"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."
The ninja headed into the large city with no other goal than escaping it. However they knew that would take time, and that in that time they would need to secure their basic needs such as food and shelter. Money was the main issue in that factor, so they would seek out ways to earn money, ways which would not bind them to one location. They would find odd jobs, or else, as the snake Sannin so casually said, they could rob people.
"Those people worked for that money." Kakashi admitted, feeling slightly morally incorrect. Asuma agreed with him, Hidan and Deidara watched them in confusion, immoral plans was a common occurrence to the ex-Akatsuki members.
"We won't take their homes." Deidara said, "just a bit of money."
"These bastards took our freedom. They can lose some coins." Hidan snapped.
"Not directly they didn't. Their leaders did." Asuma said.
"Their is no justifying theft." Orochimaru said, "so I won't bother. But let's be logical shall we? We can't eat morals."
"There are other ways to get money." Kakashi offered.
"It's not practical in the long run, but fine. Let's do it your way first. If we are starving under a cardboard box by the end of the week we start doing things our way."
They agreed it was fair enough, so they patrolled the streets seeking out what they could do to earn coins. The ninja ended up walking through busy streets, Orochimaru watched the people stream past in their everyday busy manners. The team eventually decided to split up to find possible places to earn money from, they parted ways deciding they would meet up at that very exact spot in two hours time. Deidara muttered how unsafe it would be for him and Orochimaru to walk alone in the city, so Hidan decided to go with the blond to ease his mind. When Kakashi offered to walk with the Sannin, his lover objected, he was less concerned for his own safety and more interested in being more productive. Kakashi was more useful looking for money than he was playing body guard for the slightly smaller ninja. Asuma had left before the team had settled on who was going with who, muttering something about having an idea. Orochimaru kissed his partner goodbye and disappeared into the crowd. He hadn't a clue where he would start looking, but some how fate brought something to him.
He was pulled aside from his group by an unknown citizen, a young man who had skittish eyes.
"I need you to do me a favor." The man said, he couldn't have been older than twenty three, "that's my ex. I need you to pretend to be with me."
He didn't give the pale ninja much of a choice as he slipped his arm around his waist. Orochimaru was shocked, and slightly appalled, but he didn't move away, he watched as a young women passed. She greeted the man still holding onto the Sannin.
"It's good to see you again..." The women said.
"You to. This is..." The man faltered.
"Orochimaru." Orochimaru replied with a sweet smile. He didn't know the context of their life story, but he bet if he lied for the man he could gain a few coins off him.
"Oh." The Nw citizen said her eyes dropping into something more glum, "are you two..."
"Together, yeah." The man inserted. Orochimaru looked up at him with golden eyes. He wasn't thrilled with the proximity but there was little other options screaming at him.
"That's great." The women stated, "I should- get going. Bye."
She left into the crowd rejoining with two other women, all of which were shooting daggers at the ninja and NW.
"Thanks." The man said, he was met by questioning eyes, "I'm sorry about that- she was my ex."
"You said so." Orochimaru stated, "are those her friends?"
"Yeah, are they looking?" He asked, he had his back to them.
"Yes." Orochimaru replied, "in fact, they're heading this way."
"Shit, play the part a bit longer." The man said.
"What's in it for me?" Orochimaru asked with sly eyes. The man chuckled lightly.
"I knew you looked like a bit of a cat." He said, "I'll pay you."
Orochimaru smirked, "deal."
The two women headed over they seemed to be judging the two of them harshly with cold stares. They pulled up by them and awaited a greeting, they didn't offer words of their own, they were expectant of the man to uphold the conversation. But the man was stuck for words, the socially awkward situation made the snake sigh internally. He better get extra for saving the mans social life.
"I'm Orochimaru." The Sannin greeted with sweet smile, fake no doubt but hard to read as such.
"A ninja?" She snapped.
"Perceptive." Orochimaru chuckled. The women seemed rather irritated at the sarcastic comment.
"They look human, but they're not the same." The other women said to the man.
"Don't speak about them like that." The man stated, "they're as human as any of us."
"Bullshit." The other women muttered, "bet the only reason you got someone as pretty as her is because she is a slave to our society, it's easy to pick up someone with no rights."
Orochimaru's smile dropped, he hadn't realized everyone in the conversation thought he was a girl. He supposed it was fine, what did it really matter any how. All he wanted was the money at the end of the little act.
"That's not why I am with him. Ninja have some rights, enough to allow us our independence." Orochimaru answered his eyes strong and slightly intimidating, their confidence daunting.
"True, this guy doesn't have enough money for himself let alone an extra add on." The women laughed, "enjoy your day, but I have to tell you how short lived this will be, she will realize she is far to pretty to be stuck with a man like you."
