Naruto Befitting

**Reader Beware Possible Spoilers!****Please take note of this before reading or reviewing** _Post Kakashi Gaiden, Pre Manga. Because I'm certain to get a few flames for this, let me clear something up ahead of time – this fic is written under speculations that point to just exactly who the mysterious leader of the Akatsuki is. Now, you can sit there and go on and on complaining to me why I'm wrong or right like some weird, geeky teenage freak with nothing better to do than obsess over Star Wars and Anime. That being said, open your imagination for a few minutes and just enjoy the story. _

**Also, please be aware that this is an extremely LONG one-shot, my longest yet. Don't complain about it, I'm not posting a multi-chaptered story. As well, this is a tragic romance, not a smut fic. Although it does contain explicit and mature material, so if you **_**know **_**the following content will offend you, please don't read it.**

Befitting

-

'_The pain now is part of the happiness then._'

-

She was supposed to be on vacation. She had meant to get away from the hectic life she was leading so carelessly. And yet, somehow, she had gotten intertwined into more tangled webs of confusion, betrayal, stress and heartbreak.

Heartbreak.

That word seemed to follow her around like the plague these days. Ruining her life and all the lives of others who happed to become so unfortunate to encounter her person. Danger prone, no matter how much discipline she cautioned upon herself.

She just wanted to know that there were other worlds out there, worlds of real life and love and happiness. She had known happiness few times in her day. And she had been so young then, that now she was hard pressed to even recall those days of peace – however short lived they had been – before the cursed world of Konoha shinobi had brought all that crushing down on her tender headed ideals of what life _could_ have been. What it should have been. Ah, but destiny has her own way of arranging fates with little care of the subject pertaining to the delicate human condition.

It was difficult to not think of the _what if's _and the _would have been's_. What her life could have consisted of if Obito wasn't gone. If Kakashi didn't try so hard to avoid her. And if Yondaime-sensei hadn't sacrificed...well, there was no point thinking about that. He had served his purpose to the village, given them his life and made the ultimate deceleration of honor that day...and still the village had disregarded his simple request not to become prejudice of the one whom he had sealed the beast inside.

Maybe if he were still present then Kakashi wouldn't try so hard to hide the pain of his tragic past with that mask of his. And maybe that little blonde haired boy who ran amok in the village wouldn't have had to lead such a difficult life alone...

But most everyone spent their time alone in that village of smiling faces and broken dreams.

Konoha was a settlement of despair...but it was also a beacon of hope. It was a promise of days to come, days of peace. The times were, in a way, getting better by the year. Killer shinobi had changed from maturing at age ten, to the much later and seasoned age of fifteen. It was a disturbing beginning to a bright new era.

Despite herself, it had never made it any more easier to bear when the cold body of a young adolescent nin was carted into the freezers of the hospital morgue. The soft glow of youth, eagerness and brash adventure that had once brandished their face was missing, that clammy feeling of death sank deeper and deeper into her aching gut every time. It never failed to affect her...every...single...time.

She played her part in life with little complaint. She took the punches handed out to her with a smile on her face and a tear in her eye. She saw underneath the underneath. And she never had liked what she witnessed.

Greed and corruption was mostly the case and point at hand.

The downfall of so many wondrous and powerful men who had held so much potential in life, such high ranks of duty, honor and nobility. Only to have such gifted strength shattered as if it were nothing more than fragile glass. The fall of the Uchiha clan, the shadow that was Orochimaru lurking in fearful hearts and wary minds and so many more fallen shinobi that had been the product and source in the betrayal of Konoha.

A black cloud of death hung over this village and every other spot of humanity that upheld the traditions of the _true_ ninja.

She watched from a distance, placing a gap between herself and the few people who mattered in her life. She was an onlooker, nothing more. Almost an outsider. Kakashi could barely stand to visit her, not because he blamed her. No, he never would be so unforgiving or mindless to accuse her of Obito's early demise. It was not her fault, never had been. That traumatic incident had brought the two of them closer, Kakashi promising to protect her with his life and she promising to always be there for him when he needed her. But, to her ex-teammate, the simple act of seeing her face was enough to bring back the memories, and sometimes she could barely stand look upon her own self in mirrors for the result was nothing more than an aching chest and stinging eyes. Memories each of them cherished and loathed all the same would resurface with little encouragement. They were the only remaining members of that faded team, and if there was one lesson that Yondaime and Obito had taught them that stayed buried in the far reaches of their conscience it was that being part of a team could bind people together stronger than family blood.

She and Kakashi had never let that lesson deteriorate with the years. Kakashi lived by the rule, flunking all of his would-be disciples. And she, well, she tried as best she could. She was fair and considerate, yet reluctant to accept anyone that wasn't a part of her childhood past close to her heart. No more would she tolerate the loss of someone dear to her, and the best way to secure that objective was to reject all offers of friendship and devotion. And eventually, she had become a well-guarded woman whom none could break.

It was impossible to elude the years, the past. The memorial stone standing like a grim pillar to remind her of what had been and what would inevitably come for every warrior of Konoha, man and woman alike. Maybe even her, someday.

But that wasn't what hurt so much. There were places she could go that didn't own a clear view of that gleaming stone that sometimes blinded her in the sunshine. What ate at her soul so eagerly was the profile that hung so proudly on that great wall of even greater men. The Fourth Hokage, Konoha's Yellow Flash, the best nin to ever walk the streets of the hidden leaf...her beloved sensei. Always there, always looking down upon her, guarding the village even after he was gone. She'd walk down the streets, and there he'd be. She'd look out her office window, and there he was. She'd go to sleep at night, and she'd know he was staring down upon her house. His features chiseled out to near perfection on the mountain.

It drove her mad a times. It made her crazy with grief and mourning. Again, like every other tortured man, woman and child of this village, she smiled during the day and cried herself to sleep at night.

She needed a break, to feel release. She wanted to run away, she wanted to come crashing in on herself without restriction. She wanted freedom...

At the most unexpected times, the truth would hit her. Sink deep into her hollow bones over and over again, no matter how well she was already acquainted with this dismal reality. She would become stricken with little reason or warning, compromising herself into embarrassing situations. It was hard to hide the hurt that echoed in her eyes from the public. Resounding like a bad note struck in a once beautiful symphony. It was too much, and even the most poised and composed kunoichi broke down in the private quarters of her shattered heart.

And, if only for a few days, Konoha would have to amble on through it's routine minus one unseen, ordinary and inadequate medic-nin. They would suffice without her dull presence with only trace acknowledgments of remorse or anxiety. Life could continue without the countenance of a mediocre woman there to aid them.

Because, for once in her life, Rin had to escape.

-

"Well, here she is, Miss." Rin followed the wirey old man up the front steps to a beaten, run down porch. The faded paint on all surfaces seemed to chip away every time the breeze picked up, declaring evidence to its vast years of uninhabitancy. "Don't reckon I'd know what a nice young lady like yourself would want with a pile of junk like this." The man pondered aloud, scratching his gray head with fingers that vaguely resembled wrinkly strands of chapped leather. His scraggly clothes a testament to his life's career as a farmer.

"I'm going to make it beautiful again," She smiled warmly at him. Neglecting to tell him she had little more than a month to accomplish said task before her short vacation would be over. It was going to be one hell of a challenge, she thought as she stared warily at a moldy window missing the thick sheet of glass that separated the inner works of the home from the outdoors. "How old did you say it was?" She asked again.

"Oh, I suppose around a hundred years – that's a whole century, mind you." He planted his hands on his hips and Rin nodded her head in agreement as she studied the traditional, almost ancient, looking architecture of the two-story building. "Ain't nobody been living there for nearly thirty years, though. As you can tell." He commented on its rather dingy appearance. The ugly weeds overgrowing the lawn and creeper moss clinging to the tall walls. "It's going to take a lot of work, Miss." He glanced down at her short, petite stature. "Heavy labor and a bit of construction, I'd say."

She patted his boney shoulder in reassurance that she was more than capable of handling such an enormous task as this, and she was even more determined to complete the duty alone. "That's the fun in remodeling." She said amiably. "I get all the satisfaction of boasting about how _I_ made such an atrocious place into a gorgeous palace." Rin raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun to sum up the damage done to the weather-worn rooftop. "If I need help, you'll be the first one I call upon." Rin winked at him and a soft red hue flared on his high cheekbones.

He assisted in unloading all of her things from the cart his mule had hauled to the top of the hill. Placing her luggage just inside the doorway of her new retreat. "Like I said before, if you need anything, anything at all, you just follow this here dirt road to town. I'm the first house on the right you'll encounter on the outskirts of town. Me and my wife would be delighted to have you for supper some time." He tipped the brim of his frayed straw hat and nodded farewell. "I'll be seeing ya around, Miss." He tugged the reigns of his short, chubby mule. Walking with a slight limp as he sauntered down the hill and out of her sight.

"Goodbye," She called softly, waving farewell.

Worrying her bottom lip between her pearly teeth, Rin looked upon the property set out before her. Only seeing the end result that would, no doubt, be an attractive estate by the time she was through.

Rin had been searching the house-hunting markets for a reasonably priced lot of land for nearly two years. Through lots of luck, a dependable savings account that she added money to at the end of every week and a small real estate agency nestled in the tiniest corner of Konoha, she had found this old, cheap plot on the very fringes of Fire Country. Far enough to remain out of reach of Konoha, but close enough to always have the option of going home.

From the worst of the worsts, she was going to make the best of the bests. This would be her little retreat, a sanctuary to run to when times got rough. When she wanted to be alone, when she wanted to cry. It would become her hideaway.

That night as she ate a can of processed food over candlelight on the wooden floor of her kitchen, she made a mental note to contact the nearest power plant to get some electricity flowing through the house. There were a few old-fashioned lamps and light switches hanging from the walls throughout some of the rooms. Meaning there was a good chance the previous owners had began to instal at least some of the modern conveniences she was not so used to living without. Luck would have it though, that the wiring in the walls would be so chewed and gnarled by rats that a whole new system would have to be started from scratch.

She sighed and scooped her spoon into her can of cold soup. Fully understanding now why this place had came so cheap. She'd have to completely rip off all the old shingles of the house to instal new roofing. The lovely birch wood floors and staircase wasn't so bad, but they'd need some mean scrubbing to be cleansed of all that caked on dirt. And the bathrooms and the plumbing...heaven help her.

Her dusting skills would be put to the ultimate test, as well as her patience. But it would be worth while in the end. It would be something to behold.

For the first time in her life, Rin had something that was completely, totally and undeniably _hers_. And nobody, but _nobody_ could take that away.

One day later, the nearest plant had sent out two electricians and the old house was illuminated from the inside out for the first time in twenty six years with new wiring and alight with flourescent bulbs.

Five days into her project and the roof was brandished with new, shining shingles that didn't leak in the rain. Reflecting the bright sun with their varnished surfaces.

Six days and a little help from the old farmer's wife down the hill, Rin had the walls scrubbed from top to bottom. Cleansing the very soul of the house. Making the floors shine with a brilliant light that nearly brought tears to her eyes.

On the seventh day, Rin made a trip into the modest village and dipped further into her savings account to purchase precious antiques, furniture, kitchen appliances and a new bed to fill her home with. Everything that a woman such as herself could, and yet couldn't, live without.

At the end of the second week, the skinny gray farmer came up to cultivate her a new garden with his stubborn mule pulling the rusty till through the ground, churning up fresh dirt. Even going so far as to trim the overgrown trees blocking the windows of the house, surprised to find that there was a demure little cherry tree tucked somewhere deep in that lush vastness of greenery.

And on the fifteenth day, Rin was crouched down in the shrubbery surrounding the freshly painted front porch. Pulling up weeds and planting new flowers and bushes to accent the rock garden she had decided to work into the traditional design that wrapped around the charming place she had made for herself.

She sat back on her haunches and wiped away the tiny beads of sweat that had perspired on her brow. Divesting herself of her dirt stained gloves, Rin observed what she had created. Indulging herself in her pride for a moment of well deserved self-praise.

"Rin," She told herself as she stood and brushed the dirt away from the skirt surrounding her knees. "You've outdone yourself, girl." Golden bands of sunshine poured in through the tiny gaps between her woven gardening hat to dot the skin of her face. Her long brown hair tied securely at the nape of her neck. Flowing down her back like the thick trunk of a matured tree.

Losing herself in the moment of tranquil solitude, Rin closed her eyes and took a deep, soothing breath. Concentrating on nothing but the solid earth beneath her bare feet, the breeze whistling through the trees and tugging at her hair like the gentle persistence of a child demanding her attention. The groan of a trunk as it twisted in wind. Somewhere in the distance a creek was flowing and fish were swimming and jumping and playing in the crisp waters of the forest.

Her heart and soul had never felt quite so weightless as it did in that moment. At least not since she had been very young. It was something to appreciate, something for her to treasure.

And then it all just...stopped.

