Blossom

Chapter Twelve: Return

"Can we talk for a second?" She waved as Sarada walked into the house, her eyes trained on the man standing in the doorway. A sad smile was drawn on her face, tired eyes replaced her usually bright emerald ones.

"Hn." Sasuke replaced his house shoes with a pair of sneakers, he closed the door behind him and stood on the porch.

Sakura joined him, standing at his side as she leaned against the banister with her arms crossed. She bit her lip and avoided his gaze, she knew he was waiting for her to say something. They haven't spoken for nearly two months, maybe three, she couldn't remember; they only did so whenever she was coming to take Sarada for the weekend.

How were they supposed to talk anyway? She walked out on him, basically left him to the dirt after he confronted her about her own inability to be a mother. She took some time to think about it, just as she told him that she was. Sure, she was acting like a jerk by putting her comfort above her duty as Sarada's mother but all her life, she's only ever had to look after herself.

Thinking about her reasons now, Sakura realized that she made quite a big mistake, and she was going to fix it.

"I'm sorry for what I did and what I said." She glanced at him and played with her fingers, "I really did need some time away to think and I've come to my senses. I decided to take the next couple months off from work — I mean, I'll be working from home for the next couple of months. That would give me some time to be with Sarada, and also raise our baby. After those months are off, I'm going to talk with the president of the hospital to negotiate some more time to spend at home." Sakura reached for Sasuke's hand, lacing their fingers together. "I want to try again."

He looked at their intertwined fingers and squeezed her hand before pulling her in for a hug. "I guess we both needed some time away from each other. I'm glad that you're trying to work around your duties to be here."

"You do it constantly even though you're also busy sometimes, why can't I do the same? Besides, I miss sleeping in our bed and waking up to Sarada in between us." She closed her eyes and smiled. "I love you Sasuke, I really do."

"I love you too, Sakura." He kissed the top of her head.

"How about I make us dinner? As an apology to you, Sarada and Hinata." She offered.

"As long as it's not any seafood." He led the way into the house.

"Oh? Any specific reason why?" She took her shoes off and took a deep breath. After being away for so long, the house smelt a lot like lavender, she figured that it was because of a certain woman.

"It makes her sick now." Sasuke said.

"Now?"

"She would eat it without an issue until recently. Now, she can't stand the smell or the taste so we've been avoiding it for about a week or two."

"I didn't want any seafood anyway." Sakura smiled. "You've been taking care of her very well." She washed her hands before opening the fridge to see what they had that wouldn't make Hinata gag.

"I didn't have much choice." He mumbled.

Although it wasn't his intention, Sakura frowned at the subtle reminder that she left him alone to do something that she promised she would do as well. "I'm glad you didn't give up on her when I did." She whispered.

"How have things been at the hospital?" His eyes followed her as she moved around the kitchen with haste.

Between the two of them, Sakura was the better cook but not by much. That was to say, when she did cook, she did so quickly and efficiently much like she did when she had a surgery to perform. She knew what she was doing and she remained focused constantly.