A/N- This is just a one-shot I had to get out of my head.
She sat with her knees drawn to her chest on the small window seat, as she blankly stared out the window, not really seeing much of the outside world. What she did see was all in her mind. She saw Sasori's impalement through his heart, she saw Deidara's ultimate explosion. Both of whom she'd been partnered to once upon a time.
She'd been one of the first Akatsuki members, and had been Sasori's partner until they had recruited Deidara. She then became an extra member and was sent out on missions with all of the teams. She'd been there when Sasori died, she was too weak to save him then. She became Deidara's partner for a while before Tobi was ultimately assigned to be his partner. She'd nearly been killed by Deidara's explosion and would have been if Tobi hadn't teleported the two of them out of there. She hadn't been strong enough to save Deidara then.
And now she was assigned to be Tobi's partner, or as one could call it, babysitter. She wasn't really sure how to deal with Tobi, and Konan just shrugged every time she told the blue-haired woman that.
"I don't really know how to deal with him either honestly. Just try to keep him from doing anything really stupid like pissing certain members off." She had offered with a slight smile.
Sure, she had tried to keep Tobi in line for a little while. She gave up after he stole Hidan's scythe and hid it in Itachi's room. She stared blankly out the window as the tears welled up in her eyes, yet she knew they wouldn't fall. They never did though she couldn't figure out exactly why. Her thoughts slowly made their way back to her new partner, as she still tried to figure him out.
His cheerful personality was the biggest thing that made her unsure about him. That and the fact that all she could see of him was his hair, and she could sort of his right eye if she looked close enough at the eyehole in his orange swirled mask. It's hard to see unless he's using his sharingan though. Which is another thing that's so perplexing to her. She took that up with Itachi once, as she had thought that he and Sasuke were the only living Uchihas.
"No he is indeed an Uchiha as well. I can't tell you any more than that right now because I don't even know much more than that myself honestly." Itachi had spoken after a long pause.
So she knew Tobi was an Uchiha. That still didn't really help her figure out much more about who he really was though as she had deduced that 'Tobi' wasn't his real name. The most he ever took off was his cloak occasionally. Even then it didn't really give her any other clues.
He wore what would be a simple black turtleneck shirt if it wasn't for the metal plates on his arms. Simple black sweatpants, and his ninja sandals. Which reminded her, actually she could see his toes as well. And sometimes he had a long green scarf wrapped loosely around his neck. She sighed softly as a shiver wracked through her body and she pulled her knees tighter against her chest.
If Sasori could see her now, he'd think she was utterly pathetic. A grim smile graced her lips. If Deidara could see her now he'd scoff and say she's being an idiot. Pain marred her grimace and she drew her knees tighter still against her chest. Hoping that it would keep her from falling to pieces. Which is what she was sure was about to happen.
She could feel it slowly rising through her chest, making its way to her throat. Her breathing slowly became more and more choked until she was gasping for air as silent sobs began to violently shake throughout her body. She was paralyzed, numb. She couldn't move her body if she tried, even as her skin started turning the palest blue/purple-ish color from the cold. She didn't have to worry about anyone coming in, only Tobi could enter the room as it was their shared room. Though she suspected Pein-sama could if he really wanted to. And as Tobi was currently out on a mission, she thought she'd be left alone.
She felt wetness sliding down her cheeks rapidly and with a numbed shock she realized she was actually crying. She closed her eyes as she heard the door opening. 'Please not now, not right now.' she weakly pleaded to the gods. If they heard her, they ignored her request because a few seconds late Tobi was skipping into the room and flopping on his bed with an exaggerated sigh.
She bit down on her tongue, hard, until she was tasting blood as she desperately tried to pull herself together. The smallest whimper escaped her mouth as the little bit of blood ran down her throat and she started choking on it as she was trying to force more air into her lungs. She didn't know what Tobi had previously been doing but he suddenly stopped moving around.
"Suka-chan? Is Suka-chan okay?" Tobi asked, using her nickname as he started walking again until he laid a hand on her shoulder.
She couldn't see it but he frowned beneath his mask as she flinched. She flinched at his warmth, though she knew he wouldn't know that as he couldn't feel her cold skin through his gloves. He gave her a once-over, taking everything in.
Her knees were drawn so tightly to her chest, he was afraid to even try to pull them away for fear of hurting her. Her face was wet with tears and marred with pain. Her skin was light purple, and her glistening eyes screamed with pain. Silent sobs were shaking her body pretty violently, and she was softly yet desperately gasping for air.
"Suka-chan?" He asked again, gently gripping her shoulder.
His frown deepened when he received no response from the currently broken girl. In all her years here, he had never once seen her like this and that concerned him. He took his cloak off and wrapped it around the girl, fastening it around her so it wouldn't come off.
"Tobi doesn't think Suka-chan should sit by the window like that. Suka-chan is too cold to be able to sit over here." He commented, but still no response.
"Suka-chan?" He waited for a minute.
"Suka-chan?" He tried again.
"Suka-chan! Answer Tobi!" He finally exclaimed, receiving a slight flinch from the girl.
Guilt immediately washed through him, and he was sure his frown would continue deepen until it became etched into his face if things kept up like this. He sat down in front of her, his body turned towards her.
"Tobi's sorry Suka-chan, please look at Tobi." He gently commanded, if she heard him she made no indication to obey.
He brought her chin up with his fingers, "Suka-chan, look at Tobi." He repeated.
He waited quietly as he could see her trying to make her eyes meet him. When she finally did, he used his sharingan, figuring this was the only way seeing as she couldn't or didn't want to, control her own body at the moment.
