Revamped: 31 July 2017
Toying With The Past Is What We Do
Chapter Four
Daddy?
Obito is running as fast as his short legs will allow, which is far slower than Kakashi who is practically a speck up ahead. He doubts he will catch up, and with a small body with no proper training, there is no chance of using chakra as an enhancer. He doesn't even know why Kakashi is running.
Ten minutes ago, they had headed for Kakashi's apartment, no longer needing to hold up their clothes after wrapping some ninja wire around themselves. When they arrived, Kakashi stopped and sprinted the other way, leaving Obito confused and in the dust.
Presently, Obito cries out, "Where the hell are we going?!" His legs are burning from exhaustion and his right side is cramping to an unbearable degree. This kind of physical pain is a near novelty for Obito who had spent almost two decades as a half-human, able to go on hours upon hours without rest or sustenance. Now he's struggling within minutes. It's pitiful.
"No- long- my apa-ment," is all he hears, Kakashi disappearing into the distance.
Obito continues to persevere, relying on his chakra sensing abilities that somehow transferred over from the past (future?). He arrives at a decent-sized home, Kakashi standing right outside the door. Obito joins his side, peeking through the space Kakashi doesn't fill and manages to see a photo up on the wall.
He understands why Kakashi promptly left him.
His hand is grabbed. Obito stumbles as he's dragged into the house and then shoved into a small bedroom where clothes flutter on top of his head. "W-Wait! What are you doing?"
"Shut up and change." Kakashi begins stripping, tossing the remainder of his Jōnin outfit aside. He exchanges it with a blue shirt and black shorts.
Obito grumbles and drops his oversized pants, dressing in similar attire but with a grey shirt. Unfortunately, they are a size too small, his shoulders slightly broader than Kakashi's. A sneer crosses his face. Being reduced to this juvenile form...
Oh, how far he has fallen.
"Careful," the other boy – man? he's not sure anymore – dryly warns, "Your face will get stuck like that. Then I won't be able to tell you apart from the rest of the Uchiha population."
...That's right. His wretched clan is alive now, the massacre a thing of his future (past? fuck it). And though Obito would do it all over again right at this very moment, he knows Kakashi would interfere. Which is a weird thought, he thinks, because as children the first time around, Kakashi was the one to suggest the cruelest method, while Obito fought for the peaceable method. The role reversal is a bit disorientating.
When they exit from the bedroom, an unfamiliar voice calls out his friend's name. "Kakashi-kun?" The man Obito sees resembles the other boy, apart from the age lines beneath his fatigued eyes
The one in the photo... Hatake Sakumo.
Obito isn't expecting much of a reaction from Kakashi since he's a veteran Shinobi, trained to regulate his emotions even under extreme duress. However, the sudden appearance of his long dead father, along with his regressed body, seems to have deteriorated his composure, because Kakashi immediately tackles the man in a desperate embrace, crying into his right pant leg.
"Tōsan!"
All Obito thinks is... awkward.