Siblings
Obito had spent the rest of his day in ‘Obito’s’ room, curled up in bed and trying to sleep this nightmare away. But no matter how many times he woke up he was still in the same ugly room.
He still had a fraction of hope that Minato-sensei would come to get him and it would be all over. But in the course of his in and out of sleep moments, it didn’t happen.
Three days later, Obito resigned himself to his fate.
It was three days of him staying holed up in his bed, eating the minimal amount of the food that somehow magically appeared next to his bed. He couldn’t even feel time passing as he buried his head in his pillow and dreamed of his own village.
But there was a limit to escaping problems, and Obito never was one to give up.
On the fourth day, his eyes opened, and all the fatigue he previously felt were as much as vanished. He got up, got dressed in clothes he found appropriate, and exited his room for the first time in a while.
The house was still unfamiliar to him, so he took some time exploring. It wasn’t long until he encountered one of the residents, Suzu, on the corridor.
Suzu nodded politely once she saw him, her steps slowing down to meet him halfway. Obito did the same.
Her golden eyes were carefully reading his face, her hair fell to her shoulders when she tilted her head “Obito…?”
Obito shifted “Uh, yeah, hi Suzu.”
Suzu’s eyes fell. It caused a pang in Obito’s conscience. Then again, he didn’t want to be there, either.
“The restroom’s over there,” Suzu said, pointing to one of the doors.
Obito nodded “Thanks.”
“We got you a new toothbrush. It’s the green one.”
“Okay!”
That was awkward.
Upon exiting, he had a feeling Kokurui would be there. After all, he had just met with Suzu, and if what they said was true, it was natural that they didn’t trust him as well.
Kokurui gave him a small smile, but it was wildly different from the smiles he gave him before he heard the news “Hey,” he said with obvious fake cheer “How are you feeling?”
Obito bit his lower lip. He wanted to go home “Fine.”
“I see.” Kokurui said quietly. He studied his face the same way his sister did which made the hair on Obito’s skin stand up “Well, you must be hungry, huh. Come on, I’ll make you something.”
The slight pressure still wasn’t gone, but Obito tried to push it down “You can cook?”
“Yep!” Kokurui tried to beam “Rather well, too. You’ll see.”
Obito smiled a bit as he followed the smaller one.
The kitchen was definitely much bigger than his own, in fact, Obito would never understand why they would need so much space for cooking. It was an open kitchen with the dining room, Obito could already see Suzu sitting on one of the kitchen counters (yes, sitting on the counters).
Kokurui immediately scolded her and she hopped off as a habit. Kokurui huffed something about the older generations being super rude to house furniture before going behind the counters.
“How you feeling?” Obito was startled by the sudden question, he jumped wide-eyed and stared at the girl who leisurely took a seat at the dining table, gesturing at him to do the same.
He took a seat nearby quickly “I’m feeling fine. Thanks.”
She nodded, strands of hair falling in front of her eyes and Obito stared a little longer than necessary because he could have sworn he had seen those eyes somewhere else.
“Then let’s go training later. I’m missing a training partner now anyway”
Obito blinked “Uh, okay,” he agreed, not sure if rejecting was even an option. Besides, he didn’t have anything else to do.
“Great,” Suzu said non-plussed with those half-lid eyes Kakashi always had. Obito was starting to regret his decision.
“Ooh, will you two be back home for dinner?” Kokurui asked from where he was. And just when Suzu replied with ‘Yes, mutha’, a bowl of fruit got placed in front of them, with Kokurui standing there, hands on his hips and displeased frown.
“Don’t call me that, I’m younger than you. And eat your fruits.” He said pushing the bowl towards her. Then thought about it and grabbed some fresh fruits to put in front of Obito.
Suzu looked at the scene with an eyebrow raised and a slight smirk.
“Nee-san, you’re just immature.” Kokurui huffed and walked away. Obito stared at his retreating form before grabbing the banana he had left in front of him.
Suzu had the biggest grin on her face “Isn’t he the cutest? Can you believe he’s only twelve?”
His world’s Kakashi was twelve and a jonin and more insufferable than his academy teachers, so yes, he could have believed that this cinnamon roll before him was twelve.
After some thought (which really was Obito’s brain telling him to stop focusing on just eating and say something), he said as much.
Suzu’s eyes twinkled with something he wasn’t able to identify “My dad? How was he?”
Obito was left speechless because ‘Kakashi’ and ‘my dad’ was something that did not belong anywhere near together. He almost wanted to throw up the banana he had just eaten.
“Nee-san, don’t make our guest uncomfortable!” Like a god-sent, Kokurui yelled from the kitchen. Obito was very impressed by his ability to know that with his back on them.
