Disclaimer: This chapter takes place during Chapter 93 of the manga. The nurse's lines are taken from there.

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Chapter 7: On your own


"Hey, Kurotaro,"

"What?"

"It just occurred to me that I haven't seen anyone from Shiore's team. Where are those folks? Do you think they went back to Kusagakure already?"

Kurotaro looks up from his plate and gives his teammate a brief, deadpan look before carelessly shrugging his shoulder, slurping what remained of his ramen. "How should I know?"

"I mean," continues Ryuu, unfazed by the other boy's typical disdain. "They were acting kinda weird since we got to the Forest of Death, and then we never heard from them again. Seems kind of suspect."

Kurotaro grunts in response. Ryuu ponders his thoughts in silence for a moment and then blinks, struck by a thought. "Maybe they chickened out and ran away from the second test?"

"Maybe," the brown-haired boy agrees. And then he snorts, derisively. "Who the hell cares? They were all a bunch of good-for-nothing losers, anyway."


Karin does not find out what Sasuke meant by 'it'll have to do' until the following morning, when she approaches his room to let him know that she would be busy (the medic-nin would be running tests on her, too, and they did not say for how long)—plus, where in the world where they going to train, anyway?—only to find that instead of the usual ANBU there were two girls in there, along with a nurse.

"Uchiha Sasuke-san left the hospital during the night… even though he hasn't completely recovered yet."

The nurse was explaining as Karin discreetly leant on the wall by the room's door. She is not entirely surprised by his absence, but she still can't help but to shake her head with wonderment. So that's what he meant by 'the training starts tomorrow', huh? Should've guessed.

That Sasuke—he was not only kind and cocky and overconfident, but also quite impatient and brash, wasn't he? Karin wonders how many more sides of him she would get to see before her time in Konoha was over.

So focused she was on her musings that she does not notice when the conversation inside the room fades to a stop.

"Hey!"

Suddenly calls a voice directly in her ear and Karin jumps to the side, startled out of her wits. The perpetrator—a really, really pretty blonde with her hair held back in a bun atop of her head and sporting purple clothes—is staring at her with mild curiosity that quickly gives way to a grin full of recognizance.

"You're the redhead from the prelims, aren't you? Is your room around here?"

Karin could recognize her now, too. She was the blonde who had faced off against Sasuke's teammate. Yamanaka Ino, was it? Rather than inquiring about that Karin sticks to replying to the blonde's question, not wanting to seem impolite.

"Ah, no—my room is over there," she explains, extending an arm and pointing to the end of the hall, "Around the left corner." She finishes, and Ino—or whom she guesses was Ino—tips her head to the right, a delicate finger coming up to her chin, her right arm supporting her propped-up elbow.

"Oh… So you came to visit someone!" she concludes and at once her eyes are narrowing in a cheeky look. Karin is so disconcerted by the swiftness with which the girl shifted gears that she almost misses the pink-haired girl who had now come to stand behind Ino. "Could it be… that you also wanted to visit Sasuke-kun?"

"Ino!" the green eyed girl lectures, brows furrowed in a frown full of disapproval.

She looked quite different without all those scratches, dirt and bruises all over her, but Karin recognizes her at once as Sasuke's teammate, Haruno Sakura.

"Ah… yes, that's right."

Karin admits right as Ino was turning towards Sakura with her wide grin shifting to a pout, and all of a sudden both pairs of eyes are set on her again, both as wide as saucers. Ino looked amazed, but there was something in Sakura's demeanor that made Karin feel like she had said the wrong thing.

The blonde is the first to get over her surprise, and she slices through the silence before it could charge itself up with tension with a hearty laugh and another of her cheeky grins.

