She was beautiful.
The dim lights in the gym that were strung up for prom lit up her complexion in the most angelic way. Her short brown hair flowed around her like a halo and her laugh he could pick out among a million others. Her off-the-shoulder gown suited her figure and Obito had to admit that she was even more ethereal than he thought possible. The way it hugged her and made her seem taller and more mature.. She picked right, he could assure her.
Clearing his throat and adjusting his tie, he kept his dark eyes focused on her. He needed to talk to her while he had a clear mind. This was his last chance to tell her how he felt and he would be damned if he let it slip by him. With that thought in mind, he tucked his hands into his pockets as he began his stride over there, coolly if he said so himself. Just as he reaches her though, her eyes looking up to meet his own - and he was trapped by the warmth in those amber eyes - a taller figure stood in his way and she isn’t looking his way anymore.
Scowling up at silver hair, he huffs and comes to stand to the side of him.
“May I have this dance?” He heard that bastard say and he couldn’t help the small sag in his shoulders when she took the other males hand. He knew that this might happen but it didn’t stop the hurt and disappointment from swelling up in his chest as he looked away from the two who were dancing. Shoving his hands deeper into his pockets, he sulks off into a chair and grabs a drink on his way over there.
Frowning to himself and glaring at anyone who approached him, he drank quietly.
He knew that stupid bastard, Kakashi , might have liked her, too, but he also thought that the other man knew of Obito’s intentions to make a move tonight. It baffled him and angered him all at the same time. Kakashi was supposed to be his best friend but he wasn’t sure that best friends went underneath one anothers noses like that.
He could only watch them dance together in distaste.
The way she hung onto him, the way she talked to him, and then the way that Kakashi still seemed disinterested. Scowling, Obito had enough. Standing up from his chair he started heading out the entrance of the gym, lightly bumping into a few peoples shoulders. He could care less at this moment. It was out of character for him, he was sure, but he didn’t care .
Breaking out into the cool night air, he stalked over to the neighboring playground. He sat on the little bit of sidewalk next to the fence that protected the property and he watched as young, careless, couples came in and out from prom.
Prom.
It was supposed to be the happiest of nights in high school and honestly what a joke it was. The only thing he had been looking forward to tonight was Rin and that went well enough. Not.
Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back against the fence and took in a deep shuddering breath. Maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal that she didn’t know how he felt. He would be fine, it isn’t like he was planning on staying in Konoha anyway. The world was calling his name and the longer he sat there, the more it sounded like someone else was literally calling his name.
“Obito, you shouldn’t be falling asleep in public like this.”
Opening one eye, he stared up at the girl standing above him. The way the moonlight caught in her earrings and her eyes momentarily took his breath away but with the reminder of how cozy she had been with Kakashi, he regained it.
“I wasn’t asleep,” he grunts and sits up straighter. “Where’d Kakahoe go? I thought you guys were together last I saw.”
“He went home,” Rin says as she sits next to him on the sidewalk. “He danced with me and then left,” she laughs softly. “He only danced with me to please his adoptive parents. His mother said he couldn’t come home until he had danced at least once.”
Obito snorts, shaking his head. “I’m sure he was overjoyed about it all.” He felt a little bad for assuming the worst when Kakashi had stepped in front of him earlier now. He should have stuck around a little longer and held a little more faith in his friend. The silver haired male was a social recluse and there was nothing that could change that, unfortunately.
“So,” Rin trails off as she looks at him curiously. “Why’d you leave so early? Prom wasn’t up to your expectations,” she teases and Obito has three seconds to come up with a reasonable excuse other than jealousy because that just wouldn’t do.
“It was too crowded,” he settled and hoped she bought it.
“Mm,” she hums and stands up quickly. “How about we go for a walk then?”
“Fine by me,” Obito grins wolfishly and stands up with her. “Where to?”
“Anywhere with you!” Rin laughs and they walk. It was nice, but Obito couldn’t help the anxious bubble that was rising in his chest. The bubble was always there ever since she first came to the school, since he first laid eyes on her in gym and watched her get smacked right in the face with a volleyball. It was love at first smack. “So, what are you doing once it is all over?” She asks after a moment. She was facing forwards but it still felt like she was focused on him and only him.
“I want to travel the world!” He says, perhaps a little too loudly, and she laughs while shaking her head.
“That sounds amazing! I wish I could,” Rin says wistfully and Obito pauses in his walking. She stops and turns to look at him over her shoulder, silently asking him why he stopped with the raise of her thin eyebrows.
“Why can’t you?”
“I suppose there isn’t a real reason why I can’t,” she muses and looks thoughtfully up at the sky. The nearby lamppost lit her up and for not the first time of the night, Obito was struck by her beauty. “I guess the only thing stopping me is me. I can’t bear to leave.”
“Come with me then,” Obito says and he is looking away from her face so that he doesn't have to see her facial expression. “We would have each other if anything happened.”
Her eyes softened, a ghost of a smile on her face.
“I..” Obito pauses and he takes a few steps forwards, reaching for her hand. He ignores the chill that passes through him when his skin meets hers and instead looks her in the eyes with a faint blush taking over his cheeks. “I’ve liked you for a while. Like, like. It would mean the world to me if you were to come along with me.”
“Obito, you’re so sweet,” she says softly and raises her hand up to rest it on his cheek. Her fingers were cold and biting, but he didn’t care. She was pulling him in and he would willingly follow her anywhere if she let him. Drawing nearer to her lips, he closed his eyes, and he felt the faintest gust of wind on his lips. As soon as he was right on them, she whispered a soft, ‘Thank you’ before a cold jolt passed through his body and everything went dark.
When he came to, he blinked blearily as his eyes strained to take in the white ceiling of the hospital he was in. Groaning, he tried to sit up but was stopped when he looked over to find his Aunt Mikoto asleep in the chair next to him. Frowning, he tries to remember how he came to be here but came short outside of tidbits from the dream he had.
“Auntie?”
She stirs and gives him a soft, faint smile.
“Why am I here?”
“We found you on the sidewalk opposite of the park. You were unconscious and clinging to this picture.. Obito, are you feeling okay? You know I’m always there for you,” Mikoto says comfortingly and he could feel bile raising his throat when he saw a picture of Rin, Kakashi, and him. “I know it has been hard for you since their unexpected passing..”
Rin? Kakashi? No. There was no way they were dead. They were both at prom! It didn’t make any sense to him and he couldn’t wrap his head around it.
“That can’t be, I was walking with her away from the park. That doesn’t make any sense, I saw both of them at the dance .” And she couldn’t be dead. He had kissed her, had touched her - and she had been cold.
“Obito, they have been gone for a year.. You’re starting to really scare us all. You’ve been acting like they haven’t been gone since you.. You found them.” She looked sad and Obito couldn’t bear it. His mind was going a hundred miles per minute and he was torn apart. His mind was conflicted, his memory as he knew it was clashing and fighting against the fake year he experienced and how it actually went.
Images of him joking with them in class were replaced with him sitting in a corner and talking to himself. Eating by himself at their cafe'. Walking home by himself at 3 a.m. with obnoxious laughter.
He felt sick and he felt the sickest when the image of Rin’s and Kakashi’s mangled bodies came up in his memory. Obito couldn’t stop the retching that came out.
He wished he would have just died with them.