[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~!401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtA7riLHhi
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By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxmogO500pC
Rating: M (some suggestive scenes, and some violence.)401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmeCR0nZan
Word Count: 8.810401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhUpqxb5pI
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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡin6JMlZtHo
Warning: Some OOC-ness due to the fact that I'm working with future SK... among other things you will soon realize lol401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWaSkHORaA
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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0jOXN05cI5
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A heartbeat that awakens from the ashes.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1kZT0sJhua
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To the stars that played with the darkness401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5kKs0fjWhe
I sang of love and burned up completely
Wildfire401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9GREokefi
by Kanae401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhyC5gSV72
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCIaZSEKjNO
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Something in his chest tightens.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9raFKyqqt3
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKENv2IJhOR
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Just a girl.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjtKezOtJT7
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Sasuke all but snorts, mildly shaking his head and turning away in wonderment.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzckX1MAIT
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He misses the way the girl stops, her back straightening as if bolted.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqofRVWOUjS
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPQH1Uz8L4
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The girl.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSz9937RIwc
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The redhead.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldJAZXAXOP
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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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtN08uM0rI5
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0AXqHRVGPT
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“Don’t think so,” he replies, trying to sidestep her—but the girl blocks his way again.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1N4cAAMsnB
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUUmKYPXw1w
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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—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVaIrF8H7Pt
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“You’re right,” Sasuke agrees, clenching his jaw and walking past her.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEAsR1mt45
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVFTepVAxvm
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhMoMQyTLy
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUM4dsXZ2aj
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She falls quiet—and Sasuke thinks the odd conversation has come to an end.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2uaGGORzl
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He was severely mistaken.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4valpXVHn2
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPK22yxP25g
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdY6QhzaOnc
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It is slowly that he turns towards her, eyes narrowed and heart galloping inside his chest. “How…?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJ8GyCT1Cz
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3OPuHGdb2L
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMyZ52bywm
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcABG684z1B
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0WxqKy3mby
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHrp9ykfSG
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She does not let go of him.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEADQz6XaD6
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And the déjà vu only worsens.
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“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58LFkoNif6
“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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuN5woRrC4f
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“The… dreams?” he questions, and feels utterly ridiculous just by saying it.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1J7tQFLfCJ
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhUurydqtZp
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“And these… dreams, of yours. They were about me?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZbpirNERHC
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOpUMCbCkUW
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“Doing what, exactly?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxR7BF5dOY
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“A lot of things. Fighting, mostly. You were a ninja, sometimes. Both of us were.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVKX5GlbUEB
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“…A ninja?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO570anxjJn
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtcmo9b5Ja
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwiGD6l3iO
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH906EI5urd
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“… What do you mean, exactly?” he prods with narrowed eyes.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxP8QIyTmCd
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3MMNIfOXz
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Sasuke frowns. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did he like where she was going with this. “Reincarnations?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgc8mlifV5
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Karin snaps her fingers, “Bingo.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFhidjAWGL
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Sasuke snorts. “That’s ridiculous.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rED1KsIlH
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“I know you don’t believe in them, Sasuke. But that doesn’t mean they do not exist.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKLNUgnEc7
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5FJkuRpuU
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEF7IgjT0M6
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“But I am done hearing your bullshit.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUoZV7o4Gka
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkoC4nw5W7k
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He feels insulted, but he stays. And a little smirk quirks up Karin’s lips; as expected, that smirk said.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ46XhVOytoJ
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But any comments he may have had about her arrogance promptly disappear as the redhead utters her next words.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66PA6sbQp5
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ub22jH7KQ
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnZo4pdu7e
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They. Because that was all that was left, now. She was all he had left.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQRLFNzBhb
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“We will get through this,” she repeats, because they would. They had to.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5U9RMzrVuv
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“You’re not alone. I’m with you, Sasuke. I won’t ever leave you,”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMycUwGuQdn
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvrIFTIrpu
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgVFySMPxf5
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmOsFbypMb0
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8NaTcuvNFD
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAb4qBa5IW3
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWEK02oiQQ
