[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡczkxIkMuqL
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqaE7Zu5aI
Rating: K+414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAiboGXdVbq
Word Count: 2.817414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8CcD4GVjmX
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 orz414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAXzeLUzpB
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2P2semcPIs
périodicité (periodicity)414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCI4t5HG2Bc
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
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périodicité;414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZatV4caEn
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by Kanae
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“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqIoH5icll
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGETEDngX9
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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqleVJsSm7
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But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFkmgZYGfAU
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVeNzOqK5wF
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHX950xQRhI
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwZYeg8CM0
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She may as well not exist.
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—and ruffles her hair.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAK9vh7eUpX
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjKDOosyBS
“…What do you mean, mama?”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuDt2QU3znq
A secretive smile highlighted by—
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At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7n2CnfYFS
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP2NhsQ5MbI
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2T1JhkFMPo
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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzntuXNDAEN
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡToh5HBIIX3
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What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3lmERlFlb8
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcu4AZmxeMy
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0p2zsAIbPk
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALq43Y2Yuv
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaTYkiw7zSE
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9dZF692mI
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
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At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49SDhYZP73
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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—414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyS41Lr7sSR
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMyRpaX2X4p
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSAgbOEmbUq
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDScJMgb00
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQBj2JHgqm
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You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvrbzuDkjk3
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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.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCLXp9kEhuc
“Their… fate?”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10PwMYcHpc
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnRR1DBrpS
“You will understand in—”
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At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zT2hZcHSF
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4kqdKQpmya
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeG9QFJ39r
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Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoaK6PFmfQH
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“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdQZYYvLXb
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aNHwoGy8O
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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?”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmpAQdFqe4
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Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6tIwcgPeGl
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5gmCYmOCn
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6VsOVepXX
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But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
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“—in due time, Karin.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7QfoNJRg2
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZbUekL3DA
“What isn’t, dear?”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLgIAhJy4c
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJuxEIrJKw
Her smile—
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At sixteen, Karin falls.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGQEHCznQV
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfRmHwDJII
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Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3nkbryyqck
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Now, there was no one left.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJunat1rcZI
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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—414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZI6eIMPFZ
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOvd4dHtXT
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And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1I9GAFOonW
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFrdDx9PJy
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxt1X95Fa8h
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOwVYuvTpU
“… You promise?”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3rAGNmXoYR
Her gaze softens.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhgtTWZcwk
“I promise.”
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At seventeen, Karin kisses him.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfSYmKA4T4F
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKdcOYiAvKV
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEzj6h6FxPr
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She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjc5ZV56kxa
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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!”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qZppf4Odj
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrhSFDuz0pV
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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs8wQH6eRL0
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hXHG7yd2T
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZ0GuaFGlH
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The home it belonged to.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6E9iLIA9F
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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?”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nO5ASyNKC
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
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At nineteen, Karin smiles.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAfVuRwUSL
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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?”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡereHYIgRvT
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJaJG3Xweic
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“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOLdlQ9Uwp
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“Yeah.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tT9FM256e
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFJN5f78UT
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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—414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbLzjM9V2b
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡny68OrnS72
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUdRFUxekTG
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7FrnSWMq0
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She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4EoSQiyPJ
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An Uzumaki woman.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfN5LRFioBm
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“… Thank you, Karin.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWopltxe1X
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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,”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbF5TQelVZ
“Who will be here soon, mama?”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEquk4rOqxw
“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.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0HI7G29aV
“And what is that?”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfUDMk5fcT
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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqAXDXoEBGE
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFqRWMuZYQ
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QZebPARYw
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“W—what was that about?”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgiMqbZtQJN
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgbJtnzZ8Z
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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.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9aW5XeftT
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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.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EYMKt7Oi0
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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.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡht1SJUXJKZ
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqnMGyhe3cN
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMzLNRJU5zh
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡngcABecJ9l
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To live this happiness.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9PDgMluo3b
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“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV20zSblPEQ
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The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMYewSBoOcQ
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She knew them, once.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1E7H0Xu3B
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She has known them all along.
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I'm sorry, Karin.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvpd6KE3UBh
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7WNyeRwDgu
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To survive.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ueRLx1wo4
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuTfM1aXTKE
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw1ldULtO2n
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No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWDDL1FIMp
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Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4bXYcBOrK
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For the unsaid.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwbdhfTYdc
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“What are you thinking about, Karin?”414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzxblflNMp
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Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzmY2KBRiM
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnMJv2y4qH
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“Nothing at all.”
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"You will be fine."414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dpDszwlt1
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjOHXN7FBp
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Her mother was always right.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqejXXdsT64
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end.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFuyBMfM8L
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpOFg7BDuEw
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1yI4PfoH2
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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.414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHz9dMY0agp
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Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥414Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGXGa3Xi9v1
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : 
cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns18.221.234.104da2
