[FANFIC - HBD, SASUKE(?)] WILDFIRE; (SK)
now uploaded in fanfiction.net~! here; if you wish to comment but can't do so here, please feel free to review over there~!492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bEzpN7HcF
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By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66T0i6ph2K
Rating: M (some suggestive scenes, and some violence.)492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYt4iDrOet
Word Count: 8.810492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡenVMs8SDPi
Author's Notes: I got this plot-bunny a couple of months ago; the idea was to sit down and carefully plan it, but… well, life happened. So I decided to let it write itself instead. Posting it for Sasuke’s birthday project because, while his birthday is not the focus of this, it does get briefly mentioned (:hurr)~ Also, there are some credits, but I’ll be giving them at the end of the fic in order to not spoil anyone.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCPf8HKWWIK
Warning: Some OOC-ness due to the fact that I'm working with future SK... among other things you will soon realize lol492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsPQjXEpBQk
Summary: It is a flame that was set ablaze by a smile. A fire that consumes everything in its wake. A wildfire that burnt them to ashes, down to their roots.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtoJtSAhkQ1
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A heartbeat that awakens from the ashes.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8l97Kpvrc
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To the stars that played with the darkness492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4y7e01mA2
I sang of love and burned up completely
Wildfire492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3SIbNu1MBI
by Kanae492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7nzXl2WuvK
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It happens a hot Thursday afternoon as he goes through the tourniquets of the subway and catches a glimpse of red from the corner of his eye.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI616ZfggJh
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Something in his chest tightens.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8AamHEFX8x
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He is looking back before he knows it, uncharacteristically standing still as his eyes seek the source of the red; a girl’s ponytail.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxz5X3xLih
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Just a girl.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZBbOsX0Je
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Sasuke all but snorts, mildly shaking his head and turning away in wonderment.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHHFB312AN
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He misses the way the girl stops, her back straightening as if bolted.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmQNfuLEfY
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He has almost reached the escalators when someone steps in front of him, blocking his way—and he can’t help the slight widening of his eyes as he realizes who it is.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4v2gL5xvMz
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The girl.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNxztjYMTX6
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The redhead.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPmM3qqA7Hc
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“Sorry,” she says, and she is a little out of breath. Had she run to catch up with him? “Do I know you?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgaImOekZKl
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An alien reply makes its way from his chest up to the tip of his tongue, but Sasuke does not recognize it—and before he can even deem it worth his time, it is gone. And all that remains is the same disinterest from before. Just a girl.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLj1mDX2xMX
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“Don’t think so,” he replies, trying to sidestep her—but the girl blocks his way again.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCsZwc8lkZ
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“No, I do know you. I mean—” Sasuke narrows his eyes, irritated, but the girl looks too caught up in her thoughts to notice, “I have dreamed of you.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9CSA0Rr4X
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Sasuke gives her a blank stare and the girl turns a little pink. “I-I mean,” she stammers, pushing her glasses further up her nose. The gesture stirs something inside of Sasuke, and it is powerful enough to the point he almost misses her next words “I know it sounds weird, but—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQkovpZUfi
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“You’re right,” Sasuke agrees, clenching his jaw and walking past her.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOenVpNcbQ
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“Wait!” she calls, and Sasuke finds his legs answering in kind even before his name comes out of her lips. “Y—your name is… Sasuke, isn’t it? Uchiha Sasuke.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3IKUnsaxN
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“… So what?” his reply is brisk, and it comes out through gritted teeth. This was ridiculous; both the girl and his reactions to her. What had come over him, anyway? He has never seen this chick. Ever. “Knowing that is no feat.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSjwogNMbo
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It wasn’t. More than a quarter of the city knew his family’s name. Knowing who he was simply was part of the package.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmnFtzMgov
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She falls quiet—and Sasuke thinks the odd conversation has come to an end.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJm0MAQUIX
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He was severely mistaken.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3DPB0V0Fz
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“And, when you were eight…” she suddenly whispers, her voice vague, “when you were eight, your mom gave you a dinosaur-shaped toy.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ESFKm7RCN
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Sasuke’s eyes widen, his body freezing upright. Her voice gains momentum. “You said it was childish, and pretended to have thrown it away; but you still have it.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWignSkyEh
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It is slowly that he turns towards her, eyes narrowed and heart galloping inside his chest. “How…?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsjCiFW7lI
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Obsidian meets pointed red, and it is something in the calculating edge of her gaze more than her words that which turns Sasuke’s skin into gooseflesh. “…You keep it locked in a box inside your closet, just like you keep locked away that irrational fear of yours of losing them someday.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFys6mFjCTS
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Them. His parents. The one thing he has never told anyone—not even his brother. The one thing he has never been able to face, regardless of how much he has tried to do so.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUI7mfnNSzl
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He wants to say something—anything—but words just won’t come. He feels utterly intimidated and exposed before this stranger; before this redhead whose lips quirk up in the barest traces of a smile, her shoulders relaxing.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovQ31RFfGI
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“Come on, there’s a café down the street, we can talk there.” She does not wait for a reply, simply reaching out and taking a hold of his sleeve—and as she pulls him towards the escalators, Sasuke feels an unexplainable sense of déjà vu.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPaqSGOGoI
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“Let me go,” he mutters, though he can’t find it in himself to oppose any resistance. “I can walk by myself.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnDwizG0ft
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She does not let go of him.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqNT5nbhfr
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And the déjà vu only worsens.
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“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiuq1ajLjYr
“Huh?! Why should I go anywhere? I’m in charge of this place!”
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“They started… around 3 months ago, I think,” the girl—Karin—says, after the waitress has brought them their respective orders; Sasuke, a black coffee, Karin, a cappuccino with amaretto.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6vUBsSBhEN
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“The… dreams?” he questions, and feels utterly ridiculous just by saying it.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡha34lYArJI
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“Yeah, the dreams,” Karin agrees, taking a sip of her coffee and giving him a pointed look over the brim of the cup. “At first they were sporadic. Just once every few nights or so, but then I started to get them every night… every single night.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZdMF38Xo9
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“And these… dreams, of yours. They were about me?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkHch46kMcs
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“Not all of them,” she retorts thoughtfully, if not a little defensively; but then she shrugs. “But you were always there.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzUdqLIfVVC
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“Doing what, exactly?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFVZgqc54J7
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“A lot of things. Fighting, mostly. You were a ninja, sometimes. Both of us were.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqy6A5Iv7Uc
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“…A ninja?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3sL0Q4org
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“Yeah. A very powerful one, at that. Don’t—” she warns, before Sasuke could have the chance to interrupt with a snide remark. “I know how ridiculous it sounds, but it’s the truth.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3fC4yLcee
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He crosses his arms with an eye roll. “That still does not explain how you knew about the dinosaur.” Just mentioning the toy makes a wave of embarrassment wash over him, but he tries to keep at bay and not let it show.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6SEvDpTBM
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Karin smiles, and the gesture looks sour. “Not every dream took place in the same world, Sasuke. Those—the ones where we were shinobi, those were the firsts, and also the most recurrent. But I have seen you as you are, too. And as you were.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6yMsSxTLC
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“… What do you mean, exactly?” he prods with narrowed eyes.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLhXlnriTd
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It’s her turn to cross her arms. “Tch, you already know, don’t you? You’re smart, Sasuke. Don’t take me for a fool.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6hmQhe22i
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Sasuke frowns. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did he like where she was going with this. “Reincarnations?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGW3LXVXwNT
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Karin snaps her fingers, “Bingo.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBvzum5bYO
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Sasuke snorts. “That’s ridiculous.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALKav0eOEk
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“I know you don’t believe in them, Sasuke. But that doesn’t mean they do not exist.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSmaGnZTcp1
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“Stop,” Sasuke demands, his patience running thin at being lectured by a complete stranger. “Stop talking as if you know me, Karin. You don’t.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVv3omfkKbh
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“Actually, I do,” Karin shoots back without missing a beat, her red eyes steadily holding his even despite his threatening glare. “And from the looks of it, I know you better than you know yourself—stay there, Sasuke,” she stresses, and his glare only intensifies. He hadn’t even had the enough time to move a muscle. “I am not finished yet.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqzbtTrJY9
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“But I am done hearing your bullshit.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiM0n0qj7oP
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Karin blinks at him and then promptly snorts. “The you in my dreams was nicer to be around, I’ll give you that.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZXf7dIyw6
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He feels insulted, but he stays. And a little smirk quirks up Karin’s lips; as expected, that smirk said.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8kdQniBW0N
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But any comments he may have had about her arrogance promptly disappear as the redhead utters her next words.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2fRGFhWYFI
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“I know why you’re so afraid of losing your parents, someday.”
