Author's Note: I'm excited to keep these updates coming. So far, I am in love with this premise, and having the first arc written and tons more planned out is keeping me focused on moving forward. In the last I found myself getting lost and rambling on about nothing in particular, or daing with writers block over a specific scene.

As of now, that has not happened. And I would like to thank everyone for their support so far. You have been really supportive, both in reviews and in private messages. Some responses to questions I cannot answer directly will be at the end lf the chapter.

Human

Rin's Capture Arc

Chapter 3

Rin

It hurt to walk. It hurt to breathe. Hell, it even hurt to blink the sweat from her eyes.

She had never so much as exercised without chakra before today, and she had pushed herself far beyond any limit she thought she had.

What was more, she was probably going to pass out from blood loss before they got back to Konoha. What had she been thinking, jumping in front of Kakashi's Chidori? She was certifiable.

He was probably so mad at her. He'd risked everything to get her out of there and she'd repaid him by attempting suicide. With his jutsu.

On the bright side, the clarity brought on by the pain of having her arm decimated allowed her to think.

She considered that she may have been under a genjutsu before she'd been hit with the Chidori, but she would never know for certain.

Rin vowed to make it up to Kakashi somehow. What she had attempted wasn't fair to him. Or to herself.

Or Obito.

"Rin," Kakashi rasped from behind her. She stopped moving, back ramrod straight. This was it, he was going to lay into her for being a thoughtless bitch. She turned around in the darkness just in time to see her teammate fall face first to the ground.

"Kakashi!" Rin said, panic stricken

Kakashi was not allowed to faint right now. Rin was in no condition whatsoever to fight.

She rushed to his side and rolled him to his back. He was breathing, but it was faint, and his pulse was not strong. "You can't faint on me Kakashi. I need you. I can't do this without you."

She tried to fight back tears in her panic at being alone in her situation. She took deep breaths and looked around for any signs of hostile action. When nothing happened immediately, Rin focused again on Kakashi.

They had at least a little time.

"Please wake up, Kakashi. I can't exactly fight right now. My chakra is… my chakra is broken." Once she started, she found she could not stop A floodgate of confession had opened. She started babbling as she knelt over her comrade.

"I want to thank you properly for keeping me safe. I thought I was going to die every moment I was held captive. The man in charge of those ninja, he… he… tortured me. Pain I didn't know was possible, Kakashi. And then when you rescued me, I knew in my heart that the only way to keep you safe was to die. But that isn't true. We can fix this. We can go home and… and… and live." Her tears were falling freely now, dripping with soft pat-pat-pats onto his Chunin vest.

"I'm so sorry I jumped in front of your Chidori. I was out of my head. It was stupid and so, so cruel." Rin put her forehead on Kakashi's chest. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know it's my fault you're tired. If I was stronger, I wouldn't have been captured. I'll work harder, okay? Please wake up. Please…"

She cried until she was thirsty and no more tears would fall. She took long, deep breaths, and forced herself to count down from ten.

10…

She needed to secure a location while they rested.

9…

That would require finding somewhere even remotely defensible.

8…

She had to do this without using any chakra.

7…

And with one arm.

6…

Her mission gear was gone, likely back at the Mist hideout.

5…

She could go through Kakashi's things, and put together a plan.

4…

They couldn't risk a fire. Not without genjutsu to hide it.

3…

She was cold, but they could cuddle for warmth if the temperature fell any lower.

2…

She needed to move Kakashi so that he was hidden.

1…

She could do this.

Rin raised her head, breathing steady and even, and deep. She began emptying Kakashi's mission gear and pockets, taking stock of what supplies she had available to her. Kakashi's tanto would be useful for cutting branches. It was infinitely sharper than a kunai. Kakashi also had smoke bombs, ninja wire, and a handful of shuriken. He had a small scroll on him, contained within were key things like a tent, sleeping bag, medicine, and foodstuffs. Unfortunately, Rin could not hope to access those without use of her chakra. And she didn't dare try to use her chakra again, not after her attempt while in captivity.

First thing's first, Rin thought, I need to clean up my arm, make sure it doesn't get infected.

Rin clipped Kakashi's water canteen to her belt, and grabbed Kakashi's tanto.

