Chapter Soundtrack: "Homeward Journey" by Uyama Hiroto

Chapter 11- Time is Here and Gone

"We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person." -W. Somerset Maugham

Obito laid very still with only a thin, watercolor-print sheet draped over him. It was a strange time of day to be in bed. He was very accustomed to strange times of days, and of strange places during said times. He kept still, breathing slowly.

With his cheek pressed half-comfortably on a flat pillow he let his eyes peer down. Where his shoulder used to be was some foreign material, designed by ninja who had not had the best intentions when he had first met them. Cut up, feverish, and dying on a plywood table he remembered the sharp silhouettes of the people who sawed off his mangled arm. They replaced it with this. This artificial limb that functioned superbly, won him many a battle, and saved his life on several occasions.

Obito let go a minute sigh. But he could not feel, not at all, not a speck, of the skin of the woman beside him. Of course, as he brushed Rin with his opposite hand unthinkingly, there was a small surge. The tingle of contact. She was there and he could confirm it most assuredly.

He glanced over the right half of his body, briefly surveying the damage that was still evident. The patchwork replacement limbs that had been bolted onto his body long ago. Obito could remember being ashamed of his mutilation when he was younger. He could remember closing his eyes and denying it. Hating how he hid himself and the scars on his face, and his smile from his friends. He also remembered when Rin touched him and he suddenly felt as if he was whole again and more. He breathed a bit more harshly at the thought, puffing a strand of hair from his face.

Belly-down still he shifted, turning his head to the right and watched her sleep with that unconcerned look on her face. He did this often. Rin would sleep and he would stare in wonder, pondering if this was really his life or if he was due to wake up any moment as a perpetually tardy, thirteen-year-old who wanted to catch lunch with sensei and beat the snot out of Kakashi. Obito touched the bare nape of her neck with purpose this time. She woke up.

Rin yawned, tongue-curling, and blinked at her husband. He looked very thoughtful. He usually looked that way when they were naked, she noted. "Hello, hello…" She greeted, stretching luxuriantly beneath the sheet, "What time is it?"

"Um." He didn't know, so he glanced at the improvised clock on the far side of the room, "Looks like half past noon to me."

"I wonder if Yuma's eaten lunch?"

"I doubt Char would let him go hungry." Obito told her. They often sent the boy into town with Sesshu when they were looking for undisturbed, "mommy-daddy" time.

Having spent the whole morning having sex Rin was very aware her own hunger. They had not eaten since yesterday afternoon, she wagered. Yuma always ate, but his parents not always. They distracted easily. Rin sat up on her knees, stretching again, "Time to eat. What do you want, Obito? We have leftovers, I think…we should probably pick up more food later though…"

His mind was not on eating. He told her what he wanted instead, but she frowned, "No. I would like to walk today, thank-you." She hopped off of the bed, gathering up her scattered clothes from where they'd been flung about the room. "There's some beef stew. That'll be good…" She said.

Obito called to her futilely, but was unable to summon her back to the warm spot that was now empty. He groaned, annoyed. Rin told him to get up and get dressed, "Or I'll send you into town to pick up your son as you are."

He laughed and pulled his pants on, although he knew she was serious. Both clothed they ventured out into the sunlit hallway, and he held Rin's hand for a little while before she let go and began tearing apart the kitchen in search of a meal. There was stew after all, and she was shoveling it into bowls.

Obito furrowed his brow, "Hey! Save some for me! You're ravenous all of a sudden…"

She waved him off, "It's evenly distributed, I promise." She didn't really mean it and he didn't really mind. Obito crossed over to some of her medicinal plants on the windowsill and watered them with a spray can. She was heating up the food and chattering about what they had planned for the day in town. He stared down at the herbs, lost in thought, in a memory that was so much like this day.

Char's recovery was nothing short of miraculous. Though he had fought off pneumonia Rin still had to treat him every so often to maintain his health, and that gentle smile of his. Eventually she negotiated with her landlords in Nashi, Topatsu and Anzu, to live a short distance away in Shincha. They made her promise to come back and visit once in a while.

Char's fellow villagers were glad to see a new physician in town, but had no place for her to stay. Obito, known to everyone else as Tobi, offered her shelter without a second thought. Outside of the village she forced him to take his mask off, "Stop hiding behind that, it's just me!"

"Habit." He defended, and removed it. He was smiling. She smiled back.

