A/n: this is a request from KimiTayu; and I don't really write Naruto anymore, but hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto…I just write fics…and dream. :D
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"Do you fear?"
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The little boy, with huge green eyes and marks on his forehead, stared up anxiously at the unfamiliar objects surrounding him. There was only one person he knew, and it was Orochimaru-sama, but Orochimaru-sama wasn't paying much attention to him just now, and was in the midst of getting them all 'acquainted' with one another. He was evidently the only stranger in the strange, strange crowd, because everyone else was chattering and bickering to each other while Orochimaru looked on with what was evidently supposed to be a fatherly smile.
That's right…Kimimaro thought with a small smile…He's my father now…isn't he?
"Out of the way, kid," a voice snapped behind him, and, shocked but the rudeness he heard in the tone, Kimimaro turned and saw a girl—with her head on fire, and eyes so black that he wasn't sure if there were pupils in them. He could only stare, too, because the girl's face wore an expression of aggressiveness and a snappy sort of confidence, even though it was marred by scratches and bruises, and then he found his cheeks growing hot (no one could tell, though, because he was so pale) because she was also very, very pretty.
He kept staring, and the girl stared back, and then he took a step back, even though he was taller than her. "Aren't you afraid?"
"Afraid of what?" she snapped back, her eyes almost smoking with defiance.
"Fear…" Kimimaro trailed off, coughed slightly, and picked up his thought on where he'd left off, "Fear is a good thing, right? It keeps people under control…banishes thought of rebellion…without fear, society would be in chaos, and people would get hurt and killed…right?" His voice had taken on a pensive tone, but the girl only stared at him like he was crazy. She stared at him for so long without blinking that he was sure she'd frozen, and then he worked up the courage to ask her name.
"Tayuya, of course," she replied, still without blinking, "Orochimaru-sama hasn't mentioned me?"
"N-no…"
"So who are you and what business do you have with him?" Tayuya snapped at him, looking envious as the great shinobi himself strode over with a cheerful smile and put his hand on Kimimaro's head in a very paternal way. When he had gone, Kimimaro took this to his advantage and replied proudly, "I'm Kimimaro, and Orochimaru-sama said that he'll take care of me forever!"
Tayuya glared at him and stalked off.
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The next time they met was almost five years later. This time Tayuya found him, in a room, all by himself, and there were…tubes, of all sorts, attached to him, and his eyes were closed.
"Oi," she stated simply, wandering over to his bed.
"Orochimaru-sama…"
"…doesn't care," she finished fiercely, "Don't you see? He never cared! Otherwise, why would you be here, like this, all by yourself? Where's your beloved Orochimaru-sama? He vanished along with your childhood, you idiot!"
Tayuya suddenly stopped herself in the middle of her outburst—for one thing, Orochimaru-sama might hear her, and secondly, she hadn't the faintest clue where the words had come from either. She looked down at his face, although it was half-obscured by some kind of mask. It was a mistake. Tears were streaming from the corners of his closed eyes—whatever happened to them, she wondered. The last time she'd seen eyes so green, they were huge and innocent—what happened now? Her eyes wandered down his arm.
"Tayuya, are you afraid?"
"…Maybe," she conceded, because tomorrow she was off on a dangerous mission, to retrieve some Uchiha kid who was going to take Kimimaro's place. Quite suddenly she realized that she didn't really want Kimimaro to be replaced, even though he was dying already.
"Don't worry," Kimimaro managed, smiling a strange smile that Tayuya couldn't see because of the mask, "I'll cover your blind spot."
"You—what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're going to die, you know that, right?"
"Y-yeah…"
"Then what do you mean…?"
"Don't be afraid…when you're in danger, I'll help you out."
So he knows, Tayuya thought, he knows he'll be replaced…he knows that I'll be leaving tomorrow. "How would you?"
"Because, Orochimaru-sama said you'd do the same for me," he replied, sitting up and letting most of the strange tubes fall to the ground. The machine began beeping. He ignored it, because he wasn't really feeling too sick at the moment. "He said we're all one family now, and families protect each other, right?"
"Well…" Tayuya squirmed uncomfortably under his scrutinizing gaze. Orochimaru-sama said this?
She paused for a long moment.
"I think so."
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A/n: so umm…drabble oneshot thing. Yeah…so. Hope you liked?