08: their exclusivity has embarked its way to the point of leaving a love bite on the neck of his favorite girl is something other people might call as an act of ownership.
Disclaimed. AU.
An Exclusive Item
by: you are my math
seriously, what are they? more than friends, less than lovers?
xx.
"That won't work."
The redhead casts him a tempestuous look, fixing the black lace around her neck.
She goes back to studying herself in the mirror, subtly throwing a glare in the process to the reflection of a man comfortably lying down on the bed. "Do I look like I need your damn opinion?" She hisses underneath her clenched jaw.
He shrugs. "That won't cover up those marks I left—"
"Shut it! You're disgusting."
Spark from her sharp response, and his mischievous nature returns, as he smirks at her slyly. He grabs hold of the pillow across him, and nestles his head upon it. "Regretting it already?"
"Rubbing it in?"
"I'm true to my words."
It is at that moment, when he lets his mind spews whatever he was thinking that the redhead turns around, and bestows him all the remaining patience that she surprisingly still has for him. "Listen up, you jerk,"
He nods obediently. "You have all my attention, babe." The corner of his mouth curls into a languid smile.
"You are screwed up! This is screwed up! Pretend that this nightmare ever happen! Let's go back to our own lives: me hating you, and—"
"And I, chasing you? Yeah, of course." He interjects, complementing the sentence. He yanks the entangled sheets of the bed off him, revealing his bare chest, as he hops down the bed.
Karin twirls around to face the mirror once again, dismissing the fact that she's just seen him there half-naked. Despite of what they've done the night before, of course, it's still embarrassing to be seen by him looking at him like that.
Hell, she wouldn't admit it even to herself.
Realizing this, the young man saunters his way towards the flustered woman in front of him. Perhaps it's the ego that makes him smile, or perhaps—he stands tall behind her—because, he doesn't know that he really has this kind of an effect to her.
"You can look if you want to." He whispers teasingly in her ear, pressing himself against her back even more.
Her inaudible groan has sent him to beat back himself from taking her in at the moment. When had he been so enwrapped as to almost allow himself to give in to her?
His mind vaguely recalls the night before, and remembers how smooth her neck was against his lips. Impatiently, he waits for her to utter a disapproval, but when she appears to be unresponsive, he allows himself to continue; his fingers run through her red hair, combing it asides so he can blow feather-like kisses on the nape of her neck. Warm sensation immediately crawls beneath her skin. And somehow, all at once, her unspoken compliance, nearly takes his breath away.
Suddenly, when realization knocks her off, she turns around and pushes him away from her. "Move aside, you dick!"
He catches her hand the second it lands on his chest, and pulls her close to him. "Make me."
"Were you even listening to me? Forget this happened." She enunciates.
"So what if I don't want to."
She blushes. "That," she stammers, "that's your problem now!"
He grins, and brushes off the strands of her hair on her face. "See? That's not really hard to admit, isn't it?"
She steps back to retreat, only to be pulled back again by him into their previous proximity. "Wait a sec, Karin, I'm not through yet." He says, mischief in his eyes.
There's barely a breadth parting between their bodies, and heaven knows how much he's doing that on purpose. She could've made a year worth of protest at that, but Suigetsu has already dropped his head to hers. He nuzzles into her neck, makes his way up and gives her a lingering kiss on the forehead.
When he pulls away, he looks at her, cheeks burning in red flurry. He chuckles at the sight of her face. "Lemme tell you, I don't do one nightstand." A pause. "Not, if you're involved." And, as if appearing content to what he has done, he winks at her, and adds, "run along, babe, you'll be late."
"Asshole, you must think you're smooth, huh."
"Oh yeah, how am I doing?"
She laughs. "Barely passing,"
After she assesses herself on the mirror one last time, she grabs her purse, and heads towards the door.
"Hey,"
She swears to beat herself later for stopping halfway through upon hearing his voice.
"I'll see you in Math."
She turns around, bids him a derisive snort. "In your dreams, lover boy."
xx.
"Please do remind me again, why Math starts at 8 in the morning?"
A woman with a particularly peculiar hair color sits across to where her best friend is seated. "Ino, it's what Tsunade says—mind exercise. Math is first for a cause." She says, and crosses her legs.
