Moonlight shimmers over Kakashi's silver hair, as he's sat by the window sill, chin cupped in hand.

A melancholy sigh drifts across the room as Kakashi wonders how he'd missed all of these signs Obito exudes from his body, the first time around; this staunch, unrelenting trust Obito has for his teammates. Kakashi doesn't think he could've said the same when he was thirteen - not until it was far too late and Obito had already substituted him beneath falling rocks.

Yet Kakashi hasn't done anything as drastic, nor given any indication he is anything but a social recluse.

Still, Obito believes. Not to Kakashi's face, of course, because they're boys, and matters of emotions and feelings are hidden behind layers of subterfuge in order to seem like the strong dependent men they pretend to be. But it's there for anyone willing to give it a glance, and maybe that's why Minato had never doubted the growth of his team, because Obito is there trying and trying, and sooner or later it had to rub off on Kakashi.

Yet Kakashi had been so blind, doing no justice to the title of prodigy they label him as.

Their bond, which could've been so fierce and unyielding, was absent because of a teenager who thought the world was out to get him, who crushed any hope of a building foundation between them in an attempt to save himself.

Kakashi mourns for the loss.

With careful motions, Kakashi pulls the hitai-ate off his forehead, cradled in hands too small and pale. Though it's not the anticipated item, it's a suitable substitute for cracked orange goggles sequestered in an apartment that no longer exists. That pair is gone, unable to be treasured properly and preciously with the care it deserves, but perhaps that's for the better, because the clean, whole, version is perched on top of a mop of raven hair, used for its true purpose once more.

He closes his eyes, breathing a controlled even, hands curled around the headband on his lap.

In the silence of the night, Obito's firm declarations echo in Kakashi's mind once more, words Kakashi adds to the list to live by. It's right there beside Obito's nindo and Obito's lesson to cherish friends over static rules, because Kakashi's life had been grey and drab until Obito recklessly bursted into it and taught him how to truly live.

He knows better than to disregard Obito's rare words of wisdom these days.

It doesn't mean it's still not jarring, this blunt, steadfast faith Obito has in him, when Kakashi can't feel the same for himself. Perhaps he had, once upon a time, but that all dissipated into smoke and ash as friends and family slipped through his feeble grasp.

So maybe Obito shouldn't, because he's shown no results but provide constant additions to the growing list of names carved onto the memorial stone, and become the ultimate cause to the end of the world. Yet the undeniable fact Obito does, pulls something warm and soothing in Kakashi's heart; fills up the hole that unheard apologies never managed.

A small, wistful smile blooms without his knowledge.

Sometimes Kakashi wonders if perhaps, maybe, possibly, he'd been wrong all this time; that the future Obito who constantly plagues his current nightmares isn't all that much of a stranger compared to the Obito he once knew. Though Obito's trust in Kakashi may be buried under layers and layers of hurt over the years, it was never lost completely – it can't, for something that strong.

Maybe Obito is still Obito, underneath it all, and maybe Kakashi hadn't mistaken that glimpse of his – their, Team Minato's – Obito underneath the malevolent being he'd become, and this isn't a nightmare he's forcing Kakashi to re-enact; rather atonement in the only way possible. There's only so much 'sorry's can do to bandage the countless families and dreams he'd destroyed, and while time-traveling is a bit of a drastic act, he doesn't expect anything less from Obito.

Kakashi pushes open the window to swing up and perch precariously on the rooftop, to bask under the illuminating moonlight blanketing over the whole of the village. The moon is still effulgently white, despite repetitive checks, and will continue to be so a dozen checks more.

Kakashi wonders if it is alright for him to hope.

Training without Minato is a boring affair, and more often than not Obito finds himself alone as he and his teammates opt to practice independently. It's not that they prefer it, not Obito at least, but it's easier to schedule when the need to worry for everyone else's plans is not tying them up.

Today though, Obito has Kakashi with him, working on a jutsu he can't master without assistance. His first choice had been Rin, but she had been busy with her own list of projects – somehow he didn't expect Kakashi to agree.

Yet here they are now.

"Your Horse seal needs adjusting. The rough transition from Horse to Tiger is throwing off your control," Kakashi is saying, oddly civil, with the air of someone familiar with the ways of instructing shinobi. Though the idea is preposterous because a solitary person like Kakashi doesn't talk to others unless forced otherwise, let alone interact enough to accumulate the experience of a teacher.

Still, "Uh, yeah, okay," Obito replies, amenably deciding to give Kakashi's advice a chance, because why would he steer him wrong when they both realise that the sooner Obito masters the jutsu, the sooner they're free from each other's presence? Then he's momentarily amazed at how effective the small tweak alters his results. "How did you know that?"

