I think we can all agree that it's been a while since I posted a drabble. Sorry about that, but as I said I do post on my Ao3 a lot more than I do here. Anyway, sixth drabble! Orochimaru might seem a little OOC (out-of-character) in the beginning because he's hopped up on pain meds and still has a sedative running through his system as well.
Ever since he was young, he would experience 'ghost pains' or 'ghost wounds' at no specific time nor specific day. Some would say that he was imagining it, or that it wasn't important, whereas others would simply say 'If you weren't hurt by someone, it's your soulmate that got hurt.'
Indefinitely, the ghost wounds were his least favorite because of how often he would find himself in need of bandages or on the off occasion going to the hospital. Kakashi massaged his shoulder therapeutically, something he picked up off his dad when he was younger, and looked up at Minato-sensei again. "Sorry, say that again?" he said in embarrassment, aware of how many times he'd requested his sensei to repeat his sentence. Minato sighed again as he studied his student, aware of the fact that Kakashi's soulmate had to be as high ranking as the teen was at the very least.
"Have you found anything to point you in the direction of your soulmate?" he asked for nearly the twentieth time and finally the silver-haired Jounin seemed to catch it fully.
"Not yet…" Kakashi confessed ignoring the worry radiating off Rin and annoyance from Obito. The blond man in front of him shook his head slowly with a deep breath, rubbing his forehead as if to relieve himself of a headache.
"I have an inkling to your soulmate's rank, Kakashi, but this means your soulmate is older than you."
Kakashi looked at his sensei – the Fourth Hokage – in annoyance, rolling his eyes before snorting. "Sensei, I'm nearly eighteen, age hardly ma-!" the silver-haired teen broke off with a strangled cry, holding his stomach in agony as he lurched forward.
"Kakashi!" Rin cried, getting up and rushing to his side in horror as Obito and Minato started in fear. With trembling hands, the Hatake forced himself to let his stomach go in order for Rin to take a look at the damage. Blood was smeared across his hands and forearms, making utter worry pulse through him.
"Alert the hospital!" he managed to snap, his eyes wild in horror as he looked up at his teammates. "They're hurt- BAD. They were in rough shape before this; they're too weak to wait for the hospital to prep up while they're there! GO!" he yelled and Minato grabbed a hold of Kakashi before using a shunshin to get them to the hospital, trying to support the younger as he flagged down a nurse frantically.
"Tend to him quickly! And prepare for another with the same wounds, don't ask just do it!" the Hokage ordered and quickly Kakashi was taken away to be tended to.
Swallowing nervously, but aware that Tsunade was currently on her hours, he turned around and ran from the hospital because if Kakashi's soulmate was as bad as he had said, then it would take Minato's speed to save them. Kakashi, at the moment was trying to muffle screams of agony as the nurses and doctors scrambled to do something about the pain and appearing wounds. Black eyes watering with tears, the young adult could feel his consciousness slipping from him, his body convulsing with the waves and waves of new pain. "GIVE HIM THE STRONGEST WE'VE GOT, WE'LL LOSE HIM IF WE DON'T STOP HIS THRASHING!" a doctor finally shouted and a nurse scrambled over to quickly inject him with what was most likely a sedative and painkiller in one. Vision going fuzzy quickly, the silver-haired Jounin quickly allowed the wave of darkness to take him and make the pain vanish.
Some hours later, Kakashi slowly woke to the room being frighteningly quiet, save for the beep of heart monitors. Forcing himself up, he looked around the room and caught sight of another person in the bed next to his. Unable to distinguish features in the dark room, he slid out of bed and walked closer to get a better look. Gaze slipping quickly over the form of the other, Kakashi stared at Orochimaru in fascination and surprise. Never had he run into the Sannin outside of a battle patrol, so he'd never been able to see all the small details. Like the silky cleanliness to the long waterfall of black hair, or the dramatic sweeps of purple over his eyes. On the battlefield, he knew the snake was someone to fear and Kakashi had, especially since this man had Minato-sensei's immediate call for many of the S-ranked missions brought to the Leaf. Not to even bring up Tsunade often mentioned that out of the three of the Sannin, Orochimaru was by far the best in fighting and not someone anyone would want to fight. But now, laying asleep with calmness over his expression and without anything really blocking his face from view, Orochimaru hardly seemed frightening at all.
