Warning: Long character introspective up ahead. Also, wave goodbye to major canon events—we won't be seeing those again until the time for the Finals. Oh, and my apologies for any possible OOC-ness.
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Chapter 4: Karin
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Karin's eyes absentmindedly trailed behind the two girls who had just concluded their match and were currently being picked up by their respective teachers. As the arena is left empty her eyes remain focused on it, but she is not really seeing a thing. Her mind is elsewhere, mulling over all the things that had happened in an unbelievably short amount of time.
For starters, there no longer was anyone by her side.
Ryuu had been called out to fight as well—and had consequently been beaten. He had done what he could but he was utterly outmatched, and as soon as a tempest of bugs flew towards him he had raised his hand and given up without any hesitation. She was now the only one who remained from her team; the only symbol of Kusagakure left standing. And with each match that went by, another part of her body began to tremble. By now, she has been able to see the kind of abilities that those who had advanced to this round possessed—and she didn't have an ounce of them. She did not have anything remotely comparable, nothing that could possibly help her hold her own against any of them. Heck, she didn't even know how to do a bunshin, for pity's sake.
Back when Kurotaro had been beaten, the excitement due to Sasuke's win had numbed down everything else to the point where she had blissfully forgotten what was awaiting her, thinking instead that it had all been worth it just to get to see such a display of skills and audacity—plus Kurotaro being taught a lesson as well, of course. But enough time has gone by, and little by little, her senses surely began to awaken—and by now, Karin almost wished they could have stayed asleep.
The elation had been unquestionably more reassuring than the sinking feeling of trepidation she felt now. And she always finds herself holding her breath whenever the names left on the board start to flash by, always finds herself fearing what was to come until her heart almost seemed like it was going to burst out her chest.
This time is no different. What is different though is that Karin's petite body isn't overwhelmed by a sense of relief afterward, strong enough to wash away any leftovers from the bitter anxiety that she could always taste on her mouth. This time anxiety wins the battle instead, and she can taste it clearer than ever; cool as steel, bitter like vinegar, frightening like only fear itself could be.
And regardless of how much she desired it to be so, she knows that her eyes aren't playing tricks on her—it is her name the one written on the board with those ominous yellow characters, and it is she the one being called out to fight.
The one called out to meet her impending defeat.
I don't have a chance.
It was the truth. The undeniable truth that she had never truly attempted to hide, never truly attempted to discard—but had attempted to overlook, however briefly, and now it was coming back to bite her because she had never stopped to think of what she would do once she was called forth. All she had done is limit herself to hope, to pray for it to not be her turn—but that had only been postponing the inevitable, Karin knew, and now the inevitable had caught up to her and was hanging above her like a heavy veil of despair.
I'm only going to get beaten.
Undoubtedly so, and if anything the fact that she was going to be fighting that girl from the Sand—the girl who was related to the cold-eyed redhead who was capable of freezing Karin's blood with only a stare, and the guy with the painted face who had been so merciless on his fight—told her that she was not only going to be beaten, but rather was going to be beaten to a pulp. Through her life, Karin has been lucky enough to not have experienced any major physical pain, and to say that the thought of receiving a beating did not scare her would be a lie.
It's going to be useless.
That much she had known from the get-go. She had not come here to win, she had come here to… she had come here because… Well, because she could.
She had come this far because she wanted to be able to witness this; to be able to live an experience that would never repeat itself. And because she had wanted to see how it was like—how it was like to feel like she was a part of something. At least for a while.
But that still didn't address her question. What did she come here to do? What, exactly? What had she intended to accomplish even when she knew, from the start, that it was hopeless?
What? What had she desired to accomplish?
Why wasn't she giving up?
It would be so easy to just raise her hand and let them know that she wouldn't be fighting. It would only take her a word to forfeit, and she would at once save herself from any physical pain and be able to stay and watch through the rest of the fights. She would not have to make a fool of herself in front of anyone either; or at least she would not have to do it for long—it would be over and done with really quickly, like ripping off a band-aid, or swallowing something bitter. It would leave an aftertaste, but she could deal with it just fine, couldn't she? She has been dealing with aftertastes all her life, after all.
So then, why wasn't she doing it? Why?
I… Meekly began a quiet voice inside of her mind, and Karin recognized it as her own as she was right then, small and scared. I… I want to…
What did she want? What?
Karin's eyes closed, her hand clutching the handrail tightly, as the weak voice inside of her head gathered the enough courage to assert what she did not dare admit out loud.
I want to be someone—
And as the unspoken words echoed inside of her mind, Karin knew them to be true.
All her life she has been moving according to what other people desired. Her father wanted her to know about the shinobi world so she had been enlisted in the village's small academy, had begun to learn things that had never caught her eye. Her mother wanted her to be wise so Karin had taken up on reading about other countries, places outside of her reach. Her village wanted her to be useful so Karin helped in the little ways she could, aiding the old woman from the shop at the end of the street or the man who had lost his cat, and working the earth when she was allowed to.
All Karin had for herself was her passion for perfumes, a passion that she couldn't even explain. It had just been born inside of her one day, and all of a sudden she had started to pay attention to the scent of the things surrounding her.
