Chapter 3

*sniffle* I don't own Naruto

Karin's P.O.V:

"Can you put me down now?" I asked seriously pissed off.

"I don't think so." Suigetsu responded. I sighed.

Fine I guess I'll have to deal with this awkward position. I looked to Sasuke and mouthed, Help me. He looked over with a very disturbed look on his face to see me hanging over Suigetsu's shoulder. He just shook his head still with a disturbed look. I hung my head heavily sighing yet again. The rest of the way I hung my head down looking at the ground counting all the bugs I saw.

Oh look a ladybug, oh my god a dragonfly. I thought to myself unenthusiastically.

We approached the clearing Sasuke said we were supposed to be "guarding." I had no idea why he wanted us to guard anything when we were hunting for his brother to kill.

"Why are we guarding Sasuke?" Suigetsu inquired.

"We're resting here." He replied curtly.

"Well maybe you shouldn't have said we were guarding here a couple of hours ago." He complained.

Suigetsu's P.O.V:

I carried the now sleeping Karin to "our" tent. I dropped her onto the floor which made a loud thud.

Oops. I thought. Not a good way to treat the one you love.

I woke in the morning to a loud yell. I got up and ran to Sasuke's tent where the noise came from.

"What The hell happened?!" I yelled as I ran into the tent.

"SHE BIT ME!!" He yelled facing me. I looked down to see a furious Mae. After I finally got Mae's jaws unclenched from Sasuke's hand, I took him outside to find out what really happened besides what I saw.

"Ok, so what did happen?" I asked him placing my palm on my forehead as if to say I was very ashamed of him.

"Ok, so, I was stroking her cheek and she started to wake up and then she bit me… cuz she got angry… cuz I kidnapped her and all that stuff…" He responded sounding just as ashamed of himself as I was with him.

All I could do was stare at him in shock and shake my head. As if it were a late reaction, Karin ran out of the tent and asked in a worried voice, "W-What happened? I heard a yell!"

I pointed to Sasuke and said, "His girlfriend bit him." I said in a voice as if I were a little kid blaming his friend for something I did.

She looked at me, very confused and said, "Wait, what?!"

As I was explaining again to Karin what happened, I saw out of the corner of my eye Mae coming out of the tent and stalking toward Sasuke very angrily, too lazy to tell him to watch out.

I turned to the sound of a loud crack to see Sasuke's face red from the slap Mae had just given him.

"Why did you kidnap me?! And bring me here with her?!" She screamed and pointed to Karin, who put her hands up defensively and looked around innocently.

"I-I missed you." He looked down sadly.

"Well it's not my fault that YOU left ME," She screamed yet louder, now crying, "to join Orochimaru to get 'Power' to kill YOUR brother!! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU FRICKIN' UCHIHA'S??!!"

Karin was now protectively backed into me trying to avoid the ranting crazy lady standing before her.

I wrapped my arms around her in a comforting gesture. Now Mae looked over, confused,

"Wait, you're obsessed with Sasuke AND you have a boyfriend?! YOU WHORE!"

Karin's P.O.V:

"LEMME AT 'ER!!" I screamed, struggling to get out of Suigetsu's death grasp, which was now more restraining than comforting.

Mea looked more confused by the second and, still looking at me, started walking in the other direction, only to bump into Sasuke who then picked her up, against her will, and carried her back to their tent.

He came back out a moment later, "Sorry," he said rubbing the back of his neck, "I guess I didn't tell her how you aren't crazy anymore… about me." I glared at him and he turned, "I should do that now."

From inside the tent the muffled voices of Mae and Sasuke were heard.

"You know, she's not some crazy fan-girl about me now." That was Sasuke.

"Oh, so first you tell me how much you miss me then you back HER up." Mae. Obviously.

"No, really, and as you just saw, she does have a boyfriend." How dare he!

"He's not my BOYFRIEND!" I shouted at the tent, and even though I couldn't see it I could feel Mae roll her eyes.

From behind me I heard a low chuckle and a, "Sure I'm not."

I just crossed my arms and looked away.

I heard Sasuke yell, "You're not helping!"

"Liar! You ARE backing her up! I can't believe you!" I heard her sob. She was crying. God it was hard not to feel bad for her. I knew what a douche Sasuke could be when he wasn't thinking about anyone else, like Mae, who just might've wanted to stay in Konoha.

"Don't cry, why are you crying? It's ok." Awww, he really WAS trying.

"Excuse me?! OK?! YOU KIDNAPPED ME!! THAT'S NOT OK!!" Hmm. She was tough to ignore. Too brash.

Then she was crying again. Would it ever end?!

Mae's P.O.V:

I was crying? I. Don't. Cry. I never cried what the hell was wrong with me?

I was hugging my knees to my chest with my head down when he wrapped his arms around me. Just like he used to, in Konoha. His familiar scent washed over me as he pressed his lips to my hair.

------------------------------FLASHBACK TIME YAAAAAY------------------------------------"Training sucks" I complained disinfecting my cuts on my thigh while Naruto and Sakura sparred. Sasuke sat with me and laughed.

"Yeah, it does, but after this Kakashi said we could have the rest of the day off." He smiled and wrapped one arm around my shoulder.

I smirked, "Yeah, so he can go and see that new Make-out Paradise movie."

We laughed and he squeezed me. I leaned my head on his shoulder. Sakura and Naruto came over wondering what we were talking about. We all laughed together about the new movie, the rest of the day off, and the way Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other when Naruto took my hand.

I wanted to go back to that. That seemed so far away now…

--------------------------------------BACK TO THE PRESENT------------------------------------Sasuke's P.O.V:

I held her and it wasn't long enough. She pulled away, eyes wide and lip trembling. She looked frightened and uncertain but trying so hard to look strong. And it tore me to pieces. I should have left her in Konoha but it was too late now.

She looked tired. "Sleep." That was all I said because she obviously didn't want to talk.

I walked out of my tent to Karin who was talking quietly with Suigetsu, oblivious to me.

"Karin!" I called to her. She turned, startled and waved. When I got to her I said, "She didn't believe me if you didn't hear."

"How could I not have?" She scowled.

I shrugged, "Not my fault she's stubborn."

"Yeah, I noticed that too. She's a loud one."

"She reminds me of you when she gets like that." I said looking her straight in the eye. She half smiled. Suigetsu laughed and then asked, "So when does she start, you know, training and stuff?"

I felt a shoulder brush mine and she was there, standing next to me and she said, "I'll start tomorrow if Sasuke lets me." I looked at her, surprised and nodded slowly. "Good, so what will I do first? I want to get started as early as possible." And then she actually smiled, not just a little grin, she looked at me and smiled. Is she saying she forgives me? I wondered.

When I didn't respond she went on, "Well c'mon Sasuke it's late and we have things to do tomorrow." She took my hand and led me to the tent, waving with her other hand to an also stunned Karin and Suigetsu.