Author's Note: Hello again, everyone! First off, I would like to report that my disposition has cleared up and is now at its usual contentedness. I hope that all had a lovely week, and if not, then I hope that this chapter is a good conclusion to your tiring week. Furthermore, if anyone has read the most recent chapters of the manga and is interested in talking about them, I am more than willing! It's quite difficult to find someone who's all caught up! Those are all your announcements for this chapter; enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Kakashi headed towards the gates of Konoha where he was to be debriefed on the latest mission. As he came closer to his destination, voices of the other operatives were heard.

"Hey did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"The new ANBU, the prodigy Hatake, was seen with a crying girl."

"Hatake was seen crying with a girl?"

"Hatake was seen crying like a girl?"

"Did you hear? Apparently Hatake was crying over a girl."

"No way! Hey man, Hatake cries like a little girl!"

"Hatake cries because he's a little girl?"

Hearing the ANBU version of a broken telephone conversation, Kakashi decided to make his presence known. "Yo," he greeted, "what does Hatake do?"

"Well, someone we know, a very reliable source, told us that Hatake was seen crying because he's actually a girl!"

Now that was the stupidest thing Kakashi had ever heard in his life. What the heck were these ANBU smoking?

"I'm crying because I'm a girl? Real funny. Now, which one of you sissies would like to repeat that to my face?"

Although Kakashi was without a doubt the youngest of the juniors, and therefore treated with a little less respect, all the other juniors had heard of his reputation for being strong in combat and some had even witnessed it; they all knew that it was not a good thing for one's self to get the young Hatake angry. Knowing what was good for them, all the operatives remained silent until the leader came about as well to debrief them.

The debriefing was the same it had been for the last few weeks: go to the border, pair up, and fight with Earth. The group of juniors travelled for a couple of hours with their leader, until they reached the border.

Once split up, Kakashi was landed with a junior that was probably two or three years his senior, but whose maturity level did not seem to outweigh Kakashi's. "Hey," the older teenager greeted, "looks like we'll be working together."

"Looks like it," Kakashi agreed.

"So, what's your name?"

Kakashi stared at the other boy strangely. No one had ever bothered to ask his name before. He was Wolf, and that was all. No other name, no face to put to it. Just a mask and a title. It was a little weird to have someone wonder about his name. "Wolf," Kakashi answered. In a sense, it was true. When he was an ANBU that was what he was to be called.

The boy behind the Bird mask scoffed. "I mean your real name. Might as well get to know each other a little if we have to deal with each other for a week. My name is Kane Benjiro. What's yours?"

"Hatake Kakashi."

"Seriously? You're the Hatake Kakashi? As in Hatake Sakumo's son?"

Kakashi froze upon hearing his father's name, and locked his eyes on Benjiro's mask, unsure of whether to be offended that he had been asked that or pleased. "Yes," Kakashi said through gritted teeth.

"Whoa, nice to meet you! I've waited so long for this day!"

Ok, my creepy radar is going off. "Uh…thanks."

Benjiro suddenly turned serious. "I just wanted you to know, I don't agree with everyone about your father. I think Hatake Sakumo-sama was a great shinobi, and an even greater person. He is a hero. Saving your comrade's lives, even though you know there's going to be serious consequences…that is a honourable shinobi, right there. The village were a bunch of idiots when they disgraced him."

Kakashi let out a breath he hadn't been aware that he'd been holding, but did not let his guard down. With all the strangeness radiating from his partner, who was to say that the man was not an Earth shinobi in disguise? Benjiro did not comport himself in the traditional ANBU fashion, and he didn't seem to understand that in an organization such as ANBU, all operatives were selected because of their adamant state towards the rules. This was not to say that Benjiro could not be both adamant about the rules and in agreement with Sakumo's values, but it did not seem likely.

With that said, the young men began to converse about various bland topics while scouring their area for any sign of trouble. While involved in a conversation about the war itself, a kunai appeared from out of nowhere, narrowly missing Benjiro's heart. Alert and prepared for battle, Kakashi and Benjiro perched themselves on opposite tree branches and readied themselves to defend.

