CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

- Sunburn -

"I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" Karin chanted in a childish voice while the rest of us stared curiously as she skipped over the sand, Temari following with a raised eyebrow.

Suigetsu sighed, smirking a little at her as she dropped into the sand next to me and smiled widely at him, ninety-cent whippy in hand, "Aw, crap, she's high."

Kankuro gave him a dumbfounded look, "High on sugar?"

"High on sugar." The Hozuki brother confirmed whilst Karin giggled like a four year old that was not too sure what exactly was going on.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, resting on his elbows. The redhead saw this and twitched slightly, then leant over me and, a finger poised and covered in the delicious, cool treat, and swiped it across his face. From one cheek, over the nose, and to the other cheek. Sasuke just closed his eyes and appeared to be taking calming breaths.

"Karin," He said darkly, "I'm going to count to four. In that time, you have to run as far away from me as you can. Understand?"

"Uh, what?"

"One… two…"

"I'm going, I'm going! Wait!" The redhead scrambled to her feet and sprinted as fast as she could from the fuming boy next to me.

"Three –four." Sasuke said as quickly as it took him to stand before he launched in her shrieking direction.

"Don't be too hard on her!" Sui called, chuckling. The boys all joined in with their deep, manly laughs. In the distance, Sasuke was easily catching up to the redhead whose screams we could hear from where we sat. The dark Uchiha caught her from behind, easily flicking her legs up so that she was flailing bridal style in his arms before he made his way down to the water and waded in. He then promptly dumped her before washing the ice cream from his face and then waving casually in our direction.

"SASUKE, YOU ASSSSS!" The cry came from a completely soaked redhead, her hair entirely flattened as she scraped it out of her eyes. Sasuke raised his hands in a gesture that said, 'what?' all innocent and such. I snorted.

"Those two are such total retards." I said, shaking my head and looking down.

"I'm embarrassed to be seen in public with them when they get like this," Sui commented jokily. Juugo chuckled.

"Nah," Kankuro said, "they seem pretty decent." I looked at him, a little shocked. He seemed sincere, but somehow, Sasuke didn't like him. Maybe he just couldn't like him, because it's usually like that with people. Uneasiness around new people; not knowing who to trust…

Then again, Sasuke didn't really trust anybody, except for the people closest to him. Telling other people things about himself was too much of a risk. It could mess up his image, or something similar.

"What?" The larger teen questioned, seeming uncomfortable under my scrutinizing gaze.

"Nothing, I was just thinking."

"I see. Gaara doesn't really like you."

I sighed in relief, after checking that the redhead was nowhere in site,"I'd be afraid if he did."

"Because of Sasuke?" Kankuro asked.

"Sasuke would eat his face." I confirmed.

As if on queue, Sasuke and Karin appeared, their hair completely flattened by the sea water.

"Kari, Sui, get in that water right now." Karin demanded.

"No, I'm… I'm warm here…" I said, backing away from the redhead. Sasuke had surreptitiously sneaked behind me and suddenly yanked me up to my feet. Understandably, I screamed at the cold contact. "Sasuke! That's cold! You're cold! Let me go!"

"N'aw, look at him, look at how much he's enjoying abusing her."

"Don't encourage him, Karin, he's all wet!"

"Che," Sasuke snorted behind me and then let go. "Come on."
"Fine. But I won't like it."

Dragged by the wrist through the sand, under the glaring eyes of many, many teenage girls, I followed Sasuke. Suigetsu and Karin sprinted into the salty, blue water without looking back. I kept my lips in a perfectly realistic pout – that was, until I realised that the dark teenager in front of me had turned and was smirking.

"Why are you doing that?" I asked suddenly.

"Why am I doing what?"

"Why are you smirking like that?"

"Because… I can…" He replied, sounding almost confused, "Am I not allowed to smirk anymore?"

"No, it just makes me think that you're plotting away evilly."

Sasuke chuckled, "Is that so?"

"Well, yeah, that's why I said it."

"Haha." Sasuke drawled, "Race?"

"Okay!" I replied, shooting off towards the water, laughing. I looked back to see where he was, only to have him sprint past me. What the actual fuck? How is anybody so fast? I kept running, unable to stop myself until I tumbled into the smaller waves rolling onto the damper sand quite casually. "You suck." I told Sasuke when I'd waded to where he was.

