Author's Note: Alright everyone, after six days, I have managed to finally finish the 13th chapter of LA. I apologize in advance if this chapter seems more mediocre than the rest, but I have been distracted and preoccupied with other matters this week. Hope you still manage to enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
-
Tell me if I'm going crazy
But everything you said amazed me
It seems too easy on the ear
To be something I should adhere to
You told me to just simply wander
Rather than take shelter under
And open my heart to the thought that
Life is something you're not caught at.
- Warmer Climate by Snow Patrol
Rain mixed with hail beat down in torrents on the village of Konoha. The rain combined with the high winds kept most of the village's inhabitants indoors; Kakashi and Rin seemed to be no exception to this rule.
Due to a temporary change in shifts – an older nurse had offered Rin a morning position – Rin was able to stay cosily in her current home and curl up under the covers. After she'd taken a nap that had lasted until four PM, she decided to begin making dinner. Kakashi had still not come home from his relatively short mission, but Rin knew that he was supposed to be home in a few hours. Nearly one hour passed before Rin was finished cooking the eggplant stew – his now favourite food to eat ever since he'd had it at Minato's – and she was about to set it on the table when, all of a sudden, the lights in the apartment went out.
Rin yelped in surprise and fumbled back to the kitchen, trying to open drawers and find some candles to provide her with light. She knew that it was probably a miracle if she'd find candles in the apartment – Kakashi once told her that he did not keep any due to the fact that they irritated his sensitive nose – but she still kept on rummaging.
The only interruption she had was when she heard the window slide open, and then, moments later, heard someone jump inside. She froze and let go of the handle on one of the top cupboards. Swiftly and silently as possible, she made her way further into the kitchen, hoping the shadows and darkness would conceal her from the sight of a potential enemy.
Much to her trepidation, the "enemy" headed straight for her, carefully pacing in her direction. All Rin could make out from the darkness was that the intruder was a tall and well-built male; from the looks of it, he would have no trouble in overpowering Rin if need be. As he inched ever closer to where she stood, Rin pressed herself further against the wall, hoping that whoever he was, he'd find what he was looking for and then leave. But what if he wasn't looking for something? What if it was some enemy Kakashi had made that was waiting for him to come home and attack him? Could she really let that just happen?
All fear discarded, Rin decided that no, she wouldn't let her friend come home and be attacked by some stranger. Even though she wasn't that strong and specialized in healing, not killing, she knew that if she were to do the right thing, she at least had to try and get the intruder out. To fight was the only way to help at this point. Besides, she thought, Kakashi would have done the same for me. Yes, another voice in her head argued, but Kakashi could probably kill more than half the enemies he meets. Nevertheless, Rin agreed more with the first voice and took it upon herself to make the first move. If the enemy hadn't seen her during his trip into the kitchenette, then she'd have the element of surprise and it would be in her advantage.
Rapidly, she charged at the intruder, lifting her leg up to perform a kick to his head. The intruder was obviously caught by surprise, as he just barely managed to catch her leg in time before it hit the side of his head. She jerked her leg in his hand, and he immediately let go. There was a brief pause before Rin charged again, this time with a few punches. The intruder, now aware of her presence, was able to catch her small fists in his own large hands, stopping the attack instantly. To counter, he gripped her fists tighter, and moved his hands up over his head, launching her in the direction of the dining room. Rin flew through the air, landing on her side harshly, skidding to a halt near the dining table. She sat up and rubbed her side painfully, muttering an "Ouch".
Apparently the intruder had heard her, for he gasped out a, "Rin?" Recognizing the voice immediately, Rin called out, "Kakashi?"
She heard him sigh. "Yeah, it's me." He moved back temporarily into the kitchenette and a few seconds later, he emerged, flashlight in hand.
When he shone it on her and noticed that she was still on the ground, holding her side in pain, his eye widened in horror and a flood of guilt ran through him.
"Are you ok?"
"I've been better," she replied, wincing.
"I'm so sorry," he apologized, holding out his free hand – the one that wasn't holding the flashlight – to help her up.
She took it gratefully and half-limped over to one of the dining chairs, sitting herself in it. "Don't be. It's my fault. I was the one who attacked you."
"Why did you attack me? What were you thinking?" he demanded.
"I- The lights went out and then I heard someone come in through the window. I thought it was an intruder – I thought someone had come to wait for you and attack you. I hid in the shadows at first –"
" – Which is where you should have stayed," he cut her off, scolding her. "Even if it was an enemy waiting for me, you shouldn't just go into a fight blindly and attack him! You could be hurt, or killed! Why don't you think?! Never do something that reckless again."
