Title: Pretend
Author: Tsubasa Kya
Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Inuyasha".

AGES: (Not all characters listed may be used, and not all characters used will be listed)
Kakashi: 24
Kagome: 19
Hojou: 20
Iruka: 24
Naruto: 19
Sasuke: 20
Asuma: 24
Kurenai: 23
Ino: 20
Hinata: 19
Shikamaru: 20
Sakura: 19
Chouji: 20
Neiji: 21
Ten-Ten: 21
Lee: 21

Note: This story is AU Naruto and Canon Inuyasha. Most of this story will be pointless. It will NOT be as long as Koumajutsu. I'm thinking 5 chapters at most, though hopefully even less than that.

Summary: Kagome receives a call from someone she hasn't heard from in several years in the middle of the night. They need a favor, and that favor puts her in between a rabid Fan Club and their victim. Hojou/Kagome/Kakashi pairing.

Part One

Kagome groaned as her cell phone rang insistently, buzzing like it had every right to do so. She pulled herself to her feet and trudged across her bedroom to pick up the blasted thing, casting a cruel look at the clock that seemed to be laughing at her. She fervently wished she had not gotten the dumb thing in the first place, since all it did was ring...and ring...and ring until she wanted to smash it with a hammer.

However, she withheld from smashing it with a hammer because if her mother couldn't get a hold of her, the woman would immediately begin to worry, and her grandfather would call the police. Her mother had enough to deal with, since Souta was a rebellious teenager and grandpa was having random bouts of Alzheimer's.

But the nineteen-year-old girl sighed as she slumped into the tiny desk chair of her college dorm. There were only three days left until she would be able to go home for two months. She dearly hoped it wasn't her mother calling, because if it was her mother, she swore she might just have to smash her alarm clock and not get up for her final exam in some completely random (and insanely difficult) class at eight AM.

She glared at the unknown number on her caller ID, trying to guess who it could be. Her mother's phone was programmed into her cell phone, and so was Souta's cell number. Ayumi, Hojou, Eri, and Yuka's numbers were all programmed into her cell phone as well, and the four of them were all housed somewhere in the same dorm building as Kagome was (she was far too tired to recall what floor her boyfriend Hojou lived on), so none of them would need to call her since they could just knock on her door.

Who else did she know that might be calling her? She had made a few friends in college this last year, but they never called. If they wanted to talk to Kagome, they usually used the internet messaging system, since Kagome rarely closed it down. Her mother had gotten her a laptop as a congratulatory gift for actually getting into a good college (it had been questionable whether or not she would even pass high school what with the insane jewel shard fiasco). The cell phone had been a gift for graduating high school—more than a subtle hint to get herself back up-to-date with the modern times. Or it might have been a warning to Kagome to stop digging latrines in the back yard...

Well, it wasn't Kagome's fault that she'd spent so long in the past she'd gotten used to using the outdoors for a bathroom...

Deciding she did not know the caller, Kagome flipped open the phone and got ready to chew out the caller for calling at three AM. Before she could even take a breath, she heard a loud, "Kagome, pick up the phone!" almost as if the person on the other end thought she might answer faster if they yelled at the inanimate object in their hand.

"Who is this?" Kagome demanded, putting the phone to her un-abused ear and wiggling a finger in the newly-made deaf ear.

"Kagome! Hi! It's me!" the person chirped happily, sounding something like Inuyasha after he'd had a satisfying amount of ramen noodles. Kagome had gotten over Inuyasha for the most part. During their travels together, Kagome had thought she was madly in love with the half-dog-demon-prince. Of course, she later found out she was incredibly fickle because she ended up having familiar feelings toward others that she met in the past (like the half-dog-demon-prince's half-brother).

After about six hopeless crushes (on somewhat random creatures and acquaintances), Kagome decided she didn't place much hope in love and just made Inuyasha his ramen noodles. Kagome still didn't exactly have much faith or patience for love, which was why it simply made sense to have a simple boyfriend like Hojou (who did all the work and all she had to do was smile and tune him out for better, more interesting thoughts).

She had no idea why she was thinking the random thoughts at that moment. It probably had something to do with being almost asleep. She was supposed to be concentrating on identifying the ungodly cheerful person on the other end of the line... well, more technically, she should really have been sleeping. It would have been better to simply not answer the phone. She had voicemail!

"Me who?" she finally asked, half-crawling back to the bed. She was a lucky, lucky girl. She didn't have a roommate. If she did, they would question her sanity. She kept a dagger under her pillow, and stashed a bow and a quiver of arrows under her bed. Whenever she went out, she wore that dagger from under her pillow in a sheath around her upper thigh, so that it was generally covered by her somewhat short skirts.

And, as her friends had come to learn during the last year in college, Kagome was fairly good at hand-to-hand combat, and she knew how to use that dagger in more ways than a sadistic serial murderer. That was a direct result of her fourth crush in the feudal era (a gorgeous demon named Aolkei who had a serious hair fetish and who kidnapped Kagome for a period of almost three months). No one ever accused love or infatuation of being sane did they?

The person on the other end of the line said, "Uzumaki! Naruto Uzumaki. We met, I think it was six years ago now. I just wanted to call and see how you were doing! Your mom gave me your number, but told me to wait until eight AM to call!"

Kagome groaned. "Oh, it's you," she moaned. "You twit, I'm pretty sure mama meant not to call until eight AM my time but even still, I have a class at eight AM so I can't talk."

"Well, I just wanted to ask you something!" Naruto said.

"Goodbye, random person who called me at three AM," Kagome told the boy. She really had no idea what dimension the boy was from, but it certainly couldn't be from hers. He was too crazy, even though she really, honestly, truly did meet him in her time. He even stayed at her shrine. She must have been about fourteen at the time.

"Wait, Kagome, wait!" She hung up on the boy and tossed the phone across the room. It landed on the desk and then bounced into the waist bin. She was asleep before any time could pass at all.

Three days later, Kagome was packing up to go home for vacation when a beeping noise interrupted her boyfriend's ranting. Hojou sat on her desk chair, already packed up and ready to go. Kagome was getting a ride home from Hojou. After all, it was a three hour drive and she wasn't going to walk all that way (another wonderful benefit to having Hojou as a boyfriend!).

Hojou got curious and picked her phone out of the waist bin, pulling a banana peel off of it and putting in the code for her voicemail. She wasn't concerned that he knew her voicemail code. He knew her email and computer passwords too, but Hojou was a nice guy and would never use that to his advantage... aside from the fact that if he did, she would just have to kick his ass all the way to China and back. Aolkei made sure she was capable of that much.

Hojou suddenly dropped the phone after listening to the message on it, paling before standing up. "I..." he began uncertainly.

Kagome glanced at him. "Who was it from?" she asked.

Hojou was no longer cheerful. Instead, he glared at Kagome with a bruised male pride. "Apparently your boyfriend!" Hojou said. "I will talk to you next semester, Kagome." he left her there in her dorm, and she wondered what he was talking about.

She listened to the message. It sounded like the person on the other end of the line had a bad connection or something because their message kept fading in and out so she could only make out half of it. "...Naruto... you...my... girlfriend... work out... call me... important... love... don't tell... secret..."

Kagome's jaw dropped. She raced out of the dorm after Hojou. 'Stupid Naruto,' she thought mentally. She had something good with Hojou. Hojou was intelligent, liked to believe he was funny, and did not smell like rotten fish. He showered daily, didn't abuse her verbally, and was not capable of cheating on her without completely giving himself away (one of Hojou's fan-girls randomly kissed him a few months ago and he couldn't keep himself from blurting it out).

"Hojou!" she yelled, catching up to him in the student parking lot beside his old station wagon. He glared at her, a colder expression on his face than she'd ever seen. "Hojou, wait, it's a misunderstanding!" she told the man.

"What is there to misunderstand?" Hojou demanded. She supposed he'd never been so hurt in his life (even though it really was all a misunderstanding). "Is this to punish me? Because that kiss wasn't my fault! I swear, I was just walking down the street!"

"No, Hojou," Kagome pouted, "I'm not punishing," he cut her off.

"I'm sorry, Kagome. You may as well find another ride. I don't have time to wait for you to finish packing your stupid ancient artifacts." Oh, that was harsh. "You know, it's been hard, Kagome. I thought you were distracted by school and that's why you've been ignoring me every time I talk. I guess now I know why you're really distracted."

Hojou left Kagome standing in the parking lot, the wind shifting her raven locks in the light breeze. Fury built in her. She hadn't seen Naruto since she was fourteen, and suddenly he popped up and broke her relationship into pieces without meaning to.

She blinked and then chuckled. "I guess it fits," she told herself and headed back inside. "Love really is wasted on me." She finished packing and then called her mom. Her mom couldn't come get her, so she said she would send her lady-friend Ukimi to get her. Her mom didn't say anything about the strange breakup, even though Kagome told the woman every detail. Kagome was strangely unaffected, as though she hadn't actually lost anything.

Of course, within twenty-four hours of arriving home, her girlfriends all found out about her strange break-up with Hojou. Apparently, the boy was completely distraught and the girls all thought Kagome broke up with Hojou. So they were alternately happy for and angry at Kagome. It was like Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi all had awkward alternate personalities that they switched between in the midst of conversation.

One minute, Eri would be saying, "Oh my goodness, Kagome, you're totally better off without Hojou," and then directly afterward she would say, "but you can't get a better man than Hojou. I don't know what's wrong with you!"

Kagome sighed after a day of listening to her girlfriends and lay on her bed in the shrine. Souta knocked on her bedroom door and immediately entered without waiting for permission. It was almost as though he were saying, "I'm polite and I'll knock, but whether or not you want me in your room, I'm coming in."

"Sis, we need to talk," Souta said seriously.

Kagome sighed and sat up, looking at her brother. "For the last time," Kagome said in exasperation. "Hojou broke up with me."

"And you look so upset over it," Souta drawled. In his teen years, he had definitely built up quite the sarcastic personality. She merely shrugged. She couldn't get upset over something she never really believed in, could she? All the better for her. She would die as the old crazy cat lady who lived on the corner (with forty cats) and would have a degree in history and archeology...or something like that. "Anyway," Souta continued, "someone named Naruto keeps calling for you."

Kagome sighed. "Tell him I've decided to move to the mountains and take up residence with the local hermits." She lay on her bed again and Souta shrugged and left her alone. Kagome was making her way around the shrine doing random chores for her mother when her cell phone decided to start ringing. It had been in her shorts pocket, so she took it out and looked at the number.

Again, it was an unknown number. She took one guess as to who it was before answering. "Hello?" she inquired.

"Kagome!" Naruto said, "Oh good, I almost was starting to think you were avoiding me. Anyway, did you get my message?"

Kagome chuckled lowly, "Yes, Naruto. My boyfriend broke up with me because of you." She wasn't actually bitter about it, but Naruto didn't know that.

"Oh, good!" Naruto said. 'Is he mad?' Kagome wondered. "That means you're free! Can you do me a big, big favor?"

"Depends," Kagome told him, assured of his insanity. No reasonable person would ask for a favor directly after finding out they were the cause of the destruction of another person's relationship (the very person they were requesting a favor from).

"Great!" Naruto almost sounded as if he thought she already agreed. "Can you come visit me? Please? I'll pay for your travel arrangements, and explain everything when you get here, but I can't ask it over the phone."

"And why is that?" Kagome asked.

"Well, um, some of the stuff I have to say might make you think I'm nuts, so I was hoping to actually show you I'm not crazy instead. I mean, this stuff is sort of unbelievable for a civilian and all."

"I already know you're insane," Kagome told him. "I decided that three and a half minutes ago."

"Please, please, please come visit? If anything, it'll be a fun vacation for you!"

Kagome glanced at the phone, attempting to will the disdainful look through the receiver in some sort of telepathic connection. It didn't happen. Instead, she put the phone back to her ear. "I'm not the same girl you knew six years ago, Naruto. I've changed a lot, and I don't feel up to a vacation or giving out favors. Goodbye, Naruto," she told him. She could hear him attempting to change her mind but simply hung up.

Truthfully she wasn't a mean person. Kagome still gave out lots of favors, and she was a very nice person. However, she wasn't going to give up her summer vacation of doing nothing to go and do something. That would just totally defeat the purpose of doing nothing!

And it was easy to resist doing something if she couldn't see the face of the person requesting the 'something'. Besides, she had other responsibilities now. Her phone started ringing but she turned it on 'silent' and put it back in her pocket. Her gaze traveled across the shrine courtyard to the serene looking holy tree that had once pinned a half-dog-demon-prince with a magical arrow.

"Kagome!" her mother called to her. "You have a phone call!"

Kagome glanced at her mother and then shook her head. "I'm just heading out, mama. Take a message would you?" Her mother nodded, never questioning her, and headed back into the house. Kagome glanced at herself. The dagger was attached to her thigh, hidden beneath the comfortable khaki shorts that were—believe it or not—handed down from Souta. The boy had sprouted, and male pants seemed to fit Kagome's awkward build so much better. If she wasn't wearing a skirt, she wore boy clothes.

Her check card, identification, and keys were, as usual, kept in her pockets. She didn't use a purse unless she wore a skirt. She didn't carry much in the way of girl utensils (she did not wear make-up and never did her hair any other way except a messy ponytail). Since it was summer, she had no use for a jacket.

Kagome half-flew down the stairs, her wild and messy hair whipping behind her. She didn't exactly know where she was going, but when she got there she figured she would know it. She ended up walking around Tokyo until late evening and her mother called her with worry in her voice.

"Kagome, where are you?" her mother asked. "It's after midnight."

"I know, mama. I'm fine. Nothing to worry about. I'll be home in a while." Their conversation ended and Kagome returned home. After showering and brushing her teeth, Kagome returned to her room. There were six messages on her desk from Naruto, and a quick peek at her voicemail on her cell phone showed it to have fifteen new messages. She ignored them all and climbed into bed.

Eventually Naruto would get the idea that she wasn't going to do a favor for him and he would give up.

She followed a similar routine for the next week. She would prowl the streets of Tokyo for some random thing to do that interested her, even though everything was just plain boring, and eventually her mother would call her and ask where she was. At that point, she would go home and find out that Naruto had called and left more messages for her. Soon, her voicemail on her cell phone was full.

Her mind often wandered to her travels with Inuyasha and the others in the past. That had been fun! They were always doing something, or she was always getting kidnapped, or maybe something miraculous or dangerous or completely exhilarating was happening. Either way, there was never a dull moment.