They trekked up the mountainside with Sesshu bounding in and out of the foliage, stirring up voles and rabbits. About halfway, the climb became a bit more tricky, and Obito at one point grabbed Rin's wrist and pulled her back. "Watch out there." He told her, pointing to half-buried pipe she had nearly stepped on, "Power lines for the village. You'll get a nasty shock if you touch that one."

"This goes up to your house?" She asked, visibly surprised.

"Yeah. I've got gas and hot water too!" He was proud, "Utilities aren't exactly commonplace out here, but it's been improving."

Rin thought about how he had a house of his own, and then thought about the Uchiha estate. She'd been there a few times when they had been genin, and it had always been, she thought, the pinnacle of a home even compared to her own. Here Obito was acting as if a roof and four walls was a miracle. She decided against bringing his old home up, since he wasn't very interested in discussing his clan back in Leaf.

At the top of the hill the place was a bit underwhelming. Slightly dilapidated and paint chipped, it looked like a home out of farming story. "The previous owners abandoned this place five years ago when they left for the Tea Country." Obito explained, "It needed work. Still does, but it's better than the way I found it, I'd say."

Sesshu tested the rickety steps up to the porch, "Hm…this wood is rotting away. Should we replace it?"

Obito raised his eyebrows, "You don't need to help out with stuff like that."

"But if we're going to live here we'd be more than happy to." Rin told him. She went ahead after Sesshu up the steps.

Inside the building was more spacious than it had outwardly appeared. Obito had made improvements, it was clear, from the unusual choice of paint to the weapons hung on the walls more for use than decoration. Sesshu was sniffing like mad, and ended up burying his nose beneath the couch and staying there for a while. Rin perused on, into a corridor that was wretchedly bland until she turned a corner.

There was a room that had a stack of books in the corner that nearly reached the ceiling. She was even more impressed by the beautiful ink paintings displayed on the walls. Rin crossed over to a painting of a koi fish that was very simple but eye catching. Obito poked his head into the room, "There you are. How's the exploring going?"

"I love this." Rin pointed to the painting, and the ones beside it, "All of these Sumi-e…where did you get them?"

He was quiet for a moment. Rin waited, and then he said, "Well…I made those."

She grinned, "I love them."

He felt his chest swell at the words. She had used 'I' and 'love' but the last word did not belong. Obito thanked her humbly. They had really been just something to do in spare time besides reading, feeding himself, and fighting for his life.

"Could you give me a demonstration, sometime?" Rin asked.

"The funny thing is, I did. I showed you once before a mission years ago." He told her a bit reluctantly, "But I was really bad back then so thank God you don't remember."

Her stomach flipped with regret.

"I'll show you sometime." He said. His one remaining eye looked stormy and nostalgic.

Rin felt her excited curiosity beginning to slip away with guilt replacing it. She pointed to the books, "You've read…all of those, Obito?"

"Most. Two or three are dictionaries and I wasn't desperate enough to flip through those." He said, smiling, "You probably wouldn't believe it, but this country is a literature gold mine. The mythology is pretty awesome." He reached over and swiped a book from the pile, glanced at it, and then handed it to her.

"Dream of the Red Chamber." She read the title aloud, "How was this one?"

"Sad. A little predictable. But definitely worth reading." Obito told her.

She flipped through a few pages, skimming, and then glanced back at the Sumi-e hung on the wall. "How about we make this your room? I'll clean it out and make it nice." He suggested, "I bet I can dream up a few more paintings for you too."

Rin was thrilled. He walked out and she followed after him with her book in hand. There was another study across the wall mostly devoted to scrolls, and she could only imagine how many jutsu he now possessed. There was also a sunroom and a water closet, and on the left was his bedroom. Obito passed it by back to the living area, but Rin popped in, curious.

It was very pleasantly under-decorated. Three paintings, one of which was a portrait of someone she did not know. A lamp, a clock, some more weaponry. She had the inane urge to jump on the bed it looked so comfy, but she figured she wouldn't be sending the right message by doing so. Rin's breath hitched when she saw the faint, dusty glimmer of a hitai-ate on top of a dresser near the corner. She reached out to it tentatively, and it surely was his old Leaf headband, badly scarred and battered. She put it back, feeling the same sinking feeling in her stomach as she had before. She left quietly.

"You've been snooping." Sesshu observed from where he was lounging on the couch, "You really can't wait to make this place your nest, can you?"

"Shut your yap. He didn't tell me I couldn't look around." She snapped back lowly.

