Pages: 10

Words: 5, 371

Chapter Fifteen- Do I pass?

Without missing a heartbeat Kagome dashed towards the over confident shinobi. She infused her fist with reiki and swung it forwards and punched Ebisu in the chest. It was hard enough to make the grown man get tossed backwards. 'This kid is not only fast, but that punch almost hurt as much as Sango's punches did almost a year ago, when I had them do the exact same test. What? She's even managed to stun my body momentarily. Was it because of that sudden attack or is it because she was using her reiki?' Ebisu thought as he flipped his body over in mid air and dug his heels into the ground while he slid backwards disappearing into the foliage. 'I bet it was because of the reiki I've never felt anything like this before.'

"Where'd you go?" Kagome called looking before in the direction of Sango and Miroku for help. She didn't punch him hard enough to cause internal damage- yet.

"You shouldn't be so easily distracted!" Ebisu said jumping down from the tree above her. He punched the girl right across the face, looking shocked when she disappeared with a pop then a smirk flicked across his face. Then he too also disappeared with a pop.

"They were both clones…?" Sango said turning to Miroku with a questioning look on her face.

"Didn't you see Kagome make the hand signs when Ebisu-sensei turned his back to set the timer? And then when Ebisu-sensei skidded backwards, he was hidden behind those trees he must have cloned himself at that point. " Miroku stated looking around the now quiet training area for any signs of fighting.

"So that gaki must have learned that technique from the scroll the demon gaki stole. So know she knows how to do the Kage Bushin no jutsu, which is a Jounin level jutsu." The real Ebisu muttered to himself as he perched himself up on a branch rubbing the spot the girl had punched, it had really hurt and- that was just her clone. It wasn't even her!

"Un, she does," Kagome whispered into his ear. She could easily sense where Ebisu had gone. Quickly she darted away before he even had time to turn in the direction she had whispered to him. Only Ebisu had guessed were she was going to land and punched her hard right across the face, this time for real. "Itai!"

"Taijutsu." He jumped over her leg that's aim was to knock him off his feet. Ebisu flipped over her in the air and kicked her in the side. She couldn't block it because she was using her two hands to flip her body over on the tree branch. The next punch Kagome had sent for his head was dodged and he grabbed her arm and painfully twisted it around, placing a foot on her back to keeping her from escaping making her grunted in pain. To escape his vice like grip she used her free hand and wrapped it tightly around his ankle sending a bolt of pure reiki into his system. This caused him to momentarily loosen the muscles in his hands. It gave her just enough time to escape and darted behind him. Yet he twirled around dealing a swift blow as his foot connected with her body in the abdominal area.

Ebisu then moved to the side again as he felt Kagome swing her leg out to kick him. He used her own momentum to flip her over. And as she was falling towards the ground below he jumped down and swung his leg around and kicked her in her abdomen, again, this time sending her flying into the dirt, her body rolled around a couple of times before she could stop. She spat on the ground and wiped at her mouth before running at him again. This time she darted left then right before swinging around and kicking the side of his right kneecap. As he fell to the ground she kicked him in the back. While Ebisu found that he was skidding backwards kicking up a big dust cloud he made multiple Kage Bushin clones of himself. He thought perhaps he would be able to distract her since she'd be too busy trying to figure out which one was the real him all the while the real him actually got away. Ebisu struggled to keep himself standing; whenever he was hit with her reiki it pained him greatly to move that part of his body. Where had she-? His clones and the real him looked all around then looked up.

Kagome hung from the branch right above him with a big grin on her face as she started going through the series of hand signs prior to her placing her hand to her mouth. She could pry the melted plastic off of his face if she had to. "Katon goukakyuu no jutsu! [Grand Fireball]"

'Sh-she shouldn't have enough chakra to be able to use it properly! She's just a genin!' Ebisu's glasses teetered dangerously at the end of his nose when he realized he had no time to get out of the way he had to protect himself, this gaki really wasn't fooling around. He was just able to finish the hand signs and drew the moisture out from the air around him, which wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do when it hadn't rained in Konoha in months. He supposed he was lucky there was a river nearby. "Suiton Suijinheki no jutsu! [Water Bullet] and spat out immense orbs of water to douse the flames before the whole forest was set on fire. He had even had to rely on his Kage Bushin's he had summoned to help him put out the fire.

