A/N: The original chapter was 1'818 words. This new version is 2'905 excluding this A/N. What changed is, well, a lot. I overhauled a lot of the beginning, fixed some errors and changes in perspective/tense, edited some scenes, changed some dialogue, and added entirely new scenes.

Arc I: Chapter 1: Best Day Ever to the Worst One

"Taylor!" My best friend, Brandon, shouted up to me. "Hurry up or we'll be late!" Taylor is my name, if you hadn't realized. At 16 years of age, I still lived with my parents on the outskirts of our city. My friend and I were getting ready to head off to our first Cosplay event of the year.

"I'm almost done!" I shouted back at him, before returning my attention to the mirror in front of me. I slipped a spiky black wig over my pinned-up brown hair, and gently clipped it in place. I grinned at my reflection, and turned to head downstairs, when I remembered my contacts. I grabbed a small box off of the counter, and popped it open, revealing a pair of tiny red and black lenses. These contacts were specially formatted to look like a two-tomoe Sharingan. I pulled my glasses off and none-to-gently dropped them next to some perfume. They were already cracked, so it didn't matter if I broke them futher. The contacts were also made to help me see despite my terrible, terrible vision. I placed them into my eyes and blinked at the discomfort that followed. I smirked at my reflection. "Nice." I whispered with a grin. Giving my appearance one last look-over, I exited my room and ran downstairs, almost colliding with my friend. Brandon was going as Minato Namikaze. He already had the blond hair and blue eyes, and he was tall enough to pull off the look with just a bit of hair gel. We met the rest of our group online, and had yet to really get the know them. They would be going as Rin and Kakashi. Brandon's eyes flicked to the clock behind me.

"Took you long enough. Come on, we'll only be a few minutes late at this rate." He pushed passed me to get to the front door, snatching up his car keys as he went. My already present grin widened as I skipped after him, sliding into the passenger seat of his sleek black car. He rolled his eyes and got in as well. He turned the car over, and it roared to life. He turned to me. "Ready to go?" I nodded excitedly, bouncing in my seat.

"Let's go already! Stop stalling man!" He chuckled and pulled out of the drive. A couple of sharp turns later, we were on one of the busier roads, ten minutes from the convention centre. "Hey put the radio on! This silence is boring!" Brandon rolled his eyes once again, and took a hand off the wheel to push the power button. Just as he pushed the button, the hand that remained on the wheel jerked to the left suddenly, sending us barrelling into oncoming traffic.

"SHIT!" Brandon cursed loudly. I glanced out the window fearfully, only to see a large truck on a collision course with our car. The driver of the truck's eyes widened as it slammed into us. I was flung to the side, and then my vision went dark. I could just make out an ambulance's sirens and the smell of smoke. You know, most people say that in your last moments of life, your entire pitiful existence flashes before your eyes. Unfortunately, that is not what happened to me. The last thing I remember thinking, as that vital blood-pumping organ sputtered out, was, 'I should complain to the company that makes seatbelts. Mine was faulty...'

Oh... what was that pounding in my head? Ouch, ow, fuck, why does my chest hurt so much? The horribly familiar scent of antiseptics invaded my nose as I took a shuddering breath. I forced my eyes open. The roof above my head was a blurry shade of white that slowly defined itself, with several cracks becoming visible. I attempted to pull myself into a seated position. A hand came down onto my chest and gently pushed me back down, startling me. I followed the arm up to the concerned eyes of a nurse. A nurse with one hell of a short skirt on.

"Calm down Uchiha-san. You've experienced some severe injuries. Please, let me help you up." She slid an arm behind my back and helped me into a sitting position.

"W... what...?" I croaked out, irritating my rather sore throat. Why in the world was she calling my Uchiha for? She shushed me quietly, and produced a cup of water out of seemingly nowhere.

"Shh, shh... drink." I shakily lifted an arm and grabbed the cup from her. I raised it to my lips and started gulping it down. "Slowly now!" She snatched it away from me before I could finish. I took a few deep breaths.

"Uh... miss? Where is...?" I trailed off as I glanced out the window. The view showed an older looking town, and an extremely familiar cliff-side faced me. My eyes widened. No way. I was hallucinating. That's the only possible explanation. I turned back to the nurse, just in time to catch a smile forming on her face.

"Don't worry dear. You're in Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves." I stared at her, as if she had grown another head.

"I... see. So... um, where's the washroom?" Now that I think about it, my voice sounds a bit lower than I remember. Perhaps it's because of my sore throat. Yes, that's it. She grabbed a hold of me once again, and helped me off the bed.

