A/N: Thank you for all your reviews! Special thanks to the C2s that have added this fic: Interesting Naruto fics, Juvenile Delinquency, and Mai Faivoiraites.
Some people have mentioned that in canon, Orochimaru's parents died when he was young. I'd like to say that this is not an alternate reality fic. At this point, Orochimaru is four years old, which means he is still very young. Just because his parents haven't died yet doesn't mean they won't. In fact, they probably don't have very much time left at all.
Whee, I'm posting this chapter from school. I wonder if that's allowed.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters from it; I own a few OCs and this fic. The quote below is paraphrased from the book She's Not the Man I Married by Helen Boyd, a book which I recommend to everyone in the universe.
Chapter IV
Girl Power
She hated any weakness of her own, and she didn't encourage weakness in other girls. She, like so many women, treats men something like children—entertaining to have around but not necessarily competent. It's the women who put the meals on the table and wipe the children's faces and make the dish of Swedish meatballs for the woman down the block who just lost her husband. – Helen Boyd
Konoha in mid-August was oppressively hot. The air was thick with heat and moisture, and the mosquitoes and flies swarmed dizzily in the muggy air of the forest. Inside the village itself, the bug population was kept at a manageable level, but the atmosphere wasn't much more pleasant.
It was the first day of school, which meant the streets were emptier than usual during the day. Orochimaru had found a ladder that led to the roof of a low shop and was sitting there, legs dangling over the side, watching people go by below.
He wasn't scared of falling. His reflexes hadn't failed him yet, and in any case, he had Zimu-san to watch out for him now. The snake had curled its way up the ladder alongside Orochimaru and was now wrapped loosely around his waist and left wrist.
"We'll feed you before lunch, okay?" Orochimaru said. "Then we'll have some money." Dakatsu expected Orochimaru to be able to feed Zimu-san himself, so he didn't provide him with the money to buy feeder mice. Instead, Orochimaru took Zimu-san to restaurants in the bad parts of town and offered to let him eat any rats that were running around in the shop for 1000 ryou. He used to charge 500 ryou, until he realized that he wasn't getting much money that way. Even so, he was still the cheapest form of pest control in Konoha.
"Where should we go?" Orochimaru asked Zimu-san. "We haven't been in the east district since last week." The east district was generally known as the poorest part of Konoha, and they were immensely grateful to have someone take care of the vermin for such a low price. He felt a little guilty taking advantage of them, since he needed to feed Zimu-san anyway and technically could have gotten rid of the rats for free.
The snake bobbed its head up and down, a nod, so Orochimaru stood up and prepared to go down the ladder. But before he could, someone on the ground yelled, "Hey you!"
He glanced down. Beneath him, the kid with white hair was looking up at him, and several other people were looking oddly at the kid. Jiraiya, that was his name.
Orochimaru backed away from the edge of the roof to keep Jiraiya from seeing up his kimono. "What is it?"
"You're the guy who took the pictures for my sis, right?" Jiraiya yelled. "What are you doing up there? Get down here!"
"No!" Orochimaru yelled back. He didn't know what Jiraiya would do to him. "What do you want?"
"I was gonna say thanks!" Jiraiya said angrily. "Come on, I wanna show you something."
Orochimaru glanced at Zimu-san, and the snake hissed threateningly. He would guard his master. "Okay," Orochimaru said, "I'll come down."
He grabbed the sides of the ladder, careful not to actually wrap his fingers all the way around the side, and slid down in a matter of seconds. He stumbled off at the bottom, lost his balance, and would have fallen if Jiraiya hadn't caught him.
Oh, this was actually kind of nice, Orochimaru thought. It was like when he saw older boys and girls hugging each other. Romance. And Jiraiya would be the boy and Orochimaru would be the...
His father's lessons kicked in, and Orochimaru shoved Jiraiya away from him, muttering, "Get off me."
