In Your Place

Was this irony? Kakashi panted as his attention was divided between watching the cloaked man that had suddenly appeared and listening for his pursuers' approach. He held one hand out to the side, attempting to herd Rin behind him.

Ducking his arm once again, Rin grabbed his shoulder roughly with one hand as she stepped in front of him, "Obito?" Her voice was high and thin, full of desperate hope and confusion.

Kakashi finally brought himself to look at the boy's face and barely managed to hide his flinch. The man's left eye was closed, and in his right, the three tomoe of a sharingan lazily swirled. The right half of the face was scarred – What did you expect? -, but did nothing to mar the excited smile adorning the man's face.

Rin dug her fingers into Kakashi's shoulder, "How…?"

Obito's smile widened and he started with that sorely missed chatter, "You guys will never believe this – ", when he suddenly broke off and tilted his head to the side, as if he was listening to something. At the same time, Kakashi stiffened and twisted his shoulder out from Rin's grip

It seemed like Obito's situational awareness had improved – wherever he had been. Beneath his mask, Kakashi smirked, "You're late." But your timing couldn't have been better. Kakashi could barely hide his grimace as the burn behind his navel grew worse.

Obito snapped out an automatic reply, "Shut up bakakashi!" It was definitely Obito. It had to be.

Before Rin could react, he knocked her unconscious with a sharp blow to her neck, caught her, and tossed her body at Obito.

Obito staggered backwards, struggling under her weight, "What the hell Kakashi?"

Heh. I guess I should have warned him, shouldn't I? He was out of time, "You're back, you slacker. Did you expect me to watch over her forever?"

His face is still too expressive. Before betrayal could fully bloom across Obito's face, Kakashi took another step back, "Take her and go. I'll draw them away."

"What?! We should fight together! With our eyes, there was no need to knock out Rin– "

Kakashi wondered what Obito saw in his eye that made him take a step back with Rin cradled against his chest, "Don't be ridiculous. I don't know where you've been these last few months, but from that catch, you're clearly still recovering; you're barefoot!"

He darted a glance towards the west, before looking back and continuing, "Mist hunter-nin are pursuing me; I don't know how Rin found me, but she shouldn't be here. She's in no condition to fight, and with you here, there's no way she'd be able to focus." He swallowed, "As we are now, do you think we stand a chance of protecting her?!"

"Kakashi – "

"She cried for you." He turned his back on Obito so that he could face the forest, where the enemy was sure to emerge.

"From the day we buried you. Every day, she cried. Don't make her bury you again."

When he still heard nothing, he twisted his head, "Go!" He studied Obito's stance, trying to commit every last bit of him to memory. Seeing the conflicted expression, he continued in a softer voice, "Go. I'll catch up. Your gift's been really useful, you know? So stop worrying, I'll see you guys in a little bit."

Finally Obito gave him a tight grin, "Of course it was! Rendezvous at the old spot?"

Kakashi nodded.

With one last backward glance, Obito adjusted his hold on Rin and leapt, "Don't be late."

"Yea."

He watched for a moment as Obito disappeared into the foliage before blurring into action. Traps needed to be set if he had any hope of corralling all of their pursuers.

Sorry Obito. It was about time I paid you back for all the times you made us wait anyway.

-0-

She felt her chin bounce against something again. Her arms were propped next to her, and swung with every bounce of her head. She was being carried.

As soon as that thought registered, everything rushed back and she began to push against the back that was carrying her, "STOP! Put me down! What-?"

"Stop!" she struck a pressure point on his shoulder with two fingers and immediately the arms holding her legs dropped away.

"Rin, what are you –?" Obito turned around.

"Obito!" She lunged forward to give him a tight hug for a moment, before taking a quick step back, "Where's Kakashi?"

One look at his face and she was clutching his collar with both hands, "Where's Kakashi!?"

"Relax." He brought his hands around to grab her shoulders, "Kakashi said he'd meet us at the old rendezvous point."

