Tale of A Miko/Kunoichi

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I also do not own Inuyasha and I highly doubt that I ever will. These two great Manga and Anime series belong strictly to their creators. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 17: The Making of the Rosary

Genma was the first to react.

"Inuyasha?" the strange sounding name rolled off his tongue with uncertainty "What kind of a name is Inuyasha? A female dog demon?" he questioned rather bluntly, staring at their new sensei in unabashed curiosity. Raidou groaned silently beside him. Genma had positively no respect for anyone; I mean he was talking to their new sensei for heaven's sake. And as their sensei, that man had the power to make their lives a living hell if they ever crossed him wrongly.

Raidou whacked his friend at the back of his head before pushing Genma's head down, making him bow as an apology to the silver haired man. "I apologize for this guy's sake, Inuyasha-sensei," he began rather smoothly "Genma's the type of guy to talk before he thinks."

Raidou ignored Genma's outcry of 'Hey!' and acted as if he hadn't heard it "I hope you're not offended."

Inuyasha only smirked in open amusement "Not really. I get that from the other people all the time. But you," he looked Genma right in the eyes, "are quite an interesting brat; no one's ever said that to my face before. I only hear them gossiping about it amongst their little groups; bunch of cowardly bastards…" he muttered the last part out. "And for your information, my name is broken down as 'inu' for dog and 'yasha' for forest spirit, not a freaking female dog demon," he explained, looking quite annoyed.

Why did people always assume his name meant female dog demon the first time they heard it? Couldn't they have any brains in the least to assume the other meaning it could possibly have? Oh damn his father to the seven hells for naming him that! He'd never had an easy life as a child, and the name only made things worse…

Genma smiled sheepishly at the man "Ehehe… I'm sorry Inuyasha-sensei."

Inuyasha scoffed and crossed his arms, taking some time to examine his new students. He could tell the boys were both all right in terms of personality and scent; they didn't smell like bad children. And Sarutobi had also told him that they had some experience in the field because they had already been Genin for a year.

But the new girl on the team… not only was she so much younger than both of the boys in her team…she had only graduated today.

And while it was commendable that she had completed the 3 year academy course in 1 year, still…she didn't really have any experience on the field; which meant that the whole team would have to be stuck doing the D-rank missions for the time being.

Damn it…

If there was something that was the bane of Inuyasha's existence, then it would be D-ranks missions. They were extremely boring missions that lacked action and strategy. The missions were simply too easy for a ninja of his caliber to even bother supervising. Inuyasha grumbled under his breath at the prospects of doing stupid D-rank missions again. He was pretty sure now that Sarutobi Hiruzen enjoyed nothing more than fucking with him.

Why else would Sarutobi assign him a Genin team out of the blue?

Inuyasha had not taken a Genin team in decades, because all his previous students described him as having a nasty temper that was to be feared. Also, he was hard on his students and wouldn't tolerate failure. He was hard on failure. And he hated kids.

So why the hell would Sarutobi assign him a team?

Inuyasha could swear to god that Sarutobi still bore a grudge against him because of the hard times Inuyasha gave him back when they were kids. Well Inuyasha couldn't help it! He was possessive of his precious people and it was that damned Sarutobi's fault for stealing away two of his most important people!

Always hogging their attention…making them spend all their time with him instead…making them estranged from Inuyasha… stupid Sarutobi…

Inuyasha's grumbling grew louder and his new students fidgeted uncomfortably at their sensei's strange behavior. Finally…Inuyasha stopped his mumbling and he gave each boy a once over again but he paused in surprise when he finally looked at his newest female student in the face.

'Kikyo,' was the first thought that came to Inuyasha's mind.

That new girl resembled Kikyo more than he could have imagined and she could have even been mistaken for the older woman's sister. But Inuyasha knew that Kikyo only had another sister, Kaede. And besides, Inuyasha noticed that this girl had a totally different color of eyes from Kikyo; her eyes were ice blue while Kikyo's were of the darkest black. Anyway, as he continued to stare at her, a frown appeared on his face when he noticed that the girl was staring at him with a peculiar expression in her eyes.

It was almost as if she knew what he was…

Nah, Inuyasha shook his head lightly. It was probably just his imagination. With that assurance in mind, Inuyasha made his way over to the front desk and leaned casually against it. "So…" he drawled out lazily "Now that we're all here, I'd like you three to introduce yourselves to me."

