"Who the hell are you?"

Taken aback by the bluntness of the question, Sakura blinked, unsure of what to say. Then she came to her senses and narrowed her eyes at the rude girl. "I could ask you the same question," she retorted. Sakura stood up and stared her down. She didn't know who the hell this girl thought she was, but Sakura was pretty sure she didn't like her attitude. Judging from the girl's glare, Sakura was certain the feeling was mutual. Sakura, feeling apprehensive underneath her defiant pose, shook her short pink hair out and crossed her arms.

The girl smirked. "Oh, I know who you are now. You're Sakura Haruno, aren't you? Sasuke's old...teammate," she sneered at the word teammate.

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. She knew who this girl was! Karin was an active member of Hawk, a subordinate of Sasuke's. Her bipolar hair, her red eyes, her attitude, even the way she lingered on Sasuke's name, gave her away. Sakura's green eyes narrowed even further. Now she was positive she didn't like this girl. And instead of feeling apprehensive and calculating the way she always felt before a fight, Sakura felt strangely happy and pissed off at the same time. This was the perfect person to take her anger out on.

"Then I would be right to assume that you're Karin? A member of...Hawk," Sakura spat out the word like it was poison. Karin only grinned wider.

"Guilty as charged, bitch. What? Are you jealous that I've taken your place in Sasuke's heart? You are. I can see it on your face. Still hoping that Sasuke thinks of you sometimes?" her voice took on a mocking, high-pitched tone, "That he wishes he never left your little village and all your little friends?" The mocking tone disappeared and Karin's voice hardened, "Well, you're wrong. Sasuke has never looked back since that day and he never will. Sasuke's too much of a man to have such stupid regrets. Even if you did cry like the weak little girl that you are."

Sakura's fists were clenched so tight that her nails were drawing blood from her palms. Her jaws were locked together in a frozen grimace. With every word that Karin spoke, her vision got just a little more red with rage.

Karin didn't stop there. "Did you cry for him, you stupid slut? Did you cry for your lost, lonely friend? He always hated you. He said you were irritating and weak. No wonder he left."

Snap. There it was. The little barrier in Sakura's mind that kept her sane shattered. Screaming wordlessly, she launched herself against the clearing at Karin. Karin just barely had time to dodge Sakura's punch. It landed on a tree instead, splitting it clean in the middle from top to bottom. Karin, a little breathless from the last minute dodge, still kept her arrogant demeanor.

"Didn't make you angry, did I? Well--Ugh!" Karin's sentence was cut short as Sakura drove a fist into her stomach. She flew backwards, bones cracking as she collided into a tree with a boom.

"Ah!" Karin stood slowly, spitting out blood. She was no longer smirking.

"You wanna play with me, bitch? Very well, we'll play." Karin threw herself at Sakura in a flurry of spinning kicks and punches. Sakura switched to defensive mode, whirling to block the attacks. She finally landed a series of hits, smacking back Sakura's head and sweeping her legs out from underneath her. Sakura hit the ground hard, bruising the entire left side of her face.

"Ugh!" she grunted, the wind knocked out of her. Karin delivered a swift kick to Sakura's solar plexus, than leapt out of the way as Sakura's hand snaked out to catch her around the ankle. Sakura got back up and then hurled herself across the clearing once more at her enemy. She no longer thought of mapping out strategies or planning her next attack. Her mind was consumed with rage. She only cared about the brute force that she threw at her adversary, how much pain she was causing her. Sakura wanted her to suffer like she had suffered. She growled with pleasure at the thought of Karin suffering.

Underneath her bitter anger, Karin was surprised at herself. Normally, she did not act so undisciplined. She worked hard to keep her emotions under control and prized herself on having such a tight control over her emotions. It was necessary, in order to keep up with the rest of the members of the Hawk. This case was different, though. This was about Sasuke. Boy, did he make her hot. He was so calm and controlled. He was also so handsome that it made Karin want to jump all over him and eat him right up. The way Karin saw it, Sakura was bitter about losing her opportunity with Sasuke and now she was trying to move in on what was now Karin's territory. Why couldn't she and that doofus Jinchuuriki just leave Sasuke alone? Couldn't they see he had moved on? That he was better off without them? Sasuke didn't need them anymore. Karin scoffed at the thought. The only person Sasuke needed was Karin.

And technically...you know...the other two....

Karin didn't have any more time to dwell on Sasuke as Sakura drew several shruiken from her pouch and launched them at Karin. Karin dived out of the way, one shruiken slicing the back of her leg. Not even sparing a second to glnce at her injury, Karin whipped out a kunai and launched at Sakura, who ducked just in time. It hit the tree behind her instead and promptly blew up. Sakura just barely got out of the way in time, though several splinters from the explosion peppered her back. Grimacing at the sharp pain, she drew a kunai just as Karin did and leapt at her, locking their weapons together.

"I hate you," she gasped before withdrawing again.

Karin backed into a tree and wheezed, "The feeling's mutual, you shrew."

And again, they went at it.

Somewhere further away in the forest, beside a felled tree, Flicker sat, frozen and wide-eyed, clutching his nut. The tree that had come so dangerously close to crushing him before had fallen just to the right of Flicker, making him the luckiest squirrel in the whole forest. He looked down at the nut in his hand and suddenly the thoughts of impending doom vanished. He got the nut! The delicious, unreachable treasure was finally his! He couldn't wait to climb back up into his home and store it away for later!

Flicker started to prance back up to the tree and then stopped. Flicker looked at the tree on the ground, somewhere it was not meant to be. His little hovel had been inconveniently relocated to the forest floor underneath the crushing weight of the tree. He gasped and then scrambled to find his little hole. He found it alright. All the nuts he had carefully collected and stored for all those months had fallen out of the tree and had been pulverized by the tree's weight. What Flicker was looking at now was nut dust.

It is an odd thing, to see a squirrel cry.