Chapter 5

For the first time in a long time Kagome felt somewhat at peace as she walked to the training grounds to meet up with the others. She was early but she thought she had a good idea about where Kakashi went when he was supposed to be training them. Naruto smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back. The four stayed where they had met the day before in silence for almost a half hour before Sakura and Naruto began to get antsy. Kagome glanced at Sasuke. Physically the darker boy was calm but she could see in his eyes he wanted to get on with their daily missions.

"Where is that guy?!" Naruto growled.

Kagome gave a little bemused smirk. "I think I might have a good idea…" She motioned for them to follow.

To tell the truth she wasn't sure he would be there but from the way he'd stared at it that first day she thought he might. And there he was, standing with his hands in his pockets gazing at the polished stone with sorrowful eyes. Kakashi noticed the four he jumped to attention. Beside her, the blonde growled and almost said something but she put her hand on his shoulder and shook her head. The act did not go unnoticed by their sensei. Now that Kagome was closer she could see the stone wasn't as smooth as she'd though, in fact she could see that there were names carved in rows along every side of th diamond shape.

"Sensei," Sakura said. "Who are those people whose names are carved on that stone?"

Kakashi sighed. "They're ninjas who are recognized as heroes of the village."

"I'm gonna be on that stone one day, believe it!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto…" Kagome said shaking her head. He looked back at her and saw something there he hadn't seen before.

"Wha…?"

"He means they died in service to the village, that's how they became heroes." Naruto's mouth formed an 'o'. She looked at the stone and couldn't help but think of her friends who had died in battle.

"Some of my closest friends' names are carved on this stone. One of them taught me a very important lesson before he died. I used to believe that any ninja who disobeyed the rules was trash and I would have sacrificed my teammates to obey my orders and the rules. He taught me that those who disregard their teammates are trash and not the other way around. I owe him a great deal." His eyes remained locked on the stone but then he turned to Kagome. "That's why I was so proud of you yesterday. You disregarded your own desire to continue on so that the other three could move on. You also broke the rules to allow Naruto to help with the offensive." He smiled. "Alright, let's go get our missions."

They started off in some lady's yard that glared at Kagome the entire time. Kakashi watched under the guise of reading his book at the interaction between the two. During the next mission, fishing liter from a river Naruto almost went over a waterfall. At the last minute he was saved by Sasuke. Next they were sent to catch a runaway cat for a wealth citizen. By the look on the village elders' faces when they brought it back it happened a lot. Kagome was slightly annoyed by the weak missions they had been getting. She understood they were only genin but still this was manual labor!

"Ok, team 7 your next mission is too…." The Hokage began.

"No, no more lame missions, old man! I want a real mission!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto…" Sakura growled.

"I agree with Naruto." Kagome spoke up. "These missions aren't helping us improve our skills and are not truly helping the village as a whole. We can do more than weed yards and pick up trash. But you'll never know that if we are never allowed to prove ourselves."

The room was silent. No one had ever heard Kagome say that much at once before. The Hokage sighed ad looked over at his son. Years had passed since the two had been close but he could see the look of pride in his eyes as the girl spoke. She was so much stronger than she had been all those years ago. And Naruto, it seemed the prankster had grown up. Next to him Iruka was giving both of them a speech about how missions were doled out to different shinobi ranks.

"Iruka," he said with a shake of his head. "So you both want a harder mission, eh?" The two nodded. "I'll give you a C-rank mission. Send him in."

A set of sliding doors opened to the waiting room. Naruto rolled on to the balls of his feet in anticipation. A man with grey hair and a liquor bottle in his hand stumbled into the room and leveled a good look at the five of them. He grunted at them. Kagome tensed at the look of disapproval in his eyes. Three feet away Naruto fell on his face in disappointment at the man who was to be a part of their first big mission.

"Who are these kids?"

"Team 7 you will be escorting Tazuna the Bridge Builder home to the land of the Waves so he can finish the bridge." The Hokage said.

"Are you sure these brats are ninjas?" The old man asked. "I mean the dark haired boy maybe but the other three, there's just no way!"