Now, the world was peaceful and there was no need for an experienced miko. If the well worked, she might have gone through it for more adventures. However, it didn't work anymore and for good reason too! Just imagine the devastation the world would go through if Inuyasha could still go through the well! Ramen would be invented early, and the whole sequence of events in time would just go kaput!

And all because of some dang ramen.

Not many days passed like this before Kagome began passing the days shopping with her three girlfriends (enduring the Hojou-lectures for their company) and time seemed to whiz by even though she had no real interest in the purchases she made. She simply wanted something to do, and spending money was certainly something that she could do all day. Thanks to her father (and the fact that she had come of an age to inherit), she had a decent sum of money stashed.

She hadn't known about it until she came back from the feudal era. Her mother hadn't wanted to trouble her with it, although Kagome did want to know how her father got a hold of that much money to set aside for her. Apparently her mother had a goodly sum saved from whatever her father did during life, and there was an equal amount saved for Souta. It was with the saved money that Kagome's mother was able to afford the often-expensive ramen bills.

Kagome realized one fine summer day as she and her girlfriends were visiting Yuka's family summer home on the coast that she never really knew what her father's profession had been. The four girls were sunning themselves on the beach, although Ayumi was stuck with her nose in one of her next semester text books.

Hojou had a summer home just a few houses down the row and had apparently gone to it to get over Kagome, or maybe for some other random reason, because when they saw Hojou walking down the beach in white khaki-shorts and a blue Hawaiian-style button down short-sleeve shirt. The shirt was unbuttoned and he wasn't wearing anything under it, revealing a tan, firm torso. He wasn't wearing shoes as he walked down the beach, leaving footprints in soggy sand.

With his hands jammed in his pockets and the dreading, hurting look on his face, she guessed he was completely torn up over their break-up, never mind the fact that it wasn't entirely her fault. She did try to explain it after all, but her dim boyfriend didn't realize that the voicemail Naruto left was fading in and out so most of the message was just gone.

When Eri saw Hojou, she rather indiscreetly pointed him out to the others, and the whispering began.

Tired of it all – all the talking when they thought her too lost in thought to notice, all the blame for the break-up, everything – she stood and brushed her bikini-clad bottom off and pulled on her sandals. Sometimes the sand was hot, so she wasn't going to take the risk of going without. Grabbing her sun-hat, she pulled it on and waved to Hojou, calling out his name.

The girls' whispers stopped immediately and Hojou glanced at her as if not able to recognize her. Of course, he'd never seen her with anything less than her school uniform on, so it was a chance that he didn't. She moved toward him and as she got closer, he grew more and more confused. He really seemed unable to recognize her. She hadn't been aware that she looked so different in a beige bikini, peach sun-hat, and peach flip-flops.

When she had reached him, she knew she was out of reach of the girls. "Hojou," she said, and he frowned. He recognized her voice when she wasn't shouting her head off like a maniac, at least. Point for Hojou. This time he didn't seem to be about to bite her head off immediately. "We really need to talk," Kagome told the boy.

He nodded. "I know," he said. He didn't cheer up, but he turned to look back at his family's summer home. "Would you like to talk and walk?"

She knew what he was asking. Hojou was a right and proper type of boy. He would want to serve her tea and have their future-uncomfortable conversation broken into pauses easily fixed by sipping tea. She began walking and he fell into step beside her. For several minutes as they headed down the beach toward his summer home, they were quiet.

Finally, Kagome decided to just get it over with. She didn't need to drink tea over a bad conversation. She rather liked drinking tea in good situations. "Naruto isn't my boyfriend," Kagome told Hojou. When he opened his mouth to retort, she quickly put one finger over his lips, shushing him. "I haven't seen the guy for at least five years. He and his grandfather, Jiraiya, were traveling the world and I guess Jiraiya knew my mom so they stayed at the shrine for a few months when I was fourteen."

Confusion instantly reached breaking point on Hojou's face. "I thought... he said you were his girlfriend, and something about working it out."

Kagome shook his head. "One thing I remember about Naruto is that he never had much in the way of tact. He's trying to get a hold of me because he wants a favor from me, and I just don't feel like it."

Hojou gulped, attempting to keep his watery eyes from leaking. "I – I don't know – I got so – I was – I shouldn't have..." he didn't know how to express himself, and that was okay with Kagome.

"You don't know what you were thinking, I know." she said, forgiving him. "You got so upset, you couldn't remember how to think logically, I also know that. You were an ass, I know that too. You shouldn't have freaked out because I was trying to explain myself... and I know it."

"I'm so sorry, Kagome," Hojou told her, and the tears fell. He looked very much like he wanted to reach out and hug her, but he held back. "Can you ever forgive me?"

Kagome smiled. "Of course I can, Hojou," she told him. He wailed happily and nearly knocked her over by hugging her. She sighed. The very next thing Hojou did was ask Kagome to go with him to the movies. It was almost as though there was nothing bad between them. Nothing happened.

And Kagome had gained nothing with having Hojou as a boyfriend again. Kagome's girlfriends were ecstatic to hear they were together again. Everything remained the same and Kagome went home that night with Hojou – of course, after calling her mother to assure the woman she was okay. Nothing happened. As usual, Hojou was too afraid of his own shadow to be bold enough to deepen any of his relationships.

Kagome went home the next morning, bored near tears.

She needed excitement in her life!

Of course, the excitement came a few days later in the form of a blue-eyed blonde sitting at her kitchen table when she got home from the mall at dinner-time. Kagome glanced from the blonde, to her grandfather, to her mother, to her brother, and then back to the blonde. The blonde wasn't half-bad looking. He actually looked a lot like someone Kagome knew in the past (another of her kidnappers), a demon by the name of Gandiro who had a severe foot-fetish and wanted to chop off Kagome's feet.

His spiky blonde hair stuck out of his head almost like rays of the sun and he still wore that ridiculous costume of black and orange. He still had that engraved metal plate tied to his forehead, but his voice was a little more subdued now versus when he was going through puberty. It didn't crackle.

Naruto stared at Kagome unabashedly for several minutes as Kagome felt her features assume a blank stare. She was angry that Naruto hadn't yet gotten the hint. She'd been ignoring him and all his phone calls, his messages, everything! He should have realized she didn't want to do whatever it was he wanted her to do.

"Kagome, dear, welcome home! You have a visitor," Kagome's mother pointed out, as if Kagome hadn't noticed the obvious blonde who stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Thank-you, mother," Kagome told her mother, carefully keeping any form of an attitude from her voice. She would not let her anger toward Naruto get between her relationship with her mother. "Naruto, take a walk with me," Kagome told the boy, and she saw him gulp. Did he remember she had a quick temper? If not, he was about to get a refresher-course.

The boy didn't continue hesitating. Instead, he got to his feet, excusing himself politely from the table, and walked outside with Kagome. Kagome led him out to the back yard before whirling around on him. "What are you doing here?" she demanded of the boy.

He hurriedly said, "I know, I know it's really sudden, but I really need a favor, Kagome, and I think your phone is broken, because I can't get a hold of you!"

"You can't get a hold of me, because I've been ignoring you!" she told him and he looked startled.

"Oh…" he sighed wearily and rubbed his temples, then ran his hands through his hair and down the back of his neck. For a moment, he met her eyes in a clash of blues. It was then that Kagome felt the slight demonic aura pulsating from within Naruto's body. It was so well-hidden, she would never have noticed it when she was fourteen – before the well. She tamped the curiosity down though. She didn't care. She had a normal life.

Or, she was certainly trying to have a normal life (while wishing her life would suddenly become more interesting – which wasn't happening, because she so did not want it to…). "Yes, I've been ignoring you. I've got over a hundred crumpled messages from you in my waist bin, but I don't care. Today, I just managed to repair my relationship with my boyfriend that you – yes, you! – destroyed."

Naruto winced each time she raised her voice, which was at the start of each new sentence. When she took a heavy breath, he apologized quietly, "Sorry, Kagome, but… it's real important. I just thought, maybe since I saved you from those thugs back then, you might do me a favor too…"

Kagome frowned. She had forgotten about that. Back when Jiraiya and Naruto were staying with Kagome's family, Kagome had been on her way home from school one day when a bunch of random thugs (not that she didn't have a great way of getting into trouble anyway) attempted to rough her up with questionable intentions. Naruto had literally jumped down from a nearby rooftop and with a skill that rivaled any demon Kagome met in later years, he beat up the thugs.

At the time, she couldn't believe he'd done it. She'd thought it was so awesome. A fourteen-year-old, able to best six fully grown men who carried switch blades and baseball bats – and barehanded, no less! "I tried to repay that favor!" Kagome told Naruto with a hiss. "You told me you didn't want anything! Your exact words were 'it wouldn't be right to accept payment'!"

"I, I know I said that then, but, something just… it's really important, and I don't know anyone else who could do it. Your mom said you're on vacation from the University, and it shouldn't take long at all…"

Kagome tapped her foot impatiently, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm sixty seconds from beating the tar out of you, Naruto," she told the handsome young man. "Just what is it you need that is so important?" He winced yet again at her tone, but there was a slight look of disbelief on his face: He didn't believe she could beat him up. He obviously didn't know she'd been surrounded by relentless demons whose bites were harder than their barks.

"Well, um, it's my friend…" Naruto began. She continued tapping her foot on the ground and he seemed to decide to plow straight on. "See, he's sort of in trouble, and unfortunately he can't get out of it without a… certain… type of… well, a type of help that's not the usual type of help. Me and a couple others came up with… with a half-brained scheme that could help, and it seems fool-proof!"

"A half-brained scheme that's fool-proof?" Kagome bit out dryly. "Do tell."

"Well, see, the person – my friend – he's had trouble a lot with, with girls. They sort of, well, apparently he's got a bad fan-girl club that's stalking him." Kagome glared at Naruto. She didn't even need him to say any more before she knew where this was going. "So we all thought if he proved to have a girlfriend who 'lived out of town', maybe the girls would lay off a little. I mean, they're really starting to keep him from doing his work."

"Let me see if I got this straight," Kagome said and Naruto started fidgeting with the hem of his jacket. "You want to throw me in between raving fan-girls and their quarry like a piece of raw meat in a pen filled with rabid dogs?"

Naruto winced, gulped, and then simply nodded at the analogy. "But you don't have to worry, because me and the other guys will protect you from the fan-girls, and you should only have to be there for a few days or so, I mean, it shouldn't take that long for the word to get out, right?"

Kagome balled up her fist and brought it down on Naruto's head in much the same fashion that Inuyasha used to do to Shippou. "UZUMAKI, NARUTO!" She yelled, and he ducked from the second blow before it could connect. "Get off my family property, and find someone else to chuck in the dog pen!"

Kagome turned heel and marched into the house, going straight up into her bedroom. She wasn't destroying her life for Naruto. Yes, she could admit to herself she wanted a little more excitement, but she didn't want to screw up what little she did have for that excitement. It was bad enough the world thought she was ill for four straight years of her life.

Later on that night, Souta knocked on Kagome's bedroom door and once more he entered without caring whether or not she wanted the company. Souta shifted over to the bed and sat at the end of it, folding his legs beneath him. He had a small packet in his hands, but for a moment he sat watching as Kagome read a romance novel in the light of her bedside lamp.

Finally when she could ignore his presence no more, she marked the page with a sigh and closed the book, setting the novel next to her as she sat up and leaned on the wall. "What do you want, brat?" she asked her little brother.

Souta shrugged and leaned his chin on one hand, staring at her for a few more minutes as silence engulfed the bedroom. Finally he spoke just as she was about to return to her book and ignore him. "You seem bored, you know?"

"Oh do I?" Kagome asked, opening the romance novel once more. "And why is that?"

"You're always pretending to be busy, but you never have anything to do. You've been that way every time you come home from college." Souta seemed so sure of himself, Kagome wondered what made him think she was bored. The fact that Kagome really was bored was an inconsequential fact. "Ever since you finished the jewel, you've been this way."

Kagome's hand immediately went to the necklace she wore. She'd managed to get a hold of a sphere-shaped locket that she inserted the completed Shikon no Tama into, and wore the silver locket (with the jewel inside) on a silver chain around her neck. People who saw it always thought it was pretty and always asked where she got such a fine piece of jewelry. None of them ever realized it was more than just a harmless piece of metal.

"I suppose," Kagome told her brother truthfully, "I was a little busier back then. I mean, I was juggling two lives, and after a while, I got used to that."

"I thought you might say that," Souta nodded. He tossed the packet onto her legs and she marked her book to view the packet's contents. As she pulled out the papers, Souta continued, "I found that online. It's information on a University near where Naruto lives. But check out the pictures of the people."

Kagome did as he told her, flipping through until she found one of the pictures Souta had printed off. She blinked several times, then looked at Souta with something kin to amazement. "Souta, this is incredible! And you say you found this online?"

"Yeah," Souta nodded. "I found it by accident, really. I hacked into something I probably shouldn't have, and bam, there it was. So I did some searching, and it's a real place. And check this: they're accepting applications, and someone is always on-site for the tour. You've only been at T.U. for a year, now, but Krima University only accepts applications once every five years! And it couldn't hurt at least to go look."

Kagome sighed. "I don't know, Souta…" she told the boy. "I'm going for History and Archaeology… Do they even have those majors?"

Souta shrugged. "You could at least check out the classes and majors they're offering. Mom said that's the University that dad went to in his later years. Just, you know, thought maybe you might like to know. It looks interesting, you know?" He said no more, but left Kagome to her thoughts.

She flipped through the information Souta had printed off for her, amazed by the contents. Just what kind of hacking was Souta doing? This place seemed almost too… strange to exist.

She didn't sleep much that night. She went online and tried to find the school, but without Souta's hacking skills (or his computer savvy knowledge) it appeared to her that the school didn't even exist. Again she perused the packet, this time more closely.

By eight AM the next day, she was on the phone with a representative from the University asking questions and receiving answers. The people were incredibly helpful and asked if she wanted to come for the tour or if she wanted a packet of information mailed to her. She declined the tour (for now) and told them she already had some information, but that she still had questions.

More questions were answered about the school, its location, its policies on transfer students, the costs of tuition and if there was dorm housing or nearby apartments, local job opportunities, what classes might be transferable if she did transfer… And she answered questions of theirs as well. They wanted to know where she would be transferring from, if she had any health issues (she answered 'yes' only because she had no other choice), and what her current Grade Point Average was.

When it came to the health question, the answer she gave them was vaguer than anything else. "I have had minor health issues," Kagome told them, "although if it were my grandfather telling you, you'd think I'd come down with Parvo or something!" The joke brought laughter out of the person Kagome was dealing with.

