one_long_mission | how did this even happen...

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how did this even happen...

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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"It's all right, really..." he tried to brush off her concern as he pushed himself up in bed. "It was just a more eventful walk than I anticipated."

There was a lot to explain, and he summarized it in far too few words. Running into an enemy. Talking to Sasuke with genjutsu.

Her eyes narrowed. "You. Flat. Now."

Itachi had almost forgotten how convincing she could be when cross...

He carefully eased himself back down, his sharingan deactivating as his head hit the pillow.

"Better." She stared down at him for a moment. "Now. Explain. Properly."

"... I was on my way back, and I stopped for some tea at a small cafe. There was a man there, cousin Obito... alive. We... talked for a little while. I didn't know it all those years ago, but he was the masked man I made a deal with that night... the one calling himself Madara. But this man, though, was from a different world. A world where... I found a way to stop the massacre from happening, where I... well..."

His voice trailed off. He really didn't want to think about that right now. It was enough of a wound. It didn't need any more salt rubbed into it.

"I... I left... We almost fought. Sasuke found me right after that... She... demanded answers. So I gave them. The mangekyo... I showed her everything I had the strength to show her..."

He glanced away.

"But I was really just... trying to convince myself... that's all. That... that night... that I really did do everything I could have done... But... but maybe, I didn't..."

"You did." She leaned down, resting her hand on his forehead. "I watched you. If anything, the differences lay not in you, but in the people around you. There is no way to know what else happened that was not to do with his Itachi. It might have had nothing to do with you, some point your cousin made." She stroked his cheek. "And even if you made the same choices as his Itachi, it's possible that his reactions might have been different, isn't it? It's not all on you. It never should have been."

He leaned into her hand.

"I... I took it upon myself, Mom. I had to... I had to protect the Village. I had to stop war from breaking out. I had to save Sasuke... And you, and father, you told me to never waver. Never question my decision..."

He felt a tear slide down his cheek. He didn't quite understand why they said that to him back then. But he did now. He had to be strong. He couldn't have doubt. Because what he was ordered to do... would break a weak man. Easily...

"I... did... I'm sorry, Mom..."

"Hush now my darling. I'm proud of you, of how strong you've been. Never ever doubt that. I don't blame you. I'll never blame you. There are people I blame and I promise you you'll -never- make that list, understand?"

He was quiet, hesitant. When he spoke again, his voice was full of shame.

"... I promised Sasuke. But... I don't know how much longer I can be strong, Mom..."

"Strength isn't all in the body baby." She rested her hand on his cheek, then slid her hand to rest over his heart. "You'll never be weak because even through all this, you still love purely, don't you? You haven't stopped being able to do that, even after all this. That's strength."

"... I never could."

He reached out for her hand and smiled weakly.

She moved her other hand to rest on her boy's and squeezed his fingers. "Exactly. You can never be weak Itachi. You're the strongest person I'll ever know."

"... Thanks, Mom."

"I love you baby. Go ahead and sleep, okay?"

Itachi nodded weakly. It didn't take very long for him to pass out again.

Kabuto emerges from a corner of the room, tsking quietly as he primes a syringe. "He has pushed himself too far again, Mikoto-san," he observes blandly, making his way around her to press his fingers to the side of his throat, checking his pulse. "Next time, please permit me to check him first."

Itachi, in the grips of exhaustion and chakra depletion, didn't hear any of the conversation.

His pulse had slowed since he laid back down, and he was breathing all right (considering his condition). But his face was still pale, and he was sweating. Fevers weren't an uncommon occurrence for Itachi. Widespread systemic inflammation is bound to raise body temperature. But under Kabuto's harsh treatment, it was just as possible that he had picked up a secondary infection of some kind.

But that's what medics like Kabuto were there for.

In the syringe is a muscle relaxant, something to keep the other from attempting to get up and exert himself again. If the Uchiha woman's scolding wasn't enough to keep him down the first time, he had no reason to believe that it would do so now. This would help, without outright sedating him.

With that, he tilts his head and runs his hands over the other man's body, fingers mere centimeters from cloth as he 'feels' less with his touch, and more with his Chakra, then presses two fingertips to his throat to check his pulse.

"He should not be permitted outside," he adds mildly, focusing his energy over the other's core, seeking the source of what appeared to be an infection; something minor by most standards, but not something the Uchiha could survive for long if he tried to continue on, as his body would not fight it off for him. "What on earth have you done to yourself this time, Uchiha-san?"

Itachi moaned quietly, as if answering Kabuto's obviously rhetorical question.

It would be so very easy to take his Sharingan for himself. Kabuto can't help but regard the way his eyes move beneath his eyelids, those all-powerful eyes. Forget the Byakugan; the boy who was so determined to watch everything would sooner destroy his own eyes than let someone like Kabuto have them. But this one... as near-blinded as he seemed to be sometimes, Kabuto was certain he could find a way to reverse it. Even implanting just one...

Take the Sharingan for himself, and defeat Orochimaru-sama. Now there was a thought. His lips curve slightly in what might be a grin as he lightly touches the other man's temple, just gently providing enough stimulant to wake him without alarming him overmuch, even as his other hand traces the lines of infection within his body. "Uchiha-san, can you hear me?"

The groan was louder this time, and black eyes opened slowly. The muscle relaxant really did work well. Itachi tilted his head drowsily, but otherwise, didn't try to get up.

"...yes."

"Good. Now please, tell me what you think you were doing wandering around outside, hm?" His hand stays near his temple, almost in a caress. "Your vision has deteriorated yet again, and you've somehow managed to weaken yourself even further."

"...Taking a walk... getting some fresh air..." he slurred a bit. Those were perfectly reasonable things to do outside. And when he had the energy, he liked to do that. "Had an unpleasant encounter... Almost ended up fighting Obi... Madara... No, Obito... Had to show Sasuke what I couldn't tell her... just a little genjutsu..."

Obito... there was a familiar name, one he would have to check his cards for, later. Madara was of course Uchiha Madara, who was dead -- so the other was delirious, and had thought this 'Obito' was the former leader of the Uchiha clan.

"Genjutsu?" There's no hiding the almost indulgent tone in his voice as Kabuto gently threads Chakra through the other's skin, bringing his other hand up to at once temporarily numb the area around his eyes and test the extent of the damage to the ocular nerves. "Oh I'm afraid you shan't be doing any more of that, Uchiha-san."

"Had to do it..." he added softly. He knew Kabuto's image was blurry. With his sharingan deactivated, his vision really wasn't very good. But that didn't seem to bother him as much as it should have. Probably because he had grown so accustomed to it. "Just need to rest my eyes... That's all..."

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