Chapter 12: Reminiscing
"Do you see anything, Jitsuko?" Obito yelled up to her, his voice barely reaching her ears as Jitsuko surveyed the area from the top of a tree while Obito scouted the ground.
"If I saw anything, I would have said something, Obito," she tried to yell back to him, knowing that her much softer voice would never reach him.
Jitsuko began to make her way down the tree while Obito continued to search near the trunk for any signs of Rin or Zetsu. Though he would never admit that he did so also to make sure she didn't fall and get hurt. Once she got close to the ground, Jitsuko hopped off the tree and landed with a thud and a faint 'oof' which attracted Obito to her location. Jitsuko hadn't noticed something falling out of her bag as it made only the faintest noise as it collided with the soft ground.
"Let's keep heading northeast; I hear there's some area up there that has a lot of animal bones in it. Villains love graveyards and stuff like that, so I'd bet all my Yen that they're sneaking around up there, somewhere." Jitsuko stated calmly.
She and Obito had been searching to find Rin for a month now, and Jitsuko chastised heself countless times because she's watched the show and yet couldn't remember where Madara's hideout was located.
"It's getting late, though. We should take a break here for a while. I'll go grab us some water."
As she walked off, Obito started following her before something twinkling on the ground managed to catch his eyes.
"Huh…? Is that…?" He questioned as he bent over to pick it up.
As Obito moved the object from its spot, it made a familiar ringing noise, one that made Jitsuko stop in her tracks and lightly gasp. Obito held the object closely to his face as he pieced together where he last saw it. It was a small, pink, plush bunny with a navy blue bow wrapped around its neck. Dangling from it was a tiny bell that was so worn that it only made noise when roughly shaken.
"Hey, I remember this!" Obito excitedly exclaimed as he held the item slightly above his head in front of him and rattled it as the bell began to faintly ring.
"Be careful with it, Obito! The bell's really loose, it might fall off," Jitsuko said as she struggled to grab it out of his outstretched hand, his build towering over hers.
"I haven't seen this guy in years," Obito declared nostalgically as he gently inspected it before finally handing it back to her.
"I don't think I've ever seen you with it, not since the day I got it for you. Have you been carrying it around with you?"
Obito's question sounded like he was mocking her, but he was genuinely curious as to why Jitsuko had such an item on a mission like this. She internally panicked. Jitsuko was embarrassed that Obito finally found out that she carries the stuffed bunny he got her wherever she went. Jitsuko couldn't lie, she took it with her on missions because the sound it made always soothed her. She loved to take it with her on especially long missions when Jitsuko was away for the village for some time; it acted as a memento to remind her what she'd be coming home to. It also made Jitsuko feel like she was taking a piece of Obito with her wherever she went.
"I – I don't think that's any of your business," Jitsuko finally managed to blurt out to the Uchiha.
Weak excuse.
"It totally is my business since I was the one who got it for you," Obito said with a cocky grin.
The two had a silent staring contest for dominance in the conversation for a while before Jitsuko finally gave in and slumped against the tree behind her.
"Alright, alright. You win." Those words never failed in bringing a smile to Obito's face.
"I started carrying it around with me on my birthday, the day you gave it to me," Jitsuko began to explain as Obito quietly sat against the tree next to her.
"I remember that I had a mission that day, so we only had some time in the morning to hang out before I left the village…"
Memories of that day began flooding back as Jitsuko lightly stroked the coarse fur with her thumb…
"This is bullcrap! Why do I have to go on a mission on my birthday?!" Jitsuko screamed to herself as she barged through her door to begin packing aggressively for her weeklong mission.
Jitsuko was angrily stomping down the stairs after she finished when a knock on her door caused Jitsuko to slow her steps back to a gentle patter. She opened the door and was surprised to see her best friend beaming down at her, as if he knew something she didn't. Still, Jitsuko was pleased that she got to see him before she had to leave.
"Hey, you!" Jitsuko greeted Obito affectionately.
"Hey, there you are! You aren't usually home, usually you are anywhere but your apartment!" Obito said awkwardly. The smile glued to his face was just as awkward.
"Does that mean that you've been looking for me for a while?"
Obito's face froze. Sweat began to form on his temples while his eyebrows were knitted in a way where it looked like he was caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing, with a wide, strained smile to accompany it.
"Nope, not that long, I just was passing by and thought that we could hang out today," he claimed with sweat still pouring off him.
Jitsuko's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Obito was trying to play it cool. That automatically means he was up to something.
