Becoming Higurashi

Jessylane318

A/N: This is the end my friends… Welcome to the Epilogue. I would like to a special thanks to all of you that have been here since the beginning. And thank you for all of you that have made it to the end; I appreciate your continued support and hope that you have enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. As of now, there is not a sequel, and probably won't ever be. Personally, I'm not a sequel type of person… I leave the rest up to your own imagination.

Anyways, I also wanted to note that this story was inspired by my Human Growth and Development Class in the Summer of 2012. This is supposed to be a work in human psychology and was also inspired by a music video "When Kakashi met Kagome" by kawaiimishima. [ user/kawaiimishima] Please enjoy the final instalment of Becoming Higurashi.

This was definitely, hands down, the best day ever. Kagome Higurashi thought to herself as she walked slowly from the Hokage's tower, a silly grin plastered on her face and a plain envelope in her hand. She barely restrained the slight skip in her step as she picked her way through the busy Konoha streets.

It had taken her months to finally memorize the maze of roads that were Konoha. Of course they had maps of the main shopping district near the 3rd gate for travelers, but Kakashi had insisted on living in the deeper parts. Security, he claimed.

Personally, Kagome was sure he enjoyed watching her wander the random streets fussing and fuming after the fourth or fifth wrong turn.

Luckily, her team wasn't ever to far behind.

She laughed lightly at that thought, most likely worrying the couple that kept glancing curiously her way. Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto had easily slipped from being Kakashi's team, to their team. Though from the lack of real training that man gave, it might as well have been her team.

Once she had returned to Konoha for good, they had all stood right by her side as she and Souta navigated the court systems. In the end, somewhere between her team's scheming, the judge had let her very vague explanation off with a short month of house arrest and six months of probation assuming she had good behavior. One that had just ended today, she thought with glee.

She grinned broadly at a nearby shopkeeper and waved enthusiastically despite having never met the fellow in her life. He waved just as cheerfully back. clearly confused.

"Kagome! Kagome!"

She looked up towards the rooftops at the familiar noise and waved excitedly at her very own blonde menace.

"Naruto!" she shouted, motioning him down. "What are you doing? Get down here!"

The nearby shopkeeper's happy face fell in an instant and she saw his lips turn in a disapproving scowl. She scowled right back and rolled her eyes, grabbing the ninja as he appeared in front of her. She pulled him forward noticing that he came nearly to her shoulders in a bone crushing hug.

"Naruto! Didn't I tell you today was the day?"

"Already?" he said excitedly. "We should celebrate! We can have ramen!"

"Gah," she fussed, smacking him in the back of his head. "No way! I want Oden."

"Oden," the boy said with disgust. "That's nasty…"

She laughed loudly and pulled him with her as she began making her way back home.

"Where are the others? And shouldn't you be at practice?"

"Nah," replied the blonde with a shrug. "Kakashi-sensei is supposed to be in a meeting with that pervert about Aka… I mean, you know who."

Kagome's smile faded immediately. Akatsuki. The league of incredibly powerful ninja that had decided to make Naruto, and all other demon-sealed individuals like him, their target. Kagome and Kakashi had gotten into a long argument over what to do about them. Kakashi had wanted Kagome to completely exterminate the fox, but she outright refused.

Yes, the creature had the worst personality she had ever met in a fox, but well, she couldn't say she'd be much better living in the boy's naval. Especially considering he explained his mindscape looked like a sewer. That was… well… disgusting…

No, and the possible side-effects of destroying the demon was possibly destroying Naruto's chances of ever being a ninja ever again. No, she wasn't laying a finger on that seal.

"I'm guessing you weren't invited?" she asked with a knowing look. He grinned innocently back. "How many clones have they destroyed?"

"Four so far," he mumbled grouchily. "I've still got two left that they haven't found though. Oh… Make that one more. They're thinking about sending me on a training trip with the pervert for about three years."

The priestess frowned.

"Three years," she murmured softly. "That's a long time to be away."

"Yeah," Naruto replied rubbing the back of his head. "But Sakura's been begging Granny for lessons, and Sasuke's been working with that Anko bitch-"

"Naruto!"

"Well she is," he grumbled. Kagome was inclined to agree but smacked the boy for good measure. "But yeah, that creature has been teaching him all sorts of weird lessons. He can even summon snakes now, ugh, gross!"

"As long as they aren't spiders, bugs, or worms, I don't really care." Kagome said with a shrug. She turned and waved, noticing a familiar face in the crowd. "Mama! Gramps!"