The birds fell silent and the locus held their wings in reserve of their noisy summer songs. The bull frog across the field cried out one last croak, his deep squall barely reaching her ears. And suddenly there was no more squirrels running through the branches over her head, no butterflies gliding through the air. Her small collection of wind chimes stilled as even the wind seemed to die out just a little in the moment.

A dark, eery sensation slithered down her spine like a bug scurrying along her skin.

Rin gasped as her honey eyes opened like lightening winding wildly across the sky. Her head whipping around in haste to stare past the thick foliage of forest trees surrounding the house. Seeing nothing more than dark, empty shadows of high tree canopies falling upon the tall grass sitting in the open field spread out before her.

Instinct drove her to reach for the small weapon strapped to her thigh.

She was not alone.

Rin gripped the sharp blade tighter in her grasp, her nerves tangling together in tight balls of anticipation. There was no chakra print to be located, no sound, nothing to indicate an intruder save for the inborn impulse to protect herself. Standing in a stiff defensive mode, wondering from which angle she would be attacked from first. Who it could be. Why they were here and what they wanted from her.

She stayed as thus for minutes on end, wide eyed, alert and aware and her body ringing with that sensation she only seemed to get before a battle. Reverberating through her body until she began to wonder if it were all in her head, if she were imagining things when the feeling of eyes upon her back was gone as quick as it had came.

And then from far across the field, the baritone croak of the bull frog startled her back into reality. As if nature had pushed the pause button, it resumed the natural course of the day and came alive once more. Just like nothing had ever happened.

It was hard to swallow the lump in her throat.

Wasting no time, Rin went inside to retrieve a much more dependable weapon and bolted back out the door to scan the perimeter of her house, grounds and the dense forest walls. She found nothing that would lead her to suspect a violator at trespassed on her property. No footprints, no broken twigs and no traces of remaining chakra that, if an intruder had masked his presence, would not have been able to conceal once he were gone.

After nearly an hour of searching, Rin gave up and made sure she remained extra cautious and alert for the rest of the day.

That evening after a quick(restless) nap and a long shower, Rin donned a thin beige summer dress embroidered with pastel pink vines wrapping around the short sleeves, square neckline and bottom hems of the flowing fabric. It wasn't the newest or most stylish thing she had brought in her luggage, but it certainly wasn't the oldest or ugliest, either. Whatever the case may be, she was going into town for some groceries, and although the small farming village was one of the more uncivilized settlements she'd come across, it didn't serve as any excuse to waltz into public with grass stained gardening clothes and mud smeared on her face.

She gave herself a once over in the full-length mirror she'd bought for her bedroom. Running her hands over the flare of her hips and flat stomach. Not pleased with what she saw. The dress just...hung there. It didn't quite cling to her curves the way she wanted it to. Rather, it sort of fell over her breasts and then just kinda flopped in the wind without even touching her belly or waist.

Ever the resourceful one, Rin rummaged through her unpacked luggage until she had found what she wanted. Pulling out a long, thick ribbon, she wrapped the material around her waist, just under her breasts and tied the silky strip of fabric in a loose bow over her spine. Letting the ribbon tuck the dress closer to her body.

Stepping back in front of the mirror, she smiled. This time pleased with the results of such a simple change. The dress stopped just short of her knees and very nearly matched the sun kissed highlights in her subtle brunette hair.

A few minutes later she was strolling down the narrow dirt road toward town. Adding a brisk skip in her step along the way. She only spent a couple hours shopping around the small market. Getting groceries, window shopping, mingling with a few strangers. It was a pleasant way to pass the time.

The town was peaceful and quiet, everything Konoha was not. And it certainly didn't harbor sad memories around every corner of every building. The citizens were polite and a little shy. Mostly older people, some younger couples starting a new family. A simple farming community.

On the trip home, Rin stopped by the Amuro's, the sweet elder couple who had been kind enough to go more than out of their way to help her in the renovations of the old house.

Walking up the steps to their porch, Rin paused a moment to pat the head of their old hound dog laying lazily on his side, panting in the midday heat.

When she knocked on the rickety screen door of the Amuro home, Mrs. Amuro of course was the one who answered. Giving Rin a big welcoming grin, each of them sharing a friendly smile.

"Rin, dear, come in!" She said gleefully. So easily overjoyed just to have a visitor. "I've just made some lemonade, you do like lemonade, don't you?"

Rin suppressed a laugh, Mrs. Amuro had just asked her that question during her last visit. Needless to say the woman's memory was lacking in some degree. But she was sweet and Rin craved her company. "Yes, I love lemonade."

"Wonderful, come and have a seat then." She said as she quickly retrieved a cold, icy glass of the beverage. A blessing after the long, hot walk from town. "What brings you all the way down here today?" She asked curiously.

"Just some grocery shopping," She answered and motioned to the plastic bags she'd set down beside the door.

"Oh!" The older woman's laugh was such a bubbly sound that Rin herself couldn't stop a few of her own giggles. "I guess I really am getting old," She shook her head. "I'm not as sharp as I used to be." And then she sighed as she took a seat across from Rin under the cool breeze of their ceiling fan.

"Actually, I haven't stopped by here just to leach up some of your wonderful lemonade," Rin began. "How would you and Mr. Amuro like to be my guests for dinner tonight?" She said hopefully. "I've all the essentials," She wiggled her eyebrows and motioned toward her grocery bags again, insinuating only the best. An assurance that she had lots of delicious food just waiting to be eaten. "And I'm even willing to do all of the cooking, so you two just take it easy for once."

"That sounds great," Mrs. Amuro began enthusiastically. "But you know full and well that I wouldn't let you do all of the work alone." She _tsked_.

"So you'll come then? What time can I expect you?"

Mrs. Amuro opened her thin mouth to reply, but quickly stopped as a rueful expression came over her gray face. "I'm sorry, dear," She pouted, but with her age and wrinkles showing, it looked more like a deep frown. "I just remembered my husband hasn't been feeling top notch these past few days. I can't leave him here without someone to look after him."

"I'm sorry to hear that, is there anything I can do?" Rin asked with concern.

"He'll be fine, don't you fret over it. He's an old man, he's bound and determined to become ill at least once a month." She waved it off.

"I could bring some soup down later tonight, it may help. And it's easy on the stomach." She offered anyways.

"That would be nice, but don't go out of your way." The woman patted Rin's knee and gave her a smile.

"Don't be silly," She slapped her hand gently, teasingly. "I've got nothing but time on my hands. And there's no possible way I could ever repay the help the two of you have given me these past few weeks." She stood and gathered her groceries in hand. "I'll return later tonight with soup...and maybe a few treats for you to go along with it." She winked, promising to bring the woman some goodies.

"All's the same, my dear," Mrs. Amuro walked her guest out to the porch to see her off. "If you find better things to do, don't worry 'bout us. We'll manage just fine." She waved farewell as the young woman trotted down the steps. "I'll be up to check on you in a few days, either way. So you take care!"

"I will, goodbye, Mrs. Amuro." Rin tossed over her shoulder. "Thanks for the lemonade!"

Rin stuck to the side of the road on her way home, where the trees offered shade from the unforgiving sun. There wasn't much of a breeze today, barely enough to rustle the leaves on the tree branches. But what wind did come her way and cooled her skin, she was grateful for.

Her mind turned over many subjects pondering away in her head. Such as, how worried she was for old man Amuro. He was such a sturdy fellow, given his age. Knowing he was sick put a worried knot in her chest. A good tomato soup always helped to settle the stomach, maybe add a few herbs for strength to fight infection. It wouldn't hurt for her to give him a good examination, too. Perhaps it was something she could help alleviate.

She also wondered what the rowdy village of Konoha was up to. Did anyone miss her? She briefly thought about returning early, just in case she was needed, but quickly relinquished the thought when she realized if she was needed, they would send for her. The Third knew where to find her, so there was no question as to whether her urgency to return was in demand or not.

What was Kakashi up to? She had told him she was going on vacation, he didn't seem much like he cared. She had to wonder if he had already forgotten about it.

Such was her worth in that village, unlike here. On the edge of existence, she felt somewhat needed. Like she belonged, where things weren't so huge and massive and overwhelming that she was merely covered up rather than blending in with the locals.

She let out a deep breath and wiped at her forehead. Rin finally submitted to her thoughts and let her mind run over what other things she should bring the Amuro's dinner table tonight...

-

"Why are we doing this again?" Came a dull voice.

"Because, it's our orders, idiot." Came the sharp reply.

The respondent sighed dramatically and feigned a yawn. "It's a waist of time, if you ask me."

His partner refused to reply, his ethereal green eyes fixated on his target. They had nearly been discovered earlier today in the forest, thanks to Hidan's careless approach to their mission. Kakuzu had thrown a knife at his head as a result of his temper. Damned if it didn't work, that's what he gets for a having an immortal partner.

"What's so special about_ her_?" He looked down at the girl again, slowly making her way up the dirt path, from their perch in the trees just outside her home. "She's just a fucking girl."

"She's from_ Konoha_." Kakuzu expounded for his new partner. Staring at his oblivious victim.

"And that makes her extraordinary, because?"

"Leader seems to have taken up an interest in her," He surmised logically. "My guess is he suspects she's a spy, possibly followed us all the way to the fringes of Fire Country. Why else would a Konoha nin be posted so far away from base?"

"Sounds like a damned conspiracy." Hidan said with unconcealed sarcasm. "So, do we get to kill her or what?"

"Maybe you'd know the answer to that question if you would have paid attention to your orders that agent delivered to us." Kakuzu said through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, yeah...whatever. Do we get to kill her or don't we?" His fingers played restlessly with the silver, upside down triangular Jashin charm hanging from his neck.

"Killing her would defeat the purpose of extracting information from her." Kakuzu ground out through his mask, his patience flailing.

"What if, per say, I kill her by accident?" Hidan said offhandedly, distractedly examining the heavy Santai ring on his left index finger.

"Leader wouldn't approve. You would fail our mission and I would, in some way as a result of your actions, pay for it by losing money as always."

"Fuck the Leader," Hidan scoffed, running his hand through is hair to sleek back a few errant silver strands.

"You should consider practicing better respect for the Akatsuki, Hidan." Kakuzu warned. "Particularly since it's an organization you're heavily involved in...and you are the newest member, not to mention."

"Bull shit, don't give me that 'new member' speech again. Some other idiot will get off'd and another idiot will take his place and then I'll just be the second newest. Then I'll have no worries," He all but boasted.

"Shut up, she's getting closer." Kakuzu hissed. "I'll go down first, you know the plan."

"Whatever," Hidan rolled his eyes, ready to get the boring mission over with.

Kakuzu, unlike his partner, was focused and watched as she passed under them, the girl unawares. He let her take a few more steps before he made his move.

He slid his body out of the tree stealthily, landing silently on the dirt path that aided in acting as a cushiony pillow to absorb his footsteps. Taking great pains to mask his chakra at such close proximately to the girl. It was risky, indeed. And he moved closer to her prone figure.

Something was off, though. Her back was stiff and rigid, as if she was on full alert. She was walking very straight at a very calculated speed. She wasn't relaxed and enjoying the sunlight as she often did as they watched her from afar, instead her head was level and heavily grounded to her shoulders. As if...as if she suspected something was behind her.

Before he could shout up to Hidan that their plan was foiled, the girl swivelled on her heel and shot a shuriken straight between his eyes. Her plastic grocery bags falling to the ground as she rebounded quickly with another weapon.

Kakuzu wasn't able to dodge the blade completely and suffered a shallow cut to his temple. Drawing out only a few drops of blood.

With his previous ambush tactics currently on the back burner, he let the thick threads holding his body together slowly unwind until his arms were detached, expecting to easily subdue her in a few moments with the threads that kept his body tightly woven together. The girl watched on in mild disbelief, the shock written on her face as she watched him literally unravel himself before her eyes.

"What the hell?" She started to say. But he was quick to take action in placing a large gap between them, spacing their positions with relative ease.

There was fire in her eyes as she reached under her skirt and pulled another shuriken from the band of weapons on her thigh. He took a moment to mentally calculate how many of those she could store and how quickly she would run out.

It appeared to be her only weapon, which wouldn't fair too well in battle against him. He was too quick to be hit by any one shuriken, and she wouldn't be capable of getting close enough to him where she could do real damage.

She was of a strategic mind, however, he discovered as he took the offense and let his arms extend outward to her at a speed he was certain was unattainable for her.

Her stance and posture quickly reverted into the defensive as she braced herself.

Just as if she had lured him, the girl dodged at the last second. Her speed was impressive, but nothing he couldn't achieve.

Like the puppet master Sasori, he maneuvered his hands this way and that, following her agile dips and turns around trees and branches and bushes. That is, until he realized he had chased her reckless, spontaneous pasterns to the point he'd created a webbed maze of a tangled thread around himself.

He smirked at the chit's wit.