"That is assuming I'm superficial." Orochimaru retorted, "we should not weigh one another on our appearances."
The women glared at him before saying their farewells. They walked back to their other friend and proceeded with their obvious ranting. The man let out a sigh.
"That was awful." He said.
"I need to go, I have places to-" Orochimaru was cut off as the sound of skin hitting skin thumped above him. He looked behind him to see the man he had helped holding his mouth which may or may not have been bleeding. Kakashi had a closed fist as he turned to face the Sannin, standing in front of the serpent as if he needed saving.
"You okay?" He asked his partner, Orochimaru moved him aside with a light smile.
"I was fine," he said then upon seeing the man rise and Kakashi advance he swiftly added, "don't hit him!"
"Why, who is he?" Kakashi asked.
"He asked me to- it's a long story. He isn't a threat, In fact he was just about to pay up for my service." Orochimaru stated, Kakashi seemed skeptical, from his perspective all he saw was a man pulling his lover into his chest, firmly trapping him by the waist. Service made the whole ordeal seem slightly insidious.
"Not like that Kakashi." Orochimaru sighed, he went down to the still whimpering man clutching his face, "my apologies, he misunderstood matters. Now as we were saying, my pay."
"Who is that?" The man asked as he moved his hand away from his face.
"His boyfriend." Kakashi said, his eyes watching the man carefully.
"His? Shit man I didn't mean to offend anyone, I was just leaving. Here." He said taking out his wallet and handing the contents to the Sannin. He had made two discoveries that day, the feminine ninja he had seen turned out to be male, and he turned out to have a boyfriend willing to do damage to who ever stepped out of line around that said male.
"Pleasure doing business." Orochimaru said, "if you ever need me to play along I'm always willing... I promise he won't punch you again."
"Thanks." The man muttered ducking away from the event, Orochimaru smiled up at his partner.
"This making money thing isn't so tough after all." He said.
"I won't ask how that was made." Kakashi replied.
"It's hardly an exciting tale my love." Orochimaru laughed pecking the man in front of him, "we should continue our searches."
"Yeah, I'll make sure not to punch any... Clients again?" Kakashi replied.
"Please." The serpent slipped back into the crowd as he placed the money in his pocket. He couldn't have been five minutes from his lover when a group of men yelling at one another caught his attention. He walked up to hear what they were discussing. They seemed to be having a debate about the physics of one of their buildings.
"If you do that you idiot the wall won't last." The man said irritably.
"You know nothing. Just go with what we were told." The other man snapped.
"I don't think this is the edited plan of the building." The man said again.
"How do you know?" His companion asked.
"Those measurements don't add up." He stated.
"You can't do maths you idiot." The guy snapped.
"I can do the basics. I just need it to be explained again, or I need to know where the error is to redo it." The man snapped. The Sannin glided over to look at the maths which was apparently indecipherable. His golden eyes snapped up the errors in the proposal within two moments. Errors being the correct word as all the way down he noticed incorrect work.
"That's wrong." The snake stated confidently. The men looked over at him skeptically but the man which was set on the idea of the work being incorrect checked it himself.
"Why. If it's wrong correct it." He said harshly handing him the plan, the serpent smiled as he took the basic problem. For a mastermind like himself, it was a child's sum. He gracefully swooped up the pen and guided black strands behind his ear to see the paper better. He then promptly corrected the draft and handed it back.
"By the way, your floor B will never hold given that support. I suggest splitting the two rooms below it to add extra support structures." Orochimaru said.
The man analyzed it, he then nodded and looked back at the ninja with curious and impressed eyes.
"I know how to manage this stuff, before hand I could tell the plan was shit, but it all adds up now." He said, "smart for a ninja huh?"
"Most ninja have a higher standard of thinking actually." Orochimaru stated, "I'm looking to earn money, but I move from town to town, do you know any careers which allow that?"
"Shit, sorry no." The man admitted, "it's hard for you lot to get a job. People under pay ninja as well, since they have little choice and all."
"I see." Orochimaru said slightly irritably, he hid his frustrations at the unfairness of the society and was about to wave his goodbyes when the man handed him something.
"I'm not the biggest advocate for ninjas rights I'll admit, but I pay for honest work. Best of luck." He said as he handed the ninja something he had retrieved from his pocket. Orochimaru thanked him and then departed, he could hear the other man complaining about the man wasting his money on people who did not matter. The snake ignored it, so far he had gotten money off doing practically nothing. Perhaps all the ninja had to do was odd jobs around the city rather than robbing people after all. It took a perceptive individual to locate the citizens who needed help, but for the ninja, locating those in distress was second nature. The serpent moved around from shop to shop trying to see what was a potential place to earn some more money.
