Third Person's POV

The sun doesn't shine through the window shades like it normally does on a summer morning. Dark, gray clouds cover the sky, making everything dull and gray outside. This weather can make people more tired and gross. However, the weather isn't what is making Sasuke drowsy. It's from the lack of sleep he got the previous night after an old flame came into his house.

Throughout the night, Sasuke stayed awake in his bed, thinking whether to go back in the living room to see if Ino is still there, or to stay put and try to get some sleep. He didn't worry about Sakura because of the text she sent him, saying she was leaving, but he did feel bad for leaving her alone in the room and not responding.

Once he lets out a big sigh, Sasuke contemplates the same thought he was thinking last night. 'She wouldn't stay the night, would she? Even if she didn't, she'll probably be back. What if she did? What if Sarada wakes up and sees her there before I do? What time is it?' Sasuke turns to his side to realize that school for Sarada will be starting in an hour. 'Shit! She could be up any minute!' Ignoring his previous thoughts and fears, Sasuke jumps out of bed and opens the door to walk into the hallway.

Sasuke passes the door leading to Sarada's room. It is still closed, meaning that Sarada hasn't woken up yet. Slowly, Sasuke drags himself across the rest of the hallway like someone in a horror movie would do before discovering the monster in their house. After passing the photos hanging on the wall, Sasuke is welcomed to a silent living room and kitchen, but not everything is normal. At the front door, there's a pair of black high heels placed neatly, and since Sasuke knows Sakura wouldn't wear heels that big, those couldn't be hers. On the dining table, Sasuke notices a purse that is the same amount of money Sasuke makes in a month.

Before Sasuke is able to examine the purse, grumbling is heard by the couch. Sasuke drags his feet to the couch and looks over it to find the blonde woman resting on it. Ino mumbles a bit more and turns to her other side, giving Sasuke a view of her face that is still covered in makeup. Her white crop top is twisted in weird ways because of her constantly turning on the couch, which makes her chest more exposed, but Sasuke doesn't pay attention to it. All he can think about is if Ino knew what Sakura and himself were doing on that couch before she came inside, she wouldn't be laying on it.

"I thought falling asleep with makeup on is bad for your skin," Sasuke says quite loudly to wake her up. Ino exhales a small breath and opens her eyes a tad to see the tired man glaring at her.

"Sasuke," she whispers, still half asleep. Ino then rubs her baby blue eyes and sits up on the couch. "Sorry for spending the night here without asking. I just thought if I left now, I wouldn't be able to ever talk to you or Sarada again."

Ino is about to speak some more, but Sasuke stops her immediately to say, "You need to leave. Sarada will be up any minute for school. If you talk to her now, she won't be able to focus at school."

Steadily, Ino rises off the couch and fixes her shirt and hair. "I guess you're right, but you aren't going to let me see her if I leave now, are you?"

"You left her. Why do you want to come back into her life now? She wouldn't even recognize you if she saw you, so why? Didn't you want to continue to pursue your modeling career?"

Ino's eyes widen from hearing Sasuke mention her job. "You know about my modeling?"

Sasuke's hands turn into fists in his pockets from remembering seeing Ino on covers of magazines. Once he saw that he researched her name online to find her in many more magazines and clothing companies. "Isn't that what you wanted to be in college? Also, I've seen you on covers." Hearing this makes Ino's head drop.

"I thought you never saw those because you never got in contact with me."

"What would the point be? You probably wouldn't pick up, and besides, you left us, why would I want you back in Sarada's and myself's lives? Do you have any idea how much that hurt me? How hard has it been for Sarada and I?" The more Sasuke talks, the more angry he gets. Memories of the night Ino left, Sasuke broke. Those feelings of abandonment and pain lingered for years. They only stopped recently. When he met Sakura. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to answer Sarada whenever she would ask, 'Why don't I have a mom?' Do you?!" Ino, unable to say anything anxiously plays with her fingers. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH I LOVED YOU?!"

Sasuke's hands, no longer in his pockets, wave around as he talks. Ino's hand moves up to her and wipes her left eye that had tears falling from it, but Sasuke doesn't care. After lashing out at Ino a bit, he takes a deep breath and rubs his temples to release some tension. "Can you just leave?" he asks softly.

This time, Ino complies to Sasuke's wish. "Okay." Quietly, she puts on the jewelry she took off last night and walks over to the table Sasuke is near to grab her purse. Sasuke keeps his eyes on the couch she was sleeping on, unable to look at her directly in her eyes. Fearing that if he does, he might break down more.

Ino grabs her purse, but instead of walking to the front door, she pulls out a pad and pen from it, and scribbles something on it before tearing that note out and putting it face down on the table so Sasuke can't see it. "My phone number has changed. I will be coming back later this week one more time to talk. If you want to speak any time earlier, call me."

Once the woman stops talking, she makes her way to the front door and slides into her high heels with ease. With her purse resting on her shoulder and her hand turning the door knob, Ino opens the door gently, "Bye," and closes it gently.

