I honestly had no idea where this story came from. Prologue is in Rin's POV, but the rest is in Sasuke's.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Prologue.

Shinobi marry young. They have children late. For Rin and Kakashi, they get at least one right.

When they adopt little Sasuke before he's even discharged from the hospital, it's a spur of the moment decision. He's a tiny thing with rounded cheeks and stick-like arms and legs. As much as the other medics whisper about his similarities to his older brother, he looks an awful lot like Obito, too. It's a bad reason to help a kid, a guilty-spawned connection, but they already couldn't help Minato and Kushina's boy; not only were they too young, but Kakashi was a mess, and for Rin, no one wants two Jinchuriki in such close proximity all the time. They're older now, though—married with stable positions, and stable psychiatric evaluations.

The Sandaime hands Sasuke over with nothing more than a "good luck."

Rin explains the situation as gently as she can. "Me and my husband knew your family, Sasuke," she says. "I know we're just strangers now, and our house isn't much, but we'll keep you safe. Will you come with me?"

It's a real feat, getting Sasuke to react to anything, but his eyes raise from his lap at the word "safe." Outside of one panicked ramble the first time he woke, he hasn't said a word. His brother did something to his head so powerful even Kakashi couldn't say what it was, and it's going to take him a long time to recover.

After a moment, Sasuke nods, gaze drifting to the wall, and allows Rin to take his hand. Neither she nor Kakashi know a thing about children, but if they could figure out marriage, then they can figure out this, too.

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"Should we hold him back the year, or just this semester?"

It's a reasonable question, but still makes Rin pause, because they should've thought of this earlier. As his head medical-nin, it's not as though his nightmares or trauma are anything new for her. "Well, he's already ahead a year," she says, glancing to Sasuke's bedroom, which used to be the guest room rarely ever used. The doorway is down the hall, but visible from the living area. "Either way, he'll be put back with his age group. We could just wait to see how he recovers?"

Kakashi scratches the back of his head. "I did this, too," he says, "after my dad, you know. Didn't take my long for me."

To be fair, Rin's not sure if Kakashi's ever been normal. By the time his father committed suicide, he was already a shinobi, and hadn't been tortured. "Developing the Sharingan like that, though," she says. "He burned everything into his memory."

"We can decide by enrollment for the new semester," he says. "We'll have to make an official decision on his name whenever we put in an official form."

As of now, Sasuke's in a state of limbo with his family name. Traditionally, adopted children take the name of their adoptive parents, but he's technically heir to one of Konoha's founding clans."We'll leave it up to him," she says. "Sasuke's old enough to make his own decisions."

"Yeah, guess you're right," Kakashi says. "We'll just have to wait and see."

If Sasuke retains the name Uchiha, he stays future heir to the Uchiha clan. If he changes it to Hatake, then adoptive or not, he'll be heir to the considerably new, smaller Hatake clan. At the same time, developing the Sharingan still means that in some way, he would have his birthright anyway. Rin doesn't understand politics all that well, but she did make sure to look this up when filing the paperwork.

Whatever he chooses, though, it means that he's going to be one of the most politically powerful twelve-year-olds in Konoha once he graduates, and the thought of that is more daunting than it should be.

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In the aftermath of witnessing the massacre and the genjutsu his brother put him through, Sasuke had the potential to go one of two ways: a tight bundle of anger, or a blank depression. He goes the latter route, which makes recovery both easier and harder. Easier because his reactions are predictable, and Rin and Kakashi can connect with him quicker, but harder because the steady lightening of his personality is at least partially caused by repression. Parenting is difficult enough without the flashbacks and panic attacks added in.

The nightmares grow less and less frequent, at least, but Rin would prefer waking up in the middle of the night to having to talk to Sasuke without facing him because the panic automatically activated the Sharingan. He physically and mentally couldn't recreate what his brother forced on him, but she made the unfortunate mistake of assuming just because his eyes had taken the form didn't mean they were active. She found out the truth the hard way.

