The Little Death: Part One
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To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead.
-Samuel Butler
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He was dying, but so was she.
Beneath her, she could feel him going cold – his heartbeat growing fainter and fainter. And even though it was by her hand that he was going to die, she was suddenly frightened to loose him. Even though she would go with him, she regretted their bloody fate.
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Back when we were in the Academy, it had always been a competition to get his attention. Ino, of course, had always been my biggest competitor. It had always been nothing more than a big game. A challenge only one of us could win. Back then, I hadn't actually known or understood what love was. I didn't realize back then that what I called love was just a simple schoolgirl crush.
But then he left me.
For five years he was gone, and the feeling of betrayal has never completely gone away. Even after the feeling subsided a little, I didn't know if I could actually feel real love for him.
However, lying here, dying on top of him - dying with him - there wasn't a doubt in my mind that I was, forevermore, deeply in love with him.
This was no longer a game.
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It had started out as a simple mission – another lead to finding him. Naruto had hastily sped ahead of me, as always. This lead had been promising. "Team Hawk" was on the move somewhere near one of Orochimaru's old testing buildings. We figured there was something there that Sasuke wanted.
Sasuke. Our Sasuke, I thought, Or is he even ours anymore?
The journey passed without consequence, which didn't surprise me. Since we defeated the Akatsuki years ago, Sasuke was now our only issue. We arrived at the testing site to find it destroy – rubble and rock everywhere. I never did get to find out why he destroyed the building, but it didn't really matter.
The instant we were within range, Sasuke's little hussy knew our every move. I had studied Karin's abilities to the maximum depth I could. Our recruited team: Naruto, Hinata, Sai, Yabuto Kakashi, and I had devised a plan for eluding her. As we came closer to her, we moved in random, crossing patterns. She still knew we were there, but we were moving so fast she didn't have time to figure out how many of us there were, or who was the strongest of the group. Hinata found her, and I took advantage of the thirty seconds of confusion I had to move in on her.
Naturally, I missed the first shot. As soon as I was singled out of the group, she had my location pinned, and rolled out of the way. As I engaged in combat with her, the rest of the team moved to their positions. Sai and Hinata quickly took down Suigetsu, while Kakashi and Yabuto struggled with Jugo for a moment. Naruto pushed ahead to fine Sasuke.
Sasuke, I thought of him again, If you really wanted to, wouldn't you have come home after the defeat of the Akatsuki?
After my first shot missed, I expected her to counter-attack, but she surprised me. After throwing me an evil glare, she turned and fled the way Naruto and the rest of the team were going. No doubt she was doing what any girl would do if she suddenly found herself open and unprotected – run to the strongest.
"Hey!" I shouted angrily. I gotta say, girls who can't stand alone really piss me off, (not that I was one to talk; up until a couple years ago). I launched myself off the ground and caught her around the ankle, dragging her back down to the ground. We hit hard, but unlike her, I rolled with the force.
She staggered to her feet, and I think might have even growled at me. "What do you want?" she snapped.
I leaned into my fighting stance. "Sasuke," I answered.
Karin smirked. "Wow," she laughed, "Who knew someone with such a big forehead could have such a small brain!" Suddenly, her mouth screwed into a frown, and her tone went harsh, "Haven't you figured out by now that Sasuke will never go back to you?!"
I ignored her words. If I let her get to me now, the whole plan would fall apart. "Comment on my forehead one more time, you little for-eyed bitch," I goaded her, making sure to keep my anger in check, "Come on, I dare you."
She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at me in a smug way that seriously ticked me off. "Why do you even try, if you know he won't come back?" she sneered, "What's the point?"
I lunged toward her again, knowing full well I wouldn't be able to hit her, but that was okay, my strategy didn't involve me getting her just yet.
"Not getting upset, are we?" she spoke from a tree branch she had jumped up to after sidestepping my punch. She walked down the branch as if she wasn't even touching it, though I knew full well she was. "Are you just realizing the error of your ways?" she asked me, her tone clearly conveying how full of herself she was now that it was just me and her - one on one, "Are you just now questioning whether or not your mission is possible?"
I clenched my hands into fists and narrowed my eyes at her, "Never!" I shouted, moving the conversation along. I needed to get her angry; to get distracted and come at me so I could lay just one good punch. So, I said something I knew would get to her, "Unlike you… I would do anything for Sasuke!"
I got the effect I wanted. Karin may have been cocky and obnoxious up until this point, but she couldn't hide the fact that she was still a girl, and a girl who had feelings, (however fake or lustful they might be), for Sasuke.
Would you? I had to question myself, Would you do anything for him?
Yes. I would. For nearly three years now, I had been chasing Sasuke. I would do anything for him. Anything. Even if it was against his will.
Karin gritted her teeth and tackled me from high ground, taking away my chance to hit her hard. I rolled with her and we engaged in a small cat-fight. It was petty and ridiculous, but if it was the only way I could get close enough, so be it.
