UNFINISHED.

QOTC

I stare at you and you stare at someone else.

- Obito to Rin Nohara

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This Chappy goes to all ObixRin shippers out there. i love u!

Chapter 69: Fear of the Unborn

Obito truly wanted to become a Hokage. Back when he was a boy, heedless of the things that surrounded him, he wanted to make the world a better place. He knew that because every time he would see a pregnant woman walking by with a hand in her belly, or an elder crossing the street by herself. It was one of those days he would daydream by himself in class, staring at Rin's perfect face as he rested his chin ontop of his palm. She was laughing, and she had the most beautiful smile-a smile he would often see upon Sakura. Soon, Kakashi would throw a crumpled paper at him to make him pay attention. No wonder he kept failing.

It was not easy becoming an Uchiha. People looked up to you as the grand pride of your nation, you who possessed the eyes that were entrusted by a God. That had been the strife upon Obito's childhood-he had not yet regained the Sharingan, and his incapability to do so made the him difficult to even carry his clan's name. There were rumors he was not an Uchiha, rumors saying he was adopted. Obito could never forget the darkest path of his life when his father spanked him due to the fact that other children would have mastered the Sharingan at the age of nine, and he was already fourteen. There was not enough hope his father had hoped for him.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO

"There is not enough darkness in your heart." Junko said, wrapping his belt at his fist like a bandage. He wiped the sweat below his bottom lip, and whipped that serpent-like clothing to Obito like a horse. "You are weak! The Sharingan is not for people who are soft and filled with pity. PITY-" Junko spat, his saliva sprinkling behind Obito, "-is the way I feel for those children who cannot even master the Sharingan with your age."

Obito clenched his fists hard, as if he was handcuffed and wrapped in chains. "That's enough!"

"And what are you going to do now?" The man said, as he kneeled in front of Obito with a menacing look. There was something dark about him, Obito thought-his cousins believed he had his father's looks but Obito did not seem to approve of it. Junko, he thought, had a fractious evil in himself-the kind of evil that did not stop him from physically torturing his son's body and mind. "You want to kill me, don't you? I can see that you are bloody sweating. Oh, and better watch out for those tears. Blood will come out of those worthless pathetic eyes of yours if you don't stop crying."

Obito's fists started to burn. The thought of killing him was not nice, and he reminded himself of something: he was not his father, and never would be. He stopped crying, and somehow he managed to regain his strength. Maybe if he was a man of pure evil and-recalling an image of her mother smoking outside the manor-had an ugly taste in woman, he would fight back. Junko and Souma Uchiha were not the most aspiring parents; every time any of them would look at him, Obito was reminded of a picture his second-grade teacher showed him: a picture of the Devil.

Obito closed his eyes and tried to recall any memory with his mother. Nothing. Souma was precisely the one with the ugliest reputation in clan and she barely gave a damn about a child. Whenever Obito was not feeling well he would go to Fukagu to play hide-and-seek with, which would drive Souma mad. There was something definitely odd about his mother, and he knew that since he was six: she was not expecting a baby.

She never did. Obito rarely get tired of this situation-he was brought up by two complicated bad influences yet he was still living in the brighter side, and refused to go down into this darkness or whatever Junko was referring himself to. People were good. Konohagakure was good. The Sharingan was passed down by their forefathers for the sake of delivering peace in the realms, but his family members have difficulty upon seeing it.

"Go on, Obito. I want you to antagonize me. Turn this pain into an ambition; something that would make you strive to bear the eyes of our Lord. You want to become strong, have you forgotten that already? Do it then." Junko's voice was persuading, like a serpent from the garden of God. He was kneeling next to him with a more softer, encouraging tone.

This had changed as Obito did not do anything. He simply arched his brows and refused to look at him as if he was the most annoying criminal in the entire world.

"Do it!" Junko screamed. "Do it, you little weasel!!"

The objects Obito saw in front of him began to shake, the ground tremendously jiggling. He closed his eyes and started breathing angrily, angier than he ever was before.

"I said do it, Tobi!" He had spanked him again.

"Do 'not' call me that again!"

"Do 'not' speak back to your father once I am punishing you!" Junko roared, whipping his belt again-once, twice. "I am teaching you to become a better person. Do NOT ignore me, boy, or you'll never be able to stand in your feet again."

