On the rare occasion Sakura had a day off from her hectic job as an emergency room physician, her favorite activity was curling up on her couch and watching reality shows. She knew it was all staged garbage, but there was something so entertaining about watching rich suburban housewives squabble. And if their schedules coincided, her best friend, Ino, would join her. Both women were exceptionally busy as Sakura was almost always on call for the hospital, and Ino was the editor-in-chief of a popular fashion magazine and constantly flying to runway shows around the world. When they wanted to catch up with each other, they always forwent the more "adult" option of getting a meal together at a nice restaurant and instead spent a day together continuing their high school tradition.
During one such girls' day as they caught up on the latest season of The Bachelorette, Ino suddenly said, "Hey, when are you getting married?"
Sakura, without looking away from the television, replied, "Well, since I am currently very single, probably not for a while."
They sat quietly for a minute before Ino asked again, "Do you want to get married?"
"Of course I do, but that's a future problem. Now shut up, I want to hear what Peter's saying."
Ino reached out and paused the show. "When was the last date you went on?"
"I don't know. A while. I'm too busy with my job, so a relationship is the last thing on my mind," Sakura replied with a nonchalant shrug. Ino pursed her lips, not happy with her friend's response.
"I thought so too, but I made it work. I even made enough time to get married!"
Sakura turned to face Ino with an exasperated sigh.
"Yeah, I know you did. I was your maid of honor. But anyways, I'm just not interested in a relationship. Maintaining a relationship takes a ton of effort that I could be putting into literally any other aspect of my life."
Sakura then reached to resume the show when Ino said, "I think you'd be really good on The Bachelorette."
"And I think otherwise," Sakura snorted. Ino hummed thoughtfully as she resumed the episode.
As the information on how to nominate someone for the next Bachelorette rolled across the bottom of the screen, a devious plan formed in Ino's head.
A week after the conversation, Sakura had completely forgotten about it as she threw herself back into her career. She couldn't afford for her mind to be anywhere but present as she tended to her patients. One wandering thought could be the difference between life and death. But as Sakura sat in her office filling out various paperwork and reading reports, she received a call on her cellphone that immediately reminded her of Ino's questions and comments on her love life.
"Hello?" she answered absently as she propped her phone up to her ear with her shoulder. Her eyes scanned the page sitting in front of her before she scrawled her signature at the bottom.
"Is this Ms. Sakura Haruno?" a sweet and cheerful voice asked from the receiver.
"This is she." Sakura put another sheet in front of her and started checking off the necessary boxes.
"Hi, I'm Kimi Soma, the casting director for The Bachelorette," the woman on the phone said.
Sakura's hand froze for a moment before she slowly put down her pen. She took the phone in one hand and started massaging her temples with the other. She could already feel a headache forming.
"I'm calling you today because you were recently nominated to be the next Bachelorette by a friend of yours, and we would like to invite you to callbacks. We think you are a fantastic applicant and would love to hear more about you Ms. Haruno."
"Thank you, but I'm currently very busy so I'm, not sure I could make it to the callbacks."
"I understand that, but it will not take place until the twenty-seventh of next month. Hopefully you will be available then because we truly believe you could be the next Bachelorette. We will contact you next week with location details, and you can RSVP then, but I wanted to call you today to let you know a little bit early."
Sakura let out a small sigh before replying, "Thank you very much. I will look at my calendar and let you know next week."
"Fantastic! I look forward to hearing from you!"
The two said goodbye and hung up, but as soon as Sakura hit the call end button she was angrily punching in Ino's cellphone number.
Ino picked up after three rings.
"Did you nominate me for The Bachelorette?" Sakura angrily snapped as soon as she heard the call connect. Ino laughed which only served to fuel Sakura's fury.
"Yeah!"
"Why?!"
"Because I think it's about time you settle down and find a partner. And a season of The Bachelorette only takes eight weeks which is significantly less time than it usually takes."
"That's not a good reason. I can't believe you actually nominated me."
Ino sighed, "Okay, but consider this for a second, Sak. If you do the show, you will get paid a significant amount of money."
That is when Sakura remembered her student loans. Attending top tier universities for undergraduate and medical school was absurdly expensive, and while Sakura made a very good salary as a physician, it would still be many, many years until she paid off her debt. At the mere idea of freeing herself from debt early, Sakura felt her resolve crumble.
"I guess there's no harm in just going to callbacks," Sakura said slowly. She could just about see Ino's shit-eating grin through the phone.
"I'm glad you came to that conclusion! I'll help you with your outfit and makeup when it rolls around! For now though, start thinking about different ways to make yourself seem more interesting!"
"Hey!" Sakura said indignantly.
"Anyways, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later! Bye!"
Sakura tried to get a last word in, but the click of Ino hanging up cut her off. She sighed and put her phone down. Swiveling around in her chair to look out her office window, Sakura pondered what on earth she got herself into.
