Chapter 9 – Lone Wolf
Previously…
She was slowly suffocating. Drowning.
She was going to die.
Helplessness filled her completely when she realised, despite her best efforts she was steadily sinking.
When she couldn't hold on any longer and exhaustion finally took its toll, she inhaled, coughed and spluttered and –
Naruko gasped sitting bolt upright, sweating and panting, panic still flooding her system. Her eyes frantically darted around the room while her arms felt for the bedding around her in reassurance.
She reached back to grasp at her shoulders feeling for the wings that were never there.
Seeing nothing amiss and also seeing she was still in the safety of her bedroom; she took a deep calming breath. Then another. Then another and suddenly felt abnormally tired from the whole ordeal.
She lay back against her plush pillow and felt sleep pull her under it spell once again. By morning she wouldn't remember the vividness of the dream, nor the dull ache in her back. In fact, it would be many years later that she would recall her reason for waking up in this night.
A she lay in bed once more, peacefully dreaming of rainbows and night skies, whilst a pale white feather on her bedroom floor glowed and turned to nothing.
He'd managed to delay his Hokage's order for a further two weeks – much to his Hokage's annoyance - after the initial missive had been received by messenger hawk.
It had been one month since…then.
A month of tracking non-existent trails and following less than useless clues and exhaustion was finally beginning to set in. Sleeping was an issue, the images of her vanishing into flames was burnt into his lonely grey retina. His dreams were so incredibly lucid he'd wake reaching for her each time and each time, he'd be racked with a stomach wrenching sense of loss. Eating the bare minimum was also, on hindsight, not the best idea but time was of the essence – every second counted. Except, she'd vanished. Literally, dissolved into thin air. There was nothing for him to track, but he kept searching not wanting to even consider what that meant. He'd skirted the entirety of Fire Country's borders and come up empty handed and without any leads.
But he couldn't delay any longer, he'd pushed his Hokage's patience well past the limits (even for him). Now it was time to return to Konoha. The village without Naruko.
His heart constricted when he thought of her. Of the sweet little blonde with intelligent eyes that he used to follow each night she'd sneak so quietly out of that scrap heap of an orphanage. He'd watch over her at a distance so as to technically remain within the confines of the Hokage's order to 'stay away'.
A good thing too, as he'd noticed quite a few ninja on his night-watch apparently lying in wait for Naruko. He certainly wasn't willing to wait to see where their intentions would lead – disgustingly obvious as they were, so he beat them to a bloody pulp, threatened them and moved on. If they were one extremity less by the end of their little one to one, the easier it would be to keep Naruko safe - Kakashi certainly wouldn't be complaining. No one could threaten what was his.
Funnily enough, they never did come back.
'Good riddance,' he thought savagely.
He'd watched amazed as she quietly coached herself to read and write atop the Hokage monument, watched her delight in finding something new to sate her apparently endless curiosity. The first time he'd heard her bell-like laughter, he could have died a happy man - but it was not to last.
He'd seen her curled up like a kitten – not out of comfort, but self-preservation - on the floor of the leaky attic room, where someone would then pound on the door till dust came out of the walls just to torment her. He'd watched as someone would drag her from the room and out of sight, without so much as a by your leave. He'd watched as they boarded up the window so she couldn't be seen from the streets. And he'd listened as she whispered to herself before sobbing quietly until falling asleep. Night after night, after night.
Kakashi had brought up each incident to the Hokage and each time he'd be rebuffed with the same poor excuses, (at least they were to him), and shown the door.
'Again Kakashi? You know why you can't meddle – if even a whisper of your connection to her, she will be hunted for the rest of her life.'
'Don't interfere Kakashi, this is what's best for her. Trust me.'
'…Trust me.'
He had. And now she was gone.
Gone.
Gone.
GONE!
Kakashi's blood boiled as he let out a roar of anguish launching himself faster through the trees, scaring off all the birds in the vicinity.
He paused on a particularly thick branch, as he panted through his mask in fatigue and leant his lanky frame against the tree trunk.
