A/N: This will probably be a little longer, but it's definitely worth it. Enjoy!


Chapter 28: In the Garden


"Shien, would you accompany me in the gardens?" Sasuke asked one morning.

She rose one eyebrow at him, but otherwise nodded. "Of course."

It was after breakfast, and he was due for his lessons soon. She was a bit confused as to why he would ask her now, but nevertheless, she found herself following him into the back gardens, the lush grass and cool breeze pleasant against her skin.

"It's been years since I last stepped foot in these gardens," she recalled grimly. "They haven't changed a single bit since we were children."

Sasuke found a small marble bench and the two of them sat down, facing the pretty stone fountain depicting Madara Uchiha in his armor.

She remembered at once how uncomfortable the statue always made her. But now, there was a kind of long-lost sadness to it. It was like staring into his chiseled face brought her back to the past.

The prince caught her attention when he reached down and gently plucked a daisy from the grass. He handed it to her and she accepted it with a smile, gently tucking it in with her hair ornament.

"So why have you brought me here?" She asked. "Not that I'm upset with you. This place is beautiful."

"It is," he agreed. His lips turned into a faint smile as he regarded the flora. "My mother personally had a hand in decorating this place. It's easily my favorite place in the entire castle grounds."

"I'll say." She chuckled quietly. "I'm sure you've had many fond memories here."

"Very much." His eyes shimmered in the sun as he turned to look at her. "Naruto has been a... a good companion. An idiot, but an endearing one."

"Even just having met him about a couple of weeks ago, I can soundly agree. He's very energetic, isn't he?"

"Despite the circumstances, yes." He nodded, then reclined against the back of the bench. He hesitated, as if he were going to say something, but then he stopped.

She knew. It was what she'd thought the very first time she'd ever met Naruto, something that had stuck with her even through the pain the years had brought. "His soul is as bright and warm as the sun. To be honest, I envy you for having such a loyal friend."

He frowned, onyx irises darting to the soft grass.

"That's what Karin always used to say, wasn't it?" She asked lightly.

His head whirled around to stare at her, surprised. "You knew her?"

"Our paths have crossed once or twice," she hummed. Not entirely untrue. "The first time I met her, she just couldn't keep from talking about how amazing her little cousin was. She really adored him."

Sasuke huffed a sardonic laugh, muttering, "That would have been a comforting thing to hear when she betrayed us, now wouldn't it?"

Shien's eyebrows dipped low in a frown at him, gently placing a hand on his shoulder until he looked up again.

"Believe me, your highness, sometimes there are things that you just aren't meant to know." She said seriously. "From what I know of her, betraying you like she did utterly killed her inside."

"Unlike Naruto, I'm not quite as forgiving," he retorted, shifting in his seat so that her hand was brushed off his shirt. "But I must admit, while I think her actions are reprehensible, I do respect her dedication to her task at hand. That doesn't excuse how badly she hurt him."

She said nothing in reply, allowing him to stare sulkily at the fountain. Madara's stony eyes gazed at nothing, but at the same time seemed to stare right into your soul without even trying. There was a reason she'd always avoided the statue as a child, and it was because the man the statue was sculpted from gave her the creeps. Even now, ten years later, she still felt the shiver go up her back every time she happened to catch his unseeing eyes.

At Sasuke's sudden sharp intake of breath, she turned to face him, a sympathetic look on her face.

She gently lay her hand on his, making him look up at her with suspiciously-shiny eyes.

"I can see that you have a truly compassionate heart, Prince," she murmured. Her own heart clenched at his cracking composure, but she had to chant to herself, "Sasuke is the enemy now. You can't grow attached to him."

Unfortunately, the moment he grasped her fingers in his, eyes darting away shyly, she thought to herself, "Well, too late."

"I assume Naruto has told you about..." he struggled with his words for a few moments, "about- ah- well, about our friend."

"The girl?" She asked, absently brushing her thumb across his knuckles.

He nodded slowly. "Yes. Haruno Sakura was her name. She was very dear to both of us. It's... still difficult to fathom that she's gone."

"I''m terribly sorry for your loss," she sighed. "Just from the way you talk about her, I can tell you must have thought highly of her."

