Characters: Sasuke, Karin
Summary: Pain. Shock. Anger. These are the emotions he sees on her face, so potent that he can almost feel it himself.
Pairings: onesided SasuKarin
Author's Note: I like Karin. There, I've said it. So sue me; it's not like you'll get any blood out of this stone. Though, to be honest, I've liked her better since her little confrontation with Ibiki; that was pure gold. Therefore (though you all probably know this by now anyway), you should know that Sasuke's views don't reflect my own.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Her blood is running down the lightning blade and caking on his hands, coagulating unnaturally swiftly. The swift, crimson color scintillates like the surface of a jewel, and dazzles him almost as much as the sight of the light fading out of the eyes of the man behind her. That, that is what Sasuke really wanted, and that is what makes joy, fierce and terrible, rise up in him now.
Her red eyes, crimson but fading sear upon Sasuke's face, roaming over every skin cell and contour, over his eyes, his nose, his mouth, his chin. The cocktail of emotion screaming over her flesh gives him pause for thought, if only for a moment.
Pain.
Shock.
Anger.
These are the emotions he sees on her face, so potent that he can almost feel it himself. Almost, but the newfound barrier, that roaring beast lodged in the left hand side of his chest cavity—a gaping emptiness where his heart was before—manages to keep emotions from infecting him and worming their way into his judgment.
Sasuke notes with detachment that he used to care about this girl. Fought alongside her and grew attached to her, even if she was psychotic and fixated on him and reminded him too much of another girl he knew once, but even worse. She was valuable to him, had some purpose in his quest.
Not anymore. She has proven herself to be a liability, to be a burden, and if she's useless, Sasuke will simply have to throw her away. There are few who suffer garbage to be in their midst, and Sasuke simply can't stand the stench thrown up by rotting meat. He silently thanks Danzo for giving him the perfect opportunity to cut his losses.
There will be no room for anything less than perfection on Sasuke's quest. In order to avenge his family and his beloved elder brother's death, a terrible vengeance must be wreaked on that miserable cluster of hovels, that cesspool of humanity, Konohagakure. If there is any weakness in the ones Sasuke chooses to accompany him, it will all fall apart.
So he can, without anything even slightly resembling guilt, throw this girl away.
She slides, with eerie, preternatural slowness, to the ground, long black cloak with its scarlet clouds fluttering in a nonexistent breeze. Her scarlet hair reaches out in all directions, like a sea of blood with myriad stretching fingers, groping at Sasuke's feet. Her skin grows white as chalk, a dark stain ridging her ebony cloak.
The girl whispers, she pleads, she screams. All the sensations and probabilities play out in Sasuke's head, over and over again, based on what he knows of her and what he expects her to do.
And he finds that there is no room left for him to care.
She is unworthy. She is not a person anymore, just a defective piece of merchandise. Sasuke can feel no regret for discarding something that doesn't do its job properly.
He starts to walk away.
She whispers his name, and Sasuke finds he can't remember hers.
