A/N: Please, don't forget to review, especially after reading this part. Enjoy!


The funeral was short but decent given the circumstances; the happenings at Kannabi Bridge became matters of legend in the weeks after the return of Team Minato, but sadly, there had been no body to bury and the whole existence of Obito Uchiha was marked as an engraving on a stone.

There was a shift in Konoha as if his death had marked a before and after in its history... or at least, that's how it felt for Gillie. Her classmates had grown distant as the war was coming to an end and they grew busier with missions, Jiraiya sensei was no where to be found to the point that some older ninjas worried about his wellbeing, and at home... Things were delicate at home, to say the least.

Gillie found herself, when she was not out in a mission, regularly visiting the Memorial Rock to change Obito's flowers and, to her own surprise, grew unable from keeping from doing so. The death had never been among her favorite topics. She hadn't visited her own Mother's grave since she was buried, for example. Yet, here she was piously coming back with a fresh batch of unasked for flowers.

One would have thought these sort of actions and the death of a friend would have loosened up the tension between the Nohara sisters, but the truth was far from it. Gillie's gesture did not go unperceived by Rin, who somehow found it insulting. In return, Gillie found Rin's attitude to be extremely selfish, for although she could agree Obito and her weren't the best of friends, he was still someone she had spent many hours and missions with.

Her shifts at the hospital helped Rin greatly to confront the traumatic experience of Obito's passing, some days Gillie found her in her common state, sweet and even accommodating, or laying her head over Gillie's lap with a single tear rolling down the side of her face. Other times, she turned into an insufferable, self-loathing crying mess for "shinobi should not show their emotions", and somehow Gillie always ended being the receiving end of that wrath.

It was in one of those days, a rainy one in fact, a couple months after the funeral that the sisters found themselves on what would be their biggest and last showdown: Gillie found her path blocked on the way to drop fresh flowers to the Memorial stone before leaving for a mission.

"What are you doing?" Gillie asked at the red face of her sister. Rin ripped the flowers of her hands and tossed them to the ground looking furious. "What is wrong with you?! Those were for Obito!" At the sound of his name, Rin broke down into tears becoming an alarm for Mama who appeared running into the scene.

"What is going on with you two?!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around Rin and allowing the crying girl to bury her face on her chest, while sending Gillie a stern glare.

"I did nothing! I was on my way to-!"

"Stop acting like you care! You never even liked him! You were always calling him names and making fun of his eye drops and now that he is gone you act like you care just for attention!"

"Whose attention would I want, you psycho?!" Gillie grew tense and turned her back at her. "You're making no sense, Rin Nohara!"

"You didn't like to spend time with him, you have no right to act now like he was your friend because you didn't even know him-"

"I knew him enough to know the little stick in the mud-" she snapped around with an accusing finger in the air "was blindingly in love with you and you, hypocrite, knew it well but loved to act the innocent game, only so you didn't have to take responsibility on rejecting him and keep on playing the lovestuck part with Kakashi-!"

"That's not true!"

"I would've loved to spend more time with him if only you weren't around to make him a lifeless puppy after you, always hanging on the tread that you might, for once, look at him-!"

"Shut up..."

"And perhaps I would have been able to spend some time with him and gotten to know him more these past few months if you hadn't been playing your wicked game on cutting me out every single time everyone got together. You took my time with him away from me, Rin! You did!"

"Shut-shut up!"

"And now I have to go to that blasted rock everyday, feeling like I've lost the one opportunity to ever become his friend and all I can do is leave these damned flowers on this fake, empty grave!"

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!"

Rin fell into a series of uncontrollable sobs that sent her down on her knees, still supported by Mama, who snapped her head up at Gillie.

"That is a very harsh weight to put on your sister's shoulders, Gillie Nohara." Mama said seriously eyes tearing up, watching at Rin breaking down like never before.

Gillie's heart tugged watching her adoptive mother, who had never, not once, seen her as she was doing then. Like one would see a person they don't recognize, like one would see someone who is... bad. Her face contorted in pain listening to her before running out the house, slamming the door screen on her way out, not knowing that her mission would take longer than she had thought and when she returned her sister would be long gone.


During the entire road towards her, Gillie kept on repeating herself "Please, don't be late. Please, don't be late." It was a mantra so deeply ingrained in her mind that even after she arrived and found the consequences left behind after the enemy attack her head kept on playing it, tricking her, as she ran towards the fallen body of her sister. As if there was still a way in which she could not be late. Her whole body was beating like her heart, she could feel even the blood in the veins of her toes as it traveled at lightening speed, while her steps became slower the closer she got towards Kakashi and Rin.

