It was lunch time the next day when Sasuke knocked on Shisui and Itachi's office. They moved into a bigger one since they're sharing an office. When Sasuke opened the door, he saw that their desks were now parallel facing each other. Shisui and Itachi did some sort of rearranging.
"I'm gonna get going, but if something came up, I'll come back," Sasuke said to both of them, his voice was low and hard.
Itachi noticed Sasuke was holding a folder.
"What are those?" Itachi pointed at the folder using his lips.
"Photocopy," Sasuke answered.
"And the original copy?"
"Safe at home."
"What are you guys talking about?" Shisui interrupted.
"This is not work-related, I just need to do something," Sasuke answered.
"You know Sasuke, I don't know what you're planning to do. But please don't do anything you'll regret," Itachi warned him.
"Whatever, I'm going. Please call me if something came up," he said as he shut the door.
The last thing he saw was a confused Shisui and a worried Itachi.
As he was walking towards the elevator, he called the driver and ordered him to prepare the car. He fixed his necktie, his expression was angry and hard. He looked like he was about to attack someone.
When he got to the car, the driver looked behind him, with the look like he was asking Sasuke, where to? Sasuke looked back at his driver and he just suddenly spoke,
"Konoha Hospital."
When he got inside the hospital, he remembered her office, room 312. But just to make sure, he went to the first nurses' station that he saw, and scanned the list of doctors and rooms on the board. Yep, it was still the same office.
He hurried to the elevators, and didn't even bother asking the nurses if the doctor he was looking for was booked on an appointment, or if she was even on her day off. He just went inside the elevator, pressed the button of her office floor, went out and was walking really fast. It didn't matter if he'll bump into someone, or something. He was still wearing the same angry and hard expression.
He got to her office, he didn't knock, he just slammed the door open.
"...but just to be safe, we need to monitor your temperature—" the pink-haired doctor was with a patient, she stopped and looked shocked when she heard the loud bang at her door and saw Sasuke.
"I'm sorry I'm currently with a patient and—"
"I apologize Dr. Haruno, I didn't know that you're not yet done with your patient, I'll be then waiting here outside," Sasuke cut her off in a very serious voice, his expression became madder when he saw her.
He shut the door loudly and sat down at the waiting chair next to the door.
Sakura on the other hand got nervous. She knew she has nothing to be nervous about, but she remembered how Sasuke got mad at her when she accused him of cheating back then when they were dating. He had the same kind of look when he was so mad at her, during that time she thought he was going to hit her. But he never did. He just shouted at her nonstop until she cried.
"I apologize for that. Anyway, as I was saying, we need to monitor your temperature and white blood cells and see if there's an infection. Okay? If anything starts to feel weird, please come back right away," she smiled nervously at the little girl and her father.
She was almost done with the checkup when Sasuke interrupted. Now that her patient and her father were about to leave, she'll end up alone with him. She didn't know why, but it was scaring her. The father and his daughter thanked Sakura, and walked out of her office.
When Sasuke saw Sakura's door opened, a man holding a young girl walked out of the room. He entered immediately not glancing at them, so Sakura can not have an excuse to leave.
He slammed the door behind him loudly and walked towards her desk. Sakura stood up from her seat.
"What the fuck was that all about, Sasuke? What are you even doing here?!"
"Why didn't you tell me?! Why didn't you tell me!" Sasuke was now shouting at her.
This was just like what happened before—it was like their worst fight.
"What the hell are you talking about!" Sakura shouted back at him.
Sasuke threw the folder on her desk, making the folder flew open and papers were now scattered on her desk. She took the paper on the very top, and noticed it was a lab result. She then read what it said.
Uchiha, Sasuke - Haruno, Sarada: MATCHED.
Her eyes were now wide, her hand was trembling, it was so obvious because the paper she was holding was shaking. She cannot stop herself from shaking, but still, besides being nervous, she was now starting to get mad.
"Why the fuck did you do this? Are you stalking her now?!" She shouted.
"God damn it, Sakura I asked you! Why didn't you tell me! You saw me already, damn it, you even treated me! You saw my mom and Itachi, and didn't even bother telling on any of us? Why?!"
"Why do you even care? You left me, right? You left us! I even thought you already got married or something! And now you just came back again all of a sudden and do this?!" She was holding the lab result up to his face. "You didn't know what I've been through!" She added, and tossed the paper back on her desk.
"No, you didn't know what I've been through! You have no idea what kind of hell I've been through, Sakura!"
"Whatever happened to you, I don't wanna fucking know about it!"
"Again Sakura, why didn't you tell me!"
"Like I said, you were away! You were not there when I needed you! When I wanted you there when I'm having my morning sickness! When I need to get to my monthly checkups! When I wanted you to hold my hand when I was in fucking labor!" Sakura started crying.
Sasuke was just staring at her with a stern expression. He was silent for awhile, only the cries of Sakura can be heard. He let her cry and let it out for awhile.
"Even when I got back here, followed by you treating me after my accident, why didn't you tell me then?" Sasuke spoke again and sounded more calmly, but his voice was low and hard.
From a stern expression, it was changed again to an angry one because Sakura was just crying.
"Answer me, Sakura!" Sasuke shouted again.
"It doesn't matter!"
"And why the fuck not?! I'm her father!"
Sakura cried louder.
"It doesn't matter, Sasuke! It doesn't matter. I don't know what you're trying to do right now, but I'm sorry, I am never letting you take my daughter away from me!"