Two idiot chuunin out on the street broke into a fight, and the sound of metal hitting wood was enough to trap him in his head. Moments like this are easier when Kakashi's around to dampen the memory. "There's nothing here that can hurt you, Sasuke," she says, sitting at his side. "It's March, middle of the day, nice and sunny, just you and me—it's just Rin, Sasuke. You're safe—Did I ever tell you about your cousin? Second cousin, really. Obito. He used to wear goggles on his head."

She breaks off into short stories about Obito, and the adventures they had together as a team, and steadily, he relaxes from the sound of her voice. "Rin?" he says, Sharingan deactivating, and eyes glazed over.

"Yeah," she says, reaching over to stroke his hair above his ear. "I'm right here, Sasuke."

It's a surprised when, suddenly, he scoots over, and wraps his arms around her. He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't need to, because she understands his thank you anyway.

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By the six week mark, Sasuke starts talking more, and takes to both Rin and Kakashi better than expected. Kakashi says Sasuke's clinging to the first people to care about him, and it sounds like something someone else said first. It's probably true, too—from what she managed to gather from his past Academy instructor, Sasuke was so close to his brother as a result from his parents somewhat negligible attitudes towards him.

"Kakashi," he says on one of the rare nights they're able to eat as a family, tugging on Kakashi's shirt as Rin calculates bills, "can I have extra tomatoes, please?"

Without looking down from his vegetable chopping, Kakashi answers, "Are you sure? We won't have any for tomorrow."

"That's okay," Sasuke says, and when he smiles, Rin doesn't care what anyone says. Those dimples are closer to Obito than they are to Itachi. "They won't be as good tomorrow."

"Look at that, Rin," Kakashi says. "Sasuke's learning to fight with logic. What're the other Academy kids going to do against that?"

"Fight with non-logic, probably," Rin says, thinking back to a third year spitball incident. Though they have yet to make a decision about when they're going to enroll Sasuke, he's certainly been asking about it enough over the past week. "Kakashi, stop it with all the variety missions. They pay is just too weird to add up in my head."

She knows he's smiling without having having to see his face. "I can't," he says. "How else are we going to pay for eggplants and tomatoes, right, Sasuke?"

Though Sasuke probably doesn't understand finances yet, this involves tomatoes, so he says, "Of course," immediately. She rolls her eyes.

"Where'd you learn to cook, Kakashi?" he asks, and Kakashi answers that he never learned, it's just that he can do anything.

Rin finishes up on the income before starting the mortgage and utilities, half-listening to the boys discussing miso soup with added vegetables.

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Sasuke has a nightmare so bad he's barely breathing, and clings to Rin, face pressed into her stomach. "I'm just really scared," he says, more of a thought than vocalized statement, and with some help from Kakashi, they get Sasuke back to sleep twenty minutes later.

It's past two in the morning, but neither of them have anything to do tomorrow. After a long moment of silence, Rin says, "That's why he's having so much trouble. He feels like he can't defend himself. Itachi's still out there." She's guessing he feels like he can't protect them, either, even though it hasn't been long.

The second silence is just as long as the first. "I can train him," Kakashi says finally. Sometimes she thinks that if he'd been in Konoha at the time of massacre, if he'd been on the extraction squad, Itachi never would've made it through the following day alive. "Or, we could. Just above graduation level basics. It might help him feel safer. It'll help him learn how to use the Sharingan, too."

"This soon?" Training him is inevitable; leaving him to learn the Sharingan on his own sounds dangerous, but even with help, it isn't much better while he's in such a delicate state. Kekkei genkai aren't to be taken lightly. "You really think that'll help?"

"It helped me."

In more ways the one, Kakashi has more experience with this than she does. "All right," she says, and it's decided.

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From what Rin heard, Sasuke might've skipped a year, but he lacked the genius of his brother and most of his clan, similar to Obito. His recovery made it impossible to tell whether or not that was true, and she should've known not to listen to idle gossip.

All it takes is one practice, and she realizes she's rarely been so wrong about anything.

She watches as he runs up the tree, following hers and Kakashi's example. "Did he just?" she says, and her husband nods.

"That was the Sharingan copying," he says, "at the first practice."

Sasuke smiles at them from the opposite tree, bright and dimpled, and whoever compared him with his brother was an idiot.

