Fandom Thunder Clap

[paiyu]

Her beauty raged with a fire

that even the demons

wouldn't dare to touch.

Something about the situation was wrong… No, scratch that - everything about it was wrong.

“Kakashi,” Rin breathed, staggering to the side and catching herself against one of the large boulders that riddled the landscape just outside the Kiri shinobi hideout. As Kakashi’s name escaped her lips in the hushed tone, the young kunoichi lifted her right hand and placed it over her chest, while her left hand clutched the side of the boulder she was leaning against. Concern spread across her face as she glanced over at her masked comrade, her teammate, and the boy she had great fondness for. He had saved her life, and she was grateful, but wasn’t it… odd? Not that he would come and save her, but that there would be so little resistance.

That wasn’t exactly what bothered Rin at the moment though. Her brow furrowed and her fingers twisted into the fabric over her chest, shaking slightly before she managed to get some kind of grip on herself. There wasn’t time to panic. However, she knew something was terrible wrong. Her chakra felt very out of whack, and.. different, in a sense. It felt foreign.

“Something’s not right.” Through her worry, Rin managed to keep her voice quiet and level. There was a chance she was just feeling some kind of drawback from genjutsu she had been under. In addition to the tainted feeling of her chakra, she felt an odd tension in her core… a presence, though she couldn’t yet put her finger on what it was, she knew it had something to do with what happened to her during the ritual the enemy had performed on her.

What was wrong with her...?

Suddenly there came voices echoing from all around them, distant, but growing louder by the second. Immediately, Rin tensed up and took a shuffled step back towards Kakashi, both hands dropping back to her sides as her wide brown eyes lifted to scan the tops of the boulders around them for any sign of the enemy. With the sun setting, the orange glow of the sun made the red boulders around them glow like fire - a sight that Rin might have admired, should the circumstances have been different. Instead, she was searching for the shadows of their enemy, but she saw no one. That didn’t mean they weren’t there, of course.

In her current state, Rin knew she would be useless in a fight alongside Kakashi. Even when she was in perfect condition she wasn’t much help in a fight, as her role was mostly to heal and support in any other way. And, considering it was just her and Kakashi, Rin knew it could be grim if the enemy managed to surround them.

But Rin couldn’t get past this terrible feeling in her gut, like something was horribly wrong and something devastating was about to happen.

“... Kakashi--” Rin turned to face the young shinobi, but there was no time. She was cut off when, suddenly, the sound of metal slicing through the air could be heard. Gasping, Rin turned her head just in time to spot a kunai whizzing right past her, missing by not even an inch as the blade lightly grazed her cheek. The man behind the blade was standing above them on one of the taller boulders, and he wasn’t alone.

“Get’m! Don’t let them get away!” He commanded, to which the masked men around him responded to by jumping into action and lunging down at Rin and Kakashi, weapons drawn.

There was no time, it seemed, to try and figure out what was bothering her… not right now, anyway.​

​

 

[redletalis]

Everything was wet and foggy and Obito’s eye was aching in the damp conditions. It was cold and the ground was slippery with lichen and moss. And there wasn’t a single enemy in sight. There had been some trouble inside the hideout, but Kakashi knew that at least one enemy had fled from him, had escaped him. To find the outside so lacking in Kiri ninja was… troublesome. Worrying. Not good. He blinked rapidly in hopes of keeping the water out of his uncovered eye and also to see if the little trick revealed a genjutsu.

There was nothing.

Kakashi turned to her when she spoke again, frowning worriedly behind his mask. Rin didn’t look well. It wasn’t just the torture and interrogation that she had no doubt gone through, there was something else entirely. Kakashi was no chakra sensor, but even he could get a small sense of just how oddly her chakra was behaving.

It was almost like… but no, that was impossible.

Wasn’t it?

The sound of the kunai slicing through the air and embedding itself in the ground made him jump into action. Before he even realised what he was doing, he had twisted and thrown three shuriken right back. A second later he had littered the ground with exploding tags, slid into position under the attacker first to land and sliced the arteries in the man’s groin. The second attacker barely managed to avoid the same move, jumping out of the way, but that was okay. Kakashi grabbed Rin’s wrist as he reached her, and pulled her into a run, clearing the area just in time to avoid the massive blast from the exploding tags. The force was enough to shake the ground.

“Those were ANBU masks.” Kakashi let go of Rin as soon as she was keeping up on her own. He chanced to look behind them. “Shit! Run, Rin!"

The briefest breath of air against his neck was all the warning he had, and Kakashi reacted on instinct. He threw himself sideways into Rin, knocking them both off to the side just in time to avoid getting their heads chopped off and a barrage of senbon needles.

Rolling to his feet, Kakashi drew a kunai in time to deflect one with an explosive tag from piercing Rin’s throat. “We need to get out of here!”

 

[paiyu]

As always, Kakashi’s knack for battle was astounding. Before Rin could even comprehend the entire situation, Kakashi had cut down one of the assailants and was grabbing her hand, yanking her back to her senses and pulling her into a run beside him. Rin followed, doing her best to keep up so Kakashi wouldn’t be put in any more danger because of her. Though her body ached and her head was a throbbing, swirling mess, she pressed on and simply focused on remaining at Kakashi’s side. Until Kakashi suddenly dove sideways into her, at least.

With a gasp, Rin lost her already unstable footing and tumbled sideways onto the ground, skidding across the mossy ground with a small grimace spread across her face. Her arm and knee stung from the fall, but that wasn’t what was bothering her. After all, small cuts and bruises were something a shinobi was used to - academy children could even handle it without batting much of an eye. No, what caused Rin was something much more troubling. The moment she hit the ground, something inside of her began to pulsate. That odd, foreign chakra throbbing at her very core… and with each throb came a new memory of just what had happened to her… And a glimpse of just what it was that was festering inside of her.

