Together as One chapter 13

A/N: Hi everyone! Did you miss me? Sorry I've been gone for so long. Kind of got lost on the road of life hahaha… anyway I'm back! Anyway, tineyninja kinda was the one to remind me of the existence of this story, so I'd like to thank you for that! I hope this chapter can make up for my long disappearance and I do plan to write another chapter after this by the end of next week sometime since my physics and calc tests will be over with by then. And hopefully near the end of the school year I'll get a few more chapters up. Thank you all for waiting for me! I hope this chapter is worth it! And thank you so much for reading, and thank you for your reviews they make me really happy and motivate me a lot! So hopefully I'll not be gone so much in the future. Thanks guys!

The period of boredom was finally over for the two ninja. And they had received their first mission from Minato in what seemed like ages. Obito strode out of home full of excitement. He practically raced straight for the hokage's office. Minato stared at him in awe for a moment, "Obito, you're not late!?"

Obito grinned, he'd even beat Kakashi, but not by much. Kakashi entered the room and his single eye widened in shock as well, "Amazing, for once you're on time. So whatever happened to being a good samaritan and helping old ladies carry their groceries home, hmm?"

"I haven't had a mission in ages! What is it sensei!? A-rank? S-rank! Please…" he danced around in excitement.

Minato wasn't sure he was up to breaking the Uchiha's hopes, but he pulled out the mission assignment sheet anyway, "D-rank, as you're punishment, remember? You two aren't quite out of the hole yet."

Obito's expression fell at once, "What?! But can't you make one exception?! Please?"

"No, I need to make sure you two understand the weight of what you've done. Understand?" Minato answered firmly.

Obito immediately grabbed Kakashi by the shoulder, "But look we're friends again sensei…"

Kakashi's body stiffened from the touch, his face growing hot and blushed beneath his mask. Minato barely caught Kakashi's change in form and noted it in the corner of his brain. Well…maybe they were getting along, and better than he would have ever expected.

"No, Obito and that's my final answer, now take it."

Obito pulled his hand away from Kakashi's shoulder, and Minato observed carefully as Kakashi's stiffened figure relaxed a little and he shakily came forward to take the file, "Yamamato Kogito is the name of our customer, he's the head of the village thirty miles west of hear called Shibetsu. He want's someone to guard his village until they catch the bandits that have been coming and stealing their crops. Apprehend them and bring them to Kogito for their punishment."

Kakashi studied the mission assignment more carefully, "Sensei, this doesn't sound like a D-rank mission. Gennin aren't supposed to be doing assignments like these from what I understand."

"It's a poor village, and I let him get away with it largely because I knew you two were on hand and could handle it with ease. It shouldn't be too much of a problem for the two of you," Minato replied.

Kakashi's suspicions weren't totally relieved as he stared at the paper wondering what more their customer would be hiding. Bu tit was clear that Minato was certain they could handle it, and Kakashi didn't doubt this either, he was an ANBU and Obito was a chunin who could probably become a jounin with ease. But Kakashi didn't like going into a mission without all the information.

Obito as predicted was actually happy about this complication, "So it's actually a C-rank mission, disguised as a D-rank mission!"

Kakashi took the opportunity to add his own remark, "A brilliant deduction Obito, whatever would we do without you?"

It earned him a glare in return. But Minato quickly ended what he saw as a possible conflict between the two, "be ready at five p.m. at the west gate."

Kakashi nodded in confirmation, "Yes sir."

They left the tower, Kakashi was still uneasy about this mission, Obito as usual was laid back about it. Finally he touched Obito's shoulder, feeling shy about his touch for some reason, "Obito, we need to be careful on this mission, we shouldn't underestimate the situation."

Obito looked over, and frowned, "It'll be a cinch Bakakashi, we've been through worse, a C-rank or whatever it is, ti sounds like nothing to me…"

"But…"

"I'm going to pack for the mission," and with that he left.

Kakashi glared, "Idiot. He's too overconfident."

