[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~!584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKcTSRLFTaO
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By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUucDPmbGX
Rating: M (some suggestive scenes, and some violence.)584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCtA6faP1D
Word Count: 8.810584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCTrtRsRXLd
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBkVx4LwV5r
Warning: Some OOC-ness due to the fact that I'm working with future SK... among other things you will soon realize lol584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtxKYzbEq4
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckshmCVtOV
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A heartbeat that awakens from the ashes.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWZDW4oAio
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To the stars that played with the darkness584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qxkBjMDId
I sang of love and burned up completely
Wildfire584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUv29uwhmLn
by Kanae584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hxE8Su6kP
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Y4emCUVQ1
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Something in his chest tightens.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡncMb79ktCp
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDOzigY3ny
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Just a girl.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQ6mgZ8mMI
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Sasuke all but snorts, mildly shaking his head and turning away in wonderment.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5M3iKVVjee
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He misses the way the girl stops, her back straightening as if bolted.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡasacWh0kGd
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRMKkqsQ5X7
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The girl.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJEGawmZNK
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The redhead.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJw5hCTbCea
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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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRocplsRReG
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHXRpX7C1vC
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“Don’t think so,” he replies, trying to sidestep her—but the girl blocks his way again.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwNu3XiERP
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDc8eBAjeXa
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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—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjK6lVsfuVS
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“You’re right,” Sasuke agrees, clenching his jaw and walking past her.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYOD2ZakWh
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ZzAjuu44D
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUFsvK98ps
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1VTZ5O1qo
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She falls quiet—and Sasuke thinks the odd conversation has come to an end.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeRQLdpYKfo
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He was severely mistaken.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhntdNy4fz0
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6svN6wrre
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7wRvne0grc
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It is slowly that he turns towards her, eyes narrowed and heart galloping inside his chest. “How…?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEp2ZZExTte
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwW53gDlyUC
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejluZBofpE
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdLiKIeYWwx
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBazjSq9tgb
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnf3dMiDzo
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She does not let go of him.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0Z0MnK8Yl
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And the déjà vu only worsens.
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“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW3eh4BmVlb
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYKbAIPhvOc
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“The… dreams?” he questions, and feels utterly ridiculous just by saying it.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEVF3CvE25
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtVmoq0ZPZ3
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“And these… dreams, of yours. They were about me?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnXFsSSFIr
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9twqiNFCCd
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“Doing what, exactly?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpU4PZNRoG
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“A lot of things. Fighting, mostly. You were a ninja, sometimes. Both of us were.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lWoaDtjtt
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“…A ninja?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtArsMt2DJ
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9yVB9rjYQi
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0CjjdUzzk
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWsEVgnmjv
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“… What do you mean, exactly?” he prods with narrowed eyes.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipcpmw9XfY
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKqyjeeQoJ
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Sasuke frowns. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did he like where she was going with this. “Reincarnations?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBzMZ6zHs2
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Karin snaps her fingers, “Bingo.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCxgmTuzwy5
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Sasuke snorts. “That’s ridiculous.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKG6tXsmJQn
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“I know you don’t believe in them, Sasuke. But that doesn’t mean they do not exist.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc1X4zPpSA0
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrUt8T8OtPV
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81tpivxuYN
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“But I am done hearing your bullshit.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVcVVDLCIf
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfgLFMF6Lg
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He feels insulted, but he stays. And a little smirk quirks up Karin’s lips; as expected, that smirk said.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmKYCOvjGyh
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But any comments he may have had about her arrogance promptly disappear as the redhead utters her next words.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcZeWMzsOj
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrdb9EvtSHr
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡStL88qUdzH
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They. Because that was all that was left, now. She was all he had left.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡObfsfv3BjA
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“We will get through this,” she repeats, because they would. They had to.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7i2ADQsT0
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“You’re not alone. I’m with you, Sasuke. I won’t ever leave you,”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7a9bq20C8e
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAt81aikYb
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBKLiGrKyA1
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFm7YTf3vJI
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6mkMRwR686
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1q6gN4QdVx
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFNjh8613cN
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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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qngvH928B
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIiomLEINhX
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He has really run out of patience. “Stop with the riddles, will you? Just answer!”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtTJfEVq2P
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7SJOSUscxA
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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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YdT6VnDM7
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Karin shrugs, unfazed.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyW7T7Qt96D
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAllGct3SK
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That catches his attention. “What do you mean?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPPCtmjKKP
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“… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcHLqNQ23M
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Sasuke arches one eyebrow, curious. “What weren’t?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBcaB7oGaq
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For the first time since they got there, Karin squirms in her seat.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQ8YuS9zZh
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fTlLTT1mj
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFIwT3wpvk
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDyDT9YZPw2
“Karin… the moment you were taken hostage, you became an encumbrance.”