A shinobi quickly emerged from the concealing foliage and positioned his/herself across from both ANBU operatives. All three became locked in a staring match, and for a few moments, the atmosphere was completely calm. It was only broken when, with a sudden leap, the enemy shinobi moved forward and threw out a few more kunai.

Kakashi and Benjiro avoided the kunai easily; they were, after all, Jounin. However, the shinobi had leaped so high into the air that neither boy could see his/her position, the bright morning sun blinding them. The enemy took opportunity of this advantage, and landed a sharp kick to the back of Benjiro's neck, throwing the older boy forward. With him down for the count, the enemy, now obviously a woman, advanced on Kakashi.

Forming a few hand seals, she was able to manipulate the braches and force them to wind around Kakashi's form. Immediately noticing how the leaves began to shake, Kakashi made it out of the way in time with a back handspring. Unfortunately, the woman was so rapid in her movements that he barely had enough time to put up a kunai in defence. She was at his side, slamming her own kunai forcefully down on his. Kakashi was still in a semi-crouching position, trying hard to fight his way back onto the large branch, when finally, with one powerful thrust of the arm, he managed to push her back enough to land himself in a standing position.

The woman jumped back and perched herself on another one of the tree's branches. Regaining her balance quickly, she pushed forward again and made a few more hand signs. Kakashi could only counter with a few jutsu of his own; he would burn any foliage that came at him with a Katon, and he would either evade or douse the trees with a water type jutsu he had copied on his last mission. Chidori was not an option, seeing as the woman was moving extremely quickly, and Kakashi simply did not have the right type of chakra to perform an effective Rasengan.

The two seemed evenly matched even without Kakashi's use of the Sharingan, and Kakashi knew that if they kept going at this pace, that he'd have the upper hand in the end. The fight had now switched to taijutsu, a form Kakashi felt fairly confident about because of his body's great flexibility. However, when the woman leapt towards the skies again and out of sight, Kakashi became a little more anxious with regards to the situation. He was fumbling with his mask and hitai-ate, trying to reveal the Sharingan so that he'd have a better view, when the sound of his previously fallen comrade screamed his name. "Kakashi! Move!" He heard Benjiro shout from a distance and his right eye widened in fear.

Kakashi turned around to see what was going on behind him and witnessed Benjiro kicking the enemy kunoichi to the ground; she had been about to give Kakashi a nice concussion when stopped. Kakashi called out his thanks, but the battle was far from over; after all, this was one stubborn and skilled Earth kunoichi. In one sharp movement, she managed to grab Benjiro's leg and took him down with her, flinging him into the side of a tree on their way down. A sickening crack! was heard along with Benjiro's moan of pain.

Damn woman. She must have broken his leg or something. Kakashi cursed mentally and managed to, at last, move up his hitai-ate and sprinted down to the ground where both his injured comrade and the enemy target were located.

Although the woman had attempted to conceal herself with some form of an invisibility jutsu, Kakashi was able to view her chakra clearly and from there, attack with cold precision. The kunoichi was caught off guard by Kakashi's unique visibility, and thus her moves became slightly more cautious and calculated. This boy was good for his age, too good. What were they feeding these Konoha kids?

All at once the battle turned fast paced and exciting; to all who were oblivious of the shinobi world, it would have looked more like the two of them were performing some intricate Viennese waltz or modified version of a tango. The only signs of it being combat were the various elements moving from one towards the other and the kicks and punches that viciously sliced through the tense atmosphere. Perspiration leaked through both their clothes as the battle went on, and Kakashi knew that if he did not end it soon, the Sharingan would deplete all his chakra and then he wouldn't be able to fight, wouldn't be able to win.

In his head, Obito cried out words of encouragement, but even those were fading away. When Kakashi noticed how lethargic the kunoichi's moves had become, and how far away his comrade was, he stepped back and prepared to form a chidori.

