[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~!494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjsItBCMcd2
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By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf9eDPz0pv9
Rating: M (some suggestive scenes, and some violence.)494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFiWszr6DxR
Word Count: 8.810494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCLmOMmZL1
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRuafus821
Warning: Some OOC-ness due to the fact that I'm working with future SK... among other things you will soon realize lol494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXK6CZeOS5k
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡElwUgiWO03
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A heartbeat that awakens from the ashes.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6H2VdJh4u
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To the stars that played with the darkness494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8lIyIoOZbM
I sang of love and burned up completely
Wildfire494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwaAT44dcO
by Kanae494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7zjiGUhpO
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3j1bpmy5s
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Something in his chest tightens.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDgTmlyndOo
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqxhZUgwU8z
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Just a girl.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdqxn2fHvhN
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Sasuke all but snorts, mildly shaking his head and turning away in wonderment.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPCrBJikYY
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He misses the way the girl stops, her back straightening as if bolted.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbg1UzmHHWF
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEmJesh2Vg
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The girl.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcPNabNx4O
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The redhead.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡElxtLDriuv
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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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NehNvf6Ee
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNfMvGErXg
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“Don’t think so,” he replies, trying to sidestep her—but the girl blocks his way again.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEHLmmkTlZ
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Pfc8oZYIB
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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—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IJ0juDh1P
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“You’re right,” Sasuke agrees, clenching his jaw and walking past her.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ21Xj62aPRr
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcg01b1L5Ek
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFGYEkpd5hQ
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡab9eS2QQIj
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She falls quiet—and Sasuke thinks the odd conversation has come to an end.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJJYD2L1CH
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He was severely mistaken.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cwWoOYc1F
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqlG6LheXhZ
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUr3Miq0Ya
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It is slowly that he turns towards her, eyes narrowed and heart galloping inside his chest. “How…?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrKhcfr2ecB
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfQv310Xpu
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWRWEKikua
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTRF1KZw21
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LLFBw6QDb
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgini9EcMQ
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She does not let go of him.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOy69zhn4kk
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And the déjà vu only worsens.
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“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8BnEBC4KEn
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh6VfXScwf9
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“The… dreams?” he questions, and feels utterly ridiculous just by saying it.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoU9H21afvv
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE60TsykK2y
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“And these… dreams, of yours. They were about me?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvAzrcP5be
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIE7eXurhY
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“Doing what, exactly?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdz0dpkkFgT
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“A lot of things. Fighting, mostly. You were a ninja, sometimes. Both of us were.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYfdB49JTg4
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“…A ninja?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQja3eR2L0z
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4g4LNUy8p
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUB7uxkjyyf
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Tyn2YJA1K
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“… What do you mean, exactly?” he prods with narrowed eyes.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5HEJzPvtw6
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdRBwgr4Bo
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Sasuke frowns. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did he like where she was going with this. “Reincarnations?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKZE1wul7X
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Karin snaps her fingers, “Bingo.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22aqgV9aFy
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Sasuke snorts. “That’s ridiculous.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmiDWhjyP1
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“I know you don’t believe in them, Sasuke. But that doesn’t mean they do not exist.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSkPz7j1hz
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQITDqUwXqj
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZuK2PdFsS
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“But I am done hearing your bullshit.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdx7We1GFjF
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVHwt2cgcR
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He feels insulted, but he stays. And a little smirk quirks up Karin’s lips; as expected, that smirk said.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMzMJsbPvtm
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But any comments he may have had about her arrogance promptly disappear as the redhead utters her next words.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4LVlohIbAQ
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXmBRjIdSfr
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm12ah4WXSg
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They. Because that was all that was left, now. She was all he had left.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡli4iclbTu0
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“We will get through this,” she repeats, because they would. They had to.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXGeBR1f2Nn
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“You’re not alone. I’m with you, Sasuke. I won’t ever leave you,”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlxkdJKu0h
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLbhfeiPkTJ
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEWWMTKN7U1
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFjVCUfM9S
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXcNDnobHu
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWXIaxCqGj
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuLfXjg7WK
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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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuu78kETNOZ
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8yQWmtIh30
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He has really run out of patience. “Stop with the riddles, will you? Just answer!”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvRFjdZzph
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg97d3lRu5E
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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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3XU5rz9mQ
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Karin shrugs, unfazed.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZs4AvOmZY
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡACkfOEbHJL
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That catches his attention. “What do you mean?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wMuzdxbxI
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“… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrY8vbue8DQ
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Sasuke arches one eyebrow, curious. “What weren’t?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYk68AE5vg
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For the first time since they got there, Karin squirms in her seat.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDwCaM3Sf5
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVKYsmGU1kz
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8hC4TygLd
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglvKgitNy5
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqZz4kOrup
Sasuke hates it; having to repeat himself. But he moodily does, anyway. “What do you mean?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf72SJUYywi
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnnxtQJx6S
Karin does not reply right away; and when she does, her voice is the softest Sasuke has heard it sound so far.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7o2ks3Kcj
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTvcEBS98f
“I always ended up loving you all the same,” she admits.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMDpKNtu3V
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqmxW2GedB
Then she looks at him again, and Sasuke finds that he can’t look away.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAeoteDIvWm
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpIQ4IMbPA
“Always.”
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3NUMv9jPB
It happens on a rainy night.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbm6lPLOHSy
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6d0ppuGrv
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwagCr0a7o
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrK36k80i2p
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcoPk0kosSh
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT7SUyXDJW1
She hadn’t been.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjPxmMiWHfO
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpqcUe2Qe3
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1hsrKsXVsU
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnVF6MgykJJ
So much for not getting wet, she thinks, and it’s then that an umbrella is placed above her.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5O58USFlBV
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQELmJJ6Jxs
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0k49OHc5An
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKsiPJlHSx7
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6SPbSOx0mA
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP2uKEKKKd6
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlf1VcEHQv1
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJpZE9hGsr1
But she can’t look away from him—and before she knows it her legs are moving and the rain no longer matters.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujHJbXioBY
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdimgx87g1q
By the time he has hung up, they’re standing at the next intersection and she is soaked from head to toe.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCmIr1mnhcN
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpAATMRH9Li
“Hey, you! Wait!”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaHOk4XGdS
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETBMzY5QIj
The business man slowly turns around, painfully so, confusion apparent on his face.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxd6F4NfTWd
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3lyNwtGQNM
Onyx meets red and her heart skips a beat as his eyes widen ever so slightly.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgOE76fBHU
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgNoO7osOES
“Thank you,” she breathes out jaggedly and not exactly from the chasing, “for before.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41y4gvFjzp
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtXmkJwmen
“… 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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtcGCp8xa5s
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTh2ust1jt0
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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv91LLyeJPd
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyDKevX1us
He tilts his head to the side, long bangs falling across his face. “… Hn, down the street, you say?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYxRcvx7sJJ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkHVKpA7na
“Yeah. It’s less than a minute away,” she gulps, “so, what do you say?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZsTkeZG37K
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3YTH5CGZEE
He smiles, and his whole face lights up. “I’d like that.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnQVppcWhU
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd0za7G7YIh
By the time they place their orders, she is already in love with him.
