Disclaimer and warning: I don't own anything from this story but the plotline. Inuyasha and Naruto characters belong to other people, not me. I write for the fun of it and if you don't like my work just remember that I'm not making you read this. Please keep flames to yourself. Compliments are welcome. Criticism is a little pointless because I'm not going to go back and edit anything in this.
Please enjoy the fruits of my labour.
For the Pure and the Sinners
Annamarie Couch
Chapter 1
Begin Anew
Kagome locked the door of her tiny three-tatami apartment behind her. Today was her first full day in this new city, this city that was nowhere near the Bone-eater's Well. She smiled and pocketed her keys, feeling both very cheerful and very lonely. This was the first time in her life, other than when she had first fallen down the well, that she would be completely on her own.
Her apartment building was not in the best of shape, nor was it in the worst, so she was not complaining too much since the rent was a fair price and she did not really need all that much space. The only window in her rented room looked out at a sea of buildings that had seen better days. It was a far cry from her home shrine but Kagome was determined to start a new life without evil youkai or power-hungry villains after the sacred jewel she protected and purified on a daily basis. Strange to think that constant danger and threats to your well-being and health wore on you after a while. Strange indeed...
She greeted a middle-aged woman in the hall. The lady nodded and smiled back at her as she passed. Kagome made her way outside into the morning sunlight, a sheaf of papers held loosely in one hand, her purse in the other.
"Good morning," She smiled at an old man sitting just outside the door. He looked up from a shogi board.
"Hello young lady," he smiled back, "Could I interest you in a game?" he gestured to the board before him. Kagome declined apologetically.
"I'm sorry, I have to find a job," she explained, "Could we play some other time? I would really like to but I just can't right now,"
"Ah, don' worry about it, little missy," he waved it off. Kagome apologized again and jogged down the street.
Now to start a day of Job Hunting.
First stop was a cute little flower shop she had spotted the day before when she was moving in. The man behind the counter was a pleasant, chubby brunet with interesting facial tattoos named Akimichi Choji, who Kagome got along with famously. They chatted for the better part of half an hour and he assured Kagome that he would give her resumè to his wife's parents, who owned the shop.
"Are you new to Konohagakure, Higurashi-san?" he asked. Kagome nodded, smiling brightly.
"I just moved here yesterday," she admitted, "is it that glaringly apparent?"
"Well," he grinned, "I've just never seen you around before. You look to be about my age so I was surprised that I didn't recognize you. After a while you'll be able to pick out the natives of Konoha,"
"Oh? Is there something that sets you apart from the rest of the world?" she asked humorously and arched an eyebrow.
"You'll find out soon enough," he said mysteriously, "But a word of advice, don't pick any fights, even with the kids, and don't wander around by yourself after dark,"
"Choji, could you help me out here?" a feminine voice called from the back of the shop. Choji excused himself and poked his head into the back room to see what was needed of him. He returned carrying a large display of flowers with an elegantly slender blonde woman trailing behind him. After depositing the flowers where the woman dictated he introduced Kagome to his wife, Akimichi Ino. Ino, dusting her hands off on an apron, smiled and bowed. Kagome bowed as well.
"Are you new in Konoha?" Ino asked. Kagome laughed a little, scratching the back of her head nervously.
"Yes I am," she nodded, "I just moved here yesterday an I'm trying to find a job. How could you tell?"
"Well," Ino eyed her up and down, "I don't recognize you and you look to be about my age,"
"I take it everyone here knows everyone else their age?" Kagome sighed, sounding just a little defeated. Ino and Choji laughed.
"Well, yes," Ino grinned. "Don't worry about it, there's nothing you can do about it. If you stick around long enough you just might learn to fit in like a native,"
"Almost," Choji corrected kindly, "Almost like a native,"
"Where are you living?" Ino asked. Kagome told her and the woman considered.
"That's the same building as Naruto, isn't it Choji?" she finally said. Choji nodded slowly.
"I think so,"
Kagome was confused. "Who's Naruto?"
"Naruto is a friend of ours and one of the people in the running to be the next leader of Konoha," Choji explained. Kagome nodded.
"I'll arrange for you two to meet. If you have any problems you can talk to him," Ino decided, "He's a bit of a loudmouth and a moron sometimes but you can't find anyone any more trustworthy than him,"
"CHOJI! INO!" a blond ball of energy burst through the shop doors, narrowly missing colliding with both the displays and Kagome.
