Chapter Text
"There you are, I've been looking for you." Obito heard a familiar voice. And as always, it brought a smile to his face. "What are you doing?" Rin asked, closing the distance between them.
"Keeping an eye on a luggage for an old lady. She had to send mail." Obito answered truthfully.
"And why are you stuck watching over it? She couldn't take it with herself?"
"Apparently, it's heavy, and she would need to backtrack if she took it. And I've got time." Obito said.
"Do you?"
"Y.. Yes." He left late for a meetup at the training ground with some other chunnin, but felt he was still safe on time. Probably. Most probably. They will just start without him.
"Right. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something." Rin said. Obito noticed she was kinda akward.
"Shoot ahead." He said.
"Not here. Do you have time this afternoon?"
"Make it an Ichiraku date, and a call from Hokage won't stop me from coming."
"Haha, no, but seriously."
"Yes, I have time." Obito declared. "See you at six?"
"Will be there at six," Rin said and smiled, but somewhat forcefully. Obito could tell she had something important.
'Wait, does she want to confess?' The thought had filled his mind. He barely registered her turning around and waving goodbye. 'Get a grip, Obito. It's Rin. She probably ..., well, she never seemed awkward about asking me anything. What can she want?'
"Thank you, young man." Obito jumped at the voice of an old lady.
"Yeah, no problem."
Obito was at Ichiraki on time. Almost. He was late by 20 minutes, which was a good score, given he left with an hour of spare time, saw some kids throw a ball into a river, chased the ball, retrieved it and then had to go back to his house to change his wet clothes. Except Rin was nowhere to be found.
"I'm sorry, did you see my friend?" He asked Teuchi, a young man behind the counter. He opened this restaurant a few months ago, and it quickly became one of Obito's favourites.
"Sorry. She wasn't here."
"Okay, thanks."
"Do you want some servings while you wait?" Teuchi asked.
"Just water for now, " Obito said.
The boy waited for the next half an hour, wondering if something had happened, or worse, he had been stood up. He did order shrimp snacks after a while, just so he doesn't keep a space for free. Rin showed up a few minutes before seven. "Ow, you're here already." She said. She did not show any sign of being sorry for being late.
"Rin, what happened? You are not usually late," Obito asked.
"Nothing. Are you waiting for long?" She raised an eyebrow.
"No, I just got here! No wait, I mean ... yeah, I've been ... "
"It's not nice to keep a boy waiting." Teuchi butted in. "Your usuall?"
"Yes, please. How long have you been waiting, Obito?" Rin asked, now showing concern in her voice.
"I got here almost on time," Obito said.
"Ow my."
"I was worried you won't show up."
"I just figured you would be late, so I left later."
"Rin!"
"What?" Rin was chuckling. Obito had a hard time finding a funny side to it. "You gonna blame me for it? At least you know how everyone else feels."
"And if I got on time but then mentioned how I saw some kids lose a ball to the river, you would scold me for not stopping to help." Obito declared.
That got Rin to shut up; yet her face betrayed that she wasn't entirely convinced he was right. Actually, with her and Kakashi around, Obito was rarely right. It was annoying. Also, the fact that no one seemed to believe him whenever he explained what made him late.
Teuchi brought Ramen, and they both stopped talking to eat. After getting over her lateness, Obito locked his eyes on a girl beside him. Brown hair, violet marks on her cheeks. The same clothing.
Almost nothing changed. She was still the same kind, smart, beautiful girl who made Obito want to live. Three years ago, she was kidnapped, which sparked the chain of events leading to Obito activating his Sharingan. Two years ago, she was kidnapped again, this time they locked a tailed beast inside her. Obito still remembered the fear of losing her when he heard that extracting a tailed beast will probably end her life. But by the benevolence of fate, Tsunade Sama was just next to Leaf Village, and because the tailed beast had been in Rin for a very short time, she managed to extract it without any permanent harm to Rin's health. Thanks to that, she was here, still making Obito feel alive whenever he saw her. She was taller and looked more mature, but apart from that, for Obito, not a thing that mattered changed.
"So, Obito," Rin spoke, causing Obito to turn uncontrollably. He didn't want her to catch him staring. "I have a question." She said.
"Yeah." Obito's heartbeat rose. For a whole day, he wondered what she might have in her mind, but he really couldn't come up with anything that would make her nervous other than wanting to confess to him. His hopes were through the roof.
"What do guys like to do with girls?"
"EEEH?!" Obito produced a sound he never knew he could. 'What is she asking me about? What is she implying?'
"You know? What stuff can guys and girls do together?"
'Compose yourself, Obito. Keep your head out of a gutter. She does not ask about the perverted stuff, no way.' "I think, many things? I mean, we constantly spend time with each other, why do you have to ask all of a sudden?"
"I asked Kakashi out, and I'm wondering what type of activity we can both enjoy together," Rin said in one breath.
Of course. Of course, it was about this stuck-up white-haired asshole. What were you thinking, bringing your hopes up, idiot? She is thinking about Kakashi, as always. Not many things changed throughout those years, and that was one of those things that stayed the same. She has her eyes on Kakashi; you are just a convenient friend she enjoys patching up after a mission and getting meals with.
'I should get over her.'
"Obito?" Rin asked. "Are you okay?"
"What would there be not okay? Of course I'm fine."
"So, can you point me in some direction?"
"What do you even see in him? It's the guy's job to plan out a date. Why are you concerned with that?"
"I asked him out. Will you help me?"
Oh, Lord, what would Obito give for a chance to connect his fist with Kakashi's face right now. Here sits the most beautiful girl in the world, concerned about whether he will like what she planned, and knowing him, son of the White Fang is out there training or studying, not giving this date more thought than any other outing.
"Rin, I'm actually kinda busy at the moment..." Obito started to talk, but couldn't finish his thought. He didn't know where he was going with it. He just knew he didn't want to think about a potential date between Rin and Kakashi.
"Please, Obito, you have to help me."
"Sorry, this is, this is something you need to come up with on your own."
"Look, I can't ask any other girl, because every single one of them will be jealous." Those words made Obito replace the fist with a kunai to the face. "And I don't have a close enough relationship with any other guy. I thought since we are friends, you would help me."
Kami, why? No. Nope. The only reason Obito would put effort into this date would be to make it as unejoyable as possible. So that Rin forgets about this dude, and maybe then Obito would feel like there is a point to confessing to her.
He looked at her, determined to come up with an excuse, when he saw her eyes. Brown eyes locked onto him. She was really determined. Those eyes always made Obito falter.
She never allowed Obito to truly put his foot down. Granted, she always stopped him from doing dumb stuff, like refusing treatment or not wearing a coat in cold weather, but still. She had too much power over him. "When is the date?" He asked.
"We agreed to meet at the market two days from today," She said with a smile.
"Nothing special comes to my mind on that day. I also don't know if Kakashi prefers sweets or some other type of food, or even if he enjoys food at all."
"Neither do I. That's why I wanted to ask you."
"Don't look at me. Kakashi and I train and spar together, and we went on a dozen missions together, but we never had an enjoyable time. I don't think he does anything for fun."
"I also figured that. That's why I wanted to ask more generally. What guys like to do with girls?"
'YOU REALLY NEED TO PHRASE THIS QUESTION DIFFERENTLY'