Life changing choices
With some hesitation, the jinchuuriki let go of the rocks and tightened her hold on her neck when she was able to override the strange fight or flight feeling coming over her body. She needed to trust that the village occupants wouldn't just hurt her when she was down and out for the fight. And she was very down. "Rin!" Two voices cried out her name as the two watchers approached and crowded around above her. Forcing herself to stay bent over her knees, she stayed crouched over to keep her airways open while the water slowly stopped coming from her lips. Rin didn't care if she was fully exposed, minus some underwear, with the medical garment now lying on the dirty river floor, oxygen was her main priority at the moment.
"Kakashi, stay back!" The older male of the two gave an order to a mask-wearing Anbu black ops member, who had easily followed and stopped in his tracks a few paces behind him. "Kakashi?" Parting her eyes slightly to look at the moonlit water in front of her, it was hard to see anything with her long wet hair covering most of her face. It was blocking out the dim moonlight, but she slowly started to connect the dots with the two ninjas she sensed earlier. The fourth Hokage and beloved teammate always seemed to know a way to find her for some reason, and Rin could only guess how.
Turning her head, Rin caught sight of the young Anbu male much closer to her than the familiar blonde Hokage of Konohagakure, but with his speed, Minato was by her side in seconds. "Give me a second." Another order and the younger male stopped moving toward the broken female and even moved back from her, no matter how much he wanted to help her. Suddenly Rin felt a calm hand being placed on her back as she shifted her attention from Kakashi to the other male on her other side. She lifted and tilted her head to look at an angle at a very familiar face that had come to maybe help her. "Sen..." She whispered, but let out a small gasp/cough at the burning coming from her lungs, burning even worse than when she first got there.
"Rin, it's okay. Just hold on." The voice spoke calmly as the hand was removed and started first by tying her hospital gown back closed. It was something Kakashi didn't need to see just yet, even if the news of his teammate being alive was barely over a month old. Minato was going to trust Rin to show her teammate when she was ready, and not any time before. Rubbing her back, the 4th Hokage lifted his head and waved the anxious Anbu member over.
As Kakashi got closer, even with his Anbu mask on, it wasn't hard to recognize the male from other Anbu Black op members. His short height, compared to other members, was a clear giveaway for one, but there were other giveaways that Rin was slowly starting to pick up. Like sensing his chakra style and the beautiful silver hair that shines under the moonlight like a star. Rin was starting to pick up little things, more than she ever did before the 'accident'.
"Rin, are you okay?" Minato asked as he watched as she seemed to move from staring at him to staring over her other shoulder towards Kakashi. She blinked a few times before closing her eyes and moving her head to stay in the position she knew would help her get past this attack. Her hands rested around her neck but she moved to rest her head to rest upon her knees.
It took a moment or two for Rin to catch her breath and finally calm down from her chakra debacle, but the burning was even worse than before. Standing quietly to the jinchuuriki's other side, Kakashi stared down at Rin and just watched the chakra in the body going completely haywire, and even worse than before she tried the jutsu. "Thank you.. for coming to help me...." "... Again.."
The female whispered as she shakenly used her hands to push her upper body up to sit on her haunches. She slowly opened her eyes to reveal they had turned into a strange sunflower yellow and turned to look at the 4th Hokage and her fellow teammate. Seeing the change in her eyes caused the two males to look at each other with worried expressions and they hoped she wasn't going to lose control like when she first woke up. The new seal helped keep the beast at bay, but it was meant for a healthy jinchuuriki, not one as injured as Rin. They chose not to say anything to see if maybe talking it out would calm the female down.
"I .. messed up.. again..." Every few words required a new breath and with every exhale, mist poured from her lips and nose but Kakashi could tell that it wasn't any normal type of mist. This mist was completely made from chakra which was something he had never seen before. "I failed.. even.. that simple.. jutsu.." Placing his hands on her shoulders, Minato understood the type of turmoil going through the female's head and wasn't surprised at all that the demon effects were going through her mind. He just hoped she could calm it down enough that the demon effects wouldn't get worse. "What do you mean 'you failed', Rin?" The Hokage questioned the student, and with a few more coughs, she lifted her head to look up at Kakashi with a soft smile.
Taking a step and squatting down next to his teammate, Kakashi looked at the water that flowed from her mouth and into the river next to them. "The fireball jutsu is something that even a lot of elite Uchiha can't master until they are older than us, Rin. You can't beat yourself up just for messing it up after just waking up." He spoke calmly as his eyes looked over her frail figure from what he could see through the wet medical gown. He lifted his hands and pushed her hair from her face so she could see much easier than before.
