In the early hours of the next morning, Kakashi was lying haphazardly on Gai's couch; one foot planted firmly on the ground, the other stretched to the end of the last cushion. From elsewhere in the apartment, the silver-haired shinobi could hear his friend obnoxiously snoring, giving fuel to the headache that was in the early stages of making itself known. He let out a small groan, his head lolling to the side as he tried to remember just why he had a headache. The sight of several empty sake bottles sitting on the table in front of the couch reminded him, and he sighed, closing his eyes when he realized the room was spinning.

He vaguely remembered the evening's beginning: he had first walked Sakura to her parents' loft, turning down her mother's offer of their home to sleep in for the night. He had thought it might be awkward, even with Mebuki knowing about and seemingly supportive of his relationship with her daughter. He had gotten out of it only by explaining that his good friend, Gai, had already offered him a place to stay, and that he'd already accepted.

Gai, of course, had not made any such offer. But he was Kakashi's good friend, despite their earlier argument, and so he had indeed offered his eternal rival the use of his couch. After gaining a place to crash for the night, Kakashi had suggested they go grab a bite to eat and they'd ended up at a ramen house nearby. Gai had turned it into a challenge that Kakashi had won.

From there, they'd ended up at a liquor store, where Gai had bought three bottles of sake and issued his rematch: which one of them could drink the most? That was where things got a little blurry for Kakashi. At some point, Gai had admitted defeat and he'd stumbled off to wherever it was he was now passed out. Kakashi, unable to sleep even in a drunken stupor, had laid down on the couch, letting his thoughts consume him in the darkness of the living room.

As he looked out the window next to the front door, he realized that the sun was coming up and a heavy sigh fell from his lips. He groaned, forcing his body to sit up and doing his best to ignore the throbbing in his head. Deciding that he'd had enough lying around, he used the arm of the couch to stand and had just made it to his feet when he heard a small tapping sound coming from the window. He glanced over, a frown forming on his face when he saw someone standing there.

Kakashi made his way to the door, quietly opening and closing it behind himself as he stepped outside. "Tenzo," he said the other man's name in greeting, turning to face the dark-eyed man.

"We need to talk," came Tenzo's response as he stepped out of the shadows. He wasn't wearing his ANBU uniform as he usually did. Kakashi nodded, his hands finding the pockets of the sweatpants he'd borrowed from Gai.

"Have you found anything?" Kakashi asked him. He didn't need to ask whether or not his friend had been looking; Tenzo had always been the most observant of Team Ro, and Kakashi knew that hadn't changed in the last seventeen years since they'd been on a team together regularly.

Tenzo didn't vocalize his response, but instead produced a small plastic baggy from his back pocket, which he handed to the silver-haired man. Kakashi studied the contents with a furrowed brow. It was a small, badly burnt piece of paper.

"What's this supposed to be?" Kakashi asked. Tenzo just nodded at the baggy again, pointing at it.

"Really look at it for a second," Tenzo explained. Kakashi flipped the baggy over, his frown deepening when he saw a single kanji printed on the paper, half of which had been burned away. His eyes widened when he realized that even partially destroyed, he could make out what it had said.

Root.

His eyes shot up to meet Tenzo's, his eyes narrowing. "What do they have to do with this?" Kakashi spat out the words, shoving the baggy back at the other man.

"I don't know yet," Tenzo answered him quietly. "But...We both know which one of our former teammates is still active with them."

"Who have you told?" Kakashi asked next, his mind racing to connect pieces of a puzzle that he just couldn't make fit. Tenzo seemed just as frustrated, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose as he took slow breaths in and out.

"No one yet. I think we need to have a private meeting, just the two of us, with Lady Tsunade as soon as possible."

Kakashi thought about it, weighing the pros and cons of that before he finally nodded in agreement, his eyes meeting Tenzo's again. "Let's go now," he told his friend quietly. "This can't wait."

The two took off silently, Kakashi doing his best to ignore the pain shooting through his body as he pushed himself to keep up with Tenzo. By the time they arrived at the Hokage's tower, the sun had already risen above the horizon line. Seeing Tenzo, the ANBU guarding the entrance stepped aside, allowing them to quickly head up the sloped stairs to the top one, where Tsunade's office door was already open, the blonde sitting at her desk with a pensive look on her face.

"Kakashi, Tenzo," she spoke their names in greeting.

"Lady Hokage," the both answered in unison, looking at one another. Kakashi gave the other man a short nod, and he took the lead as he began to speak.

"I found some evidence in the ashes of my home," Tenzo's voice was serious as he said the words. Tsunade's eyebrow shot up, the only evidence of her interest in what had just been said. When she didn't speak, Tenzo pulled the baggy out and handed it to her.

It took Tsunade half the time it had taken Kakashi to realize what it said, her eyes narrowing in anger as she read the half-visible kanji. "Danzo," she hissed the man's name, throwing the bag down onto her desk.

"There's a reason we came just the two of us," Kakashi started slowly, his eyes glancing down at the paper. "Seventeen years ago, Aburame Yoji was one of Danzo's most trusted Root agents. I," he glanced over at Tenzo before amending, "We think he still is."

A heavy sigh fell from Tsunade's lips as she rested her forehead on the tips of her steepled fingertips. "You need to rest," she spoke to Kakashi as she said this, her eyes narrowing when he opened his mouth to speak. She continued, "That is an order, Hatake. Tenzo," her gaze shifted to him. "I am sending you on a mission. You are to leave as soon as I adjourn this meeting."

