Summary: She was given to him, meant as a slave, but he freed her. How was he to know that she would change everything that everyone ever knew?
Tsunade knew that she shouldn't have gotten out of bed that morning. "Either I'm too drunk or I'm not drunk enough." It was just like her old mentor to appear just when she had sent out almost a dozen shinobi out to search for her. She hadn't seen the miko in more than two decades, or was it three? It was probably more, but she hadn't aged a single day. A thought passed through her mind, what would have happened if Orochimaru had met the miko? Would he not have descended into darkness and madness? Or would he have still fallen, lusting for more power?
"You know Kagome?" Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly at the blond Hokage. She was rubbing her eyes wearily and had slumped onto her desk. He didn't notice how he moved closer to Kagome, standing in front of her to hide her from view, in case the situation unraveled…
The Slug Princess of Konoha watched the eyes of her mentor soften as she looked at the male hovering protectively in front of her. There was a happiness in her eyes that hadn't been there before. But then pleading entered her tired, dark eyes. Tsunade understood. You can tell them yourself…but you have to tell them soon…"I met Kagome in my travels a while back. At first, it was only a professional relationship, healer to healer, student to teacher, and then we became good friends. I didn't expect her to be accompanying you, but I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. She's good at that. Appearing out of nowhere."
Kagome felt the eyes of everyone in the room on her. A faint blush covered her cheeks. Kazuki nuzzled her cheek in encouragement.
"You're a healer, Kagome-chan?" Temari tilted her head to stare at the younger girl in shock. To have been taught by the legendary Sannin Tsunade! Who was Kagome? If she had been a student of the Slug Princess, then how did she become a slave?
"Yes, I learned when I was younger." Kagome twisted her hands into the fabric of the light blue qipao that her Master had bought for her. Her blush darkened at the looks of awes that she was receiving from the others.
"Kagome, who is your new Master?" Tsunade hated to bring it up, but she had to know. The two males in her mentor's group wore puzzled expressions at her words, but the blonde. The blonde wasn't surprised. It seemed that already, one knew of Kagome's past, however slight it may be.
"Gaara-sama." If it had been earlier in her enslavement, she would have flinched or glared, but now, it didn't affect her. She could answer that question without hating herself and everything. Her soft smile was proud and…happy.
At that, Tsunade smiled. She would be good for the little brat. And maybe, just maybe, he would be able to free Kagome. It seemed that he had already healed a fair bit of her. When she had been younger, those smiles were few and far in between, so heart wrenchingly rare. Then she frowned. This would complicate matters. "I forgot, an old friend sent me a letter. He almost found you a few weeks ago, but lost the scent."
Kagome froze at that. It had been so very long since she had seen or even heard from her friends. She had thought that they had forgotten her. She wished that they had. But they hadn't.
"I assume that it was around the time that the spell tablets were removed, seeing as how you're not bound by them. Who was able to remove them?" Tsunade sipped some sake as she watched her mentor freeze in shock. If it was the Kazekage who removed them, then they would have a chance at breaking the rest of the seals in time.
"Gaara-sama removed them after I was given to him." Kagome's fingers curled in the fabric of Gaara's dark crimson coat as she spoke. She knew what Tsunade was heading to. She knew that she had to tell them, and soon. They would notice how she didn't age, how her wounds would heal faster than should be possible, even with the aid of chakra. She hoped that they would still be kind to her after the truth and her past had been revealed.
"Hmph. Well, I approve of him, you could have done worse. Well then, now that that's settled, onto business!"
Kagome trailed behind the three Sand Siblings as they walked towards their assigned quarters. It was late in the day when they finally left the Hokage's Tower and all of them were tired. Humming softly to herself, she stared up at the stars in the sky. Even after so many years, they had not changed. They were the only things constant in her existence. When she looked away, she couldn't see her Master or his siblings. A sigh escaped her lips as she walked forward, reading the street names and searching through the crowd for the familiar crimson locks of her Master when she saw a laughing male on the other side of the street. Her senses screamed kitsune at her. Kagome stood in shock at the sight of the blond male, his eyes were blue instead of purple and his hair blond instead of auburn…but it was him! Inside of that body, was him!
"…Kurama…"
Unconsciously, she moved towards the boy, but stopped when a hand caught her. "Kagome." Her Master had found her.
"Gaara-sama, I got lost…" Her voice trailed off when she looked down at her hand. Gaara was holding it.
"I'll find you if you get lost."
A blush that she fought to control covered her cheeks. He had searched for her. For her. A sharp pain shot through her head and she blinked, ignoring the pain. She was used to pain.
They were curled up in the large bed, Gaara's head in Kagome's lap as she ran her fingers through his slightly wet locks. She had told him a story about a princess who had been stolen and locked away in a tower, and though he had found it interesting, there was something else on his mind. She had finished the story about the Shard-hunters, yet there was something that bothered him, something that she hadn't said.
"You never told me what happened to the priestess." Hi aqua eyes stared at her unblinkingly as her eyes lost their gleam.
