I Do not own Naruto, If I did I wouldn't bother writing Fan Fiction.

A Price for Peace

Chapter: 7 A Long Afternoon

Karin walked through the streets of the underground city still struggling to come to terms with the fact that she may well have agreed to follow Naruto to her death. 'What was I thinking! It should have been so easy for me to just to say thanks for taking me this far, then leave him to go die on top of some Kami forsaken mountain. But I just couldn't do it.' she contemplated while looking around in the artificial daylight of Iwame.

The kunoichi didn't know why but the thought of Naruto leaving without her was quite painful. Just the thought of it made Karin quickly search for Naruto's chakra signature and let out a sigh of relief when she felt him still at the hotel.

After a short walk through the rather busy streets Karin found herself in a large town square. In the center was a large fountain that lit up the water in various colors, and several children were sitting at the edges trying to catch fish that lived in the water at the base. The area was lined with what seemed like high end stores each selling different types of products. It was as if all stores had their own specialty and none of the others would even think of competing.

Another thing that Karin instantly noticed was that where ever she looked the people wore high quality clothing, in comparison she looked like a street beggar. She only had two sets of clothes, the ones given to her in Konoha and the set she was wearing when Sasuke had almost killed her, by this time both were looking a little worse for wear. Only now was she so self conscious of how badly scuffed and worn they both were. 'I'm going to need some new clothes anyway, why not buy some stuff now?' she thought making her way over towards what appeared to be a large clothing store.

Upon entering the store Karin was instantly approached by several store clerks. "Good afternoon miss, it seems you are in desperate need of a new look." a young woman a few years older than Karin said. She had shoulder length black hair that was pulled back into a short ponytail and dark blue eyes. She wore what appeared to be the store uniform of a light blue button up shirt and black trousers.

Ignoring the rather obvious insult for the time being Karin nodded. "I've been traveling for quite some time and I need some new clothes. Some warm ones for mountain climbing as well." she said not wanting to cause a scene.

"Yes you certainly have the look of someone in Iwame for mountaineering." The woman said not at all trying to mask her insults of Karin's current appearance.

'Wow what a bitch, I should teach her some manners.' Karin raged angrily but calmed herself knowing she needed to stay under the radar. "Look can you help me or not?" she asked eventually in a rather aggressive tone.

"I can certainly try, this way please." the woman said leading Karin to a large section of the store that sold survival equipment. "I trust that you know your size. I believe some of the larger items are sold out however." the store clerk said once more insulting Karin.

"That's fine, In fact I'm wearing baggy clothing, in case you hadn't noticed." the kunoichi replied through clenched teeth as calmly and kindly as she could muster.

"Oh of course, how silly of me I guess I was just distracted by the state of your attire." the woman spoke, a small smirk gracing her features.

"Well thank you for showing me here, I can handle the rest on my own thank you." Karin replied, her anger at the woman steadily building.

"I'm sorry it is store policy to stay with our customers to be sure they are not attempting to steal." the woman said with a good deal of fake sweetness in her voice. She also decided to ignore the fact that all around the store there were families shopping alone. 'Maybe she doesn't trust me because of how I look at the moment?' The kunoichi reasoned.

Karin just shook her head and tried to ignore the woman's snide remarks as she searched through racks of clothing. Eventually she picked out a tight fitting black undershirt that could be used when it was too hot to wear the lavender and blue ski jacket and pants that she picked out for warmth. She didn't know much about the Insurmountable peaks but one thing that she did know was that it would be cold. She also grabbed several sets of tight black pants and short sleeve tops of various colors on the off chance that should they actually survive the trip, where they were going was warm. It was quite expensive but Karin couldn't care less after all for all she knew they didn't even have people where she was going let alone stores.

"You seem to have quite a lot of stuff, was that your only outfit or something?" the rather rude woman asked.

Karin's nerve was running thin everything she did was criticized and everything ended in an insult. "It wouldn't matter if it was, I'm traveling and I happened to like these clothes not I suggest you do your job and take my money so I can leave." she said firmly.

Karin finished paying for her clothes and decided to return to her room to drop them off, she could come back later to explore, the village more and this woman had put her in a rather bad mood, something that Naruto picked up on the moment she opened the door. "Whats wrong?" he asked as she stalked into the small hotel apartment.

"Nothing I just had a hard time buying some clothes I liked." Karin said not willing to say that she was upset by a store clerk.

"Really where was the store? I need to get some warmer clothes myself." Naruto asked hoping she wasn't in such a bad mood as to refuse his question.

