[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~!582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdC8WFJcpCO
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By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP89irCORGJ
Rating: M (some suggestive scenes, and some violence.)582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrhHjsmFSF
Word Count: 8.810582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSggWgwXTqg
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xeeZT9q9n
Warning: Some OOC-ness due to the fact that I'm working with future SK... among other things you will soon realize lol582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1fbIYj45Xc
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ36OR25UZ6
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A heartbeat that awakens from the ashes.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ1uye2jWL3
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To the stars that played with the darkness582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡowXylYqSRI
I sang of love and burned up completely
Wildfire582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2O2LeGVUG4
by Kanae582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4n8kLvwYo3
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3O1c8evkDT
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Something in his chest tightens.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjDgrKAe3b
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdOTd9fWAF
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Just a girl.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ajgxgW8md
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Sasuke all but snorts, mildly shaking his head and turning away in wonderment.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzNx3509eI
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He misses the way the girl stops, her back straightening as if bolted.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntj5OPsDIE
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKST4DwlmM
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The girl.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBLaM6HSeL
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The redhead.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyukHgua3B
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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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7s8zAQzZdI
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7xE64zqc5
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“Don’t think so,” he replies, trying to sidestep her—but the girl blocks his way again.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18jzwwbVvE
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5LxMvTM2gg
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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—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiVclkfn4x1
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“You’re right,” Sasuke agrees, clenching his jaw and walking past her.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiM01bntCeo
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZMKjWgB2c
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡku8FC4XOAu
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhCDtdJBveH
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She falls quiet—and Sasuke thinks the odd conversation has come to an end.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvi3BiAAUGs
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He was severely mistaken.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkxzXEUEmW
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1HqeAJqVZ
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBSpbLzCYO
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It is slowly that he turns towards her, eyes narrowed and heart galloping inside his chest. “How…?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFTY5vwVJ4
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAuCSNb8o8
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNxUgz6PMX
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9xu35zuEx
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJhru9ko6K
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1w2lW5UXFT
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She does not let go of him.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDNdJELdYw
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And the déjà vu only worsens.
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“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmBn3w35LI
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOkpr7R8Sv
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“The… dreams?” he questions, and feels utterly ridiculous just by saying it.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysVLmHZDlj
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1GwPJSk4kM
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“And these… dreams, of yours. They were about me?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwCw0wlsK8g
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ILrhSCy6r
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“Doing what, exactly?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUhz7ZMSV6C
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“A lot of things. Fighting, mostly. You were a ninja, sometimes. Both of us were.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWOTRzOSRkj
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“…A ninja?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOmYbHapq3
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOf1gcEnvk
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfIuaE2weLm
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2gMCSrMli
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“… What do you mean, exactly?” he prods with narrowed eyes.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGEtwGbi6d
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa0MXHhOCCb
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Sasuke frowns. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did he like where she was going with this. “Reincarnations?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFITVKHiXJ7
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Karin snaps her fingers, “Bingo.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJB2lOxJhmw
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Sasuke snorts. “That’s ridiculous.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSmb0bxmwf
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“I know you don’t believe in them, Sasuke. But that doesn’t mean they do not exist.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAhdFeKmeK
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjgQuqSOa8s
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGREut3CZmy
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“But I am done hearing your bullshit.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDvbKjke8gR
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPHgeQC4k2
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He feels insulted, but he stays. And a little smirk quirks up Karin’s lips; as expected, that smirk said.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1DGH2fhQC
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But any comments he may have had about her arrogance promptly disappear as the redhead utters her next words.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAL7eeuhHjH
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡceqpx79qfF
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPEKBPPifAR
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They. Because that was all that was left, now. She was all he had left.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQ1lxm8Yl5
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“We will get through this,” she repeats, because they would. They had to.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2NcPNVA5nb
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“You’re not alone. I’m with you, Sasuke. I won’t ever leave you,”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLba2IswA3
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7CNUoRrzjS
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefPUDpuNgI
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE77yM9heoJ
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1D45WiOSwZ
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLO4sAUflmS
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMklTZ0huL
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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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKXapz68nYF
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpGZS95PV5
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He has really run out of patience. “Stop with the riddles, will you? Just answer!”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8QVxyPqzkY
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡclBX0Y6mZU
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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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4Z4vYADlw
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Karin shrugs, unfazed.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRi7o963Ff
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30eEuOiYQs
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That catches his attention. “What do you mean?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlo6hHfqXU9
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“… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMYQCJ1AEZF
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Sasuke arches one eyebrow, curious. “What weren’t?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRKQ5r5xkXd
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For the first time since they got there, Karin squirms in her seat.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2oAGMa77Hz
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9Q1W7uIxB
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyNNeer3gVD
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBWs6oHw9d
“Karin… the moment you were taken hostage, you became an encumbrance.”