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1O8KYwUQJL
He thinks that maybe he should be surprised, but the truth is that he isn’t.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ695nQAxHQ5
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojZpdlLUZr
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfE32bHYeZ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vg6MMcVha
“… You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4NavUcwRe
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRIJ5NCiYK
Karin blinks innocently, a direct contrast with the amused smirk shamelessly painted across her lips. “What do you mean, Uchiha-san?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfuH2vtB2ZJ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztO7njsWA5
“Drop the act,” he glares, matter-of-fact. “You knew I worked here.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOE2c3vEDy
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWppgs130r
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6bh9ohwvl
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyAL04nvtj1
'Always'.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5tFPX9rul4
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2yxVL8mxr
“—so not my fault you basically own the damn city,” Karin finishes, and Sasuke blinks.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYgF60X389
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9gzauGhK3
“Huh?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgb4o7wJn0n
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAmODi0dmR
She deadpans. “You weren’t listening, were you?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡszwJkejoKQ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZJpa1jVxW
“I was,” he lies through gritted teeth, prodded by some unexplainable force. Damn, why did he always have to bicker with this girl?494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU0RVtOeqRU
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnF1u1hXkA5
“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—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRdYKw9Uau
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDy72Ya0e2
He all but groans. “Stop, Karin. Don’t bring that kind of talk here, someone may hear you.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamyu5naFJm
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOiu6xdlKE
“Pft, so what?” she huffs, crossing her arms and swaying her hips again. “It’s not like I work here, right?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyab5MFCTRr
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27LtJ1c3Ev
Her tone and most specially the glimmer in her eye as she looks at him told him otherwise.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssghUXCQSW
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzNE87zv0Z
Damn her.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBedIAVfSS
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH50ycegvrH
“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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG745ZjqtMl
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVy8c5klKd
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9o3IunNMKW
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUJbXD0kJr
As if reading his thoughts, Karin calls out to him from the door.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQdgyhWQyE
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtceEosoMq
“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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2oDuWq8GY
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqQKv3Y1rU
And for some unknown reason, Sasuke finds himself blushing.
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhcyUZi50EV
“I brought you the papers you requested,”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJNRfiXQZl
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwAsiClNAyH
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3yNlHkxon
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsewAxfCKIQ
“Idiot,” she manages to reprimand between kisses, “what if someone sees us?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYIx3ropa4
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS2dqszoGTg
“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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTdGO0UuFy
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7uQVew6TB
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4t4YyR4b2L
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4guEwzKk4x
“Any complains?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCR5Iy5XC6d
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0BHeyRonUj
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjQx79v9CAL
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRJx9PuqoY
She has a mission to accomplish—but he makes her forget soon enough.
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“I’ll have some Okonomiyaki, please.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWWI0oYkHN
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7x5m62Dzu
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnqNcTc4zHj
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMVJGKsLbMv
“Whoa, Sasuke, That girl totally has a thing for you!”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPHZ4iqgJ0e
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt31k900Fdf
Sasuke rolls his eyes; he was so over this subject. “Tch, she and every other employee, what else is new.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3OV3nFIH6
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR6g9nGXHE3
Karin snorts, “Cocky, aren’t we? Do I need to remind you that I am one of your employees, too?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJu687nMiF
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4acbUlF1M
'Always'.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoWOd50YoAf
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13KXYw4vN5
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEjnqfWuRk
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0fzOmJxLB
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn09LMhs2D2
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxv4owrV4wO
“You really are no fun, Sasuke.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJK8AFVMlrX
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5PAoWYxVKv
“Forget about that, Karin. You said you would tell me more about—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSiqzkaNDKf
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGCCn4PzOgW
“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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqrUEjwcXM
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAEJjtToAd
“Karin.”
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEWJfpp3PBQ
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiNSYCfJPPc
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAumpUUSO7
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRYYmdJZIf
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WPuuBgpup
He is the first thing she sees when she comes out of the room.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaB2WD97L90
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ZdGKI1bst
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRK4fpNZE61
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9PfIEhjQR4
“…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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBW7yBxg17F
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7xiRL5Hq2
“Idiot,” she hisses, and means it. “You are hurt, let me—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAgIm6nu3g
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2HBrAVvEn
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvgUo1MCQTY
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OKKizi0us
“…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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpkevhT1Hkt
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUCLgMbxu3
To her surprise, Sasuke snorts.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3xIltoolc
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5XZQGpPEO
“What?” she snaps.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAoDD293B4o
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVaOj2G8jHh
“Nothing,” he says, and he is smirking. “Just, you’re the last person I want to hear that from, Karin.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhdIhs0mJCx
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUsQwruRli
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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TuQoAlDfx
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3DMi2PKbQ
He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, his smirk softening around the edges. “…I wonder.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbf6BZaza4y
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfg2JYe9ve
And despite her blood loss, her blush only deepens.
