#rin lives

Naruto isn’t usually this clingy. He’s never minded Kakashi’s lengthier missions because usually Obito, Rin and sometimes even Sasuke is there to keep him company when Kakashi is kept particularly busy. Which has been often lately what with him being an Anbu after all.

But it’s only been a week since the orphanage officially insisted that they didn’t have the manpower to look after Naruto anymore and somehow the Thirds solution was to stick this 5 year old in his own apartment.

Obito had to stop Rin of all people from marching into the Hokages office and give Sarutobi a piece of her mind. Obito is not used to being the voice of reason in his team and frankly he had half a mind to go along with Rin himself. Maybe it’s the fact that spending 5 years looking after a child has made him mature a bit faster than he would have before, but it doesn’t matter. Because at the end of the day, every action they took on Narutos behalf had to be done for his sake and safety.

He was the vulnerable one here. He was the one that needed protection. It’s been half a decade since the nine-tails rampage but somehow the villagers were still incapable of moving beyond their own grief to realize how cruel it was to project their anger onto an innocent child.

And because of that he knows it is still dangerous for any clan to show any open positive inclination towards Narutos well-being. He wishes that it wasn’t but that was unfortunately the current reality presiding over their village. Every clan licking their wounds over the loses they suffered from the Kyubi’s attack so soon after having sacrificed so many to the war. All of them pulling back from the collective to guard over their own.

No clan felt this reality more distinctly than the Uchiha. Being ostracized to the end of the of the village, far away from the other clans had done nothing but sow seeds of distrust among the other clans towards the Uchiha and vice versa. After all, what other clan had the ability to control the Nine-tails other than the Sharingan users?

So Obito knows more than most the political perspective that would be made by the other clans towards another that dared to show Naruto any welcome. A subtle grab for power. Because after all, what else was Naruto to them but a weapon and a monster.

Naruto was still too young to grasp the full scope of the situation but that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel the overwhelming bitterness and disgust directed towards him from everyone else with every whispered insult to volatile scoldings over menial things that left the child cowering.

And right now, Naruto was simply hurting. Hurting and doubly confused more than usual by the detest that emanated towards him from the rest of Konoha. Right now more than ever, he needed to be surrounded by people who cared about him. Rin, Obito and even to a minor extent, Itachi and Sasuke.

But most of all, he need Kakashi and he wasn’t here.

Not that it was Kakashis fault. It wasn’t on his own conscious choice that his skills had him chosen over and over to deal with more dangerous missions as he got older. He didn’t like it anymore than Naruto did but the money was good and every penny earned he spent in caring after Naruto. Almost everything that Minato and Kushina had owned in assets, from their house to their savings and belonging had all been stripped bare by the elders. Exactly why, Obito did not know though he had his suspicions. What he did know was that it reflected nothing in them but a cold disregard of Narutos well being. To scrub clean and bare the essence of the presence of two people who had loved Naruto oh so dearly in the minuscule amount of time they had with him.

If Kakashi and Guy hadn’t managed to sneak into their Senseis house before it had been cleaned out, they truly would have had nothing to keep as mementos of Minato and his life other than the headstone that laid among the rest of the other lives lost that day.

Even so, they had managed to grab only a few things. Among them being a photo album of the married couple filled with tender moments of their childhood up to their wedding and Kushina’s pregnancy. It had been the most important thing they managed to save because even in pictures, the love, affection and kindness that was the foundation of the two beautiful souls stood stark and clear as day in their faces. It was the most vital thing Naruto needed to see in Obitos own opinion. To understand who his parents were even if only through film.

There were a some other things. A blanket Jiraiya had gifted the couple for Naruto as a belated baby shower present. A frog shaped purse that used to be Kushina’s and a pouch of Minato‘s ‘Flying Thunder God’ Kunais.

They had already given Naruto the blanket and wallet. Both of which he loved dearly. The kunais they decide to give when the boy was much older. Because giving a five year old teleportation Kunais was probably a recipe for disaster and none of them wanted to risk meeting their sensei (or Kushina for that matter) in the afterlife and having to explain they lost his son because the boy teleported to god knows where.

