[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~!510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQCQoIqVpH
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By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJE0xRE8e85
Rating: M (some suggestive scenes, and some violence.)510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXuXeyCyZZ
Word Count: 8.810510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9x7yWEYe10
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19DmR2GLoE
Warning: Some OOC-ness due to the fact that I'm working with future SK... among other things you will soon realize lol510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcMMZ7BxOd
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIlw2k8FWw
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A heartbeat that awakens from the ashes.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw2fbNCoZJO
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To the stars that played with the darkness510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPmMlkO40sk
I sang of love and burned up completely
Wildfire510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lr1CI2OXO
by Kanae510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKYgk4P0Lxg
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nz4CJFugF
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Something in his chest tightens.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYzLIJcXPB
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyNwzO76ksh
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Just a girl.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1OuEobhwOH
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Sasuke all but snorts, mildly shaking his head and turning away in wonderment.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgl9ThHVx4
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He misses the way the girl stops, her back straightening as if bolted.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNbjtw6TNv
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mQqw82ecn
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The girl.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ9U11nyAFF
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The redhead.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikLmd96BD9
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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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNEw5UJrvq
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0PNQ31aDkB
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“Don’t think so,” he replies, trying to sidestep her—but the girl blocks his way again.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5sPCSu8YH5
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSa1QxbNdfu
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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—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwiArRLLbON
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“You’re right,” Sasuke agrees, clenching his jaw and walking past her.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhpb7FfSeiv
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK36CUTWRT1
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJPFe61nRNi
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9goOHVNvn
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She falls quiet—and Sasuke thinks the odd conversation has come to an end.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmyr7BxHKM
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He was severely mistaken.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy709wC5ACq
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcNObtgGcf
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQDM5ShsjFB
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It is slowly that he turns towards her, eyes narrowed and heart galloping inside his chest. “How…?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdY2vLZb2qj
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5574J0E95W
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQx9h52w3f
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl5tsxHnbhU
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DrAKntklV
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQdkMMlKLX
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She does not let go of him.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWNcvtvapuA
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And the déjà vu only worsens.
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“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqIpq0xXcg
“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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvu81BXl3j
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“The… dreams?” he questions, and feels utterly ridiculous just by saying it.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuhjpzTaVx
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcQWKNXlnM
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“And these… dreams, of yours. They were about me?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKMjxqdYQM
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz56UKxLM6Q
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“Doing what, exactly?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3HAzuCU8B
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“A lot of things. Fighting, mostly. You were a ninja, sometimes. Both of us were.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMZFBeBlJh
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“…A ninja?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAnUesljHSn
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58EKS0H7Em
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdA50MPOroh
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWFEyJbt9aQ
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“… What do you mean, exactly?” he prods with narrowed eyes.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN8u8fx9YPo
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwtGNa7RE3V
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Sasuke frowns. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did he like where she was going with this. “Reincarnations?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAbK3OWEBB
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Karin snaps her fingers, “Bingo.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEOGqEulgl
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Sasuke snorts. “That’s ridiculous.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3xjDYPHtT
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“I know you don’t believe in them, Sasuke. But that doesn’t mean they do not exist.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLX0fmbOdQm
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBYJvcOSuw
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxiEPTFd6A3
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“But I am done hearing your bullshit.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6YYn7eTHQn
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpExQdlhfQU
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He feels insulted, but he stays. And a little smirk quirks up Karin’s lips; as expected, that smirk said.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0DlmhvhFYO
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But any comments he may have had about her arrogance promptly disappear as the redhead utters her next words.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6M9YThOmf
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBTUPzSP9X
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEKYNyOFXl
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They. Because that was all that was left, now. She was all he had left.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhzPUpEqSam
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“We will get through this,” she repeats, because they would. They had to.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffi3VhUnfs
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“You’re not alone. I’m with you, Sasuke. I won’t ever leave you,”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XW4aut1Rw
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKhGYet5o5
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHiJjocuuQ8
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjZt4rlcle
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70cAsZ1mq7
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPogshXltT
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tBzLhokao
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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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkuw241YuSQ
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3gtsL5xOV
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He has really run out of patience. “Stop with the riddles, will you? Just answer!”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB7l6G73vDp
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0c5JLDa4vn
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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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡToiBE301zX
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Karin shrugs, unfazed.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LY5CNAfLx
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8u045s2DR
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That catches his attention. “What do you mean?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9aE4BnYH4X
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“… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgagt5ltIaU
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Sasuke arches one eyebrow, curious. “What weren’t?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrz4mtaFNZZ
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For the first time since they got there, Karin squirms in her seat.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDnt2Yt19K
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLBSPvXGRJ
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0Um1uLIp9
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCza2SSvJx
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Sasuke hates it; having to repeat himself. But he moodily does, anyway. “What do you mean?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZQHb7iBUB
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCQ7LiyTPF
Karin does not reply right away; and when she does, her voice is the softest Sasuke has heard it sound so far.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKSdjCJC1y
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“I always ended up loving you all the same,” she admits.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡek0vQT04jN
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Then she looks at him again, and Sasuke finds that he can’t look away.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5iUV5JxAu
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“Always.”