"Can you walk Uchiha-san?" I nodded, deciding to forgo correcting her name mistake until my bladder stops screaming for me to go. I stumbled a bit, but didn't fall since the nurse still had a tight grip on my arm. It seemed to take forever to make it to the other side of the room, where the washroom was. "Will you be okay to do this on your own? I know it would be embarrassing for you if I had to help you." I gave her a shaky smile.

"I'm sure I can do it." And with that, I entered the washroom. It had taken quite the effort to just walk across the tiny hospital room. I sucked in a few breaths, and, grabbing the counter for some support, inched forwards bit by bit to the toilet. As I fumbled with the drawstrings on the loose and uncomfortable sweatpants I was wearing, trying not to move the bandages wrapped tightly around my chest, I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. I blinked, not believing it for a second, and reached up to tug harshly on the short black spikes atop my head. "Ow, ow, ow..." My eyes widened. That had hurt! It isn't an illusion! I stared into the onyx eyes that stared back out (they should be green, green not onyx, where are my green eyes?), and bit down a yell of alarm. Why... why was Obito Uchiha staring out at me, from my reflection? Where my skin had a healthy tan to it (and freckles, far to many freckles), this skin was a healthy pale, and there wasn't a blemish on it. My reflection's black spikes (not brown, why not brown? Where is the familiar brown?) shifted as I tilted my head. The sweatpants started to fall , and I hastily grabbed hold of them. If they had fallen completely, I wasn't sure I'd be able to bend over and pick them up. It was at this point I caught sight of... it. Oh sure, I've seen plenty of... those things before, but that was because I had four older brothers, all of whom went through a stage of always wanting to be naked. But that was nothing, and I was okay with seeing those because they weren't attached to me. Oh god, how was I supposed to go to the bathroom? If I sat down, I'm sure I'd make a mess, and I probably would be too tired to stand back up. I debated with myself for a bit, before steeling my resolve. I grabbed hold of... it, and moved myself closer to the toilet. 'I can do this. It can't be that hard...'

I shook off my wet hands as I inched out of the washroom, wincing with every other step. I rubbed them off on my pants finally, before grinning triumphantly to myself. I had mastered the art of using the washroom as a male! I'm so proud of myself. A cough brought me from my prideful thoughts. My head snapped up, and my eyes immediately sought out a single, wide, grey eye. My eyes roamed over the body the eye belonged too, and widened in recognition. "K-Kakashi?" As his eye narrowed ever-so-slightly, a voice grumbled in the back of my head about Obito being late again ("You're late Obito! Show some respect for your Hokage!"). I brought a hand to my head, and frowned.

"You know our resident copy-cat?" A wizened, older voice made me turn. An elderly-looking man stood near the door, clad in white robes and a red and white hat on his head. The Third Hokage. I nodded a bit.

"Ah..." I swayed, and took a stabilizing step backwards. I've been standing for too long. I needed to rest.

"What's your full name, Uchiha-san?" I raised my arm to perform a salute and hissed out between breaths,

"Obito Uchiha, Hokage-sama." The Hokage gave me a stern look, as if not appreciating such a bold face lie. My chest gave a sharp flare of pain, making me clutch at it with a grimace.

"Perhaps you should get back into the bed now, Uchiha-san." I shuffled towards the bed, only to stop a about a metre away, a plan forming in my mind. If I looked like Obito and I sounded like him, I might as well play the part. I looked at Kakashi with a frown.

"How'd you get so tall and old?"A barely noticeable twitch was the Jounin's response. The Hokage cleared his throat, prompting me to look at him.

"What do you mean, Uchiha-san?" My hastily thrown together plan blew up in my face right at the moment, when Kakashi muttered something under his breath. His familiar voice brought out a flash of something from the back of my mind.

"It's just..." (I was thirteen, he was thirteen, we were arguing and Minato-sensei was shaking his head and Rin was laughing and oh wow her smile was so pretty) "...me and Kakashi were..." (teammates, rivals- friends if you squinted and then Rin was kidnapped and Minato-sensei wasn't there) "I mean..." (the rocks were falling and I pushed him out of the way and he was crying and Rin was fine, it was all okay, but Minato-sensei was too late and it hurt and oh how I wish I could tell Rin how I felt and we were finally a real team and the Sharingan, how I always wanted it but when I finally got it, it was gone, and my head was spinning and I couldn't see but my eye, take my eye, Kakashi please! Rin do it, I want him to have it, it's okay take it-) Feelings and wishes and memories that weren't mine flashed through my mind and someone was shaking me.

"Obito!" I trembled and, as I saw Kakashi, words started falling, unbidden, from my mouth.

"T-The rocks... the rocks were falling... and I saved you and I was crushed and... my eye... you have my eye... does it... does it work?" I could feel emotions swirl inside me, but none of them were truly mine. It was as if I was two people in one. I wiped my eyes and breathed harshly.

