In the end, after Kakashi was done standing at the memorial stone and I had created the baseline of a plan in my mind, we didn't get to choose where we were going to stay in the future.
As Kakashi made his way back over to me, I saw the distinctive flash of an orange mask amongst the tree's leaves. At this point, anything orange was enough to set me off and make me panic. I took a step back at first glimpse of the color, then spun on the spot towards Kakashi. I made an abortive gesture at him, both reaching for him instinctively and trying to push him away at once as I tried to cry out his name.
"Ka – !" However, as I tried to scream for Kakashi who was already making his way towards me, concerned at my behavior, there was a rustling of the leaves, this time a noticeable sound that made Kakashi increase his speed towards me.
I could see out of the corner of my eye as an orange, black and red blur sped out of its hiding place in the tree, flying towards me on the ground. Faster than I could comprehend, Kakashi was there with a loud CLANG! As his kunai clashed with Obito's, Kakashi shoved me back so that I was further away from Obito. Despite the hard push, I stumbled back, but managed to keep myself on my feet.
Obito and Kakashi had their kunai straining against each other as each of their one eye stared down the other in front of them. No words were exchanged, just silent anger. I could see the tension bleeding from their bodies; held taut like a band about to be snapped.
Instinctively, I wanted to run between the two and tell them to stop, but I knew that it would be useless, and that this wasn't the Obito and Kakashi of young. This would be a death match. Even though I was no match for either and had no place in this game of survival, I wasn't going to sit back and do nothing.
I activated my chakra scalpel in both of my hands and took a moment to glance at their elongated blades that shimmered over my hands and fingers. Without another thought, I threw myself at Obito, moving more instinctively than with thought.
He pulled away from Kakashi as my chakra scalpel sliced right where he had been mere milliseconds before. Kakashi didn't waste any time engaging Obito as well. Obito's movements were smooth and wasted no energy as he almost elegantly weaved and bent around both my scalpels and Kakashi's kunai.
Where I lacked any recent training, Kakashi made up for it, using any openings I created as a way to both cover me and make an attempt at Obito. I felt like a burden, but knew that Kakashi at this point in time was not capable of defeating Obito. While I may have been more in the way for Kakashi, I was also in the way of Obito.
Obito had to be careful about any moves he made with me nearby. His want me for to be captured with no significant damage told me that I was still a piece he treasured enough to both limit himself and hold back against Kakashi to avoid hurting me. I used this to my advantage as Kakashi and I kept up momentum against him.
I swiped my scalpel where his neck was, and while it was expected of him to deftly move out of the way just in the nick of time with ease that was breathtaking, what was unexpected was his arm that threw itself out at me in a grabbing motion. With the hand that hadn't attempted to remove his head from his shoulders, I brought it up to abort his movement and potentially damage him if he continued his reach for me.
Despite the scalpel in his hand's way, his hand continued, even passing through my scalpel like it was a mere mirage and not a dangerous weapon and materializing into physicality again just in time to grasp my wrist in a tight and threatening grip.
With me in his grip, I felt a bubble of panic, but attempted to push it down, instead using the free hand to shove into where his forehead was at the same time that Kakashi yelled my name and leaped forward with a rush and raise kunai. His killing intent was strong and almost smothering, but at the same time comforting.
Obito threw his other hand up to catch the wrist of the hand attempted to stab into his brain with laughable ease. In response, I jabbed the heel of my foot in his gut, feeling triumphant as he grunted in pain, unable to escape the attack without releasing me. Despite the hard kick to his stomach, he held onto my wrists as he bent over for a moment to catch his bearings.
Within the next millisecond, Kakashi had made it to us and Obito was forced to move quickly, swiveling us around so that he blocked me from Kakashi's sight. Kakashi's kunai passed through Obito's back and as I caught the look in Obito's eye, panic still arising in me, I yelled, "Stop!"
Kakashi kept the kunai through Obito's back and chest, the kunai just poking out of his chest towards me. All three of us stayed in that awkward position, myself held in place by Obito, Obito blocking me from Kakashi, and Kakashi attempting to stab our wayward third teammate.
Kakashi and Obito were both breathing heavily, Kakashi most likely from anger and his stress, and Obito from the strain of holding his technique.
I knew from my knowledge of the series, that Obito had a time limit of five minutes of being able to hold his technique, kamui. I had the barest of a moment wondering, did I dare attempt to kill him with chakra exhaustion? Could Kakashi and I do it? There was no way to communicate the crazy idea with Kakashi now, but Kakashi made no effort to move his kunai from its lodging in Obito's chest and Obito seemed hesitant to move.
"Obito, stop this!" I hissed at him, glaring at his one eye as it stared back with a mixture of pain and longing. "I told Kakashi who you were. I told Tsunade your plans. Please, you have to stop. You're not helping anyone by going through this harebrained idea!" I wasn't sure whether my attempt to talk him down was to truly appeal to him, to distract him, to try to kill him with chakra exhaustion, or simply to save both Kakashi and I.