Jiraiya didn't seem to notice. "That was cool!" he said. "How did you do that? You've gotta show me."
"Uh..." Orochimaru looked up the ladder. Come to think of it, how had he done that? "I don't..."
"Oh, right. I gotta show you... Okay, c'mon." He grabbed Orochimaru's hand and started running, tugging him along. "The Ninja Academy entrance ceremony is today. I wanna show you my sister!"
"Why?" Orochimaru asked. "Is she a student?"
"Nope! Even better!" Jiraiya said proudly.
They ran together all the way to the Ninja Academy.
There was a wide brick wall around the Ninja Academy, but Jiraiya showed Orochimaru how to scale it, and they both sat on top, watching the entrance ceremony on the grounds behind the school. The rows of new students were in the front, with the older students behind. The teachers were lined up in the front, with the two Hokage standing on a wooden platform, speaking to the new students and their parents.
"That's Goketsu Kokona, my big sis," Jiraiya whispered, pointing at the teachers. "She's a chuunin." He said it as proudly as if a chuunin outranked a Hokage.
Out of the seven teachers, there were only two females, and Orochimaru figured the one with white hair and red face markings was Jiraiya's sister. Her hair was pulled back tight in a ponytail, but beneath where it was tied, it flared out in spikes as wild as Jiraiya's. Her red face markings, rather than descending from her eyes like Jiraiya's, spiked upwards, over her eyelids and eyebrows, and were heading towards her hairline.
What Orochimaru took the greatest notice of, though, was the fact that Kokona was quite possibly the curviest female he had ever seen in his life. Several of the male teachers, throwing sideways glances at her, seemed to see it, too. However, while Orochimaru's gaze was simply admiring, theirs were decidedly more imaginative. Such as imagining her without her green vest on.
"She's pretty," Orochimaru said.
"She's the prettiest babe in Konoha!" Jiraiya said, and Orochimaru felt a pang of envy towards Kokona. "She's the toughest, too. Nee-san may like looking at guys, but she doesn't take any crap from them."
Wait, something about that sounded odd. Father always told Orochimaru to act tougher, to act like a boy. Kokona didn't look boyish. "She can't be tough," he said. "She's a girl."
Jiraiya glared at Orochimaru. "What makes you think girls can't be tough?" he said.
"Daddy said so," he said. "He said that you have to act like a big boy if you want to be tough."
"Well, that's true," Jiraiya said, shrugging. "But there's more than one way to be tough."
"Really?" Orochimaru said.
"Yeah. See, if you wanna be tough like a boy," Jiraiya said, "you gotta be stronger than the other boys. But if you wanna be tough like a girl, you gotta be smart enough to get the boys to do what you want."
Orochimaru stared at him, then looked at Kokona thoughtfully.
More than one way to be tough? He hadn't heard of that before. His father had never mentioned it. Was that true? Could he be tough, make his father happy, without having to be like the other boys?
Without, he wondered, looking at Kokona, even having to be a boy at all?
Below, the parents standing behind the students applauded as the two Hokage stepped back and another man stepped forward to speak. They couldn't hear the voices from their vantage point, but they could see the speaker. He looked familiar.
"Oh great," Jiraiya grumbled. "Sarutobi again."
It was the guy they'd run into the first time Orochimaru had met Jiraiya. "Why's he here?" he asked.
"He's officially the Third Hokage," Jiraiya said, "but he doesn't do anything yet. The First and Second are still training him. I guess he gets to make a speech too."
They watched Sarutobi speak for a while, though Orochimaru was usually glancing over at Jiraiya's sister in envy. Why couldn't he be like her? Maybe if he asked his parents, and explained to them what Jiraiya had said, about how there was a way to be tough like a boy or like a girl...
He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice, for a moment, that something was missing. When he did, he leaped to his feet, turning around frantically, looking all around the brick wall and on both sides of it.
"What's wrong?" Jiraiya asked.
