Maybe he died in his sleep. [Ha, like he could be so fortunate.] His surroundings were dim, but he knew it wasn't the mines. He was in his adult body again, and the gloom around him was unnatural; it stretched out too far and was too deep, making it impossible to see anything even a few feet from the fire that was a couple meters ahead of him. She was there, cross-legged next to the small blaze. Shadows flickered across her face and the light reflected in her eyes as she raised her gaze from the flames to look up at him. Obito slowly walked towards the warm glow of the campfire, surprised he didn't trip on anything on the way there. The shadows felt thick enough to stumble over.
He took a seat on the ground next to the fire as Rin had, not quite directly across from her but not very near either. He was still struggling to decide if he was agitated at her or not. While he tried to decide, he asked, "So, where is this?"
It wasn't the question she was expecting to get first, but she replied anyways, "Limbo. It's a place between the worlds of living and dead." When he didn't say anything, she continued, "I know you're upset, but Sensei and I only had good intentions for sending you there-"
"Oh, really?" he asked sardonically, cutting her off. "And what might those 'good intentions' be? I'd love to hear this."
For her credit, Rin didn't even flinch. Instead, she took a deep breath and fixed him with a steady gaze. "You think that Sensei, Kushina, and I were just going to sit by idly and watch as you tore yourself apart and gave in to the guilt? I know you don't think very highly of yourself, but you're still important to us, and always will be, whether you like it or not. If the situation was reversed, would you just turn your back to our suffering?"
No, he wouldn't. He doubted he'd have any idea of what to say or do, but he wouldn't allow himself to do nothing. The mere thought of any of them having to feel what he felt was unbearable.
Taking his silence as agreement, Rin gave a sad smile. "You didn't leave us with a choice. You refused to let our words reach you. What else could we have done to open your eyes if you wouldn't let us speak to you and always turned us away?"
"What exactly did you do? Why am I back just after Kannabi Bridge? If I was revived to help, shouldn't it still be after the Fourth War?" He had so many other questions to ask, but he knew he had to show some self control and stop himself so she had the chance to answer.
It didn't matter anyways. His vision blurred and all his senses went out of focus until the murk consumed everything, and the warmth of the fire was replace with the chill of the underground air.
Obito didn't want to open his eyes. He knew he'd hate what he'd have to see, so he tried to will himself back to sleep instead. He needed to talk with her just a little longer, just enough to know why and he'd have been satisfied for the time being. But he would never know if it would have worked or not, as someone had begun sharply poking his left cheek and a familiar voice asked, "Hey, wake up. Are you dead? You don't think he died, do you? What if I try shaking him; do you think he'll break?"
Suppressing a growl, Obito opened his eye and willed himself to punch the white, swirled Zetsu clone straight in the back of the head while he wasn't looking. When that failed, he settled for glaring up a storm until the creature looked back down at him.
It took a few moments, but eventually Swirly glanced down to resume his prodding, though perked up at the sight of the Uchiha's consciousness, not bothered in the least by the death stare he was on the receiving end of. He threw his arms up joyously and cheered, "You're alive! Wow, what a miracle; you were in a real bad way. You're very lucky!"
"Luck has nothing to do with it," he responded dryly. Did he have to scream everything? He already had a headache.
"Well, aren't you just a ball of sunshine," Swirly said, unperturbed by the sour reply.
Obito just sighed [he wished he hadn't; it hurt his ribs] and closed his eye. Maybe the Senju creature would get the hint and leave him alone. Yeah, right.
"Ooh, are you dying now? I hope not. Corpses aren't very fun, you know."
Gritting his teeth, he hissed, "I'm tired. Go away."
A softer, more human voice spoke up somewhere to his left. "Let him be; he needs to rest if he's going to heal." At least one of them has a little sense.
The clone doesn't bother him again, and he can make himself sleep once more.
But no dreams were waiting for him.
He's even more angry and frustrated when he wakes than he had been before. He wants to blame someone, but he's not sure who. Part of him wants to fault Swirly, or Rin, but mostly he knows he's the only one to blame.
The resentment is mounting until it's a burning fury caged in his chest, just waiting to boil over. His state of immobility only adds fuel to the fire.
Obito forced his left arm to move and tried to press his palm into the hard mattress. Even that minor of an action is a strain, but he pushed past the shakiness of his recuperating muscles and managed to slowly push himself into a sitting up position. It hurts; his ribs and side are in stabbing pain, and he feels a pressure on his lungs restricting his breathing, but he ignores it. He took a moment to catch his breath and let the pain dull before he moved any more, but suddenly Zetsu's at his side and stopping him.
"You shouldn't be trying to get up. You'll just hurt yourself," he said, as if it wasn't obvious.
"No shit," Obito snapped. He knew he shouldn't take it out on the plant being, but he doesn't really care either.
Zetsu didn't look fazed anyways. "Just be still and rest; you need it."
How could he rest? He'd just woken up, and if Rin wasn't there then, she wouldn't be now. There was nothing to come out of any more sleep. Granted, there was nothing he could do while awake either, but that was beside the point. He thought back to what the Nohara had been able to say before Swirly had woken him. She'd said it was for him to help the world, and to save him from his own self-inflicted suffering. What a fucking joke. What good could he possibly do for anyone like this? Why couldn't she just accept that he didn't want to get better?
He decided he didn't want to think about it anymore; didn't want to deepen the already bottomless well of negative feelings. If he did, he knew it would just take over completely, and there wouldn't be any digging himself free of it this time.
Obito remembered Zetsu was still there and was waiting for an answer, so he just nodded in agreement, albeit reluctantly, and laid back down again. More or less, he was stuck here with very limited options of how to handle the situation. If he decided to stay [for Rin's and Sensei's sake], he knew he should start thinking of what he would have to do to prevent what had happened before. Some things were pretty obvious, but he knew changing timelines was a delicate matter, and if he did something wrong, there could be grave unforeseen outcomes.
At least, for the time being, he had nothing but time to waste on such thoughts.
