Title: How Life Changes
Author: Akai-neechan
Summary: Rin died, and Sensei followed her soon. What was left now for the young Kakashi, to keep him going? What changes him so dramatically?
Corrections: Last corrections made on 01.01.2012
A/N: Hi there. This is the first fanfic I've ever written so I hope you like it. And keep in mind that English is my second language, and please don't kill me because of stupid mistakes!
-.-.-
How Life Changes
-.-.-
The sounds of battle surrounded her, blood was everywhere around her and the darkness of the starless sky hung above her. Yet she didn't seem to realize any of that. The only thing she cared for was the boy that was lying in front of her and the terrible wounds that had been opened through out his body during this battle. Rin concentrated for what seemed to be the million time in the past minute, rushing her charka to a wound on his chest, and her healing powers started closing it slowly. She wouldn't let him die. That's why she was here, on this mission. A kunai flew to her right but she didn't even shudder…
Everything had started just like that… so suddenly. She and Kakashi had been sent on an A-ranked mission together with two other three-man groups of shinobi. They had gone far away from Konoha and had completed the mission in about a week. Finally the three teams had started moving back to the hidden village, when suddenly Kakashi had pushed Rin out of the way of a kunai. And with that the battle had started. The eight shinobi had been some of the best Konoha had to offer but their enemies seamed to have come from everywhere in big numbers and the group had found themselves surrounded. They had struggled to stay alive, dodging the attacks of their opponents, fighting their way through them. At times things seemed to have been hopeless, as from the eight fighters only three had been left standing. And then, finally, it had seemed that the enemies were becoming less and less. A little hope had shone in the eyes of the Leaf-nins as they had continued fighting with everything they had.
Rin had hardly gotten a few scratches. Of course, that wasn't surprising. The whole time Kakashi had stayed next to her, protecting her. That was, until his wounds had become too many, the blood loss had started to affect him, his reflexes had slowed down, the power behind his strikes had seemed to disappear and in the end he had fallen, stroked by a kunai through the chest…
Rin blamed herself. After all, if it wasn't for her, he wouldn't even be on this mission. But it wasn't all her fault…
In the end, protecting her was all he had been doing for the last year. After Obito's death the only thing that kept him going seemed to be that promise he had made…
"Take care of Rin..."
The last words of their teammate and friend had hunted him. For the last year he had always been by her side. He had asked the Hokage always to team them together, for even the simplest missions. He had refused to lose sight of her. The girl could understand him perfectly and thus had never once objected his protection. Instead she had always stood next to him, trying to help him. But all that was pointless.
Obito's death had made him change in an irreversible way. He became more protective, more caring for those around him. Yet the distance between him and the other people seemed to grow larger, as he shut himself even more.
On top of that many of the Uchiha clan proclaimed him a thief, accusing him to have stolen the Sharingan. There were even few attacks on him from the furious members of the clan. The influence they had over the people of Konoha had in turn made many of them look at him the same way.
But he couldn't care less. For the last year he hadn't shown any care for anything that people said about him. The only thing he seemed to care for was protecting Rin from any possible danger there might be…
And here was the result of his efforts. He was lying in front of her half dead with bloods soaked into his clothes and hair, while tears were making their way to Rin's eyes. She closed another almost fatal wound and finally he started regaining cautiousness. He slowly opened his right eye and looked at her.
"Kakashi! Thank Kami! For a moment I thought…"
She never got to finish as a gasp escaped her lips. A little blood found itself dripping slowly down from the corner of her mouth as her eyes became glassy. She fell down, on top of the shocked boy.
Kakashi pushed himself up to a sitting position, holding her carefully. He called her name, but she didn't move. Suddenly he felt something warm dripping from her. It was blood. Her blood. Kakashi had never before felt that way at the sight of blood. During his years as a shinobi he had spilled so much and it had hardly troubled him. But now, seeing her blood drip down as her skin became paler than his, colder than the October night…
In a second Kakashi sow the kunai that was sticking out of the left side of her back. His mismatched eyes widened at the realization that the blade had gone straight through her heart, killing her instantly. He could feel himself shaking. He called her again, knowing she woudn't answer. A tear escaped the Sharingan eye as it slipped down his check.
Silence went above the place. The battle was over. They had won…Or at least he and one more person had survived but it seemed like the whole world was falling apart in front of the young Jounin as he saw the one who he vowed to take care of fall before him because he wasn't strong enough to stand on his feet. Because he had fallen she was now dead. Those thoughts would never leave him… Not in a million years…
-.-.-
Three days had passed from Rin's death. He and the other survivor from the three teams that had been sent on that mission were walking back to Konoha. They were at the front gate when they noticed an ANBU unit standing there. He greeted them darkly and heard a quick version on what had happened.
"What's going on here?" asked the boy that was accompanying Kakashi. "Why are all those shinobi here? What's wrong?"
"The powerful Kyuubi no Kitsune is coming this way," explained the ANBU. At that moment the ground started trembling as a monsters growl could be heard. "Oh, crap! It's almost here. Hatake-san! Quickly go and inform Hokage-sama about this!"
Kakashi nodded and took off immediately. He started to jump from roof to roof. On the streets the panic was complete. People were running to hide; more shinobi were going to the front lines; children were crying; women were running. Another earthquake caused even more panic as few buildings fell and buried numberless people alive.
