[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~!586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSGmtW5gY3
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By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxBIXBKWhl
Rating: M (some suggestive scenes, and some violence.)586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabHnz75R3i
Word Count: 8.810586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpd5bFIKjpB
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf14QxGGBYo
Warning: Some OOC-ness due to the fact that I'm working with future SK... among other things you will soon realize lol586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHGUIkz9eH
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjGqobjfmp
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A heartbeat that awakens from the ashes.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwcgot4klDS
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To the stars that played with the darkness586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhRZSAVQ1Z3
I sang of love and burned up completely
Wildfire586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ghuOXSNsT
by Kanae586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgsf5jglEBc
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEM9RRfksI
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Something in his chest tightens.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7dk63mSSB
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEVgqfoyHe
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Just a girl.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdH14uJngbt
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Sasuke all but snorts, mildly shaking his head and turning away in wonderment.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOoORKWNjD
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He misses the way the girl stops, her back straightening as if bolted.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMHkdZbb1W
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6vIYHgVJj
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The girl.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkHQOj3hcu
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The redhead.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU0xMcfkHli
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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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6QYt9bK8Wp
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8dxmsWZzC
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“Don’t think so,” he replies, trying to sidestep her—but the girl blocks his way again.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3FPWVCf9y4
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JGDykRXmk
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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—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyfyS2aSCB
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“You’re right,” Sasuke agrees, clenching his jaw and walking past her.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOigej9AWD0
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmmDf0SHe1
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeVe03WEe3A
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAkXXRgcSia
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She falls quiet—and Sasuke thinks the odd conversation has come to an end.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1WQCE2hssJ
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He was severely mistaken.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOXYfBAbssH
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPwGJVHx4B5
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDReuVXWFq
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It is slowly that he turns towards her, eyes narrowed and heart galloping inside his chest. “How…?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTC9b3RlrQ
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl1H0Oyd8gG
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06Ecq7WhPq
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCERmgDfRN
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIznsrUMo4
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfIhiYJTmK
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She does not let go of him.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFo5VCmKDzF
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And the déjà vu only worsens.
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“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvtrslA4uo
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpZS89FtSt3
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“The… dreams?” he questions, and feels utterly ridiculous just by saying it.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3KbEaMpks
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlryWKMvMHW
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“And these… dreams, of yours. They were about me?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlifUc80Ui
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhTbl3Y2S1D
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“Doing what, exactly?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4RMINlUQ2G
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“A lot of things. Fighting, mostly. You were a ninja, sometimes. Both of us were.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVT3jjtkVK
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“…A ninja?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYcUQGRkwn
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXBRk2zL3E
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qRw7FJAgD
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRb4c1eIRKe
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“… What do you mean, exactly?” he prods with narrowed eyes.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tqvS8NksT
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmmJ6qYoiP
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Sasuke frowns. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did he like where she was going with this. “Reincarnations?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1jkv9w0bM
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Karin snaps her fingers, “Bingo.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50WWea93pX
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Sasuke snorts. “That’s ridiculous.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7ymp1Fyrb
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“I know you don’t believe in them, Sasuke. But that doesn’t mean they do not exist.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvbk5h13yP
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4v8ZOBP1R4
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAm606beAIi
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“But I am done hearing your bullshit.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ346z2aBte6
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dVCaMGXSp
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He feels insulted, but he stays. And a little smirk quirks up Karin’s lips; as expected, that smirk said.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YD6eLCo1T
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But any comments he may have had about her arrogance promptly disappear as the redhead utters her next words.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RryNvJUzA
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9obS1iPfc
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7bp2d4i1W
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They. Because that was all that was left, now. She was all he had left.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFEejX9tIbm
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“We will get through this,” she repeats, because they would. They had to.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP21HFF8TUV
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“You’re not alone. I’m with you, Sasuke. I won’t ever leave you,”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7cAbn9zbT
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkgFj31x7IL
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiQsogkwcV
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi9gBnQ46jA
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwOVjr1vmwR
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBheQ1yhjby
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1OHljxPWBx
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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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ONPgyBrwz
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wBvQGFTk2
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He has really run out of patience. “Stop with the riddles, will you? Just answer!”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxPdchJ0XZ
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAjZTLw8SG
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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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJg426lPFT
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Karin shrugs, unfazed.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdN5dX4aAb0
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxBodM9ehE
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That catches his attention. “What do you mean?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpJGcBPwGp
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“… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxJ2AFTUVyz
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Sasuke arches one eyebrow, curious. “What weren’t?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzUbZdmW5W
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For the first time since they got there, Karin squirms in her seat.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5RplZlBFP
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmXTAtrZGqq
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrjfud4pbAj
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQagLCM3e6H
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIK9CY4X77
Sasuke hates it; having to repeat himself. But he moodily does, anyway. “What do you mean?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FHkUtXY7q
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpD3yrdMIS1
Karin does not reply right away; and when she does, her voice is the softest Sasuke has heard it sound so far.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Ywq6GQjKH
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBzK8XizVYf
“I always ended up loving you all the same,” she admits.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe79i1pqyQF
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCpSEUhyRxV
Then she looks at him again, and Sasuke finds that he can’t look away.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCoidDEscP
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPO6wXNvF5n
“Always.”
