'Blindfold, really? ' Obito says and tries to not crack. The

Kakashi

on the tip of his tongue. At the lanky figure and shock white hair, casual stance and teasing smile and all.

I thought I left you behind to live,

Obito thinks.

So why are you here?

'That 's rude, ' the man said, whining and loud. Draping an arm over Itadori, casually leaning on the teen as he tapped something on the device he carried. His voice no longer has an echo between him and the device in Yuuji 's hand.

'Gojo-sensei! ' Itadori exclaimed, a happy smile taking over the teen 's face. Making him less like a fighter and more like the teen he was supposed to be.

Sensei, sensei.

Obito thinks and feels something like fire building up behind his eyes and making his throat go dry. Burning, burning, like the everlasting fire the Uchiha prided themselves on.

In front of Obito is a man and yet all he sees is a ghost.

'Yuuji-kun, talking to special grade curses isn 't advised, ' the ghost- Gojo- said. Leaning protectively over Itadori. A casual lethalness to him that was reminiscent of a man Obito could never see again.

'Ah, well, I just stumbled here? ' Itadori didn 't sound like he regretted the decision. More like apologetic for not informing his teacher that he might be talking to a potentially dangerous cursed spirit.

(It was the kind of thing Naruto would do. He 'd stalked Kakashi and by extension, his team, long enough to know that. Even without the stalking he 'd know just by the boy 's personality.)

'But you 'd do it again, won 't you, Yuuji-kun. ' It was entirely a statement of fact. The man 's lips morphed into a wry grin that was-

Itadori let out unabashed laughter. 'I mean- the curse promised to see me again, anyways. ' Itadori adjusted his posture. Leaning more into the center of his gravity as though to carry the weight of his teacher. Precious teenager, that one. 'And I really did run into him, Gojo-sensei. '

Sensei, sensei. I thought I 'd left you behind.

Obito studiously studied the surroundings, the corner of his eyes still fixed on the duo. Readied for an attack but never quite focused enough.

'You sure this curse isn 't stalking you, Yuuji-kun? ' the man drawled teasingly. Said almost conspiratorially, a whispered secret except for the fact that the man made no move to quiet himself or to make anything secret. 'It 's a bit of a coincidence, don 't you think? '

Fair enough, Obito supposed. He was admittedly a stalker in the past. Mainly to make sure that his last teammate wasn 't dead in a ditch because of the fucked shinobi system and also revel in the way Kakashi was suffering just as he was. See Kakashi kneel in front of the memorial stone and look at the boy Obito once was. Listen to conversations Kakashi would have with Obito 's ghost, daily listings of his lifes, his apologies, many apologies, so many apologies, and sometimes, nothing at all. He 'd watch Kakashi leave flowers on Rin 's grave, his parts warring between

he thinks he has the rights-

and

I can 't even give her flowers.

(Obito was never able to give a proper send off to anyone. The risk of discovery, he reasoned. They could see the traces of the flowers he 'd leave for Rin. The smudges of his hand on the stone. The letters he 'd leave for her. Because he can 't grieve for anyone else, because one was the Hokage while the other was the last Uzumaki to Konoha before she gave birth to another. Their graves, it was hardly reachable for someone like him, not when it was guarded and gated.

There were many reasons Obito had.

None of them were real.)

'Uh. ' Itadori shot him a glance. Asking for help.

Obito stared at the both of them, before turning his attention to Gojo. White haired and lanky frame and teasing smile and-

He stared, desperately wanting for something. Anything at all. Wanting to see the man 's eyes, even though he knew it wasn 't the right shade of blue he was looking for.

(Obito had only really cared about one shade of blue in his life. The kind that he once thought was like the sky before he met this man. Now it was more like the ocean. Calm on a good day but all too easily provoked into becoming deadly.

Only two people ever had that particular shade of blue. Only one living. The other one, he 'd killed.)

'So what if I was? Are you going to do something about it, sorcerer? ' Something more amicable would 've been nice judging by Itadori 's

no, why would you say that we were doing so good

(they weren 't). But this came easier to Obito, the subtle threat and

what are you going to do about it?

Obito swallowed down whatever else that was on his mind as he forced himself to not look at the man as a whole. Chewed the thought up and left it to rot. It was better to be like this. A neutral tone with no intonation, nothing to give and nothing to share other than the briefest of

do you know me?

in his heart.

The man let out a laugh. Unimpressed with the posed threat. In Obito 's defense, it wasn 't meant to be all that threatening. No killing intent or anything because Itadori had almost gone into a panic when he felt the barest of whatever his chakra had become. Mutated and twisted; reflecting his emotions in a way he never wanted it to.

The neutral tone wasn 't helping either. Obito could do worse. His voice was practically built for that; scratchy and low, made to threaten and speak things that would only hurt and harm. Things like that came out easily from his throat. It fitted on his tongue and matched his voice.