Rin and Obito tried to contribute just as much of their own share in covering Naruto’s expenses but they didn’t earn half as much as Kakashi did and unlike them, Kakashi had no other family to use it for. Which sounds morbid but Kakashi had made the argument himself so Obito doesn’t feel bad about bringing it up.

But still, he doesn’t begrudge Narutos sour mood over Kakashis absence. He understands. The young boy already had so little. It wasn’t wrong for him to feel clingy for what little he did have and for all Kakashis faults (he was just 14 after all when Naruto was born) their Senseis son adored him.

So he pulls Naruto into his arms and though Naruto doesn’t hug him back, he seems to relax and lean into his pseudo big brothers hold.

Obito gave him a squeeze. “How bout we go to Ichiraku’s?”, he asked. Knowing the two boys attempt at making their own ramen was probably a current inedible mess from the weird smell that his his nose had inhaled when he entered the kitchen earlier.

Naruto perked up almost immediately at the suggestion and leapt off the couch to run into his room. Presumedly to fetch his wallet.

Despise the show of excitement, Obito can’t help but feel his heart clench at the sight. The three of them had been incredibly grateful to Teuchi when they found out about his easy show of kindness to Naruto by offering him a hot bowl off Ramen on a dreary rainy day. Naruto had been starving after having ‘missed’ another meal at the orphanage due to ‘wandering off and being late for dinner’.

The despicable behavior hadn’t been new to Naruto and it was not surprising that he felt like walking alone in the rain was better than staying in the presence of ‘caretakers’ who sneered at the very sight of him.

Still, it was nothing compared to their much colder, purposeful abuse and neglect in caring for Naruto’s well being before. That is until they received some very effective threats from some mysterious outsiders (The three of them had been seething but somehow still managed to find a discreet way to make their anger known. Don’t underestimate students of the fourth)

The three of them had tried to pay for the meals but Teuchi-San had refused to take a single coin from them. Citing offhandedly that Naruto didn’t even eat much. An absolute lie since they’d seen themselves the incredibly generous portions the stall owner unfailingly served Naruto every time (“He’s a growing boy. Let him eat”, the man had said when they brought it up)

Nevermind that the shop had to deal with a drop in their number customers. After all, no one wanted to be in the same vicinity as someone ‘housing a demon’.

“Good riddance”, Teuchi commented with a careless wave of his hand. Adding that those kind of people weren’t worth his time or his cooking.

But the stall was beloved enough for its delicious dishes and cheap prices that it still received a steady influx of loyal patrons. Even if most of them avoided coming around when they saw Naruto already sitting on one of the stools. Which actually worked well for the trio because it helped them to avoid too much attention from spending time in public with Naruto.

As reprehensible as it was for the orphanage to kick out a child from the only home he’s ever known, the arrangement actually worked well for Obito and his teammates because it allowed them to spend more time Naruto without having to sneak around and steal short moments with him in secret.

The Uchiha is brought out of his thoughts when the 5 year old came rushing back into the living room waving around his round green wallet.

“Can we get taiyaki after?”, Naruto asked with a wide toothy grin.

Obito brought a hand up to his chin as if giving the request a deep thought. “Only if you get some vegetables”

Naruto’s grin turned into an annoyed pout but he eventually let out a defeated huff. “Fine, but I want extra chashu”

“Such a brat!”, Obito replied but it was said with such an obvious fondness that it brought back Narutos smile.

“I’ll race you!”

Naruto ran and leaped onto his window sill but before he could jump out, Obito called him back.

“Here, an early birthday present”

Naruto took the small, messily wrapped package he was given and didn’t spare a second before tearing it open.

His eyes widened when he saw what it was.

“Your googles!”, he exclaimed in awe. Turning it around in his hands as if making sure it was really what he thought it was.