Ino compels to look at her briefly, then groans. "Guess your forehead has its purpose, too."
She spins around to catapult her a glare. "Hey!"
"What?"
Shouting at her friend is beneath of the things that Sakura wants to do, there are more important matters to tend to, and Ino isn't going to be one of them. So she cools down, and narrows her eyes to her. "You're just jealous that Sasuke-kun asked me out instead of you."
"What? That doesn't have anything else to do with..." The rest of her words are left incoherent for Sakura to hear.
"Whaaat?" Sakura taunts, smiling at her.
"Who gives a crap anyway?" She curses, baby blue eyes rolling to the thought of a certain man named: Uchiha.
Their conversation is cut off short, when the door slides open, revealing a redhead woman, scowling first in the morning.
"Hey, Karin..." Ino's words trail off, before she finds words on what to say next. "A choker?"
"Good morning, why are you strutting—"
Somewhere across the first row, a loud, boisterous laugh is heard throughout the room, followed by it, is a thunderous tapping on the table. When Suigetsu's mischievous eyes meet Karin's among the ocean of stares that he's getting at, Karin throws him an indignant look, as if to threaten.
"It wasn't even that funny." Jūgo casually states.
"What are they even talking about?" Sakura inquires, glancing over at them.
Ino waves her hand in the air, motioning for Karin to come sit with them. "Trust me, Sakura, you wouldn't want to know."
When Karin has finally seated on her seat, which is beside the window, Sakura grants her a look. "So what's up with that get up?"
"Hottest thing for summer?"
Ino, and Sakura exchange looks for a brief second, before they scoot close to the redhead.
"Riiiight." Ino agrees, knowingly.
Sakura shrugs, sly smile playing on her lips. Karin tries so hard not to think so much about it. "Well, you're definitely pulling it off."
"You've dolled yourself, too." Sakura adds.
"You're an eleven on a scale of one to five." Ino teases, just in time that Suigetsu's voice is heard yet again from across the room.
"I second that!" He shouts.
"Dude, seriously, what's up with you?" Jūgo, thoughtful as he has always been, asks his friend. Karin could only sympathize for the big guy, considering how idiotic his friend could turn out to be.
So with a sigh of defeat, Karin, who tries so hard to restrain herself from beating the living hell out of Suigetsu, is almost, almost at her limit. When will he ever shut up? She ponders, strings of savage curses entailing to those words. And then, she hears Sakura, and Ino:
"Seriously, something's off, you feel me?"
"Well, Suigetsu has always been so eccentric so... You get the picture?"
Before she allows herself to hear the end of it, Karin pushes back her chair, and finally, makes her priorities straight. She couldn't careless about her friends' confused looks at her. She stomps off towards the two guys.
I'll just teach him a lesson, she curses underneath. Just this once.
Immediately, she is cut off to what she is oughting to do, when the teacher's door flies open.
Gai is already at the heel of the door, and makes his way inside; a glistening grin plasters on his lips already. "Youthful kids, let's all go back to our designated seats, as I am about to begin this day with Calculus."
Begrudgingly, everyone complies, and goes back to their respective seats, including Suigetsu, whose seat is originally designated next to Karin's.
He walks past Karin, who is already giving him the glare of the century.
"Nice choker," he says teasingly.
And as if she's in dire need to make a worthy comeback, she follows his action as he is about to flop himself on his seat now. Before she could even consider a thought or two, she kicks aside Suigetsu's chair just in time he squats to sit on it.
He falls flat on the ground evoking a loud thump sound, which draws a lot of attention from everyone.
Karin's lips slant upward into a saccharine smile. "Thanks, babe."
xx.
It is at that morning, after their usual 40 minutes break, that Karin hustles to head first to the comfort room to change for her PE clothes. Gym class queues up next to their schedule, she recalls vaguely.
She stares right in front of her reflection on the mirror to scrutinize herself for a second, murmuring savage curses underneath her breath at how she always has to be cautious of her every actions today.
"Screw Suigetsu and his bullshits for leaving a mark." She curses, eyes traveling to the black lace wrapped around her neck; she deems the concept as some sort of a desperate measure that she, unfortunately, has to engage herself as of now.