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjoz0dF3vem
.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYnCjeXQla
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy110DnhjcD
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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZUxsk7rsF
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnfWtpwWgiZ
Sasuke hates it; having to repeat himself. But he moodily does, anyway. “What do you mean?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRCePKGGdv
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡheFhQN0FBt
Karin does not reply right away; and when she does, her voice is the softest Sasuke has heard it sound so far.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJcTBg9QsN8
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT43j2v4KFd
“I always ended up loving you all the same,” she admits.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe0BjUmmt9R
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRV5vUIVy4g
Then she looks at him again, and Sasuke finds that he can’t look away.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZVP7QLpB3
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLluR6JZWU
“Always.”
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddQW6ALk4f
.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJl3hSwdqJ
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqbgR6VhnW
It happens on a rainy night.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ68SCXwI04D
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9IQTGjePc
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCNMouj98V
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUageEKsuR2
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiEJIhydUwL
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0PvNqpYqg
She hadn’t been.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDMaBuFtfM
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJwlBPvgRr
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrf5591uJp
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzv9QoAn4R0
So much for not getting wet, she thinks, and it’s then that an umbrella is placed above her.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsosbPGg1j
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡklnw4IS3iq
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡACXN37Xbnm
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhMM2EsYv1
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNq6fuToJ0N
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6eMZEUWKk
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtR28eaejbX
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFkvKPLEgX
But she can’t look away from him—and before she knows it her legs are moving and the rain no longer matters.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfigPCYsejF
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpVgh5i6i9m
By the time he has hung up, they’re standing at the next intersection and she is soaked from head to toe.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrOxQBbYKVt
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8cY1jkIQp
“Hey, you! Wait!”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5quunUNO6U
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGCDfyMB1yw
The business man slowly turns around, painfully so, confusion apparent on his face.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUIlnZTY6T
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtlZje4oTz
Onyx meets red and her heart skips a beat as his eyes widen ever so slightly.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGzElgK1QW
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGA7aCtvFl4
“Thank you,” she breathes out jaggedly and not exactly from the chasing, “for before.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6fr0jCjnQ
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IjtqgErKv
“… 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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJUXnbOQIw
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjWMW93jHz
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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWP0NT1vSPr
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxpIs34ilQ
He tilts his head to the side, long bangs falling across his face. “… Hn, down the street, you say?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdlkbPpuLpo
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvz2ZcppnR
“Yeah. It’s less than a minute away,” she gulps, “so, what do you say?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLZGfZuoFjV
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwr3ha5FQP
He smiles, and his whole face lights up. “I’d like that.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OEEZy48iV
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VKdgDttdd
By the time they place their orders, she is already in love with him.