"You lost, you suck." He shot back, kicking water at me. I shrieked and kicked it back at him. Fight's on, bitch.

Once again, Karin and Suigetsu were lying in the sun and being cute. Everyone else had disappeared. So I was just sitting there, rubbing sunscreen into my arms for the nth time today, when the sun vanished. I looked up at the rude person who was currently blocking my warmth and was shocked to see Ami standing there and looking less like her usual, cocky self and much more like a distressed teenager.

"Kari," She said, "As much as I despise you, I need you. Right now. It's Sasuke."

I eyed her suspiciously for a moment. The wide eyes and fidgety posture could have been fake, but that thought hadn't even hit me after I heard that she was talking about Sasuke. And then I was standing up and brushing sand from my legs, "What's wrong with him?" I asked, walking in step with her.

"He's managed to find himself a punch bag." Was all she said. I stared at her.

"He what?"

"Some guy recognised him and said something about his mother being a 'MILF'." Ami gesticulated with her fingers. I rolled my eyes. "He heard him and flipped, I don't— there!" She pointed at a large crowd of shouting guys and shrieking girls. Ami and myself both ran at the crowd. My eyes instantly found Sasuke in the centre of the crowd glaring up at a guy that must have been a foot taller than him. The other guy was glaring down at him with a bloody nose as the two got ready to launch at each other. Boys in the group surrounding them were holding their girlfriends back who were either horrified or wanting to join in.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked, "I can't stop those two, that guys the size of a building and Sasuke's too stubborn when he starts fighting."

"Isn't Juugo with you? Or Suigetsu? Or… or… Itachi? If that guy puts a scratch on Sasuke, I'm going to cut him." Ami seemed a little bit helpless and her whining tone leaked into me. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Sasuke's POV.

Sasuke was pissed the fuck off. His entire body was shaking, his teeth were biting so hard into his lip that he thought he was going to draw blood.

He'd been walking to get himself a bottle of water when he'd seen this guy watching him with a curious intent. The taller male had casually come up to him and asked him if he was Sasuke Uchiha because his girlfriend had said he looked a lot like him. Sasuke had nodded and then listened to the guy reel off into an awkward bundle of words. He'd heard, "Shame about your mom. She was hot. I would have." And he'd simply lost it. Sasuke wasn't going to pretend that he hadn't because the guy's nose was bloody and lopsided. However, he did kind of wish that he hadn't, because it was only now that he was realizing how tall and scary-looking (in Kari's words) this guy was. Whatever, he thought. He'd been trained by the best, at what was supposedly the most respectable school in the country, and he knew his shit. This guy just looked like some giant ape that didn't know shit about self defence.

"Sasuke, don't you dare start fighting!" Somebody yelled, pushing her way through the crowd. One of the teenagers stuck an arm out and almost clotheslined her, had she not stopped in her tracks to glare at the person who had cut her short of a lecture, "Excuse me, what the hell do you think you're doing? That's my boyfriend!" She argued. Sasuke wasn't listening. He was too fixed on the guy in front of him, trying to make out his moves, trying to see when he would strike.

"Leave them. He shouldn't have punched Taki in the face."

"WHAT?" Kari's voice was distant, but Sasuke heard her and turned his head to glance at her. And that's when this guy, Taki, slammed the heel of his palm into the Uchiha's temples and everything went black. He was out cold before he'd hit the floor.

I watched, horrified, as Sasuke slipped from his tall, composed stance and dropped to his knees before landing face down in the sand. I had been too busy arguing with the boy that had stopped me getting to the two teenagers to see what this 'Taki' had done.

"Oh my god." I whispered. A few people laughed and the crowd dispersed. Ami followed me silently (for once) to bend over Sasuke and try to wake him up. What had happened? How could anybody have beaten Sasuke?

"Ami… go get Juugo…"

"Where is he?"

"He's probably where you found me."

"…Right. You better take care of Sasuke, though." She added, just to remind me that she was still a bitch.

"He's my boyfriend. I'm not exactly going to slit his throat, am I? Now, go!"

