Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
EuphoriaLook at you, the perfect bride, or the soon-to-be perfect bride. As of right now every inch of you has been tampered with. You've received a manicure and pedicure; your nails are painted the softest peach and filed to a nice rounded tip. You're literally changed to your fingernails.
Your shoulder length pink hair is being combed and twisted and pulled. Your scalp will be in pain by the end of the day. The air around you is thick and choking and reeks of hairspray and makeup. You eye the silver and emerald hair ornaments lying on the table, knowing they'll be placed into the complicated twisting knot that is your hair once it has been styled to perfection. The long and flowing white veil is pinned to your head and flows from underneath the stylishly done up hair.
Your wedding kimono fits like a dream. It's the purest white and made of silk. Pastel glass beads of pink and green embroider the flowing skirt with swirling cherry blossoms, your namesake. The hems around the neck and sleeves are a pastel green with silver piping. An obi is wrapped around your corseted middle and is the softest shade of pink imaginable; the datejime is a green to match the hems. Silver cord is also wrapped around your middle, little beads dangling on the tips and it's twisted in a simple loop. The two are tied in a simple knot together; your veil barely grazing it and the excess obi flows nicely with the train that grows from the kimono's skirt, a western influence. Your also wear a white uchikake over your kimono. White silk and beaded slippers grace your feet and your long elegant sleeves cover your hands in a nontraditional manner; no one can see that they are clenched.
Thin lips are painted red and pink powder settles on your cheeks. Mascara is applied and your eyelashes are now longer. Your eyelids are decorated with a nice natural tone, making your green eyes greener. Silver emerald drop earrings decorate your ears and your eyebrows have been plucked to a thin line, thinner than you'd prefer. It's your wedding day, but your blood red lips aren't smiling and your eyes aren't sparkling.
It shouldn't be happening. This wedding shouldn't be happening, not this way. It shouldn't be an order, an arrangement for peace. You want to die as you look in the mirror and see a doll instead of a kunoichi warrior. The groom wasted no money when it came to polishing his ninja bride up with the finest. Your groom, you think with utter loathing, is a powerful ninja from Kumogakure and heir to a large powerful clan. A clan that could never compare to or even rival to your love's lost clan.
The man you love is staring at you now, leaning against the doorframe frowning. To everyone else, he's impassive and uncaring but you can tell he's upset. Upset with your acceptance of the proposal, upset with the village allowing this to occur, and utterly and deeply loathing the groom. He looks handsome, perfect as ever, in his navy blue kimono made of matte fabric. He is wearing a black haori over his and a haori-himo around it. He's wearing geta, the wooden sandals and split toe socks. Everything about him is traditional and he wears the Uchiha clan crest on his back proudly. His black hair is combed down from its usual spikes. He looks handsome, despite the anger behind his black eyes, carefully masked behind a well-constructed façade.
The women who so carefully groomed and prepared you are gone now; giggling all the way about the drama they hoped would unfold and even more so when he compliments you. Sasuke steps closer, his eyes never leaving you and your heart pounds your cheeks heating up. You're thrilled and embarrassed by his staring. You're also a little intimidated because he watches you as if he knows everything and can see into your very soul. You want to run away with him, but you can't do that. This wedding is for peace and it's okay if your happiness is forsaken. Your village will be safe.
"Why?" he speaks, blunt and demanding in that low tone of his. You blink and remain silent at a close but cautious distance. It's improper for a bride to be alone with a man other than family or her groom. You know he's asking why you're doing what you are, why you're leaving, why you wouldn't say no.
"I have to Sasuke-kun," comes your reply, coming out as a rasp, dry and cracking. Your heart breaks a little more, that pang in your chest tells you so. It hurts, more than anyone could ever know. It hurts worse than the time Sasuke left the village, more than when he hated your former fan girl-y self. This time it isn't just your heart breaking; it's his too and it's near unbearable.
"You don't." You're jealous of how he can be so calm in appearance, how he can speak with such composure. Sasuke steps toward you and your cheeks flare up once more. He places his hands on your shoulders and peers into your wide green eyes, "Sakura, you won't be happy."
That's almost ironic coming from he who would forsake his own happiness ten times over when it came to avenging his clan. You remain still as he remains where he stands. Silence envelopes the two of you and you know he's right. But you have your pride and are stubborn to a fault.
"I'll make my own happiness Sasuke-san," you frown and glare and the new honorific you use for him tastes bitter on your tongue. You're soon to be married, honorifics of anything else would be improper and dropping them completely would be worse. Sasuke's face changes his eyes darkening and his jaw clenching. He's the one to break eye contact and his arms slide from your shoulders, balling into fists. His black bangs cover inky storming eyes, shielding them from your inquiring gaze. It dawns on you that he won't stay for the wedding. He'll be leaving soon after this. If he stays he'll object and cause a fuss. He loves his friends more than his village. He doesn't want to lose you.
You don't want to lose him either. This time it's you who steps towards him and you lift his face just enough so you can see his eyes. You love them and for a moment the two of you stare at the other. The room seems to fade away and it's just you and him. You resist the urge to kiss him but allow yourself to indulge in this moment of intimacy of just staring into each other's eyes. You never want the moment of euphoria to end.
It does end though, much to your dismay, and rather abruptly. Uzumaki Naruto barges in wearing an orange kimono and a red haori. He grins and tells you you're pretty. He casts a sly smile towards Sasuke and implies Sasuke already did, knowing what he interrupted. His smile falls though when you thank him and you know he's against your marriage to leaving the village and marrying some stranger.