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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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbnqEwFo9JN
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjV7z6GqJd
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He has really run out of patience. “Stop with the riddles, will you? Just answer!”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU2axZevFPk
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbnF4VWzGa
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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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkL3bDigwo
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Karin shrugs, unfazed.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr91NpcwG20
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ603BCuop71
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That catches his attention. “What do you mean?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfS28igr7DH
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“… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuel9ugu0Ns
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Sasuke arches one eyebrow, curious. “What weren’t?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEoRB77P89
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For the first time since they got there, Karin squirms in her seat.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqaOJWId1E3
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmrR4p9HHB
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0MKd5GlMC
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUB6fwRkK5d
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Sasuke hates it; having to repeat himself. But he moodily does, anyway. “What do you mean?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5AtODSGgA
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Karin does not reply right away; and when she does, her voice is the softest Sasuke has heard it sound so far.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4OrKd8Gu5I
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“I always ended up loving you all the same,” she admits.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBVldlxhqw8
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Then she looks at him again, and Sasuke finds that he can’t look away.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtFnjcMmVP
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“Always.”
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It happens on a rainy night.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ63EiEPdE4h
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLfoIoB7Lc
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbP0jRAj5ca
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She hadn’t been.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6cooxs3eb
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9d6dDkx1Gy
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So much for not getting wet, she thinks, and it’s then that an umbrella is placed above her.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCe5BP1aGQy
401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBoU99BsVij
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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFbG3wy1Rf
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsiRzeBcs9
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OuseUJQHb
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But she can’t look away from him—and before she knows it her legs are moving and the rain no longer matters.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEcUckf56F
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By the time he has hung up, they’re standing at the next intersection and she is soaked from head to toe.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE6GkUUo47U
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“Hey, you! Wait!”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Lv2fF1b4V
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The business man slowly turns around, painfully so, confusion apparent on his face.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7B4uHIJ1h
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Onyx meets red and her heart skips a beat as his eyes widen ever so slightly.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLI1qgRHip
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“Thank you,” she breathes out jaggedly and not exactly from the chasing, “for before.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorVLOL3oXj
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“… 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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbNhWSEYZE
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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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6D2jEDlkMu
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He tilts his head to the side, long bangs falling across his face. “… Hn, down the street, you say?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnFvlboK4A
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“Yeah. It’s less than a minute away,” she gulps, “so, what do you say?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr42AHLqbCz
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He smiles, and his whole face lights up. “I’d like that.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhmuIVyffu
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO76mPO1Qcj
401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIjm21meky
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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41zNqqNRIv
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“… You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡadd3Xo8rCT
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Karin blinks innocently, a direct contrast with the amused smirk shamelessly painted across her lips. “What do you mean, Uchiha-san?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Ts2JCF50M
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“Drop the act,” he glares, matter-of-fact. “You knew I worked here.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJanZYnZqD4
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwuGeoMMjAA
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'Always'.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDNM8WAcqp
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“—so not my fault you basically own the damn city,” Karin finishes, and Sasuke blinks.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCJpukafWA
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“Huh?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIx67ys6z4o
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She deadpans. “You weren’t listening, were you?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEeHKJqOA3o
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“I was,” he lies through gritted teeth, prodded by some unexplainable force. Damn, why did he always have to bicker with this girl?401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPBUwob3Uq
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“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—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYyG5AWI1P
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He all but groans. “Stop, Karin. Don’t bring that kind of talk here, someone may hear you.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Ne3221cAG
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“Pft, so what?” she huffs, crossing her arms and swaying her hips again. “It’s not like I work here, right?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMUsfSsvMt
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Her tone and most specially the glimmer in her eye as she looks at him told him otherwise.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGswBzW99k
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Damn her.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4OmnTGd2M
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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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr05DDBVzi4
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtSqlyOwYS9
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As if reading his thoughts, Karin calls out to him from the door.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8HwHpqbAyZ
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“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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5xzrumq4Sv
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And for some unknown reason, Sasuke finds himself blushing.