She hadn't been there when she left towards her own mission. She hadn't been there when she got kidnapped. She hadn't been there the days she was missing. She hadn't been there at the time of her demise...

Kakashi looked up over her shoulder, looking even more shocked at the sight of Gillie. Gillie could sense the terrified gaze on her but couldn't care less about it. She only had eyes for Rin. Her whole body was trembling with shock, almost as if having a seizure. From Kakashi's perspective, it was painful to even watch. A ripping howl came out of her throat.

"Gills..." She heard Genma's voice behind her and felt Guy's hand on her arm before she pulled away.

She howled again before falling to her knees and crawling her way towards the fallen kunoichi. Her hands shook as they reached towards her sister's face and pushed Kakashi away from her body, as if his touch was scorching to her unconscious sister.

She was just unconscious, she was just gravely injured, she wasn't-

Her eyes fell on the wide hole that completely cut across her chest, where her heart should have been. There was nothing there now.

Her heart. They had taken her heart.

Her head snapped towards Kakashi.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" She hollered, before the shocked boy crawled away and was supported up by Guy and Genma. Her eyes then returned to Rin, her last words to her thundering in her ears. Gillie shook her head, grabbing Rin's cold face in between her hands.

"No... No, Rin... Onee-san , wake up..."Gillie whispered, wiping the blood coming out her mouth. "Onee-san, stop it, wake up! Onee-chan... RIN!" Her scream morphed into a blood-curling scream that froze everyone's still beating hearts.


He had heard Gillie saying in the past that for every cloud there was a silver lining. Guy couldn't agree more on it, although these days he reserved those comments to himself out of courtesy. But indeed, with the end of the war and after the many losses they suffered there seemed to be a positive shift in Konoha's atmosphere; weddings everywhere you looked as soldiers returned from the war, a baby-boom that had affected his almost every sensei, there was also a new Hokage. It was like the rainbow after the rain, although this rain had rampaged through Konoha more like a hurricane, leaving Guy feeling lonely.

Not that he would ever admit it aloud.

Genma's popularity as a shinobi was finally making his father proud (if only the same could be said about his lady skills) having been assigned as the personal guard of he Fourth ge along with Raido and Iwashi, but at the expense that the teenager now had little to no time for his ex-team, also elevating his ego to the point that Guy now found him more stoic and at times insufferable, always smirking and picking his teeth with that senbon of his. Choza sensei was taking a break as his wife was currently expecting and she tended to need lots of attention, especially because of her midnight cravings, which were draining Choza sensei's energy even during the day.

Then, there was Gillie and Kakashi...

Rin's death following Obito's in such a short time affected all of their classmates in one way or another, but none were affected as much as Kakashi and Gillie. That was something expected, of course, but still disheartening to see. The first was nowhere to be found those days, and from what he heard from the Fourth Hokage, joined the ANBU. Guy couldn't understand how it would benefit his friend in any way though.

As for Gillie, she couldn't stop going on missions even during her grieving, none of them could, but at least the Hokage was being kind enough to send her only in C missions for the moment. Easy missions, that somehow she still seemed able to butcher, even with Guy meddling. He wouldn't allow her to go on a mission in her state without him, even if these missions in pairs these days felt to him as if he was alone. Sometimes it felt like Gillie had died and not Rin, when they went out in missions. Guy had cared for Rin, very much. He had grown to love her like a sister but she was gone and someone had to pick up the pieces her absence had left. He needed to be strong for Gillie. Which is why even out of their missions he had kept an eye on her for a while only to discover something very concerning and worth reporting.

Guy marched into the Hokage Tower glad to find both the Third and Fourth when he was allowed into their office.

"Good afternoon, Guy." Minato sensei- that is, the Fourth Hokage smiled at him. "I heard you created a bit of a ruckus out there to be let through. What is it you need?"

"Third Hokage-sama. Fourth Hokage-sama." Guy bowed deeply at each of the man, before straightening back up. "There is something of extreme urgency I ought to report."

The Fourth Hokage irked a brow.

"Speak, please."

"It is..."Guy's voice faltered for a moment. "Hokage-sama, you do recall the recent death of the Nohara girl, Rin."

"Of course, I do. She is... was one of my students."

"Why, this has got something to do with her sister."

"What is wrong with Gillie?" Minato sounded sincerely concerned.

"I'm afraid..." Guy's fists tightened to his sides. "I've been following her for a while, out of duty, and for that I apologize, but there is nothing to regret about in my conscience, for that has only led me to discover that- I'm afraid that... something very disturbing has been going on with Gillie lately." Guy's eyes traveled towards the Third Hokage. "Perhaps, you might have figured it out already... but it has got something to do with Orochimaru."