He jumped into a tree to help hide his body as he put some distance in between the girl and him. What he didn't know was that Kagome could easily spot the real him because he was the one with the aura, Kage Bushin clones didn't have one. Springing into the air sending reiki to her right leg she brought it down on his head only to have her attack blocked by his two crossed arms. Doing a back handspring off the branch they were just barely sharing, she almost toppled out of the tree but managed to cling on using her chakra. She didn't bother looking back at the spot where Ebisu had been she already knew that he had run off. Sensing where people where really came in handy 'where ever you are Obaa-chan right now, arigato gozaimashita! [Thank you very much!]'

She slid into a clearing slightly panting and rather dirty, while three Ebisu clones all used their middle fingers to push their glasses on their faces. They were ready waiting to attack her she just laughed. Kagome drew out a kunai and opened a can of whoop ass on all the clones spinning around, jumping over, sliding under but eventually slicing through all them grinning when they screamed and disappeared in a pop. "There's no point in running away and making all these clones of yourself Ebisu-san I know exactly where you are!" Pulling out a bone Shuriken she threw it into the trees.

Thunk. The real Ebisu looked in the direction that the Shuriken had landed in 'she was wro-' he didn't have time to even finish his thought as the girl had kicked him the back of the head 'it was a distraction!' and his felt his glasses slowly slipping off of his face until they were air born he reached out to grab them only for him to feel the girl's reiki coated hands digging into his shoulders prior to her swinging his entire body up over her head then throwing him harshly towards the ground. His arms had just gained back their feeling too, from when he had blocked the kick that she had intended to smash onto his head. Her fighting style was not only fast but the reiki blows that she managed to land caused extra damage.

While in the air Ebisu managed to kick his falling glasses towards himself and grab them with his teeth, his lips where wrapped around one of the circular lenses. He grunted when he found out that he couldn't move his shoulders because they were currently stunned. Ebisu landed on one of his knees grunting again as he stood up making a run for it only to be stopped by Kagome who swiftly was kicked him in both the shoulders. He swung his leg around kicked her in the side then he brought out his other leg and kicked her again in the side and then once more in her stomach area. He knew that spot had to be tender from all the previous attacks.

He quickly dashed away before she could recover from the blows to her body. Ebisu snorted out of anger. He knew needed to get the feeling in his arms back before facing that girl again. With his arms like this he couldn't do any hand signs or use his arm to defend his precious beautiful face from being attacked. Once that happened he would be ready this time, he wasn't going to underestimate her because by now he already knew most of her attacks and her attack style. He hissed to himself as he slid into a clearing, "I'm not going to let some friend to Naruto pass any test of mine."

"Ebisu-san why do you hate Naru-kun so much, I just don't get it!" Kagome yelled easily finding him again. She was getting really angry and that caused her reiki to slowly starting swirling around her entire body. "Everyone thinks he's a baka. He's really smart he comes up with amazing pranks and for the most part he never gets caught! He had to grow up without any parents. That changes you Ebisu-san did you have parents there to take care of you? I know I had a loving Kaa-san, otouto and Jii-chan before they were killed. Naru-kun grew up without having any of that," The blue reiki was picking up speed as it circled around her body even more. "You think he's is the fox youkai don't you? ANSWER ME!"

