Author's Note: Thank you for your reviews, everyone!
Disclaimer: Dispite my late update (which I apolagize for), I still don't own Naruto.
Kakashi had been leaning against a wall outside of Rin's hospital room, his visible eye closed while attempting to figure out what was wrong with Rin now when the doctor that had been available stepped out of the medic's room, closing the door behind him.
"Is she...alright?" The Yellow Flash asked the man nervously. The whole hour the doctor had shooed everyone out while he took tests and asked Rin questions had been silence for both Kakashi and Arashi, it was the first time since both had found Rin weeping in a corner of her bedroom over at her house that he had talked.
"First I must ask a question," When Arashi nodded in understanding, the doctor asked Arashi quietly, "Rin-san said that she saw Uchiha Obito a few weeks ago, and he's been reported dead - was she a close friend or comrade of his?"
"Why yes, she was a close comrade and a friend...but may I ask how she could've seen him physically if he's dead?" Arashi asked the man curiously while Kakashi listened closely.
"Well it appears that Rin has slipped into a state of depression over his death--"
"How bad is it?"
The doctor looked at Kakashi next as he answered his question. "She's not suicidal, but if we hadn't diagnosed her she could've easily became suicidal. Although her condition is serious, far by one of the worse cases I've ever had - and if she isn't taken care of propertly then she'll eventually become suicidal."
"I see...but what do you suggest we do?" Arashi asked him seriously - in all the times he had seen the man's serious faces, this was by far the most serious look Kakashi had seen his sensei give someone, then again he had come to learn over the years that the man was much like his father was - one that would put their life and reputation on the line for others, even if he couldn't stand them. Eventually this same man's attitude had changed his mind about following the Rules and Regulations so much, but he also knew Obito and Rin had a hand in changing him too.
"Comfurt is one of the best solutions to help someone through depression, even if it's on the suicidal side," The man started to explain but a dark question crossed Kakashi's mind briefly.
'Was that why Father committed suicide? Because no one was there to comfurt him - if I had been there to comfurt him more, would it had turned out different?'
"Hokage-sama," The doctor's voice was now serious, telling Kakashi that the man was probably going to check in with Rin to make sure that his demands were being met. "From now on, Rin is to have a room mate - someone who can give her company, and deffiently someone who can give her comfurt when she needs it, a comrade or someone she's known for years would be the best choice." The man added before Arashi could reply, "In the meantime, I am going to prescribe sleeping pills to Rin - she is to take them every night. I don't want her working either, and no assassination missions, it'll only imcrease the amount of stress that's building up on her. For now, I want her moved from her current home and far enough away to rid her of the memories of home, an apartment of some place that she's never been to before would be best."
"Don't worry Sir, I'll make sure that your demands will be met."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama, and I look forward to your student's recovery." With that the man left to do his work.
"Kakashi, I'm placing Rin in your care." Arashi added, looking back at him with a small smile, "You're always the one to keep her from falling under anyways."
"Yes Sensei, but who's going to tell her?"
"I will. Is she fine at your house or would you like a two-bedroom apartment?"
"She's fine at my house, Sensei."
"Alright, you're dismissed for now, Sensei - but meet me here tomorrow at eight o'clock in the morning, alright Kakashi?"
"Sure, Sensei - I'll bring Rin's belongings to my house and get her situated right away." When the man nodded in response, Kakashi formed a single hand seal and dissapeared in a cloud of smoke.
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Rin slowly followed Kakashi up the steps into his home she had been at briefly nearly a month ago. Though she had to admitt, the house looked better during the day - at night it always gave her the chills to walk down this way, though she never knew why.
The house was painted a silver color, though she expected no less from the White Fang - perhapps it was to live up to the name? Rin quickily pushed the question aside and stopped admiring the house so much - even if it was the nicest house she'd seen before - not wanting to get on Kakashi's nerves too much. She blinked when she felt someone grab her arm and pull her in, seeing as it was Kakashi she allowed her feet to follow and watched him closely as he shut the door and flicked on the lights to the living room.
The living room was neatly organized. A photo of a young Kakashi and his mother and father was hung on the wall above the couch which was about fifteen feet away from the small T.V. that was sitting on a cabinet. The walls were painted a light creamy yellow color, which she hadn't noticed before because the lighting had been so poor.
"My mother's favorite color." Kakashi told her softly, pain evident in his voice, noticing her staring at the painted walls.
"I like the color." Rin commented softly. "I've never seen anything like it before...it almost reminds me of spring."
'It does smell like spring too...no wonder Kakashi always reminds me of spring whenever I smell his scent.'