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh6uXw0vz0t
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVL7INnyFwC
He thinks that maybe he should be surprised, but the truth is that he isn’t.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Wsb90p5cH
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT6g9nMcRdn
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GY7j2zfvx
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiWAWOgSGbw
“… You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtOaw2F0E3j
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkKPqsdRnP
Karin blinks innocently, a direct contrast with the amused smirk shamelessly painted across her lips. “What do you mean, Uchiha-san?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIqrLHwQ8Z
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjilG130Q4
“Drop the act,” he glares, matter-of-fact. “You knew I worked here.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKQP8MFXvf
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGXVelQNiQ
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqxw268ev4s
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EqWKnuhOs
'Always'.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDxSXY0kPn
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQna2Tp1wbz
“—so not my fault you basically own the damn city,” Karin finishes, and Sasuke blinks.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMtc0XTvpn
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlybMkhttEx
“Huh?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡND0F5t4xCw
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5AMtZMNYP
She deadpans. “You weren’t listening, were you?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpuhQ6wAHA
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbhYA4B2Hj
“I was,” he lies through gritted teeth, prodded by some unexplainable force. Damn, why did he always have to bicker with this girl?584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3EwZeDTSpu
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZYxxM4rVh
“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—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyHTMFe9gQ
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9UYyIrB0J
He all but groans. “Stop, Karin. Don’t bring that kind of talk here, someone may hear you.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcX98ZJbe8k
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmyRbxDdF7j
“Pft, so what?” she huffs, crossing her arms and swaying her hips again. “It’s not like I work here, right?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNC3P6SSBfA
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXO6GxKicKp
Her tone and most specially the glimmer in her eye as she looks at him told him otherwise.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyDmtWY6kF
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZRY84wqno
Damn her.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonWKrc4ujE
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKyggursyn
“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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡClC0WGMJCm
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnC7DCF1hu
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAOXsGw5Gu
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidrIsCXXwc
As if reading his thoughts, Karin calls out to him from the door.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡemgcPMcS6I
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyFyuBR4By
“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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXR8FZqjkLX
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLb1XQRgHXC
And for some unknown reason, Sasuke finds himself blushing.
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ63ZEdleij5
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvwh4sRo5gP
“I brought you the papers you requested,”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNTj62PrwA
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ387T4C9pc9
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV5363X41IE
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYXvJU2uD6
“Idiot,” she manages to reprimand between kisses, “what if someone sees us?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotxk73nYiG
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jqdHzkTBc
“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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZzwyCqy9w
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk68LoJm56A
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSwmzfbyGe
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2y3kgf4RA
“Any complains?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtNGOwPdbGv
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDoyse9qL1b
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1B6UofzAwZ
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHOYHVN2WW
She has a mission to accomplish—but he makes her forget soon enough.
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9hm5xSkN6l
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdy9ugvqjqi
“I’ll have some Okonomiyaki, please.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8a8me5xiL
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdfviB7JPh
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1d5olIK9dI
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzUrvGUouq
“Whoa, Sasuke, That girl totally has a thing for you!”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoldBWY1HhA
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLBPiuuLkHU
Sasuke rolls his eyes; he was so over this subject. “Tch, she and every other employee, what else is new.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02AQJvc6W4
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOgnRuHRRC
Karin snorts, “Cocky, aren’t we? Do I need to remind you that I am one of your employees, too?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuiLpXCnq1e
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvo8OLPUar
'Always'.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WUbGAP0dD
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIYGFiD0ly
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡveKUd8CdnO
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0BXHVUCLd
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJAOrkdHPXM
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXt5mDyJX8W
“You really are no fun, Sasuke.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNZ8t0R1aVr
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYi5TUDPPm
“Forget about that, Karin. You said you would tell me more about—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCPao3g5haY
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfupgtVp1u
“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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡduYczAcnb7
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrgXDgV6S2
“Karin.”
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAA4mWxtpL
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ005C2V4JbK
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bXUyGESvk
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiMiL3o1Lg0
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGsc71z1io0
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgssVTv1Tg
He is the first thing she sees when she comes out of the room.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqZPiCEWGc
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTpLGQTKIS
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYaRUyCXI3
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzAEKVrRW7
“…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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjvqQFKgzM
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEd2y392oGY
“Idiot,” she hisses, and means it. “You are hurt, let me—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3lsh0gbSS
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMp9dfhDyAp
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXa03az33dj
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeIRq09TbI
“…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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7h4YYrXLFU
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVpBC6wKP9
To her surprise, Sasuke snorts.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFqGGTDrbb
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4yhBL8J0Xc
“What?” she snaps.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt2n0wzAd9J
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡluvLP7fnbq
“Nothing,” he says, and he is smirking. “Just, you’re the last person I want to hear that from, Karin.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPB6zmj7q5o
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVj5T5E2AX
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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzp8IgmO8fJ
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9i8dfEYZQQ
He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, his smirk softening around the edges. “…I wonder.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3OkN52Itm
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCazSjApquC
And despite her blood loss, her blush only deepens.
