Chapter 2: Don’t Cry
Obito’s lip trembled. He told himself he wouldn’t cry. Not in front of Rin. He knew she told him not to hide his wounds, but..after everything he’s done…the missteps and horrid things he did…could he possibly find forgiveness? Could he seek redemption? He pinned all his hopes and dreams on the boy who was like him in many ways, but ultimately walked the righteous path instead of descending to darkness. Rin stared at him with those wide, violet eyes, seeming to penetrate his soul—and God, he loved her. He would’ve prostrated himself before her and asked for her forgiveness, for losing his way and forgetting the important things she told him. What his mentor taught him. What Kakashi, as his rival, tried to lead him to.

“You lost your way, huh?” Rin said softly.

That was when Obito finally did cry.

Rin never held a grudge against anyone. To be so understanding and kind and…

Obito held her hand against his own, his soul reverted back to his childhood self when he was an innocent boy that dreamed of becoming Hokage.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

He felt a thousand, no ten thousand, ‘I’m sorry's wouldn’t be enough.

Yet there was no judgment in Rin’s eyes as she wrapped her arms around him and held him quaking shoulders as she sobbed quietly into her bosom. He remembered he wouldn’t hide his wounds, and all the heartache and trauma and sadness he harbored became purged out of his vessel as Rin held him, rubbing his back in comforting circles, and rocking back and forth like a mother cradling her wayward child.

She held him, with his shoulders trembling and tears in his eyes. He promised he wouldn’t hide his wounds. He purged it all out of him, letting the catharsis of letting all the ugly sins and bad feelings wash out of him.

He hugged Rin and returned her embrace. How he wanted to hold her in his arms like this! How he wanted to tell her how much he missed her, how the absence of her light in his life left him aching inside. That he wanted to reset time and restart the world into an illusory dream just so she could be in it again. But now, now…he realized what a fool he had been, that an illusory Rin would’ve never made up for the Rin that was holding him and tending to him here, in spirit form. Her touch, her warmth, her light, left him feeling warm on the inside.

When they finally parted, Obito wiped his tears with the backs of his hands, before he whispered conspiratorially to Rin like they were old friends again. The ugliness and sadness and hatred that once gripped him had been squeezed out from his pounding heart. “Don’t tell Kakashi this, but…there’s something that I must do. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m going to help him so he still lives on, though I don’t want him to get between us. Do you understand? There’s a lot I want to say…and Kakashi must still live on so he can’t join us yet in this conversation.”

Rin clasped her hands behind her back and gave him that cheerful smile that she was known for. The marking on her cheeks outlined the blush on her pale face. “I know you do, Obito. I’ll support whatever you do. You have to make up for everything, right? So go make it up to Kakashi-kun. I’m sure he’ll understand. And you’re right, we shouldn’t let him join us too soon now.”

She then put a hand to Obito’s face and caressed it gently, causing him to stammer and stutter like he was a damned teen again. She left him breathless with awe, and he wondered how a strong and beautiful woman like her fell for a man like him. Someone who strayed onto the dark path he was never meant to go on, having been groomed and mentored by Madara who was actually manipulated by a greater evil. In the end, he was a loser, but he supposed in Rin’s eyes, he never was a loser. It was that undivided faith and love in him that he could propel himself into the future. Once Obito did his quick business with Kakashi, giving him the gift of his eyes, Obito then came back to Rin, where it was just the two of them.

Just the two of them.

Alone.

Somehow, Obito found himself tongue-tied. He said that he had all kinds of things to say, but he found the words died on his lips. That same shyness overcame him once more when he thought about holding hands with Rin and kissing her. He promised himself he would wake up the nerve to kiss her eventually, but as his granny always told him, kissing a girl’s lips without permission wouldn’t do.

“Rin,” he said, blushing a little. “Is it okay if I…kiss you?”

Rin smiled towards him before she cupped both of his cheeks in her soft hands. She leaned forward and tilted her head against his, forehead bumping together, and lips kissing distance away from his. “Obito…you worked really hard, didn’t you?”

It took everything in Obito’s willpower to not collapse into a blubbering mess again. Rin was certainly too good to him, and he wasn’t sure what exactly he did to earn her forgiveness so easily and forthrightly, though Obito figured that it was out of the goodness of her heart that she did so. She did it for his sake because she realized all the pain he harbored in his broken body before it eventually gave and crumbled to dust, leaving a wounded soul behind. Leaving the dreams and promises of another lifetime behind, to start another life anew with the one he loved. They said that death was the next great adventure, after all.