"There is a large shopping district not far from here, the clothes store has everything you will need. I can show you later if you want?" Karin offered slightly reluctantly as she had no real desire to be anywhere near that woman again.

"That would be awesome. In that case, I'll buy us some dinner afterword, as thanks then." Naruto replied offhandedly.

Karin flushed slightly red although Naruto didn't see as he was busy making a list of things he would need to survive for a few months in the wilderness. "Y-y-you mean like a d..date?" she said her voice shaking slightly unsure how to respond to such a thing.

Naruto as always just expected the worst and turned shaking his hands defensively. "No not like that, it's just as a thank you for helping me out." he said slightly hoping Karin took the subject of dinner with him better than Sakura ever had.

"Oh, in that case sure. It's not like we wont be eating alone together at times from now on anyway." Karin said with a smile she felt both relieved and yet disappointed at the same time by Naruto's declaration that it wasn't a date. "Just let me go jump in the shower and get changed and we can go." she added before entering her room to drop off her clothes and pick out a pair to wear before entering the bathroom.

When the kunoichi exited the bathroom she had her hair tied back because it was still slightly wet from the shower and was wearing long black trousers, her baggy and worn top was replaced by a navy blue shirt that clung to her figure. This was the first time Naruto had seen her in any attire that didn't completely hide her curves and he was currently at a loss to explain why she would want to. At only sixteen she was still developing but she had the makings of a fine hourglass figure, hips and chest well proportioned for someone her age. "I like your new look." Naruto said with a friendly tone. If he was smart he would have stopped there, unfortunately Naruto was rarely smart when it came to the fairer sex. "It's much better than the bulky jacket you were wearing, you look like a real woman now."

Karin went red with a mixture of a blush at the compliment and anger. "Are you saying I looked like a man before!?" she asked half yelling in a threatening tone.

Naruto paled and shook held his hands up in a defensive position fearing the worst. "No I'm sorry I was just saying that you looked really cute and pretty, I didn't mean anything by it. I'm sorry!" he said really quickly hoping to calm the kunoichi before she hit him. He paused for a moment when no pain followed. 'Huh that's strange usually I would be embedded in a wall by now.' he thought.

Kurama chuckled at this thought. 'As much as I find your perceptions amusing, not every female is as violent as the pink haired one. If you spent more time with others you may have found that out by now.' The fox lectured. He was never a big fan of Sakura, her tendency to do nothing of any real use seemed to irk the fox even before he and Naruto became friends.

Karin had found Naruto's cowering quite humorous but the declaration that he said she was cute made her blush return. 'Damn, what is wrong with me, I can't be getting all flustered from what was just a simple compliment. Well he is the first person to tell me that they liked how I looked, but still only a compliment.' She thought stalking past the blond over to the entrance to the Hotel room. "Come on idiot, if we don't get a move on the store will close and you won't be able to get any new clothes." she said while opening the door and stalking outside.

'She seems mad.' Naruto fretted before getting up and following after Karin. "Hey wait up!" the blond called after the kunoichi who had continued to walk away.

Karin pretended not to hear but in the end it didn't matter, even without using chakra Naruto was much faster than the red head. "Oh you decided to show up after all. Well come on, maybe we can find something that will make you look like a real man." she said throwing Naruto's words back at him.

Naruto wanted to ask what was wrong with the clothes he had on, but decided against it enough people made fun of his orange jumpsuits for him to know that maybe he didn't know that much about fashion. So it was possible that his choice of civilian attire may not have been any better, he didn't really care though. He just wore what he liked.

The rest of the walk was in almost complete silence making both teens thankful that it was only a short trip from their room to the large town square. Without speaking Karin led the blond to the clothing store and couldn't help but grimace as the same store clerk came to serve them. "I'm sorry we don't do returns, but if it makes you feel any better if you lost a few pounds the top would fit perfectly." she said taking great pleasure out of her veiled insult.

"I don't think so, it looks fine to me." Naruto said having just over heard the end of the conversation.

The woman turned her head to reply in her usual condescending manner when she stopped. In this country Naruto was somewhat unique, his sun kissed skin, spiky golden locks and Azure blue eyes all left the woman quite speechless. After getting over her initial shock she completely forgot all about Karin. "How may I help you today sir?" she asked in a happy and professional tone.

"Well I'm looking for some rather practical clothes. I'm going to be climbing mountains so I need something warm." Naruto said.

"Ah yes right this way sir." the store clerk replied and latched onto his arms.

