A/N: It always worries me when I double-update because one chapter will have significantly less visitors than the other. Does that mean some of you didn't realise I put up two chapters at once yesterday? Hmm. I guess here's a reminder? :3 If it's not that... then nevermind :P
They slip back into the training room only to see Kakashi trying to fend off... Rin. Sakumo's feet freeze on the spot, shocked at the rage contorting Rin's gentle features and the flashing ninjato in her hand.
"You killed me," she accuses lowly. The whole room is silent except for the singing of metal against metal as Kakashi blocks swing after swing, never attacking. Sakumo can only imagine what expression is hidden under Kakashi's Hound mask.
'No, she's not Rin. Rin would never...' Sakumo's frantic gaze finds the real Rin is standing at the sidelines with Hyaku holding her in a half-embrace. She's on the verge of furious tears, her fingers winding and unwinding in her hair. He feels as if a stone had been dropped into his stomach. "A henge," Sakumo concludes, anger sparking to life in his chest.
"A permanent henge that Snake specialises in," Kagami says, a small frown marring his brow.
Indeed the Snake mask dangles at her hip, bumping up against her thigh as she presses her advantage against Kakashi. The sight stings of betrayal.
"How dare you use her face!" Kakashi yells, his voice scrubbed raw with emotion. He's panting hard, his chest heaving beneath his armour. "Fight me as yourself, you coward!"
Not-Rin only sneers, the expression twisting so unnaturally on that familiar face that Kakashi manages to switch to the offensive and kick her in the stomach. But there's still no power behind it — the blow only sends her staggering a pace.
"Kakashi-kun..." She pretends to moan in breathless pain and the silver-haired jounin entire body tenses up, his grip on the hilt of his ninjato becoming white-knuckled.
"She doesn't call me Kakashi-kun," he hisses between clenched teeth. "Stop this right now or I will kill you."
His opponent looks up beneath her lashes, smoothing back short brown hair from her stolen face, a smirk playing on her lips. "Just Kakashi, is it?" Her tone is steeped in suggestion. The expression fades just as quickly as it came, her eyes widening in a piercing glare that brings the white around her irises into view. "Come at me with Chidori like you mean it then!"
Whispers grow, carrying into the air snatches of conversation. Friend Killer Kakashi, someone says, then another, then another, until the entire room is resounding with half-heard accusations.
Friend killer—
—his teammate—Chidori.
—never stood a chance—
The mission—
—why?
Hound-san?
—killed her...
Kakashi's standing in the middle of it all, his masked face bowed and his body stiff, his left fist clenched so tightly that his arm shakes with fine tremors. A soft, half-stifled sound catches his ear and Sakumo turns to see Rin with her hand pressed over her mouth, hunched over with the weight of hurt.
Kakashi snaps, leaping—
And the ear-piercing shriek of Chidori bursts into the air. The icy blue flaring around Kakashi hand leaves a streak of light that burns itself into Sakumo retinas and forces him narrow his eyes against the glare. Kakashi flies at Snake, barely a blur, his Sharingan glowing behind his slit-eyed mask.
She is standing one moment and down on the ground the next, her ninjato spinning across the floor in silvery loops. Kakashi is straddling her torso with his hand raised to strike, his whole body vibrating with barely restrained fury. "Snake-taichou!" someone cries out, but no-one dares to interfere for fear of being caught in the crossfire.
The chi-chi-chi of Kakashi's jutsu wails to a deafening pitch before he extinguishes it with a snap of his hand into a fist, all that light suddenly disappearing as if sucked into a black hole within his palm.
"Chidori isn't a jutsu I will use on a comrade," Kakashi says softly, dangerously, and the whole room holds their breath. Not-Rin's expression is carefully blank. "But don't test me." He jerks her by shoulder clasp of her armour roughly. "Take off that face now!"
The... satisfied grin on not-Rin's face grows but Snake obligingly unclips her mask from her belt, telegraphing the motion carefully, and slips it over her face. Her form shimmers hazily before shifting back into her original stature, her hair lengthening to a shoulder-length teal again.
Between the ignition of Chidori and its extinguishment, Kakashi has matured before Sakumo's eyes yet again. For all the rage that had erupted within the teen, he had not lashed out like a hurt, wild animal. Kakashi had conquered himself instead, conquered Snake's provocations, and for that Sakumo can't be prouder.
In an uncharacteristic show of spite, Kakashi shoves Snake against the ground again before stalking away. No-one stops him as he wrenches open the door and disappears. Snake's gaze follows him all the way even as she sits up, the contemplative glint in her eye not quite hidden by her mask.