It was an old pair Obito used to wear when he was much younger but they were different than his current favorite orange ones. The lens were round and the leather band was a dark mossy green, the colour faded slightly over time. Still, Naruto didn’t seem to care at all. Raising his eyes to meet Obito’s, wide with barely contained joy.

Obito really had meant to give them to Naruto next month on his birthday. But after seeing how devastated his ‘little brother’ was over what happened (it will never get easier to see Naruto being forced to carry the burden of everyone’s hate and grief. Even so, Obito couldn’t even begin to imagine how much more difficult it was for Naruto having to actually deal with it), Naruto needed this. He needed this comfort. He needed this show off affection. That there will be people who want to be there for him no matter what. That he was important.

He needed to know he was so very loved.

“But….. why?”, came the shaky whisper. Naruto raised his sky blue eyes and the stark confusion and uncertainty made something inside Obito shatter.

“To remind you”, Obito answered with a smile. “I’m here. Rin, Kakashi even Sasuke despite the fact that both of you seem to insist on going for each other’s throats everytime you see each other, we’re here. Keep this with you and never forget that”

Narutos eyes glazed over and he barely managed a shaky smile before tears started running down his cheeks and he ran into Obitos arms. Legs trembling so badly that it was probably only Obitos hold that was managing to hold him up.

“Did I….. did I do something wrong?”, came the broken muffled shudder from between sobs. Obito had to clench his teeth to keep his own tears from falling.

“Why do they hate me? Why…. I tried to be good. I really did. I didn’t mean to be hard to take care off. I know I’m stupid sometimes-“

And that was the last straw for Obito. He crouched down and pulled back just enough for Naruto to meet his own eyes.

“Listen to me. Listen to me Naruto. You did nothing wrong. No-“, he gently hushed when Naruto tried to interrupt, “-listen to me Naruto. You did nothing wrong.”

Obito tried to fill his words with as much emphasis as he could and it seemed to work just a bit to put some life back into Narutos small, fragile form.

But even so, Obito could see it, deep inside him, the doubt and self loathing that he knows will never truly disappear. At least not so easily.

He’s seen the same look in Kakashi’s own eyes. On days when he’s had to go to his teammates cold, barren home to find him curled up under the blankets of his futon. Motionless and quiet. Barely acknowledging the Uchiha.

Strangely it was actually the truest way for Kakashi to show how comfortable he really was with Obito. If it had been anyone else, even Rin, Kakashi would have stood and met them at the door as soon as he’d felt their chakra signal.

But not with Obito. With Obito he knows he doesn’t have to pretend.

So he would lie there, deathly still. Silent as Obito knelt and lied down beside him on the hard wood floors. Counting his friends every breath as a small form of assurance and patiently waiting. Sometimes it barely took a minute and sometimes it felt like hours before finally Kakashi would raise his black orbs to meet Obitos own and letting his friend see clear as day and unbidden, the shattered pieces of himself that he hadn’t been able to keep together that day. And Obito would stay. For however long Kakashi needed him to, Obito would stay.

He will always be willing to do the same for this little boy in front of him. Hoping beyond hope that he would see in Obito everything that he needed to see and maybe believe him enough to sooth away the cracks inside him.

Today is not that day but that’s alright. Today he watches Naruto pull the googles over his head with a small crooked smile between his whiskered cheeks.

Today he’ll take Naruto to Ichiraku’s and allow himself to watch his little brother gleefully calling out to the Teuchi and rubbing his palms together when a steaming bowl was finally set in front of him.

Today he’ll take Naruto to buy custard taiyakis and then walk with him to the familiar Uchiha training ground. To that one specific spot deep into the trees where Sasuke always hid.

Today he’ll sit and lounge against a tree high up on a branch, half asleep but ears still open to the gentle, fond bickering between the two boys as they easily reconciled over fish shaped cakes. Resting his eyes but keeping just enough attention on the thud of kunai on practice targets to make sure none were flying astray because that’s really not a conversation he wants to have with Fugaku.

