Chapter 6: No Expectations

A/N: As of 6/9/2022, I made some minor updates to the chapter, including formatting changes and some extra dialogue.


It wasn't easy, but after having a serious conversation with the Third Hokage, he actually gave in and reinstated Jitsuko of her position as a Genin of the Hidden Leaf. What won him over was her point about Sakumo Hatake – Kakashi's father – and how his disobeying actions benefitted the village by saving his comrades. The only reason why he took his life was because of the unethical rules posed by the village. Jitsuko made a point that if it wasn't for her actions, then Rin - and perhaps someone else - would not have made it back safe.

Hiruzen's decision surprised her. It turned out he had a soft spot after all. He agreed under three conditions, however. One was to never disobey his orders and leave the village unauthorized again.

Granted.

Two, since she couldn't go unpunished, she must help with various tasks around the ninja academy two times a week for six months, as a form of community service.

Fine. You got it.

And his final condition: to keep this incident between Jitsuko, him, and Obito. It was a fair request since the village elders would surely have had a fit if they learned about the Third's unauthorized decision.

He was, dare I say, breaking the rules.

At the six-month mark, Jitsuko finished her mandatory community service at the academy, which left her wondering if she was that annoying when she was those kids' age. She disregarded this thought, remembering that these kids were the future and many of them showed real potential and hope for this village. Jitsuko was walking up to her door and were surprised to spot Rin already there.

"Jitsuko! I'm glad I caught you!"

"H-hello," was the only response she could come up with for the excited girl in front of her.

"I wanted to ask you if you would like to come with me and Obito to see Kakashi on his birthday," Rin beamed, her cheeks glowing pink.

Kakashi at this age was incredibly mean-spirited, and Jitsuko sort of held a grudge from when he insulted her 'inferior' Earth Style techniques a while back. Jitsuko's hands tensed into fists, hesitant to agree, but she saw this as an opportunity to finally get on speaking terms with him. Besides, if Obito was there, someone would have to keep his anger and jealousy under control.

She happily volunteered.

"Sure, when's it at?" she asked casually in an attempt to sound cool and laid-back, but probably failed miserably.

"It's right now! Obito was really hoping that you would come. I didn't invite you before since I didn't think you and Kakashi got along…"

"Obito wanted me to be there?"

"Of course!" Rin said cheerfully while making her way down the steps, with Jitsuko apprehensively following behind her. "We were on our way to get you until a woman asked him to help her carry something into her house, so I'm here on behalf of the both of us!"

Jitsuko stayed silent, on the way there she made sure to keep a considerable distance between her and Rin.

The three of them reunited around Kakashi's apartment. Rin was the one to knock and greet Kakashi when he opened the door. Jitsuko mustered up the courage to greet him next, only to be blatantly ignored, which earned him a piercing stare from Obito.

"Rin, what are you doing here? There's no emergency mission for us," Kakashi stated in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Happy birthday, Kakashi!" Rin declared with a closed-eye grin while holding out a present.

Kakashi blinked in silence. He totally forgot his birthday was today. He hadn't celebrated it since – well, nevermind. Birthdays and celebrations just weren't for him.

"Er, thanks for this, Rin, but that's –"

"Hey what about us, Kakashi?!" Obito interrupted with his own irritated tone, "Me and Jitsuko went out of our way to show up yet you can't even glance our way? What's up with you?!"

Obito was right. Kakashi didn't acknowledge their presence or even look in her general direction. It really felt like the two were wasting time there.

"Oh, pipe down already. It's not like I asked you to be here, anyway," Kakashi said bluntly, finally sparing Obito a side-eye glance.

The atmosphere became increasingly heavy and threatening.

With his teeth clenched, Obito had subconsciously balled his hand into a fist. His tone was low but strained and tense, "Exactly what do you have against us, anyway?"

His cool was clearly faltering.

This is new, she thought.

"I don't want you here. I don't know how to say it any more bluntly." Kakashi then turned his body entirely to Jitsuko, catching her full attention.

