Notes: Thank you to all those who reviewed the previous chapter, I really appreciate it! I took some time to post this chapter because I kept hesitating over whether to leave it as it was or not; at the end, I decided to let it be. Because I remembered that (as I mentioned in the first chapter) the Sasuke and Karin I'm playing with here are those we saw during Karin's flashback in Chapter 482; so trying to force them 100% into their usual molds would be losing the point of this fanfic - and it would also leave me no room to develop their characters in this fic.

Which would be no fun.

So, here we go! This chapter marks the start of the 'unread' material; aka everything I never posted in my livejournal. So from here onward, it's all new content even for my old readers. I hope the wait will turn out to have been worth it for you guys.

.

.

.

Chapter 5: Thank You

—

He wakes up disoriented and groggy and above of all—confused. He does not know where he is, what happened or what's going on. It's with a startling realization that he notices there is an oxygen mask attached to his face, and if only his arms did not feel so numb he would have tried to peel it off right away out of sheer confusion.

Kakashi's voice cuts through the misty haze blurring Sasuke's mind so sharply that the boy almost flinches.

"Yo! You're finally up, huh? I was starting to worry."

It takes him some effort to turn towards his teacher and even more so to speak. His throat was dry of disuse and his voice no more than a horse and clumsy murmur. "How… long….?"

There's an amiable smile lingering after Kakashi's every word, a take it easy sort of look in his eye as he replies, "A week."

Sasuke does anything but. He groans and tries to sit up despite his sore muscles until Kakashi has to come and force him to lay down again. "Take it easy, Sasuke. You still have got plenty of time."

"But… the exam…!" it was all coming back to him now. The pain, the anger, telling Naruto he wanted to fight him too, winning against that Grass nin, watching through the fights and—

Kakashi is speaking again before his mind has time to process the images his memory was trying to bring out to the surface, so the redhead sinks back into the misty fog of his unconscious and disappears without a trace.

"The prelims have all ended now, Sasuke. There's nothing to see for now."

"Who…—?"

"—made it? Let's see… from those you missed: Hyuuga Neji, Sabaku no Gaara and the Nara kid from Asuma's team."

Sasuke narrows his eyes, thoughtful. "What about…?"

"Naruto?" helpfully supplies Kakashi, who does not move a muscle until Sasuke reluctantly nods. By then, Sasuke is sure the man is positively grinning under that damned mask of his. "Why, he made it. He put up quite an impressive display against the Inuzuka kid and his dog, even if the way he won was a little… out of the norm." Kakashi sweat-drops for a moment, but before Sasuke has time to ask—or rather, time to decide if he wants to know, the jounin is back to smiling. "Why, so kind of you to be worried about Naruto, Sasuke!"

"Shut up." The boy bites out, a deadly tone in his voice despite his weakened condition. Kakashi sweat-drops again.

"Now, now, don't be like that!" sobering up, the white-haired man adds, "There will be a month between the prelims and the final exam. Which means you still have… around three weeks left to train." A pause, and then he adds as an afterthought: "If you get better soon, that is. The Fūja Hōin can be quite… strenuous on the body."

And that's putting it lightly, Sasuke thinks somewhat bitterly as he lies there, bedridden and acutely aware of all the aches assaulting his body. He puts his physical discomfort aside for the time being however; the mention of the Evil Sealing Method had finally reminded him of the Curse bitten into his neck.

"Did… did it work?"

"Like a charm. But it's all up to you now, Sasuke."

"What do you… mean?"

"… We'll talk about that later. You should probably go back to sleep, you look tired."

"I… am not…." tired is what he wants to say, but the truth is he is. Somehow. His eyes were getting heavy and he could feel his conscious drifting away at a startlingly fast pace.

He only has enough time to realize that Kakashi had not mentioned anything about Rock Lee passing to the finals before he dozed off into a dreamless slumber.

