A/N: This story is kind of a side story from my other fan fiction "The thin line between love and hate", which is by the way, is a SasuHina. Is related to one of the OC's called Seijuro Saito; an old samurai that is part of Hinata's ANBU team. So if you ever feel lost in any part of this THREE-part story…feel free to ask. I know that most who is reading my other story will understand most of it. I think…
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or either of their characters. Maybe mostly of Saito and Lain…although their names were inspired by other anime series (Rurouni Kenshin & Serial Experiments Lain).
Lain & Orochimaru's story
Chapter one of three
A tall figure is walking through the forest that composes the training grounds of the well-known Hidden Leaf Village. As the person approaches the gates, he is welcome by the guards that are on their task to check up on the visitors. Reaching on the door, the ninjas ask for the casual things.
"Welcome to Konoha, your name and purpose on the village please?"
Chuckling, the tall man looks at the guard. "My name is Saito, and I wish to meet with the Hokage…"
Tsunade and Jiraya are heading to the Hokage's office. Is been a while since they saw Sarutobi and chat a little. Is been quite difficult since he turned into Hokage, and even less when they and Orochimaru were called the Legendary Sannin.
Opening the door without knocking, they saw that the Hokage had guests on the office as well. "Oh, sorry for the interruption Hokage-sama." Bows with respect the blonde woman.
"Don't be foolish Tsunade. You and Jiraya are welcome to this office and you know that. Please come in." with that order they pass in, but Tsunade looks at the guests and her eyes glued to him. He was tall and skinny; but he had long hair tied on a ponytail and his icy eyes were screaming 'I'm dark and lonely'.
And seeing that he wasn't paying attention at her at all made him more special. Since she developed into the woman that she is now, almost every male of the village looked at her with pervert eyes. But at the same time were scared by her developed strength. Men…
"Oh, and meet Seijuro Saito. He is the last of his specialty and is staying for a while in the village. Please make him welcome until he decides to leave, although I hope to have him live here instead." Announces the old man with a smile, Jiraya looked at the man; he didn't look special at all.
"I'll be retiring Hokage-sama. And thanks for receiving Me." with that he bows and leaves, and in that moment both Sannin noticed the katana that he had. After the door closes, Tsunade was the first to talk. "Sarutobi, is he a samurai?" asks the blonde while Jiraya opens his eyes wide when the old man nods without problem. "But this is a ninja village. Why he is interested on staying here? And since when samurais are around? I though that with the Great War they were a;; killed."
"Actually, it seems that he is the last one. And I'm glad to have someone as strong as him here." Comments the Hokage while turns on his cigarette. "And besides, Saito seems to be a nice man. Don't let his past lifestyle being a bother Jiraya."
Jiraya: "You're worried about me? Wait to see what Orochimaru would do when he meets him..."
The snake nin was sitting on a cafeteria in the middle of the town. He just ordered a simple cup of tea and a couple of rice balls. He is sipping little by little the now warm liquid, and in that moment Saito made it to the place, sitting on the next table he notices the pale man. It was one of the places that the Hokage recommended to him to see the life of the village, so it was worth to try.
Being such an experimented man he could analyze the people around by simple actions. By the way that Orochimaru's chair was turned, his short glances at the clock and they slow way that he was sipping the tea like it was hot (he could tell that it was already cold at least). "Excuse me Sir."
Then Orochimaru turned to his side to see a person that he hadn't seen before. And by the way that he addressed to him it was obvious that he doesn't know who he was. Everyone on the village addresses him with high respect as the strongest of the Sannin. Although he never bragged about it, Jiraya challenging him all the time and being the first of the three to have an animal summon…were proof enough to have that theory.
So yes, this man was new to the village.
"What is it?" asks the pale ninja, he was quite impressed that the man next to him didn't show any emotion. Like he was made of stone, "Pardon me, but this is my first time in this place and I don't know what to order. Can you recommend something from here?"
Raising an eyebrow, Orochimaru felt a little amused by this. "Actually I'm the worst that can tell you. I always order the same thing--"
"And what you usually order?"
"Rice balls and tea."
"Nice selection, I'll do the same. Thanks." And with that Saito made his order as soon as the waitress approached him. The snake nin though of the man as a weird one, but for some reason he seemed nice. So it didn't bother him when Saito sat next to him and eat rice balls with tea in silence.
Tsunade was wrong when she said that with his attitude and silence can't make more friends than them. He can consider Seijuro Saito a friend as well
Two weeks had passed and both men met at the same place at the same time. No matter what task Orochimaru had in the morning, he was always in time on the same place. The waitress almost automatically served the same plates to them, while they have short conversations sometimes.
