Chapter 8
Rin
I looked up at the sky, cloudy and gloomy. It really fits today. My gaze fell on the two struggling figures in front of me. "Kakashi. Can I ask you a favor?" One of them tried to look up at me from their position but he was on the ground, his face flat on the dirt. The other's foot pinned him down, firmly planted on his lower back. Kakashi was half crouching and half sitting on Obito, holding a kunai against his opponent's neck.
"When both of you are done, can you come with me?" I don't know why I even had to ask Kakashi. Although knowing his answer, which was bound to be a resolute no, I still waited, and hoped, for a different one. "No, I have some better things to do." Kakashi said in a cool but hard voice. What a way of putting it, better things to do… "Alright then. I just-" He held up his hand and pocketed his kunai then using hand seals he disappeared in a puff of smoke, forgetting about the boy who he just beaten the hell out, all before I could even say "Wait!"
I sat dejectedly down in the soft grass. Obito pushed himself off the ground, spat out a little dirt and wiped his face with his sleeve. A bruise was now forming on his neck, a result of the brawl with Kakashi. I sighed and smiled at the fuming boy, his spiky raven locks swaying softly in the breeze. "Here, let me get that." I knelt in front of him, closed my eyes and placed my hand over the purple colored flesh of his neck, letting my chakra spill over it. At that time, I hadn't notice the glow of my hand flicker. "There, good as new. Seriously Obito, you should know better than to get in fights, especially before the exams. Who knows, you might get seriously injured and you'll miss the chance of becoming a Chunin." I said softly in his ear. I opened my eyes again, only to find his eyes staring hard into mine.
His face was still red, not anymore of anger, but something else. "I'll go with you." He said firmly. "Wherever," he cleared his throat, "Wherever you want me to go, I'll go." Although I knew where this conversation was going, I was still generally surprised, I didn't know what to say. I knew he meant something more, something I couldn't give at least, not this time. Not when someone else needs me more. I've known since the day we met him. Suddenly, I regretted ever bringing up the question with Kakashi. Things were happening too fast. The atmosphere in Training Ground 3 grew tense.
"I'm sorry Obito, but I can't. Not with you. This is between me and Kakashi." "It always has been, hasn't it?" Obito interjected, "It had always been Kakashi, huh Rin? Of all the people, why that lousy cold-hearted scum?" There are lots of better people who need your kindness more, why can't you give it to them? You waste it on him! "He doesn't even look at you, damnit. If there's anyone who you should be with, it has to be someone who returns your care, not spurn it. Someone who doesn't leave you biting their dust but walks with you instead. Someone like…" he paused and he remained silent.
"Someone like who? You maybe?" I retorted hotly, letting acid drip from my tone. "Obito, you don't understand him. He went through a lot. He was different before. He was with me, when I thought I was alone. He comforted me. He protected me. If there's anyone who he deserves better, it has to be me. It's my turn to take care of him. And by any god, I'll do what it has to take, just to bring him back. Even if it takes me twenty years, I'll do it, just for him." Tears refused to drip from my eyes. I stood up and turned away. My words had sounded indistinct and unconvincing.
I had to admit, that was too cruel. Obito didn't deserve that. In the two years I've been with him, Obito had been sweet and kind to me. And this is what he gets in return? Every single day that passes, my time shortens. I would lose everything I had. I hugged myself tightly, feeling the now usual bout of pain on my back. I held myself together. I just wanted to make things right again.
Obito stood up now. Silently he placed his hand on my shoulder, over my cold hand. I had to agree with what he said next. "Rin, you're getting desperate." I cursed silently as heavy tears rolled down my cheeks. "I know." I whispered so low that I doubt he could hear.
o--o--o
Kakashi hid silently as Rin came out of the flower shop, a bouquet of white lilies in hand. He followed her silently like a shadow. He knew that even the slightest sound would give him away with her superhuman hearing.
They walked through crowded streets, empty alleys, the Academy, the memorial monument. All the while, the huge faces of the Hokage monument looming over them. He continued following her even though he knew where their destination is. He was having second thoughts when they entered the dense surrounding forest.
He got careless in his thoughts and managed to step on dried leaves, hearing the crackle under his feet pierce through the silence. He concealed himself just in time, Rin turned around quickly. Some of the petals from the flowers she was holding dislodged and fluttered softly to the ground. He could feel her eyes roving, scanning the environment. He heard her footsteps as she moved closer to his hiding place. She stopped, a few feet from him. Why was he hiding anyway? He thought, feeling ridiculous. He was about to reveal himself, but reluctantly. He thought about it for a few more moments before something else popped out. A squirrel jumped out from a tree. Landing directly in front of Rin. "Oh, it's just you." He heard her sigh in relief. Then smiling sadly she held her hand down, "I guess I could use a little company." The squirrel, somehow knowing what she meant, climbed up her shoulder gladly. "Well let's go." He waited until she was far ahead, her figure disappearing into the trees. He jumped from the tree he was hiding in. Trying to calm himself down.
You can't let anyone see this weakness of yours, Kakashi. He grew awfully mad. Rin had been careless. Quickly dismissing a sound that could have well been made by an enemy. Letting her guard down like that. Calm down, no one was hurt. Letting his moment of fury pass, he shrank back into the cold hard shell he'd been nurturing and continued following her.
