There is Time

After an endless moment wrapped in arms of his pack, just breathing… Kakashi pulls back from the embrace slightly. It might be a small and broken pack, but it is still a good one.

Rin’s decision still leaves an ache in his heart, but it is as if a healing balm has been placed on it. He looks at her, and she sits tall and strong with her kind inner warmth. He can breathe a bit more freely now, knowing that whatever happens they’ll be in it together to the end.

He watches as Rin builds up a mound of furs behind Obito so that he has something to lean against and still sit up. She taps his nose with her finger as she helps him lean back. “Deactivate your Sharingan Obito, you don’t have the chakra to spare right now.” Obito’s expression is startled for a moment as she sends her chakra through his system again in another scan. He blinks slowly, almost hesitant, a few times before the red of his eye fades to black.

Obito’s countenance is odd, almost distracted. But then his eye alights on Kakashi and he tilts his head as confusion blooms on his features. “Hey, Kakashi… why are you keeping your left eye closed? Is there something wrong with the eye I gave you?”

He shakes his head feeling rueful. “No, but I am not an Uchiha so I can’t turn the eye off. If I left my eye open all the time, I would be completely drained of chakra.”

“Oh,” Obito winces. “Sorry for the difficulty.”

Kakashi bites back the whine that wants to escape his throat.

Why? Why does he do this? Obito gave him this incredible gift, has hampered his own ability by doing so, and yet he is sorry?

“It’s fine.” Kakashi curls his eyes up into a smile. “It’s been a very helpful gift that has kept both Rin and I alive.” Thank you seems like such a poor expression of how much he appreciates that and the gift itself, but that is all he has to offer. “Thanks.”

It seems to be enough as Obito brightens and his smile, scars and all, is joyful. “I’m so glad.”

Rin’s own smile is small and gentle, but no less joyful.

Kakashi feels the tension in his chest ease. Obito’s conviction is still bright and fierce, even with whatever he’s been through since they left him. The two of them being by his side makes him feel like he can take on the world no matter what it throws at him.

He is even more confused about the scars now though. Scars won in battle defending a packmate were a mark of honor. A statement of dedication to protect and of strength to survive. Most scars anyway.

Kakashi always feels a bit conflicted about the scar on his eye. That did not count as a mark of honor, because he had been going to leave them both behind.

Alone and unaided.

Still, Obito’s gift resides beneath that scar. He took it as a sign, a permanent reminder of his shame that the scar should be forever visible while the eye is in use. A testament to all who would see the eye. But Rin said that Obito would feel self-conscious about his scars, not proud of them.

Was Obito ashamed of saving him? All his other actions and words say otherwise.

But—

Rin’s words jar him out of his introspection. “All right Kakashi, sit still. While I have been monitoring Obito, I haven’t yet had the chance to make sure there hasn’t been any overt damage to you.”

Kakashi stiffens and begins to open his mouth in protest.

But Rin just gives him a look and he folds like wet paper. Really she could weaponized that look if she wanted to. Anyone else would be left curling into a ball of shame. Despite the lingering concern in Obito’s eye, Kakashi definitely catches the amused bright-eyed laughter in it.

He slumps and resigns himself to Rin’s fretting as she reaches her hands across Obito towards him.

Her chakra is soothing as it runs through his system and he feels himself relaxing further in spite of himself. All the same… “What about you? I know you said everything was under control with the Sanbi, but what about any of your own injuries?”

“Mostly superficial. I just need to take it easy for a little while and let my chakra system adapt to the addition of Sanbi-san’s chakra.” Rin says as she withdraws her hands. “You appear to be in fairly good shape too. Just take it easy with the chakra use for a while and don’t strain yourself too much. Of the three of us, Obito is in the worst shape, so whatever happened had to have used him as the focal point.”

Obito wrinkles his nose in confusion and brushes his hair out of his face. “Umm… guys? Not to interrupt, but why aren’t we in a Konoha hospital? For that matter where are we anyway? I know we were in Konoha before I passed out.”

Kakashi cocks his head, confused about how Obito could possibly know that, but he answers nonetheless. “We’re in a Hatake clan den,” and here Kakashi sees a spark of knowledgeable satisfaction in Rin’s eyes. “Inside the borders of what will be Konoha.”

Obito blinks. “What… will be?”

Rin rolls her eyes at Kakashi and huffs. “Somehow we landed in the past, before Konoha was even formed.” Obito’s expression is incredulous and Kakashi is sure that his eye could not get any wider as Rin continues. “I am not sure how far though.”

Obito’s mouth opens and closes a few times, before Kakashi picks up where Rin left off.