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcTs47Ol3tv
“Would you like more tea, Karin-chan?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2edwSjNba
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv94Ch6Kxfb
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiSzLVbosA
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCefUTNf1Ws
“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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVFuVTUyZJE
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUK922W7VX
Sasuke huffs, halfheartedly batting his brother’s hands away. “I know that—moreover, when will you stop treating me like a child, Itachi?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfvH8N4b9gh
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEq07CX8HgQ
“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?494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡShwtB9g4OQ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2lSm4FbumT
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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN56gMpn2zO
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWSfgrDXyty
Great. So she had been listening in, huh? He should have guessed.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHAeyheJj7
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrkTFJqNoB
“Not quite,” Itachi replies, but Sasuke’s triumphant smirk is short-lived as his brother adds, “But almost.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gAAI6dcYs
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxSoRjA8NXU
“Brother!” he reproaches, causing the older boy to chuckle again and Karin to smirk widely.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT63I021vEs
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5tXW1FDNv
“You’re unbelievable, Sasuke; I mean, I knew you were an unsocial prude, but almost no girlfriends? Seriously?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLlgW9n0shN
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYv9NCGpkaL
He glares, mortified to feel the by-now familiar sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Shut up, Karin.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmVhbowVpR
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxGtyD1SUz
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0sh20N4H6y
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmyhvJKPeG
Damn you, brother.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ092uG2tb8D
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7HuVZT1x7
“Hn, I don’t know what Itachi is talking about.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsls9srdeHm
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtP8nGLupnk
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiDllMBY7AU
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTe6fneAY73
“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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5aeDREse6
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUjNPtXMsM
Despite his better judgment, Sasuke can feel himself blushing. “Who said I’m enjoying myself?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7gRZyiZneh
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQM0bMTGL58
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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhz8SVwo4K
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEbodo3NEk
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG05NRZziim
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7KFhzy1by
“… 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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpl56LQuhn9
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiT7Vk7Qu38
“I know, dear. But, somehow… it feels like you two have known each other for a long time.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDcZn5pj0w
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5VmJl7R7J
Itachi says nothing—but the way in which he warmly squeezes Sasuke’s shoulder is eloquent enough.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfuaV3nMEX
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimdIPzbIR6
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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnP8lrW2L7
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpgbSPV5Mw
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—494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3bT0sLvLA
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuEFWkq1AUN
“Sasuke—hey, earth to Sasuke, are you listening? I was just saying that—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5MSWhJLWy
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9lghq4SPO
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCjJg2fQXY
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB7A8Cbm8q7
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32J5IGkOU8
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdL23Z584M
“Raspberries,” he states, and that seems to get Karin off her trance, because she blinks at him.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Iy9kveri9
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡumZXxofp34
And then she is grinning.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08Yf7a0GI5
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbCyUuxKAV
“Had I known you would finally kiss me today, I’d have worn something less sweet.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXIbIU3cfg
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq10PDLXGxh
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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3zmpQudoT1
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXNJ7iG0rN
“I know,” and her grin becomes a husky smirk as she tangles her fingers in his hair. “You’re too easy to read, Sasuke.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdVsIZ4qeyH
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSaYXQdAjDQ
“Hn, you could have helped, then,” he says, but the truth is he is too lost in her to really mind.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1gwvGBubx
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz4xoRqog4j
“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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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0l5cbUm7pQ
“You won’t find anything better for a more reasonable price, I assure you, Uchiha-san. This is the absolute best—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28SAIR09cw
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7HLQ8ADBL
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANCHQAv1ij
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFH1zV217xu
“Excuse me.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPgUrFQRBp
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQif4ZFp2DA
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYtNksSCXw
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43v5P6V3cy
“This house is ours, Sasuke,”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtmtVESvXWV
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiFLCurUkF
Her fingers find their way around his, and Sasuke gives them a squeeze as he nods, his expression naturally mirroring her own.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSpdBtpsQM
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLBCovMbIkT
He could feel it, too.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzF0pRwhJI
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9v62OKJ0fB
Behind them, the realtor clears his throat but Karin cuts him short before he could get a single word out.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1wp37Tzby
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGqSD4nbhsX
“We’re buying it,” she states loud and clear, and she is positively glowing.