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When enrollment comes around for the new semester, Rin and Kakashi agree Sasuke's recovered enough that it might be good for him to be around children of his own age again. On the day they plan to have the conversation about everything with him, though, she's called away for an emergency at the hospital. It's hours before she returns, drained of chakra from the number of chuunin exam participants she had to heal and stinking of disinfectant from her quick clean up job, and she finds Kakashi lying on the couch reading one of Jiraiya's trashy romance novels. Sasuke's bedtime is nine-thirty, and it's already eleven.

Kakashi sits up when she enters, hair even messier than usual. "Are you all right?" he asks as she slips out of her coat, hanging it on one of the hooks by the door. This is his way of asking if anyone died.

"Yeah," she says, running her fingers through her hair, undoing the knot on the forehead protector. "I guess some Kiri-nin tried summoning with a new contract, the Summon wouldn't listen, and before anyone could do anything, it went on a rampage through the Forest of Death. It was just a lot of blood loss and poison extraction."

During the short two year period she worked with Kakashi in ANBU, she once detoxed an entire squad of ten from a particularly vicious poison gas courtesy of a few Suna-nin. She's been the go-to medic for extraction ever since. It wouldn't be such a problem if that weren't exhausting.

"Stay here," Kakashi says, pulling her to him and onto the couch the moment she's in arm's reach, before standing himself. "I'll get the leftovers. We got udon from Ichiraku."

Rin follows directions, folding her legs and massaging at her right ankles, sore after standing for fourteen hours without break. "How'd it go for the two of you?" she says, watching him fish around in the drawer for matching chopsticks. At an early age, her mother instilled in her the necessity for decorative kitchenware, despite her plan to approach aesthetic plainly in any other instance. "Please tell me you had an easier day with Sasuke than I just did with my patients."

As he walks back over, bowl in hands and chopsticks balanced across it, he says, "Uh, well, it was...interesting. He was happy to hear he was allowed to go back, even if he was a little disappointed that he'd be put into his normal age group, but he had weird reaction to what name we were going to use. Chose Hatake, by the way."

By now, Rin can usually guess what Sasuke's reactions to something are going to be, but the subject of his clan name was a grey area. "What do you mean?" she says as he hands her the bowl, giving her a quick kiss as he takes a seat at her side. "What was so weird?"

"He was, I don't know, mad," Kakashi answers, and she starts on her food, which tastes heavenly after a day of hospital food. "I don't think I've ever seen him angry before. It wasn't at me—he has sharper hearing than I thought, picked up a lot of gossip from when people see him. I think the direct quote is 'why would I want anything to do with him?' He didn't know he was still technically Uchiha Sasuke."

"Oh, hell." Street gossip, in the beginning, always involved Sasuke and his brother together, inseparable. She hadn't thought about how hard it would've been for him to hear his new Academy instructor call him by it every day. "Well, Hatake Sasuke. I like it. Does this mean he can have a nin-dog contract of his ow—Kakashi, no."

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A few days before Sasuke's new semester, Kakashi teaches him how to Summon.

Rin isn't given a say. At least the puppy is cute, she thinks, and watches it rub its face against Sasuke's cheek as he laughs.

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Now that the Academy year's started, Rin can take longer shifts at the hospital. She usually arrives home not long after Sasuke does, and finds him doing homework on the living room floor. Sometimes Kakashi's there, sometimes he's not.

Today was uneventful, filled with early September stuffy noses and sore throats, which means it was short. There's an envelop on the floor near Sasuke's homework, half under the couch, and she can just make out Hatake on the visible half part. Kakashi's on a mission, not here. "Sasuke," she says after they exchange their usual greetings, reaching over to retrieve the envelop, "why were you trying to hide this?"

It's from the Academy. She can tell by the paper. "Oh," Sasuke says, peeling his attention away from the homework with questions so easy he's always bored within ten minutes. "I wasn't trying to hide it. Just dropped it."

Classes started month ago, which means this can only be his first take-home scores and ranking. "Then you don't mind if I open it?"

Surprised, Sasuke says, "You want to? They're just scores."

"Well, it is addressed to me and Kakashi," she says, sitting cross-legged across from him as he sits straighter, eyebrows drawing in. "Students are given these so they can't lie to their parents."

