Sasuke isn't able to get a wink of sleep, just as his brother expected. Come morning, he's still lying on the sofa with glazed over eyes, fully dressed from dinner the previous night. His mind is filled with thoughts of Sakura, both positive and negative ones.
After hours of doing nothing but obsessing over his current situation, he's come to a conclusion, albeit one that doesn't settle his unease: Sakura is a massive distraction from the plans Sasuke made years ago. Ever since he realized his feelings for her, his mind hasn't been as sharp and focused on his career. There have even been times where he'll come home from work and realize he's gone the entire day without worrying about his father.
To Sasuke, that's not a good thing.
That said, there's a throbbing ache in his sternum, as though he's been punched and can't inhale a full breath. Sakura is gone, so he can turn his attention back to what matters. ...Why isn't he relieved that she left?
If his mind is a scale, it's been tipping back and forth. These unfamiliar emotions are weighing down one side, while his responsibility to his family and their business is on the other. Each time one end seems ready to determine a winner, the Uchiha man's mind will spit out an argument that turns the tables once more.
"Oh, Sasuke, Honey, I never thought I'd see you like this."
The man's vision refocuses and he sucks in a surprised breath when he recognizes his mother smiling comfortingly down at him. She gestures for him to sit up and ruffles his messy hair with one hand when he does.
"Mom, what are you-" "Maybe you don't tell me everything like when you were a kid, but surely you don't think your mother wouldn't notice such a drastic change in her youngest child."
Sasuke's mouth clamps shut. He feels ashamed for having been caught in his weakness. His eyes darken, and he lowers them in a weak glare at the ground.
Mikoto giggles softly while walking toward the kitchen to make them both a cup of coffee, "So, what will you do?"
Sasuke sighs. He stands, smooths out his wrinkled clothes, and sluggishly sits at the island bar, "..."
The Uchiha matriarch silently pours their drinks before leaning on the counter across from him with an unserious frown, "Your plan is to let her go, then?"
For some reason, the question strikes a chord.
"What else is there to do, Mom? I can't just...." Sasuke groans, cutting himself off before regaining his composure and speaking more calmly while glaring into his mug of coffee, "Dad won't allow it. We both know that. I haven't worked myself this hard just to have him disown me for wanting to be with someone who's not from "our world"."
Mikoto takes a sip of her drink with a pondering expression. She swallows slowly before asking, "And if you do inherit your father's empire, will you be satisfied?"
His eyes narrow, "What?"
"How will you feel when you're all alone at the top? Sure, your father will have acknowledged you, but what happens after that?"
"I'll run the family business, Mom. You know that's been my goal since I was young."
Mikoto leans forward, her usually lax aura becoming stone cold as she studies her son's frowning face, "Will you be happy, Sasuke?"
The youngest Uchiha's mouth closes, his eyes widening. He almost answers affirmatively but hesitates. What does she mean by that? Of course he'll be happy when he reaches his life-long goal! ...Right? He tries to picture the future and sees himself in that CEO office, his parents happily retired while he accepts the responsibilities of the family name and business. It's cold. It's lonely, the image. What is his reward for working himself to the bone all these years? The rest of his life spent alone, continuing to slowly kill himself just to cling to something as stupid as acceptance and pride?
"You need to take a step back and reconsider some things, Sweetheart," Mikoto interrupts his deep thoughts. Sasuke focuses on her, and her aura once again softens. Her eyes visually warm, as does her tone of voice, "It's time to take your own wants and needs into account. Your life is yours to live, no one else's."
As if Mikoto's words have opened the young man's eyes to the real world for the very first time, Sasuke's mind floods with the truth before he can choke back the thoughts like always. He already had acceptance and pride. Sakura had given it to him in the form of validation that his thoughts, feelings, and hard work aren't something to write off. She, both as herself and as Haruki, showed Sasuke that he's more than his family name or some robot made to work sixty hours or more a week.
His mother seems to pick up on his sudden state of mind and smiles beautifully, "Know that no matter what happens, whether you make a choice that puts you and your father at odds or not, I love you."
He rises to his feet when she leaves her mug on the counter and walks around it to head for the door. As she begins slipping her shoes back on, he follows her, "Mom, wait! I-" The woman stands once her shoes are properly on before hugging her son around the middle, burying her face in his chest with a happy little laugh, "You'll make the right decision. I'm sure of it."
