Ch.4

Snakes Remembered

They soon came to the village that the man named Tokiru had mentioned and it was true that it was a mess and a ghost town with an atmosphere to match that made the three very chilly and filled with a strange and frightful feeling, Sarutobi placed a hand upon Tokiru's shoulder as he had began to shake and as the only calm one in the party, it helped a lot. The man sighed and sat down as they unpacked some supplies and sat inside the burned out shell of an earthen hut that had once been a home to someone and made a fire.

"So" Sarutobi spoke taking a carved pipe from his pocket filling it with some sweet smelling herb and lighting it with a stick from the fire he made in the center of the dirt floor and puffing upon it for a few minutes before blowing out a sleek stream of smoke and looking again at the man "why don't you tell us exactly why the locals around here are attacking you and more importantly, why they are apparently scared of this place we now sit?."

The man cleared his throat and put his hands to the fire looking at the wide eyed Jiraiya, the straight faced Tsunade and hesitantly into the icy golden eyes of Orochimaru, the man lost his nerve for a mere second and then tearing his eyes away from the strange boy he started speaking.

"I don't know much about why they really want to get rid of me; I think it was after they found me again that they started to suspect me of having alliances with the Hebi clan after they had been killed."

Orochimaru looked away but was still listening as he began absentmindedly began sharpening a long curved knife.

The man sighed and took a tin cup full of dark tea that Sarutobi handed to him for his nerves, Tokiru smiled and sipped at it and thanked him then continued, pretending that he had not seen Orochimaru's silent threat or that he had not taken in the fact that the more he talked about the clan, the darker the boy became.

"They had hired ninja come from a certain hidden village and take care of them because they supposedly posed a large threat to the peace of this mountain, I had gone there to investigate the area and had followed a small group of the strange people to a place near their village where they went to pray to some sort of "snake god "or something like that." He looked puzzled and took another sip of his tea before continuing again knowing better than to not at the strange boy with the knife or the other two serious children listening to his story.

Sarutobi urged the man to finish his story and so Tokiru complied.

"As I was saying, these people were obviously paying tribute to some sort of large beast that I could never see" he coughed as Tsunade arched one delicate brow and crossed her arms "so you were a spy then?" Tokiru floundered at the question and made it quite apparent to everyone listening that he had indeed been a spy for the ninja.

" But " he sputtered " it was not only the worshiping of this giant " snake god" that scared the locals…but the people themselves" he cast a swift glance at Orochimaru who was still sharpening his knife but now turned around with the rest of his team mates and silently regarding him over the inches of sharp steel in his hands.

Tokiru went on " the people in this village had strange pale white skin and strange colored eyes that ranged from bright emerald green to a deep amber gold, their faces were sometimes oddly shaped and the ones in the village that had decided to become ninja used strange techniques that made snakes come out of their hands and their tongues to- " he stopped there for a heavy blanket of silence had been thrown on the party as Tsunade, Jiraiya and Sondaime both stared at Orochimaru some in horror and others in dark surprise Orochimaru….

The boy stood up and slowly dropped the knife to his waist and glared down at the horrid shivering Tokiru as if he might kill him at any possible minute and then without another word he went into the surrounding woods mumbling something about firewood.

Saurtobi looked troubled as Orochimaru went off into the dark woods after the " firewood " and he sighed to himself, he had known that Orochimaru had been brought to Konoha as a very small boy but he had never known exactly where he had come from, so this was it…how sad. Tsunade was stock still in the dark and Jiraiya was still wide eyed apparently trying to take it all in at once, so their team mate was someone who had been born in this dead village, not from Konoha…and more importantly…he was the only apparent survivor.

Tokiru sat silent for a minute and then a choking ugly laughter came from him, " so…it was as I had thought…one survived…no matter, the locals will hear of this soon and come for him as well…we are not safe!" Tsunade blinked and then slowly looked at the man and grimaced getting up suddenly and marching out the door and off in the direction that Orochimaru had gone, and as she passed Sarutobi she sighed and he nodded. She would get him back, explain everything, and then it would all be fine…

As she trudged through the prickly dead foliage she didn't care or really feel as the branches tore at her cloths or that thorns ripped scratches in her skin. Now she was beginning to understand him a little bit…why he was always so lonely and got angry when anyone would exploit his difference…"and this" she thought…was the reason his heart had grown cold and distant…he had no one.