Though the paper is folded and packed away, the envelop isn't sealed, and Rin removes the handwritten list. She smiles when she sees the results. "Top of your class," she says. "Sasuke, this is great."

"Really?"

She blinks, and looks up. His eyes are wide, and she rarely sees him this expressive. "The Academy isn't easy," she says. "This is a real accomplishment. I'm really proud of you. Kakashi's going to be, too."

When his surprise changes into a smile, she doesn't need him to say it for her to understand that isn't a comment he's used to. "I'll do even better next time," he tells her, and when she glances back down at the scores, she doesn't see how he possibly could.

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Rin was never close to her parents, too caught up in the war and kunoichi lifestyle Dad disapproved of while Mom was busy with the civilian secondary school. Kakashi never knew his mother, and his father committed suicide when he was young. Neither of them had anyone to give the warning that children grow up fast.

Suddenly Sasuke's ten, retaining his thinness but on the taller end for his age, and if it weren't for his habit to freeze up during combative lessons, he easily could've graduated by now. In a way, both she and Kakashi are glad he hasn't; too many people were sent out into the world young during the war. That's almost unheard of now, and Sasuke's been through enough. When Itachi killed his first person, he was ten, too. They don't need Sasuke to have anymore connections to his brother after he's divorced as many as he can already.

His anti-social attitude's been a point of worry for her, too, though Kakashi says he'll grow out of it eventually. Sasuke's so reluctant to be around anyone other than them, in fact, that it's surprising when he looks up midway through his home, and says, "I think I made in a friend?" in a way that's phrased as a question.

The look on Kakashi's face is nothing short of an I told you so, that bastard. "That's good," he says. "Who is he?"

With a pinched expression, Sasuke says, "She," as if just to surprise Rin more. "Lessons went co-ed today, and we got paired for one of those stupid 'ice breakers,' and I don't know. She's not that bad."

For someone like him, "not that bad" is a big deal. "What do you mean?" she asks, settling more comfortably into her position on her seat at the kitchen table.

"She's really smart. Well, book smart," Sasuke says. "She's way smarter than anyone else in my year."

"Smart's good," Kakashi says. "So what's the problem?"

Scrunching up his nose, Sasuke says, "Her hair's pink."

Before she can stop herself, Rin's laughing, knocking against Kakashi who sighs in exasperation, and Sasuke's cheeks are tomato red. He better bring her around some time, this smart pink-haired girl, because Rin needs to meet the person worthy enough to catch her reclusive son's attention.

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Eventually, Rin does meet Haruno Sakura, because Kakashi's irresponsible as fuck, and gave into Sasuke's pleading to teach him the Chidori. The girl comes over when he misses a day of classes, and she was worried, and walks into the sight of Rin transferring chakra back into him. "What're you doing?" the girl asks, curious, as Rin stands. "No, actually, what did he do?"

"He just pushes himself too hard sometimes," she answers. "I was helping him get his strength back up. You must be Sakura."

Sakura snaps her gaze away from unconscious friend, and nods. "Haruno Sakura," she says, and bows slightly. "It's very nice to meet you, Rin-san. So he'll be okay?"

With a nod of her own, Rin says, "He always is. Sasuke's told me so much about you. How's your semester going?"

Though it starts awkward, their conversation turns to something genuine by the time he wakes, and Rin quietly leaves the room, giving the kids the space to talk on their own.

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Sasuke finally manages to fight without issue, and won't talk about it. After Rin and Kakashi get details from Sakura, they whisper-fight in the bathroom, the further place from Sasuke's bedroom.

For as long as they've known each other, Rin and Kakashi haven't argued with each other often, and that didn't change after marriage, regardless of what her mother said would happen considering they wed at twenty and nineteen, respectively. Still, she hasn't kept it a secret from him that she doesn't think Sasuke's mentally ready to handle anything stronger than just above graduation basics. "I told you this was a bad idea," she says, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. "End a fight in a less than a minute—I thought we agreed not to let him graduate before twelve, Kakashi."

In a way, twelve seems young, too, though it's standard now. Here, he has a friend, even if it's only one, and despite the edge of sadness that's always wrapped around him, he seems lighter. Rin's not letting anyone take that away from him earlier than they need to.

