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, one-sided relationship, Sasuke has PTSD

"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 says, 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 not to 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 says, twining her fingers in the hem of her shirt. "I love you; we can make this work. We can fix it."

Dimly, she's 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'd 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 everyone who'd done 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, but this isn't fair to you. 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. And it's really unfair to both of us."

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 or 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 best and hardest thing to do is make the right decision for your mental and emotional health in a relationship when you know the other person is unwilling to admit it's not working.

Nobody really does talk about break-ups in fanfiction (let's be real, fanfic is usually a lot of hook-ups) and least of all break-ups where it's actually a one-sided relationship and turning very unhealthy. It's not an easy decision to break off a relationship, especially when it's someone you do care about, but if you're suffering in that relationship because you can't return those romantic feelings, it's not fair to either party to continue. At the time I originally wrote this, I had myself just made the difficult decision to end what had become a very toxic one-sided relationship. This story was a cathartic way to process what was a really painful situation all around with familiar characters.

Be safe in your relationships, reader.