Sasuke grabbed Sakura and Naruto but Kagome was beyond his reach. Still holding his teammates back he could see her muscles tense and her hands curl into fist as she moved forward. The bridge builder didn't even have a moment to react before she was in his face prepared to strike. Just before she could she was grabbed by Kakashi. He pulled her back and set her on the ground. She glared at both men before muttering something and leaving. Asuma threw her a worried glance but he knew better than to follow her.

"Don't worry, I'm a jounin. I won't let anything happen." Kakashi said giving the old man an awkward smile.

He nodded to the Hokage and took the old man to lunch. The three genin were told to return to their homes and pack what they would need for a long journey. Naruto forgot about the man's hurtful words and rushed home. He had a real mission and he got to go outside the village! He even skipped his normal lunch at Ichiraku Ramen. At the same time his three teammates were doing the same thing, even Kagome was packing a large bag and sealing it in a scroll. She sealed several other weapons besides her sword and packed them in her hip pouch. She looked at herself in the mirror and for a moment she was seven years old, blood soaked through her bandages, her hair was matted, over all she looked more broken then anyone had ever said. People in the village had always been kinder to her than she had ever wanted until. She could still see the blood spatter on the mirror. She had been weak then, powerless even, but now, she wouldn't let her friends die.

Kagome walked to the village gates alone still partially angered by the bridge builder's comments. Did he truly think that just because she was a girl that she couldn't be a shinobi or even fight? Another wave of anger rolled through her. Even Kakashi knew better than to let her loose on the man and he didn't even know what she could do yet! She had half a mind to leave him if danger should arise during the mission. Then she stopped. That thought was what Naraku wanted from her, he wanted to make her like him. She stood still and calmed herself for a moment until something caught her eye. A medic nin was standing with some of the guards and suddenly she flashed back.

"Somebody, retrieve Hōshō, she's wounded." The leader yelled. "It'll be alright, little one, you're safe now. We're gonna take you somewhere safe."

Her blood boiled when he looked at her with pity. She waited on the opposite side of the gate from them and leaned against the wall. This would be only the second she'd passed through the gates. A soft wind blew through the area, rustling the leaves at her feet. She reached down and cupped one in the palm of her hand. The Leaf….the slang term for Konoha…..the symbol of the village…it brought another memory to her mind.

"This village is strong and there is a will that binds everyone who lives here together, that makes us strong. Wouldn't you want to be a part of that someday?" He asked hopefully.

"No."

The memory faded and the leaf blew away just as Kakashi and Tazuna came up to the gates. She curled her fingers into her palm as she watched it fly away. Iruka had talked about the Will of Fire in their first week at the Academy but between Iruka and Asuma she had never felt it. She had heard it in Asuma's voice that day and had seen it in other shinobi and it still seemed like a bunch of words to her. It didn't mean anything to her yet which was just the way she wanted it. She couldn't afford to be close enough to form those bonds.

"Playing in the leaves, little girl?" Tazuna asked.

She glared but remained quiet as the others arrived. Her blonde teammate was jumping up and down with excitement since this would be his first time ever leaving the village. For a moment she spared a glance at the medic nin, Hōshō, and then at her other teammates. The others weren't as excited but she could see their pleasure about getting a bigger mission and getting the chance to go outside. Kakashi eyed her silently while smiling at Naruto's antics. She checked the guard station once more to see Hōshō gone and then she caught sight of him on his way over to them. Immediately she looked the opposite way, praying he wouldn't recognize her.

"Ah, hello, Hōshō-san." Kakashi said.

"Hello, Hatake-san, going on a mission?" he asked seemingly distracted.

"Yes a C-ranked escort mission with my team. Ummm….well, this is Naruto, Sasuke, that's Sakura, and miss doom and gloom over there is-"

"Kagome and I have met before, Kakashi." She could feel his eyes turn to her. All the sudden it felt as though she was wearing less than Sakura and her scars were out for the world to see. She felt tempted to wrap her arms around herself and hide them. "How have you been?"