“A monster..!” Rin panted, her hand clutching over her stomach now, which felt to be the area of most tension. If her memories were right, then there was some kind of seal there. Piecing together the fragments of memory she could gatherer, there was only one conclusion that Rin could make, and, to be honest, it was frightening… but now wasn’t the time for fear.

“Kakashi, I can’t go back to the village!” She quickly called over to her teammate, wobbling back to her feet and panting as she repressed the dark chakra churning away inside of her. She knew he wouldn’t understand, but as things were, there simply wasn’t much time to try sit him down and explain it to him. Her expression had sharpened as the seriousness of the situation fully dawned on her. “They-... They sealed some kind of monster inside of me. If I go back, they intend to release it onto the village!” It was a dirty, underhanded move on Kirigakure’s part… a move that Rin could not, and would not, allow them to make. If Rin ran back to the village, which was exactly what the Kiri nin wanted, then hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent Konoha lives would be lost. What was one life in comparison to that…?

“Kakashi. You have to kill me.” Again, Rin managed to reel back her personal feelings as she said this, keeping her tone steady and absolute. Did she wanted to die? No. Was she afraid of dying? Absolutely. However, she was a shinobi, and this was the life she had chosen. She knew that. For the good of her village, and everyone in it that she loved so dearly, Rin couldn’t allow this monster to be unleashed! It was an unfair request to make of Kakashi, but he was the most sensible and dutiful person she knew. Surely, he could understand the urgency of their situation. “They’re using me as a weapon. I’m a threat to the village, Kakashi!” Rin turned to Kakashi as the plea escaped her lips, hoping to make him understand that he was the only one who could save the village at this moment. The seal had some kind of jutsu attached to it that would not allow Rin to take her own life, so Kakashi was the only one who could kill her.

If he didn’t, and if they were caught, then the Kirigakure ninja would certainly find a way to FORCE Rin to return to the village. Rin would resist the monster inside of her as much as she could, but already, she could tell that it’s chakra was much more powerful than her own.

She had become a ticking time bomb.

 

[redletalis]

They were lucky that only one of the Kiri ANBU had caught up to them. Kakashi buried the man under a hail of shuriken, but wasn’t surprised when the ANBU disappeared and was replaced by a simple log. Kakashi barely brought a kunai up in time to clash with the attacking ANBU. The ANBU had both height and weight on their side compared to Kakashi, not to forget speed, knowledge and experience.

But they didn’t have a dog summon.

A small nick was all it took for the blood to flow, and from the battle earlier Kakashi had more than one. He briefly let go of his kunai with one hand, swiped his finger across the closest wound – ignoring the brief flare of pain – and a heartbeat later the ground erupted. Sharp fangs and powerful jaws bit into flesh, razor sharp claws digging into and through protective gear.

Kakashi skipped backwards out of the way of the following bloodbath. His dogs were new and young, he had never used them in front of Rin or Minato, but despite their youth they were vicious. Punky-haired Shiba was the one who got his teeth into the ANBU’s throat and ripped it open, sending the blood spurting. The Kiri ANBU died with a wet gurgle.

“What are you talking about?” Kakashi looked away from the grizzly sight and focused for a moment on Rin. He frowned darkly at her demand, coldness settling in his stomach. “Don’t be foolish, Rin. I promised Obito to look after you, I’m not about to go back on that promise. C’mon, we need to keep moving.”

Kakashi made a quick hand gesture and got several barks in return. The dogs dropped the corpse and disappeared in amongst the rocks while Kakashi jumped over to Rin. He urged her to start running while keeping a sharp eye on their surroundings.

 

[paiyu]

Rin watched with baited breath as Kakashi held his own against the enemy ANBU. Kakashi was skilled, but possibly not skilled enough on his own to take down a full-fledged ANBU. Immediately upon their blades clashing, Rin grabbed a discarded kunai that lay on the ground a few feet beside her and prepared to lunge… but before she could move another muscle, she noticed Kakashi weaving an unfamiliar sign. Confused, Rin lowered the kunai in her grip just as the ground erupted all around Kakashi. Having never seen this jutsu before, whatever it was, Rin’s first thought was that it was an enemy attack on her esteemed teammate, so of course her first response was dread.

“Kakashi-!” She cried, heart slamming against her ribcage in panic and fingers tightening around the kunai as she jumped to her feet. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do against such a formidable foe. Already, she knew they were much stronger than her, and that she would likely just end up captured again, but in that moment the thought of losing Kakashi was just too harsh a feeling to bare. She would do whatever she needed to try and save him, though, well, that didn’t appear to be necessary. Once on her feet, ready to dive into the action, she halted in her tracks when she realized that the commotion was a pack of dogs of some sort, and they seemed to be protecting Kakashi.

“When did he…?” Were those a summon? When did Kakashi learn the summoning technique!? Perhaps Rin shouldn't have been surprised, as this WAS Kakashi, after all. But watching the pack of, well, puppies tear the enemy to shreds in the matter of a moment. The sound coming from the man’s throat as he fell to the ground, dying, blood gurgling from his mouth as well as the huge tear in his jugular… it wasn’t a sound you got used to hearing. The guy was human, after all, and it just served as a reminder that all humans were fragile beings when it came down to it. Just muscles, flesh, and bone.

Rin had to do her best to put that thought aside, though, when Kakashi turned to her with that almost haunted look on his face. Even through his mask, Rin could read the dark frown that crossed his lips, and it caused an ache in Rin’s heart. She didn’t want to see Kakashi like this - didn’t want to be the one to ask him to kill her, and so soon after Obito’s death, but did they really have a choice?

Though, the ninken had certainly saved them some time, so maybe the could get away to somewhere safe and discuss the matter more thoroughly. Away from Konoha.

Nodding firmly, Rin was the one to take Kakashi’s hand this time, tugging him off the path they had been headed down and disappeared with him in a totally different direction than Konoha. She wasn’t going back to the village as she currently was, and there was nothing Kakashi could do to sway that choice. That much was evident in the look of utter resolve on her face as she led Kakashi to the East, where she recalled there being a large river that led into a deep waterfall. She had seen it while the Kiri nin were taking her to their base.

