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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[bunsofsteel]

She could have sworn she saw him walk right through one of her weapons, but she dismisses it for now as strain from using the technique so many times in quick succession. Instead, she just takes each of the scrolls and focuses her Chakra. Little puffs of white smoke fill the air as they return to their marked areas, and her cheeks flush lightly. "This... isn't all that much. I was just grocery shopping, not planning on fighting."

This isn't even counting what's still hidden along her body and in her clothes.

[youngesthokage]

Itachi ran his fingers down her back with a small smile before looking back to Obito. "Her collection is far bigger than that spray. Isn't she wonderful?"

[mooneye]

He watched it all go up in smoke. "Very," he agreed, smiling. "You're both capable of looking out for one another. I'm glad."

[bunsofsteel]

She can't help but cast Itachi a smile over her shoulder at the praise as she finishes sealing her weapons away, then rolls the scrolls back up and tucks them away again. "And here I thought you were complaining about them taking up too much space~" she remarks, pivoting to face him and brush another kiss over his lips before she freezes. "Groceries--! I left them at the shop." She runs her fingers down Itachi's arm. "That sword, I want to see that later. And more illusions."

A beat as she gives Obito a quick stare, letting him know that she still doesn't trust him, but she trusts Itachi enough to let him be around. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Uchiha-san." She quickly inclines her head and breaks into a run back toward town to try to find the abandoned bag.

[youngesthokage]

He blinked a few times, making a little noise of disappointment as she was suddenly gone and he turned in place to look after her. "...Unfair."

[mooneye]

That made him laugh. "Only a little taste?" and he turned to look in the direction she had gone as well. "She is quite extraordinary."

[youngesthokage]

"Before the last place I never really looked at her, she's four years younger than me there." It was a murmur and he finally looked to Obito. "So I never really -saw- her. I don't know what I'll do if I ever return home. I'll miss her."

[mooneye]

He listened, inclining his head slightly and looking sideways as he rolled that around in his mind. "I suppose you might not return home," he said. "Or when you do, it might be like waking from a dream. Maybe you won't remember."

[youngesthokage]

"Dreams within a dream." He paused a beat and looked over. "In some of the illusions of the last place, I had children. One got named after you." He padded over to stand beside him. "The kid was -shy-."

[mooneye]

He raised his eyebrows and turned to look at him. "After me?" That surprises him. And then, what also surprises him, "shy?"

[youngesthokage]

"Yes. I don't... have all the details of that little dream world, it was... a bit odd. But the boy was shy, who got named after you, very attached to mother though." He shook his head. "I never revisited that little world."

[mooneye]

He mused over that. And caught the hint of melancholy, also. "It can be difficult to leave a dream," he said, slowly. Thinking out just how much he wanted to say, and how truthfully he wanted to say it. "Sometimes it feels so real, you know."

[youngesthokage]

He nodded slightly. "There were two others with little ones. One bled into the Hotel itself and that one... I don't know how to feel about it. No, the ones I was most attached to were the twins. Minoru and Isamu. There are... nearly five years of memories for that world. Their other parent was another Itachi actually, from the primary timeline. It seemed the most real of all of them."

[mooneye]

"Dreams within dreams," he repeated, nodding. And he made a small, sympathetic sound. "Five years is a long time."

[youngesthokage]

"With children, and... all sorts of things. It didn't help that it interwove..." He sighed softly. "If I ever meet that Itachi again I won't say anything, just in case he doesn't remember, or in case he does and thinks everything is still fine."

[mooneye]

He thought about that, briefly. "I can't imagine leaving children behind," he said. "But I can't imagine having them, either. It sounds like the sort of thing that might be difficult."

"...Was he very different from you? The other you?"

[youngesthokage]

"He was... unhappy. So very unhappy." He closed his eyes. "I had to fight to convince him not to go let Sasuke kill him, I remember that. It was actually a hard choice for him to make."

[mooneye]

Obito looked grim, at that. He wasn't sure how he would have reacted, if he had met an Itachi like that... Not well, probably. In one way or another.

[youngesthokage]

He opened his eyes after a moment. "But I did, eventually. My last memory of that Itachi was in the Hotel, when I knocked sense into Sasuke, actually. Shortly after that I came here and no more sojourns into other realities."

[mooneye]

"So far," he couldn't help pointing out.

[youngesthokage]

He inclined his head. "So far, though I get the sense it's unlikely."

[mooneye]

Obito nodded. "I haven't been anywhere like your hotel. But yes. I'd agree that this place doesn't feel like it's... got that sort of thing in it."

[youngesthokage]

He couldn't help the small laugh. "Yes, 'that sort of thing'."

[mooneye]

Obito was quiet a moment. "Ah. I'm glad I ran into you here, little cousin. It's going to make this place better, having you here."

[youngesthokage]

He looked over, then reached and lightly squeezed his wrist. "I'm glad you're here too, even if you do seem to set Tenten on edge. Why?"