"What was I supposed to do if it was an enemy? Hide in the shadows like a coward and wait for him to kill you?" she retorted angrily.
"If it would have kept you safe, yes that's exactly what you should have done! I can handle myself Rin; there's no need to risk your safety to protect me."
"In case you haven't noticed Kakashi, I can handle myself too," she snarled.
"Like you handled yourself when I lifted you five feet and threw you to the ground?" He threw her a look. "Don't be so reckless next time; have some consideration for others' feelings."
She shot him a quick glare, too angered to even think up a coherent retort, then crossed her arms and turned away from him, glaring at the wall opposite her.
He just sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair and leaning his head on the top of his chair. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"Save it Kakashi," she told him firmly, getting up out of the chair so quickly it made his head spin, and limping off to the washroom.
Once Rin had finished healing herself, she walked back into the main room and found him in the same position she'd left him. She had no idea why, but as she saw him on the chair, she felt a surge of sympathy flow through her, dissolving the anger that was previously in her stomach. She understood the guilt he must be feeling; he had "broken" his promise to his best friend today. He had promised to protect her, and yet, unknowingly, he had hurled her to the ground. Deciding to cut Kakashi some slack, Rin took the flashlight off the table and headed into the kitchenette. Her large bowl of eggplant stew was still perched on the counter where she'd left it, and grabbing a few plates, she headed back to the dining table, food in arms.
Kakashi lifted his head off the top of his chair, as he smelt the food, getting up to help her set the table. Silence engulfed them as they ate – mainly because Kakashi's mouth was too full to speak – and the uncomfortable atmosphere they had been in seemed to seep back in. As soon as Kakashi had finished filling his stomach, swallowing the last piece of bread with stew on it, he tried once more to fix the situation. The guilt was eating away at him, drilling an ulcer-like hole into his stomach.
"I'm sorry," he tried to apologize again.
"It's ok," she smiled weakly up at him. Then she noticed that the whole time, neither of them had asked one of the most important questions. "Hey Kakashi?"
"Hmm?"
"Why did the electricity go out?"
"I don't know," he admitted.
"Want to go find out? I'm sure that it must be something with the electrical box. The landlord can probably fix it."
"Uh sure," he agreed, taking the flashlight off the table. "Let's go."
They headed out their door onto the balcony like stairs. Even though the stairs were outside, neither of the two seemed to notice that none of the other homes in Konoha had lights either. "Why is it so dark?" Rin questioned, falling into step with Kakashi.
"It's six, Rin and it's winter. It's supposed to be dark."
"I know it's winter. But it's nice today; it's not cold at all."
Kakashi nodded in agreement; he'd noticed the change in temperature for today as well. It must have been in the double digits for neither of them had taken a jacket and neither of them was cold.
They continued their trek down the stairs, and after a few minutes, found their landlord's apartment. Kakashi knocked lightly on the door, and a few moments later, an old woman emerged.
"What you want Hatake?! Why you knock on my door? You think I am customer service or something? Open all hours of the night! Feh, you teenagers have no respect!"
Kakashi was about to make some remark about how it was not night yet and the senile old woman had probably not noticed that the building was without power, when Rin emerged from behind him and spoke.
"Sorry Miyako-san for disturbing you," Rin bowed to the elderly woman who was the landlord, "but the electricity in our apartment has gone out and we were wondering if you could do anything about it."
"Rin!" the elderly woman called a little more cheerfully to the girl, "I am sorry, but there is nothing I can do. I may not be electrician, but I have checked electric box and nothing's happened. It is good to see you again though. You're with Hatake now? You'd do good to teach this boy some manners!" She smacked Kakashi on the head with her hand. "Such rude boy, I cannot believe it!"
Kakashi was about to tell the old woman just what he thought of her and where she could stick next month's rent, when Rin interrupted again. "I will, I will," she laughed cheerfully, "Give me a week and you'll have nothing less than a perfect tenant from him!" Rin slapped Kakashi's shoulder good-naturedly for emphasis.
"You are godsend Rin," Miyako chirped, "You are gift! I would like to help with electricity problem, but it is not my fault! We seem to have blackout all over village!"
