Hey guys! I'm back, and I'm FAR from alone… D
This is a collab that I've been working on with my good friend Pip. She's awesome. And BRITISH. And SINGLE. Call her. ;D
It's a SuiKa one-shot. About DODGEBALL. Enjoy, dear readers! :D
Collision
"HA! TAKE THAT, BITCHES!"
Karin punched the air in front of her, a satanic grin all over her satanic little face. Watching from the bleachers, Suigetsu winced at the sight of Karin's targets. He made a mental note that, if he ever wanted a black eye and a punctured stomach, play Karin at dodgeball. And lose. He handed the red-headed girl her bottle of water as she stumbled exhaustedly over to him. Taking the bottle, she nodded in silent appreciation and took a few long gulps. When she re-capped the bottle, instead of running back to kick some more asses, she sat down beside Suigetsu, resting her head on his shoulder and groaning.
"Suiget-suuuu. I have a stitch." She moaned, pinching the skin on the right-hand side of her stomach. "I don't know why I still play dodgeball at lunch break, I really don't know."
"Because your girl friends do cheerleading, and you're too boisterous to be a cheerleader." Suigetsu smiled idiotically at his best girl friend and blushing slightly at the thought of Karin in a cheerleader uniform.
Karin's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. "Are you calling me manly?"
"Nah."
Karin nodded in satisfaction. Suigetsu however was far from done. He leant back on the bleachers, swinging his legs into the space before them.
"I mean, sure, you're kinda butch but no way near strong enough to be considered manly." He said, carelessly throwing his words into the open. The bottle Karin had been holding was the unfortunate victim of her rage as she pretended it was Suigetsu's head.
"What was that?" she snarled.
"What? I said you weren't manly. Isn't that what girls like? Not being manly?"
Clueless.
"No! The other part. The part about me being a weak and pathetic female with no hope of defending myself!"
Suigetsu ran the conversation back over in his mind, and noticed a certain lack of any of the aforementioned dialogue. He decided to nod. It always seemed safest to agree when Karin began crushing things.
Final period rolled around pretty quickly after that. This made Suigetsu a happy person.
Final period, read Suigetsu's timetable, was gym.
Suigetsu was a sad person.
"I'm pretty sure I'm going to die today." Suigetsu announced. Jūgo blinked in empathy. "No, really, I think I am. It's funny, you don't wake up in the morning and think that you're going to die, and here I am, minutes away from it."
Another blink. Truly, Jūgo was going all out with his emotional comfort.
"Do you think it'll be quick?" No blink. "Of course not. Karin enjoys sadistic punishment."
Blink. Blink.
"You know, you're pretty useless to talk to in a crisis."
Jūgo shrugged. Suigetsu sighed. Oh well. He'd had a good run…
"Alright, everyone, listen up!" Asuma-sensei screeched up from the base of the bleachers. "We're going to be playing dodgeball today. Who wants to be a team captain?"
Of course, Karin's hand was the first in the air, waving around madly and hitting a couple of unimportant people in the face. Asuma curled a finger at her, and she jumped up, sprinting down the steps to stand to the left of her gym coach. In the middle of the cluster of students, someone coughed. Asuma put his hands on his hips and cocked his head to the side, baseball cap shifting off of his gel-covered hair. Pressing his lips together in a somewhat disappointed manner, he sighed inwardly.
"Alright, then. I have no choice. I'll have to pick for you." he said in a low, sinister tone, purposely teasing his students into volunteering. Nobody moved a muscle. "Suigetsu. Get down here and be a captain."
Suigetsu made a great display of his absolute horror at the prospect. He took an exceeding amount of care when getting out from the middle of the row, stopped four times to tie his shoelace, then had to run back because he had apparently forgotten his shoes, then proclaimed that he had an allergy to rubber and was finally dragged down out of the stands by the 'bitch, please' expression on his teacher's face. Karin grinned. It was not a nice grin. It reminded Suigetsu of man eating tigers.
"You don't look so good Suigetsu! Scared?" Karin chirped. Suigetsu pursed his lips in response, glaring at the ceiling and deeming such a comment far beneath him – no matter how much he wanted to run screaming from the room.
"Alright. Karin, pick someone for your team."
