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Suigetsu thinks the whole scene is very funny.
Karin is perched between the legs of another woman who is positioned between the legs of the man Karin loves. Her hands are cupping air between the woman’s open thighs, a determined look etched across her features. The other two with her have looks of equal resolve on their faces too. They look like quite a team, actually. And despite the fact that Suigetsu knows Karin would much rather snatch Sasuke away, she remains seated between Sakura’s legs.
Funny, funny. Very funny.
“Push!” Karin orders. It isn’t cold and monotonous; there is a definite passion behind it. Her eyes flash between the apex of Sakura’s thighs and face. Not once do they even pass over Sasuke’s features.
Sakura stifles a scream in her mouth, muscles rippling everywhere in her body. Her complexion is beet-red, and her skin is drenched in sweat. The force she’s exerting is actually quite terrifying, but Suigetsu deems he’s at a safe distance across the room.
Sasuke’s hand comes up and sweeps wet hair off Sakura’s forehead. “You’re doing well.” His mouth is next to her ear, but his eyes are glued to Sakura’s naked lower half.
He doesn’t have much of a visual because of his position behind his wife, but Suigetsu would gladly tell him he’s not missing much. Unless he’d like to watch his wife get stretched like taffy, Suigetsu thinks Sasuke is best suited to remain with Sakura leaning back into his lap. Arms like roots, she's got him to stick in one place.
Karin tells Sakura to push again which is followed by another wail of misery. A different sound joins the cry as Sakura’s nails rip into Sasuke’s legs, ripping flesh away like it’s butter. Sasuke doesn’t even flinch. Suigetsu does; that looks like it hurts.
Juugo leans over. “This isn’t going very well.” He keeps his voice low thankfully as he doesn’t want to contradict Sasuke’s words very loudly. There’s no reason to discourage Sakura.
The whole situation is kind of odd if Suigetsu was allowed to put in his two cents. First, Karin had disappeared for a couple of hours after Sasuke had showed up suddenly. Suigetsu had plenty to think about that. Then, they had both come back and with the pinky in tow. That, itself, had been interesting to see, but it was nothing like witnessing what was happening on the abandoned laboratory’s floor right now.
“Almost there,” Karin tells Sakura, a gloved hand giving one of her legs a reassuring pat. “Again.”
Suigetsu has a front row seat to the action, and he has no idea how Karin can tell Sakura is almost there. It all looks like one giant, bloody mess. Maybe that’s why Karin is the one delivering and Suigetsu was told to remain on the sidelines though he tried desperately to help at first. At least it showed he cared.
As Suigetsu is growing bored of watching the unproductive slaughter of a woman’s core, he watches Sakura’s hips shift and a black mass surfaces. What is that? Karin’s hands are shaking a little bit as they gently touch it. The mass protrudes a little further as Sakura grunts again, less in pain and more determined than ever apparently.
So that little fucker has finally decided to make an appearance, Suigetsu thinks.
“Again,” Karin says, her voice trembling a little like her hands. Quickly, she straightens her posture and regains composure. For playing a doctor, she sure looks a lot like a queen.
Sasuke gasps, his eyes widening as he sees somewhat of what Suigetsu and Juugo are viewing. Though it’s limited sightline, he can finally see the head of hair that’s surfaced. “You’re almost done, Sakura.” His hand rubs up and down her arm.
Suigetsu feels sick to his stomach watching. There is so much blood—almost seems like there’s too much. After all the people he’s cut apart and shredded with his blades, the sight of a woman giving birth is almost too much to bear. Maybe it’s the fact that Sakura’s body is getting stretched in unimaginable ways or that she’s still alive and writing in pain, but it makes Suigetsu’s insides churn.
He turns around, spreading his palms across the sleek, metallic surface of the counter. A distorted reflection stares back at him. It’s not perfect, but he can still make out the noticeable features of his face, his violet eyes and prominent tooth. Karin once said no one could ever mistake or forget a face like his. He thinks it’s funny he stands out so obviously to her. Despite being in a group with a dude that’s got the good looks the gods would be jealous of and another dude that’s practically 7 feet tall, Karin thinks he stands out most in the crowd because he looks like a shark.
Another cry scratches its way into his ears, but this one is different than Sakura’s miserable peals. This one is shocked and scared, but there’s something about it that makes Suigetsu’s heart fill to the brim with hope about an unknown future.
Juugo lets out a laugh next to him, and Suigetsu looks over his shoulder to see Karin triumphantly holding the baby up for Sakura and Sasuke to see. The skin around his mouth feels tight he notices, and he realizes everyone in the room is smiling, including him. The baby even has a weird look of joy on her crying features.