He eventually, after another hour of walking found a man yelling at one of his employees.
"It's only a half an hour left of the event, can't she stay?" He complained.
"She has already gone to the hospital. She is very ill." The women said trying to calm him down.
"We are a man down. We need four servers." He snapped.
"Three should be fine." She stated back.
"There are four sectors to work." He snapped, "these are important people."
Orochimaru swooped in to talk to the man, he noticed the men must have been important indeed as they held themselves with utter arrogance. Two other people dressed in similar outfits to the woman getting yelled at arrived by the man at the same time.
"They're getting impatient." One stated.
"One of us will just have to work a double shift in the last half an hour." The women said.
"They're never going to agree to our arrangement with this service." The man said irritably.
"Need an extra hand?" The Sannin asked, his golden eyes snatching up every detail in the room. The man looked at him and was about to say something in an angry tone when he for some or other reason smiled.
"You're a ninja?" He asked.
"Yes." Orochimaru said.
"You lot are always desperate for money. Tell you what, fill the fourth shift and I'll scrap up something to give you." The man said, he didn't ask, he more expected. It then occurred to the Sannin that ninja most likely always took odd jobs. It must have been rough trying to attain a job at all, and NW citizens made full use of ninja being in hard times.
"Alright, what must I do?" He asked.
"It's just a normal waitressing job." The women said politely, "issue is there are a lot of people here, all of which are imperials or else nobles. They don't like waiting, and they have never been forced to. Be polite, be prompt. You handle that section of the restaurant. Hope you have a good memory ninja."
She darted off to handle her sector as already the snake could see imperials and apparent nobles getting slightly agitated that there was no one to speak to. Orochimaru walked towards the tables he was due to help, he knew his memory had never failed him, and he knew his confidence had never failed either. With that knowledge he told his pride to settle down as the demeaning job of serving would only last until he could blow the entire NW society to its hands and knees once more. He arrived at the first table and put on his friendliest smile. The men didn't seem bothered at the fact that he was a ninja and told him what they wanted.
So far so good he thought as he recited what they wanted to the women at the desk, she nodded and hurriedly typed it into the machine in front of her.
The serpent made his way around his sector quickly as asked, as the men were irritable from their apparent difficult lives. It was all smooth running until the last ten minutes when the restaurant was finally empty, all expect for one table in his sector.
One man called to the snake, and he should have known there was some kind of ulterior motive when he saw the smile spread across his face. Arrogant, and confident in the fact that a lowly ninja could do little to report the man regardless of what he said and did.
"You're a ninja." He stated, for the third time that day. The Sannin kept his facade of being polite and courteous. He knew how to lie after all.
"I am." He said, "did you need anything?"
"No, just wanted to talk." He replied, the other men at the table watched him with fixed eyes, "what made you decide to agree to the proposal and join our ranks?"
It was all small talk, it was leading else where and the Sannin knew it. But he could hardly walk away from the man, it was his duty to do as he was told until the last ten minutes were up.
"I decided it would be a better life living here given the fact that I would simply remain a prisoner other wise." Orochimaru said.
"Isn't he confident for a ninja." The man laughed, "sit down."
Orochimaru knew there was no way he was settling down next to the man, he had ordered many drinks during the half an hour shift, he must have been tipsy and slightly to out of mind to realize what he was actually doing. Either that or he was completely insensitive to the obvious tight spot he placed the ninja in. Had there been other customers around he would have used them as a scape goat.
"I wouldn't want to impose on your meeting gentlemen." Orochimaru said, hoping the man would give up but knowing he would not.
"Nonsense, the meetings over, it's just a few guys talking now." The man said, "please, sit."
The man made a point of making room for the serpent, but the Sannin still didn't make a notion to sit down for the first few seconds. He then decided there was little the men could do to him in broad daylight, and it would be harmless to waste the last ten minutes with the man anyhow.
He sat down beside the man and moments after another NW citizen returned from the bathroom. He ended up sitting beside the Sannin, now blocking him from exiting at will.
Orochimaru found himself sitting in between the two large males now completely dependent on them moving for him to be able to do the same.
He maintained his assured attitude, and tried his best to allow his discomfort to disappear. They spoke for the next fifteen minutes until finally the manager asked if the Sannin wanted to leave.
He was grateful and stated to the gentlemen that he should go as business hours were over.
"He will be out in a minute." The one man said to the manager, he didn't argue and asked the serpent to collect his payment when he was done.
"I should probably go." Orochimaru said, his golden eyes met the man nearest to him.