By the time Kagome hung up with the representative from the University, she was excited. More excited than she had been since she was in the Feudal Era, which was a lot. Of course, that excitement deflated the instant she found Naruto was in her kitchen at dinner time (why hadn't he gone home?). She wondered if she had been at all unclear.

"Kagome, dear," her mother appeased, "you've certainly been sleeping for a long time today. Are you ill? You look flushed, dear."

Kagome shook her head. "No, mother, I am fine," she told the woman and her eyes connected with Naruto's again. She tilted her head toward the door and Naruto obediently followed her out.

"I know what you're thinking, Kagome, and its true! I'm not leaving here without you. I can't, Kagome, because I promised him I'd help him, and to help him, I need your help." Naruto half-whined. "I work with this guy, Kagome, and quite a bit. These girls are holding us all back in what we do."

Kagome sighed. "And just what do you do?"

"We, um," Naruto blushed a little bit and muttered under his breath.

"I can't hear you, Naruto." Kagome told the boy. "You'll have to speak up." She heard him perfectly well, but she could have sworn he said, 'We're ninja,' and that just wouldn't make sense at all.

Naruto repeated himself and then said, "I know it sounds crazy, but just, just go with me on this one, okay? You know how I live in another country, well, our country holds to the old ways. We don't have rifles or cannons, and we still remember how to form chakra and create exploding tags that actually work."

"Uh, huh," Kagome said dryly, "and so let's just say I believe you," wow, it was Kagome being the closed-minded one? That was a new role, considering how much of her life had been completely unbelievable. "Then that would mean your friend, whoever he is, has a bunch of girls after him who may or may not be able to kill me with some sort of, of exploding tag?"

Naruto nodded. "Or a kunai," he added before paling. "I mean, not that us guys would let that happen, Kagome, like I said we'd protect you."

Kagome's eyes narrowed at Naruto. "You want me to uproot from Japan, go to your country – which you still never told me where that is located and I still don't see how a country could be uncharted on any world map – and pretend to be some guy's girlfriend so that a bunch of dangerous, what would they be called…kunoichi?" Naruto nodded. "So a bunch of kunoichi would be able to kill me."

"Why do you have to make it sound like such a bad idea?" Naruto whined. "He really needs your help, and it doesn't help at all that he keeps pretending he can handle it. He's too stubborn to ask for help, normally, but just this once he did ask and we can't exactly ignore his pleas, since these girls put him on crutches. We were going to ask Sakura or one of the other girls, but none of them will risk their necks."

"You're really doing a fine job arguing against me going," Kagome told Naruto. "I mean, you're giving me all sorts of reasons why to say 'no'." Naruto looked miserable. "Then," Kagome continued, "if I were to agree," Naruto beamed instantly, "not that I have agreed yet, but if I did agree, what would I get out of this? After all, it sounds a lot like I'd be putting my life on the line here."

"A free vacation?" Naruto suggested. "You could stay at my place and," Kagome shook her head.

"Naruto, you do understand the implications of your own request, don't you? I mean, if I did this, I'd have to stay with your friend or else people would be suspicious. There couldn't be any 'halfsies' here. It would be all or nothing. So what benefits would I get?"

Naruto frowned thoughtfully. "Um, well, I could give you money if you wanted."

"I have money."

"I could get you lots of pretty jewelry," he said, eyeing the necklace she wore as if it were an indication that she liked jewelry. He reached under his jacket collar and pulled out a pretty necklace with three beautiful quartz stones on it and held it out. She knew how much that meant to him; he'd said he'd earned it when his Granny and him made a bet and he won the bet. "I could give you this," he said.

Kagome sighed. She could see this was really important to him. "Look, Naruto, I have an idea of what I want, and it's not that, okay?"

"Then what?" he asked in confusion. "What do you want?"

"No, I won't tell you now, since I haven't decided for certain. I suppose I'll go and help your friend, but I'm going to need a few days, okay?" Naruto nodded, trust beaming from his bright blue eyes. "You head back home and talk to your friend; then give me a call and I'll tell you what time to expect my arrival so he can go to the airport and pick me up."

Naruto shook his head. "We don't have an airport in Konoha. You'll have to fly in to Gabrin. It's a city far west in the Land of Sun – Suna. From there, you can travel by train to Konoha."

"Train?" Kagome asked the boy. "That's a little primitive…"

He shrugged. "A few years ago, we didn't have trains either, since they were only used in the Land of Rock. Back then, we had to travel by foot, horse, and camelback to get from Konoha to Suna."

Kagome sighed. "I'm beginning to regret my decision." Naruto instantly looked nervous. "I'll figure out travel arrangements. But get on, now, Naruto. And don't forget to call me. Wait, phones do work, there, right?" Naruto nodded. "Good. Call me in a few days and I'll let you know of my expected arrival time."

Naruto instantly waved and took off, pleased to have gotten an agreement out of her. For a moment, she had a fleeting thought of simply forgetting the issue. After all, it wasn't like it would be a big deal if she decided not to go after all. But then she thought about the school and knew she needed to go.

Once she was in her room, Kagome sat on her bed. She reached for the photo she kept at her bedside, smiling as she ran a finger down the smooth glass surface. Moments later, her stomach grumbled and she went down for dinner.

After dinner, Kagome began making the necessary phone calls she needed to make. First she called Hojou and told him she would be taking a trip out of the country for a few weeks. When he asked her why she would be going (in that hesitant voice that she hated – why couldn't he be bolder?), she told him she was going to visit her grandmother.

It wasn't an untruth. Her paternal grandmother did live somewhere in Naruto's country, though Kagome knew very little of the woman except that she enjoyed drinking and gambling (and was excellent at losing). Kagome's mother had apparently cut ties to the woman after Kagome's father died, because her paternal grandmother wanted to borrow money to support her gambling addiction.

Then Kagome called up her other friends and gave them the same story she gave Hojou. After all, she couldn't let Hojou think she was going to another country to act like some other guy's girlfriend. They'd only just gotten back together, and doing such a thing would probably put a stint on their relationship.

After that, Kagome went to bed. By morning, she talked to her mother about what was going on and where she was going. She told her mother the lie as well, saying she really wanted to meet her gambling-addicted grandmother so she was going to try finding her. Souta didn't believe the lie; he thought she was going to check out that school.

Grandpa told her to watch for demons and gave her a stack of useless strips of paper and a bottle of rubber cement with the strict instructions of how to use them. He had forgotten that Kagome could make her own if she wanted to (and that hers actually worked).

She went shopping yet again, purchasing clothes galore and new suitcases to carry them in. With more clothes than the two new suitcases could hold (she fully intended to remain for the rest of the summer), she had trouble deciding what to take with her. Her bathroom kit didn't take much room, since it was just a hairbrush, toothbrush, tampons, and toothpaste. She packed skirts, boy-shorts, boy-pants, blouses, tee-shirts, and a light jacket. She had a tough time deciding on shoes, but she managed it. Pajamas and underclothes were an obvious necessity.

After she fully packed her two new black suitcases (she pouted the loss of taking her weapons, though she didn't doubt for a minute that she would find a way to sneak her trusty dagger), she packed her new black carry-on bag with the necessary items she would require while traveling.

The next day, Kagome had to go to get her passport updated so she could travel out of the country. It took a surprisingly short amount of time, even though she'd set aside a whole day for the task. Since it had taken so little time, she began searching for travel arrangements to Konoha. She wasn't able to handle train tickets but she did get a plane ticket to Gabrin like Naruto said she would need.

The plane ticket was very costly, and Kagome was traveling on a plane that seated only fifteen people. It left at six AM, so Kagome's mother drove Kagome to the airport at three AM so she could get her baggage checked and be at the right terminal. With a hug, Kagome thanked her mother and went to wait on her own.

As she waited, she pulled out the picture from her carry-on bag, smiling at it again. She had to take it out of the frame it was usually in, so now it was in a zip lock sandwich baggie.

The plane ride was four hours long, and Kagome got her baggage at the baggage claim terminal in the Gabrin airport, then asked around for directions to the train station. She was just purchasing her train ticket to Konohagakure when her cell phone rang. She answered, completely surprised she wasn't on roaming even though she was out of the country. "Hello?" she asked.

"Kagome, dear, did you arrive alright?" her mother asked.

"Yes, mother, I did. Hold on a minute?" Her mother made a non-committal sound and Kagome finished paying for her train ticket, then wheeled her two suitcases out of the way so others could access the ticket booth. "Sorry, I was in the ticket line," Kagome told her mother. "I had to buy a train ticket. Anyway, did you get a hold of grandmother?"

"Yes, dear, I did, though I don't know why you'd ever want to go see her. She'll just ask you for money. She has no sense of responsibility." Her mother sighed. "Your father was such a miracle, with two parents like his. He didn't turn out at all like them."

"So, can I have grandmother's number then?" Kagome asked.

"Yes, yes, here it is." Her mother gave Kagome the number and then said, "Do you need me to repeat it?"

Kagome shook her head. "No, I should be okay. I'll program it into my phone right away. But I'm going to go now, since I still have to get to my train departure gate."

"Okay, Kagome, dear, just be careful and don't let your grandmother get too much money out of you and keep your wits about you. There are certainly many strange types over there." Kagome agreed with her mother as she watched weirdly dressed people move from terminal to terminal doing whatever it was they were doing.

Finally she hung up the conversation and made her way to her train departure gate. Her train had not yet arrived, so she looked over her travel itinerary as she sat on a wooden bench, her suitcases kept close. She knew how dishonest people could be in Tokyo, and wasn't willing to see if these people were the same.

Her itinerary told her the train trip would be a six-hour trip straight through to Sunagakure, at which point she would have to find a hotel for the evening. She would then board the train the following day at nine AM and travel toward Konohagakure with two stops, one train switch, and one two-hour layover on that leg of the journey. She could expect to arrive in Konohagakure train station at six PM two days after tomorrow.

Her phone rang, startling her out of her reverie. She pulled it out and answered, "Hello?"

"Hi, Kagome!" Naruto chirped. "So what's going on?"

Kagome quickly repeated her travel arrangements to Naruto, telling him of when she could be expected to arrive. "So have you talked to your friend?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah, and he's not real happy. He was hoping his twisted ankle would give him more time to—Gah! What are you doing, Sasuke?" Naruto demanded. "Kakashi-sensei, quit being so mad! Sasuke stop trying to hit me with sharp objects! Ack, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei's throwing things too! Can't you stop them?"

"What's happening over there?" Kagome asked, and wondered if Naruto might have actually been telling the truth. What if they really were ninja? A small bubble of excitement formed in her belly. "Naruto? Naruto, what's going on?"

"Ack! I'll make sure he's there to pick you up, but – ow! Okay, that's it! I've had enough." Naruto hung up and Kagome stared at her phone. What was that all about?

Three days later, Kagome rolled into Konohagakure train station, her luggage rolling easily behind her. She'd made a sad attempt at looking feminine, wearing white sandals, a white sunhat, and a strapless white dress that hung to her knees. Her dagger was strapped to her thigh (she scoffed at weak airport security) and around her waist she had tied a light spring green sash with a large bow at the small of her back.

She stood confused and looking around, trying to see if Naruto had come, or if there was anyone who looked like she might be supposed to meet. With the train station so full, she couldn't tell whether or not she should approach someone since there were many people just standing around looking like they were waiting for someone.

Finally, a man on crutches hobbled over to Kagome, his right leg in a thick cast. She figured that could only be the person she was supposed to be meeting, remembering Naruto's comment about the fan-girls putting the 'friend' in crutches.

He definitely wasn't as young as she had first assumed, though it was hard to take any real guesses at his age since he wore a mask over his nose and mouth and a similar metal plate to Naruto's over his left eye. He was dressed in greens and blacks – not exactly date-wear. Pockets littered his green vest, and he had a few pouches strapped to his backside and his legs. His hair had some remarkable gravity-defying attitude and was as silver as Sesshoumaru's had been, and his hands were covered with black, fingerless gloves on the back of which was a metal plate.

Their eyes (or eye in his case since one was covered up) met in a clash of black and blue before he said, "You're Higurashi, right?" He spoke in a soft voice, as if afraid someone might overhear him.

Kagome nodded. "Kagome." She agreed. "I've been told you're in something of a tight spot with stalkers."

"Fan-girls," he corrected her.

She waved her hand dismissively. "Stalkers, fan-girls, it's all the same thing."

"You don't know what you're getting into," he told her.

Kagome raised an eyebrow at him. "I would correct you on that. I know what I'm getting into, since I myself used to be quite the stalker." He looked surprised. "Oh, Naruto didn't tell you about that?" She grinned but said no more on the subject. "Continuing on, we should head back to your place. We can talk more there."

He nodded and she wheeled her suitcases after him as he hobbled toward the exit of the train station. "I'd help you with your luggage, but kind of need my hands for other things," he said with a grimace as he leaned on the crutches.

"Not a problem," Kagome assured the man cheerfully, wondering at his age. He had to be older than her by five years at least. What was Naruto thinking when he asked her? It would be harder to make a relationship with someone so much older than her look believable. As they neared the station exit, Kagome asked him, "How old are you?" She felt it was necessary information.

"Twenty-four," he told her, grumbling slightly and looking a little embarrassed if the slight pink tinge to his skin by his visible eye was any indication. "You know you don't have to be here," he told her. "I can manage on my own. I told Naruto not to bother."

Kagome grinned. "I came for other reasons too," she assured him. "I did try ignoring Naruto but the guy can be insistent."

"Have you ever been to Fire Country?" he asked, changing the subject. They stepped out of the exit and Kagome turned her head up to the sun, glad for the cool breeze provided by their surroundings.

"Nope. Never."

"Great," he sounded anything but excited. If she were honest with herself, she would say he was annoyed. "Whatever you see or hear, don't freak out."

Kagome smiled wryly at her companion. "I've seen plenty of things in my life, and very little freaks me out these days."

He scoffed at her, clearly disbelieving her. "Here they come," he muttered.

"Who?" she asked, glancing around. A group of giggling girls were poking out from 'inconspicuous' places around the outside of the train station. Trees were brimming with the characters and bushes had grown eyes. She bit back the smirk that wanted to show on her features. If Naruto hadn't been cracked when he said they were ninja, Kagome would have a chance to see who was better before the end of the summer: kunoichi, or miko?

"Just," he began, but trailed off when Kagome pulled her carry-on strap over her shoulder and pulled out the backpack straps for the smaller of the two suitcases, slipping it on (no sense in being unprepared!). With one arm free, she reached out and put her hand on his where he was holding the crutch. He looked confused.

