[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~!635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8cTBQ57115
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By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcMu6eQxCM
Rating: M (some suggestive scenes, and some violence.)635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFA4wMnHrU
Word Count: 8.810635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9quTDRQNg
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡja70GoceJm
Warning: Some OOC-ness due to the fact that I'm working with future SK... among other things you will soon realize lol635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiIcqOQiap8
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡls5luibBjS
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A heartbeat that awakens from the ashes.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPNKkORz9b
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To the stars that played with the darkness635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbrU2QBQ9s
I sang of love and burned up completely
Wildfire635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82VXbRVEwS
by Kanae635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzFjw457hDU
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztDXKOpApJ
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Something in his chest tightens.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsXbQvr8pI
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2upzJMuqar
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Just a girl.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJAtF2M36W
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Sasuke all but snorts, mildly shaking his head and turning away in wonderment.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLa1fAJUtWk
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He misses the way the girl stops, her back straightening as if bolted.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJH5TEGM3zW
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjND9eZSNH
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The girl.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBxF69drCW1
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The redhead.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJJ3ZSntWL
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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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAj8bq1nAZc
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Ihls8ZRZ2
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“Don’t think so,” he replies, trying to sidestep her—but the girl blocks his way again.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJROXPdAiyW
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWbz1OygYm
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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—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLkgxCztyX
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“You’re right,” Sasuke agrees, clenching his jaw and walking past her.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6SHJlMryd
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5by82jz8O
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBja57V7PZ
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHiopLO2hgM
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She falls quiet—and Sasuke thinks the odd conversation has come to an end.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNCskbahnb
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He was severely mistaken.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnd8iws8407
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pg13xtWKl
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIml8dkIpp
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It is slowly that he turns towards her, eyes narrowed and heart galloping inside his chest. “How…?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLD6rbH3xu
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bXrAdYYnb
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoFvzLG4N8
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQan2J7bUKK
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKXRfzEON6U
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2BSjrxwAy
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She does not let go of him.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1J5hmGgxM
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And the déjà vu only worsens.
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“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa5wFZlqA1a
“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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6TrTVFH5sd
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“The… dreams?” he questions, and feels utterly ridiculous just by saying it.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHjmEbjDKPy
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeoWUem7Lg
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“And these… dreams, of yours. They were about me?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3tS16TqSs
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZNDb0A8Vc
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“Doing what, exactly?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaP2awCWSL7
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“A lot of things. Fighting, mostly. You were a ninja, sometimes. Both of us were.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQKpjrKU4W
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“…A ninja?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoBy5n9mP3
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPafbkw4oV
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdwE4ncCtZs
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡurBDlx50UC
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“… What do you mean, exactly?” he prods with narrowed eyes.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtG0EjVC9JV
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQivPGCh0DW
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Sasuke frowns. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did he like where she was going with this. “Reincarnations?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBeNr28Kfgf
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Karin snaps her fingers, “Bingo.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMdj3R9KYS1
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Sasuke snorts. “That’s ridiculous.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLGpo8AGMh
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“I know you don’t believe in them, Sasuke. But that doesn’t mean they do not exist.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjOLJgdlFG
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKgjqlFjK7
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDH3tjPloO
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“But I am done hearing your bullshit.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGSfYAQvvH
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7m34E0UTR
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He feels insulted, but he stays. And a little smirk quirks up Karin’s lips; as expected, that smirk said.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqTV5CcNtI
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But any comments he may have had about her arrogance promptly disappear as the redhead utters her next words.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQb9qJLuVva
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVeAUz7NuCl
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5sTuReSRf
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They. Because that was all that was left, now. She was all he had left.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVoPrqUMylV
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“We will get through this,” she repeats, because they would. They had to.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9qCwnXNfZX
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“You’re not alone. I’m with you, Sasuke. I won’t ever leave you,”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡplzQgrFExh
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNu8qj9GCuA
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqftbOLXzyn
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvc0KM1z5Tl
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8DbCdSaFti
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQK3DxfrJi
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbVl4zia1qu
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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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3cVbb8XcL
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvaYj1PPXtW
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He has really run out of patience. “Stop with the riddles, will you? Just answer!”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmT8yv5bKz9
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxNM8yOmu9
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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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSgzYuy9oyO
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Karin shrugs, unfazed.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqr1hIiS7U
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCuzqiyzTKt
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That catches his attention. “What do you mean?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBaCjW3OLuj
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“… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMG9sRd8uYH
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Sasuke arches one eyebrow, curious. “What weren’t?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQn3pKoauuK
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For the first time since they got there, Karin squirms in her seat.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡod8D5GjZEa
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBtw00S57p
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHFXWA8mGL
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5Fywm5Oy6
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Sasuke hates it; having to repeat himself. But he moodily does, anyway. “What do you mean?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwdOQEfWZb
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbR4j8EaNbF
Karin does not reply right away; and when she does, her voice is the softest Sasuke has heard it sound so far.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7oZ3gb2UG
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“I always ended up loving you all the same,” she admits.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk2ApstGLzA
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Then she looks at him again, and Sasuke finds that he can’t look away.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYf9kGcPUS7
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“Always.”
