[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~!603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApoGfM3KQA
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By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Jg0SLhkrW
Rating: M (some suggestive scenes, and some violence.)603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYE4D2XXuU
Word Count: 8.810603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4ma1Oh4Yc
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYsvZwJIQQ
Warning: Some OOC-ness due to the fact that I'm working with future SK... among other things you will soon realize lol603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTEM5O21O0
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCBZJcfKR9O
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A heartbeat that awakens from the ashes.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIWvn54e0s
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To the stars that played with the darkness603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7l3bmLEW7
I sang of love and burned up completely
Wildfire603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlIPbnFWRtz
by Kanae603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWNmhD54KEW
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8nl1XMuKhK
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Something in his chest tightens.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcipChB7o0z
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5oLhNEuIH
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Just a girl.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrel3PtmSeg
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Sasuke all but snorts, mildly shaking his head and turning away in wonderment.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZLCb00eBft
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He misses the way the girl stops, her back straightening as if bolted.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPWxBTvmZH
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0LpBdWZYi
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The girl.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LOijkC1Ru
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The redhead.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqVHvZQhBev
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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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIirG3jQ9z
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9zeX6pJAb
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“Don’t think so,” he replies, trying to sidestep her—but the girl blocks his way again.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN18mG5liGa
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodVAhmVses
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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—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdlX9gwE6Gu
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“You’re right,” Sasuke agrees, clenching his jaw and walking past her.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1opghTCN8k
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw0oYBSTeVu
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡImUH12HZzu
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSO65AxhV9n
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She falls quiet—and Sasuke thinks the odd conversation has come to an end.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxF4YClc8R
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He was severely mistaken.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl2x3jbrgQD
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkgozxXg0qD
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotBJfDfjNu
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It is slowly that he turns towards her, eyes narrowed and heart galloping inside his chest. “How…?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXnDcVRcZwL
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwZdEowbKj
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXi7hI3FpB
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhrYijqHqu
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeaXafdiLX6
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkErfDJmZX9
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She does not let go of him.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUbQYj1eF5M
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And the déjà vu only worsens.
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“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTkpn4CNIJ
“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCc98bAt3e
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“The… dreams?” he questions, and feels utterly ridiculous just by saying it.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wIeQpY9Za
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJJYldvY1Z
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“And these… dreams, of yours. They were about me?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE67LZ0akhv
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TmoJc6zEd
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“Doing what, exactly?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmgAZEdkRzD
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“A lot of things. Fighting, mostly. You were a ninja, sometimes. Both of us were.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBHv1Z03r6
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“…A ninja?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiaKHl1cAZv
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCe8wY1YVXU
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyCJUCDjb9
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJFGUB1ZZd
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“… What do you mean, exactly?” he prods with narrowed eyes.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Ym6054hXo
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4eZmbd7InG
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Sasuke frowns. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did he like where she was going with this. “Reincarnations?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpSqza6m9iU
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Karin snaps her fingers, “Bingo.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvb0Jj66VSe
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Sasuke snorts. “That’s ridiculous.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbMoZhovryH
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“I know you don’t believe in them, Sasuke. But that doesn’t mean they do not exist.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XOlzqNWne
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBanM19Jhs
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy6mOY7gGl1
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“But I am done hearing your bullshit.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0XJX2SdCU
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7rp9fmnGQ
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He feels insulted, but he stays. And a little smirk quirks up Karin’s lips; as expected, that smirk said.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNE6GIjh5A
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But any comments he may have had about her arrogance promptly disappear as the redhead utters her next words.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMQEbMl6Uz
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9DkYuUUCH
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57jsscRsju
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They. Because that was all that was left, now. She was all he had left.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6C5Jkt5pD
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“We will get through this,” she repeats, because they would. They had to.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNnn0kitGlV
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“You’re not alone. I’m with you, Sasuke. I won’t ever leave you,”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ZLRixLbpZ
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitMiyrvIGY
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxicVOp2dRd
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyvGFq6fFyT
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnVFdGGNfH
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFB1QKjJYru
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJaNrhu9VDf
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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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyRb6b2R72
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjhR1hXchT
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He has really run out of patience. “Stop with the riddles, will you? Just answer!”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IvDRvDfNJ
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3T2L5jMEp7
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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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nkcZonq6a
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Karin shrugs, unfazed.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZX1fha9tG
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8Hi3nDJXO
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That catches his attention. “What do you mean?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡphtlWDBAvW
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“… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41zraPbrFv
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Sasuke arches one eyebrow, curious. “What weren’t?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQMYTFMX03
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For the first time since they got there, Karin squirms in her seat.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcreNa1ahh
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEK44DbDvFp
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzyxStYCFg
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevv4aHIoKy
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR1F6D6P8aX
Sasuke hates it; having to repeat himself. But he moodily does, anyway. “What do you mean?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ34XxYsfqF
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5xRwuJRqY
Karin does not reply right away; and when she does, her voice is the softest Sasuke has heard it sound so far.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ52UYqT4OP
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDhgdtxXVhJ
“I always ended up loving you all the same,” she admits.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4w2BZWyKFj
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Then she looks at him again, and Sasuke finds that he can’t look away.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzEPL7UMIaI
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“Always.”