For a moment, she closes her eyes, let the fury subsides, before she releases a sigh of aggravated defeat. At last, she decides to take the action on hand, so without further ado, she fishes for her concealer in her bag.
"I'd better do this first, before Ino, and Sakura find me."
With her free hand, she undoes the knot of the lace around her neck, and tucks it inside her purse. After one last glance of herself on the mirror, she smears the concealer on that particular part her neck, partially screening the illusion of the mark, but not completely concealing it enough for her to be self-assured later.
Once she looks almost satisfied at what she has done, her ears immediately pick up the sound of laughters at the other side of the door. Frantically, she rolls down the stick of her concealer, stuffs it inside her purse, and—too late—before she even begins to switch her vulnerable self to her usual overbearing front, Ino is already at her heels, leaning over on her shoulder to peek at whatever else she's doing.
"Woah, you're really putting up so much effort now."
Karin rolls her eyes at the comment. "Surprising, isn't?"
"They really should change our gym uniforms into short pants, c'mon, summer heat would be the death of me!" Tenten complains, fanning herself from the heat.
"Literally speaking, yes, heat stroke it is." Sakura states as a matter-of-factly.
Ino hops down from Karin to join the others. "You know what? That's brilliant. Plus, wearing shorts is such a good excuse to flaunt my slender legs."
A look of relief almost washes over Karin's face. Had she been a second later, they'd probably have their suspicions on the line.
Sakura snorts derisively. "Slender, pfft."
Ino ignores her. "Shut up, billboard." She, then, swings her attention to the quiet Hinata at the corner. "What do you think, Hinata?"
Before Karin even commences herself to witness a blushing Hinata, she surreptitiously leaves to change inside the cubicle, her attention, however, glues still to the conversation happening beyond the door.
"I think, I'm okay either ways."
"Good. Because I think Naruto had already dreamt of that day to come." Ino's baby blue eyes twinkle to the heiress.
"Oh my goodness, Ino, how scandalous." Tenten covers her ears, ceasing herself from hearing what entails more to Ino's words.
The blonde shoots Tenten a shrewd glance, her glossed lips eventually finding the worth to speak for its sake. "Dramatic as ever, Tennie. How was Neji?"
Hinata blushes in a deep shade of red.
Sakura splutters the water she was drinking.
"What are you even talking about?" Tenten's high-pitched voice echoes throughout the room, her face, if it's any consolation, has not given her quite the solace in favor of her current predicament.
Ino chaffs, unbuttoning her school uniform. "Relax, I'm kidding. There's no need to put an unnecessary self-defense." She pulls off her shirt, leaving her only in her sports bra. "So, Hinata, did Naruto kiss you yet?" She asks rummaging through her locker for that white gym uniform shirt.
Karin, halfheartedly, listens, smirking at the thought of her future cousin-in-law fainting right exactly where she stands.
"Come on, Ino, why are you even ganging up on Hinata?" Sakura interrupts, lacing up her sneakers. "How about you, huh?"
"For what it's worth, billboard, I am completely stress free—"
"Sai, surely, must be a smooth talker, isn't he?"
"I betcha he is!" Tenten joins in, a wry smile tugging across her lips.
"Or do you prefer the genius type?"
Not even sparing the two girls a look, Ino speaks transparent on her words. "Oh please," her tone colors the fact that she almost wavers from their petty talks. "Are we really changing the topic to me now?"
At the other side of the cubicle door, Karin appears to be finished changing now. She grabs her belongings that were hanging on the steel railing, and goes out.
Sakura shrugs. "I don't know. Are we?" Grinning mischievously at that, Ino's perfectly plucked brow twitches at the sight of Sakura's triumphant look.
"Uh-huh, how bout Karin?" Ino suggests, just in time Karin opens the cubicle. "Have you done it already with Suigetsu?" But as soon as the redhead steps out to the light, she slips, slides, and almost, almost splits right there at that moment.
They all swing their gaze to Karin, who is already fuming beyond words.
"Are you okay?"
"D-Damn it! W-Wet floor!"
"I-I am sorry, was that my fault? I believe that was my—"
Hinata helps her up.
"No, I'm okay. Probably my shoes, they're slippery." Karin says nervously; she rattles for coherency, while trying to drift away her thoughts from what had Ino asked her earlier.
