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Chapter 6

Welcome back, miss me?

Chapter Six: Single Sinner

Dinner was a quiet affair, much quieter than what Orochimaru was usually used to. Yang and Ruby weren't as loud and talkative as they were before, and often sent looks of pity his way.

'Possibly because they heard about what you did.'

Oro licked the sides of teeth, holding himself back from screaming at the incorporeal entity, or most likely a mental delusion. He could still somehow feel the roll of the eyes in the back of his mind.

"Oro," his father called, immediately having his attention. "A friend of mine is coming tomorrow afternoon, we're going to talk about your future, and you're going to be there."

"Yes, dad," he simply answered. No negotiations, not that there was a need for it, his books were confiscated, school was an obvious no-go, so there was really no other option nor excuse.

And again, back to the sounds of clinking silverware on glass plates. He looked to his sisters, both giving him assuring smiles and nods, a gesture he welcomed.

'Bah! If they want to be on your side, they'd say something.' The voice didn't know, never could. 'Oh, I know plenty, like how they're not saying anything because they agree with your punishment.'

"Oro, you okay?" Yang asked, the annoyance appearing on his face. Or perhaps it was the tight grip on his fork, dealer's choice.

"Nothing, just thinking," he said, his chair scraping as stepped away from the table. "Thank you for the food, I'll be in my room." He calmly went up his stairs to reach it, a stark contract from what he felt.

'Would you stop being so immature? You stabbed a child; it'd be unusual if they didn't think you deserved some form of punishment.' The voice chuckled. 'Congratulations, you have normal sisters.'

Once the door to his room shut, he went to his bed, knelt by it, pushed his head onto the mattress with as much force as he could muster in pure frustration. What was he supposed to do!? This voice just wouldn't leave!

'Do we need a repeat of our previous conversation?' If he ignored it, would it eventually leave? 'Try your luck, though I wouldn't count on it.' Perhaps he should just accept he was mentally unstable, see if he could get help. 'Again, previous conversation.'

"Shut up!" he shouted, though smothered. His hands came up and grabbed his own head, pressing it to form some sort of pain more than this headache was capable. "Why can't you just leave me be!?"

'You can whine all you want, you can even perform some pathetic excuse for self-inflicted pain, but the fact of the matter is I'm not leaving.' The voice was a constant source of annoyance the past few hours. 'If you truly want to get rid of me, then the only option is ending your own life. I'm tied to you, whether you like it or not.'

Ending himself? He took his head out of the bed and looked to the window.

'Ha! Do it, I'm annoyed by your childishness enough that I'd appreciate the silence. Though be warned, the fall won't be enough. A broken leg at worst.' He wasn't going to do such a thing! 'I know, but I also know you were considering it, if for at most a split second.'

Someone knocked on his door, tearing him away from this particularly unpleasant bout with his disembodied voice. He stood up, dusted himself, and breathed a deep calming breath. This day wasn't getting any better.

"Come in."

The door opened, revealing Yang, waving her hands and a warm smile. "Hey, Oro, you looked like you could use some company."

Less company, actually, but he didn't have it in him to tell her that

"Thanks, Yang, I appreciate it." He didn't but wouldn't stop her as she came and sat on his bed nearby.

"You wanna talk?" she asked.

Talking was the last thing he wanted. "What is there to talk about? I'm being punished for actions I barely remember committing." That wasn't his fault. He ignored the tired groan in his mind. "Done in a fit of anger I didn't think possible. The situation is clear, I doubt talking would be helpful."

His sister didn't look bothered, she just sat there and listened. "Why'd you did you stab the kid?"

'Didn't you just explain it? Even if it was purely false. And here I thought she was the mature one.'

Quiet! "Like I said, I did it in blinding anger."

"I'd believe that more if you looked like you believe it."

'Ho~, I changed my mind, I like her again.'

His headache continued to grow. "It's the truth, Yang. I got angry to the point my hand moved on its own."

"Why'd you get angry? Did they guy bully you?"

'Worse, the child got in his way.' Shut up!

"No, he didn't do anything particularly bad."

She tilted her head in confusion. "Nothing 'particularly bad'? So he did something at least, right?"

'Besides never closing his mouth?' I said be quiet! 'I'm just reading out your beliefs, I'm not to blame.'

Yang got up and approached him. "Oro, give me anything, just one reason so I can talk with dad about."

'How adorable, she's trying to side with you, but you can't give her a reason to, can you?'

"I-It's not that simple, Yang." His head was pounding, every sound he heard was like drill into his ear.

"It's alright, I'm here to talk, so talk to me, let me help you." She grabbed his hands, likely for assurance, but only compounded the pain he was going through.

'Perhaps she should've been there to deal with the rat, might've made things easier.'

"SHUT UP!" he screamed angrily, slapping her hands away, then looked to Yang, who took a step back as he approached. "That foolish boy wouldn't shut up, he kept pestering me for attention that he did not deserve. I got tired of his incessant whining and minded my own business, but he wouldn't leave me be."

The boy's annoying voice surfaced to his mind again, the frustrating entitlement for something he hasn't earned, but he demanded regardless. He got annoyed by it, decided to leave him to his own devices, and he picked up a journal to read, tuning out that micro sized-brained fool. Once he tore his book away, he got the attention he deserved, the one he wanted so badly, just not the way he expected.