"Relax Suka-chan." He soothed, continuing using his Tobi voice only so he didn't frighten her further.
He carefully pried her arms away from her legs and continued soothing her as he began to pull her to her feet. He wrapped an arm around her waist as his other hand wrapped around her upper arm and pulled her up, knowing that she wouldn't be able to stand up on her own, he pulled her into his chest and tightened his hold on her waist. She stood stiffly and he knew that was all that was keeping her weight on her feet.
"Come on Suka-chan. Tobi's going to help Suka-chan lay down okay?" He muttered as he picked her up, not really wanting to try to get her to walk over to her bed.
He laid her down as gently as he could and froze as he was putting her blankets on her. He had only fastened his cloak around her neck, so the rest of it was still hanging open and he recognized the shirt she was wearing. It was one of Deidara's. The pants she was wearing were loose on her, unlike her slim fitting pants. 'Sasori's perhaps? Is that what this is about?' He wondered.
He pushed his questions aside for now and covered her over. He then climbed onto the bed and laid down next to her, hesitantly gathering the girl into his arms and holding her a bit awkwardly. To his surprise she finally moved on her own, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him as close as she could, her face pressed into his chest as she took a shaky inhale.
"It's okay Suka-chan." He soothed, accidently using his real voice as he tightened his hold around her, knowing that she needed something to hold onto.
He froze and held his breath when she visibly stiffened at hearing his new voice. 'Great.' He groaned internally, cursing himself for not being more careful. He released the breath he'd been holding and spoke to her again.
"It's alright Suka-chan." He again soothed in his real voice.
"Tobi?" She asked, her voice a little scratchy and cracked.
He almost winced at how broken she sounded. And this was the girl who had never shown when she was in pain, not even after their deaths. 'So why now?' He asked silently. 'It's been...exactly a year today since Deidara died, and exactly 2 years since Sasori died.' He realized.
"Obito." He replied after a long pause. "My name, it's Obito. But I go by Tobi because I don't want people to know my real name."
"Why are you telling me?" She asked, speaking softer now.
If his senses weren't so trained, he imagined he'd have difficulties hearing her speak so quietly.
"You wanted to know didn't you? You were the one doing research. I don't really think you'll tell anyone." And he thought it would give her something else to think about besides the anniversary of their deaths.
"I won't." She whispered, her voice wavering slightly.
He nearly sighed as he pulled her as tightly against him as he could without crushing her. She had buried her face into the crook of his neck to which he had willed himself with much effort, to not stiffen and instead he put on of his hands on the back of her head. It was at some point when he was absentmindedly stroking her hair that he realized, he'd do anything in this moment, to get her back to her old self. To get her to smile, and make the pain go away. He knew her pain wouldn't just go away, but she could be distracted from the pain. He sighed silently, how he was going to get her out of her current hiding place though was something he wasn't sure about.
"Suka-chan can I show you something?" He asked as he tried to pull slightly away from her.
Seeing as she wasn't letting go anytime soon, he shifted as much as he could until he was more comfortable and patiently waited for her to calm down and come out on her own. Even though it was hours later that she slowly started to pull her head back, he still patiently waited. He looked down at her.
"Do you want to see?" He asked quietly.
Her eyes showed slight fear and hesitation, but she nodded. He hesitated before raising his hand to his mask and slowly taking it off. Her eyes now showed curiosity as he removed his mask and stretched over her to place it on the small nightstand. He settled back down and got comfortable again while willing himself to relax, knowing she was curious about his face.
Soon enough, he felt her smooth, cool hand brush across his cheek. He willed himself not to flinch and he slid his hand underneath her knee, pulling her leg up to his waist. He paused as she froze before he quickly moved so that he was sitting up and leaning back against the headboard. Somehow during that time he had wrapped her other leg around his waist as well, and she was now sitting on his lap, her legs loosely hanging around his hips.
She was still frozen and he wondered if maybe he shouldn't have done this. 'Too late now.' He murmured silently, hoping she wouldn't panic and think he was going to try to take advantage of her. Not that he didn't want to do more with her, but he wouldn't without her consent. He held his hands against her back to support her, and he leaned his head back, closing his eyes. He stayed completely still, focusing on keeping himself together as she slowly began to relax after a few minutes. Nearly an hour had passed before her hand lightly brushed across his cheek again.
"Warm." She murmured almost inaudibly as his fingertips lightly grazed across his face, running along his scars, cheeks, nose, even his eyes.
"Soft." She murmured again.
As she continued murmuring little things to herself he put it together. She had been involved with Sasori, more involved than he had been aware of. That was why she and Deidara became so close, so quickly. Because Sasori was someone precious to them both.
"Sasori-senpai was colder and smoother." She commented quietly.
"He was a puppet. His only human aspect was his heart." He murmured back to her.
"He did have a brain too." She muttered.
"Hm." He hummed softly. "You love him?" He asked softly.
"I did. In some ways I still do." She whispered.
He opened his eyes slowly as she quietly started tracing along his scars again.
"Tell you what." He murmured. "I'll answer your questions if you'll answer mine, okay?"
"Okay." She agreed quietly.
And so after taking a deep breath, he began to tell her everything. She listened quietly, making an occasional comment, face, or just running her fingertips across his cheeks. After he had finished she finally said the three words he hadn't even realized until then, that he wanted to hear, before she started telling him everything.
"I trust you."
Sasori and Deidara watched over Suka as Tobi slowly got through to her over time and helped her heal and move on. Now knowing that she would be alright, it was time for them to move on. And so together they stepped into the light, ready for their new life.