[FANFIC - HBD, KARIN!] PÉRIODICITÉ (SK)
Title: périodicité517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUtrmBEyix
By: Kanae (Goth-Punk88 @ ff.net)517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNMtSxCi6oz
Rating: K+517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0AAgXkbwZ
Word Count: 2.817517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8niDxsNCjj
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 orz517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyjAXel2jb
Summary: June 20 has never been an ordinary day for one Uzumaki Karin.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCyyhmHNE5s
périodicité (periodicity)517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡId2fI23z8E
"recurrence at regular intervals of time."
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périodicité;517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE9nSX66V4T
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by Kanae
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“Don’t look so down, darling. This is a great chance for you.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfHQlbm6moG
“…Yeah… a great chance to make a fool of myself, you mean.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7C129i9SD
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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuDkvk6kqZs
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But that is just what her father seems to have wanted to do all along.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81gkburPk8
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRj5pPsKSw0
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt643YYbbNt
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8U0MuUOAvV
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She may as well not exist.
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—and ruffles her hair.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ0pOECgaxU
“Now, now, don’t be like that. I have a good feeling about this, you know?”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8V4BCQwJj
“…What do you mean, mama?”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqjtOE1fEH
A secretive smile highlighted by—
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At thirteen, Karin nearly dies.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztlJns7li9
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwnvUuUviI
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfzIcl8cpq
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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6GDvCCFgX
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZo8axffCC
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What she does know, though—what she can’t forget, is—517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVYYPETzWX
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTl5rfFgSkn
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe2vYeGMCO9
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡendigLk45t
“Ara~ I wonder if I should tell you. It is a safely guarded secret, you see.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPvgytAgzJ
“I will keep it! I promise, I won’t tell anybody, mama!”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKGYt4GNu3
A chuckle, “Alright, alright! Since you insist, I'll tell you. It—”
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At fourteen, Karin breathes her last breath.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ugpbOZ41G
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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—517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVciywB9Ky
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGOKEVBJdU
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSKUBSPlv14
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc2KFpthPqO
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgi8GWora9R
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You staying here will amount to nothing, but you leaving just might, he says. Come, Karin, he calls.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhB5KW8CqY
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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.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡasDDeehKGG
“Their… fate?”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7oIGFay398
Her voice curls up around the edges, as if it were a spell.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBl6RGj0Op
“You will understand in—”
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At fifteen, Karin has shed her skin.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJG70nISllF
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVNcoKNmhK
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62Vs25plI2
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Yet, he sees them all. As if she wore them on her sleeve.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiz3fHxn6pY
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“Say, Sasuke, since we’re alone how about we—”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wvS6wb6VG
“I have to leave soon, Karin.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi0LX7yOBBs
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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?”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PofXOdu5D
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Sasuke says nothing, then. He says nothing, and Karin straightens, her back suddenly assaulted by gooseflesh; could he—?517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9guhOdhHKk
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksJVXKIcWB
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3U7lQZZKFF
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But as she turns and her eyes meet his, Karin sees.
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“—in due time, Karin.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeuqjztZTAg
“Still, mama… it just isn’t fair.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCFwsmrxkz
“What isn’t, dear?”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcVXzt9tqj
“… I wanted to spend my birthday with you and papa.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2IYe5IcRD8
Her smile—
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At sixteen, Karin falls.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWQxeNe8EB
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7deUfNetnk
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Alongside everything she once held dear. Everyone she relied on. The one she trusted.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HNdv0e9MO
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Now, there was no one left.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCimw9hUh4
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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—517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyunrrU9pA
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I need you517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGW2quWAC8K
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Hz6VAxsaq
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And then it comes. An almost unnoticeable flicker—too subtle to be perceived, but too longed for to be ignored.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYuEqVJqgV
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWBucu7CdS
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFqch8W3ToQ
“Cheer up, love. There will be many birthdays left for us to celebrate together.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl5teDpa0Hb
“… You promise?”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9XfLimtpt9
Her gaze softens.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2fxCDT7n9F
“I promise.”
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At seventeen, Karin kisses him.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSpkDUDASj
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRjcpi8rUk
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPZMEsWHt1
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She smiles ruefully; trembling eyes boring into his—and then wordlessly lets him go.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpb12HxvK65
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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!”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoRSt5xZ6lD
“Shh, mama! I don’t want papa to hear! And… it’s not like I’m ever going to see him again, anyway….”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzSQkMLUCt
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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvS29gcQ11C
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVyxPgwPev
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJt1TKkFd5t
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The home it belonged to.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPLlzcIR5m
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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?”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpjwju4vSk
“Because, that’s how fate works, Karin.”
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At nineteen, Karin smiles.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yc9Bhdvyn
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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?”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHhrnnBtFbv
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiaa63RFLBY
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“Are you sure, Karin?” he whispers after what seemed like an eternity, and Karin’s smile only widens.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqTWDoR4TW
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“Yeah.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWs7ocLwEfx
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbZwemI0Lk
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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—517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSCJhYzPGS2
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzo0pa9ULGb
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA62Y9mpSjh
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XrjN7PCzz
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She realized it, now; what it meant to love to her roots, what it meant to be a woman.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8BQzmvIXv
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An Uzumaki woman.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFq62hALB3A
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“… Thank you, Karin.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyW6IyLvB5l
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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,”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEnLxpOdCb
“Who will be here soon, mama?”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNssadAnNFi
“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.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgf4gtmVnDu
“And what is that?”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaBYNd95QiB
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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwvCyA9RCj
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsujvGvRhcO
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbbMxQaaRd
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“W—what was that about?”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9h5XPznro
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFsVFJMTwWW
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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.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl5pZk58sOI
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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.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgwg37igUx4
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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.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrIcC88pN6s
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYs6H1J3gca
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnahjiKkgj7
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugBEA9qVTx
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To live this happiness.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMq0vsj7Wx5
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“Happy birthday, Itachi,” she whispers, and squeezes Sasuke’s hand. “I love you.”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPKf5NImHs
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The words feel dusty, and unknown—but familiar.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20wZmpIkux
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She knew them, once.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1Lv5dTd2H
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She has known them all along.
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I'm sorry, Karin.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFHGQB5U7R
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvlYTKs5j4n
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To survive.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡis3QikbHbu
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3aXdNMlq9L
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskwxdx9Fr7
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No, that was not it—that was not the kind of woman her mother had been.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLNEXYvkT8
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Instead, she had apologized for something else entirely.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRpVelJKUs8
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For the unsaid.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDO29rEEt0i
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“What are you thinking about, Karin?”517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6Qrisx6rm
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Her lips curl upward as he takes the seat by her side, repentances fading away into the evening sky.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsemBU2tHBp
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEo3Ivozb2x
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“Nothing at all.”
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"You will be fine."517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFp6Di3VPO
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUpUl2uvFA
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Her mother was always right.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Bc9irHipP
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end.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbiSYUVDyQN
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aYELfGWhg
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvHBSwOa1y
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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.517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jYBcMbl4l
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Anyway, hopefully, it wasn't that terrible! ♥517Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRUuBVZN6y
tags: fanfic, karin, naruto, sasukarin, sasuke
i'm : 
cheerful
listening to: never let me go - florence + the machine
ns216.73.216.94da2