He spends the next two days in much the same manner, dozing in and out of sleep. It drives him mad, but the anger does not have enough time to do anything before sleepiness is overwhelming it and swallowing it whole from the inside out.

It gets better by the third day, during which he spends most of the time sitting on the bed instead of laying on it—just to play safe. Kakashi is back to visiting him, and Sasuke finds out then that Lee had not made it. He had lost against Sabaku no Gaara. The same guy Sasuke would be facing off in the finals.

The news make him feel contradictory emotions; puzzlement—how could Lee have lost?—annoyance—damn, how could he have missed out on that?—anxiety—that Gaara guy must be really strong—excitement—that Gaara guy must be really freaking strong—and, above all: anticipation.

He could not wait to beat him. Beating the guy who wiped the floor with bushy brows, now that would be a satisfying thing to do.

The whirlwind of feelings and his strengthened resolve make him want to get out of the damned hospital right there and then, but Kakashi stops him yet again.

"You're not done recovering yet, Sasuke."

"Tsk. I am."

He stubbornly contradicts, but they both know better.

His body was killing him. He can't even remember the Cursed Seal—as he now knew it was called—hurting this much, not even when it threatened to take over him during the exams. Hell, even his fingers hurt. The whole thing was driving him up the wall, but not nearly as much as being locked up.

Sasuke hated being held back anywhere. Especially when he had better things to do.

Like training, for example.

But Kakashi would have none of it and on the fourth day, as Sasuke tries to leave for himself, he finds that there are ANBU guards standing outside his room.

"What are all those ANBU doing here, Kakashi?"

He asks on the fifth day of his conscious-hospital stay (12th day in all, for pity's sake) and Kakashi simply offers him a mystifying smile hidden behind his mask.

"Let's just say… we're trying to keep unwanted visitors out."

Sasuke does not press the matter any further. He has got a good idea of just whom Kakashi was talking about—even if he does not know how the hell Kakashi could possibly know about that creepy guy with the long tongue, but then again Kakashi also knew about the seal and what it was called and how to stop it without Sasuke even having to bring the thing up—and just the mere thought of that snake-like guy being anywhere near him gives him goose-bumps.

My name is Orochimaru. If you want to see me again… then survive and pass this exam.

He knew Itachi's name. Sasuke ponders, not for the first time. Since he woke up, that has been one thought continuously showing up to haunt him. How did he know my brother's name? He talked as if he had fought him… just who the hell is that guy?

Unknown to him, Kakashi has been observing intently how the thoughtful expression on his young face darkened into one of angry confusion—and hate. Kakashi knows him better than Sasuke gives him credit for, and so the jounin can take a pretty accurate guess as to what was going through Sasuke's mind right then.

And he also knew that unless he distracted him, Sasuke would pop up the question Kakashi has been trying to avoid since the kid regained consciousness.

Just who is Orochimaru? Why did he put this cursed seal on me?

None of those are things Kakashi wants to reply to. Not yet, at least. And so the jounin clears his throat and puts to good use the information he has been holding back up to now.

"By the way, Sasuke," he starts, casually enough. Startled, Sasuke raises his darkened eyes to meet his—he had almost forgotten Kakashi was still in the room. "Down the hall, if you take the left turn… you might find something of your interest in the first door."

For a moment the Uchiha is just wholly confused. Thoughts of his brother and of Orochimaru dissipating from his head as he looks up at the older man, asking him what are you talking about with his eyes and receiving no reply.

"What—" he begins to inquire aloud but Kakashi goes poof! and all of a sudden he is alone again.

Damn that Kakashi.

He thinks, and then something clicks.

Somehow he has an idea of what his teacher meant by that. He does not know how, or why—but he does. Is strangely convinced of what he will find, at that.

He stays there, sitting on his bed for a moment longer, before finally flinging his legs over the edge and heading towards the door.

As expected, no ANBU tries to stop him this time.

Sasuke was right.

Karin

Read the nameplate adhered to the side of the door—the first door on the left aisle, down the hall.

