[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité277Please respect copyright.PENANAsm3ULYvXVd
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)277Please respect copyright.PENANAzvCv43z14K
Rating: K+277Please respect copyright.PENANAbyUKWyQDMx
Word Count: 2.817277Please respect copyright.PENANAwsY6peDdkV
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 orz277Please respect copyright.PENANA381Wzqeu6a
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.277Please respect copyright.PENANAcfibylPtzB
périodicité (periodicity)277Please respect copyright.PENANAPrMJkhjKJi
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
277Please respect copyright.PENANAWDRy6XJqGI
périodicité;277Please respect copyright.PENANAxI2AhsXh5F
277Please respect copyright.PENANANB5jpK4iGV
by Kanae
277Please respect copyright.PENANAGiuGwKAedL
277Please respect copyright.PENANAnq6kOj9v8g
“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAjMXh206rk1
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAtKW6tJwreS
A twinkling laugh, a delicate hand warmly lands over a girl’s head and—
.277Please respect copyright.PENANABHEuzB3HWw
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAB3N4XII1W4
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANARQUFhFHxLM
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAvEWoxS49YQ
277Please respect copyright.PENANAom6k7ctKdn
But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.277Please respect copyright.PENANAgTbysxiXKd
277Please respect copyright.PENANAS8lNHbwhWk
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAUconav625g
277Please respect copyright.PENANAQXBmn4sC0C
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAmYfjAd0jFc
277Please respect copyright.PENANAmLD9Amt0hH
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANALBoz2XULVX
277Please respect copyright.PENANADDSAOnE54D
She may as well not exist.
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAejQv9OUYzn
.277Please respect copyright.PENANA54Bsc8XdCp
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANA4zydtSMnZQ
—and ruffles her hair.277Please respect copyright.PENANAjZvr0RZ1nk
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”277Please respect copyright.PENANAMnodXI8TUq
“…What do you mean, mama?”277Please respect copyright.PENANA8ZgNZwYffs
A secretive smile highlighted by—
.277Please respect copyright.PENANA6RXY0FczaI
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAY66wZVW1RC
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAwTNg5MYJSX
At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.277Please respect copyright.PENANA9JgS9chd4b
277Please respect copyright.PENANAT5kz1eng1r
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAXRS2Kjar7A
277Please respect copyright.PENANAbFS1EtiVeH
There is something different about you, her mother tells her once with a knowing smile, ever since you came back from Konoha.277Please respect copyright.PENANAEFbKZG1r8l
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANASouAAFpvEK
277Please respect copyright.PENANAVw7JOtrxEs
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANARO0WK7lQTu
277Please respect copyright.PENANAqvmIspzVyQ
What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—277Please respect copyright.PENANAjierpuOL8a
277Please respect copyright.PENANAeF8BfIdDu5
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAqVUZVDUO3f
277Please respect copyright.PENANAFAb7gEleCz
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANANVxgVpsEFQ
277Please respect copyright.PENANAO1wBaSX8ka
See ya, he had said, and until then Karin had never quite known how good it felt to feel alive.
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAIf1hSg5Dn4
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAnXGWZU3Hwp
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAWxL4fNOP5k
—by amber eyes that seem to spark.277Please respect copyright.PENANAE5SkF5QeSI
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAEdsdZH1Wvm
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”277Please respect copyright.PENANAYBxLJRRj2F
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAbMLgsS2LHc
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAd4Ym6iw0YG
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAxFt9i4n9PE
At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.277Please respect copyright.PENANAFdvVw8nvJW
277Please respect copyright.PENANAEkmEE9Fgi3
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—277Please respect copyright.PENANAoNxiTRk62v
277Please respect copyright.PENANA0xg6ZOyO3y
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAKxkzSSlDnC
277Please respect copyright.PENANA1Wo3kCVu8C
There are silent, chocked sobs that made her throat burn and her sight blur until she has ran out of tears.277Please respect copyright.PENANAPulPUvkCP4
277Please respect copyright.PENANAr8UonMeO2j
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANA9lNgtoOh3n
277Please respect copyright.PENANAgpX3yfzd01
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAmuEw8oS2mN
277Please respect copyright.PENANAEcOJR6yNY9
You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.277Please respect copyright.PENANAQv8gNntPJ0
277Please respect copyright.PENANA7DoS9RkyZZ
She takes his hand, and there is hope.
