A quick set of vignettes I wrote back in February for Ice&Spice's St. Valentine's Challenge. It turned out to be quite the challenge indeed since given the theme, these are fluffier than the type of SasuKarin I usually write.
Here is to hoping they make for an enjoyable read.
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Box of chocolates; a collection of SK vignettes for St. Valentine's.
by kanae
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Total Keywords: 23
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Greeting
"W—wait!" Karin calls. He pauses, giving her a curious look from atop of the wild bear he had just kicked into submission. "I… what is your name?"
"Sasuke," the boy responds after a breath, a smile flickering at the edges of his lips, eyes alight with amusement. "...What's yours?"
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Heart
He comes to find her through the wreckage and the heartache, like a compass to give her direction.
Months later, Karin discovers that somewhere between his come and his touch, she had forsaken ownership of her heart.
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Fall in love
She is exhausted and her limbs feel as if they were made of wood rather than flesh; she can barely walk as it is, let alone keep up with Orochimaru's pace. Yet Sasuke wordlessly falls in-step with her, nonchalantly, as if he weren't deliberately slowing down to not leave her by herself, and Karin wonders if this is what being in love felt like.
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Dear
"You're a fast learner, Karin," he appraises, and does not try to conceal the wonderment from his voice.
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Date
They first date in all but name happens when they're both thirteen. It's December and Orochimaru feels magnanimous enough to send them off to a festival in a village nearby. Though neither of them had shown the slightest interest in the festivity, they wind up going either way; clad in innocuous blue yukata, they merge with the crowd and let the village's carefree spirit swallow them whole, if just for one night.
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Fond
"Sasuke-kun, you've become quite fond of the girl, haven't you?" Orochimaru comments one day, receiving a particularly vicious glare as sole response; the boy hated when there were truths he could not deny.
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February
It's been a week since Karin was sent off to the Southern Base, and Kabuto wonders how someone as forlorn as Sasuke could possibly look even more lonesome.
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Presents
In the solitude of the base, Karin would pull up her sleeve and trace the marks incised across her skin, remembering how he had given her each of them. Every single one enclosed a different memory—of lips of touch of words, each a blueprint of something left unfinished; untrodden.
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Flirt
Karin just doesn't understand; just what part of her flirting did Sasuke not get?
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Admirer
"Heh, you're surprisingly prude, Karin. I mean, for someone who orgasms every time Sasuke—" there's a loud splash as Suigetsu's head splatters across the wall, and Sasuke has to sink his nails on his palms to keep himself from smirking.
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Endearment
He knows more about her than he lets on; like she reads books on shinobi techniques to make up for her lack of offensive abilities, or that she keeps a collection of perfumes hidden in her bag, concealed as medicines. That she liked her okonomiyaki the best with katsuobushi topping, and that she would get twice as angry whenever she was trying to hide her concern… little traits that made Karin who she was, beyond her semblance.
Things he would not notice about anyone else but her.
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Lovesick
"Shut up, you oaf! They're not scars," she hisses.
Suigetsu frowns with puzzlement. "Huh. Then what the hell are they?"
Wounds, Karin thinks, as she flickers a gaze at Sasuke's back. His teeth had lacerated her skin with the same sharpness his smile had cut into her heart, and with every look he gave her the bite-marks would bleed memories of feelings she has long since tried to suppress, nowhere near healing.
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Flirt
Their hands brush against each other as they walk, his chakra warming up with every fleeting touch and drawing a smile across Karin's eyes.
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Betrothed
More than friends, less than lovers—it was a fine line, the one they tiptoed around, and Juugo is half surprised he never noticed it before.
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Adoration
Sometimes, when Karin thought no one was looking, her eyes would soften and she would look at him with such fondness—a tenderness never usually seen in her authoritative demeanor, and Suigetsu would wonder whether Sasuke was just pretending not to notice or if he was truly that blind.
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Affection
Naruto smiles as he watches them; Karin reprimanding him for his wounds and Sasuke utterly silent and uncharacteristically compliant. Many would probably not take a second look at the scene, but Naruto knew better than most.
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Balloons
Sometimes he would give her a look; coal eyes fixated on her and full with something akin to want, and Karin would fell her chest filling up with warmth, like a balloon about to burst.
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Be mine
Sasuke never does say it, but the way he holds onto her is eloquent enough.
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Courtship
If you ask Sasuke, he will tell you they underwent no such thing. If you ask Karin, she will tell you she courted him since they were thirteen.
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Crazy
Suigetsu thinks Sasuke must be crazy to have fallen for a chick like Karin; especially when he had so many at his feet.
But then again, Sasuke had never been the type to keep his eyes on the ground.
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True love
Their dynamic does not change much when they finally get together; not in daylight, at least. But when everyone falls asleep and she crawls under his bed sheet, Sasuke holds her—holds onto her, as the sun dies beyond the horizon and the world's lights go out, as if he were drifting and she kept him afloat.
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Red
Her eyes are the color of his Sharingan. Her blush, the faded red of the crest carved on the walls of his home. And when the sun licks her hair just so, it goes up in flames, as if it were made of katon; and so Sasuke knows that while she may have been born an Uzumaki, she was meant to die as an Uchiha all along.
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Gift
Karin decides Sasuke's ready to start a future with her the day she comes into her room only to find one of her shirts laying atop of the bed, an addition knitted into its back; that of the Uchiha and Uzumaki crests merged into one.
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End.
Thank you very much for reading this far! As always, reviews are more than welcomed and appreciated.
- Kanae