"I tried, I really did, but I just couldn't stand it. The idiotic things he was talking about, the simple subjects that 'school' was trying to teach me, I broke. I grabbed that idiot's pen and gave him exactly what he deserved. What else could've happened!? Tell me, Yang, what else could I have done!?" He paused for a blink, not expecting an answer. "TELL ME!"

And just like that, like a rubber band, everything snapped back into reality. The first he really noticed was the face Yang was making, it was hard to describe.

'Fear, boy, that is fear.' W-What!?'Not in the way you're thinking. This is one born from concern. She's afraid FOR you.'

"I-" Orochimaru stuttered as he backed up, he didn't know what to say. "I- I'm sorry, Yang, I didn't. . ." What was it he didn't intend to do? He breathed heavily, and watching his sister's face pained him, so he turned, he faced the nearby window, anything, as long as it wasn't her. "Please leave."

"Oro-"

"Please leave, Yang, I need to think. I am not in the right state of mind at the moment." His words felt stiff, fake even, he just wanted to be alone. "Please. . ."

Seconds of silence ticked by, a rare occurrence he didn't think he'd have, but he heard Yang finally shift, leaving his bed and walk away. He heard his door open, and just before Yang left, she had some parting words. "I'll be here when you need me. Talk to you later, kay?"

He wanted to burst out laughing, but this knot in his throat wouldn't let him. "Okay, Yang, thank you." The door clicked shut, and he collapsed on his knees. "I'm tired."

'After all that, I wouldn't doubt it.' For some reason, he hoped the voice would go away, but it was wrong to hope. The voice hummed in agreement.

"What happened to that boy, it was me, wasn't it?" Why? His family knew there wasn't anything that'd indicate he'd so something like this, what happened?

'You're only five-years of age, we are finally seeing an interaction out in the field, not a simulated and controlled setting. I'd say we have more similar things that'll happen in the future.' It was hard to disagree. 'Oh, not arguing my existence anymore?'

"What's the point?" he said defeatedly as he walked to his bed, emotions he could feel settling. "If you were to be believed, other than ending my own life, I don't know what to do to be rid of you. Besides, clearly you haven't done anything to affect me." Orochimaru stabbed the boy, and like the voice said, he was joyed to get rid of him. What's worse?

He'd do it again.

The voice laughed at his rising anxiety. 'Calm yourself, you wouldn't stab the boy if he minded his own business, you'd just enjoy stabbing anyone who tried getting in your way.' It wasn't a comforting thought, not in the least. 'Annoyingly, I am tied to you, heart and mind, worrying that you'd enjoy hurting people is baseless, we both know this, you're just concerned that you'd do this on random.'

So, he wouldn't stab an individual simply because he'd enjoy it? He chuckled. "I am not a psychopath, what a groundbreaking discovery." He hated this, he truly did.

'What is this,hatred not directed my way? Have you finally accepted the reality of your situation?'

"Do I have a choice?"

'No, you do not.'

"Then what's the point? I'm too drained to argue with you, whatever you are."

'I've said this, I'm the real Orochimaru!'

Oro shook his head. "You're not, I am." It felt oddly calm, all of a sudden, or he was just too fatigued to care. "I have a physical form and independent thought, while you only have one of a two-part requirement for being an individual. What makes you think you're the 'real' Orochimaru?"

Silence, blessed silence, one he wished for nothing more the past few hours, now just a convenience. That quickly stopped as loud laughter echoed in his own mind. 'My, such a coherent retort that wasn't crying, that outburst earlier truly cleared your mind.' Not as much as he hoped, obviously. 'And here I thought you we were just starting to become friends.' The sinister grin, he saw it vividly.

"So we both know you're not Orochimaru, I am, but you reside within my mind, hold my memories, and experience what I do." Was it strange to say such things calmly and casually? It must've been, but he just didn't care anymore.

'A real conundrum, isn't it? Perhaps we should go into a debate about existentialism, what makes a person a person?'

"Or what mental disorders qualify with such symptoms." He cut off the voice's retort. "Quiet, I know full well what you intend to say, I will no longer cross out any possibilities. You're either truly some other being within my mind, or delusion born out of circumstances clearly beyond my control."

Furrowed brows, that's all he could think of. 'You're taking this remarkably well, calm and casually.' He knew, which meant, as stated by the voice, it knew as well. Also meant he didn't know really why that was. 'That you don't care anymore, hence why you are treating this analytically instead of the kicking and screaming earlier.'

Difference was he still wanted to kick and scream for this thing to leave him with his thoughts in peace, but his control of that was limited, very limited, so the next best thing? Learn about it, find out what makes it go away for good.

The voice huffed. 'You can try, but it will only end in failure.'

"You're not responsible for stabbing that boy, are you?"

'I am not, and you know exactly who's action that was.' He did, but he couldn't help but stay on that last thread of hope that it wasn't.

"Am I a bad person?"

More silence, this time he wished there wasn't. 'You're asking me? Perhaps you are mad if you'd ask a disembodied voice in your head for such stupid advice.. . No, that isn't the case, you're just desperate.' There was truth to that, and it frustrated him. 'Ask your father or sisters this, I wouldn't bother with something ridiculous and childish like morality.'

He would, and probably should, but right now he was too tired to even get out of bed. What a terrible day this was. "I wish to sleep, do try to keep silent."

The voice laughed. 'Don't worry, I'll be here when you wake up.'

He hoped not, but knew otherwise.

I like to imagine that mental Orochimaru sounds/talks like Caustic from Apex Legends. No real reason, I just think it's funny. . . that is all, on with your day.

Don't forget to wash your hands!