Kakuzu made another go for her with one of his arms, determined to catch her. He was surprised when she was able to sidestep the attack and latch onto the wrist.

He saw the triumph in her eyes as she pulled yet another weapon out from beneath her skirt. A kunai this time, and lunged for a tree. With a direct jab, she stabbed the blade through his arm and deep into the solid trunk of the tree. Immobilizing the arm and pinning it to the spot.

"You think you can get by on shuriken and kunai alone?" He asked with little amusement. "You're bound to run of strategies and weapons sooner or later. I, on the other hand, have endless possibilities." He informed as he awoke the four masks sewn onto his back. And like some strange form of Medusa, the faces were detached from his body and hovering around him like serpents heads controlled by their threads.

The girl only smirked.

He watched as she bent down to retrieve a thick stick from the ground, twirling it in her fingers like a child playing with a baton. "I think I'll manage," She said tactfully. "I'm rather resourceful."

Using another shuriken, she was barely able to slide around his free hand that had made a swipe for her legs and cut the thread, leaving the arm lying useless on the ground.

Wasting not another second, the girl bolted for him. He readied his masks for the blow of chakra that would for certain render her helpless and gain his victory. With the energy brimming from the mouth of the masks, he waited for just the right moment until she was at the perfect angle. But before he could complete the attack, the girl was gone.

She'd vanished and he wasn't able to trace her whereabouts. Within the next second, the rough texture of bark was pressed into his throat as the girl ambushed him from behind.

He only smirked, barely impressed with her speed and fight strategy. "That won't get you anywhere," He warned. Unable to aim his four animal masks at her at such close proximity lest he fire upon himself.

"No, but I figure it wouldn't be that hard to break a neck in less time than it would take you to get me off your back." She hissed at him, tightening the hold she had. Digging the limb deeper into the flesh of his neck. "Now, are you going to tell me what you're doing out here and just exactly what it is you want with my head?" She demanded. "Or am I gonna have to break a few necks to get an answer first?"

She only heard the ominous pitch of his low chuckle.

Before she knew what hit her, the thick black threads winding through his body latched onto her. Like free floating snakes, they wound around her. Lifting her over his head and tossing her to the ground at his feet.

She gasped as she landed on her back, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Momentarily stunning her.

That's all it took, the second she let him get the upper hand was the second all that dark yarn encompassed her. Wrapping around her arms and legs and neck and torso. Subduing her until she was unable to move.

She looked into his green eyes defiantly as he tightened the binds. Struggling against his hold.

Suddenly there was another presence behind her. Strong and dark. And then a pain at the base of her skull, fire spreading through her eyes and shooting down her body after the strike. And then nothing more than the cool flow of unconsciousness washing over her.

Kakuzu stared pointedly at Hidan, anger riling to the surface of his glowing eyes. His partner only shook his head and sighed as he announced, "Jeez, make me do all the work, why don't ya." Hidan complained. "I find this to be a reoccurring problem between us."

"You lazy bastard, you did nothing but sit up in that tree like a damned bat watching the show." Kakuzu growled at him. Retracting his threads as he placed the girl gently on the ground. "It isn't as if I need your help, anyways. You're useless enough as it stands," He mumbled as he went to fetch his arm that she had cut from its thread to sew it expertly back onto his shoulder. And then to free the damaged arm that had been staked to a tree.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kakuzu barked down at the man, who as he turned around had discovered Hidan crouched down in a ritualistic sort of fashion over the unconscious girl. A blade in his hand.

"I'm praying to Jashin before I kill her." He said calmly, concentrating on his prayer.

"The hell you are."

Kakuzu pushed him aside as he leaned down to scoop her limp body up in his arms. Ignoring the heated growl Hidan directed towards him.

"Come on," Hidan urged him to hand her over. "Nobody will know, we can tell Leader we interrogated her and then she died from battle wounds. No harm done."

Kakuzu held the girl tighter. Giving his annoying partner a defiant glare. "_You_ will not touch her. We will contact Leader after we have identified just exactly who she is and why she is here. _Then_ we will wait for orders." He turned abruptly and headed for her house. "As for killing her, that will have to wait until after further interrogation."

Hidan snarled as he sheathed the small blade at his side. Reluctantly following his 'superior' partner into their victim's home to tie her up.

After much pilfering and rummaging through every crack and crevice of her home, the only evidence they found to link the girl with a name had shown up in personal letters from Konoha. The letters had all began with a 'Dear Rin,' and signed 'The Third.'

As in the Third Hokage.

They read over the letters again and again. Nothing suspicious could be found, merely updates on how things were going along in Konoha, delivering the latest news and such stuff. No secret codes could be discerned from the writings. The only thing skeptical about her being here was that she had shown up only a day after they had taken up residence in the village.

Hidan a Kakuzu had been assigned to a local merchant man who had recently been plagued by a small group of gorilla bandits plundering his farm lands. The merchant was poor, but all his investments were in his land, so they were designated to take up the task for cheap, as per usual.

And then the Konoha nin made her appearance. Perhaps to investigate the odd happenings of the small town and the two suspicious, cloaked men lurking about. But she never attempted to seek them out.

They had watched her closely over the past week or so. Nothing too devious about her seemed to stand out...except she seemed to like flowers. God, Kakuzu hated flowers. Half allergic to them, actually. And they were everywhere, irritating his eyes and making him sneeze every time he turned around.

"You should contact Leader and share all the information we know of her. She'll be waking up soon and I don't want to waste anymore time." He ordered Hidan.

"Why do I have to speak to that–"

"_Hidan_," Kakuzu warned. "Remember, respect. Practice it."

The two shared an evil look, as if one couldn't wait to jump at the throat of the other, before Hidan finally seceded from the room to contact their leader through the usual astrol projection.

When Hidan emerged from the section of house he had designated for a moment of privacy to converse with their leader, he had a sour kind of look about his face. His frown was deeper than usual and his eyes were shooting bullets. It seemed something had set off his temper.

"What is it now?" Kakuzu asked.

"That bastard wants us to leave the bitch here." He almost sounded disbelieving.

"What?" Kakuzu repeated.

"I said–" He raised his voice.

"Shut up, I heard you the first time."

"What does he expect us to do? Lock her in a room? Tie her to a chair?" Hidan paced the floor restlessly, aggravation becoming him. "She'd break out either way, did you see the way she fought?"

"Yes," Kakuzu rubbed his chin. "She is rather crafty."

"Even if he didn't suspect she was a danger to us, after what's happened she's bound to return to Konoha with a nasty story to tell and justice on her mind." Hidan said. "I say we just kill her now, Leader wouldn't even know the difference were she dead or alive...and not a soul would know it was the Akatsuki."

"Unless..." Kakuzu began thoughtfully. "Did he say _why _he wanted her alive? Why he didn't order us to interrogate her?"

"No, but I suggested that we should at least do _something_ with her. And he, rather adamantly, suggested that we leave her alive and unharmed." Hidan's face grew red and strained again. "He...that fucker, he threatened me if I were to lay a hand on her."

Hidan wasn't sure, but he thought he heard Kakuzu chuckle.

"You asshole, you think it's funny?"

"No," He said, hiding a devious smirk under his mask. "But I patiently await the day of your death...perhaps at the hand of Leader."

"Fuck you!" Hidan hissed. "_I_ will never die." He corrected his partner, reminding him of his immortality.

Kakuzu, paying no heed to his partners outburst, took it upon himself to run today's events through his head. The girl, her presence here at the edge of Fire Country, her involvement with Konoha, the Leader's presumable interest in her well being and the very abrupt, very surprising order to set her free. It was all a jumble that didn't very well make much sense.

"Hidan, you included the girl's name, estimated age, appearance and information on the personal letters linked to the Third in your assessment report to Leader?"

"Of course," Hidan replied, sounding almost offended. "I'm not sloppy."

"As well as references to names mentioned in those letters?"

"Yes."

"And one of those names had been Hatake Kakashi, Copy Nin and son of Sakumo the White Fang, correct?"

"Yes," He drawled, his brain finally starting to catch on. "Do you think they're connected in any way?"

"It's possible, Leader is..."

"Yes, I know, he hails from those godless heathens." Hidan said curtly. "But what do you suppose we should do about _her_?" He posed the question again.

"Nothing."

"I don't think it's wise to leave her here, alive, no less."

"What more can we do?" Kakuzu began, gathering the few kunai that he so rarely used and tucked them away in their respectful pouches. Finished with polishing and sharpening them. "We have our orders."

"We could stay behind, see what she does." Hidan suggested mischievously. "Just for fun. Who knows what kind of action we might miss."

"I care little for the action," He said, faintly letting his annoyance with the man rise to the surface once more.

"Oh, that's right." Hidan scoffed. "You only kill if you benefit from it. If it makes your pocket a little fatter, eh?"

Kakuzu did not answer, unable to find the need to defend himself.

"Despicable, a man who fights solely for money. Not much of a purpose for living, if you ask me. The thrill of a kill should be a practice well honored and–"

"Stay behind if you like, I'm moving on. There is nothing left here of interest to me." Kakuzu interrupted and walked out of the room.

"You are careless!" He called after him.

"And you are heedless." Kakuzu replied, not even taking it upon himself to stop and face his partner as he spoke. "If Leader wishes her life, then so be it. I've completed my orders, I suggest you do the same and leave."

"Do you think he will come to finish the job himself? Do you suspect that is why he ordered us to leave her unharmed? He was traveling only a few miles north of here when we last conversed." Hidan said quietly, as if passing on a secret. "It is so rare of him to leave the city..."

"If that is the case," Kakuzu answered, still marching his way out of the house. Leaving the girl with her wrists tied at her back still unconscious on the couch where they had tossed her. "Then I would not want to be the one he discovers leaning over the girl with a knife in my hand." He said rhetorically.

"Yes, but if he does not return..." His dark voice trailed off yet again as schemes entered his brain, the man was almost a helpless victim to his own murderous nature.

"If her death is so important to you, then your risk will not be taken on account of my head..._I _will have no part in it." And just like that, Kakuzu left the house and made his leisurely way back down the dirt path to town. Leaving the option for Hidan to follow, no doubt to rendezvous with another agent to be mandated on their next mission.

But Hidan didn't follow.

He stayed. And he waited in the trees across the field from the house where he lay in wait. Masking his chakra as low as his abilities would allow.

And when he began to sense the powerful energy that could only belong to the one man capable of harboring such strength, a man he'd never before laid eyes upon in the flesh. The long broad shadow that emerged from the narrow dirt path leading up to the girls house was the next warning to his presence.

Hidan, satisfied with this new discovery of Leader's strange interest in the girl, smirked and vanished from the scene.

-

His heavy cloak put a damper on his mood. Making him hot and sweaty.

He'd gone more than out of his way for the mere sake of a hunch. A gut feeling. A warning bell that went off in his head the moment his subordinate had uttered the name _Rin _from his lips during that disrespectful prompt discussion they'd just had a few hours prior.

The rising instinct was to protect. To guard what needed to be sheltered, what had once been under his vigilant watchful eye was now in danger. They were feelings he had long ago forgot that he possessed, or could even harbor. To take another under his wing.

He could feel her before he'd even mounted the hill. Her chakra, her energy, her aura. Bright and gentle and glowing strong. He smiled without even thinking about it. Remembering how good that welcoming intrinsic quality could make a man feel, as if he were coming home.

He also felt another.

The faint hints of Kakuzu's trace chakra was fading quickly. But Hidan...ah, poor, stupid headstrong Hidan. Trying so hard to hide in the bushes and mask his signature. He couldn't help but shake his head, the man was too curious for his own good...and too murderous to follow simple orders.

"Hidan and Kakuzu," He sighed. "Those two...always causing trouble." He smirked and settled for dissolving into the shade of the trees around the girls house until, finally, Hidan's presence was vanquished and even the lingering imprint of his chakra faded into the wind.

And yet, he hesitated.

He waited.

He pondered.

She was alive, she was well. He could feel her inside the house, beginning to rouse. She was beginning to wake, slipping back into consciousness.

He should leave. He had done his part, she was safe. Unharmed. He'd protected her for the last time. Chased away the last remaining subordinate that had lingered about her home like a wolf, his presence had been enough to clarify he'd wanted Hidan gone – and the Jashin worshiper had fled. She would return home, report the skirmish and be on with her life. Never to suspect...

She was awake now, his sharp ears could practically hear her moving about in the house. Cautious, alert and on the defense. Her heart was pounding, he could feel his own matching her pulse...she could feel him too.

He smiled again, he had taught her well. She still remained astute, following to this day the simple lessons he had taught her many years in the past.

His smile faltered.

He should leave _now_.

She would be coming out soon to investigate the unusual chakra signature looming outside her home. Posing her the promise of threat and danger.

Sure enough, he saw her peak her head out the door and his chest clenched, an odd occurrence that had happened without warning.

Seeing her face only seemed to solidify what he'd already known...it was _her_. So different and yet so familiar. Changed and unchanged in the ways that only time could do to a woman.