Hopefully, the Kiri nin would assume the two would head right for Konoha after they lost sight of them, banking on the notion that Rin wouldn’t regain her memories or grow suspicious of the obviously dark chakra suddenly residing within her.

“Follow me, then!” Rin shouted over the increasingly loud roar of the waterfall as they approached it, glancing back at Kakashi only once before hopping off the cliff at the top of the fall, ignoring the chill of the mist as she fell the few hundred feet length of the free-falling water. She focused as much chakra into her feet as she could to land atop the water, but with her chakra being as out of wack as it was, she could only brace enough chakra to absorb the shock from her fall. She still went under, though, sinking a good ways down thanks to how high of a jump it actually was.

The water around her seemed to excite the monster inside, as the moment she was surrounded by the substance, the throbbing in her abdomen grew ten times worse. Rin jolted, the water she had been holding in her lungs escaping in clouds of bubbles as both arms wound around her stomach and, like a rock, she began to sink, doing everything she could in that moment to contain the beast’s power. Perhaps this would be the best course of action - drowning. But she couldn’t allow that. And honestly, it was stupid of her to ever assume Kakashi would allow it, either!

Pushing back against the will of the beast inside of her, Rin shook her head and regained herself, using her feet to launch off of the rocky riverbed below and swimming to the surface as quickly as she could, ignoring the pain in her lungs and the dizziness of her head. Finally, she burst through the surface with a gasp and crawled to one of the banks, which was covered overhead by a natural mossy dome of rock.

Panting and trembling, Rin sat there on her hands and knees with one hand covering her stomach and the other used to prop her up. The throbbing wasn’t letting up, that was for sure. In quick, violent bursts, whatever monster was inside of her sent wave after powerful wave of it’s potent chakra through Rin’s chakra network, trying to overpower her. If the seal was any weaker, it would have easily succeeded by now.

“Ka.. kashi..” She panted, glancing around to look for her teammate, certain that he had taken the jump with a little more grace and dignity than she had managed to.

 

[redletalis]

He blinked in surprise at Rin suddenly tugging him along, but it was easy to follow and to adjust to her pace. He almost absentmindedly noted that it was a slower pace than normal, that Rin was a bit more wobbly on her feet, and this close to her even he could feel the way her chakra was roiling and fluctuating. The fact that she went under and nearly drowned when jumping off a simple waterfall that usually wouldn’t have given her any trouble at all, did not inspire confidence at all.

Kakashi’s heart was beating in his chest like mad as he rushed over to the overhang. He ducked under and tucked himself against the cliff as much as possible. A single hand-sign was all it took for him to give orders of STAY and GUARD to the dogs hidden around the bank, and then he focused on Rin again.

She was breathing heavily, she was shivering and if she hadn’t been so wet he was certain that she would have been sweating like mad. She looked pale and sick, and the skin around her eyes was tense and pinched with pain.

He wanted to demand an answer, to shake her and to race her back to Konoha and the hospital. He could feel the horrible, terrible, terrifying, nightmare-ish memories of Obito’s death creeping up on him, and the Sharingan eye pulsed in pain. Kakashi’s hands started shaking slightly at the memories, at the situation, at the fear. It felt like he had a kunai lodged in his throat and the only way around it was to shout and scream.

But they were in enemy territory. Shouting and giving in to panic was the last thing he could do. Not only that, but Rin needed him. So he clutched his hands into tight fists, he grit his teeth and ignored the pain of the Sharingan eye, and took a deep breath.

“Rin, what’s going on?” he asked, his voice low and calm, but it was a very dangerous sort of calm. It was a calm that promised retribution to whoever had done whatever they had done to Rin. It was a deadly promise.

He may be barely eleven years old, but someone, somewhere, had signed their death warrant the second they had even considered kidnapping Rin. They just didn't know it yet. But they would, and it would be painful beyond measure.

And that was nothing compared to what would happen if... when Minato got his hands on them.

 

[paiyu]

Rin managed to slump herself against the damp cliff side as well, huffing as she did so, as if it took every inch of her strength just to accomplish that much as the beast inside of her had it’s way with her chakra. Still, she managed to pinch an eye open and peek over at Kakashi through her struggles, and immediately she could tell what was on his mind. He was terrified - scared to death of losing someone else. It broke Rin’s heart to see him like this, and the pain was only added to knowing she was to blame for it all…

“Kakashi.. Calm down.” Rin breathed the words out in a weak, trembling puff, her hand lifting to grab Kakashi’s own in an attempt to steady him. As she did this, she couldn’t help the small, quirky smile that twitched at her lips, causing her nose to crinkle, if only slightly. “Heh.. n-...never thought I’d be the one tell you to calm down!” Her voice stammered as another violent burst of tainted chakra burst through her system, causing that smile to vanish as a grimace replaced it. It seemed there wasn’t a lot of time left. The idiots who sealed the beast inside of her did a pretty shoddy job, as it felt like the seal would break the second she gave in and allowed it to - in the village or not.

“Kakashi, l--...listen closely, o-okay?” She did her best to put that smile back on her face, to tell him it was okay and that he had no reason to be so worked up. But the truth was that she was scared, too. Not just scared of dying, but of the idea of potentially being used to kill even one person she loved.

“The Kirigakure ninja… they sealed something terrible inside of me, something powerful.” Another surge. Rin’s hand pressed down over her belly, where the seal was located, and her hand tightened around Kakashi’s own in response. Her lips peeled back into a deep wince, both eyes forced shut yet again under the immense pressure of the monster inside. “Th.. the s-seal was rigged to break o-once I reach Konoha. B-but.. I don’t think it will hold that long,” There was an urgency growing in her strained voice now. Despite the pain, Rin forced both of those chocolate brown eyes of her open once more and turned to stare at the young shinobi, her expression serious beneath the pain despite the sad tears accumulating at the corners of her eyes.

