Loosely based on the song I Hate You, Don't Leave Me by Demi Lovato, so I suggest you listen to it. Whether the song applies to him or her is up to you.

The feels and dialogue are mine. The characters are not.

"I think we should break up."

Bewildered, Sakura looked up from the scroll she was reading to gape at her boyfriend.

"What?" she asked, her heart thudding painfully in her chest.

Sasuke shifted slightly from his position at the window. He was staring out at the cherry blossom trees that surrounded her office at the hospital, so she couldn't see his face. All she could see was his profile, and the way his short hair danced in the breeze coming in through the open window. His arms were crossed over his chest, and the way he was casually leaning against the frame made her wonder if she was hearing things.

"I don't think we should be together."

So she had heard right.

Setting her scroll down with hands that trembled ever so slightly, she got to her feet. She wanted to approach him. To grab him and whirl him around and demand answers from him. But Sakura knew Sasuke. Doing something like that would get her nowhere. And so she took a couple steps forward, making sure to still keep plenty of space between them.

Though he didn't move a muscle, Sasuke was a formidable shinobi. He didn't have to turn to see that Sakura was on her feet, staring at him with those big, doe-like green eyes.

"Why?" she asked softly, her arms wrapping tightly around herself. "What happened?"

He turned then, leaning back on the wall as he regarded her with those carefully blank eyes and stoic expression. He didn't say anything for a moment, and as the seconds passed by, Sakura could feel herself getting more and more jittery, like a thousand butterflies were trying to escape her stomach. She almost said something, but he chose that moment to speak.

"Nothing happened," he said, voice as nonchalant as ever. "I just feel like we shouldn't be together anymore."

Sakura had approached him before she even knew what she was doing. Though she stopped before she could touch him, he was close enough that he could see the sheen of tears in her eyes.

She hadn't seen him for about a week and a half. He had a mission for a couple days, and she hoped he'd come see her when he got back, but he didn't. It bothered her, but she didn't say anything about it. He was reclusive sometimes, wanting to hide away and be alone, and usually it was best to give him his space when he got like that.

Still, she didn't like leaving him alone for too long. He tended to get lost in himself and the horrors of his past sometimes, and so she tried to approach him now and again. She made him lunch a couple days ago, and he'd come home, ate, thanked her politely before leaving again.

She tried not to feel too defeated by it all. She knew about Sasuke's past. She knew that he went through unspeakable horrors as a child; witnessing the murder of his entire clan, being betrayed by the one person he had loved and trusted the most. Then he ran off, became a missing ninja, and nearly died during the Fourth Shinobi World War, before he finally came back home to Konoha.

He had come so far from being that bitter and hateful little boy driven by the need for vengeance. Since his return to Konoha, he began to slowly open up to his old team; Kakashi, Naruto, and herself. Of course he was nowhere near as bubbly as their blonde friend, but he was doing very good all things considering. He had especially opened up to her, and slowly but surely, they went from being friends to being…more.

Sakura had been in love with him all her life, but it was different now. Her obsession with the brooding little boy grew into love and admiration for the man that he had become. And they were happy.

Usually.

They did get into arguments often. He disliked her naivety and openness when it came to other men, and she disliked his nonchalance and callous manner. They broke up a couple of times, but they always managed to find their way back to one another. They always made it work.

Because they loved one another.

But now…

"I…don't understand," she said, willing him to show some sort of emotion. Anything. "Do you not love me? Do you want someone else?"

She had to dig her blunt nails into her palms to keep the tears welling in her eyes from falling. Clenching her teeth, she waited for him to say something, waited with baited breath to see if another woman was the reason for his sudden wish to leave her.

To leave her.

He always left her….

Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, she tried to shake the image of him walking away from her all those years ago. When she begged him to stay as he left Konoha, desperate to find something that neither she nor their village could give him. Left her, despite her professing her love for him. Despite her telling him that she'd do anything for him, even leave the village with him.

In all his fear of being left, he didn't seem to realize that he was the one who always left her.

And she didn't know how many more times she could beg for him to stay.

The sound of his sigh brought her attention back to the tall, handsome man standing before her.