Her mother turned and smiled, making her way over. The priestess hurried to meet her, dragging Naruto along the way. He wasn't the fondest person of her grandfather, but his love for her mother was unsurpassed. Kagome sometimes had to wonder if the boy liked her mother better than her.

"Kagome! Naruto!" called the older Higurashi. She enveloped them both in warm hugs. "Naruto, shouldn't you be out training?"

The boy scratched his head awkwardly and Kagome couldn't help but laugh.

"He's got the day off," the priestess said easily, grabbing the ninja's shoulders and pulling him close. She pressed a kiss to the top of his head and didn't miss the slight tinge of pink that lit his face. "What are you guys doing, who's gramps talking to?"

"Oh, he's fussing at another historian about the validity of their texts. Things changed between our pasts and he's been quite caught up in knowing all of the little details," she said with a smile. "And after the Hokage's visit, he's regained a good thirty percent of his old strength. Coming here was probably the best thing that's ever happened to him."

Kagome nodded, pleased and turned to her young friend.

"Thanks in part to you," she said with a smile.

"Awe," Naruto complained, clawing his way from her grasp. She let him go and he rushed ahead, stopping a few feet ahead. "Man! They found the last one, but hey, the meetings over! Oh, and Kakashi-sensei said to tell you the exterminators should be done in about an hour. Exterminators? Did you guys have rats or something?"

She scowled darkly at a reminder of that.

"I haven't got a clue," she growled darkly. "If we do we're getting a cat, I don't care how he feels about them. He said the people next door had seen some pests so he called to have the exterminators to come this morning, they didn't even show up until about noon. I seriously wonder if they're related to Kakashi, I mean three hours late, how in the world do they stay in business?"

Her mother sweat dropped and she noticed Naruto staring openly.

"What?"

"Nothing," her mom reassured, brushing back her hair. "Anyways, why don't you go see your brother before you head home. I think he wanted to show you some new trick Sakura's taught him."

"Jutsu!" complained the blonde with a heavy sigh. "It's not a trick, it's a jutsu! And why is Sakura teaching him again? Didn't they…"

Kagome ignored the jealous boy and waved goodbye to her mother and sending a quick shout to gramps. The man waved and blustered before returning to his very vivid debate. The historian he was speaking to looked just as enraptured by the discussion and she couldn't help but giggle.

"Souta, Souta…" she mumbled, trying to think of the best way to get to the civilian town hall. It wasn't too hard, a quick right and several blocks later she found the large white building and ornate fountain. She waved jovially at a few acquaintances Souta had introduced her to and bounced towards the entrance.

Entering the building, she was immediately met by a brightly lit room and a very pretty young secretary.

"Good afternoon Miss Kagome," said the woman with a smile, Haruka. The girl had the biggest crush on Souta to his complete ignorance. "Souta's in his office. Oh, and there are some donuts in the break room as well. Are you hungry?"

"No thank you," Kagome replied calmly, showing her ID for verification. "I just ate. Thank you though!"

The pretty little woman nodded and Kagome shook her head, walking to the elevator. An older gentleman in a suit held the door.

"What floor?"

"Six Mister Tomito. How is your bill coming along?"

The older man pressed the button and grumbled good-naturedly about his work with the food industry about regulations. When the elevator chimed for her floor she dipped in a slight bow and excused herself, nearly dancing out of the elevator.

"Kagome?"

She looked up to see Souta rolling excitedly towards her.

"Souta," she said with a grin, hurrying to hug him. He locked the wheels on the chair and made a few hand signs, and his lower body straightened immediately into a board. He used his arms to push with just enough force to stand straight up and grasped her in an excited hug.

She pulled back a moment late and stared.

"Souta! Where did you learn that neat little trick?"

"Where else?" he said with a smile, leaning back and catching himself in the chair. A sign later and his body crumpled beneath him as if he'd never left the seat. "Sakura helped me redesign the chair to support the jutsu. It's supposed to be for medical purposes to restrain a person's legs while they work on them."

"And let me guess, you came up with that?"

"Well duh!" laughed the boy. "Did you want to see what else I've been up to while you sequestered yourself away?"

"Look at you and those big words," Kagome said with a smile. "Barely thirteen and you think you know everything already. What are we going to do with you?"

"Ha ha," her sibling said dryly. "You're such a comedian. Anyways, come look."

She laughed and let him lead the way. His chair zipped quickly down the hallway, nearly bowling one scrawny man and a pile of paperwork over.

"Souta!"

"Oops! Sorry Kota!"

