[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~!444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkb6WMvdqS
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By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnA4mW1Z87
Rating: M (some suggestive scenes, and some violence.)444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0RofOPaim4
Word Count: 8.810444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSD9J8UvJEu
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUx7DzWmtz
Warning: Some OOC-ness due to the fact that I'm working with future SK... among other things you will soon realize lol444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkPTKaQr5Gv
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEx9hFrqjJn
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A heartbeat that awakens from the ashes.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmoZmlEaELf
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To the stars that played with the darkness444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2OUk9wXOZW
I sang of love and burned up completely
Wildfire444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9IEkU0tHJ
by Kanae444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAB79ivW0FA
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXbU9akK2R
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Something in his chest tightens.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3ESDjEDXi
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfA08NTLkQJ
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Just a girl.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6B3olBwAQ
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Sasuke all but snorts, mildly shaking his head and turning away in wonderment.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6up5mHklw
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He misses the way the girl stops, her back straightening as if bolted.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBxZmyNNon
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRfcTJqSvP
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The girl.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMfzTiawXPt
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The redhead.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpC4Rt9ZiPo
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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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYsaNp6phd
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXmakQRfIpk
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“Don’t think so,” he replies, trying to sidestep her—but the girl blocks his way again.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1PGXxJByFM
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZVCZ1zLNR
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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—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtA9NQIKXF
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“You’re right,” Sasuke agrees, clenching his jaw and walking past her.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNgdhhEPso
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQw7US0WcEJ
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2kzZzUhBt
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHOzrDYgrnP
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She falls quiet—and Sasuke thinks the odd conversation has come to an end.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2I5esNbEVS
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He was severely mistaken.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoMbS209kl
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPoNzxxi50
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1EBQAzYN1
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It is slowly that he turns towards her, eyes narrowed and heart galloping inside his chest. “How…?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTiwAviTETr
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDcn4a2IRm
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TleETNtwP
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGBmKsmWm6
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIndCVdln2C
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhB8Z8LyRcF
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She does not let go of him.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEVQwRFk8P
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And the déjà vu only worsens.
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“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKUcnFRp2H
“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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnA0X33Vdu
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“The… dreams?” he questions, and feels utterly ridiculous just by saying it.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJuGy2LXMzS
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIO6PE6JBlV
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“And these… dreams, of yours. They were about me?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8F2vGAidev
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuV32B8Mje8
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“Doing what, exactly?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9u1DMSPxf
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“A lot of things. Fighting, mostly. You were a ninja, sometimes. Both of us were.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNIyl8q6YH
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“…A ninja?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4YqYNmMD6
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy9s3idZnvJ
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5Hq7etRod
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Go7ky5UML
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“… What do you mean, exactly?” he prods with narrowed eyes.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUcHiAIgy9g
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIfF06EgLh
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Sasuke frowns. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did he like where she was going with this. “Reincarnations?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ0H3wGnXzk
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Karin snaps her fingers, “Bingo.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzwwZdJfq13
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Sasuke snorts. “That’s ridiculous.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6mol6WYsQp
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“I know you don’t believe in them, Sasuke. But that doesn’t mean they do not exist.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6REGzvI2T2
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCLbB827ciy
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7ll0MPQWb
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“But I am done hearing your bullshit.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo72gX3q4Sm
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3VcznU0LxE
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He feels insulted, but he stays. And a little smirk quirks up Karin’s lips; as expected, that smirk said.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsWi3CWRFn
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But any comments he may have had about her arrogance promptly disappear as the redhead utters her next words.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2zNWKtGtUK
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNIhk1iTeZ
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsULvC43YSh
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They. Because that was all that was left, now. She was all he had left.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtdR5IUSuFU
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“We will get through this,” she repeats, because they would. They had to.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIREZcm73b
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“You’re not alone. I’m with you, Sasuke. I won’t ever leave you,”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHtGRwVKAc
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SI9lo6ZpC
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP663LtU6Fz
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1epmuXLiix
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUtJNm9fMB
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4rqlsNeMI7
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtf5gqsudUf
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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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJAttEOhGgg
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs14lei5tlk
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He has really run out of patience. “Stop with the riddles, will you? Just answer!”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhlpoff3lmA
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dH2efjnWp
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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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8UXJEtsvG
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Karin shrugs, unfazed.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD06TFkYiKm
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj41cXKAKfu
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That catches his attention. “What do you mean?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpE2VutEjDL
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“… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2IxcWcHwm
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Sasuke arches one eyebrow, curious. “What weren’t?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO9frcA4i4M
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For the first time since they got there, Karin squirms in her seat.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jrK4gPcmc
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWtlaN8cB7P
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRU4SnnGBsF
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVpwK0e3Qy
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Sasuke hates it; having to repeat himself. But he moodily does, anyway. “What do you mean?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJ4X5a2mOj
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2b15PILAp
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAN08lVNZrV
“I always ended up loving you all the same,” she admits.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7cFkdBqCN
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Then she looks at him again, and Sasuke finds that he can’t look away.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavmTXpI1Tw
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“Always.”