"It's not like that," he said softly, "There's no one else that I want." A tiny part of her relished in hearing that. In hearing that there wasn't some other woman out there that he wanted more. But before she could rejoice too much, he continued. "I just don't feel the same anymore…"

Something in her heart twisted then. Her heart clenched as she watched the man she had loved for all her life tell her that he didn't feel the same anymore. It was worse that she didn't see any malice in his eyes or in his voice. He wasn't saying this to try and hurt her. He wasn't trying to spite her. He seemed to be…genuine.

And that only made it worse.

The tears she so carefully held back slowly began to track down her cheeks and she looked up at him.

"You don't love me…?" she asked, bottom lip trembling, and he sighed again before stepping towards her.

"It's not that. I do love you, and I care for you. I just…don't think I'm in love anymore. I was thinking about us and our history and everything that's happened between us, and I just…I don't think this is going to work. I don't think either of us is happy, we're just too different. I think you should be with someone else."

Nodding absently, Sakura dropped her eyes to the ground. She didn't say anything for a long moment. The only sounds between them were that of her sniffling. It hurt. It hurt so much, and her heart was breaking. But even then, there was a small part of her that just couldn't find it in herself to care anymore.

How many times did he push her away? How many times had he undermined and doubted her feelings for him? After all that she did for him, after standing by his side through everything. After comforting him and caring for him, how many times did he continue to push her away?

There was only so much one person could take.

And she knew that he still had trust issues. And she knew that that hurt, scared little boy was inside him somewhere, and she tried her best to make him feel at ease. Tried her best to show him that not everyone was the same. That not everyone would leave him. That he was capable of loving and being loved in return.

And it seemed to work. Hell, they were perfectly happy a couple weeks ago. But he often lapsed back into his old ways. His self-depreciating, 'everyone is out to get me' mentality. The distrust. The anger. The hate. And Sakura didn't know if she could keep being there for someone who insisted on pushing her away.

She wanted to be wanted too.

"Okay…" she whispered, so soft that, had he been a civilian, he wouldn't have heard. Since she was still looking downward, she missed the subtle tensing of his long body, the clenching of his teeth.

"I…can't keep fighting you. I can't keep dealing with the distance and the hurt, and I just…I'm so exhausted, yaknow?"

She looked up at him then, but his mask of indifference was back up as he watched her silently.

"I love you, Sasuke. I have for all my life, and I always will. And I will care for you, always. But maybe you're right. Maybe we're just not…meant to be. I've been trying so hard to make you happy, but I guess it's not working, huh? You're not happy. I'm not happy, so what's the point, right?"

She gave a short, defeated laugh and ran a hand through her hair. She met his eyes, and held them for what seemed like forever. This man, the one she loved and the one she knew loved her. The one who could make her smile without saying anything. The one who could hurt her without saying anything. The only one she had truly felt anything for. The one who taught her so much about herself.

The one who would always have a part of her heart.

This was the end.

Bittersweet didn't even begin to cover how she felt, and against her will, a fresh batch of tears streamed down her face. She covered her face for a moment, allowed herself to mourn the loss love. Allowed herself to acknowledge that a part of her would forever belong to this man. And she hated it. Hated him, hated herself.

But this was for the best…right? This was what he wanted, so maybe it should be what she wanted too.

He always was better at facing the facts than she was anyway.

Dropping her hands, she looked up at him. Though her cheeks were wet, no more tears fell from her eyes as she regarded him. She wasn't surprised to see that he seemed unaffected. He looked as nonchalant as always.

Reflexively, she began to read into the situation. To wonder what he really meant and what he really felt behind that mask of his. To try and hear what he wasn't saying.

But then she stopped herself.

She couldn't do that anymore. Not to herself, not to him. She was just going to have to take the situation for what it was and deal with it. And it hurt. She almost felt like she was letting him down somehow, by not trying to read between the lines. But she couldn't keep doing this.

She just couldn't.

"I love you. Forever and always," she said softly, giving him a small, genuine smile that came from the deepest part of her heart.

"Goodbye Sasuke."

And with that, she turned and left the room.

If anyone had walked into Sakura's office after that, they would have been completely shocked with what they saw.

The stone cold Sasuke Uchiha, sitting on the floor with his head in his hands as his shoulders trembled.

I love you.

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