[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rvyg4WL2D
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUG2aqqtDaz
Rating: K+427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrZBVQ2PYW
Word Count: 2.817427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHC3qFxCj3H
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 orz427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl66zzLGo0m
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mkclhmqnF
périodicité (periodicity)427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMHtHWQXrA
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
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périodicité;427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Cx8RZL6Bn
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by Kanae
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“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjlvLsUK8B
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTl7cTsZzX
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyu4UqZ2p5a
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But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6W4FOVXlcn
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZqbHMtVVhJ
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Ou3YJMobw
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIDQog42Oc
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She may as well not exist.
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—and ruffles her hair.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ONv49aVHX
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRwf66884N
“…What do you mean, mama?”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQr6kdKSHhU
A secretive smile highlighted by—
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At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZv4ewwriZG
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySkGWpm49m
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCfr0KKa67W
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiiCHZKxByY
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡenUq239Lon
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What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MEopwj7Kh
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUtGKcnBkMq
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeVGcAeH5sw
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ6RUxdNqZF
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoU6CNcqhTS
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HpA4Onp18
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
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At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdudMvbNhY
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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—427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpOJTIJWXGU
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75vXpdrqO9
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEuIRYDfkdw
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QZjrB9hnN
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aOzaISIkN
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You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaeWdgNui5y
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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.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOMkd2zuNW1
“Their… fate?”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVqe9ahQuDt
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMztOe8ylR
“You will understand in—”
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At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnVB52KufOl
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGKPCBO49e
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFSFdO84pb
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Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelRug5tzsx
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“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUhF3JjLXw
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYTJOJdmD9
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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?”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlsSMEwHgoj
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Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrzA0bxCsn
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3H2FKBcXJj
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKcDjjnRjqx
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But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
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“—in due time, Karin.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6YAN23lKfx
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF3hSvfdlC7
“What isn’t, dear?”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUD0vKQoiRk
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QrLLlwrhI
Her smile—
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At sixteen, Karin falls.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddJMOsaE5q
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfojYRKAWee
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Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6N5v12DDDe
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Now, there was no one left.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlIxt1yZR6P
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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—427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZyeA7byMr
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I need you427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8txvyBAFFn
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfh0pGufV2z
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And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuRDoI2hvf
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZv1bTf46i
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡngmPYIFfEf
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgs3ZE5XSnJ
“… You promise?”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBnipScG7c
Her gaze softens.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQSLETCtdCI
“I promise.”
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At seventeen, Karin kisses him.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIqi3hW4Bt9
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9nqkrTJBZ
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOrpQz3KC3
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She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgG34F90R60
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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!”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXy7Qwewgfi
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gHm3wvRZH
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaPPWwoZpC
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSh15UxM7k
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0LV0EpBRLA
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The home it belonged to.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDZZcUDEoH
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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?”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtODmQagn3i
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
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At nineteen, Karin smiles.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTGCQUspJVr
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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?”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqWCecFrEG
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYpkUtPS9v7
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“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtdqRLfLof
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“Yeah.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0VB3zetqd
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxe56LzcGc
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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—427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8xgnoiPL5M
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMj775Etle8
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXgg2kpfJfe
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHj2dRpmx7O
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She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBWBeSVEdM
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An Uzumaki woman.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxya6sa65X
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“… Thank you, Karin.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVeZ2gXeLSM
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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,”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8kPBmMN3B
“Who will be here soon, mama?”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjyVVr36QxF
“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.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7sXu3z7tMR
“And what is that?”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZpwS1uZq1
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQX9KxnG5bP
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxY9nbBXFCr
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweYEwlY293
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“W—what was that about?”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSgmDKfIjjQ
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWc7jzkCodJ
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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.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtD1Ii9Vef
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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.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5vQjmD3xK
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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.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XoTRQYFSz
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETTypbcqWB
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJwsY5Fxsj
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8i97eV6lvi
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To live this happiness.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikiLARJuV8
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“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6VOjm28jHo
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The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkNtFfRF0L
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She knew them, once.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc1qsZDYdGr
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She has known them all along.
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I'm sorry, Karin.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTRub5jcf60
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYM5dcSptXk
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To survive.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbrDJtNz9TF
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡACULl3lx5c
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtvcEZ6cTb
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No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5VL4fBPAK
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Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxTk2meidP
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For the unsaid.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAJbm1OgI8
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“What are you thinking about, Karin?”427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOqFqBoPCr
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Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5q8Pn8iPP
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8QOs6AFOPN
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“Nothing at all.”
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"You will be fine."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJFtajB8nNr
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxjCXmcXfB
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Her mother was always right.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu18NlBb9c9
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end.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaT4KOSil3j
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvc8nWgIlOM
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWkBMdYS7W
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKFZ15ahp7
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Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92gGVFVxsM
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : 
cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns3.144.139.191da2
