She is waiting for him. Fifteen minutes. Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes.
"Rin! I'm here, I'm sorry!"
He skids to an abrupt halt and tumbles to the ground.
Typical.
"What's new?" Rin breathes. She crouches down to take his hand, "Everyone is there. Let's go!"
A hazy distortion and she is sitting by the training ground. A group of boys from the Academy spar in avidity, each determined to surpass the other at will.
"You're not joining them?" A voice says.
She turns and faces a dark-haired girl.
"Kurenai," she says brightly, "No, I'm not much of a fighter."
Kurenai laughs.
"That doesn't excuse you from training," she says lightly.
"Perhaps. But the boys are a bit rough, and besides, I need to focus on my medical jutsus. I am a team medic after all."
"You study too much," Kurenai says.
"It's important. I stand between life and death to put it bluntly."
"You need to stay alive for that too you know."
Rin lets out a small chortle. Kurenai always bring the simplest, obvious things to mind.
"You're right, I definitely need to practice my evasion skills a little more."
They fall into peaceful silence whilst watching their classmates spar and defend in a mesmerising blur.
Rin is momentarily captivated by a silver-haired boy, who is training several metres away on two incredibly small targets. He runs, spins, flips and throws the spinning weapons in a simultaneous act.
"Kakashi again, hey?" Kurenai says.
The sound of her voice breaks the trance, and Rin turns a soft shade of scarlet at the realisation of Kurenai's question.
"Not abnormal at all," Kurenai continues. She laughs at Rin's tentative expression, "Although I wonder if he even realises all the attention he gets."
Rin frowns.
"Perhaps, but maybe he doesn't care much for it. What's going on with you and Asuma?"
She wants to steer the topic away from Kakashi. His inattention towards her existence is rather dampening.
"Don't change the subject!" Kurenai says.
There is now a pink tinge that settles across her cheeks.
"It's obvious that you two are exclusive, even if it isn't announced," Rin teases.
Kurenai does not answer, but the light, dreamy look of desire is flagrant in her deep gaze.
"Say Rin, do you ever wonder what it would be like years from now?" Kurenai asks.
There is a hint of anxiety underlaying her tone.
"We will get past this war," Rin reassures.
She does not want to think of other possibilities. Losing the war is not something she thought hard and fast about.
Consequences would be catastrophic, she can deduce that, but she has faith in her village and she will do all she can to ensure its success.
Kurenai seems to be thinking on the same lines, because she turns and beams at Rin.
"Konoha will prevail," she says.
Another distorted blur and Rin and Kurenai are standing in the exact same spot, albeit the sun is setting and the boys have finished up their rigorous training for the day. She tracks Kurenai's gaze to Asuma, who is speaking animatedly to Kakashi.
"Can you imagine those two as really good friends later on in life?" Rin says happily.
"Maybe. Can you imagine them all grown up?" Kurenai grins.
And silly Kurenai is implanting thoughts into Rin's mind. Kakashi growing up to be a strong handsome man, and her as a woman, standing beside him, hand in hand.
"You're thinking the same thing aren't you?" Kurenai giggles.
This time, it is Rin who turns scarlet.
"Oh stop it!"
"What about your other teammate?" Kurenai asks.
She nods in the direction of Rin's dark-haired friend.
"What about him?"
"What do you mean?" Kurenai looks startled, "You do realise that he isn't going to stay like that forever, right?"
Rin turns her watch to the dark-haired boy, who is apparently in an argument with one of their classmates.
"You watch your back! I'll be the Hokage one day so don't mess with me, loser," the dark-haired boy shouts.
Then, as if sensing her watch on him, he turns to face Rin. A sheepish grin crosses his features for a brief second before the other boy uses the opportunity to kick him to the ground.
"Ninjas shouldn't get distracted. You would know," the boy says sarcastically.
The other children laugh as the dark-haired boy spits a handful of dirt from his mouth.
"Oh dear," Kurenai says, "Maybe that's why you couldn't envision him as a strong grown man."
x
She shifts uncomfortably in her sleep. There is already an accumulating level of sweat that pools against her body.
Her dreams rattle her, but she is not perturbed enough to wake.
And so her mind slips back into a deep sleep. The event that is displayed before her is far, far from the abstractness that one would call dreams.
"You know, maybe you should stop picking fights for once," Rin says.
She puts the finishing touches to his dressing.
"It wasn't my fault. He provoked me first," the dark-haired boy replies glumly.
Rin sighs.
"Always the same."
"I'm sorry, Rin," he mumbles.
