A/N: This is a little thing I came up with. Hope you like! Takes place during the current arc. Sakura has been caught by Hebi and is currently their medic prisoner.
"Karin, would you get over it?" Suigetsu sat down next to his teammate, who was currently watching their medic prisoner and team leader interact from across the clearing like a hawk.
"Get over what?" she snapped, turning to glower at the shark-toothed man. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Suigetsu rolled his eyes at her flimsy excuse. Honestly, she was a terrible liar.
"Yes you do." He said simply, taking a seat besides her, "You've been nasty to Sakura ever since Sasuke brought her on the team. What's your problem with her?" He personally liked the medic, she was someone new to tease (despite the somewhat painful bruises he received when he did so), and Juugo had no issues with her either. In fact, he actually liked the girl, and talked to her when he could.
Karin, on the other hand, had hated the girl since she first laid eyes on her. She hadn't tried to do anything in terms of sabotage, but the nasty looks and comments she would shoot in Sakura's direction were enough. Unsurprisingly, her general behavior worsened when Sasuke made contact with Sakura. Since Sasuke refused to let Sakura out of his sight or even leave her in the care of his teammates, Karin had been sulking perpetually for days.
"I don't have a problem with her," Karin huffed, turning her attention back to the pair. Suigetsu also allowed his gaze to wander, and couldn't help but grin when the girl hesitantly sat next to Sasuke under the tree and how the avenger simply glanced at her before going back to sharpening his sword. He was even more amused at the look on Karin's face, one that mingled surprise and fury.
"How dare she…" Karin snarled, and made to stand up but was held down by a hand on her shoulder.
"How dare she what?" asked Suigetsu innocently, not once lessening the pressure, knowing that if he did she would go on a screaming rampage.
"Cuddle up to him, like, like she has no shame! Honestly, I thought she was a competent kunoichi, not some—ugh!" she glared angrily across the clearing.
"Are you jealous? No reason to deny it."
"No I'm not!" Karin fumed angrily, her face reddening. Suigetsu fought off a grin. She was letting herself get flustered, foolish woman. She was always easier to manipulate when she was flustered.
"Look, Sakura is his old teammate. Maybe she just wants to be with the only person she knows." Or loves, actually. Suigetsu could tell, clear as day that Sakura felt something apart from comradeship for Sasuke. But for some reason, whatever she felt for Sasuke seemed different than what Karin felt for him. Suigetsu couldn't explain it, but it just seemed right when Sakura was with Sasuke, even if she wasn't directly making contact with him.
But what did he know about love? He had grown up in Orochimaru's lair of all places, and that was anything but fertile breeding grounds for actual love.
"Well, I think she's overdoing it, she doesn't have to sit so close to him, she wants to! I don't care if she's one of his special persons, it's not like he asking her to attach herself to him, he—"
"He just isn't saying he doesn't want her to be with him." Cut in Suigetsu effectively. The wheels in his especially sensitive mind were whirring, coupling the words "special persons" with what Karin had done…
"Karin? Does this have anything to do with when you tried and failed to alter Sasuke's memories?"
The look on her face was all the confirmation he needed.
"I knew it; you tried to take Sakura's form! No wonder he was so angry when he found out it was a henge." He didn't give Karin a chance to defend herself. This explanation made too much sense for Suigetsu; he did not want anyone to disprove it just yet.
"So? I had to get close to him somehow! She was the easiest choice." Karin snarled at Suigetsu, trying desperately to keep her voice down so that Sasuke couldn't hear. "Can we please not talk about it?"
"What?" he cocked an eyebrow, "Why shouldn't I shout it out to the world?" at the look of pure horror on her face he said "Ah, I see the problem, he doesn't know specifically that it was you who tried to trick him, does he?"
"You're damned right he doesn't." she hissed quietly, keeping only one eye on the avenger and the medic now. "I wouldn't be alive right now if he did. As it is, I have to live with the fact that he," she swallowed, "cares very deeply for that girl."
"What?" Suigetsu had guessed that Sasuke didn't know it was Karin who had taken Sakura's form, but the idea that he had feelings was simply absurd. "You're not kidding?"
"Unfortunately, no." Karin lowered her eyes, "When he thought I was her, he looked and talked at me differently. I really don't understand what his interest in her is, but it definitely isn't just platonic."
"And yet you haven't blackmailed him yet." Suigetsu shook his head in mock disappointment, "Karin, Karin, you ought to have learned by now, crushes are meant for blackmail. You could offer that he exchange a kiss in return for your silence, or something."
"He would probably run me through if I did that." Said Karin dryly. Suigetsu did a double take.
"You actually thought about the consequences of your actions for once? Congrats, you have moved up from base animal to Neanderthal." He quickly ducked as Karin lodged a boulder at his head, but not quickly enough.
"Shut up you baka!" snarled Karin, ready to forcibly remove Suigetsu's head from his body, only to be thwarted by a light giggle. She looked around wildly to find the source, only to realize that both Sakura and the object of her affections had been watching the comedic scene. Sasuke smirked and whispered some snide comment to Sakura, who simply giggled again and blushed faintly at the proximity of their faces.
"Looks like the lovebirds are having a good time at our expense." Remarked Suigetsu, righting himself and rubbing the new bump on his head (between her and Sakura, he was amazed he hadn't sustained brain damage). Karin let out a snort of derision.
"What do you mean 'lovebirds'? She just has a crush on him. Honestly, she's so smitten; it's amazing she can function properly."
"So you also don't like her because she likes him and he likes her? That's shallow."
"So? She doesn't like me either. And she's trying to take him away from me, I just know it. She's so-" Suigetsu shook his head and tuned out Karin's ranting. He focused instead on the couple across the clearing, which seemed to be having their own conversation. Sakura gave a tiny smile to Sasuke after he responded to some question and tentatively rested her head on his shoulder. Aside from a curious glance, the avenger did nothing to shake her off, instead choosing to lean against the tree trunk and rest, occasionally looking at his old teammate as she slept.
It was a peaceful sight, reminding Suigetsu of when he and Karin had been friends. He had always liked her, mostly because she thought that he was 'cuddly' (he didn't tease her nearly enough about that).
Despite what she said, Suigetsu knew that Karin understood that she was fighting a lost cause. She just hadn't accepted it. Once she did, he would be waiting for her. .
Good things come to those who wait. That saying had applied to Sakura, now reunited with Sasuke. Why shouldn't it work for him?
Lame, LAME ending, but I couldn't think of anything else. I might rewrite it later though. Ah well. Just wanted to get this out in the open. MIGHT become a collection of unrelated oneshots.
Should I make this a twoshot, with the other one from Sakura and Sasuke's point of view?
REVIEW!!!! Please?