Hey guys :) Yes, I wrote this a while ago and added it to Century, but I'm doing a complete re-haul of my stories and decided to move this, my favorite remaining stories from Century, to an individual story so that it could be better appreciated. I think I'm going to turn Century into a dumping ground for old drabbles I don't really like anymore, or just random ideas that aren't really good enough to stand alone. Your thoughts?

Original comments: {{A new piece to give us a break between the posting of old boring stuff! I've been obsessively searching for anything Kakashi/Obito/Tobito related to the point where I re-read Kakashi Gaiden and got the inspiration for this. Because seriously, Kishihad to have planned this. I just wish she'd give us more Kakashi inner-thought about the whole deal. And yes, halfway through this becomes AU. I just couldn't help myself.}}

P a r a l l e l

Kakashi was a smart man. Impulsive, sometimes, definitely the type of man to hide away and ignore his pain, but he wasn't stupid. It hadn't escaped his notice, the painful parallel between his old team, the old team 7, and the new team 7 he was now leading. He knew it the moment he walked in on them in the small empty classroom. In a flash he saw Rin staring lazily at his younger self; saw the overly excited look on Obito's face. "I don't like you." He'd said before he could stop himself, blinking slowly as his vision reverted to normal; blinking slowly as he began to see the pink haired girl standing up from her seat, the black haired Uchiha (Sasuke, Kakashi, not Obito) glaring idly at the blonde.

"Tell me about yourselves, your likes, your dislikes." He'd begun without thinking, mouthing nearly word for word what his blonde instructor had said years before. "You go first (not Obito!) Naruto." He heard Naruto repeating to him what he remembered Obito saying. Not precisely of course, but the same hyperactive enthusiastic rule-the-world-with-a-loud-voice speech. He was almost glad when the young Uchiha broke the mold with a speech about being an avenger. Kakashi had had the same demeanor as a genin but it didn't matter. Sasuke was different. He wondered, a little, as he lead the team to the same training ground he'd trained on for so long, if the Hokage had set this up on purpose. If he wanted to force Kakashi to confront and make peace with his past by giving him a moving, living repeat of his genin and chuunin life.

To Kakashi's horror their first over D-rank mission had been alarmingly familiar. The rank had been skewed and everything had gone wrong and in the end he couldn't be there to help his team. He watched, revolted, as his younger self threw his body in the way of Obito, falling to the ground in a pool of blood. Watched as Obito stood his ground, killing himself to protect what he loved. The moment Sasuke had started gasping for breath he'd felt warm, sweet relief fill him, because these genin of his wouldn't be left with the same mess he and Rin had, so long ago.

A year came and went. He tried, he really tried to force them together. But even as he tried he knew it would never work. He had to sit and watch as the team tore itself apart, Sasuke leaving for his revenge and Naruto eating himself alive with the guilt. He felt himself crumbling as he recognized the heavy shame in the blonde's eyes, the agony of knowing that if you'd just acted differently, maybe your best friend could have been saved. Kakashi tried, he really did, to help the blonde realize it wasn't his fault, but even before he started he knew it was useless; just as the many times Minato had pulled him aside and forced off his ANBU masked and lectured him had never changed anything. In the end, they'd all died, and he had the sinking, agonizing feeling in his gut that the new team 7 was heading the same way.

It was when Sakura finally died, falling in front of Naruto with a shriek of pain that Kakashi began to have nightmares. Bloody, horrible ones where he would be cut down again and again by Obito as Sasuke laughed in the background. He knew who he was; knew that Hatake Kakashi, famous copy-nin and ex-ANBU shouldn't have nightmares, but he did. And he knew that Naruto had them too, because when he'd catch glimpses of the blonde around the village he'd always have dark circles under the bright blue eyes he scrunched in frustration. Again Kakashi recognized the expression and tried to pull Naruto closer. But after a few months he finally let go, rejoining ANBU on his own, because Kakashi knew that one day he'd die, and he never wanted Naruto to end up the way he had.

Two more years passed before he went on another mission with Naruto, and by now he'd grown older. The only orange in the boy's outfit was the cloth he used as a hitai-ate, which shown out from under his long blonde hair dully. He had joined ANBU by then as well and they were going to investigate another Uchiha Sasuke sighting. It took Kakashi almost a whole day of travel to grasp that Naruto hadn't taken any missions that didn't have to do with his old teammate, and for the first time in years he again felt a flash of recognition. He could remember the first year and a half after Rin's disappearance; the days and weeks and months of constant undercover scouting. He could remember how painful it had been to be alone, because Minato had been elected Hokage and was too busy to assist him. He felt a pang of guilt as he realized that he'd probably been doing the exact same thing to his student.

They met the black haired renegade in the depths of the forest so late at night only the sharingan and demon chakra kept them all from becoming blind. The boy had laughed loudly, madly, as he drew blood from the back of the stunned Naruto's neck. It was then that they both realized that Sasuke had died, back so many years ago with the taking of Sakura's life. "Why are you doing this?" Naruto had asked quietly, the question that he'd been wanting to ask for so long. Why are you hurting yourself, why did you kill her, why are you hurting me like this?

"Do you know why Itachi killed out clan?" He'd asked in a purr of a whisper, though Kakashi could tell that wasn't his real motive anymore. He probably didn't have a motive, only a drive so deep and primal left over from his former life that he couldn't just ignore it. Sasuke had rushed up behind him, sword pressing against his back so quickly and roughly his ANBU armor and shirt cut through and blood spilled onto the ground. He looked over at Naruto with one last, horrified look as he realized that the parallel would continue on until it had left only one, hollow shell of man to force himself to ignore the pain. That everything would carry on until there was a whole chain of deaths and dying and no one to help. That after this Naruto would probably continue as ANBU until he had killed the Uchiha and, if he had not killed himself by then, he'd receive his own team, and the cycle would start over again.

"O- Obito-" Kakashi managed to choke out before the sword plunged into his heart and his vision began to fade, closing blurrily in on his own horror-struck face, silver hair sticking to his forehead greasily, sharingan spinning helplessly as his teacher fell before his eyes.