Pawns on the Board
It was the end of the world.
The older Konoha shinobi preferred to refer to it as the End of an Era, but Kakashi and Rin don't find that quite accurate. Only seven months after Obito's tragic death, their sensei is named successor to the Third Hokage, but he doesn't keep the title very long. Two months after swearing in the Fourth Hokage and Konoha's every surface -- the ground, the trees, even the sky it seems -- is ablaze with chakra infused flames that devour a full fifth of the population. The smoke filling the air is thick and clouds the sky, veiling the stars and raining ash. It's like a pitch black abyss and makes the shadows more obsidian and menacing then ever before, save for the bright mass of light known as the nine tailed fox. Rin thinks this makes the Kyuubi look like the sun itself. Kakashi thinks they're in Hell. The intense heat makes it hard to breathe, and the teens are panting from both exhaustion and lack of oxygen. The images before them wiggle like a mirage, only the two of them know all too well that what's happening is real. Battlecrys and anguished screams continue to fill the air and Kakashi curses his hearing and Rin's as well. They're calling. She's a more precious pawn of the battlefield, a medical ninja, and they're screaming, pleading, wailing for her. She's covering her ears with both palms and utter desperation. They stand, because it's all they can do in their condition but lie down and die. They stand, because if they stay in one spot much longer, their death is assured. They stand, because Kakashi spies something huge and red and he doesn't think it's an illusion. It looks frighteningly similiar to Gamabunta. A spray of light blinding in its intensity follows.
It was the end of their world.
A second member of their team is gone forever, torn away from them by circumstance and duty, and the comrades wonder if they can even call themselves a team anymore. For a brief second, they wonder if their childhood was too high a price to pay to become shinobi. But then, they collect themselves and push away the anger. No. The cost isn't too much, is never too much for Konoha. For their home. For their dreams. Because he's a jounin and she's a chuunin and the safety of the village will always be paid in blood, but rarely only that. On top of his promise from Obito's death, Kakashi resolves that his payment will be the blood of others. Rin promises that she won't let Kakashi die like The Fourth and Obito; that she won't let him go alone. Kakashi thinks it's a hard promise to keep, but he doesn't say anything. Part of him sympathizes for her; he loves her, but it will never be the kind of love she's after. He wonders if she declares this out of love or out of comraderie, but then he decides it doesn't matter. He knows that the ever-growing memorial stone is going to bear his name before hers because damnit, he's going to keep his promise to his crybaby best friend if it's the last thing he does. Not just for Obito, but for his own sake as well; this lovesick, brown-haired, devoted teenaged girl is all he has left. She's all that remains of the very few good memories Kakashi has, and he knows he never wants to forget. He's seen too much at just fourteen years of age, but he isn't ready to let go yet. His rational side berates him for this, he's a shinobi for Kami's sake! A decent shinobi does not need anyone; must not need anyone. Their lives are brief and solitary and they are meant to be as indifferent and useful as the weapons they wield. But tools they may be, they are still human. And though trained not to show emotion they still feel. Though taught how to endure attacks they still bleed.
And he knows that inevitably, one day he'll have to let go.
Sakumo Hatake was a good father. No matter how little time he had between missions, he was always sure to spend it with his son. He constantly taught Kakashi more efficient ways to execute his movements and little tricks to gain the advantage in combat. He taught him how to induce fear in his opponent without speaking or even moving. He taught him how to make use of even accidental movements and how to defend two people at once. But before all these lessons, before Kakashi was even at his second year at the academy -- before Kakashi could even spell nine letter words --, Sakumo taught him to value his teammates. He solidified this teaching everyday, reminding Kakashi that while he was talented, his teammates were equally as important. He insisted that a team remain intact by all means and function properly no matter the situation. And, in an ironic twist of fate, when he demonstrated the extent of his own belief in this he was condemned by the whole of Konoha. The villagers called him a coward. The Hokage called him a disappointment. Worst of all, his own teammates, whose lives he valued so preciously, called him dishonorable. The despair it caused him eventually led him to end his life. Kakashi loved his father as much as he was sure he could ever love another male. Never once was he ashamed of his famed White Fang as a father. Although he did have a sneaking feeling of doubt in his theory when the village accusations began. His death was hard on Kakashi; he was only eight years old and though a chuunin, he was still a boy missing his father. He questioned everything his father told him, and in the end, decided that only the books on shinobi protocol could be deemed a correct resource for guidance.
