A/N: I'm going to be honest; I don't hate Rin. But for whatever reason, quite a few people do—I've gotten a couple PMs from people telling me not to write this, but none had reasons other than, "she sucks" or "no character." Hence this warning: this chapter is from the perspective of Rin (and partly Kushina). Word count is ~5k.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 6 - Moonlit Flower

Nohara Rin was always the plain wallflower of her team.

Actually, even in the Academy, she wasn't considered much. Sure, she had ended up as the "Top Kunoichi" of her year, landing her in Team Minato AKA Team Seven, but it was always Kakashi, Obito, or Minato himself that people heard about. Rin was always, "that girl," or "the one on the team with the Hatake genius," or "the one who picks up after that Uchiha boy," or in worst cases, "that useless girl with the up-and-coming Jounin as a sensei."

Sure, she was considered somewhat pretty amongst her peers, and many boys had confessed to her over the course of her time at the Academy. The vain girl she used to be back then, she actually used to feel somewhat empowered by the confessions.

But now, as a Kunoichi, she knew how useless that sort of thing was. She knew how useless she was, compared to her teammates; Kakashi with his all-around prodigious streak, Obito with his strength and latent charisma, and Minato who was just plain amazing.

She had always felt beneath her teammates, and that was partly the reason why she had gone into Iryo-ninjutsu. She had reasoned that, with her teammates being the reckless and occasionally foolish powerhouses they were, they would need a trained medic on their team to make sure they never actually hurt themselves. She had only started recently, and though she was still technically "in-training," she was often told that she could be the next Tsunade. Her chakra control was good, even considered great for her age, and she had satisfactory training to actually support her teammates, now. Her work at the hospital only helped her competency with the human body(and as such, healing wounds), and quite frankly, Rin had become satisfied. She found her niche, and her way to make herself useful to her teammates—her family.

However, the day that Obito woke up after the fire was the day that her carefully crafted and nurtured confidence all but shattered.

Rin had been ecstatic when Obito woke up, but she knew something was wrong the moment the boy slapped her hand away. The boy who had helped support her when she was still vacillating on her decision to become a medic. The boy who was almost always there for Rin, no matter what. The boy that always accepted her and listened to her troubles, no matter how small and petty they seemed to her. He slapped her hand away, rejecting her.

She knew something was wrong, and in hindsight, Rin realized she should've acted on her instinct. Instead, she continued trying to act as though nothing was wrong, as if the possibility of Obito having tried to kill himself wasn't there.

Oh, she knew.

The rest of her team most likely didn't think that she knew; they probably thought she wasn't sharp enough to catch the hints. It may have been because she was a girl and was therefore innately more emotionally sensitive, it may have been because she simply knew Obito very well. She could see the dead look in his eyes, even though he tried to hide it. No longer were they filled with their usual sparks of mischief and wonder for life, but with hatred and darkness that was only seen in some of the most broken of individuals. Regardless, whatever had happened to Obito was something of extreme impact, leading to the boy wanting to commit suicide.

And when Obito had yelled out that name, "Kaguya," Rin was certain. She wasn't analytical and with extreme genius like Minato and Kakashi; she had no web of mystery or blatant "amazing-ness" to prove her theory, because most of it was just a gut feeling. But she trusted Obito, and she trusted that she knew Obito. And what she knew was that something had happened to rattle the boy, something excruciating. This person named "Kaguya" was definitely the cause of Obito's change, and Rin was terribly frightened.

She was frightened for her teammate, who could possibly be a target for this "Kaguya." Frightened for the rest of her team that could possibly be in danger. And most of all, she was frightened for her very home that could possibly be in danger from whatever individual it was that attacked Obito and left him in this state.

At first, Rin had contemplated telling Kakashi or Minato about her little revelation. 'Maybe I could tell them about the name,' she had thought hopefully, but then blushed when she remembered how the two had, in the past, worked together on some of the most mind-bending and convoluted schemes that left her feeling dizzy. Immediately the idea was discarded. Minato was an outstanding individual, considered the top Jounin of the village. There was no way that the man forgot such an important detail, and even if he somehow did, Kakashi would've remembered. Most likely, the boy had already informed Minato about everything he knew; he was always frighteningly punctual.