“The towel!” Karin is practically glowing as much as the parents are. She can’t take her eyes off the infant.
Juugo quickly rushes over and hands it to her. After he gives Karin her desired object, he backs away quickly to the counter where he was previously positioned. The look on his face has changed; it’s more solemn now.
Suigetsu puts a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Juugo. You’re not going to hurt her.” He senses the giant’s fear of lashing out.
“Not while everyone’s around at least.” Juugo looks down and shrugs.
“No,” Suigetsu begins, “you’re not going to hurt her because you don’t want to hurt her.” He gives Juugo another slap on the back. It was about time he stopped doubting his ability to control himself after all these years of practice.
Juugo looks over at him with a sheepish smile. “You’re right.”
Suigetsu gazes back at Karin, Sasuke, Sakura, and the baby. The three of them have now become four, and the dynamic has definitely changed. Karin looks out of place now among them; she is a fourth wheel trying to make a tricycle a car. At the same pace that the baby was ushered out of Sakura’s body, Karin was led away from Sasuke’s mind. The tears that fill her eyes are evident that she knows this much as well—or maybe they’re because of the baby.
“What’s her name?” Karin gently rubs some residue away from the baby’s eyes.
Sasuke’s eyes finally leave the baby’s face, gauging his wife’s face. He nudges his forehead against the side of her head, kissing her temple.
All the years Suigetsu has known Sasuke, he’s never seen the Uchiha show as much affection as he has in the past few minutes. It’s astounding, really. Suigetsu would have almost pegged Sasuke as incapable of expressing warmth to anyone after he’s watched Sasuke dodge Karin’s attempts to gain his favor.
“Sarada,” Sakura says finally. Her eyes leave the baby’s face and look up at Sasuke, glistening with tears of pride and happiness. They’re drastically different than they were moments before.
Karin stands up and begins shuffling around the room, gathering used, bloody towels that she had cast aside before. Her face is so wet that her glasses slide down her petite nose when she bends over. Suigetsu steps forward to help her with the armful, but she walks past him with purpose and that air of superiority she’s always carried.
Suigetsu watches as Sasuke’s limber fingers tangle through Sakura’s hair, undoing the matted pink mess. Over the soft cooing over the already docile baby, Suigetsu is able to pick up parts of Sasuke’s whispering. Something about their family and a thank you thrown in there for good measure, he supposes.
Karin walks back into the room, the towels and her gloves disposed of. “I’ve set up a room for Sakura and the baby,” she says.
Suigetsu looks between Karin and the trio on the floor. Juugo steps forward again, carefully as if he could disturb Sarada from her trance with her parents’ faces. Karin carefully pulls Sakura’s gown back down her legs so she’s no longer exposed. Sasuke cradles Sakura’s head as Juugo slips his arms under her tired body and hoists her up slowly, gently.
“This way,” Karin says, already at the doorway.
The group all file out into the narrow hallway together. Sasuke is hovering Juugo, Sakura, and the baby. Suigetsu walks a step or two behind Karin since she’s leading the way. There’s tension in her shoulders. Suigetsu wants to tease her about it, but for once, he thinks twice about what he wants to do and takes into account what Karin might want in this situation. She would probably want him to be quiet, keep his trap shut.
“Asleep already, huh?” Juugo says behind them to Sakura.
Sakura giggles lightly. “She feels safe.”
Suigetsu looks over his shoulder as Sakura gently traces Sarada’s tiny slope of a nose. Sasuke is walking so closely next to Juugo it’s practically a miracle he doesn’t trip.
The room that Karin leads them into has been hastily thrown together, but it will serve its purpose well enough. Suigetsu thinks it’s generous Karin is even allowing the two—now three—of them to stay here since she’s technically the one running the place and could kick them out if she had the slightest inclination.
Juugo sets Sakura, with the baby in her arms, down lightly on the bed with fresh sheets. Sasuke slides in beside his wife, wrapping his arm over her shoulder again. Everyone watches silently as the baby lets out a little huff of breath, undisturbed from her sleep. There isn’t much to say.
“Let’s give them some room,” Karin says firmly, taking her eyes away from the baby.
The three of them begin to shuffle out of the room when a smooth voice calls out from behind them for Karin. Juugo and Suigetsu are already out in the hallway, but they hold too. If it concerns Karin, it practically involves them too. Sasuke joins Karin in the doorway, towering over her now that he’s grown a few more inches.
“Thank you,” Sasuke says. Suigetsu almost thinks he’s going to kiss her, but he watches as Sasuke wraps his arm around her back and embraces her tightly instead. “You’ve given me my family.”