Genma scratched his head "What do we say?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and resisted the immense urge to sigh. "I don't know, let me think about it for a sec," he muttered and he paused to remember what it was that two of his previous sensei had asked him to reveal. Ah…he remembered now.

"How about your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future and stuff like that?" he asked with a cocky smirk.

When the three genin were done speaking, Inuyasha stretched his arms over his head, feeling the kink that had built up at the base of his neck disperse with a loud crack. "Ah…" he sighed softly in satisfaction before turning his attention back to his students.

"Right, now that that's over with…" he began.

"Umm… Inuyasha-sensei?" Genma called with uncertainty. Inuyasha stopped talking and gestured for Genma to continue. The genin glanced at the floor; he felt slightly uncomfortable being the sole recipient of his sensei's piercing amber eyes. "…You haven't told us about yourself yet, so the only thing we know about you is your name. Since we've told you about us, I think it's only fair if you tell us about yourself. Isn't that right, Raidou? Kagome?"

The other two genin looked slightly surprised to be suddenly included in the conversation, but nevertheless, they both gave their sensei a nod.

Inuyasha blinked at his new team before a slow smirk made its way on his lips. He had a feeling in his gut that somehow this team here was going to be very different from all the previous teams he had taken in the past; because for one thing, not one of his previous students had dared to ask him to tell them about himself.

And speaking of which, he also didn't feel like telling them about himself. But still… he thought as he stared into those pair of pleading brown eyes…

He sighed; another reason he didn't like kids…he was a sucker to the pathetic looks that they gave him… "Fine then. My name is Inuyasha and I like to eat ramen. My favorite ramen is Tonkotsu Ramen. I dislike having to eat other foods other than ramen. My hobbies… practicing my swordplay," stalking Kikyo, "eating different kinds of ramen and taking walks on the rooftops. My dreams for the future… to get my sweet revenge on that damn Saru and to make sure he remembers to never fuck with me again…"

"Who's Saru?" Raidou asked curiously.

Inuyasha shot him a look "Not anyone you need to know. So, now that we've got finished all the introductions, I'll brief you on what's going to happen tomorrow. You all know that after you pass the academy, there's an extra test to make sure you stay a Genin right?"

Everyone nodded, and he continued on.

"Well technically I can't give that test to you three because you two," he indicated to Genma and Raidou, "passed that test when you graduated last year while you," he pointed to Kagome, "graduated early so the higher ups must have decided that you're already good enough to be a ninja. So for tomorrow, I'm going to test you three on how well you work together. You all have to use teamwork to try and get me to fall on my back when you fight me, because I don't think any of you could possibly defeat me," he said with a cocky smirk.

"You're a strong Jounin then Inuyasha-sensei?" Kagome piped in curiously.

"Yeah. I don't mean to brag but I'm one of the strongest Jounin in Konoha. Even the Hokage is in awe of my power," he declared proudly before he realized they had gone off topic. He cleared his throat "As I was saying, for tomorrow, you're going to meet me in Training Ground 3 at 9am to see if you three can work together to knock me on my back. If you can't do so by noon, then for the next few months, you're going to experience very vigorous training with me until you three become totally in sync with each other," he said in an overly sweet voice.

"Is that clear?" he asked, a dangerous glint in his amber eyes which made the three genin involuntarily shiver.

"Yes sensei," they chorused and the dangerous glint vanished. "Good! I'm glad we've reached an understanding. Now you three can head home and rest for tomorrow or you can stay back here for a while to discuss how you're going to beat me; it's up to you. But I'm leaving now," and with that said, he headed for the doorway and held up his hand as a wave of goodbye.

A minute or two passed before Genma finally decided to speak.

"Sooo…how are we gonna beat him tomorrow? You heard the guy; he said he's one of the strongest jounin in Konoha! How the heck are we supposed to make him fall on his back? I think before we can even touch him, he'll have us tied to the stump!" he groaned loudly "Oh we're sooo gonna fail the test…"

Raidou rolled his eyes "Genma you're overreacting. And has it ever occurred to you that Inuyasha-sensei may have been bluffing or bragging about his abilities?"

Genma paused to consider that possibility but before he could get his hopes up, Kagome shook her head at them. "He's not bluffing." Anyone who's a demon with a humanized form is already powerful, but to be a Ninja, and a Jounin as well…that guy's strength is no doubt unbelievable… "And please don't ask me how I know about that, I just do, okay?" Kagome actually didn't mind explaining the concepts of demons, mikos and auras to her new teammates.

