"Are you alright?" Minato gazed at the woman across from him, her disheveled appearance catching him slightly off guard to her normal put together self.

She inclined her head slightly, the small wince easily detectable to the Fourth Hokage, "it's nothing to worry about, My Lord."

"Kikyō—"

"Minato-sensei," she lifted her hand to her neckline and pulled her necklace free to dangle from her fingers, "it's safe, regardless of what happens to me; that's all that matters."

Minato leaned back in his chair and tilted his head, his finger rubbing his jaw as he regarded her; in the last few months since the death of her father, Kikyō had stepped with ease into the role he had left behind. Narrowing his eyes, he shifted carefully and sighed, "we lost your father because of that…"

"Yes."

"Perhaps there is something else we can do with it?" his fingers drummed absently on his armrests, "put it somewhere to keep it as well as you safe so that it's not such a burden on you."

Kikyō brushed a strand of hair from her eyes and unclasped the chain from her neck to better see the trinket, staring into the twinkling of the pebble as though she were considering his offer. "Thank you Lord Fourth," she mumbled finally, dragging her tired brown eyes up to look at him, "but it's my burden to bear… if I can't keep it safe it passes to Kagome and so on and I will not let that happen to the rest of my siblings."

The door creaked gently behind her, turning slightly to see the newcomer as she dropped the jewel into her opposite hand and closed her fist around it. "Hatake."

"Kikyō," Kakashi bowed and said her name with a sigh. No matter where he went in the village there was always at least one Higurashi he would run into, but he didn't mind the eldest, she didn't grind on his nerves like Kagome… 'but her eyes don't sparkle as much as hers either.' He shook his head; he still couldn't understand why those thoughts popped into his head like that.

"Kakashi," a smirk appeared and fell as the blonde attempted to pull the child from his thoughts, finally having to cover his smile with his hand.

"Yes sensei?"

Minato cleared his throat and sat up straighter, finally succeeding in removing his smile; now wasn't the time to be fawning over Kakashi's little crush… he could do that with Kushina later. "Just give us one more moment, Kakashi."

"I should go," Kikyō winced lightly and stood, fumbling to quickly replace the jewel around her neck neck and tucking it away. From the way Kakashi's eye narrowed he had seen it, so she delivered her coldest glare, everyone that knew her knew that glare meant pain and he was no exception.

"Nice necklace," he commented in passing. Minato straightened as his face dropped, watching the exchange passively, happy he wasn't the one on the receiving end of Kikyō's glare.

Kakashi rolled the jewel in his pocket, he should have known better that Naruto would follow him out to make sure he left. "Naruto," his fingers twitched against the hidden cloth in his pocket, regarding him in the same bored expression he usually used with his youthful team, "I got lost on my way out."

"Yeah right," the blonde snorted, "you walk in this house like you live here and to come into Kagome's room when she's not even here is low."

"Yes, I suppose it is," Kakashi mused. He turned quickly to the desk across from the bed, his eye scanning the books overtop before moving forward and grabbing one to show the boy, "I just came back for my book. I let her borrow it and since she didn't take it, I saw no reason why I couldn't come back for it to read while she's gone."

Naruto's eyes narrowed at the book, it could have been true for all he knew, Kagome never had time to read much since she never really had any downtime to herself. "How did you know she left it?"

"It never hurts to check."

"Uh huh."

Kakashi inclined his head slightly, the contents of his pockets heavy as he smiled, 'so much like Obito…' "Say Naruto… how about a little one on one training?"

Blue eyes lit up at the question, Naruto balling his hands up and holding them in front of his chest happily, "yeah? Seriously?"

"Sure, why not? I haven't been to see the Hokage to inform him of our arrival and how our mission in the Land of Snow went." Kakashi tilted his head quizzically, as of thinking about what else they could do before pulling shrugging, "what do you say, Naruto?"

"Sounds boring."

"Is that a no?"

"Hell yeah it's a no."