Gillie opened her eyes to stare at a white ceiling through a blurred veil covering her eyes.

"I got her." She heard a female voice sighing. "She'll make it."

"Thanks, Tsunade."

"Don't mention it. I'm leaving for now and expect not to bothered for the next 24 hours-"

"Where are you leaving towards?"

"I'm not leaving the village, you fool... at least, not yet. Not until I make sure this girl is alright. That sick bastard- We should have suspected it. He always played for the long-term..."

"Can she hear us?"

"Probably. Probably not. In any case, I'm going out to inform her parents. They are a miserable pair if I've ever seen one..."

Gillie blinked once and twice as a shadow filled her vision and repeated it until her eyes focused. Only once she had felt as she was feeling now, but this was like a thousand times worse. She felt weak. Drained. Barely alive.

How was she alive?

"Rise and shine, Gillie!" She identified the thunderous voice of her master, Jiraiya, which ached her eardrums. She might have winced, because the man proceeded with more caution the next time he spoke. "Someone has been making new friends with the wrong types of people." He sang behind a wide smile.

"Why am I here?" Her voice came out barely a whisper. She recognized a place she had been at only many times in the past after missions: the hospital.

"You don't remember?"

She didn't have the strength to even shake her head, Jiraiya pursed his lips.

"You were in lockdown. Underground. An entire week."

Gillie frowned. Why, even frowning hurt.

"Why?"

"You seriously don't remember?"

Gillie closed her eyes and searched inside her mind. Memories flashed back like thrown kunais, one by one, into her head. She saw a game board and hot tea, she saw a laboratory and paper sheets, a pale face, an extended hand and...

"Orochimaru. He promised..." She opened her wide eyes heavy with unresolved emotion, "He could bring her back... If in exchange..."

"Mmm-hmm." Jiraiya nodded, crossing his arms. "That sounds like something he would promise on... I'm sorry I wasn't around to prevent it... Let us be glad you have a good friend in Might Guy who noticed your absence right away."

Gillie squeezed her eyes shut.

"Why did he do it?" Heavy tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Because Orochimaru is a power-hungry monster, that is. You should have known better, I thought I'd taught you better to even consider-"

"No... I meant," She interrupted and took a deep breath. "Guy." Jiraiya stared at her, blankly. "Why did he meddle?"

"Gillie..." She heard the man's voice wavering and pausing. "Are you even listening to your-?"

"He could have taken anything he wanted, Master," Gillie's face twitched, mouth turning upside down, "as long as he fulfilled his promise." She sobbed and her face squeezed painfully. "Just once, even for a second, I-I need to-"

"No." He stopped her right away. "I won't let him take anything else. Not as long as I breathe, kid. You hear me?"

She wanted to scream and tell him to get lost, she wanted to kick the air in a fit, to punch him, jump out of the bed and leave that place in search after the other man, the "power-hungry monster". Master Jiraiya did not understand, he would never understand...

"I feel so drained..." She whispered instead, unable to do any of those things.

"And we shall talk about that... but for now, you need to rest. Yes?"

Gillie didn't open her eyes again, she simply slept.


Tsunade stared at her teammate's pupil through narrowed eyes interested in her nature and wondering her true origins while the girl stared at her reflection in the mirror. But one could never know with these nomads. She had heard about powerful kekkei genkai of ice and smoke, but never met someone with a natural extension jutsu ingrained in their bodies, more specifically their hair, with undefined limits but with the catch that once lost it made the shinobi lose their vitality. It was so peculiar that Tsunade had no doubt that if this kid were to put her affairs in order (to say it in a decent, decorous way) and did something good out of her life, she could become someone of legend. Her canvas was already legend material.

She had read her file and her mother's, but nothing in it gave her a clue on how to proceed to help the strange young one. It was as if the mother had never declared to posses the blood trait and given explanations on it. Then, there was also her blood lineage and the fact that she seemed to be a Yubo-nin by the look of the faded marks on her cheeks.

So, the rustic way it would have to be...

"You cannot carry out shinobi duties anymore." She informed the girl, standing next to Jiraiya, the girl's adoptive mother and the Third (now retired) Hokage. "At least, not until it grows back."

Orochimaru had long since abandoned the village, marked as a traitor to the Leaf, but he hadn't left without cutting off most of the girl's hair to study it in his twisted experiments to gain power, leaving the poor girl in the verge of death by doing so. She hadn't been the only one they had found down in the labs. There was also that other girl, Anko, and the dead bodies of others...

