Present A/N: Read, but beware. This was written LONGER AGO then LOST CONTROL! Lol. It will suck, I'm sure, but still.... Read if you want to. It is edited—only not by the current me, but by the me back then. Anyway, as a side-note, happy 4th of July!! :) If it applies to you, of course.

Past A/N: Howdy, guys :-D I absolutely loooooooove SuiKa, and so there. I wrote a oneshot. It's my favorite couple in the world. Hehe…

BTW, I wrote this like soooo before Deidara kinda…. yeah (which should also be in Shippuden very shortly!), and waay before some other things too. I just didn't post it that long ago, since I wanted to celebrate when the time came!! :-P When I post this, Suigetsu and Karin will finally be in Shippuden!! Partay! … so … yeah… sorry for some inaccurate facts in this… hope they don't bother you too much :-P So anyway, enjoy :-D I sure enjoyed writing it…. Uhhh, enjoy!

-X-X-X-

Silent Promises

"Karin . . . Karin . . .?" a familiar, taunting voice entered her ears as she slowly regained consciousness. "Wake up, sleepy-head," the voice continued.

Who the hell was it? The hand, shaking her shoulders, felt wet, almost like hard water . . .

Karin sprung up immediately when she realized that Suigetsu was trying to get her to wake up. She opened her eyes to see, as she expected, the white-haired, Mist ninja slightly laughing.

"What's so funny?" she demanded. Seriously . . . I didn't do anything! I was only asleep. . .

"Nothing, nothing at all!" Suigetsu threw her a false look of innocence.

Karin took a moment to gaze at her current surroundings. Memories fell upon her thoughts as she recalled journeying straight into the Akatsuki's trap. . . along with Suigetsu, who had most likely convinced her to come with him since he was so oblivious to traps like that. She sighed. "So where are we?" she snapped at him.

"Unless you remember more clearly, I seem to have memories of you whining about lettin' Sasuke fight Itachi all alone, so you ran in, dragging me along with you, even though I told you and Sasuke several times that it was probably a trap. Of course, Sasuke, most likely, already knew and was prepared to be ambushed." His lips tilted upward in a familiar grin. "You, Four-Eyes, simply jumped straight into the Akatsuki's arms," he said, using the term "four-eyes" ever so naturally as if it was her real name. "So now, we're basically hostages for Sasuke's major enemy."

"First of all, I am not dumb! Okay?! You probably lead me into that retarded trap! And second, don't call me four-eyes!" Karin yelled.

Suigetsu grinned. The reaction he wanted to hear probably. "You might want to shut up and keep your voice down, Four-Eyes," he whispered cheerfully. "Or the Akatsuki might kill you. . . not that I care or anything."

"Like they could kill me," Karin argued. She was about to begin insulting Suigetsu for calling her Four-eyes again when he started laughing quietly to himself again. "What's so funny?" she repeated angrily.

"So. . ." Suigetsu started slowly. "Did you have a good-night's sleep?"

What the hell was he laughing at? "Tell me what's so funny already!" she screamed. Almost on cue, sounds of footsteps grew closer to the Suigetsu's and Karin's prison, and the stone door swung open.

"Now you've done it," Suigetsu commented quietly.

In the shadows of the doorframe stood a man? Woman? Karin couldn't tell. "It" had blonde hair, held up in a ponytail, and bangs covering its unnaturally, nonexistent eye. Around its shoulders was also a trade-marked Akatsuki cloak. He—Karin finally decided on a gender—did not look happy, even with a smirk on his face.

"You know, the only reason we're keeping both of you alive is because we can't decide which one of you assholes to kill. You're both equally annoying," the man said, particularly glaring at Karin. "So you might want to shut up before we make a decision." With that, a devilish smile appeared on his face, and he turned back around, shutting and locking the door behind him.

"Well, it's good to know if one of us has to die, it won't be me," Suigetsu teased. "Now I can just sit back and relax. . ." He laid his head on the ground and rested it with his arms.

"You can't relax!" Karin argued. "Don't you have a special ability that allows you to mold water into something stronger than what you really are? You broke down the door easily at my base when I locked you out!"

