Chapter Text
Let's hurry." Orochimaru tells them, speeding up with the three running behind him. Karin runs forwards with complicated feelings buried in her chest, unknowingly speeding up at the thought of meeting him after their last encounter.
He betrayed me without hesitation, so why am I still worrying about him?
Karin grit her teeth and told herself to stop, to stop loving this heartless bastard, but she knew deep inside she still liked him.
I must be an idiot…
————
Now's my chance!
Sasuke appears in the night sky and lunges at Madara, his katana swinging towards the older Uchiha's head, expression full of confidence. But he suddenly freezes in midair, Madara's Limbo blocking and restricting him from moving, forcing him to watch helplessly as the other approaches him ominously. Mockingly, Madara grabs Sasuke's katana and pierces it through his chest in a flash, eyes unimpressed as he lets the Uchiha fall to the ground with a thump.
Sasuke's face was frozen, still processing the shock.
"Argh! Ah!" Sasuke yelled in agony as the pain reached every muscle in his body, he breathed out in ragged breaths as he forced the tears to stay in. It stings. Why does it hurt so much?!
Sasuke desperately crawled away, feeling blood ooze out of him with each centimeter he moved- but he didn't want to die, not here, not now. Madara watched the pathetic scene and gave the struggling Uchiha a scoff before leaving.
"Argh!" Sasuke couldn't keep it in and coughs out a mouthful of metallic blood, feeling sick as his vision begins to blur. With this much blood coming out, am I going to die…? I don't want to die yet, Nii-san!
————
"Hmm, that looks tricky." Orochimaru comments as the four of them look over at the massive wood golem that was completely destroying the shinobi alliance.
"If we tell him how poop works, do you think he'll let us through?" Suigestu asks, acting surprised as everyone gives him pitiful and disappointing glances. His lack of brain cells is truly disappointing, Orochimaru comments, shifting his attention to Karin and noticing how serious she seemed to be.
"Karin, are you that worried about Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru asks in amusement, watching as energy flies back to the red hair's face.
"O-Of course not! That bastard almost killed me-" Karin began shouting, but froze, her heartbeat suddenly quickening.
The familiar purple flame suddenly flickered before fading so quickly that it caused Karin's heart to almost stop.
Sasuke is dying!
"O-Oi, Karin! Get back here!" Suigestu shouted after her but she wasn't listening, her surroundings were silent as she charged through the shinobi alliance without slowing down for a second.
Why is his chakra so low?! Karin felt tears quickly gather to eyes as the purple flame painfully disappeared.
If this continues, he's going to die!
Karin starts to panic as she screams aloud in frustration, overwhelming chakra released from within her, golden chains erupted from her back and attacked the wood golem, completely splitting it into pieces.
"What the- Who destroyed it?" Someone yelled, disbelief written all over his face. Orochimaru, Suigestu and Jugo quickly entered the fight to aid Karin as she charged ahead.
"It doesn't matter, let's go!" Someone else shouted and the shinobi alliance continued forwards with newfound determination. Karin sprints ahead, ignoring the rocks that dug into her bare feet as she ran towards his direction.
I swore to never love him again, yet here I am, charging forwards so blindly. Why do I sacrifice so much, do so much, for a guy like him?
————
Sasuke's vision became even blurrier to the point that he couldn't tell if he was losing consciousness or if he was crying.
Damnit, I can't die here!... Sasuke tilts his head up and grits his teeth in fustration. Where the hell is Sakura?!
Then, the Uchiha became alert, Sasuke felt the sudden strong burst of chakra and felt his body subconsciously tense up. Such powerful chakra… who? But Sasuke was not too eager in finding out as he focused on staying awake. Laying there without being able to move truly allowed him to experience the pain to the fullest, and so he agonized on the spot, not even noticing that the unknown carrier of that chakra was heading his way.
Karin spots the beaten up Sasuke laying on the ground, his blood dying his clothes to a disgusting red. Without delay, Karin runs over and collapses onto the ground, ignoring the bruising pain coming from her scraped knees.
The chakra- it's coming towards me. The owner of that chakra, an enemy? A new comrade? Sasuke forced his heavy eyelids to stay open and looked up again as he felt a shadow cover him.
"Sasuke! Hurry, let me heal you!" Karin says as she leans down. Sasuke couldn't quite make out who it was but saw the abnormal hair colour and opened his aching jaw in a grimace.
"Tsk, you're finally here, Sakura? What took you so long?" Sasuke demands, his voice had grown hoarse from the thick blood clotted in the middle of his throat. Karin's expression slowly dampened.
Sakura? Why Sakura? Wasn't I the one who always sacrificed so much for him?
Karin felt taken aback but forced herself to place her feelings aside, lowering her arm in front of Sasuke's bloodied mouth.
"Hurry up, bite me." Karin rushed him, leaning her arm closer towards his dry lips. Sasuke's black eyes widen in surprise as he realizes that this was Karin who came to save him. That the owner of that mysterious chakra was Karin.
I always thought that she only liked me because of my looks. But she came back to save me… even when I'm like this.
"Hurry up!" Karin urges worriedly, Sasuke doesn't waste any time and bites into her arm, noticing that the girl didn't make any annoyingly weird noises this time.
Humph, it seems that she can be mature at times too, Sasuke thought to himself as he felt his body quickly recover.
Sasuke heaves himself back onto his feet, flexing his arms before picking up his katana from the ground.
I have to get back to Naruto now, or there won't be any other way in defeating Madara. Sasuke feels where the deep wound that was etched in his body seconds ago and grimaces.
Karin watched as Sasuke stretched his fingers, she felt sadness overwhelm her and stayed sitting there on her bruised knees.
Why do I continue doing so much for him? He never feels any gratitude when I help him. I really don't want this… I really don't want to feel so useless, so unloved.
Sasuke looks forwards at the war field before tightening his grip on his katana.
"Thank you." The words were heard clear despite how quiet they were spoken and caused Karin to hold her breath. Sasuke quickly leaves to go find Naruto, leaving Karin and her shock to herself.
I didn't expect him to say anything to me…
The Uzumaki's surprised expression slowly morphs into a painful one.
"I don't want to love you anymore…" Karin whispers, clenching her hands into fists as she remembers those quiet words that were spoken. But I can't help but continue falling for you.