Karin's crimson eyes danced wickedly to the left from behind her glasses. She shot Suigetsu a fox-like smile before the name 'Jūgo' rolled off her tongue. Suigetsu gaped at his friend, wondering to himself why he still liked her. He watched in agony as his best guy friend stepped slowly and silently down each step of the bleachers, his face a perfect picture of emptiness. He then mimed the word, 'why?' at him, which was responded to by yet another slow blink. Suigetsu turned back to the benches, trying to feign nonchalance. He was totally above this. He could beat Karin just fine, with or without Jūgo - emotionless bastard would probably just slow her down, anyway. His eyes came to rest on the secret weapon, and a maniacal grin spread across his features.
"Sasuke!" The pretty-boy sighed in a forlorn manner, as if he were doing Suigetsu a great favor just by existing. Several girls in the back squealed.
"He's so deep!"
"I feel his inner pain!"
"I'd restore his family any day!"
Suigetsu blinked. The last voice had sounded suspiciously masculine. Trying to shake off the disturbing thought as he cast a sideways glance to Karin, who was trying to melt his head with yet to be unveiled telepathic abilities. He smirked at his friend-slash-dodgeball-nemesis, who had turned back to face the crowd of unenthusiastic faces. Her eyes flitted to and fro, carefully analyzing the skills of each student.
Too lazy…
Too fat…
Too hyperactive…aha. Hyperactive. That works.
"I PICK NARUTO!" Karin said, raising her voice ever so slightly. Naruto all but erupted from his seat, bounding down to the front of the hall in a matter of seconds. This was quite an impressive feat considering he was right at the back and had to swan dive over several rows of students – however, no one applauded him for this as he had managed to crush nearly all of them in the process. Suigetsu swore quietly under his breath. Then a little louder, because the first time hadn't felt cathartic enough.
"Sakura!" he yelped. The pinkette's head jolted upright, and she let out a short string of confused words. Blinking her green eyes rapidly, she swaggered down to join Suigetsu and his currently minute team. Tugging at the waistband of her gym shorts to make them ever shorter and hitching up her shirt ever so slightly, she latched onto Sasuke's arm. Suigetsu almost instantly regretted picking a Sasugay-obsessed cheerleader.
Karin whipped her head around, now genuinely angry by Suigetsu's choice of teammates. Clenching her teeth, she hurled her finger into the crowd.
"Chouji!"
"Ino."
"Uhh…SHIKAMARU!"
"Hinata." Suigetsu smirked evilly at Karin. "Try and win without her on your team."
"Stop picking out my friends, you bastard!"
A couple of minutes later, both teams were full.
"Alright, kids," Asuma began, clapping his hands around the ball. "I want a nice, clean game, alright? No punching, no stabbing, no wedgies, no kissing, no hair pulling, no bug spray, no use of contraband weapons, no fires – yes, I'm looking at you, Sasuke – and most important of all, no flashbacks. Naruto, we only have forty five minutes, try and keep it to a minimum."
There was a lot of shuffling. Several trips were made back to the locker room in order to dispose of said 'contraband'.
"Right, captains, shake hands and we'll begin." Karin stepped forward, all but ripping Suigetsu's arm out of it's socket. Not to be outdone, Suigetsu squeezed her hand as tight as he could manage. Both of them attempted to grin, however it instead appeared that they both had rather troubling stomach problems.
Letting go of each other's hand, the painful grins faded into sinister, slightly threatening glares. All the same, both team captains knew that the competition was a playful one. Karin took the ball from Asuma and rolled in between her palms. Blinking innocently up at Suigetsu, she smirked out of the corner of her mouth.
"Good luck." She hurled the ball at his chest, and he just caught it. Karin tilted her head, widened her eyes and pouted, starting to walk away and into her starting position. "You'll need it."
Suigetsu scoffed. "Whatever."
He placed the ball on the center mark, stepping back to join the rest of his team. Asuma glanced at both sides, raising his hand. Karin grit her teeth, muscles tensing in her legs. Suigetsu flexed his fingers, hastily wiping his now sweating palms on his gym shorts.
The hand fell, and both sides leapt for the ball.
Karin whacked the ball out of Suigetsu's reach. Naruto ran in and snatched up the ball, gripping it with one hand. He spun around and let the ball fly away from him in any direction it chose – unfortunately, the ball headed for an empty gap in the court. He cringed and dived for cover from Karin's metaphorical shooting of daggers. A member of Suigetsu's team – Karin couldn't see too well from so far away, and guessed from the platinum blur of hair that it was Ino – dived in front of the ball and caught it. Using one hand, she hurled it in Karin's direction.
Karin smacked the oncoming ball back the other way, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She wouldn't lose to Suigetsu. She just wouldn't. The very thought alone made her cringe.