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFHyRNENIR
She can hardly believe it.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5WRFhn5by
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCd4QtrVQ1
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzzm8mMjrT
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWs03pQqKp
It seemed like something straight out of one of those dramas she used to love to ridicule and secretly watch at the same time.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsKXGX3wlH
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ggP4cQyFs
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBGAN3sJ7q
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36u8yu82TZ
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWZw6GWbQM
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPvtEkd19g
“What’s so funny?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd53BzyzEbY
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpxngO4yqd
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pybedRD76
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aFwW3Smyn
“There’s just one thing off, though—” she observes, as an afterthought, “where’s my rival in love?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFniPu0uhDa
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjmL1aCUHw
“Nowhere,” he asserts, grave like only he could be about even the most foolish of things. “I am yours.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlELqVa6RcD
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy9yXzOgYAz
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1tZUTogIP
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUe5BX5kW90
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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGx5ziDewnT
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4uw7M34NW
And he is breathing in her scent and tightly holding her in his arms—so tightly in fact that she can hardly breathe.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47VBTs5PuP
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0qUqNSxnax
“S-asuke—” she chokes.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7j734Gecja
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqjeqAlIZE
But he does not listen.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfS6kmtW0B9
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3d0lr4o148
“…mine.”
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeYoSyspnt
She soundlessly sneaks behind him and leans her chin on his shoulder.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4e70op8GM
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2jCrC3y0f
“Sewing again?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkuPsHnDFd
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaWJDcwzYQa
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmW87eou0T
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleIab28CmO
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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2B7WEReT07
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEeRCEBIRdU
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62v2FABBi4
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehOs2mal9m
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBXFiWO4Lrd
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2kK8QL4qQ4
“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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrcziYY1q8J
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBxVNDSIpb
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkagpjLp0tn
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOO73FCMlyU
And he finds himself smiling at her back, like one of those love-sick fools he always used to make fun of.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2n0BG3DEg1
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OvZt9NvNq
But it’s just, back then—he had never thought someone could actually make him this happy.
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprNurbiTL0
“Stop doing that, Sasuke.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0z2wW27Qy
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHw4PfjdTAe
“Doing what?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgF2UmVKYa3
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2f9lQwtac9
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEB1iFe7Bh
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPcQIdGhdv
“Or what?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9pLkDRMK5
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxY1lUbcW3
“…Or I may fall in love with you, Uchiha.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7sIFl0quk
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8AdwUk0vs
She is both elated and horrified to see how soft and harmless his usual menacing and intimidating smirk looks as he replies.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcpofFaW3Wp
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDc90QnG5j
“… Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZEbkl39zLx
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Jdq6wZDhG
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwgLw6GahpL
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡExF6UwTLKW
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztVeHYxfrc
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ98KXU2qmLZ
Only a minute would be enough for a spy as skilled as herself.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTdyVuT2YU
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7yJ3mIaYZ
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLezOqUj4K1
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdU3vs3V5oR
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNlVAv8aSTW
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbf30k2Eqd8
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—494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwaqpZtjlE
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEUcwQpcvr
To forget the atrocities she would find if she did.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCQ0v3X4es
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwpg4YoWgFB
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5pRQKWNXAw
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoyG7kQPzY
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25PTnjQEv8
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFL65HI5zU
“Karin,” he calls, drying his hands on his pants—and he misses the way Karin’s shoulders tense, her back stiffening. “Are you alright?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOz1V6nE3eH