"Aha! So Sasuke-kun's charms have lured you in, too, huh?" Ino teases, her hands on her hips. And then she leans forward and into Karin's face, who can do nothing but blink, her cheeks heating up as the blonde wiggles her eyebrows up and down suggestively. "If you want to date him though, you'll have to line up! You may not know it since you're not from around here and all, but Sasuke-kun is quite popular with the ladies. The both of us," she points at herself and at Sakura with her thumb, "Are just two from the crazy myriad of girls that would like to win Sasuke-kun's heart."

Yamanaka Ino seemed to have a trait for leaving Karin speechless, it seemed. Because for the umpteenth time she was resumed to a mere set of widened eyes and agape mouth at the girls' antics and brash honesty. Karin was not the only one surprised, however. Sakura herself has to blink a couple of times before rounding in on her friend, looking positively murderous this time.

"Ino!"

"What?" Ino inquires, turning towards the pink-haired girl with a frown. "I'm just being honest, forehead! The last time I held back my feelings for Sasuke-kun you ended up declaring us rivals, didn't you?"

"Th—that was different, Ino-pig!" argues the other girl, but it's easy for even Karin to see that she had been taken off base by her friend's remark.

Before Ino has the chance to reply though Karin hurries to interrupt, not wanting to be there to hear things that may be private matters between the two friends. Clearing her throat, she waits until both girls are looking at her before speaking, a smile curving up her lips.

"Thanks for the warning, but my feelings for Sasuke aren't like that, so it's fine."

Her smile slowly morphs into a modest grin at seeing Ino's and Sakura's astonished expressions, which end up stealing an amused chuckle out of her. Was it really that surprising for a girl to not like Sasuke that way? Heh, maybe Sasuke is more popular than I thought.

Somehow the mental picture of Sasuke—calm, collected and stubborn Sasuke—being courted by a huge group of lovesick girls did nothing but add to her mirth, and Karin tries to keep her chuckles under control, not wanting to give the other two girls the impression that she was laughing at them.

Karin did not know them, but they looked like good people. Sakura seemed like a caring girl, and Ino was just too charming and nice; all in all, she was glad Sasuke had good-natured girls like them to look after him.

It is feeling slightly regretful that Karin says her goodbyes, remembering that she had told the nurses that she would be back in a minute. "I have to go now, so if you two would excuse me…."

She offers them a wave and one last smile, and since she runs up the hall without looking back once Karin misses the way in which the two girls watch her leave, open mouthed.

"… She doesn't like him?" Ino murmurs, blinking. "And moreover, did she just call him—?"

"—Sasuke?" Sakura cut in, sounding as incredulous as Ino herself felt.

"Just Sasuke?"

In the quietness of the corridor, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura exchange a stunned look.


Three and a half hours later, Kakashi ducks a kick without breaking a sweat and at once grabs a hold of Sasuke's ankle and lazily says, "… I thought you said the girl would be coming."

Not missing a beat, Sasuke frees himself with a sharp pull, his eyes already looking for an opening to land a hit on the older man. "I did."

"Then… where is she?"

The Uchiha frowns, a how the hell am I supposed to know? rolling to the tip of his tongue and ready to be thrown back at his teacher along with a new attack. His intentions come to a grounding halt however as it is only then that he realizes a vital fact.

… Karin was not from Konoha. She did not know her way around the village, and as such—she did not know the usual fields Team 7 and other shinobi used to train.

So focused had he been on getting out of the hospital and finally starting his training that he had completely overlooked that obvious fact.

I'm an idiot, Sasuke concludes, still baffled at his own stupidity. Kakashi—who had been closely observing the boy's reaction—can do nothing but deadpan at his student.

"You… didn't tell her where we would be training, did you?"

Sasuke silences says it all. And as the boy hastily looks away with a stubborn frown, Kakashi heaves a sigh. "You can be so single-minded, Sasuke."

"Shut up… It's not like I knew where you would be." Sasuke replies, defensively, but Kakashi does not grant his childishness any response. Curious—it was not like him to pass up on the chance to legitimately lecture him—Sasuke cracks one eye open only to find the jounin lost in thought, an unreadable look in his only visible eye. "Kakashi…?"