Sensing that something big was about to happen, the woman jumped back suddenly as well and grabbed the body of Kakashi's injured comrade, lifting the pained boy to his feet while wrapping an arm around his neck, a kunai placed threateningly in her hand. She walked from side to side, still facing Kakashi and smiled menacingly. "Now now, let's not be hasty," she cooed cruelly, "You wouldn't want anything to happen to your friend here." As she spoke her threats, the arm around Benjiro's neck tightened ever so slightly and he tugged at it, trying to let more air fill his windpipe. It was no use to try and move his hands or legs; the woman had tied them up by summoning nearby tree roots.

Kakashi gritted his teeth and bided his time. With Benjiro directly in the line of fire, there was no way that Kakashi could just use the chidori. The woman knew this and had taken over the fight that way. Unsure of what else he could do, Kakashi attempted a feint bound in her direction, and her eyes widened fearfully as she pulled out a few more kunai from her back pouch and threw them rapidly at him. He gasped as three out of four of them hit their target, making ugly wounds on his arms and legs.

Pleased to see that the fight was going in her favour, the kunoichi allowed herself a victorious, yet malicious chuckle, which let both boys know she was far from finished with them. Wanting desperately to finish Kakashi off, as she noted that he was most definitely the stronger of the two, she flung a few more kunai at his erect, yet motionless form and once more, they hit their target. She laughed harshly in delight at his pained expression and her eyes sparkled with triumph.

The laugh and the look on her face quickly faded away when Kakashi's injured form disappeared with a pop! It must have been a bunshin, she realized, mortified. As if coming out only to confirm her suspicious, Kakashi appeared behind the woman, completely uninjured, and landed a wall-placed kick to the back of her head. The kunoichi stumbled awkwardly to the ground, taking Benjiro down with her. Another crack was heard and Benjiro rolled onto his knees, clutching at his abdomen.

Once the kunoichi rose to her feet once more, Kakashi demobilized her with a kick to the chest, knocking out all her wind and sending her flying into a tree. As soon as Kakashi was sure that she was down for the count, he formed the appropriate hand seals and annihilated his enemy with a chidori.

He fell to the floor soon after, panting; the Sharingan still took too much out of him to be used for long periods of time and the third tomoe hadn't even appeared yet. Tiredly, he crawled over to where Benjiro still sat on his knees, and Kakashi inquired whether the older boy was all right. Benjiro simply grinned lightly and assured Kakashi that he was fine. When they tried to stand up however, Kakashi noted that this was indeed not the case. Benjiro's right leg appeared to be broken in multiple places, and one portion of the right side of his ribs jutted out unnaturally, visible even underneath all the ANBU attire. "We're going back to the camp to get you cleaned up," Kakashi told him.

"I'm fine, Kakashi. Besides, we need to stay here and fight."

"In your condition, you will only be a liability, and not an asset. You are of no use to anyone dead. Now come on, let's go."

Despite his apparent exhaustion, Kakashi did not struggle too much when helping Benjiro to his feet, and even less when the boy leaned on him for support. Together they limped back to a bush where Kakashi instructed the other boy to remove his chest-plate armour. Benjiro did as he was told, and Kakashi, with his minimal medical knowledge, comprised only of whatever he'd learnt from Rin, was able to asses that the boy was in no critical danger at the moment, but would be if they did not get to a hospital soon.

"Hey Kakashi, why are you doing this for me? You could just go on and leave me here," Benjiro remarked.

"That's ridiculous; you have people who need you back in Konoha, people who are both important to you and you are important to them. What would they do if you were to die?"

"I'm sure they'd go on somehow. Besides, there must be people waiting for you too back home. If you preoccupy yourself with me, then we'll both die. What would they do if you were to die?"

An image of Minato and Rin flashed through Kakashi's mind and he immediately felt a pang of guilt. Benjiro did have a point in what he was saying, but there was no way Kakashi was going to let another comrade die. It wasn't fair. If Kakashi had to go down saving someone, that was fine by him.

"I'm not leaving. I'm not letting a comrade of mine die. The people I have back home…they would understand."

Benjiro, while not having known Kakashi for a long time, still knew better than to contradict him when he spoke with such determination. Sighing resignedly, he laid back while Kakashi performed the minimalist medicinal tasks he had been taught, and opted for some conversation.

