"What was awesome?" Karin shouted, her face beaming. The excitement from the earlier fight hadn't left her even after half an hour.
"It was alright." Sukuna rolled his eyes, already tuning out her voice as he thought about what he was supposed to do next.
"Hey, that was awesome and you know it, dattebane!" Karin pouted, hands on her hips, leaning a bit toward him and acting cute. Sukuna knew what she was trying to do, and just like always, he ignored the girl as he navigated through the dense forest somehow.
For all his power and experience, he was bad at navigating in these kinds of situations. This wasn't a part of Sukuna's inheritance—it was his own little problem that he had brought back from his world.
"Hey, why are you ignoring me?" Karin's pout swelled even more, if that was even possible. She tightly held onto his arm, grinning happily as her small, soft hands came in contact with his strong, trained muscles.
Seeing that he was still ignoring her, Karin's face scrunched up. Her lips pressed tightly together, her earlier pout gone, and she finally quieted down, obediently following him.
After half an hour of walking, Sukuna was sure that he had long lost his way. Normally, he would have just teleported himself out of this situation, but it was a bit embarrassing to do that after dragging the girl around for half an hour.
She would surely notice they were lost. Sukuna gritted his teeth—there was no way he was going to let that happen.
"Let's rest here for a bit. There are a few mistakes you made when fighting them that I intend to point out anyway."
He planned to lecture her for a while until she started to doze off—it seemed to be a trait all Uzumaki shared, seeing how both she and Naruto were the same in that regard—and then just teleport both of them out.
Hopefully, she wouldn't notice.
So, he started pointing out the mistakes, but soon noticed the girl wasn't paying attention at all. Again, nothing new. Typical Uzumaki behavior. Hell, he'd say it was typical early-teenage behavior—but at least most kids had a better attention span.
Even Naruto would pretend to pay attention for a few minutes.
"Hey, Sukuna," Karin suddenly called out, looking a bit reluctant to speak.
"Huh?" Sukuna didn't know what the girl had in mind, but then suddenly realized this might have been the first time she killed someone.
Recognition dawned on him. He himself hadn't felt much during his first kill, but he had Sukuna's memories—if he still felt anything after going through them, then shame on him.
"Hmm?" Karin hesitated to speak, and Sukuna gave her time.
But when the girl didn't say anything for a while, he decided to address the matter himself.
"Don't worry. Every shinobi goes through this. You'll come to terms with it eventually," Sukuna replied sagely.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Karin tilted her head sideways, a big question mark practically popping beside her head.
"The killing. This was your first kill, right? I thought you were uncomfortable about killing for the first time," Sukuna explained.
"Oh, that. Hmm, no, this isn't my first kill," Karin shook her head. This came as a surprise to Sukuna. Did he save a teenage mass murderer or something?
"I mean, this is indeed my first time killing a human, but I've killed many animals before while hunting for food back home. It was way bloodier back then, honestly. So, it's not really that hard for me.
At least it doesn't affect me that much, if you know what I mean. And of course, we worked in the hospital for so long, so, you know…" Seeing him looking at her strangely, Karin quietly added in her defense.
She wasn't a ruthless girl, damn it.
"Oh, then it's fine. So, if it isn't about killing, then what did you want to talk about?" Sukuna nodded in understanding, confused about what else could make her act like this.
"Ah, about that…" She hesitated again, and Sukuna had no idea what was troubling her. At this point, he could only wait for the girl to gather her courage and say it.
"Hmm, tell me. Do you not find me attractive?" She finally let it out in a tiny voice, making Sukuna almost strain his ears to catch it.
"What made you think that?" Sukuna was baffled—this was the last thing he expected.
"I mean, I'm not as popular as Sakura. And not as beautiful as Ino," Karin lowered her head, as if she hadn't heard anything he said, only speaking her mind.
The small girl slowly clenched her skirt tightly, not daring to look Sukuna in the eyes.
"You know, I have this red hair, and only recently my side hair is a bit tame. Otherwise, it was like a hedgehog.
I can't even see right without my glasses. I don't know how to cook and…"
Karin almost seemed determined to list all her flaws when Sukuna finally stopped her.
"Okay, okay… look. Stop being so depressing. I don't know what brought this on, but let me tell you—most of what you just said is what makes you, you.
You wouldn't be Karin without those things. I have pink hair. Arguably, I wear glasses every day too—don't need them, but I still do.
And who the fuck told you you're not pretty? Tell me that bastard's name." Sukuna cut off her depressing chatter, trying to figure out what brought this on suddenly.
"No one… but you know. It's obvious, isn't it?" Karin's eyes, which had valiantly held back tears, finally gave up. Her eyes grew misty as she replied with a hitch in her voice.
"Isn't it obvious that I look strange?" she said softly, her head lowering again.
"No…" Sukuna didn't know what brought this on, but he was dealing with a girl who was very soon going to hit puberty—maybe already dealing with it now. So, he just chalked it up to that.
"You don't look strange. You look just as good as any girl in our class, Karin." Sukuna sighed softly and took a few steps forward, carefully wiping her tears with his hand.
"But, but then why do you always ignore me? I tried everything. You always treat me like a kid," Karin complained, her voice still soft, vulnerable—the doubts about her looks, how different she was from others, her past—all finally surfacing.
"And so I do with Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke."
"But… but they don't want you like I do," Karin murmured again. Her eyes were still dodging, but at least she wasn't reluctant now.
"You still ignore me. Doesn't that mean you don't find me attractive?" Karin said with a grievance-stricken voice.
'Girl, you're just twelve right now. Does that kind of thing really matter?' Sukuna wanted to complain.
How could he explain to this girl that he just couldn't see her like that right now? She was too young. And technically, she would never be as old as him—she would always be younger—but twelve was just too early.
He didn't see himself getting interested in a girl below at least the age of fifteen. Not happening.
He was close to that age when he died, so that alone felt right.
"Sigh, you're just a troublesome girl sometimes," he muttered to himself, seeing the little girl shedding tears while trying to hold herself back.
"Listen, Karin. It's not that I don't find you attractive, but it's just that we're too young. I just don't feel like that for any girl right now. I don't see myself looking for a relationship of any kind until I'm fifteen. Right now, I'm just not interested in those things."
He found the talk very awkward. For a guy like him, talking about his emotions like this was a first. Most guys didn't talk about things like this—if any did at all.
'It's awkward…' he pursed his lips but still said those words, standing uncomfortably.
Karin, hearing them, finally stopped sniffling. Seeing him struggle to find the right words, hesitating, with that awkward expression on his face, Karin blinked.
Suddenly, she realised it was just as hard for him to talk about these things as it was for her. She then recalled how Naruto was—externally cheerful, but when she got to know him more, she learned how lonely he felt at times.
'Is Sukuna lonely as well?'
...
A/N : Ah the Puberty Madness. Recall those days when you mood swings were like off road track. Do you think I show it right here ?
xxx
Please Consider Donating Power Stones if you like the Chapter.
Every 250 Stones for an Additional Bonus Chapter.
"Thank you Very Much for All Your Support"
If you want to read up to 20+ Chapters in advance, check my Patreon on
Patreon.com/Kamidemond