The wedding dress was beautiful, so gorgeous, but it didn't help her emotions. The silky material against her hands was cold. She bit back a sob, and stared at her reflection.
"Perfect," she heard herself lie, and turned herself to her bridesmaid, who nodded with encouragement.
Her curled pink hair dangled around her face, and she did look pretty, but that wasn't enough to hide the fact that she was regretting everything. In just a few hours, she would make the biggest mistake of her life. If she didn't do anything about it. She sat back down onto the soft chair, letting her helpers put on her makeup. She had always hated the way it made her feel under a mask, so fake. But she didn't argue. It was her special day.
"Sakura," started Tenten, who was busy with said girl's veil, "are you sure?"
"Of course," Sakura replied softly, almost whispering, since lipstick was being applied onto her already rosy lips.
No, that was a lie, too. Everything around her was one. She didn't love him, the man she had just met six months ago. Not the way she loved the other man, the one who she had spent her whole life with. No, just no. What could she say, though? His proposal had touched her heart, and maybe she said yes because she knew no one else would ask her. He wouldn't.
"Love cannot be forced by people, honey. It is forced by itself; it pushes itself into your heart and his. I really hope you don't forget this," her mother had told her in private the day Sakura announced her engagement. Her daughter only nodded silently.
She stood up as the girls finished, and looked in the full size mirror. The bride did not know who the other woman looking back at her was. She was different.
Knock, knock.
Temari opened the oak door slightly, so that no one could look inside. Her eyes widened in surprise as the visitor whispered something into her ear, then left. She slowly and quietly closed the door and walked towards Sakura. Bending down because she was taller than the bride, she muttered in her ear.
"He's here," she said, and immediately regretted it. Sakura didn't need an explanation to who He was. Her eyes filled with tiny droplets of water, but being Sakura, she blinked them back.
"Is my wife-to-be ready?" a joyful voice asked from the outside. The groom. Their voices were so different, the groom's voice so wrong. It wasn't suppose to be his. The one she really loved had a deep, masculine voice. It was strong, gentle, hard, and kind at the same time. She really, really missed it.
"Almost," she said back, attempting to sound happy. The groom, oblivious to everything, bought it.
"She's going to be so beautiful," another voice gushed, then said, "I'll go greet the guests." Her sister.
They heard footsteps leaving, and, with a shaky voice, the rosette haired female told everyone to get ready. They all hurried out when Ino's mom told them they had ten minutes. Sakura was the last one to go.
She walked silently, watching the girls talking actively and laughing. She could see they were as nervous as she was. She walked slower.
"Sakura."
Her head whipped to her right, and she saw him. Sasuke. He was in a black suit, matched with an onyx coloured tie. It matched his eyes, she unconsciously noted.
"Sasuke, I'm- I'm glad you made it," she put on a plastic smile, holding up her hand. She didn't dare look into his eyes, to see the memories of them playing in them, to melt into his arms as she did, like she had done before.
As expected from his upbringing, he lifted his own hand and shook hers. What she didn't expect was to be pulled into his chest.
"Wait! What are you doing?" she cried nervously. She pushed against him, but he was too strong.
"Sakura," he said. It made her stop. It was the tone of his voice, so familiar, so comforting. She was regretting everything now, but it was too late.
"It's not too late," he muttered, as if reading her mind.
"It is! I'm getting married, your engaged to-" she couldn't continue. She regained her defiance, and she said loudly, "Please, let go." She wasn't going to break like last time. Not in front of him. No.
"No."
"I have my own life, and you have yours," she said strongly.
"I'm sorry."
She was at a loss for words. Uchiha Sasuke would never apologize. What... was going on? She was so confused, and her emotions were ganging up on her.
"Why? Why are you doing this?" She demanded. "Everything was going so well, and you just had to show up."
"Should I leave, then?" he asked, eyes sparking with a challenge.
"Probably, yes," she silently accepted it.
Since he was just as stubborn as she was, they could've gone on forever. Forever. Both of them surely wanted that.
"So you'll happy with him, spending the rest of your life with this boring man, and trying to forget about me."
"I am happy," she insisted weakly. "Why must you ruin my life every time?"
"Then be happy with me. Run away with me. No one will find us. Forget that we ever parted. I want to wake up with you next to me. We'll have children, and we'll be happy. We'll love each other, for eternity. We'll watch them grow up, maybe at the sea side, with a big house and everything. We'll see them marry-"
"Sasuke, please, don't."
"-and you'll be crying tears of joy while I walk our daughters down the aisles, and I'll be sitting next to you when our sons bind themselves to their lover-"
"It's not that simple!"
"-then hold our grandchildren in our arms, watching them live, spoiling them. I'll hold you when you cry, I'll protect you from harm, I'll be by your side, forever, and be with you. We'll live together, die together, and have our own story to tell. All you have to do is say yes. Right here, right now," he pleaded, breathlessly.
She was crying tears of sadness and tears of joy. She wanted to say yes, say yes and make all her problems go away. It hurt her heart so badly.
"I can't, I can't," she repeated, but she couldn't stop crying. She buried her face into his chest and sobbed.
"It's your decision," he whispered painfully.
He loosened his arms around her and she stepped back, carefully wiping the tears away and sniffling. The next thing she said made his heart crack.
"I'll... see you inside," she muttered, and dashed off.
"Everything for nothing."
He had hoped so much that she would say yes, so much that he had given up his title to be with her. He was no use to his clan anymore.
All for nothing.
--
"...Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, and be faithful to her, as long as you both shall live?" the minister looked at the groom, as did Sakura, and she felt her heart crack bit by bit every second.
"I do," he said, looking at her lovingly. She suddenly felt scared, so small.
"Haruno Sakura, will you have this man to be your husband, to live together in the sacred estate of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, and be faithful to him, as long as you both shall live?"
"I," she hesitated for what seemed to be years. The witnesses leaned in towards them, all eyes on her. Confusion spread across her fiancé's face. She looked at him. He would give her wealth, a home, food, all the love he could provide, but that was nothing. Nothing compared to Sasuke's love.
Would she say yes, and live her whole life as a mistake? In a lie, and at nights, dream of all that could've been? All the what-ifs and could-haves?
"I-," the crowd leaned in even further. "I'm sorry!" She blurted out, and lifted the veil from her face. "I don't deserve you! I don't deserve any of this! I'm so sorry!"
"What are you saying, dear?" Sakura heard her father demand. She didn't answer. Instead, she rushed down the aisle the wrong way, and ran out the door. Bursts of excitement exploded inside, and she couldn't help but smile. She had the done the right thing, right?
"Need a lift?"
He was five feet in front of her, and she was five feet from her future. She threw herself to him.
"Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes!"
And maybe she wasn't going to regret anything this time.
Dislike the ending, but couldn't think of anything else.
I don't own any of the characters, maybe except the groom, who shall forever be unnamed. Ha.