He told his feet to move away from this place, but he was being rather obstinate with himself. He didn't want to move. He didn't want to leave her again. Laying eyes upon her was enough to pull the old dusty box of his photographic memory into play, stirring up images of what used to be. Happy times, bad times, goofy times...missed times.

He saw a thick rope still hanging from one of her wrists, a bind she had yet to remove in the hasty act of freeing herself of the constrictions Kakuzu and Hidan had subdued her with.

Like a moth drawn to the light, her eyes found him. Leaning against the tree, covered in the shadows of the branches. Hiding his face and his body. But she could sense him, she knew he was there.

He felt the tiny vibrations of her trembling drifting through the air on his skin, the uncertainty in her eyes. She had naught but a few kunai to defend herself, nothing more. Putting on a brave front for another battle she was certain she'd have to fight alone.

Her mouth blundered out a stream of demands. _Who are you_ and _what do you want_ and such things. He didn't respond to one of them, the faint mist of disappointment wafting in his mind as he realized she had sensed him, but she had not recognized him.

Like some pathetic soul feeding off forgotten memories that had surfaced at the sight of her face, he was tugged forward. Out of the shadows and into the light of the sun, closer to her.

Her body tensed, but she did not flee. Despite her sharp awareness to his power...and how weak she truly was in comparison to her enemy. She stared as the dark figure sauntered closer, steeling her nerves when she was able to discern the black cloak and red print of his apparel – her mind logically linking his involvement with Kakuzu and Hidan who had previously attacked her.

He would never forget the look on her face as the sun revealed his face. Recognizing his blue eyes.

The way her eyes grew wide and..._horrified_. As if everything she knew and believed was caving in around her, and she was left flailing helplessly.

Yes, she would know him now. Fully in the light where the darkness could no longer hide him.

He'd rather expected her to retreat, take a few paces back, anything to escape the black hole of confusion and lies he'd suddenly opened before her. But instead, just as he was drawn towards her, she was immediately pulled to him. Strong as the gravity that kept her grounded to the earth, she reached for him and took a quick step forward. Wanting him like a lost child wanted a warm place to call home.

Her face went as white as a ghost, like the phantom that had just walked back into her life, and her vision swayed.

"_Yondaime-sensei_," She breathed before her eyes glazed over, her cheeks flushed and he saw her begin to waver.

Before her knees could barely buckle, he was by her side to catch her when she fell. Holding her head with a firm hand from lulling back as she fainted in his arms.

"Rin," He whispered to her as well, letting her know he was here. That he wasn't going to abandon or forsake her.

He cursed as he lifted her and carried her inside, wishing now more than ever that he would have left her to her life...never to see her face again. For he feared he would reek a deeper, unforgivable kind of havoc on her soul were he to stay any longer.

But as he held her in his arms, she curled into him, seeking his strength. As if she knew who was holding her, guarding her and missing her. Unwilling to miss a moment of his return, even in the endless bliss of unconsciousness she wanted to bask in his comforting embrace.

And he too, unable to fight the urge, gathered her as close as their bodies would allow. Feeling her warmth, her kindness, her loyalty and the ever present shield of her love. Surrounding them like a bubble from the world, fighting away time and the sobriety of life until he could hardly discern the past from the present.

And he knew, thanks to his reckless emotion to know what it was to be near her again, that he'd ruined the delicate balance of life that had taken her so long to adjust to. Thanks to him, ordinary life as she knew it was about to change.

Thanks to him, he had effected her life nearly a decade ago when he had been alive. When he schooled her and the rest of their team in basic skills, simple lessons and then gradually onward to advanced level jutsu. Leaving his imprint on her life.

Thanks to him, her life had been shifted when he was dead and gone. That lonely span of existence with no one but herself to pull herself through the rough times. No mentor to show her the way or point her in the right direction down the right path.

And now, thanks to him, her life would never be the same...yet again, he'd made his mark on her bruised spirit, ruined her chances and spoiled her dreams. He must have had a knack for destroying things in the blink of an eye, because it was the second time he'd done so to this girl in her lifetime.

_-_

"_Serves you right, asshole!" Obito's taunting voice reached her ears, those ridiculous goggles sitting atop his head as he pointed and laughed at the pale haired young boy whose masked face was planted in the dirt. Struggling against the heavy body pressing into his back. _

"_Kakashi-kun!" Rin's small fists shot up to cover the horrified gasp that parted her lips. Watching on in silent distress as her sensei pressed his knee against the boy beneath him, locking his fighting hands behind his back. _

"_Don't worry, Rin-chan." Obito smiled smugly and patted her shoulder roughly, nearly knocking her to the ground. The dumb oaf, he never had been very gentle. "Yondaime-sensei will teach him good." She glanced at her teammate standing at her side, a soft white haze seemed to surround him and all aspects of her vision. As if looking through a foggy glass window, a movie playing over and over again in her mind, skipping and missing reels. She rubbed at her eyes, wondering why it was so difficult to see clearly._

"_Shut up, worm!" Came the venomous retort, muffled by the dirt and grass the boy was becoming well acquainted with. Quickly being silenced when his sensei applied more pressure on his spine. _

"_Yondaime-sensei, please!" Rin suddenly cried out as Kakashi made a pained sound, yet still refused to yield in his efforts to escape the powerful grasp of his sensei. "You're going to break his arm!" She stared with wide eyes, reluctant to rush to the aid of her crush/teammate, but even more reluctant to disobey her teacher. _

"_I have no qualms with that," Yondaime leaned in to make sure his brash, reckless student heard him as well. "He needs to learn somehow." He said sternly. "By directly disobeying my orders he put himself and the lives of his team at risk. What, by all means, is the one moral skill I have tried so hard to impart upon this team?" The one rule that their sensei held so sacred... the one Kakashi had broken today and so many times before in the past – the one because of his disgraced, shamed father, Kakashi hated most. _

"_Teamwork!" Obito supplied enthusiastically when Kakashi refused to reply. Rin bit into her nails harder. _

"_Exactly," Yondaime said the very moment Kakashi attempted to free his arms with yet another wrenching motion. Only this time, his sensei didn't relieve his pressure enough allow a centimeters worth of mobility. _

_Instead, all that was heard was the sickening crack of bone being snapped in two and Kakashi's raised voice retaliating to the sudden, sharp pain. _

_The sound hit her like a bolt of electricity, making her eyes roll to the back of her head as she fainted. Obito easily catching her with his quick reflexes before she smacked the ground. _

"_Hey, Rin-chan," Obito patted her cheek to wake her as he held tightly to her limp body. "Wake up, we're going to need you to heal Kakashi's arm. Rin-chan..." He said in that annoying voice of his that echoed repeatedly in her ears, careless of her rattled nerves._

_What a name she was making for herself as a medic. Fainting at the simple crack of a bone...but it was _Kakashi's_ bone. He was like, a genius. Top in his class and so mysterious. He'd no doubt think of her as a weak kunoichi after this incident._

"_Rin,_" _He repeated himself, the call seeking her out and finding her in the dark recesses of her unconscious mind. His voice oddly getting deeper and softer. More smooth and soothing. So very warm that she just had to nestle herself a little closer and nuzzle her face in just a tad deeper into that spicy scent of his clothes. "Oh, for the love of...Rin!" _

_Gee, he didn't have to be an ass about it. Strange though, she couldn't recall a time when being so close the buffoon had been quite so pleasant. _

"Come on, girl. Wake up, will ya." The male voice suddenly became much clearer, the haze that had echoed his words faded.

"Leave me be, Obito." She made an irate groaning noise and swatted at the fingers brushing the hair away from her brow. Wondering when Obito's arms had gotten so big or his hands so calloused. Or how his body had gotten so...solid.

"Open your eyes, Rin." His voice lulled her awake like the early morning rays of dawn. Funny, that voice didn't sound like Obito. All the same, it was just as familiar and welcoming than that of her comrade. "There," He said as her rose petal lids fluttered apart like the powdery wings of a butterfly. "That's my girl."

She saw the wide, dashing smile. The gorgeous blue eyes and that wicked blonde hair. Rin laughed a little at her absurd mistake, this man was obviously not the brat Obito who pestered her so diligently. Blinking more frequently now to awaken her eyes, she scrutinized his sharp profile – although, come to think of it, he did look a good deal different than usual. Maybe it was just because he was so near to her, all up in her face. She studied him harder with brazen, unshy eyes.

Wow, up this close he was really starting to show his age...she didn't think he had ever been _that_ old, nearly forty by the looks of if. Last she could remember, rumor had it he was in his mid twenties. Damn, if that was true, someone needed to take him to the spa. A little face cream and a few hours in the sauna should clear that complex problem right up. "Yondaime-sensei," She blushed and placed a hand on her flushed cheek, wondering how long she had been out. "You broke Kakashi-kun's arm." Worry laced her voice, quiet and near to whispering.

"Did I, now?"

"Is he alright?" She began to sit up, rethinking the idea when her vision swam and a wave of dizziness washed over her. Something felt...off. Reality wasn't what it should have been and something important was out of place.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. He's a perfectly strong, capable man, after all."

Rin narrowed her eyes briefly and frowned. _Man_? Kakashi was no more a man than she was a woman, they all were nothing more than kids. Ah, well, Yondaime-sensei always had been kinda weird.

Softening her eyes and pouting her lips a little, Rin put on the sugary innocent facade that always seemed to get her what she wanted from all her teammates. "He doesn't mean to be so disrespectful, sensei. He's just..."

"Rin," He said in a tone of voice that she didn't like. That tone he always acquired before he told the team something disappointing, preparing them for a big let-down.

"He's just trying to prove himself. And what with Obito's big mouth antagonizing him all the time, even _I_ would get upset every once in–"

"Rin," He stopped her again, shaking his head with that devastating smile spread on his lips. But his smile was more sad than handsome. Was he mourning something?

"Wh-what is it? Is Kakashi-kun alright, what's wrong?" She wrapped her fingers tightly around his cloak. Rin abruptly grimaced and jerked her hand away...this wasn't like the cloak he usually wore. It was dark and heavy and held weird red designs that were unfamiliar to her. In fact, she vaguely remembered something of a man wearing the same clothing who had attacked her. "Yondaime–"

"Shh," He gently silenced her, locking their gazes in some desperate attempt to protect her from some type of remorse. Why? What happened that was so terrible enough to make her sensei so grief stricken?

When Rin's eyes began to stray, she noticed how his wild hair didn't hold as much body as it once had. It was flatter and a shade darker, as if he had aged many years. He had peircings along the right bridge of his nose and the light in his brilliant blue eyes was tarnished.

This wasn't her sensei, was it? It couldn't be, her sensei was...

Her sensei was...

_Yondaime-sensei was dead. _

The pain now of the happiness then and all that had been lost smacked her hard in the gut.

Her body stiffened in his arms, her breath stilled as all the blood rushed from her face. Staring at the dead man in unguarded disbelief. This couldn't be real. It was a joke, or some kind of sick dream she was having. She'd had previous nightmares about this sort of thing, about Obito, about Yondaime-sensei and Kakashi. But never like this.

It wasn't possible. He was dead. _Dead._

She had moved on with her life and they were gone, forever.

And yet here he was, holding her in his arms. One of the most important men of her lifetime.

Her eyes fell upon the Konoha crest wrapped loosely around his forehead, confirming his identity, not some imposter.

And stabbing down the center of the shiny metal symbol like the crooked lines of her broken heart, was the life-altering slash cutting through an engraved leaf. Naming him for what he had become.

Missing-nin.

Betrayal.

_Lies_.

He was with the men who had attacked her.

In the second that followed, Rin's hand was raised high and in the blink of an eye, her palm connected with his cheek. Slapping him. Hard.

"Liar!" She screamed at him, struggling for air. "You fucking..._liar_!" She lifted her hand again for a second strike. His fingers were already around her wrist before the act could be committed, restraining her from repeating her rash explosion of anger. "You're supposed to be dead!" Memories of the four of them together flooded her mangled mind. Confusing her, hurting her, scaring her. "How could you do this to the village? To your team?" She shook her head, hating him. "How could you do this to _me_?"

He was gone, dead, his name was on the memorial stone. His face carved into great wall of deceased Hokage. So why, and more precisely, _how_ was he sitting here holding her in his arms?

He said nothing, that haunting face of his staring down on her without so much as a word. But it was in his eyes, she saw the pain, the loneliness, the aching that they shared as he witnessed her breaking down. Crumbling like ash through his fingers.

She wrenched her arm free of his grasp. But instead of attacking him, she threw herself into his lap. Wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, weeping and sobbing like a lost child in the middle of some terrifying storm. "Sensei," She said hoarsely, burying her face into the warmth he offered. He was here, he was alive and within her reach. She wanted to touch him, hold onto him so tightly that he could never escape her sight. "Hold me," She rasped out quietly, not bothering with blundering questions that didn't even matter to her at the moment. "Hold me tight." Her shoulders were trembling, her body quaking and her lips shaking, not even trying to hold back the torrent of emotions that overcame her wary flesh.