"Yes, of- of course." He seemed kind of startled for a moment before he shook it off, trying to keep his cool facade. "I... I did care about her quite a bit."

"It's kind of funny," he continued, before she could open her mouth again, "that you never really know the value of something - or someone - before you lose them."

"Don't I know that all too well," she muttered in agreement. She leaned in, eyes wide with curiosity. "What was it like, when she was still among us?"

"She was happy," he recalled, a faraway look in his eye. His lips were downturned, a bit saddened, as he spoke. "Lovely. She and Naruto were like peas in a pod, like they were two people with the same soul. But she was like our lighthouse amidst a stormy sea. She was the one who had to rein us in if we got into a fistfight..."

He paused, and then chuckled. "Honestly, I don't know how we could have gotten through childhood without her."

"That sounds... wonderful," she breathed. Her chest was tight with emotion from his confessions.

"It was, it really, really was." He nodded slowly, as if in a trance. He frowned and bit his lower lip softly, thinking, for a few seconds, before he spoke again. "I- I haven't admitted this to anyone but my family, but... but I truly did love her."

To an onlooker, Shien prayed her hitched intake of breath couldn't be noticed. She swallowed past a growing pressure in her throat and stammered, "Y- you did?"

"... Yes." He frowned, slightly confused, before finally nodding his head firmly. "She was one of the lights of my life. I've never loved a girl as much as her before."

After a few moments, he turned to her, a guilty look on his face as he leaned in and said quietly, "To be honest, even when I was betrothed to Hyuuga-san, I just... didn't feel anything. I felt a sense of duty to protect her, but that was only because she just so happened to be a family friend. And... well, she loved Naruto."

"It would have felt wrong, had you mistreated her," she surmised.

"It would feel wrong if I mistreated any woman," he replied, slightly offended at the statement. "Mother taught me- well, she taught Itachi and I - never to harm a woman in any event, unless she meant to murder."

"Really?" She rose her eyebrows in surprise. "Not even if it meant the difference between life and death? Even if her end goal was not to kill you?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it a second later, frowning.

Finally, he sighed. "I... I really cannot say. I can't deny that I've been wrestling with that question myself for a long, long time."

She nodded in sympathy. "Yeah... having everything you've been taught, everything you've ever believed, being called into question suddenly isn't the most pleasant thing to experience."

"You speak as if you've gone through this before," he pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, the world is changing so rapidly, is it not?" She asked lightly, cursing herself for coming off too wise. "Honestly, there are many things that I wish I never had to face."

"Ah yes, such as your adoption, correct?" He asked.

"Yes, that's... one," she nodded in agreement. "But now is not my time to divulge those things."

He frowned, looking down with a nod.

Choosing to change the subject, she asked, "What of you? What would you do if you had the chance to see her again?"

He seemed a bit taken aback at the question, not expecting it. It physically made him cringe back, but a couple of moments of thought later, he admitted, "I... I would do anything to see her again. Alive. Happy."

"Come to think of it..." He continued, centering his gaze on her face, "... she would have looked just like you."

"Oh?" She giggled, trying to lighten her own mood. "Are you calling me beautiful, my prince?"

That seemed to do the trick. His eyes widened when he pulled away, his face turning cherry red. He looked away, seemingly embarrassed, silent.

"I was just teasing you, Sasuke," she said with a smile. "It's wonderful to have someone you loved so completely."

"Love."

"... Pardon?" She asked, not quite expecting the sudden reply.

"I... I still love her," he admitted in almost a whisper as he slowly turned to look into her face, an unreadable emotion in his eyes, one that unsettled something deep in her heart. "Truly, you don't quite know the depths I would go to just to have her again."

Their faces were close; maybe too close. She felt the urge to move away in the back of her mind, but as her eyes flickered down to his parted lips, she whispered, "... Even if it meant forsaking your very soul?"

His eyes were fluttering closed as they both leaned in further, his breath tickling her face. "I assure you, Sakura... I would do anything."

Then, startled, he leaned away, a gasp caught in his throat as he began to cough.

She'd hardly caught the slip-up, more concerned with the way he was hacking on air. "Sasuke, are you all right?"

It took him a couple of minutes to finally catch his breath again, and when he did, he turned his head to gaze at her, his eyes teary, both from the coughing fit and from his visible anguish at his mistake.

