A/N: Okay... I think this might be the last chapter I post tonight. I think. Lol. I've been on a writing frenzy and just have so many ideas that keep popping up in my head!
Anyways, please enjoy and review to let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I will never be able to afford to own Naruto or Inuyasha therefore they are not mine!
Kagome stared at the Hokage in shock of what she heard. She couldn't believe it! 'Root? It really exists? And… I was a part of it?' "But why? Why did you keep this from me?"
Sarutobi sighed and looked down in slight shame. "We did not know what would happen. You had no recollection of your time within Root and there was that period of time that you were not within the village walls."
Kagome looked down at her hands that were laying on her lap. The callousness of her hands were evidence that she spent time doing something besides the academy. "Then that explains a lot…"
Sarutobi looked sharply at her. "What do you mean?"
Kagome looked at him, her gaze hardened somewhat with her guard reinforced once more - just like the first time she awoke. "I had a memory just recently. It wasn't that much but… it was of me fighting. I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me as it happened while I was sparring with Shikamaru but now I'm not so sure."
"Did you tell Shikamaru of your memory?" The Hokage asked and to Kagome, he seemed slightly desperate like he hopes that she didn't say anything.
"Not much," Kagome answered. "I just told him that it was flashes of an unknown forest seeing as that's where the fighting took place. Nothing like the forests around here though."
The Hokage nodded as they both fell silent. Kagome fiddled her thumbs a bit as she fell into her thoughts before she looked to him once more. "Who is part of my team then?"
Sarutobi paused as he took the time to think of how he would approach the subject. The team that he has created for her happens to consist of two former members of Root. Two of which went missing around the same time as Kagome but never returned… until now. Their sudden return was enough to cause suspicion which is why he has decided to place them with their former teammate in hopes of triggering the rest of Kagome's memories.
He just hopes that it does not backfire on them all.
"Your teammates are Hakudoshi and Bankotsu. Their surnames were unavailable, always have been. They were your former teammates when you were in Root and disappeared from Konohagakure around the same time you did which leads me to believe that they underwent the same path." The Hokage stood up from his place and walked towards the window. "You have a mission ahead of you on top of trying to get your memories to return. I want to know, before you are reunited, if you are up to the task."
Kagome looked at him and knew that whatever has happened, whoever these people were, it was important and possibly dangerous. 'But, I'm a shinobi now. These are the things that we've hoped to be able to get our whole lives within training. I can't back out now!' "I can do it, Hokage-sama. Whatever the mission is, I am ready."
'I was afraid you would say that...'
Genma sighed as he was placed back on gate duty with Kotetsu while Izumo was sent on a one man mission. 'I'm supposed to be the Hokage's personal guard and yet, here I am watching the gate!' "Now I understand Shikaku when he mentions that 'this is a drag.'"
Kotetsu smirked to himself. 'Hah, finally someone understands what Izumo and I deal with almost every day!' He snickered a bit before noticing a small group approach the gates. "Uh, hey Genma?"
"What?" Came the gruff reply.
"Are we expecting someone?" Kotetsu asked, his confusion clear as day.
"Huh?" Genma sat up from his relaxed position and took note of the newcomers.
Two people - shinobi - approached the Konoha gates. They were young, around Kagome's age possibly older and male.
The first had long, raven black hair that was tied into a braid that fell over his right shoulder. On his back was what looked to be a really large sword, possibly a halberd if Genma wasn't mistaken. 'That is an odd choice of a shinobi weapon.'
The second stood quite a ways away from the first and looked to be slightly uncomfortable as he seemed to glare at anything and everything. His hair fell to the middle of his back in lavender waves with bangs falling just above his dark purple eyes. 'Now why does that kid look so familiar?' Genma almost skimmed past him if it wasn't for the weapon the boy carried. 'A Naginata? What?''
Genma's eyes guarded themselves as he stared at the two in front of him. He knew they were a threat but he wasn't to act on anything as he looked down at the files in front of him. Looking back at the two that approached, he glared. "Hakudoshi and Bankotsu, welcome back to Konohagakure. The Hokage awaits you at the Hokage Tower. I will accompany you."