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0RmF8KSGb0
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1rgIwg5mG
It happens on a rainy night.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8L2BSPr5e
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQa6OP0mytS
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoP00NvYoXN
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLPDjlDEF4
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbw48YsbMl
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4ctykh3XU
She hadn’t been.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQ33rQjC45
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCg2THrDl1
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDnccqJpog
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgyy6SOM8br
So much for not getting wet, she thinks, and it’s then that an umbrella is placed above her.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLxDuKzsCRJ
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyaKxyfNwxl
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3QJXSR8uD3
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhIEnW9aMO
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmmHoTdDxk
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQuk5VpCE2
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfjLctlD8u
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqTHYaocLqo
But she can’t look away from him—and before she knows it her legs are moving and the rain no longer matters.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡneqU1WFw8z
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiRY8fUA2P
By the time he has hung up, they’re standing at the next intersection and she is soaked from head to toe.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKoluMgqU1R
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRNTAfiuKf
“Hey, you! Wait!”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLm9SYPYvOt
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3VfT3If7s
The business man slowly turns around, painfully so, confusion apparent on his face.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7sfazSQba
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMh28sDhiJm
Onyx meets red and her heart skips a beat as his eyes widen ever so slightly.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz3GhXqHTf2
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3mx1TsqNO
“Thank you,” she breathes out jaggedly and not exactly from the chasing, “for before.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ98LtvgnOIh
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkez3yQ2uZ2
“… 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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNuWdt49zcV
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdKhD1aIYo
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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCx180lUwWY
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfphMvbA9U2
He tilts his head to the side, long bangs falling across his face. “… Hn, down the street, you say?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3BvYUs3NM
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWQwgV2pfv
“Yeah. It’s less than a minute away,” she gulps, “so, what do you say?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPBJTVYajK
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMMMgmPKlH
He smiles, and his whole face lights up. “I’d like that.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYPIDlG4uE
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SkrsvPb6J
By the time they place their orders, she is already in love with him.