She shook her head and made a mental note to remind Naruto why it wasn't a good idea to rewire wheelchairs for speed.

"Now where is it…"

She turned into the small cubicle office and smiled as she looked about the room. Pictures of them as little children hung on the walls next to photographs of her team and Kakashi. There was one on his desk with him and Sakura making goofy faces in a photo booth, and another with him rolling at full speed from a fuming Sasuke and Naruto.

But her favorite was the one near the entrance of them both grinning brightly, both holding their Konoha citizenship paperwork. If it hadn't been for him, for his stubborn, childish self… If it hadn't been for his brilliant, politically savvy mindset… if it hadn't been for his absolute refusal to not have a happy ending…

Well, she didn't like to think too much on the what ifs, but if not for him, she imagined she'd still be moping around the well house, clutching that dusty rosary for people that didn't even remember her except in long lost dreams.

"Kagome?"

She shook herself from her stupor and joined him.

"Sorry, oooh… what is this?"

He smiled at her as she pulled a sheet off his desk.

"I thought you'd like that one, it was actually based off some of the stuff you were telling me. I don't like how there's such a large division between the ninja and the civilian parts of town. I wanted to try and lessen that divide by proposing a bill to have a small group of students spend at least one day a week in the civilian school system, which emphasizes a lot more biology and chemistry to students. Medical-Ninja are only introduced to the subjects once they've become Chunnin and are accepted into the hospital's programs, but by that time unless your brilliant like Sakura, it's just not easy to grasp all of the new concepts."

"That makes sense," Kagome agreed as she continued scanning the paper, it was a good fifteen pages long and she could see a pile at least ten pages thick of books, their page numbers, and subjects.

"I know Tsunade's been trying to install some classes in the academy, but for that she's going to need more funds that just aren't there. So this would offer a similar experience at half the cost. I'm hoping that the exchange will quell some of the more outspoken civilians on the disparage of education funds. A lot of parents are upset that the academy has such better facilities compared to the regular schools."

Kagome nodded, having witnessed firsthand how large that gap really was. The regular school systems hadn't been updated since they were hastily thrown together after the attack of the nine-tailed fox. And then with Orochimaru's decimation of half the village, no discussions had ever taken place in all of the repairs that were needed.

"That's a pretty ambitious dream for a preteen," Kagome said proudly.

The boy smiled back honestly.

"I learned from the best. After all, you thought it'd be a good idea to go marching all over feudal japan and to collect a bunch of jewel fragments that made demons go crazy with an insane half-demon after you."

"Yes, well," she replied with a smile. "I did have quite a bit of help. I had a dog demon, fox demon, cat demon, monk, and demon exterminator to help me. I don't see any demons here to save you though!"

She advanced on the boy and his eyes widened incredibly.

"You wouldn't attack an brat would you?" he said carefully, slowly backing away.

"brat my ass!" she said before she pounced. She hit the ground where he had been and his chair rolled backwards towards the large open window. He grinned and buckled the seatbelt before making a familiar set of signs.

Her eyes widened perceptively.

"No, Souta! Not in he-"

Her voice was lost in the storm of winds as the boy and chair came off the ground and swam perfectly through the window. She had no doubt it had come from weeks of practice. She laughed as she saw his chair expertly roll down the side of the building.

Damn brat.

She shook her head and expanded her senses, noticing a familiar aura not so far away. She decided to live a little and jumped out the window herself. She let out an excited shout as she passed Souta and was about three stories down when she felt the familiar hands grab hold of her shoulders and slow and then stop her nearly at the bottom.

She smirked at Sasuke to see him panting slightly, his face a mask of panic.

"You idiot! You shouldn't jump out of buildings if you can't use chakra!"

She grinned and stuck out her tongue.

"Why?" she asked calmly, not even bothering to wait for him to catch his breath. "You caught me didn't you?"

Souta gave a loud whistle and stared incredulously at her.

"You're insane!"

"Says the brat jumping six stories."

"Yeah, but I knew what I was doing, unlike some people!"

"I knew what I was doing," Kagome replied and then squealed in surprise as Sasuke dropped her unceremoniously to the grass. Souta snickered and Kagome couldn't help but laugh at Sasuke's sour demeanor.

"I should have let you fall."

"Awe, don't be like that," she said easily grabbing the boy and pulling him to her. "And did you hear? I'm off my probation today, isn't that exciting?"

The dark-haired youth stared at her blankly.

"So you decide to kill yourself?"

She spluttered indignantly and went to reply when she noticed the other boy's smirk.

A chime rang through the courtyard and both boys looked at each expectantly. She ignored them and counted the chimes, five.