"Have any plans? Maybe you would like to come back to my house." The man offered. The Sannins eyes narrowed, the comment wasn't what agitated him but the lack of tact. How desperate did these people assume ninja were.
"I must decline your generous offer." He said, his voice dripping in sarcasm, "I must be going."
The men seemed irritated at his response and the male blocking him from getting out of the seating arrangement didn't budge.
"Where do you have to be now that's more important than spending some time with us?" One man said.
"I was working, my shift is over." Orochimaru stated, "I need to go home."
"You were just a substitute today right?" The man asked.
"I was yes." Orochimaru replied.
"You were looking to earn extra money no doubt huh ninja?" The man asked.
"Yes." The Sannin said, his responses getting shorter to imply he was finished talking.
"Want to earn some extra?" The man asked. The snakes slitted eyes narrowed up at the man.
"I have enough now." The serpent said.
"Really?" The man said, "well, if you change your mind give me a call won't you?"
The man handed the snake a card with numbers jotted down onto it. He didn't know how phones worked, as ninja never used them. He was unaware of what the numbers truly meant and he held it in his slim fingers the paper slightly creased now. He was anxious to simply leave. Finally the man got up and they allowed him to move away. It took the Sannin seconds to grab his payment and dart out the building. He saw the men watch him as he left before they took out metallic objects and held it to their ears. He could feel their eyes on him even as he walked away. The odd feeling of being watch stayed with the Sannin even as he rounded a corner, even after he had been walking for ten minutes. He was heading back to the ninja meeting spot when a rough hand grabbed him before slamming him into the wall. His eyes fell to the hand which held him and he noted a black marking on his wrist. It was a ninja, a gang of ninja more accurately.
"Your money." The ninja snapped. The Sannin hissed, he swore to the gods above if these barbaric ninja robbed him of his honest earned money.
"I'm a ninja you bastard." The snake hissed, "shouldn't we be robbing the rich rather."
"I said hand over the money." The man said again, his adrenalin clearly pumping. Orochimaru couldn't help his anger, if he had his chakara he would have torn the thugs a part. He would have painted the streets in their blood and called it another day. However he was defenseless and he had little stopping the men from robbing him other than his pure stubbornness.
"You deaf or something?" Another ninja asked from behind his friend. The glint of metal suddenly flashed from one of the men's pockets, a knife most likely. He decided his money wasn't worth his life.
"There's no need for that." He hissed, he handed the man holding him to the wall what he had just earned over the last few hours. The man gave it to his friend who counted it and then backed away slightly. The ninja holding him pulled the Sannin forwards before ramming him into the wall harshly. For good measure he forced the Sannin to the floor as he swiftly kicked him, the serpent hissed in pain as the men darted away. He held his head from where the wall collided with it before rising shakily. He watched the men's retreating backs and leant against the wall.
He didn't know if he was sad, defeated or angered. Perhaps all three, but he leant on the wall simply doing nothing for about ten minutes before deciding he might as well head back. Kakashi may well have been worrying for him. Deidara had been right, ninja of their stature and build simply could not be independent, they could not do what they pleased as it was a dangerous world. It was NW imperials cat calling and offering their beds or else it was their very own shinobi robbing them. He pulled himself together to walk home. Perhaps he didn't need Kakashi to walk with him next time, perhaps all he needed was a knife of his own.
The next man to so much as look at him with ill intent would be sliced from one side of his throat to the other. He was done trying it the others way. He would return to acting immorally, he had learnt by now that morals were always taken for granted, and those who did things the right way never truly went anywhere. If anything had taught him that lesson it was his time in Konoha before his defect. He rounded the next corner and collided with the men he had spoken to at the restaurant. The mans smile faded when his eyes landed on the ninja.
"Hey what happened to you, you hurt?" He asked coming to the ninja. Orochimaru looked up at the taller man miserably. He hardly wanted his company after being mugged.
"I was robbed." He stated, all too honestly for his own liking. But it appeared the shock from the event had not yet worn off. He was speaking with out his own consent and it was making him even more irritable. He hadn't wanted to relay the last event, he had wanted to get on with his life, but it had still shaken him and in that weakened state he had opened his mouth and confessed his own failure. He hated being defenseless.
"What? By who?" The man said, wether it was true care or fake care the serpent didn't know. He probably could have read the mans true intentions if he had put any thought into any of it, but truth be told he didn't bother think about it. He was still wondering what him and his team would eat tonight now that he had been robbed of his money.
"I don't know, some desperate ninja." He stated, he noticed afterwards that he had justified why the ninja had robbed him. He had gone on autopilot and he had quickly made sure the NW men knew that the ninja would not do malicious things with out reason. He tried to uphold the ninja name.