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNZdmnidhu
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43WrQSEARm
He thinks that maybe he should be surprised, but the truth is that he isn’t.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXztnLGlqOc
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC0BseMrRtq
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwb5ofJkaZx
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMdD527zBw
“… You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBnSselyvr
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaC1IJpG6Ue
Karin blinks innocently, a direct contrast with the amused smirk shamelessly painted across her lips. “What do you mean, Uchiha-san?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLwp6hgxXd
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGn8o0ynCX
“Drop the act,” he glares, matter-of-fact. “You knew I worked here.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqpQacPhgW
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIM3IchzWv6
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn3lDlfFDhs
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFzXjQ6BoM
'Always'.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLTLCurVgR
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10e6PN5Z1K
“—so not my fault you basically own the damn city,” Karin finishes, and Sasuke blinks.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKTjgIBfoa
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwBGtQubFd
“Huh?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2AwkUmP4V
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCqpxMVEy0
She deadpans. “You weren’t listening, were you?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pbbX6d1zo
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg95I4lrpgh
“I was,” he lies through gritted teeth, prodded by some unexplainable force. Damn, why did he always have to bicker with this girl?586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXgDlBvyDhN
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjgowxtRL1
“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—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFL9iYJpLBI
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtEryx8cYT
He all but groans. “Stop, Karin. Don’t bring that kind of talk here, someone may hear you.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU46Cnnr0YK
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdL9TiRVRrD
“Pft, so what?” she huffs, crossing her arms and swaying her hips again. “It’s not like I work here, right?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6ZY7xp4Ye
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMade8p3a2O
Her tone and most specially the glimmer in her eye as she looks at him told him otherwise.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQGYui03RZt
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuutkjAclnh
Damn her.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnfraUvCOxy
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLd84WCbP8
“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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7wj2dJExj
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKEyjVKmIq
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVvpBVvjqr
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWutM8fx90
As if reading his thoughts, Karin calls out to him from the door.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rRpqCt0JB
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHVcRDcpyp
“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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9BpFVTvt64
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYTp2zz94N5
And for some unknown reason, Sasuke finds himself blushing.
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfOTZijrEG
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrDCMoqfwCm
“I brought you the papers you requested,”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypyMLUwhul
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1q4OkHXHV
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73SrUXDXG4
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4M9JULoqb
“Idiot,” she manages to reprimand between kisses, “what if someone sees us?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5Jc4UffjV
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqKDqTuUcR
“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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvZI4yguPq
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVVYvld5to8
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJXAyOxau4B
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZbmd0h44xL
“Any complains?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJAJg0LYyp
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6TTuoodGx
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6HKx0WkqhK
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsggfCpQgoE
She has a mission to accomplish—but he makes her forget soon enough.
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNYQ6pBeni
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamp6S8B9D7
“I’ll have some Okonomiyaki, please.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYlNLZ3FMf
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6SCvxcBvUs
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡay3bIyP3aa
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEZs51fnXD
“Whoa, Sasuke, That girl totally has a thing for you!”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDq5M3mMQk
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgzFdx5AVx
Sasuke rolls his eyes; he was so over this subject. “Tch, she and every other employee, what else is new.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNyKZvgZYHr
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYj83WuNpa
Karin snorts, “Cocky, aren’t we? Do I need to remind you that I am one of your employees, too?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWg462i567T
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqI8cScu9ms
'Always'.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcUu0CtqzR
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOc42GI6Tbw
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcR9EmS4oD0
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoCollNWBa0
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnBwianJD4m
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWL0VAUOGY
“You really are no fun, Sasuke.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV8S8RxKVKe
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVZXtjzT4G
“Forget about that, Karin. You said you would tell me more about—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKva71ZTbum
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWsbDicFMPQ
“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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcH8EB6qtWB
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHt0YoCXKWe
“Karin.”
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UhHVcdWr8
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOS75sQiwfc
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqHw6nGFfTz
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAja8kHHk9b
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsPpYLEmiRI
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQY60TiSii
He is the first thing she sees when she comes out of the room.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2TJ9xwN5k1
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjijwga4Mn8
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtEdgmA8Gou
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5rc6gQPQd
“…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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaB6ilXyeab
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kYVEXDgTG
“Idiot,” she hisses, and means it. “You are hurt, let me—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7QEaCUXVm
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgehtqxyJ7p
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvdJ4ffdYUU
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG9kx7AO1aR
“…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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvk00MZyLOZ
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssYYX0m3Ta
To her surprise, Sasuke snorts.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKo9EBaXDn
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6xVgxRhpJ
“What?” she snaps.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0uzYRUWK1
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9o9DVnvTKN
“Nothing,” he says, and he is smirking. “Just, you’re the last person I want to hear that from, Karin.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAGAyQbkdO
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzvx6NyOoZ3
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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuO96rhdz4U
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6WVP0q0XL
He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, his smirk softening around the edges. “…I wonder.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QD5Iyp77b
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArg7hcSqpb
And despite her blood loss, her blush only deepens.
