Rewind

"So what's the plan?" Kakashi asked, returning to his human self. He didn't like the situation, but he couldn't exactly leave Obito and his team to it. 

"I... I am at a disadvantage against Zabuza. His mist counters my sharingan, and I don't have a sense of smell or hearing like you do," Obito explained as the mist once again rose. "My plan is that I get to Haku and fight him. I know more about ice release, and I know how to counter it. Haku uses a special jutsu that requires close-range attacks. But Zabuza...I hate to admit it, but even in our first battle he overpowered me. I got lucky." 

"Seems some things never change. You should really stop doubting yourself. Mah...I'll take care of Zabuza. However, I don't promise I'll keep them alive." Kakashi looked through the mist.

"All right, that's fine for me. They are missing nin after all, so I really don't care. Our mission is to protect the students and Tazuna." He looked back, getting a slight glimpse of Sakura and Tazuna; it seemed the girl kept guarding him. Obito couldn't help but feel proud of her courage. She knew that if Zabuza had killed him and Haku got rid of Sasuke, she was the last line against the two ninjas. Sure she wouldn't stand a chance, but she was still there, guarding him. 

Obito didn't waste a second to rush to the boys' side, melting the ice mirrors quite easily. 

"Impressive. No one ever managed to get rid of my ice." Haku looked at Obito waving his hands. Obito waved his hand in response, creating a new fireball to counter the ice shards thrown at him.

"Sensei!" Naruto held Sasuke's wounded body. "Can't you copy his jutsu? Like you did with Zabuza before?"

"Unfortunately no. The Sharingan cannot replicate kekkai genkai, and ice... is a kekkai genkai. But don't worry, Naruto. I had plenty of training on my side and a girl that has a lot of chakra and power to stand tall near me," Obito replied.

"You talk like you know about ice release."

"Because I do. Haku, we don't need to fight. There's no need for you to serve someone like Zabuza." Obito looked at the younger 

"My dream...is Zabuza's dream. No matter what, I want to be by his side. He was there when no one else was; he protected me when everyone else tried to kill me." Haku removed his mask. "I have no regrets about this choice. I...will give Zabuza my life if necessary.

"What kind of a dream is that?! He's using you; don't you get it? What you feel...that isn't you dreaming of something. You're feeling the need to do this because he saved you. But it isn't a dream. Obito looked at him. "It's called feeling grateful to the point you need to do everything in your power to prove to him that you were worth saving. Haku, you have a choice. You can take a different path. 

"Sensei...I hear you. But what I feel for Zabuza isn't gratefulness. What I feel for him..." Haku smiled in reminiscing. The smile quickly turned to surprise. His chest pierced by Kakashi's Chidori. 

Obito looked at him in horror; the kids behind him weren't anything better.

"Why did you do it?!" Naruto snapped, immediately getting up to face Kakashi, who had just gotten free from Haku's body. 

"I told you. I don't promise to keep them alive," Kakashi explained coldheartedly. Obito flinched. That cold heart, he was familiar with it. It took him years to gain Kakashi's trust and make him open up. Why again? 

"It doesn't matter what you said! Haku didn't deserve to die!" Naruto argued.

"This is the shinobi world, kiddo. Haku was going to be killed anyway. It was his dream, wasn't it? To always be alwys with Zabuza"

Obito looked to where Zabuza had been standing minutes earlier, his body face down on the ground. 

"Kid. That's enough," Obito called Naruto back.

"No! How can you be okay with this, Obito-niisan?! You can't seriously let it slide?!" He asked before turning to Kakashi, "Who do you think you are? You can't just appear and take lives away like it's no big deal!"

"Naruto, enough!" Obito raised his voice. Kakashi didn't react to any of it, and Obito had to wonder what the Hatake was thinking.

"If you don't heal him, he'll die." Kakashi observed Sasuke's wounds, and at the same time, he stopped a kunai coming his way, turning around to face Sakura, who was still bravely protecting Tazuna.

"He's not an enemy, Sakura."

"Not an enemy?!" Naruto kept fuming, "He killed Haku! That's enough for me to think he's an enemy! Friends don't kill friends."

"Haku wasn't friends with anyone." Kakashi walked toward Sasuke, completely ignoring Naruto. 

