Six days had passed in a blink, and Sakura had been supervising him extra carefully. But she forced herself to treat him like any other patient.

A nurse was currently in the room with Sasuke performing a thorough checkup.

"Sa...ku...ra."

Sasuke heard a very foreign voice. "Honey, are you saying something?"

"Sa-"

"Just relax and focus on your breathing," she said in a soothing, motherly tone.

He murmured with his eyes shut, "Sa...ku," and couldn't figure out where he was.

He flickered his eyes open, and the nurse was visible to him, though it was a bit blurry. "You are in the hospital; you are safe; just focus on your breathing."

Sasuke sat up straight and started having trouble breathing. "I...want...Sa-" He cut himself with a cough; his throat felt like a desert, so dry and hot.

"You just had a surgery a few days ago. I know you might be anxious but try to relax." Ok, whoever this nurse was was not helping him at all.

Then the voice he needed rushed into the room. "He came back."

The lady was perplexed. "Sorry?"

Sakura bit the insides of her checks and notified the nurse, "He's feeling anxious it's common; you can leave, and I'll page you if I need you."

"Alright, Doctor." She left the pair alone.

Sasuke touched his forehead and winced in pain. "Sa-" He was still very anxious. Everything was blurry, and he kept hearing a ringing in his ear. It was all making him very uneasy.

Sakura strolled towards the bed and touched his shoulder. "It's fine."

Within a second, Sasuke glued onto her, his face hidden in her chest. "Sa...ku...ra."

That's what he was trying to say: "Just give it a few minutes; you'll feel better." She forced herself to acknowledge that every patient was the same to her.

He dug himself deeper into her chest and drew herself towards him. "Sakura" He was communicating a bit better now.

"I'm here" She was on the verge of tears. This is what they did when he was having a nightmare. Just being held in her arms made him feel better.

The next name he said was "Sarada" Had he heard her? No, that can't be.

She compressed her fists and eventually wrapped her arms around him. "She's here too."

He skimmed her stomach groggily. "Is she in here?"

This was when she cried openly, so vulnerable, "No, she's a big girl now."

Over the coat, he traced her spine as he used to, and it was killing Sakura to remember the old times. "You smell the same."

"I do, huh?" She tilted her head down and whispered in his ear, "You do too." Beneath all the hospital smell, he did.

"I love you, Sakura. I always have, and I always will." It was as if she had electrocuted him; he backed away immediately and groaned in pain, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, Sak-" He regained his senses now.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "No...No...it's fine. Patients do this sometimes; it's normal."

Jealousy arose in Sasuke, so how many patients have hugged her like this and held her? Their heads on her chest? Holding her so close to them? No, no, he needs to stop thinking like this.

Suddenly Sasuke recalled something, and he looked around the room in alarm. "My chain! It was a black chain. It-"

Sakura gripped his shoulders, and he instantly ceased, feeling safe at her contact. "We take off all the jewelry before surgeries. It should be to your right." She yearned to laugh; since when was Sasuke wearing a chain?

Hurriedly he grabbed the blue bag from his right side with the uninjured arm and pulled out the chain from the pack, and brought it over his heart. "Hn, it's here."

"Well, there's your chain. Now relax." She pretended to be busy and checked his bandaged leg.

The sound of the chain could be heard; what was he doing? She peeked at him and took a reasonable look. His wedding ring was hanging on his chain. His hand rested over his heart with the ring on his finger still hanging on to the chain.

He kept his ring when she threw away hers.

Was she the villain? No, no, she wasn't.

He was.

He left.

Sasuke swallowed and asked without eye contact, "When can I leave?"

"Well, you were asleep for six days, so just one more, and you should be good to go tomorrow."

Totally unpredictable "Can I leave right now?"

Sakura yanked back in shock. "No. Absolutely not. After tomorrow, when you've recovered, you can head back home" She said 'home' bitterly, and he noticed it.

