1: Torn Apart
Rin was embarrassed by her soulmark.
Not that it was ugly, on the contrary she found it very pretty, but it was just in a very inconvenient place.
After all it was considered rude to just show your soulmark to the world.
Normally you were supposed to cover it up and only openly show it once you had found your soulmate.
Rins soulmark was on her face, so the only way she would be able to cover it would be with make-up, which her kaa-san wouldn't allow, not that Rin wanted it.
On the one hand she thought it was embarrassing to flaunt her mark like that, but on the other hand she was happy about it being in such an obvious place, because she would be able to immediately spot her soulmate.
She was excited the day she started the academy, hoping she would find her soulmate there.
At lunchbreak she curiously looked around at the children, most of them uncovering their wrists or ankles and lifting shirts to compare soulmarks.
There seemed to be only one match, the Hokages son and a girl with pretty red eyes, and Rin was disappointed when she saw no one with the same obvious soulmark as her.
She startled when she heard a boy sneering.
"Ha! You've got the soulmark on your face! That looks so stupid, you can't even be decent and cover it!"
The girl lowered her head in shame when she heard someone shout back.
"Well, your entire face is stupid!"
Rin blinked when she realized that the insult hadn't been meant for her and her heart made a little leap.
There was somebody else with a soulmark on their face?
The young girl made her way thru a small crowd that had formed around the two arguing boys, who were now shouting insults at each other (some of them so colourfull they made Rin blush).
"Um... excuse me?... You said you had a soulmark on your face?" she asked shyly.
A boy with green eyes and light brown hair turned first, she studied his face before she saw a red dragon curl around his arm.
The other boy made a "Eh?" sound before stepping to the side to look around the first boy.
He had dark hair and eyes and a pair of orange goggles resting on his head.
Her face lit up when she saw the blue lighting bolt in the shape of a vine stretch from his cheekbone over his temple to his eyebrow, little flowers made of flame blooming at the tips of the lightning vine.
Like fire and ice in the shape of a plant.
"You've got my mark!" the boy said stunned, then his face split into the brightest smile Rin had ever seen.
The boy, her soulmate, pointed a finger in dragonboys face and shouted.
"Who's decent now!"
The girl found herself giggling at that.
An unbelievable sense of relief washed over her, she didn't need to worry over the people that whispered about her not covering her mark.
She extended a hand to the boy, well aware of the gawking of the dragonboy and the few kids that had gathered because of the ruckus.
"I'm Rin. Nohara Rin."
The boy took her hand and she could feel her entire body flood with warmth as they bonded.
"Uchiha Obito, future Hokage!"
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…
Rin had been overjoyed when she found out her and Obito would be in the same team.
The two of them had been inseperable since the academy started and the boy had often visited her at home and vice versa.
Her parents had been a bit leery of Obito at first, but he had successfully wormed his way into their hearts.
Rin had actually been afraid of visiting the Uchiha compound, but the clan had been surprisingly friendly, considering their reputation.
Sure the Uchiha were reclusive and quiet people but that didn't mean they weren't good people.
Rin and Obito were now waiting for their new sensei and teammate.
They had been quite surprised when they found out that their teammate was already a chunin.
Rin hoped they would get along.
She knew that Obito was insecure about his skills because of his standing as deadlast.
Although he was a way better fighter than her, she wasn't really confident in her combat abilities and liked to have more of a support role.
After all her clan (small as it may be) did focus on medical jutsu and she was going to continue the tradition.
Rin was interrupted in her musings when a blonde man suddenly attacked her.
She barely managed to dodge the kick that had been aiming at her head.
She heard Obito let out an indignant squawk and saw her soulmate getting attacked by a silver haired boy.
The girl palmed two kunai and got in a defensive stance.
She mostly dodged the rapidfire kicks and punches that were sent her way and tried to slash at the man with her kunai.
She startled when she heard Obito shout and saw him getting pinned down by the other boy.
Rin immediately flicked one of her knifes at him while flipping backwards to gain some distance to the man.
However when her legs were in the air their sensei grabbed her ankle and flung her in the opposite direction.
She let out a cry as she hit the ground and tried to roll with it but ended up tumbling gracelessly and landing on her butt instead of her feet, nearly slicing herself with her kunai in the process.
