The forest had gone quiet after Kiyomi left to test her mettle against the genin team alone.
Karin sat against the trunk of a tree, knees drawn to her chest, her eyes unfocused. The anger that had carried her through the fight was gone, leaving only the ache beneath it—old memories clawing their way back up. Her mother's voice. Hunger. Fear. The Grass Village that had taken everything and given nothing back.
Sukuna stood a short distance away, watching her struggle in silence.
'Regret…'
That was the real reason why shinobi break. No matter what you choose, regret will follow. Karin had the chance to kill those Hidden Grass shinobi, and however, her conscience didn't let her.
Sukuna himself was sure that she wouldn't have given a second glance at killing those who really tormented her mother and her. However, these were just kids.
She couldn't kill them. Did she regret not killing them? Sukuna had no idea.
And he hated moments like this. Battles had rules. Pain had structure. Emotions like these were shapeless, slippery things. There was no technique for them.
No one could teach you how to comfort someone in cases like this.
After a moment, he walked over and sat beside her. He didn't speak. Didn't try to fix anything. He simply pulled her into his arms.
Since he couldn't do anything, let's just skip it. Just do what he could do. Be there for the girl when she needed it.
"Sorry, but as you know, I'm not good at comforting others. This is all I could do," he murmured near her, and his hand slowly ruffled her hair.
Karin stiffened at first, surprised, then slowly relaxed. Her forehead pressed against his chest. His arms were steady around her, firm in a way that made it hard to fall apart any further. For a long while, the only sound was her uneven breathing.
"…You're bad at this," she muttered hoarsely.
"I know," Sukuna replied without hesitation.
That earned a weak, almost reluctant laugh from her.
"Should I have killed them?" She asked.
"That I can't answer. It's your choice, the only option is the one which you wouldn't regret."
Karin pursed her lips together, pondering whether she was regretting it.
The answer was clear, 'She wasn't…'
She wasn't regretting that she didn't kill them. They really were innocent. If they were at any fault, then it would be being born in that village and coming across her.
She couldn't kill them. No, the real regret was that she couldn't save her mother. She was so weak back then. So naive.
And even now, she wasn't strong enough to avenge her. That was the regret.
Time passed. Her grip on his clothes loosened. The tremor in her shoulders faded. When she finally pulled back, her eyes were red, but clearer.
"I wouldn't regret it," she said, confident.
Sukuna assessed her and then nodded with a smile. "That's good."
"And if someday you do, remember that there is always time to go back to Hidden Grass and burn it to the ground." He grinned.
Karin almost broke out in a giggle at that. Only he could talk about destroying a hidden village so casually.
But that was nice. Her head went back to his chest, the warmth reminding her of her mother.
'This is nice.'
Then, just as Sukuna thought the worst had passed, he did his job and was ready to move, she tilted her head and looked up at him.
"So," Karin said casually—too casually. "About that kiss."
He froze.
'Ah… that kiss, almost forgot about that.'
Her lips curved, not teasing, not playful, but serious in a way that made his chest tighten. He really didn't wish to; he was bad at emotional stuff. He tried to avoid it as much as possible.
Especially when it came to a teenage girl. Logic didn't exist in that grey zone.
"You never said anything."
"That wasn't—" He stopped, jaw tightening. What was he supposed to say, that he didn't get time, that the death of Izumi Uchiha and the Raikage attack and that fight where he learned that he was still not strong enough lit a fire in him to throw himself into training like a madman.
Because he did exactly that, and that still wasn't a good excuse to avoid her. Not that he was avoiding her; if anything, she started avoiding him out of shyness. But still, as a man, he should have talked about it.
The real reason was that he didn't want to talk about it. He felt uncomfortable. He himself wasn't that old when he died, late teens.
But 13 was too young for him. His morals, at least the few which were still intact, wouldn't let him cross that line… sigh.
"You keep avoiding it," she continued, her voice softer now.
Sukuna looked away. "I don't know what you want me to say."
"You're still avoiding it." Karin's hands around him tightened.
"I want the truth," Karin said, fingers curling into his sleeve again, not letting him retreat. "I don't know much about… this either. But I know how I feel. I promise, I really, really, really like you, ya know."
"So… do you?" She didn't complete the sentence. However, he knew what she meant.
Silence stretched between them. She was not in any hurry to get an answer out of him. She was getting one today, one way or another. Her hands were tightly wrapped around him; he wasn't going anywhere today.
Sukuna finally let out a long sigh and spoke. "Part of me doesn't understand love, Karin. I don't know how it's supposed to work. And the other part which does understand tells me to wait. We are too young."
Karin blinked, then pouted. "That's not an answer. I don't care about age, it's just a number. My question is, do you like me like I like you?" She asked again, forceful this time.
He met her eyes again. 'I'm not getting out of this today, am I?'
There was no certainty in him, no practiced confidence or experience from a past life to pull from—only honesty.
"If you put it like that, then yes. I LIKE YOU… like, like you, like you. Really LIKE YOU."
"Is that love? I'm not sure yet. But yes… I honestly, one hundred percent like you."
Karin's eyes slowly widened, registering those words. She felt like she suddenly lost half of her weight at that moment, because if she had not anchored herself onto him, she must have been flying by now.
"But… I still don't feel comfortable being like how couples do, you know," he said, shifting his eyes.
Karin's eyes blinked. Did gravity increase or something?
"So you don't wanna be a couple?" She pouted.
"No… I never said that…" Sukuna shook his head.
"It feels like you're saying that." Her fingers went around him, pinching him on his sides with dissatisfaction.
"What I mean is that I don't feel like being all couple right now. Let's wait until we are, hmmm, 15. Yeah.
Until we are 15. What do you say?" Sukuna thought and came to a baseline in his mind. 15 was fine for him. That was close enough to his original age. And 15 was no longer completely a kid…
"So at 15 we can be couples?" Karin asked.
"Yeah…"
"You promise."
"Yup, promise."
Karin pondered for a while, then finally shook her head.
Her hands immediately wrapped around his neck and her weight shifted, pushing him down while she was on top.
"NAH… I Can't Wait That Long…"
She said childishly, and just like what she did back then, her lips connected with his.
xXx
A/N : Okay I guess it was clear I'm gonna add her as female lead. Still waiting for the second one, but you guys have given almost equal votes to both Sakura and Kiyomi. Strangely enough.
Do you guys like Sakura that much ?
Rage baited yet ? If so then you can hit me with those stones you have…
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