Only in appearence did he remain similar to his father.
Obito was a good friend. His hyperactive ways, tardy tendencies, and scaredy-cat demeanor irked Kakashi to no end. He continually proclaimed how he was an Uchiha and that one day he would totally surpass Kakashi with his clan skills, which he had yet to master. He said that one day he'd steal Rin's heart away from his genius rival. He swore that one day -- a day that surely wasn't far off -- he would apply for an ANBU position, and maybe even make captain. He was tied with Rin as the first person Kakashi had met who dreamed of a future that included him. The kid was quite possibly the most untalented excuse for a shinobi he was ever allied with, and Kakashi had no idea how he'd graduated from the academy. His stupid pranks and lack of respect for authority made him a less than ideal teammate and he was far from leadership material, but in the end, his instincts proved superior to Kakashi's. Who knew? If it weren't for his surname, the jounin would say it was Obito's destiny not to be a ninja. But he had saved his life. Twice. What more could a person ask for? That day, even as Kakashi was urging Rin to take his hand and leave what inevitably became the Uchiha's gravespot, he swore himself a changed man. For someone who had admired and treasured him so greatly, this change of character would be his show of loyalty. His way of never forgetting.
It became Kakashi's first regret that he'd never said a kind word to the boy.
And now it was Minato-sensei. The man who respected him despite his young age. The man who called him by his name, and not "Sakumo's boy". The man who sat him down and told him all about puberty when his voice started cracking. The man who understood him without explanation. Minato-sensei wasn't much older than Kakashi himself but was an elite ninja. Trained by Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin, he was known not only through Konoha, but in every Bingo Book in every country as Konoha's Yellow Flash. His array of original jutsu was impressive and record had it that he'd never failed a single mission. He was an ex-ANBU captain, although his personality seemed far from what you'd expect from such a person. When he was declared to be the strongest ninja in the village by the Hokage, and appointed the Hokage title soon after, Kakashi hadn't been surprised. Kakashi knew the rules, regulations, and guidelines of shinobi backwards and forwards, was fully aware of the power and responsiblities that came with his sensei's promotion. But he never expected this. Such a sacrificial move, such a heartbreaking decision made so effortlessly, it was like Obito's death all over again. In under a decade, the silver haired jounin had practically lost two families. He steels his emotions, but his sharingan eye bears him out with salty rivers dampening his face mask. Rin hugs him, shaking from the force of her own sobbing, and he lets her. The village mourns for one month before officially reinstating Sarutobi-san as Hokage and Jiraiya insists that he and Rin be given time off. Kakashi doesn't think the grieving period is long enough. He finds himself occassionally practicing with the special kunai Minato-sensei gave him and half believing he'll appear with his Flying Thunder God jutsu. He wears black for the rest of the year. Rin doesn't want people to forget. Minato-sensei's son is an orphan now, and she repeatedly tries to claim gaurdianship and is repeatedly rejected, simply because she is a teenager. On days when she's most infuriated, she dons a copy of his signature trench coat and wanders around the village. It creeps the civillians out.
They make it their daily ritual to grab a drink at midnight in Ichiraku.