Karin is statue-like at first, but then she breaks and throws both her arms around his back, head over his shoulder. A shaky breath leaves her mouth, but nothing else comes out.
Suigetsu can see Sakura smiling sweetly from the bed inside. It’s comforting to know there’s no petty jealousy passing between the two of them. There’s no need for that anymore. Sasuke is satisfied with his life now, and Karin couldn’t even slide her way into his heart even if he wanted her too—it is too full.
The two of them release each other and Sasuke takes a step away, back into the room. With the smallest of smiles, he takes the door into his hand and shuts it, cutting the six of them in half.
Karin turns around, tears brewing again. “What?” She pushes her glasses away and wipes her eyes with the backs of her hands.
Juugo starts off down the hallway, whistling. It’s been a while since Suigetsu’s heard him do that. He must be truly happy. The last time Juugo whistled was on the way home, wherever home was, after the war was over. It’s odd to Suigetsu that Juugo’s happiness coincides with Karin’s misery; Suigetsu would think typically his joy would go with Karin’s unhappiness.
But when Suigetsu turns around and sees Karin’s sadly shuffling forward, still rubbing furiously at her eyes to make the tears retreat, he only feels bad. Inside his chest, his heart drops into his stomach, and his fingers twitch in eagerness to form a union with his palm. She walks past him, slumped—defeated.
“Congratulations,” Suigetsu says before he can stop himself. He has no idea why that was his choice of words for a compliment.
Karin puts her hands down, still walking away. “You’re saying that to the wrong person, numb nuts.” Her shoulders are still hunched.
Suigetsu starts walking to catch up with her. “No, I meant to say it to you.” He finally catches step with her. “You did a good job. It might not have happened as successfully if it wasn’t for you.”
Karin almost stops walking, her eyes still glistening but wide in surprise. “Is this some sick way of teasing me?”
“No?” Suigetsu finds it odd that she can’t just accept the compliment from him.
“It feels like you’re telling me I’ve fucked myself for not letting Sakura die so I could be with Sasuke,” Karin says.
A sneer comes onto her lips, and Suigetsu is almost tempted to fall back and avoid confrontation, but he knows Karin probably wants reassurance of sorts that she’s done the right thing. He wants to be the one to give it to her.
“No, Karin.” He takes a lunge in front of her, blocking her path. “I’m saying good job.”
Karin holds in her tracks, staring directly into his chest for a few seconds before she looks up. There’s eye contact, like they’ve made a thousand times, but it’s different because Karin’s not seething with venom or trying to attack to him after a couple seconds of lingering staring.
It’s different because for the first time Suigetsu feels like Karin really sees him. She’s not looking through him, wondering how hard she has to hit him to get him to fuck off. She’s not looking into him, claiming to be disgusted by his chakra signature. Vision has finally flooded her blind eyes; she finally sees him standing there in front of her, just hoping to appear as he’s always wanted to.
Karin’s lower lip shakes. “Thank you.” Her head hangs limply on her neck before she lets it all loose.
Ugly cries rip through her though she tries as she might to stifle them. It is very reminiscent to Sakura suffocating screams in her mouth, Suigetsu notices. Sasuke seems to surround himself with people that like to hide their pain.
Suigetsu takes Karin by the arm and pulls her a little farther down the hallway to her room and swings her inside, shutting the door behind him. A safe distance away from disturbing the baby, Karin lets her crying out freely, so heartbroken she doesn’t even care Suigetsu is in the room.
“Karin, why are you crying?” Suigetsu has her by both arms now, preventing her from a total collapse onto the floor.
She snaps her head up. “Why do you think?” Her mouth turns from a trembling mess into a sneer. “I just gave him his happy ending, and I don’t get mine.” One of her fingers is pointed sharply towards the direction they just came from.
“How do you know Sasuke is a part of your happy ending?” Suigetsu asks with a bit of challenge in his voice. When Karin opens her mouth to speak, Suigetsu waves his hands in front of her face. “How do you know Sasuke is even a part of your end?”
“I just do,” Karin wails like a child. She buries her face in her hands.
Suigetsu huffs, not sure what to say. There’s no way she could have actually known, but there’s no use in telling her that.
“He looked at me like I was his whole world for a second,” Karin tells him, her head finally backs, neck arched towards the ceiling. “I was just holding his whole world. I had his daughter in my hands, and she wasn’t mine too.”
“Karin,” Suigetsu says, trying to get her attention. “Karin,” he repeats, more urgently. “You’re hysterical,” he tells her even though she already knows she’s inconsolable. He’s hoping that hearing his voice seem critical of her will snap her back into her old self.
