Hope Flies on Wind-bent Wings

to lose is to find

Rin and Kakashi sat in uncertain silence.

"The book is gone," Obito said again. More articulate words than that still wouldn't come.

"What book?" Rin sounded concerned.

"Wait, I think I saw it," Kakashi said. "He took it out after that hunter-nin slashed his eye. But I don't know what happened to it."

"I saw. They picked it up. Kiri has it now," Obito said. His voice was muffled by his hands over his face.

"So... what is it?" Kakashi asked slowly. "I've never seen you use a paper seal since you got kamui."

Obito lowered his hands. "My kamui dimension is only linked to where it comes from. Where I come from. To go anywhere else, I need a pathway to someone on the other side. Otherwise, I can't find that place. That's just how my abilities developed this time. If I had more power—"

"You're saying book was a pathway?" Kakashi guessed. "You were trying to leave the battle."

Obito glared at him. "No! I was trying to get help. I panicked. We were all in trouble. But the book was the last connection to the other world I had left. Now it's gone."

"It's not... gone, though," Rin said hesitantly. "Technically, it's only missing, isn't it?"

Obito's gaze drifted over to the window again. Trying to use kamui hurt. But if he could push through the pain—if he could use it just enough to move around his world, he could go after the team that had stolen it.

"Those guys retreated, but do we know which way they went?"

Kakashi waved his arm, wrapped tightly and held in a sling. "You can't be thinking about chasing them down. In your condition, you'd lose immediately. Besides, we've been officially removed from the action. We're supposed to stay here."

"I know. I'll be in trouble if Sensei comes back and I'm not here. But the book is a lot more than just a path. A friend of mine could die if anything happens to it."

And the jinchuuriki of the other world—they could die, too.

Kakashi sighed. "Then for someone like you, it's not about what'll happen if you do or don't, it's about what kind of person you want to be."

"Huh?" That surprised Obito enough that he turned to look at Kakashi.

"I'm just saying, I know you."

"So what would you do?"

Kakashi froze and looked away. "This isn't about me. My job is to protect this team. Right now, that means keeping you from doing something reckless on your own. You're not at a hundred percent, and I'm not either. So whatever we do, we should wait."

Rin gave a small smile. "They took it because it belonged to you, right? They won't destroy it. They'll want to keep it and try figuring out its secrets. And we know exactly where they're going back to. Once Kiri surrenders, we can tell Minato-sensei what happened. He would want to help."

"Yeah. Thanks, guys," Obito said quietly.

Rin nodded. "Try to focus on recovering right now. I'll see if we can get you into the hospital to have an Uchiha medic look at your eye."

"Okay," Obito said. Then he added, "Sorry. You both need to get some rest, too. You were up all night."

"We'll leave when Hina-baa gets back." Kakashi glanced at Rin.

"Right. And then we'll check at the hospital. Make sure they know you're the student of Minato-sensei and Fugaku-sama." Rin grinned.

"Thanks," Obito said again. He pulled the covers up to his chin and turned onto his left side, facing the window. His right eye throbbed steadily.