Work Text:
Nawaki wiped tears from his eyes as he heard the approaching footsteps.
"Are you done?", a voice drawled.
He looked up to see familiar slitted pupils.
"Go away.", Nawaki snapped, "I'm training."
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, "Is that so?"
Nawaki knew how he looked. His eyes were most definitely rimmed red, there might have even been tear marks down his face. His nose was full of snot, and he was sitting down under a tree. He didn't look like he had been training at all.
Orochimaru was many things, but he wasn't an idiot.
Still Nawaki looked him in the eyes and lied.
"Yes."
(He wasn't very good at it, he hadn't had the same teachers as Tsunade.)
Orochimaru sat down beside him. He wouldn't force him to say anything, but he did have a talent for getting people to tell him with his presence alone.
"Don't presume I'm dense enough for you to get away with lying to.", Orochimaru chided before leaning back and closing his eyes, "At this point, the only one you might be able to fool is Jiraiya, and he's an idiot, so it's not that high an accomplishment."
Nawaki turned red and looked away.
"I can fool more than just Jiraiya.", he snapped a minute later.
A sardonic smile graced Orochimaru's face, "Allow me to amend that. Small children might also be fooled."
"Hey!", Nawaki exclaimed, "You can't talk to me like that!"
Amusement was plain to see on Orochimaru's face if one knew him well enough, though his voice was dry, "Why? Because you're the Senju heir?"
"No! Because I'm going to be Hokage! Just like Grandpa and Oji-san were!", Nawaki said with so much confidence that Orochimaru felt himself believing him for a moment.
He couldn't stop the laughter that escaped his lips, "You've been saying that for years. If anyone is going to be Hokage, it will be me first."
“Just you wait! Nee-chan said I could be the Hokage.”, Nawaki screeched.
Orochimaru gave him a blank stare.
"You don't scare me!", Nawaki yelled boisterously, "I'm eleven!"
Orochimaru gave him a considering look.
"What?!? Do I have something on my face?!?"
"There was a time where I loathed your existence."
Nawaki's mind stalled.
Three. Two. One.
"What???"
(Orochimaru smirked minisculely when he realized he had timed Nawaki’s reaction perfectly.)
Nawaki could see that he had once more leaned back and closed his eyes.
"Do keep up. At your age, Tsunade could.", Orochimaru taunted.
Nawaki was silent.
(So silent that Orochimaru, in a flash of rare panic, thought he would have to deal with a crying child. And explain himself to Tsunade should she appear at an inopportune moment as her little brother bawling because of him. )
"And it's nothing personal, but at a time I wished you had never been born.", Orochimaru tried to smile, but it must have looked sinister if the look Nawaki was giving him was anything to go by.
Nawaki's face was a lot like his grandfather's had been said to be.
(Orochimaru sometimes wished that he had met the late First Hokage, if only to see his facial expressions and watch his mood swings.)
Expressive, was an apt description.
(Some part of him would always mourn the fact that the "God of Shinobi" was Legendary to read.)
"You can't just say that!"
( Ah, so he was fine after all. Well, children are resilient. It doesn't take much to get a reaction out of Nawaki.)
Orochimaru turned pensive as he thought of the boy in front of him, and the circumstances that had caused his distaste in the first place all those years ago.
It was hard sometimes to see him and not be reminded of one of his only regrets.
(The time he had gotten mad at Tsunade, following Nawaki’s birth, was the longest he had gone without talking to Tsunade, notwithstanding missions, since the two met.)
But Nawaki was tolerable, and amusing to anger.
Tsunade loved the insufferable brat, and that was reason enough for Orochimaru to feel some semblance of fondness for him.
(No one was allowed to make Nawaki upset, unless it was him .)
He ignored Nawaki and continued, “Any respect I had for Tsunade disappeared the moment she ended our training sessions in favor of you.”
The confusion on Nawaki’s face slowly replaced the anger and hurt.
He doubted Tsunade had ever elected to tell the brat that his birth had been something that caused him to almost lose what would go on to become perhaps his most jealously guarded treasure.
(He thanked whatever Higher Power that Tsunade had knocked some sense into his skull, now over eleven years later, he couldn’t bear to imagine what life would be like without her.)
Even after all these years, she probably had an understanding of what he was feeling when he pushed her out, but he definitely had never told Nawaki this before and Tsunade wouldn’t go spilling all this to her brother.