He felt numb. Hollow. He gripped the fabric over where his heart used to be, before it had been mercilessly ripped from his chest the day that Naruko disappeared. He'd again lost what was most precious to him and so, he'd pondered whether someone in the universe was fucking with him - tormenting him. If there was some deity that hated his guts and was playing jump rope with them, why couldn't they have taken it out on him alone?
It was purely on instinct that Kakashi reacted to the kunai that was aimed for his head, letting it slip harmlessly past his right ear. A lesser nin would have been skewered, but he didn't make Anbu for being a slouch.
Fast, like a viper, he caught the attackers' wrist and brutally squeezed until he felt a satisfying crunch beneath his fingers. Ignoring the scream of the non-descript Iwagakure shinobi, Kakashi calmly took in the appearance of another pair of chakra signatures quickly homing in on his position. No doubt the companions of the whimpering reprobate still, firmly, in his grasp.
'Perfect,' he thought; a way to vent at least some of his fury had strayed into his path. Outwardly though, he showed no emotions - no vulnerability, as his stoic gaze took in everything they tried to hide.
"Well, well, well. What's this? The famous Hatake Kakashi all alone in the woods. What could the Fourth Hokage's apprentice be doing looking like he's on his last legs? How very…tragic," said the lone female of the trio in a simpering voice, as her partner chuckled and drew his sword.
No doubt they were hoping for a weak and weary opponent, heaven knows he probably looked it right about now. Did he feel weakened? Yes. Would he let it slow him down? Never. He still had his little blonde to find, so he would be returning to the village come hell or high water – exhaustion be damned.
Without waiting for him to reply they struck as one, seemingly not caring about the limp ninja he had in a death grip. The sword wielder didn't have a lot of patience it seems, as he took a chance with a broad sweep of his katana leaving him wide open. There was slight disparity in his stride - an old injury to a cruciate ligament perhaps? Well, Kakashi would make good use of that.
Kakashi used his now dubbed 'meat shield' to take the blow whilst he charged lighting chakra in his right arm. The Raikiri bloomed on his limb, bright and deadly and was swift in its execution. Knowing his opponent wasn't able to dodge, he drilled straight through his 'human shield' and continued on through to the sword wielder in a veritable explosion of blood and gore.
The woman from before could only watch in horror as her fellow shinobi fell to the forest floor in a fleshy heap. She realised a little too late, however, that one should never look away from a shinobi of Hatake Kakashi 's calibre before her head too, left to join the bodies below.
Kakashi sighed, almost refreshed by the carnage. He dropped down from the tree only to Seal the bodies before persisting on. This time slightly more alert.
Yes, exhaustion could go fuck itself.
After a few hours of sprinting through the forest, Konoha was but a short distance away.
As he approached the village he had grown up in, Kakashi slowed as he lost himself in memories past - not for the first time on this journey – and ran a weary hand through his spiked silver hair.
Kakashi never had an easy life. He wasn't kidding when he'd said everyone was taken from him.
His Father's suicide had hit him, perhaps, harder than even he'd known. More than anything, it was the questions that he had left behind. The why's, mostly.
Why did he never talk to him, or anyone for that matter, about the mission that went south? Why keep it all bottled up?
Why take did he take the easy way out?
Why?
Why did he leave him alone?
Kakashi had idolised his father. Who wouldn't? He was an elite of the elite, of Konoha. Sannin level. The White Fang of the Leaf was his moniker. Without a mother there to raise him, (she had died early on due to side effects of childbirth), Sakumo, was Kakashi's whole world. Sakumo Hatake was strong, loyal and charismatic, the epitome of everything he'd been taught a good ninja should be – it was his pride to call him his father.
Kakashi himself, was considered something of a prodigy. Expectation was heaped on him as 'The Son of the White Fang'. This perhaps led to a not-so-subtle superiority complex. He looked down on his peers and questioned their worth as ninjas, long after they had passed the same entrance exam as he, to get into the Academy. It was around this time that Sakumo encouraged him to become friends with one, Maito Guy – son of Maito Duy. While Kakashi's instincts had warned him away, Guy had stuck to him like a limpet ever since their introduction, shrieking something about youthfulness and sunsets and his cool, hip attitude – he shuddered, there was only so much enthusiasm (and eyefuls of skin-tight olive jumpsuits), one guy could take. And so began the perpetual pissing contest, between the genius, Hatake Kakashi and who would later be known as Konaha's Green Beast. Eternal rivals, indeed.