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It happens on a rainy night.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7RZglwVHV
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxJJn3QImJ
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYJg3aqW58
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ40nn8s6hST
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtOmS3l8qT
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She hadn’t been.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ6vFNsGmqb
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkZ0sCBbvb
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7lzuj3thJ
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So much for not getting wet, she thinks, and it’s then that an umbrella is placed above her.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4Ynl3sl5G
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZryRnDUdge
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgYw1tDw0Y
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG8LJqrRumH
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlsf94hojzC
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKNSfHYS5K
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQNdnSgPz5f
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIbzpTEUEk
But she can’t look away from him—and before she knows it her legs are moving and the rain no longer matters.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuEXDqZ9sdN
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwUlwkw7XJ
By the time he has hung up, they’re standing at the next intersection and she is soaked from head to toe.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7444HXhnHo
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRaBu3wmVpk
“Hey, you! Wait!”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsdNXyD7uZZ
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHMjh48zFN
The business man slowly turns around, painfully so, confusion apparent on his face.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrSXGIrwd1
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Onyx meets red and her heart skips a beat as his eyes widen ever so slightly.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCEjIY2lDG
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwX0GykdLN4
“Thank you,” she breathes out jaggedly and not exactly from the chasing, “for before.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVkqY3nzA6
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW5llmP2cJE
“… 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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yFQDJ0ehw
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXHymcklUI
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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBtOJZL9cF
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaJZLnaZMd
He tilts his head to the side, long bangs falling across his face. “… Hn, down the street, you say?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGATvTcNXI
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rqHzJAFAs
“Yeah. It’s less than a minute away,” she gulps, “so, what do you say?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGaQFCpHmi0
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvezo8rqxQb
He smiles, and his whole face lights up. “I’d like that.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXYoBQtigo
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmuksNUHgrz
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1S86C62M9S
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgrpasblD7
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67Crx2GOQX
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡld4nt9AR1N
“… You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28ZF1xSnJF
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30VRIihwjS
Karin blinks innocently, a direct contrast with the amused smirk shamelessly painted across her lips. “What do you mean, Uchiha-san?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZAJEG7f7po
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHxi6y3RCce
“Drop the act,” he glares, matter-of-fact. “You knew I worked here.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7wjUgSAKEs
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrjJbzrgHkV
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'Always'.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ksyfjgddW
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“—so not my fault you basically own the damn city,” Karin finishes, and Sasuke blinks.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJo5TfGelTg
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“Huh?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡncplZdgUZk
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She deadpans. “You weren’t listening, were you?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpo5aKyLRJF
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCUJHFpZ7GG
“I was,” he lies through gritted teeth, prodded by some unexplainable force. Damn, why did he always have to bicker with this girl?635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEGGM1Rwel
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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—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLyWq679es
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQTMFlBK25
He all but groans. “Stop, Karin. Don’t bring that kind of talk here, someone may hear you.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSMhntkZTC
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwz1bw6nAB
“Pft, so what?” she huffs, crossing her arms and swaying her hips again. “It’s not like I work here, right?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48je5WaLit
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRBNC2hu0U
Her tone and most specially the glimmer in her eye as she looks at him told him otherwise.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3aK4jQtpuP
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Damn her.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvxSIfJXKLW
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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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDL5JLJB5Ss
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTPunLncls
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45ornMOq2E
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTmb8ZFux76
As if reading his thoughts, Karin calls out to him from the door.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxxEZLZ1upX
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZsYkayNNn
“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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIAabdnXGO
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And for some unknown reason, Sasuke finds himself blushing.