That Kakashi…. The Uchiha muses, somewhat curious but not surprised at his teacher's odd antics.

He does not bother to knock on the door and is merely starting to push it open when the redhead sitting on the bed wipes her head around to look at him, letting out a cheerful—if mildly surprised—"Sasuke-san!"

Which makes Sasuke stop dead in his tracks for a moment, taken aback—how had she known it was him? He was merely opening the door and she had been looking the other way, he had seen that much at least—before getting a hold of himself. It is without his notice that he gives the girl a slight smile as greeting as he steps uninvited into the room, softly closing the door behind him.

"Yeah. How did you know it was me?" Karin gives him no reply, simply widening her grin. The girl looked much better than the last time he had seen her, no doubt; there was a big chunk of gauze covering her left cheek and a band-aid on her forehead, but aside from that her split lip was gone and there were barely any remains of bruises on her face. Sasuke is glad for that, as the last time he had checked her visage had been a total mess.

He averts his eyes from the redhead in order to clear his mind from such thoughts, and as his gaze lays on the large window by her bed Sasuke adds, as an afterthought: "Did you see me through the reflection on the window?"

"My sight is not that good, much less without my glasses." The redhead looks amused, and for the first time Sasuke notices that indeed, she was glasses-less. "Heh, even now where you're standing you're no more than a blur for me."

The thought of someone being that blind that young—he means, he is standing at the foot of her bed, for Konoha's sake—is some sort of puzzling wonder to Sasuke, who is now more intrigued than ever by how she had been able to tell it was him coming to see her.

He would have prodded more about the matter had he not noticed Karin scrunching her eyes up in an effort to take a better look at him. The sight was kind of funny, if not a little sad, and so he abandons his place by the foot of the bed without so much as a word and walks until he is standing directly above her.

"Is it better now?"

Karin hurries to nod, somewhat flustered. "Y—yeah, it is! Thank you, Sasuke-san."

"It's okay."

An awkward silence envelops them then.

There's a whirlwind of thoughts racking Karin's brain, too many for the girl to settle on something to say. She is still kind of incredulous about Sasuke being there, to begin with. Meanwhile, Sasuke himself is also a little lost as to what to say. He is not even quite sure as to what he was doing there, anyway. Even if—and that was a big if—some part of him had wanted to check on the redhead, just to see how she was holding up after the beating she had taken, he could see now that she was fine and well. Which should be enough for him to be on his merry way. Plus, his body still ached. His knees were starting to hurt.

Instead of leaving he finds himself giving a pointed look at the bed—a look that does not go unnoticed by Karin, who feels like smacking her forehead for her lack of courtesy.

"You can sit down if you want, Sasuke-san," she offers and at once folds her legs up to her chest, making way for him. The boy stares down at her for a moment, weighting down his options—he could leave and go back to being locked in that god-forsaken room or he could stay with this girl for a while.

After what seem like ages to Karin, he finally murmurs a thanks and takes the offered spot, sitting so close that his thighs were just about brushing Karin's toes.

Sasuke does not seem to take notice of it but Karin does, and his proximity makes her lower her eyes to her knees out of embarrassment. He was warm. And unexpected. And entirely too much for her to handle right then.

"… Karin, was it?"

She nods, and this time she is positively blushing. She is so alarmed by her apparent knack for making a fool of herself in front of this boy—her savior!—that she almost misses what Sasuke was saying. "Why were you part of the chuunin exams when you aren't a shinobi?"

For a moment Karin can do nothing but stare, eyes widened. Then shame sets in and she feels herself grow smaller in her spot. "Ah, so you noticed it, huh?"

"It was hard not to."

He says so bluntly, but not unkindly—there was no reproach or disgust present in his voice. So while her embarrassment worsens, the weight of her shame does not.

"Kurotaro-san, the guy you fought against, he is one of our strongest. The daimyo wanted him to have a chance to exploit his abilities."

"So, why you?"