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It happens on a rainy night.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOxG01FyBg
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMHuqpUJso
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRNx2mTgVH
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUrSH3OOly
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVG01wzhUAV
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She hadn’t been.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9S0XfiuS9C
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFT905TgLSc
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jUqgAT0zU
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xksKc0udI
So much for not getting wet, she thinks, and it’s then that an umbrella is placed above her.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13NXuIxnit
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOKTiKfaQLO
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmF72eHK6qR
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmiSL37Q8ba
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1unnbnR8Sv
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2FowVFQk3
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhP4z14Vqm
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB2s2wK1JA2
But she can’t look away from him—and before she knows it her legs are moving and the rain no longer matters.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5Us59JVaO
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ExRH6IYpM
By the time he has hung up, they’re standing at the next intersection and she is soaked from head to toe.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFAF7Mb22v
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJPepZAU56
“Hey, you! Wait!”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRTv7qX77U
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiGHkcs6CA
The business man slowly turns around, painfully so, confusion apparent on his face.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2PrGt2EoD
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Onyx meets red and her heart skips a beat as his eyes widen ever so slightly.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpXUdrZnUo
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hNQnlJ4HX
“Thank you,” she breathes out jaggedly and not exactly from the chasing, “for before.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwi3yJRFTur
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggFpIvg2so
“… 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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLvfMAFwNzJ
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRHxpT81q3f
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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDL6pD4HmG
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXblUfktqXZ
He tilts his head to the side, long bangs falling across his face. “… Hn, down the street, you say?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHnVviGTrg
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHtLYOdNIG
“Yeah. It’s less than a minute away,” she gulps, “so, what do you say?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtItDRVqBB
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhVMpngVUA
He smiles, and his whole face lights up. “I’d like that.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwHjMpYLpa
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINTHvjOL9E
By the time they place their orders, she is already in love with him.
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He thinks that maybe he should be surprised, but the truth is that he isn’t.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dBrc9mz7T
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVz0psLgYKx
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6AGlZFqFV
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfXiH6JU2V
“… You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0B5qU51hr
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpxjdbenKR
Karin blinks innocently, a direct contrast with the amused smirk shamelessly painted across her lips. “What do you mean, Uchiha-san?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzZ34QUw5N
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRvRLvXjvc7
“Drop the act,” he glares, matter-of-fact. “You knew I worked here.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevvCpwl3jJ
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXbVlth9OIV
“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLfdEvEPSr
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2v2VtZEUHc
'Always'.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyP6JYu831
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7VJ1iYHNIL
“—so not my fault you basically own the damn city,” Karin finishes, and Sasuke blinks.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy1lSC28VDF
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“Huh?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5gyBQakkO
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She deadpans. “You weren’t listening, were you?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywJ5YRecKo
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotp2txzjyY
“I was,” he lies through gritted teeth, prodded by some unexplainable force. Damn, why did he always have to bicker with this girl?603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvh9BjQjSR
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuu8Xae9upW
“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—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkD3p5trU36
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He all but groans. “Stop, Karin. Don’t bring that kind of talk here, someone may hear you.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzfff4c8LZ
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTH5rwLaf5u
“Pft, so what?” she huffs, crossing her arms and swaying her hips again. “It’s not like I work here, right?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEB894opUrp
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0GV9q0wVWI
Her tone and most specially the glimmer in her eye as she looks at him told him otherwise.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeQ9fy5FVnT
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Damn her.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡak4DiN2sVH
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“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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6xf4Kr84hl
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqkr07u8RPC
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbfW2e8keG5
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIBMHthR9T
As if reading his thoughts, Karin calls out to him from the door.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgnUnFc61G
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn8QCPeLHe3
“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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5ZcWEYowo
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3R8izOkaJ
And for some unknown reason, Sasuke finds himself blushing.