The time off eventually runs out and Kakashi is assigned B rank missions on a regular basis. Rin's skills are put to work at the emergency quadrant of the hospital. For a time, things settle into a fairly comfortable routine. Kakashi would stop by the ER in the wee hours of the morning to tell Rin he had an assignment and leave. Rin would worry, throw herself into her job, and a few days later, her silver haired teammate would stumble in on the brink of collapse -- more often from exhaustion than injury -- and she'd fuss and fix him good as new. Gone were the days they fought side by side and this was their best substitute. It was how two instructor-less teenagers kept going; it was how two broken hearts tried to mend each other. But healing was a painful process. Rin's smile was often both the highlight and low point of Kakashi's day. It was a luxury to see even the tiniest bit of hope and encouragement in what seemed to be the Dark Ages of his life. Rin's radiant smile was also a poingnant reminder of what had been lost, an echo of the goofy grin both their sensei and their teammate had worn. For Rin, the haunting ghost of the past was easily found behind Kakashi's tilted headband, right where she'd put it. Every so often, she'd get lost in their conversation and stare at that spot, reminiscing. Then he'd gently laugh and joke that he must be getting more handsome by the day, to which she'd agree and they would quickly change the subject. The laugh was always forced.
Routines were not meant for shinobi.
Months become a year and the two surviving members of Team Seven met at the memorial stone to acknowledge the anniversary of their friend's death. Two days later, Rin finds herself visited by Koharu, the former teammate of the Third, and presented with a summon to the Hokage Tower. She's up to her elbows in human entrails, fiercely trying to patch together a person whose stomache has been reduced to shredded meat and blood, but she knows better than to argue. Instead, she relays instructions to her civillian back-up nurses, quickly ups his dose of painkillers, and follows rapidly behind the elderly woman while praying all the while that the patient makes it. The woman is swift for an old hag, but Rin is in her prime and matches her speed. They reach the Tower and Koharu hastily ushers her into the Hokage's office, taking post just a few feet left of the door as if she had every right to listen in on what was surely confidential information. The Third spares her a glance, but nothing more before he sets his full attention on the plain kunoichi in front of him. She stands at attention after giving a proper bow, and somewhere in his mind, the old man makes a note of how round, childlike and innocent her features are. Then he remembers that she's fifteen, and in many ways, really is a child. The trained, warrior part of his brain insists that in that uniform, she's an adult. He draws deeply on his pipe.
Age, looks, everything personal became irrelevant when wearing that uniform.
Rin is late, later than Kakashi is when she meets him for their nightcap. There's worry etched in the stiffness of his posture and the stoic expression on his face. He can't seem to shake the feeling that something is wrong, but he can't figure out exactly what, and so he guesses to himself that Rin must have lost a patient in the emergency room. He knows this guess is off, but it's enough to distract him from the thought that there might be something wrong with Rin. He fights the urge to use a hypnosis jutsu to find out. Rin approaches him as casually as she can, her feelings in a heated battle between excitement and worry. She's finally been assigned a mission -- it's A rank and she'll be on a three man squad, not solo like Kakashi usually does, but it's a mission all the same and her pulse quickens just thinking about it. Somehow she doesn't think her crush will be pleased. He isn't. As soon as they go through the pleseantries, take a sip, and she frees the words from her mouth, his lone eye goes stone cold. His gaze doesn't waver and he takes another, longer sip from his cup before he calmly tells her to decline the mission. She doesn't believe her ears at first, can't accept his response. Rin continues with the few details she can discuss -- it's a reconnaissance mission and she'll only be going as support, and moreso as medical than manpower. He interjects, and for a second she fears he's going to inquire about the rank, but he's already familiar with the dangers present in most reconnaissance missions and cooly informs her that she's not qualified for it. She stews silently for several moments before hastily standing up, briskly walking passed him and out the bar's front door. He nonchalantly finishes his drink before taking his leave.
It would be that night that he would look back on countless times later as the night Team Seven was officially dissolved.
