Imperfect
He was rather… odd.
Obviously, Kagome had never met a shinobi before him. She had only been in this world for a few months and had stayed in the first village she had come across. It was a small, out of the way village, so she hadn't actually had much of a chance to meet a ninja. But she had heard about them. The villagers spoke about them as the people in the Feudal age spoke about youkai: with prejudice, a fair bit of superstition and most of all fear. As far as she could tell, they were the fighting forces of their country, with special skills. The closest she could compare them to where demon hunters like Sango.
She had been out gathering herbs when she had found the silver-haired man bleeding and unconscious not too far from the village. At first, it hadn't really occurred to her that he was one of the shinobi the people in her village whispered about. He had looked like a fighter, that much had been obvious, from his clothing, his wounds and his hidden weapons. But all that she had really paid attention to was the fact that he was hurt and that he needed help.
When the villagers had learned about his presence in her little hut, she in turn, had learned more about shinobi. They had vehemently warned her about how dangerous they were and about their unnatural skills.
Instead of this talk making her fear him, it only made him seem more familiar to her; she had met many dangerous youkai and had only feared the ones that were out to hurt her and her friends. And this man hadn't yet given her a reason to be afraid. After all, she had also learned that these shinobi were loyal to their village and country. And the symbol on his headband showed that he was a ninja of the country she was currently in.
In a sense he was a soldier who was supposed to protect, not harm, the people of her village. Of course, Kagome knew that reality could fall far from what someone was supposed to be. But it was still a rather comforting thought.
The villagers didn't fear him because he was an enemy, but because he was different, and therefore, in their eyes dangerous. But the idea of what these shinobi could do wasn't that strange to her. That they could use chakra to enhance their body and do 'jutsu' – something that the villagers had likened to dangerous magic – wasn't out of the realm of what she considered possible. After all, as a miko, she used her spirit energy as well. From what she could tell their chakra was a bit different; a mixture of spiritual energy and physical strength.
Different, but not unnatural. Youkai could use youki, miko could use spirit energy, shinobi could use chakra. It seemed simple and natural enough to her.
Then again, perhaps Kagome was a bit more accepting of these things than most people, especially those from her own time. She had long since set aside such silly thoughts as 'but that's just not-possible' or 'there is no scientific way to explain this' and learned to just go with it.
A time-travelling well in her back yard... Well, that's just how it is, isn't it?
The existence of youkai. Couldn't argue with that while they were trying to kill her, now could she?
A powerful jewel that had been inside her body and had shattered. Yes, that was a problem, but it had obviously happened, so why deny the truth?
She hadn't been able to afford taking the time to be amazed, confused or even afraid. Instead she had needed to step up, own up to her mistakes and take responsibility. The Shikon no Tama had been inside her body and it had been, mostly, her fault that it had been shattered. So it had become her duty to gather the shards before they could do further harm.
And she had met some strange individuals along the way. Inuyasha was a hanyou, Shippou her sweet little mischievous fox-kit, Sango a demon slayer who had teamed up with a Neko Youkai and Miroku a perverted monk.
Each and everyone of them completely unique and some of them a walking contradiction.
After all that, it took a lot to surprise her. Like when Shesshoumarou had adopted a human girl. But even surprises like those didn't faze her for long. After the shock wore off, she quickly accepted the facts, the change in a situation, and just… went with it.
And yet, despite all of her experiences with strange people and strange situations, Kakashi-san was still rather… odd.
For some reason, Kagome just couldn't quite get a grasp on him.
He was slippery, like water flowing through her hands. With far more going on underneath the surface than she could see.
The silent figure that had been both vulnerable and fierce as he fought to keep walking had retreated as his strength returned, leaving behind a person that was easygoing, infuriatingly vague and deliberately casual.
Yes, he was a rather strange person, this Kakashi. She had seen glimpses of the shinobi in him. After the utter exhaustion had left his posture, he had helped catching fish or game for their dinner. A flick of his wrist and one of those kunai would bring down an animal she had not even known was there. And although he slumped and walked with exaggerated casualness, there was a predatorily grace to his movements that betrayed a hidden strength and an awareness of his surroundings.
As they continued on, he reminded her more and more of a taiyoukai in their humanoid form: someone who was not even fully sure himself how much of the appearances were a mask and how much was meant to cover something deeper.
No, she couldn't completely figure him out, but that didn't matter. When she didn't know or understand just what it was that was lurking behind his one-eyed smile she just shrugged and took him at face-value.
And at face value he turned out to be a rather pleasant travelling companion.
He had taken charge of their little group of two once he was able to muster up the strength for more than just walking. But he wasn't as insistent or overbearing as Inuyasha generally was. Still, the miko was sure that he wasn't nearly as laid back and relaxed as he pretended to be. And truthfully, Kagome rather appreciated the thought that he was on guard for any attack.
Even if that meant that he might also secretly be guarding himself from her.
By now, Kagome was too practical to let something like that bother her. Yes, the man was probably a little paranoid. And maybe he had his reasons to be. But she didn't mean him harm, and he hadn't hurt her, and his paranoia could only prove to be a good thing if someone did try to attack them. No harm, no foul.
And thankfully, they no longer travelled in near silence. Their conversations were mostly casual, but enough to keep their travels from being boring. Sometimes, Kakashi-san reciprocated her little evening-stories with vague anecdotes of his own. Most of them were amusing, some were merely strange and others, she suspected, were meant to either shock her or leave her wondering.
She had seen and heard too much to be shocked easily by any of his stories.
He had told her nothing of the mission that brought him so far from his village, besides the fact that his book had been utterly destroyed in some sort of fight. Vague as he was about the fights, his enemies and what he was doing wherever it was in the first place, he waxed lyrically about the book. Apparently he loved it so much that he had several copies, but he still spoke of what a dramatic loss this was to him. Finally he concluded his story with a vivid description of its contents that was surely meant to embarrass her. Instead, it made her giggle when she thought of how he might get a long with Miroku. He tried to frighten her with some of his stories too; matter-of-fact recollections of death and destruction and blood spilled by his hand. And although these stories removed the smile from her face they left behind not fear of him, but sympathy - as she started to understand what a shinobi truly sacrificed for his country.
And mile by mile she collected more and more pieces of the puzzle that was Kakashi, never quite getting the whole picture as some of the pieces were broken or seemed to belong to a different puzzle all together.
But Kagome didn't really care that the pieces didn't fit.
Nothing was ever perfect anyway.
A.N. Hmm… I'm not too sure about my version of Kagome. Does she sound… off to you? I haven't watched Inuyasha in ages, and never did get all the way to the end…
Also, I want to make on thing clear: I haven't decided on a pairing for this story, or if it will remain general instead. Basically I'm just writing and I'll see where it goes...
If anyone has any nice ideas for a situation or an interesting meeting between Kagome and someone else, let me know. If it tickles my fancy, I may write it.