"It was.. supposed to be a gift for... Obito.. to contribute more.. to the team...I was making.. so much... promise.. before.." Closing her eyes, Rin put on the biggest smile she could in an attempt to look happy with just being alive. Picturing it as if she was looking straight at Obito, and couldn't help as tears began to flow down her cheeks. "I… I am down to genin.. level.." She opened her demonic eyes and took in a deep breath trying to regain her composure, but it wasn't working.
"Obito.." She ran her hand over her eyes to dry them and smiled softly to herself. She had a long way to go to fully recover, but in truth, she was scared for the future. She wasn't sure what was going to happen now that she had something as powerful as a bijuu inside her. "We can still save the world Obito, just keep watching over me. I'll see you on the other side. I'm sure of it."
Raising her hand to push some wet bangs from her face, Rin lifted her hand to see that her nails had grown sharper and she finally noticed the mist from her breath. She gasped out and touched her face, but couldn't see just how messed up she looked. It took a few moments for her to feel the demonic influence over her body, which she turned her focus on to try to calm herself down. The power of love seemed to negate the negative effects of the demonic influence over her, according to Lady Kushina. Luckily for her, Rin was surrounded by some of the very people she loved most in the world.
"Rin, you didn't fail." Minato spoke up as he turned to look down at his student. "Kakashi is right, you're still healing, so you shouldn't be focusing on trying to pull out big stunts like that. You should just focus on getting better for everyone's sake. We're worried about you, and I'm sure you'll be excited to start going on missions again." Running her hands along her shoulder and down her chest, feeling the massive scars that danced over her skin, Rin looked lost in memory as each bump reminded her of that day.
Drifting her eyes over her teammate's eyes, Rin stared at him as she kept rubbing her shoulders without even noticing. "Missions, huh?" She spoke out as her eyes stayed on Kakashi the whole time. An idea crossed her mind Rin turned her eyes to look at the offered hands from both males and chose to grab onto Kakashi's, but even he struggled to pick her up. She felt heavier than she ever did before becoming a jinchuuriki, but this wasn't the time to bring it up.
"Rin.." He spoke her name under the mask, and the only thing Kakashi could do was shake his head. "You know Obito would not have cared if you had perfected the fireball jutsu or not. He probably would have tried to get you to train with him just to make sure you perfected it in your way."
Holding on to his hand maybe a bit longer than she should have, the jinchuuriki used her other hand and moved it up to place it on his mask, Rin was going to remove it, but gave up the action after just clinching on to it. This wasn't her place to remove it and if Kakashi chose to keep it on then that's where it would stay. "Y-yeah. You're right.." She spoke in a depressed light tone and looked down at the floor, before coughing a few more times and suddenly feeling very lightheaded. Her heart felt like it was going to blow out her ears and she was surprised that the two males didn't say anything about it.
Squeezing Kakashi's hand, Rin placed her free hand from his mask and onto her forehead. "I.. don't feel so good.." Rin started to fall back as she loosened her grip on her teammate's hand only for the Hokage to replace it with his own to hold the jinchuuriki standing. "Woah there, Rin. No need to overdo it. I think you've been outside long enough, we should get you back to the hospital." The Fourth Hokage gave the young girl a slight heroic smile, only for Rin's eyes to shine differently when the moon passed over them. She looked between the two men and pushed off Minato's body to try to stand on her own two feet, sudden fear coursing over her body and forcing her to respond accordingly.
"I..I.." Holding tight to her chest with one hand and the other over her stomach, really the seal on her stomach, the jinchuuriki shook her head as coral began to form beneath her feet out of fear for the situation. She took a few steps from both of them and shook her head. "I don't want to go back to the hospital. Please.. please.. don't make me go back. I'm better. I promise." She broke the coral with ease with each footstep and kept backing away from them, but her breath kept getting more frantic with each passing moment.
The needles. The poking. The prodding. Both of the three-tailed duo were over being test subjects at that point. She didn't want to go back and for once The bijuu agreed with her at some point. The two looked at the coral starting to form and then up at the frantic female in front of them. Minato took a step toward the female, only for Kakashi to take two steps to be in front.