At the thought of her silver-haired teammate, Rin felt her chest tighten as though her heart were strangled.

She was actually on her way to Kakashi's house. The day after the incident at the hospital, Minato had pulled the two of them aside after a menial D-Rank and tried to talk to them, inform them about what he was going to do. While Rin nodded and tried to ask questions, Kakashi had only remained despondent with a look that could only be described as dead in his eyes. Naturally, both Rin and Minato had been worried about him, but when they asked, he only shook his head and walked away without so much as a goodbye. So that day, she had decided that she would check on the boy to see if he was fairing better after some time alone.

Truth be told, she was a little too frightened to see Obito. She wasn't sure if she wanted to see a similar, dejected and reticent look on his face, which was almost always animated and friendly. Kakashi she could handle, he was always kinda cold and somewhat mean. But Obito…?

The brunette shook her head. There was no point dwelling on the topic now, and she had full faith in her sensei and teammate. There was no way that a repeat of the event at the hospital was going to happen, especially not with Kushina there to help.

So with a deep breath, Rin walked up the stairs leading to Kakashi's apartment. Despite herself, her heartbeat steadily increased in rate and she inwardly cursed; now was not the time for her little crush to get in the way. She had come to check on the boy, her teammate, to see if he was fairing well. She was Rin the medic of Team Seven right now, not Rin the girl with a hopeless childhood crush.

As she rounded the corner at the top of the stairs, a bright-yellow piece of paper caught her eye. A bright-yellow note that happened to be taped to the door of the very teammate she had gone to visit. The brunette hurried over to the door, attempting to read the familiar scribble of words.

'Hi Rin!

I hope you came to Kakashi-kun's house like I predicted, otherwise you might not get the message. Well, maybe you'll come here first and make writing this pointless… But whatever! Anyways, Kakashi-kun is already over here with me, helping to set up the decorations. You should hurry up and come over, too! Minato and Obito left for some stupid council stuff and should be occupied until we're done, but we could always use the extra hands. Not to mention, it'd be nice to celebrate Obito's birthday with everyone present, ne?

- Kushina'

Rin sighed as she took the note and folded it neatly, a small smile spreading on her face. She had come to check on Kakashi to see if he was alright, but there was not a doubt in the brunette's mind that Kushina had already helped the boy get through whatever depression may have overtaken him.

She pocketed the note and headed down the stairs with a much lighter weight to her steps. Perhaps Kushina could listen to her troubles as well. Rin always respected the woman as though she were an older sister, and she could use some of the woman's innate cheer.

The little gathering had been fun. In all honesty, there wasn't much else to describe it.

Rin had been able to forget her minor troubles for a while, and by looking at the eyes of her teammates, she could tell that they were also able to push aside the darkness lurking in their hearts. Of course, something like that was not permanent. The party was merely a brief escape for the three of them, and by the looks and calculating glances both Kushina and Minato shot them, Rin could tell.

It was after the blonde and red-head excused themselves to clean up that the remaining Chūnin had their little "confrontation." Rin didn't say anything. Kakashi simply stood up and grabbed Obito by the collar, demanding that the boy follow him. Rin realized that she wasn't invited, but decided to invite herself along anyway. The very least she could do was provide moral support, and she was certain that whatever "talk" they were going to have would end up being a brawl with more than a few minor cuts.

When they had arrived in the training fields, the two boys commenced possibly one of the most intense staring contests in history. Rin could feel the connection they had, and for what felt like the hundredth time in the week, she felt like an outsider. She could never match up to either of them in an actual spar, and now, they shared a mental connection that she had no part in, either.

She glared up at the boys, but neither of them noticed. As usual, she was the wallflower, forgotten and left in the dust by her peers. The faint pinpricks of moisture gathered in her eyes as she turned to Obito, and she struggled to speak. "… What is going on, Obito…?" She inwardly berated herself on the weak tone of her voice and her slight voice crack. She settled for pinning the Uchiha with a gaze that spoke more than her actual word, an punctuated it with her next question. "… What happened?"

She barely noticed the hardening of Kakashi's gaze, her own avidly focused on the raven-haired boy before her.

Obito chuckled nervously, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Rin waited with anticipation as she watched his mouth open, hoping that she'd get an honest reply to her question. "Don't worry about it, guys. I'm fine now, trust me."