“I’ve been looking through the records kept here. They indicate that the current clan head is Tsukiko, who was clan head shortly before the formation of Konoha. So we are sometime not too far prior to when Hashirama and Madara… agreed to build Konoha.” Kakashi finishes the sentence purely on reflex, because Obito has suddenly lost every bit of color in his face and shrunk in on himself.

He has never seen such a reaction from Obito before.

“Obito? Obito! What—” Rin cries.

Obito’s left hand comes up and rubs his right arm a few times before he answers. The volume of his voice is akin to a whisper in the wind. “Aa… Hashirama… didn’t do such a good job of killing Madara.”

Kakashi and Rin both freeze and the sound of running water seems almost unbearably loud in the sudden silence.

The meaning behind that statement could not be plainer. Madara of the past might be sane, but Madara of the future was a known missing nin.

A madman.

And Obito has been in his care all this time?

Kakashi’s ears are ringing, and he has to stomp down on the nearly irrepressible urge to hunt down this time’s Madara and eviscerate him.

No one has ever manage to make Obito seem so vulnerable and broken.

Not his clan. Not all of his careless cruelty. Not being pinned underneath that accursed rock.

Nothing.

But somehow even mentioning Madara’s name managed to do it.

Dangerous.

Eliminate a threat.

And—

And Rin is talking but for some reason he can’t hear her. A few deep breathes and the ringing in his ears fades.

“…stay away.” Rin says. “Right Kakashi?”

Kakashi just blinks at her in incomprehension, which earns him an unimpressed expression.

“Kakashi having a Sharingan is certainly not going to help. So as far as the Uchiha goes it would probably be best to just stay away.” Rin repeats.

Kakashi makes a noise of agreement before a pensive look crosses his masked face. However helpful the eye has been, Obito gave it to him when he thought he was going to die. The situation is different now, and with all the complications perhaps he should give it back.

“I could—” Kakashi starts.

But Obito jerks his head up, Sharingan active again, and raises his left arm to level a threatening finger at him. “Finish that sentence.” He snarls.

Kakashi suspects the threat would be a little more effective if Obito wasn’t as pale as a ghost and his arm wasn’t trembling with exhaustion, but at least he isn’t curled in on himself. He will count a livid Obito as an improvement.

A soft hum escapes him and he reaches over with his right hand to wrap Obito’s wrist in a gentle grip. Obito’s anger disintegrates as fast as it spontaneously appeared leaving confusion and timid uncertainty in its wake. He looks so lost, and Kakashi feels his heart clench. He slides close enough so that their shoulders bump even as he refuses to relinquish the grip he has on Obito’s wrist.

His right hand. The one he nearly killed Rin with, and ever since they landed in this time he can barely look at it. He rubs his thumb along Obito’s wrist relishing in the feel of the strong pulse beneath his fingers.

He has reservations at all the complications that keeping the eye will create, both now and when they get back home. He still feels like he doesn’t deserve such a gift, but he won’t spit on Obito’s wishes that way.

Not since Obito clearly feels that emphatic about it.

“All right,” he says.                     

Kakashi can feel the tremors that wrack Obito’s body, not of exhaustion, but emotion. On Obito’s other side, Rin wraps an arm Obito’s shoulders and leans her head against his before she says, “Obito. Sharingan. Off.” This time at least Obito is faster to comply with the request, but Kakashi is still concerned.

Something is not quite right, though perhaps that’s to be expected.

Obito’s eye is tearing up, but he doesn’t let the tears fall as he usually would. That concerns Kakashi more than anything.

Obito has never been one to stem the tide of his tears before. But this… this is an involuntary reaction. Kakashi doubts Obito even realizes he’s doing it and that does not paint any better picture than the idea of him being in Madara’s care. Kakashi supposes it could be attributed to growing up, but he seriously doubts that given the situation. He has suspicions, but…

Still, this is nice. This is warmth and safety of a pack.

His father had tried so hard to be a good pack. But something was always missing and he feels like he has found it at last. It’s futile, but he wishes that his father could have seen this. Could have seen him find good packmates of his own.

A soft, sad sigh escapes him before he continues briefing Rin and Obito on their situation. “The Hatake clan is nomadic. There are several dens located all over the elemental nations and they move between them to make sure all the game animals have a chance to repopulate. The clan follows no real set pattern though, so there is no way to tell when next they will come this way.”

“Won’t Obito and I being here be a problem?” Rin asks.

Kakashi shakes his head and is relieved to note the return of color to Obito’s face with the conversation. “No, the Hatake clan is less prone to having an extreme reaction then some, and my being here will at least win us an audience first. It’s probably best if we avoid all clans entirely until then or if we find a way home first.”

Kakashi should tell them that the reason it will be fine is that they are now part of the Hatake clan themselves. He really should. But—

Rin interrupts him before he contemplate the thought any further. “Obito, how long has it been since you ate something?”

