Her nose caught wind of his scent and her senses tingled with apprehensive. This was Sasuke— and they hadn’t really cleared out any bad blood persay between the two of them. Taking a deep breath, she slipped her hood on to hide her dirtied hair, and jumped up to a branch where she gazed out into the forest. What would they say? Hell what would she tell him? That she was still oh so very pissed at him? That she had nightmares and couldn’t sleep very well? That she relived that one moment in time, almost every time she took a shower?
He was near her, but she had always made sure to be close by. Not too close— not close enough to let him know that she was near, but close enough that she could keep a watchful gaze upon his reserves. After all, no matter how pissed she was, this was still Sasuke and she still loved him.
She still wanted him, but she didn’t need him. She wasn’t the little girl that she had been before. The one who had counted on Sasuke to save her, to get her out of situations, to take care of her. Now, she could take care of herself. After all, she had been doing just that after the war ended. Had escaped in the chaos of celebration, and disappeared like a long gone breath.
Feet padded from tree to tree effortlessly, until she came to stand above Sasuke. Red optics peered down upon him, with a quirked brow. “Sasuke.” She finally spoke, jumping down from her branch and landing in front of him.
Running a gaze over him, she noticed how dirty he looked. “You’ve not rested well.”
Deep within his own perpetual thoughts, visage stricken with an indifference unmatched by even the blankness of a chalk board. Deadpan optics stare forward with no real aim, but to view upon his surroundings with a lack of competence. Never had he expected to be here, again. Alone. Left to stretch out his anxiety further with mere thoughts of past mistakes and the unimaginable suffering he’d put his comrades through. In his eyes, now, Sasuke was no longer human. He was no longer anything but a simple word: vengeance.
A voice broke through the thick barrier he’d put around himself - to separate him from this world and all it inhabits - however fruitless that proved.
“Karin.” He spoke laxly, flat tone resonating through out the inner depths of cascading trees. The cicadas chirpped and left their ring in his ears, however silencing once Karin’s voice assumed dominance within his head. Without even acknowledging her with his eyes, he accepted the fact that he’d been found by the very woman he had betrayed. What she must think of him.. what she must feel towards him, now, he could only assume it was vehement and hatred.
Yet with the finalizing of her sentance, he heard within her voice, not hatred, nor rage, but.. concern? She was right. Sasuke had not slept properly in months, though this was nothing new. He was often ravaged by disputable thoughts and awful memories.. that had only brought him to this point.
Sasuke often contemplated drastic measures - he often thought about what he would do once he’d exacted his revenge. Nothing would come to mind by the solemnness of isolation and blankness. Blank. Yeah, that’s what he wanted. He no longer wanted to exist, once this was all over.
“Where have you been?” All he could do was approach this with a pathetic inquisition, to break the ice and tension that would inevitably fall between them.