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“I brought you the papers you requested,”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jZuuvv410
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGTcPD4QLr
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“Idiot,” she manages to reprimand between kisses, “what if someone sees us?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZorpHqdHfy
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA13utqbLtu
“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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGNLNUutXc
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZz5CdvRQ1x
“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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx2y0RBikIQ
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“Any complains?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIypYB43B1B
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbXqaHAZhB
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTyABKmpzJN
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0I1Ju3sFJY
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIU6XrLwQx
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“Whoa, Sasuke, That girl totally has a thing for you!”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOp1KWJH7DR
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUveS9oi2pM
Sasuke rolls his eyes; he was so over this subject. “Tch, she and every other employee, what else is new.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiID7hWxYRn
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1hHsIQBv7F
Karin snorts, “Cocky, aren’t we? Do I need to remind you that I am one of your employees, too?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7D5kcafFU
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'Always'.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbtDP8weKj
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvGhewP5E7
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYmQ2OBWRt
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“You really are no fun, Sasuke.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCbY2dFOOT
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WrkUWg0HU
“Forget about that, Karin. You said you would tell me more about—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYGsU9DJiW
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBaYRw2L0H
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZ2apj1Vsq
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUVMNcf1ai
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He is the first thing she sees when she comes out of the room.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dJjZdZKZK
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgJz2YNb26
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IJVNBLGkl
“…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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡloSvUCEQPl
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“Idiot,” she hisses, and means it. “You are hurt, let me—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5pKGAcHW1
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJEMG2jAsO
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ldJQdQuOE
“…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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQkaKeiXdPc
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To her surprise, Sasuke snorts.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzhq5SD2Me
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“What?” she snaps.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslm8cBAkjv
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“Nothing,” he says, and he is smirking. “Just, you’re the last person I want to hear that from, Karin.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKxHeUK8PXp
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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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3RH0YyC01
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He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, his smirk softening around the edges. “…I wonder.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYpkcqq0zW
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And despite her blood loss, her blush only deepens.
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“Would you like more tea, Karin-chan?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw04kwFSWNW
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZKSgShkWc6
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsh0CVhQug6
“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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDy6K4OUrq
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡptHtTX1muF
Sasuke huffs, halfheartedly batting his brother’s hands away. “I know that—moreover, when will you stop treating me like a child, Itachi?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3EkCiBtjW4
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyh09WTHmtO
“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?635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJWvIArjJc
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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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtwkFWlZ3H
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu4RBQqUjE8
Great. So she had been listening in, huh? He should have guessed.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PhoUpuokE
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“Not quite,” Itachi replies, but Sasuke’s triumphant smirk is short-lived as his brother adds, “But almost.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3JUgaB7Qe
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“Brother!” he reproaches, causing the older boy to chuckle again and Karin to smirk widely.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBuYWb3j9o
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“You’re unbelievable, Sasuke; I mean, I knew you were an unsocial prude, but almost no girlfriends? Seriously?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK9OYc92o8q
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5nLKZpr29T
He glares, mortified to feel the by-now familiar sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Shut up, Karin.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2ZjHYElXn
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtujHczuQWN
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Damn you, brother.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRwxLXbeZ7
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“Hn, I don’t know what Itachi is talking about.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0sNiSClm54
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURdkoun56q
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywiwMfhwwz
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Despite his better judgment, Sasuke can feel himself blushing. “Who said I’m enjoying myself?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXyblRGrsc
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZcSwjJVZG
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Z1JyB1g3B
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqHimkL1Ete
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“I know, dear. But, somehow… it feels like you two have known each other for a long time.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNW97L3CXBY
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Itachi says nothing—but the way in which he warmly squeezes Sasuke’s shoulder is eloquent enough.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBdxoG1TEf
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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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwL80pc4HOz
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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—635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuzwW47a6A
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“Sasuke—hey, earth to Sasuke, are you listening? I was just saying that—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fPXrgTqQ6
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1XwFAwkfZ
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHo9HoQVgku
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqZipicbnt
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“Raspberries,” he states, and that seems to get Karin off her trance, because she blinks at him.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr7zPGhL8RC
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And then she is grinning.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojes4fzw8D