Kakashi shrugged a second time and moved for the door, tapping the blonde head with the book gently in passing. "See you later then." He knew that invitation would get the boy off his back, Naruto didn't mind going to the office to receive the missions, anything other than that was what he deemed to be boring.

'Still… it doesn't explain the necklace… Kikyō had it too…' his eyes remained downcast as he wound through the house to the front door, pausing as he began to put his sandals back on. He didn't know if he was right or not, but something about this necklace… he had seen it before Minato's office he was sure of that.

Shaking his head, he turned from the building and cast his gaze to the roof of the Tashiō house with a frown. Starting forward as he lost himself to his thoughts, naybe when Tōga came back from the mission he could ask his question's and get answers.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei! Wait up!"

The jōnin's eye widened as he stumbled to a halt and craned his head behind him, "Naruto?"

"Yeah, I figured if I'm going to be Hokage one day I might as well get used to the other stuff I'll have to deal with, even if it's the boring stuff." He folded his hands behind his head and marched in front of Kakashi, leading the way to the Hokage's tower, "and hey, maybe he's got a cool new mission too."

"Perhaps." Kakashi had hoped he'd stay behind, the Third Hokage never liked speaking of important things if there were an audience and he had planned on asking about the jewel in his pocket, carefully of course….

"Wind Style: Hurricane." Kagome tossed her head back and watched the advancing guards fly into the wall, turning and shooting her leg out to collide her foot with the drawn sword aiming for her body and kicking it from the man's hands. Her fingers deftly pulling a kunai free and letting it fly, eyes hardening when it embedded in his chest and felled him.

Her eyes swept over the chaos of the room, briefly landing on Tōga before attempting to find Ryūkotsei, ducking under a punch and kicking her leg out to drop her assailant to his back. "Fire Release: Fox Fir—"

"Ninja Art: Chakra Bindings."

Searing pain shot up Kagome's arms, smoke lifting from under her sleeves as a burning smell wafted under her nose. A yelp of surprise had her spinning, Tōga cutting down his opponent to pull his own sleeve up and examine the marks. "Sensei!" Kagome clapped her hands together, moving through the hand signs quickly in an attempt to push Ryūkotsei away from the man with her jutsu as the lord emerged from the shadows with a sword.

"Wind Styl—" a hiss of pain cut off her words, fumbling to pull her sleeves up as her arms throbbed, her hands cramped, and fingers stiffened. 'What the hell…?' a faint outline in red ebbed and dimmed painfully across her forearms. Clenching her jaw, she forced her fingers to move, shooting her head up and turning, pain shooting from the back of her head as her world darkened.

Kagome's fingers were the first thing she felt outside of the splitting headache, her fingers curling and uncurling against the ground as a metallic taste began to dance slowly across her tongue. She rolled slowly, opening her mouth to allow the blood and spit to drip to the dirt as she slowly climbed to her hands and knees. The events in the dining room slowly began to creep back over her mind, sending her shooting to her feet and groping for the nearest wall to hold her steady.

Whomever hit her over the head had a mean swing, 'and he's a dead man.' She added the thought for good measure, glancing around she flopped unceremoniously to press her back to the wall as she assessed her surroundings. She was in a cell, she knew that much from being on the dirt, but what she couldn't understand was why Ryūkotsei kept her alive.

Licking her dry lips she shoved off from the wall to the bars opposite her, fingers trailing over them gently before putting her hands together, "earth sty—ugh…" her back arched lightly as her arms burned, yanking her sleeves up to see the fading red marks. "Right… chakra's not accessible…"

A squeak echoed around her making her drape her arms through the bars, craning her neck in an attempt to see who was coming before glaring at the familiar silvery eyes. They gazed at her almost sadly, hands folded neatly in front of his body as Ryūkotsei waited patiently for her to make the first move.

Kagome's mind raced with questions, head tilting with a deep frown, "where's Tōga?"

"It's not him I would be worried about," he responded easily, head bowing as he ambled closer. "It's you."

"Yeah, I've heard that before." Her hands lifted and fell.