"No," she says gently, "I don't want you to get hurt so unnecessarily. I'm watching over you, remember?"
He stares wistfully, as if he is going to cry, but he holds back and inhales deeply.
"Yes, I know."
"Don't you forget me when you become Hokage!" She says brightly.
His eyes widen in surprise.
"You can be my second in charge," he says sincerely, "so you will always be in the spotlight with me."
She takes his hand.
"Do your best!"
x
Her breathing is rapid. Her body twitches, the sweat intensifies and her eyes move erratically beneath her eyelids.
But still, she does not wake.
They are sitting beneath a large maple tree that is devoid of the usual bright green leaves. Autumn sets in, and the leaves respond to the falling season in an orange-yellow tinge.
The days are short, the weather turns cool and people gather wood in preparation for the cold winter.
He leans heavily against the tree trunk and digs his dark gaze into a pile of newly fallen leaves.
"I wonder what it'll be like when we all grow up," the dark-haired boy says.
He stares pensively at the ground.
"We'd be strong men and women of Konoha," Rin says certainly.
"Tche! Imagine Kakashi as a strong man," he scoffs.
"Like it or not, he probably will be," Rin says lightly.
The image of her and Kakashi flashes in her mind.
Damn Kurenai!
"What are you thinking?" The boy asks.
He is surveying her with such intensity, she wonders if he is reading her thoughts.
"Nothing," she says quickly.
But the deep flush catches her friend's notice. He knows her so well, he does not peruse her thoughts. But he frowns dispiritedly before turning away from her.
"Rin, you said before…about me being Hokage, does that mean…you envisioned me as one?" He asks self-consciously.
"Of course, it wouldn't make sense if I envisioned you as Hokage and then have someone else in my head," she answers in puzzlement.
"That's not what I meant, I mean…" he trails off uneasily.
And she suddenly catches on.
"Well…I think you'd be a strong ninja, and definitely taller too," she says heartily.
He nods in agreement.
"Yeah! I'd definitely be stronger and taller than Kakashi," he says confidently.
She laughs and he gives her that gentle smile of doting admiration.
"You know, I hope I'd be strong too. I cannot let you two beat me to it," Rin says thoughtfully.
His eyes are wide with affection and something else she cannot fathom.
"You won't just be strong, you'd be popular too, and you'd definitely be incredibly beautif…a-awesome…"
He stops abruptly and averts to the ground. The heated flush is so apparent across his face, Rin can almost feel the embarrassment radiating from him.
But he is muttering something incomprehensible, and she does not have a single clue what he is trying to convey.
"Popular?" Rin blinks in astonishment, "that's a bit presumptuous."
"Not even," he says briskly, "a fact that I know."
"Then the three of us can all be popular together. I won't keep the popularity to myself," she teases, "And who knows, maybe you'll be so popular, you won't need my sharing portion."
He stares unblinkingly.
"Right," he says, "No point if my popularity doesn't concern you," he mutters incoherently.
"What was that last part?"
"Eh? No, nothing, I meant to just say you're right," he answers.
There is a deep blandness to his tone.
She glances at him, and this time, her stare is frighteningly rigid. The world around her is now dark and dismal. The moon glows blood-red, and it illuminates the figure of the dark-haired boy, who is still sitting beside her with an unreadable expression.
But he looks different. His hair is long, his face is mangled and he is bleeding from his empty left eye socket. A long black cloak is draped around him, and as she opens her mouth to speak, he reaches over and places a hand to her cheek. It is startlingly cold against the warmth of her skin.
It is then she feels the spill of liquid red from her lips, and the sudden agonising pain that sears and pulsates against her left chest.
"Rin," he says despondently.
There is a flicker of hatred that skims the surface of his dejected features.
When she takes his hand, the image of her friend slowly dissolves. This time, she wakes.
Saturated in her own sweat, she stands in an attempt to quell the fearful shaking. But her legs are numb and weak, and it may be the combination of a slippery surface, but she falls hard.
The dizziness swirls and swirls, much like the strange distortion she keeps seeing in her dreams.
Dreams I cannot even remember.
Under the feeble rays of moon, she sees the grey lines again. It is darker and more sinister looking. The time and speed it takes to recede into her skin is slow, and when it finally disappears, so does the strange dizzying sensation.
The hot water is soothing, comforting and safe. She stands there for a long time, until it turns cold and her fingers shrivel into wrinkled dates.
Her mind is dazed and her body is senseless.
And she sits there in the quietness, contemplating nothing, and awaiting the long day ahead.