A/N: Short, but enjoy some more fluff and angst for Kakashi and Rin.


Late in the evening, Rin met with Kakashi again under the trees.

"Please deliver this to Shien," she said when she got to him. "It's from Arata."

"Oh, fanmail already?" His visible eye crinkled at the corners with mirth as he pocketed it in his vest. "How has he been doing?"

"He is the cutest little boy," she gushed, a happy glow coming over her face as she clasped her hands together. "He's a bit tinier than he should be, but- oh, you should just talk with him. He reminds me of Obito when he was young. So precocious and kind!"

Then her face grew sad. "I wish I could do more for him. I hate that his family has to go through this money hardship."

Kakashi's gaze lowered. "Yeah, me too," he admitted with a sigh. "I still have no idea how I never even noticed the resemblance before."

"How can you see something you were never looking for in the first place?" She questioned with a wry smile. "For all you knew, I was dead and there was no child."

Still his countenance remained stormy. When Rin laced her fingers in with his, he looked at her, his face softening.

"I'll check up on him whenever I can find the time to," he promised, squeezing her hand gently.

"I owe you even just for that," she replied softly.

"You don't owe me anything," Kakashi refuted. "My promise to Obito applies to Arata. When I promised him I would look after you, that extends to his son too." Trying to lighten the mood, he jested, "Honestly, he'd probably haunt me from beyond the grave if I didn't even bother. Annoying even in death."

"That sounds like him," she giggled weakly. But her mirth faded, and soon she was standing closer to him, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I hope she can save him from his darkness," she admitted. "There's no telling how tight a grip it has on the royal family. If you could save even one…"

"She and Naruto are our only hope for him now," Kakashi quietly agreed with a defeated air. "Though I've known her for a short time, I've found her a delight to speak with."

Something about the young woman reminded him of a child with long, straggly mauve hair and a sickly frame, and his heart clenched when he recalled Sakura's teal eyes looking up at him with awe and respect. Even then, her family had always been rather poor, hadn't they? And he never noticed, not even then.

He straightened up his posture, taking Rin's hand once more and looking her in the eye.

Her eyes were rimmed with darkness, bags underneath, and her brow was more wrinkled than it had been when he'd last seen her as a teenager. Her hair, once so long and soft, had been cut short to her chin, and the facepaint she'd always put on was absent. Had he not been so familiar with her then, it's likely he never would have recognized her now.

"I should drop off some rations for the boy," he thought to himself as she gave him a gentle smile. "It's the least I can do in your memory, old friend."


A/N: Please tell me what you thought.