[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~!505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK0fego7OKc
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsOHxs1S3en
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUSExgIiWjQ
Rating: M (some suggestive scenes, and some violence.)505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbiwkePgI6g
Word Count: 8.810505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFJZMX8vdv
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5kTOnMJUId
Warning: Some OOC-ness due to the fact that I'm working with future SK... among other things you will soon realize lol505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcb8wNmCJx
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdIrHpKU8iX
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjHrgt2TJ1Z
A heartbeat that awakens from the ashes.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4X5e8oRI3U
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxsfecjVCj
To the stars that played with the darkness505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpP9zCLYchW
I sang of love and burned up completely
Wildfire505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgn3crgIcaA
by Kanae505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnlH0xz37U
-
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjbx49BvUl
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqiUmycAI6r
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8uAXVIMddp
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhxpjbJyFw
Something in his chest tightens.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRX1kUIliJ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzcWWmaAxC
He is looking back before he knows it, uncharacteristically standing still as his eyes seek the source of the red; a girl’s ponytail.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSbEK6cd5AG
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡts28fXHLZt
Just a girl.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡImDi6TkLbL
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51XTU4q7mX
Sasuke all but snorts, mildly shaking his head and turning away in wonderment.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4LmcnE0Jp
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIt7sonpI15
He misses the way the girl stops, her back straightening as if bolted.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5T7f8AWjl
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMORMHNYC8j
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5TYw9qrO2
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3H2MUGzMJT
The girl.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6KrIIkC7C8
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMun7X4q1a
The redhead.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnecYocQBXt
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9KB9v8RFIh
“Sorry,” she says, and she is a little out of breath. Had she run to catch up with him? “Do I know you?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmeVfPdEvp6
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssnuzGlS3g
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIlLtUJr52P
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhQCHr67SC
“Don’t think so,” he replies, trying to sidestep her—but the girl blocks his way again.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLxXWHff15O
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjEZ2fPJTK
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXCXpjk2BM3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NsKsO37e1
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—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiN4pYKX2K8
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFA5aoAHDt
“You’re right,” Sasuke agrees, clenching his jaw and walking past her.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9hRWD75FM
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5J25GtEKX
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPSqnMifuq
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3QLwoyxnXO
“… 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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVxK6UvxqO
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3sXLGj7rNo
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsFTirEAXn
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXpyRW4C5lq
She falls quiet—and Sasuke thinks the odd conversation has come to an end.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFJskFdMTh
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlSrB7YATi
He was severely mistaken.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnF7c8a9anh
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4TDnEuukj
“And, when you were eight…” she suddenly whispers, her voice vague, “when you were eight, your mom gave you a dinosaur-shaped toy.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFIJQB20Xc
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmiFocyjyL
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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4mhDX1iL0
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ469O5gdea
It is slowly that he turns towards her, eyes narrowed and heart galloping inside his chest. “How…?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykBPGirPc6
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3KDYmDLgGs
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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82oHrMzvFy
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bgq6aSdM1
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtQJpJeQRL
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIo3PDWrqXS
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1r7nwsn8pK
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSyyTrGEtzM
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6oBJcxv7e
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbrRhfW8bKC
“Let me go,” he mutters, though he can’t find it in himself to oppose any resistance. “I can walk by myself.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9rdI0eS2C
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq2XFkJJHRG
She does not let go of him.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5K7h3Fm3K
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhW6swQUMdP
And the déjà vu only worsens.
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4d1ODV6Xlg
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOxmo64RphL
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡib30Kr354a
“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3iE0ncXlg3
“Huh?! Why should I go anywhere? I’m in charge of this place!”
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPO5koksYa
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQA3PqkKJn7
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2u8K5Bv5m
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5cpeQTBFSM
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBwVFbZuwI
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4rXLWqzLFx
“The… dreams?” he questions, and feels utterly ridiculous just by saying it.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeaXhLjTQ88
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIRIOX68QP
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLRcshM9GZS
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5w55kIiOl
“And these… dreams, of yours. They were about me?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSedS3x524
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLXVbPahJx
“Not all of them,” she retorts thoughtfully, if not a little defensively; but then she shrugs. “But you were always there.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9myz2IM7Y
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYnGplg8kE
“Doing what, exactly?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTeB3PN0zBS
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2XvtSejie2
“A lot of things. Fighting, mostly. You were a ninja, sometimes. Both of us were.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrkqNPPMZ1
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfd7nvO16Qj
“…A ninja?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZ17nemBS8
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3h08wBXvxH
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIdFWVDDCB9
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCF4YR4Dww
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlD48nt6c8n
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPWkK58vxV
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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJYIO4pucc
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtcl3MqaV1I
“… What do you mean, exactly?” he prods with narrowed eyes.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX0v9ApRne8
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9ksXcjhr9
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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Gd3CoP9Tb
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwLHKeZckUx
Sasuke frowns. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did he like where she was going with this. “Reincarnations?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPaM3hFQLc3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Z2f5VmLkx
Karin snaps her fingers, “Bingo.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRI6hTGeWGE
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2j109gzLJS
Sasuke snorts. “That’s ridiculous.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEMjifp34xD
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YUuQQssMB
“I know you don’t believe in them, Sasuke. But that doesn’t mean they do not exist.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJda0ctmst
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuTvqZUAOJE
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHNgSDjtm1
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75vBaOohPG
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡASMDiYf37A
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvjMeRaiJN
“But I am done hearing your bullshit.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyGFkHySqeN
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRpi9VhLF90
Karin blinks at him and then promptly snorts. “The you in my dreams was nicer to be around, I’ll give you that.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qncoQH5da
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVjWTg4oc9
He feels insulted, but he stays. And a little smirk quirks up Karin’s lips; as expected, that smirk said.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsj2hGlOjtq
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6o1INuhEj3
But any comments he may have had about her arrogance promptly disappear as the redhead utters her next words.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NaYObCxCu
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV89tVhEf9s
“I know why you’re so afraid of losing your parents, someday.”