One blisteringly hot day, while Kakashi was still in the academy, Sakumo and his team were sent on a mission of great importance.
…And after that one mission, his whole world fractured.
Of course Kakashi had noticed his father's slump upon his return to the village, what son wouldn't? He had assumed it was just another rough mission, they weren't uncommon after all, but ninja had no time for wallowing. They had to bounce back - it was their way of living.
It was only after Kakashi had found his father's body, did he come to know of the details of the mission his father left on.
His father had chosen to abandon said mission after being compromised, in order to save his teammates; a judgement that would later cause him to be vilified wherever he went, due to the high-profile nature of the task. Unable to bear the ridicule that followed him in the eyes of the everyone he knew, including from the teammates he had saved, he fell into a deep depression. It was a couple of months later that he took his own life.
In an effort to not follow in his father's footsteps, Kakashi had from then on become reclusive and mission orientated. This would make for an ideal shinobi… anywhere except for Konoha where, paradoxically, teamwork was actively encouraged. He made sure to suppress his emotions, so that all that remained was a mask.
This meant he didn't mesh well with his own teammates; Obito and Rin, once Genin teams had finally been assigned.
He and Uchiha Obito were different sides of the same coin and while they both had the character trait known as tenacity, it was their personalities that caused them to clash constantly. Thinking back, Kakashi may well have seen the absurdity of their team selection; placing the class prodigy with the class clown was irony at its finest, not mentioning the immature love triangle - of which he was an unwilling participant. For it was no secret that Obito was enamoured with Rin and Rin with Kakashi.
If Obito was fireworks – loud, energetic and bombastic, then Kakashi would be the tsunami to rain on his parade – all brutal efficiency with a calm, cool exterior.
In his early teens, he hadn't had much interaction with the fairer sex, or rather - had avoided them like the plague. Something about the lone wolf persona flicked all the crazy switches in teenage girls so, much his chagrin, Kakashi was rather popular in the academy.
With this in mind, he hadn't known what to make of Ohara Rin at first. She wasn't a fan girl, per say, in fact he would go as far as to say she was one of the more bearable of the fairer sex. But it wasn't hard to recognise the symptoms of a crush and that said indicators arose when speaking to him. Kakashi could ignore them as his only concern, at the time, was whether it would interfere with their shinobi duties – much to Obito's obvious irritation.
Obito, even in the academy, was something of an annoyance to Kakashi. All loudmouthed and brash and lacking the skills to back it up – in short, an idiot. Perhaps this had stemmed from his lack of physical height or perhaps, it was a scarcity of attention from his uptight clan. Being one of the few Uchiha to not have their Sharingan had to hurt and therefore he was trying to overcompensate for the shortfall...who knew. He tried to hide his mile-wide inferiority complex behind boisterous behaviour and pranks, but you could see it if you really looked.
Back then Obito and Rin were nothing but hindrances to Kakashi; just holding him back.
It was a few months under the leadership of Minato Namikaze did he begin to once again, come out his shell. Damaged as he was, Kakashi couldn't help but latch on to the comforting, charismatic presence their sensei seemed to effortlessly ooze. As his respect for Minato grew, he came to look upon him as the father figure he was missing. After one of their one to ones, he took his advice to heart in that he would try not to look at his teammates as obstructions, but siblings instead; "…in aiding them you will, in turn, help yourself." When he found that Obito was staring at him out of the corner of his eye, without scowling for once and looking oddly thoughtful, Kakashi was sure that Minato had, had similar cryptic talks with him also.
To his infinite surprise, it was actually Obito who coined the words he now lived by; "Those who break the rules are scum, but those that abandon their teammates are worse than scum."
Admittedly, becoming enlightened in the middle of The Third Shinobi War, was not ideal. In the middle of mission, even more so.