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are! Imagine if Mitsuki-kun’s future child was in front of you asking how he was.”
“Ew, Ruri, that’s effed up, Mitsuki’s a kid and hopefully not going to be a dad any -oh. Wait.”
It was a sight to see, how her expression changed ever so subtly while still managing to convey much meaning.
Kokurui walked out then, face smug as if he had just won that argument. Suzu rested a hand on her face and leaned forward with a cat-like grin. The smugness fell from the younger one’s face and instead he huffed. Kokurui then put a plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon in front of Obito.
Obito blinked, enjoying the smell and the pleasant aesthetic of the dish in front of him. He took a bite.
“Nice, huh?” Kokurui grinned “It’s a simple dish, but I added a secret ingredient that makes it super yummy.”
Obito nodded and ate blissfully when the two siblings started bickering in the background.
(What secret ingredient? You never did it for me.
Nee-san, a chef never reveals his secrets.
It’s your tears, isn’t it you little crybaby.
No, what, nee-san, I don’t cry that much, you just don’t cry enough, you really should let your emotions- stop covering your ears when I talk to you.)
He could get used to it.
--
Suzu didn’t talk much without Kokurui around and Obito had no idea what to say to her, either.
He followed her in silence as they made their way to the training ground, Obito would try to talk to her but Suzu responded in short, blunt answers.
Memories of another silver-haired person who responded in a fairly similar way came to mind so Obito gave up soon after.
He had never been so happy to see a training post.
He ran to a side of the field and started doing some stretches when Suzu surveyed the space around them. She turned to Obito and tilted her head.
“Obito-kun, do you know how to wield a sword?”
“Uh, no.”
“Okay.” Suzu pulled out a sword from her back and handed it to him. Obito carefully took it. She pulled the other one attached to her back and raised it against him.
Obito stared at her. He was sure he had just said no, so why was he wielding a sword now?
“I’ll teach you,” Suzu said as if reading his mind. “Do you not want to?”
“You’ll teach me?” Obito couldn’t help the awe in his voice. He cleared his throat, thought about it, and then nodded “Okay! It wouldn’t hurt.”
Suzu nodded “On guard, then.”
Obito had no idea what that meant, but he mimicked Suzu’s movements.
In the next instant, Suzu was on the attack. Obito didn’t even blink before he was on his ass, staring up at Suzu with a sword pointed at him.
Suzu blinked at him, he blinked at Suzu.
“Uh,” Suzu started “Wow you really suck.” Obito very much yelled something in protest that she easily ignored. She put his sword back on her back and retreated the one that fell out of Obito’s hands. She handed it over to the boy and then put a hand on her hip.
Obito watched her.
“First, we’ll work on your posture,” Suzu stated.
Obito had a bad feeling about it.
His feelings were unfounded, though, as after an hour of training nothing exceptional had happened, except Suzu didn’t teach him how to attack with the sword he had, only how to wield it and how to stand. It should have been boring, but he had unexpectedly enjoyed the way Suzu thought. She was more vocal, now, and didn’t scold Obito when he messed up more than once.
In fact, she stayed patient through it all.
Which was a surprise on its own since she had told him he sucked.
The more he practiced, the more he felt he was getting the hang of it. The one time he tried swinging it, Suzu smiled genuinely and praised him for his quick learning.
Obito beamed at the praise. Nobody had ever told him he was a quick learned. The contrary, though, happened pretty often.
As Obito busied himself with practicing the moves Suzu taught him while she watched to make sure his posture was right, Obito came to the sudden realization that he should have probably explored the village outside as well.
But he really didn’t feel like it.
So, once Suzu told him that it was enough for the day, he asked her if she wanted to train something else, like Ninjutsu or Taijutsu or anything to keep his body in shape.
“Obito doesn’t use ninjutsu that much,” Suzu had said “He doesn’t have a lot of chakra.”
“Oh.”
“His body is also kind of frail. He exercises a lot, but he can’t throw a punch to save his life.”
“Oh.”
“For your reference, even tree-walking can drain a significant amount of his chakra.”
“Oh.”
“So don’t go tree walking or water walking too much, you might pass out.”
“Oh.”
Obito frowned a lot.
Suzu smiled “He’s still a very good ninja, and a magnificent medic.”
“I’m not, though.” Obito frowned “I don’t know anything about medicine.”
Rin did, and she was so very good at it.
“You don’t have to know, you’re not my sibling,” she bluntly said making Obito feel kind of bad.
“I’m still a ninja.” He replied, his hands tight over the handle of the sword “I’m not giving that up just because I’m in another body.”
