Chapter 12
“I’m impressed.”
Orochimaru watched time and again as his son launched his first real shiruken. With each throw, the four year-old was able to pin the small weapon into a stump of wood Orochimaru had propped up for him. Each time it landed, he would jog over to retrieve the weapon and throw it again. As repetitive as it was, Tetsuya was transfixed.
“He practices at home a lot,” Saya told him.
She sat propped up against a tree trunk while Orochimaru stood looming beside her. The late afternoon sun was particularly warm, so Saya enjoyed the shade of the tree and the faint breeze that blew through the air. Despite the company, she actually felt at ease.
“How is Akira?” Orochimaru coolly asked as his eyes moved to Sasuke. He sat meditating under a nearby tree.
“He’s fine,” Saya replied. Her answer was blunt, which left the man with little interest. “I’m surprised you didn’t have anything to say to him,” Saya prodded.
Orochimaru shrugged. “I wasn’t terribly surprised. Akira became distant quite a while before you came along. He was of little use to me anymore.”
Saya looked up at him with a slightly hurt expression. Akira had spent the latter half of his life under Orochimaru. The man had been a mentor to him, and even up until his last day as a Sound ninja, he had been protective of his lord. The same lord that now brushed him off as if he was a stray animal that had gotten too attached to him.
“Does nothing ever get to you?”
The sannin didn’t blink as he answered. “One of the first things a ninja learns it to control their emotions. Instead of bottling them up, I myself simply don’t develop them. Too often do they weigh on the mind and bring one down from clouded judgment.
“Take Sasuke, for instance,” he nodded as he continued. “His one and only goal in life is driven by revenge against his brother. It’s all he lives and breathes, and when his goal is completed, his reason to exist will be gone.”
Saya stared at the boy. From the moment she laid eyes on him she had felt something off about him. He seemed lifeless as a puppet.
“What did his brother do?” she asked quietly.
“I’ll save that for another time,” Orochimaru replied as he sat down beside her. “Today’s too lovely to spoil with such a story.”
Saya snorted at the comment, not expecting something so “lovely” to come out of his mouth. She turned her eyes back to Tetsuya as she resumed their conversation.
“You do show emotion, though. You have enough anger for three people.”
“That was different, Saya. Surely even you understand that Kabuto and I both were irritable from our injuries.”
Saya managed to both smirk and scowl at the man. “Then what was that yesterday? Smacking the hell out of me and locking me up? That sounds pretty angry to me.”
Orochimaru chuckled. “I will give you that. On occasion I will show anger.”
Saya cut her eyes and watched him for a moment from under her eyelashes. “So is that all you feel: anger?” she asked almost soothingly.
The man’s serpentine eyes cut at her, but he did not answer the question. Instead, he turned his attention back to his son. “Tetsuya, that is enough for today,” he called to the boy.
Much to Saya’s surprise, Tetsuya stopped his training without a complaint. Shuriken in hand, he walked back to his parents and joined them on the ground.
“How did I do?” he asked with a shy grin.
“Quite well,” Orochimaru answered.
Saya playfully rolled her eyes. “More than quite well, since you’re apparently so impressed.” She caught Orochimaru’s eye as a smirk formed on his face.
“You are? Really?” Tetsuya beamed at him.
“Yes,” Orochimaru simply replied as she still smirked. “But I should expect nothing less from my son.”
The three then spent the next hour talking about Orochimaru’s own training when he was a child. How he quickly graduated from the Leaf Village’s academy and became a prodigy while training with his sensei. Head in hands, Tetsuya watched utterly transfixed as his father talked. The same could almost be said for Saya. She had little knowledge of the man’s life, let alone his childhood. She was more than happy to learn more about him.
Once Sasuke was finished with his meditating, the four of them started back to the compound. Much to Saya’s displeasure, Tetsuya’s attention had moved to the mysterious young man. He badgered him with all sorts of questions. But while Sasuke answered with no trouble, Saya couldn’t help but feel uneasy. There was just something about him that put her on edge.