It still made Obito annoyed anyways that the man laughed. Finding that the sound was that particular pitch between grating and terrible. Obito hated it.

Which was good, Obito hated a lot of things (kiri-nins, the shinobi system, Kakashi 's stupid mask, being lied to his entire life and spending it lurking around in the shadows like some third rate villain, it was an ever expansive list) and this would just be another one of them.

'Hmm, that 's really creepy if you were really stalking Yuuji-kun, ' the man said, mock consideration in his tone and posture.

'Uchiha-san is not stalking me, ' Itadori defended valiantly. 'I think. ' Maybe not so valiantly.

(Uchiha, he wonders if he deserves the name at all. He 'd help end their legacy.

He should have felt strong, standing above the corpses of his clansmen and proving that he was strong and not the blacksheep they saw him as.

All he felt at that time was a quiet, hysterical

who will clean the Naka shrine now?

)

Gojo shot Itadori a glance for that one. Something serious and actually considering that made Itadori wince. 'Sorry, Gojo-sensei. '

'You 've really done it now, Yuuji-kun, ' the man bemoaned dramatically. 'You 've really done it now. '

'It 's just, it came naturally, ' Itadori argued, gesturing between himself and Obito. 'It 's a

thing.

'

Wow, a real demotion.

'I 'm not a thing, ' Obito interjected, just to be contrary.

'I didn 't mean that, '

Itadori said in horror. 'I mean, you were- kind of?- but then you 're not now. '

Obito could not be less impressed with Itadori if he 'd tried.

Gojo lasted a mere second before laughing. Itadori tried to backtrack with disastrous results. 'It 's a

thing,

Gojo-sensei! He was all 'you ' and I was all 'yes, me ' and it

clicked.

' No wonder the desk shinobi hated Obito 's old mission reports. 'And now it 's just a thing. '

'Alright, alright, your great teacher understands, Yuuji-kun, ' the man drawled, stopping from his laughter.

Obito didn 't understand how Gojo understood but clearly the mission desk nin hadn 't tried hard enough with Obito because Obito 's reports were way easier to understand than this.

'I guess I can 't do anything about you for now, ' Gojo finally turned to address Obito. A smile stretched over his lips, casual as can be. It was an interesting thing, to want to look at something and not at the same time.

That 's just like you,

Obito almost says but doesn 't.

'You don 't sound eager to murder me, ' Obito said instead. Itadori making eyes at him that clearly meant that Obito should 've maybe not said anything at all.

Obito appreciates the lengths Itadori was willing to go in order to get his answers.

Gojo makes that laugh of his, one that Obito had heard twice now and had decided that it was annoying and that he hated and it was perfect precisely because he hated it but also terrible because it wasn 't the laugh that he wanted to hear. 'Someone, or rather, someones wants you real dead. Tell me to 'exorcise it with all you have and no, this is not a joke ' and yadda yadda. ' Itadori, frankly, looks like a mix between

that 's my teacher

and horror.

'If your exorcising is as good as your voice mimicry I don 't think I fear it at all, ' Obito commented, annoyed that his ears had to go through that attempt at mimicking voices at all. Well, not attempt. The man knew precisely what he was doing with that annoying voice.

'Wow, maybe I should just exorcise you, ' the man said dryly, in what was a pout. There was a disparity there between this man 's childish behavior and the way Obito 's instincts were still screaming at him to fight or flight.

There was something more to this man beneath this veneer, Obito knows. A monster lurking beneath that smile. Just like-

He was sure of it.

'That 's your

order,

isn 't it? ' Obito sneered. Maybe there was more emotion in his words than he 'd like. Maybe he wanted to see the dog on the chain that hid behind this man and his foolish demeanor. Maybe he wanted to see-

Itadori was shooting glances at him again, one that meant that he didn 't volunteer for this. Stuck between a man playing at human and a ghost looking for his past.

Right.

'If you 're not going to kill me, at least give me a reason, ' Obito continued, inflectionless.

The man studied him for a moment behind his blindfold. His head tilted, no sign of anything beneath it at all. Before long, a casual grin was stretched over his lips again.

'Well, as I was saying, they want you really dead, ' the man restated. 'But, well, Yuuji-kun named you so I don 't want to exorcise my student 's new cursed pet. '

Itadori visibly gaped.

Petty, was what Obito thought.

'No, no, I didn 't name him, ' Itadori interjected surprisingly quickly. 'Nope. '

Obito made a wordless sound.

'And he 's not my pet either, ' Itadori added on quickly.

'If you say so, Yuuji-kun, ' the man said teasingly, putting more of his weight on Itadori. Itadori seemingly found it not at all heavy. 'It sounds like the kind of name you 'd give. Uchiha. ' Here, the man snickered.