"Logic," Kakashi utters, short and unhelpful.

Obito rolls his eyes and studies the other teen for clues of his knowledge, not that he knows what to search for.

Kakashi, though, quickly reverts back to his usual behaviour under Obito's intense scrutiny. "If you're not training, I'm leaving," Kakashi says brusquely, looking ever so ready to do so.

Obito scrambles to regain focus. His pride is already suffering from the need to plead for Kakashi's assistance, and he refuses to undergo it once more.

The morning passes quickly after that.

It's a long time later before Obito's mind wanders yet again.

Kakashi appears distracted. There's a hush in him, as he observes Obito's progress, that feels incongruous and sacred. Obito finds himself staring blatantly back just to trace to the cause of the anomaly, Kakashi's threat be damned; because say what you will about Obito's ability to observe in battle, this is his teammate and Obito is dependable in matters of friends and family.

Yet, even he never expects the sudden recognition that creeps into his mind, flaunting so obvious before his very eyes that Obito would've noticed sooner if Kakashi hasn't been attempting to fade into the background so often lately, trying to escape as a player of their world in this game of life.

Obito's mind sputters to a halt, fingers crossing into the wrong signs. His jutsu explodes to stars in his face, but ignored in favour of the startling deduction.

"You have got to be kidding me," he mutters to himself, and try as he may to dismiss the notion, further observation only hardens the fact.

"What?" Kakashi says when he finally deems Obito's wordless stare too long and uncomfortable.

Obito takes his word as an invitation. He drops his hands from useless, half-hearted, half-forgotten seals and faces him resolutely. There is an uncertainty of how to breach the issue, but his impulse is tried and true. "Hey, let me see your face," he demands to his teammate, rather than anything subtle.

Kakashi reacts to his sudden request with a blink and a frown, deflecting with a, "It's just a normal face," like typical, so Obito goes for normal as well.

"Liar! You wouldn't have it covered if it was, so show me."

But then Kakashi glances at him, fleeting, and with the smallest hint of subconscious disappointment that has Obito wishing bantering with Kakashi wasn't so easy to fall habit to. Though it does solidify the certainty that he indeed knows what he thinks he knows, because those eyes echo an image of a nameless teen Obito thought he despised like an unworthy rival.

"I've already seen it, haven't I?" Obito asks abruptly, and it's more of a statement than anything.

Kakashi sighs, then shrugs in a gesture that's short and useless and can be taken either way. But Obito knows, and refuses to be shaken into doubt.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Obito roars to overpower the rushing blood to his cheeks. Because Kakashi had ample opportunity to tell him while Obito had been floundering about, seeking out that formerly anonymous teen, but he ignored all occasions to do so. "Don't think you can lie your way out of this! I know it was you."

There is a low rumble that distantly reminds him of a chuckle, low and heavy from between Kakashi's breath. "I haven't lied about anything," he only says in response and Obito remembers that night under the pour of rain once more, and those vicious words the teen had directed at Kakashi – at himself.

His emotions ebb numb under his skin.

The expected anger at Kakashi's concealment of identity doesn't burst forth, or at least it's ephemeral, because there'd been no hidden agenda to pull Obito into a trap of illusions and tricks at his expense. Obito himself had been nothing more than a catalyst, unknowingly slipped into that role when he first stumbled upon a solitary teen drowning under heavy rain. He heard Kakashi and he knows there had been nothing mocking in his tone.

"You idiot," Obito says, in reflex, only to pull up memories of Kakashi calling himself one, along with so many other self-belittling words that had Obito's fists aching to lash out, and he spent four years trading daily taunts with Kakashi.

Kakashi's mouth opens.

"Shut up," Obito interjects, before Kakashi can get anything in – to agree or deny, whatever his words, Obito will not let them free from their confines, because he has a feeling he knows which choice it'll be, and it's the last thing Obito wants to hear.

But he still does, because Kakashi is never one to follow his orders. "I deserve that," he says with a brittle laugh that ages his boyish countenance decades more. Worse yet, he sounds relieved at Obito's abuse. There's something about him, so full of sorrow and regret, that stirs emotions deep within the confines of Obito's soul.

"You can't say that, that's my job," Obito argues. He's the only one allowed to insult his teammates, even if his opponent is the person himself. "You're not supposed to just accept it!"

"Mmmm," Kakashi agrees mutely, mostly to humour him.

