[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8JQ5hyTeg7
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4uiuvy1u4M
Rating: K+591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQ9ewLJmYa
Word Count: 2.817591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPxqYDKa27g
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 orz591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXi6sX4BnHD
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYd6UJIGpEM
périodicité (periodicity)591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJqG7uGbqH
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
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périodicité;591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbnAYrpluF
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by Kanae
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“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OuBIHHscD
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFkiE40RC59
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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXl0E2MtRc
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But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvTvD2A28H
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkDxtFDHi0
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQlogOJZFl
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI35ybFxOLO
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She may as well not exist.
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—and ruffles her hair.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo53jAGIFFl
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4hfKydnsP
“…What do you mean, mama?”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIhVn9c1Ra
A secretive smile highlighted by—
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At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2DKBkZXPRj
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGL6fb3R5w
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WBNopTHUf
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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5TTcbJfKL
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZ97AaI19M
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What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwf8u8eYvX8
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpj5kPwbDlq
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCYpGmrpEY
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB2wJOrTlLB
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS2mMB95YYy
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEcX5zIArGK
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
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At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGoacfWOIDD
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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—591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfAsqOqYUV
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLA62QhtpQ1
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09JMnJymLr
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dIPDCdSZx
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHllbIeHxK
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You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtEg2TxCnij
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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.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4ER4YwRSD
“Their… fate?”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YMjnoqsNM
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcZRsebnye
“You will understand in—”
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At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONuJ6omM6D
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpYrSyQ4wh
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBBCOaayZH
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Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAM8Le0rXZ8
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“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMXS1AXstR
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCdogBQZgFL
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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?”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ93QSkX9SdQ
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Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4T6sqcvf4G
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdud1L8iUHP
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLes6yC3EVb
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But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
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“—in due time, Karin.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxrJn7ouXox
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53zZ24ptO1
“What isn’t, dear?”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgOkgdb1Ecq
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zAcT5vYib
Her smile—
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At sixteen, Karin falls.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYM0hk3jc2Y
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRbHxDA6gHF
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Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6bTsH00U6
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Now, there was no one left.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGgTXFwlr5
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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—591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0GgayPC1OM
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I need you591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4L0jkXllc
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYSXXDfeGH
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And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYbDRLa5u5
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQ0IZ8pTnn
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOo8JOSrry
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVtmA2i4QV
“… You promise?”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDg4jlXPjJs
Her gaze softens.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzmAiXD2a2S
“I promise.”
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At seventeen, Karin kisses him.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6774mOxpF
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzImyBDQeVS
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPe1No4a1Zs
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She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgG95EgHt0t
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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!”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUx5dlTJgd
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTbBS4EsbsI
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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡde64zTeaUO
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcASNiienbI
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzI96qmxDmP
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The home it belonged to.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9tKXkqksi
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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?”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡudJrXzjVMx
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
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At nineteen, Karin smiles.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ikPWCmNvx
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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?”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMy11x9Kf0c
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR01cT3CsDA
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“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3WnvC3jZz
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“Yeah.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeW6YpZwOOm
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCWc2NqT0B
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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—591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEbvMI94e2
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6o8WhFqI3M
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAoIDlDpJ4E
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsl8F8vYMmB
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She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqGsxSAaAD
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An Uzumaki woman.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZN0hL394J
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“… Thank you, Karin.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYXN1MIbUR
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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,”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXJgy1l7bS
“Who will be here soon, mama?”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSes48UkGjL
“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.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYbTs25Wkl
“And what is that?”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0A849MVaqf
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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0V9w8U7z7U
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yhoAsg1Y3
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvky4pZPogO
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“W—what was that about?”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWiYmQFSU3E
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjtJK4dSWz
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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.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9sOjW4tkU
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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.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFC7igNW9b
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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.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMESf10BmHq
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSp4D0Tvrn0
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUGTAvpEuB
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcoPe6JYWxj
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To live this happiness.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb31PLkWzcx
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“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBcPFLeQdUZ
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The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lyLHVKKwl
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She knew them, once.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHs657NkIKc
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She has known them all along.
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I'm sorry, Karin.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaaCdpl897V
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9ozbl7XuG
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To survive.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvcVTA6G70
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQcolJ4Man
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJxrax1nhi
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No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13oIyNmU06
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Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqnjeAAf8PX
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For the unsaid.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cLyChUlDG
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“What are you thinking about, Karin?”591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJv6CulnFLU
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Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmS3C6vYk3W
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tH9gxuSPD
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“Nothing at all.”
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"You will be fine."591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtAI2rSZOWY
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgS0JHoGgg
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Her mother was always right.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtV4b4x8ipD
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end.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpW9hncfYRD
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBzIksgITF
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dxSMxoHZN
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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.591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2HynXSdhW0
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Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥591Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTdNmulCX13
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : 
cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns216.73.216.82da2