At five Kakashi was again surprised by the Uchiha's punctuality. This was really a new trait he was coming to like. Obito showed up in a new set of clothes, it didn't surprise Kakashi, his own had grown old, small and grungy in the past six months, and he'd gone to a more standard set of clothes. Obito was wearing a standard Konoha flack jacket, pants and a blue tee-shirt with his clan symbol on the side. That was interesting.

"Obito…don't you hate you're clan?"

"Hmm? Meh, yeah, they're a bunch of jerks all caught up in their clan hatred."

"So why are you wearing their symbol on your shirt."

Obito looked over to the side the clan symbol was on, "Well, I can't chose family and I hope when Itachi becomes new clan leader, he'll fix everything."

"hmm…" Kakashi sighed and moved on to the topic at hand, the sun was two hours away from sunset when the gates closed, "sensei didn't give us much travel time, come on, let's go and try to get as far as possible before sunset."

Obito nodded and they began sprinting as fast as they could through the trees toward their destination. Kakashi had packed civilian clothes that they would be able to change into while in the village so as not to be easily recognized by the thieves. It was a boring trip overall, and they traveled an hour later after the sun had set before Kakahsi proposed they stop and set up camp.

Obito drew a long yawn, and sat down on the ground. Kakashi looked down a thim with an unimpressed expression, "Obito…we need a tent."

"Five minutes."

Kakashi looked toward the sky and let out a long sigh and obliged and sat down next to his old friend. The stars made him remorseful for a moment. He remembered when they were a team of three and Rin was with them. She would often cook their meals when they ended up camping out, she was a good cook. Kakashi remembered when she would try to subtly tell him she loved him. Kakashi had at some point finally told her the truth, tha the did enjoy her company and she was a good teammate and friend and he considered her one of his closest friends, but he would never feel the same about her. At the time, Kakashi wasn't quite sure he'd ever understand what love meant, in fact he wasn't sure if he knew what it meant now. He looked at Obito, and began wondering, did he love Obito? The little orange book sure made it sound like he did, but he still wasn't sure. And knowing that Obito was another man, made him ask a few other questions…was it okay to love Obito, another man? Would society accept him for loving another man, or would they ridicule him for it? A shiver ran down his spine as he remembered what happened to his father. Kakashi was afraid to admit his love, if it was even that. And it seemed like it was harder and harder to follow the ninja rules, that forbade him from showing his emotions.

Obito noticed Kakashi was looking at him strangely, in fact it was like a look of longing, and it surprised Obito. Though for some time now, Obito had suspected Obito did have a crush on someone, he eyed the copy-ninja suspiciously, "Do you have a crush you're not telling me about Bakakashi?"

Kakashi was taken away from his thoughts by the question and for a moment was silent unsure how to answer Obito's question, "Of course not, Ninja rule number three, a ninja never shows emotion."

"Then how come you're always staring into space witht hat dreamy look in your eyes, ha?" the Uchiha teased.

Kakshi felt a little nervous, "don't be stupid. I'm just…thinking about the mission is all."

The raven haired by frowned, "My ass," earning him a glare from Hatake.

Kakashi decided he didn't want to linger on the topic and took off his pack, "Shut up and help me set up the tent."

The tent went up with ease, and chewed on bits of packaged food before going to bed. One tent was usually customary for two ninja, and Kakashi had slept in the same tent as Obito numerous times, but this time…this time seemed different. He felt himself suddenly longing for the Uchiha's touch and trying to find excuses to rub up against him in his sleep by accident per say. But the risk of his honor was holding him back. And as sleep began to fall on his eyes he felt a tinge of jealousy in his heart, why couldn't Obito feel the same way, why couldn't Obito struggle with his feelings as Kakashi was? He mentally yelled at himself that these were the kinds of feeling's that'd gotten them in this position in the first place. He closed his eyes willing sleep to come. And when sleep came, Kakashi was plagued with dreams of a certain someone. A certain someone who'd lost his honor, for saving a fellow teammate, and had been ridiculed by the village, someone by the name of Sakumo Hatake.