"Speak of the devil," Ino frowned, "Naruto how many times have I told you not to run into the shop like that?"
"Sorry Ino but this is important!" Naruto said excitedly.
"What is it Naruto?" Choji asked.
"Fuzzy Brows and Sakura are going out!" he said, practically bubbling with barely restrained humor. Ino almost fell over.
"Forehead-girl and the bug-brows?" she exclaimed. Something twigged in Kagome's memory but she could not quite place it.
"Rock Lee? And Sakura-kun?" Choji sounded as if he couldn't quite believe it.
"Wait," Kagome interrupted, "Rock Lee? Skinny guy with thick eyebrows and a bad haircut? Always talking about the passion of youth?"
"You know him?" Naruto asked, finally noticing her presence, "Who are you?"
"Me? I'm Higurashi Kagome. I just moved into town yesterday. Apparently we live in the same building,"
"Really?" Naruto grinned, "That's great! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm gonna be the next Hokage!" he declared.
"Hokage?" Kagome was confused. Ino and Choji sighed.
"Calm down Naruto, you're going to scare her," Choji said, waving a hand at the overly exuberant blond, "Kagome, the Hokage is the, well, the leader of the village,"
"Oh," Kagome nodded.
"So how do you know Lee?" Ino asked, intrigued.
"He's my cousin," Kagome shrugged. "I didn't think I'd hear of him so soon but I can't say I'm surprised. He's one of those people, you know,"
"Trust me," Ino grinned, "We know,"
"How do you know him?"
"We went to the academy together," Naruto stated.
"Academy?"
"Ninja school!"
Kagome stared at him. "Ninja?" she said blankly, "You're a ninja?" She eyed his bright orange jacket warily.
"You better believe it! I'm the best ninja there is!"
Somehow she didn't feel convinced.
"Much as I hate to admit it," Ino came to his defense when it was glaringly apparent that Kagome did not believe him, "Naruto is ranked among the most powerful of the village's fighters,"
"I can see that much," Kagome murmured, her miko senses extending towards the blond. There was a pool of restrained youki around his abdomen, the likes of which she had never felt before in her life. Naruto stepped back, a hand going to cover his stomach defensively.
"Miko?" he asked quietly. Kagome looked up into his sky blue eyes, her dark sapphire eyes twinkling.
"I am. Don't worry, I won't do anything to you unless you force me to," she reassured him.
"That so?" he stepped forward again, looking her over with new respect, "And it looks like you're a pretty powerful one too,"
"I can hold my own," she shrugged.
Choji and Ino looked lost.
"Miko? What's so important about that?" Ino asked. Kagome apologized.
"Forgive me," she blushed, "I'm what is called a Traditional Miko. It's nothing much really and I'm pretty useless in a serious fight against humans because my gifts are geared towards youkai. Traditionally my job is to hold the balance between human and youkai but really all I do is pick off the bad apples who just like to fight and kill just for the fun of it,"
"Huh," Naruto grinned as if he had come to some internal agreement, "Seems like I can trust you,"
"That's a good thing," Kagome smiled brightly, "It's not my plan to make enemies here, I'm only looking for work,"
"A job, eh?" Naruto scratched his chin. Ino glared.
"Naruto, don't even think of it. You have no idea what would be decent work for a woman. No, Sakura and I will help Kagome-chan find a job," she declared. Kagome blinked at her, surprised.
"That's really not necessary, Akimichi-san," she protested. Ino put her foot down.
"No, it is. Trust me. There are some places you just don't want to go. And between me and forehead-girl we can get you working within the week,"
Kagome gave up and bowed to Ino's will with a meek, "Yes, ma'am,"
"Good," Ino beamed, "First things first, Naruto, Buy this girl some lunch, and not ramen!"
"What?" He protested, "Why me?"
"Because Choji and I have to watch the shop and you know where the restaurants are," Ino reasoned.
Naruto grumbled, but he caved and soon both he and Kagome were walking the streets of Konoha. Kagome noticed he looked pretty down. Talking a guess, she said, "Ramen isn't a problem with me,"
It must have been the right thing because suddenly he was charged and full of energy again, dragging her by the hand to his favorite ramen stand. The old man behind the counter greeted Naruto enthusiastically.
"Naruto! Where have you been?" he asked as Naruto sat down on one of the stools. Naruto grinned.
