A/N: Hello all! I'm surprised at how much reception this picked within just a week. It seems that you all like this so I will continue to post for it and see where it takes us.

For this chapter Kagome is 8 years old and Naruto is 9. For any of those who don't catch it.

Chapter Two: Just Kagome

Yet another sleepless night.

No matter how hard she tried, it just wasn't going to happen. No calming music, special tea, futuristic medicine, folk remedy or tactic was going to help her fall asleep. Even if she did manage to fall asleep it was only a matter of times before her dreams would wake her up again. She wasn't even sure taping her eyes shut would help at this point.

Hazy blue irises landed on the clock that adorned her nightstand. Three digits blinked back at her in an erie red light: 2:49.

There was no use now; if she couldn't fall asleep after hours of laying there and repeating the mantra 'Go to sleep' in her head a million times, it just wasn't going to happen.

Instead, she pulled herself from bed, tossed aside the scratchy blankets and pressed her feet into the cold floor. A soft sigh escaped her lips at the feeling of the smooth hardwood. There was a small pleasure in such a feeling as this after being tangled up in hot blankets for so long.

She pulled herself up and wandered into the bathroom, flicking the light on and wincing as the luminescence assaulted her eyes. When the overexposure faded, she was left staring into a mirror, blue eyes staring back.

In the reflection was a short girl, looking to be around the age of seven or eight. Her body was small, pale and lethe; yet to show any signs of maturity. Some may say she was even a bit small for her age. Her mass of black hair was cut just above her shoulders, cropped short mostly for convenience, with bangs cut across her forehead. Though, she would admit, the black strands seemed to have a mind of its own most times; sticking up in every which way despite her efforts. Her face had yet to lose its baby fat and her chubby cheeks stood out proudly for the world to see. She luckily had gained a pair of plump lips and a rather straight nose. Genetically wise, she wasn't so bad.

Could be worse. She thought to herself.

Staring back in the mirror was none other than the prodigal Kagome; a young girl at the ripe age of eight years old, though she felt much more mature than that.

Before you ask, yes, just Kagome. No last name in sight.

Eight years ago, Kagome had been found in a well outside of Konoha, in a little village by the name of Edo that had been completely destroyed. On a mission to do reconnaissance for a nearby issue, the group who had been assigned to the mission had come across a the town, and specifically the maimed shrine that had once been there. Oddly enough, the whole shrine had been burned to the ground except for one building; a well house. The very well house in which Kagome had been found in.

The team hadn't known what to do with her at first. All they had was this baby who looked to be no more than a week old, and all they had found her with was the blanket she was swaddled in and a silver necklace with a tag on it, inscribed 'Kagome'. They had searched the rest of the village for any clues to what could have happened or who Kagome was, but alas there was nothing. Everything had been destroyed, which meant no clues, no family and no last name.

Just Kagome.

Not knowing what to do, and not being stupid or heartless enough to leave a defenceless baby alone, the team had taken her back to Konohagakure; village hidden in the leaves. They then reported to the Hokage, the head honcho of the village, wondering what he suggested they do with the baby.

Needless to say, Kagome was an anomaly.

Even after countless questions across the village to almost all the citizens they could find, no one had ever seen or known anything that could help find out anything about Kagome's heritage. Even weirder was the fact that no one had ever heard of the name Edo before, and the town itself had never been on any maps. It was almost as if the place had appeared out of thin air.

Without a family, that left Kagome with the namesake of an orphan. Thus, she ended up being placed inside an overpopulated orphanage for kids who had lost their parents and had no other relatives around. It seemed that the year before Kagome had been born, there had been an incident in which a giant nine tailed beast had rampaged its way through the town and wound up killing thousands of people… Leaving behind a surplus of abandoned babies.

The first four years of Kagome's life had been as normal as they could be while growing up in the orphanage. She was quiet and shy, so she never made any friends, but this also meant she didn't get into much trouble. Kagome slipped beneath the radar, just surviving as best as she could. That was until she turned five of course.

