how did this even happen...

[mooneye]

It wasn't a bad sort of place. Lots of things to do and people to see. Plenty of freedom to dart over the rooftops and down the alleys--or out of the village and into the woods and rocky wild places beyond. Obito liked Michi no Sato.

He had stopped for lunch and was eating at a table outside the restaurant, watching people walk past. The food was good. The cold breeze was nice. Ah, yes. Years and years trapped in a cave with a crazy old man and a bunch of plant monsters--it had left him really able to appreciate the little things.

[ooc: here is an AU Obito in his twenties. Got through the time with Madara, and Rin's death, but didn't go completely evil after all of it...]

Comments

Don't mind him, he doesn't recognize you but thinks he should.

[youngesthokage]

It was the hair that was attention getting, really, and he blinked as he took it in. Another Uchiha? True, there was something familiar about the man, but he well and truly could not place him, and the steps that had been previously carrying him past first slowed, then stopped altogether as he tried to figure out the source of recognition. He knew, after all, with complete certainty that this wasn't an Uchiha he'd seen around during the purge. Maybe from before? A picture?

Oh man <3

[mooneye]

Obito became aware that somebody had stopped close by but didn't look up right away. When he did, it was to stare in the perfectly calm, shameless way a cat might stare. Fearless, curious. A little coldly. What he saw was a young Uchiha. For a fleeting moment he thought of Aunt Mikoto. But, no. This was someone different. When he realized who, there was a total shift in him. The chilled edge of his attention disappeared. What replaced it was recognition, and genuine joy and warmth.

Haha, oh yeah he's confused.

[youngesthokage]

He could honestly say he hadn't gotten that reaction... from pretty much anyone in the last several months, and he was visibly taken aback by it. He also felt just a bit guilty because he -still- wasn't sure who this was, to say nothing of the fact he'd been caught staring. Well, he couldn't very well look away now, and he inclined his head to the man.

[mooneye]

That got a short, rasping laugh. Obito leaned back, still watching Itachi. So fond of him, clearly. This was wonderful. He had known he might run into someone familiar, but he hadn't really thought it would be anyone he cared about. Cared about in a good way, anyway. When he saw that Itachi didn't recognize him, his expression became sly.

"You have no idea who I am."

[youngesthokage]

He gave his head a slight shake. "No... though I get the sense we've met at some point."

Hi.

[itachi_san]

On his way through the village, Itachi decided to stop and rest for a few minutes. He obtained a small mug of freshly brewed tea, and went outside to sit down.

Hey there~

[mooneye]

Obito paused, walking past. Was that...? Yes. It was. Another one.

"Itachi?"

[itachi_san]

Itachi looked up. The voice wasn't immediately recognizable, nor was the exact pattern of chakra. But the man before him... looked surprisingly familiar for someone he'd never met. And was that... a sharingan?

"Do I... know you?"

[mooneye]

He was quiet a moment, just watching him. This one was a little older, he thought. How very strange.

"You might know me." He thought for a minute, wondering if he ought to try and let him guess, as he had with the previous Itachi. But, no. Better to get straight to the point this time. "I'm Uchiha Obito."

[itachi_san]

This one was a little older, a little taller, thinner, sicker... and that was only the beginning. He was Itachi, of course, but he was still a very different person from the one Obito had already seen.

"Obito?" Itachi blinked, staring at him carefully. "... That's..."

He was about to say 'impossible' but nothing was impossible here.

"... The Obito I know died at a much younger age..."

[smallstepstopower]

He wasn't unobservant, whatever people liked to claim, and he'd seen the little collection of Uchiha come and go from the direction of the cliff face in the not-so-typical direction. It was enough to catch his curiosity, and he drifted to intercept the lone man on his way back into town.

He was, after all, horribly terribly bored. "That girl didn't look very pleased with you."

[mooneye]

Obito's attention twitched in the direction of the new presence, and for a moment he was just still and expressionless. Watching, evaluating. Was that...? Yes.

