Bound to You (Naruto)

Chapter Twenty Three

It had been a few weeks since their run in with Sakura and Naruto. They stayed in various caves during the day to protect Tsuki's sensitive skin from the harsh sun's rays. She'd finally regained her strength and her keen senses were back to normal. She often thought back on their first night away from their lair. Why did Orochimaru run from her? He appeared to be avoiding her when possible now.

Tsuki slowly made her way to a nearby waterfall close to the current cave they were camping out in. During her training with Sasuke she'd been distracted trying to figure out why Orochimaru was avoiding her and had fallen in mud while trying to avoid one of his fire attacks. After a quick glance around the dark surrounding forest to make sure she was alone, she stripped from her muddy clothing before stepping into the crystal clear cool water. She shivered at the chill from the night air and the cold water before taking a deep breath and diving into the deeper part of the pool. It was colder the deeper she went, but her body began to adjust after a while.

She used her chakra to stand atop the water after she'd had her fill of swimming so she could stand beneath the waterfall and wash the mud from her hair. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she walked atop the water toward the waterfall. Casting out her senses she tried to scan the area. She sensed two familiar presences hiding in the tree line and rolled her eyes at this. Sasuke was a teenager so his poor behavior was to be expected, but she'd thought Kabuto was mature enough, she'd been mistaken. If Orochimaru caught them peeping they'd regret it.

Pretending not to notice her two voyeurs, she stepped beneath the waterfall as she sensed a third familiar presence drawing near. Orochimaru had probably returned to the cave they were staying in to find everyone else missing. Luckily it appeared he wasn't going to stumble upon Kabuto and Sasuke.

Tsuki heard a rustling in the underbrush on the opposite bank from where Kabuto and Sasuke were hiding, nowhere near the direction Orochimaru was coming from. There was someone else there! She dropped beneath the water's surface to hide her body from view only to scream as she found a man beneath the water's surface. He was a rogue ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist. He made a move to grab her, Tsuki scrambled back atop the water's surface and froze as she saw a dark cloud of blood beneath the water's surface where her assailant had been.

Her colorless eyes flicked to the shoreline. Orochimaru was standing at the shoreline looking livid. She chanced a glance in the direction of where she'd heard the others moving and blanched as she spotted three dead rogue ninja.

"Tsuki." He held his hand out to her.

She scrambled to her feet and dove into his arms. He shielded her body from view as he wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her heart pounding in her chest as her body molded against his.

"Are you alright?"

The starlight girl nodded her dripping wet moonbeam hair soaking the front of his shirt as she buried her face in his chest. She chanced a peek in the direction Sasuke and Kabuto had been hiding, she no longer sensed their presence. There was a single kunai sticking out of the trunk of the tree a fraction of an inch above where the tops of their heads would have been. Orochimaru had seen them.

Upon noticing her clothes were covered in mud, he shrugged out of the white overlaying top that he wore over his plain black pants and long sleeved black shirt. He pulled the white cloth over her head before securing it in place with the purple rope. The white material molded to her soaking wet body defining her every curve in sinful ways. A faint splash of color painted his pale cheeks and he forced himself to look away from her. Tsuki picked up her dirty clothes and scrambled to keep up with his hurried strides as he led the way back to the cave they were staying in.