Prologue

"I argue because I care. When I don't, I won't."

|Sakura|

"Mama!" Sarada yelled from the door, "I'm going to school!"

"See ya!" I called from the kitchen.

The door slammed shut and I was, once again, left to an empty home. For the next seven hours, I would be tasked with finding something to occupy myself with as I waited for her to return. After drying my hands, I went to the living room and bent down to pick up some magazines I had spotted on the floor.

'Maybe I should go shopping.'

A peek at the pantry told me that we were running low on certain food stuff, and while I had managed to get through breakfast, lunch would prove to be a bit more difficult with what we had at hand.

"Yeah, that's what I'll do." I confirmed aloud, heading towards the door, "Might even find something new."

As I reached the front, the door suddenly swung open and Sasuke stumbled inside. To say he looked like a zombie would have been an understatement. He was ghostly pale, and dark rims under his eyes only made their bloodshot look pop more. I quickly hooked an arm under him and helped him inside before kicking the door shut behind us.

I led him to the living room and eased him into the sofa before touching his head tenderly, "*Daijōbu, Sasuke-kun?

He exhaled heavily before pushing my hand away and turning his back to me.

I bit my tongue, 'Why do I even bother?'

This wasn't the first time he had come in looking completely spent. Prior experience had taught me that Sasuke would rather pass out than speak about it, but I forced myself to persevere. How could he come home half-dead and ever expect me to be indifferent?

"Sasuke-kun?" I tried again, touching his shoulder lightly, "Was work rough?"

"I don't want to talk about it." His voice was slightly muffled by the cushion.

Trying not to take it personal, I nodded and rubbed his back, "Of course."

"…What's that supposed to mean?" He questioned after a moment, turning around to look at me.

I quickly put my hands up as a flare lit up in his eyes, "Nothing, just that you're stressed out and obviously don't feel like sharing."

"What would sharing do for me, Sakura?" Sasuke challenged, sitting up, "Is telling you what happened going to energize my body and give me peace of mind?"

"That's not..." I shook my head as I trailed off, "I'm not trying to argue with you, Sasuke-kun."

"And yet here we are." He wiped his face as he stood up, wobbling towards the stairs.

"Here, let me." I said as I reached for his arm, trying to be a supportive pillar.

He snatched his arm away before reaching the bottom of the steps, "I'm fine."

"I really don't think you should—"

"You don't think I should what?" He snapped, a vein in his forehead revealing itself, "Climb the stairs by myself? Come back from a long night of work and relax in my home? Is that going against my best interests, Sakura?"

"Sasuke-kun, I'm only trying to—"

"Stop trying!" He cut me off, his voice sharpening, "*Kami, when you act like this, you're so annoying!"

I cringed at the insult and dropped my eyes to the floor. Even without looking at him, I could feel the intensity of his gaze on me.

"*Gomen, I'm not trying to—I didn't mean for…" I quietly apologized, blinking back tears.

"Forget it." He scoffed, continuing upstairs, "I'm going to bed. Don't worry about waking me for lunch."

All I could do was nod, and I swallowed hard in an attempt to dispel the lump that had formed in my throat. It wasn't until I heard the click of our bedroom door that I found myself able to move, freed from the paralyzing hold his anger had on me. With him gone, my body found its freedom, both good and bad.

I scrubbed my eyes with my arm as my tears found their escape, "Ah, come on."

Unable to stop the torrent rolling down my face, I made my way to the guest bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. This was the way most of our interactions were nowadays. He would ignore me, I would try not to be too mindful of it, but something would set him off and then we would go back and forth until he said something hurtful that forced me into silence.

'You can't go on like this.' She whispered, 'You know that, right?'

I blew my nose before washing my hands and shutting off the water.

"Uh…" I sniffled as I exited the guest bathroom, "What was I gonna do?"

'Shop.'

"Right, right." I nodded my head as I walked back to the kitchen, "Let's see…what do we need?"

*Daijobu means 'are you okay?'

*Kami means God

*Gomen means sorry

|Naruto|

"Shitty old man, hurry up!" Boruto called to me as he and Himawari ran down the steps, "It's 7:42, ya know!"

"Bye Papa! I love you!" Himawari bid her goodbye as the front door slammed shut.

"I know, I know!" I yelled down the stairs before heading back into the room, "Love you too, Hima!"

Tossing my bag over my shoulder, I straightened my collar before thundering down the stairs and making a beeline for the kitchen.

"Anything left?" I asked as I entered, the smell of eggs and fish tickling my nose.

I grabbed a piece of toast from the toaster and quickly spread some butter onto it thanks to a knife that one of the kids had left out. I shook my head at the flecks of jelly on it, probably from Boruto being too lazy to grab another knife.

"Here." Hinata handed me a plate with some scrambled egg, "You might as well stay for a bit."

I sat down as I took a bite of the bread, "No way. I'm not even gonna be on time as it is."

When she came back around the table and touched my head, "Then you should be as late as possible. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

I shook my head and took another big bite, "This'll be enough. I just have to hold out till lunch anyways."

Hinata's hand found my chin and her lilac eyes bore into me along with her signature serious stare. Seeing her so determined made me feel some type of way, but before she could say anything, I leaned forward and joined our lips. After a moment, she returned the kiss with equal passion.

Swinging my legs out from the seat, I stood up and gripped her waist with one hand while the other slowly slithered up her body. All the while, our mouths remained joined, and soft little moans escaped her as she raked her hands down my back. My wandering hand found her neck and I gripped it as I pressed my body to hers, my erection grinding against her.

Immediately her hands moved from my back to my shoulders, and she pushed me away. Blinking as I came out of the lustful trance, I couldn't mistake her wary look, and I snapped back to reality.

"N-Naruto-kun, you know I don't like when you do that." She rubbed her neck lightly as she regarded me.

"Gomen, I…" I trailed off as I reached out to her, mentally wincing as she stepped back, "I wasn't thinking."

Hinata considered my words before sighing and turning to look at the clock on the wall, "It's 7:48. You should get going."

"Yeah." I nodded weakly, "See you when I get home?"

She looked at me again and I saw the wariness slowly fade from her eyes, "Yes, see you."

With a pat on my cheek, she escorted me to the door and waved goodbye as I got in the car. Once I was out on the road, I smacked my forehead.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." I muttered to myself as I switched lanes, "You just can't control yourself, can you? She was fine with it up until you…gah!"

I let out a yell of frustration as I scratched my head, and it was only then that I noticed my boner had gone away. I should have been glad, after all, it saved me the awkwardness of having to hold my bag in front of my legs. But something dawned on me, something I had been denying for a while. This confirmed it.

I shook my head, "No, no, we just haven't done it in a while, ya know. Yeah, that's it, when you're dormant for so long, of course it's not gonna last…"