Bound to You (Naruto)

Chapter Four

Tsuki couldn't sleep. She'd always had trouble sleeping, as far as she could remember. Usually her body would just shut down in a state of forced sleep once she'd exhausted herself enough. Once she'd been bound to Orochimaru and he left her in that cell, there were people that would force drugs down her throat that made her sleep. She didn't like them, she didn't like that they left her completely vulnerable and made everything seem hazy.

Instead of sleeping, she let the little snake music box play for hours and danced to the haunting melody, wishing she could dance in the moonlight as she used to when she was younger. After hours of dancing, there was a knock at the door. Startled she scrambled to shut the music box and turned to the door as it swung open. Those terrifying eyes latched onto her noting that she was still in the dress from the day before and the bed looked untouched.

"Trouble sleeping?"

She bowed her head.

"I can make you something to help-."

"No, I don't want that." Tsuki blurted before closing her mouth with a squeak and tensing in anticipation thinking he was going to lash out at her.

"What will help?" He asked her, trying to be patient with her.

Tsuki shrugged, "I don't know, I used to always wait until it happened on its own."

"Collapsing from sheer exhaustion." Orochimaru surmised with a shake of his head, "Change into something else." He ordered her and felt a spark of annoyance as she looked to him confused before looking around the room curiously. Losing all patience, he pointed to the chest of drawers next to the standing mirror, "Over there."

Hurriedly, Tsuki scrambled to the chest of drawers before finding something to change into. She stripped out of her dress and changed into a pale lavender bodysuit that stretched down to about mid-thigh leaving the majority of her legs revealed and pulled a white kimono-like shirt over top. When she turned to face Orochimaru she found him with his head in his hands shaking his head at her. Did she do something wrong?

"Your hair is going to get in your way." He noted, tapping his foot impatiently.

"I can cut it-." Tsuki skimmed the room for something sharp only to jump as Orochimaru appeared behind her, tired of her taking so long and swept her long silken silvery blonde hair into a bun atop her head.

"Let's go."

She ran to keep up with his long strides and lost count of the twists and turns along the way and hoped he wouldn't test her on how to get back. He stopped abruptly and she ran face first into his back and tumbled to the ground with a squeak. A hand lashed out and caught her wrist in a painfully tight grasp wrenching her to her feet.

"Watch where you're going." He snapped.

"S-Sorry."

They arrived in a large open room with high ceilings. There were several targets littering the room and a plethora of other training devices. For the first few hours she threw shuriken and kunai at the targets, before they moved on to work on her wind style and once she was practically drained of chakra she trained in hand to hand combat. After getting mercilessly defeated time and time again, she felt exhausted.

Once training was over, every muscle and bone in her body ached. Her companion didn't comment once during her training so she wasn't sure if she was doing well or not. She had managed to hit every single target after only a few attempts which she thought was good considering she'd never held a weapon before. Obediently, she trailed along after Orochimaru as he left their training area, after awhile she thought she recognized a twist in the path only to realize they were going in a different direction than she thought led to her room.

Her heart dropped as they arrived at the lab. Subjected to a few hours of experiments and blood work, she felt completely drained by the time they finished. Once finished, he led her to the kitchen, she prepared a meal and they ate in silence. She cleaned the kitchen and was returned to her room, and the process repeated for two more days.

As much as she tried, she couldn't get herself to fall asleep, she'd never been able to fall asleep on her own. Each time he'd come to retrieve her from her room he'd look annoyed and disappointed that she still hadn't slept and would threaten her with drugs.

On the third day, he found her lying on the floor staring up at the ceiling vacantly. Her body was littered in bruises and needle marks from their training and the blood draws for his research. She barely had the strength to move. He didn't understand how she could go her whole life without being able to fall asleep on her own without collapsing from sheer exhaustion and her body forcing a shut down. If this continued she'd be putting their lives at risk. He'd have to sedate her.

"You're such a nuisance." He hissed as he swept the girl into his arms to take her to the lab. She didn't have the strength to protest.

After a few turns, he felt her head drop onto his shoulder and looked down to find her sound asleep and just like before, the bruises lining her skin began to fade to nothing. He felt a strange sensation as he carried, her as if he himself were growing stronger. It made no sense to him.

When they arrived in the lab, he laid the sleeping girl on a cool metal exam table and quickly withdrew a vial of blood and watched as the puncture wound where the needle was vanished in an instant. He draped a sheet over top of her and went to examine the blood. It was different than the samples he'd drawn before, stronger, more nutrient enriched. His gaze fell on the small black crescent mark on the palm of his hand. What had changed?

The sound of rustling fabric caused him to turn, she'd woken up and was looking around the lab in a panic. Her colorless eyes fell on him and she relaxed after a moment.

"Go back to sleep." He ordered her softly as he returned to the microscope. After a few moments he could still sense that she was awake and threw a glare in her direction. She looked scared, she didn't like the lab. "Come here." His tone was softer now as he tried to be more patient with the girl.

Tsuki hurriedly left the cold metal table and scrambled to his side. He pulled up a small stool next to him as he continued with his research. She sat down quietly, careful not to disturb him. The lab was colder than usual and she pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them in an attempt to keep herself warm.

Her eyelids began to feel heavy as she sat next to him in silence, watching him as he examined her blood samples and made notes on his findings. Even though he was probably the scariest being she'd ever come into contact with, his presence was soothing and made her feel safe. She closed her eyes and laid her head atop her knees.

Orochimaru looked over as the bony girl drifted to sleep on the stool beside him. Her frail body began to slip from the stool and he reached out, catching her in his arms. A curious thought crossed his mind, she only seemed to fall asleep in his presence, but she woke up shortly after when he left her side. He placed her frail form on his lap, to see how long she'd sleep and he could continue his research. Her head lightly rested against his shoulder and she unconsciously nestled closer to him.

"Troublesome girl." He muttered under his breath as he continued studying her blood samples, mixing the old and new samples with various tissue samples, diseases and bacteria to see the difference in the reactions. His eyes widened after he flipped through dozens of samples, her old blood sample succumbed to each disease and bacteria and couldn't fight any of them off. The newer blood samples neutralized each disease, toxin and bacteria he'd tested it against.

Curious he pricked himself with a nearby needle and looked to the small puncture wound, waiting to see what would happen. Tsuki snuggled closer in her sleep and the small puncture wound vanished.

"Interesting. Perhaps you will be of use to me." He smirked.

Video- "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" By Set It Off (because I love them!!!!!!)