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It happens on a rainy night.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRSHnrgSAv
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1RyTpDNjEM
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUSRNM62gO
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She hadn’t been.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc1IewqFTGU
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXh0BVzlUF8
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So much for not getting wet, she thinks, and it’s then that an umbrella is placed above her.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNsqWvIh8Q
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JzbQ3yjQN
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGXw6HLRgh
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYMsuDmyzOi
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkKTVFyr5F
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLy11JJxlY
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4D0B1ijn5
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxAQLZzfc0u
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKPtSrPOKoE
By the time he has hung up, they’re standing at the next intersection and she is soaked from head to toe.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4cg7V7jhn
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“Hey, you! Wait!”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8cBsz7wUZ
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The business man slowly turns around, painfully so, confusion apparent on his face.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNJa2QZ8U7
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Onyx meets red and her heart skips a beat as his eyes widen ever so slightly.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMnZ8iCqxai
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“Thank you,” she breathes out jaggedly and not exactly from the chasing, “for before.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx502EMC1fj
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9uuRgF2PGl
“… 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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXhbZNAFPUb
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHeOPI6oCb
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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWaTTCuFvX
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNnCy37tX5
He tilts his head to the side, long bangs falling across his face. “… Hn, down the street, you say?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu4W1SVJpdb
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvE1VGJX42S
“Yeah. It’s less than a minute away,” she gulps, “so, what do you say?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmJml3d3E5
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqwhefr6r0
He smiles, and his whole face lights up. “I’d like that.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7X6Fo2VnMn
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOx0r07okWh
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSGvPS0ElE
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSJwLsde8J
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvprkd11mSr
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“… You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4RnJJSkobg
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzVtovWzVA
Karin blinks innocently, a direct contrast with the amused smirk shamelessly painted across her lips. “What do you mean, Uchiha-san?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkcaS862vla
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE57miScR2Y
“Drop the act,” he glares, matter-of-fact. “You knew I worked here.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFEos8eC0P
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZ06iOW8X2
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'Always'.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ85JBkRFCcD
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“—so not my fault you basically own the damn city,” Karin finishes, and Sasuke blinks.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgiytTZV85y
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“Huh?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmlv3iLwWL
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She deadpans. “You weren’t listening, were you?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLJ9N09Hb0
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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?444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWCYYHR82q
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhHl1LIpgJ
“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—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNvfDsnAjc
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He all but groans. “Stop, Karin. Don’t bring that kind of talk here, someone may hear you.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzg4PiJDeGr
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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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT7z7VqyfrM
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RGkKY5Dvv
Her tone and most specially the glimmer in her eye as she looks at him told him otherwise.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡho0whZR0sq
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Damn her.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJzEmPPt2E
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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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgYvdH8Neg
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5D678TO6g
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMzVtDNq86k
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As if reading his thoughts, Karin calls out to him from the door.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXaVg3KzGFu
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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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LqEbNGMDu
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡncgu6ENIUx
And for some unknown reason, Sasuke finds himself blushing.
