Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated with Viz, Shonen Jump, or Kishimoto Masashi. This fic is rated "T" for multiple reasons, some being that themes such as mild violence, suggestive sexuality, and gambling will appear, as will cursing and, considering how almost every one of my multi-chapters go, alcohol (its not planned, but I bet it will happen). Ahem, anyway, no suing for you, at least on the party of I for the case of this. Comprende?

Okay, so this is my second Naruto fic, and it will also have Rin as a major role in it. And here is where I curse at the search engine, since Rin and Obito are planned to be equally important, but Kakashi's the main character and I don't want to crimp either of his comrades out of this.
And you notice in the summary that I've labeled this as "pseudo-AU". Explaining that could spoil things, so you'll just have to guess at the definition yourself.
So, without further ado, the story…

He took a quick glance around the doorframe, waited a moment as he determined that no one was present, then pulled himself fully around the frame in a crouch, looking, listening, smelling…

No, no one was in the room. The whole apartment was empty. The coast was clear.

Still being cautious, the ninja moved slowly and fluidly, keeping his breath even and slow, never letting a muscle lock up or jerk or twitch but simply moving. He didn't have to think about the motion; stealth was his constant, even his habit, since he was just a boy.

The person who lived here was not present. This was ideal for the ninja, whose purpose here was to place sabotage for the resident when he returned. And this sabotage would teach him, oh yes. It would teach him about stealing from this ninja. The audacity! Taking something from him that was so important!

But his plans were distracted when he saw the desk laden with papers. A grin crept across his face. Perhaps it might be more useful to find something he could blackmail with? There had to be some sensitive documents. He moved over, and scanned over the pages. Most of them didn't look like anything special; just standard reports and… ah, wait! What's this? He spotted a thick stack of typed writing that was loose and devoid of official headers.

He allowed himself a small, quiet laugh as he lifted the stack and began thumbing through.

.-.-.-.-.

The trees of the small village in Hi no Kuni swayed contentedly in the breeze, their boughs heavy with fruit, groaning more in elation than complaint from the weight. The late-summer wind went on to rustle the stalks in the rice field, but not before tapping past the wind chimes outside a quaint minka. The minka had patches of new where the inhabitants tried to not make the newness so starkly noticeable… not uncommon, but this house had more patches than the neighbors did, and it was well known why, too. Parts of it were exceptionally clean, while others seemed messily lived in, and a large garden of several kinds of herbs and peculiar flowers surrounding it.

The inhabitants were three people, two men and a woman. Such a set up would normally be considered odd, to say the least, considering that the three weren't related. In any other town, they would've been made the subject of many rumors and more than a little ridicule, but it was well known in this village that the three were childhood friends and no one questioned it. Of them, none of them had families to speak of, and even if they did, were all at the age where living alone would be preferable.

Hatake Kakashi didn't seem to see the balmy, poetic atmosphere that surrounded him at the time, too busy rapped up in his own thoughts as he returned from work. Despite this, he would later remember that very picture of that day quite well.

Hatake… his surname just screamed of his family's background as farmers. But they hadn't been farmers for a few generations. His father, Hatake Sakumo, was a businessman… really he was just an accountant, but he had enough of a head on his shoulders to make his own business out of it. In fact, those that saw his work knew him to be practically incomparable. Sakumo taught diligently his skills to his son, who he noticed quite early to be a talent in his own right, if not an outright genius. Sakumo once told his son that he would have become a great ninja if they lived in Konoha.

Not long after, he committed seppuku. Kakashi never really understood his father.

Kakashi was an accountant now, currently working for someone else, but he was young yet, and he had more than a little ambition still left in him. He had every intention of taking his result one step farther than his father did before he died. And even though he was an accountant, the kind of guy that you would expect to be careless with his health (overly skinny, neglect towards his looks including tousled hair and baggy clothes, and an overall lazy attitude), he was actually physically fit and able to win over most of the other men in the village—including the thugs—in a brawl. He kept himself fit physically, and cool mentally, actually in a kind of determination; he wasn't going to die before he was ready to, whether the threat to his life was of the mind, like his insecure and shamed father, or of the body, like the mother he never knew.

