A/N: This story is slight AU. Pain never attacks Konoha and Jiraiya never dies. Takes place within Shippuden at no significant point.
Sasuke and Naruto stood facing each other, with both having the signs of enduring a heavy and fierce battle. Sasuke had internal bleeding, the result of a direct flurry of punches to his stomach, and had blood dripping from his mouth. Naruto seemed to be the worse of the two, with an injury to the side of his stomach that bled down to his legs. A Chidori barely scraped him, and if he wasn't quick enough in dodging most of it he would have undoubtedly been impaled and killed.
The rogue shinobi spat blood on the floor. "Damn you, troublesome fool." He thought while cursing his old teammate for getting in so many lucky shots on him. They glared at one another and waited for someone to initiate the battle once again, but see, they were both spent on energy and in no good conditions to continue the fight.
He became angry at his current situation; how did Naruto even find him in this forest? Thinking back on it, he remembered how his day went from unbearably annoying, to downright shitty.
An Hour Earlier...
Sasuke and Karin were traveling the forest on a quest given by Orochimaru himself, their task being to find the prized experiment that escaped his facility. The snake would have sent any other duo to find the escapee, but when a person is capable of caving in the faces of numerous guards, and escaping an elusive maze of a hideout, he chose to send his top henchmen to do his bidding.
Now here they are, looking for traces of where the experimented person may have gone, and with Karin's sensory abilities the trail lead them delving deeper into the forest that surrounded Konoha.
The trip was a long way from base, and the weeks that Sasuke and Karin traveled together proved to be full of bothersome experiences, as all throughout the day a never-ending and intrusive voice could be heard.
"Well can we at least do something fun to celebrate once we get back?"
"No."
"Please?"
No response.
"Come on, pleeease?" She tugged on his arm.
"No."
"Well, why not?" She asked in a huff.
"Because you're annoying." He said while yanking his arm from her grasp.
She smiled to try and replace the hurt she felt. "Well... I think you should try and relax once in a while, I'm asking for you y'know."
Sasuke ignored her and continued to walk throughout the forest. This was how most of their conversations went, with the occasional 'maybe' that he would say just to shut her up.
Karin fiddled with the buttons on her light-purple shirt while she thought of something else to bring up. "I think it's good to have fun once in a while." She said.
Sasuke stayed quiet, which prompted her to continue talking. "Just focusing on one thing has to get boring, don't you have hobbies?"
He didn't even bother to look at her.
"I have some" -she looked at him in the corner of her eye- "if you want to hear them."
Silence ensued.
She adjusted her glasses. "Ok. Well, I like walking in forests like this, it's better than staying underground all day, that's for sure... Sometimes I like to learn about the experiments Orochimaru makes... Oh! and I like to paint sometimes, did you know that?" She looked at him with a face full of eagerness, but in response he ignored her and simply kept on strolling through the forest.
Karin looked at the forest floor and continued her one-sided conversation. "Painting's nice, it takes me somewhere else when I'm stuck in that boring hideout." She blushed lightly at what she was about to offer. "And, if you want, I can show you them or make you one when we're done here. I know I'm pretty good at it, Suigetsu said I was, but what would that idiot know? He's always-"
"Do you ever stop talking?" Sasuke interrupted in obvious annoyance. The unexpected yet simple remark caught her by surprise. She looked at him with a surprised face and didn't know what to say now, so she stayed quiet. She looked downcast at the moss-covered ground and felt dumb for thinking that he might have cared about something so trivial as what she did in her rare free time.
Her eyes went wide all of a sudden. She quickly looked up into the distant world of trees, then all around her, and let out a gasp. Hiding in every tree that surrounded them was a chakra signature, meaning her and Sasuke weren't alone in this forest and were most likely about to get ambushed by the hiding people.