Bruises and blood were marked in his back as Obito had woken up the next day. It was the most terrible night he ever had, and the very evening he had not slept at all. His eyebags were abhorrent, catching everyone else's attentions as he had passed the village. Obito continued strutting as if nothing had ever happened, as if the bandage in his left cheek was not roasting in red.

He sighed. He had to patch up Junko's "marks" upon him, and not to mention he wasn't aware of the clock ticking. He was fifteen minutes late.

He sighed. Kakashi would have scorned him either ways, and this was their third genin mission. His back still hurt, and his stomach had been aching since the morning he had lost his appetite.

The skies in Leaf were perfectly blue, he thought, as he sat down on the bench. He was able to relax his body for a short amount of time, and Obito was glad the common women-unlike his mother-were nice and smiling. Atleast the reward for his courtesy upon crossing senior citizens was being greeted with admirable smiles all the way.

There was a girl he had thought of, as he dangled his little feet about an inch off the ground. A girl who had the most beautiful, marvelous, magnificently shaped smile. Fugaku that witty boy could fake his laughter, his mother's forcing smile went too conspicious, but there was this one girl whom he would not mind spending an eternity with.

Rin sat on the vacant seat next to her, carrying a bagback with her. "There you are! What are you doing out here?" Nohara Rin was a fully-built girl, average height, and her hair was a bob cut. The color of brown in her hair reminded Obito of chocolates-sweet and pleasant.

"Hiding." Obito said sadly.

"From what?" Rin asked, an interesting look that lit her dazzling brown eyes.

"People." He looked up into the skies and wanting to sigh, as if waiting something from heaven.

"Well, you're not that good in hiding, because I found you." She said, staring at the villagers that passed them. She dangled her feet happily, and-like two children in swings-silence was upon them, a hunger that was never fed. Obito knew he was beginning to sound like an ass or something, since any moment Kakashi would arrive. Any time soon, an arrogant white-haired bastard should be here.

Obito looked at a stupid rock in the ground. It reminded him again of Kakashi-hard and still as a stone. He would never become like him. It seemed to him that the only level that made him skip him was the fact that he 'was' an Uchiha, not that Kakashi cared. He was the reason he had been wanting to upgrade from a little boy to a fine young man-he had everything in the world to inspire him; a father who inflicted him in deep pain, a tender loving sensei who told them that both of them would become hokage, and a girl who smiled the brightest. What was it that he was missing?

Rin seemed to be out of space too, her head drifting somewhere else.

"Thought you were with Kakashi?" Obito asked, still not looking.

"He's with Minato-sensei. They're off to interrogate villagers on a survey about the Leaf's population-whether Lord Hiruzen should establish a 'three-child policy'." She seemed to be occupied by her thoughts, as she glanced at him, watching him carefully. "What 'are' you really doing here, Obito? Why are you late?"

"No reason."

"That scar in your cheek-did someone slap you?"

"I said it's NOTHING!"

"Don't talk to me like that!" A more matured, fourteen-year-old girl said, standing up in front of Obito. "I'm trying to help you. That wound hurts, doesn't it?"

Obito nodded stubbornly.

Rin managed to laugh. "That hurts more if you keep on hiding it." She started to pluck out several items from her bag-medical equipments, Obito suspected, clearly as Rin was rarely seen battling into the front. Either Kakashi or Minato would be in front, while he would remain in the back, being healed by the touch of her hands. He always had gotten wounded of anything and it wasn't anything Rin complained. Medical ninjas loved doing their work after all.

Rin's hand was about to take off that rubbage bandage off, when Obito's warm hand stopped her. He held her wrist, and just like that, he was able to see her perfectly. He was able to see her as a human, an angel God sent to heal the sick and the naive, someone who was made to be perfect just by looking at them. Obito understood why sometimes, he caught Kakashi staring at her the way he'd always do.

"Don't."

"Don't what?" Rin asked, still stuck on Obito's wrist.

"Don't make me do this." As if begging for his own life, Obito glared at Rin in remorse. He managed to take down her hand, and it was a miracle he did not flinch upon it. Maybe he should die a thousand times, so Rin could get to notice him at his funeral, filled with dark bruises and markings. Junko had hurt him several times already, and it was a wonder if he would die of natural cause or by the hand of his own murderous father.

"You think you're ugly?" Rin asked, her eyes bright. "You think your wounds make you ugly?"

