040 - Karin's Epilogue: Konoha isn't such a bad place.
A shimmer in the air moves through the canopy of trees surrounding Konoha, barely visible against the irregular and shifting shapes of branches and leaves swaying in the wind. Unfortunately, 'almost' isn't quite enough stealth against trained shinobi.
The bark of a tree some thirty feet away shifts, revealing underneath a buxom woman wearing Konoha's forehead protector and throwing a handful of kunai against the distortion. It explodes in a burst of smoke and the kunai thunk against something solid, but once the smoke dissipates, it's clear they've only managed to hit a poor, innocent log.
The Konoha kunoichi hasn't waited to see the results of her throw though, having already jumped in a completely different direction while her hands go through a short seal sequence.
"[Ninpo - Sen'ei Jashu]" A mass of snakes burst from the sleeves of her jacket, rushing towards a nearby branch, where the same shimmer from before can be barely made out against the trunk.
This time, the attack is answered in kind, the [Transparent Escape Jutsu] dissipating to reveal a red-headed girl in a getup similar to her attacker.
"[Fūin - Kongō Fūsa]" Chakra chains burst from various points of her body, tangling with the snakes as she takes advantage of the fact her technique doesn't tie up her hands to prepare another seal sequence. "[Suiton—]"
Unfortunately, before she can finish it off, she's kicked off the branch by a second and identical buxom woman wearing Konoha's forehead protector. Karin falls heavily on the floor, a kunai at her neck ending the exercise, and she can't help a dismayed whine when the Anko she tangled techniques with waves cheekily at her and dissipates in a burst of smoke. A shadow clone.
"Don't be too hard on yourself, sweetcheeks!" Anko offers her a hand, smug smirk on her lips. "I'm a Tokubetsu Jonin. If a little munchkin like you could beat me I would've never been promoted in the first place."
"I know, sensei." Karin takes the hand, letting herself be pulled back up from the ground. "It still feels like I'm making no progress."
"Don't call me that." Anko protests automatically, already leading the way out of the training ground. Technically the Tokubetsu Jonin is only keeping an eye on a newcomer and known turncoat until her probationary period ends. Even if she spends the day helping her train. "And you are improving. That would've worked in the Land of Wind, where the heat causes the air to naturally shimmer…"
Karin's face lights up at the rare compliment. Anko isn't Shimada-mama but she clearly has the same opinion on coddling her charges. In the four weeks she's been in her care, she can count the number of times she's been praised.
"...As long as you had a way to avoid leaving footprints in the sand." She continues, turning to address a cheeky grin at her. "Which you don't."
Karin's mood sinks again. "I still have a long way to go..."
"Well, of course. But the training for stealth operatives is demanding for a reason. We shinobi are a paranoid bunch." For all that Anko-sensei claims their relationship to be strictly professional, she sure gives a lot of thought to Karin's options and future. "Are you sure you don't want to train as a medic-nin instead? I hear the really good ones get cushy jobs in the hospital, and the future Hokage is said to have a soft spot for her peers, you'd be set for life."
"I don't want to be a medic-nin. And I have no interest in being set for life." Karin doesn't really snap. She's too used to this old argument to feel anything but weary frustration, and maybe a bit of disappointment at sensei for refusing to see how bad an idea it is. "Infiltration and sabotage is what Ran suggested for me."
Sensei flinches slightly when Ran is mentioned, and her voice is much softer when she answers. "With that skillset you'll be called for assassination missions too, you're aware?"
"I have fought against being shoehorned into a support role all my life." Karin shrugs in turn. Killing people for her new Village is not ideal, but it's far from the worst possible outcome. "If that's what it takes for people to finally stop trying to shove me into a dysergic role, then so be it."
The trees finally give way, revealing a paved path towards civilization, and a pink-clad figure sitting on a nearby bench, gazing at the Village from this vantage point. Sakura is so absorbed in whatever is going through her mind, she doesn't notice their presence until sensei startles her with a hand on her shoulder.
"Ah! Karin, Anko-san!" She greets us with a wide smile once she gets her bearings. "Good work today!"
"Sakura." Karin nods with a soft smile. Of Naruto-nii's two teammates, the pinkette has been by far the easiest to get along with. Now that her cousin is away on a secret mission, the two of them have grown even closer. "Good morning. Any plans for today?"
The girl's smile wavers for a moment. "Just the usual." Visiting the hospital, then. Like every day they have no other plan.
Not only has Naruto-nii been away for nearly a month now. The rest of Sakura's team, Uchiha-san and Kakashi-san, have been lying unconscious in the hospital for almost as long, victim to some particularly nasty genjutsu by the hands -or rather the eyes- of the known traitor and S-class criminal Uchiha Itachi.