"As you might already figured out, the idea of Orochimaru ever discovering the secrets behind your... er... kekkei genkai, to put it some way... is nothing but dreadful to the Leaf. If there is even an ounce of loyalty towards the village your sister died to protect, you will take measures in the future to avoid anyone ever doing something like this again." Tsunade knew she was being harsh, but it was time for Gillie Nohara to grow the hell up. Everyone had lost someone close and dear to the war in the name of the village.

"Ma'am." The Third Hokage motioned the mother, an iryo-nin Tsunade had worked with in the past who was currently not in the correct head space (Could she be blamed? From what Tsunade had heard, the woman had just lost another kid, and then, this...) to follow him out of the room and before the door closed, Jiraiya also excused himself out of the room, leaving Tsunade and her patient alone.

"You might be able to walk, but I do not recommend you doing so for long. You also need to eat, not only ramen from that place you take Jiraiya to." Tsunade sighed. "I know you read, that's probably a nice hobbie to have in a situation like this. But as I've said, you cannot strain yourself, otherwise you might fall back into a coma and I'm not coming back to bring you back, you hear me?"

"You are... leaving?" The girl asked her.

"I had already left." Tsunade spat. "I came back only because the old buffoon sent notice, but it's not happening again, you hear me?"

"Why are you leaving?"

"That is none of your business. Just be grateful I saved your life."

"Thank you." The girl said simply and Tsunade nodded once before sighing deeply and scratching her head.

"Look, I cannot entirely blame you... I think anyone at the position you were put on by Orochimaru would have done the same-"

"What would you have done to see someone dear to you again?"

Tsunade stared at the girl for a moment, flashes of her own little brother and lover appearing in the back of her mind. Tsunade turned around and left the room, the hospital and the village for good.


Gillie arrived at home after her morning routine of visiting the Memorial stone, now to leave two bouquets of flowers instead of one. There was also the cementary to visit, but somehow Gillie always found herself going to the place with the engraved stone instead. The idea of walking over her mother's, sister's and others' decaying corpses...

When she opened the door Rin came running as was usual, welcoming in her Gillie-chan, before disappearing into a fragment of her imagination. The house was dark and empty.

"Mama?" She called while taking off her shoes, but no one answered. She was probably out searching for a new job, as she currently couldn't function properly at the hospital and Papa had long since left the house.

It was the second time in her short lifetime Gillie had been abandoned by a father, however it didn't hurt any less. She ignored even the name of the first one, only knowing about him what she had heard her Mother saying once to the Hokage, that he had been a gambler who left, a nobody. Nohara-san, in comparison, she could understand. It had happened some time right after Rin's death. In fact, that had been the cause; the loss of a child, Gillie was learning, affected couples at great extents. At least, Mama was still around... At least, she still had that.

Gillie walked slowly towards her bedroom, decided to lay down as her chakra reserves were almost reaching the minimum she could allow herself to reach if she wanted to keep on living. And she had to. For Rin.

Entering her bedroom, her chest ached at the sight of the other half of the room, that had belonged to her sister, where her collection of masks still hung and the last pairs of shoes she had used still laid scattered right where she had left them. The bedroom had always felt small and crowded but without Rin, Gillie was realizing, was actually quite vast, perfect for two little girls. Now, she would keep on growing, and her sister would always remain a child.

Unable to stay there for long, Gillie walked back out again and out of the house. Looking over her shoulder, the house now felt too big for only two people. She walked the streets of Konoha, silently, balancing from side to side as her body weakened with each step, and her head began to pound and vision blur. It sent her bumping into a stranger, whom she soon realized was no stranger at all.

"Minato-sen- I mean," She bowed as much as her current state allowed, and raised up in a slightly better mood than she had previously been in "Fourth Hokage. I almost didn't recognize you out of your ceremonial robes."

"Gillie, are you feeling okay?" He was always very attentive, she had to repress a wistful sigh. "You don't-"

"Look so good? You can say it, Lord Hokage." If anyone could speak rudely or nonsense and she'd be fine to hear it, that would be him. She pointed at the distance. "I was on my way to find something to eat. My energy reserves are hitting all time low at the moment. I don't want to anger Tsunade-sama into returning to the village to attend me. I've been a pain for many people, as it is." She added, lowering her head with shame, admitting that in front of him.

"In that case, why don't you accompany me to my home? I was on my way there right now." She looked up, gaping, hearing this, before he added: "My wife only loves having people coming over, now that she also needs to stay in, and she loves to cook for them too."

That was right. She'd heard Kushina Uzumaki was pregnant.

"I..." She scratched her left ankle with her right foot, looking away to hide the grimace. She didn't wan to go to visit his pregnant wife. That would only make her more depressed. "I don't want to trouble her while she is pregnant, Lord-"

"No no no, Gillie! It is fine. Truly." He nodded before thinking his next words. "You know... She was very fond of Obito and Rin."