"Hn" He lost that battle for sure.

The award of asking the most horrendous question should go to Sakura "Do you have someone we can call so they can stay with you? Any family member or a friend?"

What even was the answer to this? He only had Sakura. "I'm fine by myself."

Stubborn as always, Sakura thought, "Alright then, the doctors and nurses will be here for you."

So not her. "Hn"

There was nothing left to say, was there? Even if there was, Sakura was lost.

The door burst open too loudly, and Sakura flinched, "Mama!"

Oh no.

Oh no!

Sakura squatted down and drew her daughter's tiny body into her protected embrace. "Hi baby, what are you doing here?"

"Yo! Oh." Naruto came in behind and stopped dead in his tracks, glimpsing at Sasuke.

If eyes could fire, Naruto would be dead. Sakura mouthed, "You had one job."

Naruto nervously chuckled and scratched his back. "Sarada got a cough, so I came here to get her checked."

Sakura went into panic Mama mode. "Are you ok, baby? Does your tummy hurt? Do you have a fever?"

Sarada stretched her arms and spoke very Sakura-like, "It's nothing. Uncle Ruto and Sarada ate Ramen." She took a big breath and continued talking, "So Sarada got a cough. Mama, it was too spicy."

Sakura got up and walked up to Naruto slowly and then yelled in his face, "I told you not to give her Ramen! She gets sick!"

"Ramen is the best food in this world. I wanted her to have some." He gulped nervously in fear.

"Naruto, it makes her sick!"

Their childish argument was cut short when they heard a kid's voice, "I'm sorry Kashi hit you." Sarada pouted at Sasuke. Even after six days, she remembered.

Sakura turned to Naruto and arched an eyebrow. "Kakashi hit him?"

Naruto put up two fingers. "Twice, actually."

Weird, a part of her was pleased learning about this. "Oh"

And then it hit their sluggish brains. Sarada was talking to Sasuke!

Sasuke uncomfortably stared at the roof. "It's ok."

Feeling very relaxed, she sat on the bed after some struggle. "Sarada forgot your name."

"Sasuke"

She tapped her chin, deep in thought. "Do you like Tomatoes? Sarada loves Tomatoes!"

"Hn" His daughter liked Tomatoes as he did.

With her chubby hands, she wiped the tears he didn't know trailed down his cheek. "Don't cry; Suke doesn't have to like Tomatoes if Sarada does."

So she can never say full names but can't pronounce Tomatoes perfectly.

"I won't cry. Is Sarada happy now?"

"Yes!" Sarada got off the bed with the help of Sasuke. "Mama, did you miss Sarada."

Sasuke stared at the moment between the mother and daughter. "Mama missed you." Sakura lifted her daughter in her arms.

She placed her head on her mother's shoulder. "Uncle Ruto said Sarada will stay with him today."

Naruto jumped into the conversation to help out. "Yes, because Mama is busy, and tomorrow she'll get you back."

"Ok"

Guiltily, Sakura grinned at her daughter. "Really?"

Sarada pouted, "Yes, but you have to kiss Sarada first." Her mother kissed her on the forehead, cheeks and wherever Sarada pointed.

"There now, happy?" Sakura embraced her daughter tighter as if she would fade away.

Nodding quickly, Sarada nodded and kissed her mother's cheek. "Sarada is happy."

Grabbing Naruto's ear, Sakura scowled at him. "And you don't bother my daughter. Please don't give her Ramen, and make sure she takes her meds. Which she needs now, thanks to you."

This is something a parent tells their child when having a sleeping over. But in this case, Naruto was the child "Ok." Naruto shrunk in pain.

"Nevermind, I'll call Hinata." Sakura let go of his ear.

Naruto took Sarada from her arms, and as they exited, she waved, "Bye, Suke."

Then there was silence.

"When did you find out?" Sasuke asked with sealed eyes.

"After you left."