"I have an extra pair in my locker, if you need."
"I'm cool, Hinata. Thanks."
Ino pauses for a second, scratching her chin. "Sooo, where were we? Uh, yeah, Karin have—"
"Can we all shut up about sex!?"
Immediately, the entire room falls into a heavy silence; only Karin's harsh breathing looms all over the eerily quiet setting. And, it is not even a second or two have passed by, when Ino begins to take the center stage again. "We aren't even talking about sex."
Sakura nods, gesturing on her lips. "Kiss. It's first kiss."
Thinking about it, Karin could only hope for one. And that, for the ground to open up, and swallow her alive.
Damn it, Suigetsu!
xx.
The rest of the day couldn't get any better, as Mitarashi Anko requires all of her students to run 25 laps back to back at a 60 meter lane, even after an exhausting warm-up.
"You okay?"
Without lifting her head up to see who it was, she answers, heaving a breath, "how much is okay to you?"
He shrugs in nonchalance, "having the energy to sprint 'cuz a certain girl last night gave me all the motivation to do so."
Without a second thought, Karin throws him a huge, full blow of momentum. "Fuck you!"
Suigetsu halts her, catching her clenched fist while it's in the air. "We will later." He whispers, smirking deviously at her. And with that, he let goes of her, as he runs for his last lap.
"As if, bastard!" She bellows, chasing him off.
"Uzumaki, Hozuki enough with the flirting!" Anko shouts from the other end side on the lane.
The whole class engages into a fit of laughter. Suigetsu grins sheepishly at her.
.
.
An eternity, and a century have already passed by, when Chōji, who had been dragging himself throughout the run, has finally stepped a foot at the border line of his last round of draining laps.
"That was fast," Sai's deadpanned comment didn't cut the quota. Perhaps exhaustion really washes over the Akimichi this time.
"Better luck next time, Sai!" Suigetsu calls out from behind, sniggering.
The dark haired guy swings his attention to him. The corner of his mouth creases into an emptied, languid smile. "I'm not sure about the luck that you speak of, but I hope it goes well with you... and, her." Sai's eyes wanderingly lands on Karin, before he leaves to mind his own business.
"It's girlfriend!" He aimlessly corrects. "Girlfriend, dude!"
Sai looks over his shoulder, and says, "Basing on how she glares at you right now, I doubt that endearment that you insist of. Either way, I don't see the essence of why I still have to compliment you for winning her favor."
Suigetsu shrugs.
Karin rolls her eyes.
"That guy doesn't go out much, does he?" Suigetsu says, then spews Karin a look afterwards; a glint in his eyes. "But for once, he made sense about you."
Karin ignores him.
There's no point of always taking the bait, after all, if she were to sum up everything that has happened today, she would know by now how fulfilling this day already was for her. Sighing in defeat, she tosses the strands of her red locks at the back of her shoulders. She mutters—"whatever"—on Suigetsu, and doesn't let herself to be affected to whatever else this boneheaded tries to inflict on her.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a white towel was tossed off to her. She looks up at Suigetsu, who is now standing a few feet away from her, and—
"Seriously? What happen to concealing it up?"
Agitatedly, she looks down, and sees the neckline of her shirt falling to the sides, exposing more of her collarbones, and immediately, as what she had been told to, the smudge shade of red mark peeks at the border of her neckline.
"Cover it up, stupid."
Karin casts Suigetsu a look, only to be welcomed by his tensed expression. He spares her a short glance, and drinks from his bottled water. For a moment, Suigetsu's serious attitude paves its way to her, so much so that she could've mistook it for something else.
Slipping past the unbearable fluster, she says her thanks. His towel hangs decoratively on her shoulder.
And then, he narrows his eyes to her. "What would you do if someone else sees it before I do?"
"I..."
"Tsk, just try not to be careless next time."
Completely piques at what he has blabbed, she inches closer to him, pinning him down with her seething glare. "Oh yeah, if you weren't so proud as to give these marks to me, then I would've pro—"
"What?"
"This is all your fault, I say!"
Taken completely aback, he starts off, "Oh ho, now you're blaming me, when you wore that lingerie to impress me big time." His voice remains sibilant under his control.
