[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~!575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzz2SXYINT
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By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrurFrdOvRl
Rating: M (some suggestive scenes, and some violence.)575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdA3B3ywXF
Word Count: 8.810575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKgM5Sk4KX
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFT2vDAaH6
Warning: Some OOC-ness due to the fact that I'm working with future SK... among other things you will soon realize lol575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5jhfiGRgS
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3C30ZpnBOQ
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A heartbeat that awakens from the ashes.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgD2bbmoy1S
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To the stars that played with the darkness575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡORfjCjIszS
I sang of love and burned up completely
Wildfire575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYO1WYFqgj
by Kanae575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUV9wTGB9N
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJewmxhO43
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Something in his chest tightens.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQmWoIhsgq
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPkXNezbDQL
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Just a girl.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLqHRhd6HPO
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Sasuke all but snorts, mildly shaking his head and turning away in wonderment.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcwXPOxXdId
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He misses the way the girl stops, her back straightening as if bolted.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8uKyThKlR
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1CaOPlM43e
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The girl.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonVUp2UN5K
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The redhead.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFeFnYkAWR
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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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbMUZgFl1XK
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbf4TgpxE5o
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“Don’t think so,” he replies, trying to sidestep her—but the girl blocks his way again.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu47UvPug64
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNhUeXhOF1
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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—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl40uqtlXoa
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“You’re right,” Sasuke agrees, clenching his jaw and walking past her.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFctaZ9xRUB
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhKSWeCkG5
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwi03xmQFOa
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktecLWT6qg
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She falls quiet—and Sasuke thinks the odd conversation has come to an end.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvLeFiKQNy
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He was severely mistaken.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAJ8F3l2lp
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYjlq2ziNX
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzG9wPPrVhU
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It is slowly that he turns towards her, eyes narrowed and heart galloping inside his chest. “How…?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2rnLp9Upkj
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAph45b5Q8r
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAYndRYhzt
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyl8hCsEd47
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFIpFDZmHp
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡImkAMeFKS8
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She does not let go of him.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSi2f9gthy
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And the déjà vu only worsens.
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“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLY4TwqXrDX
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmj1I9ZTHlM
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“The… dreams?” he questions, and feels utterly ridiculous just by saying it.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBoNYCkc6XK
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnhRnVUf0k
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“And these… dreams, of yours. They were about me?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZri3vXij5e
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVMmAgenpM
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“Doing what, exactly?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQz9sbWIABc
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“A lot of things. Fighting, mostly. You were a ninja, sometimes. Both of us were.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcNxplu1Vi
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“…A ninja?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWgrq3qR535
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgmlY9AlMF
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9G6y91uyYg
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvytiFGB5vV
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“… What do you mean, exactly?” he prods with narrowed eyes.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnqmB3Zx65
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2onxljyGK
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Sasuke frowns. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did he like where she was going with this. “Reincarnations?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcPeYG37VF
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Karin snaps her fingers, “Bingo.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQdXPTxdf1
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Sasuke snorts. “That’s ridiculous.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgN5vV2QIP
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“I know you don’t believe in them, Sasuke. But that doesn’t mean they do not exist.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaWMkzVNPDR
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WA35cD0os
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4hfyiawVm
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“But I am done hearing your bullshit.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdxyTAsEIu
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡODUIWBXcuq
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He feels insulted, but he stays. And a little smirk quirks up Karin’s lips; as expected, that smirk said.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrX1mInjufp