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“Shhh” she coos, cradling his trembling form in her arms and making him sink his face on her chest. It’s her favorite new shirt and it’s getting soaked and soiled by his tears and the soot, but her heart is too busy breaking over him and his pain and her mind is too shaken by the explosion and the death—by the smell of burnt flesh, by the screaming figures of his parents and brother as they were consumed by the fire.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxS2uGqKLT1
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“Shhh, Sasuke, it will be alright,” she isn’t sure if she believes what she is saying. Not when there are tears beginning to leak from her own eyes and dripping onto his hair—not when his sobs twist her soul and worsen the despair. Why did this have to happen to them? Why did they have to—? “I promise you, it will be alright, we will get through this.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZKde5PO3D
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They. Because that was all that was left, now. She was all he had left.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gBGSyUWkx
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“We will get through this,” she repeats, because they would. They had to.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4eMwyaGKkp
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“You’re not alone. I’m with you, Sasuke. I won’t ever leave you,”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIvQw0mws5
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Despite her bravado her voice breaks at the end and Sasuke clutches her shirt—holds onto her for dear life and hastily pulls her together again.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpCvPYauN2
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“I promise.”
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Sasuke fists his hands to prevent them from shaking as his very soul seemed to be doing. He sets his jaw, tries to regularize his breathing and his pulse—tries to not show any signs of inward struggle.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8u7X7In0W
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No that it would make much of a difference, since Karin was deliberately keeping her attention elsewhere. She had barely looked at him from the moment she started to tell him all she knew—all she had seen—about his parents, and weren’t he so troubled by everything he heard, he would have realized he was thankful for her tact.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLdOsLvapo
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As things were, however, his brain was having troubles assimilating Karin’s words; how his parents had died over and over again. Killed by his brother (by his brother, out of all people! What kind of bullshit was that?), in an accident, in a fire—Sasuke had tuned out, then. The images such stories enticed were too vivid, too troubling—they made the hairs on his arms stand on end, made cold droplets of sweat roll down his neck.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKTbB6QpNY
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Everything was preposterous, absolutely unbelievable—and even then he could not dismiss a word she had said, even though he desperately wanted to. Something in the way she had spoken—in the way her voice had quivered, her stare grave and set on her lap—and even more so, something in the things she had known; habits that Mikoto and Fugaku had and that no one but him and Itachi would know about, made her words all the harder to shake off.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡct8tonrlCp
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So he aims for the next best thing—he tries to push the thought aside and latches onto another one, one that has slowly but surely been demanding his attention.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDxRgSaFNz
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“… Where do you fit into all that?” he murmurs, and has to swallow to help ease his dry throat. “Why is it you, and not me, who is having these dreams?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ263hmnmjrU
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The ghost of a smile touches her lips, “I don’t know. I guess it’s because you’ve closed yourself off, again,” it fades. “You always close yourself up.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCVm3Vger5
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He has really run out of patience. “Stop with the riddles, will you? Just answer!”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxgiR3X3pQ
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Karin hardens her expression, her eyes squarely meeting his own. “In that first world, I was your teammate. In the second, I was your friend. In the third, your lover.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBelsMXojC
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Sasuke cannot really help the way he feels his throat clog up, his cheeks warm. So he fakes a cough, looks away; “And this is the fourth?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFVmLfIpTM
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Karin shrugs, unfazed.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡClDE0bO4uH
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“I don’t know, I guess there may be more. I haven’t remembered them yet, though.” Her voice lowers, “…I don’t know if I want to, either.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX03eSzwW5R
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That catches his attention. “What do you mean?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9JcDvroRjH
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“… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmKwlQ7rpt
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Sasuke arches one eyebrow, curious. “What weren’t?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk2jYRZoKQm
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For the first time since they got there, Karin squirms in her seat.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLzL46nHK4
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“...You.”
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There is lighting prickling her skin and piercing her chest; it has missed her heart by an inch, a miracle improbable enough to be deliberate—but one that is a curse in disguise, for his eyes do not miss the mark.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQw6ojFbOu
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They hit the bulls-eye dead on its center, and she feels it freeze and then wither and die, disintegrating into a worthless pile of ashes that, with every single word he says, scatter like the wind—never to be recovered again.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDXafAgA9a0
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“Karin… the moment you were taken hostage, you became an encumbrance.”
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She leans her head on her propped up palm, and the pair of red eyes that were fixed into his look sage and tired all of a sudden. “…But I guess it never made much of a difference.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhD234BbIBH
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgGY7S0oHx
Sasuke hates it; having to repeat himself. But he moodily does, anyway. “What do you mean?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHD7okrGVMd
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQJY1y9bKo
Karin does not reply right away; and when she does, her voice is the softest Sasuke has heard it sound so far.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQlavYdtFO
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXykJpsWIQ
“I always ended up loving you all the same,” she admits.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoKsI9Tg78
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPEEY5FHM4
Then she looks at him again, and Sasuke finds that he can’t look away.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn12w4M3ilt
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjSJSy6KTVJ
“Always.”
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHNhgCkMsO
It happens on a rainy night.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG58tTDNYGE
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZaSrNjXmg
The rain had started pouring out of nowhere. What a minute ago had been a clear sky became a gray maze of plump clouds and then thick, cold droplets of rain had started to cascade down over the town.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkSB6Q5yad
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5kuS3knME
Ever so slowly, the crowded street was left almost empty; for the exception of a few pedestrians who had been keen enough to bring an umbrella with them.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH399KC4fKi
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxbqwpBl1eC
She hadn’t been.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKm19FvQuA
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcA40U2CC1b
As the traffic light begins to turn, she dashes out from under the improvised shelter of an awning only to stop dead in her tracks—in her haste, she had not realized the light included an advanced left-turn signal.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC5EI67JJ1Q
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0ln73QY6u
So much for not getting wet, she thinks, and it’s then that an umbrella is placed above her.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2zzZJxYCE
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR3B9P0Bslx
Startled, the girl flickers her gaze upward only to find a dark-haired business man casually speaking into his cellphone, his eyes focused on the traffic light ahead. Their arms are touching, the warmth of his body seeping through to hers despite the long sleeves of his expensive-looking cloak, and she finds her cheeks warming up, her heart quickening at the unexpected gesture of kindness.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYXRIVxZOT
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdE1mmB9q8l
The light changes and he moves ahead without hesitation, with the same kind of firm grace with which he had come to shelter her—and she is so transfixed by him that she almost forgets she is supposed to walk, too.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmb3mMQrSd0
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRuDsXqp6w
When they get to the other side of the street, the business man wordlessly leads her to an awning and then parts ways with her, not once glancing at her.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5RoWR3zyWf
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡStEmtvDLqW
But she can’t look away from him—and before she knows it her legs are moving and the rain no longer matters.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDss5jXOvne
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0MFC2MGsV9
By the time he has hung up, they’re standing at the next intersection and she is soaked from head to toe.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEOYRICDSJH
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSGRY7H4tX
“Hey, you! Wait!”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zlnfbvLm7
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNs7mx6GuhI
The business man slowly turns around, painfully so, confusion apparent on his face.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRS0qFX7Ho
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyW6V7kLWwU
Onyx meets red and her heart skips a beat as his eyes widen ever so slightly.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXW8cnjpsJ3
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9tRIrECPW
“Thank you,” she breathes out jaggedly and not exactly from the chasing, “for before.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnoSyd5rnbt
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKK3KAg9ri0
“… It’s nothing,” he states, and though his words are nothing but an astonished murmur she hears them loud and clear over the thunders. “And it doesn’t seem to have helped much.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfNUOJC7yjo
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fgeXE9hKd
Her blush worsens under his pointed look, but the hint of amusement in those deep eyes of his edges her on. “I-I know of a good café down the street. If you aren’t in a hurry, how about I invite you something while we wait for the rain to let up?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7lNvHmCQ5
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpILYotohWm
He tilts his head to the side, long bangs falling across his face. “… Hn, down the street, you say?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIbMKGVZtR
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf5JqIjpuTK
“Yeah. It’s less than a minute away,” she gulps, “so, what do you say?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZST5Mz5BmX
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCAAc4YYdE
He smiles, and his whole face lights up. “I’d like that.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApc7joRjM0
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCfEhJegC1
By the time they place their orders, she is already in love with him.