Karin smiles bitterly, absentmindedly draping her arms around her knees. "I've always had good grades so I was at the top of my class. Kurotaro-san's class. And he…." Her brows momentarily furrow but her smile does not falter. "Let's just say he and I never got along. So, he submitted my name up and I was forced to come."

That was the gist of it, at least. A kind guy like Sasuke did not need to know the dreadful details of how bad Kurotaro could get when he was on her case. Moreover, he had already helped her enough. If she could, Karin wanted to keep him from pitying her any more than he may already do.

… Even then, she found that being honest with the obsidian-eyed boy was a little too easy. Felt a little too good. It—the feeling of trust—was something she was not entirely accustomed to. Not outside of her family, at least.

Unaware of Karin's thoughts, Sasuke tilts his head to the side with curiosity. "Even then, that doesn't explain why you kept fighting that Sand girl."

The mention of the blonde kunoichi brings forth memories that make Karin light up as familiar excitement and satisfaction begin to course through her veins. "I did it because I didn't want to give up without trying," she exclaims, and then goes on to admit: "I know it would have been the logical thing to do, and I also know that the village was expecting me to give up—they never placed their hopes on me, unlike with Kurotaro-san, but… I guess that I…" she looks for the words, trying to seize them, trying to name the feelings she had during the fight and after it. She has yet to say them aloud—not to Ryuu-kun, not to anyone. They were too private, too dear, too raw—the thought of someone deeming her motivation as stupid or silly was almost too much to bear.

There isn't that fear nor that need to keep them to herself as a treasure present right then, not with this boy—but maybe that was precisely what made her feelings so overwhelming in the first place.

"…Maybe all I wanted was to prove to myself that I could do it." Karin admits finally, raising her head and gazing into his eyes with a small but alluring smile on her face. There was a reflective quality to that smile, and neither of them say anything for a moment; Karin still smiling, and Sasuke lapsed into a thoughtful silence, his eyes still holding hers.

Her explanation certainly did fit with the behavior she had shown during the fight, but Sasuke had never consciously considered such a thing could be enough drive to pull what she had. Sasuke had always had a clear goal set in his mind; a certain face. When it had not been about killing his brother, it had been about surpassing him. His expectations of himself were all set around those facts; all his effort, his sweat, his blood—everything revolved around that.

This girl, though—the redhead he had once thought of as helpless had single-mindedly risked her life just to reach some sort of self-expiation that had sent her straight to the hospital. She was healing well, that was true—but now Sasuke could see from her unbuttoned shirt a glimpse of bandages covering her torso. The fragile arms wrapped around her knees were also covered in fading angry-looking bruises, and from the looks of the bandage covering her index finger she had at least blown off one nail.

That took guts. And while a month ago Sasuke would have snorted and deemed it as a foolish thing to do—stupid and unnecessary and how could someone take their lives so lightly didn't they have a goal or things they wanted to accomplish?—after the stunt Naruto pulled against Orochimaru in the Forest of Death and after witnessing Karin's own struggles and her achievement—so small, but so meaningful at the same time—Sasuke no longer was so sure of his stand on the matter.

He is distracted from his thoughts by Karin's sudden giggles, which break through the amiable silence with an easiness that was almost startling.

"What I did was very uncharacteristic of me, though."

"You were brave," Sasuke says then, and he is surprised at himself. He had not meant to acknowledge that aloud—hell he had not quite consciously accepted he had admired her guts during her fight with the Sand chick. But somehow the almost comical way Karin was looking at him now—wide-eyed, so unguarded—made the admission feel right.

"Foolish. But brave." Sasuke corrects, and then he is smirking. "Heh, it was all worth it just to scratch her. The look on her face was priceless."

A wide grin makes its way to Karin's lips, and for a moment Sasuke is reminded of the feral grin she had sported after scratching that blonde. This one was like a toned-down version of it, but he could still see some of the smugness and that something that had taken him so aback and seized his attention so firmly.

