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Also little warning! Blood and violence and people intentionally hurting each other in this chapter, so be careful if that's not your cup of tea. It gets a bit nasty. Err. Sorry.

Chapter 12.

Someone had followed Kakashi here from the battlefield. Someone lethal.

The master assassins known as the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist had their own segment in the Bingo Book, which was a rare and dubious honor bestowed only on the kind of people you really wanted to avoid. The number of legendary swordsmen never wavered; if one fell, their apprentice would pick up their sword and title both. As far as Konoha knew, Kuriarare Kushimaru was the third to pick up the infamous Nuibari, the all-piercing blade.

He was also, judging by his featureless mask, a former hunter nin. Kirigakure's Hunter nin specialized in silent killing. Any target of theirs died unsuspecting, without having heard so much as a footstep or the flick of a blade.

But Kuriarare couldn't have guessed at the Inuzuka blood running strong in Kakashi's veins.

What saved Kakashi was the scent of wet straw. He caught it, an unexpected whiff where there should have been only forest and pine, and then Pakkun barked out, "I smell blood."

Old blood, like iron and death, one of the earliest scent memories Kakashi had – impossible to confuse for anything else. The exact same scent he had picked up on when he'd been pushed to the ground, his shoulder jarred, and Kuriarare had whispered, "I know you –".

Kakashi silently thanked the Inuzuka ancestor who had been reckless enough to fall in with some wild Hatake from the North, and instantly cloned himself and Pakkun. He tossed Minato's scroll at the original Pakkun as their clones peeled off to set a false track. "Take it and go, now. I'll follow."

Pakkun knew his duty. He didn't protest. Kakashi replaced the pug with a third clone, already neatly transformed into Pakkun's tiny figure as the original disappeared into the tree line, faster than anyone on two legs could run. He pushed chakra to his feet and sped up, trees and branches whizzing by fast enough that he pulled up his headband and opened his left eye to avoid running into them.

The clone decoys wouldn't fool a fully trained hunter nin for long, but any delay was good. More time for his dog to get the word out, and more time for him to think. He made a quick inventory. There was his new blade, strapped to his back, and if things got really desperate he could always resort to chidori. Even someone like Kuriarare wouldn't be able to predict a kid pulling out something like that, right?

Except of course that if he was a shinobi worth his salt, Kuriarare wouldn't let something as basic as a surprise attack distract him for very long. There was no time to prepare a trap. Kuriarare wasn't far behind. Any moment now, he would know Kakashi had sniffed him out.

If only Kakashi still had Minato's kunai.

Thirty seconds later, his clone burst out of existence in a cloud of pain and blood. The first Pakkun clone followed immediately after. Kakashi shook off the half-memory of dying. Not long now. What jutsu could he use..?

Kuriarare was too fast to escape. Kakashi would have to make a stand.

His heart pounded in his throat. He willed himself to breathe through his nose until his pulse slowed down enough that he could think again. His mind went smooth and quiet. There was a clearing up ahead. That's where it would happen.

Mind made up he created a basic bunshin, insubstantial but convincing at a glance, and made it go into the clearing. The Pakkun clone joined it. They looked young, inexperienced. Stupid. Most people wouldn't be able to guess he had almost ten years of fighting behind him. Hopefully, Kuriarare wouldn't either.

I know you, Kuriarare had said. I know you.

But how?

Another minute passed. Kakashi took position in one of the trees around the clearing, a strong and sturdy oak that would be able to take a few blows. He channeled a little bit of chakra into a simple cloaking illusion. It didn't make him invisible, but it would make him harder to spot.

He crouched down and readied his chakra. If he could get the first blow in...

The faint ghost of chakra prickled across his awareness, barely there and yet –

Now that he knew to look for it, it seemed inescapable.

His bunshin flickered and wavered out of existence. Two small senbon, barely visible in the shadows, buried themselves in a nearby tree. Kakashi didn't move.

A tall, thin silhouette appeared at the edge of the clearing, too far in the shadows for Kakashi to make out his exact position. The featureless mask didn't give anything away. Kuriarare chuckled softly, without the manic edge it had held earlier. "Clever little boy, but too brave. You should have run for your mother," he said, softly.

At this rate, Kakashi thought, that's probably what I'm doing.

Kuriarare vanished without a sound.

He didn't enter the clearing. Because of course he didn't. It was too obvious a trap.

Good thing Kakashi had thought of that as well.

Kai!