When Kakashi’s stubborn stupidity had caused Madara’s death his heart had died too. He swore he’d never let anyone get close enough to hurt him again, he couldn’t handle losing anyone else. Rin and Minato-sensei had accepted the familiar cold attitude with pitying looks and a promise to listen whenever he was ready to talk. Kakashi found that odd, he’d never talked to them about anything before, so why would he start now?

It had taken Rin nearly getting kidnapped by Mist shinobi for Kakashi to realize he’d let her get close to him. That her death would be nearly as bad as losing Madara again. Minato-sensei has commented on how brutal his kills were, but the tone had told Kakashi the older man would have done the same thing if Kakashi hadn’t beaten him to it. Apparently Minato-sensei couldn’t stand the thought of losing another team member anymore than he could.

Kakashi’s promotion to ANBU had been met with resistance, but he’d managed to convince his sensei he could handle it. He excelled in the ANBU, rumor had it he might make captain soon. Normally Kakashi wouldn’t believe such rumors, but his next wave of missions had been his hardest yet. He’d done them without compliant, despite how utterly insane some of them were, and even enjoyed the solo aspect of them. That being said, Kakashi was secretly glad to be added to a team for the next mission, taking the position of second in command. He vowed this mission would be his smoothest one yet.

Staring at body floating in the large tube-like chamber, Kakashi finds himself at a loss. This was supposed to be an easy mission; all his team had to do was infiltrate one of Orochimaru’s supposed labs and find any useful information they could. That was it, simple easy mission; aside from the high chance of deadly traps and running into the sannin himself. Taking on Orochimaru single-handedly would be preferable to this; at least it would be a quick end. Not this slow agony that made his heart skip several painful beats.

Madara

Madara Uchiha

The selfless idiot that had pushed him out of harms away…

…that had given him his Sharingan…

…that should be DEAD…

…not floating in a glass tube filled with some strange liquid.

Kakashi wants to write it off as just his heart getting the better of his brain and making him see someone else as Madara, even if no one else had such a wild mane of hair. He wants to lock this moment away and never think of it again, and he’s going to, but then-

Then the pale figure opens his eyes and an achingly familiar Sharingan locks onto his own gifted one.

The world disappears around Kakashi as an inferno of chakra overwhelms him.

Instinctive awareness comes back to Kakashi first and he realizes he’s in a hospital before he’s fully conscious. Once he’s capable of higher thinking, the Hatake is torn between praying everything he remembered from the mission was just a nightmare and hoping it really happened.

“Welcome back.” That calm, compassionate voice could only be Minato-sensei.

“Did it really happen?” Kakashi questions softly, opening his eye to look at the blonde, aware his expression is a thousand times more open than he wants it to be.

“I…” Minato starts before he cuts himself with a sigh and breaks eye contact. It takes him a moment, but when Minato looks back at Kakashi, he’s no longer a sensei, but the Hokage. “What do you remember?”

“Madara, alive.”

“Yes, that really happened.” Minato pauses, knowing his former student needs a few moments to process that statement.

“How?” Kakashi finally asks, because that’s what he desperately needs to know; he doesn’t care about anything else, just how his best friend came back from the dead.

“That is unclear,” Minato says, unable to suppress his laugh at the unimpressed glare Kakashi shoots at him. “From our primary look at Orochimaru’s notes it would seem that he found Madara on the brink of death and decided to experiment on him. The full extent of what happened to him is unknown, those notes weren’t recovered, but it appears Orochimaru was still looking into Hashirama’s DNA.”

“Hashirama’s DNA…?” Kakashi mutters in confusion before his eye widens, “the Mokuton.”

“Precisely,” Minato sighs, rubbing a hand over his eyes and Kakashi notices for the first time just how tired his sensei looks. “Madara displayed the ability when he broke out of his container to get to you.”

“To get to me?”

“The other ANBU reported that he broke out, injured you in the process, and then refused to let anyone near you. He had to be sedated so you could both be brought back here.”

“He’s here?”

“Of course,” Minato grins brightly, “we would never abandon a fellow Leaf shinobi! He’s still sedated though, until we can make sure he’s stable and still on our side.”