Rin and Kakashi exchanged glances before turning around and seeing that indeed the woman was right. No light appeared in any Konoha home and a storm was clearly brewing over the Hokage Mountain and others in the distance. Rin turned back to Miyako, thanking her and bidding her good night. As she bowed to the older woman, one of her hands hit Kakashi's spine and soon enough, he was bowing as well, though not entirely voluntarily.
"Rin, you work magic with this boy! He has never bowed!"
"Good night Miyako-san, we hope you sleep well."
"Good night Rin," the woman replied. She then turned to Kakashi. "Hatake, you may not be hopeless after all!"
Kakashi gave a small snort of indignation but remained bowing until the woman shut the door in both their faces. "Senile old woman," he muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" Rin asked, her tone warning him.
"I asked, what are we going to do now," he responded, his face pleasant. He didn't need to get into even more trouble with Rin today than he already had.
"Oh! That's a good question…well, there's a storm outside," she grinned up at him.
"So?"
"So?! Don't tell me you've never watched a storm before!" she stared at him incredulously.
"Why would you watch a storm? That's so stupid."
"No, you're stupid. It's dark inside anyway. What do you propose we do…in the dark?"
Now Rin had said that entirely innocently – and even a little angrily – and with no ulterior intentions in mind, but unfortunately, Kakashi's mind was not on the same wavelength. Heat rushed up to his face as he caught some hidden meaning that wasn't there; damn his mind – he had to blame this on the fact that his curiosity had caused him to open up an Icha Icha Paradise book that he'd seen on his sensei's desk one time. So this was how Obito felt, only to a much lesser degree.
To add to his humiliation, Rin seemed to have noticed the pink tinges that were on his cheeks, for she placed a cold hand on his forehead, wondering out loud whether he'd contracted some strange virus on his missions.
He swatted her hand away immediately, claiming that there was nothing wrong with him. "Let's just go watch the storm," he suggested, wanting to get away from the embarrassing air – for him – of the situation.
Rin happily agreed and raced up the stairs almost blindly, excited to start watching the storm. No flashlight was needed for guidance as the storm produced bolts of lightning, which illuminated the entire apartment complex. Kakashi, much too tired to waste his energy racing up stairs, walked calmly behind her.
As soon as he had reached the top stair at the foot of his apartment, he noticed that two of his chairs had been placed out in front, along with both blankets. Rin emerged mere moments later as well, carrying what he recognized as a tub of ice-cream.
"Hey Kakashi, come on! The show's about to start!" she remarked as soon as she noticed him.
He nodded and took a seat in his chair on the left, pulling his blanket around his shoulders. Rin followed his example, seating herself comfortably before sticking one of the silver spoons into the tub of ice-cream.
"Want some?" she asked through a mouthful.
Kakashi initially seemed quite wary of the delicious frozen dessert, but took his spoon and dug in nevertheless. "Hey, you're a girl."
Rin threw him a look. "Oh bravo Kakashi, that's a really brilliant observation," she mock applauded. "So?"
"So…aren't most girls supposed to be wary of ice-cream because they don't want to get fat or something?"
She snorted. "Trust me, I am in no danger of becoming obese. Besides, do I seem like most girls?" Just as Kakashi was about to open his mouth and answer, Rin shut him up with a, "Don't actually answer that." She then turned back to watching the mountains, amazed at the storm that was brewing on the horizon line.
Kakashi followed suit, and was also captivated by the colourful, sudden bolts of lightning that attacked the mountains viciously like an enemy with a kunai. Just when he would think he'd seen all the possible lightning bolts, a new one would appear, either different in shape or colour. The pair continued to stare, entranced, at the storm, not even looking away to hand back and forth the tub of ice-cream; all motions they made were unconscious to the point where they were almost mechanical.
They continued in this fashion until Rin piped up. "I love lightning. Everything about it is just so magical. The beauty of its colours, and the rhythm of its follower, the thunder. Makes you believe that maybe there's some good out there; that maybe, there really is some higher power."
Kakashi looked at her. "I don't know if I buy into that whole higher power stuff. I mean, what with all the war and death and tragedy, it's hard to. Even if there was a god…he left here long ago."
She looked back at him, eyes alight with hope; the lightning reflecting in her violet orbs. "Konoha will be great again," she told him, and she'd said it with such certainty, such conviction, that he almost believed her. Almost.
"Maybe."
"Oh come on Kakashi! You've got to believe, to have faith in something! Maybe not a god, because I'm not even sure one exists, but you've got to have faith in something good!"
