moonlight

Chapter 31

"Orochimaru..." Tsuki touched her eyelid with two fingers while staring at the spot where she had just attacked Zaku. "What... am I?"

The others who were still there, aided the wounded.

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"Hey, Tsuki-chan, are you hurt somewhere? How do you feel?" Sakura asked the Takeshi while examining her body with sharp eyes.Tsuki shook her head, she still felt weird after what just happened and the sudden rush in power, but everything else was fine. Her stomach was healed well enough and the anger vanished as just as soon as it came.

"I'm fine, what about you? Your hair..." Tsuki said, while staring at the messy cut hair. Sakura noticed the gaze on the pink hair and smiled weakly while brushing through it nervously."Well... I wanted to change my image a little, so I decided to cut it short. I liked long hair, but a change wouldn't hurt, don't you think?"Tsuki chuckled weakly. "Heh, it suits you." she patted Sakura's head softly, making her blush slightly and chuckle with her.

"Oi, Sakura!" Ino called out. "Come over here, let me fix your hair!"Sakura stared at Ino, her expression dropping to a suspicious one, but still gave her a forced: "Thank you."

After only a second, you could hear the two bickering about what happened a few minutes before and how Sakura got to hug Tsuki.

At that time, Naruto woke up and started yelling, making everyone sweatdrop at his obliviousness.

"Oh man, that knucklehead..." Tsuki mumbled and sighed afterward."Tell me about it, what a drag." Shikamaru, who stood next to her agreed and sighed as well.

"Ki-chan! Where is that guy?!" Naruto yelled while running to her in a fast sprint."Stop yelling already!"

The Takeshi flicked her finger against his forehead. "He's gone already, we took care of that guy.""What?! I wanted to protect you this time! No fair!" he screamed in disbelief, his imagination of that scene puffing away and making him slump his head down.

Then the Uzumaki noticed everyone around the place and asked Shikamaru why they were here in which he responded in his usual quote. "Oh man, It's such a drag to explain everything to you."

The bluenette stood up and walked towards Lee who was talking and getting yelled at from his teammate TenTen.

Arriving in front of him, she kneeled down on his level and smiled. "Hey Lee-san, thanks for helping us back there. You really saved our butts."

Lee blushed at her words and grabbed her hands. "Maybe this time I was defeated by the enemies, but remember one thing: The Lotus in Konoha blooms twice, so next time we meet, I will be stronger! I promise!"Tsuki's smile grew wider. "I will keep that in mind. Until then, see you!"

TenTen nodded at her and Lee released her hands and the two of them jumped to Neji who was staring intensely at the Takeshi.She responded with an uninterested glance, then turned around to tell everyone that they were leaving.

Telling everybody goodbye, she walked to Sasuke who radiated purple chakra around his still unconscious body.

Her hand touched his forehead when his eyes opened suddenly. Sasuke's hand took a hold of Tsuki's wrist and grabbed on it tightly."Tsuki." he only mumbled and saw the expression in her eyes."I know what you are feeling right now. Don't let it take over you. You have to resist it, you need to." She whispered, her eyes fixated on his eyes, which were staring at her's already.

"Will you listen to me and promise not to use it just yet?" The Takeshi asked and rubbed his cheek gently with a weakened smile, but serious eyes.Sasuke gulped at the sight and the markings on his skin disappeared."Thank you, Sasuke." Tsuki whispered and helped him up.

The Uchiha stared at their surroundings when his eyes stopped at Tsuki's face. "What happened while I was unconscious?"Tsuki sighed and rubbed his arms gently. "Orochimaru is gone, he disappeared after putting a seal on you. Then, later on, the sound ninjas attacked us, but we had some help from our friends, so we fought them off."

Sasuke nodded, understanding the situation, but still having thoughts about what he had felt a minute ago. The chakra, the power...

Tsuki of course, knew exactly what he was thinking and put a hand on his cheek. "Listen, I kind of know what you are feeling right now. I felt this chakra running through me, but I don't know what it was exactly. Even though, I don't think it's a good idea for you to use your power just yet, Sasuke. We don't know what that seal does to you."

Sasuke stared at her eyes, searching for some kind of further explanation, but her words were enough for him. He nodded one time and then took her hand off his face and grasped it in his and then walked to their teammates.

The other two were speaking and discussing Sakura's new hairstyle. It was short, but it really suited the bubbly girl."Oh, I almost forgot!" Sakura called out suddenly. She rummaged through her pouch and took an earth scroll out and showed it to her teammates.

Naruto's mouth hung open, his eyes were wide, he couldn't believe that Sakura got them a scroll. He wanted to shout something, but Tsuki got the word before him.

She smiled a closed eye smile and praised the bubbly girl. "You did a good job of protecting us, Sakura. You really got stronger, don't you think?"Sakura grinned at that, while Sasuke hn'ed and pulled Tsuki the other way.

Naruto, of course, didn't know what happened and only scratched his head in confusion.*1"What was going on when I was sleeping?!" the blond screamed and jumped up, no one answering his questions and only chuckling."It's a looong story." Tsuki said while starting to walk deeper into the woods, with Sasuke next to her and Sakura running towards them."Why won't anyone tell me?!!"

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*1 like, I don't want that to be me, but this is totally me...

Side information: I kind of like the idea of Tsuki calming Sasuke down like this.

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I don't own Naruto and none of the pictures or videos that I'm using (sadly), only my OC.

I hope you enjoyed! ^v^

Farewell for now, my lovelies.~