Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any shape or form.

A coarse warm hand found a way to his own, it curled up against his in an almost pleading way. Even in the dim lighting he could see the outline of his comrade half-crushed beneath a boulder, their breathing haggard.

"I don't want to die in the dark," Obito whispered, his voice crumbled bit by bit with emotion. "I don't want to die."

He did not reply, unable to offer any comfort as he himself didn't know his actual motives to life. The other boy quietened down a little at the lack of conversation, but Kakashi could imagine silent tears running down his cheeks.

I don't want-

He let out a rattling sigh, every inch of his body ached and he wasn't even the one who injured that badly. He didn't even want to think about how Obito felt right now, he bowed his shaggy grey hair down, pressing his forehead against his drawn knees.

It's not fair.

Kakashi knew that they will both die even if reinforcements came fast enough. He and Obito had no chakra to spare, and soon the lack of oxygen will get to their heads and will die of suffocation. There was no way of pulling them out of the cave in without managing to kill them. That was the most realistic situation that they will come to.

They had about under ten minutes to depart to the next world.

It was much easier to just die and accept death than fighting it, not that he had much to look forward to if they did somehow make it alive. But, the grey-haired shinobi winced, what was this aching ignorance throbbing in his chest?

Because I made bonds…

Fingers brushed up against his clenched fist, and he looked up, startled. Obito's sharingan glowed a dull crimson. The Uchiha stared at him, red eye begging him to speak.

"Do you think-," Obito rasped, one-eyed gaze never leaving Kakashi, "do you think Rin-, she got out safely?"

He swallowed at his dry mouth, dust and dirt rough in his tongue from earlier on when the cave collapsed on them. Kakashi licked at his cracked lips, tasting at the coppery aftertaste which lingered behind.

"I think," his voice croaky, "she would've gone out just fine." Obito's eye kept staring at his direction and Kakashi bit back a scowl. "Rin's a smart kunoichi, and the Iwa shinobi would have cleared out by now."

The red light bore into his skull, "but what about Minato-sensei?" the Uchiha asked, "how will Rin signal sensei?"

"She'll find a way," Kakashi replied back, this time wryly. Despite the brunette's kind demeanour, she wasn't a pushover. If she held in from the Iwagakure's interrogation, then surely, she'd have some flaming determination on a way to signal Minato-sensei. "You know her the best, right? You know she doesn't give up that easily."

"You say that, but what if she's still looking for us?" there was a tremor in Obito's voice, and something twisted inside of his heart. "What if she's still looking for us?"

"Don't be stupid, idiot," his voice came out surprisingly harsh and he didn't regret it, "she has a head. Rin must know that there's no way of saving us now." An annoying lump rose in Kakashi's throat, making it difficult to talk, "she must."

Rin must know there's no way to saving us now, not at this state.

His comrade became silent, and for a second, Kakashi panicked. His hand jerked, and almost to his own relief, Obito's fingers twitched sluggishly back in reply.

Kakashi's vision was becoming limited now, minute dots covering most of his field of sight. He leaned his head back on his knees again, despite their quivering. The Uchiha took in more shallow breaths, shuddering slightly. The back of their hands barely touched each other, but taking in the fact that they weren't entirely alone, comforting themselves.

"You gave," the dark-haired Uchiha murmured suddenly, "you gave Rin the special kunai sensei gave to you for your jounin promotion, right?"

"Yeah," he said blankly, wishing they'd just die instead of having these short awkward conversations. "She needs more weapons than petty shuriken. The kunai will do much better, well-, not that shuriken is useless, but- "

Obito makes a hacking barking noise, which vaguely sounds like an old man choking on a senbon, then realising that he was laughing. The sound bounced off of the confined walls of underground, but it wasn't unpleasant to hear. "I'm sorry," the Uchiha mumbled, laughter still dribbling out from refined cracks, "it's just-, I must really be dying now. Why am I laughing?"

A muffled snicker escaped Kakashi, unable to help himself, "you must really be an idiot. And I must be one as well. And we should really stop laughing now if you want to go to heaven that quickly."

