Day 46: Sun Room

[human_sponge]

Peter woke up suddenly, his body twisting in the bed and then forcing him to catch his breath in pain. Pain, which was coming from his middle because of the thing that had scratched him last night, and after that

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[lostonlifesroad]

By the time the nurses had taken them to breakfast, there was just enough of the shift left for Kakashi to eat. That was fine with him, since he never minded the opportunity to lose himself a book. Though it wasn't entirely possible with everything going on, the novels by Phil Randy, as bad as Jiraiya claimed them to be, still were a welcome distraction. After all, starting with the next shift, Kakashi would have to resume his duties again. It didn't bother him of course, but he knew just how important it was to take a breather every now and then too.

And it was a good thing he had. Nothing could have prepared him for what he'd find on the bulletin next time he looked.

They'd brought Obito here. Uchiha Obito, straight from Grass Country, and from the sounds of it, before Kakashi had realized how terrible his own mistakes were as a child. How many times had he read the name before it really sunk in, that it was his actual best friend, and the ninja who had influenced his life more than any other? Everything, from the philosophy Kakashi lived by to the sharingan eye that had made him infamous in the ninja world, he owed to Uchiha Obito.

Because Obito had died.

Suddenly the weight of everything that had happened since that day, both in the Institute and out, collided in Kakashi's mind with renewed fervor. All the things Obito wouldn't know, but would ask about, would expect Kakashi to provide the answers for--but how could he? What was he supposed to say? Everyone you cared for is dead, Obito. Even me. Sorry about that? Somehow, Kakashi didn't exactly feel eager about it.

Yet responsibility aside, the jounin couldn't help a childish sense of glee. He'd wanted to say so many things to the real Obito since then, words he'd only been able to speak to a stone with his name carved in it. He wouldn't understand, not the way that the spirit that lingered in Kakashi's memories had. But it was better, would be so much so, because he could see Obito flail and stumble, and then get up to prove he really did have the heart and soul of a ninja. Even if he was a crybaby.

And Kakashi could show how much he really had changed. He'd never forgiven himself for his choice to abandon Rin, because of what it had cost, and Kakashi knew that wouldn't be altered now. Still, he had the sense that if he really did let Obito see the kind of man and ninja he'd become, there'd be something gained from it. Maybe something so small as Obito not regretting the idea of his own death so much, once he found out about it.

It wasn't exactly a topic Kakashi wanted to bring up, but one he couldn't so easily avoid. Even if he didn't go into that part of what happened during the war, how long would it be before Sasuke and Obito found each other? Somehow he didn't think his student would hold back information on the massacre that had followed some years later (particularly if Kakashi couldn't talk to Sasuke first), and the assumption would naturally be there. No, it would be better for Kakashi to be the one to tell Obito, and to make sure his friend knew how significant his death was.

Now, if he could only figure out a way to do that.

First thing first though, and Kakashi moved off to the side of the Sun Room where he could easily scan the crowd. Obito would be there eventually, and Kakashi didn't want to waste any time. Not when they only had a limited amount of time to not only cover the past, but also the present danger.

[Closed to Obito. Strict reserve.]

[itsdustdammit]

To say that Obito was disoriented by the bulletin conversation would be a vast, vast understatement. Not only did it seem like Sakura was right, and people came from different times, but in Kakashi's world, sixteen years had passed. And Rin was safe. He had no reason to believe the soulless ass, but he suspected that Kakashi was one of those people who never lied to teammates. There was probably a rule about it somewhere. He'd find out soon enough, though, along with everything else. On a less important note the "you know this guy?" comments were a bit disparaging, too. In sixteen years, he should be a ninja known all across Konoha! Why the hell was Kakashi the only one who knew his name? There had better be a damn good explanation for that.

For all of this. He wolfed down the rest of his breakfast and parted ways with Sakura, thinking that he didn't like her very much. He didn't like being yelled at, period, but being yelled at because people thought he was crying was especially annoying. It made sense, though, if some weird time-thing had made Kakashi her her sensei. Was every Leaf-nin going to be that way? Minato had been patient, and Rin so kind. It would be awful if, overnight (or over 16 years), everyone had turned into Kakashi-clones.

