Blossom

Chapter Ten: Choices

"Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Those words echoed through his head as he watched her back out of the driveway with a sad smile on her face. Sasuke blinked back tears, his hands were hidden in the pockets of his pants as he dug his fingernails into the fabric.

"I know I've been selfish lately, but I can't handle this anymore. I can't deal with you constantly blaming me."

He ignored her touch as she pulled at his shirt, guiding him away from the door so she could close it.

"Believe me, I know I'm a bad mother. I've tried to fix things, even if it doesn't seem like I have. I would appreciate it if we...if we spent some time apart. Until I can fix myself, and until you stop being angry at me."

She hugged him, threading her fingers through his hair as she stood there quietly. Closing her eyes when he wrapped his arms around her, she listened to him cry as silently as he could.

"Sakura, you can't just leave me here. You can't just disappear to 'fix yourself' when there is a child in the midst of this. Can you please stop doing that?" He pulled the shirt out of her hands, stopping her from packing her clothes.

"I told you that I don't know what to do! I don't know what I should say to make everything better. Being around you puts so much pressure on me because you're constantly reminding me that I'm an awful person."

"Is being around me the issue? Or are you just trying to put the blame on me again like you've been doing every single time I ask you to take some sort of accountability for what's happening?" He paused, "do you think leaving is the solution?"

"I'm not dodging accountability."

"Yes, you are! You haven't apologized to Sarada for constantly hurting her, and you haven't apologized to Hinata for lying to Tsunade about the state of our family because all you think about is yourself. Nothing is important to you besides your job." He threw the shirt into the suitcase.

"Clearly not being around you puts me at ease. What happened, Sasuke? What happened to us?" She stared at him with tear filled eyes. "We've come so far, we've been married for six years but everything's coming undone; why?"

"Do you remember Sarada's birthday?"

"Which one?" She sniffled.

"Any."

"Um...Her third birthday. You got her a dinosaur cake because she's been obsessed with them."

"..."

"Why are you quiet?"

"That wasn't her third birthday, it was her fourth. I was waiting until you realized that you've barely been around, Sakura." He sat down on the bed. "How do we fix this when you don't remember a thing about our daughter unless you can brag about it?"

"I do remember things about Sarada, why are you behaving like not remembering the specific birthday she had a dinosaur cake for is a big issue?" She crossed her arms, "you're doing it again, you're treating me like the villain."

"Maybe you are the villain, Sakura. I'm tired of doing things alone, I'm tired of being the one who's constantly here for Sarada as if I'm a single father. I was perfectly okay with you focusing on your work before we had a child, but as the years passed by, it became so obvious that she wasn't your first priority."

"She is important to me, you're important to me."

"Yet you're packing your bags because being around any of us is some awful reminder that you made a mistake."