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“Had I known you would finally kiss me today, I’d have worn something less sweet.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAf8xnLAW5u
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mzqk2dq2K
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMfoheeCVQX
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQElM6z9CF
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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—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprAPxY2j1J
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8tsdFVrwZ
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“Excuse me.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgGq4AlymzS
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjxpqfZMpA
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“This house is ours, Sasuke,”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHs6UVkgN9l
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGSF5E3pHv
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He could feel it, too.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVezri774ba
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Behind them, the realtor clears his throat but Karin cuts him short before he could get a single word out.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7d73njIub
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3EvlBG0vSG
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt59PyEi99Q
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1cG2XBlAxG
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BGejKsQlm
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyDNHTlKuCN
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“What’s so funny?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVxO0uEZcH
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ99Vv2Xs3Se
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“There’s just one thing off, though—” she observes, as an afterthought, “where’s my rival in love?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9d67Uqn9IU
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“Nowhere,” he asserts, grave like only he could be about even the most foolish of things. “I am yours.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkDWUpimQBl
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9lm8v8uLp
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPAopIg2rTO
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDMRBlLWtS
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“S-asuke—” she chokes.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp40VCum0AC
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But he does not listen.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6phAEtjwt7
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“…mine.”
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She soundlessly sneaks behind him and leans her chin on his shoulder.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolKxIuwROS
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“Sewing again?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSsoADCWHAo
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3Uy53XTVs
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3q5bNitPh
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTe5ffDfETe
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDGdYY5cv8
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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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDMuwxXvCi
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EQrT4hjuN
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2R98BdfnrW
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnjHtI8szNn
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“Doing what?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrT4ZqqhAh4
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqcFu9qOR79
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“Or what?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTIieXciu0
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“…Or I may fall in love with you, Uchiha.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ZGmUK3VF9
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBnCeQuLCr
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“… Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7U1YH0Xkz
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdZgbHHuxV
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4d4NriMp1
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Only a minute would be enough for a spy as skilled as herself.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVkK9FyrK9
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqL6JXTZk7
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqzu1sWw44a
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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—635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ZFtN9H9b0
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To forget the atrocities she would find if she did.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHut6bEaCL
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9bCMvuTJT
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDG6VnMFwhb
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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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvlnAS3RYO
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“Yeah,” she murmurs after a moment, and Sasuke blinks. She didn’t sound alright.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzI9EMuanG
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“Karin,” he calls again, approaching her. “Leave that be, I’ll take care of it.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxQ6F7Z94m
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“I told you, it’s fine.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDByETWL0sV
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He frowns, concerned. “Karin—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00XX4CztNW
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwVlatllsSq
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjz8UF8KXK
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“Sorry, Sasuke—I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkrgL2zTPi
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfFDNfNikZT
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8wDNiCQ0qN
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“S-sasuke, what—?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87eZ5kPXSo
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“Where were you, Karin?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxz88XWeXsk
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQxbmDFPjX
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It reeks of lighting and promises pain—it frankly terrifies her.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡumFbssLVbf
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But she holds her ground.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4W8BtM18S
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“I—I was having lunch with my parents, Sasuke. They called to invite us today but you were at—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1oeSO5Rd1p
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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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMD53ROr9ur
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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—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSI2oNL58Z
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSIoG19Hw4c
“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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBC8CGQcfsJ
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“Sasuke, I—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRQOb3B8fg
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2dzp9V5f9
“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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyW3Qs2hs4
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJybB6U33Y
A part of her hates herself for how easily the answer comes forth to her lips. For how true it remains. “… I do, Sasuke.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkvrKJQPppv
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXKgFIzsFo
She hears his smile, “Good. Then, you will stop seeing them, won’t you? Those girls.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn8BrD6Q0LG
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapbOP1DI4P
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4RvYewISn