"Spring was also my mother's favorite time of year - it was the first day of spring when she was killed..."
She blinked, silently glad but also nervous that he was opening up to her - she had always known that it was easy to mess up how he thought about you when he opened up, she had learned that after Obito messed up. "I'm sorry..."
"It's not your fault." The soft, kind tone in his voice was gone now and now the same dreadful feeling that he hated her was back.
Without saying anything, he began to walk towards the set of stairs and Rin followed without second thought. Unlike the living room did, the stairs had no carpet - instead it had a smooth wood surface, or at least Rin thought the wood was smooth with her eyes. The hallway of the second floor looked the same - the white carpet, the creamy yellow color of walls. The girl soon realized that Kakashi really had no pictures of his family, but quickily pushed that question aside and out of her head completely.
After what seemed like forever, Kakashi finally opened a room that almost reminded her of what would be a little boy's room. Unlike the other rooms she had seen, these walls were painted a light blue color as was the rest of the room almost besides the carpet, which was still white. A twin-size bed was in the room, easily able to fit her - and there was a vacant closet with a dresser against a wall beside the bed with a lamp sitting on top. The lamp shade was colored a light blue color and on it the name 'Kakashi-kun' was sewed on in thick dark blue letters (which she guessed was part of the fabric, or had been sewn in with the fabric when it was made).
"It was my bedroom when I was younger, but it's better than the other rooms." She didn't entirely understand what Kakashi meant, but she nodded to make him think that she was understanding - he seemed to buy it, either that or he didn't care if she knew what he was talking about or not.
"The dresser has nothing in it, make yourself at home...I guess." Kakashi added before leaving the bedroom and walking down the hall (the opposite way to the stairs she soon realized).
Deciding she had nothing better to do, Rin began unpacking the rest of her belongings that she had picked up from her old house that Kakashi hadn't gotten around to getting before she got out of the hospital again. All of her clothes Kakashi had picked up for her were laying neatly on her bed, all of them organized neatly in piles; Rin smiled to herself before hanging and stuffing her clothes in their respective places. Next she gently unwrapped her important pictures and placed them on the night stand next to the lamp.
Seeing that she had nothing better to do, she pulled out a random book and started skimming through pages until she stopped and looked back at the cover.
This wasn't her book.
Come to think of it, the book was too dusty to be hers - because of her alertic reactions to dust, she often dusted down her books; this couldn't be hers, it was too dusty to be, could it have been her foster mother or Kakashi's?
She let out a sneeze as she dusted off the cover of the book and glanced at the title - it belonged to her mother's clan, the Hayata Clan; the word 'Hayata' was on it, and it seemed to be filled with medic jutsu. Randomly selecting a page, she skimmed over it - the book didn't belong to her foster mother, it belonged to her birth-mother...but what was it doing here with her? Was it her foster mother's, Kakashi's?
Skipping to the front of the mysterious book, she saw her birth-mother's name on the first blank page of the book - it wasn't her foster mother or Kakashi's, it was her real mother's, but what was it doing in her foster mother's house? Or had Kakashi mixed his things with hers?
Just to be on the safe side she decided to ask him, so she got up and walked out of the room and down the hall in search for him. At first she couldn't find him anywhere, but once she traveled down stairs and come upon a large bedroom she found him looking at the picture she figured was of his father.
"What is it?" He asked, his tone was slightly cold but she hardly noticed because she was so used to it.
"Is this yours?" She asked softly, holding up the book for him to see. He looked up from the picture frame he had in his hands and up at her briefly before placing the picture back and walking passed her and out of the room.
Before he left, she heard him say, "No."
The book belonged to her mother.
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"Where's Kakashi, Rin? Your doctor's going to throw a fit when he hears about this."
"I'll take the blame, Sensei." Rin pulled out the book she had found nearly a few hours ago. "Sensei, I found this book with my things..."
She handed him the book and he skimmed through it quickily for a few minutes. "It looks old..."
"It has my mother's name in it," Rin paused in thought for a while. "Sensei, could this book have all of the techniques my mother made up?"
"I'm not sure, but I think some of these are - others were probably passed down from generation to generation though." The Hokage looked up at her seriously and added in a serious tone, "Rin I think you need to hide this book, many techniques in here could be dangerous if fallen into the wrong hands."
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"You're reading again?"
Rin looked up at Kakashi, who was currently cooking himself some ramen, and nodded. "It's my mother's book, I figured I could learn some helpful techniques." She turned a page over in her book. "Some of them sound..." She trailed off as her eyes fell upon a technique.