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFM3gXBFTG
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkNxH0nyvU2
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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCG4WhWCDwJ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAM7DgOab2X
Sasuke hates it; having to repeat himself. But he moodily does, anyway. “What do you mean?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXqrb9ReqTb
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDo6Y0fdcdB
Karin does not reply right away; and when she does, her voice is the softest Sasuke has heard it sound so far.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9EOAGNTb7O
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrullcfRVs
“I always ended up loving you all the same,” she admits.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMdx1MBNCes
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRBSPTM1EB
Then she looks at him again, and Sasuke finds that he can’t look away.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJWoya9hWre
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnomcjqWg7j
“Always.”
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQAbgwSoVN
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAA27QkKdT
It happens on a rainy night.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡussoabHoqX
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1R2e3xZUF5
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2bjUZC5FK
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5PY5jti8sp
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcy9I2FN4HW
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuNuWbK2ryP
She hadn’t been.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJtu90LQZx
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsMP99C7aE
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Vip8CHtG2
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7eYjVTTJXM
So much for not getting wet, she thinks, and it’s then that an umbrella is placed above her.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyd84Gov51T
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTgLzc9DR2
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohkMmejFzJ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkIgvncpVoV
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GaepREEQQ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCShkPWU7r4
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHpF3xgSOnS
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLIeP7YoYZ
But she can’t look away from him—and before she knows it her legs are moving and the rain no longer matters.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF4s23j4en1
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslOo8f2qdz
By the time he has hung up, they’re standing at the next intersection and she is soaked from head to toe.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZkMqjP1Zn
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJv2HA2tHl
“Hey, you! Wait!”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA5X2rBfsF5
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgdrC1EsnoF
The business man slowly turns around, painfully so, confusion apparent on his face.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YopNLw3re
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6PCmbxUKZE
Onyx meets red and her heart skips a beat as his eyes widen ever so slightly.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFL1FCzAA5q
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDaHkUgF8K
“Thank you,” she breathes out jaggedly and not exactly from the chasing, “for before.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEk92QQG2h9
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPo3kPvaPK3
“… 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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9UZfJuWfpG
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFCWPWkyazp
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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCViNpuk0dw
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCfWSpN8mW
He tilts his head to the side, long bangs falling across his face. “… Hn, down the street, you say?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rDqb4SvXn
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWK4FLJ43h
“Yeah. It’s less than a minute away,” she gulps, “so, what do you say?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6NiWjLQ2B
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpuVxeZnda3
He smiles, and his whole face lights up. “I’d like that.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHH2FueBbV
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0Hb3m03kp
By the time they place their orders, she is already in love with him.
