Title: FirexRain

Author: CryingInsideOut

Summary: No matter how bad he was tortured; Suigetsu would never admit that he was attracted to her fiery attitude; they were like fire and rain. In Karin's eyes, the fabric connecting them together was like the Red Thread of Fate.

Rating: T/PG-13

Genre: Romance

Pairing: suika

Dedicated to: Rockmanexelover Becase Suigetsu and Karin is her OTP. Happy birthday Vanessa! Here's part two of your gift!

Disclaimer: All rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto.


The silver-haired nuke-nin almost choked on the metallic flavored liquid in his mouth. He opened his mouth and spat his own blood out, hacking to get the taste out of his throat.

"Have you had enough?" Morino Ibiki narrowed his eyes dangerously as he watched the nuke-nin across from him fell to his knees, the chains that restrained the shinobi clanging loudly.

"Heheh," the shinobi let out a barking laugh, shaking away the wisps of silver hair that fell into his amethyst eyes. "You think torturing me will tell you where Sasuke is? Fat chance!"

A foot connected with the shinobi's gut followed by a painful punch to his already broken jaw. He let out a painful howl as his jaw throbbed and hot, sticky blood dribbled down his chin.

"Hozuki Suigetsu. S-rank missing nin from Kirigakure. You're one of Uchiha Sasuke's teammates, a part of Team Taka. You are now under custody in Konoha along with two others of your teammates. Look kid, we're giving you a chance here. If you want to live, then tell us where Uchiha Sasuke is!" Ibiki growled, his patience wearing thin.

"I told you! I don't know where the fuck Sasuke is! I'm not fucking lying either!" Suigetsu let out a choked grunt as he was lifted up onto his feet by a Konoha ANBU. Looking the masked man into the eye holes, Suigetsu could see cinnamon eyes.

"It is best to not test Ibiki-san. So please stop lying and tell us where Uchiha-san is, or else there will consequences." Although the ANBU was polite in speaking terms, his clenched fists around the collar of Suigetsu's shirt spoke otherwise.

"Enough, Hawk-san. We'll go to the others." Ibiki sighed and pushed open the caged door to Suigetsu's cell. The nuke-nin let out a groan as he was tossed against the cold brick wall mercilessly before the ANBU unshackled the chains that bonded him to the wall. "Let us go to the red-haired woman."

Amethyst eyes trailed after the two Konoha men cautiously before Suigetsu let his heavy eyelids droop with ease. As of right now, Suigetsu hated his team leader with a burning passion. That damn bastard abandoned his own team as soon as Karin had frantically alerted Sasuke that she sensed Konoha shinobi hot on their trail. The stoic Uchiha then barked out orders, his crimson eyes spinning dangerously as he unsheathed his sword. Unfortunately for Team Taka, the Konoha squad was faster than expected, and had knocked Juugo and Karin to the floor.

Suigetsu could still play the scenes over and over again in his mind as a boy clad in an orange and black jumpsuit confronted the Uchiha. The team was surrounded by six ninjas including a big dog. As the blonde and masked shinobi bore their gaze straight at Sasuke, Juugo was surrounded by the brunette with the dog and the guy with busy eyebrows while Karin was with the pink-haired kunoichi. The pale one clad in black had emotionlessly slid into a battle stance as Suigetsu drew out his large sword.

"Hn, dobe. Kakashi," Sasuke had drawled. "My apologies, but I will be going nowhere with you today. I have a mission to complete." And with that, a snake summoning had came crashing up the ground and swallowed the Uchiha whole.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Sasuke!"

"Teme! Come home, dammit!" Naruto yelled for his friend as he watched the snake explode in a puff of cloud, disappearing with his best friend.

It was then that the remaining Team Taka had realized they were outnumbered. Defeated, they were brought to Konoha for interrogation.

Suigetsu blinked back into reality as he heard a sickening crack that sounded like bones snapping and a blood-curdling scream fill the empty cells. Karin. The nuke-nin dragged his beat-up body to the front of his prison cell, pressing his body against the rusted bars.

"Stay strong, Karin," Suigetsu found himself pleading as he watched the ANBU with the hawk mask dig a kunai into Karin's abdomen. The silver-haired shinobi grimaced as Karin let out another scream.

"I ain't telling you shit!" She sobbed and drew in shaky breaths into her burning lungs. Suigetsu couldn't watch anymore. The tracker-nin was originally weak in his eyes, and watching her getting stabbed multiple times made him flinch with every stab. Karin didn't know many jutsu, and she could barely wield a sword. The only thing she was good at was tracking chakra.

"Stop! Don't hurt her anymore!" At first, Suigetsu questioned who asked that. He wondered if those words had slipped out of his orange-haired friend, but he then remembered Juugo was unconscious. The nuke-nin's amethyst eyes widened as he realized it was him that had shouted. His shout had earned the attention of the three shinobi. The ANBU pulled out the kunai, slick and shiny, coated in Karin's red velvet blood while Ibiki pushed the cage door open.

