Hi! Now that I'm finally back, here's a short chapter (I'll explain everything you need to know about the continuation of this story at the end of this chapter).

Please enjoy!

After Orochimaru has precisely clarified how he wants his wedding to be, he left Kuraiko on her own.

Of course, she wasn't really happy with the situation, but what does it matter? Her friends were gone, left her with that bastard and were definitely living at beautiful places now, enjoying their life in freedom. Kuraiko wasn't mad at them, just a little bit disappointed, but who knows, maybe they are already on their way back with support from another shinobi-village with nothing else in mind but her rescue. How likely is that? People are afraid of Orochimaru, so why risking the life of a few shinobi if it is only for the life of one girl who they don't know?

Kuraiko was very young, still underage to be exactly, so that marriage was pretty illegal, wasn't it? Then again, who cares? No one will walk into the hideout saying "Hey, that's illegal." and come out alive and Orochimaru and his followers couldn't care less as long as Orochimaru gets what he wants.

If she hadn't run away from home all those years ago, Kuraiko wouldn't be in that situation. Anyway, she couldn't stand her parents' fights any longer, so running away was her only option. They were always nice to her, before their arguments started. Then they only had themselves on mind and completely forgot about their daughter. Kuraiko was young back then, so caring about herself was not as easy as it would be today. Today... yeah, why didn't she try to also run away? What the others could do, she could do to, right? Kuraiko wasn't sure. What if she got caught again? If she would just stay and obey, maybe she'd have at least a tiny bit freedom, but if she ran away? She didn't want to think about that.

It's true, Orochimaru has been nice to her from the start. He always cared for her like a father would do and at some point, she started becoming depended to him. She wouldn't know what to do if she would run away. Additionally, there was this awkward feeling which kind of felt like love to her, but only kind of. He had kissed her and promised her even more beautiful things (that pervert!). Maybe this was exactly what she had always wanted, a peaceful life together with a husband she loved and desired, but would he be the right choice? Probably not.

Her parents always said they want her to marry a nice man which Kuraiko was certain came with an undertone which meant as much as "with lots of money, a stable job and who is able to produce many grandchildren for us", so they would probably like Orochimaru, maybe he would even act nice in front of them, so they would adore him and say he will the best son-in-law ever. If only they knew.

Kuraiko wanted to see them again. Maybe they would have changed, "Or maybe they are divorced now." something in her head spoke. However, she wasn't intimidated by that, so she decided to wait for Orochimaru and ask him for this order, as a little equivalent for the marriage so to say.

I'm pretty sure that I've said that there won't be many chapters left a few chapters ago, but to be honest, I had the time to think about the story and especially its end and I decided that there are more chapters needed than originally planned to really make the ending understandable. So the next few chapters will be very short I guess, but they're important for the story, anyway! I'll also try to update more regularly again.

See ya!