Okaaaaaay! Here's the next chapter and finally Rin! lol

I really hope you're enjoying and thanks to Niku and Shikyo for that lovely review; you made my day! :)

Please remember to leave a review if you enjoyed!

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6

~ Old friend ~

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~ It is always frightening to love what Death can touch... ~

"Kakashi…" He looked up from his current position at the front of the small boat they both were riding through the mist.

They were on a mission together in the Mist country and true to its name the fog was almost unbearable thus their positions; she was on the back helping him with the oars and he at the front scouting for any signs of life. They were ready to go back home now that they had the right scroll… They needed to reach for the Wave country and then walk to the Fire country.

"What is it?" he asked over his shoulder regarding her with confusion.

"Just wondering if you can see something ahead of us…" she smiled kindly and he relaxed a bit as he nodded.

"Nothing but the riverside…" he gave a small smile under his mask while he thought about this whole time they had spent together.

He had just turned fifteen and this had been the first mission they got together after Minato's death, they had been placed on different teams or teamed together with other people, but Kakashi had proven his strength and leadership skills and now got to choose whoever he liked to work with; so far he had chosen Gai and Asuma, even Genma sometimes, but with Rin it was more comfortable.

"Hmm…" she hummed in awe. "I wish I could have a sharingan…" she mused and gave a bitter smile Kakashi returned over his shoulder.

Suddenly he turned and narrowed his eyes; Rin turned to the same side he was looking and widened her eyes at the sound.

"It sounds like…" she could finish for the huge wave came crashing on them. "Ah!" she yelped as she was thrown into the river; she stretched her arm to clutch the bag dutifully; they couldn't lose the scroll no matter what.

She was roughly pushed under the water until she felt her forehead collide with a rock, but she tried to keep her consciousness in check while she held the bag tightly in her arms… she blearily opened her eyes and felt a small smile crept to her as she saw Kakashi diving towards her with wide and worried eyes; she did her best to reassure him with a look that said she was okay.

He came in front of her and took her hand, but as soon as he pulled and started swimming upwards they noticed her foot was tangled in seaweed… They shared a look and Kakashi was astounded when she pushed the bag on his chest and prompted him to leave her.

He shook his head no and dove back to her foot trying to disentangle it from the weed tightened on her leg, but it was a bit hard; he looked up and saw her big brown eyes full of sadness and despair; he rapidly pulled out a kunai from his pouch and did his best to cut all of the leaves there was only a few left when he looked up and saw her eyes closed tightly and lots of bubbles leaving her mouth and nose.

He cut the remaining ones and then pushed her up and with a hard tug on her wrist he pulled her up while he swam as fast as he could.

Soon enough he had her head out of the water, but she was already passed out.

"Rin!" he called through his mask, but when he got no response he pulled her over to the riverside and laid her on the soft grass there; her face was pale as he softly patted her cheeks; her lips were blue and she wasn't breathing; with wide eyes filled with fright he pushed the bag from her chest where she had been clutching it and place his ear against her chest… "Rin…" he said not knowing how to proceed.

He tried to remember everything he learned in the academy, but it was all building up in his head making it harder to focus on the task at hand; he quickly worked on her posture before placing both hands on her chest and pushing a few times, but she remained the same.

"Rin!" he called again wiping his forehead and pushing aside his silver bangs; his eyes darting from her closed eyes, to her lips and then to her stilled chest. He pushed again a few times against her chest and then with a hard expression on his eyes he pulled down his mask…

He pinched her nose and then lowered his lips to her mouth and blew in… the reaction was immediate and he barely registered the fact she practically coughed in his mouth, he regarded her while she kept coughing and the water spilled out while she took deep consumptions of much needed air.

"Rin…" he called again this time wearing a pleased smile while he held her cheeks and made her look at him; her barely opened eyes focused on his face.

He had forgotten about his mask and when her small hand reached up to his face and her soft fingertips traced down his jaw and over his moistened lips he widened his eyes in realization.

She smiled up at him and for the first time she saw his blushing face… as well as a small dent on his left cheek; he had a dimple; she'd never forget about his face, but as a friend she only smiled.

"I didn't see a thing." She reassured him while she clutched his mask up onto his face…

He kept staring at her blankly… What was he supposed to do?

With the littlest bit of the memory in his mind he finally pulled out a kunai from his pouch and then cut the thick rope as fast as he could; he looked up from time to time to check on her darkened orbs, but he could only see her saddened gaze upon him; his frown intensified when her eyes started to close and more bubbles came out of her mouth.