Eyes wild, she scrambled at his chest, "No, no. We have to head back, we – "

He pulled her away from him and gave her a soft shake, "Kakashi can take care of himself. He's only going to act as a quick decoy before rejoining us."

When she still tried to pull herself away, he clutched her towards his chest. After a moment, he felt her struggles cease.

"I'm not a doll to be passed around," she murmured tightly into his shoulder.

"What…?"

"When we got back to the village, after you… left, Kakashi didn't cry."

It stung a little, a bit like a dull ache. But before he could process her words further, she continued, "He was too busy hovering over me, trying to keep his promise to you."

She looked up into his eyes, "He was captured last week."

Your Bakakashi's movements are becoming slower.

What? "What do you mean?" He wasn't sure if he was asking Rin or Zetsu.

He's clutching his midsection.

"They were targeting us, and he pretended to be me, and they caught him, and I don't know how he escaped but he thinks they sealed the Sanbi into him, and he's hiding something else, but I don't know – "

"The Sanbi?"

Don't tell me you don't know about the tailed beasts? Sounds like your friend became a jinchuriki.

-0-

Kakashi didn't think Minato-sensei would blame him. This shouldn't count as breaking any sort of promise. Strictly speaking, it was suicidal, but he was protecting the village. There was no other option.

A sudden rush of burning energy raced up through the back of his spine. The spike of pain caused his knees to weaken, dropping him to the ground. Gasping, he hastily shoved the headband over his left eye. When he finally stopped seeing bright lights, he peeked down and lifted his shirt to reveal his belly.

Between the bruises, the seal looked just like it had in the cell. None of the markings appeared to have changed. He wasn't an expert; with her medical training, Rin would have been better at figuring out the meaning behind the marks of the seal. However, he was able to tell that the seal was, without a doubt, designed to be released on command. If he hadn't heard the boasts of his captors, those markings would have raised his suspicions anyway. He held his breath as he looked behind, past the trunk of the tree, for signs of the hunter-nin. Seeing none, he quickly summoned Pakkun.

"Yo."

He would miss that deadpan look. He reached underneath his arm guard and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He held it out to Pakkun, "Can you deliver this to sensei?"

Pakkun nosed at the paper for a moment before staring at him askance.

At Kakashi's solemn but urgent look, Pakkun sighed and bit down on the paper, "Fine."

They both tensed as they heard the mating call of a non-indigenous bird. As soon as the call ended, Pakkun gave Kakashi one last lingering look before leaping away. Swallowing past the pain, Kakashi dug into the tree bark with his fingertips as he pulled himself up in time for three hunter-nin to leap down, surrounding him in a triangular formation.

He grit his teeth and lifted his headband again to reveal his sharingan, causing more pain to lance up from his abdomen. He wasn't sure if it was a bad seal or his implanted sharingan that caused his body to have such a negative reaction to the Sanbi. Either way, he had to hold out until Obito had had enough time to get out of range.

He wouldn't allow himself to be used to destroy the village.

-0-

They arrived just in time to see Kakashi take a glancing blow to his side. Trusting Obito to cover her back, Rin raced forward, sliding through mud –when had it started to rain? – to catch him.

She heard Obito release a hoarse scream of rage as Kakashi crumpled. From the periphery of her vision, she could see roots spring out from the ground, waving about like the tentacles of legendary sea monsters. What had Obito been doing? Beyond that though, she was more concerned with Kakashi's lack of response to her ministrations. Diagnostics had indicated no poisoning.

From what she could visibly see, there was no reason for his lack of response. What had he endured as a captive of the Mist?

Frustrated with her lack of progress, she sliced open Kakashi's shirt to find the seal glowing and sat back.

Shit.

She didn't have the expertise for this. Clenching her trembling hands she took a deep breath. It sounded like Obito had the battle under control. She didn't dare look back for fear that her concern for her other teammate would distract her.

What to do? She traced the lines of the seal absently with one hand while using her other hand to slow the bleeding at Kakashi's side.