She winked at him. "Now, now," she said, leaning to whisper in his ear, allowing his vest collar to hide the movements of her lips. "You want to get rid of them, right? No sense in waiting to start the charade." He was blushing under the mask. She could practically taste the heat of embarrassment radiating from his body. He nearly fell off his crutches when she planted a light kiss on his cloth-covered cheek, but he managed to steady himself before it was too noticeable.

"Great," he hissed under his breath, "Naruto brought in the cavalry in the form of a madwoman."

Kagome laughed and followed him as he began crutching his way toward his home. It helped to keep a hand on his crutch through the walk because she found quickly that she would have otherwise gotten lost in the bustling crowds. She could sense the auras of over twenty people following them and wondered if twenty people was all she would have to worry about. The way Naruto talked, it was as though his friend had a hundred stalkers.

They were accosted by a few of their followers near a small ramen shop called "Ichiraku Ramen", and three people inside the shop poked their heads out to watch. Kagome recognized one of them as Naruto, and the boy gave her an indiscrete thumbs-up and a big smile.

"Who are you, and what are you doing with our man?" said the lead girl. She was quite a beauty, with long legs and an hourglass figure. She looked like the type of girl one would find in a modeling agency. Her breasts were large and perky, and her hips swayed in an almost mesmerizing manner as she shifted from foot to foot. She wore less clothing and more bandages, though she hardly looked injured. The others were dressed much the same, and pinned to the right breast of each girl's shirt was a button with a headshot picture of the man on crutches.

Kagome smiled and stepped forward challengingly before anyone else could say anything. "I just so happen to be the future wife of the man on your buttons." Gasps were heard from the collective audience, and the man on crutches shifted uneasily. Naruto and the two other people from the Ichiraku Ramen shop doorway were biting their lips to keep from laughing.

"W-wife?" the man on crutches asked, and Kagome realized Naruto never told her his name. "A-aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves here? I mean, I only just met," a sizable rock hit the man in the side of the head before bouncing back toward Ichiraku where it had come from.

Kagome let go of her suitcase and clasped her hands over her breast, smiling brightly, her dark blue eyes positively lighting up. "Oh, that beautiful day we met one year ago, I just knew you were the one for me. I knew instantly that we'd someday be wed and never part. And I would have your children, I would give you a boy and a girl... maybe two boys and six girls, or nine boys and three girls," on the inside, Kagome was laughing. She could feel the malevolent auras of the fan-girls. They wanted her dead because there she was, ticking off dreams they had, yet she had more of a chance to accomplish those dreams, being the 'supposed' girlfriend of their victim.

She moved to the man's side and looked up at him like a cute, innocent little puppy. "I know I'm just your girlfriend right now but you're the only one for me. Baby," she needed an alternative form of a name, so that was the first thing that popped into her mind, "I have," she let her voice drop low and secretive, and the malice from the girls intensified, "so many things to show you when we get back to your place. We'll make a romance novel seem like a text book, you and I."

Kagome heard a snort of laughter from someone from Ichiraku (perhaps, Naruto?) before the laughter was quickly extinguished. "Uh, um," the man said, incredibly flustered. "Th-this way?" he said, then cleared his throat and tried again. "Yes, right, this way then." he continued to lead the way and seemed surprised when the fan-girls cleared a path as Kagome and her pretend-boyfriend passed. He clearly didn't realize that fan-girls were shadow-operators.

Back at his apartment, he collapsed on his couch while Kagome looked around the room. It was clean, but dusty as though he wasn't there very often. Kagome set her things beside the door and removed her shoes before crossing the room. "So, Naruto left out a lot of details," Kagome began seriously as she drew the curtains on the patio door, enveloping the room in darkness and hiding the insides of the apartment from the binoculars shimmering from a nearby tree. She swept around the room, closing all the window curtains, and didn't bother to turn on a light. It would look suspicious if there was a light on in the living room when Kagome made an announcement that they would be in the bedroom.

Just to check, she went into the bedroom and closed the curtains there so peeping eyes woudn't see them.

"Like what?" the man asked. "All you have to do is stay in my apartment for a few days and then you can leave. That shouldn't be too hard, since I have no intention of going out there with my ankle sprained as bad as it is." He lifted said foot carefully onto the couch, groaning as it pained him.

"That won't work," Kagome told him seriously. "Fan-girls operate far different than normal girls. If we don't see something, we pretend it never happened. I fully intend to spend the rest of my summer vacation here; that's why I packed enough for five weeks. You clearly don't know the first thing about relationships or romance, either, so I'm going to obviously have to teach you how to act if you want to pull this off."

He sat up on his elbows and glared slightly at her. "I know all about relationships and romance. I don't need to be 'taught' how to act!"

"Well, you obviously don't have any skill for acting then, and I would recommend an alternative career." He continued to glare at her but she remained indifferent. "Now, I know how these type of girls think. I know what will drive them insane and make them step off."

"They're going to murder you," he told her. "I don't know what type of fan-girls you've had experience with," she interrupted to say, 'The demon kind,' and he retorted, "they're all demons," and brushed off her comment, "but these are kunoichi! They have kunai and shuriken and they'll kill you in minutes."

"I'd like to see them try," Kagome drawled and knew she sounded as though she didn't believe him for a moment. "First things first, I need to know your name."

He was startled into silence for a moment. "Hatake," he said. "Hatake, Kakashi."

"Well, I think I like the name 'baby' better anyway, since you're spending all this time whining uselessly." She received yet another glare for the comment. "So, baby, we need to decide on a few other things, such as stories of how we met and that sort of thing so that if asked, our stories will match up. Fan-girls are exceptional at picking up discrepancies in stories so the simpler the lie, the easier it will be. I've already said we met a year ago and they seemed to buy that alright. Did you travel anywhere a year ago?"

Kakashi sighed and shook his head. "No, a year ago I was laid up with my mother's death and semester finals, so if I wasn't working on funeral arrangements, I was holed up in my dorm."

Kagome sighed. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Mom's death wasn't your fault," he told her grumpily. "She had recurring breast cancer. She attempted treatment here, but when that didn't work, she flew to Tokyo, Japan, for chemo treatment." Kagome frowned thoughtfully, but he answered her question without her needing to ask. "We don't have chemotherapy here."

"Well, do you have internet in this blasted, underdeveloped third world country?" Kagome asked.

He shrugged. "We do. I had it for a while before my mother's death, but afterward I sold my laptop to help cover funeral costs."

Kagome determined to try to drag the subject away from his mother's death. It was weird listening to him talk about it so flippantly, as though it didn't affect him either way whether his mother was dead or alive. "Okay," Kagome nodded. "So we say we met online. Then we wrote letters back and forth after you sold your laptop, and finally we decided to meet which is why I'm here now."

"Great," he muttered.

"It's a simple lie, and under scrutiny, should hold up rather well so long as you don't fold under pressure."

"Me? Fold?" he scoffed. "I'm a Jounin-rank shinobi. If anyone folds, it'll be you, little one."

Kagome laughed. "You need to lay off the crack, baby," she told him, "that stuff isn't good for your health. How big is your bed?"

He was startled by the suddenness of her question. "Why?" he asked.

Kagome stood up, stretching catlike with a chesire grin on her features that wouldn't be seen in the darkness. "I'm just wondering how much room I'll have when I take over your bed." With that, she slipped into his bedroom and closed and locked the door on his miserable groaning.

Kagome didn't wake up until well after ten AM, and Kakashi was gone by the time she got up and shifted through her suitcases for suitable wear for the day. She decided on a pair of khaki boy-shorts and a black tank top, with black velcro-strap sandals and grabbed one of Kakashi's long-sleeve, button-up dress shirts to wear over it all. The dress shirt was dark blue and too big for her, but that hardly mattered. Instead of pulling it on her shoulders, she tied it around her waist, knowing that it was very likely to be recognized as one of Kakashi's by the fan-girls.

She strapped her dagger to her right thigh as she usually did and pulled her hair back into her usual messy pony-tail. While her mirror image didn't glance back at her in any form of beauty (to her), she knew the fact that she had breasts would drive the other fan-girls into a frothing rage if it hadn't already. She supposed she should really try not to have so much fun at the other girls' expense, but it was so hard.

When she was done getting ready, Kagome grabbed her phone and wallet and stuck them in her pocket, then headed out of the apartment. She didn't worry about needing a key. If she got locked out, she would simply pick the lock (the ability being a direct result of her sixth kidnapper and crush in the Feudal Era, a demon named Youko). She supposed it was possible that she had some sort of fetish for silver-haired men. Most of her crushes were silver-haired.

The minute she had left the apartment complex, she felt the stares of people she couldn't see and knew it was highly unlikely that she was being followed by ghosts. She ignored the fan-girls crowding nearby – probably waiting to ambush her – and pulled out her cell phone, searching her phone directory for her grandmother's number.

Putting the phone to her ear, she started walking in a random direction and the fan-girls were following her. The phone rang a few times before it was picked up by someone Kagome knew wasn't her grandmother simply because they were male. "Hello?" they asked.

"Hi! Is Grandma Higurashi home?" she asked.

"May I ask who is speaking?"

"Of course! This is her grandchild, Kagome."

"One moment please, Kagome," they told her and Kagome heard 'hold' music. She thought it weird that her grandmother had hold music. In the middle of the music, there was a brief pause and then an automated voice said, "Thank you for calling Konohagakure's Hokage Tower. Please continue to hold. Someone will be with you shortly." The music began again and only a few seconds passed before the phone was picked up.

"Sweets," her grandmother chirped, "it's so good to hear from you! I certainly haven't heard from you since you were about four years old! How are you doing?"

"I'm great," Kagome said, turning a corner. The fan-girls were still tailing her, probably looking for the best moment to jump her. She was careful to avoid dark alleyways, and stayed on the crowded main streets. "Actually, I'm in Fire Country for a few weeks."

"Oh, you are?" her grandmother sounded truly surprised. "Your mother told me you wanted to get a hold of me, but never said you were actually coming here. I'd love to see you, darling, any time! I'll clear my schedule right now if you're free!"

"No, grandma, don't do that. I'll certainly come visit you later on. I'm calling you for a reason though. I wanted to ask about papa. Can you tell me something?"

"Yes, darling, anything. What do you want to know?"

"He went to Krima University, right?"

"Oh yes, he did," her grandmother sighed sadly. "I always felt bad after your father died. He never had the chance to know his father, and neither did you children. But he was bound and determined to go to the same University that your grandpa went to – bless him. I miss both of them dearly."

"Okay, that's all I needed for now, grandma Tsunade." Kagome said, and was confused as the auras of the fan-girls suddenly seemed to evaporate as though the persons themselves had been abducted by aliens.

"So are you going to be staying with me, darling?" her grandmother asked. "I have plenty of room to spare in that big old mansion of mine."

"Oh, I'm actually staying with my boyfriend," Kagome felt a blush rise to her face as her grandmother gave a girlish squeal. "It's not that big of a deal, grandma," Kagome said. Now she felt slightly bad for lying to her grandmother.

"Oh yes, it is! Kagome, you're too young to be staying with your boyfriend – and in the same house? My heavens, I didn't start living with your grandfather until I was twenty-two! I cannot condone this, this... oh, Kagome," she seemed to lose heart in her argument the longer Kagome remained silent. "I mean, if you really insist on it..."

"I do, grandma, but I'm careful you know." Like that would be reassuring. It wasn't like she could actually tell her grandmother that she didn't know the guy and was merely pretending a relationship.

"Well you still have to come see me. You can come tonight with your boyfriend for dinner. I want to meet this, this fiend who stole my grandchild's heart. It's not hard to find my home. It's the only one on Gabolick Street. Dinner is at six, so don't be late."

"Right, I'll be there." Kagome assured her grandmother before hanging up the conversation.

She was able to scout out and mentally map most of the city within a few hours and by the time she got back to Kakashi's apartment, he was already back from wherever he had gone. He had bathed and was sitting in his knickers on the living room couch, wrapping his ankle firmly.

Sighing, she moved over to him and knelt in front of him, grasping his heel gently. She couldn't stand by and watch him struggle as he hurt. She had been the same way for when Inuyasha was hurt, though the half-breed-dog-prince would never admit to pain.

"Are you going to continue wrapping it, or are you going to stare at it like its a magnificent portrait?" he asked snappishly and she looked up into his masked face. Even though his hair was wet, he already had the mask and the metal plate on so only his right black eye showed. Other than that, he wore nothing but his boxers. His body was toned, but not completely ripped, and he had scars littering his flesh here and there.

"Just a moment and you won't need it wrapped," she told him. "Unless you like pain?"

He hissed when he squeezed the sore ankle and went to remove his foot from her grip. By the time he had his foot back, he was surprised to find it no longer hurt him. He glanced at his foot, then at the girl who had removed the pain, and seemed to be wondering how she did it. She wasn't forthcoming with the explanations.

"Anyway," Kagome said looking up at him with a small smile. The balcony curtains were open, and the two of them were being stared at by two obvious fan-girls who had their noses pressed right up against the balcony doors; thankfully those doors were locked. Kagome tipped one eye in the direction of the balcony and he seemed to notice the fan-girls too.

Kagome shifted her weight onto her knees, pulling herself onto the couch with him in an agonizingly slow crawl, an impish smile on her features that made him shift uncomfortably. She supposed it wasn't his fault that she had been kidnapped by a seductive phoenix demon named Yais. Yais had taught her all sorts of seemingly useless things, though now she wondered how useless they would be...

The girls on the balcony began banging against the thick glass, calling out for Kakashi, but Kagome had already crawled onto his boxer-clad lap and wrapped one hand through his thick, gravity-defying silver hair, marveling at the fact that he managed to get it to stick up naturally as she could feel no indication of gel or hairspray. She moved her lips near his ear – the one facing away from the balcony – and breathed, "I think they're getting a little upset, don't you?" A small laugh escaped her.

"You're mad," he said again, his lip movement covered by the cloth on his face. She could tell goose bumps rose on his flesh where she placed her hand on his arm. "You're taking this to extremes. It doesn't have to go this far."

Again she laughed a small laugh, "Ah, but you're not really complaining, because you want the girls gone for good and you'll do anything to get rid of them. And you know if you push me away, it will fuel the girls desire for you even more."

The pounding stopped and both of them couldn't resist peeking at the balcony. The girls were gone. He pushed her aside and walked to the bathroom as Kagome got up to draw the curtains. "Where are you going?" Kagome asked him.

"I need a shower," he told her grumpily. She directed an innocent smile at his back. "Naruto was insane," he decided.

Kagome laughed. "My grandma has invited me and my 'boyfriend' for dinner. You don't have a choice but to go with me. Dress nice, okay?" his shoulders lifted in an elegant shrug before he began closing the bathroom door behind him. "I want to make a good impression," she muttered, though he probably didn't hear her. She could already hear the water running.

