I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Suika For Valentines
Suigetsu glanced around and grinned. All around them, couples were holding hands, hugging, kissing, a few were even making love in spots they thought they wouldn't be seen, like behind a fruit cart, or in the opening of a side alley. Unsurprisingly, Karin avoided looking around too much, lest she start thinking about him. Suigetsu sighed and walked over to the couple where Karin was talking with a couple that were helping him and her understand the village's customs.
"Why is everyone celebrating Valentine's Day if it's not until tomorrow?" Suigetsu questioned.
"We celebrate a day early so that couples can have the actual day to do whatever they want," the man of the couple explained.
"Awesome," Suigetsu grinned. "I'm so sleeping all day tomorrow."
"That's the reaction most men have," the man chuckled. "They sleep all day. Or, rather, they stay in bed, all day."
Suigetsu's grin grew while Karin's all but vanished as her face matched her hair and the man chuckled.
"Bingo," he grinned. "Don't worry though. It's not an obligation, especially for false couples."
"False couples?" Suigetsu blinked fearing he may not have been as good at acting as he thought.
"She told us that you only came here to get some information and had to act like a couple to do it," the woman informed.
"Karin!" Suigetsu groaned.
"Calm down," Karin huffed. "As if I'd date you!"
"Whatever," Suigetsu growled. "I'm going to get some more info so that we don't piss your master off again."
Karin flinched at the tone of his voice then glanced at him in time to see him disappear into a crowd of couples. Suigetsu asked as many people as he could about his "missing cousin" and described Itachi, always getting a negative. Finally Karin caught up to him and forced him to stop.
"Look, I'm sorry that I told them we weren't together," Karin apologized.
"You think I care about that?" Suigetsu scoffed. "Jeez. Just like always you don't understand a single thing about me. Not that I should care. Once we get out of here, you'll just run back to Sasuke as always despite knowing that he doesn't give a flying fuck about you and will only use you to get what you want."
"He's not going to use me!" Karin snapped resisting the urge to slap him. "And what do you care?"
"I don't," Suigetsu growled before noticing that Karin was staring past him without listening. "What?"
She caught him before he could turn to look then kissed him. He blinked in surprise for a moment before she pulled away and pulled him through the crowd quickly. Finally they got to an alleyway and she all but hurled him down the alley as they were out of view.
"Ow!" Suigetsu growled. "What the hell was that?"
"I thought I saw him but it wasn't," Karin stated, face blood red.
"So you kissed me?" Suigetsu grinned. "You were just looking for an excuse."
"NO!" Karin shouted slapping him while blushing. "We would have looked out of place standing in a crowd of kissing couples and having an argument!"
"Sure," Suigetsu grinned. "You enjoyed it."
"No way!" Karin spat. "I would rather let Orochimaru experiment on me and Sasuke both than kiss you again!"
"Is that right?" Suigetsu grinned, leaning forward so that their faces were only inches away and succeeding in making Karin blush again.
"If you don't back away I'll tell Sasuke you raped me instead of gathering information," Karin threatened.
"He'd care more about the info," Suigetsu snorted stepping past Karin and walking toward the gate leading in and out of the small village. "Come on. We should get back soon."
Karin took a moment to force the color out of her face before following. After about an hour, they reached the camp they had set up to find Sasuke and Jugo had already returned from their own mission to another village.
"They were celebrating Valentine's Day," Sasuke complained. "I swear if I ever have that many people ask me if I'm in a homosexual relationship with Jugo again, I'll cut my tongue out and return to the Hidden Leaf Village. Fuck Itachi."
"Send Jugo with Suigetsu tomorrow," Karin pleaded.
"No," Sasuke said flatly. "I don't have enough shirts for you to throw drinks on them just to make me take them off. You'll stay with Suigetsu and me and Jugo will continue to use the half-brothers-looking-for-a-piece-of-tail cover story."
"Wait, Jugo plays a "looking-for-a-piece-of-tail" role?" Suigetsu laughed. "How? Does he ask the birds to bring him Snow White?"
