry such as shuriken and kunai. We are also taught hand to hand combat and basic chakra control. It's once you graduate from the academy and get put with a jonin sensei do you learn more; more advanced combat, jutsu, and even sometimes specialized weapons such as swords or senbon needles. There are numerous jutsus available to learn, but learning the ones that are the same type as one's chakra releases are the easiest to learn. I myself have both earth and water chakra releases."
"Can you show us something?" Shippo asked with wide excited eyes.
They all slowed to a stop, looking at Kagome questioningly. Shikaku smirked slightly as he walked over to her, grabbed her wrist lightly, and started pulling her away slightly. This was a perfect opportunity to show that idiotic dog boy that Kagome wasn't a weak girl anymore. Not just some random civilian thrown into the middle of a very violent war. She had trained extremely hard with lots of dedication and determination. She deserved to be seen as a capable fighter, someone that can take care of herself.
"Shikaku?" Kagome asked as she allowed herself to be dragged along.
"Let's have a spar."
"Oooh, watching them two spar is fun." Minato grinned excitedly. While he enjoyed training with his sister he knew that she did her best fighting while sparring with Shikaku. The two simply made a very good duo. Shikaku didn't hold back, treating her as an equal, and Kagome had a good challenge trying to keep up with Shikaku's strategic mindset.
Inoichi chuckled in agreement. Kagome had come a great way since they first started sparring together. At first, it was simply Kagome desperately avoiding Shikaku's shadows, but now with how much she has sparred with him, she was starting to be able to predict his moves. Which was not an easy feat when dealing with a Nara.
"We don't have time for this," Inuyasha grumbled.
Kikyo placed her hand on his arm to settle him, "We have plenty of time Inuyasha. We are getting close to the totem as I can sense it much clearer now. All we have to do when we find it is break it and then we will all be freed. A few minutes will not change the outcome."
Kagome frowned slightly at Shikaku, "Do we really need to do this? I could just handlessly climb a tree or something to show them, and some target practice. That would take less time than a spar." She asked him quietly.
"Don't you want your friends to know that you can hold your own in a world completely separate from them? I think showing them exactly what you are now capable of will help ease their minds about your safety." Shikaku said as he finally let her go and walked a few more paces to get a gap between them.
Kagome nodded with a sigh as she easily fell into a ready position, letting Shikaku make the first move. She had learned the hard way that taking the first move against Shikaku was just giving him the win that much sooner. Most of his plans started with his opponent going first.
Everyone watched in both anticipation and amazement as the fight started. Both were moving much quicker than a normal human should, well humans from the feudal era. For the first few minutes, it was just hand to hand combat with some weaponry thrown now and again. The first jutsu they witnessed was the substitution jutsu and Inuyasha very nearly jumped into the fight.
Sango watched in a type of horror at the kunai Shikaku threw hit Kagome right in the chest. Her hand flew to her mouth as she yelled out Kagome's name. She turned a hard glare onto Inoichi when he just chuckled at their reactions, "What is so funny?" she growled out angrily.
"Kag's fine, that isn't Kagome." Inoichi tried to reassure them.
"What do you mean?" Inuyasha barked out as he was being restrained by Minato.
Inoichi just pointed to the 'Kagome' that was laying on the ground, "Look."
They turned back just in time to see 'Kagome' poof into smoke and turn into a log that was impaled by a kunai. The real Kagome was nowhere in sight.
"Wh-where is she?" Shippo asked in concern as he looked around. His heart was thundering in his chest. His mom was okay, right?
"Well, she has just recently gotten the headhunter jutsu down-pat so there is a very good chance she's underground somewhere waiting for a good chance to try and grab Shikaku," Minato explained quietly, not letting go of Inuyasha but also keeping his eyes on Shikaku.
"Underground? How is she underground, there are no holes anywhere?"
"That is the power that chakra gives us. She burrowed underground while closing the ground back above her. Shikaku is probably trying to get a bead on her chakra signature." Inoichi explained as he kneeled down next to Shippo. He pointed to the ground underneath Shikaku and whispered to the boy, "Look at the shadows underneath Shikaku. He's activated his family jutsu in anticipation to snag her when she surfaces."
Shippo's eyes widened in awe, "The shadows are moving!" He had never seen a human be able to manipulate his own shadow before. He knew there were certain demons able to manipulate shadows, but not humans. The world his mama found herself in sounded amazing.
