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"How long do you need to be married to Sasuke before you're granted a portion of his shares in the company?" Orochimaru asked.

"Six months," Karin answered. "I have six months before the prenup is null and void, but I won't be granted a portion of the shares until we're married for at least five years. Lady Mikoto made that very clear."

Orochimaru sucked his teeth, "And you're only three months into this marriage. You won't last five years."

Infidelity: Chapter 21 – Generational Chains

"Considering everything we'd heard about what happened after we left, I assumed you'd look a little more disheveled than you do now," Mikoto cooed as she stood up and placed a gentle kiss on her son's cheek.

"I'm trying not to let it bother me," Sasuke answered before shaking his father's hand. He took a seat and nodded to a few familiar faces that sat near his parent's table. He wasn't surprised when his mother called him earlier that day, requesting Sasuke meet her and his father for lunch. He knew what it was about without her telling him, and he agreed because he didn't have any other choice.

"Have you spoken to Karin since?" Fugaku asked.

Sasuke shook his head, "No. I stayed in a hotel last night."

Mikoto sighed, "Sasuke-kun. You can't run from your wife."

"Knowing Karin, it was the only alternative that would've left me with my sanity," Sasuke grumbled. "I woke up to over five hundred text messages from her. Part of it was her apologizing, another part blaming me for not 'putting the poor girl in her place,' another part blaming herself for her inability to control her temper, and a plethora of other things."

"Karin's always had an inferiority complex," Mikoto noted. "I suppose she feels threatened by Sakura because Sakura's comfortable with who she is and where she is in society. She's not focused on getting party invitations or trying to look good for those around her. It's admirable."

Sasuke liked the sound of Mikoto praising Sakura, and that was helping give him the confidence to ask them for something he'd wanted since he and Karin said, "I do."

"Nevertheless, her father's reputation did put quite the strain on the Haruno name," Fugaku noted. "Last I heard, he was living on the street and couldn't keep a needle out of his arm."

"It's such a shame what happened to him," Mikoto admitted. "However, Mebuki recovered and remarried. I heard she's happy."

"I've heard the same." Fugaku took a sip of his drink before looking over to Sasuke, "Sorry. We didn't ask you here to gossip about associates from the past."

Sasuke shook his head, "It's fine. I know that sometimes conversations like this and gossip coincide with one another."

"More or less," Mikoto giggled. "But, your father and I asked you to come here because despite Karin's actions – and they were very unbecoming of someone carrying the Uchiha name – we need the two of you to start acting like a married couple."

Sasuke could feel his heart sink into his stomach.

Mikoto pulled a tabloid out of her purse and dropped it in front of him, "Despite the reputation that tabloids have, many of them are closer to the truth than the interviews posted in The Konoha Chronicle. 'A marriage of convenience,' is what they're saying about you and Karin. Karin is trying to reap all the benefits that come with being married to you without actually being your wife, and I won't stand for it."

"Why are you saying this to me and not her?" Sasuke tried his best to remain calm, but his frustration was close to reaching its boiling point.

"I will." Mikoto smiled before standing, "Karin, I'm glad you could join us."

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder and saw Karin approaching. Her eyes looked red and puffy from probably crying, but otherwise, she looked put together. Then it hit Sasuke. This wasn't a lunch to discuss things; it was a lunch to put on a front for all those present in the restaurant.

Fugaku and Sasuke stood as Karin approached the table, and once Karin took a seat, they sat down. Karin sat far away enough from Sasuke to show that they weren't on good terms, but she was close enough to comfortably lean over and kiss his cheek.

"You should've reached out to your mother first," Karin whispered.

Sasuke wore a tight-knit smile, "If you think this'll last, you're mistaken."

"I'm not the delusional party here, Dear," Karin cooed.

Mikoto cleared her throat, and the two of them ceased.

"So, I understand that Sakura said some disrespectful things?" Mikoto breathed. "Though I didn't suspect she was the type to let idle bickering bother her, I suppose I was wrong."

Karin nodded, "I was simply trying to have a conversation with the girl, and she was hostile towards me. You know, if I'm not mistaken, she may be just another admirer of Sasuke's who is angry with me since I'm the reason he's no longer available."

"I'm not doing this," Sasuke scoffed.

"Sasuke," Mikoto looked at him, "don't do this."

"I want an annulment," Sasuke demanded.

Karin's eyes widen, but neither Fugaku nor Mikoto was surprised.

"You can't be serious." Karin reached out to touch Sasuke's arm, but he yanked it away from her, "Sasuke-kun."

"I never wanted to marry Karin," Sasuke reminded them. "I had been done with Karin for years when you two suddenly dropped her in my lap and told me I was supposed to marry her. I was just fine being single. I had it in my head that I was never going to get married."