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“I brought you the papers you requested,”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8NOSG3Led
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWcLtybu9HU
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCmRiX9Jfq
“Idiot,” she manages to reprimand between kisses, “what if someone sees us?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwcLxXIIYx
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJQxlAD0Jd
“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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGnMJRAaIof
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2Qgi8cKqW
“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIdkrtQTQn9
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP182XmmXV4
“Any complains?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14H7KivpLf
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHevPRi9BY
“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRH16bFE0HX
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3rVNFndxhZ
She has a mission to accomplish—but he makes her forget soon enough.
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“I’ll have some Okonomiyaki, please.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xtYrhuvP8
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEDuPf43dz
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“Whoa, Sasuke, That girl totally has a thing for you!”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlImg4Uj8Ud
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiNEvlRxdaM
Sasuke rolls his eyes; he was so over this subject. “Tch, she and every other employee, what else is new.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1icAIUrHes
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwUUbbEaqit
Karin snorts, “Cocky, aren’t we? Do I need to remind you that I am one of your employees, too?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQVicomw1o
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'Always'.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Th1TwzQHJ
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3shtq9eaW
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI6Q313xiXA
“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd88ojC0PYq
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkKSaEDezZ
“You really are no fun, Sasuke.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQL0nNKaCu
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGkXzzAJ9iX
“Forget about that, Karin. You said you would tell me more about—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvs1RrMQuiB
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“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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqzYXDMERv
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“Karin.”
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“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4tR15KWKO1
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cfvj26gT3
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9K5mTkfgjb
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He is the first thing she sees when she comes out of the room.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pqu1mLVVC
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhULW7SDQyi
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3K4Qeq3oHP
“…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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUUA5I6WYhv
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“Idiot,” she hisses, and means it. “You are hurt, let me—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrkHABSkENk
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡje7JPPAF67
“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQTlxqRQHp
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDwHJw0LUX
“…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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMMfxqNUZ6
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To her surprise, Sasuke snorts.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJAF4Rg3abH
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“What?” she snaps.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMHK3sJrra
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“Nothing,” he says, and he is smirking. “Just, you’re the last person I want to hear that from, Karin.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMpQg6Hz3Ut
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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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZe8EoIOcv
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He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, his smirk softening around the edges. “…I wonder.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuEwVhri6D
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And despite her blood loss, her blush only deepens.
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“Would you like more tea, Karin-chan?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoctNf0rj7H
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb3m3XuSkDJ
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqIyH0PTZrc
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDucfTTh69W
“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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzyyBgcX2oM
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSCFvcepUy
Sasuke huffs, halfheartedly batting his brother’s hands away. “I know that—moreover, when will you stop treating me like a child, Itachi?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUSs45XjvG
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGs5cV6iiud
“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?603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OHY9ZgaHH
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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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0EVa7g9mtw
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJWphZAV294
Great. So she had been listening in, huh? He should have guessed.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMpYOPqITE
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“Not quite,” Itachi replies, but Sasuke’s triumphant smirk is short-lived as his brother adds, “But almost.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjfYErNmhMz
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“Brother!” he reproaches, causing the older boy to chuckle again and Karin to smirk widely.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdcckjdnYY1
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“You’re unbelievable, Sasuke; I mean, I knew you were an unsocial prude, but almost no girlfriends? Seriously?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2CnQlHM8f
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0oPcclrw0J
He glares, mortified to feel the by-now familiar sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Shut up, Karin.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfIfQlMOaFt
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“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqnkfqChaPG
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Damn you, brother.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkr4VwEHGw
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“Hn, I don’t know what Itachi is talking about.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJ5OwufIpW
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIW9JFrFTP
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“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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1wRLfOzwxv
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeyWNqCBJw9
Despite his better judgment, Sasuke can feel himself blushing. “Who said I’m enjoying myself?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyM0urzCrNO
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26g8TtbnYp
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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3vWo29pTQI
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKcwRv1ZGf
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFysBC5N9n
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMd09KIInk6
“… 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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYlQesMGtX
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“I know, dear. But, somehow… it feels like you two have known each other for a long time.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKFQnqUVF4
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlOJJNkKdsq
Itachi says nothing—but the way in which he warmly squeezes Sasuke’s shoulder is eloquent enough.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbJKo0YxZm
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwT6FaS0KfO
Wordlessly, Sasuke and Karin seek each other’s eyes across the room—and he wishes he wasn’t aware of the way he was slowly starting to mirror her smile.