With Kakashi's tanto in hand, she set off to find a beehive. It took her almost an hour in the dark, but she did eventually spot one. She found some dried twigs on the ground, and piled them up beneath the hive. Then she found some larger branches to use as fuel. She found some supple and young branches from nearby trees, and set those aside as well.

Then she set about starting the kindling she'd collected. She lined them with the larger branches, and set the green leaves and young branches atop them. The resulting smoke would drive the bees out of the hive, and then she would have access to the honey.

While she waited, Rin tore the sleeve off of her bad arm, removed her wrap, and tried to make a sling. It was frustrating with one hand. By the time she had something even remotely serviceable, the bees were swarming around the smoke, and Rin cut open the hive.

There was a lot of honey. Thank god, Rin thought.

She took Kakashi's canteen, and poured the water over her bloodied arm, gently rinsing the dried blood and dirt away. Rin put the tanto between her teeth. Then reached into the hive and scooped out a handful of honey. She grimaced and bit down. This was going to hurt. A lot.

She slathered the wound with honey. It burned like holy hellfire. She screamed into the tanto, biting even harder. When her arm was slathered in honey, Rin forced her arm into the makeshift sling.

Everything was sticky, but the Honey would prevent infection, and give her arm time to stop bleeding. Satisfied with her work, she stomped out the fire. Leaving it any longer was asking to be found.

Rin returned to Kakashi and assessed her situation once more. With her wound temporarily treated, she was safe to move without blood loss or risk of infection. She needed a place to work from.

She moved all of Kakashi's accessible gear to the base of a large, nearby tree, then took Kakashi's right hand in her good one, and dragged him into a nearby cluster of bushes. She grabbed his tanto from the pile at the base of the tree, and hacked off a few low branches that had thick leaves. It was awkward, but after a minute of rearranging the branches, Kakashi was hidden from anyone who did not know he was there.

She then took a lap around the area where Kakashi was. Roughly fifteen minutes in every direction. There were no positions that were any more defensible than where Kakashi already was. And considering there was no way in hell she could move him any major distance it would have to do.

Once she was at Kakashi's side again, she checked him over once more. No external injuries. She hoped he would wake soon. The likelihood she would survive a confrontation with an enemy combatant was non existent.

Rin took up the tanto again and hacked down several more branches, doing her best to create a small shelter for her teammate. Then she started to set a perimeter for defense. Rin tied wire traps with what kunai and shuriken Kakashi had. She sharpened tree branches and set those with wire when she ran out of steel. Next were the smoke bombs, set to go off as a warning and to obscure the other traps.

When she had rigged up as much as she could with one hand, slow going though it had been, Rin wiped her brow and started covering her tracks. Leaving no signs that she had booby trapped the area. It took forever. By the time her handiwork was all but invisible, the sun was rising.

But she knew she could not afford to rest. If she stopped moving she would fall asleep, and Rin was afraid that sleeping would result in both their deaths.

Instead, Rin began laying false trails in varying directions. A half hour walk in one direction, followed by careful backtracking. Rinse and repeat ad nauseam.

By midday, Rin was spent.

She settled for standing guard near Kakashi's location, changing her position every time she felt her consciousness slipping.

Rin maintained her vigil for an hour, before she slipped into unconsciousness.

It was a fitful rest, full of panic, terror, and agonizing memories.

...In her dreams, she did not survive the Chidori...

The sound of a smoke bomb detonating woke her. Rin blinked awake just as her kunai traps were triggered. Through the smoke, she heard a man scream in pain. Another man barked orders, several sounds of affirmative, and then a water jutsu tore through the forest.

A group ninjutsu! Rin realized too late.

Rin was engulfed in the flood, trying desperately to swim with one arm. The current overwhelmed her and she was flung an unknown distance from Kakashi. Rin hit a tree hard, and she lost all sense of direction. She was going to drown.

When the water receded, Rin sputtered and coughed, gasping desperately for breath. She pulled herself to her knees, and choked out water she hadn't even realized she had swallowed.

"Shit," Rin said to nobody in particular. "Fuck. Shit. Fuck."

Everything hurt. Everything. Everywhere.

