It was a cold and snowy day in the Land of Winter. A young pale skinned teenager with long raven hair and golden snake, who was wearing a purple kimono shirt with a white bandage around his waist along with black pants with armor plates on his sides, and standard black ninja sandals. On his forehead was a headband with a leaf symbol.

After completing his mission in the Land of Winter, he was currently making his journey back. He shivered as he felt snow hitting his face.

"Man, I hate the sssnow," He said in a snake-like voice."I wish I weren't sent to Land of Winter."

Suddenly the wind blew exceptionally chill and snow towards him, causing him to hug himself and shiver even more.

"Why did he have to get a misssion in the  Land of Winter," He said with his teeth chattering.

'I should find a cave or at least some kind of shelter to warm up at. There might be a town up ahead where I can get an inn room, or maybe there a cave close by.' He thought as he continued walking, looking around for any sign of nearby shelter.

As he walked, he felt a tickle in his nose, and his nostrils flared up. He titled his upper body back as he inhaled, his nose quivering. He needed to sneeze.

"Ah..." His breath started to hitch.  He was definitely about to sneeze. He brought an arm up to his mouth as he tilted his neck back some more. "Aaaaaah...." He tilted his neck farther back as his nostrils continued growing and shrinking over and over. Every gasp he took tickled his nose more and more."AaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHH..."He shut his eyes as he tilted even farther back.

"AaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHH..." But just after that final gasp, there was a long pause with no release.  After a few more minutes, the urge to sneeze was gone, but his nose was still ticking. He rubbed his nose as he tilted his head back to his position and continued walking.

"Yeah, definitely need to find sssomewhere to warm up and dry out my wet jacket so I can wear it," He said as he sniffed sharply as he rubbed his still itchy nose.

"Aaaaaahh..." His breath started to hitch, the need to sneeze coming back again. "Aaaaaaaaahhhh...." He tilted his neck back as his breath continued to hitch.

"Aaaaaah...Aaaaaaaaaahhh..." He titled his head even further back as his nose twitched and nostrils flared up. His eyes slowly squeezed shut as he felt the tickle sensation growing. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh...Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh...!" His neck titled back as far as it could, and his nostrils flared up as wide as they could when he finally released his sneeze.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOO!"

His head shot forward as he released a powerful and loud sneeze making a decent amount of mucus flew out of his nostrils after a few minutes of recovering from the sneeze. He brought his arm up to his nose and rubbed it.

"Yeah, time to get out of this sssssnow," He muttered as he walked straight ahead, where he saw what looked like a blue roof farther up ahead. "That looksss like a building up ahead," He stated as he walked in the direction of the blue roof he was seeing.

He could suddenly feel another tickle in his nose. He wiggled his nose, trying to get rid of the tickle.

"Aah...Aaaah...Aaaaah...Aaaaahh..." He let out four quiet inhales as he tilted his head back. He could definitely feel another sneeze coming on. Just wanting to get out of the cold already. He pressed a forefinger underneath his itchy nostrils, trying to prevent the incoming sneeze.

His nose continued to tickle still, so he began to wiggle and rubbed his nose while thinking about denying thoughts hoping that would help.

'Knock it off. You're not going to sneeze.  No, you will see warm-up in that building you see the roof of. Then continue back to the Hidden Leaf village. ' He thought as he continued to rub his nose, trying to get rid of the tickle sensation.

After a couple more minutes, the urge to sneeze was finally gone. He removed his finger from underneath his nostrils, and continued walking through the snow.

This snow might be starting to make me sick.' He thought as he sniffed, feeling another tickle in his nose.

"Aaaaahhh-choo!" He suddenly doubled over as he sneezed into his hands with barely a warning he was about to sneeze. However, he wasn't down yet. His nose was still tickling.

"Aaah-choo! Haaaaahhh-choooo!Aaaaaahhh-choooo!" He doubled over three more times as he continued to sneeze, making his nose run with mucus each time.