Suigetsu sighed, still grinning. "Did you really think that your wooden door would have stopped me? If you really wanted to lock me out, you should've used stone like the Akatsuki did. Plus, I need extra water to do it anyway." The water-ninja closed his eyes, which Karin assumed was due to the boredom she was supposedly putting him through . . .

That is it! I've had it with his laziness and his rudeness to me! Karin stood up and walked to the precise opposite corner to where Suigetsu was resting. She folded her arms angrily as she sat down.

Suigetsu, even with closed eyes, knew what she had just done and was smirking widely. That was when Karin realized the ex-Mist ninja was playing a game, a game in which Karin always lost. . . he wanted her to get annoyed with him, and, every time she became furious, she gave him exactly what he desired. His game would stop here and now. . . she wouldn't care what he had been laughing about, and would just ignore him.

Karin refused to even glance at him for another few hours. Desperately hoping that Sasuke was okay, she often found herself thinking of possible ways to escape this mess they were in. Suigetsu, of course, had not moved at all from the position of laying down, and Karin was seriously getting annoyed with him. She promised, however, that she wouldn't play his game anymore, determined to continue ignoring him.

After a few more minutes, Karin realized something was terribly wrong. She had been so angry with Suigetsu that her mind had totally overlooked it. It only happened when she noticed how extremely dry her throat was. She wasn't thirsty often, so it must have been a long time since her last taste of water . . . That was when the whole situation clicked.

Karin had never required as much water as Suigetsu had, not even close. So if she was even a little thirsty, then she could only imagine how thirsty Suigetsu was . . . But Karin wasn't just a little thirsty, she was terribly thirsty . . .

Suigetsu . . . this time, she actually glanced at him, and what she saw worried her. Suigetsu hadn't been resting because he was lazy or trying to annoy Karin. The Mist ninja was forced to rest because of his extreme dehydration! Karin also noticed a strange transformation of his hands. The fingertips kept materializing into water, and then with a small twitch from Suigetsu's hands, they transformed back into fingers again.

Karin's eyes widened when she realized that Suigetsu wasn't turning them into water on purpose. . . his hands were completely out of his control now. There was no way for them to stay flesh and bone without his intense concentration, which . . . was probably tiring him.

Karin, giving a small "hmph," looked away again. Like I care. . . If he was really in trouble, he would say something! After thinking about it a bit more, Karin discovered somewhere in the deep layers of her heart that he wouldn't tell her. He probably thought she'd snap at him again or something . . .

Still . . . He makes fun of me. He tells Sasuke things he just knows I don't want him to hear . . . why should I care about him, huh? Why should I care about that dumb-ass, fish-boy?!

Karin began arguing with herself. Because you love him, duh! Ever since you've known him, you two have argued like a married couple. It's probably obvious, even to Sasuke.

Yeah right! Karin countered sarcastically. Suigetsu starts everything! I'm only trying to defend myself!

Whatever you say, her inner-self replied. But now, you've hurt his feelings so bad that he's scared to tell you he's dying . . .

Well, that's his problem, Karin huffed back. Then she gave herself a double take. Wait . . . did I just hear that correctly . . . dying? No, he would definitely tell me if he were dying, he wouldn't just stay quiet like this . . . would he?

"Su-Suigetsu?" Karin stuttered, scared of her own question. "Is everything. . . a-all right?"

Now, not only were Suigetsu's hands mutating into water to flesh, back and forth, but also were parts of his arms and legs. Even his hair was beginning to melt. "Yup, couldn't be better," he said cheerfully. But a slight tone in his voice told Karin that he was lying.

"Fine, you asshole, just hide everything from me," Karin retorted, offended and angry. "You don't have to tell me when something's wrong! Just keep your secrets and die with them!"

Suigetsu's eyes popped open in shock. "Wh-what?" He attempted to sit up, but the moment he pressed his arm on the ground, it transformed into water. He remained lying on the cold floor, and suddenly grinned. "I never knew you cared."