Gillie frowned looking down at her feet. She supposed that woman had spent her fair amount of time around those two. Gillie wanted to sense the connection to them, even if it was through her. Like an addict, she had been searching for ways to connect to them, those days, even if it was through things they liked to do. She had been spending a lot of time working on masks that would never measure up to Rin's, only to be tossed to the garbage afterwards. She would never be as good like her.

These little connections she found in places they were at, was perhaps another reason (beside her still recovering weakness and Mama) why she hadn't left the village in search of Orochimaru.

She sighed staring at the ground before looking back up and nodding.

"Okay, then."


Gillie looked nothing like Rin, as was expected of them being adoptive sisters, and her attitude was quite the opposite of Obito, whom had been secretely her favorite student of her husband exactly because of it, nevertheless Kushina couldn't find herself not liking Gillie. She was a terribly sad girl and perhaps it was her maternal instinct kicking in, but she felt the need to protect the girl, that according to her own words, these days was spending a lot of time alone.

WHICH IS WHERE MAMA KUSHINA STEPS IN!

She forced Gillie to visit her everyday, under the pretense that she needed to be taken care of. No, not Gillie. Her! As a pregnant lady, of course! It was the only way to make the girl feel obliged to actually come to her home everyday or follow her around town. Like today, when they went together to buy groceries. Jiraiya was coming to Konoha after being out for a while and as her husband's sensei, Kushina had wanted to throw a feast for him, as was usual everytime he returned to the village.

"You are excited to see your sensei, yes?"

"Er... Yeah, about that..."

"Mmm?! What is this?"

"It's just, he left me a little homework for the next time we met and-"

"Homework?!" Kushina' s eyes fired up in rage. "Did he dare to put you under a workout regime during his absence?!"

"No no, not at all!" Gillie shook her hands quickly, sweating with concern for her sensei. "It's more of an academic homework... um... literary!"

"Mmm?"

"He's writing this book, you see? And part of our deal of him teaching me was that I would help him in the editing process of the book-" Kushina liked how her mood turned brighter as she spoke about this. She wanted to continue seeing that expression on her face.

"Yes?"

"But so far, I've only been able to edit the name of the protagonist, for the previous one was a bit tasteless."

"Oh?"

"So, I changed the name. Now it's more delicious to the reader's eyes, if you know what I mean..."

"Of course!" Of course, she had no idea.

"But apart from that," Gillie continued with a bit of frustration. Oh-uh, no, Kushina wanted the happy face! "I haven't been able to edit anything else. It's like a writer's block of editors, I guess... I... didn't know that was even possible."

"Mmm... I was never much into books as a child, but I am very glad you are! Chaa, you must be a very intelligent one, Gillie Nohara!"

Gillie's lips turned slightly upwards and that little gesture was enough for Kushina to feel like she had succeeded in her own type of shinobi mission.

"Thanks, Lady Kushina-sama."

"EEEH?! What is this Lady-sama thing?! Call me Kushina or Onee-san! What about Onee-chan, mm?!"

And, now her lips turned downwards, while Kushina internally smacked herself, realizing her mistake.

Baby steps, Kushina. Baby steps...


Kakashi did not speak again with her since the day of Rin's passing, but her words still echoed in his nightmares. The words: What did you do? He worked hard in ANBU to try to erase the memory of those words with no effect, and then he was given the mission of surveilling the Forth Hokage's pregnant wife. That had been easy at the beginning, until the same girl who uttered them began to frequent the Namikaze household. Now, he watched her everyday from up above in the trees, while guarding the Hokage's wife, hiding in the trees' shadow every time she seemed to sense his presence, leaving Kakashi's heart feeling altered.

This happened more frequently than expected of someone with his abilities, initially because of his spiking curiosity at the sight of the girl wearing a boyish haircut like he had never seen her before, and then as it began to grow and her abilities seemed to slowly return to her with her becoming more perceptive.

He had heard about what had happened to her with Orochimaru and hearing what she had gone through... it was like loosing Rin all over again. Kakashi wasn't delusional, he knew Gillie was not Rin. But Rin had adored her sister, and if she had known what Gillie went through right after her passing and the reason behind it, well... But, he couldn't make herself to face her. After losing Obito and then Rin, the people that had been there when he lost his father... He was still here. Somehow he had made it, but if he were to face Gillie and listen to her say again "What did you do?", he could... lose it.

So, he would keep on guarding Kushina from the shadows and observing Gillie, as well.

