"Karin, drop the act." Sasuke's voice sounded tired.
"What do you mean?" I sounded innocent, but my mind already feared the worst.
"...You don't really love me, do you?" His voice didn't sound of any resentment, not one bit. But the worst has come.
"You figured it out." I said dumbly. "I guess now that you figured it out," I faked a smile, "I'll have to tell you why I pretend to love you."
"Hurry up Karin!" Father called after me.
"But I'm tired!" I complained. We'd been walking for more than six hours and I was only five years old.
"We're almost there." He promised. I didn't mention that he'd been saying that for the past five hours.
After about another hour, there finally started to be signs of Konoha, the place we were headed. "Just a little more." My Father promised, not that I was listening at this point.
Even so, when we finally got there, I was a tiny bit excited. I had always wanted to see the Konoha village, the village everyone called the best.
To be honest, I was sort of disappointed when I got there. The city was kind of shabby with all the buildings so worn they looked like they would fall over any second. You'd seriously think a 'powerful' city like Konoha would try to at least look good.
My Father walked through the streets with me but he didn't look disappointed, actually, he looked fascinated.
"What a beautiful city." He said.
Excuse me? Was he blind? This place was a dump. I was hoping that the people would be brilliant, at least.
Suddenly, everyone moved off to the side on the street. My Father followed, sensing something was wrong. I trailed his movements, but tried to stay in front of him so I could see what was going on.
A boy, not much older than me, walked through the crowed, parting instantly a few meters before him. He had a face that showed he was having just about a good of a day as the buildings. He stalked through the streets and I watched him partly of fascination and partly of boredom.
"Did you see him?" Some girls about my age whispered near me.
"Yeah! You're right, he is cute!" Her friend replied.
"I know." She sighed a dramatic sigh. "Poor Sasuke, why should such a tragedy befall on such a pretty face, I shall never understand." She put her arm up to her face like she was going to faint.
"The Uchiha ordeal was tragic." Her friend agreed.
"Either way, those dark eyes were about to suck me in."
I listened quietly. So that boy was what girls of strong cities like Konoha liked. So he must've been what the girls meant when they said "cute" or "handsome" or "attractive."
And that was the first time I fell in love. Although now I realize I had fallen in love with the word "handsome," and not the boy himself, I didn't realize. I stared after him, my eyes alight with the same shallow adoration.
"Father, who's he?" I asked, tugging his shirt.
"That's Uchiha Sasuke." My Father replied. "His family was recently massacred by his older brother Itachi. Can't really blame him for acting like that." He sighed. "Let's get moving Karin."
Finally, after walking through the village, he stopped in front of a bridge. His face showed some signs of nervousness and tension, but I decided not to ask.
"Karin, you stay right here, okay?" I nodded. "Daddy'll be right back, as soon as he finishes his business here." He patted me on the head, which he knew I hated. "Be a good girl alright?"
"Okay." I replied. And so he left, over the bridge and into the forest. I sat on the side of the bridge with the meal my Father had left me just in case. I hugged my legs tighter as the night closed in and everything got colder. Soon, I dosed off.
The light filtering into my eyes woke me up the next morning. I jerked awake when I came into consciousness but Father hadn't returned yet. I ate my small meal and waited for days. Days soon turned into weeks though. By the time anyone noticed me, I was a mess.
On the second day, I saw Sasuke again. My heart lept out of happiness and I started to grin like an idiot. He looked up at me.
"What are you doing here?" His words held some bitterness but I paid it no mind.
"Waiting for my Father."
"Where'd he go?"
"That way." I pointed toward the forest.
He snorted. "He's not coming back."
"Why do you say so?" Now anger started to creep into my voice.
"Because no one ever has."
"What makes you think my Father won't be the first?" I said definatly.
"Because your Father is a nobody." Sasuke sneered. That's when I snapped.
"You know, I figured out why your family died!" I shouted at him. "It must've been because the Uchihas couldn't bear to be alive knowing that they shared the same blood as a rude, jerk like yourself!" The words had come out before I could stop them. When I had realized what I had said, I covered my mouth in shock.
He didn't look angry though, just dejected. "You're a smart one, aren't you?"
Those words hurt more than him yelling at me. But before I could say anything, he was gone. I waited and waited, and started to wonder if Sasuke had been right about my Father.
But after a couple of weeks, a man merged out of the forest. I jumped up, glad to see Father, but it wasn't him.
The man had ice cold eyes that seemed to assess everyone as if they were prey. His long black hair was pulled back to show his pale skin. He perfectly embodied a snake.