He cut the last bit and then placed his right arm under her chest and pulled her along with him while he swam to the surface; finally inhaling much needed air to his lungs he looked around frantically and feeling for the first time the utter coldness from the water and the icy wind; his mouth kept expelling hot and white breath, but the woman in his arms was not breathing.

He swam to the closest shore trying to keep an eye for anyone coming to them, but he made it to a dark place on the port and pulled her over the docks on the cold wood; he was too cold to actually be gentle about the way he pulled her heavy body soaked with the seawater…

With a loud grunt he finally placed her properly on the floor and moved over her body regarding the closed eyes with concern and the same sensation of dejá vú from before.

"Oi, wake up…" he called softly as he patted her masked cheeks and kept on alert looking around for intruders.

He was exhausted and sick of the feeling invading his body; he removed her hair from her chest and leaned over placing his ear against her, barely registering the only difference from this moment to the one happening when he was fifteen; her breasts.

He stared down at her masked face debating over if he should reveal her face; he knew he wouldn't want someone seeing his face just because he was in bad shape, but then again this was his mission and she had been the one to freak out underwater, if she would've been composed enough she wouldn't be in this situation…

"Sorry…" he said as he looked for the hem of the whole mask on her neck; he roughly pulled it in one swift motion all the way through her long hair and tossed it aside…

When his gaze returned to her face his deep scowl was replaced by wide eyes and all the air leaving his lungs, he felt his hands trembling and suddenly he felt void and even colder than before; a stirring feeling setting on his gut and his eyes stinging painfully against the cold night air…

"Rin…"

It was her; there was no mistake as he stared at her much matured face; her perky nose and her big closed eyelids with long lashes kissing her pale cheeks that were adorned with purple markings; her flush lips were turning blue and that snapped him out of his reverie if only a bit.

He swallowed hard and placed his hands on her chest once again; his mind was spinning with images, thoughts and memories and at the same time it was only a big stain of nothing; he couldn't think straight.

After pushing several times he didn't even doubt when he pulled his own mask down and with his forefinger and thumb he pinched her nose and then lowered his lips only stopping as he hovered over her pale face, but in the end he softly placed his mouth on hers and blew…

Just like eighteen years ago he separated from her when she started to cough and the water sputtered out of her mouth, she tossed and turned whining in pain as the cold water left her lungs and then stopped, breathing raggedly.

Kakashi stared at her wide eyed and not knowing anymore if he was seeing right, maybe he was in a genjutsu, maybe he was dreaming, maybe he was finally insane… but when her eyes blearily blinked up at him; he felt his heart stopping for a beat; and something inside him started working again…

Her brown gaze jumped from the sharingan to his black eye and soon there were tiny drops leaving the corners of her eyes and sliding down to her ears and the floor; her white breath mingling with his and a soft gasp leaving her lips when his hand came up to her face.

She swallowed thickly and closed her eyes tightly upon feeling his, somehow, warm touch.

"No…" he barely whispered with hoarse voice. "Don't close your eyes just yet…" he muttered again and she opened them, begrudgingly staring up at his mismatched gaze.

Time had stopped and suddenly nothing mattered anymore; nothing was as important as this… Rin was alive and breathing; she was staring into his eyes and he was sure he was finally running on track again.

With sad eyes that kept crying under him; her hands reached to his neck making him swallow thickly and she pulled his mask over his face while giving him a bitter smile…

"I didn't see a thing…" she whispered feeling her throat burning with the cold water.

His eyes widened a bit before he leaned down in one swift motion trapping her hands between their bodies and hugged her tightly to his chest; his eyes closed tightly and he buried his face in the crook of her neck…

Rin stared at the dark sky above them; some stars glinting down on them; she kept shedding tears uncontrollably, but her strength wouldn't let her say or do anything else…

Why now? Why is this happening now…?

She tried to find comfort on his warm embrace and faintly noticed his much longer and unruly silver hair against her cheek, he was bigger and broader, she faintly felt her cheeks burning and smiled bitterly when the feelings from long ago returned to her…

He still had the same uninterested look on his face only replaced by worried eyes, but when he had seen her he had been truly astounded like so many times before when she had talked to him; he was still handsome in his own twisted and sarcastic way; he was now a man and not the boy she remembered, not the boy she had loved.

Why now that she was finally making her life again…? She had wandered around for so long avoiding any crowded places and changing her appearance from time to time; with the end of the final war she had decided to stop hiding, but she would've never thought she'd run into him at some point.

A strong shiver ran down her spine and she almost cursed aloud when he separated from her keeping his hands on her shoulders; her hands frozen over her chest and her teary eyes staring up at him, but she panicked when she couldn't spot his eyes; he was hiding behind his long and wet front bangs.

"We need to warm you." He said with a clipped tone she feared even more than facing him after thirteen years.

