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01.
Obito survives.
He doesn't blame Rin - he thought he was going to die. Somehow, though, Minato-sensei clawed his way through the rock and yanked Obito upward.
Years pass, and Obito suffers the ghost pains of the crush injuries he received, the sudden electric sting of nerves still only half-wired together. Obito's right eye is permanently bloodshot, and the socket where his left eye had been leers at him like an open mouth.
xXx
.
"I cannot believe you gave him your Sharingan," the clan elder says. "Look at you. An Uchiha shinobi at the prime of his life! And yet he is being bested--" the elder wails, "--by the man who stole your eye!"
"He didn't steal it!" Obito says. "I gave it to him."
The rest of the council glares.
xXx
.
At night, Rin worries over his body like a mother hen, delicately mapping the extent of his scars.
Though Obito would never even think of taking it back, with the rest of his injuries, transplanting his left eye again is nearly impossible. Recovery is difficult, and Obito teeters precariously on his feet, leaning against his crutches for support. His entire right side of his body is badly mangled, and his remaining right eye can hardly see.
"I guess we jumped the gun, huh?" Kakashi says, but Obito doesn't need to see him to know he feels pretty awful, too.
xXx
.
She starts dating him two months after the incident, mostly because she feels sorry for him, but also because Kakashi had guilt-tripped her, reminding her that Obito had sacrificed himself for her, and what would happen if he had died?
"Imagine if Minato-sensei hadn't gotten to him," Kakashi says. "He risked his life to save you. And look at him now! He grins like an idiot even if you just touch his hand."
"I don't know," Rin says. "He's like a goofy brother to me. I just don't see him that way."
"I would have abandoned you," Kakashi says. "You owe him your life."
(In the background, Obito eavesdrops, hiding behind a tree and manfully trying not to throw up).
xXx
.
Their first few dates together, Obito makes an ass of himself: he trips over his shoelaces and spills food all over Rin's fancy shirt.
"How about this?" Kakashi says, and he waves the copy of Make-Out Tactics in front of him.
Obito's ears are red when he looks at the flavored condoms from the 24-hour convenience store.
xXx
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Obito has a list of things he loves about Rin: her hair; the way she smiles; how she's so much smarter than him, but she likes him and she doesn't mind.
His eyes are squeezed shut when he kisses her for the first time, lips fish-puckered in a very un-Makeout Tactic pose.
Rin laughs and it hurts Obito's feelings. But she kisses him again and Obito smiles.
xXx
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02.
Obito is late the day the Sandaime announces his retirement; he rushes past the civilians, knocking into shoulders and pushing through the crowd.
"What'd I miss?" Obito asks. He's panting and he's dizzy from the heat.
"You're late! I can't believe you'd miss this!" Rin says.
"O-oi! I didn't mean to! There was a girl scout trying to cross the street--"
"Baka! Sensei became Hokage!" Rin says.
"What?" Obito says.
xXx
.
Minato-sensei looks stately in his Hokage robes, and Obito is almost intimidated. Almost, except this is his sensei and Obito is so proud, he jumps and hollers and bellows from the trees, "That's my sensei! Look at that!" and his face is split in a wide-mouthed grin.
Rin and Kakashi beam quietly, while Jiraiya-sama laughs and claps Minato on the shoulder.
xXx
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When the Nine-Tails comes, the village is in disarray, and Rin sobs when she hears how their sensei died.
For the first time in a long time, Obito pulls on his goggles.
xXx
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The Sandaime lays down his decree: "No one is to tell the child about the Kyuubi, and most importantly, about his father." Obito and Rin kneel gravely while Kakashi stands behind them, holding the baby in his arms.
Only a handful of Konoha nin know the truth of Naruto's parentage, Obito included. But everyone knows the infant houses the Kyuubi, and the knowledge makes Obito sad.
"Obito, it can't be helped," Rin says, so Obito compensates by visiting the kid at the orphanage every day. At sixteen, he's too young to raise the baby himself, but he'll be damned if he lets Minato-sensei down.
(Later, Naruto will recall that one of his earliest memories is of Obito sneaking sweets into the orphange and getting yelled at by the civilians. Rin had yelled at him that day, saying he'd make an awful dad, he's too irresponsible).
xXx
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03.
When Rin is promoted, Obito brags to the rest of the village he's dating a jounin, so don't even think about messing with him!
"You're just too stupid to feel embarrassed, aren't you?" Kakashi says.
xXx
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Obito becomes a desk-jockey shinobi: he teaches at the Academy, showing youngsters how to throw kunai and occasionally how to read.