“W-..We can let this monster escape, Kakashi..! I.. I’m not strong enough to hold it back like this forever… you and I both know that. And once it breaks the seal, I’m dead anyways. Whether it breaks the seal here, or in Konoha.. I won't survive this either way.” It took a lot to get so much out, but she felt it was vital for Kakashi to understand as much as he could about her situation. So, hopefully, he wouldn’t feel like it was his fault when she died. She was terrified of that fact - facing death wasn’t something she hoped to do so soon, after all.

“But if it breaks... countless innocent lives will be lost. Kakashi, w-we don’t have many options right now,” Rin’s words were softer now, less serious to allow her usual, gentle tone show through. “My death is the only way to ensure that this beast isn’t released so close to home.. U-unless Minato-sensei appears out of thi… thin air, heh..” That last bit was, of course, a joke. Now was hardly the time for jokes, but she was hoping to make things as easy on Kakashi as possible.

Because having your best friend as you to kill them was easy. Yeah, right… she knew it was unfair for her to make such a request, but from a logical standpoint, what were their options??

 

[redletalis]

He tried to keep calm for her, he tried to stay in control to avoid the enemies finding them, but the longer she talked the more Kakashi’s breathing picked up. His chest rose and fell in shallow breaths that soon turned into desperate gasps. His eyes were wide and unseeing, and a cold sweat was making him shake and shiver.

No. No! Nonononono! No! She didn’t get to do this to him! She didn’t get to tell him to kill her! She wasn’t allowed to just take the easy way out like that! She didn’t get to do the same thing as Sakumo! She wasn’t allowed to do the same thing as Obito! She wasn’t going to die! She wasn’t going to leave him like they had done! He wouldn’t allow it!

Suddenly something she had said connected, and Kakashi froze.

Minato. Minato-sensei!

Kakashi grabbed Rin’s shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug. “You’re a genius, Rin! You’re a certified genius!” he pulled back just far enough that he could look her in the eye. “I’ll be right back.”

He carefully let go of her, and then in a flicker of movement disappeared amongst the rocks surrounding the waterfall. It was easy to track down his dogs, they came to him as soon as they sensed him. A moment later he was whispering orders to them, especially bespectacled Akino and bandaged Uhei. A moment later a golden streak and a red streak ran off through the rocks, moving faster than most human eyes could follow. Small Bisuke followed but at a slower speed. The others were given their own orders and disappeared amongst the rocks.

Barely five minutes after he had left her alone, Kakashi slid back under the overhanging rock and settled in next to Rin. For a moment he hesitated, but then put his arm around her and pulled her close, though he was wary about hurting her and tried to be gentle.

“Don’t you dare give in to it. Do you hear me? I’m not allowing you to give in, and that’s an order from a superior! Hang on for as long as you can.” He spoke quietly, eye roving around their surroundings keeping a watch for enemies. “I’ve sent the dogs off to get Minato-sensei. I had three of his Thunder God kunai but I think we’re a bit too far away for it to work. Akino is the fastest, he’ll get closest to Konoha before activating it. Uhei has the other, he’ll be halfway between Akino and us. And finally, Bisuke has the third just in case the other two don’t make it.”

He gave her a small squeeze. “So you don’t get to give up. Not now, not ever. Hang on for as long as you can, and if there’s anything I can do to help let me know. I might be able to recreate some of Minato-sensei’s seals if need be, but we’ll save that for a last option.

Recreating seals he had never studied and without being a seal master? That was incredibly risky and would have to be the last option. If it went truly wrong he could end up with an explosion big enough to take them both out. but it wouldn’t come to that. Kakashi would make certain of it.

 

[paiyu]

Rin did her best to hide her own fear as she and Kakashi sat there, side by side, allowing the situation to finally sink in. Her chest was tight with dread, her heart beating low and painful against her ribs as she strained to stare the silver haired boy in the face. She could see it - all his pain and suffering at the sheer thought of losing her on top of Obito. She wanted to reach into his soul and take all of that away, because seeing Kakashi like this… it hurt her more than any monster ever could. She could have a million of these beasts sealed away inside of her, on the brink of tearing her body to shreds, and it still wouldn’t hurt as much as it did to see that look on Kakashi’s face. To hear the way his breathing became broken and torn. To feel the way his body trembled like a leaf caught in the wind against her side. It all hurt so bad, and yet, she managed to wear the softest smile she could muster, despite the burning of the breaking seal over her stomach, and the knowledge that she was going to die today tha had her blood running cold.

That smile, however, faltered when she suddenly felt herself pulled against Kakashi’s chest, squeezed in a tight embrace as he said something about her being a ‘genius’. “K-Kakashi?” She panted, concern written all over her face when the boy drew back and told her he’d be ‘right back. Where was he possibly going…? To fetch Minato-sensei?! No way could their teacher make it on time! Rin’s eyes widened and her lips parted as she was set back against the damp rocky side of the cliff, but before she could say a word, Kakashi was gone.

She understood that their sensei was fast, but there was no way Kakashi could even reach the village fast enough to let him know.

For a moment, as she lay there, Rin felt true terror. She was going to die alone, right here, ripped to shreds by the monster that had been forcibly implanted inside of her. Gritting her teeth and fighting back a sob as the seal became dangerously weakened now, Rin slid down against the wet, cold ground and stared across the river with an increasingly distant look in her eyes. She folded her arms over her stomach, panting for breath as she began to feel completely suffocated by the overwhelmingly dark chakra coursing through her chakra network.

“I.. ha-... have t-to… believe in h..him..” Rin whimpered under her breath, her vision blurring as she focused her thoughts on Kakashi, and how she had to be strong for him.