Being field promoted to Jonin should have been cause for celebration, but Kakashi - while he was sure he deserved the new rank - felt it was done more out of necessity than anything else. A show of strength, so to speak.
More and more responsibilities were being handed out, especially to a front-line team such as theirs, and tempers were running high. Higher than normal. Though he and Obito were getting along…better, they still had a long way to go. Secretly, Kakashi quite liked getting a rise out of his goggle-wearing teammate.
Rin had calmed a lot since they were first grouped together and had gotten rid of a lot of her insecurities, along with her crush. She had found her niche and applied herself in the medical field. After showing a talent for it she became the team's medic. Not only that, she had grown a spine seemingly overnight and while she would sometimes nod along to sooth their egos, she was no longer afraid to put her foot down to stop them bickering. Even his Sensei tended to look the other way during such arguments keeping well away from her wrath. Much to all of their horror they learnt she was taking one on one lessons from none other than Uzumaki Kushina (Minato Sensei's then girlfriend), who's temper was only outshone by her sword skill. She was becoming a fierce little thing, Ohara Rin.
The last mission they ever had had together was enemy subterfuge: to destroy a bridge that was allowing Iwagakure to receive their supplies. A vital mission that would aid the war effort and in bringing it to a close.
One would think that in delving into hostile territory, all differences would be put aside.
Much to Kakashi's immense regret…that was not the case.
Konohagakure forces; though large, had been stretched very thinly in the battle across the land. More teams of Genin had died than any other rank as they were simply unable to keep up with the horrors of war. They were many in number but didn't have the skill necessary to truly aid in battle.
Plainly put, they were cannon fodder.
So their team, was one of the few that had quickly been 'leaned on' when they hadn't caved to the pressure, read; survived. With Namikaze Minato as their team leader and a Jonin and two Chunin respectively, their team quickly became the Hokage's 'go-to' heavy hitter squad.
With all this in mind, along with the Hokage's, 'I'm counting on you…', stress was at an all-time high.
Kakashi was to be left in charge as team leader while Minato, with his Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God) Seals, could flit back and forth when needed to assist other overwhelmed troops. Obito, of course, had several problems with this. The first, second and third of which were taking orders from Kakashi, someone over a year younger than him and his self-proclaimed rival. Or maybe, on hindsight, he guessed what Kakashi's leadership would result in.
Things had gone to shit.
They had been ambushed as he'd led his team further into Iwa territory.
And Kakashi had gotten cocky. He had believed he could handle the enemy Jonin.
That's when things had really gone to shit.
The odds were not in his favour and three verses one, he was quickly overwhelmed. While he was busy focusing on his multiple opponents, Rin and Obito were taking on the last Jonin together. But the enemy was too much for them and before he knew it, Obito had faltered after hearing Rin scream and got himself knocked out and Rin, Rin was taken. The ninja carrying Rin had managed to slip away while Kakashi was kept busy fighting back the other three. Kakashi managed to defend the unconscious Obito when the 3 enemy ninja pulled back – no doubt to meet up with their teammate.
While he was concerned about Rin, he couldn't do anything right then, so, he made the logical decision to find shelter. With Obito slung over his shoulder he managed to find temporary shelter under an outcropping of rocks and shrubbery, enough the conceal them.
Kakashi was rifling through his pack for water, when Obito had awoken with a groan.
"Where's Rin?"
"She was taken." Kakashi had replied bluntly.
"WHAT!?"
"She was tak-!", he was cut off as Obito lunged for Kakashi, grabbing him by the top of his armour.
"I know what you said! What the actual fuck Kakashi!? You let them get away?!" Obito spat as he physically shook him.
"When you got knocked out, it was all I could do to protect you." He sighed. "We're straying from the mission parameters already. We've gotten sidetracked, our objective is in the other direction, we must-" Obito punched him mid-sentence.
"AND WHAT ABOUT RIN, YOU BASTARD?! SHE'S IN TROUBLE AND SHE'S OUR TEAMMATE! SCREW BEING SIDETRACKED!" He raged.
