Quick Recap:
"Well, look what we have here."
Tsuki froze as footsteps approached, Sasuke looked over his shoulder at the three Tsuki had seen earlier that week and then back at Tsuki, his eyes widened a bit as he watched her tremble. The two boys stood behind them but the girl circled around to stand in front.
"Ne, Shouta-kun, is this the little gaki you've been telling us about?" the girl asked, leaning down to look at Tsuki in the eyes. "She looks pretty pathetic if you ask me."
"Tch, watch your words, Kono ama!" Shouta hissed, his eyes flashing red.
"Yeah Yukki, don't insult Shouta-Danna's Imouto," the other boy snickered.
"Urusai Daichi!" the girl screeched.
Sasuke looked between them cautiously and then back at Tsuki whose eye was focused on the ground, her fingers pulling at the tie of her kimono.
"You going to greet me, Tsuki, you twice cursed brat?" Shouta asked, and then leaned down, hands in his pockets as his lips reached the ear on the side Sasuke couldn't see and he whispered, "Or do I have to tear apart this guy first?"
Tsuki cringed, and lifted her head; Sasuke noticed her eye was completely dead compared to how it had been the last couple of months.
"O-Ohayou," she said quietly, "Sh-Shouta-nii-sama."
"That's my girl," he grinned sadistically, patting her on the head twice. Each time she flinched, and then he whispered, "Tell the boy to fuck off."
'Shit, what do i do? They're here FOR Sasuke?' She thought.
'Call him Naruto, he'll get the hint,' Jubi said quickly.
"Ne, Naruto . . ."
Tsuki looked at him from the corner of her eye, Sasuke's eyes didn't betray the surprise he had at the name. Though he was definitely confused at why she did it.
"You can go now, it's okay, we finished training after all," she smiled. "I'm going to speak with Shouta-nii-sama for a bit."
"Hn," he got up, "Don't be late."
"I won't, Ja ne," she said, smiling again.
Nothing was said until Daichi returned from following the boy, giving Shouta a nod which meant Sasuke was indeed leaving.
"You've been naughty, Tsuki-chan," Shouta grinned, and then knocked her onto her side, using his foot to push her head into the ground. "It's not nice running away from Oro-sama or your family."
"What family?" Tsuki sneered, "None of you cared for me, you all wanted me dead, I just saved you the trouble."
Shouta kicked her hard in the back, rolling her onto it so she was looking up at him and then stomped down hard on her gut.
"Ah ah ah, no talking to your aniki like that," he scolded tauntingly.
'Let me at him, I'll tear him limb from limb!' Jūbi howled, and though she was tempted, Tsuki knew she couldn't.
"Why are you here?" Tsuki asked, getting another stomp in the gut.
"Hmm, oh the Chuunin exams of course," Shouta chuckled, "Speaking of which, get on your feet, I wanna see how my imouto's strength has changed since she was a tiny tot." He walked off a few paces.
"Isn't that the point of the exams?" Tsuki asked, sitting up.
"So," Shouta chuckled. "I said get up," and his eyes flashed red as he held out his hand, a whip of his blood shot our and wrapped around her throat, pulling her to her feet before being sucked back into his hand. "And no Kekkei Genkai, ready? Here I come!"
Tsuki's eyes widened and she brought her hands up just in time to block the kick coming at her head, Shouta scoffed and slammed his fist into her chest. She grit her teeth and continued to block every attack. He started using kunai and shuriken, and Tsuki bit her lip so she wouldn't cry out when they sliced her skin. He didn't let up for near on half an hour until she collapsed to her knees.
"Why aren't you fighting back? Are you really that weak?" Shouta taunted, slamming his fist into her jaw and she rolled across the ground.
As she pushed herself up onto all fours she spat out a mouthful of blood. Shouta stepped forwards and slammed his foot into her gut.
'Why aren't you fighting back?' Jūbi asked, in his shy and reserved phase.
'Because I might-'
Her thoughts broke off as a scream left her lips, Shouta had cracked his blood whip on her back, and the repeated another nine times.