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“It’s so stupid,” she assesses, looking at the field with apparent disinterest, “I mean, running like idiots after a ball, really? Pft, where’s the fun in that?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKtVqRan5tl
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8LVyc3IhGL
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—603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaevwMQiTT
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPHAQv2nGCe
“Sasuke—hey, earth to Sasuke, are you listening? I was just saying that—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBPL7QKOZja
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyI61dskCtr
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRnlmzpPHG
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQd950Vw65m
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9RhQH4Ncs
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“Raspberries,” he states, and that seems to get Karin off her trance, because she blinks at him.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNuTG7jxUZ
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And then she is grinning.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5MzYtr7Mx
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“Had I known you would finally kiss me today, I’d have worn something less sweet.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡum2LAXBQia
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQv8GzBlcRi
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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHEyysJZTd
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRG6Xpx3kCy
“I know,” and her grin becomes a husky smirk as she tangles her fingers in his hair. “You’re too easy to read, Sasuke.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFPIMqcIHlC
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EB9DukXST
“Hn, you could have helped, then,” he says, but the truth is he is too lost in her to really mind.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNzlbwutat
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“Not a chance,” their noses touch and her voice lowers to a mere brush of air against his lips, “…it’s too fun to watch you squirm.”
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“You won’t find anything better for a more reasonable price, I assure you, Uchiha-san. This is the absolute best—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9wZG8nCqsc
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5E1tDla0u3
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojRrDZTEpE
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“Excuse me.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMyQo3IZW6j
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bGj5tTCNu
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBsticvtmIs
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“This house is ours, Sasuke,”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3aSjYixBOo
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9heKwBmsUs
Her fingers find their way around his, and Sasuke gives them a squeeze as he nods, his expression naturally mirroring her own.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHWXPhBYRZ
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He could feel it, too.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGv5lR59H5
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Behind them, the realtor clears his throat but Karin cuts him short before he could get a single word out.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOaZQH2A9c
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“We’re buying it,” she states loud and clear, and she is positively glowing.
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She can hardly believe it.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbYvDAvCouu
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hURRTNXnI
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jNgCSrjtM
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaC5jDj0Gm
It seemed like something straight out of one of those dramas she used to love to ridicule and secretly watch at the same time.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe20eZpArFr
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmB7BHRgWG6
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡed0hJeCcpw
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYy3rWdaYM
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjX3N1xKypU
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41j7PInidC
“What’s so funny?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDjWqlrEe3
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ42UMHmLMAC
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLWygNcHtI
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“There’s just one thing off, though—” she observes, as an afterthought, “where’s my rival in love?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvLq84c3fe
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡreYY8HX2CJ
“Nowhere,” he asserts, grave like only he could be about even the most foolish of things. “I am yours.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIVbpR9Gbr
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBSBDWvZBb
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwHb6fAMfw
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdD9HcFcmU
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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZsOFFLziR
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpoVphQzblj
And he is breathing in her scent and tightly holding her in his arms—so tightly in fact that she can hardly breathe.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYYGKFqfsw
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTu1RSQ3uvy
“S-asuke—” she chokes.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPXtbzUZK8o
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVAOThXGQbv
But he does not listen.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFUYkL9D60O
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“…mine.”
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She soundlessly sneaks behind him and leans her chin on his shoulder.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoI39TbgmZG
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“Sewing again?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhOnve3Mefq
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“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8q2GRegI8y
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZu2cvqwP79
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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhmu0v9Zlr
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU79h5y3j11
“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZ7MPbu84d
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“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLXkJTsAVcz
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzohiKJAcN
“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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgN9Xab06Nn
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVulfJRmUZS
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0iv1Mb4IwP
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And he finds himself smiling at her back, like one of those love-sick fools he always used to make fun of.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmpq80nEqhN
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But it’s just, back then—he had never thought someone could actually make him this happy.