Rin could hear Obito bumbling around the back of the house outside, and proceeded to investigate the kitchen. The pantry was sealed off by folding double doors and when she looked into it she was confused by what she found. The rations seemed to fall into a specific type of category. Canned peaches, canned pineapple, canned pears, canned cantaloupe, canned every fruit imaginable and at least a dozen of each. Not a container of rice or noodles to be found, and definitely no jerky either which had her slightly miffed. What kind of diet was this?

Obito returned, noticing her puzzlement, "What's up?" He had two bottles of moonshine with him that he had taken in from a shed.

"All of your food is fruit." Her voice cracked, betraying her concern.

He laughed, "No! I just like that stuff since it's kind of hard to come by. They don't even sell that in the Rock Village, so whenever I come across it in my travels I stock up."

"No fooling?" She mumbled, "I see…so, what else do you eat?"

He pointed across the way to several cabinets, which she realized did in fact contain other dietary essentials like meat and grain. "Whew. For a minute there I thought you were one of those vegans." Rin sighed, "I have absolutely nothing against them, but I can't live without meat."

Obito sat down at the table, laughing lightly, "I know that."

Of course he knew, she thought. He knew a lot about her since they had been genin together. Sadly, Rin realized, she knew a lot more factually about Kakashi than she did her other teammate. She sat down across from Obito. She felt compelled to quiz him on his memory, "Can I ask you some things?"

"Of course." He was pouring the moonshine into cups.

"When's my birthday?"

"Huh. November…15th."

She added, "Favorite weapon?"

"You use senbon most often but you prefer chains." He smiled, "If you can get your hands on one."

"Why do I prefer them?"

"Because you make someone else hold the other end to help you strangle an enemy."

"You helped me once." She said.

"I know. That's the only reason I remembered." He pushed some alcohol in front of her, "Try that."

"What about my favorite color?"

Obito was silent for a moment. He took a sip of the whiskey, thinking, and then ventured, "It must be silver."

"It is."

"I can tell you why too." He told her, "It's because that's the color of Kakashi's hair and the lining of clouds. You were always so sentimental back then."

Rin stared down at the cup in front of her. He had gotten everything correct. She tasted the moonshine and it was nothing short of motor oil. She coughed, adjusting to it, and took another sip when Obito started chuckling at her reaction.

"Probably not the best thing for a dainty lady to drink." He noted, "This town is famous for booze, though, so I'll have to train you to hold your liquor."

"Gee." She said, eyes squinting, sipping the stuff like it was acid.

"Now I'm going to ask you questions." Obito told her, "If you don't mind?"

She shook her head, but feared she wouldn't be as sharp as he had been.

"I'll start off easy. What are the names of my big sisters?"

Rin could answer that confidently, since the two blockheads often palled around with Tsume, "Uraho and Maohe."

"How about my birthday?"

"February…" She trailed off, not remembering the day exactly.

He raised an eyebrow, "I'll let that slide."

She was very sheepish, so she guessed the twelfth.

"The tenth, actually. Next: Where did I take you for our first date?"

She blushed. She had no idea, but made the best educated guess she could, "Ichiraku Ramen?"

"That's kind of a trick question. Every time I asked you out you turned me down." He chuckled darkly.

Rin's stomach nearly dropped out of her completely. Her nerves were gone, and she cursed herself for never settling for just one bowl of ramen with the poor man. She shot down the rest of the moonshine and it made her feel a bit better as it burned down her throat. She could then understand its appeal.

"Enough of that crap, huh? We'll talk straight because it's been a while since we last saw each other." Obito understood twenty questions wasn't helping, "How's everything back in Leaf? Are Minato-sensei and Kakashi doing alright?"

Sensei and Kakashi. Leaf. Everything she had fled from and he was now asking her to drag it back. "Oh. Well…they're doing alright. Last I checked…" She answered quietly. She felt like such an idiot when she got teary, getting choked up just thinking about it. There was no way she could hold a conversation when a name or two would set her off.

Obito was aware of how much it had bothered her to reply. "Don't answer that, okay?" He told her, standing up, "I'll make some dinner."

She nodded and he crossed the room looking for supplies. She cried silently with her head bowed on the table, wondering why she couldn't get a grip, and why silver suddenly seemed so pallid and ugly to her. Sesshu came in, claws clicking on the linoleum and settled his muzzle wordlessly on her thigh, wishing to comfort her. She patted his head for a minute or two until she relaxed.

Rin stood and helped Obito chop up some vegetables for a stir-fry. He placed his hand on the small of her back and thanked her softly.