Karin nods again. At this point, there's little more the hospital can do for them, except ensuring their health doesn't deteriorate too much. All hopes lie in Naruto-nii and the oily pervert bringing back Tsunade. Sakura has been taking it understandably hard, training alone for long hours and sleeping far less than healthy.
Karin shivers to think how much of a mess the girl would be at this point, if not for Yamanaka-san's efforts to keep her socially active and engaged. As it is, the expert makeup she's using doesn't quite hide the bags under her eyes.
Karin remembers with an amused smile her first encounter with the blonde clan heiress outside the exams. She and Sakura are peas in a pod, and it was no surprise to learn the two of them were both best friends and bitter rivals. Karin would've stood beside Sakura even without the veiled threats and attempts at coercion, but she can respect people going the extra mile for a friend.
"Let me have a quick bath and we can go."
Reaching her new apartment is a short endeavour. Compared with the Shimada home, it's a modest thing that reminds her of worse times, but she wasn't exactly spoiled for choice in the aftermath of the invasion and it has everything she needs to live.
For a moment, Karin is tempted to invite Sakura to join her in the bath. One of the things she misses the most since Ran… departed, is the skinship. It's not even a carnal thing. She will freely admit in the privacy of her own mind that Haruno Sakura is an attractive girl, but she simply doesn't hold a candle to... Not the point. What she misses is the trust, the intimacy. It doesn't get any more intimate than showing your naked back to a trained killer, after all. She's sure Ran would understand.
On the other hand, Sakura is just as sure to misread the proposal and reach conclusions Karin is nowhere near ready to deal with, so better not.
Hours later, Karin stretches under the evening sun on the rooftop of the hospital, nursing a sore forearm. As always and against her better judgement, she privately treated Sasuke and Kakashi with her [Heal Bite]. Which is frustrating because she can't exactly heal mental damage like this, but it at least helps with muscular atrophy.
It's something she does as a personal favor to Sakura and Naruto-nii, though. She's neither equipped nor willing to extend that courtesy to the entire hospital. And dealing with the looks and snide comments of self-entitled pricks who think she should do it anyway always leave her tense and in a foul mood.
"Karin!" Sakura's voice pulls her from her reverie, drawing her attention to the girl, and the tall figure wearing a strange green uniform who stands behind her. "Courier Ninja looking for you!"
Courier Ninja disappears once she proves her identity and accepts the delivery, consisting of a letter scroll and a small package. Karin's hand shakes when she recognizes the elegant yet functional writing style, and she has to blink away some inopportune tears to properly read the missive.
It's from Shimada-Mama.
"Karin.
I was sent Ran's belongings after the incident,
but I believe she'd rather you held onto this.
Your transferral to Konoha has been officially approved.
There won't be official consequences for leaving Kusa.
Chase your dreams and tackle them to the ground.
I'm proud to call you my daughter.
-Shimada Momoko."
Short, curt and to the point, and yet incredibly emotional. Shimada-mama always managed to do that, somehow. This letter is getting framed and hanged somewhere she can see from the bed every time she wonders what she's doing living alone in a strange land, or whether getting up is really worth the effort.
There's more to the letter too. Shimada-mama isn't the sort to use the same adjective for two sentences in a row unless she wants you to take notice of it, so the repeat of the word 'official' clearly suggests there's some low-key resentment about her abandoning Kusa and she should be careful around her old colleagues until the waters calm down.
Business like usual, really. Karin has learnt to lower her guard around a few specific individuals in her old village, but she's never quite forgotten how she came into service of Grass, nor has the overall population made any effort to change her mind about it.
Her attention goes to the package. It's slightly heavier than she expected from something this size… maybe there's metal inside? She resists the impulse to shake it to hear how it sounds, carefully opening it instead and tilting it to let the contents slide into her open palm.
Once she does, the world becomes blurry again, any sound drowned by the blood rushing through her ears as her heartbeat picks up, and all her attention focuses on the golden circular shape in her hand.
Ran's locket.
A sudden touch on her shoulder has her turning around like a snake, locket protectively held against her chest as her other hand produces a kunai to gouge the eyes of–
"Karin? Are you okay?" Sakura's voice shakes her out of her daze, dragging her back to the present and making her freeze for a moment, body already coiled to strike in a way that's not obvious but there's no way a trained kunoichi like her has missed, either.
"Yes, I… Yes." Embarrassedly, she puts away the kunai and forces her body to relax. She coughs in her fist, trying to compose herself after the momentary lapse. "I need a moment to myself."
