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Rin opened her eyes, everything was quiet- maybe a bit too quiet. She was on edge as she stood up, and itched. She was itchy- so she scratched and scratched and scratched, until her hands came away blood and it didn't go away- it got worse. It went from itchy to burning to the sensation that there were things crawling under her skin-
"Kai." She gritted out through her teeth, spiking her chakra as calmly as she could, and the illusion wavered. "Kai." She repeated, only a bit louder, but the Chakra fluctuation was more precise and the illusion shattered. She glared over at her window, where she felt a glimmer of pride, and muttered a Genjutsu of her own.
Kuranai snapped out of it quickly, but looked to her with vaguely insulted eyes. "Fucking clowns? Was that really necessary?" She bristled, and Rin pulled her through through the window and smiled like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.
"I don't know, was it necessary that you ambush me as soon as I wake up?" She returned coolly, and the ravenette rolled her eyes.
"please. Isn't your whole thing not getting caught off guard again?" She reminded the brunette with a pointed look.
"Isn't yours overcoming your fears?"
"Well, yeah, but you're already putting me through real exposure therapy with clowns. Isn't a Genjutsu on top of that a little much?"
"What exposure therapy?"
"I can't spend 20 minutes with you without your personal Uchiha-joker showing up to passive aggressively threaten me and beg for refuge from whatever clownery he's gotten up to today." She smirked and Rin growled at the insult and muttered another Genjutsu.
This one lasted a little longer before Kuranai snapped out of it with a shudder that Rin took grim pride in.
"Hm. I hated every second of that shit, but your control's gotten better." she complimented, and Rin shrugged.
"My Chakra control, maybe. Check up on my self control in a few weeks when Obito shows up to your costume party dressed as a killer clown." She warned.
"You wouldn't! You love me too much!" Kuranai gasped, and Rin smirked.
"Well. You're the one that mentioned expose therapy, babe. Go big or go home- you taught me that too."
"Oh? Like this?" Kuranai postured, and Rin was expecting it but was still caught off guard when-
She didn't want to look up. She didn't. She had no idea why, or how, but she just knew that if she looked up something bad would happen.
Still, somehow, despite this knowledge, this certainty, she was overcome by her innate curiosity that felt- amplified, somehow? Damned if she did and damned if she didn't- she'd either die from whatever bad thing happens when she looks up, or die from anticipation while she refused to.
How did she get here? What was the last thing she remembered? Where was-
It didn't matter! Nothing mattered except looking up- not looking up- Look up!- don't- look!- nononono- Fucking look already-
She did. She lost (won.) the battle with herself and wretched her head up, and-
Nothing. Nothing but a smug looking girlfriend, as Rin dripped in sweat and her heart jackrabbited in her chest.
"Maybe," She proposed, "There's a damn good reason Obito can't go an hour without threatening you."
"Yeah. You refuse to tell anyone why you're doing this, and they're all worried that you have a girlfriend who tortures you for no apparent reason." Kuranai proposed reasonably, and Rin threw a kunai at her. "ooh, someone's pissy cause I have a point." Kuranai cooed, and Rin took a deep breath.
"....Maybe." She admitted, begrudgingly. Kuranai sat down in front of her and grabbed her hand, and Rin sighed, not meeting her eyes. "Maybe. But what would I tell them? It would just make Obito even more protective and Kakashi even more of a broody martyr. There's no benefit." She claimed, and Kuranai rolled her eyes.
"There'd be some benefit. They'd both get off my back, for one- do you have any idea the shit I deal with, between the two of them? They both have the Sharringan, I'm not good enough to hold either of them long. Honestly, I thought Kakashi was bad, but then Obito got out of the hospital- would you believe me if I told you that he's somehow worse?" She griped, trying to lighten the mood, and Rin took the distraction eagerly.
"I'll do you one better- I wouldn't believe you if you said Kakashi was worse. He's scarier and more gifted, like, objectively, but he doesn't know a thing about being protective of other people. He's just plain awkward, right?" She theorized, and Kuranai giggled as she nodded. "Exactly. I expect and accept nothing less- he's like a puppy. A very aggressive and dangerous one, don't get me wrong, but a puppy nonetheless. Obito is a feral cat, and should be treated as such by everyone except for me." She explained, and Kuranai's brow furrowed.
"...ya know, I kind of hate how much sense that makes. And how there's no way I'll be able to repeat it without getting murdered, because that's the funniest shit I've heard in a week." Kuranai sighed, and Rin stuck her tongue out- the height of maturity.
"It's what you deserve." She drawled, stretching. "Please tell me you at least brought me something, when you decided to ambush me at sunrise." She pleaded, and Kuranai nodded, handing over a scroll.
"Got you some heat-sealed coffee from that shop you like and new chakra-ink for your seals- you said you were running out of that, right?"
"Ah. I knew I kept you around for a reason." Rin hummed, opening the thermos of coffee with a sigh. "Ok. I'm gonna get showered and dressed and all that jazz, and then you can put me through hell for the 12th time this week." She groaned, and Kuranai frowned.
"We can stop if you want to." She reminded, as she did once a week, and Rin stiffened.
For just a moment, with no Genjutsu needed, she fell out of reality and was suddenly being carried and she was so tired and she knew she needed to move but she couldn't be bothered-
Deep breathes. Same old song and dance. They'd been doing this for nearly three months now, and she still couldn't stop the traumatic flashback every time Kuranai even alludes to quitting.
Rin will never let herself be that weak and helpless again- she almost killed Obito.
"No." She bit out, and Kuranai sighed, but there wasn't any surprise in it- not anymore. "No, I don't want to. You can stop asking."
"I won't." Kuranai repeated for the 14th time. "I need you to know that stopping is always an option, if you can't handle this. I won't let you kill yourself trying to stay alive." She said, a tired mantra, and Rin hummed in acknowledgement as she left the room and went about preparing for the day.
Kuranai watched almost mournfully, and hoped- not for the first or the last time, by a long shot- that Rin would come to her senses, one way or another.
She could never even attempt to make a Genjutsu more hellish then a world without Rin, after all.