"Rin?" Kakashi said her name aloud curiously, and stopped stirring the steaming noodles softening by the second to see what she was so worked-up about.
" 'Tamasii Retrieval no Jutsu'..." Rin mumbled with shock. It took the Jounin a split second to realize what she was talking about - had she found a technique that would bring her closer to her goal? Or was it a dead end for her now?
'Great, she just has to find one of those pointless techniques that lead her nowhere when she's desperate, depressed...'
"Rin, you aren't thinking about-?"
Rin gently interrupted him with a smile spread across her face. "Kakashi, this technique could work..."
"Rin that's what Orochimaru thought about his technique, and what happened? He didn't revive the people he thought he could revive to help Konoha because it required a sacrivice, and since Sensei was chosen to become the next Hokage instead of him, he's still out there."
"But Kakashi, this technique doesn't require a sacrivice." Rin protested softly and when he gave her a curious look, she pointed at the page in the book and said, "It says all the requirements here."
He skimmed over the pages about this technique. The process was a long one - and like she had said, it required no sacrivice, yet it did require a lot of things; but most of them were only to give her the power to do it. Afterwards, she could revive anyone who died - Obito, the First and Second Hokage, anyone who died.
"I don't know..." Kakashi told her seriously, "If you perform this technique, then it could create a hazard to you - other enemies from other countries will want you."
"But Kakashi - this is our only chance to save Obi--"
"What chance was there that we could ever bring Obito back, Rin? He's gone! Dead! How do you think he's going to feel if he figures out that your life is in danger all because you ressurect him?" Kakashi told her, his voice rising almost to a yell. She flinched and she looked away from him as guilt struck at him.
"Rin I-I--" Kakashi didn't get to finish because Rin fled from the kitchen, it wasn't long before he heard his front door slam.
It wasn't long before Kakashi took off after her as well.
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"Sensei!"
Arashi looked up from his paperwork and sighed. "You can't find her."
"How'd you know?"
"Kushina-chan found her." Arashi smiled softly. "You need advice, don't you?"
Kakashi sat down in the chair in front of the desk. "Well...yeah."
"It isn't always easy to apologize to someone, especially in your case," Arashi asked him curiously, "Do you know anything about apologizing?"
"Saying you're sorry?"
"Sometimes it takes a lot more than just that, sometimes saying 'sorry' doesn't gain back someone's trust." Arashi laughed aloud when Kakashi's face twisted with fear. "Don't worry, Rin's a gentle and fragile girl, she's not one to hold grudges against people. Saying 'sorry' will make up for it, Kakashi--"
"But what if I say 'sorry' and she doesn't forgive me? Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Trust me, Kakashi-kun, Rin-chan'll forgive you - if she doesn't, then attack her because she's an imposter." Kushina's soft, caring voice told him. He turned around to see her in the door way with a smile spread across her face.
"How am I supposed to even find her, Kushina-san?"
"Something tells me she'll be in the library returning bo--" Kushina chucked when she saw that Kakashi was already gone. Shaking her head next she muttered after she sighed, "Nearing sixteen and the kid's just now getting his first crush."
"Great the baby's giving you mood swings again." Arashi muttered to himself dully but soon stopped moving when he saw that look in Kushina's eyes.
"Blaming the mood swings on the poor baby?" She gave him that smile as she moved closer to him and shouted rather loudly, "I'll show you a mood swing! This is a mood swing!"
"Think Rin knows a calming jutsu that calms pregnant woman with major mood swings down?"
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"Kakashi?"
Kakashi had to hold back a blush when he saw her soft brown-colored eyes looking into his cold and empty black eyes. Out of all the uncomfurtable moments he had been (most of them having to do with her) involved in, this was far by the worst - his body was dangerously close to hers while his hand was on top of hers to prevent her from dropping the book that was in her hands above the library book drop-off box. He could feel the warm heat coming from her body just as she could feel the cold temperature that was surrounding his.
"You're going to need that book." He said finally, catching the book as she dropped it.
"B-But I thought--"
"I thought it was pointless too before, but well..." He closed his visible eye. "I miss him too."
Rin smiled softly. "I do too, Kakashi--"
"Of course I know you do, Rin. Why else would I have said 'too'?" Kakashi asked her with a smirk, Rin just smiled back.
It seemed that the old Rin was returning, and that the shattered one was fading away slowly.