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“I brought you the papers you requested,”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZgaKo9UZm
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6yR0TxtxpX
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“Idiot,” she manages to reprimand between kisses, “what if someone sees us?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gRcBUrIa7
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“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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkWhyWOH8p
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“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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqnMuvGdts
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“Any complains?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrKRREuvGB
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“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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrt9CpQHCyd
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfoqsm5KoXX
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8mFq8s8aC
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“Whoa, Sasuke, That girl totally has a thing for you!”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf9ftS6eOqB
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Sasuke rolls his eyes; he was so over this subject. “Tch, she and every other employee, what else is new.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9CQVFF610q
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Karin snorts, “Cocky, aren’t we? Do I need to remind you that I am one of your employees, too?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEOYUqvqRUE
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'Always'.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNPCXZZzIT
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9z9WVZkvW
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“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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lKPZlrptH
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“You really are no fun, Sasuke.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUjO52InRC
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“Forget about that, Karin. You said you would tell me more about—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDk7qjtzN6
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbS4HFFI4AD
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMbGbdOLxf
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWn9OdmbkBy
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He is the first thing she sees when she comes out of the room.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrNY6qs5Ew
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZwNaJDFqm
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“…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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrEhfNx0Aq4
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“Idiot,” she hisses, and means it. “You are hurt, let me—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGp9v8Tn7qa
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL3FuqvQ49Q
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjIzymg7VB
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To her surprise, Sasuke snorts.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0jzySivTF
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“What?” she snaps.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQe75zxZyan
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“Nothing,” he says, and he is smirking. “Just, you’re the last person I want to hear that from, Karin.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71RiLuBtBy
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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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIMTu007Y0
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He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, his smirk softening around the edges. “…I wonder.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfScbQ8h9Qv
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And despite her blood loss, her blush only deepens.
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“Would you like more tea, Karin-chan?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnv2MmjbakY
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqsqCHSh1yZ
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“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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78UF8xdJHm
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Sasuke huffs, halfheartedly batting his brother’s hands away. “I know that—moreover, when will you stop treating me like a child, Itachi?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDslE6tcW0
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“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?401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7hBYSwIIb
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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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkEMdhLxjW
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Great. So she had been listening in, huh? He should have guessed.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡja3tw0FzLU
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“Not quite,” Itachi replies, but Sasuke’s triumphant smirk is short-lived as his brother adds, “But almost.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAaYiNDFKn4
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“Brother!” he reproaches, causing the older boy to chuckle again and Karin to smirk widely.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡngrxpStRZC
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“You’re unbelievable, Sasuke; I mean, I knew you were an unsocial prude, but almost no girlfriends? Seriously?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65bGSjQEfI
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He glares, mortified to feel the by-now familiar sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Shut up, Karin.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1DNfXownO
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVoDJ7juUI
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Damn you, brother.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTGauUYSVbi
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“Hn, I don’t know what Itachi is talking about.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyWOBqmoZY
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6Gpxiu8LA
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFCMYWjYp6
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Despite his better judgment, Sasuke can feel himself blushing. “Who said I’m enjoying myself?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi97ySXgPz0
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSyoMexo8El
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7aEOY3dKq
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCl56O9Vcyf
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“I know, dear. But, somehow… it feels like you two have known each other for a long time.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIPI0WSL7h7
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Itachi says nothing—but the way in which he warmly squeezes Sasuke’s shoulder is eloquent enough.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzoqDGLFEGB
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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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV8eNMqZVV4
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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—401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXWaXd2d2y
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“Sasuke—hey, earth to Sasuke, are you listening? I was just saying that—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZd7eczzaKM
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhrP0rimzE
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WAfO62Dk5
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“Raspberries,” he states, and that seems to get Karin off her trance, because she blinks at him.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUH8q9Y3hr
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And then she is grinning.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRMZm3dUPjs
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“Had I known you would finally kiss me today, I’d have worn something less sweet.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpSfz8MYQIs
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuALOpjHqf
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡow6rdp3KZP
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYonzqkq39Q
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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—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpLd5kZRAL
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFVXImMkHUS
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“Excuse me.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFcsvxFVU0Z
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6IcpfVTJI
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“This house is ours, Sasuke,”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1yqTJU3zy
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxxNBtmA1G7
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He could feel it, too.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk4m0LNg6Ld
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Behind them, the realtor clears his throat but Karin cuts him short before he could get a single word out.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtNvUedhb2d
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“We’re buying it,” she states loud and clear, and she is positively glowing.