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8vNUyvpCQB
He thinks that maybe he should be surprised, but the truth is that he isn’t.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCP0It5nZqu
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaWrEWhf0i
Somehow, it felt like he had been waiting for it—waiting to see her walking through that door, ever since they had parted ways at that Café a little over a week ago.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPKhD3hFJU
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8VxJaIlh2
“… You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnej96fWTgz
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoQxQjg8mS
Karin blinks innocently, a direct contrast with the amused smirk shamelessly painted across her lips. “What do you mean, Uchiha-san?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVg5rcFUnZ
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDA1TfdTWo4
“Drop the act,” he glares, matter-of-fact. “You knew I worked here.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJyaU2dx00X
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAgdX71CQR
“Oh, don’t be so conceited, Sasuke,” Karin waves a hand, puts the other on her hip and sways to the side. The movement is every bit of a taunt as it is sensual, and Sasuke finds himself blushing like a preschooler as a recurrent memory slips itself uninvited into his mind again.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6phhGsGgzw
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIKz1rfr8A
'Always'.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tIO2VQana
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo30WAiUsaZ
“—so not my fault you basically own the damn city,” Karin finishes, and Sasuke blinks.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2s9SBF4822
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMZEdpvcZj
“Huh?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ZEIuBrDff
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBRf3EVIym
She deadpans. “You weren’t listening, were you?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9PzeoLMOxb
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1vD8gWgx2
“I was,” he lies through gritted teeth, prodded by some unexplainable force. Damn, why did he always have to bicker with this girl?492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90WLoE3XTs
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqkch4ndA3
“You are a terrible liar, Sasuke,” she remarks, and suddenly her face lights up. “Hey, did I tell you about the time I was a lie-detector and—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFYLekFrZM
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMlVz8Askv
He all but groans. “Stop, Karin. Don’t bring that kind of talk here, someone may hear you.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMy4j2uSSI
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJ1hH0TYu8
“Pft, so what?” she huffs, crossing her arms and swaying her hips again. “It’s not like I work here, right?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHKFK0iEzT
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdiwu3XcYJd
Her tone and most specially the glimmer in her eye as she looks at him told him otherwise.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNd0gN8NPH
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5xsbwZERrP
Damn her.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOCUqc9fbA
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOCZk2LaFly
“Talk to Nara on the second floor, he will give you your contract. And Karin—not a word to anyone about… about—” he refused to say us. There wasn’t an us. “—about what you told me. Understood?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDbMWq8mIz0
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8UHslkbMHw
She does a mock salute, “Right, Uchiha-san!” and Sasuke massages his temple, wondering what had made him agree to give her the job in the first place.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWircG7LABe
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAeqidMars5
As if reading his thoughts, Karin calls out to him from the door.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKxDipeaWP
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApNXaN5wUo
“Cheer up, Sasuke,” and Sasuke can catch a glimpse of her playful smirk before she closes the door behind her. “This isn’t the first time we work together, you know?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡag7kTyHCKj
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjSYETEYBL
And for some unknown reason, Sasuke finds himself blushing.
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“I brought you the papers you requested,”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVb9eVViT2
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV5o4tAddXB
She has barely finished the sentence when he has her pressed against the door and is claiming her mouth with his own, his hands roaming across her back and then down as she skillfully locks the door.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPeDiLo0ag
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdjGD78YGW
“Idiot,” she manages to reprimand between kisses, “what if someone sees us?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3o1isEGDaS
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRT7TmGBAC
“Who cares,” he retorts, his voice a throaty murmur that worsens the heat settled in the lower part of her abdomen, “let them watch if they want.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OmJvEazUk
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCc0pchZpn
“Hmmm that’s kinky,” she teases, and her blood boils as he raises his face from her belly in order to give her a roguish look.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6Q3x0DtfK
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGJe06vH24
“Any complains?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIE4EWsP1h
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfOWDGc0DF2
“Yeah… stop teasing me and get on with—ahh” she moans, her nails scrapping at the door as his head gets lost inside her skirt, his hands spreading her thighs apart.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgUu2yqSaU
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnL1Vesr2cG
She has a mission to accomplish—but he makes her forget soon enough.
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVdswQyelv
“I’ll have some Okonomiyaki, please.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76frM8TPrL
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIglG2R2Yx
The waitress nods and leaves—but not without giving Sasuke a hurt look from underneath her long lashes. He hopes Karin will let it slide; so of course Karin does exactly the opposite, her slim eyebrows arched high.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHXHR945SK
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9yGOjw8yMS
“Whoa, Sasuke, That girl totally has a thing for you!”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5Ksqg9beN
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtouhAJATf6
Sasuke rolls his eyes; he was so over this subject. “Tch, she and every other employee, what else is new.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmhTIoB9Whu
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmIOXnoAOh
Karin snorts, “Cocky, aren’t we? Do I need to remind you that I am one of your employees, too?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3VQVKpkVN
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQ5q9bwOZ7
'Always'.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45BxTJynXo
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIesEidMh20
Against his better judgment, he can feel all too easily the way his cheeks start to warm up. What was up with him and blushing around this girl? He was never like this, ever.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdU6aRdeGCi
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRgJpQJcsFP
“Whatever,” he ends up taking the easy way out. Sitting across from him, Karin pouts, leans her chin on her hand and lazily waves a finger in his face.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLvB3kQCYjG
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsOV7lCR2fL
“You really are no fun, Sasuke.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsFQc1442Q
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0PBws7hxK
“Forget about that, Karin. You said you would tell me more about—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMNDF9Ql8E
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Mhy8RjIi8
“Right, right,” she sighs, and her faked annoyance swiftly gives way to a leer. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to see you so interested in us, but it wouldn’t hurt to focus on the current us.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKtT3yD4DKL
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSHgaf82OO
“Karin.”