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It happens on a rainy night.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5khicjCRFt
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41vQpKo2VZ
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmjKoRWR9Z
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQskGfINQbR
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She hadn’t been.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrBTyXXukZ
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNlROUS7z5M
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCmk0DlavRD
So much for not getting wet, she thinks, and it’s then that an umbrella is placed above her.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ5yMj1BufD
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3mhmuIPf6
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcggqeAZbu0
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ljAWMFFcT
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50XFHrqFk4
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0Fh1QnuJL
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdLYVpmXZM1
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFKxmSW02o
But she can’t look away from him—and before she knows it her legs are moving and the rain no longer matters.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTcl4twYxv
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMr8hUZ5Qq
By the time he has hung up, they’re standing at the next intersection and she is soaked from head to toe.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9oZd12XSm4
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“Hey, you! Wait!”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjf0prNu7oN
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The business man slowly turns around, painfully so, confusion apparent on his face.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ6a5Ab7fmY
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6M7W0TQjEk
Onyx meets red and her heart skips a beat as his eyes widen ever so slightly.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeErvH6j4cR
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0WvEKE9DY
“Thank you,” she breathes out jaggedly and not exactly from the chasing, “for before.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAbazaxNwB3
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡElicplnU85
“… 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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ1vcFuobEe
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZHZZrGaB9
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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomloSCopFF
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSpDqDqtwjS
He tilts his head to the side, long bangs falling across his face. “… Hn, down the street, you say?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0eQfI0N6w
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8IEOSkgRQ
“Yeah. It’s less than a minute away,” she gulps, “so, what do you say?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡumvV6BVG5T
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡESXKp6QwlS
He smiles, and his whole face lights up. “I’d like that.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ByQP5WlyP
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXGzJbKdzoX
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuY76Owit3N
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHMV5FmnWg
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9VjN4HGTXH
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHu7PqXzVF
“… You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSv2ennhaiJ
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypiqJu4CJq
Karin blinks innocently, a direct contrast with the amused smirk shamelessly painted across her lips. “What do you mean, Uchiha-san?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZuR3bKF40
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“Drop the act,” he glares, matter-of-fact. “You knew I worked here.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiRIZKeWE6f
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“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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ArqWcwaOS
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'Always'.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNkDhiTFwjk
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“—so not my fault you basically own the damn city,” Karin finishes, and Sasuke blinks.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWXrP6x4cMW
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“Huh?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL09SS2NAIe
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She deadpans. “You weren’t listening, were you?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJ7udrhJno
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36KcDzk69a
“I was,” he lies through gritted teeth, prodded by some unexplainable force. Damn, why did he always have to bicker with this girl?510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9p5xh9MGcH
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUmxq2gPeU
“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—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0NWhheRGjC
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He all but groans. “Stop, Karin. Don’t bring that kind of talk here, someone may hear you.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLrLzbx6ZvJ
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcMVezV5abX
“Pft, so what?” she huffs, crossing her arms and swaying her hips again. “It’s not like I work here, right?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgakU1VFiA
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhRVHA3fxUF
Her tone and most specially the glimmer in her eye as she looks at him told him otherwise.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ThaI18Aqc
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Damn her.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFQABmSHRl
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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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRGIbgxFe8X
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8nrRLfUIa
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1H44yulLIL
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjiEQluxemo
As if reading his thoughts, Karin calls out to him from the door.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9b7g6rfRY
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡej6IRhRxmN
“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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOzBL6Rzma
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydoIzAVcUB
And for some unknown reason, Sasuke finds himself blushing.