When you turned five, the orphanage would allow you to be enrolled in the ninja academy; a school that would teach you all the essential things that were needed in life like languages, science and math (though Kagome hated this subject most of all). On top of that were other classes like ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu, history of the ninja world and of course there was a special flower arranging class for girls that Kagome had suffered through.

Despite the fact that she knew she was just being sent to the academy for the sole purpose to get a majority of the orphans out of the orphanage workers hair, Kagome finally found something she was passionate for. She never really understood why, but training to be a ninja lit a spark inside of that young girl, one she never thought she could have.

A year went by and at age six Kagome had progressed much farther than those of her peers. This wasn't noticed by just her, but her teachers as well. No matter what problems they threw at her, she could solve them. No matter what simple jutsu she was given, she could learn it within a few days at the most. It was obvious that her brain was much farther advanced than the other kids, and thus they scorned her for it. It didn't matter to her anyways. Kagome had learned earlier on that she didn't need anyone in this world. People would just betray her or abandon her, like her missing parents seemed to have done.

At the ripe age of seven and a half, Kagome had graduated from the Ninja academy and was named a prodigy.

She was an impressive case, a mysterious case. Just Kagome, an orphan with no past, had been able to surpass some of Konoha's best and brightest, achieving what they did but years younger. This is what peaked Hiruzen Sarutobi's interest in her.

Kagome snapped her mind away from its wandering thoughts and pried her eyes away from the mirror. She just hoped that when she grew up she lost her chubby cheeks.

I think I may lose it if one more person tries to pinch my cheek and tell me I'm a 'cute widdle thing'. She almost wretched at the thought.

She turned on the tap, washed her face in cold water and pat it dry with a towel before walking back out to her small apartment; The Third Hokage's doing.

After she had graduated, Sarutobi took an interest in the girl. It was obvious she was mature enough to take care of herself, and the orphanage was no longer a good fit for her, having graduated the academy and all… Unfortunately Kagome didn't particularly have any funds herself, so Sarutobi had granted her her own apartment, hoping it would give her more space to study and further cultivate her bright mind.

Kagome was put on a team of two other Genin, but it didn't take long for any of them to see that she far outgrew them, and nor did she care for them. Half a year later and Kagome graduated from the Chunin exams.

Eight years old and already a Chunin. Impressive, of course, but certainly not the most incredible record.

Kagome wanted to do better, needed to do better. She wasn't particularly sure why, but something in her felt like she needed to become powerful, as if some day she would need to be strong enough to protect herself from something.

Thus, here the story is. Eight year old, Chunin Kagome, who had just returned back from a mission and was unable to sleep. Then again, she could never sleep after a mission because her mind overthought too much; always going over the details of her missions and how she could improve.

Reminding her that she was actually a human, and not just a robot that solely did missions and nothing else, her stomach growled to remind her she hadn't eaten for a few days. It had been a long mission and she had been far too busy to think of trivial things like food.

Kagome opened up her fridge, only to find it pathetically low on food.

Soy sauce, ketchup, left over dango…When did I ever buy olives? Bleh. Kagome puffed as she scrunched up her nose at the measly contents of her refrigerator.

There was only one solution in times like these; ice cream.

Listen, Kagome may be a full fledged ninja with the clearance to go on missions, live on her own and kill people, but she was still eight years old. Besides, even adults loved icecream.

Icecream is always a suitable late dinner.

With that being decided she tore off her pyjamas and slipped on a plain black dress that came with built in shorts, her black ninja sandals and her black rain jacket with a hood, which she made sure to pull over her short mop of black locks. She grabbed her change purse, in the shape of a cats head, and headed over to the window; her main exit and entrance to her place.

For reasons she didn't like to talk about, there was always guards stationed outside of Kagome's apartment to ensure that she always stayed within her room. Luckily Sarutobi, who had issued the bodyguards in the first place, had been too much of a dunce to realize the window was also a good option. She always made sure to be quiet when leaving though. Just in case.