Kakashi rubbed his bruised face and sighed again, "…It's unfortunate but we must stay on mission, we've got to destroy the supply bridge."
"…You do what you like Kakashi. I'm not going to abandon Rin." He said firmly, tightening the fabric on his headband before turning newly awoken Sharingan to glare at a wide-eyed Kakashi. "Those who break the rules are scum, but those that abandon their teammates are worse than scum!"
Kakashi was left alone, still staring at the spot Obito had, moments ago, occupied his parting words ringing in his ears.
The similarities between this mission and the mission his father had taken were too glaring to ignore.
"What would you have me do sensei?" Kakashi clenched his fist as he wavered. Deep down he knew his team needed him and that this was what Minato sensei had lectured him about.
His teammates were his siblings. Exhausting and more often than not irritating that they were, but siblings, nonetheless.
Family.
He unconsciously checked his weapons pouches were secure, before launching out of the shelter and into the trees to rescue his wayward brother and sister. He wouldn't be worse than scum, he'd prove it.
He made quick work of catching up to the Uchiha, who was being less than stealthy, while charging through the undergrowth like a herd of wild boar.
Kakashi watched in mixed horror-fascination as Obito threw caution to the wind and charged half-cocked into the enemy camp with a shout of "RIN!", loud enough to wake the dead.
Absently, Kakashi wondered if he'd forgotten he was supposed to be a ninja but was brought out of his musings by the sound of weapons clashing. Obito was engaged by one of the three that had attacked him before, and they very clearly had the upper hand. Obito was able to react quickly due to his Sharingan but his inexperience showed clear as day.
Just as a second enemy was about to stab Obito in the back, Kakashi dove and impaled him with a kunai before he could make contact.
One opponent down.
Obito whirled thinking it was an enemy that had landed behind him but Kakashi simply caught his fist and pulled him to the side when Obito's opponent attacked with his sword. The sword flashed as it missed his target, but a swift flick upwards met with Kakashi's face.
"Argh!"
"Kakashi!" Obito yelled in panic, grabbing a hold of him as he flinched back and stumbled.
Kakashi's vision turned red as white hot agony shot through him. The blade had sliced clean through his eye and cut an aggressive path through his face. He panted and lent his weight into the Uchiha as they jumped back to distance themselves from the enemy.
"…Shit." Kakashi groaned, as he gripped a hand over his injury, blood seeping through his fingers. Pain lanced through his head as he tried to shake the cobwebs, and the black spots, from his mind.
'Bad idea', he thought as his vision wavered in his remaining good eye.
"W-why? I thought you weren't coming. Why did you come back? Why did you protect me?" Obito whispered angrily, his voice cracking with guilt.
"Well…" Kakashi replied, gathering himself. "Someone told me, that those who abandon their teammates are less than scum…"
"Kakashi, you're actually -"
"-Now is not the time, Obito," he interrupted as he straightened. "We still need to defeat this guy and find Rin."
"R-right," he stammered, tearing his eyes away from the deep bloody gouge that went from Kakashi's cheek to well above his eyebrow, squaring his shoulders.
"…There's more where that came from Konoha-nin!" The Iwagakure ninja boasted.
"You missed your chance to kill me, I guarantee you won't be getting another." Kakashi hissed back menacingly, partly due to the pain but mostly because he was pissed.
He, with Obito's unique distracting abilities, read; provoking of the enemy - managed to overcome the lone Iwagakure ninja with negligible effort. They hogtied the ninja, so he couldn't get away as they persuaded him to give up their lost teammate's location.
Bruised and battered, he soon yielded the information they needed, so they headed off, not before slitting his throat. A mercy killing, really.
Two opponents down; two remaining.
Time was of the essence and he could see Obito getting more and more antsy the longer it took to get to where Rin was being held. Kakashi dithered over telling Obito to calm down or not but doubted his conversing skill could make it sound like it wasn't an argument. He decided against and remained silent, especially since he was still having trouble getting accustomed to only having one eye – his depth perception was more off kilter than he would ever admit.
