A/N: Thanks to Kiss and Cry, dong-chun-mei, Gblossom21, -Kai Isolated-, and 3karen3 for reviewing the last chappie!

Rin had finally exhausted herself and fallen back asleep, taking Kakashi along with her. She was cradled against his chest and he had one arm draped over her waist, holding her in place so neither of them would fall off of the Hospital bed. She had her free hand tangled in the hair on the back of his head. Every time Kakashi would shift in his sleep, Rin's hand would tighten and wouldn't relax Kakashi stopped moving. Despite the fact they were crammed together, they both looked comfortable and content.

Arashi-Sensei had come back to this sight after excusing himself to talk to someone on the phone, claiming it was one of the Higher powers in the Village Hidden in the Sand and he had no choice but to take it.

It was really his Genin Team Mate, Aiko.

She had called him on this day of all days when they hadn't spoken in years. Four years, to be exact. He didn't have the guts to ignore her, knowing that she was possibly in some kind of trouble. She usually only called when something was horribly wrong, an example of that being when she owed nearly two hundred thousand dollars to one of the 'Kage's and had asked for his help. It was largely why the Village was in debt. That and the ever on going wars against his Village that the Sand seemed to orchestrate without any warning.

She called this time wondering if it was okay with him if she came back to the Village for awhile and if he would hold a meeting with her. There was something she needed to talk to him about personally and that it couldn't be done over the phone.

He hated to admit this to himself, but his heart swelled at just the sound of her voice. She had been the love of his life when they were together. They had been in a serious relationship for about a year and a half after he had crushed on her during their whole career as Gennin and Chuunin. She had a little more of a trust issue than he did, but he would have been foolish enough to wait forever.

He had proposed to her after a little over six months of living together but she declined.

It wasn't long after that when they begin to drift apart, mostly do to her pushing him away and avoiding him like the plague. It wasn't long after that when Jiraiya-Sensei left claiming he was bored with the small town. She left exactly a month after that, leaving him in the Village alone.

He probably owed his Hokage career to her. After she left he focused more and more on his career to escape the lonliness of being the only one left of his team and that was when he practically catapulted to Hokage.

No matter what happened between the two of them, he would never wish bad upon her.

He hoped that just for once she came home just to see him and how he was doing.

"Arashi." He heard the familiar voice of his Sensei call to him softly. He looked over towards the door and saw Jiraiya himself standing in the doorway. "Come out here for a minute. I want to talk to you." He said in a voice barely above a whisper so he wouldn't wake Rin or Kakashi.

Arashi exhaled slowly as he followed Jiraiya out into the hallway. The concerned look on Jiraiya face didn't go unnoticed.

"It's terrible what's happened to the girl." He told Arashi. "She gonna be okay?"

"Yeah. She'll be fine." He said before he swallowed. "Why are you here? It's about Aiko isn't it?"

"The Village has suffered because of that girl, Arashi, and you know it. If she comes asking for money, tell her no." He warned.

"Your answer to that question is that easy?" He asked, looking up at Jiraiya, his cerulean blue eyes tied in confusion. "You never worry about her?" He asked in a cracked voice.

"No." He said strongly with a small shake of his head. " No. I don't. She's a grown woman and she can make her own choices. Those choices shouldn't be paid for by the Village. You know that." He affirmed, knowing that Arashi needed to hear that as much as Jiraiya himself did.

"He would have killed her if I hadn't, Sensei." He reminded him softly.

"You can't keep saving her, Arashi. If you do, you'll end up being the one killed. You're already in a crunch for cash. You've agreed that your Kunoichi have this foreign Shinobi's child." He told Arashi like he couldn't believe he'd actually done it. He sounded almost ashamed of him. "That girl would do anything for you, Arashi. But it's another thing entirely to ask so much of her. Especially after-

"Shut up, Jiraiya-Sensei." He growled. "You say these things like I don't already know! I know what I've done to my students. I know that I was never meant to be a Sensei! I know all of that, okay?"

"Okay." Jiraiya told him, softly, resting a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "It's okay. I know how much you've been through. I know that this is hard to hear, but you have to put the needs of the Village above Aiko." He said, knowing that he was getting through to his student, maybe even a little too hard. "Promise me that you will?"

He didn't say anything, but Jiraiya knew what his answer would be anyway. "Be careful, Arashi." He said before walking away as to let his words sink in. He would make the right choice. He had too.

"Sensei?" A tired voice asked behind him.

He turned around quickly to see Kakashi standing behind him. "Kakashi? Are you okay?" He asked, worriedly.

"Who was that?" He asked, looking past Arashi and physically tensing. Kakashi didn't take kindly to strangers, especially when he was in high stress situations.

"Jiraiya. One of the Sannin. He's here to see Tsunade." He lied. He didn't need to worry Kakashi or it might cause damage to his healing eye which looked in need of new bandaging anyway. "Have you had your eyes looked at today?" He questioned.

Kakashi shook his head. "No."