"…Hai I do." Ebisu couldn't move it was as if his feet were glued to the spot he swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat making sure he still had his glasses securely clenched in between his teeth so the girl couldn't make a grab for them without him knowing. He had a feeling she wasn't going to try it though…

"I know you do. Whenever you talk about him you get a look in your eyes! I hate it! I want you to understand that Naru-kun isn't the fox-youkai that destroyed Konoha because the youkai is sealed inside of his body! I've met many youkai before, good and bad. Would the fox youkai bother to become friends with anybody or save Iruka-sensei or willingly give back that scroll of sealing? IIE IT PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE! PUT YOURSELF IN HIS POSITION! I know what I would have done if I were the one that fox youkai was sealed into. You'd all be dead! But Naru-kun has to live with that fox youkai so that the rest of you ungrateful people are kept alive, how can you hate a person like that? I don't even care about this stupid test of yours anymore! I don't care if I can never become a shinobi I just want one less person to stop hating Naru-kun because they think he's a horrible bloodthirsty youkai. Without even taking the time to try and to get to know the real him! Inside he's just a regular kid like me!" Kagome couldn't stop herself from yelling at him. Her hair was being thrashed violently around by the powerful gust of winds that came off of the dangerous energy rapidly whipping around her body.

'All this power- I can't believe it's coming off of this one small girl…even now she- doesn't feel as powerful as the energy around her…I thought that only jounin and ANBU know how to suppress their energies. This needs to stop right away otherwise her powers will destroy this entire training area!'

"You know what? I can't stand people like you Ebisu-san!" Kagome yelled with her eyes closed as she ignored the ache of her own power starting to painfully lash back at her own body because it wasn't being told where to go or molded properly, this was her reiki in one of the rawest of forms. The light coming from her energy could easily be seen glowing brightly over the tree tops.

"Kagome-kun I understand now Naruto isn't the youkai," Ebisu hurriedly said tossing his glasses off to the side, as it was impairing his speech. He was slowly starting to understand what the girl was feeling and why she felt that way, now that he had a little more time for everything she said to sink in. "You're just trying to protect your friend."

"Un…do you really mean it when you said that you don't believe Naru-kun isn't the youkai that destroyed the village?" Kagome breathed deeply letting some of her anger die down, her reiki stopped lashing back at her body but was still dangerously whipping around breaking off the branches of nearby trees and hurling them in any direction like a mini tornado would. There was some truth to what he was saying, he wasn't being completely honest but it was a start.

"I do." Ebisu said he truly felt bad there was always a reason for people, even if it was Naruto, for acting the way they did. He supposed if he had grown up the way Naruto did and had people like himself (Ebisu) like Kagome had admitted; he too would have probably gone on a killing spree.

"You mean it?" Kagome questioned as the energy around her had almost completely dissipated while she slowly collapsed to her knees.

"Hai Kagome-kun. I get it now, what the Hokage-sama, Iruka-sensei and you see in Naruto-kun he's not a youkai he's just a boy who wants people to acknowledge his existence," Ebisu said kneeling to the ground and gently placing his hand on Kagome's shoulder only to have her roll away. "I wasn't going to try and hurt-?"

"I got 'em." She said victoriously as she clutched his glasses in her right hand and crushed them, the bent wire and tinted shards fell onto the glass. Just like she had promised just like she would. She managed to stick her tongue out at him before her eyes fluttered shut and her small body collapsed forward onto the dirt ground.

Ring. Ring. Ring

'She really did keep her promise and she does have a lot of potential.' Ebisu said dropping to the ground next to her placing his arms on top of his knees as he sat there enjoying the small breeze that went by. "Gomen, I see now that you were right about them Hokage-sama."

'That Ebisu…,' Sarutobi thought holding his head in his hands as he stared into the crystal ball; he was seated at the very end of his seat, he had watched the entire thing. 'Just what did Kagome-kun's Obaa-chan teach that girl? Oh well, it's too late to ask that old woman now."

"Sasuke, look what I found it's your Kaa-san's old camera it only has two pictures left on the-" Kagome quickly snapped the trigger button of the camera twice as she laughed. Now she was glad she had come to the academy today. "I didn't know that is how you guys felt that way about each other!"

She had just been at his house because she wanted to drop of a basket of freshly baked rolls. Miroku had made way too many and even with Sango, Kirara, Naruto and her eating them they couldn't possibly eat them all before they went stale. And that was saying something because Naruto and herself were professional eating machines! So once at Sasuke's house she was searching through the cabinets for some paper to write him a note BAM there was the camera!

"Nee-san?" Naruto unclenched his hands from around his own neck, when he had locked lips with his rival, Naruto eyes widened when he looked at her.

