Old Friends
Sasuke stood there, mouth agape at who was in front of him. "H-How, it's been-" "5,000 years?? Yes, I know. You should know better than to doubt me, Sasuke-kun" they smiled softly, "Now, we have so much to catch up on. You look the exact same since we last saw each other. I honestly didn't expect to see you again after you disappeared." they motioned to the other zabuton in the room, inviting Sasuke to sit.
He made his way over and sat down, eyes still wide at the snake sannin before him. "How are you alive??" he blurted, completely forgetting all of his etiquette. They laugh, "Did you really forget that I can steal bodies??" Sasuke mentally smacked himself, 'Of course that's how they're still alive...' Orochimaru chuckled, "Here, have some tea."
He takes the tea but just holds it, still looking at his previous sensei. "Where's Naruto?"
"He's went towards the city with that girl, he was freaking out." amusement adorned their features, a smirk dawning their lips. Sasuke tsked and looked around the room, not too much had changed since he had last been here.
"I should get going, he's probably worrying himself to death like an idiot." he stood, placing the yunomi on the pedestal and turned to the door. He treaded down the halls, heading towards the exit. He knows that it was rude, but he didn't care, he just wanted to make sure Naruto was ok. Wasn't like he was ever polite to Orochimaru before. He walked past the experiment rooms and he could hear noise from within, 'So he didn't give up his experiments, eh?'
He winced as he accidentally brushed his shoulder against the wall, he must have bruised it, or maybe even broken it. He could hear laughing in the distance, it was faint but it was there. Curiosity got the better of him, after all Orochimaru didn't really care for many people. He stalked down the hall, suppressing his chakra, if they were with Orochimaru they probably knew all about chakra. He got to the door where the voices were coming from, and he could clearly hear them now.
"OH MY- could you maybe not do that?? Orochimaru-sama's going to kill us if that breaks!!" a female voice shouted aggressively, he could hear what sounded like someone hitting water. "C'mon, they won't notice if I juuuuussst touch it. It won't break, I swear it." a male retorted, he sounded calm and unsurprised by the woman's yelling. This must be a daily occurrence, "Help me out here, Juugo, tell him not to touch it!!"
Sasuke jolted in surprise, 'Juugo?? No, it can't be-'
He debated in whether he should leave or investigate further when the door opens and almost smacks him. When he turns to the person to scowl at them, he's met with a very familiar face, "Karin??"
She blinked in surprise, her mouth agape, "S-Sasuke?" she ran forward and dropped to her knees, she clutched him tightly, "You're alive, you're alive, you're alive." she sobbed, her hands shaking where they were set on him. He could feel her tears landing on his shirt, soaking the fabric. He was in shock, there was no way this could be Karin. Uzumaki's live a long time, but not 5,000 years.
He saw Juugo and Suigetsu walk to the door way at her sobbing, "Sasuke??" they both whispered, their eyes were wide. He watched them both, trying to wrap his head around everything. "No, way... It's actually him!!" Suigetsu then dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around Sasuke on the opposite side of Karin, "We got a Sasuke sandwich, man, where you always this tiny??" Sasuke growled at that, he was not tiny, he was average height. Possibly a little taller. Naruto was the tiny one.
Juugo wrapped his arms around the trio, and Sasuke was taken back by how big they were. He wasn't tiny, but they were taller than when he last saw them. They looked older too. Juugo looked to be about 25 while Karin and Suigetsu looked to be around 23.
He pushed on them cause he was starting to feel light headed from the lack of oxygen. They got off of him and Suigetsu and Karin wiped their eyes, "I can't believe that you're alive. We thought you died on that day." Suigetsu said, obviously trying to not sniffle. "What about Naruto?? Is my cousin alive??" Karin gripped his shoulders, she looked desperate. "Yeah, he's alive. He's back in the city most likely." he carefully removed her hands from his shoulders, and Juugo smiled, "It's good to see you again, Sasuke."
"How are you guys alive anyway??" he looked at all of them, they looked at each other then back at him.
"Orochimaru-sama managed to extend our life span, but we have to keep having it redone every week or we'll die." Karin rolls her eyes like it's obvious. "They what" he didn't know that was possible, "Enough of that! We need to catch up, Sasuke, c'mon." Suigetsu grabs his hand and drags him into the room. The room was obviously a testing room, there were 4 tubes of some kind of liquid. There were a table and a few chairs, as well as some cabinets. "What is this room?? I don't recall it."
"This is the room where Orochimaru-sama extends our life, we like to hang out in here a lot." Juugo says as he pulls out a chair and motions for Sasuke to sit. Sasuke hesitantly sat down, he looked over all of them. Just as everyone suspected Juugo grew to be very tall, he was probably over 6 feet. Even Karin was taller than him, and she was the shortest one of the three. He folded his arms as he continued to look everyone over, Karin grew up to be beautiful just like everyone thought she'd be. Not that Sasuke cared, he wasn't interested in girls like that.
Suigetsu was more muscular than the last time they met, which was to be expected. While he was eying them he caught Suigetsu's smirk. "You look like a child you know." there the fucker goes again, "What the hell is that supposed to mean???"
"You're pouting and you look so small when sitting like that"
"I'm not small, I'm average height." he snaps, clenching his fists. "Nah, you tiny. Little itty bitty bite sized prince." Sasuke's eye was twitching, there was nothing more that he wanted to do in that moment then wring Suigetsu's neck. "I'm not tiny, so shut. up."
Suigetsu giggled as Karin shook her head, Juugo left to go get something. Sasuke leaned back against the chair, "When can I go?"
"So eager to leave us, eh, Sasuke?" she put her hands on her hips before snickering, "I see, you want to get back to Naruto." He choked at that and tried to regain the oxygen he needs. "KARIN!!"
"What? You know it's true. You reeeeaaallllyy think we didn't notice your crush on him?? Ha! Don't make me laugh, no matter how much you tried to hide it I could still see it. He's my cousin and you were my crush so I noticed everything." she flipped her hair over her shoulder, looking smug. "Wait- you had a crush on me?" he pointed to himself with a confused expression.
"Yes dumbass, I did. But you were so obliviously in love with my cousin that you never noticed. I decided it was better to give up before I got too hurt, and I was so frustrated when you danced around your feelings for him."
"SO I WAS RIGHT! Sasuke did have feelings for Naru---" she lightly smacked him on the head, "Shut it, I'm talking." Sasuke was dumbfounded, 'Karin had feelings for me??'
"ANYWAYS, I developed feelings for you when I was around 10 years old. I thought you were cool and really cute, but I discovered you had a crush on my cousin so I decided to not act on my feelings." she smiled fondly, like it was a good memory.
They continued talking, just catching up. At some point Juugo entered the room with some tea and joined the conversation. "I should get going, Naruto's probably freaking out." he stood up and walked towards the door, "You do that, see you later, Sasuke." Juugo waved with a small smile. "YEAH! Bring your boyfriend with you next time!" the white-haired make snickered, the little- "He's not my--"
"Yeah yeah, we know... See ya, Sasuke!" Karin sassed as she shooed him out the door. She could hear him grumbling on the other end. "I'm going to lay down, this has taken up a lot of my energy." she walked past the2 boys and went down to her room. She sighed as she laid down, 'It's been so long since I've seen him, but, why is he so- I can't think about this now...'
She turned around and allowed herself to fall back into her memories.