"Zimu-san is missing!" Orochimaru said.
"Who?"
"My snake!" What if he'd gotten lost, or been kidnapped, or was hurt, or...
Jiraiya looked up. His eyes widened, and he pointed. "That snake?"
Orochimaru turned in the direction he was pointed. Slithering behind the wooden platform where the Third Hokage was speaking, Zimu-san was making his leisurely way towards the First and Second. Orochimaru gasped. "I've gotta get him!" he said. He leaped over Jiraiya's lap (hopefully Jiraiya hadn't gotten a look up his kimono), ran down the brick wall, and stopped where he could jump down and run straight towards Zimu-san without getting in front of the audience. He sat on the edge of the wall, jumped down, and landed on all four on the ground. His hands would be a little scratched, but he could worry about that later.
"Hey! Oroji-whatever!" Jiraiya hissed in a loud whisper. "What are you doing?" He scrambled down the wall, fell hard on his right side, and staggered back to his feet, favoring his left leg and leaning against the brick wall. "You're gonna get in trouble!"
Orochimaru ignored him, determined to reach Zimu-san. He hardly noticed that Sarutobi had stopped speaking. He lunged for his snake's tail, missed, and tripped. Zimu-san slithered just beyond his reach as he fell to the ground. Now he'd probably try to eat the First and Second, and they'd tell Orochimaru's father that he hadn't been tough enough to stop his snake...
"Hey! Watch it!"
Orochimaru looked up. Zimu-san had stopped abruptly, head lifted off the ground and pulled back in surprise.
Standing in front of him was a girl about his age with a ragged blond ponytail. Her arms were planted firmly on her hips, and her face was set in an expression of steely determination as she glared Zimu-san down. "Go away, worm! Leave Grandpa and Uncle alone!" The First and Second were standing behind her, watching in amusement.
Orochimaru stumbled to his feet and ran up to the girl. Zimu-san moved back to cower behind him. "Zimu-san isn't a worm," he protested. "He's a burrowing ratsnake!"
"Same thing," the girl said. "He's just a big worm, isn't he?"
"No, he's not!" Orochimaru said. He put his hands on his hips the way the girl was doing. "What do you know, anyway?"
"I know a lot more about invertebrates than you do, obviously," she said haughtily.
Orochimaru wish he knew what an invertebrate was. "Well, I guess you don't, or you would know what a snake is!"
"Oh, and I guess you're so smart!" the girl said. "Fine, smarty! Name five different kinds of slugs!"
"Um..." Orochimaru stared at the girl hopelessly. "What does that have to do with snakes?"
The First Hokage put his hand on the girl's head and said, "Tsunade? I hate to tell you this, but she's right. That is a snake. And, uh, snakes aren't invertebrates."
"They aren't?" Tsunade said.
The First chuckled. "I'm afraid not." He looked at Orochimaru. "What are you doing up here? Are you a new student?"
"Um, no..." Orochimaru took a step back, lowering his eyes.
"Hiroki, look at her eyes," the Second said quietly. "I think she's Yashagoro Dakatsu-san's child."
"Really?" the First murmured. "But wasn't Dakatsu-san's child a boy?"
Orochimaru saw Sarutobi jump off the wooden platform he'd been standing on, and look quizzically at the First and Second. "Hiroki-sensei? Ozora-sensei? What's the problem?"
"Nothing to worry about, Sarutobi-kun," the First said. He smiled down at Orochimaru. "It seems that someone lost control of their pet."
Sarutobi frowned. "Orochimaru-kun? What are you doing here?"
"So that's a boy," the Second murmured.
"I..." He took another step away from the adults, and Zimu-san slithered back with him. "Uh..."
"Hey, leave him alone!" Jiraiya ran up, still limping slightly, and stood defensively in front of Orochimaru, arms crossed. "He's with me. Got it?" He gave the three Hokage and Tsunade a challenging glare.
