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1. Kakashi
They are grilling corn on the sidewalk. Kakashi watches, fingering the coins in his satchel, as the vendor smiles at him and hands him two large ears, the smell of spices and pleasantly charred grill marks making his stomach rumble.
"You do not have to do this," Obito says, at once frightening and imposing but also somewhat awkward, standing a little ways apart from the rest of the crowd.
"It's a few cents. Don't worry about it."
"You are not eating," Obito says.
"I already ate," Kakashi says, and he hands Obito the ear of corn.
Strange. A few short months ago Obito was hellbent on destroying the world, leaping out with his battle fan and spouting half-crazed nonsense about cleaning up the trash. But now Obito is here, standing next to him, frowning at the ear of corn as if it were poisoned or rigged with explosives. Kakashi smiles, turning around to take a quick bite of corn.
"Ever the cautious one," Obito says, but Kakashi eats quickly and pulls his mask back up, facing him. "You do realize that no one cares if they see your face?"
"I don't think you're in any position to criticize me," Kakashi says.
"Hm," Obito says. He stares at the ear of corn, then takes a small bite.
It is a very nice day. Villagers are talking and laughing amongst themselves, and street vendors call out and boast about their wares. They pass by an old woman frying a stick of squid, which Kakashi buys, delighting in the fact that Obito frowns and turns somewhat pale when Kakashi waves the stick at him, because for all his arrogance and sneering bravado, Obito is still weirdly awkward about seafood.
"You're missing out," Kakashi says, and he turns his back to him again, taking a huge bite.
"You should not turn your back to me," Obito says. "I am an enemy. Who's to say I will not take the opportunity to shove a kunai into your back?"
"Because you're too busy eating corn," Kakashi says, and Obito frowns and glares and reddens at him, and Kakashi laughs, clapping him on the back.
Even though Obito is from Konoha and even though the village has not changed much since the time he had "died," (even after the incident with the Kyuubi, but it's a sore subject and Kakashi is careful not to bring it up), Kakashi delights in showing Obito around, as if he's a stranger or visitor. Obito follows him, apparently bored and long-suffering with his hands stuffed in his pockets, but Kakashi ignores him, motioning for him to follow, excitedly.
"Obito, look! They're coming out with a new issue." Kakashi looks at the display at bookstore, motioning to his favorite paperback series. "It seems they've found new talent! I'll have to purchase this one when it comes out."
"Is that...pornography?" Obito says. Disdain drips like acid from his voice.
"It's erotic fiction, so yes," Kakashi says. Obito frowns at him, then picks up the book.
"'Her entrance was a flower,'" Obito reads. He raises an eyebrow, then turns the page. "Moonlit bathed and ethereal, her lips were petals slick and opening, swallowing his fingers-'" and Obito frowns again. "swallowing his fingers, sucking him in.'"
He closes the book. "I do not understand what is happening here."
"It's poetic," Kakashi says.
"It is terribly written and the action is unclear."
"He's fingering her," Kakashi says patiently, as if Obito were a very small child.
"Flowers do not suck," Obito says. "Neither do vaginas, as far as I'm aware."
"How would you know?" Kakashi says, and Obito glares at him. If looks could kill, and on a good day Obito's does, Kakashi is pretty sure Obito would have eyeballed him to another dimension by now, except that he is still flipping through the book, frowning.
They buy the book. Obito insists it's for Kakashi's benefit, as he is a pathetic, perverted fool who has poor taste in literature, but Obito flips through the pages as they walk down the street, engrossed.
Rin is the one who first introduced Kakashi to his first perverted little book. He had found it tucked away inside her medical pack, and when Rin blushed and stammered and yanked the book away from him, Kakashi just cocked his head and frowned silently to himself, wondering why on earth would anyone be so embarrassed.
A few days later, after Kakashi had stealthily crept into her belongings and snatched the little book right from under her, he suddenly understood why she had been so embarrassed.
It's strange, how much his old team had influenced him. Shaped him. Obito frowns and turns a page, and suddenly Kakashi realizes that Obito has probably never been with anyone.
"Have you ever been with anyone?" Kakashi says, because he does not like making assumptions and the feeling makes him itch, uncomfortably.
"Obito?"
Obito glances back at him, then looks out into the street. The book closes. They walk together, silently.
"No," Obito says.
"I'm sorry," Kakashi says, but he doesn't know why he's apologizing.
"Do not be," Obito says, and he hands him back the book.
They go to Rin's grave. It seems oddly appropriate, as if she needed to be with them and offer her own critiques. Kakashi leaves the book by her headstone and bows his head a little, and Obito stands, saying nothing, the wind rising at his back and stirring the edges of his cloak.
"I had promised myself I would never come here," Obito says, and Kakashi claps him on the shoulder, knowingly.
"Well. Rin would probably want to see the newest edition."
"She always had terrible taste," Obito says. "She was in love with you, as I recall."
"Maybe because crybaby ninjas just weren't her type?"
"Hmph," Obito says, but his eyes are smiling. Kakashi claps him on the back, then motions forward.
They sit on a bench, sharing a canteen of water. Kakashi sits with his elbows at his knees and looks out into the training fields, at the handful of children running and playing on the grass. It is a nice day, a warm day, and Kakashi leans back, looking upward, and feels content.
xXx
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2. Obito
"You know, Obito, I gotta say, I'm a little surprised," Kakashi says. "You're still not a very good ninja."
Obito turns. They are sitting on a bench just outside the training fields, and Kakashi is reading one of his perverted novels. "How do you mean?" Obito says, and Kakashi turns a page, shrugging a little.
"You don't know how to block," Kakashi says. "All you do is use the kamui and let everything slip right through you."
"Are you suggesting I cannot block even a simple attack?"
Kakashi turns a page. "Maybe."
Obito rolls his eyes.
They sit on a bench. Obito drinks a canteen of water and hands it to Kakashi, who swigs it back with one long gulp. Around them, the sun is shining. Leaves rustle gently in the breeze.
Obito considers telling him. Though it seems as though they have been in this place for years, the genjustu has probably only been going on for a few minutes, and they are probably both close to death by now.
Not that it matters: Madara had planned to take over the world; he could have dispatched with them in any manner he saw fit. That he chose to use the Tsukiyomi instead seemed incredibly kind.
"It is a nice day, isn't it?" Kakashi says, and Obito looks at him. Even if he were to tell him, there is no way to get out. Even if they use both their eyes and what little scraps of chakra they have left.
Kakashi would want to go back. Kakashi would want to try. But Obito has fought and struggled in darkness for far too long, and these days of peace, no matter how fleeting, seem to be a necessary rest.
"Yes," Obito says, and he tilts his head upward.
"It certainly is a very nice day."
end.