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“I brought you the papers you requested,”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtqo2Tbcdq
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1V2MEM66p
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDIjzm9kwLf
“Idiot,” she manages to reprimand between kisses, “what if someone sees us?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfx8nKZ815
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAffnklqhsI
“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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhL3Jv8RXYb
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfAHOwNZFdt
“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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtXZrQs0f1B
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQacXTVD6wX
“Any complains?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzpaNXvf6D
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSa8FhbVZRK
“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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnTHOnWCR6
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She has a mission to accomplish—but he makes her forget soon enough.
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“I’ll have some Okonomiyaki, please.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsKzlZL9DK
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJFXmcNyrd
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“Whoa, Sasuke, That girl totally has a thing for you!”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYD3ZOjkFLs
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Sasuke rolls his eyes; he was so over this subject. “Tch, she and every other employee, what else is new.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMoUE6PCudq
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡId4IPMpc1S
Karin snorts, “Cocky, aren’t we? Do I need to remind you that I am one of your employees, too?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYKC7oZ2A3v
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'Always'.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqG5m7rZZgy
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3SbPbsKz38
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXpLf7ARfsv
“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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1DEFP5giB
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“You really are no fun, Sasuke.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcck3tOmrCS
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“Forget about that, Karin. You said you would tell me more about—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8irX27lCd
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMxBfdEYR7
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3QGNFsiZ7
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNpStdzvGe3
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GzJ9MEyWa
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He is the first thing she sees when she comes out of the room.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8f2stPQmG
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08Z1JD93nE
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUvqROqzu36
“…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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1kdxj6Qt0
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“Idiot,” she hisses, and means it. “You are hurt, let me—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTmwUj6JCI
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“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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmnfdssxFs
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“…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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCPug0OSBHT
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To her surprise, Sasuke snorts.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIrgV99sPA1
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“What?” she snaps.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkU6jisov9g
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“Nothing,” he says, and he is smirking. “Just, you’re the last person I want to hear that from, Karin.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpinJOQITMJ
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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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5A3zhVMvJI
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAK0MG0gBX
He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, his smirk softening around the edges. “…I wonder.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQtK4tCqcC
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And despite her blood loss, her blush only deepens.
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“Would you like more tea, Karin-chan?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡot8mVKhjNS
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTW7DfX0lN
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXLkKDECVOq
“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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpe7RQqNA5K
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKL8edcULq2
Sasuke huffs, halfheartedly batting his brother’s hands away. “I know that—moreover, when will you stop treating me like a child, Itachi?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFsifDeqtn
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2Ent9ZBFY
“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?510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nmiKmTp39
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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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCcCWsvuehf
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvCf3eJtLPT
Great. So she had been listening in, huh? He should have guessed.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqohzPc3SH
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“Not quite,” Itachi replies, but Sasuke’s triumphant smirk is short-lived as his brother adds, “But almost.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYiAgr7hN9p
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“Brother!” he reproaches, causing the older boy to chuckle again and Karin to smirk widely.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOZSQ0L1EQ
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“You’re unbelievable, Sasuke; I mean, I knew you were an unsocial prude, but almost no girlfriends? Seriously?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡftOd8IDqLc
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He glares, mortified to feel the by-now familiar sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Shut up, Karin.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb0SId8FHRU
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNanmdseUe
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Damn you, brother.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOpWLTjrJQ
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“Hn, I don’t know what Itachi is talking about.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuoLdvHOVB
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJX4YFzMOUT
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2OxYjD36A
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Despite his better judgment, Sasuke can feel himself blushing. “Who said I’m enjoying myself?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprLCC6rqxD
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePIjs8x2ix
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIgNmNYCn5
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“… 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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxWMQ15IMD
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“I know, dear. But, somehow… it feels like you two have known each other for a long time.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSHJN5sa2p
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Itachi says nothing—but the way in which he warmly squeezes Sasuke’s shoulder is eloquent enough.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlD9e9a1cUi
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡer85W7jXLH
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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIpl2O4SXV
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIVqvrVU0T
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—510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ155a5g6qnJ
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“Sasuke—hey, earth to Sasuke, are you listening? I was just saying that—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsvj8v65SZ
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8gd4n86dMg
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJJxrKxWDa
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPoBjLE5E2W
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSpEpdR0J4t
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“Raspberries,” he states, and that seems to get Karin off her trance, because she blinks at him.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX93LGIc0HT
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And then she is grinning.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZiZBdiyIc
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“Had I known you would finally kiss me today, I’d have worn something less sweet.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopXjGUaiOU
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJ301NcbxL
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“I know,” and her grin becomes a husky smirk as she tangles her fingers in his hair. “You’re too easy to read, Sasuke.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUMRD0ZqQk
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“Hn, you could have helped, then,” he says, but the truth is he is too lost in her to really mind.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWjwm0boy5
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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—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmvYOtnDII
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1yahKR9c1
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“Excuse me.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU0lDPBuphu
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSBVX8KrTW
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“This house is ours, Sasuke,”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDyNeJP5Rzw
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Her fingers find their way around his, and Sasuke gives them a squeeze as he nods, his expression naturally mirroring her own.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL25YTMlFQ7
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He could feel it, too.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡum8nkAHBLY
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Behind them, the realtor clears his throat but Karin cuts him short before he could get a single word out.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzDCUbAK9U
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRiIx5JJOM
“We’re buying it,” she states loud and clear, and she is positively glowing.
