Chapter summary: Minato is worried, Kakashi isn't handling things well, Obito is confused, and Rin is done with this shit
A/N: I probabaly should have told you guys that I'm a big perfectionist and just rewrite chapters over and over again until I don't hate it as much as I originally did. I also broke my arm so that's why this took forever to get out.
Minato, like every other leaf shinobi, had been expected to protect te village with his life the minute he had wrapped the headband around his head, but Minato didn't work hard to protect the village. He did everything he could to protect the little sweetshop Kushina had kissed him for the first time, his favorite tree he liked to sit under when he was trying to figure out a new seal, the training grounds where he had first tested his students. The reason he protected the village was because of a certain red head and three kids he couldn't but call his, but the Minato wasn't blind.
Konoha was a ninja village and like every other ninja village, it swept its secrets under a rug and had blood on its hands. It takes and breaks children too quickly; sending them off to kill another human being before most of them even hit puberty. Minato knew that even though the village preached of it being better than its neighbors, it was always quick to turn on its own.
"I'm glad you decided to join us Kakashi," Minato said to the stoic little boy as they walked through the village to Ichiraku's. He was doing most of the talking. Minato technically could have teleported them to the seal he had placed on his favorite ramen stall, but he had noticed Kakashi's shaking and his pale, scared face when he had changed his mind to join him and Kushina, so he had decided that the walk and the chilled evening air would be good for the boy. "Kushina will be glad too. She's been asking me questions about how you've been."
Minato was sixteen when he had first met Kakashi. He had only been promoted to jonin for a couple of months when Jiariya-sensei had asked him to meet with his friend Hatake Sakumo. The legendary White Fang of Konoha had been looking for someone to tutor his five ("Five and a half," Minato remembered a smaller Kakashi saying to him) year old son outside of the academy. Kakashi had skipped ahead two years but was still dying of boredom while in class. The only reason why Kakashi hadn't gone through with the early graduation had been because Sakumo had desperately wanted his socially stunted son to learn how to make friends.
Minato had agreed to tutor the young boy and, unsurprisingly, became quite fond of Kakashi. Although, Minato never expected to be given another human being. After Sakumo's death Minato had fumbled around Kakashi, not knowing what to do. Minato hadn't been sure if he had to change their relationship, or even if he had the right to change it (Did Kakashi want him to just keep being his teacher? Did he need him to be a friend? Did he want him to try to become some sort of father figure? All three?), but before he could find out what Kakashi needed him to do, who he need Minato to be, Kakashi had graduated, legally became an 'adult', and had moved out of the spare room of Minato's small apartment.
It was something Minato regretted the most and that regret just became heavier that afternoon.
"I bet she'd love to hear about how you've managed to get that earth jutsu down," Minato continued to fill the silence between him and Kakashi. He didn't mind since Kakashi had finally stopped shaking and seemed to cling onto Minato's voice to get him out of his own mind. "Kushina might be a little peeved though since it had taken her weeks to get that particular jutsu down."
"It might be because her chakra affinity is water," Kakashi said. His voice was soft and timid, and if the jonin hadn't been waiting for Kakashi to say something he was sure he wouldn't had heard him. Minato's heart warmed and the worried feeling he'd been dealing with for most of the day lessened just from hearing the boy's voice. "The earth jutsu would have possibly clashed with her…water chakra."
Minato smiled fondly and reached over to ruffle the boy's hair (his heart soared when Kakashi leaned into the gesture instead of pulling away like he had expected). "Yeah, you're probably right."
Kushina had been excited to see Kakashi and took up most of the time asking about how he's been or sharing stories about how she beat some misogynistic Iwa ninja to the ground back in her last mission. He and Kushina did most of the talking, letting Kakashi, who had been forced to sit in between them by Kushina, eat his bowl of ramen in peace. They didn't try to stop Kakashi from falling asleep, his head cushioned on his arms where he leaned against the wooden counter after he had finished his bowl, and when they had finished eating Kushina helped Minato secure Kakashi onto his back.
"I forget how young he really is," Kushina said as they walked home. She reached over and lightly traced the bags under Kakashi's eyes.
Minato smiled sadly. "I think he forgets that too."
Kakashi only stirred once on the way back to their apartment.
He hasn't slept in days.
The night he had spent with Minato had slept fine, but he couldn't stay there forever. He was a chunin, he couldn't sleep over at his Sensei's like he was some sort of kid, and he made sure to tell that to his sensei (and promptly ignored the sad fond look in the man's eye). He's been dealing with those weird dreams every night since then.
Kakashi had tried to do meditations and pre-sleep routines that are supposed to help prevent nightmares, but nothing had helped. He continued to wake up every midnight, drenched in sweat and close to tears. He was getting real tired of it, so Kakashi had decided to just give up on the whole idea of sleeping.