"So," Benjiro started, "who are these special people anyway? I'd like to know more about them, if you don't mind sharing."

Deciding that there couldn't be too much harm in giving a few details, and knowing that it would help take Benjiro's mind off the pain he would experience from having pressure applied to his wounds, Kakashi responded. "Well one of them is my sensei. He's a great man and he's one of the only adults I trust."

"What's he like?"

"He's a genius, not only when it comes to being a shinobi, but also when it comes to his approach towards life. It's a difficult thing to see so much pain and death in one's lifetime, and still have the strength of optimism surround you; that's what makes him so admirable."

"He sounds great," Benjiro agreed. "What does he look like?"

"Uh…" Kakashi paused, not wanting to answer. This is exactly the kind of thing he wanted to avoid; if he were to tell him that his sensei was the Hokage, then Benjiro would probably think that Kakashi had gotten into ANBU because of favouritism and knowing people in the higher-ups.

Acknowledging Kakashi's pause thoughtfully, Benjiro ascertained, "So the rumours are true then? You are the Hokage's pupil?"

"Yes," Kakashi nodded, bracing himself for any hatred or yelling that would come.

"That's so cool!" Benjiro exclaimed. "Boy Kakashi, you are one lucky kid. So, who's this other person?"

"My friend," Kakashi answered, not wanting to give more insight into the matter. He really tried to avoid describing Rin to anyone he didn't know; it made him uncomfortable for some reason.

Benjiro wasn't going to let things go that easily. Kakashi's reluctance only intensified his curiosity, and he prodded the younger male for more details.

"My friend is nice and kind to everyone. Always polite and caring, doesn't let friends down. That would about sum it up."

"Always kind and caring? I can't imagine he makes a good shinobi."

"She, not he," corrected Kakashi unconsciously, as he formed a tourniquet around one of Benjiro's arm wounds. Kakashi's eyes widened as he realized the correction he'd made and what critical information it had given away.

Benjiro had obviously noticed this too and grinned teasingly. "She, eh? So one of your most important people is a female? Do tell, do tell."

"There's nothing to tell. It's not what your mind is thinking. She's just a friend."

Just then, Kakashi's ANBU radio crackled and the voice of one of the border commanders rang out, "Wolf, Bird! What the hell are you two doing? Having a tea party? Report back immediately! Over."

Kakashi thanked the gods for allowing this distraction and held the radio to his mouth. "Wolf here, sir! We have annihilated the target previously in our area. We request permission to make our way back to camp; Bird has sustained serious injuries in combat and is in need of medical assistance. Over."

A few moments pause, with only static to fill the air and then, "Wolf! Thank god, we thought you both had died! We've been trying to get in contact with you for nearly an hour! The enemy has torn down our medical camp. Over."

"Wolf here. What do we do then? We're sitting ducks until we get Bird fixed. Over."

"Wolf, take Bird and relocate yourselves to the nearest hospital. Avoid any contact with the enemy; shield yourselves effectively. You may only proceed if you, Wolf, are able to still engage in combat. We don't need two deaths on our hands. Heck, we can't even afford one. So, do you think you still have the power? Over."

"Affirmative. I am able to take care of both of us. We will begin our trek to the nearest Fire Country hospital. Over."

"Wolf! Do not go into any hospital in a civilian village! You may unsuspectingly lead an enemy there, and god knows we can't defend ourselves from an inside invasion. Take Bird and head to Konoha's hospital. Over."

"Very well. We shall go to Konoha. Wolf, over and out."

Kakashi placed the radio back on his belt and helped Benjiro to stand. Together the two of them limped from tree to tree, using only minimal chakra to propel themselves forward.

After about an hour's travel, when they'd reached the halfway point to Konoha, Benjiro's legs gave out and he collapsed against the nearest trunk. Kakashi stumbled along with him, but managed to catch himself in the nick of time. "What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"Just leave me here," Benjiro told him, "I can't walk anymore, and there's an enemy coming up to us from the left side. Go Kakashi. Save yourself."