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkNPLsV3IF
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4DnxrFsQ9S
He thinks that maybe he should be surprised, but the truth is that he isn’t.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36goLiFZrA
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCTpNkuD3K4
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOKN4BJFfCJ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRESw8yyYgA
“… You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTU3sIYpsm
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4lFu4zJmo
Karin blinks innocently, a direct contrast with the amused smirk shamelessly painted across her lips. “What do you mean, Uchiha-san?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw83HnnjcP9
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHOhoMqRPna
“Drop the act,” he glares, matter-of-fact. “You knew I worked here.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡziDJ5FpO2A
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF68l3eu4g1
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzffl5YsxDU
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfIiSkH6MC1
'Always'.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpcOaH5yYb
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGON4zqsz9
“—so not my fault you basically own the damn city,” Karin finishes, and Sasuke blinks.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpp9gnpQNr
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaaKXgTAftL
“Huh?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3BoGDmS63
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJjPZ98SfX
She deadpans. “You weren’t listening, were you?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCcgNZy2Mgw
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Fv1ATjq2O
“I was,” he lies through gritted teeth, prodded by some unexplainable force. Damn, why did he always have to bicker with this girl?582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2GQxYBWU8
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdtbFL2hbp
“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—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfCmzq2QFe
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhliUm5qX7
He all but groans. “Stop, Karin. Don’t bring that kind of talk here, someone may hear you.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkkdSHYQc7w
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mgOKOuveu
“Pft, so what?” she huffs, crossing her arms and swaying her hips again. “It’s not like I work here, right?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQt66bVGDY
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT731aL7JEU
Her tone and most specially the glimmer in her eye as she looks at him told him otherwise.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw0QBeHA6Pe
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nB1cq6gfO
Damn her.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhTjDgjmeQ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7e6Twp8xD
“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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBX7a6PFwmh
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKoAnXljsG
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqu8vAUCOcK
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmmnZWG2qQ
As if reading his thoughts, Karin calls out to him from the door.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwHtvUwYXb
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkOMKwrWM88
“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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzSkkXOpaM
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡziJn4HUIOE
And for some unknown reason, Sasuke finds himself blushing.
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5is5CtjUG
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmY4ER618i
“I brought you the papers you requested,”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQsy5kIXPX7
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vB2EOQSoJ
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJG3PSEIe7
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiEo6brzVYi
“Idiot,” she manages to reprimand between kisses, “what if someone sees us?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSESj0ooAlE
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmoyKd4KCN1
“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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RzwMzkI2E
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKlRmT7xaLn
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqvufslG9E
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgckgOjNacr
“Any complains?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsKLTENU7l
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPX34AQCvdD
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYrE2Sz4RM
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstKf2h2UMZ
She has a mission to accomplish—but he makes her forget soon enough.
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53AjFWwcfn
“I’ll have some Okonomiyaki, please.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgSX90EfAuz
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhI1aAUS3kf
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmx9LHqQBp
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI63ORwCWrv
“Whoa, Sasuke, That girl totally has a thing for you!”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMdqf3hM3f
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVa47g02HIS
Sasuke rolls his eyes; he was so over this subject. “Tch, she and every other employee, what else is new.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCnQn651jG2
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3zbnVnHOk
Karin snorts, “Cocky, aren’t we? Do I need to remind you that I am one of your employees, too?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69eNoey1nN
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotY2ZMIEar
'Always'.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYpoEp7xY96
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjun6u1Pzrb
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtojEzjyP1e
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLsBlKilDmy
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJQeL8nmlQ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe6kofILg5U
“You really are no fun, Sasuke.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvV6QYHlmeF
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0UDO8x3Boz
“Forget about that, Karin. You said you would tell me more about—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg67brEf9VM
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWeVigWwNxo
“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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqsHhult3r
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4o7Re9qrK
“Karin.”
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡswU90DKYMq
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5346A5AGj
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgkpjjPcRB
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8FJ6vfn2X
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjK4rXKyQR
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErODzBA9KC
He is the first thing she sees when she comes out of the room.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmOCdftj7t5
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4uFR4FYwE
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKhS1ZZfiW
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbNujQl9Tz
“…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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZfqYyBXLqJ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVRFzFRENc
“Idiot,” she hisses, and means it. “You are hurt, let me—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VYccvCTYJ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jmnp0vvaL
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUloj1xv4oL
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUlLeOYtTP
“…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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfEkGjUxpq
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLMvE9IrEJ
To her surprise, Sasuke snorts.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW426m5vlgY
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJsOvCZMA3
“What?” she snaps.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgfFNbF9Tk1
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjxu7gvj6d
“Nothing,” he says, and he is smirking. “Just, you’re the last person I want to hear that from, Karin.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWscxLyeymD
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMuEuSbx2f
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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5x93FsuRp8
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmFVGlfmuF
He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, his smirk softening around the edges. “…I wonder.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcX0HznzfN2
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzvxkdD5bq
And despite her blood loss, her blush only deepens.