"Lower your voice," Fugaku sneered.

"I mean absolutely no disrespect to either you or Mother, but I'm not going to sit idly by while I'm forced to stay in this fucking sham of a marriage," Sasuke declared. "I don't love her! I bare even like her."

"You'll learn to love her," Mikoto insisted.

"For fuck's sake," Sasuke groaned. "Ever since I was a kid, you two did everything you could to stop me from doing what I wanted. I wanted to play music, and you told me no. I wanted to do art, and you told me no. You steered me towards economics and marketing and business, all for the sake of Uchiha Enterprise when I'm not even expected to succeed Father as CEO. I can't be Itachi for you."

Mikoto and Fugaku were stunned into their silence now.

"I'm sorry I didn't naturally fall into everything you ever wanted for me, but please, I am begging you, let me be happy if nothing else," Sasuke pleaded.

"You're still holding me cheating on you with Suigetsu against me?" Karin spoke up. "I apologized a hundred times over. I've done nothing but try and repent for that all these years, and you still won't let me show you how much I love you."

"Drop the act, Karin," Sasuke groaned. "Whether my parents believe you or not is debatable, but please know that I don't believe a single word that comes out of your mouth at this point, okay? This marriage was a marriage of love but one of convenience for you. The only thing you care about when it comes to me is my status and how that benefits you."

"What's her name?" Mikoto asked.

Sasuke stopped and looked at his mother, "What?"

"The girl you're sleeping with," Mikoto continued, "what's her name?"

Sasuke pursed his lips together.

"Ah," Mikoto breathed, "it's her, isn't it? I had my suspicions."

"Mother." Sasuke was starting to panic.

"Not here," Mikoto insisted. "Let's just enjoy our lunch, shall we?"

There wasn't much else Sasuke could do but sit there and eat his lunch in silence. Karin chatted away with Fugaku and Mikoto, but all Sasuke could think about was Sakura. He thought to run off to the bathroom and call her to at least warn her, but Mikoto wouldn't let him out of her sight. So, all he could do was sit there and try to figure out when Mikoto found out.

After breakfast, Mikoto sent Karin off to wait for Sasuke while she spoke to him off to the side with Fugaku.

"You'll stop this affair of yours immediately, Sasuke," Fugaku demanded.

"Now you're dictating what I do in the privacy of my bedroom?" Sasuke scoffed.

"Yes." Fugaku didn't falter, "What you're doing is putting the reputation of this family in danger. Your mother already shut down one rumor of you sleeping with a prostitute days after getting married, but this? This is far more damaging. You've been married for three months and seeing this girl for how long? Two months?"

Sasuke figured it out, "You saw us at the Grant Banquet?"

"I did," Mikoto answered. "Everyone did, but no one was keen enough to pick up on it. They figured you were just overly friendly with a pretty girl, but I saw the way you looked at her. I saw the way you touched her, and then you two conveniently disappeared at the same time? I was born at night, my son, but I wasn't born last night."

Sasuke clenched his jaw, "I'm not going to stop seeing her."

"Yes, you are," Fugaku countered, "for her sake."

"Her sake?" Sasuke repeated. "You're threatening her now?"

"As much as it pains me to say this, yes, we are," Mikoto said. "Haruno Sakura is a bright girl with an amazing future ahead of her. I do admit that I regret not picking her as an original recipient, but I am glad she received the grant at all. However, if you continue to see her and put this family's reputation in jeopardy by flashing her on your arm while Karin is still your wife, then I will destroy her for the sake of this family. I will revoke her scholarship and make it very difficult for her to find a job in any medical practice in this entire country."

"Mother," Sasuke breathed.

Mikoto shook her head, "I'll give you a week to get the rest of whatever this is out of your system. After that, end it. And yes, I will be having this same conversation with her at the upcoming charity banquet because if I leave it to you, you won't tell her at all."

"She won't be swayed that easily," Sasuke argued. "I love Sakura, Mother. I am willing to give everything up and resign from Uchiha Enterprise and live a simple life with her if that's what it'll take to spare the family's reputation. I can disappear into some no-name city hundreds of miles from here."

Mikoto sighed, "You may be ready to do that, but we aren't willing to let you throw your life away for a girl. Go have your fun. Shoo."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, "Why is it always like this with the two of you? I want something, and you do everything you can to take it from me. This can't keep happening. It can't. I'll leave."

"You won't," Fugaku assured him.

"Your father and I have a packed schedule ahead of us today, Sasuke-chan," Mikoto informed. "We'll give you a week of vacation time away from the office so you can have time to rectify this situation, but after that, things will go back to how they should be. Understood?"