"I…not really."
"You don't believe in good things? In good people?"
"What good people? People are selfish and evil, and generally useless. What good is there in a creature like that?"
Her eyes turned sympathetic as his eyes hardened and glazed over in thought. "Not all people are like that Kakashi. There are such things as miracles, you know? I see them everyday at the hospital."
He snorted in disbelief. "Well, it's a good thing that they exist, because Konoha's going to need a miracle to win this war. We're all going to need a miracle to survive."
"Well, if we lose then I'll believe you. But until then, you've just got to have faith. How much hopelessness and despair we feel depends greatly on our dispositions and not as much on our circumstances."
"That's a positive outlook."
"There's always a positive to everything. To survive, you've got to find the positives in a negative situation…" She trailed off softly in a pensive tone.
"Alright, so if you believe in this positive stuff…what's the positive to war?"
"You get to see who your real friends are."
Kakashi nearly shut up; he'd been so taken aback by her response. It was definitely not one he'd expected or even thought about, yet it seemed to fit. Whenever they engaged in one of these meaningful conversations – which were most definitely not often – she always said something that caught him completely off guard and surprised him to the fullest extent of the word. He had just one more question though.
"What's the positive to death?"
"Death isn't really a situation, it's a state."
"Fine then. Dying."
"Dying is sort of a state too…but I guess it would be eternal peace. If you're dying, you'll most likely be dead soon-"
"Unless someone saves you," he interjected.
"-Unless someone saves you – and if you're dead, that means you'll be at peace, right?"
"I don't know…do you really think that in their dying moments, people think about how at peace they are? Wouldn't you be thinking that you wanted to be alive longer; wouldn't you think about all those you'd miss, all your regrets?"
"Not if you lived your full life. If you lived your life the way you wanted to, then you should be at peace. Though, I guess I'm not that accurate of a source. I've never died."
"Me neither."
Rin stuck her spoon into the tub of ice-cream only to find that the contents were all gone. She looked back up to the horizon only to see that the lightning storm had ended, and now there were only dark, eerie clouds that still loomed over the village. She gave an involuntary shiver at their malevolent appearance, and wrapped the blanket tighter around her shoulders, standing up. "Let's go back in, it's getting creepy out here."
Kakashi agreed and helped by bringing the furniture back indoors. Despite the fact that it was only around nine PM, darkness hung around, casting frightening shadows on everything and shrouding the world in black. Determined not to think about it too intently, Kakashi prepared for bed and shut his eyes, attempting to sleep.
Rin sat herself in one of the chairs, her blanket still wrapped around her. Lost in thought about the conversation that had just occurred, she realized, at least subconsciously, that she was terribly uncertain about what she'd said and she knew that all she could do was hope. As a gloomy drowsiness overtook her, her eyelids shut and her elbows – which had been propping her head up – buckled under the weight of her head, allowing for her to fall asleep at the table.
Wishes and hopes for a better tomorrow in both their minds, the pair drifted off to dreamland, where a better world would await them and take hold for the next few hours.
When all of Konoha awoke the next morning, the ominous darkness was still upon them.
Author's Note: That is all for chapter 13 everyone! I hope that you have enjoyed it more than I have writing it, and once more, I apologize if it seemed less well written than chapter 12. Thank you to all of chapter 12's reviewers: chibirain94, catgirl9696, snappa, Hikari Minamoto, ninbunny alchemist, Piccylo, Sakra-chan, JoiZ. D, and rileyonline.
Chapterly Challenge: Ok, first off, congratulations to those who managed to get chapter 12's answer as well as chapter 11's.
Without further ado, here are the answers for 11 and 12 as well as the current standings.
Answer 11: You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Answer 12: It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country.
Standings:
Chibirain94 – 10
Catgirl9696 – 10
Sakra-chan – 11
Snappa – 19
Hikari Minamoto – 15
EndDragon – 5
Piccylo – 5
JoiZ. D – 10
Sachie-chan11 – 2
Please let me know if I got the standings wrong or if your name should be up there and it's not! Either way, for this week's challenge, we have another Latin phrase: Aut viam inveniam aut faciam. Good luck everyone!
Also, I am going to take a survey. I was thinking of doing the next few chapters in Rin and Kakashi's seperate POVs instead of the general narrator POV. Are you for or against? Please give your most honest answer; I do not offend easily and saying no definitely would not offend me. I am asking you, the reader, what you would like, so this is your chance to let me know!