Lightning streaked the sky illuminating the falling sheets of rain brilliant shades of purple and blue.
Standing watch at the cave entrance, Kakahshi sighed and muttered
"The only enjoyable part of a thunderstorm is the lightning."
His recon team stood in the cave perched above a tree filled canyon. He didn't expect much trouble, the rain was coming down so thick that he was forced to use senses other than his eyes.
"Why do you only like the lightning?" Sakura asked, leaving him to muse that Tsuande and been training Sakura to use more than her fist.
"Because he uses lightning, duh!" Naruto responded, earning him an eye roll from Sakura. Kakashi simply kept his back to the two, while Sakura shushed Naruto and they finished settling in.
His mind drifted back to a night very similar to the present one.
His team was returning from the Hidden Mist village. They had been sent to receive information on rebel forces that desired to restart the war. Having obtained the files they were on their way back to their village. So far the mission had gone smoothly, almost too smoothly. Rin and Shikaku were asleep, they had moved as fast as possible until it became evident that the storm would be a fierce one. Kakashi had thought about summoning Pakkun to keep him company, but the little nin dog was deathly afraid of storms. Sighing he leaned against the side of the cave entrance watching the lightning streak through the sky.
Kakashi was brought back to the present by a slender shoulder bumping into his. He looked at her and she grinned back at him. For a moment, his memory played with him and it was Rin standing by his side, then dark hair morphed to brilliant pink and Kakashi let his eye crinkle in a warm grin.
"Really Kakashi, I can take the first watch if you want. This storm seems to be putting you to sleep." Her voice was uncharacteristically soft and her eyes filled with concern. It made him blush slightly, she'd caught him spaced out, trapped in past memories.
"You sure know how to make a man feel old Sakura!" he grinned at her knowing she'd understand the expression behind the mask.
"Don't change the subject. The look in your eyes a moment ago had nothing to do with age."
"Hn." He knew better than to argue. A quick glance over his shoulder told him that he no longer had Naruto to distract her with.
"You never did answer; why is lightning the only thing you like about a storm?" Again those concerned sincere eyes. Green eyes may as well have been brown, as he could hear Rin admonishing him for being distant with teammates. Kakashi cursed himself again, the weather and the company were making him nostalgic.
"You're hearing has become rather fine tuned in the last few years, Sakura I'm impressed." That should get her talking about herself and not him. Sakura loved compliments, that had never changed about her.
"Yes, Lady Tsunade suggested I spend a few months training with Kiba to improve my senses of smell and hearing. As I was tired of being hindered when I could not see my opponent. But that won't get you out of answering my question." Her smile switched suddenly from smug to experated.
"Geeze Kakashi, if you don't want to answer something just say so. It's so insulting when you side step and try to change the subject to get out of talking about yourself." Her voice had raised slightly, not enough to disturb Naruto, but the frustration was evident in her features. He'd watched these two grow and battle for their lives, the village's life, even his own life. Why did he still avoid letting them close? She no longer called him sensei but friend, could he not do the same in return?
The dramatic sigh that he exhaled was more at himself than her question. He slid down the wall and patted the cold stone floor next to him, offering her a seat, before beginning his tale.
"You should know by now, I don't like talking about myself. Most of what you know about my past you've heard from third parties." He chuckled at the half shamed half shocked look on her face.
"Yes, I've known. Many believe that if you know a person's history you will understand him or her better. So I am not mad with the people who told you or you guys. You've been respectful with the knowledge. That still doesn't answer your question does it?" He rubbed the back of his head.
"No, but if you-" Kakashi put a hand up to hush her. Obito's voice playing the part of conscience urging him to stop being a coward and trust a little of his heart to a comrade that he had trusted with his life multiple times.
"It was a night much like this one, it was my last mission before becoming a member of ANBU. I was leading the team, Rin and Shikakui were with me. We'd made it to a cave, pretty much like this, just as the rain started. It didn't take long before we couldn't see a foot outside of the cave due to the heavy rainfall. I told the other two to settle in and I'd keep watch as sight was of no use in those conditions. Really my nose and ears weren't of any use either. Shikaku wasted no time falling asleep, the storm working as a lullaby. Rin was quite different tho, she loved the rain, really she loved everything about water so she was too excited to sleep. She came and sat by me. It only took till the first roll of thunder followed shortly by a blinding streak of lightning to see that Rin clearly was afraid of thunderstorms. Her shoulders tensed and she would jump slightly with every rumble."
