Second of the Soulmate Drabbles. There's a total of eight finished, and there's several that are work in progresses. I hope you all enjoy~! As stated on the last one, this is cross posted on my Ao3.

After all the many fights he'd been in, never in the expanse of his life would he have thought that this particular fight would be his last one. Nor would he have guessed that his soulmate would be a child filled with such hopes and light. Especially in contrast to his darkness.

The sword ripped through his shirt, skin, muscle and even bone like it were paper; and it leaves Orochimaru gasping in agony. All the blows that should have been fatal to him before that moment had never hurt as much as this particular wound did. Body instantly losing all strength, he falls forward into the startled form of his opponent as he grabs at the sword handle.

"Of all things… with my own sword…" he managed to croak, his mouth and throat already as dry as the deserts in the Land of Wind. Naruto fumbled, either struggling to find a way to support the Sannin or push him off. "Stop with the act- I've seen you take worse wounds from Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke!" the blond snaps, finally finding a position to hold Orochimaru without risking cutting himself with Kusanagi. "…While that may be true… neither of them were important enough to actually kill me."

The Uzumaki stiffens in horror before carefully laying the Sannin down, kneeling on the ground and supporting the older's upper body in his arms. "I can't be! You can't be! We-!" "Are." Orochimaru finished in equal parts aggravation, surprise, amusement and fear. Naruto opened his mouth to speak again before he closes it quickly, his eyes huge and staring down at the dying snake in… Was that regret Orochimaru saw in his eyes? The pale man smirked briefly, the faint show of amusement disappearing in an instant when the edges of his vision began to blur and darken.

"If I had known I would never have gone for an attack like that. I'm sorry." The younger croaks, his hand carefully pulling Kusanagi from Orochimaru's chest to eliminate any chances of pain coming from the blade being retracted. The Sannin made a noise of what was most likely agreement, his head turning to the side to rest against Naruto's shoulder. "I always liked the name Naruto… It was my father's. Jiraiya asked if he could use it in his books, I'm glad he did." He confessed, literally hearing the jump in the blond's heartbeat and the way he swallows thickly.

Gently calloused fingers brush stray hairs from Orochimaru's face and the older forces his gaze up to meet the bright blue eyes of his soulmate. "You've always looked so pretty…"

A ragged laugh followed by ice-cold fingers tugging his head down, Naruto closed his eyes tightly as he gently rested his forehead against the snake's. "Kill me too," he breathed, the words falling from his lips before he could stop them. "I can't handle the thought of having killed the only person I'm perfect with." Orochimaru made a noise of objection before his shaky breathing slowed to a stop and his hand dropped from Naruto's cheek.

Now it was his turn to let out a laugh – as emotionless as it was – while dropping Kusanagi in favor of having both of his hands free to hold the quickly cooling body of his soulmate to his chest. The looming storm grumbled before finally breaking loose, causing the blond to shrug out of his jacket and drape it over both of their heads. "You're the one I hoped would be my soulmate," he confessed to deaf ears, his throat tightening painfully. "I always thought you were beautiful. Strong, confident, smart. I never cared about the differences between us. I never cared about what you wanted to do to Sasuke. I wanted it to be me who you wanted. I never wanted Sasuke around you, you were mine dammit."

As if guided by a string, a singular tear dropped from his eyes, landed on the pale other's face and trailed down Orochimaru's cheek as though it had belonged to the snake in the first place.

"Naruto!"

At the call of his name, Naruto pulled the jacket off his head and draped it over Orochimaru's torso like a blanket. Jiraiya, Tsunade, Sakura, Sai, Kakashi, Yamato and Sasuke all stopped at the sight of the blond's tears, and then more so when they spotted the snake. "Naruto-." "He deserves a burial, near his parents' graves. Under the willow, he'd like that I can tell. Granny, close the wound please… I can't bare to bury him with a hole in his chest like that." He cuts Sakura off sharply, his fingers ghosting over the fallen Sannin's eyelids to close them. Tsunade covers her mouth with a hand and instantly hides against Jiraiya, the white haired Sannin simply hugs her close as he stares at the body of his best friend.