The sky became darker, the clouds heavier. Anytime now the rain would be falling. Kakashi heard her breathe deeply, before entering the secluded Konoha cemetery. Hundreds of tombstones came into view; only the Konoha leaf symbol engraved in cold white marble marked the graves. Rin, bouquet in hand walked and stopped, in front of a particular tombstone, nameless like all the others. Kakashi stopped his advance, behind one of the tombstones, not daring to go nearer. He hadn't been there, not in the five years since his death.
"Sakumo-sama," he heard Rin say softly. "Happy anniversary." He heard the quiet rustle as she set the flowers down. "I'm sorry, Kakashi couldn't come this year either but I'm doing the best I could. One day, he'd be himself again. The one I remember, the one who could smile." He heard her breath catch softly. "I missed that smile of his so much, you should know that two look exactly alike when you smile." She chuckled softly, but it sounded like the air just rasped in her throat. "Sakumo-sama, couldn't you have made this easier for me?" He could hear the tears in her voice. "I don't know if I could still…" she sobbed, "I don't know what to do anymore." he heard her murmur something incoherent before silence.
The squirrel squeaked a little, before darting out back into the forest. The rain began to fall, soaking Kakashi's mask, making it harder to breathe. Still silent. He peeped from the edge of the tombstone, and sighed when he saw that Rin was still kneeling, her head down and her wet hair veiling her face. But the relief was soon forgotten when he noticed her hard grip on her shoulders, her hunched figure was shaking. He heard her groan, and her pleading, despair tinged voice, "Oh no, God please, not here." Then she clasped her shoulders tighter as another wave of pain went through her.
Kakashi quickly moved to her side, just before she collapsed, face front into his arms. "Rin, wake up!" His calls were in vain, drowned in the pouring shower. His sandaled feet mashed the white flowers she had so lovingly laid, leaving not even giving single thought about his father's grave in his rush to the village.
o--o--o
I woke up in my bedroom, the faint sound of rain beating against my window sounded like nails being poured over glass. My head hurt, and as I reached for my temple, a shot of pain sliced through my back. My arm instinctively clutched my shoulders as spasm after spasm went through my body. After it was finished, my breathing came out in soft gasps. I was sweaty, my hair plastered on my forehead. I sat up, my hands still shaking. Even though I knew this had something to do with the seal on my back, I was still confused and… scared.
A puddle was forming on the floor, my futon starting to soak it up. A breeze blew from the window. I shivered from the cold. Wait a minute. A breeze? I looked at my open window, noting that it wasn't open before. Wrong, something was awfully, terribly wrong. Reluctantly I stood up to close it.
Just when I was about to reach for the pane, a hand shot out from behind me, catching me off guard. It clamped over my mouth just as a scream escaped my lips, never meant to be heard by anyone else. I felt a sharp object was being pressed against my back, making me freeze in my attempts of freedom. Every movement I made, I felt the sharp edge dig dipper into my skin. The pressure was not enough to wound me; still, it hurt like hell.
"How have you been doing, Rin-chan?" a young, distinctively male, cold but unfamiliar voice purred in my ear. "Do you know how much I missed you these last six years?" What is he talking about? I thought frantically. "Aw, don't you remember me at all?" Then nudging me with his knife, I think, he made me walk toward my body length mirror.
I gasped as both of our reflections came to view. He was a little taller than me, wearing a dark cloak, his dark hair in casual disarray. But what caught me the most, actually what horrified me the most was his eyes, wicked green, with a peculiar orange rim that seemed to flare out. They were the same pair of eyes I saw, the day the Tenshi village burned down. "Ah, remember me already?" his lips curled into a slow sadistic smile. "That's good. The best year of my life I should say. My father should have been proud, to see his five year old son kill everyone in that little angel village. But then again," He lowered his voice, as if keeping anyone else from hearing, "I didn't kill everyone." My blood ran cold. Five years old and he was already capable of handling that caliber of demon power. What more now? Who is this guy? "Oh, don't be afraid. I'm not going to kill you yet. We have more plans for you." We? "Yes," he hissed into my ear, "I just came to tell you, that you have about three years." Three years of what? "Three years of this," I felt the knife sliding up my back then down again. "You seem surprised," he lowered his voice again, "I could hear you, you know." He chuckled coldly. Huge black wings suddenly surrounded us, as if to prove his point.
He was an angel. Part of the Tenshi. How could he? I didn't even dare bother to make a single sound. I was literally frozen in place. I was facing my family's killer. I didn't know what to do. "Just be a good girl, and stay alive until then. Save the fun for me please." He dipped his head into my hair and kissed it. I went sick, bile rose up my throat. I felt the hand on my face dissolve into thin air, as well as the knife pressing into my back.
I sank on the floor, wordlessly, too shocked to even make a sound. The next day, Kakashi found me like that in my room. Staring into nothing but space. A large puddle of rainwater on the floor, next to the open window. He looked at me oddly, not saying a word, he didn't even go near me. He just called for my brother and left me there. Later on, I figured that I had reminded him of someone. Whatever happened last night, I kept it to myself, and not even Minato-sensei could ever know what happened to me. I'll keep that secret even if it kills me. And I knew, that it would.
--
So that's the end of this chapter.
Things are happening fast, we just don't know what might happen next.
Wait for the next chapter, and don't forget the reviews!
All right, I tried to fix my story format, I hope that this would make things easier. :D
Thanks for pointing that problem out! :D