"Pft, yeah! She thinks she is all this and that, I just had to prove to her that she wasn't untouchable," Karin rants on excitedly, before bursting into chuckles again. "It reminds me of Kurotaro-san's face when you beat him, Sasuke-san. He is always acting so high and mighty, it was funny to see him looking so down."

Sasuke's smirk widens with amusement, "Heh, you really dislike him, don't you?"

Karin hesitates for a moment before nodding, a bit more somberly, a frown drawing her thin eyebrows together. After a moment, she all but growls under her breath. "I think that once we go back to Kusagakure he'll find a way to blame me for the team's failure. Don't ask me how—" she warned, as Sasuke was about to do just that, "I don't know the way his mind works. But I'm sure that jerk is capable of finding a way to rationalize, to himself, that he has reasons to treat me like garbage."

The Uchiha frowns. "Hn, if he tries anything you remind him that I was the one who kicked his ass out of the prelims. And that I can beat him again anytime, at that." The smirk is back in place by then and Karin finds herself laughing, her mood effectively lifted and her cheeks warming up with pleasure.

"Alright, I will. Also, thanks for coming to visit me, Sasuke-san."

Sasuke easily dismisses her thanks with a shake of his head. "It's fine. I'm staying a little ways up the hall, so."

Karin's eyes widen with realization. "Oh, right! I noticed that you were a bit… hurt, perhaps? during your fight with Kurotaro-san. Hm… at least your shoulder was."

Sasuke's own eyes widen slightly, but not precisely out of realization. "…You noticed that?"

The redhead nods and scratches her cheek. "Yeah, I thought it might have been my imagination, but…."

Sasuke shakes his head, successfully stopping her from shying away from the subject out of fear of making him uncomfortable. "No, it's fine. You were right. I… wasn't entirely myself back there, and something put me in a tight spot."

Karin accepts his vague explanation with a nod and does not prod any further. As she thoughtfully lowers her eyes to her knees, Sasuke attentively observes her. She had noticed he was in pain during the fight, but she probably did not know just how a great of a help she had been. Had it not been for her voice, Sasuke is sure he would not have remembered the Shishi Rendan in time to stop Kurotaro from sucking his chakra dry and wiping the floor with him.

No, she probably did not know that. Had no way to. But he would like to tell her. Something in her demeanor—something in the way she had accepted his explanation without asking for anything more, and without looking disappointed or hurt or reproachful about it made him want to tell her. He just wasn't quite sure how to go about it.

"Actually, Sasuke-san—"

"Just Sasuke is fine."

Light pinks color Karin's cheeks, light enough to go unnoticed by Sasuke. "R-right! Sorry, Sasuke," she tastes his name on her tongue and seems to like the way it rolls out of it, for she smiles, raising her head with renewed vigor. "Actually, I wanted to thank you again."

Sasuke blinks, genuinely flabbergasted. Was it about the bear again? He thought they had already gone over that. How many times could someone be thanked for the same thing? "What for this time?"

"Ryuu-kun told me you and your sensei saved me from Temari. That she would have broken my back with her fan hadn't it been for you guys," in spite of himself Sasuke squirms, uncomfortable. He had not thought she would find out about that, and he felt embarrassment prickling at his fingertips. He was not used to people giving him such displays of gratitude—of uncalled-for adoration yeah, sure. But not gratitude. And much less with actual good reasons to do so.

Had Karin remained silent for two more seconds he would have probably dismissed his participation and pushed it all onto Kakashi instead—but as things were, Karin's smile became a bright (if somewhat bashful) grin as she continued:

"That… and I was also inspired by your fight. Seeing you do your best despite being in so much pain, plus how you lived up to your word—you remember, right? You told me your team will be missing one person right before fighting Kurotaro-san, and you did it. You beat him!" her eyes seem to sparkle in the sunlight, the excited blush in her cheeks bringing out their color which was so similar to the Sharingan—and so Sasuke is momentarily distracted by them. He has to blink to tune in to Karin's words. "It made me realize I wanted to be like that, too. I wanted to set expectations for myself, and surpass them. Hadn't it been for your fight, I may not have grown the backbone to go out there and face Temari. So… thank you for that, Sasuke."