But wouldn’t it be best for the monster to break free while Kakashi was away? That way, she would be the only one of the two who needed to die. If Kakashi was here, then he’d die as well, as she was certain this thing was too powerful for even him to fight. Like this though, then only Rin would die, and they weren’t close enough to the village for it to be an immediate threat. Certainly, Minato-sensei would devise a way to get rid of the monster before it got to that… and Kakashi wouldn’t have to bare the guilt of being the one to have killed her, even if it was what she had wanted…

However, before she could entertain that option much longer, she felt herself being pulled gently from the bank and into Kakashi’s arms again. Rin looked to him, she watched him, noticed the way he seemed to be speaking to her, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying over the humming of chakra in her head. It was too late. Rin couldn’t do it. Her bleary brown eyes squinted as tears rolled freely down her cheeks, an apologetic look weakly shimmering up at the boy as she struggled just enough to say through her panting:

“I’m sorry.”

Suddenly, Rin’s eyes shot open wide as a violent burst of chakra finally rushed through her being, suppressing her own chakra enough that the demon finally had a hold on her. Not enough to break completely free yet, but enough that Rin’s body was no longer hers. She screamed out in agony as her body became engulfed in a dark purple chakra, bubbling visibly to the naked eye from every pore on Rin’s lithe body. Immediately, she shoved away from Kakashi and pushed herself a few feet away from him - it was the most she could do to try and ensure Kakashi wasn’t hurt as well as the foreign chakra engulfed her so rapidly. She thrashed as this happened, every inch of her body feeling as though it was on fire, her mind reeling in pure anguish as her body started to change.

The changes were subtle, but definitely there. Her eyes became as red as blood, darting this way and that as her mind, too, became lost to the demon. Behind her, made from the same purple chakra, a shrimp-like tail began to grow, but the demon needed three tails in order to fully free himself from her.

Meanwhile, as her mind was taken over, Rin found herself somewhere deep within her subconsciousness. She was alone in a large, dark, cold place, standing on deep green water. Before her, a big, blue gate, with a seal holding it shut, but just barely. On the other side of the gate, she could finally see the monster. A huge three-tailed turtle-like creature, ramming into the gate over, and over, and over again madly, loosening the shoddy seal with each blow.

Terrified, Rin choked back tears and ran to the gate. Her small, shaky hands pressed against her, her thin body attempting to keep it shut, but each time the demon rammed into the gate she was nearly thrown backwards.

‘Stop! Please, stop!’ She begged, but it paid her words no mind. It wanted out, and was too close to stop now.

 

[redletalis]

“I’m sorry.”

Such simple words. Such damning words.

Kakashi turned his head, feeling like he was moving through thick, sticky molasses. He had to strain his muscles to move. It was almost like a scene from a movie. Everything slowed down to a crawl, and everything became deathly silent. No wind, no birds, not even the waterfall could be heard. He had enough time to turn to Rin, his eye had time to imprint the sight of her forever to his memory – a feat he didn’t need the Sharingan for – and to widen in surprise and fear.

Then the world snapped back into place. Malevolent, violent chakra exploded from Rin’s body, covering her in a sickly, dark living purple miasma. Kakashi was sent flying from Rin’s strangely overpowered push – a move that he hadn’t ever seen coming – landing in the water several long yards away. At the same time the entire area was smothered in the strongest killing intent that Kakashi had ever felt in his entire life. It was enough to make him gasp desperately for breath, forgetting that he was underwater.

The shock of getting water into his lungs was enough to snap him out of it, and Kakashi swam hastily back to the surface. He bobbed in place as he stared in Rin’s direction, eyes wide and fear raging through him.

The miasma cloud of purple chakra around her was taking shape. It looked like a purple mix of a spiky armadillo, a turtle and an octopus. Its face was horrifyingly human in shape, and only the left eye was open, glowing a demonic yellow. And through all this Rin’s body was thrashing like mad in the middle of the malicious chakra.

“Rin…” Kakashi breathed, voice shaking in fear.

Five ANBU in Kiri garb stood on the top of the waterfall, looking down at the developing scene.

“Tch. The seal broke too soon.” One said loud enough to be heard above the noises Rin was making.

Another one replied. “We’ll simple have to do better next time around.”

“Kill the girl. Kill the boy. Retrieve the Three-Tails.” The group’s commander ordered.

Kakashi’s gaze widened even more. A coldness settled in his stomach as he saw the five ANBU drawing weapons and stepping up to the edge of the cliff. Down below Rin was caught in her purple nightmare. The ANBU jumped off the cliff.

He didn’t think twice about it. He pulled himself out of the water and ran.

“RIN!”

 

[paiyu]

“Please stop this..!” Rin pled, too weak at this point to continue the pointless struggle against thee beast on the other side of the gate. It howled and roared, the sound so loud that Rin had to cover her ears with her hands as she slid to her knees, her figure so miniscule compared to the huge gates before her. Try as she might, though, the sound couldn’t be muffled, because it came from within her own mind. Even within her subconscious, Rin could feel herself fading. Not dying, but blacking out as the beast took control. Everything felt so dark and cold here, so alone-...

“RIN!”

Kakashi’s voice rang through her head. It was muffled, like she was underwater and he was shouting at her from above the surface. That’s right! She wasn’t alone, she had Kakashi, and he had told her not to give up. No matter what.

Gritting her teeth and blinking back the tears burning at her eyes, Rin shakily pushed herself to her feet and shook off the dense feeling of dread as best she could manage. She wasn’t dead yet, at least she didn’t think she was, and she was certain that Kakashi would fight for her to his own dying breath. Even if this really was the end for them, Rin refused to let Kakashi be the only one fighting! Setting her jaw and clenching her trembling fists, Rin rushed back at the gate and again pushed against it, with all the might she could muster. “I.. I won’t let you out. I won’t let you hurt the people I love!”

The words left her trembling lips in a shout, echoing throughout the vast, dark space of her subconscious, where she and the demon were having the most intense tug of war every. The demon paused when she shouted at it, it’s one eye glancing down at her and acknowledging her for the very first time. For a long moment, the two stared at each other, sharing a feeling of despair. Rin because she wanted to keep it in, and the demon because it wanted out.