"If there even is a heaven reserved for us, that is," Obito snickered, mirth shone in his eye, before immediately sobering up. "Yeah, we should shut up."

...did I-

Giggles died away, and both of them controlled their breathing pace.

-when did I ever laugh like this…?

"Is it because of the lack of oxygen why we're like this?" Obito whispered, fingers twitching again. "Perhaps," Kakashi squeezed his single eye shut, "unluckily for us, though I'd rather die sane." The dark-haired teammate mumbled inaudibly in response.

A few moments of in silence, and the Uchiha breathed in and out. "Hey," Obito called out hoarsely with less strength in his voice than before, "you're okay, right?" Kakashi huffed, trying to regain some of his usual steely composure. "No. I should be asking you that, you're stuck under a rock. Idiot," regardless, he feels a hot sting form on his remaining eye.

..this dull ache in my chest…

Before he could stop himself, a question rolled off his tongue. "You don't-," his voice sounded extremely frail, even to him, "you don't mind dying?"

The sharingan returned to stare at towards his direction and Obito was quiet for a while.

"No."

"Why not?"

Fingers twitched, and Kakashi waited for the rusty cogs in the Uchiha's brain to start turning. He was thoroughly startled when the answer he'd been waiting came so quickly.

"Because, Rin is safe." The dark-haired shinobi's gaze was firm and unyielding, he closed his eye, the ruby spotlight disappearing. "And you're by my side."

What-, why..

The grey-haired figure's frame shook, whether it was because of grief or laughter, he didn't even know. "I see," he said. After a while he added, "idiot."

A wet snort shook out of Obito, fingers nudging against the back of his hand with more force. Kakashi doesn't know what to say next, as he had never been good with words, unfortunately. The air is thin but he however forces himself to utter out two words.

"I'm sorry."

Obito's breathing halted for a second, and Kakashi is slightly worried if he'd finally broke him for good. An ineloquent word is strangled out of the Uchiha's throat, but it rings as clear as bells to his ears. "Bakakashi."

"Let's wait for Rin and sensei, why don't we?" the dark-haired figure's voice is horribly papery, "let's wait for them to follow us in the end." But his voice wobbled dangerously.

"I-," the voice Obito stuttered out is unrecognisable, terribly broken, "I really don't want to die, but-, that's really selfish of me-, I-, guess?" Fingers leave his palm, and he can hear them desperately clawing at the earth beneath. Obito kept blinking, and a tear trickled down, carving its way through the Uchiha's grimy face.

I don't want to die as well. Not now. I want to save…you. Help you.

Kakashi shuffled over and rested his head on the boulder crushing Obito's right side. He felt light-headed and tipsy, and a strange ringing sensation repeated throughout his sub-consciousness. Slowly, the jounin curled his fingers over the Uchiha's, and they flinch when they meet contact, before he grasped them together as tightly as his quivering muscles will allow.

I want-

It was warm. Their sluggish pulses overlapped at each other, and Obito's fingers twitched at the heat.

I want to-

There were many things the grey-haired ninja wanted to tell him, but his throat constricted him to say any further words. Seeing as this-, that things won't get any better, he slowly rolled down his dust-caked mask and Obito blinked. His whole body just hurt, that he didn't, couldn't feel the fractured bones or bruised skin.

I want to be friends with you. I don't want to die. I don't want to leave.

Head throbbing, Kakashi mouthed the silent words to the Uchiha.

Thank you, Obito.

It was just a few words, who knew it could make such a person grin so crookedly? But it was a smile, a true one nonetheless and it made his heart swell with so many rushing emotions it made his chest hurt. The hitai-ate clunked onto the hardened earth dully, and he felt lighter. Felt the contentment of being free.

And some straggling bits of happiness.

A ghost of a smile was left on Obito's face and the thin thread of chakra that linked Kakashi to the living world quivered violently.

He closed his eye.

A/N: Wrote this on a sunny day while sitting on a red chair, (the irony) when my mind was wondering on what to write. And I'm sorry if any of you were waiting for a rescue in the end, sorry that I had to kill them off. This story is a possibility of what might have happened.

Reviews and feedback would be nice, though I'm not that ambitious. Thanks for reading.