"I- I'm sorry, I-" He stammered, getting up from the bench. "I don't- I don't know what got into me, Hayashi-san, I-"

"No, no, it's okay, I understand," she quickly placated, getting to her feet as well. She swallowed harshly around the larger lump in her throat. "I'm... a bit unnerved by people calling me a d-" she paused, giving a slight cough, "-another girl's name, but... I do admit, I see the resemblance as well."


Night had fallen in the forest, and Kakashi found himself restless in the meager light of the moon.

He sighed quietly behind his mask, making another round along the edges of the camp. He'd been unable to get a good night's sleep lately, and he couldn't explain exactly why. Perhaps it was because they were so close to the prince's nineteenth birthday? Or perhaps because the king had been adamant that they were to capture and interrogate any rebels they came across.

He stretched his arms a bit, frowning at the pull on his muscles. He'd been training himself even harder lately, perhaps because of his own insecurities.

As he walked around the rather thick trunk of a tree, he almost froze in surprise when he saw someone sneaking around the edge of the treeline, clad in a dark, what looked to be black, cloak.

He silently swore to himself, reaching for the knife holstered on his hip. How had he missed a rebel? He'd only been out of this area for about three minutes... how could someone have escaped his eye?

He crept closer, noticing the person glancing around, tense.

He waited a few moments until the figure's shoulders relaxed before he flung the knife. It barely missed them, as they noticed and ducked away just in time, but it happened to pin the shoulder of their cloak to the trunk of the tree.

"Freeze, rebel scum!" Kakashi demanded, leaping over to them. "You have a right to silence, unless otherwise instructed to speak. Now I demand you show me your face."

The person hesitated for a moment, but when he reached for another knife, the figure sighed and slowly pulled the hood away from their face.

Kakashi stopped still when he saw dark purple patches on a tanned face, painfully familiar dark brown eyes gazing defiantly into his.

He nearly stopped breathing for a few seconds before stammering in stunned wonder, "R- Rin?"

"Kakashi," she breathed, eyes going wide in recognition of her old friend. She grabbed the knife and yanked it free of the trunk before dropping it to the ground and nearly jumping up, engulfing him into a crushing hug.

After a few seconds, she pulled away, and he was asking in disbelief, "What are you doing here? I- I thought you died!"

"That... that was, um, part of the plan." Her smile dropped and she looked to the ground in what looked like shame. "I'm sorry, Kakashi, but I- I just couldn't."

"I... I understand," his choked voice made her look up. He had tears in his visible eye as he hugged her again, mumbling into her shoulder, "I- I thought I killed you."

"You surprised me," she gently corrected, rubbing his back soothingly. "While I can't tell you all of what I've been doing all this time, I can ask you to join me."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, pulling away to look her in the face.

She wiped his tears away and smiled grimly up at him. "Run away with me, Kakashi. I need all the help I can get. It's... the least I could do for Obito's memory."

"It is something he would have wanted," he surmised quietly before lightly sighing. "But you know I can't do that, Rin."

"And why not?" She asked desperately, grabbing at his gloved hands. "Kakashi, I can't fight you!"

"I can't fight you either, but we don't have to be on opposing sides!" He insisted. "Come back to Konoha, please. I'll- I'll keep you safe, I'll make sure you're taken care of!"

Her expression was solemn as she shook her head. "Kakashi... not even you would be able to save me from the king's wrath, and you know it. You know what they do to rebels they capture."

"I..." his words faltered. She was right, even if he didn't want to admit it. If the king got word of a rebel in the city, he would stop at nothing to capture them, even Rin.

"Going in circles isn't going to help anyone, I'm afraid." She sighed heavily, before pulling away. "Look, I'll give you a deal. Help me, and I'll help you."

"What's the price?" He asked.

"I need you to..." she bit her bottom lip for a moment. "... do some spy work for me. Any information you have."

"I'll do anything I can to help," he immediately agreed. "But in return, I want you to keep your camp away from here. You'll need to move west tomorrow morning; the king has been wanting us to go back to Konoha, and we head back tomorrow."


A/N: I've been dying to bring Kakashi and Rin together again!

I hope you enjoyed! Tell me what you thought, and I'll see y'all next week.