"I'm fine." Her tone was harsher than she meant but between her anger and her shame she wanted him to leave her alone. In fact she wished that she could go home and hide from the entire world.

Hōshō stood there for a moment before nodding to Kakashi and leaving. Deep down he had been hoping to see her starting to heal from it all, they all had. She didn't know it but her rescuers got together every year on that day, the day they considered her birthday, and talked about how she was doing. The team leader, Asuma, rarely spoke and they knew why. Over the years since her adoptive family's death she had sunk lower and lower and Asuma had been her witness. Now he could see it too, she acted coldly to those who tried to get close.

"Well, I guess we should head out." Kakashi said looking over their faces and lingering on the mystery on his team.

"Let's go." Naruto yelled.

From the corner of his eye he noticed Kagome soften at the blonde's antics. Kakashi thought about her response to the medic's question and the way he seemed to actually be worried about her. What had happened to Kagome that she was like this? The silver haired jounin sighed and kept walking. They passed a puddle on the road and he could tell Kagome knew something was wrong as well but neither of them moved to do anything.

Less than a mile down the road chains came from the trees and cut down their sensei. Kagome tensed, her hand moving to her hip pouch for the scroll concealing her sword. She watched her teammates react as well. Sakura coward with Tazuna, both boys attempted to fight back but Naruto was cut. Then she smelled it, from the chains, an acidic smell: poison. She moved quickly, her hands forming hand signs as fast as she could. Around them the air began to cool drastically and ice began to form on the enemy ninja's. They turned to look at her but they were too late, their bodies were completely incased in ice.

Just as the ice set Kakashi stepped from the trees and nodded to Kagome. "Nice job," he looked at her handy work through barely narrowed eyes. She shouldn't even be able to do that… "Are the rest of you alright?"

"No, Naruto is bleeding!" Sakura screeched.

Now she cares… "Don't move around too much, their blades were poisoned. Sensei, we need to get it out before it spreads or this mission will end here." Kagome said looking up at him. Naruto began to panic and drew out a kunai intending to cut out the poison himself. A small, powerful hand caught his wrist. "Don't be such an idiot Naruto." She wrapped her hands around his hand allowing her miko energy to draw the poisoned blood out. Once she was done the wound closed on its own but he had still lost a lot of blood. "Eat this, it'll help you get the energy you lost back."

"What about you Kago-chan, you lost energy, too?" Naruto asked taking the power bar she offered.

She smiled and produced a second from her pocket. "Sensei, those ninja, what were they after?"

"Good question, they look like Hidden Mist chunin. These ninja our trained to never stop fighting so Kagome make sure your jutsu doesn't let up." She nodded.

"How did you know our movements?" One of the two asked.

"The puddle, idiots. It hasn't even rained in days." Kagome interjected.

"If you two knew why didn't you do anything?" Tazuna asked.

"I assumed that Kakashi-sensei ad a plan when he did nothing and on a personal level I wanted to prove to you I wasn't weak." The old man sniffed at the dangerous tone in her voice as she said the word 'weak'.

"As for my part, it goes toward Kagome's question. There was something I wanted to find out." The two men looked each other in the eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Meaning, they were either after you or one of us." Kakashi's mind moved to Kagome for a moment without any real reason. "You didn't tell us that there were any ninja after you. We were hired to protect you from thieves or gangs. This mission has now moved above this team's abilities. If it had been known that there were ninja after you this would have been classified as a more expensive B-ranked mission. Now I'm sure you had your reasons but as I said, this is above our team's skills set."

"Maybe we should go back. We can't do anymore." Sakura said shaking. "Let's quit."

"No we have to continue!" Naruto yelled.

"He's right, we took on this mission we have to finish it." Kagome said.

"So the demon brothers have failed." The man laughed.

"Yes, it would seem the ninja protecting the bridge builder are skilled. What are you going to do now?!" The tense voice of another man asked.

A large sword came down between them at the other man's throat. "I'll kill them myself." The first man said.