"Typical. Sadly that's a dime a dozen in this town." The man said, "tell you what, it's nothing to me, I'll reimburse you."
Orochimarus eye leapt up as the man extended more money to him, clearly the man didn't know he was talking to the most untrusting ninja on their continent. He knew nothing was free, and he wasn't willing to be naive on his acceptances.
"I have nothing to offer in return. Excuse me for sounding ungrateful, but I'd rather not owe anyone anything." The serpent said.
"Owe me? Nah, consider it compensation for making you uncomfortable earlier." The man said.
"Hardly a fair trade." Orochimaru said again.
"This money is nothing to me, I would've just blown it on more drinks." The man said. He then proceeded in shoving it into the Sannins hand as he had done earlier with the card.
"No I don't want-" but the Sannin was ignored as the man reunited with his friends. He waved the serpent off and got into a metallic box with four wheels before it roared to life and left.
He looked at the car wondering if what had happened was good or bad. What if he ran into the man again and he expected something. Orochimaru looked down at the card in his pocket. He supposed he could use the money, then when times were better he could repay him.
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"Where is he?" Deidara said worriedly, "I warned him we shouldn't go alone."
Hidan looked down at the blond and shook his head, he wasn't sure if he had saved the smaller ninja from any criminals. They hadn't managed to make any money anyhow.
"He will show up." Asuma stated uncaringly.
"How long has it been?" Kakashi asked.
"He is twenty minutes late." Deidara replied.
"Sorry." Orochimaru said as he came up from the street, the first thing the group noticed was the blood running down the side of his head. Kakashi trotted up to meet his lover and wrapped an arm around him to turn the serpent to look at him.
"Are you alright?" He asked for the second time that day.
"What? Oh yeah, it's just a scratch." Orochimaru said, "it's nothing to worry about."
"Looks deep." Hidan said.
"It's really not." Orochimaru said.
"What happened?" Deidara asked rushing to his friends side worriedly.
"Some low life ninjas jumped me a little way from here." Orochimaru said, "I didn't get hurt."
"You're bleeding, what do you mean you didn't get hurt?" Hidan said, "where are they now? We can go mess them up."
"Firstly, they are long gone and secondly they are armed with knives. I'd rather get a weapon myself before picking a fight with anybody." Orochimaru stated.
"Did you earn any money?" Asuma asked, the copy ninja glared at him. His lover was evidently hurt after an attack, and all his friend cared about was wether or not he had earned anything. He restrained himself from commenting on the matter and instead left it. After all, it appeared as if the Sannin didn't want to harbor on the day's events.
"Well the guys who attacked me robbed me-" Orochimaru started.
"Fucking great." Asuma said irritably, he hadn't earned a single coin either. Kakashi had been the only other ninja to earn something, and it was close to nothing. Certainly not enough to house and feed five ninja.
"As I was saying, there was some guy I spoke to during one of my jobs. We ran into each other and he gave me back what I lost." Orochimaru said, "in fact he gave me more than what I lost."
"Thank the heavens." Asuma said, "how much is it?"
"Money isn't the main focus of this conversation." Kakashi finally snapped.
"What do you mean?" Asuma said irritably.
"He just got mugged can we ignore the money for the moment?" The copy ninja said.
"Listen, while I was out the only thing I managed to gather was that these streets get rough at night. There is no way we can possibly hope to live out here at night. We need a place to stay." Asuma said, "Orochimaru is fine, out of all of us he knows how to hold his own physically and mentally. Don't worry about him so much, if he needed help he would have asked you for it."
There was an awkward silence in which the two Jounin simply moved away from one another, Asuma then looked back at the Sannin who handed the man the money instinctively. He didn't know why he did it, he simply didn't want it on his hands any more. At least now he wouldn't have anything of value to steal.
"This is a lot of money. What were you doing?" Asuma asked.
"Odd jobs. Helped some guys work out a few problems on the more technical side, helped at a local restaurant and then some guy and his relationship problems." Orochimaru admitted, "but the guy who reimbursed me doubled what I originally earned."
"Hope you thanked this guy." Asuma said pocketing the money.
"Didn't get the chance, and besides if I had I wouldn't have accepted it." Orochimaru said honestly. The group looked at him curiously.
"I didn't want to owe anyone in this town anything. Let alone another Imperial or noble." The Sannin said.
"He can't track you." Asuma stated, "there isn't anything to worry about. For now let's look for where we can spend the night, book rooms at some motel, then spend the rest of the day gathering more money."
