A/N: Meh. Oro is hard to write. Well, not so much here, but otherwise. In any case, this here started out quite different from where it ended up, mostly because it sat on my hd for like two months before I got to it. Itachi's in it (I write way too much about him) but only as a periphery figure.
Orochimaru really does like kids, doesn't he? Anko, Kabuto, Itachi, Sasuke (not to mention the Sound kid Dozu or Zaku or something if you trust the anime). Well, this is the reason he changed his tactics.
Orochimaru and the one that got away.
The Yoyo Effect
He takes a little too long to unwind the bandages on this new form, contemplating the feeling of that familiar gauze obscuring his face again. It is the third time, and Orochimaru has gotten used to it, maybe a little too much.
It is while he is thinking, standing in the middle of the room with his yukata carelessly thrown on and meters of the white material at his feet, that the boy enters. He knocks, first, as usual. Orochimaru half-expects it to be Kabuto, but the sound of small fingers touching the doorknob before he says to enter dispels the notion.
Itachi always knocks before he enters. It's cute, although he never waits for an invitation.
"Itachi-kun." He mutters by way of hello, and then unwinds the final bandages and goes to the mirror to comb out his hair. It has been neglected recently, the ritual always takes too long. In the mirror, bright red eyes watch him.
"Orochimaru-san. You're requested for a meeting." He says, eyes blinking back into black for a moment before he turns to leave.
"Hmmm… and when is this meeting?" He asks, "How much time, do you think?"
The boy pauses in the doorway, seriously contemplating the question. It amuses Orochimaru, this unexpected naiveté.
"Sasori is explaining himself now. It'll be a while." He finally answers. With that, he moves to close the door.
"Then, I have something I'd like to discuss with you." He smirks, and watches Itachi freeze in the doorway again, as if the thought of simply leaving has not occurred to him. "It's something quite important." Orochimaru adds, smiling.
Oh, someday the boy will surely slam the door in his face regardless. Genius does that to a person, and Itachi is already arrogant for his age. But for now, the fourteen year old pauses and turns completely to look at him with that serene knowledge.
"It's important." Orochimaru repeats. After a moment, Itachi closes the door. The lights are not on, and the curtains muffle the late afternoon sunlight into a red haze. In the twilight created by the absence of the hallway lights, Itachi's eyes (red again, now) gleam with a strange intensity.
"Well?" He asks, taking in the bedroom for the first time, "I have work to do." He adds, eyes settling on the extravagant bed for a moment too long to be a casual look. The boy looks alien here, Orochimaru hardly makes it a habit of entertaining children or anyone else for that matter (although… ah, he still remembers Kabuto at 12…).
"I was just thinking," he moves to the curtains, glancing at the world outside as if distracted, "that perhaps you would benefit from some help. I noticed your Fuuinjutsu is lacking, those barrier seals last time could have been better…" he trails off, and wishes he could look at the boy's face. He hears Itachi shift, just a minute sound of bare feet against the carpet of his room.
"I'll improve." He says, and there's a finality to his tone that is just too amusing. It has the air of a child saying something impossible as if it were common knowledge. That quiet certainty which in the end Orochimaru both adores and detests. Too, too arrogant. They clash.
"I'm sure you will. I am merely suggesting we shorten the time together." Time is Orochimaru's inevitable enemy. Itachi is, as ever, too young to understand.
The people around him are always young, always attractive. Genjutsu hides everything and he with his Sharingan refuses to look through it. Orochimaru, who has not seen his true form for years, spell upon spell built to keep it away, finds it all so amusing.
A pet. That's what Itachi is. A funny, talented pet.
Time to teach some tricks.
"I am not in a hurry to learn."
He almost laughs, but that would ruin the somber little mood Itachi has going. Instead he merely smiles, waits for the boy to crack a little so he can take advantage. It's always a waiting game. Orochimaru is patient, he has to be in his line of work. He knows how to deal with this. Anko was the same in the beginning.
Itachi shifts to leave, and walks towards the door. Orochimaru waits. Maybe he'll leave, but he'll return, they all do in the end. It is only a small rebellion, and easily overlooked.
The footsteps stop in front of the door. Maybe an inch from the wood. Obviously uncertain about reaching out to open it, and now there's nowhere left to go.
"I don't need you." Itachi finally says. The sound of his hand against the handle, a brief light from the hallway, and then the door is closed and Itachi is retreating in the direction of his own room.
Orochimaru doesn't turn. Outside it is early autumn, the leaves make a pattern against the forest floor that surrounds their hideout. He watches them for a while.
This, he will realize later, is the crucial moment. He might have made a better offer. Power, experience. Maybe just companionship. Not entirely sure which it is, but Orochimaru will eventually realize is that this was the one defining moment that he missed.
Because tomorrow he will get up and dress and go off on some inconsequential mission and realize that Itachi is really not coming back.
And a year after that, he will realize that he wants the boy and the boy does not need him.
And four months after that, when they get their first demon, he will realize that Itachi, more than the others, is the one who will grow to become worrisome.
Someday he will sit in the center of his village, dressed in a body unbefitting, and wish he'd forced the seal upon him when he had the chance.
But right now it is only autumn, and Itachi is still a painfully naïve, childishly stubborn little boy who is too stupid to know how far behind he really is.
And Orochimaru is waiting.
END
A/N: He learns from his mistakes. That's all I can say.