"I d-don't care!" Karin argued. "I just. . . well, Sasuke cares, and I care about Sasuke, okay?! That's all, got it?! Suigetsu—"

"Okay, okay," Suigetsu answered quickly, smirking to himself at Karin's flustered behavior. "You know, you shouldn't be so defensive, you give yourself away."

"Just shut up, Suigetsu!" Karin yelled again. "I actually did care a second ago, but now I don't really give a damn about your life."

"Well, that's okay. I guess if I don't get water in the next few hours, I won't die, right then. . . all that will happen is my body becoming a simple puddle. Then I'll die." Suigetsu closed his eyes again, conserving his last bits of strength.

"I told you already! I don't care anymore," Karin said.

"My only concern," Suigetsu continued humorously as if Karin hadn't said anything, "is that I won't be able to protect Sasuke from a anorexic slut like yourself anymore."

"Do you even listen to me?! I don't care—" She stopped herself abruptly. "Wh-what. . . What did you call me?"

"Do I have to repeat myself, Four-eyes? I called you a slut," he taunted, smiling with his sharp-pointed teeth. "An anorexic one."

Karin struggled to find a string of insults to steam right back in his face, but none came to mind. . . A slut? Anorexic, too?! I actually ask if he's okay, and he calls me a slut?!

"Finally, I find an insult that will shut you up," the white-haired teenager continued.

He's so insensitive! she screamed mentally. That one word really hurt her feelings. . . just that one word, "slut." "How dare you call me that?" she demanded, attempting to force menace into her voice, but she only got a quaking cry of words out of her mouth.

Suigetsu's eyes opened again, and he glanced back to study her. Karin immediately wished tears weren't rushing down her face, and that she wasn't crying hysterically. She didn't know why she cared about how he insulted her with that one word to where she cried. Maybe because the pile of insults had just reached the last straw, or she was just exhausted and upset from sitting in one place for hours, or maybe just because she didn't know whether Sasuke was okay or not. . .

But whatever it was, Karin was desperately hoping for an apology from him. Then everything will be better. I can stop yelling at him, and actually show him that I don't want him to die.

But the apology never came. "I called you that 'cause you deserved it, Four-Eyes," Suigetsu answered finally, and he apathetically closed his eyes again. "You never apologize to me for your insults. Why should I be expected to say sorry to you now?"

She sat there, stunned for a moment, and soon more tears slipped from her eyes. Stop crying! I don't care if he thinks I'm a slut! His opinion doesn't matter! He's nothing! But then again, he had to be something in her mind because she knew deep down she needed his approval, his good opinion of her.

After a few seconds, Karin realized that he was right. . . she had insulted him, too, on several occasions in the past. She had slapped him in the face—even if he did dodge by materializing into water—yelled at him for being a lazy bastard, and went as far to ditch him in a dangerous situation, taking Sasuke along with her instead. If their situations were reversed, Karin was positive no apology would exit her lips either. No wonder he doesn't tell me anything important. He doesn't trust me. . .

Deciding to make up for all of her mistakes, Karin jumped up and walked over to the stone door. Suigetsu curiously glanced at her to see what she was doing.

The red-haired woman, unknown to Suigetsu, stretched out her Chakra to a certain Uchiha supposedly out there, looking for Itachi in this base. She could only hope he could sense it leading him in the direction to where she and Suigetsu were. Of course, Sasuke could not sense specific Chakra. . . that was Karin's ability, but he was sure to have some idea of whose Chakra it was, just from pure common sense. And hopefully he would understand how much trouble they could be in if he didn't save them immediately.

Finding Sasuke's faint Chakra and trying to alert him, she sat down waiting patiently for them to be rescued . . . but how soon would it be? Would Suigetsu still be alive and in human form by then?

"What were you doing?" Suigetsu asked weakly.

"Shut up and get some rest, Suigetsu," she ordered. It didn't take much to get him to relax again . . . he must really be in need of water.

Another hour passed, and Karin grew frantically worried. The Akatsuki wouldn't give Suigetsu water because they wanted one of them to die anyway. . . why would they care? And Sasuke was only halfway closer now. Would he find them soon enough . . . ?

Karin put her face in her hands, out of pure frustration.