Kagome jumped down softly to the ground, her landing making no noise, and slowly raised herself back up. She looked around to make sure that no one was around to see her, and when she was in the clear, she began walking off to her usual destination.

A few streets over from her apartment was a small store that was open twenty four hours, and carried hundreds of different flavours of icecreams. She had never had the same one twice and was determined to eat her way through the whole store eventually.

When Kagome arrived, the door was propped open to let the cool summer air breeze through the shop. The old man who ran the shop sat behind the counter, lounging back and listening to music while fanning himself with a paper fan. When he spotted her, a big smile lit up on his face.

"Ah~ Kagome-chan, its been a while!" He grinned and motioned for her to come in, which she obliged to.

She gave the old man a bow and walked over to the freezers that would keep the ice-cream from melting with some interesting ice jutsu that kept the containers cold. She pondered through the flavours, trying to decide which flavour she should try next. Once she picked her poison, she walked up to the counter and set it down.

"Corn icecream this time, huh?" The old man laughed. "You sure do have quite the peculiar tastebuds Kagome-chan."

"You're the one who sells all the weird flavours Fujioka-san." Kagome retorted.

"Touche!" Fujioka-san laughed. "That will be one hundred yen as usual."

Kagome fished out the correct change and handed it over to the man, to which he stuck in his apron.

Conversations between the two of them were usually one sided. Mr. Fujioka had seen Kagome coming in to get ice-cream for over a year now, but never questioned why a young girl was out so late. Instead he would yammer on about something or other; his daughter becoming a nurse, his son finally getting married, his wife nagging him to quit working so much and come home so he could do some chores, to which he absolutely refused. According to him, touching squishy food water from dishes made him squeamish.

Kagome on the other hand would mostly stay quiet, listen to his stories, and sometimes reply back if she had anything good to say. She was a rather reclusive girl after all, but the old man didn't seem to mind that one bit.

It was good for Kagome, really, getting out of her house and interacting with people who weren't ninja's helped her from going crazy.

"You going up to watch the stars again?" Fujioka-san asked, leaning down underneath the counter to grab something.

"Hnn." Kagome hummed in agreement.

"Then here…" He said and pulled out a thin fleece blanket. "It might be summer time but there is still a chill in the air. Theres no need for a pretty little thing like yourself to get a cold."

Kagome's mouth twitched softly, as close as she was going to get to a smile. "Thank you." She said quietly and took the blanket from him.

"Have a good night now, don't get into any shenanigans." He bid her farewell and waved as she stepped out into the nighttime.

Kagome didn't particularly have a place she liked to look at the stars, but she usually chose whatever rooftop suited her fancy. That night it was on building situated on a street that overlooked a few restaurants and stands selling food.

She climbed the wall with her chakra, wrapped herself up in the blanket, perched on the edge of the building, unwrapped her corn flavoured ice-cream and began to eat.

Yep… thats certainly corn. She winced to herself as she licked the popsicle.

After many late nights sitting on rooftops, ogling at the sky and eating ice-cream, Kagome realized that It wasn't so bad being up so late at night. At least this way, the world was far more quiet. There wasn't the bustling street noise of citizens walking around and chattering. At the very least there was some drunk people staggering about, and they often provided fun entertainment… like that one time a man was so drunk he said he wanted to be one with nature and began to steal all of the potted plants on the street before falling over unconscious. Or the other time where a woman somersaulted down a flight of stairs and broke her ankle. Anyways… It wasn't all bad not being able to sleep.

The stars were pretty that night too.

"Bye Ichiraku-san! Bye Ayame-chan! Thanks for the ramen!"

The loud voice assaulted Kagome's ears in the middle of her stargazing, and she looked down on the street to see a boy, no more than a year or two older than her, exiting a small ramen shop called Ichiraku Ramen.