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But any comments he may have had about her arrogance promptly disappear as the redhead utters her next words.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVJJAACl5I
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEgJWxG3ug
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ98kuwwYohn
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They. Because that was all that was left, now. She was all he had left.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbk7mwY7oM4
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“We will get through this,” she repeats, because they would. They had to.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkIZ23TPpCZ
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“You’re not alone. I’m with you, Sasuke. I won’t ever leave you,”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUncYEGd98a
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgOluYUKLBB
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FgEdiuXET
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAJ2kokXzW
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYdR5LAIPD2
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpOx54fiogH
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ghgaHm1o8
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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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzg0amKFUW1
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbb6wY99KOq
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He has really run out of patience. “Stop with the riddles, will you? Just answer!”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vChCyV0Yr
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffSTVFPX1i
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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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrMJi7hciD
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Karin shrugs, unfazed.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZfR3bdYr8
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwqzlKF8dF
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That catches his attention. “What do you mean?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPItC76a8Y
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“… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcWToO7KABz
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Sasuke arches one eyebrow, curious. “What weren’t?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5iy6Uvwpay
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For the first time since they got there, Karin squirms in her seat.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdE8rEejWOA
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYmuN5Tap9
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa12E9cV3nr
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAA2BL60P33
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjewlvciVGM
Sasuke hates it; having to repeat himself. But he moodily does, anyway. “What do you mean?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyVvltvkq3A
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJ5bkESpFo
Karin does not reply right away; and when she does, her voice is the softest Sasuke has heard it sound so far.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSn4mmtX7fR
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZNbvjfy20
“I always ended up loving you all the same,” she admits.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEveVqMF1C3
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4mLDNXhKUQ
Then she looks at him again, and Sasuke finds that he can’t look away.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTow8c4vx4J
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkueqTgFGXT
“Always.”
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575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYngj1QtIp
It happens on a rainy night.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYG4uQJoAd
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgemMPeHG7
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR1GqCE9JmX
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeVMAIYt6Cy
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSsdS5Y16xg
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3mQSz8bqd
She hadn’t been.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1xbukm645
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmhdhMWBxm
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi4jEWKlHtD
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0M6DuXb6uk
So much for not getting wet, she thinks, and it’s then that an umbrella is placed above her.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfX4Zd5UlF
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Szyf1V1rI
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBzNBQC7CQa
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLZE6q3nao
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLRaQVXOP4
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWlzuX9Q9gU
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ2xp8SZOG8
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKxRgokxvv
But she can’t look away from him—and before she knows it her legs are moving and the rain no longer matters.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkytG8ry0wF
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1hmNyNG27
By the time he has hung up, they’re standing at the next intersection and she is soaked from head to toe.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJznUsjgwG
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJai89WewBa
“Hey, you! Wait!”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYQFv2UCSN
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwS1RqlHKiW
The business man slowly turns around, painfully so, confusion apparent on his face.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡravhz8YgIq
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlLnaD9yJ1
Onyx meets red and her heart skips a beat as his eyes widen ever so slightly.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjq5irWG0L
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSp9JiP89q
“Thank you,” she breathes out jaggedly and not exactly from the chasing, “for before.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7WHtByTUd9
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pT0jathjd
“… 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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjwM0QvcFc
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡilxrMZ7Odu
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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡABF84C8Hui
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgFyfH60Gn4
He tilts his head to the side, long bangs falling across his face. “… Hn, down the street, you say?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNeUDPVHK2I
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHzR3DvtUR
“Yeah. It’s less than a minute away,” she gulps, “so, what do you say?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxVSJpB1a1
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR94nJ8ji65
He smiles, and his whole face lights up. “I’d like that.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7PqWDa8Jgv
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnqcNEmQYF
By the time they place their orders, she is already in love with him.