"I look awful. I'm ugly. There's no other saying in that."

"You are NOT! Obito, why would you think that?" Said Rin.

'Because you never noticed me. Because you would only tend to me when I'm hurt.'

"My mother didn't want me born. She wanted me dead." Obito said dreadfully, and looked up at Rin's eyes in hope, as if she was the only reason he was alive. "And when I came out, I was uglier. My mother told me I could never get a chance in love. That if I continue to be like this-depending on others, I might as well hide my face forever. I'm no good to anyone."

Obito sometimes wondered what a child of him would look like someday. And he knew of what a stupid joke he made, but it was true. The rumors saying that he was not an Uchiha made him believe once more that perhaps there 'are' people who are borned ugly and those who are pretty. He was a tiny drop of water to Rin's ocean. The mirror could never change what it saw in the first place, and if it were a natural humanbeing, it would have laughed just to get a glimpse of Obito's dying face: ordinary.

Parents could no longer change what they brought forth into this world, and so there was no blaming anyone. To Obito his face was deformed, and he swore to become a handsome boy someday. One day, he would walk into the early dawning roads of Konohagakure with a cape of Hokage in his back, a flare of sunshine. Someday he would have a face Rin would have described his ideal man of.

First, he would become Hokage.

"My mother told me that it is those people who have dealt with pain are the most beautiful." Rin said, unwrapping the bandage. "They have a face that knows fear, knows what it is like to go back up when they are being put down. To me, you are one of the strongest Shinobi I've ever met, Obito. And will become stronger."

'You are the most beautiful extraodinary living thing in the entire universe that makes me scared. You make me feel pain-just by staring at you gives me little hope in this world, that there is a way to mend it.'

A red mark of hand was still hanging on Obito's cheek. It was fresh and its contrastness was extremely extravagant. Junko did know how to keep his mouth shut. Rin stared at it and frowned. 'I know what you're thinking. It's ugly, isn't it?'

"Don't move." Rin said. Slowly she breathed heavily. She placed a cold hand to his cheek, and Obito was reminded of her name. 'Rin.' Green chakra had come out of her skin, flowing coolly upon Obito's wounded skin. It felt like she was pouring ice in him.

This was his opportunity. Obito stared at his surroundings and realized they had been alone for quite some time, while Minato and Kakashi could be lurking around the village asking dumb questions. If he was going to tell her something, maybe confess, he would do it here. And now.

What had been his place in Rin? He stared at her and all he saw was a friend; a sister, if he were in her shoes. Rin was mostly dedicated to her studies and her work, and she would definitely push him out if he were to confess of what he truly felt. Kakashi and Minato probably knew that, but with Rin-she was different; on a colony of little sharp-edged elves with nasty atittudes, she would be sitting ontop of flowers and talking to them. Everything about her was perfect. He could not afford her to be away.

"Rin?"

"Yes?"

He brought down his eyes. "I stare at you and you stare at someone else."

Rin raised a brow. He had never seen her so 'confused'. "What?"

"Nothing." Obito said. He wanted to reach for her hand and take it-that would be an enjoyable thing to do. His mother also told him something-once in an ordinary lifetime, girls deserved to have their hands held and needed to be cherished. If there was any particular person Obito liked, he must continue holding her, say if the day would come that Kami took her, Obito still had something to go back to-a page of wonderful, ravishing memories of him holding Rin's hand as his heart never stopped beating. "Thank you for taking care of me today."

♡ ｔｈｅｔｈｉｒｄｕｃｈｉｈａ♡

"LOVE SUCKS"

NOW

"Don't you think it's a little too "old" for you to daydream again like a child?"

Obito straightened his body like an awakened demon. Kabuto was sitting in front of him, shuffling his death cards. The stench in his laboratory was changed from being rotten to magic-more dark magic. Obito did not thing he would be able to manage sitting in the ground without stifling. "What is it with you that you always know what's wandering on everyone else's thoughts? You are getting delusional."

"Is that a complement?" Kabuto smirked, and there it was again. That undying wicked sight of him feeling good and smug of himself.

"A reminder, perhaps. In case if you are feeling lost yourself, try getting a doctor. Oh, I forgot, it was you who lost his healing process as you have devoted yourself to a life of doing black magic." Obito reviled. "Let me remind you of a quote you once told me: every magic has a price."

