Title: The Kindness of Strangers
Summary
: That was when she offered her arm. Literally.
Pairing
: KimiKarin
Rating
: K+
Notes
: None, except that this is pre-Chunin Exam arc.
Disclaimer
: I don't own Naruto.


Kimimaro found himself stark with terror that the next time he coughed, blood would dribble from his mouth as it had with the last coughing fit.

The windowless room was dark, the lights extinguished; the young Sound nin laid on his back on his cot, his breathing slightly labored as whatever it was Kabuto had given him for his lungs to keep them working well for the time being took effect, then evening out. The cool, bland, almost glassy smile the older boy had given him still lingered on, making the stale air colder, but as much as Kimimaro suspected that every bit of medicine Kabuto had ever given him was nothing more than placebos, it actually seemed to be working this time.

A narrow streak of light fell over his weakened eyes (Kimimaro flinched and shakily raised an arm over his face) as the door creaked open.

At first, Kimimaro sat up, thinking Kabuto had come back, but realized that the person standing in the doorway was much smaller than Kabuto.

A young girl with glasses, probably no older than eleven or twelve, slid hesitantly into the room, closing the door behind her and lighting one of the candles one the chest of drawers with a flick of small, pale fingers.

She was quite short, probably only a hairsbreadth taller than Tayuya, and had long hair that, in full light, was probably an even brighter shade of red than Tayuya's. She introduced herself with a quick dip of the head and a few short words. "Hello. Are you Kimimaro-san?"

Kimimaro nodded, wondering who the girl was; he hadn't seen her before. "Yes."

Taking that as encouragement, she stepped forward. "My name's Karin. I heard you were sick, and I think I might be able to help."

Kimimaro frowned, wondering what on Earth she meant by that, as the girl stepped forward, and began to roll up her sleeve. Again, he wondered who Karin was, what she was doing there; he had never seen her before, deep in the depths of Sound.

Of course, all wonders about the girl's background were shelved and dropped in favor of pure, unadulterated shock when Kimimaro got a good look at her bare arm.

It was covered in small, pale crescent-shaped scars. Human bite marks. Kimimaro's incredulous light green gaze rose from Karin's arm to her face.

She behaved as if there was nothing strange about the fact that her arm was covered in scars from bite marks, and Karin actually glared at Kimimaro's sucker-punched expression. "Bite me."

At that moment, Kimimaro seriously considered investing his remaining strength and endangering his present health by bodily throwing the girl out of the room. But her voice filled up the air again soon enough, and Kimimaro decided, for whatever reason, to just hear her out.

"I'm from a clan in Kusa no Kuni," Karin explained. "Our kekkei genkai allows us to heal people by having them bite us." She formed a sympathetic smile. "I know, it sounds weird, but I'm telling the truth, I promise."

Kimimaro sighed inwardly, and eyed the arm. He wondered how often Karin bathed.

Well, there was nothing to lose from it, and if it worked, it worked. He bit down on the pale skin of her arm.

Surprisingly, Kimimaro did start to feel better when he bit down on Karin's arm. He only stopped when he heard a small whimper from her and realized she was in pain.

She was in pain and trying to hide it, rolling her sleeve down again, her face noticeably paler than before.

"Are you alright?" Kimimaro felt well enough to stand up. Normally he wouldn't show much concern for the pain of others—nin accepted pain as normal and commonplace—but the girl was showing pain as a result of helping him, and even Kimimaro couldn't be unmoved by that.

Karin's smile was strained. "I'm fine. I hope you get to feeling better."

She closed the door behind her, and swallowed Kimimaro up in darkness again.