"Rin,"

His voice sounded as torn as hers, maybe even crying, but she didn't bother to look up to confirm the suspicion. She was never going to let go of him. She couldn't lose him again. And when his arms surrounded her like a blanket of comfort and fond memories, linking them together, Rin allowed herself freedom to cry it all out. And he was there for her, petting her hair and caressing her back. Resting his chin on the crown of her head to tuck her deeper into the crook of his neck. Her long nails dug into the material of the shirt on his back, trying to attach herself to him any which way she could. If it hurt him, he didn't complain.

"I...I've tried to stay strong," Rin gasped out between each lung-wrenching breath. "I try to move on without you, without Obito. But it's...it's just so..so–" Her throat convulsed and her tongue twisted in her mouth. Wanting him to believe that she had not become so pathetic as this over the years that had passed in his absence.

"Don't," He hushed her, pulling her from his chest to tilt her chin up. "It's alright," Her honey coated eyes locked with his, her lashes dewy with the rain of her tears. Her round cheeks pink and flustered. Something in her features still disbelieving of the moment, eyeing every aspect of his face and body, clinging to him like a lifeline. "Just let it all go, there's nobody here but us." He palmed her soft cheek, reassuring her, wondering where that little girl he knew so long ago had gone away to. And that face paint that had once adorned her puffy, young cheeks, where had all of that gone? She was hardly the same person.

"Am I dreaming?" She asked numbly.

He watched the young woman crouched between his legs. Barely recognizing her matured face, but not the developed body. So different, so grown up. Her heart wanting to believe in the possibility of him being here with her. But her mind denying the improbability of it.

"Do you want it to be a dream?" He smiled generously in some small effort to cheer her up. Resting his elbow on his knee as he tucked locks of hair behind her ear.

Rin swallowed. Was he asking if she didn't want him back in her life? That he would leave and spare her the pain to end such a chance reunion? "No!" She whispered insistently, reaching out with hesitant hands to graze his face softly with the tips of her fingers. "Please be real," She pinned him with intense eyes, daring him to disappear like the ghost he was and let her wake up and return to her dismal reality. "Please, tell me that your really here." When the soft pads of her fingers touched his chin, slid up his jaw and dug her hands into his wild mane, she knew fate was shining down upon her this night to give her such a wonderful gift as this.

Her smile was brighter than the sun and reached deep into his lost soul. Affecting him in ways he had long forgotten were possible.

Like the snap of a twig, she began crying again. Smiling and crying and laughing and aching in all the mixture of emotions mingling in her scrambled head.

He gathered her in his arms once more, both of them laughing in each others embrace. Supporting one another.

For the first time in a very, very long time, Rin was swept away in emotions that had since been suppressed by time and pain and old wounds. And finally, like an answer to her most secret prayer, someone was there to catch her when she fell.

-

"What if I asked you if there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this?" Rin asked as she retrieved two glasses from her cabinet. Her back to him.

"What if I didn't answer?" He watched her falter before bringing a beverage tray to the table he was occupying. Leaning forward with his elbows resting on the table top. The long, dark cloak he had been sporting thrown over the back of his chair.

"I suppose that's all your business." She kept her eyes lowered as she placed the pitcher of tea and glasses in front of him. Pouring him a drink, trying not to show the disappointment in her eyes at his refusal to open up and share the reasoning behind his miraculous revival...and the unprovoked attack on her person. "You could make up a lie for me, at the least." She shrugged and kept her lashes downcast. Wishing he would tell her _something_. "I at least deserve that much from you."

"I would never lie to you, Rin." He shook his head once and took a slow drink of his tea. Watching the ice shifting in the clear glass.

"I know," She scooped up a spoonful of sugar and dumped it into her tea, swirling it around until the grains were completely dissolved. But she didn't drink, she didn't feel like doing much of anything right now. "You're not doing anything..._bad_, are you?" She bit her lip, ashamed of herself for even asking such a terrible question of the honorable man.

He didn't answer.

Rin's hands started shaking.

"So you won't lie to me, but you won't give me the truth, either." She stated, trying to keep the curiosity from her voice and the stress off her face. She couldn't imagine him, the great Fourth Hokage, as a criminal. There had to be more to the story than that, he just wouldn't open up. "Don't you trust me?"

"I trust you."

"Then why won't you tell me anything?"

"It is not your burden to bear. I cannot tell you of my life since death or the sorts of business I have since been involved in." He sighed as he watched her eyes tear up again. "Or the matter of how I'm still alive. It's all rather...private. Rin, please don't–" It was too late, a sob had already left her lips as she began crying.

"I'm just so scared." She blundered out.

"You have nothing to be afraid of." He reassured her. Reaching across the table to take her hand in his, thumbing the soft skin of her knuckles.

"Yes, I do." She corrected him firmly. "You were dead, Yondaime-sensei. Do not even try to dispute that fact. And here you are, alive again. You've been given a gift, sensei. Please don't waste it." She squeezed his hand tightly. "If you remain careless and heedless," Rin paused to catch herself from breaking down again. "Whatever it is that you're doing, right or wrong, is too dangerous–"

"The life of every shinobi is a dangerous one." He frowned.

"Not half as that of a missing-nin!" She jerked her hand out of his grasp, covering her face and sagging in her chair when her eyes wouldn't stop watering. Trying to hide the pain.

"I know it's been hard for you, Rin. But this is not all about you." She shook her head, trying to ignore him. "You can't keep me locked in a bubble, you have to move on. _I'm_ the one who died, Rin._ I_ have moved on with my life." He saw her jaw clench and instantly regretted the words.

"Keep telling yourself that." She mumbled as she stood and left the kitchen, wondering why, if he had so smoothly moved on with his life, he refused to open up to her.

Rin placed one dragging foot in front of the other as she walked out the front door to stand on her porch. This isn't the way she had imagined things should be were such a miracle to ever occur. It wasn't perfect like she wanted it. It wasn't all smiles and laughter and sunshine. He wasn't going to come back to Konoha and live happily ever after with her, that much was blatantly obvious.

But what was his motive?

Yondaime-sensei had changed.

He was hiding something from her, probably to protect her. But she didn't need protecting. She wasn't the helpless little child she used to be. She was a grown, capable woman. All she wanted to do was help him, become a part of his life once again.

Rin crossed her arms over her belly and leaned against one of the wooden support pillars that braced the steps of her porch. Staring at the dark clouds rolling in from the north. A fierce storm was to be here soon, that was certain. As if the massive energy swell had followed the man here, closing in on him residing in her home.

She was still fighting the tears in a losing battle. She had cried enough in her lifetime. And now thanks to his unexpected revival and such unlikely circumstances to have found him, it was hard to control the emotions.

What would the village think of this? They, very clearly, had no clue to his existence. The uproar it would cause would be near to catastrophic. And Kakashi? What would her old teammate think of all this drama?

She felt a presence beside her. Leaning on the other pillar on the opposite side of the steps, looking off into the distance as she was. Examining the oncoming storm brewing on the edge of the sky. Hovering over trees and grasslands.

"You're pushing me away," She said after a long silence had stretched between them, taking up the small space like a black hole. Unanswered questions hanging over their heads.

"I know," He glanced at her, amazed at the woman she had become. The child she had once been. And the girl that still remained.

"But it's for the best, right?" She said tightly, biting her tongue.

"I don't want it this way." He offered and stuck his hands in his deep pockets. "I don't want to hurt you anymore than you already have been." It was so unusual, seeing him in nothing but black. He had once been so bright, so vivid.

"I'll survive," She shrugged, not even believing in her own words as she spoke them. "I've made it through so far, another slap to the face won't make much difference."

"Don't talk like that."

"Sorry, sensei." She peaked over at him and smiled ruefully. It shot right through his heart.

"Rin," He began hesitantly. "There's something else I want to discuss with you."

"I won't tell the village." She said immediately, as if she had known what was coming out of his mouth next. Reading his mind. "Your secret is safe with me." She crossed her heart and winked at him.

He didn't reply as a cold chill went down his spine. She would have to lie to the village on account of him.

By any other means, if she were any other person, he would have had to kill her to remain undiscovered. To protect his identity, a Konoha nin encountering a deceased Hokage(now missing nin) could stir up a bit of a problem. It was why he so rarely left the city.

But he couldn't do that to her. She was his student, so young and once led a precious, naive life. Her existence did not deserve to be wasted and certainly not by his or any other mans fouled hands.

"I'm sorry," He rubbed roughly at his temples, taking in a slow breath when he felt her hand on his back. "I'm so sorry things had to turn out this way." He sounded so disappointed.

"I'm not," She hooked her arms around his elbow and rested her chin on his broad shoulder. Gazing up at him with adoring eyes. "I guess I'm just so grateful to have you back again. Who could find fault in that? Just imagine what it would have been like if we never even met at all."

One corner of his lips lifted in a half-assed smirk. Before his brain registered the act or a thought could be given to resist it, he reached up with his free hand to touch her face. "You always had been the brightest part of the team," He whispered. Observing her glowing skin and upturned mouth. Her thick lashes and button nose and her long hair dancing delicately in the wind. "And the most beautiful." He said it before he could even think it, leave it to Rin to draw out the best in a man...and words that would have been better left unspoken.

He saw her eyes widen slightly and he removed his hand from her blushing cheek. Things really do change so quickly. How old was she now? Twenty one, twenty two, maybe if he did his math correctly.

He wanted to know about her life. What had become of his little pupil. Was she still the expert medic she had once been? What kind of troubles had she faced since his death? How did she handle her missions? Was she a jounin yet? He needed to know these things. To make up for all the lost time, to let her know that he still cared and always would.

Kakashi hand no doubt become a great man. He always did have high expectations for that boy. Tragic pasts always had made for a stronger will power and a greater need to accomplish the unaccomplishable. A small part of him suddenly lit up with pride at just knowing the kid had grown into the man he'd expected him to be...and he would never meet again.

What would life have been like were he was still a part of the village? If he hadn't died? Would they all meet up every weekend to go out to eat and catch up on old times? To share stories of crazy missions gone awire. Would his student's lives have been that less bit sadder and that much more happier? What if Obito were still with them? Would the absence of their deaths make that much of an impact?

It was all the _what if _questions that bothered him so much. That made him wish this life wasn't such a tough one.

But what was done was done and there was no turning back on the path he had chosen. If a man spent every minute living in the past and regretting his actions, there would be nothing left to live for. He never regretted what he'd done or what would inevitably come to pass as a result of his decisions. But he could remember and grieve for what could have been...and what will never come to pass.

"How long can you stay?" Her soft voice asked at his side.

"I should leave tonight," He felt her grip on his arm tighten. His head lowered and his eyes stared at nothing but the air around his feet. "I've already stayed too long."

"Please, just another day." Her face masterfully contorted into a pout more appropriate for that of a dramatic actress. Her eyes large and compelling.

He shook his head as he started to laugh, scratching at the back of his scalp. "You and that pathetic little pout."

"Old habits die hard." She shrugged. Smiling cheekily at him.

"I really shouldn't..." His men may dismiss a single days delay, but anything more would cause imperative trouble and suspicion. Not to mention agitation.

"Just one, nothing more. You can leave tomorrow night without another word from me." She enticed him further with a bit of bribery. "Remember how I used to make a mean mango pie?" He groaned and she bit her lip, knowing her trap was working easily. "Well, I've only gotten better at it over the years...and if you stay..." Rin let her voice trail off, letting him figure it out on his own.

"I see you've also resorted to foul play over the years, just as well." He raised a blonde eyebrow. Inquiring to her choice of persuasion methods.

"I'd hardly call it 'foul play', merely seduction of the more resourceful, tasteful sort."

He nearly threw his head back as he let out a hefty burst of laughter. He hadn't laughed like that in so very long.

"I guess I'll just have to succumb to your temptations." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and drew her into his chest. Enjoying the affection she supplied so generously, reigniting the familiarity that had died in the past when he had died along with it. "But just until tomorrow evening, nothing more."

"I knew you'd give in easily enough," She said merrily, finding a comfortable place on his shoulder to rest her head amiably. "Nobody can resist my pie!"

"Or your pout," He tweaked her nose and she snorted, her eyes lighting up. Feeling that pull of compassion once again in her life. And, oh, how wonderful it felt to know what it was like to have that bit of happiness back in the picture. A splash of color on a painting that had tarnished into a dull gray.

Determined not to waist the short time they had left, the pair ambled back into the house still leaning on one another, reluctant to break the contact. And Yondaime, being the man of significantly large appetite that he was, made sure Rin held her end of the bargain up and practically harassed her until she gave in and made him his pie.

