TammyHyrbid21: Yeah, I'm the type of person who wants an explanation for everything majestic (and if I can't get it, I just make a few inferences of my own). And yes, it is a break from all the hurt. This is more neutral, but next chapter will have more feels. TT^TT thanks for your review :3
I changed the preview last chapter to fit this chapter, by the way.
Bah. New warning: Alcohol abuse (just for this chapter) and character death (CD will be explained in the preview).
Original word count: 4k~
Recommended songs: Animus Vox by The Glitch Mob or Warrior Concerto also by The Glitch Mob.
Enjoy my FABOOSHKA! chapter :|
Chapter 5: Days of the Dead
Obito couldn't tell how long Kushina had been squeezing him to death, but he knew it had been more than a few seconds. After a little while, Naruto half whined, half cooed, and caught everyone's attention. Kushina let go, tears streaming down her face.
She sniffed, smiling happily and genuinely—but at the same time, she felt sad. She didn't understand why. She was happy through and through, but she still felt…sad. For him. For Naruto. Hell, she felt sad for even the two white, mutated creatures who were suddenly sitting on the railing silently bickering about something seemingly random. She didn't even know their names.
She glanced at the seven week old child, grinning at him. He grinned back, kicking in excitement. She grabbed him, holding him close to her chest with a smile. "He's so adorable…that grin…undeniably Minato's grin, 'ttebane." She turned her head, gesturing for Minato to come over. "Get yer ass over here, sissy."
He blinked, but followed eagerly. They started chatting, shortly thereafter heading out to the small clearing and sitting together with Naruto.
Kakashi sat on the porch steps, Obito sitting down next to him. The Uchiha was staring at him, making the Hatake twitch irritably every now and then. He wanted to blurt—to tell his best friend about the whole time travel thing. But he wasn't sure how to approach it. So he started rather awkwardly, "Uh, do you believe in time travel? Or dimension travel? As in, a parallel dimension, maybe?"
Obito blinked, giving him an incredulous look before he started laughing loudly and whole-heartedly, something foreign to his throat and to Guruguru and Shiro. All eyes landed on him as he continued to laugh hysterically, bunching up and holding his stomach in laughter. Minato and Kushina looked like they just saw a walking corpse, while Guruguru and Shiro Zetsu were plain shocked.
Kakashi was just dumbfounded. Never had he heard Obito laugh—not since his chūnin days when Team Minato wasn't so deformed. He gave the still-laughing-hysterically a look of disbelief, deciding to speak up. "What's so funny?" I literally said three sentences, and he's laughing like an overly-amused baby…
Obito laughed for a few more seconds longer, before finally settling down and wiping away the tears of laughter. He looked overly amused, giggling every now and then. "Nothing, nothing…" he giggled again, sighing and calming down. "Those are the exact same words Sakura-chan used to approach the explanation of your guys' little situation." He grinned, exactly how he used to grin when he was younger.
Kakashi stiffened. "She…told you? Treated you, too?"
He nodded, leaning back on his palms and staring up at the trees. "I probably would be dead if it wasn't for her," he mumbled. "Plus, she taught me a thing or two about how to raise a child properly. And she told me what happened. All of it. She's still working at the hospital, went there just last week for Naruto's one months old checkup."
The Hatake sighed. "Well, I guess that's an inevitable action." He watched as Kushina handed Naruto over to Minato, who found himself to be dumbfounded holding the seven week old child. He smiled, albeit it was small. "…I'm sorry—"
"Hn," Obito cut him off quickly. "Don't be. It's not your fault."
"You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my stupidity."
The Uchiha chuckled bitterly, glancing down at the grass as he remembered a time when Madara had lectured him for his "stupidity": "If it wasn't for that brat, then you wouldn't be here. And while I really don't like him, I am in debt to him. He has given me my gift, which is you—my pawn, my knight, my slave, my plan executor." A bitter smile grew on his face. "You've gone through pain—but it's worth it, is it not? By the looks you've been giving sensei and Kushina-chan, I take it that they died on that night, no?"
"…Yeah," he murmured, "they did die."
"…But think about it," Obito continued. "He'd be carrying three legacies instead of two. Neat, right?"
Kakashi's tense and bitter expression became soft. The Uchiha held many points there, but still, he went through too much already. Mental, emotional and internal physical pain was not something that happened before, and him dying in the Hatake's arms was the furthest from his success criteria, even if he wasn't aware of the "masked mans" identity. It made him feel grim, when he thought back to the time when Obito rested on his lap, dying, coughing up blood and becoming as pale as Shiro Zetsu.