"Where am I going, Lady Hokage?"

Tsunade's brow furrowed, her eyes glancing down at a file that had been laying open on her desktop. "The North Pass," she finally answered him. "You are to attempt to retrieve the remains of the girl you were sent to Iwa for."

"Yes, Lady Hokage," Tenzo answered her, nodding his head. "I remember where the cave was. It should take me a week there and back."

"Make it less," Tsunade told him sharply before closing her eyes in frustration. "Now, both of you get out of my office. I have much to think about."

Kakashi and Tenzo exited at once, both sharing a single glance before going their separate ways; Tenzo towards the ANBU headquarters to gear up, Kakashi towards the only place that made sense for him to be when his head was this full and his heart too heavy - the Memorial Stone.

-x-

Kakashi took his time in reaching his destination. Like it was every morning he chose to stop by, the grounds were empty. He crossed the expanse of the field slowly, his eyes glancing at the three posts as he passed by them. He smiled sadly, remembering the day Minato-sensei had given his team; how he'd used them as a means to an end, how their sensei's encouragement to practice better teamwork had fallen on deaf ears. His hands clenched into fists at his side as he remembered just how self-absorbed and self-important he had been in his younger years, sighing as he finally reached the marbled, aged Memorial Stone.

He didn't say anything for a few moments, just let his hand rest on the stone as he bowed his head, eyes closed as memories flooded back. Obito, and his silly grin and the way they'd had a rivalry similar to his own students. Rin, and her selfless devotion to others with her knack for medical jutsu. This pulled a small smile from the weary man, and a small chuckle rumbled through his chest and just like that, everything he'd been holding in spilled out.

"I'm sorry I haven't been by in awhile," Kakashi murmured to the friends no one but him could see.

The wind rustled in the branches of the nearby trees, and Kakashi smiled as he looked up. That must be Rin, with her never-ending patience and forgiveness. He nodded, as though the girl who'd been dead for going on twenty years had just spoken to him.

"You'd be happy for me, Rin. I found someone," he smiled. The wind rustled again, this time blowing a single leaf on top of the memorial stone. Kakashi smiled and continued, "Her name is Sakura. She's training in medic jutsu, just like you. She's so determined; you would like her, I think."

The air stilled for a moment and Kakashi did too, his eyes fixed on the worn white slab. His fingers brushed over Obito's name, closing his eyes to stop the tears he felt prickling in the corners of his eyes. As if he had joined them, the wind became stronger and Kakashi chuckled as he heard a large branch snap on the outer edges of the field.

"You'd like her too, Obito," he spoke his friend's name quietly. "She's got a temper, you know," he chuckled as he remembered all of the examples of Sakura's wrath. He added in a softer tone, "I think she'd like both of you."

Kakashi stood there silently for awhile, his mind mulling with memories and regrets. While he often wished that Rin and Obito were still alive; that they could still be a part of his life, he had never wished for it as much as he did at that moment. He could almost see the way they'd interact with Sakura; her and Rin pouring over some medical text or animatedly discussing applications of medical chakra in the corner of some booth at a restaurant, while he and Obito sat next to their women, quietly amused by their passion. It brought a sad smile to Kakashi's face, and he let the first tear slip quietly from his eye without ceremony.

That single tear brought a deluge he'd been holding back. The tears fell quickly and heavily, wetting the top of the stone and Kakashi's hand as he clenched it tightly. His heart felt as though it were being stabbed with thousands of senbon needles; he could almost feel their sharp pricks as he took another gasping breath, his free hand now clutching at a chest that was too tight to hold everything he was feeling. Kakashi squeezed his eyes shut, willing away the ache of it all as he fell to his knees. His lungs felt like they were both on fire and freezing simultaneously somehow; as though every breath was either going to engulf him in flames or freeze him to death. A short cry fell from his lips, his head pressed firmly to the stone where he knew Obito's name was.

He felt like he was falling suddenly; like the ground had opened up and was going to swallow him whole. This was the weight of his pain, his grief. It was too much, and his fist landed hard in the ground beside him, the ground quaking gently and a small crater left behind as evidence of his desperation to make it stop somehow.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been there like that before he was finally able to lift his head, his body no longer shaking and his emotions no longer erupting out of him. With a shaky breath, Kakashi moved back to his feet, pressing his fingertips to the top of the stone as he whispered goodbye before he turned to leave his grief and his dead friends behind once again.

-x-

A/N: I'm gonna be honest with you guys; this chapter was really hard for me to get written. It took four attempts and something like 3000 scrapped words. . I know it's a bit shorter than a lot of the other chapters, but I was quite happy with how this turned out. I dug really deep for some of my own personal hurt to get that Memorial Stone scene written. Please let me know what you thought of it, and I hope you're enjoying Breathless as much as I've been enjoying writing it for you all.

Also, a small side note: I did a lot of research on Team Ro and their missions for the plotline that's started unfolding. Aburame Yoji is an actual character, who was on Team Ro at one point in a novel. For the purposes of Breathless, I have placed him on a rendition of the team I don't think actually existed in any of the canon material. It does go off canon, which I was trying to avoid doing, but it's the only way the plotline will work out how I need it to.