A/n: Here's a new story that we got from watching 'It's Complicated' and it's SUPER different than anything we have ever written before! So enjoy! And of course review!

Dissociation

Prologue

-Stress-

Pale jade eyes met the, once again, empty side of the bed. Natsumi stared at the tousled sheets for awhile, frowning since she'd woken up alone. She sighed, glancing at the clock on her husband's side of the bed. It was almost seven, and she'd have to get up and make sure her children woke up and made it to the bus stop on time.

With another fortifying sigh, she got up from bed and tossed the sheets aside. It didn't take her long to shower and put her hair up with a jaw clip. She messed with her pink bangs and tried to comb them out with her fingers, but quickly gave up. She pulled on some black capris and a tight white t-shirt with a black flowery design and headed out into the hallway.

She stopped before one of the doors and knocked lightly before entering. "Kanamé, get up." She ordered. "It's time for school." She left and went to the room across from his and did the same, waking her daughter from her slumber. Finally, she stopped before another door and walked in, seeing her youngest fast asleep in his bed. She came into his room and stopped beside his bed. "Sanosuke," she called softly, tapping her four year old's cheek with her hand. He was small and had dark black hair just like his father's. "Wake up little one, time to eat some breakfast."

He groaned and buried his head further into his pillow. "No." he said sleepily, as it was one of his favorite words lately.

"Yes." She told him, pulling him up from his bed. "Please don't give mommy a hard time. She's not having a good day." She told him, his cranky mood sobering slightly.

"Daddy leave early again?" he asked.

She nodded and helped him get dressed, then picked him up and took him to the kitchen where her twins were already eating bowls of cereal. "Hi mom." They said together.

"Hello," Natsumi told them, sitting Sanosuke down in his designated booster seat. She fixed him a bowl of cereal and placed it down in front of him, watching him begin to eat. "Are you two all ready?" she asked her fraternal twins.

Both met her pale jade gaze with their own mirrored orbs. "Yes mom," Izayoi nodded, her short black hair cascading around her face. The boy beside her gave her a thumbs up, since his mouth was full at the moment, his bangs falling over his eyes.

"Alright hurry up and finish, cause' you have to get to the bus before it leaves." She told them, grabbing herself some toast as it popped up from the toaster. Once they were all finished, they grabbed their backpacks and Natsumi walked them out and down the streets, waiting until her fourth graders hopped on the bus and the yellow transportation disappeared around the corner.

Natsumi glanced down to the young boy holding her hand with a bored expression on his face and smiled. "Come on Sanosuke, let's go to the market, and then you and I can play all day long. How does that sound? And while you take your nap mommy can finish up her college homework."

He looked up at her, excitement lighting his jade eyes. "Are they going to have samples at the store this time?" he asked.

"I think so, it is a Wednesday and they usually do. I bet they'll even have those cookies you like." She smiled beautifully, for a moment, looking full of life. They went back to the house and got ready to leave. The rest of the day Natsumi and Sanosuke went grocery shopping and played all day, coloring in books and doing a few curricular activities. True to his nature, Sanosuke fell asleep and it was then that Natsumi attempted to finish her homework. She'd been trying to take some classes at the local college to get her generals out of the way.

She tapped her pencil against the desk in agony. She was twenty eight years old and she had nothing to show for it. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She had a family, three beautiful kids and, recently, a fourth on the way. But, originally that hadn't been her plan, at least not to start out with. She'd wanted to become a doctor, but she'd gotten pregnant when she was nineteen and that pretty much eradicated all those plans. It wasn't that she was forced to quit, but it had been too difficult to raise the twins and then Sanosuke. But now that Sanosuke was getting older, she was finding time to finally try and achieve her goal.

She thought about her husband then and frowned. She'd been married to Uchiha Akito for almost nine years now. And back then when she'd gotten pregnant and he asked her to marry him, he was the love of her life. But now, she sighed, closing her eyes. She really didn't know how to feel anymore. He was always gone and off at the firm, and there were times when she thought he was cheating on her. But of course, she knew he was never the type to betray her. No, he would just ignore her feelings and blatantly disregard her. That was more Akito.

