You Can Reclaim Your Crown

Summary: No one paid her much attention, Naruto's landlady, this woman who paid visits to the Uchiha compound with baskets of bread and fruit for the little Uchiha survivor. The woman who sat down to dinner with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki...who had befriended the silent Itachi, the impassive Kakashi...and had enraptured the hearts of Kushina and Minato...no one paid her any attention until she's forced to act as a Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village once again.

Pairing: Kagome/?

Anime/Manga: InuYasha/Naruto

Genre: Romance/Spiritual/Adventure

Rated: M

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Sasuke felt the warmth of Kagome near him, but seeing her across the way, he couldn't understand why he felt her.

"Sasuke, hey, did you hear me?"

Sasuke nodded, "yeah, and you aren't wrong about Orochimaru. We should talk to Kakashi-sensei after the preliminaries." Turning his attention back to Naruto who was looking up at him with a grin. "What's that stupid look for?"

"You aren't used to feeling her reach out for us when she's not within reaching distance. She's done it a few times that I'm aware of."

"Reaching out? She? What are you two talking about?"

Naruto and Sasuke turned their eyes to the only female of team Kakashi. Sakura was twiddling with her hair as she tied it back into a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes. A habit she'd picked up after she'd begun focusing more on herself. That had been an interesting argument between the three of them. Kakashi had honestly thought that the three of them were going to duke it out while on the mission to the Land of the Waves, but really, Sasuke said it best when he told her that he'd never end up with someone too busy looking at him that they can't see their talents in front of them. "Kagome was checking on us. She used to do it when I was little, I'd feel her near me but never see her when I was in the village. It was like she was always there by my side...and as I got older, I realized that it's a Jutsu of hers. She can always find me. She can tell if I'm hurt or in trouble...somehow. The same thing for Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji, I'm sure she worries for us all."

Sasuke looked back at Kagome as she placed a hand on Kakashi's arm, a feeling of annoyance snuck up on him and he tightened a fist at his side.

"You know, Sasuke, if you like her, you'll still need to wait until you're older to be with her." Kicking his feet out and swinging them back and forth, Naruto looked down at Kankuro and Misumi, the two fighting below them. Said fight wouldn't last long if Sasuke's feeling about the Sand Siblings was anything to go by. "She's got every right to have someone in her life, even if it's not you...yet...at least she's not alone. Kakashi isn't a bad guy..."

"Naruto,"

Smiling, Naruto nodded, "right, shutting up."

"Idiot."

Sakura sighed, "I still can't wrap my head around the fact that she's thirty-one. She's clearly found some fountain of youth."

"Hm," Sasuke nudged Naruto, "let's change sides. I suddenly want to watch the preliminaries from a different angle."

"Of course!" Naruto laughed, standing up and following after Sasuke, Sakura close behind him. "Oh, so I was thinking you and I could get in some extra training once the prelims are finished. I want to widen my array of Jutsu. Looking at the talents of the rest of the Rookie Nine, and Lee's team, it's kind of annoying to see how far behind I am."

"I told you, Idiot. Stop trying to learn at everyone else's pace. You and I will surpass everyone in this village, I swear it."

"Hey, I'm here too!" Sakura frowned, "I won't let the two of you leave me behind!"

"Prove it," Sasuke smirked, "show us what you've got when you're pushed beyond your limits."

Sakura felt her cheeks flush as they came up to Kagome and Kakashi. "Kakashi-Sensei! Could you train me after the Preliminaries? I want some one-on-one training!"

Naruto and Sasuke gave Kakashi a look, watching him as he kept his eyes on the fight below. Their eyes were drawn to Kagome as she brought her elbow into his side and watched his head drop before he turned his full attention onto Sakura. Their lagging female looked frustrated, clearly with herself and her Sensei's unwillingness to see her through.

"I think that would be a good idea," Kakashi finally said, taking in her shaking shoulders as he decided to resign himself to teaching her apart from Sasuke and Naruto.

"I'll take Naruto and Sasuke on an adventure then, me and them. I need some Shinobi with me, and I wanted to get out of the village for a bit, so this might be a good opportunity."

"Wait, leave the village?!" Naruto frowned, "you?"

Laughter filled the air as she shook her head, "I used to travel across the lands before I settled in Konoha, don't be so surprised. I had adventures that you kids could never imagine."

"Then Sasuke and I will escort you wherever you want to go! After the last escort mission, this one should be a breeze." Blue eyes hid behind closed lids as he grinned widely. Sasuke shook his head from beside him, but none of them denied the difficulty of their mission to the Land of the Waves.

"Ah, he won! Let's go Kankuro!" Kagome finally cheered out loud for the Sand Shinobi below. Blushing when heads turned her way, she did a quick pirouette out of their line of sight and hid behind Kakashi who sighed in exaggeration at the attention she was drawing to him.

"I wouldn't mind a fight with the Sand Siblings, you know, that Gaara kids gotta be something impressive. He's completely at ease, and unaffected by anything." Naruto looked to Sakura, "Hey, you okay?"

Sakura turned her eyes away from the Sand Siblings and smiled, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I was just...wondering...why they didn't look happy."

"Not like anyone here is really smiling," Sasuke muttered, "but I get what you mean. Since they arrived, only the blonde seems to be capable of smiling."

Kagome walked behind Naruto and crossed her arms over the top of his head as she leaned on him, "I want to see them smile. Gaara reminds me of someone I know. The longer I look at him, the more I'm sure of their similarities."

"Who is that?" Naruto glanced up a bit, not able to catch a glimpse of his landlady, he sighed and turned his eyes to the Sand Siblings. The blonde was joking with Kankuro who was flushed bright pink after Kagome's outburst. He was used to this reaction, having seen many guys fall for Kagome's charm, he didn't care about who she ended up with but would be damned if he let anyone hurt her.

"...you can't see it?"

Sasuke glanced at Naruto and rolled his eyes, "she's talking about you, Naruto."

"Me!?" He looked back at Gaara, "what part of him reminds you of me? The red hair or the "look at me and die" glare?"

Kakashi gazed across at the Sand trio and eyed the youngest curiously. "I fail to see the similarities, Kagome."

"...hm...I guess because I have always been watching, I see it better. Naruto...Gaara is lonely. Such a familiar look, so heavy in his eyes. Surely you know that loneliness...without Sasuke, Shikamaru and Chouji, without Sakura and Kakashi..."

"Without you?"

She smiled, "without me...your life would be different, for sure. However, you can certainly recall the pain of loneliness still, before there were people in your heart. The looks that the civilians gave you. The way people talked about you. That boy is how you would have turned out, without anyone there to take your hand…he needs a hug." She said more to herself, but it went heard by the group that surrounded her. Each gazing up at her with their own looks of surprise as she seemed to be deciding on something silently in her head.

"OI! FOREHEAD! YOU'RE UP!"

Kagome looked at the board and smiled, "my goodness,"

"You're kidding," Sasuke sighed, "you better win this, Sakura."

Sakura looked at the board and felt her heart tighten in her chest painfully, nodding, she walked down the steps and made her way across from Ino. "Didn't mean to keep you waiting, Ino-Pig. I wasn't aware that you were in such a hurry to lose."

Ino frowned, "don't forget whose team it was that showed up and saved your life in the forest, forehead!"

"...Lee's?" Smirking, "I will be sure to thank him after I beat you into the dirt."

"Well then, ahem, if the verbal warfare is through, ahem, you may both begin."

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Me: Here is chapter 26 of You Can Reclaim Your Crown. Somehow, I'm listening to Disney Music while writing Naruto fics. T.T...yeah, I'm confused too. Send Love Through, Review~