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmqN1n1qeY
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jCI4MzMnZ
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCTHdQV1CW
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIUyD6YCP7
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHk5PvJzKns
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1MQsIt5sz
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4z38QB5Fo
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxmIwLL0cFZ
They. Because that was all that was left, now. She was all he had left.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYkOHYzWVM1
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4sRf2A9DUT
“We will get through this,” she repeats, because they would. They had to.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQtDJF4L7t
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rwTCzdP3U
“You’re not alone. I’m with you, Sasuke. I won’t ever leave you,”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJi7hrRDsfl
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG62bnQfVcE
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0GhLfIN79n
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaduULz1uGp
“I promise.”
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkBtSrkAHV
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqY0wrE7zh
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXindr78R6s
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTSx0SVPQO
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRmtJKMh2e
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG6mWoztTgN
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJzGk7oONsg
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0m0BOixko
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBafg42iQf
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCBvmQFp606
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzB6criFW6b
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqSe7XZWGL
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJRJXp2q7E3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZcnYGoJhQ9
“… 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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKZ6thqA9l
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGGIcbfL1J
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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWNts45Ph7N
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjEIUi2Pie
He has really run out of patience. “Stop with the riddles, will you? Just answer!”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4y7BLJfVs
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZzs2WnxcH
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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMClvaROduV
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmKX9T3sSIr
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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1yFEC0O4V
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bSsJdLgpq
Karin shrugs, unfazed.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4RACwba612
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVttmJPMwEQ
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAdSrsNCgAd
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXPYxi495G
That catches his attention. “What do you mean?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEp2kQxMw5k
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtIIvUnMVxT
“… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxREL5Jc3k
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl4mSiP152w
Sasuke arches one eyebrow, curious. “What weren’t?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MSdgCNsen
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaAzyWRfNRK
For the first time since they got there, Karin squirms in her seat.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGqTZBLs31w
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfY7aUTZRPw
“...You.”
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJVc7NkLyfH
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0wed1UVrhX
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Ap3W6Co4e
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu6nZbYi8Vd
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUABZQNRODd
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFlihJiRaI
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCEuq8bpTiN
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljoz7ixMhl
“Karin… the moment you were taken hostage, you became an encumbrance.”
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOcopoRGnWh
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdtrsARxHT
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSxwEEPr84
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsJnIBC2wi
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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfriueQO31I
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfFA7OLOmX
Sasuke hates it; having to repeat himself. But he moodily does, anyway. “What do you mean?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzBizMvzXNz
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhV0hIcBhQm
Karin does not reply right away; and when she does, her voice is the softest Sasuke has heard it sound so far.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0mxAFnakb
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfkTbslWzw
“I always ended up loving you all the same,” she admits.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1BvrEmc8vk
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfR0a8HeBUb
Then she looks at him again, and Sasuke finds that he can’t look away.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQhqPdoI3y
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8KxAs3X0du
“Always.”