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She can hardly believe it.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv0OHw0w4Fu
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFcxNpjqUQ
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It seemed like something straight out of one of those dramas she used to love to ridicule and secretly watch at the same time.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQD93IGq9L
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEdGXZ2kel
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3b8JenzNm
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“What’s so funny?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡllsWaakDe8
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2NHcGvW70
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“There’s just one thing off, though—” she observes, as an afterthought, “where’s my rival in love?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡye0qGx0zlF
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“Nowhere,” he asserts, grave like only he could be about even the most foolish of things. “I am yours.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpG67ywvlV
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2E4bHbf5xL
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoyLzDO8MT
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And he is breathing in her scent and tightly holding her in his arms—so tightly in fact that she can hardly breathe.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9zu1DaBzE
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“S-asuke—” she chokes.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gqUXPZmVP
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But he does not listen.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0Ge36Z1wp
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“…mine.”
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She soundlessly sneaks behind him and leans her chin on his shoulder.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4X6mwU3UTd
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“Sewing again?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPodbjjXbN4
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjVyvztEJK2
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRx0Nc8UgQ
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“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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMwVhaAoJY
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzzb3pFprJA
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“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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ITlSeFSxj
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxt18kLkc4T
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBliqq9JHS
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1A64mgH9cE
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“Doing what?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvwuev5lqGv
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaArTKYihSM
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“Or what?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡse19g6aP69
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“…Or I may fall in love with you, Uchiha.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6l6cg2dEO
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3AJ9DuNI1v
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“… Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpS18gfl8js
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ814PKeBr4G
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYkfz28Gaug
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Only a minute would be enough for a spy as skilled as herself.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv102KoMRqw
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tYRQiaONU
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbH03y2I3e
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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—401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleDQo4qrvr
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To forget the atrocities she would find if she did.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5LMdReBgZ
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUEp03lkFkV
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Vhw4MpfLo
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“Karin,” he calls, drying his hands on his pants—and he misses the way Karin’s shoulders tense, her back stiffening. “Are you alright?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvJ4Bq4gnS
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“Yeah,” she murmurs after a moment, and Sasuke blinks. She didn’t sound alright.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH8DQV7ci2j
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“Karin,” he calls again, approaching her. “Leave that be, I’ll take care of it.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVmgXRVYFt
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“I told you, it’s fine.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGwV70uKFZz
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He frowns, concerned. “Karin—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MrX2Q9wD9
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjhIm9AWkj
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Sl2snaXiH
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“Sorry, Sasuke—I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4LZkvuhyo
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkiIHzr1vFh
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEs1nsSEXK
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“S-sasuke, what—?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLRfXll5wJ
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“Where were you, Karin?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5PB66kKYn
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUyJkAg97A
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It reeks of lighting and promises pain—it frankly terrifies her.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEZbbb7bg1
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But she holds her ground.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlH08NFJ91
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“I—I was having lunch with my parents, Sasuke. They called to invite us today but you were at—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNMHOt99PT
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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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3t1yIPG2b
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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—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErCot1fvkf
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“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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZeoSwE493
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“Sasuke, I—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYpegCeGjak
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“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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdK7ltOY7qm
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A part of her hates herself for how easily the answer comes forth to her lips. For how true it remains. “… I do, Sasuke.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaexNRiecBo
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She hears his smile, “Good. Then, you will stop seeing them, won’t you? Those girls.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUs97tl7Isd
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCU8aHNL4ag
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I want you all for myself—is what Karin hears instead, and she frowns. “Sasuke, you can’t be serious—they are my friends!”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjRgmUZu1C
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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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrbFW1Mbe2
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“I—” yes, he is—was. Is.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqub7OCbGb
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And that frightens her more than he possibly could.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl95tY1CO2n
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“—alright, Sasuke… you win.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbZOc7zIKH
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7l1wkrc5Iq
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsb7NweQwOW
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“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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡih7rUvglr0
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She doesn’t bulge. “What?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3HUWz8fEK
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And perhaps that’s what worries Sasuke the most.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFRzQ180WW
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNd8szJ0XC
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“Don’t try to avoid the subject, Karin. There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJBG9nm2Gy
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jhXcWr7An
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And Sasuke wants nothing more than to ask her to stop—but he is too scared to do so.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡniAhNDWluk
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“Eat, Sasuke. It’s going to get cold.”