Karin for her part was in a stunned rage. She didn't know what was worse, the woman assuming she was here to return the clothes she brought and saying she needed to lose a few pounds, or her unashamed flirting with Naruto. She didn't snap back into reality until the pair were several feet away, making the female Uzumaki catch up.

"So do you see anything you like? Or maybe you would like some help choosing?" the store clerk said once guiding Naruto to the right section of the store. The area was filled to the ceiling with outfits of varying sizes each made for the severe cold.

"Uh I guess I could use some help, I've always been told I have bad taste when it comes to clothing." Naruto chuckled rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"I see, well in that case let me take a look at you and see what we are working with." the store clerk said and quickly yanked the shirt off Naruto's back. She was instantly forced to repress a blush while silently admiring the view.

"Hey!?" Naruto yelled in surprise. He wasn't angry as he just assumed she was doing her job, but it was still a little sudden.

This was the scene that Karin walked in on when she finally caught up with the pair. "What the hell is going on here!?" she asked in shock. When Naruto turned to face her she turned a shade of red that only Hinata had ever been able to achieve. Naruto had always been well toned but his sage training and then the war had left him looking as though he was carved out of stone and the seal on his stomach and one scar that sat just to the side of his heart were the only blemish that made him seem unrefined yet dangerous at the same time.

"So that's why I have my shirt off." Naruto finished explaining only to then realize that Karin had a far away look in her eyes and was bright red.

'I think you broke her." Kurama chuckled.

'What did I do? What's wrong with her?' Naruto asked urgently quickly going over to check on the dazed kunoichi.

'Nothing you should concern yourself with at the moment that's for sure.' the fox answered cryptically.

'Good to see you're as helpful as ever.' Naruto replied with a deadpan expression.

The store clerk saw Karin's reaction and decided that she would have a little fun with the pair. "Oh I'm sorry I had no idea your girlfriend would react like that, is she alright?" she asked sweetly.

"Yeah I think so. But she's not my girlfriend." Naruto replied. The sound of talking had finally woken Karin from her minds slumber.

"Oh I didn't mean to say anything that I shouldn't, I just assumed with the way she was following you around, that you were spoken for. So if she isn't your girlfriend then what is she?" the store clerk said getting closer to the blond in slightly bold move. She had initially wanted to flirt with Naruto in order to get under the kunoichi's skin but finding out he was single, and what some would call a perfect physical specimen her goals had changed.

"I guess that we are traveling companions. We only got to the village today and our clothes were a bit worn. So that's why we are here." Naruto explained.

"So I guess you don't know your way around the village then? Maybe when I get off my shift we could go grab something to eat then I could show you around." The woman said tracing her hand softly down his abs in a not so subtle hint at what she really wanted.

'Are you kidding me! This bitch is going after Naruto? Well there is no way I'm going to let that happen.' Karin thought, the thought of Naruto and this woman together made her very angry mostly because of how badly she had been treated earlier on that day. "Sorry but Naruto can't tonight, he already promised to take me out for dinner." she snapped once more making her presence known.

"Oh but I am sure you can reschedule something so trivial, right? You two are travel companions so you should be used to eating together." the store clerk said only taking her attention away from Naruto for a second to smirk at Karin who was glaring at her.

'What the hell is with this woman, from the moment I entered the store she has been looking down on me, but I'm not letting you have your way this time, I can't make a scene but I sure as hell wont let her do what she wants with Naruto.' Karin mused.

Naruto was not exactly sure what was going on but could sense that Karin was not happy, he didn't even need to be channeling Kurama's chakra to see that. "Look thank you for the offer, but Karin is right, I promised her dinner so I'll have to turn down your offer this time, sorry." he said.

The woman's tone changed immediately. "What am I not pretty enough for you?" she asked agressively. "Or maybe you just prefer that nerdy bitch with the glasses."

"Enough!" Naruto said. His voice held so much power and commanded respect while not being overly loud. "I don't know what your problem with Karin is but you will not speak to her like that while I'm around. Now apologize then get out of my sight!" He ordered for the first time looking like the experienced shinobi that was the hero in a war.

The store clerk seemed to visibly shrink under Naruto's intense gaze and she slowly nodded. "I... I'm sorry, for how I behaved." she said before running away back to the front of the store.

"Wow." Karin gasped in shock struggling to come to terms with what just happened.

"Uh sorry about that, but the way she was speaking about you was not right. She didn't even know you and was judging you from what she had seen. I lived through something not at all dissimilar so I know how painful words and stares can be." Naruto admitted.