They know little about one another, but surely were a lot better than Jiraya and Tsunade. Both are silent and quite tough when it comes to training. The snake ninja took some sparring session with Saito, and he proved to be the best of the best.
But today, Saito had to make the wrong question…
"Did you really know her name?"
In that moment; the calm quiet and collected Orochimaru almost choke on his tea; spilling all over his clothes. Then after recovering from the shock, he looked back at the samurai. "What kind of joke is that? What are you talking about?"
"Orochimaru, you really want me to list the statements?" asks back the dark haired man, his evil smirk contrasting perfectly with his deadly eyes. The snake ninja crossed his arms full of confidence, like it was completely impossible.
"You always comes at this very place at the same time everyday, and not everyone passes by through this area. Your chair is positioned so you don't have to be obvious that you are looking at someone. You order the same thing because you don't want to complicate yourself and have something that can distract you to watch the road. And after SHE passes by, is when you talk back to me or say that you are tired and leave. AND," with this he makes a pause, like creating excitement, "you SMILE when she passes."
In that moment Orochimaru looked at the samurai and looked down. There wasn't anything that he could say by that. Damn the samurai is too good to find out. Jiraya, Tsunade and Sarutobi saw this as one of his many habits and let it down.
"And here she is," says the samurai, making the snake nin to look at the road. And there she was, walking timidly through the crowd. If you don't look well, you can miss her since she wasn't the kind that stands out at all. Her timid steps, her tight hold on whatever was in hands: books, her hand bag…
She had short slim body; it was hard to tell if she had curves since her long dark brown dress covered it all. But the color contrasted nicely with her pale skin, almost like Orochimaru's. she can fool you with her baby face since it was perfectly like porcelain and her big brown eyes made her look more like a stranded puppy. All this matched in the end with her very short brown hair…and a very small ponytail on her left side. When she finally was long gone, the snake nin turned to the samurai.
"So…are you still going to deny it?"
Orochimaru was so mad since Saito seemed to be joking about it that paid the bill and left, making the samurai to follow him immediately. After being pretty far away from everyone, he finally spoke.
"Orochimaru, is nothing wrong to have crush." With that the snake ninja stopped in his tracks. Turning slowly to the other man, he looked at him quite angered. "And who told you that it was a crush?"
"Then tell me her name."
"I don't know…"
"So you just sit there everyday looking at her steps like a psycho and don't ever talked to her?"
"You don't understand Saito," replies sincerely Orochimaru, "you don't have any idea of what the only though of doing that makes me."
Thinking of what he can do to help with his only friend in this village, he smirks back at him. "That's good to know, because I think that she is really pretty." With that the snake ninja looked back at him with threatening eyes.
'Okay Saito, one push and it will lead him…'
"She is not hard to find either so I can catch her and ask her name--"
He didn't say anything else because the snake nin caught him by his collar, and being like five inches smaller than Saito didn't stopped him to do it. "You won't do such thing, UNDERSTOOD?"
"So, you'll ask her?"
With that he let the man go; something like this would take Jiraya like an eternity to find out. "Fine…"
"Fine what? You'll talk to her or ask her out?"
"Saito…one thing on a time." Says Orochimaru before leaving, Saito just watched the prodigy ninja leave. Actually, it was the very first time that he had done something good to someone that is not ending with their lives. Maybe having a friend is not as annoying as he though it would be…
The next day, Orochimaru expected to be alone to do this. But no…Saito was there on his favorite table and even ordered a large glass of iced tea. Although most of his ninja comrades would think of him as someone full of confidence and self-esteem, is completely the contrary. And the Third is pretty aware of his so well covered shyness. And of the ways to cover it was to say whatever he thinks at the moment without thinking twice. That's why he said mostly so mean comments, which sadly made girls think that is cool coming from him.
Sighting loudly, the snake ninja sat there replaying on his mind of what he'll do for this. He stood up all night thinking of what he can do to at least get a short three word sentence with the young woman. He wanted to know ANYTHING…even if she was already taken, just to have something to share, something to say…
And he thanked KAMI eternally for what happened next…
There she was, walking clumsily through the busy streets with two grocery bags. It seemed that she needed a lot of stuff because they were filled up to the top. Orochimaru stood there, seeing her with her dilemma. It was a perfect way to make an approach, but how?
Then it was solved when she tripped down and fell along with her bags.