"Rin, slow down and breathe. You're going to pass out if you don't collect yourself." Looking down at the coral forming, the Anbu had never seen anything like that before, but his priority was on his hurting teammate. The female stopped in her step and slowly started taking in deeper breaths to try to calm her breathing and her heart that she bet Kakashi could sense was beating out of control. She needed her meds but wasn't sure how long she could go without them.
"I-I'm fine.." Clenching her hand into a fist over her chest and closing her eyes, Rin tried to picture calming things to slow down everything in her body. It seemed to be working till she gasped out when her eyes opened and saw that her teammate had removed his mask for some reason. The rules for the Anbu Black ops were not known to the jinchuuriki, but Rin could only guess that he might get in trouble if he was doing this elsewhere. Taking small steps toward the female, Kakashi figured taking off his mask would help calm his teammate down even further.
Staring at the mask in his hands, Rin slowly lifted her head to look at Kakashi in his eyes. The two took steps toward each other while Minato watched from behind Kakashi, not sure if Rin was going to pass out or was going to calm down enough to make the demonic effects go away. The two teammates stood in front of each other in silence, only for Rin to make the first move and pull the Anbu male into the first hug they'd both shared in a long time. "I'm better.. now.." Pressing her forehead against his shoulder, Kakashi looked at the memorial and placed his hand on her head to keep her close. He didn't even need to look at her to tell them that she was starting to feel a lot better and get better control of her chakra.
Rin pulled away and opened her eyes to reveal that they turned back into their normal chocolate brown and caused a lot of relief for the Anbu and Hokage. "Okay Rin, you win. You can stay out of the hospital for one night, but tomorrow you need to get checked out. I haven't gotten word of your release date yet." Minato spoke out with a defeated shake of his head and Rin gasped out lightly with a huge grin of her own. "Yes, Lord Fourth!" Taking a step back from her teammate who just looked back at her with the same calm and collective manner, even stayed quiet again.
Simply turning back toward the memorial marker, Rin found herself with a bit more energy than before and walked back over to it while the two males followed her. "I'm just going to spend the night here then if that's the case." She spoke softly as she rubbed Obito's name again with her sleeve. She rubbed a few times only for her to stop completely, shiver a few times and turn her head to look over her shoulder at the approaching new guest. "Rin, what's wrong?" Kakashi questioned when the jinchuuriki slid to the other side of the memorial for some reason. Trying to get some distance between herself and a new visitor that the two males were surprised to have shown up: Kushina Uzumaki.
Looking from the memorial to the new guest, Rin had no reason to fear the fellow jinchuuriki, but Isobu's feelings played a role in her life now, including the fear of a crazy red-headed lady. "There you are Rin, you've had us worried for hours, young lady, you know." The redhead looked at the two males in the group and shook her head in disappointment. "Leave it to you two to not be able to get a young lady to come back to the hospital." She was trying to lighten the mood and even walked closer around the memorial toward Rin.
The approaching pepper head caused Rin's eyes to grow big in fright and surprise, and even clinch her hands into fists. "Scary lady.." The turtle spoke out causing Rin to clinch into her stomach and look down at the chasm that he had disappeared to the bottom of. "It's okay, Kushina isn't scary. She won't hurt us." Feeling better than before, and surrounded by her loved ones gave the jinchuuriki more energy than she ever asked for. More than when she first woke up.
The turtle blew some more bubbles and shook his head. "She won't hurt you, brat. I, on the other hand, would probably kill if she had the chance." Rin tapped her foot for a moment, thought about some of the strange things she saw whenever she touched the mother jinchuuriki for too long, then sighed in defeat from the whole ordeal. "You're probably right on that. Don't worry, she won't do anything to us. I promise..Iso..." Someone had to be the peacemaker with her new tenant in her body, so little steps would be needed. But why does it feel so wrong to be nice to such a creature?
As her body screamed to run, Rin ignored it and didn't even move when Kushina wrapped her arms around the young girl and pulled her into the softest but most loving hug she has had in a long time, even more so than from Kakashi. The older jinchuuriki's big belly didn't help the hug, but the gesture was all that was needed to fully calm down the younger jinchuuriki. "Um Kushina, we had it under control," Minato spoke, only for Kushina to turn with Rin in her arms, as if the young kunoichi weighed as much as paper, and looked at her husband a few times.
"Yes honey, I can see that. That explains why Rin is still here, huh?" For some reason the younger kunoichi allowed herself to be thrown around as if she was a doll, only to have her eyes stay on Kakashi the whole time but finally tapped a bit on Kushina's arm to have her let go. Rin had no desire to tease a reaction from either bijuu by staying connected like that for too long. And even felt bad allowing the hug to go on for so long for her bijuu's sake.