'… Why?' She thought quietly at his words, deflating slightly. 'Why can't you trust us, Obito? Why can't you trust me?'

To Rin, the subject of family was always a little sensitive for her, albeit not as sensitive as it was for her team, where one never had a family, another was the son of a disgraced Shinobi, and the other was the black sheep of his prominent clan. Regardless, it was a slight connection she felt she had with her team, no matter how morbid and backwards it was. It was partly the reason why she was able to open up to them, why she was able to love them as a family of her own. She always went to Obito or Minato when she had issues or questions, and they never failed to provide the support and care that the girl had been in such dire need of. Even Kakashi had shown to be accommodating on occasion.

However, it was almost always Obito.

Somehow, the boy was always there, always attentive to how she felt. Sometimes she felt bad, feeling as though she was taking advantage of his kindness by not returning anything. Obito was her drive to become a medic in more ways than one, and that was something that was easy for the girl to admit. But it wasn't enough. In the past, she had seen her antics as burdens to her team, as nothing but pointless, emotional imbalances of her immature mind. But still, that was her unspoken trust that she placed in them, the trust and knowledge that they wouldn't turn her away or scorn her for her weaknesses.

And yet, there Obito was, still rejecting to tell them anything, saying not to worry and that he was fine. Everything was anything but fine. And the fact that Obito still refused to admit as much left the brunette feeling hurt and betrayed in the worst sense possible.

"Rin," the brunette jerked out of her thoughts, not having expecting someone to call out to her. She looked hesitantly at Kakashi, who wore his usual mask of reticence. "Can you go over to the tree-line? This might get a little dangerous."

She froze.

'… Always,' she thought quietly. 'Always,' she repeated, her fists clenching slightly as she fought an internal battle to not allow her inner turmoil of frustration at them and herself show.

She was always left out of the loop. Always the unnecessary outlier, the useless baggage. The one that needed to be protected, despite being a protector herself. It was annoying. It was frustrating, it was aggravating. Most of all, it was insulting and downright pitiful. Whenever Rin thought she found her little niche, her place to belong, it was always torn away unceremoniously and without remorse or pity. Whenever she thought she had found something she thought she could use to help, it was turned away because it was useless. She was the medic, but there was little use for one when there were no injuries yet, and emotional support wasn't needed here. Minato and Kakashi had enough smarts to figure out what was going on with Obito in a timely fashion, with more results than any silly little "talk" Rin would attempt could.

Slowly, her anger ebbed away and left a feeling of emptiness. 'Useless,' was the bitter word that echoed in her now quiet mind. She released a tired sigh and walked away to the edge of the clearing, fighting at the urge to simply crawl into the fetal position and ignore the world.

Despite what most people thought, Rin had almost just as much to hide as the most reclusive teammate on her team. Only, it didn't stem from some childhood traumatic event, which thankfully never earned her the pitying looks the silver-haired Chūnin oft received. Unfortunately, it instead earned her bleak looks and misunderstanding of those trying to understand, but not quite caring enough to really put in enough effort.

Her worst enemy was herself. Always trying, always working, always striving for betterment. Unfortunately, with a team such as Team Seven, she was always going to be the unneeded factor. The extra chain link that hung on uselessly and did nothing but weigh the rest down. She couldn't even be the balance for her teammates like she was supposed to. Because how was someone that could barely control their own emotions supposed to help others with theirs?

A single hand that rested itself on her shoulder caused her to tense, and she automatically reached for her kunai holster.

"Relax," a familiar voice called out, and Rin released the tension that had coiled her muscles. It was Kushina, and the brunette relaxed easily. The red-head let out a low whistle. "Wow, they're really trying to beat the shit out of each other, aren't they?"

The brunette's head shot up and she watched on with horror when she realized how the spar had escalated. Blows were exchanged left and right. Kakashi's clothes had threadbare and stretched qualities that definitely weren't there before, and he had more than enough bruises along his skin to make him look like a giant eggplant. Obito really was in no better shape, and a slight trickle of blood out of the corner of his mouth indicated some form of internal bleeding. Rin could only hope the boy bit his tongue or something.

Kushina and Rin merely watched for a while, noticing as the clean and calculated hits of the spar slowly descended into a more barbaric and instinctual battle.

