Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well, I know it's been a while; I was inspired to write this story after watching S3 E26 of the original Naruto series. I'm still planning to work on my previous story "The Problematic Adventures of Being a Housewife", but I wanted to write something new to shake things up a bit ;)
Update: I noticed quite a few errors and things that I didn't like about this one, so I decided to go over the whole story and change a couple of things :)
With that being said, please enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Masashi Kishimoto does! (:
The Test of Kinship
It was a cool fall day, the colourful leaves decorated and danced across the entire village with the breeze, and the fading sun shone brightly in a last attempt as it began to disappear behind the pink horizon. Despite this, Haru- er… Uchiha Sakura just wanted the day to end and for the night to arrive, complaining to herself about how the day was dragging on too long. She didn't think she could contain her excitement any longer!
She sipped her tea from her paper cup, and jerking away at the feeling of the intense heat burning her pink lips. She sat on the old wooden bench just outside her house, 'Still too hot', she thought to herself, as she began to see someone approaching in her peripherals. It was one of her good friends, Hinata.
Her friend waved cheerfully as she came closer. The two exchanged greetings as the raven haired, six month pregnant, former-Hyuga slowly eased herself down onto the bench beside Sakura.
"So, what have you been up to, Hinata?" the pink haired woman asked casually, blowing on her cup of tea. "I was just walking home from my doctor's appointment", she responded looking down at her intertwined hands which were rested gently on her considerably large bump.
"Actually", she began, looking up towards Sakura's emerald eyes, "I came down this path, hoping I might bump into you along the way." The pink-haired woman gave an expectant smile, knowing exactly where the conversation was going.
"How did things turn out yesterday?"
The Day Before
Today was the day. Her heart pounded anxiously in her chest; her left hand tightly gripping onto her lover's right arm as they walked down the dirt path to the abandoned Uchiha ruins. She was shaking all over; her once strong, carefully built confidence was slowly being knocked down by an unfamiliar creeping sense of doubt. It bothered her so much that she felt as though she wasn't able to do this anymore.
The pink-haired kunoichi wanted to run, she wanted to escape this, as her nervousness began to overwhelm her. Her fiancé, the mighty lone-survivor of the Uchiha massacre, seemed to notice her unease as his onyx orb peered over at her, though his head still fixed forward facing the path in front of him.
"Sakura", he started, "don't hold on so tightly." He stated bluntly, earning him an unimpressed glare from the shorter woman beside him.
He smirked and closed his dark eyes, re-thinking his words, "What I meant to say is that you don't have to be so nervous." He spoke softly, as they began to near the entrance to the old Uchiha compound. Her heart warmed at his subtle, yet futile, attempt to comfort her and nodded shakily in response.
She had worked so hard for this day; training day and night, rain or shine. She was so determined to succeed earlier, but that determination gradually shifted and was more akin to desperation at this point.
Though she loved him dearly, she wasn't an Uchiha by blood and never biologically could be. She didn't have the same abilities that Sasuke or his family did; she closed her eyes as they walked.
She thought that it was a miracle that she was able to pull off what she did during her month of training, but she wondered if that would be enough. She took in a deep breath and opened her brilliant green eyes; even if she failed today she'd try harder and succeed tomorrow, she settled in her mind. She needed to pass, and she wouldn't back down until she could proudly wear the Uchiha crest on her back.
Sasuke's POV
He wondered if this was the right thing to do. Of course he was certain that he wanted Sakura to be his wife, but was asking this going too far? He knew for a fact at the beginning that she would accept his original offer, but would this second request's outcome change everything? He wasn't entirely certain, but was not necessarily backing out of plan.
He looked to the sky, his thick black locks tickling his forehead as they moved with the chilly September breeze. He continued walking down the path to his old home, trying to ignore the jittery person walking beside him, fearing that her anxiety would rub off on him.
'Father…', he thought to himself; wondering if he had finally become the man that his beloved parent had encouraged him to become, especially after so much time of darkness. Though he loved his brother and his mother just as much as the former leader of the Uchiha, there was always a part of him that desperately yearned for his father's attention and approval; he was obsessed with obtaining it, even.
That was why he was going to stick with his decision, he thought. It was the only offering to his late father that he had left to give, which was to carry on at least one of the clan's proud traditions: individual inauguration.
He had seen many people, even grown adults, fail this technique enough times to cause him to feel a little uneasy about the whole situation.
His thoughts shifted, however briefly, to the medical kunoichi when she latched onto his arm. It was true that in the past when they were young, despite her kindness and affection towards him, he always used to think that she was over-emotional and annoying.
But, his feelings began to shift however, near the end of the war. The way she put everyone else's needs before her own, her strength and willpower, and especially the fact that she protected and even fought for him after all they had been through, caused him to see the young kunoichi in a new light.