The man blinks. "Oh, sorry, Sasuke. I was just thinking… maybe this was for the best."

It was Sasuke's turn to blink, now. "Huh? Don't tell me…" His eyes narrow. Kakashi was not going to take his offer back, was he? Sasuke had already given his word to Karin, and he could still remember how excited the girl had looked that afternoon as they went their separate ways. To raise her hopes up only to let her down in such a fashion, it would be too cruel of Kakashi—and Sasuke had given his word.

"Relax, Sasuke," Kakashi comments, "It's not what you're thinking."

"Hn. Then, what is it?"

The white-haired man stares at him for a long moment, his gaze still unreadable, before tilting his head to the side, "How about… I tell you after you manage to land at least one hit on me?"

Sasuke's eyes narrow further. He was being toyed with. "Kakashi," he warns, but all he receives is a deliberately innocent blink in response and Sasuke knows at once that there would be no reasoning with his teacher this time.

With a grunt, he turns his Sharingan back on. Alright, if that's the way Kakashi wanted it, then challenge accepted. But—

"Alright, but you better get serious, Kakashi. We're wasting time!"

And before Kakashi could have the chance to deny his accusation (why, he was always serious) Sasuke throws himself headfirst into attacking him.


The sun was already setting by the time the nurses finally let her go back to her room, but Karin had not found the heart to complain when they had given her such great news.

She was finally ready to leave the hospital after two full weeks of recovery and absolute repose. Figures she would be discharged the very same day Sasuke had discharged himself.

I had three fractured ribs among other things, though, Karin thought, staring up at the ceiling with her hands folded across her lap. And despite the sheer quantity of damage her body had suffered she still had recovered faster than Sasuke, who only had seemed to have scratches and bruises here and there.

Weird. That was for certain.

'I… wasn't entirely myself back there,' Sasuke had told her two days ago when he first came to visit her, unexpectedly knocking on her life's door yet again.

Karin has seen enough to know he was saying the truth. But she did not know nearly enough to fill in the blanks of what he had left unsaid. Regardless, what she had gotten to witness so far—the presence of those ANBU, the long time he has taken to recover despite not having any serious physical injuries—is enough to guess that whatever happened to him in the Forest of Death had been serious. Perhaps even life-threatening.

Karin frowns, turning on her side. Why was she even bothering to think about such things, anyway? Sasuke had survived whatever it was that had happened and that's what mattered, wasn't it? Plus….

Plus, it was not as if she would be seeing him again anytime soon.

Her earlier encounter with Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura had been unexpected enough to prevent her from realizing it, but she had had more than enough time to think things through as the nurses performed the routinary check-up on her.

The truth was, Sasuke had left without a word and she did not have the slightest idea of where to find him. She guessed she could always try to ask one of the nurses for his address, but showing up at his doorstep uninvited like that seemed nothing short of disastrous to her.

The redhead lets out a troubled sigh, looking away from the moon shining brightly through her window and shutting her eyes close instead. Maybe yesterday's encounter with Sasuke at the hall had been a goodbye.

It didn't feel that way, though, Karin thinks. It really had not.

The thought causes her to heave in another sigh, and as such she misses the first pebble.

The second, she thinks she is imagining.

By the third however she is sitting up and crawling towards the window, curiously looking at the ground below.

The sight that greets her eyes erases from scratch the confused frown that had started to knit her brows together.

Below her, standing lonesome under the moon's ethereal glow was none other than Sasuke, who nonchalantly raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey."

Karin is pulling the window wide open even before she is done saying his name, the starts of a thrilled smile already curving up her lips. Sasuke wastes no time, and after one clean jump he is crouching on the ledge of Karin's window, from which he moves to comfortably stand by the side of her bed. Meanwhile, the redhead takes the chance to observe him; his clothes are smeared with dirt and his sleeve was tattered, plus there are new bruises mailing the soft skin of his left cheek.