But that would hardly help her here. That would in no way help her to get anywhere—so then, what did she have left? What was left of Karin that could be of any use to the girl standing in that balcony, with her eyes shut close and her heart beating at a painfully slow pace?
What?
I want to be someone—was what the voice repeated, stronger this time, and it brought forward memories of events that Karin had temporarily forgotten. She remembered a child, running as far as her small legs could carry her through the field that surrounded the academy and sweating profusely. She remembered a young girl, studying hard until late and waking up with dark rings under her eyes, but still giving it her all and obtaining the highest score from the class, receiving as prize her father's approving smile. She remembers a girl, being chosen to come to Konoha to participate in a test that could end up taking her life, a test that she had never foreseen, a test she had never cared about.
She remembers a redhead, suddenly looking around only to find herself completely alone in an unfamiliar forest, the weight of a scroll feeling all too heavy on her small hands.
And she remembers herself, being saved from an impending and painful death by a boy who came out of nowhere. She remembers herself and she remembers his kind smile.
She remembers him, then. Remembers his fight and remembers his struggles, remembers how he had done his best despite the fact that he had been in obvious pain. Remembers how he had kept his word, how he had lived up to it—how he had shown her why he was so confident.
'I would like to be that confident, too' had that not been what she had thought, back then? And wasn't that true? Wouldn't she like to be that confident? To have the reasons to be that confident? To have the power and the will to back up her words, to show the world and to herself that she can—
—Can what?—
—Canmeet expectations and surpass them. Can leave the fear and hesitation behind and take chances. Can take chances and seize them with her own hands. Can stubbornly hold onto them, make them be worth something. Can surprise the world, can surprise herself.
I want to be someone I can be proud of.
"I want to surprise myself. I want to show myself that I can do this." Karin whispers under her breath, not even realizing that she was saying it aloud. She was too busy basking in the sensation that was currently coaxing her body, relaxing her features and her muscles, making her feel unexplainably at peace with herself.
She had been hesitant to accept that, before. Hesitant to accept the fact that she wanted to be more than she was now—that she wanted to go higher.
She had been afraid of being disappointed, she could see that now. But by being afraid—by playing safe, she had let herself down.
But not anymore
Karin wants to believe that something changed in the moment her teammates found that scroll. That something had changed in the moment she hadn't backed out and had allowed things to get this far—she wants to believe that all that had lead up precisely to this moment.
To this match.
And above anything else, with a strength so fierce that she feels adrenaline running through her veins, Karin desires to believe that this can be the start of a different stage of her life. A growing up experience, perhaps. A coming to terms with what she could be, and what she no longer wanted to be.
How far am I willing to go, then? Another voice inquired inside her head, and it sounded calm and resolute—resigned to what was to come. Prepared for it, even. But before Karin could think of a response, a male voice interrupts her thoughts.
"You can forfeit, you know. You won't have to fight her if you do."
Karin turns back to find Ryuu, who had his hands on his pockets and a few bandages covering the top of his head. He looked nonchalant, but Karin could see slight concern in his eyes and she finds herself feeling grateful to him.
If there was someone worried about her, perhaps she wouldn't have to worry so much about herself.
They say big changes start with small steps, Karin muses and lets go of the handrail. Ryuu's eyes widen, but he doesn't say a word.
Then… I'm ready to give that step.
Karin smiles, tightly.
"Wish me luck."
She says with a thread of a voice, and then begins going down the stairs.
Sasuke stood bored with his arms crossed over the handrail and trying to ignore the pain that the seal brought him, which sent annoying pulsations from time to time. Truth be told, he was beginning to regret having argued with Kakashi in favor of staying to watch the battles. There had hardly been anything interesting so far and with each passing battle there were less and less remaining for him.
That weird guy from the Sand had won in less than two minutes, and before that had been Aburame's victory, which had not been surprising as much as it had been disgusting; Sasuke might not say it aloud, but like most he was no fan of bugs.
Afterward it had been the turn of his female teammate. It had been a shame that Sakura had lost, but Sasuke had honestly found it more surprising that she had managed to draw with the blonde Yamanaka, as he had seen the blonde in action before and her abilities had always been far superior to those of the pink-haired kunoichi. Sasuke guesses that whatever Sakura went through while he and Naruto were out-cold helped her improve, enough at least to match Ino's abilities, and he couldn't deny that he was glad for her. But the truth was that though both girls had surprised him during their fight—Ino with her resourcefulness, sharp thinking and apt chakra control. What she pulled with her hair had been a good one, no doubt. And Sakura, meanwhile, had surprised him with her mind strength, which was much more than he thought she had. Though he thinks Naruto also deserves some of the credit, there; she had pulled out of Ino's technique only after hearing his voice, after all—Sasuke had still found it excruciatingly boring, as none of them had displayed any kind of remarkable ability at any point. Plus the fight drew on for way too long.
But now it was finally over and he watches with anxious interest as the screen stops and two names stand out, both female ones. Once reality dawns on him, he cannot help but to sigh; there went his last chance of watching a match he had been looking forward to. He wasn't particularly interested in seeing the abilities of the Sand girl, and he did not even know who the other girl was, so—
—Wait a minute, whispers a part of his mind, and Sasuke blinks twice before his brow furrows with slight curiosity. Could it be…?