"… I feel useless," Rin finally stated petulantly, feeling some weight lift from her shoulders at the admission.

Kushina only looked at her oddly for a few moments before turning back to the match with a smirk. "… Well, you shouldn't, because you're anything but. Even if you may feel that way, you are the one that is there to take care of the boys."

The brunette grimaced. "I know that's what I'm there for, but I'm not doing a very good job. Minato-sensei is the one that's really there to look after them, and I'm just a…" Her shoulders sagged noticeably. "An extra."

The red-head turned fully to Rin this time and placed her hands on her hips, a single raised eyebrow showing her incredulity. "I think you misunderstood my statement when I said 'boys.' Who's going to save Minato when he needs it, whether it be from an enemy or his own stupidity?" A small smirk graced her lips as she dropped her arms to rest on Rin's shoulders. "He may be better than the brawling idiots out there, but even he has his moments, y'know. Your team needs you, Rin, whether you realize this or not."

The two stared at each other for a few searching moments; Rin's gaze showing uncertainty and Kushina's daring her to refute the statement.

Finally, Rin averted her eyes. "… But then why won't they talk to me? Why can't I know?" Her throat emitted a low growl in frustration. "I'm their teammate, why can't they trust me?"

She heard a sigh and looked back up at the red-head curiously, noting the way how her brows knit together in thought. "It's a… Guy thing, I think," she finally stated, waving a hand dismissively. "They tend to like throwing around fancy-schmancy jutsu in battle, and then like to keep an air of mystery in front of the women. It's the whole bravado stuff that makes 'em quiet, so you shouldn't worry about it 'ttebane."

Rin giggled at the red-head's little tirade, who only smirked at her successful attempt at making the younger girl smile. Kushina placed a warm hand on the brunette's head to get her attention once more, and smiled kindly. "I'm sure Obito will tell you eventually, just give him time to gather himself." A wince. "… Though, you may end up needing to wait a while. Men aren't as understanding of their own emotions as we women are, so you will probably be waiting a good while. Heck, it took Minato 7 years to finally realize he was in love with me and decide to propose."

The brunette giggled again, worries and insecurities long forgotten.

Kushina had watched with faint amusement during dinner as the three Chūnin of her husband's team attempted(and failed miserably) to inconspicuously steal glances at each other.

Of course, she couldn't really sit and analyze the small gestures, as she was the one keeping up the positive atmosphere. Hey, someone had to talk to distract the kids from their thoughts, and it was pretty damn obvious that Minato wasn't volunteering. The red-head couldn't blame him, however; he was probably thinking about genius-stuff, how to deal with the council and Obito, and sorting out his own haywire emotions. Not that Kushina herself was much better, but in all honesty, she was better at shutting away her darker thoughts for later speculation. Being the jinchūriki of the damned Kyūbi kinda did that to people, after all, and provided great practice in a resistance to killing intent to boot.

The fact that there was another, possibly more pressing matter to be discussed actually helped. She waited until the dinner had been wrapped up before dragging Minato to the kitchen while absently noticing the retreat of the three chakra signatures of the Chūnin.

"So, what happened?" She questioned with a deceptively happy lilt, a bright smile betrayed by the fact that her eyes were closed(and therefore hiding her true intent).

Minato seemed to sense the gravity of the situation and promptly broke out into a cold sweat. Kushina would've been impressed by his perceptiveness, had she not suddenly taken to sharpening her kitchen knife. Typically, that kind of gesture was rather obvious when indicating one's ire or anger.

"Er… I'm not quite sure what you mean?" When the red-head pointed the half-sharpened knife at him, he immediately jolted and lifted his arms to placate her. "No, really, what do you mean?"

Kushina sighed as she placed the knife down and leaned against the bare counter. "The council. Obito. What exactly happened?"

Minato bit his lip. "… We should probably follow after them soon. I think they were heading to the training grounds." He turned to Kushina. "So, do you want to know about what happened today, or over all in regards to Obito? I don't think we should linger here for long, I'd rather not get a sudden D-Rank to clean up a devastated training field." His last statement was said with a nervous chuckle.