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“I brought you the papers you requested,”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0G6DjOubY7
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzLXW7nQKW1
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“Idiot,” she manages to reprimand between kisses, “what if someone sees us?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoCXAd0C3N
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8awyDx7ARf
“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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlKd2tAcqk
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtnNcrHJ8f
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“Any complains?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmM64ztC81H
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMaERALts4
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHsE1DvmfyC
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lZVUlIQhr
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“Whoa, Sasuke, That girl totally has a thing for you!”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktRuQ6vzju
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Sasuke rolls his eyes; he was so over this subject. “Tch, she and every other employee, what else is new.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2HpS1FMPq2
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Karin snorts, “Cocky, aren’t we? Do I need to remind you that I am one of your employees, too?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVGVZaGGFJ
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'Always'.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpn8INfTQ8s
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTGTXdnxCg
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa5TvZoVS3R
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“You really are no fun, Sasuke.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ629U6Whdm
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“Forget about that, Karin. You said you would tell me more about—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2CryN36Oc7
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTH5zJzacE
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tD2oyE2Ux
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOEIQHv5K9b
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He is the first thing she sees when she comes out of the room.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLKEvoYoirI
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7h5h9Agad3
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW3kdtyjTKs
“…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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4W8eVZqV6l
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“Idiot,” she hisses, and means it. “You are hurt, let me—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0D4l6xOaE9
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSN2tmt4qr
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkF8BXzSLk
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To her surprise, Sasuke snorts.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ96r92YT7UU
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“What?” she snaps.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuXk5lMMZsr
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“Nothing,” he says, and he is smirking. “Just, you’re the last person I want to hear that from, Karin.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ukql8SfFj
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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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRJKTswHK8
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He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, his smirk softening around the edges. “…I wonder.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhUa0J63Yj
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And despite her blood loss, her blush only deepens.
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“Would you like more tea, Karin-chan?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Hb5x15PDB
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hMlS3i3YN
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFFjsphcqF
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXwnkb6nck
Sasuke huffs, halfheartedly batting his brother’s hands away. “I know that—moreover, when will you stop treating me like a child, Itachi?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1ZM0KW8AO
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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?444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxo1bFKizVP
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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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZqNXD8Tad
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Great. So she had been listening in, huh? He should have guessed.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCJX7RrP06
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“Not quite,” Itachi replies, but Sasuke’s triumphant smirk is short-lived as his brother adds, “But almost.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDuaGNQwYIK
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“Brother!” he reproaches, causing the older boy to chuckle again and Karin to smirk widely.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDt1D9dtJSJ
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“You’re unbelievable, Sasuke; I mean, I knew you were an unsocial prude, but almost no girlfriends? Seriously?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62adtUT2jF
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He glares, mortified to feel the by-now familiar sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Shut up, Karin.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4r0dObhCC
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRpuHVoiRN
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Damn you, brother.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCXBKFnhZZ
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“Hn, I don’t know what Itachi is talking about.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANfNoVnyH0
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVznappETW
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5KesIpo5HB
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Despite his better judgment, Sasuke can feel himself blushing. “Who said I’m enjoying myself?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UULUzrdPf
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5uetevefKK
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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvlj3qQcEjT
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vO6MSA5wp
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJoeOfz3VaG
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“I know, dear. But, somehow… it feels like you two have known each other for a long time.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHF6h2WpRD
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Itachi says nothing—but the way in which he warmly squeezes Sasuke’s shoulder is eloquent enough.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1coHMj6Fx
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXr9qTrtM2n
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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp09KoQeAcj
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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—444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUTaCSQE3kW
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshwYrlU2lb
“Sasuke—hey, earth to Sasuke, are you listening? I was just saying that—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGKCiu37RW
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshGiXjd9it
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdrMqUATGce
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvecvPwXz2
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“Raspberries,” he states, and that seems to get Karin off her trance, because she blinks at him.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56qFu6u87s
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And then she is grinning.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30IqVdn4AH
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“Had I known you would finally kiss me today, I’d have worn something less sweet.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKL6SZO1MEX
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7jI984yJU
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhV2rgEtDN0
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5eScaPcIRG
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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—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuqcvADR6k
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPWDAVjcyc
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“Excuse me.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0IB08snPjT
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjmxOmHHNdK
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“This house is ours, Sasuke,”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbJEZtQ00p4
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelBuXBKb1b
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He could feel it, too.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8cgL5ifovx
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Behind them, the realtor clears his throat but Karin cuts him short before he could get a single word out.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZ9n6ewR7w
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5S6ijztwk
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNP4sSful8Y
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ296jUTAvye
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3P3R7M3Lgx
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyUvbmuvCZ0
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“What’s so funny?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIsCjJfHjG
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tA1W7HyYq
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“There’s just one thing off, though—” she observes, as an afterthought, “where’s my rival in love?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDpKdScMq7
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“Nowhere,” he asserts, grave like only he could be about even the most foolish of things. “I am yours.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOM32QGSwC9
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvcPDcUxbm
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDIwIW7jsXb
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZMVaE70Ee
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“S-asuke—” she chokes.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkPp9RdECqe
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But he does not listen.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCmFrjW4S7
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“…mine.”
