Tempt Fate | Orochimaru x Reader

15 - Rest?

It was early in the morning and the sun was already rising. You and Orochimaru were packing up your camp to continue the journey, according to him it would take at least 2 more days. With a sigh you started traveling further.

-

It's was a little after noon, this day had been uneventful so far, no fights and you got quite far. The two of you were walking down a road towards your a building, it was a small inn located in seemingly the middle of nowhere. You couldn't believe it, were you really gonna be able to sleep on a futon tonight? You body still complained about the rather hard ground from last night.

You pointed towards the building, gaining Orochimaru's attention, who was walking next to you. "Is this the inn that you were talking about?" Your eyes were full of excitement, thinking of eating a warm meal, not having to sleep directly underneath the night sky and on the hard ground. Orochimaru followed the direction your finger was pointed with his gaze. "Actually, the one we are heading for is a bit further down the road." He said and all of the excitement drained from your face. Orochimaru looked at you sceptically.

"Does it bother you that much?" He asked? "Well, no, I guess it's fine." You lied. Obviously he saw right through you. "Well.." He started. "I guess maybe it would be better to stop here after all." Your eyes widened. "Wha- really?!" You exclaimed. He nodded, not looking at you anymore but straight forward. "That doesn't mean you can relax for the day, don't get your hopes up." You sighed. Obviously not, this was Orochimaru after all, there was no way he'd just give you time to relax.

-

You arrived at the inn and walked towards the front entrance. Something didn't feel right though.
"Uh, wait!" You called and grabbed Orochimaru by the arm. He turned his head with an irritated look on his face and you immediately let go. "Sorry uh- I was just thinking, maybe it's not a good idea to go inside... I mean aren't we both registered as criminals?" He tilted his head a little, making a few more strands of hair fall into his face. "Do you really think I didn't consider this?" He asked. It was a question he didn't expect an answer to, so you just swallowed and looked at the ground. Yeah, he'd probably not make a simple mistake like this.
"Now quit standing there and come on." He motioned with his hand for you to follow him inside and you did as he wanted.

Still, you felt weary of what could happen if they would recognize who you were, or especially who he was. How could he be so sure that this was safe? You walked closely behind him, looking down to hide your face a little.

"Hello sir, how can I help you?" A woman's voice could be heard, you looked up in surprise of her calm reaction. Didn't everyone know who Orochimaru was? You looked at her and she gave you a welcoming smile. You looked towards Orochimaru when you realized his appearance had changed. When had he-? The long hair was gone and now replaced by shorter, messy hair. His face seemed less pale and the purple markings around his eyes were gone (A little like this popular fanart of how his dad could've looked like). You just stood there speechless as he rented a room for the night.

The lady smiled again, taking the Ryo. "Let me show you to your room, I bet you must have had an exhausting journey." She started walking up a small flight of stairs on the far left corner of the inns reception room. Behind her was Orochimaru and you directly behind him. As you walked up the stairs and through a slim hall with doors on either side, the woman kept explaining. "We have warm meals included, so whenever you go to our inns restaurant just show them this yeah?" She handed Orochimaru a small piece of paper. "We also have hotsprings, a public one and one exclusively for our guests, feel free to relax there as well." Hot springs... that seemed really nice right now.

The lady finally arrived at a door at the end of the corridor. "This is your room, I wish you a nice stay and if you need anything, I'm at the reception most of the time." With that she bowed lightly, turned and left you alone. Orochimaru took a small key out of his pocket and unlocked the sliding door, revealing a medium sized room. It was definitely big for just two people. Six people might have trouble fitting in.

You stepped inside and inhaled the classy scent of the tatami flooring. It definitely had been a while since you had smelled it. Having lived in an underground hideout for a while now.
"We are just going to drop our stuff off here for now." Orochimaru made you snap out of your nostalgia. You nodded.

-

Orochimaru had led you a little away from the inn, you were now standing on a small, green hill. Orochimaru had returned to his usual self again. Now he stood a few meters away from you, facing you. You knew what this probably meant. He wanted to test your skills. You looked at him expectingly, waiting for him to say something but he stayed silent. Suddenly you felt the ground underneath you vibrating, instinctively, you jumped to the side, barely avoiding a snake breaking out from underneath you. With that it was on.

You started charging at Orochimaru avoiding the seemingly millions of snakes that came at you from every possible direction. When you arrived directly in front of him, you quickly drew your katana, aiming at him, this was blocked by his own sword, that he had pulled out from his throat within seconds. For a second you both just stood there, looking at each other. He was just grinning confidently as always, you on the other hand had your teeth gritted, sweat already dropping down your forehead. You made a few backflips, pulling a kunai with a bomb attached, out from the small pouch on your waist. You threw it at him, surpsingly, he hadn't even dodged it, it just seemed to explode right in his face.

Out of surprise you got a few steps closer, waiting for the smoke to dissappear and to your shock, his barely recognizable body was lying on the grass. Your eyes widened in shock as you approached the seemingly lifeless body. "O- Orochimaru-sama?" You called out. Suddenly a force from behind violently pushed you to the ground, you fell on your back and got pinned down. The blade of a sword at your throat. "You're too naive." Orochimaru stated. He was on top of you, pinning you to the ground and restraining your movement. His face above yours, making the black strands of his hair touch your face. Slowly recovering from the shock, your were now in another situation that made your heart race. You couldn't avert your gaze from his face. His skin was so beautiful, almost porcelain like, the purple markings around his eyes complimenting his sharp yellow snake-like orbs. You must have been blushing in the strongest shade of red right now. To your surprise Orochimaru didn't say anything, first looking at your face and the letting his gaze wonder to your neck. He seemed to be in thought for a moment, then blinking a few times and getting up, letting you go and dusting himself off. What the hell did just happen.

You slowly sat up, staring into the distance, trying to control your emotions. This was a lot all at once.

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thanks for reading, I have a lot of ideas for events that are gonna happen in the story, I'm gonna try my best writing it.