Twice Cursed Or Just Plain Unlucky?

41 - Sleeping Beauty Awakes

hi guys i'm sooooo sorry about not updating lately, i've being trying to get the hang of being a mama, let me tell you something, baby boys are nightmares, they're like teenage boys! always wanting attention jk jk nah i love him, anyway, here we are, a new chapter, sorry if it's short.

Was it wrong? Tsuki wondered as she watched Sakura tend to Sasuke’s flowers from her perch on the window sill. Has she been wrong to think there was more behind Itachi’s eyes than the hunger for power? She just couldn’t bring herself to believe it anymore.

It had been a long time . . . or that’s how it felt. She hadn’t left the room, not to eat, not to sleep, she just sat there and watched him. Sakura would come in every day, bringing flowers, holding his hand and speaking to him.

Tsuki couldn’t help but be jealous, yet she couldn’t bring herself to stop Sakura from doing those things, or to do them herself. It was her fault he was there, in the hospital bed. She should have fought back properly but she didn’t, she was a coward.

‘I hate doing this, but you’re not a coward Tsuki. If you believe Itachi’s up to something, then I’m with you one hundred percent to figure out what it is. Sasuke is here because of his own foolishness, he wouldn’t listen to you.’

‘I could have tried harder,’ Tsuki thought.

“Tsuki-chan,” Sakura spoke up quietly, as she held open the hospital door, it was time for visitors to leave. Tsuki turned her eyes to the Pinkette, barely seeing her ot the tears in her eyes, “Don’t blame yourself.”

“How can I not,” Tsuki replied quietly.

“That Uchiha Itachi is an s-rank criminal, the way we all are, none of us can beat him. We all need to get stronger, to protect Sasuke, to help him. It wasn’t your fault.”

As the sun went down, Tsuki’s fingers clenched deep into her thigh. Sakura was right, they needed to get stronger, she needed to get stronger.

+

For the next few weeks, Tsuki did nothing but train. Kakashi was unable to help her, but she found training under Asuma, Kurenai and Gai. But even after she could beat them, she kept training. Morino Ibiki trained her for days on end, she spent hours in the hospital learning from the medics, she learned from kiba's older sister more ways to work with her summons, and how to look after their health, and she spent a lot of time at Shikamaru's learning how to play shoji, to make better strategies and stuff with him and his father.

There was no way she would let Sasuke be hurt like that again, she would be stronger, she would protect him.

+ 

"It's too hot," Shikamaru complained, he and Tsuki were stretched out in the forestry behind his house, watching the clouds while the deer grazed around them, their shogi board left, forgotten. "What a drag."

Tsuki laughed, and sat up as a deer came towards her, it was a female, fully grown unlike the last time she saw it, with a scar running aross it's side.

"Yo, it's been a while," she said gently, and ran her fingers over the deer's side.

"She was the one, wasn't she?" Shikamaru asked, sitting up, "From that day."

"Yeah, the one you were protecting."

FLASHBACK

A seven year old Tsuki wandered through the forest, Itachi had told her about that area, where the Nara deer resided, protecting everything within. it was the deer she wanted to see, but they were scarce for some reason.

A yell came from up ahead, followed by a growl and Tsuki rushed through the trees to find the source. A young boy in a blood stained t-shirt and shorts, stood in front of a baby doe. It was on shaky legs behind him, a full gorwn doe a few feet away, it's neck ripped out. Tsuki guessed it was the mother.

it wasn't the baby, or the bleeding boy that was the problem, it was the bear towering over them. Was the boy stupid, Tsuki wondered, what could he do against a bear the size of a house? Then she realised there wasn't much time for critisicm. The bear lunged.

Her chakra strings wrapped aound it's neck, pulling the bear back but it was strong, she barely had time to summon Ryouta before it snapped free. Her wolf appeared, towering over the bear, which cowered away.

Ryouta let out a low growl, shaking the ground and the bear tore off through the woods without a second thought. With a poof, her wolf was gone and Tsuki hurried over to the boy who had collapsed to his knees.

"Are you okay?" she asked, crouching next to him.

"You . . . how did you do that?"

"I didn't," Tsuki beamed, "Ryouta did, he's my wolf, he protects me."

"Oh well . . . Arigato," the boy mumured, "I'm Nara Shikamaru."

"I'm Akumu Tsuki, nice to meet you," Tsuki smiled, "Oh, people are coming," she told the boy, just as his father and a few other ninja rushed into the clearing.

END OF FLASHBACK

"You were so small back then," Shikamaru teased, "And yet you saved my life."

"Well," Tsuki grinned, "You repayed the favour during the exams."

+

"Tsuki!"

The red head turned away from her summons and grinned as she saw Naruto, if he was here then it only meant one thing. 

She rushed him in a hug, holding him tight as her way of saying thank you, even though she didn't know the situation. But she could feel it was good.

"I found that Tsunade woman, she's a real pain but she's healing Sasuke now, c'mon! ttebayo!"

"Okay," Tsuki grinned, cancelling her summons and hurried through the village to the hospital with Naruto.

'i have a bad feeling Tsuki, maybe we shouldn't go in,' Jubi muttered in her mind.

'Nonesense, i should be there for him when he wakes up,' she told him and sped past Naruto, quickly flinging open the door.

The smile fell from her lips, and she began to tremble slightly as she saw Sakura's lips pressed firmly against Sasuke's. They hadn't seemed to notice her, and her stomach heaved as Sasuke sat there, not moving, just letting her kiss him.

Stepping back out the room, she pulled the door over and turned, heading back down the hall.

"Oi, Tsuki-chan, where you going?" Naruto asked as she passed him.

"He seems busy," she replied calmly, "I'm going to see Kakashi."

Kakashi knew somehing was wrong immediately, but didn't push the problem. He let her sit next to him and curl into his side. She fell asleep there, without a word. He knew she'd been training non- stop, he could see the bags under her eyes, her bones were starting to become obvious through her skin. She hadn't been eating properly.

But he'd talk with her when she woke up.

Sooo . . . how was it, have i lost my touch? for some reason i think this wasn;t as good as it could have been but i lost the plan for it so i was trying to write from memory