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She can hardly believe it.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzK8zniWZW
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiNxV1f0YxI
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9oMoyxvJA
It seemed like something straight out of one of those dramas she used to love to ridicule and secretly watch at the same time.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8hbeppriUY
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAUNZO8DCn
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgR1lhedtE6
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEpGt3VWyv
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJA4Vd35vAI
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“What’s so funny?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dYlpNVFUa
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHKSYvPIDQ
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“There’s just one thing off, though—” she observes, as an afterthought, “where’s my rival in love?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAbFXVk2eSb
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“Nowhere,” he asserts, grave like only he could be about even the most foolish of things. “I am yours.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKIJXUHvF0K
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHu5LAcoJwa
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8U9zDkha7f
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXPoyTFco6
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50um24nhBT
And he is breathing in her scent and tightly holding her in his arms—so tightly in fact that she can hardly breathe.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡacQwM4WPyS
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“S-asuke—” she chokes.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpjgPoD9Xu
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But he does not listen.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZosIcKLV1
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“…mine.”
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She soundlessly sneaks behind him and leans her chin on his shoulder.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn52gSHbF9c
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“Sewing again?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1xyoc28Gja
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDbxQfICW3
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBTqpEAP5n
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6i02DV9Bh8
“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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMkipzdzYs
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlgfbPHNw5q
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSZHFFhz6U
“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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFLfuanH7V
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNXeS9dTMZ
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYNqw8if3FD
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8k4XaXmhx9
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“Doing what?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvk3a6hLJ4
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr66EItsoGM
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“Or what?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2J0RhH5Fot
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“…Or I may fall in love with you, Uchiha.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3h9Inunij
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoCHTE9hQLv
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“… Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFq0u8Zb24J
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CsOXBQ1u6
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkYqiwVK3pW
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Only a minute would be enough for a spy as skilled as herself.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZ8YiSO9qp
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9fUSS5URpp
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVwZbrf2yU
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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—510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYOGhlzK0k
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSb1L0kxirU
To forget the atrocities she would find if she did.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3EcFruPfnn
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWiWkw99Cq
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrlpYHJ7Ow
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAglX7WZN8H
“Karin,” he calls, drying his hands on his pants—and he misses the way Karin’s shoulders tense, her back stiffening. “Are you alright?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYPhSJvtkuc
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“Yeah,” she murmurs after a moment, and Sasuke blinks. She didn’t sound alright.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmpl2q1SCeA
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“Karin,” he calls again, approaching her. “Leave that be, I’ll take care of it.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfIpuf0ymhA
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“I told you, it’s fine.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYz0iy9WrWG
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He frowns, concerned. “Karin—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguQqDcHzbl
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtulWicptD
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmvYe7F1rO
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“Sorry, Sasuke—I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIp4OLybbG
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMrON27L8A1
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYV6BLpDDi
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“S-sasuke, what—?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvYKJfjEuj
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjt6nN6Ge8
“Where were you, Karin?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwl3tRDKW9u
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9FRkbti28
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It reeks of lighting and promises pain—it frankly terrifies her.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiISdu2aiyC
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But she holds her ground.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAX9DrY9Gx
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“I—I was having lunch with my parents, Sasuke. They called to invite us today but you were at—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡozexSN51U6
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“Liar,” he grits out, and Karin’s blood runs cold. “I called them myself. You were not with them. So, where were you?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxF29kAUaQY
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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—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmdyv5rgKZ
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1COVgFlTYy
“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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Jctx6FiEx
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“Sasuke, I—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9e02qwZruI
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZso3USfEQ
“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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGagE4TiDuu
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSqpNNwvKfQ
A part of her hates herself for how easily the answer comes forth to her lips. For how true it remains. “… I do, Sasuke.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTz9aluKqp
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJamGidLPTq
She hears his smile, “Good. Then, you will stop seeing them, won’t you? Those girls.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRSuFG6EWv
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ndDhYJcmI
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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutyLRaTbap
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQow3UHWSnk
I want you all for myself—is what Karin hears instead, and she frowns. “Sasuke, you can’t be serious—they are my friends!”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXokFVQpX4t
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqrOELGCTc2
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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJWk09mcTk
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡueIW8WkURh
“I—” yes, he is—was. Is.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9WYcmV0u1
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And that frightens her more than he possibly could.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpt549l0OF
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“—alright, Sasuke… you win.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbJD3PEbtM
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHlJpRJFIdA
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksUBYP2I8I
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Even himself.