Mikoto didn't wait for an answer as she walked away with Fugaku. Once they were in their car and out of the parking lot, Mikoto tapped Fugaku's shoulder as she held a tight grip on her door's handle. Fugaku pulled over, and he watched as Mikoto stumbled out of the car and threw up everything she'd eaten less than thirty minutes ago.

He climbed out of the car and went to Mikoto's side. He pulled her hair back as she threw up everything, and when she finished, she fell back against him, sobbing.

"Shh," Fugaku cooed. "It'll work itself out."

"I can't keep breaking his heart like this," Mikoto cried. "Every time I see that pained look in his eye, it tears me apart, Fugaku. I can't keep doing this. I can't."

"It's for his own sake," Fugaku assured her. "Sometimes we have to be the bad guys to make sure our kids do as they're supposed to. Sasuke is brilliant, but he can get distracted. We're just helping him see things as they should be."

"Is it worth it, though?" Mikoto asked. "You saw him, Fugaku. We are destroying our baby. He is who he is, and we have to accept that."

"You know we can't do that; otherwise, Katsurou will disown him. My father already made it clear to both of us that if both Sasuke and Itachi don't take their place as CEO and COO of Uchiha Enterprise, they're both lost to the Uchiha Clan. We can't afford for that to happen to either of our boys. Our granddaughters, our grandson, all of this is for their future and making sure they're properly taken care of, okay?"

Mikoto nodded, "Ri-right."

Fugaku and Mikoto's situation had been delicate since the two of them got married. It was an arranged marriage that Fugaku's father advocated, and it was convenient that Fugaku and Mikoto loved each other. "Love at the first meeting" is what Fugaku said in his wedding speech almost thirty years ago, and it was true.

He'd seen Mikoto from afar for years, but with him being a member of the Main Family and Mikoto being attached to a branch sprouting from a stem growing from another branch, the two weren't likely to meet one another. Then they met, and Fugaku had expected her to be like the other women he'd met. They all acted in ways they thought he would like, but Mikoto was the only one who was genuine when she told Fugaku he seemed less snobbish in person. Her mother and father just about had a heart attack, Fugaku's mother giggled, his father didn't react, and Fugaku fell in love.

From there, though, Katsurou controlled every aspect of their relationship. He dictated the appearance they made all the way down to the number of children they had. Mikoto hated him, and Fugaku feared him. Katsurou threatened to remove Fugaku and Mikoto from the family if they failed to comply with his demands, and that same threat was carried on to their children and grandchildren.

Fugaku and Mikoto were relieved that Itachi took a natural interest in the family business, and they had hoped that was enough, but when Sasuke was born, it suddenly wasn't. Katsurou was the one who killed Sasuke's dreams of becoming an artist or a musician, and his demands were made clear through Fugaku and Mikoto. Much like Sasuke was at his parents' mercy, Fugaku and Mikoto were at Katsurou's.

As for Sasuke, he drove Karin home in silence. She didn't attempt to say anything, and when they got home, she saw he wasn't getting out of the car.

"You're not coming up?" Karin asked.

Sasuke shook his head, "I have somewhere else to be."

"Well," Karin sighed, "can you at least come upstairs and share a drink with me? I need to come clean about some things."

Sasuke looked at her, "Things like what?"

"About why I sought out a marriage with you," Karin confessed.

Sasuke was hesitant, but he agreed. He headed upstairs with her and while she made the drinks. He hung out in the living room and sent a text to Sakura.

Sasuke: I miss you.

Sakura: I miss you, too. How was lunch?

Sasuke: Terrible. Are you free for dinner tonight? I could use a very anti-climactic evening.

Sakura: Is that even possible for us?

Sasuke laughed a little.

Sasuke: Bad phrasing on my part. I just want a simple evening.

Sakura: I am the Queen of Simple. Leave everything to me.

Sasuke: Not too simple, though. My stomach is sensitive to cheap food.

Sakura: I was wondering where that pretentiousness went. I didn't miss it.

Sasuke: Of course, you did.

Sakura: I'll see you tonight.

Sasuke: I'm looking forward to it.

"Here." Karin came into the living room and handed Sasuke his drink, "Vodka neat, right?"

"You would've been better off bringing the bottle," Sasuke grumbled as he took the glass. He downed the contents with no trouble at all and watched as Karin took slow sips. "So, do we need to do pleasantries, or can we skip all of that?"

"I'm sorry," Karin apologized.

"For what?" Sasuke asked.

"For lying to you," Karin said.

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes fluttered, and he saw the room spin. Then he passed out.

To Be Continued…