In the previous chapter: "I will be stronger." Hinata echoed this since that day. Her confidence rose just in his presence. "When Naruto returns with Sasuke, I will be stronger...I will show him I am worth something."

Hinata gave into the luxury of laying on her back, next to the Snake Sannin. The man has been dozing nearly all afternoon. True today was not a training day, but still. It made her anxious that he was doing "nothing". It meant he was up to something, potentially already so far planned that now he had the luxury of doing "nothing". Her eyes closed as she trained her ears. She listened to the rhythm of air escaping his lungs and how he softly inhaled more. Random strands of his hair would occasionally caress her face. "The wind is starting to pick up." Hinata murmured. She heard as his breathe paused momentarily before resuming. The ground shifting slightly underneath.

"It's coming in rather dense. It's going to rain again." Orochimaru turned his head to look at the blossoming kunoichi. He was not one to care much for appearance among his students, but out of all of them the Hyuuga has been one he could refer to as attractive. Her eye's although pupiless somehow managed to convey emotions, making it easy to read her unlike her other clan members. The one exception. He felt the softness of her cheek with the back of his hand. His lips formed a sneer as she jumped under his touch and a rosy blush graced them. "Your such a timid thing." He immediately seized and rolled around the grass, his back now facing her. "Don't worry it'll pass soon enough."

Hinata quietly chastised herself. She had been caught off guard by her sensei's caress. "W-why do you do that? Just...touch...c-caress like that. It's unusual considering..." She placed a hand at her cheek, she was still blushing.

"Its by me, a notorious S-rank Shinobi? Well in my defense even the smallest insignificant gestures can lead to surprisingly positive results. Do you hate it?" His tone was rather teasing. He awaited patiently as his student thought it over.

"N-no. I guess I don't really mind it much." Quite the opposite. Hinata enjoyed the gesture. She understood what it meant. "How many have you...you know..." Her voice trembled, but more with embarrassment than anything. If asked a question he answered no matter what. Sometimes he would reply in riddles and at other times too bluntly towards awkwardness. Her heart raced as she was startled by the loud laugh he let out.

"Really? You're asking me now? It would have been smarter to have asked at the beginning you know! Silly girl." Orochimaru managed to suppress his laugh into chuckling. It was a cute question that brought back brief memories of his adventures. Though, Jiraiya was mostly the reason why he had them in the first place. "Quite a few in my early years, during the peak of my youth, before becoming a Jounin. It was mostly thanks to Jiraiya though. He had the odd charisma of attracting women from no where. Sometimes there would be one who was impatient that would settle for me. And if I was in the mood and found her decent enough well...that's how I got my needs met." Ah, yes. All those late night drags to the humid crowded bars. At times they were worth it.

"Really? You just scavenged off of Lord Jiraiya?...Im sorry. That was rude rude of me. But...no one...?" Hinata felt a little bad for him. Was the only affection he had just because of his friend?

"Don't draw incorrect conclusions. I did have my large crowd of romantic admirers. I just didn't like them back." Orochimaru sweat dropped at the unpleasant thought of the people that had sworn they 'loved' him. No, he wouldn't linger on that thought.

"Oh really? Why not?" Hinata blurted the question out without really thinking.

"Because my dear I found them repulsive. Although I consider myself attractive, normally I think other's find me... intriguing, not attractive and as a result I didn't think well of those that did find me 'attractive'. I mean people who think that white skin, slit pupils, black hair and animal like qualities are attractive tend to be very, very strange." A shudder made his way down his spine at the obsessive women and men that would ofte try to be 'kind' to him and shower him with compliments and awkward advances. A reason why he swore himself to be as abstinent as possible. One of them had succeeded in her quest, also ruined drinking for him as well in the span of one night.

So that was it. Hinata scoffed at the rather arrogant compliment he gave himself. She smiled at his vanity, well at least he liked himself. At times she found herself doing that too but sometimes she didn't even want to look at herself much less compliment herself. She looked up at the sky as it began to become gray. The evening was approaching and the clouds that were following the wind were becoming more and more menacing. "W-we should go inside." She sat up slowly, stretching her back. "You m-may be right it does look like its going to rain." She stopped stretching as two arms wrapped around her. She felt as a warm breath played by her ear.

"I am always right. And you know what else?" Orochimaru's voice was barely a whisper. His hands rested on her shoulders before tracing down slowly through her figure. "It's going to be a long, loud storm too. Plenty of thunder and wind." The breeze was making him cold and he pressed her warm body more towards his. Hinata was shuddering under his grasp as his hands traced her midsection. "Very difficult to sleep through." He softly bite her shoulder.

Hinata cupped her mouth as she muffled a small yelp. Her heart raced as the adrenaline began to pulse through her body. She activated her byakugan and made sure they were not in danger of being caught. Her hand rested on top of his. One thing still bothered her about earlier though. "You said people who found you attractive were 'strange' and you thought poorly of them. What about me?" She was serious in her concern of his opinion of her. Although it seemed silly again to ask a question which should have asked from the beginning, she listened intently for his response playing with a strand of hair.

Orochimaru's hand shot up and seized hers. Griping it firmly, he leaned it closely, "You...you're the exception." He whispered in her ear. He watched her as he saw her lips appear in a satisfied smile. The hand he held let go of the strand of hair and came around caressing his face back. Without any words exchanged she stood up to leave and he followed. The family would be re-uniting for super. He wasn't particularly hungry for food, but he would go just to please his student. It was a reasonable negotiation.

Woo~! Spring Break! New chapter up after a small delay. Hope you enjoy the chapter! Please review and stay awesome! :3