Summary: They had been seeing each other in secret for a reason. They wanted something that didn't involve their family. They already had to deal with expectations and the impending uncertainty of their graduation. Sadly good things have to come to an end.
Pairing: Kagome/Sasuke
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to its respective owners. All mistakes are my own.
AN: I am so sorry about how late this update was, I didn't mean for it to be a year late. I won't bore you here, I'll leave more information for the end, but please enjoy leave me your beautiful thoughts at the end.
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Kagome walked down the busy street of Konoha. The smell of vegetables and spices floated around the air. Happy citizens chatted around her and she felt invisible. It was nice after she had spent so much time in the Uchiha compound, under their intense gazes constantly analyzing her. Thankfully, a few Uchiha here and there were becoming less hostile to her, mostly the civilians of the clan. But still, it was pleasant, to be dressed simply in an oversized blue sweater, her right shoulder exposed to the calm breeze that went through the market, and shorts. The only indication of her being a ninja was the Uchiwa fan dangling from her choker but it was ambivalent.
After passing a couple stalls she stopped at the flower shop. It piqued her interest, she was always in search of more plants to nurture. When the door opened the air was fresh and sweet and a bell chimed over her head. The shop was delightfully cool and the flowers' auras were happy. She was surprised to see that none of them were pre-cut like other shops she had been to. They were content with their roots firmly in very nice and soft soil, that Kagome couldn't resist poking her finger into. It was a healthy mix of nitrogen and peat moss, nice.
"Can I help you?" a soft hesitant voice brought her out of her soil appreciation. She turned to see Ino standing there. The girl had her long hair in a bun topped with an orange over and she was wearing a yellow apron on top of her usual purple outfit.
"Oh sorry, I was just about to look for some seeds. But I couldn't help but notice that your flowers are very happy. It's refreshing," Kagome started to turn her attention back to the plant.
"Happy?" the girl sounded a little hesitant at the idea.
"I can read the emotions of plants and bits of nature, it's my kekkei genkai," Kagome said while she blushed and Ino arched her eyebrow at her. "Yeah like this guy," she pointed to a little moonflower, "He wants to be a little bigger and have some friends," she channeled her chakra into the plant and the white plant bloomed under her touch and more buds grew in next to him.
"Wow that's really cool," Ino said as she leaned closer and her eyes flickered quickly to Kagome's necklace before going to the plant.
"Thanks, I can do more than circus tricks and such," Ino flinched at the comment, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."
"No it's alright, I regret those words," Ino looked her in the eyes and Kagome was shocked by the vulnerability in them. "I've had time to reflect on my actions, I shouldn't have treated you like that, I've been meaning to talk to you. I wanted to say-"
"Hey there you are!" both girls jumped at the sudden boom of the deep voice behind them. Kagome turned to see Shisui, he stood in the middle of the store and looked out of place. He was still in his police uniform. His dark hair and eyes were a stark contrast to the bright shop around him. He walked over and threw an arm around her shoulder, "I knew you'd be around here somewhere, I was on break and thought I'd treat my favorite student to lunch," he said a little too loud as she ushered her out before she could say anything to Ino. She trailed pitifully behind him, her short legs were having trouble keeping up with his long strides.
"Wait, where are we going?" she asked as he dragged her away from the market. The crowd paid them no mind and started to thin out. He suddenly stopped and she smacked into his back.
"Sorry, I had to get you out of there," he said as he helped her right herself. His eyes quickly scanned over her.
"Why?" He nodded his head, took her hand and led her to a little out of the way restaurant.
"Oh just clan relations and all that," he said but the vagueness of his voice unsettled her.
"Are you sure about that, we were just,"
"Here we are," Shisui interrupted and took her once again by the arm and entered a small restaurant. Before she could ask anything, she was ushered to the back where there was a discreet booth. Shisui pulled back to the curtain to reveal Itachi and Sasuke sitting on one side of the booth and the other side was vacant.
"Sorry about our lateness, she wondered farther than I expected,"
"I did not, I didn't know this was a thing."