When Obito spoke, it wasn't his Madara voice that he used around others, and it wasn't his Tobi voice that was the thing of nightmares when you knew who he truly was. "Oh, but Rin, have you told Kakashi who you truly are? How you came to be here?" His tone was menacing, sly and dangerous.
A sliver of fear shot through my spine and a bucket of rocks settled in my stomach. Rather than acknowledge the danger in his tone, I kept myself from reacting to his words and threat. I stared him down with a baring of teeth. "Kakashi knows." I threw back at him. "He's helped me come to terms with my death, with what I've done to both of you." I gritted my teeth before forging on with my words, knowing they needed to be said. "I'm sorry, Obito, for what I put you through and influencing you into becoming this monster. But I cannot condone what you're doing, and I cannot forgive what you've done!"
He scoffed, his eye now narrowing with anger and a sliver of hatred burning in the red eye. "Don't be so thick, Rin, I chose to do this. I need to do this for all those who are suffering. I will end that suffering for good."
I made a disbelieving noise in the back of my throat, absentmindedly noting it had been almost two minutes so far of his constant use of kamui. "Don't act like you're some hero doing everyone a favor. Did we ask you to do this? Did anyone ask you? No. No one did, except Madara. He asked you, but he's not here anymore, so what's the point in going through with this? No one here wants you to do this, Obito."
When he spoke, the words were strained with frustration and a slight tinge of hurt. "I thought you of all people would understand, Rin. After all, you were the one who was killed!" The last word was nearly yelled, the sound of gnashing teeth accompanying the word.
"That's the problem, Obito, you haven't learned how to move on!" I felt my body almost drain of energy at my words, feeling the weight of what I said. "For fuck's sake, Obito, I haven't been able to move on, and everyone knows that Kakashi struggles with what he's been through, as well. I'm not telling you that you can't grieve, Obito, and that you can't use the past to advance your future, but lingering on what happened seventeen years ago isn't helping you!"
I tried to jerk away from his grip which was loosening just the slightest, but he immediately tightened his grip. It'd been over three minutes now.
"That's easy for you to say, Rin, when you haven't had to deal with this for those seventeen years."
A low sound of anger built in the back of my throat. "Just because I wasn't in your position doesn't mean I don't have things I have to turn my back to and move on from, Obito. Some days it's hard. Some days all I want to do is turn my brain off. Some days I want to take a kunai and force myself to forget."
I heard Kakashi make an almost choking noise on the other side of Obito as his kunai wavered just a little at my words. Obito himself had tensed even more at my words, his eye tightening even more.
"We all have our traumas, Obito," I continued with force, "You're right to be upset by what you went through." I pushed myself closer into him as I said this. "We deal with trauma in different ways. All three of us have dealt with it differently. But the one thing that's unacceptable is justifying your hurting of others through your trauma."
A wordless sound of rage escaped his mouth at my words. "It's not about trauma, Rin, I'm saving the entire ninja world, whether anyone likes it or not. No one will stop me, not even you." His words were said lowly, an undertone of malice tinging his words. Before I could respond to him, he let go of me and threw himself forward beyond my body.
I twisted around to look at him, Kakashi in front of me not even a beat later as we stared at an enraged and gasping for breath Obito. I had never seen him like this, but as I watched him struggle, the count I had going in the back of my head had stopped suddenly on four minutes and thirty five seconds. Obito was almost out of chakra, and he knew it. He couldn't continue this fight.
Kakashi, despite not fully knowing what I knew, seemed to understand what was going on in front of us. He kept his kunai steady in front of him and his body blocking mine from view. When I carefully peeked over Kakashi's shoulder, I saw Obito's intense glare meeting my resigned one before his lone eye flicked up to Kakashi where it flashed with hatred.
"Just leave, Obito," Kakashi said firmly, not an ounce of emotion in his voice.
"You'll regret this, Kakashi," Were Obito's final words as he disappeared in front of us with the use of his kamui once more.
Kakashi immediately dropped his stance and swiveled around in his spot before yanking me into his arms. "What were you thinking?" He asked harshly.
"I'm thinking that I figured out his weakness, and how we can defeat him in the future, Kakashi." Kakashi reared back at my words, his face weary and tired.
He shook his head at me before gripping my arm tightly. The sensation of the shunshin was not pleasant, but I was shocked by the room I was in. I looked around, shaking off Kakashi's tight grip. It looked like he'd brought us to his apartment based on the large dog bed sitting in the corner of his room and the bedspread that had shuriken on it.
I turned back to him only to see him drag a hand down his face with a sigh. I held back what I wanted to say, instead waiting for him to address me.
"Straight to bed, Rin, I'm too tired for this right now." As I looked up at him, I could see the lack of energy in his pose, the weariness that dragged his shoulders down just like the shame and guilt had dragged mine down just a few hours earlier.
I wanted to talk about what just happened. I wanted to assess his mental state. Instead, I pushed those feelings back and locked them up. "Okay," I agreed as I reached down to clasp his hand and dragged him to the bed. We didn't change our clothes, just climbed into bed together. I allowed him to pull me into his embrace without a word.