"Okay, okay. Jeez."

I turned back to Sasuke, slapped his face a couple of times and then pulled him up so that he was with his back against my stomach.

"Come on, you stupid jerk, stop scaring me." I whispered unconsciously. Sasuke stayed the same.

"Is he all right?" Somebody asked as they passed us, I glanced up.

"I don't know. Have you got any water or… anything?" It was ironic how we were sitting ten metres from the sea. The kind lady whipped a bottle of water off of the ground – presumably it was Sasuke's and handed it to me.

"He dropped it when he hit that other boy…" She trailed off with a disapproving look on her face as she relived the moment.

"Thanks!"

"No problem, sweetie." The woman walked away. I unscrewed the cap on the bottle and glanced around Sasuke's face, then tipped the contents over his head. Sasuke groaned quietly. I inwardly jumped for joy and did teddy bear rolls. 'Cause… you can do stuff like that when you're inside my head.

"Are you okay? What happened? Does your head hurt? Say the alphabet backwards." I burbled, Sasuke raised a hand and placed it over his eyes.

"Kari, I can't do that. Legit."

"Oh, right, yeah. Me neither. I was just testing you."

"Mhm."

"What happened?" I repeated, seeing Karin and Suigetsu sprinting towards us with Juugo in the front over the top of his head.

"I…" He began, but then Karin's voice reached us.

"WHERE IS THAT ASSHOLE? I AM GOING TO KILL HIM."

"I'll tell you later." He said, sitting up perfectly and shifting to sit next to me.

"You better, I don't want any blanks, you got that, fool?"
"Hn." Sasuke, despite himself, smirked. I rolled my eyes.

"Sasuke! What the shit?" Karin cried, launching herself onto him and hugging him.

Suigetsu watched with a curious look on his face, "Why does she never glomp me like that?"

"'Cause I glomp you hard at night!" Her muffled reply came. I blanched.

"Too much information, you two…" I muttered.

"You're awake, though. That's good. Did that guy hit you?" Juugo asked.

Sasuke looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. "Yes. "

"But you hit him first, is that right?"

"Yes."

"Did you do any damage?" Karin asked, climbing off of the pondering Uchiha.

His lips curved up to the point where they parted and his teeth showed, "Broke his nose." He said, grinning. I recalled the crooked, bloody nose of the guy that had knocked Sasuke out. So, while Sasuke lost, he was still pretty whereas… well, that Taki guy couldn't have been pretty anyways.

"Nice, man." Suigetsu said, laughing whilst Juugo helped him up.

"Mm." Sasuke agreed, now on his feet. He glanced at me and said, "Kari and me are going back to the house. She's going to check my head."

"That can be translated as: RAPE MY FACE!" Karin cried, giggling. I slapped her arm playfully. "Sorry."

"No need to be jealous, Karin…"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Come get our stuff with me." He said. I slipped my fingers through his and the two of us left our three friends standing in the background with eyebrows raised and knowing smirks on their faces.

"You don't seem like you got hit in the head at all." I said slowly. Sasuke made a noise in the back of his throat that might have been a scoff.

"I was trained by three of the best tai-jutsu teachers in Konoha. My brother was pretty much the champion of the world in martial arts. My ex-best friend and I enjoy the occasional death match. Trust me, I've taken worse things than a manly slap to the face."

"A manly slap…" I quoted, chuckling, "Weirdo."

"Hn."

"Ah, well, I'm glad he didn't break your nose in return."

"That would have been the end of the world." He drawled. I nodded. "That was sarcasm, Kari."

"Yeah, I guessed. Why don't you just use your good looks to your advantage?" I questioned.

"The only advantage is that you get girls." He replied, obviously not interested in the subject, "And you've seen how useless that advantage is."

"It's not so bad. Ami showed me where you were earlier. You might have—"

"Knocked that guy out." Sasuke finished, snappishly. I twisted my neck to get a look at him suddenly. He was biting his lip.

"Was it my fault that that Taki guy hit you?" I asked, squeezing his hand. He was silent, "Shit! I'm sorry, Sasuke."

