Chapter 2

Obito had been bugging his team mate for a solid week to get Rin to tell him how she was able to tell him and Madara apart. Only their parents had ever been able to that when they switched places, and even sometimes they got things wrong. Rin hadn't gotten them mixed up once in the time since they had become team mates.

"Promise to to tell Madara?" She finally asked, apparently giving in to Obito's relentless questioning.

"Deal." He agreed quickly. If he had known that was all he had to do to get the information he would have agreed not to tell Madara a week ago.

"It's your eyes. They're different." She told him, sitting down on a bench and patting the spot next to her to tell Obito to sit down with her.

Obito frowned at the answer, shaking his head as he sat down. "He's better with the sharingan than me, but you tell us apart without that." He replied.

"Not what I mean. His eyes are . . .colder? I guess that's the word I'm looking for. You're friendlier, and it shows in your eyes. Makes you seem more approachable." She explained, smiling at him when she was satisfied that she had explained it to him to the best of her abilities. The smile sent his heart fluttering and he grinned back at her.

"Well, now I know why you don't want me telling Madara. You don't want him to hear that you think he looks mean." Obito teased.

"T-that's not what I said! I just said that you look friendlier." She was blushing slightly as he corrected him.

It was about a week later that he got into a fight with Madara.

"You knew! You knew that I love her, but you still –I can't believe you! Actually, I can. That's the worst part. That I can't even really be that surprised that you did this." He shouted.

"I'm entitled to date whomever I please if they wish to go out with me as well. It's not my fault that you didn't ask her first." Madara replied calmly.

"How could I if she was always blushing at just the mention of your name?" If Madara noticed the moister gathering in his twin's eyes behind the orange goggles he at least had the decency to not say anything about it.

"Do you even care about her?" Obito asked, after a moment, voice much quieter than it had been the last time he spoke.

"She's a good team mate, and it's ideal to have a partner who can tell me apart from you." Madara replied with a shrug.

Obito considered telling him about how she could only tell them apart because he looked less approachable than Obito, but he'd promised her he wouldn't tell. He wasn't going to break his promise to her just because he was upset.

"But if it's really that big of a deal to you, I'll break up with her." Madara told him.

He wanted to say yes. To tell Madara to absolutely do that. The sooner the better. But instead, he found himself shaking his head. "No. Don't do that. I don't want to be the reason you two aren't happy. I wish you hadn't started in the first place, but don't break up with her just because of my feelings." Obito told him, shoulders slumping as the anger drained from him, leaving him feeling tired and empty.

"Thank you." Was the simple response he got from Madara. And then his brother left the room and he was alone.

"So, did you hear about that Uchiha Obito guy?" Obito asked the man next to him at the bar in the small town he'd stopped in for the night.

It wasn't the best bar. It was tiny, with an even tinier selection of drinks, and was so old he worried it would collapse on all of them. All of them being himself, the guy next to him, the owner, and someone who was already passed out drunk at a booth. But, from his experience, bards were good for getting information.

Although, he'd been questioning that until the silver haired man walked in.

His hair seemed to defy gravity, and he wore a mask up to his nose. He chose the seat next to Obito and said he'd have what he was having.

They'd been chatting for a few minutes, sipping at beers that cost too much for tasting so cheap. Somehow his new drinking buddy managed to drink his beers whenever Obito looked at something else, so he still didn't know what his face looked like.

"Of course I have. I think everyone alive has heard about him by now." The man replied.

"Well, I keep hearing about him, but I still have no clue why. Did he do something?" Obito asked, taking another sip of the drink he questioned why he kept buying.

He got an odd look from his fellow bar goer; he was naming him Paco until he could find a good moment to ask him what his name actually was.

"You haven't heard? Where have you been these last few days?" Paco asked him.

"I've been traveling a bit. Lots of woods, not many people." Obito explained with a shrug.

"Well, the story is that he killed off nearly his entire clan. Itachi and Sasuke were the only survivors among the Uchihas. They got there late and Itachi was able to defend Sasuke. Now there's some speculations going around that this Obito guy killed his brother a few years back. It was deemed a mission casualty at the time, but after this people aren't so sure. Same for his former team mate, a girl named Rin, I think. After all, if he could kill the entire Uchiha clan, why not his team mates?"

Obito felt his entire body go numb with shock. All the Uchihas . . . no wonder Sasuke had tried to kill him. All of those people. His family. Obito knew those people. He considered a few of them friends. And they were all dead? How . . how could Madara have done something like that?

"You okay there?" Paco asked him, tilting his head slightly as he asked.

"Yeah, f-fine. I just –wow. That's pretty bad." Obito was usually pretty good with words, or at least coming up with more to say, but he was having trouble stringing a few simple sentences together.