"What happened to you?" Sasuke asked his eyes quickly looking over Kagome's dirty clothes and the fresh visible giant bruises that were all over her arms and legs 'what sort of weapon could leave those sorts of marks behind on a person?' His concern for her well being caused him to momentarily forgot what Naruto did to him and that Kagome had managed to take pictures of it.

"Opps, I wanted to get here as quickly as I could I must have put on yesterday's clothes. Ha ha ha it's nothing really," Kagome said rubbing her left arm sheepishly she needed to toss these clothes when she got home, they were ruined anyways. "I'm fine."

"NA-RU-TO!" A horde of angry girl's yelled cracking their knuckles.

"Hey do you guys remember me?…Cause I remember all of you. You made Kirara very upset by crushing her bells and I haven't been able to keep my promise I made to her because I haven't been able to find her new bells." Kagome said spinning around on the ball of her foot turning around holding her hands out making it look like she had set them on fire with a blue flame by using her reiki making it burn brighter as she waved them around making the girls disperse and sent them scurrying away.

"What's that piece of paper sticking out of your pocket?" Naruto asked he had felt Kagome's whatever she called it again, that energy she was using now it always made him feel so uneasy. After awhile though he got use to it, he just never wanted to be touched by it though. Naruto grabbed the paper laughing as he held it high in the air waving it around in victory only to have it snatched back by Kagome and he pouted.

'(On the honor of my title as a true valiant shinobi I will keep my promise to treat you to as much ramen as you can eat when I return back from my mission. Congratulations on passing and welcome to my squad. Ebisu-sensei) that's right he owes me! He he he!' Kagome shoved the note down her shirt. As she did the camera swinging around her wrist caught both boys attention remembering the two flashes when they were-? When they had-?

"Hand me the camera over to me Kagome." Sasuke said quickly making a grab for it only to have her sway to the side and dodge his attempt.

"IIE NEE-SAN GIVE ME THE CAMERA FIRST!" Naruto said intending to tackle her to the ground and get it before Sasuke could so he could rub the small victory in his rival's face but instead it was his (Naruto's) face that whacked against the end of a desk.

"What's all the noise in here for? Kagome-kun why are you here today shouldn't you be training with your Jounin instructor?" Iruka asked stepping into his classroom, he had heard she did remarkably well when she completed Ebisu's test and had even managed to change the stubborn Jounin's views on Naruto.

"Iie he's been sent on a mission so I decided to come here today because I wanted to see on what teams Naru-kun and Sasuke were placed on since I know that I can't be on either of their teams." Kagome whined lightly holding Naruto's head down with her foot as he tried to grab at the camera again 'I'm going to get these developed as soon as I can.'

"Okay, if I show you what team they're on do you promise to keep it quiet and go home?" Iruka asked waving around his clipboard. After what happened yesterday she really should be at home or even in the hospital recovering.

"Un I promise!" Kagome said skipping down the steps to the front of the class.

Iruka pointed to his clipboard that had the squads written down on it, he held his finger on the group titled team seven which consisted of Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. "Alright now go home and get some well deserved rest. I heard how you did I'm proud that you were able to pass Kagome-kun you really have a bright future as a shinobi ahead of you."

"Un I'm going to get these pictures developed I'll see you around Iruka-sensei arigato for everything," Kagome hugged Iruka around the waist before running out she ran out laughing she stuck an 'I'm a baka' sign to his back. "I'll see you guys later!"

'I have to wait an hour for those pictures to be developed. I can't wait I'm so excited.' Kagome thought to herself as she entered into her apartment where she was greeted by Sango and Miroku who looked like they had been waiting for her to get back.

"We got you a little something Kagome it's nothing fancy," Sango said placing a small box into the younger girl's hands. "Go ahead and open it!"

"It's a congratulations present for being able to beat up Ebisu-sensei." Miroku said with a grin.

"Hey it's a kunai and shuriken holder already filled up with the kunai and shuriken you made Sango, and one of those nifty brown pouches but in a navy blue color! You guys are the best." She said while she hugged them both around their necks.