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86wszC5Ruy
“Would you like more tea, Karin-chan?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMcNktRXxg
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhbdEIUXXz
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXqmPfp7l9
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbWZgSvlj9
“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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjNztjAWNc
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHaBBPiyyZI
Sasuke huffs, halfheartedly batting his brother’s hands away. “I know that—moreover, when will you stop treating me like a child, Itachi?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡukPp8Eo5kZ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWthdMBLEv
“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?582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvNjFejkiw
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTM9Zk7XY9P
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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8AMgbCwjks
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1LVVF18fK
Great. So she had been listening in, huh? He should have guessed.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtplF4KETu
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSI6ELnJJb0
“Not quite,” Itachi replies, but Sasuke’s triumphant smirk is short-lived as his brother adds, “But almost.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2l6tZsEwmV
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ74WNsC1Rbb
“Brother!” he reproaches, causing the older boy to chuckle again and Karin to smirk widely.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTRqV4FZCyn
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs71kVOeCRS
“You’re unbelievable, Sasuke; I mean, I knew you were an unsocial prude, but almost no girlfriends? Seriously?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtIOtFNQUvl
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGdn5Q1m3It
He glares, mortified to feel the by-now familiar sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Shut up, Karin.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3mKBKAlaEY
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMeovPJnFPr
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorDLyRODL8
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2kBHrORUU
Damn you, brother.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwNrMgbJ2D
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOeeDwSnZX
“Hn, I don’t know what Itachi is talking about.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKiHcW3V6i
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2lFyZnhPOz
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvw29I9XGxj
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Odn9qEpOR
“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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJEBc9EKrhm
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡees1NvFtIp
Despite his better judgment, Sasuke can feel himself blushing. “Who said I’m enjoying myself?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡteX4Lr74E1
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuA4w7fLSn
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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5z9ULJXbbe
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8G4EF4SA3M
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtoFL0yvWsw
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnyjTR890W
“… 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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt038Z7qAU0
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYxgxUhtGX3
“I know, dear. But, somehow… it feels like you two have known each other for a long time.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhFYBjzYKN
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4xriSI4UDP
Itachi says nothing—but the way in which he warmly squeezes Sasuke’s shoulder is eloquent enough.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGhxNfepYa
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NHcqbM4ki
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.
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9XnVo6lf7
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgdx5Kg49V
“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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbrwn3HZJF9
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4m68NZrKfF
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—582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqepvarBoR7
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCH9eCziNNe
“Sasuke—hey, earth to Sasuke, are you listening? I was just saying that—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75CSPI0POa
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8WaGPebwq
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XJYnefq0u
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQBVme791PE
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnL3Kai6Zeq
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJLUr6uKth
“Raspberries,” he states, and that seems to get Karin off her trance, because she blinks at him.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6lAxePvpWi
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzq3AwQ0L4n
And then she is grinning.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqk59GwT8wT
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2dnldPb1ME
“Had I known you would finally kiss me today, I’d have worn something less sweet.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxn0JGMPVbl
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgtbPMBxrv
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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nQDpe9a0t
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7VL5ESIdy2
“I know,” and her grin becomes a husky smirk as she tangles her fingers in his hair. “You’re too easy to read, Sasuke.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ54vMg7XSd
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ALVcQNGmp
“Hn, you could have helped, then,” he says, but the truth is he is too lost in her to really mind.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqXh9aaO1Q
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8SEwcj5dl
“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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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0d1Al2Hnb
“You won’t find anything better for a more reasonable price, I assure you, Uchiha-san. This is the absolute best—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiXF4ljj41
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMR2tAvZoQ
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECU56pNct3
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7f93gHffEJ
“Excuse me.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqhXfwHTn8
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94ISJOIYRP
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYR1d59KgW
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3EfMyf6NH
“This house is ours, Sasuke,”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DgocE2YZ4
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNnWppVuXtZ
Her fingers find their way around his, and Sasuke gives them a squeeze as he nods, his expression naturally mirroring her own.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4vTy54hOH
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Qf6JsYvr1
He could feel it, too.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2B4e0X5Uv
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eUPTAOlRH
Behind them, the realtor clears his throat but Karin cuts him short before he could get a single word out.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFnQZ9IoJo
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eGoWvHtdt
“We’re buying it,” she states loud and clear, and she is positively glowing.