"You should be focused on sleeping and recovering, child, not staring at me as I sleep." The pale ninja suddenly said and Kakashi jumped in surprise, his heart monitor showing the brief increase in his heart rate before it went back to normal. Golden eyes opened slowly and the Sannin turned his head towards the silver-haired Jounin, his eyes glazed from sedatives and pain relievers. The younger chuckled faintly before going back to his bed, settling down but still watching the older in faint awe. As if feeling his gaze, Orochimaru sighed and seemingly gave up trying to go back to sleep for the moment. "You want to say something so do."
Slightly startled by the sharpness of the other's ability to read people, the black-eyed teen rubbed the back of his head briefly. "What happened to you?" he asked finally and the Sannin turned his gaze up to the ceiling, staring at it in silence before sighing.
"I was ambushed, their intent was to maim me or – preferably for them – kill me. Thanks to your sensei, neither happened." He replied smoothly, his hand briefly drifting upwards to brush against the gauze wrapped around his neck. Kakashi instantly became highly aware of the bandages around his own neck, as well as the ones completely covering his torso underneath his shirt. "When Minato got me here, I saw them tending to you wounds. I apologize for being careless enough to harm you through my missions." The young Jounin sat silently, having already deduced their connection as they were in the same room together with the exact same bandages. "Especially the wounds that were inflicted by my own hand, those must have caused you quite the amount of trouble."
At the sudden addition, Kakashi looked at Orochimaru to see utter defeat in the snake's eyes. "…And I the same." He said, a false smile was flashed though he knew the other wouldn't be able to see it because of his mask. "If you need time from missions, Minato-sensei would hardly deny you the leave."
A heavy sigh left pale lips before Orochimaru suddenly sat up, gazing at the various wires and tubes leading away from his arm. "During a war? The village needs as many good fighters as it can get, I can't take leave." He said almost bitterly before dropping his head to his hands, a shaky noise coming from him. "Protecting a village that hates me. My clan would be ashamed." The silver-haired Jounin was sure he wasn't supposed to hear that, but he had and maybe it was because he was drugged or his newfound fondness for the other that chose to speak he didn't know.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of, you're also protecting those you care about. Who cares what the villagers think, the other shinobi know and appreciate what you've done for the village." He said and dull eyes flicked up to stare at the young Jounin before dropping to the floor again.
"You're too kind… but thank you."
Kakashi failed to see why he deserved the thanks, but didn't question it verbally as their conversation continued and eventually they decided on going back to sleep.
Years later, Kakashi yawns as he opens the door to his apartment and feels no shame as he falls onto the couch face first. However he was sure to brace his weight as to not completely squish his lover. Said lover squawked in agitation before lightly hitting the silver-haired Jounin in the ribs. "Kakashi, I'm trying to sleep!" Orochimaru complains without a hint of indignity like always, thin fingers easily hooking onto the Hatake's hitai-ate and pushing it up off his head. The metal clattered as it fell to the floor and the snake let his hand drop back down, Kakashi blinked at his soulmate in curiosity before settling down.
"You're going to kill me, you oaf." The Sannin grumbles and in response the Copy Ninja nipped the milky white neck that was right next to his face. The older made a noise of protest and neither of them even paid attention to the blond-haired child that charged through the living room with two other children in tow. "Narutoooooo!" Sasuke yelled and two sets of laughter were the only responses as Naruto and Sakura gave in to their amusement with Sasuke's dismay.
Another black-haired child shuffled into the living room and cast confused eyes at the two adults on the couch. "You're going to suffocate him, Dad." He says black eyes dully amused like always, and the snake motioned to the child with one sweeping hand.
"At least Sai gets it."