"Now you don't have to borrow mine anymore right? And you'll actually be carrying around weapons so that you can protect yourself," Sango said laughing. "Alright well I'm going to go train I want to be able to walk on water by the end of this week and Miroku you better find some way to get rid of that log before Ebisu-sensei gets back from his mission. You're lucky he was too tired yesterday to check on your progress, or lack thereof."

"I guess you're right Sango. We'll see you later Kagome." Miroku said as he was dragged out the door lip syncing 'onegai have mercy Kagome, save me; don't let her take me away.'

"Everyone's gone; I guess I'll just wander around the village until those pictures are developed." She quickly changed her clothes throwing her old ones in the trash.

"Ah, Kagome-kun just the person I wanted to see. I wanted to congratulate you on passing Ebisu-san's test and changing his views. Two things which aren't easy to do separately you managed to do at once." Sarutobi said as he closed the door to Naruto's apartment.

"Un? Arigato! Hokage-sama," Kagome bowed wincing when she did Ebisu-sensei had constantly hit in her abdomen during that test. Now her whole stomach area was bruised with healing giant sandal prints. As she bowed she looked down to the floor and saw two pairs of sandaled feet in front of her. Blue eyes traveled up to look at the guy slouching next to the Sandaime. His silver gravity defying hair, mask and the way he wore his hitai-ite seemed strangely familiar to her. "Ano…..Kakashi-san?"

"Hai…?" '-Could it be? It's that girl, the one who survived that youkai attack on her village. The one who almost had a hole going straight through her body. She's the one who I had to bring her to the Uchiha compound to be watched over by Uchiha, Mikoto and one of the few people to think that Maito, Gai is, what's the word she had used to describe 'his eternal rival'…stylish. He guessed with an internal shrug of his shoulders. His eye flicked back to look her up and down, 'Well, I was right to think that she would grow up nicely.'

"Do you remember who I am?" She asked trailing behind the two men who exited the building.

"Higurashi, Kagome," He watched from the corner of his eye as her face instantly lit up. "Oompfh what are you-?" She had just jumped onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his ribcage.

"I want a Piggyback ride, giddie up horsey!" Kagome laughed burying her face into his neck; she remembered the exact same smell of his jacket from when she was younger, it was calming and made her feel safe.

"I'll leave the two of you together. Which reminds me I have Iruka-san wanted to talk to me over a nice cup of tea tomorrow afternoon," Sandaime said the scene warmed his old soul to see and the fact that Kakashi looked really uncomfortable at the moment. "Kakashi."

"Hai Hokage-sama?" He asked turning his head in the Sandaime's direction while the girl clung to his body nuzzling her face into his neck while sighing.

"Try not to keep your new team waiting for you, too long this time."

"…Wakatta, […Got it,]" Kakashi tried to act as normally as he could walking through the crowded streets with a hyper bouncing girl on his back. "Get off me."

"Iie! This is fun," Kagome ignored the stares that she was getting as Kakashi slowly made his way through the market. "You should go faster then maybe I might fall off then you leave me on the ground as you run away."

"That's not such a bad idea, but you're too heavy." Kakashi said smiling under his mask when he felt Kagome stiffen at the mention of her weight, even if she felt no heavier than his favorite romance novel that he always carried around with him.

The ofuda Miroku, Sango and her wore only put weight through their muscles. However the paper doesn't make them any heavier, since paper isn't that heavy to begin with. The reiki combined with the wording on an ofuda changes how the two combined will act. In the case with the weights, it made their muscles feel like they were heavier and acted the same way if they were wearing them just without making their bodies feel any different, if her Obaa-chan was still alive she could explain it a lot better than she was able to or if Miroku were around right this very moment, he could do it but alas they were not. So her explanation would have to do.

"You think I'm fat?" She suppressed the grin that wanted to appear on her face. She would play along with this game. "I guess I'll just have to starve myself if that what it takes to prove my worthiness to you so I can get your affection."