The Uchiha, of course, are mortified, while the Hyuuga take smug satisfaction that none of their clan members would stoop so low.
"Aren't you bored?" Kakashi asks. He's back from another top-secret ANBU mission - something about infiltrating the Iwa and neutralizing a foreign threat - but he's made it just in time for Ramen at Obito's favorite stand. "Obito. This doesn't suit you."
"It suits me fine," Obito says. He rubs his head, grinning. "They call me 'Obito-sensei,' can you believe that? Naruto's calling me that, too," Obito says, and he ruffles the toddler's hair. "Right, Naruto?"
"Huh," Kakashi says. The blond toddler kicks his legs, knocking into Kakashi's stool.
xXx
.
There's a question Obito wants to ask, but first he goes to the bathroom and smooths down his hair. He checks his teeth and fixes the collar of his shirt, then checks out his profile, side-to-side: there is a scar across his face from where the rocks fell, but Obito doesn't really care.
"So?" Obito says. He grips Rin's hands. "Will you...I mean...?"
"Yes!" Rin says. She throws her arms around Obito's neck; he staggers backward under the force of her weight. "Yes, yes!"
"Really?" Obito says. He holds her, stunned. "You'll marry me?"
"I already told you, stupid!"
Obito grins like an idiot. He hoists Rin up, spinning her around the training grounds.
"She said yes!" Obito says. Around them, curious shinobi line up, wondering what the hell is the fuss about. "She's said yes!"
"We heard," a Hyuuga chuunin says. The others roll their eyes.
xXx
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The day the elders start planning the Uchiha coup, Obito is the only one who objects.
"You guys are stupid!" Obito says. "You can't rebel! You'll destabilize the village - everyone will attack!"
"Obito, this is not your concern," Fugaku says.
"Doesn't anyone remember the war?" Obito says. He stands up, shaking. "Everyone died so we could be at peace! And you're just going to throw that away!"
"Enough!" Fugaku says. "Obito, sit down."
"If you go through with this, I'll tell the Hokage," Obito says. "If you go through with this I'll tell everyone what I know!"
The council is in an uproar. In the background, Uchiha Itachi stands silently in the corner, dark eyes lowered and staring at the ground.
xXx
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Fortunately, the threat of exposing the coup is enough to silence the clan: the Uchiha police force have no right to detain him, and so Obito is allowed to go as he pleases. Unfortunately for him, the whole clan has good reason to hate him now, glaring hard and adding to the list of his shortcomings.
The children of the Uchiha shinobi are pulled out from Obito's classes: he watches as little Sasuke glances back, his father yanking him forward by the hand.
xXx
.
Uchiha Obito does not have the Sharingan; his right eye crushed and his left eye gone, he is as good as dead in the eyes of the rest of his clan.
But he has Rin though, and Kakashi, and the sick twisted knowledge that because of him, Kakashi has the Mangekyou Sharingan. His eye is the most powerful eye in the land, even if technically he isn't the one using it. Even if he is a half-blind no-talent cripple who gave away his Sharingan to a non-member of his clan....
He tells everyone it's okay, and the teachers at the Academy grin, good old Obito, he sure knows how to bounce back! but no one knows about the coup and the anger and the feeling of being motherfucking shunned, and how the hurt can stifle you so much that you just can't breathe.
xXx
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When Obito wakes up in the middle of the night, skin clammy with the weight of a thousand boulders crushing down on him, he'll turn on his side and see Rin sleeping beside him, and he'll remember that things could have been much much worse.
xXx
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04.
Rin is really good at hugging. Obito can't quite figure it out, but he's pretty sure it's some secret girl trick that makes everybody feel better. Sometimes she'll step behind him and hug him from behind; other times she'll flop on top of him and hug him from the side. Sometimes she'll add kisses too, and Obito will just grin and grin and his ears would turn red like the first time he looked at those flavored condoms when he was just a kid.
When they find out she's pregnant, Rin tackle hugs him with such force that he staggers backward onto the bed.
Obito doesn't stop smiling for days.
xXx
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Suddenly, all those top-secret missions Rin's been going on scares Obito to death.
"Can't they send another medic?" Obito asks. Rin packs her bags resolutely, folding her clothes and shoving a vial of soldier pills into her pack. "You're pregnant! What if you get hurt?"
"I'm the only one who can do this," Rin says. She shuts her suitcase with a hard snap. "It's a reconnaissance mission; in and out. It'll be okay."
Obito watches darkly as Rin leaves, joining with the other nameless faceless jounin outside.
xXx
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Kakashi is the one who tells him the news.