"That's alright, come sit," Itachi said as he gestured to the empty seats. "I thought a nice lunch would be most welcome, since we all have time off."
"Thank you for inviting me," Kagome said as she slid into the corner, she gave a quick smile to Sasuke before she looked down at the menu.
"We already ordered for the table," Itachi said, "Sasuke told me what you like to eat."
"Aw isn't that just sweet, nice to see that little nice Susu-chan, is still in there," Shisui said as he reached across the table to ruffle his hair.
"Don't do that," Sasuke snarked and slapped away the offending hand, "Or call me that."
"I miss when you were tiny and sweet. Kagome how do you stand his brooding?" Shisui asked as he slumped into the booth.
"He's not always that bad," she winked at Sasuke, who's cheeks blushed a little as he focused his attention on his hands. She wanted to reach out and take his hand, but was unsure if it was okay to do in front of other people. Before she could think about it more, Sasuke nudged a teacup across the table to her. His eyes remained on the table as she took a sip. Her eyes went wide at the deliciously intense fruit flavor and light hint of sweetness.
"He was very particular about mixing the tea himself, now I see why," Itachi was monotone, but he gave a small smile that she almost missed.
"Thank you, it's perfect," she took another sip and Sasuke nodded his head in acknowledgment.
"So, what do you two think about your sensei?" Shisui asked as he took a sip of his own tea.
"I think that he's gre-"
"He's alright, I guess," Sasuke cut over her.
"What?" Kagome asked. With stiff hands placed her cup down, why would he say that? Kakashi-sensei isn't the best, but he doesn't hit her or force her to train until she can't stand, he's a lot like Shisui. His teaching is less structured and promoted self-exploration with him stepping in every so often.
"He doesn't really teach us anything, we just go on small missions and waste time. I don't see how finding stray cats, or weeding gardens is training. Hell, the last mission we went on, when it got a little difficult he was almost taken out by a rogue nin."
"Sasuke, we didn't see it coming. It's not his fault-"
"He almost got you killed, if your intervention had not been successful, you would have died." Sasuke's voice was tense and it made shivers go up her spine. The mood of the table wasn't improved when Shisui and Itachi looked at Sasuke with almost cold eyes. "For someone who possesses the Sharingan, he is very underwhelming."
"Well, I helped because we are a team, we didn't know there would be a very dangerous rogue nin, we handled it the best that we could. Everyone was unprepared, but we lived." Kagome said and took another sip, the tea wasn't really sweet anymore, the bitterness springing into the air had ruined it. "He also helped you and Naruto with chakra control."
"Hn. I had that already, Itachi nii-san has helped me more than him."
"Oh really, because you had a lot of difficulty walking up a tree," she bit out, the moment of vulnerability in Sasuke's deep eyes made her pause. A pit began to form in her stomach.
"You shouldn't disrespect your teacher like that," Shisui said with a serious tone. Sasuke seemed to recoil a little at the tone.
"I agree Sasuke, Kakashi has earned everything he's worked for including the Sharingan," Itachi said as he took a passive sip from his tea.
"Yeah, Uchiha-sama wouldn't have let him keep the Sharingan that Uncle Obito gave him. Do you know the story? Uncle was young and crushed under a rock, he thought he would die, and gave Kakashi his eye. Thankfully he lived, and now has one eye, but he could have claimed it back if he wanted to. Kakashi deserves your respect, whatever he has to teach you, you take it and be appreciative," Shisui pointed a pair of wrapped chopsticks to the young man, "With clan law, they could have ripped it right out, but didn't because of respect."
"Hn."
"You also need to fix your attitude, because I read the mission report, you didn't do as much as you think that you did. Keep that in mind because Kagome, won't be there to pick up your slack on the next mission," Shisui said and the effect was that Sasuke went through a couple of emotions in rapid succession. Shock, anger, ready to attack Shisui with his Sharingan activated for less than a second, then sadness, and he slumped noticeably in his seat. "I don't mean to hurt you, but know you are part of a team. It's not about you, or just Kagome, there are other people to think about."