"I'm alright, just tired out from this week I guess." She assured him. She glanced down at Sesshu and he gave a grunt of approval and wagged his tail. Rin told him to go find some dinner.

"I think I will." The ninja hound set out, ready to hunt for his own meal in the surrounding woods.

After a short while the dish was ready, and while they sat and ate Rin watched her friend's face intently. Obito would not look at her directly, but his shyness had less to do with her and more to do with his scratched up face. Being stared at for too long made him uncomfortable. Rin was interested in a more specific trait of his.

"Obito."

"Mn?" His mouth was full.

"Does it ever bother you that you only have one eye now?" She asked him innocuously.

He smiled, "Please don't worry about that, Rin."

"Answer the question, Obito."

He was silent, chewing. She would not stop looking at him. At length he admitted, "When I was younger…it was difficult for me to adjust. I had a hard time learning to fight with my vision impaired, but these days I barely even notice. I don't give it much thought."

She nodded in understanding, but inside there was no banishing the swell of guilt that had found a permanent seat in her stomach. She could not take back what she had done, and there was probably no way to make up for it. She ate in silence after that, and listened while Obito spoke about the village. Sesshu returned with a pheasant in his jaws but Rin told him to eat outside, "You're going to make a mess of feathers everywhere!"

The dog walked back out, muttering in irritation.

They spent the next few days adapting to life together. Rin took an equal share of responsibilities around the house, including cleaning and weapon maintenance, but hardly ever cooking because Obito had some skill that she did not want to infringe upon. She did the best she could, but she suspected her friend was withholding work from her. Rin made up for it by taking walks with him through the forest in their free time. She showed him many plants that could be used medicinally, and often brought roots back home to be made into salves. She taught him how to do it himself too.

One day she was struck by an idea on their walk. "If we start cultivating these herbs and shoots in larger quantities we could probably make enough medicine to help out the neighboring villages." Rin proposed, "It will take a lot of work…and we'll need some level land…but I want to try. It's not like the Rock Village is aiding these people."

"I like the sound of that." Obito was in full agreement.

The house began to fill up with plants then after, most of which he used to think had been poisonous. When there was no room left in or around the household they requested if they could use Char's garden. He was happy to oblige. Rin's vast knowledge as a medic quickly imprinted onto Obito, and he held her in even higher esteem than he had before.

She sparred with him daily, keeping their skills sharp, but as he did with housework he held back when he fought too. Rin openly complained about it, but usually he satiated her with a new jutsu.

Rin and Sesshu became familiar faces in Shincha over the course of the next month. They were easy people to befriend; affable, despite the overwhelming poverty, and probably the most un-materialistic humans gracing the planet. Another routine call at the end of the week came from a young man who had been unable to seek medical help outside of his village. Rin and her ninken stopped by his home, and a woman with frown lines and crows feet answered.

"You must be that new doctor." She said in a smoker's voice, "I'm Urabe's aunt. He's just in here." Rin followed her into a bright room and was a bit stilted when she just left her with the patient.

Urabe was sitting on his bed, and he looked like a healthy young man, only a year younger than Rin. His complexion looked healthy and his dark hair had a lively sheen to it. Sesshu sat near the doorway and Rin cleared her throat to announce her presence. Urabe looked up from his book, brow raising, "Oh wow. Hi, Miss Doctor. I guess auntie brought you in, did she?"

"Hello, Urabe-san." Rin crossed over to him and shook his hand, "My name is Rin. Your aunt was a bit unclear on what's been ailing you." She set her bag down and riffled through it to find a stethoscope.

"She's just tired of repeating herself, is all. So many physicians have come out here already but can't help." He told her, "They say it's a pulmonary embolism. I've had it for over a year now but everything that they did couldn't budge it."

Rin stared at him for a few moments. This was a bit beyond her usual scope. "I see…" She said quietly, "How long did you say you've had it?"

"14 months maybe. Some days are better than others." Urabe sounded frustrated.

She asked him to pull up his shirt and she listened to his breathing and heartbeat. There were clear abnormalities and already she was feeling the pressure. "I'll have to do some more tests." Rin announced, "You may need a new heart if you haven't been responding to treatment. This is already dangerous and on top of it…" She sighed, "I've never dealt with a case like this out in the field before."

He nodded, "Don't stress yourself out. I'm not really afraid of dying, to be honest."

