Chapter 10: Give Me Another Chance
When Obito disintegrated away, he found himself in the afterlife. Flowers of red and yellow nodded on their stems as he walked in the field, wondering if this was where he deserved to be. The shielded his eyes from the sun warming his forehead and neck, and he knew, without a doubt, that there was someone waiting for him.

Rin.

Her gaze warmed him like the sun on his face—and his chest tightened. Everything looked immaculate on her. Her garments remained similar to when she was a teen in their Team Minato formation, though it seems in the afterlife she managed to mature into a woman while he was on the mortal plane.

Obito wanted to purge his sadness and darkness.

Rin’s smile invited him to rest his head on her lap, to which he did. The flower petals swirled in a delirium of red and yellow around them. During this phantasm of dancing colors, Obito saw Rin’s strong gaze through it all.

That precious tender gaze was what saved him, as Rin cradled him.

“I know it’s been hard. I’m here for you.”

“Do I…” Obito’s throat clutched, feeling the ache of unshed tears. “Do I deserve to go with you?”

Rin lips curved upwards. She patted his spiky black hair and smoothed it out tenderly.

“Let’s go together. I’ve prepared a place for just the two of us.”

“You did that?”

Obito could feel his heart skip a couple of beats before the welcome wave of relief washed over him. It seems he wouldn’t be punished for his sins, no matter how much he might’ve deserved it.

“Of course. I was watching you, after all.”

Once Obito rested his wary head on her lap for a good moment, Rin ushered him up again and took his head. She led him towards a grand manor built with brick and with a painterly style palette with warm hues that invited one to come into the manor.

Obito might’ve seen such houses in storybooks he’s read of the other side of the country, with brick houses instead of the pagoda-style roofs with shoji sliding screen doors and manors he was accustomed to in his former village.

This house was in the middle of a fairytale forest with woodland creatures frolicking about in its depths. Obito thought it a little saccharine, though he imagined Rin liked it. He wouldn’t begrudge her for it. It was, after all, her fairy tale romance that she waited for all this time.

“Rin…” Obito said as he investigated the house’s interior.

Everything polished to a fine sheen, from the furniture to the bookshelves, and the beds and sheets were clean and the kitchen sparkled with fine zest. An appetizing meal awaited them, should they choose to eat, and Obito couldn’t remember a home-cooked meal for…so many months.

There was savory udon with thick buckwheat noodles and crunchy vegetables in a rich miso broth and some cutlets of beef within. Mizutashi was also there as well for a meal, the unskinned chicken cooked in an earthen pot that Rin fabricated from the pure will of her imagination and was flavored with garnishes like icicle radishes, herbs, and spices. Sushi rolls also lay out in perfectly cut portions, with fatty tuna and sushi rice, spicy mayo, and sesame seeds along with the algae rapping on the outer surface.

As he explored the rooms and manor, Obito found himself impressed Rin remembered details about him he’d long forgotten.

How he originally made a Shadow Clone of her when he wanted to confess to her. How he studied so hard with various books and even studied a book he thought would help him with relationships (Make Out Paradise…he would figuratively kill Kakashi for trolling him back then). There was also the little park that he and Rin would go to together to play. It was perfect.

“You remembered,” Obito said softly.

Rin took both his hands, the swell of her breasts pressing into his back. His mouth dried and he tried his best to feign indifference.

“Of course I did!” She said with a bright smile. “I’m sorry I had to go when I did. But everything worked out in the end, right? You don’t have to worry about anything anymore. You’ve earned your right to be here.”

“I…I feel I don’t deserve this. I didn’t get to redeem myself in the end.”

During his melancholy stewing, Obito muttered something he was sure no one else could hear. “I was just a loser in the end, wasn’t I?”

Rin cocked her head to the side.

She still held onto him, which seemed to be a good sign. That she didn’t reject him and throw him away.

“You never were a loser to me, Obito.”

“I never became Hokage.”

Rin wrapped her arms tighter around him.

“I believed full heartedly in you becoming Hokage. I still do.”

“It was a childhood wish.”

“Even so, it’s important to remember the times that you’ve had big, big dreams,” Rin said, before unclasping her hands from his middle. “So now that you’re in the afterlife, you can make whatever you want into reality here.”

Obito choked all of a sudden, causing Rin to pat him on the back to purge the coughing. Once the coughing subsided and she rubbed his back in soothing circles, Obito glanced at her.

“I have to wonder…do souls actually age in the afterlife?”

Rin clasped her hands behind her back and smiled gently.

“The concept of a soul is something ageless. I can take on any form that I want, whatever I imagine myself to be. After all, souls constantly go through the reincarnation process…if they want to.”

“What happens if they choose to stay in the afterlife?”

“Then they create their own personal heavens, however, they see fit. Though reincarnation is always a possibility, staying together with Obito was my wish. I stayed all this time…watching you.”

Obito’s mouth dried. Wordless, he stared at the older and more mature Rin, wondering what he could possibly say to convey the depth of love and sacrifice she’s done for him.

“I was hoping for you to come back—but not too soon. But as things happened, you’re here. It may be selfish of me, but I’m really…happy you’re here for me.”

With that, Rin’s shoulders shook as tears coursed down her cheeks. Obito put his arms around her, holding her head against his chest, which clenched and squeezed like a vice for each tear that fell from Rin’s face.

“I’m so happy that I got to see you again,” Rin said in-between sobs.

“I lost my way, as you said,” Obito said softly. “If there’s one thing I can do to make things right again, I will devote myself entirely to you. I will treat you like a princess, no, a goddess. You will have everything that you’ve ever wanted in life and in death and I will take care of you in this little house, living together with you. I will work hard to make things right again.”

“I know you will,” Rin whispered. “Come, Obito—there is a lot of work to do, right? Let’s work together and make this the happiest afterlife we’ve ever lived.”