He turns his head just in time to catch a familiar redhead beginning to walk towards the stairs, and as he watches her he can't help but to blink with surprise again.
So… she is Karin, huh?
His eyes narrow as he follows her every move, a certain something catching his eye.
… Is she shaking?
"Sasuke, what did I miss? What did I miss? Who's up against who?" Naruto reaches his side, eagerly glancing around the stage trying to catch sight of the contestants.
"That Sand girl against the last from the Grass team," Sasuke replies blandly, looking at him briefly before turning back towards the arena. "How's Sakura?"
"She is fine but still unconscious," Naruto gives him a reproaching glare from eyes that were narrowed to mere slits. "You should have gone to check up on her, teme!"
"What for? You and Kakashi went already. Someone had to stay put to fill you two in, dobe."
Naruto mutters something under his breath. Sasuke manages to catch 'cold' and 'uncaring' and 'bastard' but he doesn't bother in replying. Rather, his eyes are once again following the redhead and he is sure of it, now.
She was shaking. Her hands and her shoulders, probably her eyes, too—but he couldn't look at them from his position, as she had her head lowered in such a fashion that her bangs obscured them.
So she is scared, huh? What will you do now?
Once again their episode in the forest comes back to him, and he remembers her clearly—sprawled out in the ground utterly helplessly, kind of blind, too. With curiosity, he leans forward until part of his body is inclined past the handrail.
What do you have in store, Karin? Do you even have anything at all?
Below him Hayate clears his throat, holding back a coughing fit as both girls take their respective positions; Karin facing Sasuke's side of the upper level, while the Sand girl faced the opposite.
"Umm… Now, we'll be starting the 5th match. Are you both ready?" at receiving a confirming nod from both parties, Hayate gives a step back and announces a phrase that by now was all too familiar for Sasuke. "Then… please begin."
As soon as the referee finishes announcing the start of the fight the redhead takes out a kunai, but aside from slightly doubling her knees she doesn't really do anything else. She does not slid into any stance, does not adopt any kind of defensive posture that would allow her to correctly deflect her opponent's attacks. No nothing.
And it is precisely that which caught Sasuke's attention and caused him to frown, his eyes slightly widened.
She…—!
"Kakashi—?" he begins, but before he can say anything else his teacher has cut him short with a meaningful nod.
"So you've noticed it too, huh, Sasuke?" Sasuke turns towards the white-haired jounin then, nodding tightly, his eyes no longer widened but narrowed instead.
It's Rock Lee the one to speak afterward, his tone reflecting the curiosity he felt. "What is someone without proper shinobi training doing here, sensei?"
The man who Sasuke knew as Gai takes a few moments to reply, and when he finally does he is still looking tightly over the two girls who have yet to move. "The Land of Grass has never been one of the main shinobi villages, and so most of their people only know the basics and are considered quite weak to our standards," he averts his eyes from the arena in order to meet Sasuke's, who had turned towards him in the moment Lee had voiced out his own question. "That guy who fought against you was probably their very best; the reason why this team was sent, was because of him."
Sasuke remains silent, his mind too busy assimilating the connotations of what the weird jounin had just said. It is Kakashi the one who ends up speaking for him, though he trails of, his unspoken words being clear enough.
"So you're saying that…?"
Gai nods, meeting the eyes of his rival for a long moment before looking back at the two girls. "The girl probably got caught up on this against her will. A sacrificial lamb to fill up an empty spot, if you may."
"That's just awful." Rock Lee murmurs under his breath, and Sasuke has to agree. By Lee's side, Naruto is frowning as well.
"They shouldn't have the right to force her to come here against her will!"
"Sometimes, Naruto-kun, a person's will pales in comparison with what's important to a country. You'll understand one day." If Naruto disagrees with Gai's words he decides not to argue, clutching the handrail tightly instead, a low 'tch' leaving his lips. By his side Lee gives a step forward in order to hold onto the handrail as well, but he also remains tactfully silent.
Kakashi does the same, and Sasuke gets the feeling that this was not the first time the two jounin have witnessed a situation akin to this. Alas, this was Sasuke's first time, and he can't help the scowl that turns his lips downwards and causes his fingers to curl into loose fists, the unfairness of the situation causing anger and indignation to boil up inside of his body.
"I see. And she is up against that girl from the Sand, no less. Unless she gives up, this won't be pretty." Kakashi comments, his voice every ounce as calm as it usually was, and he doesn't even look at Gai as the green-clad jounin grins proudly.
"I'm impressed, though. She has a youthful will! I thought she'd give up as well, but she is there, facing her head on! The fire of youth will help her throughout the fight!"
The student joins the teacher then, and Sasuke turns away from the embarrassing display, ignoring them both in order to stare at his teacher instead. "Can't you do anything, Kakashi? Can't someone force her to give up?"
The jounin gives him an unreadable look for a long moment before averting his eyes and turning back towards the arena. "I'm afraid I can't. I have no right to stop her if she wishes to fight."
Sasuke narrows his eyes, already having expected such a response but still not liking it any more. Neither of the two jounin had seen the redhead sprawled on the ground, being just moments away from being devoured by a wild bear—but Sasuke had. He had witnessed it, and he had been the one to save her, so he knew better than they did just how helpless the girl truly was.