(She coddled him way too much.)
He couldn’t look at the boy as he recounted his thoughts, “She threw away her ambitions, and I thought she was going to end up as some brainless Trophy Wife because of you. I was forced to end our training sessions.”
He took a breath to steady himself. He had contradicted himself with that statement, though he doubted Nawaki even noticed. There were so many complex feelings involved in why everything happened as it did.
He had felt as though Tsunade was throwing away everything for some infuriating creature who couldn’t do more than eat, shit, and cry.
(Nawaki had barely graduated from being nothing more than a parasite.)
He just knew he was going to be tossed aside eventually.
(He had felt Rejected .)
Why should he waste time with someone who had no drive?
(Why let her grow closer only to leave him?)
She had fed him out of kindness, despite the flowery language she used to try to make her actions seem selfish .
(And then after she had wormed her way past his defenses, she had the audacity to just discard him.)
He knew now that he may have overreacted a bit.
(But the world turned darker and bitter the moment those words left her mouth, and everything hurt .)
He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, unsure if he should even continue to relive one of the worst times in his life just to get the boy to open up about his feelings. The silent treatment would have worked just fine.
(And wasn’t that just dreadful? Of all the terrible things that could have occurred, the worst happened, because Tsunade had made him soft .)
He bit his tongue and just gritted out a sentence that weighed heavier than the sum of his sins and carried all the regret he still felt, “I didn’t talk to Tsunade for a long time.”
Nawaki let out a gasp of surprise at that admission.
(And wasn’t that funny? One of the worst times in his life was just reduced to some form of entertainment for an eleven year old!)
“Really?!? But, you and Nee-chan have always been together!”
Orochimaru felt a little better now. At least the boy wasn’t a complete idiot, like Jiraiya .
He couldn’t stop the small smile at the fact that little hellion could see where he had been coming from, “Exactly! And then suddenly, she didn’t want to see me again .”
“Wow, Nee-chan really did that?!? That’s so mean.”, Nawaki looked offended on his behalf.
It felt odd.
Getting justification from a child of all people.
But everyone had been telling him for years that it was his fault, and that he shouldn’t have gotten angry. And here was the cause of his anger telling him that he was right.
Vindication had never felt so sweet.
He took another breath before turning to make eye contact with Nawaki, “As you can see, it was nothing personal, but I hated what you represented.”
Nawaki looked confused still, “Ah.”
Orochimaru arched an eyebrow, “Any questions?”
“What do you mean about Nee-chan becoming some sort of ‘Trophy Wife’, she’s too scary to be okay with being only someone’s wife.”
Of all the questions, it had to be that one.
Orochimaru’s lips thinned, “Your parents wanted her to marry the Daimyo’s son.”
“Nee-chan could have been a Princess!”, Nawaki looked awestruck, though Orochimaru categorized the small flinch the boy had at the mention of his parents.
Orochimaru could feel heat rushing to his face, tinged with anger but also feeling entirely different, “Tsunade is already a Princess. She doesn’t need to do something as common as getting married to a Prince. Your sister forged her crown with all the blood of her enemies, and that’s better. She’s in the Bingo Books. She would have never accomplished nearly half as much if she was married off to that incompetent snob.”
Nawaki went back to being silent.
Nawaki sounded hesitant, “What happened to the Daimyo’s son?”
A spark of satisfaction was in Orochimaru’s eyes, “An accident.”
“Is he still alive?”
Orochimaru gave a noncommittal noise as he leaned back to lay down.
Nawaki felt like there was more to that story. He wasn’t sure if the Daiymo’s son was alive or dead. And he wasn’t sure if Orochimaru had something to do with it.
(He ignored the tiny part of his brain that pondered if Tsunade was the one to make sure she would never have to suffer through an arranged marriage.)
They laid there under that Hashirama tree, until the sun started to set, before Nawaki spoke again.
His face was purposefully blank, so unlike as he admitted, “Mom is complicated.”
“Oh.”, Orochimaru said as he opened his eyes, “Do you want to talk about it?”
(What was he doing? Talking instead of antagonizing .)
He made sure to give Nawaki the blankest look he could, willing him to see that Orochimaru could not possibly talk about his issues with him.
Nawaki was oblivious to his desire to leave, his eyes had ( Happy?) tears, “Do you really want to know?”