But today, his normally careless attitude was marred with angry contemplation, though most people around him wouldn't have realized it outside of his downcast eyes. He kept his face passively in check at all times, always aloof even as he seems careless, but the distracting tension in him would not have gotten past his housemates.

And it didn't. As soon as he entered the minka and set his shoes aside, Rin looked up from the table where she had been crushing dried herbs. "And what are you hiding your face about?" The words might have sounded, under any other tone, accusatory, or at the very least haughty, but the sweet, caring tone that Rin implemented didn't denote anything more than compassion and worry, lightened with a little teasing. This was a phrase that she always asked when he was in a bad mood and trying not to show it, or when he came in later than usual and obviously trying to avoid her and Obito.

"Nothing," Kakashi said immediately, which was always the wrong answer, but at least he gave it consistently.

"Problems at work?"

He sighed, allowing some of his carefully placed face to drop. She got it spot on again. She often got it on the first guess, and though it wasn't uncommon for her to try again, she never had to try more than three times. Then again, there were only three things that ever bothered him: work, Obito, and "old thoughts" (i.e. his family). Feeling Rin's eyes on him, he allowed himself to sit down with her.

She pushed away her mortar and pestle and crossed her hands before her on the table. "What happened?"

"There are rumors that management is going to start cutting corners, that salaries will get slashed and people will get laid off. Some of the other employees are getting restless about it, particularly Hideo-san. He's especially worried, since his family isn't in a good position right now."

Rin nodded. Hideo's wife had died a few years ago, and he was left to take care of the three children, and the eldest was sick. If anything happened to his paycheck, he would be ruined. "So they're trying to get you to keep a lookout for them in the books?"

"Precisely," Kakashi answered, "Never mind that the boss has been giving me more to work out and… damnit all, I'm just getting tired of the whole thing!" He groaned and plopped his head on the table, but he was already feeling better, getting that all off his chest. Rin seemed to pick up on the relief and lightheartedly ruffled his hair as she rose to retrieve some more dried herbs to crush.

More than once Kakashi came in with the feeling that he was at a dead end in his career, no matter how much his logic might work out otherwise. After all, he was in a good position, had a decent income, was in agreeable terms with the higher-ups, and even had a good exit set up if things did go against what he'd planned. Perhaps it was that he was surrounded by people who pretty much were at a dead end in that job, Hideo not being the least of them. And he tried to hide it not completely from pride, but from his own sort of worry; his housemates had their own plethora of problems, and he didn't want to feel like he would burden them with his troubles.

It was usually Rin who got him to spill what he attempts to bottle up, knowing precisely how to make him want to talk and how to give him ample room for his ranting. She was deceptively devious in her ability to handle someone psychologically, a learned trait from being the peacemaker between Kakashi and Obito since they were children.

Kakashi turned his head so that his cheek rested on the table surface, and he looked towards the front door. He remembered that Rin told the two men to come back home by five-o'-clock for dinner, since she had a surprise for them.

Punctuality was no problem for Kakashi; he always came straight home after work anyway. But Obito just didn't seem to understand the concept of time sometimes. Well, that's not fair, since he always came out of breath when he was late, even if he was significantly late, and he always had a good excuse to back him up.

Kakashi stared at the door. It was only four twenty, but Obito had quickly announced last night that he would come home an hour early just to help Rin prepare. Rin really wasn't bothered, and she seemed like she was already finished, but Kakashi wasn't about to miss a chance in ribbing Obito for making himself into a liar. It seemed like a good way to raise his own spirits.

The heavy steps of a young man in a hurry up wooden steps approached the door, just as Kakashi expected. Obito burst into the house, hurriedly kicked off his shoes (nearly tripping himself in the process). "Rin? I'm sorry! Masa-san had kept me a little late to help them move the boilers, and—"

"Save your breath, Obito." Kakashi raised his head up from the table. "She's getting herbs to crush."

Obito frowned and flashed his eyes over to the other male, and he ran a hand through his black hair. He knew that a reprimand was just a few seconds away, and he tightened his lips and prepared to build up a counter to the assault.

"What is with you, anyway? Running in here, nearly getting your shoes on the mats, almost certainly nicking the wood floor outside by your stomping around. You're twenty minutes late, so why do you put up the illusion of rushing? And you're already pushing out an excuse for being late? You hardly came in!" Kakashi leaned back in the chair. "Maybe you shouldn't make promises if you can't keep them."