"I should have said something to the elders," he mutters, knowing what was done is done. Sasuke's frown deepens and you know he's wishing he should have killed them off with Danzo. He starts to glare and punches a mirror, shattering it and storms out. You stare aghast but not as much as you should be and Naruto watches with concern. He touches your shoulder, promising the two of them will be back and heads after Sasuke. You're left alone and like the mirror you shatter.
A tear dribbles down your cheek, followed by another and another until you start to sob. You hug yourself as sobs wrack your body. You don't want to leave your home. You don't want to marry a stranger. You don't want a new village. You want to marry the one you love. You collapse to the floor shaking and crying and you let yourself remain on the ground. You allow yourself to ruin your makeup and crumple the beautiful kimono.
You remain like this for a long time, ignoring the maids' coaxing to come out, ignoring the friends trying to get you to smile and even when the groom himself comes, you still cry. You screech at him, blaming him, telling him it's his entire fault. You tell him you resent him. He yells back with a flurry of harsh words. He states that at least he cares enough for his village to go through with the marriage. He states he would rather marry someone with normal hair and was more composed.
He crashes into the wall, propped up by a glaring Sasuke, whose black eyes are now the fiery scarlet of the Sharingan. Naruto is beside you and helps you up while glaring something fierce at the groom. Maids and friends stand in surprise before clearing out; it wasn't their fight.
"You'd be lucky to even be permitted to think of someone like her," Sasuke growls and the Kumo ninja squirms. You watch silently, your crying finally ceasing. Naruto remains unusually silent, he's biting his tongue, his jaw clenched in restraint. You admire the control he has over himself briefly before casting a concerned glance towards Sasuke and the groom.
He refuses to let your supposed-to-be-husband go, silently making him understand the consequences of harmful words aimed at you. The groom flinches, and then pales, his eyes dilating and it's clear Sasuke sent him in a near inescapable illusion. You blink and the groom is aware of his surroundings once again and shaking in Sasuke's deadly grasp. You don't want to imagine what the groom had seen in the genjutsu. All you want to know is Sasuke and Naruto's safety from the Kumo ninja's kekkei-genkai. You fear it would harm Sasuke first.
Sasuke lets the groom go and in an instant is by your side while the groom slides to the floor. Sasuke stands slightly in front of you, silently protecting you. He continues to glare at the shaking ninja and takes your hand.
"You won't be getting married today," he mutters and the three of you leave the room. You almost immediately begin tugging out the pretty hair ornaments from your head, and drop them onto the floor. Some clatter on impact, others snagging on the train of your kimono. You ignore the starry-eyed maids, who giggle at the drama as you pass by.
-
You're sitting on the floor of the Hokage's room, your teacher. The veil is stuck and you can't pull it out. It pulls your hair when you try and the pins holding your hair in place make it difficult for you to undo the stylish knots upon your head. You growl and pluck a random pin from its hiding place, strands of pink coming with it. A knot comes partially undone and you pull another. The knot falls out completely and you're satisfied by the wavy lock's freedom and set to work freeing the others. Sasuke watches you do this while Naruto stares out the window as if anticipating an attack. Nobody has bothered to come by; Tsunade willingly giving up her room for you is the only one to check on you sporadically, glad you're to remain in Konoha, unmarried.
Sasuke moves, his face as blank as ever and kneels behind you. He helps you to remove the remaining pins, preventing you from tearing out any more hair. He says nothing while assisting you and you know he'll never again bring it up and recede back into the bubble he's built around himself. Naruto excuses himself and leaves the room. You acknowledge him with an "okay" and Sasuke grunts, still intently working on freeing your hair.
Your fingertips graze his calloused ones and it feels like lightening zaps through you and you freeze, stunned. Sasuke remains rooted in place and neither of you blink, neither of you twitch, neither of you breathe. You are incapable of breathing at the moment. Both of you remain still and silent. Sasuke is the first to move. He trails his fingers over yours and to your wrists lightly and grasps them, taking them away from your head and he moves his hands so they're on top of yours and your fingers are laced with his. They settle on your abdomen and you lean against him, your cheeks red.
His breathing is steady and monotonous as he holds you close. Your eyes widen in surprise and chills run down your spine when he kisses your cheek. You've always loved him deeply and knew he loved you but you were never aware of how deeply they ran. This wordless confession is enough.
"Sakura," you turn to face him, his expression hasn't changed and you expect nothing else from Sasuke. The two of you just stare at each other, the moment of euphoria from earlier returning. You don't have the slightest inkling of what he's about to say next and you can't think of anything to say. Words just seem wrong this moment. You feel his grip slacken, and he goes to pull away from you. So you panic. You don't want him to let go, so you kiss him on the lips. He's the one who is surprised this time but he kisses back.
Your make up is smeared; your hair is a wreck; you're wearing a wedding dress for a marriage to another guy and Sasuke thinks you're never looked better. He holds you close and tells you so before kissing you again. You smile; you eyes closed and just sit with him. The euphoria you feel at this very moment is utter bliss and you're content. You'll be married eventually and hopefully it'll be to this man beside you…
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Eternal thanks to Erendhyl who was the beta for this story! Wrote this for English class, my teacher let's us write fan fiction for free writes, and had a friend of mine give her input! So thanks to her too! Sasuke was somewhat difficult to write he doesn't speak. He's more of a doer. Well critique and review please!