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...]

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[mooneye]

He watched him, pleased by the affection in the description. The girl sounded strong and capable. Good. She would need to be. Uchihas--even the best of them--were difficult people. "Where are you three living?"

[youngesthokage]

"I have a house set in the cliff face to the south of the village. I got here first and they came after so there was still some rather nice placement to choose from. Most of the abandoned places are slowly getting claimed as people appear though I've noticed."

[mooneye]

"Hm. I like it. There's a lot of life here. Even people who shouldn't be alive are alive and... doing things. It's fun."

[youngesthokage]

"Yes people are definitely... doing things. I... never even imagined I might see you here." He leaned forward, studying him carefully. "So... you came home, in your timeline?"

[mooneye]

A very small trace of--something, almost longing--crossed his expression. It was there and gone almost too quick to notice. "Yes. It took a while, but I got home again. Well. Most of me did."

[youngesthokage]

"I'm glad that happened." His voice was soft and he felt his smile fade. "It was really bad for me, when I heard you died. My parents were convinced something was wrong with me. I don't think they quite realized how attached I was."

[mooneye]

"I wanted to come back. It was all I wanted." He looked thoughtful and tense for a few seconds, but seemed to shake it off. He looked up at Itachi and smiled. "We were good friends, weren't we?"

[youngesthokage]

He nodded once, sharply. "You're Obito-nii-sama." His tone was a little wry. "At least I've remembered you that way."

[mooneye]

"Hey, keep thinking of me that way. And I'll keep thinking of you as my adorable little baby brother-cousin." He shrugged. "Though I guess we've got some catching up to do."

[youngesthokage]

"Yes, well, I have a little brother too. At home he's twelve, but the one I'm living with is sixteen to my seventeen." He paused a beat. "He's what got me talking again after you died."

Considering how much of a chatter bug he'd been as a very small child, this was saying a lot.

[mooneye]

"I've met Sasuke in my own timeline." He nodded. "He's a sweet kid. Not the brightest. But sweet." A slow smile. "He means a lot to you? Here, and where you're from?"

[youngesthokage]

"He's my little medic-to-be back home, but here... he's strong. Physically stronger than I am, though I'm still more skilled, of course. Though he could probably outlast me in sheer stamina given the chance." He shook his head.

"Not that I've ever had a lot of -that- compared to most of the clan."

[mooneye]

"A medic." That impressed him. "As for stamina, well. It's not everything. Better to be clever, in most cases."

[youngesthokage]

"He's... he can be. Given motivation he can be incredibly intelligent. He's just... stubborn. So very intensely -stubborn-." He snorted softly. "It took me -months- to convince him I was from an alternate timeline at all."

[mooneye]

Obito thought of Fugaku--another stubborn man. But he didn't say anything about it. "It's hard to believe, at first. This whole place, I mean."

[youngesthokage]

"It's much.. gentler than the last place." He paused, eyes unfocusing a little before he shuddered and shook it off. "Still not home, but so much -better-."

[mooneye]

A look of concern. "Where were you before this?"

[youngesthokage]

He fully broke eyed contact then, looking down at the table as he drew his hands back to put them in his lap. "It... was an odd place. Very firm about the rules that it had, more or less. But it- I. The first person I met there told me it was called the love hotel, though the name is... not what I would call accurate."

[mooneye]

Obito watched him closely, catching the little snags and pauses in his speech and wondering what they meant, exactly. Didn't seem like anything good. "Love hotel," he repeated. "That sounds like the name of a bad brothel."

[youngesthokage]

"Something like that." It was a murmur, and he didn't look up, hiding behind his bangs.

[mooneye]

He became more solemn, frowning. "It's no good... being trapped in a place where you're being hurt. I'm glad you're free now."

[youngesthokage]

He shook his head sharply. "I wasn't hurt. I wasn't... I wasn't unlucky like that." He took a deep breath and let it out shakily. "It's fine."

[mooneye]

Obito offered his hand across the table again, palm up. "You're here now."

[youngesthokage]

He stared at his hand a moment, more hesitant this time before he rested his own on it. "It... wasn't even the place so much. It wasn't that bad, to me that is. But... No one trusts me. There it was... twisted, but there was little to be done. But it's... here too. That part."

[mooneye]

"Because of the more common timeline." He guessed, nodding slowly.