Rin quickly took a liking to her patient, and worked tirelessly the following week to make some headway on Urabe's condition. As predicted, he did not respond to treatment, and the blood clot seemed incapable of dissolving. On one of her visits she began feverish considerations on how to obtain a heart for him. "There's little to no possibility that I can go to Rock or Grass, which would've been my first choice…I've run tests on several people your age in this village and no one shares your blood type." She trailed off, staring through the window, "The…only other thing I can think of is to go out and capture an Iwa nin."

"What?" Urabe looked from his book to Rin, horrified.

"They haven't exactly been baking cookies or planting pansies for your village, you know." Rin reminded him of the hardships he'd endured, "If I could pick off one shinobi who matches you this could work out-"

"Absolutely not!" He protested, "How could I go on living knowing that someone died just because of me? I won't…that just isn't right." He frowned, "And what was that Hippocratic Oath? Harm none. How could you say things like that, Rin-san?"

"These are ninja from the Rock Village. They pillage your homes at their leisure. They've tried to kill me and nearly let Char-san, your neighbor, die! Harm none is a flexible concept when you're a ninja, and you should be thanking me for being willing to go that far to help you!" Rin was bitter towards Iwagakure, but still knew she probably never would've gone through with the idea.

Urabe still refused. What was worse was that after Rin's scheme to steal a heart, he'd completely turned down any further treatment.

"I'm exhausted and I just want this to end…" He had told her a day later, "Please try to understand."

"No. You can't give up now." She had told him stubbornly. Of course she did understand his position and his weariness. In the back of her mind she also acknowledged how even if she did come upon a heart she had none of the anti-rejection medications that he would need. Every idea was a dead end.

That night she had gone home, furious that she had no resources and had to watch good people die. Obito had found her pacing the hallway and was immediately concerned.

"Is something wrong with your patient?" He asked her.

"He's dying, of course there's something wrong with him!" She growled, "There's nothing I can do. I may know how to help him but that doesn't mean I'm able to…"

Obito put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Sometimes it happens. You've done the best you could, so don't beat yourself up about it."

She tugged away. "What do you know?" Rin snapped, "There might be a way to save him and he just wants to roll over and die!"

Obito backed off. He muttered something inaudible and then walked away, shutting himself up in his room. He'd give her space if she was breathing fire.

Sesshu had told her that she was being childish but she disregarded him, fleeing to her small quarters and curling up on her bed. She cried herself to sleep, miserable, and all through the night Obito listened to her sobs through the wall.

The following morning Rin had woke in her clothes, and when she had rushed out to apologize to Obito he wasn't home. Just thinking about how she had treated her friend only worsened her mood. She went to visit Urabe by herself later when his crotchety aunt wasn't about. She had come to terms with the truth.

"I know you've heard this a million times before, but…there's nothing I can do for you." Rin had said softly, "I'm so sorry."

"I had a feeling this would happen, but it's okay." He smiled genuinely, "You pulled out all the stops for me, and that's more than anyone else has done."

She just managed to laugh.

"I try not to think about dying. You see I've been reading this book that one of my friends wrote…I just want to finish it." Urabe explained, "I have thirty pages left, and I want to see it through."

"You have plenty of time." Rin said encouragingly.

He thanked her for her confidence.

"Could I…maybe ask a favor?" Rin asked and he nodded, happy at the idea of being capable of something, "You see, Urabe…I have this friend and he only has one eye…"

"And you want me to donate one of mine? Sure!" He sounded excited, "Better make myself useful somehow. Does he need an ear and a nose too?"

That cracked Rin up. "An arm and a leg, actually, but that's an impossible surgery." She answered, chuckling.

"Sounds like this guy is a mess."

"He really isn't, but…I just owe it to him, you know?" Rin truly felt that something had to come out of the encounter.

Urabe asked her if her friend knew about the new eye he was getting.

"No." She admitted, "But I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

Later in the day she went home to find Obito had prepared a meal and was waiting for her. Her mood much improved, she thanked him. She apologized about her behavior but he waved it off and told her to eat, "You've been working way too hard, Rin."

She figured there was no easy way of broaching the subject of Urabe's donation so she was very forthcoming . "Obito…I can get you another eye." She watched him nearly drop a full glass of wine, "Just come with me into town tomorrow and we'll-"

"No, thank you." He turned down the offer politely, "I don't want one."

"I insist! This is a special opportunity-!"

"No insisting! I gave you my answer, didn't I? Stop trying to fix me, Rin, because there's nothing wrong with the way I am now." He snapped defensively.

"Of course there isn't!" Her eyes were sad. She wanted to try and reason with him but realized it would only be egging him on more. That was the last time they discussed it.