He picked a sofa and sat down, not disguising his nervousness. He didn't like when the world around him changed, especially in such a drastic way. It left him feeling uninformed, lost, which left him feeling helpless. That was one thing Kakashi was good at, though: telling people what to think and do. As long as the kid (man?) wasn't lying, Obito should have some answers soon.

Not as soon as he expected, though. They hadn't set a specific time--no clocks, Obito noticed--but still, he'd expected Kakashi to approach him within seconds and demand why it had taken him so long to find a place to sit, or lecture him on how sitting was needlessly letting his guard down, or something like that. Obito didn't know what his teammate looked like anymore, but Kakashi was observant and never wasted a second if it could be avoided, especially when that second could be used to lecture Obito. If this was going to be a lecture. He didn't know what else to expect.

Obito's mind was sretched between nervousness, unfocused anger, and confusion. He bit his lip and waited. There was nothing else to do.

[lostonlifesroad]

And there he was. Kakashi normally could rely on his experience to keep nearly all of his physical responses in check, but just watching as the boy crossed the room made his heart start to beat a little faster. He'd known it was Obito writing, of course, but seeing him made it all the more real and undeniable. Everything, from the sour look on his face to the way he dropped down on the sofa, everything was just like it had been pulled straight from his memory. Recent events almost made Kakashi fearful that this was another illusion, that the moment he went over to Obito the boy would vanish in a puff of smoke.

But even if that was to be, even if Kakashi only had time for a single word, he knew that standing there gaping wasn't an option. Letting out a sigh, the jounin braced himself, and keeping his eye carefully closed, he crossed the room to stand in front of Obito. For once there was no effort to hide his presence or keep the younger boy from sensing his approach. And to what would surely be Obito's surprise, there wasn't even a trace of anger when he stopped in front of the boy.

Just a smile under his mask that somehow seemed a bit harder to coax out today.

"Hey, Obito."

[itsdustdammit]

The room was crowded and filled with the movements of many people who seemed to be other ninja, and time had surely changed Kakashi's methods and honed his expertise. Even if the other ninja didn't disguise his approach, the relatively sudden appearance visibly startled him (man, was he going to get a lecture for that) and Obito looked up, immediately recognizing Kakashi despite the age. Sixteen years, he'd said. More than twice as old as he'd been as a jerkass chuunin--no wait, jounin. And he'd still found some way to keep around a mask. He'd been right, the bastard. Standing a few feet away, Obito could easily tell that his former teammate was taller than him.

"Hi," Obito said, uncomfortably shifting on the cushion. It was unsettling to see Kakashi smile. Almost creepy. Obito could count on one hand--no, no hands--how many times he'd seen that before. But, the lack of anger was noticed immediately, along with the lack of lecture about being late. Had Obito been late? They hadn't set a specific meeting point, so a lecture wouldn't have been entirely fair, but it was inconceivable that Kakashi would be late himself. That would violate pretty much everything he knew about the guy. Obito had always believed that even if Kakashi had to stop along the way to fight off a dozen well-trained ninja and been badly injured in the process, he'd just bandage himself up, keep going, and show up just early enough to prepare some scathing lecture.

But there was no scathing lecture, and no anger in Kakashi's countenance. That was even more unfamiliar than the age.

Obito didn't know where to start, so he started with the obvious: the question that had made him change his mind about his refusal to meet. "We really saved Rin?" he asked, voice quiet, confused, and his expression a little stunned by the 'we.' "You changed your mind?" It could have been an accident or something, ending up in the same place even though they'd walked away back to back, but for some reason, maybe the phrasing, Obito didn't think it was. What Kakashi said about it on the bulletin--actually, everything he'd said on the bulletin--conflicted with everything Obito knew. If Kakashi hadn't been standing in front of him, he might not have believed it.

[lostonlifesroad]

Awkward didn't quite seem strong enough to describe the situation, but Kakashi knew the word fit it best. Obito was all but squirming now, and the temptation to make a joke was there, some bad excuse about being late. But that was a newer habit, something he'd picked up from Obito himself, and that the Uchiha certainly had never seen. Actions that had become habits in the time that had passed after Obito's death would only make things weirder for his friend, so for now he held off on them.