"No kidding. Apparently he was always a pretty nice guy. What do you think would make a nice guy start killing his family?" Paco asked, and Obito didn't like how he looked like he actually wanted an answer. Because Obito sure as hell didn't know, but he intended to find out. Killed his brother, huh? He just might after hearing all of that.

"I don't know. Hopefully nothing too common so that it doesn't happen to anyone else." He managed to get out.

"Doesn't keep happening? I'll drink to that." Paco muttered.

So would Obito if he could find something a bit stronger than what they served here. A bottle of vodka would do good right about then. Maybe he could forget what he'd just heard for a few hours. "I'd join you in that, but I've got to start traveling again in the morning." Obito told him.

He finished the last of his drink, it wasn't good but he was damn well going to finish a drink that expensive. He was just glad he'd been still had on his bag from the mission he'd been on when Steve had shown up, so he actually had money to pay for it with.

"Where are you headed?" Paco asked him.

"Sand Village." Obito answered as he placed the money for his drinks on the bar.

"Me too. I actually know a shortcut there. You could come with me if you want. Traveling alone isn't very fun anyway." Paco offered with what Obito had come to realize was a smile. It was hard to tell at first with the mask, but he learned to start interpreting Paco's facial expressions, even with only half of his face showing.

He was a bit surprised by the offer, but the sooner he got to Madara the better, so he nodded. "Sounds great. I'll meet you here to leave at seven . . ." He trailed off, fishing for an actual name instead of just calling him Paco.

"Hatake Kakashi. Nice to meet you." The other said, holding out his hand to shake.

Obito recognized the name. He'd never actually met Kakashi, or even really seen him around, but plenty of people had heard of the son of the White Fang who wielded lightning as a weapon. He was also a Leaf Village ninja. One who didn't seem to recognize him at least.

"Ryugamine Mikado ." Obito replied, shaking the offered hand. He hadn't planned to use an anime character's name, but it was the first thing to come to mind besides his actual name.

"Well, I suppose I'll be seeing you in the morning. Have a nice night, Mikado." Kakashi said, giving him a friendly smile.

Obito nodded, returned the smile and then walked back to the inn he was staying in.

He didn't get much sleep. When he did he dreamed of his brother pretending to be him, killing off almost their entire family. Of Madara turning to face Obito, smirking at him and saying, "What's it called when a dead man kills? It can't be murder if they aren't alive to do it. Just sounds like the kind of question you'd ask, right?"

It was a thing Madara used to do a lot. Since they liked to switch places he'd sometimes say something and ask Obito if he thought Madara sounded like him. He usually did because they knew each other better than anyone else.

Dream Madara faded away to be replaced by Steve, the Ambu guy. His voice sounded familiar as he informed Obito of what he had done to his family.

Obito woke up screaming after dream Steve had killed him for Madara's crimes.

He quickly calmed himself down and looked at the time. Ten minutes after seven. Apparently, even on the run, old habits die hard.

Obito quickly got up, whipped the tears off his face, and got dressed.

He had ditched everything with an Uchiha crest and bought some new clothes as soon as he'd gotten away from the village. He didn't want to stand out, so he got very simple clothes. Black or blue shirts and black pants. He couldn't part with his orange goggles, so he kept them on where his Leaf Village head band was supposed to be. It felt really weird having nothing there anyway, so having those there helped with the weird feeling.

He'd kept his headband too. Wrapped in a shirt in the bottom of his bag. After all, he planned to go back after he'd found Madara to prove that he hadn't actually done anything.

Was being an accomplice in someone's death a crime if they weren't dead and asked for your help? Well, if so then he supposed he couldn't say he hadn't done anything, but he certainly hadn't killed his family, so he could prove that at least.

He rushed out as soon as he was dressed and packed. He payed for the room and ran to the bar to meet Kakashi.

He stopped at a coffee shop on the way. It made him a few minutes later, but it did get him something to eat, and he got Kakashi a coffee as a peace offering for the lateness.

"Hey, sorry. The line at the shop was super long, and then I had to help the barrista when she spilled some stuff, but I'm here now, and I brought coffee." Obito said, grinning at Kakashi and holding out the cup.

It didn't look like his new traveling companion was buying his bullshit, but he accepted the coffee nonetheless. And okay, Obito was really hoping to see what Kakashi's face looked like. It probably had more to do with buying him coffee than it being a peace offering did.

"It's not a problem. Thank you for the coffee. Shall we get going?"

"Yeah. What way are we going?" Obito asked, glancing around at their road options.

When he looked back at Kakashi the other ninja had already finished the coffee, and pulled up his mask. He was throwing away the now empty cup.

Obito made a silent promise to himself that he would see Kakashi's face eventually. It might have to be when he got back, but he'd see it.

"That way." Kakashi said, pointing towards the woods instead of one of the roads.

"The woods?"

"Yes. It's a lot faster."

Obito was getting kind of sick of hiking through woods, but he was all for faster. "Well then, a hike through the woods it is. Lead the way."