"Sakura..?" the fox teen tried, unwilling to let the situation drop because he lost his chance at happiness dammit he's going to give Orochimaru the best. Sakura walked over slowly before dropping down on the other side of Naruto's soulmate's body, a canopy of wood appeared above them and she removed the jacket. The pinkette could literally feel the agonizing sadness that rolled off her teammate, which made her heart ache more for his loss even though this was Orochimaru that he was grieving over.

Lifting her hands, they all stood in silence for a moment before Sakura suddenly increased the amount of chakra she was using to heal the wound. "Done…" she mumbled, moving her hands away and casting her teammate a regretful look. "I'm sorry, Naruto, no one should have to go through this. I wish I got here sooner." Naruto didn't respond as he let go of the Sannin to pull his jacket onto the limp body. "You've done enough, Sakura, thank you." He returned as he looped his arms under the snake's body to support him in preparation for the travel back to Konoha.

A few years had passed, and a fully-grown Naruto lounged lazily in front of a large slab of marble with a statue next to it. "The 'S' squad have two kids now, poor Sakura giving birth then being pregnant again the next month." He mused and he could swear he could hear Orochimaru's light chuckle in his mind along with a soft urging to continue. "Shikadai, Shikamaru's and Temari's kid is a rambunctious brat even though he's only a couple months old. Lee finally moved to the Sand Village, he wanted to stay here but it's not like he could ask Gaara to leave the Sand. Granny Tsunade and Pervy Sage had twins, they even made me godfather to them. They would've made you one as well, they both said how much they regret you being gone." He pauses, smiling when he imagines the other's response of 'Tsunade probably would've made me a godmother just to spite me, I swear. What about Hinata and Tenten?'

"Tenten's pregnant at the moment, Hinata gave birth about six months ago. Eri definitely has her uncle's favor at the moment, Neji spoils her rotten and what's worse is Kiba doesn't even try and stop him. If people aren't careful we'll have another bad gambler like Granny Tsunade!" he laughed heartily, and maybe he was losing his mind but he could've sworn he saw Orochimaru's statue smile briefly. "Kakashi-sensei and Yamato adopted a kid, and I swear he's as much of a genius as you are. I'll be testing him tomorrow, as well as two others. Kakashi-sensei is getting ready to pass the Hokage seat over, I won't be taking it. You used to want to be Hokage, didn't you? I can't explain it, but it feels wrong to try and be the Hokage now. Shikamaru will be a good Hokage." He admits, sitting up straight before standing and gently brushing his hand down the statue's cheek.

The marble cut out of the snake Sannin glowed slightly in the setting sun and Naruto forced a pained smile. "Granny Tsunade warned me that if I die before her, she'll Edo Tensei me simply so she could kill me herself, how about that?" he laughed before sighing and letting his hand drop back to his side. "I'll be back tomorrow at the same time, it's getting late. I can't say how I know this… but I know it won't be long until we see each other again. Goodnight, Orochimaru." With that the blond turns and begins to walk away, ignoring Kurama complaining about how long they'd been there.

"Naruto," Kurama says and the man rolls his eyes. "What?" he mumbles in irritation, pausing to place the flowers he brought on the grave of Orochimaru's parents before continuing in the direction of his small apartment. "You better not pull anything stupid while I'm still here, you hear me?" the fox demon stated irritably and Naruto lets out a groan. "I won't. Besides… I think it's about time we find you a new Jinchuriki, Kurama. Your chakra is getting to be too much for me to handle, I think you'd get along just fine with Isamu."

Naruto could literally hear Kurama blink in disbelief. "What are you getting at brat? Your body handles my chakra just fine, what are you planning?" the demon snarls and the blond huffs in irritation. "I'm sick of you complaining every time I think about Orochimaru! And I can't explain it but I just feel like I'm going to die soon some how, some way. Just drop it, I'll talk to Kakashi-sensei tomorrow." With that, he turns around to cast a glance back at his soulmate's grave before smiling as he sees the ever-present faint glowing form of the Sannin's spirit. 'Naruto. Take care.'