Kakashi knew Rin's moods like the back of his calloused hand. If she were anyone else, he wouldn't think twice about her giving him the silent treatment when he dropped by her station to see if she declined the mission like he had advised her to. If she were anyone else, he wouldn't have stopped by at all. If she were anyone else, he wouldn't even have warned her, but instead would have nodded or made some other small gesture akin to listening and went on about his night completely unaffected. But she wasn't 'anyone else', she was Rin and he was Kakashi and he had a duty to fufill. Because she was Rin, when she failed to show for their drink -- a first ever, and he'd waited nearly two hours -- he gave no second thought to speedily making his way to her apartment. That tiny, yet immaculate apartment she rented simply to gain autonomy from her aunt, who'd raised her up until that point. Kakashi had thought it frivolous at the time, but now he was grateful to not need to bother with that ancient spinster. She had never liked him anyway. The soles of Kakashi's shoes lightly graced roof tiles. Destination reached, he effortlessly walked down the side of the building until he found Rin's window, third down from the left, as always. It was closed, but he made light work of opening it and slipping into what was her bedroom. Under his headband, his eyebrows knitted from the fact that she was missing from her bed. Still standing in place, he let his eyes roam to check for signs that she had even come home. A light clinking sound has Kakashi's eyes darting to the doorway, and there stands Rin with two teacups on a tray, one hand still stirring the liquid in one of them. She'd anticipated his arrival, and he lets out a sigh, but whether it was out of relief that she was here or mild annoyance that she was okay and had still missed their meeting, he doesn't know. They regard each other mutely and she approaches, offering him a cup. He accepts it and they both take a seat at the foot of her bed.
The silence is beyond akward.
He stares solemnly into the cup, watching the last of the tiny bits of tea leaves dance. Peppermint tea. Tea and not sake. He knows this observation should tell him something, but he doesn't know what the answer is that he's looking for. He catches her gaze and raises the cup a little; she understands the gesture and mentions that her aunt always made her tea before bedtime. She takes a sip, and he follows suit. Rin turns to face him more completely, her face soft but serious. She tells him directly for the first time that she loves him, though they've both known it all along, and Kakashi absently licks his lips, thinking that she made the tea a little too sweet. All too soon, his eyelids feel like bricks and he can feel the onset of disorientation. He looks at her, alarmed and a bit curious. Yes, she had fully predicted this visit and prepared for it. His balance abandons him and he feels the lukewarm tea dampening the side of his shirt as he falls backward, still straining to maintain consciousness. He's furious with her and unable to speak, for the strong medicine she's slipped him has paralyzed his lips. The soft sound of her teacup being set on the her nighstand sounds distant to him, and he barely feels the bed respond to her movement. He breaks into a cold sweat, body heat climbing as he hangs on with everything he's got. She says something -- the sound is coming from somewhere to his right -- and he know's she's speaking but he can't quite make out the words. The last thing he sees is her neck as she briefly kisses his forehead.
Three days' time passes before he awakes.
Rin crouches low on a thick branch high in the canopy of the trees. On either side of her, her teammates do the same, the three of them eyeing a makeshift campsite a short distance away. She counted no less than tweleve shinobi, ranks unknown, and four identical tents. Somewhere here, be it in the tents, hidden in the landscape, or on someone's body was where the scroll they were ordered to retrieve lay. A rolled up piece of paper, contents unknown, so important that it took twelve shinobi to steal it and it's recovery had been marked A rank, top priority. A piece of paper that's importance surpassed their own. They observed a while longer and the team leader began to murmur in low tones what their invasion plan would be. Rin listened attentively, her sharp eyes steadily monitoring the enemy shinobi. A few seconds pass, and it's silent again as they patiently wait for an opening to make their move, but Rin starts getting a bad feeling. The shinobi, they're too predictable -- their movements too practiced and routined. It just too damn obvious, no decent group of shinobi would allow themselves to appear such a way. Ninjas live on spontaneity, something's glaringly wrong here. For the first time since they stopped moving, Rin takes her eyes off the scene below and sends the leader a look, which he hardly acknowledges. She considers voicing her mind, but then a thought hits her. Her other teammate was deathly quiet. He was a jounin and the secondary fighter of the squad, did he really have nothing to say about the plan? Or about this group below them? Nothing at all? The last time she remembered him speaking was yesterday... Spurred by intuition, the kunoichi made the bold move of swiftly snatching a shuriken from her pouch and hurling it right towards the neck of one of the enemey ninjas.
The shuriken connected with a puff of smoke.