As it turned out, he really didn't need to worry so much about how to continue. Obito was as straight-forward as ever (something that should've been obvious, but hey, it'd been longer than a lifetime for him), and immediately brought up what Kakashi had said on the bulletin. Somehow broaching the topic let Kakashi relax a little too. He'd made an unforgivable mistake at first, turning his back on Rin. But he'd also tried to make it right, and that was something, the first insignificant something he could offer his friend.

"That's right." Kakashi kept his voice carefully even, but he couldn't remember the last time it'd been quite so hard. Maybe it was just something about Obito--the boy had been able to cut through all his defenses years ago, straight into his soul it seemed. Obito had gotten into Kakashi's head in a way that no one else could. Not Rin, and not even Sensei.

Or maybe he was just really nervous about the whole thing.

"I couldn't leave things to a crybaby Uchiha, after all." The words were nostalgic for Kakashi, but he knew Obito would just be hearing them for the first time. So before Obito could get flustered and mad, the jounin continued. "What you said. I haven't been able to get it out of my mind, even once since then. It's kind of funny, when you think about it. Who knew you'd be able to lecture better than I could?"

[itsdustdammit]

Obito's expression wasn't exactly suspicious. He believed Kakashi for a number of reasons, some of which involved ninja code but most of which involved his tone. But then, he'd sounded so certain just seconds before Obito showed up here: A shinobi needs tools suitable to the mission at hand. Emotion is just a useless burden.

He'd stopped moving and looked down for several seconds, thinking hard, which wasn't something he did or had to do very often, with one of the others always there to do it for him. He had opinions, sure, but not the ability to think stuff out like that. Mostly, he just had useful jutsu and a lot of things that Kakashi called useless burdens.

But then, when he was completely honest with himself, he probably wouldn't have been able to save Rin on his own. He had to try, because anything else would have been unthinkable, but he also would have been dealing with ninja far stronger and more skilled than himself. If Rin was alive, Kakashi must have changed his mind. It was the only way, when he really got down to it.

It was just so hard to understand.

Of course, Obito opened his mouth to defend himself, but as planned, Kakashi continued before he could say a word. He looked up partway through the words, disoriented but believing. "It...all of that felt like just a few seconds ago," he said. So that was why his students trusted him with their lives, then. Nobody on the bulletin had said much about what a skilled ninja Kakashi was, though he had to be one. Obito knew that was inevitable. But they'd only said stuff about trust. He blinked hard and again looked away. He didn't know what to think. In a very, very rare turn of events, he didn't even know what to feel. Finding words was nearly impossible. Obito forced himself to look up, even though he was pretty sure he'd eventually live up to Kakashi's nickname for him. "It's...I mean...it's hard to understand. You've never listened to me. Not once. You've just argued or been mean to me ever since we were put on the same team. And then you changed your mind just like that?"

[lostonlifesroad]

Obito believed him. Kakashi knew it was close to impossibly hard for the boy to accept, but ultimately, Obito was, and that was the most important thing. What made it difficult of course was the utter lack of a rational explanation for it all. So he let Obito have all the time he needed to think, and gave his friend a sympathetic nod when he did speak. "That's because it was, for you. This place somehow draws people in from different times--though you're the only one from anywhere close to that point, so far. We don't know how they do it, but it's been the same for all of us. One moment we're in our world, and the next we all woke up in some strange bed."

But when Obito looked up at him again, Kakashi knew the technicalities of Landel's weren't important at that moment. He moved to sit beside Obito on the sofa, knowing the height different probably wasn't help things at this point. Leaning forward so he could rest his arms on his thighs, Kakashi turned his head toward the Uchiha. "If it makes you feel better, I did everything I could to convince myself that I was right--that the rules were right. I just couldn't." When it came down to it, things really had been that simple in the end. Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, but he knew just how big of a deal it was.

