Naruto Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The War of Survival ❯ A New Hope ( Chapter 14 )

“Kagome! We need to cut the match short!” yelled Inuyasha. Kagome took another step away from Neji. Both were breathing hard and exhausted.

“Why?” Kagome answered as she narrowed her eyes into slits.

“Sasuke is wanting to speak with you……….immediately.” The last word rolled off his tongue in urgency. She nodded.

“Very well. But I can stay for only so long.” She turned to Neji who was just now starting to relax. “My apologies, Neji. It seems that I am needed for more important matters. I will be back shortly.” He nodded and took a cup of water from Lee’s hands. Once Kagome was inside the house, she looked to see Sasuke at the table with his hands on his head. Another figure was present and she realized that it was Choji. “What was so important that you had to interrupt my match with Neji?” Kagome asked darkly. The only thing that moved was only the swish of her tail. Tension and anger were mixed into the air but she caught another scent. Buried deep beneath the anger was hope. Kagome shifted uncomfortably.

“I sent Choji to find more recruits the minute you were finished with him. He has convinced several more to join us but it won’t be enough to build an army out of it. We are running short on time and right now, we can’t gather anymore people. We must take action before Naraku and Orochimaru reaches past the desert. During his mission, Choji spotted one of Naraku’s little armies invading a new found village. It’s only a matter of time before they get to us.” Sasuke explained. Kagome’s eyes roared with rage, anger had started to rise within her.

“Why did you send Choji? I was perfectly able to succeed on my own!” Sasuke looked at her but said nothing. Kagome calmed somewhat down and spoke through bared teeth. “Do not EVER interfere with my missions! I have set them because I have reasons!” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Choji with a horror struck face and regained her composure. “No matter, your plan has failed you. It’s now time to put your back up plan into effect. How much time do you suppose we have?”

Sasuke shook his head. “Until it reaches us? 3 days tops.”

“Damn, how many do you suppose are in one of these ‘smaller armies’?” Sasuke shrugged.

“Anywhere from 100 to 200 soldiers, I don’t know. If you’re going to ask if they’re human, then yes but they usually have one demon or ninja guarding them.” Kagome shook her head.

“Knowing Orochimaru, these aren’t just regular humans. They have to be ninjas from villages that went evil.”

“True enough, but he only uses ninja for his more important armies. His smaller groups are regular humans; they are only pones to him so they are expendable.” Kagome nodded.

“I suppose that is they have a demon guarding them, that demon must be weak.”

“Again, correct. He uses the more powerful ones to guard the ninja.” Kagome smirked. This proved to be easy enough to stop this army. She could’ve done it herself but she decided to wait until other recruits arrived.

“How long will it take for the other recruits to get here?” Choji stepped up, his composure already set.

“They shouldn’t be here any longer than tomorrow morning.”

“Good. Tomorrow at dawn will be our first successful attack then. I will have my pick for who will come with me. If I prove to be right, this mission will only be a three man crew. I don’t want to hear any complaints about my leaving.” She then glared at Sasuke. He nodded then she smiled. “Now, if you will excuse me, there is still time left in the day to finish my match.” With that said, she walked out the door without giving them the chance to speak. Anger still bubbled inside her when she reached Neji so as soon as they began; she lashed out, only holding back a little. Soon she lost her nerve and hit him square in the face. Before he started to move back, she punched him in the stomach with force that made Neji loose his breath. She suddenly realized the mistake she had made and caught him in mid-air. When they landed, she draped his arm around her neck and held him by the waist. She then looked around and saw a small sized house that she hadn’t noticed before. Kagome carried Neji to the door that read her name. Somehow it was hers but right now she wouldn’t complain. Furniture had already been placed and food was already stocked in the pantry and fridge. She carried him to her bedroom and turned on a lamp as she laid him down on the bed. She then quickly sifted through her pantry for spices to make a fast medicinal potion. When she was done, she set the medicine on the end table and pulled out a roll of bandages and gauze. “My sincerest apologies Neji. I should not have taken my anger out on you. It was wrong of me to do so.” Neji sat up as she tried to remove his shirt.

“The three of us, we never had a chance at beating you, did we?” he asked as she wiped the blood away from his nose. Kagome smirked.

“No. Drink this; it’ll make you feel better.” She watched him make a face as he swallowed the potion whole.

“It tastes like rotten meat. Are you sure it’ll make me better and not worse?”

“I don’t ever remember you being this talkative.” Neji smiled.

“I have Hinata to thank for that.” Kagome pushed Neji to lie back down as she felt his chest. His chest was similar to Sasuke’s only he had less muscular mass. Kagome felt across the soft skin for broken bones but couldn’t find any.

