Silence

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Every day, Kakashi stands in front of the memorial stone in Konoha for hours on end, before heading off to his team. Sometimes he forgets why he's there, and just stands there…in silence.

Three months after Obito died, Kakashi forgot where he got the scar on his face (It was a sword) Yet he remembered the way time seemed to slow as the rocks began to fall, and Obito's jounin present , and the promise he made to him. (To protect Rin forever and ever)

A year after Obito died, Kakashi couldn't remember the specifics of the mission. (Were they supposed to destroy the bridge, or stop the enemy from coming across?) He could, however, remember the feeling he had the first time he looked at the outside world with the Sharingan. (The sadness he had felt only once before-when he saw his father die)

When Kyuubi attacked, and both his sensei and Rin died, Kakashi couldn't remember the injuries he and his teammates head suffered on that mission. (He could barely remember what the world looked like with two normal eyes) He could, however, remember Obito's funeral, where almost no Uchihas appeared, even though they were his family.

Months later, when Kakashi couldn't even remember what the Kyuubi looked like, he could remember watching helplessly as his sensei fell off the head of the Boss summon to be caught by one of the ANBU guards. He could remember watching Rin die but not why she was so close to the battle. (She was supposed to stay at the hospital) He could remember the exact words said by the 4th right before he died, but not what happened after. (He believed there had been a large flash of light, but he wasn't sure)

Years after the attack, when he got his first team assignment, he failed them on purpose. He could still remember the first team meeting his team had like it was yesterday, but not the exact words that had been said (Especially not his), or what the number of his team was. He could remember that they had eventually come together to get the bells. (But not how Rin had managed to get them to do it) So he made his test hard on purpose. He didn't want anyone else to die.

When one of his team assigned to him passed, Kakashi could see the parallelism of them to his own team. At the end of The Test (as either his sensei or Obito had dubbed it, he couldn't remember why) he had quoted Obito's words to them, even if it was almost all he could remember from the last mission he had taken with his entire team. Even though they reacted to his lateness just as Rin had reacted to Obito's, and even though he knew the team was a recipe for disaster (It was too much like his own), he thought that, maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't have to die. (He was wrong)

Every day, Kakashi come to stand by the memorial stone, alone. In silence, the world around him quiet as if it knew his grief, he remembers. Remembers the mistakes he has made, the things he has done, and the time that has gone by. The thing is, he doesn't. So he just stands there, in silence, waiting, forever waiting, to remember. In silence…