Rin spent the next few days trying to better her seals, and even in between helping to teach Sakura and the seals, even Kakashi realized how tired she was.
"You know, you really should go out and relax," Kakashi commented to her lazily one day.
"Huh?" Rin wasn't really concentrating on what he was saying apparently.
"I said, you should go out, and relax," he said again, and when she didn't answer, he took the book away from her and practically demanded that she go for a walk and to not come back until well after midnight.
"Geez, what kind of a brother are you? Telling me not to come back till well after midnight?" Rin told him.
"The kind that wants to see you get some rest away from this," he said, pointing to the book of seals. Rin knew that Kakashi could be pretty stubborn at times and this was probably one of those times.
"Ok, fine," Rin admitted defeat, took her coat and left. 'Geez, he's hardly been like this! Besides, didn't he train and work just as hard during his training days?!' It was hard to admit, but she was a little miffed at the way Kakashi practically threw her out of the house. It was a time when the seasons were just starting to change, and there was a familiar smell in the air that Rin couldn't ignore. There was only one place she would go at this time of year.
It was the edge of a forest, or kind of. It was actually a small clearing that overlooked the whole village. It was said that a great earthquake many years ago had caused this forest to split up from its other half at the bottom of the cliff. Sitting with her legs dangling over the edge, she leaned against the nearest tree and let her mind wonder freely.
'So I guess the conclusion is that I'm going to stay,' Rin thought about what had happened since she had returned. 'I wonder what will the Hokage do when I tell him my decision. Then again, I don't think he'll give me my old job back, will he?' It was at times like this when she really wished for advice from someone who knew her background, maybe her real parents, an aunt, uncle, cousin, anybody, that understood what it was like to have this kind of a bloodline.
'I just wished that I could have controlled it better, why didn't anyone tell me that I was so dangerous?' A small voice in her head told her that maybe even they hadn't known about it? But it had seemed like such a lame excuse. With such a bloodline, it was entirely possible for her to kill, almost too easily. 'I wonder what it was that had made me snap in the first place? If it had only manifested during the time of the Jounin exam, then what was so special about it? Was there someone that was there that I hadn't noticed? What was it that drew me back from that state anyway?'
"It's been a long time, Rin," a familiar voice jolted her awake. It was embarrassing, as a Jounin, she hadn't even realized that someone was coming up behind her. But she didn't turn around, she didn't need to since she already knew whom it was.
"It has, hasn't it?" Rin replied and felt the owner of the voice come closer to her. "I thought you would be on duty at this time of night."
"Things change," he told her. "I just want to know what has changed in the last 2 years."
"The difference is that I've finally found out about my heritage, and honestly, I don't like it." Rin admitted, the first in a long time.
"What did you find?" he sat down next to her, and stared off in a distance.
"Almost too much, Ibiki," Rin said, and proceeded to tell him, though with a lot of difficulty, about what she had found out about her parents, and what kind of a heritage that she had. He didn't say a word throughout her tale, and waited for her to finish. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke up.
"I hated you," he said, and Rin wanted to die there and then. Knowing that he hated her was already bad enough, but hearing it from him was the most painful thing that she would ever have to endure. "I'm sorry Rin, but I really did. I couldn't understand it myself, but when you did that for me, it felt like you had taken away my right to choose, to live or to die. I didn't even know if I was supposed to be dead or alive anymore."
"If I had known that was how you felt, I would never have done it. I never even realized what I'd done until the doctor woke me to say you've recovered and asked me what I was doing with the kunai," Rin told him honestly, just like she had done 2 years ago. This conversation was so much like déjà vu that all the memories of what happened before she left had started to resurface.