Chapter 7: Blondes
Orochimaru sat calmly, a little out of it. Thoughts were swamping his mind. It's been only about a day and the snake sannin couldn't help but feel he was becoming too open with the other two. Helping Jiraiya out, having a battle with him that didn't involve actual punches, and even teasing Tsunade. This realization was making Orochimaru put up his usual guard, not wanting to open up. It was against everything he believed in to be so friendly. And even spending the time here with them, made the dark sannin reminisce about the past; something he saw as a torture. He didn't want to think about the "good ol' days" or how it was back then. He raged against the memories, hissing and yelling for it to let him be. After being here only one day and around them so frequently, these resurfacing memories were becoming more prominent. To him, he liked who he was. He had no regrets.
"Orochimaru, are you going to eat the food...or just stare at it?"
Tsunade waved a hand in front of his golden eyes, breaking his train of thought. He shot a glare at the woman, striking a ting of fear down her spine. Realizing he glared, the man turned back to the food, slowly taking the chopsticks into his pale hand to eat.
"Something wrong? You have been spacing out ever since we got here..."
"I'm fine...just a bit distracted at the moment."
Jiraiya gave a solemn look to Tsunade, clearly showing his growing distrust in Orochimaru's motives. With the attitude presented, it was susceptible he might run or turn on them. Snakes could never be fully tamed after all. Tsunade returned with a slight nod then reached for her cup of green tea, taking a light sip from it. She already had a hint what was wrong and would talk to him later about it.
"Thinking about those two girls?"
Jiraiya was making an attempt to pry the reluctant Orochimaru back open. It was rather out of character for him to "combat" over those two girls, and to keep Tsunade from ripping him to pieces. Afraid that Orochimaru would clam up again, Jiraiya was going to try his hardest to put the past behind and get the snake sannin to become involved with some conversation. It did earn a grin however.
"Hardly. I told you once before those kind of girls aren't my type."
"Then...what is your type?"
Orochimaru dropped his lacquered chopsticks into the bowl of noodles and beef, a little off guard to be asked that question. Tsunade was curious as well, wondering what kind of girl would suit a cold, manipulative criminal like him. He never showed interest in the aspect of love as a child. So why would he now?
"Well...that...actually, it's none of your business what I look for in a girl."
"Oh, come on! Does she have to have blue eyes or green eyes? Maybe black hair? Red hair? Maybe blonde hair, hazel eyes and nice rack?"
"Jiraiya!"
Tsunade threw a chopstick at her comrade for even suggesting the two being together. In the midst of the anger though, she felt Orochimaru give a nudge to her leg under the table, but had made it look to Jiraiya as if he had been uncomfortable sitting. Tsunade wondered what he was going to do. The snake was crafty and an expert at playing most things off. What was he going to do?
" Wow, Jiraiya. You guessed it. I DO like blondes with hazel eyes and large chests."
The comment shut Jiraiya up, making him fall back off the cushion seat. The nudge was to indicate the comment would be a joke, but...the way he said it sounded so convincing it was the truth to the Godaime. Orochimaru finally loosened up and gave a loud laugh at Jiraiya's reaction.
" I was only jesting. You thought I was serious?"
Jiraiya sat back up and straightened his clothes, a somewhat sour look plastered on his face. It was clear the man didn't enjoy the joke. It was new to have Orochimaru pulling pranks like that...even if they were smart-assed ones.
"Yeah, yeah. So you got me. And the way you speak, you ALWAYS sound serious. How was I suppose to know?"
Tsunade couldn't help but show some laughter at the situation. It was indeed amusing seeing Jiraiya's reaction. Both of the men turned their sights to her, Orochimaru with a smile and a short laugh of his own.
"At least our Godaime has a sense of humor."
"Well, let's finish our food. Then maybe we can have a sparring session, eh?"
The offer made Orochimaru shiver with excitement. The thought of being able to have a good challenge was indeed a temptation. He gave a nod of acceptance to the proposal, but keeping a constant reminder he could not seriously injure Jiraiya. Doing so might make it look like it was an intentional attack to harm. And without another word, the three sannin went on to finish their food.
-Clearing not far from the hot springs.-
Jiraiya and Orochimaru stopped when they found a nice clearing next to the woods. It was an ideal spot for sparring, especially for ones like the sannin. Tsunade found a nice area to settle down in, choosing to stay out of the boys' fight and simply be a spectator. She half wondered what Orochimaru would do. If the man seemed to be getting out of hand, all she had to do was step in. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
Jiraiya faced Orochimaru, both with no grins or the simplest of smiles. This was a spar and either were waiting for who would strike first. Too close to try Kage Bushin, and in the time it'd take for him to try escaping from me, I'll be on him. Orochimaru's only choice is to use a taijutsu attack, Jiraiya thought. Sure enough, the snake came at him at blinding speed, rushing with a few punches. Jiraiya dodged and tried countering with a duck then a straight punch to the gut. The caught sannin used the Substitution Technique, avoiding Jiraiya's counter punch. Right now it was just simple play, nothing serious at all. The more their battle escalated, the more they would probably use stronger jutsus or taijutsu attacks.
Moments later, Orochimaru appeared behind the thinking toad sannin, kicking him across the back of the head. Jiraiya tumbled across the dirt, coming to a skid before popping back up, rubbing the dirt off his cheek.
"Heh, you caught me off-guard some."
Tsunade watched the two jump around, trade off hits and use rudimentary jutsus. It was a simple hint they were messing around, not going to their full potential. But they seemed to be having...dare she say it? Fun? It wasn't like Orochimaru to play around and exhaust chakra on small attacks. Well, duh. He can't truly use his full strength in attacking...if he injured Jiraiya, it could be taken highly offensive by the pervert. As time drew on, the more jutsus they began to use...
Jiraiya came at Orochimaru with a Rasengan, charging the snake with applied chakra in the feet. Deciding to test out a new technique in defense, the sannin made the necessary hand signs in the blink of an eye, using the Hidden Shadow Many Snake Hands jutsu. Large snakes came lunging from the robe's sleeves and now on command of their master, curved all the snakes wrapping tightly and creating a protective ball around Orochimaru. The Rasengan slammed into the wall of snakes, creating a nasty hole in the defense. When the snakes gave a loud poof and disappeared...there was no Orochimaru. Freaking, Jiraiya glanced everywhere, putting out a feel for the chakra...and only realizing too late where the opponent was.
"Checkmate, Jiraiya."
A kunai to the neck and the snake out of view by coming from behind. Jiraiya gave a weak laugh, knowing it'd be easy to get out of the situation, just didn't feel like it. Besides, he only made the offer to burn off some excess energy.
"Fine, you win. Ain't no prizes though."
The kunai was retracted, Orochimaru laughing some. He knew Jiraiya hadn't been even half serious throughout the fight, but neither was the pale sannin himself. Tsunade came to them, smiling.
" That was short! You guys are tired out only after that little bout?"
"Nah! But Tsunade...I have a special occasion set up for the three of us tonight! Come to our room tonight, ok?"