Sesshu curled up beside Rin in bed and asked her how she had secured an eye. "Urabe is willing to give one since he's dying…not all that different from Obito, come to think of it." She mused.

"It's a nice offer, but Obito feels so vulnerable about it he's too stubborn to accept." Sesshu pointed out.

"It's worth a try." Rin replied.

Obito woke the next morning, still shaken up by what Rin had suggested. He was surprised, but pleasantly so, when he found a huge bouquet of wildflowers outside his door. Not that he had any real use for them, but her compassion was what he cherished. He donned his mask and then went into town to find her.

She was near a well beneath cherry trees at the far end of the village, helping an old lady fetch water. After the elderly woman had left Obito thanked Rin for the gesture.

"I'm sorry. Things have just been chaotic lately but I'm back with you now." Rin promised, hugging him, "Try not to freak out when I get like this."

He accepted her apology again, "I know you mean well. I suppose I was just being sensitive about things." He brightened, "How about a quick spar? What do you…" He felt a prick in his left arm.

He looked down slowly, not fully comprehending why she'd injected him with a syringe. In a hazed moment Obito tried to communicate his alarm, but his head was heavy and she was advising him to count backwards.

"Trust me." She said, "Everything will be alright."

He stepped back from her, wondering why she did it, "What did you just stick me with?"

"It's a low-grade anesthetic." Rin told him, "Just relax, we'll have to lay you down somewhere."

"I didn't ask to be tranquilized." Obito hissed.

"I insist." She said softly.

He finally understood, and turned to leave but the sedative was hitting him. He stumbled and Rin caught him. She needed Sesshu's help to move him off the road. Obito made the tiniest struggle against her when they turned around in the direction of Urabe's home. After reaching the house without drawing anyone's attention Rin let herself in, startling Urabe's aunt.

The woman stood up from where she'd been reading a newspaper in the kitchen and hurried over. "Rin-san? What on earth happened to Tobi-kun?" She wheezed.

"I'll explain later." Rin told her shortly, hauling Obito inside with Sesshu at her heels.

Urabe greeted her and lead her into a guest room, surprised by who would be receiving his eye. "Tobi-kun, huh? He's always protected the village so bravely…I never realized he was so banged up."

"You learn something new every day."

Urabe's aunt poked her head into the room, clueless as to what was going on. "Can we please get this dog out of the house?" She pointed to Sesshu.

"Of course, ma'am, excuse me." Sesshu said, trotting out politely and confounding the poor woman.

"This man needs an eye transplant, Miss Tsugada." Rin explained, "Your nephew has agreed to donate one of his own."

Urabe's aunt looked to him, unnerved, then to the man Rin was laying down on a mat on the floor. "No, Urabe-kun." She began to panic, "Don't be fooled into self-mutilation! You don't have to consent to this!"

"I already have, auntie. I want to help him." He was firm in his decision.

Obito, completely unconscious, could no longer protest. Rin motioned for Urabe to settle down a short distance away from him and she gave him a sedative as well. His aunt looked on irately, "So this is what you do to patients you can't save? Give away their body parts because they don't need them much longer? If I had known what a cop-out you really were I never would've asked you to come here in the first place!"

Rin paused in her work. The words struck deep.

"Shut up, auntie!" Urabe spat, "I volunteered for this, so just get out and let her do what she needs to do." He looked to Rin, "Don't fret, Rin-san. I'm fine."

Urabe's aunt left, closing the door forcefully behind her. Rin took a shuddering breath and pulled her bag closer, looking for the instruments she would need.

Once both men were under Rin set to work. She started with Obito first, reviving inactive nerve cells in his left eye. It was a tricky jutsu, but after she had rejuvenated the chakra pathways that had long been inert she stopped, knowing she would have to take Urabe's eye quickly. While she removed the boy's eye she thought back to how she had first done the procedure when she was a Chunin. What goes around, they say, comes around.

She replaced the eye into Obito's socket, using another carefully timed jutsu to attach the stem to nerve endings. She hoped it would function. There was no guarantee that it would, since it had been a long time since Obito's last surgery. After forty-five minutes of cautious work she concluded the procedure. She had given Obito another tiny dose of sedative to keep him from waking too quickly.

Urabe woke up stiffly, and gingerly touched the bandages over his left eye. "Welcome back." Rin said softly.

"My head feels a bit funny." He mumbled, "Good thing I finished my book last night, because it would be pretty difficult to read now, huh?" He glanced over to Obito sleeping a short distance away. "Hm. I've never seen Tobi's face before…it's not bad at all. Is he going to wake up soon?"

