Yes, I am alive, and I am very sorry that I have not updated the stories that I have already started to write. I have not excuse except for my laziness and the fact that I have simply no ideas for them yet. I think I've just fallen out of the fandoms. Again, I apologize, but I hope you enjoy thing.

Orochimaru had never been a normal person. You could understand this much by simply looking at the boy. His skin was pasty white, in an almost sickening way, as though he was a walking corpse. His eyes where a week shade of green mixed in with yellow, that seamed to almost glow, and his pupils were long slits, resembling those of a snake. Around his eyes where odd purple markings, that made tem stand out even more. His hair was straight, black and back-length, making him look slightly feminine. Also, the robes he wore seemed to be the type a women would normally wear, rather than a male. Also, his personality had always been different from everyone around him. He had never been the most talkative of people, and only ever seemed to speak when he was spoken to. This was mostly due to the fact that he simply had no idea what to say to people. He was used to being alone most of his life, and being around people often made him a little bit anxious. This was why he often tried to distance himself from people, stay be himself. And this was also why he felt so out of place in the crowded train station.

It was the only available transport the location of their new mission, though why they couldn't just travel there on foot was beyond him. Their mission; to protect a school that is believed could possibly be or become in grave danger… for 10 months. Orochimaru wasn't really all that bothered about the amount of time, as he didn't have anyone he would miss anyway, what really bothered him was the fact that he would have to spend it with so many people around. He liked his space, and he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that it was a luxury that he would not be able to access with his teammates around.

"Hey, Tsunade, where are we meant to be?" Jiraiya asked the only female on their team. Jiraiya was always very loud and obnoxious, a vast difference to Orochimaru, which often lead to difficulties between them. Actually, that counted for all three of them.

"Like I said five minutes ago, you idiot, I'm not sure yet!" the blond girl snapped at her white haired friend, as she continued to try and work out what was written on their train tickets. She was the most book smart out of the three, and had a viscous temper along with surprising powerful upper body strength to go with it, despite her being a girl.

"Let me see them!" Jiraiya demanded, trying to snatch them from his friend's hand. "Come on, I might be able to understand it!"

Tsunade held them high above her head. "Are you kidding me? If I can't make anything out of this thing, then how do you think you will!"

Their sensei, Saratobi, had placed a Translation Jutsu on them before they had departed from their village. It made it so that they could understand and speak any langue that they might come across. However, there was one major fault in this Jutsu. It didn't work with writing. They had figured out that much when they had arrived in this busy city, as they couldn't fallow any of the signs and had to constantly ask strangers for directions. They got some very odd look from people, and most of the time where actually ignored by the people they did ask, but eventually they did get to the station with some time to spare.

"Come on! Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!" Jiraiya ordered, all but climbing on top of Tsunade to try and reach the tickets, but it was all in vain as she was talker then him and kept on whacking him over the head so that he couldn't reach any higher.

"Get of me, you stupid little troll!" she shouted at him, drawing even more attention to the odd séance then Jiraiya had already accomplished.

Orochimaru let out an almost silent sigh through his nose, raising one eyebrow slightly at the all too familiar sight for him. This always happened. Jiraiya and Tsunade would fight like cats and dogs despite the fact the Jiraiya often tried to get her to go on dates with him, Jiraiya would always talk to him, get into his personal space, making him feel very uncomfortable without even realising it, and he and Tsunade never seemed to hit it of at all, simply keeping their distance from each other. If truth were told he secretly felt that she was afraid of him, though she wouldn't be the first person of course. How on earth they ever actually got any of their mission completed would be beyond him.

"Ah ha, ha ha, ha ha!" Jiraiya laughed proudly to himself and at Tsunade, as he finally manage to snatch the tickets from her and move away before she had time to get them back. "Okay, lets take a look at this…" he squinted his eyes slightly as he scanned over one of the tickets. "Oh… look, look here, it's to a number! Thank goodness those are the same in every language," he grinned happily, before sticking out his tongue at Tsunade. "I can't believe you didn't spot that!"

"Oh, shut you pie hole!" she yelled at him, her cheeks flushing a light shade of pink in embarrassment. "What number is it anyway?"

"Six," he answered, before looking at it again, closer this time. "But…"

"But what?"

"Well… it's got this weird thing in front of it. It looks like a fraction, with a one at the bottom, but I've never seen the top number before," he said, a confused look on his face as he scratched the back of his head with his free hand. Tsunade raided one eyebrow in confusion. Orochimaru understood. He silently reached out, plucked the ticket from Jiraiya's hand before turning it right side up and handing him it back. The white haired boys face lit up with sudden realisation. "Oh! I get it now! It's nine and three quarters."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "How stupid can you get!"

"Hey, at least I saw the numbers!" he argued back, before turning to the other boy and smiling. "Thanks Orochi."

'Orochi' had become Orochimaru's unofficial nickname created by Jiraiya after the first few D ranked missions they had together, and it seemed to have stuck with him, and to be honest, Orochimaru never became fond of it, no matter how many times he heard it.

"So, where's that?" Tsunade asked, to no one in particular, looking up and down the row of platforms they stood on.

Seeing as Jiraiya didn't answer, Orochimaru decided to give it a try. "Well… I would guess that it would be somewhere between the tenth and ninth platforms, right?"

