[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1E4b5c2N9
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NjQlN3YHZ
Rating: K+520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JO4iJoJof
Word Count: 2.817520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdG8pv9VsY0
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 orz520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMtDfLbWfD
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aIkSatCwJ
périodicité (periodicity)520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv491tTLNBJ
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
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périodicité;520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqk3O638kcr
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by Kanae
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“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhKvbF6f8a9
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXbiBbd5T6R
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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKsWa5zQqG7
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But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArgYmDErLB
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL068ot7qwL
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabTHmSDa6j
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5iNeO2LEh8
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She may as well not exist.
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—and ruffles her hair.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1Vf8TpiDD
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fpYovSj65
“…What do you mean, mama?”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM5xjkjHMja
A secretive smile highlighted by—
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At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKiHaPhos6e
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpaPRUNjJAA
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB8xBOTMMlu
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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ19hF7thX70
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4xHfQKKvg
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What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa5F9RyZho1
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuK41HQB2s1
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTW65jvcx80
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7bFhhsxdj
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LlpOnvHx6
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTYyWS0aPb
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
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At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDyRT9mt7oo
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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—520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkE6EznKUL
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIo8Ezj8Xd
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIq2LtKu8Q
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJQGgYKsSY
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohOLoENVKK
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You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrSkCcmI8C9
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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.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUEXyOZRLkq
“Their… fate?”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejztutlM9u
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkgbboBY8yF
“You will understand in—”
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At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1ckMBW4jF
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4sB8b8AfO
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouKS6PJVxA
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Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wrDQCG1QB
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“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYITMuujdw
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNF0m8ZBk7q
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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?”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDF0XMValYw
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Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy6wuJC3C1k
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROFdm1SyeL
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEs5SeCloqK
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But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
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“—in due time, Karin.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hgM5ZtUsh
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Mjgl2jult
“What isn’t, dear?”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWhV0QDYVY
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Kv4v1HavT
Her smile—
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At sixteen, Karin falls.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzi3120OUEq
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFt3kUEWk5
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Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzysMXIxLV
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Now, there was no one left.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERs54EfY96
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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—520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDy7clO8MI
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I need you520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOqZ0WSyAQ
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1XziF0kF4
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And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7E7xpFT0wS
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeUTqjRiLK
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7sXJuFHf2D
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RdK6x12h0
“… You promise?”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJa3DcDRwV
Her gaze softens.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDOrPfjEBZ
“I promise.”
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At seventeen, Karin kisses him.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10Ew07deuD
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1XItFUSZEn
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCnJhnktOpi
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She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEGoj8KLdV
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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!”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MeZ4M0gBO
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvvuNFxhqAi
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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRqQI5n92T
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgsPIm4gf9
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJxC8YyTnB
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The home it belonged to.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6rGXKS2wE
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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?”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qOXSuHxQw
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
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At nineteen, Karin smiles.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0a6hcRtMz
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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?”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXnYP8eypLE
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnt09b9Li7F
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“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejgaTuCAng
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“Yeah.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkKgEhovGxE
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMevJtDZ9pc
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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—520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkmQqLZzgc
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyU73IbrvL
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsCE4zaFr4
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXxGXk1QWc0
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She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6m6BGFsjyy
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An Uzumaki woman.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfMGAcHcs5
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“… Thank you, Karin.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0GCL5bG6Dr
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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,”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8a4dK61z96
“Who will be here soon, mama?”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvYzyYaz7K
“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.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFA7ukIXWUc
“And what is that?”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsjnxrWaVD
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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUc1DvpKx5
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYjBFsq5I1
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYzvzaS3Qp
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“W—what was that about?”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqodS6DQexP
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrsHYg5P06
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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.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ss5O8bG5l
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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.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTMfzU0iHhA
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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.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHTohvmgFP
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCsVFg5hAnb
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡarMNfR6hql
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrUQKVtKdrZ
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To live this happiness.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRIzWh6qcb
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“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9WOajyHhS
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The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Jhdjnqk6t
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She knew them, once.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvXcfYsxmX
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She has known them all along.
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I'm sorry, Karin.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7PPJSQjjNv
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2GyAe4JLe1
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To survive.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQeOa0hIogU
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbd1fQCRcYU
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgt4JFRHf7
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No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqERUBN87U
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Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhwyAeCHQg
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For the unsaid.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwG2cjAjek
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“What are you thinking about, Karin?”520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJVjd2LxSgc
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Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7SdOqnKYkj
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ51qKujkvst
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“Nothing at all.”
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"You will be fine."520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZy19hP7By
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykflCj8kFy
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Her mother was always right.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1MabR5YOF
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end.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DpT8hgyQG
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡncep7wWGqZ
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5DzgDt5Bl
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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.520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QAkuAizyd
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Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥520Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZMYt2qLNU
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : 
cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns216.73.216.100da2
