This fic's been kicking around since I saw the anime when Suigetsu and Karin come in. I love the dynamic of their relationship so I decided to do a fic about them. Also there's no evidence Karin's healing works on her so I decided poor Karin's gonna need to be healed the old fashioned way with bandages. Also she seems really intent to cover up those scars of hers.

Only mature warning is for their potty mouths.

"Fucking hold still!"

"I'm trying too! Maybe if you were a little more gentle, it'd be easier!"

"Shut up! I'm not a healer, you're fucking lucky I'm doing this at all!"

Karin turned her head to glare over her shoulder at the water nin before realizing her mistake as the skin on her back pulled painfully. His hand grabbed the back of her neck, obviously preventing her from moving again. She settled for shooting a death glare at the rock in front of her and pretending it was his head. A sharp sting seared her back, breaking her concentration and forcing her to focus instead on not crying out or moving away from whatever terrible thing he was applying to her back.

It was her own fault really. As if getting burned wasn't enough, a Samauri had taken it upon himself to slice up her already injured back. She'd killed the man for it and when they had finally retreated she had snuck off to try and bandage her back. Try being the key word since no sooner had her fingers reached her zipper than Suigetsu was behind her, loudly demanding to know if she was trying to spy on Sasuke. Unfortunately she had shed her cloak and her blood soaked shirt was an effective silencer for even his tongue. They had argued for a moment before she had felt lightheaded from blood loss and he had managed to get her to sit down. Normally she'd have objected to Suigetsu being there when she had to be topless but considering it was him or Juugo--who would inevitably go crazy or Sasuke who Karin was suddenly unsure about after seeing that much dark chakra, she settled for the lesser of three evils.

"That stings! What the hell did you put n my back?!" she cried furiously.

"Something for healing," he shot back.

"Something--something for healing?!" she cried indignantly, "you don't even know what that is!"

"So? That cat lady gave it to us," he snapped back, "you got any better ideas?!" he demanded hotly, "your 'healing' doesn't work on you remember?"

Karin felt her cheeks heat up as her fists clenched. She had no response for that. Suigetsu still had his hand on the back of her neck as whatever he put on her back worked to clean the wound. Karin hated the silence that fell over them. It was weird enough to be without a shirt, weirder still that there was someone there. All the bite marks on her torso were exposed, everything that she worked so hard to keep concealed. Despite the jab at her healing, he didn't make any comments on her bite marks, something for which Karin found herself oddly grateful. If it hadn't been her back maybe her hair would have offered some covering but she had to keep that in a ponytail now. Everything was exposed to him but none of the jabs she expected came from his lips.

It was so damn confusing!

They had all acted differently after that fight that forced them to realize that for better or worse, they were a team now. Even with the occasional argument, they had been on edge, none of them sure how to deal with the fact that they had each been instrumental in saving each other's lives. They had spent so much time hating each other it was impossible to imagine that she didn't hate him anymore. In fact, everytime she was sure she found him, at the very least tolerable, he would open that big fat mouth filled with those stupid pointy teeth and she'd decide she hated him all over again. Glaring angrily ahead she pressed her fingertips into her bare knees as the ointment slowly stopped stinging. Karin felt her shoulders relax as his hand left the back of her neck.

"Are you done yet?" she demanded finally.

"Nope," came the snarkey reply.

"What are you--Suigetsu what the hell?!" she bellowed as suddenly something was pressed to her back before she heard him tearing her shirt into strips, "what are you doing?!"

"Your shirt's ruined anyway," he said, "and if you get and infection and pass out then you'll really be useless!" he threw in viciously.

She hated the fact he was right. She told herself it was anger that burned in her cheeks, not embarrassment as he finished ripping her shirt and came over to where she was kneeling.

"You gotta move your arms," he said from where they were wrapped around her chest.

"The hell I will! Just leave those there, I can do it myself!"

"Yeah, right," he snorted, "like you could tie them tight enough. Move your arms and hold still!"

"No!"

"Fine! I'll just tie your arms with your boobs!" he shot back lunging forward and throwing the first bandage around her torso, pulling it tight.

"Suigetsu!" she shrieked, ripping her arms free as he tightened the bandage and secured it, "asshole!" she threw over her shoulder at him.

"Shut up and just be grateful someone cares enough to do this for you," he snarled back.