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRLAp9n4eS
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokCHsJhwUn
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFgh1Yhq31
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XviHL7r9Y
It happens on a rainy night.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlG2Xbcccpy
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXXFZ8R1DR
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvAHddQnv4
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzvZrlUphml
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5632oDisBr
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy02buDVVbH
She hadn’t been.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAaiEhxFfJ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPPGiRjjy3
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYihyN7tngX
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5btTauhHc
So much for not getting wet, she thinks, and it’s then that an umbrella is placed above her.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZS0d8ihZN
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8LOaNwUdoL
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHO0LczpG2n
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaI8m4V5ooi
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMOpfn5kFHm
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgS31RySgXo
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmj5yXfKg8t
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqto9mDtnJk
But she can’t look away from him—and before she knows it her legs are moving and the rain no longer matters.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKmaUKaZ1B
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1k3yfeHkB1
By the time he has hung up, they’re standing at the next intersection and she is soaked from head to toe.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwW0Y0VjBLR
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ayDQDHCnZ
“Hey, you! Wait!”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMT6qKhGcC8
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFvkBq38J6
The business man slowly turns around, painfully so, confusion apparent on his face.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaReWGbRJhx
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJerefRVQBJ
Onyx meets red and her heart skips a beat as his eyes widen ever so slightly.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLJK8jXWUIK
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRYcr41eYg
“Thank you,” she breathes out jaggedly and not exactly from the chasing, “for before.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqVS9K6HxZ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUJpAEbwpF
“… 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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ORwHTdh6u
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSsJDFJUkL
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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqV2J84Klz
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl5Nzp7o0cO
He tilts his head to the side, long bangs falling across his face. “… Hn, down the street, you say?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmsQ32DgiJ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx9UngS2ceS
“Yeah. It’s less than a minute away,” she gulps, “so, what do you say?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTumZNqWOUg
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjW7ZGnuR9
He smiles, and his whole face lights up. “I’d like that.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6NQZjMHQ3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3jqsYs8Ji
By the time they place their orders, she is already in love with him.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjKdBbw3A4
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRiDFuORGLd
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjknApqhBS
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx4sPV1uuj1
He thinks that maybe he should be surprised, but the truth is that he isn’t.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOwbMXp6F7w
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWH5Z4dt56y
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgG3lvxUao
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEn4NaAkN6
“… You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4iCgkbCFG
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6hghDFmhJ
Karin blinks innocently, a direct contrast with the amused smirk shamelessly painted across her lips. “What do you mean, Uchiha-san?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDn2E9gdpb
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKp70HGUPJ
“Drop the act,” he glares, matter-of-fact. “You knew I worked here.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMXOhb7ynZb
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfoxMBGncW
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidEDvq6VKS
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQXCtoAhCn
'Always'.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazHOxGR8Ut
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7ARPEUJ3H
“—so not my fault you basically own the damn city,” Karin finishes, and Sasuke blinks.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWWmv4KHjx
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtplVGCQmq7
“Huh?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFUlvzUOKUK
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSgouzOWGC9
She deadpans. “You weren’t listening, were you?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVv9RR8b9p
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmRtSfhKAk
“I was,” he lies through gritted teeth, prodded by some unexplainable force. Damn, why did he always have to bicker with this girl?505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtn4kMAqfHY
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgSuSGoMYfa
“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—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡanAnNE1kX6
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwq6nqbLZuO
He all but groans. “Stop, Karin. Don’t bring that kind of talk here, someone may hear you.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8g3Icl5p6L
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XQEP2qfuy
“Pft, so what?” she huffs, crossing her arms and swaying her hips again. “It’s not like I work here, right?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6OmLt6Six
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡILD7HaJZ9u
Her tone and most specially the glimmer in her eye as she looks at him told him otherwise.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOMg7PlLeUq
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7gwKvhroE0
Damn her.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgwN21Nmoiw
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErROYRiDs4
“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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3cU90zn8L
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFfoScmSiJ
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7w7GuZfuys
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3eFkY32THF
As if reading his thoughts, Karin calls out to him from the door.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMmwwonxpx
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqaWOH7hC6F
“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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoZ94Aldiq
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyDConpifvk
And for some unknown reason, Sasuke finds himself blushing.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWH721WzsQ
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRKvzP9h5p
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ182NvRbbOZ
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDsfORpMfFw
“I brought you the papers you requested,”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxS29CcbfE
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPFdz8nlji
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgiiIQ0XRZ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBFEgMfJJkn
“Idiot,” she manages to reprimand between kisses, “what if someone sees us?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1lH1bkEeAY
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhcDEHfiOV7
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS25g6j9xBt
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZmWfswTap
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HGSNDN3nk
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoE3EtuSVAy
“Any complains?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4n1OoGMOo
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKX4WebIZW9
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9QkxmvgsS
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryIeao4XK0
She has a mission to accomplish—but he makes her forget soon enough.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDS9uQRjCn
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTlUWnrcpg
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEK6rKBsjI
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQlhHS8BF1
“I’ll have some Okonomiyaki, please.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvYFs0NlpZ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwQesFwELI
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWF1L7WLYHi
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1elAOYxdoL
“Whoa, Sasuke, That girl totally has a thing for you!”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpShsgzJIc
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9z2voRBGz
Sasuke rolls his eyes; he was so over this subject. “Tch, she and every other employee, what else is new.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxiZLD4RwEB
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMfre2LMkJ6
Karin snorts, “Cocky, aren’t we? Do I need to remind you that I am one of your employees, too?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGwkGFpDGKq
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwKWUDjMMv
'Always'.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlfEy9JiOA
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMUqYD74Ay
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6S9Nt4v9TO
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJjT7i6oxI
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Fz2iNbUSn
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMpyM38Fqxr
“You really are no fun, Sasuke.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKeopB4O7L
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkKKHyP0Hh
“Forget about that, Karin. You said you would tell me more about—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOCVByoxHv9
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiAGw9IYGP9
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWO9J1igh5N
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIaTCTHhZsH
“Karin.”