"Yeah, that sound's right," agreed Jiraiya. He then started to quickly walk down to the ninth platform, before calling back "Well, come on then!"

Orochimaru and Tsunade quickly followed their hyper teammate, only to be stood in-between two platforms that had noting between them.

"There's… nothing here…" pointed out Jiraiya, sounding amazed, and he looked up and down the platforms once more, trying to check if they had missed something.

"Way to go, Captain Obvious!" Tsunade snapped, though she too was looking around just like Jiraiya, trying to figure out what to do.

Orochimaru was doing the same, but instead of his two teammates, he was actually looking in the right direction. He noticed a fairly large group of oddly dress people, all in black robes, carrying large trunks with them. He raised an eyebrow. He knew for a fact that the school that they had to protect was supposedly a school that taught children magic. Now, Orochimaru didn't believe in such things, but he was interested at the fact that it might be a different way to use chakra to create new Justus, or 'spells' to these people. If he had to picture what a wizard would look like, then these people came pretty close to the description. As he continued to watch them, he noticed that they where starting to form a small queue, though to what he had no idea. He also noticed that none else seamed to notice this. Suddenly, one of them, a girl with long, blond, wavy hair, dashed forward with her trunk… straight for a wall. He was bout to shout out for her to stop, thinking that she would just crash straight into the brick wall, but instead, to his surprise, she seamed to walk straight into it. Literally into it, faysing through it, but she did not come out the other end. Orochimaru blinked in confusion. Was it some sort on Genjustu? An illusion? After a few more children followed suit to the first girl, the same thing happened, and the older members of the group, most likely their parents, left, there was only one reasonable explanation.

He immediately walked over towards where the group of oddly dressed people had stood only a few minutes ago, Jiraiya and Tsunade following him, wondering what on earth he was going and doing. When he suddenly stopped and turned to face the wall, this made the other two rather curious and confused.

"Hey, Orochi? What are you - " Jiraiya didn't have time to finish his question as the other boy had suddenly started to run full speed towards the wall, making Jiraiya and Tsunade stare in shock.

'What the heck is he doing?' Tsunade screamed inside her head.

'I knew it… he's finally snapped…' Jiraiya thought, as he was just about to yell at him to stop, hopefully in time before he had a broken nose because of the thick bricks. However, before he could, Orochimaru had disappeared. Disappeared into the wall, leaving his two teammates surprised, confused and alone.

Orochimaru had half expected to actually hit the wall, despite seeing quite a few people go through before him, but he remained unharmed as he shut his eyes tightly before the last couple of steps to the wall. Continuing to run, he quickly realised that he hadn't smacked into something, so he quickly opened his eyes and slowed down, coming to a complete stop. He was amazed to find that he was now stood on a different platform. It was filled with people who where also dressed strangely, all in long robes, and some even with oddly shaped hates that didn't really look very practical to him. There where many children, most either with friends or family, and they where all slowly starting to board the train that was waiting on the rails. He could only guess that this was the train the three of them would have to board also, as many children where doing so, showing that it was probably to a school, and that it was the only train on the station. Suddenly, he felt someone collide into his back, hard, causing him to topple slightly, but managed to hold himself up. Twisting around, he found Jiraiya stood behind him, looking rather sheepish, as he obviously had not stopped running in time. Tsunade suddenly appeared behind Jiraiya, having just bumbled into the white haired boy. The three of them took a few second to stare at the ancient looking train, and the bizarrely dressed people before Tsunade spoke up.

"Come on, let's go on before threes no more room left," she told them, before running off to an open door on the train.

Seeing as none of them where carrying any heavy luggage, bust a backpack each, they didn't have much trouble with getting thought the door. Finding an empty compartment however, was another thing. Every compartment they passed as they walked down the long corridor was full with kids and had no left over space for them. Orochimaru also noticed something else. The looks he was getting. He had often gotten these looks back at home and on missions as well, but they seemed to be lot more often here. They where all different types as well. Some where in anger, some where in shock and some where in confusion. But the once he saw more of where fear. Orochimaru knew that he didn't look very normal, especially not compared to everyone else, and although he tried to be proud about the way e looked, he was actually very self-conscious about it, especially when people treat him differently because of it. If there was one thing he was thankful for, it was his long black hair, as he could use it as a small curtain, hiding half if his face, and if he ducked his head slightly, it made a vial of shadow across the other. He was also thankful that his teammates did not see this, as he didn't want to have to explain himself to them.

"Here we go!" Tsunade declared happily, as she pulled open a door to an empty compartment. They all plopped down tiredly on the seats, Orochimaru and Jiraiya on one side and Tsunade on the other, Orochimaru and Tsunade being next to the window.

"I am exhausted," Jiraiya said, yawning loudly, as he rested his feet up on the opposite seat, next to Tsunade, who rolled her eyes at him as she reached into her backpack and got out and read a book she had brought with her.

Orochimaru simply reached his forehead against the glass, wishing that he could simply disappear for the next ten months.

I hope you liked, and if you have any ideas for this, then please tell me ^^

Also, I realise that Orochimaru might be a bit OCC, but please understand that this is before he became evil, and just go with it, please ^^;