Sakura really had no idea what to expect for callbacks. After she valeted her car at the hotel where they were being held, she quickly popped into the bathroom to touch up her lipstick and straighten out her dress. As she briefly examined herself in the mirror, Sakura vainly admitted to herself that she looked really good. The simple yet elegant sundress Ino made her buy for the occasion flattered her slender body very well, and her makeup was just enough to accentuate her features but not overpower them. After one last deep breath, Sakura squared her shoulders and strode out of the bathroom toward the ballroom.
Once she arrived, she checked in, received her nametag, and had just enough time to put it on before she was whisked away to take photos. The photographer had her take photos from just about every angle with a myriad of poses and distances. After what felt like hours of a camera flashing, she was once again escorted to another room with only a table with three people sitting. They were discussing something or someone in hushed voices as they continuously referenced the papers in front of them. At the sound of someone entering the room, they all looked up with welcoming smiles.
Sakura approached them, shook each of their hands, then stood in front of them with a small smile. She briefly wondered what she should be doing with her hands before settling with having her arms hanging by her sides. She felt slightly awkward, but she vaguely remembered Ino telling her that it looked natural and that's what mattered.
The woman in the middle introduced herself first, "Hi Sakura, I'm Kimi Soma. We talked on the phone." Her warm smile made Sakura relax slightly and she returned the smile with equal warmth. The man sitting to Kimi's right went next.
"It's fantastic to meet you Ms. Sakura! I'm Jiraya, but I'm sure you know that already," he said with a wink at her. Sakura nodded upon realizing that she had in fact seen him many times on her television as he was the producer and host of The Bachelorette. Along with being a notable television personality, he was also a bestselling author of romance novels.
The final person to introduce herself Sakura quickly recognized as the previous Bachelorette, Rin. She was even prettier in person, and Sakura couldn't help but envy the glittering engagement ring on her left hand.
After all the introductions, Kimi kindly prompted, "So, Sakura, tell us about yourself."
"Well, as you know, my name is Sakura Haruno. I live in Konoha, and I work as an E.R. physician."
All three jotted the information down on the papers in front of them.
"Why are you interested in becoming the next Bachelorette?" Rin asked. Sakura paused for a moment. She couldn't say her real reason which was using the extra income from the show to pay off her student loans, but luckily, she came up with another reason which they would hopefully believe.
"I'm at a point in my life where I'm ready to get married and settle down, but unfortunately, my career doesn't really help me meet potential partners."
She gave them a smile that hopefully said 'I'm sure you understand' before she continued, "So when my best friend nominated me for the show, I realized that I could find a partner in a way that I could never do in my everyday life."
The question and answer session continued for another thirty minutes, where Sakura answered a variety of questions ranging from what she looked for in a partner to what her favorite food was. At the end, her feet ached in her highheels and her throat hurt slightly from all the talking. She also had no idea what the panel before her really thought of her, but based on the encouraging smiles they kept giving her, Sakura assumed she made at least a decent impression.
"It was lovely talking to you, Sakura. You seem like a wonderfully bright and beautiful young woman, and we wish you the best," Kimi said as the three rose to their feet to shake Sakura's hand, "We'll call you within the next month to let you know if you've been cast or not."
Sakura beamed at them, "Thank you so much for your time."
With that, Sakura walked out of the room and down to valet to retrieve her car. Once safely in the privacy of her vehicle, she promptly took her shoes off and tossed them into the backseat. The callback was considerably more exhausting than she anticipated.
Ino probably wanted a play-by-play of everything that happened, but Sakura quickly decided wine first and Ino second.
It took about two weeks for Sakura to get an answer. During her lunch break, Sakura received the call. She fully expected to be rejected, so she answered rather nonchalantly.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Sakura, it's Kimi!"
"Hi. How are you?"
"I'm fantastic! And I hope you are too."
With her free hand, Sakura started spearing leaves from her salad.
"I am extremely excited to tell you that you have been selected to be the next Bachelorette!"
Sakura's hand froze, her fork inches from her mouth. Slowly, the gears started turning in her head as she processed what Kimi just told her.
"Holy shit," Sakura said slightly louder than she meant to. Kimi just laughed.
"If you're available sometime this week, please stop by my office and we'll discuss your contract. I'll send you the address."
Sakura could only reply "Uh-huh."
"Congratulations, Sakura! I can't wait to start working with you! I'll see you soon!"
"Mm-hm…" Sakura's mind was reeling at this point.
They hung up, and Sakura stared blankly at her salad as she replayed the conversation in her mind.
Holy shit. I got picked.
She started to realize the magnitude of the situation.
Holy shit. I got picked.
Sakura buried her face in her hands. What the hell has she gotten herself into?
So I recently got pretty into The Bachelorette, and I was hit by this inspiration of writing a Naruto fanfiction based on it. I'm still formulating my final list of bachelors, and I am totally open to ideas for dates and such! More characters will appear very soon, but I wanted to have the first chapter be the initial set up. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and I'll try to update soon!