Only, she didn't think they would be pleased to know that their new sensei was a demon. And now that she had spent more time with the guy, she could pick up from his aura that he wasn't really a demon, but a half demon. Although exactly what type of half demon, she still wasn't sure.

Anyway, Raidou and Genma didn't look that satisfied with her answer, but they nodded nonetheless.

"So what do we do now?" Raidou asked softly "If what you say is true, then we three are most certainly unable to make Inuyasha-sensei fall on his back." He winced and looked at both of his teammates sympathetically "It looks like we're going to have a very taxing few months ahead."

Genma groaned even louder.

Kagome on the other hand kept glancing around, trying to find something that would help jolt her mind in coming up with a plan. When her eyes landed on a necklace tied around a mannequin in the room (that mannequin was there to remind Genin that they shouldn't keep necklaces or other accessories around their neck because if they did, then the enemy might grab them and pull, and that might result in death by strangulation) an accessory from her miko days appeared in her head; it was an accessory powerful enough to overwhelm her sensei.

Kagome smiled; she had a plan.

She turned to her teammates; one who had been groaning all the way and the other who had been sighing in despair. "Guys I have a plan. Tomorrow I need you two to distract Inuyasha-sensei as much as possible so I have time to prepare and if my plan works, we're passing the test. Can you do that for me?"

Genma looked to Raidou silently, and after a moment the two nodded. "Sure we can. But what are you preparing for?" Raidou asked curiously.

"It's a surprise. You'll just have to wait and see," Kagome said with a mysterious smile that made both Genma's and Raidou's hearts beat involuntarily faster in their chests. Heck, Genma even had a hard time swallowing after that. "I have to get back now and prepare, so I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow then," she continued on, oblivious to her teammates' reactions.

She gave them a cheery wave before she ran out of the classroom, leaving behind two confused genin in her wake.

After leaving the academy, Kagome had run like the wind instead of her slow and usual pace so she had managed to reach home in record breaking time. Minato, on his blessed day off, had been snoozing on his favorite couch when the door slammed open.

He was so surprised he fell off the couch in a tangle of sheets.

"Minato-nii! Kagome yelled out of habit before running towards him, and Minato, who had successfully untangled himself from his blanket, looked at her in bewilderment. "What's wrong Kagome-chan?" he asked her worriedly "Did something go wrong with your test?"

Then he paused to consider "And I told you to call me Nii-chan, didn't I?"

"You did, but sometimes when I'm really emotional I forget. And no, my test went really well. I passed and I have my Hitae-ate now, see," she said, pointing to it before continuing "Nii-chan, do you know if there are any shrines in or near Konoha? I need to get some important materials for something!"

Minato blinked "And what is that something?"

"A rosary! I need to get beads to make a rosary in order to pass my test tomorrow. And the answer is no, I can't just get any plain old beads for the rosary. It has to be made from special beads from the shrine otherwise it won't work! So do you know where the nearest shrine is?"

"Hmm…" he hummed "The nearest shrine would be a few days away I'm afraid."

Kagome gave him a look of despair but that look slowly dissipated when he continued speaking. "But I've placed one of my markers at the Fire Temple. Is that all right for you?" he asked with a gentle smile and Kagome nodded enthusiastically.

"That's fine too," she replied "Can we go there now?"

"Uhh…wait until I get dressed properly first Kagome," Minato told her sheepishly, which made her cock her head cutely to the side and look at her brother closely. Now that she had calmed down enough, her mind could process exactly what her older brother was wearing; an undershirt that did little to hide the muscles her brother had underneath and on his arms complete with a pair of boxers that had little frogs printed on them.

She flushed crimson and averted her eyes, focusing on anything that wasn't her brother's body. "Oh…err okay… S-so I'll wait for you here then Nii-chan," she stuttered and made her way over to the couch. Minato grinned as he went to his room to get dressed.

His sister was so cute sometimes!

When Minato came back fully dressed in his Ninja gear, Kagome was still waiting for him on the couch.

"Ready to go?" he asked, sounding excited at the prospect of visiting the Fire Temple again. Previously, he wasn't really welcomed at the Fire Temple because of…let's say…ah… the certain deeds that a certain man that was related to Minato was known for.

That's right; Jiraiya's perverted habits and adventures always caused quite the amount of trouble for Minato no matter where he went. Damn the man.