"Jiraiya! What are you doing here?" Kokona had joined the group, and was now pushing past the First and Second to reach her brother. "I thought you said you'd stay at home!" She had her arms crossed under her bosom and was giving Jiraiya a very annoyed look.
"Oh, right." Jiraiya glanced around at the other adults helplessly, and then swallowed nervously. "Hi, aneki."
"Hi, otouto." Her voice was steely. She turned to the Hokage, bowed to them, and said, "Please excuse me. I've got to take care of my brother."
"That's all right, Kokona-san," the First said, smiling amusedly. Sarutobi was looking at Kokona, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru with something close to exasperation.
"Come on." She grabbed Jiraiya's hand, he grabbed Orochimaru's sleeve, Orochimaru got an arm around Zimu-san, and all four went into the school building.
Orochimaru had never been inside the school before. It was empty right now, but even so, it didn't look nearly as scary as he'd thought it would. In his imagination, school, the place where he would learn to be a ninja, to fight and kill, was a dungeon full of torture instruments. He was relieved to see that it was rather boring after all.
However, he didn't get a good look at it. It was all he and Jiraiya could do to keep up with Kokona's brisk pace. Finally, she stopped in front of a door, slid it open, and said. "In. Sit."
He and Jiraiya immediately obeyed, ignoring the school desks and plopping down on the floor. Zimu-san curled up around Orochimaru's waist and rested his head in his lap. Kokona shut the door behind them and stood above them, scowling. "What do you think you're doing here?"
Before Orochimaru could try to explain, Jiraiya said, "I was just watching! We were up on the wall, 'cause I wanted to show him who you were..."
"Don't blame this on him," Kokona said, nodding sharply towards Orochimaru. "I know when you're the one who's causing trouble, otouto."
"I wasn't blaming him!" Jiraiya protested. "We weren't doing anything! We weren't even on the ground, but then his snake escaped and he chased it, and I followed him, and—"
"Jiraiya!" Kokona snapped, and he immediately fell silent. "You can just save all your explanations, got it? Fact is, you were the one who was on the wall, and you weren't supposed to be there. You know that!"
"But—"
"Jiraiya..." she started threateningly.
"Yes, ma'am," Jiraiya said quickly.
"Good. And you'd better not do it again."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Is that a promise?"
"Yes, ma'am. I promise."
"Do you mean it this time?"
Jiraiya nodded enthusiastically.
"You'd better." She looked at Orochimaru, and he flinched. "Now then, what's your name?"
"Yashagoro Orochimaru," he said in a very quiet voice.
"Oh, you're Shinja-sensei's child?" Her voice was pleasant now. "She trained my team, until I became a chuunin and decided to be a teacher." She crouched down to look closer at Orochimaru. "I should have recognized it. You've got your mother's face, you know."
Orochimaru was speechless. This was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him. It took him a moment to realize he was staring before he said, all in a rush, "Thank you, Kokona-san!"
"It's nothing." She stood up, and said, "Try to keep Jiraiya out of trouble, why don't you? I don't want it getting around that my little brother is a trouble-maker."
"You're a bigger trouble-maker than me," Jiraiya grumbled.
"That's different," she said coolly. She slid open the door and said, "All right, you two. Get outta here."
Jiraiya and Orochimaru immediately obeyed. They leaped to their feet and ran out of the room, with Zimu-san following, and they didn't stop running until they were outside and several blocks away from the school.
Once they were a safe distance away, Jiraiya slowed down and said, panting, "What... did I tell you? Isn't... isn't she cool?" He was grinning excitedly at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru nodded, still trying to catch his breath.
They were on a busy street, but Jiraiya sat down and leaned back against the brick wall of a restaurant, letting his legs sprawl out and making pedestrians swerve around him with a dirty look. Orochimaru sat beside him with his legs folded beneath himself and his kimono pulled down so it didn't expose anything.
