It's a fact that the occupants of apartment 36B like to sleep. Some more than others, but generally they were your typical 'Midday crack of dawn' people.

Despite the three's fondness of sleeping, only one of them ever tried it seemed to do something about it. And by 'do something about it', I actually mean 'attempted to get up for work on time'.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, Craaaaap." Rin hissed under her breath, scrambling about the lounge in search of her Hitai-ate.

Why it would be in there she had no idea, but it wasn't anywhere and else and she was running out of time.

Had she not in the end got it caught around her foot, stood on it and tripped over, falling in a very undignified fashion into the plant her Sensei had been carefully starving of water for the past 2 months, it could potentially taken her forever and 221 days to find it.

She wasn't particularly the cleanest person, but she did like things keeping fairly neat and relatively tidy. Unfortunately Kakashi and her Sensei were just plain slobs. Her Sensei more so than Kakashi because whereas Kakashi was simply inclined to leave his clothes and various other possessions lying about on the floor, her Sensei tended to leave everything and anything anywhere. He was definitely much more the "Hey look! I found something furry and disgusting growing under my bed and can't really decide what it used to be…but at least I found your grandmothers china plate!" type.

It was quite disgusting really, but at least it made spring-cleaning both interesting and educational.

The kitchen was in a much better shape, it was the one place Rin just couldn't stand mess, nor could Kakashi. Her Sensei unfortunately still wasn't particularly fussed over the whole concept of cleanliness but after much shouting and dishwashing punishments he had learned (somewhat) to try and clean up his act. Just a bit.

Since he had become Hokage though what minor tidiness he possessed had gone out the window. He barely had time to shower let alone pick up after himself. In fact, all three of them were currently rushed off their feet and hadn't really time for much of anything, a tidy apartment being to last of their worries.

On the other hand he was the only Hokage who had refused to be accommodated in the Hokage tower. Sure he'd spend the odd night or two there, but officially he still lived with Rin and Kakashi, claiming that living with them was just too much damn fun (which is used to be, before the war took a turn for the worst) and he'd miss them too much if he moved and would barely see them.

On the downside this meant every morning either Rin or Kakashi had to face dragging the poor man out of bed after a few hours sleep, and in all honesty it wasn't particularly easy to get him up even after a whole nights sleep.

Removing his quilt had long since stopped working (mainly because he kept another one under his bed and if all else failed then he'd not bother, or use a curtain if it was really cold. He was not the most sensible man at the best of times, let alone when half asleep) This meant Rin had now taken to drastic measures to ensure he got up. In other words she threw a glass of water over him. And even then that didn't always bother him.

But this morning it had, which was why she found him leaning sleepily over his cereal bowl at the table, his eyes barely open and his thick blonde hair-dripping wet. Kakashi sat beside him, slouched in a semi-conscious state and clutching at a cup of coffee.

"Five minutes," she reminded them, picking up the coffee Kakashi had made her and leaning back against the kitchen units.

Kakashi grunted and her sensei simply pushed his breakfast bowl away, ignoring it as it tipped over and milk ran all over the table. He immediately crossed his arms before him and buried his head in them; mock sobbing, "Don't make me goooooo," he whined with a not-very-convincing-sniff.

Rin smiled sadly, hating the fact that his new position had knocked the life from him, and she rarely got to see the goofy, hyperactively childish man she was so fond of. "You have a day off tomorrow. And I promise I'll let you sleep all day," she muttered, grinning.

He raised his head slightly, his eyes only just visible over the top of his arms. "You promise?" he asked, narrowing his eyes in a disbelieving fashion.

Rin chuckled, "I promise. Hell I'll even get you takeout Ramen from Ichiraku's if you like."

Her sensei immediately beamed, laying his head sideways on his arms so that he could continue looking at her but was no longer burdened with having to support his own head. "I knew there was a reason I liked you."

"You deserve it." Rin replied, mopping half-heartedly at the spilt milk with a tea towel before pushing a coffee towards him.

He sat up, yawning and accepted the offered mug gratefully. Kakashi had since fallen asleep, his head resting in the crook of the arm he had propped on the table.

Smiling fondly at the pair Rin leaned forwards and kissed the top of Kakashi's head as she passed, also pausing to gently pull back her sensei's head so she could plant another peck on his forehead. He smiled lazily up at her, eyes half closed, "bye-bye," he murmured in childish tones, as she left, leaving him wondering whether it would be possible to grant Kakashi the title of Hokage for a day.

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Kakashi awoke to the deafening sound of silence, and for a moment he wondered what had woken him. Rin wasn't throwing water at him and yelling that he was going to be late, his Sensei wasn't asking him if he'd seen a bunch of important documents he'd lost, nor was he bouncing at the foot of his bed demanding that he get the hell up so they could go to Ichiraku's. He lay for a few moments in puzzled silence before it hit him, like a sledgehammer to the gut.

For the longest time he lay in stunned silence, his breathing ragged and uneven. The silence eventually became too much however, and he dragged himself up, limping stiffly into the kitchen in search of something to soothe his parched throat.

