1. JuugoKarin

Waiting with a good view may be nicer than not, but it's still waiting. Karin tried to suppress her annoyance at her friends, whom she would usually walk home with. Suigetsu and Sasuke had left school early that day, without telling her, and Juugo hadn't arrived at their usual place by the stairway leading down to town. Looking down all she saw were the shadows of the last students leaving campus.

"Argh, leaving school even after the student council. This is humiliating."

She turned her attention back to the scenery, the late afternoon sky over the city. It was early autumn and the colors in the sky seemed to mirror the same tones of yellow and red forming on the leaves of the trees. She let herself take in the scene, but she couldn't help her growing concern at the look of the rain clouds coming in. If she left now she knew she'd likely get caught in the rain without an umbrella. She silently cursed her luck.

The school's chime caught her attention. Turning back she noticed it was now four o'clock. There was no way Juugo should have been this late. Letting out a frustrated exhalation she walked back to the school, knowing that Juugo had brought his umbrella today. As she approached the doors she noticed that it seemed oddly loud still.

"That's strange, there shouldn't be that many people still here to make this much noise."

Opening the door she saw Hana, the school nurse, and Tsunade, the Principal, running past her in the halls. She strained her ears to hear their conversation.

"…knocked out three students before laying out Kakashi Sensei as well. Had to lock him in a coat room to try to calm him…"

Karin knew the only coat room on that side of campus was on the second floor. She hesitantly walked to the room, her instinct confirming what her mind suspected. The reinforced glass window of the coat room was smashed, and the door seemed to have more than one dent recently put in it. She tentatively peeked in through the window and saw Juugo hunched in the corner. By the sound of it he was weeping.

"Juugo?" she asked tentatively.

He looked up at the window before slowly rising. He walked the three steps over to Karin with a limp before looking out at her.

"Hey Karin, sorry if I made you wait." his voice sounded cold, disconnected.

"What happened Juugo?" Karin said motioning with her arms, not realizing he couldn't see behind the door.

"I got in a fight, knocked out three students before Kakashi Sensei tried to break it up. Knocked him out too."

"You idiot, I'm taking your umbrella and going home."

How many times had she warned him about his temper. Sure Sasuke and Suigetsu had their fair share of fights, but at least they kept cool heads. Going down to the shoe racks she grabbed Juugo's umbrella and prepared to go out into the rain that was just starting. She heard voices come her direction again, this time it was Tsunade and Kakashi. She hid behind the shoe racks to not be seen.

"…delinquents, I can understand why he acted that way." Kakashi's voice came into focus.

"He should have come to the school's staff rather than deal with it himself."

"But how does it help to lock him up when he isn't the one at fault?"

"I told Hana to let him out and check him for any wounds before sending him home. We have enough to worry about tonight without having to scold him. First thing in the morning I want to see him and you in my office."

"Great, that means Guy is going to have to take over my…"

Karin waited by the exit until she heard Juugo's footsteps come her way. His limp slowed him down but his steps were still strong. She saw him sit down to put on his shoes, when he finally looked up their eyes met. They each tried to hide their shock.

"I thought you said you were leaving." He said, half questioning.

"Overheard Kakashi Sensei talk to Tsunade. What really happened?"

"A group of delinquents were marking a classroom, a disciplinary council member told me to keep an eye on them while he got a teacher. While I was watching them I saw one of them start throwing rocks out the window into a tree, when I saw that his aim was a bird's nest I…" his voice started breaking up.

Karin walked over and sat down next to Juugo. She parted the hair on the left side of his face to see where he had a fresh bandage applied.

"You hit Kakashi on accident, didn't you?"

"He grabbed me from behind and my elbow hit him in the jaw."

She put her hand on Juugo's knee in a friendly manner. She adjusted her glasses as she looked at him, trying to mentally justify herself in giving advice to someone her senior.

"Juugo, your birthday is in two weeks. You're going to be eighteen soon and you need to learn to control your anger better. Some things are out of your control, it's hard but you need to accept that. You need to have a cool head like Sasuke..."

"You like Sasuke, don't you?"

Juugo's matter-of-fact question threw Karin for a loop, and she found herself cough.

"That's… but… I… that's not the point Juugo. You need to learn some self-restraint."

"Alright Karin, thank you." He stood up slowly and took the umbrella from her hand, as he did his hand brushed against hers. "Let's go before the rain gets worse."

As they walked down the stairs into the city Karin tried not to concentrate on how warm it was under that umbrella next to him, on how warm her hand still felt.. Making their way toward her house Karin could not help but remember when she first met Juugo. Two years her senior, he was large and quiet. His presence alone had prevented more than one fight from breaking out at school and in the city. He had a scary and violent side, but it only came out in moments of righteous anger. There was something calming about him, it was comforting.

They finally stopped in front of her house, from the lights on Karin knew at least her mother was home by now, her step-father would still be at the library for another hour or so. Juugo looked down at her and again at the house. Karin positioned herself in front of Juugo and stared him in the eye.

"Maybe I was a little hard on you. You have a good heart, but you need to learn a little restraint."

She reached her hand to the back of his neck and pulled down gently. Tilting his head she kissed him on his cheek before running inside. Turning as she closed the door she caught a glimpse of him standing dumb-struck with his hand on his cheek. Opening the door again she yelled out reminding him to go home. Watching him turn and walk away, Karin laughed to herself seeing him grin childishly. His hand still on the cheek where she had kissed him.

Finally closing the door behind her, Karin slowly sank to the floor not caring that it was cold and wet from her shoes. It felt unseasonably warm from where she was sitting.