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFErcAoOPBt
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiaWF27h1FJ
“Would you like more tea, Karin-chan?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡszyPb6A4Su
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ULU7TLW0O
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJDhAAsvpe
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSAYoOTbhA
“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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwxMQsl2lSy
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJPAYnGV4PC
Sasuke huffs, halfheartedly batting his brother’s hands away. “I know that—moreover, when will you stop treating me like a child, Itachi?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCp8yv8gCZ
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5z17sWCA9L
“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?584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfk2jzNdnbc
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA4g3kyngPN
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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdoBxYxzCsy
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGTpRE7wA4
Great. So she had been listening in, huh? He should have guessed.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0b3qTlcID
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwEplnZ78u
“Not quite,” Itachi replies, but Sasuke’s triumphant smirk is short-lived as his brother adds, “But almost.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwR2neYhvPO
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8D5VytTxXJ
“Brother!” he reproaches, causing the older boy to chuckle again and Karin to smirk widely.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlgKez0vtKh
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcab48B3ql
“You’re unbelievable, Sasuke; I mean, I knew you were an unsocial prude, but almost no girlfriends? Seriously?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLZkgCbi6v
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6V3b1AS21E
He glares, mortified to feel the by-now familiar sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Shut up, Karin.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuEU1xgVm5s
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBGk9CRrHBr
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnj21Yd4sB
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4S5mxYpWKk
Damn you, brother.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzggvppoU1i
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFkSY00bXH4
“Hn, I don’t know what Itachi is talking about.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPkBY8WUKmw
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9iw5FeS9F
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqoFUCJQ8Ap
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡurc5zg8ImU
“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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoociPtlbBJ
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FtLzuJGfP
Despite his better judgment, Sasuke can feel himself blushing. “Who said I’m enjoying myself?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3kXvZ3WPv
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyedQ8k6O3G
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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYz3HKtli3w
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjN28YzVWhb
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhuyIs2vH3C
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdsLJNHxccH
“… 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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJOZB2fLJ4
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutE6QzNUCM
“I know, dear. But, somehow… it feels like you two have known each other for a long time.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnz91Qgzlv
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBwoAiK400f
Itachi says nothing—but the way in which he warmly squeezes Sasuke’s shoulder is eloquent enough.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3gXKM3CKg
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3kAja66hG6
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.
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTKQeya8MQ
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzibWGXbsST
“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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdrEoMtH2Q
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7nww0O3AQ
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—584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZtXwiE07Kj
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1OpdsBvx0F
“Sasuke—hey, earth to Sasuke, are you listening? I was just saying that—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡswRBY4qrQV
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoannTAzVkp
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLLNbTU6S3
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMoZ4HBi7sw
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AxTlJER62
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGntrQYUuC7
“Raspberries,” he states, and that seems to get Karin off her trance, because she blinks at him.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZtDsFX6yU
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhmm9SwKEC
And then she is grinning.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4DJjNU7wjj
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8D0gyrHZ9t
“Had I known you would finally kiss me today, I’d have worn something less sweet.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevt4f7ZLfX
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnhocR90Lo
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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXL23BxI8w
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9N3ISNHt2
“I know,” and her grin becomes a husky smirk as she tangles her fingers in his hair. “You’re too easy to read, Sasuke.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCW9DZtluA
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkkNYdzZyQF
“Hn, you could have helped, then,” he says, but the truth is he is too lost in her to really mind.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfaNSIGMDhP
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIfJOViQa0z
“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.”
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIP4RCkjXm
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKe83t5cXt
“You won’t find anything better for a more reasonable price, I assure you, Uchiha-san. This is the absolute best—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0VPR42cTu
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWewUo1CXX9
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4egkPx5XA5
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKkxoq6zlk
“Excuse me.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡplzxvdUFRH
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNa0nYHtl7R
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFjYOxNv68
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLdE7uSIhE
“This house is ours, Sasuke,”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeTOBmzLly
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VTUx3j8ip
Her fingers find their way around his, and Sasuke gives them a squeeze as he nods, his expression naturally mirroring her own.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX0pskqqAJG
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡATu1mErCyG
He could feel it, too.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNt0tgTDR5M
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2abnpcSWeb
Behind them, the realtor clears his throat but Karin cuts him short before he could get a single word out.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡigvBMixEE3
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFofZJAugdy
“We’re buying it,” she states loud and clear, and she is positively glowing.
