Waking
Uchiha Obito had slept late the previous night.
He had failed his exams in the most humiliating way possible and to make things worse, his stupid teammate just had to pass the chuunin exams not once, but twice (to spite Obito, he was sure) and then, it came barreling down the sad truth that Rin only had the most pompous jerk in her eyes.
To sum it up, Obito had the worst day of his life and it had been difficult to fall asleep, then.
Thought of Bakashi being better than him in every way swirled in his mind and try as he may, the feeling of envy would resurge every now and then. He had only briefly wondered what would be like to be like him, but he quickly shook the thought away. After all, he was Uchiha Obito, he was going to be Hokage and he should not have thoughts like these in his mind.
He fell asleep with a determined smile on his face.
“Hide.”
Obito heard an unknown voice. He was relaxed and his mattress was so comfy all of a sudden, he just let his weight sink into it further. As far as his ninja mind could sense, he was safe, no trace of ill-intent anywhere in his proximity, so he just categorized what he was hearing as a distant dream.
“Hide.”
It had been a while, Obito had thought, that he slept so peacefully. When his old sheets got unfortunately ripped, he had been too busy and out of money to replace it, so he had spent the last couple of days sleeping mostly on a mattress and plain blanket. It was weird and scratchy.
“Hide!”
But now it was all so warm and soft, it also smelled really nice. He let out a soft sigh, trying to hug his cushion tighter, but all he succeeded in doing was slightly clenching his fists.
“Obito”
That startled Obito’s mind to partially awaken. The voice he had been hearing felt closer and also knew of his name. A part of Obito’s brain was telling him that the only one who ever woke him up nowadays was his sensei. And if his sensei was waking him up, it meant that he was incredibly late for whatever they had planned.
“…Five mwore minut…”
Now that he thought about it, they did have training scheduled for that day. But did it have to be so early? Obito was still incredibly sleepy.
The voice that called him had stayed quiet for a very long while “Did you jus-” without even finishing the sentence, there was the sound of footsteps sounding lighter and lighter, then returning after a while with double the sound.
“Ryu, stop pullin-”
“No, nee-san, this is serious, just look at this.”
Whatever they were looking at, Obito didn’t need to know. Though, the added voice was making the alarm bells in his head twitch.
“…Huh.”
“Right?”
“Huh.”
“Right??”
The alarm bells were getting slightly louder.
“And look- Obito.”
Obito twitched at the mention of his name, he pulled his pillow over his face. “Mmgrph.”
“Oh my God.”
“Right???”
“That is so cute.” An emotionless tone and a sniff “Our little sibling is finally acting like a proper teenager.”
“I know.” This voice had more emotions in it “Quick, get the camera.”
“On it.”
Wait, did Obito just hear ‘little sibling’? Were they talking about him? Since when did he have siblings?
…Why were two people in his room?
His eyes snapped open and he jumped on the bed, his back on the wall and, a kunai that should be under his pillow but what he found instead was a book, in hand. He crouched so that his vitals were hidden and regarded the strange voices with a narrow gaze.
“Who ar-“ he stopped, mouth wide open. Kakashi, without his mask, was staring back at him with a raised eyebrow and slight smirk on his face and holy shit was that weird, why could he see his face?
He stared like a fish out of water. This bastard wore that stupid mask all the time and he was hiding nothing?
“Good morning to you, too, Hide. Now, now, put the book down, we can talk about this.”
Since when did Bakashi smile or look amused at all?
Since when did Bakashi know how to joke?
…Since when did Bakashi call him ‘Hide’? What!
A look of disgust immediately washed over Obito without him meaning to.
“Teme, what did you just call me?”
“I’m here with the- oh, you’re up.”
Obito’s attention was directed to the other visitor in the room and he did a double-take when he saw one of the prettiest girls he had ever laid eyes to, of course not as pretty as Rin, but it was close. Her flowy grey hair was dancing in the light that came from the window and her golden eyes were almost captivating. She didn’t look that much like Bakashi, but if someone told him they were related he’d probably believe it.
No, he wasn’t implying he found his teammate pretty, please get that sick thought out of his mind.
The new visitor raised an eyebrow, too. She turned to Kakashi and said, “What did you do?”
“…What? Why would I have done anything?”
“Then why does Totobi look so wary of you?”
“Totobi woke up like this. Totobi, tell her.”
Totobi was too busy trying to process the scene before him.
What was happening? Did Kakashi kidnap him into his house in his sleep and why. Since when did his loner of a teammate have a girl in his house, too?
“You know the only one allowed to make fun of Obobi so early in the morning is me, you wouldn’t get it right. Case in point, look at what you’ve done.” He was too shocked to notice or even care at this point about the girl sitting in his bed a few feet apart, regarding him with a concerned gaze. “You okay? Did Ryu say something to make you upset, and if yes, then what did you do to him?”