Orochimaru had not cared where he was going and nor was he looking for firewood, his eyes burned in the darkness and his fists were shaking and clenched in front of him. He wanted to murder that man…to do something horrible to him, he had known about him from the start but had decided to play on it and speak ill about the place where he had been born and nearly died…he despised the world that left him so cold…

"If only" he mumbled through cold lips "I had been more powerful…if only they hadn't died…I could have killed them all and made them pay for ruining my life! I need more power!"

He slowly stood up upon the tree limb he had perched upon from where he could see all of the mountains side. "And I will yet have it."

Jiraiya also stood when Tsunade left and looked at the man with nothing else than pure disgust "Tokiru kun… he may be creepy and he may be mean sometimes but…I don't think he's any different than the rest of us…" then going over to the burned out doorway he stood waiting for the rest of his team to return.

Tsunade soon found him in a tree, typical for Orochimaru…though, she sighed to herself "even though he's my team mate…I barely know anything about him at all…maybe.." she shook her head and looked up coming out of the far bushes and yelling up at him " OROCHIMARU!" she waited a minute until he slowly cocked his head in her direction and hissed in a very icy voice " oh…you…what do you want?" she was taken aback a little and nearly every fiber of her being wanted to shrink back in terror as her heart tried to accustom itself to the " snake in the grass" feeling that crawled on her skin. "O-Orochimaru…I heard what that man said…I understand-"

"NO YOU DON'T!" he snarled and then looking at her for a minute a smirk came to his lips and he calmed down a little more " no I'm pretty sure you don't understand anything about me Tsunade, loosing my clan wasn't something so big that I didn't get over in the 10 years that I've lived in Konoha." He dropped down from the tree and she let out a strangled squeak as he appeared right in front of her before she could raise a hand " I don't need saving…you know I am stronger than you and Jiraiya…what makes you think that you can do anything for me…" his eyes engulfed her in a case of golden amber, she was trapped as a bug was, stock still and frightened to her last wit as she had been when she first had come so close to him. " You cannot bring them back OR give me power…you are merely here as my team mate…what is your purpose in life Tsunade?…maybe you should think about it." He smiled and walked past her "we have that old man to protect remember?...lets finish this …only sensei and the toad are there to protect him…" an amused note crept in to his voice "and I think he'll need every one of us to keep him safe…" he looked back, almost back to his old self except for his eyes…Tsunade shuddered and followed. "Heartless eyes."

Jiraiya blinked away the sleep that was creeping up on his consciousness and crossed his arms "geez…where are those two…I hope…that Orochimaru wasn't too mad..." he murmured in a worried tone remembering to vividly the last fight he had had with the guy.

Sarutobi sat and then slowly tapped the contents of his pipe on the dirt ground and glanced back at Tokiru who was now looking around as if he expected some sort of creature to pop out of nowhere and devour him at any given second. " Don't fret Jiraiya" Sarutobi muttered smiling at the worried boy standing guard at the doorway and shivering not only because of the cold night air " they will come back shortly…I can sense it" Jiraiya slowly nodded and then looked back outside.

Tokiru having felt better after Sarutobi had broken the silence began speaking again " we never found that snake thing again…after the ninja the locals hired destroyed the village we looked all over for the remains of something along the lines of " giant snake" but we couldn't find it….just an empty shrine" Sarutobi looked at him oddly " I wouldn't know about anything like that…but as for before" he looked at the man seriously " I would advise not to speak ill of any of my team….they have ways of venting themselves you see."

That shut him up.

About twenty minutes or so after anyone had talked Jiraiya let out a relieved sigh as Tsunade and Orochimaru came out of the trees carrying small bundles of sticks in their arms looking un harmed, " that's good" breathed Jiraiya and went to greet them.