"Don't be an asshole!" Karin snapped.
"It doesn't matter," Sasuke stated. "Pack up. We're moving to the next village."
They all packed up and bean walking, stopping only when it became too dark to see. They set up camp again and went to bed, falling asleep quickly. The next day, they all left for two different villages. When they arrived, Suigetsu had to grin. The village was celebrating Valentine's groaned as a couple rushed over to greet them.
"Welcome!" the woman smiled. "We're always happy to accept new couples, especially today."
"Those clothes are not going to work though," the man stated thoughtfully. "Alright. Come on. We'll get you something to wear. The festivities start soon."
"Wait a minute," Karin began. "We're not-"
"Going to refuse," Suigetsu interrupted smiling before turning to Karin. "Play along. This is the best way to gather information and blend in if he's here."
Karin sighed but nodded and they followed the couple who both them both a kimono, Suigetsu a simple dark blue one and Karin a pink one that had flowers on it. Then, the couple led them to their house to allow them to change. Once Suigetsu had dressed he walked out to the living room where the couple were waiting.
"Oh good," the man smiled. "I was hoping that we could talk to you before she got out."
"Oh yeah?" Suigetsu asked raising his eyebrows. "Why's that?"
"You're not really a couple are you?" the man questioned and Suigetsu blinked in surprise.
"How did you..." Suigetsu began but trailed off before sighing. "No, we're not real couple."
"And I'm guessing that it's not you who doesn't want to be," the man guessed.
Suigetsu blinked in surprise then nodded and sighed. "You're right. Karin means absolutely everything to me. I would give my life for her. I would give anything to be with her."
"Then why don't you tell her?" the man questioned.
"Because she's in love with someone else," Suigetsu stated staring at the floor. "He's...more or less what every girl wants by being almsot nothing at all."
"Ah," the woman nodded before giggling. "He's the strong silent type, a bad boy, and more or less seems to not care about anything."
"Pretty much," Suigetsu sighed. "If you ask Karin, you'd probably get something like 'he's hot', or 'he's perfect' and definitely of squealing. Sasuke is blessed with the kind of looks that makes it possible for him to take one step into a village, whisper 'I want a girlfriend' and have every female in the village, young, old, married, single, crippled, or able, all lining up to be with him. Karin happens to be one such person. I just happen to be unlucky enough to be in love with someone who fell for Sasuke."
"I see," the woman nodded. "My husband will likely suggest that you tell her how you feel, then fight the other guy, Sasuke, was it? Well, that's all well and good, if you never want Karin to like you. You have to support Karin in everything she does, starting right now. Even if that means supporting her love for Sasuke. And you can't just support her from the shadows. You have to be open about supporting her. By all means, support her from the shadows in any way you can so long as it's good, but openly support her as well."
"That may not work too well," Suigetsu sighed.
"Why?" the woman questioned.
"Because ever since we started traveling together, she has tried to get Sasuke to return her feelings and he has repeatedly broken her heart," Suigetsu explained. "Every time he does, I come in as comic relief and an annoyance for her to take out her pain and frustration on. It hurts. Not physically. She would be hard pressed to actually hurt me physically. But it hurts. She really really because of what I do to help her. She probably never will. But I'm okay with that so long as she's happy. And she is, for the most part."
"I see," the woman nodded. "Well, no matter what you've done, if you support her, and show her that you do, she'll forgive you."
Suigetsu nodded and the woman left while her husband began to tell Suigetsu all of the village's traditions. Meanwhile, in the room she had been given to change in, Karin sat on the bed, dressed in her kimono but not caring anymore. She couldn't get her mind away from what she had just heard, or believe she had actually heard it. After all, why would Suigetsu be in love with her? And why would he put himself through hell just to piss her off? But as she thought about it, he really did seem to be less cheerful after having goaded her into an argument. And she did feel a lot happier when he was teasing her than when he wasn't. Actually, when he was in a good mood, it seemed like she was too. Every time. Karin found she suddenly had no explanation for that or for why she enjoyed hitting Suigetsu.