In the next few seconds, Kagome burst up from the ground behind Shikaku, shuriken already leaving her hand. Shikaku had heard the ground crumbling and spun around to try and attach to Kagome's shadow. He had to divert his attention onto the three shurikens aimed for his face, however. The shuriken stopped in mid-air as he connected to their shadows, gaining control of them. They stopped mere inches from his face, and he smirked slightly, "Not holding back today, huh Kid."
"Nope." Kagome smiled back at him before quickly starting to form hand signs, "Water style, liquid bullet."
Shikaku's eyes widened slightly as he recognized the hand signs and quickly jumped backward.
Amazement filled Kagome's friend's minds as Kagome started spitting out water at a very high speed. Shikaku made the shadows jump up in front of him like a wall and they became solid, taking the hits from Kagome's jutsu.
An idea popped into Inoichi's mind and he smirked evilly, "Here watch how well she handles from going to one opponent to two." He told her friends before pulling out a kunai and throwing at her before jumping into the spar.
Kagome felt the projectile coming at her and stopped it from hitting her with one of her own kunai, redirecting Inoichi's toward the ground instead of herself. She quickly jumped into a backflip to avoid the punch coming from Inoichi. A dived summersault was soon followed to duck under the high-kick from Shikaku.
Kagome pouted childishly when she made it back onto her feet, "Hey, nobody said anything about this being a two on one."
"I don't believe any rules were stated at the beginning of the spar," Shikaku smirked at her.
"Think of it as practice for the chunin exams, who knows if a fight will be interrupted by a third party. Happens all of the time." Inoichi smiled as he pulled out a new kunai.
Kagome sighed and readied herself for now having to defend against two instead of one. She knew she wasn't going to win, she never did against these two. They were jonin, very skilled jonin.
Inoichi and Shikaku flawlessly started working together without even having to speak and Kagome desperately tried her best to avoid being taken out. She managed to last a few more minutes before the spar ended with Shikaku finally catching her with one of his shadows effectively stopping her in place while Inoichi held a kunai to her throat.
Kagome groaned in defeat, "I give."
Shikaku deactivated his jutsu, releasing Kagome, and Inoichi put his kunai away and patted her head, "That was a great job Kagome, I can't wait to hear how you completely dominate the chunin exams."
Shippo bound forward and glomped Kagome in an excited hug, "That was amazing! I've never seen a human be able to do so many cool things." He babbled excitedly.
Kagome laughed happily hugging Shippo back, "It takes an incredible amount of training and study, but the end results are totally worth it. I can't tell you how many nights I simply collapse in bed full of bruises. Every new move, skill, and jutsu is worth every struggle and pain through. It's fun."
"You got a cut on your arm," Minato told her as the rest of them approached.
Kagome looked down and saw the blood running down her arm, "Oh yeah. Almost forgot Inoichi got in a hit."
"Well, you certainly got me back for that," Inoichi frowned in good humor as he held his stomach lightly. A chakra infused kick had hit him hard not long after he had sliced her arm.
Kagome rolled her eyes and held a glowing pink hand over her cut, seconds later it started healing over. It didn't even take half a minute to heal the cut, and she wiped the blood off her arm as much as she could. She moved to Inoichi and started healing his stomach a bit, getting rid of the deep bruise she knew would form from her kick.
Kikyo stared at Kagome with wide eyes, she had never seen any Miko be able to heal that quickly before. Healing took time and a good amount of energy to complete. She knew that Kagome had a more natural affinity for it, but she had never healed that quickly in the past. With how quickly she had been able to heal that cut showed just how much practice and dedication she had put into it since they had parted. Slight worry started filling her about the world Kagome had found herself in. To be able to practice healing that much there had to be actual wounds to heal. Self-healing was even harder than healing others as well. She had figured the world was a bit dangerous from the descriptions she had gotten during their travels the past few hours. But, just how dangerous was their world? With humans being able to do things just as powerful as demons, if not more powerful, how wild was that world? Sure, demons could be insanely cruel, but humans could be the real monsters sometimes. Take Naraku for example, the worst of the worst.
They talked for a bit while Kagome healed the two that she had been fighting before they moved out once again. It took another hour before they made it to the entrance of a cave, the energy source they had been heading for pulsed powerfully from inside.