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He rolls the raspberries between his fingers, memories swirling in his head.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZSrn5xKYz
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He has always had a very good memory; and throughout his life, it has proved to be a curse more often than a blessing.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcsDwTIR5GA
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In this case, it is both at once.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeenosNfmwr
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsuZTQU1FO
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A girl sending him off with a sad smile, and never looking back.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNTMszYbAX
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Broken promises.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb3jwY7nRjt
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A call. A funeral.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡalFHnFPwIa
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And tears.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mcGduN7JY
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Heartbreak.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcssGCZmDr
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Loneliness.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVVNV8Z4VtK
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…then there was nothing else.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7VnzLoQUI
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And then there was everything all over again.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYi2Kq1tc6S
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMSTHOQPvOF
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He can’t stop.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwGJQAOOS2
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He does not want to.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGGPRDl9dH
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One of the raspberries snaps, juice rolling down his fingers—but he does nothing to clean it up.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU6w8BtMYOB
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The door creaks open.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wgxa9ADJL
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“Uchiha-san, you have to eat.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWN67S11Wk
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The nurse says, more out of habit than anything else; but he is too far away to hear—401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4mPh5n2Ml
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(“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.)401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRb3VdTt5AN
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—and it’s been a year since the patient of the room 723 has pronounced a single word.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgAVFGdAeZ
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(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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZTvQvv8fh
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgP0E3sFxp6
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Karin was sitting on the bed, unnaturally straight and still; her eyes vacant and unseeing, telltale trails of dried tears on her cheeks.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYL5uRL28A
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeBO8jcLE7
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“Karin…” his voice is faint; a tentative call more to spur himself into motion than to reach her. “Karin, what’s wrong?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZcGCz1KXn
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0dZwbyfI2
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And then she parts her lips.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrCA3Nxy91
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“Sasuke… I had a dream… a new one.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpArBnSctna
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Sasuke swallows; what could she have possibly seen to put her in such a state?401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Gk1RDPwes
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“Karin, I…” the redhead simply shakes her head, and to his ever-growing alarm there are fresh tears dripping from her eyes.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZVcUzveBH
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“Forget it, Sasuke… it’s better if you do.”
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYggu3P1bzv
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“Stop it, Karin. You were not supposed to care about him—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZNKJXjPIB9
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“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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdgPClDjrx
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It makes something in her tightly clench.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHDCefeOJFt
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“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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyynDsgQDN
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa9HPVxZtei
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoZ3CHVHHL
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She can hear them coming from her, and she knows she won’t be able to escape—but that was fine.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhr75ma4TO
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She would take as many of them as she possibly could before going down, and—401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggqryfqZL9
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“…we’ll meet soon, Sasuke.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqAqIqlE592
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—and Sasuke had always liked souvenirs.
