Kakashi struggled to take in a deep breath as he waited patiently, sitting in the corner of the waiting room of the E.R. He could feel his grief, his anxiety, his worry start to choke him. He looked down numbly at his hands, damning himself for his actions of the last few hours. He'd let her down this time, he knew he had. He always had. He should have known something was wrong. He shouldn't have gone to sleep that night with her so restless. He should have stayed awake, stayed with her. He should have woken up instead of resisting her gentle touch as she tried to shake him awake. God, how long had she been calling to him, begging him to help her?

He had been here for no more than two hours, but it felt like a century.

Twice? Four times? He just couldn't remember. He'd been so tired when he'd finally gotten home. He hadn't rested for nearly two weeks, and had spent most of the day next to Asuma while he laid in the hospital bed in a near coma after that. He couldn't bring himself to wake up once he'd been left in the peace and serenity of his home with her, her scent surrounding him in the pillows and blankets. But once he had, he had found himself in the midst of a nightmare. He only remembered the feeling of her blood on his skin, her deep amber eyes filling with terror as the tears started to fall.

"It hurts." She'd whimpered against his skin, her tears soaking the base of his neck. "Oh, God, 'Kashi it hurts."

That was all he needed to know, all she needed to tell him, until he'd wasted no time getting her to the hospital--to someone who could help her.

He remembered Tsunade taking one look at her before she demanded he leave, so they could operate on the young Inuzuka girl.

And he hadn't heard a damn thing since.

"Someone call Dr. Xesn, right now!" Tsunade had ordered, her long fingers running over Rin's forehead in an effort to calm her while the medic across from her pushed some drug through the IV they started the moment she'd come in. "You're gonna be okay, Rin." She assured Rin as she struggled to speak, her almond colored eyes looking over the blanched, sweat-streaked, unnaturally cool skin."It's gonna stop hurting soon, Hikari just gave you something to make it go away."

She unwound her stethoscope from her neck, putting the pad against her abdomen. Her look didn't do anything to reassure Kakashi at all as she moved it to different locations on Rin's belly.

"How long has she been bleeding?" She snapped at Kakashi, looking at him from the corner of her eye--not taking her attention away from Rin as she writhed under her touch from nothing but pain.

"I don't know." He'd been forced to admit. "She was-" he paused, unable to force himself to say "bleeding". "-like this when she woke me up."

"Where the hell is Dr. Xesn?!" Tsunade shouted at the medic she had sent to contact him, causing the green employee to jump nearly out of her skin.

"Right here." He said, appearing from no where as he stepped out of the smoke created by his jutsu." It's three in the morning, I'm not due in four another three hours. What's the em-" It took one look towards his patient for his expression to match closely to Lady Tsunade's. "Rin, honey, what happened?" He asked, his voice full of concern as he stepped closer to her, checking over both vitals.

He tore his stethescope out of his ears, releasing a low sigh. "She's abrupt." He told Tsunade. "Most likely complete. She needs to be in the O.R."

"I was afraid you were going to say that." Tsunade said sadly, turning slowly on her heel towards the young shinobi that stood behind her. "Kakashi, you need to go wait outside. Someone'll come get you as soon as she's stable."

"What?" Kakashi asked, unable to understand why he couldn't stay. "I did what you told me to do. I stayed back!" he yelled, trying desperately to make his point so he wouldn't have to leave. "I'm not leaving her!"

"Kakashi." She said sternly, grinding her teeth. "I order you. Go over there, tell her she's going to be okay, and that you'll see her when she gets out."

"But-"

"Stop wasting time!" She berated in a low voice so only the two of them could hear. She didn't want to make a bad situation worse by raising her voice where Rin could hear.

He left her. Just life that. After little argument with the woman who had lived longer than his Sensei, Kakashi walked over towards her as she laid on the hospital cot. It was the longest few steps of his entire life. His limbs felt like jelly as adrenaline flooded his entire body. He had a sinking feeling in his gut as he looked at Rin, really looked at her. She'd never looked so far beyond him, in a place where he couldn't get to her, before.

Not even the time when she'd nearly bled to death during the first week they were on Arashi's team together when she'd cut her leg. Arashi had rushed her to the hospital, worried endlessly about her until he got to see her after they'd sewed her back together. She had nearly died then, and everyone knew it even if they didn't say it.

Kakashi barely knew her then. He didn't care the least bit about her at all. Back then, she was just someone he knew--as every bit important of someone he saw checking their mail everyday. It wouldn't have mattered to him it all if she had died that day. It would have made no difference to him so long as her place on the team was replaced. He was heartless then. Now she meant everything to him and he couldn't live without her. He couldn't even think about life without her as he felt her touch.

He forced himself to smile, his face bare since he hadn't had time to fully dress, let alone put on his mask.

"They're goin' to take you to surgery. You'll be okay." He told her quietly, pressing a kiss to her lips as he wrapped his hand around hers. "I love you."

She gasped, struggling for breath. "I love you too."