"Shit! Sasuke the trees!" She said while taking out a kunai. He immediately unsheathed his sword and stood on high alert. "Where?" He asked while looking for whatever danger she may have been talking about. Karin got behind him. "Everywhere!" She said in shock. Surely she would have sensed an entire army surrounding them much earlier than now, but it seemed as if it just popped out of nowhere.
"Damn." Sasuke thought as he searched for any trace of an enemy, but soon enough he was shocked to see a vast number of shadow clones spewing out from absolutely every tree that surrounded them. The clones charged at them but were ultimately mowed down by the duo. One by one Sasuke and Karin cut through the large number of clumsy clones, which resulted in many 'poofs' and made the area to become a mist of white smoke.
"Dammit, Why is he here?" Sasuke thought in annoyance as he finished off the last of them. Of all the things he expected, Naruto was certainly not one of them.
They stood back to back and waited for the smoke to clear. Karin felt the signature of a last remaining entity and pointed out its location. The smoke soon faded, and in the distance they could see a lone Konoha shinobi standing far away from them and glaring at Sasuke. He was in a fighting stance and wielded a kunai, showing he meant business. "Nice to see you again." The boy said sarcastically.
"Likewise," Sasuke replied with equal sarcasm. He glared back at him and cursed his luck. He had no interest in dealing with this right now.
"Karin, hide in the trees. Don't bother with this one." He told her.
She gave him a look at how ridiculous he sounded. "What? Why?" She asked confused.
Sasuke continued to look at his old teammate. "You'll get in the way, just listen to me!"
Karin gave him one last look and glanced at the blonde haired boy before taking off into the trees, where she hid and stayed for the remainder of their battle.
Present...
Karin sat perched on a tree while she observed Sasuke and the boy from earlier far away, and just witnessed an incredible battle full of amazing techniques and hand to hand combat. The two males were unmoving and quiet now, which served to make tensions rise at what would happen next.
"Should I help him?" She pondered upon seeing Sasuke's current state, and a worried expression made its way to her face. "He said to stay away, but I can't while he's injured." She thought and ultimately concluded that her romantic interest needed her help. She leaped from the tree and made her way down to the forest floor by jumping to lower branches. From there she ran across the terrain and made her way to the battlegrounds, where every tree and piece of grass was either eradicated or damaged greatly, consequently making a big patch of destruction in the forest.
She ran up to her partner and immediately addressed the issue. "Sasuke you're hurt." She said while raising her arm up in an effort to get him to bite down on it. But contrary to her expectation he simply shoved her hand away and continued to glare at the boy who was holding up a kunai in defense. "What did I tell you before Karin? You're getting in the way." He said and unsheathed his sword while getting into a fighting stance once again.
Karin looked at him in concern and anger. "Don't be stupid Sasuke! You're hurt! You need..."
Just then she felt the signatures of two people and a creature coming in their direction quickly, and immediately voiced this information to the person beside her. "Two people are coming, a summon as well." She said hurriedly. "They're probably with him, I don't recognize their chakra."
Sasuke took his eyes off Naruto and looked at Karin. "A boy and a girl?" He asked, having a creeping suspicion who they might be. Karin focused and read their signatures closely, confirming what Sasuke thought. "Yeah." She said, a little confused as to how he guessed them right.
He sheathed his sword. He hadn't the strength or desire to fend off his old team and knew it had to be them coming in favor of the blonde haired shinobi, which spelled a bad time for him and Karin as they stood no match.
"Karin," Sasuke said. "We're leaving." He spat more blood on the ground then wiped his mouth.
"Don't you dare think about leaving you bastard!" Naruto yelled from across the battleground, having heard Sasuke's words with his enhanced hearing. "We're not finished yet." He said boldly and raised his kunai, but the wound he was clutching on his side made him look as if he was just talking out of his ass.
Sasuke sighed, his old teammate hadn't changed one bit. He glanced at Karin and faced the forest behind him. "Let's go." He said and took off into the trees, with Karin following closely behind him.