"I am touched. Does that mean you might have been concerned of what's gotten into my health?"

"Not likely, but it seems I am." Smirked Obito. "I can't have a dead sorcerer to bring back what was taken from me."

"They are yours to keep, and mine to control." Obito forgot. It's what the Dark Sage had been blabbing all day long, whenever he would go down by his lab to be updated of what he had been doing. It turned out that while they'd been sleeping all night long, Kabuto would be gone by the weekend to gather the corpses of the Akatsuki members. Although the hardest part of it all were the ones incapacitated, whose bodies were buried deep into the ground with their remains seperated and decaying.

Obito crossed his arms, feeling satisfied. He asked where all the bodies were, one astonishing night Kabuto had gone back with no belongings at all, not even a sack of Hidan's head. Kabuto smirked, and led him into a secret lair (that was located in the hideout as well) where death traps were laid for children who loved to wander into the forbidden, as Kabuto menaced Obito with Wakana's life in a mockery-he always liked placing the kid's name on every conversation they'd have. She was more interesting than she sounded.

A smile of victory crossed upon Obito's lips as he saw the tombs that laid on the altar. Five wooden boxes with respective land symbols were carved in deep orange-brown. "Does it surprise you that I am only missing two? I found their bodies as if they wanted to be found." Kabuto said, as Obito had walked nearer into the monuments. "You should have come to me with my journey of traveling the world. I found Hidan's corpse but his body parts were scattered within rubbles and rocks. Kakuzu was buried right here in Taki as Tsunade ordered Kakashi to give him a proper burial. No one ever knew."

"I can see that."

"That's because I saw them," Kabuto complemented himself, adjusting his big lenses. If possible, Obito was beyond thrilled to sneak a peek behind the coffins. "I've been spying for the Leaf since I was a child and never have I ever felt grateful to them by this. If Tsunade hadn't sent her dog to dispose of its body, it would have fallen to the hands of the Nations."

"The Nations are fools," Obito said, a hand slipping on Sasori's dusted coffin. "They are not aware of the danger coming. They might as well never know."

Kabuto seemed interested, his horns perked up. Nothing could give a better closure than two mighty rivals, facing the same opponents-Kabuto had built a contravening anger against the higher people that led them to the same page.

"What is it you intend to do, Madara? Are you planning to wage Shinobi World War IV? Or just an invasion?" Kabuto asked.

Obito thought of the first time he had seen Madara in ages. Or Minato's face, that gentleness he had seen in Naruto one time he was spying among them. "I want to make this world a better place."

Kabuto chuckled. "Still clinging into your words? How low of you to think that this Eye of the Moon Plan is still going to work. You think this is some little trick?" Kabuto warned, still smirking. He was behind his back, snakes writhing from every corner of the nasty underground. "Nagato failed Madara's plan when he used the Reincarnation technique to summon the dead people of the Hidden Leaf. He betrayed you. He betrayed Madara himself."

"Stop tormenting me, snake." Obito scolded, his hands clenched in fist like he was a boy. He was reminded of what was it like-when you were left with nothing but a voice of someone who had been bothering your soul, penetrating you deep inside. There was no escape upon Kabuto's words. He was the true epitome of darkness, and Obito was just a hole in the bright light.

Kabuto tilted his head slowly. He looked younger, and he was certainly smaller than him. "I am telling you this as your ally. Once you awaken Madara from the depths, he will come after every living creature on earth and burn it. Desolation shall come upon the skies and there will be nothing left except fire and those that have turned into ash. What will become of you and the wrath of Madara?"

"He is my great grandfather."

"Descendant or not, there is no such thing as family when it comes to war." Kabuto smirked. "Take Itachi and Sasuke for example."

How can you be so sure? Obito wanted to ask, but dropped the question anyways. He had deliberately seen those boys grow for quite some time and may have admired puberty. There was something rare of children these days, a secret he had kept upon himself.

At a touch of his finger into an Ame symbol of one of the coffins, Obito instantly remembered Konan and her words. Yahiko founded the Akatsuki. The red clouds on these robes we wear... represent the wars that rained blood upon Amegakure. You merely jumped in our bandwagon. These robes are our legacy, not yours. The Rinnegan is something that Amegakure shinobi Nagato awakened on his own, and it does not belong to you! His eyes are this nation and village's greatest treasure!!