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAETJ2hvZiwr
.277Please respect copyright.PENANA4C8qZGAOlY
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANArTbbvkKsuu
“—It is said that one too many women in our family have found their fate in the lands of Konohagakure.”277Please respect copyright.PENANANPnrEmCJrB
“Their… fate?”277Please respect copyright.PENANANrz53UlIda
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.277Please respect copyright.PENANAqgzmVmZnBx
“You will understand in—”
.277Please respect copyright.PENANADP1mnGyJyp
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAAvYPfXRtPM
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAwrDPQeVmCf
At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.277Please respect copyright.PENANA3S1nGjaVhe
277Please respect copyright.PENANAi2dxyh5t3f
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANALyG8sHHUVs
277Please respect copyright.PENANAT6akZc5hv9
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAwDb7nHDLM5
277Please respect copyright.PENANA8TvIjvSvnC
Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.277Please respect copyright.PENANAR5MHJaQG5D
277Please respect copyright.PENANArQcaUrXPXu
“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”277Please respect copyright.PENANAdTkWCB7DG6
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAVfhqLoHpxe
277Please respect copyright.PENANAdwPvyHJkCJ
She puts her glasses back on and crosses her arms with a frown, moving away from him. “Why did you even bother coming, then?”277Please respect copyright.PENANAS4P3nN21lG
277Please respect copyright.PENANAAwiu7wD1hA
Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?277Please respect copyright.PENANAWyzfLli3Nh
277Please respect copyright.PENANAsrJxPImEeS
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAnFI1HfJiF8
277Please respect copyright.PENANAJ1vJLF1cym
“…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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAd9IB3QMEsM
277Please respect copyright.PENANA0kQdSY3elx
But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAMTT8NbVdog
.277Please respect copyright.PENANABdpzEzZqFX
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAx8FfOZDmfh
“—in due time, Karin.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAbu0sviS3Oz
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAbABwk39QVl
“What isn’t, dear?”277Please respect copyright.PENANA6Gt9N0KKTm
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAe5c1Mga5rT
Her smile—
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAXeGsfkVVTD
.277Please respect copyright.PENANALogekLNS6z
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAMNGcLvBj9x
At sixteen, Karin falls.277Please respect copyright.PENANAVOJG8t3zXU
277Please respect copyright.PENANAhTMYwDIu7L
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAnrN0V8I7YU
277Please respect copyright.PENANAVGFvsVszaZ
Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.277Please respect copyright.PENANAXLEN1wKOgT
277Please respect copyright.PENANAvZGt1wXKyk
Now, there was no one left.277Please respect copyright.PENANAvd30vzemxU
277Please respect copyright.PENANAwZYZwzACgm
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—277Please respect copyright.PENANASFUfCEaIwN
277Please respect copyright.PENANAwrnUS7fwxw
I need you277Please respect copyright.PENANAPQyUaiumYX
277Please respect copyright.PENANAVXATqu8IIe
“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.277Please respect copyright.PENANARATQufHvic
277Please respect copyright.PENANAviiTeO6KlP
And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.277Please respect copyright.PENANA9wCe8b0apG
277Please respect copyright.PENANAgsPw6l8CWn
No… I’ve had enough, Sasuke but her withered heart is trying to beat again, and it makes up her mind for her.277Please respect copyright.PENANAEB2mNh3Uzu
277Please respect copyright.PENANAtPW8Dld62f
“…So much for this,” Karin murmurs to herself—and then she is on her feet again, her inner eye tracing his every move.
.277Please respect copyright.PENANA21KtVzo0Nv
.277Please respect copyright.PENANARNLDgcWeAs
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAvLzO4YegYs
—melts.277Please respect copyright.PENANAUbaLTyIKBY
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAZw23w2ySNJ
“… You promise?”277Please respect copyright.PENANAar2haA0NlL
Her gaze softens.277Please respect copyright.PENANAgQ3HjjLCID
“I promise.”
.277Please respect copyright.PENANA3K1wR5ywwQ
.277Please respect copyright.PENANARxjVIFJmH9
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAxGGKLP1Law
At seventeen, Karin kisses him.277Please respect copyright.PENANALP2JFY8vWQ
277Please respect copyright.PENANAROPuniqq41
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANABXArgJ6TEE
277Please respect copyright.PENANAf7hu0TM7bY
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAhCHRGx02xz
277Please respect copyright.PENANABFuwD1cRb1
She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.277Please respect copyright.PENANAJJZYiep8v3
277Please respect copyright.PENANAxBI5aKiXRx
She has given him a reason, but the choice is his to make.