He had unbelievably spiky blonde hair that was somewhat held back by a pair of goggles on his forehead. From what Kagome could see up above, he was rather tan, had blue eyes and was rather short for a boy. Probably still taller than her, but that wasn't saying much.

What was a young boy such as himself doing out at this time, Kagome wondered. Then again… What was a young girl such as Kagome doing out this late either?

Touche. Kagome thought to herself, mimicking what Fujioka-san had said earlier.

She watched as the boy patted his stomach happily, obviously full from all the food he had just ate. He wondered down the street and turned a corner while whistling.

Not so far away was a group of drunk men who had just exited a bar. They all huddled together and snickered.

"Was that him?" One asked, looking rather like a slumping, drunk gorilla.

"The blonde kid?" Another one slurred slowly, much at the pace of a slug.

"Yeah, yeah. He's the one right? The bastard kid who's a demon?" Gorilla face giggled.

This peaked Kagome's interest, and she leaned in slightly from her spot on the roof to listen more.

"Yerr right!" Snorted the last of the three, like a pig.

"We should teach 'im a lesson… for being so… so much of a bastard!" Gorilla face said, wobbling slightly.

"Hah! Yeah! Thats what he deserves for killing the village right?" Pig nose agreed.

Slug man, slow as ever, leaned in and nodded. "Yeah, yeah… Its all his fault this happened after all… My aunt was killed because of that baka!"

Gorilla face snickered and reached into his pocket, pulling out a kunai knife. "This should do the job!"

"Lets go!" Pig nose laughed and jumped around, much like a child would.

The three of them headed off in the same direction as the boy, following after him with the obvious intent to hurt him.

Kagome knew she shouldn't get involved… it wasn't her problem if some drunk men chased after a kid she barely even knew. Maybe he would be able to take care of himself? Then again, not everyone was as well prepared as she was… What was really interesting her though is what they said about him being a demon. What did that mean?

They say curiosity killed the cat… In this case Kagome was the cat.

She stood up, discarding her corn icecream, that tasted way too much like corn for her to be comfortable with, and jumped after them from building to building. It didn't take her long to find them again, and they easily caught up to the blonde boy who had been taking a leisurely stroll home.

By the time Kagome found them, they had already cornered him in an ally. The boy looked absolutely stricken with fear, especially with Gorilla face pointing the kunai at him.

"Its all your fault kid!"

"He's not even a kid, hes a monster!"

"No wonder no one likes you."

The boy backed up more and shouted angrily, "I don't know what you are talking about! Back off and leave me alone b-before I do something I'll regret!"

Pig nose snorted in laughter, "Whatcha gunna do kid? Go run home and cry to your mommy and daddy? Oh wait… You dont have one."

That struck a cord with Kagome.

Her eyes narrowed down at the three men who were harassing the boy. No matter if the boy was a demon or not, like they said, he certainly didn't know what they were talking about… And he certainly didn't deserve the way they were treating him.

You're going to regret this Kagome. She thought to herself. Too late.

Gorila face lunged forward, aiming the kunai at the boy, but before he could do anything, his hand stopped mid stab.

"Huh?"

Standing there, out of nowhere, Kagome was in between the boy and Gorilla face, holding his arm in place.

"What the fu-AGHH!" The man yelled as Kagome began to stab her finger nails into the mans arm, cutting the skin and causing it to bleed. Luckily it caused him to drop the kunai. She kicked it back behind her to where the boy was.

"Grab that. Use it to stab at them if they come at you." She said calmly, monotone. The boy seemed confused but did as he was told anyways.

Kagome let go of the mans arm and he backed up. "Whats this?" he hissed. "A little girl come to defend her boyfriend? Why don't you run home now girly before you get hurt too."

Kagome rolled her eyes. Did he not just witness her crushing his arm? He really was a bakayaro.

"Bring it on." She sighed.

"What? A little girl like you take on all of us? HAH! We'll crush you in seconds." Gorilla face laughed, encouraging Slug man and Pig nose to laugh too.

"I'd like to see you try. Unless you are too scared to fight a little girl." Kagome hummed back.