"We're going to end up working together here, so it's okay if you can't believe it just yet." Because Kakashi knew the sort of person he had become, and he was confident Obito would see it too. That was the easy part. Proving himself, and the good feelings that would come of it. As for everything else... "But there's a lot more I need to tell you now, so let me know when you're ready." Part of Kakashi knew it wasn't fair to move on so quickly; Obito had a lot of shocks coming, things there were no way to be prepared for. But Kakashi also knew he had to be the one to tell him. Of all of them, Kakashi was Obito's team leader. Now that he had the chance to live up to that duty, he wasn't about to shirk the responsibility.

"And try to keep the dust out of your eyes, okay?" Kakashi's smile was more real this time, and he reached out to put a hand on Obito's shoulder. He found it hard not to hesitate, but he also knew his friend needed the comfort--and Kakashi needed that last bit of confirmation for himself.

This was really happening.

[itsdustdammit]

At this point, Obito cared absolutely nothing about how or why he was here. He believed Kakashi, in that Rin had been saved, and now, that was what was important. Kakashi was an adult now,too, and an adult who somehow--it was hard to get his mind to accept, much less phrase--an adult who seemed to care deeply enough about others to have the trust of all of the Leaf-nin present. He'd followed his father's footsteps then, too, knowing what that could mean. Obito bit his lip and concentrated on a dust-less atmosphere. He knew that he'd personally see soon enough, but he really did believe Kakashi's words. As fiercely as he'd hated the jounin moments before, this was a different Kakashi, a Kakashi from years in the future. And somehow, Obito felt that this one wouldn't lie to him.

If Kakashi was an adult, it meant he'd had a long time to live that way, violating ninja code. He'd had a long time to protect the people he worked with, and apparently, he hadn't been shunned for doing so. In fact, he'd even been given a team to train. Things had changed, then. Not just in Kakashi, but in everyone in Konoha. He gave a small smile, genuine, and when Kakashi touched him in a way that was clearly intended to be supportive, he sniffed and tried to ignore the fact that his eyes were burning. He wanted to get home and watch these changes happen, both in Kakashi and everyone. Hopefully, like Sakura said, they'd figure it out soon.

It took a couple seconds of silent blinking--avoiding tears from happy things was practically unimaginable since life as a ninja didn't allow for it--but eventually, Obito nodded. "Okay," he said with a firm nod. "I'm ready." He didn't understand why there was something that Kakashi needed to tell him right then, when he was already overwhelmed and not very good at being overwhelmed and Kakashi knew that he wasn't very good at being overwhelmed, but Obito trusted him enough to accept it.

[lostonlifesroad]

Unfortunately for all of them, being overwhelming was something that Landel's excelled at. So while Kakashi did know just how poorly Obito was likely to handle everything, he also knew that it was better to get what he could out of the way then. For one, it was day time, and they weren't being attacked by giant spiders or blobs of flesh. Now Kakashi had control over the situation, as much as possible, at least. And ultimately, Obito would have some time to absorb everything before night started. Kakashi already knew he'd meet the younger ninja in his room; that would give him time to prepare a map before dinner. And he was glad Sokka had ultimately rejected his knife, since he could also arm his friend.

"Why don't we start with who's here?" Which allowed Kakashi the opportunity to look around and see the answer for himself. Several familiar faces stood out in the crowd, although it looked like a few were missing. Kakashi couldn't help but feel concern regarding it, of course, but he'd have to keep that to himself for now. "A few of them replied to your bulletin, of course." And since he'd brought it up, he started with the two ninja standing closest to it. "The girl with pink hair is Haruno Sakura, and the boy next to her who is probably about to get punched through the wall--" Or so Kakashi guessed from that smirk, "--is Nara Shikamaru. They're both chuunin, like you. Sakura's one of my students, and she's a medi-ninja. I'd say Shikamaru could best be called our strategist, though he's also lazier than you ever were."

The remark was nothing more than teasing, of course. Next he pointed out a particularly pale young man. "That's Sai. He's also on my team, though I didn't train him." That had been left to Danzo, and while Kakashi didn't especially trust the man, he knew Sai was a different case. The boy had proven his loyalty even in Orochimaru's hideout; Tenzou's report even of that early mission was enough for Kakashi to have faith in Sai, and had only been reinforced by his actions in their work afterward.