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She soundlessly sneaks behind him and leans her chin on his shoulder.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOFpr8q7os
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“Sewing again?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbXDGJJPii
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSfhKTADiT
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuPyE7gVWb
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtUbIMgmrd
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikZNIurRhL
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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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVoWfX3IiF
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZxySpyUO2d
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYqNxzBoXq
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkNl7IHLFFq
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“Doing what?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡphhZaHJhP0
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiBBUvYPwLH
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“Or what?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ61r7wjRnSv
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“…Or I may fall in love with you, Uchiha.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCjynsE7Kj
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE02m4F1va7
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“… Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5eLBSZKqde
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTMOCGTNQa
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZTJUjep6f
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Only a minute would be enough for a spy as skilled as herself.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbubmojPot3
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxkL7vGRtL
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzz9bTd8TbK
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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—444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPN0Uo9E7jt
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To forget the atrocities she would find if she did.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKb3F9tsfK0
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXnduk4JnCv
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGO5UBrb2w
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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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAMWytrBsO
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“Yeah,” she murmurs after a moment, and Sasuke blinks. She didn’t sound alright.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡraX1dMFMzl
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“Karin,” he calls again, approaching her. “Leave that be, I’ll take care of it.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyc68PB2RLz
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“I told you, it’s fine.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Odk38rdg8
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He frowns, concerned. “Karin—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxvGinmYYP
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Ou9AiNfAS
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBpsAN0U2kW
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“Sorry, Sasuke—I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zqCU6HYYc
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyp4GsFrDbw
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqlYN19Hzo2
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“S-sasuke, what—?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSiH51Q6WQ
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzSyHBNz1D
“Where were you, Karin?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQB5SvqcHh6
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4oBNDhKnJ
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It reeks of lighting and promises pain—it frankly terrifies her.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZr2abMwLO
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But she holds her ground.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXvVJY57FI
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“I—I was having lunch with my parents, Sasuke. They called to invite us today but you were at—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo5suB2WYlk
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5IeO9ukGgk
“Liar,” he grits out, and Karin’s blood runs cold. “I called them myself. You were not with them. So, where were you?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaxTpPbkDoh
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmWzIVCcYd
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—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaerjt7pNG
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2f4nsDaQ5o
“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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFMsyBbjpul
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqYaMTY8p3
“Sasuke, I—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7QF8orxiZ
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVM9p9D9tPK
“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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDgMPaClDWP
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPD4jO5PvRI
A part of her hates herself for how easily the answer comes forth to her lips. For how true it remains. “… I do, Sasuke.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnv6MYsSX2n
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFZIdRwC4l
She hears his smile, “Good. Then, you will stop seeing them, won’t you? Those girls.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzrxIUEhtl
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5qrAIPGnXK
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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45B0ZzbC9K
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4hs0ETfBM
I want you all for myself—is what Karin hears instead, and she frowns. “Sasuke, you can’t be serious—they are my friends!”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEc8P5Q88FV
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8eMFa9UxMl
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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMutan0Y8B
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Zsgea9YrN
“I—” yes, he is—was. Is.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLoLF1ioJr
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And that frightens her more than he possibly could.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtg3WkU46Q
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJ69XIpRTS
“—alright, Sasuke… you win.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Nevk9FoYr
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO6DHrFEk3M
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cM0TdcwqX
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8uVln14eK
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67wOAbHdgw
“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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTpuY66pxvl
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHsQL2NcTZ
She doesn’t bulge. “What?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgO4UomeLJ
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFzZQ5N3F7k
And perhaps that’s what worries Sasuke the most.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDPuimPYY2q
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxiCx0F3AR
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhcLIFUws3O
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2we3OIwUS
“Don’t try to avoid the subject, Karin. There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHCHoXBCrll
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGgZII646aB
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhS9k3vBR7e
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZQp6JAWYVQ
And Sasuke wants nothing more than to ask her to stop—but he is too scared to do so.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPuO83cBzs
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKU1GZNe9XQ
“Eat, Sasuke. It’s going to get cold.”