“Sure.”, Orochimaru rolled his eyes.
Nawaki smiled slightly, “I didn’t know you actually cared enough to know.”
“You’re Tsunade’s brother.”
(There was a lot packed into those three words.)
“Mom’s still mad that Tsunade and you moved in together.”
A smirk made its way onto his face, “Oh?”
“She thinks it’s ‘inappropriate’ and wants to throw Tsunade out of the Clan, but dad and the elders refuse, so now she’s turning to me.”
Orochimaru’s face turned blank.
“What?!?”, he said venomously, “And would you give your sister an ultimatum?”
Nawaki looked at him with pleading eyes, “You know I wouldn’t. Mom’s just mad that you two aren’t married.”
Orochimaru looked away, “She’s mad that I’m not from a clan.”
Nawaki winced, “That too. But Clan Politics also play a big role in everything. If you were an Uchiha, like Shou, then everything probably would be worse. But, you aren’t tied down to the same rules. And Nee-chan and you are too strong for everyone, except for mom, to want to anger.”
Orochimaru was seething.
How dare that woman presume she knew anything?
Rent was cheaper with two people.
They split utilities and groceries.
They slept in separate bedrooms so they would each have personal space, but split rent for a two-bedroom apartment was cheaper than a one-bedroom apartment.
It just made sense to live with Tsunade.
(Perhaps the most logical thing he's ever done.)
He didn’t have to worry about what time it was when he visited or how late he left.
(He still had to deal with glares from the Senju though.)
“Was there anything else she said?”
Nawaki’s cheeks flamed.
“Your brother has been having a difficult time with your mother.”, Orochimaru told Tsunade as he prepared dinner.
Her eyes narrowed and Orochimaru looked at the way her white hair caught the light.
(He told himself that his gaze only lingered to read her expressions better.)
“Oh?”, she murmured as she moved to sneak some pickled plum.
He swatted her hand away, “That’s for the Onigiri.”
She rolled her eyes, and Orochimaru had to stop himself from smiling, “What did my Mother Dearest do?”
His face tightened and Tsunade’s brows creased, “Your Mother is under the impression that we’re sleeping together.”
“Oh.”, she said dumbly.
Orochimaru ran a hand through his hair, “She thinks that I don’t think you’re good enough to marry.”
Tsunade blinked. Once. Twice. Three times.
“Ah.”, she smiled, “She’s always been so focused on marrying me off, thinking we were together probably dashed what remained of her hope to marry me off.”
“I should torment her.”
“Please don’t. I don’t want to spend our last few days In-Village avoiding walking around in public.”
They would have to go back out to the Frontline again soon. It's not like they could get away with not going. They were an integral part of Konoha. Their Sensei was the Hokage. They should have been discussing everything except for Tsunade's mother.
“She thinks I’m using you.”
Tsunade let out a laugh.
Orochimaru could feel his face soften slightly.
“So what?”, Tsunade asked.
He hissed out, anger returning, “That woman knows nothing.”
She looked at him, really looked at him, and came to a conclusion, “It’s bothering you.”
“Well of course it’s bothering me.”, Orochimaru grumbled as he made the Onigiri, “I would marry you.”
Her jaw dropped, “Really?”
He rolled his eyes, “Well, you’re already mine. A piece of paper doesn’t matter.”
“People are usually in relationships first.”
He smiled a sharp smile, “It would make her mad.”
“Tempting.”, Tsunade murmured as she decided to help him with dinner, “Did you tell my brother everything?”
“I didn’t tell him that I only initially accepted you back into my life because you had caused me to not be able to get full off of what the orphanage provided. I didn’t tell him I was using you then.”, Orochimaru said slowly, “He probably would have attempted to fight me in your honor. I may have also mentioned the Daimyo’s son briefly.”
She tilted her head to the sky, “Why on Earth did you mention him?!?”
“I was feeling sentimental.”, he shrugged.
She shot him a look of disbelief, “We both know you weren’t.”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t give him any spoilers, in case you wanted to tell him that story one day.”, he slithered past her to start setting up the table.
They ate dinner in silence.
“She’s wrong.”, Tsunade said as she finished her last bite.
“I thought we were over with this conversation?”, he said as he dabbed his mouth with a napkin, “What was she wrong about? Other than almost everything.”
Tsunade smiled, “We use each other.”
Orochimaru’s lips twitched.