AN:/ So this is going to be the last "short" chapter for awhile. The story's about to pick up in pace and have a lot more plot happening starting next chapter. I really look forward to the feedback on this one though, it was so emotional to write. Please enjoy!
Chapter 3: Growing Pains
Kakashi visits him again the next day, but he doesn't get to stay nearly as long before a medic comes in ushering him back to his own room. They manage to get into a short conversation about what they'll do when they get back to the village. Kakashi not so surprisingly advocates finishing the book he was in the middle of, and Obito of course sets his eyes (or rather eye now) on rushing to Ichiraku with Kushina. When the other boy leaves, he notices how sluggish his steps are and the overwhelming guilt he's felt since waking up is brought back to the front of his thoughts.
For a while he's left to sulk in his room on his own. He turns to his uninjured side and facing the single window in his room and sits in silence. The water and food one of the staff brought in earlier remains untouched along with the book sensei dropped off. A shonen comic of some sort, normally Obito's favorite. Now, he's not sure he feels in the mood for fantasy. Reality is proving to be too distracting.
"Pouty isn't a good look on you," someone says from the doorway. He perks up turning to look at Rin standing in the front of the room. She's stiff and her eyes seem to be looking everywhere except for him.
He smiles despite the awkward atmosphere and he looks over her. She's not a lively as usual, but over all doesn't look so much as bruised. She's been put in the same plain white shirt and pants as him, Kakashi, and other patients in the hospital. At least they managed to get her out safely. Whatever else came from this, that fact would be of some comfort.
"Are you alright?" He finds the courage to ask.
Her fists clench at her sides and she opens her mouth, before sighing. "I should be asking you that." She pauses and finally meets his eye. They're not as bright and cheerful as he remembers. "The rocks they, you...I didn't think I could do it. You lost so much blood and your arm and your leg were just…"
She shakes, tears spilling from her eyes and her hands swoop up to cover her face. It reminds him far too much of seeing her sob over his broken form after being pulled out from the boulders. His body suddenly feels like ice water has been thrown on him, and his chest contracts as his heart speeds up.
'It's going to be okay.'
He does everything he can to shake off the panic creeping through his body and tries to push himself to sit up. When he doesn't rise no matter how hard he pushes, he looks down and realizes his arm isn't actually moving. The bandage covered limb twitches and slowly lifts about an inch off the bed before it falls back down. The nauseous sensation in the pit of his gut is ignored and he stares at Rin.
"Rin...it's alright I'm fine," he tries to assure her, maybe himself to. "You got me back here-"
"Kakashi got you back here!" she snaps, and it's the first time he's ever heard her sound like this. Angry and desperate, with hysterical sobs in between every few words. "I did what any medic could have, and I almost couldn't even do that! If that man hadn't gotten you out, we would have had to just leave you there. You would have died and it would have been all my fault!"
She breaks down moving her soaked hands away. Her entire body is wracked with her cries. He wishes he could move, to comfort her, but he's stuck useless in a hospital bed.
"Don't say that," he tries, his own eyes burning and starting to water. "Rin, you were captured by the enemy, there was nothing you could have done."
She laughs through her sobs, but it it's anything but humorless. "No, I couldn't. But how is that new? We all know who the real weak link in the team is…" Her gaze returns to the floor and her crying calms still but the tears still flow. "I've never been talented like Kakashi or ambitious like you. All I've ever been able to do is wait for you to and heal you when you get hurt actually doing something...and then I almost got you both killed."
She takes in an unsteady breath and Obito feels his heart break.
"Kakashi was right, you should have left me."
He realizes it's a bad decision before he even does it, but that doesn't stop him. Obito flings himself with his good arm over the side of the bed, and tries to catch his balance on his good leg. He fails horribly and falls over onto the floor with a loud thud, pulling his food tray off the night stand with him. Rin runs over to him and kneels at his side looking over him frantically and pulling the noodles out of his hair.
"What is wrong with you?!" she yells at him as she examines his limbs.
"I was trying to get up and hug you?" he says sheepishly gritting his teeth through the enormous pain he's in. He isn't sure which hurt more, moving in general, or crashing on the floor.
"You...you idiot!" She says and hits his good shoulder for good measure. "Do you have any sense of self preservation?!"
It's still jarring to see sweet, gentle Rin so flustered and emotional, but he rolls with and laughs. "Nope!" Her jaw drops and he decides to explain before she hits him again. "That's the point, Rin I chose to go back after you. I knew it was risky, that it would compromise the mission...but I did it anyways because that's who I am and you couldn't have done a damn thing about that!"
Neither of them say anything for a few seconds, and her shoulders slump in defeat, an almost genuine smile lighting up her face. She carefully pulls him up into her arms and starts to lift him in a way that doesn't disturb his injuries.
"Obito…" she starts as she's holding him close to her own body.