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIPlbz1Vq4
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfdXfJan71
“Would you like more tea, Karin-chan?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBMro7up9hA
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDfodsWVCA
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡueY6bJlMum
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcANVqb2XA1
“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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv8IzFW5WK4
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs8iDwgrVLY
Sasuke huffs, halfheartedly batting his brother’s hands away. “I know that—moreover, when will you stop treating me like a child, Itachi?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVfoFoazeT
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLS4AlgU2r6
“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?586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqUpzxEQgkW
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwOJ5LEZFsU
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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbpbd1A27f
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2VbyS0Gbcc
Great. So she had been listening in, huh? He should have guessed.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFgOEaJDf1
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjGezSeekC
“Not quite,” Itachi replies, but Sasuke’s triumphant smirk is short-lived as his brother adds, “But almost.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpNmnTzJHZ
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgLfm7lgOz
“Brother!” he reproaches, causing the older boy to chuckle again and Karin to smirk widely.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxxwrO8NJY
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzJZHBLczo
“You’re unbelievable, Sasuke; I mean, I knew you were an unsocial prude, but almost no girlfriends? Seriously?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBi6EHuu4N
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVoj9WIAN5
He glares, mortified to feel the by-now familiar sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Shut up, Karin.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡecCvrCln7x
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWdWfw2Wi5
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVpoiXJInb
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr89fovFSdh
Damn you, brother.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zq8dxdFna
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwBZ8bTvOG
“Hn, I don’t know what Itachi is talking about.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR6gngk0XaE
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqlaHr6v11u
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFoyC0gPn15
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOuWehZ7Xj
“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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqi05TugxkO
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA9pskr9j0h
Despite his better judgment, Sasuke can feel himself blushing. “Who said I’m enjoying myself?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR3RK0BKuEi
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1fNiRxon4T
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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiegyGFvZgH
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnEe2hFRj3f
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsPsmU5A2dQ
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3FqvNrEr6s
“… 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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKGvoMnCJse
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFmyXJZdHSb
“I know, dear. But, somehow… it feels like you two have known each other for a long time.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8F6wWTkB0
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdF7IobzMH0
Itachi says nothing—but the way in which he warmly squeezes Sasuke’s shoulder is eloquent enough.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFDcTNiqIq
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GEFLrvuEk
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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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezrVMyKeKZ
“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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyixezZ8Dh3
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6cnG2DSIX
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—586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzye13MaiIb
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWps1sxNAK
“Sasuke—hey, earth to Sasuke, are you listening? I was just saying that—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuxlvz1egY
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡylrZoCtGr9
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDXksmyjDz0
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk5hB4avPtj
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDR4rJJzNgd
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QE4eKYrao
“Raspberries,” he states, and that seems to get Karin off her trance, because she blinks at him.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZlA8RNwcV
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QDJndbQsB
And then she is grinning.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfquYqlYAS
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGwWiOoEMw
“Had I known you would finally kiss me today, I’d have worn something less sweet.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQsc8hFUpef
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXImDWjUZJW
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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVmzM74w0s
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQnze6p3K2
“I know,” and her grin becomes a husky smirk as she tangles her fingers in his hair. “You’re too easy to read, Sasuke.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJXEyI4oy5x
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeL1nEMUg81
“Hn, you could have helped, then,” he says, but the truth is he is too lost in her to really mind.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLXQwhew1Xc
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyolgzeX4ry
“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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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyVyqZsSCF
“You won’t find anything better for a more reasonable price, I assure you, Uchiha-san. This is the absolute best—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vEZBb34fc
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU07UFOKVt6
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNN4l1mb4k
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBnol84zHDy
“Excuse me.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYYbvOkI59
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekEbhU7ZLC
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXJ3LX4df2d
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2X4CIv7iM
“This house is ours, Sasuke,”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsUfsWs48zq
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMnLMQCCrc
Her fingers find their way around his, and Sasuke gives them a squeeze as he nods, his expression naturally mirroring her own.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vE40y73oD
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGD5kA3OEPV
He could feel it, too.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGcIFpFhlmV
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4t2SXYbpS
Behind them, the realtor clears his throat but Karin cuts him short before he could get a single word out.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsjKVkqw82
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5MoDgJSTP
“We’re buying it,” she states loud and clear, and she is positively glowing.