Obito cocked his head. Atleast, if it weren't for him, she would not be alive by tomorrow. Kabuto then explained of how all the corpses have arrived to him: Konan was buried by her people on a catacomb located in the Hidden Rain, and Yahiko's was where Konan had still put him-Amegakure Resting Place. Deidara's bones were found on a Kiri dungeon due to his sibling, while Sasori was Kabuto's current target which he would be heading to the Sand village for tomorrow.

There was someone missing.

Lately after visiting the fallen organization, it was time for Obito to surprise him. He took him, brought him down into Tori's prison cell, an underground he had built, too. It was a truce and an easier way to regain Kabuto's trust. If Obito were to build an alliance, he needed to become a good businessman.

Dark vines scuttled at the basement. There was another round wooden door after the prison cells, and Obito was impressed Kabuto didn't question him why someone like him had been hiding a dungeon. Astonishment was in his golden eyes.

Open. Obito said to the door. Very slowly it creaked, a hole that led into a thousand loophole of darkness.

Obito entered quickly, who looked intrigued. Meanwhile Kabuto seemed to suspect Obito's veracity, but followed after him anyways. The last room was filled with dotted windows that let in little flares of the Taki lamps held outside, making it look like a beautiful funeral room. A tomb was also in it, laid down, but the body was whole and flesh. He had a layered red hair, his bones almost getting out of his skin due to his severe emaciation.

"You have served me well, my friend. May I introduce to you my treacherous friend here?"

"Nagato." Kabuto smirked, his hands curling together as if he had found himself a new appetite. "What a wonderful visit this is."

"Do whatever you want with his body." Obito said. "We summon them tomorrow. All of them."

"It's the year of the Doppelganger," Kabuto said, holding Death Cards in his reptile-like hand. "Every five years a doppelganger would be born in this universe. It depends, really. Sometimes it reaches ten, then to a decade. In this world either you are summoned for greatness or for a better purpose."

"Please, I am just celebrating this last night for your sake. What does your vodoo fortune-telling of my future pays you? You don't give anything without having a return." Obito said, drinking his cup of Sake.

Kabuto shuffled his cards even more further. "An interesting turn out of event for you."

"I suppose I have a lovely future waiting for me, then? What does this picture me-a billionaire, a villain, or a dead man?"

Kabuto was still smirking. The Death of Cards, as Obito recalled, was an old-fashioned, vintage practice invented by most of the witches in the decades. It gave birth to many fortune tellers today, and without it no prophecies might have been given. The only difference is perhaps papers like those have been considered illegal, knowingly such effects included trauma disorders, insomnia-the fear of knowing one's death.

"We shall see." Kabuto responded, as he flipped a card.

Obito laid down his cup and stretched his arms. He was wearing his normal T-shirt and jeans-he had stopped wearing war clothes since he left for the Leaf. The tattoo in his wrist remained visible. It was glimmering in the night due to a torch that lit Kabuto's lab, wounded and vulnerable. Rin.

Not that he wanted to feel young again, but those war clothes of his have begun to bother him tirely. And of course the women would very much drool over him whenever he would walk by on a village; Obito's main ambition was to reassure the world that he was gone, but he would come back-and he wanted to surprise the world. No one could possibly recognize him now, the Obito without a mask, though his other face maybe a bit of deformed, it did not stop him from making his vainglorious plans.

"Kabuto, this is taking far too long. What does my future say of me?"

Kabuto placed the front card into the back. He brushed a finger on a Tarot card like a paintbrush, applying magic. "Fullfilling." He then looked at him, eyes that originally came from a dead serpent. He was speaking in Orochimaru's voice, a voice of a man who tried bending all the possibilities of nature, died from it. "You will be faced with many choices, choices that you shall choose correctly, or someone very precious will die."

"What precious?" Obito inquired.

"Why," Kabuto seemed fascinated by this. "You have loved two women in your lifetime. One who died in battle, one who currently resides in the Leaf. Who else can be affected by those actions and courses you take? There is a little girl you hold captive, and even if you take her in this family, our dead cannot protect her."

"Oh I can, believe me when I tell you." Obito reassured him.

Kabuto tilted his head, a look that said I don't think so. "Why are you even protecting her?"

"It doesn't concern you, does it?"