The familiar red chakra gathered around his hand. Obito scanned Kakashi's chakra, noticing the Kyuubi's intervention. At least they were still together. 

"What is he doing, sensei?" Sakura asked, concerned.

"He can heal wounds with...a special technique. Don't worry. I got to experience it long ago as well." Obito grinned at Sakura before turning to Sasuke and watching his wounds close up. 

"Will he be okay?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. He'll live. However, I suggest taking him to the hospital as soon as possible. Just in case, Kakashi got up before turning around to leave.

"Wait!" Obito got up. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"To finish the job," Kakashi raised an eyebrow. 

Obito hesitated. He watched Kakashi turn around to leave again, hands in his pocket. All the emotions of the past years gathered in one sentence.

"Don't you dare take one more step!" He growled, clenching his fists. Kakashi stopped turning around. "You don't get to disappear for years and then come back one day like nothing had happened!" 

"I didn't disappear, Obito. The leaf kicked me out, remember?" Kakashi replied coldly.

"I'm not talking about that!" Obito got up as well. "I'm talking about the missing letters, the suppressed chakra! I thought you died! I held you a ceremony, and no one even showed up! Rin cried for you! Hikari left the ninja role for you! I spent 10 weeks crying to sensei over losing a friend, and not once did you have the decency to tell me you were alive!" Obito spat out, mangekyo sprinting to life. It was instinct on Kakashi's side. It was years of being on the run that guided him. His eyes quickly turned to Kyuubi's, and both chakras clashed, destroying some debris around them.

"Kakashi!" The kyuubi warned the Hatake, who quickly suppressed his chakra in response.

"I couldn't," he simply replied. 

"You couldn't or you wouldn't?!" Obito was still angry.

"I couldn't," Kakashi replied. "I was on the run, Obito. I was targeted by a ninja I don't even know, and whoever got slightly in contact with me had died. I was alone out there, and I couldn't even ask for help from Kurama because he and the others were the target. So I'm sorry if I didn't send you a letter every day to let you know I was alive. The bird needed to track my chakra, and I couldn't afford that. I'm sorry for not risking everything for a stupid letter." 

Obito looked at him hurt before retrieving his sharingan. The kids with him shivering in fear over the display of power between the two. They never saw Obito call out his Mangekyō and release that kind of power. For a moment he looked guilty.

"Still, you could have come home."

"Then what? Be chased again by angry civilians that wanted nothing to do with me? You're talking like I left on my own accord. It wasn't my fault; it's still not my fault for being used and pushed around like some sort of toy to play with. I'm sorry because I valued my life over emotions."

"Then why are you here? Why save us?" Obito asked.

Kakashi looked away. "Kurama told me about your mission. It's a very long story. But he knew you'd be here and you'd be in trouble. I couldn't know that and willingly let you die if I could fight," Kakashi looked back at him. 

Obito's eyes widened. Did Kakashi return because he was in danger? He knew he was and decided to show up. Fighting would show his chakra; he could see and sense it earlier, but now his chakra was back into nowhere. His sharingan was still able to see it, but it was a little flame, barely visible. 

"You...intervened knowing your chakra could be detected? For me?" 

"Why is it so weird? You nearly died once, and you remembered what happened. If you were to die, I don't think I'd keep this mission going. There's no future in a world where you don't exist." Kakashi shrugged. "Rin and I made a promise. To watch over you and watch you become Hokage. Even if that means I have to give up everything else.

Obito teared up, starting to cry.

"Will you stop crying for once?!" Kakashi growled.

"I can't! You just said you love me!" Obito looked at him in between tears.

"I did not!" Kakashi protested angrily. 

Kurama laughed as Kakashi turned around, "And why the hell are you laughing, Kurama?!" 

"It's just like old times. Doesn't matter how cold you became and how much you changed. You can't keep it in front of Obito. You still like him.

"I do not!" Kakashi blushed.

"Kurama?" Obito asked, tears vanishing. "Is that new? Can I meet him?"

"What?" Kakashi asked, "Oh! Kurama is just...the real name of Kyuubi," he whispered to Obito, watching the students look at him surprised, nearly as if trying to understand what they were talking about.