"That's okay. No big deal." He replied, shrugging. I raised an eyebrow. This was so weird. If Sasuke had been hit by a guy, he would have been vengeful. He would have wanted to track Taki down and destroy him. Right now, the hardest thing about him was the way that his eyebrows were drawn together. But that could have been because of the harsh sunlight and the glare of the sand.

"Sasuke…"

"What…?"

"Please don't get into any more fights unless we're in school." I said slowly.

Sasuke snorted, and then saw that I was being serious. His fingertips added the lightest pressure on my knuckles as he replied, "I'll try."

"Thank you."

Sasuke and I reached the house in less than three minutes after we had collected our stuff. I shook the sand out of both of our towels and hung them over the handrail at the top of the stairs. Sasuke had disappeared indoors, I could hear him in the kitchen, probably scrounging up some food.

"Kari…"

"Huh?"

"What the hell is this?"

"…What?"

"It looks like it could do some serious damage. Like, to a lemon."

"…Sasuke… those are Karin's eyelash curlers…" I said, walking inside to see him eying the small device as if it were a bomb.

"Why would she want to go near her eyes with this?"

"Because it's how she stays pretty for Suigetsu."

"Psh, you girls are all overrated." He said, placing it back on the window-sill. I rolled my eyes.

"Not everyone is as naturally sexy as you are, douche."

"Hm… true." He said, honestly. My mouth dropped open. This boy… he's hot, but my gosh, doesn't he know it?

"You're so full of yourself." I told him, tapping my fingers against his shoulder. Sasuke hissed, "What?" My fingertips lingered on his skin for a moment. It had turned from that light golden to a dark shade of painful-looking red. "Oh, Sasuke, you're all burnt. You're so stupid."

"…Shut up, you don't have light skin. It's easier for you."

"I know, come here." I grabbed his hand and led him down the hall towards our room. I told him to sit before digging in my bath-bag and pulling from it a bottle of After-Sun. "This will sting."

"Uh huh," Sasuke sounded uninterested, and allowed me to carefully apply the cream to his searing shoulders and arms.

(YES, THAT'S RIGHT, BITCHES; I GOT TO WRAP MY HANDS AROUND HIS BICEPS. My life is now complete.)

When I was finished, I sighed and threw myself back into the sheets.

"You done?"

"Yep!" Sasuke flopped down next to me. "Is it okay?"

"It's a sun burn, Kari, chill out."

"I am chilled," I said, giggling, "Like an ice-cube. Only… I'm not cold."

"No?"

"No."

"That's a shame." Sasuke said, and rolled over so that he was balancing himself on his knees over me. He grinned. I held as much ground as I could whilst being very aware that he was only wearing his swim shorts, and me my bikini and denim shorts, and stared at him.

"Oh hell no, bitch, I'm the one in control here."

Sasuke twitched, "…What?"

"What?" I responded instantly.

"…Spaz…" He murmured and continued his descent towards my face. I looked right into his dark eyes just before he closed them and I shut my own, accepting the lips that fitted perfectly against mine.

Our lips slipped over each others in the kind of clumsy kiss in which you're not sure how far you should go. We tongued it on the beach, but would it be okay to do it now? I risked it, slipping my arm around the back of his neck and opening my mouth just that fraction wider to deepen the kiss we had going. Sasuke shifted, getting the idea and meeting my tongue with his without hesitation. One of his hands was on my leg, tugging at my knee joint and pulling me impossibly close to him.

Break for air.

His eyes were all glittery again, like I hadn't seen them since Mikoto had died. He looked almost happy and grinned sheepishly. It surprised me how shy Sasuke really was. He made out that he was so cocky and cool and he knew that he was hot, but he still had that, dare I say it, timid side to him. It made me feel powerful to see him like that. Heheh. I reached up a little, meeting him again. I could feel his warm breath feathering itself over my face—

'Stacy's mom has got it goin' on…'

I groaned, "Oh, god…"

"Talk about a mood killer." Sasuke muttered, rolling off of me and grabbing my phone from the bedside table. "Hello, this is Sasuke? Kari can't talk. I tied her up of course."

"Sasuke!" I gasped, trying to grab my phone from him. "Give me that!"

"…You hear that?" Sasuke asked into the phone and then handed to me.

