[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN! PII] READING BETWEEN THE LINES ; (SK)
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8oHjLH7q8
Rating: K+434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazldQ7djii
Word Count: 1.956434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMIKNXsSMTX
Author's Notes: A lighthearted, crack-ish piece, in contrast to the overly fluffy one. I didn't have a clue of what to call it though, so the title is pretty random lol434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZIDqU0ZEY
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpNHfAea2k
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJUHa03dh4
reading between the lines ;434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgWEOb2hepk
by Kanae434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrG3jrg80cq
-
Stupid Orochimaru.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxvrHQL6DT
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEK5189RlRY
Figures he would push her transfer to the Southern base to tomorrow, out of all days. At the tender age of fourteen, there are many things that Karin has shed and discarded—girly emotions and interests that she has cut loose, as a meaning to let go of unnecessary weights that would do nothing but hold her down.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA439fBEQ6L
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjawe3dxi2
This particular weight, though, was proving to be quite hard to seize and dispose of. It only came once a year, after all.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsBd0Q4Ido
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUEfQd2062
And now it would be ruined.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAhlF9GAiK
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfAUUGsALI
The thought makes her lower lipstick out in a pout, which promptly gives way to a scowl as she concludes—not for the first time—that the man had probably done it on purpose.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4Ll2fJAiU
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzsSz3IugP
No, he had definitely done it on purpose. Forget that such a childish action should be leagues beneath a power-hungry maniac like himself; when it came down to it, Orochimaru’s hobby was making people miserable. He got a kick out of it, so in retrospect, Karin guessed she should have seen it coming.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JgKIsC4ws
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBfzfOAVeR
Still, stubborn and proud as she was, she had not given him the pleasure; she had taken the news with a straight face and easily slipped into the act that had taken her months to perfect, but that had started to bear its fruits—even if it had yet to stop making her sick.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWNPduP50Z2
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLWQtGwfG1w
Understood. You won’t be disappointed, Orochimaru-sama.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfp3X3NLhh
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrelRPNX8E
The man had simply smirked, mirth in those gashes he had for eyes. I know.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1xJg0r068
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6EH4FpTqw
Karin knew, too, even though she rather wished she didn’t.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sHgG56rpf
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeG4IjSKhz
It was embarrassing—more like humiliating, actually—to acknowledge that, while she had gotten playing the part of the loyal subordinate down to an art, she had yet to master the act of not having feelings for Sasuke.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVKZmU0tEHf
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu4MpBBHrfs
She would do well most of the time; great, actually—no one would dare to second-guess that she held no interest in the boy, aside from a begrudging partnership.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK1kHnAspE9
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Q7E414dxv
But then Sasuke would unexpectedly do something—a brief touch, a compliment, a look—and her façade would bend at the seams and the truth would sneak out in the form of traitorous blushes and awkward stuttering.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYsbJjisyQ
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZjIwvXgIr
Stupid Sasuke, Karin curses inwardly, her frown deepening as she airily snuck another shirt inside her bag. Making her expose her only weakness while simultaneously remaining completely oblivious about it.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJqNXipUSa
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVE2WF9mZq0
It was no wonder that Orochimaru would want to separate them; Karin had seen that much coming a mile away, so while disappointing, it had not been a surprise. But this—the freaking timing was definitely beyond her expectations.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYiV6naNDK6
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFUVUTsG0R
So focused was she on her thoughts, that she does not realize the chakra approaching her until he speaks.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqai2HUAlWW
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgY1gIfiRJN
“Still packing, Karin?”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRciAPoWOk
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ17ffb4bAE
Startled, Karin turns only to find Sasuke casually regarding her from the threshold of the door, against which he was leaning. It takes her all of two seconds to get over her surprise and a couple of extra ones to stop chiding herself for letting her guard down.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgtLHquYtoj
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCleLFXGFw
“I’m almost done,” she states, shifting her gaze back to her open bag. Not like she had much to pack, anyway; she had not taken anything with her when leaving her burning village to join Orochimaru—Sasuke—almost whole year ago, and since then the items of clothing she has acquired have been scarce. Such commodities were unnecessary given the new type of life she lead, and moreover—“Tch, Sasuke, when will you learn how to knock? I could be changing, for all you know.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmuZyg2Foji
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhFVZznfh1
Karin does not look at him, there is no need to; she can easily picture the way he tilts his head to the side, bangs falling on his eyes and giving him an impossibly sexy aura as he smirks. “You would’ve stopped me from coming in, if you were.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUqFpKElpP
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6dFCXjL0n
