It had been six months. Six long months since Obito died. Ari visited Kakashi in the hospital often afterwards. She knew it wasn't his fault and knew that he blamed himself. But Kakashi hardly ever spoke two words to her when she went.
The hardest visit was when she had snuck in while he was sleeping. She had only intended on leaving him a book and a snack since the hospital food was gross, but before she could leave, he started screaming Obito's name.
Ari moved to his side and started trying to calm him down, saying his name and telling him everything was okay. She even started smoothing his hair and holding his hands. When the silver haired boy had calmed down enough, she gently woke him. He had tears running down the uninjured side of his face and she brushed them away too. It was a moment of weakness and vulnerability Ari had never seen in Kakashi.
"Im sorry, Im so sorry Aria. It was my fault," he had cried.
Ari gave him a sad smile and shook her head, "Nah Kakashi, it was the enemies fault. You were trying to save Rin, and you did! And Obi saved you. It's okay."
After that day, Kakashi was released from the hospital. She rarely saw him and saw even less of her brother. The war was raging on and the village was losing more and more shinobi every day.
Ari's team trained hard on their down time between missions. She had been made Captain after their Sensei sustained a severe injury, earning him an early retirement.
"Again!" Ari called, out of breath.
"No, Aria! Thats enough, seriously! We've been doing this all day, we're exhausted!" Kurenai yelled.
"Really, Ari, we need a break, it's almost dark anyway."
Ari glared at her teammates. They were ragged, dirty, and bruised. They had been running different attack and situation drills all day. Ari wouldn't let what happened to Mishi and the squad that day ever happen again.
"We're going out on mission next week! We have to train hard, our mission is NOT going to get screwed up again!" Ari yelled back.
"What happened to Mishi is horrible, but why are you being so cold about it? Honestly, Ari, this is ridiculous. You're burning us out," Asuma defended Kurenai.
Ari clicked her tongue and put her weapons away, "We're at war, what's ridiculous is the number of people we lose every day to stupid mistakes! If you two are tired, fine. Go home. Just pray you're not next," Ari's voice was cruel.
Asuma had moved closer and put a hand on Ari's forearm, "We aren't stupid, Ari. We're just as skilled as you. But we'll be useless if we're too tired to even go on the mission. But you know this, so what's this really about?"
Ari looked down at Asuma's hand. For a minute, she wished it belonged to someone else. For a brief moment, she wished it belonged to Obito. He would always grab her like this to calm her down. But then reality bled into fantasy. Ari shook his hand off her arm.
"Go on, go home, take tomorrow off. We can meet up on Wednesday," Ari said, turning away from the duo.
"Are you coming?" He asked gently.
"Nah, I've got some stuff to do."
After a moment, the two ninja left, and Ari was alone. The truth was, yes, she wanted them ready so nothing dumb happened again, but she trained for so long and so hard so she wouldn't have to be alone. She had her teammates during the day, and at night she was too tired to think and went straight to sleep.
"You know, if you keep at them like that, they'll hate you."
A chill ran down Ari's spine. The voice, calm, cool, collected, condescending. She knew it anywhere. What spooked her most was she didn't even know he had appeared in the clearing.
"Yeah, well, they'll be stronger in the long run," Ari replied, turning to the owner of the voice.
"Not everyone is like us, Aria."
"Yeah? What do you know about it, Hatake? You and your team train just as hard. Even harder now since-" Ari stopped herself.
Just because she was feeling volatile tonight, didn't mean she had to project her mood on to everyone. Especially someone who would be easy to rial. She just bit her lip and shook her head.
"Since what, Aria? Spit it out, you know you wanna say it. So just put it out there already. Minato and I have been watching you for days. You're ruthless and cold. It's smart for war but not for friends."
"Leave me alone, Hatake," Ari warned.
"Or what? Seriously Aria, Asuma and Kurenai have been nothing but loyal to you and you're working them like dogs. I think theres something else, something you're taking out on them. So just say it and get it over with. You're acting immature and selfish right now," he scolded.
Ari glared at Kakashi. They held eye contact for what felt like forever. If looks could kill, he'd be ten feet under.
"Since when do you care about having friends or about people liking you?" She growled.
Kakashi narrowed his eye, his previously injured one was covered by his head band. "I don't care it people like me, Aria, but I'm not gonna lose another person. And I damn sure won't do it before we even get out on the battlefield!"