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuYXXTPeVK
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHuHo3QOaG
She can hardly believe it.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt02pQ0pPpc
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7pEEsdx4x
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8uBZq6TFK
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXu3Jl9oF20
It seemed like something straight out of one of those dramas she used to love to ridicule and secretly watch at the same time.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyf9gtpcFMR
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡquGhFw5eUD
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEAMoWn6sM
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP11e4LvjUs
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQl5byosoG
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pt7DiPRT1
“What’s so funny?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrcX2Pj8ED
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuo2lAr7HLM
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13CY0PGVad
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeTYLSB39c
“There’s just one thing off, though—” she observes, as an afterthought, “where’s my rival in love?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMCJknky8y
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvTygTqt2V
“Nowhere,” he asserts, grave like only he could be about even the most foolish of things. “I am yours.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WAnOEfzNO
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzS6CVFv0gT
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLkyRHtDUY
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡThpefHEK4Y
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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBKa4MWgvbw
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkDaszXzzyS
And he is breathing in her scent and tightly holding her in his arms—so tightly in fact that she can hardly breathe.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsTbLq7NLX
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZXUS8wo5K
“S-asuke—” she chokes.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrwQgaI1t1o
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXgf0NDAAI
But he does not listen.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHTWYRYSio
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKogRun8Ai
“…mine.”
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUJlTrs7f8
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ry2dmtcww
She soundlessly sneaks behind him and leans her chin on his shoulder.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDt9WNW634
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhy2QbjS3SO
“Sewing again?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3SWS3KaC1
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvF9hijyBcR
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2aFggzHb5z
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOR2cWfCk2
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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUmV268RDE
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyRqoTIDsR
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtAUKgH5UtJ
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCwVHyvKu4a
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Vu3gau3Rf
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOWxBjgCIi
“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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYpn5xqQ5N
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJfcXngbpj
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjG4VPQdu5w
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhGvQjkfHd
And he finds himself smiling at her back, like one of those love-sick fools he always used to make fun of.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyuEORalXt
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpzSKcAkbwr
But it’s just, back then—he had never thought someone could actually make him this happy.
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKl6XkTLXp
“Stop doing that, Sasuke.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqVkvDq5ikm
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQXBmQkD2c9
“Doing what?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdg3jv8HYFP
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSwtXaPdW0
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXiQMK5056s
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGwV12Ttdgq
“Or what?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorLnY3zlPP
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1j2Ob95DYF
“…Or I may fall in love with you, Uchiha.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYWPkrUddL
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6HNCIkV5DZ
She is both elated and horrified to see how soft and harmless his usual menacing and intimidating smirk looks as he replies.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPxcTzb4LR
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡObvD3R87it
“… Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlz6cfLM7gU
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkDrVPjDjYa
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsvCdXvUM1
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYqbTaJx9v
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfunbDjasOu
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDjMmT7tsbW
Only a minute would be enough for a spy as skilled as herself.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCMppvKRr4
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVr1UprThTs
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhia6BoA6gk
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtiKpSo569g
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSC84KyJzf
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ1gBWpHs7P
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—584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMa8kx6T2d
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28R9UdMest
To forget the atrocities she would find if she did.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ac3ZpGhHy
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRKsf40rJVF
And, really—who would have thought that a monster like Uchiha Sasuke was capable of making a face like that?
