Pieces of the Past
Orochimaru held the snake up into the sunlight. It had white skin, almost transparent. Its eyes shone green and a small pink tongue flicked out and in repeatedly. Its long tail wrapped around his arm for balance. Orochimaru began to hum.
'Hi, snake!' he chirped cheerily, 'I like you. Do you want to be my friend?' The snake's head bobbed up and down. 'Okey-dokey! I'm glad you're my friend. No one else wants to play with me. They think I'm a freak.'
Orochimaru brushed away a strand of black hair from his sickly white face. Gently he placed the snake upon a sun-warmed rock. The snake coiled up and began to shake its head to an unheard rhythm.
'I like this game!' Orochimaru began to hum and tap along. The sun glistened on a pool of water. Do you want to see what you look like?' he asked the snake.
Carefully he picked up the snake and carried it to the puddle. Together they gazed into the pool of water. In the reflection was a grown Orochimaru with long black hair and staring green eyes. The snake was there, too. It was lying on his shoulders; its eyes closed to blend in with the white cloak Orochimaru was wearing.
A gasp emitted from his mouth. Orochimaru stepped back in fear. 'That man looked like me! That snake looked like you!' Abruptly he sat down on the hard ground.
'But that couldn't have been me. That man didn't like himself. You could tell. I like myself. And I like you, snake.' The snake slithered onto his lap. It coiled on his legs and fell asleep.
'I'll keep care of you, snake. As long as you are my friend, I won't feel bad' Absentmindedly he stroked the scales on the snake's back. 'We'll be friends forever.'
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Orochimaru sat up sharply. Sweat trickled down his forehead. He looked to his side. On the rock beside him lay the snake, coiled as it had been found years before. Gently Orochimaru lowered himself into the grass. He had tried hard to keep that memory buried away inside him. Was he becoming weak? Was it a momentary lapse in his mind? Or did he just want to become that boy again?
Orochimaru shook his head. 'That memory will never rise again. My past is gone. There is only my future.' An hour later he was fast asleep.
Slowly the snake raised its head. It blinked its eyes once, twice, thrice. 'I kept my promise. I remained your friend. Now fulfill yours.' Gently it slithered into a crook in Orochimaru's cloak. 'Perhaps tomorrow you will.'