The Right Thing

By TwinEnigma

Disclaimer: I do this for fun and not for profit. Suffice to say, I do not own the characters.

Warnings: AU, ouchies, SasuSaku?

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing”

– Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919

“It’s over,” Sasuke said, seriously.

Sakura had a feeling this was coming. He’d been acting stranger and stranger the longer their relationship went on and sometimes she wondered if he was avoiding her on purpose, claiming to not be home when he was or that he had work and he didn’t, not really. The last time she’d visited his house, she’d seen a new bottle of pills on the counter, warning labels blaring like neon signs, and his behavior had been more erratic than before.

It was an anti-psychotic, used to sedate people having anxiety attacks.

It didn’t make it hurt any less.

“Please don’t say that,” she said, twining her fingers in the hem of her shirt. “I love you; we can make this work. We can fix it.”

Dimly, she is aware she’s crying.

“No, we can’t,” he says firmly.

She’d tried to understand him, she did. He’d told her how badly he’d been messed up by what happened to him and that he needed his space and she thought she’d given him all that and more. He was so nice and wonderful but so broken and hurt inside and she was so mad at whoever did this to him, because she loved him so much it hurt. And oh, gods, how could she have missed that he was suffering so much? What had she done wrong? How could she have been so blind?

“Sakura,” he says and she wipes away her tears to look at him.

He’s smiling and it’s a sad, sad little smile.

She wants him to say he loves her, that he’s changed his mind.

“I’m sorry,” Sasuke says and she feels her heart crack. “But this is the best thing for both of us.”

She chokes on a sob. “I love you.”

Sasuke sighs, “Sakura... you’re a wonderful person. You’re kind and beautiful, just the type of girl any man should dream of having. You deserve someone who can love you back. I want you to be happy.”

“I’m happy with you,” she pleads.

Sasuke is still so calm and his eyes so sad, a little pitying maybe. “But I’m not happy. I can’t live like this. It’s not healthy.”

He knows that she knows it’s true, but she doesn’t want to admit it. He can get better. There are doctors who can help him, psychologists who can help, and then he won’t need the pills. She can help him.

“I’ll wait,” Sakura says, brokenly. “I’ll wait for you! Please, please...”

He stares at her, calmly, frowning a little, and then he turns away and begins to walk out.

At the door, he pauses, looks back at her and there’s a strange sort of look on his face. It’s neither happy nor sad, and she thinks, perhaps that he feels bad and maybe he’ll change his mind.

“No, you won’t,” he says.

And then he’s gone.

AN: Sometimes, the hardest thing is to make the right decision when you know the other person doesn't want to admit it's gone beyond help.

There isn't really a lot of fanfiction on here exploring the real dynamics of relationships and virtually no one dares to touch breakups. I chose to do this for that reason and a few personal ones, which you won't be privy to.

A one-sided love isn't healthy. And no matter how much love that other person has, it's not enough to make a relationship work. In this case, not breaking her heart would be crueler to both of them, because he would continue to suffer silently and she would still be blind to it and thinking it's enough, but they won't really go anywhere. Sasuke, in this, does the right thing by breaking it off. He isn't being mean by doing this - he's actually being the mature person in the relationship and recognizing that it has gone to a point where it's emotionally unhealthy for either of them to continue. Additionally, he cares for her enough to want her happiness and let her go when he knows he can't give her that. Sakura, on the other hand, is at a stage where she can't see the problem - Sasuke has had to bring it directly to her attention and her response is that they can fix it, that she can fix (heal) him, with the implication that then he'll love her and it'll be all better. This is an incredibly unhealthy view for a relationship.

Of course, the more crazy of you shippers probably didn't read that and opted to head right to flame. OH WELL.