"I'm not abandoning a comrade," Kakashi insisted stubbornly. "I'll fight off the enemy and then we can head over the hospital."

Benjiro shook his head and urged Kakashi to go on by himself. Just then, the enemy appeared from out of nowhere. Kakashi activated his Sharingan and finished the man off quickly; although the enemy was fairly old, he seemed to be only a weak Chuunin or strong Genin. Despite the man's lack of ability, Kakashi's fatigue from the previous fight caused him to function at a lower level as well and he'd sustained a nasty blow to the stomach. Even though Kakashi's insides churned viciously, he still managed to lift the now very weak and injured Benjiro and carry him to Konoha.

"Hey Kakashi," Benjiro commenced.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me more about this female friend of yours."

"There's not much to tell. She's kind, she's female, and she's my friend. That's about all."

"I'm sure she's not half as bland as you make her out to be. What's her name at least?"

"Rin."

"That's a pretty name," Benjiro chirped weakly but happily.

Kakashi gave no response; he was too tired and only had enough energy to concentrate on getting to the desired destination. Looking to his left, Kakashi recognized the Nara clan's forest and felt overwhelming relief at knowing that they would soon arrive at the gates of Konoha, and more importantly, the hospital.

Adrenaline coursed through him and he sped up, desperate to reach the gates and give Benjiro's now unconscious form to a speedy Chuunin, who would ensure that the ANBU got there in record timing.

Fitting to his beliefs, the moment Kakashi entered Konoha's gates and the Chuunin guards recognized that he was ANBU; they immediately took the injured Benjiro out of his arms and ran him over to the hospital. Kakashi muttered a tired thanks; his whole body felt like lead as he dragged himself over to his apartment; hopefully Rin would be home and she'd be able to heal him. The hospital was definitely not somewhere Kakashi wanted to go right now; actually, it was a place he didn't ever want to go. The sterile white walls and the strong smell of bleach brought him discomfiture, and the female nurses that bustled about were just as frightening.

Strength and visibility both fading, Kakashi opened the door to his apartment, and called hoarsely through the small space Rin's name. He heard no response, and proceeded to walk through all the rooms, checking each for any sign of his roommate. Upon heading back to the kitchen, Kakashi felt a sudden wave of dizziness overcome him and fell back into a sitting position. The dizziness brought along with it sharp stabs of pain, mainly to his abdomen area, and an irritation developed itself in his throat. He coughed harshly, too disoriented to worry about what was going on, and a dark crimson phlegm-blood mixture hit the fabric of his mask. What is this stuff? He wondered. What's happening to me? Why is it getting so dark all of a sudden…?

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Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Rin was preparing to leave, for it was the end of her shift, when the two Chuunin guards rushed in with an unconscious ANBU. "Hurry, get him a medic!" One guard yelled at the other. Sighing, Rin headed towards the pair and removed the injured shinobi from their arms, placing him on a stretcher. It seemed as though her shift was hardly over.

"Let's wheel him in," she commanded the guards while yelling for some medics to come help.

In a matter of seconds, they placed Benjiro onto a bed, hooked him up to various machines and let the healing begin. He'd sustained not only kunai wounds and dark bruises inflicted by blunt force trauma, but also various fractures in his right leg and a couple of broken ribs. None of the ANBU's injuries were life-threatening and after an intense fifteen minute healing session, Rin was able to trudge back home, nearly completely depleted of her chakra resources.

She didn't even bother to turn on the lights as she entered the apartment; no one was supposed to be home and therefore, she could just directly make her way to the comfy mattress that awaited her. When she moved towards said mattress however, Rin stumbled over something and almost fell flat on her face.

"Weird," she commented to herself, "I could have sworn I moved the groceries." Looking back towards the dark area she had just passed, Rin headed back over to the front door cautiously and turned on the lights in the main room. Upon lighting the room, she discovered that it was an unconscious Kakashi she had stumbled over. It did not seem to worry her at first; this was certainly not the first time he had come home from a mission and passed out in the doorway, but upon closer inspection, she noticed that there was something different about his features.

