To Those Who Knew Me [Naruto Fanfic] [Beta]

[Beta] Chapter 23

     Rin's eyes opened once more to see herself laying on the ground in a puddle of her own blood. Not a very nice start for her but at least she didn't drown in it over and over. Now that would've been bad.

     She heard voices above her, ones that were frightened, except for the last one who crafted their voice to stay calm.

     "Who was that?!"

     "Oh my god... She's dead."

     "What is going on?"

     "Damn Zetsu, " the voice she knew as Obito cussed out under his breath.

     Of course, how exactly would she get up and act totally natural afterwards? It was getting extremely hard to stay still without twitching and regulating her breathing with the constant taste of blood. She didn't want to scare the kids and dig up even more questions.

     Kakashi of course noticed her sudden spike in chakra and let his eyes drift over to her. None of them had even glanced for a second at the wound that should've been on her back. Of course there was a hole in the clothing but the skin underneath had healed in a shocking amount of time. "You kids go now, us adults will handle this."

     He had gestured to the supposedly dead body and two of his students nodded accordingly. However, the third wasn't taking it as obedient. "But you guys need to explain! There's someone dead here and that guy seems to know why, dattebayo!"

     Naruto lifted his pointer finger and held it straight to Obito. "Kakashi-sensei! He's very suspicious, dattebayo!"

     Rolling up his sleeves on his orange jacket, he proclaimed, "And I'll beat that info out of you!"

     The Uchiha adult had no idea what to do and looked back and forth between the jounin sensei and his student. To add a tick-mark, the silverette just sighed. 

     Deciding that it was enough, she got up and spread her arms protectively in front of her onyx haired teammate. "Stop."

     Taking a step back in shock, he muttered, "But you died..."

     His eyes raced to over where her body laid and found that none was there. With eyes mixed with confusion and uneasiness, he stated, "You're hands were cold and you weren't breathing... Y-you had a hole where your heart was, dattebayo."

      That statement triggered something within Kakashi and he turned away. It had been too close to the Sanbi incident... Too close for comfort.

     Rin slowly took his hand and placed it on where she guessed she had been impaled. "See? I'm all better now."

     Adding a smile to the mix helped him relax but it was still disturbing. On the other hand, the Sasuke tensed, his eyes unnervingly watching the exchange as if it was poison. 

     Something clicked in her mind on the other hand. When her broken self had been visited by Shisui, he had mentioned Sasuke's name. "I remember you now! Shisui-san mentioned you... Or should I say the greatest cousin you've ever had?"

     She chuckled at the memory of the endearment in his voice when he stated that. Even if Rin was now herself, the things she experienced in her second life stayed there also. Walking over to him, she patted down his hair in a sort of fond way. "He told me about that green dinosaur that you always lugged around and how you once tried to become one rather than a shinobi."

     The Uzumaki snorted at that, imagining what Sasuke would look like in a dinosaur costume. It only made him laugh harder. Sakura herself was trying to cover up some snickering.

     He flushed red from embarrassment and steeled himself once more. "How did you come back?"

     Looking out into the sky, she decided on the way she would put it. "You could say that it's a curse or a gift but I was given the opportunity to come back... But it's with a price. In return for another chance I have to greatly suffer... I believe that it's over. Just like it is for you *******?"

Hmph, so that's my name... But my suffering hasn't ended yet, Rin Nohara.