Karin's mahogany eyes fluttered in surprise, before she began to choke on her blood. Suigetsu watched helplessly as the kunoichi continued to cough, blood dribbling down her chin and dripping into tiny blood spots onto the dirty floor. Karin looked like a mess. Her usual vibrant red hair had hung limply without any volume around her waist. Her purple shirt was wrinkled and caked in dried blood while her black socks were torn. Through the holes of her ripped socks around her knees, Suigetsu could witness blood from when she had been harshly kicked to the ground and her skin had burst from the impact.

"Stop," Suigetsu whispered miserably, "Don't hurt her anymore. She doesn't know anything. We all don't know anything."

There was a gleam in Ibiki's eyes as he listened to Suigetsu speak. In a blur, Karin let out a strangled shout as Ibiki gripped her by her neck and pinned her against the wall. The kunoichi kicked her legs helplessly against her captor as her dirty hands tried to pry Ibiki's hand off her throat. Suigetsu's breath hitched in his throat as he tightened his grip around the metal bars that caged him away from his teammate.

"Let her go!" he yelled frantically. Suigetsu couldn't stand watching Karin struggle helplessly.

"If you want your girlfriend to live, tell me everything you know. Or else I'll crush her throat and cut off all air circulation."

"Sasuke... Sasuke abandoned us when a group of damn Konoha shinobi surrounded us. One of the shinobi–he was wearing a tacky orange jumpsuit–confronted Sasuke. Sasuke then said something we couldn't hear, and summoned a snake. The snake swallowed Sasuke whole and disappeared before anyone could move. That was it. You know the rest. That's all we know! Now stop it! Let her go! Don't... Don't hurt her anymore." He kicked the cell door furiously.

"Where is the Uchiha now?"

"I don't know! We don't know anything else! I fucking swear! Now let her go! She's going to fucking die," Suigetsu growled. There was little satisfaction in his eyes and Ibiki mercilessly dropped Karin to the ground. She gasped for breath, aching for any amount of precious oxygen.

An hour after Ibiki and the ANBU had left the three Taka members alone, Suigetsu realized he had not denied the fact that Ibiki called Karin his girlfriend. He had panicked, Suigetsu tried to reassure himself, but he couldn't seem to believe himself. As much as Suigetsu hated to admit it, there was a soft spot in his heart for the fiery tracker-nin.

"Karin, don't cry," Suigetsu murmured as he banged his head against the metal bars. His hands tightened around the rusted bars, his eyes fluttering closed.

"H-huh? How did you know?" Karin whimpered miserably as she dug the heels of her palm into her eyes to wipe away the silent tears.

Sighing, Suigetsu replied, "I know you. We're teammates, aren't we?" He let out a bitter laugh before sighing once more. "This sucks; we're going to be stuck in here forever, huh? Damn that bastard."

"D-don't call Sasuke a bastard!" Karin shouted, trying to defend her crush.

"You still love him? Even after he abandoned us?"

"He–!" Karin fell silent, as she realized there was in no way she could defend the Uchiha. "You're right... He doesn't care about us." The redhead broke down into sobs once more.

Suigetsu had nothing to say as he listened to the broken girl's cries. His eyes fluttered open, and he grit his teeth as Karin's sobs grew into choppy breaths.

"S-suigetsu?"

"Yeah?" The silver-haired nin's eyes softened as he listened quietly to Karin's request.

"I… I feel so lonely in here. It's dark, and… it just feels lonely." Karin hugged her knees closer to her chest as she leaned against the cracked wall. Suigetsu watched silently, as the girl hiccuped to hide another sob.

"Karin," Suigetsu whispered softly. His amethyst eyes landed on the red scarf that wrapped around her neck greedily to give her warmth in the cold cells. He had recalled that Karin had been wearing the scarf when they had been captured. "Toss me an end of your scarf."

"What?"

"Just do it!" Suigetsu commanded and watched as his teammate clumsily slid off the scarf around her neck and throw an end of her scarf across the room. Thankfully, her scarf was long enough so that Suigetsu could stretch his arm through the bars to barely grab the tip of the fabric.

"Got it!" The nuke-nin grinned toothily as he adjusted the scarf in his hand. He watched as Karin tilted her head in a confused manner. She looked cute when she did that, Suigetsu mused. "I know I can't reach over and take your hand because we're too far apart, but this way we can at least have some sort of connection with each other."

A soft melodious giggle emitted from Karin's lips.

"Suigetsu, thank you!" A warm smile quirked at the edge of her lips as she beamed at her teammate across the cell. "I don't feel so lonely anymore! It's like… it's like you're right next to me in my cell." Karin closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, gripping the fabric tighter in her hand.

The red fabric connecting her to Suigetsu almost seemed like the red thread of fate in her eyes. The two of them connected by the red scarf were like destined lovers, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break, just like the warmth radiating from Karin's heart.