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunF2gtX4Er
“This is enough for today, thank you for your cooperation, Karin,” she knows better than to give weight to his agreeable words. The way he doesn’t even look at her, too busy being transfixed by her blood instead, says everything she needs to know.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKFuQpMcPM
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMzBCHuByB
So she recoils when he reaches out to bandage her—scowls, sidesteps him and stumbles her way out of the room, hating herself for the numbness in her legs.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCZGIek8ah
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHyi8nLksW
He is the first thing she sees when she comes out of the room.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYFuYOJPpV
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGL88Lzvt0X
He is leaning against the wall, arms crossed against his chest—and then her knees give up and he is draping her arm around his neck and helping her walk, revealing the bandages held in his hands.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMCJFmsMvz
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl549PlzMuM
“…I can walk by myself, Sasuke,” she lies, but he does not let go and she lets herself lean a little closer. Close enough to feel the dampness in his side. She looks down and finds blood—and then she is glaring at him from behind her half-lidded eyes.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9kR5HDBHm
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUf2ir4t61
“Idiot,” she hisses, and means it. “You are hurt, let me—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJxLjA1fB5
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj7CrCOTpQl
“You can’t heal anyone in your current state, Karin,” came his reply, calm and even despite the open wound in his side, and Karin hates the fact that he is right.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVKB2SGAbT
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRAZFAYPpDy
“…You should’ve gone to bandage yourself, Sasuke. I don’t need you to babysit me,” she says faintly, both embarrassed and touched at once.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt2WzVZI5yE
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIOpiThfZ7
To her surprise, Sasuke snorts.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuXFuQ6FnZN
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RZD5CKVaP
“What?” she snaps.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWSyQxfG4Jl
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQU6A0chVR
“Nothing,” he says, and he is smirking. “Just, you’re the last person I want to hear that from, Karin.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnPG51wWQ2
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGyJxjyTxV
She frowns, but her cheeks go red. She has a feeling she knows where he is going with this. “Tch, what is that supposed to mean?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6NXgwUsBW
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VFBKRe7hB
He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, his smirk softening around the edges. “…I wonder.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pRR2pw1oa
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCj3YccXnc4
And despite her blood loss, her blush only deepens.
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qukQO0K37
“Would you like more tea, Karin-chan?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLIxakT0159
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0GCwRbH24L
Sasuke can’t hold back an eye-roll as Karin politely declines; this was the fifth time in a row, and he didn’t know what surprised him more—Karin’s sudden faultless manners, or the lengths to which his mother was going to please her. Hell, one would think it was the redhead’s birthday rather than his.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq2yQnu6p3g
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjo0DUUkWP
“Don’t be like that, little brother,” the voice comes from behind him, and is accompanied by a hand that affectionately ruffles his hair. “You know it’s not often that mother gets to attend a girl.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX3oANi5uyh
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcalcNvTdC
Sasuke huffs, halfheartedly batting his brother’s hands away. “I know that—moreover, when will you stop treating me like a child, Itachi?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRMiq7JoOoa
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOV4ABeJvHP
“Probably when you stop acting like one,” chimes in a female voice, and Sasuke sends her an airy look as Itachi chuckles behind him. He was definitely starting to regret having brought her along; what had he been thinking?492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6azguToFb
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGqTuyp5zoe
He does not get to say it aloud however, as Karin is now looking at Itachi with curious eyes. “Don’t tell me this is Sasuke’s first time bringing a girl home?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9yknG2DSrh
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPK6W8memYW
Great. So she had been listening in, huh? He should have guessed.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv46ibUyiPw
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMzo0EB6DQ
“Not quite,” Itachi replies, but Sasuke’s triumphant smirk is short-lived as his brother adds, “But almost.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXhZ1LGIJNx
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQgY1vFerD
“Brother!” he reproaches, causing the older boy to chuckle again and Karin to smirk widely.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3yC1mO5zSl
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUdOhp2oVQO
“You’re unbelievable, Sasuke; I mean, I knew you were an unsocial prude, but almost no girlfriends? Seriously?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWAafRjsi3R
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyomtUe0Dm4
He glares, mortified to feel the by-now familiar sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Shut up, Karin.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqnPseR7q2k
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqQoizGcTe
“I would say that more than that, what is so remarkable is that this is the first time he brings home a girl who isn’t his girlfriend.” Itachi comments, his tone kind but knowing—and as Karin looks away from the older Uchiha and towards Sasuke, giving him a look that seemed to be clearly flaunting a oh, is that so? Sasuke airily looks away.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB0rbpYtyt6
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvZuoYU7bM
Damn you, brother.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUR6jNXfGN
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“Hn, I don’t know what Itachi is talking about.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhhrv3siZ4
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gs0uV69D1
A twinkling laughter resounds through the room, effectively cutting the argument short; and the three of them turn only to find Mikoto standing by the doorway, a tray of biscuits in her hands and a happy beam in her beautiful face.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhhhS7jl0f
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjxQFzt3uxA
“It seems you three are having fun,” she merrily observes, graciously moving to leave the tray on the tea-table. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen Sasuke enjoy himself this much.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIfJX4K9zb
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDqx5jvnrC
Despite his better judgment, Sasuke can feel himself blushing. “Who said I’m enjoying myself?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91AnmeHPwU
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdcnfIzY6an
But his indignant mutter remains promptly ignored as Mikoto takes Karin’s hands in hers and gives her a glowing smile. “You’re good for my son, Karin-chan.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvra5iAmth
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgR5dPGuE3
For a moment, the room is submerged in silence—even Karin herself is rendered speechless, and while in any other circumstance Sasuke would have reveled in seeing the girl this flustered—widened eyes, a pink hue in her cheeks—the truth is this time, it only adds to his own awkwardness.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0PXrVcHMW
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQNkYYT2Gn
“… Mother, you just met her,” he lamely ends up saying once he has found his voice, but he sounds more astonished than reproaching; and Mikoto rewards him with a thoughtful smile before setting her gaze back on Karin.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLdI3mx1w8
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmZBTvQh8x2
“I know, dear. But, somehow… it feels like you two have known each other for a long time.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiW4SX7qJFM
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8UkaseD4iK
Itachi says nothing—but the way in which he warmly squeezes Sasuke’s shoulder is eloquent enough.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOKGsQbhTPF
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1OkjYsbO6J
Wordlessly, Sasuke and Karin seek each other’s eyes across the room—and he wishes he wasn’t aware of the way he was slowly starting to mirror her smile.
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“It’s so stupid,” she assesses, looking at the field with apparent disinterest, “I mean, running like idiots after a ball, really? Pft, where’s the fun in that?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxOYHvI2QsS
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDd3BsHjOc4
Sasuke would have been inclined to agree; if only he were listening to what she was saying. Instead, he has found himself distracted from his own homework by the way the sun seemed to be lighting her hair just so—by the way her ponytail exposed the stark whiteness of the nape of her neck; by the way she absentmindedly bit on her pencil from time to time as she read, brows furrowed in confusion or eyes light up with understanding—and she would tilt her head to the side then, stick her chin out with self-satisfaction—and Sasuke—492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9uquRuS1v
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IQVqdbSTP
“Sasuke—hey, earth to Sasuke, are you listening? I was just saying that—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6vjxxIY58
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNcCyYXZF4
But Sasuke doesn’t get to hear it, because his body is too busy being pulled to her like a moth to a flame and his brain is too busy shutting down as his lips meet hers. She freezes, and he is too much of a novice so the kiss isn’t much of a kiss—but he doesn’t quite mind.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5kkAox2Dr
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXn3zquTlY
When he leans back he finds Karin staring at him, point-blank. He figures that perhaps he should try and say something; but he doesn’t feel the need to, so he just licks the lip-gloss off his lips instead.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9QTcP9oHnI
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxDpSYEbrT
“Raspberries,” he states, and that seems to get Karin off her trance, because she blinks at him.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qtfCI76s4
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50mesJi6i6
And then she is grinning.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzzFsOkYD6x
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLo2ryu4pA
“Had I known you would finally kiss me today, I’d have worn something less sweet.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2yHZiaKbS
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTb2pyREEP5
He can’t help but smile back. “I almost did, yesterday,” he reveals, as he carefully takes her glasses off. “And the day before that. And the one before that.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPHxsR8XP5p
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHU5n6hA1f
“I know,” and her grin becomes a husky smirk as she tangles her fingers in his hair. “You’re too easy to read, Sasuke.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJb7qkXjpl
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQuS7bAcUXJ
“Hn, you could have helped, then,” he says, but the truth is he is too lost in her to really mind.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgToTpV9ZHN
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhlJdfuAy0
“Not a chance,” their noses touch and her voice lowers to a mere brush of air against his lips, “…it’s too fun to watch you squirm.”
