halloween requested story pt2

Hinata kept her head down and her mouth shut, no matter how pointed the stares became. Her eyes were so close to being closed that she probably wasn’t getting any visual feedback other than the impression of light, but it did disguise her most distinctive physical characteristic. 

And it also made her look nonchalant, which could only help Karin play this off as a normal thing.  

“Focus.” Karin snapped her fingers and waved them in an S shape. The guard looked back at her, a sneer starting to form at her rudeness.   

Good. He wasn’t worrying about Hinata anymore, was he?   “I ran into trouble out there. The guy I left with is dead.” She said it all with complete confidence and only the slightest tinge of guilt about what, exactly, this guy was going to conclude and write in the logs. “I need to check something, and then I’m going to go investigate the other possible supplier.”  

Maybe Orochimaru-sama would not care that the first source hadn’t worked out and never even retaliate. But probably he would. He was attentive to details.  Well. It wasn’t her problem, and she couldn’t waste her energy protecting people she didn’t even know.  

‘I don’t like or trust those guys anyway. I don’t want to do business with them again, even if I could arrange another deal on such short notice without letting on that my supposed partner ruined everything and I couldn’t keep things under control.’  

That, if nothing else, would be a disaster for her authority.  

The two chuunin leaning against the building outface began, reluctantly, to walk away. They weren’t willing to be caught dawdling too long… but they would probably be quick to spread word that Karin had brought someone back to the base and returned without her original mission partner.  

‘I don’t want to stay here long, unless Hinata is willing to work for Sound.’  

The checkpoint guard sighed, giving one last look-over to Karin’s orders on file and her identification. He seemed to come to a decision. “I’ll file it. Better hurry, we’re expecting Kabuto-sama in the next month and he’ll want to see progress.” His tone dropped. The information wasn’t confidential, but it was better not to be heard grousing too much about management.  

She made a commiserating sound that was genuine and leaned in a little to show that they were on the same side. Karin allowed just a bit of real stress to show through her tone. “I love it when he stops in to check on the labs,” she said. “It gives us such a nice chance to see how fast we can work.”


He snorted and settled back in his chair. “Keeps everyone on their toes,” he agreed. The guard twitched a bit of long hair off of his face, tossing his jaw just a bit. “Who is this? Recruit, guest, transfer?”  

“Assistant for my mission,” Karin said shortly. “She’s new. I just picked her up. She came in handy when the transfer went sour.”  

“Ah.” The guard gave Hinata a long, slow look that started to make Karin uncomfortable. All her obvious Konoha markers were off- the headband tucked inside her coat, a rank pin in a pocket- but Karin had the uncomfortable feeling that he was still coming to conclusions about Hinata’s origins. She didn’t know what he was seeing, but he was definitely noticing something of value.  

‘Is it the cut of her clothes?’ Karin plastered on a smile. ‘Her hairstyle? Some scented product she’s using?’  

Hinata definitely looked out of place in Sound- oh, her clothes were definitely expensive, high quality material. That wasn’t conclusive proof that she came from a major village, but it was notable. Hm.  

The guard gave her a dry smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Be careful,” he said, so quietly that she almost didn’t catch it. Karin took the warning with a nod and swept inside as soon as her passbook had been stamped. She kept her head high and deflected anyone who looked like they might stop to ask questions about the quiet shadow on Karin’s heels.  

She got them into the base proper without ever giving any clear information about Hinata, because no one here was quite ready to challenge Karin. That wouldn’t last, though. She had rivals and if one of them came by while they were still using Orochimaru-sama’s security to dodge the Konoha tracking team.. Well. It wouldn’t be easy to get out of that without answering some questions.  

‘I’m not doing anything wrong,’ Karin reminded herself. ‘I am Orochimaru-sama’s loyal servant. I am going to go back out and get the drugs that he wants, and along the way I can investigate if Hinata would be a person of interest to him.’  

They made the briefest of stopovers in Karin’s room. Hinata seemed so relieved to have the door close behind her that Karin felt alternately guilty and tenser about just how mistaken Hinata was about the protection of a door.   

“We’re changing clothes,” she told Hinata, pulling open her storage chest. “It just isn’t conducive for stealth to be wearing something we’ve been seen in, and it opens up all sorts of nasty possibilities about a spore on your left sock from a certain forest in Ame or whatever.”   