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The silence is deafening. The unsaid drawing knots with his vocal chords, until he decides that enough has been enough.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVt97oy5q81
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkw9lucPFAs
“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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTZqk9saF7
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She doesn’t bulge. “What?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLobVjtSzT
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerZiJmCBV7
And perhaps that’s what worries Sasuke the most.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxJ4r8svNJG
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4pfD1GeGv
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUS1l52zWn3
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5FiTkdj8mw
“Don’t try to avoid the subject, Karin. There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4FSAXKaOoH
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQV27zzcHap
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9BhJjPilI
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrJqEORSLs
And Sasuke wants nothing more than to ask her to stop—but he is too scared to do so.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1zkPexygG2
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡESFggB3BK1
“Eat, Sasuke. It’s going to get cold.”
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He rolls the raspberries between his fingers, memories swirling in his head.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcaECqa5xJu
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ823w9K0gnQ
He has always had a very good memory; and throughout his life, it has proved to be a curse more often than a blessing.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnBgFuQLza
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In this case, it is both at once.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafQCfk3Tew
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcfQSfohUD
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13rZwQ0cdx
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtJPjsXEr3
A girl sending him off with a sad smile, and never looking back.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfycpz080rs
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Broken promises.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFIuYBY6yP
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A call. A funeral.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDqhRn3eD8
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And tears.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG89D0G4I48
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Heartbreak.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCM7eIFG3Xn
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Loneliness.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡACsMLphbHO
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…then there was nothing else.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyDrMQwws3s
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And then there was everything all over again.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakAMngh4NR
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgFw171XmD8
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He can’t stop.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOiGjvxiHKg
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He does not want to.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5t8KDfb1GP
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One of the raspberries snaps, juice rolling down his fingers—but he does nothing to clean it up.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WO8HyH80u
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The door creaks open.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcxvEXFv2s
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“Uchiha-san, you have to eat.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU8d2PRn0Rm
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBrHd8YMzN
The nurse says, more out of habit than anything else; but he is too far away to hear—510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybXSAFFDT8
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf9MIMzZlnK
(“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.)510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNBdqr7a3F
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTpc9xQ1PIt
—and it’s been a year since the patient of the room 723 has pronounced a single word.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPl6v2QmRnA
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqUsmBiRP9
(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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqti8tq2smD
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjcfH0GAeUI
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOP07uENvUS
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhONYaMJry2
Karin was sitting on the bed, unnaturally straight and still; her eyes vacant and unseeing, telltale trails of dried tears on her cheeks.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIrLdPjrXZP
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMaJqEzQ8A
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9PRRdrlba7
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOBuAhFaEn
“Karin…” his voice is faint; a tentative call more to spur himself into motion than to reach her. “Karin, what’s wrong?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFezyTnpaX
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHau1rblEwb
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ42UhyNJwc6
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And then she parts her lips.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXydByvxFfA
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“Sasuke… I had a dream… a new one.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYusv0zlQX
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡboOrNT7aNP
Sasuke swallows; what could she have possibly seen to put her in such a state?510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65LWeJc4xz
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUfpiTdfct
“Karin, I…” the redhead simply shakes her head, and to his ever-growing alarm there are fresh tears dripping from her eyes.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwMLaOiVUk
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrXfSgFeH3p
“Forget it, Sasuke… it’s better if you do.”