“You don’t have to.” Suzu replied, eyes soft. Obito felt his hands relax at the sight and the girl’s eyes scanned his hands quickly and gave a seemingly nod of approval “I know it’s difficult, but, for your own good, avoid using too much ninjutsu. I’m not joking when I say Obi gets drained really quickly.”
Obito’s frown returned. He had always been a front fighter. It was difficult for him imaging himself not using ninjutsu or even taijutsu.
“You can learn the sword, though, I think you’ll be great at it.” Suzu continued. She said that like it was the most natural thing and that was enough for Obito’s eyes to sting “If you want to learn it, that is.”
Obito stared up at her and blinked “You think so?”
Suzu tilted her head “What? Oh.” She nodded “Yeah. You’d be great. And I’ve been told to be quite good at it, too. So, I may be a good teacher. Who knows.”
Obito stared at her, trying to search any hint of mockery. When he found none, he smiled “I’d like that.”
She smiled at him and Obito’s heart nearly skipped a beat (nearly because the only one who could make his heart go crazy was Rin) “Okay,”
Obito grinned back.
The way back home was significantly less awkward than before, even if they weren’t talking at all.
---
Obito was still not ready to go out to the village, so he stuck around at home, trying to avoid the adult because that was still weird as hell.
He was getting a little bored so he started searching for the nice clone of Kakashi, though it did take him a while, seeing how unfamiliar he still was with his surroundings.
He found him in a study (why did they have both a study and a library? He’d never get rich people. Kakashi as an adult was still an asshole.), concentrated on a scroll on the table. Several other scrolls were neatly placed on both sides of him.
He carefully approached.
Kokurui looked at him and then smiled.
“Hi, Obito-kun,”
Obito smiled back “Hey, Kokurui,”
“You can just call me Rui if you want.” Kokurui gestured at him to sit down next to him, which Obito gratefully did “My full name can be a handful.”
“Meh, it’s the same effort as saying Bakakashi,” Kokurui blinked, then sputtered. Obito grinned “Besides, I’ll rather call you Ruri, I heard your sister call you that.”
Ruri rolled his eyes “Sister always messes up our names for fun.” His tone was annoyed but his eyes were fond “You can call me Ruri if you want though, I don’t mind.”
Obito nodded, then focused on what the younger one was working on.
“I thought you said you didn’t want to be a ninja.”
“I don’t, but I do like funjutsu.” Ruri made eye contact with him, then smiled again “It’s calming.”
“I see,” Obito said while not seeing it at all.
Ruri handed him a neatly folded scroll, looked down, bit his lip, and looked up again, with another gentle smile and tilted head “Do you want to join me? Hide and I are always practicing it together.”
Obito took the scroll in Ruri hands subconsciously, but once it was in his hands, he started frowning. He had never learned about funjutsu before, even if Minato-sensei was a funjutsu master himself, he had never pressured his students to follow his lead.
And Obito was too dumb to be able to properly learn it, he was sure of it. Kakashi was smart, and he knew some basic seals already.
“Obito-kun?” Ruri’s face fell “Are you okay? You can say no if you want to.”
“Oh, no no no, I’m great, Ruri.” He grinned, faking excitement “I don’t think I’ll be any good at it, though.”
The younger one blinked at him, frowned, and tilted his head again “You practice to be good at it, not the other way round.” He thought about it, and the gears in his mind started working “Ah, Obito-kun, I’m not going to judge you if you don’t do well, no one is good from the beginning.”
Bakakashi was good from the very beginning though, he had gotten it right on his first try.
Obito didn’t think he was capable of brooding, but somehow it came very naturally to him now.
Ruri laughed “And besides, I’m here! I can be your teacher! I’m not that great, but I can teach you everything I know, and then we can improve together.”
The little clone’s eyes were sparkling at the thought and Obito’s mouth quirked up without him meaning to, “Okay, okay,” Obito finally said, opening the blank scroll in his hands “If you insist so much, I’ll try it with you.”
“Yay!” How could a clone of Kakashi look so cute? Obito was so tempted to pinch his cheeks. The kid was beaming, Obito could feel warmth just by being near him “Then, we’ll start on something easy, okay?”
His excitement was so contagious Obito felt his lips stretch into a grin. “Sure,”
And he did mess up, a lot, but Ruri was there and as he had promised, taught him what to do and how to do it with the same calm and gentle manner his sister had been teaching him kenjutsu just moments prior.
He succeeded in drawing a simple storage seal by the end of it, and Ruri cheered so much you would have thought Obito had just found a solution to travel himself back in time.
Obito smiled accomplished.
He could definitely get used to this.