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhGT3RO5aj
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhj1tw6KDuz
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡByVwqfvkCb
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlkMK9AcqZ
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUcEbDzh2h
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCsUXQ5fvqV
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBcTTFjpT6g
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LzIu6t3R7
He is the first thing she sees when she comes out of the room.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPU2EREmSlQ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoEPLwgmbsD
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9rjRxqYrh3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5af2oe7lNO
“…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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaN4MfjXoXk
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKJaGxoLz4
“Idiot,” she hisses, and means it. “You are hurt, let me—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEx0sWgsjcd
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRPF54q6Lp
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWia8w0DTI
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUNVtwKCvG
“…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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9ChkFfjQt
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6WRsN7kWu
To her surprise, Sasuke snorts.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAaaSUiNx6f
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK3vBzxPEEN
“What?” she snaps.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiR5e4lBwD7
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUi8BPrAgs
“Nothing,” he says, and he is smirking. “Just, you’re the last person I want to hear that from, Karin.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOk3dSQN52M
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqo02zU7sUw
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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyXDUmD2GV3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBWBFgYO7D
He looks down at her from the corner of his eye, his smirk softening around the edges. “…I wonder.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzPicZRQqq
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYasXDMuQc
And despite her blood loss, her blush only deepens.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZhCZATZ3G
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYXdTtEJHO
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhA3NyKwHzY
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ9SVDwF3tM
“Would you like more tea, Karin-chan?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5rUm9I7CA
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLyiPosnl8
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAEHAMVVjMC
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHCb8x6Ebx
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡll7X7tfEzT
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI8Q2xjEhBT
Sasuke huffs, halfheartedly batting his brother’s hands away. “I know that—moreover, when will you stop treating me like a child, Itachi?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Cn5GpaS0C
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTISIXClDKy
“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?505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZijtY5aa5j
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8i3ktjvvbv
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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZdqF5JZUzh
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8POJkabGxT
Great. So she had been listening in, huh? He should have guessed.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyKBjfuvcy
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnJ7FxtK8j
“Not quite,” Itachi replies, but Sasuke’s triumphant smirk is short-lived as his brother adds, “But almost.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPe4sO7I8IQ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfX4ozVpxKM
“Brother!” he reproaches, causing the older boy to chuckle again and Karin to smirk widely.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4a9X58Zvq
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeAeKENyyVJ
“You’re unbelievable, Sasuke; I mean, I knew you were an unsocial prude, but almost no girlfriends? Seriously?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡesWlbRPTv5
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6skwOqC1nI
He glares, mortified to feel the by-now familiar sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Shut up, Karin.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXinWbC0Uy
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavGrlstUQS
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIQZPMfFxW
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvrc3HKxVr
Damn you, brother.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUJMCQokOj
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWSUp2T4tm
“Hn, I don’t know what Itachi is talking about.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQTrTA9vuw
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34GUYwuVKu
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSd2b2Kw5T
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdLcbX3LJhK
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqHAI8cCdkA
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNkZTdecIH
Despite his better judgment, Sasuke can feel himself blushing. “Who said I’m enjoying myself?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYz7kukZzQ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyY6XDVVpM
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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZNh251WFT
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEfCuCOZiL
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5iiFPsO9P
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYL7GlzBiPL
“… 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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjHAMDCUU6X
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2NgqLrLbyQ
“I know, dear. But, somehow… it feels like you two have known each other for a long time.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64F3qoBPII
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNhqzPsoPk
Itachi says nothing—but the way in which he warmly squeezes Sasuke’s shoulder is eloquent enough.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhuBweDWd9Z
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUf2MHPGczH
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.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VWMPyAGDR
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ6pu3pkHWI
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡciDb8mOiUb
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuezsf7yV6n
“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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4e1ZO9tRcr
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKX8r3xZke
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—505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7f4i7bxeKZ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRmewLQPmJ
“Sasuke—hey, earth to Sasuke, are you listening? I was just saying that—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DTQxkKP5o
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLKINt5fMV
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuIWuEGv03f
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMQjpUBs0H
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTRD8VPalmy
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7hCuJEtbr
“Raspberries,” he states, and that seems to get Karin off her trance, because she blinks at him.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxUvOspVVq
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8EBbaDRaU
And then she is grinning.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt2jDeQKiyl
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTlYsfHImQn
“Had I known you would finally kiss me today, I’d have worn something less sweet.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOduHrCXys
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLhjuWeAgr
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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyfJz96i4g
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVCp9Kt0SUc
“I know,” and her grin becomes a husky smirk as she tangles her fingers in his hair. “You’re too easy to read, Sasuke.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgfWhkOKp0z
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1D1dAqDAlz
“Hn, you could have helped, then,” he says, but the truth is he is too lost in her to really mind.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0LrxN3jJbs
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLr2fjEVW74
“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.”