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Kakashi was leaning up against a wall outside the office of the doctor that had diagnosed Rin with depression, his sensei was leaning on the same wall a few feet down. It had been two months since he had found Rin in her home, crying softly in a corner - some how he was still unable to talk to Rin about what had happened. Neither one said anything, instead acted as though it hadn't happened just like they both ignored the fact that Rin knew who Kakashi's father was, yet he didn't want her to know.
The door opened, and Rin stepped out with a small smile on her face as a greeting.
"Feeling better, Rin?" He saw their sensei grinning, but his grin seemed to be fading when Rin seemed deep in thought; Kakashi soon found himself frowning as well. What if Rin's depression became worse? What if she chose to go down the same path his father once took?
No. He wouldn't let her - letting her commit suicide would never gain Obito's trust back, or hers.
"Yes I am, Sensei." Rin finally replied - both men sighed with relief when they saw her bright smile. For a while it seemed as if things were the way things should have been - Obito alive and yelling at Kakashi every day and hugging her whenever she was down, the Uchiha who they had left under a pile of rocks so long ago still beside them...
But what they didn't realize was that he was still with them, through Kakashi, but it wasn't the same. They couldn't talk to him whenever they wanted to, his voice almost seemed too real in his head whenever he heard him making a smart remark, or helping him through missions...it just seemed too real for it to be him. Maybe he was just hearing things?
No. He heard Obito all of the time - if he wasn't hearing things, then he wouldn't be laying down in his bed trying to figure out to tell Obito to quit his rants so he could sleep.
It had been a month now. Rin was no longer living in his house, but neither was he either. After Rin had been told she could go back home, but said she didn't want to because it would only trigger her depression, the Hokage had found her an apartment for her to live in and a week later Kakashi had decided to leave the Hatake's household and decided to move into the apartment across the hall from her.
He was beginning to think that the old Rin was returning - and that nothing was really wrong with her; that she was just a normal human being like him and everyone else.
Still, he was worried about her, since she had seemed perfectly fine since she went on that mission nearly a year ago - that mission when she kept spacing out, when the sky was blood red. He was glad when he asked Rin if he could walk her home and she had let him.
They said nothing the whole way back, but for some reason he couldn't figure out this feeling he was having. Whenever she was around him, he could smell the scent of cherry blossoms she carried along with her - and it felt like he was melting whenever she was talking to him, or smiling at him.
It was then when she gave him one last smile before she closed her door that he realized that she was melting the ice around his heart.
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"Let's see," Rin paused briefly as she looked up from her notebook she was using to jot down notes on her studies and around the room. "If I can practice this jutsu well enough, I might be able to use it to bring back Obito-kun."
She blinked when she felt another head ache rising. Getting up, she closed the notebook and headed into the kitchen for some pain killers. Taking the right amount of dosage, she soon held onto the side of her head softly. Instead when she felt her forehead, she blinked when she realized she had a fever; maybe she was coming down with something?
Deciding she needed some sleep, something she was lacking terribly, she headed off into the bedroom but stopped in the hall when she looked at Obito's picture.
'It wouldn't hurt to study for another half an hour...'
She turned to return to her studies when she saw Kakashi there in front of her. "Kakashi?"
"I had a feeling you'd be up at one in the morning studying." He said simply before giving her a little push into the her bedroom. "You need to rest, Rin. You've been up since six this morning."
"I can't," She said softly. "I have a head ache again--"
" 'Again'? Rin, how often are you getting head aches?"
"About once a day, I think I'm coming down with something--"
"You're pushing yourself too hard, Rin." Kakashi placed his hands on her shoulders, and she blinked when she found herself in her room after smoke surrounded her.
Too tired to fight against Kakashi, Rin gave in and crawled into her warm bed. She felt Kakashi stand beside her bed for a few more minutes before he left silently - as much as she wanted to say 'good-night' like Obito used to always say to her, and Sensei before he became so busy with the job as the Hokage of the village, she was too exhausted to. She felt as if she had used up almost all of her chakra, but she hadn't used any today.
'When was the last time I went on a mission...?'
Sometimes she wish she could go back in time, and be the one to shove Kakashi out of the way and take his place under that boulder. She should've moved and died there, but instead she only watched in horror as Obito did it before her, because she hadn't been able to do it. How would it be like for Obito if he were still alive today instead of her, she sometimes wondered - no one would be able to get her to think different. It was her fault to begin with, if she hadn't been so careless to begin with, she hadn't been knocked out by the enemy and brought to that cave to begin with.
Things probably would've been better if Obito were alive and not her.
Author's Note: I apologize for another late update. Though I'm almost finished with my other story, so I'll be having more frequent updates soon because I'll only have Innocent to work on. : )