Firstly, they were not the same drowsy ones his face and body always donned when he was asleep and secondly, his cheeks were tinted pink. To top it all off, it seemed as though he was shivering. Rin frowned and placed a freezing cold hand to his forehead. It felt warm. Too warm. Normally, if she would have placed her hand on any spot of his heated epidermis, he would have jumped up immediately, startled by the cold. Yet here he lay, still motionless.

Her frown deepened and she decided to shake his shoulders, to see if perhaps he had just fallen asleep and caught a cold. Again, she had no luck in waking the boy. As a final attempt, she called out his name – softly at first, but increasing in volume each time.

"Kakashi…" He didn't say a word.

"Kakashi?" No answer.

"Kakashi." Still no answer.

"Kakashi!" Nothing.

"Kakashi?!" Silence.

"Come on Kakashi, this isn't funny anymore. If this is something you did to scare me, you win; I'm scared. Come on, please wake up!" By this time she was shouting and shaking him by the shoulders. His body rocked to and fro lifelessly like a rag-doll, not showing any signs of activity.

Seeing him so unresponsive, Rin bit her lip and feared the worst. She set him back down on the hardwood floors, and pressed an ear to his chest. Hearing his heart pulse in his chest, she breathed a sigh of relief. If he had been without a pulse, she knew that it would have been near impossible, at best, to revive him. There was not enough chakra in her system at the moment to jump-start his heart, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation wasn't guaranteed to work. Shaking his shoulders and dousing his face with cold water a few more times, Rin was able to ascertain that he would not be waking any time soon. Also, he had various injuries that needed tending to and the rosiness in his cheeks had seemed to intensify in the last few minutes.

Slinging him onto her shoulder, she thanked the gods or whoever was up there for making the apartment relatively close to the hospital. He was heavy compared to her, and she staggered under his weight. Furthermore, when standing, his body towered a good few inches over hers, which made him extremely difficult to carry. Without complaint through – for she was much too scared for his health – Rin steadied him on her shoulder and rapidly bounded off to the rooftops of homes, the little chakra she had propelling her forward at a fairly quick pace.

Reaching the hospital, Rin burst through the doors and set Kakashi down gently on a stretcher – taking care to have both his masks secured to his face – and called through the halls for medical assistance. The nurses were surprised to see her back, and even more surprised to see her pushing around an ANBU. When they looked at her curiously, Rin merely stated that she'd been going home when she found the unconscious ANBU on the ground – it was the closest version to the truth she could think of without giving anything away. The nurses seemed to accept her explanation, for they nodded seriously in her direction, before pulling the stretcher into a nearby room.

Rin felt completely helpless. She had not been able to assist with the healing, for she had insufficient chakra, and thus needed to content herself with giving orders to the other nurses while they worked on fixing Kakashi. She also was the one who they sent out to get fresh towels or water. Kakashi lay, still unconscious on the hospital bed, his body hooked up to a heart monitor and various other hospital machines.

The group of nurses healing him were having much difficulty. At first, they had healed only the gashes and bruises he'd sustained, but it didn't seem to help his condition. They didn't panic for they knew his body would need a long time to recover – especially with that unique Sharingan implanted in him. No, the nurses only panicked when all of a sudden the heart monitor flat-lined. Most would have taken it as a sign to give up, but this was an ANBU and a respected member of the community; not only that, but they couldn't let him just die when one of his friends was in the room watching.

Rin also saw the heart monitor flat-line, as well as hearing the long beep, and could have almost sworn that her heart stopped in that instant too. It wasn't happening. This wasn't possible. She couldn't lose another one; not another teammate, not another friend. From that point on, everything seemed to move in slow motion; the nurses commands to each other were deep and distorted, while their movements were lethargic to the point of almost frozen motion.

She watched in mild entrancement as they shouted to one another, and pulled out the nearest defibrillator. One of them had the pads in her hands and she called out a number followed by "Clear!" Rin watched as his body lifted itself off the bed when the electric shock was administered and snapped back to reality.