Every part of him was hurting, making him wince with each step he took and gasp sharply when he raised his hand and wrapped his scorched fingers around the refrigerators cool door handle. After forcing his aching muscles to react and pull the door open, he removed a carton of juice and was about to take a swig from it when he stopped, remembering how Rin would always scold him for doing so.

Some part of Kakashi told him that it doesn't matter now she's gone, but that voice was quickly silenced by another, which immediately told him to fetch a glass, the way Rin always used to grumpily tell him he should.

He opted to comply with the second voice, grunting in pain as he lifted a glass from the cupboard and sloshed the juice messily into it.

When Kakashi - who had so far had his eyes fixed upon then floor, the muscles in his neck protesting to too much movement – hobbled back over to the fridge to replace the juice, he stopped, his eyes fixed upon the large whiteboard Rin had fixed to the front of the door.

The whiteboard was there for the households occupants to write brief messages to each other, reminding them of bills to be paid and whose turn it was to do the grocery shopping that week, Kakashi's messages scribbled in black, Rin's looped in purple, and their Sensei's scrawled messily in orange.

His eyes scanned over the messages they had written over the past week, unable to decide whether to smile or cry.

((The Board))

(A/N: o for orange, p for purple and b for black, so you know who's written what)

(b) Any grocery requests?

(o) Cup Ramen x 20 pretty please

(p) Make that x5, he's cutting down

(o) What?!

(p) If all you ever eat is ramen you will die

(o) I'm fine with that, death by Ramen consumption, can't think of a better way to go

(p) Seriously, you're cutting down

(o) Psst, x20 Kaka-chan!

(b) You're getting no favours from me for that!

(o) What? Awww come on, don't be grumpy Kaka-chan!

(p) Digging yourself a hole Sensei

(b) Make that a grave

(o) Ramen x 20 Godammit!

(p) NO!

(b) NO!

(o) Please…

(p) No

(o) Fine, if it's war you want, then it's war you shall have! I SHALL HAVE MY RAMEN! For I, am the –

(b) Don't think I'm finishing that sentence for you

(o) Oh go on

(b) No

(o) :(

(p) ….king

(o) Damn right I'm the Ramen king!

(b) Don't encourage him Rin

(o) The ramen king declares war upon the Anti-Ramen-ers! War I say, WAR!

(b) Now see what happened

(p) It's okay I have an idea

(o) …I hate you two

(p) :)

(o) I can't believe you did that

(b) You said you wanted war

(o) But but but! Why take it out on the Ramen!?

(b) Did you pay this months bills Rin?

(o) The…the ramen…?

(b) …deserved to be flushed down the toilet

(o) BLASPHEMER!

(p) Too busy, I left a note and the money on the side for Sensei

(o) …

(b) …

(p) …

(o) …

(p) Sensei…?

(o) …I left a note for Kakashi

(b) No you didn't

(o) Okay, well then I didn't spend the money on Ramen

(p) …how in the name of Kami did you ever cope before we moved in?!

(o) I didn't see the note!

(p) You're dead when you get home, BOTH of you!

(b) Glad your working right now, I have time to enquire what the hell I did?

(p) Cleaning does not mean shoving everything into the closet Kakashi!

That had been yesterday afternoon, Rin however, who had been at home at the time the Kyuubi attacked, had scrawled a hurried message before leaving to join the battle:

"I love you two"

Kakashi trembled, tears flowing unchecked down his unmasked face, the cloth that usually covered most of it pooling around his neck.

He tightened his burned and blistered fingers around the glass in his hand before hurling it at the wall with a pained shriek, watching it shatter into a million tiny pieces and litter the tiles below with a sharp tinkling sound.

"YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!" he roared at the picture of the three of them pinned beside the whiteboard, slamming his fist next to it and glaring at them as if they could answer.

"YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!" he repeated, "YOU-YOU CAN'T! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME ALONE! I-I D-DON'T W-Want to be, the o-only one left..." he let his voice trail off as his shoulders heaved with sobs. "N-no, you can't, you can't, YOU CAN'T!"

Screwing his eyes shut he shook his head, sinking to the floor. Obito was here with him, he always was and he always would be so long as he had that damned eye he felt cursed to posses. But not today, today it was his link to them, "You can't leave me, you can't, t-tell them Obito, t-tell them they c-can't…they can't…t-they c-can't…tell them…they can't l-leave me…I-I d-don't want to b-be alone, I don't, I d-don't…they can't d-do this to m-me, they can't a-abandon m-me like T-Tous-s-s-san…" he was still shaking his head, refusing to believe that he was alone, tear's pouring down his pale cheeks and dripping to the floor.

He's still pleading in his head with Obito when something else hits him, and make's his current situation ten times worse.

Gulping back a sob he can only lean back against the wall and mutter, "I'm sorry Obito…I'm sorry…" because Rin hadn't abandoned him, he'd abandoned her. He hadn't been there beside her, protecting her, and because of that she'd died, she'd died and he'd failed Obito. "I'm s-s-so sorry. I t-tried; I tried…" just not hard enough.

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Reviews pretty please?