"Take care of it. I'll stay with Rin." He said as he walked back into the room, not wanting to leave Rin alone even for a second. He didn't hear Kakashi come back in so he assumed he was doing as he was told for once. He sat down in the chair beside the bed, watching Rin intently. He had never meant to hurt her. He had never meant to hurt anyone, but his own hand or not, he had physically and mentally scared his beloved students for the rest of their lives. He was swallowed by the guilt that the knowledge created.

Jiraiya was right. He couldn't keep making the Village or his students keep paying for his mistakes. He just didn't know what he was going to do about it. He couldn't even entertain the thought of telling Aiko "no". It was something that he couldn't even imagine, let alone do.

It was at the moment that he began to seriously regret the decision to be Hokage. He wasn't deserving to lead all of these people. Not anymore. He wasn't the man that they elected to be their protector at all.

"Sensei?" He heard a small feminine voice call, breaking him from his thoughts. He looked up and saw Rin's beautiful brown eyes looking at him. They were full of concern. "Go tell them I need some more saline, please?" She asked. "The drip is nearly empty." She observed, looking at the depleted bag on the I.V. pole. "Must be shift change."

"Okay. I'll be right back."

"Where's Kakashi?" She asked abruptly, getting worried by his lack of presence.

He rested his hand on the side of her neck, his fingers curling absently, like he always had when she had needed comforting in the past. "He's getting his eyes taken care of." He reassured. "He'll be back in a minute."

"Will you wait until he's back?" She asked, her eyes fixing on him as she tried to control her breathing so she wouldn't hyperventilate.

"I will never leave you, Rin. I'm always going to take care of you." He said as he kissed her forehead. "Believe me."

Her bottom lip began to quiver as she launched herself into his arms in tears. Her fingers curled at the base of his neck as she sobbed into his shoulder, mumbling her apologies between gasps for air. His grip tightened on the small girl, being careful not to put too much pressure on her abdomen. He rocked her gently. "It's okay, Rin. It's not your fault. This was never your fault." He whispered against her hair. "It was mine."


Kakashi was sitting in an exam room in the Clinic since it was after hours. He felt so tired and he couldn't wait until Rin was home so his insomnia would disappear. He worried about her now more than ever before. She had never really had anything this scarring happen to her before. She wasn't old enough to remember her mom's death too clearly and it saved her from most of the angst that he had gone through concerning his father. Then again, she could be proud of the way her mother died. Unlike Kakashi, his father committed suicide in front of him when he was eight.

He had nearly nodded off when a Medic finally came in.

"Hello, Kakashi." She greeted. "Let's have a look at that eye, huh?"

She shined the bright light into his retna like the rest of them did. What was abnormal was when she shrunk back from his eye, scribbling some things down in his chart. "I'll be right back, okay? Don't leave yet."

Kakashi exhaled dramatically. This was just great. A few moments later she came back with another Medic, one Kakashi vaguely remembered seeing in surgery the first time when he had first come back home.

"Kakashi. My name's Tsunade. I need you to look over at the wall on the chart and tell me what color the square on top is." She requested.

Kakashi turned his head to where she was pointing, and recited the color on the very top to be red. She shook her head and informed him that it was orange. He tensed. Something was wrong with his eyes again. It was different this time, because it was in both of his eyes and not just his Sharingan.

She reached into a drawer and pulled out a small hacky sack. "Try to catch this okay?" She told him gently. "One. Two. Three."

Kakashi missed it and it smacked him in the face. He began to get even more worried. He saw it coming. He should have been able to catch it. He caught sharp metal weapons with ease on a regular basis. What was wrong with him? She pulled out a small light and looked into his right eye and then his left.

"Kakashi. I think that you might have some permanent retna nerve damage from the infection." She told him softly.

"Are my eyes deteriorating?"

"Well-

"Are my eyes deteriorating?" He asked again, but firmer.

"Maybe. I haven't run all the tests yet. If it is nerve damage, you could be completely blind by the end of the year." She told him. "It's a rare condition, and I think that we've caught it in time."

"Test them then. I need to know." He told her, seemingly handling the situation.

"Okay."

" You're Tsunade, Right?"

"Yes." She confirmed. "What's the matter?" She asked, seeing the concerned look on his face.

"Isn't Jiraiya supposed to be here with you?"

"No, he left to tell Arashi about his team mate about an hour ago. Rumor has it she's the reason for all of the trouble in Konoha." She said as she left to get the supplies to test Kakashi's eyes, leaving him alone to think.

Why would Arashi-Sensei lie to him about Jiraiya? He wouldn't protect the woman who was to blame for all this, surely. Kakashi wouldn't stand for it. If she was the one who drained Konoha of it's resources than it was her fault what Rin was going through. As a Shinobi of Konoha and as Rin's friend, he wouldn't stand for Arashi-Sensei protecting her.

"Okay, 'Kashi." Tsunade said, coming back in. "I need you to look directly into this light." She said as she took a seat in the rolling stool in front of him, turning on a blinding light and putting it up to his eye.