Chapter 9 Paths that I took

Discalimer: I do not own Naruto, (My imagination ran out a long time ago for coming up with something funny)

I promise not to give up on this story and i will keep writing

Rai opened her eyes, then immediately snapped them shut again. 'Bright.' She thought, 'Way too bright, must be morning.' She waited till her eyes were adjusted to the sun, then took a look at her surroundings. She was sitting on a large boulder, her back leaning against a tree. She heard the splash of water and decided that she must be by a river. She rubbed her eyes with her hand and tried to stand up, only to collapse back on to the boulder with a thud when a voice talked to her.

"You're awake?"

"Wh-What?" Rai stuttered, "Who are you?" she looked again, and dimly saw a figure sitting on a rock by the river. Rai groaned, "Kakashi, what do you want? If you're gonna kill me might as well get on with it. After all, I lost, I'm definitely not in Konoha anymore."

"I would've done that already if I wanted to." Kakashi said cheerfully as he put away his orange book, "I was just waiting for you to wake up and have a little discussion with you."

Rai tried to stand up again, only to fall back for a second time and hitting her head on the tree. She tried to summon her chakra, but stopped when a stabbing pain shot through her chest. She started shaking, 'Damn, so the poison's still in effect.' She thought, 'won't be fighting anyone here.'

"Don't try, Orochimaru's poison is one of a kind." Kakashi said, "Of course a particular medical ninja genius did cook up the antidote."

"Sakura." Rai murmured, "You're here to deliver that too?"

"You can have it after I'm finished talking with you." Kakashi said, "You're not exactly the kind to sit still and listen while I lecture."

"Gee thanks sensei." Rai said mockingly.

"You know why you're out here, right?" Kakashi asked, "The fact that you fought Sasuke means you were prepared which means you must've known before hand."

"I listened in." Rai replied simply, "When that fool of a Hokage sent Sasuke out there to assassinate me."

"Tsunade is very impatient and protective when it comes to Kekkei Genkei, but she's usually wise and fit to be Hokage." Kakashi explained, "Besides, the wars your particular Kekkei Genkei started in the Water Country surprised every other nation, you can't blamed Tsunade for not being protective of the village."

"Seems to me the Hyuugas are doing fine." Rai retorted.

"The Hyuugas and what's left of the Uchihas are Konoha Shinobi and have sworn their loyalty." Kakashi glared at her, "Let's not get off topic."

"Then get on with what you're her for!" Rai glared back, trying to stop her shaking.

"You won't get very far if you try to threaten me in that state." Kakashi said, "I need to convince you to give up revenge, just think, for a moment. If a Kirigakure Shinobi kills a Konohagakure Shinobi, then that Sinobi's family wants revenge, and once the murderer is killed someone else looks for revenge on the dead Shinobi's family. It doesn't end. There will be countless bloodshed, and you'll be at the start of it all. But if you give up, more lives will be saved, bloodshed will be avoided. Besides…I know how bad people like you can get, even if you killed me, you would not feel the satisfaction you thought you would feel, you'll still hurt and suffer, and hurt those around you. Like Sasuke for example."

"You know nothing!" Rai exclaimed, "You wouldn't know how I feel! So don't talk like you do. What if I killed the one you loved the most! How far would you stray from the path you just set in front of me? I can make you feel true pain too."

"Hey, calm down." Kakashi said, then a pained look flashed across his face before disappearing into nothingness, "that would work against most people, but for me, no such person exists. So you see, that's no longer possible." He touched the headband which hidden his eye and looked away for a moment, "for me…those people have already been killed. I've lived a hard life, sure, you, and I, and Sasuke aren't the luckiest, but we aren't the worst off either. I know what true pain and loss are, but both you and I have found precious companions."

Rai dipped her head as she remembered Sasuke and Sakura, "Your Kekkei Genkei is a great gift to you." Kakashi continued, "That power should be used to protect the ones precious to you, not for revenge. You should know that."

"I-" Rai whispered, thinking of Sasuke and Sakura, then an image of her brother formed in her mind, Haku dying… "Dammit!" she swore.

"There are some other things that I would like to explain." Kakashi said, "This might be hard for you, but I need to say it, The blow that your brother Haku took was meant for someone else. Your brother, who found a precious comrade after all her years being abandoned, tried to protect that person and therefore took the blow."

