A.N. I do not own Inuyasha or Naruto. Thank you for continuing to read my work despite the many long pauses and stalling. I have trouble maintaining energy for writing to balance it against my own life, and the broader world is also very draining. Not abandoning though. I always come back eventually.

A warm pleasant feeling enveloped Naruto as he nuzzled Hinata's thigh, enjoying her fingers running through his hair as he laid his head in her lap. "Mm… You were okay, right?"

Nodding, Hinata smiled. "You tired me out, but it was nice. I…" Cheeks turning pink, the Hyuuga leaned down and kissed his temple. "Thank you."

Opening his eyes, the blond male peered up at her. "For what?" he asked, running his nose over her skin.

"I never thought you would see me, never thought you would be…" Hinata just smiled giddily and let out a squeak when her lover tugged her down to his chest.

x~x~x

Sasuke was soaked with sweat as he woke, conversely feeling shivers run down his spine. When the door to his cell shut suddenly, he jumped and looked at the Hokage wide eyed. "What did you do to me?"

Kagome knelt before him and held up a finger. "Follow my finger with your eyes." Moving the digit side to side, Kagome's lips thinned. "Hm… Not good. This does explain a lot." She touched his jaw lightly and tilted his head back to look in his black irises. "You are going to have to make a decision."

"I already have," Sasuke snapped, lurching backwards and batting at her hand weakly.

Grasping his wrist, Kagome tugged him forward and frowned. "Sasuke, think clearly. I killed Orochimaru. You felt him leaving this world. And yet you suffer. Sasuke, Orochimaru left a piece of himself in you, stronger than just a curse mark. It wants to join the rest of the soul and it will take you with it. Do you wish to die?"

Anger filtered through Sasuke's onyx eyes and he glared at her with every ounce of hate within him. "I will not let anyone kill me. Not until I have my ven-"

Kagome slapped him hard across his cheek and stood. "If you will not put aside this hatred, then you will die here." With her piece said, the Hokage whirled around and stormed from the cell, the door slamming behind her.

Genma was waiting, ever her shadow. "Not going well?" he asked, shifting his senbon to the other side of his mouth.

"He is so… He won't let me help him, Genma. His pride.." Thinking on her protege, Kagome's heart clenched, fearing what she might have to do to control him should he lose control in his grief. "I need to find a way to keep that boy from destroying himself."

x~x~x

"Good afternoon, Kakashi-san," Itachi greeted calmly, seemingly unbothered by the other shinobi's sudden appearance in his sitting room. He took a sip of his tea, his body deceptively relaxed, though they both knew he would react before one could blink an eye.

"Afternoon, Itachi-san." The older shinobi sat down across from the Uchiha, his tone mild, even pleasant. "If Kagome had been Hokage when you were young, you would have been spared much… Of course, perhaps the outcome would not have been in our favor."

Itachi studied the gray haired man thoughtfully. "Are you trying to ascertain my loyalties, Kakashi?"

"You destroyed your clan to protect your brother and your village. Would you have even been capable of that if you had not been pushed so young?" Kakashi murmured quietly, looking at Itachi curiously. "Once Akatsuki is no longer a threat, Kagome plans on entirely changing the way we train and promote our shinobi. Ensuring that there will be no more children on the battlefield."

"Why tell me this?" Itachi replied, pouring himself more tea.

"She will need support. Your clan is still in disgrace at the moment, but with time your reputation will recover. And you will owe it all to her." Kakashi stood, his expression passive.

x~x~x

Kabuto crept to Sasuke's cell, looking through the bars at the younger male's slumped form. "You do not look well, Sasuke-san." He pushed up his glasses and tilted his head to the side. "Are you conscious?"

Sasuke turned spiteful eyes on the glasses clad shinobi. "You… She gives you free reign like this? What did you have to do to earn the status of pet prisoner?"

Smiling patronizingly, Kabuto looked away. "No, I am hardly a pet. But she gives me some freedom. I had to see if Orochimaru-sama did it."

"Did what?" Sasuke snapped, one eye twitching. He winced and turned away, covering his eyes. "Wha-?" When he looked at Kabuto again, his left eye was golden, pupil a slit.

Eyes widening a little, Kabuto stepped back. "So he did…"

x~x~x

Naruto practically ran into the jail cell when Kagome opened it, his nostrils flaring at the acrid taint of Orochimaru's scent on his friend. "Sasuke!"

The raven haired teen glared at Naruto. "Stay back, Dobe!" he hissed, skin a sickly pale.

Scowling, Naruto stepped in close to Sasuke. "No. You're my friend, Teme! You're still you, even if you've got a snake inside you!"

