Bound to You (Naruto)

Chapter Eighteen

Tsuki had been training with Sasuke over the course of a year. After a few months he was able to defeat her with the handicap Orochimaru had given him by restricting her ninjutsu abilities. Once he was able to defeat her with the handicap, Orochimaru instructed her to only use her weakest element, water, the process continued and after Sasuke was able to defeat her with her only able to use water, she was able to use water and lightning and it proved to be quite a challenge for him. Over a year's time he'd still not been able to defeat her using her two weakest elements and was becoming more and more frustrated with his progress.

Tsuki looked to the teenage boy with the dark hair and dark brooding gaze with a faint smile as he lay flat on his back on the cracked desert earth where they were training. They'd been moving locations of late, though Tsuki wasn't entirely sure why. Orochimaru seemed slightly on edge about something, but she had no idea what it was. Whenever she asked him about it he would wave off her concerns and try to convince her there was nothing to worry about, as if he were trying to spare her feelings.

The moon's healing glow washed over them and Tsuki closed her eyes with a soft smile basking in the gentle moonbeams. She stretched her arms up to the heaven's and spun in a circle with a soft giggle. They'd been so busy moving around, that she hadn't gotten a chance to enjoy the nighttime or dance beneath the moon as she loved to do. Sensing the brooding teen's gaze, she stopped her spinning and turned to him opening her pupil less eyes. They were usually a milky white in color, looking like unseeing eyes, but they glowed a faint titanium silver in the moonlight.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked her curiously as he struggled to sit up, his ribs ached from their sparring match, but he knew the strange woman had been holding back to ensure she didn't break any of his bones. It only infuriated him more that she held back.

"Spinning." Tsuki said simply with a small smile as she spun again, causing the hem of her pale lavender dress to fan out around her.

"You look ridiculous, you're not a child." Sasuke frowned but paused as he noticed the wildlife that had been in hiding during their training had started to come out. Coyotes, wild hares, and foxes all left their den's in their desert surroundings to approach the young woman glowing in the starlight.

Tsuki paused her spinning as she noticed the wildlife and smiled as a pair of kits swarmed toward her rubbing against her legs before flopping on their backs for belly rubs. She knelt on the dried-out earth to play with the kits rubbing their bellies and skittering her fingers across the earth laughing as they chased after her fingers and nipped at them playfully.

"Stop messing around, let's get back to training!" Sasuke snapped as he managed to roll to his feet only to pause as the surrounding animals tensed, some of the coyotes growled and bared their fangs.

"You're making them nervous." Tsuki noted without looking back at the angry teen. "You should relax." She extended her hand to the growling coyotes. They calmed down and approached the young woman, drawn to her pure presence like most beings. "Don't mind Sasuke-kun, he's always grumpy." Her soft voice cooed to the surrounding animals, angering the teen further.

"Shut up!" Sasuke glowered but jumped as one of the coyotes lunged for him. It halted its attack as Tsuki held her hand up, drawing his gaze to the strange black crescent moon brand like marking seared into her palm.

"Sasuke-kun, animals can sense emotions, when your tense and angry they'll perceive it as a threat and lash out." Tsuki scolded him.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at this, but kept his mouth shut. Over the year he'd spent training with the girl, he had learned a lot. Though he'd never admit it to her, he was glad she was helping him as a mentor, she had a calming effect on him and kept him grounded. He'd opened up to her on a few occasions telling her about his humiliating defeat against his older brother, Itachi and shared his pain and rage at the loss of his entire Clan at his brother's hands. As infuriating as she was, he had to admit she was a great listener.