She reaches for his ear, and pinches it hard enough for him to lean down to her. "Well, you should've controlled yourself more."
"How the hell is that even possible?"
"I don't know, self-control is a pretty easy task."
He pulls up, rubbing his ear. "Why do you always have to talk so much? Just cover it up," he says, grumbling, as he enwraps his towel around her shoulders, covering her neck and collarbones in the process. "There, that's more like it."
When he finishes up appeasing her, he looks at her. With her brows almost knitting halfway through, Karin huffs away instantly to hide the blush that crept on her face.
From afar, the figure of their gym teacher strides across the field towards the two of them. A look of slight exasperation adorns her face. "You two," she points out. "How many times do I have to repeat myself that no flirting in my class!"
Karin shoots Suigetsu, yet again, a menacing glance, before she speaks, scathing, "we're not flirting." As she says that, she pushes Suigetsu out of her range.
"Hey! What was that for?"
"I'm giving you the restraining order to be 20 feet away from me, you dumbass!"
"What for?"
"You're making my life miserable!"
Anko places her hands on her hips, and releases a sigh of defeat. "Enough with the love quarrel!" She spins around to the other side where the majority of her pupils are.
"Form 2 groups for a football rematch! Uchiha, Haruno lead the groupings of your class!"
The two assigned leaders trade bashful smiles with each other, before they proceed to do their respective jobs.
xx.
The rest of the day goes by.
Apparently, it went by slower than how she usually thought of it to be. Partly, because, of how cautious she really was today.
She sighs, then looks around. At the end side of the genkan, she catches a glimpse of her friend, Sakura, who is currently depositing her slippers to the shoe lockers. Karin contemplates, and then approaches her after a second.
"Sup,"
Sakura shifts her gaze to her, smiling. "Hey,"
"You gonna stop by somewhere?"
Sakura shakes her head. "Nope, I'm tired."
"Good. Wanna go home together?"
Slyly, Sakura grins at her, as if she can read her friend like an open book. "Are you asking me to get rid off Suigetsu?"
"Bull's eye! This's gon' be a perfect reason to get away from him. He's making—"
She nudges the redhead by her shoulder. "You know what? Just let him walk you home, you know you want it too."
Blushing furiously at that, she glares at Sakura. "What are you talking about? Of course not."
"See? You're even blushing—"
"Sakura, what's taking you so long?"
Karin picks up the voice from the other side, she looks up, and sees Sasuke leaning by edge of the cubbyholes, pensive expression displaying across his face.
"Sasuke-kun!"
Karin rolls her eyes. Sakura gives her an apologetic look.
"I... Well, um, we already agreed to go home—"
Karin crosses her arms, and looks at them, unimpressed.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm completely no match for a boyfriend. Just go have your merry ways now." She says, waving off her hand to the both of them.
Sakura throws her arms around her, pulling Karin close to her. "Sasuke-kun is no match to you, really."
"Sure, sounds convincing." She says, tone of sarcasm evident on her voice. She pulls away, and glances over to Sasuke, and looks back to Sakura. "Get going already, he's clearly the possessive type."
Sakura laughs, then waves at her friend, before she runs off to Sasuke who has already walked away from them. Karin watches in longing eyes, as they depart off, walking further, and further, until to the point that, she begins to question her choices.
"I really should've gone off with Sakura." She whispers, just in time she hears Suigetsu's voice from the hallway.
She sighs, swirls around to meet him standing there, talking with his friends.
He approaches her, grinning.
She readies herself, waiting to those words: hey, I'll walk you home, to be said to her once again. And although, she repeatedly rejected his offer for the umpteenth time already, this time, however, she thought maybe... It wouldn't hurt to accept it.
So, with an expectant heart, she patiently waits in anticipation.
When he reaches her, all she ever hears is her ego crashing inside of her.
"I'll crash at Kiba's, Jūgo's coming with me." He nonchalantly says, giving her a pat on her shoulder, when he passes by.
Her breath catches in her throat. She turns around, embarrassed to even begin that she really did assume for him to say that he'd walk her home today. She catches Jūgo's eyes gazing at her, like he, somewhat, sympathizes for her at that exact moment.
How dare he to be so fucking dense? "What?" She growls.