The girl trails off, and Sasuke can't help but smirk. She did not know it, but she had single-handedly just built the bridge for him.

"Heh, then I have to thank you as well."

Karin seems honestly shocked by the prospect. "Huh? Me?"

"Yeah. When you yelled out my name during the fight, I was reminded of that bear—hadn't it been for that, I might not have remembered the Shishin Rendan in time."

Karin stares at him in silent bewilderment for a long moment and then promptly starts laughing. It's a merry sound; honest, refreshing even, and it softens the edges of Sasuke's usual smirk. "That's great! I'm glad to know that stupid bear was useful for something."

"Heh, he sure was. I wouldn't have nailed that move without his help."

They share good-natured amusement over the fallen bear—Karin's clearly heard in her chuckling, while Sasuke's was reflected in the serene smile plastered over his face. There were still traces of it as Karin's chuckles finally died out and she reached out to rub her eyes.

Oh, right. He had almost forgotten.

"Are your eyes fine without your glasses?" he inquires, tilting his head with curiosity and Karin offers him a tired smile.

"Kind of. It's just… it hurts a bit to have to strain my eyes so much, is all."

"How long will you have to be without them?"

"The nurses are taking care of them, but it has taken them a while due to how thick the lenses are," Karin explains, "but they dropped by today and said they should be ready in a day or two."

Sasuke nods. He thinks he is done asking things, but all of a sudden there's another question rolling out his tongue. "For how long are you staying?"

"Oh, that! We want to watch the finals," Karin says excitedly, "so we'll be leaving after that. I'll be looking forward to your fight, Sasuke-sa—Sasuke."

"Right,"

And just like that, Sasuke begins to stand up.

He had forgotten the reason why he was still in the Hospital in the first place. He needed to recover as soon as possible to begin his preparation for the finals.

"Huh? You're leaving already?"

"Yeah," he eases nonexistent wrinkles off his pants, sticks his hands into his pockets and begins to make his way away from Karin and towards the door. "It's getting late and I'm supposed to rest. The sooner I'm let out of here, the sooner I'll be able to train for the finals."

"Last bit of practice, eh?" Somehow that sounded just like Sasuke, even if she did not know him all that much. The thought makes her smile fondly.

"Yeah," he is by the door now, but instead of pushing it open he looks at her over his shoulder. The redhead was looking in his direction, but Sasuke knew better; he must not be more than a shapeless blur to her.

So, it is with an amused smile that he calls out: "I'm in the 209, by the way."

It is a simple statement but Karin gets its meaning and the implicit permission hanging from it, and so her face lights up with a hearty grin. "Got it!"

"I'll be seeing you, then."

He leaves the room without waiting for a reply.

When he gets to his own room—not without glaring up at the ANBU guarding the door, of course. Their presence made him feel like the suspect of an unknown crime. Or even worse, like a delicate thing that needed to be protected. Which he was not—he finds an all too familiar white-haired jounin perched comfortably on the edge of the open window, an open Icha Icha book in his hands.

"So you went to see her, huh?"

Is his relaxed excuse for a greeting, which along with his unexpected presence do such a good job at taking the young Uchiha off base that he can't conceal the surprise from his face. "Kakashi! What are you doing here?"

Kakashi's eyes crease with a smile. "Not much. I just wanted to see if you had taken my advice, is all." Amusement is practically irradiating from his eye as he adds, "Though I had a feeling you would."

"Tch."

Sasuke walks nonchalantly to his bed, deliberately ignoring the older man. He was not going to fall prey to his childish teasing. Besides, he was annoyed at himself for having given Kakashi the upper hand. He should have known the man was up to something by leading him to the redhead like that.

Damn him.

