I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.

Long Night

Sasuke and the rest of his group stopped at an inn two days away from their target, the Eight-tails Jinchuriki. They went inside and got two rooms, both of which had two beds. The bickering began the moment Sasuke said that Suigetsu and Karin would be sharing a room.

"Why the hell am I sharing a room with this idiot?" Karin demanded. "Make him sleep with Jugo! I'll stay with you Sasuke!"

"No," Sasuke said flatly. "Jugo is staying in my room because I need to be able to react immediately if he goes out of control."

"But Sasuke-" she began but he glared at her, silencing her.

"Finish eating," Sasuke ordered. "We've got a long trip ahead of us."

Suigetsu began to stuff food into his mouth again and Karin reluctantly continued eating, at a more reasonable rate, while glaring daggers at Suigetsu. Finally, they finished and were led to their rooms.

"Now, I'll give you one warning," Sasuke said before Suigetsu and Karin entered their room. "As neither of you two has control problems, if either of you wakes me up, the one who does it will die. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," Suigetsu nodded, opening the door and holding it open for Karin.

She stepped past him into the room and he shut it, turning to look at their room. It wasn't large, but it was bigger than he had expected. The two beds were set up opposite each other with the foot of the beds facing each other. Opposite the bed from them was a picture window looking out at the world. To their right was a small bathroom with a toilet and shower head. No curtain, no shower door, no bathroom door. No privacy. Suigetsu walked into the room, setting his sword beside his bed, kicked his shoes off, and lay back on the bed. Karin sat on her own, slipping her shoes off and then looked across at Suigetsu.

"If you snore I'll kill you," Karin warned.

"Won't be a problem," Suigetsu smirked. "Being made of water, I don't get congested."

Karin rolled her eyes and lay back, slipping under the covers. Suigetsu did the same and began to drift off. What seemed like seconds later, his eyes snapped open, but whatever sound had awakened him stopped just before he regained consciousness. He waited for a moment before hearing Karin whimper again. He slowly and silently sat up, eyes scanning the room suspiciously before focussing on Karin. She whimpered again before rolling over and beginning to cry out, growing louder quickly as she became more and more terrified by whatever nightmare she was having.

Suigetsu leapt out of bed and hurried over to her, his blankets ending up almost perfectly flat and lying across the floor, still tucked in only at the foot of the bed. He dropped to his knees beside Karin on the bed, shaking her gently.

"Karin, wake up!" Suigetsu called out to her, succeeding in waking her.

She stared up at him for a moment before sitting up and hugging him, sobbing into his chest. He held her against him comfortingly and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"It's alright," he whispered. "It's over now."

After a while, she managed to stop crying and rested her head on his shoulder.

"All better?" Suigetsu asked smiling.

"No one will ever know about this," Karin warned, voice icy but still shaky, as though she might begin crying again.

"There's nothing to know," Suigetsu smiled laying her back down. "Now get some sleep. Remember, I'll be right across the room if you need me."

He turned to return to his bed but she caught his arm, tears welling up in her eyes again, displaying her fear.

"Stay, please," she pleaded. "Please don't go."

"Alright," Suigetsu smiled and nodded, lying beside her on top of the blankets and wrapping his arms around her. "I'll stay."

Karin nodded and lay his left arm out, resting her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his chest. He smiled, wrapping his arms around her as well, absentmindedly running his right over her head, which seemed to calm her quite effectively. Suigetsu would love to be in this situation with any other circumstances. Unfortunately, he had to settle for simply helping her sleep for the moment. He did wonder what she had dreamt about that had scared her bad enough to request his company but he wouldn't ask. It was better for her to just forget it.

He looked down at her, smiling. She was beautiful at any time, but asleep she looked like a red-haired angel. Of course, that would never fit her personality. She sighed, pulling herself closer to him and he smiled. He rested his chin against her head then closed his eyes and drifted off as well.

Read and review.