Kakashi waited, even though he saw Tsunade come out of the swinging doors of the E.R. He waited until she'd made her way over to him. He waited as she stood in front of him, practically hovering over him before he shifted. He looked up towards her heart-shaped face that was normally full of some strong emotion--and saw nothing. Nothing at all. That was when he felt his stomach turn itself into a hard knot, his ribs aching from the tightness in his chest. That was when he knew.

"We did everything we could, Kakashi. Everything." She began.

He squeezed his eyes shut, the sensitive skin around them giving off a short, intense pain. "Please, don't." He said so softly, she hadn't heard him. He barely heard himself. "Please."

She sat down beside him, resting a gentle hand between his shoulder blades. He did his best not to flinch under her touch. Rin always hated it when he did that. "Rin suffered what's known as a "placental abruption". It's what happens when they placenta comes away from the uterine wall before it's supposed to." She explained slowly, empathetically. "That's why she was bleeding so much."

Kakashi was silent for a long while, looking down at the tiled floor. Then, finally- "Did she see him?" Kakashi asked, swallowing thickly. He could feel the dread building in his chest.

"No, Kakashi. I'm sorry. She didn't see him." She paused, feeling a moment of grief for such a vibrant young medic. She'd given her life for the good of the Village, long before her time. But there would be time for her own emotion later, right now she had to worry about the shinobi next to her. It was what Rin would have wanted. "-but he's healthy, and despite the ordeal, he's going to be okay. Somebody's going to go contact Lord Nakaue-"

"Can-I-Ca-." He stopped for a moment to draw in a ragged breath. "Can I see her?"

Whatever she'd been expecting him to ask her, that hadn't been it. But when the guilt-ridden, grief-saturated, mismatched eyes that looked at her, she couldn't refuse. He'd been put through enough. She wouldn't deny him his request to say goodbye.

"Just, let me go make sure they've finished." She told him calmly, not wanting to know what he would do if he got upset enough right now.

It was in the silence of being alone when the truth really sunk in. In the course of under two years, a whole team had reduced itself to one person. Obito Uchiha. Arashi-Sensei. Rin Inuzuka. They were all dead. They were all gone forever. He was, for the first time since he'd been assigned to the Fourth Hokage's team, alone. He had outlived everybody he'd ever loved. It was something horrible to realize when you had barely rose above the rank of Jounin right before Obito died.

"Kakashi?" He heard a familiar voice call. He looked up to see a face that he would have thought was beautiful if he hadn't been slowly slipping away. Kurenai. She'd been with Asuma so that Kakashi could get some sleep. They'd been taking turns along with the Third so that Asuma didn't wake up alone.

He tried to stand, to assure her somehow, but he couldn't. He was too physically weak. He didn't understand why. "Kakashi, what happened?" She asked, concerned.

He couldn't hold it together anymore after she was close enough for him to realize that she and Rin wore the same perfume. How that had slipped by him in the past, he had no idea. He couldn't fall the Code of Conduct anymore. Without realizing what he'd done, he wrapped his arms around Kurenai. He pulled her close to him, pressing his face against her stomach. He broke down into tears, worse than he could ever remember breaking down. His throat was raw. His muscles hurt. He eyes burned. His heart broke. He felt sick. Rin was dead.

He had to live the rest of his life without her, when he couldn't even get through the four months they were separated in one piece.

He sobbed into the fabric of her shirt, sucking in a horrible excuse for a breath. "I want her to come home with me." He cried, his voice cracking. "I want her back."

It took three hours before someone had finally located Lord Nakaue--who had apparently left The Village Hidden in the Leaves without notification. During that time, Kurenai had managed to calm Kakashi enough to talk him into letting Rin rest in peace. She had convinced that he really didn't want to see her lifeless and that the image of her like that would haunt him for the rest of his life, just like all the other bodies he'd encountered did. Instead, she led him down the corridors of the hospital, his hand in hers as she led the way, towards the nursery.

Where new life began amidst all the destruction within and outside the walls of Konoha.

It took a few minutes, but Kakashi finally found who he'd been looking for. Nine pounds, seven ounces. Twenty-two inches long. Rin's son. Arashito Kakashi Nakaue.

He remembered how Rin went through baby book after baby book looking for a name that she felt would fit the baby. After she couldn't find a single one she even remotely liked, the two of them talked about naming him after someone. It hadn't been too long after Jiriya-Sensei had left in search of Arashi-Sensei's wife after she'd stopped sending him letters. With their deaths still fresh in their minds, they combined the names of the two people who had helped turn them into the people they were today. Arashi and Obito. Arashito.

He swallowed thickly as he watched Kurenai gingerly lift him from the makeshift bassanet. Adrenaline pumped through him when his eyes fell on the newborn's face. He watched in terror as he stirred gently when Kurenai brough him close to her body, totally unshaken.

"He's beautiful." She said, noting the big Inuzuka eyes and the flawless caramel colored skin.

He nodded mutely. "Like Rin."

El Fin.