She kneeled a little hurt by the fall; she didn't to look at her knees to know that they must have been bruised. But she gasped when in front of her she saw a strong, pale hand. Looking up she met with a pair of yellow eyes and a frown form his eyebrows. "Are you okay?"
She woke up from her sudden daze and instead of answering she looked down for her groceries, only to see the same gentleman starting to pick them up and placing them back on their bags. Then she remembered that he asked if she was okay, and gasped by her rudeness. "I'm okay!"
Orochimaru looked back at her, although she seemed to scream, it was so soft and delicate that it was lovely to hear. It would be funny to see her being mad and yell with that sweet tone…
"Sorry for my rudeness! It was the shock of the fall and--"
"Don't need to apologize, but are you hurt?" with that she looked at his back while he was finishing to pick up the rest of the stuff. People hadn't stopped moving along, so it took him some time to gather everything. People in this village can be so senseless sometimes…
"No but thanks for your concern…Sir."
"No problem," says the snake ninja while he stands up with her two bags. "Just tell me where you live to drop this and its done."
With that she looked at him with wide eyes, like he had asked her to strip down right now. "Is not necessary Sir--"
"I can bet that if you try to walk again with this you'll fall again. And right now you're so red like you lack of air." He didn't wanted to be rude, even less scare her. But he didn't want to loose the contact that he was having right now. At this close he felt like looking to a lost princess from a far away kingdom.
"Okay, thanks a lot Mister--"
"Just call me Orochimaru." And with that both walked side by side in silence. He was carrying the bags and looking with the corner of the eye to the young woman beside him. She was pressing her purse like wanting to rip it, it must be due to her extreme shyness.
"A ninja like shouldn't be so nervous." Said the snake nin without thinking, and his inner self was hitting him for being stupid.
"I'm not a ninja," replies the girl looking down, "I'm a civilian."
"Then don't worry, I'm a ninja. I can protect you then." When he realized of what he said, he bite his own tongue. Why he was suddenly flirting with her like that?! Then he turned to look at her when he heard a giggle. "I bet that is something natural, right? Protecting people…even if you don't know them…"
"Yes, I guess so."
"Is worth it?" asks suddenly the fragile woman, but in her eyes she regretted for being so advance to someone who she just met. But she always wanted to ask that to a true ninja, but she had been too shy to dare to do it. Orochimaru was a little surprised by her question, but he licked it because no one ever asked him that, and it is an important question.
"I believe that as long as you feel the need to do it, is worth until the end."
Her eyes opened by his answer, and a new gleam came from them. They continued in silence until they reached to the door of what it seems to be a very small simple apartment. By how it looked from the outside it can tell that she lived on her own. Passing her the grocery bags, she bowed a little at him as gratitude.
"You should try to not buy everything at once next time." He said with sarcasm, it can't be helped.
"Thanks a lot Orochi…Orochi…"
"Is Orochimaru…"
"True, sorry…"
"Don't worry; you are not the one who gave it to me."
With that he turned on his heels and walked away, but when he was meters away from her place, he heard footsteps behind him. Turning around he saw her walking towards him, her short steps and her hair blown by the wind made her look perfect in his eyes. And that's the only thing that matters.
"My name is Lain, Ayashi Lain."
With that he let out a simple smirk. "Hope to see you around again sometime…Lain-dono." And he finally left, leaving her speechless and putting a hand on her chest. "He is…I can't tell…"
After lie two hours waiting since they left, Saito was now on a tree close to where the snake nin lives. When he suddenly looked down to see that the person himself was walking with a calm pace and looking like a little spaced out.
"It was that good then?"
Orochimaru looked up to see the samurai getting down from the tree. And it was obvious that is not a ninja, he had difficulty to get down at all.
"I don't have to tell you about my personal life."
"Personal life that you just experienced because I pushed YOU to do it."
Then the snake ninja walked to his door and was about to slam it on Saito's face when he looked back at him.
"Her name is Lain, Ayashi Lain."
A/N: Many people see Orochimaru like a pedophile, perverted homosexual and with all those 'evil' things that you can imagine. I 'm not justifying him, even Itachi's reason to kill the clan doesn't convince me at all either. Criticism is always welcome, and I'm not going into extreme character, or out of character. That's because Kishimoto hadn't showed enough of him to know how he really was. And I don't count the flashbacks from Jiraya and Tsunade, those were in war times.
But like the summary said…what if it was love that drove him into darkness?
I'm not addicted to reviews, but is always to know what you think. Rating may go up by the end of the third part.