The first day had been fine. He managed to keep his eyes open and catch himself when he swayed on his feet. On the third day Kakashi couldn't stop moving. He had been vibrating with pent up energy (really, he had only been tapping his finger against his thigh, he didn't need to be acting more out of the ordinary than usual than he already had) for most of the day. He had never been so grateful to see Gai before that day. The second the words "I challenge you" left Gai's lips Kakashi tackled him to the ground, his sudden eagerness to a challenge catching Gai off guard. At the end of the challenge Kakashi was in the lead with his newest win and a tiny (bloody) smile on his lips as Gai ran off to do his self-imposed punishment.
Today was turning out to be a completely different story apparently. Kakashi had a steady and pulsing headache. He was having trouble remembering the simplest of things and he was sure that he was starting to hallucinate since Rin now had three arms instead of her usual two (She…did only have two arms before, right?). Not only that but today was a free-for-all spar where Obito and Rin had decided to tag team against him.
Kakashi jumped out of the way of Obito's fireball and sped through hand signs to create a pair of shadow clones in retaliation. His clones keeping Rin and Obito busy while Kakashi went off and hid in the trees to catch his breath. He was having trouble forming hand signs for his normal jutsus and he felt clumsier than usual as he moved around. Kakashi had almost tripped on his own feet multiple times during this stupid spar.
To put it simply, Kakashi was not okay. He was dying, but the thought of falling asleep made Kakashi feel sick because anything was better than sleeping. Sleeping meant having dreams and that meant watching his team dying, drowning in their blood, and having their dead lifeless eyes burned into his mind.
No, sleeping was not an option anymore.
Kakashi jumped down from his hiding tree and landed on the ground when a rain of kunai was thrown at him. The second his feet touched the ground, Rin came charging at him with her own kunai. He barely managed to dodge her with a triple back somersault; which he immediately regretted when his vision went blurry.
When his vision came back, and he didn't feel like throwing up the ration bars he had eaten earlier, he was greeted by the image of him being cornered by his two very proud looking teammates.
"We have you now, Kakashi," Rin said, a happy grin on her lips. Her clothes were singed a bit from the fireball he had thrown at her a while ago.
"We're finally catching up to you," Obito said, his own grin matching Rin's.
Kakashi didn't bother saying anything. Instead, he moved into a fighting stance watching as the other two mimicked him and got ready to attack themselves. Kakashi reached behind him and takes his tanto out from his holster, moves chakra to the soles of his feet, takes a step forward and—blacks out.
Her body knew what to do before she did. One-minute Rin was standing next to Obito, both ready to finally, finally, win one of these rare one-against-two matches Sensei would make them have, and then the next she was kneeling next to a unconscious Kakashi. Rin could feel the panic trying to get control of her body but all her training and on field experience kept her hands from shaking.
"Kakashi?" Rin called out loudly to the younger boy, as she flipped him around onto his backside. She started to slap Kakashi's cheek in hopes that he would open his eyes. "Kakashi, can you hear me?"
When Rin got no answer, she leaned over and pressed her ear to his chest. She breathed out a sigh of relief when Kakashi's heart and breathing sounded normal.
"Is he okay?" Obito asked from where he knelt on the other side of Kakashi. His whole body was the definition of worry; his hands hovering over Kakashi, having a need to help Rin, to help Kakashi, but knowing that he was little to no use at this very moment. Rin hadn't noticed Obito following her towards the younger boy, but she wasn't surprised. She knew that even though Obito fought with Kakashi, he cared. "What's wrong with him?"
"I don't know," Rin answered as she focused green tinted chakra to her hands and started to scan Kakashi's body with it. "His breathing and heartbeat are fine. He doesn't have any physical wounds from what I can tell."
"Chakra exhaustion?" Obito suggested.
"It looks like, but we should take him to the hospital anyways," Rin said, biting her lip. She cut off the flow of chakra and sat Kakashi up enough for her to be able to wrap his arm around her shoulders. "Help me carry him back to Minato-sensei."
"Yeah, okay," Obito quickly took Kakashi's other arm and took most of his weight as they struggled to get back on their feet.
Minato-sensei took Kakashi into his own arms and hiraishined towards the hospital, coming back for her and Obito.
Rin had to deal with her teammates' constant bickering and belittling of each other, Obito's chronic lateness, Kakashi's harsh bitterness towards everything in the world. She's been dealing with those two for the past three years now and Rin was damn sure that she has rightfully earned the title of The Most Patient Kinochi in Konoha, but even she had her boiling point, and right now, right now Rin was fucking pissed.
Rin knew that she wasn't the quickest or the strongest on the team, but she knew she was good at what she did. Rin was proud to be a medic-nin, knowing that she could be the only thing standing between her teammates and a premature death, but that wasn't enough, it never seemed to be enough.
She was Rin Nohara, the female of Team 7, the medic-nin, the sweet kunoichi that could do no wrong (because everyone seemed to forget that she was living through this war too. That she had seen just as much blood and gore as her teammates do, maybe even more considering that she was a medic-nin). Everyone, even her own teammates, kept pushing her aside while they focused on Kakashi, the prodigy, and Obito, the knucklehead with great potential. She was the side character to her male counterparts' main stories.
