Soldier On || Part 2 ||-•-Yamato-🍃-Kakashi-• ||

Chapter 6: 2 Days to the Wedding: Sentiments

The light far down the road flashed into his eyes again. Yamato reached into the back pouch for a shuriken, so tempted to toss it right at the bulb so it would stop flickering for good. Sitting on a tree for hours was already enough of a bother without having to put up with that kind of thing. He spun the weapon on his finger, just waiting for the next time.

He had only been in Konoha for two days, but the village life was already alien to him. After nearly 3 years in the middle of nowhere, observing from afar and almost always by himself, all those noises, lights and people got in the way. It wasn't easy to keep focus, and he definitely didn't want to waste another day chasing after the Sannin, playing into his games. Reason why he was the one there, while his clone finished the mission report. He would stay for now, while he had the energy.

Across the road, Orochimaru went through his routine. Reading, pacing, writing. Sometimes he left the room through the window, sat on the roof, went back in, read some more. He was likely bored. Being in Konoha doing nothing wasn't enjoyable for a man like him. Without having his minions, his experiments, his lab. Why the hell did he even come? He couldn't possibly have any interest in the wedding.

When Yamato asked him, the day they left the hideout, the Sannin grinned, said he was on holiday. There had to be something else in Konoha, or nearby area, that interested him. That, on its own, was alarming. A wedding as big as Naruto's would be the right time for an attack, if he had plotted something. Everyone was busy preparing for the event he didn't need to cause a distraction. It was already there. Just like when he attacked the village and killed the 3rd a few years back during the Chūnin exams.

He jabbed the shuriken into the branch and rubbed the back of his neck. Maybe he was overthinking. Maybe it stressed him being in that social environment... or maybe it was the only way he could keep his thoughts away from Kakashi-senpai.

Since he set a foot in the gates, Kakashi had been on his mind. Wanting to see him but, at the same time, weary of how being around him stirred all those feelings he had no idea how to deal with. When they were together, he was so drawn to him; it crushed him not to be able to touch him. And when they did... everything seemed so small, so irrelevant. Even the mission. It drained him having to focus on it, to prioritise his duties. Just as he sat there, knowing Kakashi was a short walk away from him... He missed him already.

Time passed. Orochimaru turned off his lights and laid on his bed. Yamato used his jutsu to widen the branch he was sitting on to give it a nice backrest. He had no intention to stay the night but, while he was there, making things a bit more comfortable didn't hurt. He leaned back and looked up at the sky through the leaves. It was cold and cloudy, another excuse to leave as soon as he got tired and his clone had finished the work.

He held his hand over his mouth as he yawned. His finger brushed over that bite mark Kakashi said he saw. He tugged down the collar and rubbed his jaw and neck. There was nothing there, he would have seen it. Right? Kakashi was teasing him like always. He probably deserved it though, because he also bit his senpai a few times that night, and he hadn't been gentle either. Yamato shook his head and pressed his lips together, trying not to smile at that.

There he was, thinking about them again. At this time, the day before, Yamato had been lying in bed with his senpai in his arms. As complicated as his feelings were, and unable to fully understand them, there was a moment of clarity when he held him. As if that was the one thing he knew he wanted. Because of his upbringing, his needs and wants were stripped from him so early that, despite being saved from the Root, he still struggled with knowing for sure what his desires were, if he had any. If he did, were they real or brought up by a concept he read or heard somewhere. But when Kakashi-senpai was close, when he leaned against him, needing something only he could give him, that's when everything was clear.