"It'll be a while before he's conscious." She said, "I'll take him home and look after him there."

"You should probably do that. Surprisingly…I feel alright." He smiled but it was lopsided beneath the bandages.

Rin packed up, and after hauling Obito's dead weight onto her back departed with Sesshu. She avoided Miss Tsugada's scowl on the way out.

Obito did not wake for a long time.

The sunset's orange rays glinted in through the window, and Obito stirred gradually. He had no idea what time it was. He tried to sit up but his head was throbbing terribly. It was then he noticed something at the foot of his bed and he sat bolt upright, prepared to fight, but saw it was only Rin.

She sat watching him with that stare of her's. Obito felt his stomach constrict with dread, vaguely remembering what she had done earlier.

He brought his hand up to the side of his face, feeling the bandages. His expression was one of disbelief. "How could you do this?" He whispered, "How deeply…you've disrespected me…I-I…don't know what to say."

"Say thank you." She replied, "I did what I had to do because I owed it to you."

He threw the blanket off and it hit her with a feathery flop. "I won't thank you for this, I can't stand it!" Obito howled, "How can I trust you, Rin, if you're so willing to go behind my back?"

"It was just this once, Obito. Now never again no matter what." Rin told him sincerely. "You wouldn't have known what you were missing because you've forgotten."

He wouldn't look at her. He turned his head and shut his eye, trying to ignore how she was sitting across from him with that beautiful, angelic face of her's.

"Try it out and if you still hate it…" Her voice lowered, "I'll take it out for you."

Obito was taken aback by the idea. Throwing away Urabe's sacrifice would be insensitive. He still felt like he'd been taken advantage of, or at the least had his feelings trampled on. Rin had been very good at doing that back when they were trainees together, but this was just ridiculous.

He sighed, and then asked, "When can the bandages come off?"

"Now, actually. You've been out for a while." She crawled over and took a seat beside him. With a sharp nail she snipped off the end of the gauze and slowly began to unravel it. "Keep your eye closed." She told him, "It's going to be sore so take it easy."

"I can already tell."

She tossed the gauze into a wastebasket when she'd gotten all of it off. Obito sat silently, his new eye shut, and tensed up because it felt so different now that something was there all of a sudden.

"Okay…now very carefully try to open your eye. Don't rush." Rin advised softly.

His lashes parted, and Rin had a glimpse of a dark iris but it snapped closed. "Gah!" Obito covered his eye with his palm, and Rin asked if he was in pain. "No…just too bright." He said.

She chuckled in relief, "I'm glad it works, but it might be working too well. You have to give it a minute to adjust and then try again."

Obito, over the next few minutes, kept peeking his eye open and shut, trying to get accustomed to the heightened sense. He squinted at the floor where the dresser cast a long shadow. It was easier to look there because it was darker. A while later he said, "It's getting better."

He opened his eye fully, taking a hissing breath, but he could tolerate it. He immediately looked at Rin. Surprise was written on Obito's face. In the evening light, with her warm skin, she looked even more beautiful than she had before with his new perspective. He was not nearly so bothered by her stare as he had been previously.

Rin was pleased with the improvement. She noticed in slight wonder how the new iris was a deep slate gray, compared to his own eye which was pure ebony. The different shades somehow went nicely. She held up a pen in front of his face and told him to follow it.

"It'll take some diligent therapy to get this one as strong as your other eye. We don't want it to get lazy either, or you'll be cross-eyed all the time!" She laughed happily.

He performed the exercise with remarkable aptitude. Rin noticed how unsettled his silence had become and she asked him if he was feeling alright.

"I'm doing…shockingly great." Obito frowned to himself, "I'm sorry about how I treated you earlier."

She smiled, shrugging it off, "It's okay. I'm glad it was a success for you, mostly. So…you want to keep it?"

He touched her cheek, "Yes."

Rin was flustered, but she kind of liked it. Obito ran a long finger down and across her chin, then back up to her button nose. He was taking in the sights like he was seeing it all for the first time.

"I didn't know that…you'd look different." He told her, "Sort of bright and glowing." He gave a quick glance about the room, "Come to think of it, everything got a hundred percent clearer. Maybe my Sharingan's been tiring this eye out…"

"We'll investigate that some other time." Rin said, standing up, "Let's go celebrate with Char-san tonight, what do you think?"

He agreed, "Drinks are on me."

