[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4ELdlCavx
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpC6TxtuHs
Rating: K+447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxsHfBLcs1
Word Count: 2.817447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvjsdJ5Tur
Author's Notes: Made for our "Karin's birthday week" over at the Ice&Spice FC @ NF ♥ I... don't even know what this is, or where it came from, and it's possibly one of the cheesiest pieces I've written for SK. But I kind of regret nothing lol - Oh and that novice drawing at the top of the fic? yup, mines. guilty as charged orz447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbO6hostrDN
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26z0crHpe5
périodicité (periodicity)447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfbQfHvDVA
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
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périodicité;447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAsno4UmCn
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by Kanae
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“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQrQwaYi6FR
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAfa9ygyjY
A twinkling laugh, a delicate hand warmly lands over a girl’s head and—
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At twelve, there aren’t many things that Karin has done or that she wishes to do. She is just an ordinary girl from an ordinary family living in an ordinary village; there is nothing special about her, nothing out of the norm, nothing that makes her stand out—if one ignores her flagrant red hair, that is.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcXQyhW3j6
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But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡozAxj91tIw
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You’re going out? Don’t forget to put your hood on, Karin, he would say, whenever Karin had to wander away from the immediate realms of their home. Why, papa? She used to ask when she was no more than a little girl; but that was a habit that slowly but surely withered and died as she began to grow up—as she started to grow aware enough to notice the wary air her father’s kind, wise red eyes acquired as the reminder left his lips.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLfKzeedjo
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As she grew older, Karin learned to recognize it for what it truly was: more a warning than a piece of advice; and she began to grow more jittery as result, more worn at the seams.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEOHfjp3lQ4
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Her red hair was her only outstanding trait, the only thing that made her different—without it, Karin may as well fade into the scenery.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeUjBknehJ
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She may as well not exist.
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—and ruffles her hair.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ007q5Jk8kT
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXGX6XG8t16
“…What do you mean, mama?”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyPLlsIZdy
A secretive smile highlighted by—
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At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3VsWF1Msv
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And then she is saved—saved by a striking boy with a rich voice and eyes that warm her up to the core the moment he smiles—at her, for her—and suddenly, Karin does not feel so ordinary anymore.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvrJkDpGNLW
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There is something different about you, her mother tells her once with a knowing smile, ever since you came back from Konoha.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡul8uT9sRiP
Karin jumps in her seat, awkward denial bubbling up in her throat and evaporating the moment her mother laughs, I like it. You look prettier, Karin.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSbgVXV4pjE
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She does not know about that—can’t see any difference as she looks at herself in the mirror, self-consciously pulling on some strands of red hair and squinting at her reflection.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFzFenuqtJ
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What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1uCK5sgK1F
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See ya, he had said, and it takes Karin a surprising amount of time to realize that, for the first time since she could remember, there was something she wanted.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MeAykndvb
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Wanted for herself; not for her parents, not for those she cares about. Something that was completely hers, in all its staggering intensity and youthful hope.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWaHmLwfMh
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See ya, he had said, and until then Karin had never quite known how good it felt to feel alive.
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—by amber eyes that seem to spark.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdqJBjoSnzj
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOEEX8XvBfz
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5h0al4YMiN
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
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At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkkMYJlHSs
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There is no blood—not hers—involved, nor are there any wounds—not physical ones—or any white walls or tunnels and gates of light—no light, only dark—only smoke—only the smell of burnt flesh and intest—447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BHxnhT2Yy
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There is, however, anguish. An agony so great that Karin bit her lip until it bled, fisted her palms until her nails left permanent crescent-moon shaped scars in the contours of her skin, new batches added to already cracked life lines.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwzjsGvbW9
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There are silent, chocked sobs that made her throat burn and her sight blur until she has ran out of tears.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbGq3gQVLU
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And there is also horror; a burning, paralyzing sort of horror that reaches its peak and fades into a mute but perpetual tune stringing the chords of her being as she comes back and stares at the corpses of her father and mother, unrecognizable masses of ashes retching of burnt blood and bodily fluids that make a pile of vile crawl its way up to her tongue.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vKeBOuPGw
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And then, there is he—sidestepping the man with ominous dark chakra and extending a hand towards her, onyx eyes boring into her own with the same might with which the understanding in his chakra drove her horror away.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfvQ6LWfd7R
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You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IhEmzadNY
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She takes his hand, and there is hope.