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He thinks that maybe he should be surprised, but the truth is that he isn’t.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSR6R5VPhY
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hX64kzzCo
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW3AfOqPgsK
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbK3vLDSxi
“… You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2U3IZ2n3p
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW8QvkbkwBn
Karin blinks innocently, a direct contrast with the amused smirk shamelessly painted across her lips. “What do you mean, Uchiha-san?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmzNNGvnAK
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6hEKh949O
“Drop the act,” he glares, matter-of-fact. “You knew I worked here.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqR63kPypLj
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhohUQSLuIB
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpcFSCJ229
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmatFaRR9kD
'Always'.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Po18elZGU
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GIGlmTvYB
“—so not my fault you basically own the damn city,” Karin finishes, and Sasuke blinks.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56XJ43OpuE
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3YEgr0QjHU
“Huh?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYO2TXyYn9
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk12AQkovI5
She deadpans. “You weren’t listening, were you?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4i2DJ5QWv4
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSsgPoRCAPl
“I was,” he lies through gritted teeth, prodded by some unexplainable force. Damn, why did he always have to bicker with this girl?575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBGt3PHlWs
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyhx5wKX6X
“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—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqwUkC4J6E
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHnzcrxDku
He all but groans. “Stop, Karin. Don’t bring that kind of talk here, someone may hear you.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYK1PziO1X
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlDJsTTQXI
“Pft, so what?” she huffs, crossing her arms and swaying her hips again. “It’s not like I work here, right?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Z2qZcjyMu
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQq0guc0xQ
Her tone and most specially the glimmer in her eye as she looks at him told him otherwise.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ihfFacLvQ
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZpoO8uozd
Damn her.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MFcb3sBJ1
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rlmYt7JwT
“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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ451vyN807X
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBVFgPwf0S
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZGrPKNWEu
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7gZ1q9GBc
As if reading his thoughts, Karin calls out to him from the door.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtijONOf2O
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsTESnjEqj
“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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYncvs2B4D
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ePE81tuL2
And for some unknown reason, Sasuke finds himself blushing.
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“I brought you the papers you requested,”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4JVNrgto65
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDorYKKY6u
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJotHZxCv1
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lG8VRyquC
“Idiot,” she manages to reprimand between kisses, “what if someone sees us?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGoa3rbbbbU
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMeq0JrOZtI
“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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6ZFtsTaF7
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJASMRPhQc8
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBrJLH0L930
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrUAukGspg
“Any complains?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEZ2QKbbb5
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI5ncAV30wL
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDlB1XmpMn
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDW7kwArlxK
She has a mission to accomplish—but he makes her forget soon enough.
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“I’ll have some Okonomiyaki, please.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjtroBhHeJa
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFuPmUyxXF
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnAurPGO1oh
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIWiLaSsrN1
“Whoa, Sasuke, That girl totally has a thing for you!”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECWz6OSueo
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡixm4wV4jou
Sasuke rolls his eyes; he was so over this subject. “Tch, she and every other employee, what else is new.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMOGptxQkn
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3G9x1C4f5
Karin snorts, “Cocky, aren’t we? Do I need to remind you that I am one of your employees, too?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLs4dlYpsyQ
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZ0H86CC9W
'Always'.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Mbs8XvjBy
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3QkaFYDui5
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj6Y7VuUhmU
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZxkYTxSIKk
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8LYKxmgw5
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPTH90ZqN5
“You really are no fun, Sasuke.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTReHi6vdH
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUfxZQXjbey
“Forget about that, Karin. You said you would tell me more about—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhANzfet0e
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYP16kTp95
“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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JKsYK02hQ
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvy2lQSHVx
“Karin.”
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575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh12JSE65kk
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWNYfjrB2Xu
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmocbdDpAn8
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGU1BtfWLS
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkwBmLR2CA
He is the first thing she sees when she comes out of the room.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBi7Y84YmA
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBi3WlTQPXg
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ACyFT5pNT
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYxgi0egPx
“…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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVghlNPiQAt
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhhLTlW6xa6
“Idiot,” she hisses, and means it. “You are hurt, let me—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF4PmfxIuhm
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhEPjBZxtfn
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6XjJckJe6
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKqGfbBYAu
“…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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wznt8rhUl
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRoEH0QKd7
To her surprise, Sasuke snorts.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZWxHAeAcX
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wLbxwWZnH
“What?” she snaps.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzGv7CUmpCF
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvgjNAitRRB
“Nothing,” he says, and he is smirking. “Just, you’re the last person I want to hear that from, Karin.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzyB92BlZh
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdNPJm9JEhq
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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzNPpoqHYur
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhbNkSvu4J
He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, his smirk softening around the edges. “…I wonder.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwMExDwv90f
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjNBGCulj3c
And despite her blood loss, her blush only deepens.