"She died." One salty tear made its way down her cheek and he reached a hand up to wipe it away.
"Why are you crying?" More kept falling and he sat up, cupping her face in his hands. He didn't want her to be unhappy. Within him, Shukaku whined at the scent of salt, and that whine escaped him as well.
"Because she was betrayed by those she had fought to protect, they sealed her and made her little more than a caged animal. They took away her freedom and ripped off her wings. Her will had been stolen. And throughout the long years of her imprisonment, she lost the will to live. The only reason she hadn't lost her sanity was because of the seals that forced her to do whatever her Master wished, live to please him or her. Over time, that was all that she had left. To please whoever owned her. Not that it even mattered, because the seals had started to corrupt, to break. They were killing her." While she spoke, she had stood up and was pacing in front of the bed. She rubbed her arms, trying to drive away the chill that had settled within her once Gaara had asked why she had cried. A harsh laugh escaped her, here she was, telling him everything about her and he didn't even realize it! How could he? Kagome didn't realize that her own energies were acting up with each word, her chakra pulsing erratically. She hadn't even noticed when Temari and Kankuro and even Tsunade had burst into the room after the first pulse of wild, uncontrolled energy.
"She's still alive?" Gaara moved closer to her slowly, watching her carefully as she paced. She was frightened and angry and full of regret. For a second time, he saw as her eyes began to flash crimson with rage. It was when a wind began to pick up inside of the room, that the pieces fit. He understood.
"She's im-" A sharp throbbing pain in her head wouldn't let her concentrate. Before she could intimately, and painfully, acquaint herself with the ground, a familiar pair of arms caught her. Right as everything faded from view, she saw a pair of worried aqua eyes.
"Place her on the bed." Once she was laid out on the flat surface, Tsunade placed two fingers on Kagome's forehead. After the initial release of energy, black markings began to appear, covering her tanned flesh. They trailed everywhere, some of the strokes forming words and the other symbols. They continued down to her nightdress and her legs. The markings looked as if they were bleeding, red veins giving them a shattered appearance. Tsunade scowled and ripped the grey dress in half, revealing a pulsing seal in the shape of a diamond in the center of Kagome's chest. "Jiraiya, get in here." When Kagome began to spasm from the pain, she pushed her chakra towards her, soothing her. It worked, but the odd jerk still occurred. As a precaution, she formed chakra restraints and placed them on Kagome's limbs. It was too dangerous to paralyze her.
The Toad Sage jumped in from the open window and frowned. A muttered "So it was Kagome" escaped him as he leaned down to study a seal that was located in the hollow of her neck. It was shaped like a chain that went around her neck with its center, nestled in the hollow of her neck, shaped like a cross. The cross was currently pulsing and appeared to bleeding from its center. His black eyes glared at that seal, it was one of the main seals, the ones that bound all of her power, all of her will, everything. He hated it.
"What's happening." Gaara bit out as he resisted the urge to attack. A male was looking at his Kagome naked. His eyes were flashing with gold that was threatening to bleed into crimson. He could feel Shukaku angrily pacing and was startled when he heard a voice similar to his own snarl from within him. The two Sannins barely spared him a glance as Shukaku heatedly made himself heard and had only retreated when the Hokage had answered him.
"What is wrong with our precious one?! Why does her spirit scream out in pain? WHY?!"
"Exactly what she said. The seals are cracking in an unhealthy manner. And we need to fix them before she loses herself." Tsunade barely glanced at the Kazekage as she began to work on the seals on Kagome's lower body while her teammate worked on the ones littering the length of her arms, patching them up as best as she could. It caused an unpleasant taste to settle in her mouth (that she knew had to have happened to Jiraiya as well), but she preferred that the girl be sane and unfortunately sealed than insane with frighteningly massive amounts of power at her fingertips. Kagome had, after all, extracted a promise from the both of them.
If these seals began to shatter uncontrollably, and I am on the edge of insanity, promise me that you will seal me anew.
The two Sages poured their chakra into the seals, molding them back into form and healing the angry red veins until they were only a pale silver. It was only a temporary solution to the problem, but it would give them long enough to finish finding a way to safely release Kagome. They were close enough as it was, but it would be very painful and dangerous for her. There was a large chance that she would die if unsealed incorrectly. But they would have to wait, her body would to need to rest, the strain that had been put on it had damaged her body slightly. But it would not be for long, already her body was healing itself, a light pink glow surrounding her. Even so…her body and spirit would be too weak.
Jiraiya stared at the seal that went around Kagome's neck as an idea began to emerge in his mind. The seals were weak at the moment, not weak enough to shatter but weak enough for their basis to be changed. From inside of his shirt, he removed a pocket watch that hung on a silver chain. He could only hope that it would work…
Author's Note: Thank you all for the reviews! They make the diabolical little muses happy!
Just to clear this up, the guy in the flashback from the prior chapter is Kyuubi/Kurama.
I hope that you enjoy this chapter!