"Oh, it's finally five! That means the apartment should be clear. I guess I should head back…"

"Yeah," said Souta with a smile. "And maybe I can finally get that cap back!"

"What that ugly green thing? I'm not handing it over in a million years; if Kakashi would stop hiding the matches I'd burn it and his stupid books."

Souta and Sasuke both snickered and she put her hands on her hips scowling.

"Did you want to come as well?" Kagome asked, turning to Sasuke. She hadn't seen the other boy except in their official team meetings for several weeks. He'd been keeping himself extremely busy, in fact, they all had now that she thought about it. She hardly seen any of them, including her brother, in at least a week.

Studying him now she could definitely see the changes. His arms had toned and developed some color from working in the sun. And, to her continual enjoyment, his neck was completely clear of that awful curse. It had been the first thing she'd done despite her house-arrest. Especially with the stupid thing messing with his thoughts and trying to get him to leave Konoha.

There had been one horrible day Sakura had come running to her to tell her what she thought Sasuke was planning.

The boy had been furious with everyone for a month, but Kakashi had finally done his part and forced the boy to stay with them in the apartment where for about a week and a half he'd been on house arrest with her.

She'd spent the time cajoling him into playing connect four and bingo to pass the time.

He still absolutely refused to comment on his unnatural affinity for Candy Land.

"No," replied Sasuke with the smallest of smiles. "Naruto and I are training."

She laughed and waved her hands, not wanting to hear anymore. Boys… All they ever wanted to do was train or eat.

"Alright, but do stop by more often, I miss having you around."

The boy blushed slightly, but nodded all the same, giving a quick nod to Souta, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Kagome knew Souta could do the same, and was thankful he was willing to stroll beside her instead.

They walked in a comfortable silence for the few minutes it took to get to the apartment, every once in a while breaking the quiet about some new store, or a favorite memory. When they got to the stairs Souta easily rolled up them, not even bother by the sharp turns or impossibility of the feat.

"How are you doing that?" she asked finally, as he effortlessly pulled himself up the fourth flight. He only barely looked winded.

"Chakra," he replied. "I don't have the demonic energy like everyone else so I can't take a hit, but I can still separate my physical and spiritual energy and then mix them. I'm using the chakra to stick the wheels to the edges of the stairs. It'd be easier to just roll up the wall, but I didn't want you to get any more crazy ideas."

She scowled and opened the door to their floor, holding it for her brother as he rolled by.

"Is there anything you can't do in that thing?" she asked curiously.

"I still can't walk," he responded wistfully, and she felt the familiar guilt well up again. It was her fault he was in that chair anyways. "Oh don't start on the guilt again, it was Danzo's fault for thinking he could kidnap the Higurashi's and get away with it!"

She smiled gratefully.

She pulled out her keys and opened the door. The room was dark and she slowly made her way in, holding the door for Souta. She put her purse on the countered and nearly knocked over the trash can as she tried to find the light.

"What idiot put the trash in front of the door?" she grumbled and pushed it away. Damn Kakashi for insisting on Black-out curtains in the living room. And those exterminators must have removed her night light as well.

"Found it!" she said with relief, switching the light with a sigh.

"SURPRISE!"

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the noise.

Standing in a giant mesh in the center of her living room were all of her family and friends. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto huddled in one corner with Kakashi nearby. Jiraiya and Tsunade stood towards the back and her mom and Gramps were smiling excitedly near the middle. She saw Shizune, Tsunade's apprentice holding that weird little pig, and Naruto's younger friends hanging out on the otherside.

Souta gave a shout and pulled her roughly with him, she stumbled along until Kakashi grabbed her in his arms and stuffed a hat on her head and a large button against her chest. She opened her mouth to complain when one of Naruto's clones made a noise at the front.

"Say Ninja!"

"NinJAAAAA" shouted the group and Kagome stared, mouth wide open, as the camera flashed three quick times.

"Ewww! Kagome, what kind of face was that!"

She went to argue when the strong arms whirled her back around and she found herself staring up at the most handsome man in the ugliest green vest she had ever seen.

"Congratulations," he said with a smile. All her worries and anger melted away and he leaned in and kissed her through the mask. No, there was no doubting it; today was the best day ever. And she had a feeling that while everyday might not be perfect, she wouldn't have it any other way. Looking around the room as her friends and family laughed and fumed. She knew she wouldn't give it up for the world.

She caught Souta's eye and the boy winked dramatically.

She smiled and mouthed back.

"Thank you."

The [Real] End