"What's the situation?" She called out above all the noise.

"We've managed to get back a pulse after 120 joules but we're on stand-by at this point; anything could happen really," one of the head nurses answered.

With that said, the older woman went back to work, applying more chakra and having the younger nurses clean more of his wounds. After spending another half hour in heart-rending anticipation, Rin was offered some form of relief from the words of the head nurse. "He's going to be fine," she told the anxious young medic, "we've managed to stabilize his condition."

"What happened though? Patients don't usually flat-line because of a few kunai wounds."

"I don't know what's wrong with him at this point; we'll run a few more tests in a couple of minutes. From the symptoms his body's been showing throughout though, my best guess would be that it has something to do with his digestive system."

"Digestive system?" Rin asked and got an idea. "Can I run a test? I think I know what's going on."

"Sure."

Rin took a little chakra from one of the youngest nurses working graveyard shift, and used it to perform her test. Once she finished examining his stomach and trachea, she concluded that her suspicions had been indeed strange, but also correct. She glanced over once more at Kakashi's form, before heading outside to share her findings. "It was just as I'd thought," Rin told the older nurses. "For some reason, his body went into anaphylactic shock."

"What? You mean from an allergy?"

"Yeah; I'm not sure what he's allergic to though. We'll have to do more examination when he's woken up."

"But the allergen could be gone by then!" One of the nurses protested.

"I doubt it. Even so, we'll just have to see when he wakes up. There'll be no more tests to be performed on this ANBU while he's asleep, alright?"

"Fine."

"I'll take over his case from here. Hand me the files."

"Rin, at least go home to freshen up and get some rest. You've been here nearly all day long."

"I'll go to get a change of clothes," she agreed, "but then I'm coming straight back. I'll sleep on a chair or something. No need to worry about me. Besides, I can't go home now; I've got a patient that needs looking after." Rin threw them a smile and they could do nothing but agree. It was something talked about frequently between the older nurses; this young medic was much too caring, selfless and stubborn for her own good.

True to her word, Rin came back to the hospital only twenty minutes later, and seated herself in a chair she placed a few meters away from Kakashi's bed, taking care to give the boy plenty of space to breathe. She wanted to move closer, but wasn't sure if that would offset some detriment in his health. Part of her was still shaken, while part of her was grateful, while part of her was furious.

Rin knew that one of the factors causing his recovery to be so delayed was the Sharingan. She had been hesitant when Kakashi had joined ANBU, because she feared that he'd push himself too hard – like he always did – and her fears had just been affirmed. She scooted a little closer and, being sure to keep the majority of herself at a distance, she wiped some of the sweat that was forming on his forehead with a fresh towel.

"Oh Obito," she sighed heavily as she dabbed at the beads of sweat, "If you gave him the Sharingan, why couldn't you have also given him the brain with which to use it?"

Author's Note: Dun, dun, dun! Slight bit of a cliffie (not really) and the next chapter will have much emotional intensity. Hope you're all ready for it. ;) As always, I encourage you to leave constructive reviews filled with your honest criticisms and ideas about this fic. Chapter 14 received a sad review count of five reviews (chibirain94, ninbunny alchemist, catgirl9696, Sakra-chan, and Frog Lady), and even though I am not writing this for reviews, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take the time to review. Thank you.

Chapterly Challenge: Ok, so about one of you (I think that's right...) participated in the last chapterly challenge. The answer was: A watched pot never boils.

Now, let's take a look at our standings:

Chibirain94 - 10

Catgirl9696 - 15

Sakra-chan - 12

Snappa - 24

Hikari Minamoto - 15

EndDragon - 5

Piccylo - 10

JoiZ. D - 10

Sachie-chan11 - 2

Rileyonline - 10

As for this week's challenge, we have two options: one Latin and one English! This is in order to satisfy both sides of the reviewers, and hopefully, to bring some more thorough language education. Even if you tell me the answer to both, you will only receive credit for one. Alright, without further ado, here are the challenge(s):

1) The stylus is more potent than the claymore.

2) Vita non est vivere sed valere vita est.