Do you miss the rogue who coaxed you into paradise

And left you there?

Will you forgive my soul

When you're too wise to trust me and too old to care?

- Coney Island (Taylor Swift)

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Sasuke sat comfortably, lounging on the couch in the living room of his childhood home. The interior had changed when Obito had been living there with him and Itachi and Sasuke hadn't changed it after them.

He was patient, awaiting his estranged wife who was being fetched by a guard he had stationed at the compound. His suit was immaculate and not a hair was out of place. He was smoking a cigarette with slow puffs.

He deliberately kept his gaze away from the corner his wife was supposed to emerge from. He wasn't sure he could keep his calm demeanor if he looked at her.

This was ironical, he thought as he waited. Up until a week ago, he would have sold his soul to have another glimpse at his wife somehow. But now that he had found her, he couldn't stand to see her.

He could hear footsteps approaching and he didn't turn towards the sound. The heavier footsteps in the front indicated the guard walking in front. He reached the center of the living room, directly in front of Sasuke to bow slightly.

"I'll be outside if you have further need of me," he said in a monotonous voice. Sasuke didn't bother with a reply or any acknowledgement at all as the guard walked out.

The second set of footsteps, lighter and hesitant came into his peripheral view. Sasuke tried his best to keep his gaze directed away from her, but he failed.

He hated himself for the way he drank in the sight of her, his heart still unbelieving that she was here; that she wasn't another dream he'd conjured up. He hated her for being the one who had turned him into this paranoid, hurt man.

She was wearing a familiar blue top that he somehow never had the courage to have cleared out from their shared closet space. Her short hair caressed the sides of her long neck and she looked very unsure of herself, looking at him.

"Sasuke," she said, her voice sounding breathless. Sasuke didn't know if it was fear of him or if he still took her breath away. He didn't want to know either way.

"Hinata," he replied, making sure to keep his voice from wavering. "You look well,"

His taunt made her eyes go from unsure to hard. She swallowed and walked over to sit on the chair opposite to the couch. "A few days of talking to myself did me good,"

Ah so she had teeth now. Good. So did he.

"And to think all that isolation could have been avoided if you weren't a fucking liar," he told her, taking another drag of his cigarette. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

He used to smoke occasionally when they were married, but never in front of her and never with such familiarity. He huffed out the smoke.

"Where's Daiki?" Hinata asked an underlying hint of desperation in her voice. "Is he okay?"

Sasuke wondered if he looked unhinged enough to harm his only offspring- his miraculous second chance. He hoped his narrowed eyes depicted his emotions to his wife.

"Of course he's okay," Sasuke snarled, "I'm not in the habit of harming minors, much less my own blood,"

"Can I see him?" she asked, pleading seeping into her tone. "Please, just let me see him for a little time,"

Sasuke actually smirked. Was she serious? Looking at her face, he realized she was. Oh.

"That's not going to happen," he told her finally. "You're here at my mercy. As far as the world is concerned, you're dead. So either you play by my rules or you rot here for the rest of your life,"

Hinata's breath quickened audibly and Sasuke's smirk deepened. "You can't do that!" she snapped. "He can't live without his mother,"

"He'll get over it," Sasuke told her.

"Are you seriously telling me he's not crying for me?" she asked, crossing her arms. "That you know how to properly care for him?"

Sasuke didn't say anything because he couldn't refute her doubts. It was true that his son was crying for his mother a lot of the time he wasn't distracted and also that Sasuke was unsure of how to proceed in a lot of situations. Shikamaru wasn't a lot of help either, but Sasuke had lost count of the number of favors he owed the other man by now.

"I'm not here to talk about Daiki exclusively," he said, "So why don't we start from the beginning?"

"Did you come here to taunt me or to actually resolve things?" she asked.

Sasuke leaned back into the couch and let his legs cross leisurely. "I'm in no hurry. Do you have somewhere to be?"

"Sasuke please,"

"Let's start where we left off," he suggested suddenly. He realized the tearing sensation inside him was pain. He wanted to hurt her just as much as she had hurt him.

Hinata didn't say anything. She just looked at him, something sad in her features. But she nodded anyways. "What do you want to know?"

"Let's start with your kidnapping," he implored.

Hinata's jaw tightened but she acquiesced.

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Konoha city, 2020

Sasuke's life at 25 years old was slowly going to shit even before his wife was kidnapped. There were many reasons for that.

Firstly, there he was, the Uchiha heir, also the last Uchiha after Obito had disappeared, ensuring that his empire thrived in the hell he had come to love as Konoha. He was busy trying to get the international license for the weapons trade (smuggling) business his brother had mercifully legalized before his death. The authorities were giving him hell over the paperwork, the money trail and the trustees of the company. Most people needed a bribe to even do their actual fucking job and Sasuke was sick of trying to go legit. But sadly, it was what Hinata was imploring him to do in this stage of their life.

So, life was stressful.

Secondly, there was the matter of those Otsutski fucks, who were trying to sell drugs on the Uchiha turf of Konoha. They had set up a meeting with Sasuke's second, Sai, to set up a beneficial agreement. They wanted to propose a 70/30 deal on every drug sale on Uchiha owned clubs. Sasuke tolerated a lot of things in his life, but he didn't think Konoha needed its citizens on crack. It would probably result in more shit than Sasuke could tolerate in this hell. Besides, he considered drugs undignified and had graciously turned down the Otsutski.

But so far, they had refused to back off and Sasuke was getting annoyed.

Thirdly, his in-laws were being insufferable as usual. They wanted some press campaigning with Sasuke's involvement, to show the Uchihas as their official campaign funding and endorsers (aka their own personal mobsters). He was always so reluctant about facing the media and feeding the gossip train. But since his marriage had basically ensured that the Hyugas and Uchihas were one big happy family, he was supposed to help them out.

So far Sasuke had refused, but Neji's constant nagging made Sasuke want to take out his glock and silence him forever.

His last problem was the one bothering him the most, so he didn't know why it was ranked fourth. He was having some marital issues. Hinata and he had been arguing about some things. She was tired of his late night activities which involved fighting, negotiating with crime lords and getting home in the early hours of the morning.

Sasuke had ensured her that it was only for the time-being. But he wasn't sure how true that was. And he didn't have time to sort it out right now.

He was in the middle of heading down to one of the clubs to sort some shit out, when he got a call from Sai. It was already 9 p.m. and he had promised Hinata he would be coming home early that day.

"What?" he asked shortly.

"Bad news. There was an attack on one of our vehicles," Sai informed him

"Where?" he asked, sitting up straighter, scanning his brain to think of which weapons transport vehicles were scheduled for today.

"Uptown, near the hospital," Sai said hurriedly. "It was your personal vehicle,"

Sasuke's heart stopped. "What?"

"Four masked personnel shot the car. There was a crash and the guards were shot down. They took Mrs. Uchiha," he continued.

"What the fuck was Hinata doing outside?" he yelled into the phone.

"I don't know boss," Sai said. "We're on it,"

Sasuke felt his blood pressure spike. It was undoubtedly the Otsutski fuckers, trying to force his hand. Unfortunately, they didn't know what most of his enemies had already learnt: You didn't mess with his wife. Sasuke knew he was going to flay each of them alive.

"I'll meet you at the warehouse,"

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