"I… Sure. I'll be downstairs, just come when you're ready."
As Sakura leaves with a last look back, Karin's thoughts go back to Ran, and that inevitably means remembering that horrible day, months ago. She's not embarrassed to admit she was scared shitless after repelling the wide-area genjutsu on the stadium only to realize that it was just the first move of a full-scale invasion and Konoha was under attack.
Everything was chaos, and her [Mind's Eye of the Kagura] only added to her confusion. Everyone was surprised, scared or enraged, usually a combination of them. And it all felt like an ugly hurricane around her.
To make things worse, Naruto-nii was called to action and she was more or less unceremoniously put behind bars. It took all she had to hold back the urge to lash out, resist the unjust imprisonment and show them she wasn't a pushover anymore, no matter how much she intellectually knew it would only make things worse. She doesn't blame them, her presence was a bit suspicious given the circumstances, but it was hard to restrain herself under those circumstances.
So, of course, she reached for the only source of strength that had never failed her before, one she knows so well, she can tell even the smallest shifts in her emotions: Ran.
Her chakra signature was unmistakable, like a lighthouse blazing through the storm of chaos. She was very agitated and a bit worried, probably locked in combat with someone who wasn't a small fry and Karin remembers biting her lip in worry with enough force to bleed.
But the panic in her signature receded after a while, giving way to relief and satisfaction. She had won, and Karin's cellmates gave her a strange look when she rapidly kicked the floor in excitement. In her mind, there was no doubt she would come looking for her and kick any Sand or Sound ass that dared get in the way.
But it didn't happen like that. After a while of remaining more or less stationary, radiating determination and focus, her signature suddenly wavered and completely disappeared.
Her heart sank, and she lost all sense of decorum in a -in hindsight, mortifying- fit of despair and betrayal, curling into a ball on the floor as the world and her senses stopped making sense, showing her the impossible. Feeling her heart sinking more and more by the moment, she tried her best to sharpen her senses, to prove herself Ran was still there, that there was some other explanation for her fading signature.
Her efforts caused all the feedback she was receiving to suddenly multiply tenfold, to the point where it became painful to keep watching. Sobs that she didn't notice letting out were interrupted by surprise and the intensity of the moment. As if breaking a dam and running free, she could suddenly feel so much more.
After she doesn't know how long, she caught Ran's presence again. Muted, but still there, standing at the gates of Konoha. For a moment she panicked, fearing she'd been captured by the invaders, but it didn't match the feeling she was getting from her. Ran was thinking about her, and beyond the muted, but still bright light that was her, the feelings were a confused tangle of regret, determination and… something Karin could only call promise.
That's when she understood, and stopped crying like a brat. Seriously, what was she thinking, doubting her like that?
She still dreads the moment Ran-chan learns about the fool she made out of herself back then, she can picture the fond exasperation as she hides a smile, making a snarky comment and teasing her about feeling appreciated. Then she'll proceed to put the incident in a place of honor somewhere in that perfect memory of hers and never let her live it down.
The haze of memories fade slowly, leaving her back on the hospital rooftop with a tin locket in her hands. From underneath her shirt, she pulls out a matching trinket and runs a finger over the dull and scratched metal. If nothing else, it's obvious Ran cared about her own locket more than Karin ever did for hers.
With a sigh and a promise to figure out how to fix it up, she goes through their secret unlocking ritual. The lockets are blood-locked, but the matching pair can be used in a special way to skip that requirement.
It's been years since she last did this. Once the novelty of the super-secret lockets faded, there was never a reason to try again, but she still remembers the steps. Rub them together, spin your locket three times around its partner, blow your breath over them and turn half a spin counter clockwise. Now separate them, the lid will click open.
Then her breath hitches. She opened the locket out of nostalgia, without a goal or plan in mind. Knowing Ran, Kain expected to find some sort of utility tool, a secret last resort trick or treasure stashed away for an emergency. Actually, some sort of bomb was the most likely suspect.
Instead, there's that nostalgic photograph they took during Shimada-mama's birthday all these years ago, showing the two of them in the middle with their moms at their sides. Five words out of Ran's graceful calligraphy can be read on the other side of the picture, words whose meaning can be easily misunderstood by those who don't have the full story.
"Keep it safe for me."
Without realizing the wide smile on her face, Karin closes the locket back and wears the two of them around her neck. Then she walks out of the roof, a cheerful tune in her lips. Konoha isn't such a bad place, and Naruto-nii is a great cousin, but she can't wait until Ran comes back.
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