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZfzuNBo2ZK
Sasuke was just putting a plate aside when the sound of porcelain breaking reaches his ears.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgsikWkHIP
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZsw0OlmNPI
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR836HvJaA7
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXY0tgC92v
“Karin,” he calls, drying his hands on his pants—and he misses the way Karin’s shoulders tense, her back stiffening. “Are you alright?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VauMbV5JU
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK9lLHBfb9D
“Yeah,” she murmurs after a moment, and Sasuke blinks. She didn’t sound alright.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaqT2aLGWI0
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOMVWIungy9
“Karin,” he calls again, approaching her. “Leave that be, I’ll take care of it.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1XA2lkG2Vs
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjincPODVm
“I told you, it’s fine.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlXeczTMHeB
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKI8T1mrFbO
He frowns, concerned. “Karin—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKQy5eX7v0
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWqnybgo2RS
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMOhTxnmbC
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWpYvnG8CI
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2E9EMPapyp
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8HgysgFTfl
“Sorry, Sasuke—I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDD1kqxeNW
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2yYOxllEKY
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0EX2UknFJz
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9X3NDqjYxC
He doesn’t know what he would do if he were to see that same fright reflected in her eyes again.
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRXjX9KVer
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcuAvkUUVv4
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMTIcQdsGC
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1m73A9eewB
“S-sasuke, what—?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hWEeZK2jt
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0vf4Gocx7
“Where were you, Karin?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8LpW58SDcO
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwMrau9brK1
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdc8TxrM0rp
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6e7L5TFy5E
It reeks of lighting and promises pain—it frankly terrifies her.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNRatD1ozT
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLPXBck77D
But she holds her ground.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFp03PamGRa
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1EBpzsEILU
“I—I was having lunch with my parents, Sasuke. They called to invite us today but you were at—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSazGhr71r7
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoCclO9uS20
“Liar,” he grits out, and Karin’s blood runs cold. “I called them myself. You were not with them. So, where were you?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EgMpaJxlc
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCorZMecuIy
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—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZgAf6r4Th
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiw2mwB53sq
“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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmSZtqkSho
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjD2BO0zbH
“Sasuke, I—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotkfN9z5BN
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWOh4PVtay5
“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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe5qRPAg6pO
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshq5njZ6vj
A part of her hates herself for how easily the answer comes forth to her lips. For how true it remains. “… I do, Sasuke.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyMmDwgtrp
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbF9knv68O
She hears his smile, “Good. Then, you will stop seeing them, won’t you? Those girls.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmsbJGvyd1
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBx6Y9hZj5H
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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1lXrDpufn
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2kKY0Rgp9
I want you all for myself—is what Karin hears instead, and she frowns. “Sasuke, you can’t be serious—they are my friends!”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRszR3qYEQu
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRa6XvNhFb
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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiziCAh9aW6
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBq05I1CCqp
“I—” yes, he is—was. Is.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRx0Yx0XPRJ
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHnUuUqLbSO
And that frightens her more than he possibly could.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCnAhNoR0HB
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKVkW2DSRn
“—alright, Sasuke… you win.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4x8OT7GsM
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGOL8Fo25m
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7QoF7mNEY
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy2TT5ZcMkg
Even himself.
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCexXXFq2b
The silence is deafening. The unsaid drawing knots with his vocal chords, until he decides that enough has been enough.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUhMLPDGjnj
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MugF55KvF
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2k8Yd68TM
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZIwCJBVPc
She doesn’t bulge. “What?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjfToMxYom6
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQSLV05HIR
And perhaps that’s what worries Sasuke the most.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiVr1SbleIw
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNWYyWxztLu
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKMBtLBk3kE
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiN6MTKE3eJ
“Don’t try to avoid the subject, Karin. There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBsg6HxgBFT
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ16op75Zl1F
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWkGMv1aNQ
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH68FGIeclX
And Sasuke wants nothing more than to ask her to stop—but he is too scared to do so.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8o1aq3yJg
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eZadAkc2K
“Eat, Sasuke. It’s going to get cold.”