"Please, don't blame yourself for my stupid decisions," Obito says curling his head into her shoulder. "I wouldn't have wanted that if I hadn't made it out."
She gets him back onto the bed and quietly moves to the glass cabinet against the other wall. She brings a jar and bandages with her to his bedside. There's a silent acceptance in the thoughtful way she looks at him.
"You messed your bandages up, do you want me to put new ones one? You might give the staff a heart attack if they find out about this," She says with a fake laugh opening the jar of ointment.
He nods and allows her to lift up his arm and unwind the now dirty wrappings. He holds back the whimpers that want to escape him. A warm, soothing sensation enters his arm and he immediately speaks up.
"No!" He tells her a little louder than necessary and slinks back into the mattress at the flinch she gives. "Sensei told me you healed me to exhaustion...you need to rest and regain your strength before you do anymore healing." She opens her mouth and he cuts her off before she can protest. "Please Rin, take care of yourself, for me?"
She frowns, but nods at him anyways and ceases the healing. She wraps his arms without any pain relief after soaking each strip in the ointment and washes his face off with a wet cloth before applying more to the side that had been under a rock. Her small hands slide down his cheeks once more after she's finished and it feels like there's barely any interruption. Maybe sensei was right about his face being okay.
"Obito," she says fondly. "Never change."
"Who me?" He asks putting on a smile for her. "As if, I'm already amazing."
She doesn't disagree.
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Rin is left in a state of confusion when she finally leaves Obito's room to let him rest. She still bears the heavy burden of what happened to her teammates as a result of her capture, but she feels less like sulking about it for now. She's also worried, and not just for Obito. Kakashi must really be out of it if he can't even remember to close the window behind himself after escaping.
She closes the window in his room, identical to Obito's in every way minus the patient actually resting in there, and manages to get past the staff and leave through the front door. It's a civilian hospital after all, and even if she is mildly exhausted she's still a chunnin. Rin's no Yamanaka, but she's always had a knack for mild sensory techniques, and Kakashi is in no state to mask himself.
He's less than a mile out in the woods behind the hospital and she can hear him long before she can see him. Or rather she hears the wood he's splitting apart as it cracks loudly in the small forest. A second later she walks through the thin trees and sees her teammate.
Drenched in sweat, and even paper than the last time she saw him with an almost bruise like bag under his visible eye. The medical patch is soaked through with his sweat just like his clothes, and dirt is gathered on his hands and bare feet. There's a dent in the large tree trunk ahead of him that isn't nearly as deep as it would be if he weren't in such a terrible state.
She watches him for a moment and allows him to kick the tree repeatedly. A grunt of frustration following each attempt that doesn't lead to his foot lodging halfway through it. Finally he screams and resorts to punching it crying out as he draws his hand back with knuckles full of splinters. She shakes her head and walks up to him as he bends over half sobbing.
"Can't at least one of you learn how to take care of yourself?" She sighs.
He whips around, staring at her with his visible eye wide and startled. It's amazing he's still standing if he's really that worn down. He should have at least smelled her.
She reaches out and pulls his hands into hers. Looking at the splinters in the left one she scrunches her face. "You're lucky this wasn't worse, I didn't bring my tweezers." There's a cluster of tall roots nearby and she leads him over and sits them across from each other. It's unnerving how easily he follows like a limp doll.
One by one she uses her nails to pull the splinters out. She has about five before she can't stand him not saying anything anymore. "I'm not mad at you." She says and pulls another one out. Kakashi doesn't say anything, but the way his brow creases says he doesn't fully believe her.
She rolls her eyes. "Look I understand, you were doing what was best for the mission." It had certainly hurt when she'd heard it during Kakashi's debrief to Sensei, but at the same time she had to admit it wasn't surprising. She knew what Kakashi was like.
He doesn't say anything until the last are out and she flicks the sliver of wood away to somewhere on the ground. She hears him take in a deep breath and in a barely audible whisper, "I was wrong."
Her brow arches. "About?"
"A lot of things..."
She nods and brushes her palms across her pants. She offers a hand to him and helps him up. He nearly falls over and ends up leaning on her. Stupid boys.
"You really aren't mad?" He asks and she's never heard him sound this fragile. Out of breath and voice hoarse, a slight tremble as he struggles to stay up with her help. For the first time she sees Hatake Kakashi for what he really is. Just another boy.
"I was," she admits. "But I'm over it now." Blaming Kakashi won't fix anything or make her feel any better.
They start to make their way back to the hospital. His slow, limping pace ensures it's going to be a long journey. He stumbles every few steps and Rin does her best to keep him steady.
"It isn't fair," he pants out after a few minutes of walking. She stops almost mid step and stares at their feet. Their uninjured feet that won't require rehabilitation to work again or be covered with terrible scars for the rest of their lives.
They messed up, and Obito was the one paying for it. She doesn't want to actually say it and changes the subject. "We need to get back, sensei's probably worried."
The conversation already feels enough like a confession.