"He had a name this whole time?!" Obito asked.

"Keep quiet!" Kakashi hit him on the head.

The bickering went on for a little bit more before eventually they decided to go to Tazuna's for dinner and to rest. Kakashi refused to eat but didn't head to bed either. Or at least that's what Obito learned when he woke up. 

It was his students that woke him up.

"Sensei," Sakura poked him, "your friend just left."

"What?!" Obito immediately woke up and went after Kakashi.

He found the hatake sitting in the garden, against a tree.

"Kakashi?' He called out "Why aren't you in bed?" He asked. Kakashi looked at him, and maybe, with the anger and hurt away, he could finally see how tired Kakashi was. It looked like he hadn't slept in a while.

"Couldn't sleep," Kakashi shrugged. "You?"

"My students woke me up because you left," he shrugged, sitting next to the Hatake. Silence fell between them. "I'm sorry for lashing out." 

"It's okay," Kakashi brushed it off.

"It's not." Obito looked at the grass. "You were kicked out without a second thought. You were out there alone, protecting the bijuus all by yourself. You were hunted, and you had no place to stay in for too long. I was in pain; it's true. When we lost your chakra, when the bird returned constantly with our letters...I was in so much pain that my mangekyo awakened. I couldn't get over your death, and I blamed myself because I didn't go with you. Because I didn't fight for you. And maybe, if I had just fought harder that day, you would have always been with us.

"I'm sorry for the mess I put you through." Kakashi didn't look at him, and he sounded sincere about his apologies.

"You have nothing to apologize for! I had Rin with me. There was sensei and Hikari-chan and Kushina-san. And along the way, my students. I was busy being an Anbu, but I had teammates. I had someone to come to; I had a place to call home. It wasn't right for me to lash out at you after everything you had to do." Obito looked at him. "What... are you going to do now? How many do you have?" 

"I'm missing 4. They all are sealed and well protected. I didn't have the chance to infiltrate a village just to take away their bijuu," Kakashi replied, purposely avoiding Obito's real question.

"Come home with me, Kakashi" Obito looked at him "we can help you. We can...protect you. We aren't little kids anymore, and you don't have to do this alone. You have already done too much for us, and I want you to be able to sleep. Because let's be honest, you haven't slept in days.

"Two weeks," Kakashi smirked. 

"That's even worse!" Obito yelled at him before getting up and putting himself in front of Kakashi. "I'm serious. I want you home. I don't want you to deal with this all by yourself. Everyone knows we are stronger together, and... I need you home.

"What about the village? They kicked me out once. What stops them from doing it again?" Kakashi asked tiredly.

"Me?" Obito smiled at him.

"And me!" Naruto joined in, scaring Obito. "I still don't agree with how you handled Haku, but... if sensei tells us you're not an enemy, I believe him."

"Whatever," Sasuke shrugged.

"I...don't know what you did for the leaf to kick you out. But sensei talked very well about you and your dad during our test. He said you were a hero. Sensei trusts you; I want to try the same.".

Kakashi looked at them in surprise. Sure, neither of them had any power, but then again, the knowledge of knowing someone still was there for him was a great feeling. He spent too many years talking to chakra beasts and too many years having to deal with everyone's shit to keep up. 

Sleeping in his house didn't sound like a bad idea at all. Being able to eat normal food for once instead of food pills was inviting. After 12 years, he wanted that familiar love of his team and friends to surround him again and make him feel like he could actually fulfill this mission.

"So? What do you say?" Obito asked as Kakashi was brought to reality. His hand was still out there for Kakashi to reach. He didn't need to tell Obito anything. His hand reaching for his was everything Obito needed. If he had to leave with Kakashi, that was completely fine. He made a mistake back then, but now both of them could make amends. He wasn't going to let anyone judge the Hatake. Not over his father, not over his power. Despite their ages, despite their lessons and their hardships, Obito could still see that boy that was missing something and was struggling to get out of the tunnel. He was never the one to walk to the other side on his own. But unlike Kakashi, he was still in too much light to see darkness around him. He was positive for his own good. He wanted to believe in good in others. Maybe that's why they needed each other so much; maybe that's why Kakashi returned to save him. They were always meant to complete each other.