[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdADf2H8b3D
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRES3SYfOj
Rating: K+457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfCYIO42inj
Word Count: 2.817457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHz6Qzro1J9
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 orz457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCAOGf5m85
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGBhUF0kIJ
périodicité (periodicity)457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEyfr3yVmN
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
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périodicité;457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5E9BVULKA4
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by Kanae
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“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEwG9yMgHz
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYDYrPPVeh
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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWD1IsgU2v
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But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zXMSAH0mS
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ItZ8hQVRZ
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv13x3ORRc2
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtuH4XRrxt
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She may as well not exist.
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—and ruffles her hair.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyk7mVPXDCT
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGVWhtO3Uf
“…What do you mean, mama?”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzf1Xg5qftQ
A secretive smile highlighted by—
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At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt9eaLRWxOC
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjhUepfpFOw
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGU5DaUCE7
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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVkFQQb2ejS
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡty0p5NA2Zf
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What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDuWM8PUr5V
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQbPezLcUE
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHAehnh8qc
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgANgMn94X
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZH0RLR6AU
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bz6SmKI4Q
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
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At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFMPQ0Ztyr
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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—457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXpU7Bn2uYl
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEbVg2JT9o
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TPuFFZXni
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPm89ETssJt
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYj9n6ND3v
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You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScxCqqzGle
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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.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVi9ddmAfoE
“Their… fate?”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWy2SWVIoG8
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpVYA3tuoU9
“You will understand in—”
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At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPnZpOpFR6
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDAuDO6xWo
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUiShBYyNPV
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Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO2zoWgjHET
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“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT71J0YfrXR
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvsoqAnKDl
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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?”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSCWyNTyCuV
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Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIj2vETe54
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ZujbCV4XU
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBFjAMKSD2
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But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
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“—in due time, Karin.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TNITx5mnk
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPAxsdWgP6
“What isn’t, dear?”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydAn1uQsee
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡON5UWWofwQ
Her smile—
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At sixteen, Karin falls.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA9SMv29BS6
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCKvdlGKfh
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Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80pPj4rJzX
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Now, there was no one left.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22heLhtxXz
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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—457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzN4o1qfRG
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9vZGfSQAxn
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And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKV9APNWlPj
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzBP7V5OL5Y
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFMmVt4bg3j
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2NbU0173S
“… You promise?”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1juuypDQG
Her gaze softens.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSaPHyvwDU
“I promise.”
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At seventeen, Karin kisses him.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPBcstwfWwt
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0vQs3fBAD
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqebHDXJu0
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She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1LHKBKOD8J
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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!”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDbIvfnE5j
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMth9ivfJQ
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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdDzbgZADCj
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROazvJJZpg
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTO5vFVYoDM
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The home it belonged to.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYl2fGSYV4
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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?”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBK9t6BPEz7
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
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At nineteen, Karin smiles.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzB93H3dQr
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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?”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBkPFAOExKx
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLEck44cHC
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“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvySeBzeBY
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“Yeah.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hOiC5gpOK
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbEeYRq3I4
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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—457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SR53F4OWj
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsM4eqLu0Fo
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerMpxfauub
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDrBAYQnx6
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She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mREd1kYzj
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An Uzumaki woman.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkR0YjwsaGh
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“… Thank you, Karin.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsewH6IQXNA
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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,”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jH3nyDiiV
“Who will be here soon, mama?”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBd8MKq3s8C
“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.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dzzIK67AW
“And what is that?”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SCoPm37gi
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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0ysFXEg6M
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMNmpLlb9l
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKFEqczH0B
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“W—what was that about?”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5xtD1IL3Nq
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWqM4RDr1G
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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.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBsTOmapy42
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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.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4JznRNU90
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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.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxootrWArq
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdzqQtAkZFd
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gOlQ1l6l2
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPlGlddxpoj
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To live this happiness.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqpK4ZaMst
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“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI6owUn6oAF
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The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcqNz4X0zDe
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She knew them, once.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXrJIuBul9
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She has known them all along.
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I'm sorry, Karin.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0IAiqCOrc6
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZWG2vjWSKb
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To survive.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMoHEJjS4c
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJ08nvlS0a
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjj1xhu8Zs
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No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCcRqOtOHPo
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Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ83QzeCcNp6
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For the unsaid.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKKo0R5BsU
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“What are you thinking about, Karin?”457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwiwH8hEqX
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Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmciqHzC42C
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBO4qcJKr6y
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“Nothing at all.”
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"You will be fine."457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FiK7MZSER
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSIPHiFkXP
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Her mother was always right.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6h1KLCEVt
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end.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljqR2QbuNN
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4cyHQgryCT
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgS7lUCHwdC
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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.457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTeZ8N3pba9
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Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥457Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8fBW3LwCs
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : 
cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns3.144.125.201da2
