A/N: Sam Tinnesz - Babel was my background music when writing this. Would recommend :)
"Kakashi, please! I can't let them use me to destroy Konoha!"
Sakumo stares at Rin's back as they leap from branch to branch, dashing away from the Kiri camp Kakashi had rescued her from. Does the girl even know what she is asking?
Kakashi glances over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed in determination. The Kiri ANBU behind them are catching up fast despite being on Hi no Kuni's unfamiliar terrain. "No. Rin, we'll hide and think of something! I promised Obito."
A noise of desperation escapes her as she jabs her chest with a finger. "There's the Sanbi in me! If they can't find us, they'll just activate the seal and release the bijuu! Even if we aren't near Konoha yet, we're close enough to the front-lines that our forces will be decimated anyway!"
The cresting wave of dread makes Kakashi's voice quaver at the edges. His eyes are wide, Sharingan spinning wildly. "I can't kill you Rin!"
"Kakashi." The way she says his name is worlds apart from the harsh tone earlier. It's gentle, as if she is persuading a child. "This is what I want. Obito would understand."
An inarticulate, pained sound escapes Kakashi and he catches her wrist in a desperate, bruising grip, bringing her closer to him as they continue bounding through the treetops together. He's shaking, anger and fear and helplessness melding together with each sharp pant for breath.
For all the terrible things that have happened, for all the Sakumo had put Kakashi through, Kakashi has somehow been able to pull through. Broken and deeply scarred, yes... but this— having her blood on his hands, her life on his conscience...
This might be the final blow that utterly shatters his son into tiny, irreparable pieces.
(There's only so much anyone can bear before they break.)
It will be so easy to hate her for it, Sakumo thinks. Rin knows Kakashi, knows how much he loves her. He will rather tear his own heart out than let her die, yet— she will smear her blood on his hands anyway.
But Sakumo can't. He can't blame her when she's doing this out of love for Konoha. It's not her fault, not at all.
It's this world. This war. This wretched and evil war.
Sakumo can only mourn. Their dreams are stillborn, dead before drawing its first breath. Who can he blame? The Kiri-nin? Sakumo can't even delude himself into thinking that Konoha will not do the same if they had a spare bijuu. For all the benevolence that Konoha projects, for all that the Hokages have genuinely wished for peace...
They're just another village of shinobi who will bury as many corpses as they need in order to live another day.
The forest grows thin and then disappears completely, leaving them running out in the open, completely exposed. The chakra signatures of the Kiri-nin are close enough that their pursuers will reach the clearing within seconds. Rin pulls Kakashi to a stop, her face grey with exhaustion. "Kakashi."
He stumbles to a halt, panting harshly and looking no better. Reaching over, she takes his hand — his right hand.
Kakashi is weeping, tears streaming from Obito's eye to soak into his mask. "Rin," he pleads. The pure, unadulterated anguish with which Kakashi calls her name rends Sakumo's heart to pieces.
"Do it." Rin has that tender, comforting tone again. It's a liar's kindness. She attempts a smile and it comes out lopsided, twisted with regret.
The first Kiri-nin bursts through the foliage and Chidori's shrieks to life on reflex, blue lightning crackling around Kakashi's hand. His eyes widen suddenly, a manic gleam lightning them. "I'll kill them, Rin." He breathes it like it is an epiphany. "They can't release the seal then."
"No!"
Her hand grasps only thin air because Kakashi is gone, barreling towards the nearest Kiri ANBU and taking the surprised man down with a hand straight through the heart, already tearing into the next man before the first hits the floor.
Yet it is obvious from the very beginning that he's hopelessly outnumbered and outmatched. Kakashi may be a prodigy but he is only human. Sakumo knows better than anyone else how close to the edge Kakashi is pushing himself.
Twenty six hours since his son last slept.
Four hours straight of combat.
Three Chidoris.
If the ten Kiri ANBU don't kill Kakashi, chakra exhaustion will surely do it for them.
A/N: I have vastly underestimated (1) how much I love writing this fic and (2) the number of emotional milestones I want to hit and the amount of detail for each. Hence, this fic will be way longer than my initial estimate of 15 chapters. Yay!
But... future updates will be sporadic because I have exams in two weeks, until early December. (Argh.) I have the next two chapters drafted out though, so I won't leave you all hanging here :)