He openly cringed at that.
"You should go visit her," he stated. "She knows what's going on. Do you want me to take you, or not?"
The Hatake glanced at his Uchiha friend. "No. I'll be able to find her on my own. Where's Sasuke? And Naruto?"
"I don't know where Sasuke is," Obito replied, "but Sakura will tell you where Naruto is, though it'll be…harsh…and difficult to understand at first."
"Why won't you come along?" Kakashi questioned.
"I absolutely hate being in crowded places," he stated bluntly. "I would feel claustrophobic. Not to mention, I still have aphensphosmphobia. Even if it's mild, I still can't stand…well, you know…being touched by random people."
"Maa, understandable, I guess. It explains why you chose an isolated place." The silver haired shinobi stood up, turning his head towards Minato and Kushina. "I'm heading out to town," he announced. "When are we leaving?"
"Never!"
"Mid-day."
The Hatake nodded slowly. "Alright, I'll be back by then." He turned to his right, and left in a bout of remarkable speed.
Obito smiled, grunting his signature Uchiha grunt before turning his head back to the two parents and child he had somewhat accidentally ripped away from them.
"Sakura-senpai."
The pink haired medic stopped organizing files, turning her head to the clerk whose head was poking into the back break room. She blinked. "Yes, Saki-chan?"
The brunette glanced at the front desk uneasily for a second, her voice lowered as she glanced back. "Someone's here for you."
"Who is it?"
"Hatake Kakashi."
Sakura slowly nodded. "Alright. I'll be out there in a minute."
"Senpai, your break is right now," Saki pointed out. Her smooth expression became uneasy. "He looks…tense. You should talk to him."
The Haruno nodded again, slipping the file into its place and walking past Saki. She smiled upon seeing her sensei. "Long time no see."
He nodded his greeting, gesturing for her to come with him. "Good to see you, too."
Sakura waved her goodbye to Saki, and walked out of Yama Byōin's entrance with Kakashi closely following. As they walked down the street, Sakura spoke up to break the silence. "So, why are you here? I didn't expect you until later next month."
"Minato-sensei and Kushina dragged me along," he stated. "I…didn't intend on seeing Obito until much, much later…"
"Remorse?"
Kakashi didn't reply. He simply shrugged. "Anyways, he said that you would explain why we haven't ran into Naruto yet."
Sakura openly grimaced, wincing. "Well, it's sort of a long story. He's…actually gone, believe it or not…"
Seven years later…
It was midnight. It was dark, cold, and unsurprisingly, it started to snow. Obito knew that there would be at least five feet of snow by the end of tomorrow, seven being the most. He wasn't entirely surprise though. He was used to it by now, living on an elevated climate. He grew accustomed to it, but he missed the warm days of Konoha. If he was right, he wasn't very far from Kumogakure, a place of which gets snow nearly all year round because of the clouds and high climate.
He was sitting on the railing of the porch, staring at the clearing that was coated in white. He couldn't sleep, he continued tossing and turning, and continuously thinking of Kuro Zetsu killing…someone…dear to him. Or trying to, at least. He hadn't exactly anticipated the feeling, but he knew he would've felt paranoia sooner or later. He just never thought it'd be…that bad.
Obito sighed, shifting and jumping down onto the snow. He wore his old clean cloak. He customized it to add a high collar, and had extended the sleeves one or two inches to hide the chains and cuffs that were still the center or his misery. He wore boots that resembled zori, and had shinobi pants that were tucked under his boots.
He had no uchiwa gunbai. He had passed it down to Naruto. Same went for his uchiganta, but he kept his dual-wielding tachi, the uchiganta's ancestor. He slipped on his one-eyed white mask. It had rings across the entire thing, mimicking the design of the Sharingan. It also covered his hair, the black band covering the rest of his hair line.
It was his façade—Keigo being his alias. He had made a quiet alliance with Uchiha Shisui, Hoshigaki Kisame, Momochi Zabuza and Akasuna no Sasori with the promise of protection and answers, all of them—excluding Zabuza—for within Akatsuki. The four missing-nuke-nin truly did have a lot of questions; lots of them. Recently, most of them surrounded around Kuro Zetsu, who had replaced Kakuzu's dead partner barely a year ago. He had answered all of their questions, and in turn, they responded to his bidding and gathered intel about the magical, frolicking-worthy world within Akatsuki, or other things.
But there was one question he absolutely refused to answer: "Who are you really?"