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOosidJO1Js
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKrHMfYlYeo
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKPzN4v5P4i
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOVBjsR1xk
“You won’t find anything better for a more reasonable price, I assure you, Uchiha-san. This is the absolute best—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYx7IwBL7VF
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmz1hzyq26
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UC4bs9vX5
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtzb3fb4wp
“Excuse me.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95H4wfCj3U
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzQZz8m89V
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxf60AjkKg
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgVchst3TVq
“This house is ours, Sasuke,”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOaAI3pOc9j
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1pYLUQet6
Her fingers find their way around his, and Sasuke gives them a squeeze as he nods, his expression naturally mirroring her own.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYejhhInPJ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCCK7DIa6B
He could feel it, too.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXl9qBv6BRd
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCDvL6Vggh
Behind them, the realtor clears his throat but Karin cuts him short before he could get a single word out.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMlq01HhZS
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC89wiBLKq9
“We’re buying it,” she states loud and clear, and she is positively glowing.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5x6MticRh
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOq0VzFSkQ
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaTl2KY6Iqa
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQwwMVrjj1
She can hardly believe it.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24ZMsfMS3A
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKdq4h9DHiw
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYiUp8xsPXr
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMtohyGTe4q
It seemed like something straight out of one of those dramas she used to love to ridicule and secretly watch at the same time.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa57hbjL0D7
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQucGA6kH3q
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKfY9Jv0uQ9
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbVT0I3QrQ0
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLb6PKK14Ir
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjehF28E3rG
“What’s so funny?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk38pdBYlux
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIMaIN72Kn
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdFFdPnhBw
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMUfiwqi7g
“There’s just one thing off, though—” she observes, as an afterthought, “where’s my rival in love?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqFCpRdBME
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygtS9cRQnu
“Nowhere,” he asserts, grave like only he could be about even the most foolish of things. “I am yours.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGQ9pl4y3l
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu10WPiash1
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1C6RiNsuk
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrXKTSm6jkU
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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzpncAv18U
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhcPb7RCWTI
And he is breathing in her scent and tightly holding her in his arms—so tightly in fact that she can hardly breathe.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrMSds3L12
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbaJM7zlr2A
“S-asuke—” she chokes.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbmHQuEcENP
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eEe6xoxzL
But he does not listen.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw2ZEj2DJtT
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6S3qJtOLv
“…mine.”
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvgTAzBAjoT
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SHzMNx6r2
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGdC8ZAhdH
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffC5JlW2G8
She soundlessly sneaks behind him and leans her chin on his shoulder.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvUnX49VKd
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjUxwSvsC4
“Sewing again?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQy5EzFRFK
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsWXQ4MFycu
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGT85Z8tN0
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPeKts5RTla
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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAVjvi9S6I
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7SN7jVh65
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK8bXLdnodp
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MfZwMcKP3
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhnC2qGgue
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDugbJyp7A
“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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbA4OAAqrQo
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpqkJzHv2R
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeszsEER66q
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡluH2KaNsCy
And he finds himself smiling at her back, like one of those love-sick fools he always used to make fun of.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ1u6uKCdKq
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJR4ZZb08xb
But it’s just, back then—he had never thought someone could actually make him this happy.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1GEHQQm3O
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkV6J0tJJE
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgcqc2tCjbS
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24B8nQQFEf
“Stop doing that, Sasuke.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCFKdOBiTD
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJ3i0dmNEo
“Doing what?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl56Npgv2pu
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxlZk7wUPi3
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6YPxPitER
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bOZhgoTP5
“Or what?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡupU1HtUiD3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9rQ0HKMyc
“…Or I may fall in love with you, Uchiha.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKY6OkomkzC
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8PnJjh3Vz
She is both elated and horrified to see how soft and harmless his usual menacing and intimidating smirk looks as he replies.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4QeC5Cbln1
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Eaz2cPqeQ
“… Maybe I wouldn’t mind that.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDu5qhz1ypu
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2KsbQeXBdR
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtA40J0JDu3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfsdXVQJiap
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ740vtOsBZv
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVPHaQsGN4
Only a minute would be enough for a spy as skilled as herself.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUOfxkePh3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIaAynPpRG
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwVodMUorFS
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyc5lXti8o
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutNFY8XKB4
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhq2WZgZDO
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—505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGoZhF65sk
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1AT9q0mx0N
To forget the atrocities she would find if she did.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMsC6bb8TB
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbYWcFpPilR
And, really—who would have thought that a monster like Uchiha Sasuke was capable of making a face like that?