"You may love Sasuke like the pathetic childhood friend you are," she grabbed my wrists to keep me from smashing those ugly-ass glasses into her even uglier face, "but he will never love you!"
She right, I told myself, he may never love me, but I don't care.
Twisting my wrist around, I broke out of her grasp easily. As she lost her balance and came falling forward onto me, I used my now free fist to punch her right in the gut, feeling the crack of two ribs I broke and the warmth of blood from he mouth that sprayed across my face as she went flying off. She hit the tree she had once been up in, and then another crack sounded when she hit the ground. It wasn't until she struggled to her feet once more that I saw the other crack had been her left arm, which she had landed on when she hit the ground.
Mistake number one: She had underestimated me.
I wiped some blood dripping from a scratch on my face, and winced when a little dirt got into it. Aside from, maybe, the bruise on my right shoulder, the scratch was the worst she had done to me. I almost felt sorry for beating her up so badly with only one hit, but whatever. So girls were meant for battle, and some were not.
"Give up Karin," I told her, rising to my feet, "I'll kill you if I have to, but I am going through you."
She smiled a small, amused smile, and sat down against the tree trunk. "Now why," she gasped a little and I could only hope one of those ribs I broke had punctured a lung, "W-Would you want to do that, when what you're looking for is… is right here?"
I crooked an eyebrow quizzically, What is she talking about?
A sigh came from behind the tree, followed by a voice so familiar, I still knew who it was after all this time. "So much for the element of surprise," it murmured.
I froze. My eyes widened, and he stepped out from behind the tree. His raven hair fluttered slightly in the breeze, and though his body was facing one way, his dangerous red eyes turned and locked onto mine. I expected an instant illusion or something like what Itachi was capable of doing, but nothing happened.
I waited – nothing – I relaxed a bit.
"I'm sorry Sasuke," Karin reached up with her good arm and took her glasses off. Almost instantly, she became this sweet, innocent, big-eyed girl who needed protecting. Honestly, I wanted to vomit. "Guess I should have watched my moves better," she smiled a baby-doll smile at him, (her voice magically okay, now).
Sasuke's voice was just a monotone as I remembered, "Yes, you should have." He unsheathed his sleek, long, sword and turned to face the rest of his body to me. Ever so slowly, one step at a time, he walked towards me.
Karin shifted awkwardly and winced a little out of pain. "Y-You go ahead, Sasuke," she tried to keep her voice bright, but the pain of her condition gave her away, "Kill her. I'll do better n-next time."
Sasuke came to a halt just after passing the tree. "Karin," he still spoke in monotone, so emotionless and cold, I could see it even frightened Karin a little, "Now what could possibly make you think…"
I blinked and I missed it. The next thing I knew, Sasuke was in front of Karin, and his sword was through her chest.
"… that there would even be a next time?"
He pulled his sword out and stepped away from her. Karin lifted her only good arm, (the one with her glasses in hand), outstretched as if she were trying to reach for him. Tears from her eyes and blood from her lips trickled down her face.
"S-Sasuke…" she didn't have anything left, I could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice, "… w-why?"
Sasuke smirked, then closed his eyes and shook his head. "Karin, when a tool becomes broken beyond repair," he stopped shaking his head, but his eyes remained closed, and the smirk didn't wavier, "you dispose of it."
Karin gasped her last breath, and then everything seemed to move in slow motion. Her eyes rolled back in her head; her eyelashes fluttered closed; her fingers released the glasses, and her arm fell to her side. I flinched when at last her glasses hit the ground, and a spider web crack erupted across the lens.
Mistake number two: She had expected Sasuke to save her.
With two flicks of his sword, Sasuke's blade was clean of Karin's blood. He took a step forward, and I couldn't help but reflexively step back. He took another and I stayed where I was.
Another step… and a couple more… and suddenly, he was only a foot away from me.
He looked off into the distance, "Since it won't take long for them to figure out they're trailing a shadow clone, we should probably begin," He turned those eyes on me once more, but again there was no move to attack me, "Well?"
It took a moment, but I finally found the voice I had longed to speak to him with, "W-What?"
"Aren't you going to say something?" he placed a hand on his hip and looked like he was expecting something, "You know, fall to your knees and beg me to come home with you?"
My eyebrows slanted, and my fists tightened, I took a step back and shook my head at him, "No, Sasuke. I'm not giving you any options this time."
I could see I had slightly surprised him. "I see," he murmured, "Then once again, you'll try to take me back by force." It was a statement, but it sort of sounded like a question.
"No," I replied, my tone as hard as I could make it at the time, "I don't want you back, Sasuke."
It was clear by his expression that he was actually curious as to what I had to say next.
"Sasuke," I had to pause to swallow what felt like a lump of lead in my throat, "I'm going to kill you."
A/N:
To see the picture that inspired this FanFic, ask me and I'll give you the link.