There was a sound cry of disappointment from the rest of her team. Asuma blew his whistle and Karin watched as Shikamaru sauntered back to the bench, hands in his pockets, looking far too pleased with himself to have actually been caught out. She caught sight of Suigetsu's grinning face, her own lips twitching in amusement. Oh, the game was far from over.
"Alright! One down, keep playing." Asuma blew his red plastic whistle again and waved his hand. Suigetsu snatched the ball from beside Chouji's foot and silently leered at his ex-Bio partner's inattentiveness. Chouji snapped out of his diverted state, stopped thinking about the barbeque ribs that were waiting for him at home, and darted out of the ball's way. Suigetsu cursed silently to himself, watching in insinuated enmity. When the hell did Fatso get so good at…well, moving?
Suigetsu hurled the ball after him anyway, pursing his lips in irritation as Kiba dived in and snatched it, throwing it back their way and narrowly avoiding Temari. The girl yelped, leaping to the side. Hinata, who had been standing behind her, didn't have time to react, and squealed in surprise as the ball rebounded off her chest and straight at Naruto's face.
"Two in one!" Kiba yelled, pumping his fist.
"Naruto was on our team!" Karin growled, smacking the hand away that he'd been offering her to high-five.
"…so? It was still bad-ass! I hit her frickin' boobs, man!" There was a mumur of admiration from the men, and a whimper of sympathy from the girls. Both Naruto and Hinata slouched back to the bench, Naruto defeated, Hinata humiliated and clasping her hands together to hide her upper body. The blonde put a hand on Hinata's shoulder, unknowingly forcing a squeal out of her.
"Don't worry, Hinata. I got out, too." He encouraged her. Karin narrowed her eyes in a mix of disgust and sympathy. Her mouth curled downwards at the corners.
"Poor Hinata. Naruto hasn't got a clue." She murmured. Suddenly, a red something-or-other flew past her ear, narrowly missing by an inch or two. An irritated, female scream emerged from behind.
"Get your head in the game, Karin!" Kiba yelled, running after the fly away ball.
"Oh, you did not just use a High School Musical reference!" Kiba must have gone conveniently deaf, as he simply continued to chase down the ball.
"You alright, Karin?" Suigetsu yelled. "You can give up at any time! No-one will think any less of you!"
Karin grit her teeth, running back to toe the front line, the red ball flashing overhead and just missing Sakura by millimeters.
"Phew, that was close." Sakura breathed, jumping back and snatching the ball up from the shiny polished floor. Her eyes darted around, unsure of who to throw to. Suddenly under pressure, Sakura hurled the ball blindly, shutting her eyes, and hoped for the best. The ball bounced and caught Chouji on the hip. Suigetsu spun around and gave her a thumbs up.
"Way to go, Sakura!" he cheered. "You got fa – Chouji! Good job!"
"Is that a good thing?" Sakura asked in her annoying, stereotypical cheerleader voice. Suigetsu nodded, and Sakura applauded herself, bending her legs and preparing for any attacks from 'the enemy'.
"Did you see that, Sasuke-kuuun?" she crowed.
"Hn. Not bad." Sakura beamed. "Ball."
"What? OW!"
"DAMN, I'M SO FUCKING AWESOME." Sakura spun on her heel to face the attacker, fists clenched in fury.
"KIBA YOU SON OF A - "
Asuma leapt in, whistle squeaking over the noise of the shouting. "Break it up! Break it up! It's just a game, Sakura!"
Sakura was lead off the court, grumbling to herself. The nice feeling of punching a bastard in the face settled in her fist. Karin swaggered closer to Suigetsu and leaned her elbow on his shoulder.
"Game's getting pretty heated, isn't it?" she asked, staring after Asuma, who was 'having words' with a certain Haruno. She glanced around her. There weren't many players remaining. Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, Sakura, Chouji had been hit. Kiba was sat on the sidelines, clutching an ice pack to his cheek.
"Whatever, you just lost your best player." Suigetsu grinned. "It's so over."
Karin shoved him. "Oh, please. I'm going to own you."
"Riiiiiight."
"I am!"
"You've got Jūgo - " Said male blinked at the mention of his name. " – Gaara and Shino. You're more likely to be murdered than win."
Karin clenched her fists, hating to admit that he was possibly right.
