---Sorrows of Yesterday---
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Naruto.
Chapter 8: Seen Before, Seen Again
Okay…so it wasn't everyday you saw steaming, ash black foliage that was half-covered in water…
There was silence, followed along with shock in the area.
Naruto took a hesitant step around to see a very…terrified teacher who looked like he was going to kill somebody on the spot.
Sasuke and Naruto's rivalry had taken a step over the line.
Sakura and Kagome sat quietly on the 'sidelines', one coughing the ash particles out of her lungs, and the other, drenched in ice cold water.
Mist and smoke still hung thickly in the air, clinging to their hair and clothing.
"…What happened to these training grounds…?" Kakashi's eyes trailed over the ashen trees, to the burnt grass, deformed baskets, melted rubber, and any other things in the area.
The bottom of the three thick log posts had turned a sooty black. If you kicked it, it was sort of shed right off.
Naruto murmured something incoherent, staring far off into the distance 'innocently' and avoiding Kakashi's gaze.
"What was that?" The sensei's voice came out a bit raspy at this living horror scenery.
"It was Sasuke's fault! It was all his fault!" Naruto suddenly blurted out, pointing accusingly at the raven-haired boy.
"WHAT?" Sasuke glared heatedly at Naruto, clenching his teeth, "It was not, dead last!"
"Was too, bastard!" Naruto returned the glare, "You would've burnt the entire forest down!" He retorted.
"You could've drowned it!" Sasuke shot back.
"Could not! The trees would've sucked it up!"
"The trees can only take in so much water before they drown!"
"Could not!"
"Could too!"
"Could not!"
"Could too!"
"Burned the forest…drowned it…?" Kakashi interrupted them curiously, wanting to hear more information on what had occurred in the field.
Kagome raised an eyebrow along with Sakura, watching this scene with a bit of amusement now. Their arguments were entertaining, especially with Kakashi-sensei around to unknowingly fuel the fire.
"…It looks like we're either going to report to Tsunade, or try and clean this up right about now before anybody else finds out…" Kakashi scratched his head sheepishly; "We're really going to hear it from the Hokage…"
"Yeah Sasuke, you're really going to hear it from Granny Tsunade!"
Sasuke just glared back at Naruto, turning around to face Kakashi again, who was examining the nearest tree.
Kagome giggled at their antics, making the sensei turn towards her.
"Oh…! Kagome! Welcome to the team!" You could sort of see him smile behind that mask.
Wow.
Mood swings…
"Hi…" Kagome waved nervously.
"We already knew her, while you were gone." Naruto emphasized the last comment
"Sorry, sorry, a dog got stuck in a tree, and…"
"LIAR! Dogs don't go around getting stuck in trees!" Sakura and Naruto chorused, pointing accusingly at their teacher.
The Uchiha snorted and leaned against the least sooty area of a tree.
It was a bit weird how the conversation had turned out…
Kakashi was acting like had forgotten all about the 'incident'.
"Soo…" Sakura added in quietly, "How are we going to clean this up?"
Kakashi shrugged, "Any which way, it doesn't matter as long as you don't damage anything else."
Naruto walked over to the three logs that were standing up. His feet made sloshing sounds in the marshland-like grass. Staring at the log right on the middle of the three, he lifted his hand up and grabbed a stray fraying splinter of bark, only about half a centimeter long. Naruto jerked it right down, bringing a long strip of wood with him. Underneath, it looked as if nothing really happened. He tossed the strip onto the ground and squinted at the clean part, "Maybe we can do this."
"Yeah" Sakura agreed, cocking her head, "But we can't do that to all the trees around us. That's not healthy for it. We're lucky that these are just wood."
"Oh…"
Nonetheless, Naruto got to work, stripping off the three training logs so they wouldn't be as damp, moist, and ash-layered as after the two guys rivalry.
Sakura used a wind jutsu to clean the air and push around the ash, pausing every couple of moments to catch her breath.
Kakashi summoned Pakkun to help out, even if only a bit, but… The air was so thick was ash, Pakkun just grumbled and complained, sneezing once or twice, then disappearing with a small 'poof', leaving the Jounin standing there again.
Almost expected, Sasuke just stood there, watching in amusement as Naruto and Sakura attempted their 'tidy up'.
Kagome stood beside him, feeling a bit left out because she didn't totally know how to use jutsus and couldn't find any other way to help in the first place.
"…Shouldn't we be doing something…?" Kagome offered to Sasuke, watching as he shrugged and shuffled his feet in the grass, mud building up along the sides of his sandals.
"Tch, let them do it themselves."
The miko nervously picked at the hem of her water-soaked shirt as that comment, "Umm… I guess so…"
Kagome right then, looked at Kakashi and couldn't noticed that he seemed oddly and utterly familiar…just like she had seem him somewhere before…
But…how was that possible?
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After Pakkun had teleported out of there, Kakashi stood there, scratching his head.
Sighing, the Jounin just walked up to another tree, examining what made it so black.
It seemed that the ash had attached itself onto the tree, and then when the water had covered the area, mixed the sooty substance with water, creating what seemed like a black water mixture.
To resolve this, Kakashi used a small water jutsu that squirted out a stream of water and just doused the tree off, watching as the black water slid down to the grass below the plant.
Finishing up the trees, Kakashi glanced at Sasuke, who wasn't doing anything, 'And my effort of teaching him teamwork has gone to waste once again,' he sighed exasperatedly, seeing that the Uchiha had somehow convinced Kagome to stand there too.
He took another quick look at Kagome.
She looked strangely like one of his old friends…as if she was their offspring…
Heh, but that wasn't possible, was it?
Shaking off that thought, Kakashi shook some mud off his sandals and picked up a blackened basket, 'What were they doing in the first place?'
Kakashi would've left them to clean the mess up themselves, but…then he'd probably get in trouble for ditching his comrades when they were 'in need of help'.
He decided that he'd ask his team about that later.
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After what seemed like hours of cleaning, there stood an exhausted Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto by a calm Sasuke and Kagome.
"Bastard! You were supposed to help!" Naruto growled at the lack of activity that his teammate had done.
Sasuke only raised and eyebrow and said, "And you tell me this now?"
Only sounds of grumbling pursued.
"At least all the cleaning is finished now, right?" Sakura offered weakly, not wanting the two to start righting again, due to what might happen this time that they would have to clean up.
Kagome was about to say something, but was interrupted by another voice.
"Kakashi! Are you going on that mission that Tsunade-sama was talking about?" Iruka waved to the Jounin.
"Mission…?" Kakashi slightly frowned, turning towards Iruka.
"Oh…so you didn't know about it…"
"What mission?" The copy-nin repeated.
Iruka bit his lip; "It's a meeting with the Cloud-nin… But I guess you're not going then…"
"Maybe I should go…?"
"No! Really! You should stay here with your team then!" Iruka protested, now a bit red for mentioning it at all.
"What's so wrong about that, you're going too, are you not?"
At this line, Kagome's eyes glazed over.
The line was repeated in her mind, 'What's so wrong about that, you're going too, are you not?
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"So soon?" Her mother's worried voice echoed in the living room."It's essential…" the same man sighed regretfully, "I really don't want to do this, honestly"
Another man's voice spoke, "Then, I'm coming with you"
"No! It's dangerous! You just can't -"
"What's so wrong about that, you're going too, are you not?"
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'Oh…what…?' Kagome's mind went a bit fuzzy.
Could he…could it really be him…?
Reviews would be appreciated.
Tenshi-Battosai