She tried to stand, but her left leg buckled and pain nearly robbed her of consciousness. There was no way she could fight back like this, she knew, but she had to try. Rin forced herself to her feet, and settled her weight on her right leg. She cast around for Kakashi's tanto, and saw that it was impaled in a tree fifty yards away.

Rin hobbled to it. And desperately tried to pull it loose with her left hand. It took several seconds of frustrated tugging to pull it free. When it came loose, Rin went with it, tumbling to the ground. The impact sent more pain coursing through her injured arm and leg.

Rin cried out in pain, eyes blurring with tears. She blinked to clear them away.

There were footsteps behind her, and then the cold steel of a kunai was resting against her throat. The tanto was pulled from her grip. Rin's stomach dropped, and a dread settled within her.

"The game is over, little girl," A man said. "Though I admit, you and your little friend gave us more trouble than we thought possible. So know that he'll go to his death screaming in pain, and you'll come back for further experimentation."

Rin snarled. "Don't you dare touch him!"

Several men laughed.

"As if you could stop us," Another voice taunted.

"What are you going to do about it, girl? You're crippled and your friend is unconscious." The first man again. A hand fisted in her hair and she was pulled unceremoniously upright into the air, not quite able to touch the ground.

"Ahh!" Rin screamed at the pain.

"You can watch him die if you want," The Mist ninja said.

Counting the man holding her, there were five of them.

Two of the Mist ninja pulled a waterlogged Kakashi forward. Rin tried to claw at the hand holding her up, and received a punch to her stomach that knocked the breath from her lungs for her trouble. She choked and coughed, desperate for air.

More laughing.

"Eyes up, girl," The man said. "Your friend is going to get his fingers cut off one by one. You should watch."

"Screw you," Rin said. She reached for the man's hand again. Her effort was batted away with ease.

The kunai that had been at her throat pierced her flesh, clear through the bicep of her left arm. Rin opened her mouth, but no sound came out, she convulsed in midair, and her head lulled to the side, left arm limp at her side. She wanted to just drift away until there was nothingness. She let herself fade...

A hand cracked across her face, bringing clarity back to her.

"No time to rest," The man said, grabbing her jaw and holding her head up. Blood dripped from her mouth. The last strike had split her lip and cut the inside of her mouth against her teeth.

"Kakashi! Kakashi wake up!" Rin slurred around the blood. Her voice was desperate, raspy, emotional.

Another strike left Rin reeling. Her scalp was numb and her cheeks swollen. Kakashi did not stir. Rin began to struggle against the grip of her captor, desperately trying to save her.

"She's feisty!" The man holding her said to raucous laughter. "Let's put a stop to that."

In a flash, Kakashi's tanto was glinting in the sunlight. He buried it to the hilt in her stomach. Blood ballooned from her mouth, and Rin spasmed. She couldn't breathe. This was how she was going to die, she knew, but she wished Kakashi could live. He deserved better than to be killed because of her weakness.

"Kill the boy. We need to get this brat back to the base before she bleeds to death."

No! Kakashi can't die. Not now. Not like this. Please not like this. Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.

She had never been this scared in her life. Never so wild and blind with panic.

Rin felt something brush her mind, something dark, dangerous, powerful. It could help her, she realized. The power could save Kakashi. She reached for it, and chakra flooded her body. To her carnal delight, it did not hurt. She was alive with power! Kakashi's tanto flew from her flesh, and was flung somewhere into the trees. Rin twisted with a rabid ferocity, her hair tore from her scalp and she pulled away from the Mist ninja who was holding onto her. She clawed out the throat of the man who had tortured her with her bare hand, and felt an overwhelming rush of glee when his blood covered her skin.

He collapsed with a gargle and lay still. She giggled.

Oh yes, she felt good. Better than she'd ever felt. Powerful, unstoppable, mighty.

Rin ripped her arm free of its sling and smiled at the remaining ninja. She flexed her arm experimentally. No pain, only strength, only the ability to kill these people. To protect Kakashi from their filthy hands.

She pounced on another ninja, this one, she vaguely realized, was very badly burned. Her hands clasped upon his shoulders and she drove her knee into his groin before biting his neck and pulling out his jugular. The taste of blood filled her mouth and she reveled in it. There was noise behind her, and she wheeled on her next victim, her feral grin was now sick, twisted, bloody.