She moved to her suitcases and shifted through them. She came out with a navy blue skirt that went to her knees and had a slit up both legs ending at her thighs. It was a risky skirt to wear with her dagger, but she planned to wear Kakashi's shirt tied around her waist, which would hide the slits (and the dagger) effectively. She put on leg-lace blue sun-sandals and was just pulling a peach halter top on as Kakashi exited the bathroom.

He didn't look at her but immediately went into his room. She heard shuffling in there and knew he was changing. She debated walking over to the open door and peeking in on her silver-haired pretend boyfriend, then immediately rebuked herself for the thought. She was reading way too many romance novels. A few minutes later, he came out fully dressed in an outfit identical to what he wore when he came to the train station.

"I thought I asked you to dress nice?" she demanded. And there she was, trying to pretend to be his girlfriend and he was making no effort at all. He wasn't even trying! She'd seen all the nice clothes in his closet.

"If I dressed up, you wouldn't recognize me," he reasoned.

"As if I wouldn't know it was you, since I saw you walk into your room and all. I'm pretty sure no one else would be coming out in your stead, unless you have some sort of alternate ego." She pursed her lips and put her hand on her hip. "It's almost six." she told him as he flopped onto the couch.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked, looking at his watch. "Because I have seven on my watch."

Kagome panicked. "Agh, I'm late!" she said. Her phone began ringing at that exact moment. She must not have adjusted for the time difference, although it still killed her how Naruto called her at eight AM 'his time' and it was three AM 'her time' if there was only one hour difference. She grabbed her phone and answered it, "Hello?" she breathed.

"Kagome Higurashi!" her grandmother accused, "You're out of breath because you were making out with that no-good boyfriend of yours and now dinner is cold!"

"No, no, grandma, I just forgot to set my watch for the time difference from here to home."

Her grandmother was silent and then sighed. "Well, that does make sense," she said. "I know you're a good girl, and you're not making out with your boyfriend all alone in his house."

"Actually it's an apartment, grandma." Kagome said.

"An apartment?" her grandmother demanded. "He doesn't even have a house of his own? Kagome, you need a man with money, who can take care of you financially! Not some lazy bum living in the slums!"

Kagome groaned. "Grandma, I have enough money to take care of myself financially for six lifetimes. What do I care about a man who has money?"

"All the more reason to get a man who has money! Those lazy bums will just suck you dry, Kagome. A man with his own money will want you and not your money, but a bum will want your money and a good rut."

Kagome felt her cheeks flaming. "Grandma!" she exclaimed.

"It's true, Kagome!" her grandmother said, raising her voice. "That's all they want!"

"Um, grandma, I think I'm going to cancel dinner tonight."

"Alright, darling, but before you go home, I want to meet this lazy bum you're dating. You take care, darling. Ta!" Their conversation ended with Kagome staring at her phone like it was an alien trying to bite off her hand.

"Your grandmother sounds like someone I'd love to meet," Kakashi drawled sarcastically. "Oh, how soon can I meet her?"

"Whatever," Kagome grumbled. She tied Kakashi's shirt around her waist, seeing no reason to change again now that she was dressed. "What do you have to eat around here? I haven't had anything to eat since yesterday."

Kakashi grabbed his television remote and clicked the little red button. The television turned on. Next he grabbed the remote for his game console and turned that on. As his game began to load, he reached for the cordless controller lying on the coffee table. "I don't know," he admitted. "There might be something in the fridge, if you're lucky."

She sighed. "You're not making any effort at all are you?" she asked him as the words, Make-Out Paradise, the Game flashed in bright red words across the screen.

"People would be suspicious if I did," Kakashi told her. "I make little to no effort in anything that isn't mission-related." His game loaded, and Kagome rolled her eyes as the first thing she saw on the screen was a bed with a moving lump under sheets. High-pitched giggles and moans were emitting from the speakers. Then two heads appeared at the top of the bed, and thought bubbles containing hearts appeared above the two heads. Lastly, a cradle appeared in a bloom of flowers and Kakashi made himself comfortable on the couch.

Kagome shifted over to the couch, standing in his line of vision of the screen. She placed one hand on her hip, feeling very annoyed that she agreed to Naruto's cracked idea of a 'favor'. Really, she couldn't picture this plan being pulled off, and she figured even after five weeks, she could leave and Kakashi would still be stuck with the fan-girls.

He glanced up at her with his one black eye and his eyebrow raised just slightly. "Would you mind moving three steps to your left? Or three to the right, if it suits you, but either way, move?"

Kagome heaved a sigh. "You know, I traveled from Japan to get here and help you get rid of your pest problem, and all you're going to do is sit there playing the Sims?"

"I knew I should have convinced Sakura around." He grumbled.

Exasperated beyond belief, Kagome moved forward and straddled his prone form. His black eye went wide in shock; the window curtains were closed so he could not see why she would 'act' at that moment. Well, Kagome had to get his attention somehow.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Kagome licked her lips, a grin snaking onto her features. She placed her left hand near his head, trapping him beneath her more effectively on the couch. This man just didn't know what Naruto plopped into his life; Kagome would not leave in five weeks without being successful, and she had no intention of lengthening her stay. She had to go home in five weeks so she had enough time to sign up for her classes in the Fall.

She brought her free hand up to the zipper on his vest and began unzipping it. "You don't seem to understand, do you?" she asked him. The controller clattered to the floor and one of the buttons pushed so that the screen shifted to another of the sims in the game. "You could be just like him," she said, tilting her head at the screen. It showed a male sim getting a full body massage by a female sim.

Kakashi gulped and she could feel his body heat rising. His hand seemed to rise involuntarily to her waist, but before he could really get a hold of her, she was up again, adjusting her clothing. "Well," Kagome said, winking at him and shifting her hips slightly, "I'm hungry. What about you?"

He rose from the couch and said nothing as he re-entered the bathroom. She laughed, grabbed the purse she'd put her wallet and phone in, and threw the strap over her shoulder, exiting the apartment.

Kagome was able to find food at a restaurant just down the street, and she sat at the bar. Most of the bar was empty, but the surrounding tables were filled with diners. She ordered the evening special and a glass of wine, and was provided with it almost immediately. The server even gave her a card with his name and phone number and Call Me Cutie was written on it.

For a few minutes she was allowed to sit in peace and then that privacy was invaded by Kakashi as he sat next to her at the bar. For a long time, he simply stared at her, but finally he ordered the special and a mix of scotch and cream soda. Personally, she couldn't understand his drink.

"Look, I didn't want you to come here to begin with," Kakashi started.

Kagome turned on the bar stool, popping a fry in her mouth. "Ah, and it finally comes out," she teased him. "You honestly like the fans. I suppose I could stage a very public break-up scene for you, right now if you like."

He glared at her again. "I wanted Sakura to do it."

"And this 'Sakura' is a local girl, right?" he nodded. "Do you like her?"

"No, I don't," he snapped.

"Then if you don't like her, and she's local, the purpose is defeated. You have me here because I'm not local. I can easily slip away and yet still exist to keep the fan girls at bay – for the most part." Kagome knew her reasoning was sound, and she could tell he was seeing the logic in having her be the pretend girlfriend.

"Sakura wouldn't do it because everyone knows she's pining after Sasuke." Kakashi said, still attempting to keep his own choice the better one.

"That makes it even worse. To have everyone knowing she likes someone else, and then it suddenly breaks out that you've been 'secretly dating' all along, no one would buy it." Kagome turned back to her meal and drank her wine. The server refilled her glass almost instantly, with a slightly vengeful glare for Kakashi.

"But," Kakashi started, and Kagome shook her head.

"I'm the best choice you have," she said low enough that the server wouldn't hear over the din of the restaurant. "Besides that, it isn't like I was busy this summer anyway. I was itching for something to do, and this is as good as anything else, right?"

Kakashi hadn't touched his drink or food yet, and Kagome had already started on her third glass of wine and finished her food. Silence reigned between them as he stared at his food. He was reaching for his glass as she paid her bill and left him sitting there, intent on finding Naruto.

Outside, she pulled her phone out as it began ringing. "Hello?" she asked.

"Kagome, its Naruto!" the boy yelled. "Come to visit me and drag that ass Kakashi along! We're throwing a big bash at my place." In the background, Kagome could hear shouting, loud music, and crashing. Kagome blinked when the phone was no longer in her hand. She turned to see Kakashi had her cell phone.

"You called me an ass," Kakashi growled.

"Kakashi, you bastard, bring Kagome to my place!" Naruto's voice carried back to Kagome. "It's great! Dad got us six kegs for the party, and mom's cooking up a storm! At least drag yourself away from the smut books long enough to come check it out? Kagome might not like sitting indoors all the time watching you read!"

Kakashi hung up. He shoved her phone in his pocket. "We're not going." He said.

Kagome glared at him. "I want to go, and that's my phone."

"Why do you need a phone? All the people who you talk to – the ones I do know, and the ones I don't – seem to call me names." He started off down the street and she moved after him.

"Oh, please!" she snapped. "You're a grown man and my grandma's sort of crazy so get over it."

"Get over it?" he growled but he said no more. She wondered what his problem was. After a few minutes of walking, he turned down a street that didn't lead to his apartment, then pointed to a brightly lit house on the other corner. People were coming in and out of it. "That's the Umino residence – Naruto's parent's house – if you want to go, go. I'm going home, and I'm locking the door."

Kagome glared at his retreating back and then determined to find Naruto and demand what she'd gotten into. She wasn't afraid of a locked door. Soon enough Kakashi would learn who he was dealing with, but Kagome couldn't wait anymore. She moved into Naruto's house and found Naruto quick enough.

Naruto sat on a couch, half-drunk and he was in the midst of an angry thumb-wars battle with a boy around the same age as him. The boy had brunette colored hair and wore leather like he was born a cow. Kagome latched onto Naruto's ear with two fingers and dragged on it. The distraction caused him to lose his battle and the brunette crowed with drunken delight.

"Ow, ow owie!" Naruto cried as Kagome dragged Naruto around, searching for someplace for them to talk. After much dragging, Kagome found a place they could be out behind the house and they would both be able to hear each other. "I'm being assaulted," he whined.

Kagome released his ear and glared at him. "Naruto, what the hell is that guy's problem?" she demanded in a low hiss. Naruto rubbed his ear and gave her a confused look. She rapped on his head with her knuckles. "Hello? Anyone home? I'd like an answer today sometime!"

"What happened?" Naruto asked finally. She explained everything that had occurred between her and Kakashi since her arrival and Naruto remained thoughtfully solemn through the entire discussion. "Okay, I guess I should explain something to you about him," he told her.

"Please do," Kagome growled.

"Kakashi doesn't trust people. My older brother Iruka is his only friend that's still alive. All his other friends have been killed in battle." Kagome was beginning to wonder if maybe the whole 'shinobi' thing wasn't just a joke. "But that's not all," Naruto said. "Kakashi's father – his real father – commit suicide when his mom had an affair when Kakashi was just a little kid. His dad did it right in front of him, hung himself when the two of them took a trip to their summer cottage."

"Oh," Kagome breathed, not sure what to say.

Naruto wasn't finished yet though. "Kakashi's mom remarried two months later, and Kakashi never forgave her for it, at least that's what I heard him telling Iruka." Kagome blinked at Naruto. "What?" he asked. "The vents of Iruka's and my rooms are connected, so it's not like I was propped under the door with my ear or anything." He continued, "Kakashi doesn't like going to his step-dad's house. His mom died of breast cancer and Kakashi thought he'd finally be rid of his step-dad, but his mom's will said if Kakashi wanted to inherit, he had to visit his step-father every other weekend for two years after her death. Only if he did that would he get to inherit the things that were his real father's."

"Oh, wow," Kagome breathed. It didn't explain everything, but she was starting to get a little bit of the picture. "That's… that's deep."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "Because of what his mom did, Kakashi doesn't trust people enough to let them close. He stays at home unless he can help it, and at school, he's either in class, in his dorm, or else in the practice halls."

Kagome sighed and rubbed her temples. "Naruto," she complained, "this is going to be an impossible task…"

"I know you can do it," Naruto said. "I know you can! The fan-girls are most of his problems. Iruka thinks if they're gone, maybe Kakashi will come hang out with us a little more."

"What about me?" asked a man with brown hair held in a ponytail. He walked up to the two, wearing jeans and a tee-shirt with flip-flop shoes. Across his nose was a blush-like scar and his brown eyes were cheerful.

"Ah, Kagome, this is my brother." Naruto said, introducing the two. "Iruka, this is the girl I told you I'd get to help Kakashi." He looked at Kagome with a short grin, "Iruka, me and my friend Sakura are the only ones who know about the plan, except you and Kakashi of course."

Kagome accepted the outstretched hand Iruka provided on introduction and instead of shaking it like she thought he would; he brought her knuckles to his mouth and placed a light kiss to them in greeting. "Sheesh," Kagome said, "I wish Kakashi were more like you. At least then the task wouldn't be impossible."

Iruka chuckled and released her hand. "I'd be scared if Kakashi were more like me; he's better looking, and it's hard enough to get a woman when he does wear his mask. I'd almost have to turn gay or something, except he's even got all the gay guys."

Kagome grinned at Iruka. "You seem a nice, sensible guy." She told him. "If you're not careful, though, you'll steal Kakashi's current girlfriend right from under his nose."

Iruka smiled. "It's good to finally meet you. The way Naruto talked about you when he came back from Japan, it's almost like he thought you saved the world single-handedly the day he met you!"

Kagome made a silly face, "Oh, no, that was ages ago, and I had help!" Both Naruto and Iruka laughed at what they thought was a joke. If only they knew about those days with Inuyasha, traipsing through forests and getting kidnapped every other week – sometimes getting kidnapped from her kidnappers… She might have cared more that she got kidnapped so often, if she didn't learn something productive from her captors while she was in captivity.

"Come on inside, Kagome," Naruto said. "We'll drink until we pass out. It's Iruka's twenty-fourth birthday, see, so we have to have a party."

Kagome chuckled. "Well, sorry to say it, Naruto, but I'm going to have to pass. I've already had three glasses of wine tonight and I really should keep my wits about me as I break into Kakashi's apartment like a fan-girl."

"Oh!" Iruka reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. "Here," he began removing one of the keys from the ring and handed it to her. "This is Kakashi's extra key for his apartment. Just make sure to get it back to me or Naruto before you go back home."

