The next five months were filled with emotions for Kimi as she tried to process everything that had happened regarding her parents. After a while, she finally felt like she was getting back to her old self again.

She was flopped on her bed after just getting out of the shower and she let her thoughts roam. She had been surprised that her relationship with Orochimaru had lasted this long. Most of her relationships had been either fake or superficial, but with Orochimaru, it was the opposite of that. Of course the amazing sex helped things along too.

There was one thing that hadn't happened yet, though, and it bothered Kimi. He hadn't said, 'I love you' yet. Sure he had done many things to show his affection for her, but he hadn't ever said it.

Orochimaru's POV

Orochimaru was training with Hanako. He smiled his approval when she had successfully summoned one of the biggest snakes. The snake poofed away and Hanako landed safely on the ground.

"Good."

"Thanks, Sensei."

Suddenly, his student froze for a moment then pulled her hair over her shoulder to examine it. He could see there was a bug in her hair. It was probably one of Shino's, if it was causing this kind of a reaction.

"Do you want to call it quits for today?"

He had been satisfied with her progress over the past five months so if she needed time to refocus, then he would allow for it.

"No…" she took the bug out of her hair, looked at it for a moment then put it on the grass. "Let's get back to it."

They shifted their training to taijutsu. He could tell she was emotional because of the passion she was pouring into her maneuvers. After a few hours, he saw Shino walking up, so he ended the training.

When Hanako had seen Shino, she had glanced back at him with pleading eyes. He knew she wanted him to stay, so he gave a nod, stood back a little and crossed his arms. He felt like he needed to protect his student, which was unusual for him, but then again, nothing about their student and sensei relationship had been normal.

A smile crossed his lips when he saw Hanako slap Shino across the face. After a bit of yelling from Hanako, Shino kissed her. He took that as his cue to leave so he shrunk into the ground and went to find Kimi.

Kimi's POV

Kimi was busy getting dressed and presentable for her scheduled time to sing, when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

Orochimaru entered and closed the door behind him.

"You're only getting ready now?"

"I let myself sleep in this morning."

"You'll never guess who came back today." he said with a smile.

"Who?"

"Shino."

"Oh my. How's Hanako taking it?"

"I left when they kissed."

"Well kissing is always good." Kimi gave him a sexy smile.

He quickly took her in his arms and gave her a passionate kiss.

"Yes, it is." He agreed before pushing her onto the bed.

A week later, Kimi felt herself continue feeling restless about Orochimaru not having said 'I love you' yet. He had said he was going to be in his lab today so that's where she was headed. She needed to know if he really felt that way about her and she was determined to get an answer today.

When she entered his lab and closed the door, he was working at some papers on his desk.

"What's wrong?" he said as he looked up from his work then worked his way over to her.

"You might find it silly."

He took her in his arms and looked deep into her eyes.

"Is it to do with me?" he asked.

"Yes…"

Orochimaru's POV

When Kimi had entered his lab, he knew something was wrong when she didn't greet him right away. He stopped what he was doing.

"What's wrong?"

"You might find it silly."

He took her in his arms and studied her eyes. He could see something was clearly bothering her, and he got the feeling it had something to do with him.

"Is it to do with me?"

"Yes…"

"What is it, my charmer?"

"How do you feel about me?" she asked turning her face away from his.

He was surprised she had asked such a question. He thought his actions had spoken loudly enough on their own.

"Don't you know?"

"I do, but I want to hear you say it. I don't know why it bothers me that you haven't said it, but it does."

After a moment, Orochimaru knew exactly what she wanted to hear. He used his hand to make her look at him.

"I love you, Kimi Hara."

He planted a firm kiss on her lips to prove the point. She threw her arms around his neck. He was instantly swept up in the moment and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around him and he walked with her to the end of the desk, shoved stuff off the desk and sat her down.

He moved his kisses to her neck and groaned when she rubbed his groin. He quickly unzipped the back of her dress and exposed her top half to him. She worked at his shirt and threw it to the floor. He pinned her to the desk and felt her fingers weave through his hair as he continued to kiss and bite her neck.

"Ahhh! My eyes!"

Orochimaru became enraged. That was Hanako's voice.

"Hanako Shizaki! I thought you knew to knock!" he growled at her as he quickly go up and fixed himself up, as did Kimi. He was more embarrassed when he saw that Shino was there too. They had turned around to avoid seeing more.

"Now you can look." he grumbled.

The two of them stood silent after they had turned back around.

"Well? What did you want?" He was hoping it was an emergency because there was nothing he wanted more right now than to finish what he had started.

Kimi's POV

Kimi had been enjoying the spontaneousness that Orochimaru had been showing. That was, until Hanako had interrupted them.

She was overwhelmed with embarrassment as Orochimaru scolded her. She eyed Hanako's left hand and saw a ring on it.

"Well? What did you want?"

Kimi could tell that Orochimaru wanted to return to what they had been doing.

"Orochimaru, go easy on her. Did you have something you wanted to tell us, Hanako?"

Hanako nodded and held up her left hand.

"Shino and I are engaged."

"Oh, is that all."

Angry at his insensitivity, Kimi jabbed her elbow into his side.

"I mean, good for you."

It still wasn't what she wanted him to say, but it was close enough.

"I'm so happy you two worked things out. Do you have the date set yet?" she asked.

"Not yet, we're just telling everyone at this point."

"Well, I hope you two will be happy together."

"Thanks Kimi, I'm sure we will."

After a few more moments of conversation, Hanako and Shino said goodbye and left.

Orochimaru grabbed Kimi's wrist and dragged her out of the lab and all the way to his cozy underground home. He didn't stop dragging till they got into the bedroom. As soon as the door was closed, he pinned her up against it and leaned in close.

"I told you I love you…"

"I love you too." she said.

"Now, I'm going to show you."

It wasn't long before they were picking up where they left off. As they passionately made love, Kimi now knew exactly how he felt.