Obito is a flurry of spastic movements, barreling down the hallway like a wounded bull. "Rin? Where is she? Rin!"
"She's fine," Shizune says. Obito pushes past her, face pale and heart pounding, throwing open the door.
Rin is crying. There are dark circles under her eyes and she clenches her eyes, tight.
"The baby," Rin says. "Obito...."
Obito falls on his knees. Then he gathers Rin up in his arms.
xXx
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05.
One night, Obito is grading papers in the classroom when he hears an explosion fall.
Obito rushes to the window to see the high column of smoke risking from the Uchiha compound.
The papers scatter as Obito rushes outside.
xXx
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Obito, as it turns out, is only one of two survivors from the Uchiha clan.
Obito had long moved out of the Uchiha estate; it was only by sheer luck that he wasn't there when Madara decided to attack. When the ANBU squad comes, they find little Sasuke hiding in the secret room under the third tatami mat; his brother had hid him there before rushing out to fight Madara outside.
"He tried to save them," Kakashi says. He kneels by Itachi's body, pulling the covers over his face. "But if what Sasuke-kun said was true, he was up against the Mangekyou Sharingan; he didn't stand a chance."
Obito glances back at Sasuke, who is huddled in a corner with a blanket around his back. "He saved his life," Obito says.
"Yeah," Kakashi says. Both men wonder silently what the hell to do.
xXx
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Sasuke sleeps in the spare room that was supposed to be the baby's nursery; with effort, Obito pushes out the crib and the toys and rolls out the heavy sleeping mat on the ground. "He's had a tough night," Rin says. They speak in furtive whispers so that Sasuke doesn't hear. "He's finally asleep. Hopefully he won't wake up."
She sits beside Obito and holds his hand. "Are you okay?" Rin asks. Obito nods, dully.
"I'm better than he is, definitely," Obito says. "Maybe it hasn't hit me yet."
"Maybe," Rin says.
They sit and say nothing for a long time, Rin holding a cup of coffee while Obito stares at his hands.
xXx
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06.
The years that pass do nothing to soften the blow.
"He slaughtered our clan," Sasuke says. His hands grip into fists. "Uchiha Madara. I will take revenge!"
Sasuke is moody and brilliant, and Obito feels the slightest twinge of discomfort when he realizes that at thirteen, Sasuke is more a shinobi than Obito will ever be: inexplicably, Obito is also the only adult Sasuke seems to trust.
"Obito-san. May I ask you something?" Sasuke says.
"What is it?" Obito asks. Sasuke turns his head.
"What was the war like?" Sasuke says. Obito pauses, then considers.
"It's like that night, but a hundred times worse," Obito says.
xXx
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The sun is starting to set, and Obito absently traces pictures on the ground as he speaks: he speaks of the smell of sulfur and charred flesh and comrades dying in battle, and quietly he wonders if Sasuke is still too young to understand. Sasuke's face is pinched. He sits forward, heavily.
"Itachi said you were a hero," Sasuke says, finally. "A part of me wants to go and kill Madara for what he's done. But Itachi said you were wise, and that I should listen to what you'd say." A shadow falls, and Sasuke's face darkens. "Even when my family ridiculed you, Itachi said that you were right.
I'm thinking of leaving the village," Sasuke says. He touches the spot where Orochimaru had marked him, rubbing his neck, quietly. "Orochimaru had promised me power, and maybe then I could face Madara's eyes. But I want to know what you'd want to do."
Obito is quiet. He watches the wind stir through the leaves, and the thick slants of light coming from the setting sun. "I wouldn't do anything," Obito says. Sasuke furrows his brow.
xXx
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That night, Obito lies beside Rin and stares at the ceiling. "You don't think he'll leave, do you?" he asks. Rin turns and presses a hand to his chest.
"He thinks of you as a second father," Rin says. "In any case, I think he'd listen to what you'd have to say."
After Rin falls asleep, Obito quietly moves from the bed and pushes open the door to Sasuke's room. A shock of black hair peeks out from under the blankets, but otherwise Sasuke's face is almost completely covered. He looks young and peaceful, almost how Obito looked when he was his age. Slowly, Obito sits beside him and gently adjusts the sheets. Then he stands back and looks down at him again, satisfied with the knowledge that Sasuke is going to be okay.
A/N: I made myself depressed after writing that last fic I posted, so I decided to write something where Obito actually gets the girl. It...kind of expanded from that *facepalm* Yay for rampant speculation! I couldn't help myself DD:
Also: I know in canon Sasuke never uses honorifics when he's addressing people, but I like to think that with Obito he did, since he's pretty much the one that raised him. *nods*