Daylight

Midnight

After an hour, Sasuke ran a shower and then found himself propped up on Sakura's new double bed with the numerous scrolls he had gathered with intel inked in them. He would have to read through each of his notes and number them before handing it to the Sixth Hokage. Another three hours passed and Sasuke's stomach lead the way towards the kitchen. Inside the fridge he found a bento box full of noodles, tomatoes and fish. He smiled at his wife's thoughtfulness and proceeded to take the food out and microwave it. He drummed his fingers atop the counter, wondering what his wife and child would eat the next day, when he decided he'll rummage through the cupboards and make a dish after he's eaten. 

Sasuke found all sorts of ingredients in the cupboards, and just as he was about to grasp a green bottle from the back of the last cupboard the microwave pinged! informing him that his meal was ready. Sasuke hummed in satisfaction as he took the first bite. His wife's cooking skills had only progressed throughout the years, and it came out in the flavoursome tastes of the fish coated in chilli sauce. It was not long until Sasuke downed the last bits of noodles with a glass of refreshing water and he continued on his search for ingredients. 

Sasuke made his way to the last cupboard again, and the suspicious glow of the green bottle lured him in, until he took it out of the darkness and examined it under the kitchen light. Sasuke frowned as he realised exactly what he was looking at. The forbidden liquid inside was already half devoured. Sasuke took the contents of the liquid and chugged it down the sink. The rest of his chores around the house was completed with a scowl until Sasuke's anger consumed him and sat himself in the armchair of the living room in the darkness, one leg crossed over the other, his lone arm gripping the soft material under him. He sat in the dark with only the moonlight gracing his presence, waiting... 

The clock ticked, and the room became darker with every passing minute, with barely anything to illuminate it but the night sky and the shimmer of a lone red eye. The Uchiha patriarch didn't have to look at the clock to know that it was already hours past midnight. When she said she would be late, he didn't think she had meant this late. It had been 10 hours since she had left, and he knew that her shifts were never longer than 8. Where was she? 

It was then that he heard the click of the front door unlock and heard the door shut softly not long after. Stumbling inside the dark living room came a flushed, pink-haired Uchiha. 

"You're late," he grumbled into the void of blackness. He heard and saw with his sharingan the woman trip over her own ankles at his voice and bang her head against the wall. 

"Ow! Saskayy... Urgh... I forgot yowwere her," she said, slurring her words. "And I did say ah wee be late." She switched on the light and dropped her keys onto the carpet. "Oops." She fell down alongside it and started laughing. 

"And you're drunk," he observed. 

"Mhmm," she responded before giggling to herself. "Come over here, you bad boy. Show your wife what you've been waiting for." 

Sasuke stood up, and hid his hand in his trouser pocket as he approached her. He towered over her and grimaced. "Sakura, you don't drink," he informed her. 

The chime of her laughs died down, and her upper body sat up as she eyed Sasuke, glaring at him. "And who told you that? Don't tell me what to do Sasuke UCHIHA!" she snapped back. 

He brought his hand out of his pocket and attempted to pull her up, but when she refused he huffed and crouched down until he was at her level. "Sakura," he said softly, now concerned for her welfare. "I've never seen you drink. I thought you hated it."

"No... I just don't drink in front of you..." she admitted, not meeting his gaze. 

His brows furrowed in confusion and concern mixed in one, and his piercing gaze prodded her to finally look at him and continue. "It's true I didn't drink befer you letht for your mission again. And a few years afr that I didn't either, as I was looking after Sar-da as well as alternating with my shifts at the hospital... But, the days when I was home alone wivout you... I found comfort at the bottom of a bottle... or maybe three," she confessed.