Futile, Suigetsu gives up his efforts to placate her and releases her, taking a step back. For a moment, he thinks she’ll lose her shit and it would be safer if he left the room completely, but he decides against it. He’s got himself entangled in her problem, so he’ll see it out.
When Karin collapses to her knees, Suigetsu is glad he didn’t abandon her. For once, she actually needs him, and he’ll be damned if he leaves someone when he’s finally wanted, especially someone like Karin. He shrinks to all fours and crawls over to where she’s heaped. A safe foot away, he sits back on his bottom, legs stretched out in front of him. He hugs his knees and watches her.
She continues to cry. It goes on for an almost inconceivable amount of time to Suigetsu. As she weeps, he thinks, reflects. He supposes that if he had ever had feelings for anyone it was Karin, and maybe if he had ever been truly faced with the idea of losing her indefinitely or eternally—never being near her again, not even in a platonic sense—he might be this level of miserable. He’s glad he’s never understood anyone’s feelings, let alone his own.
Karin finally looks up, and Suigetsu barely registers it. "It feels like giving up."
"What?"
"Not being with Sasuke in the end. It feels like giving up." She shakes her head.
"Why?" Suigetsu counters, gentler than he knew he could speak.
Karin sighs. Rather dramatically, Suigetsu thinks. "If I'm not with Sasuke, everything I did... everything I've done, it was for nothing. It doesn't mean anything. I did it for nothing. I'm alone, and he's happy, and he deserves his happy ending. But could he not have had that with me?"
There seems to be a moment of perfect clarity for her--where she gets to the root of it all, her anger and confusion. Her tears stop for an instant, but her words remind her of the truth of her situation. She buries her face back into her hands, weeping again.
“Why are you still here?” Karin asks, acid through snot and tears.
Suigetsu is even surprised he’s still there, but this seems like the kind of thing people who care for each other do.
“I just wanted to tell you that people get what they deserve, Karin,” Suigetsu tells her plainly. It seems like it was something easy for him to say, but he really means it under his indifferent exterior.
Karin laughs. “Then I guess you believe we aren’t getting shit.” The back of her hands, abused from their overuse before, try to erase tear stains again.
“No,” Suigetsu shakes his head, “you just delivered the baby of the guy you’ve loved for years without one complaint. You selflessly helped his wife. You’re housing them here without a second thought.” His stray tooth feels heavy against his lower lip as he bites down a bit nervously. “We’re not bad people just because we didn’t do what the rest of the world wanted us to.”
“One good deed doesn’t make me a good person,” Karin replies with bite, resting her chin on top of her knees.
Suigetsu shrugs. “There’s plenty of other stuff, but I’m sure you’re getting sick of hearing me talk.”
Her eyes open a little bit, curious. Suspicion growing, her lips press together. “Why are you being so nice to me, Suigetsu?”
She doesn’t inflect on his name in disgust. The tone she’s taken has layers of disbelief, and it’s so blatant that she’s only putting on that much emphasis on his name because she wants to remind him of who he is. Suigetsu. Someone who has been constantly in her life, pestering and poking at things he shouldn’t. Suigetsu. Someone who has been pummeled countless times by Karin and fists that never seem to make contact. Suigetsu. Someone who has always seemed to care about her even less than Sasuke—at least publicly.
“You need it,” he responds without missing a beat.
Suigetsu. Someone who has been constantly in her life, pestering and poking at things he shouldn’t.
Before he even realizes it, arms have thrown themselves around his neck, a chest forced tight against his. As an instant reaction, he flushes into water. When Karin and her angry hands are around, staying on his toes is the best idea.
“You piece of shit!” Karin screeches, looking down at the puddle in her lap. Despite the choice of words, her lips transform into a smile.
For the first time, she’s smiling at him—a smile she’s usually reserved for Sasuke. Once Suigetsu saw her give it to Juugo when he brought back some wildflowers he had seen and picked for her. Never has Karin smiled at him without maliciousness behind it until now.
Suigetsu looks up at her from his state on the cold floor. He feels warm.
All at once, he morphs back together onto his knees, quickly running his arms across Karin’s ribs to snake around her, bringing her up and into him. The way she relaxes into the embrace surprises him. Her cheek is wet against his neck. Inside him, his stomach churns nervously. Carefully—because she could change her mind in a second no less—he brings a hand up and runs it down her hair. It’s soft like he thought it might be.
Karin pulls back, sniffling, sitting back on her heels. Suigetsu does the same.