He said nothing, he just stared at her, and then looked at Kakashi for maybe some help.
Kakashi blinked at him and tilted his head. He wasn’t expecting any help from him in the first place but it was enough to make him annoyed at his useless teammate.
He returned his gaze to the look-alike, with narrowed eyes he asked “What?”
The stranger seemed to misunderstand his question, as she snorted and waved her hand in front of her “Come on Otobi, if you get Rururi mad, chances are you deserved it.”
“I didn’t do anything to him, but thanks nee-san.” Kakashi piped up.
Obito blinked at both of them. Nee-san? This was Kakashi’s sister? Since when did Kakashi have a sister?
No, that wasn’t possible.
“Who are you?”
The silence that followed was so thick it could be cut with a knife.
Obito swallowed, not expecting his question to be met with such tension.
The girl’s eyes had widened and he looked at Kakashi. The two just stared at each other in silence and while it wasn’t possible, Obito couldn’t shake the feeling that they were communicating with their eyes. Actual communication.
In synch, they both turned to look at him. It was a bit freaky how coordinated they were.
“Obito.” Kakashi started, “Do you know who I am?”
Obito made a face at him, but right now he wasn’t as certain as he had first felt “Of course I know who you are. Bakakashi.” He said his teammate’s name a lot quieter and tamer.
The two looked at each other in complete synch again. Another few moments passed before ‘Kakashi’ nodded and went out of the room. Obito’s eyes widened in outrage. Why was he going away and leaving him with a stranger without any explanations?
The stranger was staring at him quietly, and Obito was too unnerved to look at her, so he looked around at the room.
The room he was in was a lot bigger than his own, it was also filled with bookshelves full of books. The desk placed alongside them seemed to be made of dark wood. Like an old man’s. Or a sorcerer’s. Who would willingly put that in their room? There was a big grey carpet on the wooden floor and the walls were had a cream color with light grey patterns that resembled a lantern on them. It made the room look so classy, something that Obito wouldn’t have gone for himself. In fact, nothing in this room looked like something Obito would purchase if given the funds, as they were eighty percent books.
He was still debating with himself about why there was such an ugly desk when the stranger spoke up.
“I’m Suzu.”
Obito blinked at her, still with furrowed eyebrows, he replied “I’m Obito. But it seems you already know that.”
The stranger seemed to still “Your name is Obito?”
Obito frowned with him “Yeah? Uchiha Obito.”
The stranger’s lips thinned and they were turning so white Obito was starting to worry for her, Kakashi came back along with someone else.
Obito’s eyes widened just as wide as the other adult stranger.
Was that Kakashi’s dad? He looked just like Kakashi, with the same mask and all.
Kakashi’s dad was looking at him incredulously, he looked at the girl for confirmation of something, she just nodded dumbly.
“What… what did you say your name was?” Kakashi’s dad asked.
Obito looked at all the grey-haired people in the room, feeling faint “Uchiha… Uchiha Obito.”
But Kakashi’s dad looked ready to pass out.
--
Only after the initial shock did Obito realize that ‘Kakashi’ was dressed a lot differently. The Kakashi Obito knew wouldn’t be caught dead wearing overalls. He also had a mole under his left eye that definitely wasn’t there before. And yet, Kakashi suddenly changing personality overnight was more believable than the time travel and body swapping mess he later found out he was in.
As of now, the only thing he knew was what the strangers had told him. He was in Konoha, he was safe, he could leave at any moment but, if possible, they would have liked him to stay until they could give him a proper explanation of the situation at hand. Which was something they didn’t know, either.
‘Kakashi’ stayed by his side while old Kakashi and girl Kakashi went into a separate room.
Obito had felt so out of place that he was starting to miss his bastard teammate.
“So…” the grey-haired boy broke the tension, “My name is Kokurui. It’s nice to meet you, Obito.”
Obito nodded dumbly “Likewise.”
Kokurui smiled gently, his eyes curved, too “I’m glad you feel that way. We’re sorry if we frightened you.” Kokurui said with a playful tone “But, you know, technically you are the one trespassing, so we should be more afraid of you than you of us.”
“I’m not-”
“Yes, we know.” Kokurui calmed him down before Obito could panic “What I meant is, if we’re not afraid of you, then please don’t be afraid of us, either.” He scratched his cheek, obviously having felt that what he said wasn’t making the situation better “Oh, uh, I’m a civilian, too. So you can kick my ass any time you feel threatened.”
Obito almost laughed “I don’t think that would fly well with your dad.”