"I hate the cold," He groaned as he sniffed and looked for tissue in his pouch to blow his nose, but couldn't find any.

"Aaaaah...Aaaaaahhh..." He tilted his head back and fanned a hand in front of his face, yet another intense tickle sensation singling another sneeze was coming. "Aaaaaaaahh...Aaaaah...ahhh..."

He took a mild sniff and wiggled his nose, trying to get rid of the tickle in his nostrils, but his nostrils continued to itch, and his breath was constantly hitched. He realized he was going to sneeze no matter how much he tried to stop it.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh...!" He head was suddenly thrown back farther as he took a long and big gasp, then his last few sneezes. His nostrils continued to flare and quiver like a volcano ready to erupt, singling this was going to be a  gigantic sneeze and possibly impossible to cover, so he moved his hand away from his face as his breath continued to hitch."Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh...!"

He was tempted to try again to stop it but constantly tickling, and nostrils quivering were telling him otherwise as he took one more final long climactic gasp."AaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH....!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOO!"

He doubled over as he released want was a pretty powerful and loud sneeze as a large amount of mucus shot out of his mouth and nose. It was so powerful that it felt like he had the wind knocked out of him. He sniffed and opened his eyes to see that he had arrived at what looked like a clan compound.

"Bless you," A beautiful and angelic voice said from the right of him.

He suddenly turned to his right to see a beautiful, slightly pale woman around his age standing at the entrance of a silver-painted house with a blue roof. She had long snow-white hair, bright blue feline eyes, white and black ears, and a white and black spotted tail. She was wearing a grey jacket and black pants along with dark blue ninja sandals.

"Th...Than...Aaaaahhh...Thank...y...Aaaaahhh...yo...AaaaaaaaaaAAAAAA" His breath hitched as he felt another sneeze coming on while trying to thank her."AaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOO!" He doubled over as he released another sneeze

"Bless you," She said again as she walked over towards him, offering him a tissue.

"Thank you, "He said, taking the tissue and looking at her with a raised eyebrow at her kindness before blowing his now red and running nose.

"You welcome. Why don't you come inside and warm on up," She offered, leading him inside her house. "This snow is probably making you catch a cold."

He sniffed and nodded his thanks at her offer as he wiped his nose and followed her inside the warm house, taking off his shoes.

"Feel free to rest in the living room and use the covers on the couch, um.." She trailed off, realizing she didn't know his name.

"Orochimaru."

"Well, I'm Yuki Yukihyō. Now, as I said, why don't you sit in the living room using the covers in them," Yuki said, leading him into the living room. "I will make you a cup of hot tea to help warm you up and clear your nose."

"Okay, Yuki," Orochimaru said with a cough as she placed him on the couch and bundled him up with the blankets.

"No problem, I will be right back with your tea," Yuki said, heading towards the kitchen as Orochimaru noticed the white leopard paw on her back.

☆☆☆

Yuki was in the kitchen filling up a kennel of water to warm up on the stove to make some nice hot tea for her guest.

"I should have asked him what kind of tea he likes. However, green tea with honey will work best for his throat and nose. Hopefully, he be okay with drinking that," She said as he got out to tea cups as the water warmed up.

'I might as well have some myself to keep warm as well.' She thought as she placed the cups down and grabbed the honey from a cabinet above the counter near the microwave.

Meanwhile, in the living room...

Orochimaru groaned as he shifted on the couch, getting a bit more comfortable under bundled of blankets. He looked over at the walls and noticed a family photo of five people with a similar appearance as Yuki and that same symbol on their clothes.

'That must be her family. The older girl with the hand on the boy's head must be Yuki. While the boy who probably around at least fourteen years old by now.' He thought as he looked at the picture before noticing one with a family of three with the female looking a lot like Yuki's mom in facial features. At the same time, the small girl looked like a mixture of a man and a female.

