Different Path (Kakashi AU)

Chapter 16

Once I am sure he is asleep I open the cage and jump out.

I undo my henge and creep towards him. I breathe slowly and bite my lower lip. I carefully place my hand on his mask. I have to see his face. I have to see if this is Obito...

I gently slide the mask up.

I see a scarred face. A few seconds later I gasp, causing the now unmasked man to wake up.

He takes one look at me and then tackles me to the ground. He sat on to of me, straddling my stomach and holding my arms back.

"What are you doing here?!? he hisses in his normally deep voice.

I just look at him with a shocked expression. In one eye was the rinnegan and the other was his fully matured Sharingan. His eyes then widen and are then slammed onto his face.

"Don't look at me! My face is hideous!"

Once I recover from my shock, I place my hand on his wrist. I gently tug it off his face and see a few tears forming in his eyes. I hug him as he wraps his arms around my neck.

"Obito...why didn't you...come back?

I pause.

"Is it because...I failed to...protect Rin?"

"No...Those ninjas sealed the three tails into her...They wanted her to go back to the village...and then they would release the seal. Either way, she would...die...She jumped in front of your Chidori...to get the beast out of her there then and there...It isn't your fault."

My eyes widen in shock. I never knew this.

Obito eventually got off me. He stood up and pulled me up. He sat on his bed. I sat next to him.

"I was saved by Ma...a man...he told me a plan of his...if I carried it out and it succeeded...I would see Rin and Minato-Sensei again. It would put everyone in a dream-like a state and they would live in their happiest dream. I couldn't go back to the village. I would only continue living horribly."

I hugged Obito.

"You had me"

"Yes but, I was scared"

"Of what?"

"Of what people would say...when they saw me...Of what you would say. I thought you would...laugh at me..."