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi07k4pkwXm
“Yeah,” she murmurs after a moment, and Sasuke blinks. She didn’t sound alright.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dRkcMzvUf
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUkl5vjv854
“Karin,” he calls again, approaching her. “Leave that be, I’ll take care of it.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1sdsUqalUI
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYKZte4qHf
“I told you, it’s fine.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ahmeS6L1e
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPncHQpDk6
He frowns, concerned. “Karin—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9S01BvmtJ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBx6vNbyRiD
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhKxYNJ3hQ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19WZWKykot
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzC03N2jQzf
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxP8lcbDmDa
“Sorry, Sasuke—I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr711THZmGF
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzeUgrcAWH
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaeNVWgj8Vp
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7SOWCAigq
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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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIj318D5lv
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjtXOlpkGa
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2a2tIH1jr
“S-sasuke, what—?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHinSlyUXZ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9fWX3Lk9v
“Where were you, Karin?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2dEY9oOWj4
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgX1IS6rDq9
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXaQR8jbOr3
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBzzkWHUC99
It reeks of lighting and promises pain—it frankly terrifies her.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPa1MehygQ3
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJWeu0mQTL
But she holds her ground.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WOrNQ8Uve
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3obG6F63aK
“I—I was having lunch with my parents, Sasuke. They called to invite us today but you were at—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jFfdDkrue
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZqTyp8qXD
“Liar,” he grits out, and Karin’s blood runs cold. “I called them myself. You were not with them. So, where were you?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3Rjvcaz0Y
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡviXWdAbUvO
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—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNiPeLAnxO
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jWEALNK3b
“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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHzwlAmwJZ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPAf8MBGBWK
“Sasuke, I—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xeleZkfh2
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17VEi4BHq0
“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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59Bh8vCGNR
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0AQPG2SPyN
A part of her hates herself for how easily the answer comes forth to her lips. For how true it remains. “… I do, Sasuke.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSE3yx6UVJ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbNkLKiwr3
She hears his smile, “Good. Then, you will stop seeing them, won’t you? Those girls.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohQAYggJbb
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIfzeCDNfO
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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29KQW3goge
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHy98a3ijQT
I want you all for myself—is what Karin hears instead, and she frowns. “Sasuke, you can’t be serious—they are my friends!”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTyELsvYsyn
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgxk5t18Vb
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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEeViY9HDmp
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBERM5iait
“I—” yes, he is—was. Is.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhSZ5l9luu
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWf38LpACx
And that frightens her more than he possibly could.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZaXQex2ryw
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5jVgVz7Pm
“—alright, Sasuke… you win.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnaCRnpkLEW
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbc9eNWvSV
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OBfLFE1ue
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDKkEHh0Gd
Even himself.
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNs6MCYGeE5
The silence is deafening. The unsaid drawing knots with his vocal chords, until he decides that enough has been enough.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg1IJD8K6VD
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8Ps2ct4lD
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwDKALk3w8N
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzGYbgmemgS
She doesn’t bulge. “What?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5b7H5z02V
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUXVWgIlT8
And perhaps that’s what worries Sasuke the most.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLM77kVf7Cp
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLs78cVClC
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBxP19DZdhw
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU50gQgILjL
“Don’t try to avoid the subject, Karin. There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeh1vlNXXT
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK7l1Wok5Jn
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjlELXEs1lM
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZckYVctDV4
And Sasuke wants nothing more than to ask her to stop—but he is too scared to do so.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8czWtK7PO
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPiB5BLOik
“Eat, Sasuke. It’s going to get cold.”