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVV4doZ6IH2
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkc6dhIVlg3
She can hardly believe it.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCHYF7bfbc
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6No5uh0jC6
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg1dnk806gC
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQ9MEWMuDk
It seemed like something straight out of one of those dramas she used to love to ridicule and secretly watch at the same time.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusiLD8cbPK
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyRJYx4m87
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡebncjrYlyC
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1eSybhJR4
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdyzuAGbyDl
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxrH3oex6Kr
“What’s so funny?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFtNMyjHceG
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ936X1cAZT
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJN6ZaCLOk
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOThxVMyvL
“There’s just one thing off, though—” she observes, as an afterthought, “where’s my rival in love?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrAOFxcQdwy
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WetS4mzAe
“Nowhere,” he asserts, grave like only he could be about even the most foolish of things. “I am yours.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawLHqdWj4k
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJeHv0xf9B
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkjI7uxLz2z
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11gNT3YecB
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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjMPjoR0aX
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqSQ0OvtVg9
And he is breathing in her scent and tightly holding her in his arms—so tightly in fact that she can hardly breathe.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqlNXFn3Ve
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXE6cTDDa5r
“S-asuke—” she chokes.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatQFTxFCHR
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLVOk0IeVL
But he does not listen.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8vhI7LZD8W
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYPxhhQZwi
“…mine.”
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9urvFRafsd
She soundlessly sneaks behind him and leans her chin on his shoulder.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFL35RzuUq
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbvXbbhfeO
“Sewing again?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtf3zxN9DTB
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMwkzYLM9D0
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL53oaExCSh
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0BTTEN5SuT
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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5PVNmt5CB
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4wQT7vlnL3
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mr0DO9WX4
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1jNre26VM
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiK9NpA4PtX
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZ9wq6HnRZ
“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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUAjZOdGAE7
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsYH7IPAqW
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVdaO7bdVz
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdE9hFrcpTU
And he finds himself smiling at her back, like one of those love-sick fools he always used to make fun of.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSdXuC6g54s
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJNUrCibnl
But it’s just, back then—he had never thought someone could actually make him this happy.
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTg2W0wTEEP
“Stop doing that, Sasuke.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwt8RWZIcMG
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyoQBYtxJNM
“Doing what?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFkwbETg79
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOj8SR3TqFS
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJIy3ETc7K
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBwyhn0RP2E
“Or what?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUtFJZoGKKW
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOnrsxELRqN
“…Or I may fall in love with you, Uchiha.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLXTebEQ5CY
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6QgBwgIDjx
She is both elated and horrified to see how soft and harmless his usual menacing and intimidating smirk looks as he replies.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5NW4EmcReI
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡveFwDLseEz
“… Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfF85EH3Xp
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6WwHumN0t8
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBRmU42JlZ
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN8tMTMyX8y
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAX0TQ6UsC9
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrLyyUkWyKp
Only a minute would be enough for a spy as skilled as herself.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1MA9IBJvB
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoFm0RmGKm
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ1HrEUiu8G
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFMSLUTB2XK
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzKsbW0x7q7
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPS4Py0T5x
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—586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6oIfABUre
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYdeFLinaM
To forget the atrocities she would find if she did.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssThq4DVc4
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOdDneos4s2
And, really—who would have thought that a monster like Uchiha Sasuke was capable of making a face like that?