"Just got back from a mission," he declared. Kagome smiled, sliding quietly onto a stool next to the loud blond.
"And who's your friend?"
"Who? This?" Naruto gestured to Kagome. Kagome rolled her eyes, "This is Kagome. She just moved here and she's living in the same building as me,"
"Just moved here, eh?" he peered over the counter at her, "Where are you from, little missy?"
"Born and raised in Tokyo, sir," she answered promptly.
"Tokyo, eh?" he scratched his chin and started tossing together Naruto's usual, "That's a ways away from here. What brought you here?"
"I needed a change of scenery," Kagome shrugged, trying not to look uncomfortable.
"Naruto!" called a deep cheery voice. Naruto spun around on his stool. Kagome glanced over her shoulder to see who was speaking.
Her first thought was: why does he keep so much of his face covered?
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Yo!" Kakashi waved his little orange book, coming closer, "Who's your friend, Naruto?" he asked, noticing Kagome. He slipped his book into one of his vest pockets. She twisted around to face the older man and smiled.
"I'm Higurashi Kagome," she introduced herself, bowing a little.
"Hatake Kakashi," he took her hand and pressed his masked lips to its back. Kagome blushed and tried to tug out of his grip. He did not let go. "You're not a ninja, are you?" he asked. Kagome shook her head. She did not even notice Naruto glaring at the tall sliver-haired man. "Strange to see Naruto hanging out with someone who's not shinobi," he mused.
"I take it you're a ninja as well," she hazarded.
"Got it in one," he grinned. Perhaps. She could not really tell what with the mask and all. But it sounded like he was grinning.
She tugged on her hand again. Still no luck.
"So you're Naruto-san's sensei?"
"One of them," he shrugged, perching himself on a stool next to her. He still had a firm grip on her hand. Kagome frowned.
"Can I have my hand back?" she finally asked.
Kakashi looked down at their still joined hands, surprised. He had not realized that he had not given her hand back. So, just a little sheepishly, he let go. Kagome cradled her returned hand to her chest protectively and ordered a small bowl of plain vegetable ramen. Kakashi watched her from the corner of his uncovered eye, noticing the deadly glare Naruto shot his way. He smiled at his former student and ordered his own bowl of ramen.
Naruto almost died of shock.
"What's wrong, Naruto-san?" Kagome asked, concerned when he didn't move for a full minute, chopsticks laden with noodles hovering not two inches from his open mouth. His eyes stared past her and she turned to see what was so interesting.
Kakashi picked up his chopsticks, fully aware of his audience. He was also aware of what was about to happen. He started to tug down his mask.
"NARUTO!" a ball of pre-teenaged energy hurled itself into Naruto's side, causing them to tumble painfully to the ground.
By the time Naruto had disentangled himself from a bubbling Konohamaru Kakashi had already put his chopsticks down with an appreciative "Gochisosama."
"Argh! What is it!" Naruto rounded on his young friend, frustrated that his chance at seeing his sensei's unveiled face was yet again so cruelly thwarted. Konohamaru, unruffled by Naruto's temper, brushed some dust off of his shorts.
"Did you hear about Sakura-chan and Lee? I always thought that she was too creeped out by Mr. Bug-brows to even get near him," he chattered. Kagome snorted into her ramen. Bug-brows, eh? Guess he still had not learned to pluck yet. She looked up and noticed that the girl who worked behind the counter was staring at Kakashi with hearts in her eyes. Guess she must have caught a glimpse of what lay beneath the mask.
"Girl," Kagome advised, pointing her chopsticks at her, "don't bet on a pretty face. More often than not they're nothing but trouble no matter where, no matter when. Trust me on this, I'm an authority, what with all the guys I worked with who had faces of gods. Seriously, you'd think it was something to do with species. Probably is, too," she sighed, pushed herself to her feel and paid for her meal. The girl looked surprised at Kagome's advice but Kagome paid it no heed. "You. Kid," she rounded on Konohamaru.
"Me?" he asked.
"You know where Lee is right now?"
"Yeah. Why?" he looked quite puzzled. Kagome nodded to herself, deciding something.
"Can you take me to him?"
"Sure, I guess," he looked vaguely at a loss as to what to do with the pretty woman demanding his services.
"Why do you want to see Lee-kun?" asked Kakashi, perplexed.