The explosion that rocked through the forest felt like a punch to the gut. The exploding tags he had placed around the clearing ripped through solid wood like it was paper, felling the trees left and right. Someone cursed and then, right there –

Kuriarare jumped into the clearing to avoid the billowing flames, with a white-knuckled grip around his sword. For just a moment he was still and visible, an open target.

Chidori screamed as Kakashi charged.

He could feel skin tear underneath his fingers, muscle catching onto his nails and giving away, hot blood spurting up – Kuriarare's shoulder, that was his shoulder, not his heart –

Kuriarare swiveled to one side, his right arm useless but the left coming up and –

Kakashi twisted and caught Nuibari just before it slid into his gut, his Sharingan blazing to keep up, and how long would he last –

Kuriarare's muscles twitched and he was about to kick, he was going to kick, and then his foot slammed into the crook of Kakashi's hip with enough force to crack it, too damn fast to dodge it even with the Sharingan.

The pain was sharp and startling enough that Kakashi hardly noticed how his bruised shoulder jarred when he hit the ground. Keep moving, keep moving –

A twist of his body and he slipped just out of Nuibari's range. He grabbed his own blade and brought it up just in time to block Nuibari when Kuriarare used the chain to yank it back. Up close, Nuibari burned with chakra, bright blue fire visible only to the Sharingan. Kakashi forced chakra into his own blade and that, he was sure, was the only reason that it didn't break upon impact and leave him defenseless.

Nuibari doubled in back and landed in its owner's palm faster than any unenhanced eye could see. Kuriarare launched himself at Kakashi with that same liquid speed but Kakashi's hip, his hip, it wouldn't let him run –

Their blades clashed again, and again, and shit, Kuriarare was strong. His shoulder was bleeding badly, but it was almost as if Kuriarare didn't even feel it. Kakashi's hip, on the other hand, screamed with pain under the pressure of Kuriarare's attack. Better to let go.

He shifted his weight to let Kuriarare slid past him, metal grating over metal, and called up chidori in his left hand. It was a desperate move, but Kuriarare was too fast and experienced for anything other than a quick finish. The Sharingan caught dark eyes widening beneath the featureless mask as Kakashi came up on Kuriarare's unprotected back, ready to slide his fist through skin and bone –

Nuibari seemed to twist in midair and slid perfectly between the bones of Kakashi's left lower arm and into his injured shoulder, like a knife through butter. Before the pain could even register Kuriarare knocked his legs out from under him and pushed him to the ground, chidori fading and his arm pinned to his chest like a butterfly. He felt numb. The sound of his ragged breathing filled his ears. The pain hit mere seconds before Kuriarare's fist connected with his temple.

Kakashi woke up to a blinding cocktail of pain and darkness and the terrifying feeling that he couldn't breathe. He gasped involuntarily, gasped again and tried to reach for his mouth, but his hands were tied and there was something wrong with the left arm –

A warm hand reached out and pulled the cloth from his head. Kakashi bucked into the cold, stone wall behind him. A plain face with keen, dark eyes looked back at him. Shaggy blond hair fell like a mane down to the man's shoulders.

Kakashi's breath rasped in his throat. Kuriarare. His white mask lay beside him.

Kakashi's own mask was still in place, but something had been tied around his head to cover the Sharingan. The wounds in his arm and below his collarbone ached without reprieve.

"There you go, boy. Breathe, go ahead. I'm not killing you just yet." Kuriarare turned away to attend to the small fire crackling away. He held his right arm close to his body, and the bandages around his shoulder were soaked with dried blood.

It was getting dark outside. It must have been hours.

"Sorry about your puppy. I'm sure he made it back to his realm just fine," Kuriarare tossed something at him. A water bottle. Kakashi managed to unscrew the cap with his good hand and sniffed at the water.

Kuriarare growled and grabbed the bottle from him to take a sip, before pushing it back into Kakashi's hands. "There, it's not poisoned. You'd think I'd go through all the trouble of capturing you only to poison you now?"

Kakashi said nothing. He drank slowly.

Kuriarare watched him for a moment. "You know, you're interesting. You surprised me. That little lightning trick? I had to cauterize the wound. And then there's that eye of yours. I don't see an Uchiha crest anywhere. You a half blood?"

Kakashi dropped the bottle. The cave was small and narrow – the only way out was past Kuriarare.

"You are what, thirteen? Fourteen? And yet here you are showing up to all these big fights," Kuriarare shrugged and smirked. His tone implied they were just having a friendly chat, from one guy to another. His eyes were cold.