Time passed between them like water flowing through a river. Minutes flew by like seconds and all the hours in the day couldn't have sufficed their need to simply talk amongst themselves. While her pie was baking in the oven, she entertained him with the story of her life since his death. What had become of Kakashi. How much she like the Third Hokage and how wonderful a job he was doing with the village. She also filled him in on the down times of Konoha. The troubles they had all surpassed and were still fighting.

And once she had run out of information to impart upon him, they began to reminisce. They laughed as they talked about Obito, were somber when referring to his death and wistful as they wondered what it would have been like to still have him around. When Yondaime mentioned how bullheaded Kakashi had been, they both shared a moment of humor as they compared him to the man he was today. So different, still mysterious, strangely laid back and detached. He laughed when she told him how the Copy Nin had flunked every student assigned to him.

By the time the pie was a crisp brown and ready to eat, night had fallen and the storm had moved in with powerful force and rage. The wind roared at her windows and rapped at her door like a messenger delivering bad mail. In a brief moment of notoriety, Rin thanked herself for refurbishing the old roof that would have no doubt leaked terribly in the downpour of rain currently overhead.

"Here we are!" Rin announced as she entered the entertainment room carrying a piece of pie on a plate and a cup of cold milk. "It's done!" She said proudly, savoring the freshly baked aroma lingering between the walls of her home.

"Finally," He sighed testily, teasing her. Guising the fact that his mouth was literally watering as he watched her get closer with that crisp, lightly browned, still warm, fresh, buttery piece of fruit pie.

Rin was but a few feet away from him, still sporting that smile that could only mean a woman was at her happiest and most content moment, when thunder rolled over the lands. Shaking the walls and trinkets in the house and echoing in their ears. In the blink of an eye, the lights flickered once, twice and died on the third flash. Leaving the duo in complete and total darkness.

Considering her ranking of jounin, Rin should have been more graceful and acutely aware of her surroundings than to do something so silly and clumsy as to stub her toe on the new ottoman she'd set next to the couch and stumble forward like a tactless genin on her first day of school.

But she did.

And it was disastrous.

Because, Yondaime, being the expert in all manners of stealthy performance that he was, lurched forward to catch her.

What they didn't count on was half way out of his seat rushing to her aid, Rin lost her grip on the plate of pie...

And just like that, Yondaime-sensei was wearing his dessert...all over his face.

Shocked as the man was, he was unable to fully execute his rescue tactics. Leaving the defenseless Rin to land with a painfully embarrassing thump on the wooden floor. It hurt her pride more than her body, she assured herself and immediately sprang to her feet to apologize.

"Oh my gosh!" The words rushed out of her mouth as she stood next to him. The glass of milk spilt all over her rug. "Are you okay?"

She sensed him smirk in the darkness as she laid her hands upon his shoulder. "I've survived many a bloody battle in my lifetime. I'd be damned if I get done in by a piece of pie."

She couldn't help it, she really couldn't. Rin started to laugh, she just couldn't restrain it. And when he started in too, she tried to speak through the contractions of laughter assaulting her body. "Well," She said breathlessly. "You did get your pie!"

"As much as you find this amusing," His laughter slowly die out, albeit with great difficulty. "Do you mind," He paused and chuckled a few more times before regaining his composure. "Do you think we can get this stuff off my face?"

"I suppose that would be a good idea." She swallowed back another giggle.

Rin lead him into her kitchen, illuminated only by the sudden sharp flashes of lightening filtering in through her windows. Casting long, gloomy shadows across the glossy floor.

"Here," She said as she pulled out a few candles from a cabinet. "I still have a few of these left from when I first got this place. I didn't even have any sort of electricity then, it was absolutely primeval."

"Which brings up another matter." He leaned against the shiny marble counter top. "I was wondering what you were doing way out here, in a deserted place like this...and more precisely, how you managed to afford it."

She smiled as she struck a match off the side of little red box and lit the candles. She placed them on the counter beside him, reaching into a drawer to grab a couple rags. "This is my vacation home." She wetted one of the rags under the shallow flow of sink water that barely came out, due to the lack of power in the home, and handed the damp cloth to him. "I've always been a penny pincher, especially after Obito died. Don't ask me why, but I just was." He swept his headband free of his hair and tossed it aside. Proceeding to wipe the cloth over his face until all the pie was gone and threw the rag in the sink, still listening to her. "Then when you died," She bit her lip. "I don't know, I needed something to take up the time. So I started saving up specifically for this reason, for a house of my own. I didn't really have anything better to do and it was the best way I could think of to _really_ get away from the village. Even if it took me years to earn the money." She couldn't tell him why she had to escape Konoha, because the reason had a lot to do with him and Obito. It would only make him feel guilty.

"I understand," He nodded. "It's hard being alone, it only makes sense to fill your time with a purpose of your own."

"But I wasn't always alone after the two of you were gone. Kakashi was always there...in a way."

He gave her speaking look. "Face it, Rin, that boy never had been one for sentimental moments or compassionate friendships. No matter the fact that Obito had practically offered his own life to open Kakashi's eyes to life and loyalty, he never cared for relationships."

"I guess you're right." She picked up another rag and stepped closer to him. Diverting the topic away from loneliness. She knew more of that particular emotion more than she cared to admit. "Come here, you still have a bit on your face." She reached up and he leaned down to her touch without question, much like an obedient dog. "Sorry about all this," He watched her tongue play with her lip as she turned his head more toward the candlelight for a better look. "I still have more pie, if you want it." She licked the cloth before scrubbing it on his cheek where a blotch of stubborn mango cream wouldn't detach from his skin.

He couldn't help but notice how soft her skin looked in the flickering glow of candles and remember what her moist cheeks had felt like under his fingers as she cried. Or the little twinkle in her eyes as she concentrated on her current task. And, of course, the ever present pout in her lips that begged a man to give her anything she wanted, what she truly desired.

But what did she desire in a man? He suddenly found himself wondering. Were her emotions for the ever mysterious Hatake boy still strong in her heart? Surely not.

Would she desire it if he kissed her? Would she resent him?

How would she react to him? Would she be a good lover?

What was the secret to her unassuming seduction? The charms she obviously didn't know she possessed, the spell she was casting over him with a simple, innocent touch.

And why...did he care?

It was just a faint interest that had suddenly struck him, if at all. They'd spent too many years apart, was all. He'd missed her too much and he simply wanted to learn of her and how she'd changed. Nothing more.

Damn it, but he did care. His curiosity was stirred and he couldn't put it out. He wanted to know, he wanted...curse it all, he wanted to kiss the girl.

He was a controlled man. He had nothing to worry about. It wasn't as if he was actually going to do it. She had been his student. He'd watched her grow up during her young, adolescent life. Despite the fact that he'd been absent for a great portion of that time, he had been there when she fell down and helped her back up again when she was nothing more than a little girl.

Not to mention what the act would do to her frayed nerves. A dead man coming back to life...and then kissing her out of the blue for no apparent reasoning other than her skin looked soft.

It was...absurd.

That is, until his resolve came to a screeching stop when he saw her look at his lips much the same way he was eyeing hers. With that glint of wonder and curiosity in the farthest reaches of her honey eyes.

They shot up to his and their gazes locked like iron cuffs binding them together.

Yondaime didn't give a thought as to _why _she was looking at him like that. Instead, he selfishly took advantage of the moment and the girl. His hand gripped her upper arm, assurance that she couldn't escape. The other accosted her delicate jaw, pulling her face closer and tilting her mouth just so.

And he did it.

It didn't make him feel odd or guilty or that he was taking advantage of his student's jumbled emotions. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The act was deeply satisfying. It made him hunger for more, for her. The completely smooth feel of her lips pressing against his seemed to urge him on. She wasn't resisting, instead she melted into his arms like a yielding fawn. Her eyes closed and a gentle mewl echoed in her throat.

Yondaime groaned, gripping to her tighter. Sweeping his mouth over hers so slowly and gently for fear of scaring her away. Tentatively his tongue caressed and coaxed her pink lips into opening for him.

Like tending to a fragile flower, he entangled their tongues and showed her great passions. Tasting her, feeling her, delving into the entire feminine essence of her pouty lips. Bonding in the simple act of a kiss.

He felt her body trembling and when the wet warmth of a teardrop slipped over his fingers that cupped her round face, he broke the contact of their lips. Looking down at her through narrowed eyes.

"Rin," He breathed her name, observing the confusion emitting from her saddened eyes. Oh, God. It was so easy to see how she was hurting, so vividly clear through those broken eyes. He wanted so badly to take that pain away. And now, he'd feared he'd only made it worse with but a kiss.

She took a shaky breath and abruptly turned from him, quickly walking out of the dimly lit kitchen with her rag clutched in her hands.

"Rin," He called after her again, grabbing a candle from the counter to follow after her. "I'm sor–"

"Don't be sorry." She said in a weak voice as she bent down over her rug to mop up the spilt milk. "Don't_ ever_ be sorry." Her voice cracked under a whisper. With a meager effort, she dabbed at the white stain on her carpets. Her vision blurring against her will. Hadn't she cried enough? Would it never end?

His kiss had caught her off guard, it had surprised her. She had never thought of him as a lover, only a teacher – a dear and close friend.

But when his lips touched hers, it had made her feel so light headed and dizzy that she was hard pressed to remain upright.

No man's kiss had won over such a frightening response from her body, or her heart.

She had missed him so much. The gap of missing years between them made her want to return the kiss and hug him all the more stronger, just to embrace him and give him her everything, no matter what the intention of that _everything _was. But was that her lonesome heart speaking? Or her logical head? And which should she listen to? How could she care for a dead man with such emotions, let alone her dead teacher?

"I didn't mean to make you cry." He set the single candle on the end table, kneeling down next to her when she refused to acknowledge his words. "Rin, listen to me." He took her arm and forced her to look at him. Her skin shivered under his strong hand, making him worry that he had frightened her. "I don't know why I did that, there's no excuse for it."

Her shoulders rose and fell on a deep sigh. "Yondaime-sensei, I don't think of you like...like a," She paused as she watched him silently. Admiring his deep blue eyes in the scarce light dancing around them. His untamed hair and the hard set lines of his mouth, that was frowning at the moment. The moist rag fell out of her fingers as she hesitantly reached out to cling to his shirt, like a bug drawn to a bright light. And that was it, once she touched him, she didn't want to let him go ever again. "...like a teacher anymore."

Rin knew they would never forget one another, they never had lost a single memory all these years that had been spent apart. And this short companionable time spent together would be forever treasured in her heart.

But...she wanted to give him something more. Something that would always remind him of her after he was gone. And something for her as well, to keep tucked in her treasure box of glorious memories. If it was only a kiss he took with him, then so be it. But if he wanted to take more, then she would not protest. He could have whatever he wanted, because she wanted to feel like someone needed her again. That he needed her as potently as a man needed air, if only for tonight. For tomorrow he would leave her again, he'd be gone as if he'd never been here to begin with.

And so she leaned forward to kiss him. Short and sweet and achingly obvious to her intentions before she pulled away for a moment to gage the reaction in his eyes. He continued frowning and his eyes looked a bit more troubled. Maybe she had misjudged the situation? Jumped to sinful conclusions too quickly? Had she offended him in some way?

Still, he took her into his arms and began yet another earth shaking assault upon her senses that left her gasping for air. Nearly making her sing with satisfaction at the sweet surrender. He was more determined in this kiss, more forward and exploring of her mouth. Fearless, like a great conqueror paying homage to the goddess in his embrace. As if he wanted to make something so ordinary as a kiss into an exciting journey of uncharted lands. And that's just what it was, new and thrilling.

A little tremor overcame her lips, making his body start to throb in ways he would have never guessed to be inspired by this girl. By his...student.

"Sensei," She breathed softly as he kissed the tip of her nose, brushing his lips over her lashes and temples. Taking delight in the easy way her skin resemble silk and satin. When her hands squeezed his shoulders, she felt her back hit the floor and his heavy weight was pressed down upon her. The minutes that passed where delightful and lifted her spirits. Rising her to unknown heights of happiness.

His fingers delved into her hair as his mouth nipped at her neck, carefully tugging and pulling at tight skin with his teeth. A short, unsteady gasp was sucked in through her lips with every unpredictable kiss. The sensations of which she had never known, produced by a man she would have never suspected possible of such wicked acts – or to execute them upon her particular person.

His hand moved like an outlet of electricity down her frame. Enticing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end when his palm moved from her shoulder to the side of her breast. Caressing her right down to the bone. Every nerve and every blood vessel alert to his next anticipated move.

A fever seemed to overcome them. The breathing was wild, heartbeats were uncontrolled and skin was set afire. Thunder rolled throughout the house and rain lashed out a her windows. Making her ears ring as he suddenly grasped her breast tightly, caught completely unawares.

Rin groaned deeply at the contact, stealing her breath and sending an agonizing shock straight to the crevice of her thighs. His hand took the heavy globe of flesh captive. Squeezing it hard as his knees spread her legs wide. Her back arched off the floor, pushing her breasts into his broad chest. Feeding off of his attentions like a starving child.