The pain was still there, more bearable and less of a distraction now. He had no doubt that he would never regain his sight in that eye, it was much too late for that and the cut was far too deep. He could smell the copper tang that had soaked into his face mask, but even that wouldn't make him take it off. He would have to get Rin to check him over once they got her back, so he didn't die of blood poisoning. Perhaps he relied on his teammates more than he thought after all.
It became apparent they'd reached the place where Rin was being held from the information supplied. It certainly fit the bill of 'massive creepy rock dwelling' that was described and definitely screamed 'Trap' - with a capital T. With the adversaries being from Iwagakure, he should have known they'd hole up in a cave. Bloody rock ninja.
It was hard work navigating the slim tunnels. Harder still with limited vision, but Obito's Sharingan proved to be a boon in that regard. So Kakashi trusted him to lead the way, if Obito noticed he, thankfully, kept the gloating to a minimum.
They soon began to hear voices and almost sagged in relief - it could have quite easily been a shit storm from the get-go. The relief, however, was short lived as they heard Rin's scream echo around a chamber not too far from their position and Kakashi suddenly had to grapple Obito into a chokehold.
"K-Mmph!", Kakashi quickly slapped a hand over Obito's mouth and bodily dragged him into the shadows. The noise from his thrashing had alerted the enemy to their presence.
Kakashi glared at Obito – with as much annoyance as he could express with one eye - who at least had the decency to look sheepish. 'This Idiot!'
Frustrated and with the element of surprise now non-existent, Kakashi signed for Obito to 'distract' while he slipped in afterwards unnoticed. Then when Kakashi attacked, 'get Rin out of there'.
Unable to remain still any longer, Obito was more than happy to go along with the plan.
There were three people in the room: two Iwa Jonin and Rin. If Kakashi had to guess, they'd been trying to interrogate her when they'd been so conveniently interrupted. Rin was tied to a chair, eyes misted and unfocused, while one ninja cast what could only be Genjutsu. The other nin was clearly left as a guard. Obito rushed in and dodged past said guard to attack the Genjutsu user from behind. The guard only had time to yelp before Kakashi slit his throat when his back turned. This though proved just enough to warn the other, who leapt back from Obito's incoming attack. It appeared this was enough to break the jutsu on Rin, whose eyes immediately cleared of the haze.
"…Guys," Rin murmured tiredly. "About time."
"Tch, you Konoha ninja sure are persistent!" The last Iwa nin hissed. He backed up until he was close to another cave route as Kakashi now stood, weapons ready, between the enemy and his team. Obito in the meantime had managed to free Rin and fortunately, though frazzled, looked relatively unharmed.
Kakashi could feel his teammates at his back as they prepared to aid him in taking down the final foe. The Iwa nin suddenly began moulding chakra into a hand seal he didn't recognise. Thinking it was an incoming jutsu, Kakashi was about to warn his teammates when the cave they were in gave an ominous tremble. A fine crumbling of grit started to drop from the cave's ceiling before the shaking grew and the ground became unstable. Huge rocks crashed around them and a deep rumbling of a collapsing tunnel sounded from behind them.
"You're dead now, Leaf scum!" The Iwa ninja cackled, though was cut short as he bowled over by debris.
"Guys! It was an explosion Seal! They've routed it everywhere – I can't see anywhere that isn't going to crumble!" Obito shouted over the din.
"Let's move!" Kakashi urged backing out the way they came just as the ground became unstable. He felt Obito and Rin fall into step with him and for a brief moment thought they may just get out alive yet.
When Rin gasped pointing somewhere above, "Kakashi look out!" It was too late. There was no way he could avoid it, but hopefully it would be quick. He would take solace in the knowledge that he had done the right thing for once in going back for his teammates. His only regret would be not completely securing their safety out of this death trap.
Then he'd felt a hand at his back forcefully shove him forwards out of the way. He crashed headlong into the mouth of the cave, freedom at his fingertips. He shook his head to clear the black spots from the impact and heard a groan from Rin close to his left. It looked like she too had taken a tumble.
Not seeing Obito, he looked behind him and froze in horror. "NO!"
"Obito," Rin gasped, clutching her hands to her mouth. "Obito!"