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAJnxyNDNoHb
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAlwKzu0KjJU
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAbs4JmpowZ9
“Ha, so it was about a boy, I knew it!”277Please respect copyright.PENANAWqgIHVdiZ7
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”277Please respect copyright.PENANAiRRlXg3DqG
Her mother has to hide her smile, “Actually, Karin… something tells me you just might.”
.277Please respect copyright.PENANA8jJjEomD9d
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAhEg9zidnkS
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAxH3nkNhPY7
At eighteen, Sasuke kisses her back.277Please respect copyright.PENANAkwZE0Ci43F
277Please respect copyright.PENANAAtLnNQXLGM
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANALhsi1zZkDu
277Please respect copyright.PENANA1doki1Acki
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAFpWT5axsbE
277Please respect copyright.PENANAzr4BlsCUCs
The home it belonged to.277Please respect copyright.PENANAgrpBpO8AIm
277Please respect copyright.PENANAIFqQKUiy0i
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.
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAmycntysxEX
.277Please respect copyright.PENANARU1EFdMVGM
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAGQveKyiO4t
“How do you know?”277Please respect copyright.PENANAQvBEtr1HQp
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
.277Please respect copyright.PENANADfKvxU1MtJ
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAdLF1FHJLpP
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANA7qIFgMqwVq
At nineteen, Karin smiles.277Please respect copyright.PENANAwBkEWq8Myg
277Please respect copyright.PENANAEqZrB443r3
“Itachi,” she says, and Sasuke looks up to her, startled. “The name… Itachi. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”277Please respect copyright.PENANAlZ4WyXVWwO
277Please respect copyright.PENANAycxT8nxzvA
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAvXcWPVo6ms
277Please respect copyright.PENANAipWoAGkRdC
“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.277Please respect copyright.PENANA7DhaHgGyQn
277Please respect copyright.PENANANGcfwMAWjM
“Yeah.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAogxDhLYwye
277Please respect copyright.PENANA1w4sU3FQ3v
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAyiOLv9iQ63
277Please respect copyright.PENANAzpjpBMeoW8
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—277Please respect copyright.PENANALFhs5Z2HWQ
277Please respect copyright.PENANAb5vGamWXoz
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAgYYkcJSki2
277Please respect copyright.PENANAMvlJF8bICv
To understand who her mother truly was, what her mother felt, what her mother desired for her—and how her mother hurt.277Please respect copyright.PENANARf9FX52JWx
277Please respect copyright.PENANAIPcef7oLj8
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAORxPK7YWTS
277Please respect copyright.PENANABie3CJIk4W
She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.277Please respect copyright.PENANAf7vnQmtFIT
277Please respect copyright.PENANAIjJuwrRgo6
An Uzumaki woman.277Please respect copyright.PENANAwIVXhoFdNL
277Please respect copyright.PENANA7ntZUSdjBS
“… Thank you, Karin.”277Please respect copyright.PENANABngjavpWEW
277Please respect copyright.PENANAZBa6o0yaBe
“Idiot,” she shakes her head, weakly, traitorous tears prickling at the corners of her eyes and threatening to spill. “That... should be my line.”
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAvgg7nnl2l4
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAjrKeEbEjJC
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAzoQbaNKP5G
“They will be here soon,”277Please respect copyright.PENANAlMyUXgKyom
“Who will be here soon, mama?”277Please respect copyright.PENANAM9E6w1zkMy
“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.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAQSaNMyURJN
“And what is that?”277Please respect copyright.PENANApforPRvS7a
Her silence provides the only answer; and Karin wishes it weren’t enough.
