As his feet lead him out of the gates of Konoha, dread forms due to his decision to walk away from the mess he created. The belief that this will come back to haunt him, clings unabatingly to his psyche, thereby adding fuel to his inner turmoil.

He reminds himself that he had done his part by checking in on her and getting her the medical help she needed. Essentially, fulfilling his promise to Naruto. Her future now was in the capable hands of those professionally entrusted to her care.

Yet concern still engulfed him. Maybe it was because no one else knew the real source of her sudden downturn in demeanour. Would the care rendered be different if they found out about the betrayal by the man she promised her future to?

Sasuke knew the answer to this. The rate of self harm was higher among those experiencing adverse events such as the loss of a love one either through divorce, death or betrayal. This coupled with her problematic pregnancy would be enough to send any sane person over the edge.

But it wasn't his problem. She wasn't his problem.

It's the mantra he chanted as he left the village on a reconnaissance mission he accepted to lighten his boredom and anxiety.

The mission to gather intel on a drug cartel was completed in a day. Kakashi had offered him an entire week to complete the mission. So, he decides to make use of the allotted time. There was no real reason to rush back to Konoha. Naruto had still yet to return.

Loitering on the outskirts of the village, he mulls and stews in his anxiety and frustrations. Continuously chanting his mantra in an attempt to convince himself of the truth in those words.

On the fourth day, he arrives at her door.

He waits at the door listening for any sign of life inside. If he could hear or sense her, he would at least know that she was well enough to be functioning. Well enough to hopefully slowly accept her reality. Well enough for him to leave knowing that she was okay.

No sound emanates from the tiny home.

Lifting the edge of a black rubber mat with the word "Welcome" printed on it, Sasuke retrieves a silver key. He isn't surprised that two people as naïve as Naruto and his wife, would leave a spare key in such an obvious location.

He doesn't remove his shoes at the doorway as social etiquette and hygiene demands. He marches to the bedroom, then the bathroom, calling out her maiden name. He goes through these motions more so to formulate a plan of action and ease the tension building in his body than to confirm her presence.

He slumps down on the dingy sofa, sighing deeply at the realization of what's to come.

A pair of golden rings placed on a notepad atop the coffee table catches his attention. He tilts the notepad down for the precious metal to slip off the paper without touching his skin.

"I know he'll bring you more happiness than I could.
Goodbye, Naruto."

He's tempted to place the note back into its original position and walk out of Konoha. Wait until enough time has passed for the search party to either locate her or accept the fact that she was gone. For the village to find out that she had willingly left her husband, all because she was too weak to fight for who she legally claimed as her own.

Then when Sasuke eventually returned, Naruto would be free from the burden of a wife. Free to resume what he once promised Sasuke.

This is the easy way out. No one can judge him for walking away. No one but himself.

He flings the notepad back onto the wooden table. Eyes now glued on the rings staring at him mockingly. Reminding him how easily he was replaced.

Groaning in frustration, he makes his way out of the apartment and into the forests bordering Konoha.

He doesn't waste time trying to search for clues such as footprints, scents, or items that can help with physically tracking her. Knowing her current physical limitations, he travels in a north easterly direction towards a small civilian village in the midst of Konoha and Sound.

Not knowing the date of her departure and the speed of her flight, he travels by foot scouting out possible areas where she could possibly be resting or hiding.

At the end of the evening, he reaches the sought out civilian village. The village is small enough to pinpoint the exact location where she would choose to rest her head for a night or two.

He enters a humble inn, one of two in the town, and approaches the welcome desk where a middle age man greets him. Without the use of his dojustu, he convinces the inn keeper he is here to join his expecting wife.

With a broad smile that reveals crooked teeth, the inn keeper congratulates him, then hands him a slim copper key with a white square tag with the number 3 inscribed onto it in black font.

Standing outside room #3, he doesn't have to wait more than a few seconds until he hears signs of life from within.

Quietly but quickly, he slips into the room.

Sasuke finds Hinata curled up in a fetal position in the center of the room with her hands encircling her stomach. Next to the futon she is laying on is a plastic trash bin, a bottle of water and two packs of what he assumes are pills.

This time he slips off his sandals before he fully enters the room. Stooping down so he is at eye level with her, he inspects her haggard countenance.

Her usually shiny hair appears dull and stickily clings to her scalp and sides of her face. Small beads of perspiration form on the portion of her forehead that's not fully hidden beneath her bangs.

He reaches out his hand, bringing it to check the temperature of her forehead. She is feverishly hot.

"How did you find me?" Hinata groans, not attempting to push away his hand or turn away from his gaze as he anticipated.

"Doesn't take a genius to figure out you would head to the nearest town," Sasuke offers her his hand, "get up, I need to get you to the village doctor, you're burning up."

"Please just leave me alone," Hinata pleads curling further into herself, "I am helping you get what you want. What he really wants." Her voice is ragged and grows softer with each word.

"By running away like a coward and taking what doesn't fully belong to you." This earns him a harsh glare. Hinata lifts her body slightly off the floor, then places both palms on the floor to push herself up to a standing position. He mirrors her movement and stands, facing her direction.

"I know I am a coward but I don't care anymore," On shaky legs, she places both palms on his shoulder and pushes forward, shocked at the audacity of her hands on his body, he moves easily under her touch, "just leave…please. I don't want to do this with you here. You can have him, just please let to suffer alone."