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“Would you like more tea, Karin-chan?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡflEDjSAY4m
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fq7ol0YRG
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpnldx6L4f
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6HNu4NQSXi
“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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCxvpydDGuE
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFm55klUy8
Sasuke huffs, halfheartedly batting his brother’s hands away. “I know that—moreover, when will you stop treating me like a child, Itachi?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzx3O671gto
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkxMtYc4hV
“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?575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNILxD56bmX
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1imgkZi9Tp
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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8RphOvy3P
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfTvA8gk56
Great. So she had been listening in, huh? He should have guessed.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPfzpeZafv
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZEvjautRnQ
“Not quite,” Itachi replies, but Sasuke’s triumphant smirk is short-lived as his brother adds, “But almost.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27rQo26dX9
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy1hMNPnwYC
“Brother!” he reproaches, causing the older boy to chuckle again and Karin to smirk widely.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5LtaBbUtdc
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQrLoodIdvY
“You’re unbelievable, Sasuke; I mean, I knew you were an unsocial prude, but almost no girlfriends? Seriously?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHsV7B9ieR
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjx7j4D4olw
He glares, mortified to feel the by-now familiar sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Shut up, Karin.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZkfNG5MKW
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjCbJp6nPZ
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZG1nbpFkj
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLa8BEQpKw
Damn you, brother.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQ5xc61B0b
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNkwTAlKza
“Hn, I don’t know what Itachi is talking about.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWqVf4emCBG
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDqC9NY4q26
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRLBpxBxSa5
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1GuPbtqbZ3
“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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopCJSyb5CE
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlr92xe8mmH
Despite his better judgment, Sasuke can feel himself blushing. “Who said I’m enjoying myself?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDQsJpYc73
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNwwgcOmFl
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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPYWkxdPoM
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPjJt7HRo7
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6f2e90zm4
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQWOpmof7W
“… 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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnXf31omUY
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyU87f4TU9i
“I know, dear. But, somehow… it feels like you two have known each other for a long time.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0YZmOaqkI
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpErnkviwQ
Itachi says nothing—but the way in which he warmly squeezes Sasuke’s shoulder is eloquent enough.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDwDIdwwzr
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5xNhelKxO
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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYu83GxNeS
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlzThITjBz
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—575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGIDZVS6hm
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnepv8cRB1
“Sasuke—hey, earth to Sasuke, are you listening? I was just saying that—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwMEBhMHGH
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡik6ok5n8gP
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3vg9GowXiN
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9G2R3C6bA
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8rrOzcint
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOUobe2zvgX
“Raspberries,” he states, and that seems to get Karin off her trance, because she blinks at him.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPIbONW6Eis
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsOzqVnwqFv
And then she is grinning.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRH9OkXKJN
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGJ0Kt6ybw
“Had I known you would finally kiss me today, I’d have worn something less sweet.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEspJLQeNMv
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDs9jGgAIFp
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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2knAMqO0H
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwiz5P3g6j5
“I know,” and her grin becomes a husky smirk as she tangles her fingers in his hair. “You’re too easy to read, Sasuke.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4rJgzFYS4
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3AzJ6NoiD3
“Hn, you could have helped, then,” he says, but the truth is he is too lost in her to really mind.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn61pYrkP9y
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡptQkTDm5NH
“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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“You won’t find anything better for a more reasonable price, I assure you, Uchiha-san. This is the absolute best—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9qYUcvZ7G3
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxxTtgmHtwc
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKRcNZon2T
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLVXsECZpD
“Excuse me.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMIg7GVKHv
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf8HNeeDl40
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc2ND7vNJWU
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVK6JhHMuTH
“This house is ours, Sasuke,”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGP24N49GEX
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTIeT1Tg5C
Her fingers find their way around his, and Sasuke gives them a squeeze as he nods, his expression naturally mirroring her own.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7mTNxsHHra
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7EmXwpwdi
He could feel it, too.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRBLMdW0NO
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzKmw23wxZY
Behind them, the realtor clears his throat but Karin cuts him short before he could get a single word out.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJY4OzKIqkk
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW3LdBLXSAo
“We’re buying it,” she states loud and clear, and she is positively glowing.