Sasuke waits a couple more seconds before moving again. The first thing he does is go to the note laying on the dining table. He then picks it up and turns it over to find Ino's seven digit number on it. "Papa?" Quickly, Sasuke crumbles the note with one hand and puts it in his pocket. Turning he finds his daughter still in her pjs, and holding the stuffed elephant Sakura got her.

"Good morning princess. I accidentally slept in so I couldn't make any breakfast. Sorry."

Sarada, looking uninterested in what her father was saying, glanced around the room as if she was looking for something. "Where is Sakura?"

Rapidly, Sasuke creates an answer. "She had to leave early this morning for some family problem. I was just talking to her before," Sasuke adds that last part just in case Sarada heard him talking to Ino.

"Oh," Sarada says a little sadly since she was looking forward to having some pancakes that Sakura promised to make.

"I will try to make something really quickly. Go get ready, okay?"

Sasuke smiles at Sarada a little too forcefully, causing Sarada to be concerned for her father. After all, when she woke up this morning, she heard Sasuke yelling, but not exactly sure what he was yelling about. But when Sasuke mentioned Sakura leaving early, she started to predict what might have happened this morning. 'Did Papa and Sakura get into a fight?'

Without saying anything, Sarada walks back into the hallway, thoughts running wild, and Sasuke lets out a relieved sigh. Once he hears a door being closed, he takes out the piece of paper containing the phone number and stares once more at it. A part of him wants to throw away the note and never see Ino again. However, another part of him disagrees. Despite how angry he is with Ino, he doesn't want her to leave without explaining a little.

Instead of throwing away the note like he immediately thought of doing, Sasuke folds it neatly and puts it back in his pocket.

Sakura, being unable to keep her head up, rests her elbow on the counter and lays her head in her hand. Once Sakura got home last night, she went straight to her bed to sleep. However, pictures of Sasuke, Ino, and Sarada cloud her mind, making her shoulders and back tense. In order to ease that tension, Sakura ran a bath, putting in her favorite supplies, like bubbles and salt, but even in the bathtub she couldn't relax.

At the end she didn't get any sleep, therefore Sakura messed up many orders and spilled coffee all over herself, and now that there aren't as many customers, Sakura takes this moment to rest and recollect herself. However, a certain coworker stops this from continuing. "Sakura!" The pink haired girl's head falls off her hand quickly after hearing her name being shouted.

"What Tenten?" While the way Tenten shouted at Sakura makes it seem she is angry at her, once you look at her face, you see that she is more concerned with Sakura's behavior than anything.

"Are you okay? You keep dozing off and messing up orders. I haven't seen you like this since college."

"I'm okay."

"You're obviously not. You have raccoon eyes," Tenten says, making a reference to the dark circles under Sakura's eyes.

Sakura, still drowsy, moves some of her pink locks out of her face. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"Do you wanna take your break early so you can get some sleep?"

"No, I'm alright," Sakura says with a smile that Tenten isn't convinced by, but decides to let it go and mind her business.

Before Tenten leaves, Sakura feels her phone vibrate in her back pocket. When she takes it out, the caller ID reads Sasuke. Seeing this makes Sakura bite her bottom lip. She hasn't heard from him since last night, so whatever he is going to say is going to be important. Tenten seeing the way Sakura is reacting, says, "You can go take that. I'll cover for you."

"Really?" she asks with big eyes and a little pout.

Tenten laughs at Sakura's face. "Yeah go, before it stops ringing." Tenten starts to push Sakura out from the counter, making Sakura realize that she is serious. Once out from the counter, Sakura runs to the back room and taps her phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey." Sasuke's voice is low and husky, which makes Sakura calm. "I'm sorry for not responding to your text last night."

Sakura leans on the lockers. "It's okay. Last night was..." Sakura doesn't finish the sentence, and she doesn't need to.

"Yeah. When I got out of bed today she was in the living room sleeping. I got her out of the house before Sarada got up."

"Are you going to let Sarada see her?"

Before Sasuke responds, he lets out a tired sigh. "I don't know. Do you think I should?"

Sakura can feel her foot tap rhythmically when Sasuke asks that. In Sakura's mind, she wants to say no, but for her own selfish reasons. Once Ino came, she knew that her time with them was limited, and she wants to do whatever she can to keep it long.

However, Sakura also thinks about what Sarada would want, and that could be to meet her mother. "I don't really know either." After responding, Sasuke groans through the phone, making Sakura chuckle a little.

When Sasuke finishes, silence is caught between them. Sakura's foot taps faster from it. "Before Ino left..." Sasuke starts. "She left her phone number and said that she would be back later this week. So, we probably won't be able to see each other a lot this week." Hearing that makes Sakura's chest tighten and ache. Not being able to see them is going to hurt.

"I understand," she mutters.

"...I'll see you tomorrow at work?"

"Yeah."

"I love you."

"I love you too." After saying their goodbyes, Sasuke hangs up the conversation. Sakura keeps the phone by her ear a little longer, listening to the ringing. While it was good to hear from him, that conversation was uncomfortable for her, and now Sakura can't help but feel even more anxious.

Finally, Sakura brings the phone down from her face. With her other arm, she goes to grip her bicep gently, thinking about what she just heard.