He smirked, at the comment. "No," he agreed, glancing back over his shoulder. "It was a territory issue."

[smallstepstopower]

He huffed a soft laugh. "Understandable. Itachi-kun -is- pretty. I like the one I found better though, he's fragile." He canted his head to the side. "I'm waiting for that one to realize that I don't intend to accidentally kill him so his jumpiness over my flirting is useless though."

He flashed him an amused smile. "I haven't talked to any of the others running around though. Poor reception, typically."

[mooneye]

"Our people tend to be very pretty." He gave a sharp laugh. "And distrusting."

A pause. He was still looking over the other man. That pale skin, the gold eyes, the sleek black hair. But he looked... no more than his own age. So. Perhaps a whole different timeline--or at least, a whole different time. "You're Orochimaru, right?"

[smallstepstopower]

He tilted his head. "Ohh, that sounded friendly. Yes, I am. And who is it I have the joy of speaking to, mm?"

[facevalue]

This person was new.

The young man currently called Sai had been making notes of every person who arrived in this village. Every person who walked differently from a civilian, everyone who looked at things differently, reflexes honed by years of training and missions. It was difficult, to weed out those kinds of reflexes. Even he had difficulty, to an extent, though ROOT of course provided training for such things.

He decided that he liked this unknown shinobi. The walk he walked reminded him of a large cat. Absently, he wondered if he would be permitted to sketch this man, just once. It was that curiosity that led him to follow the other once spotted, an ink-clone cautiously holding its distance as Sai himself moved underground behind him.

[mooneye]

When he realized someone was tagging behind him, he just kept going. It happened often enough. This place was full of shinobi, after all. Many of them looking for answers, looking for friends and enemies. You got followed through town often enough, if you went about in plain view. Still. After a while, he stopped and peered curiously over his shoulder.

[facevalue]

The ink clone comes out in response to the other's turn, fake smile curving his lips as he tries not to present himself as a threat. The clone is in his normal mission gear, his hands held loosely at his sides as he approaches, though the real Sai stays securely underground to watch.

"You are new here," the clone remarks, pleasant smile never wavering.

[mooneye]

He observed the young man carefully, expressionless at first. Just for a moment, before he returned the smile. "Yes, fairly new. I don't believe we've met."

Unless of course they had, in his world but not Obito's.

[facevalue]

Ah, a smile. Sai can't be sure if it's a genuine smile, or a smile like his own. Emotions were still quite beyond his grasp. "I do not believe so, no. What village are you from?"

Sai's forehead protector clearly displays his allegiance, but he can't see the other's. Missing-nin, perhaps?

[seafare]

He tapped his knuckles against the doorframe, as he had last time. Waiting to be invited into Itachi's room before he entered.

[itachi_san]

Itachi heard the knocking, vaguely. He mumbled something into the pillow. When no one came in, he repeated himself a little more clearly. (At least, out of the pillow this time.)

[seafare]

Kisame came around the corner and stood watching him, a moment. Sizing up the situation. "Itachi-san," he greeted, quietly.

[itachi_san]

The side table was still covered with Kabuto's supplies. Pills, herbs, syringes, a small basin of water. And Itachi looked as though he'd been on the receiving end of all of it. Especially the muscle relaxants Kabuto had been using to, well, not quite sedate him... but... force him to stay in bed.

He'd answered and had flopped back over the bed. His body was loose, relaxed. A wrist dangled off the edge.

His sharingan were off. And, as drugged as he was, he found the blue blur of Kisame's face to be more amusing than it should have been. He smiled. It looked... strange.

[seafare]

Mikoto had warned him about what he might find. The smile was... a little unsettling. Itachi's smiles were so infrequent. Kisame approached the bed, frowned at the supplies on the bedside table and then carefully took the dangling wrist and lifted it to tuck it back beneath the covers.

"Itachi-san, how are you?"