“Dad won’t care unless I tell him to.” Kokurui beamed “He’s nice like that.”
Obito had frowned because what was nice about being beaten up and not caring about it? But Kokurui seemed so happy about that fact that it felt rude to voice it aloud.
“I see.”
“Can I ask how old are you, Obito?”
“I’m fourteen.”
“Ah, like my sibling.”
“Your…” Obito paused “Your brother’s name is Obito, too, right?”
Kokurui nodded, smiling.
“Is your brother… a ninja, too?”
Kokurui’s smile turned a tad sad, he nodded. “Hide just made chuunin yesterday.”
Obito’s eyes went as wide as saucers “I was in the chuunin exams yesterday! Obito exclaimed “I didn’t see anyone else named Obito!”
Kokurui was looking away “Yeah. I think we know why… we’ll tell you but please be patient.”
Obito looked at him, gaze narrowed “I am still in the leaf, right?”
“Yeah, we’re still in Konoha, don’t worry.” He gave Obito what seemed to be a reassuring smile “Let’s head out later, together!”
“Why together?”
“Why not? I’d like to get to know you better.”
Obito blinked at him. He may be a knucklehead, but he was still a shinobi at heart, and shinobi did not trust easily, even if Obito would give others the benefit of the doubt more often than not, he wasn’t going to be buddy-buddy with this nice guy he had just met even though he could feel he didn’t mean any harm.
It was tough for Obito to reject someone who looked so earnest. So, instead of answering, he avoided eye contact.
Kokurui noticed how Obito’s shoulders were stiffer, and how he was closing more on himself “Ah. I don’t mean to give you any pressure. You can just say no, it’s fine.”
“Oh, uh, it’s not-” the words died in Obito’s throat when he saw the patient smile on Kokurui’s face. Somehow, it reminded him of Minato-sensei. It was the kind of smile that calmed you down, that told you that you were okay.
“Don’t worry, it’s fine.” Kokurui’s eyes curved up into an u shape “Tell me when I’m stepping your boundaries, and try to feel at ease, okay? No one here is going to chide you.”
Kokurui paused, giving his words some thought.
“Well,” he kept going, scratching his cheek “As long as you don’t wreak havoc, that is. And, uh, try to be especially careful of the room you’re currently in. The owner is pretty hot-headed.”
“The one with my same name?”
“Yeah, Hide.” Kokurui grinned, and this smile seemed a lot more genuine than all the ones Obito had received before “Hide’s not the most, uh, easy-going person in the world. We try not to get them too worked up. Unless it’s funny.”
How could it be funny to make someone angry? Obito didn’t ask.
He made a sound of agreement and spent the new hour responding to Kokurui’s question and having a little chat with him (what are your specialties? Do you like your team? Do you have the Sharingan? It’s okay, I don’t have it either. Hey, don’t snort, I really don’t. That sassy glare, you’d get along with my sibling.) he shared some of his stories while learning a bit about them, too.
Suzu was Kokurui’s older sister. She was a jonin and they celebrated her promotion just yesterday alongside Obito’s. Kokurui, on the other hand, had never wanted to become a ninja.
“It’s not for me.” Kokurui had said, for the first time, avoiding eye contact. It was only for a brief moment, but seeing how open Kokurui had been through the whole conversation, that single instant stuck out like a sore thumb.
Obito didn’t ask, though.
Kokurui told him a bit about his sibling named Obito, too. How his sibling had just become chuunin and was on the road to becoming one of the best medics in Konoha. And while Hide had a bad temper, he was working on it so he was really proud of his sibling.
He called his sibling Hide to boost up his already big ego.
The hour passed by surprisingly quickly and by the end of it, it was easy for Obito to nearly forget the weird situation he was in.
It should have been bad since he was a ninja and he was most likely kidnapped, but it felt right. It had been a while since someone had shown such genuine interest and attention in Obito’s stories, as well. And Obito trusted his gut far more than he should.
Just as Obito was about to answer Kokurui’s question of his own teacher, the stranger - Suzu, Obito mind supplied, appeared in the doorway. She looked at the scene and gave a seeming nod of approval.
“Ruri,” she said, then looked at Obito and hesitated “Uchiha-kun, could you please follow me?”
Obito spluttered an affirmative, not used to being addressed so formally. Kokurui frowned at his sister and told her that she was making him uncomfortable.
His sister gave him an annoyed look and turned to leave, Kokurui chased after her while keep trying to get his sister to call him by name. Obito quickly followed them. Kokurui turned around to face him and give him a reassuring smile once in a while.
As shocking as it was, Obito was starting to like this clone of Kakashi, he was nice, unlike his teammate.
