"I look ugly!" Karin stood in front of the mirror, wearing her black lingerie after she got out of the bathroom for a warm shower. She was carefully scanning all the bite marks along her arms and neck—looking at them as if she is looking on filthy garbage.

"All these flipping gross bitings! Ugh!" She stomped her feet in annoyance. "If only I have a choice… I wouldn't let any one bite my precious skin! Ugh!" She growled slightly but she became silent after a few mutterings, realizing that if not because of Orochimaru's experiments, she wouldn't have discovered her unique healing abilities.

Suddenly, few soft knocks could be heard on her bedroom door. "Karin. Orochimaru-sama wants to speak with you. He's in his lab." A familiar voice echoed outside the hallways, which appeared to her as…

"Kabuto-san…" She whispered then quickly gets dressed. She didn't bother responding to him because she knew that Kabuto went walking on the hallways straight after he knocked and spoke.

The thought of her "ugly bite marks" came up again on her head as she was putting her lavender uniform on. "I wonder what other stupid experiments that snake-guy has in store for me."

Finally, she has finished. Being in her usual outfit with this usual ambience… "Seems like this is a usual day huh." She got out of her bedroom with an apparent frown on her face, or more like, Ugh-I'm-tired-with-all-these-shitty-experiments facial expression.

After she had locked the door, she suddenly twitched. Her eyes widened and her mouth was opened in shock. "This… ch-chakra." She sensed one different chakra entity within the location, unconsciously. "It… Is… a different chakra. It… It smells really nice…. It's warm… and full of power…" She rested her back against the door and licks her lips slowly as she looks up the ceiling, as if picturing out the chakra she just sensed.

But then her eyebrows furrowed, her expression shifted. She narrowed her eyes and looked straight ahead as she straightened up. "B-but… It has… a dark side. And… it's terrifying. How is that even possible?!" She thought to herself for a moment, but then she shook that idea off her head and got back to focusing her attention on the bright side of the chakra.

"Oh well! Who cares? This chakra is still… Mmh… Delicious!"

She began heading towards the laboratory of Orochimaru with a wide smile on her face. She appears to be excited to see who that person is. As she nears the laboratory, the chakra seems to help her remember something which happened a few years ago.

Memories of her during the chunnin exams on her genin days went flashing through her mind. The wild bear. The Earth scroll. Her screaming. His appearance. His smile. His cute smile….

"Could that person be-?"

The pace of her heart beat continues to increase as she gets nearer and nearer from Orochimaru's laboratory.

Her whole body is shaking, although she cannot distinguish this shaking as excitement or nervousness. Well maybe it's both. There she is—standing in front of the laboratory's entrance. She held the door knob with her stone cold, shaking hand. Sweat keeps dripping down her forehead even if it's not actually hot.

She finally turned the door knob and opened the door slowly. "Y-you…" She mumbles, most likely to herself as her eyes widened in disbelief. Oh my god. He is really THAT person. Back in the chunnin exams. That guy. He is that guy. What am I gonna do? What am I gonna react? What?

"Karin!?" Orochimaru's sinister voice went echoing on the laboratory as it seemed like he was calling her name more than three times already, but she can't seem to hear it because of the thoughts in her head.

"Sasuke-kun … She is Karin Uzumaki. She's weird but… she's really useful." Orochimaru explained, turning to Sasuke and waving his hand in front of him slightly.

Upon hearing that surname, Sasuke's eyes quickly searched for the image of a person, since he had his eyes closed all throughout the time earlier. That surname reminded him of none other than Naruto. "That dobe's got a relative huh." He thought to himself as he tries to focus on what appears as a faint image of a slender woman with red locks.

"S-s-sasuke?" She unconsciously said as she walks towards the male. Her face brightening up each step. Wide smile appearing as she nears him. "You are… Sasuke." She brought her hands together as she stood in front of the Uchiha, and spoke in an octave higher tone.

Orochimaru raised a brow and stopped what he was doing. He wasn't really used in seeing Karin like this. But he snickered once he figured out in his own reasoning why Karin reacted like that all of a sudden. "The list of your fans' club is really getting longer, Sasuke-kun."

"Hn. What are you talking about?" Sasuke simply stated. He folded his arms in front of him then decided to stand up to get a nice and thorough look at this Karin girl standing in front of him. It seems like he got really intrigued on the mention of that very surname.

His onyx hues pierced through Karin's crimson ones. He studied her features from head to toe and noticed that it's all pleasing to his eyes. This caused a smirk to appear on his then emotionless face. "You are Karin?" The Uchiha stopped scanning her and focused on her crimson eyes and locks which intrigues him the most. Not to mention, her sweet perfume seemed like relaxing Sasuke as well.

Karin took this opportunity to look directly into Sasuke's eyes but as a consequence, she blushed ever so darkly that her cheeks are almost as red as…

"A tomato." Sasuke clearly and loudly stated as he poked Karin's forehead. "Hn." He quickly sat back again at the couch and once again closed his eyes, as he kept his arms crossed. Deep inside of him he remembers Karin back when he saved her in the chunnin exams. Of course he couldn't ever forget how charming and cute she looks like back then. Yes, exactly like a tomato. A human-sized cute tomato. He thought that she even got cuter now that she has those curves and now that her hair grew longer, just how Sasuke likes it to be.

Karin remained speechless and shocked. "Uhh. Wh-wha-? Uhh…" It took about a minute before she had pulled herself together. She quickly turned around and pushed her glasses up and against the bridge of her nose. She placed a hand upon her forehead and wondered why Sasuke poked it. She then smiled and giggled silently, still having that bright blush on her cheek. Maybe he remembers me. She thought to herself.

"Very well. It seems that you two already have good chemistry on your first meet. That's about it. I called you here, Karin, to introduce you to Sasuke because from now on, you two will possibly do missions together as often as needed. You can now go back to your room. I'll call you in if ever I need you, especially now that I am thinking of a task for you." Orochimaru spoke calmly as he kept on examining something on a microscope.

Karin simply nodded then bowed slightly to Orochimaru. "I understand, Orochimaru-sama." She walked towards the door to leave the two in the room.

Sasuke opened his eyes once he sensed that she was about to leave. Before Karin can even turn the door knob, Sasuke's voice ricocheted inside the laboratory. "See 'ya!"

Karin's bright blush became ever brighter as she heard him say those words again. It felt nostalgic. She stepped outside the laboratory but gave Sasuke a last glance before completely closing the door.

To her surprise, she saw Sasuke smiling. That cute smile he showed her back on the chunnin exams. He gave her a single nod before his eyes came to a close once again. He knew he will see her again. And in his heart, he hopes that it will be sooner.