Arcobaleno: Places Places
He sits in the dirt staring blankly ahead. Maybe he should have asked Checkerface a little bit more about the exact details of this proposition. His now tiny hands fist the dirt around him and he can feel a tugging at his cheek. He wants to laugh at the sheer insanity of this situation.
Around his neck he can feel the weight of the world.
Protect the pacifier... Protect the world...
It's hilariously twisted. Because to do so, to protect he's been reduced to something so small. So tiny and adorable and... At least now he truly understands what the flames are. At least now he knows something small about himself and... He accepted this. As a mission.
He accepted this... he accepted this. And the Kami know that he's done far more embarrassing things before, both in the six(almost seven) years he spent thus far as Skull and in the thirteen before that as Obito. It's just the fact that he's been reduced to a toddler, a small possibly three year old child, a baby that is intimidating. Because where's the logic in the situation. Wouldn't it have been better had they all stayed 'adult'.
Wouldn't it have been easier to protect the glowing coloured pacifiers if they were still grown. Able to fight?
But what does he know? He's still adjusting, mostly because of the rush of jumbled memories thoughts and feelings from Obito... Adjusting because something brought it all back. And now he's been reduced to the body of a three year old with a purple glowing pacifier hanging around his neck with the weight of responsibility pressing down on him.
His eyes narrow behind the safety of his helmet and they dart around taking in the faces of all those around him. At least he's not in this alone, but he's the youngest nineteen(twenty?) compared to everyone else. Though he doesn't know the exact ages that they are(were?).
He can see the way that they all look right back at him. Judging him, jumping to their own conclusions... and they dismiss him. It's incredible and he just stops, his mind screams at him. Demands that he do something to change their views but... but he gets angry and grits his teeth narrowing his eyes.
Because they just write him off, and get angry. Shouting at one another, pointing fingers and trying to find someone, anyone that they can blame. And Checkerface is already gone and... He wants to change their views, but at the same time.
He's learnt to be a showman, to play up things, to exaggerate and misdirect and since he's not feeling particularly inclined to play nice. Well, it's all about making others see what you want them to... so he'll play the weak one, the useless one.
It's not like that's a role that he's unfamiliar with...
"Does anybody want cookies?"
"Yes!" He calls out, voice pitched up to be purposefully grating. "The great Skull-sama would love cookies!"
3
2
1...
He doesn't even try to duck away from the kicks aimed at his head from two separate people. Both of them annoyed with him. He merely grins behind his helmet, exactly the response he expected. To keep up the act he whines, complaining and being even more annoying.
And, things spiral from there. He's thrust right in the deep end it seems. Just because of the pacifier around his neck and these people who he's forced to more or less live with. They're given a mansion and animal companions and...
It becomes a new routine.
He enjoys pushing their buttons honestly. Watching them get so upset with him just being the way he apparently is. Boastful, and at times cowardly, full of energy and spontaneous. It's fun, a spot of amusement and since they don't seem to want to truly get to know him... it's how he shields and hides himself.
Things sort of settle over the next few weeks.
The biggest problem is in this even newer world he doesn't fit. He doesn't have a place that he can easily slot in as either Obito or Skull. Even attempting to just be Cherep doesn't give him anywhere to fit. He is quite noticeably the odd one out. The youngest of the group, the only one of them who is 'civilian' and just, the odd one out.
It. Is. Grating.
And there is only so long that he can keep his mask on before he starts to wonder just how much of it is a mask. After all, he is really good at keeping the mask on, even when no one is actually there. Best not to drop character after all. But it means that he still doesn't have a place, not truly. Aside being the 'lackey', the weakest of the group and privately he has to laugh because how would they react if they knew.
But also, he is shoved into a position that he does not want. Bullied really, as he is still trying to find his feet in the undertow of the reveal of the Mafia world. So he wakes up one morning to find that for some unfathomable reason the rest of the Arcobaleno have decided that he is the medic. Incredulous he stares at them, he is not sure whether to flail over it or what.
He's not trained for this what even is he doing here?
He is not trained at all, not for bullet wounds, or broken bones, whatever it is that Verde has done to himself(is that lightning damage?). And he does not really trust what he is doing, not without a reference. So it is to his surprise(and his relief) that he is actually good at it. And he whispers his thanks to Rin even though she's nowhere near here. Even though he doesn't fully know(he doesn't remember) who she is, just that she was the medic(in training) and he often helped by quizzing her. He helped, by listening to her and apparently that means that he actually understood and absorbed the information.