It was almost as if the waiter had planned it out and once Shisui stopped his lecture when the food arrived. The brilliant aromas weren't lost on Kagome's nose, but she couldn't bring herself to want to eat with any sort of gusto, even though her stomach was rumbling. The atmosphere didn't recover and she picked around her plate. She finished it out of gratitude. She usually wasn't allowed to have fried food because her mother insisted she eat as if she was going on tour and had to have as little fat as possible. Fun times.
After Lunch
"You don't have to walk me home," Kagome said to Sasuke as they walked side by side. It was still tense and his hands were jammed into his pants pocket.
"Hn."
"That's not a response, look I know lunch wasn't great, but, I don't know," she let silence envelop them again. Talking wasn't something she really wanted to do right now, even though the sun wasn't even setting, she just wanted to lay down and spend time with her brothers. Their carefree nature would make her feel better. She stopped when she felt a presence in the air, it was nin, but not human?
"Hn?"
A puff of smoke erupted in front of them and Sasuke moved to put her behind him with a kunai raised. When the air cleared there was a fat pug in a nin jacket. It licked it's paw unbothered by the boy.
"Message for a one Kagome," his deep voice rumbled from his chest.
"That's me? Kagome said and peeked from behind Sasuke's back.
"Kakashi wanted to tell you, come to Training Ground 3 at 6 am sharp, alone." the pug stressed the last word, when Sasuke seemed to tense even more.
"Why?" Sasuke asked.
"I'm not at liberty to share that, but she has to come alone, you and the blonde report at the normal time," the pug lazily licked his chops before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
"That was strange," Kagome said and she looked around the surroundings, however, she didn't sense anyone there. Before she could call out to her spirits, Sasuke grabbed her arm.
"Let's get going, if he's around, let him watch," Sasuke walked her home, and he left without a kiss, which left her sad for a good portion of the night.
The early morning sun caused Kagome's tired eyes to water. If Kakashi wasn't the first person she saw she was going to fly home and sleep, then be late to training just to show him. Bastard. Getting to Training Ground 3 wasn't hard. She wasn't surprised that she didn't see the silver-haired man anywhere.
'Maybe give him a few moments,' water spirit suggested. '
'Screw that get mad, set him on fire when you see him,' Of course, fire would suggest that.
'Fire, no!' every spirit said at once and it made her wince, why were they so loud?
"Guys can you not right now, it is way too early, I am giving him exactly six minutes," she stopped in front of one of the logs sticking out of the ground. "You hear that Kakashi-sensei, if you're being late on purpose I'm leaving!" she jumped onto the log and dangled one leg off the side to hug the other to use it as a pillow. Time seemed to go so slow, it could have been a couple of seconds or a whole minute and she wasn't sure. Her eyes were starting to droop until she felt an unfamiliar presence approach.
"Damnit Kakashi, I knew you wouldn't be here," a man said as he emerged from the treeline. Kagome sat up straighter, she didn't recognize this person. He was tall for one, his headband was unique and covered a good portion of his right face. His dark hair was cropped with small spikes sticking up, the left side of his face was slightly scarred. What really got her was his single Sharingan, this was an Uchiha man she had never seen before. Without much thought, she started to summon her spirits to the forefront. She didn't know what he was doing here.
"Can I help you?" she asked, the man continued to stare at her and tilted his head, the commas in his eye spun.
"Interesting," was all he said, she hopped off the log and took a few steps away from him to create some distance.
"Well if Kakashi is supposed to be here, I must have gotten the message by accident. He must be meeting you," she crossed her hands behind her back, she hoped it looked casual as a vine whip slithered into her hands. She didn't want to attack him.
