The Tale Of An Utterly Old Lady. [Jiraiya x OC]

Chapter 6 | Conversations at the Udon Shop

Chapter 6 | Conversations at the Udon Shop

On the way to the udon shop, the three of us came across Orochimaru too. He was invited by Jiraiya, and surprisingly, the future Snake Sannin agreed to join.

When we sat ourselves on the stools in front of the counter, I felt a weird sense of deja-vu. The place reminded me of Ichiraku, yet it served udon. I shook my head, rationalizing with myself that it was probably because Ichiraku Ramen was a bar like this udon shop. Both had noodles too.

As expected, the topic of our marriage was the first thing inquired about, and Jiraiya and I answered to the best of our abilities without mentioning the deal. I had whispered to him beforehand that I wasn't sure about involving them just yet. Not with Orochimaru around, though I couldn't say that to Jiraiya because he saw the future Snake Sannin as a teammate and friend.

"So that thing you two were going to do earlier was to officiate your marriage?" Orochimaru questioned.

"Yep," Jiraiya replied before slurping his noodles.

"What did you mean by Jiraiya being the one getting forced into it?" Now it was Tsunade who began interrogating us.

"Well, I was the one who proposed," I told them, "on the...uh...same day we met."

"What?!" Tsunade exclaimed, her eyes wide.

"My, that's interesting," remarked Orochimaru, smiling in intrigue.

"I find it hard to believe Jiraiya would just happily accept something like that..." Tsunade stated, narrowing her eyes on me. I laughed awkwardly under her scrutiny. "He doesn't seem like he'd agree to getting tied down by marriage."

Well...he did say that, I thought back to his words on the night of my proposal.

"I'm too busy pursuing my destiny to be in a long-term commitment. It'll only be inconvenient for both of us."

"She was persistent," Jiraiya spoke up after swallowing his food. He then set down his chopsticks, holding the bowl he ate from to drink the remaining soup.

"So persistence just made you give in, is it?" Orochimaru smiled as if he knew the whole story, and I gulped down my noodles nervously. "Were you always that easy, Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya frowned, and as he opened his mouth to bark something back, I shoved some noodles in his mouth with my chopsticks. He looked at me with furrowed eyebrows, but I just smiled at him, hoping he wouldn't say anything about the deal—even if his pride was on the line. He slurped the noodles, still wearing a frown.

I felt both Tsunade and Orochimaru scrutinize me.

"I-It's really not like that!" I exclaimed, setting my chopsticks over my bowl. "He was just too nice to turn me down, that's all."

Tsunade burst out laughing. "Too nice? That guy?"

"Hey! I can be nice, you know!" Jiraiya yelled, leaning over at the counter we sat in front of. I was in between him and Tsunade, so I took the brunt of their never-ending bickering. Tired, I looked over at Orochimaru who sat silently to the other side of Tsunade, seemingly done with his meal.

Then my thoughts wandered to what the future might become.

Orochimaru was an infamous criminal in the original storyline. He performed human experiments and had an obsession with immortality and learning jutsu. I wasn't exactly sure if the Orochimaru eating udon peacefully was into those dangerous ideas yet, but I figured, so long as he was still young, there was time for him to change his mind.