The each understood that the other wouldn’t give in… but the demon knew he had the upper hand. Rin’s body was weak, not the ideal specimen to home such a massive well of chakra, and the seal was breaking despite her best efforts. Still, in a way, it had to respect her resolve.

As futile as it was.

Outside her inner torment, Rin’s body was completely under the demon’s control by the time the ANBU overhead positioned themselves for an attack. Her body quivered as, slowly, her writhing and screaming stopped, the tortured sounds replaced instead by the low, rumbling sound of inhuman growling. The hands that had been clawing at the burning seal over her belly dropping to her sides as she slouched into a hunkered standing position, with her head bowed down so that he bangs shifted over her field of vision and clung to her sweat-drenched features. The tail behind her idly swished back and forth, as if the monster was waiting for something… and it was.

It could sense the Kiri nin above, and immediately recognized them as being a part of the group to blame for him being within this weak human body. The group that had intended to use the demon as a tool, not even slightly giving it the respect it deserved considering what a powerful being it truly was. The group that the demon loathed and with to personally see torn to itty bitty bits and pieces.

Rin didn’t move an inch as the shinobi jumped from the cliff, or when Kakashi set into a dead sprint in her direction. She just stood there, hunched over, twitching as the detestable, hot purple chakra bubbled around her small frame, already causing her skin to redden with the lightest of burns. Like a minor sunburn that would certainly get worse the longer she was exposed.

The demon didn’t need Rin’s eyes to know where the Kiri nin were - he could feel them, drawing closer and closer, until finally--

Rin’s head lifted just as one of the enemy nin was just above her, sword in hand and aimed to sever her cervical vertebrae. Without warning, the chakra tail suddenly grew in size and darted upwards, slicing with enough force to easily rip his stomach right open, causing quite the splatter of blood against Rin’s back. As soon as contact was made, a violent burst of chakra blasted from the girl’s being, sending the other four attackers as well as the now cut in half ANBU flying in different directions, the sword that had been inches from the back of Rin’s neck clattering into the water. The force would be enough to even throw Kakashi off balance, should he not have been braced for it at least.

The look on Rin’s face as she turned to face the now dying man on the ground before her was feral - eyes wide and soulless, lips tugged back into a gruesome sneer, and brow furrowed so deep that her knitted brows were nearly touching. The man was wailing in agony, trembling arms doing their best to gather the guts that had spilled from his tattered abdomen, and blood dripped from his mask, indicating that he was hacking up lungfuls of blood as he let out the gurgled screams. Without hesitating or skipping a beat, Rin squatted down before that man and, with a loud growl, shoved her hand up into his gushing wound and grabbed his heart with clawed fingers. He let out one final scream, full of fear and pure pain, before her arm jerked back, and with it, his heart in her palm as it gave a final beat.

Of course, the others were immediately on her, but the demon was just getting started. Roaring, it send out another wave of dangerous chakra. The men braced for it this time, allowing them to prevent themselves from being blown away again, but the pause allowed Rin (or rather, the demon) more than enough time to lunge randomly at one of the other men, the chakra around her arms extending to slash wildly at the masked man. She was quick - much quicker than the true Rin even was. Quick enough to cut a deep gash in the man’s chest, but he managed to lunge backwards, blood pouring from his grave wound like a fountain.

While three of the remaining nin faced off against Rin, their commander seemed to have his sights set on Kakashi, likely figuring to get the pest out of the way before dealing with the real issue.

 

[redletalis]

The growling was more subsonic than truly audible. Kakashi felt like it was rattling in his bones, shaking them apart, and it grew stronger the closer he came. Rin stood hunched over, looking for all the world like one of those silly zombies that were so popular in movies. The chakra miasma around her, though, was flickering a… a tail? Like a lazy cat, back and forth, until suddenly the creature that had taken over Rin’s body exploded into action.

A tail flickered out, slicing open an attacker. Blood splattered in all directions while the others were sent flying by a … chakra explosion? Kakashi didn’t know, and he didn’t take the time to find out. He had more than enough trouble keeping on top of the water as it was, his chakra and his balance affected by the blast wave.

As he weathered a second chakra blast wave Kakashi whistled shrilly, the pitch as high as he could currently make it and barely audible to human ears. A second later he was speeding towards the back of the closest attacker. While everyone was far too concerned with watching Rin – oh, lord, Rin! What was she doing?! What was happening to her?! – Kakashi threw himself at the first attacker, burying his kunai in the other’s throat and slicing.

The ANBU turned into a water clone, and a second later Kakashi had to avoid a flurry of kunai and shuriken coming from below. He continued hopping away, from side to side as an underwater assailant chased him around. And then, at some invisible, inaudible signal, the attacks stopped. Instead, a heartbeat later and still surrounded by falling weaponry, Kakashi came face-to-face with the commander of Kiri ANBU.

He reacted before he could think twice. His foot shot out, kicking several of the kunai straight towards the commander who easily avoided them all. He was done playing around now, and the ninjato was drawn as he shot towards Kakashi.

Kakashi barely had enough time to grab a falling kunai to counter the attack, and the weapons clashed and sparked off of each other. The problem was that Kakashi was too small and too weak to take on the ANBU commander. The man was holding his ninjato in one arm and was easily pressing his advantage, the sharp steel inching closer and closer to Kakashi’s throat.

“Give up, boy.” The ANBU commander said. “Stay still and I’ll make it quick.”

Rather than listening, Kakashi cut off all chakra to his feet and dropped into the water like a rock, just barely missing having his head sliced open. The ANBU didn’t seem too concerned. He sheathed his sword and cast a quick look at his compatriots and Rin. Then he started on a long sequence of hand seals instead.

Lifting his hitai-ate and making the same quick hand seals underwater, Kakashi held his breath and hoped that this – this jutsu that he had no idea what was! – wouldn’t empty his chakra reserves in one go.

“Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!”

 

[paiyu]

The remaining Kiri nin were now on full alert, meaning it would be much more difficult for the demon to land hits as easily as he had with the first two. Rin’s body had its restrictions, after all, so try as he might, the demon couldn’t go as full-force as he would have liked. It was irritating, but was something he’d have to deal with, as he didn’t exactly have time to focus on busting free of her puny body. Rin ducked to the side as a kunai was thrown past her, noticing that there was a paper bomb attached to the weapon a little too late, as the moment it was over her shoulder the nin who threw the weapon activated the bomb attached to it. Instinctively, the chakra tail darted upward to swat the kunai away, but just as the charka appendage grazed the weapon was when the bomb detonated. The bright light blinded Rin, her figure seemingly engulfed in the explosion that sent her body flying across the surface of the water like a ragdoll. She only came to a stop when her body met the rocky cliff-side, which she hit with enough force to knock some jagged rocks loose.

With a cry that was half Rin half demon, she staggered backwards and landed on her knees in the shallow embankment, blood gushing from a wound on her head where she was slammed into the rocks as well as blood leaking from her ears due to ruptured eardrums that were a result of the close-range explosion. The chakra cloak had absorbed much of the damage from the explosion itself, but she was still wobbly as she tried to climb back to her feet, her ears buzzing and head swimming from the impact with the wall. And, still blinded from the flash, Rin was unable to see what the ANBU commander was up to until his attack was hitting her - and at full force.

The violent surge of water smashed into Rin and pinned her between it and the wall, making it impossible to breathe or move as the crushing force smashed her into the wall, the force so great it created a large crater in the rocky wall all around her. Perhaps the commander would have successfully drowned Rin, if not for Kakashi, who copied the powerful move and sent it right back at the commander, cutting off his own assault on Rin and setting her free. Only this time, the demon was ten times as pissed, and thus ten times as powerful… powerful enough that another tail had appeared as Rin dropped from the wall and landed on all fours, the chakra so hot and dangerous now that it was literally burning at her skin now, threatening to cook her alive.

With a roar so loud it caused large pieces of rock to fall free from the cliffs surrounding them, Rin launched away from the wall and this time made a beeline towards the commander, but another of the Kiri nin attempted to intervene with not just one, but over twenty paper bomb tagged kunai. This time, however, the demon’s tail successfully swatted the explosives away and sent them flying into the tops of the cliffs all around them. The explosions send large rocks and boulders loosening from the face of the cliffs and falling down into the water all around them, adding to the chaos, but that didn’t stop Rin. With ease, the demon controlling her body dodged each of the falling rocks as he continued his course towards the commander at top speed, mouth opening to charge a mini beast bomb as he used Rin’s body to maneuver through the falling debris…

He would kill everyone here given the chance, then he would free himself from the girl, happily killing her in the process.

 

[redletalis]

The jutsu was draining, but not as much as he had feared. The two clashing forces created chaos, throwing him out of the water and forcing the ANBU to jump away. Not that it helped much when the cliffsides around the lake started exploding and sending rocks of all shapes and sizes falling over them.

Kakashi was forced to duck and weave desperately, avoiding the biggest rocks and the ANBU that were jumping from rock to falling rock, throwing kunai, shuriken and senbon. They weren’t allowing him to get close to Rin, and that pissed him off. The roar that had come from Rin’s mouth had been anything but human, she needed his help! Now!

“RASENGAN!”

Higher-level ninja usually moved at such high speeds that they were mere blurs, but the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha went even beyond that. There was only a flash to announce his presence, something that could have easily come from sunlight reflecting on the water, and in that single heartbeat the ANBU commander was dead in a spray of blood that coloured the water. In what seemed to be the same heartbeat a scrap of paper had been put on Rin’s forehead, a temporary seal glowing brightly on it.

“The Yellow Flash!” the Kiri ANBU was looking desperately around him, voice high with panic, but it was for nought. While he was twirling around to look at a splash to his left, Kakashi had rushed up to him with a stolen kunai, slicing through the tendons at his knees. As he fell the ANBU was met with the jaws and sharp fangs of a dog that came up from under the water.

Kakashi didn’t stop to see if there were more enemies, nor did he stop to order his dogs to guard. He knew that whatever enemies were left would be swiftly dealt with, and instead turned to rush to Rin’s side.

There was a glitter of sunlight-on-water right in front of him and an intercepted exploding-tag-senbon hidden in the shadow of a kunai Kakashi had been prepared to knock aside. The kunai was grabbed out of the air and was used to send the senbon right back at the surprised enemy. It embedded itself right through the ANBU mask and then exploded in a grizzly sight.

Kakashi hadn’t even stopped up. He had simply sidestepped the flicker of golden light and reached Rin a second later, skidding to a halt on the water next to her. “Rin!”

“Don’t touch her, Kakashi, the seal is very fragile.” Minato appeared next to them, a struggling ANBU under one arm. “I’ll deal with it as soon as I’m done with these guys. But if you see the seal breaking completely, use Obito’s gift to knock her out. It wills top it for a while.”

And then he was gone again before Kakashi could reply.

 

[paiyu]

The demon was so focused on making it to the commander of the kiri ANBU that nothing else mattered. Not the quick flash of light, not the unfamiliar sound of the voice that seemingly came from nowhere; all the demon wanted to do was kill. Kill the commander, kill the other kiri nin, kill the boy, kill the weak girl he had been stuck within… kill them all! He was taken completely off guard, however, when the commander exploded in a flash of light. One second, the guy had been fine, the next he was nothing but tissue and guts. This threw the beast off enough that it faltered, the beast bomb in it’s mouth dispersing just in time to catch the faintest of glimpses at a face. A golden-haired man, so fast that the demon wasn’t even sure he had seen him, so fast that he didn’t realize the paper had been stuck to Rin’s forehead until all of his chakra was immediately cut off - a sure sign that his energy had been sealed.

