A/N: Finally, another update, you say!
Sakura surveyed the small yard filled with other mothers with their young kids. Today, though it was a Friday, was the first day of school and today, Rei was finally starting kindergarten. He could barely sleep because of how excited he had been last night. It took two hours longer than usual for Sakura to finally wrest him into bed.
Predictably, he had been more tired in the morning when Sakura went to wake him up, but once she mentioned getting ready for school, Rei had all but shot of his bed, nearly falling flat on his face in the process, and dashed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Sakura only laughed when she heard a shouted, "Sorry, mommy!" from within.
And now, Rei was a bright ball of energy, reuniting with his friends from the company daycare that were also starting kindergarten today.
Sakura was more than grateful that Rei had learned how to socialize before starting school. She spotted the other little kids that were shyly hiding behind their mothers' legs, frightened by the notion of having to meet new people.
Sakura waved to and made small talk with the parents she knew from before, fellow employees or spouses of fellow employees at Uchiha. She was the youngest out of all of them, but that wasn't surprising at all. Having only turned twenty-seven just about a week ago, many of her peers were just getting married or just starting to have kids now.
When she was still a student, she never would've thought she'd be in this sort of predicament. Honestly, she'd always thought that she'd have trouble finding a someone to even marry, let along start having kids with! True, she'd dated a bit while in college, but none of them had meant to be long-term. And if she hadn't met Fugaku by mere twist of fate, Sakura was pretty sure that she'd still be single with no prospective partner at her current age.
Sakura had been pretty sure that she would end up a sad, old cat lady spinster along with her old roommates.
Who knows, that might still happen one day after everything was said and done.
Why would she say something like that? Because she still had that uneasy feeling in her stomach. Ever since she came back home from her little overseas trip a few days ago, she's constantly had that feeling, like she was waiting for something big and something very bad to happen.
Sakura looked up at the sky to see a plane flying over the area. Fugaku was due to return home today. For some reason, that thought alone doubled the perturbed feeling in her stomach. And that was a very bad sign.
Her eyes narrowed at that thought as she stared off into space, lost in her head. The skies were clear above head but she felt a storm brewing and it was heading straight her way.
She was startled out of her thoughts when she heard Rei calling for her. "Mommy!" She looked up and saw Rei waving enthusiastically at her as he starting following his new classmates and their parents, who were being led by his teacher to their classroom. Sakura smiled and went over to follow them into the school to the classroom.
Sakura stayed until the parents were dismissed after the teacher introduced herself and went over a few logistics. She waved once more and blew a kiss at Rei, who'd turned in his seat to look back at her, and left for work. Her mom was going to be the one picking Rei up from school since Sakura wouldn't be off until six-o'-clock. She usually got off around five, but since she was going in later today to stay for the little orientation, she had to stay later to make up for it
Oh, her baby was growing up so fast. Too fast. Tears.
Sai crossed his arms and stared at the art pieces in front of him. They ranged from desolate emptiness to hurt confusion to loyal devotion to violent anger. Really, they were a visual representation of the roller coaster of emotions he'd been feeling since he found out the truth about Sakura's son just about two months ago.
And he still didn't know how he felt about it.
On one hand, he still felt painful twinges in his chest whenever he thought about it, though now he could take them in stride and learn from them, but he also had these masterpieces in front of him. There were seven fully complete pieces, an unheard of number of pieces to make in a span of just two months.
For whatever it's worth, his sponsors and loyal buyers were going to be very happy with the ordeal he'd gone through to make these powerful pieces possible.
After his initial breakdown, he had been stuck in a limbo for a while. And after seeing Rei at his birthday party, finally knowing who his father was, did weird things to him. His perception of Sakura had shifted a bit. While he was still very much infatuated with–borderline in love with–Sakura, he had felt hate for her.
He'd hated her for what she had done, for keeping it a secret, for integrating herself into their lives, and sometimes for even having met her. Sai knew logically that it was just a coincidence that Sakura had picked him to be her tattoo artist. She'd seen his portfolio online and had loved his work, so she contacted him to do a piece that was very important to her.
How would she have known that he would pour his heart and soul into the piece even though he hadn't been the original artist? How would she have known that he would fall in lust with her and that she would return the sentiment? How would she have known that he was the nephew of the father of her son?
She would not have known. There was no way she could have.
But Sai had blamed every wretched and beautiful thing he ever felt about her on her. It must be her fault because she'd been the one to initiate contact between them. He never would've met her if she hadn't found his work online and reached out to him. She'd been the one to return the signals that she was also very interested in him and had been the one to agree to sleep with him when he'd initially proposed it. If she'd said no, then he would've backed off and they never would've stayed in contact after her tattoo was done.
It was all all her fault. It must be.
Sai was guilty but not afraid to admit how many times that thought had run through his mind and stayed there in the past two months.
After Rei's birthday party, Sai had just about cut off all contact with Sakura. But that wasn't really unusual, considering the premise of their relationship. Sai had been a transient presence at best in her life. He dropped in every now and then when he couldn't stay away any longer. Then he would wrench himself away and disappear for a bit.
But you know what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Unfortunately, that had only applied to him.
Sakura had been content with the one-sided, no-strings-attached sex and casual friendship they'd had.
He had just been a means to an end to her. Just a way to scratch that itch she felt every one in a while. But Sai couldn't blame her. Because, looking back at the very beginning when it all started, that'd been the agreement. They both hadn't been looking for a relationship when everything started. They'd both thought it was unlikely for either of them to become emotionally attached to the other.