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRG9plCLn5h
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡji1Avpicdr
He rolls the raspberries between his fingers, memories swirling in his head.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8gS0dve6Y
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70w1uyQMjm
He has always had a very good memory; and throughout his life, it has proved to be a curse more often than a blessing.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5r2vbD5Vm
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYOwcQ9M2Q
In this case, it is both at once.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZw6A0SHc4o
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYKUxp13B8
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDSvRIM4eK
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsrOjGEw4O
A girl sending him off with a sad smile, and never looking back.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgNiOr2Tl52
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdKJUGC0aw
Broken promises.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlOZYNAdNoh
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtsO66hKA0
A call. A funeral.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUEHYDgCQz
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwDZ0A4gTCg
And tears.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Enbq1Nt4v
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp87YPFknL5
Heartbreak.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqlihuAepkf
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7gq2gyVBG
Loneliness.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDnYJoI6XhG
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp60yJtZCpP
…then there was nothing else.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BAZA2cS1C
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhvUWJXiwJ
And then there was everything all over again.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLXJ5a8zNg
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV838T96xj3
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhUato3pUi
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2LvJ8lAG9
He can’t stop.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIqSHUrqmMl
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQpN2rZq6E
He does not want to.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKn7BwfPOkX
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJ58Ci7O6g
One of the raspberries snaps, juice rolling down his fingers—but he does nothing to clean it up.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpoP4JWopWD
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5bI1VOrfgB
The door creaks open.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2V9t9RzHL
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLir2BNtnj
“Uchiha-san, you have to eat.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSyXBtE0pl
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqNOHkyDB1
The nurse says, more out of habit than anything else; but he is too far away to hear—494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJ130ZdBLJ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0wpVxzJCGv
(“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.)494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4Euz2yyIV
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9l63wRokfE
—and it’s been a year since the patient of the room 723 has pronounced a single word.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Xnhnc9Z17
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1qHRdCTAt
(And a five-year old Karin is smiling.)
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzUayBeAaH
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSA2Pk78PRB
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDEWYe09Kv
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgWhA4WTk5
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4Wz1JHWha
Karin was sitting on the bed, unnaturally straight and still; her eyes vacant and unseeing, telltale trails of dried tears on her cheeks.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTeULTG6cLq
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWF8kqAdmLq
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXILjA8DRN9
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYopmZjDZT0
“Karin…” his voice is faint; a tentative call more to spur himself into motion than to reach her. “Karin, what’s wrong?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuTpLpZkH8R
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTvnmSZoQ5F
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMdqBJT0znG
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡml6rGXXKMt
And then she parts her lips.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOKWeNDdcmA
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdAKd9MF9x
“Sasuke… I had a dream… a new one.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgADxdTXjTr
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LiA6zSvJh
Sasuke swallows; what could she have possibly seen to put her in such a state?494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7keKk135f
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVUW0Fma7pc
“Karin, I…” the redhead simply shakes her head, and to his ever-growing alarm there are fresh tears dripping from her eyes.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn8Zfbpjj9I
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlprasdLhf
“Forget it, Sasuke… it’s better if you do.”
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ942DW4ycR0
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFm9vWoPtg3
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHbREgO0kW
“Stop it, Karin. You were not supposed to care about him—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBoLOsyzyoi
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoGQhEAztn
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9GWF2uar4l
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsIGXvk6nT
It makes something in her tightly clench.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPrH58W1jy
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aldQGr02b
“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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbPFcBzpu3
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLq9PU3DcT
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOQeDjl3ae
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfJyU6joqV
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMpA7rDqkid
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9zTkxOGuCa
She can hear them coming from her, and she knows she won’t be able to escape—but that was fine.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFefmUAi4G
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1zoKY7s21
She would take as many of them as she possibly could before going down, and—494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNNeZdFxIt
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSil9HvyTn2
“…we’ll meet soon, Sasuke.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhfeSn8sy5b
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYofpGUvMWs
—and Sasuke had always liked souvenirs.
