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Chapter Text

Chapter Text

The cicadas sang their loud song, relentless and annoying, but by now the backround noise of summer. The heat made him itchy, and the fabric over his face even more so, but he didn't remove it nor complain. A light gust of air, just as hot as the sun's heat, ruffled his hair and lifted the leaves off the ground.

"You're... You're not the real Obito, are you?" A defeated whisper, a statement voiced as a question. Next to him, ice-cream dripped down the boy's hand, frozen.

"What are you..." A laugh bubbled up his throat and then immediately died when their eyes met. A tired gaze, resigned to the devastating truth, even if it hadn't been confirmed yet. "... How... I... I should be... a perfect..."

His skin - the side that was a sign of his sacrifice to his friends, to his village - suddenly warped and wriggled, as if something within was squirming to get out. The trees around them groaned and cried, reaching out-out-out towards him, trying to grab, to pull, to take.

Kakashi's single visible eye widened, not in surprise but in shock. The one you feel when your death feels near, the one you feel when your friend becomes someone, something, else.

"Please don't tell anyone... please 'Kashi, please..." The ice-cream melted on the ground, Obito's arms circled around Kakashi as he begged.

A boy grieving but resigned, the other dead but alive.

The eye pulsed under his hitai-ate, burning unlike anything before. Burning even more than when it was jammed into his eye socket; unfitting, unfamiliar and utterly terrifying.

"... Nice to meet you, 'Obito'." The cicadas sang louder, the ringing in his ears covered them up.

Chapter Text

It had been a few days since.

Weirdly enough, their routine hadn't changed much after the revelation, their interactions, however, now had an edge in the shadows that peeked through when they were alone.

It was maddening, the normalcy. Kakashi hated himself for accepting it, for accepting the one in Obito's body. Hated himself for not uttering a word to Minato about it, even though he knew he would hear him out.

The house was quiet, haunted by the ghost of his father. But he didn't haunt his son's mind now, the one that did was Obito.

Rustling in his front yard took him out of his stupor. He paused cutting the vegetables, his senses sharpened and his body moved on it's own, slowly creeping towards the window.

His breathing slowed. His steps were light and silent. His fingers traced over the cold glass before gripping the frame tightly. He swinged it open.

"WAH!" His teammates shouted in surprise, jumping backwards. Kakashi sighed unimpressed.

"Seriously?" He said with the best deadpan face he could muster.

Rin smiled sheepishly. On the other hand Obito grinned up at him dumbly.

"Surprise!" The boy stumbled into a standing position and then pushed his way into the house.

"Hey wait! You're dirtying my floor with your muddy shoes idiot!" Kakashi angrily grabbed onto the Uchiha's jacket as to stop him from going further in. Obito rolled his eyes and haphazardly toed off the boots, Rin, who was sitting on the windowsill, giggled at the exchange, taking her own shoes off before stepping in.

"Sorry for intruding..." She said without meaning it.

"You're cleaning up the mess later." Huffed Kakashi. The kunoichi raised an eyebrow and answered:

"As if your dogs don't do this daily." Then she mumbled, "And you yourself..."

"Wha- Hey!" His teammates' laughs echoed through the house as they trotted away from Kakashi's 'area of attack'.

Eventually they settled down and Kakashi resumed his cooking while the other two chatted about everything and anything.

The window stayed open, a pleasant breeze flowing in. The stove made it hotter than it normally was, but the Hatake was used to cooking, and the other two were far enough away that the heat didn't really affect them.

It was so peaceful, so normal, that Kakashi almost found himself forgetting everything that had happened up until then. Almost.

The eye burned, a reminder, a tether to a reality he would rather let go of. Obito laughed behind him, the sound piercing through his ears. So familiar but not at the same time.

Rin smiled and talked like nothing was off. Because to her, Kakashi reasoned, nothing was. She didn't know that the one in front of her was a lie. A farce so horrifying it would probably destroy her if she knew.

The thoughts soured his mood. Obito looked at him knowingly. Too much, too aware.

Kakashi placed the plates on the table and sat down in front of Rin, trying his hardest to ignore the churning in his stomach and the creeping feeling of being observed down to his soul.

"Are you okay?"

His eyes snapped up to hers, warm and worried.

"Yes." He heard himself say, noticing how she accepted the answer but didn't believe it for a second.

Obito continued to look at him, until it became unbearable to ignore and Kakashi's gaze flickered to him. Finally, the Uchiha turned away to his food.

An unnoticeable sigh escaped the Hatake.

