Ah, well...here we are again, in the fabulous year of one-shots. :) I wasn't actually going to put this out until...well...a couple months from now, but since both Your Life, My Love and Unbreakable Yet Shattered weren't finished, and they were on my list before this... I just decided to put this one up. Hopefully I'll have one of those finished for next month though. Anyway, in this story...well I really wanted to show that Orochimaru and Jiraiya had a bond before he left the village, and I wanted to bring out a softer side in the sadistic snake man that we have all come to love so darn much! ;) So I really hope that you enjoy this little piece of randomness from my brain.

Rating: T

Pairing: Orochimaru/Jiraiya

Warnings: Shonen-ai, boys kissing, guys kissing. If you don't like then go away cause I don't want to hear you complain.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A Past Long Remembered

It was almost inevitable that the white-haired Sannin would come for him again, that was something that no one could dare deny. They had too much history; too much hatred between them for the Toad Sage not to come after him. But the dark-haired Sannin did not care; he awaited his old comrade's return for him almost as if he longed to see the man again.

But no one could actually believe that Orochimaru longed for anything; except power. They would never believe that he was waiting so calmly for someone; something. But he was, and his growing excitement over the meeting that was to happen at anytime was bringing back a past that he thought he had long moved on from.

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"Haha! Orochimaru, you look like such a girl!" It was one of the constant things that the dark-haired boy heard from the white-haired one on his squad. "Shut up, Jiraiya!" The other boy, Jiraiya, was hit hard on his head by the blonde on their squad, Tsunade. The girl always defended Orochimaru because she believed that the boy was just too shy to do so himself. The dark-haired boy simply rolled his eyes as Jiraiya nursed his head.

"Tell him you're sorry," Tsunade demanded. Jiraiya just scoffed. "Children, children, please," it was the voice of their sensei, Sarutobi Hiruzen. Tsunade and Jiraiya looked over to their mentor and smiled. "Yes, sensei," Orochimaru just seemed to not care, and seeing as training was over for the day, he took his leave quietly. Hiruzen sighed as he watched the dark-haired boy walk off but he did not stop his student.

After a moment Jiraiya bolted out after him. "Orochimaru! Wait!" The young boy did not wait for his comrade; he only seemed to pick his pace up to get away from the other male. But Jiraiya was not going to be deterred and so he ran even faster and caught up to Orochimaru after a few moments, and began walking backwards in front of the boy.

"Okay, look, I'm sorry. If I hurt your feelings I didn't mean to," while the words sounded true enough there was a smirk on Jiraiya's face as he spoke. Orochimaru looked impassive as he continued walking silently. "Do you ever talk, Orochimaru?" The white-haired boy was attempting to bait the other into speaking. "Cause I mean, like I talk all the time; and so does Tsunade, do you have a crush on her or something? Is that why you never talk whenever she's around? Or are you just afraid that she'll hit you?"

Again silence met Jiraiya in reply to his questions. "It really doesn't hurt that bad, you know, I just kinda make it seem like it does to make her feel good," Jiraiya smirked again and jabbed a thumb into his chest. "Cause no one can hurt me!" It was declared proudly as they turned into an alleyway, unbeknownst to Jiraiya.

It was in an instant that Orochimaru had Jiraiya pinned up against the alley wall by his neck. Jiraiya looked at his comrade with wide eyes, wondering just what the hell was going on. After a moment Orochimaru kissed the stunned boy, shocking Jiraiya further. "Now shut up," Orochimaru said coldly before he let go of Jiraiya and walked away.

The black-haired boy only got so far before Jiraiya was running behind him. "What the hell was that?!" Orochimaru sighed as he got more annoyed by the boy that finally fell into step beside him, but he did not answer. Jiraiya began to get irritated as the other male continued to ignore him. "So you just...do that and then you don't even tell me why?"

Silence reigned as they made it out of the alley and back into the dimming sunlight; this was where their little walk ended. They were about to separate. But Jiraiya was determined to stay with Orochimaru until he got the answer he wanted. So when Orochimaru began to walk away from him, down the path that led to his home, Jiraiya just began to follow him.

"Go home," Orochimaru ordered once he was at his front door, but Jiraiya ignored him and walked inside after Orochimaru did. "I'm not going anywhere until I get my answer," he told the pale boy as he looked around the darkened room that seemed to have no lights whatsoever. As if he had some important task he had to tend to Orochimaru began walking into his kitchen, Jiraiya right on his tail. "You cannot just kiss me and then not explain yourself!" His irritation was beginning to turn into anger and frustration.

Orochimaru was beginning to think that kissing the boy to shut him up was now a horrible idea as it had only seemed to fuel an unseen fire. Did he really need to explain his motives for kissing the younger boy? Orochimaru just walked over to his sink quietly and looked out the window, ignoring Jiraiya's irritated sighs. But after a few moments he was violently turned around and his back was shoved into the counter as Jiraiya's lips found his.

The golden eyes opened wide as he stood there in shock. He had never expected this. After a moment he closed his eyes and kissed the white-haired boy back tentatively. This was his first real kiss, even if it was with a boy that supposedly hated him; he himself liked the kiss and Jiraiya very much.