Of course he is also partially relieved because as Fon and Viper explain the other options options were Verde(KAMI NO!) and Reborn(Pride would prevent). Also, he finds much to his glee that it gives him a safe zone. A place that he can run to and just relax because they're not allowed to mess with him. In the infirmary no one messes with him, they're not allowed to.
Of course, even with all that he does not allow himself to just settle. He doesn't just go off the scant knowledge that he recalls from helping Rin. He goes out to actually study and learn all that he can. He is not quite sure how he managed to convince the people at the University to let him into the medical course but he is relieved.
And, he gets his bike modified to account for his reduced size. Now he can reach the peddles again. He can control his bike, which means that he can do his stunts again. He can still preform, he is still Skull the Stuntman after all.
So he goes out for a test drive.
Eventually he parks himself and his bike in an empty area. He laughs weakly to himself and slumps. Removing his helmet he settles down with his back against the wall and leans his head back sighing. Slowly, he brings his hands up to cup the purple glowing pacifier around his neck and he stares at his reflection. Stares at his chubby cheeks, large eyes, and small button nose. He stares and just…
It's been years since he was this small.
Years since he was this weak.
In both lives really.
After all, you can't be weak after doing all the stunts that he has. You can't be weak when you're a shinobi either... Dead last or not.
"Haha..." he laughs weakly and closes his eyes. Letting his hands fall back to his sides he takes a deep breath. How did he end up here? How did things change enough to lead to this... how did he end up waking in the snow a whole month before he died. A month before the date he remembers the Kannabi Bridge mission being on...
"I don't know what I'm doing..." he sighs before standing up and grinning. "But I am the Great Skull-sama! The Immortal Stuntman! Hated by Death itself!" he shouts to the empty expanse, a morale booster. He grins and jumps back onto his bike, tugs his helmet back on, a breath, a glint in his eyes and...
There's nothing better than the wind that whips past him. Nothing better than the freedom that being on his bike gives him. Nothing better than the tight turns and long jumps, nothing better than this.
Eventually he slows back down, stops and pulls off his helmet for a small break. Just to feel the waning sunlight on his face, and the breeze in his hair. He smiles before pausing. He stiffens and sharpens his eyes, there is something else there. Or…
"Who's there?" he barks, abruptly defensive. The other Arcobaleno shouldn't be anywhere near here, he made sure to head in the exact opposite direction to where they're all staying. Still he hastens to cover his head with his helmet again just in case.
He doesn't have any scars, nothing to even hint at his deeper past but it's a shield. A small piece of protection against the outside world and he just can't... No one steps out, no one emerges from the shadows around him and it only makes him tense up more. Only makes him raise his hackles and curl his hands.
Because he knows that he sensed someone there. He knows that there is someone there, out of view and out of range really but...
Obito grew up as a shinobi... Skull is a stuntman a performer, and misdirection is key in both lifestyles. He can make people see him the way that he wants them to. Put on the mask and just maintain it better than most would expect. He's not oblivious even though that's what he's playing at with the other Arcobaleno. After all to be oblivious would be to let people know that his deaths during his shows weren't just special effects.
So he narrows his eyes and scans the area for even the smallest leaf out of place. The smallest hint that he might be in danger.
Or... if the Arcobaleno are in danger.
Because he's the 'weakest' or seems to be anyway. It would be logical for people to assume that they could work their way up, but... He's not really his facade. Skull as the mafia world knows him is just a mask. And a mask is only the first layer, a front. Although he still doesn't entirely know everything about himself, he knows enough.
Also he's a Cloud. Despite his rather unique of dealing with things, there is one rule of thumb that he's heard. And he'd gladly remind people that it still applies. Even if he's not a traditional cloud. Even if he does not have a territory like most clouds, he still knows, people should not mess with him. Should not mess with those who he considers part of his circle, his group.
You. Don't. Mess. With. A. Cloud.
Not even one who is seemingly weak. And especially really, Skull thinks when he catches a movement at the very corner of his awareness, especially when they are former shinobi. And… Skull still keeps weapons on his person, familiar kunai and shuriken, just in case.
So the very second that the interloper is positively identified as a danger…
Well, as long as it won't get back to the other Arcobaleno. It's as simple as letting go.
Notes: Skull as the Arcobaleno's medic is a headcanon that I got from the fic Cumulonimbus by Rikkamaru(Over on AO3)