Though his pride would never allow him to ever admit it out loud, after the war, his feelings of newfound respect towards Sakura, to his surprise, had started to become the beginnings of what he could only describe as new love; there was just something about that sense of inclusivity that she gave off, which reminded him of his own mother.
Just then his father's words echoed in his mind: "A member of the Uchiha Clan is not recognized as full-fledged until they can use the fire style"
The aching lump in his throat felt like it was suffocating him; he was confident in Sakura's abilities, but if she wasn't able to perform this jutsu, he didn't know what he would do. Of course this simple task wouldn't hinder their marriage, he simply feared the discomfort that would come if she wasn't able to succeed.
He wouldn't lie; as some would say he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, but in reality, he was stuck between his family honour and his heart.
Sakura's POV
They had walked through the arch leading to the abandoned Uchiha compound, walking past all of the stone buildings that had suffered cracks, corrosion, and the overgrowth of moss, as well as foliage that gradually covered the plain stone walls.
They walked quickly past Sasuke's former home, until they reached the place that the tall-Uchiha had described to her the other night. A long, old, wooden dock that overlooked a huge pond on the side of the compound. They slowed their steps and walked until they arrived at the end of the deck.
Sakura, who had released her firm hold on Sasuke's arm when they arrived, gulped nervously with sweat forming on her brow. As she walked past him to the edge of the walkway, she played back all of the memories of her training in her head before she glanced back at her fiancé.
He nodded to her, gesturing for her to continue, causing butterflies to dance in the pit of her stomach. She turned back, so that she faced the glistening water-front again, and closed her eyes in an attempt to calm herself.
Settling in her mind that it was now or never, she began weaving her hand signs.
Her fingers moved with grace and precision, thanks to her grueling training, but she knew that the hardest part hadn't even started yet.
Boar, horse, tiger; she thought to herself as she completed the last three signs. She brought her intertwined hands up to her face.
"Fire style: Fire ball jutsu!" she declared loudly blowing the air out of her lungs forcefully, mixing her chakra with her breath.
She could feel heat emanating onto her cheeks, and opened her eyes reluctantly. To her surprise, the small flame that she thought she had produced was in reality a significantly large burning ball of fire!
She kept going for as long as she could, ignoring the painful burning sensation in her throat, and only stopping when she was desperate for oxygen. She gasped for air, amazed at the size and duration of her jutsu; it was certainly the best one she's produced thus far, she thought excitedly to herself.
However, she almost fell over the edge of the dock when she turned around to look at Sasuke, only to find that he was inches away from her. Before she could study his facial expression, she felt him grab her arm and press a small, cold, but slightly dense object into the palm of her hand.
She glanced up at him to see him smirk and hear his soft voice say "That's my girl", before he turned around and started walking off of the dock. Eyes wide, she opened her small, delicate hand to reveal a gold ring with a pink diamond in the center; it was shaped to resemble a cherry blossom.
She squealed excitedly, and slipped it onto her ring finger to accompany her simple, thin gold engagement ring before she skipped happily towards her fiancé, who would soon become her husband as soon as they got to the Hokage office in the village.
Present Day
"So, once we got there, we just signed a couple papers and just like that we were married!" the pink-haired woman laughed, showing off her ring to her friend, as it glittered in the fading sunlight. "I'm really happy for you Sakura-chan", Hinata smiled genuinely, "but, I thought that you wanted to have a public ceremony?" she inquired curiously.
Sakura smiled "I did but-", she was cut off as she noticed her husband had walked up to the two of them. "Good evening Sasuke-san", Hinata greeted cheerfully, receiving a quick nod in response.
During this exchange Sakura had stood from her seated position and grabbed the bag from under the wooden bench, which she had brought with her when she first sat down. She slung it over her shoulder promptly after throwing her paper cup in a nearby garbage.
Realizing that she was the only one sitting, Hinata carefully lifted herself from the bench as well; her left hand rested on her large stomach, a confused look gracing her features.
Seeing this Sakura looked to her friend and gave her a hug, informing her that she was leaving the village with Sasuke and that she wouldn't be back for a while. They wished each other good luck: Hinata with the baby, and Sakura with her journey, and with that the pink-haired Uchiha began towards the exit of the village with Sasuke.
Just before she turned to go her own way, Hinata noticed something different. She jerked her head to take a second glance at the couple. She squinted at her friend's shrinking form as she got farther away, but smiled happily as she noticed the new red and white crest freshly embroidered into the back of Sakura's red top.
How was that? Sorry if this one was a tiny bit shorter; I know that it's definitely not my best work, as I didn't spend too much time on it, but the idea of it all just stuck with me and I had to write about it! :)
I'm not entirely sure when I'll update my other story, but I plan to soon!
Feel free to let me know what you think in the review section and, as always, I hope you all have a wonderful day; thanks for reading! (:
TheCuriousCashew