The last ninja in the room wasn't Leaf, but Kakashi still considered Haku an ally. "Haku introduced himself to you on the bulletin. He's a talented ninja, though we haven't worked with him here." Something that the jounin almost hoped would change, but it was hard to say. He could understand Haku's reluctance to join them, after all. "Still, you can trust him; he's definitely a friend."

Which left the ninja not present yet to cover. Kakashi wasn't exactly eager to bring up Sasuke, since that would lead to those uncomfortable topics the jounin knew to be unavoidable, but that could also still be put off a bit longer. "Jiraiya-sama you'll remember, though he's a bit older too. He hasn't changed too much otherwise. He started writing after the War." Books that Kakashi utterly adored, but after a wary glance at the still young Obito, he wasn't sure if he should share. "You might be too young for those, though."

"And there's someone you'll be particularly interested in." Someone who had been particularly errant lately, and who just might need another of those lectures that Obito dreaded getting. "His name's Uzumaki Naruto, another of my students--and he's Sensei's son."

[itsdustdammit]

It was a lot of information but Obito processed it with some effort, memorizing names and faces. He was still reeling from the fact that Kakashi had students. Sure, there was a possibility that he might have ended up doing that anyway, but the Kakashi he knew was probably going to spend the rest of his life in ANBU or something. The people who taught the next generation of ninja needed at least a little patience, and the person he'd argued with before appearing here couldn't handle waiting two minutes for a late teammate.

So some of these people (it was hard to think of them as kids, since all of them looked older than he was) thought of Kakashi the same way he thought about Sensei. Did Obito have students of his own? He had daydreams, of course, but he hadn't seriously considered the idea that they might actually happen, that there actually was a distant future where he and everyone he knew had grown up. Was he married? Did he have kids? Obito blushed slightly at the thought. No matter what, though, he knew that he served an important role in the village. After all, he was an Uchiha, so he was destined for great things.

The war was over now. Kakashi sounded so casual about it, slipping it into conversation like that. It must have ended long ago for him, maybe only a little bit into Obito's future. Obito knew that life as a ninja would never be safe, but life without the war...there was just so much to look forward to.

Then, another bombshell. "Sensei had a kid?" Obito said, mouth wide. And Kakashi taught that kid, so it must happen soon. If he was the same age as Sakura, he'd have to be born in the next year or two. The way Kakashi phrased it was weird, though, and it took him a second to figure out why. "Uzumaki?" Giving a kid their mother's name was strange, but not unheard of.

"But tell me about our lives," he said. Hearing about Kakashi's students was interesting and all, but he wanted to know about his own world. Obito's questions began at once. "Do I have students? Kids? What about Rin?" Another blush. "What's everyone like out there? And we're actually friends?" For a couple seconds before coming here he thought there might hope for Kakashi, however small...that he might just be acting out his life rather than living it. That was before they'd turned their backs on each other. But everything was about to change at home, even within a few hours. If this was the way his teammate ended up, it was easy to believe they'd be friends.

Obito could go on all day with the questions--what was Sensei doing now, aside from watching Kakashi train his kid? How much had Konoha changed, and when? How did the war end? But, with effort, he limited himself to a few questions, grinning as he waited for answers.

[lostonlifesroad]

Kakashi of all people knew how Obito liked to rush ahead, and certainly this situation wasn't going to be an exception. They had been kids in a war, after all. So what could they really look forward to more than a peaceful future? Particularly Obito, who had always promised to show everyone just how great of an Uchiha he could be. He'd lived up to that promise too--by giving up the future he so eagerly asked about now.

Each question felt like a new wound, and Kakashi struggled to keep up his smile as Obito grinned at him. He'd caused that face to fall so many times before that he could picture it perfectly now. Just how close would it be to the look Obito gave him when he turned his back on Rin and their team?

"You're jumping ahead." Kakashi used a tone of affection, saving the anger for himself. He had to tell Obito, about his fate along with the Uchiha. But with his best friend so hopeful, he couldn't bring himself to do it just yet. "We need to focus on the situation here, first. Tell me what you've already learned about where we are."