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmCoiQoMUP0
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEj4Bbw8uQf
He rolls the raspberries between his fingers, memories swirling in his head.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxulKHFBTPf
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCbhcvutm0Y
He has always had a very good memory; and throughout his life, it has proved to be a curse more often than a blessing.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdqmEkQNSLX
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXmoWY6L7I
In this case, it is both at once.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7oPhZCNXu
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWeDqGkuv9n
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTmvuytxeM
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ZkVj1HROC
A girl sending him off with a sad smile, and never looking back.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiIX1kcKI95
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4z9OvhsXv9
Broken promises.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSTAJmHj3c
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OiJMpxkVI
A call. A funeral.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDxiUgumKW
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqxV7jSnN5c
And tears.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTX4c6ja2Q4
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNWPBog8qWj
Heartbreak.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnagMkIdAl
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKrLRtRfiil
Loneliness.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsUJgcvq88f
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHK7cSt8aqm
…then there was nothing else.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8Y3yMr1Gx
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5g8X0Qr5X4
And then there was everything all over again.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQL7N0U7HYn
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVlZ4YV4HNR
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMByxrV0R8p
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygZ1zT5qxt
He can’t stop.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxQ6RRz4tg
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJm1jlLxZI
He does not want to.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvTLOMzzor
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeB7qkQtdn
One of the raspberries snaps, juice rolling down his fingers—but he does nothing to clean it up.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf9Ny05Ekuf
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGharBi5kcC
The door creaks open.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHwjY70N642
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPqxbinBirF
“Uchiha-san, you have to eat.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKm1b33o0B
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsj0WSrgp8
The nurse says, more out of habit than anything else; but he is too far away to hear—584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzG2ous2mdB
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQRjPeSkP1
(“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.)584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7wkl4XOmXr
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxupJjOwlh
—and it’s been a year since the patient of the room 723 has pronounced a single word.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJWVLZOkXPY
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFTdoNsbHU
(And a five-year old Karin is smiling.)
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAHW7YT1mf
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo2WcftIPel
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkmHpL4tH5
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69aqlEwTOb
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBjvurOv5S
Karin was sitting on the bed, unnaturally straight and still; her eyes vacant and unseeing, telltale trails of dried tears on her cheeks.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsM9QKrRuzO
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhK94fsnYXc
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNZWUXndPV8
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRvGH7zeEr6
“Karin…” his voice is faint; a tentative call more to spur himself into motion than to reach her. “Karin, what’s wrong?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCagqkf9imK
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWd5pfyypuS
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57lu33A7kO
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhUhZ8oW5z5
And then she parts her lips.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSzP8RATdH
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQu1jYAqjIb
“Sasuke… I had a dream… a new one.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡogQ7F5UYSO
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4F3BWD2V40
Sasuke swallows; what could she have possibly seen to put her in such a state?584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLKd3RckAks
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2UOSNg4gt
“Karin, I…” the redhead simply shakes her head, and to his ever-growing alarm there are fresh tears dripping from her eyes.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQBzBE6wKTJ
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EruYylwAh
“Forget it, Sasuke… it’s better if you do.”
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEm2F0HbJYb
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq938PQyDF8
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡExbcbr9KYd
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1q1SOzlaDI
“Stop it, Karin. You were not supposed to care about him—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbPJcvwfk9
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjyDvhTiHis
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBpv6xiPij8
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPUZPkM6kVu
It makes something in her tightly clench.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39DYE5qR49
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRPJDkhMKq
“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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyoyNBLh1Yk
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibqw9B4y5j
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtpHAUnZgwX
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1E5JX6r5dk
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3acgGvHk49
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwAgUXEOtZx
She can hear them coming from her, and she knows she won’t be able to escape—but that was fine.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKrDiPlM7j5
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArrMYkCnbU
She would take as many of them as she possibly could before going down, and—584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvPM30Ll1U
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY6MXHTEy9v
“…we’ll meet soon, Sasuke.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6uDkLnrvcP
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIlwWcLe9Py
—and Sasuke had always liked souvenirs.