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“—It is said that one too many women in our family have found their fate in the lands of Konohagakure.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSeShCM5iEB
“Their… fate?”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIPcdHagnn
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6geiOdbKu
“You will understand in—”
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At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDAqVmySYB
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There are now sharp edges where there used to be soft contours; angry frowns where there used to be kindness, smirks where there used to be smiles; buoyancy where there once was shame, barriers in what once were vast landscapes—and there are also scars.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmF3Zk0UfrG
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Tell-tale scars of the Karin she used to be and new, revolting ones from the Karin she has become. She hides the latter and denies the former; pretends they’re long gone, never aching, never hurting anymore.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3fJCgwXgg
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Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYy84P0HxdE
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“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVRHo6e4isb
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmi1bxBwUZj
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She puts her glasses back on and crosses her arms with a frown, moving away from him. “Why did you even bother coming, then?”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa39bEq2HfB
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Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8ZFCZMp1q
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Could he have possibly known? Known how before his unexpected arrival, Karin had been hounded by her memories. Seeing familiar faces in the nameless prisoners of the base, ghosts come back to haunt her and pull her down with them to the depths of hell—a hell made of nothing but flames and guilt of mistakes she is not sure she would take back, even if she could.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBy5wnJasR
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“…I had business here, is all.” His voice reaches out to her through the haze of her thoughts, pulling her back with nonchalant words that seemed devoid of any meaning.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvgxZWks8fx
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But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
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“—in due time, Karin.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlxr5uWY3U
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEaBukyaBwe
“What isn’t, dear?”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaU5BYXGSzk
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGS9zVPf78r
Her smile—
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At sixteen, Karin falls.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnnckymJqm
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She falls from a great, great height at appalling speed; she hasn’t even had time to acknowledge the abysm before she has hit rock bottom, her goals and dreams spilling through her open chest and pooling on the ground alongside everything she knows.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQO0Qumqq0P
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Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJThnFGdO0s
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Now, there was no one left.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhfmxyaWRNr
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No one left but the roaming, empty carcass of the boy she once loved; the boy who taught her what it felt like to be alive, the boy who gave her hope and helped her find meaning back when she had lost her way, the boy who helped her to be reborn from her ashes into someone better; someone stronger, someone capable of standing up for herself and for him, too. The boy who flared her will and her drive with a single touch, with a single look, with the simplest of words—447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEwn5jj6dqE
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I need you447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbo0rpMkGL
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“So much for that,” Karin mutters to no one, her back pressed against the cold walls of a cell and her fingers absentmindedly tracing the ghost of the wound that had taken her heart out for good.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmRbFk8qgh
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And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykzGgCWqxb
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No… I’ve had enough, Sasuke but her withered heart is trying to beat again, and it makes up her mind for her.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7oBoRyqSbA
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“…So much for this,” Karin murmurs to herself—and then she is on her feet again, her inner eye tracing his every move.
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—melts.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxM7Y9PqGGh
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCVXstlRPVi
“… You promise?”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvORDEwyo7k
Her gaze softens.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92DTOmWTNC
“I promise.”