"Oh, but I am intrigued," said Kabuto. "She is no other than Kakashi's daughter. Surely you want revenge, and punishing her is the perfect payment for Rin's unjustifiable death."

"Children do not deserved to be punished."

Obito was smiling, confidence unwavering in his tanned face. He saw Kabuto's look getting into him, getting more sidespitting. As if he didn't know Obito at all, and now was their only time they have finally gotten into each other's overcast thoughts.

"That, my friend, is what makes you weak." He waved a hand into the space between them. Upon the damp ground, laid a magically golden cloth. It was brought to life thanks to Kabuto's magic-not even wielding a sign, not even breaking a sweat. It glittered in tantalizing gold, like he was a genie trapped in a bottled laboratory. "We were discussing about your future, weren't we?"

"What is it you really want?"

"I told you, I am practicing for the better forecoming. This could really be exciting. Although I warn you, this costs your very secrets you laid in the past. Thus, this opens up to the door that leads you to your future-your death end."

"There it is, the price." Obito said warily. Though there was no turning back now. He sat patiently in the ground, waiting for Kabuto to respond properly.

The Sake in his cup was already drained, which meant that was precisely enough. Uchihas have a bad habbit of drinking when it comes to their remote problems, always thinking recklessly. He thought of Sasuke and Madara, thinking the boy would have made a much more similarity to their ancestor.

"Now," Kabuto said, as he laid down the blank cards into the shimmering, golden carpet. "Before we look into the future, we must head back to the past."

The torch that provided the light between them blazed into the color blue, as Kabuto spoke with extreme headfulness in his voice. Obito thought of how it must be for him, like a sneaky little bastard, holding the stories Madara wished that could not have gone out (or told Obito himself). Obito decided to listen.

He loved histories. He loved sneaking over the pages of history books, how the world was created before, when it was dark and hallowed. There was always a lovely tale to tell, despite how depressing others might have sounded in real life. That was the first fruit that bore before anything else, meaning he had no right to change those occurences. Life happened. Stories were told. Hearts were broken. Minds were about to be opened.

"There is a chain that holds a lifespan of the miraculous doppelgangers." Kabuto said, as he had begun. "Madara had invented it. To him, the world was cruel and in need of something-cleansing. The day he moved out from the Leaf made him ill. He was losing control of his mind. Maybe like us, his desire for more power and revenge led him into searching for something that led him nowhere. Tragic, isn't it? Your great great grandfather had a notorious reputation, but he refused to let the little stories come out like little snakes that bite poison. When he died, he brought the enchantments into his grave."

"That was of course, when he was an old man. Before he had become like that, he was working on his "doppelganger provision" that could change the epoch of mankind. In short, he had discovered a trick that could make him and Mito be together for all eternity. There was not enough time for him to venture upon the Tsukoyomi. He was alone, he left out his clan into the Hidden Leaf for the sake that he couldn't bring them to anywhere. Madara may have become selfish, but he was no fool."

"Madara came back to the Hidden Leaf under Hashirama's clone. The Supreme had not been home then, he had other affairs to discuss with politics. Neither was Tobirama. Mito had recently given birth to their second child, and Madara greeted her with a smile. He even craddled the baby. He felt like it was own-like it was some part of him that didn't refuse to smile at him even if he was hiding on a disguise. Later at supper, was when the ring of the doppelgangers had come to the earth."

Obito stared at the tattoo in his wrist, remembering every part of Rin that was shouting him. Madara purposedly made him a doppelganger, if that was another reason he entrusted him throughout everything.

"Madara tricked Mito into drinking the serum. After he drank it, he gave it to her and told her it was medication. The elders told them it was cursed-it was to make shadow mortals upon themselves, so when time flies there would be chosen people to share the same fate. A love triangle, since Hashirama had just arrived. Mito dropped the cup, while the Supreme took what was left of it. If he didn't drink the serum, Kakashi may not have been your rival. Naruto couldn't have met Sakura."

Obito pictured Kakashi Hatake, his rival. Obito pictured the man who stole his love from him, and wondered if all Kabuto said had been inside the track. He laughed, and applauded his hands.

"What a lovely lie coming from you. Tell me you are lying. This cannot be true."

"But it is the truth. You are even part of this reincarnation. You, Rin, Kakashi. Your existance matters importantly as Madara's own children."