The rest of the day was pretty stressful, filled with dishes and laundry and cleaning. Then picking up Izayoi and Kanamé from the bus stop. Making sure the kids did their homework and finally cooking dinner. She was utterly exhausted. She didn't know how other women did it. Plus she hadn't gotten to finish her essay for class, and would have to stay up late working on it. Which also meant no sex. Again.

Natsumi let out an irritated noise, snapping the carrot in her hand in two. She tried to calm down. She and Akito hadn't sex in what seemed like forever. He was either too busy, or too tired, or came home after she'd already gone to bed. Or vice versa. But it was annoying nonetheless. Wasn't a perk about marriage supposed to be sex?

Pushing the thoughts aside she continued to cook, deciding that they would be having baked potatoes and steak, since she'd gotten a really good deal on the meat at the store. Just as she was finishing up with the preparations, she heard the front door open and then the hammering feet against the floorboards.

"Dad!" Kanamé and Izayoi cried out happily, running to meet their father at the door.

"Hey kids." A deep voice said, sounding a bit worn. "How was school?"

"It was great! Today we learned about long division and I got a gold star!" Izayoi told him proudly.

"That's wonderful sweetie. What about you Kanamé?"

The boy huffed and crossed his arms. "Mine was great, but my teacher said it just looked like a bunch of squiggles."

"It did look like a bunch of squiggles." Izayoi snickered.

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did so!" they yelled, beginning to chase each other around and trying to roughhouse. Akito sighed, setting down his briefcase and loosening his tie.

"Don't break anything kids." He ordered, walking into the kitchen to see what was being made for dinner. "Hi honey." He greeted, kissing Natsumi on the cheek before going over to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water. "It smells great."

"How was work?" she asked routinely, not stopping in her process as she then began to set the table.

"Tedious. I had an eight o'clock briefing today, and Hammerstein wanted me in the office by seven-thirty." He said, opening his water and downing half of the bottle quickly. The sound of small feet could be heard then, and Sanosuke ran into the room.

"Dad!" he yelled, holding his arms out to be picked up by his father. Akito did so, holding the boy to his side.

"Hello Sanosuke. And what did you do today?" he asked, placing his water bottle on the table.

"Mom and I went to the store, and I got to eat a cookie for free! And then we played ninjas, and colored, and I took a nap! And then we got brother and sister from the bus stop." The little boy said excitedly.

"Sounds like you had a busy day." Akito commented, placing him in his booster seat so that he was ready to eat dinner when it was ready. Izayoi and Kanamé ran in then, taking their seats as Natsumi placed all the plates down in their places and took her spot at one of the ends of the table. Akito did so at the opposite end and picked up the paper, reading over the contents as he started to eat.

Natsumi frowned and looked to the paper as she helped Sanosuke with his food. "Sweetheart…" she began in that warning tone of hers. "You know I don't like it when you read at the table."

"I'm just looking at the business section." He said, taking a drink of water. "I'll put it down in a minute."

"You never put it down in just a minute." She retorted, giving him a disapproving look.

"Then I'll put it down when I finish." He said without looking at her.

Her eyes narrowed into a glare and she got up, walking around the table and snatching the paper from his hands. She crumpled it up and then threw it into the garbage before sitting back down. "There, now you're not distracted."

He glared at her across the table before looking down. "Well, somebody didn't get enough beauty sleep." He mumbled, beginning to eat.

"Of course I didn't." she snapped. "I had to get up and make sure the kids got to school and I had lots to do today. So excuse me for wanting what little time you grace us with to be nice and actually worth anything to you."

"Maybe it would be worth more if you took that stick out of your-" he glanced at the kids then, before looking back at her. "Nevermind. It's too big, it'd be next to impossible."

Natsumi went wide eyed and dropped her fork. Kanamé and Izayoi went silent, looking between their parents. She stood up and looked to her children and they could all tell she was trying to remain in control. "Kids. Please finish up your dinner and do the dishes once you're done." She told them, picking her plate up and setting it on the counter before walking from the room.

Akito just rolled his eyes and finished eating dinner with his children. When it was over, he took Sanosuke back to his room and read a book with him before tucking him in and kissing him goodnight. He checked on the twins, making sure they had both brushed their teeth before having them go to sleep. Once his house was in order, he picked up his briefcase and walked into his home office, pulling out some of his paperwork from earlier.