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAlzSOjAuvNb
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAK2Yt3wr07D
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAn8WZ0ESQjs
At twenty, Karin celebrates her birthday for the first time in seven years.277Please respect copyright.PENANAENltXiTQZd
277Please respect copyright.PENANAfe44xn2cbE
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAXFA8w2XUYb
277Please respect copyright.PENANACdO4teQo1g
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANA0akBAPE8Pi
277Please respect copyright.PENANAkyp2m9dLKs
“W—what was that about?”277Please respect copyright.PENANAt23KYGCcGQ
277Please respect copyright.PENANArhbKkYoEdm
She asks; some habits are hard to break, and her awkward way of fighting down her embarrassment seemed to be as persistent as ever.277Please respect copyright.PENANAWjSuuZ8Mf8
277Please respect copyright.PENANA6LdfTQlaWh
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.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAcSExJNWW4e
277Please respect copyright.PENANA9MrLzRKgjw
“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.”277Please respect copyright.PENANABjBqP5JB8o
277Please respect copyright.PENANAPm7e0VdoNR
“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.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAXxCNEYRR1z
277Please respect copyright.PENANAEGZWjl2IHc
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAI6DRH2cvvH
277Please respect copyright.PENANA7XzcsOHb9D
“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.277Please respect copyright.PENANA6O7ZCPliCW
277Please respect copyright.PENANAFXy9S0MYkn
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAemI9HPB043
277Please respect copyright.PENANAs9EqWJ8PPZ
To live this happiness.277Please respect copyright.PENANAi53LJGJgHy
277Please respect copyright.PENANAKm24SJu6rv
“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”277Please respect copyright.PENANAlfRsB6aXH9
277Please respect copyright.PENANAjIos0lf8y6
The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.277Please respect copyright.PENANAXecncTMvge
277Please respect copyright.PENANA0cGiJVqwW8
She knew them, once.277Please respect copyright.PENANAcxodvwHqMP
277Please respect copyright.PENANA3fgqO8z5zl
She has known them all along.
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAyntBBuJVZN
.277Please respect copyright.PENANA7rgljpKEvE
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAnv9MJ2X6Tk
I'm sorry, Karin.277Please respect copyright.PENANAu873mhYldt
277Please respect copyright.PENANAWvgc43qLAB
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAfrdF1a5Pqi
277Please respect copyright.PENANAijlSDF7Lss
To survive.277Please respect copyright.PENANADrG9iwcSTk
277Please respect copyright.PENANAuOStOMBilX
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANABbVPouL4mI
277Please respect copyright.PENANAWnkUEPaDoq
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANA1uI3YqMgg5
277Please respect copyright.PENANABKPlCFAYIS
No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.277Please respect copyright.PENANAjkBvfwomWu
277Please respect copyright.PENANA2g5dcblC1H
Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.277Please respect copyright.PENANAr8LOHkux2J
277Please respect copyright.PENANA5F2Kd4oush
For the unsaid.277Please respect copyright.PENANA1lX4W5Rwlm
277Please respect copyright.PENANAHXVQIPiupb
“What are you thinking about, Karin?”277Please respect copyright.PENANARwBNMCz9FG
277Please respect copyright.PENANAb8JokuOaZG
Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.277Please respect copyright.PENANAEuG4K9eifH
277Please respect copyright.PENANAjRd4dTSc2o
“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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAYPHCqGwko5
277Please respect copyright.PENANAmj0kd5DAc1
“Nothing at all.”
.277Please respect copyright.PENANA7eToNly601
.277Please respect copyright.PENANAY02YswLwMR
.
277Please respect copyright.PENANAhO9TIMfJj1
"You will be fine."277Please respect copyright.PENANA6KrsvNcAkh
277Please respect copyright.PENANAUXekg8xZjE
And through the tears and the pain and the loneliness and the longing and the hardships and the fear, Karin should have known better.277Please respect copyright.PENANAQyLKaUNXmX
277Please respect copyright.PENANAOcYSoQWZsN
Her mother was always right.277Please respect copyright.PENANATTQZ7YiQI7
277Please respect copyright.PENANA38FrI7hFJF
277Please respect copyright.PENANAOFtsldfNVQ
-277Please respect copyright.PENANAa33GM1I7wg
end.277Please respect copyright.PENANAXmFumTXbuT
277Please respect copyright.PENANARKKNp1YEsr
277Please respect copyright.PENANADkSih7XtPq
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANABk36YXapRO
277Please respect copyright.PENANAL7XwOYPiwp
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANA8CrkFeVm5J
277Please respect copyright.PENANAsH5hGcSNbQ
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.277Please respect copyright.PENANAzr9H85rKlp
277Please respect copyright.PENANAEyIqeQGPh3
Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥277Please respect copyright.PENANA78Se3ejc9S
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns 172.70.100.56da2