"Can it, Kakashi! Just because you're in a bad mood doesn't mean that you can take it out on me."

Kakashi winced. He hated when his annoyance was obvious to Obito, and that just made him more annoyed. He stood up. "Whether or not I'm in a bad mood doesn't mean that I'm not telling the truth. Stop acting like a little kid, already!"

"Fine! I act like a kid! But at least I'm not some self-centered jerk who picks on the first person he sees just because he feels bored at work again."

"Obito, you—ow!" He put his hand protectively at the spot on his head that was just hit, and he turned around to see a scowling Rin.

"Not five minutes and you guys are already at each other's throats. I swear, I've seen sibling rivalries with less spit in them." She sighed. "I don't mind Obito being late, Kakashi; I really only wanted to make sure you were both here by five anyway, so as far as I'm concerned, he's early. There's no reason for you to snap at him like that."

Obito gave a wide, self-righteous grin at Kakashi, glad that Rin was on his side.

"And Obito, Kakashi is not being selfish. His trouble at work comes from rumors that some of his co-workers might get laid off or salary decreases, including Hideo-san, and he's worried about them. Be a little more curteous."

"Erm…" That grin had fled in an instant. "Oh… sorry… I, uh, didn't know…" He fidgeted a bit, like he always did when Rin reprimanded him.

She gave another sigh, which was an instant trigger that made both young men feel guilty for disappointing their friend, and both found themselves looking at the floor. But Rin didn't linger on it, and went back into the kitchen, saying dinner will still be a while.

Obito decided to go for the bath before Kakashi would get a chance to say anything, wanting to get rid of the smell of spices, broth, and sweat from carrying full pots and grosses of ingredients the whole day off of him. He worked in a mom-and-pop restaurant more in town, and was the strapping, young man who did all the grunt work and much of everything else for the old couple who owned it. On his first day, he'd burned his right hand in three places with oil, then burned his left on the fire while catching the pan so that it wouldn't burn the rest of his arm. Rin had to clean and wrap up the burns when he got home, and he had to wear gloves for a whole week.

He, like Kakashi, was in good physical condition, partially because Kakashi would resort to fist fights about once a week, and this pastime evolved into the two sparring for fun every other day. When it was discovered that Rin was actually pretty good at hand-to-hand combat (from the day she beat up the both of them before they could do the same to each other), they allowed her to join them. But despite his working out, he was still a little clumsy, and Kakashi would always make Obito trip himself up during a fight at least once, which meant that Obito was just going to have to hit Kakashi that much harder after he got up.

He realized that he was just getting himself angry by thinking of Kakashi again, and he forced it out of his mind. The point of a bath before dinner was to relax, after all, and all he was doing with that was working himself up with that line of thought.

But thinking about Rin is fair game, he mused with a smile. Wonder what the surprise she has for us is… It wasn't something special she was cooking. Even though Rin wasn't a bad cook, she was actually the least talented between the three at it. She knew how to use spices well, given that she knew spices and herbs well anyway, but that was almost the extent of her skill.

.-.-.-.-.

"I'm going to start working at the clinic tomorrow."

The two men looked up from their curry, wide-eyed. Obito nearly dropped his chopsticks. Kakashi just looked frozen. Both had become eerily silent.

Rin bit her lip and frowned. "I thought the news would excite you guys."

Kakashi frowned and tried to think of a way to explain it. "It's not that we aren't happy for—"

"The clinic is full of shinobi, Rin!" Obito blurted. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and glared at him for his lack of subtlety.

"You mean they weren't wearing hitai-ate for looks?" she replied with light sarcasm, her gained reaction to when people would treat her like a child. It, of course, made Obito wince and shut him up fast, allowing her to continue. "They're Konoha medic-nin, and theyneed nurses. They had hardly recovered at all from the war when the Kyuubi hit their village, so they've just recently been able to re-staff the clinics and hospitals in the towns and cities around the country." A slightly sad look came to her face. "I thought you two would be happy to hear the news. I mean, if nothing else, it means more money coming into the house."