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“Stop doing that, Sasuke.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPh5fzPTGx4
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“Doing what?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRdnNbkheT
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“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGiRAL3gBcl
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“Or what?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdmvZiTf2o
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“…Or I may fall in love with you, Uchiha.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6PhTKzxb0
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She is both elated and horrified to see how soft and harmless his usual menacing and intimidating smirk looks as he replies.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5c2QHrbHSj
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“… Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufFtbnwYe5
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuflX0ic4QB
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRUzi71TyD
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKHhdFhKzQr
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Only a minute would be enough for a spy as skilled as herself.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59mhm6Muqt
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMKIBgPI2h
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb36FhDgDqg
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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—603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGY4RRHkeZK
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6lm5ArUI7d
To forget the atrocities she would find if she did.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhXZJyGBoC
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And, really—who would have thought that a monster like Uchiha Sasuke was capable of making a face like that?
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Sasuke was just putting a plate aside when the sound of porcelain breaking reaches his ears.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OqXjXxDFX
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtJYvMzJl8
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRguYbrJoIo
“Karin,” he calls, drying his hands on his pants—and he misses the way Karin’s shoulders tense, her back stiffening. “Are you alright?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMXsAyHe9Js
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2abizlquEs
“Yeah,” she murmurs after a moment, and Sasuke blinks. She didn’t sound alright.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5x0KisDQw2
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“Karin,” he calls again, approaching her. “Leave that be, I’ll take care of it.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwOSvmkgiYR
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“I told you, it’s fine.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1kEiE9kNC9
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He frowns, concerned. “Karin—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnjDauR2Ja
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSQGXznris
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAO69ZtmAqO
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“Sorry, Sasuke—I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBMMocZOpH
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gf5VdUPXo
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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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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKqFDajeNj
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“S-sasuke, what—?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYK801iz2Np
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4s9YEmvvfx
“Where were you, Karin?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJS8DE5REdP
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIN7MnmtDs
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunf5gEHrdN
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It reeks of lighting and promises pain—it frankly terrifies her.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGxMbFlehB
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But she holds her ground.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrhvp7diXJ
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5IzLJEBRCS
“I—I was having lunch with my parents, Sasuke. They called to invite us today but you were at—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFR1ISfGs3
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfY9uCahjp
“Liar,” he grits out, and Karin’s blood runs cold. “I called them myself. You were not with them. So, where were you?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1GIpBQomfF
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRWVNG4un4
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—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9JF7tbU84
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMlCa7l6Xp
“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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkXFKd8lxq
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0DV216PKN
“Sasuke, I—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEonjBWTNl
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtj3D9XCJY1
“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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj2xL1y1wG2
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFGyLqZRAn
A part of her hates herself for how easily the answer comes forth to her lips. For how true it remains. “… I do, Sasuke.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7V5NxcavJ
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzUYrJo6G9
She hears his smile, “Good. Then, you will stop seeing them, won’t you? Those girls.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBvrL7RICw
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrItVLVaoJ
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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEoUFVST8g
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDvQs05HqO
I want you all for myself—is what Karin hears instead, and she frowns. “Sasuke, you can’t be serious—they are my friends!”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6erNT4ePL7
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0D3sAIMkB
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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YlDlVWqO3
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDsnHv0pI82
“I—” yes, he is—was. Is.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrULwIZ7kyZ
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCxMy6C5m01
And that frightens her more than he possibly could.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SquPttB0A
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffA9UbTwn1
“—alright, Sasuke… you win.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2A8FlDfQDx
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVfHhCrX4QC
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡepCOZYeufm
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskA4JPVeyf
Even himself.
