Those Little Moments (Hatake Kakashi)

3

*10 years old

I had, for the first time, been assigned to assist Team Minato. I would've been jumping for joy, had it not been that Kakashi had just been promoted to jonin, and I had not. 

Minato and Rin had just given him gifts as congratulations, while Obito and I had yet to offer anything.

"I don't need a useless gift anyway." Kakashi said, directed towards Obito.

"Oi! Don't be a jerk, Hatake!" I yelled back at him. Now I don't want to give him my gift anymore.

"I'm just saying the truth." Kakashi answered. I glared at him.

"Calm down, Emi. Now, what about your gift to Kakashi?" Minato asked.

I huffed. "I don't have one."

Minato grinned. "You could always give him a kiss instead."

My face scrunched up in horror. No way. Disgusting. Minato knew exactly what to say to annoy me, he was definitely filling in the big brother role appropriately. I hissed at him halfheartedly.

"Fine, here." I grumbled, giving the messily wrapped gift to the masked boy, opting out of having to kiss the masked jerk.

Kakashi seemed unusually interested in the gift as he opened it, pulling out a necklace with a red crystal hanging from it.

He seemed confused at first, so I clarified, "It's infused with enough of my chakra to replenish yours three times over. When you're in a life or death situation, you should be able to easily pull some of the chakra out as a last resort. Make sure you don't take too much, or you'll die."

"How did you get so much chakra in here?" Kakashi asked in awe.

I smirked. "The one thing I have on you is that I have wayyy more chakra naturally than you do, perks of being an Uzumaki, and I'm able to share chakra. I just didn't train yesterday and put most of what I saved up in the crystal."

Kakashi was staring at me again. He hadn't done that quite as intensely as when we were younger, but it seemed he quickly readjusted to the old habit.

After a few seconds, I shifted uncomfortably and said, "This is usually where you say thanks, so I'm just gonna pretend you did and say you're welcome."

"Thank you." Kakashi said, finally.

I smiled a little and nodded. When I glanced over, Obito was glaring at Kakashi, probably still upset about how much of a jerk he is. I would be too, to be honest, even though I couldn't say I hated Kakashi anymore; it was more of a frenemy/professional rival relationship.

At that, we set off on our mission towards the Kannabi Bridge, led by Kakashi. I was very happy that our formation had me next to Obito, and the chance was too good to pass up.

I tried many times to start a good conversation with him, but for some reason, although it wasn't awkward, he wasn't as effortlessly lively as he was with others and didn't seem all that invested. Eventually, I realized he kept staring at Rin and bringing the conversation back around to her, and my own efforts to keep the conversation alive also dwindled.

At one point, Kakashi stopped in front of us, holding a hand up, and we all stopped behind him. Minato also seemed to sense something.

Kakashi, being the show off that he was, felt the need to try to take all of the assailants on by himself using his own jutsu, but was nearly killed because of how fast he was going. Minato, thankfully, stepped in before anything could happen to him.

After that misstep, we continued on our mission, before splitting paths with Minato, who had his own separate mission.

It wasn't long before one of the enemies from earlier came back and, before I knew it, Rin was taken, and Kakashi and Obito were arguing about whether they should complete the mission or save her. Personally, I liked Rin. She was a good friend and a valuable medical-nin, but Kakashi wanted to finish the mission first. Stupid Kakashi. 

Even before I could make my decision of which boy to go with, both had run off in opposite directions. Ready to tear my hair out, I looked both ways before sighing and running after Kakashi.

"I though you went with Obito." Kakashi said in his stupid monotone.

"You guys ran off without giving me time to decide! You know how messed up it is, making me choose which of my teammates to leave to die?!" I exclaimed in a whisper-shout. "If I went with him, you would be alone to face countless enemies to complete our mission, and now that I'm going with you, I'm leaving Obito to face two enemies alone. No matter what, I lose a teammate."

"Why did you choose me then if you think the same as Obito?"

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "I don't completely hate you, and I'm not heartless enough to leave you completely alone on such a big mission, even if you are a talented prick. Even you can't fight that many alone at once. Obito will just have to stay alive until I can go back to save him too." I held my breath for a moment. "I really hope they're alive. I don't know how I'd survive the guilt if I was too late."

My grip tightened on my kunai and I shook my head, trying to get rid of the thoughts. Kakashi was side-eyeing me and seemed to be debating something, when he suddenly switched directions. I followed him wordlessly, and soon realized that he had changed his mind; we would save Rin and Obito after all.

We arrived swiftly, landing next to Obito on a tree branch, then the battle began. I don't remember it very well, it seemed to pass in a blur. Even as Obito lay dying, my mind felt like it was somewhere far away, though I do remember that I was crying.

Even as I fought the many enemies that had surrounded us, tears flowed down my face, but my kunai never stopped. After Minato had arrived, he had to restrain me to stop me from swinging it at invisible enemies. 

And thus, the first of us was gone. The first big loss of the war. I would be the second.