Damn him. All plain logic even in the face of the prospect of seeing her in her underwear; why did she have to fall for such a clueless, hormone-less idiot, again?434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHDm34Fn4V
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVCTLsEI0RA
Oh. Right.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBcy2J6XnK
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ183VkBYHUN
It takes her a considerable amount of will to repress the sigh that wanted to leave her lips, “Whatever.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWF2ycyYB5o
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufWwkgxXW8
Suddenly she hears him shifting, straightening; and her hands halt in expectation, her thoughts and irritation quieting down to a soundless tune as she patiently waited for the words that would follow.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYH7wMKPUyC
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7VK0atNqs
“…You shouldn’t leave your door open like this, there.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2OaWZUZjZ
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdIsQK8H2ZA
He finally says, and Karin is thankful that her back is to him, or else he may have noticed the way her gaze softens, “I know.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1oteKO4cVk
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBmSBelQrA
It’s Sasuke’s turn to wait, now; he seems to know it as instinctively as Karin herself did, and he does not utter a single word until she has gathered enough courage to ask what she has been wanting to—but refusing to—ask all along, not wanting to be perceived as weak—as scared. “How is it…? The Southern base, I mean.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5uM1eKuag
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtUko8dGJRE
“I’ve never been there.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSptDsIWqX
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKlVkRBbEiT
“… I see.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0a2s7LoDTw
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLC5eJO3vU4
Silence. For Orochimaru to have never taken Sasuke there, it could only mean one thing—434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5NO4LPZ4I
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNIfnkQh3X
“…Orochimaru told me it’s the less dangerous of them all,” the boy says, and as if to confirm her thoughts, his voice carries a different savor within it—one reserved to accompany his gaze whenever he regarded Orochimaru, or Kabuto, or those that bit—“You won’t have much on your case, aside of…”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjcbmTI3LGU
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfSZwhM66hp
He does not need to finish; the unsaid rings loud and clear between them and both direct a look to her exposed, tarnished arms. There weren’t that many scars in them, yet—but she got the feeling there would be, soon. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why Orochimaru wanted her as the sole jailer of the base—the thought makes her stomach clench, and so Karin pushes it away and focuses on something else before the feeling could threaten to take over her.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ELlNAKIjp
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPN2YJ5kpKk
She focuses on the one thing—the one person that had singlehandedly managed to help her endure everything she has gone through ever since she lost her family and village.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwhMHqwStoL
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9myWpzRkhe
Sasuke.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVe6tttojne
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1mhGM0paR
“Heh, so you asked him?”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQmsBWPOms
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqQNTaZdaZ
He must have heard the mocking note in her tone, because he crosses his arms across his chest and furrows his brow, “Hn, so what?”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzYakR21vf
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4TdPGju2R
She pretends to not have heard him, throwing him a roguish look over her shoulder and enjoying a little too much the way his frown deepens in response. He could be so amusing, sometimes. “You should know better, Sasuke; you don’t need to worry about me, I can defend myself just fine.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKTmy2I6y0O
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1GIAn1Lyy
“I’m not worried, Karin.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6MLnNQyM0
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFxaS2BeBN
Karin snorts, “Sure you aren’t.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDGfU2lo48
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Lf6nZIDY3
Sasuke wisely keeps his retort to himself, as expected—it’s been a while since he had realized that arguing with her took him nowhere. Both of them were too stubborn, and unlike him, Karin wasn’t planning to put leashes on her temper anytime soon.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgXvIaIJgl3
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77Tgf1JVmM
Anytime soon. Her eyes widen.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXjWCKCNgg
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWcy4abUzee
“Say, Sasuke, did you ask Orochimaru for how long will I be there?”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhozg3SzhbD
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmczZUvRMvY
He does not reply immediately; and in his silence, Karin hears the reply loudest of all. “… It’s undetermined.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeclsli8JvF
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkDnRcOG8Gm
“Oh,” is all she can muster, suddenly all too conscious of a single fact—just how long would it be before she saw Sasuke again? He was busy training, and Orochimaru rarely let him out of his sight as it was, and she—she would have her hands full handling the base by herself.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ssku8Ni1I
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXq8lOyTaa
Chances are she would not get to talk, feel or bicker with Sasuke for months.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRoApuLEVH
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIie1XakN7F
Perhaps even years. The thought alone is able to make her blood run cold, and she almost lets out a gasp when Sasuke’s voice breaks through the heavy silence, as if reading her very core.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj7QF8ij7QN
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgnZwzZ6qV
“… It won’t be that long, Karin.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6uydcx0zN
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQIzPsGt2d