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWVGBucc3n
He is crudely woken up by Karin screaming his name.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJycb77fxT
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrm8N1XcP8
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXtYsR4xaDh
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5v24NXuT73
In fact—she seemed to only be getting worse.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxXAK5tyYAv
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2M7ASIvoo
“Sasuke, no—!”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeyR7iadMLB
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYy5Jxc7aEZ
“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—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIX9khnN1T
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqmerOOUZEY
But his sincere promise is cut short by her terrified sob.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnHHoftHWQ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy1TykrD7v1
“N-no, Sasuke—get away from me!”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQF3XMH8BsF
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDOFFX3kNw
Sasuke jumps back, as if burnt. “W-what…?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHP5silkjP
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmfyElYkKCJ
He could not believe his ears—she was frightened—of him?494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7dnUxjvaZ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLbRZEV5Lsb
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIW8cH18K1Y
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dERW0ebaK
‘… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.’494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffWdvwAQJQ
‘What weren’t?’494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJO5zvX4PIn
‘...You.’494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOoSVJyvrH
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp3IOuO22ho
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKQNqNijLK
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlXLBuhNlt6
Ghosts he has started to fear, too.
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TiOUyC1Th
“Karin,” he whispers affectionately, caressing her cheek with his right hand, “I need you.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhRF1tPbCO9
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvaIRocKYh
Karin swallows the knot in her throat and forces her knees to remain firm, “I—I know, so plea—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNj4lYfBN3A
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ628R43YcDR
“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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLXmUwumu4h
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxk0MXRNrC
“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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZZIK3oyLw
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRmvrAk8pI
“I’ll see you soon… Karin.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27ThSq7vD2
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNV75bMX9U
He says, and his words are as loud as the gunshot that follows.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDEDCMPCZ0
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRiwOmWELA9
And then her lifeless body is crumbling to the ground, his soon to follow.
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494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfZS5OABAG
“What was I doing to you?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcTuwJaylZ2
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzX4FX9ahjN
“… I don’t remember.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoP8d1B6GA1
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0oIFy32DI
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuuE8AgClo
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4LkLuTjmb
But he has played that game long enough.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjnpM7SXIyX
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPTr2oyNAr
He cannot continue to allow himself to remain blissfully unaware while she battles on her own.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCtlPQ8UMk
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ525lPsRC7C
“Don’t lie to me, Karin.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgebvJx2qE
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ozkTVtqfe
“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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCkRj0cehZe
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrz5KKiI3dE
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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3KvsxpagLJ
494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxLxqgPyCJm
“…Tell me the truth, Karin.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIl6YLihnNC
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiS2GOochko
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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—494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafFWd9F6vc
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKIpiZxB3PX
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“Idiot, I… told you… to move, Sasuke…”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRZM33EGg4
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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—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKh3Ihd5kqx
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2VbTqxv8oo
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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—”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcR7bfWqU34
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BqHD5zBbf
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There is a choked sob—and he barely registers it is his own.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeWT8Ra6dSf
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9rSpcHRQjs
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“Don’t… all I want…ed… is for you… to smile… like that day.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkYi0KJ0JLE
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNcIswexMJL
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And she slips away through his hesitation like he had always slipped through her fingers.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhppnLxbtx3
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“See ya… Sasuke.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQkJ7MXV4KP
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnxkFbFNFA
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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—494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmii1b0AhNo
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡco50hiKHWj
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtSiGVGZmS
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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?”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4CquJb7SMy
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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.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGDtNlY1B5
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ShWTxn5Kq
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“And, above all…”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYrUpjQuNcD
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVmtDCh4cO
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6xhy3cZvng
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Except that it doesn’t get to.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡizpVsR0MeZ
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhoN8AwgDWM
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“See ya.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeE3FoDqnqr
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This is what I give,494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnR3MjbQy8n
A circle is complete.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsfi8dj7ja
Another circle spins494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5b3McYA3Z
There's life within,494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9qG1kyddPI
Within
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end.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZQvyAqLUe1
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYqLdxjIW6
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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.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuTzBW1voz
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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~!494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9WZEXXv3R
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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 lol494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgjZyv91p8
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Thanks for reading! ♥
Tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
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