Chapter 9
Karin awoke much later to the sound of rain pattering on the windowsill. She groaned and rolled over to see Suigetsu sprawled out on his back, breathing heavily.
That's right. I did let him sleep here last night, but nothing happened.
She crawled over to look at his face.
His breath absolutely reeks.
Disgusted, Karin crawled out of bed. She had no idea what time it was. The digital clock by the bedside had been unplugged. As she walked downstairs to the kitchen, it dawned on her that they had no food to eat. Damn it.
After taking a shower and tidying up as best as she could without any supplies, Karin went downtown to go buy groceries and toiletries. She had a cloak from her days in Akatsuki, but the rain was still soaking through to her body and obstructing her view through her glasses. The streets were oddly bare, even for a rainy day. As she went shopping, she noticed that most were dressed in black. Two and two clicked together; there must be some sort of memorial service.
After she bought what she needed, Karin walked to Konoha's center just out of curiosity.
Perfect weather for a funeral, she thought.
There were so many people that Karin could barely see what was going on, but microphones were hooked up and she could hear a list of names being read. That depressed Karin, and she started to think of her parents and all her friends when she was a child. She left quickly before any unpleasant memories could be triggered.
Karin returned back to the house and was pleasantly surprised to find that the gas for the stove could still be turned on. She fried some eggs to eat.
Is that kappa still asleep? It has got to be afternoon by now…, she thought.
She went to go check in on Suigetsu. He was stirring feebly on the bed.
"Come on, I made some eggs. Get your lazy ass out of bed!" she demanded.
"But I feel so gross," he moaned. He was hung over, all right. Karin tsked and went downstairs to clean.
The next two days passed by uneventfully. Karin spent most of her time in bed masturbating, worrying about Sasuke, or sleeping. She only got up to go to the bathroom and eat. By the third day Karin couldn't muster the motivation to get out of bed at all. Suigetsu eventually figured out that something was up and confronted her.
"Look, you can't stay all cooped up in here forever. Why don't you go train?" he asked.
"I am perfectly fine. Leave me alone," Karin muttered.
"No, you're not. You look terrible. You've barely been eating or talking. The Karin I know is a fucking blabber mouth bitch. But now you're just a ratty old hairball."
"Gee, thanks," Karin replied sarcastically.
"Well, it's true. It's not like you to be this lazy. You must be depressed. Why don't you go out and exercise? You could even spar with me, if you want. Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," he teased.
"Fine. I won't lose to you," Karin said, finally prying herself out of bed. She had always wanted to have a real fight with Suigetsu, unlike the one-sided pummelings she normally gave him.
They went to a training area on a grassy field. Karin knew that Suigetsu was strong, but she believed she had a good chance of taking him without his sword. She lunged at him and tried to kick him over, but he caught her leg and flipped her over. She got back up and tried to punch him, but he met most of her hits. Even when she got a punch in to his chest, he just liquefied it.
"Your speed is good but your taijutsu skills suck," he remarked.
He was right. It had been months since Karin had practiced her taijutsu, and it had never really been a strong suit of hers anyways. She was a sensor, and she wasn't used to close combat. When she did have to fight physically, she preferred long distance attacking. She found herself getting exhausted trying to keep up with him. By the end of their sparring, she was panting and sweating.
"Looks like I won," Suigetsu said was a huge grin.
"I was really out of it today," Karin said dismissively.
"Perhaps. But I'll also have you know that I was probably only using 50% of my full strength," he bragged.
"Then how come I beat you in arm wrestling?"
"When you catch me by surprise, it takes me aback. Plus, I wasn't using my full strength then, either," Suigetsu answered.
SPLASH! Karin's fist landed in Suigetsu's gut.
"Like that?" she jeered.
Suigetsu recomposed himself.
"Sort of. But even when you punch me like a crazy bitch I am prepared enough to liquefy. If you truly caught me off guard, you would punch my physical body—"
WHAM. Karin knocked Suigetsu over and straddled him. She punched him in the face repeatedly but he just kept on liquefying.
"Stupid-ingrate-how-come-I-can't-hit-you?" Karin yelled between punches.