Obito lowered his head guiltily, but Kakashi frowned at Rin. She had to have known how they would react (she always knew), and he wasn't fooled. So he decided to press on, "The point is, Rin, that you're not a ninja. But you'll be among ninja, and how will they treat you? Will they treat you as one of their own? Will they look down on you because you're a citizen, or take advantage of you?" His eyes were hard on her, making her uncomfortable enough to put down her chopsticks and stop eating. "And even if they do accept you, what of foreign ninja? Worse, what if there's another war, or a ninja team that remembers the war decides to start up trouble? Maybe they'll think that you're from Konohagakure, or a medic-nin yourself. They might torture or kill you… or at least take you away because they'd think you'd be useful."

The black-haired boy beside him lowered his brow, not wanting to think such things happening to Rin, and certainly not liking how Kakashi was upsetting her, but nonetheless being on his side; he was just as much against this.

Rin stayed silent for a moment. Kakashi guessed that she was weighing out a good response rather than weighing out his points on the matter. He was right. "The other countries wouldn't want war anymore than Konoha did, and are probably still rebuilding themselves. And why should I be afraid of foreign ninja? This village is no use to them unless there is a war." She wove her fingers together in front of her, staring down as she spoke softly, smoothly. "And I don't care if the ninja in the clinic look down on me. I don't care about what people say about me." She smiled up at them unexpectedly. "If I did, would I be living alone with two men I'm not related to?"

Damnit. Kakashi looked away. This is why he hated trying to fight with Rin; he was never able to figure out what she was going to say beforehand until it was too late, so he'd always lose. Getting reason into her head was complex. Fighting Obito was a lot simpler, and he wished that he were arguing with him instead. At least with Obito, even if Obito were too thickheaded to get Kakashi's point, Kakashi would still come out on top.

Thinking of Obito, he glanced over at the black-haired young man, trying to prompt him to come in with an argument until Kakashi could regroup his thoughts and try again. Obito noticed the signal, and he looked like he was about to falter.

But right when Kakashi was about to try to improvise something, Obito spoke up, "You know, we don't care about the money."

Kakashi nearly spouted out to the contrary before he stopped himself.

"I mean, money helps, and I wont deny that, you know?" He poked a piece of beef until it fell over into the rice, sort of afraid to look up at her. "But Kakashi and I… we barely do anything for the house compared to you." Kakashi had to hold his tongue on that one, too; he brought in the most money, and Obito did most of the cooking. "And we are concerned, you know? I mean, we're perfectly fine with you just working with plants and herbs from here. You don't need to put yourself in a position that you would get teased or even get in danger. We'd rather you work from home if it's more comfortable to you."

That one seemed to surprise Rin a bit, and she smiled at Obito in response, prompting a blush to appear on his cheeks. But then she said, "Obito, you're very sweet… but, you're talking as if I was either pregnant or old."

Obito was the sort who could be elated one second and defeated the next, and here was an example of how he did so. Kakashi nearly put his forehead in his hand for Obito's letting the comment get to him.

Kakashi tried to regain some footing, but he found himself getting more and more swayed towards Rin's argument. Damn her! That's another reason why I hate arguing with her! He found himself forcefully dropping the subject just so he could at least pretend he had a mind of his own and wasn't nearly as brainwashed as Obito. At some point he vocalized this, prompting a fight between the two men. Rin didn't interfere with this one; she decided to prepare some things for her first day at work tomorrow and this fight didn't seem worth interfering with.

Somewhere in all this, a paper lamp caught on fire (for which a debate about how this happened raged for weeks among the three). Rin did finally see a point in interfering with the fight when she smelled smoke. With cries of "What are you doing!" and "Shut up, Kakashi!" and "You want the whole neighborhood to come in here!" and "It wasn't me!" and "You nearly destroyed the house, again!" the rest of the night wasn't exactly peaceful. But Kakashi did manage to almost forget all of his problems with the other two members of his dysfunctional "family".

And when he came to work the next day, he'd found he'd rather be back at home, arguing about paper lamps.

Hi no Kuni – The Land of Fire / Fire Country.
Minka – Old-style Japanese house, usually a farmhouse nowadays (city folk find them impractical). Lit. "people's house".
Hatake – Written in Kanji can mean "field" or "farmland".