Prompt: “They never got their chance”
Submitted by: Tigressmonster
Setting: Itachi-pursuit arc (NOT IN TREASON-VERSE)
Pairing: SasuSaku, SuiKarin (kind of)
Summary: Team Hebi/Taka’s version of campfire stories. (Sequel here if anyone’s interested)
Suigetsu uncorked a bottle of sake and took a long swig. He stretched out in front of the roaring fire.
“When did you get that?” Karin snapped. She crossed arms petulantly. “It was probably while you weren’t doing anything useful!”
He glanced at her through half lidded eyes. “You’re just mad because you want some, aren’t ya’?” There was a lucid double meaning to his words.
The red head turned up her nose. “A real lady shouldn’t drink in the company of men.”
“Yeah, so it’s no problem for you then."
Water splashed around violently as she pounded into his face.The fire hissed in objection and flickered dangerously.
Sasuke twitched almost imperceptibly. He had to relight it twice already.
Karin growled. "I cannot stand you!”
“Shut up.” The swordsman dove deeper in his cups. “I’m gonna drink until you look like Shimizu Ayame.”
Karin’s lips folded into some cross between a pout and a scowl. "Well that’s a stupid name.“ It literally meant ‘pure water iris.'
"You just have no culture.” After one last furious gulp, Suigetsu sighed. “It’s no use. A hag like you could never look anything like her.”
“Who was she?” Juugo asked. It had been a long time since he heard a story. Kimimaro used to tell him things all the time.
“Just the most beautiful girl in Kiri. At least she was last time I was there.” He wistfully gazed at the bright burning stars.
Karin’s scowl deepened, and Juugo leaned forward hoping to hear more. Even Sasuke was half-listening, albeit mostly out of boredom.
“So you stalked her,” the redhead snarked.
“Ayame? Nah, she was my sweetheart.”
Juugo blinked, and glanced at his teammate from across the fire. “Sweetheart?”
“You know, my girl, my chick, my more-than-friend. I would take her out from time to time, buy her stuff, show off like crazy when she was around. All that.” When he received only a blank stare in return, Suigetsu shook his head. “Cripes, you really don’t get out enough.”
“So, you two were in love?” the orange haired man asked. He’d heard love stories before and this sounded fairly close to one of them.
The swordsman shrugged. “I wouldn’t take it that far. We were just kids fooling around, ya’ know? But maybe we would have been something if not for the years I spent floating in a fish tank.”
Juugo smiled sadly. He could guess that his white haired teammate was playing off a lot of pain. “What if she waited?”
Karin rolled her ruby eyes dramatically. “Come on, Juugo. Who’d wait for him? Maybe if he was someone like Sasuke it would be different.”
At that, the Uchiha’s mind drifted back to Konoha without his consent. Was anyone still waiting for him there? He imagined that all his former fan-girls had gone on with their lives, but maybe it was different with Sakura. He shut his eyes and pushed the kunoichi from his mind as he had countless times before.
Still, a nagging voice in his subconscious convicted him. He had no right to claim Sakura. He’d hurt her and abandoned her; never cared for her feelings. It would serve him right if she was in love with Naruto by now.
Suigetsu pulled another sake bottle out of his pack and offered it to him. “You look like you need it, fearless leader,” he drawled.
“Hn.” Sasuke actually took it. Anything to chase away the thought of those two together.
“So, are ya’ gonna tell us about the girl you left back in Konoha?”
He took a long drink. “No.”
Karin gasped, horrified. “So there was one!” This put a huge dent in her plans. “W-was she pretty?”
Sasuke closed his eyes. Now they would never leave him alone. There wasn’t enough liquor in the world for this conversation. After another sip there was a warm feeling coursing through his veins. “Aa.” It was all coming back to him now; her glowing, unblemished skin, her expressive spring green eyes, hair like the petals of the flower that bore her name. “Beautiful.”
Suigetsu grinned toothily as Karin seemed to shrink visibly. “Blonde or brunette?”
Karin seemed to instantly regain some vitality. She batted her eyelashes flirtatiously. "A redhead then?” That would mean she was his type.
With that, her confidence sank through the forest floor.
“How 'bout that drink now?”
She snatched the bottle from the Mist-nin almost before he could pull it out.
“What color was her hair, then?” Juugo asked, genuinely curious.
“Hn.” Sasuke wouldn’t say. These three were his allies for now, but one day a connection to him could put her in danger.
“Protecting her, then,” Suigetsu noted as he opened a bag of chips. “I guess you won’t tell us her name either.”
Silence.There was only the sound of the three drinks sloshing in their bottles.
“Can we at least get some character traits?”
Sasuke smirked, looking down. “Annoying.”
Even Karin herself wore as shocked expression at this revelation.
“Was she nice?” Juugo asked.
Sasuke smirked again as he pictured her punching Naruto several feet into the air. “Depends on who you ask.” He glanced over at the part-time madman. “She was gentle.” A bit too gentle in his opinion. “You would have liked her, Juugo."
Karin huffed indignantly. "She sounds soft. I bet she was a coward.”
Sasuke nearly laughed. He took another small sip. “She was no coward."
Karin sighed.There was no winning this battle. "What’s makes you say that?”
Sasuke’s eyes were glued to the fire. He could see his days with team seven dancing in the flames. “She faced a tailed beast holding nothing more than a kunai. We were thirteen.”
Suigetsu nodded approvingly. “Total badass! I wanna meet this chick.”
“Why’d she do it?” Juugo questioned. There had to be more to that story.
The Uchiha sighed. The sake was all done by now. “For me."
Karin snorted. "Sasuke,” her speech was slightly slurred. “Just know that I will neeeever love you that much.”
“Hn.” No one would. He knew that even as he abandoned the village all those years ago.
“So when are we picking her up?” Suigetsu laughed. In the shinobi world that kind of devotion was rare.“That is not the type of girl you leave behind. That’s the type you take with you.”
“Please,” Karin said. Her head leaned against the swordsman’s shoulder. “Mystery girl’s probably a huge patriot. Wouldn’t join you if you begged, nee, Sasuke?”
His glare seemed to pin her to the log she sat on. “Why would I ask that of someone I respect?”
“Well, now we know what he thinks of all of us,” Suigetsu deadpanned.
Juugo rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I think he loves her,” he declared after much deliberation. “Will you go back for her, Sasuke?”
“She’s always had admirers.” Naruto and that guy in the green jumpsuit immediately came to mind. “She likely moved on long ago. I won’t disturb whatever life she created.” He felt that he caused her enough pain already.
“You just don’t wanna see her with someone else.” Suigetsu adjusted his position and Karin slumped into his lap, dead to the world. “I call your bluff."
"So, she was your sweetheart?” Juugo asked.
Sasuke stared straight ahead but Sakura’s face danced across his mind’s eye. “Aa.” Or at least she would have been, if life had given them the chance.
snowghoul
2087
vaporwave
