Call me as soon as you've received this message, Kakashi lifted his brows in amusement. Rin had frequently texted him in the States, yet she had scarcely addressed him with such tone of urgency. It was late afternoon, the gargantuan pile of paperwork that had arrived in the morning had thinned considerably and Kotetsu and Izumo, along with the rest of Anko's recently recruited "lackeys" were filing out of the office.

Obito. That was another matter of Rin's message that had caught his eye; struck him hard. And how am I supposed to reply to that? He turn up, out of the blue, into my apartment three years ago, announced his eviction from University and walked out? That's if that man really was Obito…

Kakashi still refused to associate the embittered and sullen man with his cheery companion. Hollowed, cheeks, shabby dark clothes, red-rimmed eyes. He can't be Obito. He can't, can't, can't.

He can't just leave us like this.

"Hatake!" Kotetsu's voice briefly disrupted his mélange of thoughts.

"Yo, Kakashi are you listening?" Izumo, who somehow managed to make his way in front of Kakashi, started waving a cluster of papers which obstructed the man's vision, forcibly wrestling him back to that dismal yet oddly appealing office of his.

"Yes… yes…" Kakashi looked up.

"It's my birthday Hatake and I was wondering whether you'd like to join me and Izumo for dinner… oh and Anko would be coming too," Kotetsu's voice trickled away sheepishly, he then shot a grin at Izumo who returned it with a similar excitement.

Naturally, this provoked a sense of wariness within Kakashi, who suspected some ulterior motive out of the two, doubtless regarding their incessant meddling about him and his notoriously intimidating boss. Perhaps because recent circumstances manifested the curiosity that Kakashi, the courteous and well-spoken assistant (albeit with latent talent for snarky remarks—the man himself had fervently insisted), was the sole member of their faction—otherwise dubbed as 'Team Anko'—who did not appear to shit his pants upon the sight of their leader.

Whilst Kotetsu and Izumo had been frequently coerced into addressing Anko as "Boss" or "Your Craziness", the latter of which the woman had chastised the two profusely for, Kakashi simply called her "Anko." He didn't make much of it because, though alarmed by her eccentricities at times, he'd never been quite so much as afraid of her. And as a result, so far as the boundaries of logic conceded, Kotetsu and Izumo had miraculously, inexplicably and ludicrously asserted their opinions that he was in love with her.

Preposterous. Inconceivable. Impossible. Kakashi was not in love; Kakashi had never been in love so far as memory permitted him to recall—not as in the warm platonic love felt between friends or family. The other one, the type of love that comes across as inexplicably alien to the man. Kakashi wasn't a cold person; his demeanour had thawed considerably following his years in high school. It was merely the prospect of an all-encompassing devotion, tacit, passionate, that had quite simply never occurred to him.

That was not to infer that this kind of love was absent from his perception, for it is everywhere in his life: with Kushina and Minato, Obito towards Rin and, as he dimly recalled, with his mother and father. That being said, Kakashi himself was, is, not in love with anyone.

Especially not Anko.

The explanation given was concise and surprisingly predictable.

"She's Anko!" Kakashi hissed at his two colleagues, both carrying a grin that suggested some form of suspicious meddling.

"Oh come on! It's all right! We'll be there to offer some sane company!"

"Plus, Kakashi, you're a good friend and without you we'd be dead as flies—you remember? The ones Anko electrocuted a week ago with that sketchy racquet of hers?"

Kotetsu paused and looked at Kakashi.

"Yeah, I think you know what I'm talking about—"

"Okay you're going with us. No rebuttals accepted." Izumo finished the sentence and grabbed Kakashi eagerly.

"… so that's what happened," Shisui mused with a poorly hidden hint of resignation, "He just sort of let and disappeared? Strange and curious." And sensing that Kakashi had no desire to respond to that, Shisui added, outwardly intended as an afterthought but - upon further introspection - decidedly not, "Did you know he dropped out of school because his grades were failing? And - he was caught selling heroin?"

"No."

"Well now you know. We did a background investigation of the man and that was what we found."

"Strange, I never knew."

"You wouldn't have, it was after everything, after all the chaos."

This was followed by a mutual desire to languish in silence.

"It was weird, losing a friend just like that. It would take years for us to be okay," Kakashi couldn't help remark, "One moment, I thought everything had been fine and then I just lost him."

"That happens to plenty of us."

"And Rin's school fees-"

"Obito, of course. Who else could it be?"

"That... does sound about right."

One moment, she had been fine, as fine as one can be when alone and cold in an alien country. Another, she felt that bleakness strike her out of the blue. Curling back into her blankets, Rin began sobbing inexplicably.

She had no idea how it all started. The first couple of semesters started out fine, she had attained decent grades, found a small but solid social circle, immersed herself in medical internships and found everything to be fulfilling. Homesickness was but the monster under the bed that lay in one's imagination. Then it hit her.

As friendly as everyone was, she had no close confidants. Kakashi was far, far away in Japan and Obito had simply stoped talking to her. He stopped responding to her texts and messages. Her other friends in Japan were also engrossed in their lives. Whenever she saw intimate couples in the streets who meant the world to each other, she couldn't help but feel that something was missing in her life.

Obito.

She wondered how he was doing now. Was he still getting into trouble, goofing around in life? Has he changed at all? - unlikely. She couldn't fathom another Obito.

Still, why had he stopped responding.

It was a Friday night. Time for parties, friendship, surprises. The former two were ruled out, Rin had no one at present. The latter' chance was diminished by her somewhat dull and dreary life.

A buzz.

Hello Rin. How have you been?

An unknown number. There were only a few people this could have been. She knew Kakashi's, so that ruled him out. Minato or Kushina at this hour? Perhaps, but it might be a bit of a stretch, but still not as much as -

Who is this?

She had to ask. Her heart was, out of nowhere, suddenly racing, anticipating something, someone. Him.

Oh come on, Rin-chan, have you missed me? :(

She had to ask.

Obito?