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNaN9CGPhY9
Sasuke was just putting a plate aside when the sound of porcelain breaking reaches his ears.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuloLrXLdUi
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8cwCUQJiw
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiLL7DeqeJP
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTODwpESjTh
“Karin,” he calls, drying his hands on his pants—and he misses the way Karin’s shoulders tense, her back stiffening. “Are you alright?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDO451KzGDr
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFS5Mn9cO3F
“Yeah,” she murmurs after a moment, and Sasuke blinks. She didn’t sound alright.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfu1I3SWvNQ
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyeqZQqaCp5
“Karin,” he calls again, approaching her. “Leave that be, I’ll take care of it.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb3MBQpACvZ
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsdrVdsRXr8
“I told you, it’s fine.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfvhVfTAXL
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7ztn6X8IN
He frowns, concerned. “Karin—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMytsQEAjn
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2kYePHx2q
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8DPhB3gyGM
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAoIs0SsFAE
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGVsCMc8SR
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUH5o12R0n4
“Sorry, Sasuke—I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0s91RvG0k
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJpBsiGUjoa
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9vvpazgJ81
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx4F7pfhwSi
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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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpxLFJrGh7Q
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8laKRhSUP
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1M7peUfVcv
“S-sasuke, what—?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYpJCXMX3Hb
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHaxh9jLyb
“Where were you, Karin?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuzxVEY4K1C
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKP8JOIILTc
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxAR87cmOMI
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp0okzlpJ0m
It reeks of lighting and promises pain—it frankly terrifies her.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtDYuaENk3
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGEhODoGg0
But she holds her ground.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPIJf0KUHJ
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2OT0wy7JiI
“I—I was having lunch with my parents, Sasuke. They called to invite us today but you were at—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmi8hsnbdl
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS2KUUivUD9
“Liar,” he grits out, and Karin’s blood runs cold. “I called them myself. You were not with them. So, where were you?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqHBkVrbdx
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYJa5aaz9Y
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—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMgzK0YRIV
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxm52P1M14W
“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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGxpU0HBa2U
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bnwJ8AdJr
“Sasuke, I—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOnaT2pprJK
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLz6Nr9iDm
“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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡauBEnfb5MW
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAnf4W7TKBI
A part of her hates herself for how easily the answer comes forth to her lips. For how true it remains. “… I do, Sasuke.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfQUHNDpY6
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNN1Dq9UJm
She hears his smile, “Good. Then, you will stop seeing them, won’t you? Those girls.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamCnjdwEcb
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb13d0Cx9i6
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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3UwGtSOJ6s
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB07alx1VUd
I want you all for myself—is what Karin hears instead, and she frowns. “Sasuke, you can’t be serious—they are my friends!”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWuBiKs8chP
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzMC4zMsm5
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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINXmwGt75i
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG99EthM7MN
“I—” yes, he is—was. Is.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcI2ngAE15
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sHzB9XfAN
And that frightens her more than he possibly could.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eJoQgNzqK
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBcF4As3ni
“—alright, Sasuke… you win.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6YdXsA3c8p
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxToBiT5Jim
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrzvoShN2F
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dl4kZI69N
Even himself.
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7LMdcpYxx
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBBDOUDbmb
The silence is deafening. The unsaid drawing knots with his vocal chords, until he decides that enough has been enough.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChHwddyObl
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXaZqCCfW8M
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFaWYfswCHT
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2FJKLIlOzE
She doesn’t bulge. “What?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMPPHsjjmL
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtERF9lLaxd
And perhaps that’s what worries Sasuke the most.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBD4tY9cCb
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmt8eEj5T5
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUcmd5pjheB
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVh4jI5z9U2
“Don’t try to avoid the subject, Karin. There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1TEkDATg7
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBSaBRjFO4
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QB854duOc
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsElZyevfgc
And Sasuke wants nothing more than to ask her to stop—but he is too scared to do so.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzK8HKBYYFD
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx71Q517vyK
“Eat, Sasuke. It’s going to get cold.”
