Chapter 7

Sasuke POV

After being away for so long, I felt like things were different at home. I noticed that Sakura still acts the way she used to as a fangirl when she sees me. And she's always afraid of disagreeing with me over anything. I'm thrilled that I can now be home more often and will be seeing Sarada a lot more. After talking with Kazue, I found myself thinking about her a lot more. I'm still trying to be more of a family at home to make up for all the years I missed out, but I don't think I feel the same way I did for Sakura. I think I need to talk to Naruto to see if he had any advice for me. Every time I think about Kazue, I feel much happier and keep thinking about the next time I'll talk to her.

I've also seen her around the city and wanted to talk to her, but I knew it would be weird if I did, so I avoided her. Avoiding her also makes me feel like I'm doing something terrible. I also find it really hard to talk to Kazue about Sakura and Sarada. I feel guilty about it. I noticed she's only asked about them once, and I avoided the subject when she did. I want to tell her how happy I am about everything Sarada is doing. Still, at the same time, I feel like I'll somehow be betraying my family.

Thinking about the last conversation I had with Kazue, I think she's probably attracted to me. I may be reading too much into it. She did call me handsome. I like the way she freely expresses herself and says what she feels like. When I was talking to her, there were times when I thought I could genuinely laugh out loud or even smile. She also noticed this, and I think she was trying to make me smile while talking to her, and I really wanted to. She also makes me want to talk more openly about myself. Whether it's her voice or just how she asks me about myself, I feel like I want to share a lot more with her. Even now, I'm thinking of when I want to spend time with her next, which I told her I would try to do. She seems to be having a mysterious effect on me.

I sent Naruto a note saying I needed to talk to him and meet at Ridge Tower on a day that's not Friday or Saturday. Those are the days Kazue goes to the Ridge Tower. We agreed to meet on Thursday at noon.

On Thursday, I decided to get there on time since I knew Naruto would probably end up being late. He was ten minutes late.

"So, what did you need to talk about? Something about Kaguya or Momoshiki?"

"No. It's more personal".

"Is it about a certain cute girl I warned you about?"

"I don't know what to do about Kazue. I wanted to find out how she was doing after the attack, so I talked to her last Saturday, and I think I might be developing feelings for her. We talked for more than an hour. I know it's terrible, but the feelings I have for her are nothing like I've felt before".

"Wait! You actually talked to her about things? Things in your life?"

"Yes. I told you these feelings are new. I feel like once I start talking to her, I don't want to stop. I keep wanting to learn new things about her. She gave me a drawing as a gift, and I didn't think it was useless. I still have it, and I take it out and look at it every once in a while. I want to tell her all the remarkable things Sarada is doing as a ninja and laugh with her. And she speaks so freely with me. Sakura always agrees with everything I say, but Kazue says whatever is on her mind and gives her opinions. And she doesn't have the fangirl look every time I'm around her. I've been married to Sakura for more than ten years, and she still acts around me the same way she did when she was a fangirl. I always want her to talk to me like me, not like Sasuke Uchiha, but that's how I feel she still sees me. Maybe it's because I've been away for so long, but I just feel like things have changed, and I don't know what to do".

"Whoa. Sounds like you're falling in love with her, and it's different from you did as a twenty-year-old. This is someone you've met as an adult with different experiences. I can't tell you what to do. All I can say is whatever you decide to do, make sure you are making the right decision because it will also affect Sarada".

"I know. I'm just so conflicted about this. I feel like Kazue actually understands who I am as a person. And we have so much in common. I don't know. Maybe I just needed to tell someone everything. I don't know".

"You're pretty smart, so I know you'll make the right decision. Just don't do things to the extreme the way you tend to do. You can be too intense sometimes".

"What do you mean by that?"

"You invest too much in one emotion. Remember how you were angry as a kid and invested your life to that. You wanted revenge and invested all your emotions into that. You wanted penance for what you did as a kid and invested the last ten years and your hand, which we can still fix. You tend to be really intense. Try this thing every other human does, which is experiencing more than one emotion at a time. You know you are allowed to do that".

"I see what you're saying"

"With your Kazue situation, think of it this way: Do you love Sakura? Are you in love with her? If you decided you want to work on what you have right now, you need to figure out how to get back in love with your wife. If you're just in love with Kazue, then you have to figure out how to love her the right way".

"You actually said something smart. I guess I have a lot of thinking to do".

"I'll leave you to it then".