He worked for a few more hours, and then grew too tired to continue, so he put it all away and went back to his bedroom. He walked in and saw Natsumi sitting in bed, working on something he assumed had to do with school. "The kids are asleep." He told her, going into the bathroom to change and get ready for bed himself.

She decided to ignore him, since she really didn't want to start yet another fight before going to bed, and she was far too tired to deal with him at the moment anyways. She saved her work, since she'd been able to finish her essay, and closed the laptop, putting it aside.

Akito came out of the bathroom a moment later, dressed in some long pajama pants and a t-shirt. He pulled back the covers on his side of the bed and got in, turning off his bedside lamp and sighing once he was situated. "I need you to take off on Thursday, at least half the day." She said, remaining in her upright position. At his irritated sigh, she glared at his back, "It's for the kid's parent teacher conference. Plus I have a-"

"Can't you just go? I don't see why it is absolutely pertinent that both of us be there." He interrupted, not moving.

"Because," she snapped, angry that he had cut her off yet again. Especially when she was trying to tell him she had a doctor's appointment, since she'd missed her period and had gotten a positive on the home pregnancy test. "It's important that we both go. You are their father." She said harshly, crossing her arms. "Even if you're hardly ever in their lives."

He sat up at this and glared at her. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? I work so much so that I can provide for this family. So that our children, and you, don't want for anything."

"I realize that," she countered, meeting his glare. "But I would appreciate it if every once in a while you actually took the time to be with me or the kids. When was the last time you actually spent a day with them where you weren't working?"

"….Christmas." he said. "But I took two days off for that, not just one."

"It's September!" she yelled, trying to get him to see why she was so upset.

"So! I was present for all of their birthdays!" he frowned, becoming angry. "I don't see what the problem is."

"You're never here! And you worked through the last four! And you've become like this robot and you don't ever care to help me with anything. You come home, eat dinner, work, and then go to sleep. Then wake up before I'm even in my REM sleep to go to work once again! When was the last time you even spent time with me? Huh? We haven't been on a date in three years!" she shouted, only getting louder as her anger rose.

"I just put the kids to bed, all because you were PMS-ing!" he yelled. "I work for twelve hours every day so that I can move up in the company and get that promotion. When I come home, I'm tired, and all I want to do is relax and read the paper. But somebody doesn't seem to want to allow me that luxury."

"Luxury?" she shrieked, getting out of bed then, unable to stand being in the same space as him. "I should be a luxury!" she pointed to him accusingly."But you're too damn tired to deal with my feelings that you've just shut it all out!"

"Then maybe you should stop feeling so damn much!" he stood as well, not wanting her to have any sort of height advantage over him in this. "Don't patronize me Natsumi. I know you don't care about my day when you ask me. There is never an inflection of interest in your tone. I don't know what your deal is, but you've been getting progressively worse ever since you started going back to school."

"Of course I don't care about what sucks the life from you!" she tried to stand taller, though it did nothing to give her anything to him. "And sorry that I actually want to make something of myself. It wasn't like I wanted to get pregnant and give up my dream of being a surgeon! And like you can talk, it's like we're not even married! I never see you, and we never have sex anymore. I feel like all you're doing now is keeping me around because I take care of the children and clean your damn house!"

"If you're tired of cleaning the house, we can always hire a maid for cheap." He said. "As for the sex, if you have so much time and energy to be horny, they have plenty of adult stores you can go to until I am free for such an event." He crossed his arms.

"That's it!" she screamed, grabbing her jacket from one of the chairs in the room and pulling it on. "I've had it with you and your attitude!" she grabbed her car keys and slipped on her shoes, heading for the door. "I'm tired of being treated like nothing and an inconvenience! I want a divorce!"

Akito just watched her as she left the room, and shortly after he heard her shut the front door and lock it before driving away. He sighed, turning off the lamp and getting back into bed, since he had an early day tomorrow. He knew she didn't really mean it, she was completely devoted to him, and he knew for a fact that when she was angry she said things she didn't mean. Besides, she would never be able to provide for herself. She didn't finish school, and had never had a job before. Rolling over, he soon fell asleep, knowing that she would be back in the morning, and then everything would be fine.