"K-Karin?" Suigetsu asked softly, hardly even moving his lips, quenched with thirst. "W-what's wrong?"

Did he really just ask her that? Did he really care? "Y-you, of course. . ." she responded, quicker than she should have. But this time, Karin didn't regret saying it, Suigetsu really did matter to her. "I can't lose you. . ."

Suigetsu, to say the least, was shocked, stunned to silence. "I. . ." He couldn't find the right words to reply. "Karin. . . do you remember? When we were young?"

Karin glanced up quickly. What surprised her was that she had no recollection of her childhood. . . She had never realized her gap in memories until right at that moment. "What do you mean?"

"A long t-time ago, you. . . Orochimaru gave Kabuto permission to test a h-hazardous Jutsu on you to see if it would work," Suigetsu said, his grin mysteriously gone, his voice dry and quaking. "Of course, it didn't work, or else you would be dead . . . but you did lose all your memories . . . all of them . . . you remembered n-nothing at all after that day . . ."

Karin's eyes widened momentarily. "What . . . n-no . . . you're lying, that didn't happen . . . wh-why are you lying to me, you insensitive jerk?! Why?!"

Suigetsu visibly flinched—he was showing a personality he had never shown before. The image of him always grinning entered Karin's head, terrifying her of Suigetsu's different character now. All of that smiling, all of that cheerful teasing. . . it had all been a trick, a mask. "Why are you acting like this?!"

"S-so . . . you don't remember? Nothing before that day?" Suigetsu asked, a strange tinge of hope in his eyes.

"I. . . don't. . . no, wait. . ." A determined Karin searched her own memories, wishing to find something there of her past. . . She found herself staring into Suigetsu's eyes, at the same time as she skimmed through her mind. And that was all it took: his lavender eyes, her desperate search for some form of a memory. . . There. . . was. . . something. . . a glimpse, a small time span of five to ten minutes, that was all. . .

They were friends. . . there was a time that they loved each other. . . she could remember the day they met. . .

She was wandering around Orochimaru's base in search of some sort of interest. . . it was so boring all the time. She wished she could just find one person that would talk to her. And really talk, not just ramble on about secret plans and prisoners.

Karin found herself stumble upon a room with a huge, water-filled tank. . . She wondered what in the world Orochimaru or Kabuto would need with something like that.

At least, it was something different around Otogakure. However, the strangeness of its presence became merely ordinary when suddenly the water began speaking to her.

"Hey, no offense or anything, but. . . it's not polite to stare."

Karin shrieked and glanced around fearfully, waiting for someone with that voice to appear. It can't be the water. . . can it? she asked herself.

"Hello, over here," the cheerful voice reminded. "I don't know who else you're looking for 'cause there's no one else in the room . . ."

Karin blinked, and turned back to the aquarium of water. "In . . . In there?"

The voice laughed. "Yep, that's where I am." There was an edge of sadness to his voice, and Karin realized at once that he was very lonely. She also sensed that he was waiting for her to run out of the room in fright.

And she would have if it wasn't for her curiosity. She didn't care for most anyone . . . except that new boy that came from Konoha—he was hot. So why she stuck around with the strange . . . voice—for lack of a better word—was beyond her.

The voice obviously realized she wasn't going anywhere. "Well, what's your name?"

"Um . . ." Feeling a little nervous at the situation, Karin hesitated in giving out her name. She rarely gave it out to strangers. But it's not like this stranger could harm her in the position he was in. "Karin," she finally answered. "What's yours?"

"My name's Suigetsu," he answered, happy at being asked a question like that. Most people never even answered a question from him, let alone stuck around to listen at all . . . but this girl . . . "So. Are you a prisoner here, too?"

Karin stifled a gasp. This man was a prisoner? She shouldn't be here . . . but then again, she couldn't bring herself to leave. "Nah, I came here of my own free will because . . ." Why had she come to Otogakure? Karin asked herself after fading off her sentence. Oh yeah, because cause Orochimaru tricked me into coming. . . She still hadn't decided whether it was for the best or not.

