Crossroads (A Naruto Fanfiction)

Uchiha Satsuki

^^Just a visual, not Satsuki, as I'm sure all of you would recognize who that is. (If you don't - seriously, what are you doing?) His hair's that long though and he is hot in my head so...

The few months after Obito's death wasn't easy for both Rin and Kakashi. They had a strong foothold, however, in the form of their sensei.

"Rin, Kakashi," Minato started as he leveled his students with a firm but caring gaze. This conversation was just a few days after they had returned from that fateful mission. "We're going to take hiatus from missions. With the destruction of the Kannabi Bridge, the war is in Konoha's favor. Enough so that Konoha shinobi under the age of fourteen can take a break from active duty. For you guys, I've reported that you two are on an indefinite break, a well-deserved favor, so they can't refuse it." Even though they didn't necessarily need to adhere to his orders, as Rin was now chuunin and Kakashi a fellow jounin, they listened and took the break, knowing they needed it.

And so here she was, using the break to gain experience in the hospital where she dreamed to one day grow and become a qualified medic - maybe even become director.

"Rin-chan, it's past midnight and you've been doing errands since early morning. Go on and rest will you?"

Rin smiled at the nurse working with her on the night shift and silently shrugged off the woman's concern. "Don't worry about me. It's just filing away reports." It would have been wise to take up the nurse's advice, as she had passed out the next day from overwork. She couldn't help herself. One moment of idling around and she found herself writhing in her own depression. Obito's loss was too much to handle. He was her childhood friend. Her best friend. Her stronghold.

She wasn't the only one affected as Kakashi withdrew himself away from everyone, and she herself only saw him in passing. He was keeping his word to Obito about watching over her and it warmed her heart, yet hurt that it took his death for him to begin caring.

"Rin-chan, what did I tell you?" The nurse reprimanded her with a gentle tone as she changed the IV fluids connected to Rin. The fact that her sensei abused his authority to trap her in the hospital made her fellow medic smug. "Nevermind a scolding, we're going to have to move you in with another patient. The hospital's becoming so crowded these days."

"Do you know who?" She asked.

"The director will come and inform you himself."

She had never expected the son of the Uchiha clan head to be her new roommate. No wonder it had been the director to come and inform her. She had heard about him from Kushina-nee-chan and the recent incident that brought him to the hospital in the first place. It was coincident that she had been an assistant who worked to stabilize the boy when her sensei brought him in.

When she asked him what happened, Minato could only shake his head. "No clue, he just started panicking." But it was clearly worrying everyone to not know the reason. Something caused the boy to have a severe panic attack, something that can very well lead to a weak heart in the near future if it became frequent.

He was kept in the hospital for the sole purpose of being a mysterious case. The only link to mutism found was due to trauma, but statements from his direct family proved he was sheltered for his three years of life before he became like this. He was a very happy child. Everyone said so. Even though his life wasn't at any risk, the head medics had their excuses to keep him hospitalized. "It's unknown what could trigger another panic attack." Though Rin doubted simple observation would reveal anything.

The first moment she was left alone with the boy, she didn't want to drown in her thoughts and wallow in front of him, so she talked about everything that came to mind. She didn't care about how what she may be saying to be too hard for the other child to understand. But as she continued to do so, she was growing to like it, this one-sided conversation.