It wasn't only that she was outmatched; she was completely outclassed—like a mouse that is thrown into the cage of a cat and doesn't even attempt to run.
Why had she decided to fight? What was she trying to accomplish?
Sasuke doesn't get it, and through his mind flash by images of a forest and an opponent whose killer intent had caused Sasuke to paralyze and be resumed to a shaking mess.
But that was different, Sasuke rationalizes, his brow furrowed. He had overcome his fear and decided to fight because there was no other solution. The sick bastard wanted to have fun with them, and hadn't Sasuke raised—had Sasuke not fought to the best of his ability, just like Naruto had, the man would have killed them either way. Fighting was their only chance of survival—plus if he wasn't capable of fighting him, how would he be capable of facing his brother?
So, without a doubt the two situations were completely different. She wouldn't get killed or hurt if she simply forfeited. If what that weird jounin had said was true, then Sasuke doesn't think anyone in her village would be expecting her to accomplish anything—hell, they would probably be surprised that she even made it alive out of the whole ordeal. So then, why? Why the hell was she still standing there, with that harmless kunai meekly held in one hand and without a proper defensive stance?
You're being reckless.
He reprimands wordlessly, his eyes finally turning to look over the arena once again.
It's precisely then that the blonde speaks, shifting the weight of her body to her right foot, her closed fan swaying slightly on her hold. "So you won't come at me, huh? That's fine. I felt like giving you that chance, at least. But I'm tired of standing so… I guess this is the end for you."
Her back is turned to him but he can still hear the smirk on her voice—can imagine it; cocky and menacing, kind of similar to the one Karin's teammate had shown him before during their match. It causes Sasuke's brows to narrow even further.
It's all too easy for him to see the shiver that stirs the redhead's petite body as if it were a leaf, but before she can even attempt to do anything, the Sand girl is right behind her and her fan is no longer folded—it's open wide instead, and the simplest of its movements causes a sudden surge of wind to shove Karin away as if she were a mere fly, a low grunt of pain leaving her lips as she lands roughly on the floor with a dry thud.
By his left Naruto draws in a breath, and by his right Kakashi remains unfazed. Sasuke though clutches the handrail a little tighter—she hadn't even managed to break her own fall. She had let her body completely open, had not even protected herself with her arms—had not attempted to do a single thing to lessen the impact of the hit.
How far did her lack of technique go? How could they have sent someone with this little training? What in the world did they teach them in the Grass?
Sasuke's opponent had without a doubt possessed technique, and he also had an uncommon ability to boot. Though Sasuke would have beaten him much faster hadn't it been for the liability of the Cursed Seal, there was no denying that the guy could at least hold his own. Karin's other teammate, the guy who had fought against Aburame, had at least possessed enough shinobi training to use proper—though weak—taijutsu, which had been more than enough given the nature of the match he had taken part in.
But Karin—what did she have? Didn't she even know at least the basics of offensive or defense?
Sasuke's thoughts pause momentarily as the girl slowly begins to get up, but before she can even fully stand on her feet another sudden gush of wind wipes her away and pushes her forcefully backwards against the wall underneath the balcony. Sasuke and those on his side of the balconies have to lean forward then, in order to be able to see the redhead, and what greets their eyes isn't a pretty picture in the slightest as her body slowly slips down to the floor, visible cracks running along the wall in the parts were her body had hit with more force.
A few feet away from her the blonde girl stares with moroseness as Karin slowly begins to get up again, her head bowed low, fat droplets of blood running down her face and falling on the floor. And it's almost like the sight annoys the blonde even more, because she wipes the air with her fan again and suddenly Karin is flying one more time, this time the strength of the wind being great enough to cause her petite body to turn in midair—so she falls headfirst on the ground a few meters away from where Hayate had been standing just mere minutes ago, when he had signaled the beginning of the fight.
"Damn it…! That girl is cruel!" Naruto growls under his breath, inciting an eager nod from Lee.
An abrupt throb of pain makes Sasuke's Cursed Seal start to ache, and the boy quickly clutches the marred skin with one hand, biting back a grunt of pain. By his side, Kakashi is giving him a look but Sasuke meets his eye head on with a glare.
"I'm fine." He spat through gritted teeth before turning back towards the fight, willing the pain to go away and Kakashi to mind his own business.
"It's like she is enjoying it…" Lee murmurs softly, and none of them doubts that was indeed the case. Regardless, when Sasuke watches the way in which Karin begins to stand up again—how she attempts to prod herself up on her quivering elbows, then onto her trembling hands, then finally onto her feet, and this time her knees were shaking so much that it was a miracle that she had even managed to hold herself up—Sasuke stops bothering himself with the Sand girl in order to focus on the redhead instead, his eyebrows drawn into a tight line, his eyes widened with incomprehension mixed with annoyance.
Why won't you give up already? He asks her without words, his eyes following Karin's every move, taking in all the damage she had received and noticing all of her weak points and openings. You have nothing to prove, so why do you treat your life so lightly?
So caught up is he on his confusion that he doesn't even notice the look that Kakashi was giving him.
"Tch, I'm sick of this already. Guess I'll have to get serious." All of a sudden announces the blonde, her lips turning downwards in an ugly scowl.
