i.
Her mother was inconsolable, crying and beating her chest with both fists. Her father was even worse. He dramatically banged his head against the wall every five seconds albeit to gain attention rather than hurt himself. No wonder Sasuke do not like having them around.
"But why do you have to do that?" her mother wailed and tried snatching the signed documents from Sakura's hands. Sakura's daughter startled by so much noise started to cry herself in her cot. "You do know that he'll prevent you from seeing your daughter. You will be divorced and childless besides."
Sakura sighed. "I'm the mother, custody belongs to me. The law is clear about that."
"Heh," Mebuki snorted. "I thought you loved him; an engaged man then. You even refused that peach farm heir."
"Don't you know mother, a woman's heart is as changeable as the autumn sky," Sakura replied. She had a feeling she said this line sometime in her past.
Mebuki feeling defeated, attended to her granddaughter quietly. Someone turned the TV on in their unusually silent house. It was Kizashi.
Sakura turned to her father for his approval. Kizashi sheepishly grinned and watched the Uchiha's wedding portrait on the wall instead of the television.
"He can't hurt you after this Sakura, I'm glad."
ii.
He was rougher than usual. Not speaking when he came in and grabbing her to her knees.
He pumped inside her with raw need. Her mouth opened in a silent scream the whole time. Moans and groans fell easily from her hanging tongue. He came but it did not end. Sasuke was bent on ravaging her. She cried out "enough!" and almost fainted. Still he persisted. Sakura was so tired with her life then.
"You're killing me Sasuke-kun" she squeaked when he tried asphyxiating her to enhance her orgasm. He notice but did not care for the palpitations on her neck.
He covered her mouth with one palm to shut her up. The tatami mat chaffing her palms and knees with every slam.
iii.
No sooner than she woke up that she heard Sasuke sniff and espied her husband hunched on a chair in a corner. He was still for some minutes as if contemplating what to do next. Out of a sudden he stood up and kicked the chair to the wall. He ran his fingers through his hair, a sure sign he was distressed. He was trying his best to bottle up his emotions but a distending sob escaped. Sasuke in the end leaned on the wall and with a fist prevented any sound coming from his mouth.
Confused and surprised, Sakura pretended sleep. Still she cried in silence with him.
It was a long time before he lay on his side of the bed and dozed off in an exhausted sleep.
iv.
Sasuke got back from the registry and announced he named their daughter Sarada.
Sakura smiled despite her aching groin. And so Sarada was entered into the Uchiha's registry as daughter of Uchiha Sasuke and of an unnamed wife.
No one mentioned the crying incident last night. But the news that spread like wildfire the next hours cleared things for Sakura.
Naruto, whose wife bore him a son (an heir! bless him), got the hokage position. Sasuke smirked and congratulated Sakura reminding her how she supported her best friend over her husband for the position.
"It's not your dream Sasuke-kun," she said.
Sarada demanded to be carried from her crib. She squalled loudly her open mouth reminded Sakura of a fish. Sasuke touched the baby for the first time since she was brought from the hospital. Only then did Sarada quieted down.
"Family Sasuke-kun. Isn't that your dream?"
He poked his daughter's chin and Sarada caught his index finger and held it with both hands. Something about his daughter's tiny but strong grip and his wife's tenderness brought Sasuke to a sudden realization.
That yes this is what he wants. This realization came to him as no surprise. His impressionable mind coupled with the Uchiha's deep emotions had caused him in the past to change his mind, and his path, several times- denying himself of the thing he needed most.
He did not answer Sakura in words. His steady gaze made the work for him.
v.
His fingers played with the ends of her pink hair while his eyes roamed all over her sleeping face. Laying on her right with the sunset on her back, she never looked so beautiful as this moment. Her hair, damp from her sweat (and his') reached now up to her waist. She had been growing it out since. He made a small smile.
His eyes darted to the crib on the far corner of the room and spotted the divorce papers on the floor directly under it. His face took on a pained expression. At that distance he could clearly see her signature seal marked on that document. Because the ink was bloody red.
His brother's bloody face as he poked his forehead for the last time. His parents'blood pooling under their dead bodies the night his brother killed them. They were only a shade darker than this.
His eyes darted back to her face and her now wide awake eyes looked sideways. She snuggled close to him. Sasuke embraced her too tight.
Ah my ever-suffering wife. I did it. Caused you to hate me you lie in wait for the perfect opportunity to serve me divorce papers for dinner.
You won't be able to push me off your mind for a decade or more.
Hate lasts longer than love.
That alone will comfort me in my sleep.
vi.
"I want to give our marriage a chance," she declared "I shouldn't decide when I'm angry, it makes for a regrettable decision. Now my head's clear, I don't want a divorce after all.". Earlier, she had the pleasure to watch the divorce papers she signed burned down to ashes.
She was on a weekend visit with her parents, waiting for Sasuke to fetch her and their daughter.
Her father was disappointed. Her mother was relieved. No one questioned her decision.
"If he's half as ugly, you wouldn't be stuck with him," Kizashi couldn't resist putting in.
if only it were that simple. But no father. If only I don't care half as much, that was the problem.
Their rusty doorbell rang. Sarada made bubbling noises in Sakura's arms expecting daddy to walk in the room. But it was not her husband who walked behind Kizashi.
It was Jugo who came to hand her an envelope. The big calm man looked sorry.
"Forgive him Uchiha-san, he's a child," Jugo said.
Mebuki grabbed the envelope from Sakura's trembling hand. She had a knack for grabbing things, her mother.
Sakura did not dare look at its contents but her mother repeatedly drove into her mind, with her index finger poking Sakura's temples, the fact that Uchiha Sasuke signed and delivered the divorce papers. His bloody signature seal fresh and clear.
vii.
No use in brooding in the apartment. Sakura left Sarada with her parents and marched to the Uchiha's mansion.
"What's wrong Sasuke-kun? tell me," she begged on their open veranda.
He leisurely slid open the fusuma and tied and retired his black robes. His deep strange magnetic eyes sweeping up and down her figure. "Go home Sakura."
"This is my home."
"Was," he corrected gently. Like a wise man patronizing an innocent child.
"What is it this time I've done or haven't done? Don't tell me that conjugal right crap that hokage seat shit were both past that." She had not been able to contain her anger. It angered her how she needed him more than he wanted her.
She looked so damn haughty Sasuke had the sudden urge to hurt her.
" I got bored with you," he stated simply, stressing the last word. There now, the flicker of hope in her eyes was put down. "You were a disappointment Sakura," he added rather hastily but the look in her yes told him he did all right.
"I'm pregnant Sasuke-kun." Her tears dropped in rapid succession. But he was over with that lie. Again she was appealing to his male pride.
"And what do you intend to do about it?" he asked coolly.
He saw her punch coming. Perhaps because he was such an ass around her, he let her punch him. Perhaps physical pain would help masked his guilt.
viii.
When the dust and debris cleared, he saw a rotten peach at his feet. He kicked it out into the night.
He chuckled despite his broken lip. So much for amicable goodbye.
She left him lying on the shambles that was until moments ago, their home.