Wednesday, 5th of May. Sarada is three year old.
A knock on the door made Sakura jump on her sofa. She closed angrily the book that she was reading and told her daughter that she will be back soon.
She opened the door and was surprised to find Karin on the there side of it.
"Sakura! I finally found you. It's weird how many people did not want to tell me where you live."
"They know that you worked for Orochimaru. What are you doing here?" she said with an annoyed voice. Today was not the day to see Karin. She just wanted Sasuke to get his ass back home.
"Tsunade called me into the village to talk about Orochimaru. She had a few questions from the time I was guarding the tower and I just thought that I'd come up and say hi."
"Oh... well... come on in." Sakura frowned her eyebrows. "Sasuke is training with Naruto, but he should be back soon enough."
Karin stepped in and gave her a smile. "I'm not here to see Sasuke, I am here to see you and Sarada. How is she doing?"
"Good. She is in the living room if you want to see her."
Karin nodded and followed Sakura to the room. Sakura stepped aside and watched Karin's reaction. The red haired kunoichi smiled and approached her baby. Sarada lifted her head up and put down her stuffed animals before she ran behind Sakura's legs.
"Mama!"
"I'm sorry... she doesn't do well in social situations."
"Just like her father." Karin kneeled down. "Hi Sarada, I am Karin. You don't remember me but we've met when you were about this big." she lifted her hands up and showed her daughter how big she used to be.
"Mama." Sakura passed her hand in her daughter's hair.
"Don't worry, it's one of dada's old friend."
"Dada's friend?"
"Yes, dada's friend."
"Hiiiii." Sarada waved shyly with one hand while hugging Sakura's leg to hide behind it with the other.
"Hi, Sarada."
"Mama, can I go play with my animals?" said Sarada shyly.
"Yes, you can go. I'll call you for dinner when dada gets home."
She ran away.
"She plays alone?" asked Karin as Sakura invited her to sit on the sofa.
"She started doing that about two months ago. Before that, she was really sociable but lately she turned into a mini Sasuke."
"Well, she is his daughter after all!"
""Yeah but she's also mine and I am sociable."
"Ah, things might change."
Sakura nodded and looked around not knowing what to say. A part of her found it nice that Karin showed up tp say hi, but another part of her was wondering why she did it. They weren't friends, they were getting along with each other but she wouldn't call her a friend. She was still suspicious of her intentions around Sasuke.
The ceiling was the most fascinating thing right now and she was glad to hear the door open even with the anger that she was feeling.
He entered the room and she turned her face to him with a frown. He nodded at her and looked to his right before freezing.
"Ah! Sasuke! How are you doing?!" Sakura saw her jump off the sofa and ran to Sasuke. She wrapped her arms around his neck and offered him her most sensual smile. Sakura gritted her teeth but tried to remain calm. She had to be the bigger person here and avoid making a scene.
She had really intended to do that, but as soon as she saw Karin'a finger poking Sasuke's cheek, she lost her temper and shouted at her.
"How dare you come into my home and do that to my husband?" she said as she stood up.
"Oh, Sakura it's just harmless games!"
"Knowing your obsession for him, it's definitely more than harmless games. Get out of here!"
"I helped you give birth to your child, show some respect."
Sakura bit her cheeks and rolled her eyes. She took a deep breath and replied with so much anger in her voice that she surprised herself.
"The last time we saw each other, we had an agreement. As long as you respect my marriage, you can be part of our life."
"I am respecting your marriage."
"By touching my husband?!"
"You're being dramatic."
"I am being dramatic?" shouted Sakura. Sarada started to scream and cried. "And you," she pointed at Sasuke. "you're gonna stay here and not say a single word? You're gonna let her touch you?"
"Sakura." he said gently which made her even more mad than she already was.
"Are you joking? Right now you need to push her away, not talk to me."
"Sarada is upset."
"So am I." she approached Karin and grabbed her arm. "I understand that you want to see Sarada and I respect that, but if you ever lay a hand on my husband, I will beat you up."
"Beat me up? That's a bit extreme, don't you think?"
Her fist moved through the air like it had a mind on its own and hit the girl's face harshly. Karin flew across the living room. "I am serious, no one lays a hand on my husband or destroys my family. Let this be a lesson to you. You will be welcomed here to see Sarada but do this one more time and I'll make sure that you don't have legs to come here."