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVE1mdgX0S4
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHcKAtt3Ry
He is crudely woken up by Karin screaming his name.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXqY82G4Ioj
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡadHdX3U6vk
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB0IXwWd3dx
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqg3T8C5Rp
In fact—she seemed to only be getting worse.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtt4xBdMTzR
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGh9Uae2clK
“Sasuke, no—!”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnLAPRbxhMP
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrOhgXcQvFv
“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—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAwXhHSprN
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFCx01tck1
But his sincere promise is cut short by her terrified sob.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32GRf5pq0n
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIVOeUZ1vq
“N-no, Sasuke—get away from me!”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5eLocIXZU7
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMs2kdCVjhM
Sasuke jumps back, as if burnt. “W-what…?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5Fu54XwUY
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnAHpp3W6ky
He could not believe his ears—she was frightened—of him?584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxcY60btqg
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa07aNyTGZe
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEoRQOCJABz
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwDeA5m2FIK
‘… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.’584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDvCnDvLeaC
‘What weren’t?’584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡauMqSoxuHs
‘...You.’584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj37v0aZ6N6
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTm6tvqmWN6
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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKoS6w81iU
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAQD4ar8Um
Ghosts he has started to fear, too.
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO61bOGmh8e
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584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwuCJKu2ptu
“Karin,” he whispers affectionately, caressing her cheek with his right hand, “I need you.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeElmAQP41z
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ5W6Wx7L5D
Karin swallows the knot in her throat and forces her knees to remain firm, “I—I know, so plea—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7NHi4wdcN
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIw4lPhltme
“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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXyiVdAVUP
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaw9pkpRlM
“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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkzinkriFq
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7sMq1psdAE
“I’ll see you soon… Karin.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5KIGf51bL6
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw00PFtlk1v
He says, and his words are as loud as the gunshot that follows.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPyYJxokNA
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And then her lifeless body is crumbling to the ground, his soon to follow.
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“What was I doing to you?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSevjboIK0
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“… I don’t remember.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ632Z0hhtg4
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Sasuke shuts his eyes close, his hands gripping the sheets. It would be so much easier to pretend to believe her; to pretend there was nothing wrong. To pretend he didn’t spend the whole night fighting the desperation gripping at his core as he watched her shake in her turmoil-filled sleep; longing for it to end, dreading what would happen once it did.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmTLROulx8
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But he has played that game long enough.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmnJFw99Gs
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He cannot continue to allow himself to remain blissfully unaware while she battles on her own.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkr6oyJQcu
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“Don’t lie to me, Karin.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdZNcefkNE
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“I’m not lying, Sasuke… I can’t remember what I dreamed,” Karin whispers, and a shiver runs down his spine as she places her cold hand atop of his own; it was trembling. “…But I can remember the rest.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyfP01gC9U
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He is shaking, too—and so he uncurls his fists and entwines his fingers with hers, and makes the one request that would surely change everything.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskdKUKlP11
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“…Tell me the truth, Karin.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEA4v7vvxwI
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEBHitxmfH
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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—584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZVpehy1dA
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIj8GSthcSz
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“Idiot, I… told you… to move, Sasuke…”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjKtqZvTxD
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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—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWzdiOFZzI
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ojgPAJU3z
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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—”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHqWFiznk7
584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLkUsSXYDM
“—make you… regret it… I know,” her smile looks like unleashed tears. “I admit… this… wasn’t exactly… what I had… in mind.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUyoRHXWeT
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There is a choked sob—and he barely registers it is his own.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKUH5yFy0l
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgx7p9yhVN
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“Don’t… all I want…ed… is for you… to smile… like that day.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJhfra8Capq
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡliXbRiHwnP
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And she slips away through his hesitation like he had always slipped through her fingers.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8CGTeiRBm
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“See ya… Sasuke.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdt6zK5mbBu
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLx4wvdL5z7
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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—584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqdwAYxbYh
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKInUSM40Lq
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX05q6KdKQX
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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?”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTBhThDxho
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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.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlscv4UF0Bq
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEDp8IXdWL
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“And, above all…”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡexjZ4JSkrC
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyGq3vms4EP
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPuxWV4M56h
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Except that it doesn’t get to.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71zpOt0qM8
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2lG3MDLdS
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“See ya.”584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEveAskCuxo
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This is what I give,584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkNhztZSbI
A circle is complete.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4qyME1468
Another circle spins584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4o1a20pJVn
There's life within,584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtEDTJZhVdL
Within
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end.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomLqr2ySzb
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeWBe3i0FMl
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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.584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLa4bQXyV0S
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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~!584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhkrhMRcSO
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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 lol584Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDPmYCLd8y
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Thanks for reading! ♥
Tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
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