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5OEQ0XjIo
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRpBRTWhOUk
He rolls the raspberries between his fingers, memories swirling in his head.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYYbNOx5di
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOCbrzWURYe
He has always had a very good memory; and throughout his life, it has proved to be a curse more often than a blessing.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgtC6ipDKEU
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMrbrcNxTj
In this case, it is both at once.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdoYBtrRmA5
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHetmhMq28v
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4t9QRtFQR6
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTv8VW7D8U
A girl sending him off with a sad smile, and never looking back.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNN1tuDWkTt
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPAn5csPlv
Broken promises.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7OybQi0aXF
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0zdJenmaU
A call. A funeral.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8ljzCP4ZQ
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoNr7dsnY1
And tears.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk7qhDNRDh3
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMI8tKNl2t8
Heartbreak.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmhuJtJMxq
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAPrfR9tPC
Loneliness.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq2h8ayEoeK
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXXCkCMnz5
…then there was nothing else.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiDmRF90j2t
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EB1SvXUuu
And then there was everything all over again.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi9EZMdwhot
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCtDXo6aF0
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfXXWhilXt
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmvWJRfJXBQ
He can’t stop.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi40JDRCr8Q
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbeXjLeexUf
He does not want to.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQ1fzet5xb
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DqTCfXLSM
One of the raspberries snaps, juice rolling down his fingers—but he does nothing to clean it up.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ACi9WMLCe
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2TpHAUhx0
The door creaks open.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhH0S4AyT0F
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFpeCKUa5r
“Uchiha-san, you have to eat.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5kEutG16H
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtCEXDIYF7
The nurse says, more out of habit than anything else; but he is too far away to hear—586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BI7hyg7pA
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJyZCs21Wv2
(“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.)586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5z5PDpX9u
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80hpsAcj0B
—and it’s been a year since the patient of the room 723 has pronounced a single word.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzBnMUype3
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvbbSK6ssze
(And a five-year old Karin is smiling.)
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQv5LUDiMe1
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtWm8pMaY9
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzLf7LgjgGc
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13aZvCxsbg
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2s4c6pgiXa
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGaCnPqgwA6
Karin was sitting on the bed, unnaturally straight and still; her eyes vacant and unseeing, telltale trails of dried tears on her cheeks.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IHLduCLD8
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvrZaeqeOw
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVqhC66XtKU
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9rYtGOLR2
“Karin…” his voice is faint; a tentative call more to spur himself into motion than to reach her. “Karin, what’s wrong?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhuLaGlHZ84
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFFWOOfizY
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFQXAl2mQx
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7pX6yBZRI
And then she parts her lips.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4lZKaXBTz
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPZUt4cq0J
“Sasuke… I had a dream… a new one.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUaOSgoYL5z
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNbohrTIie
Sasuke swallows; what could she have possibly seen to put her in such a state?586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFIYkXEUyS4
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBozAoAak6D
“Karin, I…” the redhead simply shakes her head, and to his ever-growing alarm there are fresh tears dripping from her eyes.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIFDS7wCjm
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfJKL1ctZq
“Forget it, Sasuke… it’s better if you do.”
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3kiWHjUY2F
.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznBRGG5lVS
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6nCx9iuMy
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXoI2Mndxv
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbfs8IyyU02
“Stop it, Karin. You were not supposed to care about him—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBcQGUZZGdu
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMS4CvLVZg
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZBF7IN1Ye
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7Rg8Ixntt
It makes something in her tightly clench.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUSdYmkRnqQ
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJYxJbtvlEy
“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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIPUOTsxUM
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNQezofUQg
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3p8ZXIsp5
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxZdRggQXV
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqWpNpXgoc
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ccapzXFj3
She can hear them coming from her, and she knows she won’t be able to escape—but that was fine.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8x7iCKkmYW
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SXXl0ss4P
She would take as many of them as she possibly could before going down, and—586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfEBoOZ5a8
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYNe7YA77f
“…we’ll meet soon, Sasuke.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLbQvi9aB6h
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzsruKmWOPg
—and Sasuke had always liked souvenirs.