The red rubber ball rolled along the ground and hit Suigetsu gently in the foot. Karin was tempted to scream that he was out, but decided against it as Asuma had not yet resumed play, or been watching, for that matter. Instead, she scowled and folded her arms tightly across her chest. As if on cue for a stage play, Asuma rushed back onto the court, waving one hand in the air and using the other to put the whistle in his mouth. He blew hard, and the game commenced.
Suigetsu stooped down and took the ball, hesitating momentarily. He stared blankly at Karin's back. Her head was tilted forward, her hair falling over her shoulders. It was almost as if…as if she wanted him to hit her.
He whirled around and tossed the ball into the middle of the court.
The game seemed to pick up pace after that. Ino, distracted with her chance to gloat over Sakura, was quickly caught out by Gaara, who was then snagged by Sasuke. Suigetsu felt a little bad when he managed to hit Jūgo. The big guy's blink was a bit slower than normal. Suigetsu made a promise to himself to get him a tub of ice cream later.
"We're so gonna win." Temari smirked. Karin glared at them from across the line, shifting restlessly. Suigetsu recognised the determined look on her face.
"We haven't won yet." He assured her.
Karin nodded once at him, smiling wanly. She shot a venomous look at Temari before taking the ball from Shino and hammering it at her with all of the strength in her body. A manly yell escaped her lips as she let go of the ball, which even surprised herself. Temari tried to dive out of the way, but she was too slow and the ball was too quick. The ball drilled into her stomach and she fell to the ground, groaning and muttering something about owing money to the Alaskan unicorns.
The only ones left on the court were Karin and Shino, Suigetsu and Sasuke.
Sasuke took the ball and silently exchanged a look with Suigetsu. He dived forward and tossed the ball at Shino.
The bug-fanatic was exhausted. He lifted an arm and let the ball bounce off his elbow.
"Oh look." He said. "I'm out."
Karin licked her lips, shooting daggers into Shino's back. She'd so get him back for this, the traitor. However, her ultimate revenge plan would have to wait. Sasuke was going to cause her problems. The guy was fast, not to mention observant. It would be a nightmare trying to get him out. She'd just have to focus on Suigetsu. He was her real target, after all. Grabbing the ball, she bounced it off the ground, watching as it arced towards Suigetsu's face. However, the other boy merely ducked out of the way, yelling, "Watch my face, you psycho!" as he did so. Karin felt her mouth twist into a pissed-off snarl. She readied herself, getting into a position gave her the ability to dodge the ball, which ever member of the other team threw it. Her eyes darted between the two. Both boys remained still, smiling.
"Well? Are you just going to stand there, or what?" Karin asked, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. Sasuke took a step back and took the ball.
Right, Karin thought. This'll be easy. I'll just catch it. That'll get Sasuke out.
Just as predicted, Sasuke hurled the ball at just the right speed for Karin to catch it. Without giving any time for him to move, Karin threw it back, catching him on the thigh. A miserable groan rose from the stands, the lone laughter of Naruto echoing above them all. "TEME GOT OWNED!"
Karin grinned. "Check mate, Suigetsu."
Suigetsu picked up the ball one-handedly, studying Karin's position carefully with velvety purple eyes. He tried to determine at which angle of trajectory to throw the ball…then thought to himself, screw trajectory. I'm going to win this.
"Suigetsu," Karin called out from the other side of the court, interrupting the boy's trail of thought. "No hard feelings if you win. It's just a game…right?"
Hesitation. "Right."
Suigetsu swung the ball at her.
He blinked.
The next thing he knew, she was lying on the ground. Doubled over in pain. Tears dancing behind her glasses. Suigetsu trembled. He couldn't move. All he could do was watch as Asuma ran to her and tried to calm her down. An excited yet concerned murmur rippled through the 'out' crowd.
"Oh-ho, Suigetsu, buddy!" Naruto laughed slightly as he ran onto the court to stand by Suigetsu. "You won! Good job, bro."
Suigetsu glared at him, face like thunder. He pushed his blonde acquaintance in the chest before running to the other side. To Karin's side. Gripping her hand as Asuma examined her stomach. Tears starting to well up in his own eyes.
"K-Karin, are you alright?"
The girl jerked her head up, anger flashing in her crimson eyes.
"Do I look alright, genius?!" She snarled, however the undercurrent of the pain made the statement lose it's usual bite.
"Oh man – Karin, I'm sorry, I didn't mean – it was a wild ball…" he trailed off. "I'm an idiot."
Karin smirked through the pain.
