Bonjourno!
I had a stroke of genius, and I hope you guys see it that way too!
I don't own Naruto.
It was a solemn gray day. Kakashi was visiting the memorial to fallen Konoha-nin, and was putting flowers at its base.
Kakashi did this every day, but today was different.
It was her birthday. She would have been twenty-seven.
Would have been, if he had not failed in his promise to keep her safe.
He remembered her last birthday, 11 years ago.
She had been somewhat somber, seeing as her birthday was the day she felt the loss of Obiito and the Yellow Flash the greatest.
She had been on a mission with him and Maito Gai, of all people. And she had not been paying close attention.
It was a pretty routine mission, simply hunt down a lower-rank missing-nin. And it had been easy. They had found the ninja and nearly had him killed off.
Then he got desperate.
He got ahold of Rin and slapped an exploding note on her back, and then he threatened to blow himself and her sky high.
He and Gai didn't dare come in close in case the ninja realized he was fatally wounded as it was and may as well blow himself up.
The ninja made Rin heal him up, his hand still held in a handsign that could easily activate the exploding note on her back.
He then grinned at Kakashi and Gai.
He shoved Rin towards them and simlutaneously activated the note. The blast knocked him and Gai out, and the ninja got away.
Apparently they had been found by another team about a half an hour later.
They woke up in the hospital. There was no sign of Rin.
When Kakashi asked about her, they said they hadn't seen her anywhere. But they had found her forehead protector, and they gave this to him.
Kakashi looked at the battered, blackened forehead proector, and vowed to kill the ninja that caused her death.
And he did. In the most brutal manner possible. But when he went to tell Rin at the memorial, it still felt hollow. It did not make him feel one bit better.
And this was the lesson he tried to teach Sasuke quite a few years laters.
But Sasuke was just like him, and the cycle remained unbroken.