"A water nin that is afraid of a thunderstorm?" Teasing Rin could be dangerous business, but with a fellow teammate asleep, I felt safe that I wouldn't get much more than a punch on the arm.
"I'll have you know Kakashi that it is only the thunder and lightning that bother me." I received the punch I had expected.
"Good thing she wasn't trained by Lady Tsuande, or you wouldn't of had a sensei." Kakashi teased, Sakura nodded in agreement.
"Hn. Thus why they are called THUNDER-storms." Another clap of lightning and Rin's jump had closed the space between us. I chuckled at her, the timing had been too perfect.
"I guess the lightning doesn't bother you much?" she asked shyly putting a small amount of space between us.
"It had been years since Obito's death and the day I told her that it was him, not me who'd chosen to rescue her. We'd both lost several more friends in the final years of the war.
Through all of it she had become my closest friend. I'd known when we were younger that Rin had a crush on me, she'd even confessed it shortly after Obito's death but I couldn't handle it then and gave her every reason not to like me. Time has a funny way of changing things though. That night with her so close I realized that I wanted her to stay close.
We'd been talking for awhile, and the night air was getting cooler and cooler. I was given my opportunity when she started to shiver, I pulled out my blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders pulling her closer to me."
Kakashi paused his story, the wind had died down but the rain still showed no sign of stopping. He had expected Sakura to interrupt him, but she didn't.
"She leaned against me and said that she wished we could light a fire so that she could read her book. I inherited my first "Icha Icha" book from Rin."
"That stupid love novel stuff you've been reading?" I questioned. She blushed slightly.
"It's not your average no plot love novel. Really you should read it some time." Her eyes held mischief and told me that there was something more to the story than that. I never asked what she was up to because the sky lit up with a brilliant display of lightning. I tightened my grip around Rin as she flinched.
"So tell me what makes this book so much better?" I asked her for no more reason than to take her mind off of the storm.
"The women in the story are actually strong, they're like real female ninja, not simply needing to be rescued all the time. And the main male character is always looking out for the others with a sort of mysterious side where he won't tell anyone about his past. You're laughing at me aren't you?" Rin stopped, I could tell even in the dark with lightning that she was blushing.
"Why would I be laughing at you? I asked you why you liked the book didn't I?" she slapped at my hand when I ruffled her hair.
Another roll of thunder, the storm was moving past as the time between the thunder and clap of lightning seemed to be increasing.
I pulled Rin snug against my chest with her back to me when the thunder sounded as second time, she had no choice but to look as the lightning streaked through the sky. She shivered and I heard the words that lead me to my undoing.
"That was absolutely beautiful!" she whispered in awe.
"Just like you." I whispered in her ear in return.
"I don't remember consciously doing it, but I slid my mask down and kissed her at that point. To this day Rin is the only person that I have ever taken this mask off for.
It wasn't six months later that Rin's name was added to the memorial stone a ways below Obito's. It rained the rest of that day, and on the day of her funeral. It had rained the day we lost Obito.
It was raining when the Fourth gave his life, and it was raining that day when I found my father. It was raining when I found Naruto after he fought with Sasuke.
It is said that the rain washes away sorrow, but to me it seems more like it brings it."
"I would hate the rain too."
Sakura wrapped her arms tightly around him, burying her face into his chest. He hadn't meant to lay all of his sorrow on her, but once he started he couldn't stop.
"But why do you like the lightning?" she asked a tear rolling down her cheek and soaking into his shirt. He chuckled, in all of that he still had not answered the question in full and she hadn't missed it either.
"Had it not been for the lightning I never would have gotten my first kiss, nor come to intrust my heart to another."
As the storm lit up the cave entrance, Kakashi's chest tightened, as once again past and present overlapped.
He tightened his arm around her momentarily returning her embrace, then ruffled her hair with his free hand.
Sakura swatted half heatedly, muttering "Why do you do that."
"That, I may tell you another time."