"Finally, something we can agree on." Suigetsu smiled back weakly. Karin's eyes softened and she chewed on the inside of her lip, trying to replace the pain in her stomach with a lesser pain in her lip. After a moment of silence, Asuma sat back and smiled softly.
"Well, Karin, you're going to be okay." he said. "I think a trip to the nurse's office should do the – "
"I'll take her." Suigetsu said forcefully, squeezing her hand tighter. When Asuma gave him a look that plainly asked if he was sure, Suigetsu glowered. "I'll take her."
"Ooh, Suigetsu." An anonymous voice murmured from the stands, earning a hard, full-on glare from the white-haired boy. Asuma smiled grimly, and said, "Alright, then. Be careful."
"Can you stand?" Suigetsu whispered to Karin, lowering his head right down to her ear so she could hear. Before Karin could reply, he intervened. "Of course you can't. Here, let me carry you."
Karin frowned, elbowing him sharply in the ribs. "I got hit by a ball, not a car, jack-ass! I'm fine!"
Suigetsu pursed his lips, abruptly dropping the grip he had on her hand.
"Fine." He said. Karin blinked, then the teen recovered some of his previous swagger and smirked. "After you."
Karin bit her bottom lip, gently easing herself into a position to stand, trying not to wince at the effort.
"Today would be nice." Suigetsu muttered.
"Oh, shut u – WAHH!" she abruptly found herself airborne, Suigetsu's smug face inches from her own.
"Wha – put me down at once, you idiot!"
"You were taking waayyy too long."
Karin wriggled free of his grip, brushed down her shirt and glowered at him with a pout. "Do not mock the injured."
"It's inflict - "
"WHATEVER." Karin interrupted, half-storming, half-limping away. She got as far as the next doorway before stopping to grip at her side, scowling at how much a stupid hit from a stupid ball thrown by a stupid boy could hurt so freakin' much. Suigetsu trailed behind, seemingly carelessly, but all the while he had an eye on her.
"Karin, maybe you should - "
"You're not going to carry me, Suigetsu, I told you." Karin murmured, sucking in air through her teeth. She hitched her glasses higher up her nose before tossing her head in the air. "You probably just wanna feel me up through my gym clothes."
"I was going to say rest." The white-haired boy suggested quietly. "You know what I hate about you, Karin?" Pause. "You always jump to conclusions about me. You always think I'm trying to be annoying or perverted or something. Sometimes…sometimes I really do just want to help."
Karin stared at the floor, feeling her traitor cheeks tinge red. "What kind of sappy…I'm not Hinata you know! I just…" She stuck her nose skyward. "Thank you Suigetsu." She finally managed.
Suigetsu stared. Then stared some more. Then a slow grin spread across his lips. Karin sensed this, and shot a furious glare his way.
"Stop that." She demanded. Suigetsu's grin widened. "Seriously. Stop. I mean it. I'm a trained black belt. If I have to remove that grin by force, I will."
That seemed to snap him out of whatever trance he was stuck in. "Please, I've seen you kick. You couldn't fight your way out of a paper bag."
"Oh yeah?! Wanna bet?!" she growled, feeling far more comfortable now that they were back to their usual banter. However, Suigetsu just rolled his eyes, taking her suddenly by the hand.
"How about we just get you to the nurse first?" he asked. Karin stared at their entwined fingers, utterly shocked into silence. She shook her head in a jerky way and looked up at him.
"Oh…yeah…the nurse." She chuckled quietly. "You know, I'm feeling a lot better now. But, um, I have a…an idea as to how I can feel a hundred percent again."
"Oh really? How's - "
Karin cut him off by pressing her mouth to his. When she pulled away, she could hardly see for the lights dancing in front of her eyes.
"H-how was that?" Suigetsu asked shyly, brushing his fingertips along his lower lip. Karin pressed her lips into a thin line, blinking slowly behind her glasses.
"Cold. And you could use some chap stick." Suigetsu's face hardened. "I joke. I…liked it?"
"You don't sound too sure."
"I liked it."
"That's better."
He leaned in and kissed her again, forking his fingers through her hair.
The bell rang, signalling the end of the period.
Students flooded out of the rooms, but didn't get any further.
They were all too busy staring.
Staring at Karin and Suigetsu. Kissing.
Red and white collided.
Ahh. Fluff. :3
Selena: Pip owns my ass when it comes to writing. I love her writing. I really do. –steals her skillages-
Pip: PIP WAS HERE MWAHAHAHAHA XD