Then, one cloudy day she did not arrive. Kakashi jumped off the tree he always used as guarding post and showed his face (No ANBU mask on) through the kitchen window, where Kushina was baking a pie, telling only by the smell.

"Ah! Good afternoon, Kakashi! Although, with this weather it feels more like a good evening, does it not?"

"Good afternoon, Lady Kushina-sama-"

"Waah, you too?!"

"I was wondering... Gillie- she's not- I heard-" He shook his head. "I thought I heard you two speaking yesterday. She said she'd come today."

"Yeeees, indeed. But she sent notice this morning she wasn't feeling well-no-not physically, don't worry!-which is why I thought I'd bake something to send her- My! Do you know what date could it be today? By the message I got, it seemed to be an important-"

Kakashi ran away remembering then, what day was today.

"Goodbye, Kakashi-san!" He heard the cheery voice of Kushina Uzumaki behind his back, while he bit his finger and invoked Pakkun without stopping.

"Hey, Kakashi! This better be good, I was in the middle of eating a-"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry Pakkun!" He said quickly. "There's someone I need you to find right away."

"Mmm?"

"Her name is Gillie Nohara?"

"Rin's sister." Pakkun said with a serious voice.

"The same."

"How am I supposed to find her? Do you have something with her scent?"

Kakashi groaned under his breath and scratched the back of his head, before squeezing his eyes shut while saying his following words:

"Do you remember Rin's scent?"

"Of course."

"Mix it with herbs and prairie flowers."

"Prairie flowers from where? I'll need you to be more specific here, Kakashi."

"Prairie flowers from the South!" He said quickly. "Somewhere by the coast of the Land of Waves, when the air is dense and the scent is so sweet and strong it almost itches your nose." He thought he might add: "It's a nice scent".

"Humph..." Kakashi tilted his head while the dog walked in circles around the boy, sniffing the air.

"Was I... clear enough?"

"Mmm... yeah, I think I got it."

With his dark ANBU cape flowing in the wind, Kakashi ran after Pakkun, only to arrive at a place he knew only too well. He found the girl sitting in front of the memorial stone.

"There she is." Pakkun told him and they stood silently side by side, before the dog tried to push his legs to keep on moving. "What are you waiting for, an invitation?"

"I..."

"I thought it would be something urgent-"

"It is, but-"

"But?"

Listening to Pakkun's insistence and watching her standing there by herself, alone, Kakashi realized he had been feeling something shinobi shouldn't feel regarding Gillie Nohara: Fear. With this realization, he now had to force himself to walk that way. There was no other way to proceed. It was time.

"You can leave now, Pakkun." Kakashi said slowly, feeling in a state of trance. Sensing everything that was happening and what was about to happen the dog rubbed his head on the teen's leg.

"Good luck, Kakashi." The dog said before dissappearing with a poof.

Kakashi felt his heart skip a beat and his breathing wavering, before taking the first step. The first drop fell from the sky and soon it was softly drizzling.

"-she is almost ten months pregnant now, and I wish I hadn't been too terrified about her when you were still around. Also, she's not that bad, considering everything. I'm sure we would have all gotten along... Although, if I am honest, she would have probably liked you better and I would have secretly hated you for it." It was strange to listen Gillie chuckle after so long. "Anyway... don't tell her I said this, but she's a load. Which is good, considering Mama is busy trying to sell the house and- um... I still don' t know what to do with those..."

Sensing a presence, the girl stopped talking, but didn't look back to try to figure out who it was. Perhaps, she already knew.

"Do you know what the saddest part is?" She asked and for a moment Kakashi thought Gillie was still talking to the stone. "I cannot remember when was the last time I told her I loved her." Kakashi now stood to her side and saw the tears filling her eyes. "She could never shut up on how much she loved me, but no matter how hard I search in my memories... I cannot remember."

The drizzle kept on falling.

"She loved you." Kakashi joined the courage to speak. "I'm certain of it."

Gillie nodded and then looked up at him.

"And she loved you too... Very much." Her hazel eyes glistened with tears, while the rain drops painted trails down her cheeks. "Did you know that?"

He bobbed his head, placing his hands in his pockets.

"She might have... mentioned it once." But the memory of when it happened itself was as painful to remember as speaking about Rin with someone who cared for her like Gillie did. The girl scoffed a smile.

"Never thought she'd be capable of it. She could be a coward in that aspect." Gillie rubbed her face with both of her hands.

"I'm sorry." Kakashi blurted out. "It was my-"

"Don't ever say it was your fault, in front of me. Ever." Gillie snapped at him, grimacing. "It wasn't." Her face contorted. "I've heard she did it on her own accord... I just wish she would've given me time to... apologize." Her head hung low. "For everything. For all the things I said, thought and did..."