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ96bnmLwJoH
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDoEdg7iDj
He is crudely woken up by Karin screaming his name.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIoXiHPVHbC
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHT69Ny4kEx
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidYK9Hk49S
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRyVeWXTY6
In fact—she seemed to only be getting worse.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3lvJf2pHP
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ325t9P5BJw
“Sasuke, no—!”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBmd7Ws5mZS
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLjwMudPqI
“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—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKCDVvUr27
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjyeeTKmnk
But his sincere promise is cut short by her terrified sob.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9CsE3dT6N
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKrFEoLFZlD
“N-no, Sasuke—get away from me!”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqTPqHDMHFv
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjitXOJXzp
Sasuke jumps back, as if burnt. “W-what…?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRMTVsHg0Ut
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV97LJd7n0G
He could not believe his ears—she was frightened—of him?586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1RWEit5NA
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyZqMrgC6t
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoErLfRNg88
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFdJi9wXUI
‘… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.’586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0i9rrfCfOV
‘What weren’t?’586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFNt61O5dGP
‘...You.’586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmZNrxjkkwl
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUEEg1rILf
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOY9IzWfZ02
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhYlaoHAos
Ghosts he has started to fear, too.
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7LaIiFiuu
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7l8xbLI22D
“Karin,” he whispers affectionately, caressing her cheek with his right hand, “I need you.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfTuEE6kZb
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKGhkLeye0E
Karin swallows the knot in her throat and forces her knees to remain firm, “I—I know, so plea—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVXP8H4vgU
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMf3nAGLjJ
“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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPkVYq7LRfY
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7Wl27kSwb
“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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡanCRjxVja3
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66bpGz7OGr
“I’ll see you soon… Karin.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHwqtZBA9v6
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTIu894wv1
He says, and his words are as loud as the gunshot that follows.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQ5pgs2kfZ
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZ5MAvfMpG
And then her lifeless body is crumbling to the ground, his soon to follow.
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSshzZ67nlt
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586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLfLETqFgD
“What was I doing to you?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHdpqrXOhK
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rSOVxuPAF
“… I don’t remember.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ClBqiIxPX
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3h8B211na
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOqK1j7p6E
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡurM4y0NQBr
But he has played that game long enough.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLOZHSXtRC
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDeH4VQPtfv
He cannot continue to allow himself to remain blissfully unaware while she battles on her own.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOBzYKLt3S
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIarPOCeJS
“Don’t lie to me, Karin.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBB4PqenGat
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaaP8wZvLKm
“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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOqIbyD6An
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkR7wMX8BF
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpuVDFJpdK
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrbYHqqvmS
“…Tell me the truth, Karin.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHSLBMmNer
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjhYZReoP1m
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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrMoCB8H87
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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—586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyFpyg8Q8m
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMXsk1lGJs
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“Idiot, I… told you… to move, Sasuke…”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsiF5iQi4B8
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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—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3E8cf5aiIu
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYERMB4ifET
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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—”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxegX6nMpKT
586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76RBYTg00z
“—make you… regret it… I know,” her smile looks like unleashed tears. “I admit… this… wasn’t exactly… what I had… in mind.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdLotKjwv0
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There is a choked sob—and he barely registers it is his own.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjNmKcQJXA1
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKMDjDiocy
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“Don’t… all I want…ed… is for you… to smile… like that day.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBc5fBWNve1
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVwaieKI3DO
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And she slips away through his hesitation like he had always slipped through her fingers.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgCB6vnrd1
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“See ya… Sasuke.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dp0qvZH7I
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMhYGvqgeV
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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—586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBWEj6WC3Pg
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS1pqmoAcb2
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDXhhie8ecD
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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?”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQED2E9GzKY
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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.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabTwDEgwAp
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7X6TqAdZG
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“And, above all…”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDhzc2787a
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMYxh2ef4C
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEGpQTJRcO
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Except that it doesn’t get to.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjv5gNSkJR
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MhMPXZXI8
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“See ya.”586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHCyLJbatm7
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This is what I give,586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYc0TuDJrc
A circle is complete.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXh1xnzTdfx
Another circle spins586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDU5zetFVyF
There's life within,586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡic2hso8vQc
Within
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end.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUszaRGnRm
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTwDThCLJM
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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.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEXwn2FELN
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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~!586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOmIhl7cTn
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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 lol586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT7ALFylFLP
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Thanks for reading! ♥
Tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
ns216.73.216.166da2