The group wandered the streets and asked some of the citizens for directions. By the time the group had found a motel they could afford it was already nightfall and Asuma stressed the dangers of the city at night. The ninja all decided rather to camp out early and wake up even earlier to start their days work of collecting money. Food wasn't their main agenda as much as safety due to the high crime rates in the NW faculty. The motel they were forced to stay at was no safer looking, many sketchy individuals passed through the halls and hung around the staircases. Most of which had some sort of smoke in their hand or mouth. As Deidara had suspected the men in the complex all passed looks at the two feminine ninja. It made the blond feel uneasy, it made the Sannin skeptical and it made the copy ninja enraged. Thankfully, nobody approached the ninja as they proceeded to their room. When they got to their dorm they noticed it was a three bedroom. Bed wise it consisted of a single and two doubles. It occurred to the serpent that his best friend wasn't keen on sharing, yet he did not feel safe alone.
"You and Kakashi can share a bed anytime." Deidara stressed, "I don't want to sleep alone in this place... But I'm not sharing with Hidan... Or Asuma that's for damn sure."
"In other words, you want to share a bed with me?" The Sannin asked blatantly.
"You're the only person I know well enough to not feel awkward. Just until I get to know the others better." Deidara said in attempts to reassure the snake that he wouldn't be deprived of the copy ninja for long.
"Alright, fine, why not." Orochimaru said, he doubted Kakashi would be thrilled, but if it was one thing he knew about his lover it was that the copy ninja was tolerant, and generally very laid back. He wouldn't resist the idea if it did no harm to anyone, besides, they would spend their days together, the nights shouldn't be too much of an issue. The Sannin explained his friends fears to Kakashi, who externally relayed how he had no problems with the idea, however internally he cursed the blond for his insecurity.
"I knew you'd understand." Orochimaru said sweetly. They all settled into their chosen spots and Asuma and Kakashi chose to share the last standing double bed, as Hidan hadn't seemed thrilled about either of them.
It worked out fine and the ninja were happily sitting around the small coffee table in the middle of the room. The night air turned out to be cold, perhaps they hadn't figured a way to regulate the domes temperature yet.
Deidara sat on one of the single seater couches, while Asuma and Hidan shared the double seater. Since there were no other couches Kakashi and Orochimaru sat together beneath the same blanket on the floor. The group spoke once more about things which didn't have any relevance, this time around Asuma partook in their talks of nonsense. It was a smooth running conversation, with little interruptions of social awkwardness. Orochimaru watched as his lover slowly got more tired as the night proceeded, he noticed most of the group excluding himself and Hidan seemed to be growing tired. Hidan and the serpent were the night owls of the group it appeared, the others seemed ready to go to sleep. Deidara, Asuma and Kakashi all got up to go to their rooms, exhaustion from the day finally over powering them. The copy ninja pecked his lover goodnight and told him to sleep well. Orochimaru reciprocated the gesture and watched as the three ninja all clambered into their rooms. Hidan looked over at the bright eyed Sannin, who evidently was far from ready to go to bed.
"Want to go get some fresh air?" Hidan asked.
"Certainly." Orochimaru replied getting to his feet. Both ninja clearly remembered Asuma's warning, but neither of them were the skittish types. Even after being attacked the day prior the Sannin automatically fell back into rogue mode. Of course the night streets were dangerous. But for a rogue, what time of day wasn't? Night time had become a place to hide, they had both grown used to the darkness and saw it as coverage for themselves rather than coverage for their enemies.
They silently shut the motel room behind them before locking it. Orochimaru only thought about telling Kakashi were he was moments too late, but he supposed it was for the best. The copy ninja was likely to worry about him. Hidan and the serpent trotted down the stairs, they passed many more shady individuals but none of them took notice of the ninja. Half of them were ninja themselves. They were finally called to, one stair case from the ground level. Orochimaru told Hidan to ignore them, but the immortal thought that it felt to cowardly to do such a thing. He turned to face the group of men.
"What?" He asked.
"Not you grey head." The one man said, "what's your friends name?"
"Grey head?" Hidan asked, he then realized he must have been referring to his hair colour, in which he preferred the description of silver rather than grey, as it wasn't a dulled colour at all.
"Yeah, what's your friends name?" Another man added.
"We were just passing." Orochimaru said, trying to get Hidan to move away with him.
"You smoke?" One man asked.
"No." Orochimaru said.
"Ah come on beautiful. You ever tried it?" The man asked.
"He doesn't partake in meaningless shit." Hidan defended.
"Shit guy, calm down will you. We aren't talking to you. You want to try it beautiful?" The man asked.