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkkPOTNYXAG
“You won’t find anything better for a more reasonable price, I assure you, Uchiha-san. This is the absolute best—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkgtCWc0a4
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlgwL823Qcw
He goes on and on, but the words of the realtor start to become nothing but background noises as Sasuke’s gaze is caught by Karin’s vibrant red hair.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSmzeaiKKm
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgzxWgzTwi
“Excuse me.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXprphKhTL7
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnqCOYZpat
Not waiting for a reply, Sasuke makes his way to the windowsill; Karin was standing in front of it, her eyes closed and her face showered by the rays of the sun filtering in through the glass. It occurs to him then that he has never seen her looking so serene—so at peace with herself and the world. So taken is he by the realization, that he does not notice he has stopped breathing until Karin’s eyes flutter open and she smiles at him.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhexPXMclT3
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡasoNCNpzOG
“This house is ours, Sasuke,”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETYdwJKecU
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPXsAdL0yg
Her fingers find their way around his, and Sasuke gives them a squeeze as he nods, his expression naturally mirroring her own.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIT8oNS9vvg
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfFYOxolbJ
He could feel it, too.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFujLrx1BsG
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2ncCDX2Dj
Behind them, the realtor clears his throat but Karin cuts him short before he could get a single word out.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbqUcYyTRq
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU0H4l24XmU
“We’re buying it,” she states loud and clear, and she is positively glowing.
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She can hardly believe it.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhKfyu3HXfr
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcu2JQn0UAq
Can hardly believe this. That the guy she once chased down a street in the pouring rain is holding her in his arms, his head sunk in her neck as he breathes in the scent of her hair.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkkd3wPy7ed
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCQ2Abpg5w
It seemed like something straight out of one of those dramas she used to love to ridicule and secretly watch at the same time.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mMynX8YXZ
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpx6MCvYi5c
Her kind businessman had turned out to be a gentleman through and through; smooth, reliable and above all, capable. He was everything she wanted in a man and then some; and to top it all off, he seemed to be as crazy about her as she was about him.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtXYEIscTD
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pGP2GsxHG
Now that she thought about it, it seemed more like something straight out from a dream rather than a mere drama. The thought makes her giggle, and she feels him smile against her neck, his arms holding her just a little bit closer so that she has to readjust her own hold around his neck.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJtDCbCG8v
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6Fm5ap7yn
“What’s so funny?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbAiSD3P8Z
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqGsgBEswf
She tells him; because even though the thought is childish, she has learnt that she does not have to keep anything from him. She trusted him with even the most embarrassing and ridiculous sides of her; those she wouldn’t show to anyone else.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEr1UG1lpc
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2GTn3JA5MV
“There’s just one thing off, though—” she observes, as an afterthought, “where’s my rival in love?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡraqqQNyjkD
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvw8ggJjrYf
“Nowhere,” he asserts, grave like only he could be about even the most foolish of things. “I am yours.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RYbqvUrTy
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfDRG9dQ1i
The line would have sounded corny in anyone else’s lips, but in his it sounds just like it is—a statement. A truth being bluntly spoken as he caresses her cheek and looks into her eyes with the barest traces of a smile.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1X6gSeMl75
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibnZhre5a8
She has barely begun to smile back when he is sinking his face on her hair again and brushing his lips against her ear—“And you are mine.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJcD8TMbxOj
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQZKViRosp
And he is breathing in her scent and tightly holding her in his arms—so tightly in fact that she can hardly breathe.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVeMS7LGFwO
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxRIXb6ySl
“S-asuke—” she chokes.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG9jw8Y11Yc
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡItx0IiLnO5
But he does not listen.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8vkgFMsJM
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8V6SBCI3bU
“…mine.”
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ52B9GFmnk
She soundlessly sneaks behind him and leans her chin on his shoulder.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNI0lEIVgJ
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7qwYr7brj
“Sewing again?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOaCbcRBhT
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6ORyut5z9
“Not my fault you have so many clothes,” is his simple reply as he continues to work the needle and the thread, slowly-but surely creating what would be a white and red fan.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMNlFWDkHG
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZLKAkbR8C
Her fingers come to play with his hair, pulling and twisting some strands of raven black; “I don’t get why you do it manually, Sasuke. Sewing machines exist just for this kind of thing, in case you forgot.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOP5er6akCj
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2AHdJOsfnH
“I told you, Karin. It’s an Uchiha tradition, it’s supposed be done manually.” His voice is as light as her warm breathing against his neck, and they remain like that—he calmly sewing, she silently watching—until she suddenly straightens.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhNVBzyL7cT
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhL4HFmW0TB
“Where are you going?” he can’t help but ask, and hopes the way he is already missing her doesn’t seep into his voice.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZqkTuMWTM
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtY3bcscxuA
“For the sewing kit,” comes her matter-of-fact reply, and surprised, Sasuke arches one eyebrow. “Since I’m becoming an Uchiha myself, I may as well learn, right?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIsNSRuv9k
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAKQkEk6du
She shoots him a playful smirk that looks too much like a smile before leaving the room, and Sasuke cannot help the way his pulse quickens at its sight.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4Z3DFAEz1
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0j9NYhKRJV
And he finds himself smiling at her back, like one of those love-sick fools he always used to make fun of.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt97Gs4d4d3
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2V0kND81KL
But it’s just, back then—he had never thought someone could actually make him this happy.
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“Stop doing that, Sasuke.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9h0QojrS81
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡESQm9GdQl7
“Doing what?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4rtVyVyqR
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYaDaquXzx
“This—making me happy,” her eyes are stern as she looks at him, but he does not take her honesty as seriously as he probably should.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIcoiFckXk
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LNnUyBM32
“Or what?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSAxgSDzvn
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsuJAw14pz
“…Or I may fall in love with you, Uchiha.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfnmZgUkFd
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHELF4lpWhi
She is both elated and horrified to see how soft and harmless his usual menacing and intimidating smirk looks as he replies.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgmeZPH2Sqs
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDmFVrp1Il
“… Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyoKRmPJnuw
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgFZhl0CMnH
His naked form is gone before she can gather herself enough to reply; gone to the living room of the luxury-hotel-room to call for room service—and as she hears his voice drifting over to her from the other room, Karin digs her nails into her palms.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCTDhuHGhpO
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmCgo6V6XE
She was alone in the room, his suitcase forgotten on a nearby chair and his laptop on the table—she knows his passwords; has the knowledge and tools to get through what she does not know, and above all, she has the time to do so.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRYaRX29d6W
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04eAlyeLPr
Only a minute would be enough for a spy as skilled as herself.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡirD0pRmF0m
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJefNecwl8N
By the he would come back into the room and make love to her again, it would be too late for him; and he wouldn’t suspect a thing.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLuBey9cO0d
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14OkZJFffw
She could get away with it, if she were to go through it. She should go through it. This is what they sent her for—this is what she is getting paid for, not for screwing the target all night long.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjG2ZU809ux
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4rRndE6GTp
She sighs, lays back down on the bed and thinks of his pathetic attempt at a smirk. It makes it easier to forget her duties, to forget the papers she should be revising, the documents she should be hacking into—492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoYrRfkklA
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPHwMwFxLh
To forget the atrocities she would find if she did.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa5jdQ2AV3f
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJpEpzPwus9
And, really—who would have thought that a monster like Uchiha Sasuke was capable of making a face like that?