Kakashi grimaces, his head feels like it's going to explode from pressure and his limbs feel like spaghetti, but he can't allow himself to slow down. The Hokage, he has to try to talk some sense into the old man. He might be most wise and powerful, but no one knows Rin better than Kakashi, and he's a hundred percent certain that she's in over her head. Mediocre weapon skills, mediocre ninjutsu, and mediocre taijutsu were not adequate for the type of mission she was assigned. She would most likely have to strictly rely on her medical knowledge and her competence in genjutsu, and if that was the case -- full dependency on illusions and healing -- she would be on complete defence with no offence whatsoever. If that was the case, her death was imminent. He has no choice but to track them down and try to protect her, but to do that, he must first find out where she's been sent. He reaches the inner halls of the Tower, but two ANBU agents are guarding the office, and getting past them is about as likely as the moon turning green. Fuck. He weighs his options, then runs right up to them. He can feel them glaring at him from behind their animal masks, probably thinking he's just a bratty genin, but he doesn't have time for their subdued animosity. He speaks up, identifying himself as Hatake Kakashi, a jounin and ex-student of the Fourth. He almost feels their irritation fade away, and one of them asks him what his business is. In as few words as possible, he tells them that something is wrong with one of the shinobi who recently departed on an assignment and that the Hokage must be informed at once. The ANBU members look at one another, and one raises their arm and produces a hand sign, effectively disappearing into thin air. Moments later, the same ANBU reappears the same way they left and informs Kakashi that he may go in. He rushes through the double doors behind them. Finally in the office, Kakashi follows the procedures for showing respect and requests permission to speak, which is granted. He then lays out for the Third everything that's been going through his mind -- the mission type and Rin's skill levels. The Third explains to the young jounin that Konoha doesn't have many medical shinobi and that Rin is crucial to the success of the mission. Kakashi counters that he should have then made it a four man team to make up for one member not fighting. The old man replies that their village can't afford to send that many shinobi on one mission; the war with Earth Country depleted many of their funds and they must conserve whenever possible. The fifteen year old, at wit's end, points out that the Fourth would have done it.
The Third gives Kakashi the mission coordinates.
Rin fends off yet another attack with the loud clank of metal hitting metal. The mission, she realizes, has officially failed -- one team member is dead and she and the squad leader are in a compromising situation. Apparently, sometime during their pusuit of these thieves from a rival village, they were detected. The third member of their team had been assassinated sometime during the night and replaced with a transformed enemy. At her discovery of the clones, their targets came out of hiding and waged a full on battle, on that had been wearing on for well over an hour now. They hadn't been prepared for this; she hadn't been prepared for this. She had stocked her pouch with medical supplies and left herself very few projectiles. Five to be exact. And she had wasted one on a clone. She would have to carefully conserve what she had if she was going to survive this. A loud grunt issued from somewhere behind her and she whirled around to find her leader being attacked by four shinobi at once. She let a senbon whistle through the air to strike the one behind him right in the Adam's apple. Three projectiles. An attacker came crashing down from above and she deflected the hit with a kunai in hand. Undeterred, he sidestepped her and swiped broadly at her ribcage. She dodged and parried off an attack from another enemy -- and was knocked back into a bear hug from a third. She cursed to herself and quickly thrust her kunai into his side, his lower lung. He released her automatically and she took the opprotunity to stab him in the eye. He fell back off the limb, not quite dead yet, but he would be by the time he reached the ground. And he had taken her kunai with him. Damnit. Two projectiles left and eight enemies remaining. She drew out a shuriken and attached an explosive tag to it. The two ninjas she'd been fighting before her brief capture rushed her before she could throw it. Both bodies slammed her into a thick tree trunk, and her clone burst into smoke as the shuriken detonated. One projectile, six targets. She did a quick scan of her surroundings and noticed to her utter horror that her captain was no longer anywhere in sight. Dead. Most definitely dead. She was alone now, she still didn't know where the scroll they were supposed to steal was, and she was down to one weapon. Worst of all, she was tired and slowing down.
It was time to resort to her genjutsu.
