Author's Note: Thank you for all of your reviews! Also, please disregard the original "Scroll Thirteen" - I messed up by accident, so here is the real Scroll Thirteen!
Rin had been in her kitchen, preparing dinner - since it was Christmas day. It saddened her, remembering how Christmas had always been her mother's favorite time of year, though she hadn't know why. Maybe it was because her mother enjoyed cooking so much? Or maybe because she loved sitting by the window at dinner, and watching the snow fall freely from the sky?
Rin had just pulled the turkey out of the oven when she heard a knock on the door. Slowly, she walked to the door and opened it. "Kakashi?"
"I wanted to talk to you about something..." He stated, not meeting her eyes with his own, though she didn't expect him to. Keeping eye contact with someone was a weakness of his she had learned over the years of being around him.
"Alright..." Remembering her manners, Rin moved to the side of the door. "Would you like to stay for dinner...?"
"Sure..." She could tell he was nervous about something, but she figured it couldn't be that bad so she left it alone and led him to her kitchen.
"I'm almost done," Looking up at the clock mounted on the wall above where the stove was, she added, "My neighbor should be here any second."
Right as she finished her sentence, another knock was heard at the door and Rin hurried to open it. "Come in! Come in!" She led an elderly woman to the table, helping her sit.
"Thank you, dearie. You've always been the helpful one of your family."
Rin smiled sweetly before moving the food to the table, Kakashi followed her lead and sat down in the chair across from her.
He was confussed when they started passing plates and food around in a circular motion, it hadn't been something he had ever done before. Then again, how would you pass things around if you were always alone all of the time? His father had never had time to prepare such a meal because of his career, so they never really had a real Christmas.
Kaka-chan was nuzzling in a small tiny dog-like house, enjoying some bamboo Rin had gotten for her.
'You would think the panda would be growing more each day.' Kakashi noted to himself, and took his attention to the table where Rin and the elderly woman were talking.
"So how's the restraunt doing, Rin?"
"I've given it to good friends of my mother - I can't do my job, take care of the restraunt, and take care of my mother's flowers on my own." Rin responded and then added out loud with a saddened expression, "That restraunt and my mother's flowers meant the world to her...so I've chosen to take care of the flowers on my own."
"That garden meant the world to your mother. I remember seeing her out there, no matter how bad the weather was."
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After dinner and desert, Rin's elderly neighbor left and it was just her and Kakashi. Rin turned to him, placing the last dish where it belonged. "What did you want to tell me, Kakashi?"
He didn't look at her as he spoke. "Sensei called me today..."
She stayed quiet, wondering what he could be so nervous about.
"And he signed me up for ANBU..."
"Oh..." Although inside she felt concerned for him, since not many children around their age who were in ANBU didn't survive very long, but she kept those thoughts inside. "Congradulations."
"Thanks." This time he looked up at her, at her smile.
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Once he joined ANBU, he never saw Rin anymore. Occasonally he asked the Hokage how she was doing, and sometimes he saw her at the store, but couldn't bring himself to say 'hi' because he had heard many rumors that since he joined ANBU Rin was doing so much better.
But that all changed that afternoon.
The soon-to-be Copy Nin had entered the library to see Rin sitting at a table in the far back part of the room, a pile of large books set on the table next to her. He knew she liked reading, but normally she wasn't the kind to be found in the corner of a library reading a book.
It had been so long since he'd seen her, easily a few months at best, that it was hard for him to approach her, but when he did he could hardly make out any words. "Hey..."
She looked up from the book she was currently reading and looked up at him. For a moment she seemed shocked to see him, but then she returned to her normal sweet gaze. "Oh. Hey Kakashi...how's it going for you?"
"A nightmare with all of the missions, but so far I guess it's OK...what about you?"
"I've been studying for an idea I've had for a while now...though I hadn't brought it up with Sensei yet..."
"Repearing cells?"
She laughed out loud softly, but soon her gaze saddened. "It's only part of the technique...but it's a complicated one..."
"Oh. What is it then?" He couldn't help but not believe her, doing any kind of medical jutsu was easy for her - never had he seen her struggle with a medical jutsu before. Then again, what would you expect from someone who specializes with medical techniques so much?
"Well...it would probably on the scale of the toughest medical techniques recorded in history...but for a while now I've been wondering a lot about it..." She paused for a brief second, before looking up at Kakashi with hope in her eyes. "Kakashi, what if I could somehow bring him back from the next life?"
He had always known that she reffered Obito as 'him', but occasionally she did use their old comrade's actual name. "Rin...I don't think you're capable of that."
"I think I am, and if it's a way to bring Obito back, then I'm willing to take the risks."
"What risks are you talking about exactly?"
"It's nothing like Orochimaru's technique, where it requires a sacrifice - but it has a fifty percent chance of destroying Obito's soul forever..."
"You're willing to take a risk that huge, Rin? How do you know this isn't what he wants, Rin?"
She looked down at her book, not reading it at all, but just to tear her gaze away from him. "...I want him back with us, Kakashi."
"We all do, but sometimes it's just impossible." He grew serious, and said when she looked up at him with teary eyes, "Rin, no matter what you do - no jutsu in this universe could possibly bring Obito back. He's gone...forever."
Sometimes he wondered how she could find the concern in his voice. "Kakashi, relax. This isn't going to be completed tomorrow, probably not for a year at least - maybe never...I'm just giving you a 'what if'...but still - I want him back with all of us...I want to be a full team, not a shattered one."
'A fully completed puzzle again...' Kakashi noted to himself, not sure of why he was thinking these things - but sometimes he wondered if it were Rin's doing.
Looking at the clock, he let out a frusterated sigh - now a days he had no time to even have a real conversation with anyone. "I've got to go...nightly mission again." And before she could say anything, he was off, leaving her alone in the library.
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"You seem determined today Rin, what was it that you wanted to talk about?"
"Sensei...I think I might've found a way to revive him..."
He nodded, trying to collect all of his thoughts together. He had known her plans for a while now, and had promised Rin that he wouldn't leak any information out to Kakashi - the silver-haired Jounin was sure to decline, and almost force her not to.
"I'll tell you what," He pulled out a pen and scratched down a quick note to himself. "How about you do the research, and if you can give me a good enough plan, I'll let you walk out of here with the privilage to go do what it is you need to do?"
Her smile was so wide, he was beginning to think that the old and carefree Rin was back with them.
"Arigatou, Sensei." She bowed respectfully to him before leaving the room, the Hokage let out another sigh - how he hated mountains and mountins of paperwork.
Author's Note: Now, I must announce since someone has asked me how close I was to finishing this story, I must say that we are all now at the half-center mark of this story.