"Lady Kushina.." Rin whispered to get the older jinchuuriki's attention, pulled her away from the other two for a moment, and walked up to the shrine so they could speak in peace. Rin even put her hand up to allow them to talk without Kakashi reading their lips. The older jinchuuriki listened to the young jinchuuriki's pleas and concerns for a few minutes before they both returned to Kakashi and Minato's side. The two understood what patients were like, but this was one of those most awkward times.
"I suppose it slipped your mind to tell Rin what we talked about, my love?" Kushina questioned the Hokage as Kakashi turned to look at Rin, still standing next to the shrine, who watched the two couples talking about something to deal with her. Seeing the banter a bit between the two made the younger Jinchuuriki smile, only for Kakashi to walk right up to her and remind her of so many things. "Rin.." He spoke her name, only for the female to lean on the stone for support and just keep her eyes on the power couple nearby. "Copy ninja Kakashi," Rin spoke with a slight joking tone, but let out an exhausted sigh when another breeze blew over her body.
"So how long does Lady Kushina have until we have a little Namikaze running around?" The young jinchuuriki asked as she looked down at her stomach, more so at the demonic seal on it, and feeling completely defeated while leaning on the stone. This was the first time they had been together outside of the hospital room, let alone all four back together talking as if they were a little family again. "From the feelings of it, I'm guessing like four months, give or take?" The medical kunoichi guessed, even counting on her fingers to figure it out. "Yeah, October is when they think she will have her baby." Not moving as the jinchuuriki squeezed her wet body closer to Kakashi's for warmth, he wrapped his arm over her shoulder to try to warm her but rubbed down on her arm to not freak her out.
"So this baby was a birthday present for sensei. That's funny." Giving a light chortle, the jinchuuriki turned her head to look at Kakashi's face again, and again he turned to look at her. Something she noticed right away was the difference between the Sharingan. A bit different, but something to bring up at a later date.
"H-hey Kakashi... I'm sorry.." Whispering it to Anbu's male, he gave her a puzzled look. Rin leaned more on the Anbu member and rested her head on his shoulder with her arms wrapped around her chest. With her eyes closed, the cold wind started to finally catch up to the reptile jinchuuriki and Rin started to feel sluggish because of it. "Rin, we can talk about it later, I promise. I'm not going anywhere." Kakashi spoke before turning his attention to the power couple, only to start to notice that Rin was starting to slip against the memorial. "Sensei, we need to get Rin wherever you plan on taking her," Kakashi called out to the Hokage and his wife as the young jinchuuriki started to slip away into sleep even when standing. Kushina was first to walk up with Minato on her heels and she placed her hands on the young girl's cheeks.
Parting her eyes and seeing the other jinchuuriki so much closer than before, Rin twitched back from Kushina's touch and covered her head with her own hands in fear. "N-no nine tails, please!" The female cried out in a fearful dream-like response. The older jinchuuriki watched the weird movements and looked between Kakashi and Minato a few times. "Has she been this jumpy since you got here?" Taking a step back to allow Rin some breathing room, Kakashi helped Rin remove her hands from her head and stand back up against the memorial. "Not scared, more depressed from her chakra network still being messed up. It's okay Rin, wake up a bit." Speaking the last part in a caring tone, the younger female finally caught on to what was happening and placed her hands on the stone to keep them occupied. "F-forgive me Lady Kushina. I don't... I don't know what came over me."
"It's okay, Rin. I don't think that was your fault." With a soft smile, Kushina placed her hands on the younger girl's cheeks again, feeling Rin starting to get colder than before, and took a mental note for later of weather effects to be tested on Rin when she was able to handle it. "Can you carry her, honey? I probably have some clothing she can borrow for tonight then we can figure out more details tomorrow." Pulling Rin to lean more on herself, Kushina checked the kunoichi's pulse using Rin's neck and found that even with it slowed, it was too erratic for Rin's health. She needed her medicine.
"Actually, change of plans, Kakashi carries Rin, honey can you please go get Rin some meds from the hospital?" The Hokage looked at his wife as if she was crazy and gave a defeated sigh. Hokage or not, he knew when not to pick battles with his loving wife. "W-wait." All three turned their attention to the younger female as she stepped back from the three and clinched to her body again for support. "What are you talking about Lady Kushina? I'm just going to stay here for a few hours then figure out what to do from there. There is a lot to talk about with Obito." It wasn't like she had a home or family anymore. The war and three-tails attack ended that.