"Woah! Your cooking is heavenly, ugh!" Obito groaned with delight. Rin nodded along, chewing thoroughly.

Their dinner continued uneventful.

Well past midnight, Rin bid her goodbyes to the two boys and waved off their concerns to her going alone.

"I'm a chunnin kunoichi, remember? I'll be fine." She said, and promptly took off into the night.

"I wonder if she arrived home safely" Obito thought aloud, drying and putting away the dishes passed to him by Kakashi.

"She's probably fine. If anything, you know she has a mean right hook..." He trailed off. "Or, well... I suppose Obito did, but maybe you don't."

That got Obito's attention immediately, dropping what he was doing to zero in on him.

"I... I do... remember... but I don't..." He stumbled through the words. "I don't really, um,"

Kakashi closed the tap and gripped the now-empty sink.

"It's fine, you dont have to-"

"I want to explain! I need you to- to understand." Their eyes met, and Kakashi could see the pleading in his eye and his posture, could hear it in his voice.

He could also hear the groaning of trees outside.

"Well I..." Obito took a deep breath. "You know when you read a- a book or something. And it's like- yeah I remember reading this but it wasn't... me, you know?"

He turned an expectant gaze towards his friend. Kakashi swallowed.

"Come on, I'll walk you to the district." He evaded answering, turning away from the kitchen and towards the entrance. Obito's face fell slightly, but collected himself when the other faced him again.

"Alright!"

He grabbed his boots and shoved them on hurriedly.

The air outside was stuffy despite being so late at night, the cicadas sang like they always did.

Kakashi breathed in.

As he lived in the outskirts of Konoha they couldn't well jump from roof to roof like they normally would, so they took to walking calmly through the streets.

It was too silent. 'He's too silent' thought Kakashi.

'Who are you? Controlling his body, taking his identity, and yet. What are you? Why is it so easy to fall back into this lie? Why are you doing this... No, why am I accepting it? God, what the hell is wrong with me, just... What should I even..."

"Hey-" He started, but found himself cut off by the screeching of and old wily woman.

"You! Why... Why are YOU here! You're dead! Dead! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, DEMON" She wailed, Obito flinched.

"Uh, well I guess not everyone got the news that I wasn't but I... I'm not...?" His awkward mumbling was drowned by the woman's screams, repelling him with all her might.

Kakashi grimaced and grunted, grabbing Obito by the wrist and making a turn towards another path.

"Huh?" Obito uttered as let himself be dragged away. The other boy huffed.

"Don't mind her, she's one of those head cases... Used to say all kinds of stuff before, I've learned it's best to just ignore her and turn away."

"Ah, I see..."

Neither of them mentioned how she was technically right, nor how the air between them tightened like a string pulled taut.

As they reached the entrance of the Uchiha district they both came to a stop.

"Well, see you tomorrow in training." Said Obito. But just as he was about to turn away Kakashi called out to him.

"Hey, Obito..." His words were hushed, a whisper that barely left his mouth. "He... He really is dead, isn't he?"

"..." The trees by the entrance groaned, Kakashi couldn't look up at them. "Yes, I am but a new habitant in his body. The body works, of course, like it normally would. But he's gone for good."

Kakashi's lips pursed.

"Did you finish him off, then? To use his body and identity? Was there any chance for him to..."

"I didn't, that's not-!" He exclaimed nervously, but eventually sighed running a hand through his hair. "He was already dead dead when I found him, there's no way I would have taken over otherwise, I don't think."

" 'You don't think' ??" Kakashi asked incredulous. 'Obito' groaned.

"I don't really know how it happened, I was just- Ugh..." He scrubbed his face. "I was just living in the forest and then- then it was wham! And something grabbed me and thrust me in, I think, I don't-" He exhaled harshly through his mouth. "I don't know."

There, his voice cracked, and Kakashi flinched. The tree branches moved with the wind, as if trying to reach him and comfort him.

Silence fell upon them.

"...Alright." Kakashi's voice broke through softly, Obito snapped his face up in surprise. "Alright, just... You like me, right? That's why you let me off with knowing the truth?"

"That's..." He couldn't say anything for a few seconds, but soon found his voice. "Yeah," He breathed out. "Yeah, I do."

Kakashi turned and from the new angle the sharingan's glow was slightly visible from under the hitai-ate. 'Obito' shivered.

"Then don't ever sacrifice yourself again."

He walked away, leaving behind a stunned Obito and the loud singing of cicadas.