Suigetsu spins around, completely baffled. He stops right there when he sees her riling up with contempt. "What? What did I do wrong?"
Karin stands there, unresponsive.
Jūgo, who has been watching the scene in front of him, walks over to where Suigetsu is already standing. The big guy discreetly says, in low voice, "I think, she's waiting for something."
Kiba spares both of them a look, and nudges Suigetsu in the ribs after catching the hidden meaning in between. "C'mon bro, your girl's waiting for you."
Spark from that response, Suigetsu, for some reason, has probably caught up about what all of this supposed to mean now. He strides his way back to her, smiling at her sheepishly.
"Aye, aye, you're not serious about that, are you?"
She's still glaring at him.
Grinning more at that, he drops his head to kiss her left cheek. "There, satisfied?"
Then without further ado, Karin, whose breathing became harsh at the second he kissed her, kicks his tibia bone—hard. "Go have some fun, stupid!" She jeers, stomping off to leave him there to wince in pain.
Kiba's roaring laughter at the background doesn't offer Suigetsu any solace. "Looks like she doesn't like you that much, buddy!" Kiba teases, laughing his ass off.
Jūgo face palms.
.
.
"Hey,"
No response.
"Seriously,"
Step. Step. Yet, there's still no response.
"Hey, look at me!" He grabs her by the wrist. She stops, looks over her shoulder, and gives him a glare. "What are you so mad about?"
She snatches her arm away. "What is it to you now? I'm always mad at you!"
"Yeah, I know that. But,"
"This is how I usually look, now, get lost!"
He stays rigid on the ground, unmoved. "I won't!"
"Fine, then I'm leaving." She walks away, but after a moment, she hears footsteps trailing her again. She peeks over, and sees him. "What the fuck, Suigetsu?"
He halts, shifts his weight unto the other side of his leg. "Are you mad that I'm not walking you home now?"
If it's any indication, Karin abrupt silence, somehow, cemented his wild guess. Then he laughs. "Oh, I see, what's going on,"
Karin flares up.
"Don't be so entitled! That wasn't—"
"Whatever," he shrugs. He picks up her shoulder bag from her grip, and swings it on his left shoulder along with his. He pockets on his hands, and then he looks at her. There's something in his eyes, that Karin couldn't begin to describe. A glint? A mischief? A concern?
It's like that when he kissed her the night before, or like at that time, when she smiled at him for the first time—she couldn't pinpoint what it is.
"What the fuck are you doing?"
"C'mon, I'm trying to catch your lines, you know."
Still fuming, she says, firmly, "I can carry my bag."
"You don't have to." He says, and walks away with Karin eventually following behind.
Neither said a word after that, Karin slides it off. But, in all honesty, she doesn't exactly know whether because of the fact that she was taken aback at his actions, or just completely resigned to the notion of him that she can't find the word to fill the space—no, of course not, she argues.
"Why are you doing this?"
He casts her a wry look, one corner of his lips curling up. "Because I want to? Seriously, Karin, what do you think?"
She huffs, clearly annoyed. "I'm not getting any ideas."
He rolls his eyes, as both of them dwell on the comforting silence after that. Suigetsu's steps, for some reason, she doesn't know, slows down a tad. So she catches up to him.
"What about crashing to Kiba's?"
He shrugs. "Guess, you could say, I have my priorities straight."
She curses underneath, when she feels her chest tightens. "Show off." She mutters.
Then he glances back at her reddened face, teasing smile playing across his lips. "I might be. Wanna hold hands?"
Surprised is a gross understatement. The redhead looks away from him, but he waits... patiently, and maybe, cautiously. His hand hovers just across hers.
Eventually, slowly, bit by bit, Suigetsu watches in amusement, as Karin's hand hesitantly reaches out for his. Halfway through, he catches, and pulls it close to him.
He intertwines his fingers with her feminine fingers, and glad, that it perfectly fits with his.
"Still mad?"
Blushing furiously at his words, she buries her face on her right palm. "I hate you."
xx.
Meanwhile...
"He's ditching us, isn't he?"
"Most likely."
"Man! He's whipped!"
Jūgo shrugs.
.
fin.
A/N: these two need to get married asap. crossing fingers for their cameo as a couple in boruto.