'All these big fights' though? So… This wasn't a Sakumo thing? Where had Kuriarare..?

"I wasn't there last time, admittedly, but we're not completely backwards, in Kirigakure. We caught you on camera when you were freeing your little girlfriend," Kuriarare's grin widened. "And you know, we're all pretty curious about the little kid who managed to infiltrate our village."

He leaned forward. "More than that, though… We're pretty curious about what you did with our bijuu."

Kakashi's heart skipped a beat. Shit. Shit. They were going after Rin.

"She died," he croaked. "On the way home."

Kuriarare tilted his head. "Haven't they taught you yet it's better not to say anything? But sure, okay – let's assume you're speaking the truth. I'll… Entertain the thought. Little girl died, big angry bijuu died with her. In a couple of years time, he's going to pop up somewhere in the world feeling mighty pissed. Now that's not really to anyone's advantage, is it? I'm thinking Yondaime would like that about as much as a rusty nail in his eye. So, what did everyone's favorite blond seals-master do to prevent that from happening?"

Kakashi's blood froze in his veins. "He wasn't there. She died."

Kuriarare grabbed his injured arm and squeezed, grinding bones together. "Really?"

Kakashi's breath hitched. "She's dead."

"Hmm. You see, I'm not buying it. But that's all right. We have plenty of time to figure out the truth."

Sanbi didn't disturb Rin's sleep that night. It was, she thought the next morning, not unlike a hostage negotiation. He'd gone to have a think about her proposal and hadn't made so much as a sound since. It was… eerie.

How much time would he need to decide? And what would he do if he said no?

The apartment she had steadily grown to think of as her and Kakashi's seemed somehow less alive without Kakashi's presence, but it was nice to wander around in her sleep clothes and a toothbrush dangling from her mouth without having to feel embarrassed. Not that Hatake 'bedhead' Kakashi would be particularly judgmental, but still. It was… Nice. Comfortable. She felt very grown-up, all by herself in the apartment.

What would her father say, if he saw her now? Was he puttering around her childhood home right now, getting ready to go to his bakery? Did he think of her? Was the old photograph of the two of them together, laughing, still hanging above the kitchen stove?

With Kakashi away, she could cry without anyone knowing. That was another advantage.

She didn't have a training session today. Kushina had been exhausted after talking to Sanbi, though she had tried to hide it, so Rin had insisted on a break. Kushina needed to take it easy, no matter how many existential crises Rin was going to have today. Only one month until the baby would be born. That, at least, was something to look forward to. Kushina and Minato would make wonderful parents.

After breakfast, she went to the river again. She'd never given the place much thought in the past, but now it seemed unthinkable to spend a single day without dipping her feet into the stream. She didn't like to think about what that might mean. It was a nice day out, so children were playing on the bank. In the distance she saw Kushina's friend Mikoto and a stately Hyuuga woman with a baby bump of her own. They were chatting as Mikoto's eldest splashed around with a slightly older curly haired boy.

The two women briefly glanced over to Rin. Rin looked away. Time to move on.

She stepped out of the water and put her boots back on. Her breathing came quickly. Would they be able to see that she was different now, with their eyes? If anyone could, it would be them – and then they wouldn't want her around the children. They wouldn't want her around at all.

She left. Kakashi would disapprove of walking away, but then he wasn't in her shoes. He was away on a mission, and he didn't have to worry about how others looked at him.

Okay, that wasn't fair – if anyone would understand facing other people's scorn it would be him. But he was leaving that period of his life behind. For her, it was only just beginning. She could no longer count on people accepting her for who she was alone. Better to stay away from the people who could find out without her wanting them to.

She kept walking, so caught up in her own thoughts that she barely saw were she was going. She knew Konoha from running around his child, playing with her friends. She knew all the secret passages a child could fit through, all the broken fences and shortcuts. She even knew what kind of pavement covered which street.

The cobbles beneath her feet were infinitely familiar.

This was her street. This was home.

Rin stopped walking.

Her father's house was just up ahead, along with all of her things and – and –

him, too.

Sharp pain broke through her thoughts. She had bitten her cheek.

And someone was calling her name. Her stomach turned – but no, it wasn't her father's voice. She turned and looked around, blinking, but saw no one.

"Down here, doofus. It's me!" Came the gruff little voice again. "Come on kid."