"No thank you, let's go Hidan." Orochimaru said, whispering the last part to the immortal. He looked down at the snake but he didn't move away from the men, pride still out won reason. And unlike the snake, Hidan was physically capable of holding his own anyhow, which gave him all the arrogance he needed to stand his ground. That factor irritated the Sannin more, not because Hidan was proudly holding his ground, but because due to physical stature, he could not do the same. His pride also screamed for him to tell the men off, to not worry about their clear ability to over power him. He could swallow his pride though, as he could sense that it would get him no where but in a hospital at best.
"You look scared, don't be scared." One man said, although it was more patronizing than anything else.
"Fuck off." Hidan spat, he knew the serpent was proud, but he also knew he wasn't in the position to defend that pride, so he defended it for the Sannin.
"We said we weren't talking to you." The first man snapped.
"We don't want anything from you, Hidan lets just go like we planned. We don't need to prove anything to them." Orochimaru hissed, his patience finally worn off.
"How's life like as a ninja?" One man laughed, "being scum of the earth and all?"
"We have no rights, what's your excuse for living in a shit hole?" Hidan spat back. The man seemed angered at the last comment and tossed his cigarette to a small ash tray on the windowsill. He took a step towards Hidan, who didn't falter in his confidence once.
"Watch your mouth ninja." The man said.
"Don't start a scruff if you can't finish it." Hidan replied. Orochimaru flashed irritable eyes between them, the last thing he needed was a fight outside their door. What was worse was the fact that those same men could follow them back to their room if they so chose. It wasn't a safe place to be put in, and the Sannin wanted out.
"Just leave them Hidan." Orochimaru snapped, this time he came to stand in front of the immortal, his slitted eyes warning the man of how serious he was with this final request, "I'm leaving."
He carried on down the hall, and half expected the sound of the others footsteps to follow him. Instead he heard the men upstairs muttering how the immortal had pissed beautiful off.
He hissed to himself in irritation but in stubbornness carried on down the stairs regardless. He heard thumping upstairs, Hidan had clearly engaged the men. To be fair, the immortals natural ability to fight gave him the edge in the battle, he was used to using taijutsu against multiple opponents, and he had the physical stature to do damage when he struck back. Footsteps sounded down the hall even though the thumping from above did not stop. Orochimaru felt someone come awfully close and he turned to face the approaching figure to alert who ever it was that he was hardly unsuspecting.
"Hey." The man said, he was one of the males from the stairs. The serpent warned him to leave him be, but the male did no such thing. Instead, he grabbed the slim wrist of the ninja and dragged him up the stairs back to the incident. Hidan was absolutely scratch-less where as the other men seemed to be in pain. The immortal turned to see the man dragging the serpent up the stairs.
"Get out of here or your bitch gets it." The man snapped, Hidan paused to see the glint of metal at the Sannins throat. He knew he didn't have to worry about the snake however, the man was a fool to assume he had not been held at knife point before. The snake was too small to fight off the gang, but he was certainly skilled enough one on one. He would manipulate his knowledge of anatomy and make sure he snapped every bone on his way out of the intruders hold. The Sannin twisted himself out of the hostile grip, using the others weight and position against him, the sound of the mans wrist snapping filled the air. The thug recoiled as if he had touched a live wire and stammered backwards.
"Fuck these guys." One man said, the rest got to their feet and they moved away from the two ninja, the feminine one of the two now picking up the fallen knife. He spun it around in his hand and was tempted to lob it like a kunai at the man who had harshly pulled him to where he stood. He decided he would rather keep the weapon however.
"Yeah fuck off." Hidan retorted as they ran, he looked at the snake with a satisfied smile before his usual hyena like laugh exploded from his mouth, "nice, we got a free knife. We should go pick some fights and score a few more."
"No thank you." Orochimaru said dryly, "I just wanted some fresh air. Not more enemies."
"What are those guys going to do?" Hidan laughed.
"Bring a gun." Orochimaru warned, "NW citizens can acquire guns, ninja are banned from them."
"They must do what they want we can steal it off them again." Hidan said, "but yeah, let's get some air. You need to cool off."
They walked down the stairs and exited the building into the night air, which both ninja felt refreshed upon coming in to contact with. It turned out to be a pleasant first few minutes, where the two rogues found endless things to talk about. They were not paying attention to where they were headed exactly, but the journey was undisturbed. Hidan was large in stature, and perhaps his natural intimidation factor had thugs staying away. Orochimaru felt much more at ease knowing he had a knife. He could defend himself with now, the only real threat being a gun.
There was a sharp sound of animalistic whimpering and crying shattering the night air as they walked past an alleyway. Hidan glanced but didn't feel the need to stop, it wasn't a human bellowing, it was some kind of animal. On the contrary the Sannin was more inclined to pity natures beasts than he was to pity a human, in which he had far better experiences with animals rather than people. He headed to investigate and the immortal sighed behind him, but Hidan relinquished and followed the snake summoner down the dingy street.
