missing the things that never happened

zero hours

Uchiha Obito is out late.

There's no school tomorrow, so he doesn't see why he can't be.

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Beta'd by GrindingV2. Also posted on AO3 and FFN.

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It's hard to find something entertaining to do in a small town like this. It feels like everyone knows everyone else and you can't even get into any kind of mischief without one of the adults ratting you out to your parents.

Makes it kind of hard for a kid to just be a kid. Maybe that's why the kids around here are so boring or grow up to be a little on the weird side.

Maybe he'll grow up to be on the weird side, too.

The sun's just about to set. Obito stops his bike just outside the convenience store and kicks down the stop, hauling the thing on to the pavement and placing it by the side of the shop.

The door lets out a little jingle when it slides open to let him in. The clerk at the counter looks up from his newspaper and greets him, saying, "Hello, kiddo," before looking back down.

"Hello, Mr. Maruboshi," Obito replies. He heads straight to the small freezer at the back of the store.

He takes about five seconds to choose the flavor of the popsicle he wants and takes it out of the freezer. He lets the door slide shut on its own and heads to the counter.

"Eating ice-cream again?" Mr. Maruboshi says and takes the popsicle to scan. The machine lets out a familiar beep and Mr. Maruboshi says, "That will be seventy yen."

Obito takes the popsicle back when Mr. Maruboshi slides it across the counter and pays with his other hand.

"See you soon," Mr. Maruboshi says.

"See you," Obito replies and then he leaves the store.

He unwraps the popsicle when he's out of the store and tosses the wrapping into the trash can by the entrance. He shoves the orange-flavored popsicle into his mouth. He reaches for his bike, kicks the stop back up, and rides down the street.

Obito stops about two blocks down, skidding to a halt by the entrance of the park.

The lights flicker above him and, after a while, just stop turning on. He kicks the stop down again and stands his bike by the entrance. Obito enters the park and sits down on the grassy patch.

He looks up at the sky as he eats his popsicle. It's a lovely color, painted with all kinds of shades due to the setting sun. None of the lights are on yet — people don't seem to want to waste so much energy. Even the working street lamps remain off.

Obito watches as the baby blue of the sky fade into a darker blue, then lowers his gaze so he can watch as the baby blue fades into a purple-pink, then a cotton-candy pink, then a pastel orange. Below that, behind the mountain of clouds, will be the sun.

He licks his lips and then takes a bite out of the popsicle before it can melt. It makes a funny crunching noise between his teeth as he chews it and it gives him a freeze, but he continues to eat it like that until he's down to the wooden stick.

He sucks off the rest of the flavored treat from the stick and laps at the stick, looking down to try and see if he can catch the writing etched into it. It's too dark to tell, but maybe it says "good fortune will come to you," or maybe it means nothing at all.

He sticks the stick into his mouth and nibbles the edge, tasting the wood, and then leans back on the grass. It's still a little damp from the rain yesterday, but Obito doesn't care. He'll wash his school uniform tonight, anyway.