Kakashi rolled his eyes and was quick to hold out a pillow as Naruto suddenly appeared from nowhere tripping over the abandoned hitai-ate on the floor. Sai laughed a little before going over to his table in the corner to continue the new piece of art he was working on before having to go to the academy. "Daaaaaad, you get mad at me when I leave things on the floor." Naruto complained as he sat up, not seeming to care as Sasuke ripped the stuffed toy from his grip.
"He's got a point, Kakashi." Orochimaru mused, eyes closed briefly before opening as the lithe serpent slipped out from under the larger ninja. "Sakura, are you going to stay for dinner?"
The pink-haired girl giddily climbed up on Kakashi's back and looked at Orochimaru in hope as she was turned to. "Mom says I can stay for meals only if you're fine with it, I'd have to go tell her though." Sakura chirped as her two friends quickly followed her up onto the Copy Ninja's back, Orochimaru smiles and turns to the window even as he responds to the girl.
"Maybe Jun or Itachi could go tell her." He said and a redheaded blur leaped through the open window to catch the thin male in a crushing hug.
"Orochimaru-sensei help me!" Jun squawked pathetically as Itachi stepped out of the way to let a violet-haired snarling woman leap through the same window.
"REDHEAD!" Anko shrieked and Jun wailed in terror, dodging around the snake as the woman chased after her viciously. Orochimaru sighed and cast a glance at Itachi, his eldest nodded once before turning and heading in the direction of the Haruno household.
"Anko," the Sannin began, instantly earning his student's attention. "How is Shizune doing?"
Anko gave him a feral grin and flopped into one of the chairs, watching Jun with narrowed brown eyes as the genin slumped to the floor with a sigh. "She's doing good, sensei, why do you ask?"
The pale ninja simply made a noise with a shrug as he turned to head for the kitchen. "It's the only way to get you to stop trying to strangle Jun, besides I haven't seen her in a while and you're the only person I know of that has more than constant tabs on her." He said calmly, a brief smile on his face when he heard two pairs of footsteps scrambling to follow after him. Kakashi yawned from his position on the couch, eyes drooping tiredly but he hardly fought back against the waves of exhaustion.
A new weight settled on his legs and the silver-haired ninja made a small noise of agitation. "Don't get paint on the couch or my pants, Sai."
The young artist huffed in response, shifting away from Naruto as the blond leaned over towards him. "I don't have paint!" Sai objected before the four children began giggling as suddenly their father disappeared from underneath them. The group of four-year-olds climbed off the couch and hurried to the kitchen, watching in awe at the commotion. Jun was panicking visibly, flailing her arms as Anko watched in boredom from the table. Kakashi was standing behind Orochimaru at the sink, his hands tightly gripping the snake's left hand to run it under the stream of water.
"Kakashi," Orochimaru sounded overly exasperated at the Copy Ninja's actions. "It's a small cut, there's nothing to be worried about."
The Hatake made a sound of clear disagreement as he grabbed a rag from the counter. "Last time you said that you got an infection so bad you nearly had to get your leg amputated." He huffed and the Sannin rolled his eyes, frown obvious as he let the younger fuss over the small cut.
"You're never going to let me live anything down, are you?" he complained and the silver haired ninja hummed lightly.
"Considering how we found out we were soulmates? Never." He chuckled, placing a kiss to the snake's neck before listening in amusement at the noises of disgust from the children.
"Eeeewwww!" the four chorused before laughing as Jun began chasing after them. Orochimaru lithely turned himself around to look up into Kakashi's eyes, faint traces of amusement in the golden depths.
"You're ridiculous." He mused and the larger male snickered shamelessly.
"I may be, but you adore that about me."
The snake smiled and rolled his eyes. "Undoubtedly."
As I said at the beginning, Orochimaru was kind of OOC because of the medicine. If you've ever gone in for surgery before you'd know that sometimes you just can't control what you say when you're hopped up on drugs lol minor pairing of Anko/Shizune.
Also, all the drabbles have been marked as 'in-progress' because I have post-drabbles for them. In case anyone was wondering XD