"To head my mother off before she can start nagging for me to check in on him," she shrugged. "The only reason she let me move this far from home was because I have a cousin here,"
"Lee-kun?" he guessed. She nodded.
"Father's side," was her only explanation before she rounded on Konohamaru, "Hey, you gonna take me to him today or should I just pitch a tent and wait for you to move?"
"Sorry, Ma'am," he squeaked, all of his ninja courage flying out the window for a reason beyond his comprehension.
"Don't be sorry," she frowned a little, "You're a ninja too, aren't you? Where's your pride? March, boy!"
The bewildered – and no little intimidated – Konohamaru eeped and scampered down the street, Kagome trailing close behind. Naruto and Kakashi watched both amused and just a little confused.
Kakashi pushed away from the stand, leaving a few coins on the counter next to his empty bowl and sauntered down the street. He had a meeting that should be almost over by now that he had to get to. It would be bad form for him to miss out on the tag end after all.
Kagome followed the intimidated boy though the unfamiliar streets with just a little wariness. This was a new city after all and she was already hopelessly lost and it hadn't even been two minutes! She really needed in invest in a map.
"So was I right in my guess that you're a ninja too?" she asked. Konohamaru nodded.
"Yeah, but I'm only a genin right now. I'll be entering the chuunin exams this fall,"
"So," Kagome thought about it, "technically you're still in training, right?"
"No way! I'm not-" He cried, spinning around defiantly. Kagome stared down at him, hard.
"Don't lie to a miko. It's bad karma," she advised sternly. Konohamaru blushed but refused to say anything, his attention fixated on finding Lee and getting rid of this overbearing woman trailing behind him. She was just so creepy for some reason.
He hunched his shoulders a bit, feeling the weight of her stare boring into the back of his skull. He spread his senses out, searching for Lee's quite specialized chakra signature. It wasn't hard to find, and was surprisingly close. They turned a corner and Konohamaru waved.
"LEE! I brought someone to see you!" he called down the street. A couple people looked at him oddly but it was nothing to the looks they were going to have on their faces.
"Someone to see me!" Lee exclaimed in excitement, "Such is wonderful news! On this beautiful spring day it is my pleasure to live with the power of youth and-"
"Lee-kun," Kagome stepped forward, smiling a little, "Enough with the speech, please,"
Lee's jaw dropped. He didn't move. Kagome stared at him.
"What? What's wrong with you?"
"K-Kagome-chan? What are you doing here?" he stuttered.
"I just moved here," she shrugged, "and I figured I better look you up before mom reminds me,"
Suddenly she was tackled by an over enthusiastic cousin, and somehow they both ended up on the ground. Kagome groaned and pushed him off of her as he prattled on about how wonderful it was for her to be there and so on and so forth.
A chill ran up Kagome's spine and she glanced over Lee's shoulder. A pink-haired girl was standing there, fury in her eyes and cracking her knuckles dangerously.
"Lee," Kagome interrupted, her eyes not straying from the new girl, "Care to introduce your friend?"
Lee twisted about and an even brighter smile lit up his boyish face as he spotted his irate girlfriend. "Sakura-chan! You're just in time! This is my cousin, Kagome-chan. Kagome-chan, this is my girlfriend, Sakura-chan,"
"It's nice to meet you Sakura-san," Kagome smiled, pulling herself to her feet and dusting off her clothes, "I heard that Lee here had gotten a girlfriend, I hope you can take care of him,"
Sakura blinked as her previously perceived rival suddenly dropped in danger status. "Uh," she dropped her fists and blinked, "Nice to meet you,"
"The pleasure is all mine," Kagome grinned, "I hope we can get to know each other in the future,"
"You're Lee's cousin?" Sakura sounded quite confused. Kagome nodded.
"On our father's sides," she said as if that explained everything. Sakura nodded slowly.
"So you just moved to Konoha?"
"Yep!" Kagome chirped, scaring the bejeezers out of Konohamaru, "This is day one. I've been doing a little job hunting but for some reason I keep running into ninjas. I didn't even know that there were still so many ninjas around. It's kinda amazing,"
"Well," Sakura laughed, "You did move to a ninja village you know,"
Kagome's eyes widened, "Then don't tell me you're a kunoichi?"
"You better believe it! I've been apprenticing under the Hokage to be a Medicnin," Sakura said proudly. Kagome looked confused.