He couldn't let them know his stand as the former captive and abused subordinate of Kuro Zetsu and Uchiha Madara. And while he knew that not answering the question would break their deal, he settled for a rather difficult riddle: "I am the man who died, and yet did not die. He who is shattered hides behind a face of scars is who I am."
He told them that riddle five years ago. They all knew it, memorized it, and failed to solve it. He was on his way to do another rendezvous with them by Kusagakure, on the opposite side of where all Hell seemed to start for him.
Obito sighed bitterly, and disappeared into his dimension upon activating his Sharingan. Kusa wasn't too far from him; quite a few miles to be covered by foot, but via Kamui was like walking up a tree for him: Way too easy. He landed a few seconds later, standing at the edge of a forest next to a ravine he was all too familiar with. He quickly turned to his left, heading further down the frost-covered grass and not caring that he left tracks behind. It was only midnight; the frost, albeit slightly thinner than the rest of his surroundings, would return within the hour.
He continued walking through the knee-high grass until he reached Yakushi Bridge—sister bridge to Kannabi Bridge. It was considerably smaller, only about thirty or so meters across. The wood was left untouched; graffiti designs were here and there, and the wood was tattered from age. But at the same time, it still looked new, despite being fifty years old. He made it to the bridge, and sat on the railing while waiting patiently with his arms crossed.
He couldn't help but ponder…he wondered what the affect of his actions would be, specifically on Naruto and Kushina. The Akatsuki were after the bijū, and Naruto was prime way to draw the Kyūbi's jinchūriki out—Kushina was an emotional person, and wouldn't be able to think straight is Naruto were to be used as a scape goat.
"Keigo-san, you're awfully early."
The voice of Uchiha Shisui made "Keigo" turn his head. The fifteen year old Uchiha nodded his greeting, Obito nodding back without word. Shisui was the person who was widely known as Shunshin no Shisui—and as the Uchiha's downfall. He had massacred his very own clan, leaving only his young eight year old cousin—Uchiha Itachi—to live and to kill him.
He had met Sasuke a few times, but Sakura had told him the story: Itachi was Sasuke's older brother, and the former had slaughtered the Uchiha Clan thanks to the coup d'état when Sasuke was eight.
Probably switched because little Uchiha Sasuke no longer exists, Obito thought.
"You're usually not the first to come around," Shisui stated. He smirked. "Something up?"
"Keigo" chuckled, shaking his head. "Nah. Three feet of snow was already on the ground when I left," he explained in a mumble. "I didn't want to travel in chin length snow, so I booked it earlier than expected."
The Uchiha nodded, his eyes trailing up to the dark cloudy sky. "Let's hope the others hurry. It feels like it's gonna rain, or somewhere along those lines."
"Hn," Obito grunted. His eye turned towards the other end of the bridge, where Kisame and Sasori were making their way from the other side of the ravine, Zabuza closely following.
Once they reached Shisui and "Keigo", they started. Obito nodded his greeting to the others. "Anything new?"
"Hm. Nothing on my end," Zabuza grunted. "But there has been some…movement. More of the weaker missing-nin and mercenary samurai are flocking and being recruited by some rich moron called Gatō. And the rebellion in Kiri is now official: Yagura has lost it."
"No shit," Kisame snarled. "I became a missing-nin along with you because of that short little shit."
"Well," Obito murmured, "since you're speaking up, Kisame, is there anything you would like to say? Other than a question?"
"…Well you just got rid of nearly everything I wanted to say," the S-ranked shark demon grumbled. "But I've noticed that Konoha and Suna are becoming more…familiar…with one another. Rumor has it that they're gonna spark an alliance between one another."
Obito simply nodded. That's good, he thought. He glanced at Sasori. "And you?"
"Pain has been thinking about dividing us all up," Sasori reported bluntly. "A frontline division and an information division."
…Why now of all times…? Obito wondered. Is something happening? He slowly nodded, and then turned toward Shisui.
The criminal Uchiha started without needing to be told, "Nothing much is happening on my part. It's silent, but it's getting tense. The calm before the storm, I suppose."
"Keigo" slowly nodded for the fourth time. Shisui was supposed to keep an eye on anything foreign to the organization—money deals, information stealing, mission requests from small villages, and so forth. "The calm before the storm" was another term for "watch your back, something bad will happen sooner or later". The masked shinobi narrowed his eye. "…Nothing else, I presume?" When silence met his assumption, he continued, "Now, what questions do you have this time? I do not have very much time tonight, so no more than a one or two questions."