"No, you're supposed to be here," he stepped closer, the vibe that came off him was chilling. Before she could lash out her whip, her arms fell limp and heavy by her side. Her eyes widened, the only person who was ever able to do that was her father. Without another thought, she kicked her leg with a lot of might making a large growth of roots and vines propel towards the man, while she jumped back to get some space between them. Her plan was ruined when he unleashed a fireball, and continued to advance towards her. The closer he got the more her limbs stopped working, what was this? When he was in range as a last-ditch effort she froze her saliva to spit a spike of ice at him, which he caught in his hand unbothered. "Neat." His hand clenched in and destroyed the ice. "No more games," he grabbed her by the front of her sweater, and forced her to look into his eyes, which had shifted to a shape she didn't recognize. She couldn't muster the energy to do anything and her vision began to cloud with black, with only slight awareness of her surroundings, her spirits felt out of reach.
"So this is your prodigy? They must have low standards for this generation," the man said as he gathered her body into his arms. Was he going to kill her?
"You should see her in action, I swear she is a lot better." Was that Kakashi's voice? What?
"If you say so, I'll see you in a few hours then?"
"Not yet, the other two will be here soon enough."
"Then I go to the rendezvous point?"
"Yep."
"Gosh, you as a teacher is just the worst."
"Hey I'm helping them, this is a little more extreme than our sensei, but it must be done."
"Huh, some homecoming, come back to you having your own genin team," the world completely faded for Kagome at that point.
"I bet Kagome got some super cool secret training," Naruto said while he walked beside his silent teammate. "Oh, do you think she'll teach us. That'd be so cool!"
"Hn."
"You haven't said a word to me since I walked up to you. What you too good to talk to me?" Naruto got closer to Sasuke to impose on his space, in the hopes to get a response.
"Hn," the boy pushed the other away.
"Gosh, how does Kagome deal with such an ass like you?" the blonde folded his arms behind his head.
"Just fine in my opinion," Sasuke finally snapped, "She's never complained about it."
"Oh, he speaks," Naruto said as they walked through the gates to the training grounds. "Hey do you think that Kakashi-sensei will be la-, holy shit he's here!" the blonde stopped when he saw their teacher leaning against one of the logs in the middle of the trees.
"Yo, you are right one time," the white-haired man closed his orange book and placed it in his back pocket. "I thought today would be different."
"Bring it, I can't handle anything!" Naruto said with his fist pumped into the air, "I want the same thing you taught Kagome."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Kakashi snapped his finger and a puff of smoke appeared behind him.
"Uncle Obito?" Sasuke called once the man emerged from the smoke, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Kagome? What's going on?" Naruto was reaching for his kunai pouch.
"Oh well, I wanted to test something. I was given the okay by the Hokage, if you are unable to work together to rescue Kagome in the next three hours. My friend has full liberty to do whatever he wants with her. He's been gone so long on a mission, so who knows what he'll do if given the chance," Kakashi just gave a half-assed shrug.
"She does have a sweet face, you have good taste Sasuke," Obito said with a wink before he shifted the girl over his shoulder. "I won't be too upset if you don't get her. She'll have a real man, maybe make me a good young wife. Bai~" he said with a smirk and he was gone as quick as he appeared.
"The only way you'll be able to find her is if you work together, your three hours start now," Kakashi placed a clock on the log he had been leaned against and clicked the timer on, before he too was gone with a cloud of smoke. This left Sasuke and Naruto alone in the field.
"What are we going to do?" Naruto asked.
"I don't know, but we need to find her," Sasuke said his fist clenched tight enough to almost draw blood.
Alright, there we have it. Again I'm sorry for my absence, I was overcome with a deep depression last year. Then I had to focus most of my energy on finishing college, which I did, Class of 2020, YAY. I also have a potential book deal on the horizon, just know this hasn't been forgotten. I thought about this fic a lot, I just never had the energy or time to really sit down and work on it. But I'm going to try to be better, I won't make promises, but this will get updates. I'm excited to start the Chunin Exams, I have everything planned out and charted. However, I think I'm going to break it into smaller chapters instead of the original big three chunks. In hindsight didn't even seem plausible to me at the time. But here I am, I'm so happy to be back and to hear from you guys again. Thank you for your support while I was gone. Love you guys, please stay safe in these crazy times. Ja Ne~