"WHY?!" Kakashi's voice broke as he fell to his knees beside him, futilely attempting to move the impossibly large rock Obito was half crushed by.
"…It's ok Kakashi," Obito said softly. A small trail of blood seeped from his mouth as he gave a weak grating cough, his breathing laboured.
Kakashi beat the pillar of rock in desperation, over and over till his knuckles shredded. "The FUCK is it ok Obito?!"
"You need to leave me…and get out of here," Obito rasped just as the floor gave another menacing rumble.
"We're not leaving you!" Rin sobbed in anguish as she clambered closer. Her shaking hands lit with green medical jutsu even as tears flooded down her face.
Obito smiled and sluggishly lifted his hand to touch her face, the eerie red light of the Sharingan taking in every last detail. His arm lowered to grip her glowing hands, pulling them towards his remaining eye.
"I want you to take my Sharingan, Kakashi."
"I ca-" Kakashi started.
"You can, you have to!" Obito all but screamed. "Take it and use it! I don't have much time and I can't do anything with it when I'm dead!" He coughed out.
Kakashi ground his teeth till his gums ached, hating this. Hating himself.
"Rin…" Obito uttered, gaze shifting back to her and gently squeezing her hands. "Do this for me? Please ...as a last request. You know what to do."
Rin gazed into his face and could only see a tired resolve. She bowed her head to his hand clenching her eyes shut, hot tears falling on his forehead. She lightly kissed his fingers as she drew back.
"Hurry," he whispered as she nodded.
The cave shook once again.
"Lie here please Kakashi." Rin asked quietly, gesturing to a space close to her. When he didn't immediately move, she took him by the hand and gently guided him down to the cave floor.
Rin's green wreathed hands deadened the nerves around her teammates' eye sockets, before taking a deep calming breath and proceeding with the transfer. If Rin noticed the tears spilling down their faces, she didn't say a word.
"Don't think of it as leaving me behind." Obito spoke into the darkness. "Think of it as you're taking a piece of me with you."
"It's done." Rin said, the hum of her medical chakra slowly ceasing. She sat on her knees, gripping Obito's hand tightly, watching as Kakashi slowly sat up and turned towards them. The scar would forever remain a stark contrast to his pale skin, but in place of the damaged eye now lay Obito's Sharingan, a startling crimson in the cave's dim light.
The fissure suddenly rattled and groaned and shook as more debris began to fall.
"Go!" Obito coughed. "You must go now!"
"I can't leave you!" Rin said shakily.
"Kakashi! Take her and get out of here!" Kakashi felt sick to his stomach but climbed to his feet on the precariously crumbling ground.
"Let's go, Rin."
"NO! We can't! How could – !" She stopped shouting abruptly upon seeing Kakashi's expression. Tears streamed from his one grey eye and blood ran from the spinning Sharingan.
"We must go, Rin! Otherwise Obito's sacrifice will be for nothing!" Kakashi grabbed Rin's shoulder to shake her as she wept, rocks falling dangerously close as he did so.
"Rin, Kakashi…thank you...for everything." Obito whispered as Kakashi hauled them both from the cavern. Through the falling rocks, they could still make out Obito's smile as they dodged through the wreckage just as a shock wave blasted throughout. Until they could see him no more.
Out of the cave, Kakashi allowed his arms to drop from where he had forced the thrashing Rin out of the rock slide. He stood looking at where they had come from and felt the searing pain of loss, but he held it together through sheer force of will. Now was not the time to break down, they were still within enemy territory. Rin however simply didn't have that level of control in her and had already fallen to the ground - a puppet with its strings cut – and screamed and cried for their fallen brother, venting for the both of them while Kakashi watched with a strange sense of detachment.
The time following that mission passed in a blur. Kakashi only very vaguely remembered Minato sensei arriving and bringing them back to the village, Kakashi couldn't forget his mentors' face when he appeared with one less teammate and an implanted Sharingan. Though there was no blame, there was a piteous understanding in the crystalline blues, which somehow made Kakashi feel worse.