Tilting her head, Kushina let out a small chuckle at how silly the young girl was acting. "Oh, no Rin. Minato and I have decided that you could stay with us until you get back on your feet, you know. We will put together some stuff and even find an apartment just for you, my dear." Smiling with the most caring expression she could, Kushina felt like this would be the best for someone going through what the young girl was. As a jinchuuriki, Kushina understood firsthand what Rin needed to feel better and it was going to take time. Having her nearby would be easier on both jinchuuriki and easier on the pregnant one so that way the damn three tails could be kept in check without risking Rin's life even further. Kushina was not going to let this young woman go through life as if she was a monster to be feared. She would try her best to make life as painless as possible. As normal as possible until Kushina could no longer do that.
"It shouldn't be too long, but tonight let's just focus on you getting warmer, alright? I'm sure you're freezing." Thinking for a moment, the medical kunoichi turned her head down and looked at Kushina's stomach, unsure of what to do at that point. Rin couldn't think much of the future since she had no real plans since waking up."Be Careful, yeah. A warm home is good, hm, but the hospital doesn't have the nine tails." Isobu warned as he tried to stay quiet but this changed a lot and so suddenly too. At least someone had a plan for someone like her and three tails. They would just have to take it one night at a time.
"Okay. But, please don't carry me. I can take care of myself." With a shake of her head, the young jinchuuriki pushed off the memorial and slowly began to track after Kushina and Minato were off to get her medicine.
For some reason, Kakashi just stayed by Rin's side and acted like he was normally walking but she could sense that he had his eye on her. She kept herself away from the Anbu, but he somehow managed to sneak right up next to her, and she finally gave up after a few more attempts. Ever so slightly Rin was starting to slow down and her blinking got slower as well. Of course right as she was about to fall, the Anbu caught her right on his back and started carrying her in a piggyback style. "N-no.. why... why am I so tired all of a sudden?" Rin whispered as her eye site started to get fuzzier and finally, she was knocked out.
"Lady Kushina, Rin's out." Kakashi spoke out to the older jinchuuriki and looked back at her peaceful sleeping face. "Rin held on for longer than I thought she would, so she is getting some of her strength back it seems. But she still has a lot of recovery to come, you know." Opening the door to their house after traversing the stairs and allowing Kakashi to rest the weary female down on the couch, Kushina couldn't help but stare down at Rin with weary eyes. She lifted her head and looked at Kakashi who had taken a seat down near Rin's head and just sat there while watching her as the jinchuuriki gave off a blissful aura as she slept. She reached her hand up and had a grasp of his hand while laying there on her side and pressed her forehead into the warm side of his back/couch.
"Kakashi, you don't have to stay, you know. She is in good hands here." Kushina spoke as she watched the Anbu for a bit, not moving a single muscle while the three-tailed jinchuuriki held tight to his hand for dear life. The crimson-haired female could only watch for a smile to grow upon her lips. Young love was important and reminded Kushina of her and Minato. And just as complicated.
"Go home and get some rest, you can come visit her whenever your missions are complete to check up on her." Unaware that pregnant Kushina was his main secret mission, the Anbu lifted his head to look at the mama and gave a simple nod. "Do you think she will be back to normal missions soon?" Kakashi questioned as he used his other hand to slip out of Rin's grasp, but pushed some strands of her from her face to get her back to sleep.
The question made Kushina stop in her tracks and had to think for a moment. "I can't answer that question, Kakashi. It's not a simple answer to give, but you know the good thing is that Minato has a very high say in what goes on in the village. Even higher than most of the elders. He won't let anything bad happen to Rin, you know, I promise." Grinning at the exhausted-looking male, Kakashi slipped the mask back over his face and gave a simple nod. "That will suffice for now I suppose. I just hope you're right. Rin's been through enough." He slipped out the door, but still kept nearby to follow his mission to keep Kushina safe.
When Kakashi was gone, Kushina turned back to Rin and walked over to the sleeping jinchuuriki. "Two demons under one roof. What is a girl to do?" She whispered and pushed Rin to be lying on her back to be more comfortable. She will let the younger jinchuuriki rest and when Minato gets back, the married duo can plan out some things for the new jinchuuriki. Life just got a lot more complicated in Konohagakure, for everyone in the village, but Kushina refused to have one of her favorite people in life grow up in fear like she did. Rin would know normal. Just a new type of normal.