Neonn: Jeez. I just keep churning out depressing stories don't I? The worst part is it starts out by being deceptively not angsty. And I totally think the Yondaime would have his name on the Memorial Stone. It makes sense, because of the way he died. And this is not my best work, definitely. I tried to do a little more description, but I think I failed.

Disclaimer: Naruto © Kishimoto

xXx

Kakashi stared at his clock as it made an annoying beeping sound. Closing his eyes, he reached up and turned off the alarm. Rolling over, he covered his head with his covers. It seemed wrong, however. He needed to get up. There was something important...? Oh well. It could wait. Just as he was falling back asleep, however, another irritating alarm went off. Thoughtlessly, he reached up to turn it off, then remembered that he had set up a second alarm. Unlike the first, this one required him to stand up and walk all the way across the room in order to silence it.

With a soft grunt of irritation, Kakashi dragged himself out of bed and to the bookshelf, where the second clock was making an awful racket. Using more force than actually necessary, technically he turned it off. After all, a broken clock is similar to one that has just been turned of. A little, anyway. He went to go back to bed, and his sleep. He needed it. Today was...eyes widening, he looked at the calendar, at the now broken clock, then back to the calendar.

Twenty minutes later, Kakashi stood before his team.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Ah, sweet familiarity.

"Sorry! There was this telephone pole, see-"

"Liar!" two of his students yelled back at him, not even waiting to hear the rest of his excuse. The last one, a brooding Uchiha, didn't say anything, just rolled his eyes.

"Ah, well, it doesn't matter. I have some important errands to run, so I want you to take this time to do some self-training. Later!" Before any of his students could protest, he was gone, leaving behind his signature bit of smoke, the only sign he had actually come.

xXx

Naruto was the first to regain his tongue. "What!? I waited three whole hours just to be told to go play!?"

"He said nothing about playing, Naruto," said Sakura. "He just...he just ditched us!"

"Hn," Sasuke started to leave.

"Hey! Where are you going, Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura, the first to notice him, as usual.

"To train."

"What? Don't you want to see what Kakashi-sensei is up to?" demanded Naruto loudly.

"Hn."

"What if he has a girl?" Sasuke paused momentarily, then continued to walk away. "Doesn't it make you wonder how he can get one, with those big buck teeth and fat lips of his?" Naruto continued.

"Hn." Sasuke stopped and turned to face the Naruto.

xXx

Up on a roof overlooking a busy street, the gennin of Team 7 stared in shock. Apparently Naruto's theory was correct. There was Kakashi, strolling casually down the street, as if nothing was unusual. Clinging to his arm was a tired looking woman. Her brown hair was cut short, barely to her shoulders. Her simple, light purple robes matched the rectangular markings on her face perfectly.

"I can't believe it! I was right!" said Naruto, amazed at himself. Usually his theories were just shots in the dark—off target and generally ridiculous. Seeing this, however, made him wonder how many of his as-yet-unproven theories were actually correct.

"Something's not right," said Sasuke, frowning.

"I'll say," muttered Sakura crossly. "How could that pervert get such a good-looking woman?"

"Look where they're going!" exclaimed Naruto excitedly. "He's going to get her flowers!"

"What? No way would he do something like that!" The two bickered over whether or not Kakashi had the romantic capacity to buy a woman flowers, while Sasuke watched Kakashi and his possible-date entered the flower shop. Several minutes later, Kakashi and his companion came back out, the woman holding the brightly colored flowers, staring at them with blank brown eyes.

"Hey, you two," said Sasuke, his voice breaking up the minor squabble between his teammates. Sakura instantly let Naruto out of the headlock and took her place next to Sasuke, watching her teacher. Muttering under his breath, Naruto joined the two. They couldn't hear him over the noise of the crowd, but it was obvious Kakashi was talking to the woman, who didn't seem very responsive. Kakashi seemed to be making the best of it, however, as it seemed he was smiling, judging by the way his single visible eye curved.

A little while later, the gennin watched as Kakashi led the woman to the Memorial Stone. They had stopped at two other places on the way. Kakashi now had four bowls of ramen, and a small cake in addition to the flowers. His students wondered what in the world he would do with four bowls of ramen.

When the two sat down in front of the memorial stone, the gennin strained their ears to found out what was going on.

XXx

"Hello, Minato-sensei, Obito. Look, Rin, we're all together again," said Kakashi, forcing his tone into one that sounded happy. Rin didn't say anything, just continued to stare blankly ahead. Kakashi hid a small sigh. "Ah, well. Let's eat..." He handed Rin a bowl, and set the other two down, near the engraved Stone.

"Ah, sensei, let me help you with that," said Rin. Her voice was small; it was the first time she'd spoken that day. She reached over and broke apart the chopsticks, then removed the lid on one of the bowls. Placing the chopsticks across the top of the steaming noodles, she looked at the other bowl, as if seeing it for the first time. "Obito, you can do it yourself."

"Now, Rin, don't be like that," said Kakashi gently. "We're a team, after all." As he said this, he removed the lid and broke the chopsticks for the other bowl. Kakashi and Rin ate in silence.

xXx

"What are they talking about?" asked Naruto, not understanding what was going on. "We're his team."

"Dobe."

xXx

"Obito! You can't have cake until you finish your ramen. Tell him, Kakashi-kun!" the woman acted lively, but her eyes were still hazy, as though she wasn't seeing what everyone else saw.

"Obito, stop being such a crybaby...and you have goggles. You need a new excuse..." Kakashi said. Rin stuck her tongue out in the direction of 'Obito'. "Ah, well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt if we had the cake now," said Kakashi. Using a kunai, he cut the small cake into four pieces.

"Happy anniversary, Kakashi-kun, sensei, Obito!" said Rin happily. She looked momentarily confused, and her eyes gained a little focus. "This...is our anniversary, right?"

"Of course it is, Rin. The day we first became a team," the jounin confirmed. Rin smiled as her eyes clouded again. "Happy anniversary."

xXx

Naruto abruptly left.

"I...don't think I can watch anymore," said Sakura sadly. She looked, to find the other Sasuke had already gone as well.

xXx

As usual, Rin became silent and withdrawn after leaving the memorial stone. She was never suited to being a ninja, and the horrors of the war with Iwa ten years ago had broken her. She was little more than an empty shell who gained a little life only once a year, when they celebrated; it disappeared as quickly as it had come when the time came to leave, however.

"Ah, Rin, it's nice to see you back." said a mednin who specialized in psychological rather than physical trauma. Rin made no response as she entered the house where other in a similar condition resided, watched over by the caring employees.

"Ah, Hatake-san, thank you for visiting. She doesn't get visitors...few of them do," he said sadly. "Still, it's nice to know someone considers her to be one of their precious people, even in the state she's in."

Kakashi nodded idly, getting out his book again. With a small wave, he walked away, not bothering to correct the mednin. He didn't have the heart to tell him his precious people had died long ago.

-End-