Notes: My first fic ever. Reviews are appreciated. Constructive criticism is very much appreciated. I believe in improvement. I abhorr bashing and will not tolerate it, whichever way it is directed, whether it be the pairings, the original characters or my interpretation of them. But constructive criticism is always welcome.
Warning: Sticks as close to canon as possible, therefore, look out for Manga spoilers. Progressive Suika interactions. I don't have the ending planned, just a basic rough sketch that I'd like to follow as parallely close to the manga timeline as possible, so I can't guarantee regular chapter posting or a conclusive ending.
Disclaimer:
"Psshh... Sasuke, Suigetsu, Kakashi and Shikamaru belong to me. I own them. * Loveheartsoulstruck* Rest, I grudgingly concede are Kishimoto's belongings *sniff* "
Kishi: *CoughSnortScoff* "Ahem, You Wish"
Prologue– Burning Resentment
She was numb. She couldn't move. Her limbs seemed like they were bound to the ground, paralysed with inaction. She couldn't feel, couldn't understand, didn't want to understand the enormity of what had transpired.
She wanted to forget. She wanted the horror and familiarity of her memories to turn to dust, just like the raging flames turned the remnants of her village to ashes.
Her turbulent, disoriented thoughts caused her to unknowingly relax her hold on the jutsu that was the sole reason she was still alive; the jutsu that identified her as a ninja enabled her to hide all traces of her chakra, rendering all individuals other than herself to be incapable of detecting her presence.
She wasn't sure how long her limbs were rooted to the same spot, her empty unforgiving eyes as bright a red as the flames that were intent on devouring her village. Atleast, she thought flatly, she could no longer hear the tortured screams.
What would she do now? Seek revenge? She let out a pained scoff. She wasn't stupid. Not only were her offenders nameless, they were long gone now. And there was no point in deluding herself about the strength of her abilities, as unique as they were. What could a single 12 year old girl hope to achieve against an unknown mass of brutal forces much stronger than her?
She was left aimless and alone, her cheeks streaked with wet trails of tears that she had exhausted herself with and black smudges of ashes all over her body and face, the suffocating smell carrying the rancor of the burning smoke engulfing the decaying village.
Blood red eyes, burning with a helpless resentment were harshly jolted out of it's descent into nothingness, to meet piercing pools of lavender, gleaming with a cruel mirth.
A fierce rush of hazy fear, dread and angry defiance crept back into her dying eyes, at the viciousness with which he gripped her forearm to stay her and the malicious grin that played across his sharp pointed teeth as he casually asked her, "Would you like me to kill you? I assure you that any brutality that I might exhibit, as my sword slashes into you will be infinitely more pleasurable, than the fate that awaits you at Orochimaru's hands. "
His callous words made her lash out at him in terror, his nails digging further into her skin, in an effort to restrain her panicked assault. He didn't look much older than her, but now that she was marginally less shaken than she had been earlier, she could suddenly both see and feel the strong presence of this rotten, infuriatingly intimidating boy's chakra as well as a greater menacing presence than the boy's.
Alarm bells rang through her head, as she struggled harder against her captive's hold. How could she have missed the presence of such powerful chakras? What was going to happen to her? Strange, just some time back she was feeling empty and lifeless. She wouldn't have cared whether she lived or died. What did she have to live for anyway? Now, she suddenly wanted to scream and rage and fight for her life, simply out of spite and defiance at the sickening display of callous arrogance and disregard for her life from this, this beyond irritating, unpleasant brainless savage of a boy.
"What the hell, bitch? I was doing you a favour. Fine, if you'd rather deal with Orochimaru , then suit yourself", he spat, as he narrowed his pretty misleading lavender eyes. She almost snorted in disgust and retaliation at his offensive slur and incredulous suggestion that he was doing her a favour. He had looked perversely pleased at the notion of chopping her to pieces with his stupid big sword. She shivered in disgust.
It was only sheer fear and an instinct to survive that bound her tongue and prevented her from calling him a stupid, deluded, sadistic asshole, though her eyes couldn't keep from screaming bloody murder at his infuriating callousness, which didn't escape his notice. He seemed to derive amusement from her reactions. Fortunately, he decided to ignore her inflamed eyes and proceeded to loudly and rudely * she noted, wrinkling her nose at him in disgust* alert his companion to her presence.