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603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBXtFSbbzS7
The silence is deafening. The unsaid drawing knots with his vocal chords, until he decides that enough has been enough.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNvRlhvTDo
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDPJb9nfDC
“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXnM0mrDc3
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgGxVi3H4C
She doesn’t bulge. “What?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbpWLCjpsw
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVKvUbuTZyG
And perhaps that’s what worries Sasuke the most.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8PJrfPKJla
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9egCz096DB
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVLlHlknyr
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlO3TEuQcn
“Don’t try to avoid the subject, Karin. There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1xVFvNQlvA
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbMEtTj2wjA
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSjN8CcgZm
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpiNxnWRtlM
And Sasuke wants nothing more than to ask her to stop—but he is too scared to do so.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6IXHHRDfM
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxxmF4WvjH
“Eat, Sasuke. It’s going to get cold.”
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1KIvBZrDIi
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603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGCRpBn2xBA
He rolls the raspberries between his fingers, memories swirling in his head.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3yj0t9m08
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3D8znn6C9
He has always had a very good memory; and throughout his life, it has proved to be a curse more often than a blessing.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdegYXREGlF
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ReTKzqQy6
In this case, it is both at once.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVAJAXtKnkO
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsUQhCOlhPT
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUd4bBOew9
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFpJ2fGg3l
A girl sending him off with a sad smile, and never looking back.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvVNQeVRvE
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRvaOGmy2Iw
Broken promises.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQBkT7arvm
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A call. A funeral.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuKhwMniFPK
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdnSLyZrGC
And tears.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNJ12R5pHM
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Pw30Fgrba
Heartbreak.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlHb0IzpoF
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssUvKO35C6
Loneliness.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiAEGrICOR1
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAiEcVI8ZAl
…then there was nothing else.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pR1DM3diz
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And then there was everything all over again.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIP5GMae17
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Cx3DklCVU
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27eMIj1FpL
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXU4SvGOxT
He can’t stop.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNBJxKnZrH
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnFnOZ9qt1
He does not want to.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfexif3A6Fx
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80eInqApal
One of the raspberries snaps, juice rolling down his fingers—but he does nothing to clean it up.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qiHlMhymG
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWwhPNZF54
The door creaks open.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡay1k37UTON
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qWfPajQ48
“Uchiha-san, you have to eat.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7QO6eMX2E
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRY7TKengKn
The nurse says, more out of habit than anything else; but he is too far away to hear—603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO6LRKhCBZ1
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJIQlNDM4m
(“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.)603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzX2xc2hHb5
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYV5i05c3b
—and it’s been a year since the patient of the room 723 has pronounced a single word.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzqF6ICfy6
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1RabbPcHv0
(And a five-year old Karin is smiling.)
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJBtwCqlXd
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPIwy9ENbri
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRhDIreYPS
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGw3DSNkvV7
Karin was sitting on the bed, unnaturally straight and still; her eyes vacant and unseeing, telltale trails of dried tears on her cheeks.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQTVcD3Mafs
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoaMEHRDh9f
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUQPXodwPD
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGALP3gB9it
“Karin…” his voice is faint; a tentative call more to spur himself into motion than to reach her. “Karin, what’s wrong?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANGZcdr5PE
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡREegl140nx
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMaWu07TnzA
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNec7qUhgFI
And then she parts her lips.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOgXlgchwqI
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡseVR7ZxAoc
“Sasuke… I had a dream… a new one.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOluDgkQ2rA
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyaTlTHMD1
Sasuke swallows; what could she have possibly seen to put her in such a state?603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsBiUAZtfW
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0Erto7iLJ
“Karin, I…” the redhead simply shakes her head, and to his ever-growing alarm there are fresh tears dripping from her eyes.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdwqrbus5G6
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIizVUmOii
“Forget it, Sasuke… it’s better if you do.”
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSK7PkdHL7
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603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonFPqAVZ96
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntGgBU5Gjz
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPMufSI5yL
“Stop it, Karin. You were not supposed to care about him—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9CGHxtCKL
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JvJPbRy5Q
“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGs96zBYiaG
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fL0BRDqXS
It makes something in her tightly clench.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqroQFL0h1z
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv23Q3C3QdK
“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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgYNr3TYkW
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekFFT6jRq2
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4Omdibu3e
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLSqR4mB3b
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJqildGAv6
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfMWbmgMsC
She can hear them coming from her, and she knows she won’t be able to escape—but that was fine.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4wWFvaX5b
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRHaSHsenI7
She would take as many of them as she possibly could before going down, and—603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4uJ1I4tXgd
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26anjyLJDW
“…we’ll meet soon, Sasuke.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYiF4qlIoit
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0u9blV8Tg5
—and Sasuke had always liked souvenirs.