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Sasuke was just putting a plate aside when the sound of porcelain breaking reaches his ears.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJx7fcCG3LS
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8TTqeHxRfu
With a start, he turns only to find Karin crouched on the ground, her feet surrounded by tiny pieces of what had just been one of her favorite sets of dishes.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmYLAYobxC
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5jwJAgboRo
“Karin,” he calls, drying his hands on his pants—and he misses the way Karin’s shoulders tense, her back stiffening. “Are you alright?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3RhRabxEkN
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9wk4QowWtN
“Yeah,” she murmurs after a moment, and Sasuke blinks. She didn’t sound alright.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjzbf2YXBl
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJcDea2tURV
“Karin,” he calls again, approaching her. “Leave that be, I’ll take care of it.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKuJWhQCMC
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDkBhbKlzj
“I told you, it’s fine.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhU6xLPaGu
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1BvGBvo4k
He frowns, concerned. “Karin—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZM7r8RaPHs
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipdiy4Gfda
But the words freeze in his throat as Karin yelps and slaps away the hand he had been about to reassuringly place on her shoulder.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFkPldZlQ8N
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnxdOjldzC
For a long moment, all they do is stare at each other—Sasuke staggered by Karin’s frightened eyes, by the raw fear contorting her features—and then the moment ends and Karin is standing up and taking a loud breath.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpI6Jb2dxuP
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Qn3YkORCe
“Sorry, Sasuke—I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaoRE6WUOtd
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4Op7e8mAC
Her voice is even, but Sasuke knows her better than that; and so he can’t bring himself to watch her as she leaves the kitchen.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgWmjpU2wO
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJYRz63AJO
He doesn’t know what he would do if he were to see that same fright reflected in her eyes again.
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡey0rAv3P4e
She jolts back as the lights go on and the shadows melt away into an all too familiar figure—one that is sitting on the one-man couch and that tilts his head to the side, dark bangs falling across his face and eyes as black as abysses centered on her.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qJcnOaGJg
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOh4rKsCvi2
“S-sasuke, what—?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTIdsNUsYy
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQsP0kWi68S
“Where were you, Karin?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQPvLEtu9b
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCxgMLHvIk
His question is smooth and steady; placid, even. Except that Karin knows him well enough; has gotten to know this side of him—this terrifying side of him, twisted and manipulative, brutally honest in order to hurt rather than to please—well enough lately. Enough to be able to see beyond and into the brewing storm.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1kmOazqav
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXnNABW5V8
It reeks of lighting and promises pain—it frankly terrifies her.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHUbx2d9VF9
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQQSwMlPGh
But she holds her ground.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpCHWqoCPvL
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXBI5NrDLf
“I—I was having lunch with my parents, Sasuke. They called to invite us today but you were at—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycBqsTOi0x
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaqazxMcIs
“Liar,” he grits out, and Karin’s blood runs cold. “I called them myself. You were not with them. So, where were you?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4ebLfdO99
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYediijvwTu
It is trying to keep her voice and hands from shaking that she says the truth. “I was out with the girls, Sasuke—but we were just eating and talking! We did nothing w—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1xCwn1FvpA
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5g9euR5CC
“Then why didn’t you say so from the start, Karin?” she freezes, like a deer caught in headlights—and then lowers his eyes. Slowly, Sasuke stands. “… Do you not trust me, Karin? Do you think I do not trust you? Is that it?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLeDSIavW5u
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7PyuuDgkbm
“Sasuke, I—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpZ6gsnOaf3
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAkMPNCezC
“Because I do, Karin,” he is standing before her now, his hand lovingly caressing her face, his eyes warm—and though Karin knows better, her body remains as loyal to him as ever and it betrays her; closing its eyes and leaning into the touch. “I trust you, because I love you. Do you not love me, Karin?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9QiQDSpZC
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUSAgnIIFsL
A part of her hates herself for how easily the answer comes forth to her lips. For how true it remains. “… I do, Sasuke.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOtkHqIzia
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVXhIMzRNA
She hears his smile, “Good. Then, you will stop seeing them, won’t you? Those girls.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxZfhRUeeq
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6lkoRerpNE
Her eyes snap open—and the Sasuke that greets them is once again back to being rough oceans and thunderstorms. “You’re better than them, Karin.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiUm3tj0Ep6
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfYYGskFlY
I want you all for myself—is what Karin hears instead, and she frowns. “Sasuke, you can’t be serious—they are my friends!”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMVmsENyP6f
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9EfqPPQ4iA
She comes to regret her words almost immediately, as his features snap into a mad grimace and his hand shots to her wrist, grasping it tightly enough to make her yelp—“And I not enough for you, Karin?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgs3NKx7qjW
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ130JEPNyMk
“I—” yes, he is—was. Is.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu75tqBrV3C
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwICocvWxpO
And that frightens her more than he possibly could.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJD3znfTfx
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlW5uPlx3Vp
“—alright, Sasuke… you win.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkGTVDOrOj
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOh9hh7Q0dd
His features relax and his hands come to cup her cheeks again, a soft, almost child-like smile in his lips. Innocent enough to trick anyone.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgkoFfNTRT
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCrcnzvpHV
Even himself.
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgR7eNI5xEd
The silence is deafening. The unsaid drawing knots with his vocal chords, until he decides that enough has been enough.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡajljCsZKWZ
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqdKjRrxpN
“Karin, about yesterday….” He trails off, figures he will give her the chance to own up to what happened by herself, rather than attempting to play the game of pretend like she has been doing all day.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjPgE0lvcBF
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg87ECVRM12
She doesn’t bulge. “What?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjSGNnehZB
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxOLSbRR00R
And perhaps that’s what worries Sasuke the most.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPFjJBLWfX
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gW7QRaGFt
It takes him a few moments before he is able to gain control of the ominous feeling pooling in his stomach; the one making it hard to speak.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKEGsJs3Vs
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkfX5WN6KW
“Don’t try to avoid the subject, Karin. There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8JWrIN0KvC
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTmPbxWj8ZP
Karin’s hands pause for half a second—and then she is moving the chopsticks again, her lips curving in a mystifying smile that does not reach her eyes.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwcyujDPwJ4
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYGnbJhrgS
And Sasuke wants nothing more than to ask her to stop—but he is too scared to do so.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBU1jRZGWjB
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHIDqG0tkQ
“Eat, Sasuke. It’s going to get cold.”
