Chapter Text
Meetings
Orochimaru feels ice in his veins when he comes across the name Raven in the Underground for the first time. He tries to brush it off as coincidence - Raven is not a rare name after all - but he notes that this Raven is an assassin, and a good one at that. He discreetly has his network keep an eye on them, though, if only out of curiosity and a need to gather as much information as he can.
Raven ghosts through the Underground, appearing and disappearing without a trace, leaving only the corpses of their targets behind as a testament to their existence. No one knows their gender, age, or appearance - not even their employers. Orochimaru’s interest is raised by this, and he admits to being a bit obsessive in his search for any and all information he can find on the assassin.
It’s a lot more difficult than he expects, even with his network that is quickly shaping to be the best in the Underground. When he finally, finally, lays out the half-complete analysis that he has meticulously compiled and leans back to take in the larger picture, though, what he finds has his breath stuttering in his chest.
Raven’s style, so mysterious and ghostlike to the rest of the Underground, is something that he is intimately familiar with. It’s ANBU and ROOT, and when paired together with the name– Orochimaru stares down at the papers, afraid of the fragile hope that blooms within him.
Orochimaru makes full use of his network to place a message in Konohan code somewhere that he knows Raven will see. He receives a similarly coded message in return, that provides a time and place to meet. He tries to ignore the way his hands shake.
Orochimaru sets aside his identity as Viper for the first time since he set foot in the Underground. Instead, when he steps into the decently sized cafe, it is as himself.
Of course, he has altered his appearance enough that the most attention catching features - his pale skin, his slitted eyes, and the marks on his face - are more nondescript. However, his body, his face, his chakra are all his own, and if Raven is who he thinks they are…
His breath catches when he sees her. Her hair is dark brown and her eyes are amber, but it is Rei that sits there, at that table toward the back of the cafe. He reaches out with his chakra as he approaches, and drinks in the signature that he has not felt in a lifetime. It is only his ANBU training that keeps him moving smoothly, and he slips into the seat across from her.
Rei looks at him with a smile that would have looked perfectly natural if her eyes weren’t shaking slightly with a desperate hope that he knew was reflected in his own eyes.
“Have you seen my toad?” he asks casually. “I’m not sure I want to know where he’s gone off to, lech that he is.”
“Last I saw, he was chasing after a drunk slug, I believe,” Rei answers back, just as casually. “It was quite a while ago, though.”
They stare at each other for a moment, and then start laughing quietly, relief and wonder and a tint of hysteria coursing through their systems.