"Who the fuck said about taking her away from you?! All I wanted to know is why the fuck you didn't tell me! I don't give a shit if you hate me and every inch of my body, Sakura! Hate me all you want, for all I care! But if you just told me, if only I've known! At least I could've done something for her when I was getting back up on my feet!" He punched the desk of Sakura, that it left a small crack on it.
Sakura got really scared when he did that, she just kept crying, tears were all over her face now.
She remembered their fight back then, because Sasuke hated being blamed for something he didn't do. That was why she never accused Sasuke of cheating again, she then always confirmed with him first—who was the girl he was talking to, what were they talking about. Because this was the side of Sasuke that she was afraid of unleashing again. She never thought he would see him again like this. It was too scary for her, and painful. After he hit her desk, he calmed himself a bit.
Sakura just kept on crying when Sasuke continued,
"I know I've been selfish, most especially to you. And I fucking regret it. But that's just because I need to man up and carry all the burden my family has been carrying all these years! But what about your selfishness? Keeping Sarada from me? For what reason? You were supposed to be the most selfless person I know. And shit, I couldn't be more wrong!"
Without another word, Sasuke left her office and slammed the door behind him. Sakura walked to the door and locked it. She slowly knelt in front of her door like her legs couldn't stand up any longer, and she just continued crying loudly.
***
"Where are you now dear, are you on your way? I'm almost done with work," Naruto was talking on his phone.
"Yeah, I'm on my way to the bar. Boruto and Sarada are now with Hanabi. Do you have any idea what's going on? Sakura was crying really hard on the phone," Hinata was the one on the other line.
"I'm not sure though, she just told me that Sasuke went to her office and they had a fight," Naruto answered.
"Do you think Sasuke found out?" Hinata asked.
"I'm not sure, dear. You want to meet halfway before going to the bar?"
"No, it's okay. I think it's best if we both just go straight there. Ino's also on her way."
"Okay, you take care alright? I'll see you in a bit."
When Naruto arrived at the bar, he saw the three girls. Ino and Hinata were comforting Sakura seated in between them, while Sakura was drinking her saké.
He walked towards the table. Once he reached them, Hinata then sat next to her husband across Sakura and Ino.
"So what happened?" Naruto asked.
Ino showed Naruto a crumpled paper, which was the lab results.
"Sasuke did this? How'd he figure out?" Naruto's eyes grew wide as he held the paper.
"Well I guess it started when Sasuke met Sarada when their company was donating at the daycare. And when he was confined at the hospital, he saw Sarada again but she's with Sakura at that time. So... I guess that's how he figured it out. And come on, Sasuke isn't that stupid! I mean, did you guys really take a good look at Sarada? She's the spitting image of Sasuke, minus the glasses," Ino explained.
"I guessed he reacted violently," Hinata responded.
"Well he did. He called me selfish. But because he was just being selfish! He left me! But then he said something about carrying the burden of his family, and if I only told him about Sarada, he could've help even if were not together anymore," Sakura sobbed, and took a sip from her saké.
"I told you to talk to Sasuke. If only you know the truth on why he left, I bet you guys can end up together again. Sarada will finally have a complete family," Naruto said.
"Wait what's going on? You know something about Sasuke?" Ino asked Naruto.
"Yeah. He explained everything to me. But I am in no position to tell you guys, especially to Sakura. She should be talking to Sasuke, they should both talk—"
"Oh c'mon now, Naruto, spit it out! We will not tell anyone that you told us!" Ino exclaimed. "Right, Hinata?" She added.
Hinata just blushed.
"And besides, for the sake of one of your best friends right here who's drowning herself in alcohol," she was looking at Sakura as she spoke. "Hey! You might be forgetting that you still have a daughter to tuck into bed tonight. Don't drink too much!" Ino reminded her.
"I'm sorry Ino, you know Sasuke even way back before. He'll beat the shit out of me," Naruto replied to her.
"Okay Naruto, this is serious. This is not some gossip. This will stay between just the four of us, and if someone talked, I will openly take the blame. I just wanna know why the fuck Sasuke left my best friend, so we can settle this. Also, it's getting late, I have a son who's waiting for me too, you know," Ino sounded a bit irritated.
"As long as you promise you will take the blame," Naruto agreed.
"Yes, I promise. So I suggest none of you will blabber, otherwise I swear I'm gonna make your lives miserable!"
"Fine..." then Naruto told them what happened to Sasuke, to Itachi, the Uchiha company, and how they ended up poor.
Sakura stopped crying, leaving her eyes puffy and red. She didn't react to what Naruto just said about Sasuke. If only she knew. But then again, since she was Sasuke's fiancée, he could've just told her everything. She will understand him, they would probably be a complete family today.
Ino and Hinata were quiet as well, they didn't know how to react. They now thought Sasuke wasn't a complete asshole after all.
"No one will talk, understood?" Naruto commanded, he talked like a real hokage.
"Yeah, I mean after hearing all that, even if I never made a promise, I can never tell such a thing to anyone. Poor Sasuke. Also, poor Itachi. His uncle tried to kill him? Good lord," Ino was shocked.
"I hope that you'll not cry again, Sakura. We now know what Sasuke went through. I know you also need some time to adjust now that Sasuke has returned. But please don't push him away," Naruto said, he didn't wait for Sakura to respond. "Anyway, it's getting late, we better go. Come ride with us Sakura, so you can fetch Sarada as well," he added.
"How about you, Ino?"
"I'm good, I brought my car. Come on, let's go."