What Are Friends For?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Inuyasha, if I did I wouldn't be using my brother's computer because mine keeps crashin' on me for no other reason than to drive me insane.

Kagome sighed as she left the Hokage Tower. Tsunade-sama was sending her on another mission when she just got back from the last one. The black-haired jounin and miko looked over the mission scroll again; it was another long-distance, but short-term mission, meaning she wouldn't be getting much sleep for the next three days, if any at all, just like the past two weeks.

She sighed again and went to the apartment that Hatake Kakashi, her best friend, had helped her get when she first arrived in the village. She had enough money now for a better apartment, but she kept this one. It was small and in a semi-shady part of Konoha, but it was home to her, plus Kashi was nearby.

She took a cold shower to both clean off and stay awake, but it didn't get rid of her yawns. She walked out of the bathroom with only a towel on, yawning. "Hey Kashi…" It took her a moment to realize that her best friend, a male, was in her apartment… while she was half-naked. "Kyaa!" She whirled around, clutching at her towel to face the grinning, masked jounin. "What are you doing in here, pervert!? How did you get in, for that matter?!"

Kakashi chuckled and held up a key, the key that she gave him so he could clean her house when she was on a mission, and smiled while she glared. "I heard that you were back from your mission and decided to drop by; I need an excuse to be late to meet up with Team 7 anyway."

The miko yawned, not noticing the dark look that came to his eye as she did so. "I see. Well, enjoy my company while you can; I have to leave again in…" She checked the clock on the microwave as she covered another yawn. "Fifteen minutes, and I still have to get ready. I don't plan on being late all the time like a certain someone I know." The Copy-nin had an innocent look on his face, or rather, in his eye, while she gave him a tired glare.

She turned to go to her room to get ready from the mission, taking a leaf out of Shikamaru's book and muttering something about 'troublesome missions' and 'troublesome perverted friends.' She was stopped, however, by a hand on her wrist that was turning her around. "Kashi – I have to get ready for the miss – " He pulled her flush against him and lowered his now unmasked face to hers before she could see his face, effectively cutting off whatever she had been about to say, and her air supply.

The miko was too shocked to respond to the unexpected kiss, but she felt him force something between her lips and down her throat before he pulled away. She tried to see him, but her vision became too blurry. "N-Nande? Kashi…" He caught her easily as she fell unconscious against him. He picked her up gently, frowning at how much weight she had lost; he would have to talk to her about that later.

He took her into her bedroom and laid her down before covering her up. The Hatake looked at her for a moment before taking the mission scroll for her bedside table and turning out the light, pulling his mask up. The pill he gave her would have her out for a day or so and from what he understood, she needed it.

Kakashi showed up at Team 7's meeting place at the bridge, surprising the three genin that he was barely late. "I'm covering a mission for a friend, so you guys can either take the day off, or tell Gai to train you a bit in taijutsu; I would do the latter. Ja ne." He teleported away before he could hear their protests, reappearing in front of Tsunade with a hard glare.

"What exactly were you think when you assigned Kagome this mission?" He threw the scroll on her desk, surprising everyone in the room at his harsh behavior. "With the condition she's in, she could last a day!"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the Copy-nin. "You would have been able to take care of it, and since she is the same rank as you, she should too."

Kakashi slammed his hands on her desk. "Kagome's body is weak and is continuously growing weaker from the strain of your missions and keeping that damned jewel pure; mine isn't, so don't compare her to me." His voice was a dangerous growl that reminded the Godaime of the nin-dogs that he summoned. "So unless you wasn't the wrath of the Gobi-no-Hokou hanging over our heads, plus that bloody jewel tainted, I highly suggest you do what is best for the village, and. Give. Her. A. Break."

The Hokage could only glare at him as he picked the scroll up again and walked toward the door. "I'm taking up this mission, since it seems to be so important." His voice dripped with sarcasm and a few people in the room suppressed a shiver; it was hard to remember sometimes just who Kakashi was with his normally cheerful attitude, shows like the one they just witnessed were painful reminders: he was Sharingan Kakashi, former ANBU and a deadly killer.

The Copy-nin walked through the streets of Konoha, intent on reaching Kagome's apartment to check on her. He had finished the mission on schedule, but it still wore him out, so Tsunade's theory had gone down the drain. It hadn't helped any that he ran into the being he had threatened the Hokage with on the way back. When he reported Kagome's condition, the Gobi had been… less than pleased, proving that Kakashi's threat had been valid.

He was going up the steps of the apartment building when he heard a shout. "Kakashi!" He sighed and jumped the rest of the way up the steps just as Kagome opened her apartment door, face flushed with fury. "You- You…" He looked at her innocently as he walked forward. "Arg!" She put her head down and shook it in exasperation. "Thank you…" If he hadn't been so close to her, he wouldn't have heard it.

He smiled and led her back into the apartment. "What are friends for?" There's no way I'm telling her how I felt about that kiss; I'm supposed to be just a friend after all…

AN: XD Poor Kakashi. I love this one! Thank you all for reading and please leave me with a review and maybe a request!

Coming up: Naruto and Kagome, Yondaime and Kagome, Deidara and Kagome, Gaara and Kagome, Kiba and Kagome. Not all of these are actual couples, some of them are just friendship drabbles.