“You know if I get a happy ending so do you,” Karin tells him, hands resting on her thick, muscled thighs. “You’ve done almost as much good as me... debatably.”
Suigetsu laughs. “I’m not worried about where I’m going to end up.” He brushes it away, smirking. The stray tooth digs into his abused, lower lip.
“I wish I could be like you,” Karin admits sheepishly. The air around them feels warm. “I’m afraid I still don’t believe karma has a very high opinion of me.”
“Well,” Suigetsu begins, “then I guess we can just live out the rest of our miserable existences together.” He shrugs, sinking back even more. Eventually, he’s laid back completely, elbows supporting him. “There’s got to be some sort of happiness in shared despair. Misery loves company.”
Karin smiles, eyes lighting up with delight. “Sounds good to me.”
A knock interrupts Suigetsu when he opens his mouth to say something else to her. A black head of hair peeks in. Karin surprisingly doesn’t tense. Suigetsu thinks something has changed indefinitely in her forever since her breakdown, and he thinks it is a good thing. Karin existing without Sasuke will be a lot like watching TV with the sound on—complete.
“Sakura wants to know if you want to hold the baby, Karin,” Sasuke says. There is certainly not a smile on his features, but the gentleness in his tone is enough of a clue to show the duo on the floor how he feels currently. They both learned how to pick up on his moods long ago.
“I would love to,” she replies. She climbs to her feet and dusts herself off. “I’ll be there in just a second.”
Sasuke disappears back off down the hallway, apparently anxious about being away from too long. Suigetsu stands too, taking a quick look at Karin’s appearance. The tears are gone, but anyone would be able to tell she had been crying—and hard. She takes a step forward to pass him, but he puts an arm out.
“Just a second,” he says. Slowly, he reaches up and slides her glasses off her face with one hand and pulls up the hem of his shirt with the other. He wipes away the salty stains from her tears, allowing her to see clearly. “Here you go.” He slides them back onto her face. “You’re good to go.”
Together, they leave the room and walk side-by-side down the hallway in sync. Juugo has already dipped into the room, and surprisingly, he’s walked in the direction towards the bed. Karin’s steps falter a little bit, but when she notices Suigetsu still keeping his pace, she keeps up. Their arms brush briefly as they swing past their hips.
“Just remember, Karin, you’ve done a very good thing—a series of good things. Something good will come your way because of this,” Suigetsu reminds her of what he told her before.
Karin turns her head in his direction. “Right,” she says firmly.
Suigetsu grabs her arm. “And another thing,” he starts, Karin turning to him fully, “I know you know Sasuke is a part of your end, but... maybe it’s not in the way you think.” He squeezes out the last part, hoping he hasn’t ruined whatever development has occurred between them just now.
Karin nods, her mouth a set line, but her eyes sing her thanks to him.
She steps into the room before him, and Sakura smiles over at her from the bed, cradling the baby in her arms. Karin doesn’t hesitate to head to her and sit on the stool set up at the bedside. With the utmost care, Sakura hands the baby over, smiling as Karin lets out a soft gasp. Suigetsu walks over, hands in his pockets.
He takes observation of the baby in Karin’s arms as he stands next to the redhead, her head level with his waist. The dark hair and the dark eyes blinking blearily up at her deliverer are reminiscent of Sasuke. Sarada is beautiful, Suigetsu thinks. Karin’s fingers trace her chubby cheek gently, run along her chin, and sweep over her full head of hair.
Karin’s chin lifts and Suigetsu thinks she will look over at Sasuke with a look of hurt and betrayal. Sasuke’s created something amazing with someone other than her, after all. Suigetsu knows that it very well may take some time before she truly grasps what he’s said to her, even if she’s already taken it into consideration
Instead, in a shocking twist, her eyes turn up to Suigetsu and are aflame with happiness. A genuine grin brilliantly takes over her features.
It’s the second time she has smiled at Suigetsu, someone who has constantly been there in her life, pestering and poking where he shouldn’t. He’s glad that he's always been in her business, knowing what she liked and what she didn’t, understanding her ticks and tocks, has finally paid off. He’s shown Karin happy endings don’t have to include Sasuke.
Suigetsu has achieved what his gut has been screaming for him to do. That nagging feeling that has ached within him since he first saw Karin subsided. She knows that what she has been rewarded—what she will be rewarded—is all worth it.
Karin gently leans her head against Suigetsu’s hip, resting it there, eyes casting down towards the baby again. Without a second thought, he brings his hand up and rests it on top of her soft head of hair. A toothy smile dances across his face as Karin lets out a content sigh.
It is Sarada’s birthday, but something has been born between them too.