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4iNXE7Vof
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh721ggI8AJ
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHwKJHdKhdO
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjk0dcKiZp0
Sasuke was just putting a plate aside when the sound of porcelain breaking reaches his ears.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfERWw9hfl0
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Ae65ct9Nb
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNVmvCZTHs
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSSIo7rdAa
“Karin,” he calls, drying his hands on his pants—and he misses the way Karin’s shoulders tense, her back stiffening. “Are you alright?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqL2Ld8KBZF
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50My8DuocD
“Yeah,” she murmurs after a moment, and Sasuke blinks. She didn’t sound alright.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzubxsy1A8G
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPwQAMEJh7q
“Karin,” he calls again, approaching her. “Leave that be, I’ll take care of it.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡud6Sm62cPM
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvxSSdmhWcX
“I told you, it’s fine.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMCkcfNbWF
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeomfd912xk
He frowns, concerned. “Karin—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR010QGtblN
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLZQlDdUGqn
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVwJXf0pBvc
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGJRCmtvwm
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZObD4jmQmZ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEt9xILvoz
“Sorry, Sasuke—I think I’ll go and lie down for a while.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1a2sscvFD2
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbktHjYUsJx
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡImp9J99gkJ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ULL6oEsc5
He doesn’t know what he would do if he were to see that same fright reflected in her eyes again.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJh0js6jvki
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvHHwV8oIV
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSeYUDcPVov
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WUG4qAeZr
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LEVNTyOyN
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyTN2y0cX0
“S-sasuke, what—?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ99jPitg555
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqt4qo49HpO
“Where were you, Karin?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTCWf65pfx
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVuRP2IFZ6c
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFLXHqJ7jd
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQO3ZTUKZGq
It reeks of lighting and promises pain—it frankly terrifies her.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHDbxTpqfzG
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyeTyOoBSPb
But she holds her ground.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2IADeUe5J
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbf7tLz3LFq
“I—I was having lunch with my parents, Sasuke. They called to invite us today but you were at—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3dMkOff5C
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgj0tv1E3bV
“Liar,” he grits out, and Karin’s blood runs cold. “I called them myself. You were not with them. So, where were you?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHgZdSMGQZ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTTSJ1VZ53
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—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnVtVzZC8jR
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTGCZxgOb4
“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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYZ56rz6PM
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagKkjvxGhH
“Sasuke, I—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLloCyYoYM
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04Hhaxwlry
“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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkuYip3YL5j
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX2SVHJ2ps9
A part of her hates herself for how easily the answer comes forth to her lips. For how true it remains. “… I do, Sasuke.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡub3M2pQzPr
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI3hxUeY9ug
She hears his smile, “Good. Then, you will stop seeing them, won’t you? Those girls.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgnbOki3eD
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCu3qEGKLrD
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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3248eRK1g
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOKFaAIXB2
I want you all for myself—is what Karin hears instead, and she frowns. “Sasuke, you can’t be serious—they are my friends!”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLj3Z0ha7fj
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVi025c8bii
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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80eQpS9Li1
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn4hEUX1dwB
“I—” yes, he is—was. Is.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3bqEyCmor
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIRYQwYSnr
And that frightens her more than he possibly could.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFNuT2fgAHn
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdNoAE0Pmdc
“—alright, Sasuke… you win.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSLPSNX7LJ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF4LIazseJr
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb57GvJ4x7a
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjqsevswyh
Even himself.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOku2HONaAp
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeg7ULWP01P
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBfKEaFQKi
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7qKssmlgg4
The silence is deafening. The unsaid drawing knots with his vocal chords, until he decides that enough has been enough.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQ2tUajl9S
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVFRLneZj9
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0U41zHFEfp
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvI6aN6yP9s
She doesn’t bulge. “What?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUELl7G3JbF
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4v1os1D2z
And perhaps that’s what worries Sasuke the most.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQI0E6pGH2Q
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzYfos1o6a
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJe3rrWc8yI
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8QYSUsFsQv
“Don’t try to avoid the subject, Karin. There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUpNQigYTT
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZKHHSJ481k
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokrZtibXCW
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡATEC0rKYX0
And Sasuke wants nothing more than to ask her to stop—but he is too scared to do so.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4q6dDNrpm
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdoLNiR9fBG
“Eat, Sasuke. It’s going to get cold.”