If Karin hears her, she shows no indication of it. Her knees have finally stopped shaking and absentmindedly, Sasuke notices that the kunai she had been holding before was no longer in her hand. That little fact completely slips through his mind though, as his attention is fully caught by something else entirely—the redhead had just reached out to take off her broken glasses, holding onto them for a moment before discarding them aside, the thick frame falling apart as soon as it makes contact with the ground.
Sasuke's mind immediately replays a scene—replays the way the redhead had reached out and blindly groped for her glasses on the grass, as he stared down at her from the head of the defeated bear.
Can she even see without them? He wonders curiously, and his curiosity morphs into surprise as Karin simply straightens and closes her eyes.
Sasuke blinks and then looks at Kakashi, who meets his eyes and gives him a shrug of his shoulders as response to his unasked question. A quick look around him reveals that everyone seemed to be just as confused as they were by Karin's actions, including the blonde who was fighting against her.
After a moment of silence, the look of bewilderment erases itself from the blonde's face and is replaced by a smirk, which is followed by a curt chuckle. "So you'll accept your defeat honorably, huh? If you hadn't annoyed me so much, I could've even spared you the full strength of my fan. Heh, too bad."
It all happens in less than the blink of an eye.
The blonde picks up her fan and with one swift movement, stronger than any of the previous ones, she waves it—and it's like a hurricane is suddenly being thrown at full speed towards Karin, who remained motionless, her eyes closed and her shoulders straightened, and Sasuke's eyes widened as she—
—It had been slight at first. That fickle. So subtle that she had almost missed it altogether, lost in that ocean of pain and ardor and ache that her bones and every cell of her body seemed to want to drown her with. With every hit she took it was like another part of her anatomy had joined the painful parade, until her mind was completely blinded for a moment—as if thousands of needless were puncturing it, just for the fun of it.
But then she had felt it. Or rather, she had realized she had felt it. That certain fluctuation of something—something that Karin could only guess was the air surrounding every inch of her—whenever the Sand girl, Temari, waved her fan. She had first felt it back when she had her back turned to her, but the sudden explosion of pain as her body twisted on the air and her back collided against the wall had completely erased the sensation from her mind, so she had to get to know it once again.
But she believes she can recognize it clearly, now. Regardless of how subtle it is, Karin thinks that if she reaches out with her senses and focuses hard enough, she will be able to pick up on it and act accordingly—try a little something that she couldn't assure would work, but that she supposed was worth a try, since she had nothing to lose.
So she takes her glasses off and feels an ache that it's almost physical as she discards them—discards what had slowly but surely become a piece of her through the years, the only thing she truly depended on. And then she closes her eyes, and focuses.
She imagines that her senses were like those perfumes that she loved so much; like an unnoticeable fragrance spreading everywhere around her like the air itself. And then she imagines each particle being as an aware being capable to pick up on the changes of the atmosphere.
Once she can picture it clearly enough she holds tightly onto it, and proceeds to put to good use what little knowledge she had been taught that could actually be useful in the situation she was in. She remembers the lessons about chakra control really well, and though they had all been about its theory—as all lessons were—so they had only practiced it once, just long enough to learn how to increase one's speed, Karin tries to forget all the data she doesn't know and gather what little she does know.
The feeling of her chakra gathering on her feet is warm; it calms down the shaking of her knees and slows down the beating of her heart, and she can feel the imaginary threads she had weaved reacting to it—can almost feel each strand of chakra as it ran from her feet to the floor and glued itself to it.
Karin cannot remember ever feeling so fused with her chakra, and absentmindedly she takes notice of the fact that it felt nice. Right, even.
However, it's then that Temari's voice reaches her ears, though they drown out the sound until Karin can only register slight murmurs, not being able to make what she was truly saying. But she doesn't really think it mattered much, since as soon as Temari's voice quiets down Karin is able to hear something much louder.
The sound of air cutting through air. She hears it but she had already felt it before that, a certain flicker that gathered into an stronger one and was then released in the gush of air that was coming at her at full speed—and though Karin had her eyes closed, it's like she could see it. See it as if it were a determinate entity, a corporeal being coming to get her.
And she doesn't have to even think of what to do, because she knows it. She had known from the moment she stubbornly stood on her own feet and took her glasses off.
With a fast movement that makes her muscles ache, Karin uses the chakra gathered on her feet to fuel her jump to the right, raising both arms and placing them in a defensive stance in front of her face, which turned out to be a smart choice as she could feel the wind fly past her and shake her sides, managing to add a new cut to her arm.
But such a thing was trivial when compared to the bigger picture.
Karin was still standing on her own two feet. She had not been fast enough to fully escape the force of Temari's fan, but she had at least managed to avoid most part of it, only being pushed back a meter or two. Weren't her mind so focused on that fact, she perhaps would have been able to pick up on the whispers and gasps of surprise that erupted everywhere above her.
I… I did it…! Exclaims a voice in her head, trembling and meek. But before it can get another word out a new voice makes itself be heard—a louder, calmer, stronger voice and with a start, Karin realized that it sounded more alike her own.
That's one step. Now what's next?
'How far am I willing to go, then?' that very same voice had questioned before, and Karin hadn't been able to give it an answer.