It all pointed to a single scenario.

"So you did get out to train!" Karin exclaims, and while her next words are said in a mixture of amusement and mock-lecture there's nothing but a wide grin on her face. "The nurse's threw up a fit about that, Sasuke! You seriously caused some ruckus around here."

As expected, the Uchiha smirks. "Heh, serves them right for holding me back."

His words steal a snicker out of Karin, but before the girl could say anything in response Sasuke has sobered up and is shifting topics with terribly facility. "Why didn't you come, Karin?"

Blinking once, Karin rapidly forsakes her surprise in order to narrow her eyes in feigned annoyance, her nose indignantly stuck up in the air. "Huh… a certain someone forgot to tell me where we would be training."

To Karin's surprise Sasuke wordlessly looks away, his eye twitching. Were he more articulate and less prideful he may have attempted to apologized for his one-track mind; when he was thinking about training—about becoming stronger—there was not much room left for him to concentrate on anything—anyone—else. But as things were, the flustered quality impregnating his silence is the only thing he is able to offer her.

His child-like action—actually fit to his age, for once—earns a giggle from Karin, and as her façade crumbles Sasuke's shoulders relax and his gaze flickers back to her face. It seemed that for once, his silence was enough for someone.

Before the thought could expand however Sasuke reminds himself of Kakashi. And after a moment's hesitation—he was not quite sure where to begin—he cuts down the chase and goes straight to the point of his visit.

"… Kakashi—my so called teacher," he clarifies, prompted by a look from Karin, "Says you should find the field on your own. As part of your training."

To say that Karin is shocked by the instructions she had just been given would be an understatement. "Huh? But how? I don't know my way around here…!"

Sasuke remains unfazed by her outburst, steadily holding her agitated gaze with his unperturbed one.

"If Kakashi is asking you to do it, then it means that you can." Somehow is what he thinks but conveniently leaves out. Karin looked unconfident enough as it was, adding his own doubts atop of her own would do her no good.

His words seem to do no good either, because she does not look any less crestfallen as she shifts her gaze from him and toward the bed, completely silent. Sasuke does not know what thoughts were going through her head, but he guessed they were not encouraging ones.

So much for the motivated redhead he had parted with two days ago.

A sigh escapes his lips as he closes his eyes. Kakashi would probably not be pleased if he were to find out what he was about to do, but Sasuke had found his instructions outlandish from the get-go. Maybe if Karin were a proper rookie doing some scouting would pose no major problem for her, but she was not. And she was an outsider, at that.

Besides, when he got down to it he kind of owed her, did he not? It was sort of his fault that Kakashi had come up with such a thing in the first place.

"… It's somewhere behind the Hokage mountain." He reveals, and the weary but firm look in his eye tells Karin that was all she would be getting from him.

As if to confirm her assessment Sasuke makes his way over to the window ledge. He positions himself, ready to jump down at a moment's notice, before fixing Karin with a look under which the girl can do nothing but sigh, resigned.

She did not have many options, did she?

"… I'll be there."

She relents and Sasuke nods, pleased by her response. "See you tomorrow, then."

"Wait!" Karin calls out, and Sasuke stops mid-jump to look back at her, wordlessly asking her to speak and quickly. His muscles were really starting to ache due to all the training. "I'm getting discharged tomorrow morning. The nurses say that my ribs are okay again."

The news manage to steal a slight smile out of him, and he makes no effort to conceal it from her view. "Good."

Karin smiles back. "Goodnight, Sasuke."

"Night, Karin."

His gaze abandons hers and this time he does jump off.

After a moment, Karin approaches the window and looks down again. Her eyes follow Sasuke's retreating back until the boy is out of view, but her mind was not set on the boy. Rather, she was remembering his words.

'You should find the field on your own.'

Karin frowns and closes her eyes, her fingers holding tightly onto the window's ledge.

… Tomorrow would be a long day.


End of the 7th chapter