Chapter 18
“Obito—--!!”
It was a quiet hiss, but a voice Obito recognized, scowling as he turned to face Minato, who was carrying groceries in his hands, and a baby in a carrier on his chest. Obito feels himself recoil a bit away from the child, who was blinking at him curiously. Small hands reach out to him, trying to grab at him, and he pulls away more, making a face. Minato notices, blinking before shifting the bags in his hands so that he can give Naruto something to hold onto and occupy him. He then turns his attention back to Obito.
“How many times are you going to sneak out of your room?”
Obito only shrugs which causes Minato to let out a huff of air through his nose. Minato glances around, but luckily it doesn’t seem as if anyone has taken notice of the boy—-- who is now walking away from him. He lets out a noise of surprise and indignation before quickly catching back up to him.
“You need to stop this. If someone notices—---”
“Look around— no one’s even paying attention.” That was true. For now, anyway. “Besides, it’s late. No one’s even gonna notice I’m gone. No one’s gonna notice I’m here. They’re all too busy getting drunk. Or sleeping.” He raises an eyebrow at Minato. “Why the hell are you doing your shopping this late, anyway?”
“Naruto has been going through a strange patch. Sleeps all day, up all night. Fussy.”
“Why not just go shopping and have him sleep?”
“It isn’t that simple….”
Obito rolls his eyes. It sounds simple to him.
“Why not just have someone watch him?”
“Because I want to spend time with my child?”
“He’s asleep.”
“Regardless—-” Minato waves it off. “Besides, I can’t just leave Naruto with Mikoto or Kakashi any time I want. Mikoto has her own children. And Kakashi has missions. And he is my child.”
“And…..?”
“What do you mean ‘and’-----?!” Minato sputters and Obito just shrugs before waving his hand around a bit.
“And you are—- were—- the Hokage. You can easily just find him some babysitter. I’m sure anyone would watch him if you asked. You don’t have to do a thing.”
“What do you mean?” His eyebrows are drawn together, a small, unsure smile on his face. Naruto is getting fussy on his chest, and he has to shift his attention to the boy to calm him as he continues speaking. “What kind of father would I be if I did that? I want to be there for Naruto. He’s my child.”
Obito’s silent, his gaze turning away as he scowls. He feels his throat itch and sting, and his stomach clench tightly. He doesn’t say anything, though, instead choosing to ignore the both of them, hoping it would maybe make Minato go away.
He knows it’s not going to work, but he’s still going to try.
Sure enough, Minato stays in step with him, cooing to Naruto, who was having none of it, trying to push him away and wriggle out of his carrier. Obito felt like he related a bit, also wanting the man to leave him alone. Not to mention, Naruto starting to cry was getting to him. He was getting a headache. He was feeling nauseous.
He was feeling guilty.
“Look,” Obito’s voice is firm, and he stops walking suddenly, causing Minato to look at him confusingly. “All you gotta do is leave me alone. How hard is that?”
“I want to help—--”
“Shut up. If you wanted to help, you would’ve been there. You wouldn’t have made the three of us go alone. You wouldn’t have made Kakashi and Rin go alone.” Minato looks more and more guilty as Obito talks, but he doesn’t stop. “You don’t want to help. You want to quiet your conscience. You want to feel better about what you did. Or—” Obito shrugs. “Didn’t do, I guess.”
“Obito….” Minato’s voice is soft, but Obito doesn’t want to listen.
“I don’t want to hear whatever excuse you have. I don’t need to hear whatever excuse you have. I don’t care, and I never want to care. Leave. Me. Alone.”
Obito turns and walks off once more, though, this time, Minato doesn’t follow.