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She can hardly believe it.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKRmBpT5e3
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCp1ZZJJWI3
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP2cXFy9fCl
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeek2gyPTp2
It seemed like something straight out of one of those dramas she used to love to ridicule and secretly watch at the same time.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyhYuM24hL
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4eczFYLIK9
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡER64jn7Rdf
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZhsRaKq8L
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbfq3YE7ZY0
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2COfs0D7C
“What’s so funny?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgtuc3ay230
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNmyucLrZWj
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoaeRsFWEE
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqu2xGGDvjg
“There’s just one thing off, though—” she observes, as an afterthought, “where’s my rival in love?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFhMPyJdfE
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoMYymiOBz
“Nowhere,” he asserts, grave like only he could be about even the most foolish of things. “I am yours.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEc8vnXQTM2
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0MPSou7HCZ
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkga82oTjBA
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQXtShPeTY
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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcuye23Gh1g
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgmyNP6pNn
And he is breathing in her scent and tightly holding her in his arms—so tightly in fact that she can hardly breathe.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDspn9DbtWR
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoa73csRZ1j
“S-asuke—” she chokes.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCY5fz2j5cH
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdHMPI9J7NS
But he does not listen.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVY1U3WCMz
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOcSGRrpfI
“…mine.”
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575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0BXpzPPyr
She soundlessly sneaks behind him and leans her chin on his shoulder.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGx716pioKe
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRzJqcqy9fl
“Sewing again?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfh20uJaZD
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3xZQnBMUl7
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6uxVTVE52
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu6059Fw2N3
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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBj8Aypw8Q
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmuqqMUkvhZ
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNqGwGuKYO
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7OouTqnfI
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJOX1GRzMr
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdynrlkGPeE
“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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2WrXMGd8A
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBr86ekOBjh
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlsKVDwX3FQ
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8xnHftmM0
And he finds himself smiling at her back, like one of those love-sick fools he always used to make fun of.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCoaZnrXxLX
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGiQTTRIkG
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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7Y8iRRFch
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrUBgjqEok
“Doing what?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMafcXMrwbi
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNWkZEnSju3
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxz6OZS3J3k
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ512xwBofU0
“Or what?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqeH2uocxO
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvVRHNuqZv
“…Or I may fall in love with you, Uchiha.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9LtRjgWMA
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB7stmF3rUi
She is both elated and horrified to see how soft and harmless his usual menacing and intimidating smirk looks as he replies.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZG5bCaJwT
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX8OufgrB1G
“… Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEZJUZ6Fwa
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPKrg6ocVa
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7sYdsfJWT
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwI1SgZcvXY
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡODiPfLot11
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLcRrcSFu7
Only a minute would be enough for a spy as skilled as herself.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcwbqvO0T54
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKI9rQjw8cE
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZOO6S3Kiy
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWOiaODmcL
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVc2MsI7WKr
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmZUYwvbqb
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—575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQox4RtmSeN
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyb7qm9ciau
To forget the atrocities she would find if she did.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAu2AI3L9kt
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3vRxqaHyy
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvbmGvODDnV
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqe5epjPnWK
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxh5Cq8pvQ
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkABFa7x8gG
“Karin,” he calls, drying his hands on his pants—and he misses the way Karin’s shoulders tense, her back stiffening. “Are you alright?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYN3hiMjylu
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfvkfPuRdK
“Yeah,” she murmurs after a moment, and Sasuke blinks. She didn’t sound alright.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyytLjwDyb
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgf6R5Csey
“Karin,” he calls again, approaching her. “Leave that be, I’ll take care of it.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lLmkMYL9Q
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7lACooVWO
“I told you, it’s fine.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35jV8nNN7n
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He frowns, concerned. “Karin—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm5DVRppLxj
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7oaHblrVn
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunHmTIAU20
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUewACjYrEl
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zRm1SjkvW
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cxjvOarOh
“Sorry, Sasuke—I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIg1quBRpbS
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtjz64CmAf
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv8w3f0NcO0
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaaTbc4Lkb4
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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575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGySlcLtWMg
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRLtdLVm4w
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JuZwau43j
“S-sasuke, what—?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpS2A0ZYh8
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2futLgoZxS
“Where were you, Karin?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07RVkGoZI0
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvqriz7H1C5
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbcHT6yca3
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd0ocTPhSLQ
It reeks of lighting and promises pain—it frankly terrifies her.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBcyCTolms
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMbgS1ATiO
But she holds her ground.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRw52Q4StwB
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeVvLuWqe9s
“I—I was having lunch with my parents, Sasuke. They called to invite us today but you were at—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXTbcFKtw7
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNUxZN7jzif
“Liar,” he grits out, and Karin’s blood runs cold. “I called them myself. You were not with them. So, where were you?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gLmpGUHEC
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQjsj00Sq7
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—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPbYSpGxPo
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mlRGWA4qd
“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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTtSeQoKl3
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTGdJZUnbe
“Sasuke, I—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXmWEszq7M5
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxjDfhDgLk
“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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqTngAWFc3Z
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1gGMdZysm
A part of her hates herself for how easily the answer comes forth to her lips. For how true it remains. “… I do, Sasuke.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCLHjkvgaE
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHgmhlLGHF
She hears his smile, “Good. Then, you will stop seeing them, won’t you? Those girls.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lzBgQKN0O
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoN3HMixw73
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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISksO5fh1H
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvskbwaKF0I
I want you all for myself—is what Karin hears instead, and she frowns. “Sasuke, you can’t be serious—they are my friends!”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPY2myDPWp6
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmqCRnOWAi
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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoauNPBwV4W
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjASeUpjyLx
“I—” yes, he is—was. Is.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ByKHrOZEq
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3QOvm4KFI
And that frightens her more than he possibly could.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUUzXGjHj5
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BKWENn3bG
“—alright, Sasuke… you win.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFEwZj73zuP
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSj5PURObTg
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡya1OLSASo0
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUfBoYrPf9
Even himself.
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSlUuaFh46
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575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZymWBCBks
The silence is deafening. The unsaid drawing knots with his vocal chords, until he decides that enough has been enough.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6fmPYNekP
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL829MjjxU3
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMr3s5WfZZN
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXat5qAiE5X
She doesn’t bulge. “What?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1xYmurPP9
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFz1RQKiji
And perhaps that’s what worries Sasuke the most.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcuVn1PGu6
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡab7AERj61c
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkICpQL8Es
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2dnge7d5UP
“Don’t try to avoid the subject, Karin. There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6AoA8XCIz5
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuxt1Tvpo9n
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUdBnkmT6xN
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzFGeHWSdt5
And Sasuke wants nothing more than to ask her to stop—but he is too scared to do so.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡImieSbbRPj
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtF16BU4WV
“Eat, Sasuke. It’s going to get cold.”
