IDIL's Note: So, here's another chapter for Bits & Pieces. :) It's pretty angsty, so hope you'll all be enjoying that. ;)I have to apologize in advance if I don't update for a while, for I will be insanely busy these coming weeks, and then school will start, so I don't know how much time I'll have available to dedicate to writing. But I hope you can all enjoy this fic so far. :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Kakashi knew that he wasn't the only one who had nightmares. Realistically speaking, it would have been impossible. He also knew that he wasn't the only one who had nightmares about that.

Sure Rin had woken him up from many nightmares about the incident – Obito's death – but he had also woken her up from a few of the more frightening ones. Unlike her, he never remembered what he dreamt about, and he could never remember what he told her that she dreamt about, so the nightmares didn't really have a way of reaching him outside of his sleep. She didn't have that luxury.

It had been a particularly clear night, with only a few clouds looming over the Hokage monument when it happened. He had been tossing and turning restlessly, feeling much too sore and hot under the covers to even consider sleep as a possibility. He had just returned from another mission to Earth Country where he had been stuck in torrential rains for the better part of three days, and when he arrived home Rin was already asleep so he let his remaining kunai fall beside him with a light clang and collapsed on the mattress. Kakashi was just about ready to call it quits with sleeping for the night and go take a shower instead, when he suddenly heard Rin whimper beside him.

"Don't kill him…"

"Rin?"

"Don't…please…please don't kill him…"

"Are you ok?"

"Don't hurt him!" She lay spread-eagled on her mattress, squirming and twitching as though someone was restraining her by her hands and feet. "No don't! No, please! Obito!" She was crying now, tears running down her face uncontrollably. "You didn't have to kill him!" Rin yelled at the imaginary person restraining her. "He was just a kid! He didn't have anything to do with this! No, Obito!"

Her face was now contorted with anger and she shook uncontrollably, beating her heels and fists against the hardwood floors in an attempt to escape the grasp of her imaginary captor. Kakashi watched the scene unfold with morbid enthralment. He knew that she suffered from many of the same type of nightmares that plagued him, but he never imagined that they could manifest themselves in such a real manner. It was both frightening and fascinating to watch her fight against them.

Kakashi only seemed to return to reality when he realized that she had managed to free her left side from the grasp of her captor, who was still on top of her, pinning the rest of her body down, and she reached out her hand, grabbing a kunai that Kakashi had discarded upon his return. She gripped it tightly in her left hand, her face livid. "How dare you kill him?! Die!" Rin brought her hand up, aiming it high above her side, and brought it down steadily towards her captor. What she failed to realize was that she was dreaming, her captor was imaginary, and the only thing the very real kunai would pierce was her own abdomen. Kakashi caught up with her actions a little slowly, and barely found the time to almost quite literally throw himself on top of her before the kunai made contact with his shoulder. In her nightmare, Rin must have believed that the captor had managed to stop the kunai before it took out one of his vital organs for the look on her face quickly became fearful. "No…no…no! She tried to move her hand again, take the kunai out, but it was too tightly embedded in Kakashi's shoulder. Rin screamed; she needed help or she would die.

"Help! Someone help! Kakashi, help!"

Despite the pain in his shoulder, Kakashi helped himself to his feet, releasing Rin and sat beside her. "Rin, I'm right here."

She smiled in his direction, relief flooding her. "Thank you Kakashi."

"Rin, wake up." As if in response to his command, her eyes fluttered open, turning to stare at him in shock. Her hand had long since stopped gripping the kunai in his back, and she was left only with the feeling of blood dripping down her wrist.

"Kakashi, was I dreaming?"

"Yes," he replied, leaning over to get a better look at her face. She was shaken up, that much he could tell. He winced involuntarily at the pain in his shoulder; she had dug the kunai fairly deep into his skin.

Rin noticed the change immediately, and gasped. "Oh my god, Kakashi, what happened?"

He didn't answer her question, but instead stared into her eyes. "I will protect you. You understand that, right? I will always protect you."

"Kakashi…?" She regarded him quizzically: what was he saying? She knew that he promised to protect her, and that he did a pretty damn good job of it, but why was he bringing this up now? And more importantly, why did her hand feel so wet? She turned on the lamp beside her, and surveyed her left hand with disbelief; it was covered in blood. Being the intelligent person she was, Rin established what had happened in a matter of seconds. She had been the one to stick the kunai in Kakashi. "Kakashi, I'm so sorry! How did I…?"

"You were having a bad dream, don't worry about it."

Rin looked at the wound helplessly, tears beginning to block her vision. "Kakashi…I…I'm sorry! But how did I…?" She was still confused as to why he was the one injured, and why on his back? Had she turned on her side and stabbed him? No, that wasn't possible; if she had been turned, she would have had her left arm under her. Then…the only possibility… "Oh my god. No… Kakashi, did I strike you from above? Then…it would have been…me who would have been struck. Kakashi, why? You didn't…You didn't have to."

"I promised to protect you. Even if that means from yourself."

"Kakashi," the tears flowed freely from her eyes now, and she resisted the urge to throw herself at him and engulf him in the biggest hug ever. "I'm…I'm…"

He cut her off, smiling slightly up at her despite the throbbing pain in his shoulder. "Hey, I said don't worry about it, ok?"

She nodded, wiping away her tears and sniffling. "Ok," she smiled widely back at him, and he could have sworn that some of the pain disappeared. "Let's get you all cleaned up, and I'll dress your wounds after."

Kakashi nodded in compliance, and reached his left hand over his right shoulder to remove the kunai. She stopped him immediately and removed the weapon herself, gasping as she noticed just how deep the gash went. She felt ashamed again, but like always, he just told her not to trouble herself over him, that he'd be fine, and she relented with her apologies. As Rin finished dressing his wounds gently while he sat patiently in front of her, she laid her head against his back, relaxing at the rhythmic pace of his breathing. "Kakashi?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Hm?" He replied, closing his eye in exhaustion as well. Strangely enough, he felt relaxed as well; her heartbeat was almost like a lullaby.

"Thank you," she pressed her lips to the now healing wound that she had inflicted on his shoulder. "I love you."

"Hm."