"Medicnin? Isn't that something of a contradiction?" she asked. Sakura blinked. "What's a Medicnin supposed to do? I mean, I understand the whole ninja bit but what does a Medicnin do?"
"First response, major surgeries. We're the combative doctors," She boasted, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "We're murder in a fight too,"
"Sakura-chan's going to be the best Medicnin in the world," Lee cheered her on. Sakura blushed a little and waved a hand.
"Well, I hope to be at least as good as Tsunade-sama,"
"Tsunade-sama?" Kagome was lost. That was the disadvantage, she was finding, of moving to somewhere new: you knew nothing.
Thankfully Kagome was able to find work with relative ease. She got a job at the local library cataloging books and scroll. The latter puzzled her since she had not heard of libraries keeping scrolls, much less scrolls that were open to the privileged public. But she did not let it bother her. After all, what was the point in dwelling on it?
"Good evening, Miss,"
"Good morning, Hatake-san," Kagome corrected, "You're a couple hours late for it to be evening,"
Hatake Kakashi. Kagome did not understand – probably willing herself to be innocent of it – why he kept popping up whenever she was out.
Kakashi shrugged helplessly and deftly relieved her of her stack of books that she was bringing back to the library, "Looks like you were up all night again," he admonished. Kagome coughed lightly and blushed but did not deny anything. "Anything interesting?"
"Would you read them even if I recommended them?" she asked archly, fully aware of his preferences in literature.
"I might," he smiled winningly behind his mask.
Kagome shook her head. "Well, if the fancy takes you, Foxfire and Jewels is an excellent read. I'm thinking about buying my own copy and maybe another copy for Mama. The author had a strange grasp of what happened during the last battle for a scared artifact that happened oh, about five hundred years back,"
"Is that so?"
"What are you doing up this early, Hatake-san?"
"Ah, well, you see there was this bird that knocked on my window--"
"Never mind," Kagome laughed. Kakashi smiled down at the little woman.
"It was quite the pretty little bird too," he insisted.
"I'm sure it was," she teased, "and I bet she sang you a pretty song too,"
"Actually she was fleeing from a nasty old tom cat and begged me for sanctuary,"
"I see," she nodded sagely, "And you, being the kind soul that you are, granted her asylum and protected her to the bitter end?"
"Of course!"
"Of course," Kagome nodded, agreeing. She tossed the masked jounin an amused smile, "And how are you doing today?"
"Since I've seen you? Wonderful,"
Oh, Kakashi was seriously starting to sound like Miroku with lines like that. Kagome had to stop herself from laughing at the similarities. It seemed that harmless perverts spanned professions from priest to ninja indiscriminately.
"And you, Kagome-chan?"
"Tired," she laughed, "But it's my own fault for staying up so late reading. Bad habit,"
"Very terrible. There should be some kind of 'Readers Anonymous,' shouldn't there?"
"I'll join if you do,"
Kakashi almost paused, wondering if she had heard about his little 'literature' addiction. It would have had to have been from someone other than him because he had never even produced the questionable material in her presence. For some reason beyond his understanding he felt that it would be… blasphemous… to allow any of the Icha Icha series to come into Kagome's presence.
"Why should I join?" he asked innocently, fishing to see if she did know about his little Adult Manga Addiction.
"Why not?" Kagome smiled, "I'm sure an intelligent man like you is a big reader too,"
"Right," Sure. Whatever. Kakashi did not believe a word of it.
"Ah," Kagome stopped, "Here's the library. Thank you for carrying my books for me," she accepted the stack and wished the jounin a good day, steeling herself for hours of shelving, categorizing and dealing with the patrons.
AN: Morning all! Sessha-chan here with another far-from-stellar piece of work. If you haven't caught on yet this is a Inuyasha/Naruto crossover. If you did notice that (by any means of observation) i give you a cookie! Here you go! Oi. Just a note on this particular fic: i am sick an tired of looking at it. There. It's out in the open. It's not that the story is bad. I kinda like it. But i worked on it for so long that i started twitching. And you know that that's not good.
Anyways, ten points go to the person who can guess what the pairing for this romance is going to be. Mind you, i already have this 100 done and i ain't going to go back and change things so if you have any problems with it... please, PLEASE, keep them to yourself. I DON'T have a BETA, which is why this one took so long to edit. (I kept shoving it under my bed in disgust)
Well, enjoy anyways. :bows: