"Do you even have ears?"

Suigetsu turned around with a confused and annoyed look on his face.

"What?"

Karin cocked her head.

"I'm just wondering if you have ears. Your hair covers them over, if you have any. I'm just curious."

His hands immediately went up to curl protectively around where his ears were supposed to be. She grinned, amused.

"I'm not going to chop them off. Just lift your hair so I can see."

He stared at her suspiciously.

"I don't trust you."

She rolled her eyes behind her glasses.

"I'm not going to do anything to your ears, I promise."

Still feeling like he was going to get attacked any second, Suigetsu slowly put his hands under his hair and lifted it up, turning his head from side to side.

"There, you happy? I have ears."

She nodded, curiosity satisfied.

"Thanks."

She walked away, leaving him standing alone with him still holding his hair up. He stared after her and shook his head, letting his hair fall down.


The next morning...


Suigetsu slowly came out of his tent, yawning. Sasuke looked at him over the campfire and did a double take.

"Suigetsu. What did you do to your hair?"

Suigetsu looked at the Uchiha in slight disgust.

"I didn't do anything."

Sasuke looked back down at the fire.

"Fix it anyway."

Suigetsu looked baffled. He turned away and walked to the small creek gurgling nearby. He peered into the water and fell backwards in shock. Then his brows furrowed in annoyance.

"KARIN!"

He really didn't see the humour of her putting a high ponytail on top of his head. He looked so stupid it was no wonder Sasuke wanted him to fix it. He stomped back into the clearing as Karin was coming out of her tent. He stopped in front of her and crossed his arms. She glanced up and burst into laughter.

"Who did that to your hair, Suigetsu? You look like an idiot."

He leaned in close and sneered.

"Hmm, I wonder. The only person around who's girly enough to play with anyone's hair, besides Sasuke, is you. I highly doubt that Sasuke would have gotten up in the middle of the night to play a practical joke."

He reached up and pulled the hair tie out and his hair swung down to frame his face again. He moved closer and growled into her ear.

"Why did you do it?"

She stepped backwards.

"You need to show everyone that you have ears. I couldn't tell and figured that to make sure I wasn't travelling with someone who was insecure about his ears, I would put your hair up."

She shrugged.

"Makes sense to me."

He stared at her with a baffled look as she walked over to her pack and rummaged through it. His yell burst through the forest, making birds fly out of the trees.

"I AM NOT INSECURE!"

He could see Karin giggling, and started to privately plan his revenge.