Kagome stuck the key into her purse and nodded. "I will," she agreed. She sighed. "I'll do my best with this task, but you owe me big for this, Naruto," she said, looking at the blonde. "This is considerably more difficult than saving me from a few drunken thugs."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay. Do you want me to walk you to Kakashi's?" The last part was said in complete seriousness. "It is getting really late, and these girls do stalk him after dark."

Kagome shook her head. "I'll be fine. It's just a couple blocks from here."

"Okay, then," Naruto said.

Iruka tilted his head to Kagome in a sort of 'goodbye' manner before heading back into the house. Kagome made her way through the house on her own and left without another word. She hurried back to Kakashi's apartment and found on entering the place, Kakashi had fallen asleep on the recliner in the living room in his knickers and with the mask on. A romance novel was lying propped on his chest. The metal plate he kept over one eye had fallen off and she could see he had a scar vertical down his left eyebrow and across his left eye. The scar seemed to continue on underneath the mask.

She couldn't help but wonder if that was the reason he wore the metal plate and immediately afterward began to wonder why he wore the mask over his nose and mouth. Curious of what he might look like under that mask, she quietly took off her shoes and crossed the room to him. Her hand was on the edge of the mask when he grasped her wrist tight, yanked on her arm, and unbalanced her right into his lap.

His eyes shot open and he glared at her with one pitch black orb, and one red orb with three hooked pupils in a triangle pattern. She froze, and one word repeated in her mind, over and over. 'Demon.' Why didn't she sense it? But even now, searching for the aura that should be there, she sensed nothing except abnormal spiritual strength.

He must have realized she was scared for a moment. She hadn't seen a demon in her time since the Noh Mask. To come across one so strong it could hide its demonic signature – to the Guardian of the Shikon no Tama no less! – was a true rarity. She felt him release her and he grabbed up the piece of cloth that held the metal plate, tying it back on.

"Sorry you had to see that," he said somewhat coldly.

She was still sitting in his lap, too shocked by what she'd just seen. She had no doubt that the reason he wore that was because of his eye, not the scar. "What was that?" she demanded half-heartedly.

He snapped, "None of your damn business! Get off of me!"

She climbed off of him, not wanting him to lose his temper even further and shove her. It wasn't that she was afraid to be shoved, but she was afraid of the consequences he would face if he shoved her. She could seriously injure or kill him if her holy power was startled into activation – human or … other. She didn't know what he was. With an eye like he had, she swore it was 'demon'.

"You're the one who yanked me onto your lap," Kagome snapped back at the man.

"Keep your hands to yourself and your curiosity under wraps and I wouldn't have done it!" he growled, kicking the recliner into seated position and standing to glare down at her. His voice was, as was becoming a usual thing, muffled by the cloth he wore.

Kagome scowled at him. "Are you afraid to let me see what's under that mask?" she asked him. "After all, if you're not cracked and it is true that these girls are kunoichi, then I'm putting my ass on the line by being here. If I was really your girlfriend, I'd know what's under that mask."

"I'm not asking you to be here!" he fisted his fingers, clenching and unclenching his hands.

"No, you're not," she said, lowering her voice and turning her back on him. Her eyes narrowed as she walked toward the bathroom. "The people who care about you are asking me to be here. But you're too much of a coward to even go to your friend's birthday party. You'd rather sit here, alone."

"Fuck off," he hissed, just as she was closing the bathroom door.

"Baby," she hissed in return, the door closing with a snap.

By the time she got out of the shower, Kakashi was gone. She sighed and wondered if she went too far. He wasn't Inuyasha, she had to keep that in mind. With Inuyasha, she could throw insults wherever she wanted, and the hanyou would jump back effortlessly. Inuyasha could smell when she meant the insult, even in the heat of an argument. Especially in the heat of an argument.

Sighing, she sat down on the couch, intent on waiting for his return so she could apologize. He didn't come back, and she fell asleep on the couch, waking with a crick in her neck that was rather painful. Remembering the argument from the evening before, she felt sort of bad. She shouldn't take her frustrations out on Kakashi, simply because her once incredibly active life had taken a turn for the boring.

She hadn't even been aware that life could be duller than it had been with Hojou, and yet, at the same time her life had become strangely more exciting and she wasn't sure what to think of it all. An insistent beeping noise broke into her reverie and she walked into the bedroom. Kakashi had set her phone on his dresser. She grabbed it and checked her phone messages (she'd gone through already and deleted all Naruto's to make room for more).

There were two: Hojou had left one. "Kagome, I know you're probably with your grandmother right now, but I just wanted to tell you I love you and I can't wait until you get back. Not that I don't want you to spend time with your grandmother of course! I mean, of course, you should spend time with your grandmother, I was just saying school starts up in little over a month and I'm excited to see," he was cut off as the message grew too long.

Kagome smiled at his message. She never thought for a minute that by helping Kakashi, it was almost like cheating on Hojou, but at the same time she knew that was how it would look if Hojou ever found out. She had already decided Hojou couldn't know when she told him her reason for traveling would be to visit her grandmother.

The second message was from her mother. "Kagome, dear, I know you're probably busy searching for your grandmother – heavens know that woman can hardly remain in one place more than a day – but if you end up in Konoha, will you visit the memorial gravestone and lay some flowers for your father? I'm sure he'd like to see you. I love you and be safe."

Kagome dressed in a green skirt and a white blouse, putting on socks and tennis shoes. Her dagger was strapped to her thigh, and she pulled her phone charger from her suitcase, plugging it into the wall and her phone into the charger. It was almost dead and she didn't care to have interruptions where she was going.

She grabbed her purse and left, trying to find a flower shop. Since Kakashi was nowhere in sight, she really had nothing to do anyway, and just being seen around the town would be good enough for now.

Kagome found a flower shop on High Street called "Ino's Picks" and entered. A girl Kagome's age was tending to the greenhouse and an older woman was operating the register. Kagome ignored both women and looked up and down the aisles. There was a flower refrigerator at the back, and she went to it, looking inside. While all of the contents were beautiful, only one of the pre-cut arrangements caught her eye.

She opened the door and pulled it out, vase and all, heading to the register with the all-white arrangement. "That's a good choice," said the woman at the register.

Kagome smiled. "Thank you," she said.

"Oh – my – gods!" said the younger of the two women, her blond ponytail swaying with each hurried step she took toward Kagome. "You're Kakashi's girlfriend, aren't you?" she asked. She held out her hand as who Kagome assumed was her mother rang up the sale. "I'm Ino Yamanaka. It's a pleasure to meet such a brave woman!"

"Brave?" Kagome asked, confused. She gave Ino's mother her check card to ring up the sale. "Why am I brave?"

"Well, no one expected you'd show your face in public. We heard you were coming, and everyone thought you'd just hole up in Kakashi's apartment, scared to pieces by that fan club of his." Ino said matter-of-factly. "I mean, sometimes they scare even me, and I don't really have anything to do with Kakashi, except that he's somewhat close to my boyfriend, Sasuke." At Kagome's further confused look, Ino blushed, "Okay, well, actually," she pointed to a pin she wore, "I'm one of Sasuke's fan club."

"Oh," Kagome blinked. "Well, I'm not really scared of the fan club. I've dealt with scarier things than a gaggle of giggling girls."

"Oh?" Ino asked. "Like what?" She sounded genuinely curious.

Kagome grinned a mischievous little smirk, "Nothing much… evil half-breeds trying to take over the world, but that's neither here, nor there." Kagome took her check card and her purchase as Ino tried to puzzle that one out. "Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Ino. Could you direct me to the graveyard?"

"Are you going to meet Kakashi?" Ino asked.

"Why?"

"Well, he's always there around this time of the day." Ino replied. She didn't wait for Kagome's response and pointed out the window, "Just that way on the other side of the city is the grave site."

Kagome thanked Ino and left, wishing she could ask why Kakashi was always at the graveyard at that time. It would look weird if his girlfriend was asking those questions though. So she refrained and moved toward the grave site, walking around a large chapel and climbing the hill toward the many head stones.

It took very little time to find her family's head stones. They were all bunched together on a similar plot of land. "Dan Higurashi" was buried next to his uncle and his wife, and many others were clustered nearby. Except, out of all the Higurashi head stones, there wasn't one for Kagome's father, Marco.

Kagome frowned and ran a hand through her wild hair; it was obeying the wind and blowing in her face. She checked all the surrounding grave stones, but could find no one with the name Marco. Her mother wouldn't have lied to her about her father's name – Kagome had seen all the records, birth certificate included – so there was no question what her father's name was.

A solitary figure stood at the top of the hill, and Kagome could feel the sadness exhumed in their aura. She clutched the vase of white flowers and climbed the hill to the very large memorial grave stone and the lone person. That person did not cry. They did not move. They simply stood there, staring at the pyramid with their hands held loosely at their sides.

Kagome recalled what Naruto said when she'd talked to him the night before. Kakashi had friends killed in battle. He wasn't trusting of others.

She stopped walking, unsure whether or not to proceed. Her mother had said 'the memorial gravestone' so it stood to reason that maybe – just maybe – her father was there. But she didn't want to interrupt Kakashi. She turned to leave as quietly as she came, but a sudden movement caused her to look back.

Kakashi had gone, disappeared, and she was confused. She had decided he was human, but disappearing suggested demon. She wasn't sure what to think, but since he was gone, she decided not to dwell on it. With a sigh, she approached the stone. Names were written on all four sides of the pyramid. She had to scan all four sides before she found her father's name "Marco Higurashi". According to the stone, the memorial was for "MIA/KIA" and she knew very well what those meant.

With a sigh, she set the flowers down at the base of the pyramid and ran her fingers over her father's name. "Papa, I brought you flowers," she whispered. "I think the white vase looks nice with the pink bow and the white flowers. I don't know what else to say, so I guess I'll leave it at that."

She stood up and looked for another moment at the stone before making her way out of the graveyard. When she got to the gated entrance, Kakashi was there, leaning on it with the casual air of someone who had been there the whole time. She didn't stop for him but walked on by, intent on going to find some place for lunch.

Kakashi moved as she walked by, falling into step beside her. For a few blocks he was silent. Then as they settled themselves at a booth in a restaurant, Kakashi pointed out, "Your father's on that stone," as if for all the world it mattered to him.

"And what if he is?" Kagome asked. "I never got the chance to know him. He died when I was four. Until today, I thought he was buried in Japan somewhere."

"My friends are on that stone," Kakashi said quietly. When the waitress came, he ordered a glass of water and a hot ham sandwich with chips. Kagome got a glass of chocolate milk and a bowl of creamy potato soup.

Kagome glanced at Kakashi as the waitress went away with their order. "Why is it that you go to that memorial every day?"

He seemed startled by her question and really contemplated it. When he finally gave her his answer, she felt it was a true answer. "They died for me. One was missing in action, the other killed in action. Rin's body was never recovered, and… Obito donated his eye to me just before he died. It all happened the same day."

"I see," Kagome shook her head slightly. "I've had companions who died for me too… but I don't push everyone else away because of it. If you really don't want my help, tell me and I'll go home now. If you want my help – and you better mean it if you do – then together, we'll get rid of your pests."

"You're just a civilian," Kagome heard him say, and she snorted into her drink.

"Yeah, try telling that joke in a bar filled with demons," she muttered. He glanced at her in confusion. "Look, I'm serious. If you don't want me to help you, fine, I'll go home. Do you want my help or not?"

He looked hesitant but then he nodded.

"Alright then."

The next two days passed for the most part without incident. Kagome made sure to go with Kakashi to lunch and to dinner. They paid 'dutch', each paying for themselves. After that, girls started crawling out of the woodworks. Just as Kagome had known fan-girls to be shadow-dwellers, she found herself miraculously tripping on air, or falling down stairs when 'no one' was around. Somehow the fan-girls got a hold of her cell phone number and they would call her with threats.

Of course, if Kagome really were Kakashi's girlfriend, she might not have told Kakashi about all that was going on. She wouldn't have wanted him to know if she were his girlfriend, fearing he would leave her. Except the contrary was true. She wasn't Kakashi's girlfriend, so she told him everything. He constantly called her crazy, and told her she didn't have to stay.

She did stay. One week after getting off the train in Konoha, she found herself sitting on Kakashi's bed with the bagged photograph in her hands. She felt the smile cross her face as memories surfaced. 'I'm going insane,' she thought. 'Maybe I shouldn't stay,' but she didn't pack her suitcases back up. She'd hung her clothes in Kakashi's closet and folded them in his dresser. The suitcases were under Kakashi's bed.

She sighed, kissed the photograph, and then placed it under Kakashi's pillow carefully. Her phone rang, so she answered it. As her phone rang, Kakashi came to the bedroom door to watch her talk. "Hello?" she asked.

"Bitch, you should left town." Said an angry girl.

Kagome chuckled, "You know, if I leave town, my baby's gonna follow me. Then you wouldn't even get to look at him."

"I'll give you until dawn to be gone. If you're not gone, I'm going to rip your toenails out." The person hung up abruptly and Kagome smirked. She tossed her phone onto the dresser and glanced at Kakashi.

"Tomorrow morning, my toenails will be ripped out," she told him jokingly. "Do you have a problem with toenail-less women?"

Looking thoughtful, Kakashi shrugged. He'd already seemed to figure out it was useless to try to convince her to leave, though she knew he didn't know why she was so confident nothing bad could happen to her. He still hadn't seen the fact that she wore a dagger on her right thigh every day (and had taken to wearing it at night).

"Well," he said, "I guess it doesn't matter to me, so long as you're not bitching about it all afternoon." She could tell he was attempting to share in her humor. He held out his home phone to her. "Naruto called for you. Said your phone was busy."

"How convenient," Kagome laughed, putting the phone to her ear. "It was. Hello?"

"Kagome!" Naruto chirped. "How are you doing? What's this about being toeless?"

"Oh, nothing. Kakashi's promised to chop my toes off tonight – but it's not urgent business. Do you need something?" She grinned at Kakashi's annoyed look. It was getting easier to tell when he was annoyed or happy even though he wore a mask all the time. She had yet to see his face. She began to wonder if he really was afraid to show her. Despite all the times they went out to eat, he still found a moment to eat without her looking.

"Oh, yeah! We're throwing a bash for Ino, Sakura, and Chouji, 'cause they were all accepted to K.U. – that's the local University – and we all want you and Kakashi to come. Think you can convince Kakashi to come? I saw you've got him going outside the house more than he's ever done!"

Kagome beamed at Kakashi. "Well, I suppose I could try," Kakashi had heard the question and was shaking his head 'no', "oh, good, he appears to want to go! Is this a formal party? Should he dress up?" Kakashi was glaring at her like he was looking at death itself.