Oh how wrong Sai had been.
He'd thought he wouldn't see any potential in Sakura to be the one he wanted to settle down with. He hadn't been a womanizer before per say, but he had fully enjoyed the benefits of his bachelor life. He'd been content with the prospect of marrying late or not marrying at all.
Until he met one Haruno Sakura.
And when he met her son and saw how she interacted with the little boy, it just solidified his feelings for her.
Now, he was paying for it.
Now, he knew why she would and could never return his feelings.
Now, he saw the fool he'd played himself to become. All without her knowledge.
The only thing he was grateful for was that he'd never acted on his feelings and had never approached Sakura with them. This way, their friendship could still be salvaged whenever he was ready to face her again. He'll miss her intimate touch, but it was safer and smarter this way.
He'll come to terms with his feelings for Sakura one day. He was already off to a good start. It didn't hurt to think of her as much anymore.
Others would call him crazy for what he was doing, friend-zoning himself to the one who might just be the love of his life.
He'll find someone else one day that'll make him forget all about Sakura.
He can only hope that the day'll come soon, or never come at all. Because he didn't want to forget about her.
Sai had realized early on in his breakdown that there will always be a place in his heart for Sakura and there was nothing he could or would want to do about that.
Call him crazy but he was happy and content with that.
Fugaku was met with silence after he announced he was home from his business trip. He didn't find that odd because he hadn't exactly shouted it so that it could be heard through the house. So, he just went on with his normal routine of coming home.
He dropped his traveling briefcase that also held his laptop off in his study downstairs before moving to take his carry-on upstairs to the master bedroom.
Bypassing the guest room, Sasuke's old room, and Itachi's closed bedroom door on the way, he opened the door to his and Mikoto's bedroom and was greeted with the sight of his wife of thirty-one years sitting on her side of the bed, watching the doorway.
He was startled to say the least but didn't point out her weird behavior. Returning his attention to unpacking, he felt his first wife's eyes on him, watching his every move. It made him uneasy, warning bells started ringing in the back of his mind, along with red flags waving in his mind's eye.
He had a feeling that something very troubling had happened while he was away, and he had a very bad feeling that he knew what it was.
But he wasn't going to be the first to say anything.
It was when he was almost done unpacking and had started changing into more comfortable clothes did Mikoto finally move and got up from her spot. He didn't glance her way even when she finally looked away from him and left the room.
It was only after she completely left the room did he look after her, a contemplative look on his face.
She knew.
Fugaku didn't know how she knew, but he knew that she now knew of his deception and disloyalty.
He didn't know how he felt about that.
Once he was done changing, he made his way back down to his study and found out where his wife had gone. He spotted her in the kitchen, putting away the leftovers from tonight's dinner that he had missed, having flown in late. He'd had dinner on the plane.
Fugaku continued onto his study and finished unpacking his traveling briefcase, booting up his laptop for last minute checks on something he'd been working on, on the long flight back. It was about an hour after he heard Mikoto finish up in the kitchen and then make her way back upstairs, did he call it a night. He wasn't tired per say, as his body was still in a different time-zone, but it would be wise to start re-adjusting back to the proper sense of time.
Mikoto had finished up getting ready for bed and was back sitting on her side of the bed staring at the doorway when he made his entrance. Still not acknowledging her strange behavior, Fugaku got ready for bed. It was when he exited the en-suite that he found that Mikoto was finally ready to fight.
Standing just a few paces from where she'd been sitting, she stared across the bed at him, a quiet fury in her eyes. She started without preamble.
"I know."
Fugaku paused in towel-drying his hair to watch her closely, but he still didn't say anything.
"I know everything."
He didn't play her for a fool and ask her what she was talking about. They both knew what she was talking about and she was just waiting for him to finally admit it.
"I know everything," she repeated louder, this time with a waver in her voice as tears started gathering in her eyes. But her gaze and stare were steady and never faltered from his.
The silence was heavy and suffocating between them.
"Say it."
He gave no words of flimsy excuses or false apologies.
"Admit it," her voice was starting to become shrill before she finally screamed, "I want you to admit it! I want to hear from your own mouth the wrongs you've done by me!" It was a measure of how strong she was that she had managed to still shed not a single tear at this point. "Say it!"
Fugaku imagined that Itachi, if he was home right now, could hear everything from his bedroom. He had a feeling that it'd been his eldest son who'd figured everything out and had dutifully informed his beloved mother. Fugaku didn't fault him for it, couldn't fault him for it. Not when he knew he'd been in the wrong all this time.
Looking straight into Mikoto's eyes, not even thinking of trying to hide in front of her, it was the least he could do for her after all that's he's done, he said slowly in a low, clear voice, "I am having an affair."
It seemed like that was the straw that broke the camel's back and, finally, the dams that'd been holding back her tears shattered, and they flowed out like angry rivers.
Fugaku watched as the strong, beautiful woman that was his wife broke down crying in front of him, collapsing in on herself. He could only imagine how many times this has occurred within the last week he'd been gone as she had revelation after painful revelation about what her son revealed to her.
He should feel more remorse at the heart-wrenching scene in front of him. But the only remorse he felt was at the fact that he didn't.
A/N: A monster called Writer's Block has taken a huge chomp out of me and I have been trying to recover as fast as I can.
Until next time!
Thanks for reading and please review!
Updated – 9/24/2016
Edited – 9/28/2016 – I have a love-hate relationship with the use of "had." I always end up confusing myself on if I want to contract it or not...
