Chapter 27 — The Five Stages of Inadequacy

"Gate duty again?" Minato asked, taking the proffered pen so he could sign his team in. "What happened this time?"

"Hayate broke his leg," Shikuro said, nodding to his youngest student. "We're in-Village for the next week while he finishes healing."

"You broke your leg?" Obito asked, pushing his way past his teammates. He put his hands on the desk and leaned as far over it as he could to try to see. "What happened?"

Hayate shifted in his seat, wincing. "I, uh—"

"Your sister is badass!" Aoba cut in. "How come you aren't that cool, Obito?"

Obito pulled back. "What? I'm cool! I mean, Kyo-chan is cool, too, but she's not badass. I'm badass!"

"If you're badass and she's not, then how come she killed fifteen people and got her sharingan on her first mission and you didn't?" Aoba asked, cocking his head to the side and leaning one hand on the desk with the other propped on his hip. "Sounds to me like she's the badass in the family."

"Kyoko-chan did all that?" Rin asked. "What happened?"

"I only know what Shimon told me," Yuugao said. "He heard it from Ebisu, who hear it from Genma, who heard it from Raidou. Raidou was the one on the mission with her. Apparently he got real hurt, and she saved him."

"By killing fifteen people?" Rin asked, pressing her hands together. "But Kyoko-chan is— She's so small!"

"There's no way!" Obito interrupted. "She couldn't—"

"Obito," Minato interrupted, dropping a hand to his student's head. "Volume."

"But Sensei, she can't have her sharingan! I haven't even—"

"Maybe you should find out what exactly happened, first. Because if any of that is true, your sister is probably going to need someone to talk to. Right?"

Obito faltered, lowering his hands and curling them into fists. "Right. Um, she can be pretty sensitive sometimes, I guess. I should check on her."

"We can stop by to see Raidou first," Rin suggested. "He can tell us what happened, and we can bring him something for while he gets better." She turned to their sensei. "Can we?"

Minato glanced towards the Tower and nodded. "Go ahead. I'll deliver our mission completion to the Hokage alone for now, so long as you all have your written reports done to turn in tomorrow morning."

Rin smiled and straightened. "We will! Right, Obito-kun?"

Obito nodded. "Right!"

"Kakashi-kun?" she asked, looking towards their third teammate. "Are you going to come with us?"

He shrugged. "I guess. I already wrote my report."

"What! How?" Obito demanded. "We just got here!"

"Last night. When we stopped on our way back." Kakashi turned away from the gate desk and started walking. "Where does Raidou live?"

When Raidou opened the door, Rin smiled and held up the box of tea. "We brought you get well gifts."

He blinked slowly, the action looking odd due to the sheer amount of damaged skin on his face and the few bandages pulling at the edge of his left eye. "Oh, thank you." He smiled and stepped to the side. "Come on in. My mom's at work, and making something for you would be a little difficult right now," —he looked down at the arm trapped against his chest in a sling— "but I there's some leftover monaka, if you want some. I think." He paused. "Actually, I might have eaten the rest of it."

"That's okay," Rin said, leading her team inside. "Do you have something I can put these in?" she asked, taking the flowers that Kakashi was holding.

"Um—"

"Did Kyo-chan really kill fifteen people?" Obito interrupted. "Did she really get her sharingan?"

"I— What?" Raidou frowned. Or at least, he seemed to try to frown as best as he could. Almost immediately, he winced and lifted his good hand to touch the side of his nose. "She didn't."

"Aha! See? You just can't trust rumors." Obito sighed in relief and held out a hand for the flowers. "Here, I'll find a vase." Once Rin had handed them over, he pushed past them all into the kitchen and started looking through the cabinets. He found a glass vase and lifted it out.

As Obito turned to the sink, he heard Raidou clear his throat a couple times before saying, "No, it was just four people. Then Suzaku-san got us away before anyone else tried to attack us."

Something hot and angry jolted through Obito's body, and he jerked back, knocking the vase against the edge of the sink. It shattered. He tightened his hand into a fist and whirled around. "So she did get her sharingan?"

"Obito!" Rin rushed forward. "Your hand!"

"Did she? Raidou—"

"Obito!" She grabbed his wrist, twisting it so his palm was up. "You're bleeding! Hold still." She dragged his hand under the faucet and turned the water on.

Obito hissed, flinching back. "Ow," he whined.

"I'll fix it all in a second. I just have to make sure the glass is out." She frowned up at him. "You need to be more careful with yourself."

He sighed. "Yeah. Sorry." He looked down at the flowers in his other hand. "Sorry about the vase, Raidou."

"It's okay. Here." Raidou opened a cabinet and pulled down a glass. Once Rin had moved from rinsing Obito's cuts to healing them with iryo-chakra, Raidou tipped the glass under the water. He set it on the counter and put the flowers inside. "There's this, too." He opened a drawer and pulled out a small jar. He turned and held it out to her. "If it would help."

She took it and opened it. Peering inside at the ointment, she asked, "Chakra balm?"

"Kyoko-chan made it for me. For my, uh." He winced and gestured to his face.

"You were burned?" Kakashi asked, joining the conversation for the first time.

"Yeah. Tsunade-sama said I'm lucky Kyoko-chan started treating it so fast or it might've been worse. Though I probably wouldn't have made it at all without her, either."

"So Aoba was right," Kakashi mused. "She is more badass than you, Obito."

Obito huffed and stuck his tongue out at his younger teammate. Then he looked back towards Raidou. "What happened?"

Kyoko frowned when he picked them up from their Obasan's. She frowned as they walked home. She frowned while he cooked. She frowned while they ate dinner. And when Obito finally ushered Shisui off to bed, she sat on the couch and frowned. Obito returned and stood a few feet away, shuffling his feet and rubbing his arm. He cleared his throat.

"Can I have a hug?"

Obito blinked. Kyoko hadn't moved from her spot, but she wasn't frowning anymore. Instead, she was giving him a nervous smile with one hand outstretched. He grinned. "Course. You know I give the best hugs." He climbed onto the couch next to her and dragged her in close. As she gripped one of his hands with both of hers, he rested his chin on the top of her head. She was so small. There was no way she could have done anything Raidou said she had, right? She was so small.

"Kyo-chan?" he whispered. "Can I see 'em?"

She didn't say anything to that, ducking her head. Then she sighed loudly and shifted so she could face him. When she looked up, her eyes were red with one tomoe each.

Obito swallowed, staring at them. "How? It's— I don't have mine, so how did—" He yanked his hands back and dug his nails into his thighs. "It's not fair. I don't have mine. How come you're so much, so much, so much better than me? How come—"

"I love you." She blinked, and her sharingan was gone. "I'm sorry you're angry with me."

His shoulders slumped. "I'm not angry with you," he mumbled.

"You're going to get your sharingan. I promise."

"Yeah? You think so."

She smiled and turned to settle back into his arms again. "I know so."

Obito sniffled. He wrapped his arms around her tight. "I love you, too."