"I don't know what to do." Rai said, a tear trickling down her cheek, "I feel so lost…I've lost my parents, then Haku, and now I'm banned from my village!" She hugged her knees, "I don't know what to do."

"Hey." Kakashi said, tilting up her chin, "You know what? I'll tell you my story."

Kakashi lifted his head band, revealing his Sharingan eye before covering it again. "My friend died giving me this eye." He said.

"What? What do you mean?" Rai was bewildered, "He died to give you his eye?"

"That's not exactly what I meant," Kakashi continued, "Listen."

Rai listened carefully as Kakashi started speaking. "Obito, I, and Rin were on the same team growing up as Gennins. We had a very famous teacher, who's known as the Yellow Flash. I was quite proud of my own heritage, my father, was known as the White Fang." By the mention of his name, Kakashi once again, saw the day of his father's death.

"Father!" Kakashi stepped into his house and called for his father. However, there was no reply. 'Maybe he was on errand and will be back soon.' He thought, but deep inside, he know something was wrong. "Father!" he called again, running into the kitchen. He suddenly noticed that his father's bedroom door was open.

'Strange.' He thought, 'Father never left his door open.' Kakashi thought as he stepped into the house. His father was lying face down on the ground. Kakashi let out a scream, and pushed his father over, there was a blade in his chest, his father's hand wrapped around the hilt. "Why…" Kakashi whispered, "WHY! WHY DID YOU KILL YOURSELF!"

"Hey." Rai's voice broke him out of the memory.

"Oh, sorry."

"You had a painful look on your face," Rai said, "your father died, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he committed suicide. Because he was greatly disgraced by those who he saved, and therefore couldn't complete his mission." Kakashi answered, "Anyway, when I was promoted to Jounin, I was told that I'm to lead my team mates, and my sensei, on a mission to the rock country. You see, there was Rin, the medicine ninja, Obito, who still haven't activated his Sharingan, our sensei, the Yellow Flash, and me, who's stronger than both Rin and Obito." He paused before continuing, Rai caught another painful expression before it disappeared, "Obito Uchiha was a cry baby, he's always late, doesn't obey the rules, comes up with lame excuses, and is not at all fit for the Uchiha name."

"So he was everything you are now, except the cry baby and Uchiha name part." Rai said.

"Yes, the mission I was assigned to took place in the rock country. I was still very new at commanding the team and am not very considerate of my team mate's lives. To me, rules were everything, and I would sacrifice my team mates for the sake of the mission in an instant. Then, when my sensei went off to attack from the front, we sneaked to attack from behind, that was when Rin was captured."

"The medicine ninja?"

"Yes, I had an injury on this mission, and Rin healed it, but as we continued, Rin was captured. I immediately chose to go on with the mission without her, but Obito disagreed. He wanted to save Rin." Kakashi sighed, "It was all my fault, I should've went along with him, but after what happened to my father……I considered the rules more important. We argued, and went our own ways, but I finally regretted my choice and went back to help. There was a battle, I had a great sense of smell, and when I turned around to protect Obito, my eye was slashed." He touched his scarred eye, "that was when Obito finally activated his Sharingan, so when a rock was about to fall on me, he pushed me out of the way." Kakashi paused, Rai was silent, he drew a deep breath, "Even with his Sharingan he couldn't dodge it completely. The boulder crushed half of him."

"He died?"

"Yes, but before he died, he told Rin to take out his Sharingan eye to replace my blind eye. If i had wanted revenge, not only did I have to take on the whole Rock Country, but I probably won't be here right now."

"I see." Rai said, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Kakashi said, unintentionally touching his left eye. 'Obito, you're such a softie.' He thought. "You, consider giving up your revenge, I look forward to the day I see you in Konohagakure again." Kakashi said, his eye curving up in a smile as he disappeared in a puff of chakra.

Author's Note:

I am really sorry people, i wanted to update sooner, but something's wrong with the site and i couldn't upload any documents, anyway, i got lucky and finally got to update this.

Don't forget to REVIEW! I love reviews, my editor had to study for finals and couldn't edit, so she reviewed too, i'm happy.

Hotori