Summary: Through absence, Uchiha Sasuke begins to grasp the true value of Haruno Sakura. Post-562, will deviate greatly from the manga. Drabble series.
Disclaimer: Naruto is (c) Masashi Kishimoto and Shueisha, Inc.
Author's Note: Please bear in mind that this fanfiction is being written following the events of manga chapter 562. Karin forgave Sasuke for almost killing her in chapter 627, which is not part of my universe.
IN ABSENTIA
The I in Team
A trio of sparrowhawks, accipiter gularis, flew over the border of Hi no Kuno, the Land of Fire, without interception. The two males were characterized by their scarlet pupils and intricate blend of dark and light plumage while the larger female was distinguished by her golden orbs and murky hue. They were each fitted with a packed messenger bag, dutifully heading in the last known direction of their individual targets. While gliding above the farmlands of Yu no Kuni, the Land of Hot Water, the hawks diverged.
x x x
In a forested region of Oto no Kuni, the Land of Sound, resided a secluded figure whose only companions were comprised of an assortment of diminutive woodland creatures, e.g., birds, hares and squirrels. Though he was alone, for all intents and purposes, the young man was at peace with his situation. He was far away from the nearest village, which was stationed approximately twelve kilometers to the west, and the self-imposed exile gave him a sense of relative freedom and security. If possible, he would choose to live out the remainder of his existence in such an isolated state.
As if to spite Juugo's reflected desires, a familiar-looking hawk swooped into the remote glade that he had made his own. The avian predator resolutely circled the hulking, titian-haired shinobi, its intimidating presence causing the animals that had been keeping him company to flee for shelter.
Juugo did not hesitate upon sighting the messenger. He unquestioningly hefted a worn knapsack over his broad shoulder and began to trek his way toward Konohagakure. Not breaking stride, he held out an arm and allowed the hawk to alight. He did not balk when sharp talons scraped at the skin of his forearm, instead focusedly withdrawing and reading the missive while en route.
When Kimimaro's successor beckoned, he had no recourse but to answer the call.
x x x
"It's freezing," the bespectacled kunoichi complained for the dozenth time as she trudged through a field of snow. She tightened a cloak around her shivering form in a futile attempt to ward off the cold.
Karin should have realized that accepting a mission in Shimo no Kuni, the Land of Frost, would be a lousy idea. However, the substantial payoff for hunting down a couple of deserters from the country's hidden village had been too good to let pass. Her sole responsibility was to serve as a chakra sensor, while the triumvirate of Shimo shinobi that escorted her would be responsible for actually detaining their quarry. No risk, only gain... just how she liked it. And everything had been going according to plan until the two traitors had progressively moved north; the further they traveled, the more frigid and unbearable the temperature and landscape became. In truth, she feared there was a very real threat of hypothermia at this point.
"My teeth are chattering so loudly that stealth isn't even a viable option," she whined.
None of the party responded. Really, she thought, they were a humorless lot.
"It feels as if there's ice running through my veins," she pressed.
Karin continued to be ignored.
"It's so cold that I could cut glass with my nipples," she said for shock value alone.
When no reply was still forthcoming, Karin snapped. "Have you stodgy bastards ever heard the proverb: one kind word can warm three winter months?!"
Zip. Zilch. Nada.
At her wit's end, Karin tossed her head back and was prepared to shout her frustration to the heavens when something peculiar seized her attention. There was a hawk soaring through the grey cast sky, curiously adrift from its expected habitat. The hawk should have long since migrated to a warmer climate, so its appearance left her unsettled. It was of nin-origin, she had no doubt.
When the hawk dived and came to perch on the exposed portion of a fallen branch, which was awkwardly angled out of the thick blanket of snow, recognition struck. She knew that hawk. More importantly, she quickly gathered, she knew that hawk's unfairly attractive and unforgivably acerbic owner.
Spotting the messenger bag that was attached to the hawk, Karin's anxiety built. On pain of death, she would never outwardly acknowledge how the rate of her heart increased when its unblinking gaze locked with her own in tacit explanation of who the parcel was addressed. Stubborn pride kept her from promptly reaching for the message.
The hawk issued a piercing cry at her postponement of the inevitable.
"Is something amiss?" The inquiry was made by one of the Shimo shinobi.
"So now you want to talk?" she muttered while grimly approaching the bearer of what was sure to be bad tidings.