It was only a few seconds later that Jiraiya pulled away from Orochimaru, looking genuinely surprised about what he had just done. "I-I'm sorry..." His voice was shaky as he turned around and quickly left his comrade's home. Orochimaru watched him go silently, wishing that he had said something that would have made the boy stay with him for just a little while longer.

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"Orochimaru," said man looked up as he sat in his throne-like chair, his past memories being thrown from his head when he heard the others voice. "It's been a long time," he did not answer the white-haired Sannin in front of him, only watched the man with his golden eyes as Jiraiya took a step toward him.

There were so many unspoken things between them, so many things that, after that evening when Jiraiya had left his home all those decades ago, had never been brought back up. They had barely been able to look at each other after that day, but nobody had ever noticed. Nobody but the two of them had ever noticed how they began to act before Orochimaru left the village.

"You still don't talk much, do you?" It was meant as a way to open up the past, to let the healing begin between them. Because no matter what, Jiraiya still wanted Orochimaru to come back to the village. "Tsunade doesn't talk a lot anymore, out of the three of us... I'm the only one that still does..." It hurt Jiraiya's heart to say the words, because he knew that when he said them aloud and to the man that meant so much to him that he wanted Orochimaru to shut him up. He wanted the snake man to shut him up like he had done all those years ago in that alleyway.

Orochimaru regarded his former squad-mate for a moment before he stood up from his chair gracefully and walked over to the white-haired man, who was only a little younger than himself. "I did it because you never shut up," it was the answer that Jiraiya had been waiting decades for, but it was not the answer that he had been hoping for. "...Orochimaru..." All he could utter was the man's name.

"Why did you come here?" Jiraiya hadn't thought that Orochimaru would ask him something like that, but he wasn't all that surprised. "I came to see you," he told the man that stood a mere three feet away from him. Orochimaru was silent, something that Jiraiya was used to. It didn't irritate him nearly as much as it had when they were young. "Orochimaru, what happened between us..."

"We never talked about it for a reason, I had hoped that it would not be brought up in my lifetime," it was a lie, but Jiraiya couldn't tell. Orochimaru was lying through his teeth about this entire thing just because he couldn't stand to see Jiraiya here in front of him. He couldn't stand it because it reminded him of how he had let him just walk out of his home all those years ago. He had thrown away his only chance at happiness because he simply did not reach out and stop Jiraiya when he had the chance.

"Orochimaru... We never talked about it because you never seemed to care." Jiraiya took a step forward, wanting to be closer to his former comrade. The dark-haired man said nothing. Wasn't it obvious that he cared though? He had kissed Jiraiya back, so why hadn't Jiraiya understood how he felt?

And then suddenly, because Orochimaru intentionally let it happen, Jiraiya was kissing him. It wasn't the same as it had been that evening when they had been boys, but it was still the same person, and he knew the lips that were on his. The kiss was soft and chaste and after a moment Orochimaru kissed him back, letting his eyes close just like they had done that day.

When the kiss broke and Orochimaru opened his eyes he was nearly horrified to see the same look of genuine surprise on Jiraiya's face. "I-I'm sorry..." It was like everything was happening all over again, except this time they were older, they should know better. Jiraiya took a step away from him before he turned around and began to slowly walk from the chamber.

Orochimaru just watched as his mind screamed out at him to go stop the man. This was his second chance, and he knew very well that there was most likely not going to be a third one if he let Jiraiya get away again. But he couldn't move from where he stood; he was just too lost. All he wanted; all he longed for was the man that was leaving him for the second time, but for some reason he could do nothing about it.

"You cannot just kiss me and then not explain yourself!" The words echoed in his mind and he knew that what Jiraiya had said that day was true. And now the man was walking away from him for the second time without explaining himself even after he finally had explained his own motives. It was those words that kicked him into action and half a second later he was right in front of Jiraiya.

"Don't go," Jiraiya's eyes widened slightly at the whispered words before he quickly leaned down and kissed Orochimaru again. When the kiss broke they stared at one another for a moment. "Why do you do this?" He needed to know just why Jiraiya had come; just why Jiraiya was putting him through everything that he desperately wanted to forget.

The Toad Sage smiled softly. "I love you, Orochimaru..." It was the first time that Orochimaru had ever heard those words in his life, and hearing them from Jiraiya meant so much. But he didn't answer; he didn't tell the writer that he loved him as well. Orochimaru only kissed the man, hoping that Jiraiya would understand that he couldn't utter those words to him, at least not yet.

Not until he was sure that everything was going to work out okay. Not until he was sure that his past was long forgotten.

Owari

A/N: Yeah, I know...quite different, but hey, I like it. Kinda makes me smile everytime I read it cause it makes me think that there is just a little good in Orochimaru, he just needs to find the person that means everything to him to bring out that good. So maybe one day I'll write something that's kinda sequelish to this...god, I'm already picturing it now... Heh, well maybe this will turn into one of my regular couples... Who knows? Anyway, I hope that you liked it, and I hope that you review. Thank you.

SandXDemonX13

TTYFTDS