Ten Things I Hate About Loving You

sasuke/karin;; ten short fic snippets for ten different genres, written for a livejournal meme.

(a/n) I started this meme fully intending to write Itachi/Anko, but this pairing elbowed its way in. Dang it.

(disclaimer) not mine.

1. Angst

When the pink-headed medic on the battlefield suddenly whipped around and blasted Sasuke to the ground with a single blow to the head, Karin was understandably angered.

But when that same pink-headed (slut, she hisses in the back of her mind, unwilling to give her a name and the respect it came with) medic was able to coax a rare real smile out of Sasuke, the one it had taken Karin weeks to even glimpse, it was something darker, sharper, icier than anger that twisted in her insides.

Because Karin was once a proud member of Hidden Sound, and she knows that no one's irreplaceable.

2. AU

Dear Diary,

Stole Sasuke's shirt out of boys' locker room during gym today. It smells like rancid guy sweat. And success.

Next Mission: steal his jockstrap and see if his package is as lovely as they say.

3. Crack

It's all Suigetsu's fault for suggesting they go out, really. Turns out, Sasuke can't hold his liquor.

"Baby," he slurs on the way back to the inn, sweeping Karin low to the ground and attempting to look her straight in the eyes without crossing his own, "you're my forever girl."

Needless to say, she'll never let him forget it.

4. Crossover (KH)

"Oh, I'm sorry," the spiky-brown-headed kid is saying, stumbling over his words, "for a second, from the back, I thought you were someone I, uh, knew."

--

"Oh, I'm sorry," the talking duck is saying, squawking so shrilly that he's close to unintelligible as Juugo holds him at eye level, "for a second, from the back, I thought your friend was someone I, uh, knew."

5. First Time

"Okay, so maybe next time I ought to take my glasses off."

"If you think there's going to be a next time..."

"Oh, Sasuke, you don't understand. It's hormones. There will be a next time."

"...Shit."

6. Fluff

Sometimes, when it's Karin's turn on perimeter watch, she sings softly to keep herself awake. She has a rich contralto voice, but she doesn't like to sing in front of other people. She doesn't know enough songs.

So when she hears the tune she'd been singing the night before, as an absent-minded hum on Sasuke's lips, she smiles to herself and tries to ignore that he's tone-deaf.

7. Humor

"So, is this, like, full-blown for real Akatsuki initiation, or what?" Karin asks, and Sasuke's finger twitches. "Don't move," she snaps, as she paints down another coat, blowing gently on his pinkie fingernail. He flushes slightly.

"Sasuke's just all flustered because he hates having his hand held," Suigetsu snickers from the other corner, where Juugo's doing his toes.

8. Hurt/Comfort

Karin felt Sasuke's approaching chakra signature long before he sat down behind her, his back against hers. So much for a private cry.

"For what it's worth, Karin," he begins, softly and almost awkwardly (if she could allow herself to believe he was capable of being awkward), "I wouldn't have asked you to join if I didn't think you were capable."

She's been trained for most of her life to hide weakness, so her voice is as steady as a rock even as she blinks away tears. "Coming from you, that's a real compliment, huh?" she asks, and almost laughs.

"The best," Sasuke says, and she smiles against the lump in her throat.

9. Smut

His curse mark hisses and boils under her, and his teeth come down much sharper than before, his nails scoring her back painfully. Her fingers are entangled in his suddenly wildwild hair (too long, and brittle and stiff with the crackle of his buzzing chakra), and she smiles against his bruise-darkened skin when the wings come down over her in the parody of an embrace.

10. UST

"There's got to be a more efficient way, Karin," Sasuke says, frowning. "You're the only healer we've got on the team, but--I mean, we can't afford to have you injured in the process. There are arteries in your arms, you know."

"If you're so worried, Sasuke, don't bite so hard. Or, you know, get hurt less." Karin adjusts her glasses.

"Does it have to be a bite, specifically?" Sasuke trails off, looking at her face in an odd way.

Karin's heart skips a couple of times, but she asks anyway: "...What are you getting at?"

"...Nothing," Sasuke says after a minute, and walks away.