a/n: based off of bottle-glass (tumblr) as to why/how Sasuke left in Naruto Gaiden

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too," he says, taking her hands in his, intertwining their fingers as his thumb caresses hers.

"She'll miss you."

"I'll miss her, too," he says as he glances behind her to the sleeping form of their two year old daughter on the couch.

Sakura squeezes his hand and his glances falls back on her and her glassy emerald eyes.

"Shouldn't you wait until she wakes up so you can have a proper goodbye with her?" Her voice is barely a whisper and it cracks from the sadness and tears she tries to contain to appear strong. She wants to send him off with a smile, not with tears.

"It'd be better if I leave while she's asleep," he answers, finding the strength to pull his eyes away from her tear filled ones and to their daughter. But the pain of knowing that he is going to reduce her tears, just like his wife, he looks down at the ground between him and Sakura. "Plus, I have to leave as soon as possible. I need to find the cure to save her."

He raises his head and kisses her long and hard. He kisses with her love and passion and with need and want. But that isn't enough. He wants more and she wants more, but this is all that can be content between them for now.

He pulls back, staring longingly into her eyes before he takes a step back. He holds out their intertwined hands before releasing hers and turns around to leave.

"Wait," she calls out and he stops, but doesn't turn around to face her. "What would you do if I told you to take me with you?" She says it with the confidence she lacked when she first told him that many years ago. She doesn't take her eyes off his back, not scared of whatever his answer may be.

Sasuke turns around, but his face doesn't hold much to tell her what he's thinking. He smiles the smile that she is going to replay over and over in her head until the day he finally turns to her; finally returns to them.

"I'd let you."

Her breath hitches in her throat as she smiles through tears of happiness. She nods, expecting him to turn around and leave, but he surprises her as he approaches her. He takes her in his arms and steals her breath away with another kiss.

She pulls back from the kiss and presses her forehead against his, savouring the moment for she knows that it will be the last one for who knows how long.

"Go," she whispers as the sun sinks below the horizon and raises her glance from his lips to his eyes. "I'll take care of her."

He closes his eyes as his lips meet with her forehead. She closes hers and opens them the moment she felt his lips leave her skin, only to find that he wasn't standing in front of her anymore. Just like the sun, he was gone.