"I imagine so… holding one of the most powerful possessions of our world, being so close to the Nine-Tails—"

Kagome straightened and scowled, "you stay the hell away from that boy."

"You're infuriating girl, I could have you killed like that," he snapped his fingers for emphasis, "no one speaks to me in the ways you have."

"Release me and my Uncle or so help me—"

"You'll what?" Ryūkotsei sneered and stepped closer, "you are the failed shinobi offspring of Banko Higurashi… the weak replacement of Kikyō and you know it. As for your sensei I'm afraid Tōga and I have come to an end of our friendship… it pains me to reveal to you that he is no longer with us."

Kagome's face fell at the announcement, shoulders dropping as she watched him spin on his heel and begin to stride away. "Hey!" she snapped sharply, spine straightening with the coldest glare she could muster as he turned back to her, "you don't know me at all, but believe me when I say that you better hope this cage is enough to hold me… because I'm coming for you and Takemaru."

"Yes well, you're relatively useless without your chakra aren't you? You're taijutsu isn't as honed as some of your peers."

Her lips twitched in a half smile, eyes closing when he turned his back on her and slammed the door to the dungeon shut. Releasing a shuddering breath, Kagome shoved from the bars and spun in a circle slowly, eyes bouncing around the area as she bit the inside of her cheek. With a huff, she shook her head and glanced down at her arms and frowned as she turned them slowly, eyes lifting back to where the door was and back, "poor bastard… you don't know whom you're dealing with."

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, you think after this we could grab some ramen?" Naruto bounded ahead and stopped, wanting to snatch the orange book from Kakashi's hand before the jōnin lowered it slightly.

"What was that?"

"We should grab some ramen after this," he repeated quickly, looking down at him from the landing of the stairs. "And… maybe you'd be willing to teach us some of those cool moves Kagome's team knows, that Hydra one and the other one were awesome! Souta, Kaede, and Kohaku don't know it but if you've been watching them then maybe you do—"

"That's for Tōga-sensei to teach Naruto and Sesshoumaru if he's willing; besides you three are doing fine without those flashy formations." Kakashi snapped his book shut and ruffled the boys head in passing, turning down the curving hall and knocking on the door, "you're keen to spending more time together."

"Yeah well, you're around a lot and you're supposed to be my sensei and teach me stuff, right?"

Kakashi cast a glace down and arched his brow, "haven't I done that?"

"You avoid it most of the time."

"I'm giving you three room to grow and develop as a team."

A disbelieving stare was his response, face scrunching when Kakashi crinkled his eyes and smiled, opening the door at the Hokage's bid to enter. "Behave now."

"Yeah, yeah…"

'I regret this,' it wasn't that Kakashi didn't like spending time with the members of his team, he was trying hard not to show favorites, another agreement he made that he knew had to be worked on. "Lord Third…" his eye darted between the Tashio brothers as they turned to look at the new arrivals, Inuyasha looking ready to kill someone while Sesshoumaru remained as stoic as ever.

"Hey old man, Kakashi-sensei said we have to give you our report or whatever." Naruto crossed his arms, "what are you two doing here?"

"Naruto," Sarutobi's tone seemed to warn him gently, extending his arm to Kakashi to accept the paper, "thank you. If you could stay and… Naruto… thank you for stopping by."

"You're kicking me out?" Naruto questioned.

"I'll treat you to ramen after," Kakashi promised.

Blue eyes lit up at the promise, grinning madly as he backed through the door, "I'm holding you to that."

"I know you are."

Naruto shut the door gently behind him, leaving the adults in the silence left behind. Kakashi righted himself between the brother's ignoring their curious glances and giving his attention to the Hokage, "sir?"

Smoke from his newly lit pipe encircled Sarutobi's head, "Gai brought in Takemaru this afternoon, he was Kagome and Tōga's mission and they have yet to return. Normally I'd wait a little longer before sending out a team for search and recover but… Higurashi's are a special exception."

Kakashi's fingers twitched against his pocket, his answers would apparently have to wait. "When do we leave, sir?"

"As soon as you're all ready."