“You don’t have any broken bones or fractures. You’ll be able to walk out of here instead of wheeling.” There was an awkward silence between them as he stared at her. That’s when she realized that her hands still lingered on his chest and quickly pulled them away. “Umm…you may leave when you are ready.” She got up and started to make her way through the door when Neji grabbed her hand and pulled her down to his level. He inched his face closer to hers, barely a whisper away from a kiss. Ever so gently, Neji whispered his lips over hers in a lover’s passionate kiss. Kagome suddenly drew away and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t.” She hurried her way through the door and into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee to ease her mind. An unfamiliar scent caught her nose but she easily threw it aside as Neji came out full clothed.

“Thank you for the medicine, Kagome. I should be getting back to Lee and the others.” Kagome nodded.

“Again, I apologize for my irrational behavior. Good night, Neji.” He nodded in acknowledgement.

“Good night.” She sighed heavily as soon as he left.

‘What the hell is wrong with me?’ she thought to herself. Seeing how she didn’t know where Inuyasha was, she howled his name loud and clear. A few minutes later, she heard pounding on the door so she moved to open it.

“This had better be good, wench! I was in the middle of a bath!” he yelled as soon as she opened the door. Thankfully, he had on his hakamas but he held his juban and haori in his hand, a damp towel hanging from his neck. Her eyes glazed as she examined his chest, a few scars here and there but other than that, he was beautiful. She came to her senses and tore her eyes away from the magnificent sight and opened the door wider to let him through.

“Finish getting dressed, then we will talk.” She said, her eyes downcast trying to avoid looking at him. Kagome moved toward the now filled the coffee pot and poured two cups. As she fixed her cup, she asked if her wanted any cream or sugar.

“No thanks, Sasuke keeps me away from the stuff all together.” She shrugged and poured his cup back into the pot.

“Come sit. I have things to ask you.” They settled down at the table as a silent moment passed. “Inuyasha, how did I get a house in two days?” she watched him smirk.

“Sasuke had me help him along with a couple of other people to build. While you were battling, we were working.”

“Thank you, for all this. I also wanted to ask you about dog demons. When I look at someone, I feel a burn inside my stomach that I can’t get rid of. What is it?” At that moment, Inuyasha suddenly blushed a deep red. He wasn’t comfortable talking about these kinds of things to other people, especially if a girl is asking such things. Inuyasha gulped and tried to push the awkward feeling away.

“Are you sure you don’t want to ask one of the girls this question?” He said shakily. Kagome shook her head.

“I figured that you’re a dog demon and that you would be able to tell me what’s going on.” Inuyasha sighed.

“Well, you’re just feeling lust; need. All demons go into heat at some point. For dog demons, it’s at least four days a month. When those days are, you can never tell.” Kagome took a long drag from her coffee and sighed.

“Heat……four days a month. I don’t think I can handle that.” Inuyasha chuckled.

“It’s better than it sounds.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it does. Well, I have to say good night. Meet me tomorrow morning here.” Inuyasha cocked his head in confusion.

“Why?”

“You’ll see.” Kagome watched him leave silently and took another sip of her coffee; thinking long and hard of the up coming day. Tomorrow the new recruits would be coming and she knew she had to pick one person for the last minute mission. For this mission to be a success, this person had to be a little more than human but not necessarily a half breed. Kagome polished off her coffee and striped to just bare skin to lie on her bed and soon sleep had claimed her for the night.


*----------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------*


“Kagome!&# 8221; Kagome woke up to the sound of Inuyasha beating on her front door. She quickly threw on some clothes and rushed through the door.

“What is it?” she asked worriedly.

“The army is only ten miles away. They didn’t even stop for sleep! Someone must’ve told them about us. It should’ve taken them at least a week!” Kagome’s eyes furrowed.

“Are the recruits here yet?” Inuyasha nodded.

“Follow me, I’ll show you where they are.” He led Kagome to the training grounds. She was then a little surprised to see a nice amount of recruited ninja.

“Send my congratulations to Choji. He actually managed to get this many recruits. Do you know all of them?” Inuyasha nodded.

“I know them fairly well, enough to know each by name.” Kagome observed the 11 people facing her. Some of them she recognized, the rest was in the unknown. She and Inuyasha started toward the front of the line and he began to say their names but she waved him off.

“I want to hear their names from them.” She exclaimed. The first she came to was rather tall but no taller than herself which was good because she could just look him in the eye without having to glance up at him. (Okay, remember that she is a demon so she’s pretty tall. This would probably make her around six feet tall. I’ll let you get back to the story now ) He had a black netted shirt with a green vest and the Konoha hidden leaf forehead protector tied to his upper left arm. He also had black pants with his bottom right leg wrapped up to his knee and blue sandals.

“State your name.” Kagome said calmly but firmly.

“I am Shikamaru Nara.” Kagome nodded in acknowledgement and moved on to the next person.