Sarutobi smiled but it swiftly went away as he spied Orochimaru's face in the darkness as well as Tsunade's…and he knew something had happened even if they didn't completely show it on their faces he could tell that the rift between the two had grown much much wider.

He took the fire wood bundles and stacked them against the far wall near Tokiru who was making it very clear that he didn't like the fact that Orochimaru was back in the house.

"Well "Sarutobi sighed "we will resume the journey in the morning…right now…I think everyone needs some rest" he nodded and spread out five thin futons on the floor. "Well need it."

Truthfully, no one really slept that night, Orochimaru stared at the ceiling thinking deeply about something and Tsunade keeping one eye closed watched him, Jiraiya watched both of them. It was going to be a long night. Strangely right as the grey dawn licked over the tops of the tree's around the village Orochimaru awoke to the sound of the snapping of a twig, slinking silently from his futon and grabbing the first weapon that he laid his hands on. The knife he had been sharpening last night, how quaint. He rubbed his eyes a little and looked back, noticing that Tokiru wasn't in his bed…suspicious… then moving a little ahead he spied Sensei "good…Sarutobi is asleep" he breathed and silently crept between the now sleeping Tsunade and as he got to Jiraiya he frowned as it took a little longer to tip toe around the boy who had conveniently sprawled himself out in front of the entrance, "Idiot" he muttered as he slunk outside, a light breeze tousling his long black hair and chilling him a little for he was only wearing his black under suit and fish net top. He sighed and flicked open the knife as again the noise sounded, dry leaves and sticks…whoever it was, they were trying to be quiet...he smirked "not trying hard enough…" he ran forward barely touching the ground beneath him and leaping in a tree he waited like a large black cat, his golden eyes ablaze and waiting for the unfortunate mouse to come a' calling.

He narrowed his eyes as the footsteps got closer and then were soon joined by about six more "so…mice are joined by rats…what joy." He hissed. He glanced back at the small Hut where the rest of his team were either stirring or still sleeping and the thought crossed his mind of getting them up to find out where their dear friend Tokiru had gone in the night and to form a welcoming party for their slumber crashers who were coming in from the southern part of the forest, a band of seven, four common looking men with an assortment of sharp knifes, Two dark looking ninja from some country he didn't recognize and…he squinted and almost started laughing…Tokiru in a hard hat and sporting a crossbow leading the charge…"oh good " he purred and slowly extended his tongue a lot longer than it should have gone and licked the tip of his knife " I was getting bored."

Orochimaru moved silently through the early morning shadows cast by the broken homes around and smirking vanished into the mist inside the gate leading into the ghostly village.

Tokiru and the locals he had gathered along with his other hired Nin from the cloud country. "So far so good" he thought to himself looking uneasily around the dark gateway "the little snake boy should be sleeping right now and they would kill him and then if the others arose kill them as well" 'leave no trace behind' the General had said…in order to keep his freedom and to prove that he was innocent of connections with the snake village… he had to kill this kid. The man walked back to the back of the line and was about to give orders to the hired ninja behind him to first scout out the house to make sure it was safe to enter when another sound caught his attention, a strangled squeak from the front which had stopped dead in their tracks as if some invisible force was stopping them from moving forward.

It had gone silent, dead grave silent and no one dared to breath as a small figure slipped out of the mist, Orochimaru, his eyes wide and hungry and his lips curved in a creepy inviting smile which very much clashed with the fact that he held a four inch sharp blade in his right hand " Good morning friends…." He narrowed his eyes over the sharp edge of his knife "lets have some fun." He stepped forward sneering at the terrified faces of Tokiru and his minions "too late for you.." he mouthed and then raising his knife again he stepped into the frozen party and a brittle laughter echoed from inside the entrance of the once living village of the snakes.

Oh suspense! Ah you know what happens to that guy! Sheesh Oro… violent much?

Oro: O. of COURSE!

So that was the first four chapters…questions, comments, concerns… cookies?

Or do you just want me to get on with it? o love to hear from you…oh and btw . no flaming…if you do all my fans and I will have to have a marshmallow cook out without you! 3 mmm smores! Anyway badger ye later!