Though Neji had not finished the anthology of old Earth Country folklore he had agreed to lend the book to Lee. Lee was a very fast, very absorbent reader. He had almost caught up to where the Hyuga was in the novel.

They had been training all morning in the courtyard of the Hyuga compound. It had snowed briefly that morning but was nothing more than a light dusting on the ground. Neither of them knew where Tenten had disappeared to, and Lee had even gone looking for her at her apartment and forge. She would appear when she wanted to, he reasoned.

They took a break, since the frigid air tired them out quickly. Hinata had been kind enough to serve them some hot tea before leaving to meet her own team. While they relaxed Lee discussed the story.

"So Yuanjia returned after all those years." He recounted, "That was a clever ploy on Ukigaru-sama's part. With her student home again Tian Tian was sure to stay home and avoid trouble."

"I already read that part, Lee." Neji said disinterestedly, "Yuanjia returned to serve the lord of his clan and through a stroke of luck was reunited with his teacher."

Lee poured himself some more of the Gyokuro tea, finding he liked it. "So what did you think of the part when they got married?" He asked his friend, taking a sip.

Neji nearly choked while he was swallowing. He hadn't read that. "Someone got married?" He repeated.

"Yes! Yuanjia and Tian Tian acknowledged their love for each other after spending time in the village. She actually proposed to him in a most provocative way…" Lee sighed dreamily, "I liked that part."

"I haven't read it yet." Neji told him.

"Oh! Have I spoiled it for you? I am sorry, Neji!"

"I plan to skip that chapter now, so you may as well narrate the rest of it." Neji said stiffly.

Lee took another sip of tea and then continued, "Well let's see…Tian Tian sees that her student has grown into a respectable man and she makes some, er…advances on him…" Neji didn't want to know the specifics.

"Yuanjia felt strongly for her as well, and so they were married, much to Ukigaru's delight. Tian Tian's new joy inspired a great deal of envy in her sister, Hanone, though. She ran away a few days after the wedding and broke her parent's hearts." Lee scratched his head, "That's as far as I have gotten."

"It was a riveting tale." Neji poked fun.

"I edited out the…sexual encounters, none of which I expected." Lee admitted, "I got to thinking, though, how odd it would be: a teacher and student marrying. Like Tenten and Gai-sensei…"

"That is so assuredly impossible it's not even a good analogy." Neji retorted, adding, "Gai in general is not marriage material. He's only capable of concentrating on one passion at a time."

"You are so harsh, Neji, to be critical of sensei like that!" Lee still agreed with him, "But yes…it would make more sense if Tenten decided to marry her future student-"

"Tenten and Tian Tian are nothing alike."

"Really? I was under the impression that they are strikingly-"

"They are different people…with different fates." Neji had one final word before snatching the book back from the table. He stood on the veranda and stalked off, clearly annoyed by the debate.

Lee finished his tea with a slurp and smiled to himself, "I suppose he's a bit touchy about the idea…"

Gaara leapt back, deflecting several rapid jouhyou lashes with his sand shield. "That's enough, Matsuri." He called out to his pupil. Her weapon flew back and wrapped expertly around her arm with the spar's conclusion.

She walked with Gaara back to the mansion, excited about the B-Rank mission that was scheduled for tomorrow, "Is Temari-sama coming with us, Gaara-sensei? She said she might!"

"She did confirm with me, yes." He told her, and her squeal of delight was reward enough.

Once home, Gaara found his brother napping on the couch. He jabbed Kankuro in the shoulder, waking him, "Shoes off. This place doesn't clean itself."

"Ugh." Kankuro removed his sandals and tossed them near the door, still mostly asleep.

Matsuri tottered off to take a bath since she was filthy, and Gaara went to his room, feeling a little weary from the day. He sure missed sleeping. It was a habit he was sorry he broke. He was halfway through changing clothes when a messenger hawk appeared at his window.

He crossed over to it, chest bare, and accepted the note it had delivered from the Leaf Village. Gaara was very aware of who it was from. He hesitated before opening it, and could smell Sakura on the dry parchment.

The note was unexpectedly concise:

Dear Gaara-kun, please accept the position of Kazekage. Not only will it give me bragging rights, but it'll make Naruto go bonkers. See you soon.

Love, Sakura

He looked out of the window, feeling at ease. Twilight had spilled a rainbow of colors into the sky and he swore Sakura had done it herself.

'Yes.' He thought, 'This will definitely stir Naruto-kun up.'

Next: Chapter 12- Choices