Kagome slipped into the cell, shutting it behind her. "Sasuke, I need you to come to your senses. Let us help you. Let me pull those vestiges of Orochimaru out of you, so your soul can heal. Naruto here has devoted-"

"What makes you think Sasuke is the one in control?" the pale boy hissed, doubling over in pain.

"Because Orochimaru would have attacked by now… You're my friend, Sasuke. Please… I don't want to lose you," Naruto whispered, his heart clenched in his chest. For all of his new instincts, he simply felt his attachments that much more acutely.

Kagome watched Sasuke relax and she walked to his side.smiling softly. "There… Let me help you." She rested one hand on his curse mark and the other on his head. Light engulfed them both as she purified away all remnants of Orochimaru's soul and began to soothe his pain, mental and physical.

Naruto beamed and when Kagome stepped away, caught Sasuke in his arms. "Thank you… Will he be okay now?"

"Yes." Kagome stepped back, feeling a little more faint than she expected to. "Set him back in the bed and come along."

Worried at how tired she looked, Naruto gingerly set Sasuke down and covered him with a blanket before hurrying after his Hokage. "Are you okay? You normally bounce back pretty quickly…"

"It was hard. Purification is pretty easy for me. But with certain Kekkai Genkai, I have to hold back or risk also damaging the one I am healing. Add in trying not to dispel your influence and it was-" Kagome admitted, frowning when Naruto suddenly grabbed her wrist.

"My influence?" Naruto echoed, eyes narrowing on hers.

"Yes, you-oh… You were not aware. You were using your kitsune seduction on him." Kagome pulled her wrist from him, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I thought you were doing that on purpose."

"No! I wanted him to choose!" Naruto shouted, suddenly enraged at her and himself.

"So, you would have preferred that he die with his choice?" Kagome countered, losing some of her patience.

"Of course I didn't want him to die… But he didn't choose to accept our help… What if he just resents me more for manipulating him?" the kitsune asked, clearly feeling vulnerable.

"A risk. But you are convincing even without your seduction. You bought yourself more time to do the honest appeal." Kagome gave his shoulder a pat. "I'll let you in again tomorrow." With that, she disappeared.

x~x~x

Hinata sat across from her father, feeling her old anxieties threaten to bubble up under his cold stare. She held her hands steady though, refusing to show it. "You wanted to see me, Father?"

"You have disappointed me for years with your lack of skills and poor performance. Now I hear reports of you laying naked in the woods with a second rate shinobi, tainting any value you could have in a political marriage-" Hiashi began, his tone filled with distaste.

"Father, I love Naruto. If-if that means I can't marry anyone else, then that is for the best," Hinata cut him off, her words coming out breathy with her stomach twisting unpleasantly.

"You have a duty to your clan." Hiashi's eyes narrowed on her as he stood. "If you think you may shirk that duty freely, perhaps you do not wish to belong to your clan any longer."

There was a crash outside and suddenly Naruto was standing beside Hinata, his eyes narrowed on Hiashi as he scented his lover's fear. "Sorry to interrupt Hinata-chan. I just missed you." He took her hand and tugged her to her feet.

"You come into my home, uninvited, dishonor my heir-" Hiashi thundered, rage coloring his tone.

"You are the one without honor here! Hinata is beautiful and strong and kind and you treat her like she's nothing! If you disown her, it's your loss, and we'll start our own clan!" Naruto glared at him and pulled Hinata to his chest, disappearing with her.

x~x~x

Itachi found his Hokage laying on her back and staring up at the stars half concealed in tall grass. "Are you hiding, Hokage-sama?"

"Hiding is a strong word, Itachi-san." Kagome closed her eyes and sighed. "Would you like to sit with me?" She tapped the ground beside her.

Walking to her side, Itachi lowered himself to the ground and looked up at the sky as well. "Kakashi-san came to secure my support for you and your plans. I thought you might actually divulge some of it to me if you want my recovering clan to attach itself to your future."

"Ah. I could just say you should trust me as your Hokage, but then if you were so blind, I would not have wanted you to come back." Kagome sat up, resting her hands on her knees. "I want to start with the Academy. Children below the age of eight will not be allowed to start nin training. They will be required to attend for four years before they can take the test to become genin. Once they are genin, the next three years will be spent doing D-rank missions and learning specialty skills. After three years, then they can go for chunin. All ninja will also be required to have a psychiatric evaluation every three months, and after particularly trying missions."

"Many talented young shinobi and their clans will feel such limitations will only stifle their growth. Genius unchallenged is genius squandered," Itachi intoned, eyes focused ahead.