"Nah," Naruto told her, "it's not formal. We're having the party at Gojoyama's bar. Do you know how to get there?"

"Yes," Kagome assured the boy, "Kakashi and I ate there yesterday night."

"Great! See you guys there, and thanks Kagome!" They hung up the conversation.

Kagome smiled. "Oh, it's not that bad." She told him.

"I don't want to go." He said.

"Didn't we come to an agreement that I'd help you if you wanted it? If you want me to go home, I'll do it." His shoulders drooped. She had told him if he didn't want her help, she would leave willingly, but she would also announce to his fan-club that they had broken up. So, he had no real choice but to accept her help.

"Fine, but you have to do something for me if I go to this, this thing," he grumbled.

Kagome chuckled. "When you want it, ask for it. The only thing you can't have is sex. I've seen how often you make your sims do it, and if you've got a secret store of stamina, I'd never last." He moved to his closet and pulled out a tee-shirt and a pair of khaki pants. She grabbed a pink halter top, black long-sleeve fishnet shirt, and a black pair of boy-shorts. He quit the room as she was about to pull her shirt off. She had no reservations about changing with a male in the room, having long-since shed those in the Feudal Era.

She'd stayed in her pajamas all day long, having not left even for lunch. That day, she'd just made lunch because she didn't feel like leaving, but she and Kakashi had eaten it out on the balcony.

She changed quickly, threw her hair up into the messy ponytail she usually wore, and pulled on her socks and tennis shoes. Her cell phone was in one of the many pockets on the boy-shorts, along with her keys and her wallet.

"Ready?" Kakashi asked her, seeming to notice the necklace she always wore for the first time. His eye seemed captured by the light of the pink jewel shining through the sphere locket.

She snapped her fingers in his face and he jumped slightly, startled to be caught staring. "Yes, I'm ready. We're headed to the party now."

They made their way through the streets toward the street Naruto said the party would be at. As they neared, Kagome folded her fingers into Kakashi's and he seemed to sigh resignedly. Though he'd changed completely, even taking off the fingerless gloves, he still wore the mask and the metal plate.

"Kagome! Kakashi!" Naruto chirped as they entered the packed bar. People were everywhere, there both because of the party and because it was a bar with alcoholic substance. "You're both late!" he grinned, "But I know Kakashi, so I guess I should've expected that. Party started an hour ago."

Kagome drawled, "And you called us half an hour ago, so to be sure we were on time."

Naruto blushed and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, I mean, anyway. Kagome, you should come meet Sakura, Ten-Ten, Hinata, and Ino." He grabbed Kagome's hand and started dragging her away from Kakashi. "Kakashi, Iruka's at the bar!" he hollered back. Kakashi looked irritated to be left alone, and Kagome shot him an apologetic glance as Naruto dragged her away.

"How's it going?" Naruto whispered as they made their way through the crowded bar.

"Well as I could expect," Kagome said. "Doesn't he have a job? I mean, I never see him work."

"He got three weeks vacation for his sprained ankle. He'll have to come back to work after this weekend, which reminds me, he goes to his step-dad's this weekend. Has he mentioned it to you?" Naruto paused for a moment, trying to search the crowd for his target group of females.

"No, he hasn't," Kagome said. "But it's only Wednesday."

"Yeah, but it takes a full day to drive to his step-dad's place and he has to be there Friday night. Iruka said he usually leaves at six AM on Friday to get there. Just wondering. Other than that, what's all that about chopping off your toes?" Kagome laughed. "He's not really going to do that is he?" he asked.

"No," Kagome told the blonde as they found a crowd of girls sitting around a table. There was an open chair between who Kagome recognized as Ino, and a girl with short black hair that had an almost blue-purple tint to it in the dim lighting.

"Kagome, these ladies are Ino," he pointed at the flower girl Kagome remembered, "Sakura," he pointed at the pink haired girl, "Ten-Ten," he pointed at the brown haired girl who kept her hair in two dango buns, "and Hinata," his hands came to rest on the black haired girl's shoulders and he bent slightly to place a kiss beneath Hinata's earlobe. With a bright grin, he said loudly (as though pronouncing it to the world), "Hinata's my girlfriend!" The girl turned scarlet.

The three other girls at the table said hello to Kagome and crowed hilariously at Hinata's embarrassment before clinking their beverage glasses. "To Hinata's inevitable wedding!" Ino cheered, and then took a heavy drink of her beer.

"And to Kagome and snagging one of the most eligible bachelors in Konoha!" Sakura added as Kagome sat. Ten-Ten slid a full tankard of beer toward Kagome (filled from a seemingly never-ending pitcher on the table).

"To Kagome!" the other girls – even Hinata – said and clanked glasses.

Ten-Ten said, "And to us! May we be just as lucky in those we date!" Her eyes seemed to scan the crowd hungrily, as though she were a demon searching for her prospective mate.

Kagome chuckled and clanged her glass with the other's instantly welcomed into the group. She glanced over her shoulder, trying to see Kakashi, and caught a glimpse of him standing at the bar with Iruka, reaching for his mask to pull it down and drink beer…she narrowed her eyes, prepared to see what he really looked like…and then someone blocked her vision and by the time they moved, Kakashi's mask was in place and he didn't appear to have any intention of pulling it down again.

'Damn,' she thought.

"Kagome!" Sakura called, and she turned back to the group of girls. "You just have to tell us!" she giggled, "How did you meet such a hottie? I mean, I've always thought about joining the K.F.C. but since I'm in the S.F.C. I haven't." K.F.C., Kagome wondered what the heck that could be, and then it struck her. 'Kakashi Fan Club'.

"Well, actually," Kagome said, ready to dish out the prepared lie, "we met in a chat room." The entire table fell silent and Kagome wondered if there was actually something wrong with that. Did Kakashi have something seriously against chat rooms? If so, he should have said something when they decided on that lie together.

The longer the girls remained silent, the more nervous and agitated she grew. Then, all at once, the girls crowed in delight and she let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. "I knew it!" Ten-Ten cheered. "I knew that guy had a reason for it!"

"Reason for what?" Kagome asked, perplexed and wondering if her own question would be safe to ask.

Ino bellowed, "Kakashi's father got the school to ban all internet chat room use last semester!"

"He did?" Kagome said, letting a girlish gasp escape her lips, even though it was lost in the noise of the loud bar. "Why would he do that?"

"Oh, you didn't know the chat rooms had been banned?" Ten-Ten inquired, somewhat astonished and maybe a little suspicious. "If you met in a chat room, wouldn't you have known?"

"Sadly, no. We met online, but Kakashi sold his laptop shortly after, so the two of us wrote letters back and forth. It's just that international mail takes so long!" The other girls glanced at Kagome in sympathy. Even though Sakura knew the truth, the girl seemed impressed as though she almost believed it herself. "So, I decided to come here for a few weeks and visit him."

"So what's the sex life like?" Ino asked excitedly. Poor Hinata was so taken aback by the question, she spat her beer across the table, hitting Ten-Ten. Ten-Ten glared at Ino for it, and excused herself for the ladies' room.

Kagome laughed. "That's a little personal, but if you must know," Kagome winked at Hinata, and the girl turned bright red, "it's like a roller coaster. You know it'll end, but not before you're fully satisfied, your heart feels like it'll beat right from your chest, and you're completely ready to get right back in line once you reach the end."

Sakura burst into tears of laughter at Kagome's explanation and excused herself from the table. Kagome watched Sakura weave through the crowd, a grin on her face, and saw Sakura walk up to Naruto (the guy was playing pool with another boy with black hair that was spiky in the back, but his bangs hung down in his face). There was a whispered exchange before Naruto was grinning recklessly.

"Kagome, you just have to tell me," Ino said as Ten-Ten rejoined them moments later and the glasses were refilled, "What was it like seeing Kakashi for the very first time when you got off the train?"

'Someone's been talking to the fan club,' Kagome thought. She made her face look dreamy before saying, "Well, I knew it was him from the moment I saw him," she thought but didn't add, 'but only because Naruto said he was on crutches and the only person I saw there on crutches was him.'

"Aww," Ino sighed happily before her eyes honed in on someone over Kagome's shoulder. "That skank!" she growled, getting out of her seat and making her way through the crowd.

Kagome blinked at Ino's departure and Hinata explained, "Ino and Sakura are both in Sasuke's fan club," she pointed to the young man Naruto was playing pool with. Sakura was flirting shamelessly with that man, distracting him from the game and causing him to miss the cue ball entirely with the pool stick. He looked like he would love nothing more than to shove the pool stick up Sakura's bum.

"I see," Kagome smiled and looked at Ten-Ten, who had resumed scanning the crowd. "And you, Ten-Ten?" she asked. Ten-Ten looked at her.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Who do you like, if not Kakashi or Sasuke? I've not been here that long, but both seem to be popular enough to have a fan club."

Ten-Ten grinned ferally. "I like Hinata's cousin," and immediately pouted, "but I think he's not coming tonight."

"Neiji's on a mission," Hinata apologized to Ten-Ten.

"Without me?" Ten-Ten sighed as if her heart was breaking.

"He went with two other Jounin-level shinobi. He said you were a distraction on the field," Hinata was being bluntly honest.

"Oh, he's worried about me," Ten-Ten perked up. "I knew I had a chance with him!"

Hinata whispered to Kagome, "Neiji told Ten-Ten that the day he dated her would be the day he ate beef." At Kagome's confused glance, Hinata explained, "Neiji's a vegetarian," and it made sense to Kagome then.

"So," Kagome said turning to look at Hinata, "what about you? I see you're dating Naruto. How long have you been dating?"

Hinata took a sip of her beverage as she appeared to be counting mentally. "Five years, I think. We both knew we wanted to go to K.U. before we even graduated at the academy, so we signed up early. I met him on admissions day in the University when we both went to make sure there was a spot reserved."

"Did you like him?" Kagome asked.

"Me? Like him?" Hinata giggled. "Well, not exactly. He annoyed the heck out of me. He swears a lot, well, not as much as Kiba, and he's always loud. He's very proud to be an Uzumaki, and everyone else in the city thinks he's a monster. But, it was the kind of annoying that I guess I was attracted to, because I couldn't stop thinking about him after that day, and I started noticing him at the academy more and more until two weeks later, he walked up to me and asked me out."

"Did you go with him?" Kagome asked.

"Yes, and no," Hinata admitted. She stared dreamily at the amber liquid of her beverage. "I said I'd go, but my father told me I wouldn't be meeting the 'monster' of Konoha. My father even went to the extremes of tying me up in my bedroom that night. Naruto seemed to know something was wrong, though, because he snuck into our house after dark and he found me all tied up. He untied me, and we ran away together. For a while, it was nice. A few weeks in, Sasuke," she tilted her head at the assaulted man pinned by Ino and Sakura, "came to tell us we had to come back."

"Why did you have to come back?"

"Orders," Hinata pursed her lips in slight irritation. "Hokage-sama sent orders to bring us back, and we knew if we didn't go willingly, we'd have to go by force. But when we got back, all was well anyway, and I moved into the branch house with my cousin Neiji who doesn't care what I do as long as I stay out of his way."

"Sounds like a lovely family," Kagome shook her head slightly. "Why does everyone think Naruto's a monster?"

"Didn't Kakashi tell you?" Ten-Ten asked, and both the other girls suddenly realized she was at their table.

Kagome shook her head. "We didn't talk about Naruto in our letters," she said honestly. How could they have, if there were no letters to begin with?

"Well," Ten-Ten said conspiratorially, "Naruto is a monster, that's why everyone calls him one."

"I don't follow," Kagome admitted.

Hinata sighed as though she wished the subject hadn't come up, but she indulged an explanation so it would be the real one. "When Naruto was born, his mother was possessed by the fox demon Kyuubi, and she destroyed half the town. Naruto's father managed to extract the demon and seal it within Naruto, but in the process, both Naruto's parents died. That's why he lives with the Umino family. They took him in, out of gratitude for the Fourth Hokage – Naruto's father – saving their lives and the life of their son."

"I see," Kagome realized that was the demonic something or other that she had sensed in Naruto. Ten-Ten refilled Hinata and Kagome's glasses before leaving the table to find a more interesting conversational victim. "So tell me about Krima University," Kagome told Hinata. "I've heard a little about it."

"Oh, it's a wonderful place," Hinata said. "Some of the professors, like Professor Orochimaru who teaches classes like "Plans of an Evil Genius and How to Foil them", aren't the nicest characters ever. Professor Orochimaru always sounds like a snake, and not only that but he's gay. He's got this thing for Sasuke – he actually is in the Sasuke Fan Club – and that's rather disturbing to watch. But others like Professor Barty who teaches "Tactics 101" and Coach Yugowolf who teaches "Defensive Training" are really nice. Even the Headmaster is really nice, but you don't see him very often."

Kagome smiled slightly and again thought about the University. It seemed like the type of place she would enjoy going to. It would keep her active if she went and most likely her boredom factor would go down by a million points. She would have something to do every day!

A hand on her shoulder caused her to turn. She blinked up at Iruka. He grinned. "Um, Kakashi's a little drunk. Would you mind taking him home before he gets up on the pool table and starts singing?" Kagome looked over to the bar. Kakashi was a little tipsy, half falling off his chair.

"It was nice meeting you, Hinata." Kagome told the girl with a smile. The girl smiled back, and Kagome felt bad for lying to her about Kakashi a little bit but she tamped that bad feeling down. She moved over to the bar and Kakashi slung a companionable arm around her shoulders, appearing to be completely wasted.

"No body knows the trouble I've seen," Kakashi sang rather light-heartedly and then paused as if he didn't know the next lyrics so he switched to a totally new song. "I saw three ships come sailing in," again he switched songs, "Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the feast of," another new song, "Stella, Stella Erans, Stella, Ste-he-he-laaaaaa," he hiccupped.

"Come on, baby," Kagome told him, grinning at him. "Let's get you home and in bed, before you hurt your voice by singing."

"La ha ha ha ha la ha ha ha ha!" he sang as they moved down the street, him leaning heavily on her and trying to pull a note out of a mental hat. "Three black crows were sitting on a fence!!" he bellowed.

"Shh," she encouraged him, and he finally resorted to hiccupping continuously instead of destroying her eardrums. By the time they got to his apartment (Kagome stumbled under his weight at the front door and ended up knocking her upper arm rather painfully on the door knob) and locked themselves in, he was sobbing against Kagome's shoulder. "It's okay," Kagome said, confused by the behavior.

"I let it happen," he cried. He seemed to get heavier on her shoulders as if he just wanted to curl up where he was. "I let it happen, it was all my fault, I could have stopped him, I could have, I could have done something," the man cried. It was strange watching a twenty-four year old sob like a baby.

