[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk67PCt3SPf
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLhcHoOCpG3
Rating: K+532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmWBJ5qcT5
Word Count: 2.817532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaeTOh2doY6
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 orz532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5xH8Ehuuq
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl1QYeV99fp
périodicité (periodicity)532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD8WxyghsS6
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
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périodicité;532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3xa7LgFQzX
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by Kanae
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“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbL0qrugJml
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxC3uvuRML0
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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTTIaMl9QPD
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But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPV2ECOCmNh
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGreEkcOvTe
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmG4rHYWh0
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLBw9ayzR1
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She may as well not exist.
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—and ruffles her hair.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbf2dnZfKkV
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDGdAIPjla
“…What do you mean, mama?”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfRNPwUIMdS
A secretive smile highlighted by—
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At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTR32zRvhe
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4l3KMdNDqY
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhgZdxovSK
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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGxA9KnPRXj
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnftlmdcCGm
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What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8Z7cFQaJr
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkpmMma09il
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6cj7gCx54H
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrtp6iyVaTY
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ810FAwom5A
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BR8DjCAK2
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
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At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKcWIgMda7G
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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—532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUQ4byTxaK9
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPh3NaU0gQn
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZK4drUXAG
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCN0JlixV2
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17wBrXRJBw
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You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGjaCYzbYvR
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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.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFTNk3k01n
“Their… fate?”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwtuHDTNwGA
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPMHjr0Pkz
“You will understand in—”
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At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSEFbOIFIs
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJI3054a74
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQNYWwY0etw
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Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhBSPH7FRw
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“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzfqE94pkYb
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYyiqHkqtkO
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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?”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87q1JaUHqO
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Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd0iogt8Hqf
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LRWv6LEdt
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNLWtc9XTc
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But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
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“—in due time, Karin.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡij4KyJdEID
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8l6M016fo
“What isn’t, dear?”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHHJZaF0Mb
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwL7aHzEIl
Her smile—
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At sixteen, Karin falls.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwaEo8o9Oo
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkvG4sRePTR
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Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddysmUyy5a
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Now, there was no one left.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1SKfJh9Ew
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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—532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmpyNY5twX
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I need you532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuiQvyY5ms
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbZ9kVKU56
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And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnzlKMaoozS
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunC3a3IMm9
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1zO01SqT9
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡioa200eNDX
“… You promise?”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3d0IOzI5Q7
Her gaze softens.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXrsblOVZl
“I promise.”
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At seventeen, Karin kisses him.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYskmVEyY4
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKXeeINiX4X
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKTNfdfbepm
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She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQceQbs2F7V
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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!”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQZFgcRjXY
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4n2HBpZ1M
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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZMjPKfxG1
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5clZ6EiecZ
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqUgbKTLHM
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The home it belonged to.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4YdIDMTyq
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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?”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBwpCwqGhj
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
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At nineteen, Karin smiles.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4BGOsiXwj
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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?”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHz4ksBazH
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡByb2TTk2Ar
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“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9BUkVWOXrW
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“Yeah.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnDc01iBod
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7dnagELtw
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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—532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡylCJ3a4cbL
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JAyMR26uO
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwUOi3q6yGl
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3bgSC0E0Kc
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She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdC0ujKqrAD
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An Uzumaki woman.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkse8MSf4zA
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“… Thank you, Karin.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxdQSq9BZI
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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,”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFgYU4QPzM
“Who will be here soon, mama?”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MaP01qboy
“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.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81LNQay7Oy
“And what is that?”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGmkVZWpyw
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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMn7jzj0XLm
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIILTSPqsFb
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj89ZAWyil0
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“W—what was that about?”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvQsIyLJPE
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslvJKLKSHG
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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.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjo40crjkTE
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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.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHvDCyaUkL
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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.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLNxYtsoXS
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9shakapzNO
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEkjBk1yqR
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35MdIM3lNk
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To live this happiness.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQjoxDdoxX
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“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuKgWeHt6LF
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The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jSNtAlHm2
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She knew them, once.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRIRAmhoNq
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She has known them all along.
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I'm sorry, Karin.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6KqK73bMf2
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPPKMq3ArX
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To survive.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZEzRfuPEiy
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTrbYRNubd2
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGQLV29NfR
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No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tfPOiWbbm
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Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4LeicvWhI
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For the unsaid.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOH4U2u8UBb
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“What are you thinking about, Karin?”532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡclFQsniuPu
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Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcCEmM24tnC
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQR6CAlvRxB
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“Nothing at all.”
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"You will be fine."532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF4nBQ3sSFb
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9aZcdXud7w
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Her mother was always right.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgNC5RJETqO
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end.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2xgcN0m2e
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Ye4qSPj81
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFgGjrxQFT
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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.532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoWJwRkxQXg
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Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥532Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpztR9dZDs
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : 
cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns216.73.216.224da2
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