Fingers were pressing into the meat of her thigh, tearing away the skirt of her dress persistently. Hiking it high on her waist.

"Rin," He groaned and dug his nails in, his hot breath searing the flesh under her ear. He thrust his hips against her like a rutting animal, making strange male noises that sent her eyes rolling to the back of her head, accompanied by the deep grinding action that was making her throb in the one place he was churning against. "God, that feels good." He breathed huskily above her.

He knew she deserved better than what he was giving her right now. Better than just juvenile grinding on a floor. The adolescent way he could hardly contain himself at the moment was near to shameful. But she tasted so delightfully of sweet candies, smelled wonderfully like flowers and responded to him so honestly that he was hard pressed to believe she had never done such an intimate thing before this tonight.

"I won't do anything you don't want me to." He pressed his heated forehead against her shoulder, breathing in her scent like a drug. "But, damn it, give me permission, Rin. I know you want it, just tell me I can." He kissed her neck gently, wanting desperately to tell her just how wet she was. To inform her of the fact she'd nearly soaked through his trousers. "Say the words I wanna hear," He pulled the hem of her dress up ever so slightly, hovering just below her breasts, waiting for her omission before raising it a single inch higher. "Please, say yes."

He moved his hips suddenly, pushing her into the floor as if he were trying to get _inside_ her. To breech the outer and encounter the inner. Even through the thick fabric of his pants, she felt him. Solid and intimidating. Throbbing to fill every inch of her belly...

"_Oh_," She squinted her eyes shut tightly, his hips refusing to let her gather her thoughts. A runner on third base driving hard for home. "Yes," Rin pleaded quietly, rocking against him desperately when she discovered the source of her own pleasure, and just how to rub it enticingly over what he offered her.

They were hot for one another. Ready to comfort their pains in the most wrong way possible, greedy and selfish they were being. But they cared too much for the other to stop, because what one wanted, the other wanted to satisfy.

Before either of them could change their minds, he lifted her dress over her head. Exposing skin and lacy undergarments. He kissed her with abandon, fusing their bodies together. Drinking in the feel of her supple body writhing beneath his, driving her ever closer to some great finale of the sexual nature.

Following his lead, mimicking what he had done to her, she tugged at the hem of his thick shirt. Returning his kisses as she pulled the thing over his shoulders and off his head. Ruffling his hair and making her catch her breath at the sight of his own body. Fit and trim, just like all the other men she knew that practiced the fine art of ninjustu. But this man was making love to her, he was praising her with his eyes, worshiping her with his mouth and pleasing her with his body. And that alone made him better and more worthy than any other man on earth. Because he was the strongest, most courageous and honorable man she'd ever known. It made more tears come, yet again. She wanted to stay with him forever. To give her peace of mind and assure her that life truly was worth living. Just to feel as though she belonged with someone she cared for...and, dare she say, love. How could she not love a man who made her blood run like lava through her veins, an unstable volcano on the peak of eruption.

Maybe it was just the heat of the moment, but as she thought of what it would be like to go with him and make love like this every night for the rest of her life, a wave of exquisite pleasure swam down her spine. Arcing her body into his like a magnet. The burning sting of flesh on flesh made her dizzy.

Artless as a feline in heat, she moved against him so deliciously and wantonly that she could hardly believe herself capable of such provocative enticement.

Taking the moment to his advantage, his hand slipped to her back to unfasten her brazier. It snapped open so easily, such a flimsy piece of fabric that separated him from the lovely, naked sight of cleavage and so much more. When the annoying thing was cast aside, his mouth dove for her neck. Hastily making his way down to an awaiting breast. The flesh was soft as a pillow, yet firm as a ripe melon.

The peak of her breasts were tightly swollen and pink. Budding into a tiny pebble the moment his lips touched her there, a gentle brush of the tongue making all the blood rush to the point of pleasure.

Rin cried out with quick little pants, hopelessly trying to control herself. He kissed it again, holding it there between his teeth. His hot breath making her sizzle as though he was holding her over a uncontrollable fire. Suddenly he sucked the entire nipple into his mouth, nearly bringing blood to the surface for a bruise.

Some foreign muscle came to life in her body. Deep in the hollow of her stomach, clenching between her legs. Yearning to have something, anything thick and hard and long enough to drive her begging body toward sweet satisfaction.

"Yondaime-sensei," She began, the honorary an unbreakable habit to rid herself of, completely at a loss as to how to go about asking for what she wanted. "Now, please." Her hips lurched into his, asking her own permission to have. "I want to," He attended the other breast with a calloused hand and she nearly leapt out of her skin. "I want to _right now_." She moaned, certain that she would die if this need was not fulfilled. How hot and tight she felt in her own body, confined like a prisoner. She wanted release, badly. And she knew only he could help her.

Rin mewled like a young, purring kitten when she heard him drawing back the zipper of his pants, felt his body shift as he kicked them from his legs. Pulling down her panties from her smooth legs and past her feet.

She greedily pulled him back down over her like a blanket, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, clinging to him as she greatly enjoyed doing. Enticing him to go further, telling him she didn't dare wish him to stop. Tempting him with words she'd never imagined she would ever use.

He found the core of her so easily, she had to wonder at how many times he'd done this sort of thing with women in the past. But that was okay, for it was better for him to know than to leave her yearning for more.

Rin never had been too entirely sure how she would react in this specific situation with a man, but when he started to move against her, pressing and prodding and undulating, sensations of the unknown kind possessed her.

She pushed down on his erection, trying to sink him into her body. But it wouldn't quite go, and she grew frustrated and hasty.

"Just relax, girl," He groaned. "Let me get in there first." He tried again and didn't get far. Confusing him when it seemed more like she was rejecting him, rather than accepting him. "I know you're excited, but give me some slack, damn it." He let his fingers find their way to her entrance, manipulating the tender flesh.

"I'm trying," Softly spoken words.

When he dipped his finger in the slick, tight warmth of her body, a dark suspicion rose in the back of his mind. But when she contracted around that finger, all he could think about was getting inside of her. So he slid another in and worked on opening her wide enough to encompass him. Exercising and loosening the bunched muscles of her inner walls.

"There we go," He smiled down at her, praising her when he felt her obediently trying to relax for him as well. "That's my girl."

When the head of his erection was finally able to slip inside without difficulty, he wasted no time in finishing the thrust. Supporting himself on an elbow, he held firmly to her thigh and delved in.

The push was hard and deep, and when he suddenly heard a screech from the girl under him and the tell-tell snap of a fragile membrane giving way to the pronounced thrust, Yondaime cursed and hastily pulled out. His breathing suddenly becoming much more rapid and distinguishably more ragged.

The girl was crying, the man was on the very pinnacle of an orgasm and absolutely nothing had been accomplished.

"You know, you should tell a man about these kinds of things, Rin." He scolded her through a clenched jaw. Letting his head fall to the corner of her neck where she smelt so wonderful it nearly intoxicated him.

She wiped at her tears, trying to catch her breath. Feeling as though she had ruined everything. Attempting to convince herself that such a sudden breech hadn't been one of the more painful experiences of her lifetime. She held no blind, grand expectations for her first time. She knew it would hurt like a bitch, and it certainly did. "What more did you expect?" She chided softly, the words falling over quivering lips. Trying to sound unaffected. "That Kakashi had rid me of that particular problem a long time ago?"

"It isn't a problem, Rin." He looked down at her, so delicate and soft. She really was something else, he surmised. "Just an...obstacle."

"Well, I'm sor–"

"Don't _ever_ be sorry." He smiled at her, repeating the deceleration she had remonstrated him with when he had tried to apologize for kissing her.

She returned the kind gesture and sniffled back more tears. Really, one would think she had accumulated a leak this past day.

Seeing the moisture gathering in her eyes, Yondaime frowned and touched her face. Tentatively stroking her cheek, toying with her hair. "Does it still hurt?" He wondered aloud, concern set in the lines of his hard face.

She shook her head. "The only thing that hurts...is my heart."

"Oh, Rin," He gathered her in his arms, holding to her. Offering her shelter from the pain.

"I know there's no promises between us." She welcomed his embrace, surrounding her senses with his warmth, his scent, his strength. "I just wish there was another way. I wish you wouldn't leave me."

He kissed her then. So tenderly and sincere, she couldn't help but weep. He didn't want to leave her either, that's how she interpreted the soulful kiss. But she knew where he stood, and he could not be swayed.

"I've always been with you, Rin." He whispered against her ear. "And I always will be...right _here_." Slowly he bent down and pressed his lips to her heart. Making her spine curl into him.

Her arms formed a lock around his neck as he suddenly moved over her. Entangling their limbs together, taking her much more soundly than before.

He was so gentle, so tamed and soothing. Shocking waves of tingling heat ricocheted through her every nerve as he entered her carefully. Respecting her body like a sacred sanctuary, walking on land that no other man had yet touched.

The night from that moment on was long and languid, everything was taken up with a leisurely approach. They made it last forever. With each stroke the tension grew like a rope burning over a flame. Waiting for that anticipated moment when they would snap.

Rin cried his name when his hand gripped at her buttocks. Trying to brace her from his quickening thrusts. Each one becoming shorter, more desperate and punctuated. The signs were easy enough to recognize.

"I'm not going to last much longer," He grunted in her ear on a long thrust. Trying to hold back the inevitable. Indulging himself in her flawlessly perfect hair, soft and thick against the profile of his face.

He was greatly relieved when she replied with a shaky, "Me neither."

Merely a few minutes later, her breath became rapid and her pulse soared. She contracted around him like milking fist, daring him to fill her with an essence only he could supply.

She was quiet as she reached her point of ecstacy, high paced pants and disbelieving gasps of astonishment at the overwhelming poignancy of her orgasm.

Like a weak twig under pressure, he broke. The tight pulsations of her walls surging around him drove him over a cliff of nearly unattainable bliss. Like a creature looking to replenish his species, Yondaime buried himself as deeply as possible in the girl to implant a part of himself in her.

She groaned, feeling the heat filling her belly and clutched to him harder. Eager to take of him what she could on some strange instinctual female impulse.

They kissed like it was the last seconds of their life here on earth, living in the moment of pleasure. Knowing it was a true kind of treasure.

When his weight slowly started to sink atop of her, shifting from controlled, even heaviness to a solid dead weight, she knew he had fallen asleep. His lips didn't move with hers and his breathing was as steady and even as a slumbering bear.

She laughed softly and shook her head. Trust him to fall asleep after something so intimate. She sighed and shifted carefully, resting his head on her breast and combing her fingers through his hair. Soothing him further into a mystery land of dreams and fantasies. Skimming the tips of her fingers over the expanse of his back, over rough and tender skin alike. Scars and tattoo's, tan lines between dark and pale flesh. Quite a mixture of things, he was.

So she concerned herself with all things that made this man what he was, trying not to think of the morning waiting for her just around the corner. The storm had ebbed and now the only sounds were that of water running down the gutters and dripping into pools of rain water at the corners of her home...and Yondaime's steadily growing snore. Dawn would be peaking its sunny head over the horizon soon enough, letting her know that along with the knew day, the man that still resided within her would be gone as if he were still dead.

She closed her eyes and refused to acknowledge this fact. She would pretend just a little longer that they would always be together, that they'd always have one another. Just like the old days...with a little twist. She smiled to herself, pondering over the odd turn of events and their spontaneous love affair.

But the mistress fate's cruel hand didn't pass over her for the remainder of this night. For sleep eluded her like a cold winters wind bearing down upon her. And as sleep rebuked her...so did her dreams.

-

Yondaime awoke to the tempting smell of breakfast wafting over his nostrils. The enticing scent prodded at his senses, forcing him to open his eyes. He mumbled some incoherent complaint about the hard floor ailing his arthritic back and rubbed at his temples. The stinging rays of the sun piercing his vision.

"Rin?" He barked out, reaching down to scratch his stomach as he looked around the room. Void of the girl. He smiled as he looked down to see the blanket she had tossed over him. She must have been much more stealthy than he'd originally suspected if she could slip out from under him without so much as waking him. More pride blossomed in his chest knowing he was the one instructor that had taught her such skills, and pride to see that she hadn't wasted his efforts by throwing away his teachings.

The smile spread when he saw his clothes neatly folded and stacked on the couch...probably washed, too.

"In here, Yondaime-sensei!" She called from the kitchen, her voice quickly followed by a few clangs of pots and pans and the running of faucet water.

Well, at least the power was back on.

Wrapping the thin sheet around his hips as he stood, he stumbled his way into the kitchen. Scratching the back of his head in some distracted effort to wake himself up.

"When did the lights come back on?" He asked, his stomach growling as the smell of bacon and eggs grew stronger in the room.

"A fuse was busted," She said as she stirred a yeasty concoction that he could only guess would become pancakes once she tossed it onto the stove. "I had to go downstairs to fix it."