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He rolls the raspberries between his fingers, memories swirling in his head.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0V36MFDLW
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFUciP9Z8n
He has always had a very good memory; and throughout his life, it has proved to be a curse more often than a blessing.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Nr24IQkFP
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFfqNtx0Am
In this case, it is both at once.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQPOxWNeuG
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmXmCCoruEj
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAAA9y9I8q
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTbqwOPUFnN
A girl sending him off with a sad smile, and never looking back.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIlYODb5Uu
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Broken promises.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFpfluAqXJe
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A call. A funeral.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPZryopf1d
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And tears.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGRQj0fjgV
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Heartbreak.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu6069OVBBL
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡco6jIloTEP
Loneliness.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPiffswFh3
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSl5qndhYHe
…then there was nothing else.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWACka7bTNr
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And then there was everything all over again.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwUreUIB714
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ylY4Yr5Sp
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxvt5A8f5wS
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He can’t stop.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dyXAAl3xm
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He does not want to.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBtXHC52HiZ
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcW5nGdIhE
One of the raspberries snaps, juice rolling down his fingers—but he does nothing to clean it up.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQXsztUmiG
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCyHOxHjPp0
The door creaks open.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRPrbWMH5l
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JkwUu64LF
“Uchiha-san, you have to eat.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxaEFcflRQ
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEoeolrsmLc
The nurse says, more out of habit than anything else; but he is too far away to hear—444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxr6j4hyBh5
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmG6Wq6dO68
(“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.)444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYllEbx5XN
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtPpjdfMy6
—and it’s been a year since the patient of the room 723 has pronounced a single word.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdhx3AbOfg
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMK3QvN65M
(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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHlIk2b5QW
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXTpc7M90D
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZhLjUuwBw
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNJ4TsOghD
Karin was sitting on the bed, unnaturally straight and still; her eyes vacant and unseeing, telltale trails of dried tears on her cheeks.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYvmECvTK6h
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNht6rjPMJz
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVbjeYsxiU
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGE17YkDsrD
“Karin…” his voice is faint; a tentative call more to spur himself into motion than to reach her. “Karin, what’s wrong?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2yoNR1ybRI
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWB6DwFWXHw
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTzkkLlDdg
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCkT5yFUNc
And then she parts her lips.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuaVeBrac1
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjM1s0LfPxY
“Sasuke… I had a dream… a new one.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK38BPqpvjd
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9DY2Kvrpp
Sasuke swallows; what could she have possibly seen to put her in such a state?444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6SGAwrsz1
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfZy6kc3y5
“Karin, I…” the redhead simply shakes her head, and to his ever-growing alarm there are fresh tears dripping from her eyes.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YUtyb400k
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBYDN76EJn
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡraCTvN3zlA
“Stop it, Karin. You were not supposed to care about him—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmMsuwVLlU
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjRaGltSgz
“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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgIrROdVFe8
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It makes something in her tightly clench.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovTw9TCRmY
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJiAEOZSdwp
“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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQCpQht85m
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4sW7vGJyR6
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMpT94vGzB
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dbmbTHCKT
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm5zE7i4ysT
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8BasxtFaF9
She can hear them coming from her, and she knows she won’t be able to escape—but that was fine.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFpnnohLpT
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU4ZB4sJZzF
She would take as many of them as she possibly could before going down, and—444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9Kft7i9QJ
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGgXQC5pZD
“…we’ll meet soon, Sasuke.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYyZG57WbJI
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVkj1RDTwEP
—and Sasuke had always liked souvenirs.