"Think it's boobytrapped?" Kagome asked dryly. It had been way too easy to get here. They hadn't run into a single demon, which was not what she had been expecting. She had expected there to be hoards of demons between them and their prize. So, the fact they hadn't run into a single one honestly worried her a bit.
"Maybe she didn't expect you to be able to find it?" Miroku answered hopefully.
"Well I mean I can sense it just as strongly as Kikyo can, so it wouldn't had been too hard to find even if I had been here by myself." She frowned thoughtfully before getting an idea, "I guess there is only one way to find out." She formed the correct hand sign, "Shadow clone jutsu."
A second Kagome popped into existence beside her and her friends looked at her in astonishment. She just smiled at them knowing exactly what they were thinking. She had the same thoughts when she had first arrived in Konoha.
The fake Kagome walked into the cave without a second of hesitation and the rest of them followed slowly at a distance just in case anything took a couple of seconds to activate. In the end, there was nothing. This was entirely too easy.
When they saw what the totem object was they all blanched slightly. Sitting on top of a pedestal sat one half of the Shikon jewel.
"Really? That is what she chose as the totem?" Kagome asked angrily. Midoriko's whole fit was about her breaking the jewel in the first place. Why would she want her to break it again, even if it wasn't the real jewel? And why was it only half of the jewel?
"Why is it just half?" Kikyo asked mimicking Kagome's thoughts.
"Is it a two-part totem? Will we have to find the second half somewhere else?" Miroku pondered.
"I have never heard of Tsubaki using a two-part totem, but all of the people Tsubaki cursed were simply normal civilians that had gained her ire. I'll be honest, I'm not sure." Kikyo answered.
"Well, I'm not breaking it. I broke this stupid thing once and we all know how much trouble followed." Kagome spoke up in a firm tone. That was final, she would not be the one smashing it.
"I'll do it." Minato told her, "It'll help get rid of some frustration."
"Before you do, I think we should say our goodbyes. Just in case this is all there is and we all wake up back where we came from." Kikyo told them quietly.
The room sobered instantly as the realization hit them. This was goodbye. For good. They would never see Kagome again after this. They all suddenly wished that the hike here had been a little bit longer.
Shippo immediately latched himself onto Kagome, "I'm going to miss you so much, Mama." He wailed as he clung to her, "I don't want you to go."
"I know Shippo, but I can't stay. I'm sorry. I want you to promise me to be good for everyone, alright? Can you promise me that?"
"I promise Mama."
Kagome said tearful goodbyes to the rest of her friends. She saved Inuyasha for last.
Inuyasha's ears flattened onto his head and he tucked his hands into his sleeves, clear signs that he was very uncomfortable, "Do ya really gotta go?"
"You know I do. Before I leave though, do you want me to remove the rosary beads? I don't know if things done in here will transfer to the waking world, but there's a good chance it will."
"Naw, I've come to like them. Something to remember you by." Inuyasha mumbled out in embarrassment.
Kagome smiled at him before walking forward and hugging him tightly, "I'm going to miss you Yasha, don't think I won't. I want you to remember that you will always be my best friend, even if you got on my nerves all the time."
Inuyasha cleared his throat awkwardly as he held back tears, refusing to cry in front of other people, "Yeah, whatever you say. You got places to be, so get going."
Kagome turned back to Minato and nodded. She was ready.
Minato nodded back before forming the hand signs for his newest jutsu, "Rasengan." A ball of very high-pressure wind formed in his hand and he quickly brought it down on the jewel. It shattered instantly and the shards dissolved into nothingness as they drifted toward the ground. Seconds later the world around them started to waver out of existence.
Everyone from the feudal era woke up back home, safe, and sound. Shippo immediately started wailing and Sango scooped him into her lap. Just like that, they knew they had forever lost one of their pack.
The four ninjas, however, were not as lucky. The world around them turned black for a few seconds before a town snapped into existence around them. To Kagome, it was immediately familiar, to the others however their surroundings were very foreign and strange. Konoha was much closer to the feudal era than modern Tokyo after all.
I have a very important question for everyone. Do you guys want me to bring Naraku into the story? This is something that I have been on the fence about whether to add or not, so I'm leaving the final decision up to the readers. Whichever way has the most votes is what I will end up doing and don't worry I do have ideas for whichever way it ends up going. Let me know if you'd guys like to see him come back or not, I do have an idea on how to bring him back but I wasn't sure if that would just be too cheesy or not to do. Let me know what you guys think!