Although she and Tetsuya were tired, Saya hated the idea of having to go back underground on such a nice evening. Once they arrived at the compound, Saya looked over her shoulder to catch a last glimpse at the slowly setting sun. Before she could fully take the image in, however, Orochimaru leaned down to whisper into her ear.
“I need to speak with you a moment. Alone.”
Every nerve in her body was set on edge by the comment, which caused Saya to stop dead in her tracks.
“Tetsuya,” Orochimaru called as he beckoned with a finger. The boy instantly turned back.
“I want you to go along to your room. Your mother and I will be in soon, but for now,” he paused as he extended his hand, “I’ll be needing that shuriken back. You’re a bit too young to have your own just yet.”
The boy pouted and opened his mouth to protest, but one eyebrow raise from his father made Tetsuya slowly hand the metal object over. Orochimaru managed somewhat of a grin.
“Don’t worry. I’ll let you practice as often as possible.”
Tetsuya grinned, but it was slowly replaced with a yawn. Saya couldn’t help but smirk.
“Go ahead and lie down, Tetsuya. We’ll wake you up when it’s time for dinner.”
After the boy groggily obeyed her, Saya hesitantly turned towards Orochimaru. She found him already staring at her, where his eyes caught hers and held them there. There was a strange emotion in the man’s snake eyes, one Saya had never seen in them before. It was almost calming, especially since the breeze gently blew his hair across them.
Saya could feel heat rising in her body as it prepared for a blush. It was hard, but she managed to look away from the man she still thought of as physically perfect.
“You’re good with him,” she commented on their son. “Much better than I thought you would be.”
“So are you,” he replied. “You’ve raised him well, Saya.”
Her eyes purposely found his again then. They were still calm. Saya didn’t know whether to think that good or bad. Either way, she managed to smile at him.
“Has it all sunk in yet?”
“No,” Orochimaru replied without a blink. “But I suppose it will.”
Saya crossed her arms as the wind kicked up. “Well, thank you for letting us stay. It took a lot of hard thinking to convince me to bring us here.” She smirked awkwardly at him.
Orochimaru shard a smirk of his own, but for different reasons.
“The reason I asked to speak with you,” he started as he changed the subject, “a lot has happened these past few years. The Sound Village carries a target on its back, and as its leader, so do I. While you are perfectly safe here, the same cannot be said for out there. So Saya, think before you pull a stunt like you did last time.”
Saya didn’t quite know how to react to that. Was he scolding, warning, or looking out for her? Either way, she didn’t need to be told twice. “What happened?” she asked cautiously.
Orochimaru nearly laughed. Not even she could know the details of his attack on the Leaf Village. “That is also for another day. And then there is your relationship with Kabuto-”
“I learned my lesson,” Saya interrupted him. “Believe me.”
“But not with me,” the man sneered.
Saya couldn’t contain her laughter. “Apparently not.”
Her laugh was short lived as Orochimaru raised a hand to her face. He cupped and ran his thumb along the spot he had smacked the day before. Their eyes danced with one another before he softly told her, “I’m sorry.”
Saya almost laughed again, but her face managed to remain still. She grinned and nodded her head, all the while gently reaching for his hand to pull it away.
“Is that all?” she quickly asked him.
And with that the two finally made their way back underground and went their separate ways until dinner. It was just the three of them, like an actual family. Kabuto, Sasuke, or any of the Sound ninja that lingered around the compound may as well have not existed.
Like the curious boy he was, Tetsuya grabbed for every moment he could to learn more about his father. Saya was glad. It showed the two of them how outgoing he was, but more importantly it gave Saya the chance to continue to learn more about the man.
If anything, it made Saya confused as to how someone so talented ended up angry and alone in the middle of the woods.
As Tatsuya was put to bed and she was growing sleepy herself, Orochimaru showed Saya to the spare room across from his own. It was small, but it was at least her own.
“Goodnight, Saya” he quickly told her as he turned to leave.
“Wait,” she called to him.
Orochimaru slowly backtracked and learned against her doorframe.
Saya felt strange as she looked at him. Even though it was what she wanted, she also found it odd that for once she was able to be inside a bedroom with the man without him harassing her. She smiled at him.
“Today was nice.”
“It was,” the man agreed before he once again rushed away.
