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"Rin..."
Sakura didn’t correct Obito. She had learned that doing so during an episode only made things worse.
Sitting by the hospital room window, Obito stared out at the garden with a distant expression. Sometimes — very rarely, and only for brief moments — he recognized where he was and who she was. Other times, the past swallowed the present whole, and Sakura ceased to exist.
Then, there was only Rin.
"Are you feeling any better today?" Sakura asked softly.
Obito smiled.
"Because you’re here."
The answer tightened something painfully inside her chest. The boundaries had started to blur. Obito constantly sought her presence. He refused to eat if she didn’t visit during the day, and only slept peacefully after hearing Sakura’s voice, the voice he still believed belonged to Rin.
"You need to rest," she said gently.
"Stay a little longer."
Sakura hesitated, but the way his fingers brushed against hers, the faint blush spreading across his cheeks, made it impossible for her to refuse.
"Just for a little while," she murmured. "Until you fall asleep."
Obito’s eyes softened as he looked at her with quiet affection, and Sakura tried to ignore the knot tightening in her chest.
Once his breathing finally steadied, she quietly made her way toward the door. She closed it behind her and found Kakashi standing in the hallway.
Kakashi had continued coming to the hospital regularly. His visits had become almost routine by now, but after the incident where Obito lost control and attacked him, it would have been better for Kakashi to stay away for a while.
"I told you not to come see him," Sakura snapped.
"I came to see you," Kakashi replied calmly.
Sakura’s eyes widened.
"I don’t want you treating Obito anymore."
"What?"
At that moment, several doctors passed through the hallway.
"Let’s talk outside," Sakura said sharply.
Kakashi followed her calmly.
Once they reached the garden, Sakura placed her hands on her hips.
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
She knew what Obito meant to Kakashi. But hearing him say something like that offended her deeply as a doctor.
"I don’t like what you’re doing with Obito."
Kakashi leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets, but there was no ease in his posture. Something about him felt rigid. Serious.
Sakura had rarely seen him like this.
She blinked, remaining composed.
"Which part?" she asked. "I’m stabilizing a patient with severe trauma. These things take time."
"Sakura..." Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck. "You’re letting him believe Rin is alive."
Sakura clenched her fists.
She didn’t like where this conversation was going.
"You’re not Rin."
"I never said I was."
"But you’re not correcting him either," Kakashi replied.
Sakura looked away.
He was right.
Lately, she hadn’t been correcting him. She let Obito hold her hand. She let him cling to her when the nightmares came back. Sometimes she stayed by his bedside far longer than necessary.
Sometimes it was simply easier to let him believe the lie.
But she had her reasons.
"I’m helping him," she said, stepping closer to Kakashi. "If I correct him every time he calls me ‘Rin,’ he spirals. He breaks down emotionally. You know that."
After the incident where Obito lost control and attacked Kakashi, keeping them separated for a while had seemed safer.
Kakashi sighed and nodded.
"I know," he admitted. "But I also know you’re lying to him."
Sakura frowned.
"I’m his doctor, Kakashi. You can question a lot of things, but not how I handle my patients."
Kakashi looked at her steadily.
"Sakura..." His voice dropped lower. "Obito isn’t seeing you."
Sakura clenched her fists tighter.
"What are you implying?"
That wasn’t what she had expected him to say.
"He refuses to eat if you don’t show up. He won’t sleep until he hears your voice. And you keep staying long after your shift ends."
"Have you been watching me?"
"Sakura... do you really only see him as your patient?"
A chill ran through her body, but she answered without hesitation.
"Yes. I’m handling this case professionally," she replied firmly. "Are you accusing me of crossing boundaries?"
"You tell me, Sakura. I’ve been watching Obito. And every time I looked for him, you were there."
Her frown deepened.
"Because I’m his doctor!" she snapped. "He’s my patient!"
Kakashi fell silent for a moment.
"Doctor?" he repeated quietly. "Sakura... Obito calls you Rin. He’s giving pieces of himself to someone he believes is Rin."
Sakura’s fists tightened even more.
"You don’t know what you’re talking about," she said. "I’m not mixing feelings into this. I’m staying close to help him. What would you rather I do? Let him scream Rin’s name until he destroys himself? Sedate him all the time?"
"I want you to stop pretending to be Rin."
Sakura opened her mouth to argue again, but before she could say anything, a nurse came running toward them.
"Doctor Haruno! The patient had another episode!"
Sakura reacted immediately.
She brushed past Kakashi.
For a brief second, his hand lifted slightly, as though he were about to grab her arm. Sakura was already prepared to pull away.
But he stopped himself.
Sakura caught the sadness in his eyes as he spoke, his voice sounding almost like a plea.
"You’re not Rin."
As she walked back toward the hospital, those words clung to her skin like a shadow.
You’re not Rin.
But every step brought her closer to that distorted reality where Obito looked at her as though the past could still be saved.
When she reached the hallway, she found him standing outside the room.
Obito lifted his head the moment he saw her.
"Rin..." His voice cracked instantly.
Tears slid down his face, and the sheer desperation in his expression made something inside Sakura twist painfully.
"I’m sorry," he whispered as he approached her. "I’m so sorry."
And then he hugged her.
Sakura felt his fingers clutching tightly onto her, as though he was afraid she would disappear again. His apologies kept spilling from his lips in broken, desperate fragments.
She hesitated because she could still hear Kakashi’s voice inside her head.
You’re not Rin.
But Obito was trembling, and Sakura slowly returned the embrace, guilt tightening painfully around her chest.
She rested one hand against his back while he buried his face against her shoulder, searching for comfort in someone who no longer existed.
Then she felt it. A gaze fixed on them.
Sakura lifted her eyes slightly.
Kakashi was still there, silently watching them.
There was no anger in his expression. That would have been easier to endure.
There was only sadness. A deep, exhausted sadness that made Sakura’s stomach twist painfully.
Obito tightened his hold on her when he felt her tense.
"Don’t leave me... Rin."
Sakura closed her eyes, repeating to herself that this was better than letting him fall into another breakdown.