Irritating, annoying, there were many things that could describe it.

'What does that mean? ' Itadori sounded confused instead of angered. Obito wondered how it was that this man nabbed Itadori while Kakashi was saddled with three easily angered brats. Not that Kakashi deserved any less. He was a hellion in his own right back when he was a child.

'The uchiwa fan? Uchiha? ' the man crooned. 'That 's so creative of you, Yuuji-kun. '

Itadori's eyes pinged between his teacher and Obito for several seconds. Making the mental connection before 'ooh '-ing. 'Is that why you 're named Uchiha? '

How the fuck the man saw the uchiwa fan emblazoned on his back when Obito hasn 't turned it to him during both their encounters were a mystery for another time.

'I wasn 't named for a fan on my back, ' Obito argued.

'He 's one of those people, Yuuji-kun, ' the man commented snidely. 'The kind that put their name on everything. '

Itadori gasped and looked at him with judgemental eyes.

Obito felt remarkably annoyed. He knows with exact certainty that the man was making fun of him for the pure sake of riling him up, but he couldn 't help but get riled up regardless. This, he realized, was what Deidara probably felt while being taunted by Tobi.

This man can never be as loud or cruel as Tobi. Tobi was cruel in his carelessness. Like a child tossing down another 's sand castle without a care in the world. Trampling and remaking the world beneath him like it was a sandbox. It was a purposeless kind of cruelty, like a child deciding

oh, I want to break that, I know it 'll hurt somebody but who cares.

This man was more benign.

Obito can deal with this. He lets the comment slide off his back. The best way to deal with Tobi was to ignore him entirely. Deidara hasn 't learned that.

Predictably, the man pouts at seeing no visible reaction.

'So you don 't want to hurt our dear Yuuji-kun here, right? ' the man asked, putting both of his hands on Itadori 's shoulders.

'As much as you want to hurt me, ' Obito replied in kind, eyes flitting up to the man 's blindfold again.

It's where the curse energy is gathered.

He wonders if it's something like the Sharingan. All ocular and based on blood.

He wonders if the man has to worry about his eyes being gouged out by power hungry councilmen.

The man laughs, it is a boisterous sound.

'Oh, that 's good, ' the man said at last. Itadori glanced up at him in confusion. 'Yeah, I don 't feel like hurting you right now, Ushida. '

What in the actual fuck, Obito thinks.

The man seemed to read his thoughts, even through his neutral demeanor. 'Isn 't it cute? It 's my nickname for you! '

This is probably karma from Deidara.

Obito thinks that he hates it.

But he hates Uchiha more. The name is dyed in the blood of his clansmen and he can feel the blood all the way up to his chest. He can feel their bones in his throat, as though their bodies were crammed inside his, disjointed and inhumane. He thinks all their deaths are tallied on his back, even when Itachi had killed half and Danzo had killed all.

Most things are his fault, in the end. He released the beast and therefore he doomed the clan to suspicion.

The Uchiha would weep knowing that he still carried their name despite what he 's done to their legacy.

Ushida is a stupid, stupid name. But it doesn 't hurt.

So instead he smiles, it wasn't a pretty thing. Not a lot about Obito is pretty. 'I think I hate it, thank you. '

The man looks flummoxed. Obito takes it as a win.

'You can smile? '

Was Itadori 's contribution to the conversation.

'I can do a lot of things, ' Obito answered. Finding himself slightly amused.

The man looks at Obito before he, too, smiles. 'That 's mean. '

'You 're annoying, ' he said back easily.

The man guffawed, it wasn 't serious.

In the distance, he can hear two sets of footsteps.

'Your friends are here, ' he said. Using Shunshin to get away.

The man 's eyes linger on him, even when he sat atop a rooftop not too far away. He thinks the man can still see him.

The man is a predator and Obito feels like he is the prey.

Kakashi had looked at him like that, once. When he was Tobi. Looked at him with eyes that promised to clip his wings and Tobi had laughed in his face.

I thought I left you behind to live, Kakashi.

He thinks a part of him wants it. Wants the man to look at him like how Kakashi did. Another part of him detests it, seeing ghosts in the living realm.

Obito is a mess of contradictions.

He hates this, too.

'I thought I said goodbye, ' Obito remarked lightly. It has been around an hour or two or three or more, Obito can 't quite tell the time anymore. He is on top of some rooftop, nondescript and unfamiliar. Wanting the breeze to blow him away and get him into the Pure Lands.

'Ah, well, I forgot to mention a few things, ' the man drawled beside him. Standing precariously on the railings.

Obito glanced back at the man. White hair and blindfold and all.

He thinks he is seeing a living ghost.

Instead, what he says is:

'Wow, you 're even more of a stalker than I am. '