I want you all for myself—is what Karin hears instead, and she frowns. “Sasuke, you can’t be serious—they are my friends!”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3QgfWm9iV0
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBrRPnEMea
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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrK4DwKLQm
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1E8qVJS0bB
“I—” yes, he is—was. Is.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGrjmcY8ev
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And that frightens her more than he possibly could.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuT30dlFtJF
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡceFl4TpWNn
“—alright, Sasuke… you win.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4uENgh6JS
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8n8p6WKHA
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMypnXWd4H
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHG5aEeLzz1
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdeaHd5cAOs
“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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWGbj4BT5E
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She doesn’t bulge. “What?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpExokN0zJ6
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡppDsiCWnbr
And perhaps that’s what worries Sasuke the most.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskwMm97D4t
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YBE2D0193
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCOvyNgRiu
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWJSWrda00
“Don’t try to avoid the subject, Karin. There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bbIMoYIoL
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcSztRUIvKJ
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjuNDLyGGCz
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt71I2dhHfb
And Sasuke wants nothing more than to ask her to stop—but he is too scared to do so.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NxNt1MxHj
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDK9ycXA5N
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBc9SkHh5uD
He has always had a very good memory; and throughout his life, it has proved to be a curse more often than a blessing.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyodI12GwRd
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDAWm6iK7OE
In this case, it is both at once.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wMhZoDitN
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9PiQDjVV1
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8GHbTxNUz
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSA8GLHWOOL
A girl sending him off with a sad smile, and never looking back.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgXFTBIx36
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYowRF7ugPG
Broken promises.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmy2RmPxVr
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A call. A funeral.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCN2aOkRsmc
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTaSRIN11X
And tears.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcam92abWvz
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6SPnt7EbPf
Heartbreak.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡll6FwfF6QF
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Loneliness.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ZUOW7Depk
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhtQzzpwQ1
…then there was nothing else.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjcPtKPXi9
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And then there was everything all over again.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnBIJ6xExs1
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzWtEqSjKf
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRULQSY6Sds
He can’t stop.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdzbiFBWGtb
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He does not want to.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaZCIyL0kU
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulIbKYg0DL
One of the raspberries snaps, juice rolling down his fingers—but he does nothing to clean it up.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDReMo4uNe7
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3UNCBzCO6d
The door creaks open.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUm9lEaDvk
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUtqtJdbXMd
“Uchiha-san, you have to eat.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3KyCzRICOV
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBS0Wi9LqqH
The nurse says, more out of habit than anything else; but he is too far away to hear—635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPTvNVUftx3
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dquV7Bvr6
(“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.)635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bNaWHWKLT
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIjtrw165s
—and it’s been a year since the patient of the room 723 has pronounced a single word.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH8LSNH9heq
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLT6fDKmb7
(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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78edx66NVi
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHCIEviPgD
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cQZN1SQcZ
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLPJggK6E7
Karin was sitting on the bed, unnaturally straight and still; her eyes vacant and unseeing, telltale trails of dried tears on her cheeks.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCiELEWZZ2X
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA0Zx9J1ChY
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVL7ns4bLd
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrxW1WvYcu
“Karin…” his voice is faint; a tentative call more to spur himself into motion than to reach her. “Karin, what’s wrong?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjK32CriT3
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjqjyyp5lAs
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7xedObbBw
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And then she parts her lips.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRnlmStIejf
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“Sasuke… I had a dream… a new one.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn75tiCVcNW
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZyhnQZUgs
Sasuke swallows; what could she have possibly seen to put her in such a state?635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjPgwWeesq8
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gSd9FwNo9
“Karin, I…” the redhead simply shakes her head, and to his ever-growing alarm there are fresh tears dripping from her eyes.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7WhQtgQ9mz
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGRedUwxyv
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxewpyEbLT
“Stop it, Karin. You were not supposed to care about him—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrmBdvKPt0
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnlM6hR7OCx
“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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYJq7ViwTI
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It makes something in her tightly clench.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1GJPuzsLl
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNuhwzFBhtt
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0jZ2AizdoV
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeFjIxdFMo
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡicW2y5DQ8y
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf71XfbNYF2
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUa9EJ5ty0
She can hear them coming from her, and she knows she won’t be able to escape—but that was fine.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmfwTyka1i
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7V3MCfhzIS
She would take as many of them as she possibly could before going down, and—635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxE1hNUGVX
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoz9dYd7gpd
“…we’ll meet soon, Sasuke.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWfcS3U0vXy
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOpXIusrFW
—and Sasuke had always liked souvenirs.