Their conversation etched on for another few minutes until Karin suddenly realized the time. "I have to go," she said reluctantly.

As she headed toward the door, Suigetsu stopped her with the loneliest question she had ever heard. "You're coming back later, right?" he asked.

Karin debated her answer. . . and found her head nodding a "yes" against her mind's own will. Almost at once, she could feel Suigetsu's surge of happiness.

"Thanks! You're real nice, y'know. . ."

Karin paused on her way out the door. . . No one had ever called her nice before, and she had grown accustomed to it. So she wasn't sure how to take Suigetsu's comment—an insult or a compliment? She chose the latter, seeing as how Suigetsu seemed in need of a good friend. Just like me, she realized. And so Karin looked back and smiled at him, then finally took her leave.

Suigetsu seemed to see the memory reflected in her eyes, knowing that Karin remembered at least a glimpse of that great past which was all over . . . "You came back there every day, remember? Until Kabuto stole your memories . . . he really enjoyed telling me about what he did to you. You know how I was laughing when you woke up before?"

Karin nodded as she bit her lip.

"It was . . . You must have been dreaming. You kept saying my name." Suigetsu smirked. "It wasn't really funny, I wasn't really laughing. I was just hoping you could remember more. . . I love you, Karin," he said softly, the first, true smile, since the day she lost him, growing on his face. Only then did he succumb to the extreme pain overtaking him. His body melted into a small puddle, leaving Karin all alone in the darkness.

"Suigetsu, no!" she screamed as loud as she could. "No, no, no, no! No!"

She couldn't hear the door slowly creaking open, over her loud sobs. Sasuke appeared in front of her, along with Juugo. Trying to get her attention, Sasuke shook the hysterical woman gently until she opened her eyes and stared, dumbfounded, at him. Her red hair stuck to her cheeks due to her never-ending tears.

"Where's Suigetsu?" Sasuke demanded.

Karin's shaky hand pointed weakly to the puddle of water across from her on the ground. Sasuke turned to the blank air he thought she pointed to, and Karin herself returned to sobbing.

Sasuke glared at the Sound ninja. "Karin, I need you to calm down."

She slowly stopped sobbing, only shaking randomly. Her cloudy, wide eyes stared up into his onyx, black ones.

"What happened?"

"Sui-Suiget. . ." She couldn't say his name fully without breaking into tears. "He's dead! You didn't come soon enough, he's gone!" She broke down again, running to Sasuke's arms and burying her face into his shoulder.

"Karin. . ." Sasuke ripped her from her strong clutch on his shirt and firmly held her away.

"Save him! Somehow, save him, please! Save him!"

Sasuke's eyes momentarily grew sad, but they quickly grew emotionless again. Juugo merely looked from Sasuke to Karin and back to the mysterious puddle on the ground repeatedly, mystified at Karin's sudden concern for Suigetsu.

"What did he need?" Sasuke asked quickly.

"Water! He needed water! Please. . ."

Mentally hoping against hope, Sasuke grabbed his own canteen of water and slowly poured it on the puddle laying on the ground, increasing its size. Karin immediately stopped crying as if her tears would ruin the process.

Did you really think that your wooden door would have stopped me? If you really wanted to lock me in, you should've used stone like the Akatsuki did. Plus, I need extra water to use that trick anyway.

Suigetsu's voice returned to her thoughts. . . Maybe with more water, he can mold his body again! Please let it work. . . she thought desperately.

Nothing. Nothing happened. Karin wouldn't have cared before, but now she realized. . . she loved Suigetsu with all her heart. Her anger fueled at Kabuto and Orochimaru for taking all their happiness away in the past, and then at the Akatsuki for taking it all away again. . . She began to cry again at her lost friend.

"Karin, shh," Sasuke commanded with a whispering voice, still staring at the puddle, still hoping for Suigetsu to somehow return. Minutes passed by when suddenly a sound of heavy footsteps echoed around the room.

"The Akatsuki," Juugo warned quietly.

Sasuke joined Juugo, who was standing at the door. The two waited for the inevitable rogue ninja to attack.