“Er… its… been a while. Umm…” Obito pastes a bright smile on his face though the light of it doesn’t quite reach his eye. “Hey, how long has it been since the Kannabi bridge mission?”

That is one of the poorest deflections Kakashi has ever heard, but he is distressed to recognize that smile on Obito’s face. Also a worrisome question, because why doesn’t Obito know how long it’s been since then?

“Obito.” Rin’s voice is deceptive in its sweetness, and Kakashi feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He is interested in the answer himself, or he would have taken the time to vacate the general vicinity post haste.

 Obito hangs his head and mumbles, “As far as I can tell, since whenever we ate on the Kannabi bridge mission.”

Kakashi’s thought process all but stutters to a halt, while Rin makes a high distressed noise and curls closer to Obito.

What?

Surely he heard wrong?

“That has been over a year ago now.” Kakashi voices in disbelief.

How—

“Oh,” Obito raises his head and his smile is far more tentative as he flexes the fingers in his right hand. “It’s okay, it’s something to do with these new prosthetics.”

Kakashi feels as if someone had stabbed him with a rusty kunai and left him in a winter rain far from help, because Obito sounded so earnest. More concerned with easing their own distress than his own feelings.

It is abundantly clear that it is not okay or Obito would not have felt the need to conceal it. Kakashi grumbles to himself, how is he supposed to make sure his pack is okay if they are concealing when something is wrong and—

His storm of thought dissipates like the energy of a grounded lightning strike.

Oh.

That’s why Rin gets so upset with them when they hide their injuries, and he can’t help the distinct jolt of chagrin he feels at the thought even as he resigns himself to medical assessments in the future.

Kakashi looks at both Rin and Obito out of the corner of his eye. If he is not mistaken, Rin agrees that it is not okay either. He watches as she sighs and apparently decides to let it go, only for the moment if the expression on her face is any indication, then she turns to face Kakashi.

“Do you know what kind of person Tsukiko is?” Rin’s curiosity is evident in her voice. “I mean it’s rare to have a female clan head isn’t it?”

Kakashi makes a soft negative sound in the back of his throat. “No, it is actually normal for the Hatake clan to have a female leader. A lot of clans consider us matrilineal, but that’s not quite accurate. Women and men are considered equals under our clan, and marriage into the clan means taking up the Hatake name whether the outside party is male or female.”

He neglects mentioning that this is also true of being adopted into the clan. Hatake are very protective and possessive of their packmates. His father never mentioned the name adoption to his teammates either. Maybe that was a sign in of itself that something wasn’t right with his father’s teammates? But Obito is so proud of his own clan, regardless of whether they deserve that recognition from him or not, and Kakashi… Kakashi doesn’t want to take that away from him.

He’s not even sure what Rin will think of the whole mess.

Kakashi shakes his head as he thinks of his clan. Either way it’s not that important right now.

Seeing as Obito and Rin both seem fascinated, he continues with his impromptu lesson. “It’s why we are such a small clan, because most other clans don’t want to lose their members and civilians don’t want to be involved in shinobi business. Females aren’t born as often in the Hatake clan, and unlike the norm they typically have more chakra capacity then the males do. Men spend a lot of time hunting, so women often have the time, strength, and knowledge to lead.”

Kakashi shrugs. “On occasion, there will be a male Hatake clan head. Usually when there are no females, but there have been times in our history when a male was particularly well suited to lead.”

“Huh, that’s—” and here Obito interrupts himself with a massive yawn. “...cool.”

Kakashi notes Obito’s struggle to stay awake. The interest in his eye is clear, but just as obvious is his exhaustion. All things considered, it’s not exactly a shock to see him practically nodding off to sleep mid-sentence. Rin isn’t exactly the pinnacle of awareness either.

“We can talk some more after we all get some sleep.” Kakashi says and Obito’s features take on a distinct mulish cast even with his bleary eye. “There is plenty of time after all.”

Kakashi listens to the disgruntled huff Obito gives off before his body betrays him and he slides back to sleep.

He glances over at Rin as she carefully maneuvers Obito off the mound of furs and into a horizontal position. “You had best get some rest as well Rin, you’ve been expending the most energy healing everyone.”

Rin narrows her eyes. “What about you? Your chakra—”

“I’ll be back in a bit, there’s just something I want to do first.” At the disbelieving look that gets him, Kakashi sighs. “It’s nothing too strenuous. I promise.”

Rin purses her lips, but finally nods in acceptance. “Don’t exhaust yourself.”

Kakashi hums in agreement as he watches Rin curl up under the furs next to Obito. He takes a few moment to observe them as their breathing evens out and they are deeply asleep, before he heads to the forge.

He knows something that might make Obito feel better.