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He is crudely woken up by Karin screaming his name.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50TSnJ1eSa
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuDbzjCQ14E
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyCoIaZU3m
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEqAAPDMdR
In fact—she seemed to only be getting worse.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEixZlLWGM4
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKX9QfmavPs
“Sasuke, no—!”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIkIe6ZLD5J
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiRF3PWmzGP
“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—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9X9iRrreVY
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lfgJ9Y3bY
But his sincere promise is cut short by her terrified sob.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfTK3x6bQ5Z
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDk18fPbfvq
“N-no, Sasuke—get away from me!”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqE2woVA3D
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfigIGKbPKs
Sasuke jumps back, as if burnt. “W-what…?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2e3EUOlOH
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gLSUtzRKu
He could not believe his ears—she was frightened—of him?603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92Lw3rpcrN
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuyczVfTrQ
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IWH7F8i2l
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnMfNTXTRSP
‘… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.’603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUfaHsEEDbe
‘What weren’t?’603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl76PIRngfu
‘...You.’603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhEgGMS9ej
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiIG7lfpdq
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Def80Pj8r
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKC6WopOjnr
Ghosts he has started to fear, too.
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603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGR0TuOxsBb
“Karin,” he whispers affectionately, caressing her cheek with his right hand, “I need you.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKgx8WMJqW
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7N0XUw1Jr
Karin swallows the knot in her throat and forces her knees to remain firm, “I—I know, so plea—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotjiPcQBeh
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY6r9VPgL5W
“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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgG4BJykGh
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡge8Tm1AlHA
“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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzdvrDGDcm
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnN3twLz0tw
“I’ll see you soon… Karin.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRJJ0HtQRPF
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aOtnwVyW7
He says, and his words are as loud as the gunshot that follows.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyLz0ThCzk
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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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiMYHXBrWx6
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOSOffLY5o
“… I don’t remember.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hVc87fuLx
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRpUNJOnxp
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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXpgzYUWcpj
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagtvi0ygc0
But he has played that game long enough.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfzvoZj4n4
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡim4x1WUBhl
He cannot continue to allow himself to remain blissfully unaware while she battles on her own.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1GT8ygw21
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyyaQVX72E7
“Don’t lie to me, Karin.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAaoKWfF5Lf
603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrIft7xw0EF
“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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSKkOe86rW5
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhMSGHarGo
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“…Tell me the truth, Karin.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgZPhMHsOv
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSmuyvA8MM2
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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—603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDo179IzbaT
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9T7BR2cqR
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“Idiot, I… told you… to move, Sasuke…”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUt8Pnomdv
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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—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmf0cLTkhym
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvw5Gp2jdUT
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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—”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKfEX5mYcik
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“—make you… regret it… I know,” her smile looks like unleashed tears. “I admit… this… wasn’t exactly… what I had… in mind.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0NkC3VvDUL
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There is a choked sob—and he barely registers it is his own.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2WaY4GUeG
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgS0J906R9z
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“Don’t… all I want…ed… is for you… to smile… like that day.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBBH6bqzlz2
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡILSiHRwHeL
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And she slips away through his hesitation like he had always slipped through her fingers.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpDOtqIeRf
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“See ya… Sasuke.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXWMbauHDtm
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJ8fiiEQnn
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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—603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdlimBic61C
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujnejDYH7j
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZomx90G8db
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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?”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7OhNmO2V6y
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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.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJWcqsC9Vp
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡghfpfLti5C
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“And, above all…”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkNWV8cuc3
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmOxk40KkN
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDp8oun4ZcT
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Except that it doesn’t get to.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPo9HdJnRr
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAKnz9ouV0
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“See ya.”603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0XHrzcUtO
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This is what I give,603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFIsx2qeIt9
A circle is complete.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWOYIImNes
Another circle spins603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxIAN5NZIE
There's life within,603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9vlm6lcQmP
Within
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end.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZvz2N4nDtn
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIAbD6VS7Gx
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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.603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwsmhmFUGo
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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~!603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR9MbQlHvtT
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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 lol603Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNlgTYOYyq9
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Thanks for reading! ♥
Tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
ns216.73.216.176da2