She was brought out of her thoughts when the woman stepped into the room and smiled.
"It suits you," she smiled.
"Th-thank you," Karin smiled blushing.
"My husband is filling in your boyfriend about our village's customs," she smiled. "All you have to do is go along with it."
Karin nodded then glanced out the door.
"How long will it take?" Karin questioned.
"Not long," the woman smiled.
Suigetsu stepped out of the house, holding the door open as Karin stepped out. He still had trouble not staring at her with her usually messy hair in a bun so tight that even it couldn't come undone. She didn't have any makeup on, as usual, but was still looked beautiful beyond words. Suigetsu allowed the door to close and he and Karin left the house, walking out into the crowded street. Every couple there had their arms linked so Karin wrapped her arm around Suigetsu's, blushing slightly. Suigetsu didn't make a sound as they made their way through the crowd and around to the various stores open along the street. It was very busy in the street but also empty enough that they weren't having to squeeze between anyone. Eventually they stopped at a jewelry store and Karin began to browse. Suigetsu walked around to one side and the store's owner grinned guessing his intention and wandered over holding out a box with what Suigetsu instantly knew was the perfect gift. The paid the owner all the money he had and the owner smiled and gave him the box. Suigetsu tucked it into his kimono's one secret pocket then walked over to Karin.
"See anything?" Suigetsu questioned.
"The hawk necklace," Karin stated pointing. "It reminds me of Sasuke."
Suigetsu flinched but forced a smile and nodded.
"Okay," Suigetsu smiled. "How much."
"Free," the owner smiled. "For the lovely lady."
He flashed Suigetsu a smile and pulled the necklace out, handing it to Karin who put it on and smiled.
"Let's go get something to eat," Karin smiled.
"Sure," Suigetsu nodded as they wandered away.
As per custom, the only thing present to eat was watermelon.
"Looks like we're getting suika," Suigetsu smirked remembering a joke about the word for watermelon he had thought up a long time ago. "Two please."
The vendor gave them two slices, again for free and Suigetsu and Karin began to walk away to a mostly secluded space where he could get her mind working on the subject he needed it to.
"You seem to be enjoying that," Suigetsu smirked seeing she was already mostly finished.
"So?" Karin questioned unsure about where he was going with it.
"Nothing," Suigetsu grinned. "I quite enjoy suika myself. Come to think of it, I know a couple names that could be mixed to make suika. I wonder if I would enjoy that any more than watermelon."
A couple of names that...oh, Karin thought realizing what he was talking about and smacking him upside the head. "That's disgusting! Why the hell would I ever date you?"
"You should probably keep your voice down," Suigetsu warned. "And, as for why, I don't know. I wasn't aware there had to be any reasons. Why not list to me all the reasons that you want to date Sasuke. And physical traits, anything related to his chakra, and the word cool are not allowed."
Karin opened her mouth but couldn't think of anything beyond the admittedly childish and pathetic things he had forbade. She closed her mouth, still trying to think as her face fell. Suigetsu sighed seeing the hurt and made her look up at him.
"If you want I could try to convince him to give you a chance," Suigetsu offered.
"But...why would..." Karin trailed off before looking away and blushing even more. "I...heard what you said."
"You...you did?" Suigetsu gulped turning scarlet. "I see."
"If you feel that way...why wouldn't you say something?" Karin questioned.
"Because...from the moment we started to travel together I could see how much you cared about Sasuke," Suigetsu sighed. "I could see that, for all your lack of any good reasons, part of you really did love him. And, I knew that I could never compete with him in your eyes. So I didn't try. But...when he began to break your heart, I could see that you were in pain. When I tried to help by being there for you in a normal way, all that happened was that you got mad at me and were in more pain. So instead, I played the part of the annoyance. Someone for you to take out your anger and pain on. And it worked. You were happy, for the most part. But as a side effect, you not only still loved him, despite all logic, but now you hated me. You have no idea how much that hurts. But I could deal with it, because you were happy. And then we got here, and...I admit, I thought maybe I could win you over. I guess I got my hopes up for nothing."