Hinata actually laughed, eyes open and soft. “As a member of a tracking team…”  

Karin nodded. “You already knew that, huh.” She dug out every mesh under armor piece that she had, but it really was not enough to equip two people. Her lips pressed together too tightly and she found a jacket with heavy material that would half-assedly make up for the lack of arm protection for one of them. Hm.   

“Can I help with anything?” Hinata was hovering at her elbow.  

She sighed. “My shower is through that door. Make sure you’re not carrying any bugs or trackers, and then burn everything you have on you. I’ll put a new outfit inside the door.  

Hinata hesitated. “Everything?”  

Karin looked up at the other girl pitilessly. “Yes.” Her voice was just hard enough to make sure that this was nonnegotiable. “Sentiment is sloppy, and sentiment over physical objects is definitely not worth being caught. It would be a shame if a distinctive coat or mesh only available in Konoha or whatever were found on you at the wrong time. Those Konoha-issue shoes are exactly what you do not want now. You said your life is at risk, isn’t it?”

Hinata nodded. “It is,” she said, soft.  “

And you can never go back,” Karin pushed, not unkindly. “There is no point to risk leaving a door open by keeping your insignia. It just puts us at risk.”  

She could see the pulse jumping in Hinata’s throat.

Hinata swallowed and looked away. “Yes.” She left the room without another word, which left Karin feeling a little guilty.  ‘I’m right, though.’  

Karin put together what looked like two full outfits that would pretty well manage the double-duty of providing light protection and blending in around civilian areas. That meant long sleeves and high collars to hide mesh over delicate body parts (or to hide where there was no protection, in some unfortunate cases).  Two pairs of black shoes, both open-toed and flexible. She gave Hinata an outfit with grey pants to cover leg protection and took shorts and a long socks combination for herself.

Karin put Hinata’s clothes inside the bathroom door and then kept an uneasy vigil, closing her eyes and checking that no one problematic was returning to the base.  

As expected, Orochimaru’s genjutsu had pushed back the Konoha team following them. Hinata had been skeptical, but Orochimaru-sama had made security specifically to keep out jounin-level trackers. It might not work forever, but for now they had some distance.  

‘Get changed, leave through another exit, and keep an eye out of a small grouping of chakra signatures that includes a dog,’ Karin reminded herself. ‘I’m not worried about them catching up, exactly, unless the jounin decides to leave the genin behind to make speed.’  

She didn’t need the repetition- at this point, she would recognize Hinata’s human former teammates by chakra as well, and the plan really wasn’t that complicated. But she turned it over in her mind a few times for lack of anything else to do.  

Hinata came out with the creak of a door, looking smaller without the protection of her bulky coat. She was still dressed fairly modestly, but Karin’s long sleeved, high-necked purple shirt did cling a little bit to show off her flat stomach and slightly jutting hips.  

Karin eyed the other girl, noticed the slightly defensive hint to her posture, and decided it would be more politic not to say, ‘Wow, you are smoking hot.’

She sniffed and stood. “I’m going to shower and change. I’ll be out quickly. Wait here, quietly. Alright?”  

After she said it, the instructions seemed unnecessarily precise. Hinata was too smart to wander off alone in enemy territory and habitually quiet.  

‘I guess I’m too used to ordering around lab assistants.’  

“I can do that,” Hinata agreed. The muscles around her eyes twitched strangely. “I’ll keep an eye out. Is there anyone nearby who might pose a problem?”  

“Not really,” Karin said grudgingly, because it felt very unwise to imply that there was minimal chance of danger. “There’s an old guy, like 50 or so, tall and wiry, who does not like me and might make trouble. But he’s halfway across the building and doesn’t know we are here yet. Whatever you do, don’t open the door. I’ll hurry. I want to get us of here without any trouble.” She grabbed her pile of clothing from atop the chest and waited at the bathroom door to hear the response.  

Hinata nodded. “I understand.”  

Karin flashed her a smile and shut the door. She took one of the fastest showers of her life, carefully picking through her scalp and long hair for any tagalong insects that might lead Hinata’s team back to them. Goddamn, there was one. She pinched it, felt squeamish, and then let it go down the drain. She checked over her body carefully, scrubbed hard enough to rub off dead skin, and dressed.   

When she got out, it was to see that Hinata had resorted to leaning against the wall. Her eyes had gone out in that far-seeing, hungry stare, but she seemed to be mostly meditative. Karin couldn’t even see her breathing. If it hadn’t been for her occasional movement of her eyes, Hinata might have been a standing corpse.  