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He is crudely woken up by Karin screaming his name.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBi2GFVlvRT
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCjswhlsl1
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In fact—she seemed to only be getting worse.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYtA46mrB1i
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“Sasuke, no—!”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdRYxcHlKq
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“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—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5NyH57KeI
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But his sincere promise is cut short by her terrified sob.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHEDHLqpxT
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“N-no, Sasuke—get away from me!”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cEIyKuZYX
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Sasuke jumps back, as if burnt. “W-what…?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQunGOW1hm4
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He could not believe his ears—she was frightened—of him?401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGW5ja4G9QE
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3AnCGSaDi
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‘… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.’401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4QcNp7eRP
‘What weren’t?’401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYlUqQ8IETr
‘...You.’401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrUljr2KycM
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4u4VWeWQy1
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Ghosts he has started to fear, too.
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“Karin,” he whispers affectionately, caressing her cheek with his right hand, “I need you.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfh5QraCvow
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Karin swallows the knot in her throat and forces her knees to remain firm, “I—I know, so plea—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9cdSsVGWvr
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“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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBojDarezDH
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“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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tkZVQo15c
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“I’ll see you soon… Karin.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJsXi1BbiJ
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He says, and his words are as loud as the gunshot that follows.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJrJ8En0um
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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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlo1HSCd1d8
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“… I don’t remember.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5f4Qum8cC
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Sasuke shuts his eyes close, his hands gripping the sheets. It would be so much easier to pretend to believe her; to pretend there was nothing wrong. To pretend he didn’t spend the whole night fighting the desperation gripping at his core as he watched her shake in her turmoil-filled sleep; longing for it to end, dreading what would happen once it did.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk20qe8ZWcN
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But he has played that game long enough.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrQ58Ez3rV
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He cannot continue to allow himself to remain blissfully unaware while she battles on her own.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyo7sv5tlw0
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“Don’t lie to me, Karin.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIAnCquW0N
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“I’m not lying, Sasuke… I can’t remember what I dreamed,” Karin whispers, and a shiver runs down his spine as she places her cold hand atop of his own; it was trembling. “…But I can remember the rest.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjWQXUK0lb0
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He is shaking, too—and so he uncurls his fists and entwines his fingers with hers, and makes the one request that would surely change everything.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLF6ux3hhhC
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“…Tell me the truth, Karin.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MSWwqGbol
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpT3EUZNxL9
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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—401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvb9pIT6kew
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLIh4k9CDH2
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“Idiot, I… told you… to move, Sasuke…”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhgucEOW8Q
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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—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLL8x45weks
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5kuEEls3c
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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—”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDsDfQyTx3i
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPfsp3IqVn
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There is a choked sob—and he barely registers it is his own.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR1wkaOlDRP
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGaSl3mbhQ0
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“Don’t… all I want…ed… is for you… to smile… like that day.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19XbzN7bbG
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC7Uaa9MnlI
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And she slips away through his hesitation like he had always slipped through her fingers.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5YqWNPuFr
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“See ya… Sasuke.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrHexF3W1Z
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ5cD1fZUvx
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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—401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNN3F4noRCU
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9kmIENiky
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2T08QpKUey
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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?”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFELX44XqD
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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.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ki0MUtO38
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4srQarhKml
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“And, above all…”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgSO5aUSNl
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCkkM78zJ35
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Wksb7HvP4
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Except that it doesn’t get to.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqWwek7XK4P
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV8r4vYpCdE
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“See ya.”401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡquFR1jOpyz
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This is what I give,401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBY82hJxnTa
A circle is complete.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckd3T6R14t
Another circle spins401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ33VXsOWWU6
There's life within,401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnCXLeaiKM
Within
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end.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPtwK69abV
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxA7ST9whhE
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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.401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCW5cMtJOT
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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~!401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZqP2yolMQ
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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 lol401Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yt4xpu3OW
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Thanks for reading! ♥
Tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
ns 15.158.61.17da2
