"You're what now?"

A dead silence rang out. Two pairs of eyes were now fixated on Karin, who merely sighed in response. She was being unusually calm about the situation, which was what Suigetsu found even more confusing. There was no way this was happening. Denial seemed to set in Suigetsu's mind before he even had a chance to register the information.

"I said, I'm pregnant." She repeated in a dull tone.

Juugo's eyes widened a fraction and his mouth fell open, but he remained silent. However, no change had been made to Suigetsu's face. He looked just as confused as before. Karin was going to punch him in the face if he asked again and Suigetsu seemed to notice that. He stood back as his face evened out; he inspected Karin. There was no obvious sign of pregnancy. There was no bump and he hadn't seen her experience anything akin to morning sickness either. Surely she wasn't doing this as a prank. It just wasn't like her.

He sighed in a defeated manner.

"Okay...I have no clue what's going on. How did this happen?"

Karin's expression suddenly turned angry. "What do you mean 'how did this happen?!' Are you fucking stupid? Do I have to explain the process of reproduction to you like a fucking child?" Suigetsu backed away and Juugo looked alarmed. The pair raised their hands in defence as they shared a look of concern. Juugo opened his mouth timidly to speak.

"Uh...Karin, he didn't mean it that way. I think what he meant was...uh...who?" He daren't look the redhead in the eyes, so he fixated his gaze on the floor. He wasn't quite sure where he was going with this, but Suigetsu flashed him a grateful look. The pair looked like deer caught in headlights. Karin removed her thick-framed glasses and gently squeezed the bridge of her nose with a sigh.

"Who else is it going to be, apart from you? And don't you dare say you don't remember! You were drunk but you weren't that drunk!" She pointed a spindly finger in his direction in an accusatory manner. He backed off, looking a little offended. "Drunk enough for non-consensual sex, apparently." He muttered, offhandedly. He gulped slightly when Karin shot him the darkest glare.

"Don't make it worse for yourself..." Juugo mumbled at him. Suigetsu figured he should take his large friends advice if he wanted to live, so he shot a very apologetic glance at the short female. Karin seemed to accept it and carried on speaking.

"While I'm not sure what to make of the entire situation, I'm not giving this baby up." She seemed to glare at Suigetsu when she said this. Suigetsu had the courtesy to look somewhat ashamed of himself, as he watched a cricket make its journey across the stone floor. He bet that cricket never had in worries in its life. Lucky bastard.

"That being said..." Karin trailed, subconsciously putting a hand to her abdomen. "...I'm not sure if I can do this alone. I'm not sure if I can keep doing...this!" She wasn't directly gesturing at anything, but the two men understood what she meant. Having a baby usually meant settling down, for a kunoichi. She couldn't keep travelling with Juugo and Suigetsu and sure, they had a few places here and there but they were too far out of the way. There was no way her-their child could have a normal childhood if they maintained their rogue ninja status.

Karin was torn and Suigetsu could see it. On one hand, she didn't want to give up her baby but on the other hand, she didn't want to give up her life as it was. She was hardly the type to settle down and Suigetsu couldn't see her as the typical 'stay-at-home' mother either. Karin knew she couldn't chain Suigetsu down if she did decide to settle down somewhere because even if it was his shared responsibility, she couldn't force him to give up his life. In fact, he didn't even have an obligation to stay, in Karin's eyes. The bastard could up and leave her behind. Well...it wasn't like they were a couple anyway.

She was surprised to suddenly feel Juugo place a hand on her petite shoulder. His face held genuine concern and before she knew her, her eyes were swimming with tears. What the hell was she supposed to do?!

There was no point in holding it back, was there. A broken sob erupted from her lips as the tears began to spill from her eyes. She could make out the blurry shape of Juugo, as he reeled back in surprise. He was obviously not used to comforting people- especially women.

Suigetsu sighed, sympathetically. He felt like he should apologise, but now didn't seem like the time for words. Juugo was staring at him, helpless to do anything and he wasn't sure what to do. Before he knew it, he was embracing the petite nin. He wasn't sure what prompted him to do such a thing, but all he knew was that Karin needed it.

Karin on the other hand, wasn't very happy. Firstly, this was incredibly humiliating. It was an unwritten rule of sorts between kunoichi, that they were never to cry in public. (Actually, it was a true shinobi rule as well, but nobody really followed the rules, did they?) After all, many men naturally deemed kunoichi to be less worth than other shinobi, so for a kunoichi to cry...it would only give them the satisfaction of being right.

Secondly, she just knew Suigetsu was doing this out of pity. Sure, he got her pregnant, but it wasn't like he held romantic feelings for her. That truly angered her, but she couldn't push him away just yet. After all, it wasn't like he was going to stick around much longer...

The future looked bleak.


Karin was now asleep on a ratty sofa against the wall, and Suigetsu was glad. Seeing her cry, for possibly the first time in his life, really tugged at his heartstrings but he would never admit it. He briefly wondered if she still harboured an obsession for Sasuke. Part of him hoped not.

Juugo was sat opposite him, gently stroking a tiny brown bird that was perched on one of his fingers. It was hard to believe the lunatic of a monster he often saw rampaging around was actually this rather innocent man. As impressive as he found his abilities, he couldn't help but feel sympathetic. He had a feeling Juugo would have a much grander time as a farmer than this, but he seemed to be coping.

He seemed to adjust okay when Sasuke left too, something which both Karin and Suigetsu were immensely worried about. After all, Juugo practically relied on Sasuke to keep him in check and with him gone, nobody knew what he would do. Luckily, it seemed that, over time, he'd gradually grown more controlled over his curse mark. Of course, he had his off days, but Suigetsu and Karin were able to defend themselves when he did.

"What are you going to do?"

Juugo's question took Suigetsu off guard suddenly and the mist nin looked up at him in surprise. "Me? Jesus, I have no clue. I mean...it's not like I can leave Karin by herself, right? Childcare is pretty much a two man job." He rested his chin on his palms as he stared at his water bottle on the table. "But I know she wouldn't appreciate me being around just for the sake of the kid." Juugo seemed to nod in agreement.

The room settled into an odd silence, void of any sound but Karin's light snores. Suigetsu watched her from his seat across the room; she did look rather peaceful when asleep. Suigetsu wondered what would happen if he did end up liking her. Loving her, even. Well, she kind of mellowed out when Sasuke left so she wasn't that bad.

Juugo watched Suigetsu silently. The pair had what at first seemed like a bad relationship, but when you dug a little deeper, they were able to work together quite well. Suigetsu was naturally antagonistic and Karin almost always retaliated, so their fights were frequent but easily forgotten. Juugo partially envied them for it. Their arguments weren't just them taking out their aggression on each other anymore. It seemed more like banter than anything else; they didn't take each others insults personally.

Juugo was taken out of his little trance when the tiny bird that was previously perched on his finger, lifted its wings and flew away.

Now he felt more alone than ever.


Oh boy, here we go... I've been thinking about this for a long time. Anyway, check out basedtaka on Tumblr to see what inspired such a story! UvU It's good, I promise you~!