No more.
She's tired of being pushed aside, and as she watches Kakashi sleep, a sense of determination so strong that she felt like she might throw up start to grow in her chest.
No more.
She's not going to let herself get pushed aside anymore.
He hasn't dreamt of the three genin in a while.
They were coming back from a mission. It had gone incredibly well, a simple C-rank where they had had to guard a merchant's cart all the way back to their village (and for some reason Kakashi felt incredibly relieved because it real had really been a C-rank this time), and they were now heading back home. He and the genin were only a couple miles away from Konoha when they came across a small restaurant on the path.
Kakashi hid a smile behind his mask when he heard three stomachs rumble and led them in to treat them to lunch. As he watched the three kids eat and talk amongst themselves he started to feel a sort of warmth in his chest, because his kids were just enjoying each 0other's company, acting like the kids this system tried so hard to destroy.
Kakashi tries hard to ignore that fact; tries to forget that this world takes more than it gives. Instead, Kakashi agrees to play the silly game the blonde boy made up on the spot.
"Sleep desperation?" Obito said after the medic-nin had finished checking what was wrong with Kakashi. Minato-sensei had been pacing worryingly around the room as the medic-nin did his job—and Obito knew that it had taken his sensei everything he had to not loom over the other man and ask him millions of questions—while he and Rin took the very uncomfortable chairs next to Kakashi's bed. Obito would never say this out loud but seeing Bakakashi laying there looking nothing like himself was causing him to feel worried for the stupid jerk.
"Sleep deprivation," The man said, slowly repeating the word for Obito. A smile on his lips like he found the fact that Obito had said it wrong was cute. "It means your friend hasn't been getting enough sleep. It's usually common to see in shinobi who suffer from insomnia. On top of the chakra exhaustion it makes perfect sense why the boy passed out."
"But Kakashi isn't an insomniac," Minato-sensei said, his arms crossed to stop himself from twitching.
"Your team is quite familiar with border duty, am I right?" The medicnin said, and then continued when they all nodded to confirm. "Well we all know that border duty has its own gory tales to tell and considering how young Hatake is and what…happened to his father, this could possibly be PTSD. It is confirmed that insomnia is a symptom."
His dad? Obito thought to himself. What about him?
He was about to ask the medic what he had meant by that but was cut off by Minato-Sensei who asked the medic when Kakashi would be waking up. The medic-nin told them that he expected Kakashi to wake up early tomorrow morning, considering the idiot needed to catch up on sleep before he finally left. The three of them stayed there watching Kakashi's chest rise and fall in silence until Minato-sensei rubbed his eyes harshly with the bottoms of his hands as his whole body practically sagged where he stood.
"You two should head home," Minato-sensei said, finally looking away from Kakashi to give him and a Rin a smile. His way of trying to reassure the both. "You guys must be hungry. I'll send a toad to get you guys when Kakashi wakes up."
He and Rin didn't put up much of a fight, both because the medic-nin had said that Kakashi would be fine and because they didn't want to stress out their sensei more than he already was. They said their farewells to Minato-sensei and walked through the semi-busy hospital hallways.
"I'll see you later, Rin," Obito said. Usually he would be offering to walk Rin home but Obito wasn't in much of a cheery mood and he doubted that Rin was feeling any better.
"Bye, Obito," Rin said, giving him a little smile and a wave before he and Rin took opposite directions to head home.
Obito kicked a random pebble that was on his way back home until it bounced out of his immediate path. He would happily say hello to whoever would greet him to be polite, but his mind seemed to have stayed back at the hospital.
Don't get him wrong, Kakashi always got on his nerves. Obito constantly fought with the younger boy about almost everything and every time they saw each other. Kakashi was always putting him down and, yes, maybe Obito was always trying to make Kakashi lose his cool because he always got a sort of pride when he managed to make Mr. "A Shinobi Doesn't Show Their Emotions" lose his cool. Yes, they didn't get along but…that didn't mean Obito about didn't care Kakashi.
Every time he got angry at Kakashi, Obito couldn't help but remember the kid that would play kick-the-can with him and Rin back when they were in the academy. Everytime after they had some stupid fight, Obito always remembers the kid that had made him and Rin one of the best meals he's every had. He remembers the boy that was amazing in everything he did in school but never seemed to brag about it.
Every time he heard Kakashi preach about rules and regulations, he sees a tinier Kakashi wrapped in a too big green and shuriken covered scarf, proudly stating he would always protect those precious to him.
That…wasn't the Kakashi he knew now and every time he saw Kakashi he wondered when ever see that Kakashi (the one he remembers with a nostalgic feeling for childhood) again.
As Obito entered his home and yelled out to his grandmother, informing her that he's home, he can't help but hope that whatever is happening with Kakashi right now that it won't stop Obito from trying to salvage the beginning of the small friendship that had been killed all those years ago.
Did I do Rin justice? She was the hardest one to write since she literally has no personality considering she's just a plot point.