"Now this is looking for trouble." Hidan said as they journeyed further into the alleyway.
"It's over there." Orochimaru said, he picked up his pace and eventually dropped down on one knee to kneel beside something. Hidan drew up at his side to see a mangy dog tied to a gutter pipe by what looked like barbed wire and rusty threads of steel. It was shaking in nervousness most likely, perhaps a bit of pain considering the metal had dug into its flesh when it had struggled to get free. The dogs tail wagged weakly, it's head lowered in submission, evidently trying to beg the arrivals not to harm it anymore.
"I wouldn't touch it if I were you." Hidan warned, "put it out of its misery, poor creature."
"I don't think it has any disease if that's what your worried about. And it's wounds are fresh, most certainly treatable." Orochimaru said, he took out the knife he had just recieved. Hidan expected him to slit it's throat and end the animal swiftly, but he made his way around the wire and cut it off. The dog wriggled but the Sannin offered reassurance and it listened attentively, more confused than understanding however. Finally the dog was free and it limped a few steps forwards but then gave up and looked from its wounded front paw to the two ninja.
"Good job." Orochimaru praised as the dog tried again, he pet it on the head lightly. Perhaps the dog had won his sympathy, or perhaps the dog reminded him of home, which in turn evoked dormant memories of better times. Either way, the Sannin was set on helping the stray creature.
"It can't walk." Hidan stated.
"You can carry it." Orochimaru offered.
"How generous of me..." Hidan muttered.
"It will die if untreated. Just take it to the room for me. That's all, Kakashi will help me from there." Orochimaru said, he would have carried it himself, but the dog was not small. It was slightly taller than medium, and possibly a rather bulky breed if not for its unhealthily malnutrition.
"Yeah fine." Hidan said half heartedly, the dog seemed to relax in the mans hold when he picked it up. Their walk was cut short and they were forced to go straight back to the motel. There was a no-pet policy, but that didn't stop the two ninja from sneaking the new member into the room. Orochimaru made his way to the man at the desk and put on his sweetest facade. He spoke to the man as he elegantly brushed hair out of his face, the male was distracted by the impish ninja before him. He most certainly didn't get much attention given his lowly job and shady appearance. Hidan easily got passed the man and up the first stair case. As soon as he was up, the Sannin diverted from the conversation and wished the man a goodnight. The man was more than friendly to the Sannin after their talk however, and the ninja wondered if perhaps next time the man wouldn't even mind them breaking the rules.
Either way didn't matter, the dog was up the stairs and into their room.
"Where am I putting him?" Hidan asked, they had finally figured out the dogs gender.
"Couch, I need to treat some of the worse wounds." Orochimaru said.
"With what?" Hidan asked.
Orochimaru slipped out his pocket knife and ran the blade down his arm. It left a deep and messy scratch which dripped of crimson blood. Hidan watched in amusement.
"Masochist." Hidan joked, the Sannins golden eyes landed on him for a second, but upon deciding he didn't fancy the joke he didn't respond.
"I'm going to ask for a first aid kit downstairs." Orochimaru said, "wait here."
Hidan sighed wondering what made the serpent think of such a strange plan. To be fair, the immortal wasn't one to judge another in such terms, after all his entire jutsu required self inflicted pain. The Sannin reached the man at the desk who seemed pleased to see his return. Orochimaru asked for the kit and the man blindly handed it over, he then watched the serpents retreating back as he trotted up the hall to his room. Once inside again he immediately used all the bandages and disinfectant to clean and patch up the dogs more severe wounds. The hound was tired from fighting its confines, the serpent wondered which twisted NWs had found pleasure in harming the creature with no gain.
Once bandaged Hidan moved the dog into the Sannins bed, where Deidara was already asleep. The snake summoner had run a wet piece of cloth over the dog to clean it of most of the street dirt.
"Thanks." Orochimaru said, aiding the dog into a comfortable position. Hidan nodded and went back to his own room, in which he happily fell asleep in his bed.
Orochimaru stayed in his bed with Deidara and his new found companion. The latter of which was evidently grateful for the help, it's head laying on the Sannin as if it had already decided he was its new friend. The blond remained asleep somehow, even with the added member. It finally made sense why Deidara had wanted to sleep near someone, it appeared the blond could sleep through the sound of a train running past.
Authors note- chapter two is done and dusted! Hope you enjoyed it 3 please leave a review on your thoughts! Huge thanks to those who do! ~Hourglass8