She gritted her teeth as he pulled the next strip of cloth around her and secured it. Furiously she dug her fingers into her stocking-covered knees as he tied the bandage off and pulled the next one over her. By the time he was finished she had most of her torso covered in strips of what had once been her purple shirt. The bandages were tight but not uncomfortably so and she knew that they were essential to keeping infection out of her wound. Unfortunately what they did not do was offer any sort of covering. Every bite mark was still exposed, all down her arms and where the bandages did not reach. There was very little she could do about it and her cloak would provide coverage but even so, she didn't want to risk showing them to everyone.

"What're you doing?" Suigetsu demanded standing up.

"Nothing!" Karin shot back, unable to even consider revealing her moment of vanity, "I'm just sitting her to make sure you didn't mess everything up and I'm going to die in a second!"

"Oh like that'd be a tragedy," he said rolling his eyes.

"Shut up!" she screamed back, shoving herself furiously to her feet, heat burning her cheeks as she glared at him, pushing her glasses onto her nose, "Suigetsu put that down!" she shrieked when he picked up her cloak.

"What?" he questioned looking at her blankly, "not like you're gonna wear it right now."

"What are you talking about?! Of course I am!" she cried.

"Huh? It's like a million degrees out here," he said motioning to his own cloak-less form, "Sasuke's not even wearing a shirt."

"Good for Sasuke! Give me back my cloak!"

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow at her. He had just told her Sasuke was shirtless nearby and all she seemed to care about was her cloak. He looked at her infuriated form and then at the piece of fabric that he held between his fingers. It wasn't like she was naked. Bandages were wrapped from well above her breasts to just above her naval. It wasn't like her shirt was really that much more covering--well except for its high neck and long sleeves but those had always just seemed stupid to Suigetsu. Not that he looked at Karin or anything. But now she was standing there looking more violent than usual at the prospect of loosing her precious cloak, despite the million degree weather. Frowning at the garment and then looking at her, he felt as though he was missing something. He watched as she gripped one arm, then the other, her movements agitated as if she somehow thought her hands would be capable of covering all the scars on her arms.

Suigetsu had no scars.

Becoming liquid and reforming had its advantages but he wouldn't count that as one of them. Sasuke, Juugo--even fucking Karin had scars. But not him. He never would. Scars were marks of survival, they were things to be proud of. He didn't have them, nothing to show that he had fought and survived and more than likely killed the person stupid enough to do that to him. Of course he had, but there was no evidence. It wasn't fair. But Karin seemed embarrassed by the bite marks that marched up her arms and chest. Suigetsu felt his lips twitch. Karin flustered was funny but Karin embarrassed promised to be a priceless situation. He waggled the cloak in his fingertips and saw her eyes widen as one of his fingers became liquid which dripped down and soaked the fabric of her cloak.

"Suigetsu!" she screamed moving forward.

"Are you embarrassed?" he sneered, leaning forward while holding the cloak even further out of his reach.

"I am not!" she cried.

"Reallly?"

"Just give it back!"

"You're so embarrassed!" he laughed loudly, "of what?"

"Of nothing! Give me back my cloak!"

Suigetsu felt his grin get even wider. God, this was just too good. Pink stained Karin's cheeks, contrasting with the ruby of her hair and eyes and the multitude of scars that ranged from pale to dark depending on when she got them. The purple bandages she wore left more skin exposed, somehow making her seem simultaneously badass and vulnerable. A few strands of her hair that were still too short for her ponytail stuck up but instead of looking awkward they only added to the strange sort of appeal she suddenly held. It was only Suigetsu's training that kept him from being stunned and letting her get the cloak he was continuing to taunt her with. Karin glared even hotter at him and lunged forward, trying to get the cloak without hurting her back further.

Unfortunately what happened was one of her feet snagging on a tree root. Suigetsu lunged forward, trying to grab her as she tried to right herself and somehow they crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs. He rolled and she moved and when they finally righted themselves it ended with him on his back on the ground and her straddling his hips, her arms braced near his shoulders and her ponytail dangling infuriatingly near his nose. They both opened their mouths to shout at the other before freezing when they realized their position. Suigetsu felt his eyes widen as all snarky remarks seemed to flee from his mind at the warm weight on his hips. Karin's eyes widened as well but speechless she certainly was not.

"You idiot! What the fuck are you trying to do?!" she sat back, snatching her cloak from his numb fingertips before she jumped to her feet. Suigetsu remained laying there for a moment longer as she yanked the cloak on, muttering all kinds of pain on him as he finally found his voice.

"Yeah well you were the one who landed on me!" he retorted loudly.

