Shiny New Collar
Words: 993
For: @abyssaldespair
Spending as much time as he was with Shizune these days, Obito couldn’t help but notice that her pet pig’s collar was starting to look a little worse for wear. With little pieces of leather falling off and the tag barely legible any longer, there was only one thing that Obito could think to do.
Finding a little shop in the village that sold new collars was easy enough, but selecting one for Tonton had proved to be a bit more of a challenge. With all sorts of colours, sizes and styles to choose from Obito had struggled quite a bit. What was probably a simple task for anyone else had taken him an hour before he was finally able to make his way to the front of the shop to pay for his purchase.
If he stopped along the way to pick up a few treats for Tonton and Kakashi’s hounds, that was between him and the shopkeeper who had the pleasure of seeing him empty his wallet for the purchase.
All that mattered to Obito was that his task had been completed. He had finally selected a shiny new collar for Tonton and was now standing in front of Shizune’s office door preparing to knock.
What if she doesn’t like it.
His hand hovered just inches in front of the door, refusing to make contact.
She probably already bought a new collar for Tonton, and even if she didn’t why would she want one I picked out? This was stupid I should just turn around and-
The door opened suddenly, revealing Shizune standing behind it with a bright smile on her face. A smile that he would gladly kill to see more of.
‘No’ he scolded himself. ‘No killing. We agreed no killing for love, so…maybe make a fool of myself? Ya, I can do that.’
He was great at making a fool out of himself.
“Hello,” Shizune’s smile seemed to grow wider when she spoke. “Tonton heard her favourite person outside and demanded I open the door.”
At the mention of her name, Tonton came trudging up to Obito’s feet and bumped her head against his leg. Demanding his attention. “I don’t think I’m her favourite person,” he argued, kneeling down to pick the pig up and hugging her close to his chest. Why he was such a sucker for Shizune’s piglet he wasn’t sure, but it was a fact of life he had gotten used to rather quickly.
Tonton had him wrapped around her none existent finger. Possibly as a result of him wanting to date her owner, or maybe because her face really was just that cute. He might never know why.
“You are definitely her favourite person,” Shizune giggled. “Mine too.”
“Oh,” now that sounded like an accomplishment. “Well, You’re my favourite person too. I mean, out of anyone here and-” Why was he so bad with words when he was around Shizune?
“What’s that?” Shizune’s eyes focused on his hand. “Is that…Obito, why are you holding a collar?”
With no escape left, Obito took a deep breath and held the collar out to Shizune. “I bought it for Tonton,” his hands shook, and his face began to heat up when Shizune reached out to take the offering from him. “I- I couldn’t help but notice hers was getting a little old. Not that it’s a bad thing, I just thought she might like a new one. At some point. Maybe.”
Maybe it would have been better if I had made a run for it.
“A collar,” With a fond smile on her face, Shizune knelt by Tonton’s side and held the collar out towards her. “What do you think? You want Obito’s gift?” Tonton seemed to examine the collar for a moment, determining if it was a good enough offering for her to accept.
When she squealed in a way that Obito had come to understand as happiness, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Alright,” Reaching out, Shizune carefully undid the old collar and set it off to the side before putting the new one on. Once it was clasped into place and positioned perfectly, she sat back and examined her work. “What do you think, Tonton?” Another happy squeal greeted her question. “I agree, it looks perfect.”
Obito would be lying if he said he wasn’t relieved to know all of his work had paid off. It might seem dumb, and it sort of was, but if Tonton had hated the collar it would have just been embarrassing.
Not that getting a pig a new collar wasn’t embarrassing in its own right.
“So, now that that’s done,” running a hand through his hair, he couldn’t help but grin like an idiot when Shizune glanced his way. “I was wondering if maybe we could- possible-”
“Ramen?” He was caught off guard by Shizune’s interruption, but seeing the excitement in her eyes helped him to relax just a little. “I know for a fact that Naruto is busy training right now, so we could have a little bit of quiet.”
Quiet. That sounded splendid.
“Ramen,” he agreed, chuckling when Tonton squealed up at them. “Yes, you can come too. I wouldn’t dare try to take Shizune away from you.”
Not that he could. Tonton would always come before him and he couldn’t help but think that was sort of cute.
“Good,” leaning down, Shizune scooped Tonton up in her arms and stood up straight once again. “Kakashi will realize soon that I swapped out his copy of Icha Icha for a history book, so the quicker we leave the better.”
Beautiful, smart, and willing to mess with Kakashi? Was someone so perfect allowed to exist in this world? If so, how did he convince her to fall in love with him, because he couldn’t risk someone else sweeping her off of her feet.
“Come on,” Brushing past him, she made her way through the hallway. “My treat!”