"Hello?"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY SISTERI, SASUKE?" The voice of my older sister screamed into the phone.

"Nothing, Keri." The Uchiha said, hopping off of the bed and going into the bathroom. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Keri? Why are you calling me?"

"Oh, hey loser, it's nice to hear your voice too. I just wanted to tell you that I broke up with Kai."

"YES!" I shouted, and then remembered that they had been going out for over a year, "Oh, I'm sorry, chick. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine… I'm drunk, so I'm fine."

"You're drunk? Where are you?"

"I'm at home. With mom. We're both drunk."

"HI, KARI!" My mom's cheerful voice sounded through the phone. I placed a hand over my face in embarrassment. I got pulled from making out with Sasuke to listen to my probably heartbroken sister and my mother.

"It's four in the afternoon." I reminded them.

"Oh yeah…" Keri said, as if having an epiphany. Then the line went dead.

What…. The fuck?

"Weirdos." I muttered, just as Sasuke sauntered back into the room, chin over his shoulder as he tried to get a look at the back of his arm, "You're just lucky that my respectable mother and sister were pissed out of their heads, otherwise my mom might have called me home straight away."

"Haah."

"By the way, you never told me what happened with that guy named Taki. He was like the same height as Juugo, why would you pick a fight with him?"

"It's stupid, and it's in the past." Sasuke replied instantly, paying attention only to his arm, "And I don't know."

"You said you'd tell me what happened." I stated. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"It's stupid." He repeated.

"I don't care. Tell me."

"Kari, it doesn't matter."

"Sasuke, it does. You're probably gonna hunt that guy down for the rest of the week and when you find him, you're going to curb him. Because that's exactly what you're like."

"I'm glad you know me so well, Karissa."

I glared, "Don't use my full name."

Sasuke sneered, "What, Karissa?"

"Yes."

"Don't you like being called Karissa?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"'Cause I don't." I shot back, folding my arms and crossing my legs eyeing him evilly.

"There's no need for you to act like a four year old just because I don't want to tell you something." Sasuke replied seriously.

"I'm not acting like a four year old."

"Take a look at yourself."

"I haven't got a mirror with me."

"What the hell…?" Sasuke gave me a dirty look before leaving the room. I stuck my tongue out at his retreating back, only proving the four year old point.

What the hell, okay? Seriously. We kiss, and then we fight. And I'm always the one who starts them, I know. And that was hardly a fight, but it still left me feeling a little pissed off. And Sasuke didn't exactly look cheerful.

I sighed and got off of the bed. I picked out a red T-shirt and slipped it on then walked through the house and onto the little balcony thing by the stairs that Sasuke was once again leaning on, surveying the crowds on the beach as they moved around lazily in the dying afternoon sun.

"I'm sorry." I said, locking my arms around his waist and making sure that I didn't press on his sunburn.

"For what?" He asked, not moving.

"For pushing you into telling me something; it was stupid."

"Oh. Okay."

"Please don't still be mad at me."

"I'm not."

"That's good." I released him, "You want food?"

"No."

"Sasuke, seriously, what's the matter?"

"I think I'm gonna go sleep. I'm tired." He said, turning around and squeezing my hand for a second before heading back the way I had just come. I watched him curiously, unable to understand him.

What am I saying? Nobody can understand him. I did feel really insensitive and mean and stupid, though. There was only one solution!

To: Karin
From: Kari
Karin, I think Sasuke's mad at me. D:

To: Kari
From: Karin
Give him some space, he's probably just scheming. XD

I shrugged. Karin's reply was weird, but she was the one who knew Sasuke better than me. So I smiled and went into the kitchen to prepare something like a meal for when the other two returned.

Urgh. Worst chapter ever. And it took me ages. And there are, like, no words. Blame school everyone. BLAME SCHOOL. It's entirely their fault for pulling these end of Key Stage tests out on us and scaring the living shit out of us. *Grrr.*

I'm sorry about the length, but I hope this was okay. Sasuke and Kari have a very peculiar relationships. If you didn't get anything, feel free to ask as this chapter is all over the place. ):

Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing! (ONEHUNDREDANDONE, BABIES. YES!) And review again? I LOVE YOU.

YourChemicalRomancex