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrJFPpGtLF
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575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgEhr7Sxenp
He rolls the raspberries between his fingers, memories swirling in his head.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaf5nXvqrwo
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3HrTLcNF8l
He has always had a very good memory; and throughout his life, it has proved to be a curse more often than a blessing.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCBN3rPBPgI
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VQByFTKVN
In this case, it is both at once.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavETlvBh9g
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvwgEQGgM7
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23DfwWnW9X
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiWZT9sYk7B
A girl sending him off with a sad smile, and never looking back.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8EYyVO8Ln9
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7khDoEnOt
Broken promises.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRE7oguNTd
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡllSElVNoRw
A call. A funeral.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqx5KBJKo7
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GYOmtKeRH
And tears.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6w9kZDhfH
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVS4wpx8pO
Heartbreak.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5o0NRuqit
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQBCILEcr97
Loneliness.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRLLLVaDTF
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBa2AFIOgD
…then there was nothing else.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8fjGK1yTcN
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL8fgN3VfOZ
And then there was everything all over again.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLVg8kUgvT
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTlObsHKvs
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyv3ZLqR0E
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFPIbagAtc
He can’t stop.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCozpHYGp65
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TVMNDdvhR
He does not want to.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zfQQKk1xo
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVUKPsMJEb7
One of the raspberries snaps, juice rolling down his fingers—but he does nothing to clean it up.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0uwjRi4A3h
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FPPU6U1eq
The door creaks open.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNN2x991os
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaY8T6bqPb
“Uchiha-san, you have to eat.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBaqUckVvG
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyWRAj6mLXv
The nurse says, more out of habit than anything else; but he is too far away to hear—575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHR0YE8xoi
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6OFOdi57u
(“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.)575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFr5SFYKJOC
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqt6RdXgNw
—and it’s been a year since the patient of the room 723 has pronounced a single word.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMFN3L5yB2O
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQSkAES2MB
(And a five-year old Karin is smiling.)
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575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr7OzB28jDn
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ450Fnuc4By
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJWSo7mIRzz
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONXURpPCBL
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3066qc2RWb
Karin was sitting on the bed, unnaturally straight and still; her eyes vacant and unseeing, telltale trails of dried tears on her cheeks.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMoDlcMZ7YJ
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdFj04aJ0G
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dxN2yuDLS
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCHtVH4fvM
“Karin…” his voice is faint; a tentative call more to spur himself into motion than to reach her. “Karin, what’s wrong?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAgClGhEQK
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa0Ay1rz9d0
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTrKgGsEnP3
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifB9f0j5Ow
And then she parts her lips.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxrL9cdUMlR
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhC01ZNeh9R
“Sasuke… I had a dream… a new one.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeyvJrsF6ZU
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANKtIotY6r
Sasuke swallows; what could she have possibly seen to put her in such a state?575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamPEh0przU
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOPNn29b1q
“Karin, I…” the redhead simply shakes her head, and to his ever-growing alarm there are fresh tears dripping from her eyes.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuh8BpIMJlo
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWkKC4f56l
“Forget it, Sasuke… it’s better if you do.”
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMqKoUBPct
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575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamnDUXaXkx
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpTbEgXCRR
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZrMRP6hNDx
“Stop it, Karin. You were not supposed to care about him—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzr9MS31NM
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHk4uos1ve
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9KNIjyZNSj
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaWZkTSvtz
It makes something in her tightly clench.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZU5OqTpSc7
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuMu1ZDoqN
“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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhWmGOhBW2
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrCpt1eVxu
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSS959i3Y5
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAALKxAUX2Z
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArbpTGeKLG
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpy9nf33n55
She can hear them coming from her, and she knows she won’t be able to escape—but that was fine.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHmEtfNsWp
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hegqa5hC9
She would take as many of them as she possibly could before going down, and—575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJUkdoJIgl6
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9LQTCwcTl
“…we’ll meet soon, Sasuke.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8PYFtwEtqI
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNpzPkWRKC
—and Sasuke had always liked souvenirs.