"Hello child, my name is Orochimaru." He smiled slowly, sending shivers up Karin's spine. "Your Father has benefited me so much, I have decided to take you in." He put out his hand and I reluctantly shook it.
"So I'll be able to see Father?" I asked, but he just smiled. I followed him anyway, knowing I didn't really have a choice.
Before I knew it, we were in a dark room. I shivered, the room was significantly colder than the outside. There, we were met by a pale man with gray hair tied in a ponytail. He pushed up his glasses often as he spoke.
"Orochimaru-sama, is she the son of..."
"Yes." Orochimaru cut him off. "Kabuto, send for one of our students to accompany her."
"As you wish." He almost whispered, before leaving.
"What's your name child?" Orochimaru asked as soon as Kabuto was gone.
"Ka-Karin." I replied.
"Alright, Karin. From now on, you're going to live here as one of my students. Another student of ours will take you to your room and training will start tomorrow." He said this while his cold eyes bored into me. I couldn't look away, but I desperately wanted to.
But I was spared from saying anything because Kabuto returned with my escort.
"Suigetsu was free." Kabuto explained and Orochimaru nodded.
"Suigetsu, take Karin to her room please. And make her feel..." He paused, licking his lips, "welcome."
Before I could physically respond to that statement, Suigetsu grabbed my arm and took me out of the room. We walked silently for a while, his hand still holding mine. Once we reached my room, he let go.
"What's your name?" He turned around and I finally got a look of his face. He couldn't have been more different from Sasuke. Suigetsu had light bluish hair with eyes that, instead of looking wounded and dejected, had the cool aloofness of a predator. His teeth were sharp, adding to the predatorial look and he was tall and muscular. Yet, he didn't move with the grace of a predator. But even so, my heart started to speed up when I saw him.
"Karin." I responded hesitantly, worried he might not like the name.
"Hm." He made no comment on my name, to my relief. "So, why are you here?"
"My Father left and something happened. Orochimaru said that he wanted me to come here." I realized I didn't know much about what had happened.
"Your Father's dead." He said it with a flatness that astonished me.
"How do you know?" I challenged.
"Because I've been here since I was five. I'm the student who's been here the longest. I know the tradition of this place like the back of my hand. Orochimaru killed your Father, probably for disobedience and is going to try to use you to fill up the spot he left."
"No..." I said, not believing it.
"Yes." He said with such confidence, I had to believe.
"What do I do?" I asked, shaking.
He shrugged. "There's nothing much you can do. But my motivation has been to live. That maybe if I live long enough, I'll outlive Orochimaru and be released." But he said this with no hope.
I nodded. It sounded reasonable.
"Thank you." I walked into my small room. It was a plain room with one matress on the floor and a desk. Dirty and plain... wonderful.
"Can you sleep on your own?" He asked.
My first instinct was of course, but when I thought about it, I didn't like the idea of sleeping alone in this small room at all.
"I can stay if you want." He continued.
"Why?" This was against everything I had known.
He shrugged. "When I first came here, I was so scared, I didn't sleep at all. Just thought you might not want to go through all that."
"I... I would like that." I finally managed.
"...If you're thinking this is weird, get used to it." He said, scaring him with his intuition. "We aren't living in a normal world. We don't have common sense or diginity to guide us. Those things are useless here. Most of the time anyway." He settled himself down by the door.
"Okay." I said as I lay down on the hard matress. We lay there quietly for a while, but I got curious. "Suigetsu, why are you here?" I asked. I knew he wasn't sleeping.
With his eyes closed, he sighed. " I came here because of my family. They were in such deep debt with Orochimaru that they had to send one of their kids to make up for it. I was their youngest so they decided to give me away. One less mouth to feed." He joked, but I could tell it was a cover-up.
I was silent, and he seemed content with it.
"...What am I doing tomorrow?"
"Training."
"Specifiy please." I ordered, slightly irritated.
"Basically, Orochimaru set up this test to try to find any abilities of his students. You know, puts you in life or death situations to get your powers working."
"Life or death?" I asked, scared.
"Well, honestly, if your ability is an offensive one, you'll probably get out okay."
"And if you're not?"
"Depending on your ability, you could get hurt more."
"What happened to you?"
"I was an offensive type so I got out okay."
"I'm scared." I blurted out.
"I am too." He said, as if it was okay.
"You are?"
"Everyday."
"Are you ever going to escape?" I asked, begging for even a little hope.
He sighed again. "Tell you what, if I do, I promise to take you with me."
It was funny to think, that in a way, he had kept that promise.