[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVto9zbkAcq
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IjuP31ktp
Rating: K+440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitRciRPXah
Word Count: 2.817440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAHDXZkHQI
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 orz440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXu7CsziceB
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHFN3tl5qE2
périodicité (periodicity)440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiuMrsEjMGr
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
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périodicité;440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DVK1sCzw1
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by Kanae
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“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyR6zGEOpNA
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFEakgTfko9
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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFzP5tm71oz
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But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4BpoPAhPYr
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsenfW1JinI
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUiChAXxfVg
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn2dkF66RKj
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She may as well not exist.
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—and ruffles her hair.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtfA52Mad5
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRrn5SotNO
“…What do you mean, mama?”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnJg9KbFJZD
A secretive smile highlighted by—
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At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5pQjsiLN6
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBc99hHihQc
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZmC3Z6kVXd
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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4AbQm55j5M
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9xMAitogn
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What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6tsSsGeMmy
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjwNn92FG0P
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSAfDAyEKf
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwe3FODDIg
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzLGg38eddv
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAizXdXB1hP
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
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At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOHSrT3xdw
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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—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4B1t21u1dr
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6cxUSlVPX
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡleXqvvJOct
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJWLDiQbAQ
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPAXtYtA0r
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You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Vl7UsCkgn
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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.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv6H1VGRAEV
“Their… fate?”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgQrDicwLe
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmuHcftmZ16
“You will understand in—”
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At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFMBOHfRVda
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtUj0YiXpRJ
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBs48wZexZ
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Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPAHmCchf0
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“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkeBFszgPzL
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7V3VfvGwL
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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?”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNuGdqrUuvL
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Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pmMj03EvY
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu145Bea7DL
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkTz4wm4LcX
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But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
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“—in due time, Karin.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPL3EGtlRQ
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahQERf1zpR
“What isn’t, dear?”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9CtDL7gxs
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4uCn63X52n
Her smile—
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At sixteen, Karin falls.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvldtQ4Ece
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyEkzldzNy
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Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9IpUJeW1XF
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Now, there was no one left.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡarmoNaifRJ
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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—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjplRMVrvz
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I need you440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBnqcbj35NR
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd95RGs9cod
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And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FqMdLhd67
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0LaFJe874P
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSt1NML687
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpomWlgQIn
“… You promise?”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFk51HctH0
Her gaze softens.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXT40oBlKX
“I promise.”
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At seventeen, Karin kisses him.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQ2ED77q8P
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4byBkVoiE
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5beGRbUbR
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She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRXVNxhi8c
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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!”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfBSYdV57EX
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp0elQltqGQ
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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJp264laLV
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFz8omuUb6e
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJiGe0nLMmM
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The home it belonged to.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQy3iGRPqz
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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?”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAzGTlRBaS
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
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At nineteen, Karin smiles.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡei1Bf4QiM7
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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?”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ44zUsxKK3c
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQ0mKxLIHW
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“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1GZdsGVUqo
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“Yeah.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsrKaLMTcy
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6vvvkKSzC
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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—440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqWqFchSv5t
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdu4bNNTCXi
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WcqAk2pWk
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2msZxM7ZT
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She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡio6bqWyW0J
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An Uzumaki woman.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKRvGG4bd1
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“… Thank you, Karin.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jctcqmI8F
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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,”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6K4cMcas6h
“Who will be here soon, mama?”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9X7olIjih
“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.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNJ6E6bJqH
“And what is that?”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PJHGleaSn
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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaAfKiRLM6T
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYipDi4HXBW
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVw2mypN08i
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“W—what was that about?”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4Qb5yQ5AH
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWB58LWj14a
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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.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHOZBEZRxK
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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.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk5MxaEIuoW
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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.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5f0kdV6eED
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPKy6HXmVM
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzxFM4XW1B
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2fSxBbsA5
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To live this happiness.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nnb1GeZu8
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“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewwEKY8aS2
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The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaXTv1PO8d9
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She knew them, once.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMnHtq2FrJ
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She has known them all along.
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I'm sorry, Karin.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrUawuBi2T
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYleB5ABS6C
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To survive.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoI4ylI4QZ4
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvi861LP53
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKOfLeKHVA
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No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYemPvgK2C8
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Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYNh8q9Pv1
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For the unsaid.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlocaCUH6Kd
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“What are you thinking about, Karin?”440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK88YgeddSx
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Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYle6v5qFV
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPK8APvJpYA
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“Nothing at all.”
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"You will be fine."440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTADoqbgBm
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5icRjy3Y5
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Her mother was always right.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5vBmWo1kn
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end.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZerbCDEU1
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp29jTJnCES
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLx8qg8jsA
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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.440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazcBUTimi8
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Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥440Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1cNrPMUbKw
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : 
cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns3.21.186.117da2