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575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4PW1lNXcR
He is crudely woken up by Karin screaming his name.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRASLAfmNJ
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8ZNYaUREZ
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GJfypU4tx
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkitrJLeSaO
In fact—she seemed to only be getting worse.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RXzX5O49G
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhaSQQfurgW
“Sasuke, no—!”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtixS3BKhy
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3nSuVybEz
“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—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYEL9Iq3aY
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhgxXZS3Ed
But his sincere promise is cut short by her terrified sob.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzZSLDIz5H
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWcGMTrTXhm
“N-no, Sasuke—get away from me!”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzrvjUNIwO
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYSMqXtVEU
Sasuke jumps back, as if burnt. “W-what…?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NYnbdtAhX
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA5YkI4zFGX
He could not believe his ears—she was frightened—of him?575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Qcez8vQly
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGWibovbOa
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxNbkqV3uA
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ewcsRgTws
‘… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.’575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXiFl55F1Gi
‘What weren’t?’575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLflzG7B3xy
‘...You.’575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnlh1Iqa5ub
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbWuhhcsaa
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNMx45Yz8Ms
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpdgYvJYEq
Ghosts he has started to fear, too.
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575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHX9SG9TLpG
“Karin,” he whispers affectionately, caressing her cheek with his right hand, “I need you.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gEUsp3kRP
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lqhzFY7av
Karin swallows the knot in her throat and forces her knees to remain firm, “I—I know, so plea—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rBLXPCFwC
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhQrbqvjHz
“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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sOm1dHYWv
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJ2scDcMyl
“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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUu2xtZ7XM
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡie8IcNzV1T
“I’ll see you soon… Karin.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnzqDI1ec5F
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NIxlzvqpr
He says, and his words are as loud as the gunshot that follows.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9k3jAFNYC
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfZCCoPw2Ae
And then her lifeless body is crumbling to the ground, his soon to follow.
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575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ669Dyhiopq
“What was I doing to you?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZBh7pueyq
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqWwgoJNj6O
“… I don’t remember.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWbvXhriEJ5
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SYFWYSSW2
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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJW8KvQztj
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfqLdVNNiv
But he has played that game long enough.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tHEf3f2ye
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIykIINXByn
He cannot continue to allow himself to remain blissfully unaware while she battles on her own.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRuYD6C9dM
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSAbFtH3oxm
“Don’t lie to me, Karin.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNcyAgDrxvH
575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31uk19V4kS
“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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbyNZl7J3q
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cfGyvlv7T
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“…Tell me the truth, Karin.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9Yx0B81u5
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mymRdgmTs
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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—575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFYyUsfEDh
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8mkMByHvn
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“Idiot, I… told you… to move, Sasuke…”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gGFO74cLV
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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—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0GI2x1SlI7
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ33d7T77HL
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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—”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXnvwVPjlbk
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8NcCLgEz23
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There is a choked sob—and he barely registers it is his own.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5h3zC4xok
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11A5b20wHV
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“Don’t… all I want…ed… is for you… to smile… like that day.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryhO9RCqxJ
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7TURQHWbS
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And she slips away through his hesitation like he had always slipped through her fingers.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeNomQTiRF
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“See ya… Sasuke.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN2UudNVqML
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhu5dzhdd1
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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—575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0VLnRsVZH
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1LNJD37dJ
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvepS1OloOd
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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?”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdv2UWm35R5
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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.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmlOKLDgtVF
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCW8Sdsqpj
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“And, above all…”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPT7LKHk2Pt
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrhwgMfLY3n
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAb1W9AbFs
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Except that it doesn’t get to.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cQGi1GquS
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4GGKprlxV
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“See ya.”575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZsqint3Qj
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This is what I give,575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpI2AreTo4
A circle is complete.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBAAlQPFCz
Another circle spins575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9n2oepEKr5
There's life within,575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglVhmMDTIx
Within
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end.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFXdD2eI1d
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6buuzfnWCA
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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.575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQuPlFCRdPu
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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~!575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9shIjp9CbJ
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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 lol575Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAHfyKBafK
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Thanks for reading! ♥
Tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
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