"I'm prepared for anything when it comes to the most unpredictable kunoichi," Suigetsu laughed, clearly amused that Karin couldn't land a real physical hit.
"U-um, am I interrupting something here?" squeaked a meek voice. Karin whipped around and saw the pale-eyed, violet haired girl from a few days ago. What was her name? Hana? It was then that Karin realized she was straddling Suigetsu. She shrieked and jumped off of him.
"N-nothing! Nothing at all!" Karin stammered, her cheeks red.
"Karin here just gets so excited when we spar," Suigetsu teased as he got up, "but I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you joined in on our fun. But first, what is your name, cutie?"
He's fucking hitting on her! Karin was sure it was pure disgust, and not jealousy she felt over Suigetsu's attention towards the pretty, violet-haired kunoichi.
Hinata held her arm behind her back uncomfortably and looked away. "It's Hinata Hyuuga. But I, um, am actually waiting for someone…"
Ah! That's right! She's Naruto's girl! Karin gloated in that fact. Now Suigetsu couldn't be a creep.
"Suigetsu, I wouldn't hit on that girl if I were you. She's Naruto's girlfriend," Karin pointed out.
"Whoa!" said Suigetsu.
Hinata's face turned crimson and she jumped nearly a foot back.
"Y-you've got it all wrong! I-I'm not his g-girlfriend, well, at least, not yet…actually I don't really know…ummm…it's complicated," she mumbled quickly and incomprehensibly.
"This girl is worse than you, Karin," Suigetsu remarked, and Karin harrumphed.
"What do you mean you don't know if you're his girlfriend? I totally saw him flirting with you the other day," said Karin.
"R-really?" Hinata muttered in embarrassment, looking away.
"HINATA! Sorry I'm late!" came a loud, obnoxious voice from the end of the training field. Hinata was caught off guard and jumped again. It was of course, Naruto himself.
"It's okay, Naruto-kun!" Hinata called over to him. As he approached, his brows furrowed in confusion.
"Aren't you two Sasuke's comrades? What are you doing here?" he asked. Hinata looked really confused.
"Eh, we're not really with Sasuke right now. We were just training here," Suigetsu explained.
"So you haven't seen Sasuke lately?" Naruto asked.
"We last saw him three days ago and he basically kicked us out of his house," Suigetsu complained.
"How is Sasuke doing, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked her sorta-kinda-maybe boyfriend.
"Ehhhhh…he's being an idiot but at least he's coming around. I think he's still pissed off about his punishments, but he doesn't understand that I argued my ass off with the higher-ups to give him the mildest punishment possible so he just has to suck it up. And it's really frustrating me because he and Sakura-chan aren't talking at all; it's so awkward," Naruto groaned.
That piece of information made Karin feel relieved. Good. It's not just me. Sasuke is just trying to sort his feelings out. He didn't dump me for the pink bitch.
"I'm sure he'll come around and your team will be on good terms again," Hinata reassured him.
"Yeah. I hope," Naruto muttered. "Anyways, sorry, I'm really bad with names. What are your names again?"
"Suigetsu Hozuki."
"Any relation to the 2nd Mizukage?" Naruto asked.
"He was my great-uncle, I think. Or was he my grandfather's cousin? Something like that," Suigetsu pondered out loud.
"I actually battled him during the war. He was a pretty cool guy," Naruto told Suigetsu.
"Didn't know him myself, but my grandfather told me he was quite the character," Suigetsu added.
"Ahem. I'm here too, you know," Karin interjected.
"Oh, what's this? Feeling left out, Karin?" Suigetsu teased her. Usually he was the one fighting to get a word in.
"I'm sorry, Karin, I really should've remembered your name…" Naruto apologized sheepishly to Karin.
"It's fine. And speaking of relations, I'm your distant cousin or something. We're both from the Uzumaki clan," Karin said.
"I didn't know that!" Suigetsu exclaimed.
"Wow! Well, it makes sense, with the red hair and all. My mom had red hair, too. It's good to finally know someone I'm related to. We should hang out sometime!" Naruto exclaimed. He then looked over at Hinata, who had been very quiet.