Obito has a feeling the Kakashi who is filled with penitence and weaknesses is his true form, seen where it's no longer concealed behind masks both literal and figurative. He is bitter, curled up in an animosity that stems from himself, and it is nothing like the strong, apathetic loner Obito had always mentally branded him as. It's worrying and disconcerting, and tilts the world off its axis.

Obito stumbles over his thoughts from this bizarre navigation, and words slip through before he means it. "You're not the Kakashi I know."

Kakashi regards his statement considerately, wiry smile on his lips. Then he actually responds, though his answer is nowhere near desirable.

"You don't want the Kakashi you know," he tells him, and Obito approves even less. While his previous words had been hostile in his constant belittling of his own skill, this is pure rejection of his entire existence.

"At least that Kakashi does things for a reason. You scorn and hate and deny facts for some stupid delusion. That Kakashi may be a bastard but I trust him because he trusts himself," Obito argues, frustration taking root – except Obito is not certain whether it is in regard to Kakashi's baseless words, or Kakashi's inability to understand why Obito doesn't approve.

"He's also liable to let you die," Kakashi adds, and maybe Obito is the one at fault for disassociating the current and past Kakashi due to the striking personality differences, but that is no reason for Kakashi to do the same and transform their discussion to one reminiscent of arguments when his identity was still unknown.

"He is you!" Obito cries out to the madness.

Kakashi acts as though he doesn't hear. "-and lead the shinobi nation to war and its demise," he continues, and while unnecessarily melodramatic, Obito wonders if this conversation has a purpose other than making him thoroughly confused.

The only message Obito can unearth from these convoluted talks is that Kakashi has an unhealthy lack of belief in himself, and unafraid to convince others of its false truth. Kakashi seems eager to push them away, to appear unreliable and unworthy, despite Obito's knowledge otherwise.

Obito wants to proclaim this development as recent, except the hatred seems tainted into Kakashi's very soul, like it has been feeding on his emotions, smoldering, for a long, long time. It is equally remorseful and horrifying to realise he had never detected such a monumental thing until now, because it's grown into something so deep-rooted and tumorous that Obito fears will never wash out.

Worse, Kakashi doesn't even wish to try. "Just so you are aware," he only finishes, with a flimsy smile that hurts to witness, before falling silent as if accomplishing his penance. He's treating Obito like a mute stone statue, to confide his soul's black truths – and seems so natural doing so.

But Kakashi has forgotten one thing: that Obito has a voice and is none too shy to use it.

Obito growls under his breath.

"Damn it, Bakakashi," he snaps at last, words slipping out without a plan. "If you can't love yourself, we'll do it for you – Minato-sensei, and Rin, and me. We'll love you so much it'll hurt and you'll have no one to blame but yourself for being so self-deprecating and stupid." The words are crude, nonetheless so very true.

A frown mars Kakashi's face, like the concept is so foreign, and perhaps, him undeserving.

But that is Kakashi's problem, not Obito's, and he'll just have to learn to accept it.

"The moon was white again last night, by the way," Obito adds before he can interrupt, because though he doesn't understand the significance the colouring of the moon holds to Kakashi, he does know Kakashi needs it and it's something he can readily supply.

Kakashi studies him, startled at his goodwill, but Obito said, didn't he, that he would flood Kakashi with his love?

Kakashi stretches his neck back to glance upwards, though it's more in habit because the sun is out and it's impossible to verify Obito's words when the moon in question is nowhere in sight. Still, Obito lets Kakashi do as he will, because he's a patient, caring friend.

It's a little while later before Kakashi returns his eyes to the world of the living, blinking stars out of his sight, but face stoic as ever.

"Don't believe me?" Obito sulks, and it's partly teasing, partly dejected, because it's not like he expects Kakashi's attitude towards him to change in under a day, but the least he can do is have a little faith in him.

But then Kakashi looks over, posture relaxing, and Obito feels Kakashi is finally looking properly at him this time, without the unseen ghosts that pull constantly at his attention. His eyes are no longer subconsciously shuttered close.

Obito's guard lowers. "Do you believe me?" he can't help but probe one additional time, though his heart is palpitating in his chest, wondering if he's pushing this budding friendship too hard.

Kakashi's expression, however, is soft in all the right places. "Yes, I do," he replies, like it's simply fact. "Thank you."

…Then to Obito's unsuspecting gaze, he hooks down his mask and grins earnestly, just for him.

a/n: I wasn't sure if that 'mute stone statue' line called up the thought of the memorial stone to anyone? I was trying to go for Kakashi treating him like memorial stone!Obito instead of alive!Obito.

Aaaand I'm finished. There wasn't a time-travel reveal, but there was an identity reveal, so good enough :)