Born Anew

Chapter 34

Karin POV

I wake up early on Sunday morning. Light filters in through the closed window. The curtains are parted to the side and sunlight flows in, falling right on the bed when Kakashi and I are asleep.

I sit up and I suddenly have an urge to pee. I wobble over to the bathroom. I go in for a quick shower when I glance over at the clock. It's still pretty early. The water is nice and warm and it feels good on my sore back muscles. I soap up and just when I'm reaching to put the bar of soap back, something slams into me mentally and I gasp as I'm thrown into a memory.

***Memory***

A tall man stands right in front of me. He has spiky black hair, so dark it practically looked blue, with matching eyes. His lips are usually curled down in a frown or in a serious scowl. But now, they're curled up in a sardonic smile. For some reason, that smile makes my heart jump.

"Karin, we're going now," the man says, his voice deep and full of authority.

"Okay," I say, smiling flirtatiously.

"Suigetsu and Jugo are already waiting."

I flutter my eyelashes at him. "Why do we have to go with them?" I pout. "We could just stay here and enjoy each other's compan-"

The raven-haired man rolls his eyes. "Cut it out, Karin. Go outside and wait with Jugo and Suigetsu."

I fold my arms across my chest, feeling upset that he cut me off like that. "Fine," I grumble.

I grouch the whole way outside. I catch two men standing around. One has white hair with purple eyes and the other has bright orange hair with matching eyes. The one with white hair grins when he sees me. "Let me guess, you tried to convince Sasuke to stay with you and leave us."

Anger flashes through me so suddenly that before I know what I'm doing, I spring forward and throw a punch at his head. But it never reaches his head because his head has turned into water.

"Shut up, stupid Suigetsu. You don't know what you're talking about," I snap.

Instead of looking apologetic, his lips turn up into a mocking smile. "You're so obviously in love with Sasuke," he says.

Steps behind me indicate that the devil has arrived and my heart jumps into my throat. But Sasuke doesn't show any evidence that he heard Suigetsu's words. I still take that opportunity to punch Suigetsu's head again. He does that annoying as hell move again, the one where his head turns to water and frustration climbs up my throat.

"Come on, you guys. We need to get going," Sasuke says, straight-faced as ever.

I speed up until I'm walking right behind Sasuke. My heart is having a whole tap dance in my heart and I smile widely. Sasuke's such a great and powerful man. And someday, no matter how indifferently he treats me, he will be the one I marry. Because I love him.

*************

I blink myself out of my memory, my heart in my throat. The bathroom door opens and I hurry to calm the thundering staccato of my heart.

"Karin, you in here?" Kakashi's familiar voice calls out.

"Yeah," I call back, making sure that my voice doesn't sound breathless. I don't know why but I always feel out of it when a memory finishes. And this one makes me feel so much weirder than ever. Maybe it's because I was once a partner with those three men: Sasuke, Suigetsu and Jugo. And it seems that I had very serious feelings for Sasuke and hated Suigetsu just as strongly. I scowl just thinking about it now.