“And you?” she examined the woman. She had dark red hair that flowed from two long ponytails and ran to her waist.

“I am named Ayame Wolf.” Ayame’s green eyes stared into her own. Kagome then continued down the row, the people telling her their names as she went. There was Kiba Inuzuka, Ginta and Hakkaku Wind; then there was Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga. When she got down to the end, Kagome looked down on two midgets with long brown hair and foot-length beards. They also wore armor and had axes strapped to their waists.

“And who might you two be?” Kagome asked with her brow raised.

“I am Galvin, miss, and this here’s Ro`nan.” He pointed to the person next to him. “We are dwarves from the West. We’ve come a long way from Da`ire, the dwarf mines. We were in a local town’s pub when a young man needed troops to battle those damning demons!” Kagome’s eyes widened.

“Dwarves? Is that what you really are?” Both dwarves burst out laughing.

“We figured ya’d be the smart lass who was runnin’ this place,” Galvin choked out.

“But if ya don’ recognize a dwarf when ya see one, then ya must be pretty stupid.” Ro`nan finished. Kagome shook her head as she sat on the ground to be eye level with the dwarves.

“Please forgive me Galvin, Ro`nan. I just couldn’t believe a little hope has shone itself here. I must converse with the two of you in private. That is all.” They nodded their heads in agreement. She stood back and took in the eleven people standing before her. “I’m sorry for my absence for those who have known me long ago. I’m sorry for not fighting with you when I should have. For those who don’t know me, I’m glad that it’s you I’m fighting with along with my fellow comrades. To my hopes, I wish I could say this will be easy but it won’t. I hope you will not become traitors in the near future and give in to the power of greed and trickery. If I find out if any of you fall or give into this type of madness, You would be considered dead.” Kagome then turned and had the dwarves follow her to her quarters. “Would you like a drink?” Kagome asked as she closed the door and made her way to the kitchen.

“A pint o’ beer would ‘ave been nice.” Ro`nan answered.

“Don’ listen to ‘im. ‘Tis still morning, so we’ll ‘ave coffee if ya ‘ave it.” Kagome nodded.

“I do.” She set out two cups and poured until they were filled to the brim. She then gave them fixings and waited patiently while they settled in.

“What seems ter be the problem, ma`am?” Galvin asked.

“Because you come from the west, I’m assuming Naraku has taken over the dwarf kingdom. Is this correct?”

“Not entirely. Da`ire hasn’t been breached and over ruled in 200 years. Our forces are strong but will not hold out much longer.” She nodded.

“I am most grateful you two have come along. You have now made it much easier for me to seek alliance with the dwarves. We were about to start the journey of Da`ire’s whereabouts. Thanks to you, we may seek their aid in this treacherous war.” Kagome watched the two look at each other nervously.

“Well, ‘tis not tha’ simple, ma`am.” Ro`nan began.

“Most of the dwarves are not as willing to fight as we are.” Galvin finished. Kagome became confused once more, her brows drawing together in a thin line.

“Would you please explain this?”

“‘Tis not as if they don’ want ter fight; we dwarves love a scarring battle. Ya see, our people believe that a great warrior will come ter them and lead them.” Ro`nan started to explain.

“It all began centuries ago when the Dwarven Dagger was made. Back then, our founder and the first King of the dwarves vowed that who ever held or wielded the dagger will always have the greatest dwarven army of all our time. But the blade was lost as we were battling the dragons. They had wanted to extend their boundaries and ran into our. As soon as we realized the blade was gone, we withdrew our armies. Without that blade, we are powerless. The Dwarven Blade of the West was the center of our power and hope. Who ever has it, I’d wish the lad would step up and say somethin’.” Kagome watched their eyes fill with sorrow and knew they had lost their hope long ago. She leaned over the table and stretched her arms to touch them on their shoulder.

“Do not fear. Your hope will come back sooner than you think. I promise you that.”

“‘Tis grateful of you ter make such promises, but we must not be filled with false hope.” Galvin said as he stood. Kagome stood to her full height with determination in her posture.

“‘Tis not false hope I give you. I make a vow on my life that your hope will be restored and that you will fear nothing when the time comes to fight face to face with those monsters. That is my way of the ninja and a ninja will never go back on their word!”








Author’s Note: HI GUYS!!!!! Thanks for all of the reviews, I really appreciate them. Anyway, one of my reviewers have asked me about the pairings and well, I don’t know if I want you to know them because (1) I don’t want to spoil it and (2) I don’t want you guys to be unhappy with my choices. If you most of you want me to keep the pairings a surprise then I will not post them in my next chapter. I’m hoping most of you want it to be a surprise! LOL! Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will post the next one as soon as possible. Sorry for posting this one up late!