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i don't wanna hear you lie tonight
(Orochimaru waits for Sasuke to approach the village walls before he gets up out of bed, slipping out of his sleeps clothes and into battle gear he hasn't worn in over a decade. Sasuke is the last Uchiha and they will notice his disappearance sooner rather than later. Orochimaru isn't sentimental, but that kid had stuck by him for years. With a genuine smile on his face, he attacks the ANBU that usually patrol the area around where Sasuke is making his escape. Let them focus on him while the runaway goes unnoticed. Orochimaru is already broken and caged; what's a few more bruises to him?)
"Why would you do this?" is the first thing Jiraiya says to him, the white haired man glaring down at him.
Orochimaru doesn't bother to move, a pleased smile making its way across his face as he languishes on the hard floor of his cell, body bruised and bloodied.
"Hello to you too, Jiraiya," he responds in a pleasant tone, his smile gentle with a bittersweet tinge.
"You were in a good place," Jiraiya grinds his teeth as he speaks, eyes narrowed and hands balled into fists.
"Oh you foolish man," Orochimaru sighs, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the hard wall behind him. "I was never in any such place."
"We'll find him," Jiraiya states, switching tracks, avoiding the opening Orochimaru had given him. Orochimaru isn't surprised by the abrupt change in subject. The oaf has never wanted to acknowledge what his advice has led to; never wants to admit or talk about the fact that Orochimaru is a shadow of his previous self because of him.
"I doubt it," Orochimaru snorts, a cruel smirk sent in Jiraiya's direction. The sneer feels far more comfortable on his face than any smile ever has.
"He couldn't have gotten far," Jiraiya insists. Orochimaru doesn't bother opening his eyes, but he can picture the frustrated scowl on the man's face. "Naruto would've been able to take him; no way can he escape an ANBU retrieval squad."
Orochimaru says nothing, not bothering to give any of the hints that Jiraiya is fishing for. He thinks back to the scroll he gave Sasuke, the memory of that particular scroll causing a tugging in his chest. He hadn't seen any of his summons in over a decade; he hopes they will serve Sasuke well.
"You're being sentenced right now," Jiraiya breaks Orochimaru out of his thoughts. "They're deciding if you should be kept in a cell or if execution is the better way to go."
Orochimaru can't help it: he chuckles. He opens his eyes and grins up at Jiraiya, smiling even wider when he sees the disgust in his eyes.
"Did I get all of them, or did one survive?" Orochimaru asks through his chuckling, pleased with himself. He might be restricted without his chakra, and nowhere near in his best condition, but he was still one of the legendary Sannin. He had dispatched the first ANBU squad that had been patrolling, ambushing them with ease, and had only gone down when Sarutobi himself had shown up, coming down off of his high-horse to face his disappointment of a student.
Seeing the resignation on the man's face had been glorious.
Jiraiya doesn't answer him, not that Orochimaru really needs hims to, and instead he takes a few steps closer to the bars, eyes cold as he looks down.
"You're irredeemable," Jiraiya snarls. "I don't know what you did to the Uchiha by to convince him to abandon his village, but it won't stick. He'll be back."
"Oh, you truly haven't learned anything," Orochimaru cackled, gracefully standing and swiftly meeting Jiraiya at the bars of his cell. They're only inches apart like this and Orochimaru can see the way that Jiraiya has aged in his absence. "I was once him. He is exactly who I was. I fell into the trap of caring. I dissuaded him of doing the same. He won't be back, Jiraiya. He'll run fast and he'll run far; he won't take another step in this village as long as he breathes."
Orochimaru's lips curl in pleasure when Jiraiya takes a half step back, genuine shock at the venom in Orochimaru's words. Good.
"You best pray that they execute me, Jiraiya," Orochimaru tells him sagely, his words calm even as he slips into a threatening tone, eyes sharp and full of malice. "If I am kept alive, I will find a way out of this cage; I have done it before. I will escape and I will burn this village to the ground. And then, I will hunt you down and tear you apart. Let you finally know how that feels."
Orochimaru turns around, pointedly ending the conversation by showing Jiraiya his back. He climbs into the stiff cot that serves as his bed, and he curls up silently, a feeling of peace spreading through him. He is caged more than he has ever been, and yet he feels freer than he has in a long time.
Dead by dawn or not, Orochimaru feels like he's finally broken free.