"You were the one who fell in the first place!"

"What are you talking about you crazy bitch? You fell! I was trying to make sure you didn't hurt yourself--again!" he roared back.

"I don't need your help!" she shouted in return.

"Yeah, well, next time you can go get Juugo to bandage you and provoke an all out blood bath. Or Sasuke! I'm sure he'd just be great at fixing you right up!"

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!" she shouted back.

"Oh of course not! No, you wouldn't go to Sasuke because then he'd see every last one of your pretty little scar--"

The slap echoed through the forrest.

Both stood there breathing hard, Karin's hand still raised. Suigetsu had brought his head back to the front to face her and both stood, glaring furiously at each other, their chests heaving as if they had run a mile. Suigetsu glared at her as she returned it tenfold.

"That hurt you crazy bitch," he snarled.

"You deserved it," she snapped.

"Fuck you, next time you can get an infection and die for all I care," he threw back at her.

"Fine!" she snapped, "its a damn good thing you can heal yourself because no-one else would care enough to do it."

Suigetsu felt anger surge through him. There had been one person in his life who had cared, one person who had bandaged him when he had been too young to perform the technique and taught him how to do it when he was older. But Mangetsu was dead. He wasn't sure why it pissed him off so much that she said that, but it did. He wanted nothing more than to make her pay. He knew that slapping her would do nothing, injuring her would just stick him with healing her up again--an experience he wasn't anxious to repeat. Glaring daggers at her he took a step forward, intent on making her pay. She glared back at him and stepped forward herself, obviously waiting for him to do something and certainly not willing to run from the potential fight.

"Well?" she demanded when they were close enough for her to see the flecks of truly dark violet in his amethyst eyes.

His hands streaked out faster than she thought possible and grabbed her cheeks and suddenly his mouth was on hers. Karin opened her mouth to shout at him but that only gave him an opening to catch her bottom lip in his sharp teeth, enough to break the skin. Blood joined the odd taste of his tongue. Kissing was the wrong word, especially when she yanked her fingers through his hair to pull him closer, her own tongue pushing into his mouth. Kissing implied affection, love, not the overpower desire to put the person whose lips were attached to yours in an ungodly amount of pain.

It was a competition, the fact it felt kind of nice was--was completely irrelevant to both parties involved. They both kept kissing as long as they could, neither willing to give up until finally they both shoved the other away, jumping back and breathing as hard as they had when she slapped him. Karin looked down at her cloak, her eyes widening at the long rip in the shoulder, exposing most of her arm. She glared angrily at him.

"What the hell'd you do that for?!" they both demanded.

"You slapped me!" Suigetsu said.

"You kissed me!" Karin replied.

"So what?!" he demanded, "you slapped me."

"Would you stop saying that?!" she snapped pushing her glasses up on her nose indignantly.

He snorted and turned around, walking off. Karin glared furiously at his back, her fists balling before his feet stopped and he turned around.

"You gonna stay here all night?" he demanded.

"I--no! Of course not!" she said hotly, refusing to let herself look down at her shoulder.

"You're such a baby," he snapped turning and walking off.

"I am not!" she shouted at his back, hating how she sounded like one.

Furiously she looked at her shoulder. It was stupid, she knew it, but wlaking otut here with every tooth mark on her shoulder exposed, it was humiliating. She had to find a way to hide them. Looking around for something to fix the rip, nothing caught her eye. Just as she was about to admit defeat, she heard muttering.

Suigetsu stalked towards her, a ball of fabric in his hand. Karin's eyes widened when she realized it was his cloak. He came in front of her and threw the thing at her.

"Here!" he snarled, "You're damn lucky we're almost the same size. Take yours off."

"Huh?" she gaped at him, "but--"

"Shut up and do it before I change my mind," he snapped crossing his arms.

Karin shed her cloak and handed it to him. He grabbed it before she picked his up and pulled it on, doing up the ties until it hid all the marks on her body. It was a bit big, just as hers would be a bit small but it still fit well enough to conceal everything that needed concealing.

"There, can we go now?" he demanded glaring at her.

"Fine! But is your fault two of my shirts have been destroyed today you jerk," she snapped back at him.

"Yeah, whatever," he snorted as they started the walk back to camp, "you're the idiot whose ashamed of their scars."

Karin glared up at him.

"Well at least I have them!"

Suigetsu shook his head, grinning as he thought about tomorrow when Karin would need those bandages changed.