Anuj's claim to affection (A Karna-Arjun what-if story)

Doggedness

Arjun's pov

The following six months was the strangest half-year in Arjun's life.

Undoubtedly the most difficult task he had ever undertaken, the continued efforts to win a tiny fraction of the love his oldest brother had for his most hated cousin was in equal parts frustrating and rewarding. With Duryodhan no doubt pouring poison into Karna's ears, the latter was always more skeptic than Arjun thought necessary, but he persisted with doggedness. Vruashali's support was the only thing that helped him along.

It would be entirely frustrating if not for the tiny moments of victory which made a fortnight of coldness worth it.

The first of those had been a few months ago. Duryodhan made it a point to steer Karna away with whatever trivial and nonsensical reason he could come up with whenever he found Arjun talking to him. Karna always obeyed wordlessly, till one day Arjun had followed Karna (which he did a lot in the palace enclosure, but it was the first time he'd followed him outside Hastinapur) to one of the villages outside with a gurukul.

To Arjun's delight, they ended up in the zone where the children were being taught shooting their first targets. Spying on kids learning archery in the primary years of their life was one of his favourite ways to spend time, too, so he figured there was no harm in declaring himself.

Arjun slipped up to stand beside Karna, who turned. His brow automatically creased.

"What are you doing here?" he asked suspiciously.

"The same thing as you, I suppose," said Arjun. "Watching the kids."

"Right," said Karna with a snort. "I do not believe in coincidences, Arjun, that we may have stumbled upon the same gurukul in the same remote village by chance. What do you want?"

"You always ask that," said Arjun, sounding a bit nettled in spite of trying not to.

"Of course I always ask that." Karna frowned. "I want to know what you have been up to for the past three months."

Arjun was struck with a realization. "That is more than the duration of time we had been enemies, King of Anga. Why would you not drop the suspicion? If I was up to something, would you not already have known?"

"We have been enemies for much longer than three months." Karna's frown deepened as he turned back to the kids with the finality of ending the conversation.

Arjun could not concentrate on watching the kids, which normally he did with as much dedication as if it was his own seven-year-old self.

"Not from my side," he said. "I did not consider us enemies except for the three months, and I still do not. Honestly--I'm sorry if I ever did anything to you, I'm sure I did not mean it because I don't even remember what I did or when I did it--but--"

"What is your point, Arjun?" said Karna with a sigh.

"I want to know why you consider us enemies," said Arjun quickly.

"Because you are Guru Drona's disciple and as arrogant in your skill as he is in his teaching."

"King of Anga," said Arjun with dignity. "Do not pretend you are not arrogant in your skill as well."

"I did not get it handed to me on a golden platter like you did!"

"But you did get a great teacher," said Arjun, making what seemed like a very reasonable point to him. "Lord Parshuram is even Guru Drona's teacher."

He took Karna's silence to be concession.

"That point of yours was invalid," Arjun pressed. "Why do you consider us enemies?"