Karin was at a loss for words, Naruto continued to surprise her. She never expected him to defend her in such a way. In fact nobody had ever stood up for her like that before. She had often dreamed of Sasuke defending her honor when she was just a few years younger but she soon found out he was never going to be that type of person, that was unless it helped him achieve what ever goal he had. "Nobody has ever done something like that for me before." she said her voice still weak from being in shock.

"Well they shouldn't ever have to. Nobody should talk to you or anyone else like that. Anyway I chased the store assistant away, so do you think you can help me pick out some clothes?" Naruto replied hoping to get back to the reason why they came to the store in the first place.

Karin nodded, more than happy to help Naruto out after what he had done. "Uh yeah sure. But can you do something for me first?"

"Sure what is it?" he asked happily.

"Can you put your shirt back on? It's kinda... distracting." Karin admitted another small blush crossing her cheeks.

"Oh right sorry." Naruto replied.

Once decent again Karin began looking over the different styles of clothing. "They don't have any ninja stuff here obviously but maybe you should grab some stuff that will be easy to move in, try these." Karin said handing Naruto a jet black turtle neck top that fit perfectly.

"It's good, but I don't think this is going to be warm enough." Naruto said inspecting the thin woolen material.

"Of course it's not, but you wear that underneath a jacket as an extra layer. Besides with any luck it we wont be living in the snow on top of some mountain for the rest of out lives." Karin retorted handing the blond a thick black and red jacket,lined with furs making it instantly warm and comfortable.

"Okay now I get it, if it was me I would have just grabbed the first set of thermal jacket and pants that I came across." Naruto chuckled.

"Baka." she scolded shaking her head. "Do you want to get anything else? Maybe some clothes for when we get to the other side? The mountains don't go on forever so it might be a good idea to grab some clothes for warmer climates?" she added.

"It might be a good idea, but with all the food and camping supplies we need to take I don't want to be weighed down by anything unnecessary. So this stuff will have to do, just grab me a few more of the shirts to wear under the jacket and we can go, I did promise you dinner after all." Naruto said happily.

"Then what are we waiting for. Lets pay for this stuff and get out of here... And you better take me somewhere nice, I want to enjoy my last few days in civilization and that means eating well." Karin delared.

Naruto could almost hear his beloved Gama-chan crying from the hammering it was about to take. True to her word Karin found what looked like the most expensive place in the whole village, it was several floors tall each with a different style of food. Or as they called it cuisine from around the Elemental Nations. Each of the great nations had a floor specifically designed to match it's scenery. Naruto found the Land of Water most interesting as it was designed like an aquarium, the walls were all large fish tanks filled with exotic species of fish that Naruto had never seen before. "What about this one?" Naruto asked hoping to have a better look around.

"You think I'm having sea food as my last proper meal? No that's way too cheap." Karin replied enjoying the fact that Naruto hadn't even argued and let her tack command.

"That's not true, what about lobsters? Those bastards are expensive." Naruto said in a matter of fact tone.

"Hm well as tempting as that is I think I'll still pass." came Karin's joyous reply.

'See what happens when you don't listen to me? I told you that we should have just killed her back when she found the caravan. And now look, she's being difficult. I say that's a point for me.' Kurama said as they walked past the Land of Water room.

'I can't just go around killing people because they're being difficult. Besides I don't mind so much, from what I can tell she hasn't had many people treat her with any kindness or respect so letting her choose what we have for dinner is nothing special.' Naruto replied.

'Gah fine, just don't become attached to her. I shouldn't need to remind you that she was once trying to hunt you down and kill you.' the fox replied in annoyance.

'Hm where have I heard something similar before? Oh now I remember it was you telling me that you would rip me apart limb from limb. I have no intention of growing attached to Karin, but if I can convince you to be my friend and give up on hatred, then I can deal with her.' Naruto replied confidently.

One at a time Naruto and Karin moved passed the other rooms. Each depicting the environment of the individual nation. Finally the kunoichi came to a stop at a door into a room looked like a well lit forest floor. The wooden tables looked like tree stumps. Instantly Naruto felt a hint of nostalgia. "The Land of Fire." he said almost longingly. It perfectly reminded him of the forests around Konoha, almost to the point that he thought it may have been some genjutsu.

"We'll eat here, seems like the room chose us." Karin said dragging Naruto into the forested room.

"Why did you pick this room?" Naruto asked quite pleased that she did.

Karin smirked at the question. "Well for one the Land of Earth and Land of Fire rarely trade with each other so the food from here will be the most expensive." she informed him.

"Oh" Naruto said with a week chuckle knowing he was going to be significantly lower in pay after this.