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LBiWK29PL
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAik9vsqolf
She can hardly believe it.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5DYknzXujP
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxcatCh5AG
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEwNATFX0d
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywfWgiVq38
It seemed like something straight out of one of those dramas she used to love to ridicule and secretly watch at the same time.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKgYqJsv0l
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyNVMenY2tb
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkGp76hi04J
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5r2xtLjjFH
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgqdOTp3jE
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZIXkefIfq
“What’s so funny?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGaahLssTBy
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfanp40F71s
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpiQs9sANu9
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9EeQZSqmD
“There’s just one thing off, though—” she observes, as an afterthought, “where’s my rival in love?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLv3YXq2RmA
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjioZLWfLJ
“Nowhere,” he asserts, grave like only he could be about even the most foolish of things. “I am yours.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu54DTiaQoR
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73NTXeLWs8
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbV6isC3eNY
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjD8EQsd3A
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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRITJ7iedgD
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPxhClJ3I8
And he is breathing in her scent and tightly holding her in his arms—so tightly in fact that she can hardly breathe.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00fiAApU4z
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2OCvPL94W
“S-asuke—” she chokes.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWB7xy7DyYG
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeWBXv5UulX
But he does not listen.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWeuNTKDCV
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8H4PalwIyN
“…mine.”
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwOpavv7vO
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQrCrTSfeI
She soundlessly sneaks behind him and leans her chin on his shoulder.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCnxZgOqeO
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRt20Qqy0Qf
“Sewing again?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9N1Yu1cLt
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWwxQiggsM
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfdvU25MJxh
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIDNP0xOeL
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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87yZJMcI7i
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY78Eh1pbqH
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YzaloV4cZ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJUUQLRSH2h
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3T95p4YQvW
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCio1vaEHG
“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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxvN5yIEcS3
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydUchov4G8
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVu1gGNhe8d
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw2J1IrM8Wl
And he finds himself smiling at her back, like one of those love-sick fools he always used to make fun of.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡew6coTY7tb
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQcPF8MWaa
But it’s just, back then—he had never thought someone could actually make him this happy.
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwco4pGbecw
“Stop doing that, Sasuke.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHSyYBPEyZ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLdS0Tl2gZ
“Doing what?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZorda37npB
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QuCVnoXV4
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjY2UPTX3NG
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡucFnHAfANy
“Or what?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkGsDd3psS9
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡttI8yCw3Ph
“…Or I may fall in love with you, Uchiha.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzl0jQGH6RQ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHhVYcc9zn
She is both elated and horrified to see how soft and harmless his usual menacing and intimidating smirk looks as he replies.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuxpY9cSbg7
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdzRr6xGkF
“… Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhGx4YxVl8
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfStSZMfQQy
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFyoitlciI0
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bIFeU4RBg
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbb84bNsgRG
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZQkhIsNLg
Only a minute would be enough for a spy as skilled as herself.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡft8uxbDYo3
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tLxWZdr1N
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0DlCoojKYV
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxTxk85aHkq
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavweLM5rms
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfMUuMRcZg
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—582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6AratXYwOI
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0R9Jb1E1a1
To forget the atrocities she would find if she did.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf9CG563fTC
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nJfOPLVfT
And, really—who would have thought that a monster like Uchiha Sasuke was capable of making a face like that?