Rin felt her sense of self slip from her. She was death incarnate. She was life. She loved this new power. Nothing would ever take it from her! She could protect and kill at her discretion, and nothing could stop her.

"What are you?" The man shouted, his face pale, and voice wavering. He was terrified. Rin laughed. The full laugh of someone without worry or regret or care. The laugh of someone who enjoyed that this man was afraid. Afraid like she had been.

"Die!" Rin yelled in a voice far too deep, and wild and unhinged to be her own. The Mist ninja swung a kunai at her, shaky and desperate. She drew back her right fist and easily batted away his kunai with her left hand. The metal blade shattered beneath her fist. She punched with her left, and drove her hand straight through his heart. Whatever part of Rin that had taken over greatly enjoyed watching the man die. With a newfound casual disinterest, Rin lifted the man and threw the man backwards over her head. His blood cascaded on her hair and shoulders as his lifeless body arced over her, and she fixed her gaze on the last three men, all of them were standing around Kakashi, two holding weapons.

She'd kill them for even being that close to him.

A primal roar escaped her throat and she charged. The closest of the three managed to evade her first two fury driven punches, but the third swing caught him in the face and she watched as his jaw was ripped clean from his face. Without a second glance she spun around and delivered a kick to the next mist ninja. He was lifted off his feet and thrown over the third man. He collided with the trunk of a tree, and light left his eyes when his head snapped back violently upon impact.

"Stop," the last man said feebly.

"No! I have to kill you all. I have to protect my friend." Rin growled.

"Please," he asked her.

Blinded by her rage, Rin jumped toward him and drove her fist into his stomach. It would have been a killing blow like all the others, but the last man had twisted at the last second. Instead of killing him, she enjoyed the crunch of his cracking ribs. He grasped her wrist with his right hand as he twisted, and they both fell to the ground. He tried to untangle himself from her, but she was faster, stronger.

Rin was on her feet first. She grabbed her final enemy by the collar and dragged him upright. With an ease she hardly thought possible even minutes before, Rin carried him to the nearest tree.

He tried to break her grip, but couldn't. How pathetic.

She roughly shoved him against the trunk, and his head slammed against the tree with a satisfying thunk. He grunted in pain and she released him. He slumped down, knees buckling. Rin lifted him back to his feet, and pinned him against the tree with one hand. She punched him, once, twice, three times, but he didn't die.

"Rin," the man wheezed. "Please stop. Please come back." His voice was so quiet. So broken. So weak.

She headbutted the man, and blood fell from his brow to his eyes. She raked her hand across his face and he convulsed violently. His mask fell from his bloodied face, torn by her fingers.

"I'm here," he whispered. "I'll always be right beside you."

Why did he know her name? Why wasn't he running, or fighting back?

She couldn't see him clearly. Everything was a haze of violence, and glee, and arousal. She blinked. Was his hair silver?

The bloodlust left her eyes and she saw that she was holding Kakashi against the tree. Kakashi, not a faceless Mist ninja. Kakashi, who was hovering on the edge of life and death. She recoiled, and he fell gracelessly to the ground.

"K-Kakashi?" Rin asked after a very long moment. She was shaking. She fell to her knees. She crawled to him, she shook his shoulder. Nothing, no response. She checked his pulse, he was too still. He wasn't breathing, she realized. He wasn't breathing!

Author's Note: Pretty intense, no? If you liked it, show some love with a follow or a favorite! Today's question, in addition anything else you want to include in your review: How did you like Rin's first brush with the Sanbi?

I wanted Rin to be wild with fear when she tapped the chakra, so I went with a cornered animal's desperate final attempt to fight back as my theme.

To answer some questions:

Are you shipping RinxKakashi?

I won't answer that directly. Just know that in fantasy fiction, there is usually at least some kind of romantic or sexual subplot.

Will this story be a long one?

Yes. I just have to, you know, keep updating it.

Not a specific question, but there was lots of talk of the Sanbi coming up in later chapters, and we will see a lot more of that.

Also, if you don't review anonymously, I can answer the questions via PM.