Disclaimer: Naruto (c) Kishimoto, not me.
A/N: This one ran away from me. It was supposed to end differently, but then Kakashi's POV got into the mix.

Rin didn't see it, she didn't even hear it. She only felt the rush of cool air as the blade zipped past her ear, rustling her hair. Had it been a real battle, she would have been dead. The enemy would not have purposefully missed the throw as her teammate had. She dropped her combat stance and sighed.

"You let the enemy get behind you again," she heard Kakashi say from somewhere behind her. As she turned, she could already imagine the look of disapproval on his face.

"Kakashi, I'm a medic," she exclaimed, fed up of his unrealistic expectations towards her, "not a combat expert or a taijutsu specialist, and definitely not a genius like you. Give me a break! When I'm out on the field, I'm always at the back of the group, away from the heat!"

Kakashi did not answer immediately, but Rin saw his lips purse underneath the face-mask he wore and she knew exactly what he would say next:

"That's not what happened on the way to Kannabi Bridge."

The first time she had heard that line, she had felt touched that he cared enough about her to want to help her improve her mediocre skills. The fifth time she heard it, the knowledge that cool-headed Kakashi, the perfect ninja, would not repeat something so telling in emotion had given way to the sadness of the memories of the friend they had both lost on that occasion. The seventh, she felt it like a reprimand, an accusation that she had been the one to let herself fall into enemy hands, putting them all in the way of danger. The nightmares had begun then, guilt-trips that she did not allow herself to feel during the daytime.

"I'm sorry, okay! I was a chuunin then and I'm a jounin now. I like to think that I've learnt a thing or two in the meantime."

"You're leaving on a mission tomorrow. I only want you to be safe..."

"'...like you promised Obito'? Is that what you were going to say?"

"...Yes."

His admission was so earnest, so truthful, that Rin could not doubt it. That was what made it all the more tragic. With a frustrated shout, she turned her back on him and stomped away from the training field.

"See you tomorrow, Kakashi," she threw over her shoulder.

The mission to Kannabi Bridge two years back had become an unavoidable subject in every conversation she now had with Kakashi. She would never forget what happened in it – how the enemy had caught her, how Obito and Kakashi had come together after years of rivalry to save her, and how only two thirds of the trio had come back with their lives – but her surviving teammate had taken it to a whole other level. The mission was always on his mind, he relived it every minute of every day and, no matter what Rin did to attempt to alleviate the guilt he felt that it was his life Obito had been saving when he lost his, he would not get over it. On the other hand, he seemed determined to live his life in Obito's stead.

The change in Kakashi had been gradual, invisible at first. Only their teacher had seen it then, but he was too busy at the time to intervene and Kakashi had too much practice at avoiding him and hiding himself from the world. Rin had been glad to see Kakashi loosen up. He stopped snapping at anyone that did not follow the rules to the letter and even started paying her more attention. Her infatuation with the boy-genius was at an all-time high, so the attention had been welcome. Before she knew it, though, he was arriving late for everything and copying Obito's stupid excuses. Kakashi also became obsessive about her safety. He insisted on accompanying her on missions, and appointed himself her personal bodyguard, often getting in the way of her job.

She was soon refusing to go out of the village on assignments with him and that was when he had come up with the idea that they train together.

She liked him enough to give him a chance, but he proved to be less interested in her company as a friend and more as their dead teammate's love interest that had to be protected at all costs. She sympathised with his dedication to Obito, but there were times when she could not stand it. Yes, Obito had said he loved her, but he was dead now and there was no point in bringing it all up so Rin could feel bad about having idolised Kakashi instead.

Her feelings for Kakashi had cooled down since, but now, every time he brought up the subject, Rin could not help but think "what if...?" She had loved Obito – as a friend. Would there have been room for something more had she given him an opening?

She sighed and reached up to pull her Konoha forehead protector from her head. It was a warm day and she was off duty. She would head home and sleep off her upset. At least until Kakashi showed up in the morning for another last minute training session before she left for her mission on Grass Country.

o

The sky was overcast and dark, dark grey like night was about to fall. The rain fell in thick droplets, her knees sank into the mud. Rin did not remember if there had actually been a storm on this day or if it was all her imagination. That she was dreaming about it came as no surprise - every time she got frustrated with Kakashi, it had a tendency to resurface.

Her hands were covered in blood and dirt, trembling so uncontrollably that it was a wonder she had been able to perform surgery on the two boys laying down beside her – or maybe that was her imagination again. She did not want to look beyond them, but that was also out of her control and up to the dream to decide. First her eyes set on Kakashi – face distorted as he pressed the gauze to his newly implanted eye to help staunch the bleeding as she had instructed – and then moved on to land on Obito – half-crushed underneath a boulder three times his size. She broke down in sobs.

"Rin..."

That was all he ever said in the dream. It had been the final word to leave his lips after all. Voice failing and wheezing for breath, left eyelid closed and gruesomely sunken as there was nothing but an empty eye socket underneath, left hand clenched against the ground at his side, refusing himself human contact: that was how she remembered him.

"Obito..." she said, heart twisting in her chest with emotion.

Closing her eyes, she made an effort to ignore his whispers and the surge of "might have been"s that popped in her head. She turned to face Kakashi, knowing what path the dream would take. There he was, standing with a red Sharingan blazing alongside his remaining grey eye, staring down at her with intensity.

