I'm so sorry for not updating, guys. I appreciate your support, and I thank you for that. I was just feeling down lately, and I was starting to think that no one really liked this anymore?? Idk, it confuses me too.

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Obito's head felt light, and he stared at the familiar girl for so long that his eyes started to sting. He let go of Kyo's hand, and pushed Deidara aside, who also couldn't believe his eyes.

He ran up to the sleepy young beauty, and fell onto his knees. He was at a loss of words, as he put his head down. Overwhelmed, he stared at the ground, gripping a handful of grass below him. He slowly lifted his head to Taki, who was rubbing her eyes.

She yawned, and looked down to him. 

She gave him the sweetest smile, proof that she had actually been through heaven and back. He breathed in heavily, and let go of the now crumpled grass. Small blades of grass decorated his hands, and he dusted them off onto his cloak.

He didn't care that his cloak had dirt and grass stains on it. There was something more important right in front of him, the one he had loved and cherished more than anything. He didn't even question the reason she came back, his mind was too fuzzy to think.

He took her hands into his, and felt a hot pressure around his nose bridge, signaling that he was going to cry.

"T-Taki," he croaked, and his black irises pierced her soft violet ones. Her eyebrows knitted together slightly, looking a little concerned. She turned to Deidara, a questioning look on her face.

"Dei, are these friends of yours?"

-

Obito blinked. He caught her attention again. "Taki, it's me. You know.." he couldn't even finish his sentence for himself when he saw the look of confusion on her face. 

She smiled at him again, relieving him. She did remember him.

"Excuse me, sir, but who are you?"

He could just hear his own heart shatter into a million pieces. He stared at her, as if he could see past her eyes. All of the noises in the world blended together until he could no longer hear anything. Everything blurred around him as he couldn't even process anything anymore. 

She chuckled, and pat him on the head. "You're cute. What's your name?"

He couldn't answer, and he didn't want to, either. He knew that if he spoke, he would burst into tears like a child. He sniffed, and breathed out. He used every ounce of his self control to answer.

"You don't remember me.." he said, his voice cracking. She turned her head sideways, leaning down to look at his face, who was now looking towards the ground like before. She was startled to see several tears rolling down his cheeks at an unprecedented speed.

She immediately gave him a hug. "I'm not sure what you may be going through, mister, but I hope this helps. I know it does for me when I feel.."

"..like dying."

-

"I know you're shocked about this, Obito, and we are too." Pein said as he saw the diminishing form in front of him. "But we have to take this slowly and logically."

Taki was in a rush to get home, saying that she "accidentally fell asleep", and needed to get home as soon as possible. She had busted through the Akatsuki front door, with three figures reluctantly following.

Every Akatsuki member was frozen in their place when they turned to see who it was. A crying Obito came after her, along with Deidara and Kyo, who were trying to cheer him up.

Now Pein was talking to Obito, and they were both trying to figure out the situation. Obito held his head in his hands, and tried his best to calm himself down. Pein looked through Obito's past memories, and found the whole situation. 

"I think," he mumbled, as his eyes were returning to their normal state, "that we are getting a second chance."

Obito took his hands out of his hair, and looked up to Pein. "A second chance..?"

"Yes.." the more Pein talked about it the more confident he felt in his theory. "I think Taki returned to give us a second chance. It's like.. her memories of committing suicide are wiped. So this means-"

"That she might commit suicide again," Obito finished, catching onto what Pein was trying to get across.

Pein explained everything to Obito, and answered every question. His theory was that Taki would be reset, so this time they could save her. They weren't sure how far back her memory was set, so they would have to subtly squeeze that information out of her. If they knew that, then they would know exactly the day she would attempt suicide again, and stop it.

Because this time they knew what Taki was going through, they were prepared. They would make sure that she knew she was loved. 

Pein and Obito explained this to the rest of the Akatsuki, who agreed with what he said.

Hidan asked a question that Obito was hurt by, although he knew it was coming. "Then Taki doesn't remember Obito's true identity, then, huh?"

It was true. If Taki didn't remember the day she committed suicide, then she would also not remember Obito. She only knew of Tobi, the masked member with a childish personality.

Obito brought his hands to his hair, gripping it. He knew what was going to happen, and so did the rest of the members. Pein said what everyone was thinking. "Revealing your true identity to her now would be too shocking. So you need to.."

Obito groaned. "Pretend that I'm Tobi. I get it, I get it." Snickers and groans were heard throughout the room.

Deidara slapped Obito's butt with a grin. "So, go get that mask, hm!" Obito knew that Deidara was happy about this. Although Deidara would be displeased about being annoyed by his personality (and trust me, the rest of the members were, too), he was happy that he would get to act more mature and act more bossy to Obito.

Deidara was really tired of being pushed around by Obito, so now he would get to do the same to him.

Every fiber of Obito's being wanted to punch him there and then, but he knew that he couldn't. He went upstairs, muttering curses.

He went to his desk in his office, and opened the top drawer. Memories flooded him as he pulled out the orange mask, turning it around to get a better look. He realized that when he wore this mask, it made him feel more confident around Taki. His childish personality covered up what he was actually feeling inside.

He could hug Taki when he wanted, and it wouldn't be awkward. He could say lovey dovey words to her without it seeming like he was flirting. That was the huge upside of this whole situation.

Still holding the mask in his hands, he sat down on the cushy seat that faced the desk. He pulled the small mirror that sat on the edge of the desk closer to him. He looked at himself, and put down the mask. 

He cleared his throat, and focused solely on the mirror. 

"Hello, I am Tobi, and.. oh, that isn't right.."

He corrected himself, and started over, this time with a higher pitched voice. He kept trying over and over, until he was sure he nailed it. Even when he did get the right voice, he still practiced in front of the mirror.

"Practicing your 'Tobi' voice, huh?" 

"Shut up!" was Obito's immediate reaction. He didn't even have to look up to know that Hidan was the one talking. Hidan had come through the door without knocking, and walked up to Obito's desk with a smirk.

"I would lock the door if I were you. What if it was Taki that came in?" he said this with a grin plastered on his face, and now he became the second person Obito wanted to punch today. He walked away, chuckling to himself nonstop. 

He could hear a "oh, hi Taki! Yes, Ob-Tobi is definitely in that room. Why don't you go talk to him?" He could hear the smirk in his voice, but he had higher priorities.

He felt his heart leap up out of his chest when the door handle turned. Taki! He grabbed the mask so fast you would think his life depended on it. He put it onto his face in a hurry, and fumbled around with the mirror until it was in its original spot. He sat his butt down in the seat right before Taki entered.

He could feel his heart pounding really fast, still flustered that he almost got caught being seen without his mask in front of Taki. Sure, she had seen him before, but with Tobi's mask next to him would seem really suspicious. 

Taki looked to him, and couldn't help but smile at him. "Tobi, I'm back! I didn't see you when I came through the door. Why are you in Pein's office?"

Oh, that's right. This wasn't Obito's office anymore, it was Pein's. He would have to get used to a lot of things now. 

Taki was confused at the silence coming from him. "Tobi? Are you alright?" 

"A-ah!" Obito stood up quickly from the chair, putting his hands directly to his sides. What would Tobi do right now? 

He ran up to Taki, engulfing her in a bear hug. "I missed you, Taki-chan!" he shouted in his Tobi voice. She cringed slightly at his loudness, but giggled. She hugged him back even tighter.

"I missed you, too."