"I helped train Iruka," Kakashi says, pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is bad, but I bet I can convince him into keeping Sasuke where he is. It's not like Konoha's desperate for new genin."

When Rin and Obito became genin, it was a rush, because too many shinobi had died. He wouldn't have passed otherwise. "He learns fast," she says. "We can stick to training him in what he already knows, or to taijutsu, or something, but if he proves even half of what he can do, they'll pull him out for a premature graduation in the middle of the day without asking us first."

"This wasn't intentional," Kakashi says, then adds, "You're the one who suggested training him in the first place."

"I didn't mean Summoning and the Chidori."

"Summoning is a Hatake childhood tradition!"

Sighing, Rin says, "Sasuke's a lot more delicate than you were. Knowing his luck, they'll give him Gai, and as much I like him, imagine the two of them together."

Graduating at five was pretty fucked up, in her opinion, but bringing that up is the number one way to escalate an argument. While he doesn't see it as anything to be proud of, it's still what led to him meeting Minato-sensei, and that means the world to him. They both have subjects they avoid. Everyone in their generation does. Sasuke's going to be one of the few people in this new generation with avoidance issues already, too.

Kakashi breathes deep, and calms quickly. "I'll talk to Iruka," he says again. "He owes me a favor anyway."

That's not a guarantee, but it's better than nothing. Even if the person Sasuke knocked out with a perfectly done, non-Sharingan influenced genjutsu was Uzumaki Naruto, it was enough to catch the attention of instructors. Kakashi's not the only one who forgot exactly how cold the Academy could be.

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It's a late Tuesday in May when Kakashi's assigned his first genin team out the blue, and fails them immediately. "I did the bell test," he says, final word garbled by her kiss. "All ended up fighting each other."

Not long before they adopted Sasuke, Kakashi left ANBU, unable to take it anymore after a mission he can't tell her about. If he was ever going to be assigned as a genin sensei, it should've been then. "Okay," she says, confused. "No offense, but you don't really fit the job description."

More than that, he has a son. Maybe not a biological one, but a son nonetheless. Rarely do genin sensei have children. He's a little unbalanced, too, despite what his psych eval says, not to mention strict; she won't be surprised if he fails every team sent his way.

Then it clicks, so obvious she feels stupid for not realizing it immediately. "We're not the only ones who know Sasuke's a mess," she says before he can, "and you have the Sharingan. Familial relation or not, you're the only person who take him. That's it, isn't it?"

"Partially," Kakashi answers. "I mean, the Sandaime didn't really say anything, but think about who's in Sasuke's year."

"Minato and Kushina's son," she says, "and rumor had it the Sharingan had some form of control. Right."

He sighs, running his fingers through his hair, and she takes his hand in hers. "Wouldn't let us near the kid," he says, "and now they're shoving me at him for something I'm not even sure will work. An implant isn't as strong as a natural—Sasuke."

That, at least, she understands instantly. "He said Naruto was worst in the class," she says quickly. "If they don't pass at the same time, it won't matter."

Before the discussion can go any further, Sasuke enters, Sakura just a step behind him, laughing in that sweet way of hers. They remind Rin of her and Kakashi, just a bit, and she can't help but wonder what will happen when they're separated later this year.

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As expected, Sasuke graduates on the first try. Kakashi gets his team list the next morning and chokes on his coffee.

Without saying anything, he slides it across the table, and Rin laughs. "Highest overall scores," she says, "and highest written scores. Why am I not surprised?"

"This is going to be a nightmare," Kakashi says, grimacing. "Lowest scores or not, no one's dumb enough not to realize we have the same clan name."

"At least Sakura and Sasuke are already friends," she says, handing it back. "They might even pass legally. Don't be too late, Kakashi. Sasuke's going to be embarrassed enough already."

They both know that's part of the fun, though. She stands, ready to start to her day at the hospital, and deposits her mug in the sink. "Washing dishes is a good excuse," she says.

"Helping old ladies across the street is, too," he says, and kisses her goodbye.

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A/N: sorry for any mistakes! I'm mildly dyslexic. It's a problem.