Karin stared at him for a moment looking both guilty and hurt at the same time. Just as she opened her mouth to respond, a large bell somewhere in the city tolled and Suigetsu looked around.
"Time for the last custom," Suigetsu stated holding his arm out. "It would look bad if we didn't show."
Karin slipped her arm into his as they made their way through the empty streets. Most of the crowd had already gone to the last area and was making their way to their homes to either sleep or stay up, so to speak. They walked into the area and looked around. There was a sakura tree in the center of the nearly empty clearing and several tables of what looked like flat, heart-shaped pendants on short chains.
"What's this?" Karin questioned as they reached the tree.
"This is the last thing this village does in public," Suigetsu stated. "It's more or less a way for them to vow to be with their love forever no matter what happens. You take a pendant and write your name on one side and the name of the person you love most on the other then hang it on the tree. But you can't do it if that person's name is already on the tree or you know that that person is in love with someone else who may or may not be with them eventually. After you hang a tag, assuming you're with the person whose name you wrote, if you and them ever separate, you are supposed to remove the pendant, which is a public shame around here."
"Oh," Karin nodded noticing him picking up a pendant and handing it to Karin, along with a knife designed to carve something in metal.
Karin took it and instantly carved her name into one side and flipped it over carving an 'S' then froze.
What's taking me so long? Karin thought. I didn't think it'd be so hard to carve the name "Sasuke" into a piece of metal.
She pressed the knife to the metal again but again stopped, unable to force herself to carve the name. Her mind began to drift to her time among Taka. She quickly found that Suigetsu was right. Every time she had tried to win over Sasuke he had broken her heart and it had always been Suigetsu to be there for her, if not in a conventional way. But it had worked extremely well. And he was right that she had acted like she hated him. His method of helping her had made her dislike him more than even Orochimaru himself. But that wasn't fair. All he had ever been doing was shielding the love of his life from pain. If he were adding a name, he would carve hers into the tag without hesitation. She knew she loved Sasuke, so why was it taking so long? She glanced down at the tag and her hand began to move without her consent but when it was done, she didn't scratch out the name there or even consider it. Instead, she reached up and hung it on the tree, smiling to herself as it sat there, spinning slowly and displaying the names proudly. "Karin" and "Suigetsu". Suigetsu stared at it in shock for a moment before looking down at Karin who smiled sheepishly.
"I suppose I decided what I want more than anything...is some more suika," Karin muttered blushing and making Suigetsu grin from ear to ear.
"I suppose that can be arranged," he smiled leaning forward and pressing his lips to hers.
She sighed kissing him back instantly and wrapping her arms around his neck. He rested his on her waist for a moment before remembering the reason for him being completely broke at the moment. He pulled away and reached into his kimono while placing Karin's hand over her eyes, making her giggle.
"You planned this all out didn't you?" Karin questioned.
"Maybe," Suigetsu replied pulling the gift out of its box and putting the box back in his kimono. "Does it really matter?"
Karin grinned but it faltered when she felt her new hawk necklace disappear and a different necklace replace opened her eyes and looked down seeing a silver chain holding up a pendant in the shape of a watermelon slice with ruby for the inside, emerald for the portion of rind, and tiny black diamonds as seeds. Karin stated at it in shock before beginning to laugh and cry at the same time. After a moment she kissed Suigetsu again and he kissed her back, "accidentally" dropping the hawk necklace down a drain beside them. after a few minutes, they pulled away and Suigetsu glanced up at the sky.
"Shit, we're late," Suigetsu gasped.
Karin looked up the shrugged and leaned against his chest.
"They'll live," Karin stated.
"They will, we won't," Suigetsu stated. "Come on. We'd better not make Sasuke mad."
Karin sighed but nodded and kissed him again before they left. Suigetsu had to smile as they traveled and Karin noticed.
"What?" Karin questioned.
"I like getting suika for Valentine's Day," Suigetsu grinned and a moment later both began to laugh.
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