The girl covered her face and sobbed behind them for a while. Kakashi felt inclined to ask what was burdening her to have her act that way. He had only ever seen her cry before once and never like this. Then, perhaps, one didn't need reasons to do so when losing a brother or sister. He would never know, he had no family.

The rain gained force, pouring down now and the only thing he was able to do was extend his ANBU cape to cover her from the rain.

"Happy birthday, Rin." Kakashi said staring at the memorial rock. Gillie wasn't able to speak, so she simply nodded, agreeing with his words.

Happy 14th birthday, Rin.


It felt like every time Jiraiya returned after a period of time away he found his pupil more damaged than the state in which he had left her in. Returning after the 10th of October was further proof of that. This time, though, the whole village was affected. Everyone had lost someone dear to them, everyone had lost a parent or a friend or a child. Gillie, in comparison, was left unscratched: her adoptive mother was fine and her adoptive father had only resulted injured during his ninja duties, keeping the girl and woman on his bedside even after he had left them, but was recuperating quickly. It was more Gillie's spirits Jiraiya was concerned about, as well as the village's after the death of the Fourth Hokage and his wife, Kushina, whom Gillie had reluctantly grown very fond of in the past few months.

After spending weeks working on the rumble left behind, searching for victims and retrieving bodies, Jiraiya summoned Gillie on top of the Hokage mountain with an offer that would radically change both of the lives. Gillie's hazel eyes observed the village from above the mountain, watching as people kept on cleaning the streets, and the children's unfaltering spirits filled the void left after the deaths of so many with their street playing, tossing around cardboard shurikens and kunais.

"I-um... yes." She said, purple eye bags circling her eyes, quickly wandering eyes. She nodded decisively, eagerly, without meeting his eyes. "I want to come with you." She then began to scan the village, creating a permanent image of it in her mind for the long road they were to take.

"You might want to comment this with your mother first-"

"I will talk to her, but I'm coming anyways." She said quickly. "The shinobi life... it is way harder than I had ever dreamt... I need to become stronger if I am to survive." She looked his way. "I can only achieve that if I follow you, master Jiraiya." Jiraiya frowned looking into the sunset. "You once mentioned something about nindo... I used to think my nindo was becoming a better ninja than my rival..." She gulped. "But she is gone... It's time for me to find a new nindo and reencounter with my path of life." Jiraiya listened intently, eyes narrowing. "There is just something I need to do before." She said and he saw her slowly walk away, as if a walking dead corpse was doing so, but his eyes remained narrowed on her tightly closed fists.


Hopefully, this would help to fill up a part of the hollow in her heart. Gillie and her adoptive mother stood side by side at the entrance of her old bedroom, the one she had once shared with Rin.

"You can donate everything that is mine."

"Gillie..." Her mother began.

"And Rin would have probably also liked that for her stuff. Just..." She shook her head, eyes traveling to the walls. "Not the masks." Mama nodded, tearing up and crossing her arms, hurt by the memories of Rin and by the decision of the only child she had left to leave. "You get to choose first. Your favorite. Go ahead. You deserve the honor." Gillie placed a hand on her shoulder and Mama nodded again, but softly pulled away from her touch. It did not go unperceived by Gillie, but not even her would keep her from leaving the village.

Mama walked to stand in the middle of the room. It took a long time but eventually she chose an unfinished mask, the last one her daughter had been working on and that had remained untouched ever since, with a thick film of dust covering it now. Gillie proceeded to take down the rest, and one went to Genma, another for Guy, another for Asuma, another for Kurenai, another for Raido, another for Kotetsu, another for Izumo, another for Hayate... and so on, for every classmate Rin ever considered a friend. She also went to place some at the memorial stone, one for Minato-sensei, one for Lady Kushina-sama, for Obito of course, and, why not? One for Rin herself. Lastly, she searched for Kakashi, having to go directly to his house since the night had fallen. She knocked on the door and waited patiently until the boy opened the door.

"Gillie." He seemed surprised to see her there, even if his voice hadn't been the most expressive.

"I'm sorry for coming at this time and hour. There is something I needed to give you." She extended the mask at him with both hands and bowing her head. "Mama is selling the house and where we're moving, well... there is not much space. But we wanted her collection to go where she would have wanted it to be, which is why I chose the second best for you, because... well..." Gillie felt her cheeks burn red and looked away. "You know why."

Slowly, Kakashi reached for it, without taking his narrowed eyes off of her face. Once it was in his hand he turned it around and observed it, before something flashed behind his eyes and Gillie had to tilt her head to see it better. Kakashi Hatake did have feelings after all: he was touched.