"We're lucky we got away with our lives," Jiraiya said melodramatically. Orochimaru and Zimu-san nodded in agreement.
"Kokona-san's the toughest person I've ever met," Orochimaru said. With the limited memory of a four-year-old, he believed it, too.
Kokona certainly was tough. Tough enough to force Jiraiya, a boy, to obey her. Tough enough to become, as her brother so reverently said, a chuunin. Even though she was a girl.
She wasn't the only one. There was that other girl, Tsunade. It wasn't often Orochimaru ran into someone who could argue like that.
So it was true, what Jiraiya had said. If you wanted to be strong, it didn't matter if you were a boy or a girl.
Orochimaru had a plan.
When Orochimaru got home a little after five, he discovered that someone else had gotten home first. The light was on in his parents' bedroom, and he heard sounds from inside. He felt a twinge of fear in his stomach, and quickly took off his key with its beautiful cord. "Hide this," he whispered to Zimu-san and put the cord in the snake's mouth. Zimu-san slid away to hide the key, while Orochimaru carefully opened the door to his parents' room and peeked inside.
His mother was sitting in front of a mirror, carefully applying make-up. Orochimaru stared. Shinja almost never wore make-up, and it was a rare treat when she did. She always looked so beautiful.
"Mama?" Orochimaru said softly.
She glanced up, saw Orochimaru in the mirror, and smiled. "What are you doing there in the doorway? Come on in."
He ran into the room and immediately climbed into his mother's lap. She hugged him, and said, "I can't give you a kiss, I'm putting lipstick on."
"Okay," Orochimaru said, contented to sit and watch his mother put her make-up on. As far as he was concerned, she always looked nice, but she looked even nicer like this: her lips a deep red, light blush on her cheeks, eye shadow brushed on that almost made her eyelids look blue.
He remembered what Kokona had said – you've got your mother's face – and was proud to think that he could look like that, too. If he ever got to wear make-up, at least, which he wouldn't, because his father would never let him.
Which reminded him. He needed to speak to his parents. "Mama?" he said. "Can girls be as tough as boys?"
"Of course they can," his mother said. She was combing her hair, thick and dark brown. Usually she kept it in a ponytail, but apparently not today. "I've known quite a few girls who are tougher than the average man. I taught one of them for a while."
"That's Kokona-san, right?"
Shinja gave Orochimaru a surprised looks. "Yes, it is. How do you know her?"
"I met her today," Orochimaru said. "She's Jiraiya's older sister."
Shinja nodded. "I've seen Jiraiya once. He's about your age, isn't he?"
"Yeah," Orochimaru said.
So it was true, what Jiraiya had told him. It was possible to be tough and to be female at the same time. Orochimaru's father had been wrong; there was another option. He didn't have to be stuck like this forever, pretending to be just like all the other boys when he knew quite well that he wasn't. He didn't have to be trapped in this imperfect body.
He could change.
"Mama?" Orochimaru said. "When's Daddy getting home?"
"Oh, it should be soon," Shinja said. "Your father and I are going to a party tonight. The Akimichi family invited a few jounin over for dinner." That explained why she was getting prettied up.
Orochimaru sat on his mother's lap as she got ready, watching her and wondering what he would say when his father got home. At last, he faintly heard the front door open, and his father's footsteps.
"Daddy!" He jumped out of Shinja's lap and ran out of the room. He passed Zimu-san, curled up in the doorway of his own room, and said, "Come on!" Zimu-san uncurled and followed Orochimaru.
"Hello, Orochimaru," Dakatsu said, as his son came into the room. He grinned. "How was your day?"
"I've gotta tell you something!" Orochimaru said. His eyes were wide with excitement. Shinja came into the room, and shrugged at her husband's questioning glance.
"Well, what is it?" Dakatsu said.
Orochimaru paused, giving his parents a moment of suspense. And then, an elated smile stretching across his face, he made his announcement.
"I'm going to be a girl!"