"Well, why don't we start training, Hinata? You're the perfect person to work on my taijutsu with."
"You're much better than me, Naruto-kun," Hinata said shyly.
"But my form sucks! You're so much better than me when it comes to technique," Naruto insisted, and Hinata seemed to accept the compliment with a blush this time.
"Nice to meet you two. See ya' around!" Naruto called to Suigetsu and Karin. Hinata said the same shyly. The pair then walked over to some training posts to start sparring.
"He's like, the complete opposite of Sasuke," Suigetsu observed.
"I know, right? Nice chakra too," Karin agreed.
"Oh-ho, what's this? You moving on from Sasuke to this guy?" Suigetsu joked. "Too bad for you though; he already has a girlfriend."
"I am not into Naruto. Besides, he's my distant relative," Karin retorted.
"Who knew you actually had some talent in your genes? Must be masked by all the crazy," Suigetsu jeered.
"Don't make me punch you again," Karin warned.
"Yeah, yeah. Anyways, I'm hungry. Want to grab a bite to eat?" he asked.
"No, I'm not hungry. I think I'll watch Naruto train. I'm curious to see what he can do," Karin said. Truthfully, she was hungry but she didn't want to be seen with Suigetsu. It would look like they were on a date. Plus, she genuinely was curious about Naruto's abilities.
"Fine, I'll go all by my lonesome while you drool over blondie there," Suigetsu fake-pouted. Karin glared at him. Stupid Suigetsu.
She watched as Hinata fought Naruto using a very refined stance. Karin figured it might have something to do with her clan. The violet-haired girl gracefully tried to hit Naruto's chakra points, but he fought back competently. His speed was not as good as Sasuke's, but he could defend himself just as well. Hinata was quick on her feet, though, and managed to land a few hits to Naruto's chakra points.
She could seriously fuck someone up with that ability, Karin thought. It was one thing to land physical damage, but internal damage to chakra points could totally prevent someone from using ninjutsu or genjutsu. Karin hoped that she would never have to fight her, as she depended almost entirely on ninjutsu and would be nothing without her massive stores of chakra.
What impressed Karin the most about Naruto was his stamina. Even after Hinata landed a few hits on him, he still had plenty of chakra flowing through his body. It was clearly the Uzumaki bloodline that gave him that never-ending supply of chakra. Eventually, Hinata ran out of stamina and the two had to call it quits. They exchanged some words that Karin couldn't hear, and then Naruto ran off. Hinata was going to leave as well, but Karin ran after her.
"Wait! Where are you going?" she asked.
"Home," Hinata answered.
"Mind if I walk with you? I'm still getting used to the geography of the village and want to learn my way around," Karin said.
"Not at all," Hinata replied pleasantly.
Karin really didn't need help finding her way, but she was curious to get to know Hinata. What was it about her that had captured Naruto – the village hero's – interest? And if Naruto was the opposite of Sasuke and this was the kind of girl he liked, then was Karin the opposite of Hinata?
"I watched you spar with him. You really held your own. Does everyone in your clan fight like that?" Karin asked.
"Yes. Everyone in the Hyuuga clan has the byakugan, so we can see the chakra points of others. My father is the clan head, so he taught me how to fight using gentle fist style," Hinata explained.
"Naruto must be impressed with your strength if he chooses to spar with you."
Hinata blushed. "He's not even using his full strength at all. I know what he's capable of; he worked so hard to get to where he is now. It's an honor to train with him even though I'm nowhere near as strong as he is. I want to work as hard as he does to improve."
"You really love him, don't you?" Karin asked sympathetically.
"H-how did you know?" Hinata asked nervously as she covered her blushing cheeks with her hands.
"Women's intuition," Karin replied, "although even without intuition, it's written all over your face when you talk about him. Why don't you just tell him how you feel?"
"I..uh…I already have," Hinata whispered in an excited, but nervous voice.
"And what did he say?" Karin didn't want to be nosy, but she was very curious about the situation.
"It's…ummm…complicated," Hinata explained hesitantly.
"You don't have to go on, sorry. I'm just being nosy," said Karin.
"It's okay, Karin-san…I confessed my love for him in the craziest of ways. It was really stupid of me, actually."