"Thank you." He said and hesitated on what to do next.

"I have to go now." She saved him from having to stand awkwardly for longer and pointed over her shoulder. "Mama is waiting up for me. So..." She began to walk away, heads down, and waved her hand goodbye.

"I guess, I'll see you tomorrow?" He asked her and she watched at the mask in his hands for a moment before doing the same exact thing he did with all of her other classmates. She forced herself to put on her best Rin-like smile, wide and effusive until her cheeks ached and eyes disappeared while joining her hands together, even if she felt like not doing any of it in the inside.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She replied with a nod. Kakashi nodded once, ready to head to bed. "And, Kakashi?" She said quickly. He looked back, while her eyes scanned him like she had done before with each of her friends and the village itself, mostly repairing on his hidden left eye now fashioning and eye mask covering Obito's Sharingan. Seeing him, standing with Obito's and Rin's presents, it was like the spirit of Team Minato was alive. She could almost see them standing to his sides, with their sensei and Kushina standing behind them. She felt like running out of air and wondered if she could see them too, but no... If he could see them, they would all tell him what she was about to do. She took a deep breathe. "She loved you very much, you do know that, right?" She insisted fighting the urge to leave quickly. Kakashi frowned, listening to her words and nodded once.

"She loved you too." He said.

Gillie nodded her head, repeatedly and waved her hand again.

"Have a good night." She told him.

And then, she was gone.


Kakashi rarely overslept, especially now that he had be installed into Root, however, he had been working hard on putting up together the village that for once, he allowed himself that. Strangely, he had slept soundly after a long time, after Gillie Nohara's short stop by his home the previous night and with the empty eyes of Rin's collection mask staring down at him on his bed, after he hung it on the wall.

In fact, if it hadn't been by the ruckus that woke up the entire village, he would have probably kept on sleeping until after noon. He groaned, tossing around on his bed and covering his ears with the pillow, trying to ignore the loud whimpering coming from the street he had learned to know too well. If he ignored it, it would soon be gone... Not. His door was banged repeatedly and the bell ring pushed severely to the point that it sounded like a white noise inside Kakashi's dreams. With heavy lids and body, he sat up on his bed just in time for the invasive yelling to begin:

"Kakashi! Open up, for heaven's sake! Kakashi! It's of utmost urgency!" By the sound of Guy's despair, it didn't seem like something of utmost urgency. "Kakashi, please, it's Gillie!" This seemed to wake up Kakashi completely. In less than a second he was at the door, answering to Guy. As soon as the boy in green saw him, he tossed himself at Kakashi, who grabbed him by the arms trying to keep him away and keep himself free from Guy's snot.

"What did you say about Gillie?" He asked composedly.

"Why, Kakashi!" Guy sobbed loudly. "I cannot believe- How could she do something like this to us-!"

Kakashi's heart race spiked up, with one specific scenario coming to the front of his mind. His eyes opened wide and he grabbed Guy's collar.

"What happened to Gillie? What did she do?! Where is she now?!"

"Kakashi..."

"GUY!" Kakashi barked, leaving Guy speechless for moment. The boy reached for a handkerchief Kakashi didn't know he carried with him and cleaned his nostrils, noisily. He blubbered something Kakashi couldn't understand. "What?"

"I said she left the village! She left Konoha!"

Kakashi's tense muscles relaxed, but was still left dumbstruck with a frown on his face.

"What?"

"I said she-!"

"I heard you the first time." He stopped him. "How do you know? When- How-?" Then, Kakashi's thoughts flew to another dreadful scenario. "Did she-? Is she a missing-nin now?" Kakashi's mind came to a sudden resolve. "We need to gather a search party, we need to bring her back before-"

"No no!" Guy clearing his nose again. "She left with Jiraiya-sama, they both left on their merry way! They say he left to train her, but this time with no intentions of coming back."

"Ever?"

"Soon."

Kakashi sighed rubbing his face tiredly.

"Maa... you woke me up only for that?"

Guy's jaw dropped unclenched to the floor.

"I give them a month or two-"

"Kakashi, I don't think you're understanding what I-"

"Goodnight, Guy."

"But it's almost noon!"

Kakashi slammed the door on Guy's face and dragged his feet back to bed, ignoring the calling of the other boy right outside his door. He had felt only too many emotions in such a short time, he needed to go back to sleep now out of tiredness. In fact, he would give Gillie a month or two to be back. Not that he questioned her abilities, he had learned better than that, but there was no way she would've dared to leave for a very long time without giving them a proper goodbye, not after everything they had all been through, she wouldn't have dared. She would be back soon.

He was certain of it.