"Obito of course," Kushina growled, wanting to hear the truth. "What exactly has been going on with that boy? There was a darkness in his eyes that I've never seen before. I mean, what exactly did you do to him?" She threw up her arms in frustration as she began pacing across the tiles. "I see the boy right before I go on a week-long mission—he was fine at the time, Minato, fine, not a hair out of place—to verify the potential start of a war, and what do I find on my return? I come back exhausted, tired and filthy, and I hear that the kid has gone and tried to kill himself." She crossed her arms and pouted angrily. "And I had an awesome, stress-free birthday planned for him and everything, dattebane."

She missed the grimace Minato gave during her rant. "… Well, how much have you heard exactly?"

"Fire at his apartment, thought to have been started by him, and he was sent to the hospital. He tried to kill himself. He was moved here." She shook her head as she finished ticking off the sparse information. "Hokage-sama wasn't very forthcoming with the info, to be honest. Did something else happen? Obviously some important facts were omitted from his spiel."

The blonde nodded. "Yes, the rest of Team Seven had retrieved Obito from his burning apartment. We visited him in the hospital, and on the day he woke up, we found out that Obito activated his Sharingan." Kushina gasped, but before she could say anything he continued. "It was at the three-tomoe stage. Severe emotional trauma was dealt to him, but we don't know how."

"We? As in you and…?"

"Fugaku, and partially, the rest of the Uchiha clan." The man scowled. "He mentioned that the clan will most likely come after Obito, so we'll have to be careful."

Kushina narrowed her eyes, but chose not to comment on that, instead continuing with the original topic. If the minute flares of chakra in the distance were any indication, they didn't really have much time. "Anything else happen to Obito that I should know?"

The blonde's brow furrowed for a moment before his eyes widened. "That's right, Obito mentioned a name along with words about everything being an illusion and fake. He claimed to Fugaku and I that it was a dream and that he activated his Sharingan fro nightmares, but we're pretty certain that there's enough evidence pointing at a third party here."

"A Genjutsu." At Kushina's comment, Minato nodded. "What was the name? Do we know who the culprit is?"

Strangely, Minato averted his eyes and chuckled nervously. The red-head only raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Er, you see… I actually don't… Remember… The name."

Kushina stared dumbly at her husband for a few moments, trying to figure out if he was joking. When it was evident that he was not(he only gave a nervous smile to her assessing gaze), she leaned back and slapped a hand over her forehead. "… Did you ask Kakashi or Rin? They were with you right? Surely one of them would remember?"

Minato sighed. "Kakashi was despondent for the most part. When I asked, he apologized. Apparently, he had been too caught up in his own thoughts to catch the name. Seeing as I was in a similar state, I honestly don't blame him."

"And Rin?" Kushina questioned impatiently. "Have you asked her yet?"

The blonde shook his head. "After seeing the state Kakashi was in, I decided to leave her be. No doubt she was struggling with her own thoughts as well."

"Hmm… I don't know about that, Rin is a strong girl. And very perceptive," Kushina commented quietly. "Works well under pressure, and can really surprise you when you least expect it."

"Well, I suppose I can ask her tonight—" he cut off, eyes narrowing in concentration. Kushina looked at him worriedly, but before she could voice her question, he answered her unspoken words. "They're okay, but we should go there now."

She only nodded, and the two were gone in a flash of yellow and red.

When they arrived, Rin was standing rather dejectedly over to the side as she watched her teammates duke it out. Kushina, being the awesome and loving person she was, had decided to help the younger girl out of her emotional slump(that was proven to be because of the tactless idiots on her team). When the fighting had ended and they all went home, Rin started pumping all of her chakra to her hands to heal her unconscious teammates.

Kushina had felt a minor sense of pride at the girl's dedication… That is, until she watched the girl slump over the two unconscious boys, following them into dream land. The red-head had gone to retrieve her favorite blanket(it was large and perfect for the cold winter nights) to gingerly wrap around the trio before cursing them. Honestly, as if it wasn't bad enough that the team was full of head-strong males with egos the size of villages, Rin had to go and heal them to the point of near-chakra exhaustion.

"What idiots." She turned to Minato as she mumbled under her breath. "Your students can be really stupid, Minato."

He only gave a fond smile, and the two quietly made their way to the dining room to resume their talk from earlier. As soon as they stepped through the door, Kushina rounded on him and all but demanded. "Anyway, what's the deal about the council being after Obito's head?"

