Crossroads (A Naruto Fanfiction)

Possesion

Obito didn't know why he stood above Rin with a knife raised above her prone body. Yet, despite this odd urge to strike it down into her open chest, his arm wouldn't budge. Something kept his arm in place and he didn't know what it was. He didn't know what at all was happening. Finally, something broke deep inside his consciousness and his arm slowly moved to rest leisurely at his side.

"Obito," someone called him and it reached past the howling of his blood. It was Rin. She looked up at him with wide eyes that held an emotion he hated to see in her. Why was she afraid? "Can you hear me?" She asked tentatively.

Of course he can, he thought. So he answered, "I can."

"Then put the kunai down, Obito." She said.

Kunai? Why would he be holding a kunai? A thump caught his attention and he looked down to see the sharp object clatter dangerously close to his feet before it lied still. "Oh," he said, too confused to think of anything else besides the panic welling its way up his spine. "What's happening?"

"Nothing is happening, Obito."

"But you keep calling my name."

"Yeah," Rin stretched out her arms towards him. "You're tired, Obito. Come." Obito came close enough for her to reach out and wrap her arms around his neck. His knees buckled at the warmth but Rin kept his head pressed to her chest. He could hear the rough beating of her heart and he wondered - for the second time - why she was scared. His eyes closed.

"Just go to sleep," Rin said. "You did so well on your own."
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Minato pressed his forehead against his folded hands. The news Rin brought to him didn't bode well for his original plans on what to do with the seal on Obito's heart. He needed to make finding Senju Tsunade a higher priority. A tired sigh escaped him before he bit into his thumb to produce a small puddle of blood to summon one of his messenger toads. The palm sized toad appeared on his office desk and greeted his summoner with a salute. Minato quickly wrote his message on a small piece of paper and handed it off to be delivered. The palm sized toad disappeared in a plume of smoke.

"Should Obito still go to Sasuke's birthday party?" Rin asked. She rubbed her arms, feeling uncomfortable at what had happened only a few hours ago.

"He'll need to be under watch, but yes, he can." Minato reassured her. "From what you told me, he's still able to control himself even under the seal's influence, which is a good sign. Obito has a strong will." He eyed his female student with a soft gaze. "Stay with him alright, and make sure he doesn't notice anything is off. You know how he can get."

Rin agreed. Obito had been avoiding her for a few days now and to think this was how they'd be forced to interact again. She didn't know how to take it. "Will Kakashi be his watch?"

"Only when they're together. Obito's surprisingly sensitive to Kakashi so it'd be better for Anbu to guard him."

Rin nodded and with nothing left to say, she left the Hokage's office. The moon still hung high in the dark night sky surrounded by stars. The night was chilly and she rushed back to the Hokage's compound still dressed in her pajamas. Obito had been carried by Anbu guards back to his room right after she managed to make him fall back to sleep, his door and windows shut tight and wire trapped in case he were to escape while still influenced by the seal.

She understood why they hadn't stopped him from entering her room so late at night. It was Obito after all, but now she knew any and all person's would be checked before entering the Hokage's household. That's why she acquiesced when the Anbu stopped her right outside the gates and patted her down before letting her pass through.

Rin checked on Naruto and Sasuke. They were both huddled together on the blond's bed with toys and papers strewn about them from when they played. She fixed their blanket and made sure the night's cold air didn't pass through their window. She walked a few steps down the hall and paused in front of one of the many ordinary doors. She opened the door and peered through before finally relaxing when she saw Obito deep in sleep. He hadn't moved an inch since the Anbu lied him down. Her heart jolted with guilt from her own fear of him. She knew Obito would never hurt her, but his will wasn't his own with that seal still plastered on his heart.

As she closed the door and turned, she was startled by Kakashi standing right behind her. "Don't scare me like that." She scolded.

Kakashi didn't say anything but his eye watched her closely before he faced the closed door. "Don't keep yourself awake." He said.

A chuckle escaped her. "I'll try not to."

It was a short, comfortable silence that passed between them until Kakashi spoke abruptly, "He would never hurt you."

Rin failed to hide her surprise. Of course he would notice, she thought fondly. "No, never." She agreed.

Kakashi didn't seem to believe she was being truthful. "It's obvious what the seal was trying to make him do. If he harmed the person he cared for most, he'd break."

Rin bit the inside of her lips and her eyes misted over. "No one would let that happen," she said firmly.

Kakashi hummed and faded into the shadows to let Rin go back to her room to rest. Sleep was far gone from her mind and she spent the rest of the night staring up at the white ceiling of her room. Obito's emotionless gaze, so horrifyingly empty on that face she knew so well, repeated in her mind over and over and it paralyzed her. That wasn't Obito.

Obito could never be that.