An enemy to an extent

I own noting but the idea of the plot.

She spotted the girl walking toward them as she scowled. 'What is she doing here?' thought the woman. She blocked Sasuke from Sakura's view as she called out his name. "Sasuke," she said. The pink haired kunoichi had her gloves on, and a kunai in her hand, ready to fight if need be.

"What are you doing here? Where's Naruto?" Sasuke's voice held no emotion, let alone his dark obsidian eyes.

"I came alone, to stop you." They all turned to Seigetsu; his head was pulled back as he let out a fierce bout of laughter.

"You, stop us? That's crazy."

"For the first time, I agree with him." Karin jumped from in front of Sasuke and attacked Sakura head-on. This was more than just a fight to stop her from advancing, this was personal. She knew Sakura had been with Sasuke (friendship-wise), and she knew that in some part of his body he still cared for her. She didn't care if it was the smallest part of Sasuke's body, like a cell, that still cared; Karin vowed to rip away that part of him by destroying the childhood friend.

"I'm staying out of this one." Juugo said nothing.

The two kunoichi were at it. Karin threw a punch to Sakura, trying to hit her square in the face. Sakura turned three-sixty-degrees and did a matrix move before she kicked Karin's feet from under her, following up with a face smash in the dirt. She jumped back. "You damned bitch." Karin said. Her face was dirty and she started to bleed. Karin ran up and threw two kunai, Sakura blocking them with ease, as she hit them aside. She couldn't have possibly blocked the kick that Karin inflicted to her side. The whole crowd heard the sickening crack as Sakura fell to her knees.

Sasuke was watching all of this happen, he had no intention of helping either of them. He knew how both women felt about him, but something happened when he saw Sakura clutching her sides, breathing hard, thinking about what to do. He still felt nothing but he still acted. "Karin, stop."

"But Sasuke…" she never turned back because the sight in front of her was too much. As she saw Sakura getting up, still trying to fight back, she did too; Sakura's fist was still swinging when Sasuke told Karin to stop again. His voice had a warning tone to it. Once again Karin was still too caught up in trying to rid the ninja world of this menace and she was getting hit, as well as Sakura, but both tried to keep going. Sasuke started walking, slow and steady, as he went for Karin.

"Oooh Karin, Sasuke's coming…" sang Seigetsu with a laugh. Karin punched air as Sakura evaded her jab. Sakura returned the favor by concentrating all the chakra she had to her feet. Her leg swung up and impacted with what she thought was Karin.

"Sasuke!" she exasperated. Sasuke still held her foot in his hand, but he wasn't looking at her, no, he was looking at Karin. Sakura saw how his eyes were that of a man who wasn't afraid to kill, and she gulped back the fear that she felt. Sasuke looked at Karin, his eyes turning red, three little comas equally distributed around his irises. The woman was motionless for what seemed to Sakura a second, but she knew this jutsu; it was the Mangekyo Sharingan, a second that is really three days of torture in that world.

When the three days had passed, Karin came to, bleeding and in terrible pain.

"What'd you do that…for?" she coughed up the crimson liquid.

"I told you to stop. Don't disobey me." He turned to Sakura. She was nothing like how he remembered her. She had a new tenacity in her eyes and she was stronger, more beautiful than in her younger years. He knew she was his enemy, but only to an extent. "Sakura," he let go of her, "Leave now."

He turned to leave. Juugo had come get Karin and followed behind Sasuke. Sakura was contemplating what had happened. He had hurt his teammate just to stop her from getting beat, though they didn't know how it was going to end. She couldn't…no, she wouldn't let it end like this. She came here to kill him, so Naruto could let up on the promise that he had promised her. Sakura felt that she was the reason he gets nothing done and if she does this herself, he could be free of the burden. Without much thought, she ran straight to him all the while thinking of a strategy if the big guy got involved. He turned to defend or attack (she couldn't tell) but Sasuke told him to keep going. He did as he was told and continued walking.

Sakura was right behind Sasuke when he turned and grabbed her hand from in front of him. She smashed down her other chakra-concentrated hand and actually hit him. He smirked, and still held on. "You've gotten better. Just leave; this is your last chance."

"You know I can't do that."

"Yea, I know." He pushed her into a tree and she thought she saw his eyes go red, in that split moment when the pain came, but she didn't know because her eyes closed to endure the pain and she felt warmth as she collapsed into the arm of the man.

"Hey, what are you going to do with her?" Sasuke looked at the sleeping girl in his arm and placed on the floor, gently. He looked over her one more time before walking forward. Karin was coming to and as she walked beside Sakura she felt danger in the air before her; Sasuke was looking at her.

"Why do you care? She's our enemy?"

"If you try anything, consider yourself dead, and she isn't our enemy, she's mine." His eyes were darker than before and she could tell he was serious. Karin skulked over slowly to Juugo because she still needed help to walk from the pain. She knew at that moment that Sasuke loved her. The way he said 'mine', sounded not like he was telling them that she was his enemy, but more like she was his, his for him to care for. She started tearing up, after a while she held her head up high as she made up her mind: She wasn't going to give up on Sasuke. He was the only one who gave her life meaning (after Orochimaru died). Even if it killed her, she would have Sasuke, and even if that meant that she would get killed by him, it would be worth it all.