"You should let go of your weapon when you have an uncontrolled fall, you could hurt yourself." the man said smoothly.
His posture relaxed and Rin used that to dart to Obitos side throwing her remaining kunai at the silver haired boy.
Said boy didn't dodge it like she expected, he caught it.
"Hn, show-off." Obito said from the ground, slowly standing up.
The blonde man clapped his hands and smiled at them.
"Well, you two seem to have decent individual skills and since your soulmates I guess your teamwork is going to be good as well."
Rin and Obito blinked at each other and flushed slightly.
"That doesen't mean anything. Soulmates are useless anyway." the silver haired boy exclaimed, not looking at them.
Their sensei put a hand on top of his head and smiled teasingly.
"You're just embarrassed because you found yours."
The boy turned then glaring at them.
Rin gaped.
On his temple was the same lightningvine with fireflowers as on hers and Obitos.
"I thought people had only one soulmate?" The girl asked confused.
They all give a short introduction, before sensei started explaining.
"It does happen sometines that people have two or more soulmates. It's very rare though and there are only two instances in Konohas history that there were more than one soulmate together. The first you should know Obito, and the second are the sannin, that's why they're such a good team. Who knows maybe you three will be as good as them."
Obito crosses his arms and puts a hand to his chin in an exagerated thinking pose.
Rin chuckles at that while the boy, Kakashi, raises a disbelieving eyebrow.
"I'm supposed to know the first one? Hmmm..."
The girl is actually thinking about that too.
They had gone over the soulmarks of importand people only to a very small extend since that's a private matter.
Suddenly the Uchiha snapped his fingers and his eyes lit up.
"Aha! It's the first Hokage, his wife and Madara Uchiha! They were soulmates, which raised a lot of eyebrows at the time because same-sex soulmates were seen as mistakes of the gods. And people were almost offended when they found out that they were three-way soulmates and totally fine with it. The Uzumaki clan protested the loudest because Mito-sama was supposed to be married only to the shodai and not have a relationship with anyone else in addition."
Rin blinked at that, she hadn't known that.
Judging from Kakashis expression he hadn't known that either, although Rin couldn't tell if he was impressed or miffed.
"How do you know all that, Obito-kun?" she asked.
Her soulmate rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Ah, our clan has a reading of the Uchiha history every year on founding day. Same-sex relationships and stuff like that is one of the few things the Uchiha are more tolerant about than other clans."
Rin smiled at him.
"Maybe, we could listen to that this year? It sounds interesting."
Obito beamed at that.
"That's a great idea!"
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Unsurprisingly it takes some time until Kakashi allows them to bond with him.
Both on the level of teammates and soulmates.
Obito and him bicker a lot but it beginns to border on teasing after two months of working together as a team.
Bonding is more than just two soulmates touching, it's both ( or in their case all three) soulmates being willing to deepen their connection and acknowledge the other as their soulmate and partner.
Bonded mates also have bonding abilities like being able to feel the others emotions or pain or even hear the others thoughts.
Rin can feel Obitos emotion, even if they're a bit overwhelming sometimes and she knows that Obito is so protective of her because he can feel her pain.
It takes almost half a year for Kakashi to take that step, but Obito and Rin are okay with that they don't want to rush him.
The silver haired boy was really nervous when he decided that he was ready to form a bond with them.
Rin and Obito just both hold their hands out to him, it would be his decision to take them.
Kakashis hands actually shake when he takes both of theirs.
None of them comment on it.
They had seen it before, small glimpses of something fragile that is quickly hidden behind an aloof front.
It saddens Rin, but she won't pry.
Kakashi will tell them in his own time.
Rin can feel a prickling feeling, similar to electricity rush thru her system when the bond is formed.
And she smiles when she can feel the chunins swirling emotions as if they were her own.
Kakashis eyes suddenly widen.
"I can hear your thoughts."
Rin blinks at that.
"So the abilities are split evenly between us?"
"Seems like it."
"Aww, man! Does that mean I get your pain too?! Thats so unfair! Why do I get the shitty ability?"
Obito whines.
Kakashi scoffs.
"As if I want to hear your idiotic thoughts all the time."