"Suigetsu, "remarked a deep voice in smooth compelling tones, that for some reason sounded more threatening than ..... Suigetsu, was it?... "you're frightening the girl off with your violent boorish manners. I am very interested in what information the pretty little girl has to share with us, once she has calmed down i.e. That was a nasty punch. Quite the little spitfire, aren't you?"
"Stupid little redhead" muttered Suigetsu with a pointedly wicked smirk at her, making her want to repeatedly bash his head in with a force, that would break his pointy little teeth so bad, that he would never again be able to flash that stupid pointy grin at her. She was perversely glad that she had left a mark on his pretty face during her panicked assault on him.
"What is your name, girl?"
Fuming silently, she pulled her gaze away from the nuisance and directed it towards the direction of the voice and realized that there indeed was such a thing as a 'beautiful' man.
He made a rather captivating picture, despite the creepy, intimidating aura he clearly possessed. His chakra was fascinating and gave incredibly strong vibes. His hard amber eyes seemed to possess dangerous knowledge of all kinds. Beautiful black hair that reached below his shoulders, perfect lips curved into a sly smile that left her feeling uncomfortable and cold. She didn't trust him, not even a bit, though she desperately wanted to.
She was simply tired and vulnerable and lost. She desired to forget and let life take her wherever it wanted. Suigetsu made her heart thud painfully in and out of her ribcage by being the certifiably insane asshole that he was; intentionally frightening her out of her wits; making her skin crawl with his lame favours, all for his own sadistic pleasure and turning an already dreadfully horrifying day more horrid, when all she wanted to do was collapse into warm tender hands, close her eyes and forget everything that had happened to her that day. He was also the reason she was now getting personally acquainted with Orochimaru, who seemed very akin to a serpent, poised to sink ever ready teeth onto his desired prey for his own self-serving mysterious reasons. Why did she feel like she was about to become his prey?
Mentally, she drove a stake through Suigetsu's heart and viciously twisted it. She was beginning to understand the pleasure of being a sadist. It was quite contagious, especially when Suigetsu was the victim. From one hell to another. 'Thanks Suigetsu', she bitterly noted in her mind, 'Congratulations on officially becoming the personal navigator to my new hell. '
She was intelligent enough to sense that it would be dangerous to get on Orochimaru's bad side, and wisely calculated that pretending to willingly cooperate with him would be the most sensible course of action for the moment, with of course, the added benefit that it would annoy Suigetsu, who she noticed was standing stiffly beside Orochimaru .
From his body language and the way his chakra was fluctuating , she correctly assumed that Suigetsu for some unknown reason seemed to despise Orochimaru . Therefore, she mused that sucking up to Orochimaru would be in her best interests for now. Being on Orochimaru's good side, the man who Suigetsu despised and seemed to be the one who called all the shots, sounded like a very good idea to her.
She resolved to become stronger and learn as much as she could from Orochimaru, so that one day, she could soundly thrash Suigetsu for being an abominable excuse of a human being, if Orochimaru let her live i.e., after he got whatever information he wanted from her. Maybe he would consider her life valuable if she told him about her unique abilities.
Her mind made up and resolutely echoing her favorite quote 'A woman's determination can overcome mountains' over and over again like a mantra, she opened her mouth and fiercely whispered her name, voice and throat hoarse with her earlier crying, for the first time since her village was torched,
" Karin" .
Notes: Regarding Karin's past, I didn't want to forcibly create any original characters, since we don't know a lot about her past anyway and I rather like the obscurity of her past and how she is determined to leave it behind her and focus on simply surviving, becoming stronger and better equipped to deal with the harsh realities of life.
Similarly, the databook says that Karin was a young girl as opposed to a little girl when Orochimaru recruited her, so I figured making her a 12 year old was fitting. Still a young girl, but old enough to think fast on her feet, weigh all her options & make intelligent calculated choices. I find it hard to imagine a much younger Karin settling down with Orochimaru and his merry band of followers while still keeping her wits about her, considering her traumatic past.
Being 12, gives her about a year and a half, or maybe more to hone as well as perfect ninja skills in her specialized area, as we are not told when her abilities first caught Sasuke's eye. I believe Suigetsu assumed wrong. Karin was not blindly loyal to Orochimaru like Sui suggested. I like the idea of Sui discovering that Karin has more layers to her than he at first believed her to possess and viceversa.