She couldn't speak as her whole body trembled and her mouth dried, tears kept streaming along her temples and she lifelessly let him pull her body into a sitting position barely registering the fact he was taking off his green vest and was untying her kimono-like shirt; she made a protesting sound back in her throat, but he kept undressing her with rough hands; she blushed hard when his callused hand came to her back and pulled her flush against his chest; somehow he had discarded his shirt too…

She lied there in his arms with her chin up on his shoulder not able to meet his gaze; her whole body trembling as she sat on his lap and his arms embraced her… she swallowed again…

She heard and felt his breathing against the naked skin of her shoulder and closed her eyes feeling soft shivers running down her spin, but she could swear it was not because of the cold night air at the harbor; his silence was killing her slowly, but she was accepting his cold shoulder as a punishment for leaving thirteen years ago without a word.

She couldn't help but let out a long and heavy sigh when his hands started rubbing up and down the length of her cold back; in the back of her mind she thought that his hands were different and that he hadn't had those calluses, not even then and his hands hadn't been that big as she could feel the hot surface of them moving against her shoulder blades and ribs…

Could it be she was better off dead?

Because right now she knew he hated the fact she had been alive as much as he loved the feeling… She could relate to those feelings… too different, but really close to the other.

She stared silently at the sight behind him; her breathing was calm and steady now and the hot puffs of air leaving her mouth slowed down; she shivered again; this time as he moved the wet long hair from her shoulder and back with a careful hand; she felt the cold air blowing against her skin and tried to move, but she was still too cold.

She felt his hot breath on her shoulder and blushed again, but when she felt it on her ear she felt as if she was choking on life; she couldn't face him and say the truth of her past actions; he'd feel left out… He'd feel burdened.

Kakashi was having a hard time controlling his emotions and having all the old memories, the latest dreams and nightmares rushing in his head clogging it with a huge bulge of emotional trepidation and boldness; he could almost feel as if he was making it up for her for all the past times he didn't answer, all those times he rejected her, every time he pushed her feelings aside along with his… But at the same time, he was furious like he hadn't been ever before; he wasn't the kind to snap and feel such strong emotions, but then again, only Rin had pulled so much out of him before…

He needed to let her know… because at the moment he felt as if he was only twenty and he was finally mature enough to realize Obito was dead and it was hard to let your best friend at the hands of a deceased person; Obito would've wanted him to protect her in this very way he was holding her against his chest.

His arms tightened around her only a bit and he let out a sigh not knowing how was he supposed to react now that he had her back… it was all too confusing.

His eyes moved from the floor to the front and he spotted two lone figures walking around on the docks and by the way they were muttering and walking in soft steps he knew they were trying to be silent… Rai and Kaoru were approaching them.

Kakashi mustered enough strength on his legs and stood from the cold wood pulling Rin with him; her legs felt like frozen jelly and she could do nothing more than let him hold her up.

"Can you stand?" he asked roughly, but not separating him from his body.

She wanted to cry and tell him how sorry she was, but her throat still burned from the drowning… she shook her head no; she couldn't feel her legs at all only an unpleasant numbness.

Kakashi nodded and changed her position so he could lift her legs placing one arm under her knees; she made a whimpering sound in the back of her throat and he faintly turned to look at her… She couldn't stop a few more tears that slid down her cheeks when his cold eyes turned to her, but he was soon facing the newcomers; leaving her to feel guiltier.

Kaoru and Rai were arguing about the situation at hand and failed to notice Kakashi because their eyes were glued to the cold sea in front of them, but Kaoru was the first to spot them when she turned around.

"Hatake-san!" she gasped regarding his deep mismatched eyes while he held… "Rin-chan!" she yelled and ran to her.

Rai stared at Kakashi with a troubled expression, but he too walked over to the pair following Kaoru.

The young couple stared with nothing to say afraid that the shinobi hired by the Daimyo would harm them in some way, but by the protective stance as he held their friend they couldn't fear him for long; Kaoru sighed loudly.

"I should've been honest with you from the start, Hatake-san, but I can promise I didn't know a thing about the bomb…" she said mortified by the hidden act from her leader.

Kakashi nodded, but his eyes remained frozen; he couldn't bring himself to feel anything but hate and relief at the moment, he was facing some mental issues and he only wanted to sit and warm himself for a while.

"We need to change her clothes and get her warm." He added in a clipped tone while Rin started to shiver again in his arms; while Rai stared at his masked face with narrowed eyes.

"Let's get going, then…" Rai said with a serious face as he regarded the man holding Rin in arms with such care.

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So, what'll happen in the next chapter? Read to find out!

Lol i'll see you on wednesday hopefully! ;)