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He is crudely woken up by Karin screaming his name.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTyCDglr7YJ
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPUTM4XeM0
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9RFmx7INlx
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In fact—she seemed to only be getting worse.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxy174ZDLH
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDg1X0X97xr
“Sasuke, no—!”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOUnBjOFq9
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznUGfktHbb
“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—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZnsHnzbeE
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS1pBRMjKt7
But his sincere promise is cut short by her terrified sob.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcH9M19gYO3
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“N-no, Sasuke—get away from me!”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ0TCuV2odV
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLomnf3pu8L
Sasuke jumps back, as if burnt. “W-what…?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4AyC7ASse9
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA9FLCuCihW
He could not believe his ears—she was frightened—of him?635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSF6xm79DIb
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7hk2oQY6F
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWccXVt2iM
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‘… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.’635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9fNcob6WZu
‘What weren’t?’635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcoKsf6vHm
‘...You.’635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6N0HTUHdp
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYoDCrGiCJb
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLYC3E8PJq
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuLazUEtV2n
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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06o06Kvsn3
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZBm00Agn3
Karin swallows the knot in her throat and forces her knees to remain firm, “I—I know, so plea—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6q4B2NAiH
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGdwZRJrCn6
“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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24GjveQSXe
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPHrYcvFuE7
“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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmh5wTAfScw
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwp7auyzno2
“I’ll see you soon… Karin.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMlSWxFktPD
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He says, and his words are as loud as the gunshot that follows.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5BrjwXz24q
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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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUMUnNXkJz
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCnqBgKGsQF
“… I don’t remember.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLk9yFLTPXR
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6GyGZRzIb
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡspuy5SYUo6
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But he has played that game long enough.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewcJuJpJyv
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MIHNuvz5R
He cannot continue to allow himself to remain blissfully unaware while she battles on her own.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeChjCo8jDQ
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Kx6lsNf5K
“Don’t lie to me, Karin.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9mWP009KV
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBi2gMBvO0U
“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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4BUfq0Mfe8
635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjV00ptQHGF
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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2OolyDw36
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“…Tell me the truth, Karin.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCbmvAqaIl
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ZDCsKB8Y8
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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—635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80BendYvOU
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeicCSBEKQt
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“Idiot, I… told you… to move, Sasuke…”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8XEz04D2N
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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—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLEqMqu0M7
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFuMNPsTIhM
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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—”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhCoZCw4pT
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhZm205h10
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There is a choked sob—and he barely registers it is his own.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5UZ2vVIoE
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhwqArySv7
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“Don’t… all I want…ed… is for you… to smile… like that day.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZLC3ZyOCmM
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWhnOawuGlp
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And she slips away through his hesitation like he had always slipped through her fingers.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWf8XkLWPY3
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“See ya… Sasuke.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZeluULTKQZ
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5XtF0iQEF
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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—635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSL4ovGdM9
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6azkzDfM8V
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDJMadsJaV4
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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?”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ybELJFcut
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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.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbmY4EuKPXT
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ037oCmqd4Q
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“And, above all…”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCA2BW6D6dc
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeycxDVR4W
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9OjxOW0tj
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Except that it doesn’t get to.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgQb9juICuD
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjQN5ndaV0
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“See ya.”635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTaedfPNZ2
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This is what I give,635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3eeOPYVcwL
A circle is complete.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMn1wVYI4H
Another circle spins635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IVBU3yVm4
There's life within,635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFyIS8ZHpEt
Within
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end.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkdAYcmuk5
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLFLZdcZvGo
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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.635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOytJoNFE4
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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~!635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYW8M4ACsR
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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 lol635Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdOXd6NSQQ
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Thanks for reading! ♥
Tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
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