'That must be her mother's younger sister's family picture. '

He was pulled out of his thoughts as his nose once again started to tickle. "Ah...Aaaaahh..." Orochimaru's breath began to hitch. His nostrils quivered and flared up.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhh...Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhh..." His breath continued to hitch as his nostril twitched and flared."Aaaaaaaaahhhh...Aaaaaaaaahhhh..." He tilted his neck back as he brought his hand up to his mouth and nose as he continued to inhale, getting close to releasing the sneeze that was building up in his nostrils."Aaaaaaaaaaahhh...AaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH....!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Orochimaru's head shot forward as he released a sneeze into his hand and shot a good amount of mucus onto his hands.

He was about to rub his nose when he felt another tremendous tickle in his nose. He needed to sneeze again.  He titled his neck back as his nostril twitched and flared involuntarily as he prepared to sneeze again.

"Aaaaaaahhh...Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh...AaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-CHOOOO!" He doubled over as he released another sneeze into his hand. He sniffed as he rubbed his still slightly itchy nose with his forefinger.

"What was gross sound?" A voice asked.

Orochimaru turned to see that a boy with white and black spiky hair, around fourteen years old with slightly pale skin and green eyes, black and white ears, and a similar tail to the girl, walked down the stairs.

"Oh, be quiet, Shiro. Don't act like you never sneezed before," Yuki said. "Just ignore my brother. He has no manners. Bless you, by the way," She said, walking into the room with two cups of tea.

"Thank you," Orochimaru said as he rubbed his red and runny nose, coughing every now and then."So that's your brother?"

"Whatever," Shiro muttered, heading back upstairs."Just call me down when lunch is ready."

"Sure thing Shiro!" She said, looking at the stairs. "Yeah, that is anyway. Drink this. It should help your cough and nose. I'll get you some tissues from the bathroom," She said, giving him one of the cups and placing the other on the table before heading to the bathroom.

Orochimaru blew his tea before taking a sip of it, feeling a soothing effect on his throat.

Alright, here you go," Yuki returned and put the box tissue down on the table as she grabbed her cup of tea.

Orochimaru thanked her and immediately pulled out a tissue to blow his nose. The final action immediately widened his eyes as he felt a strong familiar tickle in his nostrils.

"Aaaaahh...AaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH...." He tilted his head back as he released a strong sneeze into the tissue in his hands."CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He sniffed and wiped his nose with the tissue after one final blow.

"Bless you again, trash can in the bathroom over there and another one in the kitchen across from the living room.

"Thank you once again, Yuki," He said once again, greatful for his kindness.

"Why don't you get some rest? It seems like you might be coming down with a cold. I'll check on you again in a couple of hours," Yuki said before drinking some of her tea as she looked at Orochimaru's red nose with a hint of concern.

'Poor guy, he looks miserable. I make sure he gets pretty of rest to recover before he needs to leave for his village. ' she thought, watching him blow his nose again.

"Thanks for letting me stay even though you hardly know me," He sniffed, taking a slip of more of his tea.

"You seem like a nice guy besides this land is one of the few with an alliance with your village during the current era of development of war," She stated as she began to head upstairs for a bit before making lunch.

Orochimaru suddenly pinched his nose, feeling another sneeze coming on. Without time to stop it, he kept his nose pinched with a tissue."Hih-gnxxt!" His head shot forward as he doubled over and released a quiet and sniffed sneeze.

Orochimaru opened his eyes to see that Yuki was gone as he closed his eyes and sighed in relief that he was quiet enough not to bother her again with more of his sneezing as he began to drift off to sleep after another final slip of his tea.

🐾🐾

Here we go. Chapter one of my new story, called The Snake and the Snow leopard, has been published.  I have had this random obsession with sneezing lately,  but don't worry. It won't be much of that, mainly action and romance between Orochimaru and Yuki. The picture above is an idea of how the living room looks.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.