"We'll visit again later," Sakura said, looking at the green clad boy punching the wooden dummy. He might not have even heard them. His bushy brows furrowed, each punch precise, though the crutches under his arms made the entire scene a little absurd.
Karin took Sakura's hand and led the kunoichi away. Sakura didn't resist.
There was no distracting Rock Lee when he got like that, and unless they wanted to join in his ever more strange training methods, they had no chance to grab his attention and karin didn't want more strange training.
Dealing with Hinata's bizarre, and somehow effective, training methods were already more than enough.
Karin's mind drifted to the coin stuck in her midriff. She thought about the past months.
Techniques that once looked impossible were now second nature.
Karin knew she'd been little more than a medic slave in the Grass, but it wasn't until she fully settled in Konoha that she really understood what she'd been lacking. Her training didn't even include the basics every genin in Konoha knew.
Now Karin could wall-walk, water-walk and she'd even started learning a real medic jutsu, instead of letting people bite into her flesh to absorb life energy.
She owed a freaking lot to Hinata.
She liked paying it back in pranks. No matter how much Hinata complained, and brooded, her chakra didn't lie. Hinata loved that. It made her happy.
The trouble with sensing people's feelings through their chakra was that she couldn't not feel them. It was hard to ignore Hinata's loneliness.
Hinata had the most beautiful and expressive chakra Karin had ever felt. It was like she could read the girl's mind. An effect of all that control training? Maybe, but because of that, Karin was aware of how Hinata really felt. All the time.
The crushing loneliness, resignation and sadness.
It only changed a small bit when she was talking about her crush.
Karin was still a bit in love with Hinata. No, that was a lie. She was a lot in love with Hinata, or with Hinata's chakra. It was pure as crystal, emotive beyond belief with just a hint of something other, as strange as that was. But Karin couldn't shoulder all that loneliness by herself, nor did she want to get between Hinata and Ino.
And Karin was greedy.
Living with Hinata, the jokes, the pranks, sleeping together. That was more than enough. Pushing Hinata towards happiness, even if just a little. Karin didn't mind if she never kissed Hinata. Just being close, that was enough.
Because right now, Karin wanted to kiss someone else.
Yes, Karin wanted it, no shame in admitting: Sakura, even Rock Lee. Her face flushed at those thoughts. A grin spread on her lips.
They wandered hand in hand, with no real destination.
"Where are we going?" Sakura asked after a while.
Sakura had shied away from Karin's forwardness at first, but Karin persevered. Now, walking hand in hand was normal, but Karin wanted more.
"I have an idea," Karin said.
With that, she led Sakura along Konoha's streets toward one shop she found not too long ago. A small place that sold a lot of different sweets.
They walked in, Sakura observing everything. Small booths with round tables and comfy chairs, a lot of teenagers, mostly in pairs, eating, drinking and chatting.
Karin led Sakura deeper into the store, toward the back booths, away from giggling teenagers couples. They sat side by side, shoulders touching, and soon after, the waitress was at their table.
"What can we get for you today? We've got the best sweets in Konoha!" the girl chirped.
Sakura looked between the waitress and Karin, eyes narrowing.
"Cake and tea," Karin said.
The waitress bowed and left.
"The best in Konoha?" Sakura raised a brow, watching the waitress go.
Karin shrugged. "It's not," she said, "but I like the vibe."
They talked about this and that, but mostly enjoyed their hang out.
Sakura had a lot of free time with Shikamaru as their squad leader. A fact that Karin abused as much as she could.
As long as Hinata didn't learn about it, of course. There would be hell to pay if Hinata learned Karin was ditching training to meet Sakura.
The cake arrived. Sweet, fluffy, but too sweet. It just didn't taste like Hinata's baked perfections.
Sakura nibbled, made a face, and didn't touch the cake again. She kept sipping from juice and looking about, then at Karin.
"Why are we here, Karin?" she asked finally.
Karin looked around. The giggling pairs, the obvious couples flirting and more.
"Do you have anyone you like?" Karin asked.
She knew it already, of course. There was no way she wouldn't know going by Sakura's chakra whenever she met Rock Lee, or they talked about 'Emosuke'. There was even a bit when the two of them were together.
Sakura's chakra did that thing Karin loved. It tried to flatten at the same time it felt someone else took over. It felt like two different Sakuras: one prim and proper; other wild and free.
Sakura looked away, a soft pink blooming on her cheeks. "Maybe," she murmured.
"Sasuke-kun?" Karin asked.
Sakura looked toward one window, ate another bit of the too-sweet cake.
"For a long time, I thought so," she said finally.
"Now Rock Lee?" Karin teased.
The small dusting turned into a full-blown blush. Sakura just shoulder checked Karin. Karin laughed. Sakura was adorable.
"Have you ever kissed someone before?" Sakura asked.
Karin blinked, not expecting the question. She shook her head. "No. You?"
Sakura made a face. "Almost, once."
"What happened?" Karin asked.
Sakura's face didn't look good.
"Naruto happened."
"He interrupted?"
Sakura's face turned into a grimace. "Worse, he was disguised as Sasuke and I almost kissed him, thinking it was Sasuke."
Karin laughed. That was so Naruto.
"Don't laugh," Sakura grumbled.
Karin laughed harder, but her breath almost hitched when Sakura's chakra did a flip. Like the wild one had taken over.
"Do you wanna try?" Sakura asked.
Karin just flopped like a fish.
"Call it practice," Sakura continued, cheeks burning. "For when you get a boyfriend."
Like a machine, Karin nodded.
"Close your eyes," Sakura said.
Karin obeyed.
That night, Karin didn't sleep, and neither did Hinata. The giggles kept spilling out, long into the dark.