[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDh0Evjl5Bc
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmmuqpuXVl0
Rating: K+533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4MNln5SWl
Word Count: 2.817533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbjrs9tPAP9
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 orz533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡICKtILRO7h
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRIuUWbi96
périodicité (periodicity)533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8VHXIkSBfO
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
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périodicité;533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWCqmR9hyl
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by Kanae
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“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKNWJqqadp
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLU2IFBiMtH
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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPq4XD4Fmvv
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But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKohkWbJTyJ
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNBFdyQkmT
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhlDBBIG0H
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuNsnyAwQg
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She may as well not exist.
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—and ruffles her hair.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQxZk6QpxB
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYKHuyqOLxR
“…What do you mean, mama?”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPEdaHtXS8F
A secretive smile highlighted by—
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At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSVQ0tdYDf
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqAGrlfeUf
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92BbCI5xdS
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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4CGz32Ves
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ74yhS0bQ77
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What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUY3JZ3kXs6
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8iFl2H0nhr
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlQ7Ud9pcz
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWgAdB8cARQ
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblqOFuIgXa
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCYt98t5K15
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
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At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkkjFR7w0Vf
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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—533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdHZvIu6RA
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjA2QwXwKJ5
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgs4yaHIRD
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFp3e1g79w
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39Fq4aXIAq
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You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbM2uWpJBdC
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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.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhaRncqMAwy
“Their… fate?”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFIyEtD01Uc
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ftgD4xfQb
“You will understand in—”
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At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUvPFvKkpjq
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSGepR1r1V
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFOlLmN3XI
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Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBplhdxjI9y
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“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJlCc2inKFC
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoHoedRsml
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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?”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54BKF6oZi8
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Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw0DYHizMSE
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEzb8yKXSWL
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFt6hpr8DMW
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But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
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“—in due time, Karin.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM45XxGEZJv
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0XKUdiQF0
“What isn’t, dear?”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipIUUfxujD
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡioETlaWhVS
Her smile—
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At sixteen, Karin falls.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzdveq9fFw
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQoCd5s6md
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Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk2KCDdqaYe
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Now, there was no one left.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wfcOBMAbD
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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—533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡABXAX34CKG
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I need you533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqZrD39VSr
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxJ2h6TfxIL
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And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfvbrCssUsj
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryDMAcZG9f
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGZF5jCGyEG
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqrOdJQWCAW
“… You promise?”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUWE21qLYD
Her gaze softens.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwCp4HDmGf7
“I promise.”
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At seventeen, Karin kisses him.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpZJIplKDj
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufeIUBZsWW
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWePwAGqHuH
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She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9z8OpvsQBo
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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!”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHeU9moskKk
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFpgpUXs2C4
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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMXKdy3RN0
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDmYgFWn2Y5
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyop55Rk9GZ
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The home it belonged to.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JD01wsG1x
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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?”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzqUnSjp8A
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
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At nineteen, Karin smiles.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisytkSYLlH
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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?”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslNAGL6YAU
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7I9at2KBl
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“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB90rUXEMHC
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“Yeah.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVtekSS7zcv
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7WUDx6uqSt
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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—533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGmvHW457T
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHAksBhoytL
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7XcJWHHBNG
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAGmgWAQO2
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She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqFqq8yeHxs
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An Uzumaki woman.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOgDSZ9CdG
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“… Thank you, Karin.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6hsOi2sCeC
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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,”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl5iWyW4pwh
“Who will be here soon, mama?”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vBLFL870c
“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.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4gKiLoHOV
“And what is that?”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJVormSv09
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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzC0xCKYltH
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHte1nhG2O
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBudk9pTN78
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“W—what was that about?”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIC9Xi6jmg
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tJvOFIEMe
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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.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJskVXtwNaV
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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.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYBsKRh7qC
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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.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbikvpzOPkN
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp70v94nI1M
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmu5mFg8PpP
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYLns8tHlt
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To live this happiness.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGxxGfQdWV7
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“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWQXoY1a0v
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The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8DOrE1Niau
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She knew them, once.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC8WboEhXPP
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She has known them all along.
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I'm sorry, Karin.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZMRsJ7Ewv
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgzIq46gS8W
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To survive.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB1mE81Zifm
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxyYfxNFk1
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzK47cJlhF
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No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHsaeVLeLJ
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Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3Pr7zadf3
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For the unsaid.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfsPtHT3sAn
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“What are you thinking about, Karin?”533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡukcX9oF4kz
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Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNwzof8EuN6
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYqLUr5HN4
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“Nothing at all.”
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"You will be fine."533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsktQ4hI3Q
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChKu5wrWsW
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Her mother was always right.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPwoGZdlhnp
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end.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxK0eZBYjQ
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzyeFWu5hXO
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0nZVKkwas
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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.533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9bKqd0w8b
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Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥533Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1hS5INNBCh
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : 
cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns216.73.216.176da2