"Hey! I'm not stupid! And you get hurt all the time, which means I'll be miserable all the time!"
Rin giggled and grabbed both of her boys hands and tugs them towards the village.
"Wha-? Where are we going?" Obito asks.
"Celebrate!" She says happily.
Rin is outright giddy when she feels both of them intertwine their fingers with hers.
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…
The first time they share a kiss they are thirteen and Kakashi just got promoted to jounin.
They're waiting in front of the Hokagetower together with Minato-sensei and Kushina-san.
Minatos girlfriend introduced herself to them in their very first week as Genin and the woman has become an older sister figure for them.
Her and their Senseis soulmarks match of course, and it's such a funny and fitting soulmark too.
Both Minato and Kushina have a narutomaki on the back of their right hand.
Rin is grinning already because she can feel Kakashis joy thru their bond.
Kakashi comes out of the building holding a certificate saying that he's now a jounin of Konohagakure.
That's when Obito just walks up to him pulls his mask down and kisses him.
Rin watches as Kakashis eyes widen to the size of dinnerplates before fluttering shut.
"Well, that's unexpected..."
Minato-sensei says while scratching his cheek in embarrassment.
Kushina-san just lets out a whoop.
As they break apart Kakashis cheeks are flushed and he shuffles his feet awkwardly.
Rin feels warm and prickly all over and just knows that it comes from the boys.
She bounds over to them, full of happy energy, and gives both of them a soft kiss before pulling them into a hug.
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The last time they share a kiss is two days later.
Obito lies half-crushed under a bolder, Kakashi is missing an eye and Rins mind is still screaming from the genjutsu she was under.
Obito asks her, begs her, to transplant his sharingan into Kakashis now empty eyesocket.
She does it and when she's done she presses her lips gently onto Obitos and Kakashi's before the latter goes out to kill the last Iwa nin still lurking there.
The Uchihas voice is raspy when he tells her he doesn't want to be crushed by boulders.
And she cries and screams and curses and begs, please don't make me, please, please,pleasepleaseplease.
But in the end she does.
And there's a searing pain at her temple and she knows,don't want to know, please no, it's not true, it's a lie, a lielielielielielie.
A part of her soulmark has gone black, the fireflowers are black, burnt out, gone.
And she and Kakashi sit in that clearing next to the pile of rubble that is Obitos grave and she watches with hollow eyes as Kakashi screams and rages and slashes a tree with a kunai over and over and over.
And all the time his red eye is spinning and crying.
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…
Kakashi and her had been clinging to each other, keeping each other sane, trying to keep one another whole while they knew that one part of them was missing and forever gone.
It hurt, it hurt a lot.
It hurt even more when Rin was taken by Kiri and they stuffed a tailed beast into her and it felt horribly full and disgusting and so wrong.
She just wanted to rip her entire chakra system out.
But she didn't do that because it was already doing it itself.
She didn't know a lot about sealing, just the basics and some stuff about medical seals.
But she recognized a seal that was about to be torn apart.
The chirping of birds filled the air and Rin smiled with tears running down her cheeks.
And she decided to tell him, she had never told him.
As she runs she talks in her head, having long since learned how to send her thoughts to Kakashi.
I killed Obito. He asked me. He didn't want to die under the rocks and I- I could feel his fear and... Kakashi you have to understand he asked me!... I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I love you! I will always love you... Forgive me.
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Rin met Obito in the afterlife.
And they hugged and kissed and talked and together they watched.
They watched as Kakashi woke in a hospital and screamed his throat raw when he saw the black vine with dead flowers on his face.
They watched with tears in their eyes as sensei and Kushina died and they welcomed them once they arrived.
They watched as Kakashi spiraled down into his depression, going onto one suicide mission after another, desperately wanting to join them while they screamed at him to stop.
And they watched when he passed his first genin team after they had watched him fail all the others.
And they watched as the little girl who was so much like Rin and nothing like her at all asked why he had a tattoo of a dead vine on his face.
They watched him freeze and the girls eyes widen in realization and her starting to apologize with tears in her eyes.
And they listened as he calmed the girl down and told the three children their story.
And in the end they smiled when he joined them.
For they were finally whole again.