"Oh no, I can totally do this!" Naruto furrowed her brow as she attempted to balance herself on a small, round piece of driftwood.
Orochimaru rolled his eyes, thinking back to a couple days ago as those same words were exclaimed regarding cooking in the small home they had holed up in. He hadn't realized how bad a grease fire could get, when only attempting to cook rice. He had underestimated her. They slept in separate houses after that.
"Come on!" Orochimaru was pulled from his thoughts as Naruto, now seated on the "sled", held her arms out to him.
No.
Orochimaru had never felt his body so repulsed with an idea. A shudder ran through his body as the images of all the possible injuries he could get riding down that damned hill with her. For all he knew, the sled would catch fire. Like that sink. He shivered.
"Aww don't be like that," Naruto pouted, "There's no one around! 'Sides when's the next time you'll be able to let lose like this," she rocked back and forth on the unsteady plank.
"I'm sure I'll enjoy myself right here," Orochimaru crossed his arms and solidified his stance, further cementing his unwillingness to go.
Naruto opened her mouth to protest, when a mischevious glint came to her eyes, "All right then," she crooned as she turned to straighten herself on the board and reached down to push herself forward.
Orochimaru watched her with slight confusion. It couldn't be that easy. He relaxed his posture a bit and thought that maybe she was simply learning what he would and wouldn't do. No. He shifted his weight and focused on the girl, now more fervently trying to propel herself down the slope. He rolled his eyes and walked forward to give the girl some help, with a kick, when something lunged from the shadows at him. He turned to face the perpetrator and attempted to unsheathe his sword, which got caught in the many layers of clothing he had on. As he held his free hand in a fire symbol, he heard a shriek from the girl behind him.
"Naruto!" Orochimaru felt slight panic go through his system. He jumped back towards the girl attempting to give her cover when that same girl grabbed him by the torso forcing him to inelegantly fall onto the sled, most definitely giving him some splinters. The shadow clone smiled up at him and pushed off with her feet, dispelling on contact.
Orochimaru had never considered himself a religious man, but there's something about careening down a steep, rocky hill at 30mph that makes one reconsider these things.
Naruto smiled and squealed in absolute enjoyment, while her unwilling passenger clenched his bloodless fingers curled around her clothing. Branches whizzed by their heads as they came upon a denser portion of the slope. "See?! This is fun!" Naruto yelled turning her head towards him.
Orochimaru finally willed himself to look forward over the young girl's shoulder making brief eye contact. Time seemed to slow as he watched the light dance in her sky-blue eyes. A light flush covered her cheekbones and the tip of her nose settling right under her light freckles. A true smile came across her face framed by her golden hair dusted with a few specks of snow. For the first time in a long time, Orochimaru felt something warm bloom in his chest. A light blush spread onto his cheeks.
"You…really are…beautiful," Orochimaru barely whispered under his breath.
"Hah?" Naruto brushed some hair out of her face, 'What was that?"
Orochimaru sputtered a bit but, then realized what was approaching them.
"I said, DUCK!" Orochimaru stood to his full height on the sled drawing his sword as Naruto curled up on herself. He leaned over and pushed the sword hilt and all, deep into the snow. Shifting his weight and pushing against the sword, he altered the course of the makeshift sled just enough to dodge a large, sharp rock jutting out from the snow. The sled caught onto some debris, jumping up a few feet causing Naruto to frantically grab Orochimaru's leg and, with some quick thinking, use some chakra to keep herself attached to the sled.
Orochimaru hunched down to avoid some low hanging branches, as the sled flew through the air. Breaching through the tree line, the sled crashed down finally coming to a stop, as its inhabitants were thrown forward.
Naruto, fully sprawled face first, lifted her head, "That was AWESOME!" she began to giggle and tried to get on her feet.
Orochimaru, now gathering his composure as the adrenaline wore off, threw a glare to the giggling girl. She scrambled onto her feet, until all of a sudden, her legs were flung out from under her. A sickening crack rang out on impact. Ice had never been her friend. Naruto now nursing her head, caught a small sign of concern fade into a chuckle on her companion's face.
'He really does look nice when he smiles,' Naruto beamed at the snake man.
Orochimaru scowled a bit embarrassed, "Don't do that again."
"But, it was awesome! And look at you," Naruto crawled forward, toward the sitting Orochimaru, "You had fun," she crooned in an accusing tone reaching forward.
Orochimaru batted her away, "Stop it your hands are cold." He looked down where they were sitting finally seeing where they landed. The ice was cracked and spidered out away from where Naruto initially fell. He rolled his eyes as he was now grabbing both the girl's hands in an attempt to discourage her efforts. He looked down and the blood rushed from his face.