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At seventeen, Karin kisses him.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vKpJvwqXE
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She impulsively crashes her lips against his, her arms thrown around his neck in a desperate attempt to hold onto him—to anchor him down before his essence could have the chance to fade into pitch black darkness again, to feel him before he could have the chance to waste his life—her life, their future—chasing phantoms all the way to the death.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGL1yn8C52V
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When the impromptu kiss ends, Karin sees him—the him she knows, the him she loves—flickering across his eyes for the briefest of moments, and she hears her name resounding in her ears even though he has not uttered a single sound.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9MKNq8lsV
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She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8MV60vpj2
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She has given him a reason, but the choice is his to make.
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“Ha, so it was about a boy, I knew it!”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8NyZRyX7li
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHED3e6W2F8
Her mother has to hide her smile, “Actually, Karin… something tells me you just might.”
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At eighteen, Sasuke kisses her back.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ndn0rdWre
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It is not nearly as passionate as her—their—first kiss had been; there is no desperation, no adrenaline—but there is craving all the same, waving through the serenity threading over her through the gentle pressure of his fingertips over the nape of her neck, enveloping her like a makeshift cloak and warming her down to her very core.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76Y0pHGrSc
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And Karin feels her very essence quiver under it—under the warmth and the way her heart seemed to want to leave her and jump into him instead, to claim the home it has always longed for; the home it has always fought for.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1NYPYOZ9N
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The home it belonged to.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgxDmNRwagE
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As he kisses her, sunrays clumsily dancing upon her lips, Karin feels like she would vaporize into him if Sasuke were to take a single breath.
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“How do you know?”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY6MZjSZcF6
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
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At nineteen, Karin smiles.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMDPosZXwo
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“Itachi,” she says, and Sasuke looks up to her, startled. “The name… Itachi. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡscdbVXNFlW
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Sasuke parts his lips—once, twice—but no sound comes out and soon enough he gives up altogether, lowering his eyes to stare at the bundle in his arms. It stares back at him, impossibly red eyes widened with innocent curiosity, pink tongue sticking out from underneath rosy lips.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hUlKvS75J
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“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKLryzAePK
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“Yeah.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPAfhjww0kh
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And as she sees them—as she sees Sasuke hold their baby as if he were holding the whole, wide world in the crook of his arms—Karin remembers her mother with such vivid clarity that she catches a breath of her perfume. The memory—the vision is bittersweet, and it makes Karin’s throat clog, because she recognizes that look.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡex9tdPhZQS
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It was the way her mother used to look at her father and her, eyes brimming with love and pride, unspoken but ever-present, never changing. Karin had not been able to understand it, then—447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNOLrHZCiy
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But she did, now. And the understanding squeezed her heart in a way that was both, wonderful and terrible. To think it took her this long to finally understand, once and for all, what it all meant.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpl6B5yreQh
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To understand who her mother truly was, what her mother felt, what her mother desired for her—and how her mother hurt.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4WCCbGYmD
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You’re special, Karin. She would tell her sometimes, her eyes half-lidded and afflicted by thoughts she would never get the chance to say aloud. One day, you will realize that.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡczqjAYxVjf
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She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0cg2aLpEXG
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An Uzumaki woman.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZkzjCG7JVq
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“… Thank you, Karin.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0k6bp7s3m
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“Idiot,” she shakes her head, weakly, traitorous tears prickling at the corners of her eyes and threatening to spill. “That... should be my line.”
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“They will be here soon,”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9bSOW2GG3
“Who will be here soon, mama?”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdRgvNyc74
“It could be anyone,” she finally replies, and her hold is steady as she combs through Karin’s hair, “we have long since lost any care for their identities, Karin. What matters is… what their presence means.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVb1TPbz8l
“And what is that?”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQl6crNiCv
Her silence provides the only answer; and Karin wishes it weren’t enough.