"Let's be honest, Hatake, you didn't lose anyone. You hated Obito from day one. Because of your arrogance and self-righteousness, he's dead and we're stuck with you," Ari's voice was laced with venom.
Kakashi looked like he had been slapped in the face. Ari didn't mean the words. But she wanted someone to hurt as much as she did. She lost her best friend and her sensei. If this war had its way, she was sure to lose more.
A part of her wanted to take it back. She didn't truly want to hurt Kakashi. Her words hurt her just as much as they did him. He had experienced the loss of his father at a young age, and then a teammate a few months ago. He knew pain like she didn't.
But the darker part of her craved to hurt someone as much as she was hurting. Ari wanted to inflict her pain onto others.
"Alright, Namikaze, is it a fight you want? Maybe to fight someone on your level?" Kakashi's words were just as cold as hers. He drew his katana and held it in front of himself, battle ready. "Cause that isnt me. I'll put you in your place if that's what you think you need right now."
Ari growled and leapt at Kakashi. Midair, she drew a kunai, and the weapons clashed. Ari used Kakashi's forward momentum to fling herself back into a back handspring putting distance between them. For a few minutes, it carried on with weapons clanging and punches and kicks being dodged and deflected. It was an evenly matched battle, until Ari started weaving hand signs.
"Wind Style! Rotating Shuriken!" Ari yelled while throwing multiple shuriken into the air.
The small silver stars took on a white color as they infused with the chakra Ari released. They grew bigger and started spinning faster and Ari directed them in a swirling motion towards Kakashi. His good eye widened in surprise.
Seconds later, a large dust cloud appeared where Kakashi had been standing, the thunk of the stars hitting something was Ari's cue. He had used substitution.
Suddenly, several Kakashis jumped down on her from the trees. Surprise and adrenaline ignited every nerve ending in Ari. She weaved hand signs at an imperceptible speed, "Vaccum Sword!"
Ari sliced through the air with a kunai, releasing a power gust of wind, concentrated into a slice, cutting through the shadow clones. They all puffed away and through the smoke, the real Kakashi burst through, slicing down with his katana.
At just the last second, Ari parried the blow with her kunai. This time though, it was Kakashi who was on the retreat.
He did three consecutive backhand springs and landed, breathing hard.
"Let it out, Aria. Go ahead, you won't beat me!" He taunted.
Ari canted her head down so her blueish black bangs covered her eyes. She watched her hand carefully, drawing chakra to the center in a swirl.
"Your mistake was underestimating me, Hatake. You're holding back and honestly, its insulting," she spat.
Soon, her chakra was condensed into a swirling sphere, visible, and just as angry as she felt.
"Aria..." Kakashi's tone was that of a warning and laced with concern.
"It's been six months and everyone has moved on. You've all forgotten him. Everyone walks around on egg-shells around me. When Minato told me, I hated you. I thought, as cold and heartless as he was there was no way Kakashi would get his teammate killed. But after that day in the hospital, I had to know for sure before i forgave you. So I read the report... you didnt even go after Rin when she had been kidnapped. If you had gone with Obi to save her, the girl who thinks she loves you more than life itself, maybe he'd be here. And it festered.
"The war raged on and nobody cared about the Uchiha boy who couldnt even awaken his Sharingan. Nobody cared that he was dead, nobody even visits his grave but me!"
Ari met Kakashi and straightened out her arm. The chakra swirled faster and Kakashi got down into a good stance to dodge. Ari knew at this stage, it was a straight shot. There was no way she would hit a moving target. But it was the intent that she wanted Kakashi to know she had.
She took off at a dead sprint, raised her hand to swing the sphere at him, watched him just barely jump out of the way, and felt her hand connect with the tree behind him. After two deafening seconds, a giant hole exploded out the back of the tree. Pain shot up Ari's arm but it was her eyes that burned the most.
Ari fell to her knees, her hand still lodged in the tree, and cried. Six months of unshed tears and anger had filtered out of her in that moment.
"Aria," Kakashi said, squatted next to the injured girl.
He gently pulled her hand from the tree and she collapsed into him, forcing him to fall back on his butt from his squat. Ari cried and screamed, all the while, Kakashi held her and petted her hair.
"There's a thousand things I should have done differently that night. The one thing I wish I could take back more than anything, was not following Obito. He told me, 'Ninja who don't follow the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum' and I'll never forget that."
The two sat in the clearing for hours, the silver haired ninja holding and comforting his sensei's younger sibling. This was what she needed. A release of the anger and sadness to feel the peace she knew was deep down.