A large chuck of his memory was fuzzy after that which the medics had down to multiple head injuries topped off with physiological strain.
He didn't want to dwell on those memories, so he put them aside, read; shoved them in a deep dark corner of his conscience.
He was well aware of how unhealthy withholding emotional baggage was, he'd been told an inordinate amount of times during his 'post mission assessments' after all. He'd managed to discourage the medic-nin so far with non-committal shrugs and deadpan expressions, but who knew how long that would stop them sniffing around his business.
Trouble was, just one word from them to the Hokage and Kakashi would be 'encouraged' to take time off to recover – best case scenario. Worst case scenario was that his Hokage could force retirement, but he doubted this would come into being as he'd worked hard to make himself indispensable.
In the privacy of his own home, Kakashi had allowed himself to reflect on the mission. It seemed, due to the Sharingan, only Obito had seen the Seals embedded throughout the cave. So he'd pushed Rin and himself away from the falling rubble that followed the explosion.
The only slight condolence was that the Iwa nin had also died in the blast.
Kakashi sighed.
Due to the Sharingan's ability to record even the most precise of movements, Kakashi soon garnered the moniker of 'Kakashi of the Sharingan - The Copy ninja'.
But possibly the most loathed of his bingo book entries was 'Friend-Killer Kakashi', which he gained not that many years after obtaining his implanted eye and on a mission not too dissimilar - but instead of Obito dying, it had been Rin …and by his own hand no less.
What would Obito say if he could see him now, would he be disappointed? Would he scream and shout and rage? Would he take back his eye and shun him? Would he…forgive him?
In his mind, Kakashi had run through, again and again, how a conversation between them would play out. He would start by explaining the mission Rin and he were on – how she had been abducted for a significant amount of time, this time by Kirigakure, The Village Hidden in the Mist. How they had forcefully implanted Isobu, the three tailed bijuu into Rin and in such a way, that the containment Seal would release upon entering Konoha. He imagined, this would be where Obito would scream obscenities at him followed by, "So you just killed her Kakashi?!"
He would tell him how it was never his intention to kill her – he would never, that it was Rin that threw herself in front of his Raikiri when Kakashi wouldn't listen to her request. A request that mirrored Obito's sacrifice with such clarity that he momentarily blanked out as the memories were dredged to the forefront once again. No. Just no. He couldn't, wouldn't take her life and he told her as much. Shouted it in her face, in fact, until he thought she'd backed down from the idea.
None of that had mattered, the ever-stubborn Rin had chosen. She had chosen to die by his hand rather than when the Seal would finally fail, and she'd done it just as he was attacking a Kiri-nin. She knew his attack style almost as well he did by this point - knew when he'd charge to attack and gauged when he'd be unable to pull away – so knew that when Kakashi struck, he struck true.
Kakashi would plead with Obito. Beg for him to understand that Kakashi never wanted any of this to happen. But in reality, he knew Obito would have heard his explanations for what they really were. Excuses. The judgement in Obito's eyes would be damning and no matter how much he scrubbed his hand, that awful syrupy red slick just wouldn't come off.
In truth 'Friend-Killer' was probably, right on the mark.
Kakashi loped up to the large wooden gates of Konohagakure and approached the seemingly innocuous Chunin gate guards; Kotetsu and Izumo.
Though shocked at Kakashi's clearly worn appearance, they knew better than to point it out. More than one pitiful ninja had been scared to tears by the Copy-nin for a lesser reason, and so, let him pass peacefully without interrogation.
Kakashi paused momentarily to take in the hubbub of the village and eye the large red tower furthest from the entry gate. The Hokage's Tower.
Ever the procrastinator, Kakashi decided to pay a visit to his usual haunt first – The Memorial Stone – and disappeared with a minor application of chakra and in a small flurry of leaves.
There, next to the name Obito Uchiha was Ohara Rin and just below the names of his teammates and a little to the left, were the engravings for Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.
He'd stared at this very spot so often it had become habit that made him notorious in his lateness village wide.
For it was here that the last shreds of his humanity lay. Well...here and with the little blonde...wherever she was.
He absolutely had to find her.