CHAPTER I

August 5th
Present year...

Her forehead was sweating like hell as she was seated in a pew together with his friends.
They were all dressed formally for the occassion and everyone was stunningly beautiful with smiles on their faces except for her. She was somehow thankful that it was only her forehead that has been sweating, because it would have been rather embarrassing if it where somewhere else.

Naruto who was beside him passed a handky to her.

"Are you alright Sakura-chan?"

"Yyy.. I am. Thank you for this." She said as she received the handky and wiping off her sweat from her forehead.

"You seem tense." Naruto curiously asked.

"Baka! Why would I? There's no reason to be. It just feels a bit humid, that's all." She replied hoping he'd stop interrogating now.

"Ehh? The room's airconditioned, why would it be humid?" He asked again wearing a cat-face look.

"Uhh!" She groaned.

She forgot the room was well ventilated. It was the Hyuga stadium fully redecorated into a grand ballroom with elegant looking drapes and fancy lights, fit for the occassion. If it hadn't been her anxiety, she wouldn't be all sweating ridiculously.

"Uhmm.. It's nothing really Naruto."
Her voice was stern still hoping that his friend would quit asking already.

"Oh,..Okay if you say so.." Naruto replied sensing Sakura was now starting to get annoyed.

But then she thought she was kinda rude for talking to him like that, so with a smile she said

"Thanks for the handky by the way. I'll return it as soon as I get to wash it clean."

"Ahh... It's okay. You can keep it. It may be of use to you next time." He grinned.

She held on Naruto's handkerchief while her hands rested on her silk-chiffon dress which was colored light pink. Her dress had a tube cut which didn't have a neckline, freely exposing her flawless white shoulders and generously covered her breasts. The dress tightly hugs her curves at the torso part and it's knee length high skirt made her finely toned, and flawless legs visible. She wore nude high-heeled sandals to pair with. The guys wore a variation of black and grey tuxedos and the rest of the girls wore beauitufl dresses with unique designs from one another.

She turned her head around and saw a lot of familiar faces seated on the next few rows behind them. He saw his sensei Kakashi, Captain Yamato together with Aoba. She looked at the other set of rows across them and saw other shinobi's who were familiar to her. Her head was now set upfront as she, together with the others waited for the ceremony to begin.

A few minutes later, everybody was now requested to stand and the piano master from the choir started to play a lovely song which she thought was pleasantly sounding. A group of pretty little girls with a bucket of flowers walked down the aisle, followed by Tenten and Lee being paired up along with the other bridesmaids and groomsmen. Hinata then came forward with a lovely dress and a small bouquet of flowers, she was the Maid of Honor and behind him was the grooms best man who also belonged to the Hyuga clan. Later on, a set of elder people passed through the aisle among them was Tsunade-sama and Guy sensei.

The groom was already at the end of the line waiting for his turn to walk down the aisle. Sakura couldn't see him quite clearly for the shade of the sun from the outside seems to be blocking his face. He was in an all-white tuxedo with thin black lining along the edges. He didn't wore his Konoha shinobi headband, so his cursed seal was visible. His long, dark brown hair was set back with the front part gently contouring his face. Beside him was a tall man with long hair which she believed was the leader of Hyuga clan, Hiashi-sama, Hinata's father.

Soon enough, after all the entourage had taken their places the groom and Hiashi-sama moved forward. Gradually making timely paces togeter with the music. As soon as both the groom and his uncle was passed in-line to her pew, the groom turned his head towards their row and she met his gaze.

"Neji"

Her lips twitched as she softly whispered his name and watched him walk right forward on to the front part of the room.

He wasn't smiling at all. His expression was neutral but that moment when he turned to face her, she saw his face sad and long. She winced at the thought of it but didn't held it for long. She knew she should survive throughout the ceremony.

Afterwhich, the bride came in together with her parents. She was dressed in a white gown with floral
embroidery. Her face was covered in a white veil. He couldn't quite see her face then but she knew she had met her somewhere.

"What was her name again? A..aa...aaa.." She thought as she tried to remember.

"Anya! That's it." She said to herself.

Anya was a member of one of the elite family groups in the Hyuga clan. The bride walked right passed them and her parents handed her to the groom, then both of them were now at the middle standingside to side in front of a mediating elder of the clan.

This was Hyuga Neji's wedding. An arranged wedding by his uncle and of the elders. This is a customary tradition of the Hyuga clan to take a bride or a groom from their very own. This was necessary in order to keep the secrets of the Byakugan. Breaking this rule was abominable.

Even though Neji belonged to the branch family, Hiasha-sama thought highly of him as he was his brother's son and showed potential in his skills as a shinobi and leadership which would soon take his place as a leader of the clan until Hanabi comes to of decent age. This was one of the things that Neji had to leave on to fate, but then he wanted to do something just to push his luck to revise his fate for he honestly was not in favor in any of this.

Soon enough the ceremony was almost close to an end. The mediating elder turned to Neji asked if he would take the bride as his wife. Everybody became silent waiting in anticipation the he would say 'yes'. The ballroom was so quite that you could hear the heartbeat of the pearson beside you. It took a while for Neji to answer the great elder. His face was blank staring at the floor, and occasionally would look at his bride.

On the other hand, Sakura was feeling dizzy all of a sudden. Her heart pumped ridiculously fast as she placed her fist on her chest wanting it to slow it down. She wanted to burst into tears for she cannot bear the pain of seeing his lover married to someone else. It was all too much for her the she began to sweat again in anxiety. On the other side of her was Sai. Sai didn't bother to ask and grabbed her arm, preventing her from collapsing to the floor.

"Breathe Sakura." Sai whispered to her ear.

She looked up to him. Surprisingly his face looked worried and not the usual stupid grin he'd always wear. She found the shortest feeling of comfort from him, and did what she was told. She breathed in and out with long breaths as she heard Neji clearing his throat on the microphone.

"This is it! He's going to say yes."
She said to herself fearfully, which seemed like she was anticipating a scary scene in a horror movie.

She clinged on Sai's grip on her, but it was no use for her knees were now to weak for her to stand. She felt like the world was closing in on her. Then suddenly Neji's deep voice ringed throughout the ballroom saying,

"I..."

When suddenly a loud gasped was heard in the crowd.

Sakura collapsed.

~end~

NOTE: I do not own the characters to this story. They are from Masashi Kishimoto's "Naruto" series.

Photo credits: low-pony-tail of deviantart dot com