"I promise I'll take care of you. For Obito. Because he loved you. You were the world to him."

"Stop," she said, and forced herself to awaken.

Rin reached up to touch her face and was relieved to find it dry. The window above her head was open and the curtain was blowing. She found she was chilly.

She got up, put on some ugly but warm socks her grandmother had given her for some birthday and wrapped herself in a robe. According to the clock, it was too early to start the day, but too late to go back to sleep if she wanted to be fresh for the rendezvous with her team that morning, so she went about making tea. Her doctor would tell her to write down the dream and how it had made her feel while the memories were fresh, but she had done that so many times already that she would not bother. She just felt like enjoying the warmth of the tea as it travelled down her oesophagus and the softness of her eiderdown as she huddled at the top of the bed with her knees to her chest.

Her thoughts, however, would not be deterred.

"I miss you, Obito..." She cried.

That was the position Kakashi found her sleeping in, one hour later, as he dropped by her apartment to apologise for being so hard on her the previous day and to take her out for a last good breakfast before she had to go on her assignment. Her tea cup had rolled out of her grasp and the last dregs of tea had spilled, leaving a small yellow stain on the bedspread. He would clean it up for her while she was away, he decided.

"Rin..." he called, brushing the hair from her eyes. "Wake up."

"Mmmh..." She tried to shy away from his touch, but as she turned her head, acute pain shot up her neck. That easily pulled her from her dreams. "Ah!... Kakashi? What are you doing here?"

"Good morning. Come on, get up. I'm taking you for breakfast."

Rin's instinct was to comply, but luckily her mind wasn't blurry enough to do so. Her robe was open and she was not about to give her friend a free look at her chest. She knew he was not a pervert like most people assumed after seeing him read master Jiraiya's porn in broad daylight, but still, he was a boy and she was a girl. Her grandmother had taught her better. She pulled her clothes tight before disentangling herself from the eiderdown.

"You brought food?" she asked him as she rubbed her sore neck and tried to put her hair in order. He had seen her looking much worse than that, but, well, her grandmother had taught her better than that too. "I don't have anything here. My kitchen's not big enough to cook in, you know that."

He gave her an affectionate smile and a nod. "I'm taking you out, so get dressed," he said. Reaching the door, though, he hesitated before stepping out. "Rin, about yesterday, I..."

"It's okay," she told him. "I know you were only trying to help. I'm the one who's sorry for getting upset at you. You're a good friend, Kakashi."

His smile widened at that – all the years Rin had spent with him as a teammate had taught her to see beyond his mask. "I'll be waiting just outside, then."

No sooner had he closed the door, Rin's alarm clock went off. "Good old reliable Kakashi," she thought to herself with a smile.

She was quick to get herself looking decent and took the opportunity to pack the supplies she would need to take for the mission so she would not have to return to her apartment afterwards. She grabbed the bandages and ointments, scrolls and pills on auto-pilot; her subconscious knew the routine well enough already, leaving her free to think about other things. On a whim, she also pocketed a certain phial with a dropper.

Kakashi was exactly where he said he would be and the two of them walked in silence to the nearest food stand. They each ordered and were waiting for the food to arrive when Rin pinned him with a cagey look.

"So... you're not going to put me through another training session before I go?"

"I think we did enough of that yesterday," he admitted. "Right now, I just want to make the most of your company. It will probably be weeks before I see you again."

Rin would have melted where she stood if she had ever heard such words come out of the younger Kakashi's mouth. Now, she was old enough to only blush half-furiously. She quickly used her medical training to slow her bloodstream and hide the redness. Thankfully, Kakashi had been looking for the waiter when he spoke and thus missed her fumble.

"Aw, I'm touched, Kakashi," she joked, then continued on a more serious tone, "and glad that you're finally accepting that I can take care of myself."

"Well," he started, still looking around to see if anyone was close enough to overhear, "I'm not so sure myself, but yesterday I did realise I was treating you unjustly."

Rin smiled, looking at the approaching waiter over Kakashi's shoulder. He noticed her glance and followed it, tracing the woman's motions as she picked each plate from a large tray and laid it out on the table. She left the two ninja with a small bow. Only when she was once again behind the counter did Rin speak.

"Sure or not, I'm still glad. And since I'm going to be gone for such a long time for this mission, I want you to have this." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the small phial. She slid it across the tabletop towards Kakashi and gestured at his covered eye, where Obito's Sharingan lay dormant. "In case it gives you trouble and I'm not here to fix it."

Kakashi clutched it like it was a precious stone. "Thanks."

They kept their conversation light and as far away from the topic of Obito as possible from there on. Forty minutes later, the two were saying their goodbyes in front on the village gate. Kakashi eyed the teammates Rin had been assigned to, silently measuring their strength and skill. She was glad he did not say anything out loud, though. It would be awkward enough for her to rid them of the notion that she and Kakashi were an item, since she had arrived in his company, without the added strain that her alleged boyfriend did not approve of them.

Their goodbyes were plain. Missions were a constant on a ninja's life, nothing out of the ordinary.

Weeks later, Kakashi found himself standing in front of that gate again, gripping a report about a failed mission and one casualty.