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCyuOaNsq7Q
Sasuke was just putting a plate aside when the sound of porcelain breaking reaches his ears.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZtOH7s26Km
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekiTwcVARt
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxr5z7AKdm
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gy9QvgGW5
“Karin,” he calls, drying his hands on his pants—and he misses the way Karin’s shoulders tense, her back stiffening. “Are you alright?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiBCJS023tR
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagM8Jo870V
“Yeah,” she murmurs after a moment, and Sasuke blinks. She didn’t sound alright.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6M8OH4fti2
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY90gbJlCiJ
“Karin,” he calls again, approaching her. “Leave that be, I’ll take care of it.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49ko25E1XH
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwl791pByJ
“I told you, it’s fine.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHmSnRoZB3
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1jI7bPnBG
He frowns, concerned. “Karin—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFes307khT9
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe36Y74DC2f
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRUcdFPMtSD
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJLEC46d2F
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAoYPpdg8Kz
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCWGdR7CWL
“Sorry, Sasuke—I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0o9CktgM1n
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqHYXvSXY5Q
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31tZDApTrj
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGCvZGEMESu
He doesn’t know what he would do if he were to see that same fright reflected in her eyes again.
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3odlDBopRN
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyafRcAtJQs
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI7x011BxOv
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9YFg0CkXb
“S-sasuke, what—?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfNqw3HOguG
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJT6p0g0WS5
“Where were you, Karin?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5kfhBfhukP
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡurFJe7mtb7
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYObO6iTvOm
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBn8PRgfMt
It reeks of lighting and promises pain—it frankly terrifies her.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EVleGWlAJ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkHhvRwHlxN
But she holds her ground.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bMNQd4R4n
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqurc7KGEU4
“I—I was having lunch with my parents, Sasuke. They called to invite us today but you were at—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWezkvh4az9
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsd3kpvGDOT
“Liar,” he grits out, and Karin’s blood runs cold. “I called them myself. You were not with them. So, where were you?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2oghwuvun
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7txf8xt1rL
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—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDG3EMxAHdI
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxi2llu4ot
“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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvvGwIMu1Av
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYB6MwuNN6
“Sasuke, I—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgigDKc0jDl
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXJWvisSUty
“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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugCdRxZUYo
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgD5wLgIFD
A part of her hates herself for how easily the answer comes forth to her lips. For how true it remains. “… I do, Sasuke.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcl5JJ79rQm
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLRP8GL3pj
She hears his smile, “Good. Then, you will stop seeing them, won’t you? Those girls.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GdbcwIHmh
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVnxzRpAOb
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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ965qgIe89W
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPCCsc1OcGH
I want you all for myself—is what Karin hears instead, and she frowns. “Sasuke, you can’t be serious—they are my friends!”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8SoXRxb8k
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPXtzaukQaq
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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzEPl9RXmn
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaO6B86ExpB
“I—” yes, he is—was. Is.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhDldsj3iB
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPBoWPYSUS
And that frightens her more than he possibly could.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pQT6BzxAy
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ40lnZsZFiy
“—alright, Sasuke… you win.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMJ3SF1bmb
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwC5FSjGBP2
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZDtowwqyh
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8LqHHLYUhu
Even himself.
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡurIa9rSIsh
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EmYxCgpFC
The silence is deafening. The unsaid drawing knots with his vocal chords, until he decides that enough has been enough.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJllJK4OWF
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡirYOC6xcET
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcG2TeGF59W
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtycC12nvVN
She doesn’t bulge. “What?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqWARIFhiT
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjfompyo88
And perhaps that’s what worries Sasuke the most.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYak6GAx08X
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt9VNvGpjtd
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1R8pZMtzf
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0XLpKHiaHa
“Don’t try to avoid the subject, Karin. There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSp05l4HKD8
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIs2O9ggKAp
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhrlwAJ931
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfcUn8R5Buv
And Sasuke wants nothing more than to ask her to stop—but he is too scared to do so.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmHuqfkQG4
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHKXTzIw7i
“Eat, Sasuke. It’s going to get cold.”
