[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡITuIyi91jS
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfNGz8a6yMj
Rating: K+413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWOSa7zd9VU
Word Count: 2.817413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDJ066L8XfV
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 orz413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLRvtGiWiq
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDn7U9Z9m1f
périodicité (periodicity)413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDQR35YKKy
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
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périodicité;413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybHPziuyB6
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by Kanae
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“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgT0za5sBN
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12Cz9cI9qw
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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRppIEbz8VV
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But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2EJtxz98t
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwArdF1Blz
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlPLdkmBu0
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7cBdMcICq
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She may as well not exist.
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—and ruffles her hair.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY87jLeiJjR
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ix7zPkeBi
“…What do you mean, mama?”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBsU096dEiP
A secretive smile highlighted by—
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At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBDTvs8JeB
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcMcbq0cgB5
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX0RiZuTv3q
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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoRktAGuBsr
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYCBAEYFFW
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What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjqJPD7rZM
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJvmYYh3Uu
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡloA7qBxnRB
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNzoukbaUW
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDwEJQLf3Y
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2rE7AiZydx
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
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At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzf7PQ9lVpN
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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—413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSou7ueRJl
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANKyMYNnFA
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyIPOzKJge
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQv2UGQe6B
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3GOYhWnjkH
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You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7tCPAxbbE
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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.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyyivhVDknG
“Their… fate?”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXCUEvCet8j
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPPZl7nWtl
“You will understand in—”
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At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrtd0udHOMb
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Dok98LvJA
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFpO3bvmawm
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Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡobdM8OmqmQ
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“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbEmabOXRba
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NVY0gzgYO
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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?”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEGJR9lGSv6
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Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOQNze0Qwh
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0FIg66xEUL
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFPxuG6nOJ2
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But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
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“—in due time, Karin.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3WAps5XdZ
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2rCdOpeIP
“What isn’t, dear?”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhfkEJA4GoG
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIfv6Jn3hW
Her smile—
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At sixteen, Karin falls.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnevl2tKvOh
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡju5SBVOHtk
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Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz3U4uJqqWF
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Now, there was no one left.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxf3a6bLoi
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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—413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6eS7CjXSvZ
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH47SYfF5jC
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And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTSaJynm63
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9cNhPlOL7G
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9kS4kJWxO
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzCOqvclew
“… You promise?”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhCUby24i4E
Her gaze softens.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjHO0a3jWS5
“I promise.”
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At seventeen, Karin kisses him.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bERwvxzLQ
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfICU0a8om
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSmyYvTaXeS
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She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2CbOG07DE9
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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!”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qKRhsZA9b
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2wtK6YRgn
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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLYEcqrj7b
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMd7ZCIz6p1
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeDvkgsloOH
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The home it belonged to.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxOFoev0e0X
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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?”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ycAZ7Kgp3
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
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At nineteen, Karin smiles.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyA58avn1z
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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?”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh6TilM5NbH
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygzOFmbVdP
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“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSC7qHRAZ9w
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“Yeah.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡICA6RLOtaG
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4ijum4bhI
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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—413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRUczwg1xlF
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nB2jZmpZs
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJEpM2fIreq
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr8jacZxHrZ
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She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9BaDiIXoC4
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An Uzumaki woman.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhC90No7RFu
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“… Thank you, Karin.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn4spoiRFLf
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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,”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiTfKXX5Fx
“Who will be here soon, mama?”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkkTkVhZq3
“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.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUwUfiQEWre
“And what is that?”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV90cip8C7Z
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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzBVHirVQYo
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSEb8GFzm3
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdYVF5iSJu
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“W—what was that about?”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbhcjXHK5R
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVicELBen3
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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.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwxJ6kyvTq
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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.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZyIUyTHNY
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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.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjjOhEV71a
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡravIKrBifH
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIQsq70P89
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLyDrb3KbgB
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To live this happiness.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GoopnaDJh
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“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKDXxP4QtN
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The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rX9jpGI68
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She knew them, once.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOJ6pfYaA3
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She has known them all along.
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I'm sorry, Karin.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI8kdmY59xO
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MBNq4IMiN
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To survive.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcpNW7GqXYI
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz1UM0rfYt1
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJsC0L7Yrm
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No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNlGfC6rdjc
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Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRhVjDCcDW
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For the unsaid.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7BfIq3o9Z
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“What are you thinking about, Karin?”413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeirmh1mIfP
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Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHc7LWYOEzk
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERdagj0P9R
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“Nothing at all.”
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"You will be fine."413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQyUt8nmZNi
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6cGLZud3Q
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Her mother was always right.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0AdoGWj16X
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end.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3fwHbYfb1
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekpxvHeLX9
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpbQ1m35Dez
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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.413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXb6kWDekQH
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Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥413Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRXSKAOUoX
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : 
cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns3.140.198.202da2
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