"Oh," His gaze was direct as he watched her move swiftly to prepare the food. Wearing a simple yellow morning dress that wasn't much different from the one she had worn last night. Fresh and lively, no doubt from the perk in her step she was a morning person. "What time is it?"

"About half past eight." She confessed. "The food will be done soon enough."

He stared at her bare feet on the wooden floor, her legs only exposed from the knee down. Never one to wear anything improper.

When she put down the bowl of batter mix and rinsed off her hands, he approached her almost cautiously. Very aware of his body's distinct pull towards the girl. He understood the act each of them had partaken in last night wasn't exactly wrong...but it wasn't exactly right, either.

Despite such awareness, there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that told him he was about to commit the sin again. Judging by how he couldn't take his eyes off her backside. Or how his hands burned to touch her, his tongue thirsting for her unique taste.

The blood rushing to his loins nearly made him feel like he was thirteen again, for arousing at the mere sight of her. It was all rather pathetic, but in a way rather intriguing as to why he felt so strongly towards her.

"I washed your clothes," Paying little attention to anything but her current task, Rin bent over to retrieve something from a bottom cabinet. "I hope you don't mind, they were looking a bit dirty."

He was feeling a bit dirty...minded.

His hand reached out to her as she stood erect, messing idly with some food set out before her. Wanting to toucher, to feel her skin on his again. But not daring to take that leap of faith in asking for her body the very same day he was to leave...

"If you're wondering whether or not you should take me, sensei..." Her words suddenly rang in his ears, and he drew his hand back to listen. Eager to hear what she had to say on the matter. Wondering if she would curse him or welcome him. "Then," Her fingers stopped working to hover shyly over her abdomen, smoothing down the wrinkles in her dress. He was able to see a faint blush rising on her cheeks as she swallowed her nerves and turned her head. Wanting to look at him, but too embarrassed to meet him eye to eye. He wanted to banish that embarrassment from her, to show her there was nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to fear or shy away from. "Then maybe you should stop thinking...and start taking. After all, we only have a few hours left."

He saw her glance hesitantly over her shoulder to look at him, then back down to the counter. As if she feared she had stepped out of line with her bold statements.

Yondaime couldn't help his smirk, it seemed she had more backbone than he'd expected. It made him eager and anxious to have her again, just hearing those words leave her mouth. And if she was comfortable enough to offer him more, it had meant she had enjoyed what he had given her last night – and that she wanted more. It almost made him feel as if what they shared wasn't just physical...but, instead, so much more deep and meaningful.

He made love to her for the second time that morning. Right there in her modest kitchen.

He could barely even remember how he had gotten on top of her, but before he knew what hit him, his hands were all over her. Groping and caressing and fondling.

He'd dropped the sheet around his waist to the floor in his haste. Tugging her dress high, until her backside was displayed to his full viewing pleasure. A deep male grunt left him at discovering her lack of panties. His body literally became unhinged the moment she helped him pull the thin article of clothing over her head, confirming his suspicion that she was not wearing a brazier, either. His brain automatically kicked into a heated overdrive, a slave to his own passionate desires.

Impatiently, he nudged her legs apart with his knee, her cushiony rump cradled against his hips.

Like a greedy, money hungry miner, he plunged into her. His hands latching onto her breasts upon the deep penetration. Her head fell back against his shoulder as he thrust again, getting as deep as their mortal bodies would allow.

The girl smiled and made a heavenly sound as he proceeded to indulge himself with more sins of the flesh. So different than the man who made slow, tedious love to her the night before. He was feverish, wild and nearly animalistic in his rushed, punctuated thrusts. As if someone might walk in and discover them at any moment, thus the greater need to hurry and be done with the act.

He grunted and dropped his hands to the counter, grasping at it for stability. Rin sighed gloriously and arched against him, angling her hips back to grant him a smoother trip into her body. He whispered in her ear, praising her for catching on so quickly in the sensual dance of male and female.

A dainty hand reached back to run her fingers along his waist, traveling down his side slowly. The distinct motion of taut muscle could be felt moving beneath her palm, long sinewy bands of power tugging and pulling as he pumped into her yielding body. She let him do as he pleased, allowing him to latch onto her thigh with an iron grip to lift her knee onto the edge of the counter.

The girl groaned and pressed head further back into the pillow of his shoulder as the action significantly tightened her core muscles. Leaving the narrow passage nearly too constrictive allow any motion or free movement inside her body. But he was moving, quick and hard and with the determination of a stubborn mule.

"You like that, don't you?" He grunted along side her. The tips of his fingers burrowing into the skin of her thigh trapped against the counter. Keeping the limber leg close to her torso. Rocking and jostling her body.

"Yondaime-sensei," She hissed through her teeth, feeling the cold sting of metal on her flesh from the heavy signet ring he wore on his right thumb. "You're just...you're just so..._so_..." Vigorous, rough, hurried, wild, untamed. Any one of those words would have worked well in describing his reckless way of making love to her. But Rin was ashamed she was unable to finish her sentence.

Without warning, as if the earth shattering bliss had mischievously snuck up on her, the heated passion of the moment overthrew her aroused senses and pulled her into the fathomless depths of her climax. Attacking her body unguarded and unprepared for the moment, making her loud cries of ecstacy echo off the walls and in her own ears.

"Oh, _fuck_," She heard the raspy mumble against the nape of her neck. In the following minutes, Yondaime pushed her forward on the counter with all the finesse of the devil himself, and plundered her body until he finally found what he was looking for – his own rise to the clouds. Leaving them breathless and yearning for more.

This cycle was repeated throughout the day. Each finding comfort in the arms of the other.

They talked for the remainder of his time with her, when he wasn't making mad, crazy love to her. They laughed, they played and teased one another. They even fought a little in reference to who should have won that last round of shoji they'd just played. She'd technically won the game, but he claimed she moved his piece when he went to the kitchen to retrieve the last slice of her mango pie – in doing so, costing him his victory. When in reality, Yondaime just sucked at shoji.

"What am I supposed to do without you, sensei?" She asked as she watched him stretch lazily on the couch. Popping and cracking all the knots out of his limbs.

"The same as you've always done without me," He answered, a particular twinge of remorse in his voice.

"But I didn't like living that way." She said quietly, ashamed of herself for complaining. "I like the way we are now, I like being with you. It...it makes me happy." Those were words she hadn't been able to speak in years, and she feared he could tell. Simply by seeing the wan expression on her face and the lilt in her tone.

"It makes me happy, too."

"Then why?" She persisted. "Why can't we stay like this, stay here. With me, _please_." Her lips began shaking, her pout forming. But this time it was honest and unintentional. "No more fighting, only living. Peacefully. Just the two of us. Working and living and loving until we grow old and ugly and wrinkled." She smiled shakily, knowing her words were lost to him.

"Rin," Her offer sounded so good, so possible. As if he could leave everything behind at the drop of a hat and return to the life of his past. But it was unrealistic, it could never happen. He sat up on the couch and reached out to her. Fingering her cheek with his knuckles, closing his eyes for a moment, imagining what such a life with her would be like. Wasting away their days in the country side, making love, making memories and building a relationship to root in the ground...not something as fleeting as the wind.

But that's all he had to give her. Moments in time. Glimpses of their past and a lonely future. There would be no good to come of his lingering here, only chaos and tragedy. He had worked himself into a position of such corrupt power that he could not abandon this new life he had created so thoughtlessly. The consequences would be fatal...but death did not scare him. He'd already faced that dark horse and rode it to hell and back. It was her life that scared him, or more precisely, the possible end to her life.

"I _can't _stay, Rin." He watched her lashes close over her eyes, so clearly trying not to cry again. "There are things that I have done and partaken of, people and things I have prior commitments to. I cannot escape this new life I have made for myself, and I would inevitably drag you down with me if I were to stay. I cannot allow that to happen." He pulled her into him, cradling her in his arms. "_You_..." He began, barely able to conceal the stricken emotion tangling his words. "You are the last light I have left in my life, Rin. If I were to stay...that light would surely fade and die."

"Sensei," Her trembling voice wavered as she cupped his face in her warm hands. She looked past the depth of his blue eyes, onward to what remained of his soul. "Don't you see, I was already withering away when you found me..."

He held loosely to her thin wrists, his thumbs running along the slope of her hands.

"...and...and I will only continue to do so without you." She brought their mouths together for a soft kiss. The girl unable to complete the sweet endearment as a deep mourning overcame her heart, making her chest ache and throb. Because she knew no matter how much it hurt either of them, no matter how unfair the reality was, and no matter how passionate and desperately they wished to remain as thus freely without restraint...it was an impossibility. She would have to return to her mediocre life in Konoha and he to his dark, secret existence as a missing nin. He could not take her with him, and she could not bring him home. By now, the implications were quite clear and obvious...and devastating to the suffering impracticality of it all.

"We will always have Paris," He said lightly, brushing her hair aside. Attempting to mend and sooth her wounded heart.

"I'll never forget you," She declared just in case he had any doubts. "I never have and I never will."

"Nor I you," He whispered and leaned down to complete the broken kiss. "Nor I you."

-

He left later that evening, when the sun was setting over the horizon. Tucking itself away for the night, leaving a crisp orange glow to light the humid outdoors.

She stood on her porch like the torn young woman she was, watching her lover go off to some imaginary war. Knowing she would never see him again, yet pretending in her mind he would be back by the next day. That he'd come walking up that same path she was watching his back descending on. Fading away like a ghost in her mind, as if she had imagined the entire thing.

She harbored such a copious amount of age in her eyes, aged so many years ahead of her time that it nearly clashed with the youth of her body. Her soul had become so bedraggled and weary over the years, her spirit diminishing like a flower left unsheltered in the winter.

It was so quiet when he was gone, she had to wonder if the past day and a half had truly happened. She missed him already, so badly she was nearly lead by her own feet to run after him and wrap her arms around his neck, just to touch him again. She couldn't remember how long she waited out there on the porch for him, her eyes glued to the dirt path leading away from the house. Waiting for him to come back to her.

But he didn't.

The emptiness in her chest that night actually made her nauseous. The loneliness that sank in made her mind roll and gave her terrible headaches, or maybe that was just because she couldn't stop crying.

He was dead again. There was no one in her life left but herself.

It hurt worse than the first time when he had died six years ago. It hurt worse than anything she could possibly conjure up to remember, a past of so much loss was filled with so much anguish...and none of it could compare to the reality closing in around her now.

Sleep was nearly impossible to find that night, but she reached it at some point a few hours past midnight. When there was nothing more than dry sobs that she could emit. She'd worn herself out crying, mourning and basically feeling sorry for herself when she knew she should have been joyously celebrating the time God had granted her to be with Yondaime. But by the time she closed her eyes and passed out, she could hardly remember her own name.

Maybe that was why her defenses were so meager as not to notice the dark presence of an intruder in her house...

Or how close the lurker was coming to her bed.

By the time Rin became alert and aware of the vast shadow hanging over her as she lay defenseless in her sleep, the only thing she could discern was the quick flicker of a triangular pendant reflecting the moonlight that filtered in through her bedroom window.

The heavy weight that held her down and prevented her from fighting back was cruel and strong, as was the cold calloused hands that wrapped tightly around her neck.

She heard a snap and then the darkness in her room seemed to envelope everything so swiftly. Consuming her, pulling her down into her blankets, making her forget where she was and what was happening.

"_Rin_,"

That voice, where was it coming from?

"_Rin_,"

It called to her again. Lulling her away from the darkness, familiar as it was. Opening up a window of light before her eyes. Warming the flesh of her face, comforting her spirit. So welcoming and beautiful. How wonderful it would be like to have that light to surround and encompass her, lifting and replenishing her starving soul.

"_Rin-chan, come on_," The voice echoed in her ears. Flooding her mind with images and pictures of a young, happy boy always wearing goggles and a smile on his lips.

"_O-Obito_?" She stammered, staring blindly at the hand suddenly outstretched before her.

"_Come on, slow poke. It's time to go,_" He jaunted, reaching for her hand again. And although she couldn't quite see his face for the bright light illuminating them, she knew he was smiling.

"But," She looked back to the darkness behind her. "I can't. I have to wait for him. For both of them."

She started as she felt the sudden heat of his hand taking hers. Intertwining their fingers. The warmth shot up her arm and filled her chest, making her weep for the glory of it.

"_We can wait together_."

"Yes," The smile that tilted her mouth was soft and peaceful as she squeezed his hand in return. The serenity the likes of which she had never known. Basking and bathing in the amazing purity of the light. "Together."

_I'll wait for you, Yondaime-sensei. And you too, Kakashi. I'll be here when it's time for you to come home. And then, finally, we can be together again. The four of us. _

_Always._

-

"Everyone I've ever loved is already dead." Hatake Kakashi commented to his young student.

The boy watched him from behind dark, reserved eyes without a response.

Relating on that aspect of their life was easier done than said.

-

FIN


End file.