"Get up!" he snarled. "Stop being such a weak rat! I thought you were more than this!"
'I need to learn his moves' Tsuki finished her reply, watching though her hair as Shouta walked away, glad he was on her left and not her right, otherwise she wouldn't have seen him go for the eye patch. 'We might come up against him in the exam, I need to be prepared.'
'Oh and here I thought it was something like you couldn't fight against your brother,' Jūbi sneered.
'Please, I can't wait to kill this Aho, (FOOL / IDIOT / MORON) but first ima humiliate him,' she thought coughing up more blood. She couldn't decide if her nose was broken, or just bleeding. 'If he's in the chuunin exams, then tou-san and kaa-san will surely turn up to watch.'
Tsuki got to her feet, blood trickling down her back from the whip marks and some more on her chin. She was knocked back again as Shouta repeatedly punched her anywhere he could, she didn't even think about blocking it.
"Tch," he scoffed, watching her collapse to the ground. "You're just as weak and worthless as ever, I can't believe I wasted my time. Daichi, Yukki, let's go."
"Hai!"
Yukki was immediately on his arm but Daichi paused near Tsuki's feet and looked down on her shamefully.
"Shouta, you're not just going to leave her here are you?" he asked, looking up at his team mates.
"Why not?" Shouta asked, not even looking back.
"Gomen," Daichi murmured, before racing after them.
A searing pain shot up Tsuki's back as she finally got up an hour later and almost fell again but luckily she had her chakra strings to catch herself. She couldn't move too fast, so the rain soaked her through as she stumbled back to the village. Tsuki stood outside her home, the door was locked and she didn't have her key. Raising her hand, she knocked and waited.
"Finally."
Tsuki looked up at Sasuke, whose eyes widened a pinch, taking in the mess. He looked tired, wearing only his boxers and even in her injured state Tsuki's mind went to the bad things.
'He must have been in bed, I should have stayed away,' she thought.
"Gomen," she muttered, "I'm late huh?"
"Get inside baka," he scoffed, and she nodded, limping into the hallway.
Sasuke eyed her wearily as he closed the door, locking it and then told her to follow him upstairs. Tsuki felt her teeth chatter so she clenched them shut to stop them and winced as a towel smacked her in the face.
"You need to get out of those and dry off; I'll find you some clothes." She nodded and turned her back to him as she dropped her sword and summon pouch that she'd had at the clearing.
Tsuki realised she was in his room and became confused, why didn't he take her into her room? Pain shot along her arms and back as she rubbed her hair dry and then carefully, without much movement managed to get her kimono off.
Sasuke came back in with some dry clothes from Tsuki's room and blinked in shock at the huge gashes and bruises decorating Tsuki's back and arms. He watched the girl –somewhat painfully – wriggle out of the shorts she'd had on under her kimono and realised her legs were also covered.
Even from that distance, Sasuke could see the goose bump spreading across her skin, and though she looked so very pathetic, he could help but get excited as a flush of heat washed over him. After all, she was only in her pants. His hand caught hers and he dropped the clothing on the bed.
"They need washed first," he told her and led her through to the bathroom, drawing a foot seep bath while she sat on the edge with her back to him. "Tell me what happened, Tsuki. Up until now I didn't mind you hiding things from me, but it's got to stop."
He grabbed a sponge and pressed it to the skin on her shoulders, causing the water to trickle down over the gashes and she hissed. He pushed her hair out of the way and his eyes widened as he saw a three tomoe symbol on the back of the left side of her neck with a jagged ring around them. His fingers brushed over it, and she lowered her head even more. Sasuke rinsed the sponge and continued to gently clean her back.
"Tomi clan," she said quietly, "That's where I came from, my parents hated me, my brother hated me, they brought me up like a dog. 'You can't do this, you can't do that, never sleep, never show your eye,' A little after I was two, after I mastered my Kekkei Genkai, they gave me to a man who promised he wouldn't hurt me like they did, but he lied."
Sasuke paused for a moment and then continued, but every time he bushed the sponge over the gashes, she shuddered.
"The mark on my neck, it's the Ten no Juin, he gave me it. The ring around it is another seal, Kakashi did that when I first came to Konoha."
"Who was he?"
". . . Orochimaru, he was part of some organisation called Akatsuki, and he experimented on anything and everything. He's not human, he may have been when he was born but not anymore. He's the reason I'm terrified of water, every time I did something wrong, he'd lock me in a big tank until I almost drowned."
". . . You need to turn around, so I can clean your stomach," Sasuke said, his cheeks pink as he rinsed the sponge again.
When he turned back, Tsuki had done as he said, now standing with her arms folded over her chest, her cheeks pink as she looked away. He moved to wipe the skin when he saw one of the smaller scrapes slowly healing itself. He voiced it to Tsuki.
"You heard him call me Twice cursed, didn't you?"
"Hai."
"When I was born, something happened. You know how there are the nine Bijū?"
"Mm, Naruto has . . . the Kyūbi doesn't he? It was active on the bridge in Nami no Kuni."
"I have the Jūbi."
Sasuke's eyes shot open wide, Tsuki dropped her head and tried to step back but he caught her wrist.
"Where are you going, I'm not finished," and he continued to clean up the mess.
'I thought he would. . .' she sighed.
"Well, the Jūbi wants to heal me, but my Kekkei Genkai wants, no needs me to bleed so it's like they're fighting against each other inside me. I'm called twice cursed for being a Jinchuriki and for having the Ten no Juin. Orochimaru didn't know about me having the Jūbi within me, so in that aspect I was lucky. My family never told him that."
Sasuke frowned as she gave a chuckle and tossed the sponge back into the bath before rooting around in the cupboards. He came back over to her with a bunch of bandages. Carefully, he wrapped them from her hips up to where her arms covered her chest and she turned around taking the roll from him, passing it over her chest and handing it back to him on her other side. They repeated it until the badges covered her bust completely.
Sasuke had her sit down again and carefully started clearing up her face. Luckily her nose wasn't broken, but her lip and left eyebrow was bust and there were tears in the material over her right eye. Sasuke reached up to untie it but she stopped him.
"Leave it."
"Tsuki it's ruined."
"No it's not, it's fine," she said quietly, a tear streaming down her cheek as she kept her face angled downwards.
"K-Kaa-san gave you it, didn't she?" Sasuke asked, almost choking on the word. "It still needs to come off."
Tsuki nodded and Sasuke sighed, before disappearing back into his room, Tsuki frowned but untied the material and held it in her hand. He was right of course, it was in tatters.
"Here." Tsuki looked up and blinked at the white medical eye patch Sasuke was holding. "It won't draw as much attention, if you want to keep that ribbon, lock it in your room."
"A-Arigatō, Sasuke," she murmured, taking the eye patch but Sasuke stopped her from putting it on and tilted her head back.
"Let me see," he demanded quietly, brushing her fringe away.
"B-But I haven't e-even seen it."
His stern look drove her to defeat and she sighed, slowly opening her eye. She winced, feeling the light nip at it, and blinked, now looking at Sasuke with both eyes. Sasuke blinked calmly, not letting his expression give his shock away. The eye was black, all of it, with a white seal imbedded into the actual eyeball and another seal around the socket, on the skin which was black. He gently took the eye patch and put it on for her.
"You should only look when you feel ready," he told her. "And your sleeping with me tonight in case that guy comes looking for you."
Tsuki lay in bed next to Sasuke, who was staring up at the ceiling; she couldn't understand why he wasn't asleep.
"Sas-"
"Does anyone else know?"
"About what?"
"All of it," Sasuke said.
"No one but you knows about the Jūbi, but Hokage-sama and Kakashi know about everything else."
"What about Kiba?"
Tsuki raised an eyebrow at how he spat the name out like it was a disease.
"He knows nothing," she said eventually.
"Good, I don't want the likes of him knowing."
"What's your problem with Kiba, Sasuke?" Tsuki asked, sitting up to look at him.
"Nothing," he grumbled, rolling onto his side which was a clear statement that the conversation was over.
'It's not like i could tell you anyway,' he thought.
Roxyblack <3