[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvQ6kaUh7nq
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAnfoj71z1G
Rating: K+587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡreKYCNNL9x
Word Count: 2.817587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2HNb6itN0
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 orz587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡib49ExRgDz
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs8Pe69Caid
périodicité (periodicity)587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyUCrdw7krQ
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
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périodicité;587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLCXn65kC5
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by Kanae
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“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5cc4qOWnTc
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9hHwHYfV49
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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvRPczxiLu
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But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBiPOhfEls
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgOnaVJNEZ
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwo96CZq9Mv
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTA8796YymI
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She may as well not exist.
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—and ruffles her hair.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYebZjQwA2
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYheCn5Ttg
“…What do you mean, mama?”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJev4tJBWG
A secretive smile highlighted by—
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At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSegSKtNvx
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJeUZnTjfcq
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyblNVDRqno
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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPratmEshSk
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7P2P8WYdoJ
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What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx12qDMkxvc
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJgPoJUrry
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKyvP4pSEu
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYx4HVZ4IbE
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCRMddF6aH
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprbY1WKtdt
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
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At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2rlJOuCVQ
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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—587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgi6u17vz2
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdNJbJMzM6b
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5gx4D8o9V
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOqu9M5tYfS
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9BcfQWsIr0
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You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUyGBWDrXnN
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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.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ9865yCZda
“Their… fate?”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjbw4au0Ib
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisXFwC2x7b
“You will understand in—”
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At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡit9Qnc3VtT
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcz5e32N4qB
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsyePVtQmV
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Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡytgsrzQUZk
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“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡELWdYGA39z
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVGIFiIOBO
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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?”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dIGRKRkgG
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Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVXbC5IW59O
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNWA1B14HM
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbm14aLdOa
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But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
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“—in due time, Karin.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUI2l1Kca6N
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGojCJXY1e
“What isn’t, dear?”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75DwpqGo7I
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2Vx4ahZJW
Her smile—
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At sixteen, Karin falls.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2o51uWT4Zd
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGNHDoLaK7
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Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GYGL14baC
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Now, there was no one left.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGuNvqMPMgK
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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—587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8lTWNVL55
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I need you587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIz3HCn1oeh
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEvpDGY7StJ
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And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4LlSc8xgLf
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpjUOr1cnD
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOvdj2M8z6
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYBp3EW1T8
“… You promise?”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM37haQFDqL
Her gaze softens.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn8Stuh9Ebj
“I promise.”
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At seventeen, Karin kisses him.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4sec51EaYe
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5zadxpDEnE
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9j7JMYedb
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She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2GG7qjOOS
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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!”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm11jwqBP1V
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAHLIiZFMU
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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1jVLfyINr
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBmSvFaXUch
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsD1xYWRhd
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The home it belonged to.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTy2VOF982o
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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?”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqw7qSubi4C
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
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At nineteen, Karin smiles.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMrqzKxMExb
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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?”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKIbZbHVEl
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVsML353sr
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“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqp80LsOHe
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“Yeah.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLBbnRWZ3Ka
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7qqx7cwL8
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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—587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkPLUmrvPMt
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmu008lXud
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1pm4SOtGD
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkQ652BXcY
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She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPk8eqGCFYc
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An Uzumaki woman.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPvoI8qe07
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“… Thank you, Karin.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsOTOEziND
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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,”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFDXDj0VBB
“Who will be here soon, mama?”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLvLA2tMxCP
“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.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSFsk4IpOu
“And what is that?”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW8Hdc30zCP
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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7Gut6Ilvi
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLeoJK5wXX
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTEzKrzf6C
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“W—what was that about?”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dRVG6E9ba
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTONLcXoyXz
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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.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkiEmDq888
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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.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRP5k5kPux
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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.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzFcn69y5vF
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe2w2r5SJZ7
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsLyQzUP7B
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOwDy8OWJ5b
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To live this happiness.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQJyiROIO7
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“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4g28tLUg49
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The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6OzhGsBda
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She knew them, once.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBFBOaLtRK
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She has known them all along.
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I'm sorry, Karin.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo8DIMeWMIQ
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBPV1ocIEi
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To survive.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjNHZBokxP
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6LYtF4Nat
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAptTehFbhA
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No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJRdOxr5y7
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Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ghYEfealp
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For the unsaid.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSzxlWPtNy
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“What are you thinking about, Karin?”587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVeDs3NE5z
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Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLd78SBqIt
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlBEIpPTsW
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“Nothing at all.”
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"You will be fine."587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FDUptvj0p
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqffyOqPmAr
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Her mother was always right.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYDcXy5j8iO
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end.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡur2JpniH4h
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0KC0iAL3o
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCF6HBYvir3
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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.587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtWu3XTW0x
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Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥587Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4xYFkPQOPe
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : 
cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns216.73.216.82da2
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