Kagome stood up and she waited patiently for Minato to pick her up and once she was safe and secure in his arms, they disappeared faster than the blink of an eye. They reappeared at the Fire Temple in the middle of the Monks' Training Grounds, causing quite a stir at first when the monks believed them to be enemies.

But once they saw Minato's blonde hair, along with his Hitae-ate, they weren't so hostile anymore.

"Ah, if it isn't the Yellow Flash? What brings you here to our Temple?" the head monk there asked, with an uneasy grin that was barely noticeable, plastered on his face. Minato noticed though and he resisted the urge to moan in frustration.

Damn his sensei!

"I need a favor actually," he replied neutrally, his face not betraying the emotions he felt inside. He put Kagome on the ground and she closed her eyes, taking in everything around her without the use of her eyes. The scent of incense and the feel of pure energy tickled at her senses; it felt like she was at the shrine again.

"A favor?" the head monk questioned "And what would that be?"

Minato indicated to Kagome "It's my sister. She wants the favor actually. Go on; tell him what you want." Kagome opened her eyes again and she looked up, tilting her head curiously to the side as the head monk assessed her.

"Do you have the suitable beads for making a Kotodama no Nenju(necklace of subjugation)?" she asked him.

The head monk's face broke out in surprise. "A Kotodama no Nenju? How do you know about it?"

"I was trained as a priestess in a shrine, and I learned about it during one of my lessons. So do you have the beads? I need to finish making the rosary as soon as possible," she finished, staring at the head monk in concentration.

"You can make the rosary? By yourself?" at her nod he continued "Just where did you train at?"

"If I tell you, will you let me have the beads then?" she asked, looking completely serious which was strange for someone so young. Minato held up his hand to his face to hide his smile. Meanwhile, the Head Monk paused, considering her request. "Hmm…" he hummed thoughtfully, staring right into her ice blue eyes. "That would depend on your answers to these questions. Which shrine did you train at and why do you want the beads to make something as powerful as a Kotodama no Nenju."

"I trained as the next High Priestess for the Higurashi Shrine before its destruction," Kagome began, causing some surprised murmuring to break out in the crowd that had surrounded them "And I need the Kotodama no Nenju in order to make sure my loved ones are protected from harm."

The Head Monk broke out into a friendly smile when he saw neither hesitation nor deception in those piercing blue eyes.

"You have a good look in those eyes… Very well then, I'll give you the beads. Bansai," he called out to one of the senior monks present "Get the beads from the altar and give them to this young girl. I dare say those beads will be more of use to her than to us."

The monk Bansai nodded before walking off to retrieve the beads.

Minato on the other hand would have burst out into happy tears then and there when he had heard Kagome's second answer. But he had been mindful of the crowd present so he had refrained himself from any…overreactive or overemotional behavior.

He just settled on ruffling her hair. "That's my girl," he declared proudly, which caused Kagome to smile and blush at the praise. "That's my girl…"

By the time they got back from the Fire Temple it was after sunset.

That left very little time for him to cook so Minato decided to take his sister out to dinner. He turned to his right, about to ask her where she wanted to eat but he was surprised to find her gone. He then heard her yell from her room that she wasn't going to eat dinner before the door slammed.

Minato could only blink.

Meanwhile in her room, Kagome made sure she was seated comfortably on her bed before she dumped the rosary beads in front of her. She dug through the mountain of beads for the string and once her hand found something long and thin amongst the pile, she grabbed hold of it.

Now that she had the string to hold the beads together, it was time to make the rosary.

Kagome sighed deeply and closed her blue eyes, trying to recall her days back at the Higurashi Shrine. One fine day several years back she recalled being taught by her teachers about rosaries and how to make them. But, she thought with a frown, it seemed her time spent in Konoha made her memories at the shrine a little rusty. It took some effort to remember the method, but when she did remember, she only sighed harder.

The method to making the rosary was both time consuming and tiring because it needed excellent energy control on her part. Kagome would be surprised if she didn't manage to pass out from using too much miko energy after completing the rosary.

But still…she needed it in order to pass the test… among other things.

For example, she could use the rosary to subdue their new sensei if he were to ever become a danger. Sometime during the day, Kagome had concluded that even though Inuyasha-sensei was a demon, it didn't necessarily mean he was an evil demon but still…it was better to be safe than sorry. Kagome had her precious people to protect, mainly Minato, Kushina, Sakumo, Jiraiya and Kakashi; and she would be damned if she ever let anything bad happen to them that was still within her control.