However the boy didn't even look around. He didn't stop for a second, until a group of ANBU passed him and one of them stopped.
"Hatake-san" said a male voice from under the mask "Hokage-sama requested to see you and Rin-san at once."
To boy flinched little as the ANBU mentioned her name, but just nodded and started running even faster towards the Hokage tower. When he finally reached his destination, he jumped in through a window and quickly made his way through the familiar halls towards the door of Youndaime's office. He knocked on the door.
"Come in."
The voice was low and for a second Kakashi wasn't sure if he recognized it. It was nothing like his Sensei's voice, always full with excitement and carelessness. Now he sounded serious and troubled, like the whole world was resting on his shoulders.
Kakashi opened the door and went in, closing it.
"It's good to see you're finally back from the mission, Kakashi," said Youndaime.
The man was sitting behind his desk as always yet there was no way the boy wouldn't notice the difference in his appearance. He was paler than usual and looked like he hadn't slept the past few nights. His eyes were tired but there was some kind of determination burning in them.
"The Kyuubi has reached the walls of Konoha, Hokage-sama," said Kakashi. He himself could hardly believe how low and lifeless his voice sounded.
"It came faster than I thought…" said the leader of Konoha as he looked through the window as a sight full of sadness escaped him.
"You should go and stop it, Sensei," said the boy, dropping the formal tone. But the way he said those words, with that emotionless voice, showed his Sensei that he didn't actually care.
"I know, but before that I have to tell you something. By the way, isn't Rin with you?"
The young Jounin looked away from his Sensei his right eye narrowed at the thought of his fallen teammate. The way Kakashi reacted was enough for the young Hokage to understand what had happened. He shifted in his chair and put his face in his hands as his elbows rested on the desk. He stood like that for a couple of seconds, before looking up at his student again.
"What I have to tell you is really important and I have to ask you not to interrupt me."
All the Hokage got back was a nod, but that was enough for him. In the shortest way possible he explained to his student everything about what he was planning on doing, about the Shiki Fujin Jutsu and about his planes of sealing the Demon inside of his son.
During the whole time Kakashi didn't make a sound. He just stood there and listened carefully.
"Why… why are you telling me this, Sensei?" he asked when Youndaime had stopped talking. His one visible eye was now staring at a point on the floor.
"You would had found out eventually," said the Hokage. "I just thought I should tell you myself, since after all, you are my student."
"And… you're going to seal it… into your own son? Sensei, do you realize how much that will affect his future? And what does your wife think about this? Does she even know?"
"The doctors said that she won't be able to take it. They said that she will die giving him birth. As for how that's going to affect him… I'm sure that he's going to be treated like a hero…"
"The people of Konoha are not that understanding! You know that. They're going to treat him like a monster and-"
"That's enough, Kakashi!" said the Youndaime a little harshly but his voice quickly softened again as he continued, "But I need you to do me a favor. I want you to take care for the baby until he becomes three years old, and then to give him to Sandaime-sama's care. Can you do that for me, Kakashi?"
The boy nodded slowly. At that moment the door behind him opener and a young nurse rushed in.
"Hokage-sama, the birth has begun!"
At those words the Yellow Flash quickly got up and headed towards the door. Before he went out he stopped in front of Kakashi and put a hand on his shoulder looking him straight in his eye.
"Farwell, Kakashi," he said and with that he continued towards the door.
-.-.-
Kakashi had gone to the battle but the weariness he still had felt from his previous fight had gotten over him, and a little after he had went to fight he had passed out.
After that night Kakashi had taken the young Naruto for three years like his Sensei had asked him to do. And those years changed him completely.
During the time he looked after the baby, for the first time in his life, Kakashi found himself in front of someone, who needed to be loved and cared for. During that time he couldn't go on any missions, which left him with much free time on his hands. He usually spent it thinking about everything that had happened in his life. That helped him in a lot of ways he didn't even realize. The memories and the time spent away from the bloody life of a shinobi had softened his cold heart a little and he slowly began to see what Obito and Rin had died for.
Sometimes he wondered why his Sensei had asked him to look after Naruto. He could have left him to Sandaime, but he had chosen him. Why? Had he seen the nothing his life had turned into after that day? Had he managed to read his emotionless face that night? Or had it been that Youndaime had trusted him so much? Those questions often surfaced in his mind but he knew that he will never find the answers… At least not before the day comes to meet with his Sensei again.
At Naruto's third birthday Kakashi went to see the Sandaime. It was then when he told him about the last promise he had made to his Sensei and gave the little kid to the Hokage's care.
Soon after that Kakashi joined the ANBU organization. It didn't take him long to become a leader. As a few years went by his reputation began to grow. But he was no longer known as "the son of the White Fang" or as "the Sharingan stealer". It was a different kind of reputation.
Not one time during the years he had been an ANBU leader had he left a person of his team die. Not one time. He would put his own life in danger, abandon a mission, but he would never risk the life of a teammate, be it male or female; someone who he knew, or a complete stranger; an experienced and older person, or a newcomer, who had just become an ANBU.
Because of that the people started looking at him in a different manner. He could always see the smiles of those, ordered to go on a mission under him. He could always hear how the others called them "lucky". And that would make him smile under the mask and curve his eyes.
It seemed so strange to him, how life changes when you least expect it…