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGTUuhJ8Pp
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgBW0K0G2Ua
He rolls the raspberries between his fingers, memories swirling in his head.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgtAUUPwYKj
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGjTNbIRpiE
He has always had a very good memory; and throughout his life, it has proved to be a curse more often than a blessing.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vVdsaHqFB
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtjf14puYlF
In this case, it is both at once.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CnNpqCF7t
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGaQ2gesEP1
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB7TBvtT1om
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUmYd1DgVu
A girl sending him off with a sad smile, and never looking back.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAIZ6OvbsXg
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPzhaCHs52
Broken promises.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpikiibp4ax
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE78soV0wxH
A call. A funeral.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbVt7pU7Yr
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQwBpJ9l9z
And tears.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWHyZGs8jp
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1uFzl25N3W
Heartbreak.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEu2eKaaAD
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVLCpifqnU
Loneliness.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqaj2KDGYsl
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpkYihpuZ52
…then there was nothing else.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NpENAVESY
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAuRwsbFR28
And then there was everything all over again.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvTMS0NNW2
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3iHeK7eoee
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMgHrjoXyl
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Gtg4Vbm9U
He can’t stop.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3EGYmno8Eu
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGZ6YnvSp3
He does not want to.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3sUXGFbLu
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVS0D0ZWaG3
One of the raspberries snaps, juice rolling down his fingers—but he does nothing to clean it up.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrY3mNDSis
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Z1Uf3V2TH
The door creaks open.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS1skRClLe7
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrN8Oy5ykB
“Uchiha-san, you have to eat.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR3VxgVNMzn
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRV3GdC5Y5
The nurse says, more out of habit than anything else; but he is too far away to hear—582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsxxFDwbuY
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtXuPU6bXQn
(“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.)582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOYgL0ho6bw
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37isnlq5bB
—and it’s been a year since the patient of the room 723 has pronounced a single word.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkeUZ7jRY66
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWgQNUsboe
(And a five-year old Karin is smiling.)
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBiIHeV5pEQ
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdzDweXF5A
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsfICKRVfA
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxT9Zq7gyC8
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMg9xtLLxA
Karin was sitting on the bed, unnaturally straight and still; her eyes vacant and unseeing, telltale trails of dried tears on her cheeks.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpymeVxqX3y
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1rahpke4a
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDbobmklwMr
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDp1gEpdkU
“Karin…” his voice is faint; a tentative call more to spur himself into motion than to reach her. “Karin, what’s wrong?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEaGlpIuQ60
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQPWvVdQNU
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6w3IgQrWR
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39cIjwESAB
And then she parts her lips.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YZGL1GkTh
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPncE1uaelb
“Sasuke… I had a dream… a new one.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU0myEqsqxe
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqH6zM5pOt
Sasuke swallows; what could she have possibly seen to put her in such a state?582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzprTinRIq
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEaMTPM0eV4
“Karin, I…” the redhead simply shakes her head, and to his ever-growing alarm there are fresh tears dripping from her eyes.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcoXurvAZ8l
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHlZslwbQra
“Forget it, Sasuke… it’s better if you do.”
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOONLFPPXJ
.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXgUdRa1k41
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76guXklYsk
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRgMd2AS5Wu
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcl5TFLo5w0
“Stop it, Karin. You were not supposed to care about him—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WvQM0U6Xt
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qL7JJv863
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH8bVtgi44m
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡucECHdVHtJ
It makes something in her tightly clench.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNxWIyDW5kI
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNAnQXXWmK
“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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1TvgljEXx
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpy6XeoVQt
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2762vgNUz3
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkadzgpEJqz
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKA7XcEuKr2
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsKuPfLyG9
She can hear them coming from her, and she knows she won’t be able to escape—but that was fine.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9PXPF7a5y
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgs5OVk35C
She would take as many of them as she possibly could before going down, and—582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBne08qZ6CO
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnLE24X864R
“…we’ll meet soon, Sasuke.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTYtBz6gXZ
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYiuif4IEIX
—and Sasuke had always liked souvenirs.