"Are you an Uchiha?" Shisui questioned without hesitation, his coal eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"…And what makes you ask that? You killed all of the Uchiha, leaving little Itachi as the sole survivor in Konoha," Obito pointed out.
"I have my suspicions," Shisui countered. "So? Are you an Uchiha? Yes or no?"
"…I have relation with your clan," the masked twenty-two year old mumbled reluctantly. "But it's thin, and practically non-existent."
Reality was, that had truth. Obito had literally cut all connections from the Uchiha, getting rid of his surname and just going by "Obito", mainly because he didn't want trouble to be attracted towards him. He dealt with enough bullshit just hiding from Kuro Zetsu and training Naruto, and having people breathing down his neck wasn't going to help.
"…Is that all?" he questioned.
Everybody nodded.
"Good," Obito stated. "I will be on my way then." He nodded his farewell to the four, turning and walking away into the crowded trail. He, then, disappeared into Kamui.
Two months and three weeks later—the twenty-first of December—three AM in Konoha…
Twenty-two year old Hatake Kakashi woke up to a loud crash and a rather loud curse coming from the outside of his cramped apartment. He quickly shot up, his fingers wrapped around the handle of a kunai within seconds of hearing the crash.
A few short moments later, Obito's head poked through the door, a rare cheeky grin on his face. "Sorry…" he stated as he stepped completely through the door, his Kamui deactivating. His cheeks were red, and he was…off-balanced. "Yer," he hiccuped, "…traps are ridiculous…y'knoooo…?" He hiccuped a second time as he slurred over his words, giggling almost pervertedly as he stared at Kakashi. "There're four of ya…how busy was Sakumo…"
Kakashi blinked dumbly, slipping the kunai back into his nightstand. "Are…you drunk, Obito…?"
The Uchiha stared at him, before speaking rather loudly. "I am not drunk!" he protested. "It was just a teensy bit. Barely even a sip!"
Once again, Kakashi blinked. He was dumbfounded; he had never met a drunkard Obito, and he never knew that he could become so much like a delirious young-Obito. "…You're undeniably drunk. Why are you drinking?"
He pouted. "I tell ya, I ain't druuunk! It was just a weeettle bit!" He pinched his fingers together to emphasize his point. "Not even this much! See, Baka Kakashi? I am not drunk."
"Now you're just in denial."
"Psshaw! I ain't in no deniable!" Obito objected illiterately and loudly, plopping face first on the bed by Kakashi's leg. He lifted his head, grinning up at Kakashi a second later. He hiccuped once or twice before finally speaking clumsily. "Do ya know what day it is~…?"
"It's the twenty-first," the Hatake stated. "Why?"
"'The hell?" Obito snapped, leaning on his palms and arching his back backwards like he was doing some pseudo yoga stance to stare at Kakashi. "Ya ain't gonna tell me ya don't ranem—renemen—renenm…" he huffed in annoyance as he stumbled over his words like a five year old, making Kakashi smile in amusement, "remember what this day means?! Huh?!" He pointed an accusing finger at the Hatake, slurring over his words again, "You bya-starrrd!"
Kakashi continued starring. He honestly wasn't sure how to react to…anything, in general. It wasn't easy to make Hatake Kakashi no Sharingan feel so dumbfounded. But then again, he thought, Obito always does the impossible…somehow…
Obito flopped back down onto the bed, groaning loudly into the sheets like a boy-troubled teenaged girl. He lifted his face from the sheets again, staring at Kakashi once more. "December twenty-first…kind of a personal hellish holiday for me. I absolutely loathe this day! Hate it with a passion."
"How come?" Kakashi questioned, though he had a feeling that it the loathe Obito was feeling was turned towards Rin's death. It was her ninth year to be dead—killed by his own hand. He hadn't let that fact go, but Obito had become a routine; a distraction from the pain of killing her.
The Uchiha sighed, though it sounded more like a loud huff thanks to it being harsh and ephemeral. "The worst day ever. Can't guess? Baka Kakashi!"
"Uh…Rin's…death…?" he cautiously guessed.
Obito rolled his eye. "No! Ya idee-ot!"
Kakashi blinked in surprise, shock making him freeze. "Uh…what?"
"Today's the day Hell started," Obito grumbled, staring down at the sheets. "And when Rin died…"
The jōnin paused for a few seconds. He glanced at the Uchiha, who looked like he was eating a sour piece of candy: His face was scrunched up, and he looked displeased. He thought it through. Rin died today nine years ago…Obito witnessed it…Obito returned to Madara…and then…
Kakashi winced. "Oh," he murmured, catching the drunk Uchiha's attention. "Today is the day you gained those seals on your wrists, right?"