But she had the reply, now.
All the way.
So Karin braced herself for what was to come.
To say that Sasuke was impressed would be an understatement. He could hardly believe what he was seeing, could hardly understand what had prompted such a change. In one moment he had been watching with apprehension, waiting for the inevitable—he could almost see Karin flying through the air and hitting her head against the floor, immediately falling unconscious and losing the fight without even having managed to land a single hit. Hell, without even attempting to land a single hit.
But then—the next thing he knew, the image he had pictured had cleanly separated itself from reality, and the flesh-and-bone redhead was left still standing even after the rush of air similar to a hurricane flew past her.
"…This girl… could she be…?" Kakashi suddenly murmurs by his side, his eye wide open with surprise, and Sasuke would've inquired what he meant but the truth is that he was too taken aback to even speak. And it's with that same surprise that he watches as the Sand girl attacks the redhead again only to receive the same result, the surge of air flying by Karin's side and avoiding her quite cleanly.
And as he watches it, Sasuke cannot really help it. He cannot really help the rush of excitement that runs through his veins against his better judgment, causing his lips to curve upwards without his consent.
"That's it…! Keep doing it!" he edges on in a whisper, not even realizing he had said it aloud, his voice almost drown out by Naruto's loud cheering.
"… Heh" Kakashi suddenly lets out, but Sasuke is once again too focused to pay him any attention.
Good one, but what are you planning? He wonders, his eyes still following the fight going down in the arena, where Karin had just avoided, yet again, another one of the blonde's attacks, this time the wind not even touching a single thread of her red hair. Unless you have a trick up your sleeve you're just prolonging the inevitable. Wouldn't it be better if you gave up?
Something doesn't feel quite right with that last thought—but Sasuke cannot really pinpoint what it is. And soon enough he lets go of it altogether as the Sand girl begins to speak.
"Tch…! Stop moving around, loser! I'm sick of giving you chase when you have nothing to entertain me! Give up already!"
It's then that for the first time during the match, Karin allows them to hear her voice.
"If… you want this to be over, then… you'll have to come and get me." She retaliates, her voice low and strained with exhaustion due to the effort, but her words were steady and resolute nonetheless—and as he watched her; her breath coming in uneven puffs through her parted lips and her brows slightly frowned, her eyes still closed, Sasuke wonders where that helpless redhead from just minutes ago had gone off to.
The Sand girl scowls momentarily. Then her features curve into a wide smirk and everything about her reminds Sasuke of a predator as she folds her fan again and slides into a stance that clearly foretold her intentions.
"So you want to suffer even more, huh?... Fine with me. I'll grant your death wish!"
And suddenly she is no longer standing but charging forward instead, and Sasuke doesn't even realize that he, along with everyone else, is watching with held breath.
Truthfully, Karin sort of thinks that the match so far had been quite bland. Part of it has been her own fault, she knows—but she was working to remedy that. However, the rest of the blame fell on the shoulders of her opponent—Temari. After all, her behavior had been just what Karin had been expecting, which is why taunting her so that she would charge at her head on had been a little too easy.
The blonde wasn't underestimating her as much as she was ignoring her altogether. It was like Karin was a mere fly that she needed to get rid of, and as such Temari hardly gave her any consideration, knowing that her victory was only a matter of time.
Meanwhile, Karin knew that she didn't have a chance as long as Temari had that fan of hers—just like she knew that, well, she didn't really have a chance at winning even if the blonde didn't have it. But it just so happened that she had never planned to win, never even thought about it—moving onto the next round had never been her goal.
Her goal from the moment she decided that she wouldn't be giving up had been something else entirely, and she could grasp that something else with her fingertips as it was—it was there, it wasn't out of reach. All she had to do was try a little harder, give it all she had left, and if she managed it—if she managed it, then her goal would be fulfilled and Karin would have never felt so proud of herself.
She can feel warm liquid rolling down her cheek and she does not need to see it to know that it was crimson. Just like she does not need to spit out to know that the bittersweet taste tainting her tongue was just as red. She does not need to go to the paramedics to know that she has got a few broken ribs, and that she will need to rest for a while—she knows it all. None of that had come as a surprise.
The beating, the pain, the helplessness—she had been expecting them all. Being completely outclassed and overwhelmed, treated as if she were scum—she had known that would happen. As such, she had been prepared to deal with all of it and her mind could focus on other matters altogether without getting sidetracked by any of it.
And that is why she was standing there now, completely still, knowing full well that Temari was charging at her at full speed but still not bothering to open her eyes. Ever since she can remember, the part of her that Karin has felt the proudest of is her mind—her brain. And it was precisely that organ which was telling her what to do, that which was telling her to wait—
—Just a little longer, and then…
And then she would make it work. Because that was part of surprising herself. And in order to do that, she had to surprise Temari as well.
It would all be useless otherwise.
Karin doesn't know how she knows it, but she just does—and when the time comes, she sprints into action without a second of hesitation, as if she had been made for it.
Now!
Her eyes snap open and the first thing that greets her is a blur of lilacs and flesh—a thick frame of a closed fan that Karin just barely manages to avoid by crouching down, Temari's hammering hit ending up breaking through mere air instead of Karin's head, causing the blonde's eyes to widen with angered surprise—but before she could have the chance to regain her equilibrium, Karin is moving again.