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7vx3vi4PT
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo8gvLwSNfM
He rolls the raspberries between his fingers, memories swirling in his head.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡViDjS5unP2
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQVbkcjZ8J
He has always had a very good memory; and throughout his life, it has proved to be a curse more often than a blessing.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpb7mAwxpj
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiuuizP2aQ5
In this case, it is both at once.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKA7xUbELaB
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSecdXMCT5R
A redheaded toddler pulls him along to play on the backyard; a young girl holds him as he weeps for his parents and brother; a teenager kissing the raspberry lipstick off his lips.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5C2DyFeCK
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6DAQQAou0
A girl sending him off with a sad smile, and never looking back.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQBDHQPwO8
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9XbFoHcMJ
Broken promises.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zxUGPf8Sz
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnrTdhF0JWt
A call. A funeral.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlIMjHFWbBw
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkGwFKIDvPJ
And tears.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7VP7nhxKYe
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb76kFBvsY7
Heartbreak.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGVwD0YLv5a
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5SHQILQr5
Loneliness.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNxxtoxL6Ty
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNRDh5Dm49
…then there was nothing else.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIA5DDb9ow
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUCoDkuM9X
And then there was everything all over again.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbL2pDnhlO
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7chx6JkfZ
Rinse and repeat over and over; relieving both the good and the bad, but not feeling the sunlight warm nor the pain sting. It was like a movie etched on his corneas—he saw it over and over whenever he had his eyes open, whenever he had his eyes closed. And by now he has seen it enough times to know every turn, every scene—and yet he can’t stop.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe0j6oVpM7n
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6kT44UVss
He can’t stop.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNEvD518ed
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqUzya7PJ7F
He does not want to.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yOMGJBREq
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZK8xxeTEzN
One of the raspberries snaps, juice rolling down his fingers—but he does nothing to clean it up.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8fTZCVqUJ
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbA8ahdLVeF
The door creaks open.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUDrFF7MwD
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pQdLqB9TG
“Uchiha-san, you have to eat.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡanXOL9JjRu
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVuvwtxOiwQ
The nurse says, more out of habit than anything else; but he is too far away to hear—492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMv960TiL8k
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzzXm3XfGB
(“I’ll see you around… Sasuke,” comes her goodbye—and then there is a whirlwind of colors and images as the roll film reels back to their beginning.)492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuI9lXOZlc
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLacAPQnRq
—and it’s been a year since the patient of the room 723 has pronounced a single word.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmc03axJxms
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU9tNmhdPCX
(And a five-year old Karin is smiling.)
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFFXCm8sOaF
When the first rays of the sun slip through the open curtains, Sasuke awakens only to find that it was one of those rare days when Karin has woken up first.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmxropNbHu
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJx7nR04P2
For a blissful moment, he is ignorant; forgetful. He does not remember how weird she has been acting, does not remember the silences from the past couple of days—and so he is about to tease her about waking up so early when he realizes there was something very, very wrong—and any drowsiness is suddenly yanked from underneath him like a rug.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLiiMffU7r2
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nyFGNeGbh
Karin was sitting on the bed, unnaturally straight and still; her eyes vacant and unseeing, telltale trails of dried tears on her cheeks.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmb81UZFDMc
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqaOYzLatR
For an excruciatingly long moment, Sasuke is frozen in place—at a complete loss as to what to do. This was the first time he has ever seen Karin cry, and the sight makes an ugly feeling curl up in his gut.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt2cIarkTkc
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhM0dOALdq
“Karin…” his voice is faint; a tentative call more to spur himself into motion than to reach her. “Karin, what’s wrong?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrAq2kaBYWr
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXR46moMmKT
She does not react—gives no signs of having heard him, and Sasuke is filled with a sense of foreboding so potent that it robs him of his breathing.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvU4RoehMAi
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiyt7kdTlYI
And then she parts her lips.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YMrVg4Lxx
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezAgArA8dC
“Sasuke… I had a dream… a new one.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAM8VcjcUWx
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgxsPznReFS
Sasuke swallows; what could she have possibly seen to put her in such a state?492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTn3eg3cpPt
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugmWqJ941q
“Karin, I…” the redhead simply shakes her head, and to his ever-growing alarm there are fresh tears dripping from her eyes.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVjj2yR7aj
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqU93l8UZK
“Forget it, Sasuke… it’s better if you do.”
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA03zeyGoWo
.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfj4nL34xu
.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDL7Lc7099
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPSV96xKZ5
She chokes on a distraught sob as she gathers his body in her arms, his blood seeping into her shirt and tainting it as crimson as her hair.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInzBDnleof
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOA87yzxaG
“Stop it, Karin. You were not supposed to care about him—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiw1MT9kOx6
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5cDg1GwtLR
“And you weren’t supposed to kill him! This was my job!” she growls, her sight blurry by unleashed tears—and despite it she can still clearly see the apathy in her coworker’s face.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5uPHmmZL3x
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxv9dJD4xK4
It makes something in her tightly clench.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpagT5ztqGC
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34XIuqbocq
“Hn, you took too long. We couldn’t keep waiting for you to remember your roots. Did you forget you’re a spy, Karin? You’re trained for riding the world of bastards like these.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdGSaMIEeh
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRwL2orbgr
And then he distastefully kicks him—he kicks Sasuke’s side, as if he were nothing but a sack of bones and skin—and something in her snaps.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp661Ca0xMi
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRVpoZMMfd
She is taking her gun out and blowing his brains out before he has got time to even think—and as the body falls to the ground with a sick thud, Karin wipes off her tears—smearing her cheeks with Sasuke’s blood—and loads the gun again.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFzdcIv6YC4
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdmFnRmS0x
She can hear them coming from her, and she knows she won’t be able to escape—but that was fine.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FKkV7Ot7e
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuciYC1ZfFG
She would take as many of them as she possibly could before going down, and—492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9Q6q2f42o
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtA9Szvafgp
“…we’ll meet soon, Sasuke.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡViZ0nrXeZR
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡymu7zGXmw8
—and Sasuke had always liked souvenirs.
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXx3mqzDql
He is crudely woken up by Karin screaming his name.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFD7OcAEac6
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCyWpYHV4g
Her yells are shrill and terrified; and they do not stop, no matter how much he shakes her, how much he calls out to her.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4UnVqz9je5
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiChDwCnSVE
In fact—she seemed to only be getting worse.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHgYsAqyO8
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mrMq0PNfr
“Sasuke, no—!”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPeVbj6QJR
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tlsakaBVv
“Karin! Karin, wake up!” he has her seized by her shoulders, but Karin trashes in his hold; so he brushes the bangs off her forehead instead, trying to soothe her nightmares with his touch. “It’s fine, I’m here, I won’t let anyone hurt—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouARimVAL5
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDiMCJGIplj
But his sincere promise is cut short by her terrified sob.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8UO5l5AZm
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1Sg7Ti9Vx
“N-no, Sasuke—get away from me!”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBsNwcyX8cH
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKnGD3b179
Sasuke jumps back, as if burnt. “W-what…?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLfkBJcg8OZ
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjwwcQKrzpe
He could not believe his ears—she was frightened—of him?492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMkXpOsA9z
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhLVoZVt3E
He leans back; backs off the bed and steps into the cold floor, his mind whirling—and it’s then a memory sneaks into his conscious. Uninvited, and terrible with the clarity it brings him.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0oYc3RrQm
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6zbmVBEN2
‘… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.’492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbs4C88CM7e
‘What weren’t?’492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgMgfvanEd
‘...You.’492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBkfHXsQbx
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ2HbhMJhVj
The thought makes trepidation mercilessly grip his heart—and he can do nothing but helplessly watch as Karin twists and turns in her sleep, battling against ghosts he cannot see.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzxBW2aYwo
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFy5IyMEBt
Ghosts he has started to fear, too.
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVWiDyP5Ej
“Karin,” he whispers affectionately, caressing her cheek with his right hand, “I need you.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmT6yHdtjv
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmAvYuKKOT
Karin swallows the knot in her throat and forces her knees to remain firm, “I—I know, so plea—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQP0YzpK7bx
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2e95TINs3
“You’re the only one for me,” he talks over her, as if she hadn’t said a word. And Karin cannot fight the shiver that runs down her spine as something cold is pressed to her ribcage, right in between her breasts. “That’s why… I must to do this.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTdMOzjrE3q
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQ19JGczjU
“Sasuke,” her voice is hoarse, her eyes begging him to rethink this—to be reasonable. But Sasuke simply shakes his head and smiles an impossibly sad smile, his thumb tracing her bottom lip, which has started to quiver.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIywa6lEVAp
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtpot1IdfP
“I’ll see you soon… Karin.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrtGD2kyCfM
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdtMOqUw0k
He says, and his words are as loud as the gunshot that follows.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnl0zWWrqJ
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfoHx5eti3
And then her lifeless body is crumbling to the ground, his soon to follow.
