Orochimaru stared at Yuki with an eyebrow raised as she stood frozen in silence.

"No, nothing is wrong," Yuki replied, finally recovering from her frozen stance after hearing Orochimaru's question.

Orochimaru opened his mouth and was about to speak, until he broke into a coughing fit for a couple of minutes. Once he was done coughing, he finally spoke.

"It ssseem like there wasss by the way you froze there," Orochimaru said. "I know we just met, but sssince you've been kind to let me rest here, i'm willing to listen to what's on your mind."

"You don't have to do that. Nothing really," She stated."You should get some more rest instead of worrying about me," She said, looking at his flushed face.

"You know I would ressst better if you tell me what'sss wrong." He said in a congested snake-like voice.

Yuki sighed and looked at Orochimaru's face and saw his slightly concerned eyes making her smile.

'Maybe I should tell him. He generally looks concerned about me. He must really feel like he owns me for letting him stay him.' She thought, looking at Orichimaru's eyes.

"Though if you don't want to talk about it, that fine asss well."

Yuki stared at him for a couple of minutes until she replied.

"Well, you see, my parents are actually dead. It's just me, my little brother, and my cousin Mei, my Aunts daughter," Yuki explained. "My parents were killed four years ago on a mission, and my Aunt died in the hospital in the here in the Hidden Frost, but the clan compounded located farther away from most of the other buildings in the village and pretty much seems like a town of its own big clan."

"You too," He muttered quietly to himself.

"What you say?" She asked, wondering what he was muttering about.

"I said so; then it's just you and the little ones living here."

"I thought you said something else, but yes, that is correct."

"No, I *cough* didn't say anything else."

"Alright, I'll let you rest now. Thanks for listening to me when you didn't have to."

"It the leassst I could *cough* do after you *cough* let me stay here to rest."

"No problem, I have an uncle and cousins, but they, of course, live in different houses. My uncle, my father's older brother, lives in the large white and black house across from me. He is the clan head until his oldest son takes over."

"An uncle, I only saw a picture of your Aunt's family and your family."

"That because Shi-kun broke the frame holding the picture rushing downstairs last week, excited cousin Ken would be teaching him a new justu. I never got to fixing it, so the picture in my room."

"Oh, so that's why you only have two family picturesss."

"That's correct, well, rest up. You need to be in good condition to travel home also I noticed that you didn't have a coat yet. You had a mission here to complete."

"It ended up getting wet fighting the rouge ninja I was hired to capture and retrieve a justu ssscroll from. He used an impressive water style justu drenching my jacket."

"I can hang it up to dry in the bathroom if you would please give it to me."

"I appreciate the offer. Here you go," He said, pulling a scroll out from his sleeve and opening it, and out came a thick dark blue jacket with a high neck collar with a hood. It also had a grey zipper to zip the jacket up with.

"I was expecting a purple one with the purple outfit you have on, but I think you look lovely  in blue  as well."

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at her comment.

"Um, thanksss, I guesss Yuki."

"I mean, blue goes nice with purple," She corrected, realizing her mistake by saying he would look lovely in blue.

"Oh, I *cough* definitely agree with that, Yuki," He replied, coughing slightly.

"I'll hang this up and get you some more tea for your throat," She said, walking into the bathroom and hanging the jacket on the hook next to the towel rack.

After hanging it up, she grabbed his mug off the nightstand to get him some more tea.

"I will be right with more tea until then; try to get some more rest," She said, walking towards the door to leave the guest room.

Orochimaru sniffed slightly, his nose still stuffed up from the cold outside. "Thanksss, and can you bring some tisssues as well?"

"Of course, be right back," She replied, leaving the room.

Orochimaru slowly drifted off to sleep while he waited for Yuki to return.

☆☆☆

Meanwhile, in the kitchen...

Yuki was in the kitchen making another batch of tea when her little brother entered the kitchen with a smirk on his face.

"Making more tea for your snake boyfriend?" He asked.

Yuki rolled her eyes in response.

"Again, he is not my boyfriend, Shi-kun. Anyway, why don't you find something to do other than bothering me."

"Fine, I'll go train in the clan training field!" He announced.

"Alright, have fun with that," She replied, waiting for the kettle of water to warm on up.

☆☆☆

Back in the guest room...

Orochimaru was woken up from his slumber as he started to cough, feeling a tickle in his throat. He was about to fall asleep again when his nose started twitching, and his nostrils flared up. He could feel a sneeze coming on as his breath began to hitch.

"Ah...Aaaaah...Aaaaaaahh..."

He sniffed and brought his arm up to his nose and rubbed it, sitting up slightly in bed as he tried to get rid of the tickle in his nose, but he could feel his nostrils continue to quiver and flare up as his breath continued to hitch.

"Aaaaaaaaaah...Aaaaaaaahh...Aaaaaaaaaaahhh..."

He sniffed again as he continued to rub his nose as it continued to quiver and flare up as the urge to sneeze grew."Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh...Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh..." He continued to inhale as he felt himself getting closer to releasing the sneeze building up inside his nose. His nostrils were quivering and flaring up uncontrollably, ready to explode as he continued to rub it as the tickle sensation grew stronger than before.

"AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH..."He inhaled more sharply, and his eyes began to water. He could tell he wasn't going to be able to stop it now; he needed to sneeze. He couldn't hold it back any longer. His nose continued to grow and shrink intensely as each inhale tickled his nose as. His nose flared up twice its size and was about to explode."AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH....!"

He stopped rubbing his arm but kept it there as he took one more dramatic and loud inhale."AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH...!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOO!AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOO!" He shot his head forward as he doubled over and released two massive and loud sneezes into his arm; however, he wasn't done yet. He took another inhale."AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHH....!" He was going to sneeze again.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

He shot his head forward as he released another massive sneeze into his arm. However, his nose still wasn't relieved of the tickle sensation.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

He shot his head forward as he released one more massive sneeze into his arm, which was covered in mucus now from his fit of loud and messy giant sneezes. He was now hunched over with hair covering his face panting from sneezing so hard.

"Bless you that a nasty cold you seem to have come down with," Yuki said, entering the room with a cup of steaming hot tea and a fresh box of tissues.

"Thank you," He said, taking the tea as she placed the tissue box on the nightstand.

"Welcome I will be in my bedroom next door if you need anything, and there are extra blankets in the closet if you need one," She said, walking back towards the exit.

"Alright."

"I hope you feel better soon until then your free to stay here as long as you need," She said, leaving the room and closing the door.

🐾🐾

Here we go. Chapter theree  of my new story, called The Tale of a Snake and the Snow leopard, has been published. In this chapter, Yuki shares about her past of losing her parents and aunt and a little bit of information on her clan.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.