Using the chakra gathered in her feet as momentum, Karin pushes herself upwards just as she pulls her kunai from underneath her left sleeve, where she had stored it during one of her previous falls.
Temari's reflexes are fast—faster than Karin's by a mile, but the blonde had made a critical mistake: she had not only completely underestimated Karin's resourcefulness, she had completely discarded the possibility that the redhead could have something—quite literally—underneath her sleeve. And as such, even though the blonde manages to give a step back and lean backwards, her reaction isn't fast enough to completely avoid the sharp edge of the weapon that Karin swings upwards at the time she jumps, and the end of the kunai slightly cuts through the soft flesh of Temari's left cheek.
It's almost like the world has come to a halt. Karin's right hand is still raised in the air and her fingers are still holding the kunai, warm liquid dripping down from it and onto her hand, cleanly trickling down her arm.
Drops of blood were also leaking through Temari's hand, which was clutching her wounded cheek and hiding her face from Karin's view.
All of a sudden someone standing on the balcony gasps and the world begins to spin again. Karin's hand slowly begins to lower itself of its own accord and she begins to breathe again, not having even realized when she had started to hold her breath—but now it comes ragged, and she tries to make up for the lost oxygen by breathing through her mouth, her heart hammering loudly and quickly against her ribcage.
I did it
The thought was so overwhelming that Karin's legs almost give up on her.
I did it…!
She had done more than anyone would have thought she could; she had forgotten all about her fear and her hesitation and had taken a chance when it presented itself before her. She had seized it and hadn't let go of it despite how low the probabilities of succeeding were, and thanks to her stubbornness she had made it be worth something. She had made it work. She had surprised those around her.
She had surprised herself. She had gone higher than she supposedly could go.
By the time Temari takes her hand away from her cheek and allows Karin to see her wounded face, Karin is too drowned in her pride and satisfaction to even feel remotely concerned about the sea of pain that the blonde's infuriated eyes were promising to bring upon her.
It didn't matter what the blonde would do to her now. Karin had fulfilled her goal, and that was all that mattered. She could stand anything now, no matter how painful—because she had never felt quite like this. She had never felt so proud, so important, so satisfied, so—
—Alive.
She had never felt so incredibly alive. And it was an astounding feeling, one she couldn't get enough of, one she didn't want to give up again, no matter what.
And so she meets Temari's eyes head on, greets the blonde's livid scowl with a grin that she cannot quite hold back and that threatens to split her face in half.
"You little…!"
Sasuke barely registers the words of the Sand girl, his eyes glued to her opponent instead. He just could not look away from the grin curving the redhead's lips—a grin that was more like a wide smirk, her teeth bared, her red eyes alight with an inner fire that caught Sasuke's eyes and held them there.
The feelings oozing from the gesture; they were completely different from the demure and helpless girl he had seen so far. It was like they were two completely different people altogether. Right then the redhead looked self-satisfied, confident, smug, even—and above all, there was a certain something. A certain something that made Sasuke stand there, mesmerized by the sight.
She looked fiercely alive. Like the fighter she was supposed to be. Like she had just awakened from a very, very long slumber.
And it feels as if he were waking up from one, too, as Karin suddenly cuts through the silence, her voice low but painted with breathless fulfillment.
"You… wanted me to entertain you, right? I wanted to grant your wish, just like you granted mine's."
Around him it's like everyone else had also been caught in an illusion which had only broken now that Karin had spoken, because all of a sudden he can hear whispers here and there around him, and as his eyes remain glued to Karin's own he realizes that he had been holding back his breath.
"Now you can beat me."
Karin's wide smirk shortens into an anticipating smile with hardened edges, and Sasuke cannot help but to smirk, pride pooling in his body.
This girl has some guts after all, huh?
However, Karin's opponent didn't share the sentiment. Sasuke did not need to be a particularly emphatic person to know that the blonde was pissed as hell.
She lets out a low growl but aside from that her fan does all the talking, and with a swift movement she hits Karin straight on the ribs with a wipe of its hard edges and then she snaps the fan open, stopping the redhead before she could land on the floor and sending her flying upwards instead, landing a crushing kick on Karin's back while she was at it, causing Karin to cough out blood but still the redhead doesn't make any resistance whatsoever as the blonde wipes the floor with her. There are no traces of that enthralling smirk left on Karin's features, just like there are no traces of it on Sasuke's lips, either.
The redhead's name makes its way up Sasuke's throat and dies on his tongue, clashing against his gritted teeth and leaving behind a sour taste, one he wasn't quite accustomed to. But right in that very moment someone else does the yelling for him, and though Sasuke doesn't turn to see him, he knows that the voice belongs to the guy who had fought Aburame—it was Karin's other teammate.
"KARIN!"
Another abrupt throb causes Sasuke to clutch the Cursed Seal and to grimace as he watches the way the Sand girl sends Karin flying upwards a few meters with a rush of wind, and as the taller girl shuts her fan close with a dry click and leaves it upright directly underneath Karin, a shocked Sasuke understands what the girl planned to do.