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492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqEo1uJ9Wm
“What was I doing to you?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGEsmNwqbV
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Kr47dsAoj
“… I don’t remember.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgFA49xTUZ
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGfebq7aDMH
Sasuke shuts his eyes close, his hands gripping the sheets. It would be so much easier to pretend to believe her; to pretend there was nothing wrong. To pretend he didn’t spend the whole night fighting the desperation gripping at his core as he watched her shake in her turmoil-filled sleep; longing for it to end, dreading what would happen once it did.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBuQKSehAkP
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBUO5JHip2
But he has played that game long enough.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPG5RRp7ZvG
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKdCGc3bMU6
He cannot continue to allow himself to remain blissfully unaware while she battles on her own.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulb0yQdFTK
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIY7l2o5Sgt
“Don’t lie to me, Karin.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuhDEce6bUx
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWoyGCYAMIk
“I’m not lying, Sasuke… I can’t remember what I dreamed,” Karin whispers, and a shiver runs down his spine as she places her cold hand atop of his own; it was trembling. “…But I can remember the rest.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD9KjUqj0xm
492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKTq9Iqy8j
He is shaking, too—and so he uncurls his fists and entwines his fingers with hers, and makes the one request that would surely change everything.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBbOiSylJZK
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“…Tell me the truth, Karin.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZ3XGD3jmV
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Karin takes a deep breath, and Sasuke braces himself.
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The world seems to slow to a halt as she coughs up blood, the sword cleanly piercing her chest and stopping dangerously close to his own heart.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZcoHm2whn
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He can only stare, eyes wide, at the back of her head—the vibrant strands of hair tickling his face as she takes an involuntary step backward—and then there is a cold flush of liquid splaying all over his shirt as the sword is pulled out and she begins to crumble down like a leaf—492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBSCNeqpvt
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And her name leaves his lips in the form of a horrified call—one that is cut short by her strained smile.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhF33PikLA
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“Idiot, I… told you… to move, Sasuke…”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRghXvFxbft
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“Stop talking, Karin,” he ushers, and his vision blurs. Despite it he thinks he sees her smile widening, and he cradles her closer to his chest, tries to ignore the blood seeping from her body at an alarmingly fast pace. “You need to save your strength, Sakura is c—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8dJD8hi2A
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“Sa…suke,” and though her voice is nothing but a dying whisper, he is rendered silent at once. “Promise me… you won’t… die.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLy7FPzkpJh
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His teeth clatter and sink on his lip, drawing blood—and suddenly he is yelling. “You are the idiot, Karin! Why?! Why would you do that for me? Did you forget what I did to you? I thought you said you wouldn’t! I thought you said you would—”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhph21b9zi
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“—make you… regret it… I know,” her smile looks like unleashed tears. “I admit… this… wasn’t exactly… what I had… in mind.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIG8YNi7Jr6
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There is a choked sob—and he barely registers it is his own.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx8U5xRi9Vq
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She does, though—and her fingertips come to softly brush away the tears from the corner of his eyes, leaving telltale traces of crimson instead.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2VmqQ2riPB
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“Don’t… all I want…ed… is for you… to smile… like that day.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qeZcO2vY8
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He knows at once what she means—but the memories feel light-years away; they are colored in grays and smeared with blood, and for the life of him—for the life of her—he cannot find it in himself the will to smile.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgQDNJxWj41
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And she slips away through his hesitation like he had always slipped through her fingers.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4xVc2JG7T
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“See ya… Sasuke.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3WYfc6Y0d
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Her hand drops and her body goes cold, and all his lips seem to be able to do is call her name—a name accompanied by lonesome apologies and regrets that would never get either of them anywhere.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5Jz6sHG7s
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He never seems to be able to get anywhere, ever, not even when he is trying to—but if he could—if only he could do it all over again, he—492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMPjXExH1l
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Mere hours later, his body is the one to drop lifelessly to the ground—and it’s all over before he can realize the smile that grazes his lips.
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A terrible silence has descended upon them.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGC5K76ZFSb
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He has retreated to the edge of the bed, his elbows sinking on his knees and his horrified face cradled in his shaking hands.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInIc0yf0DP
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“Why…?” and he does not know it, but it always seemed to come to this very question. “Why are you with me, despite all the things I’ve done to you?”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kxUcLW1dE
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Karin watches his desolated back and has a hard time swallowing the lump in her throat, “Because… they are not you, Sasuke.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZhWHo68Zbh
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He says nothing in response—can not possibly wrap his mind around her words, Karin knows. And so she softly crawls to him and drapes her arms around his neck, leans her cheek on the side of his head, closes her eyes, and smiles.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWC7cD9exmn
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“And, above all…”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdyiLQxBNVB
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The smile is strained—but resolute. Serene. It says nothing and everything at once. And despite himself, Sasuke finds solace in her touch—his own hand coming to seize her own as her words carry over to him, a simple truth that at once gives him hope and clogs his throat with trepidation.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1u0e2LZCw
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“…Above all, I want to see how this one ends.”
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It happens a sunny morning as she trips and a bear lunges at her, its roar so deafening that she thought her head would burst before the beast would get to sink its teeth on her flesh.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMFHd7zYNt
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Except that it doesn’t get to.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQPQBj1nARq
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And when she puts her glasses back on, her sight is met by a smile that would carve itself on her mind and set ablaze a flame that would burn just as strongly and lastingly as the eyes of the boy she would never, ever forget.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbV9WRG2W2
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“See ya.”492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TzPK2Twr4
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This is what I give,492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVKw1tSP7XG
A circle is complete.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp0wuW5DvX8
Another circle spins492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvQeMHnbLNT
There's life within,492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPme82ph5F1
Within
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end.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9vV8tElZMw
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Ok! Now you guys should understand what I meant by the warnings at the beginning; I tried to make each SK set of reincarnations distinctly different from each other, both in personalities, dynamics, and backgrounds; so they indeed diverge from the Sasuke and Karin we're used to, as they have all grown in different environments. All the same, I tried to keep some traits of their canon personalities, so hopefully, they aren't absurdly OOC.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPITynSycgQ
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That said~! The song used at the beginning is Kitade Nana’s Tsukihana, and the one at the end is Blue Foundation’s Bonfires. Now, onto random details about the fic~ there are five versions of SasuKarin total in the fic; the originals, and 4 pairs of reincarnations.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSDJuvvMeT
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The format of the fic didn’t allow me to expand and truly explain each particular set, so if you are curious about any of them drop me a comment and I’ll tell you their background and/or explain anything you may be wondering about~!492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxd8RjWW1RJ
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For now, though, I must mention a couple of things about the 4th SK pair (aka, the most controversial - the one with cute!Karin and businessman!Sasuke); their meeting (the umbrella thing) was completely inspired by a real-life story I read here, and overly-jealous-and-possessive-Sasuke was inspired by might 'Anyone's Ghost' SK AMV, here. I debated a bit about this version because it's kind of hard to imagine a Karin who would allow Sasuke to be that way with her; but then again, this particular Karin is less headstrong than the one we know and love. So I decided to leave it as it lol Also, his overdone “I love you(s)” and cheesiness, while sincere, were meant to be creepy and manipulative; I really hope they came out that way lol492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS9dRMlpvxe
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Thanks for reading! ♥
Tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
ns3.144.30.77da2