Naruto stopped her giggling fit, noticing their position. She blushed a bit and calmed her motions. He didn't flinch away. Naruto's disposition saddened. It had been so long since someone hadn't done that. She had forgotten how nice it was. To be held. To be wanted. To not be feared. The acceptance she had so desperately wanted. From the man who ruined your life. She shook her head. He's a friend now. Nothing says he can't be both. Sasuke's face flashed in her memory. She shook her head more fervently. She was just having fun. Why did this have to happen now?
Naruto breathed in looking towards Orochimaru, who was peering at the ice, preparing to explain her mini melt down, "Hey I'm-"
"Shut up."
'What?" Naruto straightened frowning at the man.
Orochimaru clamped a hand over her mouth. He looked thoroughly frazzled,with his hair sticking out and paler than usual complexion.
"If it's the ice, we can water walk. It's no biggie," Naruto whispered through his hand, "Oro, your fingers are cold," she whined.
He motioned her to look down. Naruto peered at the ice seeing all the cracks, made by their ungraceful landing. She focused past the white cut ice into the dark, murky lake water below. A few air bubble floated up to the barrier and a few fish passed underneath. She quickly looked up in concern, wondering if Orochimaru had a fear of water. She wouldn't know.
Orochimaru motioned again downwards and she pouted but did so. She then saw slightly lighter water underneath them. The dark water was moving. It wasn't water at all. Naruto screamed, or she would have if Orochimaru hadn't clamped his hand over her mouth again. The shape, which was easily over a hundred feet in length swept its tail as it propelled itself through the water; but that wasn't their main concern.
"It has an enormous..."
"Chakra level?" Naruto finished, flashing back to when she felt the presence of the chakra beasts in the fight with Madara. All the tailed beasts were absorbed, save for maybe the kyuubi, which she hadn't been able to contact. Besides none of them even remotely resembled the dark shape in the depths, she shakenly whispered, "It's not a tailed beast. What is it?"
Orochimaru shook his head, "I don't know, but we can't risk an unnecessary battle," he looked completely back to his cold serious self, "Who knows what that thing can do and while I'm a Sannin. You're a…" he glanced at her questioning, pretty face, "liability."
"Hey-"
"Not now. Besides Madara may but be interested in us now but a huge output of chakra would definitely be enough to get his attention."
Naruto pouted obviously wanting to try her hand against the challenge but knowing Orochimaru had better judgement skills than her. Well. At least in this regard. Besides not knowing if Kurama was with her, made her feel, exposed, "So what do we do?"
"Sneak across, if it hasn't noticed us yet, we may be in the clear," Orochimaru slowly stood to his feet pulling up Naruto gingerly to not disturb the already fragile ice. While he would love to know more about the creature, he preferred living; and, in every battle scenario he played out in his head, the creature won. He sucked through his teeth, looking at the expanse before them. They couldn't go back the way they came. The ice had broken into separate chunks from the sled impact and was far to brittle to have them walk on. The impact was probably what alerted the creature. He cursed.
He didn't have much experience with ice. He knew something about crawling to spread out your weight but, that would take too long. He thought about using chakra to tell how thick the ice was, but the creature might be able to sense that too. They would have to wing it. He scowled. That was never his favorite option.
He stepped forward gently turning his back toward Naruto and the remnants of the sled, "Carefully, quietly, quickly. No chakra."
Naruto nodded following him.
One step. Two Step. They continued this methodical pace until the dark spot once again circled under them. Orochimaru held his hand to signal 'Stop'; and, Naruto even held her breath. It passed without incident and they continued their journey.
Wind stung their skin. Orochimaru brought up the collar of the jacket and pulled up a bit of cloth over the bottom of his face. He would never return to this desolate land. No matter what knowledge would elude him. Nothing was worth this. Lost in his thoughts he hadn't seen the small crack emerge when he stepped down on the ice.
Kichik
He turned around to see Naruto on a large crack in the ice, looking up at him in sheer fear with a pleading expression, What do I do? He cursed at his carelessness and tried to think of a way out of it. Bad Luck is often impatient however, and the ice gave way underneath Naruto.
Shards flew. Naruto flailed. Orochimaru reached out. Once the freezing water hit her figure, she instinctively released chakra to steady herself on the water's surface. She looked down at the rippling water as the ice floated on the shadowy surface. She looked back up at Orochimaru with an apologetic but fearful expression.
"Oro?"
That was when the creature engulfed her.