"...it works fine, Obito." I moved my hand over to the eye that was supposed to be resting in Kakashi's head. I had to make sure I still had it. "You still have both eyes however." I furrowed my brow, acting the part of a confused child.

"But you have mine..." I patted down my body. The feeling of being crushed lingered across the right side of me. "How did I... I was crushed. I gave you my eye. How am I standing here?"

"It appears," The Hokage started, jolting me from my pondering. "that some form of time-travel-" There was a distinctly mocking tone covering the words. "-jutsu activated when you were about to die. As you have both eyes, it must have healed you as much as it could. Now, I have a few more questions." The Hokage stared at me as I leaned against the bed tiredly.

"Yes?"

"What do you remember?" Remember? Is he implying that... his weird question opened up an escape to the corner I was backed into. "Who was your other teammate? Your sensei? What was the first mission you went on? What war did you fight in? And your parents. Who were they?" Specific questions. Specific enough that a spy would have trouble answering without giving away their status.

"My other teammate was Rin..." A blush bloomed across my face at the tidal wave of positive emotions following that simple name. I let a dopey smile appear. "She was so pretty and her smile... wow." I cleared my throat and continued on to the next question. "My sensei was Minato-sensei. I fought in the..." I blinked in fake confusion, and let a concentrated look come to my face. "...the... Third Shinobi War? Yeah. My first mission was... was..." A horror-stricken look flashed in my eyes. "M-My parents were Uchiha... Uchiha To... no that's not... what were their names?!" I grabbed my head, as flashes of an unfamiliar pair of dark-haired adults came from the back of my mind. Kakashi placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him, and he patted my shoulder reassuringly.

"Calm down. It's fine. Something must have happened to your memory. Most likely head trauma from the rocks." He said, and I nodded, dropping my hands. The Hokage coughed, drawing my attention back to him. I should ask about 'my' family.

"U-Um, Hokage-sama? C...Can I go see my parents?" He tensed, and Kakashi's hand tightened its hold on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry Obito-kun..." Dread pooled in my stomach. It was as if I was anxious to hear about the Uchiha Massacre, even though I knew all about it.

"D... did..." I swallowed roughly against the torrent of emotions rushing into my system. "Did something... happen to them?" I leaned forward, and waited for an answer. After a moment of silence, irrational anger welled up in me. I was angry that he would tell me what I already knew. (But it was mother and father and I loved them, what happened? We were playing together and father you went with the Clan Head somewhere on a mission and then I was in the Academy and-) I shook my head at the sudden memory. What the hell is going on with me?! "Tell me! What happened!" I felt my eyes flood with a warm water-like feeling, and everything snapped into even more detail than before. Was this... the Sharingan? Every wrinkle on the Hokage's face pulled down in surprise; surprise tinged with guilt that is. His eyes flicked to the window and he sighed. Kakashi's hold tightened further.

"Calm down Obito." My gaze snapped to him, and he made a barely noticeable flinch. The Third raised a hand, calling for silence.

"Kakashi, he needs to know."

"But Hokage-sama-"

"Kakashi. It was his clan." I butted in here.

"What do you mean was? I'm right here! They are my clan! It's not like they're all..." I trailed off at the look Kakashi gave me. Pity. I looked at the Hokage. 'Was I always this good at acting?' "T...They're all...?" I questioned, letting some of the dread I felt show, knowing that they'd take the question as I wanted them to. The rough feeling of raw sadness washed over me as the Hokage nodded. The Sharingan in my eyes faded. My breath hitched, my fists clenched, and tears brimmed in my eyes from the emotions that rushed through me and most definitely weren't mine (but were mine and the sadness is real and it's Grandfather Tojiro's funeral all over again and mother is crying, but Uchiha don't cry, why is she crying? And I'm crying but I don't know why I never knew him he wasn't mine-) I turned on my heels and dashed from the room, ignoring the nurses and doctors who stared at me in pity as if they knew what we had talked about. I heard Kakashi call out to me (and I wanted to turn back, I wanted to grab hold of him and ask him to never leave like Minato-sensei and Rin and Mother and Father and Grandfather Tojiro did and hope he'd help me feel better and he'd let me cry and he'd crack a joke telling me to stop being a crybaby), but I ignored him as well. I threw open the front doors and took a sharp left at the gate, running to a spot I knew (but didn't, to someplace where I could grieve and no one would find me).

"Go after him Kakashi. Bring him to my office when he's calm. I'll have Inoichi clear him."

"Yes Hokage-sama. I have a feeling that I know where he's going."

"Get to him before he starts a scene."