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At twenty, Karin celebrates her birthday for the first time in seven years.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpe5WZARw3
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And it starts with a soft but firm admittance whispered as she caresses the baby’s nose, all too aware of the pleasant weight of Sasuke’s gaze, of the feelings swirling in his chakra.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8cXcGXm8Q
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Hearing them is unexpected, however—and her widened eyes snap to his only to find his lips beginning to curve, his own hand coming to caress her cheek in much the same way she was doing to their son.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡduTo7cjivA
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“W—what was that about?”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBBE8Nth7uB
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She asks; some habits are hard to break, and her awkward way of fighting down her embarrassment seemed to be as persistent as ever.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEoN1kHtrTL
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Sasuke doesn’t seem to mind, though. If anything, his smile seems to morph into an amused smirk as he shrugs, noncommittally. “I just felt like saying it, is all.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyh6yVHXH23
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“Dumbass,” she mutters, hoping the darkness will hide the way her cheeks have warmed up like bonfires, so reminiscent of her prepubescent days when all she could do was a dream she would one day lay with Sasuke the way she does now. “...You didn't need to.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqw4INlJcBV
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“I know, Karin,” and this time he is positively smiling, suddenly mutating back into the Sasuke that had stolen her heart so many years ago. “But it still felt good to say it.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonXjkIE469
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Karin says nothing in response; simply snuggles closer to him, eyes on the baby as he opens his eyes and blinks, his little hands curling and uncurling up into the air.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRSomtYRn5L
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“He is going to be strong,” Sasuke assesses, and Karin would have mocked him by how ridiculous it was that he sounds that proud of Itachi when the baby hasn’t even said his first word yet, weren’t it because she felt the same way.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRgaSHDgaeB
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He was going to be strong. A little piece of herself and Sasuke—a memento of those who had given their life up for them; a torch for those who had granted them the chance to live this moment.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ569rlNEtOp
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To live this happiness.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEj7HBghAcW
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“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI3N5KC7Ep0
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The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNtqq43cp1
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She knew them, once.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiUrkHCQTnh
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She has known them all along.
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I'm sorry, Karin.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNI0Et2SnjU
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Were the last words her mother told her before her father ushered her out of the house and prompted her to run—run as far as she could, away from them—and forced her to leave them to die.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfv1P2zVf2
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To survive.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo2zlnv76bA
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Those words used to hunt Karin down in those nights when sleep refused to lend her its hand, the eerie walls of Orochimaru’s hideout caving in on her and Sasuke’s steady chakra being her only relief, her only shield.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDeJ1qYL77V
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Yet, what haunted her weren’t the words themselves, but their meaning; Karin had instinctively known then, just as clear as she knows now, that her mother was not apologizing for forcing her to forsake them and live on.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5IDDqicib4
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No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkXJfvZx4O
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Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9mFYWOfIs
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For the unsaid.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49KqLdfJMc
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“What are you thinking about, Karin?”447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSxHWrHbd6
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Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmGwoiV7Sg1
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“Nothing,” she replies, threading her fingers through his and gazing back to their children, who were laughing and running together through the backyard, a lively mixture of reds and blacks; the Uchiha and Uzumaki crests proudly etched on their backs, on their hearts.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX4MvISI50w
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“Nothing at all.”
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"You will be fine."447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡllMWeutOmX
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And through the tears and the pain and the loneliness and the longing and the hardships and the fear, Karin should have known better.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWHSSKrdgF
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Her mother was always right.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRezzfwiGE
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end.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYKEPkalgv
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I... seriously don't know where all this came from; my best guess: Uzumaki feelings. Uzumaki feelings everywhere. lol, I tried to play with the different facets of Karin, and how she grows into each one of them; plus SK, of course.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFDam0A2Scv
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The stuff I wrote here is not quite how I see things going, though; to do that I would have had to write about 395749574 vignettes per year, rather than only one lol so I went for rushed versions of a couple of scenarios I had thought about.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHm6fSfC6Th
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Oh and while I did not state it in the fic: every vignette takes place on Karin's birthday, so the baby was born on June 20, too.447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBP0vqrR7ad
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Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥447Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqnmKBxvi2y
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : 
cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns3.145.28.3da2