His breaths were too shallow and she could see perspiration lining his brow despite the coldness of his skin.

It had to be the seal that was affecting him like this. She half-hoped it was at least. She had no idea what to do if it was something else.

Taking one last breath to steady herself, she bit her thumb and began to draw. It was unfair of her to gamble everyone's lives on the little that she knew about summoning. But she couldn't bring herself to care. Her team was almost complete again. She couldn't lose that again.

-0-

"I think he's waking up."

"He shouldn't be. The seal I drew – "

The voices cut off at his sudden groan. The cold drizzle of rain on his face was a small relief.

Everything burned.

Slowly, he opened his eyes to see Rin and Obito staring back at him. Obito's face was scarred.

Obito's face was scarred. Itwasn'tadream-

He jackknifed – or he tried to jackknife before the pain at his side caused him to crash back down with a shout. The faces that had leaned away when he tried to sit up returned closer than before - a little too close for comfort.

He hissed out, "What are you guys doing here?" Then he yelped as Obito punched his shoulder, "Bakakashi!"

Obito yelped in turn when Rin pushed at his head, "Don't hit Kakashi." Belying her words, she flicked Kakashi on the nose, "But he's right."

"I am? I mean – Yea! Of course, I'm right!"

Kakashi couldn't even manage a small smile at Obito's behavior. He never would have thought that he would actually miss such idiotic behavior. Regardless, he managed to push himself onto his elbows, "We were supposed to meet at the rendezvous point."

Obito frowned, "Like we'd leave you behind."

Kakashi erupted, "You weren't leaving me behind! We were going to regroup – "

"As if you had any intention of doing that," Rin whispered.

Both boys paused to look at Rin.

"I – "

"Don't."

She was crying again. She couldn't help herself. "We just got Obito back, and you were going to leave?!"

"I'M A DANGER TO BOTH OF YOU!" The exertion of the shout caused him to fall back against the ground.

He didn't bother to stop Rin as she flipped aside the cloak he was bundled in to examine his body. He raised his gaze though, when she gritted out, "Whatever the danger is, we can surmount it together – as a team."

"The mist nin – "

"Obito took care of them."

He started and darted his eyes to examine both of his teammates more closely. He swallowed incredulously, "All of them?"

Rin looked away but Obito stared at him steadily and nodded.

He couldn't breathe for a second at the hope that blossomed in his chest. Quickly, he tried to stamp it down, "You guys still shouldn't be too close to me."

"Shut up – "

"The Sanbi – "

"Will stay put for now, until we get to the village," Rin interrupted, wiping away her tears.

Silence reigned for a moment. Kakashi suddenly realized that he was wrapped in Obito's cloak. Taking in the state of his body, he finally spoke, "That might take awhile."

"Bastard, we're going to carry you whether you like it or not."

Rin giggled abruptly, "Sensei's going to be surprised."

Suddenly remembering the message he had sent, Kakashi closed his eyes, "That's one way of putting it."

Seeing his exhaustion, Rin leaned forward, "Get some rest."

Despite himself, Kakashi could feel the tension leaving his body. For the first time in a long, long time, it looked as if everything just might be alright.

Team 7 was going to be together again.

A/N: Merp. Didn't mean for it to be this long. Had the idea dancing in my head for awhile and decided to let it spew out as a break from writing apps. Oops.

The ending of the story was much more vague in my head… (e.g. whether or not Kakashi had a good compatibility with the Sanbi/if he was going to die, what Obito was going to do about Madara and his reaction to Minato, etc.) Also, couldn't really be bothered to really look up Zetsu... so sorry if he's out of character. Suggestions on improvements are always welcome!

Meeeeeehhhhhh. I need a new brain. Aaaanyway, I should stop dallying and write apps. Bleargh. I'll start work on TT updates tomorrow evening.

As always, I love reviews. Nonsensical reviews (e.g. single letters) are awesome too - just any sort of sign that you've read til the end of the story. Thanks for reading to this point!