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510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisYlWpQJZ4
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QxEzmZvhz
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoeLrYoXE5A
“Stop it, Karin. You were not supposed to care about him—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjo6vuy9Xbx
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡASGNewgCNG
“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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyWtgHeEu2w
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It makes something in her tightly clench.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXVqHYgIp4
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5OQM4TtaQ
“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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakdEI9zFqk
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoCgWTYz6x0
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtALp9CPepu
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonrjQOnIWV
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVP7tMKb40
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1FxROy9hs
She can hear them coming from her, and she knows she won’t be able to escape—but that was fine.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCVEcVmakzP
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7shmZR3iBY
She would take as many of them as she possibly could before going down, and—510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiUyjtozpY9
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“…we’ll meet soon, Sasuke.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡty1qKbX8cA
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡukWSuMa07o
—and Sasuke had always liked souvenirs.
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He is crudely woken up by Karin screaming his name.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwHC1yGIQjr
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyYmAlg7jF
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxRM7J3Fd5
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In fact—she seemed to only be getting worse.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DxEHGJwAd
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“Sasuke, no—!”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwkOmydbrl4
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4PSmWBBOr
“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—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9JV4UNdbZN
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9EgWvaijE
But his sincere promise is cut short by her terrified sob.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXtH5JdRgrP
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMRYuiIsEF
“N-no, Sasuke—get away from me!”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkKu5pkj7MH
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKXkp8EKOf
Sasuke jumps back, as if burnt. “W-what…?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BHN1Wl7f3
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6U5pJ1Cbac
He could not believe his ears—she was frightened—of him?510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOJcBBLpMC
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwliJO8MLta
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYr6cLkXr4l
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5v6Q5z2RF0
‘… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.’510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRsCYMuWDV
‘What weren’t?’510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkJtYf8VCH
‘...You.’510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ9jqTDOT0G
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxl2pckCaom
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTiie65T5oo
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjQ0kirQSBQ
Ghosts he has started to fear, too.
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510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYpIdyNG45P
“Karin,” he whispers affectionately, caressing her cheek with his right hand, “I need you.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYKoRiOjDrK
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZONwSKa35Y
Karin swallows the knot in her throat and forces her knees to remain firm, “I—I know, so plea—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWC6gaMl4Pc
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Sn8v0r1wF
“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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zyuHaewpv
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgWN7ZSxAIE
“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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEdEHAluhg
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKrEWQUTopo
“I’ll see you soon… Karin.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGv78OOvAh
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He says, and his words are as loud as the gunshot that follows.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsZERmIaf9
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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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnvQNUOOLa
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlNdx7AeuT
“… I don’t remember.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyb5dMLmgwq
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ApmjW4mrl
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡie0AhduCHu
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But he has played that game long enough.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOk5MAhTgn
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRIb8nqhQY
He cannot continue to allow himself to remain blissfully unaware while she battles on her own.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLrxW6cYEYK
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpSK8SIFgn
“Don’t lie to me, Karin.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHieFk7YdUz
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmWl3glZiA
“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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAajCEbQEcr
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58LXQY0yIa
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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSDAFgr3kC
510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CyWrqvvVR
“…Tell me the truth, Karin.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbNYZ7ZetZ
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfCMpLeusxV
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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—510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPksGDz8LU3
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6ZvXDcVpb
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“Idiot, I… told you… to move, Sasuke…”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD8uexAaLSS
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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—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ68hSEvUVoG
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEsQfHKTpk
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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—”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0YfLgNRDp
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ahHqAa5GL
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There is a choked sob—and he barely registers it is his own.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmJMkXfd8U
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPHcrDw4SUP
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“Don’t… all I want…ed… is for you… to smile… like that day.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUvwRiaYyz7
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYPAuL9r70
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And she slips away through his hesitation like he had always slipped through her fingers.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaTCOjE9dLi
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“See ya… Sasuke.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZOqCxeFWX
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEqKkM7BPp
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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—510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKhxC0Dzxo
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCRzjnHH97
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0JQB13M3O
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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?”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ftpZDbxWe
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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.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4chRc5MCK
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkFzMKtiNN
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“And, above all…”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMnbHxYKbq
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCl2rtc1Y2
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjuRyvstaC
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Except that it doesn’t get to.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70JF3PgDPj
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcitXSmi9N1
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“See ya.”510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mDmvRqmub
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This is what I give,510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGiRiAEHeaa
A circle is complete.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgzF45ABrG4
Another circle spins510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRat6MtA5at
There's life within,510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41zxV4IqK5
Within
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end.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbc1LcWJ7ON
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BQUlMrP3m
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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.510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMyd32MPA5h
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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~!510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LXzQJOuIr
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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 lol510Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKF1ovkWYMY
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Thanks for reading! ♥
Tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
ns3.14.144.145da2