They walked over to a study and Obito marveled at how big this house seemed to be. They had to go down the stairs and in the other direction to reach their destination, it may have been as big as the house of the Uchiha leader.
A sense of foreboding overcame him as he looked at the door he was about to go in, his heart rate picked up and his hands got sweaty. He looked over at Kokurui, who under Obito’s gaze, looked back at him. He took some seconds to analyze him, then extended a hand.
Obito huffed “I’m not a kid.”
Kokurui laughed “Sorry, you seemed to need some support.” He then, slowly, hesitantly, and while looking at Obito’s expression all the way, put a hand on Obito’s shoulders and tapped him a couple of times. “Don’t worry, okay? Dad’s the least scary person you’ll meet.”
“I’m not scared of him, I’m…” Obito trailed off.
He didn’t have to voice it out loud for Kokurui to understand “I know. We’ll work on it together, okay? We’ll find a way.” He looked at his sister who was watching silently. They both nodded in unison.
Obito took a deep breath, and just as he was about to open the door to the study, the door opened itself. The Uchiha blinked as he found himself face to face with the adult that looked incredibly like his teammate. The adult blinked at him, too. Then he took a step aside to let them in.
Kokurui was the first to enter.
Suzu, instead looked at her dad with an amused raised eyebrow “What, dad, worried we weren’t going to come?”
“Mhaa, mhaa, knowing you, you might just have come up with some plan to make you all come late.”
“You’d deserve it.”
Suzu made a gesture for Obito to follow, and he did while observing his surroundings.
The study was just as he thought, a bunch of books everywhere. The desk there, at least, was a simple desk that wasn’t ugly. It was normal.
Except for the number of books, the room was more modest than he had thought.
Actually, the whole way here, he found the house to be exceptionally normal. Not extravagant paintings or sculptures or something dumb that may have cost a lot of money as he would have expected given the room he woke up to. The house was still big, though.
He sat on one of the chairs and Kokurui sat next to him. Suzu was standing, her back on the window nearby and the adult sat down across from them soon after as well.
“So,” the adult started. He looked at Obito and his face seemed to pale.
Seconds turned to minutes, and apparently, Suzu didn’t have enough patience to wait for her dad to speak up.
“Obito-kun, you’re in the future, in the body of our little sibling named Obito Hatake. Our dad is your teammate.”
The adult winced and looked at his daughter who shrugged. Obito’s jaw fell to the floor.
“What?” Surprisingly, it was Kokurui who spoke up, looking as devastated as Obito “What do you mean? Where’s Hide?”
Suzu’s eyes softened as she looked at his little brother, who looked ready to burst into tears “Not here at the moment, Ryu.”
Kokurui’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times. He glanced at Obito, then looked back at them “No, he’s here.”
“He’s not Otobi,” Suzu said, and even if she didn’t show it, it was obvious she wasn’t completely accepting the fact either.
“But,” Kokurui said, his gaze glazed over and he was now staring at something far away.
The adult sighed.
“Obito,” he said “I know it’s a lot to take in, but please keep calm. We’ll answer any questions you may have.”
“How do we get Hide back?” Kokurui spoke up again, though his tone was a lot more emotionless and Obito himself was still too out of it to fully comprehend what was happening.
The adult looked at his son, eyes soft and brows furrowed “We’ll find a way to bring him back, Rui, I promise.”
Rui perked up slightly. Only then, he seemed to finally remember Obito was still there. “Ah.” He got up, and walked the few steps it took to reach Obito “Did you see yourself in the mirror, yet, Obito-kun?” Obito felt the way his hands were shaking as he took him to a nearby mirror. Obito’s eyes nearly budged out at seeing his reflection.
What greeted him was not his face.
“T-That’s not proof! The mirror could be faulty or…” he made the hand sign “Kai!”
Kokurui face turned even sadder “I’m sorry Obito-kun.”
“You’re sorry?” Obito didn’t know what to say or feel. This was absurd. Why was this happening?
“You can go outside and see for yourself.” Suzu spoke up, watching Obito carefully “Your teammate's face is on the rocks.”
“My… teammate?!”
“Hatake Kakashi, our dad.” Kokurui said, taking a few steps back from Obito.
“WHAT?”
--
Obito had a mild panic attack right there. It took him a good five hours and a painful tour around the village, to come to the conclusion that, yes, he wasn’t anywhere back home, and yes, maybe he was in a different dimension altogether.
‘Kakashi’ hadn’t said much after that, but did tell him to call him Hatake if he found his name too difficult.
Obito had agreed to that.
He also offered him to stay with them until they found a solution.
Obito accepted that without much complaint.
It still felt too surreal and he wasn’t accepting it, but no matter how many Kai’s he shouted, the world around him wasn’t changing.