"People do stupid things when they're in love," Karin sighed.
"Y-yeah. The Akatsuki leader, Pain, was going to kill Naruto-kun and I couldn't let that happen, so I just kind of rushed in there without thinking and fought to protect him even though I knew I didn't stand a chance–and that's when I told him."
"Whoa. That is some serious shit," Karin exclaimed in shock. This girl is either really stupid or totally hardcore. Probably the latter since she fought against Pain and lived. She reminded her a bit of herself in a way in the sense that she would go to great lengths to protect the ones she loved, but unlike her, it seemed that at least her feelings were reciprocated.
"I can't believe I just told you that," said Hinata. She laughed nervously. "I don't even know you!"
"It's okay. Your secret is safe with me. And it looks like things turned out well for you…I mean, I should hope so after all you went through for him."
"Ummm…well…he was glad I was okay and he was really caring. But things got complicated; he said that he didn't know how to respond to my confession because he had a lot on his mind, so he told me to wait for his answer…and I'm still waiting," Hinata said with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Jeez…and how long ago was that, two, three months ago? When a girl confesses to you like that you shouldn't leave her dangling!" Karin yelled. If Hinata wasn't frustrated with the situation, then Karin was clearly frustrated on her behalf.
"I'm optimistic, though. Naruto-kun has been nothing but sweet to me ever since, and he's even gone out of his way to spend time with me. It almost feels like we're together already, but to just hear it from his mouth would be perfect. But if he needs to take things slowly, then he needs to take things slowly. Even if we never get past holding hands, I'd die happy," Hinata said quietly.
"Um, that's a lie. You want to kiss him, right?"
"Well, yeah…" Hinata mumbled sheepishly.
"And he's kind of cute, too. Don't tell me you haven't thought about that hot, tanned bod naked." Karin had to suppress a drool.
"KARIN-SAN!" Hinata buried her red face into her hands, stifling nervous laughter.
"You can just call me Karin. Come on, Hinata, it's totally okay. Naruto is a hottie and you know it. Can't you just see yourself making beautiful babies with him?"
Hinata uncovered her face and said matter-of-factly, "Actually, yes. Yes I can." She tried to keep a straight face but then started giggling, "You're really blunt, but I like that. It's usually very hard for me to open up to people I don't know. I have a lot of social anxiety. But with you, it's easy for some reason. Maybe because you remind me of him a bit…Naruto-kun, that is."
"I guess so; we're related after all. Sorry for being so intrusive but it, like, frustrates me! You're so close, just go out there and get your man! A woman's will can pass even through mountains, you know," Karin said. What I wouldn't give to be in her situation; her love may actually get requited, whereas mine…
The two neared a large gated community. Karin knew Hinata came from a powerful family, but this was living in style. Perhaps it would be beneficial to continue to spend time with the Hyuuga heiress. I'm sure she eats only the finest foods and bathes in mineral water and has servants who wait on her. That's the life.
"Thanks for listening, Karin. I've been trying to be more assertive with Naruto-kun, and I will continue to do my best, " she said graciously.
"No problem. I hope I'll see you around later," Karin said, eyeing the large houses beyond the gate. I wonder if she has a personal chef who makes good okonomiyaki…
"Oh…and Karin…sorry about Suigetsu-kun. You looked kind of angry when he was talking to me and I felt really bad about it…do you like him?" Hinata asked shyly.
Karin heart skipped a beat and she twitched.
"WHAT?! HIM?! O-OF COURSE NOT! NOT EVEN IF WE WERE THE LAST TWO PEOPLE ON EARTH AND HE WAS NAKED AND WHAT AM I SAYING NO HE IS UGLY, VERY UGLY AND I HATE HIM—" Karin rambled on nervously, which caused Hinata to jump back.
"I'm so sorry! That was so rude of me! Please forgive me," Hinata said, bowing deeply. Karin was ticked, but she felt bad for Hinata so she let it slide.
"Eh, whatever. See ya later, Hinata," she muttered as she walked off.
Even without Suigetsu she still managed to get mistaken for his girlfriend. Damn it.