Then, the woman is gone. She doesn't give him enough time to figure out what to say or do.
Before he can even return to sulking, something in his back pocket begins to vibrate. He sees his phone laying on the ground beside the sofa and is confused. Only when he pulls out Sakura's ringing phone does he recall the fact that she'd given it to him last night. It's Ino calling.
With a tightness in his throat, the man forwards the call and intends to slip the device back into his pocket, only for a text to arrive and catch his eye on the screen. 'Answer the phone, Handsome. I know you're there.'
Before Sasuke can comprehend what's going on, the phone rings again and he answers it in a panic. He doesn't even say anything before the irritating Yamanaka woman is all but yelling at him, "You're all beauty and no brains, Uchiha!"
"Excuse me?" He breathes, bewildered.
Ino sighs as though she's speaking to someone stupid, "You fumbled the definition of wife-material. You do realize that, right?"
Sasuke glares at nothing, arguing with the annoying woman, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm hanging up. Don't call this number again."
"Oh, you don't know what I'm talking about? Well, Pretty Boy. Let me tell you what you're missing out on." Though he's becoming more angry by the second at the woman's audacity to speak to him so brazenly, he can't bring himself to hang up as she begins to rant, "Did you know Sakura used to set her alarm early so she could make you lunch? She defends you when people call you a cold bastard or a robot. You have to know how hurt she is right now, but she didn't even badmouth you when I tried to get her to vent!"
Sasuke swallows nervously, guilt burning his chest, "I didn't want any of this to happen."
"You're the only guy she's felt safe with in years, and you broke her trust. You hurt my best friend. You're a fool if you think I'll let you get away with this."
The Uchiha man's mouth goes dry so that he can't respond. Ino pauses before speaking at a lower level, "Fix it." Her town is very obviously threatening. She ends the call before the man can process her words.
.....
Sakura looks up from the book she's trying to focus on reading when Ino helps herself back into the apartment with a brown sack full of alcohol and a grin, "Took you long enough."
Ino flops onto the bed, handing a tall can of some kind of fruity liquor to her friend. She ignores the statement and lifts her own drink, "To Sasuke Uchiha's demise!"
The pinkette scoffs. She doesn't bother clinking her can with Ino's and simply pops it open to take a lengthy drink. Her mood is beyond low. At the end of the month, she'll have to pack up and move back home if she isn't able to land a job or two that pays as well as Uchiha Corp. does. The tears stopped a while ago, but she isn't confident they won't return.
Why is she so upset? Well, aside from the obvious rejection she's humiliated to have received from her boss, she only wants to talk to S. She desperately yearns for his blunt and awkwardly comforting way of talking her out of her bad moods and cheering her up. It's impossible to have that when the solution has become the source of the problem.
The familiar sensation of a lump forms in Sakura's throat and she tosses back another large mouthful of liquor to try and wash it down.
She can't help but blame herself. If only she hadn't allowed her sexual attraction to Sasuke get the best of her. They'd be co-existing in their weird, sarcastic, and somehow amusing way again.
Sure, the Uchiha man is acting cowardly by refusing to sit down and talk about things, but it's her who let him into her apartment that night. It's her who couldn't fight the instinct to take care of the man when she saw how he wasn't eating properly. No one made her try her best to encourage and comfort that man. It's Sasuke's fault for how he's acted, but it's Sakura's fault for allowing this to happen at all. She should've known better. She should've kept swearing off men and focusing on making money and school.
For once, Ino doesn't try to fill the silence with endless gossip and simply sits with Sakura until she's good and drunk. Then, she makes sure she has some water before saying her goodbyes and taking a cab back to her own place.
Sakura's eyes creep open once she's alone again. She turns onto her side, pulling out her old phone, the one she'd retired when she'd been given the new one at work. Her number had to change, but that's the least of her worries right now. The woman stares at the icon for the AC application, her thumb hovering over it.
In that moment, she decides this won't be the thing that breaks her. Sasuke rejected her, but she still has a bright future ahead. That Uchiha man doesn't and never has defined her. No man ever will. It doesn't make the heartbreak any easier to swallow, but it does give her the strength she needs to press on the AC icon with the intention of uninstalling the app.
Just as the option to delete it shows up, a notification freezes Sakura in her place.
'I need your advice, Haruki.'
It's a message from S.