Unfastening the satchel, Karin reluctantly took possession of the communiqué. A frown contorted her features as she scanned the nostalgic script. It took a minute to angrily digest what had been written. Then, venting her ire, she rudely crumpled the paper and threw it at the apathetic hawk.
"Beat it, stupid fowl!"
The hawk arrogantly thrust its beak upward, as if offended by the slur, and with a regal flap of the wings returned to the sky.
Karin resentfully followed in its wake, unconsciously rubbing at the grotesque scar that marred her perversely aching chest. She was absolutely livid at receiving a summons from the son of a bitch that had placed so little worth on her life, willing to sacrifice it to attain vengeance, yet had no alternative but to accede to his wishes. There was a certain medic she was indebted to, after all.
Noting that Karin was taking a different path than before, a member of her group shuffled forward. "Have the targets changed course?"
"No," Karin curtly denied. "They're still moving north."
"Then where are you going?" he asked in confusion.
She sneered, "That's personal, windbag."
"But we have a mission to carry out," another of the shinobi protested.
Karin put several meters between the Shimo detachment and herself ere offering a rejoinder. When she gauged that she had a comfortable enough headstart, she did not bother to look back for the group's reaction as she raised an arm and extended the middle finger of her right hand. "Consider this my resignation!"
The final shinobi sputtered with indignation. "What about your fee?!"
"Don't worry about it!" Karin yelled, bursting into a mad dash.
"Wha-?!"
"Don't worry about it?!"
"You were paid in advance!"
Their outraged exclamations were of no consequence, because she was already out of earshot.
x x x
Houzuki Suigetsu was convinced that his ears should be bleeding.
Fact is, he had been on his fair share of covert operations but this had to be the most unpleasant op in which he had ever participated. Two days into trailing Killer B, the Kumo shinobi that had custody of Samehada, and he was on the brink of giving up on his ambition to collect all the swords that had belonged to the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.
Six was a nice, round number. Yes, six swords would not be so terrible.
He only persevered by repeatedly telling himself that the end would justify the means; that Samehada was rightfully his, the Second Coming of the Demon; that no torment was too great to take control of Hoshigaki Kisami's legacy. Then, of course, Killer B would abruptly bellow an off-key verse and he would begin to second guess the import of his self-appointed mission once again.
In all sincerity, if Suigetsu had to listen to one more poorly rapped performance by the Eight-Tails jinchuuriki, he might very well fire a pressurized water bullet into his own head just to end his misery.
He had contemplated going for Kiba, the twin blades that had been bequeathed by Ameyuri Ringo to Killer B's student, Omoi, prior to Samehada and then thought better of it. Previous encounters had shown that he could not defeat Killer B in honorable battle. He would need the element of surprise on his side to take Samehada and, regrettably, slicing Omoi limb from limb and absconding with Kiba would definitely cause Killer B to be on the alert.
Suigetsu's magenta eyes lit with anticipation when Killer B slowed in his solo hike of Denkou Sakari, the tallest and deadliest mountain in Kaminari no Kuno, the Land of Lightning. Excitement thrummed just beneath the surface as he spied the other shinobi amble into a clearing that held a sizeable tributary. With his water release technique, this pit stop would afford him the perfect opportunity to attack.
Before Suigetsu could go on the offensive, however, a messenger hawk descended to his hideaway amid a heavy cluster of trees. It cawed and landed on a bough directly above his flaxen head. Almost immediately thereafter, he felt something wet, slimy and entirely disagreeable drop onto his crown. He experimentally touched the foul substance, then lowly cursed its identity and his anger in unison, "Shit!"
He irritably snatched the correspondence, though not expediently enough to avoid a harsh nip from the hawk's beak. "Fucking hell!"
In a finishing act of enmity, the hawk spread its vast wings and launched itself while coming in such close proximity with Suigetsu as to induce a loss of balance. A screech of triumph reverberated as it took to the sky and the saw-toothed shinobi was sent crashing to the ground. "Goddammit!"
"Yo! Hey! Oh!" a jarring voice suddenly belted from his rear. "Aren't you the Houzuki ~brat~ that used to hang with the Uchiha ~phat cat~?"
Fist clenching at the unread parchment, Suigetsu solemnly swore that if he made it out of this tight spot he would journey to Konohagakure for the singular purpose of plucking that summons bald and using the spoils to tar and feather its master.
"Is that a deuce on your head, ~Jack~?" Killer B mercilessly persisted in spitting bars. "Because... ewww… that's ~whack~!"
TO BE CONTINUED