"And you. You're not even on our team. Go home and find someone who actually wants to be around you. To me you're nothing but useless."

Jitsuko heard herself inhale a quick gasp. Deeply hurt by Kakashi's words, her vision began to blur with tears while Obito's turned red, both figuratively and literally.

"Wait guys," Rin began. "Everyone just calm d-"

Sounds suddenly hit her ears. First was the sound of air moving, then flesh making harsh contact with flesh followed by a rough smack against wood. Before Jitsuko or Rin could register what happened, Obito had Kakashi pinned against the wall; his mask slid down his cheek enough to display the clear remnants of a fist mark.

"Listen to me, we've been nothing but respectful to you and this is how you repay us?! What has Jitsuko ever done to you, huh?!" Obito's rage was inextinguishable. Kakashi blankly stared into the fierce crimson of Obito's eyes.

"Look, say what you want about me, but don't you ever talk to Jitsuko like that again. DO YOU HEAR ME, KAKASHI?"

The silence that followed was suffocating. Rin stood motionless, completely stunned. The stillness in the air was accompanied only by the heavy breathing coming from the enraged Uchiha.

"O-Obito…?" Jitsuko managed to choke out between holding back tears. That was when he finally broke his piercing glare from Kakashi and back to her, his face immediately softening upon seeing her tears threatening to fall.

Obito directed his attention back to Kakashi, muttering, "You're not worth it," before easing his grip off him. His eyes returned to his calm onyx color when he turned to her and Rin.

"Let's go. If he wants to be alone, then fine," he said quietly, though somehow Jitsuko could tell that he was in just as much pain as she was.

As Obito trudged down the stairs, with Jitsuko following at a distance, Rin glanced quietly at Kakashi, her eyes heavy with sympathy, yet disappointed.

"This isn't what I wanted," she murmured. "I wanted to prove that you were better, that you were stronger than this. Whatever is hurting you, whatever is making you treat Jitsuko like that – we want to help you. We're your friends, Kakashi."

She set down the present, pushing it close to him.

"Come see us when you're ready for that."


At that, Kakashi dipped his head down as Rin turned to catch up with the two of them, leaving him with nothing but his own thoughts.

The three of them walked aimlessly in brooding silence for a while, with Jitsuko and Rin trailing behind Obito, being too nervous to speak and irritate him further.

This did NOT happen in the show, she quietly pointed out to herself. What they say is true. No matter what I do here, it changes everything. And not always for the best.

"Jitsuko."

Jitsuko looked up at Obito, who was still walking with a hint of anger in his step.

"You okay?" he asked gently, turning his head in her general direction but not directly looking at her.

"I - …this isn't how I was expecting today to go," she replied, eyes downcasted.

"I'm sorry guys," Rin finally piped up. "This is all my fault."

Obito interjected, "No way, it's all because of that Hatake."

The air grew silent again as Jitsuko tried hard to come up with any positives to this situation. Then, it hit her.

"Hey wait a minute, this is actually perfect!"

Obito and Rin glanced at her in puzzlement.

"This is actually the first time in a while where it's just been the three of us together! Maybe we can find something that all three of us can enjoy. Right?"

Rin's entire face lit up at the idea. "That sounds like a great idea, Jistuko!"

Of course she would agree to something like that.

Her smile then faltered slightly. "But it's getting late, all the places we could go to are closed."

Jitsuko contemplated their options for a moment and were very hesitant to share her thoughts, but words came out before she could stop them. "How about we go to my place? I-I don't have much, but I'm sure we can find something there!"

What are you doing, Jitsuko? There's absolutely nothing interesting in your house! Why do you think you spend your time anywhere else?!

"Hey, yeah. Come to think of it, I've only seen your house a few times since we met," Obito thought out loud, "and it has been a while." Finally, he cracked a smile for the first time that day.

Seeing that smile always gave her strength.

"Alright then, I'll race you two!" Jitsuko shouted with a head start. "Last one there gets to clean my bathroom!"

"Hey, no fair! Get back here and start over, you big baby!" Obito said as he chased after her, the playfulness entirely apparent in his tone, "What, are you afraid to lose?"

