Pink

Pink roses symbolized happiness. There was simplicity with a single rose, just one; gratitude and with a touch of elegance.

But Ino didn't want that.

She wanted the gross amount of roses to be so great that everyone who left the reception room would smell of the perfume. She wanted petals to cling at the clothing of her guests like glitter, and the very aroma of her wedding to follow them home and stain their furniture. Ino Yamanka's wedding would linger with them after the flowers had withered and their lives had all settled. When the party ended, they would remember the extravagance of a thousand blossoms that was Ino Yamanaka.

"We're not going to let you do everything," Sakura warned. "You're a control freak and it'll only make you break out."

They sat side by side at the hokage's desk, twiddling their pencils while trying to make life-and-death decisions for Ino's Big Day. Neither were sure if they would face any real consequence for using the office, but no one else had been occupying it when they cracked the door ten minutes prior, and no one had since tried. Papers covered the surface of the cleared desk and took the combined form of several charts and graphs, like a battle map, something intricate and diabolical.

"Considering how many guests..." Ino mumbled. She crossed off something she had written and then reached over Sakura into the basket of colored markers they were using to code everything with.

"Hot Magenta?" Sakura gasped.

Ino snorted, "As if I'd underline my table cloth pattern with Iguana Green."

"Have you decided on which invitations to go with?" Sakura asked. She had been asking this question all week, but Ino wouldn't reply with a straight answer.

"I like the gold trim on the ecru paper-" She stopped, dropped her pen, "-Sakura, I feel like my wedding should be special."

Sakura cleared her throat, "I'm sure it will be, Ino-chan, but we need to send these invitations out at some point."

"We haven't even found a venue," Ino said, "how can I invite people without telling them where go?"

"We don't send them, but we at least have them," Sakura said.

The light above them twitched and both hesitantly looked at the ceiling, wondering if there would be yet another power outage. No one knew exactly what was causing it, but the power had been doing a lot more flickering than it used to. The recent upgrade was great for new arrivals, but there were still the older buildings from before that no one had wanted to demolish. Even though they were technically newer, thanks to Pain destroying everything nearly a decade ago, they were there with problems.

"It's been a long time since there was a big wedding with everyone invited," Ino said, drawing Sakura's attention back to the work station.

"Ino-chan, I'm a bit worried about the electrical situation,"Sakura said.

Ino wrote it off, "It's just the rain."

"Where else, other than Konoha?" Sakura asked.

"Well, I'd suggest we go back to the groom's home town but he was raised in a basement," Ino said.

"I don't remember Sai ever saying where he was from," Sakura agreed, although Ino's comment was one line away from an insult.

"I assume he probably doesn't know,"Ino said.

"Have you ever asked him?"

Ino shrugged, "have you?"

"Well, when we first met I spent a lot of time beating him up," Sakura confessed. "I supposed I skipped many of the formalities."

"Most orphans don't know where they came from, anyway," Ino said. "It's clearly not important to him."

"Help me out here," Sakura whined, "I can't let you have your wedding in a city that has black outs every month, it would ruin everything."

Sakura knew it was a mistake as soon as the words left her mouth, and sure enough, Ino began crying. There were a few reasons for why Ino was unable to fess up to the fact that her wedding wasn't going to be able to go on in her home town. Reason one was that the city was in the throws of repair and they kept finding new problems, and two, Ino was three months pregnant. Of course, Sakura was the only one who knew-naturally, giving her anxiety.

"All we've got to do is call around," Sakura said. "There are people who rent out venues for things like this, weddings."

The night Ino had demanded that Sakura confirm what she already knew, was back in late November, and they spent the rest of that month unable to talk about it further. It was probably the one thing in the world that the blonde refused to bring up in conversation and when the only other topic became weddings and formal marriage certificates, they both knew what direction needed to be taken. It was an odd situation, Sakura had to admit, but this was her best friend. Neither had talked about children in a serious manner for all of their years, and being twenty-four had not changed that. They were both so young, Sakura would think, and the idea of what it would be like if it were her, scared her to new heights. But-they were no so young, because fellow Kunoichi were doing exactly this. Would she have been able to pull together a wedding is such a short amount of time? Her friend was no one to mess with when it came to these things, even if she frequently broke down to tears when there was a bump.

Sakura continued to fill the atmosphere with her voice, "And aside from that, we need to make sure that the climate is right." She didn't like seeing Ino with her head down on the table the way it was, trying to control her breathing. It was unnatural, completely out of character. "Spring is the perfect time for a wedding but sometimes there can still be snow on the ground."

Ino finally chimed in, her eyes suddenly dry and without trace of any hint of sadness or worry. It was an art that baffled Sakura, and Ino had always been able to do it. "We can go to Land of Waves," Ino suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Sakura said, enthused. She like that place and everyone knew it.

"Calm down, it's just a city," Ino snorted. "Billboard-brow."

Sakura had only been into a bridal shop once in her entire life. She awkwardly stood at the front desk and played with the pen near the registry form, rolling it back and forth while she waited for an employee to notice she was there. A wedding wasn't a wedding without an expensive white dress, and needing to go into one of the skyscrapers just to reach the mall, was like being in a movie. She kept forgetting that Konoha wasn't the small village she had grown up in. Hell, there was an actual bridal store.

"Hello!"~

The voice was high-pitched, girlish. The woman who appeared around the corner, dressed in a black pant-suit, was probably in her forties. Sakura cleared her throat and wondered if the woman thought she looked like a simple farm girl, lost in the city. "I'm here to schedule an appointment for my friend."

"For a fitting?"~

Sakura smiled, why else would I be here?

"We have an opening next month," The woman said, returning Sakura's fake smile. "On the 4th?"

Sakura nodded, "That'll work."

"Great!"~

Sakura watched as the woman, Lily, flipped through her date book. She looked like one of those people who actually like doing her job.

"The, uh, the name is Yamanaka,"Sakura said. The woman looked up. "Why-Aye-Em-Aye-En-Aye-Kay-Aye."

What the hell is Sai's last name, anyway?

Sakura swept her gaze around the room and felt her heart leap; dresses, white, and everywhere. She liked this sort of thing because it was so impractical of a need for a ninja. Weddings? She could be killed in battle. Standing there in that white room, with the white dresses, and the woman in the black suit, she felt like she was cheating.

"Do you have any other questions, Ma'm?" The woman asked.

"No, that's all," Sakura chirped.

Can I try on every single ball gown you have in stock?

"I hope to see you next month!"~

Sakura smiled something of a wide grin, followed by the cutest laugh she could muster. She wanted to be one of them, living in a world where they came to work and didn't see death and suffering. Where their surroundings were white and no one was trying to kill them.

She turned around and faced the tall glass window where mannequins advertised different silhouettes, all the lace and chiffon in the entire world. But there was another thing: these were nothing like what her mother had worn. Where were the Kimono's? Again, she had to remember that this was a different place she lived in, not the secluded town with strong traditions. Things changed. Things evolved.

The mall wasn't very crowded on a Tuesday morning.

She passed a dark window and realized that she could fit in there if she tried, if she wanted. She didn't look like a girl who had grown up without a television, or a woman who still used a land-line.