"You took an eternity to figure that out!" Obito whined, rolling over onto Kakashi's leg with a loud and long sound of complaint. "So much for being a genius, you moron…"
So that's why you're so wasted, Kakashi thought. It's because of the pained memory of when Hell started for you.
"Baka Kakashi!" Obito suddenly exclaimed.
He sighed. "What is it?"
"I feel weird."
"Oh god, don't tell me you're gonna throw up…"
"Pfft, no way! I only throw up in the morning, when I wake up!" He laughed loudly. "Been doing this for almost ten years now! Haha!" He grinned innocently.
But Kakashi, on the other hand, sighed heavily. Underaged drinking wasn't unheard of when it came to shinobi. Especially the young ones who were dragged through war. He heard of stories derived from the times of the second war. A six year old shinobi—barely a chūnin—snuck alcohol from her civilian parents after her team died, and she herself died from said alcohol not too soon after. And while it was a rumor, all rumors have some truth to it, no matter what. "That's not funny, you know."
"Bah, like you haven't done anything of the sorts," Obito shot back.
"It only happened once," Kakashi mumbled. "And then Minato-sensei found out on the exact same night. He ended up slapping me."
Obito busted out into loud laughter. But he abruptly stopped a few seconds later, rolling onto his stomach again with his playful serious face on. He giggled for seemingly no reason, but it was interrupted when he rolled over Kakashi's leg again, landing in between the Hatake's legs on his stomach with a shit-eating mischievous grin in stead of resting his back on Kakashi's shin.
Quickly, the silver haired jōnin sat up completely, glaring with red tinted cheeks. "'The fuck are you doing?!"
Obito laughed boisterously, holding his stomach in laughter. "Priceless! Ha!" He rolled over, howling with laughter until he fell off of the bed, faceplanting onto the carpet floor. But despite his groan of pain, he giggled. Kakashi simply sighed, stepping out of bed and kneeling beside the Uchiha. He leaned over the giggling man, sighing again at his childish behavior. "How about this," he offered, "I let you spend the night here, and you can sleep off your hangover."
"Do I get the bed?" Obito asked the carpet.
Kakashi mentally debated over it. He found no problem with it, but he wouldn't be saying that if he himself didn't have a comprised alternative for a place to sleep at for the night. He sighed loudly, and reluctantly, "Fine…but I get a blanket and pillow of my choice. Got it?"
"Yes, sir!" Obito mock saluted from his spot on the ground, still grinning and giggling.
Once the sleeping arrangements were sorted out, Kakashi found himself staring up at the ceiling, lying on his back and listening to the silent breathing of Obito. It was calming, and he found himself just…listening. He wasn't falling asleep, he wasn't pondering, he wasn't even thinking about the tragic event that had happened later today nine years ago, nothing. He snorted bitterly, rolling onto his side and closing his eye. It was likely forty thirty AM, thirty or so minutes prior to when he always woke up. He internally sighed. It's—
His thought was roughly interrupted when suddenly heard Obito mumbling something nearly inaudible, albeit he heard "I'm tired" and a few curse words. But other than that, it was gibberish to him. He turned his head towards the bed, staring with his half-lidded eye. He was exhausted. First, a drunk Obito barges into his house, makes a ruckus, and then all of a sudden, he starts talking in his sleep about stuff only the gods would know about. To add to that, the idiot took Kakashi's bed. He silently huffed, turning his head back onto its side. That shit never happens.
Slowly, but surely, he was dozing off, when practically out of the blue, Obito shot up, screaming "Fuck off!" with a crazed look; he was drenched in sweat, and he was panting from the panic of his dream.
Kakashi winced in surprise, leaning on his elbow to elevate himself and look up at the Uchiha. Obito hadn't noticed, and if he did, he showed no acknowledgement. He just wheezed and rubbed his only available eye, lying back down.
Soon after that, everything was quiet; all that could be heard was the tweeting of the early birds as the winter sun finally decided to rise over the horizon at eight in the morning.
"Yama Byōshin": "Mountain Hospital"
"Keigo": "Talk to me"
Part I of II. This chapter was originally gonna be 7-8k, but then I got lazy and cut it in half. I have about a quarter of the chapter done. Not a whole lot, but enough to solidify the entire thing.
After chapter 6, all perspective will be from Obito; so it'll truly be pure Obito-centric for the almost the entire rest of the duration of my craptastic story.
Preview:
"Shiki Fūjin…"
And then there was nothing but the eternal screaming of the dead.
Peace! :3