Kakashi grit his teeth. He was so close now, so close to the location Rin's team was supposed to be at. He had tried several times already to pick up their chakra signals and failed, which could only mean one of two things: either they were masking their chakra, or they were dead. Agitated, one hand yanks his headband up to reveal his Sharingan and he sorely wished he still had his father's chakra saber. His feet stop abruptly. He's picking up something, a large mass of chakra. Genjutsu? He moves again, ever more carefully than before and more silent than the wind. Before his ears even register the sound of it, Kakashi's Sharingan picks up a secene from a few branches above him. It's a two-on-one fight, and it seems Rin is using only taijutsu. The glare makes it hard for Kakashi to make out the symbol on the enemy shinobi's headbands, but they're evading every attack Rin deals and landing every attempt they make. It is impossible for Rin to win this fight. Kakashi charges them in a rage, and when they notice him coming, Rin's body fades away and is replaced with a corpse of one of their members. One of them stares, shocked at the corpse. The other watches the short jounin closing in with wide eyes and loudly misidentifies him as Konoha's White Fang. Kakashi slits his throat with ease soon after and the last remaining target makes a run for it. Kakashi starts after him, but he's struck down with a senbon through the neck before he can reach him. The silver haired boy looks around, just noticing that Rin is nowhere to be found and feeling the massive aura of chakra disperse. The genjutsu; it was Rin's. He locates her then, clumsily hopping off a higher branch to inspect the kill. As she puts her back to him to go through the dead shinobi's pockets, Kakashi notes that there are four shuriken in her back, one imbedded just millimeters from her spine. Her chakra appears to be totally depleted, and Kakashi realizes that she probably didn't dispel the genjutsu; she simply could not hold it any longer. He also notices that she's only using on hand to search with and the other hangs akwardly at her side. She finally stands up, wobbly and with what was probably a scroll in her hand. As she turns to face him, even more damages are apparent: her hair is matted in the front, glued to a crusting gash on her forehead, and there's a stab wound on her thigh disturbingly close to the femoral artery. He stares, and she smiles at him.
She calls him Obito and asks why he's wearing a mask like Kakashi.
He frowns. She's delirious, he realizes, from blood loss and probably pain too. And yet some part of her mind was still willing her to complete the mission, was desperate not to fail. Her body wavers, completely unsteady and probably maximally fatigued. She was living on borrowed time. He finally approaches her, and she plummets forward. He catches her. Rin thanks Obito, and tells him that she doesn't remember his reflexes being so good. For the fourth time in his life, Kakashi wants to cry. In her condition, he knows they'll never make it back in time, not when it took her two days to get here, and took him twenty three hours nonstop at top speed. Never. He gently sets her down into an upright position, she's blinking a lot and keeps tipping to the side, so he steadies her with one hand and brings her chin to look at him with the other. He speaks clearly and sternly, as if he's talking to a child, and tells her to show him the hand signs for a healing jutsu. She laughs and calls Obito silly. He tries again. This time, she vaguely moves her hands through six signs, and his Sharingan catches each movement. He copies the formula and repeats it with his own hands...and his headache goes away. Even if they're the right hand signs, she must have given them to him in the wrong sequence. He takes a breath and tries to force himself to think. Think of something, think of anything, but with every passing second he's slipping deeper and deeper into despair. He shuts his eyes tightly, but only for a moment as he feels Rin's body tip over once more. He reaches out hands to set her up again, but as they meet her skin, she starts to shake violently. She's going into shock. Kakashi panics and his eyes brim with water. He has no medical knowledge beyond first aide and he has no idea how to help her. The tears fall. In what was probably a final moment of clarity, she manages to apologize to him for no longer being able to keep her promise. Kakashi holds her close and tells her it's him who's sorry about a broken promise.
Rin stops shaking.
He cries for nearly three hours before he pulls himself together. He pulls his headband back into it's usual crooked position and gently lays her body flat. The body that Konoha hunter nins woulds have to later come and destroy to keep Konoha's secrets safe. Kakashi eases the scroll out of her hand that, even in death, is tightly gripped. He stands and takes one last look at the girl who would've done anything for him before he turns to make his way back to the village, alone. On the way, he makes a new resolution to himself: with his next team, he would smile more, speak sweeter, and take nothing for granted.
The next day, Rin's name adorns the stone.