When she looks at him, she finds a dangerous glint sharpening his eyes and at once knows what he means.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5TTfYawIH
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIa8lJbcnMx
Orochimaru would not be around for much longer.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJkxQHR5Hi
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5XJynjfLK
Karin swallows, a shot of adrenaline reigniting her veins.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3y0OLCUi1x
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRhYhRCVM1
It is the unavoidable future; one that had been decided even before their paths crossed again, and one that Sasuke had set in stone ever since. Nothing Karin could do or say would change his mind, and so all she had left to do was trust him.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1tAJfOtIK
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9T4nRAr8Ap
“…Right,” she smirks, and makes a point of passing her concern as taunting mockery. “Just make sure to keep your head attached to your neck until then. You won’t have me around to heal you anymore, so you will have to get used to Kabuto.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKe1Qz976P
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAkHBfXobT
“Hn.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIXYXTWmCY
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvuxSc8Cdhs
She sees his scowl, his derisive eye-roll—and somehow is suddenly acutely aware, to the point where she can almost feel it as a physical affliction, of how much she was going to miss him.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqn2K1MuMnc
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkluiswW63C
Everything about him. From his ways to his silence to the way his chakra felt and the way he made her feel, in turn.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEo8sIhXpS
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Vi81Or8mQ
And for the briefest of moments, Karin cannot help but to indulge herself and wonder if he would miss her, too—though she knows better. Sasuke was too single-minded, too focused on his revenge mission to give a thought to anything else, but still—434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNO5YnSwMH
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUL0I9DDuiB
Of course he would. He was only human, even if he would rather pretend—believe—otherwise, and she was the only person he spoke to out of his own volition. The only person he trusted; enough to rely on, enough to keep her around. If he is not lonely yet, then he is going to be lonely, now.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Xz54DPHgg
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTWr5kBwVT
As will she.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdD2DkLbb1z
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡry8pqPvXjK
It is that thought that prompts Karin to entertain being forward for a change and asking Sasuke to spend the night—if only as a birthday present.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUevXO1EVQM
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡniH1D8AKjM
She is merely wetting her lips and preparing to take the chance and let out a say, sasuke when he beats her to it and calls her name.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkoeXpfm9CM
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFew2DgXzEt
Flabbergasted, Karin can only catch the pouch that is suddenly thrown at her, “Huh?”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMFZ6mOSRI7
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTHyRTU0JS
“Poisoned kunai,” Sasuke states with a slight, nonchalant shrug before sticking his hands into his pockets. “I thought they may come in handy.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTGctqEysf1
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTyErwjAZG
She feels warm all over, and prays that Sasuke won’t notice the way her face seemed to be burning like a bonfire, “R-right.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jw2Iy7Kl3
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTdgG5Xzcy
“See ya, Karin.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2znO2xoXdZ
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGjh1QP1tYd
“Later, Sasuke.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLmX9pxuiw
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MCDYGg1MS
It is almost as embarrassing as her treacherous blush, but for a moment, Karin had actually thought—434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj2nEIirAc9
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKF4aUrFOW8
“Pft, as if.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwMV7uSU79N
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhWETHz1JP
She should have known better—Karin thinks, as she opens the pouch and takes out one of the kunai—Sasuke was not the kind to care about birthdays; and neither was she, for that matter. Not the Karin she was growing up to be, at least; she has no doubt that by next year, June 20 would be just another date.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1USLd9Z70r
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy3KoXmFEAt
Still… while it had not been a birthday present, it had been a nice gesture nonetheless. And then he went around denying that he cared, the nerve of him.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrDoUOMthMB
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOWl4HZop4
Seriously, Sasuke, you can be so basic sometimes. The thought makes her smile fondly, and she is just about to put the pouch away when she notices the inconspicuous little fan carved on its backside, just a small dot of reds and whites in what was otherwise an immaculate sea of beiges.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8pVtOxDXZD
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbknyJg9VoD
She blinks—once, twice—and then her smile morphs into a full blown smirk, her fingertips longingly tracing the pattern.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYm99H3lK2
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28jztcV1ns
Sasuke probably had not even noticed it—old habits die hard, after all, and he seemed to be as obsessed with that crest as he was with his revenge—but that hardly mattered, for at the end—434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0IHTlkzT5
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAteNaxUqLM
At the end, it all amounted to the same.434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIddPXkxkaZ
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QkPhdOmsq
“Happy birthday,” Karin mutters, an enthusiastic glint in her eye. “Uchiha Karin.”434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NUWipUuhC
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuMeF4f8Fo
434Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ADdGaczbS
end.
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
ns18.191.91.228da2