Karin toweled her hair dry and wondered if Hinata had hit the end of the adrenaline that had powered her through the 16 hours of panicked travel, looping and backtracking false trails to put distance between them and her former teammates.  

Hinata still hadn’t adequately explained the problem. Were her teammates still thinking that she needed a rescue, or did they want to return her to her clan for extermination?  

‘Bloodline limits are all weird, but usually clans don’t have a policy to act against members who activate them.’ Karin rubbed at her scalp, working out all the moisture. ‘Is her clan severely fucked-up, or is there something about her that I should be concerned about?’  

It could easily be a taboo originating from superstition. Hinata had died, she had absolutely been a corpse for a few seconds there. It was plausible that had spooked enough people to spark a policy of killing any clan member who they thought ought to already be dead. It had to be some kind of … hyper vitality, a lucky jump-start to a chakra system even after a failure, or something like that. But it was easy to see how the ghosts of superstitious people long past would think the revived clan member was possessed by a demon or something.  

‘Orochimaru-sama,’ Karin thought, ‘would be very, very interested in this.’  

That was assuming he didn’t know. But of course he must know- he was from Konohagakure. She wasn’t withholding information or anything, because of course Orochimaru-sama would already know about Hinata’s family.  

‘That doesn’t mean he ever had a chance to experiment with one.’ Karin let her eyes slide over to Hinata, pale and stone-still. ‘He might want to get his hands on Hinata.’  T

he thought made her feel a little guilty down in her gut. She would never hide a resource from Orochimaru-sama, but Hinata had gotten herself killed to help Karin. No one liked being one of Orochimaru-sama’s research subjects. Karin knew that intimately.  

Ugh.

‘I’m over-thinking things.’ Karin slung the towel over a fan and began braiding her hair back. ‘I don’t know that it will ever become a problem. For now, I need to worry about getting the drugs we need for the trials and keeping Hinata away from the Konoha people.’  

“Karin.”  

Something about Hinata’s voice sent chills up the back of her neck. It was like it was its own echo. Karin stilled, cautious. “What’s wrong?”  

Hinata licked her lips. “I’m hungry.”

The words came out small, and there was nothing overt that should have put Karin’s hackles up.

Maybe she was just reading menace into nothing at all because she was stressed.  

Karin managed a scoff and a playful tone. “Well, I provided the finest nutrition bars that rations tokens can buy,” she said. “We’ll find something else when we leave here.”   

“And that’s soon?” Hinata asked her sharply. “There’s… there’s a lot of people around here.”  

“We’ll go somewhere less busy,” Karin assured. “There’s a bunch of civilian homesteads not too far away from here where we can supply and barter.”  

“Isolated?” Hinata asked. Her tone shifted to nervousness. “I- Konoha’s outpost and restocks tend to be well-organized. They trade a lot of information.”

“You’re not going to run into anyone that you know,” Karin said, a little relieved to understand why Hinata was getting so edgy. “We can go to some random nobody- a farmhouse or something, buy supplies and pay them more than its worth for the convenience. They won’t rat on having sold provisions to two girls, even if they realize we are shinobi.”  

Hinata made a hum from the back of her throat. She let her eyes fade back into the standard human range of chakra consumption, and they almost looked normal again. “I see.” There was a rasp to her voice that hadn’t been there before. “I.. I want to go, quickly. And I need to talk to you about something.” She bit her lip. “Later.”  

“Of course,” Karin agreed. She grabbed a ready-pack and tossed another to Hinata. She frowned, reminded by the weight of the water now on her back. “Your throat sounds dry. Do you want to refill your water before you leave here?”  

“No,” Hinata said shortly. “I have all that I’ll need.”  

Karin tried to remember if she had actually seen Hinata take more than the one drink, way back when they had started running. It had turned Hinata’s stomach and come right back up along with the ration bar. At the time it had made sense- exercise and nerves, probably. But Hinata wasn’t willing to try again, after 10 hours and reaching relative safety?  

‘I should say something. Dehydration is going to slow us down.’

Well. She would keep an eye on it, and push if she needed to. And probably Hinata had had something to drink while Karin had been in the shower.  

“I need to check a location and some passcodes, and then we’ll get going.” Karin pulled open the door. “Let’s go.”