"The Academy will be expanded to continue to challenge such genius. As for clans… Well, there will need to be changes there. No more subjugation of members through harmful jutsu. Also, no more marrying anyone closer than a third cousin. Inbreeding is bad for a gene pool and the total segregation keeps loyalties from extending outward." Kagome eyed him, thoughtfully. "Do you find any of this disagreeable?"

"Do you think the next Hokage after you will continue these policies? And the one after that? You are planning on waiting until after the Akatsuki conflict. Who is to say that they will not take that as an example of how this plan cannot work? Those are peacetime policies, not really something that can be functionally adhered to."

"So you think I should implement these changes immediately?" Kagome replied, arching an eyebrow.

"As soon as you can staff the Academy adequately," Itachi determined, meeting her gaze. "And you need to make rounds with the clans yourself."

"I'll chat with Kakashi about his recruiting," Kagome sighed, stretching out her legs.

x~x~x

Iruka looked up in surprise when he heard someone at his classroom door, his students having gone home for the day. "Hokage-sama! What a pleasant surprise."

"Afternoon, Iruka." Smiling, Kagome walked fully into the room and to his desk. "You are a deeply dedicated instructor." She had taken her talk with Itachi the previous evening to heart and knew the perfect person to supervise the changes with the Academy.

Cheeks tinting pink, Iruka smiled and scratched his head. "Well, thank you, Hokage-sama! You flatter me."

"No, flattery is empty. I speak the truth. You are a passionate educator. Your students all go on to do well, and you have a special way of connecting with and understanding them." Kagome rested a hand on his shoulder. "You are someone I feel I could trust with the structural changes that need to happen with the Academy."

"Changes?" Iruka echoed, looking bashful. "What sort of changes, Hokage-sama?"

"How would you feel about expanding the courseload here? Offering classes in medic training, poison specialization, customs in other countries so as to blend in more easily in covert operations, specialized weapons?" Kagome studied his expression, curious as to how he would receive this.

"We have some classes like that already, and we usually have them continue learning through their jonin senseis," Iruka pointed out, tilting his head to the side as he regarded her.

"Yet they are already genin at that point, in the field. And not every jonin sensei will teach these things, as all of them have their own specialties. Bringing them to the Academy to teach advanced courses means that every student will have equal access and the extra time to show the aptitude will help in assigning them to teams once they are ready to form squads." Kagome took his arm. "Come, walk with me and let's flesh this out together."

x~x~x

Sasuke woke up, disoriented and feeling as if his brain was drained. He sat up in his bed and rested a hand on his temple. There was an emptiness in him, as if something was missing. When he heard footsteps, he looked up and was surprised by the lack of feeling in him when he gazed upon his brother. "Itachi…"

"Hello, little brother." The elder Uchiha eyed him through the bars of the cell, feeling a touch of relief to not see hatred in his gaze. "Your color is returning."

"What… what did that woman do to me? I feel nothing. All my hate, my strength-?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he lurched to his feet and promptly fell back into bed. Exhaustion permeated his form.

Activating his sharingan, Itachi took in his brother's network and compared it to the last time they fought, and then the time he fought him outside Naruto's hotel room before that. "She took out all of Orochimaru's mark. The mark was infused with your chakra network and even reached into your mind. It fed on your hatred. Perhaps removing it, purifying it out, impacted your network and brought you back closer to how you were years ago, before it tainted you."

Expression sour, Sasuke rolled his neck and got up. "I hate you." The words had less heat though. He remembered. He remembered everything. But he now had more knowledge of his brother. The emotion was there, but still… "You killed them all. Everyone but me. Even the old ones, the civilians."

"I did. Circumstances being what they were, I would again. If I hadn't, the village would have been consumed by civil war. The Third would not have been able to quell things. I regret much. Had Kagome-sama, or the Fourth been around, perhaps things would have been different. We cannot alter the past though." Itachi deactivated his sharingan and turned to go.

"Fuck you…" Sasuke lost consciousness, falling back into the bed.

Kagome stood to the side as Itachi rounded the corner. "The effect on his emotions was not intended. A happy coincidence, except he will trust me even less."

"You are here awfully late," Itachi responded, appraising her carefully.

"Sleep often eludes me. I thought I would check on him, make some rounds in the village. You simply beat me here." Kagome stepped from the wall and started to walk the direction Itachi had been heading. "Would you like to accompany me, or will you be returning home?"

"Home. Nara wants to sleep, I'm sure," Itachi knew the man was tailing him, as was his job.

"Considerate. Goodnight, Itachi." Kagome disappeared, wanting to have a look around the village.