Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [2]

☾ 58 ☽

As Tsukiko, Naruto and Killer Bee travelled across the land, the night began to fall. Tsukiko was the first to take on her Reibi Chakra Mode, glowing white in the darkness as the full moon arrived over their heads. It did not fail to hurt her, that moonlight gaze so unwavering upon her, but Tsukiko did not stop – she persisted and persisted through the pain.

Naruto followed Tsukiko soon after and entered his own Kyuubi Chakra Mode, glowing like fire as he tried to keep up with the white-haired girl, who while keeping slower than she normally was, still was faster than all of them. His Mode, however, concerned Tsukiko.

Yet the look on Naruto's face told Tsukiko had he would not listen to her if she told him to knock it down a little bit. So, she simply kept herself close to him to keep an eye on him.

"That's right," Naruto spoke up suddenly, seemingly talking to both himself and Tsukiko. "Sasuke and the war – together, we'll find a way to fix them both!"

For a strained second, Tsukiko stared at the boy running alongside her and at the expression on his face, full of resolute. Tsukiko nodded with just as much determination as him. She looked back to the dark forest ahead of them – they would find a way for sure.

"Yo, Naruto glowing like the sun and Tsukiko like the moon," Killer Bee commented as he caught up with the two teenagers. "Why so serious under the full moon? Gotta keep it lighter, yeah!"

Killer Bee reached out his fist to Naruto, who pressed his against it, and Tsukiko took hold of their hands – this gave her an insight to why the blond had spoken up so suddenly... he had been arguing with the Nine-Tails yet again, although he kept his foot down this time.

"Huh?" Killer Bee asked. "You fighting with the Kyuubi, again? The Tailed Beast Mode has you and the Kyuubi in an endless tug of war. You run out of Chakra, and then you're gonna be more! So, don't overdo it!"

"I know I'm overdoing it," Naruto replied seriously. "But I don't go back on my word! That's my way of the Ninja! Come on, you two, let's fly!"

Naruto jumped off ahead of them, leaving Tsukiko and Killer Bee to share a look before rushing to reach him. Tsukiko travelled next to Naruto, feeling like even if things were really bad and unlike anything that she was used to, having him and her friends would make it much easier for her. Even if she ceased to exist, fighting for them would be enough for her.

Most of their subsequent journey was quiet.

They moved out of the forest soon after and found themselves travelling across rocky landscape. Tsukiko was not very fond of this because she was under the direct moonlight but insisted that if others were willing to fight for her life, she could handle this.

It was better, somewhat, while Tsukiko kept her thought occupied with scouting out the region they were travelling through with her Sensory abilities, giving others a break.

And during such a moment, something distant but disturbing caught Tsukiko's attention, her sharp intake of breath alerted the two males with her toward her.

"What's wrong, Jade Rabbit?" inquired Killer Bee, but rather than making this new nickname into a rap, he seemed rather serious and curious as to what was going on.

"I just felt..." Tsukiko spoke up. "Like... the enemy is attempting on disguising themselves as allies,"

"What's going on, Tsukiko-Chan?" Naruto asked urgently.

"Wait, I'm trying to figure out," Tsukiko replied, trying to concentrate far away as they rushed through the dark. "It's harder now – there's some sort of murkiness spreading everywhere!"