He grabs both wrists with his one hard. Hinata yelps at the rough assault.

"Don't fucking touch me," Sasuke spits venomously, hands tightened on the fragile joints.

"But you can touch me and try to get me to obediently follow your lead." Hinata tries pulling away but he maintains his grip, "Let go, you're going to break them."

He's about to chastise her for her being melodramatic, but stops when he notices the red indentations around her wrists. He hadn't realized how much pressure he was applying.

Wobbling to the door, she opens it and gestures with her hands, "Leave now. Please."

"Not until you come with me." He walks over to her futon, slips off his cape and takes a seat on it, "We can do this all night. I'm not leaving until you see the doctor and come back to Konoha with me."

"I'm not going back," Hinata rests her forehead against the wooden doorway, then closes it, "can't you understand that I need to do this…that I need space?"

Sasuke points to her midsection, "circumstances don't give you much of a choice."

Hinata cackles. Sasuke physically flinches at the the unanticipated and unnatural sound.

"This!" Hinata prods at her stomach area, "Is this all that matters to you…to both of you?" Her voices rise, then lowers somberly as if in dismay, "It's no longer an issue."

"What?"

"No more ties. You can have all of him." She declares, now with her back against the door and a weary, defeated smile on her face. "Now, please leave."

He doesn't understand. Well, he does. But he doesn't want to believe what she's implying. He looks around the room, hoping for proof of deceit.

Next to the bottle, his gaze goes back to the two packet of pills he noticed when he first entered the room.

The first is a blue box with a blister pack for one pill, the second is an orange box with a blister pack for four pills. He read the words on the boxes – mifepristone and misoprostol.

He had been around enough whore houses during reconnaissance missions to know what these pills were for

All the pill packets were devoid of their contents.

The colour from his skin drains.

In the flash of an eye, he's in front of her, roughly shaking her shoulders, asking, "What did you do?"

She laughs mirthlessly, revoltingly inauthentic, "Isn't this what you wanted, Sasuke?"

Every bone is his hand aches to stifle the fake sounds of laughter from her throat, instead he pries her mouth open and inserts his index and middle fingers over her tongue and into her throat.

She trashes against him, but he holds her steady. When he feels the muscles in her throat constrict, he pulls out his fingers and steps to the side.

Hinata doubles over at the waist. Loud retching is followed by the dispelling of yellow, frothy bile.

Tears streaming down her face, she hurriedly retreats to the bathroom and slams the door shut.

Sasuke leaves the room and returns with towels and disinfectant to clean the mess he induced.

Eventually she emerges from the washroom, hair soaking wet and dripping on the floor and wrapped up in a cheap, thin robe possibly provided by the inn.

Whatever colour or life that was on her face has now disappeared, leaving a hollow, worn-out shell of a woman.

Ignoring Sasuke's presence, Hinata tidies up the area next to her futon. Content with the efforts, she sits crossed legged on the soft sleeping material. She brings the bottle of water to her lips and gulps down half of the contents.

"For fuck's sake," Sasuke breaks the silence, "are we going to pretend that nothing happened?"

Hinata rakes her fingers through the dripping strands of hair, "It doesn't matter now, does it? You got your way. We can return to Konoha in the morning or now if you prefer."

Was she fucking bi-polar?

"Now you're agreeing to come back with me." He states, somewhat baffled by her lack of resistance.

"I'm not agreeing, I don't have a choice. I never really did though, did I?" Hinata hums as she mulls over her own question.

"You are insufferable." Sasuke roughly rakes his fingers through his jagged hair, "I am just trying to help him…help you, but you act like you are my hostage."

"You said it right the first time. You're trying to help him. Your actions are in his best interest, not in mine." Hinata stands back up to retrieve another towel from the bathroom which she uses to soak up the moisture at the bottom of her dark hair.

"And what's your best interest? Taking the life of an innocent child?" Sasuke grits his teeth hard in frustration. When would his penance end?

She places the towel next to the bottle of water, her gaze is downturned when she offers" "I am sorry." She pauses briefly, fiddling with her fingers, "sorry for the pain and inconvenience I invertedly caused you. If I knew about you two, I would have never allowed things to get this far. But you had no right to take this decision away from me." She shakes her head back and forth, then stares at him, eyes searching for his. Her pale eye bore into his, "I thought if anyone, you would understand."

The apology knocks him off kilter, but he refused to break the façade of his steely countenance. While her words appear earnest and genuine, he remains adamant that she is not as kind as she appears. That it's all a show – mannerisms that was imbedded during her upbringing as a heiress. She was likely schooled in the deceitful art of appearing to be earnest, a passive move designed to drop the guards of those around her. Everyone else fell for it, but he was determined not to join his comrades.

"Understand what?" Sasuke bites back and repeats his earlier question, "the need to act selfishly and take a life that is not your own?"

"No, Sasuke. To be allowed to grieve in the manner that I choose, even if it means destroying everything that I love or that I once was."

Her words leave him breathless. It brings back memories far too painful to relive and exposes his hypocrisy.

With the last amount of strength, he can muster, he pries the door open and retreats into the darkness of the night, finally appeasing her initial request.