Gorrila face frowned. "Thats it girl, times up."

They must have been ninja's because even in their drunken states they were able to put up a good fight.

All three of them came at her at once. Even with three of them though, Kagome had the upper hand. Not only were they impaired, they also seemed to be very dull witted. She easily ducked and dodged any of their attacks and easily managed to kick Slug man in the stomach, knocking him back into a brick wall where he fell over moaning.

Pig nose went to punch her, in which she twisted his arm behind his back and pressed him to the ground. His head made a dull thud noise as it hit the ground. Which left just her and Gorilla face. He was a big and strong opponent, but she had faced bigger and stronger.

"Listen here you little witch!" Gorilla hissed, "Why don't you tell me who your mommy and daddy are so I can have a chat with them about how their daughter is misbehaving!"

Kagome frowned, her hands balling up into fists. He seemed to notice that.

"Oh… Unless that is… You don't have any parents either?" He laughed.

"Leave her alone!" The blonde boy yelled from behind her.

Gorilla face continued though, "So you don't have parents huh? What happened, were they killed too? Or did they abandon you? I bet they did because you are just an ugly little witch."

Kagome felt her anger rising, which she knew was dangerous.

"Shut up!" She hissed.

"Well you dont seem to have any manners either. I guess whatever dump you lived in all your life couldn't teach a girl to act like one."

That was it.

Kagome clenched her fists harder, nails biting into her palms, causing them to bleed. She turned to look back at the boy behind her.

"Your eyes!" The blonde boy gasped.

Oh no, its happening again. Kagome thought, but it was too late. She couldn't control herself or the anger welling up inside of her chest, pressing painfully at her heart.

In the next few seconds, everything happened so quickly.

Gorilla face took the opportunity to lunge forward at the girl, grabbing onto her shoulders, hands sliding up to her neck. Kagome hissed, her heart racing so hard she could hear the blood pounding in her ears. She looked up at the man, her normally blue eyes ablaze with purple light. The man's face registered this and looked at her in shock.

And then everything exploded.

A blast of purple light burst forward from Kagome's body, so bright that it would wake the neighbourhood. The boy behind her, was knocked back against the wall, trying to shield his eyes from the brightness that seared at his eyeballs.

A few moments later and the light faded. The blonde boy pulled his hands back to see the girl from before standing there panting desperately. The man who had been overtop of her, choking her, now laid on the ground in a pool of his own blood. His body was covered in scorch marks, but he was wheezing loud enough for them to tell he was still alive.

Kagome winced. Every movement felt one hundred times as painful. It felt like her body was on fire and she was walking on needles.

She stumbled forward, insistent on getting away from the scene as fast as possible.

"Wait who are you!?" the boy asked from behind her.

"Its best… you don't know…" Kagome croaked as she took a deep breath and began walking away.

"Thank you for saving me!" He yelled after her. "My name's Naruto!"

But she was already gone.

He had never seen her face, but those searing purple eyes burned themselves in his memory. Who was that?

Kagome rushed back to her apartment as fast as she could. She felt nauseous, dizzy and her heart ached so painfully that her vision swam.

She made it to her apartment in record speed, climbing the wall to her bedroom window as fast as she could while also being quiet. She slid the window open and flopped herself in, completely spent.

Just when she thought she was safe, the light flicked on, showing her the female body guard standing inside of her room; arms crossed with a big frown on her face. She was probably cursing Kagome over and over in her head for always causing problems.

"The Third Hokage would like to see you now." She hissed.

Kagome closed her eyes and sighed.

I'm in deep trouble.

Voila~! Thats the second chapter. I hope you all still enjoy it just as much as the first chapter.

So the first Chapter got 11 reviews, which is amazing. I've decided that I will be posting on Sundays (my time zone, Korean Standard Time) and that I am willing to post faster or more chapters per week if we keep up at least 10 reviews per chapter! Thank you !

Until next time~ Ja ne!