Chapter Twenty Two

"You're mad at me."

Suigetsu looked up when he heard Karin's voice. She was standing in the doorway, looking troubled. He'd taken up his sword, polishing it as a sort of soothing exercise. Now he put it away and stood up.

She stepped back through the doorway, using the wall as a barrier.

His face hardened into a frown and she retreated further.

"Karin, what are you doing?"

She seemed to shrink from his harsh tone, which only served to annoy him further. He stormed forward, trapping her against the wall as she backed up into it.

"What is it?" He snapped.

"You're mad at me!" She accused him, though she still wasn't showing the spirit he was used to.

"So what if I am?" He snarled back.

She stared up at him in shock and surprise and it pissed him off.

"Yell at me! Hit me over the head! Do something, Karin!" He yelled, "Because if you don't show some spirit tomorrow, you're going to wish that you were back in Konoha, in your nice, cushy cell!"

Her eyes narrowed, but it wasn't the dangerous narrowing that he was hoping for.

"You think I'm mad at you? Well, you're wrong! I'm not mad, Karin! I'm embarrassed!"

She jolted as if she'd been slapped, and he loomed over her.

"I'm embarrassed that my sensei saw you as you are: pathetic, crying, weak!"

"I'm not weak." She snapped.

"Aren't you? Because, from where I'm standing, you're as weak as piss!"

She moved to push past him, but he didn't budge. She shoved at his chest, but still, he didn't move.

"Suigetsu, move your scrawny arse out of my way!" She hissed, still pushing at him.

"Make me!"

Her eyes narrowed and, before he could move, her hands had flown through a series of hand gestures. She struck him in the solar plexus, though the blow itself felt like she'd pushed her hand in under his ribs. He realized that later, because he had been thrown clear across the room at the time.

He crashed into the far wall, his body turning into water on impact.

He pulled himself together to find her standing in the doorway, mouth in a firm line, eyes flashing, and her unkempt hair almost alive with electricity. It took everything in him to relax his stance, put on a smirk and wait for her to approach like he was completely unconcerned.

"I'm weak? You half-arsed, lowdown, good for nothing, lame-brained, shit-eating, fuck head!" She yelled, stalking across the room. All of her cursing was just making him smile wider, which only served to increase her anger.

She kicked him in the knee cap and it dissolved, causing him to lose his balance. On his way to the floor she gripped his throat and jerked him back up to her eye level. He mentally cursed his reactions, which had caused him to adapt his body's surface tension to sustain her blows, as he felt her tighten her grip.

"You're calling me weak?" She growled at him, flexing her fingers.

He found his feet, rising to his full height and looking down at her. The skin of his throat was molding around her fingers, which lessened the effect of her strangle-hold. One of his hands came up to grip her wrist; the other drew her in to his chest.

"See? This is what I'm talking about!" Suigetsu grinned, "You need to be your old, bitchy, self-important, arrogant self."

Karin looked at him in confusion, trying to pull back while he held her in place. Having him change his attitude so many times in the last ten seconds was worse than trying to mentally follow someone like Madara teleporting all over the place.

"So, you want me to be a bitch?" She asked, uncertainly.

He nodded, "While you're training with my sensei, you'll have to be."

"So, only at training?"

He was looking at her as if to say, why is this taking so long to sink in, but she was ignoring it as she mulled over his request.

"You want me to be two different people?"

He raised an eyebrow, growing increasingly confused by her questions, and nodded again.

She hit him in the face.

"That's not fair!"

"What?" He spluttered, reforming his head and leaning away from her.

"It's not fair to expect me to act like two different people when you're an arsehole all the time!"

She growled warningly as he started laughing, pulling her into a hug.

"Promise me you'll never change."

Still stuck in his arms, Karin yelled, "That's the complete opposite of what you just said!"

Suigetsu laughed harder.