She was going to break Karin's fall with the hard edge of the fan. At the height that Karin had been thrown she would be falling at a considerable speed—she would be lucky if all she got was a broken back.
More than that, she could die.
Sasuke isn't even completely conscious of what happens then. All he knows is that the pain of the Cursed Seal was starting to sharpen and become unbearable, and that all of a sudden his teeth unclasped and a rush of air entered his mouth, and he could hear himself yell out—
"Kakashi!"
—As if the voice weren't his own, and then there was a light poof by his side and Kakashi wasn't there anymore but rather right on Sasuke's train of vision, only to disappear once again and reappear crouched on the ground a few feet behind the back of the Sand girl, a redhead safely clutched on his arms.
"She has already lost consciousness," Kakashi calmly points out to a frowning Temari and a confused audience. "You've already won, Temari-san."
"Tch, whatever." Temari replies, her features contorted into a scowl as she spit out drops of blood that had made their way into her mouth due to the speed at which she had been moving before. "Just take that loser out of my sight." She demands before exiting the arena without even waiting for Hayate to cleared his throat and officially announce her victory.
"The winner of the fight, Temari, has passed the prelims!"
Kakashi holds back a sigh as he makes his way to the side of the arena, where medics were already beginning to gather, preparing a stretcher for the limp redhead that he was carrying on his arms. He stares down at her briefly with a somewhat curious look, and not for the first time wonders if his impressions could be correct.
However, before he could think any more about the subject a blur of blues and whites abruptly lands a step behind him, clutching his shoulder still.
"…How is she?" Sasuke inquires, and Kakashi absentmindedly notices how his student's usual nonchalant tone wasn't doing quite as much of a good job as it usually did at hiding that he wasn't as unfeeling as he pretended.
"I'm no medic, but I think she may have broken two or three ribs, so she'll be sore for a while," the jounin begins to say as he turns around so that Sasuke could get a good look at the redhead without having to peer around Kakashi's form. The state of the girl truthfully wasn't too encouraging—she had a split lip, and her pretty face was all swollen, blood covering big chunks of it in uneven ways. And Kakashi can notice the uncertainty curving Sasuke's eyebrows and darkening his eyes, so he adds another phrase in what he hopes is a reassuring tone.
"But she is fine otherwise," and then he smiles under his mask, his uncovered eye closing. "Thanks to you, Sasuke."
The black-haired boy looks genuinely confused, and Kakashi cannot help but to sweat-drop. "…You haven't forgotten that you were the one who wanted me to intervene, have you?"
The confusion remains present in the boy's features for a while longer until it is slowly replaced by realization. Sasuke seems utterly surprised for a moment, but he quickly regains himself, hastily looking away and frowning obstinately. "Tch, what are you saying, Kakashi? You'd have jumped in even if I hadn't said anything, wouldn't you?"
Kakashi smiles, "Possibly. But the point is that you did tell me to do it, so we won't know what would've happened otherwise."
Sasuke's eyebrow begins to twitch and he lets go of his shoulder, sticking his hands on his pockets instead. "Hn, whatever"
"Hatake Kakashi. Can we…?" Kakashi and Sasuke turn around only to find that the same medic from before was the one who had approached them. Kakashi nods, extending the unconscious redhead to them, who hurried to carefully place her on the stretcher and to secure her to it with threads of fabric filled with chakra. As the two medics raise the stretcher up the redhead flinches, and Kakashi watches with silent interest how Sasuke gives a step forward out of reflex.
"She'll be fine, don't worry, Sasuke," Sasuke's expression reveals the boy's intentions of denying Kakashi's claim, so Kakashi interrupts him before he can get the chance to do it. "Now, you have a promise to fulfill. The four fights are up, it's time to leave. You have managed to hold it back this long, but we have got no more time to waste."
Sasuke simply limits to give him a look from underneath slightly frowned eyebrows, probably still desiring to refute the fact that he had been worried. But finally he decides to let it go, closing his eyes instead.
"…Fine."
Kakashi wastes no time in approaching him and the two poof away together, abandoning the arena just as Ryuu hurriedly made his way through it, eager to reach the place where the medics were tending to his fallen teammate.
—
End of the 4th chapter
It was finally the time for Karin's match and a really important step in her characterization; I hope I managed to present her struggles and decisions, as well as the development of her technique in a (mostly) realistic way. I know that Karin losing may not be an exciting prospect to some, but I wanted to keep things as realistic as possible and there was no way she could have been able to beat Temari back then. Through the rest of the fic she will be continuously working to improve herself however, so look forward to that!
That said, I suck at fight / action scenes. Sorry about that. And if you found Sasuke particularly OOC, I must apologize for that too—though in my defense, the differences between Part I and Part II Sasuke are so staggering that it isn't even funny; plus like I mentioned before, I'm trying to write the Sasuke that while being his usual cocky-self still gave Karin that pretty smile after saving her, even though right before that he had been in a very sour mood due to the lack of Heaven scroll.
Anyways, this chapter also concludes the batch that I had already posted back in 2010, so from here onward it will be unseen content. I hope you guys will enjoy that. Thank you for those who reviewed the previous chapters! I really appreciate it. Don't hesitate to leave feedback, as it is always welcome! (unless we're talking about flames, of course.)
See you folks next time!