"Alright, what's the catch?"
Obito flinched. "C-catch? Can a guy not hang out with his best friend once in a while or something?" Obito said, pretending to be offended.
It was then Jitsuko realized that she had impolitely left Obito standing at her doorway for a while so she finally invited him inside.
"So did you have any plans in mind?" Jitsuko asked as the two of them sat at her kitchen table.
Obito wasn't fully listening, though. He was fiddling with something under the table and his eyes were averted to the floor.
"Alright, come on, Obito. I'll bite. What's eating at you?"
"N-nothing, Jitsuko! I don't know what you're talking about!" Obito insisted.
Uh, no. She wasn't going to play that game. Jitsuko had been around him long enough and had seen the show enough times to know what Obito's denial looked like, and this was it.
Jitsuko recognized the signs; now the tricky part is how to gently coax him to admit to whatever was bothering him…
…Or she could go with the direct approach. That sounds easier.
Without another word, Jitsuko stood up and made her way to where Obito was sitting. He lifted his eyes up to meet hers and got increasingly flustered as Jitsuko got closer. That's when she bent down to his level, cupped his chin with her fingers, and forced him to look into her eyes.
"Obito. If you are able to say to me that nothing is wrong without looking away from me, then I will leave you be. If you can't, you have to tell me what's the matter right now."
Naturally, Obito lost.
"H-here," he said quietly as he slid a small, decorated box across the table in Jitsuko's direction.
"This… is this…?"
"Y-yeah… happy birthday, Jitsuko." Obito said bashfully. He was physically unable to lift his eyes from the floor.
Jitsuko was touched. Obito went through all this trouble and struggled so hard to express his feelings in order to celebrate Jitsuko's birthday with her. This truly was unexpected. Obito was never good with being on time. Another thing he struggled with was remembering dates. Obito had forgotten her previous birthdays; he's even had trouble remembering his own half the time. The only way he'd often remember his own was when Jitsuko would treat him somewhere or presented him with a gift of his own. Obito realized that she never forgot his birthday. He also remembered how utterly disheartened Jitsuko was when he didn't remember hers. He vowed never to see her that hurt again. He made sure to try extra hard to find something she'd like, to make up for the mistakes he's made to her in the past.
Opening the box revealed that small stuffed pink bunny, its bell sounding loud and crisp as Jitsuko curled her hands around it to pick it up.
Jitsuko started with a hearty gasp. "Obito, I love it! What did I do to deserve you? You're the best!" Jitsuko couldn't contain the excitement in her voice; her words caused a fever-like blush to cross Obito's face as he squeezed his eyes shut in embarrassment from her praise. Along with affection, that's another thing Obito lacked a great deal of in his childhood, and that was compliments and praise. It was so rare; Obito never learned how to properly react to receiving it.
"Y-yeah, I saw it… and I thought that you'd think it was cute. You like that type of stuff," Obito noted. Obito was also inclined to get it since he'd also thought it was adorable – just like Jitsuko.
As Jitsuko held his gift up in the air in front of her, she happened to glance at her clock that was in the same direction and noticed that she was supposed to leave 20 minutes ago. With another sharp, albeit fearful gasp, Jitsuko began rushing to leave, but not before apologizing profusely to the Uchiha for having to cut the time with him short. Jitsuko waved goodbye to her friend as she ran off to the gates while Obito was unaware that Jitsuko snuck his gift with her, and would soon make it a habit of doing so.
"Heh, yeah. You were in such a rush that day. Glad it wasn't me who was late for a change," Obito said tiredly, the both of them subconsciously got more and more comfortable against the tree as they continued to reminisce.
The story soon died down as both Jitsuko's and Obito's eyelids began to fall.
Jitsuko was the first to fall asleep. She instinctively leaned close to the source of heat that was radiating next to her – which happened to be Obito. The next thing he knew, Jitsuko's body was leaning against his as her head rested against his chest and shoulder, causing Obito to blush and stiffen up considerably in surprise.
Obito's nerves prevented him from moving, but then he realized that he actually didn't want to move.
Slowly, silently, Obito lowered his head down so his cheek rested off the top of her head as he heard Jitsuko unconsciously hum in response. Obito should be blushing harder at the contact, but something about being so close to Jitsuko stirred unique feelings inside him. Comfortable. Secure. Natural. Feeling the warmth and closeness of Jitsuko only helped him give in to the temptation of sleep, and he soon joined her.