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlimoNN9u2O
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCIfrpT2lDB
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZdU2psC1l
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoY2jvM6Su
He rolls the raspberries between his fingers, memories swirling in his head.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmzTHTkyuR
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4IpLejqYp
He has always had a very good memory; and throughout his life, it has proved to be a curse more often than a blessing.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovpBdwrhID
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEe10oYqgP
In this case, it is both at once.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUQY8pokQrH
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjg4CwNnQK
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpcjJizCFvr
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCF1viIHylK
A girl sending him off with a sad smile, and never looking back.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhGtIcXZy4
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9xybq5dpO
Broken promises.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38teyFF5sz
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz2XEzZFFMo
A call. A funeral.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVpetHMMHF
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqDNEqfjFO
And tears.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhG0Eq8SpRo
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77DZzrIsSY
Heartbreak.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡESHnN3zBdJ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMtAL7wd3H
Loneliness.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOR5NgwXNZf
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHuXLVLemiG
…then there was nothing else.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNR2M0hiub
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡghYWdymWBA
And then there was everything all over again.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1CmPyAapW
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbi3JikvAk
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcX4NzsbOdp
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEN1khHcRj
He can’t stop.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsEN8BXlQBd
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7WFpvK8pS
He does not want to.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyeQc4VJ8Cn
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE97sqLjbtW
One of the raspberries snaps, juice rolling down his fingers—but he does nothing to clean it up.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBuVLRMQQm2
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7qpF7evQJ
The door creaks open.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3zkHTDeL3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5sqZCbGkUM
“Uchiha-san, you have to eat.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaREVProJz
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7u1GvjTBux
The nurse says, more out of habit than anything else; but he is too far away to hear—505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8819Nq5m8m
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKgAjKe720
(“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.)505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxb4PrRlleb
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7HFr29CJR
—and it’s been a year since the patient of the room 723 has pronounced a single word.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQdEGut8nX
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1sgCnuCbu
(And a five-year old Karin is smiling.)
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHK6Hn8NJ1I
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARbxnB8pXR
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLsqFbf6bW
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHWKW3h1B8
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1WJNNEu41w
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRaVkYmVjjG
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6ddAalHkn
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtoo6AHlOn9
Karin was sitting on the bed, unnaturally straight and still; her eyes vacant and unseeing, telltale trails of dried tears on her cheeks.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxXamfrnLv
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQnIzzUzAij
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSA5RuI24e
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDunFOeqK8z
“Karin…” his voice is faint; a tentative call more to spur himself into motion than to reach her. “Karin, what’s wrong?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9mD55MLd7
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFZmreeuyA
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNE5dsfgizx
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gW7Sm3EOA
And then she parts her lips.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztXWfKh6OO
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04B9OvQD6K
“Sasuke… I had a dream… a new one.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWOElqLlaT
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5No8xUQFzP
Sasuke swallows; what could she have possibly seen to put her in such a state?505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJZCMnprgV
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ99ZC5xshIW
“Karin, I…” the redhead simply shakes her head, and to his ever-growing alarm there are fresh tears dripping from her eyes.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhWnctrflZ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOwJsx2lMYt
“Forget it, Sasuke… it’s better if you do.”
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnVo06oeEU
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgGeXYkaQjd
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNeh1LfkZX
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2vwJM0aJS
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIWZj03blLx
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0qaS3Xv5kZ
“Stop it, Karin. You were not supposed to care about him—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWH3z0AbGf7
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlOotyyIRwW
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3Xal5ugAO
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRscDH4if4
It makes something in her tightly clench.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWSQBx9pf35
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBp4cZdnzU
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQyKNzAhnSB
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsDKSf1K2j
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3AitffQNd
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDialgKrCu
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH28cA368bV
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyOjmJQUHt
She can hear them coming from her, and she knows she won’t be able to escape—but that was fine.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTEGPZiq7sG
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tZpRClngx
She would take as many of them as she possibly could before going down, and—505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ZTo9HO3ub
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNvkGYrmWDN
“…we’ll meet soon, Sasuke.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfvwirBkqw
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVDlkPzEUtS
—and Sasuke had always liked souvenirs.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrEiG3UIT0
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQQfkvpygy9
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJpG6rL45h
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNV6KAluJ7
He is crudely woken up by Karin screaming his name.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvqRFJIlAUD
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQcH4qzxOe
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9XkOxk2grb
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjpQIHA7FbF
In fact—she seemed to only be getting worse.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY17mGl1Cya
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbKXNKMrKm
“Sasuke, no—!”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCbQvrxFe3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFYSQxZOsf
“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—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDichOmTz3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQdyi3kJCv
But his sincere promise is cut short by her terrified sob.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TYs0zdR3Z
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfB5PpFWy9B
“N-no, Sasuke—get away from me!”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjI7PsDQb5s
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXugTHWQJmO
Sasuke jumps back, as if burnt. “W-what…?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WaUOtLeda
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzFmrd7yga0
He could not believe his ears—she was frightened—of him?505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKN0y3jSODY
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gpAfujqMJ
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDHNYSOsHa
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnVViIB2tKv
‘… They weren’t always nice, Sasuke. They rarely were.’505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxlq1kalBc
‘What weren’t?’505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOj9NxZP5R7
‘...You.’505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSXBJBjlVS
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNS9V6Cqnxq
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10gltALOyV
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6f4mCgXHNy