"Eh?" Kakashi stopped walking in mid step, completely frozen. He hadn't had any girl trying to get his 'affection' for many years now, not since he was younger and was going to the academy with the boy he would eventually considered to be his best friend O-

"That's right Kakashi-kun I'll stop eating if that what it takes for you to notice me!" Kagome said copying the exact same squeal the girl's surrounded Sasuke made then she hugged him tighter around the neck and dug her knees into his sides.

"I'm older than twice your age." He was walking a little faster now, not that he noticed. He was trying to get away from the girl. She was making him nervous- wait he didn't just admit that did he was-? A little girl making him, Hatake, Kakashi nervous- no way! That was until he felt a shiver go down his spine when she let a puff of hot air out into his ear- but that was only because his ears were sensitive though!

"The feelings that I have for you does not let a trivial thing such as age get in the way." She said in such a manner that it had made her sound older and much wiser way beyond her years.

"Surely there are some nice boys around your age that you can go bother."

She paid no attention to his statement that was just another way of telling her to 'get lost' only one of her arms were wrapped around his neck now, as she used her other arm to run her fingers through his hair. "Your hair is really soft even though it looks prickly, it doesn't feel that way and there are no traces of gel in your hair to make it look that way either, sugoi [cool]."

"Stop messing up my hair." His sounded as lazy and uncaring as ever but there was an underlying anger starting to surface that made the tone of his voice sound edgier. Kakashi was even holding onto the handle of his Kunai. Lucky for the girl it was still resting in its pouch. He didn't remember when he had reached for the weapon.

"Only if you give me all the care and attention that I crave from you," She was whispering it right into his ear making his mask start to feel uncomfortably tight around his face as his breathing got a little faster- only because it must have been warmer out today than he had thought it would be! "Well this has been fun Kakashi-kun but I think the pictures I have been waiting for are done now thanks for entertaining me while I waited-"

'He's already gone.' Kagome pouted then shrugged she didn't know what his problem was.

Once she had gotten back home Kagome opened the package of pictures immediately eager to see the one of Naruto and Sasuke kissing. She flipped through the photos there was a couple of pictures of a boy who looked like Sasuke but clearly wasn't the face- her body froze up and all the pictures dropped to the floor with a clatter. Uchiha, Itachi she knew who he was. Sometimes his face would appear in her nightmares. She would be staring into his eyes...and he would be strangling her as she pleaded for him not to hurt Sasuke. Drawing in a shaky breath she gathered up the photos one of them caught her eye. It was Mikoto and her with a sleeping Sasuke they had dressed up as a girl they were both laughing. 'I'm going to buy a frame for this picture.' Carefully placing all the pictures back into her envelope she hid it under her pillow.

'Hey isn't that Naru-kun's voice I hear... and he's talking… about ramen?' Kagome thought to herself, she was holding a plastic bag that had a simple black frame inside of it. Sneaking her way over, she went around the building and listened.

"-I don't like the three minutes I have to wait for my cup ramen to cook. My dream is to become the best Hokage Konohagakure has ever seen! That will have to make all the villagers realize how wrong they were about me!"

"Hobbies?" She could tell that this voice belonged to Kakashi. Which meant he was team seven's sensei and been on his way over to meet them while she was acting like his fan girl.

"Playing all sorts of pranks with or without my Nee-san and spending time with her!"

"Next." Kakashi wondered who Naruto was referring to when he said 'Nee-san. He found it odd since Naruto did not have any siblings, well not blood related at least. He'd have to ask the Hokage about it later.

"My name is Uchiha, Sasuke. There are a lot of things that I dislike but I don't really like anything," 'Except Kagome's cooking, but no one here needs to know that.' "I don't want to use the word dream because it's more like an ambition. I want to revive the Uchiha clan and...I want to kill a certain man."

'-to kill a certain man.' Kagome felt a tightening in her chest she felt bad for listening in on their conversation she quickly escaped before she was noticed. Sasuke wants to kill Itachi, 'I never asked him what happened to him after I had passed out. I'll ask him eventually but now's not the right time to do it.'

What is your best fan girl impression?

Best review for the last chapter: KaneRyuMoon