Rin smiled contently while Obito's voice progressively shrunk the farther he traveled away from her.

Jitsuko really brings out the passion in Obito, she mused as she began heading toward Jitsuko's house with a bounce in her step.


Jitsuko was right; she really didn't have anything entertaining to do at her house. Her time was spent mostly on training, missions or hanging out with Obito somewhere else. Her house almost felt foreign to her.

"So, I know I don't have much, but I think I do have something that will knock your headbands off – check this out!" Jitusko said with enthusiasm and opened her freezer to reveal that it was full to the brim with ice cream.

Thank goodness I went to the store earlier!

She looked to them proudly only to notice their unimpressed faces, and she couldn't figure out why. "Do you guys…not like ice cream? I know for a fact that you do, Obito! We get ice cream all the time!"

Obito snickered. "Yeah, and do you remember the flavor I like to get?"

It finally hit her that every tub of ice cream she owned was plain old vanilla – Obito always preferred strawberry. Jitsuko's cheeks flushed in embarrassment while her brilliant plan utterly flopped. Trying to save face, she looked around for anything that could be used as a distraction.

"Well, the only other thing I have is hanami dango that I picked up from the shop earlier," she said sheepishly and presented the sweet dumplings to Obito and Rin.

Both of their eyes lit up and they graciously accepted and devoured the dango, with Obito displaying less restraint, of course. That was when Jitsuko smiled and joined them at the table with an entire tub of ice cream in her hands.

The next few hours were spent entirely at that table. Jitsuko, Obito and Rin felt at home with each other discussing various subjects. She still felt inexcusably apprehensive toward Rin, but she continued to suppress those feelings, for Obito's sake.

The conversations throughout the night ranged from missions, family, new jutsu, days at the academy, and of course, jokes. Each of them took turns telling their favorite jokes, and when it was Obito's turn, he looked at the ceiling in thought for a moment before his face signed that he had reached an epiphany.

"So an Uchiha and Senju walk into a bar…"

By the time Obito finished his punchline, he immediately directed his attention toward Rin to scan her reaction, only to find her simply grinning quietly, but his gaze quickly diverted when Jitsuko instantly broke down in uncontrollable laughter at his joke. Surprised but pleased with her reaction, Obito put his hand on Jitsuko's shoulder and laughed loudly with her. The atmosphere was friendly and full of feelings of amity and mutual trust.

It made Kakashi's and Obito's outburst almost feel like a thing of the past. Almost.


As Jitsuko bid her guests safe travels for the night, Obito continued his trek home while Rin suddenly stopped just outside her door and beamed with a close-eyed grin, "Thank you for the dango, Jitsuko, and for the wonderful night!"

Silently staring at Rin, Jitsuko was appalled to notice how her enchanting features illuminated beautifully under the moonlight.

Obito loves her, not you.

At this thought, intense heat began boiling up inside her. She tried hard to suppress her animosity for the girl all night, but with Obito gone, Jitsuko found that restraint slightly loosened.

"It's whatever, Rin. Don't expect it to happen again," she stated bluntly, as Rin opened her eyes in confusion.

"Jitsuko, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Rin was still acting kindly to Jitsuko even after rebuffing her.

Jitsuko exhaled stiffly; brows knitted in frustration.

Why is she so perfect?

The tenseness in Jitsuko's body urged her to snap at her, but then she reflected on the events that happened that day. Merely a few hours before, Kakashi was standing at his doorway, just like she was. Her friend is at the door, concerned only about her, just like she was about Kakashi.

The searing heat teeming inside Jitsuko diminished, disgusted by how she was treating Rin the exact same way Kakashi treated her only hours before. With a sigh, Jitsuko looked up to Rin's impossibly big eyes with defeat evident in her own.

"Sorry. Please get home safe. Night."

Every word she said was riddled with insincerity as she shut the door without another word.

Rin stood outside her door in shock, trying to process what would make Kakashi and Jitsuko snap at her. Did she do something wrong?

Did she… just lose two friends?