Sasuke was having trouble breathing with all the emotions built up in him. "She's a good kid, looks like you, even acts like you."

Sakura sat on the chair because she knew this would be a long talk. "She has your black eyes and hair, though."

"I always wanted our kids to have your eyes and hair, but she's perfect. I might be biased here, but I've never seen a cuter kid." Sasuke smiled.

That was startling; he never smiles well, rarely smiles. "She's perfect. She wants to be a doctor like me and not a detective like you."

A significant part of him was glad she wouldn't be in danger. "Whatever she chooses, you'll be there for her; I'm sure she'll be amazing at it."

"Why did you leave?" He knew this question was coming. "And I need the truth."

Turning to his side so he was facing away from her, he answered in a very unsteady voice as he looked at the white wall, "I was afraid, not of the commitment or because I didn't love you enough. I worried that maybe if I stayed with you, you'd die too. If I loved you too much, eventually you'll leave me too. Everyone I've ever loved has left me. I didn't want you to leave me too." He swallowed in fear. "I left the next day because I was afraid you'll die. So I decided to leave you alone and silently love you from far."

"Why are you back now?" She asked in a plain tone, devoid of any emotion.

Crying discreetly, he was still facing away from her. "I returned because I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to come back and apologize for leaving you. As messed up as it was, what I did to you is unforgivable. I was immature and stupid, but despite that, you loved me, and it scared me. Losing my family and my whole clan, and only I survived. Why? I don't want you or Sarada to get hurt. I appreciate that you gave Sarada your name. No one should know she is an Uchiha because we are cursed." Everyone did know she was an Uchiha. "I'm so sorry, Sakura." He sighed.

Sakura was nervous and currently hoped she hadn't learnt the truth. "You are an asshole for committing to me and leaving me the next day. These five years, I've been through hell. After you left, I wanted to kill myself and I...I attempted to...but after they took me to the hospital, I discovered I was pregnant. I had to live for my baby. I had a reason to live, and I lived only for her."

"I'm sorry," his face still invisible.

Her nails dig into her palms in a fury. "I thought it was me, and that's why you left. Because I was too clingy, or you never truly loved me, or maybe you used me, and after our wedding night, you left. I know one thing, and that is I have always loved you since childhood. I had only and only loved you. And maybe a part of me always will, and I hate that I can't fully hate you. So yes, I'll remember you as the asshole ex-husband who abandoned me, and I won't ever forget."

"Hn."

"I don't get why you did what you did. I won't ever get you. You chose on behalf of both of us. We were married, and I should've made that choice with you. If you wanted, I would've moved to another universe for you with you, but it's clear I was never as important as I thought I was to you. I was just a crazy 19-year-old girl in love who was obsessed with you for years. I thought I could teach you to love and give you my love, but I wasn't enough. One of those stupid 'I can fix him' girls."

"Hn," He repeated; what else could he say?

Sakura raised her head and smiled; it was a smile of pain, a smile of realization. "Thanks for coming back and giving me the closure. Now I know I was never the issue; it was only you. I'm sorry if I don't get you and understand why you did what you did, but if you want me to forgive you. I forgive you."

Forgiveness was a slap to his face. "I'm sorry."

"I'll tell Sarada when she's grown up, and I'll explain to her your reasons. Maybe she will understand you, but I can't. I'm sorry. But I do forgive you." With that, she walked out of the room.

Sasuke was left alone, and he was crying. The antisocial who was not known to show emotions or even understand them cried loudly numerous times today. "I'll always love you both." He knew she didn't forgive him, but at least he explained his reasons. As fucked up as they were, it made sense to him then. If he could go back, he would change his doings, but 'What ifs' never made sense anyway.

He met Sarada and talked to Sakura. Now all he wished for was to die; he had no reason to live.

Even if he tries to fix his mistakes.

They'll die because everyone he loves dies.

And he decided he couldn't and wouldn't stay a single day in this hospital.

To protect them, he has to leave.