“Madara would never betray us!” Kakashi snaps before he can stop himself, much to his embarrassment.

“Kakashi…” Minato catches the younger shinobi’s eyes, a pained look in his deep blue eyes. “The Madara you lost might not be the Madara you found.”

“Impossible.”

“Just keep it in mind,” Minato advises as he stands up, “once you are discharged come see me with your mission report and we can discuss this more then.”

In the end Kakashi is given a week’s leave from the ANBU to recover, which is hardly necessary for the minor concussion he’d had, even Rin had agreed with him, but Minato-sensei had held firm. He had claimed it was for the emotional trauma of finding Madara like that, but Kakashi called bullshit; his sensei just wanted him to take it easy for longer.

Life passes by in a blur of missions, and the occasional, reluctant social outing Rin had dragged him along for, until 3 months later Kakashi finds himself being assigned a long-term mission: helping Madara get reacquainted with the village. At first Kakashi is overjoyed, not that he shows it, until he realizes that means Madara is temporarily staying with him and that makes his heart beat painfully. He wants to protest, but he knows Madara doesn’t have anyone to stay with and he couldn’t turn his friend away. Kakashi was sure he could handle it.

Not even a week later, Kakashi knows he was wrong, very, very wrong. If his heart kept skipping beats every time he saw Madara stumbling sleepily into the kitchen or when the Uchiha smiled at him he was going to have a damn heart attack. Then there was also his ever increasing nighttime problems; why did Madara have to invade his dreams and why did he have to be naked in those dreams!? Kakashi was going to have to try harder to ignore the Uchiha, maybe then the stupid dreams would stop.

“I’m moving back in with my clan,” Madara declares one night, nearly 2 weeks after he’s moved into the lonely Hatake household.

“What?” Kakashi mutters, barely hearing his own words over the sound of something in his heart shattering.

“I said I’m going back to my clan.”

“Why?”

“You clearly hate my presence,” Madara grumbles with huff, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting in a manner that shouldn’t be so cute. “You’ve barely spoken to me at all this week and you yell at me almost every morning.”

“I…” Kakashi trails off, not sure how to make Madara stay. “I don’t...that’s not…”

“Spit it out!” Madara snaps, glaring at Kakashi with his one visible black eye. Whatever Orochimaru had done to Madara had grown his eye back and turned the remaining one purple; Kakashi thought the purple suited Madara just fine, but the Uchiha always covered the eye with his hair.

“I don’t hate you,” Kakashi finally manages to spit out, feeling a blush spread across his cheeks, “you can stay.”

“Even if you don’t hate me,” Madara pauses briefly, doubt coloring his words, “you clearly aren’t happy that I’m here.”

“You have no idea how happy I am that you’re not dead,” Kakashi says honestly, knowing he needs to choose his next words carefully so he doesn’t lose the Uchiha, “I’m just not used to…”

“Used to what?”

“Havingacrush!” Kakashi blurts the words in a rush before he can stop himself, startling his older teammate. It takes Madara a minute to decode what he’d just said, but when he does, he can’t help but chuckle.

“Kakashi,” Madara coos, moving to sit next to his teammate and throwing an arm over the other’s shoulders, “that is both the saddest and most adorable thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Fuck you.”

“If you think you can.” Both shinobi flush darkly at Madara’s unexpected reply as the Uchiha quickly scrambles away. It takes Kakashi several minutes to get over the shock, but when he does he finds Madara across the room, doing his best impression of a startled cat.

“W-what?”

“I said uhh…” Madara mutters, ducking under his hair to avoid making eye contact, “how about dinner?”

“Are you asking me out?” Kakashi asks, unsure if he’s reading the situation right, Rin had told him he wasn’t the best when it came to understanding romantic situations.

“Would you be upset if I was?”

“No.” Kakashi says without any hesitation, knowing he said the right thing when Madara meets his eyes with a brilliant grin.

“Then yes, I am.”