Karin wipes off the blood from under her nose. "I should go."
"Yes, yes you should and fast."
She accompanied Karin to the door to make sure that she was really leaving. She had waited too long and worked too hard to make her relationship with Sasuke work and she didn't want to risk losing him because of that idiot.
She banged the door behind her and found Sasuke holding Sarada trying to calm her down.
"We need to talk."
"I don't know why you reacted this way. Karin doesn't mean much to me."
"I didn't mean much to you at some point."
He snapped his head at her. "You really believe that?" She rose an eyebrow provocatively after what he said. "Are you serious?"
"Maybe I am. Maybe I feel this way deep inside."
"I've spoken to you about this before. I am not doing this again, you are making a scene for no reason."
"You let her touch you!"
"Don't scream, you will wake Sarada." he said as he walked out of the room.
"Don't turn your back on me, we're not done here."
"I am."
"Sasuke!"
"I'll talk to you when you calm down."
She was left alone in the living room. Maybe he was done but she wasn't. She had been annoyed and frustrated at him for the entire day so she followed him into the hallway. He locked Sarada's bedroom when she got there.
"Like I said, I'm not done." she spat.
"I don't want to fight with you, I am not in the mood."
"What if I am in the mood to fight? Does my opinion still matters to you?"
"Fight alone. Stop screaming, Sarada is asleep."
"Oh so you care about her?"
"What are you talking about?" he asked nearly offended by her question.
"Now that you'll be back on mission, you can do whatever you want."
"How-"
"How do I know about this? Tsunade told me. It's funny how nearly everyone knows about that but I was the last one to hear of it."
"Can we go to the bedroom?"
"Why? Because Sarada will wake up? Sorry but she will forget about waking but I won't forget the feeling of betrayal."
"Betrayal? I learned it this morning, you're over-exaggerating."
"You promised!" she turned her back to him and walked to the kitchen. She heard his footsteps following her. "You promised that you will let me know as soon as you know when you need to go!"
"I learned about it this morning, I spent the entire day with the intel team, the deciphering team and Kakashi to figure out my plan of action."
"But you had time to train with Naruto!"
"I did not. I had to cancel."
"Ok and you still didn't find it necessary to tell me about it or ask me to come to plan everything? Did you forget that I helped you get this far with your mission?!"
She slapped the table.
"No." he replied coldly.
"No to what?"
"I didn't want you to plan with us because you would know where I am and you would come to join me."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I know you as much as I know myself. Sarada needs you here."
"Stop! You are making choices for me again?"
"I am making choices for the safety of our family. I am making a choice for our daughter so she can grow up with at least one of her parent."
"And didn't you think about me? Did you think of what I'd go through if you die?!"
"I have and you'll put all the love you have for me on Sarada. Choose our daughter over me."
"But-"
"Sakura, I know the pain of growing up with no parents and you know it too with what you've seen in your clinic. Don't make her go through that."
"I am mad at you, extremely mad." she said but she could feel the anger turning into sadness.
"And you have every right to be. It doesn't change the fact that I am leaving."
"When?"
"Tomorrow. The situation is urgent."
"Tomorrow? Tomorrow?!" she was shouting again.
"Sakura, you knew that this day will come. You knew that I will need to go back on mission."
"I also expected you to let me know in advance."
"They just translated the entirety of the scroll and the book we found in the Land of Birds. It sounds bad and I need to go back to the other dimensions to search them."
"How long will you be gone for?"
The conversation stopped and she instantly knew that his silence was a bad sign.
"I have no idea."
"What do you mean "you have no idea"? Kakashi didn't give you-"
"No, he didn't. He told me to take as long as I need."
She bit her bottom lip and felt the tears filling her eyes. "You don't know when you will get back..." she whispered to herself. She looked down and played with her hands trying to keep the ball of sadness filling her chest from exploding.
He was leaving... she had gotten so used to have him around that she nearly forgot that he was going to leave eventually. A part of her genuinely hoped that by being in denial, he will stay... but that technique failed and now his announce was feeling like a slap in the face. It was worse than a cold shower early in the morning.
He looked at her and she knew how sorry he was but she didn't care. She was too angry at him for not telling her as soon as he got the news.