Ghosts he has started to fear, too.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKKeu7drH4
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRT3v9coMJu
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJ8MBod2W1
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsznpbKFgq
“Karin,” he whispers affectionately, caressing her cheek with his right hand, “I need you.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKD7cu9mLFW
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8lGuVBKie
Karin swallows the knot in her throat and forces her knees to remain firm, “I—I know, so plea—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIB0qwikEwh
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFHO62xZbW
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUdx2MT6MYz
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1xRl3FvQuJ
“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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNyuLy3lfFd
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAimwCtE8iT
“I’ll see you soon… Karin.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCyYcCGALDc
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rx3Iekbf3
He says, and his words are as loud as the gunshot that follows.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGIlkVrhXyM
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHm90UFebi
And then her lifeless body is crumbling to the ground, his soon to follow.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8eVEB9iAEt
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLXG4k0NQsZ
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLGPCjaeDD
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusUnKX9gwb
“What was I doing to you?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwXRqDG6YE
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQXELwlWZq
“… I don’t remember.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtoTwMvSi1
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8lakopqCRW
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4I7BNMrdpC
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKVnUiQZJ4F
But he has played that game long enough.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVca0B7IWW
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXYDf8CYPD
He cannot continue to allow himself to remain blissfully unaware while she battles on her own.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1P0YwJr0M
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf15FTLgn7a
“Don’t lie to me, Karin.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVufmW6S8ql
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJaEflEZKu
“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.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKGv0UF63w
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8N63I9OwLj
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpr2tEuzSdd
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAsGKv7bk5
“…Tell me the truth, Karin.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jZcApygWu
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqtgm2vdrs
Karin takes a deep breath, and Sasuke braces himself.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhABy18YKh
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZsRreckFi
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGs0VI0AIU1
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDBsAkQDnQ
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxnAqOevpO
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fwhCdaMtd
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—505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdfF0ZZ2FGZ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlXKEsIoQbS
And her name leaves his lips in the form of a horrified call—one that is cut short by her strained smile.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCYiFrYu7wJ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8RL7JeviG
“Idiot, I… told you… to move, Sasuke…”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy3OyHGOk2D
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6x2mWDJxPV
“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—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIsj6vR3uS
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevXBFRjtdL
“Sa…suke,” and though her voice is nothing but a dying whisper, he is rendered silent at once. “Promise me… you won’t… die.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVF4ohTVFD
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZ2KedkVLF
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—”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2IA4cKyipL
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30iefiwwAX
“—make you… regret it… I know,” her smile looks like unleashed tears. “I admit… this… wasn’t exactly… what I had… in mind.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZK72jxG3j8
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxtLkCCd4B
There is a choked sob—and he barely registers it is his own.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXL6zIcaZl5
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEyqsKbUIeR
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCRNmwfcno
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLLINno08A
“Don’t… all I want…ed… is for you… to smile… like that day.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn35D1F5Rcj
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufvQZC0hn4
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34b42Q8OXy
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLfJs8RGVRX
And she slips away through his hesitation like he had always slipped through her fingers.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKldxkKRgDx
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo570V3gHK2
“See ya… Sasuke.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchBkFekdtI
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTUknyJoxM
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyZ0Z4Gp4T
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MeBeCh8ZG
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—505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKch3BmTNhJ
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYchsUoK1oS
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.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0QWJq5D4g
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWbOFBkeNGP
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIPGzE5PlSW
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEe38wlm0vY
A terrible silence has descended upon them.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3OUKQJIy4J
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeaQzGU91yO
He has retreated to the edge of the bed, his elbows sinking on his knees and his horrified face cradled in his shaking hands.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs1nyf53N00
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSqHpLnwuo
“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?”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhtczwikT2d
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7eCZrA9dJ
Karin watches his desolated back and has a hard time swallowing the lump in her throat, “Because… they are not you, Sasuke.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdARmeqXGm2
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKmhUAwcyC
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC7WjdMKtOY
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbabNxlS6O
“And, above all…”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnhziyIQlIH
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4q93yx664N
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGHkJiBWT2
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEvhRQp0jMY
“…Above all, I want to see how this one ends.”
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfc087I1w8U
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1EiaRolT0
.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNh2Eix39Y
.
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWvJOuZyAt
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzyFqeTEJU
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnLK9vr05AT
Except that it doesn’t get to.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbBSGr4f8w
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcrgSFPo1I0
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHE0WIypKbO
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUBqyUc5Ao
“See ya.”505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMJ4hm9KxL
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNY6Nt4lM1W
This is what I give,505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfBdNdRKua
A circle is complete.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVUwdz4GvS
Another circle spins505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35zE4NAaaZ
There's life within,505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3dCv6IGwv
Within
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡheOPMQKGVE
end.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjbFLWmwB8
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡptey6WfFVq
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBAvGjWUd5v
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNvRpgrVBKs
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.505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOXX9DUrmd
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzsEYR9MO5U
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~!505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4RokmPHgZ3
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94Dz5YG9Mz
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 lol505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3oKlFFhyG9
505Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjotAjASSZx
Thanks for reading! ♥
Tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
ns3.144.137.236da2
