scared of the stars

chapter 4 - Obito

There were two things on Obito's mind once he regained consciousness.

The first thing was the voices bickering from left and right as if people were leaning over him and screaming in his face. It got so loud he clutched his ears, and if the people hadn't forced him to stop, he may have torn the skin and caused himself to bleed.

The second thing he noticed was his vision, or lack of vision to be more exact. He tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't exactly see anything. He moved his fingers up to see if something was covering his eyes, but that wasn't the case either. It wasn't that he saw pitch darkness, he could see light from what he guessed was windows, but nothing more.

Am I blind? He thought and touched his lids. And again, he would have touched his eyes with his fingers if the doctors hadn't grabbed his hands and restricted them.

«I'll go inform Sakura.» One of the doctors said and by the sound of the tapping, he was running.

«How are you feeling?» A girl said and stacked up a few pillows behind him. He leaned back and looked toward the light.

His vision would probably return eventually. His legs and arms felt numb, but by each minute it felt like he was getting more and more comfortable with using his body. His sight would sure follow eventually.

A door slammed open and someone ran in, but the sound disappeared as fast as it arrived. The only noise that laid in its wake was heavy breaths. He didn't know who they belonged to, though if he had to guess it was probably Sakura.

He remembered the pink haired girl. She was a good friend of Naruto, and if he remembered correctly, she was Kakashi's student.

Kakashi. That was someone he didn't know if he wanted to meet. That was a wrong way to put it. He wanted to meet Kakashi, but he didn't know what to say or how it would go. If he played his cards right, maybe he would be able to postpone their meeting as long as possible. Right now was not the time.

«Obito?» The person said.

Crap. Shit. Fuck. Obito cursed silently. He had not even considered that those steps had belonged to Kakashi.

Without thinking he straightened slightly and tried to fake a nonchalant expression. He didn't know where Kakashi stood, because of his current predicament, so he covered it up by continuing to look toward the windows.

«Please, Obito. Is that you?» He said and the sheer hope in his voice made Obito break his own rule and look over toward the voice.

A hand touched his forehead, but it was too thin and feminine to be Kakashi.

«Your temperature seems stable.» A girl - Sakura, he guessed - said. She didn't retrieve her hand, making him self-conscious. Then, she sat down on the bed. He moved his feet to give her more space.

«Can you tell me your name?» She asked, words slow and even.

«Obito Uchiha.» He simply answered. He knew this process was important and wanted to get all her questions answered as soon as possible. He wanted to stretch, walk, run, jump. He wanted to do everything.

Kakashi took in a deep breath and Obito felt suddenly glad that he couldn't see him. He didn't want his once teammate to be relieved. He didn't deserve to get that reaction from someone.

«How old are you? And where are you?» She asked next.

«I'm thirty-one-years old, and currently in the hidden leaf village.» He answered again.

Another person sat down on the bed as well, and he guessed it was Kakashi.

«Obito,» Sakura said again. Her voice had taken a completely different tone, almost stern. «Could you look at me?»

Gladly, though at the moment he had a few difficulties doing exactly that. He tried anyway and stared where he thought she may sit. No one said anything.

Wait, he was taller than Sakura. He had to take into account that he was taller. He looked slightly lower.

No one broke the silence now either.

«You know, Obito. Height is mostly differentiated with how tall you are from your heel to your hip. People are often the same from their hip to their shoulders. Since we are both sitting down, we can appear the same in height.» Sakura said and by the sound of it, she was writing something down.

«This isn't something everyone knows though, so I won't judge you from staring at my chest.» She forced out.

Obito's face reddened and he returned to look at the window. Shame was crawling around him. He did not want to be here right now.

«Can you look at Kakashi?» She now asked, so he did.

Kakashi hadn't said anything, but he felt where he sat on the bed, so he looked at where he guessed Kakashi must be.

«Now, Kakashi, can you stand in front of the window?» Sakura instructed. Kakashi obliged.

That was when Obito saw it. He could see Kakashi's silhouette covering the light. Obito couldn't see much of the details, but combined with the way Kakashi walked and sounded, he didn't seem too pleased. The way he carried himself showed he was unsure, with the way he wasn't standing straight. He barely made any noise, just the slight intake of breath every now and then.

Sakura started talking «I see. Obito, it appears that you've become visually impaired since the last time we saw each other. You have some light perception, but I'm not sure what else you can see until we get to take a few more tests. I need you to-»

«What happened?» Kakashi interrupted. Obito jumped by the harsh tone.

If he had to be honest, he was surprised the question hadn't been bought up earlier. He had no idea where to start, so he tried from the beginning. Kakashi already knew he was in the afterlife with Rin, so there was no need to begin with that. He started with Hagoromo.

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«What do you mean by that?» Obito asked, feeling dumbfounded. Rin didn't say anything, but by the way she tilted her head toward the voice, it was apparent she heard it.

The sage of six paths, or Hagoromo as he was called, gestured with his hand for Obito to come to him. He stayed still. No way was he leaving Rin here alone. He didn't know what the sage was going to do. All he knew was that he didn't trust him.

«I am taking you back, Obito Uchiha. You see, your time had come. I never had a desire to take you back, but it seems that you dead will bring more negativity than positivity. Your death will affect the world badly eventually, and I need to stop that from happening. Yes, I am disrupting the order of life, but this is crucial. We need to get you back now.»

Obito had yet to move.

«I am not leaving Rin.» He said, hoping he looked as sure as he hoped.

A hand moved to his back. He looked at his best friend, seeing a reassuring smile. Her eyes were still covered, but her message was conveyed anyway.

«No!» Obito refused. He couldn't leave, not when he had finally met Rin again.

«Obito. You are not ready for the afterlife, not yet. I will wait for your return.» One of her eyes opened slightly to give him a last look. «This time, don't come alone. I want all three of us to be together again. You won't let Kakashi be alone in the world of the living, will you?» She joked.

Without wanting it himself, some force made Obito stand up. He tried to stop it, but it was as if his limbs moved on their own. The sage touched his shoulder, and away they went. The last thing he heard before darkness enveloped him, was Rin.

«I will still watch over you.» 

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A/N: I hope this chapter was to your liking! The plot is starting to take shape and personally, I like where this is all going and I am so excited to write what happens next. If you like it please comment so I know that there are still people reading :) See you next week!