Author's Note: This story is moving forwards at a snail's pace, I know. (*Hangs head in deep and profound shame*) But it's definitely not dead, I swear!

Chapter Thirteen

Soldier

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Kakashi's mind kicks back into gear with a start, immediately registering the distinct smell of wood burning and the precise, barely-there movement all around and above him, and his adrenaline spikes to send the rest of his body into an overdrive.

(What happened? Where is he? Who is touching him?)

He readies himself to explode upwards, outwards and away, because even without opening his eyes he can tell that he is at the mercy of a shinobi. It must be, because only a shinobi moves like that – cautiously, deliberately and with far too much care – though this is something only a fellow shinobi would know. But the alarm bells in the back of his mind are and remain unequivocally silent, and Kakashi trusts his instincts much in the same way that he has learnt to trust sensei.

His nose twitches.

(It's one of them.)

"Wake up."

Kakashi exhales slowly. He knows that voice, and so he keeps his eyes firmly shut: be patient and even the dobe, who is just stupid and irritating and plain persistent like that, eventually tires and goes away. It's a tried and tested method, perfected over the span of more miserable C-rank missions than he cares to remember, and it is usually quite effective too.

"Kakashi, wake up!"

(Clearly, the usual tactics won't be cutting it today.)

"Leave me alone," mutters Kakashi tersely, swatting at the empty air above his head with his left hand. "It can't be my turn yet. Go away, Obito!"

The second those words leave his mouth, he feels the atmosphere change into something dark and deadly quiet in a way he can't explain – and all of a sudden everything feels extremely out of place and wrong, and those damn alarm bells in his head just won't stop ringing. But before Kakashi has a chance to speak up and demand that the stupid Uchiha explains right now what the hell he did this time to mess things up, and that he better not be stingy with the details if he knows what is good for him, Obito says in a voice that is far too soft and gentle and feminine to ever have been Obito's in the first place:

"K-Kakashi, it's Rin."

That has him bolting upright, wincing when his forehead collides rather violently with something cold and hard and distinctly metal. But he ignores the pain and the tiny shuriken dancing before his mind's eye, because this confirms beyond all reasonable doubt that even his worst fears won't even come close to whatever situation they are actually in. She says it so easily, but the fact that it is Rin who is waking him up – that Rin is up and about while Kakashi most certainly is not – is unsettling and thoroughly not right on so many levels, because Rin is their medic and a girl and Rin, and as such she is automatically exempt from guard duty whenever Team Minato is away from the village on a mission. Kakashi, Minato-sensei and Obito take turns watching over her, and over each other, and that's that.

(It so happens that this is the second thing that Minato-sensei makes him and Obito agree on. The first being not to strangle one another in public.)

"What happened?" demands Kakashi harshly, perhaps more so than Rin truly deserves, but something is wrapped around his head and he can't see.

(And where on earth is Obito?)

"It's okay," she murmurs reassuringly, quickly slapping his hands aside to stop them from pulling at the strips of soft cloth covering nearly a quarter of his face. "Don't worry. Your eye is just fine, Kakashi."

This actually calms him somewhat, if only because Rin – unlike Obito – isn't a compulsive liar. But even that doesn't change the very real fact that he has to turn his head just to see her.

"Your eye is fine," repeats Rin firmly from somewhere on his left. His unprotected, defenceless, blind left. "It's a precaution, remember?"

(He doesn't.)

"How are you feeling?"

Kakashi reluctantly turns his neck enough to include her in his peripheral vision, but she refuses to look at him for some reason and that makes him uneasy. "I'm fine…" he replies suspiciously, because the way she says it suggests that he shouldn't be. "I—"

He stops. His mind is flooded with strange, disjointed images that quickly fuse together to form a complete sequence of context and meaning, and soon realization slaps him hard across the face.

"You did this," he says, slowly and with care. "Rin, what did you do?"

She fidgets with the sleeves of her shirt, but she doesn't back down. "Kakashi, please understand. Your chakra was—"

"Rin, look at me. For how long was I out?"

And just as expected, her resolve cracks. "I had no choice—"

"For how long?"

(He knows that he is being cruel, but they're wasting precious time.)

A shadow separates itself from the darkness around them, slowly coming within range of the campfire. "For me, it could have been longer."

"Minato-sensei…" Kakashi jumps to his feet, sways a little, then turns to the man accusingly. "Why?"

"Your recklessness was endangering the mission," says sensei in a low voice, and Kakashi can't believe his ears.

(Can't believe that sensei of all people who knows better than anyone else—)

"There's no time," he replies coldly in an attempt to make Minato-sensei understand. "Hokage-sama said—"

"Yes, Kakashi, I know." Minato-sensei's mouth is a thin line. "But the village needs this team to succeed."

The not-so-hidden meaning behind sensei's words nearly knocks the breath out of him, but before Kakashi can do or say anything, Rin intervenes. "Sensei, how much further to the bridge?"

"I'd say about a day." Minato-sensei looks thoughtful. "Maybe even less."

Kakashi takes a deep breath and thinks. Sensei will always be sensei, but Kakashi is team leader now. "So if we start now—"

"Tomorrow."

Sensei's voice is firm, and Kakashi grits his teeth. He normally wouldn't dream of using Minato-sensei's humanity against him, but the situation isn't leaving him much choice. "Sensei," he says in a way that he hopes is convincing, "people are dying."

"And more will die if this mission fails." Minato-sensei turns and takes a step back into the night. "Kakashi, I understand your feelings, but it's for the best. We wait until tomorrow."

Then, sensei is gone and Kakashi grudgingly sits back down. Only a short moment later, a black pill is pressed into the palm of his hand.

Kakashi quirks an eyebrow in question, but Rin insists.

They don't speak.