Obito broke down. He stood up, grabbed an oak chair and threw it into the glass window. "Stop reminding me of what was lost! I've given up on this prophecy a long time ago. Such tales mean nothing to me. When I was told, she was already dead. This world took Rin from me. Because of the cruelty of this rotten, hellish orb for Kami's sake whoever created it," Obito chuckled hilariously, "Rin died."

"Calm yourself down. After you pick your card, I can arrange some matters of how to bring her back." Kabuto said, looking at Obito like an idiot. "Come on now, Obito. Don't let the past shake you. Oh, and to add a little detail of Madara's untold plan-it was rumored that a child of his doppelganger and the Jinchuuriki would bring him back. If it's any consolation."

Obito was still burning from pain. If his face was on fire, he felt as if every veins and blood of his body were coiling and boiling. He looked at Kabuto like an enemy, as if he was Madara was hiding in horns and a mud-red cloak. Maybe that was why he had some trust issues.

He sat back down, trinket in his red eyes. The Sharingan was activated, his and Uchiha Shisui's. Truth was he had transplanted them as he left for Konoha, and miraculously unlike Wakana it did not take long for him to heal. They said when you transplant a fellow Uchiha's eye upon you, it would merge a part of his personality that he had left when he was still alive. In that case, Obito had been generous and giving nowadays, and he couldn't recall the last time he had slaughtered another being.

The doppelgangers-all of them-have arrived. Scattered in a curve-shaped row, were Kabuto's Tarot cards no longer blank. A picture of Rin Nohara smiling-her hands in her back politely, Jiraiya as a teenage boy, Konan in her mid-fifteens, Mito in the most wondrous stylish braid that truly obtained anyone's attention. She was like a princess, a woman in an unaccountable red hair, fierceness in her eyes. The happiness and joy of adventure were no longer there-just the strength and overprotectiveness of protecting her own village.

Obito felt frustrated. His eyes were staring at the people who were not aware of who they truly were-the previous doppelgagners, and those who thought that ignoring it would be nothing-the ones who were still alive today.

"Pick a face. Each face represents a different kind of sight in your new path. The cause of your death, your next ambition, the man you would soon become."

"Ever done this before?"

Kabuto just smirked. "There's a first time for everything."

The raven-haired eyed the people in front of him. The cards were designed in different aura, flowers, dark roots, in borders their lives would seem to fit. Madara was stained in blood. Tsunade's consisted of golden rays. Yahiko's card was covered in the color of blue.

Sakura on the other hand-was pink and swirling with beautiful Cherry Blossom. She looked beautiful in the card, her hair tied in a ponytail. She was wearing a more obscene outfit he hadn't seen her wear before.

Obito grabbed Sakura's card.

Kabuto smirked. The card was handed to him, and Kabuto looked at him as if he were grateful. Grateful that of a billion people in the ninja world, he was his very first own customer who decided to entrust his future with him.

He had pressed a dark chakra in Sakura's card, and Obito couldn't help but smell the magic. It was like a delicate perfume of thorned black roses. He remembered it once, when he caught Sakura trying to move objects by the wave of her hand, and Sasuke scorned her for it. Sakura, like Mito, had always been an adventurous girl and he wouldn't stop searching for one.

"The Archfear of the Unborn." He said, flipping the back of Sakura's card. Obito had not seen any golden baby before, and never was he enchanted on one dummy portrait. Obito's suspiciousness began to scratch.

"And how does this affect me?"

"Let's go back in history, shall we? When Madara sealed this prophecy, he did it for the sake of an heir to revive him. A successor." Kabuto said, no longer smiling. "Like I said, a child of Thunder and the Sun Goddess will revive him. In case you fail, Madara had thought of a back-up plan. He decieved you. You aren't the only hope left to raise him from the dead."

"Let me be clear for once-any child, from my grandfather's doppelganger and that of Mito-would bring him back."

"Yes, Tobi. And this will be your downfall." Obito thought he might have seen a shadow pass by, or something else. The night was beginning to swift into dawn. He knew that because there was a rummy clock ticking just above Kabuto's table of experiments, and there was no doubt. They have been in here for long. "You will stop at nothing to prevent this from happening. You will do everything-everything! To keep this child from being alive, because this baby will be the cause of a woman's death. A pregnant woman will die."

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4.14.15

Love thissssss