Immediately, the dark chakra that had swallowed Rin’s body dissipated into thin air as her body collapsed, the demon’s chakra temporarily suppressed by the seal and Rin’s own chakra much too depleted for her to regain consciousness so quickly. In fact, her own chakra was nearly completely depleted from the struggle against the demon, trying to suppress it… and failing miserably due to her much weaker, much smaller well of chakra.

Luckily, Rin’s body collapsed backwards into a rather shallow area of water along the bank, so her body didn’t sink into the ice cold waters - though she was splashed about as the water settled from the large chunks of the cliff falling and crashing down below.

Subconsciously, deep within her core where Rin fought to keep the gate shut, the demon was reeled back by the force of the seal. Surprised when the monster on the other side of the massive blue gates stopped fighting, Rin (exhausted as she was) peeked through the large gaps in the structure to see the beast chained down somehow… honestly, Rin didn’t care how, she was just relieved that it had stopped-- No, relieved wasn’t great enough a word for what she felt! Panting hard, she fell to her knees, palms falling to rest in her lap as she closed her eyes and tiredly leaned forward. Had Kakashi done this, somehow…?

“This is weak… you are all weak. This can’t hold me forever..! You will all pay!!” The three-tailed demon roared, his voice filling the large, dark space, echoing off of thin air in a way that had Rin gasping and her eyes fluttering open.

This time though, when she opened her eyes, she was no longer in that large, dark place, sitting in that murky green water, before that massive gate.

“K-.. Ka… Kash-.. i?” She croaked out through her sore throat, which was scratchy and swollen from all the inhuman roaring the demon had done while in control of her body. A body that was covered in first degree burns - nothing too intense or blistering, though if she had been in that chakra any longer, it certainly would have been a whole nother story. Her head was totally killing her, and her vision was blurred and weak… but she really didn’t notice or feel any of that. What she noticed was the silver-haired boy staring down at her, her vision to blurry to see his expression, but she was certain he looked serious and concerned.

Her heart was beating hard in her chest, relief written all over her face as her large brown eyes stared up at Kakashi’s own gaze. “You-... you’re.. Okay?” She could hardly speak, but couldn’t help but let her reassurance show through without even hearing a word of what had happened. Whatever did happen, Kakashi was alright, and that was all that really mattered to Rin in that moment. She was certain that they’d both be dead once that-.. That THING got loose.

Regret crossed her features as she remembered the monster, and how she had allowed it to get loose, even after he told her not to give in. Her lips tugged into a small frown, her body trembling as she struggled to try and lift her hand. It felt like she was made of lead, though. The most she could manage was to lift a few shaky fingers. “I-I’m.. Sorry. I co-couldn’t.. I did my best, b-but..” Her heartbeat began to grow quicker and more painful, tears building up and glossing over her gaze as she watched Kakashi’s face grow blurrier. In the back of her mind, she could hear the enraged howling of the demon - could feeling his power attempting to break through and take control again.

“Don’t let i-it.. get out again, K-Kakashi.. Don’t let me go back there..!" It was an unfair and selfish request, she knew. Whether the beast gained control of her body or not was out of Kakashi’s control, but she couldn’t stand the thought of going back to that cold, dark place again. She grew pale just thinking about being back there…

As a shinobi, she knew it was weak and shameful of her to be afraid. If it was Kakashi or Obito, she knew they would have been braver! She couldn’t help it, though. Not in that moment. And the haunted look she gave Kakashi said it all…

She’d rather die than let that monster take control of her again.

 

[redletalis]

The relief he felt when she opened her eyes was only overshadowed by the relief he felt when she actually spoke. Scratchy and weak and sounding more like she had gurgled glass than anything else, it was still the most beautiful sound Kakashi had ever heard.

His grip on his chakra finally released and he sank into the water. Kneeling next to her Kakashi really wanted to reach out and to touch her, to make sure that she was okay, to help with the burns, to reassure himself that this wasn’t just some cruel genjutsu. But Minato-sensei’s orders had been very clear, and he didn’t dare touch her. Instead he called his pack to them, to surround them and stand guard just in case until Minato was done.

Leaning over Rin, Kakashi came as close as he dared to her – then pulled back slightly to keep droplets of water from falling on her. He was soaked, and she didn’t need to be experiencing a prelude to water torture. Not after what she had gone through.

“Idiot. I should be asking you that.” Kakashi could hardly recognise his own voice. Hoarse, shaky, exhausted, relieved, grateful, and a thousand other emotions all rolled into one.

He looked away and cleared his throat.

There was a flash of gold and a spray of blood against the cliff side.

The single enemy who was left wisely started fleeing.

“Sensei is here, Rin. He’ll deal with it, so just hang on for a little bit longer.” Kakashi wasn’t good at comforting others. That was Obito’s job. Except Obito wasn’t here at the moment, and now that the panic was settling in and there was an adult there who could take charge, Kakashi was feeling more and more awkward. He was certain that if he let himself think about having hugged Rin earlier, then he was going to blush.

Pushing these thoughts away he forced himself to focus on the here and now.

It was easy to do as soon as his eye landed on Rin.

“You were ready to sacrifice yourself for Konoha, and you pushed me out of the way just in time. If you hadn’t done that, if you hadn’t held on and fought back for as long as you did, I don’t think we would still be alive.”

Even as fast as he was, Minato would have come too late if Rin hadn’t fought, and Kakashi knew that for certain.

“You are the strongest and bravest person I know.” It was muttered quetly, but Kakashi didn't look away from her this time around.

There was a brief scream form somewhere amongst the rocks as the last enemy was dealt with. A second later Minato came to a stop next to them, not a single splotch of blood on him, and looking no worse for wear than if he had simply gone for a vigorous walk through Konoha.

“Now then, Rin,” he smiled kindly as he crouched down next to her, “let’s see what we can do to help you, ne?”