Minato gestured for her to take a seat, which she did with a slight pout at the small distraction. "… Obito had been the one to burn down the house like we suspected, and he stated as much at the hearing. The civilians were not happy, as you can probably imagine."

'Not happy?' Kushina thought quietly. 'Oh, if they hurt a single hair on that boy's head, I'll show them not happy.' "What did they do? I swear, I'll castrate every one of 'em if they did something I don't approve of." 'And I don't go back on my word,' she added silently.

"They, er…" The red-head could feel the hesitance radiating off of the blonde, and was ready to storm the council chambers that moment. "… Well, they demanded that Obito pay for the damages and receive punishment."

Almost immediately, Kushina's hair was given life as it lifted in long, threatening tendrils, and she was very close to committing mass murder.

"But everything is okay now, really!" Minato shouted, trying to calm down his clearly irate wife. "Obito got off scott-free, and the council won't be bothering him again."

His wife only stared at him for a few moments before giving a small nod and pulling back on the menacing aura. "If they want future children," she added to his statement.

He most likely agreed with her, if his thoughtful silence was any indication. Kushina sighed as she leaned against the table, cradling her head in her hands. "… I can't believe the council did that. I mean, really? On the boy's birthday?"

"There's a lot that I can't believe happened, recently." At these words, the red-head was reminded that, out of everyone, Minato possibly felt Obito's pain the most. No doubt the man felt guilty about the whole affair, thinking that it was his fault. Minato gave a dejected sigh as his head seemed to sink into his shoulders. "… So much has happened, and I'm only just starting to make sense of it."

A thought occurred to Kushina and she stared at him. "… Did the Uchiha clan do anything? Did they help pay the fines?"

"… No, and that reminds me." The red-head's eyes narrowed at the setup for a change of subject. "I probably won't be able to pitch in on the monthly bill for this month, since I'm kinda shoulderingthedamages?"

Kushina blinked. Well, it was pretty obvious that that meant that the Uchiha clan didn't even lift a finger to help the boy. But still, she hadn't thought Minato would actually volunteer to help shoulder the boy's punishment and pay for the damages. It made her feel a powerful sense of pride, that her husband was willing to go that extra mile for the people he cared about. That extra mile that most wouldn't even think about.

She gave a small smile and an approving nod to her noticeably nervous husband. "… Good. Had you not done that, I think I woulda throttled you, 'ttebane."

Still, it didn't mean that she was completely devoid of anger. No, she was pissed. The fact that the Uchiha clan had some plans in the future to try and herd Obito back into their clan, yet didn't do anything to help the boy, was enough to make the red-head consider treason. In a swift motion, she stood up from her seat and walked over to the window that happened to have a rather nice view of the Uchiha Compound. "For now, there's a certain group of prickly, red-eyed assholes that need a good ass-whooping." Maybe Mikoto would help her, even. She knew the woman was just as morally-just as she, and there was no way they would let the Uchiha fogies do anything to Obito.

Before she could say anything more, turn around and say that she was (more or less)joking, or jump out of the window to make good on her promise, she suddenly found her eyes riveted to the night sky. She didn't even notice Minato's worried statements and attempts to deter her no-longer-existent anger.

"… Hmm," she began quietly, staring wide-eyed at the bright disk in the sky. "… The moon looks pretty tonight, don't you think?"

She felt Minato pause just behind her, before walking up to stand side by side with the red-head. "… Indeed. Not a cloud in sight." She rubbed her eyes when she felt a strange tingling in her eyes. She felt oddly sleepy, and… "Are you tired, Kushina?" The statement held palpable worry, and the red-head quickly shook her head.

"No," she murmured. It was strange, the moon had a very strange glow to it that night. It was like staring at the sun with a pair of shades on, and it was almost harsh on the eyes. But there was… something… "I think it's just a little dark in here. The moon looks so… Bright."

She felt a lulling sensation, as though she were on the cusp of consciousness and sleep. She barely heard Minato whisper the words, "Bright" and "night," before it happened.

"Kaguya."

She could almost hear her heartbeat give a single, powerful pulse. A sharp pain in Kushina's stomach caused her to double over in pain, and darkness claimed her before she could so much as scream.