"But what made up my mind was your reaction. This was where you wanted to eat, not just out of interest in some stupid fish, that would have distracted you from the food." she added honestly.

"And that seafood despite the fact we are quite possible the furthest distance away from water in the elemental nations making it far more expensive than anything else is still too cheap right?." Naruto added with a smirk of his own. A waiter came and took their orders, before exiting without further word.

"I didn't think about that." Karin admitted with a face palm. "Oh well this place is nicer anyway. I think if I was going to settle down somewhere it would be in a place like this. I always secretly hoped that Sasuke would go back to Konoha and take me with him." she sighed.

Naruto burst out laughing at this. "That sounds just like Sakura-chan and Ino when they were younger. Always chasing after Sasuke trying to 'mend his wounded heart'. I never understood what everyone saw in him? I mean he never said anything unless you were a fan of ape like grunting." Naruto laughed.

Karin had to face palm again. She had had rather similar thoughts about Sasuke at times. "I guess I was not much better at all. Maybe I was just a little girl with a crush, I thought his dark attitude was cool. Well that was up to the point he killed that Danzo guy, and stabbed me in the chest."

"Nothing like a chidori to the chest to give you a wake up call. It made me realize that I needed to be far stronger if I ever wanted to achieve any of my dreams." Naruto said subconsciously rubbing the scar on his chest.

Karin remembered the scar on Naruto's chest from when he took off his shirt and then placed her hand against her own scar that Sasuke had caused. It was thin and thanks to Sakura healing it almost immediately after the incident, it was all but invisible. In her mind however the image remained, she would often have nightmares of the scene playing over and over in her head. "Did it hurt? I was so stunned at what happened that when he hit me with the jutsu I didn't even feel anything, well at least I didn't feel any pain." Karin asked. The attack had crushed her emotionally, that pain had lasted long after the physical wound had been healed.

"That's a difficult question, I can't even remember it, I wasn't exactly myself when I was fighting and I blacked out almost instantly after. I would have died but I have a natural healing ability, and paired with uh... my other gift, allowed my body to heal." Naruto admitted.

"You have a healing ability?" Karin asked slightly surprised, she was the only person that she knew with chakra that had healing qualities.

"Yeah I thought for a long time it was just luck or something else healing me so quickly." Naruto said looking down at his stomach indicating the seal.

"The Kyuubi?" she guessed in a hushed whisper being extra careful that nobody could hear.

Naruto nodded slowly, he had guessed Karin knew about his Bijuu but had decided not to bring the topic up."Yeah, but it turns out his chakra doesn't heal me at all, it was my own natural ability to heal that was healing me, and when I used Kurama's chakra it sort of super powered the ability." Naruto admittied.

"Oh... wait, Kurama?" Karin questioned.

Naruto paused and made sure nobody was in earshot beofre speaking. "The Bijuu all have names, they all told me their names before giving me some of their power to fight Obito and Madara. Kurama is the Kyuubi's name." he explained.

"Amazing, every time I think I have you figured out you say or do something that completely stuns me." The kunoichi admitted in awe.

"Well they did call me Konoha's number one unpredictable knuckle head ninja." although at the time I think it was partly an insult." Naruto replied rubbing the side of his head trying to decide on what Kakashi had meant all those years ago by giving him that title.

Karin for her part giggled at the thought. "I think that it sums you up perfectly." she agreed.

The waiter returned bringing their food and they sat and ate, quietly talking about this and that. The most common topic of discussion was their pasts and often Sasuke although neither really enjoyed talking about the desist Uchiha for long.

After paying for their dinner the two teens walked home still talking lively about the things they like and dislike. "This was actually quite fun. Thank you for taking me out tonight." Karin said honestly when they began to head towards their own bedrooms.

"It was nothing, what are friends for. Besides if we're going to travel together we should at least get used to being in each others company." Naruto replied with his friendly smile. "Well good night Karin. There is a lot of stuff to do tomorrow." and with that Naruto entered his room the door closing shut behind him.

End Chapter!

Not much happened this chapter I know, I wanted to spend a chapter on the character development of Karin, that will begin to lead the pair towards a relationship. Focusing mainly the fact that it is highly likely she had never been around anyone like Naruto for a worthwhile period of time so his kind and happy nature is still somewhat foreign to her. Also indicating any feelings she may already be having for the blond she brushes them off as something else, not wanting to feel anything for Naruto.

In any event thanks for reading. Suggestions for what you would like to see happen are always welcome, and don't be afraid to criticize I can take it... I hope lol.