"So, how did you meet her?" Kakashi asks, deceptively innocent. "Because it's not like you to concern yourself so much with a stranger."

"Hn, I'm not concerned."

"Sure you aren't."

Kakashi agrees easily, and Sasuke's eyebrow twitches as he feels the urge to do something, anything to wipe that knowing look off Kakahi's only visible eye.

"… I meet her in the woods back during the second test. She was being attacked by a bear and I helped her. That's all there is to it."

"Oh, that was very nice of you, Sasuke. That's my student!"

If Sasuke's glare could put holes through a person, Kakashi's face would already be nothing but a big strainer. As things were though, Sasuke's glare was as harmless as a bug to the jounin, who in fact was getting great enjoyment out of the whole thing.

"So that explains why she calls you Sasuke-san. You must be like a hero for her!"

"… How did you know she calls me that?" Sasuke asks, eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"I heard you two talking before your fight while I was waiting to convince you to quit." Kakashi seems a little too happy to reveal this little, previously-omitted detail to Sasuke, whose lips are now curved downwards in a frown.

"So you already knew I had helped her?"

"Oh, but I didn't know about the bear."

Damn you, Kakashi. He thinks for what must be the fifth time that day. That guy really loved to play him, did he not?

"By the way, Sasuke," Kakashi calls out, tucking away his Icha Icha copy and being more than ready to leave. He has done enough teasing for one day, and he knew full well that if he kept it up Sasuke would probably end up losing his temper and throwing something at him. His student could be quite childish when he was not playing the part of an aloof avenger. "If you want, you can tell her to come to our trainings."

Now that takes Sasuke for a loop. His annoyance is in fact almost entirely wiped away by his surprise. "Huh? What for?"

Kakashi offers him a one-shouldered shrug. "Since she will be staying here, she should take the chance to learn as much as she can. Wouldn't you agree?"

"…But why with us?" inquires Sasuke, still confused. "I thought we didn't want any distractions."

"And she doesn't have to be one, has she? As a matter of fact, I think just watching would help her. Wouldn't you want to help her, Sasuke?"

Something in Kakashi's voice made Sasuke stubbornly cross his arms and narrow his eyes again, on the defensive. "Why should I?"

"Ow, that's cold, Sasuke. You won't make a good hero for much longer if you behave like that. Bye bye!"

And just like that his poor excuse of a teacher was gone, leaving behind a sulking Sasuke glaring at nothing but an empty window.

…Tell Karin to come to their trainings? What was up with that? Kakashi was not the type to suggest such a thing without an ulterior motive, Sasuke knew that much. And he also knew that despite how much he seemed to enjoy it (damn him, again), Kakashi would not go to such lengths just to pester him. He was too lazy for that.

So he had to be up to something, most definitely. The question was: what?

Plus—wait a moment.

Sasuke's eyes widen.

How had Kakashi known Karin would be staying in Konoha for a while?

… The Uchiha can feel the starts of a headache throbbing in his temples.

"…Damn you, Kakashi."

—

End of the 5th chapter

Don't worry, guys—Sasuke is right. Kakashi does have his reasons to suggest that, and they are not related to Sasuke (or SasuKarin) at all. His reasons are quite easy to pick up in fact, so I am sure you all know what Kakashi is up to.

That said, Sasuke was less sardonic and more talkative than usual precisely because that is the angle I am giving to that smile he gave Karin in the Forest of Death. The potential for him to be more natural around her, so to speak, without turning into someone completely unknown and out of character.

As for Karin, young!Karin blushing is a little too adorable so I took advantage of the fact that she had a permanent blush on her cheeks the moment Sasuke showed up in the FoD to explore that a bit here; but it was only due to the fact that, as she herself said, she was taken aback by Sasuke being there at all. So she won't be blushing too often for the rest of the fic, sadly.

And... I think that's enough rambling for now. I look forward to hearing your thoughts, so please do not hesitate to review!

See you guys next time.