"Sasuke!" Karin shouted again. How could he just forget about Suigetsu? How could he not shed a single tear? All her previous fan-girlish love for him dissolved into nothingness at his indifference to Suigetsu.

"Karin, be quiet!" Sasuke whispered back. "The Akatsuki are coming. I've done all I can for Suigetsu, it either works or it doesn't."

"But—"

"Quiet!" Sasuke drew his sword, preparing for the attack while Juugo also readied himself.

Karin, on the other hand, dipped her hand into the cold, lifeless puddle after kneeling beside it. Maybe he needs more water.

She stood up, and begged Sasuke quietly for another canteen. Just as he gave her what she wanted in order to silence her, two Akatsuki rounded the corner and began the attack. Karin ignored the enemies completely and dumped the new water on the puddle until the canteen was empty. "Suigetsu. . ."

She felt a heavy blow on her head before she could see any type of reaction from that puddle. Karin realized an Akatsuki member had struck her, and barely saw Sasuke's body rushing to help before the whole room grew black.

-X-X-X-

"Do you think she'll ever wake up, she's gonna drive me crazy!" said a voice, which woke her up slightly. Karin groaned and tried to go to back to sleep, but not before another voice broke the short silence.

"Let her be, that Akatsuki member hit her hard," the voice argued. "She'll have a bad headache when she wakes up, too . . . you better be nice."

Karin opened her eyes to see everything spinning. She closed them again immediately after her vision started to grow dark.

"Hey, did you see that? She's awake," said the first voice. "I saw her eyes open!"

The second voice, which Karin decided to be Sasuke's, argued with him again. "Suigetsu, let her sleep."

Suigetsu. . .? No, he was dead. She had seen him turn into that puddle. I must've heard something else. . . what word sounds like Suigetsu? But as much as she tried to come up with another word, her mind was a blank. Sasuke had been right about how she would have a huge headache.

Karin opened her eyes again to see lavender ones looking into hers. . . too close. She backed away, ignoring the dizziness that swept over her, and saw familiar white hair and a face. "Suigetsu. . . is it r-really you. . .?"

"Yep," he answered cheerfully. "Who else would I be?"

"But. . ." she realized they were outside of the Akatsuki hideout, and she noticed Sasuke, who was slightly watching them from about six feet away. Juugo was also there, but was tending to a small fire rather than watching her. "You mean. . ."

I guess if I don't get water in the next few hours, I won't die, right then. . . all that will happen is my body becoming a simple puddle. Then I'll die, Suigetsu had said before. That must have been it! He must have been in the state directly before dying!

Suigetsu smiled. "You gave me just enough water so I could form my body again. Thanks." Then his smile transformed into a smirk. "Gee, and I thought you liked Sasuke, but you went crazy over me!"

Karin frowned. "Stop being such an asshole," she retorted. "Just 'cause it seems I like you, doesn't mean it's actually true."

"Go on and keep telling yourself that, Four-Eyes," Suigetsu responded.

"You're so self-centered—"

"If you two are done arguing, I think we should go," Sasuke intervened as he breathed a slight sigh of relief. The two of them were back to normal, thankfully. "I still have to find Itachi again," he continued. "He got away while I had to save you two."

Suigetsu held a hand out for Karin to help her up, but she shoved it away and got up on her own. The Mist ninja feigned a look of hurt, and Karin smirked. But they both knew that they were only playing around . . . only joking. The surface of teasing lay over the deeper end of sincere care for one another.

Team Hebi soon left to return to the Akatsuki hideout as a silent agreement passed between Karin and Suigetsu. Neither of them would die or else they would die together. Neither wanted to lose the other again. Even if the past was only lost memories for Karin, it was still only the past. The future was what mattered most.

-X-X-X-

Past A/N: There! So how'd you like it? That thing about Suigetsu getting dehydrated and dying, I dunno if it's true or not… I just made it up out of the blue (well, not really out of the blue, but whatever :-P LOL). So anyway, leave a review on your way out if you want. I llllooooooove reviews. But even just one will make me happy. :-) So yaaaaay!!!! :-D See ya next story or update, or whatever it is I'll post in the future!! :-D