"Let's just get you into your nice, soft bed," Kagome told Kakashi, helping him to his room. She helped him on his bed and he curled up into his pillow, sobbing into it miserably. Sitting beside him, she brushed a hand through his silky hair and asked, "What is it? What did you do?"

Hiccupping, he said, "I let my dad die, I let him die, it's my fault, if I had just been stronger, I could have gotten him down myself, I could have lifted him up."

She remembered the story about how Kakashi had seen his father commit suicide all alone in their summer cottage. She lay next to the drunk man and ran her hands through his hair, whispering soft comforts in his ear. She didn't know why he would think it was his fault; he had been five at the time, and could hardly be blamed.

When Kakashi had silenced and fallen into slumber, she got up and went into the living room to sleep on the couch. She'd seen drunks before, but never a miserable drunk. Abusive drunks and happy drunks, but never one like Kakashi.

When morning came and Kakashi stumbled out of his bedroom looking green (if the shade of skin around his black eye was indication at all), Kagome was already up and at his stove, cooking stuffed French toast. She set a plate of it in front of him, adding some bacon and sausages to his plate and poured him a glass of milk. He sat down at his table and moaned, putting his head in his hands.

"Good morning, my drunken baby," Kagome teased him, and was rewarded with a confused look. She saw absolutely nothing wrong with bringing up the truthful fact that he'd gone and drunk himself stupid the night before. She wasn't going to spare his feelings; it would only harm him if she tried to keep the fact away from him. He was a depressed drunk and had issues he needed to cope with.

"Drunken," he murmured before his green skin turned colorless. He turned to look at Kagome with urgency written all over his body language. "Did I hurt you? Did I do anything to you?"

She could tell it was really important to him to know, and she didn't keep him waiting. She smiled slightly at him and shook her head. "No, baby, you didn't. You're a miserable drunk."

His black eye hardened and he asked, "Are you trying to spare my feelings?" She saw him looking at her arm. There was a spattering of bruising on her upper arm, but that was only because she'd tripped at the door the previous evening. "Did - I - hit - you?"

Kagome sighed and showed him the bruise he was already seeing. "No, this is from the front door. I tripped bringing you inside last night. If you did this to me, you would have known when you woke up regardless whether or not the night is hazy."

"How would I know?" he demanded. "How would I know if I hit you?"

Kagome put one hand on her hip. "Because the last wolf who took his aggression out on me while drunk woke up with a hangover and a peculiar inability to reproduce. He didn't like me much after that. Now eat your breakfast." She knew he was shocked and probably not sure whether or not to believe her. Then, he reached under the table and patted his groin, nodded, and she turned back to the stove. She heard him eating behind her, but he was done eating by the time she'd fixed her plate with bacon and the stuffed toast so she didn't get to see what he looked like.

"Ah," he began hesitantly but then barreled forward before he lost his nerve to ask the question, "wouldn't there be, you know, some charges for neutering a guy?"

"Oh, you mean criminal charges?" Kagome asked as she sat at the other end of the table with a glass of milk and her food. She smirked at her companion as he nodded. "He'd have to admit it first, and he couldn't admit it without losing the right to lead his pack. A sterile leader is a useless leader, you know."

He appeared to frown at her terminology, but she ignored it. "The food was good," he said abruptly changing the subject. "Where did you learn to cook? I've noticed you're really good before when you cooked."

"Ah, cooking," Kagome chuckled, remembering yet another of her crushes/kidnappers. "Once upon a time, I was kidnapped by someone who wanted to eat me," she said in a teasing tone of voice, and he appeared annoyed. "Guen taught me all about cooking as he prepared to cook me. Thankfully the stew he wanted took twelve days to simmer before the meat could be added. I had plenty of time to escape."

He rolled his eyes at her, clearly not believing her tale for a minute. "You could have just said 'cooking school' or something." he muttered.

Kagome winked at him. "That wouldn't be as much fun as the truth though." She laughed at the annoyed look in his eye. "What would you like to do today? We could go visit my grandma, or else," he put his head on the table and she trailed off for a moment.

"How about we stay in?" he asked.

She agreed because he looked so completely ill. He spent most of his day in the dark interior of the bathroom, alternatively vomiting or soaking in a hot bath (having to run more hot water every hour) and Kagome perused his book shelf for some reading material, completely astonished to find most of his books were romance novels - and most of them she hadn't yet read.

So, as he wasted away in the bath, she made herself comfortable on his recliner with the novel "Make-Out Violence" in hand. She was engrossed in it almost at the first sentence and time flew by. Before she knew it, she missed lunch and was quickly on her way to missing supper.

Kakashi finally came out of the bathroom in his knickers (apparently he wasn't shy for boxers, though he seemed never to take that mask off). He was wrinkled much like a soggy prune but he'd probably never been cleaner in his life. His skin was pink like a newborn babe's.

When he saw she was in no fit state to cook (sitting on the edge of the recliner, her nose two inches from the book, "No, Selma! Behind you! Behind you!") Kakashi made his way to the sink and began the makings of a vegetable stir-fry. He called dinner and she padded across the room, but regretted leaving the book on the chair.

"And they say I'm bad about romance novels," Kakashi muttered. He sat down at the table, his food already eaten, but still sat with her. Most of dinner passed in relative silence as Kagome wondered what would happen to Selma in the book. It seemed to her that Selma might - just might - be axe-murdered by a crazed psychopath ex-boyfriend Kyle who didn't want her dating anyone else.

"You like romance novels?" Kakashi asked finally.

Kagome glanced at Kakashi and sighed dreamily, leaning on her elbow. "There's something to be said about a well-done romance novel. I wrote a series of them over the last year myself, and my friends told me to get them published, but after reading most of that book there," she tilted her head at the book on the chair, "I know there's not a chance in hell anyone would read my book."

She chuckled and shook her head. "Ah well." she said as she continued eating.

Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment. "I have to leave early tomorrow morning for my step-dad's house. You don't have to come - in fact, I'd prefer if you didn't - but," she opened her mouth to object to staying but he continued before she could speak, "but you're probably going to spout some crap about suspicious fan-girls if you stay."

"Indeed," Kagome grinned. "I would spout some crap like that."

"I have to leave at five thirty tomorrow morning." he added.

"You don't have to worry about me being late," she told him. She gathered up all the dirty dishes from that day and the day before, heading to the sink to wash them. As she washed them, he dried them and put them away and Kagome felt comfortable in his company. She enjoyed her time with Kakashi and somehow, Hojou was at the very back of her mind (which wasn't hard for him, as he usually wasn't in the front of it when she was standing next to him).

As she reached in the sink to pull the drain, she felt Kakashi circle his arm around her waist. In an unconscious effort, her eyes automatically darted to each of the windows visible from her location, but all curtains were closed. Kakashi pulled her flush against his chest and her heart beat fast for the first time in what felt like too long.

For a moment, she thought he might pull the mask down and kiss her or something, but she was sorely disappointed. He leaned down and breathed in her ear, sounding incredibly sexy and sending fire into her body at the sound, "Selma - dies - Kyle - is - arrested."

Her eyes went wide and she shoved the amused man away from her. She poked his chest with a wet finger. "You jerk!" she yelled. "I didn't want to know until I got there!"

He chuckled as she stormed across the room, grabbed up the book, and disappeared into his bedroom. Slamming the door, she locked it. "I love you too," he called, almost as though he were attempting to not laugh. Really he was a cruel man, destroying the ending of the book.

She stubbornly stayed up all night, determined to finish the book in case Kakashi lied, but he told the truth. The heroine, Selma, did indeed die by the hand of her ex-boyfriend Kyle, and Selma's new boyfriend, a detective, arrested Kyle and made sure that Kyle ended up with a life sentence.

She pouted when she finished the book and saw that it was five AM. With an irritated sigh, she reached under the pillow for her picture, so she could look at it and be comforted, but it wasn't there. She threw the pillow and blankets off the bed, searching for it. Next she looked under the bed and between the bed and wall, but it wasn't anywhere to be found.

'What happened to it?' she wondered, quickly dressing in a pink skirt and black tank top, folding her pajamas up and putting them in her carry bag so she would have them at Kakashi's step-dad's. She was sure she put the picture under the pillow, but it wasn't there. She left the bedroom, intent on asking Kakashi where it was. He lay on the couch, sprawled out, his metal plate fallen onto the floor but the mask firmly in place.

'Really, he wants to leave in twenty minutes and he's still asleep,' she thought as she marched over to him and yanked off the plain sheet covering him. Immediately she found that to be a mistake move as the still sleeping man reacted in his sleep. Before she could register what had happened, he had her pinned to the floor beneath couch and coffee table, her arms held firmly above her head and his waist and legs pinning her thighs. 'Wow he's fast,' she thought.

He finally opened his eyes and blinked dazedly at her with one black eye and one red eye. While he was just waking up, she felt strangely warm by their current position. She blushed and squirmed uncomfortably beneath him, but that seemed to make matters even worse.

Her squirming woke him up enough that he could register her discomfort and he grinned in his half-wake, his eyes squinting in mischievous joy. "It seems my little civilian doesn't like not being in control…" he breathed, seeming to wake up more with each passing second. She thought when he was fully awake, he would back down, but apparently not. Last night she seemed to have crossed some imaginary boundary with him, leaving him feeling quite free to do as he pleased and act how he wanted to.

"No, I don't like it," she told him truthfully, squirming more in his strong grip. "I like being in control of things. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pulled the blanket off, so let me go, Kakashi," she demanded.

Kakashi chuckled, shifting her hands so he could hold both wrists in one of his larger hands. His hand moved down her arm, spreading goose bumps on her like the plague, and slid down her side in an agonizing crawl. Then he reached up and grasped the edge of his mask, but before she could even register what he looked like, he had buried his nose in the crook of her shoulder and she felt a hot, moist tongue running along her flesh.

She simply could not stop the gasp of delight from escaping her lips and her body - traitorous thing - stopped trying to get away from him. She could feel the feather kisses as eagerly as the sucking sensation that set her body aflame as he left a sprinkling of hickies behind on her neck. 'Why can't Hojou be like this?' she wondered. He had let go of her wrists, seeming to realize she wasn't going to try getting away anymore.

She felt his hands running along to the hem of her tank-top, and then they slipped underneath and he was pulling it up slowly… but she had to stop it. She had a boyfriend. A boring, dull, uninteresting boyfriend, but she couldn't go any further. Pretending was one thing, but she couldn't let herself cheat on poor Hojou. All the boy knew was that she was 'visiting her grandmother'. If she cheated on him in the meantime?

She had to face it. She wouldn't be staying in Konoha. She still had a life to return to after summer vacation ended, and this wasn't her life. This was a pretend life.

She pushed against Kakashi's chest and his mask was back in place before she could see him. He sat up, straddling her waist as he glanced down at her in curiosity and confusion. "What?" he demanded. "Any other girl would kill to be where you are now, but you're stopping me?"

She directed a shaky, uncertain smile up at him. "Basically," she told him. "It's all pretend, remember?" she asked him. She knew at that moment that she was growing very attracted to him, and if it weren't for Hojou, she would've hopped on the Kakashi Fan Club bandwagon.

"Pretend," he repeated, shaking his head slightly. "Yeah, I remember…" His eyes darted to the clock on the wall. "We're late," he said. "We need to get on the road." But he didn't move from straddling her waist for several minutes. Instead, he sat there staring at the clock with a cold look in his eyes and she didn't want to interrupt his thoughts.

Finally he got off her and walked around the apartment, getting the things he needed from the bedroom and the bathroom. She got up and did the same and when she entered the bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was more mussed than it would have been if she'd slept and there were little blue-purple bruises on her neck from where he'd sucked. They didn't hurt, really, but the discoloration was quite obvious.

She got a black silk scarf from her suitcase and tied it around her neck, feeling ashamed of herself. How could she? Hojou had been crushed when a random girl had come up to him and kissed him. He could hardly live with himself for several days, and that hadn't even been willing on his part. She had been quite willing to fool around with Kakashi.

She gulped down the terrible feeling of guilt and decided after this weekend, she would go home where she belonged. Two weeks with Kakashi should be enough time to get the girls to back off a little. The two of them had spent a lot of time together in public and in private.

Kagome got into Kakashi's old beaten rental car. The speedometer in the ancient car only went to forty at max, and when they got going (Kakashi was a risky driver, going a maximum speed of 25 MPH) Kagome knew she could fly faster.

They didn't talk about what happened earlier that morning between the couch and coffee table, and he said nothing about the scarf she'd put around her neck. Instead, they simply drove to his step-dad's place and by sunset, they had arrived. He parked in the driveway and turned to glance at her for a long moment, but she pretended she didn't notice and remained staring out the passenger window as if for all the world she was looking at something interesting.

"We're here," he said shortly, as if she hadn't noticed.

They grabbed their bags and she followed him mutely toward the house. He knocked several times over the course of fifteen minutes before finally getting an answer. The door slammed open and a bleary-eyed red-head glared out at them.

"Who the fuck'er you?" he asked, his pouchy cheeks waggling with each word.

"Kakashi," said Kakashi, and he sighed.

The man stepped out of the house, slamming open the screen door in his wake and his eyes came to rest on Kagome. He glared down at her, his breath stinking of alcohol, and Kagome made the connection with Kakashi's earlier behavior after hearing he'd been drunk to this man in front of her. Kakashi didn't want to be like his step-dad, and his step-dad was most likely an abusive drunk.

She stayed her ground as he sniffed her but when he reached out and grabbed her arm (she saw Kakashi instantly react), she was quick to halt his approach. She grabbed his arm with one hand, kneed him in the groin, and then flipped him over her shoulder with skill that would definitely make Aolkei proud if he'd ever seen it.

"Oooh," the drunk moaned and Kagome stepped over to stand beside Kakashi.

She felt Kakashi put a prideful arm around her shoulders and knew Kakashi was starting to get the idea in his head that maybe she could handle her own safety. She heard a pleasant, happy tone in Kakashi's voice as he addressed the drunk. "Ah, and this is my girlfriend, Kagome."

The drunk swore violently and clamored to his feet. He had a glare for both of them and sobered up really quickly. "Little shit's gotta get a bitch to protect him," the man spat before storming into the house.
When he was gone, Kakashi breathed in Kagome's ear (his very voice making her want to pounce on him), "Sorry about him. He's been that way since I've known him, and he's rarely sober. Whatever he says, don't take it to heart."

Kagome sent a small smile at Kakashi. "Don't worry about me," she told him and together they stepped into the house.

End