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He is crudely woken up by Karin screaming his name.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSaZAKUXF1
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ2brp76fGB
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpja1Ko9yxV
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6eBQecMiey
In fact—she seemed to only be getting worse.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHKYhs6KVj
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGX96YTngz
“Sasuke, no—!”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmPZGqABo6L
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiY4HY8atvR
“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—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJhs3mBuGm
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2GUPaJ2OIu
But his sincere promise is cut short by her terrified sob.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3U03U1oQF
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeRnagcUYrZ
“N-no, Sasuke—get away from me!”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEb7hmTKMtW
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQWzISdYTD
Sasuke jumps back, as if burnt. “W-what…?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmCbXIv2cS7
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtmsIWyxwxm
He could not believe his ears—she was frightened—of him?444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7jGvpAq7b
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRmC1RFkHU
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCr789KmFi
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWs1nq0Xsj2
‘… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.’444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPTWt4aHjcH
‘What weren’t?’444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2AjOYWY9f4
‘...You.’444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MUtQ9x9ye
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxi67NQEpN
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuZD6amPp62
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZgqRMLI0W
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg1GznCOGUo
Karin swallows the knot in her throat and forces her knees to remain firm, “I—I know, so plea—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInvhPKzjDx
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpEF7nNIyG
“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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgkEIjl2ilZ
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzGEqBaIC2f
“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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkMtKl62ck
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGi5P7j0DD1
“I’ll see you soon… Karin.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMar4gaa0o
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡivnsfMntBi
He says, and his words are as loud as the gunshot that follows.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2ydkEzEWY
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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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8A0mCI00Y
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9zP3DFsLQF
“… I don’t remember.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4yEtqDtBz
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0ziavOP38
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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwMx4uWssN
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But he has played that game long enough.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIO44IfUkL
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He cannot continue to allow himself to remain blissfully unaware while she battles on her own.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCsHMUAOMrm
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5b6CsT9EP2
“Don’t lie to me, Karin.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYX1RVl5Gu
444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0CAeCeAuWD
“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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWsgtQtlav
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTWNdZbC1J
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“…Tell me the truth, Karin.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFLxrSRrpq
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0DrmySdTgu
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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—444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPdZzzWP50
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pnN7ai4Uy
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“Idiot, I… told you… to move, Sasuke…”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡID7m0vuTmp
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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—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRhSwNmwE0
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAD7xpRLhNI
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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—”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6y3eXb3T1h
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0VmyQnLlH
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There is a choked sob—and he barely registers it is his own.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrkWEu4pZMF
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWYHkjroPB
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“Don’t… all I want…ed… is for you… to smile… like that day.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDZlt8gW91
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtXsmrdtKe9
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And she slips away through his hesitation like he had always slipped through her fingers.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6SXok32yt
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“See ya… Sasuke.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz1BYLggIgf
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrueWDLGLpv
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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—444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsuPnyoNZYF
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7vxZqGiah
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfuiwsjHqBe
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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?”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVGLPYzJDI
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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.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleCPjj1WNU
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhvmisOeglp
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“And, above all…”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ir7EjumoN
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgw4JePJAF
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡars3IOMSog
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Except that it doesn’t get to.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jirw3M7ny
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxqPXYFgGV
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“See ya.”444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUyYQd1R25
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This is what I give,444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwjQ946wPd
A circle is complete.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJootBHZqGT
Another circle spins444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBjyQET7uA
There's life within,444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LtxsqNqt0
Within
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end.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxpyTsnlCTn
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPZo2sQi3u
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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.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcHIaoaeZF
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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~!444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYTpDcLbnP8
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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 lol444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwH0ZrPzf7G
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Thanks for reading! ♥
Tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
ns 15.158.61.19da2