So with that thought in mind she started to get to work.

She grabbed a bead, laced it through the string and then she channelled a small precise amount of miko energy through it. Once the bead was filled with her energy, she muttered an inaudible incantation under her breath that lasted for a few minutes. When that was done that single bead glowed a pure white for a few seconds before it returned to its normal dull brown colour. She took a look at the clock on the wall; just preparing that single bead took roughly 6 minutes and she had 58 more beads to go.

Kagome sighed again as she picked up another bead.

The hours passed as she tediously worked on the rosary and it was after midnight when Minato finally decided to check in on her with some snacks in tow. He carefully balanced the tray laden with food on one hand while he knocked on the door.

After waiting for a while and hearing no reply on the other side, Minato opened the door quietly and poked his head in. He had expected to see his sister in bed fast asleep because she had not answered his knock, and so he was surprised to find her still sitting on her bed, muttering some strange sounding incantation. He could clearly feel the pure energy that his sister emitted now that the door was open, and Minato had to admit that it felt soothing to his soul.

And as a Ninja, Minato knew better than to interrupt someone when they were in the middle of a spell or Jutsu because concentration was absolute; who knew what could go wrong if the person was distracted? An explosion perhaps? Minato was never going to forgive himself he caused it to happen on his sister.

So he decided to wait until she was done before he did anything.

A white glow enveloped the room for a few seconds before it receded and Minato heard Kagome sigh in relief. She then turned to face him and Minato dropped his jaw in shock when he saw how tired and pale his sister was. He had almost dropped the tray in his hands as well but fortunately he had managed recollect himself before he did.

"Kagome-chan are you all right?" he asked worriedly.

She smiled weakly "Yeah. 'm fine. Jus' used too much energy is all. 'll be fine after a good night's sleep," she mumbled tiredly. Minato placed the tray on the dressing table in her room before he made his way to her bed. He gently helped her get under the covers and as soon as her head hit the pillow, Kagome found herself unable to keep her eyes open. The last things that she felt was a gentle hand stroking her head and a pair of warm lips pressing against her forehead.

"Sweet dreams," she heard her brother whisper softly before the darkness finally claimed her.

Thank you Never Ending Nightmares, Jacob's Reneesme, kakashixangela, kostevc96, Sapphire Destiny Rose, Ichigo Mirai, yue no rei, Lady Favonian, Miko-

of-The-Cherry-Blossoms, YumeMori, Sess8Kag, Kakashifangirlnumber1000, MoonPrincess1989, Sable Scribe, jesswolf22, Yorukifon, Lovelywitch, Paint-In-Color, fierynightangel, Peaceful Dragon Rose, mangalovah07, Blackmoon OniOokami, zoey tamagachi, XxKuragari no KagexX, kinky-kitsune, Bishonen'sFoxyMiko, sexy midnight miko, CrystalHeart27, j.d.y. , how does she do it, Music ADD, -Yuna's Reincarnation-1, Obscure Stranger, SammyKoru, 4get me not, Kagome Lady of Darkness, deathgeonous, hermonine, whit, CrimsonXue, AKARY YAMI, Snow246, Blood Butterfiles, Dark Neko 4000, tsukigomori helel, cherry-888, Kage Hasu, lovelyanimeangel, isla1212, Black-Alice-Stars, Guardian Sakura, Elfgurl96, LilChicken Wings, Eternal Cosmic Sailor Saturn, alphaprincess0803, massengale77, merlyn1382, Shiki Rhys Nightwind, YunaNeko, KaggyAlucardSesh and ShadeofOrange for reviewing!

Soooo...as stated on my profile, I managed to get this done before December. Now I'm hoping I can say the same for 'Love Actually'. Well the good news is my accursed 'O' levels are finished so the updates might come sooner than the stupidly slow update schedule for this year.

I was going to put the test in the same chapter, but then I wrote too much on how the rosary got created so I had to split it in two. The rosary shall be used in the next chapter.

Also, for those of you who haven't been keeping up with the Naruto Manga, the revelations in the latest chapters about Kushina I certainly wasn't expecting. So yeah, this fic is clarified as AU now because the Kyuubi is still rampant in this fic.

Okay before I end this note I was wondering whether I should publish a drabbles collection of Kagome and Inuyasha-sensei from this fic which focuses more on their growing bond and on Kagome asking Inuyasha questions that comes to her mind about his background. What do you think?

Please review~