"We don't need your help to find the tower, old man. We know where it is," Bankotsu said with a glare.
"That doesn't matter. I do not trust you. Now, come," Genma stated before he stepped out of the booth and motioned for them to start towards the tower.
The two barely acknowledged him or the other before they took off on the roof tops of the village. Genma watched them before addressing Kotetsu. "Anyone else that shows up, do not let them through without valid passports."
Without another word, he too took off but at a much faster pace. Kotetsu looked after Genma in confusion before he took a look at the files he had. Paling, Kotetsu sighed. "I feel like this place is going to get more interesting."
Kagome sat there as they awaited her teammates and sensei. She tried to process her mission but the more she thought about it, the more frightened she got. 'If my memories return, will I betray my village? Or, will I be able to stop myself from allowing my other life to take over?'
Gritting her teeth, Kagome glared down at the ground. 'No, I won't allow that! I will fight tooth and nail if it means not betraying Konohagakure and my fellow shinobi!'
"Hokage-sama, the shinobi are here."
Kagome perked up at hearing Genma's voice and smiled despite her situation. She stood up from her chair and moved forward to stand next to the Hokage, her body and mind acting out of instinct. Upon the door opening, she watched as Genma entered, his face serious and on guard. His eyes flashed to Kagome and softened a bit before he addressed the Hokage.
"Hokage-sama," Genma greeted before kneeling in respect.
"Genma," Sarutobi greeted back before looking over the shinobi's shoulder to the two boys who walked in at the moment.
Kagome's eyes were focused on the boys before her eyes blurred once more and her head began to pound.
"Kagome, meet your new teammates. Hakudoshi," Kagome looked and saw a small boy with lavender hair and sharp facial features surrounding purple eyes with no pupil. "And Bankotsu." This one had a cocky smirk on his face, his black hair reaching at his shoulder blades and his arms crossed in front of his chest. He looked to be a little older than her.
"Together, you three make up Team X. You are my Special Attack Division as well as my Assassination Squad - in - training."
Gasping, Kagome looked from her position on the floor, her head still in her hands. Genma was kneeling next to her, his face scrunched in concern and worry. "Kagome?"
Kagome, however, bypassed him altogether and approached her 'new' teammates. "I know you."
The two boys looked at her with different sets of emotion rushing through their gazes. Happiness, confusion, weariness, anger, sadness.
They didn't say anything; they just nodded in unison.
"Konichiwa(1), Kagome," They finally said together and Kagome felt relaxed next to them, like she could actually trust them. Looking back at the Hokage, she nodded - a silent message passing between the two.
A knock at the door interrupted the moment and all heads turned towards the door in wonder.
The door opened and in stepped a woman dressed in a red and white short kimono(2) over what looked to be a full body fishnet outfit. The kimono was opened to show her cleavage but not overly so like Anko Mitarashi with a pair of black spandex falling to just above mid thigh. On her right thigh was shinobi pack that was black and on her feet, instead of the usual shinobi shoes, her feet were adorned in white and black leather boots that reached just past her ankles.
Looking past her outfit, the younger shinobi within the room looked on in shock. Besides the eye color, this woman resembled an older Kagome. Her hair was in a low ponytail and fell to just above her backside.
Bowing deeply in greeting to the Hokage, the woman turned to the three children in front of her. She looked all three of them over in scrutiny and made them feel as though she were stripping them raw. As he eyes fell upon Kagome, she paused slightly before continuing. Her gaze softened as her eyes met Kagome's.
"This group has potential. I am Kikyo Miyaka, your Jounin instructor."
1. Konichiwa - Hello/ Good Afternoon
2. Think of Kikyo's Miko garb in Inuyasha but shortened into a shinobi outfit. If someone wants to, they are welcome to draw it in their spare time in the way they interpretted it. (I would very much like to see it drawn out!)