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5b69nZD9mT
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyg51U71T3
He is crudely woken up by Karin screaming his name.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVd2Ywxf16
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv0576JRk3E
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeIJo3DAeU
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCEPuHmnbC
In fact—she seemed to only be getting worse.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUt3lGyLNT2
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMINllQYL9
“Sasuke, no—!”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMFPLixGDfh
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7kq1llDIdh
“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—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPUuJupYAK
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcj8ywhO38m
But his sincere promise is cut short by her terrified sob.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAy1lO3ZrQo
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRYlg29ypf
“N-no, Sasuke—get away from me!”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jj6gPN4Vh
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3wVgLT9gB
Sasuke jumps back, as if burnt. “W-what…?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSClct3V6q
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNgnV71bWk
He could not believe his ears—she was frightened—of him?582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGIn7M0lTE
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIetGUlJAO
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4cQ6w21Cz
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlIyULi9lbp
‘… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.’582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmar6QepA5J
‘What weren’t?’582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDmqpLLtwE0
‘...You.’582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyviSMXahpG
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnxppqhFe0
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmvqS6CId9a
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHCVYIkwAja
Ghosts he has started to fear, too.
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbQDTf7wFN
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582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3FfQ5b35f
“Karin,” he whispers affectionately, caressing her cheek with his right hand, “I need you.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpf5WIerjyu
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pkXfyjUQs
Karin swallows the knot in her throat and forces her knees to remain firm, “I—I know, so plea—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEGtd5c6nUH
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRg9bH29ros
“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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJhdcBy76R
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsuqeBzBpO
“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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5eS8w7SN7B
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw27yl3ACtw
“I’ll see you soon… Karin.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfRYvZIaNZt
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He says, and his words are as loud as the gunshot that follows.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLwv26ZJMY
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And then her lifeless body is crumbling to the ground, his soon to follow.
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“What was I doing to you?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDcch5gFqCi
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“… I don’t remember.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPCsyx83tjp
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTGSQTSohT
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But he has played that game long enough.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCnnBzFWLo3
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He cannot continue to allow himself to remain blissfully unaware while she battles on her own.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRa6trPQR9
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7BLCNFVj3i
“Don’t lie to me, Karin.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDTBxySK2TY
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“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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwnz3fTnPL
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJudRM6xwQ7
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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjcuDUrOO5g
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“…Tell me the truth, Karin.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFH61XEUnq
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyaL4UvG4kq
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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—582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwZYMuYccz
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZw3RyXUAf
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“Idiot, I… told you… to move, Sasuke…”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgv6uB82cY
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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—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXCJS7H2ILB
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmh5OYzZZD
“Sa…suke,” and though her voice is nothing but a dying whisper, he is rendered silent at once. “Promise me… you won’t… die.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUv6EQVls1v
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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—”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjue9TAum5o
582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfTY6Dxcefv
“—make you… regret it… I know,” her smile looks like unleashed tears. “I admit… this… wasn’t exactly… what I had… in mind.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzKUh8tW5B
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There is a choked sob—and he barely registers it is his own.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDYSIZ1vL6
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ44tiQ66vNC
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“Don’t… all I want…ed… is for you… to smile… like that day.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIL0wWohUby
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMTNzE9t3a
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And she slips away through his hesitation like he had always slipped through her fingers.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmg2cgYa0hJ
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“See ya… Sasuke.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYfgVcRicKp
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUF9LRa8amq
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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—582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0a0rrV1R2
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1PC5kifuzs
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwsxe9maAA
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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?”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYLHmvOQJG
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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.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRTDeURDci
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtLTc4VhBp
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“And, above all…”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDQbRJpYKW
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHRf4cVj0J
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrIlmASzx0
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Except that it doesn’t get to.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gFanxcp3n
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlA6QjlkaEL
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“See ya.”582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdkqjRnnVv
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This is what I give,582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXp3SiobmW
A circle is complete.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcg5L7ZZZqA
Another circle spins582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4LSyNBwEw7
There's life within,582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNYFYPIpjP
Within
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end.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzMQELa7GC
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51MKN9z8uv
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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.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeyHEJKolP9
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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~!582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEfxj20Fqm
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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 lol582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNyqJ1zXMs
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Thanks for reading! ♥
Tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
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