No wonder she hadn't seen him – the speaker roughly came up to her knee. "Pakkun? What are you doing here?"

"Delivered one message to the paper pushers, and now I'm delivering another one to you. Kakashi is in trouble. He needs help, but I don't know who to turn to. No one's going to leave the village without either evidence for Minato's permission," the pug said, and with that nearly floored Rin.

Her voice didn't tremble when she spoke again, but it was a near thing. "What kind of trouble?"

"Kuriarare Kushimaru's after him. I don't know why. I just know that guy is a problem. I'm not sure the kid will be able to run him," Pakkun's head dropped. If his tail had been long enough, it would have been between his legs.

Kuriarare... The name sounded familiar, but she didn't have Kakashi's ridiculous memory. "This guy is strong? And a tracker?"

"Yeah. Kakashi needs reinforcement. Perhaps Kushina…"

"No, no way. She's eight months pregnant, she can't go fighting powerful shinobi," Rin said. Her heart pounded painfully loud. Who could help him? Who –

Who else but her?

"Can you find them? If we go now, can you find them?" She pressed the dog.

He flicked back his ears. "We? Rin –"

"Yes, we. Trust me. Would I play with his life?" Her voice was steady again, almost powerful. Her heart was still racing, but her mind was clear. Her life was a mess, possibly ruined forever, but one truth remained: if Kakashi was in trouble, she would save him. It's what they did. It's what they had always done.

Something of her determination must have shown in her face, because Pakkun recoiled a little. "I trust you," he said.

Rin nodded and set off in the direction of the apartment. "I'll have to pick up some supplies. We will have to leave without alerting the guards, too. I'm not allowed to leave the village yet."

"What? Why not?"

Right – Pakkun didn't know. "It's complicated. I'll tell you some other time, okay?" And she would, even though the thought scared her. Pakkun was Kakashi's partner, and that meant the pug was her partner too. He would find out eventually, anyway. Some way or another. Best it came from her directly.

As they walked, she questioned Pakkun further. With every word he spoke, her concern grew. Kakashi was good – hell, he was great, a genuine genius – but he was also young and not without weaknesses. And by now, it had been almost a full night since Pakkun had last seen him. It would take another few hours to even reach his location.

Anxiety rolled through her, but she pushed it down. Kakashi didn't hesitate to save her. He didn't give in to despair when Kiri took her. She wouldn't, either. She refused.

For supplies she took a medical kit, a lightweight survival kit and nutrition bars. She would have to travel light.

This is ridiculous it won't work you are not prepared –

It would have to.

It had to work.

If it didn't, Kakashi would die.

Don't even think it. Don't don't don't.

This went beyond crushes or infatuation or anything as shallow as that – he was her best friend, her closest ally, the one person she could always count on. She couldn't lose him. She wouldn't. She refused.

"Lead the way," she told Pakkun, and barely recognized her own voice.

It took for a moment to realize that, beyond anything, she was angry. That perhaps she had been angry for a long time now, and that this was somehow the event that finally allowed it to boil over. That she had been holding back for weeks, even during her adrenaline filled training sessions.

Kiri has taken enough from me.

Somehow, she could tell Sanbi was grinning.

Passing the gate turned out to be easy – all she had to do was flash them a mission scroll, and their familiarity with her did the rest. For a moment, she was just Yondaime's pupil, off on some low ranking solo mission.

No big deal.

Pakkun stopped just once after they had left the village behind. "Are you sure about this? You're the team medic."

"I am."

"He wouldn't want you to throw your life away –"

"I'm not going to. I'm going to save his." Her hesitation washed away even as she said it. She was going to save him, or save as much of him as she could. Even if she would get there too late, she wouldn't let anyone touch him, or leave his body to rot somewhere anonymous and cold.

Kakashi was Konoha. Kakashi was family. He was hers.

She would never leave him behind. Not for anything.

Sanbi, she thought, will you fight for me?

A deep rumble, the creature stirring in the depths of her mind, his rage mingling with hers.

Yes.

AN:

According to the wiki, Kuriarare likes to "precisely pierce multiple enemies in quick succession, but also stitch them together utilising a substantial length of wire attached to the blade". Yikes.

Kuriarare's wiki page: wiki/Kushimaru_Kuriarare

You might have noticed I'm adhering to a slightly different power balance than canon. When I'm talking about the seven swordsmen, I'm not talking about a bunch of skilled jonin, I'm talking about legends. Take that, anime fillers.

Let me know what you thought!